Page 134 of Irons

Holding evidence against our operatives was not something we would ever do, but evidence over an MC was perfectly acceptable to us. Not only did it give us the upper hand, it also protected my dad and took the MC as they knew it off the streets. The past proves that a certain God complex can take over these kinds of small groups. Eventually, after they’ve gotten away with these crimes for so long, they’ll begin to feel untouchable and get sloppy. They may even expand their targets to people that have committed less serious crimes. They are not trained operatives and that makes a difference. They’ll need to answer to someone.

When we were done talking to dad, Travis and I went downstairs with dad to set up our laptops for the membersto sign in and to sign non-disclosures. There was no need for them to know everything about Creed’s Lake, but they’d be told enough. I was sure we wouldn’t be greeted with the warmest welcomes as they started to pour into the clubhouse.

The table was set up just as you walk inside the building. Travis and I would gather their personal information and have them sign the forms while Magnus was live with Creed’s Lake doing background checks. The operatives at the other chapters were doing the same, so the command center was very busy today. The Originals would be in the conference room starting in the afternoon combing through each member file, choosing who stays and goes based on their background checks, service history, employment files, and our interviews.

It was a mandatory emergency meeting. Very few excuses would be accepted for not dropping everything and making it to the clubhouse within the next 36 hours. The members already at the clubhouse lined up first and we were able to get them squared away rather quickly.

Paula was busy with Travis’s corporate credit card trying to order catering at the last minute, because I presume that’s what she did for the club, finances and organized events. Dad and Clint talked to the members to let them know everything was okay and to stay calm as they set out chairs for everyone. We were seeing on duty police officers, off duty police, detectives in suits, and even the State Highway Patrol Chief, two Oklahoma Bureau of Investigations officers, and a handful of Bureau of Indian Affairs Police. My dad was far more connected than I presumed.

It took an hour and a half to gather everyone and have them checked in. We were receiving background checks back from Creed’s Lake and it was chaos trying to keep everything organized.

Finally, everyone was seated and the only ones not accounted for were on duty officers responding to calls and a few that were out of town. It took us two and a half hours to get everything organized and people seated.

Charlie stood and spoke loudly for everyone to hear. “Good morning members.”

“Mornin’.” The crowd of about twenty five responded.

“I apologize for the last minute call for this emergency meeting. We have a few guests that will be speaking to you in a few minutes. You’ve heard us refer to them as Creed’s Lake MC, but just like us they have other interests as well. I’ll let them explain to you exactly what Creed’s Lake is and what they’ve done in the last few days. Some of you that have been with us since the beginning may remember my stepson, Travis Irons, nephew of our fallen Knight Anthony Irons. You may also remember our VP Clint Carlson’s daughter, Wrenly. She seated there next to my stepson. Finally, they have with them Josh Magnus who is also with Creed’s Lake. Please welcome them and I’ll turn this over to my stepson.”

The crowd clapped, but I doubted they would be clapping in a few minutes.

Travis stood and spoke loudly. “Thank you for coming today. I’d like to start off by giving you all a brief history of Creed’s Lake MC. Almost eight years ago, Magnus and I served on the same Delta Force team. We had several missions under our belts, but eventually there was one mission in particular that cemented our futures. One of our members, whose name might be familiar to everyone, was Alistair Creed. The heir to the Creed fortune. With him, we dreamed up a community of former military members like us. Our dreams came true when Creed purchased several thousand acres in Indiana. With the guidanceand support from a few very powerful members of our military and government, Creed’s Lake was born. Yes, most members are a part of our MC, but not every member. For the first almost seven years we worked under contract with governments, Militaries, Law Enforcement Agencies, and some high profile citizens around the world. We strictly worked outside of the United States, until this last year. We own our own satellite, we have members of Space Force, have the latest and most high valued technology, and take up to twelve foreign missions per month. We have protections in place, including some local, state, and federal agencies. Over the years we have helped some local authorities and built a rapport with them. We do them favors and they do favors for us in return. We are investing in small businesses, building new divisions to focus here in the states, and as a new development we are expanding into MC’s across the country, mainly yours. Your MC’s true identity was exposed to us just last week, of course you can see how as Wrenly is Clint’s daughter and I’m Tony Iron’s nephew.”

“He is my son!” Paula bragged or something and that threw Travis off.

“That woman claims to have birthed me, but that’s not important right now.”

I bit back a laugh because Travis’s face turned red. Either from embarrassment or anger, I couldn’t tell, but the crowd thought it was a joke.

“Anyhow, as of seven pm last Friday, Creed’s Lake has been in control of every device that has tapped into the Wi-Fi in this building, including all your encrypted files.”

The crowd started talking and of course they were alarmed.

“Settle down, it’s not that bad of a thing, in fact, it’s the best case scenario for all of you. No single member of this MC has any evidence against the other. Your files have been wiped out and that goes for all chapters of this MC. With that being said, the Dark Knights are now under the control of Creed’s Lake MC. All your evidence is now safely stored with Creed’s Lake.”

The crowd of law enforcement officers went crazy. They were angry but most likely scared more than anything. Strangers had evidence against them that could send them all to prison. I wasn’t just hearing curse words, but a lot of questions that Travis and Magnus would try to answer as soon as they sat down and shut up.

To save our voices, we each took a turn speaking and answering questions. Most wanted to know why we did it, and it was a simple answer. Creed’s Lake just became extremely powerful. Each member of the Dark Knights were in law enforcement. We just expanded our reach, and our protections. It was an opportunity that Creed’s Lake would have been stupid to pass up.

We had lunch after the meeting, then began meeting with each member individually. Some decided to stay, realizing they were safer under Creed’s Lake than they were as a small outfit that were taking too many chances. Others decided to get out of the MC while it was safest to do so, but that was only a few.

By the end of the day, we had almost every member interviewed and ideas to dedicate an entire team of investigators to work solely on indigenous missing persons cases. The number of abducted and murdered indigenous people in our country and Canada was astonishing. It was definitely something that needed to be looked into further and presented to the Originals. We just had to figure out funding.

The next day it was just Magnus and I since Travis needed to spend some time with Brock. We needed to finish up the interviews then get with Travis later and discuss the roles of each member.

Brothers

Travis

I enjoyed dinner last night. The three of us took Brock out and it was a good night filled with good stories and lots of laughter. It was the last time Magnus and Wrenly would see him before we left to go back to Indiana.

I woke early and Brock took the day off, so we were back in Tulsa when the dealerships opened. We test drove quite a few trucks until we came across a nice used Ram 1500 diesel with low miles and good tires. Brock inspected it from front to back and only found a few minor issues that the dealership agreed to take care of before it left the lot. Financing took forever, but mostly because I was co-signing and a ton of offers came in, so we had a few banks to choose from. Typically, when I purchase a vehicle it’s paid for in cash, and I could have financed the truck, but Brock had absolutely no credit and he needed to get that built up. The lender we chose offered him a credit card and a low interest rate for the loan. I put down a nice down-payment and it was a good lesson for Brock on how financing works. I also worked it in that the truck would be delivered and they took his old truck as a trade unseen. I had no problem helping Brock, I owed it to him. My dad lost everything when Brock was little, and a good portion of that was my fault because of the lawsuit.Paula seemed to bounce back much better from it than Robert. Mainly because she had Charlie to fall back on.

We went back to his house and made a few calls. Clint gave me the name and number of the cleaners the local police use to clean up crime scenes. I locked one down and made the appointment for them to come in one week. We had a few hours to waste before our appointment with the attorney, so I did a video chat with Wrenly so she could update me on the MC and let me see her pretty face. While we were talking a delivery truck came with boxes and boxes of clothes for Emma. We put them in the garage and didn’t tell Emma. We had it planned out that they would stay in a hotel for a few days before they left, and we didn’t want the new clothes to stink. Brock had a few doctor appointments set up for Emma that should help with that situation.

I felt like we were so busy that we did the amount of work an entire team couldn’t have wrapped up in a month. We accomplished a hostile takeover and started to get our families squared away.

The attorney was the easiest part. We met with her, and she quickly had the power of attorney forms ready. The trick was getting the forms notarized. Emma was still in bad shape, and nobody deserved to sit in the same room as her. She did have a shower, by herself I might add, but she still smelled. An attorney in the practice thankfully was a notary and he quickly did it on the front porch of the house. By that night I had everything squared away with Brock, the rest was up to him. It was a quick few hundred bucks for the attorney, and I would hire our own practice to be the third party power of attorney back in Indiana.

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