Blood & Rust (Lock & Key #4) (44 page)

“And Reich?” I asked. “After what he’s done to Tania? What he’s trying to do to you and your club?”

He focused on me once more. His eyes were clear now, and there was an odd curve to his thin lips. “What was that word Tania used?”

“Unequivocal?”

He pointed a finger at me. “Yeah, that. Looking forward to making that happen with Reich.”

I was sure he was, and I was sure it would be a sight to see.

“You deliver the girl tomorrow,” Finger said, that husky scratch underlining his voice. “Tomorrow will be a very, very good day.”

“
WHY DO WE HAVE TO MAKE A SHOW OF THIS
?” Nina eyed the security guards at the Flames of Hell main gate who’d just patted us down and taken my gun and knife.

The four Flames stared at us from their posts at the tall, thick metal fence trimmed in barbed wire that marked the entrance to the property south of Chadron, Nebraska.

“You really have to ask?” I pulled her three suitcases from the back of the truck.

Nina’s face was pinched, her lips pressed together, her shoulders stiff, her one arm still in a sling. All through this past year—the plotting together, stealing from Reich, lying to everyone—she’d retained her remarkable cool swagger, her own jazz riff of brassy personality, cocky persona, and pixie dust. Not today. Today, she was worried, anxious.

“I’m just nervous.” Her eyes jumped from me to the front door to me again. “Ever since the car bomb. Knowing that he did it. What the hell will he come up with next?”

“I’m here, and so are Catch and Finger. Reich’s got no say in your life, Nina. Not anymore. None.”

“You realize you’ve probably said that to me at least a thousand times since we hooked up in Ohio. And look how that turned out.”

“It’s true now more than ever.” I slammed shut the back of the truck and glanced at her. “Hey, it got us here, didn’t it?” I wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she slumped against me, her face in my chest.

She released a heavy breath and pushed back from me. “Let’s do this.”

“You sure?”

“It’s a little late now for that question, don’t you think?”

“Never too late.”

“This works for all of us, and anyhow”—her hand went to her stomach—“what better reason, right?”

For the first time, there was no confusion, no fussing, no pettiness. She was learning to stand up on her own two feet in the real world for herself and now her kid.

“Thank you.” She hooked her arms around my middle. “I mean it. Thanks for everything. God knows what a pain in the ass I’ve been to you, but I want you to know, I’m really grateful. You saved my life. You helped me realize that—”

“Shut the fuck up already.”

She rolled her eyes and planted a kiss on my cheek. “You can never take a stupid compliment. Thank you, okay?” She let out a tiny laugh.

“Yeah.” I grabbed two of her suitcases. “Ready?”

“Ready.” She grabbed the handle of her small suitcase, wheeling it behind her as we headed inside the Flames of Hell clubhouse past members who stared us down.

The big main room stank of ammonia floor cleaner and dread.

Finger stood in the center by a long table littered with laptops and coffee mugs, his arms crossed, his eyebrows a dark ridge. Catch ambled into the room from a side hallway, his face lighting up. I’d delivered the bride to her shotgun wedding.

“What the hell is this?” Reich eyed us from the sofa where he sat with a group of his men from Ohio, including Led, the bodyguard he had sent with Nina to South Dakota.

Led shot up from the sofa, glaring at Nina, glaring at her suitcases, glaring at me.

I lifted my chin at Catch. “She’s all yours.”

Catch held out his hand, and Nina raced over to him, wrapping herself up in her new man. They kissed.

“What the fuck is going on?” Reich’s voice tightened.

“What the hell is he doing here?” I asked Finger gesturing at Reich.

“Reich’s been staying here since your little event,” replied Finger.

“Event? Is that what you’re calling it? This is bullshit. We’ve been looking for him for days now. He’s gotta answer for killing my prez.”

“Butler, you need to leave now,” said Catch, his arm firmly around Nina.

Reich’s eyes bulged. He rose to his feet, his focus entirely on Nina. “I’ve been trying to call you, Neens. You haven’t been answering your phone. What are you doin’, sweetheart?”

Nina only pressed her body into Catch, her arms around his waist.

Catch brushed his mouth against Nina’s hair. “Nina’s my old lady now, Reich. You got something to say to her, you say it to me. Otherwise, you’re done.”

“Watch how you talk, asshole!” shouted Led.

“Done? Done? What the fuck?
Done
?” Reich turned to Finger, his face red. “You gonna let your boy talk to me that way?”

“She caused a ruckus with my club and Butler’s. But all the drama’s over now.” Finger shot me a look.

I raised my hands in the air. “I know I’m done with her and her shit.”

“Neens, come on now. This is ridiculous. I came out here for you, baby.” Reich’s tone had mellowed. He wanted his addiction back. My gut roiled at the strange soft look on his face.

“You need to come home with me and your sister and let us take care of you,” Reich said. “You need to be with your family, with people you trust.”

“I’m her family now,” Catch said. “This is where she belongs. With me.”

“You told your sister about this?” Reich ignored Catch. “We thought you were coming home with us today. You’d said—”

“I’m staying here with my old man,” Nina said, her voice clear.

“Your old man, huh? I’ve heard that shit before.” Reich glanced at me, and I raised my chin at him, not giving two fucks.

“You need to hear it now,” she said. “I’m with Catch, and I’m staying with him here in Nebraska. I love him, and I’m pregnant with his baby. I’m not going back to Ohio with you and Deanna. This is my home now.”

Her skittish gaze darted at me, and I raised an eyebrow at her. She was doing good. Hadn’t missed a beat.

“No.” Reich shook his head, his teeth dragging against his lip. “No! Deanna’s waiting for us back at the motel. She’s waiting for you to meet her there, like you said you would. You lying, cheating little—”

“Yeah, she is a cheating skank. I hope you’re proud of her,” I said.

Nina’s face paled.

“You are such a cocksucker!” shouted Led.

“Shut the fuck up right now! All of you!” Catch’s corded neck stiffened like a slab of marble, the lines of his face taut.

“This ain’t right,” said Reich through gritted teeth.

“You know what’s not right?” I stepped forward. “This.” I held up the flash drive.

The color drained from Reich’s face. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“The right thing, imagine that.”

“You’re nothing but a two bit thief!” Reich’s voice seethed.

“I am. I wanted your cooperation on trade deals out to our territory for my club bad enough to force you. Bad enough to steal from you, blackmail you. I followed your invisible trails and found out your little secrets. You knew that if I told Finger what you’d been doing, he’d wipe the floor of the Flames’ national clubhouse with your ass. And you’d not only be out but shamed, backs turned on you. Power taken away. Money gone. And where would the great Reich be then? I don’t think those VIP clients of yours would come to your rescue, do you?”

“Clients?” asked Finger, his eyes narrowing.

“Yeah, politicians, big-business millionaires, crime lords, a few celebrities, too.”

“What are you talking about? Drugs, weapons?” asked Catch.

I had their attention. Every single Flame in the room had their eyes glued on me. Led was ready to pounce like a junkyard dog.

“Drugs were only the party favors here, the thank-you-for-your-business swag,” I replied. “No, Reich catered to one of a kind personal tastes. Snuff films, kiddie porn, gay porn, sex slaves—male and female. All made to order according to clients’ likes and dislikes. Reich here is a first rate entertainment mogul. Huge moneymaking business and all of it going into a single pocket. His.”

Finger’s harsh eyes were pinned on me.

“I know the Flames have a history with a lot of that shit—legendary, in fact,” I said.

“We shut it down decades ago after too much heat with the FBI,” replied Finger.

“Well, news flash, Reich, your national VP, quietly resuscitated it all on his own. Only, this time, underground, way underground. And this here”—I waved the flash drive that Nina and I had stolen from Reich—“this little stick has the private information of every client on it. Not just names, dates, places, but also all their extra-special tastes and quirky preferences. You can imagine, if this shit got in the hands of, let’s say, TMZ, right? The backbone of this business is keeping the info-sharing down to the barest minimum. Reich is their only contact. No go-betweens, no secretaries. Just him. It’s key for their confidentiality and his offshore bank account, of course. This shit gets out, he’s gonna be burned to the stake in more ways than one.”

“That’s my business! Mine!” Reich shouted. “You’ve got no claim on it.”

“You had that in your hands all this time?” Finger’s tone was clipped, harsh. “What were you gonna do, Butler? Use it to bait me, offer it to me like a fucking carrot, to make our tentative agreements go your way? Get thicker cuts out of us?”

“Why not?” I shot back.

Finger slammed a fist on the table at his side, and my stomach hardened.

I took in a breath. “Reich does have a point though.”

Reich’s head perked up at me.

“This is none of my business. Not anymore,” I said. “It used to be a family issue for me. Nina was my old lady after all, and I got her out from under this animal. But she’s not my old lady now. Now, this really isn’t my business, is it?”

Reich’s lips drew back in a snarl. “Give it to me.”

I sent him a grin. “I’m giving it all right.”

I tossed the flash drive at Finger, and he caught it, his long fingers curling over it.

“You motherfucker!” Reich exploded

“Yes, I am a motherfucker,” I said, making a show of wiping my hands. “And now I’m done with you, too.”

Finger gestured to his men, and two of them jumped forward and grabbed Reich by the arms. Finger held out the flash drive, and another Flame took it and hooked it up to his open laptop on the table.

Finger caught my eyes and raised his chin. “Get out.”

“You don’t expect me to walk away now and leave Reich standing, do you?” I asked.

“You don’t have a choice here, Butler,” said Finger. “You’re one Jack among many Flames and on our property. Unless you’ve got a death wish, you need to leave now while I still give a shit. I got business to take care of here.”

“You lied to me, Finger! He’s ours!” I shouted.

The Flame at the computer raised his head from the screen. “It’s all here, Prez, just like Butler said. Plenty of fucked-up shit. Long list of names and info. Goes back for years.”

A flicker of emotion crossed Finger’s face. His version of an excited expression. He eyed me. “Reich is mine. The second you leave, I’m going to blow his fucking head off myself.”

Finger turned to another brother. “Have them pick up the old lady and bring her here.”

The man nodded and stalked off, his phone at his ear.

“What’s going on?” Nina asked Catch, her eyes wide. “Why is Deanna coming here? They’re not going to hurt her, are they?”

“It’s all right, baby.” Catch rubbed her shoulder. “We just need to talk to her about what she knows.”

Finger motioned to two of his men. “Get the Jack off my property.”

Two Flames grabbed my arms, and I jerked away from them. “Fuck you!”

“Leave, Butler, or we’re gonna have problems you haven’t even dreamed of,” Finger said on a hiss, his ravaged face a forbidding scowl.

His men grabbed at me again.

“You’re going to pay for this, you son of a bitch!” Led charged at me, his face red.

Two Flames stopped him in his tracks, yanking him back.

“Never trusted you! Never!” Led shouted, bucking in their hold.

“Oh, don’t get me started with you, asshole!” I said. “You always wanted a piece of my woman from the very beginning.” I gestured at Nina with my thumb. “You tried so hard, but she never wanted your crooked dick, did she?”