member showing up. This was their territory. They might be weak from the loss of members and money, but they had held this territory for a very long time. They had allies.
“Slow down.” The tiny radio in her ear was easily heard. She didn’t like wearing it just in case Lizard spotted it, although with her hair, it might be difficult. She was wearing it down to hide her ears and the radio. Who knew something that powerful could be so small? Mechanic had made them for the team.
“I want Preacher in place in the front and Transporter in the back.” Steele’s voice brooked no argument. He was in charge and if she didn’t do exactly what he said when he said, he’d take her out of there.
She knew him, she knew he’d kill both Lizard and Candy to protect his family. Already she could see what he’d been talking about when he’d told her he would probably hold on too tight. He’d turned into a dictator the moment he’d given in to her. She hadn’t dared to go against him and she wouldn’t. He would pull the plug on the operation immediately, and she wanted to give Candy a chance.
She took a breath and paused, looking down at her phone as if she got a message. There was nothing on that phone. She could type in anything, gibberish, and the Torpedo Ink club would come running. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw an older-looking woman dressed in a miniskirt with her arm around a man’s neck. They walked up to one of the rooms. She pushed her key in the door and the two disappeared inside.
Breezy blinked several times trying to register what she’d seen. She hadn’t recognized the woman, but she was definitely a prostitute. The man was older, but he looked hard, like a biker, but he wasn’t wearing colors. Could this be one of the places the Swords club used their women to bring in money for them? Wherever the new location was—and they often changed it—they would also do drug deals as well as arms deals. This wouldn’t be a trafficking location, all the women would belong to the club.
She stepped back farther into the shadows. “Is this one of the Swords motels?”
“Looks like it, baby. That means get in and get out fast. You don’t want Lizard calling for backup. It would turn into a bloodbath. Consider aborting.”
It would be the intelligent thing to do, but she couldn’t get the sight of Candy taking the hit that would have knocked her son into the water, and probably knocked him out. That blow had been hard enough to break a grown woman’s arm. Candy was a couple of years younger than she was, and Breezy wanted her to have a chance at life the way she had. Steele and the club could help her, set her up in a house, find her a job. They could be friends …
“I have to try to help her, Steele,” she said softly, hoping he understood.
She knew why he was giving her this concession. He didn’t want her to do this. Now that he had Zane, he wanted to get both of them home where he was certain he could keep them safe. He was upset with his reaction when he’d learned that Bridges had hit her every month when she rode with Steele as his old lady. She had seen it on his face when he’d stormed out the door with Savage. He hadn’t been happy with himself and he was trying to make up for it by giving her something he didn’t want, but knew she did.
Her man. Steele. He didn’t realize some things didn’t matter that much to her. She’d been momentarily hurt by his reaction, but after she saw the look on his face and knew he hadn’t liked his reaction any more than she had, it was all right. Breezy had learned, practically from birth, to let things go. If they weren’t big and didn’t threaten to swallow her whole, she dismissed them from her mind. If she really needed to deal with something, she thought about it carefully, formulated a plan and then carried it out.
“Everyone’s in place, Bree.” Steele’s voice was in her ear.
She swallowed down every apprehension and crossed the street. Code was back online. He’d been working on finding the little boy up for auction on the Internet. Running down leads took time, and he’d been staying