Page 6 of Maximus

Five

Maximus

It had been a while since I had ridden, but it all came back to me. The brothers lined up, ready to go wreak havoc on the assholes who dared to jump a man wearing our colors. I was new to this MC, but even I knew you didn’t fuck with a member without consequences. Aries handed me a cut with the club logo on the back and the word prospect patched on the front. He smiled as he passed a loaded Glock to me and patted me on the back.

“I’m sure I don’t need to instruct you how to use this, do I?”

I laughed and shook my head. Here we were about to go to war, and this fucker had jokes. It put me at ease. In my former days as a Marine, we had a man named Nelson who used humor to gear himself and the rest of us up to fight. It kept us from thinking about the reality of what we were about to do. After tucking the weapon in my jeans, I started my dad’s Harley and fell into formation.

A rush of adrenaline hit me as we rolled out. I was in the back of the pack, but I knew by the end of the fight, I would see plenty of action. I followed the band of brothers to a small clearing where we parked our bikes and dismounted. Our Road Captain, Caliber, explained that we needed the element of surprise, and the sound of pipes roaring would detract from that. We took a short walk down a dirt path that led to a small, isolated bar. Apparently, this was the hang out spot for the rival MC.

“Aries, you, and Caliber go around the back for recon. Take the new prospect with you,” Grimm commanded.

There was no time for apprehension. The three of us looked at each other, nodded, and took off to do Grimm’s bidding. He needed us to find out how many people were in the bar, if there was surveillance, possible escape routes, etc. This was right up my alley. We were meant to go unnoticed, but if anything jumped off, we would be ready to eliminate the threat.

As we rounded the corner, Aries was on point, Caliber in the middle, leaving me to bring up the rear. I had an eerie feeling that things were too quiet. It was a bar for fuck’s sake. Where was the music and laughter? It felt like a setup to me. I tapped Caliber on the shoulder, and he stopped Aries.

“Something is off. Why is it so quiet?”

“Listen, Prospect…” Caliber began, but Aries stopped him.

“No, Caliber. If Jeff says something is off, then you need to believe him. This man was a Marine and has been through countless battles. He knows when something is not right. I trust him.”

Caliber nodded at Aries before addressing me. “Fine, then what do you suggest we do?”

“Instead of going directly to the back door, I suggest going up.”

I pointed at the set of stairs that led to the second floor of the building. No one would expect us to go that route. I was sure there was something bad waiting for us on the other side of the door.

“Let me climb up and check things out. I’ll come back and let you know,” I advised.

After climbing the stairs like a stealth cat, I snuck into the window. The lock on the thing had to be at least twenty years old. It barely turned, let alone secured the window. I slid down the hall and peered over the banister. Just like I thought, there was an assault rifle sitting on a stand pointing directly at the back door. It had been rigged to go off at the slightest movement. I had seen these before, but never owned by a civilian. These fuckers were playing dirty.

I spied seven assholes hiding in different spots downstairs waiting for us to breach the bar’s perimeter. It could have been a bloodbath, but the Sergeants of Hell weren’t expecting the Sinners to have a Marine. Once I assessed the area, I climbed back out of the window, and headed down the rickety stairs to report to Aries and Caliber.

“I counted seven men, all with loaded weapons. The front and back doors have been rigged to cause us harm once they are breached. The front has an explosive device, and the rear has an automatic geared to go off.”

“Fuck! It’s a good thing we listened to you. We need to report back to Grimm, so he can decide what to do,” Aries exclaimed.

What happened next was a whirlwind of activities that resulted in seventeen dead members of the Sergeants of Hell MC. Apparently, there were more of them lying in wait than I saw. Miraculously, there were no fatalities on the side of the Sinners, but there were a few injuries. That was a credit to our Prez. He was one hell of a leader. His orders to attack using the window as the entry way made all the difference.

One of the brothers was ordered to cut the video surveillance so they couldn’t see what we were up to. Another was sent to disable the weapon pointing at the back door, while the rest of us were sent into battle. We were all connected via earpieces so we could reach each other and receive new orders. It was a well-orchestrated fly-by the seat of your pants type of operation.

By the end of the night, I had earned my road name because of the number of assholes I put into the dirt. It was automatic for me. A switch clicked in my brain and put me in Marine mode. My adrenaline was crazy as I battled the bikers alongside my brothers. Grimm decided to use the explosives at the front door to destroy the bar, so there was no evidence of us being there.

As we hiked back to our bikes, the brothers all chatted happily about the way we annihilated those fools. It gave me a much-needed feeling of camaraderie that I hadn’t felt since before the incident that got me kicked out of the Marines. It felt good to be needed again.

“I tell you what, this damn man was tearing shit up!” Grimm said, pointing to me.

“I told you he would be an asset. He was wrecking shit like he was fighting in the Roman Coliseum. What’s that fucker’s name from the movie? You know the one Russel Crowe played… Maximus! Yeah, he was wrecking shit like Maximus. I think we just found your road name, man,” Aries exclaimed.

The brothers roared with laughter as they all chanted, Maximus! Maximus! Maximus! I was torn. The feeling of pride that welled up in my chest was beaten down by the guilt I had from my last battle. At least this time, I prevented any of my brothers from dying by putting myself in the most dangerous position. If I had been killed, so be it. I just didn’t want to outlive any more of my friends.

As we were celebrating our victory, Grimm’s face became marred as he read a text message on his phone. By the defeated look on his face, it was evident that we were not going to like the outcome. He held his hand up to silence the crowd.

“We need to get back to the clubhouse. Zero is not doing so well.”

There was nothing more to say. Everyone hustled to their bikes so we could make the trip to check on our brother. Though the journey was short, the ride felt long as fuck! Each man was in his own thoughts about Zero. I for one, sent up a prayer that the man who I’d never met, would recover from his injuries.

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