White Heat (Lost Kings MC #5) (28 page)

“No,” Wrath says.

“Hell, fucking no,” Z echoes.

“We have to figure out who this witness is.”

“It could be Gabriella.”

“You think so? Tony said she’s being kept at a safehouse.”

The information seems to jolt him. “Fuck, Hope. Why didn’t you say that first?”

I hate feeling like I did something wrong. How am I supposed to know which piece of cryptic information is the nugget of gold they’re waiting for? “Why? Do you know every safehouse in the tri-county area?” I snap back.

Z and Wrath grin at each other and I have the urge to kick both of them in the shins.

“Was it an official safehouse like the police were hiding her or private?” Z questions.

I struggle to remember the way Tony worded it. “I don’t know. He just said a safe house.”

“That’s good, Hope. Thank you.”

“He’s supposed to sniff out a name for me and call back tomorrow. Can we wait that long?”

Wrath gives me a sympathetic pat on the leg. “I don’t think we have a choice.”

Hope doesn’t understand what a great lead she’s given us. And it’s not her place to. Z and I start making our phone calls right after she leaves.

Loco, GSC’s leader and our biggest customer, chuckles at my request. “You think I got knowledge on where they’re hidin’ some Viper mama?”

I don’t know how Rock puts up with this prick. “Or someone in your crew.”

“Yeah, I got a guy. I’ll see what I can find out. It might take me a day or two though. They ain’t gonna be real forthcoming with that type of information.”

No shit.

For once, Loco’s no bullshit when we meet. Maybe he just doesn’t find me as charming to deal with as Rock.

“This is the address,” he says as he hands over a piece of paper.

“They got their safehouse bumped up against Empire?” It’s in the outer fringe of our territory, but still pretty fucking bold.

“Yeah, that’s why I had trouble tracking it down.” He stares at me for a second. “You gonna hurt her?”

“Who?”

“The witness.”

“Fuck no.”

He holds out his hands in a mock calm-down gesture. “All right. I know our two crews don’t always see eye-to-eye, but the shit them fuckin’ Vipers are into makes my stomach turn.”

At least we agree on something. “Anything else you can tell me?”

“They’ll have at least two men on the place. And dogs.”

Great.

“Thanks, man.”

“Anything for you guys. I wanna see Rock beat this shit.” He holds up his hands and pastes a phony smile on his face. “Not that you’re not a pleasure to deal with, Wrath.”

Once we’re back in the war room, Z and I talk over the plan before we bring it to the rest of the club. First, we call Murphy and Teller to the table.

“Murphy, I want you to stay here and protect the girls.” Fucking annoys me. But I trust Murphy. He won’t let anything happen to them.

“You got it.” Christ, I’m so shocked he didn’t throw a bitch fit about staying behind, it takes me a second to continue.

“Teller, your small, stealthy size will come in handy.”

“I’m six foot for fuck’s sake. I ain’t that small, ya cocksucker.”

Z snickers and shakes his head. “You in or not, dick?”

“Of course I am.”

“Good.”

“We should take one more. I vote Dex.”

“Yeah. Bricks can stay here and monitor the cameras.”

The rest of the guys get called in so we can explain the situation and give everyone their assignments. No one argues.

After the room clears out we discuss how we plan to handle it.

“Loco said they got dogs.”

“Great. I don’t want to be killin’ puppies,” Z grumbles.

“I don’t either, but I don’t feel like gettin’ bit. You want to bring some hamburger, be my guest.” I don’t doubt Z will do exactly that.

“We bringing the girl back here?” Teller asks.

“No choice. She needs to recant her story. At the very least, we have to keep her out of sight until trial. When they can’t produce her, they’ll have to cut Rock loose. But if we can get her to go in and recant it will be better.”

Murphy’s face scrunches up. “How the fuck we gonna do that?”

“We don’t know they got her there willingly, bro,” Z reminds us. “She might be thrilled.”

“True. Hope said she’ll take care of the legal side since Glassman can’t be the one to bring her in to recant,” I agree.

We haven’t had time to do a proper assessment of the house so Murphy’s next question isn’t unwarranted. “Tonight’s the best night?”

“Yeah. They’ve been moving her around and Loco wasn’t sure how much longer she’d be at this spot.”

Now it’s time to get to the important stuff and the irony is I wish Rock was here for this part. “This is a small neighborhood. Houses are tight together.”

“Suppressors?” Z asks.

“Sparrows, .22, and the CCI mini-mac ammo. We’ll wet them on site.”

“You don’t want the CCI quiet?” Teller asks.

“No. It won’t cycle and if shit goes bad quick, I’d rather risk a few decibels of noise than the few seconds it takes to manually cycle the ammo.”

Teller nods, still looking a little unsure. But he’s not the one who’s spent hours at the range testing these combinations out. I am, so he’ll follow my orders. Rock’s spent a lot of time going through those tests with me, so he’d probably take more time to explain than I feel like doing.

“Bring whatever backup you want. If we need it, then sound’s gonna be the least of our worries.”

I have to give Trinity some explanation before we leave. Hope knows we plan to find the witness, she just doesn’t know we’re doing it tonight.

“I’ll call you when we’re on our way back, angel.”

“Okay.” She reaches up and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Please be careful.”

I catch her in my arms for a longer kiss. “Hey. Nothing I want more than to come home to my girl.”

Her lips pull into a soft smile. “Good.”

Even though it’s outside King’s territory, we know the area well. The fact that Vipers feel comfortable stashing the witness responsible for our president being in jail this close to our turf pisses me the fuck off. It’s one giant middle finger pointed in our direction.

We park the two vehicles on the street behind the address we were given. Z and Dex get out of their truck and jog over to mine, sliding in the back seat.

“Teller, you’re the least scary, so you come with me to find the girl. Dex and Z keep watch. There should only be two guys guarding the place, but you never know.”

Z hands out the Sparrow suppressors, then passes around a small spray bottle. “Five sprays,” he reminds everyone. Once that’s done, we thread the Sparrows onto Walther P22 handguns. Not my first choice of weapon, but for this situation, it’s our best option.

I’m already sweating like a motherfucker and we haven’t even stepped outside. The long sleeve plain cotton shirt and black tactical pants aren’t helping matters. Fucking summer humidity is brutal even at night.

“I want to be in and out in ten minutes. No telling how often they check in.”

When we’ve each got our weapons ready, we step outside. Z and Dex jog down the alley opposite of the one Teller and I take.

Climbing the chain-link surrounding the backyard without making a ton of racket will be impossible. There’re also a shit-ton of thick bushes growing into the fence. “Fuck.”

Z’s found a weak spot on his side and motions us over while Dex bends it back.

Z points above us to the camera he disabled and holds up two fingers signaling there are two other cameras on the property.

There’re no lights downstairs, but that doesn’t mean anything.

Teller picks the lock on the back door and as soon as it swings open two dogs charge us. No make that two
puppies
charge us.

And then lick Z’s hand.

“Great watch dogs,” Dex snarks.

Unfortunately one of the Vipers must have been paying attention to what the dogs were up to and rounds the corner.

“Oh, f—” is all he gets out before Dex shoots him. The Sparrow’s doing its job but there’s still a distinctive cracking sound from each blast as he empties the magazine. Not to mention the thump of the fat fucker hitting the ground.

“I think you got him,” I mutter.

Dex smirks as he ejects the spent magazine and slaps in a fresh one. “You’re the one who wanted to use .22 ammo.”

Viper number two comes around the corner. God damn, these guys have no sense of self-preservation what-so-fucking-ever. Your buddy just took a bullet to the chest, you don’t come barreling around the corner. But that’s exactly what this asshole does.

Z takes care of him.

Two down.

There
shouldn’t
be anymore.

A scream comes from somewhere deeper in the house.

I signal for the guys to follow me. When we determine the living room’s clear, I motion for Z and Dex to stay and keep the two entrances covered.

More screams. Not television. A girl.

Teller and I look at each other and nod before creeping down the dark hallway.

“Please, please, please don’t. Don’t. No. No. No.” The girl’s cries keep getting more hysterical.

We check each of the two rooms we pass. Empty. The sounds are definitely coming from a room at the end of the hallway.

“Shut the fuck up.” A man’s voice drowns out the girl’s pleading. Then the definite sound of flesh hitting flesh.

No. Hell fucking no.

I know better than to go in blind, but I can’t stand the thought of whatever’s happening on the other side of the door.

My foot smashes it open and Teller follows me inside.

A fat, white, flabby ass greets us. The girl he’s on top of is still struggling and kicking. Before I even know what I’m doing, my hand’s around his neck and I’m throwing him to the ground.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Shut up,” I growl at him.

Teller throws a blanket over the girl and works to untie her wrists.

I point at her. “Mariella?”
Please tell me we have the right chick.

Her lower lip trembles and her gaze keeps bouncing between me and Teller. Wondering if she’s gone from one nightmare straight into another I’m sure. “Yes.” Her cheeks are red from whatever smackdown we interrupted. Bruises aren’t far behind. “Thank you.”

Teller backs away from the bed and kicks the guy back into a sitting position.

“You with him?” I ask her.

She shakes her head vigorously.

“How old are you?”

The guy tries to get up again. “She’s legal. I paid my hour and barely got—”

“You need to learn no means no, motherfucker,” Teller growls before putting two bullets in the guy’s throat.

“Did you have to be so messy?” I ask,

“Hey, you got me using this quiet ammo, wanted to make sure it didn’t bounce off his thick skull.”

Mariella has her head bowed, as if she’s hoping to fade into the wall and we’ll forget her existence.

“Grab some clothes. We need to go,” I say to her.

She looks to Teller.

Can’t blame her.

“They took my clothes,” she whispers.

Jesus Christ.

Z and Dex stop outside the room.

“We gotta go, brother,” Dex says.

“Go look for some clothes for her.”

“On it,” Dex answers as he takes off.

Mariella squeals like an unhappy kitten when she spots Z. “Please don’t hurt me. They made me do it. Don’t——”

“We’re not here to hurt you,” Z says in the softest voice I’ve ever heard him use.

I smirk at Z. “Guess she recognizes you.”

Dex returns with a handful of clothes and tosses them to the girl. She scrambles into them and moves between me and Teller. Poor girl’s trembling all over. Finally she glances up at Teller. “Please don’t leave the dogs. They’ll kill them.”

“Already covered, sweetheart,” Z reassures her. “Let’s get you out of here.”

We haven't even cleared the bedroom doorway when shots ring out. The four of us hit the ground, Mariella’s tucked up so tight against Teller, she goes down with him. With the noise and explosion of glass and drywall all around us, it takes a second to realize the shots are coming from outside. Automatic fire.

Drive by.

For us? Or for the Vipers?

Doesn’t really matter, I guess.

“Good call, on the .22s, dick,” Teller snaps as he digs his nine mil out of the holster at the small of his back. My G29, which had been resting comfortably in the holster inside my waistband, ended up in my hands on my way down to the floor. Reflex.

“What, no cannon?” Z snarks at me.

One shut-the-fuck-up-and-pay-attention face works wonders on both of them.

The shots stop, but none of us move, which is a good thing because they start up again five seconds later. They’re coming from the front of the house and feel a hell of a lot closer than the first round.

Mariella tugs on my arm and points around the corner. “There’s a window in the back bedroom we can get out of. The back yard’s concealed.”

It’s easier for the five of us to inch our way into the back bedroom than it will be for us to go back the way we came. I nod at Dex and he leads the way.

We close the door behind us, muffling some of the shooting.