Traitor (Southern Rebels MC Book 3)

by Kristin Coley

  “You do,” he agreed and held something out to me. “Take this, there’s one number programmed into it. I expect you to check in regularly.” I took the cheap phone, the cool plastic warming in my hand. “Take up smoking. Monty don’t trust you if you don’t smoke.” I nodded and he sighed. “Don’t forget where you come from, boy. Whose son you are. That more than anything will give you power with Monty.”

  “Cash Hayes,” I murmured, glancing down at the ground, feeling the pressure of my father’s larger than life presence.

  “Damn straight,” Johnny muttered, knocking my chin. “You don’t look down. You don’t take commands. You give them.” My head lifted and he smiled with satisfaction. “There he is.” He grasped my shoulders and I was startled to realize I’d grown taller than him. “Never doubt your strength.” He squeezed, his fingers digging in deep. “Out of all you boys, you’re the one I see him in the most.” He let out a rueful chuckle. “He always stuck to his guns. If he thought it was the right thing to do, then hell or high water, he did it. I see that in you.”

  “You think he’d be proud of me?”

  “I know he would be,” Johnny answered, releasing me. “He’d be right there with you if he was still here.” He inhaled sharply, his hand going to the bike I’d rolled from the garage. “You know this bike was his?”

  “What? No.” I shook my head, not believing him.

  “Yup. Your daddy’s bike was always yours.” He skimmed the metal. “The boys agreed you should have it. You didn’t get to know him like they did. You didn’t share the memories they did, so they thought you should have the bike.”

  “Why didn’t anyone tell me?” I exclaimed, gazing at the bike with new appreciation.

  “Waiting for the right time, I guess,” he claimed, shrugging.

  “Now?” I grunted, rubbing the top of my head.

  “It’s as good a time as any,” Johnny retorted. “It’ll remind Monty of who he’s dealing with.”

  “My dad.”

  “No, a Hayes,” Johnny corrected. “You’re not your father, boy, but you are his son and that means something in our world.”

  “I’ll make him proud,” I promised and Johnny glanced at me, a knowing smile curling his lip.

  “You already have.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Crew

  “He’s late,” Tad said again, growing more agitated with each reiteration. “He’s never late.” His leg bounced constantly as he scanned the parking lot restlessly. “Monty’s gonna be pissed if we lose this shipment.”

  “Guy’s probably being careful,” I muttered, lighting another cigarette. “God knows I would be.”

  “We gotta mole,” Tad declared, getting way too close to my face as his breath washed over me. I leaned away, about to knock him back when he spun and started pacing. “Someone is leaking information. Only way.”

  “No one is that dumb,” I declared, shaking my head. “Monty would kill them.”

  Tad tapped his forehead. “Monty knows. Once he figures out who,” he made the shape of a gun with his fingers as he said, “Boom.”

  “You really think he’s got a leak?”

  “Three shipments in the last six months,” Tad retorted, holding up three fingers. “The ten years before that….zero.” He made a circle with his thumb and index finger as I took a drag on my cigarette to hide my sudden unease. “Something ain’t right.”

  “Yeah, that does sound suspicious,” I mumbled, growing restless as I considered what it meant. I show up and suddenly shipments are being seized. Either it was a big coincidence or I was being set up. I couldn’t discount either, but I was suddenly a little more anxious about the late arrival of our driver.

  I tossed the cigarette as I straightened. “Let’s take a drive.”

  Tad glanced at me suspiciously. “We’re supposed to wait here.”

  “Well, he ain’t here. So maybe we should go make sure he didn’t double cross us,” I replied, swinging my leg over the bike as Tad quickly followed suit. “The only one who knows when the deliveries are besides us are the drivers,” I reminded him and he nodded warily.

  “The drivers work for Martinez,” he said warningly. “Don’t kick the hornet’s nest.”

  “I’m just looking for answers,” I shrugged. “If I find out Martinez is fucking us over, then we have a problem.”

  Gravel spun as we left the parking lot, headed in the opposite direction of where we were supposed to go, to look for the truck carrying the shipment we were supposed to be escorting.

  We hadn’t gone five miles down the highway before we saw the flashing lights, a nondescript white box truck pulled over on the shoulder.

  “Shit,” I growled under my breath, rolling by the stopped vehicle that was supposed to be meeting us up the road. “Fucking hell.”

  Tad rode next to me, keeping pace as he followed my lead. My gaze swept over the scene, noting there were only two officers and the driver at the moment.

  We had to get the shipment. I couldn’t afford Monty questioning my loyalty. I rolled to a stop once we were out of sight of the truck.

  “What we gonna do? Man, they fucking have him. It’s like they fucking know where we’re gonna be, man.” Tad raked a hand through his thinning hair, messing up his comb over. “Now, you believe me about the damn leak?”

  “Yeah,” I said slowly, trying to figure out my next move. “But that’s not my problem. Getting that shipment back is.”

  “How you gonna get it? The fucking cops are on him.” Tad stared at me like I was crazy and what I planned to propose was on the side of nuts, but I refused to go back emptyhanded. This was a test and failure meant death.

  “We lead those cops away, give the driver a chance to get to the meeting point. Regroup,” I stated decisively as Tad continued to stare at me like I’d grown two heads. “Or we can go back to Monty with our tails between our legs.”

  He swallowed, paling as he shook his head.

  “I didn’t think so,” I grunted. “One of us will fire a couple of shots at the car, make a scene and get them to follow us. The other one will take care of the driver.”

  “What do you mean take care of the driver?” Tad’s eyebrows dipped. “He’s Martinez’s guy.”

  “Yeah, and I didn’t tip off the cops. Did you?” He shook his head frantically no. “Yeah, so if we didn’t and we know Monty didn’t, then maybe it was the driver.”

  “But its his own ass on the line,” Tad protested. “The cops are going to arrest him.”

  I shrugged. “I didn’t see no cuffs on him. You?”

  Tad shook his head, suspicion starting to cloud his eyes. “You’re right.”

  “We don’t even know if those guys are actual cops,” I added to increase his paranoia further.

  “So we just kill them,” he replied instantly and I shook my head.

  “No, because if they are cops then we’re cop killers and there won’t be any place we can hide,” I retorted, shaking my head at his stupidity. “Let’s just distract them, alright?”

  Tad’s head bobbed and I hid my relief. All I needed for this day to go further south was for him to get trigger happy and kill two cops. “I’ll lead them away and you’ll get the truck,” he repeated back to me and I nodded.

  He headed out and I lingered for a few moments, debating if I should call Johnny. What I was about to do might incite a war and there was no way the Rebels wouldn’t get caught up in it. My breath gusted out of me as I decided not to call him. There was no other choice, not if I wanted Monty to continue to trust me.

  The bike purred as I started her and when I heard the first popping sounds, I accelerated down the suspiciously empty stretch of highway.

  I could see the flashing lights further down the road and the truck was just starting to pull on the highway. I flashed my lights as I came up beside him and cut in front of the truck, showing off the distinctive snake emblem on the back of my kutte. He tapped the horn to indicate he understood. I led hi
m back to the parking lot, making sure the truck was out of sight of the road and cut my engine.

  “What the hell was that?” I yelled, immediately going on the offensive. “Cops? What were you thinking?”

  “Me? No, no, no, no,” he replied in a thick Hispanic accent, shaking his head. “Everything good. They pull me over. No reason,” he defended in broken English and I could tell he was telling the truth. Which meant someone had tipped the cops off.

  “You call anyone?”

  He gave me a confused look and I gestured like I was making a call and he shook his head.

  “Open the truck.” I pointed to the back and he nodded warily. I needed to verify the goods. “Hurry up,” I added, scanning the area to make sure Tad hadn’t looped back yet. He lifted the truck door and gestured to one of the boxes labeled Bleach. I popped it open and felt around. A brick of cocaine met my touch and I nodded.

  “I’m sorry,” I told him, firing two shots in quick unison. “I need a fall guy,” I continued, as he stared sightlessly at the sky, blood soaking his white t-shirt. I sighed, tucking the gun away as I hefted him into the back of the truck. “This wasn’t how I planned for this to go down.”

  I got him in the truck and the drugs stashed by the time I heard the rumble of Tad’s bike coming toward me. I grabbed the gun from Martinez’s man and took a deep breath. Tad had never been on my list, but I couldn’t let him tell Monty what had gone down today.

  “Hey, those cops were so pissed. I left them spinning their wheels in a ditch,” Tad bragged, laughing as he came around the truck. “Gonna have to take the long way ba–” he didn’t finish, his mouth going slack as I put a bullet through his eyes.

  I watched him crumble, his face still excited from the motorcycle chase, as I exhaled. “You’ll be remembered as a hero,” I promised him, hauling his lifeless body in next to the driver.

  I glanced around before wheeling both bikes into some overgrown brush. I didn’t need the cops to come cruising by and see our bikes. It wouldn’t take them a minute to connect the dots, if they hadn’t already.

  I tugged the phone out of my pocket, hitting redial as I brought it to my ear. “Got a situation, boss,” I said as he picked up. “Things went FUBAR.” Johnny cursed, his voice low and furious. “Shipment got flagged by the cops. Not sure if someone is setting me up.” I sniffed, rubbing my cheek absently as he questioned me. “The driver and one of Monty’s guys is dead. I’m gonna make it look like Martinez was trying to double cross him.”

  Silence greeted me and I waited, knowing Johnny wasn’t happy. It wasn’t ideal but I was shit of ideas and when Johnny spoke, I wasn’t expecting it.

  “You think maybe you should just come home?”

  I pulled the phone from my ear, staring at it before settling it back against my face. “I don’t think I heard you right,” I replied, trying to figure out if he was ordering me home and if I was willing to go.

  “You go back, you’re taking one hell of a risk, boy.”

  “And if I don’t then I’m bringing a war to our doorstep,” I declared and he made a low sound. “You know I’m right, Johnny. This is the best option. I only called you so you could prepare if this turns into an all-out war between the Vipers and Martinez.”

  “And I appreciate that, Crew, but I’m more concerned about you. If Monty doesn’t buy what you’re selling, then you’re a dead man.”

  I didn’t have an answer for him and could hear the sigh gusting out of him through the phone.

  “I’m not going to be the one to tell your brothers you died for the sake of revenge,” he snapped and I heard his chair scrape the floor as he stood up to pace, his default move when he was stressed or worried, or pissed, basically anything other than pleased. “You got the guys that killed Deacon. Let that be enough.”

  “No, Monty ordered it,” I paused, not sure I wanted to tell him what else I suspected. “He has to pay.”

  “And he will, but I’m not willing to barter your life for his, Crew. That wasn’t what this was about.”

  I snorted. “So only so long as I’m safe, can I pursue it?” He made a sound of agreement. “I haven’t been safe since I made that call to my mother. Monty doesn’t fully trust me. He’s using me. I know that. You know that. I’m seeing this thing through to the end.”

  I heard him huff, then take a deep breath. “Put a bullet in him and come home,” he replied gruffly and I chuckled. “Yeah, didn’t think that would be good enough for you. You sure you want to take down the entire operation, Crew? It’s a big job.”

  “I think I figured out why Norah ran,” I said slowly, my mind flashing back to the videos I’d found on Deacon’s phone. “And unless I destroy everything, none of us are safe.”

  “You need anything right now?” He asked, changing the subject as his way of tactically agreeing with me.

  “Nah,” I answered, then recalled Drea’s intentions. “Actually, there’s a chick, Drea. She was with Dick and you could say I inherited her. Apparently, her fiancée was killed, Martinez’s orders, and she’s looking for revenge. She’s not here by accident, but I need to know how much trouble she’s gonna be.”

  “You got anything else to go on? Besides, a possible made up name?”

  “Dark hair, dark eyes, and a rocking body?”

  “Quit thinking with your pecker, boy,” Johnny advised. “I’ll check, but you’re gonna need to give me more to go on.”

  “I’ll send you a picture of her when I hang up, if I can on this cheap ass phone,” I retorted. “She’s twenty-seven, if that helps.”

  “It don’t hurt,” he sighed. “Don’t get killed,” were his last words as he hung up on me.

  “Try not to,” I muttered, tucking the phone back in my pocket and heading for the driver’s side of the truck. I had a delivery to make.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Drea

  When I got back to the room, Crew was going through the drawers, my stuff strewn everywhere.

  “What are you doing?” I cried, grabbing my panties off the floor.

  “Going through your stuff,” he replied coolly, like it was somehow a normal course of action.

  “Why?”

  He paused, his gaze raking over me. “Because something doesn’t add up here and it’s not just me.” He went back to digging in the drawer as my body flashed hot then cold. “Had a pickup today, almost went to hell when the cops showed up.” He shook his head. “Fourth time they just seemed to miraculously know when a shipment was coming down the highway.” He stopped rummaging as I clutched a bright pink thong against my chest. “I thought someone was setting me up,” he clarified as he took a step toward me, and I couldn’t help but back up. He shrugged nonchalantly. “It would make sense, me being the new guy and all,” his mouth twisted as he grimaced slightly, “But then I thought about you. And Dick. And the fact is, you ask a lot of questions for a club whore.”

  My back hit the wall and he loomed over me, his eyes flashing as he angled his head down by my cheek. “And I had to start wondering exactly who you work for.”

  My eyes drifted closed, both from his proximity and to hide the sudden fear in them. I gave a tiny shake of my head. “Nobody,” I said faintly. “I don’t work for anybody.” The lie tasted bitter, leaving me feeling like I’d swallowed a tray full of ashes. “You believe me,” I whispered, forcing my eyes open, knowing they gleamed with unshed tears, and hoped the threat of tears would be enough to stop the line of questioning.

  “No,” he replied, shaking his head, as his fingers came up to squeeze my chin. “I don’t.” He forced my head up and I curled my fingers into fists, ready to fight him if I had to. “You want revenge on Martinez. Hitting him in the pocketbook is one way.”

  My nostrils flared as I remembered the bloated bodies of Nick and Donny. “No,” I shook my head, “No, that’s not nearly good enough,” I rasped, my throat tight.

  “I need answers, Drea.” He ducked his head so his eyes met mine. “Is that even your nam
e? Drea?” I tugged my lip between my teeth to keep it from wobbling, not answering and he gave a disappointed shake of his head. “Trust. We gotta trust each other. It’s dangerous out there, you know that, right?”

  “It’s dangerous in here,” I managed to say and he sucked on his lower lip.

  “I don’t hurt women,” he finally replied. “Even the lying ones.” He pushed himself away from me and I took a deep breath. “I convinced Monty that Tad was working with Martinez’s driver.” He lit a cigarette and I caught the faintest tremor in his hand. “Two dead bodies means no chance of a differing story.” He sucked in a long drag, forming perfect little smoke rings, before continuing. “Guess I want to know whose ass I’m protecting.”

  “Your own,” I offered and was rewarded with a quick upturn of his mouth. “And mine,” I admitted in a low voice, drawing his attention. “Dick had a big mouth.” I shrugged. “Made up for his lack of a dick, I guess.”

  “You tipped off the cops,” he stated, watching me, and I nodded since that was close enough to the truth. “What’s your angle?”

  “Bring down Martinez,” I replied instantly, my eyes burning with intensity. “By any means necessary.”

  He chuckled softly. “You didn’t have to add the last part.” He gestured between us. “I gathered how far you’re willing to go for information.” I didn’t respond and he sighed. “Monty set up a meeting with Martinez for two days from now.”

  Air gusted from me, leaving me lightheaded for a second. I tried to speak, but nothing came out. I cleared my throat and swallowed. “Where?”

  He glanced at me. “Here.”

  “Martinez will be here?” I pointed to the ground. “This building?”

  “Yup.” He tugged his lower lip between his teeth. “I’m guessing that’s what you wanted to know.”

  I nodded and then sat down abruptly as my legs gave out. It was almost over. Domingo Martinez would be here, at the club, in two days. We could arrest him and I could go home. The thought was surreal.