Finding Abel

Chapter 11.

Jax

Despite everything that happened with Erin yesterday, we still needed this deal to happen. This deal was the only way to keep my family out of Charming, and even though Erin didn't know it yet, I was doing this for Abel too. When I leave Charming I can become like a regular man. No more ducking from the cops, no guilty conscious, just a regular life with my ol lady and my kids. A life that my boys would be proud of. So, I arrived at the location to orchestrate the meeting between Galen and Galindo's guys early. This deal was supposed to be orchestrated by Clay, but I had to step in since he was still in critical condition.

"Jackie," Chibs said grabbing my attention when Galen walked in. Galen was being followed by a modest amount of his men, all in their best suits. I extended my hand out to him and he shook it, "Galen, good to see you."

"Where's Clay?" he asked ignoring my greeting.

"Something went down last night. Clay got shot," flashbacks of Opie shooting at Clay played in my mind.

"What happened?"

"We're not sure yet, they hit him at the garage. Had nothing to do with this."

"There's been a problem brewing in Oakland, this white thing," Chibs said backing me up.

"Is he gonna live?" Galen said pressing for details.

"Yeah," I nodded, "he pulled through the worst of it." Galen looked skeptical of my update but I decided to change the subject and introduce him to Galindo's men. "This is Romeo Parada."

Romeo extended his greeting to Galen and they shook hands. "This is my associate Luis Torres." Luis did the same and shook hands with Galen. However, I could tell that Galen was still weary after hearing of Clay's situation. "When will Clay be back on his feet?"

"It's hard to say right now, but we're up to speed on schedules and routes. I'll be able to talk you through everything."

"No, you won't," Galen began to smirk, "I made it very clear to Clay that the only way this deal happens is if he's running it."

"Galen we run things as a club," I reminded him. I was mentally punching Clay in the face because he caused this attitude from Galen. His need to be king only worked if he was the face of the Sons. "We can make this work without Clay."

Galen scoffed, "it's not just about making it work, it's about trust. I've little in you and even less in them," he said looking over to Romeo and Luis. "When Clay's back at the table we can discuss the deal, until then there is none." Galen didn't leave as formal as he came when he turned his back on me. I looked over at Romeo and Luis apologetically as the guys left the shed.

"Galen!" I called out to him but he didn't bother turning around. Chibs grabbed my arm, "Jackie leave it, you'll make it worse. These stubborn bastards won't hear you."

Frustration washed over me as my only way out of Charming left the room. Romeo walked up to me with his voice low, "we have to talk," he whispered. Great, as if I needed another talk about drugs I didn't even want anything to do with. I cleared the room so that it was just me, Romeo, and Luis.

"Look, I'm sorry, we really thought we could pull this off," I began, "the truth is, we're in way over our heads. I know Clay thought we could make this work, but we can't, we're not drug mules or big arms dealers. We're just small-time men, we can't do this anymore."

"I'm afraid we are at cross purposes Mr. Teller," Romeo said as he and Luis pulled out CIA badges. A wave of panic shot through my body as I realized what was going on.

"Oh sh**," I laughed mechanically. Erin was right all along.

"Otto Delaney did sell you out," Luis said, "US Attorney was going to crush this meet with RICO. We stopped them because we need this relationship to continue."