by Carmen Faye
“The guys are worried, Asher,” Dakota kept going. “They think you’re too distracted. They are calling for a new leader.”
“Good luck to them,” Asher said. “The last time I caved to them, karma bit me in the ass. I won’t do it again. This is my club and I’ll do what I see fit.”
“It’s our club too.”
“You know what I mean,” Hudson replied. “I don’t even get details of what is going on.”
“Such as?”
“A traitor among us, for starters.”
“How did you know?”
“I heard through the heating vents.”
“How?”
“Passageway Fuller used to get out of here. You can hear this room pretty damn well from there.”
“Good thing she left in the morning then.”
“Why is that?” Hudson was curious.
“If she’d left the night before she’d have heard what you said and this would be a bigger mess.”
“Right.”
“One that might not clear up.”
“What do you mean?”
“If she’d heard you say they could kill her, she’d never forgive you. And she’d never believe you were lying. Hell, even I was convinced.”
And suddenly in that moment, Hudson felt a smile. It seemed an odd time to smile. But realizing that he hadn’t misjudged her made it appear. He knew. Finally he knew. He should’ve known right from the beginning.
Finally, it all made sense.
CHAPTER 18
“Thanks for meeting with me, Detective Larsen,” Fuller pulled the chair out and sat across from the plump balding man.
“I’m happy to help anyway that I can, Agent,” he smiled at her and sipped his coffee. “I hope you are doing well back at home and work.”
“Yes I am, thank you,” she replied and ordered a cup of coffee. “I have some questions about the case I’ve been working on.”
“The gang shootings?” he asked and she nodded. “I’ve been trying like hell to figure out what is going on. Gangs aren’t usually your biggest problems,” his voice drifted off.
Melissa knew what he meant. The clubs. The weapons and drugs. Not the actual gangs.
“Thing is, we’ve always had the issues of these weapons going in and out. It’s nothing new. But to have them in the hands of our locals, that’s scary.” He stopped again as if he was thinking. “We don’t need robberies and drive-bys with assault rifles.”
“That’s why I wanted to meet with you detective. You are the one that has been tackling the case. I wasn’t even…” Her voice cracked slightly, “I wasn’t even here during these shootings. I’d like to know a little more. Do you think that Asher Hudson could be involved in this?”
“Asher? No doubt he’s into crime. Heavy duty crime. But he tends to keep his off the main streets. If you ask me, I don’t think it’s him or the Nomads.”
Melissa felt her face flush. She remembered things that she didn’t really want to remember in that moment.
“Besides, he was nowhere to be seen.”
“What do you mean?” She asked.
“He disappeared. No one saw hide or hair of him until after you returned. I dunno if it was because he had you there,” the balding man stuck a toothpick between his lips. “Sorry, trying to quit.” He explained in the midst of his thoughts. “Or if it was because Guiterro was in town and he was staying off the radar. But Asher Hudson was on his best behavior when all of this was going on.”
“Guiterro?” Fuller had never heard the name, but something told her to find out more. Instinct was seventy-five percent of her job.
“Manuel Guiterro, Head of one of the most dangerous cartel groups in Mexico,” he finished. “He’s been in and out of Vegas recently. Quite a bit actually,” he pulled the toothpick out. “But keeps his hands clean whenever he’s here. Just your usual standard of blowing a few million on the Strip.
“Does Guiterro deal in weapons?” Fuller asked. “Could he have been putting them into the hands of these guys?”
“I suppose it’s a possibility,” Larsen answered. “But I doubt it.”
“Why is that?” She questioned.
“Guiterro is mostly about drugs. That’s his past time. Major drugs. He heads up much of the drug problem out this way—all in Mexico, out of our jurisdiction. Usually he does it from home.” Larsen stopped to think for a minute. “He’s big scale. Not small. If he had weapons, it’d likely be as the middle man. He’d be buying them and then selling them for drugs.”
Melissa thought about what he’d said for a minute before she reacted. “Would he sell them to gangs?”
“He’s not going to nickel and dime his way. He’s too far up the ladder for that. If the gangs had too many of these things we’d already have street wars taking place. So only a few have been bought. That means the gangs aren’t buying them in bulk.”
“Then why would Guiterro be here?”
“Well, the theory is that he was here to meet with the Nomads,” he finally blurted out.
“For?”
“No one knows. But the speculation from our department was that he had some kind of big deal going on with Hudson,” Larsen picked up the coffee once again. “Just not sure what that deal was. Of course your office probably has its own conclusion. Considering you were in the house right before it all started I assume they knew he was coming.”
Melissa let that statement hit her. She thought back to the plan to sneak in. Logan had wanted her to seduce Hudson. She had refused. She didn’t want to use her femininity for an advantage. Logan had told her their hands were tied without some inside information. A couple of weeks later, Logan came to her with intel he had received about some kind of deal going down the next day. They needed to be there. He would secure the paperwork needed to legalize it and she could go inside. He also came up with the plans for the house. At first Melissa had been impressed that he had so much insider information. She thought Logan was really on the ball with ridding the city of crime. Even as the thought danced in her head it made her feel a little sick. She remembered Hudson telling her about Logan shooting his father.
So, she was there to catch him with Guiterro? Why had Logan never told her this? The danger it presented was well beyond what she thought she was going into.
“I am not sure of the exact purpose of the sting,” Melissa admitted to the cop. “All I did was follow orders. The paperwork and everything was settled by someone else.”
“What paperwork?” Larsen asked with a laugh. “We figured you guys were really onto something with Guiterro and Hudson. The way it was kept all hush-hush. I guessed it musta been a federal thing.”
“Why is that?”
“Because nothing was done locally. There was no warrant. There was no permission granted to do any of it. Hell, I’m not even sure how your guys got their hands on plans to the house.”
“Like I said, I didn’t handle any of that so I’m not sure.” Melissa said.
“You really are lucky they found you in the basement,” he smiled. “If you’d walked into that room with Guiterro’s guys…” he paused. “Well we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’m just surprised Hudson spared the men to search the property when he has guards who do that already.”
Melissa hadn’t thought about any of that. Of course, she wasn’t a detective and she wasn’t privy to all of the personal information about Hudson that the locals had. She barely knew of him other than his club affiliation and penchant for criminal activity.
“I guess I was really lucky,” she agreed with a smile and moved on. “What’s your take on all of this, detective?”
“Here’s what I know. Hudson doesn’t turn his crime to the streets here. He walks them daily and he doesn’t want the association. I’d bet he’d be hard pressed to even tell you what gangs we have and who is in them. His crimes are global. A middleman at best.
“I highly doubt that the Nomads are involved in the gang shit. Guiterro is very private.
He pushes drugs. And he has about a thousand guys under him to handle the detail. I don’t see him making a bunch of trips to Vegas to sell a few AKs to street thugs—street thugs who might end up competing with his own associates. Like I said, he’s big time. But we know that he has affiliation with Hudson. I’m not saying they didn’t have some sort of role in all of this, but they aren’t the ones handing these to kids on the street,” Larsen finished.
“Then who is?”
“Well ma’am, if I knew that I wouldn’t need you now would I? It’s someone local. Someone into weapons and making money. Someone with the ability to piece them out one at a time. And someone that won’t get caught.”
“Out of curiosity, why’d you wait so long to call us?”
“I didn’t,” Larsen challenged. “I called after the first shooting. This isn’t my forte, ya know?”
“Who was assigned the case before me?” she wanted to know because there were no notes in the file from a previous agent.
“Nobody, I suppose,” Larsen shook his head. “Your boss over there told me he’d create a file and get to it when he could.”
“Logan?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he answered with a nod. “Piece of shit if you ask me. But to each their own. He said the ATF had too much on their plate to handle gang nonsense. He was after the big guys.”
“Really?” That lying sonofabitch.
“Yup. Makes it hard to get the job done with no one wants to cooperate. I’m just glad you’re on the case now.”
“Me too,” she agreed. “Do you know who deals in weapons locally?”
“Sure don’t,” he answered. “We have had a few cases, but typically the guys take off before they are caught. We’ve never been able to pinpoint a local guy.”
“How do you know he’s local?”
“He knew who to sell to. He knew the effect. He knew the consequences. He kept it minimal. Whoever he is, he’s done this for a while. He has no ties to the streets. He is setting up for an all-out war in town and using common thugs to do it. And most of all, he wants it to fall back on Asher Hudson.”
“You seem defensive of Hudson,” she commented. “Is there a reason?”
“To be honest, when he lost his dad he suffered a lot. And he’s gone the wrong way and done the wrong things. I kinda feel bad for him. Wish he’d have let us help him back then instead of breaking into the Nomads so early.”
“I see,” she replied.
“I won’t lie. I want to see him in prison for his crimes. I want to see him turn his life around. I want nothing more than that, and all the other biker thugs to be out of my city,” Larsen ranted. “But I don’t want anyone to take the fall for something they didn’t do. I wouldn’t be a cop if I didn’t believe in fair justice.”
“Agent Fuller!” the voice made her skin crawl even before she saw the face. “Detective Larsen.”
“Logan,” she acknowledged without a smile or glance in his direction.
“What brings you two together?” he asked.
“Working my case,” she answered. “Just needed to get Larsen’s take on things.”
“Well I hope he told you that Hudson is somehow involved and it jogged your memory of being in his home.” Logan replied.
“Sorry to disappoint you Logan,” Melissa looked up at her boss. “My memory is still the same. But the detective has been a great help.” She glanced at his companion. “Amanda, nice to see you. I thought you no longer worked for us.”
“She doesn’t,” Logan answered. “She’s my nanny now.”
“For you or the kids?” Melissa chuckled as the words came out.
“Well, we are going to get to our table and get some lunch. Busy day,” Logan smiled and gave a nod to the detective before he walked off.
“Still a piece of shit,” Larsen stated and Melissa laughed.
“Detective, thank you so much.” She reached across the table to shake his hand. “You have been extremely helpful.”
“Get these guns off my streets. That’s all the thanks I need.”
“That’s my plan,” she stood and said her goodbyes. Before leaving the diner, she made a pitstop at Logan’s table.
“Why did we blow this off a month or so ago?” she asked honestly.
“We have our limits, Fuller,” Logan answered. “Everyone has their limits. Cross them and you could be risking lives, including your own.” With that he winked at her and turned back towards his nanny. “Have a great day.”
Fuller was barely in the car when she pulled out her phone. Her hope was that the number she had was still active and that there would be an answer.
When she heard the voice on the other of the line, a sigh of relief flooded her.
“We need to talk,” she went straight to her point. “I need your help. It’s urgent and it’s important.”
She jotted down the address and time she was given and decided this would be a great minute to stop by the office and pick up a few things.
CHAPTER 19
Andy Wallaby had been a field agent for the majority of his adult life. He was good at what he did. He was honest, loyal and only wanted to keep the world safe for the children he’d never have.
Most people thought him odd. He preferred working to most of the social activities that others tended to enjoy. At barely over thirty he could count the times he’d been out to the bars on one hand and still have fingers left. He didn’t really date, but that was more because women tended to pass him by.
There wasn’t much in his life beyond the office, the cases they were assigned and the results being what he’d hoped for. He put everything he had into his job and usually he gained what he needed from it.
When he’d come back to the mike that night and realized she was gone, it had nearly killed him. It had been his job to keep tabs on her—keep her alive. Not hearing her voice had made him face the fact that he might have failed.
He’d screamed at Logan. It was, after all, his boss that had forced him to leave his position for a moment. Wallaby was the technical genius of the crew. He knew his way around alarms, computers and virtually anything that ran through electricity. That’s why he was often the one left behind to tend to that end of the spectrum. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be the one climbing through tunnels, but it just wasn’t what he was made of. He had accepted that.
He’d never liked guys like Logan. And he’d worked with a fuckload of them. They were pompous. They were arrogant. They were out for the glory. Mostly, they didn’t accept him. But he lived with it so that he could do what he loved to do.
Still, in any life or death situation he would freely have put his trust into any of his colleagues. He’d have been on the line and trusted them to get him out. That was the kind of bond that existed between agents that worked together. Even Logan.
Then Fuller went missing, and he watched all of them do nothing. Yes, they discussed it. They tried to come up with a plan. But Logan shot down any potential ideas. Andy realized that he couldn’t trust them like that. They wouldn’t be there. That scared him.
Andy was happy when Logan sent him on an investigation. He’d never really worked outside the office. But gathering information was something he could tackle. It made him feel like someone was fighting for her, helping her. Doing what they could.
But the more he talked to people, the more he realized that nothing was the way it seemed. He was learning about the people he worked with, and learning about the people they were trying to take down.
In the end, though, it would have been a wild goose chase. He wouldn’t have learned a damn thing that could help them. Of course Logan had ended his assignment when she’d come back, but Wallaby wasn’t going to stop.
It had been a fluke that Detective Larsen had told him things he was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to know. That stirred something inside of him. Instinct was necessary on the job and he’d fine tuned his years ago. Now he knew when to follow a lead even if it was unrelated in some way. So
he did.
The more he learned, the more terrified he became. The world wasn’t what he’d thought it was. There were things going on behind the scenes that Andy wouldn’t have imagined. And any trust that he’d held for anyone on the team was gone. He was riding solo and he knew it.
He also knew it was possible that his life was in danger. He needed to talk to someone, but part of trust issues was knowing that you couldn’t just pick someone and tell them this kind of thing. He wondered if Melissa Fuller would like to know. Maybe she even had some insight for him.
