Ryker by Jeneveir Evans
Chapter 16
The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.
~Thomas Paine~
Mad Dog
October 16th, 1999
“Ryker, I’d like for you and Tor to wait in the Great Room while we discuss this,” I stated.
Both men nodded at me, stood and left the room.
“What do you think, Brothers?”
I could see that Bane was visibly upset. I could feel the anxiety coming off of Viper in waves but his expression wasn’t giving anything away.
“Is it just me or does it feel like we are looking at a little older version of Viper?” Hoss questioned.
Men started nodding around the room.
“Felt the same damn thing,” KJ commented. “Hell, they look enough alike to be brothers.”
I could feel the tension slowly start easing out of Viper.
“Met King and some of his men once at Sturgis, wasn’t impressed. I’d swear the man doesn’t have a soul. Heard rumblings on and off about him from various sources. To put it in plain English, this world would be a better place without him in it,” Sarge spoke up. “Ryker has a fucking tough fight in front of him.”
“That he does, Sarge,” Vip stated.
“I think that we should help him out with his fight, not just with his family,” Shad uttered.
“What do you mean, Shad?” I queried.
“Dog, if a way can be figured out how to get his men out of one of the ‘secret’ meetings that are going on, we have four men in this room that can rig bombs that will wipe out anything. I bet you that Ryker’s men don’t know how to do that. If that shit isn’t done right, not only is there the potential to hurt Ryker’s guys planting the bombs, especially if they don’t know what they’re doing, but there’s the possibility that it wouldn’t completely destroy the clubhouse, much less take out all the men inside,” he replied.
“Hmm,” I pondered on what he said.
“Ry told Dog and me that if he makes it out of this, that he plans on moving to Arkansas,” Vip informed the men.
“You saying he doesn’t want to become the Prez of the club after the others are taken out?” Gunny quizzed.
“Doesn’t sound like it, Gunny. He let us know that he wanted to have all his family in the same state,” I responded.
“What’s he planning on doing then?” he asked.
“I don’t think he’s real sure about that,” I responded.
“Gotta admire a man who wants to keep his family close,” Tater inserted. “I know I was the one who was a little leery of him to begin with, but the man is damn impressive. Like Hoss and KJ said, he seems like an older version of Viper. We all know that when Viper and his men patched over that the MC seemed to come alive after years of being slightly stagnant. I’ve enjoyed the hell out of how vital the MC feels now.”
“Hear that and couldn’t agree more,” Cueball concurred.
“We letting his family stay with Bane in the compound?” I asked, trying to get the main objective of this meeting taken care of.
“I make a motion that we provide his family protection,” Boomer proposed.
“Second,” Rogue added.
“All those in favor?” I looked around the room and saw every hand raised. I saw the relief that crossed Bane and Viper’s faces.
“Unanimous.”
“We gonna address the elephant in the room?” Hogan questioned.
I arched a brow at him.
“Don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it, Dog. I can guarantee Viper has, but I know he won’t say anything because the fucker still feels like he needs to tiptoe around here when he should know better. I haven’t been back that long and even I can see how much better of a Prez you are now. Not that you were bad but, I swear, Dog, there were times it felt like you were just going through the motions. Maybe your Old Lady has some part to play in that too. All I know is there is a zest about you now that had been missing for a long time. I even see a decisiveness about you that wasn’t there before.”
Fuck, I hadn’t realized it was that noticeable how I had been feeling before Vip and his men came.
“He’s right, son. Gunny and I have noticed it too,” Sarge stated as he stared at me, then he looked at Vip. “You need to get outside of your head. I think you don’t want to rock the boat. I’m here to tell you, Viper, if you feel that the damn boat needs to be rocked, then you make the motherfucker bounce around in some damn high waves, you got me, son?” He waited until Viper jerked his chin at him in affirmation.
Then he looked at the other men that patched over and said, “For that matter, all of you that patched over needs to know the same damn thing. You are all a great addition to this MC. You’ve enhanced the club. It was good before but y’all make it better.
“As for this elephant that Hogan is talking about, what do you think, Seer?”
I had to fight to keep a smile suppressed. It appeared this was going to be one of those times that Sarge the Prez came out to play. I know a lot of men would resent an ex-Prez trying to take control of their meeting. I didn’t. Just because I was forty-four years old didn’t mean I couldn’t learn new things. Besides not only being my dad, this was the man who had led ARMC six times longer than I have.
“I believe the man is indeed an older version of Viper. He may be a little rougher around the edges than Vip, yet his heart is in a good place. Like Viper, I believe he did what he had to in order to survive. There’s not a man among us who wouldn’t do the same exact thing if it came down to it.”
Seer peered at Vip and inquired, “Viper, do you know the men that he says are loyal to him?”
“Yeah, I know them,” Vip responded. “I’ll start with Brawn. Long story short on Brawn, his mother was King’s sister. King forced her into prostitution when her old man ran off and left her with three kids. One of the johns killed her. Brawn hated King before that but after that happened he despises King now. Brawn has a young daughter that he has raised since birth. Family is as important to him as it is to Ry.
“Next is T-Bone. He’s Trina’s cousin. Man served twelve years in the Army. There’s also Draven. He served ten years in the Army as well. I think he joined the MC a couple of years after T did. As y’all know, I notice things others don’t. Not sure why no one else has picked up on it, but I believe T and Draven are Army buddies. I believe both only joined to be back up for Ry.
“Then there’s Rage and Crusher. They try hard to hide it, but I know both of those men loathe King with a vengeance. Their dad was a dealer for King. King generously gave their old man samples of the products he was selling. Their parents got hooked on the free drugs and ended up ODing a couple years apart. I know both of them hate drugs and have made it plain to anyone who will listen that they will never do them.
“The last one is a young man called Taz. There’s a story there but I don’t know it. I’ve caught glimpses of hero worship in his eyes when he looks at Ry.”
“Damn, Brother, you know all this about the men?” I questioned, amazed that Viper noticed and retained this much shit about people.
“Yeah. Of course, the last time I saw any of them was the year before we joined.”
“I want to know what the elephant in the room is?” Nickel piped up causing everyone to laugh.
“What?” he asked, confused why the men were laughing at him.
He looked around perplexed as he glanced around the room at everyone. I happened to catch Viper’s expression out of the corner of my eye. He was studying Nickel. While there was a smile on his face, there was a brief span of time that he had a perplexed look on his face. If he was trying to figure the boy out, all I could say was good luck to him. I’d been trying since he was born and still didn’t know where Nickel’s head was at.
“You dumbass,” Slaughter muttered. “They’re talking about the possibility of inviting them to patch over.”
“How does that have anything to do with an elephant?” Nickel looked completely baffled at Slaughter's response to his question.
More chuckles could be heard from the Brothers. I looked at KJ and saw him shaking his head. Since KJ sat on the left side of the table, this allowed me to clearly see Viper as he sat to my immediate left. He had his head tilted as he looked at Nickel. I glanced at Nickel to see him gazing at Viper. He quickly looked away and I saw him swallow hard. What the hell was that all about?
“What are we thinking here, Brothers?” I queried. “Is this something we should consider?”
“Vip, what do you think? You feel this is something he would be interested in?” Sarge quizzed.
“I know Ry will never bring it up. Yet I know if he’s anything like me, he’ll consider it an honor. I have a feeling he hasn’t talked to his men about what they will do when this is over.”
“How do you feel about the possibility?” Sarge continued.
“Sarge, being invited to join ARMC was the greatest privilege that I have ever been given that didn’t include my women or kids.”
“If he’s like me, he’ll be fucking thrilled to be in an MC with two of his sons. Plus, he has two more boys that will probably want to follow in his footsteps,” Boomer pointed out.
“Prez, I’ve known Ry and most of the men that Vip mentioned for several years. They are all decent men. I couldn’t say that about anyone else in the rest of HRMC,” Rogue inserted into the conversation.
I could see the Originals nodding at what they were hearing. Damned if it didn’t appear that they wanted these men here.
“Blood, what do you think?” I looked at my Enforcer, wanting his take on the situation.
“Prez, I’m like everyone else. The vibe I get from Ryker is that he is a hard man that will do whatever it takes to keep his family safe. I don’t feel like he is a bad man. While some men can hide their evil, it always shows through somewhere. I didn’t get that from Ryker or his son.
“I was in the room yesterday evening with his family while y’all were in the meeting with Ryker and Tor. They were obviously curious about the MC, that’s understandable because to them this is Bane’s club. While they talked to several men and women, they were all polite and respectful. That has to be something they were taught growing up. That shit is hard to fake if you aren’t instilled with it as a child.”
I jerked my chin in his direction.
“Gonna play devil’s advocate here,” Trooper commented. “Will adding eight new members with the possibility of an additional two within the next couple of years make the MC too big? We have seven Prospects as it is now.”
I responded to what he said, “Not sure about how the rest of you feel, but the number doesn’t worry me. We currently have forty-four members and seven Prospects. If all of Ry’s men join, that would immediately put us at fifty-two members. Even if our businesses weren’t turning a profit, we have the money to easily handle one hundred men.
“We have more than enough work for the men to do. Let’s be serious here, on this side of the road, we have seven hundred and twenty acres. We have more than enough land for more homes to be built. If we’re worried about it, we can buy more land.
“Sure, right now we have a lot of Prospects that will be patching in within a year or so, but I have a feeling the number will start slacking off a little. We have those men because they are buddies of Beau, Reb and Pred. This is my personal take on the matter,” I concluded.
“I agree with Dog,” Sarge spoke up.
“Same.”
“Ditto.”
“Me too.”
Those were just some of the responses I heard around the room.
“Let’s quit pussy-footing around this shit,” Cueball growled. “I make a motion if Ryker and his men want to join the MC that we allow them to patch over.”
“Second,” Hogan, Gunny and Seer called out at the same time.
“All those in favor?”
Again with every hand raised, it was unanimous.
“Bane, you’ve been silent throughout all of this. What are you feeling about everything that has been discussed?”
“Prez, I can honestly say that having my dad and brother as members of the MC would fucking rock. Ever since I got back from Dad’s, I’ve missed him. I want the chance to get to know my family better.”
I nodded at him, picked my phone up off the table and hit a key.
“Prez, whatcha need?” Blade asked.
“Send Ryker and Tor to Church.”
“Will do.”
“You good with this, Brother?” I looked at Viper and questioned.
“As long as it is what everyone in the MC wants, then I’m good. I don’t want it done for me, but I will state that Ry and his men are good people and I think they will make good additions to the club.”
“Good enough.”
A knock sounded on the door and I called out, “Come in.”
Ryker opened the door and I motioned them to enter and sit down.
Once they were settled, I began speaking, “Ryker, the men voted to let your family stay with Bane,” I informed him.
Ryker and Tor both breathed out a sigh of relief. It was obvious that they had been worried about their family.
“I need to tell all of you that I deeply appreciate what you are doing for us.” Ryker stated. “This will let me concentrate on trying to come up with a plan that will get us out of this shit alive.”
Viper gazed at Ryker and quizzed, “Ry, did you have any ideas other than trying to catch them during a meeting?”
“Not really, no. If I can figure out a way of getting my men out of the meeting, then I thought the simplest thing would be to blow the clubhouse to hell.”
“You ever worked with explosives?” he continued with his line of inquiries.
“No. Thought I’d do some studying on it.”
“You open to a little help?”
~*~
Ryker
My eyes widened in puzzlement at his question.
“What do you mean?”
“We have four men sitting in this room that have experience with explosives. All of them have been trained but one of them is an EOD specialist. He holds the Army’s highest success rate.”
“You’ve got to be fucking shitting me,” I exclaimed in shock.
“I kid you not. Ry, I’d like to introduce you to the man himself. His name is Boomer.”
“Nice to officially meet you,” I heard a voice speak up. My gaze flew to a man sitting down the table to the right of me. He looked to be about my age.
“Likewise,” I uttered. “Would you be willing to teach me how to set bombs?”
“Do you one even better than that,” he replied.
I gazed at him puzzled. He laughed quietly. “I’ll come plant the damn things myself.”
“Not without me,” a man to his right said.
“Or me,” another man responded.
“You sure as hell ain’t leaving me out,” a fourth man muttered. A smile of what looked like anticipation was on his face.
“I can’t draw your MC into my shit,” I protested.
“You ain’t drawing us in,” Dog stated. “We’re offering.”
An intense looking man across the table from me spoke up, “What we need you to do is try to find out when they might have another meeting. If we have a day’s notice, we can gear up and head up there. Boom, Cas, Ghost and Basher could have the bombs planted in about fifteen minutes. The rest of us would oversee to ensure that there are no unexpected surprises. I’m Shadow by the way. Dog is my older brother.”
“What the fucker isn’t telling you, Ry, is that he recently retired as the head of an elite military team that ran missions all over the world. Two of his former team members were the second and third men to volunteer to help set the bombs,” Viper touted that information.
“Christ, how many trained military men do you have?” Tor asked. I heard admiration and respect in his voice for the men.
“Military wise, we have eleven advanced trained, ten of whom are on the team, and six regular Army, five of them are also on our team. Besides those men, we have three other men and one woman that are highly trained,” Dog informed us.
“Holy fuck,” Tor whispered.
“Ryker, you said that once all of this is over that you planned to move to Arkansas with your family, correct?” Dog questioned.
“Yeah, that’s my plan,” I responded.
“What about your men?”
I sighed. “I’m not sure. I’ve asked Brawn to consider moving but I haven’t brought it up to the other men. I’m pretty sure they would go where I go, yet I can’t say that with one hundred percent certainty. I think they have become somewhat acclimated to MC life.”
“You thinking about starting an MC?” he continued.
“Thought about it. First I would have to identify who the dominant club is in the state. Then it would all depend on how far away it is from Bane. That’s the major draw for me. I want to be close to my son.”
“What about joining another MC?”
“You mean patching over?”
“Yeah.”
I felt my heartbeat pick up. I couldn’t get that fucking lucky, could I? After the hell I’ve lived through since my dad was killed, the only bright spots in my life had been my kids and the few men I know I could trust. My MC life had been nothing but torture since I turned twenty-one.
“What exactly are you saying, Dog?” my voice gruff.
“We’d like to meet your men of course, but I’m talking about patching over to ARMC.”
My eyes flew to Viper’s. The look on his face was serious.
“It’s an honor to be asked, Ry,” he said quietly.
“I get that, I guess with all the fuckedupness that has been my life, I’m wondering why me, why us?”
“Why not you, son?” an older man, sitting at the opposite end of the table from Dog, asked. I knew he had to be Dog’s dad. There was a strong resemblance between the men.
“Other than my family and the men at my back, I haven’t led a charmed life,” I responded.
“Think it’s time that changed, don’t you?” he uttered.
I closed my eyes, shook my head and blew out a shaky breath. When I opened them again, I looked at each man around the table and inquired hoarsely, “ARMC would really want us, want me?”
I watched as the men around me nodded.
“Jesus,” I whispered. I looked at Tor and he was smiling ear to ear as he returned my gaze.
“This would be a good place for Taron and Raiden to prospect. It would be a great place to live among good men. Dad, you know that’s all you’ve wanted for years.”
I swallowed hard and looked at Dog. “If you want us, we would be honored to be considered for a possible patch over.”
“Already been voted on, you’re wanted. Let’s get this shit you’re dealing with out of the way first, then we’ll go from there.”
“Sounds good.”
“I think that’s enough for the night. Y’all go eat, drink, find a club girl, whatever it is you want to do. Meeting adjourned.
~***~