Chapter 18
Ace
As I raced back to the bar I brought my fingers to my nose, inhaling deeply the sweet essence that was Emerson. Christ, my dick was hard enough to break concrete. If time had allowed I would have fucked her right there on my bike, but after what had gone down at the bar tonight, shit was going to get serious, and fast. As far as I was concerned, the plans that had been discussed earlier at my place were no longer sufficient. If I knew Tanner, he would be out for retribution for the attack on the girls and destruction of his bar, and he wasn't going to give the Hellraisers time to prepare for retaliation.
We were going to war.
I was surprised Callahan's car wasn't in the parking lot when I arrived at the bar. I walked my bike backwards into the same spot I'd left and entered After Hours to see my brothers sitting in some of the remaining unbroken chairs and bar stools. The place reeked of spilled alcohol and the weed that was being passed around. I smirked. I could see by the set expressions on their faces that rage was gripping them, and the energy in the room was palpable. Tanner and I exchanged a look as I walked through the room toward an empty stool.
"Where the fuck is Callahan?"
"He's not coming," Gabe responded.
"Why the hell not?" I plopped my ass on a stool between Dawson and Rod.
"Told him what went down here, that we had four bodies. Said to do what we had to do, and he didn't want to know the details."
I frowned. "The fuck? No one called in that they heard gunfire?"
"Fuck yes, someone called the cops," Tanner began with a smirk. "One of the guys on Callahan's task force happened to take the call, told the caller the situation was being handled."
Mark snorted. "Yeah, apparently we weren't the only ones being targeted by the Hellraisers. Callahan and his task force have been busy tonight."
"Cleaners have been called in." Heath took a long drink of the beer in his hands.
The cleaners had been called to remove the bodies and any evidence that there'd been a killing here. Not that it mattered much if Callahan already knew what had taken place. If he had his hands full dealing with other shit that the Hellraisers were causing, he knew that we could handle anything that came our way.
"Emerson okay?"
I couldn't help smirking as I looked at Tanner, taking note of the knowing leer in his eyes. The man saw too fucking much. I resisted the urge to bring my fingers up to my nose, knowing that the smell of her juicy cunt was still lingering on them.
"She's good." Something prompted me to turn my head enough to make eye contact with Dawson. The look passed between us, the one where a man stakes his silent claim on a woman, and I knew that he knew that she was off limits. His chin lift was as good as saying he got the message loud and clear.
Good. I wouldn't have to knock his teeth down his throat.
"So what now?" Joker demanded to know, his impatience showing. "We still gonna go in and ask them nicely to leave?"
That wasn't exactly how we'd decided to approach the other club, but compared to what some of the other suggestions had been, it had amounted to that. We were all warriors, and our instinct was to handle trouble with action, not words. We were protectors, not one percenters, and had to remind ourselves of that when the urge to go to war and end trouble quickly and lethally was engrained in our blood.
"Fuck the diplomatic way," Tanner growled. "Not going to give the fuckers time to do more damage to our town." His furious look moved around the room.
"That mean I get to blow things up?" Coffee grinned without humor.
"Maybe." Tanner took the weed from Jigger and put it to his lips, inhaling deeply. He held his breath for a few seconds before releasing a stream of smoke. "At this point I don't care if we kill every fucking one of them."
Nods from several brothers indicated that they agreed with him. I couldn't disagree, either. The image of seeing Emerson pinned against the jukebox, about to be raped, would be with me for a long time. I'd been the one who'd shot the bastard in the temple, ending his life. I only wished I could have killed him more than once. I would have liked to make him suffer first.
Tanner pinned his eyes on Rod, the youngest brother, but also the one with the most kills. He'd been a sniper in the army. We were all good shots, but he was a skilled professional. "Think you and Charlie can get close enough in their camp to give us cover?"
Rod didn't hesitate, nodding. "No problem."
"For me either," Charlie added. "We go in at night, find the right tree, we're good." He and Rod exchanged thumbs up.
"Ace?"
My gaze snapped to Tanner. I knew what he wanted. He relied on me to come up with a plan for how this was all going to go down. Then we'd vote on whether to go with it. I knew exactly what I wanted to do. The Hellraisers were nothing more than criminals, followers who couldn't take a piss without looking for approval from Maniac first. They knew how to kill, maim, and destroy, but not much else. They were all snakes, and we all knew what happened when you cut off the head of a snake.
It seemed clear to me. "Think if we take out Maniac and Boomer the rest won't know which way to turn but run."
"They're a vicious, destructive MC, brother," Skipper commented for the first time. "What makes you think they'll turn tail and run if their leaders are taken out?"
It was a fair question, but one I'd anticipated. "Maybe the way we end Maniac and Boomer will be persuasion enough. We need to instill fucking fear in them. Charlie and Rod aren't going to be there to fucking pick them off. That's too easy, too fucking clean. We need them to take care of any of the fools who make a move to stop us from our agenda."
"So what are you thinking, brother?"
I looked at Gabe. "I'm thinking they like fire."
"Fuck!" Heath swore. Several others followed suit.
I crossed my arms and leaned back against the bar, looking at every man in there for their reaction. Some shook their heads with disbelief and a look that said that they hadn't seen that coming. Others--Joker, Coffee, and William--nodded slowly with satisfied acceptance in their eyes. I was sure that everyone was thinking about the cop and his woman who'd been handcuffed to the steering wheel and burned alive by the Hellraisers. If we were going to run them out of town it had to be done in a way that proved to them that the Sentinels were willing to do anything to get them out and keep them out.
"Shit, brother, never thought you were this fucking sick," Pete muttered with something close to grudging respect. "Remind me not to get on your bad side."
I just stared at him. It was sick. But I was the enforcer, and it was my job to protect the club, and our families. We'd decided to try something less violent first, but the other club's actions had showed us that they weren't going to understand anything less than violence in return.
"Thank fuck our women are gone," Mark muttered around his smoke.
Not all of our women. I thought about Emerson. I hadn't claimed her. Didn't know what the future would hold beyond fucking, but I couldn't get the image of her out of my head. I wanted eyes on her. I wanted her where I could protect her. Now that the bar was closed, I didn't like the idea of her being home alone.
"God fucking damn it!"
Sid's angry exclamation drew all eyes on him. He'd apparently received a text and was staring down at his phone, his mouth pressed tight. When he looked up there was a dark storm brewing in his eyes. "That was Sal. Those fuckers hit both my tiki bars! Chased the customers' away, beat up Sal and Louie before they set fire to the bars!" He was gripping his phone so hard it was a miracle that he hadn’t crushed it. He owned two tiki bars on the beach, and Sal and Louie were two of his bartenders that he employed to run them.
"Why the fuck were they still open?" Tanner demanded.
"New summer hours, brother. We don't close until two now. I leave it up to their discretion if they want to go longer during events."
"Are they going to be okay?" I frowned. "And what about the girls?" Along with the bartenders, Sid also employed several women as eye-candy to help draw in the customers and serve drinks.
Sid released a deep breath. "The girls only work during peak hours. Sal said once he was able to pull himself together he called Louie to warn him to watch for trouble, but it was too fucking late. They both took a beating and were told it was a warning to us that there was a new MC in town."
It could have been worse.
"Thank fuck the girls weren’t there," Skipper grumbled.
My gaze shot to Rod, who owned a gun shop and shooting range. Before I could get the words out of my mouth, he gave me a chin lift and yanked out his phone. We couldn't afford for the Hellraisers to get their hands on more guns and ammo. With bars on the windows and doors of the gun shop there was no way they could get inside once the place was locked up tight.
"Got boats going out today, brothers?" Tanner inquired of Gabe and William, who were partners. Until recently they'd only had one charter boat that they used to take groups out for deep sea fishing, but business had been so good they'd added a luxury yacht with a full crew for vacationers.
William ran his hand over the whiskers on his lower jaw. "The fishing boat is docked for repairs, The Sentinel is somewhere in the Bahamas."
Tanner grunted, his eyes downcast on his own phone. No doubt he was texting his lead mechanic at the garage that he owned.
The Hellraisers were obviously targeting our businesses, and that was one thing that could be rebuilt. Closing them down until shit was over didn't mean the fuckers wouldn't still make an attempt to destroy them, but at least we wouldn't have to worry over our people being caught in harm's way. Going after our friends and family meant certain death for the other MC.
I gave Gabe a meaningful look. "Maybe you'd better contact the crew on The Sentinel just in case."
He nodded. "Got it."
It grew silent for a moment. I scanned the destroyed bar, exchanging looks with my brothers, including the six from Tennessee. I knew that if Tanner made the decision to ride into the Hellraisers’ camp right now not one of us would hesitate, object, or question his sanity, even as outnumbered as we were. We would fight to the death protecting our families and town. But Tanner wasn't a fool. A good president didn't make rash decisions in anger, and neither did I.
"When we gonna make a move?” Joker asked gruffly.
"Yeah, and what's that gonna look like aside from Rod and Charlie sitting in a tree?" Hock, the quiet brother from Tennessee, inquired. He was a watcher and a listener and rarely used his vocals.
I took a deep breath and looked at Tanner. His nod told me to go ahead. He had no idea what I was going to say, but he trusted me. "Let the fuckers finish out their night," I began, realizing that some of my brothers may not agree. "Whoever Callahan and his crew haven't picked up will head back to Cacklebery to fuck and sleep off the adrenaline."
"We hit them then?" William asked. "When they least expect it?"
"We have to make sure Maniac and Boomer are there first, "Sid pointed out.
I turned toward Dawson. "Figure after they start waking up they'll want to celebrate. Think you and a couple of your brothers can hit the Cabbage Patch later in the day and ask around without being noticed?"
He nodded. "I take it we leave our cuts behind?"
"Yeah. And your bikes," Tanner added. "Just a few rednecks stopping in for a beer," he smirked. "Mike has an old truck you can take."
Of all the Sentinels, Mike was the most serious in the club. He was a private investigator that did a lot of pro-bono work for families of missing children. He kept shit bottled up inside, which we all knew wasn't good, and I knew that he suffered with PSTD, but he was convinced that he had it under control.
"Make sure you're wearing ear buds. You find out Maniac and Boomer are there, you call."
"Stay there for further instructions," I added after Tanner's comment.
"Then what?" Rod wanted to know.
I smirked. "Then we head out to Cabbage Patch and show the Hellraisers that they don't fucking know who they're messing with."
"Time for talk has passed." Gabe shot a look at Tanner.
"I'll call Callahan, let him know what's going down and tell him and his men to stay away."
"You gonna tell him everything?" Jigger asked Tanner with disbelief, his brows arched high over his forehead.
"You questioning my decisions?"
"No, but--" Jigger halted, as if he’d just remembered that Tanner was the president. "Just curious, Prez." He relaxed back in his chair. "Meant no disrespect."
Tanner didn't need to explain himself. And while the Tennessee Sentinels didn't know the extent of our involvement with local law enforcement, they'd have to trust that our president knew what he was doing. We discussed shit as a club, but he had the last word, and most of the time we agreed with him.
Back when we had first put the MC together, the twelve of us had been equals. No one had called the shots, no one had led. In a sense we’d all been prospects. We'd discussed shit together, and the majority ruled. Through trial and error we'd discovered our weaknesses and strengths, and our positions had become definable as time had gone on. Tanner's dad, Pops, had played a hand in leading us in the right direction. He'd been in his own MC, and his knowledge and experience had been worth its weight in gold.
That had been a long goddamned time ago, and Pops had been gone for a few years now.
"We'll only have the element of surprise for a minute. The Hellraisers will be drinking and celebrating, all cocky over the shit they caused and thinking they got away with it. Think they got us scared. Once we know Boomer and Maniac are there we go in fast and we go in hot. We don't give them the chance to draw their fucking weapons." I pinned my gaze on Dawson. "I doubt there'll be many civilians there. Try to identify who they are before we get there. Get them out of there if you can."
Dawson nodded, and then glanced at Joker. "I'll take Hock and Jigger with me. We'll head over to Cabbage Patch around two in the afternoon."
Mike jumped off the stool he was sitting on and stretched. "I'll meet you here with my truck."
"Okay then." When Tanner got to his feet everyone else began to follow suit. "I suggest we all try and get a little rest and meet back here by one o'clock."
That sounded good to me.
Only rest wasn't what I was in the mood for.