Redwood Nine: Season 03 Ch. 07

He went in and called Gus and asked for the parts he needed and gave him the need for urgency in hours. Gus bitched and complained, but said he'd do it. He noted the car make and asked if it was someone he knew. JT said he was a friend of his and wanted to see him, but said he had to get the parts there fast to know who. Gus said he'd get right on it and weather or not, he'd be out that afternoon. JT hung up happy with things and stood at the door and yelled for the guys to come over and start tearing down the car. Cuts were pulled over their heads and they dashed over to the shop. The tool boxes were opened and the Caddy started getting dismantled and fixed.

Stan, Lorelei and Mary, dashed into the hospital, shaking off the umbrellas and themselves. They took the elevator to the third floor and went to Piney's room. The officer smiled and let them all go straight in, so Stan pushed it open for the women and followed them in. Piney opened his eyes and smiled when he saw them all.

"My family, how you all doing this fine day?"

"Hello son, how are you feeling today?"

"Not that bad, Pops, considering. Shoulder doesn't hurt as bad, but I'm not supposed to move it around much till it heals better. How are you?"

"Good, good. Mom and Mary fixed you some treats."

"Hi Mom, hi Mary. How are my two lovely ladies today?"

The pair came and kissed Piney's cheeks at the same time and mimicked their affections.

"We made you some nice things to eat, dear, I know how horrid the food is to eat in here. Mary showed me a couple of new recipes too, didn't you dear?"

"Yes, we had fun baking, so I hope you enjoy it, Baby."

"Me too, so let's see what you made."

Mary took the tinfoil wrap off and sat on the bed and hand-fed Piney one of her treats. Piney savoured the delicacy and sweetness and kissed her, getting some icing sugar on her lips.

"Mmmmm, such sweet kisses."

Mary finished serving one of hers and then fed him one of his mother's favourites. He smacked his lips and relished the memory of the flavour. He looked at his mom and puckered his lips for a kiss and his mom was only to happy to respond.

"Dad, you want some of these?"

"No, no, they're all for you. I had my fill last night, thanks. They made enough for more if you want them."

"Want me big and fat do you?"

"No, just happy. You don't have to eat them if you don't want to, we just thought you'd like something better than what we've seen you eat here."

"I'm not complaining, I can get big and fat. I love these things, eat them all day."

Piney tucked into another one and laughed, spilling icing sugar down his gown. Mary fussed on him and tidied him up and the parents looked on with great happiness at what they saw between them. It was the pivotal moment for Lorelei, to let go of one child and accept another. Piney could see on her face how happy she was seeing them together and felt he had achieved something in himself. Something he could appreciate and admire, as well as see that his parents felt the same way.

Gus was blowing the horn before he reached the gate and Wally and Keith jumped out of the pick up. They let Gus through and closed the gate, but used the truck to go down to the shop. They unloaded the parts and went inside from the rain. Gus looked at JT and asked who was here.

"Only know his first name, guy called Luigi. Three others with him, Alphonse,..."

"Dino and Marco."

"Yeah."

"No shit. Those fucking bad boys are in town are they? Gianni must want this dealt with fast and permanently, if he called those guys in."

"You know them, I take it?"

"Oh yeah, I know them. There used to be five in the clean up crew. I was the fifth."

"You used to do this shit?"

"I did what I had to do, to get a job done. The money was much better too."

"So what made you stop?"

"After serving time, I was too well known to the authorities, so I was useless as part of the team. These guys are unknowns, no records or anything. They only carry fake ID and never the same guy twice. Do a job, change your name, simple as that."

"Wait, I thought they said you had to be all Italian to be a part of them."

"I am. Borgdanatov was my step-father's name. He adopted me when he married my mother and I got his name. I was born Giuseppe Bonello and I'm Italian as far back as it takes."

"No shit. I figured you were Russian or something."

"He was Georgian, had money and liked my mother. Father was killed in the war, so she married him and that's how I came to be. So, where are they?"

"Oh, they're out delivering a message to the bikers, said it wouldn't take long, just there and back."

"Yeah, I can imagine the message. I heard of a shoot up at lot to the west of me, dozen bikers dead and as many wounded. Guess that was them."

"You'd know better than me what they'd do."

"I'm sure today will cause some news to be made."

"No doubt. They said they'd surprise me with what they did."

"You'll be surprised alright. So what happened to this thing?"

JT told him about the narrow escape from death and how they saved him and Lenny from certain death by ramming the car. Gus shook his head at hearing it.

"That wouldn't normally happen. They tend to be very discreet about how they do things. Less attention, the better. Make a lotta noise sure, but don't be seen making it. Gianni must have given strict orders to cover your ass well, for them to do that."

"I believe he did. Hey, there they are now. Wally, Keith, get the gate guys."

They drove up and let the Caddy in, locking it down and pulled in behind the Caddy going in the empty bay. They dashed in and the door was rolled down. The four got out of the car and saw Gus standing there and the greetings were emotional and heartfelt. Hugs and kisses on the cheek were exchanged then looked each other over.

"Gus, what the hell, you look like an old paisan, you should be dressing well and enjoying life."

"Alphonse, I like what I do and I ain't looking over my shoulder. I haven't slept with a gun under my pillow in years and I sleep just fine. Money ain't near as good, but it's clean."

"It's your decision, I'm just saying."

"So am I, Alph, so am I. I know what I can have if I ask, but I don't need it to be happy, I'm happy doing what I'm doing. Gianni still makes sure he finds a way to show some gratitude to me. I don't mind that, but I earn my money my way and I make some good friends along the way. That's how I met these boys. They knew Jake and worked for him and I knew they had to be a good sort, if Jake hired them. Come to be good friends, haven't we, JT?"

"Yes we have Gus. Good friends."

"I heard about Jake and the shooting, my condolences to you all on your loss. I remember him to be a decent guy, checked him out for a while."

"What do you mean checked him out for a while?"

"I mean, JT, that when the Jake and Marlene thing was going on, Gianni had concerns if Jake posed a threat to the organization or not. I felt that there wasn't one, due to the way he conducted himself and told Gianni. The problem was then between Clive and him. I heard Clive did a disappearing act, hasn't been heard from in quite a while."

"Well, seeing as we're all sharing trade secrets, me and my club made Clive disappear, for killing Jake and shooting Marlene."

"Now that was a classy looking dame, Marlene. Saw her once at a thing Gianni held and she was gorgeous. I guess she's history too."

"Nope, still here and living a happy life with everyone."

"She stayed?"

"Yeah, loves it here, met some great people and lives with them now. Even met a new guy, almost half her age and they totally dig each other."

"No shit, good for her. I hope she is very happy, she deserves to be."

JT got Luigi's attention from talking about the Caddy.

"So, you were going to tell us what the message was as a surprise. What did you do?"

"Well, I did mention they got lead the first time and this would be a quieter delivery of the message this time, correct?"

"Yeah."

"We drove to where the clubhouse is located and checked it out. We saw all the bikes parked out front and we used several grenades to blow up as many as we could. We were already driving away, before they went off, but the fireball let us know that lots of gas went up and that meant bikes. Not sure how many we got, but I'm sure, not many are left able to ride on."

"That makes sense to what you told me before you left. Nice touch."

"If they are still wishing to carry out their hit on you, we can make sure they understand it's not a good thing to do. If they all have to die for it to end, we're prepared to do that."

"I'm sure you can. Blew up all their bikes, huh? That's going to really piss them off. Lose a shitload of guys one night and then most of your bikes the next. Hope it makes them think about stopping their bullshit."

"We're prepared to send as many messages as it takes."

"Trust me JT, when they say whatever it takes, they do whatever it takes to get the message across. So, when are you going to talk to them, Alph?"

"As soon as they reach out, then we know they mean it."

"Fair enough. Say, JT, think we can find a better place to talk? Kinda crowded in here."

"Oh yeah, hey, let's go over and we'll make some coffee and you guys can shoot the shit about the old days."

"Sounds good. Gentlemen, shall we retire to a better locale?"

JT was surprised to hear Gus talking in such polite terms and realized he was once like the others. One who was prepared to end lives at the command of another. Killing was nothing more than a contract, a job to do and nothing of personal feelings ever came into question. A man's life was regarded as just another piece of trash to throw out. Now, here he was walking with five of the most efficient killers on the west coast and they were like the nicest guys one would want to meet.

Stockton sent every available unit and emergency personnel to the scene, as the fire and explosions of gas tanks kept going off. Hoses were only making things worse, as the gas floated on top of the water and spread farther. The windows of the clubhouse were shattered and flames had made their way into the building. The bikers inside had been sprayed with broken glass, many bleeding from multiple wounds. They staggered and carried those unable to move themselves, out the back door and were assisted by the emergency personnel to reach safety. The sheriffs began investigating what they could, trying to piece together what happened, despite the raging fire now consuming the building in flames.

With reports of several explosions going off first and then bikes blowing up, they knew it was retaliation from Charming some how. The sergeant went to his cruiser and radioed in for Chief Wade. He relayed what they knew so far and would update him on any new developments. Wade slammed the phone down and immediately picked it up again, dialling the number for Chief Grant in Charming.

Grant took the call and started off with pleasantries, unaware of the recent events.

"Knock it off, Grant. What the hell is going on in your town? We got more than a dozen DBs last night to deal with and now we have explosions going off and more casualties. I said I'd help you deal with the biker problem dealing drugs, but this is a fucking war going on here. You better get a hold of whoever you need to and put an end to this violence and I mean now."

"Hey, slow the fuck down here, Keith. I don't know a thing about that. Nothing has been said to me until now, so back off. I got DBs here myself and we ID'd them as Disciples. We got two who tried to do a hit on Teller and another guy of his, as far as we know and someone took them out very efficiently. We got another guy with the back of his head blown open, trying to climb a hydro tower and shoot at them. You ain't the only one with problems on their hands over this, I got my own issues to deal with."

Wade sat back after hearing his counterpart was having similar problems, but not pushing them back on him. He apologized and so did Grant, then Grant offered up a solution they were considering.

"Now, here's how we're looking at this situation. No one innocent is getting killed, or even hurt. No damage to public or private property either. The only ones getting hurt, are the bastards coming from your territory. Our thinking is to let these guys work out their own issues and we'll step in if it gets out of control and affects innocent lives. Unless you want to run up a huge bill with the county, setting up a task force, or calling in the Guard, this sounds like the best way possible to handle this."

Chief Keith Wade pondered the solution from as many angles as he could in his head. What Grant was proposing made sense from many of those angles and spared him a lot of grief in the process.

"Okay, I can go along with that, but if any of them take this beyond the two of them, we have to come down hard and I do mean hard."

"Agreed. You keep me up to date with anything on your end as soon as it happens and I'll do the same. I just want you to remember that my guys are innocents, as far as we're concerned. They're in this because they helped us, not because they're assholes like those Disciples. We're doing our best to protect them, so if you have to shoot someone, don't make it them, okay?"

"I understand and I'll pass that along so all my guys know the score. Talk soon."

"Thanks, Keith and let's hope this shit ends real soon."

"Yeah, soon."

The phones were hung up and heads were held in hands, the situation piquing to levels that made them both very uncomfortable. Both began making calls to relay the plan down the lines to the officers on the street.