He placed his empty glass on the bar. Baylee just didn’t get it because she had two parents who loved each other and were crazy about her. She has no idea how it felt to be around parents who didn’t give a damn about you. So how in the hell could he tell her he was scared of being like them? He was an Insurgent and being afraid wasn’t okay.
“Another one.” He looked behind his shoulder at Brandi who smiled and winked while pouring him a double.
“You better take it easy. We got some serious shit going down tonight,” Jerry said, taking the stool next to his.
“I’m fine.”
“What’s up with you? You’ve been off for the past week.” Jerry brought the beer bottle to his mouth.
“I just got some shit going on at home right now.”
“Yeah me too, but when I got shit going on it’s a double pain in the ass because I gotta always deal with Banger too. Fuck. Every time I say or do something that upsets or pisses Kylie off, she runs to Daddy and tells him. Then Banger gets up my ass. I fuckin’ hate that.”
Axe nodded. “That sucks for sure. Are you sure Kylie’s telling Banger shit, or is he just picking up on it ’cause she’s his daughter?”
Jerry shook his head. “I’m not sure if she tells him all the time, but he fuckin’ knows it. Either way, it’s a pain in the royal ass.”
“What’s the problem you got going on now?” Axe asked.
“I’m pissed that Kylie’s in grad school. She didn’t even ask me how I felt about her going on with her studies. I missed her like hell this past semester so she said she’d do the classes online so we could be together. Now she’s basically telling me she can’t do much for the next four months. And I think she’s gonna go to summer school. It sucks.”
“What’s she studying?”
“Something in education. She wants to work with kids that have problems. I don’t even know why she had to go to grad school. She doesn’t need it because we want a family and she’ll be home with the kids, so what’s the point of it all? I wanna get going on starting our family soon.”
Axe leaned back against the bar. “Maybe she doesn’t want a family just yet. Just because you do doesn’t mean she wants it to. Maybe she wants some time before she gets saddled down. Kids change everything.” He drained his glass.
For a few seconds Jerry didn’t say anything, and then he nodded. “That’s right. You’re gonna be a dad. Why the fuck didn’t you tell any of us? Kylie told me.”
Staring straight ahead, he shrugged. “Didn’t really think about it, and I don’t want to talk about it.” Jerry gave him a funny face, and Axe stood up, his head jerking to the front door. “Hawk’s telling us to come over. It’s time for us to fuck up some assholes real bad.” He sauntered to the door with Jerry following behind.
Once outside, he and Jerry joined the other men huddling near the cars. The wind was bitter as it sliced through Axe, and he zipped up his leather jacket and stomped his feet on the frozen ground. Cruiser handed him a joint, and he cupped his hands and lit it, capturing the frosty air as he inhaled deeply.
“Rock and Tiny have been surveying the compound for the past couple of days. As they tell it, the fuckers are cocky as hell and don’t have anyone standing guard,” Hawk said.
“That’s ’cause they don’t think we know it’s them. They did a good job making the network think it was bikers.” Banger took the joint Cruiser handed him.
“The way we see it, they got only eight people max staying at the farm. They don’t have anyone watching the warehouses. We figured a couple of them are for growing weed, a smaller one looks like a meth lab, and the rest are for storing dope and guns,” Tiny said. The six foot three man built of muscle and grit made citizens move out of his way when he walked the streets of Pinewood Springs. With tats covering every inch of his arms and most of his chest and back, he was an imposing figure, and the average citizen who heard his road name didn’t dare snigger or ask where it’d come from.
“Any women or kids at the compound?” Hawk asked.
“Not that we saw,” Tiny answered.
“They got cameras watching the shit, but Blade’s gonna take care of that when I give him the signal,” Rock said.
“You gonna tell us where you want us to be? I was looking at the layout of the area again before I came, and it seems if we can cover it on all four sides, we’ll be good, especially since no one’s at the warehouses,” Throttle said.
“And it being ten fuckin’ degrees out helps us. I’m sure the lazy motherfuckers will all be inside warming their asses,” Helm added.
Chas chuckled. “We’ll warm them even more when we blow the fuck outta them.” The brothers laughed, their breaths rising above them and mingling with the night air.
“Hawk, Bear, Wheelie, Axe, and me will go in to have a talk with the assholes. The rest of you will follow Rock’s direction on where to be. Split up into two groups with Tiny heading one and Rock the other. If you hear shooting inside, you’ll know to attack. Let’s head out.” Banger opened the door on a black SUV and several brothers jumped inside the vehicle. The club had several dark-colored Chevy Tahoes and Ford pickups and used them in covert operations.
Axe slid over to make room for Jerry, Throttle, and Wheelie. Hawk looked over his shoulder. “Is everyone in?”
“Yeah,” Rock replied.
Hawk backed out and followed Banger out of the parking lot. Conversation was minimal which was normal before a hit. Preparing the mind and eliminating all thoughts and feelings were essential in confronting whatever lay ahead. Each time the Insurgents went out on a mission, it could be one of the brothers’ last time. Life and death were interwoven, and in the violent outlaw world, death was omnipresent. In the honor-obsessed outlaw biker world, disrespect took on a life-or-death significance, and the result was usually death to the offenders. The Insurgents were highly skilled warmongers, plotting, surveilling, and studying rivals. They learned where they lived, worked, and played, and then they’d silently enter their world and destroy them.
After a half hour, the vehicles slowed down and killed the headlights. They went off the road and drove a small distance before the engines turned off. The night was dark. The Insurgents used the darkness to shield them on one of their missions. Since Chad Bridgewater’s residence was outside of town, there were no streetlights, and the closest neighbor was a good quarter of a mile away.
The snow crunched under the men’s boots as they walked toward the farmhouse. In the distance, the howls of wolves and coyotes pierced the night air, and the wind whistled through the pine and evergreens. The faint pattering of small animals through the brush made several of the brothers whip out their guns. When they realized it was wild rabbits, foxes, and rodents, a hushed chuckle cracked the tension and they put away their Glocks and continued on their way. Axe glanced upward: stars glittered through the gaps in the trees.