Sawyer stood last and lifted his beer in a toast that everyone joined, “We never gave up on getting you out, here’s to Jaxon and to freedom.”
The weight of their words settled in Jaxon’s chest. These men had left careers, walked away from promotions, built an entire operation from nothing, all for him. They were all standing there waiting for him to say something. He smiled, “I appreciate it more than you guys know. But..” he stopped for a moment taking in everyone’s solemn demeanor, “I’d appreciate it even more if I had a beer.” The somber mood quickly turned to laughter.
Hutch tossed him a beer from the cooler under the bar. Jaxon caught it, twisted the cap, and took a long drink. The cold bitternesshit the back of his throat. He hadn’t allowed himself to think about things like enjoying a cold brew in years. He savored it, emptying it before setting the bottle down.
Settling on a barstool, he listened as they caught him up on their lives. Each one had a Little of his own now, something he already knew from their visits. Somehow, telling him outside of prison made it more real. Their lives had moved forward while his had stagnated behind cinderblock walls and iron bars. The truth of that fact burned.
His smile was rusty from lack of use, but he did his best. He was happy for every one of his brothers. Of course, he was. And he did have plans of his own. His life would be getting back on track. Well, as soon as Reid explained why someone from Sabre hadn’t picked him up that morning.
He needed Reid to explain. Reid had been short on the phone that morning. The tension in his voice was hard to miss. As nice as visiting with everyone was, he was ready to get the show on the road because, as soon as he dealt with whatever had Reid worried, Jaxon was headed straight to Books & Brews.
From what his brothers told him over the last few visits, Tazzy still worked there. Her roommate had been in Iceland studying some kind of geothermal heat thing for the last two months. According to her roommate, Tazzy didn’t have anyone in the house right now, which fit right into Jaxon’s plans.
Once everyone finished their second round, Reid said, “We have a lot to talk about. Jaxon, there are things you need to know. Everybody up to the office.”
Climbing stairs so narrow they had to go single file, Jaxon followed Gage up. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but it wasn’t what he saw.
A warehouse-sized room opened up in front of him, smelling like coffee, gun oil, and leather. In the center sat a massive wooden conference table with ten high-backed leather chairs arranged around it.
The right wall was nothing but floor-to-ceiling windows, letting in pale morning light. In the far right corner, the gym area waited—punching bags, mats, a worn leather speed bag, faded pale where countless punches had rubbed it smooth over the years.
Reid gave Jaxon the grand tour. On the left side, closest to the stairs, a hallway led to the kitchen, the Little area the men had built for their women, and a pair of small bathrooms designed with softer lighting and pastel touches. Two large offices took up space along the back wall—Reid’s and Sawyer’s. Another hallway on the far left led to additional offices and more bathrooms.
Once they were done, Reid cleared his throat. “Any chair’s fine,” he said, looking at Jaxon and pointing to the table. “We have to get you brought up to speed before we can talk about what happened yesterday afternoon.”
Jaxon took the empty chair opposite Sawyer. The leather creaked under his weight. It felt good to sit on a chair made of something other than molded plastic.
Reid stayed standing. “We haven’t been twiddling our thumbs for the past eight years. We worked every angle we could find. But we couldn’t find out shit for the first five years, no matter how hard we dug. But then, when Hutch’s woman, Georgia, came back to Darling, she brought a crucial piece of information. Jaxon, what do you know about the Graceful Way Society?”
Jaxon’s back stiffened. “I know they’re an international organization that presents itself as a religious cult. They are that, but my interest in them was the human and drug trafficking network they’d built to finance part of their operation. They’re made up of powerful, wealthy people from all over the world who are damn near impossible to hold accountable. Why?”
“We’ve been able to gather a lot of intel over the past two years or so. When Georgia moved back to town, she was on the run from a narcissistic psycho who thought he owned her. He was a lawyer for the Society.”
Reid nodded. “Hutch took care of him, but right after that, my Winnie was falsely accused of murdering her business partner. Our investigations into that gave us more info and connected a lot of dots.”
Sawyer opened his laptop and turned the screen so Jaxon couldsee. “Deke’s Little girl, Suzi, runs the local paper. She was sent a flash drive three years ago. Once I broke through their encryption, we got names, dates, account numbers… every upper-level member of the Society, including Alexander Boucher, the General himself. But that’s not all, we got bank transfers, coded messages, proof the cult was laundering drug money and trafficking women under the religious exemption.”
“My Lovie and I pulled the supporting files from their secure servers.” Said Law, “Financials, shipment logs, even names of the girls moved through the compounds. We’ve got enough to bury half that cult, maybe more, if the feds ever decide to look.”
Law looked over at Connor, “Tell him what you’ve got Connor.”
“We’ve tracked key players for the last eighteen months. The General’s movements are predictable: meetings on Sunday and Wednesday evenings, meetings at the Graceview Retreat Center on Tuesday nights. They used an MC called the Lawless Warriors to distribute their drugs. That’s one of the reasons Ravage finally left.”
“Ravage was one of them.” Reid said. “He managed to round up a few other members, and they pretty much gutted the local chapter. Now they’ve started a new MC called the Ruthless Saints. They feed us street-level intel through Ravage and rescue girls who’ve gotten involved with the Society when they can.”
“When Sawyer’s Little girl, Lele, um… the woman who owned the car they used to frame you… anyway, when she told everyone what had happened to her, the General’s house of cards started to collapse around him.”
Gage leaned forward. “As you know, the feds busted the judge who sentenced you. That’s when the damn burst. Gross misconduct, bribes tied to Society cases. Not to mention the murder and attempted murder charges against him.”
Jaxon’s head was spinning. It was like he’d been in a basement room with no lights for eight years, and someone suddenly threw open the damn door and blinded him. “My conviction got vacated last week. My retrial’s on the calendar, but what I plan on pushing for isdismissal. At least, that was the plan. But I’ll need a good lawyer to get that done.”
“We have that covered. Raleigh Stevens is a lawyer friend of ours. He helped Lele, and he’s already agreed to take your case.”
Deke spoke quietly. “Lele’s sentence was thrown out six months ago. Her testimony about the setup—the car, the drugs—directly implicated the General’s handler. That’s what got the judge arrested.”
Hutch kept it simple. “We’ve got eyes on the General. He’s desperate. His murder trial’s coming up, and he knows the walls are closing. He’ll do anything to stay out of a cell.”
Jaxon listened carefully without interrupting. Every detail fit the picture he’d carried in his head for eight years. “Well, fuck. I… I appreciate all the info, and fuck knows I needed a lawyer. But this is all… I’m gonna need some time to wrap my brain around it. You guys have done more than I could have hoped for.”