“I don’t want everyone so close together. If the Hempcan suits are looking for us, I don’t want to put a target on the Rage Ryders MC. The Rage Ryders just relocated. They are a new chapter so they need time to build just like the Rebellions 4 Blood MC. I want to ease into this thing with them. From Cedars Line Reserve, we will still be able to do what we need. The upside, we will have more privacy but the downside is we will first have to set up some beds. Trigger, you will oversee the computer shit. Shield and Stealth are good in that area too. They will also be getting everything delivered that we’ll need. The utilities and everything should be done today. Shield and Stealth should be arriving there any time now to make sure everything gets handled.” I look at my brothers and they all look like they understand the change in plans. I hear my burner phone start to ring and I look at the clock and it has to be the call we have been waiting on. I accept the call.
Me: “You got me.”
Kid: “Hey, this is Kid, President of the Rage Ryders chapter here in Templeton Texas. I’m lookin’ for the BlackPath President. He’s expecting my call. Would that happen to be you?”
Me: “Chief here. Yes, I am President of the BlackPath MC. I am going to get right to it, there is shit stirring. A company that has been trying to take over the drug trade from Colorado to Oklahoma is now down here in Texas. They are setting up shop close to your territory. All the intel we have is pointing to there. These assholes do not care what means they have to use to get what they want. That includes hurting women and children. They even have ties to human trafficking. Our club is clean. We try staying on the right side of the law but if they bring their trade here then the boys south of the border are going to be pissed and there will be a full fledge blood war going on in our territories. I want to head it off before it starts if we can work together.”
Kid: “I have’ta officially take it to the table for a vote. After sayin’ that, I know my men. We’re all anti-drugs. We won’t accept them in our territory and we won’t sit by while they are transported through our town either. Either way, I’m sayin we’ll be there to help with the stopping of this drug war heading our way. All assistance will be offered and accepted.”
Me: “I can understand your position on it. There is another club that is moving not far from your territory. It is closer than I am here and a few of my brothers and I are going to be making the trip and staying at their clubhouse. We are going to poke around and see what we can find out. They usually hire locals and use them for grunt work.”
Kid:” After our official vote, I will be bringin’ in some new prospects. I will get ‘em training and ready for war. That is exactly where it feels like we’re headin’ from this conversation alone. I will start preparing and I will keep in contact with you and whoever your most trusted men are. I don’t trust easily, but Wasp trust you and I trust him with my life. So, I’m tellin’ you we’re solid.”
Me: One more thing. These suits do not get close when they do the dirty work. They like explosives so be on the look-out. I’m hoping by the time we get there that we have more information. So, do you think this is something we can work on together? I can tell you I want to get a step or two ahead of this.”
Kid: “I’m positive that my men will go along with whatever it is we come up with to keep everyone and their families safe. We are building here and any assistance would be greatly appreciated man.”
Me: “The brothers and I will be arriving later this afternoon or early evening. I will call to set up a meet when we arrive for tomorrow. I think the sooner we get on this the better.”
Kid: “Sounds like a plan. I will have a meetin’ with the guys, get the official vote and be awaitin’ word from you. In the meantime, this is my personal cell, please call when you’re rollin’ through town and I will have you an escort ready and waiting.”
Me: “Sounds good. If this goes down in your territory, then you are in charge. If not, then we have the lead, but it will be a joint operation if you and the Rage Ryders decide that is what you want. I know you are limited on brothers right now but I have back-up if we need them. No one is going to be left hanging. We don’t know each other. I know the same way the Rage Ryders needs to earn our respect but the BlackPath MC needs to earn yours. I want this to be a relationship we can build on for both our future needs.”
Kid: “We will work together and learn to trust. I also can have some back up if needed. We are in good standing with a few other clubs that are Texas charters and I can have them here within’ a day or two when needed. Keep me in the loop and we’ll have no issues between us. President to President, I give you my word that we will help however we can. Lookin’ forward to forming an alliance with you and yours.”
Me: “Sound good. I will call or text when we arrive and are ready to meet. Later.”
All the brothers are looking at me until ZMan finally asks.
“What do you think? Are we going to be able to depend on them?” ZMan is waiting but I don’t want to be too fast to make this decision. I just go with my gut.
“Kid sounds young, but weren’t we all at one time? He also sounds like he is in control of his club and he wants what is best for the club not just himself. That shows the sign of a good leader. He made some good points and he never hesitated. My gut says that we can trust him but just like I told him respect is earned. We need to earn theirs just like they need to earn ours. Time will tell but my gut says to do this.” That is exactly what we will do. Cautiously.
“We always go with our guts. It’s what has kept us alive so far.” Tazer says and he is right.
“I’ve only heard good things about the Rage Ryders.” Trigger says.
“Brains keep digging and update me with anything. Driller and ZMan keep things going until we get back. We leave in ten.” It’s time to do this. I have just enough time to tell my woman I am gone. I head down the hall to our room and open the door and I see the boys are taking a nap and Em has went to sleep with them. I make my way over to the two beds of the boys and kiss their heads then kiss my woman. I look at the over- crowded room. Time to expand. I go to my dresser and write Em a short note. When she wakes up I don’t want her to think I left without checking in on her. I put the note on my pillow where she will find it. Time to get on the road. I leave before I decide not to. I stop back by my office and pick up my extra weapon. I send a fast text off to Tazer and Trigger. We might as well be cautious on our way in. I open my closet, put on my extra protection, and turn to leave. I make it to my bike without being stopped. Tazer and Trigger are both waiting on me. “Keep your eyes open on the way. From here on out, safety first. These assholes would put a bullet in our backs if they get a chance.”
“Until we get some answers no one is safe. We just have to stay on our game.” Trigger states the obvious and he is right.
“My phone is synced to our headsets so we can all hear if we are close together. Let’s test the intercom speakers.” We each speak into them and make sure they working. We nod and mount our bikes. This is going to be a long four hours. We should be there way before dark. We each start our bikes and file out. Maybe I’ll have enough time to clear my head. Three hours into our trip and I decide we should top our tanks off and grab a bite to eat before we finally get to Cedars Line Reserve. I speak into my headphone. “Let’s refuel and get some food.” I see Trigger nod. Tazer never turns down food so I know he will be ready. I pull up to the gas pump. Tazer and Trigger do the same. I pull out my card and start filling my tank. I see my brothers are doing the same.
“We should call Shield and let him know we are getting close.” Trigger is right.
“I’m finished so I’ll get us a table inside.” Tazer gets back on his bike and rolls to the front of truck stop so we can keep an eye on the bikes while we eat. I pull out my phone to send text to Shield.
“You know Stealth is the VP. Sooner or later you two are going to have to communicate.” Trigger knows me so well. Stealth and Shield are not only club brothers but they are blood brothers bu
t are as different as night and day. I prefer Shield to Stealth. Trigger and I finish up and roll our bikes over by Tazer’s. Just as we are about to go inside I catch sight of a white van out of my peripheral vision. It’s pulling up close to us but goes the other direction at the last minute. I am just being too jumpy today. Trigger and I go inside and we all three fill our bellies with greasy truck stop food. When we get up to leave I have an incoming text from Stealth. Short and to the point.
Stealth: Meeting you outside of town to show you the way in.
Me: Ok.
Nothing else to say. We pay our bill and make our way back to our rides. It doesn’t take us long to get back on the road. It’s been a beautiful day for a peaceful ride. The road has been nearly deserted. We have been able to get our legs stretched out until I hear a ping and then another. I see Trigger go down and off the edge of the road and into the ditch. I have just enough time to get Shield on the line. “Under Fire.” I get my gun out and I see the van come up beside me and the doors slide open. I only have seconds to make my mind up. I lay my bike down and slide. Fuck! This is going to hurt. I see Tazer has gunned his gas and goes around. Shooting and trying to cover me. My line is still open to Shield. I hear him yelling but can’t make out the words. “Back up needed.” I feel myself rolling. I’ll be lucky if I don’t get myself run over. I shoot at the van and the one man sticking out shooting falls. My bullet found its mark but I don’t know if he is out of commission yet. I see Tazer has turned his bike around and he is on a collision course with the van with his gun blazing. I make my way over to the man on the ground and take his gun. He’s barely breathing. I watch as the van swerves and speeds off.
Tazer almost goes down but he corrects as he is coming back for me. I turn to look for Trigger. I see him waving his hands. It looks like he is pinned down by his bike. “Shield, are you there?” I hear the bikes before I can see them. Tazer has made it to me. I throw my helmet off. “Go check Trigger and then we’ll get my bike moved.” Tazer moves to help Trigger. I see Shield and Stealth pull up beside me. “How the hell did you two get here so fast?” I trust Shield as far as I trust anyone. He saved my life once.
“We were already on our way. Sarge got a tip that there was going to be a hit on a MC president today. He called to make sure you had made it. He told us to come meet you just to be safe. He also gave Devil and Krill a call to give them a warning.” I look at Stealth considering what he has said.
“Anyone call Kid? If they hit us on the road they may hit Rage Ryders too.” I take out my phone a send Kid a text and tell him what has happened. I send a text to Driller too to give him an update. Shield has gone over and is helping Tazer and Trigger to get my bike off the road. Stealth and I make our way to them. Trigger is taking his Kevlar vest off.
“Good thing you told us to vest up. Their first shot hit me in the back. The second took my back tire out. They had damn silencers.” Trigger had his breath knocked out of him but he will be ok. My bike not so much. Someone will bleed for that. I look towards the body. I walk over to the man and he isn’t breathing now. Well, damn. Not getting answers from him. Hempcan has stepped up their game. This is not going to end any time soon. I just hope we can work with the Rage Ryders MC and Kid.
“Prospect is bringing a truck and trailer. Chief your ride isn’t too bad. Looks like it is fixable. Trigger’s needs a tire and he’ll need some body work and paint.” Shield tries to help.
“Let’s get our stories straight and call the cops. We are not getting caught with a dead body. Tomorrow we meet with the Rage Ryders.” Stealth looks like he is going to bust.
“No cops. We’ll do clean up.” Stealth has got to be kidding.
“You can make the call or me but it is going to happen. This is too open here. I will not cover it up. If you need me to call Sarge then I will do it. I will not take the chance of this coming back on any of us.” Shield steps in between Stealth and me. Stealth runs his hands through his hair.
“Ok, old man. We’ll do it your way this time.” Stealth agrees reluctantly. “Let’s get it done and get off this road.” I agree. Hopefully tomorrow goes better.
Chapter Six
Kid
“Alright guys, you heard the conversation, we need to take a vote. All in favor of working with BlackPath say aye, those opposed say nay.”
I’m not surprised as I hear not one nay. My men do not like drugs and do not take kindly to being intimidated or pushed out of our territory. We took this territory the way it’s supposed to work in our world. We held meetings with other MCs around the area, we talked with the cartel and mob. Got the approval for building a Rage Ryders charter here. This is our agreed upon territory and no one is coming in to threaten my club and our ladies. We’ve already gone through our own punishments when it came to our ladies. Kidnappings, threats that we fought and climbed our way out of each one of those messes. Not happening again, I will fight to the death.
“We need to make preparations for possible guests, they may prefer to be here instead of in a motel close by. We need to officially vote in our prospects and still recon for more. We need numbers and we’ll need them soon. Travler, get on the phone and let Wasp know we’re going to need more men immediately. No pussy footin’ around here. Ryder, call Uncle Jed so we can get his crew up here. Any men he can spare I want them, no I need them here yesterday. Beg for Hawk please, we need that sadistic son of a bitch on our team. I have a feelin’ this is gonna get messy.”
“Want to go over prospects before we end this meetin’, Kid?” Ryder asks.
“Absolutely, get their files and let’s go over our list.”
“Be right back, do you want me to make the call while I’m getting the files?”
“Yes, you as well Travler. We will meet back here in thirty minutes. Be prepared.”
• • •
The next two hours are spent with us going over possible prospects and who we can bring in as a hang around. Hang arounds become potential prospects and we need to get the ball rollin’ immediately and grow our club in numbers. If Chief is right, we’re gonna need as many available troops as possible. I hope we have some time to get straight before we head to any type of war.
Grabbing my cell phone for the first time since we started meetings today I see a missed text form Chief. Fuck. There’s word of a possible attack on an MC President. Since we have no clue who that is we all need to be on high alert. I’m fixin’ to piss off some very testy women.
I go into the bar where all my guys are sittin’ and discussin’ possibilities to keeping our town safe. I walk up to them at the bar and tell them
“We have a code red.” I’m using code since some of these guys present are hangin’ around tryin’ to get recognized. I can’t let too much information flow freely about possible club interactions.
“Your shittin’ me.” Ryder yells
“What do we do boss?” Tumbler asks
“What the fuck?” comes from Travler. My men were sailors in a past life according to Riley.
“We’re fixin’ to have some very pissed off women on our hands gentlemen.” I state. Bring the women and kids in on lockdown. Get the voted prospects here immediately, time to get them started now. I don’t want the women driving here on their own and I don’t want us separated, therefore we go in pairs to get the Ol’ ladies. Understood?”
I get agreed head nods from my men till’ Travler brings my attention around to the hang arounds.
“Boss, do we want to try and see if any of these hang arounds want to help out? We could promise a prospect position to any who are willing to put themselves on the line for us.”
“Quick vote here, we don’t have time to get to the meetin’ room. All in favor of offering these guys a chance of becoming a prospect if they stay and help out say aye, those opposed say nay.”
I get a unanimous aye.
“Very well, then get it sorted and let’s get our families on lockdown. No one is to be alone from this point forward. We
go in pairs or groups, nobody is left alone, including prospects.”
I slam my hand down on the bar ending our impromptu meeting. I turn and go to my office. I need Riley to get bags packed and I need to shoot a message out to Chief. We have more than enough room here for them to stay so we can strategize where we go from here.
Text to Chief: We have plenty of rooms available for you and your men. You can come here so we can make a strategic plan. We’re calling for a complete lockdown. Will have some new prospects and possible hangers to stay. Please let me know if you plan to head this way and how many rooms you’ll need.
Then I get ready for a phone call I’m sure my nuts are in hidin’ for. I call my wife.
• • •
Chief: Coming that way. Two of my brothers and two from the Rebellions 4 Blood MC. Maybe more in a few days.
Me: Yes, we can meet those accommodations and are lookin’ forward to working with you on this endeavor. You will have no worries on food or rooms. I have plenty since we are not yet at full compacity. And yes, we have room for more men if your wanting the other members from your friendly clubs to come and assist. Also, if you need assistance in clean up let me know, I can be there in 45.
Chief: No assistance needed. May need a doc to look at one brother. We need a sit down to iron details out. I want to hit these bastards hard and without mercy.
Me: Alright, we’ll be waiting for you here and we can call a meetin’ of all charters involved. We must prepare for war and retaliation of your ambush. TTYS
“Let’s get a move on it now! Whoever’s not stayin’ get the fuck out. We need the families here in less than 45 minutes. We have company rollin’ in hot and we must be prepared. That means rooms, bathrooms and kitchen stocked up. Get a prospect on the shopping and another on the preparations. It’s time they learn what it means to be a prospect.” I announce as I head for the door myself.
When Clubs Collide Page 13
