Raging Barons MC – Book Nine – Knuckles
Knuckles: Chapter 11

-:- AXEL -:-

We’ve been out riding for eleven hours and found nothing so far. The warehouse we checked showed no sign of anyone being inside the place for years. Buzz and Drag are as tired as I am, and although we’d like to keep looking, we need to get something to eat and drink because killing ourselves won’t find our man.

Pulling my hog up on the side of the road, I take my brain bucket off and look at Drag, who stops next to me. “Any ideas where we can look now?”

Buzz stops in front of us, turns, and states, “We need to go to Nell’s. She’ll have more ideas on where this fucker could have taken them.”

I turn to look at Drag and he has a hard look on his face, the same as mine and Buzz’s, I’m sure. “Yeah, it’s an idea. I’ve told Stitch to find Meat and Wings. I don’t know what they are up to, but Meat’s PTSD could have kicked in, and I’m not losing him, not after he’s come so far.”

“I’ll speak to Stitch and Target. Leave that with me, Pres.”

Agreeing we’ll see if they can find Meat and Wings before we panic that they have also gone missing, we head to the boarding house.

Walking into Nell’s office, I’m surprised to see Tank speaking quietly to Graham. Graham is Nell’s brother and a good man, although he can be impulsive. He has been training with Tank and Richie for a while now and I can see the difference in the way he’s listening to Tank and the body language he is throwing. Looking up, Tank and Graham give us a chin lift, but remain silent.

“Any news, Nell?” I ask while taking a seat, rubbing my hands down my face and feeling the fatigue settling over me.

“No, but we’ve checked three properties that belong to Vincenzo  that were under the control of Tommaso, as they were part of his territory. Vincenzo is speaking with every capo and he’s killed two that disrespected him by not following his orders. He’s now putting two new Capos in place but is pissed that it’s taking time away from finding Tommaso.” Nell sits behind her desk, looking at me with more than a little stress showing on her face.

“We checked out two warehouses; we’ve just come from one and brothers have checked the other. I think we should start looking at derelict buildings, anywhere that has become derelict, even the paper mill which has been closed since… forever!” Drag grips my shoulder and squeezes it, showing me support.

“I agree. I’m going to speak to Vincenzo again, then we’ll come to the clubhouse. We need to get pins onto your map and cover as much ground as we can. Graham, you, and Richie go to the mall that was closed and has just been bought out. I hear they are going to knock it down and put a housing complex on it.” Graham jumps to his feet and marches out of the office, giving me a nod as he passes. “Oh, Graham. It has an underground parking lot. Check that out.”

“I’m going back to the clubhouse. Get something to eat and drink. Check in with Mia too, as she’s going to be worried sick. Come over when you’re ready and I’ll tell Sentry, on the gate, to let you in.”

“Okay, Axel.” Turning to leave, I turn when Nell continues, “We’ll find them Axel.”

Back at the clubhouse, I’m greeted by Mia, whose shoulders droop when I shake my head that we’ve found nothing. “I need something to eat and drink. We’re all tuckered out, so anything you can muster up will be welcomed.” I wrap my arm around her shoulders and kiss her on top of the head.

“No problem,” Mia replies, then bellows. “LADIES, KITCHEN, OUR MEN NEED TO EAT.”

Every Ol’ Lady steps into the kitchen, and they work like a well-oiled machine, responding instantly when Mia gives an order or request. I couldn’t be prouder of them all, and when Winter walks over to me and asks if there is a target yet that she can take out, I feel a lump in my throat.

Once we’ve eaten, we head into BS’s office and check out where still needs to be checked. Every brother is out looking, and the only consolation I have is Knuckles will keep Jo safe as long as he is breathing. Her brother is working with Specs and hasn’t come out of the office since I sent him in to help.

BS gives me a sign to follow him to one side and as I step over, he grimaces. “Colton’s gone out on his own. He came to speak to me and said he was going to speak to old friends and see what was being said. I agreed to let him go because anything we find out gives us the information we need.”

“Okay, but next time he takes someone with him. I don’t want anyone out on their own in case this fucker tries to take any more of us. I’m gonna kill him with my bare hands when I get the chance. I don’t care if he’s part of the mafia. He stepped over the line into our lives, and now he’ll not get to step back.”

Walking out of the office, I walk over to my own. Stepping inside and taking a seat at my desk, I run my hands over my head, before closing my eyes a moment, trying to think where the fuck could they be.

Tapping on the door has me looking up, and Colton walks into the office. “Pres. I’ve spoken to friends, and they’ve heard the mall that has been purchased for the housing complex is a cover for a fighting ring that’s going to be set up. But what was most interesting was when I heard that a fight is being set up between a biker and a mafia muscle.”

I shoot out of my seat and rush out of the office, grabbing Colton as I rush past. Bursting into Specs’ office, I relay what Colton just told us, and Lincoln stands slowly before looking at Colton with a wicked grin.

“You want to fight? I’m gonna get me a fight and see who the fuck this biker is and make my way into this place.” Lincoln is set to walk out of the office, but I hold my hand up, stopping him.

“No, you can’t. He’ll know you. Colton will be okay, and I’ll speak to Mav.”

“Speak to Mav about what?” Buzz asks as he stands in the office doorway.

“Colton heard a fight is going to take place between a biker and a mafia muscle. Lincoln can’t fight, as he’ll be known to Tommaso, but Mav won’t be. He could go with Colton.” Turning to speak to Specs, I’m surprised when Buzz speaks again.

“I’ll fight. Let’s get a few brothers in on this, shall we? Mav, Wings, Meat, Chaos, Ruger, and Fist will all be up for it, I’m sure.” Turning to Colton, “Can you find out who’s arranging this fight? Let’s get involved, shall we?”

Colton grins and slams one fist into the palm of his other hand. “Yeah, let’s get involved.” None of us respond because he’s out the door before we can ask how he’s going to go about organizing any fights.

“Let’s set this up in the common room, Pres, ’cause we can’t all fit in BS’ office. The Ol’ Ladies want to see what’s going on and I know it’s not how we normally work, but Pres, they are not ordinary women, are they? We have mechanics, an ex-prisoner who was nicknamed ‘Blade’, and we have a sniper turned assassin. They can help, I’m sure, even if it’s just keeping the board up to date.” Buzz waits for my reaction, and I grin because he’s right. Not one woman in the club can be called a pussy, they all have merits of their own, and seeing the way they interact with Meat tells me they are up for the unusual, and not the norm.

For the next two hours, we move everything from BSs’ office and set it up in the common room. The women are damn good at organizing, I have to admit. They have the map pinned to the corkboard and colored pins showing where we’ve searched so far.

Nell has arrived and is helping the women, but she’s waiting for Graham and Richie to arrive because they went to check out the mall before we heard about the planned fighting.

Taking a seat at the bar, I’m drinking another black coffee, trying to use the caffeine to keep me going a while longer, but I can feel the tiredness dragging my thoughts. I jump out of my seat when Richie and Graham burst into the clubhouse.

“What’s wrong?” Nell shouts.

“Motherfucker got two more of your men,” Graham snarls. “We were too far away to get to them. They were watching the mall and four suited muscle snuck up on them and hit them with a shock stick. They didn’t stand a chance. The one you call Meat, was twitching like he was having a fit, but he grabbed one of their legs, dragged him down, and twisted his neck before the other three could do anything. By the time we could get to them, the fuckers had them in a van and took off.”

Meat and Wings. Fuckin’ hell, this couldn’t get much worse! But, thinking about it, it may be… um… couldn’t be better, because those two are crazy enough to get themselves out of the mess they are in and get Knuckles and Jo out with them.

“Get Stitch, I need to know if Meat can hold his PTSD in check, or if it’s gonna get him killed.” I do not know who walks away to get Stitch, but when he appears I look him right in the eye. I don’t even have to ask the question.

“I don’t know, Pres. He has a much better handle on it than he ever had. Remember when we first brought him here? He’d walk about naked all the fuckin’ time. Now it’s only sometimes.” Chuckling to himself. “The one thing we know is that he is as fit as he ever was. He can strategize easily. Once he’s in, he’ll do what he can to find Knuckles and Jo and he’ll get them all out if it’s possible. He has Wings with him, who’s just as crazy, but it’s a natural crazy, not PTSD crazy. Together they are a formidable team, and Wings will keep Meat grounded.”

Understanding where Stitch is going with his thinking, I give him a half-smirk. “You think Meat will have them all fucked up before we get a chance?”

Stitch chuckles. “There’s always that chance, Pres.”

Nell walks over to us and has a phone in her hand. Placing it in her jeans back pocket, she stops in front of me. “Is it alright if Vincenzo comes here? He’s just gotten control of the situation at his end and he’s found out Tommaso has a mansion. He wants to check the place out but wants to know if you want in, or if he’ll go with his men. He doesn’t care either way. He just doesn’t want you to think he doesn’t value your authority.”

“He can come here if he wants, or he can go right to the mansion. I’m not sure I’ll have enough men at this point, as they are all still out looking or have come back and trying to catch a few hours of sleep before going back out again. I don’t want anyone getting hurt because they’ve gone too many hours without rest.”

I watch as Mia walks our way, and I can tell she’s worried. Holding my arms out when she gets near, Mia walks straight to me, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her head on my chest. “You okay?” I ask, and she nods against me.

Vincenzo Vitale walks in with six men behind him. He points at the wall near the entrance and his men stop and line up ‘like good little soldiers’, but I keep my sarcasm to myself.

“Hello, Axel. What news do we have?” Vincenzo asks as he reaches where I’m standing. I notice he gives Nell a close look, but I also notice she purposefully keeps her eyes off him. Interesting…

“We know he’s purchased the mall and is organizing fights there. He has three of my men and Jo at this point, taking two of mine by surprise as they were watching the mall.”

“I’m going to check out the mansion. I have fifteen men surrounding it at this point. Do you want any of your men to come with me now?” Vincenzo looks at the board and checks out where we’ve looked so far. “I’ll coordinate where we’ve checked too, because we covered here, here, and here,” he points at the map to show where he’s looked. Mia walks to the map and pins where he shows her.

Between us, we’ve covered a good area but still have so much more to check. “We’re going to get men inside to fight, and now with three of my men inside anyway, it’ll give us a lot of eyes. But if they can band together, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”

“Okay, we’re going to the mansion and I will let you know what we find. You look like you need rest, and you know as well as I do, we make mistakes when we are too tired to think straight.” Vincenzo gives me a nod as he turns and walks away, but I grin when he grips Nell’s wrist and she has to walk along with him.

Mia grabs my attention. “Come on, Axel, you need to sleep for a while. Buzz said while you and Drag get some sleep, he’ll stay here and watch everything. But BS is keeping on top of everything using the Pinboard. You can’t do anything else just now.”

“Okay, I’ll go rest for a while, but if anything happens, you wake me.”

“I will. Now go on. I’ll watch the kids and the women are here with me, so we’ll make sure everything is in order here.”

Kissing Mia, I walk over to Buzz and let him know I’m going to sleep, but not to let me sleep for over four hours. When he agrees I head to bed and get the rest I need to clear my mind for the next phase of getting the brothers and Jo back.

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