Nicole
I watched as Jax paced back and forth in front of me. He had taken me and the boys up the cabin for safety since Bobby had been kidnapped. I didn't know all the details, because Jax had been keeping a tight lid on everything. However, even when he wasn't speaking with club members, he was completely silent. Festering in his thoughts about what to do next. I wanted to comfort him, or talk to him in some way, but he had completely iced me out.
The only thing I could do was watch after the boys while he did his work. Gemma and Wendy were at the cabin as well; I witnessed Gemma administering drugs to the woman who was there. Her name was Loutreesha, and she was there with her adult son Grant. I didn't ask questions when I walked in on the scene, but as time went on Gemma pulled me to the side and explained to me what I saw. Loutreesha was trying to get off drugs, so Gemma was there to wean her off of them.
Naturally, I didn't want the boys around any of this. Abel was supposed to be in school, he had no business being cooped up in a cabin with strangers! But it wasn't my place to tell Jax that, it didn't even matter if it was, he was not open to hearing a thing I said. It's like a switch had gone off when he received the phone call from Chibs. The charming and playful Jax Teller was replaced by someone cold and distant.
I did my best to stay out of his way all day, but when he finally managed to speak to me the demand in his voice made me snap. "Pack up, I'm taking you guys to my mother's house. Don't let anyone in the house, and no one gets out."
"Excuse me," I said adjusting Thomas on my hip, "Jax, I have my dad to take care of too. I can't just drop everything and hide out at your mother's house."
"Nicole, I wasn't asking you," he deadpanned.
"Yeah, I noticed that!" I snapped, "figures that the first time you decide to speak to me today, you sound like an a**hole."
Jax scolded me, "I don't need this sh** right now! I hired you to be a babysitter! Your job is to protect my kids, do what I tell you!"
My jaw dropped slightly from the tone of his voice. He had never spoken to me this way, and boss or not, I wouldn't let anyone speak to me this way. I inhaled a sharp breath to suppress the anger that was building inside of me since I was holding Thomas.
Thankfully, Wendy had heard his yelling and came looking for us. I took the opportunity to hand her the toddler and proceeded to shove my way past Jax. I heard him groan loudly behind me, but I didn't care to turn around when I heard him chasing after me.
He whipped me around by my arm and held me still. I could tell that he was still upset, but he was trying his best to remain calm. "Look...I'm sorry for yelling at you." The apology looked like it was causing him physical harm to say, but I appreciated it nonetheless.
"I'm sorry too," I said trying to be fair, "I know you're under a lot of stress." His face softened and he released me while he paced around. "Jax, if there is something happening, you can tell me." I bit my lip before forcing out the next words, knowing that I'd regret them later. "Maybe I can help."
Jax stopped pacing and looked at me for a moment. "You'd do that?" I nodded my head, not trusting my own voice to be sincere. Jax nibbled on his bottom lip as he thought about what I said. No doubt that he was going to put me to the test.
"Come on, I have to show you something," he held out his hand for me, interlocking his with mine when I gave in. For a minute I thought he was suffering from a personality disorder from how quickly he was able to change. But then I figured, that under all that heavy armor and machoism was a lonely man who just wanted help.
He brought me over to the guys and then broke away from me to exchange words with Happy. Happy disappeared into the cabin and then came back shortly with a box. My anxiety must have been toying with my face because Chibs gave me a supportive pat on the back as I sat down.
"What's all this?" I asked as I slowly opened the box in front of me. There was blood smudged around inside like there had been other contents, but I knew better than to ask. I focused on the small video player in front of me and braced myself as I pressed play.
Despite hearing Bobby's screams in the background, I did my best to focus on everything in the video. The room mainly as well as the man who was doing the honors of cutting out Bobby's eye, and then proceeding to take a finger. When I got everything I needed, I quickly stopped the video and flipped the player over.
"You okay?" Jax asked me while smoothing a hair out of my face. The concern he had for me was sweet and endearing. However, the video that I just saw was something that was going to live rent-free in my head forever.
"Yeah," I said breathlessly, "can I have a pen and paper?" Jax's brows furrowed at my request, but then he pulled out a small notebook and pen from his back pocket. When I opened it, I noticed a bunch of writing in Jax's handwriting, almost every page filled to the end. This notebook must have been important to him, a part of himself that was still untouched by this cruel world.
Out of respect, I flipped to the end and ripped out a page before closing the book and handing it back to him. I used the box as a base as I wrote down everything I noticed in the video. Against my own feelings of nausea, I had to replay the video, second by second. Which caused Happy to have to physically walk away to keep from hearing Bobby's screams.
When I finally got to the end, I closed the player for good. My lonely piece of paper was filled front and back. Mostly with one person, I recognized in the entire video. Moses Cartwright. At first glance, I didn't want to believe that it was him, but when he turned to face the camera twenty seconds in, I recognized him immediately.
Moses was a well-dressed soldier turned errand boy for Pope, now I guess his new commanding officer was Marks. Pope took care of Moses and made sure that his records were always clean and that his alibi always matched up. Even with all my digging, I could never find anything to pin on him without tampering in some way to get solid evidence.
"The man in the video is Moses Cartwright, I know him from when I was digging up dirt on Pope."
"Okay so how do we catch this guy?" Chibs asked crossing his arms over his chest.
I shook my head, "you don't. He is completely protected, he hasn't got a thing on him other than this video. You see, he is basically the head of security, in other words, their personal executioner, torturer, hitman, etc. The only way you catch someone like him is by working around him."
"Have you tried that before?" Jax asked timidly. He of all people knew that my history with Pope wasn't pretty. The only way for me to know anything about this was by experiencing it firsthand.
"Yeah, after they ordered the hit on my husband. I was 'this' close," I used my fingers as a measure, "to catching him. I was ready to take every single one of them down. But then they switched tactics, pulled at some dirty cops, and then framed me for the murder of my girls. And that man," I said referring to Moses, "was the one to deliver the kills."
"Jesus," everyone said in unison.
"Yeah," I said bitterly, "the best thing to do right now, is to bring out the real soldiers, and break down whatever fake sense of duty that Moses has."
"You want us to go to the feds?" Jax asked me.
"It's honestly your best bet, I can make some calls, and get Jarry to go to that location. I have a man in my old department who managed to seal everything I had on Pope when I went to trial. He still has it, I can have him fax the location of Moses's torture chamber to Jarry. Get the whole FBI down here in a minute."
"I'm sorry, but if we know the location, why aren't we going there now?!" Chibs looked agitated by bringing in the feds, but considering their position, it was the best option for them.
"Look, you guys go in there now on your little rescue mission, you will be outnumbered. If even one person manages to escape and tell Marks, he can cut all ties with Moses and he'll still be in business with all of his investors. You have to play them at their own game. Bring every dirty cop and soldier gone rogue to the light so that it crushes what is left of Pope and Marks. He can't rebuild after a hit like that."
Jax looked over at Chibs and then stole a glance at Tig. "Nicky, are you sure you want to do this? Setting this up will put you back on the map."
I gave a few short breaths as I thought about the effects of helping them. I don't think Jax would hate me for not helping, but a part of me selfishly thought about this as another chance to get even. The first time around, I lost, and I never got justice for my family. Helping Bobby now would at least restore order where there was none.
"Yeah, I'm sure," I gave Jax a nod while he still looked unsure of my sudden participation. He was worried, rightfully so, but he knew as well as I did that our options were few and far between.