Page 3 of Zen's Crash

Zen

Ten Months Later

Being the Savage Legion’s IT specialist means I have a fuck ton of responsibilities, and my own corner office is located next to the meeting room at our clubhouse. It’s my personal space where no one bothers me unless there’s a good reason. The office has no lights, because I don’t need them. The room is lit up by a huge bank of twelve monitors that cast an eerie glow.

When someone knocks on my door, I glance over my shoulder and see Evan’s face pressed against the small safety glass window.

I raise my voice so he can hear me and tell him, “Come in,” and release the electronic lock. The security might seem over-the-top, it’s not that I’m worried about my club brothers coming into the office when I’m not here—just that some of my club brothers have the tech skills of a feral monkey, and I don’t trust ‘em not to push a button they shouldn’t.

Rigs’ son is all big eyes with a curious expression as he glances around my small room. He’s a prospect and I’ve been promising to mentor him in what I do and show him my set-up. He’s still deciding what he wants to do in life, when he was younger, he had his heart set on being a tattooist because he loved drawing. But after hanging out with Vapor and Haze at their tattoo shop, he came to learn that he’s got a low-grade needle phobia.

He pops the door open and sticks his head in the room. “Is now a good time for our talk?”

“Yeah, now is as good a time as any, come in,” I tell him as I grab a rolling stool from under a nearby table and pull it out for him to sit on. He drops down onto the stool and says, “Wow, I’ve never seen a room like this before. Why do you need so many monitors when you can only use one at a time?”

I think over his question for a minute, trying to figure out how to explain it in layman’s terms. “It’s kind of like having more than one tab open on your computer. Having multiple monitors makes it easier to keep track of vast amounts of data all at once.”

I cue my system to pull up the security feeds from all our locations. “Each monitor shows a single view from one of our security cameras for a total of five seconds before moving on to another camera. As you can see, they’re mounted in strategic locations around our sites. The Savage Legion security firm is responsible for security at all our sites. I’m just a backup set of eyes.”

Gesturing to the monitor in the upper right-hand side, I explain, “The first monitor is showing five second clips from all the exterior cameras around the outside of the clubhouse.”

His expression brightens, “I caught sight of the front gate, where I’ve been for the better part of today.”

“Yeah, you prospects do an outstanding job of securing the gate.”

“My old man gives us a daily list of who we’re allowed to let in, and he sometimes adds some names of people who wererecently banned. We follow it strictly, ‘cause you know how strict my dad and Siege are.”

I shoot him a rueful grin. “I sure do. The Savage Legion club officers take security very seriously.” Getting back to the task at hand, I draw his attention to the second monitor in the first row. “This monitor is showing five second clips of the inside of the clubhouse. Our club officers forbid cameras in restrooms and bedrooms. Anywhere else is fair game. We have them in the bar, stairwells, and dining areas.”

“How about downstairs?” He asks.

“I can’t tell you all our secrets because you’re not a club brother yet.” I use a teasing voice to take the sting out of the fact that prospects don’t have access to all levels of security. Though truth be told, downstairs we don’t have any cameras—it’s where we hold people and question them. While tapes can be wiped, we ain’t risking any footage getting into the wrong hands. We might not be a one-percent club, but that doesn’t mean we’re choirboys when it comes to our enemies.

He nods thoughtfully, “I think that’s fair.”

I tell him, “As you can see from looking at the cameras inside and outside the building that the clubhouse is rocking with brothers, prospects, club girls, and even a few visitors, mostly women invited by my club brothers. The night is early yet, but so far, there hasn’t been any brawling by the brothers or catfights among the club girls. Hopefully, it’ll stay that way. Your fellow prospects are behind the bar, busting their asses to keep the drinks flowing.”

Evan responds confidently, “The bar is one of the more difficult assignments, along with kitchen duty.”

Shooting him a knowing look, I say wistfully, “I remember those days, working my ass off to prove my value to the club so I could earn my bottom rocker.”

“Yeah, that’s literally the job description of a prospect.”

I swivel in my chair and eye the cameras from the strip club the Savage Legion has a vested interest in here in Las Salinas. “I’m sure your dad talked to you about the strip club we have a partnership in on the outskirts of town. It’s small, discreet, and usually doesn’t draw a lot of troublemakers. It’s only open at night and is a nice little moneymaker.”

I move right on to the next business without pausing, because he’s pretty young and I don’t want to get involved in a conversation about the strip club any more than he does. He can ask Rigs about that kind of shit. “We also still keep an eye on the bar in town that our club sold to Mel and Tracker. We retained a silent partner interest, so it’s important to watch over our investment. Our club brothers still love going there and our strong presence keeps out the riffraff.”

“Yeah,” Evan responds, “I know Tank hangs out there a lot with his old lady.”

“I noticed on the security feeds earlier that people were coming and going all day at our onsite garage. We’ve always done brisk business because there are few garages in Las Salinas. It takes four or five brothers to keep the place running efficiently. It’s a critical stream of income, so I don’t see the club giving up that business venture anytime soon.”

“That makes sense,” he responds in a serious tone.

“We also have eyes on Smoke’s office for a couple of reasons. His old lady is Siege’s sister and protecting her is smart because she falls in the category of a high-value target. Another reason is because Smoke is our club’s attorney, and we need to keep him safe.”

“Absolutely. I’m close with Serena. She’s a real nice lady. I’d hate to see anything happen to her.”

I vaguely remember that he picked up some extra shifts looking out for her when she first moved back to Las Salinas. I skip right over all that to get back to telling him about my position with the Legion.

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