Page 54 of Tex's Angel

Being oppositional, I want to tell him that I’ll stand, but I don’t want to do anything to justify firing me in his mind. So I sit in the chair he indicated right in front of him.

“What’s this about, sir?” I ask.

He responds, “You’re a smart man. You tell me what this meeting is about.”

“I’m not in the mood to play guessing games, so why don’t y’all tell me?”

“Alright, it has been brought to our attention that you’re a member of a motorcycle gang.”

“A motorcycle club,” I interject.

“However you want to phrase that, the end result is the same.”

“With all due respect, it is not the same. As y’all know, there are outlaw motorcycle clubs and law abiding motorcycle clubs. The Savage Legion is the latter. I’m not breaking any departmental policies by joining the Legion.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” he demands. “You’re a grown man. You have a family and pay taxes. You have an important job training law enforcement officers on their duty to serve and protect. And here you are involved with some motorcycle club who calls themselves the Savage Legion. Do you have any idea how silly that sounds? I mean why would they pick such an absurd name for themselves and wear vests with a skull patch. It’s about as ignorant as pretending to be a pirate in your spare time or larping as a superhero or an alien at a comic book convention once a year.”

“I believe y’all participate in civil war reenactments, sir. I fail to see the difference.”

His face goes beet red, “Civil war reenactments are different. Reenacting famous battles, teaches us a firsthand understanding of historical events. There is value and dignity in that.”

“So, is the department ordering me to distance myself of the Legion?” I ask, not wanting to beat around the bush any longer.

“It’s too late for that. They’ve decided to terminate your employment.”

“Because they don’t like me being a member of a law abiding club or simply because they don’t like the name?”

“You really don’t get it, do you? All the things I just said are why I personally don’t like you being part of motorcycle club. For the department it came down to how they want this department to been perceived by the general public. When they see a prominent member of our training staff riding around in a leather jacket decorated with skulls, the general public will see that as a conflict of interest because they don’t know all the intricacies about one percent and non one percent clubs.”

“I think the people of Las Salinas know all about the Savage Legion and what good we do for this town,” I say.

“I’m talking about the town council, not gangbangers and hoodlums,” he spits out.

I’m about to bring up the subject of the former Chief of Police. I learned about that asshole from my club brothers. He ran a fucking people trafficking syndicate along with membersof the town council. Maybe they’ve cleaned out the trash, but if it wasn’t for the Legion that fucker would still be doing evil shit. But then I look at the man in front of me, he’s not gonna care what I say one way or another.

“So what’s the plan?” I ask, unwilling to listen to any more of his bullshit.

He picks up a piece of paper. When I take it from him, I realize it’s two pieces, one for me and one for the department. I scan over the document, and it says pretty much what he said it did. I know that I’m gonna be fired whether I sign it or not and there’s a space for me to add my own notes and a box asking if I would like to appeal this decision. I make quick work of both spots and then add my signature before handing it back to him.

“I’m also required to collect your uniforms, ID, electronic equipment, and other items the department issued to you by the end of business day today. An officer will escort you off the premises and go with you while you collect these items.”

“I brought everything with me today. I’ll get changed and be right back.”

When I get up to leave, he says, “You know, I fought for you. Being part of the club is a bad reflection on the department, but you’re good at your job. They wouldn’t even entertain the idea of you dropping that club.”

I don’t believe for one moment that he fought for my job because of all the disrespectful shit he just told me about the Legion, but I’m not interested in prolonging this conversation any longer than I have to. Turning, I make my way out of his office and head to the restroom then make quick work of changing into my street clothing. I intentionally brought mySavage Legion cut just to throw it in their faces that I’m not ashamed of my club. The brothers were there for me when I first moved to Las Salinas and didn’t know one living soul.

I drop the duffel on my supervisor’s desk, do an about face and stalk out of his office, a lot madder than I thought I would be. There were so very few good things in my life and my club was one of them. I couldn’t allow anyone to come between me and my brothers, not even my career. Though as today showed me, even if I had been willing to give up the MC it would have done no good.

Driving back to the clubhouse, I try to take my mind of the situation by thinking about Clara’s case. So far, we had ruled out the teens in our neighborhood, Wade, her soon to be ex and her sister, as well as one of the two families she made CPS reports on. That only left the little girl’s family, who also disappeared. Zen was still working on tracking down leads on the father, so we were in a holding pattern. The only thing I can do now is work on finding another job.

Chapter 23

Tex

By the time I make it back to the clubhouse, Clara has left for work and Evan and Levi are both at school. Rigs and Siege are waiting for me in the bar. The minute they see me out of uniform, they know I was fired. Siege waves me over, and no sooner do I sit down than one of the prospects, Nick, brings me a cold beer. I would have rather had a whiskey on the rocks, but I don’t complain because it’s pretty early in the day to be hitting the hard liquor.

Siege speaks first, “Those bastards fired you for being part of our club, didn’t they?”

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