Page 71 of Elling & Jackie

Chapter 27

Brage hoofed it acrossthe asphalt parking lot to the side of the coffee shack situated to the right of Cactus Cove, Bantorus Motorcycle Club's bar. Elling held his hand up, halting Marcus, Rune, and Dag from following their vice president.

The security camera sweeping the lot moved every ten seconds, but the one at the back of the building remained steady. They needed to wait until Brage covered the lens, shielding them.

Through his research, he'd discovered that most of the Bantorus members living in the cabins behind the bar were gone to Federal to watch Bull box in an illegal fighting ring. From there, Slag had to assume Bantorus were working with a skeleton crew and the majority of the members would be back tomorrow afternoon.

Slag hadn't planned on hitting them only two days after finding out the information, but they couldn't miss their opportunity. They needed to get in and out, and then transport everything they could up to Seattle, so they could meet the cargo ship and get the stolen supplies to Norway.

Brage darted around the corner, out of sight. They counted on Bull being too busy boxing to catch the notifications on his phone that the cameras were compromised. It'd taken him almost six hours to find the brand of cameras installed and then he'd made an assumption that Bantorus would take advantage of the mobile notification app. As acting President of the Pitnam Chapter, Bull would want to keep track of his men when he was away.

Less than a minute later, Brage stepped into view, tearing the skull cap down off the lower half of his face and ripping the Duct tape off the front of his vest, covering his name patch.

Elling motioned for the others, and they jogged over to Brage as a group.

"Cameras are secure. Let's make it fast. Keep the noise down, because the two cabins on the right are occupied," whispered Brage, leading the way to the cabin they suspected Bantorus used for storage now that they cleaned out the body shop after the last hit by Slag.

At the door of the cabin, Brage cupped his ear. As they'd discussed prior, they'd wait for one of the diesel semi-trucks to go past the bar. The noise of the engine would help muffle the sound of the crowbar in Rune's hand breaking the wood on the door. Luckily, it only took a minute for a big rig to blow through the light, shifting gears. In the industrial area next to the Columbia River, there was always traffic.

"Hit it," said Brage.

Rune put his weight behind the bar. Elling grimaced at the crack of wood. The closest occupied cabin sat twenty-five feet away. Too close for comfort.

Watching the door for anyone coming outside, he breathed a sigh of relief when the Slag members made it inside without anyone coming out to investigate.

He shut the door quietly. Marcus tossed two towels tucked into his back pocket to him and Dag. He quickly covered the window.

"Done," he said.

A few seconds later, Dag said, "Done."

Brage turned on his flashlight. Elling scanned the room in the light beam. There were crates stacked around the twenty feet by twenty feet cabin. His pulse accelerated. His research had paid off.

There were legal weapons stashed inside the cabin, set to be transported to Federal, Idaho and manufactured where they'd be sold to the militia. Illegal in Norway, the guns would benefit the Slag Mother Chapter.

Elling removed a heavy-duty screwdriver from his pocket. It only took a few attempts to pop the lid off the crate. He reached down into the cedar chips and pulled out the barrel of a long-arm rifle. Unpacking the rest, he found enough parts to make eight guns.

"We're not going to be able to take them all. Not with the weapons unassembled." He glanced over at Marcus. "How many are in your crate?"

"Eight."

"Same," said Dag. "There's probably twenty crates. We're talking 160 rifles."

Elling whistled an airy breath. That were more weapons than they usually shipped with the cash to Norway.

"We've got a dozen men a block away. Fifty more waiting at the entrance to I-5." Brage shined the light at the ceiling, putting a soft glow in the small area.

Elling shook his head. "We can't risk it with everything in pieces. We'd be lucky to carry the parts for four rifles per person without leaving a trail behind us."

"That'd only be twenty for our crew. This is our one chance. Bantorus will never give us another opportunity." Dag tugged on the front of his vest. "I could run back to the others and bring them here. That'd be forty-eight more we could take out."

Brage scratched his beard. "We're risking everything with just us being here and bullshitting. We don't have time to bring the others in. Someone's going to realize the cameras are covered and investigate."

"Unless we rip off one of the cars in the parking lot and load up what we can." Elling looked at Rune. His MC brother could pick any lock. "Think you can do it?"

"Ja." Rune grinned. "In my sleep."

"I'll call Glenn's crew and have them ditch your bike until we can bring you back for it." Elling made a quick text. "Everyone else start cracking the lids. Dag—you're young, you can be the runner while we get the rest of them open."

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