Jules slapped at the clock to silence the damned alarm, but it wouldn’t stop ringing. He forced his eyes open as he realized it wasn’t the alarm, but his phone. Blinking furiously, he fumbled for his phone, hitting the answer button as he stared at the clock, its glowing red number taunting him. He had been asleep less than ninety minutes.

 

“Rivera,” he snarled quietly into the phone. This has better be fucking important!

 

“Jules… this is Ellis.”

 

“Ellis who?” he whispered, not wanting to wake Rachel.

 

“Ellis Ramirez.”

 

“What do you want Ellis? Why are you calling me at this ungodly hour?”

 

“Why haven’t you come for me and my family? We’ve been waiting.”

 

Jules took a moment to shake off the clinging sleep. “I’m sorry, Ellis. There was nothing I could do. It was a club decision.”

 

“What? What do you mean?”

 

“The club voted and it was decided that you had to stay and continue to feed us information. I’m sorry man. I tried but—”

 

“You’re not coming for my family and me?”

 

“I’m sorry, Ellis. We need your intel. I tried—”

 

“What intel? When were you going to tell me this, you gringo bastard?”

 

“Wait… what?”

 

“You promised to get my family out. And when you reneged on our deal, you don’t even have the cojones to call and tell me?”

 

“Wait. Wait a minute! Didn’t Todd tell you?”

 

“Tell me what?” Ellis shouted.

 

“Ellis… I don’t know what is going on here. Didn’t Todd tell you that we weren’t pulling you out?”

 

“I haven’t fucking talked Todd, Jules! We have been in hiding for weeks, waiting for your call to come get us! And now you're fucking us!”

 

“Wait! Hold on a second! Ellis, calm down. Something isn’t right here. Aren’t you still feeding Todd intercept information?”

 

“I just told you, we’re in hiding! Hiding from the cartel! How could I forward him intercept information?”

 

“Ellis… something is very wrong here.”

 

“No shit.”

 

Jules paused as the thought furiously. “Where are you?”

 

“Why?”

 

“I’m coming to get you.”

 

“When?”

 

“Now. As soon as I can get there. Where are you?”

 

“Ejido Alamos de San Antonio.”

 

“Okay… hang on. Rachel… wake up.”

 

“What?” she mumbled.

 

“I need your van.”

 

“Van? Why?”

 

“I just do. Where are the keys?”

 

“What?” she asked rolling over and sitting up. “Jules, what’s going on?”

 

“I’ll explain later. I need the keys for your van. Where are they?’

 

“They’re at the bar, why?”

 

“Shit. Okay. Ellis, hang tight man. I’m coming. I’ll be there in less than five hours. We will be in a white Ford panel van. Where can I pick you up?”

 

Ellis paused, clearly uncertain what was going on. “On the south side of town, at the water tower. We will be there at ten.”

 

“Make it noon, okay? That gives me time to get my shit together on his end. Don’t be late, Ellis. I’m really going to be twisting in the wind on this.”

 

“I’ll be there. Jules… thank you.”

 

“I’m sorry, Ellis… I don’t know what the fuck is going on. But I’m coming to get you and your family out right now. Just hang on a little while longer. I will see you at noon at the base of the water tower. Remember, white 2011, 2012, something like that, Ford Econoline panel van. When I show up, you get your shit and get your ass in the van pronto. What’s not in the van in thirty seconds gets left. That includes people. Okay?”

 

“Thank you, Jules… thank you! I knew I could trust you,” Ellis said, his voice breaking in gratitude.

 

“What’s going on?” Rachel asked when Jules tossed his phone on the side table.

 

“I don’t know… but something is fucked up. That was Ellis… our snitch. He hasn’t been in contact with Todd. So where the hell has Todd been getting his intercept information? I need your van. I have to go get Ellis and his family. Now.”

 

“I’m going with you!” Rachel said as she flung the covers back and got to her feet.

 

“Like hell!”

 

“You want the van? Then I’m going!”

 

“No! No fucking way!”

 

“Then I guess you’re walking then.”

 

“Shit! Just give me the fucking keys!”

 

“No,” she said as she stared at him.

 

“Fine,” he said as he got up and began rummaging through her purse until he found the bar keys.”

 

“Give me those!” she said as she reached for the keys.

 

“You’re not going!”

 

“I’ll call the fucking cops and report the van stolen!”

 

“You wouldn’t!”

 

“Just try me, Jules. I’m going!”

 

“Rachel, goddamnit… it’s dangerous!”

 

“Which is why you need my help!”

 

“Fuck!” he shouted.

 

“Are we going to stand here and argue, or are we going to go get your snitch?”

 

Jules stewed a moment but he was boxed in. He could take the Tahoe, but with Ellis, his wife, four kids, plus whatever they were bringing, that would be tight squeeze. Not to mention the windows where they would be seen.

 

“Rachel, be reasonable,” he tried one more time.

 

“I am being reasonable. I want to get Will too. You need someone to watch your back.”

 

“Goddamnit… fine. We have time to get a shower. I need one to help wake me up.”

 

***

 

“Is that the water tower?” Will asked from the front seat.

 

“Yeah… I’m guessing,” Jules said. It was ten minutes to noon and they had been on the road to Ejido Alamos de San Antonio for over four hours. Unlike a four-wheel drive truck, the van couldn’t cross the desert terrain, much less the shallows of the Rio Grande, so the forty minute drive through the desert took four hours on the road. Not that this rough oxcart of a dirt track they were driving on could be considered much of a road.

 

“You doing okay back there?” Jules asked.

 

“Yeah. The floor isn’t very comfortable, but I’m doing okay.”

 

“You’re the one that wanted to come along,” he reminded her.

 

“Yeah. But I kinda thought I would be in the front with you.”

 

“Sorry… but I need Will up here... just in case,” Jules said.

 

“Is that them?” Will asked as a man stepped out from behind the pump house.

 

“That’s him. Rachel… get ready. Will, you ready?”

 

“Fuck… I always did hate being a rifleman,” Will said as he picked up the AR-15 and pointed it at the floor.

 

Jules brought the van to a swift stop. The van hadn’t even settled on its springs before Will was jumping out and Rachel was flinging open the side and rear doors.

 

“Alright, Ellis, move your ass,” Will said as he took up point, his eyes and head on a swivel as he watched for threats.

 

“Come on, Ellis, move it!” Jules snapped from the driver’s seat as Ellis threw a half dozen items into the van while Rachel slid them out of the way of the door. Good to his word, twenty seconds after the doors of the van opened, they were being slammed shut and Jules had the van moving.

 

“Thank you Jules,” Ellis gasped from the back as the newcomers settled in.

 

“Okay… here’s the drill. When we get to the border at Ojinaga, you guys get as tight in the left rear corner as you can, okay? That’s behind me. Push all that shit in the corner as well. I don’t care if you have to stand on each other, you get in there tight, got it?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Hopefully they will just wave us through, but I don’t want them to see anything with just a quick glance in the van.”

 

“And if they look inside?” Ellis asked.

 

“Then we’re all hosed.”

 

***

 

“Not one fucking sound,” Jules hissed as he creeped through the line at Presidio, Texas. As he approached the Border Patrol agent he rolled his window down and made to offer his passport, but the agent just waved him on past.

 

“Okay… we’re clear,” Jules said as the checkpoint receded into the distance.

 

“I nearly shit myself,” Will said with a grin.

 

“Welcome to the United States, Ellis,” Jules said with a grin. “Home of the brave, and the land of the free and open borders.”

 

“What are you going to do with us?” Ellis asked. He hadn’t spoken much, afraid that Jules would simply turn them in at the border.

 

“I don’t know, Ellis. This was kind of thrown together at the last minute. I’m thinking of dealing you to the DEA.”

 

“DEA? Your drug police?” Ellis whispered.

 

“Calm down, Ellis. I’m not just going to turn you over to them. But I think maybe we can cut you a deal. I know an ICE officer that might be willing to help.”

 

“You had better not be talking about that Sphincter… chick,” Rachel hissed after glancing at the wide-eyed kids.

 

“Schneider,” Jules corrected, “and yes, that is exactly who I am talking about. She would love to rub the DEA’s nose in it if she could turn up some solid intel on the Andres Cartel. We could make a deal… papers and a route to citizenship for what you know about the cartel. Would you be willing to go for that?”

 

“I don’t trust—” Ellis began.

 

“We’ll get it all in writing first,” Jules said. “Then if they try to back out, we can tie them up in the courts so long you will grow old and die before they could deport you.”

 

Ellis licked his lips. “I trust you, Jules. You are a man of your word. If you say this is the way to do it, then… yes… I will do this.”

 

“Good man,” Jules said.

 

“Where are they going to stay until then?” Will asked.

 

“I guess I can put them up at my house.”

 

“How about at Rachel’s house? I’m sure Pam would let me bunk at her place for a while. Rachel and I could take turns making sure they have what they need. They could stay completely out of sight until the deal is done.”

 

“You okay with that, Rachel?” Jules asked.

 

“Yeah…” she said slowly.

 

“Señorita, for your kindness, we will make sure your house is spotlessly clean. Manuela will cook and—”

 

Rachel began to blush in embarrassment. This man had risked everything to help her country. “No, no. That’s fine. I would be delighted to have you stay at my house… as my guest.”

 

“Thank you, Señorita, for your generosity.”

 

Rachel saw Jules’s eyes watching her in the rearview mirror, and smiled.

 

***

 

“How’d it go” Rachel asked when Jules returned from this meeting with Todd.

 

“He knows I know something. His answers were too pat, too well thought out. He has been waiting for someone to ask these questions.”

 

“So you think Schneider was right?”

 

“That Forsaken 99 is muling drugs? Yeah. Maybe. But I don’t think it is everyone. I can’t see Spence or Marsh being in on this.”

 

“Who then?”

 

“I don’t know. I would bet on Dwayne and Gigolo. They were always Todd’s guys. A few others probably. But even if Spence and/or Marsh aren’t in on it, I can’t just accuse Todd of running drugs without proof. That will get straight back to him.”

 

“So what if it does? Maybe he needs to be put on the defensive.” She paused as another thought occurred to her. “What if Fish’s and Bell’s deaths weren’t the cartel?”

 

“You don’t mean...?”

 

“I do mean. You no longer have your two most trusted allies. Members that others respected and trusted.”

 

“If he was planning this, they why leave me alive?”

 

“Maybe he is making this up as he goes. Maybe he didn’t plan on running drugs until the rancher support dried up. That was the bad times, remember. Maybe he was afraid that killing you would raise too many questions. So he just isolated you.”

 

“I don’t know… maybe,” Jules said slowly. “I don’t know who I can trust, other than Will. But killing members seems like a bridge too far.”

 

“Would you have said that about muling drugs yesterday?”

 

“Why would he do that? If this is true, it will destroy him!” Jules protested.

 

“I don’t know, Jules. I just know that you were taking over the club—”

 

“I was not!” Jules objected.

 

“You were. Whether you intended it or not, the club was looking to you more and more for guidance. You were becoming their leader. Todd probably saw that too. Maybe he is just trying to hang on for as long as he can.”

 

He thought about what Rachel said, and try as he might, he couldn’t fault her logic. “Shit… what am I going to do? If you’re right, I’ve shit in my nest. He’ll never trust me again.”

 

“You need help. You need someone on the inside. Someone that can keep you in the loop.”

 

“I don’t know who I can trust. Spence maybe.”

 

“Will.”

 

“Your brother?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“How is that supposed to work? He’s just a prospect.”

 

“Have him cozy up to Todd. He can tell you when the next intercept is. Maybe you can follow the drugs and see where they go.”

 

“Todd won’t trust him. Will and I are too close.”

 

Rachel thought for a minute. “Then let’s break you two up. I have an idea.”

 

***

 

“You’re sure about this?” Will asked.

 

“Are you?” Jules responded.

 

“Hell no. But I can’t think of a better way. Roshambo for who gets the first shot?”

 

“Just make it count,” Jules said with a grimace. “How about you two? You ready?” Jules asked Pam and Rachel.

 

“I’m just going to pretend she’s Schneider,” Rachel grinned.

 

“Yeah… I had a beef in college with someone that kind of looked like you,” Pam said to Rachel.

 

“Just try not to break all the tables,” Rachel said to Jules as she patted him on the chest.

 

***

 

Three hours later, Jules was sitting at a table with several Forsaken 99 members as they teased him about Rachel giving him the cold shoulder. He laughed it off, claiming she was just mad because she thought Pam was hitting on him.

 

A little later, Pam came in and sauntered up to Jules and the rest of Forsaken 99. “Hey boys,” she cooed. “Buy a girl a beer?”

 

“What about Will,” Jules asked, playing his part.

 

“I still like him, but he’s just not doing it for me anymore. Not like you are for Rachel,” she said with a sultry look at Jules.

 

“Goddamnit, Jules… what is it with you and the chicks?” TC asked good-naturedly. “Can’t you leave some for the rest of us?”

 

“Excuse me brothers, I need to buy a lady a beer.”

 

Jules rose and led Pam to the booth in the back corner. “You ready?”

 

“I’m so scared I’m about to piss myself,” she whispered.

 

“Okay… try not to get hurt.” Jules parked her than sauntered to the bar.

 

“You’re on,” he said quietly.

 

“What if I just pull out the gun and shoot her?”

 

Jules had to work hard not to smile. “Make it look good, but try not to get hurt.”

 

Jules put on a frown and then smiled as he turned and walked back to Pam.

 

“Drink your beer, then get out!” Rachel said as she banged the mug down on the table in front of Pam, slopping the beer over the side and making it foam.

 

“What? Why?”

 

“Because I don’t want some whore in my place. Go back to the street corner where you belong.”

 

That must have stung because Pam’s face turned red. “Well, if you could satisfy him, then maybe he wouldn’t be sniffing around.”

 

Now Rachel’s face turned red. “Get out.”

 

“Fuck you. Come on, Jules.”

 

Will walked up. “Come on Pam. We don’t need any trouble.”

 

“No trouble,” she said as she stood up and got in Rachel’s face.

 

“You had better back off, bitch…” Rachel snarled.

 

“Will’s right. Let’s go,” Jules said taking her by the arm.

 

“You’re not leaving with her,” Will said, pulling Pam away from Jules.

 

“Look… prospect… she came over to me. Unless she is your old lady, if I want to leave with her, then I will. Got it?”

 

Jules could see that every eye in the bar was focused on the drama playing out. “Let’s go Pam,” Jules said.

 

Pam gave Rachel her best nasty smile. Until Rachel’s slap hit her.

 

Rachel pulled the slap as much as she thought she could and still sell it, but the way Pam’s head snapped back, she was immediately concerned she might have actually hurt her. She needn't have worried as Pam came at her like wildcat, driving her two steps back and into the wall. Fully into it now they tangled their hands in each other’s hair as they cursed and yanked at each other’s hair and clothes.

 

Jules and Will waited a few seconds before pulling the women apart. Other than a slightly pink hand print on Pam’s cheek, and some clothing and hair in disarray, they appeared unharmed.

 

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Will yelled at Jules.

 

“You need to mind your place… prospect,” Jules sneered.

 

Jules told him to make it count, so Will let fly with a hard right that connected solidly with Jules’s cheek. Jules stumbled and went down, but popped right back up. “That was your first, and last, mistake.”

 

“Bring it asshole.”

 

“No!” Jules barked when the club members started to separate them. “He needs to learn his place.” He waded in, throwing a couple of hard punches, only one of which made it to its target. He and Will had agreed that the women could just pretend, but they were going to have to get bloody if Todd was going to believe he and Will had really had it out.

 

Will stepped back and shook off the stars from Jules’s punch. Jules could punch like a fucking gorilla! He came in hard and fast, trying to get inside, but Jules connected again, a bruising shot to the ribs that drove him back.

 

Rachel watched as Jules and Will fought. She and Pam had promised not to intervene, but she was dying as the two men began to get bloody. “Kick his ass, Jules!” she suddenly shouted, realizing that if she didn’t do something she wouldn’t be able to see him for a while. And she desperately wanted to be with him tonight, to nurse his wounds and, if he was up to it, fuck his brains out. She had fought for her man, and won, even if it was only pretend... and she would have him.

 

She saw Pam look at her in shock before realization dawned. “You can take him, Will!” she cried.

 

The two men went hard to the floor, scrabbling and kicking, both bleeding from the nose and mouth, and Jules from the cheek. They rolled over, shoving tables out of the way as they tumbled. Finally Jules got Will in a nasty choke hold, his arm under his chin, cutting off his air.

 

Will hauled on Jules’s arm with one hand, clawing for his face with the other, the muscles on both men’s arms standing in stark relief as they strained and grunted. “I give!” he finally croaked.

 

Jules let him go then shoved him away. “Next time you come at me, prospect, I will fucking kill you,” he panted.

 

“Fuck you,” Will coughed as he sat up holding his neck.

 

“This is all your fault!” Rachel shouted at Pam. “Get out before I kick your ass again!”

 

Jules and Will struggled to their feet. “Come on, Pam,” Will said has he took her by the arm and escorted her out, wiping at the blood on his face.

 

Jules watched them leave, wiping at his mouth and nose. The moment the door closed behind them, he turned on Rachel. “As for you…” he said before he pushed her hard against the wall again and kissed her for all he was worth. He had heard her cheer him on as he fought her brother… and he was going to fuck her stupid when he got her home.