Rock Chick 08 Revolution (29 page)

“You do when they think you’re a badass who isn’t scared of them, which
I’m not because you nor Lee nor anybody would let anything happen to me,” I
shot back. “You lose the upper hand if you act like anything they can do puts
the fear of God in you. And newsflash, Luke. They knew where I lived, they know
where I work. It’s a possibility they’ve had eyes on me. Therefore, unless
they’re blind, they know I’m a girl. They don’t need me to sexualize me.
They’re guys. They’ve already done it.”

Luke’s mouth got tight, which was silent macho badass for
point taken.

“You need to set up for a takedown at Lincoln’s,” I ordered.

“Lee’s already on that,” Mace stated, walking back to us. “And you
better prepare, woman, ‘cause he’s also on his way here and he’s not real
happy.”

Whatever.

Lee wasn’t real happy when Indy and I bottle rocketed Nina Evans’s
front yard when she spread that rumor I had herpes, her brother went ballistic
and he had to step in.

And he wasn’t real happy the sundry times I’d gotten a bit past tipsy
and interrupted his evening for a ride.

I could go on.

He always got over it.

He’d get over this too.

“I’m gonna go see if my stun gun is charged,” I told Mace and Luke.

Luke frowned at me.

Mace frowned at his boots.

I barely got three steps before Tex was there.

“I’m in,” he declared.

“This is team play,” Luke declined.

“I’m in,” Tex repeated.

“This’ll take three seconds, we don’t have to deal with a wildcard,”
Luke returned.

“I’m,’ Tex leaned in and finished on a boom, “
in!
”

Luke stared him in the eyes.

Then he muttered, “Fuck.”

By the way, that was verbal macho badass that meant Luke was giving in.

A second after that, the bell over the door went and I looked that way
to see Lee stalking in, eyes on me.

Yep.

Unhappy.

Whatever.

* * * * *

“Tex and Brian are already in place,” Lee said to me.

We were in the biography section of the bookshelves.

It was near go time for Operation Takedown New Mexican Baddies.

Tex, you know. Brian was Brian Bond. He was a uniformed cop who had
been a rookie when Indy had her Rock Chick Drama, but now he had some
experience under his belt. He was also partner with Willie Moses who, aside
from being a seriously fine black man, was a friend of the family and a very
good cop.

“I know,” I answered Lee.

“You go in, you keep an eye out. You do not look at Tex or Brian, even
a glance. They do not exist for you,” Lee ordered.

I fought rolling my eyes and saying,
Duh.

“You gotta keep this guy, or guys, occupied for five minutes, ten tops.
Mug shots we got on them are years old so don’t rely on those pictures I showed
you, and even the police in New Mexico don’t know the extent of their crew so
keep alert. Brian and Tex will be casing inside, seein’ if they’re alone or if
they come with sentries. My crew will be workin’ outside. You will get no go
sign. If inside and outside are clear, Willie will come in and he and Brian
will do the takedown. They’re not, we’ll neutralize the threat outside. You’ll
see Ike, Bobby and Matt inside workin’ with Willie. You sit at a booth opposite
the bar. Brody’s in the van and he’ll have eyes on that row. You have two jobs.
Keep them occupied while we clock who’s in play and then gettin’ the fuck outta
the way when the takedown begins. You got that?” he asked.

“Yes, kemosabe,” I answered and his eyes narrowed.

“This isn’t a joke, Ally,” he gritted out.

“No shit, Lee.”

His face got dark and after hours of planning this crap, he got down to
what was really bugging him.

“You should not have taken the meet.”

“And wait for however long it is for this situation to be dealt with?”
I asked. “Luke and Ava are getting married in two days. I don’t want to have to
take the time to call the bomb squad to ask them to do a sweep. I take the
meet, this is done and all I have to do is wonder with everyone else if Luke’s
gonna dance with Ava at the reception.”

His lips got tight.

Although I knew that meant he was going to give me no further shit,
which was usually an opening for me to give him some (or some more), I passed
on that opportunity in order to get this done.

“Is there anything else before we move out?” I asked.

“Yeah,” he answered. “They give you any indication they got a weapon
trained on you in a way we can’t see, like under the table, you run your hand
through your hair startin’ at the top and going back. Yeah?”

I nodded, not liking that part, but knowing, seeing as they blew up my
apartment, they could come in carrying and have no problem switching from
negotiation to threats
—
and other
much less fun possibilities
—
to
get what they wanted.

Lee got a lot less intense and moved a few inches away from me.

But he did this saying, “Dad wants a family meeting tonight.”

At that, I shook my head. “Ren and I have a date.”

His chin jerked back. “You had a date two days ago.”

“That didn’t happen seeing as we got sidetracked,” I shared and this
time, Lee shook his head.

“Go no further,” he ordered.

I wasn’t going to so I complied.

“We get this done, Willie and Brian get whoever we take down to the
station, they’re interrogated, processed, Hank gets briefed, he’s free, the
family sits down,” Lee decreed.

“I just said I couldn’t do it tonight because Ren and I have a date,” I
reminded him of something he couldn’t have forgotten in the three seconds since
I said it.

He got close again. “Ally, it’s not gonna surprise you that Dad—and
Mom, I’ll add—are upset and worried. They need a sit down with you and you need
to show them the respect of givin’ them that time and listening.”

He was right about that so I had no choice but to nod again but
queried, “Can I ask why this meeting is being called through you and Hank?”

“Because by upset and worried I meant hurt and pissed.”

Oh man.

That was not good.

I loved my mom and dad. They were the shit.

Malcolm and Kitty Sue Nightingale weren’t perfect human beings or
parents.

But they came really,
really
close.

Part of me was being nonchalant about all that was happening with me
and how it would affect my parents because, as crazy as I was, they not only
always loved me but expected, when it got down to the important shit, I’d do
the right thing. And save for some lying and underage drinking and a few other
things (okay, maybe not a few but nothing that was important), I did.

So I knew two things. The first was that whatever decision I made, if
it wasn’t stupid, they’d back it (eventually). The second was that they knew
they raised a woman who would not be stupid.

But hearing what Lee said sucked. And it pained me. Because I didn’t
want to hurt or piss off my parents. And I’d done both.

So I needed to attend this meeting and see to sorting that out.

I drew in breath.

Then I let it out and nodded once again, mentally planning to send a
text to Ren that was a lot less fun than the earlier ones to explain the change
in plans for our evening.

Now, however, I had a job to do.

Therefore I asked Lee, “We ready?”

He stepped to the side for me to precede him, answering, “Let’s roll.”

I followed Lee out of the books and to the front.

Lee went to Indy.

I went to the door.

But as I did, I had eyes on my BFF.

She also had eyes on me and she mouthed,
Be safe.

I mouthed back,
Always.

Then I walked out the door.

* * * * *

I’d chosen locations wrongly.

This was because Lincoln’s had two rows of stationary tables down its front
room, at the end there was a bar, an entrance at the front, a door to the
smoking area at the back. That meant that there was no way to sit without your
back to a door.

I picked facing to the front but turning my back to the wall so I had
eyes either way.

I’d also clocked Tex sitting at the bar with a bottle of Bud in front
of him. I didn’t look at him, but I clocked him. Then again, with his mass,
that would be hard not to do.

Brian, I didn’t see and I didn’t look. I knew Brian enough, if he told
Lee he was in place, he was.

I ordered a bottle of Fat Tire and waited, phone on the table by my
beer, pepper spray in my back pocket.

At three seventeen, I was getting antsy.

It was then the front door opened and they came in.

I knew it was them right away. I knew this not because they looked like
their mug shots (they didn’t), but because there were two of them and one was
slight, wiry and looked as whiney and weasely as he sounded on the phone.

But the other one was big, brawny and I knew instantly he was not only
the muscle, he was the brains.

And he was not to be messed with.

I also felt it. The prickle at the back of my neck and the charge of my
adrenaline flowing.

They were not here to negotiate. I had no idea what they had planned
but they offered deference in an attempt to outfox me and get my ass right
where it was. This meant, regardless of any connections I had that they’d put
together, they did not take me seriously.

It also meant they had something up their sleeve.

And last, it meant it was highly unlikely I had five to ten minutes to
give to Lee.

I turned to face their way on my stool at the same time I casually ran
my hand through my hair from top to back then let my hand fall to the table. I
wrapped the fingers of my other hand around the beer bottle which, if broken
against the side of the table, could be used as a weapon.

And I didn’t take my eyes off them.

They no sooner got their asses on their stools than I felt a presence
at my back, close, and something that couldn’t be mistaken pressed hard to my
ribs.

They had a soldier inside, and he wasted no time moving on me and
jamming the barrel of a gun into my flesh.

Not.

Good.

I gave no headspace to what this might mean—this soldier free to make
his move—if Brian or Tex didn’t clock him or if they did and they had some
plan.

I needed to remain clearheaded and calm.

I also needed to remain alive so I could have my red and black
Pope-approved nuptials then give Ren babies.

In my head I whittled the length of Ren and my fuck-a-thon down to two
years prior to making babies and whispered to the men at my table, “You don’t
waste any time.”

“No woman fucks with me,” the big-guy-brains-of-the-crew growled at me.

“Uh, just saying, I didn’t fuck with you. You fucked with me,” I
pointed out.

“Okay then, I don’t waste time fuckin’ around with women unless I’m
actually
fuckin’ them
,” he amended.

Well, he’d proved that.

“Now, you’re gonna come easy. Leave your phone,” Whiney Guy ordered.

“And if you’re thinkin’ your backup is gonna see to things,” Brawny Guy
added. “The black dude with the tattoo outside is outta commission.”

Fuck.

Fuck!

That was Ike, one of Lee’s men. And I did not like to think with the
cold dead I saw in Brawny Guys’ eyes what his definition of “outta commission”
could be.

Fuck.

I let go of my beer and slid off my stool.

The presence behind me moved with me.

Calmly, I cleared the table and headed to the door as Whiney Guy and
Brawny Guy flanked me.

Suddenly the presence behind me disappeared. I took this as what I
hoped it would be, Tex or Brian instigating their plan, and I flew into action.

As Tex pounded a fist in the face of the guy who had been behind me and
he went flying into a table, losing purchase on his gun, I turned to the
primary threat, Brawny Guy. I got my hand around his package. Once there, I
twisted and squeezed and I did this with no mercy.

He made a high-pitched noise that made the backs of my teeth ache
before his knees buckled and he went down hard. I bent with him, let him go
then came up, at the same time jerking up my knee and catching him hard under
his jaw.

He flew back and I roundhouse kicked him in the cheekbone with my boot.
It was then he flew to the side, and I knew by the way his face hit floor
without him trying to break his fall he was out.