Chapter 2
Two
Five years later
Renegade Mountain, Colorado
The buzzer sounded, and the door for cellblock four swung open.
Luca Saxon watched the prisoner shuffle into the room, jingling chains from the shackles that held him here.
Six weeks until his trial, and already Alden Jenkins didn’t look anything like the man who had tried to destroy Rowan “Hammer” Wallace’s family just four short months ago.
“I’ll be right outside,” the corrections officer said.
Luca nodded. “Thanks.”
Jenkins settled into the chair like it was the seat behind the mayor’s desk—the one from which he’d run the city of Renegade, Colorado, for years.
At least, that’s who he’d been on the surface.
Underneath, he was responsible for multiple murders and a massive land grab, all for the mineral rights to build his personal criminal enterprise.
Jenkins lifted his chin and stared down Luca. “You don’t look like my lawyer.”
“He’s busy trying to figure out how to defend you when the evidence is clear.” Luca adjusted the sleeve of his thick black shirt, the one with pearl buttons, over his smartwatch. “That and the fact there’s more I believe you’ve done that no one knows about.”
“So you came to gloat?”
“You think I care about you enough for that?” Luca asked. “Hammer has moved on. He and Sierra got married just before Christmas. Maybe you haven’t heard that they’re expecting now. Their second baby together. Huck is so excited to have a little brother or sister to teach how to rope and ride.”
But of course, Alden didn’t care about that. His connection to the family had only been about getting his hands on their land.
A tendon flexed in Alden’s jaw. “Just tell me what you want.”
“You’re facing some big charges.” Luca whistled. “Then there’s the whole mayoral race going on, and your deputy mayor telling everyone who will listen that he always knew you were corrupt. The whole campaign—on both sides—is about undoing what you did to this city.”
“Why do you care? You aren’t even from here.”
Luca had wondered that himself. For about the first ten minutes after he and Hammer arrived in Renegade last fall. After that, he’d decided to put down roots here and make a life for himself.
He’d helped Hammer fight against the thugs stealing land from people. Sabotaging equipment, poisoning cattle, even arranging “accidents” to take care of anyone who got too close to the truth. Crimes Jenkins would go down for.
Meanwhile, Ralph Rousseau, who’d been named in all the evidence Sierra’s grandfather had collected, was claiming he’d been framed and talking deals with the cops.
Luca needed the truth. Would this man give it to him?
Alden Jenkins stared at him from across the table. Probably trying to figure out which way to play this.
Alden had not only targeted landowners whose property he wanted for himself but also taken his frustration out on teenage Hammer with his fists.
Helping his best friend save Sierra and Huck from Jenkins hadn’t just been the right thing to do; it had been the best use of Luca’s skills.
All that military training in action, saving good people who should have someone around to stand up for them but didn’t.
“Maybe I don’t care about Renegade.” Luca shrugged. “But it’s somewhere to be. Good as anywhere, I figure.”
Alden didn’t need to know that Luca had decided to stay, or that he’d spent the last few months since Sierra and Hammer reunited working this case.
Finally getting his private investigator license and digging in with the people in Renegade, working to uncover the corruption of this “shadow syndicate,” whoever they were.
But the whole thing was proving more than frustrating. He and Detective Michael Martinelli, who he’d been working closely with on the investigation, just couldn’t seem to get traction beyond what they already knew about this shadowy syndicate operating in Renegade.
Far as they could tell, Jenkins and Rousseau had both been working for the syndicate.
Problem was, none of the evidence they had linked back to anyone else but them.
Just Rocky Mountain Land Development—Rousseau’s company—and the conglomerate Meridian Holdings, which put Jenkins in the mix, thanks to his legitimate business interests in both companies.
Whoever was in charge had taken pains to hide their identity.
Alden’s eyes flared. “If you don’t care about Renegade, then get lost. This city doesn’t need people like you in it.”
“People who don’t care?” Luca fired back. “Because clearly you cared so much that you wanted it all for yourself.” Before Alden could argue with him, Luca said, “We know what’s really going on in this city.”
After his kidnapping a few months ago, Ralph Rousseau had told them that there was more to the crime world in Renegade than anyone realized.
It had been enough to convince Luca to look for power players in Renegade.
Ralph had been kidnapped and shot, but why?
Detective Martinelli wasn’t convinced the syndicate had ordered it, so Luca had a hunch he was here to play.
“We know about the Shadow Syndicate.” Luca watched for Alden’s reaction.
Another clench of his jaw.
“The DA could find you somewhere cushy to spend your sentence. Somewhere out of the syndicate’s reach.”
Alden scoffed. “With all those charges you mentioned?” He shook his head. “No one’s gonna give me nothin’. They haven’t even offered me a deal.”
“I could talk to the DA on your behalf. Find out what kind of concessions they’re willing to make in exchange for the names of whoever’s in charge of this shadow syndicate.”
Alden’s expression hardened. “What makes you think I’m not the head of the Shadow Syndicate?”
“If you were, I doubt you’d have allowed yourself to be arrested.” Jenkins had let his emotions get the better of him and used violence to solve his problem rather than being cold and calculating.
Luca had met all kinds of evil people in his life. The ones who let feelings control their actions were the ones who slipped up and got caught. Those who acted with zero emotion were so much more disturbing.
Luca shifted in his seat. “I think you know who they are, or at least you have an idea. You made a deal to sell your lithium to them, didn’t you?
But I also think Rousseau wasn’t happy doing your dirty work and wanted in on the profits.
When Elway brought you the evidence he’d found, you discovered Ralph trying to undercut your agreement with the syndicate, so you decided to remove him from the equation. Did I get that right?”
“You think I’m the chump who got double-crossed?”
Luca leaned forward. “I think you’re the chump who’ll go down for all of it.”
“Can’t prove it, or I’d be facing more charges.”
“Speaking of that,” Luca began, “all the evidence we’ve got points to Rousseau, but I don’t see him behind bars. Why’s that?”
A tendon in Alden’s jaw flexed.
“I’m surprised they didn’t already come up with proof that you’re the head of the syndicate. That way you go down and no one’s the wiser.” Luca shrugged. “I figured they’d have pinned it all on you by now.”
Given the shift in his expression, Alden didn’t like that. “They aren’t pinning anything on me. Rousseau can rot for all I care.”
Ralph Rousseau had been the first person to mention the Shadow Syndicate. If he hadn’t opened his mouth, they might not have paid much attention to the words Elway had scribbled on a sticky note. Even Rousseau’s statement was hardly conclusive.
But it was a start.
In the months since then, for all their looking, they hadn’t come up with more than what already implicated Rousseau.
Documents that Rousseau’s lawyers argued were forged versions of his legitimate business accounts and which Rousseau contended were evidence that he’d been framed.
That he was merely the victim of a crime.
“Now’s your chance to do yourself a favor before you go down, Rousseau makes a deal of his own, and the syndicate gets away with everything.” Luca leaned back in his seat. “Fight this battle on your terms with the only leverage you have left, before you go down for all of it.”
He figured appealing to the man’s inherent selfishness was the best play here.
What he wanted to do was persuade Alden to do the right thing, but that wasn’t going to be effective.
Luca wanted to practice the speech he would give if his brother Amir was the one sitting across this table.
But Amir was currently serving eight years in federal prison in Texas, hundreds of miles from here, and Luca couldn’t do anything about that.
But he could do something about this.
“Maybe I’ll take you up on that offer of a cushy cell. Get them to wheel me in a TV so I can watch whatever I want.” Alden’s tone dripped with disdain. “That would’ve been an easier sell than getting me to betray people who would retaliate and kill me.”
“You think we can’t protect you?”
Alden leaned forward, the shackles jingling. “I think once you have what you want, you don’t need me. I’m only alive now because I’ve kept my mouth shut this far.”
“No one has to know that you said anything,” Luca said. “We can ensure your safety. But do you really not want to play the one card you have left—the knowledge of the syndicate and their names? Why not make sure they all go down?”
The other man shook his head. “Just talking to you puts my life at risk in a place like this.”
“Then why did you agree to meet?” Luca got the feeling there was something Alden wanted. Something he hadn’t asked for yet.
And given the look in his eyes, it might be the first real thing Jenkins said in this whole conversation.
Luca waited, the clock on the wall marking each second while he watched the expression on Alden’s face.
It almost made him seem vulnerable, or at least a tiny bit human.
A man who had been the mayor, who got whatever he wanted, and now he wore a jumpsuit and chains.
He knew he didn’t have much left to lose.