Sam's surprise.
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Chapter Thirteen,
"Sam give you some bad news honey?" Madeline asked, her voice soft and kind. Marti looked up from where she sat on the lawn, her big brown eyes were wide and filled with tears.
"I think this has all gone too far." Marti continued to cuddle Brady, holding him tightly against her chest.
Madeline, lit up another cigarette, and then patted the chair next to where she sat. "Come and sit down, honey and tell me all about it."
With a sigh, Marti got to her feet, wondering how she could explain what she was going through. Sitting down, on the deck chair she reluctantly let a wriggling Brady get down to run off and play.
"You were going to tell me what's happen?" Madeline gently prompted.
"It's complicated Madeline." Marti sighed. "I don't think you'd understand." How could she? Marti looked at the older woman. She had a nice home, people around her who obviously loved and cared for her. Admittedly they were all a bit intense and scary but she hadn't heard any raised voices and nobody had thrown a single punch in her presence.
"Oh, why not give me a try." Madeline replied, she could guess what was going through the younger woman's mind.
"They, I mean Sam and Michael want me to lie to the club and get Darryl kicked out." She blurted the words out.
"Uh huh." Madeline waited, so far she couldn't see what was wrong with that. From what she understood if Darryl didn't have his friends backing him up he would be easy to get rid off.
"They'll kill him or at least drive him away." She said as if that explained everything.
"If he runs away they won't be able to kill him. I think that's what Michael and Sam are trying to do dear. You know give him no choice but to leave the state. You'll be safe then. Isn't that what you wanted?"
"Well yes, but." She pulled a face, her bottom lip quivering. "He's not all bad, you know. He can be really sweet when his not drinking and he loves me and .." Her voice was becoming hysterical, the tears that had been threatening to fall, now ran freely down her cheeks. Madeline lent forward and patted her hand.
"Marti, take it from some one who knows. If you go back to him, you'll regret it. In six months time you'll be right back where you are now or maybe even worse off."
"But." Marti couldn't find the words.
"Think about it this way. Do you want Brady to grow up to be just like his Dad?" Madeline asked. Remembering how she spent a restless night staring at the parental consent forms Michael had brought home when he wanted to join the army. She had chosen to stay with Frank and in the end she had to send Michael away to stop him turning in to a carbon copy of his father.
"Maybe if Sam and Michael talk to him and ..." Marti was still looking for a way to keep Darryl in her life. She was scared to be alone.
"Not going to happen, Marti and you know it. Men like Darryl don't change because some one talks to them." There was no way she was going to let this young woman make the same mistakes she had.
"What if he won't go unless I go with him. His friends, the club, they'll kill him and it'll be my fault."
"It'll be his own fault Marti you've done nothing wrong. I know this is really hard but he's a grown man and if chooses to risk his life it's his own fault."
Marti sat back in the chair, gathering up all her hair off her neck before dropping it back down. "I've never been on my own before." She admitted. "I don't think I can.." Her words trailed off as she started to think about being on her own with a small child and nobody to help.
"Oh honey you're not going to be left on your own. Do think Sam will just abandon you when this is all over? And you've got all of us as well." Madeline laughed.
Brady was back over at Marti's side, grabbing at her arm. It was four o clock very close to his dinner time. "Hungwy, mama." He told her as he swung on her arm.
"C'mon Brady." Madeline got to her feet and took hold of his hand. "Let your mommy sit for a while." As she started up the steps to the kitchen door she turned to Marti. "Before you decide to go back to Darryl. Just think about what you want for Brady. Think about what sort of man you want him to grow into."
…...
It was six o clock when Fiona drove back into the cement works. She got out of the car and marched over to where Michael sat, cleaning his handgun. "It took me twenty minutes to find parts of that number plate Michael, and I saw you watching me sorting through that wreckage." She sat down next to him. "Look at my nails. You're paying for my next manicure."
"Fine." He agreed with a small smile catching hold of her hand to study her chipped and dirty nails. "What about the the panthers?" He kissed the back of her hand before letting go.
"I couldn't get in close enough to plant anything, but I'm fairly certain where their store room is located, lots of men coming and going. I think they might keep their money there as well." She produced her phone and showed Michael the photos she had taken. "We'll have to wait until it quietens down to get in close."
He nodded his agreement. "Barry is dropping off the fake bank statements at my mom's and Sam has made up the business cards. He's going to pick up Marti and bring her to the loft. She wants to run everything through the club president's sister. Apparently this woman has a big say in the business side of things."
"The bugs are in the clubhouse. We'll have to stay close if the meeting is somewhere else."
"Er me and Sam will have to tail her, the meeting is in a strip club. You'll have to be outside with Darryl in the trunk."
"Oh I bet Sam is happy about that." Fiona grinned.
"Yeah estatic." Michael replied, thinking back to Sam's comments.
…...
Marti faced Michael over the kitchen counter in the loft. He placed two business cards on the top, both had been made to look worn with grease and oily dirt worked in to them. "They look exactly like the real thing. The numbers on the cards will ring through to one of our phones." He told her, pushing them across close to her hand.
He watched as she picked them up and looked at both closely. "They're good copies." He reassured her. Then he dropped a small electronic bug down where the cards had been. "You say you found this, with the cards. It's a bug, they'll probably check out the clubhouse and then they'll find the rest. From that point we won't be able to hear anything that's going on in there." He paused letting her study the items.
"This a bank statement, it's been set up by a friend of ours. If they check it out, it'll appear to be real unless they try to get at any of the money. The codes on the credits are used by the government for contractors. It should be more than you need to convince them Darryl's turned on them."
She nodded slipping it into her bag with everything else . "Now you know what you're going to say? Don't let them bully you into changing anything. Don't embellish, keep it simple." He coached her on how to act and what to say.
She turned to look at Sam who stood near the door that led out onto the small balcony. "Can we just go and get this over and done with?" She was determined to go ahead with the plan but she was also wanted to get it over and done with before her nerve broke.
Michael wanted to be sure she understood what she was doing. "Marti, it's important you stick to the script."
"I know." She pouted. "I just want to get it over with."
"So tell me what you're going to say?" He wasn't going to let her go until he got what he wanted. It went against all his training to send a civilian into such a dangerous situation but there was no other way.
"I was doing the washing and found the business cards. I was scared and then later I went through his cut and found the bug thing. I left him because I thought he was going to get us all killed."
"What about last night?"
"You're a friend of my dad's, your name is Alec. You came back to the house with me because I was frightened to go on my own. You said you were boyfriend to try and scare Darryl off. But you dumped me when you realized he was part of an outlaw bike club."
"Ok last question. Why are you telling them now?"
"Because I'm all alone and frightened they'll blame me when the DEA come in because of everything Darryl has told them."
Michael smiled. "That's great. Now just stick to that and it'll all be over with."
Marti nodded. "Can we please go now."
"Ok." Michael finally agreed. "Let's get this done."
…...
Sam looked at the building Marti had instructed them to stop outside. "I'm really not keen on you walking into a strip joint." He turned to his daughter, his tone flat.
Marti nodded, biting her lip. "So you keep saying. But I feel safer here than going in to the clubhouse alone." She told him. Sam had been more than a little bit judgemental when he realized where she was meeting up with this woman. So she decided to let him assume the worse for now.
"At least we can follow her inside and not attract attention." Michael tried to build on the positive side of things.
"Just remember we'll be watching you." Sam got out, slamming the door.
They watched her walk in ahead of them, speaking to the door man who pointed across the room to the far corner.
"Just because she wants to meet her contact here doesn't mean she worked here Sam." Michael commented. Receiving a blank stare in response.
They got a table as close as possible to where Marti sat with an older woman, surprisingly dressed in a smart and modest skirt and blouse.
"The boy's are all out looking for you Marti. What are you playing at?" Karen Williams the older sister of the Lord's president snapped the words out.
"I- I've got something -" Marti mumbled and stuttered, desperately searching through her oversized handbag.
Over at their table Sam was swearing under his breath. "She's not up to this." He growled.
"Give her a second." Michael replied, his eyes scanning the crowd trying to make out who was likely to give them trouble if they had to pull off an extraction.
Marti pulled out all the pieces of paper, business cards and electronic bugs Michael had given her, scattering everything all over the table. "I was going through Darryl's jeans when I found these." She pushed the business cards over to the woman. "And when I asked him about them h-he hit me and told me to keep quiet." She dropped her head, waiting to see if Karen bought in to what she said.
Karen looked at the two cards and then pulled out a phone dialling one of the numbers. "Special agent Hastings" As soon as the call was answered Karen hung up. Luckily she failed to notice Marti staring across at where Michael was putting his phone away.
"What's the rest of this stuff?" Karen asked, examining the listening device.
"I don't know what it is." Marti replied I found it down the side of his chair last night."
Michael winced, she was doing exactly what he told her not to. She was embellishing the story. Making it harder for herself to remember all the details.
"Mike I don't like this." Sam hissed, reading the situation just as well as Michael was.
Karen turned the little bug over in her hands and then held it up close to her face. "It's a bug, a listening device." She lent over the table and glared at Marti. "Do you know what this means?"
Marti dropped her head, looking at the woman through her fringe. "I can guess." She answered in a small voice.
Karen was on her feet now, and pulling Marti up as well. "We need to go see the boys." She was already waving across to her driver to bring the car around and gathering up all the evidence.
Marti tried to resist. "I don't want to go to the clubhouse, can't we meet here?"
"No. Come on. You found all this stuff, so you have to bring it to the club." Karen kept a tight hold on Marti's arm and forced her out of the doors. Two large men dressed in the Lord's cut downs following close behind.
Trying to look casual Michael and Sam left by the front door. Michael was already on the phone. "Fi they're on the way to the clubhouse. We'll be a few minutes behind them."
Fiona was sat in her car with Darryl in the trunk, a short distance from the clubhouse. Even as she was taking Michael's call she was listening to what was happening inside the club. A frown forming as the bugs went dead.