Wild Ways (5 page)

“They didn’t seem all that bad. I caught up with them at a gathering they were having at a park, the perfect opportunity. They all seemed in a good mood. I ended up talking to the mother chapter’s president, Big Juan. Who’s about five-eight, funnily enough. He told me Scotch was giving me the runaround; there hadn’t been any new Posse members in the last two months. Big Juan personally escorted me to my car, in case anyone got ideas, he’d said. The guys had had a lot to drink, and the strippers they’d hired to entertain them had been no-shows. He even gave me his card. I didn’t know outlaw motorcycle gangs
had
cards. So I came back here, since the Kings are my only solid lead. I found Billy Bob outside the bar watching the bikes and thought I’d have better luck with him.”

Julian gave her a dumbfounded look. “Alone. You wandered around a biker gang gathering alone.” He reached out and cupped her chin with his hand, his thumb brushing the place just to the right of her mouth. “Oh,
mami
, you’ve been through a lot, haven’t you?”

Those hands had pulled her across the front seat of her car to safety. They had fired a weapon, driven a bike at ungodly speeds. Now they were gentle, comforting. His
compassion washed over her, coaxing tears close to the surface. She rubbed her eyes, hoping it only appeared that she was tired.
Don’t fall for the scraps!
Instead she focused on that word that sounded like a term of endearment. “You called me that before. What does it mean?”

He pulled his hand back and gave a quick shrug of his shoulders. “It’s a Puerto Rican word for woman. Girl. I don’t mean anything by it.”

She brushed her hand back over her hair, realizing she’d probably sounded suspicious. “I’ve been called suggestive names by guys who have a particular type of payment in mind for the information they’re promising to give me.”

He pushed to his feet. “Don’t worry. I don’t work on a barter system.” He wandered over to Rath and started talking in low tones.

Had she offended him? Though the thought pained her, it was probably better than him giving her that sympathetic look that tugged on her need for compassion—and melted the edges of her heart.

After a minute, Julian pulled out his phone and made a call. He rubbed the back of his neck. “Hey, Chase, it’s Julian. That case I called you about, the woman looking for her missing sister …” His eyes found her. “Well, it just got a lot messier.”

The questioning went on until dawn, with cops and crime-scene techs working the scene behind the Ship’s Inn. Mollie’s car was still there, though the bikers had split long before the police arrived. The blood on the faded asphalt and bullet holes were evidence enough that something bad had gone down. Chase was due anytime, on his way over in some fancy private jet that Risk and Sax had told Julian about.

Staying up all night was no big deal for Julian or Rath, but Mollie clearly felt the drag. She was sitting in her car, reenacting the drama for a new detective who’d just arrived. Her movements were slow, her face drawn. Julian admired the woman, no doubt about it. More so after hearing what she’d done in her efforts to find her sister. Damn. But he’d seen glimpses of her vulnerability, too, like her near breakdown after they were safe. And oddly, when he’d commented on how much she’d been through. Some part of him wanted to pull her close and hold her for a while.

He couldn’t shake how she’d felt wrapped around him as they sped down the expressway. In those moments, she’d trusted him completely. And despite everything else that had been going on, she’d felt damned good there.

He and Rath had been separated and debriefed in the presence of the lawyer Chase sent in for both of them.

The detective had freaked when Julian recounted shooting into the car.
“With Ms. Reagan in the driver’s seat?”

“Yes, sir. The guy was grabbing her. I had to stop him.”

“But you shot into a car containing an innocent victim! You could have hit her by accident.”

“No, sir, I wouldn’t have. I was the best sniper in my platoon.”

He didn’t go around advertising that he was a SEAL. Unlike a lot of the other branches, whose guys wore tattoos and T-shirts, most SEALs kept it on the down low.

The man’s face was blotchy with fury, but he visibly calmed himself. “You’re military?”

“Recently out.” No need to get into the whole defuckle.

“Which branch? Marines? Army?”

Julian couldn’t pussyfoot around when a detective was asking as part of an investigation. “SEALs.”

The detective blinked, his mouth twisting in surprise. He jotted it down. “So you were confident of your marksmanship, I imagine.”

“I shot into a car occupied by an innocent woman. What do you think? Sir,” he added because it pissed him off to be questioned. But this guy didn’t know anything about him, so he quelled his annoyance. “I’ve had one hundred and two confirmed kills in my career.”

The detective seemed to digest that but didn’t comment. He moved on to talk to Rath, who had obviously heard the exchange by the smirk on his face. “Are you some hotshot, too?” he asked Rath.

“Put me down for three thousand confirmed breeches in my illustrious career. Some with hostage situations. No collateral damage.”

Julian had to squelch his bark of laughter at Rath’s sarcasm. He turned away and found his gaze going to Mollie again. She hadn’t shot anyone, was only the victim, so she shouldn’t be in any trouble.

She’s in a lot of trouble. What are you going to do about it?

She looked up at him just then, blinking in surprise when she found him watching her. He gave her a smile that was meant to reassure, but she quickly shifted her attention back to Detective Boyd. They exchanged a few words, and he led her over.

“Yes, that’s my employee, Julian Cuevas.” Julian turned at the sound of Chase’s voice. He was walking up with a plainclothes who had the confident gait of authority. Chase looked over at Rath. “And Rathmusen Blackwood, too. They both just signed on with my firm, so they don’t have IDs yet.”

The captain gave the “kill it” across-the-throat sign to the detective who was
questioning Rath. With barely masked annoyance, he released Rath to come over.

Rath stuck out his hand and exchanged a hearty shake with Chase. “Hey, boss. Thanks for coming.” For someone who was a no-bullshitter, Rath was good at it when he needed to be.

Funny, Julian and Rath had been the most reluctant to entertain Chase’s offer when he’d commandeered the team right after the hearing and their official release from duty. Chase told them he could use men with their skills in his private “security” agency. Julian was a little embarrassed now to recall how he’d flipped the guy’s business card back at him in the limo and told him he had no interest in being a security guard.

The captain introduced Chase to Detective Boyd. “We have the woman who tends bar here in custody,” the captain said. “She’s not talking, which is typical in these cases. She’d rather serve time than piss off her old man.”

“What about the guys on the exit ramp?” Julian asked. “We took out two of their bikes.”

“Everything’s gone. They must have called in someone from the club to haul both bikes and men away. Not the first time all the evidence of a skirmish is gone by the time we arrive. You two are free to go. Unless one of the Kings comes forward to press charges, we have no reason to hold you.”

Once he’d walked away, Detective Boyd turned to Mollie. “Please go back to Florida. You see that this is no place for a lady.” He released a sigh as he probably saw the despair in her eyes at the thought of leaving without her sister. “But you’re not going to leave, are you?”

“I can’t. I’m all she has, Detective.” And Di was all Mollie had, too, Julian suspected.

“I’m going to ride with her, help her find Diana.” The words were out of Julian’s mouth before he could even think about them. But hadn’t he decided the moment he’d met Mollie?

“The Justiss Alliance will be taking the case,” Chase told the detective. “Any information on the Kings you can provide would be helpful. Julian will be the main point
of contact.”

Mollie’s eyes widened as they went from Julian to Chase and back to him. “What do you mean, you’ll take the case? Who are you people?”

“The Justiss Alliance—TJA—is a private security firm,” Chase said.

“Like a PI agency?” she asked, still clearly confused by the furrow in her eyebrows.

“We can be,” Chase said in the obtuse way Julian had heard before.

She rammed her fingers through her tangled hair. “I can’t afford your services.” She glanced at her car. “I can’t even afford to fix that.”

Detective Boyd said, “I’d feel a lot better if you had one of these guys with you. Because now the Kings are going to be pissed.” He met Chase’s gaze. “I’ll give you what I have, but this is a fairly new club in our area. So far this chapter hasn’t caused a lot of problems. But they have a nasty rep as a whole. We have a tow truck coming to move the car. This is where it’ll be when you’re ready to claim it.” He handed her a business card, bid her goodbye, and walked over to a group of the crime-scene techs.

Julian turned to Chase. “I’ll work the case without pay.”

Chase shook his head. “This will be a pro bono case. I told you I pay my J-men for those, too.” He focused on Mollie. “That’s what the operatives call themselves. Julian might be new to TJA, but as you saw, he’s more than capable.”

She gave her head a shake. “You’re helping me for free? Why?”

Chase gave her a smile. “That’s what we do.” He gave her one of his cards. “You won’t find much about the firm if you sniff around; we keep a very low profile. The agency deals with both private and government entities on the shadow end of the law. Did you hear about the canned hunting operation down in Georgia? That was us.” He glanced at Rath, who was hovering at the outer edge of the conversation as usual. “You’re the last holdout. Ready to talk?”

Rath ran his hand down his beard. “No, thanks, though I appreciate you claiming me.”

“Figured it would be cleaner that way. But I can make it official.”

“I’ve got a couple of other things on my agenda. But I’ll back up my boy here.” He shifted his gaze to Julian. “Unofficially. First thing I’ll do is get this car to Thorny.”

“Thorny? He sounds like another gang member,” she said.

“That’s his military nickname; his last name’s Thorndyke,” Julian said. “He’s a friend just over the Texas border, one of the guys from our platoon who retired. He owns a bike shop, but he also works on cages, as he calls cars.”

“I don’t have a lot of money to pay him right now.” The furrow between her eyebrows deepened. “Add in the cost of having it towed …”

“We were just down there visiting, spelling Thorny for a week so he and his wife could take a vacation.” Julian grinned at Rath. “Guess we’ll call in that favor he owes us.”

“I’ll have him bring up his tow truck.” Rath lowered his chin at Julian. “Don’t do anything stupid till I get back, y’hear?” He walked over to her car.

“Now,” Chase said to her, “if you can stomach some breakfast, let’s find a restaurant and go over the particulars of your case. Julian gave me the rundown on your sister, but the more information I have, the better I’m equipped to ferret out leads. Understand that those leads go through Julian. His job is to investigate and keep you safe.”

She clutched the card, reading it and listening to Chase with a stunned expression. “I’m not going home. I won’t sit around and wait for news. I’ve done that. If you find her and grab her, she’ll be terrified. If you wait to approach her until I come back, she might be gone. I’m grateful for your help, more than I can express. But I have to be there when you find her.”

When
. Julian liked her optimism. And her
cojones
. “She’s been walking into biker bars and gatherings alone,” he said to Chase. “She’s capable.” He knew she wouldn’t be swayed. “I’ll handle her.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Handle me?”

“I mean, keep you safe. I’ll cover you.”

Damn, there was that look again that clutched his stomach. Hope and fear. Then
skepticism. “Just give me some notice before you give up.”

And there was her pessimism, too. She expected him to give up and, even worse, to bail like that Bodyguards R Us
bicho
had. She didn’t know him very well, did she? But she would.

* * *

Mollie sat in the bright lights of a Denny’s with two men she’d never met before tonight. One was a dangerous badass whose hard body she’d been plastered up against flying down the highway as he’d saved her life. The kind she should be running from if the way she could hardly keep her eyes off him was any indication.

The other man was Julian’s opposite, cultured in a moneyed, clean-cut way. Chase wore a diamond ring and gold watch, but nothing overly fancy. The shirt he’d probably thrown on in haste was the silk kind that other men wore on special occasions. His nails were manicured, but his dark brown hair bore no sign of any hair products.

Both of these gorgeous strangers sitting opposite her in the booth claimed to want to help her find her sister. Julian was laying out what he knew about outlaw motorcycle gangs from his past weeks of travel. As she watched the muscles of his jaw clench beneath his olive skin and faint shadow, she couldn’t help remembering Detective Boyd’s warning.

“My superior knows someone who knows this Justiss guy, so maybe he’s on the up and up. But the two bikers, I’d be very careful.”

“But you said—”

“I know what I said in front of them. Between you and me, having Cuevas at your side is better than being alone. He says he’s SEAL, just got out of the military. I can believe it by the gleam in his eyes, the edge. My cousin is a SEAL. They’re fearless. Dogged. Machines.”

Wasn’t she, though? Not in her everyday life, but in her search for Di?
“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Remember this: He fired into a car in which you were sitting. Missing you by inches. Supposedly he’s a master sniper, but he takes chances. His edge goes beyond the norm. Be careful how involved you get with him.” He’d given her a meaningful nod
.