Ryker by Jeneveir Evans
Chapter 37
Behind every great leader, at the base of every great tale of success, you will find an indispensable circle of trusted advisors, mentors, and colleagues.
~Unknown~
Ryker
November 19th, 1999
South Dakota
Shit was about to get real and quick. Draven and I were standing in front of my garage under the nightlight. He’d pulled his junker behind the house when he arrived. He’d been unable to get away until now because Loth and a couple of his men had showed up around six p.m. at the clubhouse.
King had ordered everyone to keep their ass in the main room at the club unless he gave orders otherwise and he had kept men on watch to make sure that no one left. He also said King made all the men put their phones in a box on top of a table next to the one he was sitting at.
He said that King had sent Lizard, Leech, and Snow out after Loth arrived and they hadn’t returned.
Drav said not long ago more members of Lucifer’s Wrath had come to the clubhouse. They’d spoken briefly with Loth. Then King, Loth and Loth’s men had headed out. Drav told me for some reason King had made Brawn go with them. Drav said once they were gone, he was finally able to grab his phone, sneak out of the clubhouse and he immediately headed in my direction.
“How many men came to talk to Loth?”
“Five came in the door.”
“So ten men left?”
“Yeah.”
“If you had to guess, where do you think they went?”
“I don’t know, Ry. Maybe the holding facility. If that’s where they are, then there’s no telling how many men might be there.”
“I need to call Vip and let him know what’s going on.”
He tilted his head at me. I pulled out my cell to place the call but before I could, it rang. I didn’t recognize the number but answered it anyway because I didn’t know what the fuck was going on or who it was that might be calling.
“Yo,” I muttered as I answered.
“Ry?”
“Brawn, what the fuck is going on?”
“Christ, Ry,” he moaned. “You gotta call Vip now and get men up here. King sent me back to the clubhouse to pick up some things and take them to the stash house.”
“Draven’s here and that was his guess of where you went.”
“Ry, Loth brought fucking girls with them. King sent me on this errand before I could find out how many there were. But I did find out that one of them is Venom’s daughter. Loth started bragging about it the minute we walked into the room where she was being assaulted. He said it was in retaliation for not being able to get to Vision.
“Brother, there has to be at least fifteen men there, not counting our men. Ry,” I heard him draw a shaky breath, “they’re passing those girls around like they’re candy. And Venom’s poor daughter, Jesus, Ry, it’s bad. Venom and Spyder are going to go fucking ballistic.”
“Son of a bitch,” I growled. “This shit is gonna get beyond ugly.”
“It is. Ry, tell Draven not to go back to the clubhouse. He doesn’t have enough time to put the plan about his family into play. If he’s at the club, King isn’t going to let him leave.”
“Alright, brother. Draven said King called a meeting for Sunday.”
“Don’t think he will wait that long, Ry. I figure he’ll do it sometime tomorrow. I don’t think any of the men are going to leave the holding facility for a while.
“Fuck, Ry, fuck. We need Vip’s men here ASAP. You need to get a hold of T, Taz, Rage and Crusher. Tell them to fucking get out of the clubhouse now. I gotta go. Got to get back on the road. I think King is fucking timing me.”
“Try to stick to the plan, Brawn. Be careful.”
“Will do, Ry.”
“You can’t go back to the clubhouse,” I told Draven. “Call the boys and get their asses out of there now.”
He jerked his chin, pulled out his phone and walked away a little bit as I punched in Viper’s number.
“Ry, got any word?” Vip questioned as he answered the phone.
“Vip, can you get all your men into an emergency meeting now. I mean now, Vip. We don’t have any time to waste. That motherfucker, Loth, grabbed Venom’s daughter in retaliation for Vision. Vip, don’t let Spyder, Venom or their men into the room before we figure shit out. We don’t need them riding in before a solid plan is made and fuck this all up.”
“On it.”
The other end of the line went silent. Now as bad as I hated it, I had to wait. I glanced at Draven. He was still talking on his cell. Once he hung it up, he headed toward me.
“Crusher, Rage and Taz left as soon as King took off with Loth’s men. T had a few more things to put in his saddle bags then he’s getting out. T said Taz is on his way home to make sure his Mom was packed. He said Taz would be there if we needed him. T is headed toward Crusher and Rage’s place. They are packing the rest of their shit now. He said the majority of his stuff is already there. I’m gonna run pick up all their gear.”
“Okay. Be careful. You all come back here. Park the truck in the garage.”
Draven growled, “Motherfuck. I’m gonna lose my damn bike.”
“I’ll build you a new one.”
He perked up at that news and I smiled.
“Damn, think that’s worth losing the fucker for.” He stopped before he got into his truck. “Ry, didn’t mean that to sound the way it did. My bike ain’t what’s important. Those little girls are.”
I agreed with him, those little girls were what was important. I felt fucking helpless that I couldn’t help them right now. But it would be suicide to take on everyone at the stash house alone, and even if all my men helped we were heavily outnumbered.
~*~
Viper
It was closing in on midnight but everyone was reluctant to leave the homecoming party. We were all sitting around the table shooting the shit when my phone rang. I saw that it was Ry so answered it immediately as I got to my feet and headed toward the closest semi quiet spot which was the girls’ hallway.
I closed my eyes and shook my head at our brief conversation. Yeah, shit was about to hit the fan. I made my way back to the table, leaned down and murmured into Dog’s ear.
“Need to call Church now, Brother.”
Dog turned his head and studied my expression. He quickly stood and whistled. The shrillness of it penetrated over the roar of voices in the room.
“Church now,” Dog yelled out.
~*~
Mad Dog
I saw the seriousness in Vip’s eyes when he told me to call Church. I could tell it was bad. As the men started toward the hallway, I looked at Spyder.
“Spy, we’ve got something to take care of. Y’all make yourself at home. I know your rules and ours are different about club girls. I’ve told our girls that it’s up to them if they want to be with your men.”
“We’re in your house, Brother,” Spyder responded. “We’ll go by your rules.”
I tipped my head at him. “We’ll be back in a few.”
As I turned toward the hallway, I saw Vision standing uncertainly at the bar with his son. He didn’t know if he was expected to be at the meeting or not. It was time to let him know that he was home. I had a feeling his first Church was going to be akin to being dropped into hot oil.
“Vision,” I called. “Get your ass in Church.”
It didn’t take but a couple minutes for everyone to be in the room and seated around the table. All of the Brothers were still at the Clubhouse thanks to Vision’s homecoming.
“Okay, Vip, it’s all you.”
He looked at Seer before he spoke. “Brother, need that phone again.”
Seer quickly got up and got the phone hooked up before resuming his seat. Viper put his hand on the handle but didn’t pick it up.
Instead he looked at Vision and said, “Brother, what you’re about to hear is gonna upset you. You don’t take this shit personally. It’s not fucking on you, you got me?”
Vision looked puzzled but lifted his chin.
“Ry just called me. Said we needed an emergency Church. He said that he just got word that Loth kidnapped Venom’s daughter. They have the girl at the HR’s stash house.”
“Jesus,” Vision muttered.
“Vision, what Vip said is true,” I reiterated. “This isn’t on you, Brother. Get that out of your fucking head right now.”
Vision grimly looked at me. Everyone on the team had straightened up at Vip’s news. Vip quickly dialed the phone and Ry immediately picked up.
“Ry, tell us exactly what you know,” he ordered.
~*~
Ryker
Feeling the urgency of the situation, I repeated all of the information that Brawn had given me. They needed to know everything I did in order to make adjustments to the plan we had already come up with.
Silence hung in the air for a second then I heard a voice shout, “That motherfucker, if I have to go back to prison for the rest of my life, I’ll do it, but Loth is a dead man.”
I heard Dog speak then. “Settle down, Vision. Your ass isn’t going anywhere. We already have a plan in place to take out King, we’ll just take out Loth along with him.”
~*~
Mad Dog
I knew we had to get shit figured out fast. We would have to let Spyder and Venom know what we had just learned. But we needed a solid plan before we brought them to Church.
“Dog,” Shadow spoke up. “I’ve been thinking about this since our first discussion, we need to do what Ry and the guys originally said.”
“We don’t have time to use Draven’s story,” Ry’s voice came from the phone. “I’ve told him not to go back to the clubhouse. Everyone but T is away from it and T is getting out now.”
“Ry, Shad here,” Shadow called out. “Can you get the boys to go fill a bucket with shit? If so, is there any way for one of them to sneak into the compound and put the bucket into Brawn’s shower without them being seen?”
“Yeah, I can get them to do that.”
“Good, as soon as we get off the phone, get that done. If Brawn calls back, let him know it’s in place. Dog, I’ve thought about this a lot. If Ry and his men aren’t killed when the rest of them are, then it will look like they are the ones who killed the rest of their brothers. They could be arrested for the deaths.
“Ry, is there anywhere that you and your men can go where y’all will be seen without anyone calling King and letting him know?”
“Yeah, we can go to the Hell Hole.”
“Good, when we get there gonna give you a call, I want you and all your men to go there and stay until we tell you it’s safe to leave.”
“Okay but, Shadow, how will you find the holding facility?”
“If you give us good enough directions, trust me, we’ll find it and take care of it.”
“Alright.”
“Dog, I know it’s going to be hard as hell to do, but that’s what Spyder and Venom need to do too,” Shad continued. “They need to keep their asses here in Arkansas so they have an alibi. There’s no way they could be in two places at once. KJ can give confirmation that they were here. It might require outing KJ a little early.”
“Fuck that,” KJ muttered. “I don’t give a damn. I’ll do it.”
“We do this my way and no one will end up in prison. We’ll need to figure out a way of getting the other girls home. I don’t want the teams’ faces to be seen.”
“I gotcha covered on that,” Pappy stated. “Got some people in South Dakota. I can have them get close and when you call, they can go to the stash house and get the girls.”
“Pappy, I think I’d rather meet them somewhere else,” Shad inserted.
“That will be fine. Just let me know where to have my people meet up with you,” he answered.
“That will work for all the girls but Venom’s daughter. We are getting her ass home,” I ordered. “I don’t want anyone to try to tell me otherwise.”
“She’s probably gonna need medical attention,” Shad cautioned.
“Brothers,” Cas drew our attention. “Let Sophie go with us. She can tell if the girl needs to be in a hospital or not. If she does, then we’ll need to get her to one.”
“If you have to do that, I’ll have my people take her. They won’t get into trouble taking the girl to get medical help,” Pappy added.
“Cas, you sure you’re okay taking Sophie?”
“Yeah, Prez. I’m fine with it and I know she’ll be okay with it too.”
I nodded.
“What’s the plan for the stash house?” I questioned.
“‘We’ll kill all the bastards, get the girls safely out, and make sure the men’s bodies are inside the building. Then we’re gonna blow the fucker just like we’re going to blow the clubhouse,” Shad clarified. “This way if all of Ry’s men and Spyder’s men are accounted for, they can’t be charged with anything.”
“That sound good, Brothers?”
Sensing the urgency, my men thwarted me from calling for a vote.
“I make a motion that we go with Shad’s plan,” Boomer declared.
“Second,” Blood called.
Every hand was in the air before I could even ask for a vote. Everyone knew time was of the essence. I picked up my phone and called Risky.
“Prez, what can I do for you?”
“Send Spyder and Venom to Church.”
“Sure thing.”
It didn’t take but a couple minutes and I heard a knock on the door.
“Enter,” I said loudly.
Spyder opened the door and walked in with Venom behind him.
“Dog, what’s going on?” he queried.
“Brother, need y’all to sit down and listen to us.”
Both men glanced around at everyone as they took a seat.
“Gotta tell you something and need you both to stay calm.”
“What is it, Dog?”
“I’ve got Ryker on the phone.”
Both men glanced where the phone was resting on the table.
“He’s patching over soon.”
I saw both their eyebrows raise in surprise. Knowing that time was critical, I quickly gave them all the information I had.
“He just called and gave me some news y’all aren’t going to like. We already have a plan in place to take out King and the majority of Hell’s Retribution. We’ve been waiting to find out when King has his next ‘secret’ meeting scheduled. King has been trying to keep Ry out of the loop on his new business venture. Human trafficking.”
Both men growled low in their throats.
“Ry has three men inside King’s inner circle of brothers. They have been keeping him abreast of the situation. A few minutes ago, Ry was informed that Loth showed up with two men at HR’s around six this evening.”
Both men sat up straight in their chairs giving me their undivided attention.
“King sent out three of his men after Loth arrived but wouldn’t let anyone else leave. Not long ago, five of Loth’s men entered the clubhouse, spoke to Loth, their LW brothers and King. Then King, Loth, his men and one of King’s men left. Only the man that left with King isn’t really loyal to him, he’s Ry’s man instead.
“King sent Ry’s man back to the clubhouse to get something. He stopped and called Ry as soon as he could. He told Ry that they went to a chicken house that has been converted into a stash house. He informed Ry that there were at least fifteen of LW’s men there. We already knew about the place and Ry’s men have been monitoring it.
“We now know why King wouldn’t let anyone leave. It’s because Loth brought girls with them. Some of King’s men met them earlier at the holding location.
“Ry’s man didn’t know the exact count of girls there. Venom,” I stated as I looked at the man knowing I was about to cause him a world of untold pain. “One of the girls is your daughter.”
“What?” Venom roared as he stood up. “It can’t be. I made sure before we left that she was safe with her cousin for the weekend.”
“Venom,” Ry’s voice drew Venom’s gaze toward the phone. “Brawn said Loth was bragging to King that it was your daughter and she was taken in retaliation for stopping them from getting to Vision.”
“Mother fuck,” Venom screamed. “I’ve got to leave. I’ve got to get to her now.”
He turned and started toward the door with Spyder right behind him.
I shouted at them, “We’ve got a plan. You motherfuckers need to sit down and listen to it if you want to see your daughter alive again, Venom.”
Both of them froze at what I’d said. Venom turned and stared at me with an agonized look on his face.
“This is my baby girl, Dog. She’ll be expecting her daddy to rescue her. I’ve got to get to her. I’ve got to save her,” his voice was that of a man in hell.
“I understand, but our team has a better chance of saving her, Venom.”
“Your team?” he asked, confused.
I glanced at Shad and nodded.
Shad, the rest of the team, Viper and Jace got up and headed toward the back wall. I was placing a lot of faith and trust in my Inferno’s Apocalypse Brothers. Shad opened the hidden door and they went inside the armory. I could hear them getting things together. Before Cas went inside, he turned back to me and spoke.
“Prez, can I borrow your phone to call Sophie? She’ll meet us here.”
I tossed my phone across the room to him and he disappeared into the weapon’s room.
“Spyder, Venom. We have an experienced team of men who hunt traffickers. They are some of the most elite and highly trained men in the world. Spyder, you know Shadow was in the Army. What you didn’t know is he was a team leader to a group of men who ran missions all over the world. A lot of those were rescue missions. Everyone that just walked into that room, other than Viper and Jace, were all in the military.
“Venom, you go rushing up there and you’ll get yourself killed then who will save your daughter? Ry knows where she is. He is sharing that information with Shadow. We already had a plan to catch King at their clubhouse during a meeting he planned. The original plan was to blow up the building along with everyone that is inside.
“They are modifying the plan. Half will go to the clubhouse, the other half will go where the girls are being held. If anyone can get them out alive, it’s them.
“Venom, I know what you’re feeling, but I need y’all to trust me on this.”
Sarge stood and drew their attention.
“Spy, you and I have known each other for a lot of years. What Dog is telling you is the truth. If you want to see that girl alive again, you have got to let them go in and rescue her. If you take your men and go in without a plan, you’ll get her killed along with all the other girls that were taken. You’ll probably end up losing your lives as well.”
“Dog, I got to go,” Venom uttered and turned, putting his hand on the door.
“Son,” Pappy called out. “I’m Brigadier General George Henry Wallace. Shadow was under my command for over fifteen years. If you love your daughter, really love her, give her the best chance of coming home. This team is your only hope of that happening. They have the skill set and knowledge to make that happen. Do you?”
Venom turned around and looked at Pappy as he talked. His body was shaking in anger. I knew it wasn’t directed at Pappy or us. It was because he felt helpless. As he went to open his mouth, the team walked back through the door. They were fully dressed in their gear. They were all loaded for bear with guns, ammo, and knives. Boomer, Cas, Ghost and Basher each had a backpack slung over their shoulder. Shadow reached for the knob which Venom still had his hand on.
He looked at Venom and stated, “Brother, let us go save your daughter. If you go, it will hinder us. You’re too emotional and it could very possibly get your daughter killed. One way or another, we’ll get her.”
Venom swallowed hard at what Shad said.
Spyder put his hand on Venom’s arm, drawing his gaze.
“Venom, I trust these men. You know I sent Jessie to them when all that shit went down years ago. If Sarge and Dog say their men are her best chance, you need to let them get her.”
Venom’s body continued to shake as he tried to decide what to do. Just like us, he was a 1%’er used to taking care of his own business, especially when it involved his family. It was harder than fuck for us to give that trust to someone else.
His shoulders dropped and he said to Shad, “Bring my baby home. Alive or dead, bring her home to me.” Then he broke and started sobbing.
Shad squeezed his shoulder as did every man that headed out the door.
Spyder looked at me and stated, “Dog, we need to get home.”
“Brother, asking you for one more thing. Stay here while they do this.”
“We can’t do that, Dog,” he replied.
“Spy,” Sarge called out. “Brother, if you aren’t where you have an alibi, this entire thing could blow back on your club. I’m sure that Loth didn’t take all his men with him. Trust me, they know that Loth has your daughter. When Loth ends up dead, they’re gonna point the finger at your club. You know that they have the police in their pocket.
“If you don’t have a firm alibi, this will come back on y’all. You will need to get your men in Minnesota somewhere witnesses can see them. We’ll let you know what time they need to do that. You don’t want your entire club to go down on a RICO charge. If you’re here, KJ can relay that to the proper authorities.”
Spy looked at Sarge confused. I sighed. Dammit, too many people were getting to know our information.
“Spyder,” KJ drew both men’s attention. “I’m the Sheriff of Benton County. I’ve been a secret member of the club for twenty-seven years.”
“Fuck,” Venom breathed out in shock. “Are y’all even really a MC?”
Even though the situation definitely didn’t call for it, most of my Brothers, me included, had to smile at his question.
“Yeah, Venom. We are,” I declared. “We just decided to do some good with the talent we have in our club.”
Venom stood there undecided of what he should do. I could understand that. If it was my child, someone would have to be holding my ass back because I would want to get as close to my kid as possible. I could tell it was taking everything Venom had not to walk out the door and tell us all to go fuck ourselves.
He looked at Pappy and asked, “You're absolutely sure this is her best chance?”
“Son, I know it is. I wouldn’t blow smoke up your ass about something this serious.”
“Venom,” I uttered. “We won’t try to keep you here. If you want to leave, go. But, Brother, I promise as soon as it’s safe enough for you to leave, we’ll tell you and let you be on your way. When they get your girl, they will have her call and talk to you.”
As if all his strength had left him, the fight left his body and he leaned heavily against the wall.
“Dog, if they got her, they probably took her cousin Karina too,” he rasped out.
“Son, what’s your daughter’s name?” Pappy inquired.
“Savii.”
“Tell me something that only you would know about her or say to her. When the men get there, they can use that to let her know that you sent them there to rescue her. That will help calm her some.”
Through his anguish, Venom smiled sadly. “Tell them to say, ‘Silly Savii, the sting of the venom will never harm you.’ ”
~***~