Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
At seven o’clock in the morning, Luke led Hawk and Agent Miller—a blond woman in a black pantsuit—into Kane’s kitchen.
Then he made himself the largest cup of coffee ever poured and tried to focus on anything except Holly’s exquisite body and faint lilac perfume that sent his heart rate into stroke territory.
Luckily, the scent of frying bacon that drifted through Kane’s kitchen distracted Luke’s stomach, making it growl like a hungry beast. It was so loud, it almost drowned out the sound of male murmurs around the room.
It was odd that when Agent Miller entered the room no one had stood.
Caleb had always insisted that the boys in the family stand when a woman entered a room, but maybe because Agent Miller let off such perfectly controlled vibes that reeked of Federal Agent, they all just kept on doing what they’d been doing when she’d arrived.
Behind him, Kane moved with grim efficiency at the stove, fighting with the bacon. Gage, already dressed and booted, studied the map laid out on the table. He also thumbed through his worn leather notebook full of contacts and coded notes.
Meanwhile, Trent ate a croissant from the plate on the table, while Jacob and Ben studied an open laptop on the nearby counter.
“This is Agent Miller,” Hawk said unceremoniously. “She’s here to help us.”
“Bro.” Kane pointed his spatula at Luke. “Stop pacing. Your restlessness is making me anxious.”
He was restless, except not for the same reasons as the rest of the men at the table. Still, he sat away from the stray rays of light beaming through the window. The sun had just begun to rise, its light breaking soft and gold over the worn pine floors.
Luke held his mug and realized his jaw was tight. He hadn’t slept more than two hours, but his mind was sharp. Focused. He had a plan that could work, all thanks to Holly.
“Holly is with Eve right now,” Luke said, mostly to fill the silence. “She’s worried about Eve’s blood pressure.”
“I don’t like what this stress is doing to my wife,” Kane said as he turned more bacon.
“Eve was brilliant yesterday,” Trent said from the other side of the table. “I wish we’d caught it on video.”
“Eve’s action doesn’t help us.” Agent Miller took a cup of coffee from Hawk and sat next to Gage. “It could cause us problems.”
Abe, freshly showered and shirtless, padded in last, blinking blearily. “Why does it smell like war in here?”
“Because we are at war,” Kane said flatly. “And this is Agent Miller.”
“Oh.” Abe turned on his high-wattage smile and said, “Welcome, Agent Miller. Are you here about the MC?”
Luke rolled his eyes at his twin, Captain Obvious.
Agent Miller frowned. “I’ve already spoken to Hawk, Ben, and Gage. We have work to do if we’re going to meet the MC this morning.” She checked her watch. “We have less than an hour. Which isn’t a lot of time to put together a Federal sting operation.”
Except Luke knew for a fact that Hawk, Gage, Ben, and Agent Miller had been up all night working on a plan.
Ben brought the laptop to the table and sat across from Agent Miller. “The MC wants the flash drives, the map, and a guarantee of silence.”
“And if they don’t get it,” Trent added, “they’ll come after Eve and Holly.”
Agent Miller nodded. “So we need to give the MC a show. Get them to believe that you’ll hand over the flash drives, the map, and the women.”
“Wait,” Jacob said sharply. “Even if we were actually going to do this, I mean hand over the women, what would the MC do with them?”
“Probably just keep them imprisoned.” Agent Miller tapped the red X on the map that covered Kingsmill.
“Their gun smuggling operation is time sensitive. It’s supposed to be over by tomorrow night which is why they’re so desperate.
And since none of them want to deal with murder or kidnapping charges, I suspect they’d hold the women until their operation is complete. ”
“I wouldn’t trust the MC not to hurt them,” Ben said. “Even though Damian won that election in February and was able to keep his presidency, he lost a hell of a lot of support. I’m worried that darker forces are trying to wrest control from him.”
“You would be right about that, cousin,” Hawk said as he shoved a croissant into his mouth, followed by a half pound of bacon. “The Ravensburg chapter has been worried about another coup for control of the Kingsmill chapter for months.”
Kane slid another plate of bacon and scrambled eggs onto the table. “So what’s the actual plan, since we don’t want to give the MC anything?”
Agent Miller drank her coffee and stared at the map. “We need to make the MC feel like they’re in control. We give them a drop point. Make it look like we’re handing everything over, no questions asked.”
Ben narrowed his eyes. “That’s a hell of a bluff.”
“It’s not a bluff,” Gage said, eyes still on his notes. “It’s a setup.”
“The MC will want to choose the drop off point,” Kane said. “To maintain maximum control.”
“I told Agent Miller where the drop point should be.” Hawk pressed his finger on top of the red X outside of Kingsmill. “It’s safe, secure, hidden from the world. It’s where one of the weapons deals will be made tomorrow.”
“Are you sure we’re dealing with weapons?” Jacob asked.
“Yes,” Agent Miller said. “We’ve been tracking weapons movement from this region into the Carolinas.
A few months ago, we received a tip from a confidential informant, confirming our suspicions that the Kingsmill chapter of the Devil’s Renegades has been running guns for the IRA.
What happened on Friday, with the flash drives, has sped up our timeline.
So today’s take-down is critical. If we fail today, we lose months of work. ”
Jacob whistled low and studied the map. “Wait. Hawk, you’re not talking about the old fairgrounds, are you?”
Luke leaned in closer. He’d not heard this part of the plan. “Didn’t Caleb buy that old land after he threw out that illegal carnival group?”
“Good grief.” Trent stood and leaned over the map as well. “I remember that. Caleb was furious because he thought that group was selling drugs to kids.”
“They were selling drugs to kids.” The way Jacob said the words made everyone look in his direction. He just held up his hands and said, “I was thirteen. I got caught. Caleb took care of the situation.”
“Who owns it now,” Ben asked Jacob.
“It’s still part of Caleb’s trust,” Jacob said. “But our fathers,” now Jacob looked at Hawk, “are still negotiating who gets which properties.”
Luke snorted softly. “I’m sure that Dad’s doing.”
“Unfortunately,” Gage said on an exhale, “You’re correct, Luke. Your dad has been holding up the distribution of Caleb’s estate for years.”
Because their father—Uncle Gage’s older brother—would never be satisfied. Just like Caleb was never satisfied.
“The fairgrounds are remote,” Ben said. “Forested. No easy exits. Plenty of cover for surveillance.”
“Abe?” Gage asked in a low voice. “Isn’t this the land you wanted to build your outfitter business on?”
Abe met Luke’s gaze. They’d been talking for years about going into business together, once Abe retired from the Army. But that would mean Luke would have to sell the surf shop and move home.
A thing he’d never take the time to consider… until meeting Holly.
“Yes,” Abe said. “And I’m not sure I want it tainted with MC blood.”
“Well, I want that land reclaimed,” Luke replied. “They’ve already touched too much of our family. This time, they bleed on our ground.”
Gage gave a short nod. “Fitting.”
Trent took a long sip of his coffee. “So what’s the play? We hand over the flash drives? Give them fake women?”
“First,” Luke said. “The FBI handles the perimeter. Then we hand them fake drives. Kane has already created near-identical copies with garbage data. Enough to pass a quick glance.”
“We already made a copy of the map,” Gage said. “So they can have the original.”
“You,” Agent Miller nodded to all the men in the room, “lure in the MC. Show them the map and flash drives, make them feel like they’ve won.”
“What about the women?” Kane asked. “Because there’s no way I’d let Eve be involved in any of this.”
“I can pass as Eve from a distance,” Agent Miller said. “I’ll be in a car with another agent who has long brown hair. We need to make the MC believe that Agent Keyes and I are Holly and Eve.”
“Then the net drops,” Ben finished, voice hard. “Once we hand everything over, the FBI takes charge.”
“For the record,” Hawk said in a dark voice. “I’m not going to be in on this plan. The Ravensburg chapter has nothing to do with this gun running sitch. So I can’t be anywhere close to it.”
Gage nodded. “Besides, you’re getting married this afternoon. You have other things to do.”
“Yeah,” Kane said in his grumpiest voice. “Like finding my wife a beautiful dress that won’t make her want to destroy this entire town.”
Hawk chuckled, then he nodded.
“This seems like a half-assed plan.” Jacob planted his palms on the table. “A lot could go wrong. There’s a lot of room for error.”
Agent Miller stood and took out her buzzing phone. “So you all just do as I tell you and don’t fuck it up.” After a short wave, she left the room to take her call.
Once she left the room, Abe met Luke’s gaze. Something solid had settled behind his twin’s brown eyes.
“I’m in,” Luke said. “And when this is over, that land is ours.”
“There’s one more thing.” Hawk glanced in the hallway, as if making sure no one else was listening. “Remember when Agent Miller said they had a CI?”
They all nodded.
“Well… ” Hawk ran his hands over his head and stared hard at Gage. “Let’s just say that Damian’s accident on Friday wasn’t accidental. It was an assassination attempt.”
“What?” The word blew out of Jacob’s mouth. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah, brother.” Hawk met Kane’s gaze next. “Remember in February, when Damian barely won that recall presidency vote, and then Eve dropped the civil case against him?”
Kane nodded and crossed his arms over his chest.
Luke remembered that as well, even though he’d not been home. Years ago, Damian had done something terrible to Eve—on Caleb’s orders. Although the criminal case against Damian had been dropped, Eve had, for unknown reasons, recently dropped the civil case.
“It wasn’t long after that,” Hawk continued in a lower voice, “that Damian contacted the FBI. He was trying to work a deal to get out of the MC by giving evidence of this gun running plan. And it was working until someone found out and turned against him.”
“Ripper?” Luke asked in a husky voice. “Are you saying that Ripper—the current veep—went after Damian?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Hawk stared up at the ceiling for a long minute. “Once word came down last fall that Damian was a Mosby, the club began to turn against him.”
“Why?” Gage asked. “Caleb resurrected that club.”
“Because, Uncle Gage,” Hawk said carefully. “Most of the other Mosby men—at least those in the Kingsmill chapter—have left.” Hawk glanced at Kane and Ben. “And at least two of them work in some sort of law enforcement.”
“So,” Luke said more to himself than to the others, “once the club learned he was the brother of MC members who left, the club lost trust in him.”
“Yes.” Hawk, despite being hours away from getting married, appeared tired and sad. “And I heard about an hour ago that Damian is still in a coma, and they’re not sure if he’ll keep his leg.”
Luke looked out the window again, toward the horizon glowing with morning fire. “Then this morning’s plan has to work. Today, we don’t let that damned MC take another thing away from this family.”
* * *
Holly sat on the edge of Eve’s bed and watched the blood pressure monitor strapped to Eve’s upper arm. “Your blood pressure is still too high.”
“I’m still mad about my ugly dress.” She blew strands of blond hair out of her eyes and struggled to sit up higher. “I don’t know what I’m going to wear.”
“I told you not to worry about it.” Holly took off the cuff and put it away in her purse which was acting as a de facto medical bag.
“You said you knew a guy—”
“A girl. And that girl, who is also incredibly rich, recently had a difficult-yet-successful triplet pregnancy that I helped with.”
Eve laughed until she coughed. “So you’re calling in a favor because you helped a woman give birth to triplets? Isn’t that your job?”
“It is.” Holly snapped her purse shut.
“Sounds unethical to me,” Eve said as she ran her hands over her large stomach.
“To be honest, she was also my college roommate.” Now Holly checked the swelling in Eve’s ankles. “She was happy to help. She’s sending us, by overnight mail, a bunch of her maternity evening gowns. I’m sure something will fit you.”
“Was she as large as I am?” Eve asked softly.
Holly placed a pillow beneath Eve’s ankles and covered her feet with a cool sheet. “Larger, actually. Now drink your water.”
“Hey.” Izzy appeared in the doorway, in a pair of low-rise jeans and a bikini top that didn’t look at all wedding-ish. “We need to talk.”
Izzy came into the room, followed by Clara, Sophie, Ivy, Nana Ruthie, and Daphne—the Maid of Honor Holly hadn’t met yet.
“What’s going on?” Eve tried to get out of bed until Holly gently pushed her back in.
Izzy paced the room like a major general trying to rally the troops while the other women stood in the background with grim faces.
“Wait until you hear what the men are up to, right now, hours before my wedding.” Izzy then pointed at Eve and Holly. “Your heads are going to explode.”