Barely Undercover (33 page)

“They can’t cross the border during the day,” James said. “Especially at a border crossing. Too risky. They’ll have to lie low until dark and my guess is they’ll find somewhere else to cross. We can’t take them on alone. We need help and firepower. The Wolverines aren’t going to hand her over without a fight. Ryder said he would meet us here. I believe him. I’ve already called the local police and they’re on the lookout too.”

Jackie snorted her disdain. “Seriously? You’re gonna put Lana’s life at risk because you’re that sure Ryder will show? Didn’t he also tell you he was going after Kickstand? He hasn’t answered any of my texts or calls, so he’s already zero for one hundred in my book. And I’ll tell you something else. He’s not who he appears to be. You sleep with a guy and you get some insight into who they really are. Ryder has a whole lot of mystery going on.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Although he wasn’t one to talk relationships, he was perversely glad for the distraction of Jackie’s conversation.

Jackie lowered her eyes and stared down at her lap. “It’s over between us,” she said quietly. “I didn’t tell Lana because she’s got enough stress in her life. He’s a great guy. Nothing like the bikers I knew. We got along well. He wanted to take things further. But…” she picked up her coffee cup and took a sip, “…he wasn’t
the one
. Sounds stupid, I know.”

“Doesn’t sound stupid at all.” James glanced down at his watch and drummed his fingers on his thigh under the table. He would give Ryder thirty more minutes and then they would head into town and rent a car. Thirty more minutes of distraction. “So, tell me about
the one
.”

Jackie shrugged. “I don’t mind playing around, but…I had a couple of bad experiences before I met Lana. Life’s too short to put up with that crap. If I’m gonna open myself up, then I need to know I’ve found
the one
. Someone who lights up my life and makes my heart sing. All that stuff. So that no matter what life throws at us, I’ll know, in the end, we’ll wind up together. I told that to Ryder. He was cool with it.”

James raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t his
one
either?”

“I’m thinking not. And that’s a good thing.” Jackie glanced up at the clock and then dialed Lana’s number for the umpteenth time that morning. When she didn’t get an answer, she dropped her phone on the table with a sigh. “Let’s go, J. I can’t take it anymore. I’ve been doing my best to keep us distracted, but I’m too damn worried. And if something happens to her while we’re sitting around, I’ll never forgive myself.”

James nodded and waved the waitress over. Fuck the thirty minutes. Jackie was right. They had to get a move on.

“Did you know?” Jackie asked softly as James tossed a wad of bills on the table. “Did you know right away Lana was
the one
?”

James met her curious gaze full-on steady. “Yeah, I knew. But I was too afraid to accept it. And look what happened. I almost lost her. I might lose her still.”

They slid out of the booth and wove their way through the empty tables to the door.

“You won’t lose her,” Jackie said over her shoulder. “If she’s
the one
, you’ll wind up together, no matter what. That’s how love works.”

James’s throat tightened. “Didn’t take you for a romantic.”

“Didn’t take you for one either, J, but here you are, ready to risk your life to get my girl back. Doesn’t get more romantic than that.”

A thunder of motorcycles echoed in the valley as they stepped out the door. Jackie took an involuntary step behind James, and he reached for his gun. If Rex’s boys had found them, they’d better not get in the way. James had Angel’s number and he knew what to do with it.

Sunlight glinted off the lead motorcycle as it swooped into the parking lot. James threw an arm up to shield his eyes and recognized Ryder’s bike as it pulled to a stop.

“Ryder,” he said over his shoulder, his tension leaving his body in a rush.

Jackie stepped out from behind him and frowned at the sea of motorcycles in front of them. “Who does he have with him?”

Ryder dismounted and quickly closed the distance between them. He shook James’s hand and gave Jackie a warm smile. “Sorry we’re late. We’ve been looking for Kickstand but he disappeared. We found his bike in a field near the clubhouse, but no trace of him.”

“Wolverines have him,” James said. “They’re holding him hostage for Lana’s good behavior. They have her too.”

Ryder’s face tightened. “Damn. I knew we’d waited too long. Well, we’re here now and we’ll get them back. You have my word on it.”

James surveyed the sea of black in front of him. “What is this? The guys aren’t wearing their colors.”

“My new club.” A smile ghosted Ryder’s lips. “Hades split over Rex’s decision to call the Wolverines. A lot of them didn’t take kindly to watching Lana being abused or to Rex’s involvement in what they saw as human trafficking. Strange moral code. Drugs and murder are okay, but abusing and enslaving women are not. I convinced another eight to join my original ten.” He waved his hand over the assembled crowd. “Everyone is briefed and ready to go.”

“What do you call yourselves?” Jackie asked. “Right now, plain black jackets don’t really scream badass bikers to me.”

“We haven’t decided on a name or a patch yet, so we’re riding bald,” Ryder said. “Got any ideas?”

“How about Hot Pieces of Ass?” Jackie murmured, looking over the vast array of leather and chrome. “You seem to have picked the best of the bunch. Something you forgot to tell me, Ryder?”

Ryder snorted a laugh. “Yeah. I forgot to tell you you’re joining the club. I need an experienced PI. Part-time or full-time, it’s up to you.” He pointed to a tall, blond giant in the thick of the crowd. “We’ll talk more about it later. We need to get on the road. Go talk to VD. He’ll set you up with a jacket and helmet. I’m guessing you want to come along on the rescue mission, so you can ride with him.”

“VD?” Jackie muttered as she stomped away. “All this man candy and he hooks me up with someone named VD?”

In response to James’s quizzical look, Ryder said, “Viking Dan will be able to handle her. He just moved over here from Norway. Doesn’t talk much, but when he does, people listen.”

He pulled a leather jacket out of his pack and held it out to James. “Yours, if you’re interested. I’m running a clean club. No drugs. No murder. We’re about justice where the system isn’t working. But we’re willing to step into the gray zone. We’ll hurt only those people who deserve it. We’ll steal only from those who can afford it. We’ll protect those who need it and help those who want it.”

“Vigilantes.”

“More like Robin Hood and his merry men. I also managed to bring on board a few ex-military specialists to run a Special Operations Department.”

Military? Special Ops?
James frowned. Who the hell was Ryder? Not an ordinary biker. Was he the deep-undercover operative who had arranged for James to join the club? The one who had called with the now-or-never opportunity? The one he’d never met?

“You forget to tell me something? Maybe that I wasn’t the only rat in Hades?”

Silence.

James tried another tactic. “You’re gonna mix ex-military with Rex’s castoffs? How will that work? Oil and water, my friend.”

Ryder shook his head. “I’m giving them a chance to clean up their lives and make a difference. Everyone understands that any unauthorized illegal activity is a guaranteed dismissal. They get paid by the job and they don’t need to worry about the cops.” He raised an eyebrow and waggled the jacket. “Speaking of which…we could use someone with your skills.”

James stared at the jacket and mulled over the opportunity hanging from the tips of Ryder’s fingers. He wouldn’t have to give up his pursuit for justice. He could still clean up the streets, put the bad guys in jail and help people who, like him, had been screwed by the system.

And if he didn’t accept Ryder’s offer, what then? He hadn’t done anything worthy of serious discipline. Likely he would get a slap on the wrist and a yearlong posting in the frozen North. And then he could go back. Rejoin the homicide team. Return to his high-stress life of rules and order, time clocks and traffic jams. Back to a diet of coffee and donuts. Maybe the occasional night with Lana.

But if he put on the jacket, he would be crossing a line, and there would be no going back to proper law enforcement. His time would be his own. He could live free. Ride free. See Lana whenever, however and wherever he wanted.

He had wasted time considering the other option.

“Fucking embarrassing having a jacket with no patch.” James took the jacket from Ryder’s outstretched hand. “And a club with no name.” He shrugged on the jacket and settled it on his shoulders.

“Perfect fit.” Ryder slapped him on the shoulder. “And you can take Cuss’s bike. He’ll stay here and arrange to get your vehicles back to Vancouver.”

“What’s he riding?”

“Your V-Rod. He misappropriated it from Hades’s lot at my instruction. I thought you might need another set of wheels. Lucky for you, I managed to find a key.”

“I’m sure you did,” James muttered. “Theft and more theft. I can see we’re off to a good start.”

A grin split Ryder’s face. “Welcome to the beginning of life in the gray zone. We’re the rogues of the street.”

“Rogue riders.”

Ryder gave James a considered look. “Good name for the club.”

“So we got a name?”

“We got a name. Now let’s go get your girl.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

“Move it, Roxie.”

Levi shoved Lana into the drab motel room and slammed the door behind him, cutting her off from the comforting hum of traffic and the hushed murmur of voices.

Lana trembled as she turned to face Levi, her heart aching from thudding a warning she had not heeded.

For the longest time they stared at each other.

Although his face was painfully familiar, his gray eyes glittered with a cold, feverish light so unlike the warmth that had drawn her to a young, ambitious biker ten years ago. But that Levi was gone and the sooner she came to terms with it, the closer she would be to finding a way forward.

“Crazy little bitch.” He backhanded her, sending her tumbling to the floor with the force of his blow.

“I’ve been dreaming of this moment since the day you ran out. You fucking humiliated me. Not only did I take flack for not being able to control my own wife, I lost respect. I was kicked out of Fang’s inner circle. I almost lost my fucking patch.” He kicked her side and then his foot came down on her chest, squeezing the air from her lungs.

Dazed, breathless, Lana fought blindly, legs and fists flailing. She made contact with something, and he swore, then pressed his weight into her rib cage.

Too hard.

Her lungs burned. The edges of her vision faded to black. Her limbs dropped heavily to the floor, and she concentrated her energy on sucking air into her chest.

And then he released her. Sweet, clean air filled her lungs in a rush, and she curled up on the floor, coughing and choking.

“I’ve spent a long time cleaning up your messes,” he snarled. “And I’m fucking tired of it. After I was forced to apologize to the brothers, I hunted Scooter down. Didn’t take much to make him scream. He bought his way into the Wolverines, but he didn’t take time to learn the rules.”

“Oh God.” Lana’s heart stuttered. Scooter had joined the club as a prospect only a few months before she escaped. A trust-fund baby wanting to rebel, he couldn’t handle the violence and especially not the abuse dished out to the clubhouse slave. Underestimating their newest recruit because of his slight frame and gentle manner, the Wolverines didn’t pay him much attention, keeping him around only to extort his monthly trust-fund payment. And then one day, without fanfare or warning, he wrapped Lana in an old tarp, hid her in the hollowed-out backseat of his truck and drove away.

“What did you do to him?” Part of her didn’t want to know, but she owed Scooter her life. The least she could do was remember him in death.

Levi gave a rough laugh. “Question is, what didn’t I do to him? He learned the hard way not to fuck with Wolverine property.”

Lana’s stomach clenched so violently bile rose in her throat. “You killed him.”

“I would have killed him. I earned my blood patch after you left so I had the right to do it. But Fang wanted his money so he ordered me to leave him alive. I beat him up so bad he’ll remember it for the rest of his life—or at least until he stops sending me his monthly payments. And it’s on your shoulders. You knew better than to take that ride.”

Fear slithered through her veins and wrapped itself around her heart. She’d made a colossal mistake. Levi had been cruel and abusive, but never a killer. He’d crossed the line, and from his cold, detached gaze as he talked about taking lives, she knew it was a one-way trip. There would be no talking to him. No reasoning with him. No clever plan to make him change his mind. She had been foolish and naive in the extreme.

Run.
The word screamed through her head, blocking out Levi’s laughter, urging her to save herself before Levi killed her too.

In one swift move, she rolled and pushed herself to a crouch, then she threw herself at him in a tackle that would have made her football-crazed father proud.