Aching to Exhale (25 page)

"You seem to have a problem with me,
Amigo
." Raul stayed his ground. "Where I come from, we usually shot first and talk second. Seeing as how you're bent on following the dust of my ride and I'm missing the old ways, I want to know what you want before I kill you."

The man walked to the front of the vehicle, sat against the hood, and in a show of bravery seemed to beg Raul to blow his head off. Cocky bastard.

"Nice day for a drive." The man crossed his arms and put one foot up on the bumper. "What can I say? All the excitement of tourists who come to Vegas with a pocket full of cash and dreams of hitting the jackpot bit me. The thrill is contagious. There are beautiful women everywhere…especially a specific blonde I've been thinking about."

Raul lowered his aim and pulled the trigger. He hit his mark between the man's legs, blowing a hole in the warm radiator of the Victoria. Steam poured out, covering the man. Raul swung his arm toward the driver. "Don't fucking think about it."

Raul's shoulders tensed. Out of his peripheral vision, nobody moved, but something was wrong. Something set him on edge, but he couldn't pinpoint the problem. Then he heard what bothered him. The roar of motorcycle engines grew closer.

The muscles in the back of his legs locked, and his finger pressed more firmly on the trigger. Lagsturns needed to work on their timing.

He had to get answers before the rest of his men arrived. Confident in getting out of this alive, all bets were off when more men showed up. The Lagsturns acted before talking. Sworn to eliminate the threat when their president's life was in danger, they'd come in shooting.

The warning on his lips never escaped. Duck stepped out from behind cover and took out their leader. Raul ran to the Victoria, ignoring the downed man, and took aim on the men from the Caddy. All hell broke loose in less time it took to start his Harley.

Bullet's whizzed past his head. He ducked, scrambling low to the ground. His brothers rode straight into mayhem. A man rose in front of Raul with an automatic aimed to the left. Raul jerked his gaze to the target, spotted Layrd in the man's sight, and shot the Los Li member. The man went back a step and fired again. Raul pulled the trigger once, twice, taking him out.

Layrd never hesitated and continued after a man on foot, oblivious to Raul saving his damn life.

The Lincoln car sped off, running over one of their men. Raul rounded the Victoria and yelled, "Down. Get Down."

A man, early twenties, dropped his weapon and hit the pavement, belly down, arms spread. Raul rolled, coming to a stop beside him, and shoved his pistol in the young man's neck. "Start talking and you might live to see your momma. Who ordered the hit on my woman?"

"No, no, I don't know," the man babbled.

Raul shoved the barrel of his pistol into the man's cheek. The heat remaining from the last shots burned the man, causing him to squirm. Raul had no sympathy.

"Who ordered the hit?" he said.

Between clenched teeth, the man said, "Outside job, brah. Outside job."

Raul removed the pistol in the man's hand, patted him down, found a thirty-eight in his boot, and took that one too. Then he kicked the man to get him up, wrapping his arm around his throat. "Call them off."

"They're not going to listen to me." The man stumbled forward, locked in Raul's grasp.

"Unlucky for you then." Raul pushed him to the side of the street and handed him off to Butch. "Hold him. If he moves, shoot him."

"Got him, Prez." Butch spit on the man and held him in a headlock.

Flashing lights rounded the corner followed by four squad cars, sirens wailing. Raul stopped, stuck his fingers in his mouth, and whistled. "Roll out."

He motioned for Butch to let the boy go. Each man for themselves, Raul ran for his motorcycle and hoped like hell there was no damage from the crossfire. Duck beat him to the bikes.

"Go, go, go!" He motioned when Duck hesitated.

Right behind his VP, he had his Harley Davidson up to forty miles per hour by the time he heard the police cars squeal to a stop back at this morning's damage. He glanced ahead of him, behind him, and counted his men.

"Duck!" He veered over on a side street and waited for Duck to stop beside him. "How many of our guys were on the ride?"

"Twenty eight," Duck said.

"God damn, mother fucker." Raul kicked his bike in neutral, put his feet on the ground, and pushed backward, turning the machine. "We're missing one. Go on and keep the others heading in the right direction. Make a meeting point, and have everyone split up."

"No way." Duck moved to get off his motorcycle. "You go. I'll sneak in the back and grab him."

"Get on your ride. That's an order." Raul revved the engine. "Whatever you do, keep the others away from here. Our name's written all over the dead back there and we're out of our territory. Call Big Joe. Tell him not to let Crystal out of his sight. Tell him to kill anyone who gets within twenty feet of her."

"Jesus…" Duck gave him a disgusted look and rode off.

He respected his men's desire to protect him, but this scene was on his back. He'd gone for answers, and instead ended up at a killing party. He rode back in the direction he came, hating every moment that kept him from Crystal. Afraid things were going to get worse before they got better.

Before he could reach the scene, he found himself stopped at gunpoint, hauled off his bike, and flattened to the ground. He kept his mouth shut. He'd hold his identity until he found out which of his men died today because of him. Shit. Sometimes he hated his job.

Chapter Thirty-One

Crystal waited until the squad car parked, and the officer walked into the police station, and then she planted both her hands on Big Joe's chest and shoved him. Not that he budged.

She stomped on his boot, but even that attack did nothing to him. "Get out of my way."

"It's up to you to get Prez out." Big Joe reached out, grabbed Crystal's wrist, and set his pistol in the palm of her hand. Crystal recoiled, shoving the weapon back at Big Joe.

"Absolutely not." She let go of the gun and shook her head. "I'm not going to walk into the police station with a loaded pistol."

"I've got orders not to let you out of my sight." Big Joe sucked his stomach in, stuffed the pistol underneath his belt, and let his stomach back out, covering the weapon. "If you're determined to walk in there, the least you can do is go in there prepared. Prez will have my head in a helmet when he finds out I'm allowing you to go inside alone."

She rolled her eyes. "You heard him. You were supposed to bring me here. He didn't say anything about you coming with me. He'll understand that you're scared."

Big Joe growled. "I'm not scared. I've got a price on my head. Any minute one of those badges will walk out and shovel my ass into a pen. I'm not going back."

Crystal sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down. She was the only one out of the Lagsturns who could walk into the building without being arrested. Someone had to bail him out.

At least she hoped that's the reason Raul was inside the building. He hadn't mentioned anything about how the deal with Los Li went down when he'd called. He'd also refused to let her talk to him on the phone too, and Big Joe wasn't much of a talker.

"Listen. You can stay right here and watch me walk through the door. Once I'm inside, you leave. If we need a pickup, I'll call you myself," she said. "Now Raul's been waiting over an hour for me. I need to go inside."

Big Joe's mouth turned down. "What if you don't come out?"

"I'll come out after I talk with Raul. They can't arrest me. I've done nothing wrong today, besides trespass and starting a riot. But if you didn't notice, everyone was concentrated on what was happening to my dad. I'm old news. No one cares about me when everyone's attention is focused on the scandal rocking Las Vegas." She stepped away. "Everything will be fine. You'll see."

"Make it quick, chickie," Big Joe muttered. "I already regret listening to you."

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. "Thank you. I'll be fast."

She hurried away, feeling sorry for Big Joe. He only knew one side of the story. She had no idea if the Lagsturns figured out Raul's past or if Raul let everyone know he was ex-FBI during the takedown today. She pressed the plate on the side of the wall, heard the buzzer go off, and walked through the security door into the police station. It was a horrifying day waiting to get word that Raul was still alive.

He had no idea her dad used the members from Los Li to try to kill them both, or how scared she was when he never returned or called right away. It took four hours, and when Big Joe's phone rang, she about had a heart attack, her nerves were shot.

A female officer, stern and all business with her hair in a tight bun and no makeup, stepped out into the lobby and scanned Crystal's body before asking, "Can I help you?"

"I'm here to see Raul Sanchez. I'm Crystal..." She looked away, hoping she wouldn't have to say her real name. She had no idea which name Raul would use to ask for her.

The officer looked at her paperclip board on the counter and nodded. "Right this way, Ms. Rose."

She followed the officer down the hallway and stopped at a closed room. The other woman knocked and promptly opened the door. "You can go on in."

"Thank you," Crystal said.

She stepped inside the barren room, spotted Raul standing in front of the window, covered in blood splatter. She reached out to the doorframe. He was standing, looking beautiful, and his eyes were on her.

She ran. He caught her, and she squeezed him with all her strength. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't form one word on her lips. All she could do was hold him and notice his hands shook, and he held her extra tight while his hands roamed her body.

Tears of relief came, and she ignored the wetness because no one was going to take him away from her. Not now after she imagined him shot, arrested, and never seeing him again.

"Sh." Raul smoothed her hair back from her face. "You're okay?"

She nodded. "You?"

"Yeah." He cupped the back of her head, dragging her down to his shoulder. "It's over,
mi vida
. No more targets."

She pushed back to peer at his face. "That's what I have to tell you. It wasn't the Mafia or Los Li after me. I mean it was, and it wasn't. Tango showed up at my dad's house
with
the FBI. Tango arrested my dad for a whole bunch of shit, but my father was the one who put the hit on me…and you. I found out he'd been using the Mafia to launder money and get it out of the country for years. It wasn't retaliation for Garcia."

"I heard," he said.

She kissed his lips and abruptly pulled back. "Did you know Tango was an agent? Was he working for you?"

"Slow down,
mi vida
." He smoothed her hair away from her face and cupped her cheeks. "I found out Tango was FBI after I took out Garcia. Before that, no. I assumed the bureau put him under to form an allegiance with Garcia to double their chances on one of us taking him down. I just found out he joined Lagsturns for another reason."

"What could that be?" She grabbed Raul's shirt. "Shit. I left Big Joe outside. Do I need to get him out of here?"

"Tango isn't after Big Joe." Raul sighed and walked her over to the lone couch, sitting her down beside him. "Tango came into the station after I was brought in—he moistened his lips—after dealing with Los Li. He filled me in on what happened at your dad's house. That's how I knew you were okay."

"But if he was undercover with the Lagsturns, what was he doing dealing with the case against my dad?" she asked.

"Keeping you safe. Tango had you under surveillance to see if you were connected to your dad and helping him export money through the Mafia and out of the country," Raul said. "Your dad's in deep,
mi vida
. He's got dirty fingers, and will probably never see the light of day again."

She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against Raul's chest. "I can't even think about that now. I-I don't know what to think."

"Right." He kissed the top of her head. "Main thing is you're okay. You're with me. We'll get through everything."

She raised her gaze and rubbed her thumb over his bottom lip. "What happens to Tango now? Big Joe saw Tango at the house. He'll tell the others."

"Tango has already gone into protective custody. He's going deep into the system, and being reinvented. He'll start over somewhere else with a new persona, a new case," he said.

"What about you," she whispered. "Do they know you were FBI?"

He shook his head. "That's what we have to talk about. As far as the paperwork shows, I've walked away from the bureau's protection. Bad shit went down today, and I was brought in under custody."

"Oh  God." She shook her head. "You have to tell them who you are, who you work for."

"It's not that simple." He paused. "Five men died today during our confrontation with Los Li. I took out one, and other members of the Lagsturns took out three others. I took responsibility as their president for all four of them. The other members are safe."

"Shit." She covered her mouth, refusing to believe he'd do such a thing as confess for someone else's crime. He'd be lucky to get out of prison in his lifetime.

Death was all around them. She stared at the specks of blood on his clothing. Four men gone—

"Wait. You said five men died," she said.

Raul rubbed his hands over his face, and when he looked at her again, pain darkened his eyes. "Lagsturns lost a rider today."

"No." She slapped at the tears that kept coming, running through all the members she knew were going on the ride, and knowing any of them would leave a whole in her heart. "W-who?"

"Old man Nichols. I ordered the crazy old bastard to stay at the club, but he didn't listen." Raul inhaled a shaky breath. "He was gone by the time I circled back to clear our men of the area."

"H-he came to protect me," she whispered, shaken that someone besides Raul would do such a thing. "I'll never be able to tell him thank you or b-bitch him out for doing something so stupid. He should've stayed home."