little more club business tonight. I want you to go with Breezy and a couple of the others to the clubhouse and wait for me. Then we can head home. This shouldn’t take long.” He kissed her throat again and then each breast and her belly button before adding several kisses to the little curls of fire on her mound.
“I’m going to try to get my legs under me and then under you. We can help each other to the bathroom. I’m sure we can make it.”
She laughed and the sound added to that light feeling that seemed to be growing inside of him. She’d given him that and he was smart enough to want to keep it.
The roar of pipes was loud, announcing their visitors long before they turned off Highway 1 into Caspar. Instantly, Torpedo Ink was all business. They already knew the drill, each member going to their designated spot. They spread out. Up on the roof of the apartments above the bar, across the street to some of the rooftops of the businesses, rifles ready. Some in the parking lot where the bikes were.
The Diamondbacks came in, six of them, riding their Harleys and confident in their colors. They parked their bikes in front of the bar and came straight to Steele, who was waiting for them out in the open, with Maestro and Keys on either side of him. Absinthe and Destroyer had taken up residence on the stairs behind and just to the side of their vice president and his two guards. In the shadows, nearly impossible to see, but clearly there, again, boxing the six Diamondbacks in, were Mechanic and Ink.
Czar had specifically chosen Destroyer to be out in the open because he knew it would throw off Plank and whoever he sent not knowing the new Torpedo Ink member, and they needed Mechanic to ensure the Diamondback cameras weren’t working on their phones. Even if they were, they wouldn’t get much in the way of damning evidence.
Pierce led the others. Absinthe recognized a few. Judge, one of Plank’s closest friends. Another called Trade, who always seemed to be near Pierce. The others he’d seen before but didn’t really know well.
“Steele,” Pierce said and let his gaze shift around the entire area. “Looks like you have things well under control.” He let his gaze rest on Destroyer for a moment. “You have something for me?”
“Transporter picked up a package for you.”
Steele held out his hand behind him without taking his eyes from Pierce. Absinthe stepped forward and placed a brown paper bag in Steele’s hand. Steele didn’t look at it but held it out to Pierce.
Pierce opened the bag, pulled the six patches out, dropped them back inside and closed the bag. “Got pretty creative on that stage. Want to tell me whose work that was?”
Steele just looked at him.
Pierce shrugged. “Only two clubs went down.”
“Only two clubs were owned by Venomous. That was the contract.”
Pierce sighed. “Can’t argue with that. One last thing. Scarlet Foley. She’s worth five million to a man named Holden. He sent word to Plank that you’ve got her here. Plank isn’t okay with you taking the reward on this one. You’re going to have to hand her over.”
“She’s Absinthe’s old lady,” Steele said, his tone mild. “She’s not going anywhere.”
“That certainly changes things.” Pierce looked past Steele to Absinthe. “Plank will send the Diamondbacks to have a word with Holden.”
Steele shook his head. “We appreciate the support, Pierce, but you tell him not to go to the trouble. Holden tried to kill her. That was a very big mistake on his part. Then he put a fuckin’ price on her head. Just sayin’. You and I both know he won’t be payin’ out that five mil to anyone.”
Pierce sent them a little half smile and salute, rolled up the paper bag with the patches and put it into a compartment in his Harley and signaled the others back onto their bikes. Until the sound of the pipes were just a faint memory in the distance, none of the Torpedo Ink members broke from cover.
NINETEEN
Judge Benedict Calloway’s home was modest on the outside. The house rose up between two other homes like a green environmental beacon with plants climbing up the sides of the three-story brick building. A wrought-iron fence and locked gate were the only things that might have given anyone pause to think that the inside could be a hidden treasure, but most of the neighboring