“Platinum?” Angel had been wiping down the counters in the kitchen of Dax’s house when she heard that word. It piqued her curiosity. Dax was in the other room talking on the phone. She put the dishtowel down and cautiously approached the doorway. Peeking out into the living room she saw Dax sitting on the sofa with his back to her. “How do you transport platinum?” He was quiet for a few minutes, listening. She wished that she could hear what was being said on the other side of the conversation. When Dax finally spoke, he said, “I have no fucking clue what a Canadian Maple Leaf is, but it all sounds like a hell of a lot of risk. What would our take be?” He sat up straighter as he said, “Holy fuck, and all they want is security for the transport?” Angel stepped forward and the floorboard creaked. Cursing in her head she just continued into the living room. Dax turned to look at her and she smiled and pointed down the hallway toward the bathroom. He nodded and went back to his conversation. “How many men would we need?” and then, “A week from this coming Friday? Damn, that’s not a lot of notice. I’ll have to take this to the table and get back to you. Okay, I’ll call a meeting for this afternoon and let you know no later than tomorrow morning. Alright, Dan, thanks.” Angel tiptoed back to the bathroom and flushed the toilet and washed her hands. When she came back out, Dax was on his feet.

“You going somewhere?” she asked.

“Just up to the clubhouse. I need to call a meeting. Are you staying here tonight?”

She made a face. “Sorry. I have to work in the morning.”

Dax moved over to her and cupped her chin in his hand. “In a few months you won’t ‘have’ to work. You can just stay here with me all the time.”

“What if I want to work? Will you have a problem with that?” He brought her face to his and softly kissed her lips.

“You’re my old lady. If you’re loyal and faithful to me, you can do whatever you want.”

“Mmmm, I like the sound of that.” He kissed her again before letting go of her face and said:

“Maybe if this meeting wraps up quickly I’ll come stay with you tonight.”

“That sounds like a plan.”

He grabbed his vest, winked at her, and went out the door. She waited until she heard the sound of his Harley starting up and driving away before taking out her phone and calling Kyle.

“Hey, I need to see you. I’m headed off the ranch right now. You want to meet me at that café where we met last week?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there in about half an hour. You have something?”

“Maybe. I’ll talk to you when I get there.”

After she hung up with Kyle she called Micah. “Hey, baby,” he answered. “How are you?”

“I’m doing okay. How are you?”

“Great! I can’t wait to see you tonight.”

Angel cringed. “About that…”

“Please don’t cancel on me again. Angel, I haven’t seen you in over a week except for half an hour at the task force meeting.”

“I’m sorry, babe. Dax wants to meet up tonight. What am I supposed to tell him?”

“Meet up and do what?”

“I’m not having this conversation with you, Micah. I’m doing my job. This is not me out having a good time here.”

“Right.”

“What is that supposed to mean? Seriously, do I question you when you get called out at three a.m.?”

“This isn’t you getting called out. You’re practically living with that guy.”

“I have my own place, Micah, but if I’m not there when Dax comes looking for me, I have to have a legitimate excuse or my cover will be blown. Is that what you want? Do you want me to risk that so you can see me tonight?”

He sighed. “You know I don’t want to put you at risk. I just miss you.”

“I miss you too. I have to go now; I’m meeting Kyle in half an hour.”

“Did you get something?” Micah’s interest suddenly seemed piqued. He wanted this investigation to be over with. He wanted her home and she knew it. What she didn’t know was how they’d go from where she was now back to where they used to be.

* * *

Kyle was waiting for Angel when she got to the little out-of-the-way café. He was sitting in a booth way in the back sipping a cup of coffee. “Hey,” he said as she slid into the booth. He signaled to the waitress.

“Hey.”

They waited for the waitress to fill Angel’s cup and ask if she wanted anything else. Once she was gone Kyle said, “So what do you have?”

“I’m not sure. I heard Dax talking on the phone a little while ago to a guy named Dan.”

“Dan what?”

“I don’t know. All I heard was Dan.”

“That’s a common name.”

“Well, thank you for stating the obvious. Do you want to hear the rest, or not?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“He was talking about doing a security detail, they do that sometimes…but I’m guessing if the people hiring them to do security were on the up and up that they’d hire a legitimate company and not an MC. Anyways, he seemed really impressed with whatever this guy intended to pay them and he said something about Canadian Maple Leaf.”

Kyle took his tablet out and typed. He whistled between his teeth at whatever was on the screen. “What?” He turned the notebook toward her. He’d done a search on Canadian Maple Leaf. Angel read what it said out loud… “The Royal Canadian Mint’s platinum coins are among the purest platinum coins on the market, making them highly desirable and tradable.”

“So…where does a person get these coins?”

“You can buy them, but the purchases are limited and there’s a registry for each one sold. My guess would be that whoever wants an MC doing their security is not purchasing them and bringing them into the country legally. I’ll have our tech team look into any recent thefts in Canada or from any private collectors here in the U.S. The only problem I see with that is that if the FBI gets any wind of this they’ll snatch this case up from us in a heartbeat.”

“Shit.” Angel was lost in her own thoughts for a moment. In her mind the best-case scenario would be that all Dax and the Skulls were involved in was genuinely security. They could get them on transport of stolen property, but based on what Angel had seen of the club’s rap sheets, that would be minor for them. Mainly, it would be minor for Dax…and as much as she knew she shouldn’t be thinking that way, she was. “So, how would someone even fence something like that? I mean, is there a big market for stolen coins?”

“These coins can be melted down and made into anything, mainly jewelry. I also heard that they were using that sort of platinum to make exhaust systems for fancy show cars. Someone that has the facilities to do that wouldn’t even have to worry about fencing. It’s not like they’re stealing bricks of it. Coins would be easy.”

“Okay…so, I’ll keep my ear to the ground about this and you’ll let me know what you find out?” Angel put her purse on her shoulder.

“Yeah. Why the hurry?” Her brother, one of the people she thought trusted her most in the world, was looking at her like she was one of his perps.

“I haven’t had any time to myself in weeks. I’m anxious to spend a few hours in my apartment…alone.”

“Alone? You’re not seeing Micah tonight?”

“When did my love life become such a concern for you?”

Kyle stood up and tossed a ten-dollar bill down on the table. “When you started acting like you might be ready to forget where you came from,” he said. Angel didn’t have the desire or the energy to argue with her brother. She turned and walked away. As she drove out of the parking lot in her car she saw him standing next to his, watching her. She hated feeling like a suspect. Even more, she hated wondering if she deserved it.

* * *

Angel spent the drive to Hartford trying to analyze her feelings for Dax. She wanted to convince herself that she didn’t feel anything for him other than lust. She admitted to herself that would be bad enough, if that were all that it was. But does lust make you worry about the other person’s safety? Does it make you crave hearing their voice or seeing their face? She more than doubted it. She was twenty-six years old and she’d experienced lust many times. She knew what it felt like, and although she had more lust for Dax than she’d ever had for any other man, there was more to it than that. Much more.

She parked in her stall at the apartment complex. She’d only stayed in the apartment twice since she moved in three weeks ago. It didn’t feel like a home to her because none of the stuff in it was really hers. The photographs were of her and other cops in plain clothes, supposedly of her and her parents. The art on the walls had been picked out by the technicians who handled the undercover operations, and even the scrapbooks and photo albums in the top of the hall closet held nothing dear to her. But…she understood the need for it all. Dax had already spent one of the two nights she stayed there with her. There was no way she could have had him in her real space, surrounded by photos and mementos of her life with her father and four brothers, or photo albums and scrapbooks filled with pictures of her graduation from the police academy or one of her brothers receiving a service award. She felt safe when she was with Dax…but only because he didn’t know who she really was.

She went inside the building and took the stairs up to the third floor. Her apartment was the last one on the end, and even before she reached it she saw that the lock had been jimmied with something that left deep cuts and scrapes in the paint and the door was sitting ajar about two inches. She reached back into her waistband and took out the 9mm she’d just tucked in there. Pressing her back against the wall she slowly made her way toward the door. It crossed her mind that she shouldn’t go in without backup, but if someone was in there, she didn’t want to give them time to get away.

When she got close enough she pushed open the door and took a wide stance with the gun drawn and held out in front of her. “Police! Who’s in there? Come out with your hands up.” She knew that she was risking blowing her cover by yelling it out like that, but she wasn’t about to give up protocol altogether. She waited a few beats and when there was no answer or noise, she slipped inside and once again kept her back to the wall. With her gun ready she did a sweep of each room. There was no one in the apartment…but someone had definitely been there.

Once she determined that no one was in the apartment she took stock of what the place looked like. She could tell that drawers had been opened because they weren’t completely closed. The desk in front of the window looked empty and after a few seconds she realized it was because the new little laptop the techs had given her was no longer there. She wasn’t worried that they’d gotten anything personal, since she had nothing personal there…but she was worried about who would be going through her home in the first place.

She fished her phone out of her pocket and pressed in her father’s number.

“Hi, Angel.”

“Hey, Dad. My apartment was broken into.”

“Ah, Jesus. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I wasn’t here. I’m just worried about who was here and why.”

“I’ll send the crime scene techs over.”

“Okay…but Dax was supposed to come by tonight, so make sure that anyone you send knows this is an undercover operation.”

“You got it, Angel. Hey, baby girl…?”

“Yeah, Dad?”

“Are you okay? I mean, overall, in general, with everything happening. Are you doing okay?”

“I am, Dad. Please don’t let Kyle and Micah convince you otherwise. I’m capable of doing my job, and I’m doing it.”

“Oh, I know that. But like the rest of us, you’re only human. Be careful with your heart, Angel, okay?”

“I will, Dad.”

“Good. I’ll call Hartford PD and have them send out some techs. I have a friend over there. I’ll make sure he knows the scoop.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“I love you, Angel. Be safe.”

“Always.”