Spark in the Dark

Chapter 69

Shawn was still in Gemma's room when her phone rang.

"Can we go back to the days when no one had a cell phone?"

"Getting sick of hearing yours?" Gemma asked.

"You have no idea," Shawn said and answered her phone. "Hello?"

"Shawn, you better get down here," Luanne's voice came through the phone.

"What's going on?"

"ATF is here, again. Asset seizure. They're clearing us out."

"Son of a bitch," Shawn said and hung up the phone. "I'm sorry, Gem, I got to go."

"Ok, sweetheart. Be careful."

Shawn walked out of the room and headed to the elevator. Half way down the hall, Jax called to her. She turned and saw him coming out of a waiting room.

"Where's the fire?" He asked her.

"ATF is cleaning out Cara Cara. Some kind of asset seizure."

"This is because you flipped her off last night. You know that, right?"

"This is not my fault," Shawn said, defending herself.

"Sorry, I was kidding. Look, let me go talk to Otto first. Then me and some of the guys will stop by. See what we can do."

"Okay. I got to go," Shawn said and walked away.

Within 20 minutes, Shawn was pulling into Cara Cara. There were government vans everywhere. She walked in as two agents walked out carrying cameras and looked around for Luanne. She and Luanne saw each other at the same time and walked towards each other.

"Jesus. Are they taking everything?" Shawn asked.

"Sure, looks like it. Here," Luanne said and handed Shawn an envelope.

"What's this?"

"Half your paycheck. I'll get you the rest by the end of the week."

Shawn handed the envelope back to her. "Keep it. I'll be alright until we get on our feet again."

"You sure?"

"Yeah," Shawn said as she saw an ATF agent walking out with her laptop. "That's mine!"

Shawn reached for her laptop, but the agent wouldn't let it go.

"Go ahead. Give it to her," a voice said from behind Shawn. She turned and saw Stahl.

"You know, I'm starting to think you have a crush on me," Shawn told her.

"You should be so lucky," Stahl told her. "Have a good day."

Stahl walked out of Cara Cara and the agent gave Shawn her laptop back.

"Guard that with your life," Luanne said. Shawn nodded. They had a lot of unreleased content on that laptop that could help them get the cash to get back up and running.

* * *

Awhile later, Shawn was sitting in a director's chair when the same agent who tried to take her laptop approached her.

"I need you to stand up," he told her.

"You're joking? You're taking a chair?"

He nodded and Shawn rolled her eyes as she stood. He picked up the chair and walked out at Jax, Juice, and some of the other guys walked in. They walked over to Luanne and Shawn walked over to join them. Luanne started telling the guys about Georgie Caruso.

"His name is Georgie?" Juice asked as he laughed.

"Wait until you see him," Shawn said as she reached them. "He looks like a Georgie."

Luanne told Jax more about Georgie, including where to find him. The guys were getting ready to leave when Jax turned to Shawn.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah. I'll walk you out," she answered him.

Shawn and Jax walked next to each other while the other guys followed them.

"This Georgie guy call you at all?" Jax asked.

"Yeah. Once." Shawn answered him.

"What did he say?"

"Offered me a job, which I declined. Then he said he could have some of his guys persuade me in person."

"Persuade you how?" Jax asked suspiciously.

"Take a guess."

"Why didn't you say something?" Juice asked.

"I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself."

"Doesn't matter," Jax argued. "If someone threatens you, you need to let us know."

"I told him off and he hasn't called since. I figured he got the hint."

"And if he decided to show up instead of calling? Then what?"

"Alright. I get it."

"We'll go talk to him. Stay here until you hear from one of us, ok?"

Shawn nodded. Jax left then, followed by the others. Juice fell to the back of the group so he could touch her hand and squeezed it briefly as he passed.