Tank: A Motorcycle Club Romance (Chrome Kings MC) (Bad Boy Bikers Club Book 7)

by Naomi West

  The men looked around the room and murmured their speculations.

  “We can put a security detail on you,” Chain offered. “I’ll round up all the best men, and we can work in shifts.”

  “It’s not my safety that I’m concerned about.” Even the other Kings had no idea just how many weapons Tank had hidden around his home and at the club. He was always on guard, and he knew he could defend himself if need be. “I’m much more concerned about getting this shipment in and doing the exchange, especially if there’s any chance the police are involved. Eagle, think you can check on that for me?”

  A tall man with a hawk nose and piercing green eyes nodded from his position where he leaned against the wall. “Shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “I take it your contacts with the police department are still just as strong as ever?” Tank had relied on Eagle’s connections before, but it had been some time since he had discussed this specifically with him. “No big changes?”

  Eagle scrunched up one side of his mouth and shook his head. “Nah. Still the same old guys, easy to persuade with a few carefully placed bills and the promise of some information. I just keep stringin’ ’em along.”

  “Good.” Tank was glad to hear it. They had been able to avoid quite a few scuffles with the authorities by using Eagle’s hookup. “We have the rest of the day to prepare. Make sure you’re well-armed. If you have a backup gun, then get another one to back that up. Eventually, we probably won’t have to take these kinds of precautions, but I’d rather have an extra pistol digging into my waist than get caught with my pants on the ground.” He dismissed his men and went to his office to think. He couldn’t shake the idea of someone following him, spying on him, no matter how many precautions they took. It could be the police, it could be the Devils, or it could even be someone from within the fold. The last part disturbed him the most.

  It felt weird to set out from the clubhouse in mostly vehicles, but even a motorcycle gang had to be practical about things sometimes. They still had quite a few riders serving as guards and lookouts that had headed out on two wheels, but there was no way they could get the stolen goods back to the clubhouse in only their saddlebags.

  Still, Tank enjoyed his 1970 Plymouth Barracuda. It had been his present to himself once he had stepped up as the leader of the Chrome Kings. The thing had been a beater when he had found it, but he had spent his free time carefully restoring it, piece by piece. Now, the sleek black paint gleamed in the streetlights as he pulled out of the clubhouse and headed toward the other side of town. He loved the open feel of the interior, with a long dashboard instead of the cockpit style that most modern cars had. It made Tank feel as though he was free to move around despite his size, something that wasn’t easy in many vehicles. And an older car like this required that he still know something about how it worked and how to operate it at its best, not just turn the key and go.

  “You look tense,” Tar commented from the passenger seat.

  Even Tank wasn’t about to head into this situation alone, and every group was a minimum of two people. “Shouldn’t I be?”

  Tar shrugged. “Eagle said the cops don’t have any leads on this. It should be a fairly straightforward thing. We get in, get it done, get out, and then work on selling this stuff. What kind of goods are we getting, anyway?”

  “Electronics.” Demon, the leader of the Red Devils, had sent him a complete list just the night before. It had given Tank confidence in the deal, but that was before he was certain that someone was following him. He glanced in his rearview, but he knew there would be several other cars heading his correction. Not all of the Kings would take the same route to the docks, just to be safe, but there were only so many ways to get there.

  “Sounds like it’ll be a good start.”

  “Yeah. I’m sure you’re right.” Tank adjusted his rearview mirror again, still feeling uneasy. He thought about his interactions with Demon. He’d never had any indication that things would go poorly. Eagle had said everything was fine as far as the cops were concerned. His men were prepared and well informed, so even if things went down badly they would mostly be okay.

  Still. It wasn’t like him to feel antsy about these sorts of things. Tank was always confident and sure of himself, never faltering even if he was wrong. It was one of the many traits that had gotten him his current position. Fortunately, Tar was the only one who was around to notice, and he wasn’t going to tell anyone.

  They drove along in silence for a while. Tank wasn’t even interested in turning on the radio. He wanted to keep his ears tuned for anything that might be off. They moved off across town, and things mostly seemed normal. But Tank wasn’t ready to accept that as the truth. On a whim, he took a left.

  “What are you doing?” Tar asked. “We’re supposed to head down Main until we get to 45th.”

  “I know. I’m just doing a little test.” If his men did as they were told, then the other cars behind him would continue on down Main. He watched his rearview carefully, seeing that most of them did continue on. But one car turned after him. He tightened his knuckles on the wheel.

  Tar saw what was going on. “Hey, that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Don’t go getting paranoid on me, huh?”

  “Don’t worry. I’m not.” But Tank whipped another quick right.

  The car behind him was hanging back a little, but there was no mistaking that it was following when Tank saw it turn as well.

  “Hold on, it’s going to be an interesting ride.” Tank floored the old car and shot down an alleyway. He immediately hung a left, and then another. Going down a block, he shot across the same road the car had just followed him down.

  Tar was hanging onto his seat for dear life. “Whoo-ee! I ought to ride with you more often!”

  A few more turns, and then Tank pulled into a dark parking lot behind an abandoned convenience store. The streetlights didn’t shine here, and the dark paint of his car blended well into the shadows. If the tail was determined, they might still find him. But most likely, he was free. He would have gladly turned around and confronted the driver of the car, but not when their mission was at stake.

  Tank shut off the engine and the lights, sitting quietly with the windows down so that he could hear any other vehicles approaching. “I think we lost them,” he said after a few minutes. “Get on the wire and let everyone know what just happened.”

  “Are we cancelling the run?”

  “No. It’s just one car, and that’s not enough to make me change my mind. But I want everyone to know that there’s someone else out here. Tell them they’re to maintain silence during the transaction, just to be safe.” He fingered the gun at his side, ready to use it at a moment’s notice. Maybe he should have just let the jackass follow him. He could have put a hole in his head and been done with it. But there was a lot at stake here.

  Tar obediently spoke into the radio he had in his jacket pocket, sending out a quick description on an encrypted channel. “Anyone else got a tail?”

  When the others reported that they were clear, Tank restarted the engine and pulled back out onto the road. It would be interesting to see how the rest of the night went.

  6

  Piper

  “So where have you been lately?” Alexa asked from across their small, private booth at a cute little Italian restaurant uptown. “You haven’t been at the office hardly at all.”

  Piper raised an eyebrow as she sipped her pinot noir. She couldn’t help the mischievous smile that crept across her face. “Mr. Walter says that he doesn’t want us lingering around at our desks, right?”

  Alexa gave her a look. “Yeah, but I don’t think that means you just disappear for the entire day and sometimes don’t even turn up before quitting time.”

  “I’m not sure there is such a thing as quitting time for a reporter. We’re supposed to be vigilant for anything newsworthy, aren’t we?” Piper braced her chin on her hand and looked up toward the ceiling, where a vining plant crept its way ar
ound the perimeter of the room on various hooks and shelves. It seemed as though she was noticing all the little details lately, like her expedition into the world of real news had sharpened her senses.

  Her friend slapped the table. “So that’s it! That explains it all! You haven’t been in the office, you’ve barely been showing up on time, and you haven’t been bitching and moaning under your breath when Mick hands out the assignments. You’ve got a hot lead!”

  “Ssshhh!” Piper gestured wildly at Alexa to keep it down.

  “Well, it’s either that or you’re suddenly getting laid.” The brunette waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

  Piper glowered across the table. “Yes, I’ve got a lead, all right? But don’t give it all away before I’ve got anything to show for it.”

  Alexa smiled and leaned forward. “So tell me all about it,” she whispered. “Is this going to be the big break you’ve been waiting for?” Her dark eyes shone with excitement.

  As much as she hoped it was, Piper didn’t want to put the cart before the horse. “I don’t know yet. I still have a lot to figure out. But I have a person of interest who’s involved in some illegal activities. As far as I can tell, the police don’t know about him. Or, if they do, they aren’t doing anything about it. I kind of hope that’s the case, because it would be an even bigger scoop.”

  Alexa’s eyes were alight, and not just from the wine. “Tell me all the details. This sounds so much more exciting than the smaller stuff he usually assigns you.”

  “Mr. Walter doesn’t have anything to do with this,” Piper warned. “And he can’t know. He would completely freak out on me, and maybe even fire me. I can’t say that I enjoy the work he normally gives me, but I need to keep doing that until I have some other job offer on the line.”

  “I can understand that,” Alexa said with a nod, “but maybe you should tell him. He might be able to give you some resources or tips that will help you with the story. It sounds like a dangerous one, too, so you probably shouldn’t be doing all of this yourself.” Her forehead wrinkled with concern.

  Piper shook her head emphatically. “I’m completely fine on my own, and I know what Mick would do with it as soon as he got his greasy little palms on it. He would see it as a big opportunity for his paper, but not one for me. He would give all the info to one of the senior reporters, and it would be over for me.” She had already thought about it. The morning after she had gone to The Dive, she had been tempted to brag about her exploits right away. She wanted Mr. Walter and everyone else at the Morning Star to know that she wasn’t just a pretty face. But in the end, she knew it was better to keep this under wraps for the moment.

  Alexa opened her mouth to argue, but she shut it again. “I hate to say it, but you’re probably right. If he didn’t give you the story, what are you doing with the assignments you do have?”

  “That piddly crap? I’ve been getting it done as fast as I can during the first part of the day, slapping it together and waiting until the afternoon to send it to him. I’ve hardly been putting any effort into them, and it’s clear that Mr. Walter doesn’t pay any attention. He hasn’t said one word to me about it, so he never read my stories in the first place. It’s nice to be able to get away with it, but it’s insulting at the same time.” The day after she had met Tank at The Dive, she had used that quick and dirty method so she would have time to think about her real story. At first, she had been terrified that her boss would throw a fit, but now she didn’t worry much at all. “I could probably write a story about the Jolly Green Giant winning a charity marathon and he wouldn’t notice. He gave me this whole speech about how important the fluff is, but he was just bullshitting me to get me to shut up.”

  “I’m sorry.” Alexa reached a hand across the table and patted her arm. “I don’t know why he doesn’t take you seriously. You’re a good journalist, and you’re pretty darn good at investigating, too.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t know that part.” Piper swirled the red liquid in her glass. She had cracked the biggest story of her lifetime when she was just a teenager, but she couldn’t very well use that on her résumé.

  Piper’s family had been a small but happy one. She was constantly busy with school, joining all the academic extracurriculars she could get her hands on. Her older sister, Jessica, had been into cheerleading and athletics. Both of her parents worked, and the sisters didn’t always get along, but at the end of the day they all came together at the dinner table.

  Until Piper started to notice that something was up. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it at first. But there was a different dynamic between her parents, one that made her uncomfortable. Their kisses when they saw each other after work were cold and perfunctory, and her mother hardly looked her husband in the eye anymore. The amount of time her mother spent locked alone in her bedroom told Piper that this wasn’t the sort of thing she could ask about.

  Piper had drawn a quick conclusion, but she was the sort of person who needed to know the truth. The sleuth in her had taken over, following each of her parents, taking pictures, listening in on phone calls, and always getting to the mailbox before anyone else. It hadn’t taken long to find all the proof she needed to know to her mother with a solid case.

  “I had my suspicions,” Mrs. Davis had said softly. She’d sat on the edge of her bed, listening to everything Piper had to say, not asking any questions, and hardly even breathing until her daughter was done.

  “I’m sorry, Mom, but now you know for sure.” Piper had been a pragmatic person, even from a very early age, and it made the most sense to her that the whole affair come to the light of day and be dealt with.

  “I’m not sure I wanted to,” her mother replied softly. She had closed her eyes as one tear slid down her cheek.

  Piper had done her job very successfully, but it had broken her mother’s heart. Her father had been embarrassed and uncomfortable, and he had left without another word. Their relationship hadn’t been the same ever since then. Even though Piper had found out the truth, the incident had almost been enough to make her turn away from her dream of becoming an investigative journalist. She had stuck with the writing part, but she had slowly distanced herself from the detective work. Maybe she deserved to be doing fluffy stories about dogs who pulled children out of streams, or viral videos.

  “I know what you’re thinking, and you need to stop it.” Alexa gave her a very sharp look from across the table. “What happened wasn’t your fault, and it only proves that you’re a good detective. Now tell me everything you’ve been doing with this criminal so I can praise you some more.”

  Piper blushed. “I’m not looking for flattery.”

  “But you are stringing me along. You’ve hardly told me a thing yet, and I’m dying over here.”

  The waiter brought their food. Piper loved the lasagna here, but she left her fork on the table for the moment while she told her story. “It all started last week. I’d had just about enough of the stories I was getting, and I confronted Mick about it.”

  “You did?” Alexa asked around a mouthful of tortellini. “I’ll bet he didn’t take that well.”

  “No. Not terribly, but he did try to feed me some bullshit about how important those little pieces were. But I just knew I couldn’t keep going on that way, and I decided I would find a better story for myself. So, that night, I went to The Dive.” She still couldn’t believe she had gone to such a dangerous place on her own.

  Neither could Alexa. “You what?” She was getting loud again, and she apologetically waved her wine glass at the patrons at the next table. “That place is a total dump, and only the lowest of lowlifes go there.”

  “And that’s exactly why I went. I knew I would find something to write about.”

  “If you didn’t become the story yourself,” Alexa countered. “I can see the headline now: ‘Local reporter gets Abducted by sleazebags in search of story.’”

  “Anyway, it paid off. I met this guy named Tank. He’s the head of a b
iker gang, and he pretty much came right out and told me that they’re involved in illegal activities. I followed him to his house that night, and I’ve been tailing him most evenings for the last weeks. Eventually, I realized that I was spending a lot of time and risking a lot by doing this, so I needed something a little more efficient. You know those pet tags they sell with GPS trackers? Turns out, it’s really easy to just attach a magnet to the back of them. I put one on his car and one on his bike, so I know where he is at all times. What?”

  Alexa was staring at her with her mouth open. Her fork was lifted halfway to her lips, the tortellini getting cold on the tines. “Are you shitting me? You’ve been tailing some dangerous biker throughout the city, and you even managed to put a tracker on him? That’s crazy, Piper! You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  “No, I’m not. He hasn’t figured it out yet. It shouldn’t take much longer to figure out what he’s doing, and then I can step back for a while. Besides, if he was that bad of a guy, then I would already be in trouble. He was hitting on me in the bar, and that’s how I got to know who he is.” Piper had relived that night numerous times. It had been so exciting, not just to be in a place where she didn’t belong but to know that she had been so close to such a nefarious character. Tank was large and intimidating, and hotter than hell. Even from a distance, it had been nice to watch the way his ass looked in those tight jeans as he rolled by on his motorcycle.

  “I just can’t believe it. I don’t think anyone else at the paper would, either.” Alexa finally ate her pasta and followed it with a swig of wine, shaking her head. “I can’t wait until this all comes out. They’re going to shit their pants. What’s next?”

  “I think something big is about to happen. Tank has been very active lately, and it looks like the rest of his club has, as well. I’ll just keep watching and waiting until I have something conclusive.” She finally picked up her fork and sliced of a bite of her lasagna. It had been a long week, putting in so many hours, but she wasn’t about to give up now. She would need her energy if she was going to get back out there after dinner.