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Fallon: End of an Era

It was a decent lake house. The preacher had good taste. The only problem now was that they had interrupted the peaceful serenity that surrounded it. The motorcycles didn't exactly allow them to be stealthy. They had needed the element of surprise. Dru had a feeling there was a reason why the wife was hiding out here, and that reason was August Marks.

August Marks was ruthless. He would have his way. The wife would end up signing the papers whether she wanted to or not. August wouldn't allow this deal to go down the drain. Too much money was at stake.

"Rat, wait out front. Keep an eye out for neighbors," Jax ordered.

"Tiggy, you and me, back door," Bobby said.

"Yeah, cause Tiggy obviously likes the back door," Dru retorted.

"Haha. You're so funny, Drusilla," Tig told her.

She quickly gave him the finger then followed Jax and Chibs to the front door. They weren't the least bit quiet about getting into the house. Dru could only roll her eyes at their less than stellar breaking and entering skills. They met in the middle. There wasn't a peep in the house. Tig quickly pointed his gun at the door leading to the garage. That was the only possibility left.

When they walked up on it, a gunshot went off. Tig was suddenly on his back. Blood was quickly covering his side.

"Oh, shit, Tiggy," Chibs reacted.

Jax and her kicked the door in and got to the garage just in time to find a car taking off. They sure were in a hurry since they drove through the garage door itself. They were definitely running from something bad. Dru was not about to open fire when she didn't have a clear shot. But they didn't have much to worry about for too long. Especially once Rat drove up with the van to block their way. They had nowhere else to go. It doesn't mean they didn't try considering the next thing Dru knew, they were in the pond in front of their house.

"Well, Rat does know what he's doing," Dru commented once they ran to the other side of the street to find the car sunk into the water.

Jax and her seen a young boy climb out of the driver's side with a shotgun. They quickly pulled up their pistols again.

"Whoa, put down the gun!" Jax yelled.

"Leave us alone!" the boy shouted back.

"What do you mean 'us'? Who's with you?" Jax questioned.

"Mama! She's in the back seat."

The boy became frantic. Jax wasn't too far behind him. He stripped out of his shoes and quickly dived into the water. They couldn't let that woman die. But it was taking too long. About the time she was about to dive in, Chibs did it instead. By the time that he got to the car, the boy and Jax had brought the woman to the surface. Dru breathed a sigh of relief.

They got her back to the bank and laid the woman on the ground. The son quickly got to her side and kept asking if she was okay. The woman kept repeating she was cold.

Dru noticed something on her arm. She leaned down to turn the arm over. "Track marks are fresh," Dru told them.

"Sometimes her demons get the best of her," the boy said.

"Are you Haddem's son?" Jax questioned him.

"Stepson," the boy corrected. "That freak is not my father. He's the reason this is all happening."

"What's happening?" Jax asked.

"They probably killed him," the boy muttered. "And now they're gonna hurt my mother." The boy turned to them. "Who sent you guys to look for us? Was it August Marks?"

And there came the fear.

"Damon Pope helped my stepdad some years back," the boy explained. "He created some zoning loophole that helped us buy neighboring blocks and that's how we built the additions to the church."

"I told him not to get involved," the wife spoke up. "You didn't come back looking for something."

"Looking for what?" Jax asked.

Dru already knew the answer. She responded for them. "August wants to use the same loophole."

The boy nodded. "He wants to build low income housing on the rest of our church property."

"He wants me to sign off making him a partner. His construction company gets the fed kick back, and then he uses the project to launder money," the wife clarified.

"And the houses never get built," Jax finished. The woman shook her head.

"What are you going to do with us?" the boy asked.

"No one is going to hurt you or your mom," Jax guaranteed them. "As far as this property deal goes, that's something your stepdad started. There is nothing you can do except ride out his sin."

"My mother is the one who built that congregation; supported him in spite of all his degradation. She can't just hand it over to some gangsters."

"She can if she wants you two alive," Jax declared. "I found you in an hour. She could've found you quicker," he pointed at Dru. "You think you can hide from Marks? I'm telling you, next time neither one of you comes out of the lake."

"I'll sign it, honey," the woman said. "It's not worth it."

Bobby got up from his seat. "Okay, we've got a friend coming up here. He's gonna pick you up and take you back to Oakland. He's gonna make sure nothing happens to you."

Rat Boy walked in. "Jax, I checked the block. It's all quiet."

"Alright," Jax sighed. "Just hang back for a minute." He nodded to Dru who had been standing on the sidelines watching everything play out. "How do you know what August has planned?"

Dru exhaled. "Because I knew about Pope and Haddem's deal from before."

Jax shook his head in confusion. "Wait…how?"

Dru licked her lips not wanting to admit the truth. "It was around that time that I did some work for Pope."

"You did what?" Jax exclaimed.

"I did some work for Pope. It was nothing farfetched. When Haddem came to Pope with the desire to build onto the church, it wasn't possible at the time. Not unless someone was 'taken' out of the picture. There was another bidder on the property."

"And you were the assassin to take them out," Jax finished for her.

"Yes," Dru nodded. "Pope hired me through contacts. I never met the man personally. I only spoke to him through phone calls. The payment for the job was wired into one of my offshore accounts."

"But how did you know that August was gonna play the same game?"

"Because August was Pope's prodigy. August does not have the financial intelligence that Pope did. August relies on his cunning and brutality. Everyone on the streets knows what August is capable of, which is why I said you can't double cross him like you're planning," she explained.

"I don't have any other choice at this point, Dru," Jax told her.

"No, you don't," she sighed. "You've already set everything in motion. I told you this before you began and you didn't wanna listen to me."

"Which is why you've been walking on egg shells for weeks," Jax cut in.

"Egg shells, pins and needles…however you wanna describe it," Dru retorted.

Chibs walked over to them and told them he had gotten most of the buckshot out; that he was only concerned about infection now.

"Hey. Give Venus a call, would you, please?" Tig asked.

Dru did a double take. Did Alex 'Tig' Trager really just ask for someone to be by his side? "I'll call her for you, Tiggy," she promised.

Bobby walked over to them after taking a phone call. "That was Tully's guy. They're gonna be at the timber trail in under two," he told them.

"Alright," Jax nodded. "Rat, I need you to stay here with the mom and the kid. When Tyler gets here, let him know she'll sign for Marks. But nothing happens to them. You make that clear, do you understand?"

"Yeah," Rat Boy nodded. "What about Tig?"

"Take him back to Scoops," Dru answered. "There's medical supplies there."

"Alright."

When Rat Boy walked off, Dru asked Jax if he wanted her to go with him to the meet with Tully's guy. Jax quickly nodded. She wouldn't be any other place.

They rode their bikes onto the timber trail. They met up with the group of white supremacists in the middle of a bushel of trees. Dru had developed a bad feeling as soon as they pulled up. She had good reason when she suddenly spotted a Sheriff's car.

"Jax," she said.

The way she somberly said his name quickly got his attention. "Oh, shit."

The next thing they knew shots rang out. Blood spewed onto the driver's side window from the inside. They all pulled guns on each other. Dru had noticed from the get go that they were outnumbered. She hated that. More shots rang out and the female deputy went down.

"Jesus Christ!" Bobby exclaimed.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"You tell me. I'm not the one who brought cops to a drug deal," Leland shouted.

"We had no idea they were behind us. Are you crazy?!" Chibs yelled.

Dru looked at all the surrounding area. None of them were going to put their guns down anytime soon. "If they called that in, we've got to get out of here."

Tully's guys swiftly got smart. They lowered their weapons and began running off. Once they were out of sight, Dru and the Sons lowered theirs. They looked at the police car and the female deputy's body. The damage was done and there was nothing they could do.

"We've gotta go too, Jackson," Dru told him.

And like ghosts, they were gone.

They met up with everyone else in the meeting room at Scoops. Dru was pacing the floors. She should've stayed behind to clean up the mess. If anyone could get away with it, it was her. However, she couldn't let the Sons know just how much power she was carrying. She had pull from several directions.

She looked around her to see that everyone was just as anxious as she was. Jax especially. He had more to lose than anyone.

"I'll reach out to Tully tomorrow…try to explain this," Jax said.

"Yeah, well, if Eglee and Kane called that thing in, we will all be able to talk to him face to face," Bobby retorted.

"I talked to Lee. He's gonna send some guys down from Tacoma," Happy announced. "We're gonna need help if this unravels."

Suddenly, the door opened to reveal Rat Boy. He looked concerned. "Jarry's downstairs."

"How many with her?" Chibs asked.

"She's alone, said she needs to talk to you and Jax," Rat Boy replied.

Dru didn't like the sounds of that. She glanced over at Jax who was looking directly back at her. Silent communication told her that he was just as apprehensive as her. But they couldn't leave her waiting.

"I need to know if you had anything to do with this," Jarry said putting her full attention on Jax who sat across from her in the booth beside of Dru.

"Come on. Of course, we didn't," Chibs answered.

"Does it fit any kind of gang pattern you know of? Cop retaliation? Someone new trying to earn cred?" she questioned.

"No," Jax shook his head. "We'll keep our ears open."

"What about Kenneth Hoss? You have anything to do with that?"

"Hey, we have absolutely—" Chibs began.

"I did it," Jax cut in. "Guy's a scumbag who beats and extorts his own daughter. I made sure that doesn't happen again."

Suddenly out of nowhere there were squealing tires. They looked up when something hit the window and shattered it. But then something else was thrown through the window. A grenade landed on the floor of the ice cream shop.

"Shit! Move!" Jax shouted.

"Get down!" Dru yelled.

Jax pushed Dru onto the floor of the shop. He covered his body with his own. He hugged himself tight to her trying his best to protect her from the blast. The grenade exploded and for a split second Dru couldn't hear, and then she felt the heat. Memories came flooding back to her brain. Memories that would forever haunt her.