Python: Soldiers Of Hades MC, #2

Python went to the main room and directly to the bar. He grabbed a beer and chugged it down without even breathing. Then he threw the glass bottle against the wall behind the bar. He roared with his rage.

Everyone in the room just stared at him. No one dared say a word right now. They hadn’t seen Python this mad in years but the older members remembered this rage very well.

Cobra sat there for a moment then got to his feet and approached his dad. He stopped a ways away from his dad and called out softly, “Pops.”

Python stiffened and turned toward his son. “Before you say a fucking word, I caution you not to. Do not say a word against your mother right now, or I might do something we’ll both regret.” Then he turned to one of his oldest friends in the MC. “Edge, I want you to go get that bastard Mike Wheeler and drag his sorry ass here if you have to. I need to ask him something and he’d better not lie to me or I will kill the fucker.”

Edge got up and walked out of the clubhouse. Within an hour, he came back, dragging another man in by the collar of his shirt. He sat the man down and Mike looked up at Python. He was overweight and sweating up a storm. He saw the rage in the other man’s eyes and the sweat began to pour out of him. “What can I do for you Python?” he whined.

“How old are you Mike?” Python asked casually.

“Why do you want to know?” Mike whispered.

“I figure you’re about sixty, is that right?” Python began stalking toward him.

Mike sat back in his chair and nodded, as his eyes rounded. “Yeah, that’s close enough. What’s this all about?”

“Do you remember that day thirty some years ago when Peggy Sue came into your store to buy a gallon of milk? She said four men followed her inside and when she reached the back of the store, one of the bastards hit her, knocking her out. Do you remember that day?”

“No I don’t remember her being there,” Mike whined.

The tone in his voice told everyone in the room… he was lying.

“Oh, I think you remember that day.” Python got closer to him. “I think you remember it very well. They would have had to walk right past you on the way in and on the way out. When you saw she was out for the count, why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you call us and tell us what happened? Why did you lie to us?” His words were loud and filled with rage when he stopped right in front of Mike.

Mike was visibly shaking when Python stood in front of him. He could see the other man’s hands were clenched into huge fists and he feared for his life. “I couldn’t tell you. They told me if I did, they would come back and gut me like a fish.”

“What the fuck?” Cobra growled at the whiney man. “You just stood there and let them take her? You didn’t try to stop them? Why? Why would you do that?”

“Because I owed them okay?” Mike almost screamed. “I owed them for the drugs I was on. You don’t bite the hand that feeds you. I had to keep my mouth shut because I knew those men and I knew if I said anything, they would came back and kill me!” He shook his head. “I didn’t want to die.”

“So you just stood there and let them take my mother.” Cobra growled. “You never told us in all this time. You let us believe she walked out on all of us. I should kill you for that.”

Mike all but shrank in his chair. Tears ran down his checked as he faced the two men. “I was a weak man and I was hooked at the time. I had my own problems back then and still do today. I always liked your mom but if I tried to stop them that day those bastards would have killed me. I’m not sure what happened to your mom but I pray she didn’t live long with them. I prayed her life ended quickly and after they took her, there wasn’t any reason for me to say anything about it.”

Cobra took another step toward him but Python held him back. He held out his hand and pushed his son back a step then he turned to Mike. “You still hooked on that poison?”

Mike nodded. “I’ve tried so many times to stop but they keep bringing it to me and like I said, I’m a weak man. Sometimes, I sell it for them too.”

Python leaned in and whispered loudly in Mike’s ear, “You know what they did to her after they took her? They hit her with a fucking crowbar and fractured her skull. Then they chained her to a wall and nearly whipped her to death. They hit her with a board studded with nails on her feet. Left her without any food or water in a god damned filthy jail cell! Then when she wouldn’t die fast enough for them, they took her out to the scrubs and threw her into a damned ditch. She laid there in the hot sun for a day and a half before anyone found her. She hadn’t had any water for four days by then. Do you know what the human body does when it doesn’t get water for days? Maybe we should show you what happens. Maybe we should beat the hell out of you, throw you into a ditch and leave you for a fucking day and a half.”

Mike slid off the chair and landed on his knees. He began puking but it was nothing but dry heaves. He did however, leave a puddle of his own piss on his clothes and on the floor.

Python wanted to kill him so bad but he wouldn’t. He looked at his men. “Get this piece of trash out of my site. Put him in a cell and lock him up good. Take his belt, his shoes, and shoelaces, so he can’t hurt himself.”

Python went back over to the bar and ignored Mike’s wails as they dragged him down to the cells. Grabbing another beer, he sipped it slowly as he began to think about a plan to handle the cartel. He knew he wouldn’t have a whole lot of time.

One by one, his men came forward and waited for him to tell them what his plans were.

Even Cobra was there waiting.

Python reached for another beer and handed it to his son. Without looking at his son he said, “I need you with me on this but first I need to know if you can set aside your hatred for your mother. If you can’t, then you need to leave.”

“I got one question before I answer that.” Cobra growled. “Is what you told Mike the truth of what happened?”

“Yes, it is,” Python told him without any hesitation at all.

“Her own words or do you have other proof?” Cobra dared to ask.

“I believe her words but if you need proof, read this letter.” Python growled. “Read it and then get out. If I can’t count on you, then you need to leave. I know that woman in there. I love her and that’s all I need to know. I should have trusted in that love all these years but that’s my bad. I hope I can ask for her forgiveness one day but until I can, I will protect her, even from you.”

Cobra picked up the letter and crushed it in his hands. “I don’t need to read this.” He looked over at his dad and asked, “Why was she so afraid of me?”

“Luis Brago told her he killed you in revenge for us killing his son in that fire.” Python shook his head. “When she saw you, she thought you were a ghost sent to haunt her.”

“Fucking hell!” Cobra swore. “So is Brago really coming here then? He really plans to wipe this MC off the map?”

Python nodded. “The anniversary of his son’s death is in four days. He was going to bring her here, place her on a pyre, and set her on fire while alive, for all of us to see. He was going to wait for us and then set him army lose on us to wipe us off the face of the earth.” He looked around the room at his men. “That isn’t going to happen. We have four days to set our own trap and catch him and his fucking army of killers in a trap we design. His people may already be here, waiting to find out who and what we are. We have to be very careful from now, until this is over. If he’s watching us, he can pick us off one at a time or pin us down somewhere and do to us what was done to his people all those years ago.” He paused then added, “We need to call everyone in but we need to do this quickly and quietly. We can’t afford any mistakes. We need to catch them by surprise.”

“Surprise maybe by sheer numbers,” Edge grunted. He looked over at Python. “He might remember the numbers we had years ago. He might think he only has a few people to take out. What can we do to build up our numbers to give us a chance?”

Cobra smiled harshly. “We can call Pappy and Gunner. I can call some of the Soldiers in on this and we can build an army of our own. But we have to move like Pops said, quickly and quietly. If Luis does have men watching the clubhouse we have to be careful not to give him a true picture of our numbers.”

Python nodded, relieved that his son was on board. “First things first, do we all agree no one survives on their side? And we wait until they make the first move. We cannot start this war but once the first shot is fired, we protect our own.”

Everyone around him agreed, with either nods, or with a hell yeah.

Python turned to Cobra, “Make your call and get as many men as you can here, within the next few hours. I’ll send some of our men out searching for his advance watch. As soon as everyone gets here, we’ll make the plans we need to protect what’s ours.”

One of his men, Copperhead grinned and reached for a beer. “Boss, you remember my daddy?”

Python nodded. Yeah, he remembered the crazy man Copperhead called his daddy. Jed Walker had the biggest collection of firearms in the state. He collected them from the time he was a kid.

“Well,” Copperhead went on. “My daddy had to build a warehouse for his collection. The state came in and tried to take his guns once, because they claimed he had too many and they needed to be locked up, so no one could take one and commit a crime with them. They claimed he’d never know it, as he had so many and everyone in this town knew he had them. But that’s not true, my daddy knew very well each gun he owned. So he built a warehouse so each weapon could have its own place. When he died, I got his collection and since then, I’ve added a piece or two to it.”

“What’s your point Copperhead?” Cobra growled.

“Well, I know daddy had one or two guns that might give us an edge in this situation.” Copperhead suggested. “I remember shooting them when I was a kid.”

“What kind of gun would that be?” Python wanted to know.

“A Gatling gun.”

The silence in the room was telling.

“Holy, fuck man.” One of the brothers, Diamondback finally whispered.

“Are they working models or just for show?” Cobra wanted to know.

Copperhead snorted, “Oh, they work just fine. Even got enough ammo to hold off the enemy for three days.”

“Bring one here.” Python nodded. “We can use it to protect our house. Luis might bring an army and I want enough men to hold our own but if we have extra fire power, we might just survive this storm.”

Cobra stepped away and began making calls.

Python sent his men out to stand watch and report any new people in town.

The men left at the clubhouse to set things up for a siege. They began boarding windows and making sure, they would be able to see the enemy coming. He had his IT guys place cameras outside, so they would have the advantage of seeing anyone. Some of them went to town for medical supplies along with food and water.

By late afternoon, more men began pouring in and his men returned with supplies.