Page 13 of Hell & Back

“I don’t know, but I’m glad she’s working with us,” Race pointed out.

“Definitely,” Darren agreed.

“Is that everything?” Race asked.

“Kylie also said that if we set some cameras up on or near the Redemption properties she could keep an eye on them.” Darren thought that was a good idea, just in case one of those motherfuckers came back into town.

“I like that idea.” Race rapped his knuckles on the table a couple of times. “Jackson, take one of the prospects with you and get those set up,” Race instructed.

“You got it.” Jackson nodded his head.

“Okay. That gives us some starting points. Anyone have any ideas they want to throw out there on how we should use this information?”

“What if we send two or three guys to Taos and have them scope out this Sadie Swallow’s property? Maybe see if they stumble across some Phantoms in town and follow them to see where they come and go?” Darren suggested as he rubbed his hand over his beard. “While they’re down there, they could take pictures of some of the Phantoms and Kylie could run their faces through her program.”

“It would be faster than having her comb through hours and hours of traffic video,” Maverick thought out loud.

“Whoever goes down there needs to leave their cuts at home. We have to do this right,” Race said. “I want the Sons to go down there and remain in the shadows. I don’t want the Phantoms to catch on that we know where they are now. We have to do thisright so there’s no blowback. We’ve got too many pregnant old ladies to worry about.”

“Might be a good idea to leave the bikes and bring other vehicles. Bikes would just grab their attention,” Jed put out there.

“Yeah, that sounds good, too.” Race nodded his head in agreement.

“Fucking finally, we have something on those sons of bitches,” Tulsa all but cheered.

“Do we have any volunteers for going to Taos?”

Tulsa raised his hand. “I’ll go.”

“I’ll go, too,” Lance volunteered.

“Okay. You guys head out tomorrow.” Race held his gavel aloft, ready to end the meeting. “If there’s nothing more?”

Chris spoke up before he could send everyone on their way. “You know, I’ve been thinking. With all the pregnant old ladies and new babies being born, not to mention all the kids the club already has, we could use a place they can all be together whenever we’re on lockdown or whenever we need to be overly cautious. There’s just not enough room for everyone to spread out comfortably in the clubhouse anymore. Plus, we’re going to be spreading ourselves too thin trying to provide protection. We don’t have enough men to keep tabs on our families and still juggle everything else. If we could get everyone under one roof or on the property at least during the day it would make it easier to protect them.”

“What do you have in mind?” Race leaned forward, folding his arms on the table.

“I was thinking we could convert that empty metal building into a rec center. For now, we could just buy some furniture and a couple of TVs, maybe a refrigerator. Down the road we could put in a basketball court, set up a room for video games, one witha projector for movies, maybe save some room for a nursery or daycare?”

“And a kitchen,” Trick added.

“Exactly,” Chris nodded his head. “The point is, we get them all here and we use that building so the older kids have room to hang out since the weather is colder now. When we’re under lockdown, they get bored and need something to do.”

No one said anything for a moment as they all exchanged looks wondering why no one had thought of it sooner.

“That’s a really good idea,” Jackson patted Chris on the back.

Darren thought it was a very good idea as well. If they had all their children under one roof on Sons property, they wouldn’t have to worry about outside threats being able to get to them. Chris was right, there just wasn’t enough brothers to cover everyone and everything that needed it right now. A recreation center would be perfect. They could use it, not only during lockdowns, but during the cold winter months and on those hot or rainy days in the summer.

Race tapped his finger on the table, apparently mulling over everything Chris had thrown out there. “Okay. Let’s make it work. Tulsa, thoughts on what needs to be done now and what can wait?”

Tulsa thought it over. “Gonna need bathrooms for sure. One male, one female, three stalls each. We could start with that. If you don’t mind having someone outside the club working on it, the crew I work with from time to time could get it knocked out. If you like their work, they could do all of it. Darren used them on his house for the renovations and addition. What did you think?”

“I liked them. They did an excellent job and it looks like it’ll get done sooner than they estimated.” Turning to Race, he asked, “You’ve seen my place. What did you think?”

“I agree with Darren. They did an impressive job. If we all agree to do this, Tulsa, you need to give a list of people who’ll be working here for Kylie to run a background check on. I’m not taking any chances that we end up with another Phantom mole.”

Everyone around the table nodded or spoke their agreement to Race’s suggestion that background checks be done on all workers who would be coming and going on the property.

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