Zacky was ashen faced as he set his phone down in front of him. The others crowded around him. Dan, who had just arrived, was crouched to his left features drawn.

“What did Shads say?”

Zacky cleared his throat before answering, not trusting his voice. “He’s got a tail. So, he can’t come back here.” His eyes darted around the studio but didn’t take any of it in. “He says we need to leave. Head out of the county.”

Jimmy grimaced. “All of us?”

Zacky nodded and then picked up his phone again. “Better call Bri to get him to meet us.”

“Where?” Dan asked as he stood to grab his keys. The mechanic paused, uncertain. Jimmy looked uncharacteristically grim; but it was Johnny who made the suggestion.

“Zacky’s shop. No one would suspect us to be there.” He looked at Zacky. “We could take the Bentley?”

Zacky blinked. “Matty did say it was ready…” He shook his head, as he began to dial his brother’s number. “I’ll call him.”

“No.” Elijah’s voice came from the doorway. They turned to look at him. He stood there his own phone in his hand. “They’ll be on the network, tracing you guys,” he said in way of explanation.

The mechanic ground his teeth together. “What the fuck’re we meant to do then?”

Elijah smiled, frostily. “I’ll call your brother. You take my van to meet him.”

“And, what about Bri?”

“Call Papa G. He can get a message to Syn without raising any alarms,” Jimmy pointed out. They all looked at him, with varying degrees of surprise. “What?”

Elijah laughed low, “I don’t think we want to know how you figured that.”

“Well, he’s a public figure. Who’ll suspect him?” Jimmy was hedging but none of them bit, just shook their heads at him.

“Uh…everyone?” Zacky scoffed, voicing his own thoughts as he did notice his friend’s choice of words. Jimmy winked at him and held out his own phone to the mechanic.

“Use my cell. It’s untraceable.”

Zacky stared at him. “What?”

Jimmy grinned, eyes dancing. “Surprise!”

Johnny groaned, shaking his head. “Idiot…”

“You can talk,” Jimmy shot back. The younger male shrugged and looked over at Elijah. The elder male was laughing.

Johnny narrowed his eyes. Zacky grumbled as he shoved his phone in his pocket and took his friend’s.

“I want to know-”

“No. You don’t,” Jimmy said, a soft warning in his voice. The mechanic blinked a little miffed. His friend didn’t explain just nodded at the phone. “Call Papa G. Then let’s go.”

Zacky nodded as he dialled the number. Brian Sr answered after one ring and listened in grim silence as the mechanic relayed his message. He promised he’d call his son as soon as the call ended, so Zacky finished quickly, hanging up before dialling his brother.

Whilst he spoke to Matty in urgent tones the others gathered together what they could carry – notes, burnt discs – and tucked them into pockets and bags. The equipment they couldn’t take, but something Elijah said eased their anxiety in that regard.

Jimmy was talking to Elijah, about the Flushers of all things; but, then it made sense considering the subject of the conversation…

“We need to get rid of any trace that we were here in New Huntington.”

Eli nodded in agreement. “I can make a call to them and see what they’re willing to do.”

“A clean out of my little apartment would be the first thing,” Jimmy muttered. Zacky, who had completed his call, leaned over his friend’s shoulder, eyebrows raised.

“That’d be a huge risk. God knows what you have in there.”

Jimmy smirked. “Well, then maybe I should just burn the place down.”

Eli snorted at that suggestion. Zacky groaned, slapping his friend on the shoulder.

“Can we go now?”

Jimmy shrugged as he grabbed his wallet and keys. “Just a thought, dude.”

“Yeah, because of course you wouldn’t be that crazy.”

Johnny commented, drily, “Your landlord would hate you forever.”

“I wouldn’t make myself known.” Jimmy rolled his eyes. “And anyway, it’s not like we’re sticking around.”

Everything halted at his statement. The four young men stared at each other as the reality of their situation dawned on them.

“Fuck,” Zacky groaned after a moment. “This is really happening…” He rubbed at his forehead. The thought was frightening but at the same time it sort of appealed to the sense of justice that sat deep within him. He drew in a deep breath then looked at his friends.

Jimmy clapped a hand to his shoulder then nodded to Elijah.

“I’ll be in touch,” the elder male said as they started out the door. Zacky frowned.

“You’re not coming with us?”

Eli shook his head. “Someone needs to sort things out here.”

“Right. Of course.” Zacky smiled, a grim expression. Jimmy tugged at his shirt.

“Come on. We have to go.”

The mechanic held his hand out to the older male. Eli grasped his hand firmly, shaking it.

“Good luck.”

Zacky squeezed his hand then let go and walked out the door. Jimmy and Johnny shook hands with the former rocker as well before joining their friend. Dan, who was carrying all the stuff they’d collected, nodded to Elijah as he followed them out.

* * * * *

Matthew pulled his bike off the road, glancing back over his shoulder. The tail was still there, staying at a distance, almost as if the person at the wheel was afraid to get too close. Though, considering who he was… Anyway, that meant he could afford to take a breather. He glanced in the other direction. The sign at the border of town was a mile away.

He sighed, leaning his ass against the front of his bike. Now that he had some space he could let himself think a moment. Events had moved almost too fast for him to process properly and if he were the type to panic it would have set in by now. However, he hadn’t become T-One through panicking. Self-control had always been his biggest issue. Having a hot temper wasn’t something to admire by any shot, and so he had reined himself in and held himself so tightly wound… It was no wonder this was all happening now.

It was strange, really. At the beginning of his time in The Creed if someone had dared tell him he’d be batting for the other side, so to speak, he would have committed them to a mental asylum. Or at the very least, accused them of being crazy. He was so focussed on doing his job, and being the best, the toughest, the most ruthless…that he guessed he lost his way a bit. It wasn’t until Luke’s execution that his carefully constructed persona started to unravel. Cracks started to show, unnoticed by most people. Though, evidently, the General had picked it up…

He wiped the back of his hand across his face and brought it away. There was a wet spot. He blinked hard.

“Fuck…” He brushed it against his jacket. Letting his emotions get the better of him wasn’t part of the plan. At least not yet. He had to get out of town, and meet up with the guys. Then he could pause properly and get a message to Val to let her know he was okay. He stopped at that thought. It was stupid…but he couldn’t do that.

“No…” He swung back on his bike and gunned the engine, cursing silently to himself as he headed back into town. He was taking a huge risk, but he needed to see her in person, otherwise she’d go crazy. He rolled his eyes inwardly at that. Look at him, being a good husband…

He shot passed the shocked face of his tail, who had to do a sharp U-Turn to get back on track. He allowed himself a small laugh as he sped down the road.

* * * * *

Valary flipped through the file the Mayor had passed across to her as he walked through the office. He had seemed distracted. Which wasn’t unusual so she didn’t think much of it. Something in the file caught her eye though. She glanced at the front of the file and realised Elliott had handed her a classified dossier.

“What?” she whispered to herself. She glanced out the door. The mayor was outside on his cellphone, speaking in hushed tones. She ran a palm over the stamp on the front before carefully opening it.

She blinked hard, then again for several seconds. Gazing up at her, stern, implacable was the face of her husband. Or at least the photo of him when he first joined the ranks of The Creed. Val’s brow furrowed as she lifted the photo to look at what she realised was his official record of service. She wondered why the Mayor had given it to her, unless it was a mistake. She glanced down at the pages in front of her. The words were a blur or maybe that was the headache that was setting in on her.

She pinched at the bridge of her nose then focused on the file. Everything that needed to be said about his record was there, including the more recent psych evals that Doc James had completed. But, it wasn’t any of those that drew her attention in, or made her stomach drop. There was a brand new memo paper clipped to the top of the file. It stated that Matthew waspersona non grata…and there was a kill order out on him.

The words didn’t register for a moment, but then she gasped softly and pulled her own phone out, hurriedly sending a message to Matt, warning him to get out of town. She didn’t get a chance to check if he got the message because Elliott walked back in and slammed his phone down on the table. She jumped, shutting the file and slipping it into her drawer as she looked up at him.

“Sir?”

Elliott groaned as he sat at his desk. For a moment he rearranged his pens on the surface before meeting Val’s careful gaze.

“You looked at the file.” It wasn’t a question. His gaze was harder than usual and that unnerved Valary. She cleared her throat, careful to keep her eyes fixed on her superior’s.

“Why did you give it to me?”

Elliott’s lips twisted in a sour expression. “You need to be informed of what your husband is doing, from reliable sources.”

Val stiffened. “Such as you, sir?”

He sighed. “I am not the enemy here, sweetie. You’ve worked for me long enough to know that.” He leaned forward an earnest expression on his face. She was wary, though. After Matthew filled in the blanks concerning the history of The Creed and the politics surrounding it, she was hesitant to trust the mayor. Which perhaps was unfair on the one hand, but on the other…

“What the Hell! Get your fucking hands off me! I need to see my wife!”

She jumped, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up at the voice that interrupted their conversation. Elliott swung in his chair and stood, striding for the door. She scrambled out of her own to follow. She’d know that voice anywhere. Matthew…

The scene they witnessed would’ve have been comical if the situation weren’t so serious. One of Elliott’s security detail was on the floor on his stomach with Matthew kneeling over him, one hand on the back of his neck, other gripping a 9mm handgun. The barrel was pointed at the back of the guard’s head.

“Matthew!” Valary gasped, pushing passed Elliott who was frozen to the spot. The shock on his face was poorly masked. Not that any of that really registered to her. No, all her focus was on her husband. The thing that was so unsettling, though was the lack of any emotion on his face. She couldn’t read anything in the darkness of his expression.

She halted a couple of feet away; his eyes skewed towards her, brow furrowing. He didn’t speak, but did relinquish his grip on the other man. He stood, slowly, keeping his weapon aimed at the guard, whom wisely stayed put.

“What’re you doing?” Val’s voice shook. Matthew’s frown deepened.

“I have to talk to you.”

She grimaced. “And you have to do that whilst pointing a gun at someone?”

Matthew inhaled roughly. “He was trying to prevent me from entering.”

“He was only following orders, Shadows,” Elliott finally spoke up, finding his voice. The former soldier didn’t even flinch at that revelation.

“You ordered the tail on me, Johnston.” His voice was hard. The Mayor inclined his head in the affirmative. Matthew’s jaw line went white from tension, but when he continued his tone was measured, calm. “I always thought you were on our side and that you were trying to make things better for everyone.” His voice became slightly harsher at his next words. “But, now I see that all of this is just a self-serving exercise to control the masses.”

Elliott’s eyes narrowed. “Self-serving, Shadows? You insult me.”

“I know your links to Senator Johnston,” Matthew said a hint of anger creeping through his control.

Elliott just smiled, an icy flex of his lips. “That as may be, Shadows. But, my intentions are not the same. I want peace and stability for the people.”

Matthew raised his eyebrows. “Your relative wanted revenge.”

“That’s hardly accurate, Shadows.”

Matthew sighed and looked at Valary who was listening intently to their discourse. “What have you told my wife?”

Elliott grimaced. “Everything she needs to know.” He took a step closer to him. “What about you? What have you told your wife?”

“Everything.” There was no hesitation in his words. Valary hid a smile as she saw the surprise that flashed across the mayor’s face. It wouldn’t do to show her support for her husband here. Though she desperately wanted to make that move. Obviously she wasn’t as brave as him in that regard. He was still looking at her, an expression in his eyes that she couldn’t decipher.

Elliott said, “Then you know as well as she that the law can’t excuse you.”

Matthew nodded. “I know.” He ran the tip of his tongue across his top lip. “That’s why I’m skipping town.” Valary thought he must’ve gotten her message. He cast her a knowing look before he returned his gaze to the Mayor.

“I should order your arrest right now.”

Matthew’s fingers tightened on his handgun. “You do that. I’ll still have a head start.”

Elliott ground his teeth together. “You will not be allowed to return.” Val’s chest tightened on hearing that; but she really shouldn’t have been surprised. She looked anxiously at her husband. He didn’t meet her eyes.

“We’ll see, Elliott.”

He finally turned to step toward Val. She waited for him, feeling her body tremble with emotions she couldn’t describe. His features softened as his gaze focused on hers.

“Val.” He paused as he tucked his weapon inside his jacket. She continued to wait. He closed his eyes then opened them again. “I’m sorry.”

Val stepped closer, resting a hand on his cheek. “I know.” She leaned up and pressed her lips to his. “Love you…” Matthew closed his eyes again, breathing slowly. She ran her fingers through his hair that had started to grow out considerably. He sighed, meeting her eyes.

“I’ll try to stay in touch.”

Val said, softly, “Only if it’s safe.”

“Mhm…” Matthew squeezed her hand before stepping away. She folded her arms tight across her chest, holding herself together as she watched her husband turn and walk out the door, unhindered, and alone.

Elliott had remained out of the way, not interfering at all. Obviously, confident that he wouldn’t need to with whatever plan that was set in motion. That thought worried Val no end. But, all she could do was wait, and hope that everything would work out for the good. Whatever that looked like in the near and distant future.