Page 43 of Cannon

Tanner appears and gently takes the weapon from her, I think before she finishes the job. Jamie steps forward and starts barking orders for what she needs to deal with the injury. The brothers and officers stop treating it as a brawl and start restraining the troublemakers. Pres starts shouting orders, and I put a call to the prospects to bring a couple of our vans to the rear of the club. We will want to talk to these assholes before any of them are released, if indeed they are.

Holding Barbara close, I see she is unharmed and, if I’m honest, doesn’t seem put out by all that has just gone down. She steps away from me and goes to Allegra, who is still shaking with anger and watching Jamie work on her attacker.

“You focking bastaard. You piece of shit in man’s clothing. I hope you live, get a massive infection and die slowly.” She spits on him, narrowly missing Jamie.

“Barbara, can you take her to the bar and maybe get her a drink or something to calm her down? I think she’s in shock,” Jamie asks, very politely.

“I am only shocked I didn’t kill the son of a puttana! I will not fail the next time.” Allegra turns to Barbara, smiles as sweet as can be, and says, “Come, sister of mine. We shall drink and forget my misfortune and poor aim. Where is your other sister? She must join us, and we shall drink to our fabulous sisterhood.” Dragging Barbara to the bar she sees Pattie and refuses to take no for an answer when she tries to politely refuse joining them for a drink. Fury steps forward and suggests that her skills in customer service would be better spent with Allegra than with clearing up the mess in the bar.

Tanner tucks the gun into his waistband at his spine and looks around for Bill, who is just standing up from where he landed when he was blindsided at the start of all this.

Pres is still berating Breaker and Griller as they walk out the rear to go back to the clubhouse and interrogate our guests.

Mateo is stroking the head of the furry missile that took down the guy who said something that seriously pissed Spirit off.

Marcia and Bri are still at the table, drinking champagne as if nothing has happened. Another woman sitting with them looks around the room and attracts a server, asking for more bottles to be brought over. Looking closer, I see it is Anya. I didn’t recognize her. I’m also surprised that one of the club women has been allowed to join the old ladies on an outing.

Vortex appears at my elbow and sees where I’m looking. “She’s not a clubwoman anymore. She quit and Pres has taken her on as a cook. The brothers will be officially told to leave her well alone at the next church, in the meantime, Pres sent a text to all.”

“What the fuck just happened, Vortex?” I look at him almost bewildered.

“I’d say that Ghost and Hellion have done a fucking fantastic job of showing our women how to look after themselves. Don’t you think? Your Barbara didn’t put a hair out of place or smudge her make-up. As for that Italian woman. Well. What is there to say? She was out of this world.” The appreciation in his voice does not go unnoticed.

“You know she’s as good as my sister, don’t you?” I point this out and see what comes of it.

“You’re just jealous because Barbara has more sisters than you do. Anyway, I’m going to have a drink and stay here for a while.”

“Not going back to the clubhouse just yet?” I ask him surprised that he’s going to hang out here.

“Somebody will have to get Allegra home safe, might as well be me. Also, I am not going anywhere near Pres until he calms down. I don’t give out much hope for Breaker or Griller for the next few weeks. They are going to get every shit job he can think of for stopping him getting his hands dirty.”

We laugh long and hard at that, because Pres has a long memory and holds a grudge like no one I know.

Chapter 27

*~* Whack *~*

Staring at two of the men in the shed, I am so angry I can’t put words to it. I could torture them myself, but that wouldn’t send a very good message. They knew exactly what they were doing, and they are going to feel my wrath and suffer the consequences.

Breaker and Griller! Just standing there, smirking for all they are worth. Assholes. I can’t think of a single punishment right now that fits their crime. Oh, I know all about defending their president and all that shit. They knew I wanted to get my hands on someone, anyone, at the bar when it all kicked off, but oh no. They had to stop me at every turn while they had all the fun. Well, they won’t like it when I have my fun at their expense.

As for Stephan’s goons from the bar, because that's who they are, they sang like canaries after only a few punches. Not as satisfying when they are all trussed up, but I got to vent a little of my anger, at least.

Stephan’s empire isn’t enough for him, apparently. He has his drugs, his prostitution and his human trafficking, but he is spending his ill-gotten gains faster than he is accumulating them. He is also drawing negative attention from some of his ‘business acquaintances.’ If he gets himself noticed by the wrong people, and he undoubtedly will, he may lose more than his empire.

Protection and liquor supply, his two new ventures, according to this motley crew. If this is all he can afford, I’d be surprised if he could offer protection to a kindergarten class. He is stepping up his recruitment but doesn’t want to pay the going rate for qualified professionals. That’s all good for us. If we are going to make a move on his ranch, and we are definitely going to do that, it looks like there won’t be any serious resistance.

Now what to do with these useless goons. There are too many to kill off and dispose of, and too many to keep here for a few days. A thought pops into my head. When I took the club out of the gutter, I gave all our illegal gun-running operation to Grazer, the president of the Dark Demonic Demons MC. He still owes me for that favor. He can come and take these scumbags off my hands. It doesn’t matter to me what he does with them either.

Suddenly grinning at my own brilliance has a detrimental effect on two of the goons as they piss themselves. Yuk. How does Stephan ever expect to become a force to be reckoned with in underworld circles if this is what he’s got for troops?

Marching back to my office, I tell the terrible twins to go find someone else to bother. I swear to God, if I have to keep looking at their stupid, grinning, smirking, ugly mugs for one more minute, I’ll punch their lights out.

Sitting in my office, I look in my drawer at the bottle of bourbon I keep there. No, dammit, it’s too early and I’m not going to be driven to drink by those two either. Calling out to Bull, he appears in the office in seconds, complete with a laptop.

“Yes, Pres?”

“I want everything you have on Stephan’s ranch. I want to put an assault plan in place.” I look at him as he takes a few sheets of paper that were hidden under the laptop and passes them to me.