by Jayna King
We walked over to the clubhouse door, and as Luke opened the door, my phone rang.
"It's Kate," I told Luke, stepping inside and answering the phone. "Kate. Did you listen to my message?"
"I did. I want you and Luke to stay where you are, and not go anywhere near that address."
"I hear what you're saying, but we can't just leave Zeno hanging. Can you meet us there?"
"Krystal, when you and Luke got back from Mexico, you told us how violent and ruthless these men are. I can't agree to your walking into what we clearly know is a trap. It's my responsibility to keep law-abiding citizens out of harm's way."
"I hear you, Kate. I have to do what I think is right, though. Apparently, Mark is going to the address, and I thought I'd let you know what's going on."
"You should stay put. I'll get in touch with Singer."
She hung up, and I knew that she was right. I also knew that we were going to go get Zeno. Given that Luke was telling the Sons, there was zero chance that they'd wait around to find out if the feds had come to the rescue of one of their brothers. I headed over to the bar, where I saw Luke explaining the situation to the guys.
Sally was talking when I got close enough to hear. "I think we have to give Luke the benefit of the doubt until we talk to Zeno. It didn't make sense that he wouldn't be here, and now we know why. Let's go show these cartel fuckers that they can't come onto our turf and try to intimidate us."
"Wait a minute, though," Luke said, holding his hand up as if to slow down a mad rush to the door. "You need to know that I called the agents who arrested Joker. We can't go in there and do anything that might get us arrested."
"Are you fucking kidding?" Nate asked, throwing his hands up in the air in disgust. "You called the feds again?"
"I don't want Zeno to end up dead. If the FBI and DEA can prevent that, I'm all for it," Luke said, standing up straight as if he was challenging Nate.
Sally stepped between the men. "Look, kids. We can settle all this shit about Luke later. What matters now is that Zeno is in trouble and needs our help. Who's in?"
I wondered how many shots of whiskey each man had drunk already, but I figured that the more backup we had the better.
Chapter 14
Luke
I'm not gonna lie. I was scared. Krystal was driving, and we were headed to the address that -- as far as I could tell from my phone's GPS -- was in a huge self-storage facility.
"Krystal, I want you to stay in the car when we get there." I reached over and took her hand, because I knew that she was going to argue. "I know you don't want to, but I couldn't stand it if anything happened to you. We should have enough people there that we can handle the guys from the cartel, and the feds should be just minutes behind us."
She didn't take her eyes from the road. "I think you're right. As evil as these fuckers are, I don't want to have to shoot anyone. I'll stay in the car and let Kate know where you've gone when they arrive."
I looked over at Krystal, unable to believe that she'd just said what she had. "I knew you were smart." I squeezed her hand. "I'm going to be careful, because there's no way I'm going to let anything interfere with marrying the woman I love."
She looked like she was trying to decide whether or not she should say whatever she was thinking, and she finally glanced over at me. "I know we kind of have our hands full today, but I think we should set the date."
Given the fact that we were heading into what could turn out to be a deadly encounter with members of a completely amoral Mexican cartel, I was more than a little surprised at the fact that Krystal apparently wanted to discuss our wedding. "Um, your timing's a little weird, but okay."
"Well, I've just decided that I don't want to wait any longer. There are a couple of reasons why, but one of them was listening to Maria. Her story has really haunted me. She loved her daughter so much -- made plans for her future -- and then all of the sudden, Nadia was gone. Just like that. I don't want to waste any more of my life. I think we should get married right away."
"I'm surprised that you're choosing now to talk about this, but I can't think of anything I'd rather do than marry you."
"It's settled, then. Now back to what's in front of us. How much did the guys have to drink at church?"
I shook my head. "Some of them had a fair amount. It didn't go so well for me, but now that we know why Zeno wasn't there, I think it'll work out when things calm down. Nate, in particular, was just blind mad. I don't expect them to be happy about what I did, but I think I can get them to understand."
"Well, let's just hope that no one tries to give anyone a Breathalyzer," Krystal laughed.
I looked over at Krystal, and I really couldn't believe how calm she seemed to be, given what we were driving toward. "You sure you're okay?"
She looked at me like I was crazy. "Of course I'm not okay. I'm worried to death about Zeno, and the thought of you being face-to-face with these awful people terrifies me. But we have to do this. And I believe that it'll work out."
Where had this calm, confident woman come from? I realized that Krystal had been completely transformed in the time I'd known her. The battered, defeated girl I'd met had become a strong, confident woman. And even sexier, though that was hard to believe. I squeezed her hand and we rode most of the way in silence.
"I'm gonna drive by slowly so we can scope things out before I pull in. Maybe we'll get lucky and Singer will be there."
"Good. We need to try to figure out how many men we're dealing with and let Singer know. I'll call him before we pull into the lot."
"The Mexicans are not gonna be happy to see you and the Sons."
"I know. I just don't know what else to do."
Krystal pulled over when she made the turn onto the road that the storage place was located on, and Sally drove up beside us on my side of the car.
I rolled down the window. "We're going to drive by and scope things out. I'll text you when we're turning in so you can join us."
Sally nodded, and Krystal pulled away. She crept along the road, while I scanned the lot. I saw an enormous SUV, its shiny black gleam obscured by the dust of the road from Juarez to Denver. There were a couple of other cars parked beside the SUV, and from the road, the license plates looked like ones from Mexico. It looked like we were outnumbered, though there was really no way to tell how many men had made the trip up.
"Doesn't look good," I said to Krystal. "There could be four men inside, or there could be twenty."
"And there are people just moving their stuff in, too," she pointed out, directing my attention to a minivan and a family loading boxes into one of the storage units. "This could be awful, Luke."
"Should we wait until the feds get here?" I asked, running through all of the possibilities in my head.
"Don't know. I wish the guy had let me talk to Zeno. He could be alive, or not. We just don't know."
That made up my mind. "Let's turn around, and I'll text Sally. I don't want Zeno's death on my conscience."
Krystal made the turn, and we approached the lot again. I didn't see anyone other than the family in the lot, but I was sure that one of the cartel men was watching for our arrival. I hoped like hell that they wouldn't execute Zeno on the spot, but there wasn't much more I could do, other than show up, prepared to try to rescue him.
"Luke, you be careful."
"You, too. Lock the doors. You have your Beretta?"
"Always," she answered.
I kissed her and said a quick prayer that we would both live through the next few minutes, whatever they held. "Hope Singer shows soon," I said.
The rumble of bikes announced the arrival of the Savage Sons, and I stood by the car until all of the men had rolled into the lot.
"Someone needs to stay with Krystal. For some reason, she's the one they called, and she's the one Don Roberto wants to see."
Chuck stepped forward. "I'll stay," he volunteered.
"Don't let anything happen to her," I told him, fixing his gaze with
my own. "I mean it."
"She'll be safe with me," he said, and I could tell that he was serious.
Nate spoke up. "So these guys are expecting Krystal by herself, right?"
"Yeah. They know we're here, of course. You can't disguise the sound of the bikes," I answered. "Suggestions of how to handle this?" I asked, uncertain about the best approach.
"I think we should walk up in plain view. They know we're here. There's no sense in trying to sneak up," Nate said.
"Agreed," Sally nodded. "When is the FBI showing up?"
"I talked to the DEA agent, and he should be here within half an hour or so. The longer we can draw this out, the more backup we'll have."
Krystal got out of the car to add her input. "And the less chance we have of getting Zeno back alive." She pointed at the family, now staring at the group of bikers who'd invaded the self-storage lot. "Someone needs to tell them to get the hell out of here."
Johnson looked to Sally for the order, and jogged over to the folks. They looked at one another, terrified expressions on their faces, slammed and locked the storage locker, climbed in the van, and left.
Sally looked at Krystal. "Do you know who it was that you talked to? Was it Luis?"
"I really don't know. It might have been."
"And is Don Roberto, himself, here?"
"Again, I don't know. The man said that the Don wanted to talk to me, but I don't know if he's actually here in person. The call was short, and he hung up."
Sally looked at the men gathered around him. "Keep your weapons where you can get to 'em, but don't draw them until you have to. Let's see if there's any way we can get our boy back without having to kill every last one of these fuckers. We'll save that privilege for later, when there aren't going to be a bunch of FBI agents showing up."
The men nodded, and I watched as Krystal got back in the car and locked the doors. I made eye contact with her once more, and I hoped that she'd be sensible and stay out of harm's way.
"Keep her safe," I told Chuck, as we headed across the parking lot toward the black SUV.
I kept my hand close to my body, fingers spread wide in case I needed to get to my gun quickly. I looked to my left and right and saw that the other Sons were similarly prepared. We walked slowly and steadily toward the cluster of Mexican vehicles, and we all stopped when the back door of the SUV opened and Luis stepped out.
"So you have sent us a welcoming committee, I see. Your Miss Shaw was perhaps otherwise engaged?"
I could hardly stand to look at the man, thinking about the violence with which he'd shattered Maria's world. Since he seemed to be addressing me, rather than Sally, I stepped forward from the group.
"Krystal told me that you have Zeno. We'd like him back. Now."
Luis looked at me, his expression unchanged. "My employer has indicated to me that he wishes to speak with your woman. I do what he asks, nothing more. It seems to me that as his business partners, the Savage Sons would want to stay in the good graces of such a powerful man."
Nate stepped up to join me. "Where the fuck is Zeno?"
"Now, now," Luis said in a maddening, patronizing tone. "There's no need to be angry. We just want to talk to Miss Shaw."
I felt my blood begin to boil. "Luis, there's no need to pretend that you're a polite man. While you may have good table manners, there's no one here who believes that you're anything other than a despicable, violent man who'll do anything his boss tells him to. Let's cut the bullshit. Krystal's not gonna talk to you or Don Roberto, and you're going to give us Zeno, and we're gonna get the fuck out of here."
Luis' eyes narrowed, and he gave a hand signal, after which the other doors of the SUV swung open and men emerged, each of whom wore an assault rifle slung across their chests. They didn't make a move to pick the guns up, but the threat was clear.
"Let me tell you what will happen," Luis said. "You will bring Miss Shaw to us, and we will return your friend to you."
I turned to Sally, hoping that Luis would think that I was considering his suggestion. I lowered my voice so that Luis wouldn't be able to hear what I said. "Every minute we can stall is one minute closer to the DEA's arrival. These fuckers have no idea that they're about to be outgunned."
Sally nodded to me and stepped forward. "We wanna see Zeno. There's no point in trading the girl for a dead body," he called to Luis.
"Do you realize that you've picked the wrong guys to fuck with?" Nate asked. "Whether it's today, or it's sometime down the road, you're gonna regret having messed with the Savage Sons. You'll never be able to cross the street without looking over your shoulder. We're gonna come for you when you least expect it."
Luis laughed, as if he'd seen a little child do something silly. "Your little threats mean nothing to a man with a reach as long as Don Roberto's. Where is the girl?" he asked, smile slipping from his face. "We want to exchange for her and be on our way. It's a long drive home, and the Don is anxious to have ... conversation with Miss Shaw."
I saw red. I knew that whatever Don Roberto had planned, conversation played no part in it. I had to stall, though. "Krystal's close by. Let me call her." I knew that there was no way on earth that Luis was unaware of Krystal's presence in her car parked across the lot, but I figured I'd keep up the charade. I dialed Singer's number and turned away from Luis and his men.
"Singer," he answered, clearly en route.
"Singer, what's your ETA?"
"Ten minutes, maybe less."
"How many of you?"
"Ten. What's the situation?"
"I'm looking at five men, four of them with automatic weapons. That's all I can see, but there may be more. They have Zeno, and we haven't seen him. So far, we're just staring one another down. They want Krystal, though."
"We're getting there as quick as we can. Stall them."
"Trying to."
I hung up and tried to think of some way to keep things calm for just a few minutes more.
"And how is your Miss Shaw?" Luis asked, having walked away from the SUV and moved between us and his men.
"She's scared, Luis. She and I know how you treat women who don't stay in line, and she's afraid that you'll hurt her. She's also afraid that you've already hurt Zeno."
"All we want is for her to accompany us to visit with Don Roberto. You have my word that she won't be harmed."
I didn't believe a single syllable that came out of the man's mouth. "Let us see Zeno, and Krystal will go with you." Over my dead body, but I was running out of options.
Luis turned back to his men and nodded at one of them. "It sounds like Miss Shaw is a smart woman. We'll bring your friend out, but we want to see her before we release him."
I didn't want Krystal in the line of fire, but I didn't see another way. "I'll be back," I said, turning to Sally. "Keep the guys calm. The DEA is only a few minutes away." I turned to cross the parking lot toward Krystal's car, and I froze dead in my tracks. She was standing beside the car, with one of Luis's men beside her, a gun pointed at her midsection. Chuck was nowhere to be seen.
"Krystal, are you okay?" I asked, taking a few steps toward her and hoping that the man wouldn't shoot her.
"I'm fine, Luke. Chuck's behind the car. He's unconscious." Her voice was calm and even. She was superwoman.
"You need to let her go right now," I said to the man who pointed a gun at the love of my life. "If you hurt her, I will hunt you and your family to the ends of the earth."
"I don't take no orders from you, senor." The man's English was hard to understand through his thick accent.
I didn't turn around because I wasn't going to take my eyes off Krystal. "Luis, tell your man to let her go," I yelled, unable to keep the rage I felt out of my voice. "Let her go right fucking now."
I heard Luis' voice from over my shoulder. "Why would I give her up, when she is exactly what I want? Bring her to me," he commanded, and the man who pointed the gun at Krystal started to walk her in Luis' direction.
I watched, helpless,
as they started to walk toward Luis. I spun around and faced the man in charge. "Look, I know that Don Roberto only wants her to hurt me. Because I know what the two of you did to Maria's little girl. Take me instead, and the Don can do whatever he likes. Just leave Krystal out of this."
Luis smiled at me as his man and my fiancée approached him. "But Luke, you must understand that if we kill you, your suffering will end, no? If we take your precious Miss Shaw from you, your suffering will endure. Don Roberto does not permit other people to tell him how to conduct his business. As we have both of your people in our control, I believe that we shall do as we like." He turned to the man who arrived at his side with Krystal. "Put her in the Excursion."
"You can't take her," I shouted, unable to keep still any longer. I took just a few steps toward Luis when all hell broke loose.
Four cars came screaming into the parking lot, and I knew that Singer had arrived. Most of the cars hadn't even come to a complete stop before federal agents wearing kevlar vests poured out and pointed guns at the cartel members. Everything happened so fast that I had no idea who fired the first shots, but I saw flashes from the muzzles of the automatic weapons in the Mexicans' hands, and I heard shots fired from the federal agents as well. I dropped to the ground and drew my own gun, trying desperately to figure out a way to get to Krystal. I knew that she had to be unarmed, since I hadn't seen her purse, and all I could think about was keeping her safe.
I started to crawl toward the last place I'd seen Krystal, but before I even got near the car, the gunfire ended. I saw several of the cartel members shot and bloodied on the ground, and I looked back and knew for sure that at least a couple of the Sons had been hit as well. Luis, surprisingly, appeared to be unharmed, and he was being forced, hands behind his back, to lie flat on the ground.
Looking over at Singer to make sure the neither he nor his agents would fire on me, I hollered loud enough for everyone to hear. "Singer, I'm getting up. I don't see Krystal."
I got to my knees and then to my feet before I saw her arm stretched across the ground, the rest of her concealed by the enormous SUV. "Krystal's been shot. Help!" I yelled, running toward the woman I loved. I rounded the corner of the vehicle, and the first thing I noticed was that her eyes were closed.