Chapter 27: The Lurking Danger

It’s been a week since Chad activated his working-to-death mode. He’s serious when he says he’s going to wipe the Vipers out. Currently, he’s having a meeting to discuss their next steps. Having Will back at the clubhouse brought back a lot of new information.

Will was from the Vipers. He’s the son of Hank’s right-hand man. Will, however, didn’t approve of the way the Vipers worked. He tried to leave the gang only to be locked up for years. One day, he managed to escape. He was on the run when he ran into Chad. They teamed up for their respective interests.

After Chad gathered a number of men, they started their gang. Will had stayed in the Reaper’s territory since then. It wasn’t easy. They had to face attacks from the Vipers everyday for years but eventually, they managed to survive and the gang grew stronger.

Will had no interest in gang fights. He stayed in one of the bars under the Reaper, running the bar and serving customers every night. Fights, however, couldn’t be avoided sometimes when the Vipers came bringing the fight into the bar. Despite his disinterest in fights, he could do it really well. Thus, all these years, Will had been defending the bar and gathered a lot of information along the way.

“If what you said were true, then it’ll be easy to take over that new territory,” Zalen responded to the new information. “I’m afraid that’s a trap. If they deliberately spread that news to lure us in, then it’ll be a disaster,” Will said. “If they can spread false news as a distraction, so can we. Let’s say we send out news that we’ll be attacking Ivory. Hans w...” Chad was talking when someone barged in.

“Big news! Big news!” He shouted nervously. Chad’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “What’s happening?” He asked the newcomer. “Someone attacked the territory down south. Many of the Vipers were badly injured,” he replied in between breaths.

Will jerked up at the news. “Isn’t that the territory we planned to attack?” He was bewildered. Everyone in the room mirrored his expression. “Who would do that?” Zalen murmured, almost to himself. “Did the Vipers make new enemies recently?” Chad asked, still surprised by the news.

Will shook his head. “I can’t point out any particular figure. They make enemies everyday but I doubt those under the Vipers would dare do anything like that.” The man who brought the news nodded eagerly. “I doubt anyone at all dare go against the Vipers, not to mention attack them,” he said.

“What’s the situation over there?” Zalen immediately asked for the details. The man nodded. “A group of Vipers gathered in Buzz, gambling and drinking. Suddenly, the whole place started burning. The fire spread so quickly, it was almost extraordinary. The cause of the fire was still unknown,” he explained.

“Should we go over?” Zalen looked at Chad, asking for his opinion. “We brought three of the injured Vipers back. They are at the shed,” the man added.

“Zalen, could you check the scene for any clue? I’ll go check on those at the shed,” Chad stood up the instant he said those words. Zalen gave him a firm nod. “Let’s go!” He signaled for the man to follow him to the bar. They headed to their bikes. Chad took big steps as he marched towards the shed. They proceeded to their respective destinations.

Soon, Chad reached the shed. There were two men at the door. They nodded their greetings and opened the door. In the shed, the three men were tied up and seated on the ground, with some distance away from each other. Their wounds were wrapped in bandages. Most of the bandages were dyed red since they wouldn't stop struggling.

“How’s things going in here, Gale?” Chad turned his attention to the man in charge. “They are a tough bunch. Had to tie them up,” he nodded towards the men. They were trying to shout even with the cloth in their mouth.

Chad walked over to one of the men and pulled the cloth out of his mouth. “YOU MOTHERFUER! YOU SHOUL..mmm!!!” The action is like pushing the play button on the man. Immediately, Chad pushed the cloth back into his mouth. “Oops. Shouldn't do that,” he raised both his hands.

“Any findings?” Chad asked Gale. “Can we talk outside?” Gale looked at the three men briefly to remind Chad that there were things the men shouldn’t know. Chad opened the door and called out, “Jones, could you please take over inside here for a little while?”

Once they were a little further away from the shed, Chad asked, “so, what’s the deal?” Gale shook his head. “I’m not sure,” he said. His eyes signaled the warehouse not far away. Chad immediately understood and kept quiet about it while they entered the warehouse.

“They were injured but other than burns, I found some bullets. They were also shot,” Gale couldn’t wait to pour everything he’s been holding in once they closed the door to the warehouse. “I don’t think Tom mentioned hearing gunshots,” Chad tried to recall what Tom said in the meeting room when he barged in. He thought he might miss the part when he talked about gunshots but there was no memory about it at all. Gale was puzzled as well.

“Tom might’ve left out that part in a hurry,” Gale tried to rationalize. Chad’s brows furrowed as he thought. Then, he shook his head. “I don’t think Tom would leave out such important details. He’s already left with Zalen. If he knew that there’s such danger lurking at the scene, he wouldn’t..” Both the men looked at each other in shock.

Immediately, they rushed out of the warehouse. Gale went back to the shed while Chad raced towards his bike, picking up men along the way to follow him to Buzz. ‘Please be alright,’ he prayed for the safety of his men while they sped towards the bar.