Talon (Uncompromising #1)

by Sybil Bartel

“You know I do.” His tone warned I was skating on thin ice.

  I didn’t give a shit. “He fuckin’ stabbed her,” I ground out.

  “Like father, like son. What do you want me to say? You’re the one who made the deal.”

  Wait. What? “What the fuck are you talkin’ about, like father, like son?”

  “Christ, for a Naval-trained medic, you’re dumb as shit. Who the hell do you think Carter’s father is?”

  I had no fucking clue. “Who?”

  “Stone Hawkins.”

  For one crushing second, my heart stopped then picked up and slammed against my ribs.

  I kicked over the coffee table.

  “Stone fucking Hawkins? The president of the Lone Coasters?” How the fuck had I missed this? “He has daughters.” From three different club whores, all of whom had hit on me at one time or another. I avoided them like the plague.

  “And one son. Randy the prize,” Candle bit out sarcastically.

  Randy and a bunch of stray LCs I could handle. But this? Going up against the most notorious MC on the East coast? I sunk to the couch in despair. Stone Hawkins was a ruthless son of a bitch who’d skated over every murder and trafficking charge that’d ever come his way. Rumor had it he was vicious and sadistic and the perfect leader for the violent MC.

  I asked the one thing that stood out. “Why haven’t I seen Randy in a cut before today?”

  Candle snorted. “Stone stripped him of it years ago. He was sick of Randy’s bullshit. Said if he ever wanted it back, he’d have to prove himself. My guess is taking out Maldonado was Randy’s perfect in.”

  “What do you mean, you guess? You’re Stone’s fuckin’ Sergeant-at-Arms.”

  Candle snorted. “In name only. Stone Hawkins is an island.”

  An island with a three-hundred-man army. “Don’t bullshit me. You knew this was goin’ down.” Goddamn asshole.

  “Look.” Candle sighed. “You ever repeat this, I’ll fucking make you burn. Stone’s been after Maldonado for a partnership for years. Maldonado controls the whole area from Fort Lauderdale to the marker in Key West. No one can get any shipments past his territory without greasing him. Stone pays a steep price to get his shit through Maldonado’s network. He’s been trying to negotiate a piece of Maldonado’s territory in exchange for a kickback. Maldonado said no. You and I both know a dead Maldonado is easier to deal with.”

  “You set me up.”

  “I didn’t set up shit. You came to me. But truth is, I wanted Maldonado dead for my own reasons.”

  Fucking liar. “How fuckin’ convenient.”

  “Believe me or not, I don’t give a shit.”

  “You should give a shit. The LCs don’t have the right kinda manpower to cover a part of Maldonado’s territory, let alone handle the shit Maldonado’s men are gonna unleash when they find out your club’s behind this.” The LCs were gun runners, not organized crime. Maldonado spent his whole career greasing pigs and politicians to make a network of invisible entry points in ports for product and then staffed those ports with legit union labor. If you wanted illegal product coming through south Florida, you paid Maldonado.

  “That’s what I told Stone but he wasn’t listening for shit. You think I want to be at war with them? That’s fucking suicide.”

  “What the fuck did you think was gonna happen when you made the call to off Maldonado?” Jesus fuck. I didn’t know the background on this shit when I asked him for this. “You shoulda passed on this and you know it.”

  “It was never going to point back at us or the LCs, not the way I was going about it. I wasn’t using the MC for this.”

  “You fuckin’ liar.”

  “I’m telling you the truth! You think I want to die at the hands of some fucking cartel? You think I want to be a part of this organized crime bullshit? ‘Live free or die’ doesn’t mean I sell my soul to grease port authorities so human trafficking and heroine junkies and God knows who else can poison the air I breathe. I’m a goddamn mechanic.”

  “Fuck, Candle.” I buried my face in my hand, not knowing what to believe at this point. “Why the fuck are you even telling me this?” He was going to get himself killed by his own damn MC for opening his mouth.

  Candle let out a long breath. “Listen, like it or not, I saw opportunity. You wanted Maldonado dead, I wanted him dead. I made some calls but I also asked around. Maldonado wasn’t exactly quiet about wanting revenge on your friend’s new wife so I followed the thread. Layna has a shiny new marriage license to Blaze Johnson. Recently retired Marine Gunnery Sergeant Blaze Johnson has a new employer, Luna and Associates. Luna and Associates booked a cottage on Sunset Key for a week, a cottage that got shot to shit, according to Coast Guard radio traffic. Then the owner of Luna and Associates drove his ass up to Daytona and landed in your lap. Wasn’t hard to connect the dots. If I found the connection, so can someone else. Like I said, I saw an opportunity and made some calls. I handed it over to an outside source but somehow between that call and this morning, that little prick Randy got a hold of it. And I want to know how.”

  “He didn’t get a hold of shit, he’s not that smart. It was fuckin’ handed to him.” Everything I knew about Stone Hawkins indicated he’d have no problem handing a live grenade to his own son. He knew whoever took out Maldonado was as good as dead and he didn’t care.

  “You’re not fucking hearing what I’m telling you. I didn’t sanction this through the LCs. None of the brothers knew about this. None. My connections are solid. The leak wasn’t on my end, so you got a bigger fucking problem than a little blonde.”

  “Bull-fuckin’-shit. I didn’t tell a soul.” Except André and I wasn’t going to let this asshole undermine my trust in him. André was like a brother to me, I trusted him with my life. “It’s your fuckin’ leak. For all I know, Stone’s monitoring every goddamn move you make.” But that wasn’t even close to my biggest problem.

  Maldonado’s men would go after Stone.

  Stone would cast out Randy.

  Siren was with Randy.

  My chest constricted. “Nic’s fuckin’ innocent in all this.”

  Candle let out a string of cuss words. “Fucking Stone.” It sounded like he punched something. “I’ll do what I can for Nicole,” he gritted out.

  “It won’t be enough.” My head was spinning.

  “It’ll have to be. You step in it, you’re as good as dead.”

  “Now you’re my fuckin’ friend?”

  “I don’t have friends. But I owe you.”

  There was only one reason I could think of. “Like I had a choice when you told me to give Kendall a job?”

  “We all have choices,” he said bitterly.

  And I’d made all the wrong ones. Goddamn it, but I wasn’t the only one. “Carter’s a dead man.” And we both knew I was next if he opened his mouth.

  “Not my problem. I don’t give a fuck what happens to him but like I said, I’ll watch out for Nicole.”

  “What the fuck are you gonna be able to do? She needs to disappear.”

  “The same thing I’ve done for Kendall.”

  That stopped me short. “And what’s that?”

  “Nothing and everything. Watch your back. I gotta go.”

  “Call me when Randy shows up for work.”

  “So you can kidnap her back and make me have to shoot you myself? Not a chance.”

  “I’m not fuckin’ kidnappin’ her. I’m savin’ her.”

  Candle snorted and hung up.

  André stared at me. “Stone Hawkins?”

  “Randy Carter’s his son.”

  He let out a low whistle. “And he had his own son order a hit on the head of south Florida’s biggest crime family?”

  “Candle said Stone cut him off from the LC years ago, told Carter he had to prove himself to get back in. But Candle swears when I asked him for help with Maldonado, he didn’t use the club or any of the LCs. He said he outsourced it, no one in his club knew about this. He’s claimin’ he
doesn’t know how Carter got a hold of this. I’m guessin’ Stone’s behind it.”

  André’s expression turned impenetrable and his eyes focused above my head. “How much do you trust Candle?”

  “Not at all.”

  “I’ve got a plan.”

  “THERE’S NO WAY THIS IS gonna work.” We’d gone over his stupid plan half a dozen times.

  “It’ll work,” André said confidently, typing away on my computer.

  I rubbed my hand over my face and looked at my watch for the thousandth time. “I don’t care how good of a hacker you’ve got, there’s gonna be a trail.” Randy’d had Siren for over two hours and he still hadn’t shown up for work.

  “Relax. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to stick long enough for someone from Maldonado’s organization to find it. And trust me, they already know the LCs are behind this. We’re just giving them a push. Maldonado’s men are out for revenge. They’ll strike back soon to save their territory. All we’re gonna do is give them a trail to follow. They’ll start a World War Three turf war and the chaos will flood local law enforcement, not to mention DEA and ATF. The Lone Coasters will go down for Maldonado’s hit and the government agencies will be pushing each other aside to get at all of them.” He stopped typing and looked up at me. “Now, we wait.”

  Everything he said went in one ear and out the other. My concentration shit, I paced the length of the living room again. “Run it by me again.” What the hell was Randy doing with Siren?

  “I planted a rumor about the LC’s organization going big by faking some e-mails between their local chapter and their Georgia chapter. The e-mails said they were done paying for their shipments because they’d figured a way around it then I bullshitted a bunch of new shipments and dates and sent anonymous copies to Maldonado’s construction business. Once the e-mails were opened, I hacked back in and deleted them like someone was trying to cover their tracks. Maldonado’s people will put it together.”

  “His construction company was shut down when he was arrested.”

  “Shut the doors, yes, but not the operations. There’s no new business but the cops didn’t bother seizing their domain name or e-mail accounts. There’s still someone monitoring them.”

  Christ. “Sounds like a long shot. Maldonado’s people know the LCs don’t have enough manpower or experience to overtake and run their whole operation.”

  “They only have to think they’re stupid enough to try.”

  I rubbed a hand over my face.

  “Hey.”

  “What?” I stared out at the beach with a sinking feeling in my gut. The irony wasn’t lost on me that I’d walked that same damn beach with Leigh before she’d left me.

  “She’s gonna be fine.”

  I spun on him and snapped. “You don’t know that.”

  “I know you played right into Carter’s bullshit when you didn’t deny anything. Now he has you under his thumb.”

  “I didn’t play into shit.”

  André sighed. “Have you ever heard what Stone’s creed is for the Lone Coasters?”

  “No.”

  “The only thing an LC loves is the club. Anything else is a weakness. ”

  “Your point?” I didn’t want to hear about Stone or his fucked-up creed. I just wanted Siren back.

  “If Randy wants back in with Stone, he’s going to have to let Nicole go and figure out a way to contain you so you don’t go mouthing off to Maldonado’s men, try to get Nicole back, or come after him. And he’s going to have to do it quick. Stone won’t put up with any hesitation.” André shrugged. “He’s probably trying to figure out how to kill you without it coming back on him.”

  “Let him try.”

  “I’d prefer not to.” André looked at me pointedly. “We need to strike first.”

  “I thought that’s what you were doin’.”

  “For now.”

  I nodded. I got it.

  “So, what is she to you?” he asked quietly.

  “None of your fuckin’ business.” I’d had sex with her once and I was losing my shit over it. I had no hold on her and I hated that thought more than I hated the truth of it, but fuck if I wasn’t going to get her away from Carter.

  “The man I knew a week ago was still mourning the loss of his wife.”

  “Ex-wife,” I corrected. She’d divorced me before she died.

  “I know.” André studied me like I was a fucking science experiment. “But you usually leave that fact out of the equation.”

  I left every part out. “I’m not havin’ this conversation.”

  “I saw the way you looked at her,” he said solemnly.

  “So?” I challenged.

  “I’ve never seen that before.” André’s phone rang, saving me from a stupid fucking response. His eyes on mine, he pulled it out and put it on speaker. “Report.”

  “Carter left his apartment. I followed him to the shop. Orders?”

  André raised an eyebrow at me but I was already grabbing my keys. “I’m going after her.”

  André took the phone off speaker and held it to his ear. “Fall back. Meet us at the house.” He hung up. “Wait.”

  I was already at the top of the stairs. “I don’t have time for this.”

  “You can’t take the Challenger. You’ll be spotted. Give my guy a few minutes to get back here and we’ll all go.”

  I knew he was right but I didn’t want to wait.

  “Five minutes,” André promised.

  Fuck. “You’re not comin’ in with me.”

  “Fine.”

  Fifteen minutes later, I was outside an apartment I never thought I’d have to come to again. Trying to control my anger, I pounded on the door. Twenty seconds, thirty… “Siren, open up.”

  Nothing.

  Goddamn it. I knew she was in there. I knocked again, softer this time. “C’mon, darlin’. I wanna know you’re okay.”

  Silence, then, “Go away, Talon.”

  I leaned my forehead against the door and relief washed through me at the sound of her voice. “I’m not leavin’ till I see you.”

  No response.

  “You know I’m not playin’. Two ways this can go down. You can open the door or I’ll do it myself. Either way, I’m gonna see you. What’ll it be?”

  The lock clicked and she opened the door three inches. Ocean-blue eyes that used to look cautious looked dead—frighteningly dead. Anger and adrenaline surged and my fists clenched. I was going to fucking kill Randy.

  “Take the chain off,” I slowly annunciated.

  “Where’s your accent?” Her usual soft voice gone, she asked the question without an ounce of emotion.

  I stepped back two feet. “Move.” Her face disappeared and I slammed my boot into the door. The chain popped, the piece of shit door swung open and she was in my arms.

  I took my first full breath in three hours.

  My hands in her hair, I pulled back to look her over. “You okay?”

  “Yes.”

  My heart rate slowed marginally when I didn’t see any evidence of new bruises but I couldn’t swallow past the tightness in my throat until I knew. “He touch you?”

  She shook her head but she wouldn’t make eye contact.

  “Look at me, damn it.”

  When she lifted her face, she looked so damn checked out, I almost didn’t recognize her. “You have to leave.”

  Rage boiled to new depths. “What did he do to you?”

  “Nothing. It’s what he’s going to do to you when he finds out you came here.”

  “I don’t give a shit about him. Pack your bag and grab what you wanna keep, ’cause you’re not comin’ back this time.”

  She didn’t move. “You need to go.”

  “Siren,” I warned. “I’m not leavin’ without you.”

  She stared at me like she didn’t even see me. “I don’t want to go with you.”

  Even though I knew she was lying, its impact was staggering. “You already ma
de this decision. You left him,” I reminded her.

  “Leave.”

  Any other woman, I would’ve thrown her over my shoulder and walked the fuck out. But this was Siren and she wasn’t like any woman I’d ever met. I didn’t want to force her to leave with me. I wanted her to want to leave with me. “I know you don’t want this.”

  She turned her head and focused on the carpet. “Someone will tell him you’re here. He’ll come back. You have to go.”

  I lost it. “I don’t give a shit! You think he has a fucking chance of getting close to me?” I yelled.

  She picked her head up and her gaze strayed over my shoulder.

  “A big fucking chance,” Randy snarled.

  I was so damn hung up on her, I hadn’t even heard him come up on my six. I spun around. “Where’s your cut?”

  Randy walked past me and put his arm around Nic’s shoulders. Two more bikers moved silently into the apartment on either side of the door. “Just because I don’t always run with the big boys doesn’t mean I don’t have them at my back.” He leered down at Nic. “Isn’t that right, babe?”

  “Right,” she said mechanically.

  Three against one. I could take them. We’d probably even make it out of town before Randy could call in reinforcements. But then what? Spend the next decade looking over my shoulder?

  I couldn’t do that to Nic. But I wouldn’t leave her here either if she wanted to go. “Siren, your call.” I inclined my head at the muscle behind me. “You want to come with me, they’re not a problem.”

  Randy started laughing and I’d had enough. I spun and kicked the asshole on my right in the balls. The idiot on my left lunged and got my elbow in his throat. Before he went down, I grabbed his head and brought my knee up. The satisfying crack of cartilage sounded through the apartment as adrenaline pumped through my veins. I dropped the second one and finished off the first one with knife strike to the neck. When I faced Randy again, he wasn’t laughing anymore. I met Nic’s terrified gaze and held my hand out. “Your choice.”

  She didn’t move.

  My heart dropped to my stomach.

  The look on her face—I knew I’d lost but I stepped forward anyway. Randy, the fucking pussy, moved back out of arm’s reach like it’d protect him. I hated him. I wanted him dead and I wanted to fucking destroy Candle but this shit was my fault.