Last Mile

by Katie Ashley

  I shook my head. “That’s just it. He’s not who I originally thought he was. None of the Raiders are.” At Peterson’s skeptical look, I continued. “Yes, at one time they did partake in illegal activity. But then they lost several of their members to violence, and then Deacon became a father and wanted a better, safer life for his daughter. Those factors made them choose to go legitimate. Because I spent so much time with them, I know they’re innocent.”

  “If they are innocent, how do you explain the guns in their warehouse?”

  “They were framed.”

  Peterson scoffed as he leaned back against his desk. “I usually appreciate conspiracy theories, but I’m not in the mood today.”

  “Bishop told me that there were members of their organization who weren’t happy with them going legitimate. He said they were the ones who orchestrated the shooting in Virginia. I think whoever has this bad blood wanted to get back at Bishop and the others, so they planted the guns there and then called the tip in to you guys.”

  Scratching his chin, Peterson appeared thoughtful. “And where does this animosity for the Raiders come from?”

  “I think it somehow all goes back to that deal with the Rodriguez cartel. I think that the Raiders wanted out of the gun business as part of going legitimate, so they gave their gun trade to the cartel. Then someone didn’t like getting cut out of the guns.”

  “That’s an interesting theory, but do you think you can prove it?”

  My heartbeat thundered loudly in my chest. “If you give me a chance, I can.”

  “You do realize what a chance you’re taking on this case? If it falls apart, your career is over.”

  While my stomach twisted at the prospect of never rising through the ranks at the ATF, I knew that I had to do everything within my power to see that Bishop and the others weren’t falsely imprisoned. “I am aware of what could happen.”

  Peterson stared me down for a few seconds before he turned and walked back around the side of the desk. As he sat back down in his chair, I couldn’t help holding my breath in anticipation. “Look, I know you’ve had a hell of a time since Gavin’s death, but never would I have expected you to go so far as to hook up with Malloy.” When I started to defend myself, Peterson raised a hand to keep me quiet. He got up again, then paced around in front of the desk as if he was searching for the right words. “I’ve always trusted your instinct, Vargas. Always. You’ve never given me any reason not to. If you’re willing to go out on a limb, then you have my support.”

  I wheezed out the breath I had been holding. “Really?”

  Peterson nodded. “I hope you realize how fucking hard it’s going to be on me to get you the resources you need.”

  “I know it’s going to be tough.”

  “It sure as hell is. I’m going to be jumping through hoops like a damn dog.”

  I smiled at Peterson. “Thank you. I promise I won’t let you down.”

  “You better not, because it’ll be both our asses on the line. You’ve got forty-eight hours to get your shit together before they are arraigned. That’s the best chance we have of getting the charges dropped.”

  Although anxiety threatened to choke me, I bobbed my head at Peterson. “I’ll get right on it.” I whirled around and headed for the door. “Thanks again, Peterson.”

  He gave me a small smile. “You’re welcome. And good luck.”

  NINETEEN

  SAMANTHA

  Although I had been on a lot of dangerous missions in my career, I had never felt the bone-deep level of fear that I did as I pulled into the parking lot of the Raiders compound. With trembling hands, I turned the car off and threw open the door. My shaking knees barely supported me as I made my way to the front door. The immense fear that I felt didn’t come from the fact that I was facing down drug lords or gang leaders. No, I was about to piss my pants because I was going to talk to the Raiders women.

  For the first time ever, there weren’t any guys guarding the door. I had to wonder if they had been brought in as well or if they were lying low because of what had happened. My stomach churned as I jerked open the door and stepped inside.

  When the door slammed shut behind me, every pair of eyes in the room was on me. It took about two seconds for Kim to come charging at me, her nostrils flaring like a bull. “You got a lot of fucking nerve coming here!”

  I held my hands up in front of me. “I know I do. But I need to talk to you guys.”

  Mac’s old lady, a curvy brunette, snorted contemptuously. “What makes you think we would listen to a damn word you said?” Standing toe-to-toe with me, she then spat in my face. “Fucking traitor!”

  Without taking my eyes from hers, I brought my hand up to wipe my face. Part of me wanted to deck her for having the nerve to do something so degrading, but I had to remember where she was coming from. Her husband was behind bars facing gun trafficking charges.

  I drew in a deep breath as I surveyed the women I had once considered myself friends with. “Each and every one of you has a right to hate me. At one time, I was a traitor to the club. I admit that I had ulterior motives in getting to know Bishop. But if you would just give me a few minutes to explain—”

  “You want to explain how you played Bishop for a fool and then sent our men away?” Kim demanded over the roar of the women spewing hate-filled rants at me again.

  “Just give me five minutes. I’m here to help, I swear.”

  Annabel stepped forward. She held up her hand to silence them. “Let her speak.”

  At her action, the angry roar became a low grumble. When it became quiet, I started to talk. I told them about my father’s murder, about my feelings when I was first assigned the case, how I felt after Gavin’s murder, and then finally how I had come to feel about Bishop and the Raiders. Throughout it all, I held their rapt attention.

  “What happened today was not because of anything I did or any information I gave my superiors. Yeah, I should have relayed to my superiors what I learned about the club going legitimate. I can’t change any of that now, but I have the opportunity to clear their names—to ensure that your men are freed. But to do that, I’m going to need their help.”

  Alexandra shifted Wyatt on her hip. “Let me guess. To ensure that they cooperate, you need us to talk to them.”

  I nodded. “You can imagine that whatever I say to them is going to fall on deaf ears. I figured they might actually listen to their wives and girlfriends.”

  Eyeing me curiously, Alex asked, “Who talks to Bishop?”

  “I will.”

  Kim snorted. “You really think after what happened, you’re going to get anywhere with him? The most important thing in the Raiders creed is loyalty. You trampled all over his loyalty.”

  “I realize that. I hope to be able to apologize to him—to get him to see why I did what I did.”

  Alex sighed. “Don’t be naive, Sam. We’re a lot more forgiving than he’ll ever be because we’re women and we understand what it’s like to be desperately in love.”

  “Who the hell says we’re forgiving?” Kim growled.

  Alexandra gazed around the group. “I think it’s safe to say every one of us here has done something desperate and crazy when it comes to our men. I know I certainly did. What Sam did was completely wrong, but she’s trying to make it right—”

  “And just why are you doing that? Did you suddenly grow a conscience?” Boone’s wife, Annie, demanded.

  “Because it’s the right thing to do. Your husbands were framed. I would never uphold having innocent men pay for crimes they didn’t commit. There’s also the fact that the club has turned themselves around. The whole point of our undercover case was to bust them for guns. That’s not an issue anymore.”

  “There’s another reason that motivates you even more than setting our men free,” Annabel said with a smile. “You love Bishop.”

  I blinked back the tears that stung my eyes. “Yes. I do. I love him very much.”

  My declaration sent
a hush over the group. Kim made a tsking noise. “I gotta tell you, honey, that you sure have a way of fucking things up.”

  With a pained bark of a laugh, I replied, “Trust me. I’m aware of it.” I swiped away the tears that had fallen down my cheeks. “Everything just happened so fast. I never intended to fall for Bishop, and when I did, I didn’t want to be an agent investigating him. I just wanted to be a woman in love with him.”

  Annabel swept her hand to her chest. “Oh, you poor thing.”

  Kim gave an exasperated sigh. “Well, the only way you have a chance with Bishop is to see to freeing him and the others. Once he’s out, then we can all work on getting him to give you another chance.”

  My eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You want to give me another chance?”

  Kim smiled. “Yeah, I guess I do. At the end of the day, we all fuck up from time to time. Now that you’ve explained yourself, I can see things differently.”

  I couldn’t help exhaling a huge, relieved breath. “So you all will help me?” A resounding chorus of yeses came back at me. “Great. I can’t thank you enough.”

  “No. Thank you for doing so much to see that our men are freed,” Alexandra said.

  “Damn straight,” Kim said. She then smacked me on the back. “How about a drink before you go?”

  I grinned. “I sure as hell could use one.”

  Shaking her head, Kim said, “Honey, you’re going to need more than one if you plan on talking to Bishop.”

  TWENTY

  BISHOP

  As I lay back on my jailhouse bunk, I stared up at the ceiling. Counting the many cracks within the plaster was one way I tried to pass the time. It had been thirty-six hours since the ATF busted into the clubhouse and sent my world careening out of control. While I’d had a few misdemeanors in my day, I’d never spent a night in jail. I’d always been bailed out the day I had come in. But now I was facing gun and drug charges, and if the ATF got their way, I wouldn’t be getting out for a long time.

  Of course the ATF made me think of Samantha, which caused my traitorous heart to ache. I never imagined a woman could wound me so deep, but she did. All the time we had spent together had been a lie. She was a fucking fed working me for a case. I had heard of women playing men before, but I never thought I would be one of the sad saps it happened to. Samantha deserved a fucking Oscar for her acting skills. I had thought she truly cared for me—that we had something special going on. Something like what Rev and Deacon had.

  But I was wrong. So fucking wrong. Not only had she screwed me over, but she had screwed over my brothers. Seething anger coiled within me at the reminder of how she acted as though she had cared for them just as she had for me. But she hadn’t. All she had wanted was to keep rising in the ranks in the bureau. I was sure our case would win her a fat promotion. While we rotted away in jail, she would enjoy more money and a higher rank. Just the thought caused my fists to clench at my sides and I longed for a way to lash out.

  More than anything, I wished I had my brothers to confide in. From the time of our arrest, Rev, Deacon, and I had been separated. The thought being that we couldn’t easily come up with stories or plea deals if we weren’t a solid unit with our president, vice president, and sergeant at arms. Deacon and Boone had been sent to a jail in another county, while Mac and I remained at the jail where we had originally been brought. As president, Rev was seen as the greatest threat, and he had been put in solitary, away from us.

  At the sound of jangling keys, I lowered my gaze from the ceiling to see a guard strolling up to the cell. “Up and at ’em, Malloy.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “You got a visitor,” the guard replied.

  Mac and I exchanged a look. “Mike must have some new information on the case,” I said as I hopped down off the bunk.

  “As much as the club is paying him, he better come up with a hell of a lot for us,” Mac grumbled.

  Once the guard swung open the door, I stepped outside and followed him out of the cellblock. After we went down a long hallway, he stopped at a room on the right. When I stepped inside, I found it empty except for a table and two chairs. One of the walls had a two-way mirror, and I couldn’t help wondering who was on the other side. After sitting down, I raised my handcuffed fists at the officer. With a shake, I asked, “Aren’t you going to take these off me?”

  He shook his head. “Powers that be said they stay on.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What the hell for?”

  “You might pose a danger.”

  “To my lawyer? That’s fucking unlikely, since I need his happy ass alive to get me out of here.”

  After glancing left and right, the guard said in a low voice, “It ain’t your lawyer.”

  I leaned back in my chair. “If it isn’t my lawyer, then who the hell is it? This room ain’t for visitors.”

  Before the guard could answer, the door blew open. Never in a million years did I expect to see the person who walked into the room.

  It was Samantha.

  Or at least it was a version of her. It sure as hell wasn’t the woman I had known before. Gone was the Samantha who wore heavy eyeliner, skintight jeans, and cleavage-baring tops. In her place was a steely professional in a black pantsuit. Her long dark hair was swept back in a bun.

  When our eyes met, I shot out of my chair. “Get her the fuck out of here!” I spat.

  “Bishop, I need to speak to you,” Samantha said in an even tone.

  “I ain’t got one thing to say to you but maybe Fuck you. That’s it.”

  The guard glanced from me to Samantha. She shook her head. “Leave us.”

  “Miss, I don’t—”

  Samantha’s dark eyes burned with fury. “And I said leave us!”

  He held up his hands. “Fine, then.”

  After he had shut the door, Samantha crossed the room to the table. Her heels clicked along the linoleum floor. Without a word, she pulled out the chair across from me. She tossed a giant folder on the table and then sat down.

  We stared each other down for a few seconds before Samantha drew in a ragged breath. “Bishop, I—”

  “Look at you. The secret agent woman.”

  “I’m not a secret agent,” she argued.

  “Considering what you were doing to me and my club, you might as well have been a spy. Right?”

  “I was there to compile what information I could about the Raiders’ suspected gunrunning with the Rodriguez cartel.”

  “You were spying.”

  “I was doing my job. The one Gavin and I were sent in there to do.”

  “Gavin? I suppose you mean Marley. Yeah, that was a tough pill to swallow, too. Not only was the girl I was falling for playing me, but it turns out my friend was in on it as well.”

  A pained look came over Samantha’s face. “He was my best friend, Bishop. He was the one who wanted me to give you a chance. He really did enjoy being around you.”

  Her words caused a deeper ache in my chest. “Whatever. It still doesn’t make it right what you did.”

  Samantha’s eyes filled with regret. “For what it’s worth, I’m truly sorry.”

  Man, this girl could act. Bitch. I cocked my eyebrows at her. “You’re sorry? You fucked up my life and the lives of my club brothers and all you can say is you’re sorry.”

  “I am very sorry. But the fact is, I didn’t fuck up your life. You and I both know your enemies did that.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Yes, it is.”

  “So what’s your point in being here?”

  “I came to make things right by seeing you freed from jail.”

  “Just how do you plan on doing that?”

  “By testifying for the Raiders at trial.”

  What the fuck? She was actually going to help us? She had to have some other angle for wanting to get us off. Narrowing my eyes suspiciously at her, I demanded, “Why would you want to do that? After all, you were working against us.”

  “Th
at was before I knew the truth about your club—the fact that you were legitimizing the businesses and that you no longer took part in gun trafficking.”

  I stared at her in disbelief. I couldn’t believe she was actually sitting before me and proposing that she help the club. “Tell me something.”

  “What?”

  “Was it all a lie? I mean, was there a single time when we were together that you weren’t playing me?”

  “Yes, I—”

  “Wait, I know. It had to be during the fucking, right?”

  Samantha’s eyes widened in horror, and she shifted in her chair. “Bishop, please.”

  “Ah, two words that I’m used to hearing from you. Of course, I was usually inside you when you said them . . . sometimes I was on top, sometimes you were. You begged me to make you come. Which makes me think that was when you weren’t lying. I mean, women fake orgasms every day, but I felt you come on my fingers and my tongue.”

  When Samantha’s face flushed with embarrassment, I glanced over at the mirror with a smirk. “Agent Vargas is one hell of a piece of ass in the bedroom. Pretty fucking insatiable, too. No matter how many times she came, she wanted more.”

  The next thing I knew Samantha’s hand came smacking across my cheek. “Fuck you, Bishop!”

  I laughed. “Damn, girl, you should get in the ring. If you worked on it, that slap could make a great right cross.”

  “You cocky bastard. I’m putting my ass on the line for you, and this is how you treat me?”

  “I’m sorry for being a little suspicious of you, considering that everything you said to me over the last six weeks was a lie.”

  “It wasn’t all a lie! Everything I told you about my life was the truth. The only fucking thing I withheld from you was the fact that I was an agent.”

  “That’s a pretty huge thing to leave out, especially when it was the only reason you were spending any time with me.”

  “Only at first. But then I began to care more about spending time with you for myself, rather than the case.”