Tip of the Spear: Devil Chasers (Lima Six Motorcycle Club Book 3) (11 page)

“Help me get this in the Tahoe before someone sees us,” Leo said as he trotted to his SUV with two bricks.

As Matt tossed the bricks to Copper, who then tossed them on to Leo in easy underhand tosses, he stacked them in the floor of the passenger seat. If he got stopped with thirty kilos of cocaine in his truck he was fucked, but it was a risk he had to take. In less than five minutes after they boxed Gigolo in, Leo was slamming the door on his SUV.

“Make sure that thing won’t run again,” he said as he hurried around the front of his truck. “And get his phone so he can’t call for help.”

As Copper and Matt set to work making a mess of the Ford, Leo turned his truck for home, making
damn
sure he didn’t exceed the speed limit.

Forty minutes later he pulled to a stop in
Grande Heights.
It was Sunday and nobody was working, which suited him fine. He couldn’t get the drugs out of his SUV fast enough. He crawled into the backhoe and started digging. In ten minutes he had uncovered the big concrete drain basin he had “borrowed” and buried the week before. Hooking onto the basin with a length of chain, he lifted the large concrete box out of the ground enough that he could toss the drugs into it. He then lowered it back into the hole and buried it again. Now it was just another patch of turned earth in a construction site. So much so that he once again marked the spot with a wooden stake so
he
could find it again.

***

Jamie heard the garage door go up and was practically dancing in the kitchen when Leo stepped in. He seemed unhurt and upbeat and she relaxed a little. “How'd it go?”

“Smooth. Gigolo is going to have a hell of a headache.”

She released the breath she was holding and moved in to hold him. “Thank God. You were gone so long I was starting to worry. I was afraid to call because I didn’t want your phone to ring at a bad time.”

“Nothing to worry about. We did it by Ron’s own book and gave him a taste of his own medicine. I have to tell you, it felt good to stick it to Ron.”

“Good. I hope he gets everything he deserves.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll see to it he gets everything that is coming to him.”

“I know you will. And I want to be there when you do.”

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said then smiled evilly.

***

Over the next few weeks they made two more hits on shipments. Jamie’s network of eyes and ears in the club ran deep and they had two more women openly join the effort to turn the club. The club was rife with conflict. At first Ron thought it was the Cuervo Cartel that was making a play for them, but that soon gave way to suspicion and accusations within the club when no one was killed. After the third hit Allen and TC joined the new cleaning crew, brought into the fold by their women.

Their stories confirmed Matt’s, Copper’s and Fitz’s. Ron was out of control and suspicious of all those around him, making threats and isolating the rest of the club even farther. For all practical purposes the club was no longer functioning and all but the ten or eleven men that Ron had in his inner circle were staying in the club only out blind loyalty to Ron.

The men try to convince Leo to found a new club, confident that the remaining members would jump to the new club, but Leo was resolved. Founding another club would mean open warfare with Lima 6, and he didn’t want that.

On the fourth intercept they jump Lima 6 and the cartel at the exchange point, four of the cleaning crew popping up out of the desert in Ghillie Suits and masks, killing the two cartel members and one of Lima six as they went for their guns, and then holding everyone else at gunpoint until the other two members could arrive.

***

Later that evening Leo’s phone rings while he is standing guard in
He’s Not Here.
“Leo,” he said after he read the display.

“I just got back from an all hands meeting of the club,” Matt’s cheerful voice said, “and guess who is coming to dinner?”

Leo couldn’t help but chuckle. “Who?”

“The club is being paid a visit by the Prieto Cartel tomorrow. Seems they are disturbed by recent events.”

“That’s a real shame,” Leo said with a huge grin.

“Yeah. I think Ron has some ‘splainin’ to do.”

“Good for him. I—” Leo paused as the door opened and Lundergrund walked in. “I gotta go. I’ll call you back later,” he said before he killed the call and pocketed the phone.

“Back again? Who did you bring this time, the dog catcher?” Leo asked as he took her arm and escorted her out to the parking lot so she and Jamie wouldn’t tangle again.

“This is your last chance to get out of this with your ass in one piece,” she snarled as she shook his hand off. “The Prieto Cartel is going to be paying a visit to Lima 6 and I am going to take them down.”

“So what do you need me for?”

He watched her fume a moment. “I don’t know when or where.”

“Ah! So what you are saying is, this is my last chance to save
your
ass? What’s the matter, Lundergrund? DEA wanting you to pull another rabbit out of hat like you did with Carlos?”

“Goddamnit, Leo! This isn’t some stupid fucking game we’re playing here.”

“No, no it’s not. But you come in here, close down Jamie’s bar with bullshit accusations, roust me around and make threats. So tell me again why I should want to help you?”

Lundergrund pursed her lips. “Because you and I want the same thing. We want to stop the flow of drug into the US.” She paused a moment, then continued. “Look, DEA and Border Patrol have known all along what Lima 6 was doing. We also know the club has turned and is helping run the drugs. But we are spread too thin to be effective. To be honest, DEA looked the other way when you were hijacking the drug shipments into the country.”

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“No. Of course you don’t. But the fact is, we
let
you do what you were doing because, well, you were doing what we couldn’t. But then something happened and Lima 6 turned. I told the DEA that I could turn you, and the club. But you got tossed out on your ass. Now, you’re just part of the problem. It would be so much easier if you would just tell me what you know. I know you still have contacts in the club. I know about those little confabs you have been holding with Copper, Fitz and those other two. Let me help you take down Ron and the rest of Lima 6. Tell me when the meet is scheduled and I can bag them all at once. No one will know it was you that informed.”

Leo considered the offer. It was tempting, but he didn’t trust Lundergrund to not shiv him and the rest of the guys if it got her what she wanted. “And if I refuse?”

“I will take you down with the rest of the club. Then who will take care of Jamie? Her brother is dead, her dad barely knows her, and you will be in jail pulling twenty to life for murder and transportation of drugs. I like you Leo! I’m trying to help you here!”

“Seems to me if you could do all this, we wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation.”

“Make no mistake, Leo. Having your help will make my job easier, and I will get my bust sooner. But I am building my case now. Eventually I will have enough evidence to put you and the rest of your
gang
away for a very long time. Think about it.”

Leo smiled. “Sorry, officer Lundergrund. I would like to help, but I really don’t know what you are talking about.”

Kary Lundergrund stared at Leo for several long seconds. “You may be a good looking guy, Leo, but you’re stupid as shit. Fine. Have it your way. But when I drop the hammer on you, I’m going to enjoy busting your balls.”

“Hell hath no fury…” Leo began then trailed off with a smile.

Lundergrund grinned back. “That’s right, and I suggest you remember that.” She turned to go. “Oh, and Leo,” she said as she turned back, “just so you know, I’m making this same offer to Ron Terrill. Maybe he will be a little more… cooperative. Especially if I tell him about the little meets you five have going. I wonder whatever you could be talking about?”

Leo felt his blood run cold but he kept his face neutral. “Do what you have to, Lundergrund. I’m sure Ron is just as anxious to get in bed with the Feds as I am.”

“Depends on what I offer him, don’t you think? I can be very persuasive.” Lundergrund give him another nasty smile then turned and swayed to her SUV.

“What did that bitch want?” Jamie asked when Leo returned to the bar.

“She’d desperate. She knows that the cartel has a meet coming up with the club. Something I found out just as she walked in. That means she has a mole in the club or the cartel. But she doesn’t know when or where and she offered a deal.”

“So it’s the same old shit.”

“Yeah… except this time she said she was going to offer Ron immunity for information.”

“That bitch,” she hissed in fury. “It would be just like him to take it and screw the club.”

“Yeah. That worries me too. We don’t have much time. But there’s more.”

“More?”

“Yeah. She knows about the cleaning crew. Or at least knows of it.”

“Fuck,” she breathed.

“Yeah. She said she is going to use it as a lever with Ron. Worse, that means we are under surveillance, at least part of the time, or our phones are tapped.” Leo paused a moment as he thought. “It’s probably our phones that are tapped. She thinks there are only five of us, not the six, so that means her information isn’t completely accurate, but it’s close enough. It’s a wonder the DEA hasn’t busted all our asses.”

“That fucking bitch.”

“Yeah. I used to think she was just a pain in the ass, but now… this is some serious shit. Send a text to the guys and tell them what is going on. I need to find out from Matt what we can do to get some secure communications again. We need to use some sort of code or something.”

“Yeah, okay,” she said as she reached for her phone under the bar. They were so close, but events were beginning to spiral out of their control.

CHAPTER TEN

“You’re
sure
this is secure?” Leo asked as he played with the app Matt had installed on all their phones.

“As secure as can be made. The NSA could probably crack it, but it would take time. It will be well beyond what that Lundergrund chick could do in any reasonable time.”

“So we are down to text messages for exchanging information?” Copper asked. “That sucks. I can’t type worth shit.”

“We’ve noticed,” Matt said with a perfectly straight face.

Copper made a sarcastic smiley face as he give him the middle finger.

“How did the meeting with the cartel go?” Leo asked. He was the odd man out and hadn’t heard because they didn’t trust their phones.

“Don’t know,” Fitz said. “Everyone here is frozen out, Leo. But they didn’t kill Ron, so I guess he convinced them it was the Cuervo Cartel or something.”

Leo drummed his fingers in the table. “I guess we are going to have to convince them otherwise.”

“How?” Matt asked.

“Next intercept, I think we are going to have to show the cartel who is actually hitting their drug train.”

“How are you going to prevent that from getting back to Ron?” Allen asked.

“We won’t be able too. But if we hit the cartel after Lima 6 leaves with the drugs, then the information will get to him from the cartel. And who do you think they are going to believe? Their own people or Ron telling them he had nothing to do with it. Especially since he is already under suspicion?” Leo explained.

“And the drugs?” Matt asked.

Leo scrubbed at his face. “Copper, do you think we can handle it if we break into two teams? Four on the cartel and two on the drugs?”

“I think that is stretching us too thin. We can barely stop the trucks with three. I don’t know how we would do it with two.”

“How about three and three?” Fitz asked.

“Don’t like those odds with the cartel,” Leo said and Copper nodded in agreement.

“What if you didn’t have to stop the drugs on the road?” Jamie asked. Everyone looked at her. “We talked about this. Put four on the cartel. Me and a couple more of the women could tail the drugs. When they stop, we’ll create some kind of distractions and the two guys could move in and scoop them up.”

“That might work,” Copper said after a long moment of silence. “But I’m still not keen on the idea of you being involved in this.”

“I’m with Jamie,” Kat said. “All we would have to do is follow them. How would they even know we were back there? Once they stop, you manly men types move in kick some ass.” She shrugged her shoulders. “Easy.”

“I’m in,” Exotic said. “Sounds exciting.”

“Wait a minute,” Leo said. “This isn’t some game. What if—”

“Are you suggesting we can’t take care of ourselves?” Jamie asked him with a pointed look.

Leo recognized the trap Jamie was setting for him. “No… But—”

“Then it’s settled. Exotic, Kat and I will trail the drugs. With three cars they will never know we are behind them. Once they stop, we’ll let the guys know and you can move in and do what you do.”

“What do you think?” Leo asked looking at Copper.

“I think I don’t want to have to listen to her bitch if I tell her she can’t go. Especially since she will just go anyway.”

“Same here,” Leo said. “You and Matt go with them. I’ll take Fitz, TC and Allen and we’ll hit the cartel. Lend me your colors?” he asked Copper.

“Sure.”

“Okay. But if it looks like the shit is going to hit the fan, you break it off and get your asses out of there, understood?” Leo said as he looked at each of the women in turn.

“You worry too much, but okay,” Jamie agreed. She was surprised at how easily they had won that argument and accepted her win gracefully.

The cleaning crew spent another hour or so working out the details of the next intercept. While Copper and Matt trailed the drugs, the other four members would hit the cartel in Lima 6 colors and shoot up their vehicle, but ultimately allow them to escape so they could report back to the cartel. Having Allen and TC on the crew has given them enough manpower to become more proactive and less reactive.

As the meeting broke up and the group wandered outside, everyone’s heads snapped around at the sound of a starting motorcycle. Before anyone could react, the bike bellowed away into the night.

“Shit! Get after him!” Leo called as he dug frantically in his pocket for the key to Jamie’s truck. “Wait here and get them back inside!” he snapped at Copper and Matt as he began to run for the old truck. There was no way he could catch the bike in the truck, that would be for Fitz, TC and Allen who had come solo on their bikes, but he had to be there if they caught him.

By the time he got the 1950 turned out onto the road, all four bikes were out of sight, but he had seen the directions they were traveling. He didn’t see any point in straining the old girl in a race he couldn’t win so he drove at a comfortable and safe speed. He motored out of Vallecito for a few miles before coming up behind three motorcycles sitting on the side of the road. He pulled the truck to the side and got out, leaving the headlights on. Lucas was lying on the edge of the road, his bike a crumpled mess, barely visible, at the bottom of a shallow ravine.

“What happened?” Leo asked as he walked up.

“Don’t know. We saw him go down. We just got him hauled back up here when we saw your headlights.”

Leo crouched down and looked Lucas over. He was conscious, but obviously in a lot of pain, not surprising considering he looked like he a broken arm, and probably a leg, not to mention several deep cuts that were bleeding profusely.

“What did you see?” Leo asked.

“Fuck you Leo. Fuck all of you cunts.”

Leo stood up and sucked on his teeth. There was only one thing to do, but that didn’t mean he had to look forward to it. “You three need to leave. Now.”

“What are you going to do?” TC asked.

“What has to be done.”

“We’re in this together,” Fitz said. “How do you want to play it?”

“What about you two?”

“I’m in,” TC said.

“Me too,” Allen added a moment later.

Leo gritted his teeth as he pulled his sidearm and fired one bullet into Lucas’ head then tucked the weapon away. He wouldn’t ask these men to do something he wouldn’t do himself. “Let’s make this quick,” he ordered as bent down and took Lucas’s arms and muscled him off the edge of the road before dropping him. Grimacing, he dipped a finger into the blood and scrambled the rest of the way down to the wrecked motorcycle where he drew a rough outline of a bird’s head on the tank, marking it as a Cuervo Cartel hit.

He stopped on the way back up the hill to wipe his finger on Lucas’s clothes. “Let’s get the fuck out of here. Go home. We left from the meeting and went straight home. Keep it simple, okay?”

Fitz’s face wrinkled at what they had just done. “Yeah. Simple.”

“You okay?” Leo asked.

“Yeah. But this isn’t like killing drug dealers, you know? He was a brother, once.”

“Yeah. I know. But if he told Ron what he saw, Karen and your kids would be in danger. Just remember that.”

“I know.” Fitz looked at the ground then began to kick the sand about, mixing in the blood from Leo’s gunshot until it had all but disappeared in the headlights. “I need to go home and hold my wife.”

“Do that,” Leo said as they began to mount up. As soon as the bikes pulled out onto the road, he looked into the darkness for just a moment longer, contemplating what he had done. He had technically murdered men before, but like Fitz said, it was different this time.

***

Copper and Matt were standing in the door, with Jamie and Exotic close behind, as Leo exited the truck. “What happened?”

“Nothing. The other three went home.”

Copper stared at Leo a moment. “Who was it?”

“Lucas.”

“Did he go home as well?”

Leo never broke eye contact. “Yes.”

Copper looked hard a Leo again. “Understood. Come on, Kat, let’s get the fuck out of here,” he said as he pulled her along gently by the arm.

“Us too,” Matt said, having listened to the exchange between Copper and Leo and understood what
wasn’t
being said. “What a shitty way to end the day.”

Once the two couples were in their cars, Jamie looked at Leo. “Is Lucas dead? Don’t lie, just tell me.”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“I shot him in cold blood.”

She could feel her face scrunch in sympathy at what he had to do. “You didn’t have any choice.”

“That doesn’t make it any easier.”

“No. I suppose not.”

“I need a drink before we go.”

She followed him into the bar. “Sit down. I’ll pour it.”

He parked himself on what had become his stool as she moved around behind the bar and pulled the
Jack Daniels Black Label
off the rack behind her and poured him a double. He took the small glass and gave it a couple of slow spins on the bar, staring into the liquid.

“You okay?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah. No. I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Talk to me.”

“I shot him, Jamie. A brother. He was injured and rather than help him, I pulled out my weapon and shot him right in the head. I’m no better than Ron.”

Jamie went hot at Leo’s words. How dare he compare himself to Ron fucking Terrill! “Don’t you
ever
say something like that again! Ever! I know it was a hard thing you did tonight. A terrible thing. But it was nothing like what Ron did! How can you say something like that?”

“Because it’s true. How is what I did any different than what Ron did?”

She didn’t know what was wrong with her, but Leo was making her livid. “The difference?” she shouted. “The difference? The
difference
is you didn’t kill Lucas out of greed. You didn’t kill him to stay in power.” He hadn’t even tasted his drink and she would be damned before she would pour him another one tonight. “You killed him to protect those that are trying to do the right thing!” she raged as she stomped out from behind the bar. “You six are the last hope to turn the club around. To make it what it once was. You know as well as I do that if Lucas talked Ron would come for you. For all of you. Is that what you want? Do you want to put Fitz’s family in danger? Or Kat or Exotic, or me?”

He tossed the amber liquid back, growling as he grit his teeth against the burn. “No, but—”

“But nothing! You did it to
protect
lives. What’s wrong with you that you can’t see that?”

“It’s not that simple!” Leo roared as he leapt to his feet. He had to get out, get away. He turned toward the door wanting to get some air.

“The hell it isn’t!” Jamie shouted as she took him by the arm and hauled him around to face her, as mad as she could ever remember. She could sense the darkness trying to take him again but she wouldn’t give him up without a fight.

“You knew going in that this would probably get ugly! Copper, Fitz and all the rest are depending on you!” She took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. “Baby, I know what you did tonight was a terrible thing. But it was a necessary thing. The cops did all they could, but it was
Lima 6
that cleaned up the town. You’re like our knights, our paladins, and you protect us. You and the rest of Lima 6 are the best of us. Leo, we
need
Lima 6. You have…” she tailed off as Leo’s face became unreadable, his face twisting in a mixture of pain and sorrow, and something else she couldn’t read.