Blade
“What in the fuck is that?”, I yell over to Spider and Axl. “Is someone shooting behind that old garage?” We pull our nine millimeters out of our waist bands and head out toward the garage, checking for cars or people on our way. The garage door is unlocked, so we take cover inside and head towards the back, looking through the old office blinds.
Spider whispers out, “Are the girls having a target shooting contest? I say we stay and watch.”
“Hell yeah, they are, are they betting? They each put a twenty in a can. This is sexy as fuck, I can’t wait to tell Tank what he missed”, Axl grins enthusiastically.
After each round, Alessia and Cindy pull their targets and score them, tallying how many cans they hit. I watch Alessia taking aim. She’s confident in her mark and moves just a hair above, breathes and pulls the trigger. A miss. Why is she purposely missing her mark? She and Cindy pull all the score sheets again as they whisper back and forth while the other girls talk and laugh.
∞ ∞ ∞
Vegas
“Mom, did you count the score sheets?” I look up at my mom and whisper softly so no one hears us.
“Yes, we were all close, but don’t worry, Dana will win her boots, she’ll think she won.”
I smile big because I know how much she wants those boots. She eyes them every time we walk into that store and will never spend four hundred bucks on a pair for herself. “Your Papa gave me an extra forty that I snuck in there too when no one was looking, we have it covered.” My mom is the best, I told her about the boots and she was all in to help out.
Mom has the can in hand as I start to announce the scorings. “Katie shot a score of 25, Mom shot a 28, Jenn a 23, me a 29, and Dana shot the winning score of 32. Step forward and claim your prize, bitch!”
Dana jumps up and down and shouts, “Yeah!” Pumping a fist in the air like a champ, she runs forward and grabs the can, starting to count out the cash.
“What are we going to do now?”, Dana asks, looking at all of us while stuffing the cash in her pocket.
“We are going to the mall to buy those ugly Frye boots you love so much,” I wink at her.
“No, we are not, I can’t do that, I should really save this, and…”
“No, the fuck you are not! Get in the car, we are going to buy those boots and whatever other shit we find at the mall,” I instruct, using my most serious face at her.
We start picking up and packing our stuff when Dana walks up to me and bumps my hip with hers. I stop and turn towards her under the window and lean against the garage wall. Dana is looking at me with accusing eyes, “I know I didn’t really win, no way, I counted my score in my head.”
She is way too smart, I never count my score while I’m shooting. “You totally won, fair and square. I don’t know what you’re talking about. You probably didn’t count it right. Anyway, I needed the practice.”
“Vegas, why would you need target practice?” Dana looks at me like I lost my mind, but there is a good reason, and I tell one of my best friends all about the bet I’m going to win against Blade when I go against him after a couple more practices.
∞ ∞ ∞
The day couldn’t have been any better. I spent the whole day with my family. Even though Katie is not technically my aunt, she is, and Jenn and Danna are my sisters and always will be. After the mall, I ran home to change for work. I’ve missed Tugger so much these past few days that I’m really happy to take him to work with me. Tugg is sitting in the passenger seat next to me. Before I forget, I need to text Blade.
Me: Had a long day with all the girls. I’m heading to work, stop by if you have time.
The little dots pop up so I know he’s typing me back and I wait, sitting outside of The Black Rose.
Blade: I’ll try to make it
That’s short, but I figure he must be working on something important, especially if my Papa is here on business and not just a visit. I do what I always do, head into work and forget about it.
∞ ∞ ∞
My head is pounding, the stress is getting heavier. We spent part of the day finishing the flooring for the shop. Equipment will be brought up by my old man, so that at least will be ready to be installed. We should have the place up and running in a week.
Earlier this afternoon we interviewed for the receptionist position and hired a girl wanting to possibly apprentice to be a tattoo artist later. Thank god Tank picked some decent candidates, I was really worried who he had scheduled for interviews.
Sitting in our conference room, I’m waiting for the rest of the men to get here for a quick meeting. I wanted to pull Fuego and his closest members aside, trust is still being earned, making me feel suspicious of who I can trust in my club.
Turning to the window, the deep red and orange rays of the sunset streak through the glass. Feeling the heat coming off it, it warms up my face. Along with the sun, my mind is ready to call it a day as well. Grinning to myself, I’m reminded of catching Alessia and her family having a shooting contest, and it brightens my sour mood just a bit. I need to get my work done so I can have more time with her.
Fuego walks in with his VP and a few others from his crew, and they all sit down across from me. Hopefully he can give me some ideas or information. Maybe he can see something we can’t. “Fuego, Ghost, Snake,” I nod at each of them.
Leaving the window, I turn to the table and settle in to get some work done. Following behind them are my closest men, Axl, Spider and Tank. Fuego scoots up to the oval table on the opposite end.
“How’s the takeover going with the crew?” Fuego looks right at me and ignores the others.
“It’s been a rough year, man, since we put their old Prez in the dirt, along with a few other members. The rest that wanted to stay were patched over. Building trust in these times is rough, especially since we are having conflict. Buck was shot and halfway buried down in Indian Springs. We think he was following a trucker that’s been haulin’ in our territory. The timelines fit, but we’ve got shit with his cell records. Stryker called in Cuervo to come help. Last I heard, he was starting in Del Rio and working his way up to us, hopefully bringing in some information. I have a feeling we have a rat, or a few. They are networking these drops no one can pin down, but they have enough connections to get the jobs done. We are thinking they are saving what they have and building some cash, guns and men for a takeover. We are looking at another war if we don’t stop this quickly. The boys and I went up for a ride through Verdi, caught one of their haulers, but nothing was in it. The drop had already been made. We have a tail on another truck, but he ain’t moving shit, man. The warehouse where the other truck has been parked belongs to a dead old lady, Evelyn Meyers. We have some names of relatives, nothing has popped out there yet.”
Fuego’s cold stone killer eyes are focused on my words. He takes a few minutes thinking on the information given to him. “Blade, I agree, something is moving out from under our noses, but it’s there. Have you looked at a map of the surrounding areas where you found these trucks? There will be something in common. Everything moves in a pattern, mistakes are made when we change from the plan, no?
So, keep watching, keep writing down everything you see. The snake will appear when we can track his pattern. I would suggest putting your crew at ease. Besides, those you know can be trusted. If you have an enemy in your ranks, he too will have a pattern, so watch for it. I would put out some false information or misleading information to see if you can make them slip to your advantage. Tell them your killer has been found for Buck’s murder and pin it on a dead man walking anyway. Find a way to bring in a load of Narcs from a new supplier, unknown, and have your new men just follow him, see what they report. That’s where I would start.”
“Fuego, you are one sly motherfucker. Stryker should be here tomorrow, and the Elko Prez, Ice, will be here too. I’m going to grab some maps and get to work.”
Fuego and his guys stand up, but he stays while they head out. “Are you heading over to The Black Rose? I’ve got some bets placed. The World series starts tonight, we are going to watch it over there. I’m sure you’ve met Vegas, no?” Fuego is obviously testing me again on my knowledge of his daughter.
“Yes, I have, are your bets with Vegas? If there is a way, she won’t play fair.” I’m amused her old man plays into her games.
His eyes light up at my observation. “Oh yes, we bet many times, I’ve taught her over the years to look at all circumstances as opportunities. She just doesn’t realize this yet, but she uses the same skills to protect and take care herself. One day perhaps she will see this when she has her own ninos. Blade, if you don’t value mi hija for your esposa, you should walk away now. Or you could find an enemy in me. She’s still young enough to make her dreams come true. She may fight and say she doesn’t need a man, but she does. Alessia needs a family of her own. Look at her bar, every person in there, she treats them like family. Ninos are very important to her. She needs a partner to compliment her, not a man to rule her. She has her own mind and ambitions. Share those with her and she will support your needs as well. Comprendes?”
“I don’t know what the future holds for us, Fuego, but I am all in when it comes to Alessia. I want to see us through. What that means, man, I have no Idea.” And I really don’t, I’ve never thought of kids and having a family. Can I be the man my old man is?
“I can’t ask more than that from you, other than be her man and be what she needs.” Fuego heads out the door, not saying anything more. My head and heart are telling me there is more going on with Alessia and there is definitely more to come with our MC problems. I just need the time and patience to see it all through.
Spider walks back in and places a stack of folders and maps on the table. “I need you all to think on what we want to tell the guys at Church, something soon. Tank and Axl, I need you both to find me a truck, unknown and unattached to us. Hire him to move a small load for us. Let’s move on this, try and get ahead of our problem.”
Axl and Tank nod in agreement, and Axl smiles wickedly. “I still have a few connections in California. I can ask and call in a favor, I’ll get the truck moving and hand pick the crew we think could be ratting us out. Me and Tank will work on it, Prez, we got this.” Tank and Axl fist bump me on their way out to get started.
Spider pulled out all his work from what information we have so far, and is now spreading out each document on the table. “Prez, we need to see this information from a different angle. When we have a little more info, we’ll be able to piece it together better. But let’s see what theories we can come up with?”
“Grab the maps, too. What was the route we know of so far?”
Spreading out the four by three-foot map, Spider gives me an update. “I looked, but couldn’t find any concrete or clear reasoning. They’ve been avoiding all big suppliers or drop areas. I’ve just focused on the main roads from Texas, Nevada and California.”
Spider has the three different routes highlighted, he points out which is which. “The first truck route is short, but we are assuming still he was headed north. Second line we believe was still the first truck route that was followed north east up to Elko. Third line is the truck you found in Verdi and parked in California. We’ll map out the fourth when we hear the guys following that truck.”
“All we have at this point is that we know they are moving south to north, possibly moving east or west as soon as they hit Highway 80. Up through Nevada, it’s all desert. No one wants to truck or move through California. That’s making Nevada a hot spot for transport. Every man that moves a truck though Nevada is on the old man’s books. Pay your fee and the road is yours. So why not just pay your fee?”
“We need to see what’s in the trucks. If we can’t trust our guys a hundred percent, we need to call in some support, man. That’s a whole lot of fucking highway and desert with no backup or cover.”
“No, we don’t need the whole route covered. We need to place men at the intersections of the routes and follow them from there. Stryker can cover the south, Fuego the west, and Ice the east intersection. Fuck, bro, we are central. That war we had was over this location, this clubhouse didn’t mean shit, man, it had to do with location.”
“Fuck, Blade, if you are right we need to put these fuckers down. If they gain this territory, they will go after the next clubhouse. This was always the starting point. Take out the biggest target and spread out from there. This fucker is cancer, we all thought it was over their old Prez, Demon, not wanting to pay rad fees, he was being paid off, there’s someone bigger.”
“That we both agree on. Spider, this is a long-term end game. No doubt we’ll catch this fucker. Or fuckers.”
We wrap up some more notes, feeling a little better where we are today than where we were yesterday. At least we have a starting point. The last thing I want is to hand over nothing to the other Presidents tomorrow. I will show they all voted me as President of this chapter for a reason, and failure is not an option.