Chapter Eight

 

Rogan handed over his cell phone and gun to Cillian, who was keeping watch outside, before he entered the dark bar owned by the Vipers. It was too early for it to open yet.

He nodded at Isaac, the new leader of the Vipers. He didn’t know Isaac well and didn’t fully trust him. Maybe he never would. He’d known Iker for years and the man had betrayed him. Right now, Rogan trusted very few people without reservation.

Still, Isaac had made reparations for Iker’s betrayal. He’d also guaranteed Miller’s safety. Isaac knew Miller had been searching for her mother’s killer. Discovering what had happened to her mother was going to be nearly impossible now Iker was gone. Rogan had done some research himself while Miller was recovering. He hadn’t unearthed anyone who had any knowledge of what had really happened to Miller’s mother.

Not yet, anyway.

Rogan took a seat next to Aleksandr. “Anisimov.”

“MacGuire.”

“How are things at Solnyshko?”

“Good. Your Miller is working out well. Don’t think she’ll be there for long, though.”

His Miller. He liked that.

“Why is that?”

Anisimov shrugged. “She’s a smart girl. She’ll probably move on to bigger things.”

“Right, let’s get this started,” Isaac said. “I want to talk about the Seven Sinners. They’re creating problems for us.”

“Why? Because you want the monopoly on Fizz and to do that you need to get rid of them?” Anisimov asked.

Isaac frowned. “They’re pushing the boundaries of their area. They want more territory.”

“Step Callahan is hungry,” Rogan stated. “Do we need to do something about him before he takes things too far?”

“We need to make it clear there are rules and boundaries,” Anisimov said. “Perhaps I will have a little chat with him.”

Isaac’s face hardened. “I will go.”

Rogan glanced over at Anisimov, who nodded. It was time for the newest member of the alliance to show his worth.

“Fine,” Rogan agreed. “Just make certain he gets the message.”

“Oh, he will,” Isaac replied. “Loud and clear.”

 

***

 

“What the fuck is this asshole doing?” Colm muttered. By the time they left the meeting, it had grown dark out. The bar had been due to open in an hour’s time.

Rogan turned, wincing as headlights from the car behind them assaulted his eyes.

Smash! Rogan jolted forward, the seat belt catching him as the other car smashed into them from behind. “Can you lose him?”

The street was nearly deserted. At least, they wouldn’t take out any bystanders.

Colm swerved into another street then another. “He’s still on me, Boss.”

Smash!

The car shook. Rogan winced as head slammed forward, wrenching his neck.

“Has this asshole got a death wish?” Colm turned down another street. “I’m headed out to the interstate. Hopefully, we’ll lose him.”

As they drove along the interstate, the car grew bolder, moving up beside them.

“Must have a hell of an engine in there,” Colm stated. “Brace yourselves.” He slammed on the brakes and the other car shot past.

“Good work,” Rogan told him.

“Fuck! It’s not over yet. Goddamn idiot!”

Rogan spotted the car reversing toward them. Colm shifted the car into gear, accelerating, passing the other car as it backed up. But too soon it loomed behind them. As it moved up beside them, the driver swerved in, hitting the side of the car.

Once, twice.

“He’s gonna kill us all!” Colm yelled before he lost control of the car and it swerved off the road. The world spun sickeningly before coming to an abrupt halt. Rogan yelled as he slammed against the seat belt. His head smashed against the window and darkness slipped over him.

 

“Hey! Hey, MacGuire, wake up!”

Rogan stirred, blinking his eyes. Where the hell was he? He tensed and immediately wished he hadn’t as his body complained. Everything felt tender and painful, as though he’d just gone a few rounds in the boxing ring.

“MacGuire, wake up!”

Detective Maran? That didn’t make sense. Why was Detective Maran yelling at him? At a groan, he slowly turned to find Cillian sprawled on the seat beside him.

“Boss? You okay?” Colm tried to turn from the front seat of the car.

“What happened?” Had they been in a car accident? Why couldn’t he remember?

Maran held his door open. “Someone ran you off the road. I saw them hit the side of your car and you spun then smashed against a tree. The other car pulled up and someone got out. I get the feeling they were considering finishing the other job until they spotted me.”

Rogan attempted to undo his seat belt, silently cursing his shaking hand. Christ, his head hurt.

“Colm, you all right?” he asked.

“I’m good, Boss.”

“Cillian?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“An ambulance is on its way,” Maran said, backing up as Rogan climbed from the car. “I don’t think you should move.”

“I’m fine.”

Cillian climbed out on the other side. The front of the car was smashed in and smoking.

Rogan moved to the driver’s door. He tried to tug it open, but it was stuck.

“Colm, can you climb out over the back?”

“Belt’s stuck. Wait, I got it.”

Rogan waited for Colm to climb out of the car before stepping back as a precaution.

“Since you all seem to be fine, maybe you could give me a statement.” Maran turned to them.

“Nothing to tell, Detective,” Rogan told him. “A car ran us off the road. Maybe you should be out there searching for him.”

“Make? Model? Color?”

“You probably saw more than we did. It’s dark and the headlights were blinding.”

A siren pierced the night and an ambulance sped toward them. Fuck, this was the end of a great day.

Who the hell had tried to run them off the road? And if Detective Maran hadn’t been there, would he have finished off the job he’d started?

 

***

 

Where the hell was he? Miller understood Rogan was busy, but couldn’t he even return her calls or texts? Worry gnawed at her stomach. Whenever she’d tried to contact him before, he’d either answered right away or called her back within the hour.

Miller curled up on the sofa, pretending to watch the movie on TV. Finn sat across from her in an armchair. He’d stuck close by her side since they’d left Solnyshko. She’d tried to convince him she was fine, but he felt he’d screwed up and keeping watch over her now was his primary concern.

She heard a door open and low voices. “They’re home,” Finn said unnecessarily.

Miller stood and followed the voices into the kitchen.

“Rogan, where have you—” She froze mid-sentence as she took in his ripped clothing, the cut on his head, and the bag of frozen veggies Colm was handing him.

Colm and Cillian didn’t look much better. Colm’s eye was swelling and Cillian favored his left side.

“What happened?” She rushed forward in concern. “How did you get hurt? Did someone do this to you?”

She led Rogan over to a stool and grabbed the frozen bag, placing it on his lip. “Sit. All of you.” She turned her frown on Colm and Cillian when they didn’t move. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened,” Rogan told her.

“Oh no, don’t give me that. I’m not stupid, and you don’t get to act as though I am. I don’t ask questions when you get home late at night. I don’t ask where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing. Frankly, I don’t want to know. But, when you come home hurt, I get to know. Understand me?”

Hands on hips, she leaned over Rogan.

The others started to slink away.

She pointed at them without looking. “Stay right where you are. All of you. Have you even been to the hospital?”

“An EMT patched us up.” Rogan watched her warily.

She snorted, muttering to herself. “I’ll get the first aid kit. Finn, sit on them. Anyone moves and they answer to me.”

 

“Shit, she’s scary when she’s angry,” Cillian said with admiration.

“Oh yeah,” Colm agreed.

“Mine,” Rogan growled at them both.

“Uh-huh, of course, Boss,” Cillian quickly agreed.

Colm held his hands up, wincing. “Didn’t mean anything by it, Boss.”

“Umm, Boss?” Finn asked, shifting his weight from side to side.

“It’s okay, Finn. We’re not going to try and move. You can leave.”

“That’s not it. I don’t want Miller angry at me, but I have to tell you something. About tonight. You’re not going to like it.”

 

It took her forever to find the damn first aid kit. They needed to put it somewhere more accessible.

When she returned to the kitchen, she knew Finn had blabbed. She turned to the younger male, who was pale and nearly shaking.

“You couldn’t wait until after I patched them up?” she asked.

“No, ma’am. You’re scary. But the boss, well, he’s the boss. If I didn’t tell him straight away, he would have killed me.”

“I still might,” Rogan growled.

“It wasn’t Finn’s fault. We were outnumbered.”

“But I shouldn’t have left you alone in the store room.”

“You left her?” Rogan thundered.

Finn winced. Now he was definitely shaking. Rogan stood, glaring at him. “Anything else you need to tell me?”

Rogan’s voice had gone quiet, deadly. Poor Finn, it was a wonder he hadn’t wet himself.

“No, Boss.”

“Get out. Get out of my sight.”

“W-when shall I come b-back?” Finn stammered.

“Never.”

He raced out as though the hounds of hell were on his tail.

“There was no reason to scare him like that. You’re not serious when you say he can never come back, right?”

Rogan turned his intense gaze on her. “What was his one job? His primary objective?”

She swallowed heavily but stood her ground. She wasn’t scared of him. But, damn, he could be intimidating when he wanted to be. If she’d ever seen this side of him before, she might have been the tiniest bit scared. “To guard me.”

“And he failed.”

“Be fair, Rogan. There were three of them. The restaurant hadn’t opened yet. He had no way of knowing there would be any problems.”

“Show me your arm,” Rogan demanded.

“He told you about Oleg, huh?”

“Yes. I can’t believe you thought to keep that from me.”

“I gave Sofia my word. But only because I knew Finn would blab. We have to get her away from him. She’s not safe.”

“Oh, don’t worry. That bastard is a dead man.”

“You can’t kill him!”

Rogan stared at her incredulously. “He touched you! Hurt you! He set it up so Callahan could get to you on his own. Do you have any idea how dangerous he is? He could have killed you.”

“I know. I get he’s a bad guy. Believe me, I do. But that isn’t Finn’s fault.”

“Show me your arm,” he reiterated.

She looked around for Colm and Cillian, but they’d snuck off. Cowards.

“Tell me what happened first,” she demanded.

His jaw clenched and a low growl erupted from him. Oh, he really wasn’t happy.

“We were run off the road on our way home from a meeting.”

“By whom?” she asked.

He shrugged. “Don’t know. Although, I can guess.”

“Callahan? He has it in for you. He thinks your father had something to do with his father’s death.”

“Is that what he said to you?”

She nodded. “He also said he thought it was too much of a coincidence my mother died around the same time.”

Rogan frowned. “How could they be connected?”

“I don’t know. But her body was found close to Lake Medina. Could Iker have had something to do with both of their deaths?”

“It’s possible. I don’t know who killed Callahan’s father. But it’s possible my father had something to do with it.”

“He wants me to play detective for him. Scratch his back and he’ll scratch mine.”

“No one is getting their back scratched,” he snarled.

“I know. I’m going to check you over.”

“Arm first. Show me.” He was barking out orders and she needed to calm him down. Showing him her arm was not going to do that.

“Rogan, it’s fine.”

“Show me your arm, Miller.”

His tone of voice told her he was not going to let this go. Stubborn man. With a sigh, she rolled up her sleeve, wincing as her knuckle brushed the deep bruise which was now a purplish-bluish color.

Rogan cursed low and deep. “I will kill him.” His voice shook.

“Rogan?”

He took her into his arms, mindful of her sore arm, and held her tight.

“Rogan, I’m all right. He didn’t really harm me. It’s just a bruise.”

“You’re not going to save him.”

“The thing is, there’s something else going on. Sofia was desperate for me to keep this quiet. I think Oleg’s got some sort of hold on her.”

“Well, dead men can’t blackmail.”

“Rogan, please.”

He closed his eyes for a moment. “The most I can promise is I won’t do anything tonight, all right?”

She nodded. “I want to save Sofia from him. He’s a creep. But I want to be careful not to make things worse. Maybe you should talk to Anisimov.”

Rogan ran his hand up and down her back. “I can’t believe he lets her date that bastard.”

“Ahh, she’s a grown woman. She can date who she likes.”

“The Russians are very protective of their women and children. Aleksandr more than anyone else. Sofia is all he has. Come on, let’s go sit somewhere more comfortable. I’m tired. And sore.”

Wow. That was the first time he’d ever admitted he wasn’t Superman.

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” she asked with concern, following him into the living room.

“No, just bruises.” He drew her onto his lap. “Tell me what Callahan said.”

She stiffened and tried to climb off his knees. “I’ll hurt you.”

“I need to hold you. Sit still.”

With a nod, she relaxed against him and went over everything that had happened. Rogan remained quiet, listening to her intently.

“Your turn,” she told him. “What happened?”

Rogan sighed. “I was at a meeting tonight and I left my phone outside, which is why I never got your calls until we were on our way home. I was trying to call you back when Colm noticed we had a tail. As we tried to lose it, the car grew bolder, slamming into the back of us. Then it sped up beside us and pushed us off the road.”

“You think it was Callahan?”

“I don’t know. No one got a very good look at the car. The odd thing is, they might have finished the job if not for Maran.”

“Detective Maran?”

“Yeah, he must have been following us. Again. He’s a tenacious bastard. But he saw what happened and drove them off.”

“So we owe the detective.”

“Yeah, damn it.” Rogan grinned down at her. “What the hell is Callahan thinking, approaching you like that? It’s like he’s daring me to take a swipe at him.”

“Will you?”

“Not right now. I need to figure this out first. He’s tied himself to the Fuerte cartel.”

“Natalya’s ex is part of the Fuerte cartel, isn’t he? You think they’d retaliate if anything happened to Callahan?”

Rogan’s face grew thoughtful. “I don’t think so. But I might need to make a phone call. He was brazen and cocky. I don’t like it.”

He hugged her tight. “I can’t let this lie.”

“I know.”

“I’ll talk to Anisimov before I do anything about Oleg. But he will pay.”

“And Callahan?”

“I’ll take care of things there as well.”

“Do you think your father killed his?”

“I know my father was capable of doing anything,” he told her. “Anything at all.”