Kade: Santanas Cuervo MC (4 page)

“How are you going to do that? A guy could die out there in the sun!”

“It’s a problem, but since you work in the air conditioning, I think the person inside and outside can change places every couple of hours. That’ll give the guy out there cooking in the sun a chance to cool off and get something to drink.”

“That’s stupid! It’s a hundred degrees out there! You clearly have no idea of what you are talking about!”

Kade held his temper. She didn’t know them. “You let us worry about that. We’ve been in this part of Texas for thirty years. We know what we’re doing.”

“I’m not going out there to rescue your sorry ass when you keel over from heat stress,” Winter snapped.

Bickers smiled. “I’ll bet you a beer we can survive in the desert better, and longer, than you can.”

She looked at each of the three men in turn. They seemed cool and confident in their abilities. Whether that confidence was earned or misplaced remained to be seen. “Who are you guys?”

Bickers and Anders remained quiet and allowed Kade to handle the subject. “We’re members of the Santanás Cuevro Motorcycle Club. That’s Tom Bickers, my Sergeant at Arms, and Anders Wilton.”

“Satan’s Ravens Motorcycle Club, huh? Are you kidding me?” she snapped. “Does Aunt Gail know who you are?”

“She knows.”

“What
possible
experience can a bunch of Hell’s Angels wannabes have protecting someone?” She was trying to be polite, but it was hard.

Kade bit down on his anger, reminding himself Winter’s questions were legitimate, if a little condescending. “We’ve provided security services for over thirty years, making sure high value merchandise arrives at its destination.”

“What high value merchandise? Drugs?” When none of the men answered, she had her answer. “You’re drug runners?” she cried. “Get out!” she snarled pointing at the door.

“We’ll leave, but we’re still here to guard you. You can either accept that and work with us, or you can make it harder on everyone. It’s your choice.”

“I’m not having a bunch of druggies guarding me! There is no way Aunt Gail knew that when she hired you!”

“She does, and she did,” Kade said softly. “We’re out of that business, and have been for over a year.”

“I don’t believe you!”

Kade shrugged. “You know how to reach her. Ask her yourself.”

She reached for the sat phone and dialed Gail’s private number. “Aunt Gail, Winter. I’m here with the security detail you hired. Did you know they were a motorcycle club and drug runners?” She listened a moment. “They ran
drugs
!” There was another long paused. “I don’t care! I don’t want them here!”

Kade could hear the voice on the phone reading Winter the riot act. “You’d pull me out of the field when I’m so close to proving the software?” Winter frowned. “Fine. Whatever.” She ended the call and tossed the phone back on the table. “Looks like I’m stuck with you.”

Kade nodded. “Now that we have that cleared up, can we work together to make this as painless as possible?”

She sighed. “Looks like I don’t have any choice.”

“Okay,” Kade said. “As I said, two man teams. One close by you, the other out in the field. If you have to go out in the open, we’ll pull the other man so you’ll have two guards. We’ll stay out of your way as much as possible, but you have to understand that you don’t go anywhere without telling us first, okay?”

“Fine.”

Kade nodded. “I’ll take the first watch. Bickers, when you get back to the clubhouse find out who’s available to join me, then get the next watch set up. We’ll work out a schedule tonight.”

Bickers and Anders nodded and rose. “You sure you don’t want me to stay?” Anders asked.

“No. I can cover it until someone gets here.” He turned to Winter. “Do you have a radio or something I can give the guys so they can call when they get to the road? That way we won’t mess up your recording when we come and go.”

She unclipped her radio and handed it to Kade. If she didn’t have any choice, she wanted to minimize the disruptions as much as possible.

“Thank you,” Kade said handing the radio over to Bickers. “Can I get one of those, too?”

“There are some extras in the recorder truck.”

Kade nodded then turned to Bickers. “Make sure whoever you send calls when they reach the gate.”

“I need you to follow me back to the truck before you leave,” she said. “We need to stop sounding so you don’t hose the data again.”

The men nodded. “Winter, I know you don’t want us here, but we’ll work with you as much as possible,” Kade said trying to smooth things over.

“Whatever,” she said, waving her hand dismissively. “Let’s go.”

As the men prepared to ride, Winter got into her Jeep and raced away, throwing dirt everywhere as she spun the wheels. “That could have gone better,” Anders grinned.

“It could be worse,” Bickers snickered. “We could have to be here with her. I don’t envy you having to deal with her until she cools off.”

Kade chuckled. “Thanks, guys,” he growled, but his smile gave away he was taking their teasing as intended. “All we can do is try to stay out of her way while we do our job. It sounds like this is going to be pretty easy if it really was just some crazy old fart shooting at her. I hope so anyway.”

“How are we going to handle the guy out on the parameter? She’s right in that it’s going to be hotter than hell out there,” Anders asked.

“I know. If we got one of the Ghillie Nets we used to camouflage a drop, we can set it up on a stand for some shade, and it’ll be hard to spot. Get a low chair, a cooler full of ice and some drinks, I think we can handle it for a couple of hours at a time, don’t you?”

Bickers bobbed his head as he thought. “If they let us use their truck to run the guy out there and pick him up, it might not be so bad. Do you think you can put together a light frame to hold the net?” he asked Anders.

“Sure. I probably have enough scrap aluminum lying around to do it. I’ll knock that together this afternoon. I’ll give it a really wide and low footprint so the wind won’t knock it over and provide plenty of shade.”

Kade nodded. “Thanks, guys, for handling this. Now that I think about it, just hold off on sending someone back today. No point in frying someone if we don’t have to. If you two can get the outpost setup with what it needs today, I’ll cover this afternoon alone. To start with, let’s run the shifts seven to seven.”

“Where are we going to sleep?” Anders asked.

Bickers leaned over like a hunchback, twisting his hands around each other like an evil henchman. “I know where I want to sleep,” he slurred, then cackled wickedly.

Kade snickered. “Would you stop? Jesus, you act like you never get laid.”

“Well, I certainly don’t get it as often as Anders does.”

Kade snickered again. “Yeah, but who does?”

***

Kade was sitting on the steps leading into the recorder truck in the shade, keeping a watch on the road, when the door hit him in back. He didn’t expect to see anything, and he hadn’t, but from his perch he could see a dust cloud from an approaching vehicle long before it got close, plus it gave him and Winter some space. He rose so the door could open.

“Still here?” Winter asked as she stepped out of the truck.

“We’re not going anyplace, Winter.”

“Well I’m going home for lunch.”

Kade walked around to the passenger side of the Jeep and sat down without saying a word. As Winter drove, the ride to the RV was tense and silent. When they arrived, Winter stepped out of the Jeep and went inside while Kade took up a position outside. A moment later the RV door opened again.

“Aren’t you coming inside?”

“I’m good.”

“Suit yourself,” she said then closed the door. A few minutes later it opened again. “This is stupid. Come inside where it’s cool.”

“Thank you. I didn’t want to intrude,” he said.

She deflated a bit. “I know it’s not your fault you’re here, and you’re just doing your job. I just think it’s a waste of money.”

“And the drugs,” Kade said, getting the elephant out in the room.

“And yeah, the drugs. I don’t approve of what you do.”

“Did,” he corrected as he gave the cat weaving around his legs a quick scratch behind the ears. “We don’t do that anymore, and haven’t in a while.”

She looked at him a moment. “What do you want for lunch?”

“Nothing. Thank you.”

She deflated a little more, feeling a bit like a heel for being such a bitch. “Do you want a turkey or ham sandwich? That’s what I’m having. I can’t have my bodyguard keeling over from lack of food.”

Kade grinned. “Either is fine. I’ll have what you’re having. Thank you.”

“Tell me about this drug business you’re no longer in. What did you do?” she asked as she laid out the bread. “Mustard or mayo?”

“Make mine just like yours. There’s nothing to tell, really. The Santanás Cuervo used to be a mule for the Escorpión Cartel. About eighteen months ago, we got out of the business and are going legit. No more drugs.”

“Why’d you quit?”

“Let’s just say we came to the conclusion that being tied to the drug trade wasn’t in our best long-term interest,” he explained, not wanting to get into all the gruesome details.

“So you just up and quit?”

Kade snorted. “A better way of putting it would be that we were fired, but, yeah, that’s essentially it. That’s fine with me; I never agreed with what we were doing anyway.”

She placed two sandwiches on the table, along with a bag of corn chips and pops. “So why did you do it, then?”

“Because those guys were my friends. I knew what was going on, we all did, but most of us never handled the drugs. There were only about fifty brothers who were actually directly involved, none of who are still in the club.”

“What did you do?”

He finished chewing and swallowed. “I was in charge of logistics. I made sure our guys were in the right place at the right time to pick up and deliver the merchandise. Tom Bickers was the Secretary and handled the money. Anders modified the Cartel’s cars, truck and vans with hidden compartments. We had brothers who worked as lookouts, riding ahead of, and behind, the mules so we avoided, shall we say, legal entanglements. We had a bunch of brothers who had nothing to do with the drugs at all.”

“But you did?”

“Yeah, indirectly. I used my cut to start my own business.”

“You have your own business? Doing what?”

Kade snickered. “Would you believe I own a drilling company?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No. The difference is I’m small and I drill for water.”

Winter looked Kade over. She still wasn’t pleased he was part of a club that ran drugs, but he wasn’t like she imagined a drug runner to be. Except that he rode a motorcycle instead of a horse, and wore a leather vest with a black and red raven on the back, its talons extended and its wings spread wide, she could seem him as a cowboy. He was tall, at least six-two, and well-muscled. His jeans and shirt fit him just right, and she liked his piercing blue eyes, blond hair, and strong cheekbones and chin. She also liked that he carried himself with a quiet confidence, as if he had nothing to prove. She also appreciated that he hadn’t tried to hide what they did, and answered her questions openly and honestly.