Warlords MC – The Complete Series
Warlords MC: Book 3 – Jack : Chapter 10

After she checked on Belle and changed her clothes, Jade went out to the living room and found a woman there. Glancing at her watch, she noted it was close to seven in the morning.

The woman was sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs asleep apparently. There were dogs laying on the floor on either side of her sleeping and no one else was around.

The dogs both came awake and raised their heads to stare at Jade. One dog was jet black and the other was pure white. Both dogs were massive.

Jade stood very still.

They seemed to study her.

The woman came awake and looked up at her then back down at the dogs. “It’s okay,” she stated.

Jade didn’t know if she was talking to the dogs or to her.

She got up and stretched. The dogs stayed on the floor and after watching her for a few minutes, they rolled over and went back to sleep. She stared at Jade. “Hello.”

Jade nodded at her. “No one was here to greet you?”

“Oh, she was greeted believe me.” The one they called Dewey came into the room with two coffee mugs.

“Oh, ok.” Jade smiled. “I was going to make coffee.”

“Here.” He handed her a cup.

She shook her head. “Um, no it’s for you and…” She looked over at the woman.

“Trudy,” the woman spoke. “And you are Jade.”

Nodding, Jade realized this was Dewey’s wife. “Oh, yes. Pappy had mentioned you. I hope you can help with what they found.”

“I hope so too.” Trudy smiled as she took the mug from Dewey.

Dewey rolled his eyes. “She says that and the next thing you know, she has solved it all.”

Trudy shook her head and took a sip of coffee.

Jade was curious about the dogs. “Umm, can I ask about… the two dogs that you brought?”

Trudy nodded. “I never go anywhere without them.”

Dewey stared at her then at Jade. “She has been through a few traumatic events. It took a really long time for her to be comfortable around us. Big men like us scare the hell out of her. We reminded her too much of those events. Their names are Ebony and Ivory.” He laughed at Jade’s startled look. “Yes, like the song. That’s why she has the dogs, Ebony and Ivory are trained to protect her and help her.”

Trudy finally spoke up, “I’m well now though. But the dogs are my family and they will be with me for a long time.”

Jade nodded. “I recognized that they were care dogs. I know something about PTSD and I’ve actually worked around dogs like them.”

Dewey nodded. “Yes, Pappy told us about you. Speaking of that old man, I’m going to replace Pappy and tell him we are about ready to tackle this thing.” He stepped over to Trudy and kissed her on the cheek.

Jade moved away to give them some privacy as she went over to the windows and looked out. Dawn had just arrived and the sun was peeking over the horizon. She wandered over to the dining table and glanced at the stack of papers left there. Like for everyone else, they didn’t seem to mean anything to her. She had caught some glimpses of them last night just after they’d printed them out but they looked like gobbledygook to her.

Trudy came in behind her. She walked around the table and touched this page or that.

Jade watched her.

Then something seemed to click in her head and Trudy began laying the pieces to the puzzle out on the floor.

A little while later, the puzzle must have been finished as Trudy stood and stared at it for a moment then taking a few steps back, she sat down. Bringing her knees to her chest, she sat there and stared at the papers.

Jade was sitting in a chair by now at the table. She’d thought it was odd that this Trudy chose to put it all on the floor, but she had remained silent and didn’t want to mess with the woman’s concentration.

When she heard footsteps, Jade looked up and turned her head as Jack came in.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…” Jack ran his fingers through his hair and stared down at the floor. The sight of this woman sitting on the floor seemed to startle him when he’d walked through the door. He looked over at Jade.

She shrugged and remained in her chair.

Then his eyes moved to the floor and they widened as he took in the papers resting there. “What the fuck is this?” Moving closer, he could see the outline of what looked blueprints. “What is all this?”

“This is what the Guns have in mind. This is part of the master plan,” Trudy whispered.

He stared down at her. “How could anyone have solved this?”

She shrugged. “It’s what I do.”

Jack shook his head and looked over at Jade again.

Jade smiled at him and actually chuckled at his stunned expression. “I watched her. It was amazing, not that I have a clue about how she figured it out though.” She stood up. “I was honored to meet you Trudy. I’m going to get breakfast going.” She then looked over at a still shocked Jack. “Then I’ll go check to see if Belle is up.” She went into the kitchen.

Pappy and Dewey came in and halted when they too, spotted all those pages on the floor. They then stepped around Jack and stared down at her work.

Dewey chuckled. “Damn, babe. You did this in what twenty minutes?”

“I haven’t completely decoded it though,” she replied. “I need more time.”

Pappy looked down at at her.

She nodded. “I know, I know there is no time. There never is Pappy.” She grinned.

“Well damn, I gotta I tape this together.” Dewy stared down at it. “I don’t want to lose any part of it.”

Trudy got up and stretched then let out a sigh as she went back to the table and picked up where she’d left off.

Jack watched her while still with disbelief at all that she’d accomplished before he even knew she was here. They had assured him and his brothers that she was the best. Well, no one had to state that again. Jesus! He shook his head. He knew though that there were still pages left that were encrypted.

Trudy didn’t seem to notice when Pappy called in the others, nor did she notice when they all began gathering a short time later.

She startled when someone put a cup of coffee near her. Glancing up, she saw Pappy’s face close to her own.

“I’m sorry we forgot you last night,” he said quietly. “Things got very tense before we called it a night.”

“No worries.” Trudy shrugged. “Dewey came to greet me.”

Reaper then studied her work. “So what’s with the blueprints? And how the fuck did you replace them?”

“I found a common pattern and followed it through. It took me some time to replace it but I did. It represents the buildings these men in this group will destroy, I think.”

“What about the rest of this mess? Can you make any sense of it?” Pappy asked.

“I am making progress. I think I know the how, I just don’t know the why.”

“That doesn’t matter at this point,” Shay interjected as he and Ace joined them. “All that matters is we replace out how to stop this.”

“You have more at stake than just what’s happening with the blueprints,” she announced.

“What more?” Jack asked from across the room. “What could be worse than this?” He motioned at the wall where Dewey had taped the actual plans to the most strategic buildings and organizations in America.

“There are two main bombs.” Trudy shrugged. “They planted them while waiting for the signal to take out leading military personnel. The Pentagon and the State Department. Of course, this General that you spoke of won’t be anywhere near the Pentagon when it goes. And neither will Major Wright be in the State department when it blows. So, you need to replace out who just left the Pentagon or who is about to. Which personnel has suddenly taken leave or who planned to. The same for the State Department. Pick them up, so you’ll at least have some suspects, and you will replace who is in on it there.”

“How do you know all this?” King asked, as he looked entirely floored by all of what she just stated.

Trudy didn’t answer the question, it seemed like she just did not feel the need to. Instead, she handed Dewey a couple pieces of decoded pages. “This is a list of military personnel that are supposed to die. To lose them would seriously cripple our defenses. They are all targets and they will be in those buildings probably when they blow.” She handed him another piece of paper. “This list hit a little closer to home. It was a list of five names.” She looked up and around at the men she did not know. “I think they’re your names. You are Truman Bridges, Jack Bridges, Dade Bridges, Lincoln, and… the youngest Bridges isn’t here is he?”

The brothers all gaped at her.

“You decoded all that?” Deuce asked.

Jack shook his head. Amazed didn’t even cut what he felt now. It was insane.

She nodded as if it was no huge deal as she pointed at a third page. “This is another list. People they are going to personally take out. In the third stage of Boom.”

Dewey passed the paper to Pappy who passed it to the others.

“Did you replace out when all of this is going to happen?” Jack looked at the paper.

Trudy nodded. “Just like your girl said… 3 days from now.”

His head shot up at her reference to his girl.

She smiled at him. “Hey, I’m very observant.”

“Well fuck, I would say so!” King exclaimed missing her current point entirely. “We poured over all of this messed up shit for hours last night and you have been here how long?”

Trudy shrugged. “I slept for a few hours after the plane ride. I’ve been in here…” She shrugged as her voice fell away as if she didn’t really know how long it had been.

“An hour,” Dewey supplied.

All 10 men in the room looked stunned.

“How do they hope to take out the Pentagon?” Shay asked. “I mean that is an untouchable, impossible target Trudy.”

“It isn’t really.” Trudy shook her head. “From what I was able to decode so far, they have had operatives bury several high test bombs underneath the building. Some of these bombs have been buried for years, just waiting for the right code to be activated.”

“Are you fucking serious?” King asked with a stunned expression on his face. “Under the actual Pentagon?”

Trudy nodded. “They’ve had the General there for a long time. So it is possible.”

“Well, fuck me,” Deuce whispered loudly.

“No, brother fuck all of us,” Ace stated. “If this all happens like she says.