Ryker by Jeneveir Evans
Chapter 31
Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.
~Henry Clay~
Mad Dog
November 5th, 1999
I was eating shit on a shingle, well, the southern version of it. This is a meal that the Navy has served for years. Usually it was made with chipped beef, bread and gravy. The southern version consists of a hamburger patty placed on top of toasted bread and smothered in white or brown gravy. It went well with the homemade mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, green beans, fried okra and corn on the cob that Clair and the club girls had made for dinner.
I pondered on what was going to be covered in Church tonight as I took another bite. I hadn’t talked to anyone about this other than Keith, Eagle’s dad. That’s not to say that Gunny, Sarge and KJ didn’t know about it. None of my Brothers had any idea that I was addressing the subject at the meeting.
It was almost time to bring a Brother back home. The club had always kept quiet on the subject. It was a black stain on the MC’s soul. For years, several of the men of the club had felt guilty about what had happened. I think every one of us berated ourselves for not being the one to pull the trigger.
I know for a fact that it still ate at Spyder, the Prez of Inferno’s Apocalypse MC. A favor he had asked of ARMC had caused the incident to occur. He’d wanted us to offer sanctuary to a girl. We had kept our end of the bargain by keeping the girl safe, but one of our own ended up paying the price. I know I should have already said something to Vip about it, but it’s one of those things that you are afraid to talk about in fear that you might somehow jinx the outcome.
A chair being pulled out from the table startled me. I glanced up to see Vip sitting down. He was studying my face as he took a sip of his beer.
“Brother, seen you lost in thought more times than I can count, but don’t think I’ve ever seen you so buried in thought that you were totally and completely unaware of what is going on around you, especially when you are surrounded by your Brothers. What’s wrong, Dog?”
I grabbed my glass of sweet tea and took a long drink before replying.
“Vip, gonna address something in Church tonight that I probably should have already told you about. Don’t get upset that I haven’t brought it up before. But for the past twenty-two years, it’s been a black cloud that has hung over the MC.”
“Dog, I realize there are things as the Prez that you know that I don’t. Not gonna sweat that.”
“Nah, Vip. I’ve tried my best to include you in everything and keep you up to date too. You need to know what all goes on in the MC in case something were to ever happen to me. It’s just what I’m going to talk about, basically knocked the feet out from under the MC years ago.”
“You don’t look like you're okay, Dog.”
“On this particular subject, I’m not. Never will be alright either. It cuts deep, Vip. Deep.”
Before Vip could say anything else, my phone rang.
“He here, Rock?” I asked as I answered my cell.
“Yeah, Prez. He is.”
“Send him up.”
Vip had a brow arched questioningly. I sighed.
“The man about to come in is part of what’s going to be discussed in Church,” I responded to his unasked query.
I stood when I saw our guest walk through the door. The majority of the men in the room knew who the man was that was walking toward me. And for those who didn’t, it was obvious that he was related to KJ and Eagle. I took a few steps toward him and reached for the hand he had held out to me. We pulled each other in for a bro hug.
“Damn, Dog. Ain’t seen you in a ‘coon’s age.”
“That’s on me, Keith. I’ve waited way too long to have a family get together.”
“I know you’ve had a busy year or so.”
“Yeah, the MC has been busier than normal, yet that’s still not an excuse. I should have done a cookout this past summer.”
“Well, let’s plan something for the upcoming summer.”
“We’ll do that, but I’ll try to get something set up before then.”
Keith’s eyes cut over my shoulder. I saw a smile cross his face as I turned to the side. KJ was headed in our direction. Sarge and Gunny were behind him. Keith stepped up to KJ and they bear hugged each other.
“Fuck, little bro. Your ass needs to come visit more often,” Keith uttered to KJ.
KJ nodded as he responded, “You’re right about that. Got an ass chewing from Mom a couple nights ago for not bringing Dee and the kids out there enough.”
“Good. Listen to her. You need to come visit your family.”
As they were talking, all the Brothers that had been members for years were lining up behind Sarge and Gunny. Man after man greeted Keith with bro hugs, handshakes, or a slap on the back. Each man had something to say to him. The last in line was Eagle. He held out a beer to Keith. Keith took it in his left hand and with his right, he put his hand behind Eagle’s neck and gently squeezed it while he tugged Eagle to him.
“Looking good, son. It’s been a month since your mom has seen you. You might want to think about coming home for dinner one night or the woman is gonna go on a rampage. Neither one of us wants that to happen.”
Eagle chuckled as he replied to his dad, “Already taken care of. Talked to her today and I’ll be at dinner Sunday.”
“That’s good, son,” Keith remarked.
I could feel the gazes that were on me. I knew everyone was wondering why Keith was here. If I was to look, I knew I would see the questions in their eyes. I glanced around and a pair of eyes caught mine. I could see the hope in his eyes, when I nodded to him, his closed and I watched him swallow hard. This shit had stayed with Hoss the most. He’d benefited from what had happened while our Brother had given up a huge portion of his life.
I whistled and everyone hit the bar, then headed toward Church. After we were settled in around the table and Keith had been shown where to sit, I began.
“We’re not gonna do a regular Church tonight. Already know things are looking good money wise and know what happened last meeting.
“For those of you who don’t know or haven’t figured it out yet, the man who is sitting before our table this evening is Keith James. He’s KJ’s older brother and Eagle’s dad. For the lack of a better word, Keith has been our go-between in dealing with a situation that happened almost twenty-two years ago. In two weeks, it will be twenty-two years to the day.
“Before I get to the end game of Keith’s visit, there are several of you who have no idea about what I just made reference to. I’m going to have Sarge clear that up for you since he was the Prez at the time.”
~*~
Sarge
I gazed at Dog for a moment, then jerked my chin at him. I blew out a deep breath and began speaking.
“Years ago, the MC always went to the rally at Sturgis. On one of our many trips, the Originals met a biker named Spyder who was the Prez of Inferno’s Apocalypse. Over the years we got to know him well and considered him to be a good friend.
“Roughly twenty-three years ago, Spyder’s MC was having issues with another MC in his home state of Minnesota. The club was Lucifer’s Wrath. Both were 1%’ers and ran illegal contraband.
“Lucifer’s Wrath decided they wanted to take over IAMC’s gun trade. That started a war between them. The conflict between clubs quickly escalated and Loth, the Prez of LWMC, threatened Spyder. Told him that he was going to kill his two children if Spyder didn’t back down. Spyder’s son, Terror, was twenty and already a member of the MC at the time. His daughter was eighteen. Because of various rallies and poker runs, Loth’s men knew what his children looked like.
“Spyder’s MC was spread thin and he was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to keep his daughter safe. He could have sent her to one of his sister clubs, but he wanted to send her somewhere that Lucifer’s Wrath had no knowledge of, so he called me and asked if ARMC would provide protection for her. We agreed and it was set up that three men would go up and get her. It was decided that these three men would take a vehicle instead of their bikes to pick up the girl. We were hoping that Loth’s men wouldn’t look for her with anyone that didn’t appear to be in an MC.
“The night they picked her up, they made a quick stop to gas up before they headed out of Minnesota. One of the men got out of the Blazer to pump the fuel while another one went inside to pay for the gas and grab some drinks. The girl stayed in the SUV with the third man.
“Fate was a cruel bitch that night. Loth’s son pulled into the gas station and saw the girl through the window. He pulled out his gun and started shooting into the Blazer.
“The man inside the vehicle forced the girl on the floorboard and covered her with his body. The man pumping gas, shoved the nozzle into the pump and jumped into the driver’s seat. The man inside came running out and started firing at the shooter. This man was screaming at the driver to get out of there. The driver hauled ass. He planned on circling back to pick up his Brother. It didn’t work out like he planned.
“As soon as the shooting started, the store attendant called the cops. By the time the driver had a chance to turn around and head back, they could see that the station was surrounded by the police. The driver parked the vehicle and stayed with the girl while the other man slipped up to the store to see what was going on. The shooter was lying dead on the ground and our Brother was being arrested.
“Our Brother that shot Loth’s son made eye contact with his Brother who had slipped up to see what was going on and mouthed the word ‘Go’ to him. Reluctantly, the man left. Our Brother was tried and convicted. The judge gave him what Minnesota calls an executed sentence in the number of years as the age of the man he’d killed. He had to serve twenty-two years in prison with no chance at parole.
“The driver was Dog, the third man that protected the girl was Hoss and the Brother that shot and killed the shooter was Vision. Vision was nineteen at the time. He’d been a fully patched member for only six months. Vision is Gunny’s son, Brett. The girl is Hoss’s Old Lady and wife, Jessie.”
“During the trial, the prosecutor convinced the jury that Vision was a member of an MC. Because of that, the judge highly recommended that the prison officials not allow any known associates to any MC be allowed to visit with Vision when he was taken to prison. The warden of the prison upheld that recommendation.
“Spyder got word from a guard inside the prison that was on their payroll, that the warden was going to give the name of every person that visited Vision to members of the LWMC who were already inside doing time. Those members were to pass that information on to Loth.
“It was decided between both MCs that none of their members or family would ever visit Vision. Instead, they would all write him letters. The only man who did go visit him is Keith.
“Keith drove up once a month to visit with Vision and make sure he had money on the books. On his first visit, Keith informed Vision of the threats that had been made and Vision tried to get Keith not to come back either. But Keith told him that he was coming back and would be back monthly until Vision’s release.
“So our Brother, Gunny’s nineteen-year-old son, Brett, has spent more years in prison than he did on the outside. We’re all praying that when he does get released that he hasn’t become institutionalized. ARMC wants its Brother home where he belongs.”
The only sound that was heard in the room as I quit talking was the breaths of the men who I knew now ached for a young man who had stood up for his Brothers and for the girl they were told to protect and bring home.
~***~