“So why the long face? Sounds like it all went down just like you planned.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He paused a moment then continued. “It’s the killing, Jamie. So much violence. Yes, I know they were cartel members, and drug runners to boot, but I’ve killed two men in less than a week. It just bothers me. I wonder if I’m doing the right thing, if maybe there isn’t a better way. I’m afraid that I’m going to become just like Ron and his group.”
Jamie caressed his cheek in the way he liked. “That won’t happen.”
“How do you know?” he cried out, backing away from her hand, not deserving of her touch. “I shot Lucas. Then today, I shot a guy just because I could. He hadn’t done anything to me, but I shot him without a second thought.”
She took a step forward and re-closed the distance to him. “Listen to me, Leo. I won’t let that happen. You’re not like Ron, okay? If I even suspected you were, we would be threw. I think the proof that you won’t become like Ron is the fact you are worried that you might.”
“But Ron wasn’t always this way. He’s changed.”
She touched him again. “No, you’re wrong. I have known Ron a lot longer than you have. He has always been more violent, less caring than you. That is why when you joined Lima 6 their reputation began to improve. You showed the town, and the other members of the club, you could be just as effective without being a hard-ass all the time. Trust me Leo, you are nothing like Ron Terrill. I wouldn’t love you if you were.”
He started into her eyes a moment, seeing if she would look away and give away the lie, but she held his eyes, allowing him to read her belief in him. He relaxed slightly and pulled her to him, once again holding her. “Help me, Jamie. Help me stay on the right path. I’m afraid I can’t tell right from wrong anymore.”
“You can, Leo. Trust yourself,” she replied softly into his chest. “I know it is a dark and terrible thing you have to do. But you are doing the right thing. You are! Believe in yourself as I believe in you. The town will rally behind you as soon as you take over Lima 6 and flush out the rot and corruption. You’ll see.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am,” she said softly. “I’m tired. Take me to bed?” At first she didn’t think he had heard her as he made no move to release her, but then his embrace loosened.
She slowly slid out of his grasp then turned and walked to their bedroom. She didn’t look behind her, but knew from the increasing darkness as Leo flipped out lights that he was following her. He paused at the bedroom door until she turned on a lamp before flipping out the last light.
She had barely straightened before he was there, holding her once again. He seemed to crave her closeness. Normally she scrubbed her face while he shaved, then they brushed their teeth, before tumbling into bed, but tonight she decided they could forgo their normal nighttime ablutions.
She slithered out of his embrace then smiled at the slightly disappointed look on his face as she began to undress. He watched her a moment then began to do likewise. She had mostly given up wearing a nightie weeks ago as it was normally just in the way, so she slid between the cool sheets with a sigh, leaving them thrown back in invitation.
The moment Leo was on his back, she rolled into his arms and tucked in tight. His sigh as his arms surrounded her said everything and she smiled as he placed her head on his chest so she could hear the heavy thudding on his heart. The heart he had given to her.
“I love you,” he whispered, his voice slow and slightly sad.
“I love you too, Leo. It will be okay,” she whispered as she began to draw a pattern on his stomach with her fingers, a slow caress to comfort him. “You’re almost to the end. Just hold on a little while longer. You can do it, Leo. You can bring Lima 6 back into the light, then you can rest.” She moved, changing her position and pulling him to her so that he was now wrapped in her embrace. He seemed content to lie in her arms as she softly stroked his hair.
“If I lose my way, you will bring me back?”
“Yes,” she said softly. “I will always be here with you.”
He sighed again and snuggled in just a little tighter. “Together,” he whispered. “We’ll do it together.”
Her lips quirked into a small smile that he thought he needed her help. “Yes. Together then.”
Leo heaved one last long sigh, a exhalation that seemed to release all the tension she could feel in him. As she held him, slowly stroking his hair, she said nothing, allowing him to draw on her belief in him to strengthen his resolve. He clung to her, still and silent, until his breathing became deep, slow, and regular as he coasted into sleep.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“We need to pull back on the intercepts,” Fitz said quietly. Leo and Jamie were in his office at the H.E.B. He had seen them when they came in and had escorted them to the back where he could talk to them in private.
“Why?” Leo asked.
“Because Ron is going ape shit. That stunt we pulled with the cartel has brought down some serious heat. Ron is scared. The whole club is scared. The cartel is supposed to send someone they call El Investigador to try to sort out what happened.”
“The Investigator?” Jamie asked, trying to make sure she translated it correctly.
“Yeah. Apparently he is the one that goes in and cleans up problems. You know what that means.”
Leo smiled. “Looks like our little plan worked then. Why should we pull back now?”
“Because, Leo, Ron and his goons are likely to shoot anyone they see around, no questions asked. I think the cartel is sending their own people up to protect the next shipment. I tell you, Leo, the club is coming apart. Ron has pissed off just about everyone except his few close people. The only thing hold the club together now is fear of the cartel.”
“We should use this then to really put the screws to Ron. Hit them again with our colors so the cartel won’t trust him. Maybe they will take care of our problem for us.”
“Leo… you need to think about this. If the cartel sends muscle, then we probably don’t want to take them on. They will be better armed and more of them than us. I’m with you one hundred percent, but I didn’t sign on for a suicide mission. I have my wife and kids to think of.”
“He’s right,” Jamie said. “The last thing you want to do is tangle with the cartel. They’ll come in and kill half the people in town just to make a point.”
“So you think we should pull back?”
“I think we should pull back until we find out what the cartel does, yes. They may close down the pipeline, or at least stop using the club to mule the drugs. Or they may kill Ron and put their own guy in. Or they may come up here and kill us all.”
Leo felt his stomach sink over the events he put into motion. “You think that might happen?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been at this longer than you. The only thing I know for sure is you can’t predict what the cartel will do. They are ruthless bastards and they would kill us all without a second thought if they thought it would benefit them somehow.”
“Jesus,” Leo whispered. “I’m sorry I got you involved in this.”
Fitz smiled sadly and pushed a few pieces of paper around on his desk. “If we had listened to you at the beginning, we wouldn’t be in this mess. I’ve known Ron for more than twenty years. He’s changed. I don’t even recognize him anymore.” Fitz paused and looked at his desk again a moment. “I let my loyalty blind me to what was going on. I’m sorry Leo. I’m sorry I didn’t back you up when you first started pushing against Ron.”
Leo smiled at the miserable looking Stuart Fitzgibbons. “Don’t worry about it, Fitz. We all make mistakes. The important thing is you did finally come around. When this investigator guy shows up, maybe you guys can use that to turn the rest of the club.”
“Yeah, maybe, if it isn’t too late. After Ron announced the cartel was going to be paying us another visits, and why, and threatened to kill any member of the club that didn’t support him, I think that turned a lot of heads. Th
e fuck. I don’t know what I ever saw in that guy.”
“Okay, Fitz. I think you’re right. Let’s back off on the pressure on the club a little. But that investigator guy sounds like the man we want, wouldn’t you agree? If he is in charge of cleaning up messes, then he would know about the hit on the original cleaning crew, wouldn’t you think?”
“Probably. But how are we going to get to him?”
“I don’t know, Leo admitted. “But the more people we can bring over to our side, the more options we will have. You five see what you can do, okay? Leave my name out of it, it will only stir up trouble. But if you can bring over another five or ten guys, we might be able to bag this guy and squeeze him for information.”
Fitz smiled for the first time since they had sat down in his office. “Thanks, Leo. I’ll start working on the brothers right away. With his hanging over our heads I think everyone is looking for an out.”
“Then give them one,” Leo said firmly.
***
“We need to give the cartel a push,” Copper said a few nights later. The club was on lockdown because of the cartel, but Copper had asked for a meeting. The cleaning crew had assembled in He’s Not Here during regular hours to discuss their next move. They had come in singly, out of their colors and in their various trucks and cars to not attract attention.
“What do you mean?” Leo asked. They had been laying low and not antagonizing the cartel. The cartel had arrived with a dozen men armed with automatic weapons and had started guarding the drug shipments after Lima 6 took possession of them.
“This arrangement is too cozy. We’re not even a club anymore, we’re just an extension of the fucking cartel, jumping when they bark.”
“What do you propose?”
“I think we need to hit the cartel. Now that we have a face, let’s put some heat on him.”
“Are you fucking crazy?” Fitz spit out. “They’ll kill us all!”
“I’m with Copper on this,” Matt chimed in. “Those cartel bastards make me nervous anyway. And I damn sure don’t like them calling the shots for the club.”
“Fitz has a point,” Leo said quietly, trying to be the voice of reason.
“Not if we don’t get in close. TC is the best shot in the club. Let’s have him take out a couple of the goons from long range,” Copper suggested.
“How will that help?” Leo asked.
“It will plant the seed that the club can’t be trusted. Maybe they will cut us loose,” Copper explained.
“Or kill every member of the club,” Fitz said bitterly.
“Do you think they will connect the hit to the club?” Leo asked. “Don’t forget, they are still at war with the Cuervo Cartel. They probably have people shooting at them all the time.”
“How about we have TC ride away on his bike? Even if they don’t see him, they will hear him. That should be enough,” Matt said.
Leo bobbed his head back and forth as he thought about it. “That might work. But what about Fitz’s objection. Having the cartel know it was a member of the club just makes his concerns that much more valid.”
“It’s a risk,” Copper agreed. “But if we don’t do something, I think we have hit a new status quo, and this is worse than ever.”
“What about you, Fitz?”
He sighed. “I knew going in this was going to be dangerous, but I’m worried about Karen and the kids.”
“Send them away. Go with them if you need to,” Leo said.
“So you’re going to do this?” Fitz asked.
“Yeah. Copper and Matt are right. We need to shake this up or Lima 6 is done. I’m not ready to give up on it yet.”
Fitz drummed his fingers on the table. “Okay. I’m in.”
“Me too,” TC said. “I haven’t been hunting in a while. It will be good to break out the ol’ deer rifle.”
“I’m in,” Allen added, and then grinned. “But I object to you thinking he can out shoot me. And why should he have all the fun?”
Leo grinned. “Why don’t you both go? Time your shots so there is only one gun shot, but two guys go down. That ought to put the fear of god into them.”
TC and Allen looked at each other and grinned. “Targets where there is no way one bullet could have taken them both? That will leave them scratching their heads. Yeah, I’m game for that,” TC said.
“Me too!” Allen agreed. “With two of us, we should be able to get four, maybe even six of them. Thin their ranks a little.”
“Okay, let’s do it. I’ll leave you five to work out the details since you will know when and where. If I can help, let me know.”
***
“Jamie, come here a moment,” Leo said the next morning as he prepared to leave for work.
“What?” she asked sleepily as she slithered up to him, pressing into his back and looking through the window as he was. He was dressed and ready for the day, but she was still in her robe.
“See that van down there? The white one? Seen that around before?”
“No, why?”
“Just wondering. Yesterday there was a plumbing van in about the same spot, and the day before that, an electrician’s van.”
“So?”
“So, don’t you think it’s odd that there have been three vans parked in the same place for the past three days. And that is when I just noticed it. I wonder how many more days before that there was one there.”
“What are you saying?”
“I think it’s Lundergrund, or someone else from the DEA.”
Jamie looked at the van more closely. It looked like every other white work van she had ever seen. “Are you sure you’re not imagining things?”
“About the vans, no. About us being under surveillance, maybe. We’ll keep an eye on it and see if it keeps showing up.”
“And if it does?”
“Then, we are going to have to deal with it.”
A chill passed through Jamie. “Deal with it… how?”
Leo snickered. “Not like that. Lundergrund knows we are moving against the club and she probably thinks this is her best chance to catch the cartel, or the club, or both, with the drugs. If we are under surveillance, we’re going to have to give them the slip before we make our play for the cartel guy.”
“How are we going to do that?”
Leo continued to look out his front window. “I have no idea.”
***
It’s done. 5 bad guys dead. Leo tucked his phone away after reading the text. Now the shit was really going to hit the fan and he hoped the club survived the splatter. The cleaning crew would have to get together either tonight, or tomorrow, and discuss their next move. Copper and Fitz said they had five more members ready to join their cause. That gave them eleven men to try to bag The Investigator, but the odds were still in the cartel’s favor. He continued digging the holes for the Texas Sage bushes that he was planting as he rolled ideas around in his mind. No matter how he worked it, they were at a disadvantage. They needed more men! Maybe this hit would sway some more brothers into joining the cause.
***
Leo was sitting at his customary place in He’s Not Here, trying to stay awake. The late nights in the bar followed by his early mornings for his own work was wearing on him. Lima 6 had made no play against him or the bar since the hit. Maybe he was wasting his time here and Jamie should revert back to her normal hours of four until two instead of the six to midnight she is currently running so he would watch over her and the bar.
He was just rising from his stool to move around a little when Copper walked in, looking grim. Seeing Leo he gave his head a jerk and headed down the hall toward the back, stopping and waiting at Jamie’s office until Leo arrived. Leo unlocked the door and ushered him inside and shut the door.
“Bad?” Leo asked as they sat down in the two guest chairs.
“Yeah. The Investigator dude was pissed. I thought he was going to shoot Ron. He had him down on his knees with the gun at the back of his head. This is getting out of c
ontrol, Leo.”
“Yeah. But I don’t know what else to do. You have any suggestions?”
“No. Play it through. But we are going to have to go to the end game, and soon. It’s clear to everyone now who is really in charge. Fitz and I worked the brothers after the meeting. I think we have them all, except for about ten.”
Leo felt the rush of excitement. “How many?”
“About thirty altogether.”
“Do you think we can trust them?”
“Yeah. The final straw was the cartel ordering Ron around like they run the place. Nobody liked that. Most were staying just out of loyalty, but the club as we know it is finished. Lima 6 is just an extension of the cartel now.”
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