Not my choice, not my call… all I can do is hope that he sees sense before it’s too late.
**
Kane knocked on the conference room door, stared up and down the hallway. Even from way down here, he could hear the party in the bar. The boys were blowing off some steam after the tense stand-off with King’s asshole special-ops fuckers.
And not just them.
“Yeah?”
Kane opened the door a bit, saw that Trigger had a blonde riding him on the table. He’d fucked this one himself a few times and she barely acknowledged him as she kept moving on Trigger’s dick.
“Bad time?” Kane said.
“Nah.” He slapped the blonde on the ass. “Not really in to it, anyway. Fuck off, bitch. Maybe later after a few drinks. Yeah?”
She shrugged, climbed off Trigger, pulled down her skirt. She wandered past Kane and he stood aside, giving Trigger a few seconds to get rid of the rubber and zip up.
“So.” Trigger acted like he hadn’t just been balls-deep in some hellion. “What?”
Kane shut the door. “Carter.”
“Carter?” Trigger frowned. “The bartender from Curves?”
“Yeah. He was in the parking lot with King’s team. Holding a gun like he meant to use it.”
“Yeah?” Trigger pondered that. “Why the hell would a bartender be on back-up duty for a meet?”
“Because he has a personal interest in one of the participants,” Kane said promptly. “And I’m betting that King ain’t his type.”
“Fuck, man,” Trigger said softly. “You think he’s with that bitch?”
“Remember what Don and Lizard said about how Carter was acting around Torres that night at Curves, after the bar fight? He took a glass to the back for her, no hesitation, and they said that it looked like he was in to her.”
“Joker,” Trigger said. “I think you may have just figured out where the hell that bitch is hiding out.”
Kane nodded. “You want me to get Carter’s address? Set up a watch?”
“Yeah. Do it now.” He exhaled, hard. “I’m willing to bet that when Carter’s at work, King’s got people watching her ass so look for them coming and going. Report back in a few hours, OK?”
“You got it.”
**
The next night, King glanced in the back seat of the SUV, met Tex’s eyes in the rear view mirror. “Anything?”
Tex shook his blond head. “Nope. All clear.”
King scanned the highway next to the underpass again, looked at the dashboard clock. Trigger was two minutes late and that was hardly the behavior of a man eager to get a missing man back.
But Warren’s not really Trigger’s, is he? Not patched in, not family. Not really important. Does the Prez really give a shit? Maybe Kane does and that’s good enough?
“Sir?”
King looked in the mirror again. “Yeah?”
Warren looked nervous. “What if they don’t show? What – what happens to me?”
King held his eyes. “We take you back to the safe house and wait for Trigger to get back in touch. Try again, if that’s what he wants.”
“OK.” Warren looked out the window. “And if he doesn’t want?”
“Then we figure something else out. Maybe send you home.”
“Miss Honey said that’s what I should do.” Warren hesitated. “What do you think?”
King studied the kid, wished that Jackson was there. Jack always knew how to handle all this emotional shit with bad guys and clients. Not that Warren Kane was either one of those things but still… he was a kid in crisis and King was too focused on being detached and professional to be able to offer him the comfort he so clearly needed.
“Honestly?” King asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“I think that getting involved with the Fallen Angels is a tragic fucking mistake, one that you’ll regret forever. I also think that you won’t really know that until it’s too late.”
Tex nodded. “Ditto.”
Warren was silent. “It is too late now, though. Isn’t it?”
“Too late for what?” Tex asked. “To back out of the prospect process?”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know.” Tex shifted in the seat, his gun resting on his muscled thigh. “You want to back out?”
“I don’t know,” Warren echoed. “I mean, I have to go through with this trade to keep Miss Gabi safe. I get that. And I imagine that since I’ve been involved in all of this mess, they won’t be too happy to just let me walk away, huh? Since I know some things about what they did. I’m not a member, but I’m in the inner circle anyway, aren’t I?”
King and Tex said nothing and Warren took their silence for agreement.
“Yeah. I thought so.” Warren gazed out the window again at headlights approaching in the distance. “I messed up, didn’t I? I shouldn’t have come to Denver. I should have left Irvington and moved to Lexington, found work there. I can tend bar, I can work with my hands… I didn’t have to do any of this.”
“Warren.” King’s voice was urgent. “We can get you out. After the trade, I mean. In a few weeks, maybe in a couple of months, after the dust settles. We can figure this out.”
“And then what?” Warren’s normally youthful face looked older suddenly, tired and beaten down. “By then I’ll be in even deeper, know even more club business. If they won’t let me leave now, it’d be even worse in two months. And even if I do manage to get out and away alive? Then I have to spend the rest of my life hiding from Trigger, right? From my own cousin? Put my family in danger?”
King and Tex exchanged glances. The kid was right, they knew. He was nothing but screwed and no sense pretending otherwise. He was in the shit now, in it up to his eyeballs, and his fate was almost totally sealed.
“No.” Warren stared at the dark van that was now sitting about fifty feet away from them, saw Ace and Joker in the front seats. “No. I’m done. I’m… trapped.”
“I’m sorry,” King said. “You’re a good man, Warren. You deserve better than this.”
Warren met his eyes. “You too, King. Thank you for treating me decent this whole time – you and your people were damn good to me.” He paused. “And let me apologize in advance for anything that I may do to you or any of your team in the future… I can promise you right now that I won’t enjoy any of it.”
“I don’t want to have to kill you one day, man,” King said softly. “Don’t make me. OK?”
“I’ll try.”
The silence between them was heavy. Finally, King opened his door, hating everything that was about to go down, even though all he wanted was for Gabi and Maria to be safe.
“Let’s go,” he said. “Time to hand you over.”
Chapter Twelve
“Maria?”
“Gabi.” Her sister’s voice was shaky with relief. “Dillon told me that the trade happened last night? That the guy went back to the club? Warren, right?”
“Yeah. Yeah, he did.”
“No problems?”
“Nope. King said it went like clockwork.”
Maria sighed. “And how are you?”
Gabi paused, really thinking. “I’m – stunned.”
“That it’s over at last?”
“Yeah. I still can’t believe it. Not really.”
“Yeah. Me neither.”
“I’ll be going back to work the day after tomorrow,” Gabi said. “Back to Curves. Jax has said I can keep waitressing and I agreed. It’s way better money than cleaning and I like talking to the staff and customers.” She paused. “Well. Most of them.”
“Oh, right.” Maria sat down next to Dillon on the sofa. “How do you feel about going back? After what happened to you there?”
“Pretty good, actually.” Gabi accepted a glass of wine from Aidan with a smile
. “Aidan will be there and Jax and all the guys. Curtis and Alex and Wes.” She took a sip of wine. “But not Dillon, huh?”
Maria blushed. “Uh… no. Not Dillon.” She glanced at the man in question, saw his green eyes sparkling at her in amusement. “Dillon’s staying up here for a couple more weeks.”
“Yeah, I heard.” Gabi put on her most innocent voice. “Why is he staying up there, Maria? For some refreshing mountain air, maybe?”
“Uh…” Maria stood up. “Just a sec, OK?”
“Where you going, baby?” Dillon said.
“To the bedroom,” she said.
“You need some privacy, do you?”
“Yeah.” She grinned. “We’re going to talk about you now.”
“Yeah, I figured.” Dillon stretched and she watched as the t-shirt pulled tight against his gorgeous chest. “Make sure you get the scoop on Aidan too, yeah?”
Maria covered the mouthpiece. “Is there scoop?”
“Yep. Tons.”
“Oooooh.” She shut the bedroom door behind her and flopped on their bed. “Gabi?”
“Still here. Now spill… what’s up with you and Dillon?”
“We’re – we’re together. Like, for now, I guess.”
“Really? How’d that happen? One minute, he’s all growly and bossy and now – what? He’s boyfriend material?”
Maria bit her lip. She was dying to gush about Dillon, of course, but the truth was that she barely knew Gabi in most ways, even if they were sisters. She took it down a notch, decided to downplay the whole thing.
“Oh, he’s not my boyfriend,” Maria said. “He’s a nice guy… a great guy. But it’s all just beginning, you know? It’s way too soon to say that it will go anywhere. He does have to go back to Denver soon, no matter what, and I don’t know how that’s supposed to work.”
Gabi recognized dissembling and avoidance when she saw it, but no way she was about to push. From the beginning, Maria had played her cards close to her chest and Gabi knew that she still had major trust issues where she was concerned. Gabi didn’t blame her in the slightest and she backed down a bit.
“Yeah, that’s all true,” Gabi said. “But Denver and Open Skies are only a couple of hours apart, right? I can’t see Dillon being too upset about making that drive to you.”
“Yeah?”
“For sure. He’s a great man, Maria… I know how he can come across, but he doesn’t do anything in halves. If he’s in, he’s in and he has no idea how to play mind games or pull power plays. Whatever he says, you can trust it, I promise you.”
Maria was silent.
“You still there?”
“Yeah,” Maria said. “I’m here. Thanks for saying that.”
“Sure.”
“OK, now your turn to talk.”
“About?”
“Aidan.”
“Oh.” Now Gabi blushed and Aidan stared at her, a teasing look on his face. “Well, I’m staying here with him.”
“You’ve moved in? For good?”
Gabi set the wine on the coffee table and stood up. “Ummm… hang on a sec.”
“You going to the bedroom?”
“Yep.”
Aidan watched her go, grinning. “You talking to your sister about me?”
“I am,” Gabi said with great dignity. “Don’t you eavesdrop at the door.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, darlin’.”
“You totally would.” She shut the door and sat on the bed. “Still there?”
“Yep. Holding my breath for the scoop.”
“No scoop, really. I just – we’re seeing how it all goes.”
“How do you think it’s going to go?”
“Honestly? Amazingly. Aidan’s just so… wonderful. He’s been incredible through all of this and he’s made me feel so safe. I’ve been lucky to have him and he’s nothing short of gorgeous inside and out. I – we – we’re good together. Happy.”
“I’m so glad,” Maria said softly.
“Me too.” Gabi twirled her hair between her fingers. “So. When are you coming to Denver for a visit?”
“I have no idea. I guess Dillon and I need to sort a few things out and then maybe I can come back with him… if we can work it all out, of course.”
“You can.”
“I wish I had your confidence,” Maria said ruefully. “Right now, all I know is that I like having him here and I’m glad he’s staying longer, even though the job is done and he could run for the hills if he wanted to.”
“Well, that’s a good start, right? Being glad that he’s still there?”
“Yeah.” Maria felt a smile creep across her face. “Yeah, it is, isn’t it?”
**
Three days later and way too fucking early for his liking, Trigger was staring at the five men from Boston, feeling way out of his comfort zone. They were wearing expensive suits and smoking cigars and downing caviar like it was fucking Skittles. They’d booked the penthouse suite for three nights and had scored big down at the casino already. They breathed money and power and as Trigger sat there in his jeans and cut, he knew they thought of him as some two-bit thug with a bike.
Which is maybe all that I am, really. But so the fuck what?
“OK.” Rick Vallance blew out some cigar smoke and finally gave Trigger his attention. “So our people have discovered some very interesting information about Gabriela Torres. I’m now authorized to share it with you.”
Trigger bit back a retort. How fucking nice of them to share… seeing as killing the bitch involved him intimately. But he stayed polite. Or at least polite for him.
“Yeah?” he said.
“Yes. Our people in Boston checked her credit card activity over the past three years and we found that until a year ago, she only used the card right here in Denver. Then suddenly and out-of-the-blue, she used it several times at shops and cafés near a town called Clarity.”
Trigger paused. “That’s about two hours from here.”
“Yes.” Rick took a sip of whisky. “She’s stayed out there four times in the past year and our records show that at meals, she was paying for another person as well. At first, we thought a boyfriend, obviously, but then we hit pay dirt.”
“OK.”
“Turns out that she used her card at a place called Open Skies. It’s a ranch and hotel up that way and when we checked the employee records, we found a woman named Maria. Maria Torres.”
Trigger’s heart stopped. “Torres?”
“Yeah.” Rick grinned. “That led to some digging around birth records and guess what? Turns out that Daddy Torres couldn’t keep it in his pants and knocked up some illegal Mexican whore. She had the baby and dumped her in to the system.”
“Maria Torres,” Trigger breathed. “Gabi’s half-sister.”
“Damn right. They’re in contact, clearly, and I got a friend at the phone company do me a favor and pull both sets of phone records. These bitches talk almost every day… so I’d say they’re close, no?”
“Yeah.”
Rick leaned back, satisfied. “I think we found the one person that Gabi Torres would talk to about all of this, don’t you? Sister-to-sister chats and all that shit? I mean, too many people know about Santos already, but in my experience, people are most open with family.”
Trigger nodded, his mind racing. “You’re saying that Maria Torres is a threat too?”
“Well, one big-mouthed bitch with info is a problem, but two is a fucking nightmare. Plus, it’s always nice to be able to throw it in a bitch’s face that someone they really care about is dead, just before you kill them. Really adds to the whole experience, I’ve always felt.”
“True.” Trigger had to admit that the sadistic part of taunting and teasing his terrified captives was a big part of the fun. “It does make it more… enjoyable.�
��
“So.” Another blast of cigar smoke. “We’ll be taking care of both mouths. Day after tomorrow, while you boys are partying it up back at your clubhouse.”
Trigger ignored the sneer on Rick’s face and in his voice. It was clear from the way Rick said ‘club’ that the man saw the MC as a group of little boys running around pretending to be big men. Trigger stared at the spot between Rick’s eyes, thinking just how much better it’d look with a clean, crisp bullet hole right there.
“OK,” Trigger said. “How?”
“Don’t you worry about that. Kirk and Al have been very clear in their instructions and we’ll follow them to the letter. We’ll get rid of the one up at the ranch and bring Gabi to some dumping ground where the body will never be found. What happens after that, we don’t give a fuck. We’ll be in first class on a plane when all the shit from the cops and King’s Men comes raining down on you.”
“We can handle it.”
Rick totally doubted that, but he didn’t care either way. He was being paid handsomely to organize and carry out a hit and a kidnapping and dump, and despite the fact that they’d go down at the exact same time, this was all just a walk in the park for him. These Torres bitches were just the most recent of many such operations and they wouldn’t be the last.
“Yeah, whatever.” Rick shrugged. “You just stay put at your little party and let us deal with your fucking mess. All you have to do is two things – you think you can handle that?”
Trigger gritted his teeth as the other men jeered. “Yeah.”
“I need one of your little friends to go up to Open Skies with my guys. We’re one man short for two jobs being carried out at the same time.”
Trigger paused. “You mean that you’re going to take out Maria and grab Gabi at the same fucking time?”
“Yep. That way nobody gets a heads-up that we’re making a move.”
“Right,” Trigger said, realizing at last just how far beyond him all the logistics really were. “OK.”
“So you need to come up with an alibi for your man. Make sure it’s rock-solid.”
“I will.”
“Second, I need you to sort out the dump spot since you know the local terrain. Just get everything ready for us to leave her and then text me the coordinates.”
Killer Curves (Dangerous Curves Book 3) Page 17