Riding Danger (BBW Biker Romance) (3 page)

Dialing, he waited until Ron picked up. “Brother, we have a problem and I need you to get the word out on the street, but I need you to be discreet about it.” He waited a moment, trying to decide exactly how this was going to go. Finally, he told his buddy, “I need you to put out the word that there’s a price on Jace’s head. The man who brings him in gets $250,000, cash, no questions asked.”

That ought to take care of the son of a bitch.

* * *

J
ace looked up, eyes narrowed, at the two suits who came into his hospital room uninvited. “Can I help you?” he asked, eyes dark with anger. He knew instantly that they were either Feds or cops.

“That depends, Mr. Dawson. I’m Agent Morris and this is Agent Resner. We have some questions we’d like to ask you, and I’m really hoping you’ll cooperate and make this easy.”

“What agency are you with?” Jace asked, his suspicions rising. He wanted to see some identification. For all he knew, these were just clean-cut members of some rival biker club, coming to set him up and take him out while he lay there, practically helpless.

Agent Resner pulled out a badge. “We’re ATF, Jace.”

Fuck.

Somewhere in his brain it registered. ATF must have been watching the operation for months now. Jace’s gaze landed on the door and he wondered if he could make a run for it, but he knew better. Instead, he looked cautiously at the men that stood before him, wondering how the hell he could get what he needed from them.

“Look, we’re not accusing you of anything except for being a pawn in someone else’s game. Jace, we know there are a lot of guns being transported. When the word came in that you’d been shot, we were hoping that you’d be willing to help us.”

Fucking great
, Jace thought. Now he had federal agents with implications that could put him in prison for the rest of his natural born life, and if he ended up there, he’d end up dead. Until the gun-running operation, he’d never had any kind of real trouble in his life outside of the occasional bar fight. This was not his doing, but he needed to feel them out and see what kind of offer or deal they were willing to make in exchange for information.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Agent Morris moved closer. “We’ve got a lead on a couple of guys who drove up from the coast with a shipment that was never logged at the docks, Jace. It ended up here, in the city, in the warehouse district off Northwest highway today. It seems your drive-by shooting report occurred right about that time, in that same area.” His brows furrowed. “That seems like quite the coincidence, doesn’t it?”

It wasn’t a question.  The agents knew everything. They just needed someone to confirm it on the record.

Before Jace could reply, there was a knock at the door and two people, a man and a woman, entered quickly. Jace looked up, confused. They were obviously locals, which meant they were DPD. The woman looked irate whereas the man, a Latino, looked stressed and exasperated.

“Excuse me, gentlemen, I’m not sure who you are or why you’re here, but we’ve been called in to question a victim of a gunshot wound,” the woman told them, flashing a badge, “so we’re going to have to ask you to leave.”

Agent Resner looked amused at the interruption, and neither of them seemed the least bit surprised by the territorial claim. This was going to get hairy quickly.

“This is a federal matter, which puts it in our jurisdiction.” Agent Morris replied, pulling out his badge. Jace watched the female cop’s eyes flash angrily. “Your business with Mr. Dawson will have to wait.”

The woman crossed her arms over her chest, and Jace didn’t miss the way the Latino stepped forward, interrupting before she could explode in what would likely be a fire hot enough to burn its way through the floor.

“We weren’t made aware of any federal cases related to this shooting, agents.” He held out a hand in an attempt at a friendly greeting, sending his partner a sidelong warning glance. “I’m Sergeant Alvarez and this is Lieutenant Hargrove. As far as we know, this incident was reported as a drive-by shooting, and unless Mr. Dawson provides any information that leads us to believe otherwise, we’ll need to handle this on our end for now, and then you can talk to him.”

Morris opened his mouth to speak, but Resner held up a hand to stop him. “We understand you have a job to do. At the same time, we’ve got our own questions for Mr. Dawson, and I’m afraid we can’t just walk out of here until we have some answers.” He turned to Jace, who lay silent, feeling his blood pressure rising as his pulse throbbed in his temples. “I’m sure Mr. Dawson will be more than willing to cooperate.”

––––––––

O
utside the room, Piper’s heart raced. This was far more complicated and dangerous than she could have imagined.  What kind of man was this Mr. Dawson? Would he put her staff in danger? And why were these people badgering him when he was barely out of surgery? Squaring her shoulders, determined to get answers, she took a deep breath before opening the door to Jace’s room.

All eyes turned to her, all of which looked angry and ready for a confrontation.

“I know you all have business to attend to, but my patient is in recovery and his blood pressure is very high right now. I’m going to have to insist that you all leave this room. You can come back tomorrow when he’s had time to heal. Right now, he’s in no position to be questioned.” She moved toward Jace’s bed, avoiding his gaze.

Turning toward the agents, she motioned toward the door. “Please. It’s time to go.”

Piper waited patiently for the group to leave the room, staring them down until they were gone. Her shoulders slumping with relief, her anger took over the remaining fear.

“Alright, no more lies. I want to know why the hell everyone wants to question you and whether my staff and I have reason to be concerned.” She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him, waiting for an explanation. Whether she was out of line or not, she wanted answers.

“I don’t know what is going on here, but I don’t want my staff in danger. I have a right to know what is happening in my hospital, Mr. Dawson.”

Jace was impressed yet surprised at the little spitfire who made his whole body burn with the heat that swirled in her eyes, a mixture of what looked like anger and passion. He found himself wanting to tell her everything – or at least, most of it – and hated that he felt anything resembling weakness toward her. But he also knew it would do him no good to lie to her.

Treading carefully, he began. “The locals were here because apparently, any time someone comes in with a bullet wound, your emergency room has to notify them.” She nodded with an impatient look, obviously aware of protocol. Taking a deep breath, he continued, “The other guys were looking for information on a gun-running operation that I tried to break up today.”

Piper’s eyes grew wide and she found herself sputtering. “Gun-running operation?”

Jace winced, his smoky grey eyes looking directly into hers. “Yeah. My club is in serious trouble. Our President allowed greed to cloud his judgment and now everything is messed up.”

She watched him carefully, her hands on her hips, and he shifted, not from the discomfort of her stare but from the way she affected him physically, their eyes tangling together. “They’re with the ATF - Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. They’re just following up on a tip they got regarding a gun smuggling organization in the area. They know my club is involved, they just can’t prove it. That’s why they want me to roll on them.”

Trying to process everything, Piper could only nod, disappointment clouding her eyes.

“Are you going to help them?”

“I’m really not sure. I have to think things through. Besides, it’s not like I had time to even talk to them with you barging in like you did.” He grinned up at her, all teeth, his voice so rough and sexy that Piper felt her knees weaken.

“You didn’t seem to know what you were doing and I wanted answers before they got a warrant for your arrest and you were taken in. I needed to make sure that your club...those kind of men wouldn’t show up here looking for you.” As soon as she said that, she knew she’d made a mistake, and she bit her lip to keep from saying anything else.

But it was too late, and Jace was intrigued. “You were listening in.” He motioned to his leather coat, slung over a chair off to the side. “You think because I’m a biker that I’m a criminal?” ‘Those kind of men’, as you say...they are like family to me. Most of them are good guys who just want to support their families, take care of their businesses.” His voice was a deep growl, and she felt herself tremble from both his intensity and how incredibly sexy he was.

But she had no way to answer him. When she had seen him for the first time, she figured he probably was a low-life hustler, and yet she was intensely attracted to him. Even when she’d dated, she had never gone for the bad boy type, and Jace Dawson was completely off the scale when it came to dangerous. But he had some sort of magnetic draw, a genuine charisma that drew her in like no one ever had before. And it terrified her.

“We don’t get federal agents in here very often, and I’m responsible for a staff of nurses up here. If something bad is potentially on the horizon, like something that could erupt in a shooting match on my floor, I’d like the chance to stop it from happening.”

“Yeah, I get it.” Jace replied sharply, trying to keep the mirth out of his voice. “Look, I can’t stay here. When word gets out that agents showed up here looking to talk to me, every club including my own will come looking for me. How long before the doc releases me?”

Almost able to taste her own fear, Piper shivered. “We usually keep gunshot wound patients overnight just to make sure there’s no internal bleeding.”

“I can’t stay overnight.” Jace replied with far more calm than he felt.

“You really should work with the ATF agents.” It was a simple statement, she knew, and despite the fact that it sounded like the right thing to do, she knew it wasn’t that easy.

He started to answer her, but Donnie walked into the room and Jace’s lips tightened, confusion taking over, his gaze narrowing.

“Hey, Jace.”

“How did you know I was here?” Jace questioned.

“One of the Angels told my cousin that he hit one of our guys this morning, and I knew it had to be you. I knew that this is the only hospital you’d come to.” He moved closer to the bed, cutting his eyes toward Piper suspiciously, who stood trembling in fear. “We gotta talk, Jace.”

Jace met Piper’s gaze and nodded. “She’s okay. She already got the law off my ass, for the moment anyway.”

“It’s not the law I’m worried about,” Donnie told him, real fear in his eyes. “You’ve got bigger problems right now.”

Frowning, Jace knew exactly what he meant. “I’m assuming you aren’t referring to the ones who shot me.”

Again, Donnie shook his head. “Your problems are closer to home, if you know what I mean.”

Piper followed the exchange but didn’t understand. What could be worse than having federal agents and angry members of rival motorcycle clubs chasing after you?

Donnie looked like he was going to fall apart, his voice low and gruff. “Word has it Alec got a pretty heavy phone call that pissed him off, with his source threatening to kill the deal because of you. He called for a price on your head, Jace. We’re talking six figures, brother. He’s not fucking around.”

“Fuck.”  The growl in his voice wasn’t fear. It was a reflection of the hard strike of betrayal he felt tightening his chest, clawing at his heart. He nodded to Donnie. “Thanks, brother.”

“What does this mean?” Piper’s voice was strained.

“It means that I can’t stay here. Others will hear about this and they’ll come looking for me. With a price on my head, everyone will be out for blood.”

Jace turned to Donnie, and his lips parted as though to speak, but no words came out.

“Just me, brother.”

Jace nodded. Donnie knew exactly what he had been thinking. He only had Donnie left on his side - no one else could be trusted.

Donnie breathed out a deep sigh. “You gotta get out of here, Jace. You gotta disappear for awhile...until things cool down.” His voice held a note of warning.

Jace nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I know. Thanks, man. How long you think I got?”

Donnie shrugged. “Couple of hours.”

The word was spreading fast. He was sure there was someone on the inside besides Alec who’d sent the Angels after him and who knew this was all about to go crazy. He couldn’t trust anyone in his own motorcycle club. Men he’d known for more than a decade were suddenly strangers, people he had to be wary of.

“Spread the word that I’m going home in the morning...that I’m still in surgery. That’ll give me time to get out of here and get a head start.”

Donnie nodded and reached out to pat Jace on the leg. “Take care, brother.” He left the room, closing the door behind him.

Piper rushed to Jace’s side, panic edging past logic. “You can’t leave. Your injuries...you can’t leave like this.”

“I don’t have a choice.  If I stay, I’m as good as dead anyway.” Jace tried to sit up, and the shooting pain in his side gave him a warning of what it would feel like when the pain meds that dripped through the IV finally wore off.

Piper understood, and the words spilled from her lips before she could stop them. “Then let me take care of you. I have an apartment not far from here. You can stay there for a few days.”

“That’s not a good idea.” Jace knew just how much danger he’d be putting her in, and there was no way he was dragging an innocent woman into this mess.

“If you go on the run before you’re fully healed, you could end up dead.” Piper’s voice was steady and she was surprised at just how serious she was.

Jace shook his head but noticed the flicker in her gaze. “I won’t put you in danger. You don’t even know me.”

“I know that you’re hurt, that you have to recover, and that you just want to end all of this...right?”

He couldn’t believe that this woman cared so much, that she would be willing to risk so much for a complete stranger.