Jessica came walking out of the Curious Turtle about five minutes earlier than she’d predicted, but I was ready with the keys in the ignition as soon as she set foot outside the front door. She climbed into her little Volkswagen, adjusted a few things, then pulled away from the curb and merged with traffic. I merged right along behind her, leaving about fifty feet or more between us, and followed her out onto the highway that led to her little cabin on the outskirts of town.

Traffic died away as we left city limits. I say traffic, of course, but what we have in Enchanted Rock is nothing compared to any actual city. Here, it’s a few cars, a handful of old clunkers, and some really nice sports cars and SUVs that belong to the ultra wealthy who live in the surrounding area. I guess I could afford one of them but I figured, why bother? This old Jeep Wrangler was more than I’d ever needed. It could get me through the gorgeous weather, like today, and through the heavy storms of winter.

I kept a good distance between us, not feeling that I needed to rush.

But, as drove I behind her, taking my time, I heard the motorcycle engines rumbling behind me, roaring as they gunned their engines to catch up. I glanced in the rear view mirror and saw five bikes as they came rolling up on my tail. They were all men, wearing the same black leather vests I’d seen earlier on Wyatt Axelrod. I couldn’t see what was on the back, but I’d put real money on it being a skull and crossed bones.

“Shit,” I breathed, my eyes flickering forward to watch Jessica as she turned a bend in the road, disappearing from view behind a rocky outcropping. “Shit, shit, shit.”

The engine noise rose as one of the bikers revved his engine and swung out into oncoming traffic. No one was coming, unfortunately, and he pulled up level with me on his chopper. He was a big, burly looking dude with a beard that would have made a bear blush. He looked over towards me, pointed a blunted, gnarled finger right at me and nodded.

I seriously considered just side-swiping the guy, but figured that would send him right over the side and down into a gully. In a car he’d be dead from a crash like that, but on a bike it would be even worse. Hell, even if we weren’t in Colorado, I’d still have killed him with that stunt. And I’d already escalated this situation enough by kicking their president’s ass. I didn’t need to kill one of them.

Instead, I just shook my head.

He grinned and nodded in response, stabbed the same finger at his chest, then at me again.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. Clearly, he wanted to fight, but this time outside city limits. I didn’t like leaving Jessica like this, having her head home to the cabin alone, but what else could I do? Drag the whole gang of guys out to her place? Well, of course I could. If they decided to fight me there, then they decided to fight me there. At least Jessica would be with her dogs. Maybe Eli could offer some form of protection.

No, I decided, I needed to stay with her. That’s what I was being paid for, not to have fights on the side of the road with an outlaw biker gang, even if they were threatening my client’s life in some way.

The biker revved his engine again, the roar ripping through the mountainside like an angry bull, snapping me out of my thoughts and back to the situation at hand.

I just couldn’t do it, no matter how much I wanted to kick that smug look off his face. I locked eyes with him and shook my head again.

Pussy, he mouthed.

I snorted. Unbelievable.

He gestured to the rest of the guys behind me, and suddenly their bikes were all roaring as they spread out and raced ahead of me.

At first I thought I knew what they were doing. They were trying to just bypass me and get to Jessica. I gunned the Jeep, sending it barreling ahead like a freight train. But then I realized what they were really doing as they swung around.

All five of the bikes, in a nearly solid line across both lanes of the highway, put on their brakes.

“Shit!” I yelled as I slammed on my own, stomping hard, locking the wheels so I skidded forward. I did it on instinct, nothing more. What I should have done, though, was slam my foot down on the gas, press the pedal to the metal, and just keep going even if I knocked them over like bowling pins.

The smell of burnt rubber filled the cab of the Jeep as I cut the wheel to the right, trying to avoid them by nudging towards the shoulder. I came to a shrieking halt, my Jeep lurching as I slammed forward in the seat and rebounded back into it.

The two bikes that were facing oncoming traffic pulled their bikes up in front of their buddies’ hogs, and all five men swung their legs off their rides and began to approach.

“Just you and me, handsome!” the lead rider shouted as he stopped about five feet from my Jeep. “No one else!”

I could take him. I’d taken down bigger guys than him on a boring Saturday night back in my bouncer days.

But, still, my thoughts were with Jessica. Why had they cut me off like this? What was their plan?