DAMON
By the time I arrived back at our makeshift clubhouse the boys were in full swing. Lounging around in the back, playing pool. ACDC blared from the sound system as some of the brothers sparred in the gym out back. Ty and Madz were out by the grill cooking up a feast, and seeing that I knew it wouldn’t be long before the pussy showed up. Not that I’d be taking liberties, there was only one person I wanted to be with, and she was currently MIA.
“Yo Madz, church in ten tell the rest.” I yelled out to Madden as I walked past into the main building of the garage. The smell of steak made my stomach growl. Leaving tomorrow meant I needed to get my house into order. With both Madz and I gone the running of the club fell onto Ty’s shoulders.
Shutting the door to the office behind me, I let out the sigh I’d been holding back since I left the Lennox’ compound. Thankful that I had at least achieved part of what I went there for, the second half I’d have to wait for, but hopefully Stryker would convince his father that it was a win-win for both of us. It’s not like we weren’t connected anyways, and once my Princess was back, we would have a stronger connection because there was no way I’d be letting her out of my sight again.
Picking up the mail from the top of the filing cabinet, I took a seat at my desk. Bills, invoices and statements; the necessary evil that comes with adulting and running a legitimate business. After the meeting I’d speak with Jonah about taking over the accounts sooner than planned. The guy was a wiz with numbers and with him doing a finance degree, it was a no brainer.
My club was new, but we had already built up a reputation as the go to guys if you needed something done, and that was something I wanted to ensure we upheld, although we hadn’t been involved in anything too sinister by most standards, we were feared by most and I intended to keep it that way, I wanted people to know they could come to us if there was something that couldn’t be accomplished using the traditional methods.
A few minutes later, the guys started to file into my office, one by one they took up their usual posts around the room. Madz in the seat opposite me, Ty next to him, a couple lent up against the back wall and another two against the filing cabinet. When they were all in I motioned for the door to be closed.
“We have a few things to discuss tonight and a vote that needs to be taken.,” Getting down to business straight away, I opened the meeting. Turning to Ty, I continued. “First thing, I want to know how the renovations and building are going up by the lake.”
“The demolition is complete, that bunker is gone, although I thought it best to convert the cells closest to the club house to storage and a cool-room.” Ty paused a minute, I guess to gauge my reaction. I wasn’t thrilled about that, that place had been where Phoenix had been kept and while I could see where he was coming from I’d rather they were all blown to smithereens. “Before you arc up Damon, the ones I converted were further down nowhere near the other rooms you wanted gone and can only be accessed via the cool-room, and with the cool-room we can store the beer and that down there. It will be directly underneath the bar area anyway so it will make it easier to rig up the taps.”
“I trust you on your decision Ty, just a heads up would have been nice but I get it.” I acknowledged his reasons, they were valid, the added storage would mean we could hide our inventory without it ever being detected and would mean we could have a fully functioning private bar. “What's the ETA for completion?”
“It should be finished within the next two weeks, I’ve made sure that there are enough rooms for every member to have a place to crash, we have a gym, you have an office and there is a meeting room. I have a security room I guess that can double up as a tech room from the prospect, and the stone fencing should be going up this week.” Ty went through all the other details with us before he handed the floor back to me. When the Ducanes fled, their old lake house property went up for sale, so the Scorpions bought it.
“That’s great news,” complimenting his thoroughness, it was why he was our first lieutenant, the guy had an eye for detail that the rest of us didn’t have. “Ax, Gunner you two coordinate with Ty, start moving the club shit out of here when he gives you the go ahead.”
“Got it Prez,” Axle answered me, the guy was one of my best runners, built like a bodybuilder, it was no wonder the club whores circled him every time they were invited in. “You give much thought to the idea of opening a bar in the building out back after we move to the new clubhouse?”
“I have someone looking into the viability, it depends on the chances of getting all the correct licenses and paperwork in order, but that brings me to the next point of call. I had a meeting today with the head of the Lennox family,” This little tidbit perked everyone's interest. They had been pushing for a partnership ever since we got involved with rescuing Phoenix, hopefully what I told them now would help answer any more of their questions. “Tomorrow morning Madz and I will be rolling out on a job, we shouldn’t be gone for longer than two weeks, three weeks tops. If all goes to plan it could mean the establishment of a great working relationship.”
“Who's gonna be running the ship while you're gone?” Knuckles enquired, he was one of my enforcers. He was the deadly silent type, but when he spoke you listened. The guy was both brawn and brains, a deadly combination and one we relied on. Pointing to Madz. “I mean that jackass was okay at running the club but he couldn’t do both. Sorry man.”
“Don’t be Knuckles, it’s true one can’t do it by themselves,” Madden agreed with Knuckles, turning to me and gestured around the room. “You have help doing both Damon, myself and Ty, if we’re both going then maybe you should split the responsibilities between the guys.”
“That’s a fair point, and that's what we need to vote on. I will be putting Ty in charge of the MC and Gearhead here in charge of the shop. In addition to this I want to put Twinkle Toes in charge of the accounts side of things.” I informed them of my plan, and let it soak in for a short minute, when no one objected I continued. “Should the prospect handle this job along with one other job the Lennox’s want done, I believe he would have fulfilled the requirements for membership.”
“Okay but what’s the job the Lennnox’s want him to do?” Madden is the one to ask the question I could see burning on the tip of everyone else's tongues.
The atmosphere within the room was ripe with curiosity, unlike most MC’s my initiation tasks didn’t involve murders, they were set dependant on the individuals skills. Jonah’s future here would be dependent on successfully taking down the Lords of Salem.
“He has been tasked with clearing out the Lord’s of Salem’s finances. It will be a fifty-fifty split with the Lennox’s,” I filled in the blanks for them, well aware that some would not be happy with the split percentage, but would have to understand that it was a sweetener and look at the bigger picture. Reaching over to my side I picked up the gavel that sat in the drawer to the left of me. “So brothers should we vote?”
“All in favor of patching the prospect if he is successful raise your hand?” Madden called the vote, and one by one the room collectively raised their hands.
Bringing down the gavel, I called an end to the vote, and moved on to the last point of business. “Axle, what's the word on the next shipment?”
“My contacts down at the dock have indicated that the cargo will be arriving on Tuesday night, the guards change over is set for eleven pm, they’ll be having a meeting around the same time that should last an hour,” Axle informed me, fishing out the delivery schedule from his back pocket. “The container will be on pier four, the contact will switch the camera’s off around the change over time. We'll have forty minutes to get in and get out.”
“Okay, I want you to take Knuckles with you and three other members you trust, take the van, get in and get out.” I gave the orders, we needed these weapons delivered safely for our next drop. “You know where to take them to store. That's it boys, why don’t you go out and join the rest of the crew. I’ll be out in a few just have some paperwork to do.”