Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
Warrick didn’t love the setup.
The plan was sound. Everyone was ready to put things in motion and take their places.
They had Quinn’s brother, Symon, all dressed up in a silk suit and fancy shoes, with a wad of cash in his pocket and a diamond pinky ring, ready to go.
Quinn and Tiago had gathered up a ton of support and his brothers had gotten the bikers rallied in, too.
Race had a few carefully selected security people on rooftops surrounding the underground club, ready to be snipers, and a few more who were already inside the main room, where there was actually a bar.
They mingled with the security guards and bodyguards who were impatiently waiting for their bosses to stop playing poker.
They had verified that Maximilian Frost had arrived about an hour ago, so now all they had to do was tip over the first domino.
But frankly, he hated that his mate and his brothers’ omega mates were here.
They were all very capable and they could take care of themselves.
And fuck knew, he was proud of Milo for leaving the cabin and coming out to do this.
But it was literally their right and pleasure to take care of their mates and this was putting them in harm’s way.
And he also knew he was going to have to use Milo as bait.
Quinn’s brother could only do so much. He would create a distraction, but if they were going to corner Frost alone, they were going to have to let Milo draw him out. Milo was the one who got away, and he was the one who would get them the video and audio files they needed.
The sound of a big bike roaring around out front was the signal that they were starting their distraction. That would be some of their biker friends making a ruckus so Quinn’s brother Symon could slip in.
Warrick took a deep breath and centered himself. Please don’t put yourself in immediate danger, love.
I’ll do what I have to do to protect my brothers and you. Milo’s voice was resolute and Warrick knew this was what had happened before. Milo had been trying to protect Race when he was captured.
He really felt as though his brothers were his responsibility. War got that. He was horrified that his brothers were in this situation. Every time he put his brothers in danger, it made his stomach curdle. But this was what they did and it was important work.
He waited, knowing soon his phone would give a single chime, letting him know that Symon was in the building.
The chain of events was in motion. He just had to believe that everything was going to go as planned.
His phone chimed, and it was time to move because that meant the distraction was in full force.
They needed to get in the back, go through the kitchen, and get into the poker room.
Once they were there, Milo would be the thing that made everybody fall into confusion and then it would just be a matter of recording the conversation.
It worked great until they met an unexpected security force in the kitchen. Three big guys, some kind of shifters that he couldn’t identify by smell. Although the scent was nasty even with all the odors of the kitchen around.
They turned and immediately brought up weapons, ready to open fire. War put his hands up as if he was surrendering, but he knew Ryder and Connal had his back. “Sorry, sorry, I was just supposed to make a delivery.”
“No deliveries. Get out.”
“Sure.” He started to back up but then he feinted, shifting into his bear form because he needed to be able to fight and take a bullet if he had to without going down. He heard another deep growl as Ryder went flying past him, taking two of the men out.
I have to get into the poker room now. We’re going to lose our element of surprise.
That was agonizing because he knew Milo was right, but he was damn busy trying to subdue the other man who had gotten a shot off but hadn’t actually hit him. Connal, go with him.
If he couldn’t be the one to go in there with Milo, he knew his brother would take care of things.
It only took a few swipes to take down the guy who had started to shift into some sort of reptile when Warrick took his head off with a swipe of his big paw.
He didn’t even pause to watch the body stop twitching.
He just moved on because he had to be in that room with Milo when the inhabitants realized who Milo was.
He got there just in time to hear Frost shouting, “What the fuck is going on? Who are these people? What do I pay you fuckers for?”
The room devolved into chaos. He saw Connal moving, tracking Milo, keeping him within easy reach but letting him be seen.
“You.” One of Frost’s poker partners pointed at Milo, with an expression of utter rage. “What are you doing here?”
“Shit, it’s that bear.” One of the other men started toward Milo, his hands clenched. “Why aren’t you dead?”
Milo let out a bright ironic laugh. “Looks like the gang’s all here. What a wonderful thing! I can have you all in one swoop.” Stay back, Warrick. Let me get this on video and audio.
Milo was wired for all of that It was the hardest thing War had ever done to let Milo just go in there with only Connal as his backup. He and Ryder waited just outside the door.
He knew for a fact that Quinn and his people, plus Nolan and Race, were on the other side of the building, waiting to rush in from that area as soon as they could.
He took a deep breath and reminded himself that Milo needed to do this. This was for him.
“I’m not dead because no matter what you tried to do to me, you couldn’t kill me.
I’m not dead because I have to help all of the other omegas and shifters that you’re stealing and selling on the black market.
” Milo’s voice rose with every word, but it wasn’t hysterical.
It was angry, assertive, and Warrick was so fucking proud of him he couldn’t bear it.
“Well how convenient for you. You always were a pain in my ass.”
“Let me kill him, boss.”
Frost whipped around and stared at his underling. Maybe he wasn’t a henchman. He’d been in on the poker game, but Warrick had no idea who he was. “You did notice that he brought a witness with him. Are you a moron?”
“I’m the one who got him out of your clutches. I know what kind of a cage you had him in.” Connal’s voice was still a bear-like growl, but he was coming back to his human self.
“Oh, Jesus fuck! Save me from crusading bear shifters.” Frost drew a small pistol out of his jacket pocket. “I’m going to do what I should have done then and kill you. You were so useful, though, getting the other shifters to fall in line.”
That’s what we need. Bring everybody in. Warrick slammed it into everyone’s heads that he could reach. Then he roared into the room because he wasn’t going to let Milo get shot, or Connal for that matter. The man had already taken a bullet rescuing Milo once.
The gun went off but Milo had dived to one side and that gave Warrick the moment he needed to jump on top of the guy and take him down to the floor. He was growling and snarling. He heard the sound of fists hitting flesh, but he ignored the fight. His brothers and Quinn and Tiago would handle it.
He did check in with his mate, though.
Tell me you’re okay.
Don’t worry about me. You just deal with him. I’m fine.
Con, get him out of here, take him to Nolan and Race. I want him out of harm’s way.
They had the recordings they needed. They had evidence of the trafficking ring and the head guy on attempted murder. It would be a gift for the Feds, who he had been assured were in on this little raid too. Quinn knew people all over the place.
On it. He trusted Con to do it and he trusted Milo to tell him if something terrible happened so he could help.
It took over an hour to clean up all the shit that went down during the struggle.
Honest Feds coming and going, Quinn’s people, the bikers, everybody taking out the trash of the bodyguards who had been injured or killed.
The owner of the underground poker club was arrested as well for all sorts of violations of code and not reporting income.
God knew what all was going on in the building.
To be perfectly honest, by the time it was all over, Warrick was bored as fuck. He wanted his mate, and he wanted him now. He wanted to see Milo for himself, make sure everything was fine.
“You got this?” he finally asked Quinn and Tiago.
“We got it. Good job. Milo did amazing.”
“Nice. I’m leaving. I need to see my mate.”
Quinn broke into chuckles. “You’re a grumpy bastard, Warrick. You really are.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll see you next week when you bring your bike in.” War was the only one who worked on Quinn’s bike. Not that his brothers weren’t good, and Nolan was amazing as a mechanic too, but War kept the best customers for himself.
“And we’ll finish cleaning up this mess.” They shook hands all around. “Good job, though. This should cut off the big head, and then we’ll leave it to everyone else to snap the tendrils.”
“Sounds like a fucking plan.” He turned on his heel and strode out of the underground poker room, knowing that by now the guys would have Milo, Nolan, and Race in the big conversion van outside.
No one would want their mate to still be in there.
He crawled into the van and took the bottle of water Connal handed him. Ryder was in there too, and his brother grinned at him, shaking his head. “Did that seem a little bit anticlimactic?”
“It seemed meticulously planned and well executed.” He growled it out, glaring. “The only thing that went wrong was that there were bodyguards in the kitchen. We didn’t plan for that eventuality and we should have. God knows we would have covered all the entrances.”
Race snorted. “Yeah well, the next time we invade an underground poker club and arrest a millionaire for trafficking and kidnapping and extortion and all those other things, then we’ll remember that.”
Connal’s mate was snarky as fuck. He loved it.
“You know what I want?” Nolan asked.
Ryder reached out to stroke his cheek with his thumb. “What’s that, baby?”
“A patty melt with fries and a chocolate shake. Anyone else hungry?”
“Oh my god,” Milo moaned, hand over his belly. “I could murder a blue plate special or something at the diner.”
Warrick blinked at his mate, dumbfounded. That was totally unexpected. Milo had eaten like a bird most of the time Warrick knew him. “I could eat everything in sight, probably,” Warrick agreed.
“Then let’s go.” Ryder headed up to the driver’s seat of the van, getting them moving. They would stop at their favorite diner, which was a truck stop, actually, just off I-25, one of those places that had a great big neon sign of a coffee pot.
Milo laughed at something one of his brothers said, and Warrick couldn’t stop staring at him. He was so beautiful. The successful raid had obviously taken a big weight off his shoulders.
Hopefully this bit of healing was totally what his mate needed right now, because Warrick wanted him to be happy.
And he also wanted a giant stack of pancakes.