Chapter 4 #2
Mia stayed quiet, not sure how to respond to his declaration of love. He’d never been one to say it often, but when he did she treasured those moments. And she hated that she couldn’t be sure he meant it this time. Time had passed. Things had changed. And there was always an agenda.
She parked next to Blaze’s Bronco in the back of the parking lot.
There was another truck she didn’t recognize parked next to him, and three men stood in front of it.
A fire truck with flashing lights was parked to the side of the building, but far enough away not to damage the scene.
She tried not to despair at the sight of her missing front door.
Other than that, on the outside, it looked untouched.
At least the building was standing. Anything else she could deal with.
As if reading her mind, Zeke squeezed her shoulder as they walked over to the others, but she shrugged him off.
Sympathy wasn’t what she needed at that moment.
Not if she wanted to keep it together. What she really needed was a cup of coffee.
“The alarm company silenced the alarms,” Blaze said. “You’ll need to call them to set things back up once you’re ready to roll.”
“Definitely not someone passing by looking for a quick buck,” Zeke said, hands on hips as he surveyed the scene.
“Not by a long shot,” Blaze agreed. “They came prepared and knew what they were doing. Deputy Greyson was first on scene. The fire department pulled in right after him.”
Mia knew Lane Greyson—he was one of Blaze’s most reliable deputies, always first to volunteer for the tough shifts.
“Sorry about this, Mia,” Blaze said. “I know what this place means to you.”
“Is the inside as bad as I think it’s going to be?” she asked him.
Blaze’s lips pinched together. “I brought you a to-go cup of coffee. It’s in the cab of my truck.”
“That bad, huh,” she said, her stomach tied in knots. She went to the cab of the truck and opened the door, grabbing the thermal coffee mug from the middle console.
“What dragged you out of bed before noon?” Zeke asked Ryder.
Ryder O’Hara had the same black hair and blue eyes as Blaze, though he was a few inches shorter and his build was slightly leaner.
They had the same square jaw and the same intensity in their eyes.
Both of them looked as if they’d never backed away from a fight.
No wonder Zeke got along so well with them. He carried himself the same way.
“Couldn’t sleep,” Ryder answered. “Mac’s visiting friends in Boise this week, so I was wide awake when Blaze texted. Figured it’d be better to tag along than to get my hopes up by lying down and trying to go to sleep.”
“Sounds like fun,” Zeke said. “I’m thinking of having kids in the next forty years or so.”
“Hey, Picasso did it. It’s good to have goals, man.”
“Has there been time to secure the scene?” Mia asked. She knew the drill. Knew they were standing out in the parking lot for a reason. But God, she wanted to get in there and see what they’d destroyed.
“We walked the perimeter when we arrived,” Blaze said. “Anyone who was here was long gone, but you’ll see the marks on the sidewalk. I put the word out for who we’re looking for.”
Mia followed them toward the front of the shop, her boots crunching over gravel. She didn’t see what Blaze was talking about until she was almost on top of it.
“Skid marks,” she said. And one of the motorcycles who’d left it had ridden up her stairs and left them on the porch as well.
“Any reason why a group of bikers would pay you a visit, Mia?” Zeke asked.
Unlike the rookie who’d been standing in her shop yesterday, she knew how to lie.
Years of practice made it as easy as breathing.
There were techniques they’d been taught at special ops classes that helped with the art of lying—body language, facial expressions, and making sure the lies were close enough to the truth that you didn’t forget and stumble somewhere along the way.
“Not that I can think of,” she answered.
She knew she’d have to tell Zeke about the biker and the music box, but now wasn’t the time or the place.
If the details were part of whatever op he was running then Blaze and the others wouldn’t know what was going on.
And anything they found out could endanger a life.
She looked at Zeke and asked, “Any coincidence as to why bikers would show up and do this the same day you roll back into my life?”
“Not that I can think of,” he said, parroting her.
“We didn’t find any other breached areas,” Blaze said, heading up the short stairs to her porch. “They knew the entry point they wanted and knew how to enter. This is a reinforced steel door and at night you pull down the cage behind it for added security.”
“Yeah, but nothing is infallible,” she said.
“Obviously. But it’s a time-consuming job.
They had to cut through the hinges and remove the door completely.
The alarm would’ve been sounding, but guys like that wouldn’t care.
And they’d have the right tools on hand to be able to get in.
They’d use the same blade on the pull-down cage and then walk in.
There are at least eight or ten skid marks and grooves dug into the gravel of the parking lot. ”
“Ballsy to draw such attention to themselves,” Lane said.
“No one is ever on this stretch of road after midnight.”
Zeke walked off toward the road and she could tell he was trying to get a better feel for how many there were, which direction they’d entered from, and hopefully, which direction they’d exited.
“They’d know Laurel Valley would be the closest responding department,” Mia said.
“And that your location gives them plenty of time,” Blaze finished for her, his look grim. “Even with patrols running, you’re fifteen minutes out on a good day.”
“This isn’t your fault.” She wanted to make sure he knew that.
“It’s location and timing. I’m pretty far outside of town.
By design. And even though I’m technically part of Laurel Valley, you and I both know that if I were on the other side of that hill with the other businesses, this never would’ve happened.
But I’m not and there’s no easy way for emergency personnel to get here quickly.
They knew they had at least twenty minutes to get the job done. ”
Zeke walked back to their group and said, “They split off in each direction. Pretty typical behavior. We can assume this is the work of the Vaqueros since this is their territory. And they’re known to converge on a location, wreak havoc, and then separate so they can lie low for a while.
They’re well organized and they run an intelligent operation.
I’ve watched the way they work from the inside.
It’s why they’ve been so successful running drugs these past years. They’re like ghosts.”
“We can try and pull identities from the security cameras,” she said, “but knowing who they are won’t help us on how to find them. Identifying them and plastering their faces on the news is like a badge of honor.”
“Might as well check out the inside,” Blaze said. “You can see if anything is missing.”
They stepped through the gaping hole where her front door had once been, and Mia had to stifle a gasp.
Her heart thudded in her chest and a red haze clouded her vision.
Everything was destroyed. The shelves were knocked down, the floor littered with broken glass.
They’d not gotten the more expensive pieces locked behind the counter, though she could see the scratches on the bulletproof glass.
“Have you had any run-ins with the Vaqueros?” Blaze asked.
Mia stepped over glass and an electric guitar that was broken in half. “I threatened to shoot one earlier today,” she said. “I suppose he could’ve taken it personally.”
All four men stared at her with varying degrees of surprise on their faces.
“What?” she asked. “You know I’m always armed and I don’t put up with any crap in my place.”
“Maybe you could’ve mentioned it?” Zeke said.
“When would’ve been a good time? When you popped up in my shop asking for the same item the biker was, or maybe when you showed up at my apartment and kissed me senseless? You’re right, Zeke. I should’ve confessed the second you graced my doorstep. I don’t know what I was thinking?”
Ryder coughed to cover a laugh and Blaze looked down at his boots, but she could see his smile. Lane never showed much expression at all, but she knew him well enough to see that he wanted to smile.
Zeke’s jaw was clenched hard and all he said was, “Mia,” in that tone of voice that didn’t bode well.
She arched a brow and narrowed her eyes. Now wasn’t the time for him to try any macho nonsense.
“What was the biker looking for?” Blaze asked.
Mia could hear the hollowness of her own voice. “He asked for a music box. Was very specific about what kind he wanted. He said that he’d been told someone had come in and sold it to me. He offered to double my money.
“I told him he was mistaken and that I didn’t have a piece like that. He got close and told me I’d better rethink my answer, so I cocked the sawed-off I’ve got stashed under the counter. He decided to leave after that.”
“Anything else?”
She sighed. “Yeah, he said he’d come back for a visit with his brothers.”
“God, Mia,” Zeke said. “Why wouldn’t you report something like that?”
“Because I can take care of myself,” she said, whirling on Zeke. “I was a cop, remember? How would reporting it have changed anything?”
“And now you’ve got a target on your back.”
“They did what they came to do,” she said. “They destroyed and still didn’t find what they were looking for. There’s no reason for them to come back here. But they might target other pawnshops in the area if their intel tells them that’s where the music box ended up.”
She looked directly at Zeke when she said it, watching his face for any reaction. But he’d always been good at keeping his expression neutral when he needed to.
“We’ll put an alert out to all the surrounding areas,” Blaze said. “We’ll get in and out of here quickly so you can get the insurance company in and start going through your inventory.”
“What’s left of it,” she said, looking around at the shambles of a room.
“I’ll grab Levi and Hank and we’ll come back and put in a makeshift door with a sturdy deadbolt,” Ryder said, speaking of his brother and his cousin who owned a construction company. “At least it’ll deter anyone wanting to snoop or help themselves to what’s available.”
“I’d appreciate it,” she said. “This is definitely going to put a dent in my new parking lot fund.”
“I can call in a couple of favors,” Zeke said. “I’ve got men at the DEA office that are twiddling their thumbs, waiting for a big case to drop. They can set up a patrol in the area and keep an eye out to make sure you don’t get another visit.”
Mia’s head snapped up. “Your men? So this is DEA business?” Her voice was dangerously quiet. She looked from Zeke to Blaze. “You want to tell me what operation I just got caught in the middle of?”
Blaze’s expression didn’t change, but she saw the slight tension in his jaw. That told her everything she needed to know.
“Not here,” Zeke said. “Not now.”
“Are you kidding me,” Mia said, her voice rising.
“My shop just got destroyed by a biker gang looking for something specific. Something you showed up asking about the same day.” She turned to Blaze.
“And you knew about this. Don’t even try to deny it.
DEA doesn’t run operations without briefing local law enforcement. ”
Blaze’s silence was answer enough.
“So let me get this straight,” Mia continued, her fury building. “Both of you knew I was in the middle of whatever this is, and neither one of you thought to give me a heads-up? I was a cop, for God’s sake. You don’t think I could have handled knowing?”
Ryder and Lane had gone very still, clearly uncomfortable witnessing this confrontation.
“Mia—” Blaze started.
“No. Don’t.” She held up a hand. “I trusted you. Both of you.” She looked at Blaze. “I thought we were friends.”
“We are,” Blaze said quietly. “And that’s exactly why I couldn’t say anything. If you’d known, you’d have been in even more danger. Your reactions had to be genuine.”
“Don’t give me that tactical justification,” Mia snapped. “You could have warned me to be careful. You could have told me to watch my back. Instead you let me walk around blind while bikers were targeting my shop.”
“She’s right,” Zeke said, surprising everyone. “We should have handled it differently.”
Mia’s eyes narrowed at Zeke. “Don’t think that gets you off the hook. You used me. That’s what this is, isn’t it? You needed someone with a pawnshop, someone you could manipulate, and here I was. Convenient.”
“It’s not like that—”
“Then what’s it like, Zeke? Because from where I’m standing, you showed up here with your pretty words about retiring and wanting me back, and all along you were working an angle.”
The hurt in her voice cut deeper than the anger, and Zeke flinched.
“We’ll coordinate with the surrounding departments and set up checkpoints and hotspots,” Blaze said, clearly trying to defuse the situation. “The problem with the Vaqueros is their clubhouses are in the mountains. We might not see them for weeks. Or until they need supplies.”
“Right,” Mia said coldly. “Well, there’s no use wasting time when there’s work to be done. How soon do you think I can call insurance and we can start cleanup?”
“Should be ready for insurance this afternoon. You can probably start cleanup tomorrow.”
She nodded and glanced at Zeke. He was staring at a painting that had fallen off the wall, but she could see the tension in every line of his body.
She thought about the music box. Whatever they were running, that music box was at the center of it. And they were both going to tell her everything.
As if reading her mind, Zeke turned his head and looked at her intently. “I’m staying with you,” he said. “From here on out, I’m sticking close. And don’t even think about arguing. I’ll sleep on the couch if I have to, but it’s too dangerous. You need someone to watch your back.”
“Fine,” she said tightly. “But you’d better be prepared to answer some questions. Both of you.” She looked at Blaze. “Because I’m not letting this go.”
“I know,” Blaze said. “And you deserve answers. Just not here. Not now.”