Chapter Thirteen
S everal days later , Pat stood in church. Rusty looked like shit, but he was moving around. He was pale but was attempting to tell jokes. Only, no one, including Rusty, seemed to be in a good mood.
The last couple of days, they had attempted to house the dogs, but it was a lot of fucking dogs.
By some kind of miracle, Hellen was able to sound the alarm, and without any plan, just began to open the cages.
Not all the dogs were accounted for. Some were found wandering around town.
A couple had been taken by the families who were in the process of adoption.
It was a big fuckup.
“Dylan confirmed. The bodies of that mother and daughter were discovered in her house within twenty-four hours after the hit on the garage,” Bull said.
“Shit,” Rusty said. “That kid couldn’t have been any older than five or six.”
“That makes it cartel,” Sweet said. “Right. The cartel are the only ones I know that will hit at kids and women.”
“Where’s Ranford?” Grant asked, after several seconds of silence.
Pat had a feeling that mother had no choice but to lure them out to the car. The cartel had a way of hurting people. They promised them riches, and when the time came, it was always taken from them and they always ended up dead.
No one got to profit off the cartel, other than the cartel. They never turned a blind eye to a missing fortune. The guns, the drugs, the money, even the women all had to be accounted for. The cartel could do what the hell they wanted. Anyone else had to be kept in line.
“He reached out. He’s got his army. He’s building it and says he’s on the way to Carnage,” Bull said.
“Do you fucking believe him?” Grant asked.
There was a long silence.
“No,” Bull said. “We don’t have time to wait for Ranford to hit the cartel. We take matters into our own hands.”
“How?” Rusty asked. “The cartel is here. We did everything we could ... we have checked everyone and everything.”
“Then you’re missing something.”
They turned to see Doc step into the room. Pat figured his dad had gone back to the cabin. He had left the club a long time ago.
“What is there to miss?” Rusty asked. “We know the locals. We know everyone here, and we checked.”
“Do you?” Doc asked. “The last time I checked, unless you have a town of about a hundred people, there is no clocking or knowing who from what. Carnage is a thriving town, and in case you fucks didn’t notice, it’s a fucking run-through, from place to place.”
“Doc, don’t,” Bull said.
“Keep your heads in your asses all you want. My son is still part of this fucking club, and this club is still responsible for this fucking town. I may hate all the people in it and despise this club, but it is still my town. Stop thinking as the club. You got to start thinking like the cartel.” Doc pointed his finger toward Bull.
“Are you trying to tell me how to run this club?” Bull asked.
Pat stayed silent. His dad shouldn’t be speaking up, and certainly not talking to Bull like that.
“No,” Doc said. “I’m trying to keep you all alive.
That is what I’m doing. Your dad fucked this whole thing up, and trust me, boy, I’m not here to take this club.
I’m here for the town, I’m here for my son, and I guess a part of me is here for the club.
No matter what your father did, my girl loved this club.
She died for this club. I’m not going to let it rot because of what your father did. He doesn’t get to have the last laugh.”
Bull was silent, as was the rest of the club.
Everyone agreed with Doc. That made it worse.
All this shit was because of Bull’s dad aligning forces with the cartel.
It was greed, plain and simple. The club had been paying for those sins long after he was dead.
They were still paying for them. The cartel was strong, but the truth was, they had never really come against the club.
Not really. The club had always been a force to be reckoned with.
“What’s your point?” Bull asked.
“The cartel doesn’t need to be living here in Carnage to come in, do their damage, and hightail it out of there.
There was a reason the cartel targeted your dad and the club.
We all know this. Carnage is a damn fine honey spot.
We all know it. Your dad thought he had control, and in the beginning, he sure as shit did.
The cartel knew what they were doing. It’s part of their MO.
Reel them in, dope them up, get them dependent, which is where your father went wrong.
Sure, he was a piece of shit and fucking scum, but he was a fine President.
He did wonders for this club, until he smashed it into the ground.
The drugs did that. The money did that. It poisoned him.
The cartel never planned for this club to still be standing today.
They want this town. It’s lucrative. It’s accessible.
You need to stretch further afield. The cartel split up and have little gangs, like the ones you have already dealt with.
The cartel has stepped up their game, which means you got them worried.
I’m not going to say they’re scared, but they’re not going to draw you out.
You need everyone, you need strong, fast, and no breaking.
That’s the only way you’re going to defeat the cartel. ”
With that, Doc nodded at Bull, then turned around and left. Pat looked toward Bull, and waited for the signal to go.
Bull waved his hand, and Pat got to his feet, making his way out of the church meeting, and going to his father. He got to him once they were outside.
“Dad, wait,” Pat said.
Doc turned around and looked at Pat.
“Why don’t you stay?” Pat asked. From the moment his father had left, not once had Pat asked him to stay.
It seemed wrong. Pat knew what he had gone through.
What he lost. Asking him to stay had been selfish.
Now, it wasn’t selfish. It was strange to him, without seeing his father, he didn’t miss him.
It wasn’t like a compulsion to see him. Now, he felt different.
Life was fucking short, and going weeks, months, even years, without dropping in to see his father, or even mentioning him felt fucking wrong.
“This isn’t my place anymore.”
“Is that because you want Bull’s place?” Pat asked.
“I don’t fucking want his place. I never wanted his place, Pat. For fuck’s sake, is that what you think?” Doc asked.
“Why won’t you come back?”
“Because every memory I have of her is here,” Doc said.
And then, Pat saw the real pain in his father’s eyes.
“Dad, Mom wouldn’t want it to be like this.”
Doc sighed. “Now that you have a good woman, you will start to understand what it feels like. Do me a favor, when you can, think about losing Ava. Think about someone ripping her away from you, and you not getting the chance to tell her you love her, that you want to be with her. Imagine that, and then tell me you would want to be in the same place you loved that woman, you conceived a child with her, made memories with her, and then watched her get killed because you couldn’t save her.
I’ve got nothing against the club, son. Never have.
I’ve kept an eye on things when I could.
This place is too raw. It’s like I can hear her chuckle.
Every time I turn around, I want to see her smiling face, because that was how it was when she was alive. This is all I want. I can’t have that.”
Pat nodded. “I’m sorry, Dad.”
“The next couple of weeks, hell, even the next few months are going to be tough. You’ve got to be ready for everything I’ve taught you.”
“I’m ready,” Pat said.
Doc nodded, and then Pat was surprised as his father came to him and gave him a hug that was so tight, it nearly stole his breath. “I’m proud of you, son. So damn proud, and that girl, she is a keeper, regardless of her age, okay?”
“Yeah.”
And with that, his father let him go.
Pat stayed in the parking lot and watched him leave. He missed his old man, and it was only now he realized how much.
Heading back inside, he sat down at the church table, where everyone looked deadpan.
“What did I miss?” Pat asked.
“Nothing,” Rusty said. “We all took a moment while we waited to remember your mom.”
The club never talked about what happened before.
It was a stain on the club history. Pat sat there and nodded, feeling a tightness in his throat as the club brothers who had been there with Bull’s father, as well as the newbies, respected his mother.
She had been a fine woman. A casualty of their war.
She was someone who shouldn’t have died, especially not by Bull’s father’s hand.
“What’s the plan?” Pat asked.
He was not going to cry in front of his club brothers. That shit was not happening. They had some hunting to do.
“For now, we need to focus on the dogs, but after, we’re going hunting.”
“Don’t you think we should attack now?” Rusty asked. “After all, these sons of bitches shot me, and even if my life isn’t worth shit, they put dogs at risk. Now, I can handle being shot at. It’s fucking fun, but dogs, they didn’t do no shit wrong, and now I am pissed.”
Bull sighed. “I get that you’re all angry.
I’m with you all on this. But it doesn’t change the fact we still got to handle business.
This time, the town has to come first, because they were all there to help pitch in, and they didn’t have to.
They could have told us all to go fuck ourselves.
We take care of the town, and in the meantime, you find them, and you do so without them even knowing.
Then, we will go hunting, and I fucking promise you, they are going to regret targeting us. ”
And with that, church was dismissed.
He saw Rusty was pissed. Pat left the room, and made his way toward Rusty.
“How are you holding up?” he asked.