He chuckles.
“You all are fucking stupid,” Snapper says as he gets up from his spot at the other end of the table. He tosses his half-full plate into the trash, then disappears down the hall.
“Hey, so he’s having a good day. That was only one swear,” I say cheerily.
Shark shakes his head as he gets up from his seat, throws his plate away, then follows after Snapper.
“You wanna help me when you get back?” Rhino asks.
“I’m not sucking your dick.”
“Fuck you, prick. I don’t want you to.”
“With what?”
“Wiring hopefully. Turn signal has been fucked. Changed the bulb, but it’s still acting up.”
In high school, I focused on electrical and mechanics, so usually when there’s an electrical issue, the guys come to me. It’s one of those things you can’t pretend to know. And not that I know everything, but I know enough.
I take my last bite of food. “I should be back in a couple hours.”
“I’ll be here.”
I clean up my mess and head out. I take my time getting to the road that leads to the border because it’s a nice day and I’m enjoying the ride. It’s one of my favorite things in the world, getting on my Harley Fat Bob and just going. Lately, I haven’t been in the mood to just ride though. Today is different. Today, I want to enjoy my bike and the fresh air. So I ride around longer than I should, considering I told Rhino I’d be back in a few hours to help him with his bike.
When I turn onto the dirt road, I slow to carefully veer around rocks and pot holes. It’s not an official road, just one we made to get to the border and check on our guys. People of the town know not to come down this road because it’s none of their business what goes on over here. Most of them listen.
We do what we need to keep them safe from the assholes who try to come through and use our town for themselves. It’s our job to make sure nothing goes badly.
We don’t traffic women or smuggle guns. We don’t bring drugs into the country. We sell them dumb shit and make money off it. Now and then, they sell us stuff that we resell.
We make sure the douchebags stay far the fuck away so our town is safe, and we get a little something while we do it. It ain’t always pretty, but someone has to do it, and that’s us—ever since our granddads started up the Maine Chapter here in Pinehaven, it’s been our duty.
The rumble of my engine isn’t quiet, and I’m sure the guys hear it echoing through the woods.
Each of the spots are marked in the trees with a flag hanging from a branch. Nothing too bright or obvious, but you’ll see it if you know what you’re looking for. We pay men to patrol the border 24/7 on our side, while the Canadians handle their own side, but we do work together. If we keep people off our side, it keeps them from going over and giving them a hard time and vice versa. We’re helping each other out. Plus trading goods on the down low is nice, and the guys who patrol usually get first dibs. Canada has the best fucking chips I’ve ever had in my whole fucking life called All-Dressed Chips. I could live off that shit, I swear. They don’t understand my obsession, the same way I don’t understand their obsession with Twinkies. I mean, they’re good but they aren’t as good as they say.
I stop my bike a few miles down the road, as the trees get denser, to the spot where the guys hide their ATVs or bikes. Cars don’t get this far down here, so if they ain’t riding something, they’re walking.
Worth the money though, especially since they barely have to do shit but make sure no one is walking up on the border.
Each point is labeled with a letter. The closest to the road being A. We’ve got a guy at K who’s been working with us for years—Jim—and he’s the one I want to talk to. So I hop off my bike and walk the half mile to his spot. It takes a bit to find him, since they’re all out here scouting and not just sitting in an office, but when I finally spot him, he smiles.
“Long time no see, brother,” he says, going in for a hug and patting me on the back.
“That’s a good thing.”
He huffs a laugh.
“Yeah, but you’re here now.”
“I am,” I say with a nod, looking out at the bushes and trees. “How’s things been?”
“Quiet, as usual.”
“I heard there’s some shit going on? Further down the line?” I ask.
He sighs, nodding. “Yeah, I heard something about that.”
