Page 50 of Condemned Soul

The car eventually pulls up in front of some security gates and when my driver shows his credentials to the guard manning them, they get opened so we can pass through. This ain’t no prison I’ve ever seen or heard of before, so I keep my wits about me when the car comes to a stop.

“What is this place?” I ask Consuela when she opens my door and helps me out. It looks like some kind of army barracks and it’s hauntingly quiet.

“Welcome to the VIP suite.” She smiles cleverly as she leads me toward one of the buildings and through a guarded side door.

“Consuela, you better tell me what the hell is goin’ on here,” I warn, as I do what the custody officer instructs, kicking off my boots and letting them uncuff me for a full search.

“You can trust me.” She winks, leaving me confused and uneasy as I get checked in.

It doesn’t take me long to figure out that this place is very fuckin’ different, although the guards have barely spoken to me, they’ve all shown respect. They took my cut, phone, knife, and lighter, but I didn’t have my ring or the chain I wear around my neck taken from me. The gray tracksuit they provided me with is much better quality than the scratchy ones you get in county too.

I’ve been waiting in the white-walled room for over an hour before Consuela decides to join me, and I can’t wait for her to clue me in on what the fuck this place is.

“You weren’t supposed to take me in, in front of my family.” I scowl, letting her know how pissed I am.

“I didn't know you were having a party, for that I apologize. All this takes some organization and once I’d got the all clear I couldn’t take it back.” She takes a seat on the chair on the other side of the table and places a brown file between us.

“Yeah, well, a little heads up woulda been nice.” I keep my voice low so the audio won’t pick it up.

“I respect you, I want to help you, but don’t forget who’s in charge here.” She places a pack of cigarettes on the table beside the folder and smiles confidently. I wonder if the way I tore her clothes off back in her living room a few nights ago is playing on her mind the way it is mine.

“What is this place?” I take a smoke from the pack and slouch back in my chair, then I try not to act surprised when she tosses me the Zippo that was taken from me when I was searched.

“I spoke to my superior before your arrest, I told him that I was confident that I could make you talk,” she explains. “This is a visitation room, not an interview room, there are no cameras or audio. You, and anyone who visits, can talk freely. We can talk freely.” Her eyebrows raise almost seductively.

“You really expect me to believe that?” I laugh at her.

“Believe what you like, I’m just making you aware. If my department knew about the meetings we’d had prior to this, I’d be fired. I’m trusting you just as much as you're trusting me, right now,” she points out, and since she seems to be talking so freely herself, I start to wonder if maybe she’s telling the truth.

“You still haven’t answered my question. What is this place?” I ask her again.

“This is where the government brings the people that they want to work with. I know how important your club and family are to you and I figured that you’d appreciate regular visits from them while we go through the process. A chance to say goodbye.” She adds that last bit so softly I barely hear it.

“Well, ya thought wrong. I made my choice and now I wanna get this done.” I light up my smoke and drag back on it. I don’t even wanna think about what the atmosphere at the club is like right now. I saw the disappointment on all their faces. They all think I’ve let ‘em down.

“You're mad because of how this went down. I understand that but don’t waste this opportunity. To get a substantial confession from a man of your stature we get given a few weeks, make the most of those weeks.” She stands up and leaves the file, the cigarettes, and the Zippo with me. Once I finish my battle with curiosity, I open the file and laugh to myself when all that's inside are blank pages. Blank pages that she wants filled with my sins.

“Calm down.” Maddy looks scared as she stands in front of me to stop me pacing. The whole club is staring at me as if they expect me to have some kinda answer to all this. I can’t think straight because all I can hear is Ella and Dylan sobbing, and all I can picture in my head is how defeated Jimmer looked when he got in the back of that patroller.

“How can I be calm? Our president just got arrested and he wouldn’t let me do shit about it,” I remind her, my chest is pounding and my head is throbbing from all the answers it’s trying to find.

“It’s happened before. We can get him out. Alex is already on the phone to Monica, she’ll know how to fix this.” Maddy does her best to soothe me but it don’t fuckin’ work, all I wanna do right now is find those officers that took him and beat the hell outta them.

“What have they got, and why did they just take him? You saw what I did to that officer, that was assault, I should have been cuffed up and taken in with him. Prez goes nowhere alone.” The fury is building higher inside me and when I look across to the barstool where Troj is sitting, I can see it’s eating him up too. He’s trying to breathe himself calm, his fists are tensed tight and his eyes are focused on the door like he’s about to charge through it.

“Jessie, right now you have to be a leader. You have to think about what Prez would do.”

“Did ya see the look on his face, Mads? It was weak, he let ‘em take him without a fight. I knew that bitch would screw us, she put us all in Long Beach at the time of that bust so she could fuckin’ screw us.” I throw my fist into one of the huge pillars beside me, and Maddy takes my shoulder and kisses it gently as the pain wracks up through my arm.

“Jessie, you can’t fall apart right now. You need to figure this out. I’ll do some research into Consuela. I can tap into the government system and see what charges they got him on, we’ll fix this,” she promises. I wanna believe her. I wanna believe her so bad that I nod my head and try to convince myself that it’s all gonna be okay. She’s right, someone has to take control. Someone has to do something and since I’m this club’s VP, that someone right now, is me.

“Thorne, organize for that vestry to be cleared, chances are those fuckers are gonna be back here with a warrant and I don’t want ‘em findin’ jack shit.” I switch my brain to focus on the here and fuckin’ now and give him his orders.

“On it, Jess.” He nods his head and sets to work, rounding up Storm, Hayden, and Skid and heading out to the yard.

“Alex, you understand this arrest process better than anyone. You speak to Monica.” I look to Squealer’s old lady, next.

“I already spoke to her, she’s working on it,” she assures me. “But I’ll keep her updated with everything Maddy finds out.”

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