A/N argh third time lucky i hope! FF wont let me post today for some reason! Sorry for the wait. RL got in the damn way. Thanks for the PM's of encouragement, I WILL get this finished now! It's on the home straight. It's getting a little more gory and violent, for those that don't like that.

Chapter 29. The Eleventh Hour

And there's a full moon in the sky
You hear a dog bark in the distance
You hear someone's baby cry
A rat runs down the alley
And a chill runs down your spine
And someone walks across your grave
And you wish the sun would shine
Cause no one's gonna warn you
And no one's gonna yell attack
And you don't feel the steel
Till it's hangin' out your back

AC/DC Night Prowler

Chris and his men had made such good time crossing town to get to the bar that they'd beaten the SWAT team over. Chris was now cursing, pacing on the uneven sidewalk, ready to storm inside. The ambulance, completely abandoned, sat before them, doors open in invitation for some enterprising criminal to come and strip her down to the bone. There was no sign of the hearse.

"Give them a second, Chris. We don't do this right it could cost him," Buck said, but he too was pacing.

Finally a van appeared, rounding a corner and heading their way and then another came up behind it.

They waited while the team readied themselves. They had no idea of the layout of the place but quickly found two entrances. The teams split and they prepared to enter, but they would not be storming into the place. This time they had a possible hostage and they would be playing it differently.

Chris had chosen the back once it was determined that would be an easier (and quicker) entry than the thicker wooden front door. He was waiting as one of the men picked the lock with amazing speed and they entered the building at the exact same moment as the remaining men stormed through the front. There was a moment of shouting and heavy boots on the boards beneath them. Then nothing. Not a whisper.

Chris took in the sight of the completely deserted bar in silent contemplation, letting the absence of human occupation sink in even as the repeated calls of 'Clear' sounded down the hallways as SWAT checked through the building with precision.

"Slippery mother fuckers," Buck swore, then looked at Chris. "We'll find him," he reassured.

Chris didn't acknowledge him. The need to smash something was overwhelming and so he did just that, overturning the first wooden table within his reach and tossing it violently into the table and chairs beyond. He'd told Tanner they'd have his back, that he was part of a team. Letting him face this alone was just not something he could live with.

The time spent horizontal in the darkness did nothing to quell the relentless pounding that was driving through Vin's skull. For a while he'd entertained the strong possibility that he'd sustained some real damage to his skull, but that had been some time ago. Coherent thought had long since fled and his time was now spent in a kind of twilight state where there was only the now. All that had come before and whatever lay ahead seemed just out of his reach.

By the time the lid was pulled open above him and light was flooded into his unprepared eyes he had lost all sense of time and urgency. He showed no resistance as they pulled him out without ceremony and dragged him to a chair, cuffing his ankles to strong metal crossbars that ran between the legs and tying his wrists down hard enough that even though his palms were turned upward he could not twist his hands to face them down. His first returning lucid thought was that he felt vulnerable with the white of his palms exposed like that and worse, he knew why they'd done it.

He quickly determined (with a violent lurch of his stomach), that turning his head left to right was not a good idea if he wanted to try and think straight, but as a dark shadow stepped up before him and he looked up, he realised looking up wasn't all that productive either. He closed his eyes, a thorough sweat washing out over his skin as the room kept moving slowly in a nauseating circle.

"Maybe we should shock him again, wake him up."

A low chuckle sounded and two names flitted through Vin's awakening mind. Jones and Ryant. They were so going down when he got out of this shit.

"Don't think he's got much left in him. The boys are nearly here and then we can get the fuck out of here."

"No, Levitz called a second ago when you were out back, wants us to meet up with him, make sure we're seen at the station before we head out."

"Shit. I really wanted to get home early, thought we could go home from here."

Vin let the conversation wash over him, realising there was no immediate threat and using the time to try and get a handle on his scrambled brain. The nausea was physical, he could deal with that at the moment if he kept very, very still, but whatever was causing it felt like a growing pressure on the side of his skull. Opening his eyes was acceptable if he squinted, but that was about as far as he was getting.

He'd been in bad situations too many times to count and knew that the mind was the most powerful tool at a man's disposal. Without that, he didn't have much chance of leaving the room, so he closed his eyes again and simply breathed, closing off the sounds of the traitorous assholes talking around him and pushing the sense of panic that was dogging him to the darkest recess of his mind and then further, outside his physical body, letting all thoughts leave him with each lengthened breath he took in. He cut loose the ties that bound him to the fear and helplessness that would get him absolutely nowhere and let his lungs simply draw in life. Breath by breath the pressure lifted from his chest and a sense of weightlessness began to filter in. As he'd learnt so long ago he began to draw in the white brilliance of a cleansing light between his closed eyes, feeling re energised as his breathing continued its steady rhythm without pause.

And to spite all that, he wasn't quite where he needed to be when he finally heard the sound of a door banging open and the sounds of boots scraping across a concrete floor. Deep voices accompanied the sounds and he knew, even before he opened his eyes, that he wasn't walking out of this. He was resigned, his mind still. He wasn't going to be able to control what they did to him now, physically he was at their mercy and he didn't think they had much of that in them, but his mind was still his own.

..

Only four blocks away Chris was sitting on the back ledge of the ambulance in the open doors. His expression was dark as he listened to the police officer stammering to try and explain to him how they could not locate their wayward officers. He'd tuned him out moments ago but the young fool had yet to realise that. Lucky for the kid Buck was onto it and steered the still jabbering young man away before Chris's inner pressure cooker reached scorching point.

"Do they think they can just get away with this?" Nathan said, leaning on the door and shaking his head. "Sooner or later they have to report back, do they think no-ones going to ask them questions here?"

There was a lengthy silence through which Chris's expression only grew darker. Finding that building empty had been like a physical blow. Every second that Tanner was missing reduced their chances of finding him alive and every breath he drew in felt like another second on a bomb ticking down.

JD approached, tucking his cell phone back in his pocket. "Agent Myers just called our office, apparently he's been trying to reach us."

"Myers?" Josiah asked.

"On Murphy's team," Chris told him. "Murphy assigned him to watch Levitz today." He turned to JD. "What's happened?"

"He says Levitz left his office about an hour ago, he's been acting weird all day. Went to see his lawyer and bank manager..."

"Strange day to get your affairs in order," Nathan put in.

"Unless your plannin' a hasty retirement," Ezra added pensively.

Josiah's suddenly sharp gaze went to Chris. "You think he knows about Vin?"

Nathan swore.. "After today, I think everyone knows we had an agent undercover."

"But would he know it's Vin?"

"If he does know Mr Tanner's identity, he would know his career is in jeopardy."

Chris took this all in. "So what would he do with this? Would he go to the bikers? Tell them about Vin? Or try and get to Vin himself?"

"Murphy said it wouldn't be long until Levitz's day came, maybe he knows his time was up regardless. But he would have to make sure the bikers knew he had nothing to do with Vin or he won't be retiring peacefully," Nathan said.

"And where does that leave those cops? Are they part of his posse?" JD asked.

"Where's Levitz now?" Chris asked JD. He didn't know if they were chasing their tails here, but it was something to go on. If Levitz really was tying up loose ends today then the bikers were a very big loose end. It made sense that he would go to them or at least know where his men took him.

JD held out a piece of paper where he'd written down the location of a restaurant just outside of the neighbourhood and Chris gave it a glance.

"Let's go."

..

The cold water that drenched his face and chest was cliched but effective none the less. Vin was shocked into a heightened wakefulness that had alluded him the moment preceding the gesture. He blinked the water from his eyes and peered up through his widened gaze, trying not to acknowledged the piercing pain the light drove through his retina's.

"So lets play a game..."

Vin watched as Billy drew up a chair and swung the back towards him, straddling it and leaning over the back of it into his face. There was no smirk on his face just a dark, serious expression that spoke of an intent to do harm.

"It's called, you tell me at what point the Feds bought you out and why you did it and I might let you live long enough to see my knife carve your heart out."

Vin tried to swallow down the dryness in his throat, his Adam's apple dipping painfully with the movement. When he spoke his voice sounded as damaged as he felt. "Don't spose anythin' I say at this points gonna stop you from doin' that."

Billy nodded, not denying it. "Can't even promise you I won't chop your hands off first."

Vin's jaw clenched, the fear he'd pushed down throwing itself to the surface in a heated flash. He didn't think about life without his hands, he didn't think he'd live through the blood loss, but sitting through the act as it was carried out terrified him. Billy would make sure he lived long enough to take it in. He weighed his options, knowing nothing could convince them he wasn't working for the wrong side. At this point he had pretty much one hope and it was a slim one. Delay long enough for some kind of rescue to happen, and focus Billy's rage elsewhere if he could. The question was, did he really have faith that Larabee and his new team would find him?

"I know what this looks like, but I ain't workin' for the feds."

"You an' that other agent had a matching pair of rifles and headsets that says diff'rent."

Vin cursed inside his head. He hadn't banked on Pearce being taken down. He could have passed the headset off as having listened in on the operation but he couldn't explain Pearce away. He knew then that there was nothing he could say that would sway them. They really did catch him red handed. They weren't stupid, he was positioned on the opposite side to the SWAT snipers, the shots had to have come from his location. Still...

"He was an old friend. I asked him to back me up. Two's better'n one right?"

"That would be okay if he was helping you do what I sent you there to do. I didn't ask you to be there so you could kill all my men!" Billy's tone revealed his terrible wrath as his words left him so that he spat the last into Vin's face, literally. He leant closer and Vin kept his gaze as steady as he could through eyes still blurring around the edges. "Tell me when they got to you." His mouth was a cruel sneer.

Vin swallowed again and made up his mind. He was going down, no talking his way out of it. He'd fired on Denver club members and taken them out and been caught in the act. He didn't regret it, would do it again given that he'd had no choice and if he hadn't done it a lot more men would have died down there. He'd always said he'd blow his cover if it came down to saving lives but if he was going down, he wasn't going down alone.

"When they arrested me over that girl."

Vin saw Billy's eyes widen in surprise at the blunt admission as he tried to piece it together. The large man leant back slightly in contemplation.

"So Sugar didn't get you out of that... you made a deal."

"That's not what you should be worried about. If I were you I'd be worryin' about why they wanted to go after me..." Stalling was all he could do.

He glanced beyond Billy at the men around the room and then to the walls and windows. He had no idea where he was, how in hell was Larabee going to find him? Was he even looking?

"Yeah? And why is that?"

Vin grinned. "Now that'd be too easy now, wouldn't it?"

Billy smiled in return and Vin thought it just might just be the coldest smile he'd ever seen. Without another word the man got up and walked out of the room nodding to another man that Vin didn't know to follow him. He heard them talking but couldn't make out their words and a moment later they came back in and now Jake was with them followed by Warren Close. Vin didn't spare the other men a glance, his eyes were on Billy and the long blade in his hand.

Stall, stall, stall. "You gotta know those cops that brought me here are loyal to Levitz, but Levitz sure ain't loyal to you. He knows you were gonna take him out, who do you think set me up with that gun? That was standard police issue."

Billy paused at that and after a moment exchanged a quick glance with two men behind him who promptly left the room.

"That fuckin' prick," Jake said, shaking his head. He looked down at Vin. "You're lookin' a bit less fiery than the last time I saw you kid." He turned to Billy. "He's probably right about Levitz though, although..." he looked back down at Vin in contemplation. "He could just be tryin'a save his own hide."

Vin scoffed at that and his voice sounded resigned to his fate. "I'm a lot of things but I ain't stupid. Nothin' I say now'll save my hide, but despite what you think the club means more to me than anythin'. It's always been my life. I was never gonna give that prick Levitz what he wanted. That son of a bitch beat the shit out of me first, the offer came long after he'd had his fun." The lie rolled off his tongue expertly.

Billy studied his face for a moment. "And what was it he wanted from you?"

Vin looked him in the eye and didn't blink. "He wanted me to take you out before you could do the same to him. He knew his time was up both with the force and with his association with the club and he didn't want to owe anyone any favours. I wasn't the only one he got to either. He had a man inside, one of your own, said he wanted to get into the clubhouse and clean it right out but I didn't have anythin' he could use so he didn't push me on that. Said he already had enough anyway after Decker got himself killed."

Vin could see his words hit home like sharp arrows. He knew the clubhouse had been stormed and by the look on Billy's face he could see all of the anger and rage that the man was feeling. Billy's jaw was clenched so tight Vin thought he might break off teeth. Redirection 101, he thought with a small measure of satisfaction.

"Holy shit. He did it didn't he?" He was going for gold now, no point holding back. "That's why you didn't take me back there..?"

"Shut your mouth kid," Jake said, not looking at him, but his face was ominous. He really didn't want to be Levitz when they got their hands on him and while they're at it, Decker should be thankful he was already dead, but it wasn't Decker he was after right now. Payback was a bitch.

Vin took the precious seconds he was buying to look around as Billy and Jake stewed over what they'd just heard. He couldn't see anything outside the two windows and thought they were probably boarded up on the outside. It looked like a house, but the floors were concrete and he couldn't see beyond the room he was in. Apartment maybe? Abandoned building?

Billy had a handle on his rage by the time he spoke again but his face was a mixture of suspicion and anger now. "Convenient that you pin all this on a dead brother..."

Vin shook his head. "I didn't know it was him 'til Levitz told me. It's why he wanted someone to take his place right after he died."

Jake's eyes were narrowed. "No secret you guys hated each other. Wouldn't put it past you to make this shit up."

Vin gave a dry laugh. "What would be the point? You're gonna kill me anyway." He shrugged. "I did my job, I let you know. Do you what you want with it." He waited a moment for effect then added. "But don't say I didn't warn you. The brotherhood is strong, but real blood is stronger."

Jake looked at Billy and as if timed to perfection Judd chose that exact moment to make his appearance. He walked in and started talking before he picked up on the tension in the room. The presence of the cops behind him and three bikers guiding the new prisoners inside was enough to change the atmosphere in the room.

Vin looked at the two cops as they walked in. 'Jones and Ryant' he thought with a slight shake of his head. The outcome was inevitable. He's never forgotten a payback owed yet and today he seemed to be clocking them up. If someone offered him a game of pool right now he'd bet he could slam every shot home the way he had everyone lined up. Now, if he could just get himself the fuck out of here...

"What the fuck is this?"

Ryant, Vin watched with a grim satisfaction. His mouth was about to bury him.

"Where's Levitz?" Billy asked the men softly.

Eyeing Vin's grim expression and then finally clueing into the tension in the room, Ryant looked at Jones.

"Last time I ask you. Where's your boss?"

"We were just going to meet up with him. He just called for us to join him and ride back to the station with him. We need him to back us up and give us an alibi cos every-fuckin-person in Denver's lookin' for us. ATF found the ambulance, we ain't got a lot of time here."

Billy nodded. "Good. You go get him, the boy's'll ride with you. Then you bring him back here to me."

Ryant swallowed, looking at Jones. "Okay, sure..." He started to head out.

When Jones went to follow Jake blocked him. "You wait here."

Jone's eyes widened and he exchanged another look with Ryant, both wondering what the hell was going on.

"Go," Jake growled at Ryant and he left with three of the bikers. Vin counted two left in the room, not including Jake and Billy while he grasped onto the hope that Ryant's words brought him. If Chris found the ambulance then he was on his trail.

Billy waited until the sound of bikes riding out diminished then turned to Jones. The cop's eyes were wide and Vin could clearly make out sweat beading on his face.

"What's the problem?" he asked Billy straight.

Billy merely smiled and turned to Jake and Vin had barely taken sight of Jake stepping forward, gun in hand, when the sound of the shot blasted past him.

Jones was dead before he hit the ground, the back of his head blown out and covering the drywall behind him.

Vin closed his eyes against the agony that the noise had driven through his head, having to grind his jaw to stop any noise escaping him. When he got his vision back he thought he should feel something about the loss of the man's life, but with the reminder of the taser's burn still throbbing in his back and the memory of their callous faces as they'd shut the lid on him, he didn't manage to. Still, unless his team found him by some miracle very soon he wouldn't be worrying about the cost of therapy.

Whilst he was glad that it was Officer Jones on the floor and not himself, Vin was even gladder when Billy's attention still stayed away from him. The large man turned to Judd next with a glare and Vin watched as the smaller man took a step back at the unexpected hostility before him.

"What the hell's with you? I haven't done anything!"

"Looks like the cops aren't the only ones workin' for Levitz," Billy said plainly.

Vin couldn't have planned it better if he'd tried. Judd sprang toward him with carelessly unleashed words that served only to implicate him further.

"You motherfucker! What have you been saying?!"

And Billy, who's temper had breached his short leash earlier in the day when his home had been seized, took that as confirmation that Judd thought he'd been sprung. In his eyes he'd just condemned himself.

"Damn. At this point it's just gonna be me an' you left old friend," Jake said with a slightly disbelieving shake of his head to Billy.

Vin was surprised when Billy gave the other man a nostalgic smile. "It started out that way, it can end that way."

Judd looked bewildered. "What the fuck is going on here? You told me I could have a shot at him... what crap is he telling you? He's just trying to save his own skin. He killed my fucking brother God damn it!"

Vin needed to abolish any doubts quickly. "You got your payback for your brother. You set me up to take the fall over that girl and handed me to Levitz knowing what he'd do to me."

Billy looked at Vin then and used his knife to idly punctuate his words.

"I know you wanted a future with the club. I know you didn't fake that. You wanted the chance I was offering you... so why would you go and fuck it all up over a useless prick like Levitz...? Over a rape charge? We would have seen you through that."

Vin scoffed. "I wasn't getting out of it. These pricks had me right where they wanted me."

"That true? You set him up?" Billy asked Judd.

Vin saw the man hesitate and it cost him. He actually shuffled his feet while he thought about his answer. "Prick had it comin'."

"Still," Jake said, "Sugar was workin' on somethin'... he would've got you clear. What did Levitz have on you to make you his bitch?"

Vin shook his head. "What can I say... I roll over easy."

Before he could blink Billy was in his face and before he could even focus on the close up view he felt an agony in his hand that was beyond words. He cried out with the shock of it and his eyes shot down without his permission. Billy's knife was now impaling his left hand to the wooden arm rest.

"I trusted you like my own. I took you under my wing. Do you know how many sorry bastards would kill for that shot? And this is what you do with it!" Billy shouted in his face, his eyes inches from Vin's own as he took in every grunt and harsh pant of breath Vin took.

Like an insect pinned to a board Vin saw his fingers twitching and forced himself to look up, to meet Billy's murderous eyes head on.

"Like your own? What the fuck would you know about your own?" He shot back, to hell with burying his emotions. The shock and pain on top of everything he'd gone through to get to this point was sending him over the edge faster than he could deal with. That the pain in his skull was being overridden by the pain in his hand was no small deal.

Billy frowned and leant back a fraction but Vin said nothing more, just grimaced as his hand moved involuntarily, shooting a fresh surge of raw agony up his arm and Billy's scowl deepened. Despite himself, the man was intrigued enough to question further.

"You know, since you rode into town things have gone to hell fast. I'm wondering how much of a coincidence that is. I lost the operation, I lost my clubhouse and now I've lost my fucking men. You can see how I don't have a lot of options left here." He yelled then so suddenly that even Jake flinched. "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT AND HOW MUCH OF THIS WAS YOUR DOING?" He took a breath and got himself under control, but the rage in his face and within his tightly coiled frame was obvious. "All I've got right now is my need for a slow and violent revenge... And I have you." The last he said so quietly that Vin could feel the menace and promise of pain emanate from the man's skin.

He had to fight not to swallow again. He wasn't immune to fear and right then, he knew things were going to go downhill for him very quickly.

"While we're at it. I saw a strange thing out there," Jake put in, also stepping closer and crowding Vin. Vin looked away from Billy and up at him, staying silent. "Thought you said all your boys were dead."

Vin frowned, then realised what Jake meant. Ivan. Fuck.

"So one lived. Doesn't stop the fact the others died," he said, his throat so dry his words grated like boots crunching over gravel.

"You lied about it."

"Yeah, well, considerin' it was you that killed 'em all," he said to Billy, "What else was I s'posed to do?"

Good going Vin, piss the man off some more.

"You believe I killed them and still you wanted to work with me?" Billy said, not believing him. "Or maybe... just maybe, you were always Eddies boy."

Vin felt his stomach tense yet again and he could see Billy come to a decision. Vin could only hope that he'd bought himself enough time for any chance of a rescue because his time was up.

"It's clear to me you were playing me for a fool. Eddie sent you in here to spy on me, report back to him."

Judd grinned then and it was an expression bordering on maniacal. "Maybe he killed my brother on Eddies orders too."

Vin shot his eyes at the worm and his mouth twisted into a sneer. "No, that was all me."

Judd blinked, not believing what he'd just heard. He closed the distance like a leaping tiger. "You son of a bitch!"

"Enough," Billy said even as Jake put out an arm and stopped Judd from pouncing on Vin. He took his time lighting a cigarette before pointing it at Vin like he was a naughty child. When he spoke Vin knew Billy had set his course and would not deviate from it. "Fact is, son, I can't trust you any more. And if I can't trust you, you're no good to me. Except I do think you know where Eddie is and what his plan is. They didn't have their bikes with them, so they must have left them somewhere. They'll be filling up the local jails right about now, but some of them got away and the rest will have to crawl their way back home. I'm going to kill you anyway, you know that. So here's a deal for you. I'm going to start off real easy on you and ask you nice and maybe if you tell me, I'll kill you quick. Not much of a chance, but it's the only one you've got. You wanna play games, I'm good with that too. God knows I need the outlet today."

Like there's any chance in hell you'll kill me quick you son of a bitch.

"So let's move forward. Where's Eddie? And where are they meeting up?"

Billy was quick to rise to anger and with a nod Jake was standing before him, a gun pressing down into his thigh. "Where are they?" he demanded again.

Vin scowled at Billy. "I have no fucking idea. These clowns knocked me out and grabbed me 'fore I had a chance to find out."

Compared to the coffin the room wasn't small but Vin felt it closing in around him all the same. Billy was giving him a calculating look. "I have to admit, you got me good. It was easy to believe you were just a lucky catch when I needed one."

Vin's heart was hammering inside his chest but outwardly, he was the picture of calm. "You're the one ruinin' our friendship."

"You're good, I have to give you that, but I don't believe you had any intention of doing what I asked, and I know you helped Suzy run away. She must have fucked you good huh?"

Vin held his tongue, nothing he said right then would be believed anyway. He felt a tide of adrenaline rush through him as Jake moved his hand slightly, the barrel of the gun pressing harder into his leg but a moment later the pressure was gone. He looked up in time to see Jake head out of the room at some unspoken command from Billy that he'd missed.

"Get me those wire ties," Billy ordered Judd who followed Jake's path and returned faster than Vin hoped, Jake right behind him.

Vin's eyes saw what was in Jake's hands but his brain refused to process the sight. His heart rate spiked, the organ hammering in his chest in time to the throbbing pain in his head and hand and it took everything he had to control his breathing. Judd stepped in and wrapped wire ties around his arm, cutting into the crook of his elbow. His hand wasn't going anywhere with the knife through it, it was an unnecessary token but it wasn't designed for anything other than pain and complete immobilisation as the ties cut into his skin.

He knew what was going to happen. He looked at Billy who smiled down at him as Jake stepped closer to his chair and Judd moved back. He understood pain too well, but he'd seen what was about to happen to him carried out before and he could still remember the screams of the men in his position.

"You know what I'm going to do, right?"

Vin said nothing, his blue eyes defiant as he looked dead ahead, his mouth firmly closed and his teeth already slammed together.

"I'll give you a choice though, cos I'm feeling generous today. You want me to use my knife..." he gave the knife in Vin's hand a shove and a short cry was wrenched from his throat, "... or the grater?"

Again Vin clenched his jaw, wondering where the sweat that had coated him before had gone, because now it had dried on his clothes and he felt a shiver building that was bone deep.

"No preference? What do you think, Judd? Any preference?"

Vin closed his eyes for a second. He knew what that prick would choose. He opened them them again and they moved to the flat, rusty grater in Jake's hands, the serrated holes large. Great. Tetanus to boot.

Shall I forgo the official statement?" He asked Vin, moving the metal grater so that it rested over the tattoo on the inside of his forearm. "Perhaps I'll just recite as I go... Let me see if I can remember it, it's been a while since I actually did this kind of work myself."

A second later Vin felt the grater rip through his skin on it's first swipe and his arm jerked involuntarily. He was glad, at that moment, that he had opted for a smaller representation of the clubs tattoo's on his skin. He had always thought that he would have it removed one day when his time with the club was over, or some kind of cover up ink done, but he hadn't planned on doing it this way. He heard Billy reciting words in a toneless voice.

"Due to crimes committed against the club's name, you are hereby evicted from the Devil's Jokers."

Vin felt the grater move over his skin over and over again, cutting away the layers of ink until his flesh gleamed white beneath but he kept his eyes on Billy, glaring at him through the excruciating pain.

"You no longer have the right to bear our colours."

Billy took his time, moving slowly and methodically as Vin ground his teeth into near obliteration. His jaw was clenched unbelievably hard and the sweat had started up again with a vengeance as he desperately tried to work through the intense pain. His arm, desperate to escape the torture, jerked and spasmed and his hand was torn against the blade still embedded in it with every movement. The grater continued to rip into his flesh well after the tattoo was long removed and he grunted with the pain despite his best effort to endure the process in stoic silence, beginning to wonder if Billy would keep going until he hit bone, or at the least hit a vein that would bleed him out. His arm was straining against the ties, bleeding harshly where they cut deep into his skin.

"And so I remove your patch of honour..."

Billy was varying the pressure and angle so that the wound was becoming wider, beyond the size of the tattoo that had been there.

"And leave you with the mark that symbolises your banishment from the brotherhood."

With those words he gave one final, deep slash with the makeshift weapon and Vin gave a sharp shout of pain as his flesh was ripped primitively from his body. The grater was soaked in his blood, which ran down freely to the floor from both it and his open wound. The shivering that he'd felt build hit him and he felt his body shake with the shock against his will. As Billy stepped back, still looking down at him he let his head drop down, desperately trying to get his breathing under control and shield his brain from the onslaught of pain signals being sent its way.

"Should have chosen the knife," Judd said to Billy with regret. "I could have kept it when you sliced it off him. Would have stuck it on my jacket."

"Look at the bright side," Billy told Vin, putting out a mock gentle hand to the top of his bowed head, "you won't have to worry about scarring, you won't be alive that long." He smiled down at him cruelly. "But we didn't get to finish our conversation from before."

Vin barely registered the knife coming at him before it was plunged deep into his thigh in the same spot Jake's gun had been. He couldn't stop his protesting shout of pain, more of a scream this time as his body writhed in the chair. The blade had sunk deep into the muscle, coming to rest against bone and stayed right there. His eyes went to the knife despite his determination not to look. He could see little blood, but knew once the metal was pulled out it would start. The site of it, together with the pain, made him sick and he looked away, sweat once more pouring from his face as he panted in the aftershock.

Billy was studying his face, his smile still in place. "You had that one coming."

Still breathing fast, Vin felt a rough hand gripping his hair and his head was pulled back. Judd had moved behind him. Again he'd missed Billy's signal and he cursed himself for not being aware.

"Where's Eddie?"

Vin's glare was solid but it was shattered by the hard blow to his face as Billy swung his fist. Judd's hand in his hair didn't let him move far but it was far enough to wrench the knife in his hand and he felt it tug through his flesh before it was stopped by the wood it was embedded in. Another harsh sound tore from his throat and now his eyes were back on Billy. He didn't try to hide his emotions, felt them take control of him from the inside out. In his eyes was anger and frustration but beyond that, there was a hatred and a desire for revenge that hit him like a sudden tidal wave. His breathing grew harsh and his chest moved forward as his body tried to get to its target. The hand in his hair tugged him back and he gave a harsh laugh at Billy's surprised face.

"You wanna kill me, go the fuck ahead, but I don't have to tell you shit. I don't owe you anything but a bullet right between your mother-fucking eyes you sick, twisted coward."

For a moment there was total silence. The always calm, always softly spoken Texan had just unleashed a lifetime of hatred in his short speech and delivered it so fiercely that his loathing was palpable.

Billy's previous intrigue turned to confusion and then sudden anger and he stepped forward again.

"What the fuck is your problem? What did I ever do to you for you to want to kill me this bad? You're shaking with it. Most people would be begging for their life right about now. I should know. You? If I let you out of this chair right now you'd go straight for my fucking throat." He sounded morbidly curious. "What wrong do you think I did you boy? Cos I sure as fuck have no idea."

Vin watched as Billy gave Jake an almost amused expression as if to say 'what the fuck is up this kid's ass?' and it was almost his undoing. He felt words spewing up from his throat that were stopped by the sudden sound of shouting as the bikers returned with Levitz and Ryant.

If Vin wasn't so pent up with over two decades worth of animosity he would have been almost amused by the sight of Levitz's face as he entered the room only a second before Jake lifted his gun and shot Ryant in the head. The spray of blood and gore that coated the side of the corrupt Chief's face was surreal but not as vivid to Vin's mind as the look of complete astonishment, followed by rage that came over him as he turned to Billy.

Still panting in his rage and pain Vin almost shook his head at the corrupt Chief. Stupid, stupid man. Let it be said, Vin was definitely good on his word when it came to payback. If he'd had the time he would have seen him taken down the long, yet arguably right way. The lawful way. But Levitz considered himself above the law, had taken his position of power and abused it for his own gain, writing his own rules as he went. It was only fitting it end like this for him. He wanted to play sheriff and make his bed with outlaws? He could die like one.

Not getting an immediate answer from anyone Levitz looked from Ryant, to Jones, then to the gory sight of Vin held down in the chair, his face showing bruises, knives sticking out of him like a fucking pincushion and his arm bathed in blood.

"What the FUCK is going on here?!" he demanded again.

"You might have burrowed your way into my den, Levitz, and done more damage than I gave you credit for, but you should have made sure if you were going to try and take me down that you got me out of the picture. No way you can live after what you've done to me," Billy told him.

Levitz turned incredulous eyes on him. "What are you talking about? I haven't done anything!"

Billy nodded to Jake and his second handed over his gun without word. Billy slid out the clip and checked it slowly, pursing his lips as he sent it home again and raised the weapon right at Levitz's head.

"Kneel," he told the man.

For the first time Vin saw real fear in the man's face as he finally realised his predicament. "What? I don't understand-"

"KNEEL!" Billy shouted this time, but Levitz was incapable of movement.

"I had nothing to do with it. Murphy and his fucking team and those ATF assholes... God damn it!" he trailed off and looked down at Vin and his eyes widened as he put it together. "Whatever he told you is a lie. There's an agent missing, the ATF put a -"

Vin's heart rate spiked but Jake cut the man off.

"Shut up!"

It took two more bikers working with him to bring Levitz to his knees but together with Jake they got him there in the end.

Despite what Vin thought of the man he didn't think the next words would come out of him. "Please... I have a family. Whatever you want. I didn't do this..."

Billy looked at Vin and winked. "See with the begging?"

And Vin had to look down. It wasn't guilt, or sadness, he just didn't want to pity the sad bastard. He didn't deserve his pity after all he'd done.

"Maybe, maybe not. But you didn't warn us either," Jake said in a low voice.

"All things come to an end Levitz. You're just pissed off we got you first you motherfucker. Now take it like a man and stop fucking grovelling before I make you lick my boots first."

Vin watched Levitz's frantic eyes dart from Billy and then to himself and he felt his heart leap again and a sudden calculating smile lifted the old bastard's lips. "Fine. I can't stop you. But I want you to know something before you kill me."

Vin's eyes narrowed and he felt his entire body shiver as he pulled at his bindings without thinking, renewed pain lancing through his hand.

"And what's that?" Jake calmly asked.

Levitz almost leered at Vin. "The ATF are missing an agent. He went missing from the funeral. They had him positioned with another of their men as a sniper." He looked at Billy then, his eyes determined and unflinching. "You want some revenge, you should start there."

There was absolutely no expression on Billy's face as he pulled the trigger. Twice. Levitz never had the time to soak up his final act of evil.

After all of the drama the ensuing silence was heavy. Vin felt the absolute violence in the room like a gathering storm and knew his time was up. He had to give it to Levitz, he'd played his game well. The bastard had made sure he'd thrown in all his bets before his hand was over and Vin was about to come out on the losing side.

He felt his body reacting to the intrusion of metal and the loss of blood that was still streaming from his arm and hand but more than that, he felt the gathering rage and Billy's vengeance mounting and turning toward him. He looked the man in the eye as he turned and looked down at him. Knew then that it was game over. Billy's hand was rising again and this time he was going to pull the trigger. He'd never hear the second shot.

Billy's hand clamped on the handle of the gun and his finger almost shook as he squeezed out his terrible rage at Levitz's words and Vin gave one last dry swallow.

"Wait."

Billy's finger paused and Vin swallowed once more, his throat dryer than he could ever remember it being in his life. He watched Billy's eyes and saw his own death there. He could just let it happen, close his mouth and be on his way... To hell with it all.

"You gonna beg son? And here I was thinkin' you were special."

Vin watched the bastard smirking down at him and almost swallowed his words. He was at war with himself. Nothing he said was going to make a difference and closure would do him no good once that trigger was pulled... but still he felt helpless as the words fell from his mouth.

"For the record," he said, voice bleeding as richly as his physical wounds, "you were right. This was personal for me." He watched Billy's eyes narrow and flick to Jake then back down at him. "I really did bring you down. Worked my damn ass off to do it. Spent my entire life waiting for this day. I trained and I worked hard and I made my bed with criminals and murderers and fucking assholes like you just to put an end to you. You're right. If I could get out of this chair I'd rip you apart. I'd smash that gun into the side of your fucking head until there was nothing left of it to shoot up. I might not see you dead, but you're as good as. I've taken everything from you and after you pull that trigger, very soon you'll know it was me that ruined you. There's no starting again after today. I've made sure of it."

He took one long, shaking breath after that and was beyond realising that there was moisture stinging the back of his eyes. He didn't remember the last time he'd cried, figured he was incapable of it, but damned if he wasn't close after that little speech. Still, he'd done it. For her. Billy really was going down and now he knew who had done it to him. He trusted Larabee and Murphy to see that through.

Billy's eyes showed his utter confusion, his gun still aimed levelly at Vin's head, but his finger stayed on the trigger.

"Why?" was all he said with the slightest shake of his head, but there was more than curiosity there. Before him he saw a young man about to be put to death by his hand. A scene that should be all too familiar to him. Yet where he should be staring up at him, scared and begging, he was shaking not with fear but with raw emotion and defiance. He wasn't stalling any more, he wanted to end it right, his way. There was some shred inside of him that wanted to give him that and wanted to know what was driving the man that he had to admit, had impressed the hell out of him. Right up until the point he'd been revealed as a traitorous bastard...

"Because when you call me son, you have no idea what the word should mean to you. Because you killed my mother."