MC: LaPonte (35 page)

Jake from Baxter's comes
in. "Fuck man. Glad to see you're ok. You know how to fuckin party.
It was me following you and Casper keeping the bikes away from you
at the truck."

"Thanks Jake, appreciate
it." I tell him through clenched teeth.

"When I got to Ben's house
I saw you fall but Tiny had me clearing bodies. You're a fuckin
lunatic with a gun. Glad you sling a hammer for a living." He
laughs.

I look at him then at
Tiny. What the fuck is he talking about? "Brother VP had me going
around clearing the bodies you left behind."

"VP told me to clear the
way. I did." I tell them. Fuckin Doc finally pulls the fuckin
bullet out.

They laugh hysterically.
"Fuckin Digs got a new hero Brother. You hit everything you aimed
at. Lucky for us you didn't kill them all." Tiny says. Fuck does
that mean I killed some. I didn't think, I just fired.

I just look at him. Steve
walks in, he's pissed. "Get the fuck out!" He growls at Tiny. Jake
just looks at him, nods and walks out behind Tiny. Steve lifts his
chin and looks at Doc. "When Doc's done shredding you're shoulder
come to my office." I nod and hold my breath waiting for whatever
the fuck Doc is doing to stop.

"Sorry. I needed to see if
you have bleeders." He says putting pressure on the
hole.

"Why's it so big?" I ask
him, the hole the last time was small and smooth.

"My guess the guy was
looking to blow your head off your shoulders. This was from a
rifle." He lifts the bullet. Fuck.

"Must have been the truck,
that's the only rifle I saw." I say watching him stitch together
inside the hole. Fuck that's fuckin gory. I look away putting my
head back.

"It was head on, you're
lucky you didn't get knocked off your bike." He says.

"Brother." Casper is
talking to me. Fuck. I open my eyes; Casper is standing in the
doorway. "One percenters robbed the bank, had fuckin PD busy on the
other side of town. Paul is on his way. Principal's call just got
picked up. They're only three and a half hours late. Steve needs to
see you." I nod. Looking around I don't see Doc. My arm is
bandaged. My shirt is full of blood my coat has fuckin holes in the
back, shoulder and arm and blood all over it. Fuck it. I walk out
going to Steve as I am.

He's behind his desk
talking to Ben. He turns when he sees me. He lifts his chin; Ben
turns as Steve gets up. "Brother Paul is on his way. We have video
on three guys you hit. You were clearly defending yourself. At the
truck that was blocking the road, going to the school the last bike
you hit there, and at my garage. You good with that?"

"Yeah, truck, last to the
school and guy raising at your garage." I tell him through clenched
teeth.

"Your back?" Steve asks
handing me a shirt.

"Yeah and my face, right
side. Must have hit the ground harder than I thought."

Paul comes in. "What the
fuck Danny? What the fuck happened?" I turn around to look at
him.

"Fuck Brother. I can't
believe your fuckin standing, how the fuck did you ride the bike
back?" Ben says.

I just look at them. I
don't know what the fuck their talking about, I look at my arm it's
all bandaged up. I look at Steve. "Knot size of a small football on
your back. Bruised bad almost black."

I nod. "The impact on the
vest breaks blood vessels it always looks bad. The knot I don't
know, guess just the way the bullet hit." Steve nods at
me.

"Fuck. Sit the fuck down
Danny." Paul says.

"I can't sit right now. I
need to stand." I tell him through clenched teeth.

Ben dials his phone, "Doc
I need something for Danny. Pain on his right side face and back."
He looks at me. "He's sending it up." I nod.

"So what the fuck happened
here?" Paul asks.

"Danny will go first." Ben
says handing him a laptop and flash drive. "The bodies are at the
morgue."

Paul watches the video.
"You don't move the fuckin bodies until the scene is recorded.
Fuck, he shot you from six feet away, right in the fuckin back." He
looks at me. "You got anything to add?"

"Would have been nice to
have police protection for my kids when they were fuckin kidnapped.
Since you were all too busy playing cops and robbers to check your
fuckin messages we had to transport the fuckin bodies. You want us
to leave them for recording get someone the fuck over here when we
call. I have nothing to add to that. If you have questions ask them
now or I'm taking my fuckin kids that are no longer with the
kidnappers and going home for dinner." I say through clenched
teeth. My fuckin face is pounding.

He looks at me then at Ben
and Steve who are smiling. "The power went out. We didn't know
anything was wrong until just a few minutes ago. The call came in
before the generators kicked in. You know I would have been
here."

I nod. "Questions?" I ask.
Thank fuck he shakes his head no. A Prospect comes in with a bottle
of water and pills. I take them and try to pull the shirt on. Steve
pulls the back down. I thank him.

Ben puts three more flash
drives on the desk. "Got three more Brothers you need to talk to.
Bodies are at the morgue."

Steve walks me out. In the
hall he calls Patches over and tells him to get me home. "Did good
Brother." I throw him chin and leave with Patches.

Patches has to help me
into the truck. The adrenaline has run its course, my body isn't
cooperating with my brain. He tells me he took the kids home with
Kate. I just nod. At the house I need help up the steps. Fuck. Kate
is going to be pissed. She comes to the door. I see the tears in
her eyes. "Fuck baby, I'm ok. The kids are safe."

She nods. "Thanks to you
they are. Doc said we should put you in the recliner. Prospects
moved it into the living room for you." I nod.

Getting to the living room
is slow going. I sit in the chair but I'm afraid to lean back.
Patches puts a pillow at my lower back and tells me to lean. He
pushes the chair back so I'm at an angle. "Thanks Patches." I say
clenching my teeth through a wave of pain. Kate brings a bottle of
water and puts it on the table they have by the chair. "Where are
the kids." I ask either of them.

Kate sits on the arm of
the chair. "Tiny and Jake took them to the mall for dinner and to
play in the arcade."

"Jake?" Why the fuck is
Jake with my kids.

"Baxter's International
Security guy. He was here today. You took out a guy saving him from
being shot. He decided to give you some time to rest as a thanks.
He said he won't let anything happen to them. Tiny and a Prospect
are with them." Patches tells me.

Kate touches my arm.
"Thank you. You kept us safe today. I'm not sure what to say but I
want you to know I'm glad you were there when we needed you. I'm
sorry your hurt but Doc said you'll be able to move around in a
couple of days." she kisses my head.

"Fuck, thought you'd be
pissed." I tell her I can hear the pain medicine in my
voice.

"Steve said you saved
quite a few people today and you kept the bastards from running
with the kids. Can't be pissed about you keeping us safe." She
stands up. "I'm going to let you sleep. Patches is dying to get
with the kids. Steve has a guy in the bonus room. All is well here,
relax and sleep for a while." I nod closing my eye.

Sunday Church…

Tylenol helps my face from
pounding but my fuckin back still seizes up if I move wrong. Doc
says it will ease up in a few days. It's been five fuckin days
already. Walking into the Clubhouse I get chin from the Brothers
hanging in the common room. Luke yells, "Good to see you up
Brother." I give him a nod and turn toward the meeting room. All
but Ben and Steve are here. I return the 'Brother's' and sit
gently.

"Surprised to see you here
Danny. I told you it'd be a couple of days longer." Doc says. I
shrug causing a hitch in my breath. Fuck, no shrugging.

Tiny looks at me, "How's
your arm?"

"It’s good." I tell him,
Doc laughs.

Steve and Ben walk in. Ben
looks at me. "Why didn't you tell us Axe was your
sponsor?"

"Does it matter?" What the
fuck is this about?

"Tiny told us. Geek hunted
down the old books. You were High Security when you first got your
cut. You sat right behind Axe." He says like its news to
me.

"Yeah." I don't know what
he's looking for here.

"You didn't think it
mattered?" He asks like I'm slow.

"I didn’t keep it a secret
if that’s what you’re thinking. No one seemed to care what I did.
It could be the pain or I'm just fuckin slow, but no, I didn't
think it mattered. What's with the trip down memory lane
Pres?"

Tiny laughs. Ben smiles,
“Sorry Brother. You took out more than half the bikes that ran
through our backyard. We were looking for where you were trained.
Steve thought it was military but you never went into the military.
Tiny said you trained with Axe. We looked it up. You won the
shooting in Laconia beating Axe. That's not something anyone else
on the whole fuckin east coast can say. Axe won that fuckin patch
for seventeen years until you."

I look around, I still
don't know why all this matters. "I rode up with him. I remember
shooting. I don't get why were still on this trip down memory
lane."

Tiny cracks up. "I told
you. VP told him to clear the way so he took the order and cleared
the fuckin way. He was just doing what he was told."

I nod not sure what the
fuck I'm supposed to say. Everyone is just looking at me. I look at
Steve. "You did say clear the way?"

He laughs, "I
did."

Ok. "I didn't fuck
anything up right?"

Ben laughs. "No Brother
you didn't. We're just learning that you're a fuckin Badass
Biker."

"I knew it all along."
Fuckin Tiny says. They all laugh.

"Next time there's trouble
you run High Security with my team. Fuckin Casper couldn't keep up
with you. Says somethin Brother." Steve says. Fuck that feels
good.

"Ok VP. I don't care where
you put me. You just need to tell me what to do. I've always been
all in." He nods.

"Sorry Brother. We didn't
look to see what has been staring at us for fuckin years." Ben
says.

"Pres, it was Danny that
took out the one percenters at the shipyard last year, every fuckin
one of them. Dave said he rode right through the middle of the
fuckin club that gave us trouble a couple years ago. He climbed in
a fuckin tractor trailer not being able to see the whole fuckin
right side without a fuckin complaint. He's been here doing what's
needed. No one ever notices or gives him credit."

"Can we get off this and
start fucking church already?" I've had enough of this
already.

"That's why no one
noticed. You’re like VP, you do what needs to be done and move the
fuck on." Tiny says.

"So can we move the fuck
on?" I ask them.

Ben nods. Thank Fuck!
"Alright Brothers. We have six injured and no casualties. Jess has
a list of needs for the six. You know the drill. Danny if you need
anything let one of us know. We have assurances there will not be
backlash from the other Chapters. VP doesn't believe it, so we'll
keep Security in place until we see or hear differently. The
electric company is paying us a fuckin shit ton of money for the
solar energy were producing. Once the panels are paid for we're
setting up a program for low income families to benefit from twenty
percent of the money we receive. Do I have a nay on this?" No one
speaks up. Ben keeps moving through the information. Then he tells
about the Little Brothers and how they came up with the plan. Tiny
is going to talk to Petey and Patches about getting them a patch
for their cuts.

Finally the Brothers come
in. Church passes quickly. I sit at the bar and have a drink. I
need one after all that shit. Steve slides in on the side of me.
Fuck not more bullshit. I nod to him. "Jessie had a safe room that
you built. Used it to keep the kids safe." He looks at me. I nod so
he goes on. "Safe to say Little Ben has one too?" I nod again. "Any
other safe rooms?" He asks.

I smile, "Quite a few
actually. I worked on just about every Club or Brother’s building
in this town. There's times when we may need them. I made sure we
have that option."

He smiles at me. "Don't
let your gun empty and always have a way out. Axe was my sponsor
too."

I hold my face and laugh.
Fuck it hurts. I throw back my drink and stand. "Got a whole crew
of kids waiting for me to get home. Promised them we'd go to the
circus in Providence this afternoon."

He nods. "All of us goin.
Need to keep together, Security details are runnin thin." I nod. He
stands and walks out with me. I throw chin to the Brothers we pass
and slap Luke's back on the way out.

One month…

Steve's on his phone. "On
our way, stay on the phone with Ben." He hands his phone to Ben.
"One percenters took out Security, they're followin. Need to get up
95." I nod. "Need my gear, grab what you have and meet me at
Security." He looks at Tiny, "Have them text the Military that's on
to meet me at the on ramp to 95 in fifteen." He looks at me. "Do
you need anything from Security?"