For three weeks, Carri had been on a roller coaster ride from hell. The work was nothing; she found Albert Dowes to be a piss poor lawyer and a lying snake. He’d skimmed extra money from contracts and padded his billing like nobody’s business. Everything she found regarding money, she gave to Reagan to go through. Carri was good, but Reagan was way better. That woman was so good at tracking down money, it was almost scary.
She spent most of her time at the County Clerk’s office correcting mistakes in property purchases and business licenses the RBMC had obtained. Their lawyer hadn’t filed anything correctly in over three years, and Carri was stunned the Club hadn’t been involved in one hell of an audit. There were even properties the Club was currently using they didn’t even own; Dowes’ name was on the deed.
Carri, Reagan, and Suzie had set up an office on Main Street, much to Link’s annoyance, but Carri didn’t want to work or stay at the Clubhouse. Something the thick-headed man couldn’t understand. That had been only one of their arguments. There were so many more, Carri didn’t even want to think about it. She’d won that argument, but lost so many more. The man frustrated her like no other.
Some days, he would come in nice as could be, bring her lunch, and they would talk. Really talk. Those days were the best, she could feel herself getting closer to him. She liked that side of Link. Other days though, the man was a menace, questioning everything from her legal knowledge to her common sense. She even had to have Jinx call in one of the Prospects to fix the damage he’d done to the wall he hit on his way out. The man did so many three-sixties and one-eighties, Carri was sure she had whiplash.
One thing that hadn’t happened between them was another kiss. Even on the days he was nice, Link would tell her she needed to get back to her life in Lexington, the sooner the better as far as he was concerned. That hurt. Carri liked being home, she liked that she could have dinner and watch a movie with Suzy at night or meet up with Addy and go shopping for a bit. Or that when things got too out of hand with Link, she could go to the farm and chill by the pond.
She realized her time in Lexington had helped her career, but she had been lonely. She had friends there, but nothing like the people here. Hell, even Jinx was making it into her friendship circle. The man was all scary biker until you understood his dry sense of humor and that he really didn’t like being around a lot of people. But if you got him alone, the man would talk. When Carri found out he had a daughter he was trying to get custody of, she offered to help him.
Brass, shit, that man was hilarious when he wasn’t trying to be serious around Suzie. He had a comeback for anything and everything she said. But as soon as Suzie walked in the door, he changed, got quiet and became serious. Carri could see how much the man wanted her friend, but Suzie was having none of it. Carri had even tried to talk to her about it, but Suzie cut her off at the quick. Carri knew there was a story there, but she didn’t push it. Suzie seemed somewhat fragile about it, but Brass just looked hurt.
Grabbing the last box, Carri opened it, grabbed a couple of files, and went back to her desk. This was it. After this box was cleared out, she didn’t have any other reason to be in Defiance. Although she’d received several very odd calls today. One was from an officer with Homeland Security, telling her that her security clearance had been forwarded to Chief Master Sargeant Masterson. The second was from a partner in her firm saying her leave had been canceled, and she needed to forward the billable hours for her work on the Masterson case. That until further notice all her cases were being forwarded to an Associate and she was to concentrate on Masterson.
Carri knew Chief Master Sargeant Masterson was Tuck. It seemed like Tuck had been a very busy boy during his absence from Defiance. She also knew Tuck was back, Brass had let it slip. She planned on confronting him tomorrow about what he was holding back from her. She’d questioned all the girls. They had given up a little, but not much. It was enough to make Carri think this was much bigger than guns or drugs. She hoped she was wrong, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach was telling her she already knew.
She had been so naïve thinking she had her father over a barrel. She should have known that scum never stayed where you put it, it had a way of seeping into everything. That was another thing she needed to talk to Tuck about. He’d promised her all those years ago he would keep an eye on her father. She wanted to know why that hadn’t happened.
Carri opened the first file from the last box and started to read. Oh fuck, this wasn’t good. She kept reading, file after file. It was all the same shit; the RBMC wasn’t what they seemed, and someone other than she knew it. Carri went back to the box and checked each file to make sure she hadn’t missed any. When she was sure she had them all, she shoved them in her laptop backpack and headed for the door.
Jinx was the first person she saw. He was drinking a cup of coffee, looking out the front window of the office building. Carri giggled a little; if the three of them—her, Reagan, and Suzy—wanted to go into business, they would need to keep their bodyguards away from the windows. Jinx would scare the crap out of most people on a good day. If he was in a mood, then forget about it.
“Hey, Jinx, are you with me today or one of them?” Carri yelled at him from the hall, using her thumb to indicate Suzie and Reagan’s offices.
“All yours, sweetheart, what do you need?” Jinx smiled at her, and it did soften him a bit, not much, but a bit. He started to swivel his hips and do a little dance for her that really got her to laugh. He was still a scary Dude, but Carri liked him.
“I need a lift to the Clubhouse. I need to talk to Tuck, now.”
“You do know that he only got into town at like seven this morning? He’s probably sleeping. You might want to wait awhile before you poke the bear.”
“No can do, I need to talk to him, and it can’t wait. Unless, you think I should talk to Link first.” Carri really didn’t want to give this information to Link, but he was her point of contact within the Club.
“No can do, sweetheart. Link left as soon as Tuck got back. He won’t be back until tonight.”
“Well then, that answers that question. Let’s go and as you said, poke the bear.”
“Oh no, you’ll be doing all the poking, I like my balls right where they are, thank you very much. You want to take a cage or are you okay riding bitch on my bike?”
“I’ll ride bitch for you anytime, big boy, point the way.” Carri batted her eyelashes and tried to sound sultry, it didn’t really work, but it got a laugh out of Jinx,
Brass coughed, trying to hide what he was saying, “He wishes you would, but Link would do more than remove his balls.” Carri looked at Brass, but didn’t respond. She knew something was going on between her and Link, she just hadn’t realized everyone else thought so too. She doubted Link would really have a problem with Carri riding on the back of anyone’s bike. He’d even offered to give her a ride the one time he took her back to Suzie’s instead of making a Prospect come with an SUV. Whatever, that was a thought for a different time.
Thankfully, when they got to the Clubhouse, Tuck wasn’t sleeping, but sitting at the bar talking to Blade. She and Jinx walked through the door and both men turned their way. When Jinx nodded and walked away, she knew Tuck knew she had been coming.
“Come on, Carri, we need to talk,” was all Tuck said before getting up and walking toward the hall. She supposed that meant she was expected to follow. Sometimes, she wished these bikers would use a few more words. Then again, sometimes, like when Link was having a temper tantrum to put a two-year-old to shame, she wished they would use less.
Tuck walked into his office and immediately went and sat behind the desk, leaving Carri the choice of either sitting on the couch or one of the chairs right in front of him. Before her foray into the biker life, she wouldn’t have even thought about it, but right now she didn’t want to be in Tuck’s path once he found out what she knew and that Dowes had the information, too. Taking a deep breath, she sat in the seat in front of the desk.
“We need to talk.” Carri opened her bag and pulled out the files, handing them over to him. At first, he only looked at her, but when she nodded her head at the file indicating that he go ahead, he opened the first file. It wasn’t long before he was opening them all, skimming through them. The look on his face turned thunderous. When he slammed the last file shut, hitting the desk with enough force to break it, Carri couldn’t help flinching.
“How much of these did you read and where did you find them?” Tuck asked through gritted teeth.
“I read all of them.” Carri didn’t stand down, there wasn’t any point. “As your lawyer, you have nothing to worry about, everything I do for you and the RBMC is covered by client privilege. I won’t ever say a word about any of it. But Tuck, I’m not the one you need to worry about. I knew the RBMC was different, but this, what’s in those files, shit, you're like a black ops team. You guys have more government contracts than I’ve ever seen and those notes, they’re so detailed. How in the hell did someone get their hands on them? Shouldn’t they be locked up in the Pentagon somewhere?”
“Shit, Carri, you shouldn’t have read any of that. You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into by simply knowing that information. If anyone else finds out, FUCK!” Tuck started pacing around the room. “Who else knows you’ve read this? Did you tell Link or even Jinx about it?”
“No, I came straight to you, Tuck. Like I said, I’m bound by the law, I can’t repeat anything I hear or see, plus I don’t see what the big deal is. You had frickin Homeland give me security clearance. Plus, what the hell am I going to say? Hey, Myrtle did you know that our local MC is really a front for a bunch of undercover agents? Yeah, the good guys. Who the hell would believe me and why would I even consider doing it? It’s not like it’s coffee clutch conversation.”
Tuck went back to his desk and pulled out a thick file and threw it on the desk. “This is why I got you clearance Carri, not this other shit. You can’t be involved in this. Hell, even knowing, puts you in danger. We go after other MC’s who are into some pretty bad shit. We, the guys and I, take on that risk, to do what is right. You knowing even that much makes you a liability and a target. We might work for the government and have off the book deals, but make no mistake, we are still one percenters. We do things other law enforcement agencies can’t. Do you hear what I’m saying?”
Carri nodded, she knew this was big, just not this big. She also heard what Tuck wasn’t saying, and that scared her, and she’d never been afraid of anyone at the RBMC until now.
“Open the file, Carri. You need to know exactly what we’re planning to do next because it affects you. Your father is planning on and has done some pretty shitty things. We are taking him down any way we can, do you understand?”
Carri didn’t answer, just started reading. It was exactly what she thought. Her father, James, Jeremy Taylor, and the old police chief were all involved in human trafficking. There were even pictures of the three of them with women before and after they…. she was going to be sick. It also made so many puzzle pieces click for her. The shipment happening at the end of the week, the airfield, the tunnels, all of it. Shit, maybe she should have taken Link’s advice and ran for Lexington. Now, it was too late for any of that. Carri stood up, placed the file back on the desk and looked right at Tuck.
“Do what you need to do, you won’t hear a word out of me. As for the files, I never saw them, I’ll take that information to my grave. I fixed everything that Dowes had his hands on for the RBMC and its members. I’ll make sure you get a full write up on everything that was messed with.”
“Carri, listen…”
“I was planning on sticking around because it seems you called and had me reassigned here, but in the light of this, I think we’ll need to talk further about my continuing as the RBMC’s lawyer. Now, though, I need a drink, several of them.”
“Bar’s always open in the Club, Carri. You’re more than welcome to have a drink, you deserve it. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you this information sooner. I needed to make sure our case was airtight if we went that route. I hope you understand.”
Carri walked to the door and without looking back, said, “Make him pay, Tuck. I don’t care how you do it, just make him pay for every lewd and heinous act he’s ever done.”