Aries: Tell me where you are and I’ll come bring you some things. I think you should head to Mexico for a bit.
I nod and look at Aries. CJ and I have our issues, and while he’s not blood, I still consider him my brother.
I’m in this because of CJ, wanting to protect him, but now that Natalie’s involved, the game has changed.
There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to keep her safe.
Nothing.
After work, Aries and I ride to the beach, hang out there, grab some food and talk shit.
And it feels nice. Growing up, it was always just me and him. Others came and went, but we were always each other’s rocks. People ask if we have twin telepathy, and there have been a few instances that make me think that may be true. Once when we were teens—I forget what I was doing, probably just dicking around, but I felt a sharp pain in my arm. A few minutes later and I find out Aries brokehisarm, the same one I was clutching in pain.
We’re connected, and always will be.
We’re about to head home when Temper calls. “Yeah, Prez?”
“We lost eyes on Marko, and then someone shot the windows out at the bar,” he says.
“Fuck. We’re on our way.” I end the call and tell Aries what’s up, and then we get on our bikes and ride back to the clubhouse.
When we get there, we find Temper at the head of our big wooden table, members sitting around.
“Sledge was watching Marko, but someone managed to get behind him and knock him out, so we know someone is helping him,” Temper says. “What we don’t know is how anyone knew we were watching him.”
Sledge is a member of the Wind Dragons, but since we have all been working together on this one, I hope he’s all right. We usually kept two men on Marko, but since he wasn’t leaving his apartment, we changed it to one until we decided what we were going to do with him.
In my opinion there is only one option on how to handle Marko. I just don’t know how we go about it, or who should do it. No one wants to do time, but Temper and Rhett need to make the call on what happens, and right now they can’t agree. Rhett wants to take an offensive line, while Temper wants to take a defensive line. And normally I’d be on Rhett’s side—I don’t like waiting for something to happen. But I’ve seen his men and I don’t necessarily trust all of them. Call it a sixth sense, but I don’t want to be running into battle with them. I’ll stick to my Knights.
“I hope this hasn’t ruined our chances. We should have grabbed him right away and held him somewhere,” I say, frustrated that we’re once again in the same place.
“We knew his lawyer would be looking for him, and we didn’t want to raise any suspicion and make him become a missing person with his face plastered everywhere,” Crow says.
Everyone turns to look at me. I guess they all know I’m with Natalie, who is his lawyer.
“Dude, Atlas, your woman is working for the enemy,” someone mutters, but I can’t tell who it is. Coward.
“Hey.” Aries stands. “Cut that shit out.”
I hold a hand out to stop my brother from continuing. “Natalie’s boss thinks it’s safer for her if she stays on his case so not to raise any red flags as to who she is and who she is connected to. And as much as I hate it, he’s right.”
“I know Jaxon Bentley,” Temper says. “He’s a smart man and he would never put his staff, especially Natalie, in danger. He was right on this one, so give Atlas a rest.”
“Well, can she at least tell us some information?” Renegade asks.
I shake my head. “Not if she ever wants to practice law again. I won’t ask her to rat on Marko and become his prime target. We need to handle him without her help.”
“Where is CJ on all this?” Temper turns to Aries and me.
“CJ said there is a man called Fox who is still loyal to Marko. It could be Fox who knocked out Sledge,” I suggest.
CJ is trying to take over leading the Forgotten Children, so I know he is telling the truth, because Marko is his enemy now, too. But CJ needs to leave town for a bit until we get this Marko shit handled. The Forgotten Children are in chaos right now and he can’t build anything if he’s dead.
“And is CJ operating business as usual?”
“Word on the street is Marko is looking for him,” Aries said. “I’m going to go meet up with him in a bit to see if I can get him out of town for a bit.”
Temper nods. “You and Atlas find out what you can on Fox. Saint and Crow, you both go and see if you can find out Marko’s new location. I’ll call Rhett and tell him what’s going on.”