Raging Barons MC – Book Nine – Knuckles

-:- AXEL -:-

It’s Friday and thankfully we are starting to gather information that will help us get the brothers and Jo out of trouble. Wings and Meat will get into major trouble when we get them back, but right now I just want them back safely.

“Church in an hour. Make sure all the women are inside and put all the prospects on the gate and perimeter of the clubhouse. I don’t want them going too far up the compound. Oh, and get one of them on the roof. Who’s the most competent with a weapon?” I look up at BS from where I’m working at my desk.

“All my boys are good with weapons now. I made sure they could use a variety of weaponry, including a knife and crossbow. If you want one on the roof, then I suggest Austin or Sawyer. They seem to have a natural eye if given a scope.” BS stands from the seat in front of my desk and waits for my decision.

“Either or both of them, whatever you think will be best to cover the clubhouse and the other prospects, ‘cause I want nothing happening to them.”

“Okay, I’ll organize that and be back for church.” BS gives me a chin lift and leaves the office. Turning, I look at Drag, who is staring out of the window.

“You got thoughts?”

Drag turns. “I’d like to just storm in and get them out, but I know it would be the worst thing we could do, and we don’t know yet if they are at the mall somewhere. They could be held somewhere else. The waiting is the worse part, but let’s hope someone has the information we need when we get into church.”

“Do you think Wings and Meat got themselves caught on purpose?”

Drag chuckles. “Well, that wouldn’t surprise me, ‘cause Pres, can you see anyone sneaking up on those two?”

Shaking my head, I can’t help the smirk that crosses my face. “No, if I’m honest, I can’t and I had a quick conversation with Target. He thinks they found something and acted on the information they had gathered. Which could mean they felt Knuckles may need backup to keep Jo safe.”

Tapping on the door has Drag walking over and opening it, and the sorry state of Lincoln shocks me somewhat. He walks in and stands in front of my desk, running his hands over his face. “I’ve contacted Grit and made myself available for a fight. He said he’d let me know if he had a spot available.”

“I’d rather you didn’t get into any fights, as I want you to be on hand to grab Jo if we get the opportunity. She’ll not falter if it’s you telling her to run for it, or get into a vehicle. If it was anyone else, she may hesitate and that can be the difference between getting caught or not.” I can see Lincoln thinking over what I’ve said, and he gives me a small nod before speaking again.

“I can organize the fights for the brothers if Colton doesn’t get anywhere with it.”

“I don’t know if you or Colton are the best ones to get the fights organized because you are Jo’s brother and Colton is known to be Knuckles’ protegee on fight nights. We’re going to have to discuss this in church. I want you in church, Lincoln, as it’s your sister in danger, as well as my brothers.”

“Thanks. I need to know what’s happening. She’s all I’ve got and if the fuckers hurt her, I’m going to throw down like no one’s ever seen before.” Lincoln turns and walks out of the office, and Drag chuckles.

“He would make a good brother for the club, but not sure he’d be a good prospect.” I look at Drag and see the amusement on his face, and can’t help the smirk on mine because he’s right. I can’t see Lincoln doing as he’s told when he’s told either.

Stepping out of the office to go into church, I look into the common room and am surprised when Graham and Richie walk in through the main door. Chris, the prospect is in front of them and when he sees me he hurries over.

“Pres, Richie, and Graham said they’ve information on Knuckles and I didn’t think you’d want me to hold them at the gate, so I brought them straight in.”

“That’s okay, thanks. Get back outside and the only others that you let lead in would be Nell and Vitale.”

“Okay, Pres, I’ll let the others know.” Chris turns and quickly leaves the common room, giving Graham and Richie a nod as he passes.

“Follow me and you can tell me whatever you’ve found out.” I step back into my office and behind my desk, but stay on my feet and wait for them to give me the information they have.

Graham steps forward and Richie takes a seat, rubbing his hands over his head, before looking up at me tiredly. I turn my attention back to Graham.

“We’ve been watching the mall closely, and there are people in and out preparing for the fights they are going to be holding. But there has been no sign of Jo or your brothers. We don’t think they are holding them at the mall.”

Taking my seat, I lean forward with my elbows on the desk, link my fingers, and consider what we can do next. But church may give more information.

“Do you want to get a drink and something to eat? We’re holding church in a few minutes. If you hang around, I may have information that I can share, or may call you into the meeting.”

“Yeah, that would be good. I’m well ready for something to eat.” Richie stands and quickly heads out of the office.

Graham lifts an amused eyebrow and follows Richie. I nod at Drag to follow them and when I see Mia and Eden speaking to Richie; I know they’ll be looked after.

Heading into church, I’m about to drop my phone into the box outside the door when I decide to take it with me this time. I don’t want to miss any calls that could help find my brothers.

Walking into church, I’m not surprised most brothers are already sitting and waiting. The room quietens and I step to the front of the table and take my seat. I’m just about to speak to Buzz, who’s on my right when my phone vibrates. Taking it out of my pocket, everyone goes quiet. They know I don’t bring my phone into church, so they know this is important.

Nell: Tommaso has a second house where his wife lives. Tank has gone to check it out.

Me: Ok. Richie and Graham are here.

Nell: Did they find anything?

Me: Jo and the brothers are not at the mall.

Nell: I didn’t think they would be if I’m honest. I think he’s got them at a location we’ve not looked at yet.

Me: Agree

Nell: I’ve spoken to Vincenzo, and he’s going to call you.

Me: Ok.

Nell: We’ll keep looking. Oh, we have no extra information from the ones down under.

Me: Ok. Are your pets getting too full?

Nell: [smiling emoji] oh yes.

Me: Keep me informed if you find anything else.

Nell: Will do, and Axel, we’ll get them.

Me: Yeah.

Closing the call, I look up, and every brother is waiting for an update. “They are not being kept at the mall. It looks like that’s where the fighting will be held, and that’s all that’s happening there. We have to look for another location.” Turning to BS who is in charge of the map where we’re pinning all locations we’ve checked out so far. “Okay, let’s get the meeting started and throw out any thoughts on where our brothers are being held. Lincoln here is going to go with us when we find them, and he can pull Jo out faster than any of us. He needs to be kept up to date on what’s happening.” Murmurs of agreement are thrown out and some nod at Lincoln to let him know they’ll do that.

My phone rings and I look down where I’d placed it on the table and see Vincenzo is calling. “Drag, continue the meeting.” Picking up the phone, and quickly accepting the call.

“Yeah.”

“Axel, I’m sorry I didn’t get to you a little faster, but the mansion was trickier than I thought to get into. But I’ve taken care of it and your people were not there. I’ve one more place to check and then I’ll come back and see on the map where we can expand the search.”

“Where do you still need to check?” I ask as I lean against the wall next to the church door.

“The paper mill. If they are not there, then I think we need to expand the search.” Vincenzo sighs, “I’m going to kill that fucker and his men along with him.”

“Only if you get to him first,” I respond. “I’ll speak to you when you’ve checked out the mill. But if I hear where they are first, I’ll let you know.”

“Okay, we’ll find them and when we do, blood will spill.”

“Oh, blood will definitely be spilled and I think Nell’s pets are goin’ to be busy.” Hearing Vitale chuckle at my reply before the call cuts.

Stepping back into church, I shake my head in the negative. “The brothers are not at the mansion. Vitale is checking the paper mill, then he’ll let me know what he finds.” I retake my seat and look up when BS takes his notebook out of his pocket and his little pencil.

“Colton has spoken to Grit, who is the new underground fight organizer. He has fights organized for himself, Buzz, and Fist. The date is to be confirmed, but at the moment he thinks it’ll be a week today. It seems Fridays are a good day for fighting.”

Buzz grunts and I look over at Fist, and fuckin’ hell, he’s grinning like a fool.

“What about me?”

We all turn and look at Mav because he’d wanted in on the fighting to get his brother out. “Now, I’m closer to Knuckles than any of you brothers, so I should be involved in getting him out. If that means fighting then I’ll fight, but what I won’t do is to be put on the fuckin’ sidelines without a thought.”

“Never thought that, Mav.” BS tries to calm him down, but we can all see Mav is pissed and I can understand because if it was Drag, Buzz, or BS I’d want in on the action to get them out.

“Well, why the fuck does Fist get a fight when he hardly has anything to do with Knuckles? He works at the fuckin’ custom bike shop, not on the doors.” Mav is getting more up in our faces the more he speaks, and when Fist stands slowly looking Mav in the eye, we all know shit’s gonna go down if we don’t stop it.

“Mav, you’ll be with us getting Knuckles and the others out. We’re gonna need muscle in case we have to fight our way out of there, and fuck if we know what condition they are gonna be in.” I look Mav in the eye and try to reason with him.

“If you’re making fun of me to keep me quiet, Pres or not, I’ll gut you. Knuckles may not be a brother by blood, but he’s a brother all the same, and I spend more time with him than any of you. I know him better than any of you, and if I’m pushed to the back with no regard given, you can shove your kutte up your asses.” In all the years I’ve known Mav I’ve never heard him so angry, or threaten another brother, but he’s past the point of caring and I know that when he threatened to throw in his kutte.

Before I can say more, Mav storms out of church, and I stand watching the door because I’m not sure what to say to calm him right now. When I hear Mia shouting at Mav and the other women calling to him, I know they’ll make sure he’s okay. Mia won’t take shit from him either, so I’m not worried about any of them. He’d never hurt one of the ol’ ladies of the club, or any woman.

“We have a week to find them or you three will fight on the scheduled night and we’ll try to get them out while you’re in the ring. We can call on Nell’s boys and Vitale’s men, I’m sure, to help with that.” I look around and the brothers are nodding in agreement. Fist retakes his seat, but I can see he’s now on edge and not liking what’s happened with Mav.

Lincoln takes everyone’s attention. “I told Jo if she was ever in a bad position, she had to do whatever she had to do to get out of it, stay alive and I’d find her. She’ll know I’m doing everything I can to find her and get her home safely. Knuckles and the two brothers will know you are all doing what you can to find them. They have hope and that is what’ll keep them going.

“Fist, I don’t know you, but Mav will calm down. I’ll take him with me when I get Jo out, and I’ll make sure he’s involved every step of the way to get Knuckles out at the same time. I know they’ll stay together because before they left the house that night Knuckles claimed her, and she was happy to be with him and live here while she got to know him.”

“That makes Jo one of ours. She’s an ol’ lady of the club and no one fucks with our women.” I turn and see Target looking angry, but Chaos, who’s kept fairly quiet through all this, nods in agreement.

“Okay. Keep looking anywhere we’ve not checked before. We expand the search, taking it twenty miles further out. Look at the map and make sure you pin where you’ve checked. We don’t have time to keep going over the same places.” I look around and everyone is giving me, ‘yeah’, ‘sure’, ‘will do’, comments. “Okay, let’s get moving.”

With that, everyone quickly leaves church, and I turn to Lincoln. “Thanks for calming Fist. It wasn’t his doing that he got a fight, and Mav didn’t. But Mav needs a purpose, and you’ll give him that.”

“No problem. I’ll need him in case Knuckles needs help getting out. We don’t know if they’ll be hurt. I can carry Jo out, and Mav can get Knuckles. I’ll speak to Mav and make sure he knows I need his help.”

“I’m going to check the map and get back out on the road. Stay with Specs and keep checking old buildings for basements and anywhere that they could hide.” Gripping Lincoln’s shoulder, I give it a squeeze and head out of church.