Children of Fire (Complete)

sixty-nine

Gideon

I pushed open the doors that led to Chapel, and was shocked to find not only my own men sitting there waiting on my arrival, but the rest of my brothers that had decided to stay back from the other charters. I hadn't expected them to stay, I knew they all had their own club business and their own families to tend to, I knew they had responsibilities other than taking care of the shit I was involved in. But, to see them all seated and standing in that room, waiting to hear from me, waiting to hear what my plan was... that caused my chest to constrict and my heart to feel overwhelmed with happiness and pride. This was more than a club, it was a brotherhood... a family. And they never took that lightly.

Killian clapped me on the shoulder as I took a seat, he had only left the hospital an hour or so before I had. He was dedicated to making sure that Emerson was okay. Kya and my mom were there with her, waiting to see if she would wake up, and I had left two prospects to guard the door to make sure nobody that wasn't authorized would be able to get in or out of that room without me knowing. I let out a deep sigh and looked around the room at my brothers.

"What's the next step, Pres?" Gino asked, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground. Sure, they all cared about Emerson and were grateful for all the things she had done for them, but they were worried about me-- that much was obvious. They knew that there was no way I would be able to be myself until all of this was settled and taken care of. I leaned forward and placed my elbows on the table and covered my face with my hands while I let myself think for just another moment. I didn't know if this plan was the most fail-safe one, but it was the best plan I had.

"As you all know, Callahan is the one who has ultimately set up my downfall. My demise. I don't know how he knew all of this was going to happen. I don't even know if this is the way he expected it all to play out, but nonetheless, I'm sure he thinks it has all worked to his advantage. If I wouldn't have found Emerson when I did, it would have. I take it that you guys have disposed of and taken care of the bodies, correct?" I asked, looking at Reg and Teck. Both of them gave me a nod.

"I've also recovered the phones, boss. It looks like Greyson was supposed to let Callahan know what happened. I used his thumb to access the cell phone." Teck tossed the phone on the table in my direction where it landed in front of me with a loud clatter. I picked the phone up and realized it was still locked.

"Well, that doesn't do me any good if it's still locked, does it?" I asked grumpily. I had gotten a few hours of sleep at the hospital, but they were nerve-wracking and uncomfortable to say the least.

"Oh, right." Teck said, digging in his pocket. After a moment, he produced something and threw it next to the phone.

"You cut off this thumb? You couldn't have just... I don't know, turned the passcode off or something?" I asked. It was a stupid thing of him to do, really. If he got caught and was just riding around with a random thumb in his pocket think of all the questions the cops would ask?

"I could have, but cutting off his thumb seemed like the friendliest gesture I could have given him, considering the way he treated Em." Teck said with a shrug, and as much as I didn't want to agree with him... he did have somewhat of a point.

"Right, whatever." I mumbled, rolling my eyes and using the dismembered joint to unlock the phone. I opened the messages and saw Callahan's name on the screen, opening the text I started to read, these messages went back pretty far. Actually, they started the day that Greyson was released from court. Strange.

"Do you want to take a short break so you can read over everything?" Gino suggested with a shrug.

"Yeah, actually. That sounds great. Hang around in the lounge, guys. I'll let you know when we can resume church." I said, my eyes never leaving the screen. I saw Killian stand up out of the corner of my eye and reached out and touched his arm, pulling him back into his chair. "Stay here. There's some weird shit on this phone."