behind his eyes, and anyone could see that he’d be one to reckon with if there was ever any trouble with the club. As president of the Memphis Chapter, he’d have to be harder and smarter than most. The gang problem in the area was no secret, so not only did they have issues with localized competition, they also had to deal with the cops. With all the crime in the area, someone was always watching, and it only took one slip to fuck everything up. The smile dropped from his face as he leaned forward and said, “You got something to show me?”
I reached into my jacket pocket and said, “Yeah, I got it.” I pulled out the map, and, as soon as I started to unroll it, he got busy clearing off his desk. Once he was done, I laid it out before him. “It’ll involve four of our club chapters: Salt Lake, Denver, Topeka, and Oklahoma City.”
His shoulders relaxed a bit and he eased back in his chair. He crossed his arms and began nodding in approval. “Good strong chapters. Shouldn’t be any problems working with them.”
“Agreed. They’ll do their part to make sure everything goes as planned. To get things rolling, our club will pick up our part of the delivery at Port Angeles and get it down to the brothers at Salt Lake. Then, they’ll add to it and get it to Denver, and so on, until everything gets down here to you.”
“We’ll be ready. I’ve got us barge access lined up, so we won’t have any problem getting the shipment down to Baton Rouge. As long as that river doesn’t flood, we’re covered.”
“Good deal. I’ll let Cotton know. He said you needed a hand in the garage while I was here.”
“My lead mechanic got pretty mangled when his bike got away from him. He was on his way home when he hit a curve covered with loose sand. With all the rain we’ve been having, he should’ve known better. Now the garage is backed up.”
“I’ll do what I can to help you out,” I offered.
“Much appreciated. Cotton said that you were one of the best.”
“Yeah. I know my way around an engine, especially the classics,” I added with a smile.
He stood and started for the door. “Then you should be as happy as a pig in shit when you see the garage. I’ll have one of the boys take you over.” I nodded and followed him down the hall to the back door. After talking to one of the prospects, he came back over to me and held out his hand. “Crow is gonna take you over to the garage. Just follow him. And remember… call me if you need anything.”
I shook his hand. “Will do, Boss.”
After the prospect got on his bike, I followed him over to the club’s garage. It was just a few blocks from the diner, and there was a huge blue sign with the name Lou’s Restorations hanging just beneath the roof. It wasn’t a new shop, but it was in decent condition. Crow parked his bike and led me inside to meet Blaze, the guy in charge of the garage until their lead guy got back on his feet. When he saw us approaching, a curious look crossed his face and I could see that he was sizing me up, questioning if I was there to take over his job. He wasn’t a small guy, but like most, he was several inches shorter than me. With his blonde hair and unruly beard, he reminded me of that guy from that chick flick—I think it was called The Notebook or something. I should’ve been able to remember the guy’s name. Cass made me watch that shit four or five times, and after seeing Blaze, my mind went straight to them out in that boat around all those damn swans.
He pulled me from my thoughts when he asked, “You Clutch?”
“That’d be me,” I answered. “Guess you’re the man in charge.”
“Yeah, that’d be me … at least for now,” he answered. “Duggar will be back in a couple of weeks.”
“Gus sent me over to see if I could help out, maybe get y’all caught back up. Where do you want me to start?” I asked, even though I’d do what I’d always done. First, I’d do a thorough inspection of each car, going over the entire vehicle one section at a time. Then, I’d take stock of the condition