Fast and Furious (2 page)

Visit dpgroup.org for more books uploaded by our generous members

Chapter Two

“Ah, Miami,” Logan said as he titled his head back.

The bright Florida sunshine warmed his face and he closed his eyes, breathing in the salty air. A whiff of exhaust fumes mingled in, and he cringed.

With a sigh, he opened his eyes and glanced around for a cab. “Where is it we’re supposed to go?”

Chase pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced at something on the screen. “The apartment he rented for us first, I suppose. He has three cars waiting for us to use while we’re here. We just have to find a cab to get us there.”

“Where’s the apartment?” Blaine asked as he stepped onto the sidewalk to join them.

“Homestead,” Chase replied.

Logan shot him an amused look, then continued his search for a cab. Usually Miami airport was crawling with them. Spotting one a few yards away, he waved and motioned him over.

“So why couldn’t we bring our own cars?” Blaine asked, irritation in his voice.

“Because no one can know who we really are, hence the apartment, the credit cards, the cars. My guess is whoever she’s undercover investigating is also investigating her and everyone who works for her and that will include us.”

“Swell,” Blaine drawled. “He probably stuck us with some economy sedans.”

Chase chuckled. “Close, but no. Actually, we have one Avalanche, one Hummer, and one Spider.”

Logan snorted. “You call that close to a sedan?”

Blaine frowned. “A Spider?”

“Street racing car,” Logan replied. “She’s undercover as a specialist in customizing street racers.”

Chase frowned. “How do you know that?”

“Did you not read that paperwork SECNAV sent?” Logan demanded as the cab came to a stop in front of them.

“I was too busy packing. I planned to read it when we arrived.”

“How long does it take to throw a few things in a bag, Logan?” Blaine asked with amusement as he stepped forward to toss his bag into the trunk of the cab.

“Remember, Blaine,” Logan teased. “You’re asking that of Chase.”

Blaine grinned. “Oh, yeah. Now I know why.”

“Kiss my ass, both of you,” Chase snarled as he tossed his suitcase into the trunk alongside Blaine’s.

Logan grinned and tossed his bag in as well, then shut the lid. Out of the three of them, Chase had to be the most preppy. Logan and Blaine wore jeans or camo; casual clothes were their thing. Chase was more into khakis and polo shirts. Not a strand of his short brown hair was out of place. He was the darling of their group. With his big green eyes and deep voice he could seduce a woman faster than Logan and Blaine combined when he put out the effort.

How the hell he was going to pass as a mechanic in appearance was beyond Logan, but skill-wise, Chase was better with cars than any of them, especially the technical, computerized models.

The three of them climbed into the cab. Blaine and Chase in the back. Logan in the front.

“Where to?” the cab driver asked in a heavy Hispanic accent.

Logan glanced back at Chase, who gave the driver the address. He plugged it into his GPS and they were off.

* * * *

Logan climbed out of the Avalanche and stared at the impressive shop before them. Four bays and more fancy cars then he could count littered the parking lot, mostly of the street racing variety. Music blared from one of the bays and Logan looked over the hood of the car toward Chase, who was just getting out of the passenger side. Blaine came up beside Chase and whistled.

“Damn,” Blaine drawled. “There must be a million dollars just right here in the parking lot.”

“No kidding,” Chase replied before looking over at Logan.

“You three the new hires?”

All three turned to look at the man who’d just spoken to their left. He was a black man in his mid-twenties or so with thin braids down to his collar bones. He was about average height and build, but there was a devilish twinkle in his eyes that put Logan at ease.

“That would be us.”

“I’m Dray,” he said as he extended his hand to Logan.

Logan took it with a smile. “Logan.”

Dray nodded. “Yeah, I recognized you from the pictures her father sent. I know who you are. Allie doesn’t, though. She’d have my head if she knew what I agreed to.”

“Speaking of,” Chase said as he looked around.

“She’s not here,” Dray said with a shake of his head. “She disappears from time to time.”

“What do you know about where she goes?” Logan asked.

Dray sighed and glanced around before motioning for Chase and Blaine to join them on Logan’s side of the truck. “Not enough. I’ve been with her here for about four years now. It took some serious pleading and threatening and it was only when I said I would follow her that she finally came clean. She hates that I know. It worries her.”

“I can understand that,” Chase said.

Dray nodded and continued. “She’s dealing with the cartel, which one I have no idea. There’s several down here. Other than what she’s told me, she keeps me out. Says it’s her way of protecting me and maybe it is, but…” Dray licked his lips before continuing, “I now know for a fact she’s in too deep and she’s scared. She would never admit that to me, but I can tell.”

“Is it possible she’s turned?” Blaine asked.

Dray shook his head. “No way! She’s stuck is what she is. She hasn’t gotten anywhere with this group. They’re too tight, too distrusting. But now she’s in so deep, she can’t get out. She needs your help, whether she wants to admit that or not. Her only way out alive is to bring them down.”

“Bring them down?” Logan asked with a raised eyebrow. “We were sent here to see about her, not bring down a cartel.”

Dray scowled and shook his head. “I know why you’re here. I’m asking you to not just see about her, but get her out.”

Logan sighed and glanced toward the shop.

“You’re the best of the best, right?” Dray asked with hope in his eyes.

“We can protect her,” Blaine replied. “I’m not sure we can fight a war for her. We may be the best of the best, but we’re just three men.”

“You don’t need to fight a war for her, just get her out.”

“You said the only way to get her out was to bring them down.”

“You only need to bring down one man.”

Logan put his hands on his hips and shook his head in disagreement. “It’s not just one man. By cutting off the head, you will inflict some damage, but not enough to kill it. The head will grow back in the form of an eager second in command anxious to make his mark in the drug world. And his first order of business would be to go after Allie. She would know too much.”

Dray shrugged in agitation. “So what the hell do we do?”

“I’m not sure yet, but we’ll figure it out.” Logan gave Dray a pat on the back and nodded toward the garage. “First things first. Show us around; let us get familiar with the place before the boss lady gets back. We need to look as much like mechanics as possible, right?”

Dray studied the three of them, then chuckled. “I’m not sure she’s going to believe it no matter what you do.” He nodded his head toward Chase. “Especially that one.”

Chase stiffened and glanced down at himself. “What?”

Blaine, Dray, and Logan chuckled as they walked into the garage. A grumbling Chase followed close behind.

Chapter Three

Chase strolled around the garage tapping the socket wrench against his pant leg. He had to stop himself from drooling as he glanced under the hood of one of the many cars in the bay. Tanks of nitrous oxide leaned against the far wall, ready to be hooked up to one of the many possible engines. No street racer worth his salt would race without it.

He ran his fingers along the sidewall of a red Honda Civic. Purple and yellow swirls decorated the sides and curled along the hood. The Civic was just an average car, but the engine was anything but. He leaned on his elbows and studied the intake. This car was a racer’s dream and his fingers itched to sit behind the wheel and see just how fast he could get her to go.

“I retract my former statement,” Dray said as he eyed the engine work Chase had done. He wiped his hands on a towel lying over the car and smiled at Chase. “Nice work. You apparently know your way around cars.”

Chase shrugged one shoulder. “I grew up around them. My father was a huge Nascar fan. He even did a little local racing and took me along to work in the pit crew.”

Dray snickered. “You and Allie have similar backgrounds. You should get along just fine. You can swap racing stories.”

Chase chuckled. “What’s she like?”

He needed to know as much about her as he could beyond what had been in her father’s reports. The real Allie was what he was interested in.

“She’s stubborn, adventurous, bores easily, can’t sit still for more than a minute at a time, is like a man when it comes to sex. She’s had more one night stands than I have. She’s also got a smart mouth on her and has what I call a male’s sense of humor.”

One side of Chase’s lips lifted. “A male’s sense of humor?”

“Yeah, raunchy.”

Chase laughed and nodded. “Gotcha.”

He looked forward to meeting this girl. She sounded like a female version of himself.

“She would be a handful for any man.”

Chase snickered and tapped his knuckle against the door of the car. “Well, I’m just here to get her out of trouble, not marry her.”

Dray smiled slightly. “Allie doesn’t go where Allie doesn’t want to go. If she doesn’t want out just yet, then there’s your handful.”

“Great,” Chase drawled.

Dray stiffened and Chase immediately tensed up as well, wondering what had caught Dray’s attention as he stared out the bay doors. Before Chase could ask, Dray leaned down, resting his elbows against the car as he looked into the engine.

“Don’t look out the bay doors right now, but the boys are back,” Dray murmured.

Chase leaned down as well, studying the small silver part Dray wiggled with his fingers. “What boys?”

“Two guys that swing by here periodically. They park across the street and watch the shop. Allie must not be far behind. They’d stopped watching her for a while. This is the first time I’ve seen them in several weeks. She must’ve done something to raise their hackles again. Made them suspicious of her.”

Chase frowned. “Does that happen often?”

“Not as much as it used to. They watch her so much, she can’t get word to her superiors. She found a bug in the phone, too. She left it in for fear if she took it out it would make her appear even more suspicious.”

“What about the shop? Is it bugged too?”

“Maybe. I don’t know what I’m looking for, so I’m not sure I would know it if I saw one. It’s why I keep the music going like I do. It helps to cover some of what we’re saying. Just in case.”

Chase nodded.

“At least behind this hood if they were trying to hear what we were saying, the hood blocks their line of sight.”

“Good thinking.”

“I’ve had to learn some of this stuff working with Allie. I just wonder what the hell she’s done this time.”

Chase glanced over toward the office and caught Logan’s eye. Chase lifted his right hand and curled his first two fingers, indicating Logan should join them.

Logan strolled out and walked to the other side of the car, leaning behind the hood as they did. “What’s up?”

“There’s a car across the street,” Chase began.

“A blue Cadillac,” Dray added.

“See what you can find out.”

Logan nodded and stood up. Chase watched him walk toward the opening of the bay, then called out. “Hey, don’t forget the drinks this time.”

Turning his head slightly, Logan sent him an amused look before raising his hand in acknowledgement. He climbed into the truck and took off down the road. As he watched him leave, Chase got a good look at the car across the street and one of the drivers.

“Where’s he going?” Dray asked.

Chase turned back to Dray and leaned back over the engine. “To get lunch and a few pictures of that car, the license plate, and its drivers. We can send the pics to SECNAV and he’ll do the research for us. It’s good to know who we’re up against. The more information we can get, the better prepared we’ll be.”

“Makes sense,” Dray replied as he reached out to tighten a loose bolt.

The low rumble of a large truck overrode the music and filled the bay with the harsh growl of a diesel engine. Dray and Chase straightened, looking out the bay doors at the wrecker pulling a deep purple Mustang.

Blaine joined them in the bay and wiped his hands on a rag hanging from the wall. “Nice car,” he said.

“Yeah,” Chase replied, but in truth he wasn’t even looking at the car. His attention was on the woman climbing from the now quiet truck. “Damn,” he whispered and turned to Dray. “Please tell me that’s not Allie.”

“Sorry, man. That’s Allie.”

Chase turned back to the young woman as she shut the door with a hard slam. Dark brown hair cascaded down her back in layered tight curls with streaks of gold. Long dark brown lashes surrounded deep brown eyes that slanted up at the corners just a little. Full lips tinted pink glistened in the light as the sun’s rays caught her gloss and made it sparkle.

Swallowing, Chase let his gaze wander lazily down her jean-clad hips to her red painted toenails encased in three inch heels. His eyes traveled back up her curvy figure, past her full hips, trim waist, and perky breasts. Toned, deeply tanned arms lifted to remove the lock holding the front wheels of the car off the ground and he couldn’t seem to stop staring.

This is not what he’d expected. Not at all. He wouldn’t be worth shit if he had to stare at her all damn day. He’d been looking at her less than ten seconds and already he could feel his balls getting tight. Allie was a knockout.

“Put your tongue back in your mouth, man,” Dray said, his voice dripping with humor. “She can smell a man who’s lusting like that from a mile away and when she does, she eats them alive.”

Chase sent him a look of disbelief over his shoulder before turning back to Allie.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn ya,” Dray drawled as he moved past Chase. “Hey, beautiful. What cha got for me today?”

“Well,” she said as she stepped back from the wrecker and eyed the mustang. “It’s not a bad car, but it needs some work. Piston rings are fried.”

Chase moved closer, but kept his distance. Blaine moved up to join him, watching her with interest as well as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“That’s an easy fix,” Dray replied.

Her lips spread into a smile that made Chase’s chest tighten. “That’s what you said when I brought that Supra in here. Took you three weeks to fix it.”

Dray snorted. “That’s because you kept running off. I have help now.” He pointed his thumb into the bay toward Chase and Blaine.

Chase tensed slightly as she turned to look at them in surprise. “You hired two guys?”

“Three.”

She jerked her head back to Dray. “Three?”

“Three,” he repeated. “I told you I needed help and you said hire however many you need.”

“I don’t think I said those exact words.”

Dray waved his hand toward the cars littering the parking lot. “Look around, Allie. We’re behind. I know it, you know it. Accept it. I hired three.”

Allie smiled and threw her hands up. “Fine. Three. But couldn’t you have hired some a little less easy on the eyes?”

Chase grinned at her comment as she walked away, moving past him and Blaine as though they weren’t even standing there. Chase didn’t miss the way she checked him out from the corner of her eye and his grin widened. She was ballsy, he’d give her that.

A towel hit Chase in the chest, and he caught it before it hit the floor. “I told ya,” Dray drawled in good humor. “Chomp, chomp.”

“Chomp, chomp?” Blaine asked with a frown.

“Don’t ask,” Chase replied as he rolled his eyes.