Chapter 14

Ellie heard the small pop come from the gun that was pointed in her direction. "This is it" she thought, all her work ending up like this. As soon as the bullet hit home, she'd be dead. She'd die as Elizabeth Morgan, probably buried in some hole in the outskirts of Charming. Nobody would come looking for her, no family, no friends. It was her quick calculation of her life that caused her heartbeat to increase, not the gun pointed at her. She didn't have anything in her life but this job - a job that she was about to die for. Every lie she had ever told started running through her mind like some fucked up list.

The only real thing, a constant in her life, was that her parents and younger brother were dead. But she had always lied about the circumstances. She was ten, not eighteen. Her brother was three and it wasn't an accident. Her mother was a broken down shell of a woman who had been abused by her father and then married the first piece of shit that came along. She was pregnant before the ring had been slipped on her finger, the pregnancy lasted longer than her husband's sobriety. A meth addict in and out of rehab so often the people in the neighborhood called him Revolving Tim. By the time she had been born, the meth was back in his veins and his fists on her mother. They'd spend their life like this, waiting for him to get sober and then waiting for him to relapse.

By the time her brother came along, this was how she thought normal families were. She didn't see anything wrong with her father's erratic behavior which always ended in some accusation of her mother's wrongdoings, and then punches being thrown. The cops were never called. In the shitty little neighborhood they lived in, a woman screaming was a just another normal sound - like a car driving by. Then he'd get sober and they'd be a family with dad home for dinner and no arguments.

When she was ten, her father had come home out of his mind, yelling at her mother that she had flushed his stash. She heard her mother's screams but instead of going to her mother's aid in the living room she went to get her brother before he started crying, but found his room empty. She could hear her mother scream again but this scream different, this one was blood curdling. When she came out of her brother's room, she went to the living room. The horror she saw before her was none she could ever forget. Her three-year-old brother lay face down in a pool of blood and her father had her mother pinned to the floor, straddling her and stabbing her until her screams turned into gurgles. When her father saw her, he lunged at her but ran to her bedroom. She tried to get the window open while her father proceeded to beat down the door. She had just gotten it open, when he came crashing in. His knife sliced her leg open as she was crawling out the window. Once her feet had hit the ground, she ran until her injured leg gave out on her. A couple on their way home from the bar found her on the street. When she came to, she was in the hospital surrounded by police officers.

She went from the hospital into a group home where she spent the next eight years. Nobody wanted to adopt the girl whose father had murdered her family and then killed himself. Eight years in therapy, and the only thing she learned was how to lie. She had tried to be normal, tried to have relationships and friendships, but the talk always turned to what happened to her family. When she told the truth, she couldn't miss the horrified look on people's faces. When she lied, they'd look at her with sympathy. At eighteen, the group home, having taken care of her for the required time, pushed her out. Her saving grace was officer Daniels, the first officer to talk to her in the hospital. He had spent the eight years checking up on her and by the time she was grown, he was Agent Daniels. The Academy had been perfect for her. Her job now fit her, she didn't have to be that broken girl, she got to be whoever she wanted. She wasn't forced to have a real relationship, just a fictional one she created. She'd never be put in her mother's situation because she always had an out. She had been saddened by the news of Agent Daniel's death a year ago, narrowing the number of people who knew about her from three to two. One being Stahl, the other currently standing next to her.

She felt the blood spatter hit the side of her face and heard Dean's body hit the floor with a thud. Her eyes flinched closed, waiting for it to be her turn. The seconds ticked by and when nothing happened, she opened her eyes and saw Chibs coming towards her. He had his gun still in his hand but it was lowered. The rest of the guys streamed through the still-open front door. Her body shuddered when he got close enough to touch her, letting out a muffled whimper when her pulled her to him arms and held her tight. "It's alright Ellie love" he soothed.

"What the fuck Chibs!" came Clay's booming voice. Chibs turned his head, not letting her go.

"Bastard had his hands on her" Chibs responded matter-of-factly. With one arm still around Ellie, he pointed to Half Sack who had been the last one through the door. "And you, ya asshole. Ya were supposed to be watching her."

"Jesus Chibs! Did you even ask any questions before you put a bullet in him?" Jax asked, trying to be the voice of reason.

"Didn't have ta. Bastard was in my house, hands on my girl. What'd ya want me ta ask him? if he was going ta beat the shite out of her again?"

"Nice shot brother" Tig said, clapping him on the back as he and Happy approached the body. Both men had a sick, gleeful look in their eyes.

"Yeah, but you made one hell of a mess for the prospect to clean up" Happy commented in his raspy voice, crouching down to inspect the body. "Fuckin blood and brains everywhere. Cleaner if you do a body shot and then slit their throat while they're pissin and moanin about being shot, not as much splatter that way. Your girl okay? Looks a little green, we don't need puke added to this disaster."

Chibs pulled back from Ellie and took her face in his hands, gently turning her away from where she was staring at Happy and the body. "Don't look Ellie love, it's okay he's not going ta hurt ya again." He pulled the disoriented woman back into his arms.

If she could have, she would have laughed at the situation. This man holding her in his arms didn't suspect her of anything. He was her best mark yet - not even questioning why she hadn't screamed for Half Sack. Aside from the dead agent on the ground next to her, things couldn't be better with this case. She'd have them for murder, knowing they weren't going to call the cops and helping dispose of the body made each man in this room an accessory. All she had to do was wait out this current situation until she could make a phone call to Stahl, relay the details and then be on her way to the next job. She'd miss the sex with Chibs though, and his sweetness. This man had just killed for her without a moment's hesitation. She had never experienced that kind of devotion before, most of the men she'd met would have thrown her to the wolves, caring about themselves more than her. All these thoughts and hopes she was having were shattered when she heard Clay's voice come from where the body was.

"When were you going to tell us sweetheart that your woman-beating ex is a fucking FBI agent?"

She snapped her head away from Chibs' hold and looked down at Clay who was holding Dean's identification in his hand, the blue FBI standing out like a sore thumb. That stupid bastard agent Dean Reynolds aka Dean Conrad had just fucked her royally. Her mind started to chant "think, think, you are trained for this". "He's not" she gasped looking to Chibs. "He's not."

"That's not what this says darlin." Jax's voice came from the circle of men that were slowly surrounding her. She felt Chibs' hands release her as her head turned to Jax. "And this says Reynolds on it not Conrad like you said."

"Ellie ya better start explaining this" Chibs' tone demanded that her attention be focused back on him.

"I can't, I don't know." As she pleaded to him, she knew that she was pleading for her life now. "He's an investment banker, I don't know who Dean Reynolds is. I swear Chibs, I don't know why he has that on him."

"A god damn FBI agent! We don't need this shit Chibs, fucking ATF breathing down our throats!" Clay shouted, punching the nearby wall and causing Ellie to flinch. "You better start talking now, and I better like what I hear. Tell us everything you know about Dean."

"We met when I was eighteen. He was older and worked in banking, with investments - some sort of corporate securities. We dated, got engaged, he started hitting me early on then it got so bad I left. He was Dean Conrad. We had to go to the courthouse to get a marriage license and I saw his fucking ID - the name on his license was Dean Conrad. "

"That doesn't explain this!" Clay shouted, almost shoving the ID in her face.

"Wait, wait uhmm he worked with the police on something, uhmm something about stock fraud or some corporate banking fraud. He got an award or something like that. We went to a ceremony, I thought it was just with the police but maybe it was with the FBI."

"Juice, you got any contacts that can hack the FBI and verify this shit?"

"Yeah I can, but it's going to take some time and a lot more hardware than I have."

"Get going on it now."

"I swear Clay, I didn't know any of this. I didn't want the club involved."

"Well we're fucking involved now. Let's get this shit cleaned up, no trace of anything shit heads. Now!" he screamed when nobody made a movement.

"Ellie go clean yourself up yeah?" Chibs said, the sweetness still not returned to his voice.

She nodded to him and stepped past the rest of the men, head down and going straight to the bathroom. She wished she had of kept the phone in the tank. One call and this place would be swarming with cops. If they doubted her story, she was dead. She wasn't going to make it out of this house alive.

Chibs went to where Jax and Clay stood while Tig and Happy went to work on the body. "What do ya want me to do here Clay?"

"Put your dick aside, do you believe any of that story?"

"Aye I do and I'm not thinking with my dick."

"This is the second fishy thing that has come up with her. First talking to Stahl and now this, it doesn't look good brother."

Jax, sensing Clay's overactive mind spinning, intervened."Hold on Clay, let's not jump the gun here, brains before bullets. Even if she did have knowledge of Stahl and this FBI asshole Chibs iced, the beating she got doesn't make any sense. If she was working with them, they're not going to sanction shit like that. You didn't see her that night, fucking cuts bleeding all over the place. I thought she was dead when I first saw her on the floor. The dislocated shoulder? She couldn't have done that to herself. And she's been fucking Chibs, don't think the ATF has prostitutes on the payroll. I say we have Juice look into who this Dean Reynolds is and keep an eye on her until shit checks out."

"Chibs?"

"I agree with Jax."

"Of course you do. Most of us are here let's at least vote it. If we get caught, we're all doing time for it."

After the vote was taken, Clay handed Chibs a plastic garbage bag. "Anything with blood on it goes in here. Now go take care of her and don't make a mess in there."

Ellie knew she should be coming up with some sort of strategy but her mind was blank. Either they bought her story or they didn't. If not, someone would soon be coming into kill her. This thought process almost had her on her knees praying for the first time ever. She hadn't been able to clean the blood off her. Looking back in the mirror, she looked like she had been gravely injured. Dried blood splatter covered the left side of her face and neck. She hastily grabbed a hand towel and soaked it in warm water. She began scrubbing at her neck and was still at it when the door opened. Turning around, she saw Chibs walk in with a gun in one hand and a plastic bag in the other. Shutting the door, he moved closer to her. "Let me help ya love" he said, lifting her so that she was sitting on the bathroom counter.

This was a good sign. They wouldn't clean the blood off her if they were going to kill her….unless they were worried about cross contamination. If her body was found, they wouldn't want agent Reynold's blood found on her. The gun he set down next to her right hip caught her eye. How many bullets were left? Even if it had been full before he killed Dean and even if she was a perfect shot, there still wasn't enough to get her out alive. Could she take Chibs hostage and make her way out of the house, or should she just stay put and play the game out? She shuddered at her shitty options. "It's alright lass, I'll get ya all cleaned up" Chibs said, gently going to work on her face and interrupting her thoughts. "Let's have the shirt yeah?" She remained silent as he removed her shirt and placed it in the bag. He washed the blood from his hands and neck from where it had transferred from her to him. He removed his kutte, wiping the blood from it, taking great care with the leather and then threw his own shirt in the bag as well. "We'll get ya back to the clubhouse so ya can take a shower, but this should do for now."

She remained sitting on the counter even though he offered his hand to help her get down. She didn't want to go anywhere right now. Maybe that was the plan, drive her out to the desert, pop her and get rid of the car and the body at the same time. Her womanly instincts kicking in, she took his hand and pulled him to her. Her mouth crashed against his feverishly. "Ellie love what're ya doing?" he asked, pulling away from her slightly to get a good look at her.

This would be the best dramatic performance she had ever done, her life was depending on it. "Oh Chibs, thank you, I was so scared." She pulled him back to her, their arms wrapping around one another. She buried her face in his bare chest.

"He snuck in from the back. I'm so sorry I should have never talked Kip into leaving me alone. I don't know what he would have done if you hadn't come in. I'm so sorry, I should have never stayed here, I never wanted to bring this on you or the club and now Clay's pissed. I just couldn't leave, I was so happy with you I just wanted to be with you. I'm sorry Chibs please forgive me" she sobbed against him.

"Shah lass, nothing to be sorry for. It'll be alright love."

"I swear Chibs, I didn't know anything about him being connected to the FBI. I would have told you if I had. You believe me don't you? Please, you have to believe me."

He pulled her in tighter. "Aye, Ellie I believe ya." She sighed with relief. Now that she had him, she just needed to work on Clay and the rest of the guys. She knew they didn't carry out hits without a vote. If the majority believed her, it would buy her enough time to get to Stahl and get out of this job. She was done, this was her last one. It was time for her to move on and have a life of her own; no more pretending, maybe meet a real guy and have a family. Get a normal job, maybe she could actually make a go of it being a painter. She had started painting in therapy as a way to release her emotions, clear her mind and give her the clarity that no amount of talking to psychiatrists had done.

Now that she had him on her side, she just needed him to believe she was okay with the killing and that the dead body in the living room didn't bother her. Which wasn't too much of a stretch. Yes, Dean had been a fellow agent and for that he deserved some respect. She had gone through the academy with Dean. He had been twenty-five at the time while she was just eighteen, having gotten a recommendation for early admittance from agent Daniels. They had been partnered up on a few cases in their last year at the academy, and they had worked together posing as a married couple in one of her early undercover cases. It was during that time she had learned how sadistic he was. Dean had an affection for young girls - some of them probably underage at the time. Prostitutes mostly because they were desperate and would do anything for money, for food or their next hit. He would basically rent them for few days, take them to some cheap dark hotel that mostly housed drug addicts, and spend the time with them by tying them up and beating them. He especially liked bleeding them, just like he had done to her. Sex was never involved, he just got off on dominating them and holding their lives in his hand. When he was done with them, he'd patch them up and then threaten them before letting them go. It was on their undercover case that he had finally gone too far. He had called her late into the night panicked and frantic. When he let her into the room, she was appalled by the scene. A young girl lay lifeless on the bed, her body covered in blood, the black and blue bruises covering every inch of her body and bite marks peppering her once-porcelain skin. She had forced him to call their superior and report it. She hoped that this would be his final time, never again would he be free to do this to another young girl, but she had underestimated the power of the people she worked for. They had swept it under the rug. Dean was such a decorated agent that he had only got a suspension. While the girl who turned out to be only fifteen was disposed of quietly. As it had turned out, it hadn't been the blows that Dean had administered, it was the drugs he had given her to keep her from puking that she had overdosed on. From that moment forward, she had made the decision to work on her own. In a way she thought he had deserved what Chibs had done - to be put down like the wild rabid animal that he was.

"Oh god Chibs, thank you, oh thank you!" She pulled at him trying to get his bare skin next to hers and placing heated kisses on his chest and neck. He moaned at the touch of her lips. Leaning down, he captured her lips in his, biting at her bottom lip as she slipped her tongue in his mouth. Her hands went to his belt buckle but he grabbed her hands and pulled them away saying "This isn't the time for that love."

That wasn't a good sign, him turning her down for sex even though moments ago she had felt his hardness growing against her. She slipped off the bathroom counter. Standing on her toes, she kissed him softly on the lips. "Please Chibs, I need you. I need to feel your touch, your skin against mine. I can still feel his hands on me, I need you to take that away, please." As she pleaded with him her hands roamed back down to his pants. Making quick work of his belt and zipper, she pushed his pants down and dropped to her knees before him, taking him in her mouth.

"Shite love" he moaned, hands going palm first on the counter, enjoying the feel of her warm mouth. Her tongue circled his tip as her hands went to his bare ass, pulling him into her deeper.

One hand instinctively went to the back of her head and he slowly ran his hand through the softness of her hair. There was no way he was going to be able to say no to her now. He wasn't a young man anymore, that bothered him the most. If he was her age, he would have let her finish him off and be ready to go again for her. He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her up. His hands went to her waist, pushing down her shorts and underwear before lifting her up so her clothes fell from her feet. He set her back down on the edge of the bathroom counter. He grabbed her legs, her hands going to his shoulders for support, and he slammed into her. "Good girl" he gasped against her ear as her hands tightened their grip on him. She moaned his name as he picked up pace, there wasn't anything sweet about this, this was an adrenalin filled fuck for both of them. Their nails dug into each other as sweat beaded between them. Her soft moans quickly turned into screams of pleasure.

"Fuckin asshole" Happy grunted when the screams started, motioning his head towards the closed bathroom door as he rolled the body onto the plastic sheet.

"Nothing better than a kill fuck." Tig commented, helping Happy move the body while Half Sack continued with his cleaning.

"What the fuck you talkin about?" Happy asked him, sitting down and lighting up a smoke.

Tig looked at Happy like he was explaining the alphabet to a child. " A Kill fuck. You never fucked a girl after you killed for her?"

"Nah."

"Well it's the best kind of fuck" Tig said matter-of-factly. "Way better than an angry fuck. Fucking girls will do anything if you kill for them. They like to pretend they want some sensitive man to ask them how their day was, but what really gets them is man who'd do this kind of shit for them."

"Jesus Tig, that's fucked up. How many times have you killed for a chick?" Half Sack asked, slightly stunned by the nonchalance in which Tig was explaining how he used murder to get pussy.

"Every chance I get. A kill fuck, you guys should try it."

"We don't need anyone else killing for some bitch, so shut it Tig" Clay boomed across the room.

Three days later, the men found themselves in church. "Juice where are we at on this Reynolds shit?"

"I told you even with the new hardware it'll take a while. FBI doesn't fuck around with their security. If you want I can reach out to a hacker I know, he'd have the shit in 24 hours."

"No I don't want any outsider on this."

"Hap, Tig we good on the body?"

"Burned and buried. If it's ever found, all there will be is a pile of ash."

"Pulled the teeth out, broken them up. No one's gonna ID that fucker."

"Chibs I know she hasn't left the clubhouse yet, but when she does the prospect's on her. Don't want her to know either. Until we have confirmation on her story, we stay cautious."

"Got it Clay" Chibs said. He hated to have to doubt her, but it was better to be safe. They had spent the last three days together mostly in bed, locked away in his dorm room. So far she hadn't done anything suspicious that concerned him, the only change being her current cigarette habit.

When he got to his dorm room, he saw her showered and dressed, hair and makeup done. She smiled at him when he came in the room.

"Hey there handsome."

"Going somewhere love?"

"Yeah, it's time. I need to get out of here, we need to get out of here. It's time to go home." He knew she was talking about his place. Her lease had finally ended, the stuff that had been packed was now unpacked, and they had been living out of bags the past three days.

"Ya sure about this, Ellie?"

"Yes" she said going to him and giving him a kiss. "I want to move forward, be with you at our home together. I'm going to go to the store and get the kitchen all stocked up. Going to cook you your shepherd's pie finally, well if you'll be home for dinner."

"Aye, I'll be home. You want me ta go with ya, so ya don't have ta be alone?"

"Nope, I need to do this for me."

"Alright love" he said, following her down the hallway. "I'll see ya at home then." He kissed her goodbye and watched her walk out the clubhouse door. He nodded to Half Sack who dropped what he was doing and headed out too.

At the first red light she stopped at, she pulled the phone out from under her seat. "Hey, it's me. We need to meet today. I've got a tail I have to lose first, I'll call you to tell you a place when I'm clear." She had seen Half Sack pull out of the lot headed in her direction. He wasn't on a bike, or in the club van, it was some car she hadn't recognized, but she'd been doing this long enough to know he was three cars back from her. She drove through town, making sure to stay in traffic so he could keep his false sense that he hadn't been made. For the next hour she took every road known in Charming, then she headed out of town through Lodi, Oakland, Stockton and Sacramento. Always checking in her rear view mirror for him. Three hours later into the drive back to Oakland, she looked back and let out a laugh when she saw him pull to the side of the road. She had started the drive with a full tank of gas and it was apparent he hadn't. People always tried to lose a tail by taking turns and speeding but the most effective was always to have more gas than they did. Once she was sure she was clear of him, she stayed off the highway which was the obvious route back to Charming. In Lodi she made a call again and in half hour she was pulling into a well-populated park. Seeing Stahl on a bench, she walked toward her, scanning the parking lot and area for anything familiar, she couldn't afford any more screw ups.

"Lose your tail?" Stahl asked when she sat down next to her.

"Yeah I'm good for at least an hour, left him outside of Oakland."

"What've you got for me?"

"Murder, Dean's dead." Not missing the shocked expression that crossed the normally stoic woman's face.

So there's a little back story on Ellie I hope you guys don't hate her to much:) as always thanks for reading and reviewing I appreciate it so much.