Chapter 5: Arma
"Just tell me exactly what happened."
"It… it all happened… so fast… I really don't remember… that well."
"Take it slow dear. At your own pace"
"Alright"
"I came in for my shift, around 8 in the morning. The whole day felt off, tense, it was the last day before everyone went on break for the weekend. I stepped over to my teller to get ready for the morning. I did some paperwork and filed it. Had some coffee around 9:30 and ate. That's about when it happened. Then, after that, everything got strange. Paul, the security guard, he heard something from around the corner. He turned to walk down the hall; I didn't figure it was anything out of the ordinary. Then I heard gunshots."
"How many?" the officer asked "How many shots did you hear?"
The female voice sobbed "Two very quickly, like… bang bang… then another three drawn out, so I think five. I heard a body hit the ground, and I knew it was Paul, he had a wife and kid." The girl cried again as she recounted the events to the police.
"I ducked down under my desk when they came it. They were screaming and yelling at us, pointing their guns at us. I thought one of them would kill me. It was… I was so scared."
"It's okay," the male office soothed her. "Keep going."
"One of us, one of the other tellers, hit the silent alarm." The girl sobbed again. "One of the robbers saw him do it. He shot him in the head, twice. Then he spat on him."
"What about the robber on the ground?" the police detective nodded at the dead man in the ski mask. "How did he die?"
"One of the customers" she recounted. "He had a gun too; he pulled it from his jacket and shot the robber."
"Richard O'Malley, we ran his ID" The officer stated "The rest of them shot him on the spot?"
"Yes, they freaked out, and started arguing with each other. Over the money, over what they were going to do. Then the police showed up, and they ran out the back door."
"Okay" The officer said, rising out of his chair and nodding at the girl "They did get away, but you've been a big help Jessica, thank you. You're a very brave girl. If you remember anything" he pulled a small card out of his jacket. "Don't hesitate to call."
Jessica took the card and smiled "Thank you Detective Rodriguez"
Detective Jesse Rodriguez stepped away from the poor girl. Figures she came in on her day off and had to witness a bank robbery. Jesse walked to the forensic specialist, Thomas Markson. "Tommy" he addressed the man. "What do we have here?"
"Tell you the truth Jesse" he said "I am way more interested in this gun than the dead robber." He picked up the rifle and examined it with his gloved hands.
"This guy is a lowlife," Rodriguez said "Where did he get this kind of firepower?"
"This is a military issue M4 carbine version of the M16A2. Chambered for 5.56x45mm NATO rifle cartridge. These just started shipping to the US Military last year, these are brand spanking new."
"Jesus Christ," Rodriguez said "Are these guys robbing banks or going to war?"
"See this" Markson said as he pointed to the under barrel. "These marks, there was an M203 Grenade Launcher attached to the barrel, that is some serious hardware."
"Get Stockton ATF down here" Rodriguez said to his partner. "We gotta find these guys, and the first step is finding the gun salesman."
Agent Peter Waller was called up to Lodi the second he entered the office. A bank job, a big one, several robbers with automatic weapons killed three people and stole $750,000. "I'm Agent Waller, ATF" He took off his sunglasses and pocketed them inside his cheap suit jacket.
"Lodi Police, Detective Rodriguez" The local detective shook his hand and led him into the bank. "Agent, we have several homicides and an empty bank vault. They were packing huge rifles, military grade."
"Looks like one big turkey shoot" the ATF agent noticed all of the bodies, and was ushered farther back into the bank.
"Yeah, a civilian gun owner pulled a SIG and killed one of the thieves. They didn't take him alive" The detective pointed to Richard O'Malley.
"That's too bad, too many 2nd amendment idiots trying to be heroes."
"That's a positive outlook to take on four men gunning down someone who was trying to protect over twenty people." Jesse scoffed at the Agents brass.
"You call it protection detective, I call it stupidity." Agent Waller squatted down next to the dead bank robber and slipped on his rubber gloves. He heaved the gun into his hand and checked it over. "Nice gun though. Can't complain with military issue. Don't have to have good aim when you're holding 30 bullets in the magazine. You've recorded all the specs on this right?" he asked Markson, who nodded.
The agent slid the magazine out of the gun. He pulled back on the charging handle and the last remaining round flew out of the gun. He picked up the ejected cartridge. "This is unmarked ammo, no stamps or maker's marking. Whoever supplied these guys defiantly knew how to disappear."
"So you can't trace it?" The detective asked.
"Well, I can ask around, I have a few snitches in the area. I might need a phone."
"Get the man a phone" Detective Rodriguez snapped at Thomas, who quickly returned with a cell. He handed the ATF agent the phone, who dialed a number.
"Johnny" The agent spoke into the phone after the third ring. "I've got three dead at a bank in Lodi, the guys were carrying military grade M4s, and I need to know where they came from."
"Christ Waller," the voice said back "I'm in too deep with you already man, my friends will butcher me if they ever found out."
"I'll make sure you get butchered in prison if you don't give me what I want."
"Fine" he said "You're gonna get me killed."
"Alright" Waller said a few minutes later, "Alright, that's great, stay out of trouble." He hung up.
"Do we have a potential lead?" the detective asked.
"Charming" The agent said "Time to move to the small town."
"Man, screw school" Jax stated as he walked into the clubhouse with Opie
"It helps if you pay attention" Opie cracked open a soda and handed it to Jax, before opening one for himself.
"Like you actually do work." Jax laughed. "All I'm saying is that if I'm gonna be part of this club, I'm not gonna need a high school education."
"So drop out" Opie took a sip from his soda and walked into the back room, where the member's of SAMCRO kept their lockers. Opie's locker contained his mechanic's shirt, with the TM logo and his name on it, a water bottle, a bag of weed, and a small 9mm handgun. Opie hung his backpack in his locker and motioned for Jax to throw him his own. Jax tossed his black knapsack at Op, who caught it and placed it in Jax's locker, which contained his TM shirt, a pin up magazine, a small notebook, and his weapons. Opie handed Jax his holster, which contained his .45 and his knife. Jax pulled off his cut carefully and laid it on the bar, on the only clean spot. The blonde threw the shoulder holster around his arms and adjusted the straps.
"Can't" Jax said as he threw his cut back on "Gemma won't let me, says it's too important."
"Damn" Opie laughed "Gemma?"
"Yep" Jax took a seat at the bar. "Speaking of crazy parents, you hear anything about Piney?"
"He's awake," Opie grinned "And restless, he's already screaming at my mom again."
"Then he's defiantly getting better." Jax said as Clay, Otto, Tig, and Bobby walked into the room.
"Mr. President" Jax grabbed his outstretched hand and pulled him in, clapping him on the back. "What's new in the exciting life?"
"We have some serious problems." Clay said, Jax's face wavered "Of the felonious kind"
"Shit" Jax said "What happened?"
"Save it for church." Clay said, "Right now, I need a drink, badly" Opie poured out a shot of bourbon and handed it to Clay, who downed it quickly and asked for another. "Call Chibs and Uncle Tom, tell them to get over here, we got a huge vote in an hour."
"What about Hap?" Opie asked
"Happy went up to Merida to visit his mom, after that he's going back to Tacoma."
Wayne Unser sat at his desk, the chief's desk, at the Charming Police Department, looking over incident reports until the sun went down. It seemed like a quiet day; perhaps he could go home tonight and get a good night's sleep. Maybe he could take his mind off the cancer and enjoy the rest of the day. That changed soon however, when Hale walked into his office.
"Chief?" the tell tale knock and distinctive voice gave away the identity of the disturber.
"Yeah" Unser closed the file he was examining and slapped it down on the desk.
David Hale, a two year veteran of the Charming Police, walked into Unser's office. Hale was the definition of clean cut, with a straight hair cut and perfectly ironed shirt. Hale's face was, at 23, distinguished for such a young officer, with a prominent brow and rough jaw line. David's tan uniform was pressed to perfection and his polished badge gleamed in the florescent lights. With Charming being such a small town, it wasn't hard to believe that low level officers met with the chief all the time.
"Hale" Unser sat up in his chair straighter. "What do you need?"
David held up a newspaper "Have you seen this?"
Wayne shook his head "I just got in," Unser grabbed the paper from David "What happened?"
"Bank robbery in Lodi," Hale sat down across from Unser "Three dead, two injured."
Unser skimmed the article and threw it on his desk "What's the importance to us David?"
"I have a friend on the beat in Lodi who was first on the scene. Doesn't say it in the paper, but my buddy tells me the robbers were using M4A1s, Army issue."
"Christ" Unser exclaimed "That's a pretty big deal but, I still don't see why that should concern us here."
Hale almost looked exasperated "Chief, if anyone from San Francisco to Stockton wants high quality weapons, you know who they call."
"Here we go again." Wayne slouched in his chair.
"They call Clay Morrow" Hale snapped "SAMCRO has to be involved in this, sir. Those street thugs couldn't have possibly gotten weapons from anyone else."
"David" Unser started "You are a good cop; you have several high quality arrests under your belt already. But don't think that you can just make brash accusations without even being at the scene of the damn crime."
"Chief" Hale spoke again
"NO" Unser snapped at David "I don't want to hear anything until Lodi detectives start investigating the SOA, until then, you can keep your suspicions to yourself. We have don't have a problem."
"We have a problem" Clay said as he sat down at the head of the table. "A big, slobbery, heaping, shitload of a problem."
"What slobbering shitload would this be exactly?" Chibs asked with a small laugh as he poked Jax, who had finally been able to take his long awaited seat at the table, next to his Scottish friend, and when he came back, Piney.
"A bank robbery, in Lodi" Tig said as he ran a hand through his jet black hair
"So what does that have to do with us?" Jax asked as he lit a cigarette.
"One of the guys who pulled the job off" Clay stated "His name was Victor Allard. He recently bought ten M4 high quality assault rifles. Guess who the man bought them from?"
"Oh shit" Chibs said "I remember that deal, bout a month ago."
"Yeah well, good old Vic is dead" Otto said "But his friends, they got away, four of them."
Clay lit his cigar and grabbed his whiskey glass "Some righteous gun owner popped Allard in the chest while they were pulling off the heist. Good for him, bad for us. Victor dropped his rifle and his amateur buddies were too stupid to pick it up. Now the cops, and most likely the ATF have a trail of little breadcrumbs leading back to our doorstep."
"Damn" Bobby said "How're we gonna settle this?"
"We need to make that rifle disappear" Otto said, "We need to get into that evidence locker. At Lodi PD."
"We're just gonna march into a police precinct?" Uncle Tom asked with slight laughter.
"We might actually find a use for Unser" Tig said
"He must have someone in Lodi we could get to help." Jax said as he put out his cigarette butt.
"Yeah," Clay said, "Now, to the matter of Victor's buddies."
"Personally, I vote forward on Mr. Mayhem" Tig said.
"Whatever happened to brains before bullets?" Jax asked, pointing to the sign above the table. That elicited several snickers from the rest of the club.
Clay scoffed "Maybe Tig's right. Find and take out the guys before the cops get to em. Or at least make sure they skip town for a while." He put down his cigar "As far as the plan with Unser" he picked up the gavel "Yay"
"Yay"
"Yay"
"Yep"
"Yes"
"Yeah"
"Yay"
"Alright" Clay slammed down the gavel "We're gonna focus on the gun first, then we'll vote on the rest of Allard's crew tomorrow" he looked at Jax "Go visit Piney and get his proxy" he commanded.
"Okay, you want me to stick around tonight?" Jax asked.
"I thought you had a hot date tonight?" Clay smirked as the rest of the club laughed and jeered at Jax.
"I can put it off" Jax said "It's just a girl, the club is the club."
"Nah" Clay said "We'll figure it out, you stay available just in case."
"Yeah" Chibs mocked "Have fun on your little date, Jackie-boy"