Daddy's Risk (The Daddy Guard: Las Vegas #3)

Chapter 1

Chapter One

“We might get into some serious trouble over this!” John yelled as he weaved in and out of the thick traffic.

That was exactly Xavier Williams’s thought, too. Crouched just a little behind the front cab, between the two seats, he craned his neck to read the speedometer. They weren’t exactly going pedal-to-the-floor fast, but for the congested urban area, they were hauling ass.

As fast as they were going—and with all the attention-getting additions they’d added to the vehicle—it was only a matter of time until the LVPD joined them on their mad dash through Vegas.

Atop the red vehicle, lights flashed. A siren blared. If that wasn’t enough, the yellow lettering at various places stating EMERGENCY told other drivers and the pedestrians this was an official first-response operation.

The only problem was that it wasn’t.

They might as well just have mounted a huge billboard on the top that blared HEY COPS, LOOK AT US!

But again, that was a problem because they were not acting in any official capacity. Xavier used to be a cop, but his days on the Force were over.

He knew John had been a fireman back in Los Angeles. But he was in Vegas now. And he held no official rank with any recognized emergency service.

Nor did Breaker, the muscular man who sat in the front passenger seat beside him. From what Xavier had learned, he was a former CIA operative. But that wouldn’t do them any good if they got busted for this little stunt.

“Yeah,” Xavier said, “we might get into some trouble.”

“People have always called me Trouble because I get into so damn much of it,” Breaker said with a laugh. “Doesn’t bother me any.”

John didn’t take his eyes off the road as he hurled down Sands Avenue. “I thought people called you Breaker because you break things.”

“Yeah. Well. They call me Trouble too.”

“Really?”

It took Breaker a couple of seconds to answer. “Well, I assume some did. Look, I’m still workshopping it. Just drive and we’ll worry about the consequences of this little excursion later!”

Even under the tense circumstances, Xavier chuckled along with John.

The engine roared loudly as John jerked the wheel to the right, barely missed a car that was driving about twenty miles an hour, and sent two wheels over the curb.

His precision driving skill allowed him to run half the big truck on the sidewalk, mere inches away from the metal fence that ran parallel with the road.

Ahead, the Palazzo towered not far away. To the left, the Sphere lit up in a dizzying array of colors as its state-of-the-art full-building screen dazzled tourists, luring them in.

Once John was past the slow car, the wheels left the sidewalk and the truck was even again.

Xavier voiced what he’d been worried about. “The cops are going to join in anytime. Trust me, if I was in a cruiser and I saw this, I would jump in and give you an escort. I’d be on my radio to see what was going on, but I’d be trying to clear a path for you. It’s only a matter of time…”

John sighed. “That’s what I was worried about. Not only are we not technically first responders, but I’m willing to bet this truck is hot.” Casting a quick glance over his shoulder, he called back, “Is my hunch right, Marco?”

Xavier was thankful when the driver focused his attention back on the road.

From the very back of the truck, manning the computer that sat on a mounted shelf that ran half the truck’s back length, a tall, handsome, tattoo-covered man named Marco Ruggieri called back, “Depends on your definition of hot.”

“Well what does that mean?” John asked.

Xavier cast a glance over his shoulder at Marco.

The guy didn’t take his eyes off the computer monitor as he explained, “There’s no current heat on it. This thing has been cleaned and laundered so many times it won’t come back on any search. We could park it in front of the police station and be fine. But yeah, it’s most definitely stolen.”

“What the hell?” John called back.

He’d beat Xavier to the question, but that was his sentiment, too.

“Hey, cut me some slack here,” Marco said, finally taking his eyes off the monitor and looking up toward the front cab. “When you said you wanted to try out a Daddy Guard emergency vehicle, I told you I knew where we could get one on the cheap. I even told you I was going through Fast Eddy.”

John groaned. “Fast Eddy deals in stolen cars? I didn’t know that!”

“Well, hell,” Breaker said. “The guy’s named Fast Eddy. I could have told you that.”

Xavier laughed.

John just groaned yet again.

“Look, you want a car that can’t be traced on the cheap and you need it quickly, Fast Eddy’s the guy you see around here,” Marco said with a shrug.

As Marco looked at the screen again, Xavier returned his focus to the front, looking out the windshield as the street curved around the Venetian Expo Center, past the Palazzo, and toward the Wynn on the right.

“We’re coming up on her,” Marco stated. “Maybe fifty yards.”

Xavier couldn’t believe this was his life now. He’d been with the LVPD for so long, but now, that life was behind him.

He was still helping people. Protecting and serving still defined him. Only now, he was doing it as part of the Daddy Guard.

And it was quite a life…