Her name was Trinity. There was no question that wasn’t her real name, but Lind couldn’t afford to care. Once she had made a trip to the bathroom in the diner where they stopped and cleaned herself up, her beauty became all the more striking. She had a round face with soft feature and the skin of a peach. Her hair was golden blonde and a few errant curls escaped the tall ponytail she had resorted and fell in front of the largest, deepest eyes Lind had ever seen. The irises were dark brown, like pools of liquid chocolate. Her frame was slim but strong, telling tales of sensuality and power.
Under other circumstances, Lind might have gone for it. He was certain she could give him a night to remember. But this wasn’t the place, and it sure as hell wasn’t the time.
Over coffee and cake, they told her about Gary contacting the club to propose a partnership. His business was flourishing, he had said. More sophisticated clients walked in every night, and he wanted to offer them the kind of high-end recreation that they could find in the fancy clubs of downtown Los Angeles. He knew the Diamondbacks had been establishing strong dealing relationships and that they were also expanding to high-end drugs. He thought it might be the perfect opportunity to expand together.
So, they had agreed to meet at his nightclub…where they were promptly ambushed.
“How do you know those who ambushed you were part of a cartel?” Trinity asked. Her full lips curling around the brim of her cup did things to Lind that he wasn’t ready to admit to.
“They have been on our trail for a while now,” Jacob said. “They don’t like that we’re getting more involved in the drug scene. We’ve tried to make things work with them, but so far it hasn’t worked out great.” He paused. “And after tonight, I can’t imagine it ever will,” he added as an afterthought.
“A couple of the people who shot at us tonight are sure members of the cartel,” Lind said.
“That doesn’t seem very subtle,” Trinity observed.
“They didn’t want to be,” Lind said. “They wanted us to know who they were.”
“I still can’t really see Gary giving you guys up,” Trinity said. She held up a hand to stop their protests. "Wait, let me finish.”
Once again, Lind didn’t know why, but he let her. And so did Jacob.
“You said it yourselves, Gary is new at this kind of thing. There’s no love lost between us. He’s just my boss, and I’m just an employee. So, I say this with the most objective attitude…Gary is not a backstabber,” she said. “He’s just not smart enough to be.”
Lind and Jacob exchanged a look. In retrospect, it made sense.
“Who, then?” Jacob wondered aloud.
Trinity shrugged. “Could be a number of people.”
“Like who?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “And I don’t want to know. Leave me out of it.”
“Oh, but we can’t,” Lind said.
Trinity’s chocolate eyes snapped up to him. “Excuse me?”
“Sweetheart, you’re so in it that you could drown.”
“What are you talking about?” she protested. “I told you, I know nothing about what happened. I stole your bike before hell broke loose.”
“Exactly,” Jacob said quietly, just now coming to the realization that Lind had figured out the minute she had told them what she had done and, most importantly, when.
She looked between them. That lost look coming back to her beautiful, delicate features. “What do you mean?”
“You stole the Viper’s bike just before the cartel came in with guns blazing,” Jacob said. “It will look suspicious to our club and to your boss…provided that he really wasn’t involved.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Trinity said, but she didn’t look too convinced. “I’ll talk to Gary and tell him I had nothing to do with it.”
“And, of course, he’ll be inclined to believe you,” Lind said. “Especially given the amounts of love not lost between the two of you.”
“You’ve said it yourself, you’re just an employee,” Jacob said. He let the rest unsaid, but Lind could see that Trinity heard it loud and clear.
She slumped back in her chair, looking stunned and afraid.
“I just…I guess I’ll have to disappear for a while.”
“I guess so,” Lind said.
“We have just the place for you.”
Lind’s head whipped around so fast that for a moment he feared he might have pulled something in his neck. He stared at Jacob in shock.
“No,” he said pointedly, “we don’t.”
Jacob rolled his eyes. He punched him in the arm and stood. “Give us a minute, sweetheart.”
Reluctantly, Lind followed him outside. He took a cigarette out of his pack and watched as the smoke swirled in the night air.
Jacob batted at the tendrils. “You’ll get lung cancer,” he protested, as he always did.
Lind rolled his eyes. “Shut up and tell me just what the hell that was in there.”
Jacob shrugged. “Well, it’s not like we can leave her.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because she’s in danger. Gary Merchant may not be a backstabber, but he sure isn’t a saint. When he hears that one of his girls has stolen the Viper’s ride moments before his deal was literally shot to hell, he’s going to go after her.”
“So?”
Jacob arched a reddish-blond eyebrow at him. “So, we can’t let that happen to an innocent woman.”
“She stole my bike,” Lind grumbled. “She ain’t that innocent.”
Jacob smirked, knowing he already had Lind. “Whatever,” he said. “Still, we just can’t let her leave. And besides, she might be useful.”
“Useful how?”
“She works in that nightclub. She knows everyone. She knows their habits, their characteristics. She may be helpful in figuring out just whose heads have to roll for this.”
Lind thought about it. “She does seem pretty smart…” he conceded. Trinity had proven observant, and they sure could use an observant eye to a reality that they knew little to nothing of. “Do you believe her story?” he asked.
Jacob thought about it. “I do,” he finally said.
Lind nodded. “So do I,” he admitted, reluctantly. “Are you sure about this?”
Jacob shrugged. “She could be our best shot.”
“We’ll have to lie to the club,” he said. “When Alec hears about one of Gary’s girls stealing my ride moments before he got shot at,” he said, quoting Jacob’s words, “he’s going to suspect her.”
“Then, we keep our pretty little secret until things have blown over,” Jacob agreed.
Lind hesitated. “I don’t like lying to Alec. He can always find me out.”
Jacob laughed. “I’m sure you’ll find some tale to spin until the time comes to tell him the truth.”
Lind scowled. He hated this. He hated lying to his best friend and to the club. He hated games. He wasn’t a man of games; he was a man of action. Games and schemes were more Alec’s territory—and Jacob’s, who wasn’t second in command for nothing.
“You’ll be fine,” Jacob said, clapping his shoulder. “Now, let’s go tell our little bird the good news.”