Bullets To Bottles chapter 5

A jukebox played classic rock as Coyote, Lino and Swamp Man entered what was called 'Patsy's Corner' a.k.a. room 20 in a tenement building owned and operated by a club friendly slumlord.

Patsy's Corner was as well made as it could be. An L shaped bar was built to house all the drinks and other items, including the cashbox for the night. Locking and sliding panels helped to cover up the various liquors while keeping them in proper storage in case anyone started snooping around. The place was set up to look very much like a regular apartment room but it only took a slight change in furniture and several hidden compartments to fly open from the walls to change it into a speakeasy.

All in all, Swamp Man was interested in how Patsy's Corner was able to keep itself at least appealing to the sober customers upon arrival. "What about the customers who are lit up like Times Square at New Year's Eve?"

"That's why we're on the first floor of this building with a room just above the basement level. Anyone refuses to leave by taxi gets to drop down to the basement level where there are led to a taxi or thrown out onto a bus stop. No one would think much of them except for what they look and sound like: a drunk vagrant." Lino said.

"Sounds like you got a good thing going here." Swamp Man said, taking in the subtle decor and set up of the place. "Not much to hide and moving things around easily helps when the law comes knocking."

Looking to the speakeasy host, James 'Patsy' Polby, Swamp Man motioned for a shot glass. Patsy put one on the bar. It was instantly filled with a shot of Swamp Man's shine. "Take a shot, kid."

Patsy glanced over at Lino and Coyote, who both nodded firmly, silenly telling the speak host to drink. The shine hit him so hard he dropped the glass and grew his snub nosed revolver from behind the bar and aiming it right at Swamp Man, who waved down Coyote and Lino, who had already drawn their sidearms. "What was that for?"

"That's so you know how strong my shine is and how one shot can put down even the most hardcore drinker." Swamp Man calmy took the gun from Patsy, ejected the rounds from the cylinder and tossed them behind him so they scattered across the room. "I've stared down more dangerous men than you in my life. That's how I know you couldn't get a shot off at me even if ya had that pea shooter put right at my forehead." The look in the Bayou native's eyes more than told the story of a man who stared down the barrels of many guns and survived.

"Keep my shine at one shot each serving, put the price high. I do not nickel and dime my merchandise at home or here in Chicago. I'll be expecing my percentage every month. Got that?"

Patsy nodded, unable to speak from the burn Swamp Man's shine left him with. "You don't want me leaving Chicago with a empty wallet."

Juice parked his Super Glide in front of the tall building that stood before him. "Do not worry, Juice. This is a great place for reflection and solace."

"I haven't been here for a long time, that's all."

"Don't worry. I'll be right there with you." Mercy said as she took Juice by the hand and led him inside the cathedral. Inside were pews, candle vigils for prayers and a confessional booth.

When the booth was ready to hear confessionals, there would be a light on, almost beckoning those who sought to free themselves from their guilt and remorse. That day, the very moment they walked in, the light was on.

"No one would harm you in there. It's just you talking with God or at least one of those that represent him."

It took a while for him to get his thoughts together. Once he did, Juice walked inside the confessor's side of the booth and closed the curtain.

For a moment, there was silence. Then the panel between the booths opened. All Juice saw was a black shirt. The face of the man on the other side was hidden.

Signing the cross from his forehead, chest and shoulders, Juice recited, "Forgive me for not coming here sooner. I have sinned. It's been too long since my last confession."

"What sins trouble you?" The voice seemed familiar but Juice could not put a name to it.

"I have committed terrible acts against those I stood by and for those I have fought for. My fear drove me to do things I have to carry with me the rest of my life."

"What sort of actions could plague you so terribly?"

"I stole, killed and bore false witness. I may have done something recently and I'm unsure why I did it." Juice wept as the mystery man in the other booth heard the cries.

"You have the voice of a man on the run. What are you running from? Or what is it you are running to?"

Taking a breath to calm himself, Juice replied, "A friend of mine, he took a chance on me. He is trying to save me. I don't know if I'm worth saving."

"All of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Thus no man standing before him is holy. Do you truly seek forgiveness?"

"Yes."

"Trust in those who are truly your friends, say 10 Hail Marys, 5 Our Fathers and keep the love of God in your heart. Perhaps that will help to keep your fear at bay. Go in peace and may the Lord be with you."

Signing the cross, Juice exited the booth and was met instantly by Mercy, who wiped the tears from his eyes and hugged him. Once he got himself together, they both walked out together.

The light over the confessional booth went out.

Nero Padilla sat in the confessional, gripping the Colt Python revolver in his hand. Having heard every word Juice said, it took every bit of control to keep from blasting him in half right through the panel of the confessional booth.

Having walked out of the tenement apartment, Coyote and Lino walked out with Swamp Man out front when out of the blue, Swamp Man felt what seemed like a hand made of pure ice grip his insides. From up ahead, two hoods came out from both the right and left of the hallway's end.

Quicker than a hiccup, Coyote and Lino had their sidearms drawn but faster than even that, Swamp Man spun around to the rear, pulled his Glock and Coyote's other M1911A1 from the shoulder holster.

Four shots later, three of the hoods were dead while one shot out of the hallway like a bat out of hell. Coyote was about to charge after him until Swamp Man pulled him back by the nape of his neck. "Never turn a corner if ya can't see the shoota, Coyote. He'll get the jump on ya."

Then the sound of a body hitting the floor caught their attention, followed by a familiar voice.

"Coast is clear, guys. I got your goon right here."

Swamp Man instantly recognized the voice. Once their guns were holstered again, Swamp Man smiled. There in front of them stood the Nomad President himself, Rane Quinn, along with Scarecrow and Demon, his best cleaners. They had the goon in their custody.

"Did you know this happened, Quinn?"

" gut told me to come here, Hank. Didn't expect to find a bunch of bushwhackers in Chicago though."

Coyote, Swamp Man and Lino walked out with Quinn to find a van parked in the alley adjacent to the building. The rear doors opened and out stepped Danny 'Psycho' Givens and Tommy Moran. "Here's the one hood live enough to talk. Take him to wherever you got to and get everything you can from him."

"What do we do with him after that?"

"Have fun, Danny. Just make sure he talks."

Coyote and Lino were no powderpuffs but both of them almost dropped a deuce on the street from the sadistic grin on Psycho's face. When Danny threw the guy into the van, he must have forgotten which door was open and the guy wound up slammed against the closed door. "Damn it, Psycho. Put him in the open door. Do it again."

Psycho picked up the hood and threw him again against the closed door.

"I meant for you to put him in through the open door." Tommy barked.

"You said for me to do it again." Danny said.

"We can't question him if he's in a coma." Tommy said, thinking to himself how he and Danny sounded like an old comedy team.

"Don't sweat it, Tom. Look, he's still awake." Psycho said before finally putting the guy into the van through the open door. The goon tried to crawl out but he forgot who he was dealing with. When his hand was on the side of the closed door, he felt a sharp pain shoot through his fingers as the other door closed right on them.

Over the yelp of pain, Psycho said, "I thought I left the A/C on. Didn't want to cool off the whole neighborhood."

Tommy, Lino and Coyote did a triple face palm while Swamp Man and Quinn shook their head in suppressed laughter.

Upon return to the clubhouse, Quinn wound up in chapel, talking with Harris about the attempted run against Patsy's Corner and the club. Swamp Man and Lino were in chapel with them to preserve the diplomacy between the two Presidents.

After calling Angie and the girls, Coyote kept himself busy by checking his Harley to make sure everything ran smoothly. The air pressure, fluids and fuses

He was so into working on his Street Bob that he did not notice the Nomad Sons arrive back onto the lot until the Nomad Sergeant at Arms spoke to him.

"Coyote, wheel your Harley over to the garage. There's something I pulled from the scrap heap that I think will go good on it."

"Sure. Psycho." Coyote said.

Once they got to the garage, Psycho showed him a sidecar with a luggage rack attached to the rear. "This is what you wanted to show me? A sidecar?"

"It's more of a Show and Tell." Psycho closed the garage doors and locked them. "I show you this. Now you tell me something." The sound in Psycho's voice was usually the type reserved for enemies of the club and Prospects who talked out of line. Coyote was instantly alert and unconsciously reaching for his Colts. "Danny, you know I'm an officer like you."

"You're an officer but you are nothing like me. That's for damn sure." Danny said as he quickly disarmed Coyote. Putting the Colts and knife far from Coyote's reach, Psycho went straight into it. "Juice's house burned down, his bike was turned into scrap metal and he is still alive. Why?"

Coyote took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts together and said, "He reached out to me for help. SAMCRO wanted in on the booze business with the New York Crew. So I struck a deal between the charters with the condition that Juice transfers to SAMYORK. It's up to me to take him home to the Big Apple."

"And it's up to me to introduce rats to Mr. Mayhem." Psycho said, looking Coyote in the eye. "Chibs filled me in on all of it. Juice betrayed the patch, stole from the club, framed and killed a member to help a cop."

"As long as Juice lives, the deal between New York and Charming stands. Albino and Bobby signed off on it."

Taking his favorite knife from the inside of his cut, Psycho walked up to Coyote and put the knife to the New Yorker's face and said, "You ready to suffer for the sake of a rat?"

"I already stuck my neck out once when I was staring down an entire charter. I'm not gonna stop now against a fellow member, even if it's you, Psycho."

Psycho let out an amused growl as he put away his knife. "Tough ass New Yorker."

A vicious right hook floored Coyote so fast that he never saw the fist coming. Psycho pulled him up and threw two haymakers to Coyote's abdomen and slamming his forearm right across the back, sending Coyote reeling to the floor.

Gingerly getting up to his feet, Coyote looked Psycho right in the eye despite of the pain shooting through his body. Psycho picked the SAMYORK Secretary up over his head and powerslammed him against the garage door.

Coyote never felt such pain from a beating in his life. Only then did he understand why Psycho was the Nomad Sergeant At Arms.

Despite the beating he dealt Coyote being the least violent he's ever been, Psycho was surprised to see Coyote trying to get up. There were many others who would have just played dead on the floor but Coyote wouldn't stay down.

The Nomad Sergeant at Arms approached Coyote and gave a brotherly slap on the shoulder as a show of respect. Coyote plummeted down to the floor again. "Oops."

A banging on the door caught Psycho's attention before he heard Quinn shout out, "Psycho, what's going on in there?"

Psycho opened the door to let Quinn in. The Nomad President took one look at the beaten Coyote, looked at Psycho and said, "What did the kid do to get a beating from you?"

"I heard big city New Yorkers were tough. Wanted to see it for myself."

Quinn walked over to Coyote, picked him off the ground and put him back on his feet. "I'm taking him back to his room and let the girls take care of him. Maybe they'll get him a doctor to make sure he's not bleeding internally. Then you and I will talk in chapel."

Harris and Lino watched as Quinn help Coyote to his room. It was one of the Prospects that spotted this and told him sponsor, who got the message up to Harris and Quinn. The Nomad President and the SAMYORK Secretary were followed closely by a gaggle of women who had bandages, ice and a slab of cold meat to put of Coyote's left eye to make the swelling go down.

"Rane, what happened?" Harris asked. It was not everyday that an officer from an outside charter got pummeled out of the blue by another officer from another charter.

"Nothing too bad, Al. He's still in one piece, more or less. If you got an MC friendly doctor, get 'em here. For his sake and Psycho's, I hope Coyote isn't bleeding internally. He's still got to ride back to New York." Quinn said to the Chicago SoA president. Turning to the SAMCAGO Sergeant at Arms, Quinn said, "Lino, get Scarecrow, Demon, Tommy and Hank to the chapel. I have to talk with my Nomads."

Having known the Nomad SoA President for as long as he did, Harris understood what it meant when Quinn called his Nomads to chapel.

Lino had no trouble finding Tommy. He was at the bar, nursing a beer. "Your Pres wants you in chapel, Tom. 5 minutes."

Tommy polished off the rest of his beer, threw the bottle in the trash and walked off to the chapel. When he arrived, Swamp Man, along with Scarecrow and Demon, were already waiting for Quinn. In the blink of an eye, Swamp Man was face to face with the Nomad VP.. "What went down tonight? We don't gather at chapel for nothing, especially when it's Quinn calling us all together."

"I may have seen Danny talking with Coyote about something for his Harley. Seemed harmless. I thought Danny was going to talk with Coyote..."

"Talk? Damn it, Tommy! This is Psycho we're talking about here! He's not infamous for being chatty." Demon said, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"I didn't think Psycho was going to pound blood out of Coyote..." Tommy trailed off when Demon pointed behind the Nomad VP's shoulder. "Speak of the devel." Scarecrow quipped. They all saw Quinn march Psycho in front of him towards chapel. "Inside. Now."

None of them argued or said anything. Without hesitation, they opened the doors and walked into a room that seemed like it was about to close in on them, especially after hearing the slam of the doors closing shut. After locking the doors, Quinn pointed to the table and then to the wall.

In the blink of an eye, Scarecrow and Demon took the table and put it up against the wall so they could move about easily and that nothing would get in the way.

Scarecrow had his back to the door, Demon has his back to a wall and Swamp Man had his back to the rear of the room, leaving Quinn with his back to the head of the room. This put Psycho and Tommy in the middle of a diamond formation while staring up at their President who was not pleased at all.

"Psycho, what did Coyote do to deserve a beating?"

"Like I said, Quinn, I heard New Yorkers were tough. Wanted to put him to the test." Psycho said as though it would explain everything. It did not.

"Psycho, you don't throw those heavy haymakers at anyone just because you want to test their metal. I have known that about you from the minute you joined my charter."

Psycho took a deep breath and looked around him. This was the one family he ever had but now he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The Redwood Original and the Nomad charter.

"SAMCRO reached out to me. They told me about a rat that skipped town. He stole from them, aided a cop and killed one of their own members, pinning the poor bastard with the blame for a crime he didn't commit. They wanted me to deal with him."

Quinn and Swamp Man were the ones to put one and one together. "Juice is a rat?" Swamp Man asked.

It then made sense to Quinn why Coyote made the condition to transfer Juice to the New York Crew. That would put Juice out of the Redwood Original's reach. "That does not explain what you did to Coyote, Danny." Swamp Man said.

"He was ready to take a beating just to keep Juice alive. I'll give the kid credit though. He never stayed down. The Caveman would be proud of him."

Quinn then looked to Tommy. "If you try to sell me on being ignorant to any of this, I'll take the cut off your back, Tommy."

"I thought they were going to do some work on Coyote's motorcycle. I figured there was nothing wrong so I went to the Rec Room to chill out. I didn't think Coyote was going to be cornered by Psycho let alone get beaten to a pulp."

The imposing Nomad President stared down his left and right hand men. For a moment, he said nothing. Then he spoke to Swamp Man, Scarecrow and Demon. "As a sign of respect, do a full detail job on Coyote's Street Bob. I want that Harley prepped and in tip top condition when he's ready to ride out with a full tank of gas. Just for kicks, hook up the side car to it. Is that clear?"

"We hear ya loud and clear, Pres." Swamp Man said while Scarecrow and Demon nodded silently. "Then get to it. You have a week. By then, Coyote is going to get stir crazy." Quinn replied, dismissing the three men from chapel.

Putting his attention back on his Sergeant and VP, Quinn said, "As for the two of you, I have something else in mind."

Quinn looked at Tommy. "You're going to watch what happens because you're next."

Turning to his Sergeant at Arms, Quinn spoke in a way that made even Psycho sweat. It made him remember why the former Navy SEAL is the only man Happy feared and why he was respected by all members of the club.

"Drop your cut, lose the rings and get in the fucking ring now."

Before they could reach the door, Quinn said, "Put the table back as it was before you leave."

Tommy and Danny did as they were ordered. Swamp Man led Scarecrow and Demon to Coyote's Street Bob while Quinn all put dragged his SA and VP by the ears to the boxing ring.

After leaving church and going out on the town, Juice and Mercy returned to the spotted Swamp Man and two other Sons working on Coyote's Street Bob while a major fight was going on in the boxing ring.

Juice hung back for a bit while Mercy went up to Harris and his VP Marley, watching as Quinn threw down a Navy SEAL beating on his Sergeant at Arms.

"Al, what's going on?"

"Quinn is dealing with Psycho. He attacked an officer from another charter. Coyote's in his room. The girls are tending to him. A doctor should be in tomorrow morning to check him for any internal injury."

Mercy looked at Psycho and huffed in exasperation before leaving to go check on Coyote, pulling Juice by the arm to join her.

Entering Coyote's room, Mercy and Juice found most of the girls that frequented SAMCAGO tending to the beaten Secretary of SAMYORK. Walking up to the bed, Juice saw the extent of the damage. "Coyote, who did this to you?"

Taking a steady breath so to not expand his ribcage too far, Coyote said, "Psycho. He knows what you did." Pausing for a moment to let his ribs close inward, he continued. "Chibs told him everything. He wanted to kill you."

Mercy understood where this was going. "You took a beating from him to keep me alive?"

Coyote nodded.

Juice sat down in a chair at Coyote's bedside, overwhelmed by how far Coyote was ready to go for a brother like him. "I owe you my life, brother."

"Yeah. You do." Coyote said firmly.

A/n: It may have taken a long while for this chapter to come through but I had to make sure it came out just right. Big shot out to TellatrixForever for all the help he gave me with this and the OC characters he let me use (Scarecrow, Demon, Swamp Man, Tommy Moran and Psycho). If you are still interested in seeing this story through to the end, let me know in a review. Remember to be polite. Thank you.