Tony Mason was proud of how quickly he’d spread the reputation. Having been with the Riders for over a decade, Tony, known more commonly as Mason, had been tasked with expanding the Rider’s operation into New York over two years ago. Based in South Carolina, the Riders were the unwritten law on the streets. While they ran a number of operations that should have seen the book thrown at them ten times over, their moral code had also ensured that street crime had fallen. By making the lives of the local sheriffs easier, it gave them far more scope to conduct their business.

A business that their leader, Trent Wyatt, had turned into an empire.

As with any midweek afternoon, Mason had arrived shortly after the bar had opened. The usual suspects were already in attendance, all decked out in their leather jackets and bandanas, all believing they were part of the crew. They weren’t, and part of Wyatt’s operation had been to commercialise the idea of the gang. While his core group were Riders till the end, the vast majority of patrons were middle-aged men, living out their crisis on the back of Harley Davidson bikes they could barely control, and listening to music they didn’t like.

Mason didn’t hate them. He pitied them. But as long as they kept showing up and emptying their wallets, he would greet them like his brothers and keep their pathetic dreams alive. As long as they didn’t bother Kelly and Lacey, the two girls who worked the bar. While they would never force the women to do anything – that was one of Wyatt’s strict rules – the girls were encouraged to flash a little flesh and flirt with the punters.

They didn’t mind. The tips they received were more than generous.

Besides, on the rare occasion that one of the patrons got too aggressive with them, Donnie and Jay were on hand to bring them back down to reality. As the two other true members of the Riders, both men were more than happy to hurl a fraud face first onto the sidewalk.

Jay greeted Mason with the usual handshake before returning to his bottle of beer. Leant against the bar, Jay’s hulking frame was turned to the TV that overlooked the pool table. A replay of yesterday’s baseball match was in full swing, and Jay watched with mild interest. Behind the bar, Kelly was sorting through the glasses, and she greeted Mason with her million-dollar smile.

Lacey wasn’t on shift until later, and with only four customers, Kelly was more than comfortable handling the shift. Mason waved back, entered his office, and as like most days, he told Donnie to get out of his chair. One day, Donnie would most likely sit in it. He had a little more brain than Jay, but Mason was always keen to remind him of the chain of command.