Ryker by Jeneveir Evans
Chapter 13
The good man is the man who, no matter how morally unworthy he has been, is moving to become better.
~John Dewey~
Ryker
October 14th, 1999
Bane had called and let me know that we were going to be allowed to stay in the compound. I needed to speak to Viper and the Prez of the club to make sure that it was okay. We had a hell of a lot of vehicles with us, not to mention this uncomfortable as fuck box truck I was driving. My bones and joints were feeling every one of my fifty-three years after today’s drive.
After I called King this morning and told him that I was going to visit Bane for the week, we’d left at seven and had made decent time. It was almost five as we pulled into Rogers. I grabbed my phone and hit Viper’s number.
“Ry, y’all getting close?” he asked as soon as he answered the phone.
“Yeah, Vip. We’re in Rogers. Bane called last night and said that he’d got the okay for us to stay at the compound. I wanted to double-check that.”
“Yeah, man. I talked to Dog and he agreed that y’all could stay with Bane.”
“Vip, I need to let you know that I have a caravan. I’m in a box truck and the other five are driving vehicles pulling bikes and a trailer.”
“I guess what I was thinking is correct. Y’all c’mon. We’ve got plenty of parking.”
“Vip, I’d like to talk to you and your Prez before Bane knows I’ve arrived.”
“That’s fine, Ry. Get here and we’ll talk.”
“Alright, Brother. We’ll be there shortly.”
I hung up my phone and concentrated on finding the way toward ARMC’s compound. As we drove down the two-lane highway, I couldn’t help but notice how beautiful it was here. Bane had bragged about his home. He said there was no place like it, he’d also said it got hotter than hell here too and the humidity was a bitch. If I made it out alive through all this shit with King, that would definitely take some getting used to.
I’d already one hundred percent made up my mind that I was moving to Arkansas. I wasn’t sure what I’d do here, but my ass was going to be where my oldest son and daughter were. My younger kids were young enough that the only roots they needed were with me and Trina, not necessarily a place.
The Garmin let me know we were approaching our destination, my eyes widened in shock at what I was seeing.
Holy. Fucking. Shit.
Bane was right. This place was unreal. As I turned into the driveway, I took in everything. The acreage in front of the compound had barbed-wire fencing. Once you were roughly six hundred yards up the drive, there was a double fence built approximately ten-feet apart from one another with razor wire at the top of each one. The fences appeared to surround the entire compound. The guard towers were huge and the materials used to build them looked to be bulletproof. I shook my head in stunned disbelief as I stopped beside a speaker system. I rolled the window down to talk to what I assume was a prospect in the tower.
“Howdy,” a voice drawled out to me. “Can I help you?”
“I’m Ryker, Viper is expecting my family and me.”
“That he is. Y’all pull up to the front of the Clubhouse on the right side. I’ll let Dog and Vip know you’re here.”
“Thanks.”
I pulled in and parked so it would be easy to pull out, my family all followed suit.
~*~
Mad Dog
We were sitting at our table drinking a beer when Viper’s phone rang. Listening to his end of the conversation let me know that Ryker and his family must be close. Vip looked at me when he hung up.
“It’s what I thought, Dog.”
I arched a brow at him.
“He said he was in a box truck and had five vehicles with him that were towing bikes and a trailer. Brother, he asked to meet with us before we let Bane know he’s here.” He shook his head as he sighed deeply. “Fucking hate this shit for him. Dog, there’s nothing more stressful than being at odds with your MC and fearing for your family lives or your own.”
“Can understand that, Vip. When you brought your family to visit us, we could all tell you were under major stress. The moment you realized that we were inviting you to patch over, I swear it’s like we could see part of the stress roll off your body.”
“Brother, you have no idea. None. That shit messed with my head so much that at times I thought it would drive me insane.”
“It’s all behind you now, Vip. Your worries on that front are gone.”
“Thank fuck for that too, Dog. I’m not sure if you’ll ever understand how grateful we are for what ARMC did for us. Y’all literally saved our lives.”
I held my beer toward him. “Here’s to better times, Brother.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
It couldn’t have been more than twenty minutes later and his phone rang again. He held the phone away from his head enough that I could hear the conversation between him and his little brother.
“Risky, they here?”
“Yeah, Vip, they are. And they are hauling some of the sweetest Harleys I’ve ever seen in my life. Fuck, that one that just went by is sick.”
“We’re on our way out.”
“10-4.”
We both got up and headed toward the door. I had been curious as fuck ever since Vip had talked to me about the man yesterday. I wanted to see if I got the same feel for him. I hoped so for Bane’s sake. We strode out the door and headed toward where the group was getting out of their vehicles. As I got closer to them, I was shocked by how much the kids favored Bane. Then the man that had been checking on the bikes turned our direction and my steps faltered.
“Holy shit,” I muttered. “Damn, it’s like looking into an aging mirror. It’s fucking uncanny. How the hell y’alls boys look so much like you I can’t even comprehend. There’s no denying that he’s Bane’s dad.”
“You know, Dog, I’d thought Bane looked like Ry when I first met him, but I just thought it was a doppelganger effect. If I’d known Bane’s story, I’d have known he was Ry’s.”
I watched as Ryker headed toward Vip with a smile on his face. Vip had an answering grin on his as we met Ryker halfway. They did the bro hug and slapped each other on the back a few times. I could see Vip murmuring to him and Ryker nodding his head. Then Vip stepped back and Ryker turned toward me.
“Ry, I’d like to introduce you to Mad Dog, our Prez. Dog, this old bastard is Ryker.”
“You got that right, Vip,” he exclaimed as he held his hand out to me. “This bastard is getting old. Dog, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Bane has sung your praises to me.”
I gripped his hand and shook it. Our eyes met and we studied each other. “The pleasure’s mine, Ryker.”
The feeling I got was surreal. It was like Vip’s essence had been cloned and this man had injected himself with it or maybe it was vice versa since Ryker was older. He carried the same aura Viper did, scary, lethal, deadly, yet under all of that I could tell there was a core of goodness. I swear I could feel it. Hell, they even looked enough alike to be related. I’d never thought about it before but Vip’s boys did favor Bane. I was curious as fuck if they might not be related somewhere down the line.
“No denying Bane is your son. Looks just like you.”
“That he does,” Ryker smiled in pride.
There it was. The same look Viper got on his face when he talked about his kids. It was intense. While it showed how proud he was of his son, there was a fierceness underneath that look that almost screamed in warning saying, ‘You’d better not mess with my kids or I’ll fuck you up.’
“Anyone ever tell y’all that you favor?” I asked them.
They looked at each other as if they had never really looked at each other.
“Hell, Dog. Never even thought about it,” Ryker said. “But now that you say that, I can see a resemblance. It’s possible. I know Dad’s family came from Kentucky.”
“Damn, Ry. You never told me that,” Vip stated.
“Never thought about it until Dog said something. We might have to look into that one day.”
“Yeah, we do. I take after Mom’s side of the family and she lives with me. I’m gonna have to do some digging.”
I heard the sound of footsteps approaching and a woman who I’d say was in her mid to late thirties, a much younger woman and three young men approached. Fuck me if the girl wasn’t a dead ringer for Leigh.
“Jesus,” I muttered.
“What is it, Dog?” Vip queried.
“Did Bane tell you that your daughter looks like his sister?” I asked Ryker.
“Yeah, he said they looked like twins.”
“They do that, and I’m talking dead ringers too. Vip, they look as much alike as Zane and Slade do.”
“I’ll have to take your word on that, Dog, since I've yet to meet Leigh, but as you can see, all of Ry’s kids look like him.”
“You can’t even tell I'm the mom of the youngest two boys,” the woman said.
Two of the boys smirked at her and I knew who her sons were. And, fuck me, if they didn’t have Viper’s damn smirk down to a tee.
Viper reached out a hand to one of the young men and he took it, and their greeting mimicked his with Ry.
“Damn, Viper. You don’t ever age,” the young man muttered.
Viper smiled then responded, “Tor, son, you are looking good. Dog, this is Ry’s son Tor.”
The young man held his hand out to me and as we shook he said quietly, “Nice to meet you, sir.”
“None of that sir shit. Call me Dog.”
He tilted his head in response.
Ryker spoke up then, “Dog, let me introduce you to the rest of my crew by age. This beautiful young lady is my daughter Bronte.”
She smiled and held her hand out toward me and I clasped hers. Then she turned toward Viper and threw her arms around him.
“It’s so good to see you again, Viper.”
She leaned toward him, stood on her tip-toes and kissed Vip on the cheek. He wrapped her in his arms and hugged her tight. “Damn, sweetie. You are more gorgeous than the last time I saw you. Ry, you got your guns cleaned?”
“Viper!” she exclaimed. “He’s bad enough as it is, don’t encourage him.”
“You know I do, Vip,” Ryker answered. “Dog, this is Taron and, last but not least, my youngest son Raiden.”
After I shook both of their hands, they then exchanged bro hugs and back slaps with Viper. I was a little shocked to see just how well Viper did know them. I could easily see why he felt the need to have Ryker’s back. I got a good vibe from every single one of them.
“Dog, this is Trina, my youngest two sons’ mom.”
She placed her hand in mine then looked up at me and uttered, “Hell, do they put Miracle-Gro in the water here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as tall as you.”
I laughed at her comment. “My little brother is taller. And Vip’s son Rebel is my height.”
“Damn, Reb’s that big now?” Ry asked, shocked.
“Brother, I’m not sure if the boy is through growing yet,” Viper replied.
“I can’t wait to see them again,” Ry told him.
“We’ll have you over in a couple days and let you visit the family.”
“I heard you’ve increased it by a few.”
Viper chuckled and I inserted, “The man needs a fucking mansion so he has enough room for all his kids. I swear every time I turn around he’s bringing someone else home.”
Ryker smiled. “That sounds like, Vip.”
“Let’s go in and get something to eat and drink. While your family is eating, we’ll go to my office and talk.”
“Sounds good, Dog.”
Once everyone was squared away, Viper and I led Ryker to my office. I was mildly surprised when his oldest son followed. When we were in the room, Tor closed the door behind us. Whatever it was Ryker wanted to talk about, they wanted it kept private.
“Let’s sit at the round table where we’ll have some room,” I stated as I made my way to it and sat down.
Once we were all settled, Ryker spoke up, “Bane told me yesterday that you’d said it was okay for us to stay with him. I wanted to check with you and make sure you were okay with that.”
“Yeah, Ryker. I have no problem with you staying with Bane while you’re here.”
“I deeply appreciate it. If at any time you want us to leave, let us know.”
“Don’t reckon that will happen,” I responded.
I watched as he reached up and pulled his hair into a low ponytail. I could see how edgy he was.
“Ry, got a feeling I know why you wanted to talk to us. What’s going on? It has to be bad if you’re this worried,” Viper commented.
I watched as a grimace crossed both Ryker and Tor’s faces.
“Yeah, Vip. It’s bad. A couple weeks ago King sent six of us out on two runs. Besides Tor and me, it was T, Taz, Rage and Crusher. While we were gone, he held a ‘secret’ meeting with the rest of the club. During this meeting he brought up his latest scheme. Fucker wants to get us into human trafficking.”
“Son of a bitch,” Viper growled.
“You said it, Vip. Not doing that shit.”
“Me either, Vip. Fucker will have to kill me because my ass ain’t doing that,” Tor added.
“How did you find out about what was discussed at the meeting?” I asked curiously.
The man held my gaze as he talked. I could read the honesty in his eyes.
“I don’t know how much Viper has told you about the club, but King is my best friend Brawn’s uncle. King thinks he has Brawn in his hip pocket. He asked Brawn years ago to stay close to me and report to him if I ever did or said anything that was negative toward King. What the fucker doesn’t realize is that Brawn hates him because he forced his own damn sister, Brawn’s mom, into working on her back. That eventually led to her death. Since then, Brawn has wanted to take King out for years.
“Besides Brawn, I have two other men who King thinks are in his pocket too. One is a man named Draven. King has no clue that Draven only joined because of his buddy T. King doesn’t even realize that Draven and T served in the Army together.
“T is T-Bone, Trina’s cousin. T only joined the club because Trina asked him to, she felt that I needed more men in my corner.
“Ever since he targeted the six of us for the runs, I’ve been worried as fuck that he’s figured out that the other four men are behind me and not him since he excluded them from the meeting. None of these men act like they are close to me, so I’m not sure what might have given them away.
“Dog, King has wanted me dead for years but he’s afraid if he kills me that some of the other brothers wouldn’t stand for it. He’s scared they might take the presidency from him.”
“Are you sure those men wouldn’t stand behind you?” I asked him.
He sighed. “If I thought they would, then I’d kill King and take my chances. The only thing is they like the money King makes them. They all know I’ve indicated that I think we need to dial back on all the illegal shit the club does. The law has been watching MCs hard and heavy ever since the RICO law was passed. I’ve let it be known that I don’t want Tor or me to sit in a prison because of someone else’s damn mistake. That hasn’t set too well with some of them. While they like me, the lure of cash and drugs is greater.”
I jerked my chin at him. I knew for a lot of men that when it came to money and drugs there wasn’t any loyalty to them.
“You’re positive you can trust your friend Brawn and Draven?” I continued.
“Yeah. I’m positive.”
“What about the other man you mentioned?”
His eyes cut to his son and I realized he hadn’t told his son about this man.
“If you’d rather not say, that’s fine,” I uttered.
“Nah, it’s okay, Dog. I need to be honest with both of you about what I’m facing. I’m not worried about Tor. I trust him implicitly. I’ve kept the name quiet for now because I don’t want anyone to know that this man is behind me. His name is Rivet. He’s an old friend of my dad’s. He’d stayed loyal to Dad, then King until earlier this year.”
“What happened, Dad?” Tor questioned. His intense gaze was laser focused on his old man.
A deadly look came on Ryker’s face. “King thinks he’s a fucking god. If he wants it, it’s his to take. Rivet has a sixteen-year-old granddaughter that King took a shine to. A few months ago, King managed to get the girl alone and raped her. Hurt her pretty bad. When she told Rivet, he went ballistic. He called me to come to his house. I got there and he had her tell me what King had done. Poor kid was black and blue. He’d brutalized her.
“Rivet wanted to kill King then. If I thought we’d have gotten away with it, I’d have done it. But the MC has gotten bad. I mean bad, Vip. The last two years it’s become a place that would easily fit into the damnation that was Sodom and Gomorrah.
“I managed to convince Rivet to wait and let me figure something out. He’s letting me know everything that goes on that King tries to keep from me. I’ve promised him that I will destroy King and soon. When I found out what King is now pushing the MC into, I realized my time has run out and I have to do something about him. I can’t wait for the perfect opportunity. I’m going to have to make one.
“Vip, Dog, I don’t want my family there while I attempt to eliminate King. I need somewhere safe for them to stay. I should let you both know that I’ve had the kids pack what they wanted to bring with them to move to Arkansas. If I live through this shit, I’m planning on moving here. I want to be close to Bane. I’d love to get the chance to meet Leigh too. If I don’t live through this shit, I want to know that my family is safe. Vip, know this is a lot, Brother, but if I don’t survive I want you to watch out for them.”
“You know I will, Ry,” Vip replied.
Ryker nodded at Vip in relief before continuing, “Is there any way that I can leave my three youngest and Trina here? If I know they are protected, that will let me concentrate on trying to figure out how the hell I’m going to get rid of King.”
“Ry, you know just taking out King won’t be enough,” Viper told him.
“I know, Vip. I’m gonna have to kill roughly twenty-three men. I’ve just got to figure out a way to do it and not get caught in the crossfire.”
Hell, listening to what Ryker was going through made me thankful that I’ve enjoyed the life I have with ARMC. I can easily see why Viper wants to help him. Ryker’s in as much deep shit as Vip was over a year and a half ago.
“You have any idea what you’re going to do, Ry?” Vip queried.
“I know of one way, that would be to catch them when they are going to have another ‘secret’ meeting. If I could do that, I’d simply blow the fucking clubhouse up. But I need to figure out a way for Brawn and Draven not to be there. Rivet can easily say his arthritis is acting up and he won’t be at the meeting. He’s done that many times over the last couple of years.”
“Ryker, are you one hundred percent sure you can trust these other six, seven men?” I asked.
“Besides Rivet, there’s six other men, Dog. Brawn, T, Draven, Taz, Rage and Crusher. I’d stake my life on each man.”
“Ryker, this will have to be taken to the Brothers for a vote. I know you don’t want Bane knowing this shit, but here at ARMC we put decisions such as this before the entire MC.”
He nodded at me. “How soon do you think that could happen?
“I’ll call for a special Church for tomorrow evening. I’ll have you and Tor come to it. You can tell them what you’ve told us. I can tell you’re worried. I don’t think you have any reason to be. I could go ahead and say, ‘Yes, let them stay.’ But when my dad and the other Originals started the MC, they didn’t want it to be run like a dictatorship and I don’t either.”
“I understand and respect that,” he replied to me.
“You ready to go to Bane’s now?”
“Yes. Is there somewhere we can leave the majority of our vehicles?”
“Yeah, you can park them around the back by the garage. I better call Bane or he’s gonna gripe at my ass for not letting him know earlier that you were here,” I muttered.
“If he says anything, I’ll let him know that I needed to talk privately to you.”
I smiled at him. “Ain’t worried about it, Ryker. He wants to say something, he can. One thing my Brothers know is that they can chew on my hide all they want. But they all know how far to push me before I bite back.”
All three of the men were chuckling as we walked toward the Great Room.
~***~