Page 27 of Sly (Dragon Riders MC 5)
So, I started ducking into the smaller rooms down each hallway.
I had no idea how long it took me to scour the place, but I couldn't find a damn thing. There were no footprints in the dust on the floor of that place. I didn’t hear anyone talking, moving around, or even breathing. Part of me wondered if the tire tracks were merely a coincidence. Some punk-ass high school kids out here on their daddy’s bike looking for a thrill.
But my gut knew better.
“Peekaboo.”
“Fuck!” I exclaimed.
I whipped around with my gun hoisted out in front of me before my eyes fell onto him. The person who owned the bike tracks outside.
It wasn’t the person I was looking for, though.
“Chains?” I asked.
He leaned against the wall. “Hello, Sly.”
I lowered my gun. “The fuck are you doing out here, asshole?”
He licked his lips. “Could ask you the same thing. Scouting out new territory for your new girls?”
“What? The fuck you talking about?”
He sighed. “Don’t make this hard, okay? I know you and your crew are trafficking women.”
I almost swallowed my fucking tongue. “Uh, the fuck? Where the hell did you get that idea?”
He snickered. “It’s not an idea, Sly. It’s a theory. And if that’s what you guys are into right now, I can’t be part of this. I can’t be part of a crew that gets themselves into this shit.”
I scoffed. “You and I both know the truth about you.”
He narrowed his eyes. “We do?”
I rolled mine. “Quit acting like we’re stupid. We can smell a Fed a mile away. Your timing was much too coincidental to be anything but.”
“So, dating my sister was just to get closer to me?”
“Your sister has nothing to do with this.”
His nostrils flared with anger. “She better not.”
I holstered my gun. “Look, I don’t know what the hell you and your buddies believe, but we’re not trafficking anyone. The guy we’re chasing, though? The guy and his crew we’re trying to get off the streets? They’re not just trafficking women. They’re dealing drugs that are flooding our E.R.’s with overdose cases after only one shoot-up.”
“You got any proof of this?”
“If I did, why the hell would I give it to such an incompetent agent? You can’t even keep up an undercover sting. What the hell is your purpose if you can’t even do that?”
He charged me. “You listen here, you little fuck. I don’t give a shit what you and your women-abusing, pathetic little shit-stain friends think. You’re going to stay away from my sister, you got that? She has nothing to do with this.”
I grinned. “Says the man who brought her to the bar to be protected by us in the first place. You know, your show of good faith?”
His hand wrapped around my throat. “I should kill you, you know.”
I smiled deviously. “Go ahead. I’m sure your cop friends would love something like that.”
“No one would miss you if you went missing off the streets.”
“Pretty sure your sister would think otherwise.”
He started squeezing. “Mention her one more time and see what happens.”
I gasped for air. “If you wanted to kill me, you already would have. Or did you fail your course training, too?”
He slammed me into a wall. “Say that to my face!”
I leaned closer to him. “I. Just. Did.”
I was ready for him. I wanted to take a chunk out of this asshole before tossing him to the fucking dogs. But a roaring sound in the distance caught my ear. It twitched, and I watched the anger melt right off Chains’ face.
“It’s getting closer,” he said softly.
I tried to clear my throat. “You wanna let go of me now?”
His hand fell. “Yeah, yeah. Uh, who else knows you’re out here?”
I shrugged. “The guys know I’m eventually hitting up this place. I haven’t been in contact with them since we headed out to search these places, though. Why?”
He eyed me curiously. “And why were you guys searching these warehouses?”
“You mean, you and your guys haven’t figured it out yet? Wow. And I thought the crew wasn’t as efficient sometimes.”
“Shh-shh-shh-shh.”
The roaring of the bike engine grew louder until I realized why the sound seemed so off. The roar wrapped around the building. It was coming from all angles, not just one.
And when I felt the wall against my back shivering with the onslaught, I reached for my weapon.
“Don’t you dare,” Chains warned.
I glared at him. “We’re about to be ambushed by the crew you should be looking for. Skeleton, and his crew, the Golden Jagoffs.”
He blinked. “Are they really called that?”
“It’s what we call them.”
He snickered. “All right. Let’s assume you’re right.”
“You know damn good and well I’m right.”
“Let’s just say you are, okay? How the fuck are we going to defend ourselves when it’s just us?”
The roaring of the engines ceased. “Shh. Be quiet.”
