Billionaire Ransom (9 page)

At the sound, Morgan accelerated away again. Terror clutched at Katie’s chest. Could he, as good as he was on that bike, control it at those speeds?

She didn’t want to find out. She tried to edge her way over into the other lane and get ahead of the other car, but the driver yanked the wheel. Metal crunched and screamed in protest as glass shattered. She was flung to the far side of the road, tires spinning, and she cried out as she realized the sheerness of the drop beyond the guard rail, which was currently crumpling away as her car plowed into it.

She somehow managed to ride the line. The guardrail slowed her down; miraculously she managed to get her tires back into the right lane and control the beaten-up Mustang. The Cadillac pursuing Morgan now had a large lead. The Orphan bikes had slowed behind her when the Caddy had tried to push her over the guardrail. Their headlights wavered and bobbed in her rearview.

This was ridiculous! They were all going to die.

She knew it.

They were all going to die because of her.

Anger burned inside her and replaced her fear.

If she was going to die, the bastards in that car were fucking dying too.

She hit the accelerator. “Come on, baby, gimme all you got!” The car burst forward and caught back up to the Cadillac. She could see it inches from Morgan’s bike. Katie closed her eyes, unable to watch for a moment. She pressed harder on the gas and laid on her horn. “You son of a bitch!” she screamed as she tried to ram the Cadillac’s bumper.

Morgan pulled into the oncoming lane suddenly, and decelerated. Katie whipped by him in surprise.

She saw the headlight of his bike fall. Terror gripped her. They had shot him! She was going to kill those bastards with her bare hands! A scream of rage broke from her mouth. She slammed the Mustang into the other car.

Her hands locked tightly on the wheel and she pulled up beside the Cadillac, ramming into the side of the other car again just as a shower of bullets came from the open windows.

She heard brakes squealing and metal crumpling. The smell of gunfire and burning brakes came in through the shattered passenger window of her car. The broken glass glittered. She didn’t stop. She kept ramming into them, her foot pressed firmly on the gas pedal.

The guard rail on their side spilt and buckled. There was nowhere for them to go, and there was no way in hell she was letting them back over the safety line. She’d go over the embankment too if she had to.

Morgan was dead.

She knew it.

He was dead, and the men in that fucking Cadillac were responsible. She stomped all the way down on the gas and yanked the wheel completely to the right. The other car teetered on the edge for just a moment and then went over. Katie jerked her wheel just in time to stop herself from following.

For a heart-stopping split-second, one of the back wheels of the Mustang hung out over open space, then the car lurched forward and spun around several times, each spin taking her dangerously closer to the edge.

She let go of the wheel and hit the brakes. She didn’t know what else to do. She closed her eyes and waited for that feeling of falling, or for the car to start rolling.

Somehow it didn’t.

The screeching tires quieted, and suddenly she realized the Mustang wasn’t moving anymore. She opened her eyes and reached for the wheel that was no longer spinning at wrist- breaking speed. She looked at the cracked front window and stared in shock.

Her car sat in the middle of the solid yellow line, facing the opposite direction she had been travelling. Bike lights flickered ahead of her and a large part of the guardrail was missing.

She pressed the gas but nothing happened. She shoved the gear into neutral and tried restarting the car. It turned over instantly, like nothing had even happened. Slowly she drove back to where the Orphans had stopped and gotten off their bikes.

Morgan lay in the center of the road, crumpled, bloody, and motionless.

Katie cut the battered car off and jumped out. She sprinted to where Morgan lay. Hands dragged her back, but she fought them off. Eventually Bill, one of Morgan’s crew, managed to get her on her feet and tried to calm her hysterical screams as the others loaded him in the back of her car.

“I killed him! I killed him!” she screamed over and over into the night.

Bill tried to talk but she wouldn’t listen. When he jumped into the driver’s seat of the battered Mustang, Katie jerked into action. On numb legs, she climbed into the back, kneeling on the floorboard, her hands clutching Morgan’s as tears fell down her face.

Billy sped back toward the city center. In the back of her head, Katie noted that some of the Orphans crew had headed for the site where she’d run the other car off the road, probably to see if the men in the car were still alive. The rest of the crew followed behind as they headed for the nearest hospital.

“Damn it, Morgan! You weren’t supposed to die!”

Billy said something to her, but again she ignored him.

She was past hysteria and she knew it. She kept talking to Morgan as if he was still alive, and refused to let go of his hand. Blood obscured his face, and she tried to wipe it away with her sleeve. His face was so handsome and now it was probably all mangled and covered in asphalt. Had he felt any pain before he died?

Her tears washed down her face. She whispered, “I ran those fuckers right off the road, and I don’t know what happened to them. I’m going to rip my father’s heart right out of his chest and then stomp on it! I’ll take his whole frickin’ company down first, let him feel like he’s lost everything, and then take his life. He’s going to wish it was me who died tonight.”

Billy cleared his throat. “Morgan, if you leave a lady like this one, you’re stupid as hell. She’s awesome. If you die, we’ll probably all kill each other trying to get her to pick one of us to be her next old man.”

Katie’s head shot up. “What the hell are you—?”

A pain-filled moan vibrated in the chest under Katie’s hand. Her eyes swung back to Morgan’s face. He was… alive? Tears of hope rushed down her cheeks.

One eye cracked open. He moaned again but his hand reached for her.

“Morgan,” she whispered, and clung to his hand. Her heart ached violently.

His one open eye rolled back in his head and he passed out again.

Katie clutched his hand and refused to let go. Her finger found his pulse, thready and weak, but there. She pressed for his pulse with her finger, measuring his life as they raced toward the hospital.

By the time they arrived there at the hospital, Katie had managed to get the hat and the stupid fake mustache off and into jeans and a tee-shirt she’d stashed in the car earlier, in accordance to their plan to change clothes once they were out of the building. Morgan had lost the baseball hat and wig, probably in the race with the men who worked for her father, and his pants were shredded and torn to strips and rags. The bulky jacket he’d worn was gone too. Katie guessed he’d removed it so he could ride, and relief filled her as she took stock of that small accomplishment. If they were questioned about the break-in, there would be little or nothing to connect them to it.

Nurses and doctors ran out of the hospital to help after Billy rushed inside to get someone to assist them with getting Morgan out of the backseat of the car. Cops, who’d been there as well, did too.

Katie and Billy were taken into a small room and questioned. She kept her statement simple. A car had come after them, and Morgan had tried to draw them away from her car.

Billy added that they had all been out for a ride, and that she’d been in the car because she couldn’t ride and was afraid of doing so. He said they were all headed for a house belonging to one of the crew, out in a section of the sprawling suburbs.

They were not allowed to go anywhere near Morgan. He was in surgery, and nobody had any answers as to how severe his injuries were.

Time dragged by.

Every minute that passed made Katie more afraid.

The cops had found the men who’d shot at her. They were injured, but not critically, and they had guns in the car that matched the bullets embedded in the Mustang. She sighed with relief to know that the Orphans hadn’t taken guns of their own to shoot the Cadillac driver and his passenger. How they had survived was something she didn’t want to ask the cops.

The hours waiting for Morgan to come out of surgery turned into a long nightmare of fear, cops, worry, more cops, questions, and exhaustion that dogged Katie so badly she was sure she was going to pass out.

Miraculously, she’d been unharmed in the debacle. After five hours, a doctor finally walked back and then stopped. He asked to check on her and put her in a room near the waiting area because she refused to leave. He checked her bruising and confirmed nothing was broken nor were there any internal injuries. However, she was in shock. He had her admitted and immediately ordered bloodwork, food, and fluids, and for her to be checked over and given a mild sedative that merely served to make her even more tired.

Once in a bed, she could barely keep her eyes open. Clive and Penny showed up and she managed to keep her eyes open as they sat down on the bed, one on each side of her.

“You okay, honey?” Penny asked sweetly.

Katie squinted as she tried to focus. She looked around and whispered, “The files?”

Clive nodded. “No worries. They’ll never find them even if they send the cops to raid the crew’s houses and the bar.”

She shivered. Once the trembling started, it wouldn’t stop. “Th-The cops?”

“It’s going to get damn ugly.” Clive’s steely eyes met hers. His face hardened as he continued, “The guys who tried to kill you and Morgan are saying they were trying to retrieve classified documents stolen from the offices.” He raised his voice slightly. “We all know that’s a pile of bullshit.” He dropped his voice again, “Still sticking to the story Billy told them. They just popped up, say they ran us down. Well, not me, because nobody knows me and Penny were there.”

“I got it.” She swallowed hard. “Have they said anything about Morgan?”

He shook his grizzled head. “No. We’ve asked, but all we’ve gotten is polite apologies and no information.”

Katie couldn’t stop shaking. It had taken over her entire body. She clenched her teeth and realized she’d been crying. “I never should’ve left him.”

Penny took her hand. “Katie, what you did was insane. You did everything you could. Fuck, you rode to the end of the road. No man could ask anything more.”

It was high praise and she knew it, but it didn’t make her feel better. Her limbs ached and her head hurt. “If I had just gone a little faster…”

“You were being shot at! You were going as fast as you could. If you had gone faster, you would have wound up dead in the road. You did what you could.” Clive took her cold fingers in his big, warm hands. “Girl, you might not have a single idea of how to ride, but when this is over you’re getting a back patch. You’ll be the only woman we ever gave a back patch to. Me and all the guys agree.”

Katie stared at him in disbelief. Was he just trying to distract her?

Clive grinned. “Penny, here, she’s the best woman I ever met, but you…you got something special with Morgan. And after what you did for him, for all of us, you deserve to be a patch-holder.”

It was the only thing he and the crew could think of to show her how much they appreciated what she’d done to try to get those files that would clear all their names, and she knew it, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to do anything more than smile weakly. Part of her figured she wouldn’t remember it in the morning anyway. “Thank you,” she murmured.

If Morgan died, none of it would matter anyway.

Penny said, as if reading her thoughts, “Katie, he won’t die. Even if he decided to, he’d do it knowing his woman saved his crew. That he saved his crew. For a guy like Morgan, there’s no better way to go. On the road, on his bike, being loyal to his brothers.”

Katie nodded and whispered, “I know, but I don’t want him to die.”

Penny smiled sympathetically. “Then he won’t.”

“You get some rest,” Clive said, “And don’t worry; we’re right here. Penny can take that extra bed there and I’ll take the chair. We won’t leave you.”

Tears spilled down her ashen cheeks and she tried unsuccessfully to wipe them away. When had an I.V. been put in her arm? She waved her hand away. “It’s all my fault. Blake Wilkes is my father. I’m part of the whole thing whether I want to be or not…”

“You can’t help who your dad is,” Penny said firmly. “Do you think he’s the first fucker who’s tried to lay a bad deal on the doorstep of our crew?”

“You’re more of family than I’ve ever had.” Grateful for their kind words, Katie settled back against the pillows. She let her eyes flutter closed. “Thank you for staying.”

“You’re an Orphan; we take care of our own,” she heard Clive say gruffly, and then she slid into a deep dreamless sleep.

Katie woke early, panic setting in as she tried to remember where she was.

Morgan.

Then it all came flooding back, and she burst into tears. Thank goodness no one was in the room. She wiped the wetness from her cheeks with the back of her hand and swung her legs out of the bed. Panic settled in the pit of her stomach and wouldn’t leave. She needed to go find a doctor or someone on staff to tell her what the hell was going on.

A nurse came in and waved her hands at Katie. “Stay in bed, sweetie. The doctor’s on his way to check on you. I’ll go get you some breakfast.” She checked Katie’s stats and tucked her back into bed.

“Morgan, my boyfriend, came in here last night in pretty bad shape. I want to know if he’s okay.”

“I don’t know, sweetie. I’m sure the doctor can check on that for you.”

Just then a doctor came in. He checked her over and, satisfied everything was alright, said she could be released after she was able to shower and eat on her own without any problems.

He filled her in on Morgan also. Morgan was out of surgery and in good overall condition. He had a slight brain bleed but, given the tumble he’d taken, and that he hadn’t been wearing a helmet, he was lucky as hell. He broke his collarbone, a number of ribs, and he had a badly sprained his right ankle. One of his lungs has collapsed but they had repaired it. He’d come through the surgery well, and it would be a long recovery, but he would come through it, even ride his bike again, the doctor added. 

“None of his injuries are actually life-threatening, then?” Katie asked in a whisper.

“Not at the moment.” The doctor smiled. “He’s pretty lucky. He must have been decelerating and landed on his right ankle as he hopped of the bike to protect himself.” He patted her hand where he had just removed her I.V., and smiled confidently. “He’s going to be fine. Just going to take a while.” He checked his watch. “I’ve got more patients to check up on. You’re welcome to go see your boyfriend.”

She was overjoyed and, as she got out of the bed, wincing at the stiffness enveloping her body, she was sure that everything was going to be fine.

After eating a quick breakfast, she asked for some toiletries so she could shower and brush her teeth and she did, gratefully. Penny got her some jeans and a shirt at a nearby store and after she was bathed and dressed, she felt even better.

Her spirits were high as she walked down the hallway toward Morgan’s room. She stepped past the nurse’s station, not even noticing the cops stationed around it. Clive did, though, and he waited until they got into Morgan’s room to say in her ear, “Keep to that story we talked about last night. It’s what we’re telling everyone. The files are in my safety deposit box. The key is in the mail. It’ll go to a PO Box at the office nearest my house, box number 1241. The combo is 3c, 3d, 3e. Right, left, right. Impossible to forget. Don’t forget it.” He sucked in a sharp breath. “Stay far away from Penny. They don’t know she had anything to do with this, and she’ll be heading out of town in the next half hour. Don’t try to find her. You could get her killed, and then I’d have to kill you.”

She nodded but didn’t speak. The worry was back. Something bad was about to happen, and she knew there was nothing she could do about it. The small feeling of hope was snuffed out like a candle. She said the numbers over and over in her head, praying she’d recall them when she needed them.

Clive turned to Penny. “Go now, and text me when you get in the car. Use the disposable and dump it, then go where we agreed you’d go if something went wrong.”

Penny, her face white, kissed Clive, tears in her eyes. She squeezed Katie’s hand and headed out of the room.

Morgan, lying in the bed, managed to sit upright just enough to gaze at them. “What’s up?”

Katie turned to look at him. It looked like someone had beaten the shit out of him. His lip was swollen, and a bad cut held together by stitches burned an angry red above his eyebrow. Tubes and his I.V. bag hung behind his bed, recently removed. Bandages and covered his right shoulder and arm. She went to him. Tears filled her eyes but she held them back. Her hands found his. “I’m so glad to see you,” she whispered thickly.

His good arm hooked out and around her, dragging her closer. She rested her cheek lightly on his chest and he stroked her hair. She straightened when he grimaced, and remembered his broken ribs and collarbone. He had to be in incredible pain. “Bad business?’

Clive, standing at the door, which he’d closed most of the way, looked over his shoulder at Katie and Morgan. “The worst kind, boss. It ain’t over. There’re enough cops out there to arrest the cavalry.”

“Let the guys know.”

“Penny’s on it.” Clive sighed. “I reckon it’s too late to go out the window.”

A smile floated over Morgan’s full mouth, now chapped and pale. “What floor we on?”

“The fifth.” Katie glanced out the window, knowing it wasn’t an option.

“We’ve had worse,” Clive said with a cheeky grin. “They’re headed this way. You two better say your goodbyes for now.”

Panic hit, but Morgan’s hand held hers tightly. “It’s going to be okay, Katie. We got what we needed. Go get the files. Trust nobody, and I mean nobody. Get somewhere safe. Don’t go to my place, or the bar. Get somewhere that they can’t get to you without attracting a hell of a lot of attention. And tell the news stations you’re a target. They can’t kill you if they know people are expecting you to be killed. It’s your only insurance. Don’t trust the cops, or anyone.”

“What about a lawyer?”

He looked at Clive, who nodded, “One will come to you. Don’t worry; you’ll know him when he shows up. But you can’t trust him, either. I know that leaves you pretty screwed, but that’s the way it is for the moment.”

“I love you,” she told Morgan; her voice stuck in her throat and came out as a harsh whisper.

“I love you, Katie. And don’t think I don’t know what you did last night. I know. The guys know.”

Her eyes filled with tears, but she wouldn’t cry. That would embarrass him when the cops came in, and she knew it. His mouth met hers and lingered there, but he didn’t try to kiss her any more deeply than that.

Clive snapped his fingers, and a moment later the door opened. Clive grinned, “What’s up, fellas?”

The cops shoved him against a wall. Katie stared in horror as Clive’s face hit the wall hard enough that his head made a hollow thudding noise.

“What the hell?” Morgan struggled to sit up, and grimaced from the sharp pain coming from his shoulder and ribs.

“Shut up, biker-boy. You’re being arrested too,” a younger cop barked. “The hospital says you’re okay to be discharged.”

“But he’s hurt!” Katie stared at them, fighting back anger and tears. “You can’t possibly expect him to walk out of here after what those monsters did to him last night!”

“He’ll be taken to the infirmary, not holding or general population—yet.”

Morgan managed to sit up, leaning on her as he did. She was overcome with pride at his strength and courage. He nodded to her, and she helped him to his feet.

Katie glared at the police, so tempted to ask them if they were kissing her father’s ass as well. Did they even know who she was? “What are the charges?”

“Murder, seven counts,” the cop handcuffing Clive announced.

Seven counts of murder. And all she had was a file she had to get to in order to prove them innocent and a lawyer who’d ‘show up’. They were so screwed. Katie held onto Morgan as long as she could, but eventually they hustled him out of the room and she followed, keeping her head held high. She was a Wilkes, and knew how to hide her emotions.

Downstairs in the parking lot, Morgan and Clive were put into squad cars while she watched. She lifted a hand to her heart and then made a fist of her hand, a thing she’d seen Morgan do often.

He nodded, his face masked with pain. Clive, in the other car, nodded too.

The squad cars pulled away, and Katie stood momentarily alone on the curb.

The sound of bikes echoed in her ears. She paused, not sure of what to do. If the crew was coming, she had to warn them to go. These cops were gone, but she had no idea how many more might be in the hospital, just waiting to grab whatever Orphan happened to wander in.

She knew Clive had told Penny to tell the guys to steer clear, but what if some of them hadn’t gotten that message?

She ran from the entrance to the mouth of the parking lot, but as she got there she realized her mistake.

OutKasts! Five of them, and Nate riding in the front. She started to back away, but Nate swung his bike around her in a lazy circle. She stared at him, her heart pounding and her throat dry.

He cut the bike off and surveyed her ashen face. “Heard your crew’s in need of a little help.”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Nate chuckled. “You look like shit, sweetie. Don’t worry; we’re not here for trouble. Penny called us. I came faster than anyone expected because, well, this mess your guys are in has become my mess too.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she said weakly. They’d take Morgan away. What if her father hired some punk in jail to kill him? He was injured, with no protection. She didn’t understand. What was Nate doing there? Her eyes went to the hard-faced men behind Nate.

Nate said, “We were at that house too, and it’s highly possible we might get fingered by the asshole running this whole show, just because we got a small stake in the operations being run on this side of town.”

“You mean my father.”

His eyes ran up and down her body. She resisted the sudden and urgent desire to cross her arms over her chest to keep him from staring at her breasts. “Yup. Get on.”

She shook her head. “Hell, no; I’m not riding behind you.”

“Okay, so how would you propose to get around since the cops impounded your car and there’s nobody else around?”

“I’ll take a cab.”

“Where? Where are you going to go? There’s a price on your head, and Morgan’s too. If you want to keep him alive, we have to get him out of jail before they can put him anywhere near someone who might shank him. We have to make sure you get to a news station or to the nearest clean cop before you wind up with a third eye somewhere in the middle of your forehead. You got a plan for any of that?”

She shook all over. “How do I know I can trust you?”

Nate grinned and handed her a bag. It was her purse. “You can’t. You can’t trust anyone. But since Penny called us and said your boy needed a lawyer, and I’m the best you can afford, I would suggest you let me help you. Get on, and here’s your bag.”

She gawked at him, too astounded to even think for a moment. “You’re a lawyer?”

Nate burst out laughing. “And a damn good one too. Now get on.”

“I…” fear and confusion warred within her. “I don’t know.”

Nate sighed and pressed his lips tight as he glanced at the hospital doors. “Get on, Katie, before we all get our asses shot off, and Morgan gets stuck in general pop and winds up with a bedspring shank lodged in his gut.”

She licked her lips, horrified by that image. “Why would you help? I mean, you could get your own guys out of this mess okay, and you might even be better off letting Morgan take the whole fall, so why?”

Nate said, “I like the way you think. You make sense.”

“I’m a financial analyst.”

He started to laugh; his massive chest shook and his wild red hair stuck up all over his head. “It figures. I owe Morgan a solid. I’ve owed it to him for a long time. Honestly, I can’t believe he didn’t call it in for Craig. I really can’t believe he called it in for you. Well, actually, I
can
believe it. Now get up here, woman, we got things to do. Sorry asses to save, while screwing some others.”

Katie took a deep breath. Morgan said she’d know the lawyer, and that she couldn’t trust him either.

Forewarned was forearmed, she supposed, and she had no other options. “Fine. I’ll go with you, but like hell I’m going behind you. I’m not disrespecting Morgan.” She smirked when Nate’s mouth fell open.

Then he grinned at her. “Okay, lady with the brains. You got a point. Hey, Jessie?”

A bike drew closer. The figure on it wore a heavy leather jacket without a patch, and a single red stripe that said OutKast ran down on one side.

Jessie took off the heavy helmet and Katie stared as raven hair tumbled out and down along the leather jacket. Now that she could see Jess, she had no idea how she hadn’t known she was a woman. The figure, tucked inside the leather jacket and pants, was slender and petite with a few curves showing through the bulky fabric.

Jessie’s eyes, a deep dark brown, bored right into Katie’s. High cheekbones lifted as she spoke in a low clear voice, “She can ride with me.”

Katie swallowed hard. There was something disturbingly familiar about Jessie, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She searched her face, a frown creasing her forehead. “Have we met before?”

Jessie shrugged. “I don’t know, honey, maybe we were in the same sorority or something.”

Nate and the others roared with laughter. Katie blushed. The insult, barbed and sweet, cut deep. She didn’t say anything else.