5

Chapter 98 Cut and Cuffed

Chibs and Opie met up at the clubhouse on their bikes. They hopped in the van with Opie behind the wheel and began the short drive to Clay's. Both men were armed as Jax instructed.

"Jax wouldn't make a move against Clay unless he had him dead to rights," Opie said as he stared at the red light at the intersection of Charming Avenue and Main Street. He seemed trying to reassure himself.

If Jax was wrong and made a move on Clay that failed; it could be disastrous for Jax and the MC, Opie knew. Jax would tread carefully with Clay. Surely he wouldn't do anything so reckless and dangerous as to try to bring down Clay if he didn't have some kind of proof that he'd done something that could get him kicked out of the club?

That had to be what Jax had in mind or he wouldn't have told him and Chibs to bring Clay to the clubhouse, disarm him and tie him to a chair. Jax wasn't dramatic and he didn't overreact. Something bad must he going on.

"What could it be?" Chibs asked.

"Haven't talked to him since we voted guns out," Opie said. He was hurt that Jax was looking to make a big move on Clay without talking to him about it. He and Jax talked when he asked him to work for TB as security. He hadn't dropped any kind of hint that this was happening. Why didn't he mention it then?

They used to talk about everything, but all that changed when Jax went to prison. He'd visited him as much as he could but he had family obligations that kept him from visiting as often as he would have liked.

Jax hadn't been around much since he got out of prison either. Opie got that Jax wanted to spend time with his bride. Now that he was back in Charming and he and Chibs were going to be working as security, he was confident they would regain their closeness. He just hoped like hell that Jax wasn't making a catastrophic mistake.

"I wonder why he couldn't wait a little. We just went through all the voting out guns drama," Chibs said.

As Opie continued the drive to Clay's, the men grew silent preparing themselves for the tricky job of getting Clay to come with them. Both would prefer it to be voluntary on Clay's part, but they would do whatever it took to get him in the van to face Jax and the rest of the club at the emergency meeting.

"Holy shit!" Opie exclaimed as he turned down Clay's street.

All five patrol cars belonging to Charming's police department were parked around Clay's home. Opie couldn't park near his house. He parked halfway down the block—the closest he could get.

The officers in the topless jeep that Hale usually drove turned their attention to the van. They watched them, their hands on their holstered weapons. Obviously, the officers had recognized it as being connected to the MC and viewed the men inside as a threat.

Five patrol cars parked outside the president of the Sons of Anarchy Motor Cycle Club were causing a commotion on the street. Some residents watched from windows, but most watched from their front yards. Not much happened in Charming, so this was an exciting event and no one wanted to miss it.

Hale emerged from Clay's house leading Clay wearing sweat pants, a T-shirt and slippers with his hands cuffed behind his back.

"What the fuck!" Opie and Chibs said in unison.

There was a smirk on Hale's face as he steered Clay towards a police cruiser parked directly in front of Clay's house. He had dreamed of locking up the MC. It was his favorite non-sexual fantasy. Right now, he had the president of the club and that was about as good as it might ever get, so he was going to savor every second of this experience.

"Take a last look, Clay. It's going to be the last time you see this street," Hale said. He tried for a professional tone, but he couldn't keep some gloating out of his voice.

"Fuck you," Clay growled lunging for Hale and trying to kick him since he couldn't hit him with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Hale sidestepped Clay easily. He wanted to hit him, but he was aware most of the neighborhood was watching either from windows or their front yards. He resisted the temptation. That was one of the difficult things about being a member of law enforcement, he had to keep his emotions under tight control.

"Your fan club is watching," Hale goaded.

"I'm going to get out," Clay said so angry he was spitting the words out, "and fuck you up."

"Best day ever," Hale said not even trying to disguise the glee in his voice.

Another officer put Clay in the back seat complete with putting his hand on Clay's head to keep him from bumping it just like on TV shows.

Hale seeing his officers looking in the direction of the white van, noticed the van too. He lifted his hand and waved at them, the smirk back on his face. Having a couple of SAMCRO watching this moment made it even sweeter. He got into the vehicle's passenger seat.

"Mother fucker!" Chibs and Opie exclaimed again in unison clearly pissed off at this show of disrespect.

"This can't be good," Chibs said his Scots accent growing thicker when he was excited.

"No shit," Opie added.

As they sat in the van, the police car containing Clay drove past them. The back window was tinted so they couldn't see him. The rest of the patrol cars turned and followed after the car with Clay and Hale in it. The jeep was the last to pass them, the officer in the passenger seat's hand was still on his holster in case the men in the van tried to stop them taking Clay.

Opie pulled the car up and parked in front of Clay's house.

"Let's check with Gemma before we give the news to Jax," Opie said.

"Gemma's car is gone," Chibs observed. "I'm going to call Jax and give him the information."

There was just enough room in the garage for Clay's bike, but that was it. The garage was filled with junk from old motorcycle magazines to bits and pieces of bikes and a few broken Harley mirrors damaged during a couple of minor fights in the clubhouse. Gemma kept her car parked in the driveway.

Jax was sitting at a table in the clubhouse waiting for the guys to show up when he got the call from Chibs. He swore softly when he heard Clay had been taken away by Hale in a patrol car.

"Go see if Gemma's there and if she knows what happened," Jax said. "If she isn't there, use your key and go into the house. Get Clay's cut and come back to the clubhouse."

Clay getting arrested was his fault. Jax would never admit it to the MC, but this was his fault. Son of a bitch. This was all his fault.

He had a few minutes to come up with a back-up plan to fix what he'd screwed up.