Chapter 11
Gunner
Axel was sitting on the bar stool again. An emergency Church session had been called and Glock had called me to say that they needed me there. I was still angry with Brooklyn and how stubborn she was being. I couldn’t believe that she knew the guys at Dragon Knights and I wanted to believe that she had no idea what they were involved in.
“Quiet!” Axel called out and the hush died down in the bar. I was standing with Glock, Hunter, Sniper and Tank, and Axel and the others were looking at us.
“What did you find?” Axel asked and Tank was the one to speak first.
“We went to the warehouse like you asked us to, and at first everything seemed normal. Just a warehouse full of storage units,” Tank said and Axel nodded his head.
“Then this girl turned up. She was in tears and one of the guys yanked her around. She said that some chick called Candy had upset one of their clients by crying,” Glock continued and Axel fixed his eyes on me.
“So, what do you think is going on, Gunner?” Axel asked me and I clenched my jaw.
“They’re running a prostitution ring. They’re getting these girls to sleep with men for money. We don’t know who these clients are but there is definitely money involved and from what we saw; these guys don’t treat the girls well,” I said and Axel and I were staring at each other. He could see how pissed off I was.
“Motherfuckers,” he cursed under his breath, but loud enough for us to hear.
“This goes against every code for us,” Thor chipped in and people around us had started talking again.
“What do you think we should do, Gunner?” Axel asked me and I took in a deep breath. I was surprised that Axel had sought out my advice so soon. It must be because of my family, which filled my chest with pride. My father would be proud.
“They need to be taken out before more girls get involved,” I said and I couldn’t help but think of Brooklyn. I had no idea how she was involved with the Dragon Knights, but I wasn’t going to give up. I needed to get her out of their grasp, whatever hold they had on her.
“And we need to rescue the girls,” Hunter added and the others in the bar were nodding their heads and agreeing with what was being said.
“I can’t have this on my territory. It’s bad business,” Axel said, in a faraway voice like he was thinking.
“So, what are we going to do?” Sniper asked and Axel looked at us again.
“We’ll have to take them out,” he said and a louder chatter erupted in the bar.
“We can’t just take them out, Axel. There are rules,” Thor said to him, but I was glaring at Axel and he was glaring back. We were both thinking the same thing.
“This is what needs to be done. They’ve broken the rules by getting girls involved in this,” Axel said, snapping at Thor.
“We’ll be risking men’s lives,” Thor said and Axel looked around the bar.
“Who is too much of a pussy to not fight it out with the Dragon Knights and stop a prostitution ring?” Axel asked in a louder voice and a silence blanketed the bar again. Nobody raised their hand or stepped forward and I found a grin emerging on my face. In that moment, Axel reminded me of my dad. He knew how to get his way around here and the men respected him for it.
Axel looked back at Thor.
“There are the lives of innocent girls here at stake. It’s a prostitution ring, fucks sake. Which means that girls are being held against their will and being forced to have sex,” Axel said and I clenched my hands on my sides. The more we spoke about this, the more anxious I was to get to Brooklyn. She needed to distance herself from the Dragon Knights as quickly as possible. Even if that meant her leaving town. Even if that meant that I might never see her again. I had to get that woman safe.
“Tomorrow night,” Axel said and everyone began talking loudly. “The operation needs to happen tomorrow. We cannot let this continue for a day longer,” he added and I nodded my head.
While the others talked, I stepped up closer to Axel.
“This is what your father would have done, Gunner, and I can see you have his fire. Just like Bryce did,” Axel said and I clenched my jaw. He had no idea.
“I’ll be there,” I said to him in a low deep voice and he must have seen the burning flames in my eyes, because he reached out and thumped my shoulder.
“I know you will,” he said.
“But right now, I have to go and take care of something else. I need to leave,” I said to him and he seemed to hesitate for a few seconds.
“Go on,” he said and I turned and ran out of the bar, before Glock or one of the others could stop me.
I needed to find Brooklyn and I needed to make sure that she was nowhere near those bastards.
How had this happened? How had I fallen for the one woman out of everyone in Long Beach, who might get caught up in this crossfire between us and the Dragon Knights?
I didn’t want to imagine that she knew what was going on. She didn’t seem like she did. I was angry because she was being naive and stubborn, but I knew she had no reason to trust me.
I got on my Harley and rode off in the direction of PJ’s. I curse under my breath as I realized that I didn’t even know where she lived.