Heavy Duty Trouble (The Brethren Trilogy) (8 page)

Of course
rumours that the paramilitaries had also taken a dim view of the idea of foreign clubs setting up shop and getting mixed up in local business had
also
helped
to
keep the scene nicely neutral and broadly peaceful, in terms of worldwide biker politics at least.

From my side of the fence however I had things I wanted to know too.
I couldn’t help myself, sitting there facing him, the old scribbler
’
s instinct was just too strong, too many years of asking people questions I guess
,
to be able to pass up the opportunity of getting the inside skinny,
‘S
o what happened,
’
I asked,
‘
at the airport? What was it all about?
’

‘
Oh that,
’
he shrugged disinterestedly,
‘
that’ll never stick, not to me and Charlie anyway.
’

‘
Really
,’
I asked,
‘
why not?
’

Despite myself, I was impressed. For a man potentially facing some of the most high profile murder charges in the country, he seemed unnaturally calm and relaxed.

‘
Cos we didn’t do shit
,’
he said,
‘
and the cops know it. They can search the CCTV all they like and they won’t see either of us lift a finger towards anybody.
’

‘
So who did? And why were you there?
’

He shrugged as if it was the most natural thing in the world. ‘
Well we knew they’d be coming, so we just arranged to be there to meet them when they did.
’

‘
But you
r
guys attacked them…
’

‘
O
h, but
that’s just it
,’ he cut in,
‘i
t wasn’t our guys was it?
’

‘
It wasn’t
?
’

‘
No
.’

‘
So who was it then
?’ I asked.

‘
Chuckey’s boys
.’

I’d been out of the scene
since I’d gone on the lam
but all the same
, even without keeping tabs on the clubs on the web,
I knew the name. ‘
The Hangmen?
’ I
asked
, making the mental connection.

‘
That’s them. They did it.
’

‘
But why?
’

I could see why he wouldn’t want to have used his own guys. Whoever came to that little party was running a huge risk of arrest and some serious jail time, not to mention the chance of actually getting shot, so if you could get some other mugs to take the rap and save your own guys’ arses then why wouldn’t you do it?

But what was in it for the Hangmen that would mean they were willing to stick their necks out like that for the club? But even as I asked myself the question I realized that there was only likely to be one answer to that.

Something that, with his next breath, Wibble confirmed.

‘They’re looking to patch over.’

And then of course it made perfect sense. If The Hangmen were looking to earn themselves club patches, then they would be at the beck and call of the club and would have had no option but to step up to the plate the moment Wibble or Charlie told them to.

But if they had a willing band of fall guys, why had Wibble and Charlie taken the risk of going to the airport themselves
?

‘So what were you there for, you and Charlie,’ I asked, ‘if it wasn’t for the ruck?’

‘We were there to hand them back their patches,’ he said simply
,
as if it explained everything, which of course,
for him
it did. ‘They’re Brethren club property, so they had to be returned.’

And I knew he wasn’t bullshitting. After all I had seen the images, first the stills in the paper, and then the jerky video imagery from the security cameras, as, while the m
ê
l
é
e began to subside, but before enough police had arrived to regain control of the scene, he and Charlie had calmly walked together towards the place where one of the Americans lay dying, and without ceremony, had dumped the black bag
on his chest
, before turning and walking away.

That would have been job done as far as they were concerned. The full UK clubs
’
set of Brethren MC patches and top and bottom rockers, returned to the mother club on exit.

‘
But if that’s all they wanted, why the fight?
’ I asked, ‘why not just hand them over?’

‘Well, it wasn’t just going to be about collecting property
really
was it?
’ he said,
‘Not w
hen you’re gett
ing a visit from Evil…’

‘Woah there just a minute,’ I protested, ‘A visit from evil? What the hell does that mean?’

He laughed, he was enjoying this. I guess prison would be pretty boring
,
so the chance to
shoot the breeze with someone f
r
om
outside
for a while
probably counted as reasonable entertainment.

But
e
vil in Wibble’s world wasn’t some kind of abstract concept, but an all too physical reality.

Evil
,
it turned out
,
was the nickname of Bubba’s right hand guy in the States, the sergeant at arms for the mother chapter and so
both
de facto
worldwide head of security for the whole club and
, by all accounts,
one right
dangerous
bastard. Evil by name. Evil by nature.

‘Sounds like it was a good
handle
for him
.
’

‘Oh it was
all right
. He was an absolute cunt. So when we upped sticks and left, he was the obvious guy to lead the
Yank
s’ charge over here to come and sort us all out. And when Evil and his nutting squad come to town to take care of business, you know there’s only one thing they
’
re here to do.’

‘So spotting when they were coming wasn’t all that difficult then? Not if you knew who to look for?’

‘Shit no,’ he said, ‘we’ve got supporters, contacts, you name it
,
in the airlines. It’s just good business sense
to be able to know that sort of s
tuff
. So all we had to do was have someone keep an eye out for a booking from him and Bob’s your uncle, when he turns up, there
we
were
,
waiting for him.

‘What’s more, we even gave him what he came for.’

‘Not that it did him much good.’
Evil was one of the casualties. ‘He got his at the airport. Pod sliced him up good and proper with a samurai sword.’

I knew which one Evil had to be now. I’d seen his body on the floor in the CCTV footage. The one with Wibble and Charlie dumping the bag of colours on it.

*

‘So why not cop a plea, you and Charlie?’ I asked out of curiosity
.
‘I mean
,
if I
hear you
right, neither of you are
on video anywhere as actually being involved in the punch up,
and the plod
and the CPS
know it
. T
hey’ll know as well as you that it’s not going to stick. S
o surely you could walk quite easily if you wanted to?
Why not just cough to a lesser charge and get out on time served?
’

‘We can’t
,’
he said simply.

‘Why not?’

‘You know the rules,’ he said, ‘it’s like talking to outsiders, no one in the club says anything or ever admits anything to anyone, not without getting the club’s permission first.’

‘So?’ I asked, thinking surely if anyone in the club could get permission it would be these two.

‘So
,
well
,
the only way you make that rule stick when it comes to pleading guilty is that the guys at the top…’

‘The ones who’d give permission?’

He nodded, ‘Y
eah, us, well we can’t go round telling other guys to hang out and then not stay strong ourselves can we? So the moment we cop a plea, what authority do we have to tell other guys not to when it’s their turn to take some heat?’

He shook his head, ‘nah, it just doesn’t work.’

‘It’s the price you pay?’

‘For being an officer? It’s part of it for sure.’

‘But it’s one thing I’ve never really understood,
’
I said, ‘Why pleading guilty
to get a lesser sentence
is such a big deal
I mean
? What’s so wrong with the idea?’

He shrugged,
‘Well sometimes it isn’t, but then you’ve got the cops on
y
our case all the time, looking to make a case against the club, so it’s about protecting the club. The cops’ll always say it’s the club
,
right, any business? It’s not about individuals doing whatever the fuck they do, it’s a
lways got to be some great club-
based conspiracy
cos
we’re some fucking new international mafia or something.’

‘So no one says anything…’

‘Anything that the cops could use to claim some
conspiracy
,
or
that any business was club business, sure.
’

It made sense when he put it like that. In the States the
authorities
had used the RICO act, originally intended to target the real Mafia,
extensively
against t
he bike clubs ever since the 70
s
. They’d
attempt
ed
to prove by linking a number of criminal acts to members of the same club, that the club was a
so called
racketeering and criminal influenced organization; and in recent years other jurisdictions such as Canada and Australia had brought in a range of laws
targeting
the clubs, often with similar provisions.

‘
Besides which,
’ he continued,
‘
you never
really
know what the cops have until they have to use it in
Court
. It’s amazing what shit they have to tell you about what they’ve been doing when they want to bring a case.
’

Anyway, our brief’s
organized
another bail hearing that’ll be coming up
. We’ll walk
soon
enough
.
’

‘
S
o
it’s just a matter of being patient then?
’

‘
Patience? Yeah
,
I suppose so
,’ he smiled,
‘
That’s that thing you have when there’s too many witnesses about isn’t it?
’

It was one of Bung’s.

‘So was it w
orth it
then? The fight?’

‘We did what we had to do.’

‘But where does it get you?’

‘It gets us to right where we want to be. Left alone to get on with it.’

I couldn’t keep the tone of surprise out of my voice.
‘What
? Y
ou think one ruck at the airport is going to do that for you?’

‘Yep, it was all we needed.’

‘But surely one punch up isn’t going to put the
Yank
s off returning for more
is it? O
r come to that
,
the rest of The Brethren
worldwide
piling over to get some as well?
’

‘Ah but that’s the clever part
,’ he smiled,
‘
It doesn’t have to
,
now does it?’

‘Why not?’ but then I knew the answer before the question was out of my mouth.

‘You’ve seen the papers. They’re all up in arms
, all the pols
.
Questions in the house.
Public outrage, the works.
We don’t have to do jack shit.’