Chapter Thirteen

Fade

This wasn't Russ. Not even fucking close.

I stared at the woman sitting next to Yarder, feeling a mix of irritation and confusion. "You're probably wondering where Russ is," she said.

That was damn straight.

Yarder eyed the woman closely. "Yeah, I think we're all wondering that."

The woman cleared her throat and pushed her glasses up her nose. "I'm Fallon, Russ' secretary. Well, at least I was his secretary until yesterday. About two hours after I took the phone call with one of you, I was fired."

"Russ fired you?" Yarder asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.

Fallon shook her head. "No, Max McGrave called me personally and let me know my services were no longer needed for Russ Finley."

"Am I supposed to know who Max McGrave is?" Pirate asked, his tone dripping with skepticism.

Fallon looked at Pirate like he had two heads. "He's the governor of Texas," she clarified.

Pirate clicked his tongue. "Yup, yeah, now it sounds familiar."

I shook my head, unable to believe what I was hearing. "So now the governor is in on this shit, too?"

Yarder sliced me with a look. "Shut it," he growled.

Fallon glanced at Yarder. "You don't need to shut it. I know everything that is going on." She opened the file she had brought along. "Everything."

"So, where is Russ?" Compass asked, cutting through the tension.

"I was hoping you guys would be able to help me figure that out." She pulled out a paper and passed it to Yarder. "That came across Russ' desk yesterday morning. I didn't read it at the time because I try to keep my nose in my own business, but that was the only thing Russ left on his desk. Everything else was gone."

Yarder looked over the paper, his brow furrowing as he tried to make sense of it.

"What is it?" Dice asked, curiosity piqued.

Yarder didn't answer right away, his eyes scanning the document. I watched his expression shift from confusion to something darker, more serious.

"It's a list of names," Yarder finally said, his voice low. "Names we all know."

A chill ran down my spine. "What kind of names?"

Yarder handed the paper to Compass, and then it made its way around the table. As I read through the list, I recognized them immediately—our allies and any people connected to us. This wasn't just any list; it was a hit list.

"Shit," I muttered. "This is bad."

Fallon nodded. "Russ received that yesterday morning. By the afternoon, he was gone, and I was out of a job."

"Who did he get it from?" Yarder asked.

Fallon shrugged. "I can't tell you. When I saw it, I had two minutes before I was escorted out of the building with my things packed in a cardboard box."

"Why would the governor fire you?" Compass asked, suspicion lacing his words.

"Because I know too much," Fallon replied bluntly. "Russ and I have been working closely on this for months. We knew something big was coming, but we didn't realize how high it went until now. We were both working on our exit strategies, hoping they would just let us go."

"Why the hell did they decide to go after us?" Aero asked.

"You guys were an easy target," Fallon explained. "I hate to admit it, but I was the one who heard about you guys and put your name in the hat."

"Fuck you," Smoke spat. "You're the one to blame for all of this. You put a fucking target on our backs."

Fallon held up her hands. "I will take all the hate. I deserve it."

"You deserve a hell of a lot more than hate," Cue Ball grunted.

"Is there a reason why this chick is even sitting at our table anymore since she just told us she is to blame for all of this?" Throttle asked.

"Off with her fucking head," Dice spat.

Yarder held up his hand to Dice. "Hold your horses, Queen of Hearts."

Dice reared back. "You can't tell me we are actually going to listen to anything this chick has to say, are you?"

Fallon cleared her throat. "In my defense, though it is weak, I didn't know they were going to do all of this to you. From what I understood, Russ would just put a few of you behind bars for a few years to help get some notoriety behind his name."

"Oh, just a few years behind bars, huh?" Compass chuckled. "Nice to know where you see us."

Fallon sighed. "If I could go back and change it, I would."

"But you can't, so now you're crawling to the lowly bikers on your knees, asking for our mercy and help," Yarder growled. "The club has zero trust in you. For all we know, Boone and Gibbs are using you, just like Russ tried to use Dove to weasel her way into the club."

Fallon nodded and reached to her side. She pulled out a black backpack and opened it. She dumped it on the table. Two phones, a tablet, and a laptop dropped onto the table. "These are all of my electronics. Without them, I have no contact with the outside world."

"Again, tell me why we should care?" Yarder grunted.

"Because, like you just said, I am on my knees begging for your mercy. When I got back to my apartment yesterday, it had been tossed. The only reason I have my electronics is because they were with me. I'm sure whoever was in my apartment was looking for those things. Whoever Boone and Gibbs have come after you is now coming after me." She nodded to the list. "My name is on there, right along with each of yours."

"So, what's your plan?" Yarder asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Fallon took a deep breath. "I plan to find Russ and figure out how to get all of us out from under all of this. But I need your help. I can't do this alone."

"We've been trying to get out from under this for months. It just keeps getting worse," Compass grunted.

Yarder nodded to the computer and phones on the table. "Anything on there we could use?"

Fallon nodded. "Some, but not a lot. I was working on putting some pieces together this morning in a gas station parking lot. I didn't want to stay in one place too long just in case I was being tracked."

"You see anyone following you?" Compass asked.

Fallon shook her head. "Not that I noticed, but it's not like I really know what to look for."

Aero, leaning against the wall, shook his head. "They wouldn't need to tail her if they have a tracker on her car or phone."

"No one has ever touched my phone at the office," Fallon insisted.

"Thanks to technology, they don't need to touch your phone to be able to track it. Hell," Smoke sighed, "if your car is new enough, they can hack into the GPS system and know exactly where you are."

Yarder nodded to Dice. "Get rid of the car. Dump it somewhere."

"What?" Fallon gasped. "What am I supposed to do without a car?"

"Nothing. You won't need a car because you're not leaving, at least not without one of us with you. If what you are telling us is true, then you need protection. If you're lying to us and working with Boone and Gibbs, then your communication with them will be cut off. Either way, we're covering our asses."

Fallon looked around the room, her eyes wide with fear and confusion. "I'm not lying. I have no idea where Russ is, and I don't even know where Boone and Gibbs are."

I watched her closely, trying to gauge if she was being honest. Her panic seemed genuine, but we'd been burned before. "How can we be sure you're not playing us?" I asked, my voice low.

She turned to me, her expression earnest. "I don't have any reason to lie. I was doing my job, and now I'm in the middle of this mess. I want to find Russ as much as you do."

Yarder nodded to Compass. "Get her set up in one of the empty rooms."

Compass nodded.

Yarder turned to Dice. "Get rid of the car. Make sure no one can trace it."

Dice smiled wide, and Fallon slid the keys across the table toward him. "One burn job coming right up," he chuckled.

"Don't make it too fucking obvious," Yarder advised. "We don't need a burned car being traced back to us."

"I know a few places no one else knows about. Don't even worry about it," Dice promised as he pocketed the keys and headed out the door.

"Aero and Smoke," Yarder continued, "go through Fallon's devices and get any information off them you can, then get rid of them also."

Fallon looked up, her frustration evident. "Why are we getting rid of all my stuff? They can't possibly trace me from my computer or tablet."

"If they know your IP address, they can track you. If you ever connected to the Wi-Fi at the office, they know your IP address," Aero pointed out.

Fallon sighed heavily. "I really hate technology sometimes."

"I still say we just find Boone and Gibbs and blow them the fuck up." Stretch rapped his knuckles on the table. "Make it look like a fucking accident and call it a day."

Yarder shook his head. "We'll put that on the back burner for right now."

"So you're not saying no," Stretch chuckled.

The tone lightened in the room. We all knew we were dealing with a huge shitstorm, but if we worked together, we'd make it through. I just hoped like hell that Fallon was telling the truth, and we didn't need to worry about her double-crossing us. That was the last thing we needed on top of everything else we were dealing with.

The guys dispersed. Compass took Fallon to her new room, Dice headed out to take care of her car, and Aero and Smoke got to work on her devices. I hung back with Yarder.

"You all good here?" I asked him.

Yarder nodded. "For the time being. If you're headed to Adalee, keep your fucking eyes open. Part of me thinks we should move her and the guys here too, just so we don't have you by yourself."

That was something we could consider. "Well, just let me know what you want to do, but for tonight, I'll just stay there."

Yarder nodded. "Sounds good. Stay safe."

I pulled my keys out of my pocket and headed to my bike. I didn't think Adalee, Mark, and Garett were caught up in this, but I couldn't be too safe.

Fallon was not the expected curve ball, but we would make it work.

We had to.