Ryker by Jeneveir Evans
Chapter 32
Honorable men don’t settle for lives of regret.
~Stephen Mansfield~
Mad Dog
November 5th, 1999
I drew everyone’s attention back to me as I started talking.
“While inside, Vision was protected by a couple members of Spyder’s MC who are in for life. This allowed Vision to keep his head down and his ass out of trouble.
“The prison offered college classes to the inmates if they wanted to take them. Vision decided that he’d do that to pass the time while inside. During this time, Vision has amassed bachelor’s degrees in math, biology, chemistry, and physics. I’m fucking hoping that his degrees will give him a sense of purpose once he gets out.
“We all write to him and he reciprocates to all of us. I can say that in my letters, he hasn’t ever sounded bitter about what happened to him. Not sure how he couldn’t, but Vision was always a happy go lucky kid and man. He was also a man who protected the underdog. He couldn’t stand a bully in school. He got suspended more than once for beating the shit out of some assholes.”
I smiled as I thought about how he got his name.
“Doom was the one who actually gave Vision his moniker. Doom loved comic books and read them voraciously. After Vision had been suspended for the umpteenth time, Doom made the comment that Brett was just like the superhero Vision. Doom said when it came to bullies or those Brett felt were in the wrong, Brett turned into half-man, half-machine and he cleaned house. From that day forward, Brett became known as Vision.
“A few years back, the old warden retired, thank fuck. The new one that came in took a liking to Vision. He studied Vision’s record and was impressed with how Vision had spent his time on the inside. About a year ago word got to the warden that members of Lucifer’s Wrath were going to cause an incident with Vision that would put more time on his sentence.
“The warden didn’t like the news so he decided to put Vision on the solitary confinement block. The warden heard the rumors about certain guards being under LW’s thumb and he made sure that only his handpicked guards were on that ward. Luckily, Vision didn’t have to stay locked up for twenty-three hours with only one hour of outside time. The warden let Keith know he wasn’t going to punish Vision like that when he knew that none of that shit was Vision’s fault.
“It worked. Vision is set to be released on the nineteenth of this month. Keith, can you give us the update on what is going on?”
Keith nodded at me.
~*~
Keith
“I got a call last night from Warden Carmichael. He told me that another rumor has been brought to him. He was told that there was a plan to poison Vision’s food so that he’d either die or be taken to sick bay. Loth’s men figured they could get to Vision easier there. The warden assured me that he was personally handling the matter. He is going to buy all of Vision’s food daily from different places and take the food to Vision himself.
“Y’all might be wondering why this warden likes Vision so much. He shared a little story with me about why he does. He said that the man Vision killed had been suspected of several burglaries in the area he lived. He stated that the police claimed they never had enough evidence to arrest the man. He inferred that he believed the police, in the town LW’s compound is located, were being paid off by them.
“The last house that was robbed before Loth’s son was killed was the warden’s cousin’s house. If it had just been a robbery attempt, he said that might have made a difference in how he felt, but it wasn’t just that. His cousin was murdered during the robbery and that was why he took such an interest in Vision. The suspect of the robberies was the man that Vision killed.
“The warden said he’d been impressed with Vision from the first time he met him. Besides studying his prison records, the warden stated that he’d dug as deep as he could into Vision’s past. He felt that Vision’s sentence shouldn’t have been as harsh as it was.
“He let me know that there was no way in hell that Vision wasn’t making it home, not under his watch. I’m scheduled to pick Vision up at eight a.m. on the nineteenth and we’ll head home. Vision doesn’t have to worry about parole or anything else since he will have served his entire sentence in full.”
~*~
Mad Dog
I took over the conversation from there.
“I’ve spoken to Spyder about Vision’s release. Everyone is worried that Lucifer’s Wrath is going to try to take out Vision before he leaves the state. Spyder has already called his sister clubs and they are going to help his club escort Keith out of the state. Spyder also contacted the dominant club in Iowa, the Disciples of Carnage and in Missouri, the Rulers of Chaos.
“Luckily for us, both Prezs’ hate Loth and his MC. Hellboy is the Prez for DCMC and Nightmare is the Prez for RCMC. They are taking a personal interest in this. They are allowing Spyder’s men to escort Keith and Vision through Iowa and Missouri. Both clubs have decided to split their men, half will take the lead in front of Spyder’s men, and the other half will fall in behind Spyder’s men.
In Missouri, Nightmare plans to have some traffic blocks set up so that if Loth’s men are trying to follow, they will never know where Vision was taken.
“Once at the Arkansas border, KJ is going to lead Keith and Spyder’s men here. IAMC will be staying overnight with us, then the majority will head home on the twentieth. Spyder and some of his men are staying for a week. Spyder wants to visit with his daughter and grandkids.
“Brothers, this is going to be hard on Vision. He went in as a nineteen-year-old man, hell, not much more than a kid, and he’s coming out a forty-one-year-old man.
“That’s not the only thing he is having to face either. After he was convicted, he learned his girlfriend was pregnant with his child. ARMC assured Vision that we would take care of them and financially we’ve done that.
“Because of what happened, Kyra, Vision’s ex, wouldn’t allow his son to be around any member of the MC with the exception of Gunny. Even then, Gunny wasn’t allowed to wear his cut when he and Julie visited.
“Kyra only agreed to all of this with the condition that when Jett turned eighteen that if he asked to join the MC that we wouldn’t let him. She wanted him to have more years under his belt before he made a decision like that. Vision backed her up on that. He said he doesn’t regret being a member but since Jett wasn’t being raised around the MC, that he didn’t want his son to have stars in his eyes to the reality of the biker lifestyle and think being a member of an MC was the be all and end all of life.
“Kyra didn’t try to stop contact between Jett and Vision, though she very easily could have. According to Gunny, she hasn’t tried to paint the MC in a bad light either. Every one of us is thankful for that. Kyra read all the letters to him that Vision sent until Jett was old enough to read them for himself. Jett was allowed to write to his dad once he got old enough to and the two of them have been as close as possible considering the situation.
“Jett is now twenty-one. He has requested to be here when Vision rolls in. We are granting his request.
“When we decided to start homeschooling some of the kids, an idea started floating around in my head. I presented it to Vision and he has agreed to do what I asked. Dani and Ava have both admitted that the higher levels of math are challenging for them. That tends to bleed over into the science area somewhat too. Vision has said that he will teach the older kids their math, biology, chemistry and physics.
“Without smothering him, we have to do our best to make sure that Vision feels at home. He has already agreed to start seeing Bryn. I think that will help. I’m asking each of you to spend some time with him. Let him come to the realization that ARMC is here for him and always will be.”
“Anyone have any questions?”
I gazed around the room at my Brothers. A myriad of emotions were on their faces. I knew that Vision wasn’t the only one who would struggle with his homecoming. Hoss and I both still felt guilty for not noticing the LW’s man. We both thought it should have been us that pulled the trigger ending the asshole's life. Most of the Originals had mentally beaten themselves up for sending young untrained men to get Jessie. They felt like if more experienced men had gone, the situation we encountered may have never happened.
“I understand that a lot of men in this room still carry guilt but, Brothers, you can’t lay your shit on him. It wouldn’t be fair.”
I watched as men nodded in agreement.
“If no one has any questions, then I’m moving on to our next matter.”
When no one said anything, Keith stood up. He knew enough about the MC to know that his time in Church was over.
“I’ll see you all again on the nineteenth,” he said before he left the room.
After he was gone, I looked at Zane.
“Your guys still keeping an eye out in California on that Fallen Sons Disciples fucker, Reaper?”
“Yeah, they are. He’s still there, Prez.”
“Good.”
“What’s going on with that motherfucking’ trafficker Judge Courtway?”
“It’s become apparent that he’s not going to regain much control of his right side. His speech is still slurred and hard to understand.”
“Do we have any idea who might be running things since he isn’t able to?”
“No, Prez. I still haven’t found anyone else.”
“What about the dirty cop, that rat bastard Lance?”
“There’s something interesting there.”
“What do you mean?” I inquired.
“I found out that he took a leave of absence in September. Somehow the paperwork magically got buried and wasn’t entered into their system until this week. At the time it was entered into the computer so was his official resignation letter which was dated three weeks ago.”
“You’re saying the man quit his job?” I reiterated.
“Yeah, Prez. He did.”
“That’s fucking interesting,” KJ muttered. He looked like he had something on his mind.
“Whatcha thinking, KJ?” I queried.
Instead of answering my question, he asked one of Zane.
“Zane, you never found anything in Lance’s background?”
“No.”
“What about his brother’s?”
“Same, nothing.”
“They both have the same mother?”
“Yeah.”
“What about father?”
“None listed for either one of them,” he responded. Then he tilted his head in thought.
“Mother fuck,” he whispered and his gaze went to KJ’s. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Yeah, Brother, I am. You need to dig into that shit and see what you can find out.”
“Consider it done.”
“Someone tell me what Dad and Zane are thinking?” Nickel demanded.
I was a little like Nickel, I had an idea but wanted it verified.
“Son, I think Courtway might be related to Lance. He may even be his father,” KJ replied.
“Holy shit,” Nickel sputtered.
“Holy shit is right, Brother,” I told Nickel. I looked at KJ and questioned, “What made you come to that conclusion?”
“Just a gut feeling, Dog.”
“That’d do it. Never go against what your gut is telling you,” I remarked. I looked at Zane. “Dig deep, Brother. We need to figure some of that shit out.”
He jerked his chin at me. “I know, Prez. It’s frustrated the hell out of me that I haven’t found more than I have. It’s like I’ve hit a fucking brick wall.”
I quirked a grin at him. “I take it that doesn’t happen much, Zane?”
He grimaced. “No, Prez. It doesn’t.”
I shook my head at his answer. I guess if I was as damn smart as he is, shit like that would frustrate me too. It was time to move on to the next subject.
“Vip, what’s the word from Ryker?”
“Dog, he asked if there was any way we could call him while we were in Church. Said he’d like to give everyone his news.”
Seer got up, went to the cabinet in the room, unlocked it, reached in and took out a landline phone. He connected it to the jack in the room and brought the device over to the table and set it down in front of Viper.
This time it was me smirking at the fucker’s ass.
“There’s your answer,” I smarted off to him.
“Asshole,” he mumbled under his breath.
That only caused me to laugh. He quickly dialed Ry’s number and when he answered, Vip put him on speaker.
“Ry, we’re in Church. I’ve got you on speaker. Tell us what’s going on.”
~*~
Ryker
“Hell, Vip, not even sure where to start,” I said, sighing. “King took a vote while I was gone with his human trafficking idea. It didn’t pass, but that was only by a few votes. He told everyone that he’d take another vote in two to three weeks.”
“That’s a good thing then, Ry,” Dog stated.
“I wish it was, Dog. One of my men, who is still in with King, gave me some info that isn’t good. He saw King talking to three brothers. He said it looked intense. When one of the men went outside, Draven said he figured the man was leaving and he wanted to see where he went. He slipped out the back way and went to a truck he had hidden outside of the compound.
“Draven was right. He said all three men were in a truck when it went by him. He followed them about thirty miles from the compound to an old poultry farm. He said they turned into it and he pulled into a dirt track about a quarter mile further down the road. He waited till they left then he walked in to where they had gone. Dog, King has already turned one of the chicken houses into a holding facility.
“Draven said it had multiple rooms that deadbolted from the outside. Place has water and electricity already. Got a feeling that King is going to go ahead with his plans regardless if it’s voted in or not. One of us has been going out there every night to make sure that he hasn’t already brought anyone in. So far there hasn’t been anyone, thank goodness.”
“Hell, that ain’t good news,” Dog uttered.
‘You’re right, Dog, it isn’t. I met with all my guys. All of them want to come to Arkansas. I do have to talk with Taz’s mom. He’s hesitant to leave her behind.”
“Ry, he wouldn’t be the first to bring his mom. Let her know she’ll have a house to live in on the compound.”
“I told him that the MC had other Brothers bring their moms and siblings. That I didn’t think the club would mind, but I’m glad you confirmed it. Now when I go talk to his mom Regina, I can let her know that.”
“Any mention of when the next ‘secret’ meeting is?” Vip queried.
“Nah, Vip. Nothing’s been mentioned yet. If we have enough notice of it, Draven is going to have a family emergency a couple days before it and need to go out of town. That left trying to figure out something for Brawn and T came up with a plan to get Brawn out of the meeting so asinine that it just might work.”
“Let’s hear it,” Vip replied.
“T said they could get a five gallon bucket and fill it with cow, pig, and chicken shit and set it in Brawn’s shower. Then Brawn can let King know that he ate something bad and has the shits. King will send someone to check since Brawn lives behind the clubhouse and when the man gets close to the bathroom, he’ll smell the foul odor. T told Brawn that he would need to do some moaning to be convincing.”
I heard laughter over the speaker. It wasn’t quiet either.
“Holy shit.” I heard someone gasp out. “That’s fucking genius.”
It took several minutes before the laughter started dying down.
“Fuucckkk,” I heard Dog mutter amid bouts of laughter. “I don’t envy your man Brawn any.”
“Yeah, Brawn said he was gonna look into a gas mask,” I responded.
That just set the men of ARMC off again.
Finally, Dog was able to talk again. “Damn, Ry. I think I’m gonna like T.”
“I think you’ll like all the men. T’s usually not that funny, but he said he got the idea when he was sitting on the crapper after eating some bad food.”
I heard Dog snort and knew he was trying to keep from laughing again.
“Ry, is there anything else to report?” Dog inquired.
“That’s it, Dog.”
“Keep us updated if anything changes,” he remarked.
“Will do, Dog. I’ll talk to all of you later.”
“Later, Ry,” Vip said, then the line went dead.
~*~
Mad Dog
“Christ, that’s some funny shit, right there,” I said while chuckling. “Real high tech.”
Shadow grinned at me, “Dog, sometimes a man has to do what a man has to do. Even if it involves shit.”
That set everyone off again. I knew there was no use trying to get everyone back on track, besides we were finished anyway.
“Meeting adjourned,” I called out over the laughter.
~***~