Page 30 of Entranced With the Hellhound

The music is still loudly playing, and from the outside you would think the party is still going. But we have protocols for this type of shit. If gunshots are fired at the gate, then the clubhouse automatically goes on lockdown.

This building has been renovated and updated with the newest technology. Hell, some of the shit we have for security ain’t even on the market. But with money like ours, and brothers like Wire on our team, anything is possible.

I should’ve been on higher alert when Brick didn’t return any of my messages. It may have been for good reason, but I feel like him being missing and us being shot at tonight isn’t a coincidence.

“What’s the word?” I ask Green, who is standing in for Stone since he’s on the road with Rock.

“Spider reported suspicious cars being picked up by the cameras about five miles out. I told him to lock the gate and get in position. Two minutes later, there were shots fired.”

“Did we get a view of who it was?” I asked, walking to the front.

“The night vision cameras might’ve picked up something. The spikes at the gate took out one of their cars; it’s still there. They bailed out, though. Spider hit a few before his ass did as he was told, and took cover.”

I nod. We will go check out the car and then watch the video. The way they tried to hit us during a party makes me suspicious that it was someone who knows a little something about us. Too bad for them that we updated all our security measures after being betrayed so many times.

Knowing the women are secure in the safe room, I send a few prospects to the basement control room to watch the cameras and guard them. If the fuckers who tried to ram the gate are still there, I don’t want to take a chance of them getting inside and hurting our women.

I bark orders to the brothers so we can secure the clubhouse and find out what the fuck is going on. I send Black, Country, and Mix to check the perimeter while Green, Crush, and I go to the front gate. As soon as the gate was hit, an alert was sent to Rock. I will call him when we finish checking everything.

I know Rock, Stone, and Tree were already headed back from New Mexico, so they should be here in no time. It just pisses me off that all this shit is going down while I was laid up with my woman. I couldn’t even finish enjoying our night because it’s always fucking something.

“Spider!” I holler when we get to the gate.

Spider comes out of the gate house with two prospects behind him. They’re all sweating with wide eyes full of adrenaline. These are young guys who haven’t been a part of the Hounds for long, so I understand. We haven’t had an incident of this magnitude in years.

“Hey, V.P., we held the gate. Those motherfuckers didn’t stand a chance!” Spider rushes out excitedly.

“Proud of you, brother. Y’all alright? Nobody is hit, are they?” I question, taking a closer look at the guys.

“Nah. We’re good. I did get one of those bastards right in the chest, though. He ain’t makin’ it, I can guarantee you that,” one of the prospects says.

I nod. “Good, one less motherfucker to worry about. Did they say anything?”

“Yeah, they were screaming VFC or some shit. They was also speaking in Spanish, so I don’t know what the fuck they was talkin’ about.”

“Why would the Vasquez Family Cartel be trying to hit us?” Green questions.

I run my hands through my hair, tugging at the strands before letting out a deep exhale. If it was the Vasquez cartel trying to take us out, Parson was right about them being the new players in town. Maybe they are trying to take out the competition.

“We need to get prepared for war. No matter who just started this shit, we need to finish it,” I respond.

I have a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. The type of gut feeling that you don’t ignore. That I’ve never ignored. If the cartel just came to shoot up our clubhouse, why the hell did Brick not get word to me?

“Country!” I holler. “Get the brothers. Church is in session in an hour. We’re on lockdown; make sure all the family is here and knows. Women and children too.”

Once all of the brothers are at the clubhouse, we go over everything we’ve found out. Wire has been working furiously to clean up the footage and track down where the cars may have originally come from.

Of course, all of the VIN numbers had been removed from the car that was abandoned at the gate. But we’re hoping that something was left behind. Country has been searching through the car with a fine-tooth comb since I called church two hours ago.

Hopefully, he’ll report back soon with something helpful. I don’t want to hit Brick up just yet because that could put him in a precarious position, but I’m worried. He’s a professional, and he’s been doing this for a long time, but in the past he’s always been two steps ahead of whatever organization he was working for.

Brick has always given me a heads-up when something this big was about to go down. I trust him with my life, and he would have told me if we were in danger of getting hit tonight. It’s a lot of shit not adding up.

“Alright Wire, what cha got?” I ask, and everybody quiets down.

Wire enlarges grainy pictures of men wearing all black with masks on. They are covered from head to toe, without an inch of skin showing; they could be anybody. We watch in silence as the cars make their way down the long dirt road and stop, lighting up our gate and what used to be our weak spots.

“You noticed something, V.P.?” Black asks, watching me closely.