Shadow Chapter 4 #3
“We can’t solve this right now, so I suggest we get back to work.
Rage and I will go to the storage building and help finish that, and tell the others to meet for church at two o’clock.
Crusher and Shadow, you two get to work on figuring out where she was exposed and how to hide that shit or whatever it is you do,” Wrath quickly rattled off.
Knowing it was all that we could do, we nodded and rose to our feet.
Before leaving the office, I told Crusher to come to my house in five minutes, and we’d work there.
It was a bigger space than what we had in the clubhouse.
He agreed. I walked away feeling weighed down by a mountain.
My mind wouldn’t stop wondering how Cambria was.
If anything happened to her because of me, I’d never be able to get over it.
???
Two o’clock came fast. Crusher and I had been heads down working online to see how widespread the reveal was, so we could start shutting down shit, hiding others, and figuring out how I inadvertently exposed Cambria.
The posts on the dark web, where the stuff was found at the moment, were dark, ugly, and downright sick.
The way these people worshipped Garen Brooks, as if he were a god, a role model, or a celebrity, was sickening enough.
But reading what these crazy groupies wrote about what they wanted to do to Cambria was terrifying.
My stomach churned more. Crusher swore and exclaimed over several of them.
We were used to dealing with depraved people, but some of these people were worse.
Walking into church, hearing my brothers murmur as they questioned why we were here, made my steps drag.
Crusher was beside me with his hand on my shoulder.
He squeezed it before I wordlessly took my seat.
The others milled around until Wrath entered, then they scattered to their chairs.
Quiet descended as he sat. I noted that Rage was pale and drawn.
Wrath didn’t waste time starting church.
“I know that you’re all wondering why the hell we’re here in the middle of the day and not on our regular Wednesday night.
We’ll get to that. First, however, I want you to listen carefully.
I don’t want any interruptions or questions until after the situation is fully explained.
After it is, we’ll open the floor to questions and suggestions.
The issue at hand impacts more than our club. ”
His words had our brothers exchanging puzzled and curious glances. Wrath continued, “I’m opening this first to Rage to explain part of it. Then, Shadow will take over. Pay close attention,” he demanded.
Without more than a pause, Rage launched into his part of this mess.
He explained it in detail, leaving nothing out.
When he finished, I dove into my part in this.
It was truly the horrible part. I saw the astonishment grow, some outrage, and more as I kept talking.
I refused to look away from them. Finally, after what felt like hours, I concluded my tale. I waited for the flood to begin.
There was a lot of murmuring, exclamations, and some swearing. After a few minutes of that, Wrath called them to order.
“We could sit here all night asking how and why, but the truth is, Shadow doesn’t know how what he did exposed her.
He and Crusher, along with some of the others, will soon be working to figure out how to mitigate the damage.
What we need to do is decide what we do about it.
The situation is that one of ours, Brae, has had a friend unintentionally hurt by our club.
The exposure would’ve possibly occurred even if Rage hadn’t asked Shadow to find Brae’s Cam, since Cambria, for an unknown reason, was checking into Shadow and tripped the alerts he had on himself.
He’s got the same alerts on everyone in the room and the club as a whole.
They are there to do what his flag did. To alert him to anyone nosing around us.
“Shadow feels like fucking shit because of it. He wants to make things right. Brae has asked us to send some men to protect Cambria from the fanatics who are calling her. We’re closer than Hunters Creek.
Cambria is in Aiken, South Carolina, which, I checked, is about two and a half hours away.
We don’t know if they’ll be able to find where she lives.
You heard what Shadow said about the online threats.
These are very unstable, dangerous individuals.
Hell, they worship a fucking serial killer for God’s sake.
There is no telling what they’re capable of if they discover where she is. ” Wrath ended his explanation.
Smoke, our VP, was the one to break the silence. “I don’t object to us making this woman safe. Even if she weren’t Brae’s friend and her investigator, we’d do the same for any innocent we accidentally exposed.”
“I agree with Smoke. I’m willing to be part of the protection detail.
It’ll take some work to get a schedule together that ensures coverage of her and that the work we do back here continues without a hitch.
I can work on making one up with whoever wants in on the detail,” Ryder, our enforcer, added.
Every brother offered to take turns guarding her. Wrath held up his hands so he could regain the floor.
“Thank you, and I would love to take you all up on this offer. You need to know that both Rage and Shadow have offered to be her sole bodyguard for as long as it takes, so that the work back here isn’t impacted.
Shadow plans to see Cambria in person to apologize for what happened by accident, and to assure her that he’ll make her safe again.
I’ve already spoken to the Dark Patriots.
They assured me that if she needs a new identity, they can have the best people create one that will withstand even our hackers’ scrutiny.
“Also, I talked to Bull and Loki while waiting for us to have church. We debated another possible way to protect Cambria. She could be moved to one of our compounds so that she would be behind secure walls, with bikers accessible day and night. This would allow the club to go about business as usual.”
His reveal had the others murmuring. I tensed. Was he about to say that Cambria would be going to Hunter Creek? It made sense since Brae was there, but the idea didn’t sit well with me.
“There are so many women and children in Hunters Creek, Pres. If they take her in and she’s somehow tracked there, it exposes all of them to danger,” I interjected.
“You’re right, it would. And we talked about that.
After some debate, we’ve settled on the following as the best answer.
I need you to tell me whether it’s the way to go.
I suggested the better option is to come to us.
We have Betty, Jalisa, and Pandora, that’s true.
But we know Jalisa can more than take care of herself, our daughter, and Betty.
If we need more help, the Fiends will do it.
My question is, are the rest of you okay with this, or should we think of something else? ” Wrath added.
I listened, barely breathing as the others debated it. Pros and cons were thrown out. After about ten minutes of debate, Wrath whistled to get them to shut up.
“You’ve had long enough. I’m calling for a vote. All those in favor of bringing Cambria Mulally here to protect her, raise your hands.”
I ran my gaze around the long table. Hand after hand rose. When I was done, there wasn’t a single person who hadn’t voted for it. Relief flooded my body. I was able to take a deep breath.
“Good. The vote has passed. Now, the tricky part. Getting her to agree to it. Loki is going to get Brae to talk to Cambria and convince her to do it. All he’s waiting for is the outcome of this vote.
It might take more than Braelyn to do the convincing, so be prepared for a few of us to go there in the short term to guard her.
“There’s one other thing I need to bring to the table.
When I found out about this, Shadow told me he would accept whatever punishment the club imposed on him for causing it.
He not only endangered an innocent person but also potentially exposed the club to danger.
However, he isn’t totally to blame. It was done to protect us on one hand, and on the other, he was trying to help a fellow brother.
I’d like everyone to think about that, and when we come to church on Wednesday, we’ll discuss what Shadow deserves as well as Rage,” Wrath concluded.
The room got deathly quiet. Eyes shifted between Rage and me. I sat tall and looked each of them in the eye. I wasn’t cowering from this. It may sound harsh to outsiders, but there were consequences even in a club.
With nothing else to say, church was concluded. I walked out of the room and then the clubhouse. I was headed back to work on covering up Cambria’s existence. The pound of footsteps behind me revealed that Crusher was following me. I gave him a chin lift, then kept walking with him on my heels.