Asher: Heartless Devils MC (13 page)

“Who’s she?”

“Jenny Carter, John’s daughter.”

Nakagawa’s eyes narrowed. “How did you happen to…come by…this information?” he asked, his gaze shifting into Jenny.

“He admitted it just before he tried to kill me,” she said, her tone as matter of fact as if she had said water was wet.

Nakagawa stared into Jenny’s eyes a moment, clearly thinking it over. “Follow me. We need to talk.”

Chapter 11

Thomas shut the door to a large office, closing off most of the humping music from the front of the club. “Have a seat.” Asher and Jenny settled into a pair of comfortable chairs. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I think Hamasaki is trying to set us up. Have you met him?” Asher asked.

“Yeah.”

“How old would you say he was?” Jenny asked.

Thomas shrugged. “Thirty, maybe thirty-five. Why?”

Asher and Jenny looked at each other and Jenny nodded once. “Because there is more going on than you know. There is another Hamasaki. An older man, maybe sixty, seventy years old,” Jenny explained.

“The younger guy, he’s a shadow figure, maybe a son or someone who is impersonating Hamasaki. I don’t know. But I don’t like being played for chump, and I don’t think you do either,” Asher said.

“Chump? How?” Thomas asked.

I don’t have all the facts yet, but it seems to me, from what Jenny overheard, Hamasaki, the younger, is trying to start a war between the clubs. He told Jenny he had put out the word that the Trifectas put the hit on Melissa, but someone else was going to take the blame for Jenny.”

Thomas placed his hands on his desk and leaned forward slightly. “Who?”

“Don’t know,” Jenny answered. “He said he hadn’t decided yet. It could be you again, for all I know.”

“Why would he do that?”

“That’s a good question,” Asher answered. “Do you have any dealings with him?” When Thomas paused, Asher continued. “For Christ’s sake, Thomas, do you want a club war? We don’t step on your toes and you don’t step on ours. What did Hamasaki offer you?”

Nakagawa drummed his finger in a rapid ditty on his desk. “About five months ago Hamasaki offered us cash and muscle to expand.”

“Expand?” Asher asked in confusion. “You already own the gun market. Expand how?”

“He wants a pipeline into Miami for drugs. The Buccaneers and those assholes
Demonios de Sangre were in the way. Why would we say no? He was going to buy our guns to protect his supply. So we agreed to help him squeeze the Bucs out. It’s a win-win for us.”

“Why you? Why not partner up with the Bucs or the
Demonios?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care. For that matter, why not the Devils? I know you deal a little dope on the side.”

“We’re getting out of that, going legit.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Doesn’t it worry you that you are supposed to be squeezing the Bucs, but he put a hit out on the old lady of the President of the Heartless Devils, then lays the blame at his partner’s feet?” Asher asked. 

Thomas made a face. “I can’t say I’m too happy about that, no.”

“I have an idea about why,” Asher said.

“What?”

“What would happen if the Trifecta and the Devils went to war? The number one and number two clubs in Miami?”

Thomas nodded slowly. “It would be fucking blood bath.”

“That’s right. We would fuck each other until neither of us could walk. Then what? The Bucs would probably step in and fill the power vacuum. If Hamasaki was partnered with them, he would instantly be the biggest swinging dick in town.”

“You have any proof?” Thomas asked.

“Not a shred,” Asher admitted. “But you have to admit, it all fits.”

Nakagawa rapped out another ditty on the desk. “Yes it does.”

“So…what do we do about it?” Jenny asked, leaning in.

“We need proof.”

“That’s why we’re here,” Asher replied. “If this Hamasaki asshole is playing us against each other, we can partner up against him and step on his dick.”

Thomas sat still for a moment before pulling a card out of his desk and scribbling on the back before sliding it to Asher. “Check this warehouse. It should be his drug-staging area. We are providing some muscle.”

“He told you that?” Asher asked as he pulled the card to him.

Thomas smiled. “Of course not, but give us some credit, Asher. We’re not stupid. We’re keeping an eye on what he does. It’s just good business.”

Asher laughed. He understood completely because the HDs had their own network of snoops and spies feeding them information. “You spying on us, too?”

Thomas smiled. “Not as far as you know. If you get caught and this comes back on us, there is going to hell to pay. You understand?”

Asher stood, Jenny coming to her feet a moment later as Asher handed the card back. He had the address; he no longer needed the card. “No evidence. I’ll let you know if I see anything interesting.”

Thomas smiled and reached across the desk. “I’m not about to have my club fucked by some asshole. I don’t care if he
does
have eyes that look like mine. I’ll keep you in the loop,” he said as he and Asher shook hands.

“Where are we going?” Jenny asked as she donned her helmet.

“Home.”

“Home? What about the warehouse?”

“What about it?”

“Don’t you want to take a look?”

“Yeah. But not with you along.”

“What? Why not?”

Asher sighed. “Remember what your father said? And how we agreed to be smart about this? Remember any of those conversations?”

“Oh for god’s sake. We’re just going to go take a peek at a warehouse. What could go wrong? It’s not like we’re going to try to break in or anything, are we?” she suddenly asked, no longer so sure.

“No, we’re not going to break in.”

“So what’s the problem?”

“We still need to go home first. Stakeouts on a motorcycle suck even worse than normal.”

“But I’m coming back with you, right?” she asked as she stood her bike upright and thumbed it to life. She couldn’t remember her life before this throbbing piece of machinery between her legs. She no longer cared about parties, and gossip, and all the other trivial stupid stuff she used to think was important. She had missed so much living, and she wasn’t going to miss another moment of it ever again.

Asher thumbed his bike to life, as well. He didn’t want her to come with him, but who knew what mischief she would get into if he left her alone. And all they would be doing is sitting in a car, so she should be safe.

“Yeah, I guess. Come on,” he said before he revved his bike and pulled smartly away.

“Not much of a place,” Jenny sneered. The parking lot had weeds growing in various spots and the building itself looked like it hadn’t seen a paintbrush in decades. Some of the windows were boarded up and the fence surrounding the building was rusting and starting to separate from the poles in places. But the lights were on inside and some of Nakagawa’s crew was hanging around.

“I think that’s intentional,” Asher said. “Look at the corner of the building. Those are new cameras, and I would bet my ass they’re infrared.”

Jenny squinted but couldn’t make out what Asher was seeing, but didn’t want to sound stupid. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

They were sitting across the street from the warehouse in the shadows of another building. Jenny’s Porsche stuck out like a whore in church, but it was quieter and subtler than their Harleys would have been.

They talked about this and that for a while until Jenny slipped into sleep. When he noticed, Asher snorted.
Some stakeout partner.

He continued to watch, feeling the late hour himself. It was a good thing tomorrow was Saturday so they could catch up on their sleep. It was less than an hour before sunrise and Asher was about to pack it in. He wanted to be gone before the sun came up and they were spotted. He was debating leaving right then or staying another ten minutes when a two-ton box truck rattled up to the gate and waited for it to open.

“Jenny…wake up,” Asher said, nudging her awake.

“What?” she asked sitting up and blinking. “Did I go to sleep?”

“Yeah. About three hours ago.”

“Sorry about that,” she yawned. “What did I miss?”

“Nothing, but a truck just went inside. I’m going to check it out.
Don’t open the door!
” he hissed as Jenny reached for the door handle. “The lights will come on.” He reached up and fiddled with the buttons of the overhead console a moment. “Okay. Hang on a minute.” He eased his door open, prepared to slam it shut and go if the lights came on, but they remained dark. “If I ask you, will you remain in the car?”

“Yes,” she said. “But what if they see the car? Won’t I be safer with you?”

He scrubbed at his hair. “Shit. Okay, let’s go, but be
quiet
!”

They slipped from the car and pushed the doors shut with a click.

“What about the cameras?” Jenny whispered as they scurried along in the darkness, searching for a hole in the fence.

“We’ll just have to take our chances.”

On the far back side of the lot they found a place where Asher could, with some quiet work, detach the fence from another building enough for them to squeeze through. When they reached the corner of the building attached to the fence, Asher peeked around edge. There were cameras on the backside of the building Hamasaki was using, as well.

“Okay, here’s the plan,” he whispered. “I’m going straight to that ladder for the roof. See it?” he asked, pointing. When she nodded, he continued, “If I make it and lights and sirens don’t go off, you follow me, running as fast as you can, but being quiet. Got it? I think once we get close to the building we will be out of the cameras line of sight.”

Jenny nodded, her blood pumping hard and fast. She was turning into a regular adrenalin junky.

“Wait for my signal,” he said as he darted around the corner.

She watched as Asher dashed across the opening, stopped at the ladder, then waved her on. She took a couple of deep breaths and sprinted after him.

“We made it,” she gasped as she pulled up beside him.

“So far. Up you go.”

She clambered up the ladder as fast as she could, taking care to make as little noise as possible. “Now what?” she whispered the moment Asher appeared over the edge behind her.

“Stay low,” he replied quietly as he crouched and made his way to one of the several glowing skylights. He stopped at the first one, then moved on to the second, then the third, Jenny following along behind. At the third window, he crouched down.

“Is that the truck?” she whispered into his ear as she peeked through the window.

“Yeah. Nakagawa is going to be
pissed!”

“Why?”

“Those aren’t drugs. Those are crates of guns.”

“What kind of guns?”

“Can’t tell,” he whispered as he brought his phone up and snapped pictures. “Doesn’t matter. They lied to him and are cutting in on
his
business.” He checked the pictures, then, satisfied with their quality, tucked the phone back into his pocket. “Let’s get out of here before we get caught.”

When they arrived back at the ladder, Asher held up his hand and dropped low, causing Jenny to do the same.

“What?” she breathed into his ear. He didn’t say anything but pointed. She rose up enough to peek over the edge to see where he was pointing. There was a guy standing there. His back was to them, but there was no way they could get past him without being seen.