Chapter Three
“They’re buying andstealing women and putting them on the streets.”Hawkeye scanned the faces around the room, everyone watched him.He saw the same rage he’d felt when he’d discovered what the Royal Crows called business reflected on every face in the room.
“Shit.”Came from the back of the room, Hawkeye didn’t see who said it and it didn’t matter.
“Who started that shit?”Raven asked through clenched teeth.
Hawkeye shook his head.“No way to know.Or at least I haven’t found that yet.I can only say I know it’s happening.”He looked down at the stack of papers he’d brought with him.“From what I can find they’ve got about a dozen women they’re pimping out.Possibly more that they’re keeping for themselves, ‘training’ I found one reference of, before they start selling them.”He picked up the top sheet and passed it to Raven.
“Tell me what I’m looking at,” the Fallen Angels president said, his eyes on the page.
“That’s the name, position of their officer, and address of every Royal Crow I can find.”He picked up another page and passed it to the president as the other man passed the page to the vice president as he took the new sheet.
“This is every property they own, broken down by club first then each officer, down to the members.At the bottom are the local businesses in Eagle’s Rest that they have at least a hand in.”
“This is a lot,” Raven scanned the list.“What more do you know?”
Hawkeye spent the next thirty minutes outlining everything he’d found on the Royal Crows, almost down to their shoe sizes, social security numbers, and latest blood work results.He wanted to eliminate them or at least put an end to what they were doing to these women.
“What can we do?”Shotgun asked.He was standing in as the Sergeant at Arms since Panther had been killed a couple of weeks earlier.He would likely be given the officer’s seat soon, but they needed to sit down, just the officers, and discuss it before it was announced.
“First thing is to freeze their accounts and funnel the money elsewhere.I’m thinking shelters for abused women and children would be a good place.But I’m not sure how much good that will do right away.I don’t know how they handle things, but if they’re anything like us, I would bet that they have a significant stash of cash on hand, so my monkeying with their accounts will only stir up the hive.”Hawkeye glanced around the room again.“That’s part of why I haven’t done it yet.We need a multi-prong approach.Hit them on several fronts.”He lifted his shoulders and let them fall.“You all don’t want this in our back yard any more than I do.We need to figure out how to get those women to safety, and shut them down, permanently.”He listened as they talked and chattered among themselves.He heard several voices agreeing that they didn’t want this so close to them and their families.There was no one saying they should let the Crows be.
“You’re right.We need to take care of them.Sit down and let’s figure out how we’re going to do this,” Raven said.They spent the next hour talking to every brother, then each of the prospects, gathering every bit of intel they could.When Hawkeye and Raven had spoken with everyone and set Pike digging to see if he could find more on them than Hawkeye had, Hawkeye and the other officers retreated to church and locked the door.None of them wanted to be interrupted or overheard with what they were planning.
With only eight in the room, it was easier to make plans.Experience had taught them making plans with everyone, the twenty to thirty voices, opinions, and their random interjections, made things take exponentially longer.
Two hours later, they emerged.Raven called in the people they would need.Not everyone, but several brothers.They were due to arrive within the hour, at least those that weren’t already there.Hawkeye went to the bar and nodded at Dax, one of the prospects, who was working behind the bar.
“What can I get you?”
“Give me a beer.I don’t care what.”Hawkeye needed a drink, not that he was going to get shit faced ...no, that would be after they finished this mission.His hands shook slightly as he picked up the bottle and tipped it back.If anyone had noticed, he didn’t think they would blame him.He was used to staying off the front line.Most of the time they wanted him on overlook, hacking into cameras and giving those going in for whatever they were doing a heads-up of anything coming their way or any changes to the situation.
This time, however, he’d insisted he be among the men to go in.He needed to be there, to see firsthand what was going on.
The Fallen Angels weren’t good guys.Far from it.But they had a code, even if it didn’t exactly line up with the law.In their book, anything that harmed innocents was wrong.And they would put an end to it, permanently, and as soon as they could manage.
For the Royal Crows, that would be today.Hawkeye was determined to see the damage these fuckers had done firsthand.He’d been given the option to wait nearby in the van, doing what he could from there with a laptop while he waited with Freud.Freud could defend himself, but he didn’t like to hurt people if he didn’t have to.Because of his EMT training, they wanted the club medic nearby, just in case.They had no clue what kind of shape any of these women might be in.Hawkeye had considered it, but instinct told him he needed to be there.He didn’t know why, only that it was important.
It only took a few pulls, and he’d drained the bottle.He set it on the counter with a thump then stared down at where his hands lay on the bar, wondering how he’d gotten here and if he’d have been better off if he’d never started playing where he shouldn’t be on computers just because it was easy.
“Another?”Dax’s voice made him look up.The prospect watched him, one brow lifted.
Hawkeye shook his head.They’d be pulling out before too long and while he had a pretty good tolerance for alcohol, he didn’t want to be buzzed or even slow his reactions when he was about to get on the road.And eventually into a fire fight.Hawkeye had no doubt that was what it would be.A fire fight with an unknown number of casualties.He hoped no Angels would die, but they all knew it was a risk.It was a risk they were all willing to take.
“I’ll take a water, though.”He waited while the prospect pulled a water bottle from the cooler then took it and turned on his stool.With his back to the bar, he tipped the water back, as he let his gaze scan the room, taking note of who was there and who they were still waiting on.
Each of his brothers had their own way of preparing for a mission.Shotgun and Bear would be checking weapons, Freud would be going through his kits adding last minute supplies, “just in case,” he would say.
Hawkeye didn’t know how many times Freud’s ‘just in case’ had saved someone’s ass, but it was more times than he could count on one hand.Raven and Dagger would be spending time with their women.Usually, while all this happened, Hawkeye was holed up in his little room, trying to make sure things went as smoothly as possible for his brothers.Now, he had to rely on Pike for that.It wasn’t sitting well, but not enough to make him stay behind.
