Tuck's Revenge (13 page)

When the trucks were finally unloaded and
everything put away, Tuck told the guys to come up front so he
could show them something. They all gathered around the counter,
and Tuck pulled out a set of blueprints for his new project and
latest brainstorm. It was going to be another bike shop up in
central Oklahoma that would also coincide with the bike shop they
were in. When they got it up and running, they would basically
network with a Chapter on bikes, bike parts, and anything else that
came up. He looked at Boots who was smiling, yeah, he was gonna
head that Chapter, they were expanding.

*****

Tuck was sitting in the middle of the
warehouse floor tinkering with his bike, cleaning a few things and
polishing chrome and such when somebody knocked on the door. Tuck
went over to the big rollup door on the front of the warehouse and
raised it to look out and see who would be knocking. They so rarely
got visitors at the warehouse, it was a shock when somebody would
come and knock on the metal door that would cause an echo
throughout the whole place. When he raised the door, he saw two men
standing at the side entrance door. He motioned for the men to come
down to where he was, and as they were walking his way, Tuck sized
them up and tried to read them as they headed toward him.

He couldn't really tell if they were
plainclothes cops or hit men, but either way Tuck planned to watch
their every move. As they approached, one man asked, "Is the boss
around?”

Tuck replied, "That would be me.”

Both men looked at Tuck and smiled, then
looked at each other, and one man said, "Really?”

Tuck just maintained his demeanor and said,
"What can I do for you?”

The man began to speak when Tuck cut him off
mid-sentence and as a return dig at them, he said, "If you're
selling vacuum cleaners, we're not interested.”

The man took a step toward Tuck and said in a
more firm voice, "Do I look like a vacuum cleaner salesman to
you?”

Tuck smiled and said, "As a matter of fact,
you do.” When Tuck said that, the other man stepped aggressively
toward Tuck before the other man threw his hand up and stopped his
advance.

Then the man began speaking again, "I spoke
with your man at the bar and he said I would have to talk to you
about a business matter, so he gave me your address and here I
am.”

Tuck said, "What kind of business
matter?”

"We saw you're putting up a new building in
Oklahoma, and it's going to be another shop. My boss likes that
idea and we want to buy the place from you.”

“It's not for sale. Sorry.” Tuck then turned
around and started walking back into the warehouse.

"My boss would be willing to pay you a lot
more than it's worth, and then you could move on and start up
somewhere else.”

Tuck turned and said, "We don't plan on going
anywhere else. We plan to build there and grow out into that area,
so again. Sorry.”

"That's what you're not getting. We don't
want you growing in that area. That area belongs to a lot of very
important and powerful people. And they see you as coming in and
stepping on their toes. Now my boss is being nice by offering to
buy you out. But if you refuse and want to be a hardass about it,
then he'll just get it another way.”

Tuck looked the man in the eye, "Are you
threatening me?”

The man assured him that he wasn't
threatening Tuck, but he also told him that his boss always got
what he wanted.

"Tell your boss, he needs to leave this alone
and not push it or there will be more hell rained down on him than
he will know what to do with.”

The man laughed, "We've already checked you
guys out. We know where all you’ve planned to start Chapters of
your little Motorcycle Club, and we know how many men you have in
this Chapter. When you get the size of our organization, we don't
worry about small time clubs like you and your guys.”

"That is where you are wrong, numbnuts, I'm
not talking about my club. I'm talking about just me. I think I
know who your boss is and why don’t we just cut to the chase. Tell
him he wants to see me he can come right here, I will be waiting,
but if I have to find his ass, it is gonna be worse for him.”

"Oh yeah, well we know about you too, soldier
boy. We know all about how they call you "The Ghost" and again when
you get where we are, you stop worrying about small time people
like you. You have no idea who you're dealing with, so don't start
a war you can't win. Because after we're through with you, the only
memory you'll have in your life is how you lost two wars in a
row.”

"Well, then I guess we know where we stand.
Be seeing you around, hoss.”

"We'll be in touch.” As the men got in the
car and drove away, Tuck just stared at them, he was not
intimidated or impressed.

As soon as the men were gone, Tuck got on the
phone and called the whole Council in for a meeting. But he didn't
want to talk about the man’s offer to buy them out in Oklahoma; he
wanted to talk to them about going to war, which was where they
were at.

After all the Council members were assembled,
Tuck told them what transpired earlier in the day, they also noted
Boots was missing, which caused a stir. When he finished, he gave
them the license number of the vehicle, and told them all to get on
the phones and start calling everybody they could think of who
might know who these people were, and where they were located, and
if they had Boots. He wanted businesses, addresses, names, and
anything else they could find on these people, but most of all—he
wanted the headman.

After a couple of hours, the Council found
out from their sources the complete history of that car. They found
out who it was registered to, and even who the previous owner of
the vehicle was. The car was now registered to a man that owned a
chain of bike stores close to them; fucker was right in his back
yard. And he had quite a big posse.

Now Tuck knew he was dealing with. Steven had
outdone himself—apparently being dead worked out for him. Tuck
worried about Glory and wondered how he was gonna tell her about
her father. Before he could deal with the situation, the phone rang
and his blood ran cold.

"You've been calling around checking on us.
Don't worry yourself about the car, because it doesn't exist
anymore. And my boss told me to tell you he changed his mind about
buying you out, because now he's just going to take your shit, and
kill you.”

“Thought that was his plan to start,” Tuck
said calmly.

“Nah, he was gonna fuck with you some more
but he is tired of it. Said he is ready whenever you are.”

Tuck hung up the phone, walked downstairs,
and told the men what was going on. He told his Enforcer to call
and get him his piece. Tuck put all his men on full alert and
stationed them in different watch positions throughout the
warehouse and even in the Eagle’s Nest, all while he was
reiterating to each one of them how dangerous these people were.
Then he told Glory to pack her things fast so he could get her
somewhere she would be safe. In typical woman fashion, Glory said
she wasn't going anywhere and wanted to stay with Tuck. But he was
even more insistent she do as he asked, and told her he needed to
get to Oklahoma in a hurry because Boots might be in trouble, and
he needed her safe. She relented and did as he asked. When Glory
came out of her room with a bag and a few other loose articles,
Tuck rushed her to the truck and as he was driving out, he told his
men to stay in position and stay alert until he got back.

Tuck’s plan was to put Glory on a plane to
get her away from everything, and he was going to get on a
helicopter and fly out to Oklahoma, told her to go to the new
shop.

"Glory, there is two hundred thousand dollars
in this bag. Take it and buy us that cabin by the lake you told me
about. When you buy it, stay there where you'll be safe. In the
envelope there's a piece of paper with a post office box number. If
I find your dad and he's alive, I'm going to send him to that post
office box for the address to the cabin so he can come to where you
are. When you find the cabin, be sure to send the address to the
post office box where Boots can find it.

"What about you?”

“If I make it through it all I’ll go to the
post office box too. If there is an address there for me, I will be
there.” Tuck grabbed her by her arms and said, "Promise me you'll
stay there so I won't have to worry about you.”

"I promise I'll stay there and I promise that
an address will be there waiting for you. Just as I will be.”

Tuck leaned down and kissed her goodbye.

Glory grabbed him around the neck and
whispered in his ear, "I love you. Come back to me.”

"I'll be back if at all possible, I
promise.”

"Tuck, how will I know where you are?”

Tuck walked away and smiled, "If this is
going to turn out like I think it will, just keep an eye on the
news for the chaos and carnage, that'll be me.”

Punishment: the infliction or imposition of
a penalty as retribution for an offense

By the time he got back to the warehouse, his
boys had been busy; they had the two assholes that were sent to
chat with Tuck. Apparently, they didn’t understand if you made a
threat on the club, you should get the fuck out of town instead of
stopping for a beer beforehand. Idiots.

Tuck got the name and two addresses on this
guy "Archer" AKA Steven, he was satisfied the man his boys tortured
was being honest, so he cut the man’s throat and walked away. Tuck
got in their car and drove so it wouldn't be left on the site. He
would drive the car over halfway to his next destination before
pulling off on a side road and rolling it into a pond. Tuck had
gotten lucky and found a couple of nice weapons on the men he
killed, so he had some good weapons to carry into battle. He walked
up the road about two miles from where he ditched the car and a
truck driver picked him up.

Yeah, his boys were going to be waiting right
where he told them to. From where he was, it was another three-hour
drive to get to his boys. Thankfully, the truck driver didn’t ask
too many questions, especially when he pulled out his gun and
cleaned it to calm down.

The first address he got from the man he
interrogated was where Boots was, that was the first priority. The
driver dropped him off in the parking lot his boys were waiting, it
was in the parking lot of a storage unit across from the address
they were looking for, but it was a perfect place to hide their
bikes and watch.

“No movement,” Rat said as Tuck jumped from
the cab of the truck and nodded to the driver who took off.

“At all?” Tuck said, looking at the house;
there should have seen something, especially if Boots were in
there, guards or something.

“No, fuckers are playing with us,” Rat
said.

He made the decision to sit and wait for
someone to come home, so he found a vantage point where he could
sit and see the driveway from across the street. His boys did the
same. There was no movement.

Tuck motioned to the boys to hang tight, he
was going to go and check out the house. He was not sending in his
men to a situation unknown. He went around the house and then
crouched down and looked in the windows. Nothing, no one. Didn’t
make sense, damn it. Then he saw it, a wire, fuckers rigged the
place to blow if they went in.

Tuck ran back to the boys and told them what
was going on. “Let me get my tools,” Raven said and Tuck nodded and
looked at Rat.

“He is in there, they wouldn’t have bothered
to rig the house. Question is, is he alive,” Tuck said and his
Enforcer nodded.

“Yeah,” Rat said and looked at the house. “If
he’s alive and we can’t get him out?”

“Not an option, man. We need to get him out,
I am not facing my woman, and telling her I let her father die,”
Tuck growled.

“This is a message, man,” Rat said.

“Yeah, they know what I did to Bill. Got it
loud and clear,” Tuck muttered.

“Let’s go,” Raven said to Tuck and they went
back to the house.

Tuck was sitting there quietly, watching when
Raven turned to him.

“Man, it has a timer too,” Raven
whispered.

Tuck closed his eyes. It meant that if they
disengaged the trip it would set off the timer.

“How long?” Tuck said and Raven leaned down
and looked.

“Five,” Rave said.

Shit, five minutes in a house he didn’t know,
finding a man he didn’t know what condition he was in or if he was
alive. Fuck.

“Do it,” Tuck said and looked over his
shoulder. “Do it and clear out, meet you across the street.”

The guys nodded and patted him on the
shoulder, offering encouragement. Tuck looked at Raven and stood.
”Cut it.”

He reached out his hand and gripped the
doorknob.

“Go,” Raven barked and he felt the men run
rather than wasting valuable time to make sure they did what he
told them to.

It was dark and he could barely see, but as
his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he saw several boxes stacked
over in the corner and some other things that didn't look like they
had been there that long, and they were blocking the entrance into
the next room.
Fuckers
, Tuck thought and kicked them and
kept moving. He went through three piles before he stopped again.
All of a sudden, he heard a noise, so he moved toward it, and as he
came around the corner, he came upon a familiar face. It was Boots
and he was gagged and tied to a post. He was pretty beat up, but
other than that, he was none the worse for wear.

After Tuck got him untied, Boots said, "How
in the Hell did you find this place?”

Tuck ignored him and told him to, “Move.”

The two men ran, and thankfully, Rat had not
listened to him, because when he went back out the backdoor he was
there and grabbed ahold of Boots and together they ran across the
street, right when the house behind them blew up.