Heavy Duty People: The Brethren MC Trilogy book 1 (30 page)

*

I felt as though I was riding like a dark angel of vengeance as I headed up over the moors, the thunder of the bike rolling behind me and the darkening skies following me, the thrum of the engine and the road vibrating through my hands, the gloom of the fading moorland reflecting dully in the chrome of the engine, contrasting with the matt darkness of my boots, faded jeans, scuffed leathers, cut off, and my matt black painted open-faced helmet.

Everyone was always at th
e clubhouse for Prayers on Monday evenings of course, and for parties, but plenty of us used it other times as well. There was always a striker on duty, for security, but most evenings, and plenty of days too, you’d find some or other of the guys hanging around, playing pool, spannering on bikes or just chewing the fat over a beer in the bar. I tended to look in a couple of times a week, it depended how the week was going, what Sharon was up to and whether she fancied a ride out. So when I pitched up at around eight that evening I slipped into the bar just like normal. I was deliberately early and I settled in for what I knew might be a long wait but I didn’t want to stand any chance of missing Dazza when he arrived.

He and his crew turned up
an hour or so later in a rattling convoy as an old Landie like Billy had described and an anonymous white Transit parked up outside the clubhouse. Well they weren’t on until much later I guessed so there was no need for them to be early.

I had picked a corner in the bar where I could see through to the back of
Fat Mick who was monitoring the CCTV and the main door next to him so I had a good surreptitious view of everyone who came in that evening. Dazza was first through the door, closely followed by Spud. They must have come together in the Landie I reckoned. Then the guys from the crew van followed them in, Doggie and Bagpuss from Newcastle and Scottie from the late lamented Butcher’s crew over on Wearside. Dazza’s inner circle.

We were in business. I was sure of it.

Dazza glad-handed a few people. He looked relaxed, well he could afford to be. He had plenty of time, he was on safe ground, he had his guys around him and in a few hours time he was going to see the culmination of all his planning, with the first successful delivery of his gear from Luis.

Dazza
could feel he was on the brink of the big time.

‘
Hey Damage!’ he called as he walked into the bar over the sound of
Freebird
on the juke box, ‘what brings you out here in the middle of the week?’

‘
Hey Dazza!’ I could ask you the same question I thought, but I’d better not.

‘
Shouldn’t you be at home shagging that tasty bird of yours? I would be if I was you.’

‘
Yeah maybe. But I have to give it a rest sometime you know.’

Dazza
laughed. ‘That’s a good one. Well if you ever need a hand I’m sure the guys’ll be glad to help out.’

‘
What?’ asked Spud appearing next to him with a couple of opened bottles, one of which he handed to Dazza, ‘what Damage’s bird? Yeah she’s fit. Be glad to.’

Reversing my hold on my bottle so I could swing it at him like a club I jumped to my feet and
with my free hand grabbed Spud. With our history I could take a joke like that from Dazza. But I was fucked if I was going to take something like that from a little wanker like Spud, Dazza’s pet or not. He was a short arse and I towered above him so I bent my head to speak straight into his face.

‘
You ever even think anything like that ever again and I’ll break every fucking bone in your body!’

‘
Oooh touchy!’

‘
Leave it Spud, I mean it!’

‘
C’mon Spud,’ Dazza intervened, ‘stop winding Damage up and go and start getting the shit organised.’

‘
OK Boss,’ said Spud as we eye fucked each other, ‘just as soon as Damage here lets go.’

I dropped my hold on him.
‘There you go Spud, run along now.’

‘
Oi!’ said Dazza, ‘You know the rules. Either take it outside or leave it out and that means both of you. Got it Damage?’

‘
Yeah I’ve got it.’

‘
Well then.’

‘
OK,’ I said, settling back into my seat as Spud, still glaring at me, turned to find Bagpuss and disappear out of the door.

Dazza
pulled up a chair and slid into it opposite me.

‘
You OK?’ he asked quietly.

‘
Yeah I’m fine.’

‘
So what was that about? ’Snot like you?’

‘
Oh nothing. He just gets on my tits that’s all.’

‘
Who, Spud? I wouldn’t worry about him,’ Dazza said expansively, ‘don’t let him get to you mate. He’s just muscle that’s all. Like I always said, you’re one of the ones with the brains.’

I smiled.

‘Don’t get me wrong,’ Dazza continued, ‘he’s got his uses has Spud. But really, you and I both know he couldn’t think his way out of a paper bag.’

He took a draw on his beer and looked around.
‘Who’s in tonight?’

‘
Not many. Fat Mick’s on cameras, Andy and Porky are through next door playing pool, apart from them it’s just the guys in here,’ I said nodding across the room where Little Matt and Prof were shooting the breeze with Pete who was on duty behind the bar.

‘
No one upstairs?

‘
Not that I know of. Hey Pete,’ I yelled to make myself heard over Lynyrd Skynyrd, ‘anyone upstairs?’

‘
Nah. No one’s been up since I’ve been here.’

‘
When was that?’

‘
About six or so.’

‘
Thanks,’ said Dazza.

‘
Why d’you ask?’

‘
Oh nothing much. It’s just I’m going to need the clubhouse later tonight that’s all.’

Need it empty was what he meant of course.

‘Business?’

‘
Business,’ he confirmed.

By half ten or so he
’d moved the guys out so it was just him, Spud and Scottie, Fat Mick and me still sitting with Dazza in the bar; Bagpuss and Doggie had disappeared half an hour earlier on foot down the track, I guess they had been sent off down to the mine.

And then from the hallway I heard
Spud telling Fat Mick to get lost.

‘
But I’m on cameras!’ he protested.

‘
Not now you’re not. I’m taking over this evening, so take a hike.’

‘
OK,’ he said, ‘if you’re sure.’

So then there was one. Me.

A few minutes later Bagpuss and Doggie were back. A bit out of breath and flustered they held a whispered conversation with Dazza which brought a sharp ‘Shit!’ and ‘You’re sure?’

‘
Problem?’ I asked.

‘
No,’ he said without turning round, ‘nothing to worry about.’

Dazza
thought it over for a moment or two and considered his options. ‘Well it is what it is I guess,’ he said.

Bagpuss whispered a suggestion in
Dazza’s ear, I guess he was suggesting that they get tooled up from some other source but Dazza dismissed it with a crisp, ‘No, we ain’t got the time.’

‘
And anyway,’ he continued, ‘we shouldn’t need it. No we’ll go as we are. We’ll just need to be extra careful that’s all.’

‘
Hey Damage, he said turning to me, ‘slight change of plan. I might need you to give a hand with security tonight. Is that OK?’

‘
Sure,’ I said nonchalantly, ‘whatever you need mate. You know that.’

‘
Thanks Damage, that’s great.’

And with that the stage was set.

We had planned to hit them either at the clubhouse or as they went for the drop. Popeye and his lads had approached over the fields, Gut and his guys up the track from the road. It was now just a case of when and how.

Dazza
didn’t fill me in on what he had going on. I wouldn’t have expected him to, the less I knew the better for both of us.

‘
So what d’you want me to do?’

‘
I need you to team up with Spud.’

‘
Spud?’

‘
Yes. He’s on security. Can you do that?’

‘
Well…’

‘
This is business, Damage. I need you to leave your beefs with him out of this. D’you understand me?’

‘
Yeah I get it. You don’t have to worry about me.’

‘
Good man, Damage. I knew I could rely on you.’

So I went and sat in the hallway where
Spud and I watched the cameras in uncompanionable silence. And then we waited. Eleven came and went.

At about h
alf past Dazza came through and quietly announced, ‘Right then lads, it’s time we got organised.’

‘
D’you want us to check outside?’ I asked, seeing a chance.

‘
Wouldn’t hurt I suppose,’ he said, ‘yeah why not?’

‘
Come on then, Spud,’ I said standing up and grinning at the fact that a trip out into the cold night air obviously wasn’t something that Spud fancied, but at the same time wasn’t something that he could now refuse, ‘grab us a couple of torches.’

Outside with
Spud I walked past my bike. As we did so I slipped my hand into the unlocked saddle bag thrown over the rear fender on the side away from the clubhouse entrance, my fingers feeling under the jacket dumped in there for the notched touch of the pistol’s grip. Unseen in the darkness I pulled out the long shape of the silenced weapon and, my arm hanging loosely by my side, I walked on after Spud around the end of the buildings and out of sight of the main CCTV cameras covering the yard and the door. There was one up on the end of the lower barn that faced down the track towards the road but being high it had quite a large blind spot just in the shadow of the building.

Spud
had stopped to look down the track and was just starting to moan about how there was no one there and it was freezing and why didn’t we get back inside before he froze his nuts off when I stuck the end of the silencer to the back of his head and cocked the gun. That froze the little wanker in his tracks alright.

‘
Don’t move a muscle you fucker or I swear to you I’ll plug you right now,’ I whispered into his ear as with my free hand I flashed the torch once, ‘get on the ground face down and put your arms behind you.’

Seconds later
Popeye appeared out of the darkness.

‘
We’re on security,’ I hissed as Popeye whipped out a roll of gaffa tape and kneeling down across the small of Spud’s back swiftly gagged him before beginning to secure his arms. ‘Take him down. I’ll tell them he’s on patrol.’

Popeye was working quickly. Now he was binding
Spud’s ankles with tape as well.

‘
I’ll get back inside.’

‘
OK, go!’

Take it outside
Dazza had said. Well it had been my pleasure I thought, as I turned away.

Stepping back into the light of the courtyard there
was one more thing I needed to do before I headed inside, so I opened the door to the outhouse.

‘
Where’s Spud?’ Dazza asked, as I shut the door behind me.

‘
He’s taking a walk around to check the place out. He’ll be back in a few minutes.’

‘
Bugger. I want to get started upstairs.’

‘
Well why don’t you get on if you want to?’ I said, standing by the desk with the monitors, the long cold shape of the gun with its silencer pressing into the small of my back where I had stuffed it into the waistband of my jeans. ‘I can watch the cameras till he gets back.’

‘
Yeah, OK then. We’ll do that.’

Dazza
and his crew assembled upstairs. As soon as I head the last clump of boots heading down the landing I turned out the hallway light, and slipping open the front door’s latch, I flashed my torch twice in quick succession towards the corner of the barn where I knew Popeye would be waiting.

As an ex-marine,
Popeye had naturally tended to attract other ex-service guys into his cohort. So he and some of his guys formed the assault and clean-up team. At my signal he came scurrying across the yard carrying a sledgehammer, followed by three figures. They were all dressed in dark coloured boiler suits, boots and black balaclavas, their hands and exposed bits of faces blackened with cammo paint. Popeye and the first two of them had pistols drawn as being better for close up work, the backup guy had an AK47 for firepower if needed. Gut and a couple of his lads meanwhile were acting as security, parked at the foot of the drive to make sure no one got in or out, and were then going to be transport for the drop.