Force: Blacktop Sinners MC (12 page)

Chapter Nineteen

The blaring ring of her cell phone woke Tess up from a troubled sleep. Easing her head up and wiping off the small string of spittle from her lips, she reached for her smart phone and turned it on. “Y’ello? It’s Tess’s phone.”

“Chica!” Lizzy shouted on the other line.

Tess shuddered and pulled the phone away from her ears. “Wait, breathe Lizzy. What’s going on? You don’t have to scream.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, but I’m so wound up. Dr. Malek said that I had to call you back ASAP. All staff are reporting this morning, so you need to get here as soon as you can.”

“I don’t understand. Was there some massive explosion or fire or food poisoning outbreak?”

“No, there was a break-in, and I am so incredibly sorry I ever pushed you to hook up with that biker. He and some friend of his pretended to be med student volunteers and tore through everything, including your locker. That’s how I caught them when I led in security. Everyone’s going bat shit, and the real cops are going to be here this morning for questioning. That’s why all employees have to be here.”

“Are you okay?” She asked, concern coloring her words. She and Lizzy had fought, but here her friend was apologizing for the mistake she’d made. Besides, Derek had fooled her too. It seemed to be something that he was exceptionally good at. “Jeez, did anyone hurt you?”

“They did a number on the guards on staff. Ned had his nose broken.”

“At least he has good coverage working for Boone Memorial,” she offered. “Okay, I’ll be there soon.”

“Are you going to bring the blade yet?”

“I have it hidden where
no one
will find it, but I can’t risk it yet. I hand it over after a police questioning and then they’re know for sure that I ratted them out.” She frowned and looked at the phone screen. Christ, it was already past nine. She wouldn’t be able to get there until ten-thirty. “Look let me power shower, and I’ll be there.”

“Cool.”

“And Lizzy?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you’re okay.”

***

Tess swept her wet hair into a messy, loose bun at the back of her neck as she walked down the hallway. She was overwhelmed by the chaos she saw there. It felt like half the police force were there and in the corner by the nurse’s station was Ricardo and a few men far older than he and she assumed senior brass even if she couldn’t be sure. Every technician, janitor, nurse or doctor on staff with Boone General who could be spared currently were all milling about in a line, either waiting to be interviewed or actively pulled behind E.R. curtains and being spoken with. Rushing through the melee, she wrapped Lizzy up in a massive hug.

It didn’t feel real; her friend would feel
safe
until she had her arms around her curvy BFF.

“God, I was so scared. My heart was racing the whole time I was en route. I can’t believe this.”

Lizzy pulled away but she noticed the other girl’s eyes were bloodshot. “It’s fine. Ricardo slept over last night and held me a lot. It’s easier to feel safe when the best lieutenant in the county is watching over you.”

“I’m glad. So seriously? They broke in?”

“Well snuck and went through the lost and found first---trashed that place.
Then,
they made up some B.S. story about the locker room here. I thought the tall one seemed familiar, and once it clicked, the worst confrontation ever happened. Those guys seriously thrashed four people in about two minutes. I just…I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Tess thought about how fast Derek worked to disarm the three men from his own gang who had started hurting her. There was no doubt that he was not just lethally dangerous but fast and efficient. She shuddered again and threw an arm around her friend’s shoulder. “What’s the deal now?”

“They’re interviewing. Since it was your locker they were tearing apart, Ricardo and Chief Johnson want to talk to you stat,” Lizzy said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the nurses’ station.

“And what do I do with them?”

Lizzy glared at her and then stuck both hands on her hips. “Confess. I’d still tell the truth. I haven’t told it to Ricardo yet because I respect you and worry about your family too, but there has to be some way to get them what they need. Maybe if we just tell them, things will get better.”

“I’ll see,” Tess said, biting her lower lip.

Truth was she had no idea what to do. Nothing was safe between her work or her home, and she didn’t know when Derek and his gang would be back in her life. She just didn’t want to be responsible for some crazy, hardened bikers attacking Sarah or her parents either. Lizzy was lucky, but it was already clear she hadn’t escaped emotionally unscathed, not with the vacant look on her face.

She smiled politely as the older man with salt and pepper hair and a slim, wiry frame that reminded her vaguely of Disney’s version of Ichabod Crane shook her hand. “Mrs. Everhart, you’re exactly the woman we wanted to see. I know you were taking a vacation week, but we appreciate you coming in.”

Tess kept the smile planted tightly on her face as she reached out to also shake Ricardo’s hand. His smile was bright and genuine and highlighted his dimples on both cheeks. “Glad to see you’re okay. These people clearly could be going to your place next, so I’m relieved you were already hanging out with your parents.”

Tess nodded as both men led her to a chair behind a cotton candy pink divider curtain. “It’s hard this time of year, so I was trying to help them.”

“Hard?” the older man asked.

“Miss Tess Everhart, Chief Brock Johnson,” Ricardo said, blushing as he gestured to his boss.

“I’m sorry that I made that mistake about your name,” the chief said.

She waved her hands a bit. “No worries, chief, how can I help you?”

“Well, first we know that the man who came in was Derek Allanson. Ms. Alacron identified him and, of course, his rap sheet is a mile long. You’ve heard of the Blacktop Sinners?”

Tess forced her breathing to remain even. Surely her heart wasn’t pounding as loudly as it
felt
like it was? To her own ears, it felt like a dull bass drum thudding throughout the expanse of the emergency department. “Yes, Ricardo, uh, Lt. Jimenez has told me about them before. They’re the main meth dealers and gang in town.”

“Yes, and now that we’ve put more pieces together, we suspect that Allanson was one of the thugs directly involved with the warehouse shootout earlier this week. The going theory is he left something here he wasn’t supposed to, something damning. Would you know anything about that, Ms. Everhart?”

She clasped her hands together so hard then that her knuckles went both white and numb. “No, all I did was give him his neurological battery.”

“Then why was your locker the only one they targeted? It was half way to the back of the room, and if they were going randomly they’d have started from the front and torn them all open. Hell, they might have tried to sneak in a crow bar. It was clearly a targeted attack, so what do you know?” The chief pressed, his dark eyes stormy with rage and frustration.

“I don’t know anything.”

“That’s a highly unlikely possibility,” Johnson continued, leaning so close to her that she almost gagged on the heavy garlic on his breath. Ugh, what kind of bagel had he had that morning?

“Chief, can you give me a minute alone with her?” Ricardo asked, ducking a little under his superior’s scrutiny.

“Fine, three minutes, but I’m not sanguine with what you can do here. After all, she knows you, can play you, Jimenez.”

“I’m not a rookie, chief,” he said, waiting to say anything else until Johnson had disappeared back to the nurses’ station. “Look, I know you know something. It’s obvious. Chief’s not wrong that Allanson and his accomplice made a bee line for you.”

“I can’t tell you anything, Ricardo. God, I wish I could.”

“Did Derek threaten you at some point at the hospital?”

She shook her head and offered what bits of truth she could speak. “Some of his gang has threatened me.”

Ricardo swore under his breath and pushed back her wispy, wet strands of hair from her face. “So that palm print there didn’t just happen?”

“No, but I’m scared, and there’s no way to know that if I turn what I do have over---”

“You have something? Jesus, Tess, that could be a huge linchpin in getting the whole of the Sinners thrown out of the city limits and fucking jailed.”

“If they were easy to pin, then they’d be in Sing Sing now,” she countered. “Ricardo, I know you’re a good cop, but how sure are you that everyone is a good cop?”

“I know people have rumors about officers on the take but we can protect you.”

“Really? What if the wrong officer got me alone or those creeps came back? I have something and between us, I will get it to you when I figure out a way to do it without blowback to me, Lizzy or my family. You know my parents. They’ve suffered way too much---more than anyone should---with Jason. I’m going to figure this out.”

“Are you even going to let me and Lizzy help you with that?”

“Of course, but to keep you safe from biker gang nine millimeter bullets or brass knuckles.”

“Huh,” he grunted.

“Huh what?”

“That’s oddly old school.”

“The guy who did this wasn’t much younger than my dad. The point is, we can work on this together, but I can’t turn it in and
then
paint a target on your backs.”

“And if you don’t come forward, this gang is going to continue running Boone into the ground.”

Tess sighed and squeezed his hand. “We’re two kickass nurses and the best cop in town; we will figure out the safe option, but we won’t drop the bomb until all our friends and family are safe. Okay?”

He hesitated as he chewed the inside of his cheek. “I can buy you a little bit of time before Johnson breathes down your neck but not much. This Saturday I have off. The three of us can meet up in Asheville and plan. This won’t hold forever.”

Tess barked out a bitter laugh and swept her arm out around her. “You think? This place is already a war zone. If the gang gets any more impatient, then they won’t just try and jimmy things open. I’m not getting anyone shot over this, I just need to think it through.”

“Well you have me and Lizzy, and we’re not going anywhere, chica.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Chapter Twenty

“Wow, so did that feel like
Law and Order
or what?” Lizzy said as she stepped outside of the main doors.

She slunk off then to nearest corner that was in the “permissible zone.” Her best friend was still a smoker and headed out---rain or shine, snow or frosty winds---to the closet area on the hospital grounds where she could smoke. Granted a nurse should and
did
know better, but the nicotine helped some of her compatriots make it through the long twelve-hour plus days. People didn’t always do the best for themselves, and Tess reminded herself of that on days she just would eat ice cream for dinner.

Tess trotted off after her friend and stopped cold next to her when she watched the tall, lanky man in the long trench coat turn around. It was Chief Johnson.

He turned around and arched an eyebrow at her. “Well this is opportune. Lt. Jimenez did try a tap dance to get me to back off, vouching for you and everything else. I can’t prove you’re connected to anything, but hiding evidence is a crime.”

“I don’t have anything to hide,” Tess said, hoping no lightning struck her there and then.

The gods must have been busy because she remained a non-crispy critter.

“That’s what they all say.”

Lizzy took a puff and rolled her eyes. “Statistically speaking, most of them have to be innocent.”

The chief shrugged. “Not this one. I have a gut feeling, and I always trust my gut.”

“Then you and your gut can go back to the station,” Lizzy said.

He shrugged and tossed his own cigarette and his matchbox, now spent, to the ground. “I guess I should. Ms. Everhart, until we meet again.” And with that he stormed off with all the grace of a heron.

“Well, he’s certainly pleasant,” Lizzy chirped. “No wonder Ricardo was bemoaning his shit attitude after his big divorce last year. Guy could use a little nookie to get the stick out of his ass.”

“I can’t argue with you there,” Tess said, following a hunch of her own. Something about the dark red of the matchbox had caught her attention. She walked over to the corner and bent down. Once it was in her hands, she turned it over and gasped. “Damn, I was right.”

Lizzy blinked back at her. “That he’s apparently both a tight ass and a litter bug. Not exactly a capital crime, chica.”

“No, this,” she hissed shoving the box into Lizzy’s free hand.

Her friend held it up close to her face and squinted. God, if Lizzy would remember to wear her own glasses more often. “So it has a red or flamey rose on it? So what?”

“That’s a matchbook from the roadhouse up the mountain. That place college kids never go.”

“You’re saying its Blacktop Sinner territory?”

“And how? That flaming rose was on the back of the jacket we cut off Derek.”

Despite everything, she blushed and felt heat flare in her abdomen as she thought about her former lover, of the amazing planes of his abs or the tantalizing hint of a happy trail that had risen up even before they’d cut his clothes off. Her body needed to chill out. They were never going back to this, never going back to sex. He’d used her and then turned violent when he couldn’t get what he wanted.

Her friend and mom might want her to move on and live, but there was no way she would jump all the way back into a criminal’s arms.

Never again.

“Jesus, so what is the chief of police doing at the hangout for the biggest meth gang in the county?”

Tess gulped as she shoved the matchbook in her pocket. “Nothing good.”

***