Chapter 7
Assessment
Hammer’s voice thundered over the meeting room. “If they think they can fuck with our families and live, they’ve got another goddamn think comin’. I want every single member of the Grim Crew six feet under. We’ve been at this for fuckin’ years and it needs to stop.”
Rip had just finished giving his report on the information gleaned from interrogating the two Grim Crew members. The Grim crew had spawned seven new charters in the outlying region, established ties with a dangerous South American cartel, and were looking to muscle in on the arms trade in Arizona in a big way. They had intended to grab Jaden to force the club to negotiate. Every brother in the clubhouse was livid.
“I want ears on every single member we can get our hands on. Their crew sold them out. We have names, some addresses, all their phone numbers, and a schematic of their clubhouse.”
“At the moment they outgun and out man us. We can always purchase more guns, we can’t take on more prospects without clearing them first because we take a chance of them slipping in a mole.”
Hammer sat down again. “What we need are force multipliers. Think of every single thing you can that will give us an advantage and take an advantage away from our enemy. For example we need to tap their phones, be prepared to redirect their calls out for help, bug their clubhouse and homes, and low jack their cars. At the same time, we’ll need someone on our end checking every day to ensure they haven’t managed to wire us at all. We need a good tech team to manage the tremendous amount of data we’re generating to separate the wheat from the chaff.”
“We need more automatic weapons and a sniper rifle in every man’s hand who is qualified to use it. We need every action we take covered by the snipers from the highest vantage points feasible. We need night vision, because most clubs don’t have it.”
“I don’t want anyone caught. We’ll need every single man we’ve got in play if they call on members from other charters. Brainstorm every little advantage money and expertise can give us. For example having every single brother in Kevlar will mean we last longer in a battle and can take out more of the enemy before we fall. We’ll get us a few medics who don’t know anything except how to keep a brother breathing until we can get him medical help. We need ballistic plating for the cages. I want everyone not riding a bike as protected as possible in trucks and vans. We need to ensure no brother is left alone. Travel in pairs and take alternate routes. We can’t have them anticipating our movements.”
The men continued brainstorming late into the night. This was war and every brother was prepared to do whatever they had to in order to win. The clubhouse went on lock down. Jaden was driven back and forth to school every day, while a couple of prospects monitored the premises. Hammer worried about him going to school. It was the time period each day he had the least amount of protection, which was clearly why they tried to pick up there the last time.
As the men filed out, Hammer called Rip over.
“Thanks for the intel. Hear you got a helping hand from Shelby.”
“Unfortunately the Sergeant wasn’t talking. We did a little bait and switch so he thought we had his old lady. Old fart couldn’t give up the goods fast enough.”
“Smart. It was also smart to send the prospects to his house the way you did, in the middle of the day when no one was at home. We got a good haul and no one’s going to be any the wiser.”
“We splitting up the loot and guns?”
“You can have your pick of the guns, cause it was your haul. I’m also earmarking twenty-five grand and a brick of marijuana for you, in honor of your outstanding handling of this situation. The rest of the weapons are going into the club’s gun safe. They’re good weapons and might come in handy in a firefight.”
“The cash would go a long way in gearing us up for what’s coming with the Grim Crew.”
“My thoughts exactly. I know you promised Shelly five grand. That is a bargain, considering the service she provided. I made a few contacts. We can unload the meth and assortment of pills for a tidy hundred and fifty grand. The cash in that duffle, money from selling the drugs, and the cash we fished out of the vest pockets brings our cash haul to around two hundred and seventy grand.”
We keeping the marijuana for party favors?”
“Like always.” Hammer smiled at his longtime friend. “Gotta keep the girls happy. I sure the fuck don’t want to encourage a meth habit among the whores or brothers.”
“Good call, prez.”
“I’m going to suggest we spend the money on Kevlar for every patched member and prospect. We also need to upgrade security a bit. We should keep about fifty grand in the safe. That leaves about ten grand each for the patched members and five apiece for the prospects. If you’re satisfied with that plan, we’ll present it tomorrow morning for a vote.”
Rip breathed out a sigh of relief. “Sounds just fine to me. You got a head for business, Hammer. Me? I just feel like I did right by my brothers today.”
“That you did, my friend. That you did.”