“This is Jack, not Kade,” Jack said with an annoyed look.
Kade just looked bored, like he dealt with this kind of thing all the time.
“Well hell, that’ll work, too.”
My blood began to slowly boil. “I’m right here, Sloane.”
“Oh, hey, darlin’. We can make it a threesome, no problem.”
Sid’s mouth dropped open, and he looked over at me.
“She’s joking,” I said.
“No I’m not,” Sloane said.
Kade shook his head. No, she’s not.
Sid’s jaw dropped a little more.
“I’ll send Kade over instead,” Jack said.
“Please do. Did Lou make his move?”
“Yeah.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’ll live.”
“But…?”
“He had his guys torch my house and the shop, and Peters let them both burn to the ground.”
There was a long pause on the other end of the line. When she finally answered, her voice was sympathetic. “Oh, Jack… I’m sorry.”
“Thanks. At least the guys who got my house won’t be walking away from it.”
“Took care of business, huh?”
“Damn straight.”
“Now THAT’S the Jack Pollari I was married to.”
Jack just grunted, and my jealousy flared.
“You sure you’re alright?” she asked again, concerned.
“Like I said, I’ll live.”
Her voice switched back to its regular flirtatiousness. “A booty call’d make you feel better.”
“No thank you.”
“I’ll do a booty call,” Sid offered.
“Who’s that?” Sloane asked.
“A cue ball with glasses,” Jack said.
Sid immediately flipped him the bird.
“As long as he’s hung.”
“Like a dill pickle,” Sid called out.
Sloane laughed. “Send him on over with Kade. I’ll get that threesome one way or another.”
“I’m sure you will,” Jack said drily. “Did you get the package I asked for?”
“That depends – am I gonna get the package I’M asking for?”
“Sloane – ”
“YES. Jesus, Jack, you’re even more of a tightass than when we got divorced.”
“When’s it arriving?”
“I’m supposed to pick it up in LA at ten, so I should be in Richards around noon.”
“Don’t go to Richards. Call this phone number and we’ll arrange a meet-up when you’re an hour away.”
“Where are you?”
“We’ll arrange a meet-up,” Jack repeated.
“What, don’t trust me?”
“Not when you want to bang Kade.”
“Honey, you know I want to bang EVERYBODY. Even the cue ball.”
“Okay,” Sid called out.
“Call me when you’re an hour out,” Jack said, then hung up on her.
Sid chuckled. “Sounds like a sexy lady.”
“She’s not a lady,” Kade said.
Jack narrowed his eyes. “And she’s not part of Friend Prices, either.”
“We could renegotiate the bill,” Sid offered.
“Ewwww – Sid,” I reprimanded him.
“It’s a joke,” Sid said, then grinned. “Sort of.”
80
We tried to get some sleep – or at least three of us did. Sid sat in a chair by the doorway and kept an ear out just in case Lou or the police had somehow been able to follow us.
Kade crashed out on the couch, and Jack and I lay on the bed.
My brain was going a thousand miles an hour. In my mind’s eye, I kept returning to the desert. Over and over, I shot at Eyeball’s muzzle flash in the darkness, then listened to his death rattle.
My guilt was overwhelming, no matter how much he deserved it. Every time I closed my eyes, I would see the muzzle flash, then hear that terrible gurgling sound as he breathed his last.
I guess my tossing and turning finally got to Jack, because he snuggled right up next to me and spooned me from behind. He reached his arm across my body and clamped it down tight – but it felt comforting rather than constricting. Like I was safe.
“It’s okay,” he whispered in my ear. “Shhh.”
I finally relaxed.
I don’t remember how long we lay like that, but I finally fell asleep.
81
After a fitful night of sleep, Kade, Jack, and I grabbed showers (separately, of course). Getting back into my sweaty, dusty, smoky clothes was nasty, but at least my face and hair were clean.
While we were showering, Sid went out to grab some McDonald’s. As soon as he got back, we wolfed down the food and coffee.
While we waited for Sloane’s call, we planned our raid on the meth lab. Sid sketched out the property and barn on a piece of paper, then handed out earpieces that would allow us to communicate with him.
“You think there’s anybody keeping guard?” Jack asked.
“Didn’t see anybody,” Sid said. “Lou and those other three punks rode up, and the college kid came out to meet ‘em. Then the four of ‘em left and the kid went back in the barn. I hung around another four hours, but I never saw nobody else. But I’d still go in expecting some shit if I was you.”
“If you’re going to be our ace in the hole, we need a way to get there separately.”
“How about the pickup I boosted last night?” Kade asked.
“If the cops ain’t already towed it, that’ll be fine,” Sid agreed.
Kade’s phone rang.
“She’s early,” Jack remarked.
Kade looked at the screen and frowned. “It’s not Sloane.”
“Who is it?”
“I don’t know, but it’s a Richards area code.”
“Don’t answer it,” Sid said. “Let it go to voicemail.”
“What’s the number?” I asked. “I can check it on the internet.”
Kade read it off, and I plugged it into Google.
My stomach dropped when I read ‘Richards Police Department.’
“Shit,” Sid said. “I should get my head examined – all of you take out your batteries, NOW, before they trace you.”
“We can’t,” I pointed out. “Sloane only has Kade’s number.”
“Then give me her number and I’ll text her.”
The phone chimed.
“Should we listen to the voicemail?” Kade asked.
“I guess we’re gettin’ the fuck outta here, so why the hell not,” Sid grumbled.
Kade hit a button, and a fake-friendly voice played over the speaker phone.
Police Chief Peters.
I’d spoken to him several times, back when I was trying to get the Richards PD off their asses and solve Ali’s death. His smarmy tone still made my skin crawl.
“Kade! Dan Peters here. Heard your boss had a little mishap with his house last night. He’s not picking up his phone, so I called you. You should tell him to call me. Immediately.”
“Alright, you heard what he had to say, now gimme the broad’s number and take out your battery.”
Seconds later, MY phone rang. Same number.
“Christ, this guy really has a hard-on for you, don’t he?” Sid said to Jack.
“Should I talk to him?” Jack asked.
“Hell no. At least not right now. Fee, write down that number on a piece of paper and take out yer battery. Everybody else, grab your shit, cuz we’re gettin’ the hell out of Dodge.”
82
Jack
The old guy drove us twenty miles away to a whole other town before we stopped at a liquor store.
“Kind of early in the morning, don’t you think?” I asked.
He pointed at a beat-up pay phone in the parking lot. “It’s for that, jackass. Now come on. Fee, give me the cop’s telephone number. You and the Viking stay here.”
Fiona tried to argue. “But – ”
; “It ain’t like you’re gonna hear anything, an’ I ain’t either, so just sit tight and play footsies or somethin’.”
Sid and I walked over to the phone. The old guy dialed a number, listened to the receiver, then dumped several dollars’ worth of quarters into the slot.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Shut up,” he said, then spoke to someone on the phone. “Charlie? Sid. Hey, yeah, long time no talk. I’m on a case – can you do me a solid and hook me up with a number? Thanks. I gotta warn you, though, it’s to a John Q. Law in California.”
Sid listened to the reply, then laughed. “That’s why I called you – if anybody wanted to stick it to the Man, I figured it’d be you. Thanks, Charlie, I owe you a case of somethin’ good. Here’s the number.”
Sid turned to me and held out the phone. “My buddy’s doin’ a little thing where it looks like you’re callin’ from Chicago. For God’s sake, don’t mention his name or tell the cops where we are.”
“I’m not stupid,” I said, irritated.
“I ain’t exactly seen a lot of evidence to the contrary.”
I shot him a look, then took the receiver and put it up to my ear. Seconds later, Dan Peters answered.
“Hello?”
“Dan.”
“Jaaaack. So you got the message.”
“I did. What’s so urgent that you needed to call Kade and Fiona?”
“Well, seeing as your house burned down last night – ”
“My house burned down?” I interrupted.
“Ha. That’s cute, Jack. I suppose you want me to believe you’re actually calling from Chicago, too.”
“Decided to leave town for a while. Take a little vacation.”
“I’ll bet. Well, you should come on in.”
“Why?”
“Let’s just say it would be in your best interest to do that.”
“Funny, I would have said it would be in my best interest NOT to.”
“Jack – the insurance company’s not going to look too fondly on you committing arson to collect a payout on your home. And business, too. Don’t know if you’d heard about that one, either.”
I clenched my jaw in barely contained fury. So that’s how the bastards were going to play it.
“Actually, I did. But I didn’t burn them down.”
“Well, the fire chief says it was most definitely arson.”
“Oh, it was – but we both know I had nothing to do with it.”
“I don’t know any such thing, Jack.”
“Funny how you’re going on and on about the arson, but not about the three dead bodies around my house.”
There was a pause on the other end. “I don’t know anything about any dead bodies, Jack.”
“Are you sure? Unless you guys pulled him off the front porch in time, I’m sure the guy I nailed coming through the front door is pretty damn crispy by now.”
Dan sighed. “Jack… you need to come in. This could get ugly if you don’t.”
“I’d say it already IS ugly.”
“It’ll get uglier.”
“You mean, like when your guys are ‘forced’ to shoot me when I ‘resist’ arrest?”
“It’s not gonna be like that, Jack.”
“Or maybe it’ll get uglier for you when Lou doesn’t get the full bang for all the cash he pays you.”
Dan was too much of a chickenshit to actually confront me – even over the phone – but he took on a slightly colder tone. “If you don’t come in, I can’t protect you. In fact, if you don’t come in, you’re basically declaring yourself an outlaw.”
“Well, that’s what Lou always wanted the club to be. I guess I’m late to the party, but better late than never.”
“This is your last warning, Jack.”
“Stick your warning up your ass, Dan, and fuck yourself good and hard with it,” I said before I hung up the phone.
Sid looked at me nonchalantly. “Good talk, huh?”
“You could say that.”
Fiona looked at me worriedly as we got back in the Oldsmobile. “What happened?”
“I just got confirmation of what we’ve known all along.”
“What’s that?”
“We’re DEFINITELY taking down the Richards PD, too.”
83
Sid texted Sloane an explanation of what was going on. She called his phone about 11AM as the four of us sat in the Oldsmobile.
“Hello, beautiful,” Sid answered.
“Oh God,” Fiona groaned.
I had to agree, the old guy’s antics were ridiculous – but I did enjoy seeing Fiona get jealous about it. It was a nice sign that she wasn’t cooling down towards me.
I could hear Sloane’s laughter on the other end, though whatever she said after that was muffled.
Sid cleared it all up with his response. “This is the cue ball with the dill pickle. Hold on, I’ll put you on speaker.”
“You should hang out with this one more often, Jack,” Sloane said. “He’s a helluva lot more fun than your normal crowd.”
“Actually, you can have him,” I said.
Sid beamed. “Fine by me.”
“Where are you?” I asked.
“About an hour outside of Richards. Where am I supposed to meet you – or do you still think I’m going to dick you over?”
“I never thought that,” I lied.
“Of course you did, but I won’t hold it against you.”
After we’d left the payphone earlier, we’d scouted the new town and come up with a meeting place – a strip mall where a retail store had pulled out, leaving a gigantic empty parking lot. I gave her directions.
“See you in an hour, then,” Sloane said, and hung up.
“Do you trust her?” Sid asked.
“I trust her enough.”
“Enough to what? Not rat you out to this Lou fella?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Because money-wise, it’s in her best interests not to.”
I paused. My ideas and Sloane’s ideas about what was in her best interests might not exactly be the same. Not if she’d been able to cut a better deal with Lou.
I added, “Although… it might be a good idea to hang back and check things out when she drives up.”
84
Fiona
Twenty minutes after we talked with Sloane we were back at the pickup truck. No sign of cops, so Kade hotwired the engine again and Jack and I piled in beside him. Sid followed behind us at a distance.
Once we got to the strip mall, Sid parked his Oldsmobile a hundred yards away next to a cluster of other cars. Meanwhile, Kade drove the truck out into the middle of the empty parking lot.
“We’re sitting ducks out here,” Jack muttered.
“Don’t worry, I got eyes on ya,” Sid said through our earpieces.
It was kind of crazy, us wearing these Secret Service-type devices. I’d never used them before on my stakeouts. They made everything feel like a spy movie or playing pretend.
Not like we were about to buy a bunch of weapons, go blow up a meth lab, and try to start a gang war.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we were next to a bunch of other cars?” Jack asked.
“I don’t want Susie Homemaker seein’ you buy a bunch of guns while she’s gettin’ Junior outta his car seat. ‘Sides, I thought you said you trusted this broad.”
“I said I trusted her enough.”
“Well, you better pray ‘enough’ is enough.”
“I’m beginning to rethink that.”
“Bad time to be thinking, boy. Buy the ticket, take the ride – so sack up, shut up, and hold on tight.”
Kade raised an eyebrow.
Jack just grimaced, then looked at me. “Your boss is a real ball-buster, you know that?”
I grinned. “That’s Sid.”
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, Easy Rider.”
Five minutes later a black Dodge Challenger cruised into the parking lot. It p
ulled up right next to the truck, and Sloane hopped out of the passenger seat. The driver – one of the ZZ Top guys from last night – stayed behind the wheel.
Sloane had ditched the leather jacket and was now just wearing her sleeveless t-shirt and skin-tight jeans.
“Whoa nelly,” Sid muttered.
“Easy there,” Jack said.
“Yeah, shut up, you old perv,” I said, annoyed.
“I ain’t a perv, I’m just a connoisseur of the female form,” Sid retorted, although he pronounced ‘connoisseur’ like ‘conno-sewer.’ “And I may be old but I ain’t dead. Hey – you think, uh, we could trade places?”
“NO,” I said.
“Man… I never get to have NO fun…”
We got out of the truck.
“Hey Kade!” Sloane said flirtatiously, then slapped his ass. “How come you didn’t come by last night?”
“Busy sleeping,” he said, completely unfazed by having his best friend’s ex-wife spank him on the butt.
Sloane looked straight at me and put her hands on her cocked hips. “So, we makin’ this a foursome?”
“No,” I snapped.
She looked around. “Where’s the cue ball? I had a hankerin’ for a dill pickle.”
“Ohhhhhh momma,” Sid groaned through my earpiece.
Jack ignored him – and her. “Where is it?”
“All work and no play done made you a dull boy, Jack.”
“Sloane – ”
“Jesus, keep your panties on. Pigpen, pop the trunk.”
The trunk opened up and we walked around to the back. There were two large canvas bags inside. Sloane unzipped one, exposing a long green tube with a couple of metal thingamajigs on it.
A rocket launcher.
Jesus.
“It’s a LAWS – Light Anti somethin’ somethin’. Woulda got you an AT4, but this was all my guy had on short notice. Basically point and shoot. Make sure you’re at least a hundred feet away from whatever you’re shooting at, though, or you’ll be toast, too. And keep anybody away from the tail end of the thing, or they’ll get flash-fried when you shoot it. I got you two rounds. That should be damn near enough to blow up anything short of a tank.”
Midnight Obsession: A Midnight Riders Motorcycle Club Romance Part 4 Page 20