Page 73 of Memphis

I’d grown up around the men of Fury and considered each and every one of them family. And someone—I had no idea who, had killed one of them, and I was bound and determined to make them pay. “There’s gotta be a way we can track these fuckers down.”

“I’ll check the other cameras.” Shep started typing away at his laptop as he continued, “Maybe I can get a look at the license plate or the shooter.”

The room fell silent as we waited for him to check the feed. After several moments, Shep shook his head and said, “I can’t get a clear view.”

“Damn.” Prez stepped over to him and peered down at the computer screen. “Any distinguishing marks or something we could use to find these assholes?”

“There’s a dent in the front fender and a cracked taillight.”

“Well, that’s something.”

“Check surveillance for the past couple of weeks.” Shep’s eyes narrowed with confusion until I explained, “Good chance this wasn’t the first time they’d been at the bar.”

“Good idea.”

Shep leaned forward, his eyes narrowing as he started searching through the past week’s surveillance footage. It was a lot. A hundred cars or more passed through that lot every damn hour, and it didn’t take long for them to all blur together. We were an hour in when Ghost lunged forward and pointed at the screen. “There.”

Shep paused the footage at just after midnight on Wednesday night. It was a slow one, which made it easy to spot the Charger as it crept into view. Shep froze the frame, then rewound it slightly, playing the sequence again in slow motion.

“Can you get the plate?” Ghost asked, sounding hopeful.

“I’m trying.”

The camera angle shifted, and we finally had a clearer view of the car's rear. Shep paused the video again, zooming in on the license plate. The numbers were partially obscured, but a few characters were discernible.

"JX5... something," Shep grumbled, frustration edging his voice. "I can’t make out the rest."

He switched to another camera feed, and this one captured a different stretch of the street. The Charger reappeared, but this time, it was moving faster as it approached an intersection. Shep tried pausing the footage, but he couldn’t get a clear view of the plate. “Damn it.”

“You gotta keep trying,” I pushed. “We’re too close.”

“Okay, boys.” Dad stood as he said, “Let’s take a break and give Shep some space to do what he needs to do.”

We were all eager to find something on the guys who’d done this, so there was a slight resistance before the guys started to get up and disperse from the room. I didn’t want to go, but I could tell by the look on Shep’s face that he needed some breathing room. So, I gave him a pat on the shoulder and followed the others out of the door.

I was curious to know how Big Louie was doing, so I made my way down the hall to the infirmary. When I walked in, I found Blade standing at Louie’s side. He was checking his monitors, and from the looks of it, Louie wasn’t in great shape. The man who was all smiles and so full of life was now hooked up to a heart monitor and was covered in bandages.

I walked over to Blade and whispered, “How’s he making it?”

“He lost a lot of blood, but he’s holding his own. Just waiting for him to come around.”

“You think he’s gonna pull through?”

“Yeah, but he’s gonna have a rough go of it for a couple of days.” Blade gave me a pat on the back before saying, “I’ll give you two a minute.”

Once he stepped away, I grabbed a chair and pulled it up next to the gurney. I didn’t expect him to answer when I whispered, “Hey, Louie. It’s Memphis.”

“Hmmm.”

“Hey, man.” His eyes fluttered open. “It’s Memphis. How ya doing?”

“I’m hanging in,” Louie rasped, his voice rough and gravelly. “What’re you doing here?”

“I came to check on you.” I swallowed hard, pushing back the emotions that were building in the pit of my stomach. “I heard what you did, and...”

“They killed Nix.”

“Yeah, they sure did.”

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