Rock Chick 08 Revolution (61 page)

“Hector doesn’t care,” Sadie added. “Then again, he was more worried
about me.” Her eyes wandered the room and she continued quietly as they did,
“But this place, it’s where dreams come true.” She looked to us. “So why
shouldn’t Jane’s come true, too?”

“You got that right, sister,” I replied and Sadie smiled.

The bell over the door went and a couple of customers walked in.

Tex took this as his prompt to shout, “Hello! Empties?”

Jet jumped up.

I reached in, commandeered the laptop touchpad, clicked and looked to
Roxie. “Can we work with that one?”

She smiled. “Absolutely.”

I smiled back, got up and got to work.

In order not to set Tex off, I bided my time and corralled Duke when
Tex had plenty of clean mugs to fill, Jet was not in the bathroom and we were
in a rare lull.

I approached Duke behind the book counter.

“Two shakes?” I asked.

“Got as many shakes as you need, darlin’,” he answered.

I grinned, got close and put my back to the room. “Don’t wanna take you
out of this space and make anyone curious by going into the books but I need
your wisdom. I also need your promise you won’t share anything I say until we
decide it needs to be shared.”

“Won’t say a word, Ally.”

I nodded and got a little closer. Then, as quietly as I could, as fast
as I could but as thorough as I could, I shared the situation with Darius,
Malia and Liam Edward Clark.

When I stopped talking, his eyes were wide and his lips formed the
gravelly words, “Fuckin’ hell.”

“I know,” I agreed.

“Fuckin’ hell,” he repeated.

“I know, Duke,” I replied. “Now what do we do?”

For some reason, he turned his head and looked to the front door. What
he did not do was look back at me.

“Duke?” I called.

That was when he looked back at me to say, “It’s worse than I thought.”

“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled.

“I need time with this,” he told me.

I got that, so I nodded.

“Fuckin’ hell,” Duke repeated.

“Duke—”

He interrupted me. “Would sell my soul to have Joshua back. He’s got a
boy in this town he don’t see?”

Uh-oh.

I got closer. “Duke—”

“No, Ally,” he shook his head, “not angry. Just thinkin’. And I need
time to think more.”

“Okay, I feel you,” I said. “But can I ask you don’t take too much of
it? We’re already way out of the zone where a successful reunion would be
anything but difficult for them. We don’t need to be so out of that zone it’s
an impossibility.”

His gaze grew intense. “No way I’m gonna fuck around thinkin’ on this,
Ally. There are many things in life that are precious. Your child is the top of
that list.”

I pressed my lips together and nodded.

Duke started to walk away, but before he could pass me, I reached out,
grabbed his hand and squeezed.

I let him go just as quickly as I grabbed him and he kept going.

I got back to work, but I found the time to hit the shelves again to
make a call to Jane to let her know at least the girls were cool so she could
come out of hiding. But I got her voicemail so I left a message.

As I was walking out, while I was shoving my phone back in my pocket,
it binged.

I looked at it and saw a text from Lee. I didn’t need to open it as it
was short and the entirety of it fit on the notification.

Team meeting. Office. Two hours.

He had something.

Already.

God, my brother was
good.

Team meeting.

That feeling stole through me again.

Therefore, I was grinning when I went about yet again collecting
empties.

Chapter Thirty

For Me

Ren

Ren Zano hiked the strap of his workout bag more firmly on his shoulder
as he walked from the gym to his Jag while pulling out his ringing phone.

The display said
Santo Calling.

He engaged and put it to his ear. “Santo.”

“Boss, you need to get here.”

Ren stopped at the door to his car and looked at his boots, his gut
twisting.

This was because he gave Santo a job that morning. And that job was
getting into Snookie Rivers’s apartment to have a look around.

“What?” Ren asked.

“You need to see,” Santo replied.

Ren clenched his teeth and beeped his locks.

Pulling open the door and folding in, he asked, “Is he out for a
while?”

“Lucky’s on him. He makes to come home, Lucky’ll give me the heads up.”

“Be there in ten,” Ren stated.

He disconnected and turned on the ignition.

When he hit Ally’s old apartment complex, he saw construction had
already begun on her blasted out unit. There was some structural damage; not
much, mostly the windows blown out and fire damage, but they weren’t wasting
any time fixing it.

He parked, got out, kept his phone in his hand and jogged to the
building, in and up the stairs.

He tapped a knuckle on Rivers’s door and it was immediately opened by
Santo.

Ren didn’t like the look on his face.

“Show me,” he ordered.

Santo got out of the way. Ren entered the apartment, moved aside and
let Santo lead the way. Santo moved down the hall to one of the bedrooms but
stopped at the door and turned to Ren.

“Boss, this is fucked up,” he warned.

Ren looked him in the eyes then moved beyond him and into the room.

Once in, he stopped dead.

Three beats later, he whispered, “Fuckin’ fuck me.”

“You want Lucky to nab him?” Santo asked.

Ren’s eyes moved around the room, his gut no longer twisting. It was
tied in painful knots and it felt like something heavy was pressing on his
chest.

This was because, all around the room, the walls were littered with
pictures of Ally.
Entering her apartment.
Leaving her
apartment. Walking down the hall. In the parking lot walking to her Mustang.
Getting in or out of it.

And more.

Ally in Fortnum’s. Ally at Stella’s gigs. Ally bartending at Brother’s.
Ally at the mall with one or more of the Rock Chicks.

And Ally entering and exiting
his
house. Some from months ago. Some from days ago.

The whole room was covered in Ally.

Every inch.

There were so many pictures, they were several layers deep.

“Boss? Lucky?” Santo prompted and Ren cut his eyes to the man.

“Yes, I fuckin’ want Lucky to nab him,” he growled. “And call Dom.
Now.” He threw out a hand. “And take pictures of this shit. Detailed.”

After he issued his orders, he spent no more time in that space.

He walked right out.

His gut still tied up tight.

His chest now burning.

* * * * *

Ally

I walked into the down room at Nightingale Investigations to see the
gang all there.

Every one of them.

This included Lee, Eddie, Hank, Vance, Mace, Hector, Darius, Matt,
Bobby, Monty, Ike, Jack, Brody and even Luke, who just got back from his
honeymoon with Ava that morning.

Jimmy Marker was also there.

This meant things were not as bad as I thought.

They were worse.

I didn’t call my welcome back,
glad-you-survived-all-that-unadulterated-nookie to Luke.

I just cut my eyes through the men, got a bunch of chin lifts
(seriously?), moved to a weight bench and sat my ass on it.

Lee watched me do it and turned to the team.

“Brief,” he began, his voice terse, indicating things weren’t worse,
they were
worse.
“You all know the
case Ally’s on and you all know about the payments, the players already
uncovered and the note Meena gave to Ally last night.”

No one nodded. They all just kept their eyes on Lee.

After looking around, I followed suit.

“Brody found the trail,” Lee went on. “Cyrus Gibbons’s cellmate in Nebraska has links to
Steiner and the crew here. This morning, Darius tailed Steiner and Bobby tailed
Gibbons to a crew meet. There are five of them. Darius was able to get into
position without bein’ seen to listen in. Their gig is, they got a man on each
of Smithie’s women, and therefore his kids.”

Oh my God.

I closed my eyes.

“Gibbons is on Smithie,” Lee continued and I opened my eyes. “The girls
don’t pay, givin’ their tip takes, they put the hurt on
all
of Smithie’s family. They talk, they put the hurt on
all
of them
.
They don’t give Gibbons what he wants during his private dances,
he puts the hurt on Smithie.”

Seeing as my head was suddenly about to explode at Lee’s words, I had
to let some of the pressure out.

Therefore, I couldn’t stop myself from hissing, “You’re shitting me.”

Lee looked at me. “Ally—”

“He’s raping them at Smithies?” I snapped.

“Forced blowjobs, same thing,” Lee answered, his voice tight.

I surged from my seat, shouting, “You’ve got to be
shitting me!
”

“Ally, cool it,” Hank said quietly.

“
You
cool it. You haven’t
spent your nights working alongside a bunch of girls who’re being violated!” I
shot back.

“This isn’t going on for another day, Ally,” Lee stated. “We’re takin’
them down tonight, all those fuckers. And you got your part in that. I get
you’re pissed. I get why. We’re all pissed. But we got a job to do. You need to
shift that anger to focus, ‘cause you’re a go tonight.”

I was
a go?

What the hell did that mean?

“What?” I asked.

“We have to take them down simultaneously so they don’t have the
opportunity to talk, see or hear the others were taken out and do something
about it, namely put one of Smithie’s women or kids in danger. At the club
tonight, Steiner will be Darius’s. Gibbons, yours.”

“I’m on Gibbons,” Darius stated and I knew why. He was the greater
danger.

Lee looked to him.

“They’re steerin’ clear of Lottie because of her connection with Eddie
and likely the rest of us. This means they know the connection, so he’ll know
you. You enter when Ally’s dancin’ and Gibbons has eyes on her. Steiner will
either have eyes on her or the crowd. You go for Steiner. Ally makes Gibbons
part of the act and she goes for him.” Lee looked at me. “It sucks and it makes
me wanna vomit sayin’ this, but you dance for him. You do it smart. You’ll have
backup, Ally. Luke and Mace are on you. But you gotta disarm him and not get
shot doin’ it.”

Holy shit!

Lee looked like he’d eaten something rotten when he asked, “Can you
keep him occupied to do that?”

I stared at him. I looked to Hank to see a muscle jerk in his cheek. I
looked through the men.

They all had eyes on me.

I looked back at Lee and sat my ass down again, saying, “Absolutely.”

Lee nodded.

“While he’s eyes to you, Darius takes Steiner out, Mace and Luke will
get into position,” he went on. “You just have to get your hand on his gun.
Shoulder holster. His left side. Once you got it, you get the fuck outta the
way. Mace and Luke will move in.”

I nodded.

His voice dropped lower when he said, “You got the feel, Ally. You
demonstrated that at Lincoln’s. If it hits you
it’s goin’ bad, he looks like he’s goin’ for his gun, you get the fuck out.
Mace and Luke will roll in. But I want his ass jacked by a dancer. I want him
disarmed and unmanned by a woman and I want that to have an audience. You with
me?”

Oh, fuck yeah.

I was with him.

When I nodded that time, I was grinning.

Lee studied me. Then he turned to the boys.

“Vance, Bobby, you’re team one. Hector and Matt, team two. Jack and
Monty, team three. Brody will give you the details you need. Jimmy, Hank and
Eddie will sweep up.”

Lee’s eyes were looking at the men he was addressing then he came back
to me.

“After you take yours down, we’re closin’ Smithie’s and you work the
girls. You get them to trust you. You get them to trust us. You get them to
trust the cops. And you get them to make statements and press charges.”

“Copy that,” I replied.

Lee studied me again before he looked back to his men. “You have your
assignments. This happens during Ally’s first dance. Eight fifty-five. Track
your men. Find them. Report in. And the time comes, take them out.”