“I should take them into protective custody now.”
“No deal. We do it my way or we don’t do it at all.”
Jamie watched Lundergrund squirm and she smiled. Carlos had given her names, dates, locations… the works, but it was all verbal. She needed it on paper, and signed, to make her case. She was all but panting for the information, but she didn’t like that Leo was calling the shots. So take that, you bitch!
“Fine. We’ll do it your way, Leo,” she said as she rose. “But if he disappears your ass will be mine, understand?”
“You’ll get what you want.”
Lundergrund smiled as she grabbed Leo by the crotch. “Aren’t you just momma’s little helper?” She turned to Jamie as she released him and her smile grew nasty before she looked back at Leo. “You fuck me on this and you’ll see me get what I want.”
Jamie burned, her hands clenched into fists. “One day, Lundergrund, I’m going to catch you alone without that badge and gun, and we’re going to talk about this.”
“Just name your time and place, sweetheart,” she sneered.
“Knock it off, Lundergrund. You have what you need, now get out.”
Lundergrund smiled. “I’ll be seeing you,” she purred with a seductive smile, then smiled at Jamie as she swayed to the door.
“I don’t like her,” Carlos said after the door had closed. “Can you trust her?”
“No. But you can trust the District Attorney. If it is all in writing, she can’t screw you over.”
“You hope,” Jamie added.
***
The next three days were quiet. Leo and Will play their parts, being grimly polite but decidedly cool toward each other when in the presence of others. Several of the club members made overtures to patch things up between them, but neither seemed interested in repairing the friendship lost.
Lundergrund fulfilled her end part of the bargain, producing a signed document granting everything Carlos had demanded. Leo read the contract over, and Carlos signed it. Because Jamie was at work, Lundergrund was, mostly, professional. Leo helped Carlos and his family into one of the two white SUV’s with the ICE seal on the doors. Carlos looked decidedly nervous, but despite her smarmy ways, Lundergrund wasn’t stupid enough to screw the deal… not with fame and glory so near to hand.
Monday evening Jamie and Leo were sitting on his couch involved in some heavy touching and kissing when her phone begins to ring.
“Son of a bitch!” Jamie snarled as she bounded off the couch for her phone. “Every fucking time we get going, the fucking phone rings!”
“You’re interrupting!” she snapped into the phone.
“Well, hi to you too!” Will’s voice came from the tiny speaker as she flopped back on the couch. “Leo?”
“I’m here.”
“Intercept in two hours. Fresno Divide Trail. I’m on the intercept team.”
“What? You’re just a prospect.”
“I asked to go.”
“Will—” Jamie began, but Leo put his hand on her arm, silence her.
“Okay. Just watch your back. This may be a test.”
“That’s what I’m thinking. So I won’t be calling once we are on the road.”
“Okay. I will set up… probably out at Grande Heights.”
“Okay. What are you going to do?” Will asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe follow the intercept vehicles back into town. See where the drugs go.”
“Okay. Let me know, okay?”
“I will. Just be careful, okay?”
“You make it sound like a cake walk. I’ll talk to you later,” Will said before he ended the call.
“May I borrow your car?” Leo asked.
“The Honda? Why?” Jamie asked as she put the phone down.
“Less noticeable. There are millions of those things around.”
“Sure. But I’m going. It’s my car… and if I can’t have you at home with me, I can at least be in the car with you.”
Since all he was going to do was watch, she shouldn’t be in any danger. “Okay. I would like that.”
“See… this is so much easier when you just agree with me,” she grinned.
***
“That’s them,” Leo said as the Suburban and the Chevrolet pickup passed.
“Where’s the other one?” Jamie asked. Three vehicles as passed them two hours before on the way to the intercept.
“Don’t know. And where is the vehicle the mule was in?” Leo started the car and flipped on the headlamps. They should be far enough ahead now for him to not attract attention.
He pulled out onto highway 170 and turned toward town, staying well back but keeping the pickup’s tail lights in view.
They followed the vehicles until they turned onto the road that led to Ron’s shop, but he proceeding straight past the turn. “Looks like they are returning the vehicles. But I don’t know where the other truck went.”
“Do you suppose that is the truck with the drugs?”
“Normally we just leave the drugs in the vehicle we caught them in. Why move them? But… where did it go, too?”
“Where did you normally hide the drugs before you burned them?”
“We used to keep them at the barn. There as a hidden room. Now Ron is keeping them at his place, in an old dozer in the back.”
“You want to check out the clubhouse… see if they are taking them there again?” she asked.
“I don’t know where they would hide them, but yeah, we probably should. But not tonight. If we get caught out there it will be hard to explain. I don’t want Ron getting any whiff of something being up.”
“I’ll call Will later. See what he knows.”
***
“How’d it go?” Jamie asked when Will called her later as she and Leo were preparing for bed.
“This is my first one, so I guess it went okay. We intercepted the drugs, let the guy driving go, then came home.”
“Where did the other truck and the mule vehicle go?”
“Beats me. I didn’t want to ask too many questions like that, you know? It all seemed very… friendly. We all had our guns out, but nobody seemed very concerned. It was almost like it was for show or something. What normally happens to the drugs?”
“They used to go to the clubhouse for disposal, and now to Ron’s until the clubhouse is back up and running. So I don’t know what is up.”
“Me either, man. But I tell you, something isn’t right about his. It was too easy.”
“Yeah… I got that feeling too when I went out the last time.”
“I’ll let you know if I hear of another one.”
“Okay… thanks Will. I owe you one.”
“All I want is to be there when you take them down if the club is going bad.”
“Count on it.”
Leo hung up Jamie’s phone before handing it to her. “You know what this probably means?” she asked.
“I know what it looks like… but why? After all we’ve been through.”
“I don’t know, babe. But you can’t deny the club looks dirty.”
“I know. This is fucked up.”
“I know.”
“What should I do?”
“Get some proof then go to the club. They will back you, I know they will. Throw the dirty members out, strip them of their colors, do whatever it is that you do when someone disgraces the club.”
“It will have to be iron clad.”
“You can do it. I know you can. If the club is going bad, you, Will, and whoever is left that knows right from wrong, are our only hope. Without Lima 6, Vallecito will go right back to what it was.”
As they settled into bed, Jamie could tell that Leo was lost in his own thoughts. His touch was soft and soothing as he caressed her and held her close, but he was a million miles away. She wanted him, she wanted to make love to him and pull him from the dark place he was entering, but he didn’t respond to her gentle advances.
He held her close, drawing o
n her strength as his mind whirled in a chaotic jumble of thoughts and emotions. He couldn’t let Lima 6 do this… they couldn’t become the very thing they had fought so hard against. She was too important to him to risk losing to the violence that always followed drugs. He pulled her in a just a bit tighter, promising himself he would protect her from harm… no matter the cost.
***
Friday, before the bar opened, Jamie and Leo rode to the clubhouse on the back of his hog. They are on a scouting mission. As they arrived they saw that Ron, Lucas and Gigolo were milling about.
“Leo, Jamie,” Ron said as they dismounted. “What brings you out here?”
“I wanted to see my competition,” Jamie said with grin. “After I advised you on the bar, I realized that might not have been the smartest thing I have ever done. Place looks nice. A lot bigger than your old clubhouse.”
“Yeah,” Ron said as he turned to look at the prefab metal building that was taking shape. “All the walls are up. Go on in and take a look around.”
“Thanks, Ron… I think I will.”
She wandered around the inside building. It was hard to know what each room was for, but she figured out where the bar was going from the plumbing. The clubhouse had eight bedrooms that shared four baths, a huge common room where the bar was located, and what must be the boardroom where club would conduct its business.
Finished looking at the clubhouse, she wandered out into the yard, looking for what they really came out for. She made as if she was just out on a stroll around the yard while Leo talked to the rest of the members, but she was actually looking for signs of a recent bonfire. Signs she couldn’t find. It appeared that at least some members of Lima 6 had crossed over.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Leo, Will… Ron just called for volunteers,” Lucas said as he tucked his phone away. Leo is sitting at the table with several members of Lima 6, though he longed to sit at the bar and flirt with Jamie. But he had to keep up the charade that he and Will were not getting along.
“I can do it. We’re not busy yet,” Will said. “Can you manage by yourself for a while?”
“Yeah, I got it,” Jamie replied.
“I’ll sit this one out…” Leo said with a pointed look at Will.
Lucas smiled. “Suit yourself. Let’s honk it brothers. This one is late. Ron said to meet him at Trail Four Road… we don’t have time to ride in the trucks.”
The moment Lima 6 was out of the room, Leo sprang to his feet. “Loan me the van?”
“Keys are in the desk. Why don’t you take your bike?”
“To conspicuous. Same for your truck.”
“Be careful.”
He leaned across the bar to give her a quick kiss. “Always.”
She watched Leo hurry down the short hall to her office, then reappear a moment later and exit through the back door. She pursed her lips a moment then turned her attention back to running the bar.
***
Less than an hour later, he was back. “Leo! What’s wrong?” she hissed as he entered through the back of the bar, his eyes wide and his face pale.
“We have to talk… now!” he whispered harshly as he pulled her from behind the bar.
“Bobi! Cover for me a minute!” she called as Leo hauled her away, dragging her into her office and quietly closed the door.
“Leo! You’re scaring me!”
“Will is in deep shit. I followed them to the intercept. I couldn’t see that well because they were pretty far away, but it looks like the DEA tried to bag them.”
Her eyes widened at the news and she began to shake. “Oh no…” she breathed.
“It’s worse. There was a firefight. I couldn’t tell who started it, but it looked like the DEA were killed. Worse still, it looked like it was Lima 6 that shot them. Or was a least involved in shooting them.”
“My god! Are you sure?”
“That the DEA agents were killed. Yes. That we shot them… not sure but it sure looked that way.”
“Will would never—”
“He may not have had a choice. It could have been killed or be killed. You need to find a reason to call him and get him back here, pronto! I have to talk to him.”
“I’ll… uh… I’ll tell him I’m sick or something.”
“Do it! Before he does something stupid.”
***
Twenty minutes later, Will arrived pale as a ghost. “Get in her office, now, and stay there,” Leo ordered as he came through the door.
“Leo… I need to talk to you man. On the—”
“Not here! Office!” he hissed, cutting him off.
Will did as he was told while Leo and Jamie tried to act normal. After ten more minutes, when no other club member arrived, Leo stood up and started for the office.
“Stay here,” he ordered Jamie as she began to follow. “You don’t want to hear this. It will make you an accessory after the fact.”
“Fuck that… he’s my brother,” she said as she stepped past him.
Leo gritted his teeth in frustration, but a scene now is not what they needed. “Bobi… cover for Jamie.”
As he entered the office he closed the door. “Tell me what happened out there.”
“You know?”
“I know enough. I need the details.”
“I don’t know what happened. The DEA was waiting on us I guess. The moment that we found the drugs they showed up. I thought we were fucked. I was putting my gun down when the cartel guy tried to open up on them.”
“Are you sure the cartel shot first?”
“Yeah. Well, no. He never got a shot off. But we did! We didn’t have to start shooting! The moment the shooting started, we were in a firefight.”
“You?” Jamie asked with a quiver in her voice.
“Yeah, some. Fuck… what am I going to do? I need to turn myself in. Maybe—”
“No. Don’t do that,” Leo said.
“Leo! I may have shot a federal agent!”
“Going to prison won’t help anything! I need you and Vallecito needs you more now than ever. The club is dirty. We have to have handle this within the club. If you go to the cops with this they will destroy the club. Then who will protect Vallecito? Who will protect Jamie?”
“What you going to do?”
“We are going to take the club back. We are going to find these bastards and make them pay. If you can just keep your shit together you are going to be tight with the club. Trusted. We can use that against them.”
“How?”
“Find out the dirty members are. I can’t believe the entire club is in on this. I need to know who I can trust. Just hold it together, Will.”
“Yeah,” he breathed as he stared at the floor.
“You can do this. You have to do this.”
“I will keep my ear to the ground when Lima 6 is in the bar. See if I can pick up anything. Leo’s right. We have to clean this mess up and still protect Vallecito.”
“Here’s how we’re going to play it. I’m going to call a board meeting. You came back and I could tell something was wrong. But you wouldn’t tell me shit. Okay? Simple. If Ron admits to what happened, I’m going to go off on him. You back him up, got it? You take all that rage you are feeling and you put it on me. Just do what comes natural. So will I. I want you tight with this… shadow group… got it?”
“Yeah. I got it.”
“Will… suck it up man. This is all riding on you.”
***
“Are you fucking stupid?” Leo roared as he leapt to his feet, breathing hard. Ron had admitted to the gun fight, but his story was completely different than Will’s, and what he saw with his own eyes.
“You need to calm the fuck down,” Ron said quietly as he looked around the bar. Customers were beginning to edge away from the brewing confrontation.
“Calm the fuck down? Do you know what you have done?” he raged. “How could you do this?”
“Hey! You weren’t there! You don’t know what went down, so shut
the fuck up,” Will shouted.
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