Meeting Danger (Danger #1)

by Allyson Simonian

  Autumn squeezed her eyes shut, shaking violently as Trey followed Viking out of the garage. Viking had stopped him, but he’d only delayed the inevitable.

  Would Butch let the brothers rape her before they killed her? Her heart jackhammered her chest as she tried to take in air, horrified at the thought.

  • • •

  When the garage door creaked open a short while later, Autumn stopped pulling at the rope around her wrists and jerked her head up. She blinked hard, certain she was imagining the face before her.

  “Angel.”

  Camden lowered his gun and quickly moved toward her. He knelt down, lightly tracing the cuts and bruises on her face before swearing under his breath. He pulled his pocketknife from his jeans pocket and began working at the rope that bound her.

  “Let’s get you out of here. There’s going to be a raid on this place any minute.”

  Still unable to believe he was here, Autumn looked toward the garage door, terrified they might be caught. The rope around her raw wrists pulled painfully as Camden sawed at it.

  A figure moved into the doorway, and Autumn’s heart stopped at the sight of Butch standing there, holding a gun.

  “Camden!”

  Camden scrambled in front of her and raised his own gun. “Drop it, Cobb!”

  Butch’s lips twisted into a smirk. When he shook his head and aimed the gun at Camden, Autumn’s gut clenched painfully.

  “Drop it!” Camden shouted again.

  Autumn squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn’t do this, couldn’t watch Butch shoot Camden.

  As the gun went off, she screamed in horror. Seconds later, she was shocked to hear Camden speaking to her through the ringing in her ears.

  “Autumn . . .” His hand brushed her cheek.

  She blinked her eyes open, amazed to see that he wasn’t on the floor. He wasn’t bloody and didn’t seem injured. But how was that possible?

  Her gaze flew back to the door and the body lying sprawled in front of it on the cement floor. Butch was the one who’d been shot. He lay there, unmoving, a dark circle blooming slowly across his back.

  Autumn blinked hard as her gaze returned to Camden’s. The shot she’d heard hadn’t been from his gun, so what had happened?

  Grayson stepped inside the doorway with his pistol pointed at Butch. When he was satisfied Butch was no longer a threat, he lowered his gun and grabbed hold of his radio.

  “Threat neutralized in the garage.”

  Camden kissed Autumn’s lips before he resumed sawing at the ropes. Once her hands were free, he pulled her onto her feet.

  Grayson stepped closer. “She okay? I can request more medics.”

  “I’m okay,” Autumn whispered.

  Camden ran a finger gently down her cheek. “Let’s have you checked out.”

  “No. I-I’m all right.” She gazed up into his tawny eyes, swallowing down the intense emotions that threatened to consume her. “How did you find me?”

  “We found Wade. He gave us this address.” When Autumn stared at him in confusion, he explained. “He had an old girlfriend he was in touch with. We tracked him through her.”

  She shuddered. “You were right about him.”

  Camden pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “Everything’s all right now, angel. You’re safe.”

  CHAPTER 45

  Wheeling, West Virginia

  A few hours later, after Autumn had been checked out and Camden had completed his initial reports, they were snuggled together in the hotel room Camden had rented for them. In a rush of words, she tried to communicate all that had happened since they’d been apart.

  When she was done, she whispered, “I’m so sorry for what I said to you.”

  Camden squeezed her closer. “It’s me who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have kept anything from you.”

  “I thought . . . I was afraid I’d never see you again.”

  He shook his head before he smiled. “Sorry, but you can’t get rid of me that easily.”

  Her thoughts turned to Wade and she whispered, “I don’t want my brother arrested.” When Camden didn’t answer, she pulled back. “I mean it. I don’t want him put in jail for what he did. Promise me.”

  Camden sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.” He kissed her again. “Everything’s all right now. Butch is dead; he’ll never hurt you again.” He put a hand on either side of her face and gazed into her eyes. “I was so afraid I’d lost you. I love you, Autumn Mason.”

  Tears pricked at her eyes as she gave him a small smile. “I love you too.”

  “I know how important being independent is to you. You can be as independent as you like.” He grinned. “As long as it’s with me.”

  Tears slipped from her eyes. She nodded and snuggled up to him once again.

  • • •

  As morning sunlight peeked through the hotel room’s curtains, Camden tightened his hold on Autumn. Waking up like this was exactly what he hoped to do for the rest of his life.

  Last night he hadn’t mentioned marriage to her, but that was fine. They could take things slowly. The only thing that mattered was that she felt the same way he did.

  As she blinked her eyes open, he stroked a hand down her face. “Morning.”

  “Morning,” she whispered.

  “I’ve decided something.”

  “What?”

  “I’m going to quit the task force.”

  Autumn pressed a hand against the mattress and slowly sat up, brushing a strand of hair away from her face. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive.”

  “But why? Is it because of Caleb?”

  “No.”

  Even if Caleb hadn’t died on his watch, this would have happened anyway eventually. Camden was done with assignments that kept him away from home months at a time. He never wanted to be apart from Autumn again.

  “I’m going to focus on the software work. We can stay in Pennsylvania, or we can move to DC if you’d rather. It doesn’t matter to me.”

  Camden stopped speaking and inhaled a breath at the surprised look that came over her face. He was doing it again—getting ahead of himself. The very last thing he wanted to do was overwhelm her.

  But a smile broke out across her face a second later. “I don’t care where we live either.” Her smile dimmed. “But I do want to get a college degree. Eventually.”

  “Of course,” Camden said. “Have you given any thought to what you want to study?”

  She shook her head. “I’m not sure. A few months ago, I would have said culinary school, but now—”

  “Now you can read,” he said with a smile. “Opens up a lot of possibilities, doesn’t it?”

  Her smile brightened and she gave him a nod.

  As they lay there together, Camden wondered about his parents and grandparents. Had they felt half as excited about their future? Both couples had great marriages, and he and Autumn were going to have exactly the same. He could feel it.

  “I love you.”

  Autumn answered by putting her head against his chest. Camden circled an arm around her and held her tightly until his phone began to ring.

  “One second, angel.”

  He picked up the phone, expecting it to be Grayson, but it was an officer from Shavertown calling about the break-in the other night.

  “I’ve finished my report on Thomas Cooper’s vehicle, Mr. Taylor, and wanted to give you a call.”

  “Has your forensics team found anything?”

  “We have. Blood and a button.”

  Camden sat up straighter. Wells’s autopsy report had mentioned a button missing from his shirt. “What color and size is the button?”

  “Bright blue. About five millimeters in diameter.”

  Camden squeezed his eyes shut. This was it—what was going to clear Brian. He knew it with every fiber of his being. “That evidence is the key to a man’s innocence.”

  “I’ll take good care of it. We’re also comparing the blood to the sample from the
victim profile you provided. We should know soon if it’s a match.”

  After Camden hung up, he relayed the news to Autumn. “We need to get dressed. I got your duffel from Wade’s bike before they impounded it. Your things are all still in it.”

  “Oh thank God,” she said. “The thought of putting those filthy clothes back on . . .” She shuddered.

  He headed for the bathroom, calling over his shoulder, “And I need to call Grayson and Eli. They can get the process for Brian’s release started, pending a new trial.”

  Autumn smiled. “You’ll need to call Brian too.”

  “Right.” Camden grinned as he turned on the shower. He could just imagine Brian’s expression when he was told the news.

  CHAPTER 46

  Shavertown, Pennsylvania

  First thing Monday morning, Camden was at the Shavertown police station watching two detectives interrogate Thomas Cooper. Or try to, anyway.

  Cooper was still being held on robbery charges for breaking into Camden’s house. The detectives were taking a last crack at interrogating him before arresting him for murder. Camden sat watching from a video monitor in another room.

  “It’s just like the other day,” the detective seated next to Camden said. “He won’t give us a damn thing.”

  The detective in the interrogation room tried again. “You’re okay then with taking the fall for whoever hired you?”

  Cooper’s gaze flicked up to the detective’s face. “Save your breath, because I’m done talking.”

  “Done talking,” the detective beside Camden muttered. “I didn’t realize he’d started.”

  The detectives in the interrogation room asked Cooper to stand. He was placed under arrest for the murder of Lee Wells and led out of the room.

  Brian’s release was in process with the governor. But without Cooper’s testimony, there was no way of tying Josh Solomon or his father to Wells’s murder.

  Camden thanked the detectives before leaving the station. As he drove home, he called Grayson and filled him in.

  “What about financial records?” Grayson asked. “Has anything turned up there?”

  “Cooper was paid in cash. The detectives haven’t been able to find a source for the money.”

  “I’m planning to visit Hale Lewis to see if we can get a lead on the heroin investigation. Now that Butch is dead and his crew that we arrested aren’t talking, we have no idea where to find the source of the drugs,” Grayson said. “Want to come with me?”

  “I can’t. Autumn and I are headed to Scranton. We want to be there when Brian gets released.”

  CHAPTER 47

  Newburgh, New York

  Grayson parked in front of a small blue house surrounded by a white picket fence. Tucking his sunglasses into his pocket, he walked up a slate path and knocked on the front door. A tall, well-built man answered.

  “Hale Lewis?”

  The man frowned down at Grayson, pulling back his impressive shoulders as he said, “Who are you?”

  Grayson flashed his badge. “I’m a federal agent. Can we talk for a minute?”

  Lewis let out a long sigh before stepping aside. “Fine.”

  Grayson walked into a small, tiled entryway. Since he didn’t seem invited any farther, he stopped there.

  “What do you want?”

  “I’m looking into the Wicked Disciples’ drug operation.”

  Lewis scoffed at him. “You guys are still pursuing that? Butch is dead.”

  “We are. We’re trying to figure out where the drugs are being produced. You weren’t cooperative before, but we’re hoping for your help now. There’s no need to protect Cobb any longer.”

  “Doesn’t matter that Butch is gone. I ain’t ratting anyone out, so get that through your head right now.”

  From where he stood, Grayson could see a bedroom decorated in pink. “Why don’t you think about your daughter?”

  “What the hell are you doing?” Lewis spat out. “Don’t you dare bring my family into this.”

  Grayson held up a hand. “Sorry. All I meant was that two of the people who died from the club’s heroin were teens. More kids are going to die unless we get this stuff off the street.”

  When the large man crossed his arms but said nothing, Grayson took a different tack. “I’ll get out of your way, but I’d like to ask you one more question first.”

  Lewis rolled his eyes. “What’s that?”

  “You never became a member of the Wicked Disciples. Why?”

  The man still looked pissed, but he moved into his living room and took a seat on the sofa. Although he didn’t have an invitation, Grayson followed and stood to the side, waiting for him to answer.

  When a moment ticked by with no response, Grayson said, “Do the right thing here, Mr. Lewis. We need to take these guys off the street. Help me figure out who’s at the other end of the supply chain. Did you ever hear a name?”

  Lewis shook his head, his gaze on the floor, but said nothing.

  “No one will ever know you helped us.”

  The man sighed before finally looking up. “I don’t have a name, but I’ve seen him.”

  Well, damn. “You’ve seen him?”

  “Twice. Out in Philadelphia. It’s an older man. Once he was with a younger guy.”

  “What did the men look like?”

  “I was in Butch’s truck and it was getting dark. I only got a good look at the older one. He’s in his fifties and has gray hair. Looked to be a corporate type, wearing a suit and all.”

  Philadelphia.

  The mental gears clicked inside Grayson’s head. What were the chances the people Lewis was talking about had something to do with the case Camden was working on?

  Camden had told him about the case when they’d been in Ohio together, and Sean Solomon and his son, Josh, fit the description Hale Lewis had just provided. Plus, they were pharmaceutical distributors, basically legal drug wholesalers, and some of the heroin in their investigation had been found in pill form. Could the drug dealing have anything to do with the Solomons?

  Grayson took out his phone and brought up the website for the Solomons’ business, Cobalt Systems. He scrolled through the pages until he found a photo of Sean Solomon, then held the phone toward Lewis.

  “Is this the man?”

  “No.”

  Shit. “You’re sure?”

  When Lewis looked at him like he was crazy, Grayson returned his gaze to his phone. He scrolled down until a picture of Josh Solomon became visible. “What about this guy?”

  “Not him either.”

  “You said you didn’t see the younger man well.”

  Lewis’s lips pressed tightly together. “I saw him enough to recognize him. But that guy ain’t him, and the older guy ain’t the other one.”

  “You never heard a name?”

  “No.”

  “Where did Cobb meet with them?”

  “At an office complex.”

  “Can you describe it?”

  “We drove through an office complex to a brick warehouse at the bottom of a hill. It was somewhere in Philadelphia. Like I said, it was dark, and since I wasn’t driving, I wasn’t paying attention to the location.”

  The front door opened, and Grayson turned to watch as a little girl of about three years old bounded inside. Lewis stood and lifted her into his arms.

  “I want you to understand something,” he told Grayson. “I like to make an honest living. It’s why I never got involved in club business.” He shifted on his feet. “I didn’t ask Butch things, and he didn’t volunteer them. All I did on that trip to Philadelphia was sit in the car.”

  Grayson stepped toward the door but then turned back. “I’m going to work on finding that warehouse. I may need your help again.”

  The big man looked down at his daughter, tickling her belly and making her laugh before he glanced back at Grayson. “That cop, Cam. You know him?”

  “I do.”

  “How’s he doing?”

&n
bsp; “He’s okay.”

  Lewis nodded, looking thoughtful. “And Autumn?”

  “She’s fine too.”

  After saying hello to Lewis’s wife, Grayson left the house. He pulled out his cell once he was inside his SUV, itching to share with Camden what he’d learned.

  “Where are you?” he asked when Camden answered the call.

  “Philadelphia. Autumn and I are at Brian’s welcome-home party.”

  “Turns out Hale Lewis had something interesting to say,” Grayson said as he backed the car out of the driveway.

  “Lewis said the drug contact was from Philadelphia?” Camden sounded stunned on the other side of the line.

  “It’s a long shot, but I showed him a picture of Solomon and his son. He says it isn’t them. I was thinking, though, a pharmaceutical distribution company like that would make a good cover.”

  • • •

  Camden gripped the phone as he spoke with Grayson. “You’re right. That would make a good cover.”

  “How’s the party going?”

  Camden glanced at Brian. “Great. Funny thing is we’re right near the Solomons’ company. Brian’s girlfriend and her father are hosting this party, and the Solomons’ office is in this same complex.”

  “Enjoy. I’ll check in with you later.”

  “Right.” After Camden hung up, he looked around for Autumn. She was across the room, speaking to Andrea’s father.

  Michael Graham met Camden’s gaze. At the look that came into his eyes, Camden’s pulse took off. For a second, he stood frozen as Grayson’s words replayed in his head. Fifties with gray hair. Corporate type.

  Could it be? All these months that they’d been searching for the other end of the drug supply chain, the source of the drugs themselves. Was the answer staring him right in the face? Maybe it was Graham who’d framed Brian. Maybe he’d wanted Brian out of his daughter’s life. Could the younger man Hale Lewis had seen in the car been Thomas Cooper, the thug who’d broken into his house?

  Graham’s expression darkened as he broke his gaze with Camden and said something to Autumn, then quickly led her from the room.

  No!

  Camden pushed through groups of people as he struggled to make his way across the crowded room. By the time he’d made it out of the building, there was no sign of Autumn and Graham.