I put the small Bluetooth device in my ear and Elle did the same. It’d allow us to communicate through our phones.
I left the SUV first, heading to the alley. “You are too sexy for this joint.”
“And?”
“Don’t stand out,” I warned her, not sure what kind of surveillance Greg had in place.
“Got it, boss. You know, I’ve done this before.”
Her sarcasm made me smile. “Don’t forget your gun.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Then I heard her boots echo on concrete.
“Where did you put that gun?” I was to the fire escape, no eyes watching me that I could see.
“You’ll just have to wonder,” she quipped. “Going silent, heading in.”
I heard the chatter of a television in the lobby, her boots on wood steps. I climbed the last flight of the fire escape, then pressed myself to the wall beside the window.
“In position,” Elle whispered.
I bent low and peeked into the window. Greg lay sprawled on an orange couch with the TV on. I couldn’t see his face so I didn’t know if he was actually awake.
I moved back against the wall. “Go.”
She didn’t respond but I heard her boots echo on the floor. She pounded on the door. I heard Greg move inside.
Another pound. “Come on, already, you called me.”
The sign, I moved to cover the window, seeing Greg staring through the peep hole. He turned, moving toward the window. I opened it, and he turned back throwing open the door.
I heard the sound of fist hitting flesh and looked up while I whipped through the window. The bastard had knocked Elle to the ground, but she’d caught his leg. Not expecting her move, he fell just beyond her, kicking his leg out to shake her off. She let go, springing up to stand, her boot connected with his ribs. He’d turned her foot and sent her to the floor, she was on top of him.
Then I was there. “Don’t move or you’re dead,” I told Greg, but he was already very still. I stepped forward to see Elle, Glock pointed under the bastard’s chin with a grin on her face.
Anger surged through me but I kept that shit in check. I positioned the gun so it was pointing dead center to his forehead. “Move away, Elle.”
She moved off him, but didn’t move away. “Roll over, hands out,” she commanded.
He rolled over, not causing any trouble. Then one hand disappeared and a knife appeared. I kicked the fucker in the head, knocking him out. “Restrain him,” I ground out. She slid the knife away before reaching for his hands and binding them behind his back.
Then she stood. “Now what?” She sucked in deep breaths trying to catch her breath from the fight.
“You cover him and I’ll drag him in his place until the wagon arrives.”
She pointed the gun at him before I grabbed his feet and pulled him into the room. Elle closed the door, her phone out to call the duty officer. She identified herself and requested a pickup. I stared at her quickly swelling left cheek and eye. “Go to the SUV and treat that.”
“I’m fine.”
“Do it.” I stood in front of her.
Greg groaned and tried to free his hands.
She stepped around me. “Don’t even think about it.”
“A fucking woman,” he spat, staring up at her gun. “Thought you were just a distraction.”
“Your mistake.” She grinned at him.
The police arrived about fifteen minutes later. Elle stood beside me, letting the fucking cops get an eyeful before they led Greg away. The duty officer had sent the paperwork, so we were able to sign everything without having to go down to the station.
“I wouldn’t even be mad if you arrested me.” One of the cops stared at her tits as he spoke.
I growled and the cop moved out of the room real fast.
“Down, boy,” Elle joked but I wasn’t in a joking mood.
“Let’s go,” I ground out, trying not to say the shit in my head. Part of me realized that if JoJo had been clocked on an apprehension, I wouldn’t think twice about it, but he wasn’t my woman. No one fucking hurt what was mine.
I held my silence, started the SUV and headed across town to our motel. I wanted that face treated now, and I wanted inside her. I’d never needed to possess her as much as I did right now.
I retrieved the first aid kit and our bags while Elle got the door. I walked inside and set the bags down then turned to Elle to find pissed off staring right back at me.
“What the hell is your problem?” She stalked toward me. “Why were you all up in my business?”
“You’re pissed at me?” I clarified before I lost my damn mind.
She jerked her head.
I threw an ice pack to her. “On your face.”
“My face is fucking fine, but we aren’t fine.” She stood inches from me, anger lighting up her blue eyes. “You order JoJo to the fucking car when he takes a hit?”
“You didn’t go,” I shot back, getting pissed off all over again. “He fucking knocked you down. Hurt what was mine.”
“I’m yours?”
“Fuck yes you are and I wanted to kill that bastard for touching you.” She had to be fucking with me. Of course she was mine.
“So this is some guy thing because we’re together?” Her chin tilted up in that stubborn way of hers.
“Hell yeah it is.”
“You wanted retribution?”
I nodded. “Kicked the fucker good.”
“You did.” She rubbed my chest.
“You were magnificent taking that bastard down,” I admitted. She’d been perfect.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I grinned down at her.
She pressed against me. “I need you, inside me, now.”
“Goddammit.” I picked her up and laid her down on the bed. “You don’t fight fair.”
“Not even a little bit.”
* * *
I left Elle sleeping at home while I headed to the club for another Council meeting. My phone buzzed but I couldn’t answer as I rode out to the clubhouse. As soon as I parked, I pulled out my phone, expecting it to be Elle checking on me.
It wasn’t. I hit redial and Shorty picked up. “Rebel, glad you called me right back.”
“Hey, how’s the whiskey business?” Shorty distilled whiskey in a little town about forty minutes from Barden.
“Awesome, man, you still paying for information on Gerald?”
Tension filled me and I wanted to reach through the phone and make Shorty appear in front of me.
“Yup.” I kept my voice calm. “Paying big.”
“He’s been showing up in Driscoll, the next town over, now and again. Likes lunch at that diner, at least that’s what a friend told me.”
“Is that so?” This was the best lead we’d had in months.
“You got more?”
“Word is he’s got eyes all over that town, knows you boys want him bad.” Shorty paused. “Maybe even has eyes in Barden, counting you guys, so to speak.”
Fuck, no wonder we hadn’t been able to get close to him.
“When does he show up at the diner?”
“Days vary, according to Janice, she’s my sweetie and a waitress there, so keep her out of this.”
“My word on that.” I’d never breathe a word.
“So she says when he comes, it’s at 11:30.” Shorty spoke quickly. “What kind of cash for that information.”
“You get $5,000 now and if I get him, another $20,000.”
“No shit?”
“No shit. And I owe you big, I’ve been hunting that bastard a year.”
“I told Janice we had to call, but she’s scared. Gerald has friends that have people spooked.”
“I appreciate the call. Cash work for you?”
“Cash works for me, get it my way whenever works for you.”
“I’ll do that, Shorty. Thanks.” I hung up. Looked for the number to call Jericho when he pulled into the lot.
I walked over to him. “I got a lead on Avery’s father.”
His eyes lit up. I gave him a quick rundown of what Shorty told me. “I gotta work this, I’m missing the meeting.”
“Get the fucker,” Jericho told me before he walked inside. I called JoJo, Delta and our three prospects and told them to meet me at my place in twenty minutes. Then I called Elle and woke her up.
I sped down the road to Ardmore, adrenaline pumping inside me. I had him if I could arrange it all the right way. Elle would be our secret weapon.
I walked into a house full of people. Elle had coffee in her hand and grinned when I walked inside. Her face was barely bruised now and when she wore makeup it was gone. That was good because I needed her in Driscoll today. We had thirty minutes to arrange the plan before I sent her south.
I laid out the information Shorty gave me.
“So that’s why we’ve gotten nowhere.” Delta nodded. “At least that makes sense.”
We’d ridden through every small town from here to Austin and heard nothing about Gerald but the barest whispers. Those whispers vanished anytime we got close.
“So Elle goes in as what?” JoJo asked the question of the day.
“I’m going to have to go more than once, so I need a story that stands up.” She tapped a finger on the table. “How about if I’m house hunting, looking to move from Dallas to a small town. I could even get an agent if I need to go back a couple of times.”
“Good idea.” I grinned at her. “You could drive all over with that story.”
“Exactly. And we use your little trackers to tag his truck, then I follow and direct you guys in. No way you won’t want to be the guy taking him down.”
God I loved it when she got me. She understood me better than I did myself half of the time.
“I want Dan to be your backup. He looks like every kid when you put him in street clothes and a cap.”
“Thanks,” the kid groused.
“You’re a farm boy through and through,” Elle crooned.
Dan turned red, exactly the reason he was perfect backup.
“The three of us—I pointed to Delta and JoJo, “—will wait in the SUV outside town, only moving in when we know where he is.”
“We should put a tracker on Elle’s truck, that way we can mobilize faster.” Delta stood. “We ready to roll?”
I grabbed some trackers to give Elle and we headed out. If I was real damn lucky, I’d have Gerald Townsend in jail tonight.
Chapter Nineteen
Elle
Rebel activated the tracker on my truck while I found directions to Driscoll, Oklahoma. Google gave an ETA of fifteen minutes, putting me at the diner by 11:15. Perfect. I climbed up in my truck and started it.
Rebel walked toward me, so I rolled down my window.
“Be careful, he put his own daughter in the hospital and has evaded us for a year.” He leaned in and kissed me.
“I’ll be careful. Let’s get this bastard.”
I drove hard to Driscoll, it was 11:12 when I turned on to Main Street. Halfway down the street, I saw a sign for Millie’s Café. I parked beside three other trucks and checked my pocket for a tracker then pulled up the mug shot of Gerald, memorizing his face before I pocketed my phone and headed inside.
The place was run-down with worn chairs and faded booths. I sat at the counter because it was easier to monitor the door from there. An older lady came over and smiled at me. “You’re new here.”
I grinned wide. “Maybe not for long. I’m looking to move to a small town around here.”
“Where you coming from?” She grinned at me. “I’m Millie by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Elle. And I’m living in Dallas, but I’m tired of city life.” I opened the menu she had set in front of me. “What do you recommend?”
“The tenderloin. Clyde makes a damn good tenderloin and fries.”
“I’m sold. Give me a sweet tea too.”
Millie nodded her approval and moved off. The door opened four times but Gerald wasn’t among them.
I checked my watch—11:25. If Rebel’s information was correct, then I had five minutes until Gerald showed or didn’t.
Millie dropped off my sweet tea and lingered. “Why would you want to move away from the city? I always wanted to move there.”
Nosy people were the main reason I didn’t like small towns. “I guess you want what you don’t have, and my job lets me work anywhere.”
“Must be nice.” She blew a lock of gray hair off her forehead. “What do you do?”
Nosy had just gone personal, but I remembered my purpose before I told her to mind her own business.
“I write those For Dummy books. You know Computers for Dummies, et cetera.” I made it up on the spot.
“I need that.” She laughed. “You working on a book now?”
The door jingled and Gerald walked inside. Millie’s eyes went to him and the woman he was with.
“I’m working on Online Dating for Dummies right now. I have finished my interviews and need to start writing.” I chatted on even though Millie wasn’t paying attention anymore.
She focused back on me.
“Interesting.”
“You know any good real estate agents?” I sipped my sweet tea.
A bell rang and Millie turned and retrieved my plate. It smelled delicious. She set it down in front of me. “I’d try Nancy Phillips up in Ardmore, she’s good.”
Millie hurried toward Gerald’s table. I bit into the sandwich and almost moaned. Millie was right, it was delicious. I glanced out at the trucks lined along Main Street, focusing on the old GMC Gerald had arrived in. Where to plant the tracker? The grille would be the easiest. An antique shop was right in front of where Gerald parked, so I could always stop and window shop a moment while sticking the quarter-size device in place. Satisfied with my plan, I finished the huge sandwich and pushed my plate away. Millie dropped off the check so I left a ten on the counter and headed out the door.
I strolled down the walk, stopping to look in a shop window, starting and stopping until I was in front of the GMC I needed to mark. Tracker in my hand, I stuck it in the grille as I looked at the antique rocker in the antique shop window. Then I went into the shop to ask about it because I wanted to be sure I covered myself. The lady at the register asked me a lot of the same questions as Millie although not quite as pointed. Millie might be one of Gerald’s spies, but it was too late, he was in our net. Telling the lady I might be back after I found a house, I walked down to my truck. I noticed Millie watching out the window when I drove away.
Once I turned off Main Street, I called Rebel. “We’re a go, he’s in the restaurant now, tracker works.”
“He’s there?” Disbelief echoed in his words.
“With some woman. The owner of the diner, I’m sure she’s one of his spies, she all but interrogated me.”
“Did you pass?”
“Yup, because I planted the tracker and I’m gone, but she missed her calling as an interrogator.” I pulled into the driveway of an abandoned house with a for sale sign planted in the scraggly grass.
Rebel laughed. “Gerald’s time has run out. We were talking about the next step. Once you follow him to ground, stage a breakdown right in front of his drive, blocking his escape. I’m almost positive he’ll end up out in the country in a hunting cabin kind of place.”
“Why?”
“All our early leads pointed to those type of places but he was never where people said he’d be.” Rebel a
nd I talked for another fifteen minutes then the app beeped, Winston was on the move.
“Gotta go, see you soon.”
“Be careful.” He hung up.
Backing out of the driveway, I drove through town where I turned onto a gravel road. I made sure to stay back, so he wouldn’t see me, even stopping once beside the road when I was afraid I might drive up on him.
Finally, the dot turned up a drive and stopped. I drove past, then did a three-point turn out of sight of the drive before I drove back, stopping in the middle of the road at the end of the drive. I dialed Rebel, my Bluetooth in my ear.
“I’m here, you got my location.”
“We do, you see anything?”
I opened my hood and loosened a battery cable just in case someone came out to help. “Can’t see his truck or the house, it’s a long driveway.”
“We’re close enough to see you, it’s a hunting cabin about a mile back. I hit this place twice but he wasn’t there and there wasn’t any sign he’d been there.”
“Did you have a tip?” I frowned down at my truck motor then went back to try the key again.
“Yup. We’re stopping about a half mile down the road, around the curve, so you can’t see the SUV. We’ll go in from the woods.”
“Got it. What do you need me to do?”
“Stay there, and stop anyone who tries to leave. I’ll let you know once we have him.” He clicked mute, I stayed on the line, ready if he needed me.
While in the truck, I grabbed my Glock from the holster under the driver’s seat and stuffed it in the waist of my jeans.
Under the hood, I fixed my cable, just in case I needed to move fast. Minutes passed, I hated waiting. “We’re going in,” Rebel said in my ear.
Chapter Twenty
Rebel
Elle had done her part, now I’d take the bastard down. He’d fucked with Pixie, Rock and our club. Today would be sweet justice, even if it was too long in coming.
Delta moved around the back of the cabin so he could come in from the left, I hurried to the cabin until I leaned against the wall, right beside the porch, while JoJo covered us with a rifle from the woods. We were ready.
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