A Family Stolen

Disclaimer: I own nothing

A/N:

Chapter 9 (In Too Deep)

Sinjin was always weak-hearted, and never one to think things through or lead. He was a follower, and occasionally an observer. Jade could still remember the time she caught him smoking pot behind the school; he was so afraid she'd tell on him and pleaded to the point of saying he'd do her homework for a year if she kept quiet.

So the fact that he could be a part of a gang was appalling. Jade followed him closely, remaining hidden behind trees and any other objects in the park that she could find. Sinjin was walking his dog, blissfully unaware of her presence.

Beck had asked that she not approach him, and even instructed her to leave the park; but she needed to see what he was up to. So far, it didn't seem like he was up to anything more than walking his dog in the park.

Jade wondered if she approached him that it would make a difference, or if he'd just view it as an old high school friend running into him at the park. Following him like this could be suspicious, and more so if he was involved with a gang and they were watching him.

She wanted to be afraid of him, but the feeling inside of her was irrational. Angry and hurt as she was that Sinjin could even remotely be a part of the same group that hurt Tori's family, she wasn't surprised. At this point, it seemed nothing could surprise her. "First Hayley," she whispered with anger dripping from her lips, "and now Sinjin? What is this world coming to?"

Jade prayed with all her heart that her observations were wrong. She wanted the black armband on his wrist to mean nothing, and that maybe, just maybe, it belonged to some club or simple college organization. At the same time, she was only lying to herself, telling herself that she had to be wrong.

Sikowitz already told them that they needed to suspend their image of how people acted in the world, and that anyone and everyone could be a criminal or suspicious person. Even someone they'd known all their lives could have certain things in their life that they never knew; which they were learning with the Vegas.

"Beck's going to kill me for this." She moved from her hiding spot and picked up the pace, walking through the trees and greenery to get past Sinjin. "I need a closer look." She doubled around and began to huff and pant while swinging her arms to make it look like she'd been powerwalking.

Automatically she was assuming Sinjin wouldn't pick up that she wasn't sweating, but then she was well aware Sikowitz needed them to learn to cast their preconceived notions and assumptions of people to the side.

She made her way down the path and expressed genuine surprise when her eyes met with Sinjin's. "Oh my god, Sinjin! Is that you?" Sinjin raised his eyebrows and Jade slowed to a walk. "Small world!" Sinjin's right hand clenched around his dog's leash and he smiled politely.

"Yeah, small world." He swept his eyes to the left, then to the right. His face was sunburned and his body was starting to tremble. "So you're out here exercising? I don't think I've ever seen you out here before."

"You must have missed me." She ran her hand through her hair and bent over, trying to do some stretches. "I'm usually always out here." She grabbed her heel and tossed her head up, her eyes moved towards his wrist just as he moved it down in a relaxed position.

"Really? I'm always bringing my dog out and I've never seen you once on this trail."

"I guess the park's just that big. Trina's always out here too. You remember her, don't you?" He averted his gaze and fell quiet, a sign that caused a dull ache within her chest. "So, that's your dog?" He smiled and leaned over, running his hand down the dog's furry neck.

"Yeah, she's a sweetheart."

"May I pet her?" He gave her a nod of approval and looked away with a husky sigh. As she knelt and started rubbing the dog's neck and scratching behind her ears, she turned her eyes towards Sinjin, struggling to keep her patience as he moved his hand behind his head and started scratching his hair.

His foot tapped the ground and he looked anxious to leave. "Actually Jade, I wish I could chat longer, but I really have to go. I'm meeting a friend." He dropped his hand and exhaled. "It's good to see you again though, we really do need to catch up." She pursed her lips and looked up at him.

"We really should. I think you'd be surprised to see how much I've changed."

"Oh really?"

"I've been doing some work on myself." He chuckled and shut his eyes, shaking his head from side to side. She glanced to his wrist once more, her forehead wrinkled and her nose creased when she saw the metal insignia and the letters BK on them. Raising her eyes, she saw Sinjin glancing at her with an arched eyebrow. "That is…an awesome bracelet, Sinjin!" She made sure there wasn't any ounce of accusation in her tone, but that of awe and genuine interest. "Where can I get one?"

"What? This thing?" He raised his wrist and looked to the armband with a soft laugh. "It's just a club thing. Something at my college, you'd really have to be a member." As he gazed at the armband, a great sorrow came over him. "I have to wear it day."

"Ah." She pointed at the thin red stripe in the center. "It's got two of my favorite colors, red and black, that's why I thought it was interesting. Do you think Tori would like it?"

"I'm more of gold and silver kind of guy, to be honest. Dark colors were never my thing." He wrapped his dog's leash around his arm and cleared his throat. "Anyway, as I said, I wish I could stay and catch up on old times…but my friend's waiting on me. Hope everything's going well with you, and that you and Beck are still doing okay."

"Alright. We're doing great." She stood up and moved her hands behind her back. "I won't keep you. Though I did want to ask what you'd been up to these days, like I've taken up an interest in human psychology." She put her hand to her chest and beamed with pride. Sinjin hummed and nodded his head.

"I've been taking cooking classes. I want to be a big chef one day."

"Well, keep it up." She waved and he thanked her while walking onward. She twisted around, narrowing her eyes on him. Her voice lowered to a whisper as he walked over the hill. "Yeah, just you keep it up Sinjin…you can't avoid me forever." He was hiding something; and if his avoidance of discussing the Vegas wasn't a sign of trouble, she didn't know what was. "I'm not done with you just yet 'old friend'."

She continued to follow him, hoping she could find out more information or catch him up to something. She was confident his bracelet was connected to the gang, which horrified and sickened her even more now that she had the confirmation; so now she just hoped he could lead her to the Vegas one way or another.

If this friend of his was also a part of this group, it would be unlikely they'd talk about the Vegas or anything related in public. There was a chance, and if they did, she could hopefully use that to here advantage.

She was also curious, wanting to know if there was anything good in him or if he was a dangerous and vile person. Currently, she felt anyone and everyone involved with this group was evil, which was why she couldn't bring herself to accept Sinjin's role in it.

Eventually he settled on the patio of a local coffee shop, overlooking the metal railing and the highway on the other side of the parking lot. His dog's leash was tied to the rail next to his chair and he sat with a large cup of the 'strongest coffee' the shop had.

Jade grabbed a newspaper and sat nearby, but in an obscure spot so he wouldn't see her. It was an old school spy move she got from the movies, which amazed her that it actually worked.

Eventually someone showed up and sat at his table, Jade had to lean sideways a bit to get a better look. He was a tan-skinned man with long dark hair that was parted in the middle. He wore a black leather jacket, tan t-shirt and long black khaki pants. "Hey Sinjin…"

"'Sup Jesse." Jesse had one of the black armbands as well. Jade felt a lump swelling in her throat and turned her head back to the newspaper. "Ran into an old friend at the park about an hour or two ago."

"Oh really? How'd that go?"

"Awkward. I could hardly look her in the eye." Sinjin let his shoulders drop and lowered his hand, running his fingertips through his dog's fur. "She likes the armband. I don't really know what she'd think if she knew what it really meant…or what she would do." He chuckled sadly and looked Jesse in the eyes. "I say friend, but she was really a bitch back in the day."

Jade rolled her eyes and glanced at the comic strips on the page, as if hoping they could put pleasant thoughts in her mind. "Did she seem like she still was?"

"Not really, that actually surprised me. A conversation with Jade West without a single insult coming from her mouth. Not something you see every day."

"Jade West?" Jesse raised his hand to the side of his head and he shut his eyes, groaning softly. "My brother's girlfriend talked about her before. Evidently they part of a group that got her kicked out of some stupid club her daddy ran before that stupid teacher complained to some business ethics group about the owner giving preference to his daughter over his paying customers…"

Jade raised her eyebrows and stifled a laugh. She never realized Sikowitz went to the ethics department of that club, but it made sense. A business owner's main concern should be his or her customers, and the man let his daughter hog the karaoke stage-which may have hurt business more than it helped.

"Daddy's little princess got his ass fired, fortunately the KJ was able to buy the club and keep it from getting shut down."

"Wow." Sinjin crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "No offence, but I can't stand her. Hayley. That girl's more of a stuck up bitch than Jade ever was." Jade rolled her eyes and huffed. The rush of her breath caused the newspaper to crinkle, making her tense up and glance sideways to see if the men heard the noise.

When they didn't turn or make any expression of notice, she was satisfied. Jesse swept his hand through the air. "I don't care, Sinjin. I'm with you. Hayley thinks she runs the Knights, but she's an insane bitch. Just as crazy as my brother is; he's losing it. Seriously."

"What he's doing now…"

"Honestly, my dad and brother have been running the knights into the ground." Jesse swept his hand through his hair and started grumbling. "I wanted reform, I wanted to change them into something good, but now I'm not sure if the knights can be redeemed."

Sinjin leaned back, glancing down at his dog. "You pulled me from a dark place, Jess. That's why I joined; but all this shit? Jess, why?" Jade started to frown, her heart wrenching as horror and grief rose to choke the air from her lungs. Sinjin's nose crinkled and his eyebrows slid inwards. "Why all this insanity? I know you, I know you didn't want this for the Knights."

"Dad started the Knights as some sort of rebel motorcycle club. I thought they could be a force of good, you know?" Jesse laughed, there were notes of pain and despair hidden in his tone. "The black knights, maybe a gang of Samaritans or something. Heroes, maybe." Jade's head jerked back and her jaw fell open. "But that wasn't what they had in mind."

Sinjin grunted. "Clearly."

"I'm sorry you're caught up in this, I truly am. If you could get out of this-"

"A little late for that, Jess. I'm in this deep."

"I know…" Jesse raised his own coffee mug to his lips and took a long sip. Both men turned their heads towards the parking lot, their eyes looking beyond and watching the cars on the highway roll past. "My brother wants to impress dad. As cruel and virulent as my father was in life, I don't think he'd want this mess for the Knights…"

"What is his aim?"

"His aim? It's the promise that was made to him. Do this, and the Black Knights gain notoriety; the gang will rise up as a force to be reckoned with. Other gangs will recognize their name and whatnot."

"It seems like even the Hells Angels would disapprove of a stunt like this, Jess. Taking a cop's family. There's got to be more to it than that. What's your brother getting out of it?"

"Revenge, I think." Jesse ran his hand over his head and sank back into his chair. "I'm honestly not sure. I know one thing…Sasha would fucking hate me for even being party to this."

"Seems nothing can go your way."

Jesse's hand tensed around the handle of his coffee mug and his tight-lipped expression intensified. "My goal for the knights. Reform, turning them into something good. That was her wish, her goal. It was my redemption. Ever since my father's death, my brother just turned a bad thing into a group of fucking devils that can't be saved."

"I don't know." Sinjin shrugged. "Purge the devils and reform the knights with the people that don't want all this?"

"Yeah. Right." There was a growl of frustration in his throat, and he began to raise his voice while turning a glare upon his friend. "How can they possibly be saved now, Sinjin? We're all demons. Even I'm a demon."

"I wouldn't say that."

"Sinjin." Jesse narrowed his eyes. "My father killed Sasha, and for that, I butchered him." Jade's stomach started to churn and she began to pale. "I threw his fucking remains into a furnace for what he did; if Sasha wouldn't already be horrified by that act, she'd be fucking terrified by what I've allowed my brother to do to the knights."

"So stop him?"

"How?"

"I…I wish I knew."

"Even if I could influence him that much, to make him turn away from all this insanity; the decision doesn't lie with him. He's only working with the people in charge. I feel like I'm living the Sons of Anarchy show!"

"Yeah…" Sinjin took a slow sip of his coffee, his gaze peering over the mug. "I'm glad Tori got her friends out of the house." Jesse raised his finger to his lips.

"Not out loud, Sinjin."

Sinjin winced and lowered the mug. "Right. Sorry." Jade glanced sideways, holding her breath and mentally questioning what he meant. "I'm just saying, what your brother and Hayley want to do…using them…they lucked out. I might have lucked out by just being a part of the group."

"No, you're alive because you're my friend." Jesse stood from the table, adjusted his jacket and sighed. "If not for that, they would have sliced your neck and put you on display like the sick fucks they are." Sinjin put his hand to his throat, and Jade did the same with hers, gasping softly at the thought.

She couldn't help but wonder if this meant she and her friends were to have been killed and used as a form of torture for the Vegas.

Once the pair took off and parted ways, Jade made her way away, shuffling down the sidewalk. Everything she heard spun about her mind like a storm, and her stomach was clenching tight to the point she thought she was going to vomit.

Resting at a streetlight, she leaned against it and closed her eyes, groaning softly as a new fear clutched her. "Did Tori really save us?" She opened her eyes and across the street she saw Hayley standing at the corner with a crew of two guys and one woman.

Her heart came rushing to a stop and her eyes widened when the girl's smug glare focused upon her. "Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit." She took a small step back, seeing the cars passing by her. Hayley's gaze darkened and a smirk spread across her face.

Recalling Jesse's words, she moved her hand to her throat and started to picture her lifeless body being brought before the Vegas. "Go run," she thought she heard Hayley say. Her heart began to race as the light turned yellow. "I love a chase."

Jade's feet were frozen in place, try as she might to move. Hayley raised her hand in the air and shouted out. "Hey you! I remember you, how's it going?" Sweat trickled down the side of her face and her hands curled up into fists. "Let's catch up, hon."

The streetlight turned red and the crossing light turned to the green person. Oncoming cars came to a stop and Hayley took the first step onto the street. Even now, it felt like her legs were concrete. Hayley's walk was fluid like the sea, and her piercing gaze chilled her bones.

Knowing what she did about Hayley, recalling the video and letting it play over and over in her mind, there was never a time where she felt so alone and vulnerable as she did in this moment.

"Shit, no."

Jade's learned a lot, but the question now for her is where to go from there, and could Jesse aid? Maybe turn the knights into allies? One thing's for sure, his brother Jerome and Haley would have to fall before he could take over. Now, speaking of Haley...we're going to see just how crazy she truly is.