It was slow at He’s Not Here, and Jules was behind the bar cleaning the mirror when he saw the door open in the reflection. It was Eric, and as he entered, Jules pivoted and dropped his hand to his sidearm. Eric didn’t appear to be armed or agitated, but he was taking no chances.

 

Eric spotted Jules behind the bar and approached. “Jules.”

 

“Eric. What can I do for you?”

 

Mat leaned on the bar as Rachel approached. “I’ve been thinking over what you said. It’s so hard to believe Todd would do this to the club. At least not without a vote.”

 

“Yeah, I know. I had a hard time believing it myself. But it all fits. What I don’t know is why. Why the sudden change.”

 

“Yeah. Me either,” Eric said.

 

“What changed your mind? When you left last night I was sure you were going straight to Todd with this.”

 

“To be honest, I was. But Exotic and I had a long talk. Actually, it was fight if you want to know the truth. Jesus, it was awful, with us screaming at each other. But… she was right. I was just being pig headed and didn’t want to listen.”

 

Jules reached across the bar. “Welcome aboard.”

 

“Who else is in on this? Or is it just you and me?” Eric asked as he shook Jules’s hand.

 

“There are a couple of others as well, but I’m the only one that knows all the players, and I intended to keep it that way for a while. For everyone’s protection.”

 

“Okay, that makes sense. But, Jules, let me make this perfectly clear. If I find out you are playing me, if you are trying to turn me against the club for your own purposes, I will gut you myself.”

 

Jules smiled at him. “Let me buy you a drink. What’ll you have?”

 

“Make it a Scotch and soda.”

 

Rachel sets three glasses on the counter, and filled each with drink of choice, pouring a shot of Southern Comfort for herself and Jack Daniels Black for Jules. They three clink the glasses together and sip.

 

“Don’t worry, Eric. I have been straight up with you on this. No games. You know what I know. I may be wrong in some of the minor details, but it had to be an inside job to take out the cleaning crew, and only Todd could have pulled that off. Fish and Bell, I’m not as sure about, but after the second hit, I have little doubt he was responsible for them as well.”

 

“But how are you going to prove it? I have been unhappy in the club since you left. Even before. Something was going on. I could feel it. But some of the other guys, I’m not so sure are ready to commit. I hate drugs. But some of the others? You’re going to need proof of the hit to sway them.”

 

“I know. I’m still working on that part. But I have to know what I have to work with before I can plan.”

 

“So you don’t have a plan?” Eric asked as his eyebrows inched up.

 

“Only to see how many members we can turn,” Rachel said. “You make four, but there may be others we can turn. Others that are not happy with the direction the club is going.”

 

“Maybe,” Eric allowed. “But how are you going to find them. And more importantly, how are you going to turn them without them going to Todd. You are taking a big risk here, you know.”

 

“We know,” Rachel confirmed. “We have a plan we are working to find out who we can trust and who we can’t, so let Jules and I worry about that. But the members of Forsaken 99 that died trying to take the club back, they don’t deserve to die in vain. Forsaken 99 was like, I don’t know, the knights that used to slay dragons and rescue damsels in distress. You protected Vallecito from the drugs and violence. You’ve been around longer than Jules, so you remember how it was, right?”

 

“Yeah. We were just beginning to turn the tide when I showed up. Those were the good old days, when I was sure we were doing the right thing. Now, I’m not sure. Or maybe a better way to put it is, I’m sure we’re not doing the right thing.”

 

“Wouldn’t you like to feel like that again? Like you are on the right team and doing good?”

 

“Yes. Yes I would. I’m tired of being shunned and stared out.”

 

“Then you are doing the right thing. You, and Jules, and all the others, you’re going to take back Forsaken 99 and return it to its place of honor. You’re going to become our knight savior once again.”

 

Eric looked at Rachel a moment and then turned to Jules and smiled. “She really good, isn’t she?”

 

“The best.”

 

“But what makes you think the town will want us back after what has happened?” Eric asked her.

 

“I think people will understand that once you purge the bad apples, and return to what you were doing, that it wasn’t Forsaken 99, just a few bad people. You won the town over once. I should be easier the second time.”

 

Eric sipped at his drink. “I hope you’re right. I miss being the good guy. It made me feel good about myself.”

 

Rachel giggled. “Go home Eric. Chase Exotic around the house and make wild passionate love to her. You’re a good guy again. Now you’re part of the solution, not part of the problem.”

 

Eric tossed back the rest of his drink and grimaced as he sat the glass on the bar. “Okay. On the going home part anyway.”

 

Rachel patted Eric on the hand. “Does she know you’re here?”

 

“No. I haven’t told her yet. We went to bed pissed off last night and I left without saying goodbye this morning. I was a real asshole.”

 

“Tell her,” she advised. “Tell her what you have done. Tell her that you are committing to cleaning up the town again. Trust me, you will like the results.”

 

Eric stared at her a moment. “Why do I think you know more than you should?”

 

Rachel smiled. “I’m a bartender… always the wisest person in the room.”

 

Eric looked at her a moment longer and then turned. “Okay. I will.”

 

“Next time I see you, I expect you to tell me if I was right.”

 

Eric gave her a lopsided grin. “Will do. You’ll contact me when you have a plan?”

 

“Count on it. And Eric… thanks,” Jules said as he extended his hand again.

 

Eric took it in a firm grip but said nothing, giving Jules a slight nod before releasing his hand and walking out.

 

As the door swung shut behind him, Jules turned to Rachel. “What was that all about?”

 

“What?”

 

“The whole knights in shining armor and the damsel in distress bit. And the thing about telling Kelly about him joining up with us. And when the hell did she change her name?”

 

Rachel smiled and began to polish the bar with her rag as she composed her thoughts. “Men want to believe certain things. They want to be thought of as good and strong and brave. Most men anyway. Good men. Forsaken 99 is full of good men. I was just appealing to his better nature, reminding him how he was seen once. A group of knight seems to be a good way to describe how Forsaken 99 was. You even ride horses, in a manner of speaking.”

 

“And Kelly? Or Exotic.”

 

“She is missing the status that came from being associated with the good guys. I’m thinking other women used to be a little jealous of her, and she is missing that. But that’s just a guess on my part.”

 

“And you know this how?”

 

“I told you, I’m a bartender. People tell me things.” Jules stared at her, unmoving until she began to giggle. “Okay, Exotic told me when she came to see me that some of her friends were shunning her and she didn’t like it.”

 

“Did she tell you when and why she changed her name?”

 

“No. I didn’t know her. You knew her as Kelly?”

 

“That’s her name, so yeah.”

 

Rachel shrugged. “Maybe that is what she uses around Eric. Or maybe that is what he calls her. I don’t know.”

 

Jules scratched his face. “And the other part? The part about him telling her and chasing her around the house?”

 

“Let’s just say Eric isn’t the only one that felt something was missing in their marriage. I take it, before all this started, they had an… exciting… sex life.”

 

“And you think that this will make it better?”

 

“I think Eric feeling like the good guy again will make it better, yes.”

 

“You seem to have a keen insight into the male personality. I’ve seen you do this before.”

 

“What?”

 

“Steer a guy in the direction you want him to go. Makes me wonder how much of what I do is me… and how much is you.”

 

Rachel gave him her best mysterious smile. “Well, you did take me to bed after all.” She stared into his eyes a moment, reading the doubt there, before turning to straighten bottles on the rack behind her so she could hide her grin.

 

***

 

Jules was sweeping the floor and putting up chairs as she loaded mugs into the freezer when her phone chimed with the arrival of a text. She finished loading the freezer before checking the phone, but when she read the message she grinned. The text was short and to the point. Exotic was gushing in gratitude over the change in Eric. He had arrived home and told her about his joining up with Jules and he had seemed more alive than he had in weeks. Reading between the lines, it appeared that Exotic had liked the results of him joining up as well.

 

“Jules! You need to see this,” she said as she waved the phone at him.

 

He took the phone and quickly scanned the text before handing the phone back to her. “You scare me a little sometimes,” he said with a grin.

 

“Poor baby. Maybe I can make you feel better when I get you home,” she pouted.

 

“Will you hold my hand?” he teased.

 

“Your hand, yes. And maybe, if you’re a good boy, I’ll hold something else too.”

 

Jules stared at her, trying desperately to hold a straight face longer than Rachel, but finally began to splutter into chuckles. “I guess I had better hurry up with the sweeping, huh?” he snickered as she began to giggle with him.

 

“I guess so.”

 

***

 

Less than ten minutes later, Jules opened the passenger door on the 1950, and shut it behind Rachel. He trotted around the front of the truck, anxious to get home and have his hand held. He hopped into the truck, turned on the ignition and then stomped on the starter button. As the old truck ground to life, he leaned over and met Rachel halfway for a quick smooch.

 

“Ready?” he asked.

 

“Home,” she replied as she waved her hand forward like royalty. With a brief grind and a bump, Jules puts the truck in gear and backed out of the parking place.

 

Several minutes later, as they trundled toward home, Jules glanced once more at the single headlight following them.

 

“What is it?” she asks as she watched him stare into the review again.

 

“I think we’re being tailed.” Jules cocked himself onto his hip so he could free his sidearm and lay it on the seat between them. Rachel watched him a moment then pulled her own weapon from her purse and laid it on top so she could reach it.

 

“Trouble?” she asked.

 

“Don’t know. Maybe.”

 

Rachel twisted around in the seat so she could see. As they eased to a stop at a cross street, the light stopped well back, but now she could hear the distinctive idle of a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

 

“Forsaken 99?”

 

“Probably,” he said as he eased the clutch out and started the truck moving again. The 1950 wasn’t the fastest, or most maneuverable, thing on the road, so attempting to outrun the bike would be a waste of time.

 

“Stay in the truck,” he said as he shifted the truck into neutral as they rolled toward the next stop sign.

 

She gripped her purse tighter and wrapped her hand around the butt of her gun. “What are you going to do?”

 

“I’m going to go see what he wants,” he said as he braked the truck to a stop before tromping on the parking brake as he opened the door, stepping out with his pistol in his hand.

 

“Jules! No!” Rachel shouted but he was gone.

 

She twisted in the seat to watch, but he hadn’t even made it to the back bumper before she heard the motorcycle rev as it made a hard U-turn in the middle of the road and roared away into the night. Jules stood at the rear of the truck a moment, watching as the motorcycle disappeared, before returning to the cab.

 

“I guess he didn’t want anything,” he said as he slid into the seat.

 

“That’s not funny! You could have been killed!”

 

“They aren’t going to shoot me in the middle of town with a witness,” Jules said. “Besides, he made a lot better target than I did. If I aim just over the light and I hit him right in the chest, where I was standing in the dark.”

 

“Just call the cops the next time. Let them handle it.”

 

“And tell them what, Rachel? That someone on a motorcycle is behind me?”

 

“They came when I called when the truck was following me.”

 

“That’s different. You’re a woman, for one thing. The other is, they were following you, and had been. This was just someone going the same way as we were. At least legally.” He held up his hand to silence her protest and then slipped the truck into gear and started moving again. “I know, I know. But we can’t have the cops following us around all the time. We are going to have to handle this ourselves. This was just Forsaken 99 making sure we know they haven’t forgotten about me.”

 

“Those bastards. You should kill them all.”

 

“That would make me a murder. Is that what you want?”

 

“No,” she harrumphed. “But I think you have damn few friends left in the club.”

 

“Don’t be so sure,” he said calmly. We’ve picked up three in just a couple of weeks. I have to admit, I thought your idea had a snowball’s chance in hell of working, but now I’m prepared to admit I may be wrong.”

 

No one else followed them and she began to relax as they drove the last few miles to his house. As he eased the truck into the garage Rachel slipped her pistol back into the hidden compartment in her purse. She hadn’t forgotten that Forsaken 99 would probably make a play at them at some point, but tonight only reinforced that this was a struggle to the death between herself, Jules, and Forsaken 99. Forsaken 99 would either have to die, or be transformed. Or they would die in the attempt. There was no other outcome possible.