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Deacon Valentine, Deke’s oldest son is as strong as an ox. He’s good with his hands and fists, also a whiz with numbers.
Spencer is good as a strategist too, along with being tough to beat in a fight. He and Deacon often sit down to map out plans and they’re good enough at it they could use all that for evil if they wanted to. And Spence could’ve fought the pro kickboxing circuit. He’s fast and his kicks are practically lethal.
Spencer and Deacon get their smarts from their father, who’s pretty damn good with strategy himself. And with Rider, the apple also doesn’t fall far from the tree.
If something’s broken and there’s a snowball’s chance in hell of fixing it, Rider is the one that can do it. He’s also good at teaching. Brother shares his wisdom freely. And as far as fixing shit as well as problem-solving he can fix nearly anything on the fly with MacGyver creativity. Ride’s good with technology, particularly surveillance. Also, explosives. Like me, he knows his shit when it comes to locking things down tight and finding ways to unlock shit others think seems tight. Rider and I regularly race against the clock and one another to unlock shit and see who’s faster. I’ve skunked him the last two matches. Instead of being a little bitch about it, he’s trying to up the game, welcomes healthy competition.
Also in the technology arena is Pudge, who isn’t just our chaplain, he’s also a computer whiz with hacker skills. You look at the man and he looks like he’s not all there. A conversation with him about anything technical and you’re floored with how smart he is. Guy got into computers back in the day, before people had them in their houses. He got a degree in computer science in the eighties and his shit is tight. I’m not surprised Deke pushed to have him join our charter when he got out.
And though a few of us are very good with weapons, Bronto was taken on as a new recruit last year due to his skills, recommended by Rash in the Sioux Falls charter who’s his cousin. That brother told Deke he needed to be our sharpshooter. Guy could knock a Tic-Tac off the end of your nose with a bullet or an arrow and not leave a mark.
Some of the other guys have decent skills. Connections in the underworld. Checkered pasts that might bring some specialties to the table with respect to weapons, drugs, heist-planning. Some of them are muscle. And some of them are just loyal brothers who will take your back, who will run through machine gun fire shielding any brother or his woman and kids.
As for Skip’s skills, word is that he’s a scrapper, though I haven’t seen him fight. And he’s our road captain. This should mean he’s good with safety, driving skills. Yeah, he can drive a big rig. Word is he used to win big at drag racing. Has a couple muscle cars where he won the pinks back in the day. I’m not convinced he brings all that much to the table. He’s got a big ego and a big mouth. Right now, his gaze wasn’t fixed on me, he was turning it to Scott for the verbal burn and I had a feeling Scott would be takin’ more prospect-style hazing.
“Be responsible with that weapon or you’ll shoot yer eye out, brother,” Rider mocked.
“Jesus,” Deke muttered. “Put the snake away, Scoot. Now, enough of the circle jerk. Those who’ve got shit to do, do it. Everyone else, eyes and ears open until it’s your turn to do the shit you’ve gotta do. Tomorrow’s a big day. Let’s keep our loved ones safe, look out for one another, and stay in contact. We’ll be here again tomorrow. Same time. Chris Forker as well. The finish line is in sight here, boys. Keep sharp.”
He smacked the table with his gavel, and we dispersed. Skip was directly in front of me. And he was intentionally walking slow.
I fought the urge to grab him by the back of the neck and whack his fuckin’ forehead off the table. I cracked my neck and moved out when he got out of my way, following Scott across the lot so we could get into the compound where a few of us would unload the trailer of supplies Skip brought back from Sioux Falls for everything we had planned.
My phone rang, it was Gigi calling, so I stepped aside to take it.
She was just checking in, making sure I was good. It was good to hear her voice, but I told her I was busy with club business and would phone her later.
When I caught up to Scott, away from other ears I said, “You realize Skip’s probably gonna make your life hell after that.”
