GGS: Good Gaelic Souls A Biker Saga (G.G.S) (22 page)

"That works, I like it." Stax offered, and Strangler agreed. "Text Tandy, tell her to explain what's been going on to Mac, and what it's gonna be like here. He has to make a decision as quickly as possible." Stax got right on it while Strangler continued to cut lines, more out of something to do while he was thinking, than a desire for more. "Ok, lets go grab a bite to eat, everyone should be here soon and we won't have a moment to ourselves. They each took a line and headed to the kitchen. They nibbled on meats and cheese, not because they were hungry, but to keep their strength up. It was gonna be a long night. 

Chapter 15

"Castle Cruinniú"

After having a quick bite to eat, Stax took Samson on a quick tour of the Castle so that he could see all that had already been put into place. This way, he would know what was done and be able to focus only on what needed to be done from there. He marvelled at Slider's foresight, just as they all had. "Sweet Karma, he could out-think a five star General!" he proclaimed, "His attention to detail is nothing less than fucking phenomonal."

Stax looked at Samson with tears in her eyes. "Da knew that one day, a peaceful way of life would end. He prepared for it in his mind, in his daily life and for the future. It's just that he always thought that the threat would come from overseas or the government, not some biker on a power-trip. Either way, his life's work may very well be our only chance of survival."

They went back downstairs and found that after a bite to eat, Serenity and Lee had went ahead and begun bringing the tables into the Bar Room. They pitched in to set them up, but as they started bringing in the chairs, the others began arriving. Each one joined in and the job was finished in mere minutes. Afterwards they went about bringing in the snack platters and disposable dishes. Serenity found a box of ashtray's behind the bar, just as Strangler was walking up to speak with her. "Good find," he told her, as she held the top open for him to peek inside, "I need you to step up tonight sister, and fill Slacker's shoes." He advised. Serenity, caught up in the atmosphere, replied sweetly, "If a Tavern wench be your desire, t'would be my pleasure, Sire," She said, lowering her head as she bobbed a curtsy." Strangler grinned and gave her a hug, whispering "Stop that shit, you'll give these assholes ideas." Serenity giggled and whispered back, "Prepare thyself Sire, for your subjects will surely jest with thee." She made him a drink and asked Lee if she would mind helping her prepare the bar. Strangler reminded Lee to be ready with her pen and paper, as he was hoping to get started within the hour.

Stax recieved a new text from Tandy, asking if she was available to take a call from Mac. She typed back, "C
all in ten
" and went to find Strangler and Samson. They made their way back to the office and a minute later the phone rang. She placed it on speaker phone and answered. When the call was completed it had been decided that Mac's family would come to the Castle the next morning. They sat there looking at each other in disbelief. "You've got to be fucking joking?" Samson stated, "Really?
A Marine Gunnery Sergeant
,
a trained Sniper
? Wow and mother-fucking WOW!"

Strangler looked at Stax, shaking his head in disbelief, "For fucks sake, I was thrilled just to find a good concrete man, who would have guessed he would turn out to be a goddamn Super-Hero? From now on baby, you do all of the club recruiting!" With a lighter tone they began to discuss the agenda for tonight. Pen and paper in hand, Stax wrote down key points, concerns and tasks that where priorities needing to be addressed before further action could be taken. They called in the Gaelic Trio and spent the next half-hour updating each other on what had happened since they left the old Clubhouse.

Moby told them that Sheriff Bob had came back by just before they locked down the Clubhouse, informing them that he had recieved a call from several counties away. Several of the U.C. biker's had been spotted in a local pub. This time there were more of them, but he believed that the wave of fear-mongers were heading south. Seen by a State-boy at a rest stop on the interstate, he felt certain that they were meeting to update each other before moving on. "It seems that they are moving as quickly as they can, they are all riding Crotch Rockets. Were guessing that time is a factor for them." What we aren't certain of yet, is if any of them were going to be staying in our area. Now that we have new descriptions of the bikers and their bikes, new pictures will be sent out tonight." Bob had advised.

Griff informed them that Cat had brought everything for the children that she could gather up in a hurry and had emptied their home medicine cabinet. She had also sent a text to all of the moms and told them to stop at home and do the same, and to also bring what they could from their freezers.

When Strangler questioned them as to whom he needed to commend for carrying all that heavy shit upstairs, the Trio laughed. "
Nay lad, the stairs were not used,"
Moby repied, in his emerald accent, "
We took that big window out in the ballroom an used a fuckin' crane. Slider only said to get it done, he didn't mention as to how." A
fter which, Rage popped off with, "
The true bitch though, was in getting the window back in. Mo' had to call in the pro's to keep from breaking the big mother fucker and on top of that, he had to pay double for an emergency call, from his own pocket!

Laughing, they took a minute to refresh their drinks before heading out to get the cruinniú started. By now, almost everyone had arrived and those that didn't have a drink yet were in the process. Serenity and Lee were working the bar like a couple of professional bartender's on a Friday night. Fortunately for them, they didn't have to deal with those frilly foo-foo drinks. Most of the club drank their whiskey or bourbon of choice on ice or with a favorite soda, others simply preferred a stout pint of Ale. 

Slowly everyone began taking a seat and Moby was able to get a head count. "
Still missing the nurses, but everyone else is here now,  you want to give 'em a few more minutes
?" He asked Strangler. "No, they could have had a medical emergency and we need to get started, Della can update them later." he replied. "Let's just take our seats and get this rodeo started." He turned to remind Lee that she was needed now, but found that she was already seated at the end of the officer's table, tablet and pen in hand. Strangler nodded his approval in her direction, and they all took  their seats at the table.

Stax stood up and formally introduced Lee. She advised them exactly who she was, how she was thrown into this mess and why she was asked to take part in the meeting. Lee stood up, obviously nervous, and made her apologies to a room full of bikers, "Please accept my sincere apologies. Take into consideration the frame of mind that I was in, after arriving at the Clubhouse for the first time and finding Slacker beaten and left for dead. I ask only that you would consider giving me a fair chance to prove myself to be a better person than the one that you originally met." She then set down quietly to the sound of a polite applause.

Samson stood up next, and in his best Gaelic accent stated, "
Good Gaelic Souls, 'tis my great honor to present to you now, our brother and new Prez, The Strangler
!" At which point, a loud applause broke out. Ear piercing whistles and the stomping of many feet resounded off the Castle walls for several minutes.

Strangler stood and waited as they showed their appreciation and respect. Raising his glass to the crowd. "
May the road rise up to meet you
," he shouted, "
Know that you are Loved
." Each person lifted their own glass and with loud voices, replied, "Know that you are Loved." As everyone finished their toast, they sat back down and the cruinniú was underway.

"In order to make sure that we are all aware of absolutely everything that has happened, I am going to start at the beginning. No interuptions until I'm done, so turn off your cell phones now, before we begin. For the next two hours, he gave them a blow by blow of everything that had happened, what had been decided and what had been put into place up to this point. "So as you will see, when we break and you take the tour, we are already ahead of the ga-." Strangler stopped as the big door's opened and Tandy came in with Dimples, they were being followed into the clubhouse by an unfamiliar family. "Civilians in the house," he stated loudly, "Take fifteen." He motioned for the nurses to follow him and he walked towards the office. Stax immediatley got up and escorted the family into the front parlor barracks, followed by Samson and Twitch.

Strangler was pissed, everyone knew it, Tandy and Dimples most of all. Once the door was closed, he turned growling at them, "What the fuck? You knew that we were having a cruinniú tonight, and you know the rules as well as anyone. What in the name of hell were you thinking? You could both lose your fucking patch over this, explain to me why anyone should try to save your asses?"

Tandy began, "
These are tumultuous times and he is-
" Strangler stopped her with a snarl, "I
know
his fucking military background, that's not a -" This time it was Dimples that interupted him, "
What you don't know Strangler,"
She said sternly throwing caution to the wind
, "Is that a women was brought into the ER tonight. She said that she was an ol' lady of one of the smaller local MC's. She had been badly beaten and raped after being abducted from the bar she dances at
." Tandy saw that he was at least paying attention now, so she went further, "
Mac was downstairs having a smoke outside, when he overheard the cops talking about it, and they knew by her description who was responsible."

Still angry, he cut her off,  "And because he passes you this tidbit of information, you just decide to-" But Dimples couldn't take it anymore, exasperated she raised her voice another octive, "
PLEASE, Strangler, with all due respect, let us finish, let us explain. Stax would have done the same fucking thing we did!
" Her last statement didn't seem to have the effect that she was hoping for, but he didn't exactly shut her down either. "You have three minutes, go." He snarled.

Dimples spoke quickly, "
The cops said that at least one of them still had to be in the area. Strangler, the words 'Patch Over' were sliced into that womens back! But even after that, she still couldn't tell him what he wanted to know. He tortured her for information about the Castle, he thought she was one of us. She told him only that she heard rumours about it, but had no idea where it was located. He must have grabbed her by mistake.
" Dimples saw the shadow cross over his features. She continued on, but a little slower this time, "
Mac's wife was raped while he was away in the service, he absolutely refused to let us leave the hospital without someone to protect us. The guys couldn't leave Slacker and everyone else was already here. Tandy called the Sheriff, but he didn't have anyone that could escort us tonight. Damn it, we sent out several texts but nobody replied, so Mac was our last resort. He put his own family in jeopardy to get us here safe. He advised us to leave our cars in case they were being watched, and brought us here in their van. We thought that the cruinniú would be over by now and maybe he could help unload or bring shit up from the warehouse. We knew that you were expecting them in the morning anyway."

Someone knocked on the door, only a club Officer or Stax would do that right now, he reasoned. "Enter." He bellowed, as Twitch walked in with Samson. "We just spoke with Mac, have they told you yet?" Asked Samson. "Told me what?" Strangler asked, still staring at the nurses, daring them with his eyes to speak. Then he turned to Samson, "Just say it," he said, "Leave nothing out." He listened intently while Samson repeated the same story. Wearing his best poker face, Strangler poured himself a shot of whiskey, took it down quickly and poured another. He looked around at the faces in the room, waiting for him to speak."Ok, let's get back in there," he instructed, "Samson, you go get Stax, Mac and his wife. Twitch, you take their kids to Cat and send three men to the security room, now. Make sure that every outside monitor is working and angled for the best coverage. Lets get back to the meeting, we have to let 'em know what we're up against now."

Everyone was milling around, talking, refreshing drinks or grabbing a bite to eat. When they saw Strangler, they rushed back to their seats. He motioned to Mac and his wife to come stand beside him, and then asked the nurses to do the same. Introducing them to the club, he explained who they were and how Stax had met them. Following the introduction, he advised why they were at the hospital tonight and described the earlier conversation about his military background.  He informed them that Mac could be of assistance not only with the ordeal that they were facing, but later too, with laying the foundation to their new homes. He ended by advising them of what happened to the women in the ER, what Mac had overheard from the police, and finally what he had done to get Tandy and Dimples safely to the Castle. 

Still addressing the members, he gave them their options. "Due to the extraordinary circumstances surrounding us all, I would like your individual opinions. First, on what you believe to be fair treatment regarding Tandy and Dimples, and second how you feel about accepting Mac and his wife as candidates for probation. Keep in mind, that we are going to be taking care of them either way. We have promised to help them and that is what we are going to do." He paused and nodded in the nurses direction, "Are there any members here that feel that Tandy and Dimples should be reprimanded for their infraction of club policy? If so, stand up now and state your opinion." Everyone remained seated, quietly waiting for him to continue. Strangler was relieved, and instructed the nurses, "You can take your seats now, we are all thankful that you arrived home safely."