by Olivia Ruin
Jed started to get up. “I should go. I should be there while we take care of the bodies. Frank has another big drop planned for tomorrow night, and I need to try and convince the guys that it’s a bad idea. If I get enough support then he won’t have a choice but to call it off. Hopefully the shooting has knocked some sense into their thick skulls.”
“Wait, Jed! Are you coming back? Should I be coming to the bar tomorrow?” I need another chance to get more information. Damn it, Jed! You gave me just little enough that I can’t do anything about it.
He turned back to me. “I’ll be back tomorrow before we’re supposed to ride out. For better or worse. Just hope that enough of the guys see reason.” Then he was gone.
~~~
“Yes that’s right, tomorrow night. I will, sir.” I hung up the phone call with Arnold, my superior. I had more than enough information to ring in, although I hadn’t told him the entire story. I wouldn’t mention the videotaped sex unless I absolutely had to.
As I had predicted going into the call, Arnold wasn’t pleased that I didn’t find out the location of the drop. Worse, from my perspective, he told me that other agents had learned of an ambush that was being planned by Las Cruces. They were bringing in several other cartels, and they were going to make the Winged Enemy a lesson that other bicycle clubs couldn’t ignore. Go over the heads of the cartels, and you get fried.
I paced up and down the length of my apartment. There was nothing I could do, but I couldn’t sit still. I wouldn’t be able to justify showing up at the bar. It would be shut down for weeks while the club renovated it. If I showed my face at the garage, I had the feeling that Frank would have it on a platter. It was silly, but I didn’t even have Jed’s cell phone number, so I couldn’t get in contact with him that way.
I just had to hope that he would be true to his word and come here first, before heading out to the drop. If I could get the location out of him, then I’d be able to relay it to the DEA forces standing by, and not only would the drop get broken up, but entire cartels of mobsters and the entire motorcycle club would be apprehended. It would be one of the most spectacular busts in the history of the agency, all due to my hard work.
And if that happens, I doubt they’d care that there’s a sex tape of me floating around out there. Hell, I could probably get a presidential pardon and a medal for my contributions to the country. The NSA could completely wipe it out of existence.
I threw myself down on the bed and tapped my stomach, which churned incessantly. This is brutal. I’m going to be up all night and all tomorrow, doing nothing but sitting here waiting.
That was exactly what happened. I tried reading, but the words blurred in front of my eyes as I pictured Jed heading off into a trap, getting gunning down by mobsters with handkerchiefs wrapped around their faces. Eventually in the middle of the night I passed out, exhausted. Sleep claimed me but gave me no relief from the images. Nightmares twisted my dreams, but I could recall nothing but the sound of gunfire when I woke up.
I forced myself to eat, choking down a couple of pieces of toast as I waited for Jed to come. Arnold checked in again to confirm that I hadn’t heard any news, and he told me that the squads were waiting by, strategically hidden around the city limits. As soon as I found out the exact place and time, holy hell would come down upon the criminal gathering that night.
My book was picked up, opened, and then thrown across the room more times than I could count as the morning stretched into the afternoon, and then the evening. I worried that Jed had completely forgotten his promise. I couldn’t just do absolutely nothing, so I gathered my things and got ready to head out to the headquarters of the club. Even if I learned nothing, it was better than sitting in the dark with the images my hideous imagination conjured up.
Dressed far more conservatively than I had been, in jeans and a loose shirt, I burst open the door and almost ran into it as it stopped dead a few inches further.
“Ow, shit!” Jed’s voice made my heart leap. “Are you trying to kill me, woman?”
I had thrown the door open at the precise moment that Jed had come up to it to knock. I could have laughed if my stomach wasn’t tied in complete knots.
“I was just about to rush out and try to find you! I was worried sick!”
I stepped back to let Jed in the front door. He looked at me sideways. “You don’t have to be that concerned. I know I made it sound like there was imminent danger, but I doubt Las Cruces are going to strike in our town now that they know we’re watching out for them. If they try anything else thinking they’ll get away with it so easily they’ll have a rude awakening.”
“I guess I’m still strung out over what happened yesterday. Did you manage to get the drop called off?”
He shook his head, mouth grim. “Frank has got everyone riled up over the shooting. Somehow he’s gotten them to think that it’s not his fault, it’s the Mexican’s fault. Which it is, but he’s managed to step neatly to the side and avoid getting any shit on him. If I didn’t hate him so much and have such a high stake in this, I’d admire him for how easily he can shape the opinions of the club members.”
“So what? It’s going ahead, just like that?” I nibbled at my nails, thinking hard.
Jed nodded and took me into his arms. “Don’t worry about it, it should be fine. I don’t see anything going too wrong tonight. It’s later on that I’m worried about, things are going to come back and bite us in the ass again soon.”
I gnawed on my lip, mind working furiously to come up with a way of learning what I needed to know. “Should I come with you? Just in case? I mean, I proved that I can be a good shot under fire.”
He pulled me tighter against his chest. My head fit neatly under his chin. It was comforting to be surrounded by him in that way, but it didn’t ease my mind. “Oh, no Leslie. You should just stay here and try to relax. Like I said, everything should be fine, there’s nothing to worry about. We’re just going to go out, make the drop, and then I’ll come back here, ok?”
His thumb under my chin tilted my head back, and his lips met mine in a slow kiss.
Nothing is working. I can’t let him go without learning where the drop point is! “Can you at least tell me where you’re going? So I have some idea? I’m going to be worried sick sitting here not knowing anything at all!” I turned my wide eyes on him, hoping beyond hope that he would give me something that would enable me to save his life.
He smiled, those dark handsome features falling into the expression that I had grown to love over the past few days. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, pretty lady. I feel like you would just drive out there right after me, and just because I don’t think there’s going to be a problem doesn’t mean that I want you out there in the thick of things.”
He kissed me again, and then let go of me and walked towards the door. “I’ll be back later tonight.”
Fuck, he’s leaving!
“Wait!” I shouted louder even than I intended. “You can’t go, Jed, it’s a trap!”
He froze. I could almost see the gears turning in his head as my words worked their way into his brain. He slowly turned in place. “What do you mean, it’s a trap?”
“Las Cruces, they are going to ambush the drop. With a ton of men, way more than the club could possibly handle. They’re going to wipe you out.” I hurt me to say, and the way his face closed to me hurt even more.
“How do you know this?” His voice was dead. The richness and warmth that I had always been privy to was lost to me now.
“Please, Jed. Please don’t hate me. I work for the DEA. I’m a plant.” With every word I saw his hatred for me grow. “Jed, please listen to me, if you go out there, you will die. Tell me where the drop is so that I can call it in and we can stop the mobsters from massacring your friends.” I hoped that the appeal for the lives of his friends would sway him.
“I can’t believe you.” There was no warning as his large hand flung out and struck me on the side of my face.
&n
bsp; I fell down, stunned, as I heard the door slam shut. The unmistakable purr of Nightshade springing to life outside layered in with the ringing that filled my ears. Stars crossed my vision as I tried desperately to regain my senses.
Fuck! I vaulted to my feet and grabbed my gun from the kitchen drawer where it had been stowed away for the past three days. My keys were next, and then I raced out after Jed, not even bothering to take the time to close the door after me.
The dark roar of Nightshade already tore along the road south, and I fumbled the keys trying to fit them into the lock. Long seconds later I ripped out onto the street, but Jed’s tail light was already a distant spark in the night as I gave chase.
My fingers hit the speed dial that Arnold had given me for the task force. I put it on speaker and threw the phone down onto the seat beside me. It was hard to hear it ring over the whine of the engine, but I needed both hands to coax the old stick shift into going fast enough to keep Jed in sight. We were already outside of town, which helped me keep track of him in the mostly flat terrain.
“Talk to me, Leslie.” Arnold’s voice, smooth and commanding, gave me some reassurance.
“I’m on the move. I wasn’t able to get the information from Jed, and I had to break cover in a last ditch attempt. He knocked me down and stormed out, I’m in pursuit. We are heading south from town.” I had closed some distance to Nightshade, but I cursed as Jed cut off onto an intersecting road that I had forgotten was there. I nearly missed the turn and narrowly avoided crashing into the ditch, burning valuable speed as Jed’s faster acceleration tore him out away from me.
“Copy that. Do you have any idea where he’s headed? I am rerouting all of the units on the north, west and east sides of town towards your location. You had better be right about this.”
I almost had to laugh. “Considering I just told the man that all of his friends were likely about to die? I don’t think he’s on a pleasure cruise.”
“Keep me posted.”
I concentrated on my driving, and cursed the fact that my cover necessitated driving such a pile of scrap. Against Jed’s custom bike I didn’t stand a chance, and he was steadily gaining. I lost him for long moments at a time whenever he made a turn and disappeared around a corner. He kept working his way south, though, and the terrain kept getting more and more hilly.
“Ah, for fuck’s sake.” I said.
“What is it, Leslie?”
“I think I lost him. I don’t see his tail light anywhere. Unless he went completely dark on me, which would be nuts in these hills but I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Goddamn it. Don’t you dare lose him.”
It’s these fucking hills. It’s so flat around town, but here there is any number of places to hide. Wait, I’ve been down here before! I recognized this turn. The last time I had made it had been while clinging to Jed’s back and delirious with pleasure, but there was no mistaking it.
“I know where he’s going, sir!” I shouted. “There’s an unmarked road in the hills down here that heads up onto the lookout over town. I was wondering how there was a road in the middle of a blank spot on the maps, and now I know why. The club must have paved it themselves, to serve as a drop off point. I’m on my way there!”
Silence.
“Sir?” I grabbed my phone. Dead. “Fuck!”
How much had he heard? Was I now marching into a trap while my reinforcements wandered through the hills, unable to find and rescue me?
Not having driven these roads myself, I had to slow to a crawl to puzzle out where I had to go in order to make it up to where I knew the hidden road was. I took a stab at a crossroad, and almost turned around until I noticed a suspiciously wide chunk of underbrush cleared away from the side of the road.
I directed my car off the road and soon found a newly paved surface leading up. Not wanting to attract any more attention than I had to, I turned off my headlights and start to drive up, foot by foot, with my window cranked down so that I could listen carefully.
I was no more than halfway up the side before I heard gunshots burst forth above me, towards the summit of the big hill. “Fuck it,” I muttered, as I switched the lights back on and gunned it up the switch-backing road.
It sounded like a war going on, and I paused before I drove right into the middle of it. I saw the club members, most hiding behind their bikes or a couple of big Mack trucks to the side of a large clearing, and some leather-clad bodies sprawled out in the dirt. There seemed to be enemies in the hills across an arc of almost a hundred and twenty degrees. There were far too many muzzle flashes to count, but there were easily three times as many men in the hills than there were bikers.
Not twenty feet in front of me, I saw Jed crouched behind Nightshade, unable to get to the group of bikers and what little protection they could have offered. He was alone but fired valiantly out into the night. I cried out as I saw him take a hit and go down awkwardly, clutching his side. “Jed!”
I had sat there on the edge of the battlefield with my lights blazing for too long. Shots rang against the rusty metal all around me and one of my headlights went out. I screamed as I put the pedal to the floor one last time, driving up and putting the car in between Jed and the majority of the shots being fired.
As though I had brought a giant magnet with me, the maneuver had attracted the attention of seemingly every cartel member on the hill, and my car became the target of all of them. I opened my door and poured out of it while keeping as low to the ground as possible. How in the name of all that’s fucked have I not gotten shot yet?
Luck was with me, and my body remained thankfully free of bullets. Jed was in worse shape beside me as blood poured through his fingers and soaked into his shirt. The other bikers had taken advantage of their foes’ distraction and laid down some heavy fire, which helped to shift the focus back away from Jed and me.
“Jed, I can’t believe you let yourself get shot, you asshole.” I didn’t cope with grief well. “You better not fucking die on me!”
He looked up at me as if only just realizing that I was there beside him. “Leslie? When did you get here? It’s not a very smart place to be, you know.”
He is losing way too much blood. Despite my best intentions earlier, modesty took second place to trying to save Jed’s life. I ripped my shirt off and moved Jed’s hands so that I could use it to staunch his wounds. “Not a smart place at all, you dumbass. Why the hell did you come charging up here all by yourself? What did you think you were going to accomplish?”
Jed’s eyes stopped tracking me, and his head began bobbing as though he had been too short on sleep and was sitting in the middle of a boring conference call. “I’m glad you’re here, Leslie. I like you. A lot.”
He’s getting delirious. He doesn’t have much time.
I pressed the shirt into the wound as hard as I dared. “Just keep that there, Jed. I’ll get you safe, don’t worry.” It may have been an empty promise. As I sat there trying to help save Jed’s life, the bikers were taking damage and the cartel members were moving in closer and closer. Come on Arnold, where the hell are you?
I had done all I could for Jed at the moment. I picked up my gun and got ready to start assisting the bikers with the battle.
Three shots were all I managed before the night lit up like Christmas morning. I cried out and buried my head in the crook of my arm, but rejoiced because I knew that every man there would be doing the same thing. Ladies and gentlemen, the cavalry has arrived.
Voices blared out over megaphones, demanding that everyone drop their weapons and get down on the ground. A few of the Mexicans tried to shoot at the helicopters with their handguns, but they were swiftly mowed down with blasts from the mounted weaponry. It took only a few moments before the rest of the mobsters took the hint and dropped everything.
Armored vehicles swarmed up the road I had come from, sirens blaring. Now I know what they feel like in the movies when the reinforcements finally come. I don’t think I’ve ever been so
relieved in my life.
Figures in DEA jackets hopped out of the closest vehicle, which I recognized as the mobile command center. Arnold walked over to me and said nothing, eyebrow raised.
Oh, right. I had forgotten that I was down to my bra after ripping my shirt off to serve as a makeshift bandage.
“Forgive my state of dress, sir. I’m glad you found the place ok. I need-”
He barked a short laugh and cut me off. “Anderson! Get Miss Trammel here a jacket!” He shook his head and surveyed the work of his men rounding up the bikers and Mexicans indiscriminately. “You’ve got some balls, Leslie.”
“Sir, can we please get a medical team over here? Jed is bleeding out...” His hands fell away from his wound as he went unconscious, and I took over pressing the bandage down since I no longer needed my hands to shoot.
Arnold looked down, appraising the biker, skin pale from blood loss. “Not sure if he’s going to make it anyway. It’s not like it’s a huge loss.”
I was furious, but didn’t let it cross my face. There was no point letting my superior know how deep my feelings for Jed had become. “Please sir. It’s still a human life.”
His eyes searched my face, but he nodded and snapped his fingers towards his aide, who had just returned with a spare DEA jacket for me to put on. “Anderson, bring a medical team here immediately.” The young aide set off again at a sprint. “You know, he’s just going to rot in prison alongside his buddies and Las Cruces. Might be kinder to just let him die.”
It was a problem that had been working at the back of my mind since Jed had left me the previous day. If my mission was successful, by necessity Jed would be taken away. “Actually, sir, I had an idea that I think you’d like to hear...”
~~~
A groan caught my attention, the book in my hands forgotten. I looked over the top, and saw something that I hadn’t been sure I would ever see again.
“Leslie?” Jed’s voice crackled from disuse. “Where am I?”
It was a silly question in the specific sense. Faded sunlight streamed through the window into what was obviously a hospital room. In a general sense it was a good one, since there was no hospital in the Winged Enemy MC’s town.