chapter eleven
~Gentry~
Leaving the sub shop, I am full of a different energy. Excitement even. Nervous maybe. It’s definitely a combination I’m not used to.
I have always followed orders. I grew up with the expectations of my mother for me to finish school. From there, I joined the Navy right out of school and every move I made was done with a directive from someone else. To actually be going for something for myself on my own, it’s a different feeling and one I find I might like.
The sun seems to be brighter. I feel like I should turn in my man card this woman has me so twisted. It’s crazy.
Hitting the open road, I let the bike calm me. My body, my energy, and my pulse fall into the same easy pattern as the steady tick of the Harley Davidson engine. An hour later, I sit not far from the trailer park I was told Callahan is living in.
He’s too close.
I don’t get a good feeling. He cut off all contact with his family. For all purposes, like taxes, jobs, Shawn Callahan is off the grid. It took two markers, one to a CIA operative to get the information.
A single email. An address, a car registered under an alias, and one picture. I gave a marker that basically puts me at the beck and call of not one but two government undercover agents for any job they need done off the books.
I don’t often do these kinds of things.
Unfortunately, the type of justice we seek with the Devil’s Due MC doesn’t pay the bills. Vigilante justice, the shit feels good to the soul. Solving unsolved crimes, giving people closure, and sometimes their own happily ever after, it’s what we do. The value is priceless. The pay is not of the monetary variety, but the feeling of knowing a wrong has been righted to some degree.
Occasionally, I have offered myself to undercover operations to add to my savings. We all have to make our own money. I get a retirement check from the Navy but that isn’t anything to brag about. When you live out of a saddlebag and a hotel every night, it costs money to have no roots.
Callahan, when he was found guilty of manslaughter, under the code of military justice, his pay, benefits, and anything he could ever claim to his time in service was taken away. He did his time. He is a convicted felon, but that doesn’t prevent him from having a job, paying taxes, and moving on in life as a productive member of society.
But he went ghost.
Why?
It doesn’t make sense, but it does at the same time. I understand the need for a fresh start away from his tainted past. The problem is using a false identity could land him back behind bars. One would think he learned his lesson already.
From my location I can watch, observe, and not be seen. So that’s what I do. Other than the blinds in the window of the trailer, in what I will assume is the living room, moving every twenty minutes, I can’t confirm or deny that the intel is accurate. Whoever is in the trailer is definitely paranoid.
However, without them actually emerging or raising the blinds all the way, I don’t have the visibility to confirm identity. Is it Shawn Callahan who is now living life as Marvin Deen or someone else all together. I climb off my bike and advance to the trailer.
My phone pings with a text so I pull it out to find two messages. From my new location, I can still see the trailer, but not be visible to anyone looking out. The first text is from Tempest.
Thank you for your note. It was a pleasant surprise and one that is sincerely appreciated.
I smile and type my reply.
Gotta keep my woman fed.
That feels good, it feels right, calling Tempest my woman. The reply pings before I can even open the other message.
Who says I’m your woman?
I can’t stop the smile on my face from growing bigger as I reply.
You and me, beautiful. We’re gonna make a go of this. I’m gonna fuck up, you’re gonna have to give me a little understanding on that. Never been in a relationship. I’m gonna take you on a date, a real one – already talked to Tamalyn and made my intentions known. I’m gonna get to know your daughter. And you just need to know I’m in this for the long term.
Not exactly the way I wanted to tell her all this. I’m just not a man to hold back. I want this. Knowing how long Tempest went without a lover before me, she wants this too. Life is short. Too short to not take a chance.
I slide the screen to see my other message. It’s an alert from a software I have filtering a copy of every email Tempest gets to my phone.
I open the app.
From:
Subject: Inquiry on your facility
Clicking the email, I freeze.
One would think we’re a little old for hide and seek. Then again, a woman who fights for the rights of others shouldn’t steal someone’s kid either. It’s okay, I like playing games.
I play to win.
And I’m coming for her.
Concerned for Tempest’s mental state in finding this email and knowing I can’t delete the evidence I make the only call I can.
“Judge,” I say as soon as it says connected. “Get to Tempest now. Distract her, don’t alarm her. I’m an hour out.”
“Got it.”
He clicks off and my heart pounds in my chest. The thing about brotherhood is seen, felt, and doesn’t have to be spoken. It’s that bond. He didn’t ask questions; he didn’t need to. I called, he answered, and he’ll do what I asked until I arrive. Just like I would for him.
Moving in on the trailer, I find a small gap in a window on the end of the trailer. Looking inside, I see a small kitchen opening to the living room. I pull out my small set of binoculars. Inside sits a man on the couch currently peering outside of the living room blind.
A full beard covers his once clean shaven face, the nautical star tattoo on his neck with the “S” cutting diagonal over the star gives him away. Shawn Callahan got the ink while healing from his leg wound and before he was locked up.
Tattoos are forever and they never lie.
Knowing he is tucked away here, for the moment at least, I take off trying to get to Tempest before she finds the email on her own and freaks out.
Panic causes a chemical change in our bodies and opens us up to make mistakes. I won’t let Tempest make a mistake that could get her harmed or Arika either.
Every mile that passes gets me closer to her and I find myself settling like a magnet – if you fight the pull it’s a strain, if you just let go, you click.
Tempest, my beautiful, strong woman, I’m ready to let go and click.
No matter who is behind the email, no matter the challenges, this trip to Tennessee has me figuring out my shit for the first time in my adult life.
This is where I belong. I’ll always have the Devil’s Due. I’ll always back my brother’s. But for me, my life, my future, it’s with this woman who has more strength, courage, and heart than humanly possible. She’s the mighty storm and she was made to be with me.
If anyone tries to hurt her or keep us apart, they will find out every skillset the United States Government gave me in my Navy SEAL training.
Fuck with her, it’s fucking with me, and I fuck back harder, faster, and to a whole different level.