Page 20

Piper

I looked down on the meeting place from my assigned spot on the perimeter of the clearing.

From a strategic point, it was likely a good choice.

I could see everything from where I stood to the far side of the clearing, including the entrance to the trail where the mafia contingent was supposed to enter.

The trees were limbed up high enough that you could be certain no one was hiding beneath them.

A rocky cliff bordered one side of the open space, and a fast-moving creek with boulders sending the water in all directions framed the other side.

No chance of anyone sneaking in either way.

Beast and his Riptide brothers looked incredibly relaxed on their bikes as they waited for Drake’s group.

How could they be so calm, waiting for the mafia to show up ?

Five minutes to noon. I felt a hysterical urge to laugh as thoughts of the showdown at OK Corral passed through my mind. I prayed this wouldn’t end the same way. For the umpteenth time, I wished I’d never set eyes on Drake, never agreed to go out with him.

As if sensing my inner dread, my father reached for my hand. I pulled back, pretending not to notice. Holding hands was something I did with Beast. It felt wrong with someone else, even my father. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder instead, and I leaned against him.

“What if this is a trap?” I whispered the thought.

My father shook his head. “It’s not. Drake has a reputation to uphold, especially since he just took over as don. If he breaks his word on this meet, no one will ever trust him. He’ll be finished before he gets started.”

I tilted my head to look up at him. “Honor amongst thieves?”

“Something like that. These guys have rules, and anyone who breaks them doesn’t survive long.”

I felt a chill go down my spine at his words. These guys played for keeps.

A movement at the far side of the clearing caught my attention. Drake and three men I didn’t recognize strode into sight.

The Riptide team hopped off their bikes and strode to the center of the pavilion, Beast in the lead. I noticed the other three fanned out behind him as if preparing for an assault.

Drake stopped a few feet from Beast, and his minions stayed back from him, matching the Riptide guys. From this distance I couldn’t hear what was being said, but the body language of both groups was telling.

Drake, dressed in business casual in all black, looked as flamboyant as I remembered. After the initial handshake that I took to be standard meeting protocol, he started to talk. I might not be able to hear him, but I could see him as he gestured wildly, looking more and more agitated.

In contrast, Beast was wearing his jeans and well-worn chaps, with his leather cut showing his Riptide affiliation.

He stood at ease, his hands on his hips as he occasionally nodded or shook his head in reply to something Drake said.

I felt a wave of warm affection calm the butterflies in my gut.

That was my Beast. He didn’t feel the need to impress anyone with expensive clothes.

He was confident in his own abilities, and woe betide anyone who underestimated him.

Drake reached for his pocket and immediately Rattler, Deuce, and Thor tensed, their hands going to the guns holstered at their hips. Drake stopped, holding his hands up in surrender and saying something.

“Wish I could read lips,” I muttered.

“Probably better that you can’t.” My father gave my shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

“I doubt he was going for a weapon. Highly unlikely a kill shot would come from the main negotiator. If it was intended to be a trap, one of the other guys would be doing the shooting. They’d wait for their shadow to glance away, and bam. Target down.”

I frowned up at him, and he shrugged. “Not my first time at one of these things. They rarely go bad, but when they do, it’s pretty much scripted.”

I glared at him. “Not helping me feel better.”

I looked back at the pavilion and saw Drake hand a piece of paper to Beast. Probably what he’d been reaching for in his pocket.

Beast unfolded it and studied it for a few moments.

Lowering it, he nodded his head and the two talked for a few more minutes before he handed the paper back then reached out and the two men shook hands.

A few more words were exchanged before Drake turned and headed back the way he’d come, followed by his henchmen.

I noted that two of the three men in the mafia group walked backwards, keeping the Riptide gang in sight until their leader disappeared into the tree-lined trail. Turning they hurried after him.

Beast and his group didn’t move until the mafia contingent was out of sight. Then Beast looked up to where I was standing and gave me an open-handed salute before mounting his bike and heading straight toward me.

My father withdrew his arm, and I ran toward my lover.

* * *

Beast

The information Drake shared at the meeting cleared up so many of the inconsistencies I’d noticed ever since I’d picked Piper up that day.

Not that I was okay with the asshole, but at least I now understood what was going on.

And of course he’d brought proof of what he’d said, not expecting me to take his word for it.

Smart. Frankly, the whole thing was twisted.

I should have demanded to keep that paper to hand around at church. It was going to be fun explaining it.

I throttled back, hitting the brakes when I reached Piper. She threw her arms around my neck, and I swear she hugged me tight enough to strangle me. I used one hand to hit the kill switch and kicked the stand down so the bike wouldn’t fall over when I dismounted.

“Easy, babe. It’s over. You’re safe.” I held her gently against me.

Her head came up and she glared at me. “Safe? Watching you and Drake do a Mexican standoff was the worst time of my life. I kept imagining one of his goons pulling a gun or a knife on you. Why I ever agreed to this is beyond me. You are not going to put yourself in harm’s way again. Not ever!” She burst into tears.

I looked helplessly over her head at her father, who had come up behind her. He just shrugged and shook his head. No help there.

“Shh. I’m fine. You’re fine. It’s going to be okay. I’ll explain it all once we get back to the clubhouse, okay? Ace will want to know the whole story and I don’t want to have to tell it half a dozen times.” I gently untangled her arms from my neck. “You want to ride with me?”

Piper sniffled, wiping her face with the sleeve of her shirt. “Well, I’m not letting you out of my sight, so yeah. I’m riding with you.” She glared at me as she grabbed her helmet off its perch on the back seat and jammed it on her head.

I swear her father was laughing as he turned away and headed back to his snipers.

I took it easy on the way back to the clubhouse, giving Piper time to pull herself together. The fact that having her snuggled up against my back helped soothe the rage I felt when I contemplated what I’d just learned was a bonus.

The prospects guarding the gates opened them wide when they saw us coming, and I swooped in, gliding my bike up the driveway to park in front of the clubhouse.

I pulled off my helmet and helped Piper with hers.

She’d managed to calm down somewhere between the meeting place and here, and no trace of tears showed on her face.

“So?” Ace lounged against the porch railing.

“A little complicated. Can we call church, so I only have to explain it once?”

Ace nodded, pushing himself upright. “In ten. Give the other guys time to get situated.”

“Okay if I bring Piper in? She needs to hear this too.”

Usually, church was only for patched members, but as President, Ace had the authority to bend the rules. He hesitated long enough to make me nervous before finally nodding his head. “Sure. One time only. Her father will want to hear it too, unless you already briefed him.”

“Fuck no.” There was a strict chain of command, and I followed it at all times. No way I’d debrief an outsider, even an FBI contact and the father of the intended target, without first clearing it with Ace.

Just then, the van carrying the FBI contingent rounded the corner of the sweeping driveway and pulled up alongside the bikes.

“Speak of the devil. I’ll let him know he’s in for church. Mom can keep the rest of them contained in the kitchen.” Ace strode over to the van.

I turned to Piper. “You need a drink before this goes down?”

She wrinkled her nose. “Whiskey?”

I almost laughed. “I had water or coffee in mind. You can do the hard liquor thing once church is over.”

She let out an exaggerated sigh. “Fine. Water it is.”

We grabbed a couple bottles of water and walked out back to the building Riptide used to hold church.

It wasn’t much, but it worked. I held Piper’s hand and led her to the front of the room.

I sat her beside me, taking a seat facing the rest of the club members who were straggling in one by one.

The atmosphere was relaxed. The boys knew we’d had a meeting and things went well.

How well, they were waiting to find out.

When Ace walked in with Piper’s father, the room went silent. He nodded at a seat near the back, and her dad immediately sat down.

Walking up to the front, Ace held up a hand. “Beast is going to brief us on how the meet went down. I gave Piper and her father permission to be here. Hold your questions till the end. Anyone got a problem with any of that?”

He waited a few minutes, scanning the room. When no one spoke up, he gestured to me. “Floor’s all yours, Beast.”

I gave Piper’s hand a final squeeze and stood up. Looking around the crowded room, I saw guys I’d served with, guys I’d fought with, and guys I’d sworn to protect with my life. They’d do the same for me.

I cleared my throat.

“Seems like there’s a turf war going on back in Las Vegas.

Piper’s ex, Drake, just inherited the position of head of the mafia there.

A cartel out of Mexico isn’t happy with that.

They run drugs and hookers, but they’re greedy.

They want a hundred percent share of the action, so they came up with a plan.

They knew Piper was seeing Drake and they found out Piper’s dad was FBI.

The plan was pretty simple. Kill Piper and make it look like some kind of revenge hit by Drake.

Her father would be understandably upset and use every resource at his disposal to get back at Drake.

Shut down his operations, arrest all his top lieutenants, and possibly take out Drake or put him in the slammer for an extended stay.

That would leave the action wide open for the cartel to stage a takeover without putting a target on their own back.

Hence, the use of the dark web and contracts without any traces.

If you think back, Drake’s name was only tossed about by the guys trying to cash in on the contracts.

Shadow could find no trace of it on the contracts on the dark web, could you? ”

I looked over at Shadow, who shook his head slowly.

“It never made sense why he suddenly turned on Piper, and no, his name wasn’t on the contracts or discussions on the dark web.

Just a blind paywall. Which did raise a red flag, because that’s not how the mafia works.

They like people to fear crossing them.”

“Exactly. Plan was Drake would never find out he was being set up until it was too late.”

“But we got involved,” Ace said. “And that got his attention, especially when Shadow started looking into him.”

“Exactly.” I smiled grimly. “The cartel’s plan started to unravel at that point. They expected Piper to die in that first attempt at her house, but she evaded them. Things started to go badly for them from there.”

“So now what?” Rattler spoke up. “We going to Las Vegas to take them down?”

I shook my head. “Fuck, no.” I glanced over at Ace, who nodded his approval.

“The FBI has assets on that coast, and they have an interest in this. They were being set up as much as Drake and his mafia contacts. The cartel will be dealt with by their black ops division over there. They’ll let us know when it’s done. ”

“Another thing,” Shadow spoke up. “I couldn’t understand how Drake got Piper’s new phone number, or how the cartel found out about the tour, so I dug around a bit more. Not even on the dark web, just searching. Looks like one of the dealers she worked with in Vegas was willing to sell her out.”

“They wouldn’t know anything about the tour.”

“No, but they knew what agency her agent worked for, and it doesn’t take much to hack into that system. Their passwords are embarrassingly simple.”

“Ouch.” Ace shook his head. “Should we worry going forward? I don’t like one of our own being at risk.”

Shadow shook his head. “Nah. I’ll contact them and offer to up their security for free.

Given they almost got one of their clients killed, not to mention the damage to the bus and the equipment, I’m sure they’ll take me up on it.

Especially if I point out, nicely of course, that Piper isn’t going to sue their asses off. ”

“So we’re in the clear? Your old lady is safe?” Thor always did like things to be spelled out in black and white.

“Yeah. The club is in the clear. We’ve talked to Piper’s agent about postponing the rest of her singing tour until this is cleared up, but we’re using the bus accident and finding replacement equipment as the public reason.

That should satisfy them. Once the cartel is out of the picture, she can go back on the road again.

With luck, the tour will finish up before the twins get home. ”

And I needed to give the twins a call and let them know what I had planned.