Chapter 38: Turas
Jax POV
I couldn't believe any of this was happening. Jimmy was not only after my son but also my cousin. How the hell was I supposed to tell the club any of this, let alone Ope. He'd be trying to get back to Charming the first chance he got.
I was pulled from my thoughts by one of Kellan's guys getting my attention. "Come on Jax, I'll take you back." He said.
"I'll walk." I said. I needed time. "I need some time alone." I said.
"Aye. Slam the door on your way out." He told me and I nodded.
When I was sure that he'd left I pulled my phone out of my pocket, quickly dialing a number that was unfortunately becoming frequent. "Hello?" She said when she answered.
"You ever hear of a Kellan Ashby?" I asked.
"Are you in Belfast?" She asked me.
"Yeah." I said hesitently.
"Then I'm guessing that's where Gemma is." She said.
"I had no idea that was going down." I said. And I really didn't.
"Escaping custody is another federal charge." Stahl said.
"We can talk about that shit later. Kellan Ashby, he's a priest. What do you know about him?" I said.
"He's a friend to the Army, right?" Stahl asked me.
"More than a friend. He's a shot caller. I need to know everything about him." I told her.
"Why?" She asked me.
"He's got Abel. And he wants me to kill Jimmy to get him back." I said.
"You listen to me. Jimmy O dies, so does our deal. I need you to deliver him to me alive." Stahl said.
"I know. I'll figure it out. There's something else though." I said.
"What is it?"
"Jimmy is also targeting my cousin." I told her.
"Why?" She asked.
"Not entirely sure. We know that the Italian Mob is after her. We've known that for a while but apparently Jimmy has teamed up with them. He's got some red-head name Victoria keeping an eye on her. I have a feeling that they're going to try and abduct her. If that happens, my family will lose their mind." I told her.
"And Opie." She said.
"Yeah." I said.
"I'll what I can do about getting a squad to follow her." Stahl said.
"Alright. Just make sure they aren't seen. She'll freak out. She was stalked a while back." I told her.
"Do I even want to know?"
"Probably not. Just get me the intel on the priest." I said.
"Yeah. I'm just gonna handle it tomorrow okay?"
"Yeah." I said and ended the call. I sat there for a few minutes before I started making my way back to the SAMBEL clubhouse.
When I got back everyone was waiting for me at the table. Ma sat a cup of coffee down in front of me before taking a seat next to Clay. "So, what do we know?" Clay asked.
"Kellan says he moved Abel out Belfast to protect him…from Jimmy." I told them.
"Why? What does Jimmy want with Abel?" Ma asked.
"Leverage…against what Kellan wants from us…Jimmy dead." I said. I took a drink of my coffee. I was gonna need lots of caffeine to get through the day. "Apparently he's become a problem for the Army."
"Then we kill Jimmy." Ma said.
"It's not that simple." I said.
"Yeah, it is." She said.
"No it isn't. Look, everything they say is…smoky truth. I don't trust them. I don't trust their priest. The only thing we know for sure is he wants Jimmy." I said.
"So we find Jimmy…trade him for Abel." Clay said.
I nodded. "I think that's the only thing that makes sense. We can't kill O'Phelan." I said.
"Should I bring SAMBEL up to speed on this?" Juice asked.
I shook my head. "No. As far as they know, we want Jimmy to grill him about Abel. Let's just leave it at that." I told him.
"Belfast has a protection run this afternoon. Gun shipment. McGee told me that Jimmy will be at the pickup in Dungloe." Bobby said.
"And so are we." Opie said. I knew why Ope wanted to get his hands on Jimmy. Bella. He wanted to know why Jimmy was so interested in Bella.
"I'm sorry, guys. I had no idea what I was walking you into. Shit going on down here…" I trailed off. There was no way that I could tell them. Not right now.
"You'd better crash for a few hours." Clay said. "It's gonna be another fun filled day in the six counties." He looked at Ma who hadn't moved from her seat. I knew she wanted to talk. "You coming baby?"
"Be there in a minute." Ma said. The rest of the guys headed down the hall to the dorm rooms. "This feels all wrong to me. Who the hell are these people? They're using a baby like a goddamn poker chip." Ma said.
"It's not just them, Mom. This happened because we deal guns with the Irish. Let's not kid ourselves we're the victims here." I said.
"Maybe that, um, profound awareness help relieve your guilt…but now is not the time for soul searching. You focus on all the hate you need to kill all these Irish pricks." Ma said. The only thing I could do was nod. Hopefully nothing I was doing was going to come back to bite me in the ass.
Bella POV
I knew that I'd been distant with the girls lately, but I couldn't help it. I had a lot of shit on my mind. Mostly Abel, but I'd also been thinking about the Volturi. With Ope and most of the guys gone I couldn't help but feel scared. As much as I didn't want to I'd sent the kids back up to Mary's. It wasn't exactly easy to convince her to come get them and they didn't really wanna go. But it needed to be done.
I was currently sitting in the office going through some paperwork. Tara was at the hospital. Lyla was home sick. Chucky was in the clubhouse if I needed him, not that he was much help. Dad, Piney and Kozik had gone to see a friend of the club that was in the hospital. He'd been jumped. I guess I was distracted by my thoughts that I didn't hear the knock on the office door. It wasn't until they spoke to me that I looked up. "I'm sorry. How can I help you?" I said.
"Your Bella right?" The girl asked me. I nodded, unable to find my words. "Gonna need you to come with me." She said pulling a gun out of the back of her jeans and pointing it at me. "There's someone waiting to see you." She said. Here we go again.
Gemma POV
"Can I go down to the shop, hang with Trinity?" Kerrianne asked.
"No, you stay up here." Fiona told her.
"Why? Afraid someone's gonna shoot me?" She asked.
I rolled my eyes. "Don't you brash me." Fiona told her. I could see the fear in Fiona's eyes.
"If you go down to the shop, Triny'll have you stocking shelves. Come on, we'll go in her room and set you up with some movies, love." Maureen said, quickly deescalating the situation.
Once they were down the hall, I spoke "Ooh I remember that age." I said.
"I'd have a rod taken to my ass if I talked like that to my ma." Fiona said.
"Good old days." I said.
Fiona walked over and leaned against the kitchen sink next to me. "You were right. Me going to see Chibs in Charming, set this all in motion." Fiona said.
"Sometimes, the heart beats the head." I said.
"Aye." Fiona said.
I let out a sigh just before we heard voices coming from the entryway. "This is bad, Donny." A man named Casey said. He was one of the guys that Kellan Ashby had sent to protect Fiona and Kerrianne.
"Shit." I said.
"Sit down, Casey." Another man, I assumed to be Donny said. I could tell by looking at him that he was Jimmy's right hand.
"Mother Mary." Fiona said.
"Find the girl." Jimmy ordered him.
"What the hell are you doing, Jimmy?" Fiona asked him.
"Setting things right." Jimmy said, just before he shot Casey.
"Shit." I muttered.
The next thing we know Kerrianne is screaming with her and Maureen being lead from the back of the apartment by Donny. "Oh my god!" Kerrianne mumbled.
"You've burned it now, Jimmy. Kellan practically raised those brothers. They are like sons to him." Maureen said.
"Well, now he can bury one of them, yeah?" Jimmy said to Maureen. Then he turned to Fiona. "Let's go."
"We're not going with you." Fiona said.
"Do I have to kill another one for you to show you how much I love you?" Jimmy asked her. "I'm taking my family home."
"Ma…" Kerrianne begged.
"Okay. Okay. No more blood. Come on sweetheart. It'll be all right." Fiona said.
"My stuff." Kerrianne said getting everyone's attention. "I-I left my iPod in the bedroom."
"Donny, would you be so kind as to retrieve my lovely step-daughter's iPod?" Jimmy asked. Donny nodded.
Tara POV
"What are you doing? I thought I cleared your schedule." Margaret said as I was making some notes in a patient's chart.
"I wasn't the one having the procedure yesterday. It really was a friend." I told her.
"I'm sorry I jumped to that conclusion." Margaret said.
"Well, you were wrong. I am pregnant. I made an appointment for this evening, so I'll need my day cleared tomorrow." I told her.
She nodded. "Do you have a ride?" She asked me.
"I'll take a cab." I told her as I closed the chart, handing it to the nurse.
"That's ridiculous. I can take you." Margaret said.
"That's okay." I said.
"I take 99 home. It's not that far out of my way." She said.
I nodded. "All right, thank you." I said.
Gemma POV
"Your safe now. No harm's gonna come to you. Let's take the ladies to the rectory. I'll have someone to watch them there. We'll let Sean grieve." Kellan said.
"Come on girls." Maureen said leading the girls out of the apartment. Fiona followed behind.
"Sorry about your friend." I said to him.
"So am I." Kellan said.
"Can we talk?" I asked Kellan and he nodded. "Why are you doing this to us? If you know where my grandson is, just tell me."
"I know, it seems unfair. You and your son are caught up in a very ugly struggle, and I am sorry for that. But the things I do are not just about my Irish loyalty. They're about keeping promises to your family." Kellan said.
"To my family?" I asked, confused.
He nodded. "John and I grew very close while he was here. I loved him dearly." Kellan said.
"Guess you're the one, granted him absolution from adultery?" I asked.
"No. He struggled greatly with his love for you." He said.
I was irritated. "John bailed on his family. I watched my baby sleeping in a coma while he was here playing house with your sister. So don't tell me how he struggled." I said.
"I didn't mean to be dismissive of your pain. I understand you feel…" He trailed off.
"You don't understand shit! Hypocrites. All of you." I said.
Bella POV
I'd found out that the girl's name was Victoria. After we'd left TM, we gotten into a car and driven for a while. I had no idea where were. I had no clue if Dad even knew that I was gone. I sure as hell had no clue how they were going to find me. "Where are we?" I asked her when we finally pulled into a driveway.
"It's a safe house. Come on, let's get you inside." Victoria said. "And don't do anything stupid. I'd hate to have to kill you."
The only thing that I could think to do is nod. With that I climbed out of the car and followed her into the house.
Jax POV
Later in the evening, I found a quiet place so that I could make a phone call. I once again called Stahl. "Hello?" She said when she answered.
"Can you talk?" I asked.
"Yeah. Um…I ran Kellan Ashby through every database that I could. Now, it's common knowledge that he's a friend of the cause but nothing ties him. I mean, there are no arrests, there's no seizures, he's never been interrogated. He is a revered priest who has turned down three promotions from the Vatican." Stahl told me.
"A saint." I said, lighting a cigarette.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so." She said.
"I got another name for you…Liam O'Neill. SOA Belfast." I told her.
"One of yours?" She asked.
"Pretty sure he and Jimmy tried to blow us up today." I told her.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"Yeah, but five others are spread out over a farm outside Dungloe." I told her.
"Hey look, I need you back in one piece, okay Jax?" She said.
"I appreciate your concern. Any news about Bella?" I asked her.
"I tasked a couple of guys to watch her but I haven't heard anything. I'll check in with them in the morning. I'll let you know if there's anything abnormal, okay?" She said.
"Alright." I said and disconnected the call. I sat there for a few minutes smoking.
"Can I bum one?" I heard behind me. I turned around to see Trinity.
I handed her a cigarette and my lighter. "It's almost 3.00. Why aren't you in bed?" I asked.
"Not much of a sleeper." She said.
"Yeah, I get that." I said and sighed.
"How are you, Jackson?" She asked me. Most of the time it sounded weird when people called me Jackson. Most of the time it was just Ma. But it sounded nice coming from her.
"I'm tired, Trinity." I told her. And honestly, I was. A lot of shit had happened in the past few weeks.
"Yeah." She said.
Tara POV
Margaret and I were sitting at a light on the way to the clinic when out of nowhere a car rear-ended us. "Dammit." Margaret said.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Yeah."
We both climbed out of the car and walked towards the back of the car to check out the damage. The driver of the other car climbed out. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry. I wasn't paying attention. I…" The woman said.
"Oh…doesn't look like there's any damage." Margaret said.
"Hey, I know you. You're Jax Teller's girl, right?" The woman said.
"Uh, I…yeah. Who are you?" I asked, suddenly having a bad feeling about this.
"I'm his girl." She said. Simultaneously, she pulled a gun out, while a guy climbed out of the passenger seat.
"Whoa." I said. Margaret and I both put our hands up.
"What the hell is this?" Margaret asked.
"Hey." I tried to say and calm everyone down.
"Brunette's his old lady." The woman said.
"What about the redhead?" The guy asked. "She an old lady, too?"
"I'm…I'm a doctor at St. Thomas Hospital. She's the supervisor. Check her." I said. I hoped that we'd get out of this alright.
They began checking over Margaret. "She's a supervisor all right." He said, upon finding her tattoo. "Come on. We're going for a ride. Come on, let's go. Get in." He said, forcing us to the car.
Here we go.
Tig POV
It had been a long day. First it had started out with us finding out that someone had put Lumpy in the hospital. Piney, Kozik and I went to check on him and he told us that it had been some mexican guy. Well we immediately think that it's Alvarez. So we go talk to him, nearly getting our heads blown off only to find out that it wasn't Alvarez that it was actually Salazar. So then we spend the afternoon looking for him. He was nowhere to be found.
We'd finally made it back to the clubhouse and I noticed that Bella's car was still in the parking lot. I headed over to the office to tell her to go home but to my surprise Chucky's in the office. "Where's Bella?" I asked.
He shrugged. "Don't know. I came out here earlier and the guys were still working on cars but Bella's nowhere to be found. I didn't know what to do." Chucky said.
Where the hell was my kid? "Why didn't you call me?" I yelled at him.
"I didn't think." He said.
I ran a hand over my face. Ope was gonna lose his shit.