Chapter 18
*~* Fury *~*
As I hang up from my call to Shawn, I sit in the SUV and curse up a storm. Still none the wiser as to who we’re up against, but now there is a new wrench in the works. According to Shawn, Jamie isn’t the true target. I am! Attacking Jamie is someone’s idea of getting to me. Goddamn it!
With Shawn’s information pointing to me, all this digging into Jamie’s past and trying to find someone who would want her dead has been a waste of time. We’re barking up the wrong tree, chasing our tails, on a wild goose chase, on the wrong track! Damn it all to hell.
The worst thing about this is that I now must tell Jamie that she’s in danger because of me, because of who I am or what I was in the past. It can’t be something from my service days, I don’t think I did anyone an injustice from that time.
I did do some gnarly shit, but nothing comes to mind that anyone living would be pissed at me for.
I haven’t taken out anyone since joining the MC, so I can’t see how that would be a connection.
There are no family skeletons that I know of.
No siblings, Mom and Father dead. Well, Mom is, he must be by now, I imagine.
I hope they didn’t cremate him. I’m sure the amount of alcohol in that body would’ve burned for weeks, I’m sure.
I need to get on to Bull and get him delving into my background for something I’m missing here. Just as I go to put my phone away, it lights up with an incoming call. Mateo?
“Hi. What’s…”
“Fury, you need to get yourself back here right now. Someone just threw a bomb into Doc’s kitchen. She’s fine, and he got away, but you never said that someone might throw a bomb through her kitchen door. We’ll be at the practice when you get back.”
I don’t get to say another word as the call ends. Driving through town, perhaps driving is the wrong word. Driving suggests a sedate speed, following all the rules of the road. That is definitely not what I am doing. Speaking to the SUV's Bluetooth, I place a call to Whack.
“Pres I just had a call from Mateo. He’s at Jamie’s house by the practice. Some motherfucker just threw a bomb at them. They are okay and at the practice. That’s all I know at this point. Can you get someone over there to check out the place and maybe find out something about the bomb they used?”
“I’m on it. Where were you when all this went down?”
“I went out to call Shawn to see if he had any new info for me.”
“Did he?” Pres growls.
“Yes. I’ll fill you and Bull in when I see you next.” The phone goes dead, but I heard Whack shout for Cannon and Breaker as it did so.
Abandoning the SUV by the practice doors, I rush inside. Barbara is on reception and just points to Molly’s office saying, “Jamie is fine, and the prospect is in the nurse’s office, on the left.”
Why isn't the prospect with her? Have I made the wrong call thinking that Mateo was up for this task?
Bursting through the door to Molly’s office, I see Jamie flinch as she jumps to her feet, grabbing at her waistline as she does. Glancing at Molly, I see her raising something from an open drawer on her desk. When I look back at Jamie, I’m staring down the barrel of her SIG.
“What the heck, Fury? Don’t come barging in like that. You’ll get yourself killed by friendly fire you moron,” Jamie screams at me, while thankfully lowering her weapon.
I check that Molly isn’t going to pull her trigger and see her dropping something back into the drawer that looks suspiciously like a .45 of some description.
“I got here as quickly as I could. What the hell happened? I’ve only been gone a short while.
” I look Jamie over, and when I see blood on her, I ask again, “Are you okay? Where’s the blood from?
Did you get caught in the blast?” I’m firing questions at her so fast that I don’t realize she can’t possibly get a word in.
“I’m fine. Mateo told you I was fine…”
“Yeah, where is the little asshole? He was supposed to be taking care of you. I’ll…”
“If you say you’re going to kill him, or do him any physical harm whatsoever, I’ll shoot you myself. Why is it that you want to kill everyone who saves my life? If you can’t cope with it, you need to be there yourself, instead of popping out on mysterious errands. Come with me.”
Jamie takes my arm and drags me out of the office. When we get to the nurse practitioner's office that Barbara had referred to, she knocks and then walks in, still dragging me.
Mateo is lying on a bed with Dr. Tom leaning over him. At first, I can’t see what was happening, but then as I take a step to one side, I see Mateo getting stitches in his cheek.
“What are you doing, Tom? He needs to go to the hospital for that. They’ll do a job on him that won’t leave a scar anywhere near as visible as that’s going to be.” Jamie looks furious as she speaks.
“Jamie, I know all that, but he insisted that I do this here. He won’t go to the hospital,” Tom sounds frustrated, but it is focused on Mateo, no one else.
“It’s okay, Doc. I don’t want to spend hours, or maybe days, in a hospital. I can’t protect you from there, or learn from Fury, can I?”
“You dumb shit. I know what your game is, Mateo.” It’s a light bulb moment as I see why he wants stitches. “You’re going to suggest your own name as a brother, aren’t you?”
“You got me all figured out haven’t you, Fury?” Mateo grins at me and I give him a nod of my head.
“Looks like you did good today, bro. I thank you for that.”
“I wasn’t fast enough to realize what was happening.
I saw a shadow pass by the kitchen window heading towards the back door.
I wasn’t expecting our assassin to be so quick on another attempt, especially not as brazen as to throw a freaking bomb through a door.
” Mateo shuts up while Tom finishes up the artwork that is Mateo’s cheek.
“I don’t think anyone was expecting something as brutal as a bomb, kiddo. You still did good,” I state.
“Try not to use those cheek muscles too much, or you’ll likely tear the stitches. Watch for infection as well. I’ll give you some broad-spectrum antibiotics, just in case, but you should be fine.” Tom goes to the sink and starts to get cleaned up, while Jamie takes a closer look at Tom’s handiwork.
“There was no need for this, Mateo. The hospital could have had you looking as good as new.” Jamie shakes her head at him, and I think she’s got some guilt going on, too.
“Hey, Doc. You got this all wrong. I don’t want to be as good as new.
Can you imagine how women will swoon at my feet when I tell them I got this scar protecting a beautiful doctor from an explosion?
Hell, I’ll be falling over the women throwing themselves at my feet.
” Mateo starts to laugh, winces, and then tries to keep his face straight.
“I get a cool road name out of it, too, don’t forget. ”
Hearing some commotion outside, I recognized Whack's voice, “Do you know who I am?”
“Yes, I do, and I don’t give a hoot if you’re the President of the United States. You are still not going back there. I have other patients to consider, not just your prospect, you know!” Barbara is giving him hell, and both Jamie and I smirk as we listen.
“My prospect is a patient? You should have led with that first lady. Cannon, do the honors, please.” As we exit the room, we see Cannon scoop Barbara up, bridal style and step out of Whack’s way.
Barbara lets out a girly squeal, but I notice she grabs onto Cannon’s neck and has a little smirk of her own going on.
Whack takes a step forward and then sees us. Mateo steps forward and Whack frowns at the sight of his cheek.
“We need an officers' meeting, and I want you, Jamie and Mateo present. Cannon, get it sorted for an hour's time. And put that damn woman down, will you?” Whack shakes his head and turns to leave, but before he does adds, “I’m glad you’re both okay, by the way.”
Cannon tries to put Barbara down, but she just hangs on to his neck, giving him goo-goo eyes the whole time. “I have to go now, Barbara,” he says after looking at her name badge.
She sighs as he places her feet down on the floor. “Well, you just need to come back so we can do that all over again. Maybe in private next time?” I’ve never seen Cannon blush so quickly and so deeply or move so fast as he left the practice.
An hour later, and we are all in the room where we hold Church. Jamie, Mateo and I are very conscious that we have been given seats close to where Pres sits. He calls everyone to order, which is pointless as we are all sitting quietly waiting for him to speak.
“I’m sure you’re all fully aware by now that another attempt has been made on Jamie’s life.
A bomb, for Christ’s sake, thrown through her kitchen door in broad daylight.
This asshole is either cocksure of himself or a raving lunatic.
Bull, what have you found from digging into Jamie’s history. Anything we can use?”
This is where I stand up and must drop a bombshell of my own. Fortunately, I’ve had an hour to talk privately with Jamie, so she is aware of what I’m about to say. I hope everyone else takes it as well as she did.
“Can I just have everyone’s attention for a moment, please?
Early this morning, when I left Jamie with Mateo, I had to make a call to Shawn.
As you all know, he’s one of my go-to guys, outside of the MC, for information.
He’s been trying to find out who is trying to kill Jamie, or who put a contract out on her.
He hasn’t come up with a name, but he has got something. ”
“For fuck’s sake, stop blabbering on and tell us what he found.” Whack is not a patient man at the best of times, and he didn’t bring any to this meeting, clearly.
“Jamie is the physical target, but I’m the intended victim of all this.
Someone wants to hurt me by killing someone close to me, someone that I love.
” The silence in the room is deafening, and I look around at all the astonished faces.
This has obviously not gone down well. “I can’t for the life of me think who would want to do this, and I’m sorry that Jamie and the rest of you, have got caught up in something I simply don’t understand. ”
“You love me?” Jamie says, and I look at her as though she has two heads.
“What?”
“You said you loved me.”
“Did I? When did I say that?” I’m totally off balance with this.
“Just now. You said, someone close to me, someone that I love. Those were your words,” Jamie repeats quietly.
“You did just say that, Fury.” Whack grins as he says this, and I see that everyone in the room has a huge grin on their faces too.
“Well, if that’s what I said, I’m holding myself to it. I love Jamie. I want her kept safe, then as soon as this shit gets put to bed, I think we should make it official, and not just with the club but with the whole world.” I puff my chest out and wait for the comments to fly.
“Well, aren’t you going to ask her if she’s okay with that?” Whack leans back in his chair and raises his eyebrows.
The realization of what he is saying hits me, and I look at Jamie. “I’m not proposing in front of this lot. I’ll do it properly and in a better setting than this. Can you wait for that, Jamie?”
“Yes, I’ll wait, but not for too long. My stalker, assassin, or whatever he is, might get wind of that and try to put a stop to it darn quick.” She tilts her head to one side and seems to be encouraging me to say more or think of something.
“That does not leave this room, understand? Not a whisper. That would put an even bigger target on Jamie’s back.”
“I guess with all this, I’m not going to be allowed to go back to work or stay at my own home? I’ll be a guest of the MC until further notice, is that about right?” Jamie looks around the room, and all the officers nod.
“Okay, we’ll get a room sorted for Jamie at the back of the clubhouse.
Nothing that can be seen or targeted from outside of the compound.
I want security upgraded for access to the rear, and we start having two-man patrols, too, day and night.
Bull, get onto finding out anything from Fury’s past that would explain this.
Fury, get your thinking head on and work closely with Bull. ”
The door bangs open and Ghost steps in, a bloody knife in one hand, a cell in the other. We can see a body on the floor behind him.
“This could go a long way to helping find our killer,” and he tosses the phone onto the table in front of Bull.
“Anya came to me a few moments ago and told me she had seen Floss listening at this door. When I saw her, she was on the phone, whispering to someone. She must have had a sixth sense or something because she ended the call and tried to stick me with this.” He holds up a wicked looking thin stiletto blade.
“Unfortunately, instinct took over, and she’s dead.
This thing is lethally sharp. It went through her flesh like a hot knife through butter.
I’m sorry about that. She could have given us a lot of answers. ”
“So, our killer already knows where Jamie is and what we were planning for security measures. Why would Floss be involved in all this? I don’t have any history with her other than the occasional poke.
” Realizing Jamie is sitting there listening to all this, I turn to her.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t need to throw that out here. ”
“Hey, it’s not like I didn’t know, and it’s not going to happen with her again, anyway. Oh, and the killer now knows I’m even more important than I was just an hour ago. I bet she didn’t miss telling him that tidbit.” She shrugs at me and nods at the dead body.
“Find a prospect to get that piece of shit out of here, and we’ll deal with it properly later,” Whack states. “Great. Now we need a Plan B. Bull, get cracking with that phone and see what you can find. I’m not holding out any hope. I’ll bet that one, and that of our killer, are just burners.”
Ghost speaks up again. “Mateo, Jamie, would you give me a helping hand, and we’ll get rid of this right away?” They both go to help, and I step forward, too. “No, Fury, it’s okay. We got this, but thanks.”
I watch as Ghost and Mateo pick up the body, Ghost asks Jamie to walk in front to open any doors, and off they go.