Page 52 of Dancin' with Demons

Fist bumpin’ him, I try not to let my eyes wander to where Hammer is at the back of the table. “She’s doin’ better. Started that new job today.”

“Good. Maybe the next time Sharon and the kids come up, Savior can come hang. Juliet’s only a year older than her.”

I smile and nod. “I didn’t even think of that, man. Savior’d like that, for sure.” Sharon is Recoil’s ex-wife, and Juliet is the youngest, and one of the four kids they have together. Him and Sharon got together when they were in high school, and had two kids and were married before he joined the club. In their defense, they didn’t divorce because they didn’t love each other. Recoil still loves that woman and always will. But when he first joined the club, he was gone a lot and she couldn’t handled. Ended up cheatin’ with their neighbor. Recoil could’ve beat the guy’s face in, but I think he blamed himself for bein’ gone. So, instead, he agreed to an easy divorce if she agreed to share custody. So, every other weekend, he disappears to his house to be with the kids, and Sharon stays in a hotel in town. They live almost three hours away in Cookeville for Sharon’s job.

The gavel bangin’ on the table pulls me from my thoughts, and I focus on my president’s stern face. “We got a run Friday after next on the 25th. Pick-up is in McMinnville. Drop-off is Bowlin’ Green.”

“What’s the shipment?” Archangel says.

Catacomb sighs, and I already know it’s either drugs or women because those are the only two things he don’t like touchin’ if he can avoid it. “Meth. 800-fuckin’-pounds of it.”

Several of the men let out low whistles, while a few grumble in surprise. I sit forward and rest my arm on the table. “That’s a big shipment.”

“Which is why you’re plannin’ security,” Catacomb says as he pins me with a stare that says, don’t-fuckin’-argue. “Despite this bein’ big, we can’t draw attention, so we gotta keep it small.”

I think for a moment, tappin’ my thumb on the table while I know the brothers are starin’ at me. “I’ll ride off-shoot. Reaper take point. Typhoon brings up the back. Sandman, Hobgoblin on flank. If Freeway can get me a route, I’ll see what we might run into.”

Catacomb nods and turns his attention to the Geek Squad. “Give me a breakdown, brothers.”

The 100-inch television mounted on the wall at the front of the screen sprints to life, a map with Gatlinburg marked by a star comin’ into focus. Glancin’ at the tech brothers, they’ve both folded their laptops, turnin’ ‘em into tablets.

“Okay,” Hardwire says as he zooms out on the map, “Pick up in McMinnville is roughly three hours and fifteen minutes, providin’ their ain’t traffic. If we want to minimize attention we need to time this to do the hard parts durin’ each county’s shift changes. Renegade, you all need to leave here by midnight. That will have you at the pick up location by three thirty. Now, that much product is gonna take an hour or more to load, but if you can get back on the road within an hour, you can get out of McMinnville by four thirty. They change shifts at four, so from four to five, it’s a police ghost town for patrols.”

“Aight,” I say with a nod, glancin’ at Reaper, “that means load up is an hour, no more. Keep this shit on a tight schedule.” Reaper nods as well before we turn back to the television.

Circuit, clears his throat as he draws a new line on the map connect McMinnville to Bowlin’ Green in a different color than what Hardwire used for the first leg of the trip. “Bowlin’ Green gets a little tricky. If you stick to your hour load up, you’ll get to the drop off location by seven in the mornin’. You’ve got exactly one hour to get loaded and be done. Seven to eight is when all the schools are openin’ so cops are busy watchin’ the school zones and shit. At eight, though, they’re gonna hit their patrols hard, so you need to be done and on the road by then.”

“The ride home is cake. Five hours from Bowlin’ Green to here, you can stick to the major highways since you ain’t gonna have shit on you.”

Sittin’ back, I lightly tap the table, my sign to get Catacomb’s attention.

A second later, as the Geek Squad is clearin’ the screen, he looks at me. “Renegade?”

“I want Trickster with Raylynn while I’m on the run,” I say in a low but deadly serious voice.

My president stares at me for a moment before noddin’. “One isn’t enough to make me comfortable, and you’re takin’ Reaper. I think it’s time Raylynn get to know the brothers.” I got to open my mouth, but Catacomb holds his hand up. “Not all at once, brother. Trickster goes, but I’ll send Archangel with him. Two brothers for two people. And we’ll put at least one prospect posted outside.”

Noddin’, I take a deep breath and try not to let my brothers hear the sigh as I let it out. The last thing I want to do is leave Raylynn alone for any amount of time this early into us bein’ back, but I’ve pretty much been useless to my club for the last three years, so I need to step back up and remind ‘em why I hold the position I do, so there’s no room for arguin’ right now. This isn’t Somethin’ I can give Raylynn details on, so I just have to hope she doesn’t freak out when I give her what I can on the run.

“That’s all for now, brothers,” Catacomb says, pickin’ up his gavel. “Go enjoy your day and shit. I got duties with my ol’ lady’s to-do list.” He slams the gavel on the table, and the men stands, movin’ out of the room.

Catacomb, Reaper, and I are the last to step out of the meetin’ room and into the common room, and we’re stopped almost immediately as Hammer steps in front of us.

“Any time you need help watchin’ your lady and her little monster, Renegade, just let me know.”

Without takin’ my eyes off Hammer, I try like hell not to show my irritation, but the anger that flairs in Reaper is like a wave next to me. “Thanks, brother. I’ll keep that in mind.”

“I plan to get his woman comfortable with all of us,” Catacomb says as he claps me on the shoulder, movin’ his body forward so in what I know is a show of dominance to Hammer, “so everyone is gonna watch her on a run at some point.”

The smile that slides onto Hammer’s lips makes my stomach turn. “Lookin’ forward to it.” Turnin’ on his heel, none of us take out eyes off him as he struts across the room and presses up to Snackcake, whisperin’ in her ear.

“I don’t like that at all,” Reaper says low enough for only us to pick up.

“Me, either,” Catacomb says with a low growl in his voice. “Not matter what happens, Hammer isn’t allowed alone with Raylynn or Savior, and keep an eye on the whore if she gets near ‘em, too.”

Catacomb squeezes my shoulder before turnin’ away and headin’ down the hall to his office. With his woman at my house today, he’ll get as much done for her as possible. Catacomb doesn’t come off as a very lovin’ or emotional man, but I know behind closed doors, there ain’t a thing he wouldn’t do for Sandra. She’s literally everythin’ he fuckin’ lives for now and has been since the moment they met.

“What’s the plan for today,” Reaper asks, gettin’ my attention.

---