Hearts of Iron (6 page)

The sheriff smirked. It wasn’t pretty. “Just a little… business.”

Katie’s stomach lept up to her throat. Lance had said the law was corrupt—but this? Was she wrong to hope for better?

“You run a hospital,” said Deputy Martin. He raised his eyebrows hoping for the idea to click in Katie’s mind.

She remained nonplussed on the outside, hoping she was mistaken. “Um?”

Junior became impatient. “He means drugs, Doc. We can come to some arrangement about drugs.”

Katie’s fight or flight response kicked in and she actually felt herself jolt.

The sheriff looked at her shocked expression, then at his stupid deputies, and grimaced. “Let me do the talking, dimwits.” Then he tilted his head at Katie. “He means you have ingredients we will need to access and you will get a nice increase in some donation fund, or wherever you’d like the profits to end up.”

Katie couldn’t believe her ears. She’d gotten these guys in to
restore
law and order to her beloved Miller, and here they were trying to secure a drugs exchange from its doctor.

Katie’s thoughts were disturbed when several rowdy strangers entered the hall and walked—or rather staggered—up to the bar and demanded more to drink. Dan advised them to move on, to go sleep it off somewhere. One guy grabbed a glass of beer out of another patron’s hand, mid-gulp, and threw it at Dan, screaming, “Get me a fucking whiskey, you son of a bitch.”

The room silenced and Katie was grateful only a handful of people were in the bar besides herself and the law. Dan looked over at the sheriff, who seems uninterested in the commotion and continued to stare at Katie.

“I think that’s your cue, Sheriff.” she said, hoping to prompt him to do his job. Surely, he’d have to at least be a sheriff while ripping people of and selling drugs? “Isn’t it your job to deal with his kind of menace?”

“I say what my job is, and I decide when the law needs enforcing. So, you can either work with us or against us, Doc,” He snarled, becoming even uglier. “Which is it?”

The rowdy strangers moved closer to some single women out for a beer and a dance. One thug said, “Hey slut, fancy some decent cock to ride tonight?” And then he was grabbing his crotch. His mates roared with laughter, clearly enjoying their intimidation.

The women attempted to ignore them, but the drunks just kept on. One of them, tall and red-faced, said, “Hey, come ‘ere. Let me eat your snatch.”

Another, beer gut and sweat patches galore, joined in by flashing a vulgar lizard tongue before saying, “Bet your cunt’s wet for me, huh?”

Dan ground his teeth, staring outside the window, as if hoping for someone to come in who might help. Had he called his volunteers yet? Perhaps not, because while the scum were occupied, Dan picked up his cell phone, clicked a button (speed dial for a guess) and left it on the counter. Then he said, “Hey, come on, fellas. Leave the women alone. They’re not here for trouble. No one wants trouble.”

The law Katie had brought in to help should have stood up and arrested them, or run them out of town. Instead, they drank beer, discussed illegal business deals, and ignored outsiders who intimidated women in front of them. She wanted to be sick, to grab one of their guns and threaten them with it. To run them out of town herself. Most annoyingly, she wanted to blubber like a girl.

CHAPTER NINE

Lance’s hair and beard dripped over his nakedness as he paced after a shower, feeling claustrophobic, thinking too much. Every fiber of his being
needed
something, whether it was the location of the sheriff, a furious word with Katie, or more of Katie’s special brand of fire. All of this meant he couldn’t rest because he’d removed all signs of his blissful afternoon. He missed her smell.

He’d always said “no” to buying a house or apartment. Raised on the road, it was natural to feel reluctant to put money in bricks and mortar. But now that he joint-owned two businesses in Miller, a house seemed a natural progression. But he hated the idea of a big empty house almost as much as he had grown to hate the cramped confines of his trailer.

He kept going over and over what happened that day. Between being taken for a fool by Katie and having the law move in on his home turf while he got royally shafted, he didn’t know what to break first. He’d even pissed off members of his own club, which was a bad move.
They
were his family, not her. What the fuck was he doing allowing a pretty piece of ass to knock him off his course?

Josh called Lance’s contact and found out that Sheriff Clancy had been hired to work in Miller only yesterday, along with three deputies. They were due to arrive sometime either that evening or the following morning.

Had Katie known about this while they were fucking? And, as he now suspected, had they arrived early and that’s who called her before she kicked him out?

Lance checked his watch for the millionth time in the past hour. He decided that as it was after seven, it meant the law would arrive in Miller any time now if they hadn’t already.

He picked up his phone from the bed and pressed a button, and after only a second of ringing, the call was answered. “Josh?” Lance asked.

“Here, Cap.”

“I’m thinking we meet up down at Dan’s bar and see what whispers are going around town. If those pricks show up anywhere, the news will reach there first. Plus, I’m in serious need of a beer and I drank all my Scotch.”

“Funny you should say that, ‘coz I got me a raging thirst after this afternoon’s session with Stephanie.” Josh sniggered, pleased with himself. “I’ll meet you there after I finish up here. Gotta just check the spark plugs on this car. Should be no more than twenty minutes.”

“Tell the others what we’re planning on your way.” Lance hung up. He wasn’t sure the club was too pleased with him, so thought the invite might sound better coming from Josh. Plus, he wasn’t sure anything would pan out until he knew the law had arrived.

The call ended and Lance got on his bike. Something told him he was in for a night of cleaning up Katie’s mess. As pissed as he was with her, though, he couldn’t help but linger on thoughts of her, memories of being inside her, of her face, her touch, her smile. On how tough she was for a little lady, how compassionate she could be, how hungry and dirty she was between his legs.

He revved his Hog and enjoyed the roar of the engine, feeling the call of the ride in his guts. On the road only one minute, he felt the vibration of his cell phone against his chest. It would have to wait.

Hell, if Katie wasn’t so green and stubborn, she’d be damn near perfect.

***

All of the sheriff’s enquires about Miller’s income now made sense to Katie.
Opportunities
. That’s what they wanted. Not to be lawmen, but to make money illegally from good people. She wanted to call Charlie, the hospital security guard. He at least had a gun and was a good negotiator. But she was scared the thugs might hurt him.

They smirked at her, seemingly hiding from the thugs like cowards. Nauseating.

When Dan stepped from behind the bar and the thugs laughed at him, ready for a fight, Katie instinctively stood to distract them, to move the trouble away from Dan and the women, and toward the sheriff. But the sheriff pulled her back onto her seat before anyone noticed.

“Please,” she said, tugging her arm, but she couldn’t free herself. Katie realized she had no control over anything anymore and her stomach clenched. “Okay, I’ll make the deal. Shake on it. Whatever. Just help them.”

“Now she sees sense,” drawled the sheriff.

“I do, just help my friends.” She believed lying was acceptable in some circumstances, but by the look on their faces, they were not convinced.

“Maybe we need more proof.”

“Like what?”

They sniggered, their shoulders bobbing. Katie wanted to smack the smiles from their faces, then heard someone land a punch by the bar. She found Dan on the floor cradling his face while blood oozed from his nose. Katie shrieked, “Do your jobs, damn you!”

The sheriff yanked on Katie’s hair, “Listen, Princess, you think I came here for a miserly sheriff’s wage? To this stinking hole in the middle of nowhere, for a
girl
like you to tell
me
what’s what? Huh! We already negotiated our terms with the outer state officials
before
we took this job. My mistake was involving you. How’s about you go on back to your big house and fancy car and leave us to worry about what’s right and wrong from here on in?”

He released her hair and she rebuked, rubbing her scalp, “Are you kidding me?”

Sheriff gripped her wrist so hard she thought it might snap and whispered menacingly, “I ain’t asking, Princess, and no, I ain’t kidding either.”

People around the bar finally looked toward their booth. Even the thugs glanced over at Katie, scowling. The sheriff put his hand on his holster, making Katie think twice about getting other people involved in her own mess. What with the four guns holstered on the guys sat with her and god knows what on the thugs, Katie wanted to avoid a blood bath.

She nodded in agreement. “I understand Sheriff. I had to be certain you weren’t setting me up for a fall.” She winked, praying to herself that he’d fall for her next trick. Looking at his hand on his gun, she added, “But if you’re going to use that thing against those thugs, please do so as a threat as long as you’re indoors. There are good people in this bar who I don’t want to see die on my table tonight. Plus, I’d hate to lose any of the superb original features in a shootout,” she giggled sadistically. Surely, that would convince them?

The sheriff and his toy-dogs stared at her, then looked at each other, clearly struggling to believe Katie’s turnaround. Perhaps because she was trembling and sweat rolled down the side of her cheek.

Dan sat up, slumped against the bar, pinching the bridge of his nose. The guy with a beer gut rubbed his fist, walked past Dan and strolling toward Katie and the lawmen. Looking at their holstered guns, Katie’s heart raced.

Oh god, save us.

Dan called him back to the bar with promise of a beer just before the thug saw her guests. They jeered; they’d got their own way through intimidation. Katie let go of held breath with a gasp.

So far, no one had died. But something had to happen to change the dynamics of the bar soon, or that would change drastically.

“There, panic over. They’re just simple guys who wanted a beer,” sneered the sheriff. “Now, I say us five move on to something a little darker. If you meant what you said…?” Without waiting for them to agree, Sheriff Clancy yelled out, “Five Jack and Cokes over here, bartender.” His demand, coming from the hidden booth, silenced everyone else in the bar including the thugs.

Do they want blood? What are they doing?

Katie whispered urgently, “Don’t you think Dan’s got enough to cope with over there, without dealing with our order?” They seemed to believe her trick, which might be her chance to help. At the very least, to get away from the so-called lawmen to fetch help. “Let me get our drinks. I’m not above pouring a drink for a colleague.” She flashed her best smile, but the sweat still pooled in her cleavage and her hands were trembling.

While the sheriff considered his answer, Dan called, “Be right over once I’ve served these guys, Sheriff.”

That’s it, the guns are coming out.

But no, Dan frowned at the lack of negative reaction on the drunkards’ faces. Instead they high-fived each other, as if to some unspoken joke.

Why aren’t they leaving? They’re almost celebrating?

Katie thought frantically, hating to admit the only answer: the men came with the Sheriff.

“You know them? They know you?” Her charade crumbled, her disgust impossible to conceal.

“Aw, and I thought you were were gonna be fun to work with for a second,” said Martin.

“You little actress, you,” laughed the Sheriff. “You’ll be safe from any unsavory nonsense
when
we work together. As will everyone else in Miller. We just want fair pay for our protection.”

“We
pay
you
to protect us from
your
thugs?” Katie could barely contain herself. Her life had turned into a horror story.

“There, you get it at last.” Junior’s grimace was sickening, and nausea burned Katie’s throat.

“Well, this little display is just sending that message to Miller folk,” the Sheriff said with a shrug. “You know, so we start off on the right foot.”

“Extortion. A protection racket.” Her stomach rolled. She tried to swallow a little upchuck, but choked on it instead, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Junior snarled, “You know how it is in the real world. You still get the lawmen you wanted. Quite whining.”

She tried to compose herself, watching as one thug went behind the bar, pushing Dan back on the floor, helping himself to several liquor bottles.

“You call yourself lawmen. Look at your friends over there. Money really means that much to you?” Katie scrambled ideas around her head, desperate for one to be her next move. For one to turn back the clock. To eradicate her ridiculous notion that Miller needed a sheriff. 

Deputy Martin sneered. “You little bitch, only people who have always had money are stupid enough to ask that.”

How could she make right her terrible mistake? He told her that lawmen had a habit of turning corrupt, mostly because the government paid them peanuts and criminality paid better. But Katie had naively argued against him.
Without law there is chaos
—her father had taught her that. Was he so wrong?

The tall, spotty stranger approached the booth with a tray of Coke cans and a bottle of Jack Daniels. “Hey, hot stuff, you hiding our sheriff ‘round there?”

“Meet our cute little doctor,” said the sheriff, introducing her to his scum of a colleague. “She’s gonna be our supplier, aren’t you, Princess?”

She couldn’t move, paralyzed by fear and by her own stupidity, but not as much as by the huge weight of responsibility. Her stupid plan hadn’t worked and she had no idea where this nightmare would end for her, or for anyone.

The two single girls tried to make a run for the door while one scumbag was out of the way, but another one found their futile attempt hilarious, dragging them back by their hair to his buddies at the bar.

“Sit on my lap, sugar. I love a feisty whore.”

The women squirmed while the guys grabbed their breasts and lifted their skirts to flash their panties. “Stop, please!” one woman cried, sobbing, falling to the floor.

Her friend picked her up, her chin out. “Come on now, boys. Quit your filth.”

The thugs gaped at her gall.

“That’s all they are, honey—boys.” Clearly, she was the stronger of the two. Or just stupid.

Katie held her breath, fearful at the men’s reaction to the mouthy woman. And she cringed at herself for being so judgmental; she’d never taken the time to learn more about the bikers before deciding they were bad for Miller. Since they arrived, there
had
been less crime, certainly less drugs. Whether that was a coincidence or not, they hadn’t
brought
crime to Miller. Katie had hated their tactics in dealing with bad elements, but they had never acted like these jerks.