It's Always Been You (27 page)

“Your boys are wasting lead,” Travis murmured.

“Don’t think I fucking know that?” Crane griped as he aimed and took out a gang member. “They go all the fuck guns blazing, tired as fuck teaching them to aim. Luckily, those Fuego boys don’t know any better.”

Travis chuckled.
 

“Sheeeet, you’re in a gunfight, and you’re happy as fuck because you’ve got your girl all tucked safe. Love sick fool.”

“Shut up,” Travis muttered. He set his gun’s sights at the exposed head of one of the gang members and squeezed the trigger. The man dropped dead. He aimed at another Fuego guy who was partially hidden behind a car. Biding his time and keeping his aim steady, Travis anticipated the man’s movements and squeezed off another shot, hitting the man’s head dead center.

“Damn, Travis, you’re a one-man army,” Crane murmured.

After Travis’s second kill, the gunfire turned sporadic.

“One guy left and he’s surrendering,” Ashe shouted. The shooting stopped. “Drop your weapon. Hands behind your head.”

The remaining Fuego thug did as he was told, and the Iron Skull bikers wasted no time swarming around him.

Crane and Travis helped the sheriff to his feet. Town folks gathered around to get him medical attention.
 

Spying Caitlin in the middle of the crowd, Travis reached for her and hauled her to his side. As his mind began to process the events, one thought turned his blood to ice. “Did anyone hear the gunshot when Marko went down?”
 

Everyone surrounding Travis froze at his words.

“None of you used a suppressor right?” Travis added anxiously, even as he knew the answer. He wasted no time ushering Caitlin into the sanctuary of the B&B. Crane and Ashe followed him inside.

“What the fuck’s going on, Bennett?” Crane asked. “That even your real name?”

“That was a sniper wasn’t it?” Caitlin asked.

“Goddamnit!” Travis shouted and he would have punched out a wall if he could. His eyes landed on Caitlin, his voice turning hoarse. “I can’t keep you safe. My own wife. I can’t fucking keep you safe.”

“Travis—” Caitlin whispered.

“Maybe that’s exactly the problem,” Crane said in a sage tone. “You’re too close to your charge. You’re not the best person to protect her.”

“Shut the fuck up, Crane,” Travis growled.

“No,” the MC president shot back. “You turned my town into the fucking O.K. Corral. I deserve answers. Do we have to arm up against these fuckers?”

Travis stilled. “You’re throwing down behind me and Caitlin?”

“Whoever decided to hire Marko had no scruples. He unleashed that dog on my turf. What do you think?”

“The best option is to get out of Iron Ridge,” Caitlin said. “We can’t drag you guys into this mess. I’m not even sure what the enemy wants anymore. The last one wanted me dead, but the sniper chooses to spare me this time. I don’t get it.”

Travis was a mass of suppressed anger. The impotence of not knowing what they were dealing with ate at him. She could have been killed. One shot. Straight to the head. The image of her with her blood-soaked blonde hair, lying on the ground dead, was fucking with his head.

Crane grabbed his shoulders and shook him. “Get a grip on yourself, Bennett. Caitlin’s alive. It didn’t happen. She wasn’t the target.”

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” Travis repeated over and over.
 

“Travis!” Crane shouted into his face, effectively snapping him out of his dead man’s spiral. “Focus, goddamnit.”

His hazy vision sharpened as he stared into Crane’s serious face. Travis exhaled deeply, his gaze seeking out Caitlin. She was standing to the side, staring anxiously at him.
 

Shit. She didn’t lose it. He did.
Fucking pussy
.

“You know you’re going to be on lockdown when we return to DC?” Travis told his wife.
 

A resigned look crossed her face. She nodded.

“I’m not taking chances. I’m having Nate and Sam come down to escort us back to DC.” Travis resumed control; Crane inclined his head in approval.

“I’ll have some of my boys guard the B&B,” Crane said. “We’ll be ready for them if they’re stupid enough to come after your wife.”

*****

The living room of the Bluebell B&B took on the atmosphere of a clubhouse. Men in leather cuts were kicking back on the couch watching TV. Stone-hearth pizza was delivered from the Italian restaurant across the street free of charge. There was beer, some fried chicken wings, and a variety of other fares donated by different businesses. The town had banded together behind the Iron Skulls who were trying to keep the peace in this crazy town.

Caitlin returned to their room to freshen up. Travis had stayed behind to fill Nicholas Crane in on what was going on. The MC president’s brows shot to his hairline when Travis revealed exactly who he was and what he did. Caitlin was confident Travis would relay only need-to-know information. This was a new threat. And she was getting tired of what she couldn’t remember.
 

She retrieved her laptop from the closet and sat on the bed. She had not worked on the files for a while. The ones she was most curious about were the ones tagged Hephaestus and Carpathian. Her gut told her these files stored high-value data. She had searched the web for their meanings, hoping they’d jolt her memory, but she knew it was futile. Her memory was never coming back. All she had left of the past was a sense of déjâ vu, an emotion, a feeling. Never a clear memory or thought. She had stopped hoping that her dreams would unlock a memory, because really it was too frustrating.

The door to the room opened and Travis walked in. He scowled at the open laptop. “I’ve a feeling they’ve installed a Trojan software from the flash drives.”

“That would mean Porter is involved.”

Travis nodded grimly.

“I think we need to play along for a while,” Caitlin said.

“Sunshine, just admit you’re curious about what they want.”

“Well, there’s that—”

Travis moved to the bed and hauled her to her feet and was about to kiss her when she shoved him off.

“What the fuck?” Travis muttered.

“You smell like her,” Caitlin snapped. A guilty look flashed across his face. A licking finger of jealousy fueled the words tumbling out of her mouth, “And you have a streak of lipstick on your neck.”

“It’s not what you think,” Travis said evenly.
 

“Oh, are you going to say she jumped your bones, wiggled her ass on your lap, and kissed you against your will?”

“As a matter of fact—”

Caitlin snorted and threw up her hands.

“You unleashed that she-wolf on me. I told you what she did. What did you expect?”

“Did you kiss her back?”

“No!”

“Did you get an erection?” Someone shut her up. When had she become so hateful?
 

“Damn it, Caitlin. No!”

“You didn’t?” she asked skeptically. “Sometimes it’s an unintentional response.”

 
“If I didn’t just blister your ass a couple of days ago, I’d be tempted to do the same thing now.”

“What? Why?” Caitlin asked indignantly, though she shivered at the memory of that passionate coupling.

He gripped her chin, which she had jutted out ever since she rebuffed his attempt to kiss her. “You have no idea how deep you’ve gotten under my skin. I’ve managed to keep my dick in my pants all these years . . . well, except those three months when I tried to exorcise you from my heart, and we know how well that fucking turned out.” His nostrils flared. “So it pisses me off right now that you would think that I’d willingly have that woman put her mouth on me.”

“Can you blame me? You smell like her, and you’ve got her lipstick on you,” Caitlin repeated, but the fight had left her. Then she admitted what was really bothering her. “I hated putting you in such a position, but I didn’t want to come across as petty to her either. And now I’m feeling guilty.”

Travis rolled his eyes. “So you’re trying to lay the guilt on me?”

“Yes.” Caitlin stared at her feet, embarrassment making her feel warm all over.

“Crazy woman,” Travis muttered as he stepped closer and tried to kiss her again.

She scrunched her nose and pulled away. “I’m serious, Travis, go shower.”

Travis shot her an annoyed look. He swatted her ass before disappearing into the bathroom.

*****

Dmitry watched his boss, Grigori Zorin, entertain his business associates in an intimate dinner designed to reinforce his rank within Russia’s upper echelon of organized crime. Dmitry used to be an enforcer. The former head of security had been exposed as a double agent for the Komarov Bratva, so he had recently ascended to the position. Zorin was a major arms dealer in South America, and business had been increasingly lucrative, given the continent’s unending conflicts. His only competitor was Komarov. Zorin had set his sights on another opportunity, one that could net him billions of dollars, and the key was locked away in the mind of Caitlin Kincaid.

Dmitry’s phone buzzed and he frowned when he saw its caller ID. He walked over to the balcony attached to the dining room and answered his phone.

“This is not a scheduled call, Belov.”

“Things got a little out of hand, but I’ve rectified the situation.”

Dmitry felt tension coil through his spine. “What happened?”

“Our man got greedy, and Blake had apparently pissed him off in an earlier encounter.”

“Explain.”

“Instead of harmless mischief, he took it too far. He had a temper, and I think he wanted to strike back against Blake. I did more digging into Marko’s file because something about him didn’t sound right. Turns out the man’s a megalomaniac, but I’ve already set him loose.”

“Tell me Ms. Kincaid is unharmed.”

“She’s fine. But there was a shootout.”

It took all of Dmitry’s willpower not to burst into a string of expletives.

“I took him out,” Belov continued. “He was threatening Ms. Kincaid, thinking because we’re concerned about protecting her that he could get more money out of us.”

“The fool. So Blake knows something is up?”

“That is correct. The man’s not stupid. He’ll be leaving town soon.”

“You know this for a fact?”

“No, but I’m keeping an eye on the place.”

“Good. I despise messy, but if the end result is the same, then I’m good with that. Keep me apprised, Belov.”

Dmitry ended the call and rubbed the phone on his chin contemplatively. His eyes drifted to Zorin. His Pakhan was a patient man. That was how he’d become one of the most notorious Russian arms dealers in the business. Zorin weighed his options, preferring to let his competitors make the mistakes, and then he would swoop in for the kill. Dmitry must tread carefully. One misstep could find him in the company of the former security chief—cold in the ground, buried in some field off the beaten path.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

It was almost midnight when Nate and Sam walked through the doors of the B&B escorted by two Iron Skull members. They looked weary from the drive, but their eyes were watchful. Nate walked up to Travis and clapped him on the back.

They exchanged chin-lifts. No words required.

Nate’s eyes shifted to where Caitlin stood. He walked over to her, hugging her tightly. “You okay, sweetie?” Nate whispered.
 

“I’m good.”
 

Travis, knowing it was irrational, still couldn’t help himself from reacting when Nate’s arms lingered around Caitlin longer than he liked. He pulled her from his friend’s embrace.

Nate grinned at him and shook his head. “Let’s talk outside. Fill me in on what’s going on. Sam, stay with Cat.”

The younger man nodded and immediately moved to Caitlin’s side.
 

When they made it to the backyard, his best friend said, “Looks like you need a remedial class on how to be low key and invisible.”

“Fuck off, Reece.”
 

“Oh, see here, Blake,” Nate shot back. “You need me. You’re insanely in love with your wife, and it’s been clouding your judgment. First day in a small town and you go on radar with a motorcycle club, and now, you’ve instigated a shootout involving the Fuego gang. What the fuck?”

“Caitlin’s a magnet for trouble,” Travis muttered.

“Or maybe her husband couldn’t keep himself detached enough not to let her run circles around him.”

Travis hated that Nate was right. He and Caitlin were pissed at each other the night of the bar fight. But this thing with the Colombian gang was baffling. He mentioned this to Nate.

“Are you square with their leader? Are they coming after you?’

“Yes. No,” Travis answered the questions in order. “Marko is the nephew of the gang leader, but he has fallen out of favor in recent years, especially after costing the alliance between the Iron Skulls and Fuego by fucking with Crane’s daughter. I bet he was cashing out with what he could get out of kidnapping Caitlin and going to disappear into Colombia where most of the gang members are originally from.”

“You know we may be in over our heads here,” Nate admitted. “Have you talked to Porter?”

“I’m too pissed to call him right now.”

“You think he’s involved with what’s happened today?”

“My gut tells me he is.”

“Fuck.”

“They’re keeping Caitlin alive for a reason. I just pieced it in my head. I bet they have Pavlo Milekhin in custody to prevent him from coming after Caitlin while she works on hacking through their files.”

“Why not just tell her what to look for?” Nate’s brow furrowed. “Get this over with.”

Travis rubbed his hand across his face. “I don’t understand the whole science behind it. But I think, with this kind of situation, it’s better for the person with amnesia to find things out on her own rather than have it suggested. I think it might cause confusion. There’s an order that the brain processes information.”

“You think Porter won’t give you a straight answer?” Nate asked. “It’s simpler just to ask him, don’t you think?”

“I’ve asked him about Milekhin. He straight up denied involvement in his disappearance. The thing is, Nate, he knows I’ve seen him lie through his teeth. I thought I admired the man then for playing people so well. Not so much now when I’m the target of his manipulation.”