Jules hissed in pain as he stared at his face in the mirror in his bathroom and dabbed at the abrasion with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball. He had trailered his quad-bike out into Big Bend Park and spent the morning riding, up until he crashed it.

 

He had felt totally out of sorts all day yesterday, and woke up feeling the same way today. Rather than sit at home and mope, he had decided to go burn off some energy and try to find some…spark. Something, anything to drag him out of this depression he could feel himself slipping into. He had kept pushing the quad harder and harder, looking for some feeling – fear, excitement, he didn’t care. He kept riding closer and closer to the edge – until he fell off. It was stupid what he was doing, and he knew it, but he didn’t care. He should have died five years ago anyway. Then he had misjudged a turn and had gone ass first into the weeds along the side of the road.

 

Now his quad was busted up and so was he, but it could have been worse. After he picked himself up and got his quad back on its wheels, he thought he was going to have to walk out when the quad refused to start. Then he discovered the dislodged spark plug wire. When he put that back on, it finally started back up. He had obviously bent something, so what should have been a twenty-minute ride to the truck was over an hour... but it would have been an eight-hour walk. Eight hours of walking in this heat, and with no water, would have been no laughing matter.

 

With his cuts and scrapes cleaned and bandaged, Jules sat on his bed and looked at his knee. No bruising yet, but it hurt like a motherfucker. That knee must have been the first thing that hit the ground and, with the way it felt, he must have landed with all his weight on it. Then the quad landed on him.

 

He was still sitting on the bed, flexing the knee and thinking evil thoughts, when his cell rang. Surprised it still worked, he picked up and looked at the display. “Hey, Fish.”

 

“Jules. Where you been man? I’ve been trying to reach you.”

 

“I was out on the quad. I didn’t hear the phone. What’s up?”

 

“You need to get out to the clubhouse. You’re the only one not here. We’re celebrating Memorial Day… just the members and their old ladies.”

 

“I don’t know, Fish. Maybe I should—”

 

“Maybe you should get your ass on your bike and get out here. Show the rest of the club that we’re still a family.”

 

***

 

Jules grimaced as he swung his leg over the bike. He had showered and taken some Tylenol for the coming soreness, but he could feel himself stiffening up already. I wanted to feel something. Well, I feel something now.

 

“Glad you could make it,” Fish said taking Jules into a black-slapping embrace. “Looks like you’re moving kinda slow there, brother. What happened?”

 

“I was being stupid. Riding too fast. I couldn’t make a turn, ran off the road and—”

 

“Were you alone?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“You know people can die like that, right? Riding alone in the desert.”

 

“Yeah, I know.”

 

Fish pulled Jules to a stop before they got close enough for the others to overhear. “Jules… look, man… you’ve got to get over this, okay? You’re tearing yourself apart. Getting yourself killed helps no one. And we need you. Forsaken 99 needs you. Nobody else would have had the guts to do what you did Saturday.”

 

“I thought you said I was wrong.”

 

“You were wrong, but not as wrong as letting Todd shoot those kids would have been.”

 

“What would you have me do, then, Fish?” Jules snarled as he stared into Fish’s eyes. “You tell me!”

 

“Easy! I don’t know. I just know that threatening to shoot a club member because you disagree with them is a dangerous thing.”

 

“Yeah… sorry, man.”

 

“It’s okay. You made a tough call, but at least you made one. That’s why we need you. You’re probably the next president of this club and you showed that you are willing to make the tough calls. You also showed you have a conscious. That’s something else this club needs – more now than ever. Come on, let’s join the party.”

 

Forsaken 99, with the exception of Todd, Dwayne, and Gigolo, went out of their way to include Jules. They knew what he had been through, what he was going through, and they silently signaled their support as they remembered their brothers in arms. The party was a quiet affair of barbecue, beer, and fellowship. Jules understood what the club was doing and he was grateful for their support. He made it a point to circulate and try to reconnect with the members, to let them know that he still supported Forsaken 99 one hundred percent.

 

“Todd… Dwayne,” Jules said as he completed his rounds. His knee was killing him, and he wanted to sit down, but this was important.

 

“Jules,” Todd said coolly.

 

“Everything all right between us?”

 

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?” Todd asked. His tone made it clear it was anything but.

 

“I just wanted to make sure that after Saturday... that we had cleared the air.”

 

“We voted, and the club decided. I can’t say I’m pleased about having a 9mm pointed at my head, but yeah, unless you do it again, we’re okay.” Todd leaned in a little closer. “But if you do it again, I’ll kill you. Understand?”

 

Jules didn’t like the threat, but this was not the time, nor the place, and he couldn’t blame Todd for feeling like that. “Understood, but before we start shooting kids, the club needs to vote on that.”

 

“Fair enough.”

 

Before Jules could say anything else, his cell rang. He pulled it out and looked at the number. “It’s Ellis,” he said accepting the call. “Jules’s Deli,” he said in case Ellis was in trouble and somebody was listening in.

 

“Jules. It’s Ellis. I have news. Can you talk?”

 

“Yeah. Go ahead, Ellis.”

 

“Okay. But first, you remember our deal?”

 

“I remember.”

 

“I’m collecting on our deal. If you want the news, you have to get me and my family out.”

 

“Are you sure, Ellis? If you run they’re going to know it was you that was funneling us the information. What about the rest of your family?”

 

“I have no other family, just my wife and children. Is it a deal? If I tell you this information, you will get my family out of Mexico and get us papers for living in the United States?”

 

“We have a deal, Ellis. We’ll honor it.”

 

“The cartel, they’re coming after you, Jules. They are coming after Forsaken 99. The last stop you made, the one with the kids. That is the straw, Jules. I didn’t know, but that is the straw that breaks the camel’s back.”

 

“What are you talking about, Ellis?” Jules asked, plugging one ear with a finger and walking away from the group for some quiet.

 

“I don’t know. The cartel, they know someone is selling them out. They know you are intercepting too many shipments for it to be accidental. I didn’t know about the last one, the one with the kids. They didn’t tell me. But I’m hearing they are going to send you a message. I don’t know what, or when. They didn’t tell me, but I heard.”

 

“You don’t know where or when?”

 

“No. I don’t even know of this is true for sure. It may just be a rumor. But the cartel… they are suspicious of everyone.”

 

“But what did you mean, ‘The cartel is coming for us?’” Jules asked as he hunched over his phone, his stomach churning.

 

“What I heard is they are going to send you a message. I don’t know what it is, but if Forsaken 99 doesn’t back off, they are going to start hitting your families, other innocent people in Vallecito. That is their way.”

 

“Why are they doing this, Ellis?” We haven’t targeted their families. We haven’t gone directly at them. We are only protecting what is ours.”

 

“They are being squeezed, Jules. The Cuervo Cartel is encroaching on them. They are being pressed from the south and by you at the north. I guess they think you are the easier target.”

 

“But you don’t know what this warning is?”

 

“No, Jules. I’m sorry. They don’t trust me anymore. That is why I need to get out, before they kill me and my family.”

 

“Okay, Ellis. Hang tight until we can get setup then we will come get you. You will be okay for a few days?”

 

“Yes, for a few days, but hurry!”

 

“You got it Ellis.”

 

“Todd!” Jules called as he limped back to the group. “We’ve got a problem.”

 

“What problem?” Todd asked.

 

“The war with the Andres Cartel is about to start heating up. That was Ellis. He is calling his marker. He said that Andres is being squeezed by another cartel to the south. They are going to make a push to move us out of the way. He said we should expect a ‘message’ soon and if we don’t back off, they are going to start killing civilians.”

 

“Did he say what the message was?”

 

“He didn’t know. He said they didn’t trust him anymore.”

 

“He’s got to find out,” Todd said in disgust.

 

“How do you suggest he do that, Todd? Walk up to the head guy and just ask him? Especially since he isn’t supposed to know at all.”

 

“I don’t give a shit about how, Jules! We have to know!”

 

“It could get him killed, Todd!”

 

“What do you suggest? You want us to just stand here with our dicks in our hands until they hit us?” Todd shouted.

 

Members were starting to look at them. “Look, this could cost him his life. We made promises, Todd,” Jules said quietly, trying to defuse the situation.

 

“I don’t give a flying fuck about some Mexican spic. You got that? I care about this club!”

 

“So do I, but we have to honor the agreements we made, Todd,” Jules said reasonably. “He called his marker. We should honor that. He has fed us good intel for two years, and we’ve hurt them. Ellis has done his part. Now we need to do ours.”

 

“Goddamnit, Jules! What is wrong with you? We need this information, and we need to hit the cartel before they hit us – send them a message that we aren’t going to just let them muscle us aside. Or is that what you want, Jules? To roll over like some pussy? Like with the kids.”

 

Jules felt himself flash hot with anger, but he stuffed it down deep. “No, but we have to be smart about this. If we hit them before they hit us, they’re going to know that some tipped us. They will have a purge that will have the streets running in blood. They will kill everyone they suspect – and not just the members of cartel, but their families, too. Is that what you want? I don’t want that much innocent blood on my hands.”

 

“Call Ellis back and have him find out what the hit is going to be,” Todd said quietly.

 

“No,” Jules replied just as quietly. “I won’t do it. He already went way out on a limb for us. Now it’s time for us to step up.”

 

“Fine. I’ll call him myself.”

 

“No. Don’t do it, Todd. You call him, and they find out, even if he doesn’t do it, your phone call will be enough to get him killed.”

 

“What are you going to do, put your gun to my head again?”

 

“No. I want to vote it.”

 

“Shit,” Todd sneered. “Fine. Boardroom, five minutes.”

 

***

 

“We’re voting to decide how handle the message from the Andres Cartel. There is a motion on the table to have our snitch find out what the message is going to be, and to hit the cartel before they hit us – to send a message that we can’t be muscled out of the way.” Todd waited a moment before he continued. “Yea.”

 

“Nay,” Jules said.

 

“Nay,” Marsh said quietly.

 

Spence cast his vote. “Nay.”

 

“Nay,” Bell, said.

 

“Nay,” added Fish as they moved around the table.

 

“Motion is defeated,” Jules said.

 

“Vote it!” Todd snapped.

 

“I have to support my President,” Gigolo said. “Yea.”

 

“Yea,” Dwayne said firmly.

 

“Nay,” came Duck’s vote.

 

Todd banged the gavel down so hard Jules thought the handle would break. “Give us the room.”

 

As soon as the door to the board room closed, Todd turned on Jules. “What is your fucking problem, Rivera? Do you want to the gavel? Is that your game? You think you want to take me on? I will fuck you up so badly you will have two assholes!”

 

“You need to think about what you are doing, Todd. We can’t go at the cartel head on. They could kill every person in Vallecito if they wanted to, and we wouldn’t be able to stop them. You need to start thinking with your head and not your dick.”

 

“Turning into a pussy isn’t going to help the people of Vallecito either!”

 

“Our charter is to protect these people, not start a fucking war we can’t win! Can’t you see that? We need to see what the cartel does. Ellis isn’t even sure of his information. The last thing we need to do is bring them down on us by hitting them. What if Ellis is wrong? We would have started a war we can’t win. We can’t win! They have more guns, and more people willing to die using them than we do. All we can do is try to be more trouble than we are worth. That is what we have been doing. And it has worked. We don’t need to change now. You had a good plan ten years ago when you founded Forsaken 99. You need to stick to it.”

 

Todd stared at Jules, his eyes narrowed. “You’re trying to ease me out, aren’t you? All that goodie-goddamn-two-shoes shit you have been doing with your manners and community outreach bullshit. I never saw it coming, you little prick. Oh, they like you now… if there is a problem, go to Jules. He’ll take care of it. But when it comes time to make the tough choices, you’re nothing but a little pussy – afraid to take the fight to the enemy. When the shit hits the fan, you need the iron fist, not the velvet glove.”

 

“Believe what you want,” Jules said, his voice deadly calm. “But the club has spoken and you are bound by their decision. So the question is, are you going to man up and accept what the club has decided or are you going to tear Forsaken 99 apart?”

 

Todd stared at Jules a moment, teeth gritted in anger, then spun on his toe and stomped out.

 

***

 

“How’d it go?” Fish asked when he and Bell found Jules a moment later.

 

“It’s bad, Fish. It’s real bad. He’s accepted the vote, but it has stuck in his craw. He accused me to trying to take over the gavel.”

 

“Are you?”

 

Jules glared at Fish. “You should know better than that.”

 

“Just asking. You’ve been kicking pretty hard these last few months.”

 

“Do you think we should go head on against the cartel?”

 

“No,” Fish admitted softly.

 

“So what was I supposed to do?”

 

“Just what you did, brother. Just what you did.”