Chapter 3: “I Apologize” Five Finger Death Punch
Everything returns to normal the following day back at work. I don’t know what I expected. Maybe to be shunned. But I think if anything I saw a few nods of respect. My coworkers were the only ones that had anything to say about the entire confrontation. And that died down pretty quickly when I refused to talk about it.
Ky:
I can’t get Alexis or the image of her gorgeous tattooed ass out my head right now. Her little show the other night is on repeat in my head. Seeing her onstage then purposely about to fuck a guy in the clubs bathroom nearly sent me over the edge. Which was clearly her point and everything she said was absolutely right. But I have absolutely no time to fantasize about shit that is never gonna happen. And I need to get my head in the game.
A threat’s been made toward the club. Threatening the club and the lives of their families. This is nothing new but the way they went about delivering the message was. They dropped off one of my club members bloodied and beaten. With a symbol of The Devil’s Posse burned into the flesh of his back, branding him like a fucking pig. He’s now in the clubs infirmary receiving treatment with one of our members outside of the door at all times.
I’d ordered a lockdown and shelter in place shortly after he was dropped on our doorstep. Families were starting to arrive in droves. We had added on to the clubhouse to support this should it ever happen so there would be plenty of space for everyone. D and Bree have just shown up. I catch them as they enter the clubs main rooms carrying in their bags. One look at Bree and I swear that woman is a fucking psychic “She’s on her way right now. She was bitching about leaving her devil cat behind and having to be escorted by Pinky. No less than 5 minutes ago.” I nod and head towards my room to get my head together for what's about to happen.
An hour later we are all saddling up to head out, the roar of sixty engines deafening. I take my place at the middle of the pack. Mercy taking the lead. Pinky taking my back. We ride forty miles north to the location we had intel on.
The Devils Posse’s club house backs up to a wooded area but, its front is open to a busy street. No way could we go in without notice. We had scoped the area out last night and had them under surveillance all day. Taking the scenic routes to avoid being seen on the bikes and no cuts. We split four ways parking the bikes a mile away in either direction.
I speak to my men through radio communication. “I need Valkyrie on Valentine Street. Spartan on Spiller. Hades you're with me on the back and Lady Luck you're on the right.” I wait to make sure everyone has heard me. “Valkyrie and Lady Luck hold the street. Spartan you get eye’s in the buildings across the street.” Hades it’s a mile walk in the woods for us. When this goes down it’s going to go down fast. On my order you go.”
The next forty five minutes goes by slowly. Everybody I have here is trained and had military or police experience they all know what to do and what I expect from them.
We move through the woods in silence, wary of possible traps. Pinky is on my back the only time he’s ever quiet, but he lives for this shit. With the clubhouse in sight, we move forward and halt about fifteen meters. There’s a fence in our way with about ten feet from the actual clubhouse between. The good news is the back doors are open and music is blaring. The bad news is someone’s going to notice the fence going. This has to happen quick.
Breaking radio silence I give one word. “GO.” Everything happens as just as we had planned. Two guys go up to the fence tie ropes around the tops and pull it down to the ground. Then the others surge forward from the sides and the front. The Posse was prepared for this and shots ring out instantly. All my guys are wearing bulletproof vests but they are only for small arms fire. I knew it was a risk, I’m torn on losing any of my brothers but deep down I know I’m going to lose a few guys tonight. The thought fuels my fire to keep everyone safe.
We push on through the building clearing it. The president of the Devils Posse, Dante is nowhere to be found. We figured he’d have a backup plan and somehow escaped. The few men we have aren’t talking. Yet. I light a cigarette and excitedly gear up for my turn with the VP Bullet.
“Where is Dante?” I question pulling my knife from its holster. Silence. I take a drag from my cigarette and roll up the sleeves of my shirt. I take the knife raising it up for him to see and then lightly press it just under the far edge of his collar bone. The man's eyes widen but he stays quiet “Where” Press “Is” Press “Dante?” The man pisses himself. The smell hitting my nostrils and the dark stain on his pants reveals all “Oh, you got a weak bladder? That's just the tip baby.” I twist the knife before driving it deep into his flesh. The man screams. The wound won’t kill him but it does make him talk once he’s settled down.
“Ssss...a-ddist.” he almost whispers recognition in his voice.
“Yep.” I smile “The devil himself, now that you're up to speed do I really need to repeat the question?” I pull out another knife from its sheath on my chest licking its tip.
“Nnn no. H-h-he's n-not here.” I take the knife and run the blade along the other side of his chest down his ribs inserting the tip between two ribs. The man musters a little more courage. “He’s not here Sadist I mean it. He was expecting ya’ll to show up. I was to stay here and hold down the fort.” I run the tip of the knife over the bones making a bloody X appear.
“Y'all have a safe house then.” I leave the words hanging in the air. Tracing the lines of the X making it look like an x on a treasure map. “I need to know where.” Taking a final drag of my cigarette and putting it out on the mark I’d just created. The man’s sharp inhale spurring me on.
“It’s not on the map. There's no record of the building ever being made. All I can do is give you general directions.”
“Fine.” I say reading this man for any hint of a lie. “Pinky get this man a pen and paper.” He clears the room and that's when I feel I’d made a mistake. Milliseconds later I feel the barrel of a gun against my shoulder and two loud pops sound in my ear as a mix of blood and shrapnel spatter across the man in front of me. I turn around, left arm hanging useless, but I have a Knife in my right hand. I bring my blade up, piercing the offender’s temple. My only regret is that I see that it isn’t Dante. Pinky, Mercy and Stryker come flying through the door, guns raised.
Pinky takes one look around before holstering his weapon, springing into action he simultaneously begins talking into the radio and getting ready to render aid. “Break, break, break,” he waits for the radio chatter to quiet “We need a medic. Second floor. Room to the immediate left. One casualty. Need of care is URGENT. Over.”
The rest of my men taking in the situation quickly dispose the rest of The Devils Posse left in the room. Loud pops ringing out like someone dancing on bubble wrap. “Fuck!” I say slightly stumbling forward as the room quiets down. Adrenaline is starting to wear off and a sudden wave of dizziness comes over me as I start to sag towards the floor. Blood is already pooling on the old stained carpet under my hanging extremity. I can feel it draining down my arm as Pinky steps in before I go down completely, holding me steady. He sets me down against the wall in the cleanest part of the room, and takes off his vest to get to his shirt. I grit out “Any excuse to have your shirt off.” He smiles as he unapologetically puts hard pressure on my shoulder to stop the bleeding. I hiss through my teeth.
“Yeah... well, I’ll let you get away with that, this one's on me. I searched them all myself. Must have had it up his ass” He shrugs but smiles. A look crosses his face that I've seen before, as he checks my bleeding.
“Don’t fucking go there. Get out of your head.” I finish as our medic Cross steps into the room and makes his way over to me. We served together and I trust him with my life. Taking off my vest he gets a better look.
“Top bullet is through and through. Bottom caught the vest and there’s pieces of it everywhere. We are going to have to clean out the wound back at the club. Worst of it is...” He pauses digging into the wound with a hemostat. Causing me to hiss and grind my teeth together. “The bullet or vest caught an artery. But I’m guessing you already knew that.” He nods down to the bloody mess under me “I’m going to ask you a question before you pass out that I already know the answer to. Do you want pain medication?” I grin.
“Hell no!” he smiles putting on more pressure and bandaging my arm close to my body. “Pinky” he looks up from checking the pulse on the men on the floor.
“Yes Daddy?” I roll my eyes at the name.
“Get the rest of the info from Bullet then put one between his eyes.”