Chapter 45
Cash came awake as Ralen shook him. “Wake up! We have to go!”
“Go? Go where?” It took his brain a moment to catch up, and then he realized where he was. He’d fallen asleep in the spare bedroom at the safe house. He’d thought about sneaking in with Addie after he’d put her to bed earlier.
But he’d figured that might be a bit creepy. Even if waking up with her hand on his dick was definitely his favorite way to wake up.
“What’s going on? Are the girls in danger?” His heart pounded.
Get to Addie.
Protect her.
“No. Nobody’s found the safe house. This isn’t about the girls. Ortega called me. He needs us. Now.”
Shit.
He got out of bed. “What’s the time?”
“Nearly four,” Ralen replied.
Should he wake Addie and tell her that he was leaving? But it was early and he’d just scare her. Besides, this might not take that long.
“The girls?”
“I spoke to Butch and he’s got it covered until Stone gets here. Let’s go.”
Guilt filled him as he ran out the door with Ralen to his truck. He’d promised Addie he’d be here for her.
But Ortega was his friend. Not only that, he was the half-brother of his boss. And Dante wouldn’t be pleased if they ignored Ortega.
Nothing good happened when Dante was displeased.
This was why it was so hard to have a relationship when you’d signed your life over. Because the ‘job’ would always come first.
Not that she was his woman.
So why did he still feel so guilty?
He drove away from the house. “Where is he? Ortega?”
“Bismarck,” Ralen said.
“Bismarck? Wait, North Dakota?” Cash asked. “What the fuck is he doing there?”
That wasn’t anywhere close to Chicago. Although at least it would only take five hours instead of seventeen to get there.
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t tell me. He just said he needs our help and to let him know when we get there.”
Great.
When they stopped to get something to eat, he quickly sent a message to Addie, letting her know that he’d had to leave.
And that he’d hopefully be back soon.
God. He hoped she stayed safe.
Cash followed Ortega’s directions to what looked like an old storage warehouse along the river. It was just down from the petroleum refinery. It was now after ten in the morning and still the place looked creepy as fuck.
As they stepped into the dark warehouse and looked around, he felt a chill run up his back. This place had a weird feel. It was freezing cold and creaked in the wind as though warning them to turn around. The scent of piss, mold, and blood hit his nose.
Fresh blood.
Fuck. What the hell was Ortega up to? They hadn’t contacted Dante yet. They wanted to speak to Ortega first.
“Ahh, the two of you took your time,” Ortega said, walking toward them and wiping his hands on a rag.
“We drove as fast as we could,” Cash replied, feeling irritated. “What’s going on? Why can I smell blood?”
“Shit. What have you done?” Ralen asked.
Ortega sighed. “Come with me and I’ll just show you.”
They followed him to a hole in the floor. Why did he always end up in dark, creepy warehouses?
They followed Ortega into the basement area which was actually made of cinder block.
A good thing too, since it seemed it had become a torture chamber. The blocks would muffle the screams of the poor bastards tied up and lying on the floor.
“What the fuck?” Ralen asked. “Who the fuck are these guys?”
“My girl’s enemies.”
Cash gaped at him. “Did you just say your girl’s enemies?”
“Yes. I did. The pair of you seem shocked. You didn’t think I’d take out the enemies of my girl?”
“We didn’t know you had a girl to start with,” Ralen said. “So no, we didn’t realize that you were running around murdering her fucking enemies.”
“They’re not dead yet. Well, not all of them.” Ortega walked over and kicked one of the men on the floor, who groaned.
“Since when have you had a girlfriend?” Cash asked.
“Oh, about ten days. She doesn’t know she’s my girlfriend yet, though. We’re working that through. She’s being a bit . . . resistant. These guys are like courting gifts.”
A bunch of dead bodies were courting gifts? There were times that Cash thought he couldn’t be shocked. And then something else happened.
“You kidnapped all of these people so that this girl would want to go out with you?” Ralen clarified.
“Yes. And because they’re evil bastards who deserve to die. They’re not good people. Each of them has hurt my girl in some way. There are also women who have hurt her but I’ll have to do something else to them since I don’t murder women.”
Right. Cool. Shit.
“And you want our help getting rid of the bodies?” Cash asked.
“You got it. I thought about the river, but there are too many bodies. It’s risky. I did find a pig farmer nearby, but one body would be okay, two would be pushing it. Then I thought of the petroleum refinery.”
What did the petroleum . . . oh fuck.
“Acid?” Ralen asked, sounding slightly ill.
Ortega nodded. “Acid.”
“We can’t break into a petroleum refinery to get fucking acid,” Cash said. “It probably has tight security.”
“We’re not going into the refinery,” Ortega said. “They’re due a delivery around four and we’re going to lighten their load. That’s why I need your help. I’ve got a few things to put into place.”
Wonderful.
Just wonderful.
The last thing that Cash thought he’d be doing was stealing fucking acid from a petroleum refinery.
But here he was.
Ortega handled the trickier parts, like paying off security to look the other way as they helped themselves to a vat of fucking acid. That had to be carried back to the warehouse and down to the basement.
That was his and Ralen’s job.
He set down the acid and stepped back, breathing heavily. Not because of the effort it had taken to get the acid down here. More from adrenaline and fear.
He’d felt certain that they were going to get caught.
“What happens when the refinery discovers they’re missing some acid?” Ralen asked.
“Not our problem,” Ortega said. “We do need to work quickly though.”
They’d intercepted the truck carrying the chemicals a few miles away. Then they’d punctured the tires so that the refinery thought it was a robbery, rather than Ortega bribing the two drivers.
“What about if they talk?” Cash asked. “The truck drivers?”
“They won’t. I threatened them and paid them well. And if they do, they’re dead men too and they know it.”
Cash swallowed. He loved Ortega, but the guy could be fucking scary.
“Get the lid off, will you?” Ortega asked. “Then I can take it from here.”
“Are you sure?” Ralen asked. “We’ll help you, uh, deal with the bodies.”
“Sure you can stomach it?” Ortega asked.
“Won’t be the worst thing we’ve ever done,” Cash lied.
He drew out his phone, checking for any messages.
Nothing. He put it to one side and grabbed some gloves to help Ralen remove the lid.
After it was taken off, his phone beeped and he drew it out.
But as he tried to open it, he fumbled, and the phone fell into the acid.
Fuck.
“Well. That wasn’t smart,” Ortega said.
Even Ralen gaped at him.
Cash groaned. That was a stupid, rookie move. He’d just been too eager to check his phone to think about what he was doing.
“Get your mind in the game,” Ralen whispered to him. “We’ve got shit to do and we need to get it done. Now. They girls will be fine. They have Butch and Stone with them.”
“Hmm, the vat is a bit small for the bodies,” Ortega said. “Some of them will need to be cut up. And it will take some time to get through them all. I’m not keeping you from anything?”
Actually, he was.
But Cash knew better than to say that.
“Of course not. Let’s get to work.”
It took them the entire night to get rid of the bodies and clean up. Cash was exhausted and sweaty by the end of it. He took the bottle of water that Ortega held out to him.
He gulped it down and wiped his brow.
Fuck. He needed a shower. Sleep. And a lot of whiskey.
For a long moment, he just sat there in silence. He needed to find his way back into himself. At the moment, he felt emotionless.
Out of it.
“Is this why you haven’t been answering anyone’s calls?” Ralen asked as he sat on the floor and drank from his own bottle of water.
Ortega shrugged. “As you can see, I’ve been busy.”
“Dante has been threatening to come to the States to find you,” Ralen pointed out.
“Huh. Really? He can’t do that. I guess I’ll call him. I am a grown man. I don’t need my brothers checking up on me every few minutes.” Irritation filled Ortega’s voice.
“You should still let someone know you’re alive,” Ralen told him. “Bonnie was worried.”
Ortega sighed. “There were other . . . circumstances. My phone wasn’t within reach for a while. And then it went missing. I had to get a new one. And I might have gotten caught up in my courtship.”
That wasn’t mysterious or anything.
“Aren’t people going to notice that eight men have gone missing? Bismarck isn’t that big a place,” Ralen pointed out.
Cash was staying out of it for the moment, not trusting himself.
“Oh, they’re not all from here. I had to go further afield to retrieve some of them. I was even in your neck of the woods. That was a quick trip.”
Something clicked in Cash’s brain and he gaped at Ortega, some of the coldness inside him disappearing at the revelation. “Our neck of the woods? In Billings?”
“Yes. In a weird coincidence, I acquired one of these assholes close to a bar where you guys were. I saw your truck. What happened with the girl that climbed into the back?”
Holy. Fuck.
“It was you?” Cash whispered. “You were the guy with a body over his shoulder? That you stuffed into the trunk of your car?”
“Ahh, so she did tell someone. I wasn’t sure she would.”
“You saw her there?” Ralen asked. “And you didn’t try to grab her?”
“I knew she wouldn’t have seen my face. And I’d made sure that none of the cameras in the area worked. She seemed harmless. You know I don’t hurt women. There was nothing to tie me to that place. So I left her. Did you discover her?”
“Ahh, yeah, you could say that,” Cash said, running his hand over his face.
“That was fucking reckless, man,” Ralen told Ortega. “Someone could have recognized you.”
“But they didn’t,” Ortega shot back. “And I was in a time crunch.”
Ralen shot Cash a look. Ortega was behaving recklessly which wasn’t like him. And he could have taken a minute to let Dante know where he was.
But at least it solved one mystery.
“Will you let Dante know you’re safe?” Ralen asked. “Because you know we have to.”
Ortega grunted and nodded. “Fine. But I do need your help getting hold of someone else. He’s being slippery.”
Great.
This was just getting better and better.