When had his life become a soap opera? He suspected that had been the day he first caught sight of Raul Mendoza’s beautiful daughter.
Now he needed to continue to put his feelings aside and concentrate on keeping her safe.
“Come with me.” Jesse gestured toward the stairs, letting her precede him. Once they were in the destroyed foyer, he marched her past the ruined front door and outside.
“I don’t want to take a chance of being overheard.”
Arms crossed, she nodded. “I thought you found all the cameras.”
“I tried, but I’m not a professional. I’ve asked the FBI to send in people to sweep your house. They’ve agreed to do it this afternoon.”
“Thank you.” Flipping her silky dark hair over her shoulder, she lifted her chin, her eyes flashing. “I’d really prefer not letting these people—whoever they are—drive me from my own home.”
Admiration and dismay warred inside him at her words. “Are you sure that’s wise? Maybe you could temporarily go stay somewhere else, where you could be safe.”
Her shoulders briefly sagged, her defiant posture gone. “No. I managed to keep a few friends, though Drew drove most of them away. I can’t ask anyone to take on the kind of danger I’m apparently in. I won’t do that to my friends.”
“I can respect that.” He took a deep breath. “But you have a child involved. Is there someone you trust who can watch over Liam, just until this is over? Someone who lives somewhere else, who wouldn’t be on anyone’s radar?”
She thought for a moment and then nodded. “I have a friend in northeast Oklahoma. I haven’t seen her in a while, but we’re best friends. It never matters how long it’s been, when we get together, it’s like we’ve never been apart.”
“Has she been here, during your marriage to Drew?”
“No.” A shadow crossed her face. “Drew preferred that I didn’t associate with any of my old friends.”
Jesse bit back a curse. Had the bastard really thought of Eva, beautiful, vivacious Eva, as his possession? He’d known men like that, men so insecure in their masculinity that a need to control their wives or girlfriends drove them.
What bothered Jesse even more was apparently Eva had allowed this. The Eva he knew and loved would never have sat still for this kind of nonsense.
Not his problem, not now, not ever, he reminded himself.
“Call her,” he said. He dug out his burner phone, knowing there was no way anyone would be monitoring it. “I’m sure once you explain the situation, she won’t mind watching over Liam for a few weeks, or at least until this is over.”
Though he knew Eva loved Liam more than herself, she still balked. “A few weeks? Do you really think it’s going to take that long?”
He gave a deliberately casual shrug. “Who knows? At least give it a shot. I’d feel a lot better if Liam was out of the line of fire. Wouldn’t you?”
His deliberate choice of words got to her, as he’d intended them to. She paled, then pulled out her own phone. “I’ve got to look up the number,” she explained. “I can just use my own phone.”
“Please don’t,” he cautioned. “Just in case someone might be listening in on it, you don’t want them to be able to trace the call.”
Her eyes widened, but she nodded. Once she had her friend’s number, she typed it carefully onto his keypad.
Moving away to give her privacy, he strolled down the sidewalk to the front gate. As luxury properties went, this one was not only beautiful, but also amazingly well protected. A six-foot-tall masonry wall isolated the house from the street, with a wrought-iron lockable gate in the middle. On top of the wall, iron stakes made sure anyone would think twice about trying to scale the thing. This stone-and-brick wall continued all the way around the property. It was almost as if when Drew had the place built, he’d known he was going to need security.
At the end of the sidewalk, he turned and surveyed the yard and what he could see of the neighbors’ yards. Since forensics had confirmed that the shooter had shot from an elevated position, it had to have been either from in a tree or from inside one of the nearby homes’ second stories or roofs. There wasn’t any way someone on the street could have made that shot.
But why? The mysterious caller at least made sense. He felt like Drew had stolen his money and would do whatever he had to in order to get it back. However, Jesse didn’t understand what anyone would gain by having Eva killed.
Which meant it most likely had to be personal. A girlfriend or mistress, though again, the logic still felt faulty. Drew was dead and killing his wife wouldn’t bring him back.
Then why? He should have felt comforted that some of the best criminal investigators in the Bureau were working on this, but he’d been around long enough to know how many cases each person juggled, and what kind of thing took first priority.
Eva appeared to have finished her call. She walked down the sidewalk toward him and held out his phone. “She’s willing to take him for however long I need,” she said, her expression sad. “Though I don’t know how to get him to her. If I take him, someone might follow.”
“You can’t take him. All of this depends on no one learning where he’s gone. Is there any way your friend might be willing to drive down and pick him up? I could reimburse her for gas.”
Eva smiled, though her gaze remained solemn. “If I ask Marie, she’ll refuse your offer of money. She’s proud that way. Her husband, Mike, is a long-haul truck driver. If he’s driving a route anywhere near here, she said she’s going to ask him to pick up Liam. If not...” She shrugged. “We’ll have to work something else out. I’m to call her back in thirty minutes.”
He took a deep breath. “How much did you tell her?”
“Enough. She saw on the news what happened to Drew.” She swallowed hard. “She says she tried to call me, but she’d lost my number so she left a message with Drew’s assistant. I never got it. I filled her in on the shooter and the bomb, as well as the threatening phone call. She has twin girls the same age as Liam, so he’ll have someone to play with. He’ll think he’s on vacation.” The sadness in her tone let him know how much she hated the idea of sending her son away.
“It’s for his own safety,” he reminded her, again battling the urge to take her into his arms.
“I realize that,” she replied. “But that doesn’t make it any easier.”
His burner phone rang, startling him. Pulling it back out of his pocket, he didn’t recognize the number. “Hello?”
“Oh.” A feminine voice spoke. “I’m trying to reach Eva.”
“Just one moment.” He handed the phone to Eva. “I think it’s your friend.”
Eva spoke for a few minutes, her expression both relieved and nervous. When she finished the call, she gave Jesse back his phone. “Her husband is going to be driving home and will detour through here so he can pick up Liam.”
He nodded, not sure what to say.
“Please tell me this is a good idea,” she pleaded. “Just the thought of my two-year-old riding in a tractor trailer all the way to northern Oklahoma makes me feel sick.”
Again, he had to fight the urge to gather her in his arms. Strictly business, he reminded himself. “Since your friend has children, I’m sure her husband can handle Liam. At least that way you won’t have to worry about him getting hurt by that psycho who is trying to hurt you.”
His words appeared to calm her. She took a few more deep breaths, then straightened her shoulders and grimaced. “True.”
They went back inside the house, silent by apparent mutual agreement. Eva disappeared upstairs, while Jesse remained on the lower floor, puttering around and trying to stay busy until the other Brothers of Sin arrived.
The four bikers Raul had sent roared into town that afternoon. They wore their colors proudly, the rumbling of their powerful motorcycles shaking the house.
The sound brought both Jesse and Eva to the great room.
“My reinforcements are here,” Jesse said, thrilling despite himself to the sound of the loud bikes. Before he’d taken this assignment, he’d been a weekend motorcycle rider. He’d come to appreciate the feel of a powerful Harley under him and the camaraderie of his fellow bikers.
Hearing them, Eva grimaced. “I’m glad the Rowsons went to a hotel. I can only imagine their reaction.”
Jesse shrugged, curious to see whom Raul had chosen to back him up. Throwing open the front door, he headed down the sidewalk to the gate since they’d pulled up and parked in the front of the house.
When he stepped outside the wall, he took quick stock of the new arrivals. Two of the brothers—Shorty and Patches—he knew well, respected and trusted. The other two he didn’t know, which meant they must be either relatively new or had been working somewhere else during Jesse’s time in Houston.
“Jesse!” Shorty crowed. “Good to see you, man.”
They shook hands, clapped each other on the back. Patches came over, hands jammed in his pockets, and waited his turn. The two men couldn’t have been more opposite, Shorty with his beer belly and his bow-legged strut and Patches with his angular, tall frame and hunched shoulders.
They were good people, even if they did occasionally walk on the wrong side of the law.
“Do you know Rusty and Baloo?”
“Nope.” Turning, Jesse eyed the other two men. Rusty had a long, red beard and full-sleeve tats on both arms while Baloo looked like he idolized Willie Nelson so much he wanted to look like him. They all shook hands, and then Jesse motioned them close while he filled them in on everything that had been going on.
When he’d finished, Shorty nodded. “So it’s even worse than Raul knows.”
“Yep.” Jesse met their gazes, one by one. “Since Raul sent y’all to guard his daughter, I’m going to assume you’re among his most trusted and competent men. We haven’t told the police about the caller, though they know about the shooter and the bomb. Based on what the prick on the phone says, Eva has two enemies. Him and whoever is trying to kill her. The caller feels Drew owes him money. We’re not sure how much or why.”
“But no ideas why someone wants Eva dead?” Patches asked, his raspy voice threaded with anger. Eva had grown up with men like Patches and Shorty watching over her. They considered themselves her big brothers.
“None.”
As if saying her name had summoned her, Eva came busting through the metal gate. “Shorty!” she hollered, her entire face lit up with joy. “And Patches.”
She hugged one and then the other. “Oh, I can’t tell how glad I am to see you guys. I’ve missed y’all so much.”
“You shouldn’t have just up and disappeared,” Shorty rumbled. “We thought Raul was going to self-combust.”
Eva nodded and grimaced. Instead of commenting, she turned to face the other two bikers. “Hello,” she said, smiling brightly. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Patches performed the introductions. Both Rusty and Baloo shook Eva’s small hand carefully and politely. “We’ve heard a lot about you,” Rusty said, the admiration in his bright blue eyes making Jesse grit his teeth.
Of course, being Eva, she didn’t even appear to notice. Shorty and Patches did, and they both shot Rusty warning looks.
“At least with you four here, we can take the offense,” Jesse said. “All I’ve been doing these past couple of days has been strictly defensive.” He glanced at their expensive bikes parked at the curb. “But right now, let’s see about moving your rides into the garage.”
* * *
Having the men her father had sent felt like a homecoming. Eva might not want anything to do with life as part of a motorcycle gang, but Shorty and Patches were like her big brothers. As an only, motherless child, she knew all of Raul’s men had considered her their little sister. She’d grown up coddled, pampered and challenged by them. Her life, she reflected, had been good. She’d never wanted for anything and Raul had made sure she understood she could be whatever she wanted. All she’d ever desired had been a family of her own. She’d always thought her husband would be part of the motorcycle club, until she’d grown old enough to realize how many illegal activities the club was involved in. That’s why she’d asked Jesse to leave with her, to make their life far away from danger and intrigue. When he’d refused, her heart had been broken, so she’d taken steps to get what she wanted on her own.
But she still loved the Brothers.
As for the other two, she might have met them once or twice, but she didn’t really know them. BOS had a large membership and while Houston was their headquarters, many of the members lived and worked in other cities. Rusty and Baloo were from the Austin chapter.
“Austin, huh?” Jesse mused, eyeing the two men as if he wasn’t sure he trusted them.
“We helped Raul avenge Nemo’s murder,” Baloo said, his tone respectful. “As a matter of fact, Rusty and I were the ones who brought that MFB in.”
The MFBs were a large rival motorcycle gang. They were violent and unruly. Capturing an MFB without death or serious injury was a feat to be reckoned with. Eva looked at Baloo and Rusty with new respect. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” Rusty put in quietly. “We turned him over to Raul for justice.”
Eva didn’t want to ask what her father had done with him. Things like this—trials without a court, law enforcement based on their own, primitive justice—were among the many reasons she’d wanted out of the BOS. And that didn’t even scratch the surface.
But just because she wanted no part of the lifestyle didn’t mean she didn’t love her BOS family.
“I’m thankful my father sent you,” she said, meeting each man’s gaze individually. “Each and every one of you. I’m going to guess Jesse filled you in?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Baloo responded. “And rest assured, we’ll protect you with our lives.”
“That hopefully won’t be necessary,” Eva interjected. “Since you’re apparently good at catching bad guys, I’m guessing that’s why Raul chose you. It would seem I have two enemies—or Drew did. Either way, one of them has called me and threatened me, demanding money. And I have no idea what the other one wants, other than to see me dead.”
She’d prepared two other bedrooms—the house had six—for the four men to share, bringing in cots and deciding to let them fight it out over who got the bed. Jesse would continue to have his own room, the one closest to the master bedroom and the nursery.
Then, she left them with Jesse to go over strategy while she packed her son’s things in preparation for his trip.
Before she could do that, she had a word with Kara, explaining she was going to be let go—for her own safety. The younger woman appeared both relieved and shocked.
“Will you call me when this is over?” Kara asked, her gaze troubled.
“Of course.” Eva hugged her. “Why don’t you go get packed, and then we’ll talk to Liam together.”
Liam, being too young to understand, happily waved bye-bye to his nanny. Kara teared up a little, though her mood improved once Eva handed over her paycheck, plus a nice little severance bonus. Eva had checked the balance online, just in case Drew had decided to empty her household account, as well. Luckily, it had remained untouched.
Once Kara had gone, Eva got busy packing for Liam, pushing down constant panic. Just the thought of sending her son away for a few weeks terrified her. Even though Marie was her best friend and she trusted Mike implicitly, she’d never spent more than a few hours away from her baby.
After Liam woke up from his afternoon nap, she spent the rest of the day playing with him and cuddling with him. They read stories, made his favorite cookies, which she packed for him to take with him, and discussed his upcoming adventure riding in a big truck. She showed him one of his toy tru
cks as a point of reference.
The entire time she spent with Liam, Jesse stayed out of the way, though she was conscious of his presence out in the hall. When Mike called on Jesse’s cell to say he was nearly there and asking if someone would meet him at the nearby Walmart, Jesse took the call and wrote down the information to show her rather than saying anything out loud.
It’s time. Her heart sank when she read the words. Reminding herself that she did only what was necessary to keep her precious baby safe, she carried Liam’s bags out to her car. With Jesse standing guard, she buckled Liam into his car seat.
“Do you want to drive?” she asked, gripping the car key fob so tightly her palm hurt.
Gently, he pried her fingers apart and took the keys. “Sure. You’ll have to direct me once we get out of the subdivision.”
She waited until they were in the car and down the street before asking something else that had been on her mind. “What if they have a bug on the car?”
“Then they’ll see we get to Walmart.” His reassuring smile didn’t touch her frantic worry. Logically, she knew her unsettled panic was about sending her son away, but she couldn’t seem to calm herself.
Jesse’s big hand squeezed her shoulder. “Hey. It’s going to be all right. I’m sure you’ll get in lots of FaceTime with him. Stop worrying or he might sense your fear and get upset.”
That did the trick. She nodded, forced herself to take several deep, calming breaths.
Mike’s big rig was already parked on the outer fringe of the store lot, engine idling, running lights on. Jesse pulled up alongside the truck. He turned to Eva, his expression serious. “You know he’s going to be okay, right?”
“I know.” Her wry smile tugged at his heart. “Liam will probably consider all of this a big adventure. He’ll be just fine. I’m not sure I’m going to be though.”
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