Chapter 79
CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
“ H ey, Moon!”
Cutting his engine, Moon swung his leg off the motorcycle.
Saffron was sitting provocatively on Jesus’ motorcycle while Jesus and Train worked on Pace’s.
Moon kept his gaze focused on her body from the neck up. “Saffron. You keeping Jesus and Train entertained?” he commented with a hard glance in the brothers’ direction.
Pouting, Saffron leaned forward between Jesus’ handlebars, showing off her jutting, braless breasts. “I want a ride to the store, but I can’t convince anyone to take me.”
“They’re working,” he clipped out.
“How about you? Could you take me?”
Women using baby talk voices affected him as if someone was running a cheese grater down his back.
“No time. Running late. Back from lunch.” Walking past Saffron, he stopped long enough to issue her a heads-up. “If Killyama sees you hanging around Train when she comes out from working out, that tube top you’re wearing will be used for something other than making it easier for you to flash your tits.”
“Moon!”
Paying no heed to her pretend wail of injured innocence, he continued past her.
“Brother.” Moon caught Train’s amused eyes as he neared the two men. “I would deal with that shit before Killyama does it for you.”
Train straightened from being bent over the motorcycle, elbowing Jesus in the gut to give him space. “Look who’s giving me advice,” Train joked. “I know how to handle my woman. I’m not the one who got his ass kicked Friday night. You worry about your woman, and I’ll worry about mine.”
Moon’s boot halted mid-stride at seeing Killyama coming down the path from the club. The way Train and Jesus were standing, neither man could see the bitch bearing down on them. “Your funeral.” He gave Killyama a two-finger salute as she stalked toward her oblivious husband.
If Viper weren’t waiting for him, he would have waited to watch Train get his ass handed to him. The brother was going to get his comeuppance. He’d have to make sure to save the video feed of the encounter.
He would give his left nut to stay and watch after Train had given him grief about the spat he’d had with Larissa. He wasn’t about to share with the brothers how Larissa fucked liked a juiced-up succubus when she was riled up.
Not about to share that tidbit when he had no intention of sharing her, anyway, Moon looked at it as a public service. Larissa in the wrong hands could be dangerous. He was actually saving their lives, especially if any of the motherfuckers thought they could steal her away from him.
He was buzzed in through the security door and found Viper and Rider sitting at the control desk, their eyes glued to the monitor.
“Cutting it close, aren’t you?” Viper’s forbidding profile was the only hint he needed to know the brother wasn’t happy.
Taking the seat next to him, he reached for a yellow pad of paper and ink pen. “Had some fallout to deal with.”
His concentration on the monitor broken, Viper focused on him. “Who with?”
“Leave it to that woman to pick the worst possible time to try to break up.”
Neither Viper nor Rider seemed surprised.
“Been there more than once myself,” Viper said wryly. “What shocks me is it hasn’t happened to you before. When you moving back into the clubhouse?”
“I’m not moving back. I’m going to change her mind.”
That information did surprise them.
Viper and Rider shared a glance, as if silently asking, Which one of us is going to tell him?
Rider’s sigh showed he had lost the battle of wills.
“That’s going to be hard for you to do.” Rider leaned back in his chair, hooking his ankle over his knee. “You might have getting women into your bed down pat, but when it comes to the hard stuff … Mr. Sensitive, you’re not.”
Moon cocked an eyebrow in Rider’s direction. “How in the fuck would you know?”
“I don’t know …” Rider drawled sarcastically. “Maybe me having to listen to countless women threaten to tattoo ‘ love them and leave them ’ on your back more times than I can count.”
“Then”—opening a roll of mints, Viper popped one in his mouth—“a week later, he’s complaining he can’t find a woman who’s ready to get serious and have a bunch of kids with him.” Viper shook his head in disbelief. “I’m still amazed none of them have taken you out in your sleep. Remember Lucinda?”
Rider’s expression turned pained. “I do.”
“You told her you loved Mexican food, so she started bringing you a fucking buffet every Friday night. Then, when you started dating her, she introduced you to her whole family, and you started hanging out with them, too. For a couple of months, you were at Lucinda’s apartment more than you were at the club, except on Fridays, of course, and … let me tell you, brother”—Viper’s expression turned just as pained as Rider’s—“I count them some of the best Fridays I’ve spent. But what did you do? What you always do—you fucked it up. You invited the woman cleaning her house to come to a party right in front of her.”
“I still don’t get why that pissed Lucinda off.” Moon rubbed the stubble under his chin reflectingly.
Balefully, Viper stared at him. “I don’t know,” he said snidely. “Maybe it was because the cleaning lady was Lucinda’s sister-in-law. We had to post three guards at the club doors for a year because her brother tried to take you out no less than four times. The only reason he stopped was because he got arrested for arson when he set four of our bikes on fire.”
“Don’t forget the mayor who tried to put his ass in jail if they caught him, for taking his daughter’s cherry,” Rider reminded Viper.
Viper grimaced. “I try not to.”
“She wasn’t a virgin any more than I was.”
Suddenly, Rider shot up in his chair to press a button that opened the garage door, allowing the transport truck entry.
“Here we go.”
Laying the ink pen down when he stopped doodling on the pad, Moon folded his hands together as they watched the monitors.
As the three men watched, the last cart of the day was wheeled out of the factory. Moon looked at the employee identification number flashing up on a side screen to his left. “Gundy, that’s number one.”
They watched as Gundy rolled the cart to the appropriate number spot painted on the concrete then went to add his signature to the sign-in sheet. After hanging the sheet back up, he walked back to the cart as the factory door opened and another cart was rolled in by another employee.
“Howie, number two.”
Observing, they noticed none of them talked. Their eyes went back and forth between the different monitors—one showing the two men by the carts, the other two cameras angled so they were able to see different views of the truck parking and the driver getting out to open the end of the trailer and lower the ramp.
Once the ramp was lowered, Howie rolled his cart down the sloping ramp to the truck. The driver didn’t take his eyes off the inside, carefully watching the two men as they loaded the carts inside.
Gundy and Howie had loaded four carts when another employee wheeled another cart from the factory.
“Delaney, that makes three, plus the driver.”
Viper took out another mint. “How many do you think are going to be involved? I bet a hundred it’s just the three.”
Rider shook his head. “Nope, not going to take that bet. I’m thinking the same.”
“I bet a rack that there are five of them,” Moon threw his bet in the ring.
“Brother, I’ll take that bet,” Viper accepted. “Rider, you in?”
“I’m in.”
Viper started to tap his foot impatiently. “Fuck, is this going to be another dud? I thought for sure they would try it again. Don’t tell me I wasted a shit ton of money on throwing the masquerade party to get the rest of The Last Riders from Ohio to come down who haven’t even been here since Pace’s death.”
“Be patient.” Moon stole one of Viper’s mints. Damn, he needed a fucking cigarette.
Moon’s eyes narrowed on the monitor where Gundy started to struggle with one of the carts. The worker must have called out to Howie and Delaney to come help.
Moon tensed. “Here we go.”
“You see that?” Rider pointed at the monitor with the trucker. He seemed to be pushing one of the carts inside, as if making room for another cart. “He’s giving whoever’s inside their signal.”
A couple of seconds later, they could see a factory worker come out from behind the trucker, as if they had loaded a cart and was coming down the ramp to get another.
“Is that”—Viper leaned forward—“Charlie?”
“Yep,” Rider confirmed.
“Damn, I liked Charlie.” Moon made a moue of disappointment at the image on the monitor.
Charlie was short for a man, barely four-nine, and couldn’t have weighed ninety pounds soaking wet.
“I was hoping it was one of the women. He’s going to be hard to replace.”
“And Gundy takes care of his mom,” Rider filled them in. “That’s why he always volunteers for overtime.”
“That’s not the only reason.” Dispassionately, Moon continued to watch with the others as the rest of the carts were loaded into the truck. When they were done, the driver raised the ramp and closed and locked the door.
Rider picked up a headset and placed it on his head, positioning the mic near his mouth. “Rolo and Doom, get ready. The rest of you, stay where Shade has positioned you. Everyone keep eyes on Gundy and Charlie. You know what we’re looking for.”
“Have Widowmaker trail Gundy, and Silver on Delaney,” Viper ordered.
Moon understood Viper’s reasoning. Both bikers were in the tail end of their probationary periods. Viper wanted to test them while, at the same time, give them assignments that they could handle on their own without backup, leaving the more experienced Last Riders free.
Gundy, Charlie, Delaney, and Howie went through the door back to the factory area.
Viper’s hands tightened on the arms of his chair, as if holding himself back from leaving the security office. “That’s the last time those fuckers get away with that trick. After today, they’ll have to key their employee identification entering and leaving the docking area.”
Moon was just as pissed as Viper. “I still can’t believe we didn’t catch it sooner.”
“I do. Usually, there are more employees out there. They would create a distraction while the one hiding in the cart slips out of the truck and blends in with the others. It’s the end of the day; they’re ready to go home. The workers inside are just wanting to get the job done and go. We were focused on the IDs going in and took for granted those inside having scanned their IDs.”
“We also don’t know if they’ve been using other methods, and this is the one the fuckers have used to circumvent our efforts to catch them. Hell, we don’t even know why they’ve gone to these efforts to steal from us. With the amount of people involved, it wouldn’t be worth them losing their jobs if they got caught.”
“We’re about to find out.” Viper ordered, “Send them in, Rider.”
Raising the garage bay door, Doom and Rolo walked inside. The driver, who was waiting for someone to come out of the security office to sign off on the load, was confronted with the two Last Riders who moved him away from the truck.
Rolo emptied the driver’s pockets then left Doom to watch over him and went back to the truck to unlock it and lower the ramps. He went inside the truck and started rolling a cart out as Rider gave the all-clear.
That was when the wives started filing in, each of them taking a cart to unload and unwrap with the packages. Armed with box cutters, they laid the opened contents next to the packages as Rolo unloaded the last cart.
The three men in the security room left Rolo and Doom to oversee the garage while they continued watching the monitors for the men who had loaded the carts.
“It’s going to be interesting to see what the motherfuckers have been doing.” Moon stole another mint, waiting for one of the wives to find something that had no business being there. “Who do you think will be the lucky lady?” Moon scanned the women, settling on his bet. “I bet Diamond finds it. You see how fast she’s opening those packages?” He whistled admirably. “I bet a grand on her.”
“Is there anything you won’t bet on?” Viper tiredly rubbed his eyes.
“Nope. It makes life interesting. Rider, you going to bet on Jo?”
“No. I’ll take Killyama. That bitch is lethal with that box cutter.”
Rider switched the screens to show the outside cameras as the men walked out with the rest of the employees leaving.
“You in, Viper?” His hand went out to swipe another mint, but Viper forestalled him by taking the last one.
“Put me down for Diamond. She’s going so fast because she wants to go home.”
Knox had offered Diamond’s help, which Viper had initially refused until Knox told him he wanted the excuse to get Diamond out of the house. Since her attack by a deranged client, she had grown reclusive, only coming out of her withdrawn shell when Knox would take her and their children to their private island, which she and Knox had purchased when she had become convinced a zombie apocalypse was in the near future.
The bets settled, they all tensely waited for the results of their search while keeping their eyes pinpointed on Charlie and Gundy.
Gundy got into his truck and drove away while Charlie walked to his compact car. Neither of the employees had spoken since leaving the factory.
“I be a motherfucker,” Viper swore as they watched Saffron call out something to Charlie.
With a casual wave, he motioned to his car, and Saffron got off the motorcycle and headed to the passenger side of the car, getting inside while Charlie got in the driver’s side.
“She asked him for a ride to town,” Moon filled them in at what he was positive Saffron had said to Charlie.
“Train and Jesus,” Rider spoke into the mic, “stay where you are. Cash, Nickel, you follow Charlie’s car. Report when Saffron and Charlie get where they’re going.”
Moon watched the monitor until Charlie’s taillights disappeared from view. “What did I tell you?” Gloating, he linked his hands together to pop his knuckles. “Double or nothing, she’s the one who pulled Pace’s plug.”
Viper shoved his chair back from the desk. “Poor fucker always did have a hard-on for a good pair of tits. You got this, Rider?”
“Yes,” Rider answered, despite remaining focused on the reports coming in from Shade.
“You ready, Moon?”
Moon was already getting up from the chair before Viper could finish his question.
“You think she’s going to pay him off for the drop?” Viper asked as they hurried out of the security room. The women were still working at unwrapping the packages as he and Viper hurried to the open garage door.
They had just walked through the door when Viper’s name was called out. Rushing back inside, they saw all the women and Rolo had gathered around Winter. Willa and Beth moved to the side, allowing them to see what everyone else was staring at while Winter unwrapped another package.
“Damn.” Moon blinked then started laughing. “That, I did not expect.” Crouching down, he picked up two neatly packed bundles of cash.
“Real or counterfeit?” Viper snarled.
Moon peeled one off to take a closer look.
“Real.” Killyama picked up one of the bundles, flipping through the bills. “Come to Mama.”
Viper gave her a speaking glance. “Let’s go, Moon. Rolo, have them finish opening the packages then put the cash in the security office. Ladies, thank you for your help.”
“No thanks are necessary,” Killyama told him magnanimously, separating the bundle of cash to tuck the two halves down her bra.
Keeping a straight face, Moon hastily left with Viper, who knew getting the money back was a lost cause.
“There was at least fifty grand there.”
Viper’s angry visage had Moon shutting his mouth as he got on his motorcycle. The Last Riders’ president was fuming that their trucks had been used to transport cash. They still didn’t know the source of the money and, until they did, everyone’s lives could be in danger.
“At least we know why she wanted to hitch a ride with Charlie,” Moon returned to what they had been talking about before Winter found the cash. “Saffron knew no one would take her into town this time of day. She’ll be able to pay him off where no one can see. But what I’m really hoping for is Saffron, or one of the others, going to their source for more shipments now that they have resumed doing business again.”
“If they don’t, I’m past the point of waiting and watching to find out who’s using us to transport their fucking money. If I have to beat the information out of all of them, I will.”
“What if they don’t know?” Moon asked. “I think Saffron is up to her eyeballs in it, enough to follow what orders she’s given. But a mastermind, she isn’t.”
“Regardless”—Viper started his motorcycle—“Wizard won’t show her any mercy.”
They rode out of the parking lot and into town, pulling in behind the back of the hotel. Viper took his phone out of his jacket pocket and called Rider.
Impatient, Moon felt the anticipation rising in him, waiting for what was about to go down, or if anything would. Saffron could call for someone to pick her up, and the men just went home. If that was the case, Viper would send one of the brothers to give her a ride to the clubhouse and question her there. Glancing at his watch, he hoped it would be over soon. He needed to get back to Larissa. They had shit to straighten out. Viper and Shade would handle Saffron’s questioning; he could peace out.
Oh shit , Moon thought, seeing Viper’s expression.
Seeing Moon was watching him, Viper didn’t lower his phone as he started repeating what Rider was telling him. “Charlie dropped Saffron off at the grocery store then went home. He lives next door to Gundy. Rider told Widowmaker to watch both houses. If one leaves, he’ll call in for backup to watch the other house. Cash reported in that Saffron waited until Charlie left then took off walking.”
Moon cocked an eyebrow at him, grinning. “Where’s she going?” He rested his arm on his thigh. She was meeting their source; he was sure of it.
A puzzled frown crossed Viper’s forehead. “She went into the diner,” Viper told him then went back to talking on the phone. “Tell Cash and Nickel to hold back. Park in the parking lot first; one then the other. Then act as if you’re talking outside the window and see who Saffron is talking to.”
Moon waited for Viper to feed him more information. He even motioned at him that he would ride his bike to the diner, but Viper gave him a wait signal.
“Nickel and Cash are walking toward the diner.” Viper’s voice broke off as he listened.
Moon’s gut instinct kicked in at the same time Viper’s expression changed, his voice becoming more urgent.
“Tell them to go inside and act like they’re meeting her for dinner.”
Moon frowned. “Why would they act like they’re meeting Saffron for dinner?”
Viper signaled him to stop talking as he listened to Rider continuing to speak on the phone. “Tell them when they can to pull out and get them the fuck out .”
Dread gripped his heart in a cold fist. “Viper?”
Viper met his eyes, holding the cell phone in the crook of his neck as he continued to listen. “Moon, they didn’t have time to stop her before she went inside.”
“Who?” he asked, though he already knew, his hands instinctively going to his handlebars.
“Larissa, and she has the baby with her.”