Chapter Two #2
Anvil walks into the room looking around, taking in every man’s position and stance.
When his eyes land on Blender, he acknowledges him before moving so that he is standing where he can see everyone at once and the exit.
I close the door and go back to my place at the head of the table and take my seat.
No one says a word, just watches the man standing with his back straight, not an ounce of nervous coming off him.
To my surprise, Pope is the first to speak. “Anvil, do you know why Prez called you in here?”
Anvil pops an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything.
“I wonder how long he can stay there like that,” Remedy whispers to Hermes.
“Fifteen hours if not in direct sunlight,” Anvil answers, smirking.
“Fucking shit, there is no way. I call bullshit.” Remedy's look of shock is comical.
Anvil’s smirk grows as he tilts his head to the side. “For a mediocre mindset, I guess it seems impossible.”
The room bursts into laughter, and then I know Anvil is going to be perfect for the position. I look around the room, making eye contact with each man and getting subtle nods of yes, excluding Blender, who is still watching Anvil as if he is daydreaming of watching him bleed.
Standing, I make my way over to the man. “Anvil, now that you are back and able to be a full-time member of the club, we want to offer you Sgt at Arms.”
First the first time, Anvil shows the slightest amount of emotion. “And if I say no?”
“Then an officer position will never be yours or offered to you again. No second chances,” Blitz speaks up.
I pivot to face him, eyes cold. “Blitz, I don’t know what’s crawled up your ass, but if you don’t fix your shit, I damn well will, and I won’t be fucking gentle.”
Thankfully, the man chooses not to say anything back.
“He isn’t wrong. The club will not offer you a position later if you turn this one down. So again, I ask, would you want to be our Sergeant at Arms?” I finish, watching him, looking for any sign of an emotion and finding nothing.
With a shrug, he answers, “Yeah, that sounds fun.”
I smile at him before turning back to the rest of the men in the room. “So now we vote. All those in favor say aye.”
I hold my breath because if just one person says no, it's a fucking wash. At this rate, I would appoint a fucking jackass if it meant I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. By some miracle, everyone agrees, and just like that we’ve got our new Sergeant at Arms.
I slap Anvil on the back. “Congratulations. Take a seat so we can move on to the other things on our list.”
Anvil makes his way around the table to the empty chair that does not put his back to Blender.
Yeah, smart move. It seems Blender is itching for a fight as of late.
I make a mental note to have a conversation with Mercy to gauge the temperature so we don’t have anything sticky come up while we’re trying to figure this shit out.
“Now that we have all of our officers in place, let's move on to the two major topics at hand,” I say. The very present anger and frustration in my voice throw up a flare to my men.
Hermes stops typing on his keyboard, looking up for the first time. “I’ve heard from my friend deep in the alphabet soup.”
Leaning forward, excitement peaks its head out for the first time since the night I became Prez. “What did he have to say?”
The look on Hermes’s face is all I need to know that I will not like what he says next.
“They don’t have any solid leads on sex trafficking in this area.
Yes, they know it’s happened a lot in this area because of the ports, the school, high-powered men that like to hang out here, and it being a vacation destination.
They just don’t have a thumb on any one set of players that might be connected to us or your brother. ”
“Are you telling me that there are so many groups of people trafficking through this area that they just don’t know which one to point the finger at?” Rhino asks the question that we’re all thinking.
“That’s just it. All he would tell me was that there are too many playgrounds with too many unknowns,” Hermes answers.
“How the fuck did this happen? How did our territory turn into the playground for all these fucking assholes?” Mercy snaps.
“That’s what happens when the man at the top and in control allows all these things to flourish for his benefit,” Blitz deadpans.
“What’s the plan? How do we gain control of our territory?” Terro looks around at everyone. “They're like goddamn roaches. As fast as we exterminate one, another pops up.”
He isn’t wrong. We’ve taken care of more pimps, illegal brothels, and just dirty assholes in the last year that I don’t know how we haven’t caught the attention of prying eyes. Rubbing my chin, I let my brain run away with what this could mean and how we do away with all the fucking trash.
“Since this is my first meeting, let me ask what exactly we’ve been doing to deal with the assholes at hand?” Anvil speaks up, not looking scared but being appropriately cautious.
Terro, Hermes, Rhino, and Mercy start breaking down what has happened.
I watch Anvil process what they tell him.
He doesn’t interrupt the flow of information.
He takes it all in and processes it. They get done with the rundown of everything, and Hermes has turned his screen to allow Anvil to look at plans and locations.
After about a solid thirty minutes, everyone stops talking, and Anvil leans back in his chair with a pensive look on his face.
“Two questions. Hermes, can you send me everything you have on the sex trafficking ring we’re after? I mean everything—back to when it all fucking started. Second, do we have any of Relic's information on what he was fucking involved in?”
Hermes’s fingers don’t even stop mid-stroke. “I’ll have all to you in the hour.”
Placing my elbows on the table, “We’ve searched everything. His office, his house, and even the house that he was using for this fucking trafficking ring. There was nothing we saw.”
Anvil levels his cold eyes on me. “Although I appreciate that you all looked through things for answers, you were—and still are—emotionally fucked over the situation. Well, as emotional as some of you can be. Meaning there are things that you could have missed. Let me dig into the shit and see what I can come up with.”
“I don’t see an issue with it. A fresh set of eyes is not a bad thing considering we’ve been banging our heads against the wall for fucking months and still have little to nothing.” Terro shrugs, gaining a head nod from everyone around us.
“Have at it. Hermes can show you where to find everything.” I tell him.
“Alright, next on the agenda is a conversation I had with Giaco and the Kardoni family,” I start into the retelling of what he said.
That’s how the rest of church goes. Our talking over routes and upcoming deliveries. When we finally dismiss from church, I’m feeling claustrophobic in a place that was once my home. Now my cut and patches feel like a weight that I don’t know I am strong enough to stand under.
As I throw my leg over my bike, the sun comes from behind a cloud, and that’s all the sign I need. I start my bike and pull out of the club chasing the feeling of being able to breathe and no one’s eyes on me.