Page 5 of Deserter

“What are you doing in here, kid?”

I scooted back from the door and landed on my backside in front of a huge biker. He had a grizzly beard and long wavy black hair that fell to his shoulders. Sitting in front of him, I felt like an ant.

“I—” I tried to speak and found I couldn’t.

Instead of waiting for a response, he hauled me up by my shirt collar and led me back down the hall.

“Don’t tell—my old man,” I squeaked out, trying to match his pace.

He stopped in front of another door. “I ain’t telling your old man shit. Let’s me and you have a chat.” As he led me into what appeared to be an office, I noticed the Pres patch on the left side of his vest.

I’d heard my father mention the ‘Pres’ before. According to him, he was the leader of the bikers. There was no way that he was going to keep quiet about me being inside their building. He closed the door behind him and gestured for me to sit down. “What’s your name, kid?”

“James. James Quinn, sir.”

He smiled. “Well, James Quinn, I’m Wolverine, President of Silent Phoenix MC. Now, do you mind telling me why you’re in my clubhouse?”

“I didn’t know that I couldn’t be in here, sir. I came looking for my ma and—” The tightness was back in my throat and I swallowed several times until it passed.

Wolverine waved his hand. “You were looking for your ma and you found her. Why’d you stick around?”

“I beg your pardon?”

He tipped his chin up. “You heard me. You found your mother and then you watched. I wanna know why.”

I cleared my throat. “Well, I was supposed to look out for her, but I didn’t do a good job and now that biker’s hurting her. If my old man finds out that I let it happen, he’ll kill me.”

He kicked his feet up on the desk in front of him and lit a cigarette, taking several puffs before responding. “Yeah, your daddy ain’t gonna know about this, are we clear?” I nodded, and he continued. “Your ma? She’s helping your daddy get into this club and trust me, ain’t no one causing her any pain. Angel will take real good care of her.”

His words angered me. I was the only one who took good care of her. I was the only one who didn’t make her cry. Angel and Wolverine and my old man? They didn’t know how to make her smile like I did. My old man had taught me not to give my opinion to anyone who didn’t ask for it, so we sat in silence before I worked up the courage to blurt out, “Why are you called Silent Phoenix?”

Wolverine exhaled a perfect ring of smoke. “You familiar with Greek mythology?” I shook my head, and he continued. “Most kids your age aren’t. A phoenix is a bird that lives for five-hundred years and then dies a fiery death—”

“That doesn’t seem like a good mascot,” I helpfully pointed out and Wolverine chuckled before taking another drag from his cigarette.

“You’re right, kid. If the story ended there, it would be a pretty shitty one. Nah, the phoenix bursts into flames and is then reborn; rising up from the ashes. It doesn’t matter how many times it’s forced down; it just keeps rising up as something new and stronger.”

I thought about that and decided that a bird that could burst into flames would be pretty neat to have. “But, what about the silent part?”

“Never announce that you’re bringing a war, kid. Work quietly and then surprise your enemies. These rival clubs? They start getting too big, taking over territories that don’t belong to them. We let them think they’ve won; convince them that we’re gone and then—BAM!” I jumped in my seat. “We rise silently and wipe the motherfuckers out.”

“Wipe the motherfuckers out,” I repeated back softly.

He nodded. “That’s right. This three-piece patch is earned through blood and I’ll be damned if anyone is taking it from me. You’ll learn what it means to wear this kutte someday.”

“I wanna be a superhero though… likeThe X-Men,” I blurted out, before realizing my mistake. I lowered my head and waited to be disciplined. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Wolverine’s chair creaked as he leaned across the desk. “Why the hell are you sorry?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “Comic books are for sissy kids, sir. I need to be a man now.”

He watched me quietly, and I knew he was working out how to tell my old man what a failure his son was. He surprised me when he smiled and reached into his desk drawer. “You callin’ me a sissy?”

He slid an issue ofThe X-Menover to me and my mouth fell open. “This is the first one! Why do you have it?”

“Why do I have it? Because I fuckin’ love comics. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and can’t like, you hear me? Look around you, Jamie—men are dying every day for a war that we didn’t start. Life’s too short to let someone else dictate how you live it.” Wolverine raised his voice as he talked, but I wasn’t afraid of him anymore.

“I like you, Mr. Wolverine. You’re very nice and I want to get to know you better.”

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