Page 2 of Gypsy Angel

Dean “Viper” McKnight looked around the large conference room table at each of the men in their chairs. Of the six surrounding him, five served with him in the military, either in the same branch or they’d conducted a mission together before life decided their tequila needed a new lemon. One man he’d known growing up, thanks to their fathers being best friends throughout life.

Right now, two of the men in the hot seat at the far end of the table, he no longer had any trust in, thanks to the news he got from an informant that only his most trusted men knew about. Word from the informant let him know that two of the men in his Red Scorpion MC San Diego Chapter were going behind Viper’s back and conducting business without his permission.

When Viper’s old man was a part of this MC back in the early days, they ran drugs, weapons and lived up to the old code of the bikers. They were the most feared biker gang, next to the Satan’s Outlaws and Hades Hellhounds. Plenty across the nation came and tried to take that title through the years, but the Red Scorpions lived up to their name and reputation.

When Viper’s old man took over the club several years ago, he decided he wanted to clean it up. They didn’t want to run the drugs and be mercenaries for hire like the old days. While they still ran weapons, the members started cleaning up their act, opening shops, bars and so forth. Getting into legitimate arenas.

Viper was proud of his old man. His dad, and his dad’s best friend were intelligent men who put their brains to use. They were honor students in high school, going on to college like their fathers insisted. Started buying up real estate and creating something they could be proud of. Viper’s old man wanted him to have something to fall back on with times changing. Viper joined the military, took college classes while enlisted, became Special Forces for the Marine Corps and grew into the man his father asked him to be.

Viper was just glad his father wasn’t there to witness what he was dealing with now. Or having to deal with the pain he and his mother were. His sister went missing after a night out with some friends before the start of her freshman year of college. His baby sister, Bella Marie.

Viper wasn’t an only child. He had an older brother Danny, who was an NYPD officer, and an older sister, Constance, who lived in Florida with her husband who was military. After him was a baby brother, Andrew, an FBI agent stationed in Virginia and then there was Bella Marie, the baby of them all who was supposed to be getting ready to graduate college this year. Instead, she was missing and had been for going on four years now.

She was going into college to study elementary education and wanted to take one big trip that he and his siblings agreed to help their mother pay for her to go on. She was the one they all doted on because she was the “oops” baby their parents hadn’t expected nearly ten years after Andrew was born. She always tried to follow her older siblings around, learn from them, annoyed the hell out of them, but always won them over with her piercing blue eyes, her giggle and her need to constantly give them hugs and tell them she loved them. The three brothers and their father did everything they could to make sure she knew how to defend herself against boys, especially in high school, while her mother and sister taught her how to cook, bake, do her make-up and be girly.

Danny, Viper and Andrew all joined the military, with Danny and Andrew only doing four years while Viper continued, doing a little over fifteen years. He would be close to finishing his twenty right now, but Bella Marie went missing in New York during her trip, forever changing the McKnight lives. Danny left the police department he was a part of in California and became a cop in New York, Andrew left the police department he had just joined to move across country to work for the FBI, and he left the Marine Corps, taking over his father’s MC, to use their networks to find his baby sister. They refused to allow Constance to do anything, forming a protective wall around her and their mother.

“Hey Boss, what’s the plan with these two?” Todd “Kermit” Stewart asked, his thumbs hanging off the belt holding up his pants.

“What exactly happened?” Viper asked his team, around the table.

Viper had carefully selected his team of confidantes. Zachary “Cowboy” Hamilton and Jeremy “Texas” Houston served with Viper in the Marines, Cowboy was on his Raider team and Texas worked with them from a different team. They had all three hit it off and became fast friends, along with Marcus “Pats” MacLeod. Erik “Goat” Diago, Wayne “Hercules” Murphy, and Kermit were all former SEALs the three of them had worked with now and then on assignments. Ernest “Jacko” Blackburn had been Danny’s best friend when Danny had worked for San Diego PD SWAT, and also served in Delta Force along with Dominick Pratt back in the day.

“Well, according to our friends here, nothing happened.” Kermit clicked his tongue like he was talking about a child who committed a bad offense against a parent.

“Yet, Jones here nearly pissed his pants when Jacko walked up to them at the titty club while the other pissant there tried to sneak out the back door.” Wayne “Hercules” Murphy laughed, hitting the table at the memory.

“It would be funny, but then again, the pair of tits he had sitting on his lap didn’t really have tits. How the hell did a flat chest get a job in a titty joint is beyond me.” Kermit shook his head at Jones. “Makes me think the dude is in the closet and afraid we won’t accept him if he bats for the other team.”

“Fuck you! I’m not a fucking queer!” The one called Jones yelled at Kermit, earning him a punch to the face.

“I’m giving you one chance to redeem your sorry asses.” Viper asked, staring the two men down. “Jones, I suggest you use it wisely, despite the fact we both know you’re not that damn wise. Explain to me why you’re going behind the MC’s back selling drugs and women? I’m trying to save your lives here. Give me a good reason not to put a bullet in your fucking heads and throw your ass into the middle of the fucking ocean!” Viper’s voice got louder with each word, letting his friends know he was on the edge.

“V, man, we’re not selling flesh! Fuck! I don’t know who told you that bullshit. Yeah, we sold dope. That’s what we’ve always done. We aren’t selling no women. Dude, that shit isn’t what we do…” The second guy, known as Buddy, cried out, pleading with Viper and the rest of the group.

“Really? Then the word going around the club that you’re taking extra off the side and having the girls do tricks with the customers isn’t true? I was told that you’re telling the dancers that I was the one who ok’d it.” Viper asked, venom in his voice, staring the two men down.

“Bullshit! No one in that fucking place would tell you that!” Jones roared, glaring at Viper. “We used to be the most feared fucking club in San Diego. No one fucking dared mess with us. Now you have clubs trying to move in and take what’s ours. The bitches didn’t dare question our word and now you’re fucking pansy ass comes in pretending like you’re some bad ass whose daddy probably had to wipe your fucking ass…”

Jones never got to finish his tirade. Viper went to town, beating the hell out of him. When Viper was done, Jones was nothing but a bloody pulp, fighting for air in his bruised and probably busted lungs.

“Take the trash out. Feed his sorry ass to Roscoe.” Viper ordered, his breathing heavy and deep, having exerted himself.

“What about this piece of shit?” Zachary ‘Cowboy’ Hamilton asked, standing behind Buddy, disgust rolling off him in waves.

“What do you think?” Viper asked his best friend, trusting his decision.

“I think Roscoe deserves dessert. This one fucked Candy up pretty good. She’s not gonna be able to take care of her kid for at least another month.”

“Then Roscoe gets dessert. Jacko, find out what you can about Candy’s medical bills and what all she needs for her little girl. Make sure she has groceries as well.” Viper ordered before walking out of the room.

“I got it, Jacko. I’ll even make sure her rent and everything else is taken care of too.” Cowboy said, grabbing Buddy up as Jacko and Texas grabbed the now unconscious Jones, hauling them out of the building.

When Cowboy went looking for Viper an hour later, he was exactly where Cowboy knew he’d be, working out in the gym as if the ass whipping he’d delivered earlier hand’t happened. “Hey, you good?”

“Yeah, I’m good. What’s up?” Viper looked over at Cowboy, wiping the sweat off his brow.

“Pats called a few minutes ago. Said he and the missus are having a big ole cookout deal at their new place. Invited us to join. For some damn reason he had to say his wife’s team would be there too.” Cowboy chuckled, scratching his chest as he watched Viper’s face for a reaction.

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