Three days later, Jules drove out to the remains of the clubhouse. His bike was at least another week in the shop for repairs.

 

The first order of business was to replace Fish and Bell on the board. Nominations were made, seconded, and the strictly formal vote was taken.

 

Once the board was back to strength, the entire club discussed the cartel problem. Everyone was thirsting for revenge for what happened to Fish and Bell, but Jules was, once again, urging caution. Despite his desire to flay the flesh from the bones of every cartel member he could find, he knew their first responsibility was to the town of Vallecito de Grande.

 

“I’m surprised you are not the first one in line to deal a little payback,” Todd sneered when Jules finished speaking.

 

“It’s not about payback, Todd. It’s about doing this smart. We can’t possibly hope to match the cartel in a straight on assault. We have to this guerrilla style, and we have to protect the town while we do it. That’s all I’m saying.”

 

“Jesus Christ, Jules. If we hit the cartel hard enough, we won’t have to worry about Vallecito. We’ll bloody their nose so much they won’t want to tangle with Forsaken 99 again.”

 

“That is exactly the wrong thing to do! It just leads to escalation – an escalation we can’t match. We need to perform surgical strikes against select targets. And in order to do that, we need intel.”

 

“What do you propose, Jules?” Spence asked.

 

“I propose we pull back. We don’t retaliate. We pull Ellis out and pump him for information. We promised him that. Find out everything we can about their operation. Then we do some reconnoitering… try to figure out how we can do the maximum damage with minimal risk. We need to keep this fight as far from Vallecito as possible. That is where our priority lies, and if Fish were here he would tell us the same thing. He would want Vallecito, and Kristen, protected.”

 

“Is every member of this club pussy-whipped?” Todd asked sarcastically. “Ever since you started sniffing around Rachel, trying to get some of that fine ass, you haven’t been worth a shit.”

 

Jules fumed. Todd was baiting him, but he couldn’t let that slide. “You leave her out of this or we’re going to go… just you and me,” he said, his voice cold and deadly.

 

Todd held up his hands in mock surrender. “Glad to see something can piss you off. Anyone else have anything to say? Okay, let’s vote it. All in favor of Jules’s plan to not retaliate and pull Ellis out, say Yea.” Todd waited a moment and voted first by tradition. “Nay.”

 

“Yea,” Jules said.

 

“Yea,” Marsh said, his voice firm.

 

Spence looked at Jules then Todd. “Yea.”

 

“Todd’s right. If we don’t hit back, and hard, the cartel is just going to keep coming,” Gigolo said. “Nay”

 

“Nay,” Dwayne said as he cast his lot.

 

“Yea,” Duck said. “This is a mistake. We can’t win this war.”

 

Jules knew the two new members of the board, of the voting nine, would be who would swing the vote. He needed one of the two to win.

 

Hugh looked back and forth between Todd and Jules.

 

“Just vote your conscious,” Jules said, silently urging him to make the right choice.

 

“Nay,” Hugh said, looking at the ground as if ashamed.

 

“Nay,” TC finished.

 

Todd slapped his hand on the hood of Jules’s truck in triumph as he grinned. “Motion is defeated. Ellis stays and we are going to take the war to those Andres fuckers and show them what Forsaken 99 can do.

 

Jules stood in stunned silence. This is so wrong. If only Fish and Bell were here. Gritting his teeth in anger, he got into his Tahoe, started it, and backed onto the road without saying a word. Had he been looking, he would have seen the President smile as he drove away.