19. Deacon #2
“So she’s not ATF and she’s concerned about this woman’s sex life?” Mace asked.
“Who the fuck is this bitch anyway?” Dallas glowered. “Why the hell is she watching us so closely? And what in the hell does this have to do with Bait, or the bunker, or Doc throwing that fucking signal with Gauge!? This doesn’t make any goddamn sense!”
Dallas stood from his seat and grabbed the back of the chair, but Rat reached his arm out. He clamped his hand down onto one of the wooden legs of the chair and yanked it out of Dallas’s grasp. He slammed it back to the ground, cracked his neck, then patted the seat and looked up at Dallas.
“Save your strength for her,” was all Rat said.
And that got Dallas to sit back down.
“The floor is open to any and all theories, no matter how bizarre,” I said.
“Have you considered that she’s an angry victim?”
Char’s voice filtered through the hidden door in the wall, and I placed my finger to my lips. I held my hand up, freezing all of us in our spots. Maybe the silence would urge her to go away. This was a private meeting.
For crew’s ears only.
“Jesus, Deac. I know you guys are in there. You’re loud as fuck, and I’m pretty sure someone broke something.”
“Thanks, Dallas,” Gauge said flatly.
“So if you don’t wanna let me in then just listen,” Char said.
I looked out over my men, but the only one to respond was Plug.
“Can’t get any worse than this,” he said with a shrug.
“Sure. Bait’s dead. We’ve got some dumb bitch chasing after us. Our lives are falling apart. Why not throw our rules to the wind?” Rat asked.
“It’s unanimous or not at all,” Dallas said.
“Of course you guys would be fine with it,” Plug murmured.
“You have to admit,” Mace said, “she’s had more run-ins with this woman than anyone else. We barely know what she fucking looks like for fuck’s sake.”
“We should get her eyes on those ATF papers,” Rat said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“I have them with me, if you want her to look at them now,” Plug said.
I crooked an eyebrow. “Just… in your back pocket?”
“Ha, ha, ha,” he said as he reached into his inside coat pocket, “not quite.”
And when he tossed the papers onto the table, I cleared my throat.
“The floor is open for vote, and it has to be unanimous. All in favor of letting Char in on this meeting, raise your hands.”
“Feels like picking the elementary school class president,” Char said from behind the wall.
Rat chuckled. “She’s got spunk, I’ll give her that.”
One by one, hands slipped into the air. Faces that were once contorted with shock and disdain gave way to an eager curiosity.
It was unprecedented, letting an outsider into our church meetings.
But so far, I played this like my father’s playbook.
I did everything right. Stepped in every direction that precedence told me.
And it got Bait killed.
“All right,” I said as I nodded to Gauge, “let her in.”
He slammed his hand against the button to eject the wall and it slowly revealed her body. She had changed into this summer dress looking thing, and I had a devil of a time not staring at her legs.
“Eyes up,” Char said as she came to stand beside me.
Mace barked with laughter, taking Rat with him, and for the first time since Bait was murdered, all of us smiled.
“All right,” she said as she looked down at the papers on the table, “that for me?”
Plug stood and shifted the papers toward her. “Can you just look through these and see if any of them is the woman that keeps hitting you up?”
She scooped them off the table. “Sure thing, give me a second.”
“Could you also show us who might look like that woman, even if it’s not exactly her?” Rat asked.
She nodded mindlessly. “Someone got a pen?”
“Here,” Plug said as he pulled one from his other breast pocket, “you can use this.”
“Thanks,” she murmured as she cocked her hip up onto that table.
We watched in silence as she flipped through pages and circled some faces. There weren’t many that she circled. Mostly she crossed out men’s faces left and right. She made quick work of what we asked before she handed the papers back to Plug.
But she gave me the answer I figured she would. “None of those are her, but there are a few women that have similar features.”
“I’ll do deep dives on them, just to make sure,” Plug murmured. “Thanks for this.”
“Not a problem,” she said with a kind smile.
“What was that you were talking about outside?” Dallas asked. “Something about being angry?”
Char shook her head. “I knew something was off about that woman, but I couldn’t really put my finger on it. She’s not an ATF agent, is she?”
Mace clicked his tongue. “No, she’s not. Past, present, or hired future.”
She pointed at him. “I figured, but only because of her eyes.”
“Her eyes?” Rat asked.
She nodded. “It’s her eyes that give her away. Whatever is happening, it’s too personal for her. She’s too eager for answers, and that eagerness is showcased in the kinds of questions she asks me.”
“How do you figure?” Gauge asked.
“Well,” she said as she stood back to her feet, “I’ve had a lot of time to think about my interactions with her. At first, I just tried to figure out why she seemed so off. But it wasn’t until she revealed that she was watching me and Dallas that day that I realized what was most likely happening.”
“She’s gonna die for that,” Dallas grumbled.
Char narrowed her eyes, but she continued. “I know enough about law enforcement to know that they keep a healthy step back from all the drama in a case. It helps them stay as impersonal and unbiased as possible.”
“And how do you know this?” Rat asked.
She looked him square in his face. “Because my father’s murder-slash-drug trial dragged on for months, where I was sworn in to testify on things I saw growing up. I was surrounded by a lot of officers, all of the time. I know how they operate.”
Rat cleared his throat. “That sucks. Sorry.”
Char simply shook her head, though. “Now local police are a bit more personal? You know, because it’s their town and all.
But not federal agents. They’re trained not to get involved.
It’s why they always call local officers in when children need things.
Like when I was interrogated and got hungry.
Or thirsty. It was never a federal agent that got me something, it was always a local officer. ”
“You were very perceptive as a kid,” Plug said.
She shrugged. “You have to be when you’re trying to figure out if it’s okay to talk to Dad, or if you’re gonna get the snot kicked out of you.”
The room fell silent, and all I wanted was to wrap my hands around her father’s throat and shake him until it snapped like a goddamn twig.
“Anyway, the point is,” Char said as she drew in a breath through her nose, “she’s emotional. Something is fueling her, and it’s getting the best of her.”
“And you’re sure about this?” I asked.
She turned to face me with the most determined look I’d ever seen on anyone’s face.
“I’m very familiar with feminine rage, Deac.
That woman is angry as hell, and she’s on a mission.
So back to my original question, have you considered the fact that whatever you guys do in your spare time, you’ve pissed her off with it? ”
“An angry victim,” Mace whispered.
“Char?” I asked as I placed my hands on her shoulders.
“Yeah?”
“You’re a genius,” I said before turning to the guys. “Plug, go back through all of our buyers and scour their families. Look into every avenue you have. Everything that’s ever been done with?—”
“Deac,” Dallas said.
“What?” I asked.
I saw him pointing and I followed its pathway, only to find Char staring up at me with wide, tearful eyes.
“So it’s true,” she said softly, “you guys run guns, don’t you?”
I kept her gaze locked with mine as I spoke. “Plug, when you find that woman in your search, come get me. And the rest of you? Stick close. We’re on lockdown-A until further notice. See Gauge for your alternative patrol routes. Church dismissed.”
And as the guys hustled out of the room with their orders, I kept standing there, holding Char with my stare in her place.
As a tear slipped down her cheek.