Melody openedthe door again, and the crowd went wild as she pushed me back inside. Plasteredon the walls were banners and signs of congratulations with my name on them,complete with captions above them like, “Guitar God” and “Born to Ride, Born toPlay.”
“We’re all proudof you, Train,” Doom said, coming forward to shake my hand. “On behalf of yourbrothers back in Portland, and everyone here in your new second home, we allwant to congratulate you for kicking ass out there on the road and somehowmanaging to snag the second hottest Morgan sister,” he said with a wink to hiswife, Lyric.
“Hey!” bothMelody and Harmony protested in unison.
Harmony andJaxon had flown in early so that Harmony could spend time practicing for theSavannah shows, but also so that the family could spend some much needed timetogether.
“Thanks,everyone. I don’t really know what to say. There’s been so much sadness lately,it’s nice to see so many smiling faces. Thanks for the warm welcome, weappreciate it,” I said, pulling Melody tightly to me.
“We got used toher bein’ around here a long time ago,” Alamo, the chapter’s Sergeant at Armssaid, tipping his beer bottle to Melody. “We need a new celebrity to make afuss about.”
“See,” Melodysaid with a chuckle. Patting my chest. She was then spirited away by hersisters for family time of her own.
After the roarof the party had died down a bit, a group of us including Doc and Doom, the chapter’sPresident and Vice-President, along with Alamo, Rabbit, Shadow, and Caspar madeour way outside to the firepit to enjoy some cigars from Doom’s personalhumidor.
“Lemme get thatfor you,” Rabbit said to Caspar, as he tried to assist him in cutting the tipoff his stogie. Caspar had recently lost his right hand during some unfortunateclub business with a rising crime syndicate calling themselves the Beast.
“Fuck off,Rabbit,” Caspar growled. “You know I can do more with this fucker than my otherhand.”
Caspar’s nurse,Andi, was able to hook him up with her brother-in-law who owned one of thebiggest pharmaceutical companies in the world, and he built Caspar a ‘bionic’hand.
“Sorry, man,just tryin’ to help,” Rabbit said with a grin.
“All of us inPortland were really sorry to hear about what happened,” I said.
“Thanks,brother,” Caspar replied. “My doc’s workin’ on getting’ me fixed up with aneven better robotic prosthetic. Apparently, I’m an excellent candidate since itwas such a clean cut that took it off. The technology just keeps gettin’better.”
The wordscleancutmade my sack shrivel.
“I’m gonna belike Luke fuckin’ Skywalker, man,” Caspar said with a smile.
I admired hissense of optimism and feared I wouldn’t handle losing a hand quite so well. Thethought of never playing guitar again was enough to raise my anxiety level anotch.
“You guys runinto any more trouble lately?” I asked Doc.
“We’ve managedto lay low, but I don’t know for how much longer. The Beast is growing innumbers with every passing month. And it’s only a matter of time before the potstarts boiling over. Caspar’s hand was a clear message, but we don’t plan onbacking down.”
“But we’re notlooking to start a war either,” Doom said.
“We didn’t startjack shit,” Caspar said. “It was that psycho bitch, Daphne.”
“Are you stillworking with the Feds?” I asked Rabbit.
He nodded. “I dosome work with Taxi from time to time,” he replied casually. “When he needsme.”
“Anything youcan tell us?”
“The Beast isn’tgoing away any time soon. They’re well-funded, highly organized, motivated, andthey are targeting small and medium sized dealers, traffickers, and thieves.Gobbling up vulnerable operations either by way of force or financialincentives. The Beast is offering protection and up-front capitol for any crewwho throws in with them voluntarily. Several MCs across the country, includingyour old pals the Spiders are already in bed with them.”
“The Howlers,Jokers, and Predators have all reported feeling the Beast’s squeeze,” Doc said.
“Taxi and histeam are working hard to shut the Beast down, but he’s fighting an uphillbattle,” Rabbit continued. “His bosses view what’s happening as nothing morethan a bunch of gangs fighting over the same street corner.”
“Why does theBeast give a shit about us?” I asked. “We’re not even one-percenters. We don’trun any grifts.”
“Not accordingto the intel the Spiders have given them,” Rabbit said. “They’ve got Daphneconvinced that we’re secretly moving heavy weight.”
“Drugs?”
