by Evelyn Glass
“Jules! You need to see this,” she said as she waved the phone at him.
He took the phone and quickly scanned the text before handing the phone back to her. “You scare me a little sometimes,” he said with a grin.
“Poor baby. Maybe I can make you feel better when I get you home,” she pouted.
“Will you hold my hand?” he teased.
“Your hand, yes. And maybe, if you’re a good boy, I’ll hold something else too.”
Jules stared at her, trying desperately to hold a straight face longer than Rachel, but finally began to splutter into chuckles. “I guess I had better hurry up with the sweeping, huh?” he snickered as she began to giggle with him.
“I guess so.”
***
Less than ten minutes later, Jules opened the passenger door on the 1950, and shut it behind Rachel. He trotted around the front of the truck, anxious to get home and have his hand held. He hopped into the truck, turned on the ignition and then stomped on the starter button. As the old truck ground to life, he leaned over and met Rachel halfway for a quick smooch.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Home,” she replied as she waved her hand forward like royalty. With a brief grind and a bump, Jules puts the truck in gear and backed out of the parking place.
Several minutes later, as they trundled toward home, Jules glanced once more at the single headlight following them.
“What is it?” she asks as she watched him stare into the review again.
“I think we’re being tailed.” Jules cocked himself onto his hip so he could free his sidearm and lay it on the seat between them. Rachel watched him a moment then pulled her own weapon from her purse and laid it on top so she could reach it.
“Trouble?” she asked.
“Don’t know. Maybe.”
Rachel twisted around in the seat so she could see. As they eased to a stop at a cross street, the light stopped well back, but now she could hear the distinctive idle of a Harley Davidson motorcycle.
“Forsaken 99?”
“Probably,” he said as he eased the clutch out and started the truck moving again. The 1950 wasn’t the fastest, or most maneuverable, thing on the road, so attempting to outrun the bike would be a waste of time.
“Stay in the truck,” he said as he shifted the truck into neutral as they rolled toward the next stop sign.
She gripped her purse tighter and wrapped her hand around the butt of her gun. “What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go see what he wants,” he said as he braked the truck to a stop before tromping on the parking brake as he opened the door, stepping out with his pistol in his hand.
“Jules! No!” Rachel shouted but he was gone.
She twisted in the seat to watch, but he hadn’t even made it to the back bumper before she heard the motorcycle rev as it made a hard U-turn in the middle of the road and roared away into the night. Jules stood at the rear of the truck a moment, watching as the motorcycle disappeared, before returning to the cab.
“I guess he didn’t want anything,” he said as he slid into the seat.
“That’s not funny! You could have been killed!”
“They aren’t going to shoot me in the middle of town with a witness,” Jules said. “Besides, he made a lot better target than I did. If I aim just over the light and I hit him right in the chest, where I was standing in the dark.”
“Just call the cops the next time. Let them handle it.”
“And tell them what, Rachel? That someone on a motorcycle is behind me?”
“They came when I called when the truck was following me.”
“That’s different. You’re a woman, for one thing. The other is, they were following you, and had been. This was just someone going the same way as we were. At least legally.” He held up his hand to silence her protest and then slipped the truck into gear and started moving again. “I know, I know. But we can’t have the cops following us around all the time. We are going to have to handle this ourselves. This was just Forsaken 99 making sure we know they haven’t forgotten about me.”
“Those bastards. You should kill them all.”
“That would make me a murder. Is that what you want?”
“No,” she harrumphed. “But I think you have damn few friends left in the club.”
“Don’t be so sure,” he said calmly. We’ve picked up three in just a couple of weeks. I have to admit, I thought your idea had a snowball’s chance in hell of working, but now I’m prepared to admit I may be wrong.”
No one else followed them and she began to relax as they drove the last few miles to his house. As he eased the truck into the garage Rachel slipped her pistol back into the hidden compartment in her purse. She hadn’t forgotten that Forsaken 99 would probably make a play at them at some point, but tonight only reinforced that this was a struggle to the death between herself, Jules, and Forsaken 99. Forsaken 99 would either have to die, or be transformed. Or they would die in the attempt. There was no other outcome possible.
Chapter Forty Two
Over the next few days, the three women actively but subtly recruited for the new cleaning crew. Spence, Marsh and Eric played it cool, as if they don’t know what is going on, playing their part and acting as if they still supported the club.
The three women uncovered several more wives and girlfriends that were unhappy with the current situation, but they were unable to turn their men from the club. The women acknowledged their men were not happy with the direction the club is going, but the bond ran deep with the club and they wouldn’t turn against it. The three women recruiting didn’t dare mention that a coup was being plotted to help sway any of the men for fear that it would get back to Todd and his close circle of supporters.
Liv was the last to give up, but even she finally had to admit it was unlikely they could turn anyone else to their cause. Despite their failure to bolster their ranks, all thought that if the club began to pivot away from the darkness that had taken over, most of the members would leap at the chance to help depose Todd and his cronies.
Three weeks to the day after Liv had come to He’s Not Here looking for help, the eight of them agreed to meet in He’s Not Here after it closed. Marsh and Spence knew about each other, as Marsh had recruited Spence directly, but neither knew who else had joined. Eric was likewise unaware of who else was in on the plot.
“This is it?” Eric asked Jules dubiously when he and Rachel joined the other six at the table.
“This is it,” he confirmed.
“More will join once they see that Todd is in trouble,” Liv said with confidence. “They just need an excuse to bale on the club.”
“I agree,” Exotic said. “I have a couple of girls that are be willing to help, even if their men won’t.”
“What’s the plan?” Spence asked.
“To remove Todd from power and to take back the club,” Jules said firmly.
“Good plan. You have any idea on how to do that?” Marsh asked as he rolled his eyes and looked at Jules under his eyebrows.
“It’s going to be hard with just the four of us—”
“No shit,” Eric muttered.
“—so we have to start out small,” Jules finished. “I’m thinking we get the cartel to do some of the heavy lifting for us.”
“And how do you plan to do that?” Marsh asked.
“I think we should start running intercepts again. But this time, we take the drugs from Forsaken 99. I don’t think the Andres Cartel is going to take kindly to their mules losing their drugs, do you? Especially when the drugs just… disappear. No cops, no arrests, just poof, and they’re gone,” Jules said making a popping motion with his fingers.
Spence chuckled. “I like this plan. There is some kind of sweet justice in having the cartel put the squeeze on the club. But then what? Wait for the cartel to take out Todd?”
“That works for me, if it works out that way. But I had something a little sneakier in mind. Would you agree
that if we could produce proof that Todd orchestrated the hit on the members that would turn the club against him?”
Jules watched as everyone at the table nodded except Rachel. She knew his plan because she had helped him hammer out the details over the last couple of days.
“Then what I propose is we keep intercepting the drug until the cartel sends someone to find out what the hell is going on. Then we bag that guy and we squeeze him. If he doesn’t know what we want, then we will use him to get the next guy.”
“That sounds risky as shit!” Eric objected.
“I never said this would be easy. Look, if you want to back out now, no hard feelings. But I’m depending on you to keep our secret.”
“I didn’t say that!” Eric said firmly. “But going toe to toe with the cartel is a good way to get our nuts cut off.”
“I agree. We are going to have to be very careful to hide what we are doing and make sure the cartel thinks that it’s Forsaken 99 that’s screwing them over. But I don’t know any other way to get the proof. We need it straight from the horse’s mouth that Todd called in the hit. I’m not sure anything less will do it.”
“Fuck…” Spence mumbled. “I don’t know if I can do this, Jules. I have my family to think about.”
“You worry about fixing this mess, I’ll worry about our family,” Tammy said firmly. “I don’t want Randall and Stu Two growing up in some drug infested hell-hole. I’ll take them up to Abilene and stay with mom and dad if I have to. I remember what it was like when we moved here and I’m not raising our kids like that. Just don’t do something stupid and get yourself killed.”
“We’ll watch his back, Tammy. We’ll have to watch all of our backs,” Marsh softly.
Spence looked at his wife then touched her face softly. “I won’t. But I don’t know how long this might take. It took years to clean up the town before.”
“You have until the kids start back to school,” Tammy said then smiled. “I’m not planning on leaving at all. We’re only going to go if it gets really dangerous.”
“You heard the lady, boys. That gives us, what, about three weeks?” Eric teased.
“No problem,” Marsh said with grin of his own. “What are we going to do in our spare time?”
“You really think you can draw the cartel up here?” Spence asked, trying to pull the conversation back on track.
“If we can make Forsaken 99 look dirty, then yes, I think we can. Todd will deny that the club is screwing the cartel, of course, and I can’t see them not sending someone to find out what is going on. If we’re really lucky, maybe we can make the Andres Cartel think the club has switched to the Cuervo Cartel. That would really stir the shit. Maybe Andres will take care of Todd for us.”
“What about the rest of the brothers? Aren’t you worried about them getting caught up in the blood shed if that happens?” Marsh asked.
“Yes. I don’t want to see anyone killed. But I am determined to take the club or destroy it. If we can’t turn the other members, then…” He let the sentence dangle.
Marsh stared at Jules a moment then heaved a sigh. “I guess we better figure out how to turn them before it gets to that point, huh?”
“Point of order, here. How the hell are we going to do all of this with just the four of us? And how are we going to know where to make the intercepts?” Spence asked.
“You can’t,” Rachel said. “That’s where Exotic, Tammy and Liv come in. And me too. We’re going to have to find out when and where the exchanges happen. Do you think you can do that?” she asked as she looked at the other three women.
Exotic and Liv looked at each other and smiled. “Bet I can find out before you can,” Exotic challenged.
“You’re on,” Liv replied.
“We can also bird dog the drugs. With three or four of us, it will be easier to tail the drugs without getting caught.”
“I don’t know if I like this idea,” Eric said. “This is something I have to do, but I don’t know that I want Exotic involved in this.”
“Eric, honey, I’m already involved. You saw what happened to Wade. They killed his whole family. Like it or not, I’m in this as deep as you are.”
“It should be fairly safe. We’ll just be following them in our cars. If we do it right, they won’t even know we are there,” Rachel explained.
“I don’t know,” Tammy said. “The kids…”
“We know,” Rachel said. “The three of us can handle it. Maybe I will ask Kristen and Pam if they want in on this. They have score to settle as well.”
Tammy relaxed visibly. “Thanks. I will help where I can, but I can’t leave the kids on a moment’s notice.”
Liv patted Tammy on the hand. “You have to take care of your family first. We get it. Don’t sweat it. Exotic, Rachel and I can handle it.”
“So what’s the next step?” Marsh asked.
“We find out when an exchange is made and we bag the drugs,” Jules said. “That’s on Liv and Exotic. Which reminds me, Kelly, when the hell did you change your name? And why?”
Exotic grinned. “You like it? Eric started calling me that and I decided I liked it. Makes me sound all mysterious, don’t you think? Exotic Archer sounds so much better than Kelly Wagner. Or even Kelly Archer.”
Jules grinned. “Exotic Archer. Makes me think you should be wearing knee high leather boots, skin tight leotards, and a cape.”
“I only wear those at home, for Eric,” she said with a wink at Eric.
“Why don’t you wear something like that?” Marsh asked Liv with a grin.
“Because I don’t need them,” Liv purred, causing everyone to snicker.
“Anything else?” Jules asked to pull the conversation back on the subject at hand.
“Liv, Tammy and I will continue to see who we can turn. As the club begins to go down the shitter, maybe we can pick off a few more. Maybe.”
“Just don’t give away our secret,” Jules cautioned.
“No. Don’t worry. We’ll be careful. The last thing I want is to have Eric having to watch his back with the club while he is doing this.”
“Marsh and Spence, too,” Liv added for good measure.
“Tammy? You okay?” Rachel asked.
“A little scared. I thought we were past all of this. And with the boys and all…”
“I know. Do what you have to to keep your family safe,” Jules said.
“Don’t worry, Pie. We’ll be okay,” Spence said.
“Pie?” Marsh asked with a raised eyebrow.
Both Tammy and Spence blushed. “Short for Sweetiepie,” Spence mumbled.
“I think it’s sweet,” Rachel said, trying to rescue them from their embarrassment.
“So do I... Snookums,” Eric said as he elbowed Spence.
As the group began to break up, Jules couldn’t stop smiling. This is the Forsaken 99 he remembered.
***
“I sure hope the hell I didn’t make a mistake letting you talk me into letting the women help,” Jules said later as they prepared for bed. “Tammy made me realize there is more to think about than just taking the club back.”
“What? Don’t you think we women can take care of ourselves?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“No, but you were thinking it.”
“What? You can read my mind now?”
“That’s nothing new. I know what you are thinking before you do sometimes.”
“Oh yeah? What am I thinking now?”
“You’re thinking how you’re going to take me to bed and make love to me until we’re both exhausted.”
That wasn’t what he was thinking about. Well, not until now. Maybe she did know what he was thinking before he did. “Is not.”
“Is too,” she said with a grin.
“Well, it wasn’t until you mentioned it.”
“See? I told you I knew what you were thinking before you do.”
He blinked at her a couple of times as he wondered how she had so eff
ortlessly backed him into a corner. She twittered out a laugh as she pulled on his hand, steering him toward their bedroom.
“Come on, ‘Snookums,’ I need you to do something for me.”
As they snuggled into the bed, Jules slowly undressed her, his lips dancing along freshly exposed skin. He paused in his slow stripping of her to return to her lips.