Fighting Destiny 8

Chapter 10 The Worst of Days

"

Tara still had the glow of happiness from her wedding. She never thought Jax would leave the MC or get out from under Clay and Gemma's control, but when Jax read his father's words combined with the birth of Baby Nate, something inside him changed. He finally got the responsibilities of being a father outweighed those of being a VP in an outlaw motorcycle club.

Gemma was watching the boys. She'd been very dramatic about how little time she had left to spend with her grandsons. She tried to make her feel guilty, but she failed. She and Jax were acting in the best interests of the boys. That was something that Gemma would never understand.

If Gemma had her way, she would raise the boys to be criminals and killers—basically what Jax had become thanks to her parenting. Finally Jax saw that wasn't the way to raise kids. Thank God for JT's words from beyond the grave.

This was the last time she had to see Otto and she was looking forward to it not just because he was going to retract the statement he'd made at the ATF's direction to try to destroy the Sons with RICO, but because Otto was disgusting and crazy.

He had actually tried to get her to give him a blow job on one of her medical appointments with him. She hadn't shared that with Jax. She knew if she told him, he would insist she give up the plan to get Otto to recant his confession. She wanted them to begin their new lives without any potential criminal charges hanging over Jax's head.

If Otto failed to keep his side of the bargain, then it was over. She wouldn't see him again and she'd have to accept the fact that there might be a cloud over their future. She didn't know all the criminal acts Jax had committed for the MC. She suspected he'd killed and sold guns; serious crimes that could get him locked up for good.

That had been another factor in Jax's decision to leave SAMCRO. He wanted to set an example for his sons and he couldn't do that as a criminal. He wanted his boys to be proud of him.

Raising the kids in a small Louisiana town, having a general practice where she could treat families and Jax running a bar and restaurant sounded so perfect. She could hardly wait to begin their new lives. She wouldn't have to worry every time Jax went to work that he would be killed. She'd have the safety and security that she craved for her family.

She was OK that he, Opie and Piney wanted to start a chapter of Sons of Anarchy in their new hometown. He wanted to put right what the Sons had become and move the MC into the modern world. The club wouldn't be about organized crime. It would be about what it was supposed to be; a group of guys riding bikes who didn't like authority. It would also be about putting real family first and brothers by choice second.

Jax also wanted JT to see that he was changing the MC into what it should have become and might have become had JT lived. He wanted Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Louisiana (SAMCLA) to be the new model for the Sons of Anarchy.

Tara smiled to herself. She'd never seen Jax this enthusiastic in a very long time. She didn't realize the toll the MC had taken on him mentally. This was a new optimistic Jax.

She went through to the medical area of the prison and signed in. She was supposed to be seeing Otto on a recheck for some meningitis symptoms.

"Glad you're here today," the charge nurse Debbie said. "We're really busy."

"Happy to help," Tara said.

"The first two rooms are new patients. Delaney's in room 3," Debbie said writing on a paper on a clipboard.

"OK. I'll see Delaney first and then the other two in case I need to go back to Delaney. He's a little high maintenance."

"He is a pain in my ass," Debbie said shaking her head.

Tara went into Otto's room, closing the door behind her. Otto looked at her through his thick glasses, his hair was tied back in a greasy ponytail. He just had the general air of being unkempt. Part of that was prison life, but part of it was depression. He needed to take anti-depressants but he refused. Tara thought he wanted to lose himself in his grief over Luann's murder.

"How are you today?" Tara asked brightly.

"Never better," Otto said sarcastically. "Did you get it?" he demanded.

Tara lifted up her pants leg, reached into her left boot and handed him the crucifix.

"You'll recant your statement."

"Absolutely. Can I have a moment?"

"I'll be back in a few minutes. Otto, the club still wants to put money in your account and help you. They'll forgive you for this whole confession thing. They know how the ATF manipulates and lies and how they took advantage of your grief."

"Yeah, I know just how it feels to be manipulated and I know just how much SAMCRO cares about me now."

Tara left closing the door behind her. It was almost over. She'd still come to the prison one to two times a week until they left California just to finish out her commitment to the prison.

She had just finished examining an inmate with an ear infection when she heard blood curdling screams, a commotion and someone yelling for a doctor.

She left the exam room and ran down the hall. Her heart sank when saw that it was Otto's room. The nurse was collapsed on the floor clutching her throat. It was slashed and gushing blood. He'd cut the carotid artery.

Two guards were restraining Otto while one cuffed him. Tara kneeled down to the nurse and tried to put pressure on the artery but she knew it was a losing battle. It was too late.

The crucifix was on the ground, the knife part of the cross was underneath Debbie. Tara reached for both of them and deliberately touched them.

"The doctor gave me the crucifix," Otto screamed. "Redwood bleeds and Sons live."

They had gotten a gurney to put Debbie on to transport her, but she was already gone.

"I'm sorry," Tara said shaking her head, her eyes filled with tears, "she's gone. He must have used this to cut her," Tara said handing a guard the crucifix and the bottom knife section.

"You gave me the crucifix," Otto yelled again as they struggled to get him out of the room. He summoned all his strength and tried to lunge at Tara.

"You are a crazy hateful man. I've never seen that cross before."

Tara had watched enough TV to know that if they couldn't prove she gave Otto the cross, they didn't have any kind of legal case against her. She'd touched the cross and knife so that explained any fingerprints of hers they might find.

It would be the words of a killer and convict against hers and she was a well respected doctor. Otto said that about the cross to get her into trouble because he blamed the club for his wife's death. She was lucky he hadn't tried to kill her. That was going to be her story and she was going to stick to it.

No, Otto was more subtle. He hadn't wanted to kill her. He wanted to make her suffer and hurt Jax.

She felt like she was shaking all over when an investigator interviewed her. She kept her story simple and told the truth other than omitting the cross she'd given Otto. They had nothing on her, she repeated to herself.

She fought the temptation to call Jax on the drive back to Charming before deciding calling Jax would be the natural thing for her to do.

She sat in the van before beginning the drive and called Jax.

"Jax, something horrible has happened," Tara said.

She could hear the sound of equipment and knew he must be in the garage at TM.

"Give me a second," he said, "so I can get to somewhere quieter."

Tara waited a few seconds for him to move away from the garage.

"OK, now tell me what happened."

"It's Otto. He went crazy. He got a cross from somewhere. I don't know where the hell he got it and he killed a nurse with it," Tara said.

She was laying her story out and knew that Jax would pick up on that.

"Oh, hell," Jax said. "Why did he kill the nurse?"

"I don't know if he had a problem with her or if he did it solely to get back at the club and me. He's trying to say I gave him the cross."

"Otto's a liar. He's crazy. He's a killer. No one is going to believe his lies. Where are you?"

"Just about to start the drive to Charming."

"Are you OK to drive?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'll leave early and be waiting for you at the house."

If for some reason one of their phones was bugged, their conversation was perfectly consistent with the story she told the investigators.

No one would believe Otto. She was not going to get into any kind of legal trouble. Otto's plan would fail.

In the end, it was bad enough because she knew the truth; if she hadn't brought the crucifix to Otto, poor nurse Debbie would still be alive. She'd have to carry the guilt with her for the rest of her life.