King of Diamonds (Desert Sons MC Book 3) (13 page)

“Probably got my name from one of the Sons, don’t you think?”

“Probably. But still. I will be glad when this is behind us.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

***

Tina and Jack decided to go somewhere nice for dinner since they were dressed better than normal. As they pulled into the motel parking lot, a car with a man behind the wheel was sitting in front of their door. Jack parked the Audi several doors down and placed his hand on the weapon tucked into the small of his back as they approached.

The man opened his door and stepped out of the car. He was young and smiling, but that didn’t remove the threat posed by the gun on his hip. “Are you Mr. Jonathan Thomas Carter?”

“And you are?”

“I’m with
LA Safe Couriers
. I have a package from Mr. Rodchenko for a Mr. Jonathan Thomas Carter or Ms. Tina Louise Harris. Is that you?”

Jack relaxed slightly, but didn’t remove his hand from his weapon. “I am.”

“I will need to see your ID before I can release the package.”

“Can you take care of that?” Jack stepped away from Tina as she rummaged in her purse for her ID in case he had to draw and fire.

Tina handed her driver’s license to the man. He carefully studied the card. “Sign here please,” he said as he handed a clipboard to Tina. Tina signed the paper and handed it back. The man compared the signature on the paper with the one on the driver’s license before he handed the card back to her. “Thank you Ms. Harris.”

He chucked the clipboard through the window into the passenger seat before opening the rear door. In the floor, where the seat should have been, was a large metal box with a digital lock. The man typed in a long series of numbers, opened the lid, and removed a large envelop that he handed to Tina.

“Have a nice evening,” he said as he slammed the door and returned to the driver’s seat.

As he backed out of the parking space Jack relaxed and removed his hand from the gun. He swiped his card and pushed the door to their room open. The door was not even shut before Tina has opened the clasp on the envelope and dumped the contents on the table.

Jack picked up the ten bundles of cash and thumbed through one of them. With the kind of money Goremykin was throwing around, it was unlikely that they would even notice a hundred grand, but he counted the bundle of crisp new hundred dollar bills anyway.

As he counted, Tina looked over the rest of the papers. “Cool! I’m a Georgia Peach!”

“What?” Jack asked as he reached one hundred bills.

“We were born in Sparta, Georgia. Let’s see, I was born in 1990, and you were born in 1981. How the fuck did he know my birthday? Is this your birthday?”

Jack looked over her shoulder at his birth certificate. “Yeah. Remind me to thank you later for not letting me cross these guys. I wonder why Sparta?”

“Because we are going to Georgia?”

He picked up a piece of paper. “No... Look at this.”

Tina took the paper and quickly scanned the article about the recent Hancock County courthouse fire that destroyed most of the records.

“They’re thorough, I’ll give them that,” Jack said as he took the paper back.

Also in the packet, along with the cash and birth certificates, were Class A commercial driver’s licenses from the state of New Mexico in their new names, Bradley Colt Lanier and Jacqueline Marie Wendell, complete with a motorcycle endorsement. There were also registration and insurance cards for the Audi and the bikes, a receipt for a PO box in their new names, credit cards, voter registration cards, social security cards, two new cell phones, medical insurance cards, a library card for the Albuquerque Public Library for Tina, and finally, a credit card issued to Goremykin Transport from
Petro
truck stops.

“That shit, Rodchenko… naming you Jac. That won’t be confusing at all,” Jack laminated as he looked over the documents.

“Colt, however, is sexy as hell.”

“The names Brad,” he said as he tried it on for size.

“Oh no its not. It’s Colt.”

“Brad...”

“Colt.”

“Brad.”

“Colt!”

“Brad!”

“Look, I’m fucking a Colt tonight. Do you want that to be you or not?”

“Hi! I’m Colt,” Jack said as he stuck out his hand in greeting.

Tina giggled and took his hand. “Nice to meet you Colt. I’m Jacqueline, but my friends call me Jac.”

“May I call you Jac?”

She pushed him backwards until he backed into the bed and sat down hard. “Oh, I think we are going to be great friends,” she said as she sat down in his lap facing him. “Great friends indeed,” she added as her lips closed over his.

***

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“May I help you?” a fat, balding man asked as Jack and Tina stepped into the office at the Kenworth dealership.

Jack presented the card Rodchenko had given him. “We’re here to pick up a truck for Goremykin Transport.”

The man’s entire demeanor changed. “Of course, of course, Mr. Goremykin! I’m Keith Tuttle, your account manager. The truck is in final inspection right now. I have to tell you, that was quite a rush job to pull all this together so quickly. Our driver got back with the trailer less than an hour ago. We have three guys installing the extra lights on it right now. He got three speeding tickets to get here on time! He said he saw 110 at one point! But that’s a Kenworth for you… flat out to Phoenix and back and not a whimper!”

“Not in our truck I hope,” Jack grinned.

“No! Of course not. We were still working on your truck. We sent another truck for the hauler. Had to go all the way to Phoenix to get a black one, and even then we still had to change out the wheels to polished aluminum when he got back. Pulled them off another trailer and threw them on as soon as he got here. It’s all good, though.”

“The truck is ready?”

“No. I just checked on it. We worked all night, but we just didn’t have enough time to finish it all. But it should be done in less than an hour. Like I said, it’s in final inspection now. After that, we’ll wash it and it will be ready for delivery.”

Jack looked at his cell. It was nearly two now. “I was told the truck would be ready at noon.”

“I understand, Mr. Goremykin. And we did the best we could. But having to change the cab unit, the custom graphics and chrome, and the extra lights… that all takes time.”

Jack didn’t correct Keith. If Keith wanted to think he was Goremykin, then he would let him. “I understand. But I need the truck as soon as possible.”

“Yes sir. I understand. And we have had every man working on getting the truck ready. Please, just bear with us.”

“You said it would be ready in an hour?” Jack asked.

“That’s what the shop foreman told me.”

“We’ll be back in an hour.”

“Thank you, Mr. Goremykin, for your patience and understanding.”

***

The truck wasn’t ready in an hour when they returned, but at 3:45 the sparkling vehicle was pulled out of the shop. Painted in a rich gloss black, with matching enclosed car hauler trailer, dripping chrome and lit like a giant Christmas tree, the truck was a sight to behold. It was easily the nicest, most beautiful truck on the lot, and looked like something out of a brochure.

“Right this way,” Keith said as he escorted Jack and Tina to the truck. “I have to tell you, Mr. Goremykin, that is quite a piece you have there. One of the best-looking trucks I have ever seen. Bill here will give you an overview of the truck and its features. If there is ever a need for service, or you are in the need of another truck, I hope you will come back to Inland Kenworth
.”

Jack shook the Keith’s hand and thanked him before he turned his attention to the tall, thin man standing beside the truck.

“Mr. Goremykin, my name is Bill Childers. I will check you out on your new truck. We’ll start here, on the outside. As you know, this is the Kenworth T680. Starting at the front, I would like to point out…”

***

Two hours later Jack and Tina slam the doors to the truck and Jack brings it to life. “I hope you remember all that stuff,” Tina said as she buckled her belt. “I was completely lost after the first twenty minutes.”

“Most of it was the same for all trucks. The satnav… we’ll just have to figure that out on the road. He made it look easy but I can’t remember a thing he said.” Jack gave the horns a quick blast to check the air pressure before he popped the trailer brakes and started the truck moving.

Tina returned Keith’s wave as they growled past. “How much did this thing cost, you think?”

“I have no idea. A lot. A whole lot. This thing is loaded. Maybe as much as a half-mil with the trailer and upgrades. And to have the entire shop working on it all night to get it ready? Goremykin must have money out the ass.”

“I didn’t even know you could get a truck like this with an automatic transmission.”

“Me either.”

“So what’s the plan?” she asked.

“We’re already checked out…”

“Yeah, and this damn truck is nicer than the motel anyway.”

“... so I guess we will load up and drive for a couple of hours, then find a place to stop and sleep.”

***

“Marshall. It’s Tina. Please call me back on this number,” she said as Jack eased the truck to a stop at the pumps. They are only an hour out of Los Angeles, loaded and headed East to Georgia. They are going to fill the truck with fuel, have some dinner, and find a rest area to pull into for the night.

Tina’s phone trills and she touched the screen. “Tina! Good to hear from you. I’m kind of surprised, though. I thought you and Jack were going underground,” Marshall said.

“We are, but there has been a slight change in plans. Goremykin wants us to deliver the cars to Savannah.”

“He what?”

“Yeah. Jack—I mean
Colt
—was none too happy about it either.”

“Colt? Who’s Colt?” Tina ginned at Marshall’s confusion.

“Part of the deal to deliver the cars was Goremykin had to provide new identities. You’re best friend is now Bradley Colt Lanier, but he goes by Colt.”

“Funny. He doesn’t look like a Colt.”

“He didn’t think so either, but I… persuaded him. I think the name is sexy.”

“Using your womanly wiles?”

Tina grinned again at Marshall’s teasing. “You might say that. Let me give you his number.”

“Got it,” Marshall said as he wrote it down to put into his phone later. “So Jack is now… what did you say his first name was?”

“Bradley. Brad.”

“Oh, yeah, right. So it’s Bradley Colt Lanier… and your name is?”

“Jac.”

“No, your name.”

Tina giggled. “It’s Jac. Jacqueline Marie Wendell.”

“So Jack isn’t Jack, but you are? That’s not confusing at all!”