Page 78 of Indie
“Do you have rallies all year round?”
“No. It gets too cold for a tent in the middle of winter and even fuelled on alcohol and other stuff. We’re not that mad. This is the last before winter. TheFrostbite Frenzyis the first one afterwards. In March, in the Lake District. More torture and a survival challenge rather than a party.”
I glanced across at the tent not far away. Magnet and Fury were building it, but it wasn’t for them. Tori, Ste’s dark-haired girlfriend, sat in the driver’s seat of the car, watching the men work, and Ste shuffled about, chatting to another group who’d ridden up at the same time as us. I couldn’t catch the badge because it wasn’t on their backs. Some sort of Thunderbolt embroidered on the left side of their jackets.
“They’re Gateshead Thunder,” Indie answered, even though no words had left my mouth. “Tez, the President was one of us a long time ago.”
“He was allowed to leave?”
“Yeah. Extenuating circumstances. If anyone earned a get out free card, it was Tez. Anyway. He couldn’t stay away from the life for long, so he took up with an MCC Gateshead Thunder. They’re pretty close to us. Friends.”
“They wear their badge on their front.”
“Yeah. That’s because they are an MCC. Sort of affiliate bike club. They’ll meet up, have a drink, subscribe to some rules and values, but they don’t take it as seriously as we do. Guess that’s the difference.”
In the time I watched, passing poles and tent pegs when Indie needed them, tents had taken over the landscape. The wet green field was full of a myriad of shapes and colours, and thegentle rain which landed softly on the grass now tapped onto taught polyester and nylon.
“Who the fuck are they?” Fury asked, sidling over to where Indie hammered in the last of the pegs, pulling the porch of the little tent tight.
Craning my neck, I followed where the men stared. All I could see was another band of bikes riding across the field. I counted ten, maybe less, packed tight with panniers and tents tied to the back. They were all single riders, dressed in the usual black leather and black helmets, riding in the same formation that the Kings had all the way up here.
The riders passed us slowly, all heads turning in our direction. The slow movement meaningful. Threatening. And on their backs as they crawled away from us was a fan of cards, aces, the ace of spades sitting prominently on the top.
Chapter Thirty Four
“When the fuck? How? Who created those?” my father panted, as he stopped at my side, dislodging the little bottle of oxygen that hung off one shoulder, and dumping it beside the seat he then collapsed into.
“Judging by the back patches, I’m guessing the Aces.”
“And who the fuck are they?”
Emmie shifted nervously on my other side, and I slid my hand over hers, clasping her fingers with a little squeeze. It wassupposed to reassure her, a little signal that it was all ok, but her arm felt heavy, her fingers rigid against mine.
“Reckon you can go unpack the sleeping bags and stuff into the tent now that it’s up, Spuggy?”
She looked up at me, uncertainty swirling in her eyes, and slowly nodded, slipping her hand from mine and approaching the bike to scoop what she needed out of the big leather panniers.
“I’m pretty certain they’re a street gang turned bike club,” I answered my father eventually as we both stood watching them set up camp not far from us.
That wasn’t a fluke, either. The proximity of the camp was supposed to be a threat in itself. A blatant disregard for the lead MC in the north east of England.
“I’m guessing since I know fuck all about this, that they haven’t declared themselves to us. Or had those patches signed off by the coalition?”
“No. The last dealings we had with them was when Demon roughed them up, Emmie’s ex in particular.”
“Emmie’s ex is an Aces gang member?”
“Yeah.”
“And why have you never told me this before now?”
“It wasn’t relevant to anything.”
“It’s fucking intelligence, that’s what it is. You know I’m not dead yet, don’t you?”
“Aye. Unfortunately, you’re still here chewing my ear off.”
“Aye. And I’m still the president. I should know this shit.”