Jackson sat behind a large desk—Linc’s desk apparently, judging by the name plate sitting in front of Preacher—reclined back in the chair. Linc leaned against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, looking over at the four in the conference room. Preacher wondered if Linc always kept that close an eye on Wyatt or if he was just concerned about him being so close to Memphis with a price on his head.
“Did you update Calder?”
Preacher nodded. “I filled him in on the flight here. He said there’d been no sign to indicate Nash or Tennessee had any clue where Knox was. He’s good for now. He said he’d fill Robby and the rest of the staff members in on what happened at the prison so they could implement additional measures in the morning.”
They’d left the prison, collected the dogs from the daycare facility they’d found, and immediately got on Jackson’s plane to LA. They couldn’t go back to the old safe house; it had already been burned. It irritated the shit out of Preacher that he still couldn’t say how they were found. They’d been so fucking careful. How had they tracked them down?
“He does seem to be taking it all in stride,” Jackson remarked as he watched Memphis toss his head back and laugh. Preacher was glad he wasn’t the only one who found it alarming.
“I’m worried he’s just resigned to his fate. Like he’s just decided his father’s going to kill him and he’s…fine with it.” Even saying the words made Preacher feel like somebody had sucked the air from his lungs.
Before he could say anything, Cy knocked on the door, Nicky, Javier, and Lawson just behind him. Cy had called in the cavalry. Preacher gave a nod to the four men. It was nice to have them there, even if it was under shitty circumstances.
Linc waved them in. “Come on in and shut the door.” To Preacher, he said, “My husband likes to eavesdrop.”
It wasn’t said with any malice. When Linc glanced at his husband through the glass walls of the conference room, Wyatt looked up almost like he sensed his husband’s gaze on him and gave him a look that was not work appropriate. Linc didn’t return the look, but there was the barest hint of a smile on his lips.
That was all Preacher wanted. A chance at a normal life with Memphis. As normal a life as an ex-con could have anyway. Flirting and fucking and parent-teacher conferences and taking the dogs to the park. Now, it seemed like Memphis had just decided to enjoy what time he had left, and it was making Preacher crazy.
“Tell me you’ve managed to at least find something that will help us,” Jackson said to Nicky.
“Uh, yes and no?” Nicky said, earning a glare from all parties but Cy. “Okay, tough crowd, I’ll get right to it,” he said with a dramatic sigh. “As you know, I’ve been keeping tabs on Tennessee’s and Nash’s crew, hoping one of them might lead to Nash—”
“And did it?” Preacher broke in.
“No, it didn’t,” Nicky said, giving Preacher a look that said he was interrupting his performance. “What it did do was allow me to hack their lives. While it’s not exactly legal, I was able to pretty much gain access to everything. Because Tennessee is so cocky about the cops being in his back pocket, his crew is sloppy and they’ve been hard at work while he’s been away. I’m pretty sure with the intel I’ve gathered, the feds have enough for a RICO case against the whole motorcycle crew.”
They all stared at him. “How does that help Memphis?” Preacher finally asked.
Nicky rolled his eyes. “Because if the feds have a case, they’ll freeze all assets related to the crew, business and personal. No money, no way to pay for a hit on Memphis. The contract becomes dead in the water. No hired killer is going to do the job if there’s a chance they won’t get paid.”
Preacher got what Nicky was saying, but that still seemed like a long shot. “What do we do in the meantime? Just keep him in hiding? I don’t know how much longer he’ll be okay with staying away from Knox.”
“Here’s the thing. There’s nothing about this supposed hit anywhere. Not on the darknet, not through any of my informants.”
“Well, two men showed up at the safe house and tried to kill us, so it’s a real thing.”
“Yeah, my point is, it’s an in-house contract. Two of the crew have been missing since your little tussle outside the treehouse. My guess is they’re off somewhere licking their wounds. You said your dogs got a chunk out of them, right? I can definitely make every member of Tennessee’s crew so uncomfortable, so visible, that even if they’re not talking, they are certainly not going to try to make another move on Memphis, even with the local cops on their side.”
“It’s not enough,” Preacher muttered.
“It’s not ideal,” Cy said, “but we have to go with the options presented to us.”
"Or we could just kill him?”
All eyes turned to Javier, who shrugged. “What? If I’ve learned anything from spending fifteen years with the cartel, it’s that, sometimes, the easiest thing to do is hit first and hit hard, make people too afraid to hit back.”
Preacher waited for Linc and Jackson to balk at the idea, but neither of them so much as flinched. Eventually, Jackson shook his head. “It’s not off the table, but it’s a worst case scenario situation. We need to exhaust every possibility.”
“Yeah, I can’t go back to prison,” Lawson said, sounding far too tired for a kid his age.
Preacher felt guilty even having them there. They were trying to get their lives back on track, just like he was. It wasn’t fair for him to ask them to fight for a man they didn’t even know. Still, he wouldn’t turn down the help. He needed to keep Memphis safe.
“Nobody’s going back to prison,” Linc assured him. “We have…arrangements in place, should we need to explore that option further down the line, but that falls firmly under the category of contingency plan.”
Javier shrugged, like he was discussing the weather. “I’m just saying, prison’s a dangerous place. Accidents happen. Especially in the kitchen. I hear that’s where his old man is. I’ve still got my people on the inside.”
Jackson snorted. “Your former people. You left the cartel, much to your boss’s—my client’s—dismay. I don’t know how amenable he’d be to doing you or I any favors.”
