Chapter 13 #2
In the space of a few months, he had given these lads a purpose, got them off the streets, away from the drugs, and was showing them a different way of life.
Then we had our patched members—Divorce, Monster, James, Liam, Greg, Chicken, Rooster, Tools and Sunshine. Add those to our prospects, Mike, Pivot and Darwin, plus our hang-arounds, and we were doing alright for ourselves.
We also had a mole in prison, Bambi, who provided intel from the inside. He worked alongside a nomad—a member who didn’t belong to one charter—Waltzer.
“Do we know who the new president is?” Liam asked. “After Nico, I mean.”
“Well, Sam is the vice,” Dante began, only for me to scoff.
“Something to say, Vienna?” he asked, his lips twisting in amusement.
“He’s DOS as well as far as I’m concerned. That little bastard was the one who gave me this,” I said, pointing to the stitched-up wound on my head.
“In that case, no,” Dante shrugged. “No idea who the next president will be.”
“So this is going to cause a power vacuum,” Riley said.
“Here’s hoping it wipes the bastards out altogether,” Ant growled.
Dante laughed.
“Wishful thinking, but I’ll drink to that.
Look, there’s a lot of unknowns, especially taking out the president and the vice in one hit, but the Riders go against everything we stand for as bikers.
We’ll deal with them and then we’ll see what we’re up against. You’ve all got my number,” he said, looking at the presidents of the other charters.
“You let me know what the fallout is, and it’ll be handled. ”
“So what are the orders?” Tom-Cat asked.
“We do what we need to do,” I shrugged.
“Typical,” Chicken scoffed.
“Oh, look, it pipes up again,” I snapped back. “Why is it always you with the problem?”
“Why is it our wars always come from the women we’re fucking?”
“Careful,” I warned. “I’m not fucking her.”
“So what are we doing this for then?”
“We’re doing it because there’s a woman out there fearing for her fucking life,” I said, my voice low and dangerous.
“We’re doing it because that same woman is relying on us for protection.
That same woman we’re all fairly certain has spent years being abused, drugged, tortured and locked up on a daily fucking basis.
That’s why we’re fucking doing it. And after this meeting, I’ve got to go back out there and reassure her that we’re capable of keeping her safe.
So I suggest you either contribute some ideas, or you keep your fucking mouth shut before you end up like our friend Pivot here. ”
I looked at Pivot, only to burst out laughing when I saw the black sunglasses on his face.
“I had to offer the poor lad a bit of modesty,” Ant chuckled. “You’ve outdone yourself with that cock, lad.”
“Thank you,” I beamed. “I’m often complimented on my cock. Would you like to see it for yourself?”
I went to stand up, my hands flying to the zipper on my trousers, only for Dante to grab my cut and yank me back down.
“Stay focused,” he barked at me.
“Right. Focused. Got it.”
“As Vienna was saying,” Dante began. “You do what you need to do. In Leeds, we’re all on board with this.
If there are no Riders left in the city by the end of it, so be it.
But I’m not asking the rest of the charters to enter into war if you can avoid it.
Use whatever resources you have. Moles, rats, fights, scams—you name it, you use it.
Kidnap their women, burn their homes, destroy their businesses.
It doesn’t matter. There will be no consequences to come from me. ”
“So I guess fuck what the rest of us think?” Chicken scoffed.
“Did I say that?” Dante replied coolly. “The floor is yours, Chicken. We all have a voice here. But I’d caution you to use that voice well, and not just to air grievances.”
“I just don’t see the point. The last war we got into was over Rachel, and look how that turned out. We lost Zach, Crash, and even Kitty followed not long afterwards.”
“That wasn’t because of Rachel. That was because of Macbeth.
He went behind our backs to the Riders. Sure, Rachel had involvement—they used her to get to me, and brought her demons from the past back to the present.
She wasn’t the sole reason war happened, though.
Just like Gabriella isn’t the sole reason we’re doing this. ”
“Sure seems that way to me.”
“For what reason? Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like we’re doing this for Vienna. To show that an attack on our vice can’t be left unpunished. Hacksaw, you do the minutes of this meeting. Did I once mention Gabriella’s name?”
“No, boss.”
Dante raised his eyebrows at Chicken.
“We’re protecting Nico’s old lady! Of course it’s about her!”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Dante placed his hand on my arm.
“Chicken... I want you to take a moment to think about what I’m saying here—really think about it.
Nico is Gabriella’s cousin. He basically locked her up and threw away the key.
And whilst she was locked up, she was abused in the worst imaginable ways.
Ways that leave scars on your very soul.
And when she finally found a way to escape, she came to us for help.
How is that any different to any of the other women who have asked for our help?
How is that any different to us donating money to women’s shelters? ”
“Well... I suppose it isn’t, but—”
“Do I need to take this to a club majority to settle the matter?”
“No, brother,” Chicken mumbled, lowering himself down in his seat.
“Very well. Now that’s settled, let’s make one thing very clear.
We’re not doing this for one specific person.
We’re doing this for fucking survival. The aim of the game here is to show that the Devil’s mean business.
We aren’t fucking around here. We want them to give up Nico willingly, or we want to flush him out.
I don’t want a single safe area in this entire fucking country. But there is one condition.”
The entire room seemed to hold its breath.
“When you find him, you bring him here. Alive.”
“But—” Eagle tried to protest.
“No buts. The rest of the Riders are fair game, but Nico? He gets brought in alive. Anyone found disobeying that order will face unimaginable consequences. Not just for them, but their entire families—old ladies and children included. Do I make myself clear?”
The room mumbled agreements.
“And when he’s found?” Eagle asked.
Dante looked at me and grinned.
“I’ll be the one to kill him,” I beamed.
The thought almost had me salivating.
A knock at the door had us all pausing, and a second later one of the hang-arounds came in and asked if he could speak to the Lancaster president, Kevin.
“What do you think that’s about?” I asked Dante.
“Damned if I know, but I’ve got a feeling we’re not going to like it,” he said, lighting up another one of his smokes.
Less than a minute later, Kevin came back into the room, his face grim and his lips tight.
“Am I okay to have the table?” the Lancaster president asked.
“Sure, Kev,” Dante nodded, a small frown on his face.
Kevin wasn’t the type of man to speak up during these meetings. He ran one of the smaller charters and he did so quietly. So the fact that he was now centre stage willingly only proved that this was not going to be good news.
“We had this left in our van this morning,” he said, pulling out a paper envelope from the inside pocket of his cut and throwing it on the table.
“One of our prospects got a bit... handsy with one of your club bunnies last night. He took the van into the woodlands out there for somewhere more private. We retrieved the van this morning to find the prospect with his throat slashed and the bunny nowhere to be found. That was on his chest.”
“Fuck’s sake,” Hacksaw muttered, immediately pulling out his phone for the security footage.
“Delightful,” Dante muttered dryly, pulling out strands of bloodied black hair.
“Any ideas who that belongs to?” Kevin asked.
“Aye. This is Michelle, right?” he asked, handing the strands over to me.
“How the fuck would I know? It’s covered in blood, Dante. Do I look like a DNA analyst to you?”
“Looks like we got our answer, boss,” Ant replied, having picked up the envelope and found the note at the bottom. He unfolded it and placed it in the middle of the table.
You left someone behind, princess. And here I thought you wanted to save them all.
“It’s Michelle, isn’t it?” I asked with a sigh.
“It’s looking that way,” Dante replied, his face just as grim as Kevin’s had been.
“This changes nothing, lads. We know what we need to do, this just proves we need to do it more urgently. Hacksaw, you find out how he’s managed to slip past the cameras and gain access to the woodlands.
Everyone else, do what we agreed during this meeting.
Nico is not a stable man, and the sooner he’s taken off these streets, the safer it will be for everyone. ”