CHAPTER 15
Max
I ’d spent so many nights haunted by painful memories. Over and over I relived every heart-wrenching moment, but after just one night with Harper, the demons that raged in the back of my mind started to fade. While I was still struggling to accept everything that she said, she’d given me a new perspective on what had happened in Iraq, and for the first time since Brody’s death, I slept—really slept. I woke up feeling better than I had in years, and it was because of her. I never believed in second chances. I’d always thought there was no way to go back and fix the mistakes we’d made, but she made me realize that it wasn’t about changing the past. Second chances were for proving that we can be better, even after we failed. There was no doubt that I’d failed her, and in more ways than I could count, but I’d never fail her again. I would do everything in my power to be a better man—for her. Harper was it for me, and as I looked down at her sleeping in my arms, I knew there wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.
I had no idea what time it was when I eased the covers back and slowly pulled myself out of bed. I was careful not to wake her as I put on my boxers and headed into the kitchen to make us some breakfast. I opened her refrigerator and was disappointed that there wasn’t much there. Knowing that a quick run to the grocery wasn’t an option, I’d have to make the best of what she had. I’d just pulled out the carton of eggs, when I heard a tap at the door. I went over to see who was there and spotted the delivery man heading down the steps. When I opened the door, I found several boxes sitting on the porch. I almost froze my ass off when I stepped out to get them, but I warmed right back up when Harper greeted me at the doorway. Her hair was pulled up in a messy bun, and she was wearing an oversized, long sleeved t-shirt with big, fluffy, pink socks. Sexy as fuck.
When she saw that my hands were full of boxes, she asked, “What is all that?”
“You tell me.” I chuckled as I placed them down on the table. “They were just delivered.”
After looking at the return label on one of the boxes, she smiled and said, “Oh, these must be from Claudia.”
She walked over to the kitchen to get a knife, and then rushed back to open the first package. As soon as she tore it open, a pungent scent of flowers filled the entire room, and my eyes immediately started to burn. I grimaced as I watched her reach into the box and pull out a large basket of old lady bath soaps and candles. “What is all this stuff?”
“It was supposed to be some promotional things for my next book signing.” I watched as she reached into the second box and pulled out a long, purple nightgown with white ruffles and a pair of slippers. “I feel so bad.”
“Why? Because it looks like something your grandmother would wear?”
“No, smart one.” She sassed as she rolled her eyes. “Because I should be the one sending her gifts, not the other way around. She’s done a lot to help me, and I feel a little guilty accepting them.”
“I don’t think there’s anything for you to feel guilty about. She obviously likes doing it for you, so I wouldn’t worry about it.” There was one small box remaining, so I motioned towards it and said, “Maybe that’s the stuff she was supposed to be sending.”
She quickly opened it and found several stacks of cards and pens with her book covers on them. Her eyes danced with excitement. “Yes! These are it, and they’re perfect.”
I picked one up and studied it for a moment. It didn’t look like much to me, but I could see that she was tickled with them. “You said you’d use this at your next book signing? When will that be?”
“Not for a few months, but it takes time to get it all together, especially for the big ones like New York.”
“You’re going to a signing in New York? That’s awesome.”
“It’s just part of my job.” She started packing up the boxes and added, “But I enjoy doing it, and it’s a great way to get my name out there.”
Just as she finished talking, my phone started ringing. I went over to my coat and pulled it out of my side pocket. When I saw that it was Ryder, I quickly answered, “Whatcha got?”
“We’ve got ourselves an issue.”
“With what?”
“With Frankie’s driver … the one he sent to pick up the load.”
“Yeah? What kind of issue?”
“The kind where he isn’t breathing?”
“What ?”
“He’s dead. Like dead … dead. Like deader than disco,” he answered emphatically.
“I get it, Ryder,” I snapped, as I quickly glanced over at Harper. She looked so damn beautiful standing there looking at all her gifts, and after the night we just shared, I hated the thought of leaving her. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice. “I’ll meet you in fifteen.”
It was Saturday, a day most people didn’t work, but there were no days off in my line of work. There was always someone who needed something, some job that I had to take care of, or a delivery that needed to be made. I hated to disappoint her, but I didn’t have a choice. After I hung up the phone, I turned to her and said, “I wanted to make you breakfast in bed this morning.”
“I hate that I missed that .” A sexy smile spread across her face as her eyes roamed over me appraisingly, making me wish I could pick her up and carry her back into the bedroom for another round. She walked over to me and wrapped her arms around my waist, hugging me as she said, “Maybe next time.”
“Absolutely.”
“I wish you didn’t have to go.”
“Me, too, doll. You gotta know, I’d rather stay here with you.”
“I know.” She looked up at me and smiled. “It’s fine. I really need to get some writing done anyway.”
“I’m not sure how long I’ll be.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be here when you get done. Now, go get some clothes on. Duty calls.”
After I got dressed, I gave Harper a brief, but memorable kiss, then headed over to meet Ryder. I knew I was in for a long day ahead. When I arrived, he was waiting for me outside. As soon as I got out of my car, he started towards me and asked, “Aren’t those the same clothes you were wearing last night?”
I glanced down at my wrinkled slacks and shirt and groaned, “Just tell me what you know about the driver.”
“He was supposed to be back yesterday morning, but he never showed. So, Jay used the tracker on the truck and found out he was still in California. He wouldn’t answer his phone, so he sent one of his guys to check it out. When he got there he found the truck, but it was out of sight behind some old, deserted building. The trailer was empty, and the driver was all kinds of fucked up.”
“How fucked up?”
“He was almost unrecognizable. They’d done a real number on him.”
“Fuck. You think the Blades had something to do with it?”
“Oh, there’s no doubt. Frankie got a message from them this morning. The package contained three bloody fingers and a letter that said there would be more to come if they didn’t get the rest of their shipment plus interest . He didn’t know until later that the fingers belonged to his driver.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah. I figure they tortured the driver to make him talk.”
“Yeah. They probably thought he’d taken their shit or—” I started, but was interrupted when Nitro pulled up next to us. When he got out of the car wearing jeans and t-shirt, instead of his normal shirt and slacks, I knew he’d been out with Tristen. I had no doubt that having to leave her only added to his pissed off mood. “Ryder just filled me in on what happened.”
Ryder turned to Nitro. “I didn’t get a chance to tell him everything.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Our shipment to Mercer was in the truck, and now, it’s missing.” I’d hoped that he’d had enough of Frankie’s bullshit and would be ready to walk away, but now that our shipment had gone missing, that wasn’t an option.
“So, whoever stole the drugs, also stole Mercer’s shipment?”
“You got it,” Nitro growled. “Which makes Frankie’s fuckup, my fuckup, and that shit don’t fly.”
Nitro sold guns. He sold and distributed them all over the world and had the means to do it the way it needed to be done. He was the best—dependable, powerful, and focused, making sure each and every transaction went off without a hitch. Frankie had fucked that up, and while Nitro was many things, there was one thing he wasn’t and that was a fucking detective. None of us were. We handled things up front, crossing every t and dotting every i , so we didn’t have to deal with a lot of bullshit. I knew Nitro wasn’t going to like it, but we just didn’t have the kind of connections we’d need to find out who had stolen our weapons. Whether he liked it or not, we were going to need help—the kind of help that only a certain person I knew could give. “You know I’ll do what I can to find whoever was involved, but I think we should get Big in on this. He’s the only one I know who can get this kind of shit done and get it done fast.”
Nitro ran his fingers through his hair as he considered what I just said. Big was the computer hacker for Satan’s Fury, and a longtime friend of Nitro’s. It wouldn’t be the first time Nitro had gone to Big for help. He had a knack for digging in all the right places, finding anything Nitro would need to know about potential clients, and there was even a time he helped derail a cop who was sniffing around one of Nitro’s warehouses. Hackers can do some pretty crazy shit, and by the time Big was done with that cop, he’d made his life a living hell. After mulling it over, Nitro looked at me and said, “See what he can find out. We need to know what we’re dealing with, and then, we can go from there.”
“I’ll head over there now.”
He nodded. “Ryder and I will go pay Frankie a visit. There’s always a chance he hasn’t told us everything he knows.”
We all went our separate ways, and after messaging Big, he told me to meet him at the clubhouse. When I pulled up to the gate, Diesel came walking over to my car. I rolled down my window. “Hey, man. How’s it going?”
“It’s going.” He shrugged. Prospecting could be rough, especially doing so for Satan’s Fury, but I’d heard stories about Diesel. With his blond hair and friendly smile, he looked like a nice enough guy, but he was tough. He’d proven that when Two Bit’s girl ran into some trouble with her father’s club. I had no doubt that he could handle whatever was thrown his way. “Big’s waiting at the bar for you.”
“Thanks, man.” I nodded and continued through the gate. Once I was parked, I headed into the clubhouse and found Big talking to the girl behind the bar. Big didn’t look, nor act, like your typical computer geek. He was at least 6’5” and was muscled up like a wrestler with tattoos covering his chest and arms. When Big saw me heading in their direction, he said something to the girl, then stood up and motioned for me to follow him down the hall to his room. I’d been there before, but his room always amazed me. With all his gadgets and gizmos, it looked like something out of a sci-fi movie.
He walked over to his desk and said, “So, tell me exactly what we’re looking for.” After I filled him in on everything, he turned to his computer and started typing. A few seconds later, “We’re sure the Blades killed your driver, right?”
“I’d say that message was pretty damn clear.”
“Okay. Let’s start from the beginning. From looking at his log, we can assume that the truck left here for LA with everything loaded and still had it when it reached the weigh station. So between here and there, we’ve got to figure out where the heist took place.”
“Makes sense.”
“I’m thinking we should start at the weigh station. You said that it got held up there for a couple of days, right?”
“Yeah. Frankie sent another driver to pick it up, and that’s all we know.”
“Then, that’s where we need to start.” He started typing again and said. “I’ll see if I can access their camera feed, then maybe we can get eyes on that truck.”
In a matter of seconds, he’d found his way in and started searching through the last few days of security footage. It didn’t take long for me to spot the dark purple outline of Frankie’s truck logo on the side of the trailer. It was parked off to the side next to several other trucks, but there was no sign of the driver. I leaned forward and pointed it out to Big. “That’s the one.”
He zoomed in on the license plate, then without telling me why, he pulled up another screen and started typing. Seconds later, he pointed at his computer and said, “Look at this. Someone called ahead and warned the safety inspector about the load being overweight.”
“What does that mean?”
“I’m guessing someone wanted that truck to get held up at the weigh station.” After reading a little further, Big shook his head and said, “Check this out. The freight weight was only off by a few pounds. I can’t believe they deemed it out of service for that. I know they’re strict, but that seems a little extreme.”
“What’s the guy’s name?”
“Who?”
“The safety inspector. Maybe we should look him up.”
“Definitely. I’ll print everything out so we’ll have it.”
He sent everything to the printer and then went back to the security footage. After spending an hour sorting through it, we found what we were looking for. Around nine p.m., the driver hitched a ride with another truck and left the weigh station. I couldn’t blame the guy for leaving. His truck wasn’t set up with all the extras, like a bed and shower, so he’d been sitting there for over thirty-six hours with no food, no water, and no bathroom, at least not one with easy access. I figured he was in need of a hot meal and a shower. Big and I continued watching the video, and it was almost four in the morning when a black SUV with dark-tinted windows pulled up to the truck. It was hard to see exactly what they were doing, because like most cameras, there was a time lapse between segments. One minute the SUV was parked, then the doors were open, but no one was in sight. During the next segment, we watched as the SUV pulled out of the lot. “Damn.”
As he started to rewind the feed, he said, “Hold on. Don’t give up just yet.” We watched the video at least ten more times. Each time, the car would pull up to the side of the truck. The camera would lapse forward and we’d find the car doors open, and then after two more lapses, the car would be pulling out of the lot. “Don’t you think that’s strange?”
“Which part?” I grumbled. “All of it seems pretty fucked up to me.”
“The car was only there a few minutes. Ten tops. How the hell are they gonna find the drugs, load them, and get out that fast?”
“You’ve got a point there. The way we hide our shit, it should’ve taken them a lot longer to find it,” Max said.
“Unless they knew where to look,” Big offered.
“So, there’s a chance Frankie has a rat.”
“Yeah, and from the looks of it, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance.”
“Fuck.” We continued to search through all the footage, but never got a look at who was in that car. All we managed to get was the year and make of the vehicle, along with the first few numbers off the license plate. It wasn’t much to go on, and I was afraid it wouldn’t be enough. “Now, what?”
“I need some time to look into that inspector. Maybe, I can make a connection between him and whoever called in about Frankie’s load. There has to be something up with that.”
I reached into my pocket for my phone and said, “I’ll call Nitro and get a contact list for all of Frankie’s drivers so we can cross reference them.”
“Not just the drivers, Max. We’re going to need to know the names of anyone who Frankie has on payroll.”
“You got it.” I sent Nitro the message and half an hour later, he emailed the names and numbers of everyone who’d worked for Frankie in the last six months. After I forwarded it to him, I said, “It’s in your inbox.”
Just when we were finally getting somewhere, there was a knock at the door. Diesel stuck his head in and announced, “Hey, man. Cotton’s called church in fifteen.”
“Thanks, man.” Big gave him a chin lift as he stood and said, “I’m headed that way.”
Diesel didn’t bother to shut the door as he turned to leave. He knew Big would be right behind him. When Cotton called his guys together, you didn’t make him wait. It’s just the way things worked, and while I respected it, I wasn’t thrilled that our research would have to wait. I looked up at Big and said, “I’m guessing that’s it.”
“For now, it is.” He started towards the door. “You know how it is. The club comes first.”
“Yeah. I get it.” I stood up and followed him into the hallway. “I appreciate your help.”
He looked over his shoulder and said, “I’ll try to do some more digging tomorrow, and if I find anything, I’ll let you know.”
I left there with an uneasy feeling like there was something big brewing, and I didn’t like the idea of waiting even if it was just for a day. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a choice.