King of Diamonds (Desert Sons MC Book 3) (18 page)

“Can you stop? Seth and I will turn around and then come back.”

“Yeah, okay. Fuck!”

“I’m sorry Jack,” Tina murmured.

“It’s not your fault. You did the best you could, and it was a good idea. At least now we have some time to think about what we are going instead of charging around blind.”

“What
are
we going to do?” Tina asked.

“See what you can do on the satnav. If you can just find a road, a parking lot, anything that I can pull into and maybe turn this bitch around.”

Tina is still poking at her phone and the satnav in the truck when Seth and Michelle rumble up.

Jack climbed down out of the idling truck. “Well?”

“Bridge looks pretty scary. Narrow with chunks missing from the concrete.”

“Tina is trying to find a place to turn around. How far to the bridge?”

“Not far. A few miles,” Seth said as he killed the bike and Michelle dismounted.

Jack’s phone rang and he thumbed it on. “What have you got, Greg?” he asked as he turned, looked at the ground, and plugged his other ear with a finger to mute the clatter of the idling truck

“What the fuck is Seth talking about? Nobody has tried to take the money back,” Greg said into his ear.

Jack looked up… and stared into the barrel of a pistol. “Thanks Greg. I’ll call you back,” he said as he thumbed his phone off and dropped it into his pocket.

***

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“I’m sorry Jack,” Seth said.

“Why?”

“I need the money.”

“More than your million?”

“I’m sorry. I’m in trouble. I’m going to go to jail if…”

“If what?”

“I’ve made some bad decisions. I’m in trouble. I’ve been cooking the books at work. I need the money, Jack.”

“How much?”

“Twelve million.”

Jack’s eyes opened wide. “Twelve
million?
What the fuck is wrong with you, Seth?”

“I didn’t mean to! But… I couldn’t get out, and it just kept getting worse and worse!”

“Why didn’t you come to us at the beginning? The Sons, we would have helped you! We take care of each other, you said so yourself!”

“I couldn’t.”

“Why?” Jack cried.

“Because, the Sons was
your
club,
your
people. No matter what anyone else did, it was always about
you,
Jack!”

“What the fuck are you talking about Seth? You’re the fucking President!”

“But it was still your club. You would have been elected President forever. Everyone always looked to Jack for answers. The great Jack Carter, who passed out favors. I busted my ass for the Sons! But it was always, ‘What do we do, Jack? Help us, Jack!’”

“I’m sorry, Seth. I’m sorry you feel that way. We were a family—you were part of our family.”

“Well fuck your family, Jack.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t want to hurt you, Jack. I’m going to take that truck and leave. So long as you don’t try to stop me, you and Tina won’t be hurt. A couple of hours of walking and you will reach the town up ahead and you can call Marshall.”

“Is he in on it too?”

Seth laughed sourly. “No. They’re too loyal to ever turn on you, Jack. That’s what I’m talking about.”

“There is nothing wrong with the bridge is there?”

“No.”

“No roadblocks either? Was there a reason to avoid Dallas?”

“No and no. I just needed you here, near New Orleans, so I can ship the cars.”

“Did you send the men to steal the cars? Did you turn me in to the police?”

“Yes. I hated to do it. I really did. But I needed the reward money. But you slipped away and… the reward was for the cars and your arrest.”

“You played me the entire time, didn’t you?”

“Yeah. When our buyer backed out, I knew I was fucked. I can’t go to jail, Jack. I can’t. So I turned you in for the reward. But when you stole the cars again, I knew that was my chance, my chance to get free of this fucked up mess and start over. But that fucking Cheryl, I don’t know how she did it, but she found Goremykin. So, I had to do this. Why couldn’t you just let me take the truck at the motel?”

Jack fumed. “If I ever find you again, I
will
kill you. Count on that.”

“Get Tina,” Seth said as he glanced at Michelle.

Michelle smirked, nodded, and walked around the front of the truck. She hoped the little bitch put up a fight, because after Jack jerked them around this morning, she felt like kicking some ass, and Tina’s would do just fine.

“Tina,” Michelle said as she opened the door. “Jack wants to talk to you.”

Tina looked at her irritably for interrupting her while she tried to figure a way out of this mess, but then laid her phone on the dash and crawled out.

“What’s he want?”

“Beats me.”

Tina stepped around the corner of the truck and saw the gun pointed at Jack moments before Michelle took her by the arm. She stepped back into Michelle and drove her elbow hard backwards.

***

Michelle expected Tina to struggle, to try and run or jerk her arm free, but she didn’t expect her to drive her elbow backwards into her gut. She woofed out a gasp of air as Tina jerked her arm free, spun, and drove a hard left into the side of her head before she bolted around the front of the truck.

“Nuh-uh,” Seth barked as Jack started to move. “Go get her,” he ordered Michelle as she straightened.

She grimaced as she rubbed at the side of her head. “With pleasure.”

***

Tina plunged into the brush along the side of the road.
That fucking Seth! I knew I we couldn’t trust the bastard!
she raged as she battered her way through the undergrowth. She had gone only a short way before she burst out on the muddy bank of a small river.
Fuck! Now where?
She turned and ran as fast as she could in the slippery mud along the edge of the bank before plunging back into the trees.
I have to get back and help Jack!

Tina burst out of the trees at the edge of the road. She must have run at an angle because the truck was hundreds of feet up the road. Staying low she crept along in the ditch, swearing silently to herself as the thorns tore at her clothes. When she reached the trailer she paused, unsure what to do. She thought about trying to get into the truck and get Jack’s gun, but she was afraid she would shoot Jack instead of Seth. She fretted and fumed a moment and decided it was up to Jack.

She snuck up behind the trailer, took several deep breaths, and stepped out into the open. “Hey, you fucker! I just kicked Michelle’s ass!”

The gun moved as Seth turned his head toward Tina’s voice. That was all the opening Jack needed. He stepped in and took Seth’s gun hand in his own, then pivoted and locked Seth’s arm under his own as he used leverage to wrest the gun from Seth’s grip. Before Jack could turn, Seth pulled his arm free with a roar and drove him hard into the side of the truck. Jack shoved his arm back once, twice, three times, but he might as well have been elbowing a concrete wall.

Seth felt the gun leave his grasp and pushed Jack hard into the truck as he tried to get an arm around his neck. Jack elbowed him hard in the ribs but he was too enraged to feel anything… until Jack bit his hand, that is. With a scream of pain Seth backed off and saw Jack turn and swing the gun at him. He tried to get his hand up to block the blow, but it was too little, too late as the harsh, heavy metal of the weapon smashed against his head.

Seth went down in a heap. Jack flipped the gun over so he could use it for something other than a club and turned to Tina. Except she was no longer there.
Fuck!
“Tina!” he roared.

Tina heard Jack’s call, but she didn’t have time or the breath to answer as she bulldozed her way through the trees. Michelle had burst out of the brush behind her and Tina had run. Tina could handle herself pretty well, but she didn’t want to have anything to do with Michelle. Michelle was bigger and stronger, and if Jack was right, a scrapper too, and that was a combination she didn’t want to take on.

“Fuck!” Jack snarled again. He started toward the end of the truck where Tina had disappeared, but then stopped and climbed into the cab where he killed the engine and took the key. He climbed out, turned, and plunged into the brush.

Tina could hear Michelle crashing through the woods behind her. When Tina popped out on the riverbank again, she turned to face Michelle. Her only hope was that she was faster and willing to fight dirtier than Michelle.

Michelle punched into the opening at the river, slipped, and fell. As she stood, she could see Tina standing not twenty feet away with her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.

“Alright you bitch,” Michelle snarled, “I owe you a couple.”

Tina took one last deep breath and got ready to take on Michelle. “Whenever you think you’re ready.”

Michelle started striding toward her when Jack appeared. The gun cracked and a tree near Michelle’s head splintered on one side. “One more step and the next one is in your head,” Jack snarled. Michelle froze and put her hands up.

“Sorry. I guess you are going to have to still owe me a couple,” Tina sneered as she walked well around Michelle toward Jack. “Thank god you’re okay!” she said to him.

“Jack! This is all a misunderstanding. I never wanted to go along with Seth’s cockamamie plan!” Michelle called.

“Just shut the fuck up. You seemed on board with it enough five minutes ago. Are you okay?” he asked Tina as he walked to meet her.

“Just a little scratched up, that’s all— Jack!” she screamed as a bloody Seth burst from the woods and took Jack down like a football lineman. Jack was lifted completely off his feet as Seth drove him into the ground.

Tina watched in horror as the edge gave way and the two men tumbled over the river bank and into the water. She stared at the gun lying in the mud a moment before she ran and picked it up. It wasn’t like Jack’s gun, and before she could figure out how to work it, Michelle was there.

“You motherfucker!” Jack screamed as he kicked, punched, and clawed at Seth. The fall hadn’t hurt, as it was only a three foot drop to a soft muddy bottom, but Seth had hit him so hard he had lost the gun along with his breath. He finally caught Seth with a punch in the ear and the man fell back with a roar. Jack jumped to his feet, but Seth was slightly quicker. As Jack turned to face him, Seth tackled him again and drove him backwards into the edge of the embankment.

Michelle tore the gun from Tina’s grip, but before she could turn the weapon on her, Tina fired two hard rights into Michelle’s face. The bigger woman’s head snapped back and she went down hard to her hands and knees, but she still had the gun. Tina kicked at her face, but Michelle blocked it with an arm. The force of the kicked forced Michelle to roll to her back and Tina dove for the gun in her hand.

Seth was a fucking bull and Jack had no hope to compete with him on strength alone. Grimacing in pain as Seth tried to crush his ribs, Jack got a hand under his chin and pushed Seth’s head back with everything he had. As Seth’s hold began to fail Jack brought his left knee up in two hard thrusts, catching Seth in the ribs. With a grunt, Seth fell away. Finally free of the crushing embrace, Jack levered himself off the embankment and threw a hard left, right, left combination at Seth’s face. As Seth staggered backwards and fell with a
splash
, Tina screamed.