Duke (34 page)

Duke’s hand landed on her back and he said, “Yeah, when our control room saw her phone drop out of the network, and we couldn’t reach her, we used the GPS on her car to see where she was. We drove a club vehicle so he wouldn’t hear the bikes approaching.”

Pebbles had her phone to her ear and she said, “Honeybunch? I’m fine, not a scratch on me, and I hate that this happened the one time you let me go out without a guard, but we kind of had a situation.”

“
No, honey, seriously, I’m fine. A bunch of bikers came to our rescue. Gen’s ex-boyfriend was a cop, and he used the surveillance feeds on us to find out which houses we’d be viewing. So, he was after her, but only knew where to lay in wait because of our surveillance.”

“
Yeah, he’s here, I’m pretty sure he’s Gen’s boyfriend. I’ll let ya’ll figure out what you want to do from here, okay?”

“
Yeah, but he put me in a hog-tie, so if I get a request then I want one of his shoulder’s dislocated. It can go right back in if you want, it doesn’t have to stay out.” She paused a second and said, “I love you, too, Honeybunch. Here’s Duke.”

* * * *

Duke took the phone from Pebbles and said, “Your wife is safe, and we’ll make sure she stays safe until we can hand her over to your custody. I didn’t create the mess. I’m just trying to clean it up.”

“
How did you know they were in trouble? Or where to find them?”

“
Our control room monitors Gen’s phone, and I have a tracker in her car. He pulled the battery from her phone, and when her cellphone went offline we came to her car to check on her.”

“
He’s a cop?”

“
Suspended for putting audio and video inside her house without a warrant. Hasn’t gone to trial yet, but he’ll be off the force once it does. She has a restraining order against him, but we all know how well those work.”

“
Tricky. You want it to go to trial, or do you want him to go away?”

“
I’d prefer the latter, but you’re right about it being tricky.”

Jiminy sighed. “You and I need a sit down about your business practices, but for now we need to be able to work together. With me?”

“
Yeah, I’m with you.” He looked up, saw Gen and Pebbles talking, and said, “Our women seem to be bonding, though. Fair warning.”

Jiminy laughed. “Why am I not surprised? Okay. I’m on my way to you now, based on your cellphone coordinates. We’ll find his vehicle and I’ll have one of my guys drive it to a local chop shop, with a warning the parts need to move far away, and the body scrapped. I’ll get it to a shop run by one of your enemies, so it won’t be tied back to you if it’s found local. I want to dislocate his shoulder while Pebbles watches, then if we can agree on someone who can escort them the rest of the day, my guess is my wife’ll want to finish viewing the properties, if your woman’s up to it.”

Duke looked up and asked, “Ma’am? Your husband seems to think you’ll want to go back to viewing properties once we finish up here?”

Pebbles looked to Gen. “Are you up to it, Sweets? I really want to see the one on the river.”

“
I need a change of clothes and then I’m up for just about anything.” Gen’s gaze went to Duke, wondering if he’d be okay with her plan, and he smiled at her before speaking into the phone.

“
Yeah, Dozer can stick with them the rest of the day. You’ll meet him when you get here.”

“
I have some safety pins in my purse,” Pebbles told Gen. “Let’s go to the bathroom and see what kind of repair we can work.”

Gen smiled at Duke and asked, “Can someone go out to my car and get the royal blue scarf out of my trunk? Please?”

Duke shook his head as he retrieved her keys from her purse. “I’ll go, that way I’ll be outside waiting for Davidson when he gets here.”

Dozer growled, “Brain, get the prisoner so I can stand behind Duke.”

Realizing it wouldn’t be a bad thing to have one of his enforcers standing behind him, he didn’t argue with his men.

Jiminy pulled up in a black BMW seven-sixty, someone who was likely ex-special forces in the passenger seat. The two men got out and Duke stepped forward and offered his hand to Jiminy, saying, “I’m Duke. Gen sent me out to get a scarf from her trunk. Your woman is assisting her with clothing repair. McPherson got a little rough with Gen.”

Jiminy’s eyebrows pulled together in what looked like true concern and he asked, “She okay?”

“
Yeah. She’s tough. Our deal was for her to be protected by me or one of my men when not working, though she’d need someone with her for any new clients. But, she met your wife in the office once, and this had been set long enough we didn’t think there was any danger of you being connected to McPherson. Still, she had a nine mil on her hip and a three-eighty under her arm, and was trained to use them long before I came along. Unfortunately, he knew she’d be armed, and with his cop training he took her by surprise and zip-tied her before she could react.”

“
Call me Jiminy. We’ll go through the details later,” Jiminy said, “but I’m not holding you responsible. I’d like to get inside and see Pebbles, though.”

Duke nodded to the door. “Up the steps and end of the hall. They’re in the bathroom but I’m sure she’ll come out when she hears you. I’ll get the scarf from the trunk and be up.”

Pebbles was in Jiminy’s arms when Duke made it upstairs, and he stuck his head around the partially closed door of the bathroom to hand Gen the scarf. He watched as she tied it around her waist and knotted it at her right hip. He leaned in, touched her hip, felt her Sig back where it belonged.

“
You were right. He had me tied up before I had a chance to even think of drawing.”

“
It’s what he’s been trained for, Beautiful. Just remember this the next time we disagree about your safety though, okay? I was right?”

Gen smiled and rolled her eyes, and he stepped into the bathroom and drew her into his arms. “I was so scared, and it’s been a long time since I felt true fear. Longest damned ride of my life.”

“
I tried to signal you almost as soon as he took me down.”

“
And I got it, but that’s for discussion later, we need to go back out, if you’re put back together okay?”

“
Yeah, as good as I’m going to get.”

* * * *

When Duke walked Gen back to the master bedroom, Jiminy and another well-dressed man had taken control of Mike.

For some reason, the first thing that came to Gen’s mind was the fact the house would be shown again this afternoon, so she said, “No blood. Another Realtor will be here with prospective buyers in less than an hour.”

“
Good to know,” Jiminy said without turning around. “Cut the zip-ties, Fox.”

As soon as Mike’s arms were free, Jiminy grabbed him by the forearm, spun him around, lifted his arm, and
yanked
. Gin saw his shoulder dislocate, and Mike’s scream went through her and made her realize she needed to pee. She turned into Duke, buried her head in his chest, and he held her, his body tight but his arms comforting.

Gen heard a second scream, and looked around to see both of Mike’s arms hanging loose. Jiminy punched him in the gut, and when Mike leaned forward, Jiminy grabbed his arm and held it out as Fox grabbed Mike’s torso and held him in place, and Jiminy forced Mike’s arm back into the socket.

* * * *

Duke let Gen run from the room, and nodded for Brain to follow her. He wanted to be there for her, but needed to be in this room with Jiminy and Mike even more.

Dozer and Fox worked to get the second arm back in, and Jiminy turned to his wife, who was standing strong a few feet behind her husband. “Anything else, Babe?”

“
Yeah. Restrain his arms behind him again, and I want him on his knees.”

Jiminy motioned to Fox, and Duke retrieved the stack of zip-ties they’d pulled from McPherson’s pocket and handed a few to Dozer.

When they had him restrained and kneeling, Pebbles stepped to him and said, “Make him look at me, and spread his legs a little, please.”

Fox grabbed Mike’s hair and pulled his head back as he kicked the man’s knees apart.

“
Gen might be too nice to do this, but I heard what you had planned for her and I’m gonna ask my husband to send you to his cohorts in South America, where there’s a nice market for male sex slaves. They’ll beat the fight right out of you, so you’ll bend over and take it up the ass anytime you’re ordered.” Duke watched in fascination as the petite woman pulled her foot back and aimed her pointy-toed high-heeled shoe directly at Mike’s nuts, and had a very satisfied look on her face as he fell forward with another scream.

Pebbles turned and looked at Duke, “You got a problem with my solution?”

Duke shook his head. “I don’t know what he had planned, and I’m gonna want to get a few of my own punches in once we get him out of here and don’t have to worry about blood, but it sounds like a great long-term solution to me.”

She turned to her husband. “You can make it happen?”

“
For you? Anything.”

She nodded. “Good. I’m going outside with Gen.” She looked at Dozer. “You’re our designated body-guard?”

He smiled. “If your husband approves, yeah.”

Pebbles glanced at Jiminy, looked back at Dozer. “He approves. Hand the asshole over to Duke and come with me. We’ll send Brain back up before we go.”

“
Tell Gen I need a kiss before ya’ll leave,” Duke told her, and she smiled and nodded.

“
So,” Duke asked, “You and Pebbles had an enjoyable day after your kidnapping adventure?”

“
Yeah, I really like her.” Gen let him hold her, glad he wanted to touch her, happy to once again feel safe in his arms. “Can I ask you something?”

“
You can ask anything you want, Beautiful. I’ll give you the answers I can, based on our agreement.”

“
Pebbles told me to trust her to tell me what I needed to hear, and no more. She said Jiminy had let her decide Mike’s fate, and that he wasn’t going to be killed, but he understood he’d never be welcome in Chattanooga again. Does that mean I still have to worry about him? She assured me I don’t, but… is he on his honor to not come back? Because he’d planned to kill me and then kill himself. Death threats aren’t going to scare him away, Duke.”

Duke pulled back, looked at her a few seconds, and said, “What Pebbles said was accurate. I’ll just add that he’ll be been taken far enough away it’s doubtful he’ll ever find his way back.”

“
The cops are going to ask me about him when he comes up missing, aren’t they?”

“
Yes.”

“
And I’m going to have to lie.”

“
Do you want to tell them the truth?”

“
Well, no, but I don’t want to have to lie, either.”

He walked her to the sofa, sat down, and pulled her into his lap. “How about saying you haven’t heard from him and have no idea where he is. I think the only actual lie you’ll need to tell is that the last you heard from him is when he knocked on your door and you called nine-one-one. Other than that, you haven’t heard from him since the last time he harassed you, and you don’t know where he is. Both of those statements are true.”

“
Not entirely honest, but true.” Gen rearranged herself on his lap and leaned her head into him, her hands loose at his sides. “On a positive note, Pebbles likes the nearly three million dollar home on the Tennessee River. I’m showing it to her and Jiminy together tomorrow morning, and if he likes it, I assume we’ll make an offer.”

Duke sighed. “And that’s the weakest point of this whole thing. If they can point to Jiminy being involved in McPherson’s disappearance, they’ll have a direct link to you. Or, it could work the other way. Someone sees the link from you to him, and goes from there.”

“
So I should hand this off to another Realtor?”

Duke shook his head. “No, too late for that. There are records showing you contracted with them to show them houses. Just pointing out it’s the weak link.” He kissed her forehead. “Kind of a moot point anyway, if you and Pebbles are gonna become buds.”

“
What’s the deal with you and Jiminy?”

“
In a crazy sort of way, Mike may have helped us avoid a turf war. Jiminy and I agreed to a one-year cease-fire. I called a club vote, and then agreed not to expand our no-drugs territory for one year, though we reserve the right to expand our no-hookers-on-corners territory, and a few other things. In exchange, Jiminy will tell his people they’re going to have to live with our no-drugs zone, and he won’t back them in a fight to reclaim it.”

He stroked her hair, kissed the top of her head. “Can we have our conversation now?”

Gen’s heart dropped into her stomach, but she said, “Yeah.”

“
Hey, no need for that. I don’t want to smell fear and grief on you. I got enough of that when I walked into that
room
.”

“
Then talk and get it over with, please.”

“
You let me hurt you. I’m pissed at you, but the wolf is… Brain was right, he wanted to spank you, punish you and show you this was not acceptable. I needed you to be around a while, show him you weren’t going to run, you were with us, which is why I was so mad when you left this morning.”

God, this morning felt like such a long time ago. Gen sighed and asked, “So, if I piss you both off, I have to figure out how to make it up to both of you?”

“
Yeah, Beautiful. Pretty much.”

“
I don’t suppose you can
change
and let me just pet him?”

Duke laughed. “I won’t
change
around you when he’s ticked at you. I can control him when I’m human, but he has more control when I’m in his form. He won’t bring harm to you, but he might hurt you. Do you understand the difference?”