The one man none of us fully trusted just yet, sat in the corner of the room, away from the table. He was still being watched on by Jameson, and the seat of VP still remained empty. My main mission at the moment, was to keep an eye on his whereabouts and dealings while I watched my Prez’s back. He hated me for it, and the feeling was mutual. There was no way in hell I was going to let Colt Winters out of my sight.
“Taron?” My eyes were fixed on Colt when Jameson called out my name.
“Yeah, sorry Prez. I don’t know how everyone feels, but I’ve got some concerns I need to bring up. I figure, we could all take a vote as to what I’m about to suggest.”
Jameson nodded. “Go ahead, speak your mind.”
“You told me once that if I had a better idea I could bring it to the table…”
Jameson’s eyes narrowed on me, but he remained stoic.
“I’m bringing it to the table.”
Questioning looks came at me, while others looked warily at one another knowing that what I was doing was pretty much challenging the President of the National Chapter. No one did that. Well, not anyone in their right mind.
I could sense the tension in the room and Tick Tock leaned in, lowering his voice, as he spoke only to me. “You sure you want to do this, Knuckles?”
Bullet put his two cents in as well. “Cause we’ve got a pretty good operation goin’. Wouldn’t want to ruin that.”
I took a deep breath and set my eyes on Styx who still had his arm in a bandage from the blade that had gone through it a few days ago. And then it landed on Goshawk who had his face smashed in by the butt of a rifle when he was making a deal. The money was stolen along with the weapons.
“Just look around Gentlemen. We’re fucking bleeding. We keep this up and one of these days we’re gonna get a call that one of our brothers is gone. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather not have to deal with another goddamn funeral.”
Tick Tock was about to speak again but Jameson shook his head, telling him silently to stop, and focused on me instead. “This proposition better be good, Knuckles, cause time means money here.”
“You made me Sergeant at Arms for a reason. I took the job because I wanted to watch your back and because I also know about arsenals. Makes, models, blueprints, you name it. I’ve studied weapons closely in my training. I know all there is to know about how to build them and what it entails to do so.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying we erase the threat.”
Goshawk chuckled. “Are you kidding me?”
“We make the weapons.”
“We ain’t got the type of money to get that kind of supplies.”
“It’s not hard to find. The junkyard for one, can provide us with enough steel at a low cost.”
My eyes were fixed on Jameson who was staring down at the table. I knew the look he had on his face. And while voices rose, and opinions started to fly, I focused on the man who’s wheels were churning.
Raising his hand, he silenced the room. “How do you propose we do this?”
“I’m not saying get rid of the pawn shops or anything. We can still use those. But we can make our own guns.”
I signaled for Bullet to give me his laptop. The room was quiet as I pulled up the details. Flipping the laptop around I let them see what I was talking about. “We buy the machinery, the material, and we create our own weapons.” I pulled up another window with gun blueprints. “We make our own copies, no serial numbers. Royal Bastards ghost guns.”
“Fuuuck,” Tick Tock smirked and leaned back in his seat. He had this big smile on his face.
Riddick leaned in and pointed to the blueprints. “3D models.”
I nodded as Powertrain looked at me. “You’re saying we erase the middle men and do it ourselves.”
“Exactly,” I turned to Jameson. “And all profits come to us.”
Colt suddenly spoke up from the back of the room. “And where exactly do you think we’re going to get the product, and the machinery to do all this?”
“Koyn.”
Colt smirked. “What does the Ohio Chapter’s President have to do in all this?”
“We all know Koyn can hack pretty much anything.”
Tick Tock smiled. “So, if he hacks the distributors…”
“After orders are placed…” Goshawk chimed in.
“Then we get all the product and more, after the numbers are smudged.” I grinned.
“That’s fucking genius!” Powertrain slammed his hand on the table. “That’s the brightest fucking idea I’ve heard in months!”
“And where do you plan on doing all this?”
Everyone turned to Jameson. The question was legit, and I knew safety was his priority. “The back of the bike shop.”
“What?” Riddick stared at me.
Jameson fixed his stare on me. He knew what that bike shop meant to me. It was something I had worked my whole life to have. I’d made a name for myself with it in the last year, and I was known for the detailing and paint jobs I did for each customer. Word was getting around about the art on them. The fact that I had even offered it meant that I took this seriously. I was willing to put it in jeopardy in order to offer my brothers a safer route.
“Are you sure you want to do that?” Jameson asked.
“Look. for right now, we can use the shop to get it up and running. I have a large property and we could extend it further back. I already use the machinery we need on a daily basis. Getting more orders in for metals, aluminum, or whatever we need won’t be a problem. No one would ask questions.”
“You realize cops go to that shop?” Colt stated.
I nodded. “I’m well aware of that. It’s the perfect front. No one will suspect a thing. The shop runs during the day as normal, while the guns are made in the back. When shipments come in, no one will think twice about asking questions. Even if they did want to check the product, it’s unmarked.”
The chair scraped against the hardwood floor as Jameson pushed himself away from the table. He began to pace and give out orders. “Bullet, which gun is the most requested on the market right now?”
“Any fully automatic weapon.”
Jameson focused on me. “Get the blueprints. We’ll start there.”
I nodded. “Yes, Sir.
“Powertrain. We’re gonna need your connections with Lean.” We all knew it was better to deal with Lean rather than their President, Bruiser DeCico. He was one dirty old man, Italian to boot. A widower with no remorse for how he ran his club or his people. The type to shoot first and ask questions later.
So far, he’d made a name for himself, and was proving to Jameson that he was useful. The Chapter had acquired a line of strip clubs and the last I heard they were looking into a casino license. Lean and Bruiser were proficient at two things- strippers and money laundering. Everyone knew that if you ran with dirty money then the Pittsburg Chapter was your go-to.
“Why is that, Prez?”
“Because we’re about to get a shit ton of money coming our way and we’re gonna need those bills cleaned up.”
The chuckles and shouts rang through the room as I was patted on the back. I didn’t think the idea would work, but as Jameson nodded at me from across the room, I could see the approval in his eyes. Now, all we had to do was make this a well-oiled machine. And my first order of business was to reach out to Koyn and Copper up in Ohio for help.