GGS: Good Gaelic Souls A Biker Saga (G.G.S) (18 page)

"Sorry baby" he started, "But you had already been through so much, I thought I could protect you from having to deal with this, at least for a little while, I was wrong." At that point the Sheriff walked up and advised that he had just recieved a call from the hospital. "Slacker is still unconsious, but stable. They've stiched up his cheek, and he will be going into surgery for the internal injuries in the morning, if he remains stable through the night." Strangler nodded, "Thank you Bob, I've got two guys posted outside his door and one in his room, if you want to place one of your Officers at the entry to the hallway we'll have it covered if someone get's past him. If you don't have a guy to spare, I'll send one of these guys over." Sheriff Bob nodded his agreement, "I'd rather have at least one of my men on board, just in case."

Stax gave Bob a questioning look and asked; "Did you know before today that there was a problem, Bob?" Bob looked at Strangler and then back to her, "Yes ma'am, I was aware," he advised, "We've sorta-kinda been working together." nodding toward Strangler and the four men behind him. Stax went to speak, but Bob spoke first, "Strangler and I talked  several day's ago, we came to a mutual agreement, but only if I could keep you protected. Your house has been under surveillence and we have had a man on your tails every since. I have no need to speak with you ladies again, I was just trying to keep you here until they arrived. No men to spare at the moment to protect you." He looked at the three women closely and stated, "Make no mistake, you are all in danger, don't let your personal feelings get in the way of your safety." He was looking straight at Lee when he stated the last part, "And now Ms. Stax, if you'll excuse me, I need to continue my investigation here, so I will leave it to Strangler to fill in the details." He tipped his hat to the ladies and went back into the Clubhouse.

"I know you've been through alot," Strangler told the girls after the Sheriff went inside, "But if you would stay out here with the guys for a few minutes while I go inside and see what's been done, I'll be right back out and we will update each other." Strangler looked down at Stax for understanding, and when she nodded her agreement, he finally let go of her waist. "Thank you baby, be back as soon as I can." As he walked away, Samson gave Stax a hug and whispered in her ear, "He just wanted to keep you safe sister, you'll know everything soon, promise." He turned to Serenity and Lee, "And whom might this raging beauty before us be?" He exclaimed, bestowing on them an exaggerated sweeping bow. Unfortunately for Samson, his attempt to lighten the moment and flatter Serenity's friend from school backfired. Lee was furious and everyone could see it on her face. Eyeing the crowd with nothing less than a look of contempt on her face, she put her arm around Serenity and spoke loud enough for all to hear, "My name is Lee, I prefer not to be patronized, and I am Serenity's lover, are there any more questions?"

Chapter 13

"Reality Check"

Strangler stood in the V.P's room, looking at the message that had been left for him on the wall. He already knew who was responsible, and he knew that it wouldn't end here. It wasn't any of the local MC's, it wasn't even a club from their own state. It was actually a club from an area above their border states, one that had recently forced their way into someone elses territory and swallowed up many of smaller clubs in the process. Through acts of violence, combined with death threats on the small clubs and their families, they had managed to force them into a patch over. This of course, was all in an effort to rapidly increase their numbers.

The rumour that Slider had heard a few weeks ago, was that they intended to do the same thing in the border states. Once they were big enough, they intended to war with the established clubs that ran the Sunshine State. The ultimate goal was to grow powerful enough to dominate and eventually take complete control over the state of Florida. To an extent, Slider had seen things like this before. Be it bikers, drug lords or whatever, there was always someone who wanted to be King of the mountain. It always boiled down to money-power, religion-power or political-power, and it was usually a combination of at least two of the three.

After Slider had spent time speaking with other biker's and club Presidents, he had held a daily Officer's Cruinniú to keep information current. Eventually, he sent Strangler and several other's up north on a recon mission, to uncover as much information as possible and to put the word out that as a HC, they were not interested in the MC way of life or the territorial issues that came with it. He wanted Strangler to make it perfectly clear that they would not involve themselves in any way. The G.G.S was a Heritage Club which consisted of men and women bikers, who were self-sufficient and helped those around them who fell on hard times, end of story. He knew that the established clubs who chose to live outside the law, didn't allow female patch members. This might work in their favor, as he hoped they would over-look such a club and move on. He also knew, that as a group, the G.G.S would die defending itself before allowing a take-over. Diplomacy had worked in the past, and it was his hope, that it would work again. He was on the verge of seeing his lifelong dream fulfilled on the property and he wasn't about to hand it over to anyone.

Slider wasn't about to take chances and just hope for the best, he sprang into action as soon as he recognized a threat. Making the appropriate calls he and the Trio put a rush order on everything that was in the process being built or near completion. He had to be ahead of whatever was going to happen in the near future. Every member available was put to work, they created shifts and worked around the clock. He even broke down and hired extra labor.  It would cost more, but he could see that it was necessary. They certainly had enough money to do all that needed to be done, but now time was an issue. They would have to buy  what wood and blocks they needed in a hurry, instead of making their own.

During the recon run, Strangler and the guys were able to gather some new information. According to the streets, the President of the offending Club was both ruthless and power-hungry. More than once, they heard whisper's indicating that he had killed his predecessor and all of the member's that stood with him. Nobody knew where his Clubhouse was, the name of the President or even the clubs name for that matter. Some were calling them, "The Biker Militia' and some called them the "Unknown Club" which quickly became U.C."  But whoever they were it was being said that a large number of MC's, both above and below the state line, were preparing themselves and considering alliances to combat this new threat. A Biker War was brewing.

On the day that they had arrived back from the recon run, after an Officers briefing, Slider had been the victim of a fatal accident. This left Strangler occupied with taking care of Stax and the arrangements for Slider. Everything was placed on hold, and his untimely death did not work to their advantage. Because of his notariety in the area, Slider's death had made the news, and a club without a leader is a sitting duck. He was sure that this is what had been the cause of them being targeted so quickly.

During the ceramony for Slider at the Clubhouse, one of the local bikers, there to pay his respects, had witnessed several members from the U.C. mingling with the local residents, on the candle-lit sidewalk. They were asking general questions about the club. Realizing that they were there to gather information on the G.G.S, he left early and advised his own club Prez what he had discovered. That club Prez, investigated further and found that the clubs scouts had been asking around about several of the smaller MC's and even going so far as to gather information on some of the RC's. Deducing that every club type was a potential target, he paid a visit to Rage, Moby and Griff. After informing them to expect trouble, he advised them to prepare a defense. Finally, he reminded them that since the G.G.S. didn't have an acting President at the moment, they needed to promote Strangler now or cast a vote and fill the chair. Either way it should be immediate. Later that same day, Strangler was sworn in and they all hit the street to put the word out that the G.G.S was under new leadership.

Everything went quiet for several days, and then the the first threat arrived. Strangler had left Stax's house to meet with the Trio at the Clubhouse.  Samson had arrived a little later. After a had a quick update, it was decided to get the entire club together for a complete disclosure, putting everyone on high-alert. While Moby sent out a mass text, Strangler and Samson were going to head over and give Stax and Serenity a personal heads-up before the meeting. Strangler didn't want to blindside her, though he hadn't wanted to put this on her so soon either. There just wasn't anymore time to allow her to adjust, that would be too dangerous.

Outside, they discovered that the bikes been surrounded by large shards of broken glass. On closer inspection, they realized that the glass had came from several different bottles, namely, Irish and Scottish liquors. Already on alert, they went back inside and called everyone in for an emergency Cruinniú. At the last minute, Strangler decided to give Stax one more night of peace before he threw all of this at her, so he called Sheriff Bob and requested that he place a couple of officer's on stake-out for several hours until he could get there. He gave a brief rundown to Bob who immediately sent two undercover's in Stax's direction. Then he told Strangler that before he met with his club, that they needed to talk and he would be right over.

When he arrived, Strangler walked out the door with a hand full of brightly colored event flyer's. He walked over to the Sheriff's car before he had a chance to get out. Smiling, Strangler handed the flyer's to the confused officer, "Take these, smile and don't ask," Strangler told him, "Tell me what you have to say, Bob, but don't get out of the car." He leaned forward, casually placing one hand on the top of the cruiser.

Sheriff Bob got right to the point, "I am aware of the recent turmoil in the biker community. All police departments were put on alert weeks ago, when a pattern began to develop up north and rumours started to trickle down south. I figured when you called for a watchful eye on Stax, something must be up. There isn't much that we can do until something occurs that just can't be ignored, or until a citizen requests our help. Since most clubs choose to function without the support of local law, we are simply observers. I would be negligent not to advise you to file a report on the vandalism in your parking lot." Strangler gave the Sheriff a wry smile, "We won't be taking that route Bob. The message they sent was harmless this time. We'll take it to the next level and if their smart, they'll give up on us." The Sheriff shook his head in defeat. He had hoped against hope that at least this club would coopertate with the authorities.

"Bob," Strangler told him bluntly, "I do appreciate that you are trying to do your job, and I thank you for offering assistance. You know us all well enough to know who we are, what we do and how we live. Though we don't live the exact same life that other MC's do, not one of us are fans of government agencies. We're good people, and for the most part a peaceful club. But rest assured, we can and we will defend ourselves." He stopped for a moment, looking down at the Sheriff until they were looking each other in the eye, "We both know that just about everyone of us has a permit to carry and will use good sense when it comes to self protection. Agreed?" Bob stared at the big man in front of him, knowing exactly where he was coming from, "Agreed." Said the Sheriff. "Good enough." Replied Strangler, "Now here is what I ask from you and what I will do in return. If you can keep my women safe when I can't be with them myself, and be willing to give us what aid you can, and I mean
aid without strings
, then in return, I'll update you on any pertinent information I gather which will help you keep this community safe. Fair?" Strangler paused and waited for the Sheriff's response. "Fair." said the Sheriff.

Strangler saw that the Sheriff was about to reach out and shake his hand, and he stopped him with a look and a slight nod of his head, "Bob, if we are being watched, we don't want them to think that we are making deals with the cops, now do we? For now, it just looks like you came out to pick up these flyer's for the upcoming Bike and Car Show and we had a quick chat about permits or whatever. That's why I didn't walk you over and point out the glass around the bikes. You need to drive this farce home by having some of your guys begin posting these flyer's around town right away so it looks legit." Strangler patted the top of the car and said, "Thank you Sheriff, see ya'll at the show." He walked away, "Cool" he thought, "Two birds, one stone." Those flyer's needed to go up soon anyway.

Walking back into the Clubhouse, he sent the guys out to sweep up the glass and told Slacker to get the dry vac and go behind them. Moby followed them out to supervise the work around his '65 Panhead. "
Do it several times lad
," he told the prospect, "
Nobody needs to worry about a flat right now
.
When you get tired, pass it on to another, ya'll don't stop till your sucking up the dirt under the pavement
." Strangler went back in to consider their next move, choosing yet again, to let Stax breath easy just a little longer.

Afterwards, it had been a whirlwind of gathering information from variou clubs and the streets. Pictures of the U.C scouts, had been inadvertently taken by various people with their cell phones, mostly found in the background of pictures taken at a bar. When word started spreading, and a picture taker realized whose picture it was they had taken, a text chain began and the  pictures were put into circulation. Bikered up to fit in, but not wearing colors or mentioning  affiliations, they gave different names and places of origin in each area. Acting more like tourist down on a ride, in the beginning people fell for it and engaged in conversations. Unfortunately, in the biker world there are many people not affiliated with a club, who tend to drop names so that they can appear to others like they are somehow involved with an established club. The U.C, as the locals and bikers were now calling them for lack of a real name, gleaned a little information here and a little there as they went. If information started drying up, or they were recognized, they would ride a little further south. Shortly after they left an area, a second wave would appear, but they weren't engaging in idle chit-chat. This wave came to inject fear. It was only a matter of time before it evolved into something more aggressive.