Chapter 5
Piper struggled to breathe as she gripped the steering wheel so hard, her knuckles were white. Raider had been at the intersection again. Every time she saw him, emotion hit her like a punch in the gut. Jesus, could it get any worse? What the hell was he doing here? It didn’t matter that until last night, she hadn’t seen him in five years. As they approached the intersection, she knew instantly it was him directing traffic. She’d know Raider Torres anywhere. He was still just as sexy as the first time she’d laid eyes on him in a bar in San Diego. All lean and tight with the best ass she’d ever seen. His deep brown eyes had gold flecks that sparkled. Her nipples puckered just thinking about him.
“Turn here,” Denlo barked.
Piper jumped but cranked the wheel. She’d gotten maybe three hours of sleep when Denlo pounded on her door and said they had to go back out again. Did that mean Raider had been directing traffic all night? Probably. That would be him. Always up for helping out. Always staying until the bitter end whereas she would cut and run as fast as possible.
Denlo growled, “You almost missed the turn. Are you fucking even paying attention?”
She didn’t bother to reply to his shouted question but tried to concentrate on her driving, banishing all thoughts of her ex-husband. There would be time enough to think of him when this job was over. She’d lain awake for many nights thinking of him and what she’d done to him, to them. Her callous, abrupt behavior, and worse, his uncomprehending response, would always haunt her.
The silence in the van was tense for the next ten minutes until she pulled into the motel parking lot and parked. Everyone got out of the van.
“Meet in her room,” he pointed toward Piper.
Dread filled her. She’d hoped to go into her room and hide. She’d been totally thrown due to how long they’d been inside the store and with Raider right there, she’d felt so exposed. He’d know. He’d know she was working, and he’d start wondering about it.
They took up the same seats they’d had the previous day. Piper leaned against the wall just down from the table. Denlo pulled out his cell and sent off a text.
Baker spoke. “Look, I know you want to do this, Denlo, I mean I know the boss wants to do this, but we can’t without an explosives guy. The plans you’ve given me are all wrong. They don’t match up to what I’m seeing. I can’t just randomly break down the wall or come through the floor. We’ve double-checked it now. There’s no way. There’s no way forward without an explosives guy.”
Denlo sat with his arms crossed over his chest. “I don’t see why you can’t just make a hole in the wall?”
Baker shook his head. “I explained when we were in the store. The walls are reinforced. I don’t have the tools to break it down and even if I did, it would be really fucking loud not to mention it would take a long fucking time and the whole building would shake.”
“That can’t happen,” Wells declared. “If the building shakes then the mechanisms on the safe will lock down and there’s no way I can open it. It would require a whole system reset and the only people who can do that are bank security. They can’t even do it immediately. They have to fly some guy in with codes and some sort of tool to do it. It would take a few days. The door to the safe can’t vibrate that much. I told you that before.”
Denlo stared at the two men. “If you’re making this shit up?—”
“No way, man.” Wells held up his hands, palms toward Denlo. “I told you this at the beginning. The only way this job goes off is if we have a good explosives expert. He’s gotta have a light touch. The floor’s gotta blow without shaking the door to the vault.”
Denlo’s phone went off. He grabbed it off the table and stood up, walking to the other side of the room. “Yeah,” he said and then listened. “No, it can’t be done. The plans aren’t right and they’re saying they can’t just bust in. It would make the vault door vibrate which would put the whole system on lockdown.”
Piper bit her lip. She glanced at Wells and Baker. They looked at her and then each other. She was sure the other two men had the same sinking feeling she did.
Denlo was turned away from them, facing the window. It was early morning, but it wasn’t obvious thanks to the falling ash which turned the world gray. Denlo was reflected in the glass. He said something but dropped his voice low so she couldn’t make it out. Her body tensed when his hand moved for the butt of the gun stashed in his waistband.
“Yeah, I guess,” he said.
She strained to hear more.
“It’ll be messy. I’ll need help.”
Adrenaline rushed through her veins, escalating her heart rate. Denlo was going to kill them all. What the hell? How was she gonna get out of this one?
She bit her bottom lip. There was a way out. One she never thought she’d ever use but it wasn’t like she had a choice. Just the thought of it had her breaking out in hives. She didn’t want to do it but she wanted to live. Right now, she figured the chances were eighty percent against her survival but if she could work her magic those odds went up to at least fifty-fifty. Still, it was going to be a huge fucking mess and if she did survive, the fall-out would be massive.
Denlo clicked off the call and turned around. He had his gun out of his waistband and down by his side. “We’re gonna take a drive,” he said and gestured toward the door with the gun.
“I— I might know someone.” Piper hated the tremor in her voice. She reined in her galloping heart and spoke again with more confidence. “An explosives expert.”
Denlo glared at her. “And you’re just coming up with this now?”
“Look, my job is to drive, not supply labor for the gig. I figured you handled that but if it means we’re not gonna get paid then I guess I can call a guy.”
Denlo came over and aggressively intruded into her personal space. “What guy?”
“The guy from the store yesterday. Like I told you, he’s an ex of mine. We’ve done shit together before. He’s an explosives guy. Learned it in the military. He could help us if you give him a decent cut.”
Denlo raised his chin. “You said he didn’t know anything.”
Piper tried to play it cool. She shrugged. “He doesn’t… about this job. We haven’t seen each other in a while.”
Denlo stepped closer to Piper. “Awfully fucking convenient that suddenly you know an explosives guy and you bump into him in the store.” He brought his gun up and tapped the barrel on her chest. “Maybe you’re a cop. Maybe that’s why it’s so fucking convenient.”
Piper knew this was it. If she didn’t convince Denlo, she was a dead woman. She took a step closer to him and yelled, “It’s not fucking convenient,” she said through clenched teeth. “Not at all. Motherfucker dumped me for some other bitch. I want to cut his heart out with a fucking spoon but we don’t got a choice. I didn’t fly over here for the fucking good of my health. I wanna get paid. And Slick sent me so you fucking well know I’m not a fucking cop.”
Denlo stared at her, keeping the gun leveled at her chest. She refused to look scared or back down. Finally, he lowered the gun. “You trust him?”
“Hell no! But he won’t screw up a job.” She shrugged. “Up to you but if we can’t do the job without an explosives guy then we should give him a call.”
Denlo narrowed his eyes at her. “What’s his name?”
Piper’s mouth was dry as the Sahara and all she wanted to do was guzzle water. Instead, she said, “Rick Sinclair.” It had been a cover name that he’d used on some kind of assignment in the past. She had no idea if it would pass any kind of deep dive, but she was guessing Denlo and the Snake didn’t have time for a deep dive, so it would probably do. “People call him Raider.”
Denlo stared hard at her for a long minute and then he turned and went back to the corner to make a call. He was back in a flash and said, “Make the call,” as he handed her the phone. He must have gotten the all-clear from the Snake.
She took the phone. There was no help for it but to dial Raider’s cell. If they ran the number they’d discover Sinclair was a false name. Not much she could do about it now. She punched in the digits she’d tried to forget over the last five years.
“Yeah,” a familiar voice said over the phone line.
Denlo grabbed her wrist and pulled her arm down, then put the call on speakerphone. Then he gestured toward Piper.
“Hey, Raider, it’s Piper.” She tried to keep her voice cool but she also needed to warn him not to say anything. “I know it’s been a while. Not since that job we pulled up in Silicon Valley. Other than the store yesterday, I mean.” She prayed that he would play along.
“Piper,” he drawled, “how ya been? I thought that was you. Been a long while.” His words were right, but she could hear the slight tension in his voice.
“Not bad, baby. You know how it goes. You?”
“All good, here.”
“How are you on the Big Island?” she asked. “The volcano shit is wild.”
“Yeah. Crazy. I’m here hanging with friends. Just taking a break.”
Denlo glared at her and made a motion with his hand telling her to speed it up.
“Listen, if you’re interested, I got a job for you.” She did her best to keep her voice level but it was damn hard. Bringing Raider into this mess was a nightmare. They may not be together but she didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. Ever.
“What kind of job?” he asked sounding suspicious which is how he should sound if he really were an explosives expert that did illegal shit and a guy who dumped her.
“It’s a?—”
Denlo ripped the phone out of her hand and turned off the speaker. He put it to his ear. “It’s a fucking job that needs a guy that’s good with explosives. You in or out?”
Raider must have said something about needing more details because Denlo snarled. “Meet me at the pharmacy.” And he gave the address. “Twenty minutes.” Then he hung up and gestured to Piper. “You get in the van.” He looked at Wells and Baker. “You two stay here in your room. If I find out you went out or you fucked around in anyway, I’ll kill both of you. Understand?”
Both men nodded and stood. They all left the room together with Wells and Baker going two doors over and disappearing inside. Piper climbed into the driver’s seat of the van and turned it over. Denlo sat in the passenger seat with the gun in his lap. “If this turns to shit, you’re the first one to die. I can find any idiot to drive. You get it?”
She bit her lip and nodded. She got it and it scared the hell out of her.
It took her a little more than twenty minutes to get through the traffic to the pharmacy. She pulled into the parking lot and looked for a parking spot. The place was jammed. She found a spot in the far corner and backed in. They sat and waited. She didn’t see Raider anywhere but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. He was a SEAL, after all.
He used to make a game of sneaking up on her. No matter how she tried to be prepared, he still managed to get her. It was frustrating as hell but also endearing and it was one of the things she missed most about him. She missed a lot of things about him. Almost everything, as a matter of fact. She swallowed hard. Now wasn’t the time to think about all that ancient history. She cleared her throat and looked around the parking lot.
“Your friend is late. He doesn’t show in the next five minutes and we’re out of here.” Denlo jostled the gun in his lap.
Piper glanced around the parking lot once more. “There,” she said breathing a sigh of relief. Raider was making his way across the parking lot towards them. Denlo got out of the van and Piper followed suit. They met in the front.
“Piper,” Raider said as he leaned down and gave her a big hug. “Good to see ya, girl.”
Piper wanted to respond but suddenly her throat closed over with tears and she couldn’t get any words out. The hug was brief but damn if it didn’t feel good. Really good.
“She says you’re good with explosives,” Denlo growled.
Raider nodded. “Yeah, I am.”
He looked good. Tanned and fit. Maybe even more relaxed than usual. His eyes weren’t constantly scanning the parking lot. Oh, she didn’t doubt that he knew exactly where everyone was and which cars were more likely to have a gun in the glove box but he didn’t have the slightly haunted look he used to have. Maybe divorce agreed with him. That thought was like a sucker punch to the gut.
She’d missed some of their conversation and cursed herself for getting caught up in seeing Raider. Denlo seemed to be pissed about something. “I need to know if you’ve got any experience. Just cuz she says you’re good doesn’t mean you are. I need someone with a subtle touch.”
“I’m a demolitions expert with military training. I can be delicate. I can blow the pimple off the ass of a donkey. What do you need done?”
Denlo shook his head. “Uh-uh. First I need to check you out. Give me some references.”
Raider shook his head. “You know my name. You look me up. Get back to me tomorrow.”
“No. I’ll look you up, Sinclair, but it will be in a couple of hours. If it’s a go, she’ll call you and you’ll come meet us. I tell you the job then.”
“What do I get paid?” Raider demanded. “I’m not agreeing to do a job without knowing how much I get paid.”
Denlo nodded. “You pass the test and I’ll tell you all the details you want.” He gestured to Piper to get back in the van. “Keep your phone on.”
Piper got behind the wheel and made eye contact with Raider. He gave her a slight, fast nod, one she was pretty sure Denlo missed because he was busy adjusting the gun in the front of his pants. Raider turned and strolled back across the parking lot like he didn’t have a care in the world, or that a volcano was in the process of blowing its top. And yes, he still had the best ass she’d ever seen. Now she just had to hope she hadn’t involved him in something that was going to get it shot off.