Man Of Steel (7 page)

Deke,
D’angelo
,
Stryder
, and their boys
Marcel and Nate were waiting for me at the clubhouse. The house was more like a
compound with a few buildings scattered here and there. There was a safe house
for those severe cases when we were dealing with an especially vicious asshole
who
was set on total destruction.

 
There was a bike shop where some of the
guys were getting a business off the ground, a repair shop, a gaming hall and a
few that needed to be kept under wraps from my former colleagues. I had no
problem whatsoever with that shit, I’d seen first hand how much the system
didn’t always work, and where the holes were that needed patching.

With that in
mind I’d been the one to spearhead our little operation here when it came to
security and our weapons cache. Everything was registered according to the law,
well that’s my story anyway, what the fuck. I have a daughter to protect
there’s no way I’m leaving that shit in anyone else’s hands. If the law doesn’t
want their criminal element being taken out by vigilante justice then they
should keep their
asses
off the streets among decent
citizens. If they’re out here fucking up shit then they can deal with the
consequences.

I’ve drawn the
line at out and out murder, though I have no problem maiming a fucker and
putting him out of commission for life. Sometimes I find that that’s even
worst. This way they get to live with the error of their ways. For the sheer
viciousness of Dwayne’s attack on Stephanie and the others that they’d found
with his handiwork, I was willing to turn off my conscience. Evil like that
needed eliminating there was no rehab for that kind of wicked.

“You guys got
everything in order?” To a man they nodded their heads letting me know that
they were ready. We all learn from experience and as time has gone by we’ve
learned what to expect from the type of element we’re dealing with. There isn’t
much a man won’t do to retain his freedom and Dwayne had proven that he was
willing to go to any lengths to keep his. Too bad he had chosen to rape and try
to murder a little girl in my backyard.

Now that that
kid had survived having her throat slit and being left in a field like trash to
draw her last breath, he and some of his misguided pals were seeking ways to
finish her off before she could testify against him. The piece a shit hadn’t
left much behind in the way of DNA or anything else that they could use in
court, so this poor little mite was faced with the added horror of picking him
out in a court of law.

“Any word on
Sid and his nuts?” I gave Deke a look, which I knew wouldn’t do any good, to
which he shrugged his shoulders and took a swig of his beer. “He’ll be fine, I
thought we were here to talk strategy.”

Hardheaded
little fuck, he was as cold as they came but somehow had a heart of gold when
it came to kids, in fact I think he might be Holly’s favorite person, after her
old man that is.

“Okay then,
moving right along, we have twenty strong for Tuesday but we can easily double
that number if there’s a need. Five inside and the others outside surrounding
the place just in case this asshole carries through with his threats. I want
someone on the roof across the way, that should be Nelson he’s got the best
arm.”

“He’s already been tapped Blade,
this isn’t our first time at the Rodeo.”

“I know that
Stryder
but we all
know each situation is different and must be dealt with accordingly. We can’t
leave any stone unturned.”

“By the way Cowboy is getting antsy, says looking at that
fat fuck day in and day out without slitting his throat goes against his
creed.”

“Tell your brother to cool his jets Deke.”

“Fine, but I don’t see why we
can’t just off the fuck right now and be done with it.”

“Because
Stephanie needs her day in court. She might not think so now but believe me one
day in her future she’s going to be happy as fuck that she played a part in
putting her tormentor in prison. The fact that he’s never gonna see another
night after the case is over is neither here nor there, she needs this shit.”

We have a
system where when dealing with some hardcore criminal we try to get one of our
guys on the inside. Usually they’d get picked up on some minor bullshit that
will bring nothing more than a slap on the wrist for a few months at the most.
They take turns when it comes to that shit and luckily we don’t have to do it
too often.

After the
rumors of Dwayne’s long reach from behind bars got back to me I had come up
with the idea of sending up Cowboy and I’ve been regretting that decision ever
since. He’s not much better than his little brother and keeping the both of
them leashed was damn near a fulltime job.

“Besides
Cowboy isn’t going to do him and he knows it, we already had this talk
remember?” He just gave me his cynical ass grin and kept his mouth shut. It was
a hard thing to go from being a cop sworn to uphold the law to calling hits on
men but I could live with that shit. Any man who could rape a baby girl and
slit her fucking throat didn’t deserve to live end of story.

I didn’t lose
any sleep over the shit I did these days, my conscience was clear. I don’t rush
to judgment and I give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but once the proof is
there and cannot be disputed then yes, I take matters into my own hands. And if
my guys were honest with themselves they’d admit that it was for that very
reason that they’d approached me in the first place. My reputation had always
preceded me. I had more citations for going hard on a perp that it was a wonder
the brass hadn’t fired my ass years before I quit. Now I don’t have to answer to
anyone, I do shit my way and one Dwayne Smothers was a dead man walking. He was
just not going to be dealt with by Cowboy, the bloodthirsty fuck.

“Who’s got
tonight?” I took out my little electronic gadget that I used to keep track of
shit. When we were running an Op, everything had to be in place, every detail
seen to so that there were no missteps. Since Dwayne had let it be known that
he was willing to kill Stephanie so she couldn’t testify we had had to amp up
her security more than ever before. Jake had come in handy there, since we had
no jurisdiction it wasn’t easy for us to get a man in the classroom with her,
but Jake had planted one of his guys there for a little added support for our
girl.

Jake has a lot
more involvement with us than most people know and that’s just the way we like
to keep it. He handles the arrest and jailing of whomever we plan to send up
for whatever undercover we’re working behind bars. I don’t know what happened
to turn the hard-nose cop, we never discussed the shit, but I’m just glad that
we’d found each other.

Though Jake
dealt more with gangs and drug trafficking, somehow our worlds always collided
at some point. Fecal matter is still shit no matter what guise it wears and
assholes always gravitate towards each other. He was doing his thing from
behind the badge to clean up the streets and my guys and I were doing our bit
from the backs of our bikes.

I had
everything outlined from start to finish on the screen as far as I could tell.
There was a crew heading in from out of town to help with detail for the day
of, and this weekend at Jake’s was supposed to be some sort of
pow
wow with the different
chapters. We chose Jake’s or more like he chose his place because as he put it
a group of rival MCs getting together in his town was not exactly his idea of
peaceful.

This little
get together was my idea. Again my law enforcement training was kicking in, but
as far as I can see it made more sense for all of us to put our heads together
and do what the fuck we do. It was past time that we cleaned up the image and
public perception of bikers anyway.

When we first
started doing our rides in support of victims of child abuse and domestic
violence we had no idea that there would be others interested in getting
onboard.

 
The guys had come to me with a small
contingent of men who had gotten the idea when one of their nieces had suffered
at the hands of a known sex offender out on bail or some shit. When the perp
had made threats and the cops had had their heads up their
asses
the guy had come up with the idea of getting his small crew together for
protection. That’s where the Hellions of Steel had been born. I know, pretty
clichéd name for a crew but it fits.

By the time
they recruited me they had already been on a few rides, but they realized that
the shit was bigger than they expected. They needed organization and some kind
of format. I came onboard first and foremost because they sold me on what it
was they were trying to achieve and second because I was proud of these guys who’d
been trying to come back from their criminal past.

Not that the
fucks were on the straight and narrow, every so often I have to knock heads
together when they slip up and do some shit they have no right doing now that
they had legitimate outlets available to them. But I guess it was a pipe dream
to expect them to go cold turkey. As long as they weren’t peddling drugs I was
okay with whatever the fuck they got up to.

Now that the
government had seen fit to legalize weed I had my hands full keeping their
asses
in check. There was already
a grow
in the works; my job was seeing to it that all the bylaws were followed to the
letter. Other than that they had the bike shop business, and Lily had set up an
online store where they sold shirts and other novelty items with the crew’s
emblem.

One of the
sisters was into jewelry making and that shit seemed to be doing pretty good
too, so I had no worries about my boys falling back into a life of crime.
Things were on an upward swing as far as I could tell. I kept a tight rein on
their
asses
since they’d somehow designated me as
their leader, maybe because I was older or maybe because of my experience.

Whatever it
was it was a true testament to their growth that I appreciated their loyalty
and friendships more than that of my former colleagues. These boys had come
through the fire and were better men for it, I have to respect that. Now if I
could get them to put aside their taste for blood all would be well in my
little world.

“Okay Marcel
you’ve got lead tonight, my woman and I got engaged today so I need to at least
seal the fucking deal before she heads south.” There was a lot of
congratulations and backslapping before I could go on. I figured that was as
good a way as any to share the news without getting sappy about the shit. “Okay
can we get back to the matter at hand now? I don’t need you twits to teach me
how to handle my woman.” They thought that shit was funny, young people always
think they know shit.

“Like I was
saying Marcel you’ve got point tonight, please for the love of fuck keep this
brood in line. Deke, you’re at the house, we’re getting close to D-day and I
don’t know what the fuck he and his pals have planned but we’re prepared for
anything. Now Deke I’m singling you out because we all know you’re usually the
one setting shit off. No assault weapons; if shit pops off and you have to
throw down use the nine, but please for the love of fuck, no AKs in a
residential area.”

“Uh Lieu I’m pretty sure that was
you last time that did that shit.”

“That was different.” Like fuck it was, but the difference
was that I had more control than this bunch.

“How was that different old man?”

“That fucker pissed me the fuck
off that’s how. Now we’ve got everything else where it’s supposed to be and so
far things are looking good. We’ve got that meet with the Hellfire crew and the
others coming up.” I could already see the posturing starting, this could turn
out to be the best idea I’ve ever had or the most fucked, we’ll see.

“I expect you
girls to be on your best behavior, no fuck ups, remember why the fuck we’re
doing this okay.” They all nodded in agreement but I knew it was wishful
thinking to expect to get these guys together in such close proximity without
somebody getting stupid.

I understand that
my crew had had run-ins with members of other crews before and there was still
some bad blood floating around out there. But that’s why the other three heads
and I were coming together, to get something worked out where we could at least
work together on this shit.

I wasn’t
asking them to clasp hands and sing old spirituals or some shit, just to put
aside any grievances for the sake of the women and children we’d decided to
protect. I was pretty sure my guys would be fine but it didn’t take much to get
some of them going. And since this was taking place on what was basically their
territory they might have their backs up if something went sour.

 
These MCs were very conscious of their
own creed and rules and shit. It didn’t take much to have their panties in a
bunch over some imagined slight. It would be like walking a tightrope but I
think we could pull it off; it was only for one afternoon after all.

The others
wanted in on what we were doing as far as the protection rides and I
appreciated it. This thing had stretched across state lines and we could use
all the manpower we could get, but sometimes hot heads prevailed and shit got
out of control. I wanted everyone who came onboard to understand and respect
what this shit was about, and leave everything else at the door. If they
couldn’t do that shit they were out, no exceptions.

I headed back
to the house in time to take Holly back to her mother for the night. She made a
fuss because she was still caught up in the excitement and wanted to stay, but
I knew Deanna was already feeling raw over the whole ring thing and so as not
to make waves I bribed my kid with a sundae run to get her to go home to her
mother.