Chapter 3
Country
As ordered, Rafe, Lynch, and I remained outside the coffee shop to keep an eye on things while Viper, Menace, Axel, and Hawk went inside for the meet.
It had been almost an hour since they’d gone in, and I was growing concerned.
We all were, but we remained in our positions until we noticed Viper and the others walking out.
Their faces were void of expression, making it difficult to get a read on how things had played out during the meet.
When they approached the SUV, Lynch got out.
Before he could speak, Viper shook his head and growled, “Not here.”
Without saying a word, he got back inside the truck and waited as Viper and the others followed suit. As soon as the last door closed, Viper turned to Menace and growled, “How much do you think she knows?”
“No way to know for sure, but you heard her. She knows enough.”
“But I don’t get it. How would she get that kind of information from your fucking laptop?”
“It would depend on how well she knows her way around a computer’s hard drive,” Menace answered. “If I had to guess, I’d say it was the club’s security cameras. I was checking them while I was at Billy’s. I’m pretty sure they were still pulled up when she got access to my laptop.”
“Damn. I don’t need this shit right now.”
Even though I was curious to know what the hell they were talking about, I knew better than to ask.
It was clear Viper was pissed and needed some time to cool off, so I kept my mouth shut.
Once we were back at the clubhouse, we all followed him into the conference room.
After we were seated, Viper grumbled a line of curses under his breath, then announced, “The meet was with Billy’s daughter.
She’s been growing some kind of power-house marijuana and wants us to go into business with her. ”
“Hold up... You’re telling me Billy the Butcher has a daughter?”
“Yeah, I told you about her. Parker and I met her when we went out to Billy’s place.”
“Nah, brother. You didn’t tell me shit.” Billy was the club’s cleaner and he was incredible at his job, but the guy had always given me the creeps.
Knowing the kind of mess he was about to encounter, he’d show up at the end of some big rival shootout in a pair of fucking khakis and a dress shirt.
Then, before getting to work, he’d put on this orange hazmat suit like you might see in some apocalyptic movie.
He was so prim and proper about it, too.
Just thinking about it had me rambling off, “So if Billy has a daughter, that means Billy has had sex with someone. Ugghh. What kind of crazy-assed hooker would fuck the Butcher?”
“Oh, come on, brother. Billy’s not that bad,” Menace replied, trying to defend him.
“He’s a little off, and you know it.”
“Maybe, but Billy and who he’s screwed around with isn’t important right now,” Menace grumbled.
“The hell it’s not. We need to know the kind of crazy we’re dealing with here. A little crazy, kinda crazy, or batshit crazy. We gotta know that kind of stuff.”
“She’s not crazy.” Menace thought for a brief moment, then added, “At least, I don’t think she is.”
“Well, she hacked into Menace’s fucking computer and used what she found to request a met. She’s either got a little crazy in her or she has balls for fucking steal.”
“He’s got a point there,” Hawk snickered. “Pretty ballsy move, if you ask me.”
“Yes, it was.” Viper shook his head, “Fuck. If she was anyone other than Billy’s daughter, I’d...”
Before he could finish his thought, Axel leaned forward and interrupted him, “Well, she is, so like it or not, we can’t touch her. Might as well get that thought out of your head and decide what the hell we’re gonna do about all this.”
“Easier said than done.” Viper raked his hand over his goatee and gave it a hard tug. “We need to find out everything there is to know about this girl, and I mean everything.”
“I’ll see what I can find out.”
Hawk was the club’s sergeant at arms. It was his job to make sure things ran smoothly for the club, so I wasn’t surprised when he offered, “I could go out to her place and check things out. I can see if this business of hers is legit, then we can decide our next move from there.”
“Yeah, we need to check it out, but I’m not sending you out there alone.”
“I’ll go with him,” I volunteered.
“Me, too,” Rafe told him.
“Whatever you need, Prez,” Menace added. “Just say the word.”
“If we do this, I don’t want y’all fucking around. I want to know everything there is to know about this girl, from how she got this business off the ground to who she’s got on the payroll. I want you to see for yourself how she moves her product and who’s moving it. Leave no stone left unturned.”
“Understood.”
“Alright then, pack your bags, boys. I want you on the road first thing in the morning.”
With that, our brief meeting was adjourned.
I still had a million questions but hoped I’d get my answer to them all the following morning when we met up with Billy’s daughter.
I said my goodbyes, then left the conference room and started out to the parking lot.
I’d just made it out the back door when Rafe came rushing up beside me.
“Hey, man. What do you think about all this with Billy’s daughter? ”
“Not sure what the hell to think.” I shook my head as I got on my bike. “Could be a good opportunity for us to branch out, or it could be something that might bite us in the ass. Won’t know until we see what’s really going on.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same.” He got on his Harley as he asked, “Where ya headed?”
“Figured I’d head on home.” My mind drifted to the night before, and I shook my head as I grumbled, “I had a late night last night. Think I’ll just crash early, and then, I’ll be ready to roll out in the morning.”
“Sounds good.” Before starting his engine, he glanced over at me and smiled. “You know, one of these days, those late nights are gonna catch up with you.”
“I think you might be right.”
Rafe chuckled, then without saying anything more, whipped out of the club’s parking lot.
I took that as my cue to head out myself, and it wasn’t long before I was on the highway out to my house.
As much as I like Nashville, I liked being out in the country more, so I’d bought a barn-style home on the outskirts of the city.
It was a longer drive than I would’ve liked, but every time I pulled up to that long drive next to my thirty acres of land, the extra few minutes were all but forgotten.
When I got to the house, I took a minute to give things a once over, making sure all would be good while I was gone, then headed inside to grab a quick bite to eat.
After finishing off some leftovers, I packed a bag, took a much-needed shower, and called it a night.
By the next morning, I’d gotten caught up on my sleep and was feeling like a new man.
I grabbed a quick cup of coffee, and then, I was on my way.
When I got to the clubhouse, I wasn’t surprised to find Hawk and Menace were already there and waiting with Rafe.
I’d barely pulled into the parking lot when Hawk asked, “You all set?”
“I reckon,” I answered. “You know where we’re headed?”
“Yeah, we’re good.” Hawk gave me a quick nod. “I got the address yesterday at the meet.”
He motioned for us both to follow, and moments later, we were on our way.
I hadn’t been there to listen in on the meet, so I had no clue where we were headed when Menace took Route 70 towards Murfreesboro.
Again, I didn’t ask questions. I figured it wouldn’t be long before I knew everything there was to know about Billy’s daughter and her little business proposition.
We’d been driving for about forty-five minutes when Menace led us off the highway towards a small town between Nashville and Murfreesboro.
There were a few houses here and there, but for the most part, it was one winter wheat field after the next until we came up on a town.
With its old, country square with old-fashioned light posts and dated stores, the place reminded me of fucking Maybury.
The only thing missing was a Ford Galaxy 500 cop car with Andy Griffith behind the wheel.
We continued driving through the small town and out of the city limits.
Soon after, Hawk took a turn down what looked to be an abandoned road.
After ten or so more miles, we came up on a secured gate.
We looked around, searching for some sort of guard, but there was none to be found.
Seconds later, the gate eased up and we continued down the road.
Moments later, we were in the middle of what looked to be a religious community.
There was a large church in the center with several small houses surrounding it, and a mid-sized school with a gymnasium and a barn in the back.
Hawk pulled up to the large parking lot in front of the school and parked. As soon as we got off our bikes, I looked around at the odd-shaped houses and the hundred or so acres of land that surrounded us and asked, “What the hell is this place?”
“The sign at the gate said it’s the Langford Nature Preserve.”
“Well, I’m not getting the whole nature preserve vibe.” I nodded my head towards the old church house as I said, “I mean look at this fucking place. I’m just waiting for David Koresh to show up with his ‘Army of the God’.”
The words had barely left my mouth when two guys came out of the old school to greet us.
There was nothing all that menacing about either of them.
They were just two regular guys dressed in camo cargo pants and t-shirts.
The older of the two with the military haircut came straight up to Hawk and extended his hand as he said, “Hey, you guys must be the Ruthless Sinners.”
“We are.”
“Great. Welcome to Langford Manor.” He shook Menace’s hand. “I’m Braylon.”