Chapter 15
One should rather die than be betrayed. There is no deceit in death. It delivers precisely what it has promised. Betrayal, though ... betrayal is the willful slaughter of hope
~Steven Deitz
Opie POV
It's after 4 by the time I make it back to Reno. I checked in with Bobby before I left Stockton and there was no news. I'm hoping there's something, anything, to go on by now. I walk into the club and see Bobby and Happy at the bar talking to Jury's ex-old lady. Still amazes me the two of them can work together after how shit went down. That's some kind of love.
"Hey Op" Happy says as I walk in.
"Hey brother, any news?" I ask.
Jerzy hands me a beer as I sit down and I nod "Thanks."
Bobby starts talking "Jury just got a call from his contact at the sheriff's office. They found Tara's car in a motel parking lot in Rancho Calaveras. Jury's girl is checking for prints and running them against Gemma, Wendy and Jameson. Since they all had prints on file it was pretty easy. They also searched the motel but didn't find anything. Problem is if she does any more than that, people are gonna start asking questions" Bobby says.
"Anybody looking for the other crack head's car?" Happy asks.
I look at him confused "Who?"
"You know, crazy chicken man" Happy says as he downs a shot.
"Jameson? No but we should be" I say.
"Already ahead of you" Jury says as he sits down. "My charter IT guy just ran Jameson's credit cards. He used his credit card at a gas station in Rancho Calaveras on Sunday night. Also took out $700 from an ATM on Sunday. Looked for other charges but didn't find anything after that. He probably started using cash."
"So he is really in California. Where is Rancho Calaveras?" Jerzy asks.
"About 40 miles from Charming, 10 miles south of state road 88. Lots of truck and travel traffic in and out of town, no way anyone would pay attention to a car in a motel parking lot." Jury answers.
"So what do we do now?" I ask. No one says anything.
Jerzy is the first to speak. "Well, so far what do you know? You know Grace is gone and not by her own choice. You know her car was abandoned and she would never do that willingly. You know Jameson was in California near where Grace's car was. Seems like a safe bet he's involved somehow and if he's involved, that means Wendy is involved."
"Sounds about right, but what do we do with all this information? We still don't know where Tara is or have any idea how to find her. What good is knowing who took her if we don't know where they are?" I ask, frustrated.
"Seems like all we can do now is wait for Jameson to show up and follow him back to wherever Tara is" Bobby says.
I start to speak up but Jury cuts me off "Look Opie, I want to find her as much as you do, but what are we going to do, search the whole state of California? My contact put out an APB on Jameson's plates. Hopefully we can find his car before he has to be back here on Wednesday, but if not, we follow him back to Tara after his shift on Wednesday."
"I know you're right Jury, but this is making me crazy. I hate sitting here doing nothing" I say.
"Me too brother, me too" Jury says.
Declan calls Jury over to the office and Happy and Bobby walk to the stage to ogle the first performers of the night. Not sure this place caters to Happy's tastes, but neither of them is going to turn down a little dancing.
"Hi Opie" Genesis says as she sits down next to me at the bar.
"Hi" I say back. "You doing okay? Hope I didn't wake you this morning."
"No I actually slept last night, first time since Grace went missing. Thanks for staying with me" she says quietly looking down at the bar.
I get the feeling she isn't very good at asking for help or accepting things when offered because it seems hard for her to thank me.
"You're welcome. Honestly I was happy to have somewhere other than a club house to sleep" I say but she still isn't looking at me. "Besides, I needed to make sure you locked the door" I say and laugh. That got her attention.
Eyes flashing between anger, humor and gratitude turn to me. "Way to kick a girl when she's down" she says as she playfully punches my shoulder. "Thanks again" she says then stands, kisses my cheek and starts to walk away. "You staying for the show?" She asks.
"Wouldn't miss it" I say with a wink. She laughs and heads backstage.
"You're sweet with her" Jerzy says.
"What?" I ask.
"You and Genesis, it's cute how you're dancing around each other. Might as well just admit your smitten Opie, I can see it all over your face" Jerzy laughs.
"You're way off Jerzy. I'm just trying to put her at ease until we find Tara. Then it's back to my real life" I say.
"If you say so" Jerzy says as she walks over to take a customer's order.
I do say so. When we find Tara, I'm going back to California and Jax and I are going to figure out this shit with Clay and Gemma. I don't have time for a woman, no matter how frustratingly sexy that woman might be.
Jameson POV
Shit. What have I gotten myself into? When I got the call from Wendy Sunday morning I had no idea what I was agreeing to. All she asked for was ride. Said she got in a fight with her old man and took off, but her car broke down near Rancho Calaveras. At first I told her to find a bus station, but then she started crying. Talking about how alone she was, how no one loved her or cared whether she lived or died. Really crazy shit. So I agreed to pick her up. A few hours later I found her in a motel parking lot, but it wasn't her car she had. It was Grace's.
"What the fuck Wendy? Why do you have Grace's car?" I yelled.
"Her fucking name isn't Grace and you know it Jameson. Just call her Tara, it's too confusing" she says, obviously high.
"Can I call you crazy?" I laugh. "You didn't answer my question."
"I have Tara's car because I have Tara" she says with a smug smile.
"What are you talking about?" I ask, afraid of the answer.
"That stuck up bitch is out cold in room 10. You're gonna help me clean this car and then you're going to drive all three of us anywhere I say" she says.
"Really? Why the hell would I do that?" I ask.
"Because if you don't I'm going to drive back to Charming and tell the entire SAMCRO charter and Gemma that you are the reason Abel is dead. Good enough reason for you?" she says with a laugh.
Now here I am in some shit-hole house in Lodi, CA trying to figure out how to fix this. It's been 2 days and I am no closer to convincing Wendy to let Tara go. If I wasn't so fucking scared of dying, I would call the cops.
"Stupid bitch keeps trying to grab my hand when I push the food in the room. She keeps that up, I'm going to stop feeding her" Wendy cackles as she walks back into the room.
"Alright, so I haven't asked many questions yet, but I gotta know. What is the long term plan here? Isn't someone going to wonder where you are? I mean whose house is this? Seriously Wendy, you gotta give me something here" I say.
"Okay, sweetheart. I'll give you something. This house belongs to SAMCRO. The use when they need to convince someone to see things their way. The room I have Tara in is encased in concrete so no one can hear her screams" Wendy says with a sickening smile.
"Has she been screaming?" I ask hesitantly.
"No, actually she's been really quiet actually. At first I thought I might have killed her when I hit her with the brick, but no such luck" she says with a laugh.
Jesus, this bitch is nuts. "So the house belongs to SAMCRO, won't they know we're here?" I ask.
"No, they don't use it much so we are safe here for at least a few days. Now can we have a little fun" she says with a wink as she takes out a baggie and syringe. I hate myself for it, but I give in.
Fifteen minutes later we are both riding a heroin wave on the couch when the door slams open.
"I knew your junkie ass would be high. Can't fucking stay straight for 24 hours" someone snarls. Everything is pretty fuzzy, but I think it is a woman.
Neither of us respond. I couldn't even if I wanted to, this is some really good shit.
The woman goes into the kitchen and a while later returns with coffee. I must be starting to come down because I can see her more clearly now. She was in the club the other night, the woman who made a scene when Tara was performing.
"Both of you idiots drink this. I need you clear headed so we can clean up this mess you've made" she says.
Two cups of coffee later and I am starting to think more clearly. This woman is Gemma, matriarch of SAMCRO. I remember her from when I used to deal just outside of Charming. She hated my ass then, and by the looks she is giving me now, she still does. My only saving grace is she doesn't know what really happened with Abel. If she did there would be a bullet between my eyes.
"Well you seriously fucked this one up Wendy" Gemma says. Wendy looks at her through glazed eyes. She is still in heroin happy land. "And you helped her" Gemma says and turns her eyes to me.
"I have no fucking clue what is even going on. I don't want to be in this mess, I am a very unwilling accomplice. Tara is my friend and I hate this shit" I say.
"Seems you've found a way to cope" Gemma says with a nod to the syringe, spoon and empty baggie on the table next to a semi-automatic pistol.
"Yeah, okay, I got high with Wendy. My two fatal flaws: a weakness for heroin and a soft spot for Wendy. One of those two things is going to get me killed. Right now, I think Wendy is more dangerous" I say as I drink my coffee.
"Oh honey, Wendy isn't the woman you need to worry about killing you. You fuck this up again, you won't even see the bullet coming" she says with a smile.
"Gemma?" Wendy slurs as she rubs her eyes. "When did you get here?"
"An hour ago you useless junkie" Gemma answers.
"Oh" Wendy says as she picks up the coffee. "What's going on?" she says as she looks between me and Gemma.
"I was just explaining to your friend here how I don't like it when people don't follow directions" Gemma says.
"Okay, look Gemma I know I was only supposed to scare her, but I just got so angry. I mean she was just so smug. I couldn't stand the thought of her still walking around free when my baby will never walk this Earth again, when Jax is stuck in a cell, all because of her" Wendy says.
"Cut the bull shit Wendy. You were just supposed to scare her so she'd take off again. We never agreed to you attacking her, kidnapping her. I just wanted to make sure Jax couldn't find her when he gets out. I didn't want you to hurt her" Gemma says.
Wendy just shrugs. "I guess I just sort of lost it Gemma, I'm sorry."
"Yeah well, now I have to fix this. She hasn't seen either of you has she?" Gemma asks. We both shake our heads no. "Good."
"Does anyone even know she's missing?" Wendy asks.
"I haven't heard anything" Gemma says. "Then again, I'm not sure anyone would tell me even if the club did know."
"So what's the plan now?" I ask.
"You need to go back to Reno. You being gone looks suspicious and if anyone knows about your past with Wendy, it will lead them right to her. After you show your face in Reno, you get your ass back here so we can play this whole thing off as you two wanting some time to get high and fuck. In the meantime, I'm going to figure out how to get Tara out of here without her figuring out it was your stupid ass that took her" Gemma says, eyes boring into Wendy.
"I told Jury I would be back on Wednesday. He thinks I had a family emergency. If I go back before then, it'll look strange" I say.
"Fine, you stay here tonight. I'm gonna go home and I'll be back in the morning. Try not to fuck this up any more than you already have" Gemma says angrily as she leaves and slams the door behind her.
"Wendy, I don't get this. You know Tara didn't kill Abel. You know what really happened. Why are you doing this?" I ask.
Wendy just laughs. "Because I hate the stupid, stuck up bitch. She thinks she's so much better than everyone else, so special. That no one else can measure up to her. I just wanted to knock her down a few pegs."
"Don't you think you already did enough when you let her blame herself for Abel's death?" I ask.
Wendy just looks at me as she starts twirling the gun around her finger. "It will never be enough, not until she know what it feels like to lose everything like I did. Not until she knows how it feels to be totally alone, have nothing of your own, to feel less than human. Then when she feels like things couldn't possibly get worse, when I break her completely, then I'm going to kill her" she says with an evil smile as she sets the gun on her lap, refills the syringe and winks at me.
What the fuck am I going to do? I can't let her kill Tara, but how can I stop her?
Genesis POV
Opie is still asleep on the couch as I walk into the kitchen to start coffee. We got back to my apartment around 2am after I finished at the club. I told him he could stay at the club house with his friends, but he insisted on staying with me again. Honestly, I am glad he did, but I'll never tell him that. I don't need him to start thinking I like having him around too much. The last thing I need is some guy in a motorcycle gang sniffing around me. I'll never make the mistake of trying to see the good in a criminal again, I'm no fool.
"Morning" I hear Opie say from behind me. I didn't even realize he was awake.
"Morning. You want some coffee?" I ask and he nods. "Cream or sugar?"
"No, just black" he says and I hand him a full mug. I pour mine and add cream before we walk over and sit at the kitchen table.
"So, it's Wednesday" I say.
"Mmm-hmm" he nods.
"Do you think Jameson will show at the club today?" I say as I look at Opie.
"Oh, I'm sure he will. Either he's too scared to cross Jury or he doesn't want to look suspicious. No matter the reason, he'll show, and when he does we'll be ready." Opie says in a voice I find a little scary. Glad he's on my side.
"I don't know how I am going to face him at work tonight and not completely lose my shit" I say.
"You'll be alright because you have to be. Any hint that somethings off and we might lose our chance to find Tara" Opie says.
"I know, I'm just so angry. How could he do this? He's been our friend for years" I say, tears threatening to fall.
Opie moves his chair closer to me.
"Look, Genesis, I know this is tough. What you have to remember is people do some crazy shit when drugs are involved. Jameson isn't thinking straight right now. The man who is your friend may still be in there, but that isn't who you will see tonight" he says quietly. "Now the woman I have seen you be over the past few days is tough. You stuck to your guns even when we all told you Tara took off on her own, you knew better. You are strong and I know that you can face Jameson tonight and get through it, for Tara."
"Thanks Opie" I say and smile.
"No problem. Oh and when this is all over, I'll let you have first crack at him. I imagine you've got a pretty mean right hook" Opie says laughing.
"You know it" I say with a wink as I go to my room to shower. The sooner this is over the better. I need my best friend back, and I need this man out of my life.
Two hours later I pull into a parking space at the club and Opie parks his bike next to me. I see several other bikes in the lot which means Jury, Happy and Bobby are already here. We walk inside and I go backstage to get ready while Opie sits at the bar.
Just as I finish getting dressed there's a knock at the door.
"Genesis, you decent?" Declan asks.
"Yeah, come on in" I say.
He walks in and closes the door behind him. "Jameson just got here. He looks like hell. Twitchy, blood shot eyes, greasy hair. Pretty sure he hasn't showered in a few days. I told him to go get cleaned up in the bathroom in his office, but I wanted to give you a head's up" Declan says.
"Thanks" I say as I finish putting my hair up. "You know, this really sucks. How do we come back from this?"
"I don't know Gen, I really don't. You know Jury at the very least is going to fire Jameson's ass, but depending on how involved he is…" Declan trails off.
"Honestly Dec, I'm gonna' have a hard time not beating the shit out of him myself" I say.
"Me too. Thing is, I just don't get it. I don't care how drugged out he is this just makes no sense. No way he would hurt Grace like this over some heroin and pussy. There has to be more going on here than we realize" he says.
"I agree, but that's what makes this so tough. We just don't know enough to figure it out. Hopefully after tonight we can find Grace and get some answers" I say as I turn to the mirror and start putting my makeup on.
"I'll let you finish getting ready" Declan says as he opens the door to leave. "See you out there."
Twenty minutes later I am walking around the bar flirting with customers when Jameson comes over to me.
"Hey Genesis, looking god tonight" he says.
"Thanks Jameson. Missed you the last few days, glad you're back" I say trying not to let my anger show in my voice. He must not sense anything is off because he smiles and gives me a half hug.
"Thanks, but unfortunately I'm not back for good" he says as he lets go of my shoulders and faces me. "I have to head back to my family after shift tonight. Hopefully I'll be back for good by the weekend." Bingo. He will lead us right to her.
"Oh, that's too bad. Hope everything works out okay" I say. A customer calls me over so I say goodbye to Jameson. A few minutes later I walk over to the bar to talk to Jury.
"Hey Jury. Where are the guys?" I ask.
"Figured it might spook Jameson if they were in here, so they're out back for now" he says.
"Makes sense. I just talked to Jameson and he says he's planning to head back to his 'family' after shift tonight so it looks like he might lead us right to Grace" I say quietly.
"Good work sweetheart" he says. "Now you better get back to work. You've got some eyes on you." I follow the direction of his gaze and see Jameson watching us. I laugh, kiss Jury on the cheek to make it look like I'm just being flirty and get back to work.
After my last performance of the night I change into jeans, a fitted t-shirt and gym shoes quickly before heading outside to the back parking lot to join Jury, Opie, Bobby and Happy.
"Here, you're going to need these" Opie says as he hands me a leather jacket and helmet.
"Why?" I ask as I take them.
"You're not getting on the back of my bike without them" he says with a smile.
"Who says I'm getting on your bike at all?" I say with a shaky voice.
"Are you scared of a little motorcycle ride tough girl?" he says with a laugh.
"No" I say quickly. "I just thought I would take my car so I could drive Grace back." Yeah that's it. It has nothing to do with riding on the back of that death trap.
"It's going to be a lot easier to follow without being noticed on a bike. Plus, her car is in California and we don't want her to have to drive back alone" he says.
"Or if she is even going to be in any shape to drive" I say quietly.
"Hey" Opie says as he tilts my chin up to look him in the eye. "We are going to find her, tonight, and when we do she is going to be so happy to see you nothing else will matter." I nod and try to smile.
"Chicken man just got in his car" Happy says.
"Come on Gen, get on. Let's go get Tara back" Opie says. I put on the jacket and helmet and get on the bike. I wrap my arms around him and press my chest against his back.
"Hold on tight sweetheart and enjoy the ride" Opie says with a chuckle.
I am in so much trouble.
Grace/Tara POV
God I fucking hate this room. I've never liked being stuck in one space for very long, reminds me too much of nights trapped in my room while my dad worked off one of his drunken rages. At least then I had books to distract me. In here all I have are my thoughts, and those are definitely not helping. Hopefully I get the hell out of here soon. If not I might just drive myself insane thinking about all the shit I wish I had done differently. It's funny how thinking you might die puts things in perspective. When I get out of here, I'm going to make some changes.
God, this is driving me crazy! I need to do something, I can't just sit here and wait to die. If I can't get them to let me out, maybe I can force them to have to come in. I dig the nail file out of my purse and take the pocket knife out of my bra. I spend the next several minutes filing the hinges of the meal slot and using the pocket knife to bend the metal edges. I hear footsteps coming down the hallway and quickly tuck my tools back into my bra and scoot over to the bed.
I can hear my kidnapper at the door trying to open the slot.
"You wanna eat, move whatever you got in the way" I hear them shout. Definitely a woman's voice.
"There isn't anything there. I don't know why it won't open" I shout back.
"Guess you don't eat then" I hear footsteps retreating.
Fuck! I really need them to open the door and come in here. Once I figure out who has me, maybe I can figure out what they want.
"Please, can't you just open the door? I'm starving and there really isn't anything in the way. There's nothing in here for me to use to block the opening, it must just be jammed or something" I yell hoping whoever this is won't just let me starve.
I hear the footsteps slowly come back to the door.
"Get on the mattress and cover your head with the blanket. If I see you looking I will let you starve. Got it?" she says.
"Yes, absolutely" I say and do as I'm told but make sure to leave a small opening so I can see who comes in the room.
A minute later the door opens and my past slaps me in the face. Wendy walks in, places the food tray on the floor then turns and leaves. As she's closing the door I hear another voice in the hallway.
"You let her see your face? You are a fucking useless junkie" I hear a voice I would recognize anywhere shout. Gemma. "Can't you ever fucking do what you're told?"
"Look Gemma, she didn't see me" Wendy says with the door still open.
"Maybe not, but you just said my fucking name with the door open you stupid cunt" Gemma shouts. "Jesus Christ you're an idiot!"
The door slams shut.
Gemma and Wendy. I knew they hated me, but this? What purpose does this serve? If they wanted to get me back for my part in Abel's death, wouldn't it be easier just to kill me? What good does holding me here do?
One thing this does tell me is that I am somewhere near Charming. No way Gemma would be far away from the club for more than a day or two and it's been at least four days since they took me. Not sure what good it does knowing where I am, but for some reason it makes me feel a little better.
It definitely sounded like Gemma wasn't happy with how Wendy is handling this whole kidnapping thing. When Wendy comes back for the tray, maybe I can play on that and convince her to go against Gemma and let me out of here. Shouldn't be too hard to manipulate Wendy, she can't do anything without someone else pulling the strings. I'm sure Gemma was the mastermind behind all of this. There's no way Wendy came up with a kidnapping plot all on her own. Now to figure out how to appeal to the kindness of the woman who believes I killed her son.