Shadow Chapter 11
The weekend drew to a close too quickly. Two full days weren’t enough in my books. Even though I got evenings with Cambria, I wanted more. I wondered if my brothers, who had old ladies, felt the same. And add kids to the mix, and I would think it felt even shorter.
It was Monday, and I was at the scrapyard.
Cambria was at the compound, working on a job for one of her existing customers.
I had to tear myself away from her this morning.
Our weekend had been a marathon of sex. No matter how much we did it, neither of us could get enough of the other.
It was her becoming too sore to do it again that brought us to a halt.
Things were relatively quiet, as they usually are on Mondays.
It was the latter part of the week and weekends that we were the busiest. Having a slow day allowed me to work on Cambria’s problem.
I was still determined to discover how I had messed up and exposed her.
While I was doing that, Crusher and the computer whizzes from the other clubs were removing her information, taking down sites, and more.
I was deeply immersed in the dark web. I’d been in there for hours pursuing another barely traceable path when I made a discovery.
I wasn’t expecting it, so when I did, I sat there re-reading it and blinking to make sure I was seeing the right thing.
However, it never changed. I came up out of my chair.
It went crashing into the wall. I stared at the screen.
I never noticed that Crusher entered my office, which was next door to his, until he leaned down to get into my line of sight. I blinked stupidly at him.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“I found it. I think I found it. Take a look at this for me and tell me if I’m smoking crack, Crush,” I asked urgently.
He rounded the desk and came to stand behind it.
I scooted over far enough that he was able to take my spot and work his way through my footsteps on the computer.
He took his time, being thorough, which, any other time, I wouldn’t have cared how long it took.
But when your woman’s life may depend upon it, you want an answer immediately.
I stared out the window and gritted my teeth.
It was eleven minutes later when Crusher broke the oppressive silence.
“From what I see, you didn’t accidentally expose Cambria, nor did she do it to herself.
There’s another trail there. And it’s fucking cleverly hidden.
The person responsible for this URL is the culprit.
Let’s see if they hid their trail the whole time, and as deeply as it is here.
Or did they get sloppy elsewhere? About time we got a break.
You gotta be relieved. I am. Are we passing it onto the others to try and dig into and have multiple hands in it, or do you want to be the one? ”
“I’d like to finish what I started, but for expediency’s sake, the more guys working this, the better.”
“Then let’s get on the phone and get them on a call together. We’ll pass along what you found and see how it goes. I’m afraid it’s gonna leak over onto the regular internet soon.” Crusher voiced one of my biggest concerns.
Nodding, I retook my seat while he went to close my office door. First, I sent a message to all the computer/hacker members in the various clubs. We had our own chat group for occasions like this and others.
Me: Who is available to jump on a call with Crusher and me? We’ve found something on C’s problem.
It wasn’t even a minute before the first response came in.
Wire: I can.
The first two to confirm were Wire and Micro.
Spawn with the Iron Punishers and Outlaw from the Hunters Creek Warriors were next.
The last one available was Beast from the Ruthless Marauders.
Smoke and Everly were still MIA with their super-secret government job.
Once I had confirmed those five, I launched the online meeting.
All of them popped on one after the other.
Their faces said it all. They were eager to know what we’d found.
“Thanks, guys, for doing this. I know you’re all in the middle of your workday. I didn’t think it should wait until the end of the day. I found something, and Crusher has verified it,” I explained.
“Hey, no problem. We’re here to help. We’ve been waiting to be tagged in on this,” Beast replied. Several murmurs agreed with him.
“I can’t thank you guys enough. I’ll take all the help I can get. I had hoped the exposure point would be easily detected at first. And I know all of you have jobs to do,” I told them.
“Well, better late than never. Tell us,” Spawn said without any rancor.
“Let me start by sharing my screen so you can see what I see regarding the URL and username. Plus, what gave me the footprint I followed,” I clarified. I wasted no time as they sounded off their agreement.
There were whistles, some swearing, and muttering after I shared it, and they had a chance to study it. When they were finished, we all sat there in deep concentration and silence. I eventually broke the silence.
“I’m asking for anyone who has time, if you’ll help track whoever this person or persons is.
The longer it takes, the more likely it is that this will migrate from the dark web to the regular internet.
I can’t have anyone coming after my old lady.
Her identity has to be reburied for good,” I reiterated, not that any of them had forgotten.
“I’m in. However, reburying it won’t fully protect her. People know who she is. They’ll talk. The only way to ensure she remains safe and hidden is if she disappears,” Wire slipped in.
“She doesn’t want to have a whole new identity and have to move and restart her life. I won’t allow it. She’s my old lady. She stays with me,” I growled.
“So we have to do it in a way that Cambria Mulally, a.k.a. Journi Brooks disappears and the trail to her is wiped out. I know that Smoke and Everly can help with wiping better than all of us combined. The other part falls to you, Shadow, and it’s not a hard fix.” Outlaw paused to scan my face.
“And what exactly is this easy fix?” I asked, somewhat impatiently.
“You marry her as soon as you can. Cambria Mulally disappears. The backstory can be built to make it appear that Cambria…” Outlaw petered off.
“Creed,” I supplied.
“Yeah, Cambria Creed appears, but from another Cambria with a backstop story that will stand up to any scrutiny,” Outlaw finished.
For me, I had no objections to marrying Cambria.
I worried that it was a move that was too soon to spring on her.
I wanted her to agree to marry me because she loved me as much as I loved her, not out of desperation.
However, there was no way I’d allow her to assume a new identity that would take her away from me.
Outlaw’s suggestion kicked the others off to debate it.
They raised some minor concerns. After fifteen minutes, we all arrived at the same conclusion.
The backstory had to be built while tracking the one or ones who exposed her, and Cambria’s new identity was built.
From there, assignments were given out. Outlaw volunteered to see if he could find out through Bull, his president, when Smoke and Everly would be back.
Bull was the father-in-law of Smoke’s president, Terror, and the charter president of the Archangel’s Warriors MC.
Forty minutes after the call began, we signed off after I thanked them profusely. Disconnecting, I glanced over at Crusher.
“Brother, I think you should go home and talk this through with Cambria. But before you do, tell her that you love her. You said you haven’t told her that. Do it,” Crusher said.
“I don’t want to rush her and have her freak out. If it weren’t for fearing that, I’d get hitched tomorrow,” I confessed.
“Man, she claimed you in front of the whole club, those hangers, and the bunnies. Saying I love you can’t be scarier than that. She knows you’ve claimed her as your old lady. Go for it,” Crusher urged.
He was right. In the scheme of things, how bad was it? And if it left us together and her safe, it was the way to go.
“Alright, I’ll return home and talk to her. She’ll want to hear what I know already. Thanks, Crush. If you need anything, give me a holler.”
He stood and held out his hand. I shook it, then he excused himself.
I paused merely long enough to shut down my computer.
On the way out of the building, I told April Ann I’d see her tomorrow.
I didn’t bother to give her a reason for my departure.
The ride back to the compound seemed to creep by.
As I rode, I thought about what I’d say to her before popping the question.