GGS: Good Gaelic Souls A Biker Saga (G.G.S) (21 page)

Astounded, they went back to the bar and checked the ice-maker, it was on and full of ice, so they made themselves a drink. "Welcome home honey." Strangler said solemnly, as he clinked his glass to hers. They sat there quietly for several moments, taking it all in. None of the decorative touches had been put into place. There was nothing on the walls, nothing hanging from the ceilings, no furnishings, no frills. Just the basic neccessities. But neither one of them could think of anything that had been overlooked. Even the concrete floor had been finished and polished.

While they were resting on the bar, Samson pulled up with the girls. Lee jumped out of the truck, racing to the front door of 'Club Castle' as she had begun to call it. She knocked and hurt her knuckles on the hard wood doors, "Damn, it bit me," she giggled. Serenity shook her head and opened the door. They rushed in leaving Samson to carry the bags in from the drugstore. He sat the first load down at the doorstep and went back for more, while Stax and Strangler brought them inside. Meanwhile, Lee and Serenity were running around like small children, looking into everything downstairs. Samson came back from his third and final trip just in time to hear Lee exclaim, "Elevator my ass, this is a fucking
Castle,
we absolutely
must
take the stairs!" The next thing they heard was the echo of their footsteps running on concrete. They were giggling like children with a V.I.P. pass to the secret places of Cinderella's Castle.

"I'm not convinced that she is as gay or as butch as she insists that she is," Samson said quietly, "She's way too fucking girly to be butch if you ask me." Strangler nodded and motioned for him and Stax to follow him down the short hall on the right of the bar, taking a left into the kitchen. "I get that same vibe too," he told them as he leaned on the work counter, " But then I'm not an expert on the subject, we'll just have to take it at face value for the moment." After he spoke, he looked towards the doorway and lowered his voice, "Keep an eye on her, I don't know why I feel leary, but I do. Samson's comment just told me he feels it too. What do you think baby?" he said to Stax, "You've been around her longer than we have."

Stax thought for a minute, she had felt that something was a little off too, but hadn't been able to put her finger on it yet. "I'm not sure to tell you the truth, tiny little things have given me a moment of pause in the last couple of day's but nothing specific that I can remember, just a feeling. I thought I was just being overly emotional lately." Strangler had much on his mind right now, and there was nothing solid that any of them could do but stay alert. "We'll talk about it again, in the meantime keep your radar on high." Strangler advised, "Now how about we go check out the new office while they are upstairs playing Castle.

They left the kitchen and went back to the main room, following the bar all the way to the arched hallway on the other end. The office was recessed down a short hallway. When they arrived at the door, Strangler took out the keys that Stax had returned to him and unlocked his new sanctuary. They all knew in advance of Slider's plans for the office, he was a creature of habit. He basically replicated what he already had, with a few upgrades. He wanted to use the same desk and chairs, but built a new set of bookcases. One of them had a hidden door behind it, which hid an escape route. He could either retreat to the outside grounds, down to the parking garage or he could climb a narrow staircase that went up to the second floor, and still futher to the roof top.

Another difference was the size of the safe that was hidden under the carpet, Slider had made this safe an actual underground room, like a cellar. He was expecting an increase in finances once everything was fully operational. He had plans to hold an "Annual Bike Rally" on the grounds, as well as their community benefits. Because of the pains it took to uncover the safe, he also added a wall safe, for quicker, easier access. This one lay behind the second bookcase. If anyone ever found a way to get into that one, all they would get was a nice chunk of operational cash. That in itself would be a large enough amount to make them think that they had hit the jackpot, while keeping the majority of their finances intact. Because Slider had twisted sense of humour and loved a good prank, he had placed a black velvet bag in the wall safe. It was full of synthetic diamonds and saphires, with a few replicated gold coins. "
That wee lass Karma, ya know, she can be a true fuckin bitch
," he had laughed, as he shared his little joke with the Trio.

They went through the connecting door to the President's private bedroom. It was much larger than the original Clubhouse bedroom. The bathroom had a Jacuzzi and a large stand up shower, with a double sink and vanity. Stax stepped through the adjoining door into a room with a six person mentholated sauna. "Thats where you'll find me when I disappear later." she informed him, adding, "We didn't check the Officer's rooms yet." He looked at Samson, "Forgot all about 'em." He replied and they headed back through the large office, up the hall and back into the Bar Room. Following Stax, they crossed over to the other hall and checked the public bathrooms. Both could accommodate twelve, and were complete, each with six shower cubicles along the back wall.

Then they peeked inside the four Officer's rooms. The first one had been set up as a Security Room. Already full of camera monitors covering the public places on the first floor, the Courtyard, Gate House and the surrounding grounds outside thick outer walls. The next three rooms had not yet been carpeted but there were throw rugs rolled up in the corner, and two of them had a King size bed already in place. Moby and Rage would each take one of these  rooms, with their women.  At the end of the hall, past the last office was a weight room, which only had five pieces of equipment and two stacks of mats in place so far. This room they would turn into the V.P's room. Then there was the library, the laundry room and the armory, which together spanned the larger portion of the back side of the Castle. The commercial sized washers and dryers were in place, commercial size concentrated cleaning supplies and detergents were waiting to be stored, and though the rolling racks were empty, there were cases and cases of fresh white towels and cloths. 

Stax recieved a text from Tandy, it read:
Dr. adv Mac-a.m discharge, Do u have shelter ready?
She needed to talk to Strangler before she replied, things had changed drastically since this morning when she had last talked to Mac. She reminded Strangler of the situation and her promise to help him with both work and shelter. He understood the delima, but was concerned about the danger to both families. They didn't know anything about Mac and his family, and this was the ultimate in bad timing. He was already on the fence about Lee, but they were stuck with her, for now at least. They could put Mac's family up in a motel, which was not only costly, but it wouldn't do anything for them except keep them off the street. This ordeal could go on for a long while. On the other hand, they really did need more experienced concrete workers who wouldn't expect the frills and benefits of a traditional company worker. Another pro was that Mac was Gaelic which suggested the possibility of a prospect that could end up with a full patch.

His mind needed a minute, he needed to relax and think. "We have a little while before everyone gets here. Fix the us a drink and meet me in the office." He told Stax, just as they heard the girls coming out of the elevator. This time, they were walking at a normal pace and talking quietly. When they came into view, the three of them were totally speechless. They didn't recognize Lee, she was in a pair of mens jeans and a long loose flannel shirt that covered up all of her bumps and curves. She wore a new pair of boots and had her hair up in a cap. If not for the tan and that bright dimpled smile, they wouldn't have known it was her. 

"That sucks." Thought Strangler, and by the look on Samson's face he could tell that he was thinking the exact same thing. Shit, even Stax looked disappointed that the little beauty had disappeared. Knowing that it would come off as rude if anyone commented on the change, he decided to overlook it and move on. "Serenity, we have to go work a few things out in the office, and everyone will be here shortly. Would the two of you mind getting the folding chairs and some of the banquet tables out of the front parlor and begin setting them up for everyone?" He looked over at Lee, who was looking towards the parlors. "From where we standing now, it's the one on your left." He stated, answering her unspoken question. "Do you mind?" he asked politely. "No problem, we'll start with the tables, where do you want them? Lee inquired. "Bring out about ten of them, make a big horseshoe, open face towards the bar. Then add two tables facing the center of the shoe so that the officers are facing the members. Do you get my meaning?" Serentity answered this time, "Got it brother, go take care of your business. We'll knock if anybody arrives before you come back out." Strangler turned to walk away but stopped and turned back around. "You know what, scratch that. It would be better, if you would head to the kitchen and pull out those deli trays first, with some crackers and shit. They need to defrost. Then unpack some of thoses disposable plates and stuff. When the other's arrive, they can help with setting up the tables and chairs."

Strangler, Stax and Samson went back to the Office and the girls got to work in the kitchen. Once they were back in the office, they realized that there was no funiture to sit on, so they went out and grabbed a table and two chairs each and tried it again. Stax ran back out one more time and grabbed a bottle, coke, glasses and an ice bucket. Once they were all sitting down, Strangler reached in his pocket and pulled out a little baggie. "We are in for a long fucking night." he stated, pulling out his credit card and cutting everyone a line on the table. After rolling up a twenty dollar bill, they each took a turn and then took a seat. "That's not gonna last long." Samson observed verbally, "Life's gonna suck soon enough." Strangler started cutting them all another line for later, just to keep himself busy, "We're good brother," he informed Samson, "The Trio is emptying the safe and bringing with."

Stax picked up her drink, taking a sip from her straw, she said, "Good thing, that's the one thing that's not already here. But I'm thinking the Clubhouse stash is pretty low, there isn't much for them to bring." Strangler stopped what he was doing smiled and walked over to the bookcase, pressing the hidden access button. The wall safe was revealed and he slowly entered the new combination. "Voilá!" He exclaimed as the door swung open and they could see the goodies inside. "Sweet," Samson exclaimed, "one less thing." He pulled some papers from his inside jacket pocket and said, "Hand me a bag brother, I can roll while we talk. Might as well be ready, we may have to calm a few souls down tonight."  

They sat there smoking a cigarette and enjoying their drinks. It was important to take a few minutes of down time, so much had happened this day. They discussed the new bikes that had came out this year, and then moved on to Strangler's other favorite subject, Race Cars. He had seen one he was very interested in for sale on the internet, and had been wanting to go and check it out. There simply hadn't been any time of late. Stax thought about the logo that he put on his race cars and smiled. '
Strangler Racing - Choking out the competition',
she just loved that, it was one of her favorite t-shirts too. While they were talking, she recieved another text from Tandy, which read
"Off soon, what to tell Mac?"

"We have to make a decision about Mac and his family," Stax stated, relaying the text message to the guys. "Ok, how about this," Started Samson, he got up and went to the door, walking out to the end of the hallway, he yelled for Lee and Serenity to come into the office for a minute. He walked back in and sat down, waiting. Strangler looked at him with a questioning look, but said nothing as they waited for the girls to arrive.

"S'up brother?" Serenity asked as they walked in. "I want to ask Lee a very serious question," Samson advised, "Please take a moment to think about it before you answer." He said, looking at Lee closely.  Lee was a bit apprehensive, not sure of what was about to go down.  "Is it personal?" She asked. "Not like your probably thinking," Replied Samson, "More like your personal opinion." Still confused, she said, "Ok, shoot." Serenity trusted her family, so she didn't ask, she simply waited to find out what was up.

"Lee, today you have learned what we are dealing with, you saw what they did to Slacker, and now you have seen what we have here. So my concern is,
Do you feel safe here?
" As they watched her facial expression change, they could all tell that it was a geniune response when she exclaimed, "Uh, hell yeah! Unless your gonna bring in the marines, I couldn't feel safer." She thought for a second and added, "Can I ask why you wanted to know? Are you thinking that I should leave or maybe that I want to leave?" Serenity looked at the faces at the table, not knowing yet where this was heading, now she was starting to feel a little edgy.

Strangler spoke up, "We are trying to decide whether or not to bring someone in while all of this is going on and we felt that your opinion could be useful. Thank you for an honest answer, I think we have what we need now." Serenity, feeling much better now, smiled and advised them, "We'll be done in the kitchen soon, holler if you need us." They left the office and  went back to prepare some more finger food trays. After the door was closed behind them, Samson said to Strangler, "He's a man in dire straights, his family is suffering and so is ours, but we both have the ability to help each other. I say, have Tandy explain to them exactly what we are facing and let
him
make the decision." He continued to roll another joint, while the other two gave thought to his suggestion.