Trip raised his hand, trying to settle down all the conversation now swirling around The Barn, jump-started from Sig’s outburst. Some of it surprise, some of it eagerness. While some might not agree with the method, all were onboard with the fact they needed to end the Shirleys once and for all.
Warnings hadn’t worked. Picking the Shirley men off one at a time hadn’t worked, either. Even the feds coming in and clearing that mountain hadn’t done shit.
The clan was truly made up of redneck roaches.
They needed to do something drastic. Blowing up that fucking mountain was certainly that. If that didn’t finish off the Shirleys, nothing would.
“Like I said, gonna cost us scratch we don’t got. We’re gonna be hurtin’ for a while ‘cause we’ll be runnin’ on empty,” Trip emphasized. “Personally, don’t like that. Hate not havin’ reserves available for emergencies. All of us in this room have done a lot to build up the club’s account, we’ve done a lot to build our businesses and it’s gonna feel like we’re goin’ back to square one. But our safety, the safety of our women and especially our kids, is always gonna come first. Our kids are priceless.”
A wave of fuck yeahs swept through the room.
“So, we’re gonna have to bite the bullet and pay. No other way around it. Otherwise, this shit will never be over and we’ll never live in peace. Think we can all agree on that. But here’s the thing… This ain’t a decision I can fully make on my own or even the exec committee. It’s gotta be all of us. This is somethin’ once we decide to move forward with, we all have to be able to live with the results, if you get what I’m sayin’. Diesel’s crew, the Shadows, might also need help. They normally don’t but this is a huge job. Of course, it’s also a dangerous job. My Marine buddy Slade might even come up with them. He steps in and helps them out when necessary, but the rest of it might fall on us. They’re gonna come up, do their thing and then they’re gonna disappear like, just what I said, ghosts. We’ll be the one dealin’ with any aftermath. Guess what I’m sayin’ is this ain’t gonna be a social call. It’s gonna be all business. And, just so you know, it took a lot of convincin’ from Judge for Diesel to agree to take this job for those very fuckin’ reasons.”
“Ain’t easy gatherin’ that kinda explosive power,” Judge added. “Gonna take time for the Shadows to accumulate the items needed for such a big job. They have to be careful about it so it doesn’t set off any red flags. They don’t want the job to end before it even begins. Especially with the kinda scratch they’re gonna be makin’ on it.”
“Holy fuck, are they blowin’ up that whole fuckin’ mountain?” Whip asked, unsure how the fuck that would even happen. It was a mountain not a dirt hill. That was going to take some major explosives for massive detonations.
“It ain’t gonna be that simple. Wish it was,” Trip answered. He tugged his baseball cap back on his head. “The plan as it stands without them actually surveyin’ the clan’s compound is to take out every fuckin’ buildin’ on Hillbilly Hill and fuck up the terrain enough that they won’t be able to rebuild easily, if at all. That is, if there’s any in the mountain clan left to rebuild. They need to use enough explosives to not only deter them from livin’ up there, but from ever comin’ back. The goal is it needs to be a message they can’t ignore.”
“That’ll be a huge kick in their fuckin’ asses,” Easy said with a grin.
“Won’t the feds and the locals be crawlin’ all over that?” Rev asked.
“No doubt,” Judge answered. “But we’re gonna have an event planned that night so we all have alibis. All of us. We’re gonna make sure we’re seen in public, so we’ll probably hold this ‘event’ at Crazy Pete’s where we’re not only gonna be seen, but will also have privacy to deal with whatever we gotta deal with, like communication between us and the Shadows, shit like that. Still workin’ out those details but it should all be in place before they get up here.”
“Don’t you think the pigs are gonna set their sights on us?” Rook asked. “Nobody wants the Shirleys gone more than us.”
“You better believe they’re gonna be up our asses. ’Specially the Brysons. But Diesel’s team’s gonna make it look like the Shirleys were makin’ their own explosives for revenge against the government and, just like the meth they were makin’, they’re gonna make it look like the clan was makin’ it and storin’ it the half-assed hillbilly way, so…” Trip shrugged. “You know how that goes… shit happens.”