Page 60 of Desperate Justice

After calling his mother and being reassured Elena was home and recovering fine, he checked in with Jase. Though Rafe’s superior warned him to enjoy his time away and avoid work, he knew Jase would update him.

The news wasn’t good.

“We put eyes on Hernandez and got nothing, Rafe, until yesterday. Get this—the DEA has an agent working undercover at the estate next to Hernandez who saw he had a special guest. Guy had his head turned away, and the agent couldn’t get facial recognition, but the visitor was riding a motorcycle with saddlebags. No helmet. Shoulder-length dark hair. We put better surveillance on him and finally got an ID. Guess where he ended up? With a group headed to the same place you’re at.”

Rafe glanced around the patio bar. “Who is he?”

“Name’s Marty Kingman. Ex-military, dishonorably discharged two years ago, did time for possession and petty theft, released from prison about four months ago. We contacted local LEOs and got him pulled over for a traffic violation. He had four grams of marijuana on him and was carrying, so...”

“Having a firearm on him is violation of probation.”

“That’s not all. Confiscated his cell, and he had a photo of Allison with her name and the kind of bike she is riding. And there is a list of names as well.”

Rafe’s blood ran cold. He quietly swore in Spanish. “Where is this Marty now?”

“Jail. But these guys are like roaches.”

“Where there’s one, there’s certain to be others. What was the list for and who else is on it?”

“He wouldn’t say. There were initials by Allison’s name. CF. The others were Diana, her sister, photo of her and her bike, but the initials FF, and you with the name Rafael Lopez, a picture of you, looks like from a security camera, and a question mark by your name.”

“What’s Lincoln’s take on this?” Lincoln was the FBI assistant special agent in charge, Rafe’s boss. Jase reported to him when he was appointed as Rafe’s temporary replacement on the task force investigation.

“You know him. He thinks Kingman is getting weed from Hernandez in exchange for security work and checking you and the women out since you’re both on the same motorcycle run.”

Rafe frowned. “Lincoln knows I’m with Allison and Diana?”

Jase sighed. “Rafe, it’s not exactly top secret. We’ve been monitoring Diana’s social media, and she posted a photo of all of you.”

Damn social media. If Lincoln knew, others did as well. Others who didn’t have good intentions.

Rafe snorted. Lincoln was excellent at managing groups of agents, but he’d been gone from the field a long time. “Right. Four grams of weed in exchange for favors from a guy like Hernandez who deals in millions of illegal drugs.”

“I know. That’s like going to the Miami ballet to see the shoes.”

“Interesting analogy,” he said dryly.

“Kara’s got season tickets and she got me hooked.”

Rafe studied Allison, so carefree and seemingly happy, unaware her and her sister’s names were on a list. Ignorance could be bliss, but it was also dangerous.

“Find out what you can and report back to me.”

“Copy that.” Jase hung up.

When he returned, Allison and Sam were engaged in animated banter.

“This is my first run here. Seems like the town’s been taken over by bikers,” Sam said, digging into his lasagna.

Allison nodded. “It’s a typical small town, but friendly to bikers, as long as they’re law-abiding. Since this is a charity run, it’s a smaller event, but they still have all the fun activities, and vendors hawking the latest bikes and accessories, motorcycle skills competition...”

“Competition?” Sam winked at Rafe. “You plan on entering, Allison?”

“Please call me Ally. I already registered in the offset cone race.”

Rafe paused in picking up his beer. He set the frosty glass down and stared at her. “Since when?”

“Since a long time ago when I signed up for this rally.”