5

Little Toy Bikers and a Woman on the Run

Chapter 311 Hale for the Assist

"

Scarlett called shortly after she returned from work. Jax was doing well and there were no signs of infection. She heaved a sign of relief both for Jax and her professional career.

They shared a laugh over Scarlett keeping Jax drugged and sleeping. If Jax had stayed in Charming, he would probably have been out trying to ride his bike or doing something equally stupid. She knew Scarlett could be counted on to keep Jax in line and she'd given her the drugs she needed for the job.

Now that she wasn't in love with Jax anymore, she felt sorry for Scarlett. She hoped that was the last time Jax would get shot, but MC violence was always around the men of SAMCRO.

Teen aged Tara thought that made Jax hotter and more macho. Adult Tara saw the danger and the crime and feared it was only a matter of time before Jax either was killed or ended up in prison. She did not envy Scarlett the life of an MC old lady.

Tonight she was treating herself to a great dinner. She was going to make a ribeye steak, baked potato with sour cream and butter and a salad of heirloom tomatoes with a Dijon vinaigrette. She washed and pricked a potato with a fork and put it in a 500 degree oven. She sliced the tomatoes, made a quick vinaigrette and poured it over the tomatoes so they would absorb some of that flavor.

A shower relaxed her and she was looking forward to her decadent dinner and watching a couple of TV shows. Thanks to food shows, she knew how to cook a steak. She put her father's old cast iron pan on the stove, cranked up the gas to high and poured a little olive oil in the bottom.

While she waited for the pan to heat up, she put the tomatoes on a salad plate arranging them like she was in a cooking contest. She patted the steak dry and sprinkled it heavily with Kosher salt on both sides and put the steak in the pan. It sizzled.

She used a heavy saucepan to weigh the steak down and get a good full contact sear before flipping it and doing the same on the other side. Using the tongs, she checked for doneness. It should be a perfect rare. She put it on a plate and added the garlic compound butter she'd made last night.

She'd had a date with a neurosurgeon who took her to a fancy steakhouse. That was the night she discovered people put butter on steak and her neurosurgeon date was pompous, arrogant and boring. She forgot him but never forgot the extra deliciousness butter brought to steak.

While the steak rested, she got the baked potato out of the oven, banged it against the counter and cut it open. The banging move was also learned from TV cooking shows. It made the potato fluffy. Butter, sour cream and lots of salt and pepper made her baked potato perfect. She poured herself an iced tea and carried her food on a tray into the den to watch TV.

Her meal was perfect and the TV shows were great. It was a great night and she hadn't looked out the living room window once. She'd successfully fought temptation for as long as she could. There he was Joshy Kohn sitting outside her house. Thirty minutes later, he was still there. An hour later, he was still there.

Just having him sitting outside her house, raised her terror level. She wondered how long he was going to stay, but most of all, she wondered if he would wait until she was asleep, break into the house and rape or kill her.

She couldn't live like this. Her hands were shaking and she thought she was going to throw up. Kohn was mentally unhinged. She had to do something before he escalated and did rape or kill her.

She called Hale and after a lot of hesitation she asked him to come to her house because she needed him to see something. He agreed. She knew she could count on Hale for help, but it didn't make the asking any easier.

Hale pulled up twenty minutes later.

"Did you see the car parked outside?" she asked as soon as she opened the door to his knock.

He looked at the car.

"I see it now."

"That's Josh Kohn. He's stalking me," she said.

Hale turned around and walked out to the street and up to Josh Kohn's car, tapping on the window. They spoke for a few seconds and Kohn left.

Hale returned and she let him into the house.

"He said that he's surveilling you as part of some investigation into the Sons gun running."

Tara offered him coffee and a piece of carrot cake. He eagerly accepted her offer. He'd loved carrot cake back in high school. Judging by his enthusiasm over her offer, he still loved it. She made coffee and poured them each a cup.

"You aren't going to have cake?"

"I only finished eating dinner a little while ago. That guy. I dated him in Chicago. He got violent. I ended it and then the stalking began. I got a restraining order but I didn't know I had to go to court for a trial to make it stick."

"He's an ATF agent. He introduced himself and he's been around the station a couple of times. He's looking at the Sons said it's some special hush hush investigation."

"He told me that if I get back together with him, he'll drop the investigation. He's obsessed with me and he hates Jax. I may have told him too much about Jax. I didn't tell him anything about how the Sons make money because I don't know anything. When I came back t Charming, he thought I was coming back to get with Jax. I came back partly to get away from him."

"You and Jax aren't together."

"I told him that. He's seen him with Scarlett. I've told him that they are together. He still wants to destroy him. He's unstable. I don't think the ATF investigation is real. Why get someone from Chicago? It doesn't make sense."

"I thought it was strange, but it's the federal government."

"This isn't the first time he's parked outside my house."

"I didn't buy his surveillance story. You don't want the subject to know you're surveilling them."

"I think he's going to hurt me. He's just terrorizing me first."

"I'm going to do a police report on this. There needs to be some documentation. Two weeks ago, I went to a law enforcement seminar. I met someone from ATF there. Let me look into this. I'll find out if he's here on a legitimate investigation."

"I'm sorry to drag you into this mess. I didn't know what else to do."

"I'm glad you came to me. I'll call you tomorrow. If he comes back tonight, call me and let me know."

Tara gave Hale a hug and sent him off with two pieces of carrot cake. After she shut the door and locked it, she leaned against it and hoped that would be enough to get rid of Kohn.

Deep down inside, she couldn't shake the feeling that either he would kill her or she would have to kill him whether she did it herself or got someone to do it for her.