Barely Undercover: Legal Heat, Book 2

by Sarah Castille

  As the motorcycle roared to life, she glanced back at the clubhouse. Already bikers were spilling into the parking lot. Her heart skipped a beat when she thought she recognized James, but then she remembered the confusion and pain in his eyes, the shock and anger in the taut lines of his face when Levi told him she was married.

  James wouldn’t be coming for her this time. Not after she’d lied to him and betrayed him just as Christine had done. Not after she had kept secret the one thing that meant the most to him.

  “There they are.” Shouts from the door. The thud of feet on pavement. The crack of a gun.

  “Fuck. I forgot the helmets. Let’s hope we don’t meet a cop.” Kickstand revved the engine and peeled away.

  Lana clung to his back and squeezed her eyes shut. “I hope we do.”

  “Don’t even think about starting that bike.”

  Rex pointed his weapon at James and walked toward him. “Get off nice and slow. I don’t want your blood messing up the parking lot.”

  James shot one desperate glance at Kickstand’s disappearing taillights and dismounted his motorcycle. Bones came up behind him and pressed the barrel of his gun to James’s head.

  “I shoulda killed you earlier, instead of listening to fucking Ryder,” Rex drawled. “Although, seeing your face in there was almost worth it. Can’t believe you didn’t recognize her tattoo. All the US motorcycle clubs with slaves use the same mark, except they change the club initial. If you’d been a real biker, you would have known that.”

  “And if you’d been a real man, you would have walked away when she rejected you, instead of taking your revenge by selling her like a piece of property,” James spat out.

  “She is property.”

  “She’s gone,” James said coolly. “The Wolverines will hold you responsible. If you don’t find her, you’ll pay the price. Personally. Maybe they’ll tattoo their mark on your ass and use you as a replacement.”

  “I’m gonna fucking enjoy every second of your death,” Rex snarled.

  James caught movement in the shadows behind Rex and then a flash of white teeth when Ryder grinned. Damn Speedy Gonzales. He must have run around the entire building to take up a position behind Rex.

  “You fucked up,” James said, stalling for time as Ryder crept up behind Rex. “You can’t handle the Wolverines. Once they find Lana, they’ll rip you to shreds. Maybe they’ll even do it now.”

  As if on cue, Ryder slammed the butt of his gun into Rex’s head.

  Taking advantage of Bones’s moment of confusion, James knocked the gun from Bones’s hand and spun around to face his assailant.

  With a roar, Bones leaped for the gun, but James met him with a full-body slam. Bones reeled backward and into a motorcycle. It tipped to the side and the entire row toppled like dominos.

  “Looks like you’ll be taking Kickstand’s place,” James muttered.

  Bones jumped to his feet and drove his fist into James’s stomach. “Fucking rat,” he grunted. “We trusted you. Treated you like a brother, and you betrayed us. I knew from the beginning something was off about you, but fucking stupid Rex wouldn’t listen.”

  James stepped to the side just in time to avoid another blow. “You’re still pissed I won your bike.”

  “Fuck you.”

  They traded kicks and punches, hammering, thumping and pounding on each other. Bikes fell, the fence groaned, and a trash can went flying. Finally, James forced Bones against the wall and let loose a one-two punch that snapped Bones’s head to the side and sent him sagging to the ground.

  “You know what?” He bent down and grabbed Bones’s hair, yanking his head back until their gazes locked. “You were right. I counted the cards.”

  One last punch and Bones was out cold.

  A gun clattered across the pavement. James spun around to see a disarmed Ryder drop to one knee under the force of Rex’s blows. Damned Rex must have one hell of a hard head.

  “It’s me you want,” James yelled as he stalked across the parking lot. “Come and show me what you’ve got. Let’s have a real fight. I won’t be pulling any punches this time.”

  With a roar, Rex turned and rounded on James, closing the distance between them faster than James would have thought possible for a man his size. Rex’s momentum carried him forward and his giant fist slammed James back against the concrete wall, lifting him off the ground. James fought his way free, but just as he dropped to the ground, something whacked against his head. In the split second before he lost consciousness, he thought of Lana.

  He’d lost her at the very moment he knew he had to have her. And if she didn’t get his message, he would lose her forever.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Don’t even think of telling me I can’t come.” Jackie tossed her hastily packed bag of random disguises into the trunk of her car and slammed the lid. “This is my car. Only I drive my car. And since you need a ride, seems to me I’m coming along.”

  “What about our business?” Lana winced as she followed Jackie to the front of the vehicle. “Who’s going to look after our clients?”

  Jackie gave her a wicked grin. “Derek will keep them happy until we get this sorted out. I fixed your camera and sent the pictures to Angel, so you don’t need to worry about her.”

  A smile ghosted Lana’s lips. “I do have to point out I am being pursued by armed and dangerous bikers. You’re putting yourself in a life-threatening situation.”

  Jackie’s face softened and she stroked a finger over Lana’s bruised cheek. “You don’t have to tell me, honey. I can see it for myself. But I put up with a hell of lot worse than Levi when I lived on the streets. He doesn’t scare me.”

  “Nothing scares you,” Kickstand muttered. “You should’ve been the Hades prospect, not me.”

  “Are you coming with us?” Lana still couldn’t believe the risks Kickstand had taken for her. Rex would see his actions as a betrayal. Banishment was the least of the punishments Kickstand would face.

  He shook his head. “I’ve got things I gotta do.”

  “Why did you help me?” Lana asked softly. “I mean…the repercussions…”

  He shrugged. “I owed you. Not just for the time you warned me about the colors, but because it was my fault the Wolverines found you.”

  “You were just following orders,” Lana said softly.

  “I shoulda thought it through. I mean, why would someone like you associate with the Wolverines? You’re sweet and funny and kind, and you treated me with respect. You aren’t like the other old ladies. When I find an old lady, I want her to be just like you.”

  Lana frowned. “You’re staying with Hades? Do you think that’s safe?”

  His face fell. “Nah. I’m not staying with them. It’s not what I thought it was—money and glamour and riding kick-ass bikes with the guys. I didn’t sign up for the murder and drug running and selling women as slaves. I don’t want to wind up in jail. You must think I was pretty naive.”

  “I think you’re a hero.” She gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

  He swallowed and his cheeks reddened. “I don’t know how you married Levi, knowing what it was like to live the biker life.”

  A cold ache seeped into her bones. “I didn’t have a choice. The day after they marked me, Levi found out the mark meant I could be shared around. He didn’t care what they did to me or what they made me do, but that was a line for him. I had been his since I was sixteen. Marrying me was the only way he could keep me for himself. Bikers have a strange code of honor.”

  “What?” Jackie jumped out of the car and grabbed Lana by the shoulders. “You married the bastard? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Lana shrugged as the memories rose like bile in her throat. Levi storming into their room at the Wolverine clubhouse and dragging her semiconscious body off the bed. His hands rough on her cut, bruised skin as he hid the rope burns on her wrists and ankles with bandages. A painful truck ride later and they were at the local marriage registry. Dazed from p
ain, her voice raw from a night of screaming, she couldn’t even call for help.

  “The house mama held a gun to my back, concealed in a bouquet of flowers, and his buddy stood between me and the door. Levi had to hold me up because I was in so much pain I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t even say the vows. My wedding clothes were a T-shirt covered in bloodstains and a pair of torn sweats. They paid the registrar a small fortune to look the other way.”

  Kickstand scratched his head. “Ice know all this?”

  “No. And he never will. Marriage means something to him. He’ll think I made him betray his beliefs. He’ll never forgive me for lying.” Tears welled up in Lana’s eyes as she rounded the car and pulled open the door. She should’ve been honest with him from the beginning, but the temptation of being with him again had proved too strong.

  Kickstand grabbed her arm before she could slide into the seat. “I think you’re wrong. He gave me a message for you in case something happened to him. I’m guessing now, with the Wolverines and Rex wanting him dead…” He choked on his words and then took a deep breath. “I think you should have the message now. He said to make sure you knew he sent it after he found out you were married.”

  A trembling formed deep within her, working its way from her core through her limbs. “What did he say?”

  James awoke to a loud crack and a sharp pain burning across his cheek.

  “Wake up, sunshine.” Ryder peered down at him and frowned. “You need me to slap the other cheek?”

  Still groggy, James pushed himself to a sitting position against the wall. “You fucking touch me again and I’ll rip off your hand.”

  “Finally. Back to normal.” Ryder squatted against the wall across from him, his hands dangling between his legs. “I was beginning to wonder if Dawg had caused some permanent damage when he hit you over the head with that metal pipe. You’ve been lying there moaning for a couple hours.”

  James frowned. “Where’s here?”

  “Storage room at the clubhouse. You’ll notice the lack of windows, the steel fire door and the interesting fact that Rex’s secret drug stash is missing. I guess he and the boys didn’t want us to overdose since they’re planning to torture and kill us. Not as much fun when the victim doesn’t know what’s going on and can’t feel any pain.”

  “Sorry I dragged you into this.” James rubbed the lump on his head and stared up at the naked bulb overhead. Maybe they could use the wires to pick the lock.

  Ryder snorted a laugh. “I’m not. Best time I’ve had since joining the fucking club.”

  “I gotta get out of here. Find Lana.” James pushed himself to his feet and staggered as a wave of dizziness hit him.

  “Easy there.” Ryder jumped up and eased James back down to the floor. “You got hit by the pipe after Rex smashed your head against the wall. You’ve probably got a concussion. You need to chill for a while.”

  “Chill?” James shook his head in disbelief. “Rex is coming to off us. Lana is out there being hunted by Hades and the Wolverines. And you want me to chill?”

  “We’ve got some time,” Ryder said. “They were planning to finish us off in the parking lot but Angel drove up. You should have heard her. Seems she’d hired a PI to follow Rex around, and she’d just received an email with pictures of him and Portia. She came here on a fucking tear, shouting the place down. Even the Wolverines were afraid of her. She grabbed the metal pipe out of Dawg’s hand and chased Rex into his office. Bones and Dawg didn’t want to do anything without Rex, so they locked us in here.”

  Amused, James said, “She owes me a favor.”

  “Well, call it in. She’s the only person besides Rex who has a key.”

  Kickstand pushed up his sleeve and showed Lana the message on his arm. “It’s in another language. I think it might be German.”

  Hands trembling, Lana traced the letters of the three words penned on Kickstand’s arm.

  Ich liebe dich.

  I love you.

  A ball of warmth formed deep inside her chest, flowing through her veins like liquid heat. He forgave her. He loved her. For real.

  “What does it mean?” Kickstand lowered his arm.

  Lana smiled through her tears. “It means I have to find a guy named Hans and thank him for the German lessons. And it means you have to find Ice and tell him where we’re going to be since he doesn’t have a damned phone.” She grabbed an old receipt from her purse and scrawled down an address. “This is a motel between Kamloops and Kelowna. Tell him I’ll be waiting. But…be safe. The Wolverines and Rex will be after you too.”

  Kickstand’s bottom lip trembled. “What if he didn’t…?”

  “There is no if,” Jackie barked. “That Ice is a survivor. He’ll probably have wiped the floor with the Wolverines and is now working his way through Hades.”

  A smile ghosted Kickstand’s worried face. “You’re right about that. I’ll find him. Don’t you worry.”

  Jackie blew Kickstand a kiss as she slid into the driver’s seat. “You know where we are. You’re welcome to join us too. Nothing more fun than being on the run from a sadistic, ruthless motorcycle club times two.”

  Kickstand grinned. “Nothing except leading them in the wrong direction.”

  “Get the fuck outta my way. I’m getting my boy outta there.”

  James and Ryder shared a glance as Angel’s harsh voice pierced the thick steel door and echoed around them as if she were standing in the room.

  “Imagine listening to that every day,” Ryder muttered. “I’d hide in my clubhouse too.”

  Low murmurs outside and then a thud. And then Angel’s shrill voice.

  “Rex is having a rest, courtesy of this here pipe. So the answer is no, we’re not going to wait for him. And unless you’re feeling tired too, I suggest you get the fuck outta my way.”

  Ryder and James plastered their ears to the door, unable to tear themselves away from the train wreck on the other side.

  Voices. Low. Urgent. Crack! A grunt.

  “Don’t tell me I don’t got any say,” Angel shouted. “Last I heard, I was still married to the cheating bastard, which makes me the number one old lady in the club, which makes you dirt under my fucking shoes. See these shoes? He bought ’em for me as an apology for fucking the babysitter. They look pretty but they got steel toes. You know why he bought ’em with steel toes? So I could kick losers like you in the balls and cause some permanent fucking damage.”

  Thud! A long, low pained groan.

  James winced. Beside him, Ryder grimaced and the color drained from his face.

  “You sure it was a good idea calling out for her? What if she’s pissed at us too?”

  “I told you,” James said, with a confidence he didn’t feel in the least. “She owes me a favor.”

  “She doesn’t owe me.” Ryder paced his way to the back of the room. Away from the door.

  James gave a harsh laugh. “She’s half your size. Maybe even less.”

  Ryder shook his head. “Size means nothing. She scares me. Just like black widow spiders and scorpions scare me. They’re so small you can’t see them coming, and by the time you do, it’s too late.” He drew a line across his throat. “You’re dead.”

  A key rattled in the lock and the door swung open. Angel stomped into the room, a metal pipe in one hand and a key in the other. Her fluorescent-pink spandex dress reflected off her scowling face, brightening the room.

  She poked a finger into James’s chest. “Been hearing things about you, Ice.”

  James backed up to the wall. Ryder sidled toward the open door.

  Cowardly bastard.

  “Been hearing you’re a rat. If you are, you’re a bad one. Woulda made my life a whole lot easier if you’d put that fucking bastard in jail. Just went to the doctor this morning and guess what that dickwad brought home from Seymour Street?”

  James could guess what Rex had brought home from Vancouver’s red light district and it wasn’t something he wanted to discuss with Angel.
Especially now.

  Ryder snorted a laugh and Angel whipped her head around and glared. “Shut your fucking mouth, Ryder. Show some respect. I know about you too. I’ve been keeping quiet about you, but if you push me I’ll open my mouth and it won’t be for the sweet treatment you’ve been begging for since the day we met.”

  James sucked in a sharp breath. What could Angel possibly have on Ryder? He rode cleaner than anyone in the club. Maybe…too clean.

  The sound drew Angel’s attention. She didn’t look like herself today but he couldn’t put a finger on what was different.

  She poked him again. Hard. “I know you’re fucking my PI. She did a damn fine job. Got me some good pictures and musta taken a big risk to get them. You mess her around and you answer to me.”

  “It’s not me you should worry about. It’s Levi.” Even as the statement left his lips, rage coiled around his chest so tight he could barely breathe.

  Her face tightened. “Yeah. Claw told me what happened at the meeting. I went after Levi, but he’d already gone. I told the boys, he shows up here again, they call me.” She paused. “You going after her?”

  “The second you let me out of here.”

  Angel’s face softened and James realized what had changed. She wasn’t wearing any makeup and without it she looked…young. Probably late twenties. And attractive. How did she wind up in a biker gang? And with Rex?

  Maybe the same way as Lana. Young and innocent and desperately searching for someone to love her.

  He must have been staring because Angel fisted his shirt and pulled him down toward her.

  “Why you lookin’ at me like that?”

  He swallowed hard and gave her an honest answer. “You’re very pretty without all the makeup.”

  Myriad emotions crossed her face—surprise, regret, pleasure and…displeasure.

  Then she slapped him.

  At least she’d picked the other cheek. Now they both burned.

  “You coming on to me when your girl is out there being chased by a pack of fucking Wolverines? She’s a sweet girl. She’s got a good heart. I told you not to mess her around. I’d leave you locked up in here to think about your behavior, but someone needs to save her. That’s you.”