by Davida Lynn
A half hour later, they got up, and Raven checked her phone. The peace was shattered as quickly as it had come.
The two talked at great speed as they got dressed and prepared to head back to Bakersfield.
“Goddamn it.” Raven wanted to throw her phone into the lake, but she resisted. “We can’t catch a fucking break. I don’t think the club can afford to take out another cop. What do you think we should do?”
Gunner shook his head. “I agree, but I don’t know what our alternatives are.”
Raven pulled her t-shirt over her head. “They want to blackmail us? We’ll blackmail them right back. We record them. Video, audio, whatever, but it has to be good. Something that would not only bring them down, but throw the whole police department under the bus.”
“Can you get it?”
“I guess we’ll find out. Gunner…” She took his hands in hers, “Thank you so much for bringing me here. I want to come back as soon as possible. I love it.”
“I love you,” he replied. “We’ll be back, trust me.” And she did.
On the way back, Gunner came up with the perfect place to have their first meeting since losing the bar. It was unconventional, but it meant that no one would suspect it. With a disgruntled former member and the Bakersfield PD after them, they needed the lowest profile they could manage. Once they got back into the city limits, Gunner called Trask to tell him the idea.
Trask sounded confused at first, but they had few other options. “Sure. I’ll get the word out. The usual time?”
“Sounds good to me. I want to lay it all on the table. We need to figure out what our resources are, who we can call on, and how we can end this as soon as fuckin’ possible.”
“Couldn’t agree more.”
“Let’s get all this shit behind us, brother.” Gunner hung up.
Raven smiled and shook her head. “You are an interesting character, Gunner.”
He laughed. “Hey, when the going gets tough, the tough get religion!”
Thirteen bikes were stacked up in the parking lot, and two trucks were parked alongside them. Raven’s bike was still at Tanner’s getting a new set of wheels put on. She hated being without it, but Hoser was nice enough to pick her up.
Captain’s bike had been destroyed by one of the explosions, so he was on four wheels until a loaner Harley could come his way. If the occasion hadn’t been so somber, Raven would have laughed watching him get out of a pickup truck. She couldn’t picture him on anything but his motorcycle. She thought he’d be the type to die on his wheels.
She nodded to him as he slid out of the rusted Chevy. He gave her half a smile. She could see that he looked at her differently after the fight at the bar. She had led the troops to the best of her and their abilities, and Captain could see it.
“Hey, kid. How you hanging in there?” He pointed to the bandage on her left arm.
“I’ve had worse. Trask’s girl bandaged it up like it was nothing. What about you?”
Captain had taken a hard hit to the head. Hope had insisted that he go to the hospital, but in typical alpha male fashion, he had refused. Raven was glad to see him up and on his feet.
Looking up at the church, Raven couldn’t help but shake her head. Gunner’s idea was brilliant and maniacal on so many levels. To go from a bar to a church was hilarious, but to cover it up as an AA meeting? No one would suspect seeing fifteen bikers going to one of those after losing the place they went to night after night—that kind of a loss would drive anyone to reevaluate their drinking.
Since she’d heard Trask’s message, Raven had been checking over her shoulder every minute in Bakersfield. Allan had gone from a decent cop to a greedy, corrupt danger in a hurry. He was unstable and unpredictable. It was just one more thing that needed to be brought up at the meeting.
“Well…” Captain gave the church a similar look. “I guess it’s time to get right with God.” He laughed and the two of them headed inside the church.
A sign directed them to the basement, where there were two different rooms. One had the real AA meeting in session. The other was full of bikers that would rather be anywhere else in the world.
Raven was surprised at how far Gunner had gone to make it look like a real meeting. There was a table set up with coffee and snacks, white tablecloth and everything. A circle of folding chairs occupied the center of the room. Some of the baddest bikers in Bakersfield were sitting in those chairs. A lectern was pushed against one wall, and Raven smiled, thinking that Bear would have gotten a kick out of preaching from behind it.
Some of the Rising Sons were getting coffee and loading up small plates with cookies. If it wasn’t one fix, it was another. No beer? I’ll eat my weight in cookies, thank you.
Gunner spotted Raven and gave her a nod and a wink. She smiled back, wishing they didn’t have to do any of this. All she wanted was to ride side by side with Gunner into the distance. As much as she loved the club, she was tired. Her muscles ached, her mind ached, and they had yet to bury five of their brothers. The look on her lover’s face told her that he understood. His look said, we’re going to get this done.
Walking around the circle of chairs, Gunner leaned in to Raven and Captain, “Hey, now that we’re all here, let’s get this shit started.” He nodded toward the door. “Cap, you mind shutting that door? We don’t want some real drunkie walking in here looking for peace and a higher power.”
He got a laugh out of Raven. Captain closed the door to the meeting room. As everyone was finding their seats, Gunner stood up from his chair.
“Hi. My name’s Gunner, and I’m an addict.”
“Too damn bad!” Cecil called out, cracking up the room.
Once things calmed down, Gunner went on, bringing a serious tone to his voice. “It’s true, though. Aren’t we all? It ain’t booze or pills or women, but freedom. We’re addicted to that freedom. From nine-to-five jobs, from the law, from four-wheel cages. We are outlaws; the definition of freedom. So I want to play this straight.” He paused and looked around at the faces around him. “My name is Gunner, and I’m an addict.”
A few of the Rising Sons were confused, but everyone knew the routine. In deadpan unison, they responded, “Hi, Gunner.”
“I fell in love with this club four years ago. Just out of the Marines, I was in trouble with the law, broke, and looking for something. I’m sure many of you got here the same way. I needed a hand getting back on my feet, and the Rising Sons were that hand. The club has given me so much, and I would lay down my life for it, if it came to that.
“Over the years, I nearly did. Raids, rival gangs, hotshots trying to run our town. Not once did I regret my decision, and not once did I fear death standing beside you, my brothers. You all know why you’re here. We have been attacked, and after tonight, we’ll be fighting a two-fronted battle.”
“The fuck you talkin’ about?” Mad Dawg was living up to his name. He was on the edge of his seat, his face red. He wanted a name and a bullet. Raven could understand his anger. Mad Dawg, Bear, and Clyde had known each other for twenty years. He’d lost one of his oldest friends in Clyde, and he knew full well that Bear was as good as lost.
Cecil felt the same anger. “Look. We need to know what the hell is going on. Brothers are getting killed, and I feel like some of us are in the goddamn dark over here. This ain’t the way Bear ran things.”
Several members voiced their agreement.
Gunner knew it was time to lay all the cards on the table. The Rising Sons needed to know who their enemies were. “Vegas isn’t dead. Apparently, he dragged his ass to the hospital after Trask fileted him. He headed back to Nevada and got himself some hired guns, and that’s who hit the bar.”
Mad Dawg stared hard. “And the other front?”
“Bakersfield PD. We’ve got a cop playing Bad Lieutenant. At first it was a shakedown, but now we think he’s gonna come down hard for cash. Hoser and Trask dug down to the safe and got all of our cash out, but they ran into a little troub
le with the fuzz. They’re coming after Raven.”
All the eyes in the circle turned to her. As usual, she saw all the emotions of the spectrum, looks of admiration all the way to looks of disdain. She was getting used to it. Raven told herself to ignore them all. She didn’t want to absorb the hate that some had for her, and she also didn’t want to bask in the respect. She never wanted to rest on her laurels. It was her turn to address the club.
“I know some of you don’t like what I did. I used the resources I had to get Bear out of jail. I don’t think anyone faults me for that. You know what I had to trade to get him out? Officer Hargrave got the case thrown out under the condition that I give one of you up in his place. He wanted a drug conviction, illegal weapons, something big that would make the papers and get him a promotion.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”
Raven shot a dirty look at Mad Dawg, “I fuckin’ lied to him. I was never going to turn anyone in.” She looked to Gunner, hating herself for considering throwing any of them under the bus. It had been a brief thought, when she believed there was no other choice.
He snarled at her. “Sure. I’m sure you’d be thinkin’ plenty clear until you hit the rag, then you’d fuckin’ cry and turn us all in. Bitch.”
Despite Mad Dawg’s understandable anger, Raven was sick of the shit heaped on her for no good reason. “You need to pull your head out of your ass, Mad Dawg. It’s the twenty-first fuckin’ century, and you’re a goddamn dinosaur. Yes, I’m a woman. Get the fuck over it. You can criticize my actions all you want, but I acted. I acted when things needed to get done. And you? You fuckin’ followed. So, I don’t know what to tell you, Mad Dawg. Deal with it or step up, but if you give me shit one more time, I’m gonna drive my boot so far up your ass, your breath will smell like leather.”
There was a stunned silence in the circle. Eyes turned back and forth between Raven and Mad Dawg. There were a few smiles of anticipation. They had seen Raven fight once, and she knew the bikers would love to see her and Mad Dawg throw down.
After a few more moments of silence, Raven knew Mad Dawg had no reply. She went on, addressing everyone. “I know some of you think I don’t belong here. I get that. I’ve been trying to prove myself to each of you and the club since I started. At this point, I guess you’re stuck with me, because even if you turn me over to the cops, they’re still gonna want the cash. I say we listen to Gunner, hear the plan, and get everyone off our fucking backs so we can rebuild.”
Raven turned to Gunner and sat down. She had formally given up any supposed power to him, and she hoped that it could make it clear once and for all who was in charge. If Gunner wanted to pass off power to Trask, that was on him. She had done all she could.
“Thanks, Raven. I understand how many of you feel about her. I’ll admit, I was pretty pissed off when she beat me and passed the last test, but she did beat me, and we all need to accept that she is a full member. She is a Rising Son. I don’t want to hear anymore shit about it. We have bigger problems.”
Gunner looked around, almost daring someone to say something. Raven felt warmth rushing over her as Gunner stood up for her. It meant so much to her, and she wanted to tell him, but it would have to wait for the right moment. She shook it from her head and kept her mind on the business at hand. It was hard to hide the smile, though.
The de facto leader of the club went on. “Here’s what I propose. First of all, I need Trask up here. I don’t know what strange political rock we’ve been under, but just because someone is next in line doesn’t mean they have to step up. Trask is a president of his own chapter. It may just be starting out, but I think we can all agree that he deserved to be president. He is just as capable as me.”
Trask stood up. The two brothers embraced. With Trask at his side, Gunner continued. “We’ve got two enemies coming down on us at the same time, and we’ve got two leaders. Fuckin’ convenient for us. We’re gonna take them both on, one after the other. A smaller group is gonna go after the cops. We’re not fighting them, we’re just silencing them. We get them on tape threatening us. That way, we can shut the crooked ones up.” Heads nodded. No one would be happy about going up against the entire police force.
There were a few bikers in the Rising Sons that had death wishes, but there were better ways to die. Even the most bloodthirsty of them knew that.
“The larger group is heading for Sin City.” Anticipating disapproval, Gunner raised his hand. “I know. I know. We don’t leave the state—that’s the Golden Rule. In this case, we gotta break that rule. We need to put out a fire. It’s in Nevada now, sure. But it is coming.”
“How many men they got?” Boss asked. Gunner liked the eager tone in his voice.
“We’re not too sure. That actually brings me to my next point. We need soldiers. Open enrollment for a few hard-hitting missions. You know someone that rides and likes a good fight? I wanna see them tomorrow night.”
Trask took over. “I’ve only got three or four guys up in Davis, but they are on their way. We’re gonna set up the cops in the meantime. I only need three or four people for that—and Raven, of course.”
At hearing that, Raven’s heart jumped. She’d thought that Trask would be heading into battle across state lines. She didn’t want to be separated from Gunner. She didn’t want to get a phone call that something terrible had happened. She tried to lock eyes with Gunner, but he seemed to be avoiding her on purpose.
Instead, he nodded. “I’ll be leading the fighters into Las Vegas. Captain has some inside info that should lead us to the guy Vegas has running the crew. His name is Carlos Maldonado. He’s a fixer for some of the casinos, and he seems like he knows how to get a crew together. If we can find him, we can get him to talk. He’ll lead us to Vegas.
“Unless someone’s got something they’d like to add, I think we’re about done. Same time tomorrow, and I want to see some mercenaries here. I’m not riding to Nevada with less than twenty-five. Understand?”
The bikers in the circle nodded.
“Everyone scrounge up some guns. Most of our stuff got destroyed in the attack. I know we all have something hidden in our back pockets. It’s time to pull them out. It’s time to avenge Bear.”
The Rising Sons cheered Gunner, accepting him as their leader. He looked to Trask. The two saw understanding in each other’s eyes. They were brothers and leaders both.
Raven waited until only Captain and Gunner were left. They were discussing some kids they knew who might be interested in joining up for an old fashioned vendetta.
She couldn’t hold her tongue anymore. “I know I have to stay in Bakersfield and deal with the cops, but why aren’t you staying?”
The older biker knew when to back away and give the two some space. He headed back toward the table for another cup of coffee. Gunner put a hand on Raven’s shoulder. “Trask and I talked about it. We came to the conclusion that with less people in Bakersfield, it makes more sense to have a more experienced fighter.”
“Horseshit!” Raven fought back the tears that were welling up in her eyes, “Why not just keep a few more men here?” She couldn’t stand the thought of losing Gunner, and that was what this arrangement felt like to her.
“Hey, hey.” He pulled her to a chair and the two of them sat down. “You don’t have anything to worry about. We’re going to have plenty of men. I want to overpower them and bury them so far underground that no one will ever come after anyone associated with the Rising Sons again. We are out to make a statement. I’ve got some of the toughest fighters coming with me.”
She couldn’t face him, so Raven kept her eyes on the floor. “I’m just worried. These guys are tough. I saw it firsthand. They had no fear of death whatsoever.”
“I know that, babe. I’m not going to let anything happen. I’m going to come home with the job done. Do you trust me?” Gunner’s voice was quiet and soothing. He didn’t care that his brother could hear him. She was far more important than his hard attitude and reputation.