The room murmured as every one of my brothers nodded their agreement.
“Yeah, the difference is, Warlock’s got them by the balls, whereas Hatch earned our respect,” Train said.
“As much as I appreciate that,” I said. “The fact remains, he’s sent a new message, and this one officially declares war.”
“What have we missed?” Train asked.
“They hit a few of the Howlers’ shops, both in Monument and Denver, and they hit Daryl’s shop and house.”
The Primal Howlers were a friendly club out in Colorado, and we partnered with them in cannabis grow operations in Colorado, Washington, and Oregon. They owned dispensaries all over Denver, Monument, and Colorado Springs, and the Spiders had hit a few of their dispensaries last week.
Daryl, on the other hand, owned Portland Motorworks, a boutique auto parts shop that specialized in ‘new old stock’ MoPar and vintage bike parts. Just the kind of hard-to-find inventory our shop needed. We’d done business with Daryl Martin since the day he opened. In fact, the Dogs supplied him with labor during his shop build, as well as using the club’s resources to secure someof the trickier permits he needed in order to do business. In exchange for these favors, Daryl agreed to stock and reserve some of our most used and/or hard to find items.
Several months ago, he was coming up short on our parts orders and it was because the Spiders had threatened him and his family. We’d promised to protect Daryl, but unfortunately, Warlock had had other plans.
“Shit, seriously?” Knight asked. “When?”
“Last night.”
The room erupted in various levels of rage and cursing. I waved my hands to settle the group. “We got them out.”
Flea nodded. “Mack and I moved them to a safehouse night before last.”
“They’ve been secretly getting mementos and important papers moved for the past week or two, just in case,” I said. “Insurance will take care of whatever they lost outside of that. His shop’s a similar story. He moved some hard to find parts but had to lose a few things to make the insurance claim legit. He’s good, his family’s safe, and we plan to keep it that way.”
“I want this fucker dead,” Knight snapped.
“Yeah, brother, I get it,” I agreed. “Maisie is out now gathering food and supplies to stock up both our home and the compounds, and I want all of you to get ready to lock down again.” I turned to Hawk. “You and Ace both have fortifiedbasements, so talk to your women and figure out if you can take more than your kids and their women. Maisie and I’ll do the same. Razor is organizing the car switching as we speak. That’s happening day after tomorrow, but I think we might need to move that up a day.”
“We’ve got our basement almost done,” Knight said. “Our apartment’s an option too.”
Before he and Kim had gotten hitched, she owned an apartment in a high-rise building overlooking the water in Portland. Up until my sister, Cricket, had reconnected with Minus, the president of the Burning Saints, she’d lived there and once she’d moved out, Kim had taken the opportunity to do a massive renovation.
“Is the reno done?” I asked.
Knight nodded. “Wired for picture and sound. Two panic rooms, doorman, the whole deal. We added a bathroom, so it’s now got four bedrooms, four full bathrooms plus the powder. It would be great for either new couples or a few of our women who aren’t coupled up. Not the greatest for kids. Nowhere to play. Unless they’re babies.”
I nodded. “Right, Maisie can start figuring out who can go where.”
“How the hell are we gonna keep Warlock outta the safe houses?” Train asked.
“We’re gonna fuckin’ shoot to kill,” I said.
“I set shit up so that most of the buildings arehidden legally,” Mack said. “Hatch and Maisie’s house is in trust, as are the rest of our homes. The trusts aren’t easily tracked back to us, so unless you know where we live, you won’t be able to find us.”
“Yeah, but people know where we live,” Flea pointed out.
“You been runnin’ your mouth?” I challenged. “We’re all careful about who we invite in.”
Flea nodded. “I guess that’s true, but everyone knows about here. I mean, Big Ernie’s is our main hub.”
“Sure,” I agreed. “But no one other than officers, family, and patched members know about Ridgefield, so we’ll start the lockdown there. It’s hard to find, impenetrable, and if on the off-chance someone does get in and we have to get out, we have hidden exits, leading to different safe houses in the area that also can’t be traced back to us.”
“What if someone’s watching from the street?” Train asked.
“We go in shifts, dark of night,” I said. “Haul the bikes in in trucks. Change up your routine. Don’t draw attention. Flea, did you get the extra freezers installed?”
“Yeah, we got three, plus another three refrigerators.”
