Raging Barons MC – Book Nine – Knuckles
Knuckles: Chapter 15

-:- AXEL -:-

Wednesday and still no sign of getting the brothers and Jo back. The call I had from Vitale last evening updating me that he has men around the closed paper mill as there are signs it’s being used by Tommaso has me wanting to storm in, but it might be a death sentence for them all if I did.

If we had Wings, we could have used him and his damn bugs, which we used when Grease was taken. This grabbing hold of my brothers is not sitting well on my shoulders.

My phone buzzes and picking it up, I see a message from Winter, who is on the roof of the clubhouse.

Winter: Movement on east side.

Me: Can you see how many?

Winter: Two as far as I can tell.

Me: Ok. I’m comin’ up.

Quickly making my way to the roof, I know one of the brothers is behind me. Stepping onto the roof, I turn my head and see Target, who quickly makes his way over to Winter.

Picking up the binos, I look in the direction Winter is pointing and after a few minutes, I see the two men she’s watching. They are moving closer slowly.

I quickly make the call to BS and tell him what’s happening, and he has Brag, Rock, and Mav move out with him. Two go to the left of the compound and two to the right. They have to move into the bushes and stay low because we’ve cleared an area around the fencing, so at a glance, we can see if anyone is trying to get inside.

Winter is watching through the scope of her rifle, and I know she’ll take the shot if I tell her. But I need to know why these fuckers are sneaking up on the compound before we decide what we’re going to do with them.

Patiently watching through the binos, I see the two men get surrounded by the brothers. They, surprisingly, don’t put up a struggle. They hold their hands up and walk in front of the brothers toward the compound.

Frowning, I look at Target, who shrugs. “No idea, Pres. Seems odd they come here and don’t even fight getting caught.”

“They don’t have any weapons,” Winter states, still looking through her rifle scope.

“Okay, I’m goin’ down to see what the fuck is happenin’ here.”

“I’ll keep watch with Winter for a while.” Target takes the binos from me and turns to the outside of the compound.

Downstairs, I walk into the common room and wait for BS and the brothers with the two intruders. BS pushes them through the door and they are manhandled into his office, where I calmly walk in behind them.

“Take a seat.” BS snaps while pushing one into a chair.

I stand in front of the two men and immediately notice they are wearing suits but looks like they’ve not had a wash in a few days and they are showing signs of having been in a fight.

“Who are you? Why are you approaching the compound?” I demanded, folding my arms over my chest and giving them a harsh look.

The one on the left has a black eye, and a swollen jaw, but he answers my question. “We are part of the Vitale Mafia. Under the direction of Tommaso Esposito. We had been ordered to do things we don’t want to do against our Don. Esposito is a Capo and wants to take out Vincenzo Vitale so he can be the main man. Most of the men don’t want this, but he’s holding family as hostages to make them.”

The second man is leaning to the right in his seat, and I notice he’s holding his side. Bruising on his cheekbone, temple, and cuts on his hands shows he’s also been fighting.

“Why didn’t you contact Vitale?” BS asks, coming to stand beside me.

“No chance. Esposito has everyone watched, and in the end, we took our chance and fought our way out of the place. He has three of your men and a woman in the paper mill. He’s making them fight to weaken them before the fights on Friday. He wants the big guy dead as he’s protecting the woman. The big guy has killed some men to stop them getting to her.” The grin on his face shows he’s happy about that, too.

“What the fuck is going on with my brothers?” I snarl leaning forward.

The one who’s not spoken now speaks for the first time. “The man is loco. He wants to take over from Vitale. But he doesn’t have enough money to bribe everyone he needs to, to actually get the job done. He wants the woman and I think because she won’t give in, it excites him more at the thought of the conquest.

“They are in cages. The big one with the woman, he’s keeping her safe. Killed a few that tried to get to her. The other two of your men are being told to fight, but they are fuckin’ up Tommaso’s plan because every time he puts them in the ring he’s built for practice, they kill the men that he throws in against them.”

Rubbing my chin with my thumb, I’m hoping this isn’t going to send Meat over the edge. He’s had more than enough death in his life so far in the service. This is the last thing any of us want for him now.

Looking back at the other man, he gives me a weak grin. “One thinks he’s a fucking Viking and keeps saying that Odin will welcome them to Valhalla.”

I side-eye BS and he’s got a shit-eating grin on his face. We both know that’s Meat and if he’s still doing his role-play shit, then he’s still in control of his PTSD.

“We want to get to our Don. We never deserted our honor or cause. When we got away, we killed six, but Tommaso has new men appearing.” The man looks exhausted, and for some reason, I believe what he’s telling me.

Taking out my phone, I hand it to the man. “Call Vitale, let him know you’re here, and what’s happenin’. But do it now so we can all hear what you’re saying.”

The man nods and quickly makes the call. We listen to him explain to Vitale what’s happened to them, what’s happening at the paper mill, and how they escaped. Passing me the phone, I put it to my ear.

“Axel here.”

Vitale sighs. “I have men around the paper mill, and looking at the setup, your people are underground. We can’t rush in or the fucker will kill them before we can get to them. I think your plan of getting to them at the fight is the best one. I’ll have men at the fight dressed casually and will be ready to take out Esposito’s men. I wanted to save as many as I could, but if they fight my men, we’ll just get rid of them. They’ll be no good to me anymore.”

“Colton is not back yet, but he’s finding out all the details for the fight. He’s fighting along with some of my men. I’ll update you when I know more. Do you want these two back?” I ask, and I can see neither man is showing any sign of worry. They’ve already come to terms with whatever their fate will be.

Specs runs into the office, and seeing me, gives me a nod to follow him out into the hall. Stepping out behind Specs, I look at him questioningly.

“I just got a call from a woman. She’s at the paper mill. She said that our men and a woman are there. They are okay, they are going to be at the fight and fighting. She’s said they are alright at the moment and if she can, she’ll help them get away.” Specs sighs and rubs a hand down his face. “Then I heard someone shouting at her, and they were hitting her. She screamed a couple of times then it went quiet and the phone went dead. I don’t know if she is alright or not.”

“Fuck, these people are just pieces of shit and need wiped out. We got rid of that fuckin’ MC and now we’ve got the mob to deal with.”

Turning when I hear my name called, I see Mav walking over to me. “Pres, I’m going with Colton to take a look at the paper mill. Vitale has some men surrounding the place, BS just told me, so we can warn them we are coming. I’ll speak to Nell if I need to, as she can get a message to Vitale’s men.”

“Speak to some of Vitale’s men, find out what they know, and then get back here. The more information we have, the better. I want to have men on standby on the route from the paper mill to the mall, and if we get an opportunity, take the fuckers out and get our brothers back.”

Mav nods before turning to walk away, and as I turn to re-enter BS’ office, I again hear my name called. This time when I turn, I smile as it’s Mia rushing over to me.

“Axel, Amelia and Bitty are missing. I’ve looked everywhere for them. They’re not here at the clubhouse. Did you send them anywhere?” Mia looks worried and I know she sees all the women here as her ‘girl gang,’ and that includes the three older ladies.

“No, I didn’t send them anywhere. Find Drag or Buzz. Tell them I said to find the two of them before they cause mayhem somewhere they shouldn’t.” Kissing Mia while I have the chance because I love kissing my woman, and love it even more when I take her by surprise.

Walking back into BS’ office, I see him speaking on his phone. I wait until he’s finished and turn his attention to me. “Pres, Vitale is sending a vehicle to pick these two up. He’s wanting to speak to them about Tommaso. I think he’ll want every piece of information he can get his hands on to take out this piece of shit.”

“Okay, take these two in the common room and give them something to drink and eat if they need it. I’m going to see where the fuck Amelia and Bitty have gotten up to.”

Chaos is on his phone talking to someone but has a huge grin on his face. Stitch is standing at the side of him, shaking his head back and forth before running his hand over the back of his neck. I stand and watch them, letting them both see me looking directly at them.

Stitch saunters over, chuckling. “Pres, you’ll never guess.”

Shrugging as I give him a close look because his eyes are twinkling, full of laughter before he continues. “Bitty just called Chaos and told him to send a prospect to pick up her and Amelia from her house. They’ve gone back to Bitty’s. How don’t ask me! Apparently, Bitty’s neighbor can get anything you need, and he’s gotten them tickets for a fight on Friday. These tickets are for the women, ALL the women of the club.”

My eyes fly open, and I turn to look around the common room. Not seeing who I’m looking for, I bellow. “MIA, GET YOUR ASS IN MY OFFICE!”

The women who had been sitting in a corner of the common room all stand and walk past and to my office. Grinning, winking, and laughing as they walk. What. The. Everlovin’. Fuck.

Mia walks out of the kitchen, carrying Hunter in her arms. “What the heck, Axel? Why are you shouting at me? I’ve got enough to do without you shouting and carrying on like a freaking barbarian.”

Passing Hunter to Stitch, who’s standing beside me, Mia walks away, and I follow her into the office, where surprise-surprise, ‘not’, the rest of the women are all crammed.

“What the fuck have you all been up to?” I ask, stepping behind my desk and sitting before folding my arms on the desk, giving them my ‘are you kidding me’ look.

Mia is looking around the room at the women, and it’s pretty obvious whatever they’ve been up to, she wasn’t included. Which makes me happy, but I can see Mia, not so much.

Eden steps forward, followed by Raven. It seems these two are the ring leaders this time. I lift an eyebrow and wait patiently.

Raven speaks first. “We wanted to go to the fight on Friday. They are our brothers too, and Jo is our girl, so we want to be there. We can cause chaos if we need to, but Axel, we are part of the club and, as such, we want to be involved in getting our men back.”

Eden doesn’t give me a chance to reply before she speaks. “You know we can fight, all of us. Meat, Wings, Chaos, and Target have all been teaching us for a long time. We can use weapons and we’re not weak little women. We are an advantage to the club, and we can take them by surprise. Please don’t ban us from going.”

I look from one woman to another and can see they all are in agreement with Raven and Eden’s plea. Giving them a smirk. I throw out my response. “You get your men on board, and I’ll allow it.”

The groan that flows around the room tells me they haven’t spoken to their men and had hoped that I would give them the go-ahead which would, in turn, override any complaints their men may have.

Mia mumbles and gives all the women a dirty look before she walks out of the office. The women all grimace as they realize they’ve upset Mia and, to my amusement, they rush out of the office calling Mia.

Since Shar left and as yet hasn’t returned, Mia has been making deeper connections with the women. This she’ll see as a betrayal. It’s going to be interesting to see how long it takes for them to butter her up and get her back in the fold.

Getting ready to stand from the desk, I look up when Colton walks in after giving a light tap on the door. Mav is behind him and they both have a grin on their faces.

The next forty minutes I spend listening and noting what these two have found out. Nothing much more than I knew already. But the one interesting thing is the woman who called is related to Tommaso, given to him by his cousin as the bastard never wanted a daughter. The woman has been kept alone all her life and is now being used to fetch and carry at the paper mill. She’s one we’ll try to get out when we get our brothers. But I’ll speak to Vitale about her and what he’s going to do about her father.

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