Page 36 of Striker

“Yeah well that’s a long list right now.” I shook my head and walked over toward Goose, Maverick, and Tank. “Alright, Tank, you’re the club’s treasurer. Hit me with the facts.”

Tank stood tall, and took out a small notebook. From the looks of him, you would never know he was so good with numbers. He was tall and thick, jet black hair, tattoos up and down both arms. Tank was a big man and I was glad to have him on my side, he was not a man to be messed with. He barely spoke, but when he did, everybody listened. With a faint Russian accent, he quietly read from his notebook, “Everything was covered by insurance. Customer cars, the brothers’ tools, the custom motorcycles. Not too much damage done. Easy to fix. Little to no money needs to be spent. Like I said, insurance will cover most of it.” I patted his back as he put his notebook into the inside pocket of his vest.

“Thanks Tank. Why don’t you go grab a drink and start making some phone calls to clean this mess up?” He nodded his head and walked inside the clubhouse. Turning to Goose and Maverick, I dragged my hand over my face. “Fuck, boys. We got some bad shit going on. I have a sneaking suspicion we know the guilty party who did this.”

Goose ran his hand through his hair and looked around. “Shit, Pres. But how did it even happen? We’ve got cameras, motion detectors, dogs, men watching every angle. How did this fucker get by?” I looked around our small compound, trying to figure out how this could have happened.

Maverick cleared his throat and we both turned to him. “I think it’s about time we really sit down and discuss our security. I think it’s time to update, brothers.” I patted them both on the back and turned toward the clubhouse.

“Well, boys, We will in due time. I’m going to check in on your sister and make sure she’s alright. Have you seen her around?” They both shook their heads no. Figuring she went upstairs to shower or take a rest, I headed toward the side of the clubhouse.

I ran up the steps to my apartment and threw open the door. “Lilah? Little Lark?” I checked the bathroom and bedroom, she was nowhere to be found. I ran back down to the clubhouse and frantically started searching for her.

“Tank! Have you seen Lilah?” He shook his head and turned back to the conversation on his phone. I asked every club girl and brother I ran into.

I whipped open the door to Bambi’s room and found Goose on the bed with his pants down, Bambi on her knees. They both jumped as the door slammed against the wall. “Yo! Have you seen Lilah? I can’t find her!”

Bambi and Goose shook their heads. They got up and quickly got dressed to head downstairs. I headed out the door, not waiting for them. I ran around the clubhouse opening every door and interrogating every person I ran into, nobody had seen Lilah.

I ran back outside to find Goose, Maverick, and Bambi standing in the yard, searching for Lilah. Scrambling over to them, my heart was beating faster and faster. I could feel something was wrong. My Little Lark was in danger. “Yo! Have you found Lilah?! I can’t find her anywhere!”

They both turned and stared at me, the color from their faces slowly draining.

“Shit!” I ran back into the clubhouse, tripping over my brothers, trying to get to the bar. “It was a trap! The fire was a distraction!”

I was screaming and everybody was looking at me like I had gone crazy. “The fire, motherfuckers! It was a distraction for us and a trap for Lilah! She’s gone! He took her! Shut down the goddamn clubhouse!” Everybody started running around, closing gates, locking everything up.

The club girls started crying, quickly heading to their rooms. Bambi started herding the girls toward the back and getting the brothers whatever they needed. I couldn’t think straight. I collapsed to the floor, my face in my hands, and I started to cry. My sweet Little Lark was gone. I couldn’t protect her. I let her go off by herself in the midst of chaos.

Two large, rough hands were suddenly pulling me up, wrapped around my forearms. “Come on, son. You gotta get up. Lilah needs you.” My Pop was standing beside me, a shot of moonshine in his hand. “Take it and get in church now. Your boys are waiting for your plans. Come on now, you can do it.”

I quickly took the shot and stood all the way up. My Pop patted me on the back and gave me a good long look. “I’ll be right by your side. Lilah's Mama is already on her way here. Prospects are out front waiting. Maverick took care of it all.” I was glad that I had chosen him to be my Vice President. He was a good man and a great leader. I knew in times of trouble, if I wasn’t around, he would keep the club in order.

We slowly made our way to the double doors where church was held. I felt like my feet were in cement blocks, dragging me toward the doors. I pushed them open and saw all my brothers sitting patiently in their chairs. The walls of the room were lined with our other chapters members and ally clubs standing tall, ready for whatever we needed. I walked past all of them to my seat at the head of the table. I grasped my gavel and gently played with it in my hands before banging it down on the table. I looked each man in the eye before speaking.

“Danny took Lilah. He got into the compound. He lit our auto shop on fire. He hurt one of our brothers. I want to know what the FUCK happened!” I slammed my fist down on the old wooden table, making it shake. Some brothers looked away, others stared directly at me.

Maverick cleared his throat, “He came in the back. Cut a hole in the fence. No cameras back there yet. Prospects were supposed to install them, but clearly that didn’t happen.”

I turned toward Maverick. I could feel my temper rising and knew I needed to calm down, but it was just so hard knowing somebody didn’t do their job, putting my Little Lark in danger. “Which. Fucking. Prospect.”

Goose stood up and looked at me. “Beckett. Billy is bringing him in as we speak.” All of a sudden the doors flew, slamming against the walls and the Prospect, Beckett, flew to the floor.

Billy was standing in the doorway. His face was red and I could see the anger in his eyes. “What the fuck, man! You think because Lilah has a sweet spot for you that you can push me around? Bro, you’re never gettin’ that pussy.” Beckett was rubbing the back of his head while he lay on the floor.

I stood up and was on him before he even knew what was going on. “Don’t ever...talk about MY Old Lady like that. Learn some fucking respect.” Billy was breathing heavy, his fists at his side, ready for a fight. “Billy. I got this. Don’t worry.”

He slammed his fist into the wall, screaming out as he glared at Beckett. “HE did this! She could have been safe, here with all of us. But he was getting his tiny dick sucked instead!” Billy was getting closer to us. I stood up and stepped back, curious to see what Billy would do. He got closer and closer to Beckett.

“Fuck you, man. I don’t want anything to do with Lilah that way. Yeah I used to be sweet on her, who wouldn’t? But I ALWAYS respected Striker. Lilah was my only friend growing up. And now she’s in danger because you can only think with that pencil dick of yours.” He kicked Beckett in the leg then got down on one knee, “YOU fucked up. So let’s take some responsibility huh?”

Billy slammed his fist into Beckett’s face, blood instantly started streaming down his cheek. Slowly getting up, Billy wiped his hand on his jeans and turned to me. “Sorry, Pres, I let my emotions get the best of me.”

I walked closer to him and put my hand out, “Well? You gonna shake it or not?” He looked puzzled as he reached out to grasp my hand. We shook and I pulled him into a big man hug. “You did good, Moonshine. Lilah is lucky to have you as a friend. And I’m lucky to have you as a brother.”

Billy stared at me as I walked back to my chair. “Wait...wait does that mean...” He looked around at all the other guys in the room.

“Damn straight it does. Once we get Lilah back you’ll be a full patch member. Welcome to The Devil’s Highwaymen, Moonshine.” Everybody started to clap and bang their hands on the table. It was a brief moment of joy before we got down to business.

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