Elite Metal-ARE-epub (43 page)

Ant gestured toward the men. “What, was there a discount on thug suits if you bought them in bulk?”

Chesterfield’s gaze narrowed as if Ant had just pissed on his carpet. “Are you the one called Adamantium?”

“That would be correct.” He didn’t bother to offer his hand.

Chesterfield didn’t appear inclined to do the same. “Who are they?”

“My men. You didn’t think I was going to walk in here all by my lonesome, did ya?” he drawled and shifted his hip out, looping his thumb in his belt. “I know you think I’m here to give Beth back, but really, I just wanted to tell you straight up to your face that Beth is mine now. We’ll just collect her things and be on our way. Come after us, you die. Simple as that.”

Chesterfield’s nostrils flared and his eyes widened in rage. “Is that so? You think you have the right to come onto my land and steal my property?”

“I didn’t steal nothing.”

“You stole her,” he said, pointing at Beth.

“Please. I saw this fine-looking bitch on your arm at Bone Daddy’s and knew I had to save her from looking at your ugly mug. I didn’t steal her. I liberated her.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are?”

He spread his arms out wide. “Did we not just go over this? I’m Adamantium. The baddest motherfucker there is.” Cobalt coughed. “Homies excluded. I get what I want, and I wanted the bitch.”

Chesterfield laughed low in his throat and shook his head as if he were stunned to be challenged in his own home. “Well, the bitch is mine. And I’m taking her back.”

“Don’t think so, Chester.” He pulled Beth to his side and cupped her breast through the vest. “This is one righteous piece of ass. Hottest fuck I’ve ever had. To part with her will cost you. A lot.”

“How much?” Chesterfield asked with a roll of his shoulders.

Ant smiled big and wide. “How much ya got?”

“Do you honestly expect me to pay for something I already own?”

“Uh, yeah.” He laughed and groped Beth’s hips and thighs. “But I don’t think she wants to go back to you. Oh, she put up a helluva good fight when I took her. Scratched me up something fierce, but when I showed her what she’d get to play with every night, she dropped on her knees and thanked me proper. Didn’t ya, darlin’?”

She wiggled and whimpered as if disgusted by his touch, and arched her back so he could slip his hand into the waistband of her jeans and withdraw the small Smith and Wesson he had hidden there earlier. He slipped the weapon into his own waistband as he pretended to laugh at her discomfort.

“Don’t be acting like you weren’t howling for it, baby.” He slapped her ass and set her behind him, freeing up his shooting hand. “Damn, I think I love you, girl. But…I could fall out of love. For a million dollars.”

“You have got to be the most arrogant son of a bitch I’ve ever met,” Chesterfield sneered. “And I’ve met my fair share. You’re lucky I haven’t shot you where you stand.”

Ant dropped the smile and leveled a scowl so fierce, Chrome would be proud. “Any of y’all pull a piece and my boys will be on your ass before your fingers hit the trigger.”

“Is that so?”

“That’s so. Look, Chester, you have two options. A million dollars for the babe. Or I keep the girl and you leave me and mine the fuck alone.”

All expression left Chesterfield’s face, sending a shot of adrenaline through Ant. The shit was about to hit the fan. Question was, who was going to strike first?

“I choose option three,” Chesterfield said and tugged on the ends of his shirt cuffs. “I kill you and your flunkies and then take my woman outside and hose her down in bleach to rid her of your germs.”

A red dot of light hit Chesterfield in the chest then moved into Ant’s peripheral vision to land on the lapel of the guard who stood to the right. A quick glance on the left confirmed another dot of light on the second guard.

“I guess we’re going with option four.” Ant latched onto Beth’s shoulder and pushed her down while he pulled the pistol from his jeans and shouted, “Get down!”

Pop pop
. The front windows shattered in a hail of gunfire as Steele and Bolt turned and took down the remaining guard in some hand-to-hand combat. Ant swung his fist and connected a left hook to Chesterfield’s jaw.

In the span of a few heartbeats, shouts faded and all motion came to a stop. Ant stood over Chesterfield with the business end of the S&W staring him in the eye.

He dropped the good ole boy accent when he growled, “Now you tell me why I shouldn’t shoot you dead for all the hell you put Beth through. Huh, boy?”

Chesterfield floundered on the ground, whimpering through the pain of a possible busted jaw as the stench of his fear filled Ant’s nose.

Ant shook his head and glowered at the miserable SOB. Shooting him now would be too quick. Besides, he could be persuaded to give up some valuable information before they did away with him.

“My boss may not want you dead. Yet. Doesn’t mean I have to bring you to him in one piece.”

He aimed the pistol at the floor and placed the muzzle of his gun near Chesterfield’s ear and pulled the trigger. Chesterfield screamed and clutched at the side of his head.

“What did you do to him?” Beth asked as she climbed to her feet.

“The fucker doesn’t need to be able to hear out of both ears.”

Ant tucked the gun away before he gave into temptation and unloaded the rest of the chamber into the fucker’s head.

He blindly reached out behind him and felt Beth at his back. He dragged her around to hug her tight. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said, although she trembled so hard he wondered if she’d shatter in his arms.

Although he hated to let her go, he knew time was ticking. “Go grab anything you want to take with you. Hurry. Someone may have heard the gunshots and called the cops.”

Her gaze flicked to Chesterfield, who continued to writhe and howl on the floor. She looked back up at him and gave a sharp nod before racing away.

“Let’s go, tough guy.” Ant dragged the sobbing man to his feet and cuffed his hands with a zip-tie. “We’ve got a nice room waiting for you at an all-inclusive resort. You’ll love it.”

Outside the front door a shiny black delivery van waited with the back doors open. “Let’s go, boys,” Copper shouted. “There’s a bubble bath and a tub of ice cream waiting for me back at base.”

“You’re always hungry lately,” Bolt said. “What, are you pregnant or something? Who’re you screwing?”

“Shut your fucking face,” she yelled and jumped onto the driver’s seat.

After loading Chesterfield in the van, Ant ran back into the house. He followed the sounds of the others and found Steele in the room that appeared to be an office, directing the men to load everything they could get their hands on into the cardboard banker’s boxes Copper had brought in the van.

He continued on his search and found Beth in the master bedroom at the end of the hall.

“Master” was a too-apt description for the suite as he saw the rack of riding crops and paddles hanging on the wall. The restraints tethered to the four-poster bed made his trigger finger itchy. In truth, the bastard didn’t need to hear out of both ears, or have the use of his legs, in order to answer their questions.

“Ant? Are you all right?” Beth asked.

“What?”

“You look upset. What’s wrong?”

He forced his hands to unclench and his lips to form a smile. “Nothing. We just gotta hurry. The boys are cleaning out the office now. Do you know where Chesterfield’s secret hiding places are?”

“Not really, but my guess is the closet or the bathroom.”

“Cool.” He gestured to the lone, small carry-on she held. “Is that all you’re taking?”

“This was all I was allowed to take with me from my former life. I don’t need anything else.”

He nodded. “Take that outside to the van and wait by my bike. We’ll be jetting soon.”

She barely cleared the doorway before he started to attack the shelving in the closet with all of the pent-up rage he wished he could use on Chesterfield. Bolt and Platinum joined him a few seconds later.

“Check the bathroom,” he said.

“Holy hell.” Bolt whistled as he joined him in the closet. “How many suits does one man need?”

“Only one from now on. Yes.” Pay dirt. Behind a rack of Beth’s shoes was a fire-safe the size of a small filing cabinet.

“Whoa,” Bolt said behind him with a note of awe in his voice. “It’s like looking at the fucking crown jewels.”

“Huh?” He turned his head and felt his jaw drop as he spied the drawers of jewelry Bolt pulled open from the armoire. Necklaces, bracelets, even a couple of tiaras sparkled in the closet’s low light.

“She left these behind?” he muttered more to himself than anyone else. There had to be at least a few hundred grand in diamonds, emeralds, and sapphires laying on the blue velvet. Weren’t diamonds a girl’s best friend and all that shit?

“Screw that. My girl earned these.” He grabbed two fistfuls of the sparkly and stuffed as much as he could fit in his pockets. If anything, he could always pawn them and buy her something she’d really love.

Steele hollered from the doorway, “Okay, ladies. Let’s boogie.”

“You got the other side, Bolt?” Ant braced his legs and prepared to lift the safe.

“Yeah.”

“On three.”

Together they carried the safe to the front of the house while Platinum came up behind them with a plastic-covered envelope dripping with water. “Found some shit in the shitter. It was in the tank.”

“Good work.” Steele closed the van doors when the last of their spoils were loaded and slapped the vehicle twice. “Roll it out.”

Beth was waiting by his chop, just like he asked. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips and climbed on. “How are you holding up?”

“Fine.” She wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’ll feel better once we’re back home in our bed.”

Home
. Damn, he liked the sound of that. “Amen, sister.”

With a start of his engine, they rolled down the drive in a neat procession with Platinum and Merc leading the way in one of their Range Rovers. About a half mile down the road, the Rover pulled off to the side and Ant pulled in behind as the others continued on.

“Why are we stopping?” Beth asked.

“Closure. Merc left behind a present.”

“And what would that be?”

He smiled. “Do you know what happens if you leave a gas leak unattended?”

“Is that a rhetorical question?”

The smile widened.

Pa-boom!

Beth jumped in her seat and turned to see a giant fireball reach for the sky. A moment later another explosion rippled across the dry landscape into a second ball of flames.

“Was that necessary?” she asked in a squeak.

“Okay, the second blast was probably a little excessive, but we need it to look like Chesterfield permanently disappeared.”

“Are you going to kill him?” The worry in her voice gave him pause.

After all was said and done, he knew Beth wasn’t completely hardened to the horrors of the world. Whatever malice she held toward Chesterfield, Ant knew she wouldn’t want them to kill him. Think it, maybe, but not make it a reality.

“If anyone takes his life, it won’t be one of us. But make no mistake, sunshine, where he’s going, he’ll wish he were dead.”

She swallowed and nodded then snuggled close. “Take me home, Adamantium.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied and tore off down the road. The roar of the motor drowned out the sound of sirens wailing in the distance.

Chapter Twelve

Ant leaned back in his chair as the craziness of Sterling’s statement sank in. “Her tattoo is a code?”

Sterling nodded and typed on the keyboard, bringing up a series of maps on the whiteboard. Steele and Chrome leaned in as well with identical frowns on their faces.

“It all clicked when I saw Beth’s tattoo the other night, and the files we found at Chesterfield’s confirmed my suspicions. I’ve seen many communications to Red Wolf contacts referencing the name Lone Star and finding Juniper. I thought Lone Star was a person and have been trying to track their identity, but in actuality Lone Star is Texas and Juniper is Beth.”

Chrome turned toward Ant with suspicion in his eyes. “She said she didn’t know anything about Red Wolf.”

“She doesn’t,” Sterling quickly interrupted before Ant had a chance to leap across the table and deck his CO. “Not in the way you think anyway. Chesterfield’s primary role in the Red Wolf operation was networking. He connected people. If Red Wolf thought you worthy, you were sent to Chesterfield, who would set you up with—sorry, Ant—a
date
with Beth. Find her tattoo, figure out the code, and you made it to the next level. Juniper is the primary ingredient in gin, which is made in England. We’ve had suspicions all along that Red Wolf has strong connections to England. If you take the number of berries, stems, and leaves in the tattoo, it plots this longitude and latitude in England.”

“London,” Steele murmured.

“London,” Sterling echoed with a smug grin. “Just as we suspected.”

“Fuck,” Chrome muttered.

“I thought you’d enjoy that bit of news.”

“It is good news,” Steele said, although his tone of voice suggested otherwise. He wiped his hand over his face. “Good job connecting the dots.”

“That’s what you pay me for.” Sterling handed a file folder to Ant. “This is for Beth. Personal stuff I found in Chesterfield’s stash.”

Ant peeked into the gaps of the pieces of paper. It wasn’t his place to read information meant for Beth, but damn, he was intrigued. The few words he was able to make out made his heart stop.

His fingers tightened on the folder and he looked up at Sterling. “Thanks, man,” he husked out of a tight throat.

Sterling nodded with a slight smile. “What are you waiting for?”

“May I be dismissed?”

“Go on.” Steele nodded at the door, but Ant had already jetted before he spoke.

He found Beth in Alayna’s office, where she was scanning evidence they had collected into their encrypted database. With her experience, Poppy thought she’d make a good administrative assistant and free up the others to do more investigative work.