Free Heavy Duty Attitude by Iain Parke Page B

blood had been spilt for that on both sides, so both leaders were going to have to keep their troops on a tight leash to start with to make it a success. But it was definitely détente, if not glasnost.
    Wibble walked Stu across to the Freemen to introduce him to his officers. I was still there, hemmed in by the big men in the crowd around me. Stu had obviously clocked me from my lack of a patch, and I can only assume that Wibble had let him know that I was going to be there as Stu stuck out his hand towards me, and with surprise I shook it.
    ‘Here to cover the big event, eh?’ he asked.
‘Err yeah, something like that,’ I mumbled.
    Was there more to it though, I wondered for a second. It seemed more than just reporting, it was as though I was here witnessing. I was obviously known to both clubs. Had one or other, or both, wanted me here as a sign of good faith on both sides?
    But before I could think more about this and what it might mean, I noticed that Wibble was looking hard at the local pack who were off across to my left. But it was more than just looking, he was staring them down.
‘Problem?’ asked Stu conversationally following his line of sight. ‘Nothing I can’t handle,’ said Wibble equally calmly.
    I could sense the seething hostility coming off the local charter, barely being kept in check. The urge to pick up an iron bar and swing it was still running strong.
    But the Cambridge crew were separated from Stu and the cautiously advancing Rebel contingent behind him, some of whom still not sure they weren’t simply walking into an ambush and were preparing to deal with whatever came, by a screen of Freemen and their loyal ride ins.
    Now I understood why there were so many Freemen here today. Wibble had arranged it. They were there to keep the peace and ensure that The Rebels were not attacked. And I guessed that Wibble must have been checking on security arrangements when we had first arrived. Making last minute checks with his officers and crew so that everything was going to go down the way he wanted it to, and making sure the local chapter got the message to behave themselves or else. And Thommo hadn’t liked it.
The locals knew they were outnumbered. Thommo spat on the ground and turning on his heel, led his troops back away around the clubhouse. Was that also part of the reason he’d been sure to show me off to Thommo? ‘Ah well, you can’t win everybody over at once can you now?’ said Stu which seemed to take Wibble by surprise.
     
‘How about a photo?’ I suggested breaking in and lifting up my phone, ‘for the paper?’
     
Stu and Wibble looked at each other and laughed. Stu shrugged, ‘Why not? I’m game if you are?’
     
Wibble was up for it.
    So they staged a cheesy photograph for me, the two leaders of what had until just now been clubs at sometimes deadly war, smiling and shaking hands for the camera while their troops fraternised around them.
‘Peace in our time,’ said Wibble as he walked Stu past me.
     
So that’s why he wanted me here, I thought. To see this. Wibble wants me to write about peace in our time.
     
‘So how’s Toad?’ he asked Stu.
    ‘Oh don’t worry about him, he’s fine,’ said Stu smiling broadly, ‘the boy’s are looking after him. They’ve fixed him up with the run of the bar and some honeys so I guess he’s enjoying the hospitality…’
Then it happened.
     
With a whoosh and a roar, all hell broke loose.

The Guardian
Monday 3 August 2009

Peace Party Gets A Rocket
Six deaths as bikers’ party attacked with anti-tank rockets and automatic weapons
    The Brethren MC’s annual charity Toy Run is the highlight of their year and their premier public event. Even more so on Sunday as this year it had been chosen as the venue to announce a historic burying of the hatchet. The Rebels, The Brethren’s main rivals in the UK, had been invited to attend for the first time ever to formalise peace between the two clubs. But someone obviously had