Ring of Fire

by Taylor Lee

  Nate waited until the sound of the squads had faded into the distance, then motioned to Dan and his team. Running his hands over the steel tube of the AT4, he grinned.

  “Okay men, gather round. Let’s show these big city yahoos how Northern Minnesota badasses blow shit up.”

  Chapter 18

  “What I wouldn’t give to be in Jeb’s multi-million dollar mansion this morning.”

  A big grin creased the Chief’s rugged face.

  “Congratulations, both of you. From what you say, it couldn’t have gone better. Did you leave Dan in charge of the Staties?”

  “Yeah. Someone had to handle the bodies. The M.E. and the beginnings of an evidence team were arriving as we left. Given jurisdictional niceties, I thought it was efficacious for me to be long gone. As it is my phone hasn’t stopped ringing. I’m about to call a press conference. Rather than impose on the Ely folks, it seemed better for me to manage it from here. The press vultures will be on site soon enough. I wanted to be sure the bodies were at the morgue and the perimeter was intact before I had Margie send out the release.”

  Sam marveled.

  “That’s going to be some release, Nate. I know you’ll pull it off, but how the hell do you say that truckloads of raw materials to make an estimated 20-plus million dollars of street methamphetamine was destroyed last night? And from all appearances in addition to the evidence of ‘local’ participants, a number of Mexican citizens presumed to be Cartel members were also killed?”

  Nate laughed. “Well, Sam, you know how modest I am. I’ll just indicate that we are pleased to have taken the scurrilous materials off the streets and are confident that the masterminds behind the operation will soon be arrested. Given that Mark’s team and your L.A. boys weren’t officially there I guess we’ll have to take full responsibility for the raid.”

  The Chief laughed out loud. “Just when I’m wondering if I did the right thing letting you take charge of the world, you and Sam pull off what may be the biggest takedown in meth production to date. It sure as hell is in this part of the country, but it’s got to rival any large operation nationwide.”

  Nate nodded. “The only problem as far as bragging rights is that no one but us and the Mexicans know just how much shit was in those trucks. We have a damn good idea, but we’re going to have the Feds on our backs as it is because the evidence unfortunately was blown up.”

  Nate pursed his lips together and shook his head.

  “I don’t want to seem small-minded, but I agree with you, Chief. I would give my left nut—at least for today—to hear what’s going on in Jeb’s little parlor this morning.”

  “Will he know it was us, Nate?”

  “Hell yes, Sam. Sure as shit he’ll go after Cougar but he’ll know in his gut that it wasn’t Cougar. Hell, the last thing Cougar would do is blow the stuff up.”

  Nate frowned. “But Jeb also knows that unless he has a leak in his team, it has to be Cougar who tipped us off. What do you want to bet that Cougar and company will be meeting with Mr. Jeb Stuart Jones sometime today? I can just hear their protestations now. Both will be in serious denial. Cougar obviously knew about Ely and according to my source knew exactly when the trucks would arrive. My CI said Cougar intended to take down Jeb’s men today—and along with the men, take over the shipment. I guess he wanted to prove to Jeb that Jeb wasn’t the only one who could cut a deal with the Cartel.”

  “What’s next, Nate?”

  Nate shared a long look with his mentor then turned to Sam.

  “You don’t have to be from here, Sam, to have a damn good idea what’s coming down the pipe. Without the support of the Cartels, Jeb and Cougar are about evenly matched. They both have the same number of fanatical followers and my guess this will be a showdown to the finish.”

  He looked to the Chief, who looked as serious as Nate felt.

  “Our job may be the most dangerous,” Nate continued. “It’d be terrific if we could get out from the middle and let them kill each other off. But life in the fast lane ain’t like that. No, we’re likely to be drawn in by one or the other of them. As for timing, my gut tells me that both of them know this is too important to rush. For one thing, Jeb has to be more concerned about the Cartel than getting revenge.”

  He breathed a heavy sigh. “But, Sam, my man, it is only a matter of time before they train their sights on us.”

  ~~~

  After a raucous press conference and multiple calls between the St. Louis county sheriff’s office, the M.E.s from both St. Louis county and Beltrami county, Nate suffered through several earsplitting conversations with the higher ups at the DEA. To say that the officials were unhappy about the lack of tangible evidence was an understatement, no matter how many times Nate reminded them that there was no such mission anywhere on the DEA register. Beginning to feel the strain of the long intense hours, Nate joined the Chief and Sam in the Chief’s office. The Chief had a bottle of his Wild Turkey Tradition bourbon on the table.

  “I have a feeling you two have other things on your mind, but humor me and don’t make me drink this liquid treasure alone.”

  He raised his glass and saluted them.

  “I’m just so fucking proud of you both.”

  Sam laughed. “Now that’s a toast if I ever heard one.”

  Nate stood and stretched his arms high over his head to release some of the stress in his neck and shoulders. He ought to be bone-tired, but the adrenalin rush from the early hour raid was still coursing at full speed through his revved up body.

  He couldn’t keep a sly grin off his face. He pointed his glass to the Chief, while addressing Sam.

  “Now, Sam, given that we’ve been blessed by the high and mighty himself, I think we’ve earned a little R&R. What do you say, Chief? How about it? Do you think Sam and I can sneak off for the next twelve hours of so? At least until tomorrow morning? I don’t know about you, Sam, but I’ve got some serious fence mending to do. I gotta tell you, I know Erin well enough to know that this is going to require a little more than my usual finesse. Why I may even have to strong arm her…”

  Sam and the Chief both laughed when Nate winked at them.

  “How about we make a deal? Unless it truly is a matter of life and death, I need the rest of the day off. I’ve got me a feisty woman to court. And while we all know the final outcome it doesn’t mean that these next few hours are going to be easy.”

  ~~~

  Jeb stared out the wall of windows at the lake below. There could have been a hundred Playboy bunnies cavorting naked in the yard and he wouldn’t have seen them. Breathing was a challenge. Behind him he heard Chuck and Nelson shuffling their feet. No one had spoken for at least five minutes when he turned to the hapless men.

  “One more time. Say it again. There is nothing there? Nothing, Goddammit? You’re telling me that in addition to the lab being destroyed that the trucks and all the cargo is gone? Not to mention twenty fucking bodies?”

  When the two sweating men just nodded, Jeb shrieked, “Damn you to hell. That is fucking impossible. Even if Cougar was smart enough to pull this off, he would never destroy the raw material. So help me God, you and the rest of the brain dead assholes I work with better have concrete evidence where the fucker stashed the shit within the hour or you can kiss those pea-sized nuts between your legs goodbye. You won’t need them!”

  At the discreet knock on his office door, Jeb whirled to scream at the idiot who dared interrupt, but choked back the words seeing the expression on Tank’s face.

  “Boss, you better turn on the television. Stryker is giving a press conference discussing the methamphetamine bust he and his team made in the Boundary Waters last night. You aren’t fucking going to believe this.”

  Jeb sunk down in his chair listening to Marvin Hacker, Editor of the Chicadia Falls Sentinel, ask the question he’d just yelled at his grunts.

  “Nate, be clear. Are you telling me that you and your men singlehandedly took out a makeshift meth lab nestled in the p
ine trees outside of Ely?”

  Jeb watched in disbelief as Nate perched his sunglasses on the top of his head and grinned his thousand watt smile at the horde of newsmen hovering eight deep outside the station.

  “To be precise, Marvin, in addition to the meth lab, we removed the remnants of three trucks that look to have been carrying a significant amount of raw materials used to create the street drug we call crystal meth.”

  The intrepid newsman persisted. “So you said, Nate. But what happened to the trucks and the stuff they were carrying?”

  “Best we can tell is they must have been triggered to blow. Something caused one hell of an explosion. We were lucky none of our men were killed. I can’t say the same for the perpetrators. The blast took out the trucks and their cargo, plus twenty men.”

  Shelly Simpson from the Minneapolis Tribune pushed forward.

  “This is unbelievable, Nate. You’re telling us that twenty men were killed and there’s nothing left but an empty hole.”

  Nate chuckled. “You’re putting words in my mouth, Shelly. We have videotapes of the meth lab that was there. It was a sophisticated operation disguised as an abandoned campsite. We’ve had the site staked out for over a week now and planned to take it out. We were lucky enough to stage our raid just when a shipment was being delivered. Most important, we were lucky enough to get out of the way when the whole damn thing went up in smoke.”

  A chorus of disbelieving shouts rang out from the reporters. An irascible fellow pushed to the front of the pack and yelled, “Are you telling us, Stryker, that you just happened to be on site when three trucks arrived loaded with amphetamines? And that those trucks were likely coming from Mexico?”

  Nate shook his head in mock agreement.

  “I don’t know what to say, Clark, except that we must be living right. Let’s just say that for once the score is good guys one hundred, bad guys, zero.”

  Nate held up his hand to stop the barrage of questions.

  “Look fellows, I’ll answer what I can. This is an ongoing investigation and we are just now putting all the pieces together.”

  A dapper looking guy with a Fox News insignia on his jacket pushed to the front.

  “Doug Crenshaw, here, Detective. I’m from Fox News. Our sources tell us that the DEA is furious that all of the ‘materials’ were blown up. Can you comment on the feedback you’re receiving from the federal officials?”

  “Sure thing, Doug. And welcome to our little burg. Let me put it this way. The Feds— and I say that with the utmost deference—are annoyed. But it’s been my experience they always are.” He grinned at the laughter that greeted his clearly sarcastic remark. “I told ‘em that unless you’re from around here it’s hard to believe how shit gets blown up in Northern Minnesota.”

  In the midst of the chorus of laughter and shouted questions, Nate turned to Sam.

  “I’m going to turn this over to my partner, Commander Sam Carter. Most of you’ve met Sam and know how lucky we are to have him on sabbatical from the LAPD. Sam and I planned this raid and being as modest as I always am, I gotta say we’re pleased with the outcome.”

  Jeb sunk lower in his chair. For the next five minutes he watched the graceful black man field question after question from skeptical newsmen. He had to admit that the asshole was a pro. His fear turned to anger then slowing to gut-clenching rage. Staring at his longtime nemesis, Nate Stryker, standing to the side basking in the attention, Jeb knew when he’d been outfoxed. By his former friend, the man he hated more than life. He also knew that Nate was purposefully showcasing that prick Carter. Jeb was convinced he was doing it to rankle Jeb.

  Staring at the two arrogant men, Jeb acknowledged he had his work cut out for him. He held his hand up as though swearing on a Holy Bible, and vowed, as God was his witness, Nate Stryker and his fancy nigger were not going to win this battle. No way. He had to placate the Mexicans. That was the first order of business. Then he needed to show Cougar who was boss. There was only one way Nate could have known about the Ely operation. Cougar had told him. And Cougar would pay.

  Once those two issues were settled, he’d turn his attention to the Golden Boy and his sidekick. He knew how to handle Stryker. Hit him where he was most vulnerable. Go for the people he cared about. First his nigger. And then his dark-haired cunt.

  Chapter 19

  Erin heard heavy footsteps tromping up the outside staircase at the same time she heard Nate whistling to the tune of “Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone.” If she wasn’t so angry she would have laughed. He truly was the most outrageous man she’d ever known. She was glad she’d locked the door. At least she had time to prepare herself for the onslaught. She headed for the outdoor patio thinking that she could yell for help if she needed to—or dammit because she wanted to.

  Nate knocked on the door and hollered, “Erin, oh Erin? Open the door, little spitfire. Daddy’s home.”

  When she didn’t answer, she heard his key in the lock. Even before she saw him she felt his presence. That was the effect he had on her. Shaking off the currents of unbidden excitement flaring in the base of her stomach, she backed into the far corner of the balcony and clung to the railing.

  As he came through the living room, Nate stopped whistling and began singing, “Where Oh Where Has My Woman Gone? Where Oh Where Could She Be?”

  Turning the corner to the patio he pulled to a stop in mock surprise. “Ahh. Here she is. Here’s my woman! I’ve been looking all over for my woman. She’s been missing. She wasn’t in my bed, she wasn’t anywhere in our house. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was trying to avoid me.”

  Erin did her best not to respond to the gorgeous hunk of a man standing in the doorway grinning at her. She’d watched his press conference amazed but not surprised at how extraordinary he was. His sun-streaked collar-length hair and flashing green eyes were as much a part of his persona as his humor and his cockiness. Even when they were annoyed or trying to get information out of him, it was clear the press corps loved him. And so did she. But she’d warned herself, promised herself, that she wouldn’t cave in when he came to get her—as she knew he would. She had an important point to make and by damn, she was going to make it.

  Planting her fists on her hips, Erin glared at him.

  “First of all I am not your woman. And you don’t need to come any closer. Do you hear me?”

  Nate scrubbed at the beard shadow on his chin and frowned.

  “Damn, ma’am. My apologies. I could swear that you are my woman. You have the same gorgeous black hair that she does and you’re wearing it the way I like it best. Tumbling down your back in a curly mass. Do you know what I like to do with my woman’s beautiful hair?” He took several steps toward her but stopped when she held up her hand. “I like to wrap it around my hand and use it to pull her stunning face up next to mine.”

  Advancing slowly, his voice dropped to a low drawl. “Then I like to expose those sensitive places on her neck to my lips right before I kiss her.”

  Erin pressed back against the railing determined not to give in to him, but she couldn’t quiet the shivers of excitement snaking up her spine.

  “Hmm, your cheeks just flushed, the same way that my woman does when I tell her what I’m going to do to her sexy body.”

  Erin tried to squelch the quivering sensations streaking down her legs.

  “Nate, stop it! Stay where you are!”

  “Stop what? Don’t come closer to you? Too late. I can smell you, sugar. And I gotta tell you, nothing turns me on like the smell of my woman. She smells like lemon, and mint and kinda musky. You know, sexy.”

  His lip quirked up at the corner. “Especially between her breasts.”

  “Nate, dammit!”

  He shook his head and inched closer and sniffed loudly.

  “Mmm hmm. You may think you’re not my woman, but, honey, nothing smells as good or as sweet as my woman does. I’d know her fragrance anywhere.”

  He hitched up his jea
ns and grinned. “If you don’t believe me take a look at this! You think any other woman does this to me? Absolutely not.”

  Erin glanced down at the bulging arousal that seemed to grow before her eyes. She tried to back up but there was no room. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. His knowing smile confirmed how flushed she was.

  “C’mere, Miss Whoever You Are. I know a surefire test. How about I kiss you? I’ll start out nice and slow, soft little nips at the corner of your mouth. But then I’ll kiss you harder, force your mouth open with my tongue and bite down on your puffy lips. If you start to tremble and begin to make those soft whimpering sounds? That’ll be a dead giveaway. Then I’ll know that my woman, my Erin, is in my arms.”

  Erin reached behind herself and gripped the railing. She was determined not to give in to him. She was furious that her wayward body was betraying her. And that he knew it. She wanted to wipe that sexy smirk off his handsome face.

  “Stop it now, Nate. You think this is a joke. But it’s not. I’m angry.”

  He frowned and nodded, his smile fading. “You’re right, Erin, it’s not a joke. There’s nothing funny about rolling around in our big bed reaching for you and you’re not there. No, honey, there’s not a damn thing that’s amusing about you being here and me being in our house without you. Tell you what we’re going to do. We’re going to rectify that now.”

  Seeing his expression harden Erin’s heart sped up. She knew that look only too well. Dammit he was not going to bully her into agreeing with him. Not this time. She started to walk by him intending to go in the other room but he moved in front of her, his eyes narrowing.

  She took a deep breath and tossed her head.

  “Sorry, Nate. You can glare at me all you want, but I’m staying here tonight. By. Myself.”

  The corner of his mouth tipped up and he snorted a laugh. “I see. We have a difference of opinion, Erin. While we can agree to disagree, I will tell you now that you are not staying here tonight and neither am I. Instead, tonight I am going to be holding the woman I love more than anything in the world in my arms.”