War-N-Wit, Inc. - The Coven (War-N-Wit, Inc. - Book 3) (8 page)

“What’s her name?”

“Whose name?”

“The woman who didn’t recognize you in the jazz club last night.
Yes, she did. You recognized her, too.”

“Baby girl, I told you I didn’t.”

I cocked my head and speared him with a stare.

“I know what you told me.
And you disappoint me. Your first outright lie. Had to happen sometime, of course. It’s just I never really believed you would. Flat-out lie to me.”

“Baby girl—”

“Drop it if you don’t want a full out throw-down right here and right now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I looked back at Spike and Stacy, still in earnest conversation with thin air. I caught a movement back in the tall grass just off the shoulder.

“Oh,
shit
!”

“What?”

“Look in the grass behind them. Wait a minute—
there
!” A flash of black tore through the grass and back into the trees. “Micah. Hell. Now we’re really in trouble.”

“Honey, I told you, that’s
not
Micah.”

“I know
what you told me. You told me it wasn’t Micah in Savannah, either, and look how
that
turned out!” I whipped out my cell phone and hit Buddy’s number back at Pine Whisper.

“Buddy?
Hey!”

“Miss Ariel, you ain’t got nothin’ better to do in Daytona than call and check up on an ol’ man?”

“Stop that, you’re not an ol’ man. Don’t know what we’d do without you. Just wanted to check on the animals. Thor miss us?”

“’Course he does, you know better’n that.
‘Bout kicked me off my own bed last night, he was sleepin’ real restless. But he’s fine. Listenin’ to your voice now, got his head anglin’ toward the phone.”

“Hey, baby!
We’ll be home soon, you be good for Buddy, okay? Buddy, when’s the last time you know for a fact you saw Micah?”

“Micah?”

“Micah. You know. My cat. The big black one.”

“Wellll—you pin me down to it, I guess—last time I’m certain sure is about five minutes after y’all pulled out and hit the road.”

“You didn’t see him eat supper with the other cats?”

“That cat’s a law unto his own self, Miss Ariel, you know that.
I put some food on the deck for him, too, but he hadn’t eaten it as of this mornin’.”

“Figures.
Do me a favor and call me if you see him, okay?”

“Okay.
But you know he comes and goes as he pleases, he’s fine. That big boy can take care of himself, you don’t need to worry about him.”

“Oh, I know.
I’m just trying to keep an eye out for what else he’s planning to take care of.”

“Ma’am?”

“Don’t mind me, Buddy. Give Thor an extra chew bone tonight.”

“Sure thing. Y’all have fun and be careful.”

“Thanks. See you soon.” I hung up and turned back to Chad. “Guess you heard all that.” Buddy’s wasn’t the quietest voice on the planet.

“Yeah, but Micah could be anywhere on Pine Whisper. He only stays around the house when you’re there.”

“That’s because when I’m not there, he’s staying around where I actually am.”

“He’s not—”

“Savannah.”

“Got a point.
Guess the conference is over, here comes the Ghost Squad.”

The Ghost Squad walked across the highway and joined us.
Spike looked more than a little shell-shocked. I sympathized. Realizing one was a “person of power” wasn’t the most calming experience of one’s life.

Stacy took the lead.

“His name’s—”

“Blake Stanton,” Chad said.

“Yes. And he’s your—”

“Missing in action undercover rider with
the Dark Rulers.”

“Didn’t think that’
d surprise you.”

“
Dark Rulers?” I raised my eyebrow. “Funny. That was the name on the jackets last night, those folks you didn’t recognize who didn’t recognize you. Don’t suppose you’d care to share the name of the gang
you
rode undercover with all those years ago? And of course it couldn’t
possibly
have been the Dark Rulers.”

“You’re being sarcastic, aren’t you?” my husband asked.

“So glad you recognized that, I was sure as hell trying hard enough.”

Stacy glanced back and forth betwe
en us, surprised at the tension. Spike reached down and took Stacy’s hand. I was pretty sure he didn’t even know he’d done it. I was equally sure she didn’t realize she’d tightened her fingers around his. The crimson aura around them danced and pulsed.

“So what do you want to do now, Magic Man?” Spiked asked.

“What does our friendly ghost want?”

“He wants
the job finished. He wants the Dark Rulers taken down. And he wants his colors buried. His real ones, that is. Left ‘em with the club. He’s a DragonHawk out of Washington state. I mean, in his real life, not his undercover. Told him I’d call his club, at least we can do that much for him.”

“Poor bastard came a long way from home to die.” Chad’s eyes had that cold, far-away look they always had on the hunt.
“And you can’t take the Dark Rulers out. You can chop ‘em down, at least the big boys. Over and over again. Just like you can with the other gangs, with the cartels. With any organized crime. Don’t matter. Don’t mean a damn. They just—come back. With new big boys. Sometimes even with the ones you already took down.”

“Yeah.”

“Well,” I said, “we can make sure he gets buried, can’t we? Him, I mean, not just his colors. Surely he told you where his body is?”

Spike and Chad grimaced.

“Welllll—” Spike started and hesitated. “Thing is—”

Chad took over.
“The thing is, he’s not buried. Exactly. Is he?”

“No. He’s in
pieces. In the swamps by the Loop. Or he was. At first.”

“At first?”

“Baby girl. This is gator country.”

“Oh. I see.”

“I was afraid you would.”

“So what now?”

“Now,” Chad chewed the inside of his lip a bit. I’d never seen him do that. “Now I think I need to do some cruising up and down Main Street. By myself. I think you girls need to have a leisurely afternoon. Work on your tans out by the pool. Walk the beach.”

“And where would I fit into this peaceful little scenario?” asked Spike.

“You stay with the girls, make sure they don’t get mistaken for Spring Break girls. Keep the predators at bay.”

Fury coiled within and threatened to erupt from my skull. I wasn’t the only one.
Spike exploded.

“
Fuck that shit, man. When hell freezes over. You’re not fooling anybody, Magic Man. You’re going cruising for Dark Rulers. Who already know you’re here! Don’t you give me that look, Ariel says they recognized you, then they recognized you, guess you’re not as different now as you thought you were. And you wanta go by yourself because you don’t wanta pull the respectable doctor into it! You think I’ve lost it, Chad? Can’t handle myself anymore?
Shiiit
. You don’t remember how I turned into
Spike
? Okay, you’ve saved my ass more than once. But I’ve saved yours a few times, too. You’re not cruising Main Street alone. Are we clear on this?”

“The girls—”

“
Definitely
do
not
need to be with us while we’re hunting. But they don’t need a babysitter at the pool, either! Damn, Chad, give ‘em some credit! They’re not little girls.”

As one, Stacy and I raised on our tippy-toes and kissed Spike on opposite cheeks. “Thanks for noticin
’,” Stacy said. “But since it’s established we’re not little girls, why can’t we go with—”

“Because you’d
put us all at risk, honey,” Spike said.

“Spike,
damn it—
”

“Chad. Don’t insult their intelligence. Tell ‘em the truth.”

“He doesn’t have to.” I took over from Stacy. “Like you said, don’t insult our intelligence. They see us with you, we’re targets. Weak links. They saw us last night, but we coulda just been pick-ups. They see us with you today, that’d make us targets for sure. And y’all need to be concentrating on them, not us. We’ll stay at the hotel.”

“Thank you. For not arguing.”

“One condition.”

“Knew it was too good to be true.”

I whipped my phone back out. “Give me a contact number.”

“A contact number?”

“The agency. Whatever agency it is. For backup.”

“I can’t—”

“Sure you can. And you will.”

Chapter
Eight

Stacy and I hopped off the Intimidator and the Dark Angel as soon as they roared back into the hotel parking lot.

“Go!” I shouted over the revving engines and waved them off.

“You’re sure you’ll be okay?” Chad shouted back.

I answered with my Medusa stare.

“Okaaaay then,” he shouted. “No need to get nasty about it.”

I felt nasty and I was glad. Because guess what? Rage blocked the mind connection. He couldn’t read me. And man, was he pissed. I could feel his frustration every time he hit the brick wall around my thoughts. Usually it took effort to block the other out. Not this time. And even better, I could still read him. Not because he wasn’t trying to block me out. Oh yeah, he was trying. To a certain extent, it worked. But not completely. He was too fragmented. Too many emotions, too many memories, raced through his brain to block me out entirely.

Apparently they didn’t plan to pull out until they saw us head to the room, so I headed for the room. I cleared the steps onto the second floor
before I saw them back out on the open road, headed into town. Stacy already had her cell phone out with the search engine in full search mode.

“I’m thinking taxi,” she said.
“Parking’s gonna be a bitch if we rent a car. Whatcha’ think?”

“I think you’re a genius.”

* * *

Following instructions, the taxi pulled to a halt at the
start of Main Street.

“Are you sure this is okay?” the driver asked. “I can get you further down the street.”

I looked at the parade of bikes moving maybe a tenth of a mile an hour, at the sidewalks and the bikes parked cheek-by-jowl.

“Thanks, this is fine.” I handed over the
fare with a generous tip and we hopped out and started walking down the sidewalk.

“Okay, what now?”

“Don’t know. Exactly. But I will. Be on the look-out.”

“For them?”

“For Micah.”

“The cat?”

“Yeah.”

“You know you could find out exactly where they are. You just have to connect to Chad, I know damn well you’re blocking him.”

“Yep. Damn sure am. And he’s trying to block me but it ain’t workin’ real good. Got too much on his mind. But it’s working enough that I’m not reading him clear. Why don’t you see if you can connect to Spike? He’s so rattled by all this he’d either not notice or not believe it, think it was his imagination.”

“Me? Connect with Spike? Why the hell you think I could do that?”

“Oh,
puleeezzeee
!! Don’t even go there.”

Her face reddened and she side-stepped neatly.
“Why are you so mad at Chad? This past undercover thing—it was way before you ever met.”

“Because he
lied
to me. To my face. Last night and today. He recognized those bikers. The Dark Rulers. Last night in the club. And he knew damn well they recognized him. We should have been back on the road this morning, headin’ home. Which we still could have done even after y’all’s little visit with the ghost biker.
Especially
after y’all’s little visit with the ghost biker. I didn’t even bother to suggest it, knew he wouldn’t consider it. Oh, no, brother biker’s dead, he’s chargin’ right on into the Dark Rulers, knowing damn well they’re on the look-out for him. Gotta have justice, though. Even if it kills him. Which this time, it just might.”

“And you really think your cat’s goin’ to show up?”

“My cat’s
already
shown up. And he’ll show up again. So be on the lookout. Now try and see where Spike is.”

“I can’t—”

“Bullshit. There’s an actual
highway
running between the two of you, for God’s sakes. Started out pale pink. Been crimson since last night. It actually
pulses
when y’all look at each other. ”