Chapter 18 #3
Maybe because Kennedy could identify him? But that made even less sense, given the note Keys was staring at. Keller had outed himself. Why do any of this?
Keys did not like having more questions than answers, but before he dove more into his system, he needed to see Rose and Oscar, check on Goose, and he still had to pee.
* * *
Cleanup sucked. Over the next several days, the club worked to unmask the mercenaries and identify them.
They started with the dead and wounded who were not trapped inside the MKSS building.
Several had outstanding warrants, and the club called in their contact at the FBI, Agent McAlester, to help collect the ones who were wanted on a federal level.
Carlos was able to handle the rest, reaching out to the appropriate counties or cities to come collect their bounty.
The ones that were left received the best hospitality Keys was willing to offer them, which included odor-control paper bedding, bottled water, and cheese sticks.
Eventually, he might be in the mood to let them out.
He did not question what Bulldog and Scar did with the dead, because he frankly just did not want to know.
Since it was obvious that neither Senator Mathews nor Lyra had anything to do with the attack, the club still had to follow through on their agreement to take out Webber.
Poison hadn’t wanted to, saying that she would come back to protect Rose and Oscar, but Rose was able to convince her that the fighting was long over and that there was no point.
Poison wasn’t happy about it, and threatened Keys’ manhood if Rose or Oscar got so much as a stubbed toe before Poison got back, but they continued on their mission, making it look like Webber committed suicide by jumping off the roof of his therapist’s five-story building.
According to the news reports, Webber survived the initial fall, and succumbed to his injuries several agonizing hours later.
They even managed to get a witness to come forward and claim that they saw Webber on the roof alone seconds before he jumped.
Keys did not know if they made Webber jump or if the witness lied, but either way, the man was dead, and later that afternoon, Supervisory Deputy United States Marshal Talbot Corrigan was placed on administrative leave with pay, pending an investigation of suspected obstruction of justice, witness tampering, conspiracy, accessory to murder, and violation of his oath of office.
To start. Based on the roadmap they’d given her, it looked like Lyra was planning on throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the man.
Oscar was spending more of his days with his club cousins across the street.
Rose and Keys decided to keep his apartment at the clubhouse, turning it into a mini computer lab for themselves so they could continue working while also being close to Oscar.
They also made good use of Keys’ twin bed.
All of his belongings, though, were officially moved over to the apartment at MKSS.
Maybe they would build a house on the club property at some point in the future, but for now, they were extremely comfortable in the home they’d created with Oscar.
The morning following the assault on MKSS, Ghost, Lucky, Becks, and Ranger traveled to Alexandria, and true to his promise to Bulldog, Ghost had Athena drive them.
After his initial evaluation and given the circumstances of his situation, the doctors recommended a ninety-day inpatient program.
Visitation would be restricted for the first thirty days, but their surveillance was child’s play for Keys, who promised Becks that he would check in on Ranger for her.
Goose had a concussion and bruised ribs, but thankfully, that was the extent of his injuries.
Keys’ guilt over Goose’s injury intensified when he came face-to-face with the Riley brothers’ parents.
Their mother, Ingrid, was less than pleased Keys had gotten her son injured, though she didn’t know the specific circumstances of that injury.
Thorne later apologized to Keys for their mother, but Keys couldn’t exactly argue with the woman’s accusation.
Following the attack, Grimm removed himself from the field. He increased his sessions with Dr. Rutenberg and was working out a schedule with the club so he could man the gate and remain useful. Keys wasn’t going to pry, but assured Grimm that his job was waiting for him when he was ready.
“Um, Keys?”
“Yes, my love?” Keys responded, trying to keep the nervous excitement from his voice.
“I just received the most unusual error message.”
Keys had to swallow hard to center himself. His heart was racing like he’d just run a mile. “Oh, yeah?” He cleared his throat. “That’s weird. I see nothing on my end.”
“Strange,” she mused. “This wouldn’t have anything to do with me catching Oscar drawing diamond rings on a T-rex’s hand earlier, would it?”
“Can’t imagine why it would,” Keys responded as dryly as he could.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rose’s head bob up and down. “Must be a coincidence, I suppose.”
“Any, uh, any idea how to solve the error?” Keys inquired, hopeful.
“Well, given the options presented here, I really have no other choices.”
Critical System Error
Error code: IRREVOCABLE_COMMIT
Description: Cannot function without you.
Proposed solution: Marriage.
This error cannot be resolved by any other means.
Accept / Decline
A moment later, a box appeared on Keys’ monitor.
SOLUTION ACCEPTED