“So what is this?” Audra asked.
“It’s a giant concrete dome,” he said, “sort of the same principle as the BioSphere outside of Tucson. It’s completely amazing.”
It stretched to cathedral heights over their heads. Around the sides of the dome was a balcony about halfway up; it led to various rooms which seemed to be carved into the walls.
“So, if there’s this, then why the airstreams?”
“I guess he brings people here only at night sometimes and doesn’t allow them to see the dome. They realize they’re under some kind of cover, but they have no idea.”
She could barely take it all in. It made her brain buzz to imagine how and why he had done all of this.
“Can we explore?” she said.
“Sure,” he said, “Later. Bring your coffee. The guys are waiting for us.”
# # #
“You are welcome to my hospitality for as long as necessary,” Gordon said.
“I don’t know,” Lucas mused. “Somebody is going to pick up a spoor at some point. I know I always do. The longer we stay here, the longer we risk compromising you as well as ourselves.”
“So what are we going to do?” Jerry said. “Just keep on driving for months, hoping to stay two steps ahead? We would run out of money and resources at some point.”
“Okay, I’ll agree with what you said, Lucas. Everyone leaves some kind of spoor, and if they’re worth their salt, they, whoever they are, will find it. However, as far as compromising me, it’s unlikely. If they come out here looking for you, they won’t leave alive. They’d have to come with an army, and I don’t think you’ve pissed off an army yet.”
“Well, I have pissed off an army,” said Lucas, “just not a well-organized army with adequate communication.”
“You’ve sort of pissed off two armies though,” Jerry said.
“Two?” Gordon asked.
“He’s gone rogue,” Jerry replied.
“Compromised, twice. Had to be an insider,” said Lucas, “or maybe more than one.”
Gordon whistled then laughed. “Well,” he said, “truthfully, it’s even less likely that the Marshals Service will find you here.”
Lucas nodded then turned to Audra. “I think it’s unanimous. We’ll stay here as long as we can.”
“There’s only one flaw in the plan that I can see,” Audra said.
All of them looked at her, and Gordon raised his eyebrows. “If you think you won’t know when they’ve found him, you underestimate my resources,” Gordon said, nodding toward his control console at the end of the room.
Audra shook her head, “No. It’s that no one will catch the son-of-a-bitch if Lucas doesn’t.”
Lucas swung his head toward her. “What makes you say that?” he demanded.
She shrugged. “I’ve heard plenty and surmised the rest.”
He just looked at her, dumbfounded. “Wha--?”
“You think I don’t know that the same man that destroyed my life is the same one who destroyed yours?”
No one breathed.
“If he’s gone free all this time, then you’re the only one who will catch him. You’re the only one who’s not afraid to.”
“That’s right. Because I’ve got nothing else to lose.”
“Nor do I,” she said.
Their eyes locked, and a silent pact was made between them.
17
“So, why doesn’t anybody see this compound from the air?” Audra asked.
“Like I said,” Jerry responded, “extreme camouflage. Everything is covered with desert camo. It blends perfectly with the terrain.”
“C’mon. Even with Google Earth, I could get close enough to tell there was something disturbed here,” Audra said.
“They would have to know where to look,” he said. “There are 25,000 square miles of the Mojave. That’s a lot of pixels to examine.”
“But you’re right next to an Air Force base,” she said, looking at Gordon who was studying some of his instruments. “Wouldn’t that be extra reason for them to look?”
“Actually, it’s even less reason. Have you ever heard of hiding in plain sight?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s kind of what I’m doing.”
She didn’t really understand, but that’s as far as she was going to go with it. After all, she was pretty sure the cartel didn’t have satellite observation, but she wasn’t so sure about the Marshals Service.
Later in the day, Lucas took her to explore the rooms around what Gordon referred to as the “belt” of the dome.
After they had seen four rooms and a kitchen that would put any restaurant or hotel to shame, she asked, “What is all this for?”
“Let’s just call Gordon an extreme prepper,” he said.
“But he doesn’t seem unbalanced in any way,” she said.
Lucas laughed. “Not all preppers are nutcases, not even ones as extreme as Gordon. I suppose you think of preppers as right-wing nuts and conspiracy theorists.”
“Pretty much,” she said.
“Nope. Let’s just call him a ‘visionary.’”
She would have to think about that for a while.
They walked into another room, and, while each one contained basically the same amenities, each room was designed and decorated differently. The one they were in had a beehive fireplace in the corner. It contained a bed with a pine log bedframe and was decorated with Native American pottery and rugs. The other furniture had the same pine log construction as the bed.
“I love this,” she said. “Despite having grown up in the Southwest, I still love Southwest décor. Look at this cute little thing,” she said.
“I am,” he responded.
She turned to look at him. He had his hands in his pockets, and his eyes were half-closed, looking at her. There was a tiny smile on his face.
He reached out for her, catching her and spinning her into him. He bent her head back and looked at her face. His eyelids were heavy with desire. He put his lips to her throat, placing small kisses up to her jawline and catching her earlobe in his teeth. She felt her instantaneous response, her nipples standing erect and her sex clenching.
He covered her mouth with his own, and they were locked into each other. He pushed her backwards till she sat down on the couch, and he sat beside her, immediately taking her into his arms and kissing her again.
He felt through her blouse and bra to find her nipple and made a sound of approval when he found it erect. He backed up for an instant, and she pursued him, nipping his chin, then his bottom lip, until he engulfed her mouth again.
Their tongues were flames, dancing, licking, engulfing each other. The spell was broken when Jerry and Gordon’s voices came up from below. They had just walked across the courtyard and disappeared into the engineering room on the lower level. Luca rolled onto his back and looked at her. She was flushed and had a hungry look in her eyes.
She leaned back, and he opened her blouse, reaching inside her bra and scooping out her breast. He took it into his mouth, and she immediately felt her sex contract, arousing her even more.
“Not just one, both,” she whispered.
He pulled down her bra and freed the other breast, falling on it with his mouth as if suckling her would save his life.
She wanted him so much; she thought she couldn’t stand it another second. He reached between her legs, and she began to moan softly. He squeezed, making indirect contact with her nub, and she flooded her panties. He could feel the dampness coming through the layers of cloth beneath his hand, and he knew he only had one chance to stop now.
He removed his hand, and she arched toward him, moaning slightly. He could smell her scent now, and it nearly drove him around the bend. Not since Elena had anyone wanted him, or he her, so badly.
Elena! Why did she have to pop into my mind now?
There lay Audra in front of him, breasts exposed, inhaling shallowly, beautiful lips pursed with invitation, and he became immed
iately overwhelmed with guilt…not just because of Elena…but because of all of it.
He had one split second to stand up before he would undress her and take her on the spot. He knew it was what she so desperately wanted. Hell, it was what he so desperately wanted—which was precisely why he couldn’t.
Every thought tormented him as his mind flooded with the things he wanted to do to her. Now…now!
Just thinking so hard about it, nearly caused him to come, and he knew she was on the brink, too.
Would it hurt…? What would it hurt? We so desperately need the release, he thought.
He gently pulled her bra cups back over her breasts and showered her with tiny kisses on her face.
She sat up and grabbed for him; he scooted away. If she touched it, he was sure he would lose it on the spot.
He wanted to kiss her deeply one more time, but he couldn’t even bear to do that, knowing that he wouldn’t stop with that.
He finally stood, and she looked up at him with an expression of… What is it? Hurt? Disappointment?
He immediately sat back down and took her in his arms.
“Don’t be sad. Please. That’s not my intent. It’s still not the right time. You just have to trust me,” he said.
18
Not the right time, he had said. She knew it wasn’t either, but she burned for him. It wasn’t only lust. She had to laugh even thinking about that word because she’d just never experienced it before. Not like this, ever. With John there had been this little tingle of excitement, but she had honestly never understood what the big deal was.
She had never met someone like Lucas whose power and raw maleness electrified her just thinking about him. Sometimes when they were in a room together, it became almost unbearable. She was surprised it didn’t impact everyone in the room.
It wasn’t just about wanting to have sex with Lucas; it was about wanting to merge, to share his power. It was this feeling that once they were together, they would both become stronger.
He must not feel that though. Or does he? Is he afraid of a power exchange? Could that be it? Does he feel I would somehow diminish him? Perhaps not in the way I’m thinking of it. He had voiced, more than once, that losing control and being with me might mean he couldn’t protect me the way he needed to.
She didn’t think it was about his job anymore. His going rogue would be much more to answer for than any supposed relationship between them. Unless, of course, the Service thought the relationship was the cause of it.
No, she was sure it was exactly what he said, that he feared that their intimacy would get in the way of protecting her. She didn’t understand that, and she intended to find out exactly what he meant.
# # #
It had become a nightly thing now for her to go outside with Jerry for his last smoke before bed. The soft desert breeze made her want to shed her clothes and dance beneath the stars.
Jerry had never gone back to the “bedtime story,” and she hadn’t pressed. But tonight, she felt it was imperative that she understand Lucas better, and she felt the two things were entwined.
“So…” she said, hesitating, “Lucas says that if we get involved, that it will make him less able to protect me properly. Is that true, or is that just his way of giving me the brush off?”
“Could be just his way of brushing you off,” Jerry said, as he twisted his foot on the cigarette butt that he had just dropped while simultaneously lighting another. He wasn’t allowed to smoke inside the complex, and they could only go out at night, so he made up for it by smoking a day’s worth of cigarettes all at once.
Her stomach clenched when he said it.
“But I don’t really think that’s it,” he said, tipping his head back and exhaling toward the stars.
Her relief was short lived.
“You do know that an emotional entanglement with a victim is not very smart, don’t you? I mean even beyond the professional aspects. Doesn’t it just make sense?”
“It does. My intuition tells me it’s not a good idea, but my analytical side doesn’t know why for sure. I would think it would make the desire to protect all the stronger.”
“It does, but that can be a problem. It impacts the protector’s ability to weigh things impartially. In dangerous situations, the most important thing to possess beyond instinct, beyond training or prowess, is a cool, clear head. Emotional entanglements don’t allow that.”
“Oh. Is this what they teach you during training?”
“Yes. But for Lucas, it’s only a little about training.”
“What’s the rest of it?”
Jerry looked off into the distance, taking his last two puffs of the second cigarette and dropping the butt to be ground beneath his foot.
“You really want to hear the rest of that bedtime story, don’t you?”
“I do.”
“I just want you to know that it could completely change the way you feel about Lucas.”
“I’m willing to risk that.”
“And not for the better. What if it undermines your trust?”
“Well, now that you’ve asked me that, you better tell me. With input, I can make up my own mind, but you telling me it’s something that could undermine my trust without giving me the information I need to make that decision would just add to my worry and stress.”
“What’s the difference if either way is going to add to your worry and stress?”
“Because, if I know, I have the opportunity to work through it.”
He nodded slowly. “Have you thought about asking him yourself?”
“Look how reticent you are to tell me. It could take me weeks to get it out of him.”
Jerry crossed his arms in front of him, feeling somewhat uncomfortable with the situation, yet also understanding that all her arguments were true.
“You know he was married, right?”
“I assumed.”
“The Service sent them to live in Nogales, undercover.”
“Wait. She was an agent, too?”
“No, but the Service thought Lucas’s cover would be more convincing if he were living on the border with a Hispanic wife and their child than he would be by himself.”
“Whoa. And Lucas was all right with that?”
“He was young. He still felt invincible. He thought the risk wouldn’t be that great, I guess. Or something. I really don’t know what his thinking was on that.”
“Something happened.”
“Yup.”
“He’s never told me the whole thing, but the scuttlebutt I picked up on was that he was feeling compromised, plus he had this idea that she was having an affair.”
She remained silent, waiting for him to continue. Her stomach was already churning.
“This much, he has told me himself. One night, he heard noises coming from their back courtyard. Elena and the boy had already gone to bed. He got his Glock and stepped out the back door, listening. He heard low voices that he knew were too close to be outside his walls.
He tried to see over into the fruit trees in the corner of the yard and saw a couple of shadowy figures. He called out. No one moved, but no one answered. He called out again for whoever it was to show themselves but got no response. As he watched the figures, he saw movement and then a glint of metal. He thought whoever it was had drawn a weapon, so he fired. Twice.
When he got there, he found a blood spoor going over the back wall…and one body. Elena’s.
“Oh my god.” Oh my God! her mind shouted. She felt dizzy and thought she was going to faint.
Jerry reached out to steady her, and her head stopped spinning.
“There was a long investigation, of course, and he was completely cleared of any wrongdoing by the Service. There was also a wrongful death slash manslaughter investigation, especially when the rumors surfaced that he thought she was having an affair. But he came out of that clean, too.”
She heard his words, and they gave her some relief, but all she could think about was
Lucas “feeling” they’d been compromised, and his paranoia—was it?—about his wife. It caused her to wonder if all his feeling about being compromised in Angels Camp and his paranoia about the Service had been the same thing.
But then, she immediately realized that it was likely not. Somebody had shot Bill. Then, Brighton had double-crossed them and had tried to kill Lucas. He undoubtedly would have tried to kill her, too. That was his ultimate intent, wasn’t it? And she understood Lucas’s questions about the Service insider, as well.
Good god! How was he withstanding more betrayal?
“Wait,” Audra said. “Isn’t there more? What happened to his son?”
Jerry flicked another cigarette, this one landing a foot or so away, and they both stood there watching the ember die out.
He exhaled the last bit of smoke and sighed.
“Yeah. Lucas sent Ethan to live with his grandparents in Phoenix and then went hog wild. He was surprised, himself, when he was cleared in both investigations without even missing a beat. Even though he knew he was innocent, everything pointed to an act of passion. He began to feel like a puppet on a string. He started his own investigation into Elena’s death, or rather into who her companion might have been and quickly found out it was someone working for El Toro Blanco’s organization.”
That name always tore through her like a wrecking ball. She nodded that he should go on.
“He really ramped up all of his tactics and was putting a lot of pressure on the organization. He still hadn’t found Blanco, but it seemed to everyone that it would only be a matter of time before he did. He refused to take on a partner, telling them that once he found out Blanco’s whereabouts, he’d step back and they could go for the kill. I’m not sure he meant that since he was out for revenge as much as justice, but the Service and the DEA seemed satisfied.
“The next thing you know, he gets a call from his parents that Ethan has disappeared, and before anyone can even mobilize a search, the kid was found dead on a beach down in Rocky Point.”
She was speechless. She didn’t know whether to scream, cry, or vomit. Or all three. Her mind couldn’t even begin to assimilate the horror, the torment, and the rage that it must have erupted within him.
BILLIONAIRE BIKERS: 3 MC Romance Books Page 54
