“Kinda hard for him to speak for himself, what with him being in jail and all. And you and I both know, none of the Angels could walk into this club and make it out alive.”
He smiled, but said nothing.
“Once we get outside I’ll get in my ride so my guys know I’m safe. Then I’ll give you the address to the warehouse and then you make a call to get Colt and the others released from jail. We all know who pulled the strings to get them locked up anyway.”
“I don’t trust you not to fuck me over,” he stated.
“That’s the pot calling the kettle black,” I seethed. I reached into my clutch and pulled out a set of keys and tossed them at him. “As soon as I give you the address you can go and see for yourself.”
His eyes gleamed. “Do you think I’m stupid? Do you really think I’m gonna go to an address that I haven’t scoped out yet. It could be a trap. You’re coming with me.”
“As what?” I asked, brows raised.
“Collateral.”
“I’m not going to a storage unit in the middle of the night with you. What’s to stop you from getting your entire shipment back and then putting a bullet in my brain?”
He grinned. “Nothing.”
I stared at him. “You kill me, and you start a war.”
“Darlin’, are you stupid? The war has already started.”
His eyes lifted to the spot over my shoulder.
I turned.
And then everything went black.
My head throbbed and something warm trickled down my temple.
The goon who clubbed me into unconsciousness had thoroughly enjoyed putting his hands on me. That much was obvious when I finally opened my eyes and met his gaze.
I was in the back of a van; my limbs and hands were free. Even if I was able to get a good kick at the asshole, rendering him inert, there was no way I could get through the metal safety screen between the front and back of the van.
Better to wait.
My heart beat frantically in my chest. I’d prepared for Dev to hurt me physically. We had discussed this possibility at great length while solidifying the plan. Still, it was one thing to mentally brace yourself for pain, quite another to actually feel it. Nausea churned in my belly as we went around a curve.
“Bitch is awake,” the Iron Horsemen thug in the back of the van said.
His friend who was driving said nothing, but passed a phone to Dev, who was sitting in the front passenger seat.
“Mia, darlin’, what’s your ride’s number?”
I told him and he put the phone on speaker.
“You know who this is. We’ve got your girl and need the address for the pickup.”
I heard mumbling on the other end of the line but couldn’t make out what was said.
“Oh, that’s simple. If you don’t give me the address, I’m gonna bring her back to you in about five different garbage bags. Give me the fucking address! Now.”
I heard a delay, then a response, and then Dev hung up and I shut my eyes to keep my headache from spiraling out of control.
They’d moved the shipment from a storage unit to a warehouse in a deserted, blue-collar part of town.
Twenty minutes later, the van came to a stop. The door flew open almost immediately and Dev was there, hauling me out, a pistol trained on me. He was taking every precaution and it was clear he assumed he was walking into a trap. But the fact that he came at all proved how desperate he was to get his hands on the missing product. I’d been fishing for information when I’d said I knew the cartel didn’t yet know the shipment was missing and I’d struck a nerve.
His clock was ticking and time was almost up.
The full moon lit the sky and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. A bead of sweat rolled down between my breasts. My mouth was dry and I was in desperate need of water.
Dev jabbed the pistol into my lower back. “Move.”
My vision was spotty and my head ached, but I forced one foot in front of the other. I couldn’t see the two men that were with Dev, but I assumed they were surveying the area.
“All clear,” one said, confirming my suspicion.
“Yep, I don’t see anything,” his friend added.
“Look around,” Dev barked. “I don’t trust this bitch.”
“Smokey and Mac checked it out as soon as we got the address and they didn’t see anything. It’s been a while now and nothing. They’re watching from across the street but no one has come in or out.”
We trekked toward the warehouse and when we arrived at the door, one of his boys pulled out a bolt cutter and cut off the lock.
“You first,” Dev said, prodding me with the pistol.
I opened the door. “I’m going to turn on the light, okay?”
“Do it.”
My hand slid across the wall and the lights flickered on, showing the stacks and stacks of cocaine in plastic bags. Dev reached into his leather vest pocket and pulled out his phone and dialed a number. He placed the cell to his ear and then said, “Back the van up to the door. We’re loading up.” He ended the call and then moved us farther into the warehouse. His grip on my arm was slack, but he was clearly strong enough that I couldn’t overtake him. Regardless of the movies I’d seen, I knew that small women didn’t beat up massive bikers.
The light overhead flickered before sputtering out.
We were pitched into darkness and a sliver of the full moon managed to peek its way into the warehouse, illuminating Dev’s harsh features. I could smell the acrid stench of fear seeping from him.
There was the sound of a distant crack like a massive whip had flicked through the air, and then the thud of something striking the exterior of the warehouse followed by a shout. Another bang a split second later accompanied by a thump, and then there was nothing.
“What the ever loving fuck,” Dev snapped. His slack grip suddenly became like a vice as he hauled me toward the door.
When he yanked me toward him, I twisted an ankle, causing me to stumble and fall toward the floor.
Dev jerked me up easily with one arm as though I weighed nothing and made sure to keep a firm grip on his pistol, as he marched us out the door of the warehouse.
The two men who’d accompanied Dev were leaking blood onto the ground in pools around the stumps of their lower jaws and necks.
They’d had their heads blown apart.
A sudden wave of nausea assaulted me as the smell of blood, like old copper pennies, hit my nose and I began to breathe through my mouth and hastily closed my eyes.
Gray had done his job.
“You lying bitch,” Dev seethed as he pulled me in front of him and stuck his pistol under the base of my skull at the back of my head.
“Come out, fuckers! Come out now or she dies!”
When no one made a move, he pressed the weapon more firmly to my head and made a guttural sound like he knew he was going to die.
The bite of metal against my skin made my heart pound, but it suddenly felt like everything was happening in slow motion.
I knew Gray’s general position on the roof across the street, but like any good sniper he was impossible to see. Dev didn’t know Gray was out there, for all he knew it was two men on foot down below, but Gray hadn’t taken a shot at Dev yet. That told me he couldn’t hit Dev without injuring me.