Spark in the Dark

Chapter 89

Tig walked into the clubhouse with Juice not far behind him.

"Anything?" Clay asked.

"She's not there," Tig told him.

"I called Unser," Clay told them. "There were no bodies inside Cara Cara. He's putting an APB out for Shawn's car."

"Was this Caruso?" Opie asked.

"Or Zobelle?" Jax added.

"I say we kill them both," Tig said.

"Okay," Happy agreed eagerly.

"Killing them doesn't get her back," Bobby said reasonably.

"You're assuming there's anything to get back," Tig said and went behind the bar. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey and pulled the top off. He took a couple mouthfuls straight from the bottle.

"If it were Caruso," Juice said. "and he killed her, why haven't the police found her body? They found Luanne, what? Only an hour or two after she was killed? He didn't hide Luanne, so why hide Shawn?"

"Juice is right," Jax said. "Shawn just disappeared. It's too good for Caruso."

"So, we're thinking it's Zobelle?" Chibs asked.

"Why take Shawn?" Clay asked.

"Why Gemma?" Juice asked him.

"He let Gemma go," Clay pointed out. "So, why keep Shawn?"

"Neither one really makes sense," Jax said and rubbed a hand over his face.

"So, we rip them apart, piece by piece, until one of them tells us where she is," Tig said loudly. No one said anything for a moment.

"Hap," Clay said, "call everyone. We need bodies here. Start getting everyone ready. We're going into lock down."

Juice headed outside. He needed air. He walked over to one of the tables and sat down. He rested his head in his hands and took a few deep breaths. Then he felt someone sit down next to him. He knew it was Chibs before he even looked up.

"How you doing, Juicy boy?" Chibs asked.

Juice sat up and shook his head. "We got to get her back, man."

Chibs put his hand on Juice's shoulder and squeezed. "We will. She'll be alright."

"This is my fault."

"Now how do you figure that? You were laid up in a hospital bed," Chibs reasoned.

"I knew something was wrong that night," Juice explained. His throat felt tight as he tried to control his emotions. "She was supposed to come see me and when she didn't... I just knew it. And I said nothing."

Chibs sighed. "So, make it right. Find her and bring her back."

Juice nodded. He was about to say something else, but the sound of some of the others coming outside stopped him. Juice quickly wiped his eyes and stood. Chibs was right. Juice would help get Shawn back and everything would be right again.

* * *

Everyone arrived at the clubhouse early the next morning. Juice hadn't been able to sleep the night before, so instead he hacked into every account he could find with Shawn's name on it. There had been no activity on her bank account or credit cards. Her cell phone records showed the last time her phone was used was to call him. It went dead about 20 minutes after that.

At one point, Chuckie showed up at the gate and the Nomads standing guard let him in. His hands were badly burnt. Juice stood with some of the other guys and watched as Tara fixed him up.

"Guys at the gate said you have eye witness intel to the Cara Cara fire?" Piney asked him.

"There were a few guys. All had Aryan ink. They called one of them Westing," Chuckie told them.

"Weston?" Jax asked.

"Yeah, okay," Chuckie agreed. "Hey, is Shawn okay? I heard her fighting with them. I wasn't sure if she got away or not."

Everyone perked up at Shawn's name.

"She was there when the guys showed up?" Tig asked.

"Yeah, back in her office. She let me sleep on the couch in Luanne's office. I wasn't sure she was still there until I heard her fighting with some of those guys."

The members of SAMCRO all looked at each other.

"Son of a bitch," Jax said.

"Juice," Clay said. "Get me a phone number."

"Whose?" Juice asked.

"Any one of them."

Juice went back to his old dorm where he left his laptop and started digging until he found a number for Weston. He wrote it down and ran back into the clubhouse. The guys had all gone into the chapel. Juice went in and closed the door before handing Clay the paper. Clay passed the paper off to Jax, who used his phone to call it. When it started to ring, Jax put it on speaker phone and set it on the table.

"Hello?" Weston's voice came through the phone.

"I hear you have something that belongs to us," Clay told him. "We want her back. In one piece."

There was a long pause. "How did you get this number?"

"A mohawked little bird gave it to me," Clay said sarcastically. "Let me talk to the girl."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Weston lied.

"Bullshit!" Tig shouted. Clay put his hands up to tell Tig to calm down.

"I should do her serious harm for the damage your VP did to my kids," Weston threatened.

"Little junior is a psychopath," Jax told him. Clay now motioned to Jax to be quiet.

"We got to your kids once, we can do it, again. Easily. Now, let me talk to her," Clay said.

They could hear Weston walking and the sound of a door opening.

Shawn had finally been able to fall asleep with the pillow and blanket Polly had given her. The exhaustion she felt outweighed the fear. The door suddenly opening and the light turning on startled her awake. The man who had taken her, who Polly had called Weston, thrust a phone to her face.

"Say your name," he ordered her. Shawn wasn't quite awake yet and it took her a moment to process what he said. Weston ran out of patience and grabbed a fistful of her hair. Shawn cried out in pain as he yanked her head back.

The members of SAMCRO heard her yell. They all shifted in their seats and clenched their fists at the sound.

"Say your name," he told her, again, more forcefully.

"Shawn Trager," she said. Several sighs of relief could be heard around the table. Shawn then surprised Weston by smiling. "Took you assholes long enough."

Weston shoved her to the ground and walked out of the storage closet. "Satisfied?"

"Not even close," Clay said.

"I'll call you back at this number once we figure out what we want for her," Weston said and hung up.

Tig pounded the table with his hand. Jax stood from the table and went out into the clubhouse to find Unser.

"Call child services. Have them pick up Weston's kids," Jax said to the chief of police and the turned to the other guys. "We tell him he gets his kids back once we get Shawn back."

"Got it," Unser said and stood to take his cell phone out of his pants pocket.

"Me, Opie, and Juice will meet him at the police station," Jax told Clay. "Tell him to meet us at Timberland at 8 o'clock with Shawn. His ten best against ours. We'll finish this tonight."

Clay looked at Tig for approval. Tig nodded. "Let's get my girl back."