Devil May Care (Four Horsemen MC Book 4) (21 page)

According to the news, the fire department hadn’t been able to stop the blaze. Parts of the roof had caved in, causing the scorched and pitted concrete walls to buckle. The warehouse was a lost cause, but at least it hadn’t spread to the surrounding area.  The fire department had contained it with a dirt barrier and a lot of water. 

The wind turned and blew the scent of charred wood mixed with sulfur from the springs.
Hellfire and brimstone.
  She snuggled down in her hoodie, zipping it up against the chill in the air.

Thank God for little miracles.

Just then, flashing headlights down the road came into view. A big rumbling black SUV.  Beauregard’s Escalade.
Shit.
  She thought about running, but there was nowhere to go. Beauregard would track her down, anyway, maybe abduct her once more. She might as well face him. Besides, she had a thing or two she’d like to say.

He jumped out of the SUV, wearing another fitted black suit. He looked like he’d stepped off the cover of GQ. Fashionable bastard. “Good evenin’, Eddie.”

“Is it?”

He chuckled. “Well, for me it.” He stood beside her, staring at the wreckage. Byron gave a low whistle. “Damn, that was some fire.” He turned to face her. “I’m so glad you weren’t inside. No telling what could have happened.”

Her nails bit into her palms. “Pretty Boy wasn’t so lucky.”

“I heard about that,” he said airily. “Such a shame. How’s he doing?”

“Fine,” she grated out.  He was lucky to be alive, according to the doctors.  This man had cost her thousands of dollars, injured one of her own, and threatened her family. And what if he’d gone after her boys? Elizabeth?

“If you touch any of us again, I'll—“

“You'll what?” he asked. “Scold me? I've been polite. Up until now. I’ve made you very generous offers, which you’ve turned down despite my warnings.  This all could have been prevented if you had cooperated.”

“Fuck you,” she whispered. Her steel backbone refused to relax. Eddie wouldn’t give in now, she couldn’t. He’d use the connection with her as leverage to force the club into an agreement.    

He leered. “Don’t mind if I do, but it won’t solve your problem.” He held out his hand. “Shake on it. Be my partner and I’ll make all of this go away.”

She turned away from him.

 “Unfortunately, the terms have changed. I won’t give you a percentage anymore, but I will pay you a generous amount for your recipes. Hell, as a gesture of good will, I’ll even pay for the prospect’s medical bills.”

“The
prospect’s
name is Pretty Boy,” she said, glaring at him. “He’s a good kid and he didn’t deserve a beating.”

“You’ve got this whole mother lion thing going, don’t you? I appreciate your devotion. But I want you to think on this. What would you do if somethin’ happened to Axel or Ryker?” he asked.

She didn’t mistake the threat in his tone. “Trust me, you don’t want to know. Leave them the hell alone.” Eddie got closer, standing toe to toe with him, not breaking eye contact.

A grin tugged at his lips. “Or what?”

“I’ll kill you, or die trying.” She promised.  It wasn’t an idle threat. Eddie had never been particularly bloodthirsty, but it when it came to her sons, all bets were off.

 Something like respect sparked in his eyes. “No, the story won’t end like this. I was hopin’ you’d be more cooperative. But if it won’t be? You aren’t much use to me.”

“So what? You’re gonna kill me?”   

“I told you. I don’t hurt women. But the ATF might get a real helpful anonymous tip.”

And she’d end up spending her golden years in prison. She’d never see her sons get married, wouldn’t be there to watch her future grandchildren grow up. And Captain. She’d never get to see how far the relationship would go. Somehow, she bet it would go all the way, they might even spend the rest of their lives together, if given the chance.

Eddie had to choose between what was good for the club, or herself. They all put the club’s needs before their own. She might not be a member, but she was invested in the Horsemen. She’d sank both her time and treasure into the club, and she couldn’t let it go without a fight. Yet she couldn’t go to them for help. They’d try to take down Beauregard and then all of her boys would end up in jail or lined up beside Joker at Jackson Cemetery. It was a classic no-win situation.

He smirked. “I can see your mind is goin’ a mile a minute. But I think you need a bit more time to let soak in. You have a day to make your choice and if you don’t, I’ll make it for you,” he informed her.

Her decision had already been made. But she had twenty-four hours of freedom and she intended to use it.  Eddie turned on her heel and walked back to her ride, head held high. 

***

The next morning, after receiving an anxious text from Coyote, Captain pulled into the Inferno Firearms parking lot, just in time to see FBI agents hauling computers out the door and shoving them into federal SUVs. Looks like they got everything – laptops, PCs, and even his tablet. 

Jane Hunter stood by her car, phone pressed to her ear, probably communicating with her firm.  Coyote and Steele were face down on the parking lot with an FBI agent standing over them. Thankfully, they hadn’t pulled that shit with Daisy.  She was sitting on a bench outside with an FBI escort.  Captain imagined Cowboy going ape shit on the agents if they tried to rough her up, too.

 “Are you sure you want to play this game?” Agent Warner asked as he strolled up beside Captain. “I love a good pissing match, but it’s a waste of my time and yours.”  The agent pulled out a slip of paper and shoved it in his hands. “Here’s the search warrant for Inferno and all the employees. Or you could save me the trouble and tell me what I want to know.”

“Nah, I’ll let you do this the hard way. Be my guest.” He gestured to the door.

“The cyber division is going to rip apart those hard drives looking for evidence.”

“Oh yeah?” Captain said. “Good luck with that. Let me guess, agent. You’re trying to move up the ranks at the FBI and it’s more difficult than you thought. I mean, this isn’t the FBI’s heyday. You don’t have many high profile successes, with terrorism your successes stay secret and your failures are public.”

The agent scrutinized him with angry blue eyes, arms crossed over his chest.

“That’s why you’re so obsessed,” Captain said.  “You want to move up a notch or two and there’s nothing like a RICO case to prove your worth.”

All of the FBI assholes involved with the Horsemen case had gotten promotions and fat raises. Captain had tracked their fucking careers thanks to the Freedom of Information Act.  He wanted to know how the bastards profited from the club’s misery.

And they all did.

“Thought you didn’t want to talk to me. So, why don’t you shut the fuck up?”  The agent drawled, gesturing to Jane who was still on the phone. She glared at Captain and he was suddenly glad looks couldn’t kill.

“Aw, we’re havin’ a friendly chat.”

“I know you bastards shut down the Raptor’s operation. I fucking know it.”

“Good for you. Can you prove it?”

“Not yet.”

“It better be soon, or the government’s gonna shut down this little witch hunt of yours down. It’s gotta be costing big bucks.” Captain gave him a toothy grin. “Sorry, but I think you’ll have to get your promotion another way.”

“This case has a stink to it.” He sniffed the air for effect. “It smells like a cover up.” Look, you think you’re vigilantes, you might even believe you’re helping these people, but you aren’t the solution. The law has to handle these problems.”

Captain couldn’t give a flying fuck about the laws. “Yeah? And what happens when the law screws the pooch and doesn’t do its job? People get fucked over.”

“Every system is flawed. But you’re criminals playing at being heroes. And you should stop before somebody gets hurt,” Warner said, standing nose to nose with him, staring Captain down.

He knew he couldn’t reason with the agent.

Some people believed in Jesus, others believed in justice. This man was a zealot. He only knew black and white, right and wrong, with no gray areas between.  Captain believed the club was in an ethical gray space. Sometimes, they did the wrong things for the right reasons. But they always helped people.

The FBI finally let Steele and Coyote up. They both walked over to him. When the agent finally left Daisy’s side, she pulled her phone out, presumably to call Cowboy.

“Let’s bring it in, boys!” the agent said and he stalked off, barking orders at his crew.

 “They won’t get through my security system,” Coyote said, all smug and shit. “I made it myself and it’s fucking unbreakable.” Captain believed him. After all, he’d been recruited by several government agencies after he’d hacked some top-secret shit.

“Our guys are damn good,” Warner bragged.

“I’m better,” Coyote said, smug as fuck.

The agent glanced at Captain. “You better hope the kid’s right. If he isn’t? You’re looking at obstruction charge, and that’s for starters. Because you wouldn’t cooperate, I’m going to throw everything I can at all of you.”

“And pray somethin’ sticks, huh?” Captain drawled. “Oh yeah, you sound like a real good guy.”

“Fuck you,” the agent said, as he walked off to his SUV.

Jane finally finished her phone call and marched over to the group. “I hope your system is as good as you say.” She glanced at Captain. “If there was evidence on the computer, you should have told me straight away.”

Captain opened his mouth to speak, but her scowl silenced him. “Shush. I’m talking right now. I can’t do my job if I don’t know your dirty little secrets. And why the hell were you talking to Agent Warner?”

Both Coyote and Steele got wide eyes as if to say….holy shit. Captain let it pass. Truth be told, he liked sassy women. But, if one the brothers had pulled that shit, he’d get put down hard. 

“Sorry for rufflin’ your feathers. I truly am. But you are on a need to know basis and at the moment, you didn’t need to know,” he told her.

“I honestly don’t give a rat’s tookus what you and the club are up to. I’m nobody’s judge, but I don’t like getting kicked around by the feds.” Jane turned to Coyote. “And you? Keeping incriminating evidence on your computer? How stupid are you?”

The kid gaped at her, mouth opening and closing like a fish for a minute, before he finally spit some words out. “I’m not stupid! If anything, I’m the smart one in the club. I told you… system!”

She rolled her eyes. “Always assume there’s a trail.”

“This isn’t some misplaced hacker pride. I got mad skills. The fucking NSA wanted me!”

Jane raised a brow. “Oh really?” She nodded. “Impressive. Let’s hope it’s enough to save your collective asses.” Then, she stalked over to her stylish little two door coupe without even saying see ya later.

Captain shook his head. “Well, bye, now. We’ll be in touch.”  He glanced at Coyote and Steele, both of them had eyes glued to her swaying ass.

Oh shit.
  They had thing for the hot little lawyer.  Yeah, that’d turn out well.

Steele elbowed Coyote. “I saw her first.”

“She obviously wants me,” Yo said, standing a bit straighter. “I impressed her.”

“Why settle for a nerd when she can have all this?” Steele gestured to his admittedly ripped body. “You can’t shut this down. And do the ladies like it?” He bobbed his head. “Oh, yes, they do.”

Captain shook his head. “Whatever. I’m going home.  Let me know if you need me. Oh, and just to be clear? I do mean
need
and not
want
.”

Now that the crisis had passed, his thoughts returned to Eddie. What he wanted to do, was crawl back into bed beside her,  and forget about all this fuckery for a couple of hours. When he’d thrown on clothes and rushed out the door this morning, she’d already been up and cooking enough food for an army, said she planned to invite her boys over for breakfast.

Something had been off about her this morning, come to think of it. Her smile never quite reached her eyes. He’d been too preoccupied to do anything about this morning, but he planned to get to the bottom of it when he got back to her place.

Coyote and Steele dashed back inside and Daisy was still on the phone… no doubt tellin’ Cowboy everything.  So Captain straddled his bike and placed the helmet on his head. Agent Warner drifted over again, leaving the throng of agents, who swiftly shoved shit into vehicles.

 “You know, I figured it out,” Warner said.

Fuck it all. Leave me alone, prick.
“Okay, I’ll play. Figured what out?”

 “Everyone knows Viper turned rat, but I bet most of your biker buddies assume he gave up the club in the first place, but it wasn’t true. He denied it again and again, and his story stayed consistent over the years.”

Captain shrugged real casual-like, as if he didn’t give a fuck what the agent said, but a lead ball had settled in his stomach. “Oh yeah?” No one in the club had ever gotten the chance to question Viper, he’d entered witness protection and hadn’t been seen since. Though, the brothers had searched for him for years.

“Yeah,” the agent whispered, leaning closer to him. “And I think it’s you. “Maybe you wanted Eddie to yourself. Maybe you wanted to belong to a better club. One that didn’t run drugs and guns. Or maybe you just wanted them to get what they deserved, wanted to clean house, so you could start over.”

 “That’s a wild imagination you got there, agent.”

“You’re the only one in the club who benefited from the RICO case. You moved up in the ranks overnight. You didn’t face any charges.”

“Goat wasn’t charged either.”

“
Goat
was already serving time,” the agent snapped.

“I wasn’t charged because I didn’t know shit. I’d barely joined the club and didn’t have a clue what they were up to.”

The agent chuckled. “Yeah, I read about that. The grand jury decided not to indict you at the time.”

“See?” Captain said. “They thought I was innocent.”

“No, they didn’t have enough evidence for a trial, but it’s not the same thing as being innocent.”

“You say potato, I say not guilty,” Captain said, baring his teeth.