CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
-:- RUGER -:-
Monday morning and Penny has gone to work.
Punkin is with Nyx and I as well as all officers are called into church for an extra meeting.
Taking my seat, I wait for Pres to come in, and give Drag a questioning look.
He shakes his head. Now that can mean he doesn’t know, or he knows and isn’t telling!
Once Axel and Buzz enter the door, it is closed and the meeting starts.
I sit forward in my seat because this is interesting to hear.
But before anything can be said, there is a knock on the door, before it opens and Lincoln walks inside.
“Sorry I’m late, Pres,” Lincoln states as he takes a seat next to mine.
“Okay, now we are all here, that means we can start. I’ve spoken to Nell in the early hours this morning, and she found out some information from her guest.” Axel gives a feral grin as he leans forward with a sparkle in his eyes.
Now I can see where the twins get that look from, and it usually means trouble.
“The warehouse owner, your client Lincoln, is distributing drugs. He’s not selling on our turf, but taking it just outside our territory.
Nell has informed Vitale, so he’s interested in getting his hands on your client, Lincoln. ”
Lincoln leans forward and smirks as we listen to Axel continue speaking. “I would love to see what Vitale does to this asshole. You know Vitale has been cleaning up the mob. Taken out a lot of scum, so I’m sure one more won’t cause him to lose sleep at night.
The guy who ordered the warehouse torched did it to take out your client.
It seems that your client is responsible for four deaths in Gloversville.
One of those being the son of who I’ll keep unnamed as he’s retaliating for that death.
I would do worse if it were one of my sons, so I’m not going to get this man sent down for attempted arson. ”
“Yeah, I can agree with that, Pres. This guy needs sorting out before he kills someone else. I can’t imagine what it is like to see your child die.” I rub the back of my neck with the stress of thinking of losing Punkin.
“I want this male nurse grabbed and talked to, and I don’t care how serious this talk is.
He stops helping the nutjob, or he’ll go visit Nell.
I don’t care that he’s a male nurse, or anything else.
He ordered a hit on an innocent woman who has a child.
A woman who has gone through enough too.
So, let him know what it’s like to be a victim.
” Again, Axel gives us that look…the one that says he’d love to be with us but to make the most of it while we can.
Another knock on the door, and Buzz checks before allowing Colton to walk inside. “Sorry to disturb you, Pres. But Nyx has informed me Carol went to see Rosemarie yesterday.”
“What the fuck!” I gasp because why would she do that?
Colton looks at me and grins, “Don’t look so shocked, Ruger. These women are bored to tears and loving every minute of being sleuths. Well, that’s what they are calling themselves. I reckon they’ve been reading too much Agatha Christie.”
Drag bursts out laughing, and we all look at him because he’s not one for laughing out loud.
He shakes his head and grins. “I have to spend more time with these four. You know they are all widows of servicemen? They have the hearts of warriors, and I know they get up to no good at times, but honestly, they are amazing.”
Axel looks at Drag as though Drag has just lost his mind. Shakes his head before looking forward once more, speaking to Colton. “So, tell me what Carol found out.”
Colton fills us in on what Carol found, which really wasn’t much more than we knew ourselves. Colton however takes it a step further. “Pres, this woman is totally gone in the head. She’s not going to stop. I reckon we should arrange for her release and then finish her.”
“What about Penny and Punkin? I don’t want them to be in any danger. If Rosemarie is so far gone, we have to take her out, and I can do it. I’ll snap her fuckin’ neck as look at her,” I snarl.
“Ruger, take Buzz, BS, and Wings with you. Get what we need and if necessary, take him to Nell’s.
Nell says she’s had only a few women and a man through her place lately.
Seems abuse has gone down some, but she says although she’s pleased, she gets bored waiting for something to happen.
Anything we or Vitale have she’s happy to deal with.
Seems she has four other larger clients now, which Vitale isn’t happy about.
” Now, that has Axel smirking broadly. But we all know that Vitale wants Nell, and she’s been giving him the runaround for years.
You’d think he’d give up, but he’s doggedly determined.
“Specs, will you get Rosemarie released?” Lincoln asks.
Specs looks up from his laptop with a look on his face that asks WTF! “Of course, I will,” he responds but gives Lincoln another rather nasty look.
Holding his hands up defensively, Lincoln smirks. “Hey, I could get Bones or even Delta to get it done.”
Specs again looks at Lincoln fiercely, and before any of us know it he has launched himself over the table and punched Lincoln.
Now, church isn’t really the place to have a brawl, and I move back fast allowing Drag and Buzz to get involved.
But Lincoln is hitting back as hard as he’s being given it.
“STOP, YOU PAIR OF FUCKERS!” Axel bellows.
Drag has hold of Specs, and Buzz has hold of a grinning Lincoln. Both Lincoln and Specs have bloody noses, and Specs has blood at the corner of his mouth.
“Sit down and stop this bullshit. One more incident like this in church and you’ll both be in the fucking shed for discipline.” Axel retakes his seat, but he does it in such a controlled way it’s frightening.
After giving Lincoln a deadly look, Specs speaks to Axel. “I’ll get Rosemarie released, and then we will need to be ready to follow her. We need to wait for an opportunity to take her, but that can’t be controlled I don’t think, because she’s going to be hard to read or maneuver.”
Lincoln calmly adds. “I agree. She’s not right in the head as we know. That makes her hard to read. All we can do is follow her from the moment she leaves the facility, as Specs has said. Then play it by ear.”
Axel nods. “Okay, grab and question the male nurse. Get the nutjob out of the facility and grab her as and when possible. Then we take her out, either ourselves or Nell’s. I don’t care as long as she’s dealt with. Anything else?”
“Yeah. Penny and I are getting married eight weeks on Saturday. We want the wedding here, and if you can marry us Pres, that would be great. I’ll speak with Mia about the clubhouse and compound being ready.
” I get that out on the table fast because really time can’t be wasted. Eight weeks isn’t long after all.
“Mia has already primed me about you getting married. Apparently, Star is keeping Mia up-to-date on things. I’ll marry you, of course I will.” Axel rolls his eyes, and I smirk because honestly, he’s got that habit from the women and I’m not sure he even recognizes that he does it.
“Okay, then,” I reply and sit back with my arms folded across my chest.
“Update me when things get done.” Axel stands from his seat and heads to the door, but stops and points at Lincoln, then Specs. “You two, stop with the fooling around. You both do good jobs. Don’t spoil that with pettiness. Lincoln, stop winding Specs up.”
“Okay, Pres.” Lincoln smirks, then has the cheek to wink at Specs who scowls back at him.
Walking into the kitchen to get a bottle of water to take with me on our trip to get this male nurse. I stop when I see Axel, hands on hips and looking at Amelia sternly.
“What? We have to be prepared,” Amelia pouts. Yeah, she does…she pouts, which is so unusual that I place a hand over my mouth to stop the huge smile on my face.
“Get them out of the fuckin’ kitchen,” Axel snarls and points at Amelia, then Bitty and lastly Sybil.
Now all three look defiant and fold their arms while scowling at Axel. Mia is doing her best to calm the situation as she’s running her hand down Axel’s forearm and giving him a look that says, ‘cool it.’ But honestly, I don’t think that’s working.
“We don’t have weapons around the kitchen.
Mia already told me that you were hiding weapons in here.
Hunter knife in the pantry! Really? Why do you need that in there?
Oh, and a Sig in the drawer with the cooking pans, not to mention the baseball bat in the utility closet.
” Axel sounds exasperated. Now, Lincoln, Drag, Buzz, myself, oh, and let's not forget Mia, Jo, and Destiny are watching this shitshow with more amusement than anything else.
Looking around, I don’t see Meat anywhere. “Where’s Meat?” I ask Drag who is standing beside me.
“On a promise. Been on a promise for forty-eight hours now.” Drag sighs, but says no more.
“That’s a long on a promise,” I mumble while rubbing my chin. “Now, Penny said I don’t need to be ‘On a promise,’ but if they last that long then maybe I actually do want one?” I hadn’t realized I'd said the last out loud.
Drag gets my attention. “His promises seem to last longer than anyone else’s. They are getting as bad as Knuckles and Jo. But they at least keep it to their house and the treehouse.”
Axel finishes berating the three of them and speaks to Buzz. “Get Jack in here. He can watch these three remove all the weaponry they’ve stashed, and then he can keep his eye on them. I want a report at the end of each day.”
“Okay, Pres.” Buzz responds, and rushes out of the kitchen to find Jack. I thought it was Jack’s day to do as he likes, but it has gone up in smoke now thanks to these three.
Walking over to Mia who is watching Axel leaving the kitchen. “Mia, can I ask if you need me to do anything for the wedding?”
Smiling at me, Mia pats my forearm. “No, I have everything under control. I have the date now, as Penny messaged Star, and Star messaged me. I’ll speak to Penny, but give me her number and I’ll contact her directly. It’ll be easier that way, rather than going through Star all the time.”
“Are you coming, or not?” Wings asks from where he’s standing in the kitchen doorway.
“Yeah, coming.” I kiss Mia’s cheek and quickly follow Wings out to our bikes. We are going hunting for the asshole who puts hits on women. My woman, and he’s not going to like what’s coming to him.
Two hours later, we are waiting near the facility after Specs confirms the male nurse called Fred is due off shift in ten minutes. I’m ready, and I can see Wings is buzzing. BS and Buzz are watching Wings closely, and I’m wondering if I should be concerned or not?
BS points and I follow the direction to see a man of medium height, short brown hair, a bit on the pudgy side, and who looks rather rough to say he’s a nurse.
We follow him to his vehicle and from there take it in turns to ride behind him.
One of us veers down a street, stopping in front of a house, while another one tucks in behind him.
He’s oblivious to what is happening, and when he pulls up at a run-down house we gather at the end of the street and park our hogs.
“I’ll stay with the bikes,” BS says while calmly looking around. “Make it quick because people are going to spot us.”
I follow Buzz and Wings, and I can tell you they both move swiftly and quietly. At the back of Fred’s house, we see him in the kitchen, shoving something into his mouth. Now, he’s not a nice eater either. One of those who chew with their mouths open and bits falling out. Sheesh, it’s just nasty.
I’m a little slow when Buzz rushes forward, shoulders the door open and is inside before I’ve moved an inch. Wings is right behind Buzz and looks over his shoulder, giving me a chin lift to follow. Fuckin’ hell, I need to sharpen up.
Buzz has the asshole in a chair and shaking before you can say ‘Jack shit.’ Leaning over him, Buzz snarls. “We know you put a hit out on Penny. Don’t even try to deny it. We know you screw that nutjob Rosemarie, too. So, what are you getting out of all this apart from getting your dick wet?”
Stuttering Fred tries to respond, but when we see his pants getting wet, we look at each other showing how disgusted we are. I can’t help but speak out. “You are a coward, and your pants verify that fact. You paid someone to make the hit, now we want their name and how to contact them.”
“I, I, I, I did it…” Fred stutters.
“You did what?” I snap.
“The…the…hit. I did it.”
Snarling, I lean forward and am nearly nose-to-nose with this asshole.
“You shot at my woman?” I grab the front of his neck and squeeze.
He struggles and grabs at my fingers, but I’m seeing red.
I can hear Buzz and Wings speaking, but I’m not registering what they are saying to me.
I’m busy choking the life out of this asshole and enjoying the fact.
It’s not until I realize the fucker is dead that I let go of him.
Stepping back, and shaking my head to get clarity back to me.
“Well, that’s the way to do it.” Wings chortles, and as I look at him he winks which I admit defuses how I’m feeling.
Slapping my shoulder, he speaks again. “Nice job, Ruger. He’ll not be taking potshots at anyone else.
You can bet this fucker has a history with some dirty shit.
Let’s contact Pres and see how he wants us to deal with this. ”
I take a seat and look at Fred, not feeling any remorse I have to admit. Buzz slaps my shoulder and surprises me. “If he had threatened my woman, I would have got rid of him, so don’t feel bad about this, Ruger. Any of us, or I should say all of us would do the same.”
On orders from Pres, we open the gas line behind the stove, and thank the fact he lives detached. Setting a tea light candle on the table it’s only a matter of time. We hear the boom as we are leaving town, and I grin because that’s one asshole less in the world.