Wild Ways (22 page)

“Who runs this disgusting operation?”

Brick did that floppy-headed shake again. “I can’t”—his eyes bugged out at something that Risk was doing offscreen, and he started panting again. “He goes by the name of Crimson, but I don’t know his real name. He’s the president of the mother-fu—I mean, the mother chapter. And he is a mother. Even Scotch is afraid of him, and that mean bastard isn’t afraid of anyone. And no, I don’t know where the Ball is held, only that it’s at some warehouse or abandoned building and changes every year.”

“Who gets invited?” Mollie asked.

“Guys Crimson can trust. And a few people in our associate clubs.”

“Like?” Julian prompted.

“The Vipers. A couple of the Devil Deuces. But I don’t know who.”

Julian silently asked Mollie if she had anything else to ask, and she shook her head. She was too stunned, too frozen in fear to think. He turned back to the screen. “Thanks for playing, Brick. You’ve been a big help for us finding the girl you got into this mess.”

“I didn’t think anything like this would happen,” Brick said. “I saw her smile, her laugh, and damn, I fell hard. Never thought … didn’t know … let me help find her.” He stood up and swayed, then dropped back onto the chair. “Soon as I get my balance.”

Julian said, “I don’t know, Brick. You can’t even give us the real name of the one guy we need to find.”

Mollie wrapped her fingers around Julian’s wrist and nodded. “Let him help. If Di sees him, it might make it easier on her. She doesn’t know that Brick abandoned her. She may even think he’s dead.”

“Risk, keep the dude close. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Risk’s face filled the screen. “If he doesn’t keel over. He refuses to go to the hospital. What’s the game plan?”

“I’m going to update Chase. Hold tight wherever you are. Where are you, anyway?”

“On Chase’s jet. Vivi”—Risk panned the camera over to the door, where she was peering around—“you can come back in now.” Then back to Risk. “She couldn’t stand the sound of a man screaming. Anyway, she wasn’t able to lure him to the plane with her bodacious bod, but an offer to see the cockpit worked like a charm.” He lifted his shoulder. “Maybe he does love Diana. Chase just came back from police headquarters. Here, I’m going to hand you off to him,” Risk said, and then Chase’s face filled the screen.

“The police are interested, but we don’t have enough for them to justify an investigation. A stripper’s bad feeling, and women who supposedly make a bunch of
money doing who-knows-what and then leaving town isn’t enough. They’re not convinced there’s a viable connection between the bodies and the Kings. Or this supposed Ball. I can’t blame them. We have no direct witnesses, no concrete evidence, nothing more than a vague timeframe for when this Ball is happening. Combine that with victims they probably consider low priority and a nasty bike gang, and it’s a tough sell.”

Risk filled him in on Brick’s cooperation. “Will that help?”

“I’ll tell the chief, but it’s still hearsay from a guy with a record for biker gang activity who’s not physically or mentally stable at the moment. I even talked to my friend at the FBI. It’s the same story there. They don’t have the resources to investigate based on what we have. So it’s up to us.”

“We’re up for it,” Julian said.

“We’ll prepare to fly to Chicago now. I’ll call you when we land, and we can meet at the private airfield.”

“Rath will be here any time, so the timing should be perfect.”

“And Julian? Mollie is welcome to join us, but she’s not going in tonight. It’s too dangerous.”

“Understood.” He disconnected, and before she could open her mouth, said, “And agreed. We’re going to be possibly shooting—”

“I have a gun.”

“Remember our agreement? I’m in charge of this mission. You listen to me.”

She smiled and nodded. Like hell he was going to shut her out of this.

* * *

Must be nice
. That was Mollie’s first thought when she saw the jet sitting on the tarmac. This was no four-seater. It was sleek, with blue and black striping culminating in an eagle with the words
JUSTISS ALLIANCE
.

A female airfield employee who crossed their path and did a double take was probably thinking the same thing of Mollie, flanked by two gorgeous guys. A wave of
gratitude washed over her. Not for their looks, of course. Just a few days ago she’d been doing this alone. Now she had a team. A competent, wealthy team.
For now
, that cautionary part of her added. But this had become about more than one troubled young woman.

Rath let out a low whistle as he took in the plane. “How did this guy make his money?”

“I heard something about an inheritance, and he does research and development contracting for the DOD.” Julian shrugged. “We don’t know much about him personally.”

Rath shot him a frown. “And that doesn’t bother you?”

“Sometimes you have to trust your gut.” Julian’s gaze shifted to her. “My gut said to go for it.”

Which twisted her gut, because he wasn’t only talking about accepting a job with Chase. She looked in Rath’s direction, much safer.

Rath’s skepticism was written all over his face, which she could now see since he’d shaved. A nice-looking face, despite the frown. He’d also gotten a haircut, though his hair still fell past his shoulders.

“Thank you for arranging to have my car fixed,” she told Rath. “Tell your friend I’ll pay him back as soon as I can.”

“Don’t sweat it.”

“She isn’t comfortable with being rescued,” Julian said.

She gave him a narrow-eyed look, but turned back to Rath. “I’m not used to people doing things for me.”

“That’s how we roll,” Rath said with a one-shouldered shrug. “Pay it forward if it makes you feel better.”

Yes, she could see what Julian meant about Rath suffering no fools. And he thought she was a fool for not being grateful and just shutting up.

Rath led the way up the stairs and rapped on the door. Chase opened it and paused at the sight of Rath. “You clean up well.”

Rath ran his hand over his hair. “Our buddy who was fixing her car, his wife came after me with the scissors and cape. Said I scared her, that I looked like one of those guys on
Sons of Anarchy
.”

Julian laughed. “I can see her doing that, too. She’s a hairdresser,” he added for Mollie’s benefit. “Her fingers were twitching the moment she laid eyes on us. I let her give me a trim, but Rath fought her.”

She caught the scent of leather as she stepped into the jet behind Rath and before Julian, who was being a gentleman. She passed through a service area to the body of the plane, which could easily seat a dozen or more. There were leather swivel chairs with tables, two couches that faced each other, and a double-wide table that accommodated four. The air was chilled, raising a slew of goose bumps.

She recognized Risk and Vivi from the video call. Everyone who didn’t already know one another was introduced. Vivi was still in her seductive outfit with her low-cut top and short shorts, something Rath didn’t fail to notice. Julian didn’t seem to pay any attention. Then again, he’d gotten an eyeful the night before.

Of you
.

She could not think about that right then. She shook Vivi’s hand, a firm shake from a confident woman. Her long, dark blond hair fell over her shoulder, long bangs veiling well-defined eyebrows.

Vivi turned and shook hands with Julian, too. “Nice to meet you. Welcome to The Justiss Alliance. I hear you’ve been rather thrown in.”

Julian grinned. “Just the way I like it.”

Then she reached for Rath’s hand. “And you’re the lone holdout.”

He cocked his head and flashed a smile. “That’s me, redneck rebel at heart.”

At least Mollie wasn’t the only nonemployee here. Which reminded her … “Where’s Brick?”

Risk nodded toward the back with his head. “Lying down. He’s running a fever, which is why it’s cool in here. As he sank into a fever-induced sleep, he mumbled that your courage and dedication inspired him.”

“Mine?” Mollie asked.

“Yep. And Julian’s toughness reminded him what it was like to be a man. I just about tossed my cookies.”

Julian patted his back. “Glad you could hang in there. Maybe you can be inspired by my toughness, too.”

Risk gave him the finger down the throat gesture while Mollie laughed out loud. Julian leaned close and whispered loudly, “Some people are beyond being inspired, I guess.”

Coffee also filled the air with its rich, full-bodied scent. Julian led her to an espresso machine in the galley and expressed a cup for each of them. Everyone settled into the couch area. Julian leaned against the back of one of the chairs that didn’t swivel. Mollie sank down onto the couch near him—but not too close. Chase took one of the swivel chairs, and Vivi took the other, leaving Risk and Rath to sit across the way from Mollie.

Once everyone was up to speed on the case, they started throwing plans and ideas around.

“We could storm the bar,” Risk said. “Get the girls out of there. They should all be there if tonight’s selection night.”

And have Di back. The thought tightened Mollie’s chest. So she was surprised to hear herself say, “But that doesn’t stop this Ball from happening. Stall it maybe, but we want to shut it down and get the people behind it put away.”

“She’s right,” Julian said. “Plus we all race in, and there’s going to be bloodshed. I don’t mind shedding their blood, but the women we’re trying to rescue will be in the line of fire.”

“Some of those women are nice,” Mollie said. “Innocent, even. Just desperately looking for love and a place of their own. In the wrong place, mind you, but sometimes desperation makes you do crazy things.” She tried really hard not to look at Julian. She couldn’t help it when he barked out in laughter.

His green eyes softened. “And you would know about that,
querida
, wouldn’t
you?”

She wished he wouldn’t call her that.
Beloved
. It twisted inside and made her want to believe he meant it. Probably only in the way men called women “babe” and “darling” without it meaning a thing.

Vivi shook her head. “I have to hand it to you on that one. You’d never get me to do a striptease in a biker bar.”

Mollie wrapped her hands tight around her warm mug. “You would to find someone you love who’s in danger.”

Vivi nodded. “You’re right. I would if the job was that important.”

Mollie had a thought and pulled out the wallet she kept in her pocket. She held up Big Juan’s card with their logo, Grim Reaper riding a rocket cycle. She filled in the others about their association. “He said to call if I needed help. Maybe they’ve heard of the Ball.”

“We can’t take a chance that he’ll tip off the Kings,” Julian said.

“I doubt he will. They’re rivals.”

After some discussion, they agreed that it might be worth taking the chance and potentially finding out where the Ball was being held. Mollie made the call.

“Who’s this?” Big Juan answered.

“Hi, it’s Mollie. I was the woman who was wandering around one of your gatherings. You escorted me to my car and said to give you a call if I needed help.”

After a pause, he said, “Ooooh, yes. Pretty redhead, right? You find your sister?”

“We’re getting closer. I have a question for you: do you know of something the Kings put on called the Kings’ Ball?”

Big Juan grunted. “Rumors. Some kind of orgy they charge big bucks for. I know it’s held in Chicago, where their mother chapter is located. Mollie, I’m more than happy to help you squash those bugs. We think they’ve been ambushing our Posse members. Over the last year, five patches disappeared after hitting bars near their territory.”

She traded a look with Julian, who nodded. “Strip clubs? Like Hidden Assets maybe?”

“Yeah, that’s one of them.”

“Did you know a King owns that club?”

Big Juan let out a deep curse—she assumed it was a curse—in Spanish. “No,” he simply said. “I did not know that.” His voice had gone low and menacing. “But I find it very interesting.”

Julian leaned close to Mollie. “Hey, this is Julian, Mollie’s … friend. As interesting as you find it, don’t do anything about it. Not yet. We need to figure out where the Ball is being held tomorrow night. If we do, the Kings go down in a big, hairy, public way. Can you tap your network and find someone who’s been invited? They invite select members of the Vipers and Devil Deuces. Don’t approach the Vipers’ Blackbeard. He has an in with the Kings.”

“We don’t get along too well with the Vipers, but I’ve got a couple friends in the Deuces. I’ll sniff around real subtle-like. Back at you later.” He disconnected.

Julian pinched the bridge of his nose. “I hate trusting shaky allies.” He looked at Rath. “Remember that guy in Kabul—”

“We called him The Egg, because he was built like one. He made a deal to give us intel, then sold us out,” Rath finished. “Turns out the guy, who owned a restaurant, was selling info and opportunities to the highest bidder. He’d sold the fact that we’d be going in on a certain night to people who wanted our asses dead. Luckily we didn’t trust him. We set up surveillance early and watched them get into position. Let’s just say it wasn’t a good night for them.”

Chase planted his elbows on his thighs and rested his chin on his joined hands. “The plan is simple. We keep the club under surveillance. At some point they’re going to usher the women out. We follow.”

“That sounds too easy,” Risk said. He clearly didn’t like easy by the letdown look on his face.

Chase chuckled. “Sorry to disappoint, but doing things with minimum chance of peril ranks a lot higher than excitement.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Risk said. “But we need a Plan B. ’Cause if there’s one thing
we’ve learned, Plan A goes to shit about half the time.”

Mollie raised her hand. “I’ll be Plan B. We’re assuming the girls will be at Hidden Assets, but what if the selection process is somewhere else, like the clubhouse? Then I go in and pretend I want a job. After dancing on the dare, I really liked the attention.”

“No way,” Julian said. “They’ll suck you into this Ball. That stripper said they’re shorthanded this year.”