Chapter 10: King of Pain
JT couldn't believe what Unser had said, none of them could. They stood there in disbelief, hearing about the shooting at the farm.
"We gotta go, now!"
That was all JT said and headed for his bike. The others made their way to theirs, Otto, Lenny and Keith all scrambling down the ladder and getting on their bikes. The heavy rumble of engines warming up was short-lived, as they rode past Wayne and sped off to Calaveras. Wayne jumped in his cruiser and even with the lights and siren going, he was hard-pressed to keep up to the club. Stop lights and stop signs were ignored, as the club blasted through town and out into the country.
Faces were long and held in suspense, as they wondered who had been hurt, or possibly killed in the shooting. By the time they got to 10th line, they could see the line of cars and other vehicles at the side of the road. They roared past the sheriff at the beginning of the lane and headed for the house. The gate had been broken off its hinges and lay on the ground, dozens of enforcement personnel were everywhere, scouring the ground and picking up any kind of evidence they could find.
The sheriffs saw the club and immediately stopped them as they got off their bikes and made for the house. Shock grew on every face, as they saw the bullet holes riddling the sides of the house everywhere. Bodies were coming out in bags and the club pushed part the sheriffs to see who they were. Unser finally pulled in and ran up to the sheriffs, who were starting to use force to subdue the club.
"Hey, hey, leave them alone. These are the guys I went and got. They live here and know these people."
The sheriffs eased up, but still prevented them from seeing who was in the body bags. The club strained to get past and once they were cleared, the sheriffs let them get to the coroner's van. The back of it was piled with body bags, one on top of the other. JT pushed the coroner's workers aside and looked at the bag hesitantly before opening it. The face came into view and it was Cindy lying there. Otto pushed his way in and saw her and screamed out his agony.
JT looked around, searching for any signs of Suzy and then began calling her name in vain. One sheriff came to him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"If you're looking for a girl, the only one left alive is in hospital. I don't know her name, but she's in critical condition and probably in surgery right now."
"What does she look like?"
JT was hoping the description would match Suzy's, but it wasn't. It sounded like Spirit from the description and JT's hopes sank at seeing her alive again. He became emotionally distraught, trying to come to grips with what was. The thought of Suzy being dead was unacceptable to him, denying it to himself that it could be so. He looked at Otto, completely lost in grief, as they loaded Cindy into the back of the van.
Wayne stood there helplessly, knowing he couldn't do anything to stop the bleeding of the club's hearts over their loss. He looked at the house, casting his eyes upward to the bedroom he was just in hours before, enjoying himself with several of the girls. He himself was in shock and disbelief that the bikers had come after innocent people like this.
JT grabbed a sheriff and asked him where the bodies were going. He told them they were going to the high school in Calaveras, where they had room being set up to handle autopsies on the dead. His face cringed at the thought they would be cutting his constant, his soul mate apart, opening her up and destroying all that she was.
"We gotta get to that high school before they do anything to our girls."
The sheriff understood and told his superior on site what he had to do and he led the club to the small hamlet southwest of them, about twenty five miles away. The club parked and ran inside, getting stopped once again by sheriffs overseeing the situation. The sheriff told them who they were and needed to identify the victims. They let them in and cautioned them on how to proceed. The guys walked up slowly to the line of body bags laying on the floor, as people hastily set up folding tables to serve as autopsy tables.
One of the assistants from the coroners office knelt down and opened the first bag. He peeled it back to expose who was inside and Lenny screamed loudly, seeing Lorraine inside, bloodied to the point she almost wasn't recognizable. He identified her and knelt with her, placing his hand on the bag.
The assistant moved to the next one and Wally saw Azure's white hair. Her face was almost gone from the bullet's exit out her face. Tears came fast and he too wailed out in misery. One by one, the bags were opened and they knew the truth of what had happened. The bag with Suzy was opened and JT fell to his knees and wept like the rest, looking at the love of his life lying there. The large bore bullet had entered cleanly through her head, but little was left at the back. The echoing refrain of misery was all that could be heard, as the guys looked at their loved ones.
"Where did they take the ones who lived?"
"They're over in Charming at St. Thomas. They're the only ones equipped to deal with this kind of thing."
Wayne thanked the attendant and knelt with JT.
"We need to let these guys do what they need to do, JT. There's people still alive and they're in Charming, I think it would be best to go there and do what we can for them."
JT's face was torn by emotion, his ability to think, or reason was gone. He looked at Wayne and felt him lifting him up. He turned his head to look at what remained of Suzy and watched them zip the bag closed again. Wayne gently tugged at him to move and eventually, JT took the first steps away from Suzy. When he got JT outside and sat him down, he went in and one by one, brought each member out to join JT.
"I'm real sorry for the loss, I am. This ain't right and it's going to bring the heavies out to deal with it."
"What heavies?"
"The National Guard, JT. The chiefs said if innocents got hurt or killed, they were bringing them in."
"No way. These guys are not going down that easy. These fuckers are dying by our hands only."
The news was enough to stall the grief in them, for the power of revenge. Guys wiped away tears and steeled themselves from thinking any more on what they saw. It was over and nothing could bring them back. They got on their bikes and Wayne went to JT.
"I take it you ain't going to St Thomas, are you?"
"No, we're going to get what we need to finish these fuckers off once and for all. They don't deserve to live, not after this."
Wayne was at a loss to argue the point, feeling much the same way and rushed to his cruiser. He was going as fast as he could drive, trying to lead the club, but they passed him doing close to a hundred MPH, disobeying every rule of the road. Cars pulled to the sides and let them fly past them, Unser in close pursuit behind them. To the people seeing it, it looked like they were being chased, as every bit of roadway was used to get to Charming. Wayne followed them to the Holiday Inn and went to go inside with them, but JT told him to stay outside.
Wayne knew they were going to talk to the guys that had done the hits and their identity was to be kept a secret. He waited by the bikes and ten minutes passed before they came out again and got on their bikes.
"Wayne, stay here. You can't be a part of this."
"Where you going?"
"To finish this and make sure it doesn't happen again. You better call your friends in Stockton and let them know some more bodies are going to drop and leave us alone to do it."
Wayne understood and despite knowing how criminal their actions were, he couldn't bring himself to try and stop them. He saw two Cadillacs come from the parking lot with two guys in each one and knew they had to be who was doing the hits. He went to his cruiser and asked to be patched through to the sheriffs in Stockton.
"You guys have some visitors coming your way. Let them do what they need to do and this shit will finally be over."
"We called the National Guard already."
"Call them back and say it's being handled."
