Chaos Bound (39 page)

After waking alone with Holt’s note on her pillow, Naiya had called Ally to come and help her track him down. But after making her way across town from the hotel she shared with Doug, Ally had convinced her not to go. Sandy Lake was swarming with Jacks, and there was no way Naiya would be safe once she left the hotel.

“It’s an old guy with a long, dirty beard. He looks like a vagrant except he’s wearing a Sinner cut.” Ally turned and pulled her phone from her pocket. “I’ll call Doug. He’s on patrol, but he said he’d come if we needed him.”

“No. It’s okay. Let him in.” Naiya let out a relieved breath. “It’s Shaggy.”

“Shaggy is right,” Ally muttered as she undid the lock. “He looks like some kind of sheep dog.” She pulled open the door and stepped back. “Smells like one, too.”

“Viper’s in the hotel.” Shaggy waved his gun in Naiya’s direction, his voice frantic. “Holt asked Benson and Shooter to keep watch downstairs. They just texted me. We gotta get you out of here, and take you someplace safe. He’s coming for you.”

“Why?” Ally stared at Shaggy aghast. “Is he that desperate for a woman? Is he that obsessed with fulfilling a debt?”

“I don’t think it’s about the debt.” Shaggy’s voice thickened. “Or about getting a sweet piece of tail. But he wants her bad.” He pulled open the door as Naiya stuffed her few belongings into her bag.

“Leave the bag,” Shaggy barked. “We gotta go. Now.” His gaze flicked to Ally. “They don’t know who you are, and you’d better keep it that way. You need to be somewhere Naiya is not.”

“I’m not leaving her.” Ally pulled the door closed behind them as they exited the room.

“You’ll be a liability.” Shaggy gestured to the stairwell. “Viper won’t give a damn that you’re a civilian. He’ll use you to get to her. And it’s harder to hide two people.”

“You go, Ally.” Naiya followed Shaggy down the hallway. “I’ll be okay.”

Ally hesitated before turning toward the elevators. “I’ll get Doug. Tell him something’s going down. The police will protect you.”

“C’mon,” Shaggy urged. “No time to waste.”

Naiya clasped his offered hand and they ran down the hallway. Shaggy pushed open the fire door and they raced down the concrete stairs.

“Where’s Holt? Does he know about Viper?”

“No one can get in touch with him. Or Tank for that matter.” He bounded down the stairs with the energy of a man half his age. “We’ve left messages for them. Holt knows I would never leave you alone. I’ve been in the hotel since he left.”

“Why?” She’d been wondering about Shaggy since they’d first met in the bar. He had volunteered to help with everything from beating up Michael to looking for Holt, and from teaching her to shoot to being her bodyguard. He had no connection to her, and from what Holt had said, no real connection to Holt. He was the club enigma, a wild card. Not even Jagger knew his story, and the Sinners who did were all dead.

“I gave my word.” He jerked to a stop, put out an arm to hold her back, and a finger on his lips to quiet her.

Naiya held her breath. Above, on the stairwell, she heard the thud of boots on concrete, the clang of metal, heavy breathing.

“This way.” Shaggy pulled on the fire exit door leading to the fifth floor. The metal lock thunked, but the door didn’t budge. “Fuck. It’s locked.”

They ran down the stairs, trying the doors for each floor without success. When they hit the ground floor, Shaggy gestured her toward the back exit and she ran full tilt into the alley and smack into a broad, hard chest.

“That was almost too easy.” Viper grabbed Naiya’s ponytail, pulling her to a stop, while his bodyguards slammed Shaggy against the brick wall. “Walk around the lobby so any Sinners watching will send a message up to warn you. Lock all the exit doors. Chase you down the stairs. Like flushing rats out of the sewer.”

“Let him go.” Naiya gestured at Shaggy. “He has nothing to do with this.”

“He’s a Sinner. Can’t have him running off to bring in the cavalry.” One of the bodyguards backhanded Shaggy, snapping his head to the side.

“Stop it.” Naiya drew in a breath to scream, and Viper clamped a gloved hand over her mouth. She gagged on the taste of leather, the scent of sweat and diesel burning her nostrils.

“Tsk. Tsk. Don’t you know better than to involve civilians in biker business? You don’t want civilians to get hurt. You’re already responsible for two deaths today. Three after we deal with the old man.”

Naiya’s eyes widened, and she bit his finger, her teeth finding flesh through his leather glove.

“Fucking bitch.” Viper tore his hand away and cuffed the side of her head, knocking her to the ground. “You want to know who died today because of you? Your new boyfriend and his pal.”

“No.” She stared at him aghast. “They aren’t dead. I don’t believe you.”

“Believe me, love. If they aren’t gone already, they will be before we leave his alley. I was done with T-Rex. Had my fun with him. But for some fucking reason, he wouldn’t leave your side. So I sent my reporter friend to find Tank, just in case I needed an insurance policy. And after my ATF mole tried and failed to bring you to me twice, I cashed it in. He’s with Tank and T-Rex now, along with four of my senior patch with orders not to leave until they’ve both been put to ground.”

Did she hear some hesitation in his voice? A hint of uncertainty. Would Michael really execute two men in cold blood? He might be a dirty cop, maybe blackmailed by Viper, but she’d sensed a streak of decency in him the few times they’d met. He wasn’t a hardened criminal like Viper, soulless and beyond redemption. Even after the Sinners had beaten him for touching her in the bar, she couldn’t imagine him pulling the trigger.

But maybe he had no choice. She’d known Viper owned the police, a few judges, and maybe a senator or two. But if he owned the reporters and the ATF, he was playing at a much higher level. Not even Jagger would be able to stop him now.

“Let her go,” Shaggy said. “She can’t help you. She’s nobody. And you can get yourself a finer piece of tail over at Peeler’s Strip Club.”

“She
can
help me.” Viper pulled Naiya to her feet. “In fact, I can’t do it without her. When Naiya turns twenty-three, she’ll have access to a trust fund containing twenty million dollars. Imagine that. Imagine how many people I could buy with twenty million dollars. I wouldn’t even have to run in the nationwide Black Jack election. I’d just off the National Black Jack president and take his place and no one would be able to do anything about it.”

“Bullshit,” Naiya spat out. “You know my mother was nothing but a drug addict, and my father was one of your Jacks. We had nothing when I was growing up. And my grandmother had nothing either. When I lived with her, we barely had enough money to eat and pay the mortgage.”

“Your mother was definitely a drug addict because I made her that way.” Viper’s lips turned down in mock regret. “I had to keep her around in case your father showed up. The trust could be broken with both their signatures, and if he was a Jack, then that wouldn’t be a problem. And I had to keep you fucking safe, because if you died before you turned twenty-three, the money went to charity. Your grandmother thought of everything when she replaced your mother’s name on the trust with yours.”

Naiya tried to take it all in, but there was only one thing she really cared about. “You know who my father is?”

“Don’t be fucking stupid.” Viper shook her hard. “If I did, I would have hunted him down and made him sign on the dotted line when your mother was alive. I got all the information out of her I could, but it wasn’t enough. His name was Joe Johnson. He hid his identity from her, but she didn’t know why. They had some pathetic love affair and he took off after you were born. Your grandmother was a smart woman. She musta known the deadbeat would never come back so the trust was secure until you turned twenty-three. I had to listen to the fucking sob story so many times I had to gag your damn mother every time she brought it up. She loved him. He left her. He broke her heart. He gave you his fucking ring and left her with nothing. Blah. Blah. Blah. I had a good look at that ring the night I made you mine” He leered and Naiya’s stomach roiled. “Didn’t mean anything to me. But that was a fucking good night. I want to hear you scream like that again.”

Shaggy fisted his hands by his sides and shouted curses, throwing himself forward. Viper frowned and one of his bodyguards slammed the butt of the gun into Shaggy’s head. Shaggy stumbled and went down on one knee.

“No. Stop.” Naiya took a step toward him, and Viper pulled her back.

“He’s nothing. He’s gonna be yet another body for me to bury tonight after our wedding.”

Naiya stared at him aghast. “Our what?”

Viper laughed. “We’re getting married today, love. Then I’m keeping my bride chained to my bed for the next three months until she turns twenty-three, her trust vests, and she transfers all her assets to me as a wedding gift. After all, you’ve been mine since you were fifteen, and I claimed you to protect you and keep all the vultures at bay.”

“You fucking bastard,” Naiya screamed, her body heating with anger. “I’ll never marry you. I’ll never say yes. Never give my consent.”

“Lucky for you I know the mayor of Sandy Lake, and he owes me a favor. He doesn’t need to hear the word yes to solemnize a marriage. He’s the one who helped me trace the source of the money. Did you know your great, great granddaddy invested in the railroads? The stock was handed down through the generations, but your grandmother wanted nothing to do with it. She put it in a trust for your mother, but when she found out your mom had got herself a taste for bikers, she changed the terms of the trust and all the money went to you.”

“I would rather die than give you that money,” Naiya spat out.

“You will die as soon as I have all the funds.” Viper stroked her cheek with a thick finger. “But in the meantime, we’ll have three months to enjoy married life together. Although I suspect, I’ll be the one enjoying it, and you’ll be the one suffering. Just like T-Rex.”

*   *   *

“So what’s the plan?” Holt asked Michael. “You gonna shoot us in cold blood?” He looked over at Tank who had his gaze fixed on Ella. She was definitely a weak link as Tank had silently hinted, but Holt had also picked up on Michael’s hesitation. Michael was a lawman at heart and threatening to kill two innocent men clearly didn’t sit well with him. Maybe he truly was a dirty cop, with only a big payout in mind, but Holt had a feeling there had to be something else that would turn a man of Michael’s character into Viper’s puppet.

“Yup. That’s the plan.” Michael shot a quick glance over his shoulder at Ella. Her eyes widened, and she took a step back.

“Are you serious?” Her voice rose in pitch. “You’re going to kill them? I thought we were supposed to hold them until Viper got here.”

“Change of plans,” Michael said, his voice tight. “Viper’s not coming. He’s got the girl. He texted to say he wants them dead by the time he’s done the wedding ceremony.”

He’s got the girl.
Viper had Naiya. Red sheeted Holt’s vision, and only the risk to Tank kept him from rushing Michael and grabbing the gun.

“You got all those forensic details accounted for?” Holt struggled to remember all the things Naiya had made him do to clean the crime scene at the lake, all the things she’d told him she would be doing in her job. “Like the blood splatter on the floor? You got a silencer for your gun? How are you gonna get our bodies out during the day? And if you don’t, how are you gonna keep the maids out until you do? Don’t bodies decay? If you leave us too long, are we gonna smell? Is Ella gonna clean up the blood on her hands and knees in that pretty white dress. She’ll have some explaining to do if this room is registered in her name. But then, you know all this ‘cause it’s your job. You catch the bad guys, protect citizens, and enforce the law.”

Michael’s gun wavered. “Shut the fuck up.”

“I don’t want to be a part of this,” Ella snapped. “Viper didn’t say anything about killing them or being an accessory to murder. I was supposed to bring James and his friend here. End of story. I’m not going to watch you shoot them. And I’m certainly not going to clean up when you’re done. This is crazy. You’re crazy. You’re a federal agent, Michael. Yes, we both got in a bad situation with Viper, but we’re not killers.”

With their attention focused on each other, neither Michael nor Ella noticed Holt take a small step forward. But Tank did, and he goaded them on.

“He is a killer,” Tank said, bitterly. “Naiya’s gonna die because of him. Once Viper gets what he wants, he’ll have no use for her. What does he want anyway?”

“He wants the twenty million dollar trust that’s in her name,” Michael said. “He’s going to use it to take over the Jacks nationwide. His ambition knows no end.”

Holt dropped one hand behind his back and wrapped his hand around the handle of the knife tucked into the sheath at his belt.

“Now that’s a story,” Tank said, keeping their attention. “Maybe if Ella had been offered a story like that she wouldn’t have made a deal with Viper. What story did he give you?”

“I got an insider look at the club. I got to see inside the clubhouse, interview some of the bikers about their day-to-day activities. No names. No identifying the club. His men talked behind a screen. But he let me in deep and he gave me the scoop on something so big it’s going to rock the White House. It’s Pulitzer Prize–winning stuff.”

“He’ll never let you show it.” Michael gave a derisive snort. “Viper doesn’t give out his secrets. I’ll bet your tapes will disappear or you’ll meet with a gruesome end before it’s ever broadcast.”

Holt pulled the knife along his back, calculating aim and trajectory. Someone was about to meet a gruesome end, and it wasn’t Ella.

“What does he have on you?” Tank asked Michael. “What turns a good cop bad?”

Holt tensed, lifted his forearm.

“He has my boy.”

At the last second, Holt flicked his wrist, causing the knife to veer a few inches above its intended target, embedding itself in Michael’s shoulder instead of his heart. Michael stumbled back, dropped the gun, his face a mask of pain.