Chapter 6-Rescuing Manny
After dinner, the prospects that had been taking care of the bodies last night came over and told me, “Prez, can we talk to you for a second in private?”
“Sure. Come to my office.” I told them and even though Dixie had a concerned look on her face, she didn’t follow us.
We walked to my office and I closed the door behind us and told them, “Have a seat boys.” They all sat down on the sofa and I sat down on an easy chair across from them. “So what’s up?”
“Last night, as you know we had 16 bodies to take care of. We took them up to where you told us to go and cut up 8 of them, and that’s a lot of meat by the way, and 2 of us began spreading them around the mountain. The wolves were being very aggressive, I think because of the smell of fresh blood. Anyway, we cut up four more but before we could finish, the wolves were coming to us.
None of us were willing to become wolf food so we shoved the rest of the bodies in a small cave not far from there and covered them with brush as best we could. We threw the cut up ones as far as we could without going too far from the fire. The wolves were getting very aggressive and we were very nervous. I can’t say for sure but they are either going rabid or there are more now than there used to be.” Ronnie, the oldest of the prospects, told me.
“Weren’t any of you packing weapons last night?” I asked.
“Yes sir but we weren’t sure how you would take to us killing your meat disposal animals.” Ronnie said and I nearly laughed and couldn’t help the small smile that crossed my face.
“I guess I can understand your hesitation but we supply you with the guns to protect yourself and your brothers against attack and that doesn’t matter if it’s another biker gang or a pack of wolves. If someone or something threatens to kill you, kill it!” I told them. “So there are still bodies to be dealt with up there?”
“Yes, sir. We’ll go up and take care of it, but would appreciate some back up to stand guard while we take care of cutting them up and we want to ride double to distribute the meat. One person controls the bike while the other is ready to shoot if necessary.” Ronnie said.
“You got it. Take Rudy with you. His shoulder is messed up so he can’t ride but he can help with his good arm. He’s going to be facing some extra challenges here in the next few weeks. Don’t be too hard on him during hazing because he had a good reason for what he did, he just went about it the wrong way. The MSMC is a family and in this family you have to be honest with all of the members, and be able to trust each other no matter what.
Rudy has never been around bikers before so didn’t understand that he could have told us what was going on and we would have helped him. His only thought was to do as he was told to get his lady out of a bad situation.
Oh and before any of you even think about hitting on Jullian, she’s untouchable. She’s carrying Rudy’s child and therefore is his woman. Let me find out that any of you put the move on her and you will be out of here so fast it will make your head spin. Understand me?” I told them, looking each one of them in the eye and they all nodded.
“I’ll have a couple of members go with you guys armed and ready to defend you if the wolves come back. Take a van since it will be a place to hide if there are too many of them. I want to test Rudy, so make him help cut up the bodies. Ronnie, I want a report on how he reacts to it when you get back.” I said and then dismissed them.
We all walked back to the dining room and I talked to Razor and Jailer and Rudy about going with the prospects to finish up the bodies. They all left the dining room and went to get it taken care of.
I sat back down next to Dixie and quietly told her what was going on and she didn’t say anything but just nodded and said she was going to join the other ladies in the living room. “I think we need to get working on some wedding plans. It’s going to be time for Millie and Doc’s reception soon too. She doesn’t want much but I do want the dining area and meeting room to look nice for it. And I have to talk to Claire about the menu!”
“Ok, baby. I’ve got to go see about these bikes and then make a few calls.” I told her as I helped her with her chair. She picked Sammy up along with the bouncer chair he was resting in and took off for the living room.
I left the house and walked outside to look at the bikes. Brushes and Crusher followed me outside. We looked over the bikes and were soon joined by other members. Brushes was more interested in the artwork on the gas tanks than the bikes themselves and did some quick sketches of some of them.
“I think we should get some of the mechanics to look these over and see which ones, if any of them, are going to need work done. If they do and it won’t cost too much, then we’ll fix them but otherwise, I’m going to sell them as is. How many prospects do we have right now?” I asked Boomer as he joined us.
“Ten, not counting Rudy.” Boomer said and I gave him a look that let him know I wanted to talk to him privately later. He nodded and we continued to check out the bikes. Everyone was impressed by Bull’s bike. It was a big bike and had been a lot to handle when I rode it last night.
“This would be a good bike for Hulk. It’s so heavy that it takes a lot to handle it. I didn’t dare take my hands off the grips last night.” I said. “It’s definitely not a bike for a prospect.”
“Tommy Boy’s bike is badass too. Not as big but it was a nice ride.” Crusher said. “Now I know why they called him “Tommy Boy”. He’s got a pic of a Tommy gun on his tank.”
“Well, some of the prospects are going to become patched members soon but as always patched members get first choice. We’re going to have church here a little later and we’ll talk about all that. First of all, I have some calls to make and then we need to have an executive staff meeting.” I said, rubbing my hand over the back of my neck to try and ease some of the tension that was building in my neck and shoulders.
Now that the weather was starting to warm up a bit more and things seemed to be calming down and we had our expansion done, I wanted to invite some of the Ninja Warriors to come and teach us some of their fighting techniques.
I walked back inside and went to my office. I got on the phone and called Sheriff Daniel Mendoza first. I needed to do the paperwork on Jullian, Rudy and was going to mention the death of Stacey Rodrigues in my report. I also wanted to know where we could make a contribution to her family for the funeral expenses.
I dialed his number and when someone picked up, I explained who I was and asked to talk to the Sheriff. A minute later Sheriff Mendoza came on and said “What can I do for you Rooster?”
“I’m working on my paperwork regarding Jullian and Rudy’s rescue to file with the state and need to know if the cause of Stacey’s death has been determined yet?” I asked.
“Besides being raped in every oraface on her body? She had blood all the way down her legs, front and back and semen in her throat. The coroner said that if someone hadn’t slit her throat, that she would have slowly bled to death from the injuries she had inside. That poor child had to have suffered something awful. Telling her parents was almost as bad. I thought the mother was going to have a heart attack.” Sheriff Mendoza said, sounding depressed.
“I need to know where the MSMC can make a donation towards her funeral expenses. I really wish we had known about her earlier. We might have been able to save her and Jullian and Rudy might not have been taken at all. Please, the next time you have biker problems or abused children that need our help, don’t hesitate to call us. We understand that you are seriously understaffed and can’t do it all alone.” I told him.
He thanked me for understanding and gave me the name and address for Stacey’s family before we hung up. I finished up the paperwork and then called down to our Auto shop. I told Wrenches, our head mechanic, to have a couple of the guys come up and check out the bikes and they said they would close up early today, since it was slow right now, and be home early for dinner and would check them out then. I agreed and then hung up.
I checked my emails and was disgusted when I had two emails regarding rescues that had just come in within the past half hour. One was from a kid that lived in Coilney, a girl about 14 who claimed her father was touching her and leaving bruises on her when he spanked her. She was afraid of him and asked for help. She left me a cell phone number to call and told me what time she would be out of school. I immediately texted her to let her know I had gotten her message and that she could call me when she got out of class.
The other email was from a boy who looked to be about 16 who sent me a picture of himself, all beat up and bloody, saying that his father had beaten him up and that this was not the first time. He begged me to come and get him. He lived in a trailer park just outside of Jackson.
He also left me a cell phone number to call so I texted him and asked if it was safe for me to call him now. I immediately got a call from him and the poor kid sounded terrified and I had to listen hard to hear him whisper to me. “My dad is here right now, he’s drunk again. I don’t know what has him upset right now but he’s been yelling at me through the door for almost an hour. I have it locked and a chair under the handle but it’s not going to hold him back for long.”
“What’s your name, son?” I asked.
“Emmanuel but my friends call me Manny. Please can you come?” He begged.
“What’s your trailer number?” I asked.
“504. We’re the last trailer on the right. It’s kind of gray and blue between the rust spots.” He whispered and I could hear someone yelling at him and banging on the door. “Please hurry!” he whispered and then the phone went dead.
I grabbed a gun out of my office drawer, stuck it in my waistband as I ran out of my office. I ran out the front door and started yelling “We’ve got a kid in trouble on the other side of town. His father is beating on him as we speak. Let’s roll!” I jumped on my bike and started it up. Seconds later, Crusher and several of the others jumped on their bikes and followed me. We flew down the road, taking a shortcut to the trailer park that we unfortunately knew very well. We were there in less than 15 minutes and as soon as we cut our engines we could hear a man yelling at someone inside the trailer.
“Get your lazy ass out here and get this place cleaned up and fix me something to eat. I’m hungry!” The man’s slurred voice yelled and then more banging.
I motioned for two of the guys to go around back and see if they could find the kids window.
I walked up to the front door and knocked. I could hear someone mumbling and staggering around. “Who the fuck is it?” A man’s voice came from inside the trailer.
“Open up! NOW!” I said, opening the screen door, that was missing most of the screen, and made myself ready to grab whoever opened the door.
Suddenly the door flew open and a large man with a big beer belly and bleary eyes was swaying in front of me. “What the fuck do you want?” He spat at me, saliva going everywhere.
“I want to save your son from your sorry ass!” I said as I grabbed him by the wrist and yanked him through the doorway and threw him into the yard. He landed face first in the dirt and it knocked the wind out of him but for only a moment. He was obviously used to fighting and was quicker than I had thought possible, he pushed himself to his feet and took on a fighting stance.
“Who the hell are you? What gives you the right to step into my family’s business? How I treat my good for nothing son is none of your fucking business!” He yelled.
“When a kid contacts me about his piece of shit father beating him to a pulp is all the reason I need.” I said as I jumped down from the porch. “Crusher, call Carl and get him out here to pick up this piece of shit for us.”
About that time, the father rushed at me and tried to wrap his arms around me but he was drunk and I saw him coming. I side stepped and punched him with all of my might right in the stomach. He folded over and was gasping for air but only for a moment. He tried to grab my legs but he was so drunk that his movements were slow and sluggish and I easily stepped away from him and he fell flat on his face in the dirt again.
I motioned to two of my brothers to go get the kid. Quizzer and Boxer hurried inside and I could hear them going through the house and then calling out to the kid. A minute later, they came out holding the kid up between them. He was holding on to his ribs like they were hurting him and his face was so busted up you could barely tell what he looked like.
“Prez, I think this kid is going to need to go to the hospital. He’s spitting up blood.” Quizzer said as they helped the boy sit down on the porch steps.
Just then Carl MacIntosh pulled up and I told him “We need an ambulance for the kid. He’s spitting up blood, thanks to this piece of shit.”
He immediately called it in and then he turned to the boy’s father and said “Well, Jack, it looks like you went one step too far this time. This time I’m going to nail your sorry ass hide to the wall.” Carl said as he tied the man’s hands behind his back using a zip tie. With Crusher’s help, they loaded the half conscious man into the back of Carl’s patrol car and locked him in.
“That SOB damn near killed his wife a couple of years ago. Came home one night, drunk out of his mind and beat the shit out of her. She took Manny and his sister with her to go live with her mother again. I didn’t even know Manny was back here.” Carl told me and then walked over to Manny.
“Manny, boy, what are you doing back here?” Carl asked.
“I came into town about a week ago to see my girl and he caught me riding my bike down the road. He forced me to come back to the house with him. He’s been treating me like a slave all week. He started knocking me around a few nights ago. I managed to get out of the house the first couple of times and just slept underneath the trailers where he couldn’t see me, not like he cared enough to look for me.
When I heard him leave a couple of hours ago, I went to get a shower and some clean clothes but he came back before I could get out again. He had me trapped in the back of the trailer and just started pounding on me. I finally managed to lock myself in my old bedroom and I sent Rooster an email on my phone begging for help. It took over half an hour for him to answer but I’m so very glad he did. Thank you, Mr. Rooster.” Manny said and then began coughing again and blood was coming up so I told him, “Don’t talk anymore, son. The ambulance should be here soon. The hospital will get you fixed up.”
“I wonder why his mom didn’t call and let me know Manny was missing? They don’t live that far out of town.” Carl said, more like talking to himself out loud than really questioning anyone.
“She’s got a new man and she and Nadia moved away with him. She wanted me to go with her but I didn’t want to because of Cheryl, my girl. My grandparents are okay but they still live in the last century. I can’t take all of their old fashioned rules anymore. They are out of town right now visiting my grandmother’s cousin. I’m 18 already so I’m legal to live on my own but I need to make money so that I can afford a place to stay. I was actually going to go to the Auto shop here in town and ask for a job. I’m pretty good at working on engines and fixing things. I just need a chance to prove myself.” Manny said.
Just then a pretty young girl with brown hair and brown eyes came running up to us. When she saw Manny she gasped and ran straight for him. She went down on one knee in front of him and looked up into his face with such adoration. “Oh Manny! What happened? Are you alright?” she asked.
“I’ll be okay, I think. My old man trapped me in the trailer and did this to me. He’s going to jail.” Manny told her. Then he looked over at me and said “Mr. Rooster, this is my girl, Cheryl. Cheryl, this is Rooster from the MSMC. He saved me.”
“I know you. You saved my friend, Cindy, a couple of years ago. Thank you for helping Manny.” Cheryl said.
“I remember. Cindy Reiker, right? She and her little sister were suffering from a pedophile boyfriend of her Aunt’s. The two girls had lost their parents in a car accident and the mother’s sister took the girls in. Damn, I thought the aunt was going to kill that man when she found out what her boyfriend had tried to do with her nieces. How are they doing now?” I asked.
“Much better. They moved to Dallas but Cindy still keeps in touch with me. Her Aunt is working at a job now that doesn’t require her to be away from the house as much and has a nice boyfriend now.” Cheryl said.
“That’s good.” I said.
Just then the ambulance pulled up and as soon as they checked Manny out, they loaded him up in the back and Cheryl crawled in with him. Crusher and I followed them to the hospital and I sent the others back to the compound with instructions to tell Dixie where I was and that I would be home as soon as I made sure that Manny was going to be okay.
We had just pulled into the hospital parking lot when my phone buzzed and it was a call from the girl in Coilney whose father was molesting her. I answered right away.
“Hello? This is Rooster.” I said.
“Mr. Rooster. Are you from the Monster Slayers MC?” The timid voice on the other end of the line asked.
“Yes. I got your email. Are you somewhere safe where you can talk?” I asked.
“Yes, sir. Can you please come and get me? I’m too afraid to go home anymore. I don’t like it when he touches me but if I refuse, he spanks me really hard. I can barely stand to sit down.” She said, on the verge of tears.
“What is your name, little one?” I asked gently.
“Sandy. Sandy Wilson.” she answered.
“Sandy, where are you now?” I asked.
“I’m in the girls bathroom at school but I can’t stay here for long. They lock the doors once all of the kids are out of the building and the last bell just rang.” Sandy said.
“Sandy, is there a teacher or counselor that you trust there?” I asked.
“No! They all know my father. I’m afraid to tell them.” Sandy said, sounding like she was about to start crying.
“Is there a church or somewhere safe you can go to hide until I can get there?” I asked.
“Mr. Rooster,can I call you back in a few minutes? I can hear the janitor coming to clean the bathrooms. I have to get out of here.” Sandy said, almost whispering.
“Yes, go somewhere safe and call me back. I’m on my way. I’ll get there as fast as I can.” I told her and then the phone went dead.
I turned to Crusher and said “Stay here with Manny and Cheryl. I’ve got another rescue in Coilney and the poor kid sounds scared out of her mind! I’ll send Hunter to deal with legal stuff here and I’ll find someone to ride with me.”
“Aye, Prez. I’ll keep Cheryl company until they find out what’s going on. If you talk to anyone at the compound, tell them to let Connie know where I am, please.” He said.
“Will do.” As I walked out of the hospital, I called Hunter and asked him to come to the hospital and explained where I was going. I asked him to get me at least 3 other men to ride with me and to send an SUV to meet me at the on ramp to the highway to Coilney so that I could transport the girl to the Rescue Farm. My next call was to Papa Joe.
“Joe Crankston here.” Papa Joe answered the phone.
“Papa Joe, it’s Rooster. I’m on my way to Coilney to pick up a girl about 14, who’s father has been touching her and spanking her so hard she can’t sit down. Have you got room for her?” I asked.
“We always have room, Rooster. You know that. I’ll tell Mama Mae to get a room ready for her. Has he only been touching?” He asked.
“That’s what she told me on the phone. Oh, here she’s calling me back. I’ll be seeing you soon.” I said and disconnected the call with him and picked up from Sandy.
“Sandy? Are you somewhere safe?” I asked.
“I think so. But I’m so scared. If I don’t show up at home soon, he’s going to come looking for me and everyone knows who I am and who he is. They are going to tell him if they saw me pass.” Sandy said with a shaky voice. “I’m at The Burger Barn, sitting in the booth in the back.”
“Just hang on, honey. We’ll be there in about half an hour. Order you something to eat and I’ll pay for it when I get there. Okay?” I told her.
“Okay. Thank you and please hurry.” Sandy said and hung up.
I gunned my bike out of the hospital parking lot and practically flew down the road towards the highway to Coilney. I was rather surprised to see Rudy driving the SUV but just smiled at him as I passed, motioning for them to follow me. Boomer, Boxer and Blades were with me on this trip as we raced down the highway.