Uncle snorted. “What kind of old friend disappears for months and drops off the grid?”
“The kind who’s been busy and had things to do.” Trent stepped back. The enforcer hesitated. Uncle nodded at him. The enforcer slunk to the end of the counter and glowered at him like a guard dog. Trent reached for Chloe’s hand and pulled her over to stand beside him.
“Heard you’d tried going straight again,” Uncle said. He cast his eyes over Chloe then turned back to Trent. “Let me guess. You ran out of money and so you’re back asking for work.”
“I’m here to find out why you sent Royd to rough up my woman!” Trent swept Chloe’s hair back off her throat and showed the dark bruises Royd’s fingers had left on her skin. He let her hair fall. “Babe, take off your gloves.”
She did. Trent held up her left hand and showed Uncle the bruises on her wrist just long enough to make sure he also saw the engagement ring on her hand.
“I don’t know what Royd’s got against your woman.” Uncle shrugged. “Maybe Savannah’s mad you moved on, so she put him up to it.”
“You mean Royd just decided to try to rough up and kidnap a cop all on his own?” Trent’s voice rose.
The room froze. Uncle turned. His face went white. “You brought a cop into my business?”
“I brought my woman into your restaurant, because you and I have a history and she asked to meet you. She’s been poking around Bobcaygeon trying to find out how to get her hands on payara. She took out a group of Gulos because they were after the same thing. Then you send Royd after her? You have any idea who this woman is? Or how solid her reputation is? She’s connected. She’s fierce. She could’ve been a major asset to you, for the right price. She could’ve helped you out and worked with you to get you whatever you needed. Instead you sent Royd to take her on.” Trent shook his head.
“You must be Detective Brant.” Uncle stretched a large callused hand toward Chloe.
She took his hand and shook it. “Call me Chloe.”
“My apologies, Chloe. I had no idea you and Trent were an item, or that you’d be interested in doing business. You two set a date to get hitched?”
“Not yet.” Chloe smiled. It was a look full of confidence and courage, and incredibly attractive. “Trent’s pretty stubborn when he wants to be.”
Uncle laughed. Trent couldn’t believe it. Chloe was actually charming the head of the Wolfspiders. “Remind him that a married woman can’t be forced to testify against her husband in court, but a girlfriend can.”
She grinned wider, then shot Trent a glance that made him suddenly realize just how helpless he’d be if she ever really did turn her will against him. “Will do.”
“Give me a moment with your boy?” Uncle gestured to the back of the room. “He and I have some business to discuss alone. Then you and I can sit down and see about making a deal.”
The hair rose suddenly on the back of Trent’s neck. No, this wasn’t the plan. But Chloe had already slipped from his side and brushed her lips against his cheek, filling his senses with the scent of her skin. “No problem. It was a long drive and I could use some freshening up. Don’t make any decisions without me.”
She turned and headed toward the back. All eyes in the room watched her go.
“You’ve got it bad,” Uncle said. “How do you know she’s not planning on arresting you?”
Trent snickered. “She wouldn’t. I can trust her.”
“How would you know?” Uncle turned back to his drink. “You’re head over heels for that chick. Not to mention she’s way out of your league. A woman like that doesn’t take up with a guy like you without a really good reason.”
Trent held his tongue. He knew Chloe was far better than a man like him deserved. He didn’t need a criminal like Uncle reminding him of that. One day, Lord, I will get a warrant to arrest Uncle and take down the Wolfspiders for good. One day, I will close this chapter of my life for good and never use this cover again.
“So what does your family think of her?” Uncle raised an eyebrow. “You going to pop by with her for a visit while you’re in town?”
“Wasn’t planning on it.” Trent’s jaw clenched. He didn’t even want to imagine how that would go down. They’d probably love her. “But I’m not here to talk about her. I’m here to talk about payara.”
“Oh, but I think the bigger issue is family, don’t you?” There was a mocking tone in the old man’s voice, but the hint of something evil glinted in his eye. “I saw your dad just recently.”
Trent felt his face go pale. His father? His parents were in their sixties and the nicest, most honest, caring and down-to-earth people anyone would ever want to meet. Not to mention, their farm was less than half an hour’s drive away. Uncle had never made a move against his family, and Trent knew he never would as long as he thought Trent was useful to his operation. But Trent had tried to warn his folks and brothers, more than once, that when the day finally came that he took Uncle down they should sell the farm and move out of Wolfspider territory. He just had to pray they would. His eyes narrowed. “What are you playing at?”
“Nothing,” Uncle said. “I happened to be in the Huntsville cemetery and saw him laying flowers on your sister’s grave.”
Anger built like heat at the back of Trent’s neck. Was this Uncle’s way of tightening his stranglehold on the man Trent pretended to be when he was undercover? Lord, I do this job to save lives and protect the innocent. Please, don’t let one more person I love get hurt because of me. “Are you threatening my family? We had an arrangement, Uncle. The day I became a Wolfspider, you promised my family would be off-limits.”
Uncle had to know that if he ever went after his family, Trent would slap the cuffs on him.
“I’m just making friendly conversation.” Uncle slapped his empty bottle down on the counter and another one appeared. “When I sent Royd to see what he could about getting me into payara production, I knew that the Gulos had staged a failed attempt to get their hands on it. I knew there was a cop involved. I didn’t know it had anything to do with you, or that you were even there. If I had, I’d have given you the opportunity to handle it. But since you didn’t, I’ve now got a race on my hand to see which one of you can deliver first.”
He took a long sip from the new bottle then fixed his eyes on Trent. “Because, make no mistake, I am taking over the payara operation, one way or another. I am getting hold of that lab and convincing whoever’s working the drug to come work for me. Our arrangement still stands. You stay out of my business, I’ll stay out of yours. But if you try to double-cross me, or take that payara distribution for yourself, you just might have to get used to visiting a whole row of new headstones in the family plot, starting with that pretty cop you think you’re going to marry.”
* * *
Chloe leaned back against the cracked counter in the surprisingly large but dingy women’s washroom and peered through a crack in the door. Something was wrong. Trent’s shoulders were hunched like a protective lion. Whatever Uncle was saying had angered him. She watched as the enforcer who’d sucker punched Trent by way of a welcome left his post at the end of the counter and shifted closer to Trent and Uncle. Another enforcer had materialized behind them. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that Trent knew exactly what he was doing and if he needed her, he’d find a way to let her know. She didn’t know which was worse—throwing off a seasoned detective in the middle of the undercover interrogation of a gang leader, or staying back, when every beat in her chest told her he needed her by his side? She knew the answer. She was going out there.
The door flew inward. A woman stood in the doorway, a snarl on her lips and her hands on her hips. She was brunette and curvy, with the kind of face classically considered quite beautiful and a stance that implied she thought Chloe had invaded her territory.
“Excuse me,” Chlo
e said. To her surprise, the woman stepped out of the way to let her pass. But as Chloe’s hand brushed the door frame, the brunette slammed it shut again so quickly and violently that the speed of Chloe’s reflexive move to leap back was the only thing that kept her from having her fingers broken. The brunette closed the door behind them. Chloe felt her green eyes narrow behind their blue contacts. “Do we have a problem?”
The attractive brunette snorted. “You’re not welcome here. Get out before I hurt you.”
Chloe planted her feet. “Let me guess, you’re Savannah? I hear you and my man have history.”
Savannah’s eyes widened, just long enough to let Chloe know she’d hit her mark. Chloe shook her head. Savannah was a distraction. Nothing more. Chloe pitied her, even knowing what Trent’s cover had done to her feelings. Maybe they had that much in common.
“You’re the cop who thinks she’s going to marry Trent,” Savannah said. Seemed news traveled fast. “Let me guess, you think you’re in love with him?”
Yes was the word Chloe knew her cover required her to say. During the drive she’d even rehearsed in her head how to say that she had feelings for Trent. Yet, as she stood there, in the dingy washroom of a run-down restaurant that served as the front for a gang operation, she couldn’t do it. Whatever it was she felt for Trent, it cut way too deep just to be blurted out meaninglessly on an undercover mission. “Well, we’re getting hitched.”
“No, you’re not,” Savannah said. “There’s no way Trent Henry’s ever marrying anyone. If you think he is, you don’t really know him.”
Chloe almost laughed. This woman’s jealousy was ridiculous. “And you do?”
An unsettling confidence flashed in the depths of Savannah’s eyes. “I’ve known Trent since the second grade.”
The words hit Chloe’s ears like a thunderclap. Her knees almost buckled. “You’re lying.”
“Oh, no. Trent was my high school crush!” Now it was Savannah’s turn to laugh. “He didn’t tell you, did he? We’ve been on and off since we were teens. We used to go around Huntsville hot-wiring cars and going on joyrides. Who do you think introduced him to Uncle and got him in with the Wolfspiders? My brother, Royd, did. Who do you think he called when being a cop got old and he wanted back in? Me.”
Pieces of the picture that was Trent turned and clicked into place in her mind. No wonder he’d been able to return to the Wolfspider cover more than once. No wonder Royd knew his real name. Trent had gone undercover with a deadly gang, time and again, by playing a corrupt and twisted version of his younger self. Her eyes dragged her gaze back to the closed door that blocked Trent from her view. Why hadn’t he told her? She might not know his whole story or the cover roles he played, but she knew the man he was on the inside.
“You’re right,” Chloe said. “I haven’t known Trent as long as you have. I don’t know his history or everything he’s done. But I know his heart. That’s good enough for me.” It was high time she got back out there and by his side. “Now, are you going to step aside and let me out? Or am I going to have to move you?”
“You can’t rescue him,” Savannah said. “The best you can do is cut your losses and run. I know about Royd’s arrest. I know Trent chased him down and held him for you.”
“How?” A chill spread through Chloe’s limbs.
“Royd has friends. One of them already called me. My brother is moving up in the world. Royd knows who’s selling the payara. It’s only a matter of time before he gets him to cut a deal for Uncle.”
Savannah was still smirking. She clearly didn’t understand the importance of what she’d just said or that she was telling Chloe something she didn’t already know. But Chloe’s blood ran cold. Uncle already knew who was selling the payara. That meant Uncle didn’t need Trent for anything. Uncle was just lying to Trent for his amusement or to find out what the police knew. Trent had walked right into a trap and he didn’t know it.
Chloe shoved Savannah aside, yanked the door open and strode back into the dining room. Her fingers snapped. “Trent! Honey! Toss me the keys. We’re leaving! Now!”
Her voice rang like a bell through the crowded room. Trent frowned. Then he grabbed his keys from his pocket and pitched them to her. She caught them one-handed.
“Go do what you need to do,” he said. “I’ll join you in a bit.”
“No, you’re coming with me now!” Her hands were planted on her hips. Was it her imagination or were the men closing in tighter around them? “I’ve just been talking to Savannah and she’s been filling me in on your past. You come now or you can forget about marrying me.”
Trent glanced at Uncle and shrugged. Then he cut his eyes over her shoulder. Savannah had followed her. He groaned. “Look, whatever Savannah said to you, it doesn’t matter. Just ignore her.”
He meant it. She could read that much in his eyes. He thought she was making a mistake.
“Trent, trust me, if you don’t come talk with me, you’re an idiot.” Glimmers of a warning pushed its way through her words, begging to be heard. She strode over to him, weaving her way through the gang members that stood around him like a pack of animals waiting to strike. She stopped, her toes inches away from his. They were so close that all she had to do was lean forward and their lips would be touching. “I’m not your sidekick. I’m not your woman. I’m your equal. And I’m telling you, I want to go talk.”
“Is there a problem, Trent?” Uncle raised an eyebrow.
She took a step back and almost felt the wall of gang members hemming them in. Help me, Lord. I can’t stop the danger. And Trent’s too confident in the strength of his cover to see it’s about to self-destruct around him. She grit her teeth. Well, if they were going down, then she was going down swinging.
“I didn’t come here to be treated like this!” Chloe yanked the ring off her finger and flung it at him. To her surprise, Trent leaped off the stool and scrambled for it. She swung back toward Savannah. “Why didn’t you tell me you and Savannah had a history? I thought I knew you. But I don’t and I never will. Because you’re so determined to shut people out, you hurt everyone who cares about you and wreck everything you touch. And I’m done with it.”
Chloe spun around so quickly that her flailing arm made contact with Savannah’s jaw and knocked her back a foot. No one watching would’ve believed it was on purpose.
But that hardly mattered. The profanity that escaped Savannah’s lips was primal. The blow she leveled across Chloe’s cheek was even more so. Then Savannah leaped at her, yanking out Chloe’s clipped-in hair extensions and trying to dig her nails into Chloe’s face. Chloe reared back, tossing Savannah into the nearest enforcer. Before she could take another step, she felt Trent’s arms around her waist, lifting her feet off the ground.
“What are you playing at?” Trent snapped. “You actually trying to start a fight?”
He pulled her backward toward the door. His voice rose. “Uncle, I’m sorry, just give me a minute.”
He kicked the door open and they tumbled outside. Trent dropped her into the snow. Frustration filled his gaze. She looked back over his shoulder. Uncle was standing. A crowd of Wolfspiders was watching them. She threw her arms around Trent’s neck and hugged him, feeling for that familiar space in his shoulder that meant safety. But his arms weren’t about to yield.
“Chloe, my past with Savannah is none of your business—”
“Royd has already found out who the payara dealer is and has been negotiating with him. He has a contact on the inside in Bobcaygeon who called Savannah tonight. I don’t know if Uncle knows that Royd’s already found the dealer. If he does, it means Uncle knows he doesn’t need you and we’ve walked into a trap. If he doesn’t, you don’t want to be sitting there making him promises when he finds out the truth.”
Trent pulled back. His eyes met hers. He believed her and he was sorry. She could see b
oth truths clearly in a single glance. That was all she needed. Then he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead and whispered, “We gotta run.”
She turned and ran for the truck, knowing without a moment’s hesitation that Trent would be right behind her. She heard voices shouting and the Wolfspiders pouring through the door. Then she heard Trent grunt as an enforcer leaped on him from behind. She looked back. Trent was down on his knees, struggling as the large man tried to choke him. Trent reared back and shook him off. An agonizing pop filled the air. Trent howled in agony. He’d dislocated his shoulder. “Trent!”
“Don’t stop!” He struggled to his feet. “I’m right behind you!”
She reached the truck first and yanked the passenger door open for Trent. Within seconds he was inside. She slammed the door and sprinted for the driver’s side, wiping as much snow off the back window as she could with the palm of her hand. The keys slid into the ignition. The engine turned over. Her eyes slid to the rearview mirror. Wolfspiders were jumping into vehicles. She glanced at Trent.
“Don’t worry,” she said, “we’ll get you to a hospital and they’ll pop your shoulder back in.”
Engines roared behind them. She fired back, barely missing a van, then yanked the steering wheel and gunned the truck onto the narrow country road. The windshield wipers worked hard and fast against the falling snow.
“They’re not going to let us go that easily,” Trent said. “Uncle’s going to get them to run us off the road.”
“I didn’t hear him say that.” Her fingers tightened on the wheel.
“He doesn’t need to,” Trent said. “Nobody just gets up and walks out on a conversation with Uncle without paying a price for it. Car crashes are one of the ways Uncle deals with people and why I’ve never been able to pin a murder or an assault on him. He orders people to drive someone off the road and then gets them to ditch the vehicle, leaving him untouchable.”
Undercover Holiday Fiancée Page 12
