Heavy Duty People: The Brethren MC Trilogy book 1 Read Free

but only if you could swallow it if needed.
    Butcher as Sergeant at Arms pulled the doors shut and the hubbub of voices died to a hush as he strode to join me, Gut the VP, and Popeye the secretary-treasurer, in flanking Tiny, standing behind two tables facing the assembled brothers.
    Prayers, our weekly club meetings, were compulsory and unless you were down or incapacitated, if you missed more than one in a row, you could be fined. Miss more than two and you had better have a bloody good explanation or you could be looking at your patch. But since the empire covered such a wide area, each of the cohorts had their own weekly prayers. We only got together for High Church at the beginning, middle and end of the riding season, or on special occasions.
    This was a special occasion, High Church, a full dress club meeting. Attendance was compulsory for all patches. That meant everyone had to be there, unless you physically couldn’t make it like Prof laid up in hospital with a broken leg and Little Matt and Scottie, both on remand charged with GBH after a run in with The Hangmen last week.
    Whether weekly prayers or High Church, every meeting started the same way, with the roll call as Tiny as President read the register in alphabetical order and we answered.
    ‘ Andy?’
    ‘ Here,’ came a voice from the back.
    ‘ Damage?’
    ‘ Here,’ I said.
    Tiny continued to ask as he worked his way slowly and regularly through the list with replies returned from around the room until at last he got to, ‘Gyppo?’
    ‘ On the road,’ I intoned.
    As Road Captain it was my responsibility to answer for each of the fallen brothers whos e pictures adorned the far wall of the club room, in the same way that Butcher as Sergeant at Arms answered ‘Down but not broken’ for the guys that were inside, who were also always with us in spirit.
    It was just s trange that Gyppo was the first, in both ways.
    With the register finished and the roll call taken, we waited in silence as Tiny closed the book on the desk. I and the other officers pulled out our chairs from under the tables and sat down.
    Tiny remained standing, and seemed to take a moment to gather his thoughts before leaning forwards, knuckles planted on the table he announced, ‘I’ve got something to say.’
    This was it at last. The reason for the urgently called High Church meeting. You could feel the expectation in the air.
    ‘ You’ve all seen that Dazza from The Brethren is downstairs so you’ll have guessed why we’re here tonight as a club. Dazza called me last week and asked if he could speak to us. So according to our rules I need to ask you for your permission to invite a stranger to address a club meeting.’
    *
    A few moments later, Butcher escorted Dazza up. In silence, Gut ushered him to a space that had been made for him to stand beside Tiny who nodded in greeting, while Butcher closed and locked the doors from the inside.
    Tiny waited for Gut and Butcher to resume their seats before speaking again.
    ‘You all know Dazza here. So I guess I’ll just let him say what he has to say.’ He turned to Dazza and with a gesture gave him the floor as he pulled out his own chair to sit down.
    Dazza nodded to him and looked out across the room, calmly meeting the guys’ eyes as they stared at him.
    Dazza had a presence. You could never deny that. And it was a very calmly delivered speech, very businesslike, almost a formal diplomatic address delivered to a hushed hall.
    ‘ Well firstly I’d like to start by thanking you guys for the opportunity to talk to you here tonight at your club meeting. I know you like to keep club meetings private, so do we in The Brethren, so I appreciate being invited in.’
    Very polite. Very correct. We waited.
    ‘ We in The Brethren have known you guys now for many years, we know that you are stand up guys that we can respect and we’ve always had good relations.’
    It was like hearing the a mbassador from a powerful country address the