Chapter 42: NS
A/N: Alright here it is. The Season 3 finale. Season 3 Episode 13. Here we go. I hope that I did it justice.
Tara POV
"Hey." Jax said when I opened my eyes. It was so good to be back home.
"Morning." I said. I looked up a little at him from where my head was laying on his shoulder.
"Morning. I love you." He said.
"I love you too." I told him. And I did. So much.
He leaned over and kissed my stomach. "I love you, too, son." He said, causing me to laugh.
"You don't know that." I said.
"I have a feeling…" He said. He looked up at me. My face must have said it all. "What?" He asked.
"Whatever happens today, I'm right here." I told him.
He nodded. "I know."
Third Person POV
Clay walked over to where Bobby was holding Abel. "I got something for you. It may be a wee bit small, but…" He said putting the reaper hat on Abel.
Everyone was congregating. People giving Tara and Jax their congrats on the new baby. "Hey!" Opie said getting everyone's attention. "Bella's got something to say." He said.
She held up her hand. "We're getting married." She said.
"You are?!" Gemma asked, faking surprise.
Gemma POV
After everything had settled, I got some of the girls to help me start cleaning up so that it wouldn't be so bad later. I was currently cleaning up in Jax's dorm room. Jax was in the bathroom, so Clay walked in. "Baby? Hey. I've been looking for you." Clay said.
"I'm just cleaning up." I told him.
Jax walked out of the bathroom. "Gotta go see Otto." Clay told him.
"All right. I'll call the Indians, arrange the pickup." Jax said, walking over and kissing my cheek. "I wouldn't go in there."
When Jax walked out of the room, Clay looked at me. "Sit for a sec." He said and I sighed.
"What's going on?" I asked him.
"Today's about to go off the rails, baby. We gotta find Jimmy before we go inside." He said.
"I know what you have to do." I said.
"This is more than retaliation. We made a deal with the Irish Kings. Taking out Jimmy gets us access to a much higher level of merchandise." He said.
"What Irish Kings?" I asked him.
"Real IRA Council. Same guys got us the deal to get Abel back from Jimmy. Redheaded godfathers. You do not say no to these guys. Hey…this is good for us, baby. I don't have that many more years at the head of that table. This is an opportunity for us to finish big. Set us up for the rest of our lives." Clay said.
"While we're sitting in a cell." I told him.
"We don't know how any of that shit's gonna shake out. Let's not worry about that right now." He said.
"You're right." I said sighing. "I'll worry about that tomorrow, when they're carting us both off to jail." I told him.
Unser had come by talking to the guys so while he was I made my way outside to wait in his car. He looked shocked when he got in the car. "What are you doing?" He asked me.
"I'm gonna turn myself in." I said.
"What are you talking about?" He asked me.
"Drive." I told him.
Clay POV
Bobby and I had driven down to Stockton to meet with Otto to see if he had any news about Lenny. "Yeah, Lenny's, uh, real tight with the Gulag crew in here. That's, uh, Putlova's muscle." Otto said.
"We need a location today." I told him.
"Might be able to get a few minutes with him at the fence, but that ain't gonna be easy." Otto said.
"We'll try to arrange whatever we can on our end."
"Yeah, okay." Otto said.
"You doing okay, bro?" Bobby asked him.
"Yeah." Otto said. We knew it couldn't be easy. Otto had been serving time for a while for something that he'd done for the club. Plus, he'd gotten extra time because of things he'd done on the inside for the club.
"Where's the case at?" Bobby asked him.
"Uh, I'm not really sure. My, uh, my P.D. don't speak real good English." Otto said.
"P.D? What are you doing with a public defender? We'll put Rosen or Lowen on it." I told him.
"They had cameras in the reading room. They got me offing the peckerwood on tape. There's not much of a defense." Otto said.
"They're gonna plea that down." Bobby said.
Otto shook his head. "I got no brace in here, brother. Apparently, I continue to exhibit a pattern of aggressive behavior." Otto said. He started laughing. "I'll be, uh…I'll be on the row by the time you guys are arraigned. I'll, uh, I'll do what I can to get to Lenny, all right." Otto said.
Gemma POV
Unser had helped me get comfy in the holding cell. A few minutes later, he came back with Stahl. "Do I need to post a chaperone or can you ladies chat with some civility?" Unser asked.
"We'll be fine." Stahl said.
"Good luck." Unser said before he walked out.
Stahl handed me a folder. "It's my statement exonerating you for the murder of Edmond Hayes. And Polly's death has been ruled self-defense, so you're cleared of the homicides. Of course, there's still the fleeing custody charge, but with your recent medical flare-up, I got it remanded to house arrest. You'll wear an ankle bracelet for six months, and if you behave, you'll have it off in three." Stahl said.
"I'll deny all of it." I told her.
"So, you would sacrifice your life in prison just to undermine my case." She said.
"I found the folder. I saw what Jax has given you. You are going to get him killed. If not by his own club, then by the IRA. You kill the deal, or I tell the U.S. Attorney it's all bullshit." I tell her.
"Well, unfortunately, my testimony's already been documented. So, even if you wanted to take the fall, it's too late. Looks like you'll have to trust me." Stahl said.
"You actually think that's possible, don't you? You are a naïve bitch. These deals… these relationships… can never work." I told her.
"And why is that?" She asked.
"Because they're based on lies. Your lying to your bosses. Jax is lying to his club. You're both lying to each other. There's no trust. Something will go wrong. Somebody will get hurt. I promise you, it'll end badly." I said.
Jax POV
"You're late." I told Stahl when I met up with her.
"I just came from your mother. She's in the cage at Charming PD. She tried to turn herself in and shit on our deal." She said.
I ran a hand over my face. "Goddamn it." I said.
"Hmm, it doesn't matter. She's been cleared of all the murder charges." She said.
"How?" I asked her.
"Well, Tyler confessed before she died. Told me everything that Gemma said in her statement was true." Stahl said.
I couldn't believe this. She'd killed her partner. "Jesus Christ. Good thing your bosses don't know about our little deal. I got to think killing one of your own might be a bad career move." I said.
"Hmm. I didn't kill her. Mexican bikers did. Your mother seems to believe that you and I shouldn't trust each other. She know something I don't?" She asked.
"She thinks you're going to get me killed." I said.
"Ah."
"Are you?" I asked.
"You boys are running out of time. Bail hearing's set for tomorrow morning." She said.
"Clay's sitting down with Otto right now. Hook him up with Lenny the Pimp and we'll get some info." I said.
"The meeting's been arranged." She said.
Clay POV
I couldn't believe her. When I'd left Stockton, I had a voicemail from Unser telling me that Gemma was there. "Where is she?" I asked. He led me back to where the holding cells were. "What were we just talking about?" I asked her.
"Sorry baby." She said.
"Nothing impulsive right?" I asked her.
She nodded. "These are reckless time, Clay. We are all doing impulsive things, things that we would never do otherwise." She said. Something was off.
"I know." I told her.
"I don't think you do. Losing Abel, all the death. Every decision you make has to be made in the light of these extreme circumstances." Gemma said.
Jax said she's been getting curious. "What are you saying?" I asked her.
"It's a different time. We can't look at Jax in the same light as John." She said. Ah…now I got it.
"Yeah okay." I said, trying not to give anything away.
A little while later we were sitting in Chapel when Lowen interrupted us. "These equations were forwarded to me by Lenny Janowitz' lawyer. Don't know what it means, don't really care. 20=0, true. 38.358888 - 122.288818 = $2 million. True or false?" She said.
"Thanks. Give us a minute, will ya? We… we gotta do the math." I said.
"Take a few. They're big numbers." She said walking out.
"20 = 0. Lenny couldn't get a location." Piney said.
"The other's in longitude and latitude." Juice said.
"$2 million. It means we can buy Jimmy." I said.
"$2 million. Shit!" Chibs said.
Tig leaned forward. He was agitated. "Why don't we just show up and take Jimmy? We got enough hardware. This guy held Abel has leverage and had my daughter kidnapped." Tig said. He had a point.
"It's not gonna be the safe house. It's gonna be a place for the exchange. Trust me, Putlova's bringing an army." Bobby said.
"Yeah, looks like an access road outside of Rio Vista. 40 minutes." Juice said.
"Yo. Tell Lowen the equation's true." I said. Opie nods and heads out to tell her.
"Where the hell we gonna get $2 million? What, are we robbing banks now?" Tig asked.
It doesn't take long before Opie comes back. A few minutes later, Jax comes in carrying a box with Chucky right behind him. "What's this?" I asked as Jax sat the box on the table.
"After Tara got kidnapped, I tried to tell you guys about this. When I was running the counterfeit operation for Lin, I was supposed to throw away all this misprints and dirty runs. Well, I didn't." Chucky said and Jax took the lid off the box.
"He's got three boxes full. 20s, 50s, hundreds. Over $5 mil in fake currency." Jax said.
"Holy shit." I said.
A little bit later, Bobby is sitting there looking over the counterfeit cash. "Every one of these bills is irregular. Any scrutiny, the Russians are gonna know." Bobby said.
"Maybe we need to create some sort of distraction." I said.
"Putlova's too smart. I don't see how this is going down without it turning bloody." Bobby said.
"Well, then we better bring everybody just in case it does." I said.
"If we could front-load the stacks with real cash, it could buy us enough time to get Jimmy out of there." Jax said.
I leaned back in my chair. "Hey, I got 40 bucks in my wallet." I told him.
"I got an idea." Jax said.
Jax POV
Opie had made Bella stay at home most of the day so that she would have plausible deniability if she was asked about anything. I stopped by their house on my way to go talk to Stahl. It didn't take her long to open the door when I knocked. "Hey." She said surprised.
"Hey. Can we talk?" I asked.
She nodded. We walked into the living room and sat down. "Is everything okay? Everybody okay?" She asked me.
"Oh yeah. Everything's fine. I just wasn't sure if I was going to get a chance to talk to you before the end of the day." I told her. I didn't want to tell her too much.
She nodded. "Yeah, Ope mentioned that things were gonna get crazy today. He didn't tell me much, just told me that I'd be need later at the clubhouse." She said. Well at least she'd be there with Lyla to help with Gemma and Tara.
"I just want you to know that I love you, Cuz. And I'm really happy for you and Ope." I told her.
She leaned over and hugged. "I love you too." She said pulling back. "Don't worry, Lyla and I will be here to help with whatever we need to."
I smiled. "Thanks. That means a lot." I said.
When I walked into Stahl's office, she was looking through some files. "Putlova wants $2 million for Jimmy." I told her, closing her office door.
"Jesus Christ." She said.
"We got our hands on some couterfeit cash, but I gotta pad it out with real bills. Buy us some time to get Jimmy out of there." I told her.
"Where did you get the counterfeit cash?" Stahl asked me.
"Not your worry. I need money." I told her.
"I still have access to the 250K that we used for Tara's ransom."
"That should do it." I said.
"What happens when the club asks you where you got it?" She asked me.
"I'll tell them it was in evidence here. That I got Unser to sign it out." I told her.
"We're gonna be there at the exchange." She said.
"No." I said. "If the Russians see you, they will kill Jimmy. If my club sees you, they'll know someone ratted. We can't take that risk." I told her. Just a little bit longer.
"It's the only way you get the cash." She said.
"I'll give you the location, but you gotta hang back a few miles at least." I told her. Take the bait.
"All right." She said.
"We'll put Jimmy in the van. You send in your team, pretend you're after the Russians. Let us go. Grab Jimmy." I tell her.
She looks in thought. "Fair enough. I'll set it up." She said.
Clay POV
"You ready?" I asked walking into the Chapel.
"Yeah, $2 mil, more or less." Bobby said.
"KG-9s, MAC-10. Slack them out, Clay, you're gonna need them." Tig said.
"You sure we can't spare one of the prospects?" Jax asked.
I shook my head. "We don't know what Putlova's going to show up with. We need bodies….at least till we make the exchange." I told him. He nodded.
"Yeah, okay." He said.
Happy walked in. "Hey. Tara's here." He said.
"All right." Jax said. He didn't like the idea of us having to ask an old lady for help especially one that was pregnant, but we didn't have much of an option right now.
I put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll keep her safe." I told him.
Opie POV
When we all walked outside, Tara was standing by her car, waiting. Bells had arrived and was standing near the picnic table with Pops. First I walked over to Tara to make sure that she understood what was going on and what we needed her to do. When we were done, I saw Jax coming across the parking lot. "She's all set." I told him. He nodded. He made his way to her, while I headed over to Bells to talk to her.
When I got to the picnic table, she kissed Pop's cheek and he walked off. I pulled her into my arms. "You okay?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Yeah, just worried." She said.
"Hey. It's going to be fine. Okay? We'll be back in no time." I told her. She nodded. "You remember what you have to do?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Yeah. I've got this Ope. Don't worry." She said leaning up to kiss me.
"I love you." I said.
"I love you too." She said.
Jax POV
When Ope walked off, I looked at Tara. "You sure about this?" I asked her.
"I'm the only one who can do it. Admit it…you need me." She said.
I couldn't help but laugh a little. "I guess I do. I want you to wear this." I said holding up a bulletproof vest.
"Fancy." She said.
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you." I told her.
"To us." She reminded me.
"Yeah."
"Promise you told me everything?" She asked me.
"You'll know everything soon enough." I told her.
Once Tara was all set, I walked across the lot where the rest of the guys were standing. "You guys set?" I asked.
"Yep." Ope said.
"We make no mistakes." Piney added.
"Jackie boy." Chibs said pulling me into a hug.
"You're good old man." I said to them.
"Take care of yourself, boy." Piney said.
After we'd said everything, everyone got ready to head their separate ways. I walked over to Phil. "When you get the text, you let us know." I told him and he nodded. "And deliver these letters." I told him, pulling the envelopes out of the inside pocket of my kutte.
"I know. I'll handle it." Phil said.
We'd made the exchange for Jimmy. I knew that it was taking everything that Tig had not to beat the life out of Jimmy. He was looking at the big picture. Everyone headed back to the clubhouse, while I headed to reel Stahl in. Hopefully, we were in the home stretch.
"Where is he, huh?" Stahl asked approaching me.
"Warm and cozy." I said.
"What the hell are you pulling?" She asked.
"Just keeping us both honest. You get Jimmy and my statement when my club gets free of hard time." I said.
She held up a folder. "My recommendation that the federal automatic weapons charges be reduced from 15 to three years, parole in 14 months. All it needs is my signature." She said.
"Based on me turning over Luke?" I asked.
"That's what on the record, yeah. And for that…you give me this." She said holding up a second folder. "Your statement of cooperation. You share your full knowledge of the gun running operation and any illegal activities perpetrated by the Irish council and Jimmy O'Phelan. All it needs is your signature."
She handed me the folder and a pen. "I sign this, what's to stop you getting the IRA, letting us rot in prison for 15 years?" I asked.
She chuckled. "What's to stop you from delivering this to your lawyer and killing Jimmy? Now, you just lied to me. So it's your turn for a show of good faith." She said.
I signed the paper. "I'm officially a rat." I told her. "Your turn."
"Where is Jimmy?" She asked me.
"Don't do that…"
"Nothing changes…I just need to see him. Alive. And then I sign. There is no play here." She said.
Yeah, ok. "Follow me." I said.
I led her back to the clubhouse where I knew everyone was waiting for us. "Are we okay?" Clay asked me when I climbed off my bike and saw Stahl following me in.
"I don't know." I knew that people outside of the club were watching. Ma. Tara. Lyla. Bells. Had to keep up appearances.
"Good afternoon." Stahl said when she approached us. "Where's Jimmy O?" Nobody said anything. "Okay, look, I can have a dozen agents here in 20 minutes, and they'll shred this white trash shit hole."
Clay looked over his shoulder. "Get him." He said.
"Thank god for the American Justice system." Jimmy said coming across the parking lot.
"Jimmy O'Phelan, you're being taken into custody on suspicion of conspiracy of…" Stahl trailed off.
"Pleasure love." Jimmy said. "Sorry things didn't work out like you planned boys. Luck of the Irish though, yeah?"
"How'd you know he was here?" Clay asked.
Here we go. Boom. "Because your VP made a deal." Stahl said, throwing me under the bus like we knew she would.
"Son of a bitch!" I said as I tried to lunge for her. Some agents pushed me back.
"What?" Clay asked.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa…" Tig said.
"What is she talking about?" Clay asked.
"You made a deal for Jimmy? What?!" Tig yelled.
"I did it for the club." I defended.
"You ratted! You ratted!" Bobby yelled.
"I had no choice! Look at everything we'd be facing!" I yelled back.
"Wait a minute, all this time we've been tracking Jimmy, you knew, you were gonna turn him over to this bitch!" Clay yelled at me.
"Jimmy blew up five of our men." Juice said.
"Chibs lost his nephew!" Hap yelled.
"No, no, it wasn't his fault; she made him do it. He really wasn't a rat, Clay." Gemma tried to protest. I really hoped that none of this sent Ma back to the hospital.
"You are dead! You hear me? You are dead! Dead!" Clay yelled.
ATF started pulling us towards the van to put cuffs on us. I looked at Stahl, "You just signed my death warrant." I spit at her.
"Right. I'm sorry, but you know what, your mother was right. This could never work. There's just no trust. I had to make sure that the prince turned rat. Let's go." She said. She walked over to Lowen and handed her a folder. "Your clients will be out in 3 years, if they don't kill anyone. Parole in 14 months." She told her.
As they started cuffing us, I saw Bells run over to Tig throwing her arms around his neck. Tara came over to me and did the same thing. "I love you so much." I whispered in her ear, before they pulled me away.
Stahl POV
We heard sirens behind us. "What's this idiot doing?" Estevez asked.
I looked in the mirror. "It's Unser."
"Should I pull over? He might know something." He asked.
"Oh Jesus Christ. Yeah, pull over." I said. He pulled off into a gravel turn around. We climbed out of the car and approached Unser. "What the hell is this, Wayne?" I asked him.
"Sorry, but I didn't have your cell number. And I didn't want to put this out over the radio." Unser said.
"What?"
"I got an anonymous tip. Probably bullshit, but they said that four or five of Jimmy's guys are going to be waiting for you up at the Newton turnout." He said.
"That's only a few miles south." Estevez said.
"I can call the Sanwa sheriffs and have them check it out." Unser said.
"No way. The sheriffs are idiots. You guys check it out." I said.
"Wait, I don't wat to leave you alone." Estevez said.
"I'll stay. I'll call for backup. Just to be safe." Unser said, pulling his phone out and making a call.
I turned to Estevez. "It's okay. Go." I told him. I watched my guys pull back out on to the road. I leaned against Unser's car. He joined me, lighting a joint. "Really?" I asked him. Could he be anymore crooked?
"I'm at stage 3 cancer sweetheart. I ain't got that many perks left." Unser said. He offered me the joint.
"No thanks." I said.
"You should really have some." He said.
We heard a car approaching so we turned around. "You've got to be shitting me." I said. I watched a school bus pull up and several SAMCRO guys step out. "What the hell is going on here?" I asked.
Opie approached me and pushed me to the side. Another came over and walked to my car, pulling Jimmy out… leading him to stand in front of the bus.
Opie POV
I watched Chibs. He needed this for several reasons. Jimmy had killed his nephew. Stolen his wife and raised his daughter as his own. That was almost me. Had we not found Bella when we did, he could have ended up leaving the country with her. "Take care of our girls, Filip, yeah?" Jimmy asked him.
"Oh yeah." Chibs said, before he pulled two knifes out of his vest and cutting Jimmy from one ear to the other. The he stabbed him in the chest.
Stahl gasped. I turned towards her. I led her over to the car. I made her sit in the driver's seat while I climbed in the back seat behind her. "This is insanity Opie." She said. "You have no idea what kind of heat this is going to bring the club, huh?"
"Put your hands on the wheel." I said. She started begging. "You know, you guys didn't do anything to find Abel. That was us. I know that Jax asked you to keep an eye on Bella. You let her slip through. Tara got kidnapped. You fail at every chance you get. That's not gonna happen anymore." I said before I held my gun up and I put two shots in the back of her head.
I climbed out of the car, grabbing the folder from the front seat. Kozik approached me. "Hey, let's go. Is that the deal?" He asked.
I opened the folder and looked at it. "Yeah." I said before I ripped it up. We walked over to Unser.
"Left, left side. I had bridge work done on the right." Unser said. Kozik punched him.
Gemma POV
I couldn't believe everything that had happened. I guess now all I could do was wait until it was time for me to pick up Jackson's body from the morgue. There was a knock on my bedroom door. I looked up. Lyla was there. "They need to see you." She said. I nodded.
Phil handed me an envelope. "Jax wanted you to read this then burn it." He said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't know." Phil said.
I nodded. Miles looked over at me. "Is Tara here?" Miles asked.
I shook my head. "No. She's at Jax's."
I opened the envelope and pulled out a letter.
"Hey mom -
If you're reading this, it means Stahl and Jimmy are dead. And the club will be doing short time. I'm sorry it had to be this way, Mom. I know how painful it's been for you. But I couldn't tell you. It made you an accessory. It was a club vote. I'd never turn on my club or my family. I'm not my father. I love you Mom."