“I’m so sorry, Moves,” she said, and at that moment I thought that she was going to take off, that I’d made a huge mistake by trusting her with that footage, but she inched closer to me, caressing my cheek and pressing her lips up against mine.
“I’m sorry that I was so quick to judge, that you all had been dealing with this and I had no idea. I had an inkling that the man arrested had been a part of the Outlaw Souls, and that he was innocent, but I had to be sure before I could move on it. I have and always will stand for justice, and right now, we’re going to have to find out a way to crack down on the DA himself,” she said, and I couldn’t help but let myself smile.
“You’re going to help us?”
She nodded. “I’m going to do it to keep an innocent man out of prison, as well as let you know that I’ve forgiven you. You better find a damn good way to make it up to me for leaving me half naked on the beach for some lifeguard to find me,” she added teasingly, and I pulled her into my arms, kissing her passionately so I could let her know that I was going to do just that.
“Will you come back with me to Hawk’s? We need to discuss this before we tell the rest of the Outlaw Souls what’s been going on. We need to be smart about this, because I’m afraid that once everyone else learns about this…”
“They’re going to want to get revenge immediately, causing more problems in the process,” she finished for me, taking the words right out of my mouth.
“I know you can see why we have to prevent that from happening. Las Balas is bad enough on their own, and with the DA on their side, they feel like they’re untouchable. This time, we’re not gonna fight back with force. This time we’re gonna let the system run its course for a change, and hopefully keep Chalupa out of jail.”
“I will not let your friend go to prison, Moves, I can promise you that. Let’s head back to Hawk’s place and we can talk about this further,” she said, and I smiled, leading her back to my motorcycle. She got on behind me, wrapped her arms around my torso, and we took off into the cool, dark night.
We arrived at Hawk’s place when it was nearing four o’clock in the morning, and we both knew that he would be fast asleep, but this was something that couldn’t wait. I was hoping to get Lacey on our side, and now that she was going to do everything in her power to bring the truth to light, Hawk and I had to figure out how we were going to tell the rest of the Outlaw Souls, and what we were going to do to take down the DA and Las Balas at the same time.
They had absolutely no idea what was coming for them, and they truly believed that they were going to get away with wiping us out, becoming the only biker gang to reign over La Playa. ButI certainly wasn’t going to allow that to happen. We’d done everything we could to make a name for ourselves, to become a family, and to live peaceful lives without the worry that someone was going to try to rip us apart for their own personal gain.
I rang the doorbell a few times until a groggy, sleepy Hawk opened up, shocked to see us both standing there. After a second, though, he nodded, already knowing what was about to go down. We didn’t have much time to devise a real plan, but it was certainly a start, because the only way we were going to get close enough to the DA would be with Lacey’s help. Hawk went to grab us all beers while Lacey and I settled ourselves on the couch.
“Thanks, man. After the night we’ve had, we certainly need one,” I said, handing one over to Lacey, who also thanked Hawk.
“I see you two have worked things out, and I’m glad because I got a very angry call from Mona today telling me that I needed to straighten you out for hurting her friend,” Hawk joked, and we both chuckled.
“I’m sure I still deserve that, but I’ve promised to make it up to Lacey when this is all finally over,” I said. I turned to her and leaned in to plant a soft kiss on her forehead.
I knew it was strange for Hawk to see me be so affectionate, but I could tell that there was a part of him that was pleased I had finally found love. He and I had always bickered about the fact that I was too hard, that I never knew how to treat women right, and I had blamed it for the most part on my upbringing.
I was too afraid to let anyone in because I didn’t know how to deal with the hate that could potentially ensue. With Lacey it was different. I let myself feel everything with her, not allowing myself to worry about what might happen in the future, because I’d fallen for her that much. It was evident that there was still so much that we needed to talk about, but I knew that would all happen in due time, because right now we had to make sure that the people responsible for framing Chalupa were brought to justice.
I had absolutely no idea how we were going to go about bringing down the DA, but I was fervently hoping that Lacey would have some choice ideas, otherwise we were going to be stuck, and probably right back at square one. We didn’t have much time to get this done, and the longer we waited, the more of a chance Las Balas had to strike, with the DA proudly on their side.
If any of the public were to ever find out how dirty the DA really was, I was sure that he would lose his job in an instant, but I didn’t even know how we were going to be able to pull something like that off. It was hard enough trying to persuade Lacey that this was really happening, but there had to be people out there that would do anything to protect the DA.
I wondered if it was possible to simply go over his head entirely with this, because even though he was the DA, there were still people that he needed to answer to. I left the ball in Lacey’s court, because she was going to be our best bet at getting out of this mess before anyone else from the Outlaw Souls got hurt. If anyone knew how to work the system, it would be her.
“How are we going to do this?” I asked, knowing that there were quite a few possibilities, but I wasn’t sure which of them were actually going to work.
“Lacey?” Hawk asked, and we both turned to stare at her, hoping she was going to have a few answers.
“I have no idea, but if working for him has taught me anything, he’s going to be really good at covering his tracks,” she began, and my heart sank. This certainly didn’t sound promising. “While this video is a good start, we’re going to need much more than that to take him down, but I’m sitting here trying to figure out how we’re going to get it. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that he’s been dirty this whole time.”
I knew that finding that out had probably hurt her. She had worked alongside him long enough for them to form a strong professional bond, to appreciate each other’s work ethic, but now the stakes were entirely different.
“I suppose we’re going to have to find a way to trap him again, because we’re going to need a solid confession or proof before anyone is going to see the inside of a courtroom,” Lacey said, and I realized that we were all equally on edge, especially because we didn’t know how much time we had, or what Las Balas was planning.
“I’m just worried that this has been in the works longer than any of us realized. They probably have a plan to take us all down, and we’re going to have to figure out how to hit them back ten times harder,” Hawk chipped in.
We sat there in silence for a few minutes before Lacey announced that she had an idea. “With every transaction in the city, there’s a paper trail. I know the DA probably covered his tracks, but there is always a loose end lying around. What if there is some incriminating evidence somewhere in his office?”
I had no idea how we were going to find out, but this was a challenge that only Lacey could handle. She was the only one that had any opportunity to get into the DA’s office without anyone being suspicious, and that’s something that we just had to count on.
“Do you think that you can really pull that off? The last thing I want is for people to start getting suspicious of you,” I said to her, and she nodded.
“We’re going to need more evidence, and judging from the way that man handles business, there has to be something lying around somewhere in that mess of an office of his. Once the sun comes up, you’re going to take me back to work a bit early, and I’m going to convince his assistant that I need to drop something off in his office. It’s a long shot, but it’s all we have right now. We need to figure out how involved he is before we try trapping him. I have a feeling he’s already thought through all of the major possibilities, so now we’re just going to have to hit him where it hurts,” she said.
I couldn’t have been prouder of her, or more grateful that she was sticking out her neck for us. I hated that I had to put her in harm’s way because I couldn’t imagine what the DA would do to her if he ever found out that she was working with us, that she was trying to unravel the plans he made with El Diablo.
