Be Careful What You Wish For

              BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR                                                                                                                                                     

     At 1:33 a.m. on a cold January night, two members of the Red Dragons Motorcycle gang drove up and parked their Harleys in front of The Green Beaver Bar. In the bar window, facing the street, there was a small neon green light, that was shaped to spell open. It blinked continuously on and off. 

The bar owner told aspiring bar maids that the neon light gave the bar a Broadway flair.

It was a sleazy run down bar on the city limits of Fremont, CA. The two men walked across the old dirty dark wooden floor, scattered with pop corn, cherry stems, peanut shells, cigarette butts and lip stick stained paper napkins. The smell of stale beer and smoke gave off a befitting aroma. The bar was about forty feet long. Bar stools were scattered about the bar in no particular fashion.There were tables that could accommodate four chairs each. Each table had glass ash trays holding three day old butts and ashes. Ceiling fans hung down and revolved slowly, The ceiling had fluorescent lights, half were burned out. At the back of the bar were pinball machines and pool tables.The bar catered to all types of criminals, bums, and ladies of the evening. 

There were a couple of non gang bikers at the bar, that the two Dragons did not know. When the Dragons were a few feet inside, the two non-gang bikers left without finishing their beers. The bartender disappeared behind swinging doors to the kitchen.

The bar closed at 2:00AM, a county code. All the patrons had left, all juiced up and ready to commit their chosen crimes.                                                                                                                                                                                 

The guy with long greasy black hair and a heavy gold chain was John McGraw, known as, Big John. He was the president of the Red Dragons. With him was Keith Keel, called, Mr. M, whose specialty was murder for hire. He had been out of prison three days after serving twelve years for murder. His red sleeveless undershirt, showed arms covered with obscene tattoos. They took seats at a back table and as was their custom, with their backs to wall.                                              

 At 1:50 a.m. two different gang cyclers walked in. They were Frank Wills, aka The Brain. His last probation officer told a group of FBI agents that if he ever went straight he could be the CEO of General Motors. He was the president of the “The Plunders.” With him was George Smith, aka “ The Flame.” He was the West coast’s number one arsonist, who had baffled the insurance companies and detectives for years. He had a BS in chemistry, this fact he kept to himself.

Frank Wills had long suspected that John McGraw killed his brother. It happened north of Simmler, CA on route fortyfive, two years before. Someone in Frank’s gang, for a price had told the Red Dragons about a drug and cash delivery. His brother had been driving an old Ford Fusion so he would not attract attention. He had forty-thousand Ecstasy tablets and sixty-five thousand dollars in cash hidden in the car’s trunk. Someone had shot him while he was driving. The car crashed into a ditch. The trunk had been opened. The hidden compartment located and looted. Frank planned to kill John, but not tonight.                                                                        

      The Plunders walked to the back table and sat down in front of John and Keith. 

What was taking place was unprecedented on the West Coast.  The two top competing criminal motorcycle gangs were meeting to decide which gang would kill Phillip Gadero, pedophile extraordinaire.

       The two presidents nodded at each other.The two other men just stared. Then Big John nodded to The Brain. The Brain pulled a quarter out of his worn jeans right pocket and gave it to Big John. He inspected the quarter, gave it back to The Brain and pointed his right index finger high in the air. The Brain flipped the quarter in the air. As it was coming down Big John pointed to his head. The quarter hit the floor and rolled around and finally landed tails up. This gave the honor to kill Phillip to The Plunders. Not one word was spoken between these four men. The job was set in cement. The men got up and left, The Red Dragons rode south and the Plunders rode north. 

They reasoned after all, you cannot keep taking, sometimes you have to give something back to the community.

    The sounds of footsteps, the movement of chairs, and a coin hitting the floor may decide a man’s death.