The men pulled their bikes up out in front of a row of office buildings downtown. Jigsaw and Dax got off their Harleys and the rest of the men stayed outside while they went inside the door that read, McAllister, Accounting Ltd. A nice looking middle-aged woman sat behind the desk and when they walked in she smiled and said, “Hi, can I help you?”

“Yeah darlin',” Dax said. “We're here to see Mr. McAllister. He's expecting us. Tell him it's Dax Marshall.” Dax told Jigsaw before they came that he'd met Ian McAllister once, years before. Ian had approached him with a similar deal that they had forged with the Blackhawks. Dax turned him down. The Skulls did some arms dealings, mostly with the street gangs that worked the area, so that wasn't what Dax had qualms about. It was the fact that getting involved with the IRA would be akin to giving up their autonomy altogether. The deal Dax did make with the IRA was that they would steer clear of their territories and alliances and the Skulls had kept that deal. Dax was smart enough to know that with the IRA there were no “casual business partnerships,” It was all or nothing with them, and they owned their “allies.” Nobody owned Dax Marshall or the Skulls. It was another thing Jigsaw was proud of.

The receptionist pressed in a number on her phone and told the person on the other end that Dax Marshall was there to see him. She looked up and smiled again and said, “Go ahead and go on back.”

Dax thanked her and he and Jigsaw went around the counter and through an office door. A middle-aged man in what looked like a five-thousand-dollar suit sat behind a large oak desk. He smiled and stood up when he saw them. He was definitely the man that Jigsaw had remembered from the tele-conference in New York that day...the one he'd been on his way to see the night he nearly died. In a fairly thick Irish accent Ian McAllister said, “Dax! It's been too long. I would ask how you're doing, but I hear great things.” He put his hand out and Dax shook it.

“Things are good,” Dax said. “Ian, this is my associate and friend, Jigsaw.”

The man laughed as he shook Jigsaw's hand. “Jigsaw, huh? I love the names you boys give each other.” Jigsaw saw Dax flinch slightly out of the corner of his eye at the “boys” remark, but he let it go. Dax was good at picking his battles, great even...and that one wasn't worth picking. “Have a seat and tell me what I can do for you. Have you finally decided to come into the fold?”

Dax and Jigsaw sat down in the plush leather chairs opposite the desk. Dax chuckled and said, “No Ian, but you wouldn't want us now anyways. We've got ATF breathing down our necks and trying to come up with something they can charge me with.” Dax had that almost completely under control, but Ian McAllister didn't need to know that. It was a good way out of having to listen to Ian's pitch again.

“That's too bad. But...I have some contacts...”

Dax chuckled again. “Thanks Ian, but there's something else we need to talk to you about. I know that you have a business arrangement with the Blackhawks and I heard you've been talking to their allies, the Knightriders about the same kind of deal. I know that they'll all be here next week for a meeting with you and your partners.” Ian sat up straighter in his chair and gave Dax a look that said he was concerned that Dax thought any of that was his business. It didn't seem to faze Dax however. He went on to say, “I have firsthand knowledge that Marcus Finch, the president of the Knightriders is a pedophile...and, he not only tried to rape Cyclops' fourteen-year-old daughter last year, but he threatened her family's life if she told anyone. In my experience, a middle-aged pedophile that puts his hands on a kid, is not usually a first or last time offender.”

A dark shadow passed across Ian's face, but like Dax, he was good at controlling his facial expressions. In a voice that was still calm and even he said, “How do you know this?”

“Because I saw it happen,” Jigsaw said, finally speaking. Ian looked at him then and said,

“This happened a year ago and you're just now telling someone? You protected a pedophile for a year? How many other little girls did he defile in that time?”

“Take it easy, Ian,” Dax said. “There's a good reason for him not coming forward sooner.”

“I'd like to hear it,” Ian said. Dax looked at Jigsaw and nodded. For the next fifteen minutes, Jigsaw told the other man everything he knew and what he had only just recently remembered. When he finished talking Ian said, “So, he thinks he killed you? He didn't know about your brother?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Your brother's own club never came looking for him?” Jigsaw's chest hurt. Before they went into the city to meet with Ian, they had spoken to Chase. Chase had information for him that had finished breaking his almost broken heart.

“They weren't expecting him back. He left the club before he came out to see me. He was dying.”

“Dying?”

“Yeah. When we were kids, he had a malignant brain tumor. He'd been in remission for a long time...but I'm told that it came back and he only had months to live. At least, that's what the doctors told him. He put his affairs out in California in order...” Jigsaw's voice was cracking and he felt like he could hardly breathe as he said, “In order to go out to Jersey and spend his last few months with me.”

“Damn,” Ian said. “I'm sorry to hear that. So, while he was in Jersey, you were already on your way to Boston...to see me?”

“Yeah. I sat in on that meeting in New York. I heard Cyclops and his president making plans to meet with you the following day and I saw them leave for Boston afterwards. It's probably why Marcus was bold enough to go after the girl, knowing her father was out of state by that time. Anyways, when I was either on my way here, or rehabbing at the ranch, they found my brother, thought he was me, and killed him. Knowing Nick, he probably thought he was protecting me by not telling them they had the wrong man. He knew he was dying anyways...” Jigsaw had to stop. His throat felt thick and he was getting sick to his stomach.

“So, you,” he said, looking at Dax, “believe our venue next week is a good place for this confrontation to take place?”

“I want this man put out of commission,” Dax said, about Marcus. “But I don't want to get my club into a war to do it. If Jig rides in there making accusations that the little girl might be too afraid to back up, a war is exactly what will ensue. But, if he has your backing, here on neutral territory...”

Ian nodded. “I'll have to speak to my own business partners, but I completely understand what you're saying...and I trust you, Dax. It would probably hold more weight if the young lady was willing to tell her father what happened, but I'll do what I can on this end to arrange for you,” he looked back at Jigsaw, “to speak to all of the executives that will be assembled in my conference room next week...unarmed and unable to leave until I have them escorted out. There won't be any bloodshed in my place of business however...that's where I draw the line. You'll have to leave your gun outside the same as everyone else.”

“That's fine,” Jigsaw said. “Once I tell Cyclops what I saw that night...and the other executives in the club realize Marcus was willing to kill one of their brothers to hide the fact that he's a disgusting pedophile...I'm pretty sure I'll be the least of his worries.”

“You don't want to kill him?” Ian asked. He sounded surprised and Jigsaw didn't blame him. He did want to kill Marcus, badly. But Dax was the one that had talked him out of it. Jigsaw hadn't ever killed anyone and as much as revenge sounded sweet, Dax could speak from experience that it wasn't always all it was cracked up to be. Sometimes setting things in motion and allowing someone else to take out the trash was a better way to go. Jigsaw trusted Dax and he wanted this all to be over, so he'd agreed. Now he just had to manage to get through the following week somehow...and finally he'd have his day in court so to speak. He was almost sadistically looking forward to seeing the look on Marcus's face when he walked into the room. That part would be the sweetest.

“Noble,” Ian said.

“No,” Jigsaw told him, “noble would be forgiveness. I have none of that in my heart or my head for this man. I want him dead, but I want him ruined first. Once I ruin him, I'm sure his death is guaranteed.”