Still unconvinced, he searched beneath the drawers—and found
wires.
His focus narrowed, his thoughts centered.
Pulling them free, he held the penlight in his teeth and
examined the device…and it hit him.
Fuck.
He no sooner realized that Logan had been listening in on
Pepper than he heard running footsteps in the hallway outside.
More than one person.
Hell, it sounded like a fucking battalion charging forth.
He shut off the light and hurried back to the bathroom where
he’d come in, but at the open window he heard men outside. Damn it.
They’d cornered him.
On silent feet, intent on trying Logan’s bedroom window, he got
as far as the hall just as men entered the apartment. He detected the hush of
their movements and the clinking of their weapons.
Thoughts of his sister pounded on his brain. Was she in danger?
Had this whole thing been a setup?
Rage coalesced. If anyone touched her, hurt her in any way,
he’d pay. Breathing steadily, Rowdy slid his knife free—
The overhead light in the narrow hall came on, momentarily
blinding him. Three men faced him, all armed, their aim steady. His hand
tightened on the knife hilt.
From behind him, a voice said, “I wouldn’t.”
Fuck, fuck,
fuck.
With few choices left to him, Rowdy dropped the knife. His
hands in the air and his heart in his throat, he slowly turned to face the
voice. Rowdy was tall, but this dude stood inches over him, with wide
shoulders.
Despite the jeans and T-shirt, Rowdy sensed that the blond
behemoth standing there was a cop. To verify the truth, he said, “Officer…?”
“Detective Bareden.” To the other men, Bareden said, “Shoot him
if he moves.” He holstered the gun and produced handcuffs.
Laughing, Rowdy lowered his arms and only half listened as
Bareden read him his rights.
So someone had seen him go in the window and had called the
law? He’d be busted for breaking and entering? Big deal. Piece of cake.
Far fucking better than having a real threat on his ass.
But as Bareden led him back out the front door of the
apartment, he paused to knock on Pepper’s door.
Going on the alert, Rowdy tensed all over again. “What’s this?
What are you doing?”
“Be quiet,” Bareden said.
“You don’t need her.” Rowdy would not overreact. He’d schooled
Pepper on just such a situation. Surely, she’d follow protocol. “She has nothing
to do with anything.”
It was Logan who answered the knock. His gaze landed on Rowdy,
and the smug prick had satisfaction written all over him.
Behind him, face white and expression haunted, Pepper stared at
him. Her lips trembled. She put a hand to her mouth.
“Say nothing,” Rowdy told her. “Get inside and don’t say a
goddamned word!”
* * *
V
ISION
NARROWING
, blackness closing in, Pepper took in the
sight of her brother in handcuffs. Logan was tall, her brother taller. But the
brawny blond looming over Rowdy topped them all.
She reached out to steady herself—and grabbed hold of
Logan.
Through his teeth, Logan told the ironman, “Get him out of
here.”
Confusion left her knees like noodles. “Logan—” She didn’t
understand. A strange sickness expanded, making her stomach pitch, her heart
thump heavily.
Logan drew her close to his side.
“Get your fucking hands off her.” Her brother resisted, lunging
for Logan.
“Wait…” She made to move toward him.
Logan pulled her back.
Rowdy’s handsome face twisted as he stared at her with dogged
insistence. “This has nothing to do with you. Stay the hell out of it, do you
understand me?”
He couldn’t be serious. She tried to reach out to him.
Putting an arm around her, Logan locked her to his side. “Drag
him if you have to, but I want him out of here.
Now.
”
“Yes, sir,” one of the uniformed officers said.
Sir? The awful, undeniable truth of the situation sank in and
Pepper eased away from Logan. An invisible fist clamped around her throat. Her
eyes burned, with anger and with hurt. “Who are you?”
Implacable will sharpened his gaze. “Detective Logan
Riske.”
Detective? Fear kept her thoughts in a jumble. “You’re a…a
cop?”
Rowdy caused a ruckus, struggling on the stairs, making one cop
stumble, another fall. “Stop talking to him!”
The big blond crossed his arms and stared at Logan. “You want
to give some orders here, or am I taking over?”
Logan clamped a hand around her arm, drawing her away from the
door and into the apartment. “Stay here. I’ll be back up to talk to you as soon
as I can.”
When she didn’t answer, he caught her chin.
“Do you hear me?”
She searched his face and hated what she saw. “You’re arresting
him?”
He remained cold, distant. “I’ll explain everything later.”
Like an explanation existed beyond the obvious? Her past had
caught up to her. Logan either was or wasn’t in league with Morton Andrews, but
either way, it didn’t much matter. Not when he exposed Rowdy, and by
association, left her exposed, as well.
After all their years of caution, all they’d gone through to
stay invisible and safe—she’d destroyed it all.
Thinking of how badly she’d been duped, she laughed, then
quickly covered her mouth to muffle the near-hysterical sound. Tears tried to
blur her vision, but she blinked them away.
Logan hesitated. “Pepper—”
“You know my name,” she realized aloud. Oh, God, oh, God. “You
know everything.”
The other cop uncrossed his arms with a sigh. “Yeah, why don’t
I just go handle things? Looks like you have your hands full here.”
After a last searching look, Pepper shoved past them both.
“Pepper!”
Holding her long skirt high above her knees, she went down the
steps two at a time and hit the front door hard, flinging it open. She got into
the yard in time to see one cop holding open the back door of an unmarked sedan.
Another told Rowdy to get inside.
This couldn’t be happening.
Horribly afraid that if they took him, she’d never see him
again, she raced toward them. Were they legit cops? Were they
good
cops?
She had so many reasons for doubt.
Logan called out to her again, but she ignored him. Later, she
would have to deal with that, with how incredibly gullible she’d been, how easy
she’d made it for him to get to her brother, to use her—in more ways than
one.
For now, she needed to talk to her brother.
“Wait!” She got close, but one of the officers—how damn many
were there, anyway?—stopped her when she was still several yards away.
Rowdy gave her his darkest, most imposing scowl. “Back inside.
Now.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said, choking on the words, on her
escalating fear and the awful, grinding shame. “I should have known. I should
have listened to you.”
“Say
nothing,
” he ordered
again.
Oh, God. “I’m sorry…” She took a step toward him.
“Stay away from me, damn it.”
No. No, he couldn’t face this alone. He couldn’t do this to
her.
He couldn’t leave her.
“Please…”
“You know what to do, now do it.”
“Get him in the car!” Logan grabbed her arm, and this time she
couldn’t shake him off.
Seeing that, Rowdy narrowed his eyes more—and continued to
resist the efforts of the cops. Infusing his tone with iron, he ordered,
“Tell me you understand.”
“Shut him up,” Logan barked.
The officer tried to stuff Rowdy into the car, but he
shouldered the younger guy hard and sent him reeling.
“Damn
you, answer me!”
Two cops swarmed in on him, and still he fought.
Her heart broke into shattered pieces. “I understand,” she
whispered. And then again, louder so that he could actually hear her, she
shouted, “I understand!”
Rowdy wanted her to follow the fallback instructions. Did he
honestly think she’d forgotten?
Of course he did, and with good reason. Because she had. For a
little while there, with Logan, she’d forgotten…everything.
With her agreement out there, Rowdy stopped struggling. Rough
hands pulled him around, someone knotted a fist in his hair. He got shoved into
the car even though he’d stopped resisting.
Her brother was tough, one of the toughest men she knew.
He will be okay.
Pepper had to keep telling herself
that or she’d fall apart.
Now wasn’t the time for excesses of emotion. She had to be
strong, if not for herself, then for her brother.
All along her back, she felt the heat of Logan standing close
behind her. He had used her. He had set her up. And she’d made it absurdly
easy.
Yes, she remembered everything Rowdy had ever taught her. But
this time, to atone for her guilt, she’d do what was best for him, instead of
what was best for her.
The officers waited for instructions.
From Logan.
Burying deep the hurt, the fractured hope, the absurd injured
feelings, Pepper turned to face him. She needed information. She needed Logan to
go on thinking he had the upper hand.
Beyond him, the big blond said, “I grabbed you a shirt.”
Staring at her, Logan nodded. “Thanks, Reese.” He took the
dress shirt and pulled it on. As he buttoned it up, he said to Pepper, “I want
you to wait in your apartment until I—”
“Go to hell.”
He paused at her cold, flat tone, then nodded as if he simply
accepted her reaction.
Almost as if he didn’t care. But…of course he didn’t. All of it
was for show. His friendly smiles, his caring, his sexual interest…
Her stomach cramped at the appalling reality: everything he’d
said and done had only been meant to win her over.
God, she hated herself in that moment.
To two of the officers, Logan said coolly, without emotion,
“Stay here with her. See that she’s safe.”
So he’d leave her with guard dogs? Pepper smiled at Logan.
Perfect.
It perplexed him and made him wary, just as she intended.
He studied her face, his gaze direct but guarded. “Your brother
will be fine.”
“He will be,” she agreed. “No thanks to you.” She’d see to
Rowdy’s safety. She’d do what she should have done long ago. She’d been thinking
about it for a while now. Logan’s deception had only spurred her to act more
quickly. Thanks to him, the decision was no longer hers alone to make.
She looked past Logan to the other detective. “Reese?”
Logan frowned, but his buddy only arched an eyebrow. “Detective
Bareden, Reese to my friends.”
“Am I under arrest, Detective Bareden?”
“I can’t imagine why you would be.” He deferred to Logan. “Care
to chime in?”
Disgusted, Logan tucked in his shirt. He looked a little
mismatched in the button-up shirt and jeans, but then, he’d been a walking
contradiction all along.
If only she’d grasped that sooner.
“I have no reason to arrest you. The men will stay to see to
your safety until I can get back.”
She ignored Logan and again spoke to Reese. “You’re arresting
my brother?”
Morbidly amused, Reese grinned at her. “Taking him in for
questioning. For now.”
“Questioning about what?”
Logan stepped in front of Reese. Teeth locked, he gritted out,
“I will explain to you later.”
She leaned around him to see Reese. The blond sighed and shook
his head as if exasperated with her.
She didn’t care what they thought. She couldn’t care. “Where
are you taking him?”
Reese gave her the name of the police station—in the same area
where Morton Andrews ran his damned club. Was that even legal? She didn’t know.
And what did it matter when she couldn’t involve lawyers?
“When can I see him?”
Logan again blocked her view. “You want to talk to him, Pepper,
you’ll go through me. Now if you’ll just—”
“You’re wasting that arrogance on me, Detective. I’m not
impressed, I’m not intimidated, and I’m no longer trusting.”
His gaze sympathetic, Logan held silent.
She could take just about anything—except his pity. “You think
you played me for a fool, don’t you?” She wrought a credible laugh. “You’re the
fool. I only wish I could be around when you realize it.”
“You aren’t going anywhere.”
After everything that had just happened, did he honestly think
he could stop her? “I’m going away from you.” She stepped around him and headed
for her apartment. “For now, that’s more than enough.”
Logan said nothing, but she felt his gaze burning into her back
as she retreated to her apartment.
She had a lot to do, a lot to accomplish tonight. She wouldn’t
waste another single second on lost causes.
And whatever his real name might be, Detective Logan was most
definitely a lost cause.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“G
UESS
YOU
’
RE
IN
THE
doghouse,” Reese said to Logan. They rode in a car
behind the sedan carrying Rowdy. Logan wasn’t ready yet to deal with him. He
needed to tamp down his rage—and his conscience.
The look on Pepper’s face… God, it ate at him. “She’ll come
around.” Somehow, he’d make it so.
“You think so, do you?” Reese followed the sedan closely. “She
looked more pissed than hurt.”
Reese only thought that because he didn’t know her well. “She’s
sweet and tenderhearted. She doesn’t belong in this mess.”
“She’s in it all the same.”
Thanks to him. “Quit needling me with the obvious, damn
it.”
“Just saying.” Reese glanced at him. “You know, I can handle
this shit with Yates, if you want to be with her.”
“No.” Difficult as it might be, he’d remember his
priorities.
“The more time you give her, the less she’s going to want to
hear you. Women have a way of working themselves into a lather over stuff,
especially when embarrassed. I’d say using her to get her brother would qualify
as an embarrassing situation.”
“Until I talk to Rowdy, until I get what I need, she’s not
going to want to listen to anything I have to say.” She’d only want to follow
Rowdy’s order—to be quiet, to shut him out.
Logan thought again of how the brother had shouted at her, his
lack of gentleness with her. It infuriated him. “Once I have the info, I can
reason with her, make her understand how important it is.”
Reese let that go to ask, “How long do you think you can hold
him?”
“After catching him in my place? Long enough.” He hoped. “What
did the lieutenant say?”
Reese squeezed the steering wheel. “I didn’t tell her yet.”
After giving Reese a long look, Logan put his head back. Shit.
It needed only this. “She’s going to be pissed.”
“We’ll hit the station in another ten minutes. Even if you
don’t call her, she’ll find out soon enough.”
It actually worked to his advantage that Reese hadn’t gotten
around to calling her. “I’ll talk to her after I question Rowdy. In the
meantime, I want him in holding, and I want him watched 24/7.”
“I’ll do it.” Reese glanced at Logan again. “Better not to
trust anyone else at this point.”
Because Logan felt the same, he nodded. He wouldn’t take a
single chance that Rowdy Yates would walk before he had the opportunity to get
the details needed.
Once he had the right info, he’d find a way to protect
Rowdy—and he’d start building the case to get Morton Andrews, once and for
all.
And after that, after all the details were in place, he’d go
back to Pepper. He’d reassure her, he’d apologize to her, and he’d explain.
But he kept seeing that look on her face, and deep down, he
just didn’t know if any of that would matter to her.
* * *
T
HE
TWO
OFFICERS
that Logan left behind crowded into her
doorway. Pepper gave them direct stares. “You can leave now. I’m not going
anywhere.”
“Ma’am.” The lankier of the two gave her a look of apology.
“We’re just here to see to your safety. It’ll be easier if we’re inside.”
“I need to shower.” Yeah, not her most immediate concern, but
it was as good an excuse as any. “I need to change clothes and go to my
brother—”
“Detective Riske was clear, ma’am. He’d prefer that you wait
here.”
“I don’t care about his preferences.”
They looked at each other. The shorter guy stepped in farther.
“You won’t be able to see your brother until he’s processed anyway. If you try
going there, it might just slow things down.”
Processed. She wanted to groan. Thanks to Morton, she knew far
more about how the criminal element worked than the procedure for law
enforcement. “How long will that take?”
“Depends. They’ll take him to the station to be
interviewed—”
“You mean interrogated.”
He said nothing to that. “It takes time to do the booking
paperwork, photo, fingerprints and all that. I don’t know if he’ll be
transported to the county detention center for holding until bail or trial.”
The lanky one said, “He could go straight to county. We won’t
know until Detective Riske returns.”
So they weren’t informed of the whole procedure that’d be
taken? Was that a security thing, or were they just grunts who didn’t deserve
the details?
It really had nothing to do with anything, but Pepper heard
herself ask, “Is his name really Logan?”
“Ma’am?”
She waved a hand in impatience. “Detective Riske. Is his first
name Logan?”
“Yes, ma’am. Logan Riske.”
Probably he’d used his first name to keep from tripping himself
up while…seducing her.
Humiliation rolled over her in suffocating waves.
He thought her shy and introverted. He’d smiled at her while
she’d shared her wretched background. He’d been gently accepting when she
insisted on sex in the dark.
He’d been inside her.
It felt as if an elephant sat on her chest, crushing her heart,
all but crippling her. Wrapping her arms around herself, she struggled to hold
it all together.
Numb, sick, Pepper whispered, “Thank you.” To keep their
suspicions at bay, she gestured to her couch. “Make yourselves at home. I’m
going to get ready just in case Logan calls or returns more quickly than
expected.”
They gave her pitying looks, thinking her naive, thinking she
didn’t grasp the nuances involved.
That could be, but she understood the most important fact:
people outside the law and in it wanted her brother. He could die if she didn’t
react quickly.
“I won’t be long.” And with that, Pepper turned away. Time to
get things under way.
She went to her bedroom first. Buried inside the bedsprings,
she found her stash of cash, her knife and .38 revolver, and the keys she’d
need. She put it all inside her purse, then wrapped it up in a change of
clothes, bundling everything together. As she left the bedroom for the bathroom,
she glanced shyly at the officers.
Neither had sat down. They both stood at the ready, watchful,
wary. Maybe they were good cops. After all, they hadn’t yet tried to murder her.
They hadn’t called in the goons. They hadn’t even threatened her.
But they did stand by her front door, trying to block her
escape.
Knowing the flimsy lock offered little real protection, she
locked the bathroom door behind her, turned on the shower, and wasted no time
changing into jeans and a T-shirt. Putting the strap of the purse over her
shoulder and across her body, she opened the window and climbed out. It had been
a while, but she scurried down the tree limbs with ease, then dropped the last
several feet to the ground, landing in a crouch. Anxiety making her breathless,
she waited, but no one seemed to notice her. No alarms sounded.
No one gave chase.
To help disguise her, she pulled the band from her ponytail and
let her long hair hang free. She didn’t head for the road but instead darted to
the back of the building and went down alleyways until she’d crossed a mile or
more. The bright moon and security lights for other buildings made it tough to
stay in the shadows.
She found Rowdy’s car in the agreed-upon location. Holding
back, she watched it, worried that it might be a trap, that others could have it
under surveillance. But with little time to spare, she swallowed her misgivings
and fear and ran to the car to quickly unlock it.
Once she had the engine started, she breathed a sigh of
relief.
For too many years she hadn’t been behind the wheel. She’d
missed it. Even as she drove out of the lot, she watched for anyone shadowing
her. She stayed alert as she stopped at a convenience store for a quick shopping
spree of necessary items. She constantly scanned the surroundings as she went
next to the motel room where Rowdy had last been staying.
It took her a few precious seconds to pick the lock, and when
she got the door open, she found a woman there in his bed.
Un-freaking-believable.
Rowdy was such a hypocrite.
Furious, Pepper swept into the room, stormed over to the bed
and jerked away the covers. The drowsy—naked—brunette stirred, looked at her,
and sat up to object. “Who are you?”
“Out,” Pepper said, cutting off the complaints and questions.
“Now.”
Confusion kept the woman huddled on the bed. “I’m not going
anywhere! I’m waiting for—”
Pepper didn’t want to know what alias Rowdy had used. She
withdrew her knife. “Take your clothes,” she enunciated clearly, “and
leave.
”
“Ohmigod!” With great haste, the woman scampered out of the
bed, stepped into a slinky dress and grabbed up her sandals and purse. “You’re
insane!”
“I noticed.” Pepper held the door for her until she’d cleared
it. Insane? Maybe. Driven with her purpose? Most definitely.
Boy, would she give Rowdy hell. Later.
At least, she hoped she’d be able to.
Please, God, let him be okay.
In less than five minutes she’d cleared out all signs of
Rowdy’s presence. Luckily, her brother kept the majority of his meager
possessions in the trunk of his car. He had only a change of clothes and
toiletries in the motel room, never anything incriminating. But they couldn’t
take chances, and so Pepper did as she’d been taught and removed all traces of
his stay. She didn’t leave behind a fingerprint or even a hair.
Since the run-down place was a pay-as-you-go establishment, and
no way would Rowdy have given his best-known alias, she didn’t have to bother
checking him out. She loaded his stuff into the car, got back behind the wheel,
and headed to the safe location they’d established long ago.
Rowdy had kept tabs on it, making sure it remained abandoned,
secured and well-stocked with supplies.
He expected her to go there, so she knew her brother would die
before giving up the address.
In the dark of the night, without security lights and with
little moonlight, the big deserted warehouse gave her the creeps. Rodents had
surely inhabited it by now, and after so many years, it looked capable of
crumbling down around her.
But she unlocked the rolling metal door, drove the car inside
and parked in the back behind heavy, broken machinery.
The car would make her transformation easier.
And the transformation would aid in everything else.
* * *
N
OT
KNOWING
WHAT
TO
EXPECT
, Rowdy sat still, silent, in the
interrogation room. A bruise under his left eye swelled, but he barely noticed.
His shoulders burned from the scuffle in handcuffs before the cops had gotten
him into the backseat of that car, but the small aches and pains were the least
of his concerns.
He didn’t know what it all meant, but he knew he had reason to
worry. For himself, but especially for Pepper.
Out of necessity, the times he saw her were few and far
between. To see her tonight, in the middle of a nightmare situation…
damn it.
At any moment, he half expected someone to come in and gig him.
It’d be easy enough for cops to do—he knew that much firsthand.
Had Pepper gotten away? Please God, don’t
let her—
Logan Stark—no, Riske, Rowdy had heard him tell Pepper—walked
in. His unflinching gaze met Rowdy’s. He didn’t exactly gloat, as Rowdy had
expected. In fact, the detective looked resigned, dogged and frustrated.
Logan eyed the cuffs on his wrists. They’d left behind ugly
bruises, proof of his efforts to escape.
The cops hadn’t given him an opportunity. So far, they hadn’t
made a single mistake.
Pulling out a chair, Logan sat opposite him. “You’re not an
easy man to find.”
Staring at him with red-hot hatred, Rowdy said nothing.
Logan sat back, looked down at the tabletop. “Pepper didn’t
give you up. I—”
“I don’t need you to make excuses for my sister.” He fucking
well knew Pepper would never do anything to endanger him, not on purpose anyway.
The blame belonged to the detective.
And to himself.
Rowdy had to admit that he’d done a piss-poor job protecting
her, and now, because of his incompetence, she might be hurt after all. He
should have killed Morton instead of dodging him. He should have razed Checkers
so that nothing remained of the club.
He should have done so damned many things....
“She doesn’t deserve your rage.”
Rowdy laughed. “You don’t know shit about what she deserves.”
If Logan did, he never would have used her.
Logan sat forward. “I know she deserves better than a life on
the run.”
Narrowing his eyes, Rowdy considered him. Anger on Pepper’s
behalf? That wasn’t what he’d expected from the detective, but then, what better
way for the cop to try to get around him than using his sister?
Again.
“I’ll kill you.”
The whispered words took Logan back in his seat. “Is that what
you do now? Murder?” He tossed out a file. “I looked through your history, but I
didn’t see that one. Is there a confession you want to make?”
“Go screw yourself.” It’d be better than screwing with his
sister.
No, he couldn’t let himself think about
that.
If he did, he’d break his own arms trying to get free so he
could take Logan Riske apart.
“I need information.”
Rowdy said nothing. Trying to share information had started
this whole fucking catastrophe. Trusting a cop, any cop, could get him killed.
Not really a good trade-off.
“You worked at Checkers a few years ago, at the same time that
a city commissioner was murdered. Jack Carmin.”
Saying nothing, Rowdy looked away.
Logan pressed on. “I know you remember. You went to the
reporter—”