Torched Read online

  Jovan pursed his lips, then nodded. “Fine. Nine o’clock. I want everybody at the warehouse Sunay morning to plan. Start making calls.”

  The video continued to roll until they all walked out. Torch didn’t even need to look at Buddha to know his jaw was probably hanging open too. What the fuck had they just watched? And how the hell had she gotten her hands on it? “Where did you get that?” he demanded.

  “And who the fuck do you work for?” Buddha added.

  Torch noticed her twirling a large silver ring on her index finger. Her other hand lightly scratched at her collarbone. It was so subtle that his Pres probably wasn’t paying attention to it, but he remembered that tell from way back in Ohio. It was then that Torch realized her cool exterior was masking how skittish this was all making her. She had something on the line here.

  “I’m a freelance hacker and I work for myself. That’s all I really want to divulge,” she replied, before turning to face the pool table and flipping open all the folders she’d layed out. “That was recorded last Friday. I’ve been gathering intel since then. However you want to handle it, everything I could find is in these files and on that tablet.”

  Torch stepped over to the table and looked at what had to be hundreds of pieces of paper. Buddha did the same. Addresses, photos, maps, mug shots, it was a veritable smorgasbord of information. He’d never seen anything like it.

  “I followed them to the warehouse on Sunday and took pictures of every man who showed up.” She picked up a map. “This is a shadow map of the area. All of these little red dots and arrows are cameras and directions they point. The ones with circles around them have rotating three-sixty views. Every area in grey is off the radar, so I would stick to those areas if you go. I installed four of my own cameras across on the buildings surrounding it, the live feed is on that tablet for your viewing pleasure.”

  She pulled another large print-out from the pile. “These are the building blueprints. Infrared picked up bodies in two areas that day, I’m guessing the guns are stored in one of those. Looks like Jovan’s pilfered fifteen guys from gramps. Mugshots, phone numbers, addresses, lists of known acquaintances, hangouts, it’s all there.” She then picked up a folder labeled “Masters” and spread the contents out. “Pierce Masters runs a small investment firm in Denver called Annex Inc. It’s a laundering front. There’s surveillance video of him meeting with Maric, but no audio. They’ve met a couple times, always in crowded public places, so I pulled those from street cameras. From what I can tell, he’s the middleman between the Serbs and a mystery investor. I cross-referenced the dates they met with Annex’s transaction records, plus and minus a week, but came up empty. I’m guessing this is a cash project on the side. I included screen grabs of everyone he met with at the office, but there were too many to identify in time. I figured you might recognize one of them as the messenger.”

  Torch scrubbed his beard. “This is—”

  “Un-fucking-real,” Buddha finished for him. “You got all this in a few days?”

  She looked over her shoulder at him. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “Do you?” Torch asked, breathing down the back of her neck. He was curious, because she couldn’t possibly understand what kind of shit she’d obviously stepped in. Why the fuck was she risking her gorgeous ass following a bunch of psychotic Serbs? Jesus, he was really starting to regret the decision to leave her behind. He should’ve thrown her ass on that bike and locked her up in his house. Clearly, she’d lost her fucking mind along the way.

  She turned around to face him, those lips he wanted to taste again just inches away. Fuck, he had to focus on what she was saying, not the memory of his dick between them.

  “Yeah,” she smiled. “I do. So before you go all macho on me, like I know you’re just itching to because I shouldn’t be putting my fragile self at risk… Let me assure you that I know exactly what I’m doing, who these assholes are, and what could happen if they ever find out that I did all this. Assuming you don’t kill them all. So do me a favor and keep it on the downlow. I work hard to stay anonymous. The only reason I finally made that call is because I didn’t want innocent blood on my hands. Call me crazy, but I’m not cool with the whole civilian casualty angle.”

  “No other reason?” he asked shamelessly.

  She smiled at him. “Well, that and you’re too pretty to die. It’s a public service really.”

  Buddha chuckled but thankfully kept any fucking smart comments to himself.

  “Pretty? You wanna try that again, darlin’?” Torch growled, lowering his mouth closer to hers in an attempt to share the frustration. “Still got that shit-stirring mouth on you, I see.”

  “Alright, you fucking lovebirds,” Buddha cut in. “Save the reunion for later. We got other shit to deal with.”

  Liv winked at him and turned back to Buddha. “I’ll leave you guys to figure it out. Call me if you need anything else, Torch has the number.”

  “I want somebody with her ‘til this shit blows over,” Torch declared.

  Buddha nodded. “Ty can go.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” she argued, “I can handle myself.”

  “It’s not up for fucking discussion,” he huffed.

  She glared at him, but he wasn’t about to be swayed. “Fine,” she conceded. “Which one’s Ty?”

  “The prospect you tried to bully,” he said with a grin. “Enjoy.”

  Her eyes practically rolled right out of her pretty little head. “Oh great. This oughta be fun. You fucking owe me.”

  “Oh, I always repay my debts, sweetheart. Count on it.”

  “Tyke!” Buddha called out, bringing the prospect running. “You’re on protection duty ‘til further notice.”

  Ty scowled at Liv, still looking various shades of pissed. Buddha couldn’t hide his amusement and waved the poor dope over to the bar for a private chat, leaving them a moment to themselves.

  Good, they had a few things to clear up. “Where the fuck have you been, Liv?”

  “I move around a lot. I’ve only been in Colorado for a few months—”

  “Did you know I was in Linwood?”

  She leaned back on the table. “Torch, I honestly had no idea until I heard Maric talking about it. Didn’t even realize it was a town, never mind that you live here. You told me to call if I needed help. I didn’t. There wasn’t a reason to intrude on your life.”

  “Bullshit. I know you. That the best you got?”

  Her shoulders and jaw tensed. Just as he thought. “That’s the truth, Torch. You knew me, for a few days, several years ago. I’m not that helpless girl anymore—”

  “You were never helpless. Quit putting words in my mouth.”

  “Well then quit putting words in mine,” she shot back. “Why are we even talking about this? I came here to warn you, not be psychoanalyzed.”

  Torch fought back the urge to keep arguing. The words weren’t pissing him off, it was her fucking composure. Here he was, ready to lose his mind, and she didn’t look the least bit bothered. Nobody—definitely no goddamn woman—had ever managed to push his buttons the way she did, by doing nothing at all.

  Maybe he hadn’t fucked her as senseless as he remembered. He’d have to fix that oversight real soon. “Babe, just saying you’d never be an intrusion, so get the idea out of that brain of yours.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I say so. Now, you went above and beyond on the Serbs. Should I be worried about what you dug up on my club?”

  She cocked her head to the side. “I don’t know, what deep, dark secrets do you think I dug up?”

  He snickered. “Nope. Ladies first.”

  “I thought we already established that I’m no lady,” she chided. “But don’t worry, seems like you guys know how to stay off the radar most of the time. I did see your rap sheet, but I gotta say… Wasn’t all that impressed. Arson? Assault? Pfft.” She stood up from her leaning position on the pool table and took his hands in hers. Her soft fingers wea
ving through his felt so fucking good, he couldn’t be bothered to give a shit that they were probably being watched. She rose on her toes and brought her mouth to his ear. “Is that the best you got?”

  With that, she stepped around his dumbfounded ass.

  “Oh.” She turned back around. “I also put GPS trackers on Maric and Masters’ cars. The app’s on that tablet too.”

  Was she fucking kidding? Who was she?

  He grabbed her elbow and yanked her right back into his arms. Jesus, she smelled fantastic. “Thanks, baby,” he whispered, then kissed the top of her head.

  “Anytime,” she said. “See you around, Torch.”

  “Yeah.” He lit a cigarette and watched her strut over to Buddha and Ty, who obediently gave her a nod and led the way. Torch followed them out to make sure no one gave her any shit.

  Okay, nobody was going to give her shit, he just wanted to prolong the view.

  He was hallucinating—had to be—there was no fucking way that after all this time, she’d just shown up right at his door.

  She was even more stunning than before. Those eyes could still rip a man’s heart in half, but gone was the beat down little bird he’d found outside of a motel room in Ohio. She was all woman now.

  And the fact that she’d obeyed his order not to get on another man’s bike and gotten her own instead? Sexy as fuck.

  Sexy and stupid. There was a reason that women in their circle only rode bitch, motorcycles were fucking dangerous. The thought of Liv getting tossed off that death trap brought bile to his throat. It was probably a good thing she hadn’t called and told him, because he would’ve gone out of his way and made a special trip anywhere in the continental U.S. to steal that blasphemous rice burner from her. Maybe he still would.

  Or maybe he really would lock her up in his basement this time. Was that a fucking beanie she was tucking her hair in?

  “Where’s your goddamn helmet?!” he yelled out.

  She had the nerve to mockingly shrug and wave.

  Buddha walked up to him as she sped off with Ty in pursuit. “You wanna fill in some blanks, son?” he asked.

  “Not much to tell. Met her in Ohio when I was nomad, spent a day or two hanging out, haven’t seen her since. She wasn’t a hacker back then, this shit’s new.”

  Buddha smirked like he knew better. “A day or two hanging out? Son, I don’t remember the last time you spent more than an hour or two with a bitch. And you sure as shit don’t hang out.”

  “You keeping tabs on my dick or what?”

  “Please, that would be a full-time fucking job. You trust her? This could be a setup.”

  He shook his head. “This ain’t a setup. She’s not out to screw us.”

  “You out to screw her?”

  “Seriously, brother. When did you start worrying about where I stick my junk?”

  “When I saw you rattled stupid and eye-fucking her inside. Be careful, Torch. Bitches and business don’t mix, and she’s all up in ours already.”

  They didn’t have time for this shit. “You done? We need to get back to the table and figure out what the fuck we’re gonna do with this business she’s all up in.”

  Buddha patted him on the back, finally giving it a rest. “Chapel! Now!” he yelled. “Girls, shake those titties on home.”

  : : : :

  “Why the fuck didn’t you catch this, Biff?” Buddha asked with an air of exasperation. “You’re supposed to be good at computer shit. We relying on females to do our jobs now?”

  They were back around the table, trying to hash out a strategy. So far, opinions ranged from cutting off dicks with a rusty butter knives dipped in acid, to planting bombs in every vehicle belonging to Masters and those Serb fucks. They’d called in Biff, the only brother who knew what the hell things like servers and IP addresses were. He wasn’t a voting member—he and Mace sat in strictly for accountability reasons—so he’d missed church earlier to work on the sound system for the fair. But that hadn’t stopped Buddha from demanding he drop everything and race back so he could rip his ass a new one.

  “Pres, I… I didn’t know…” Biff stammered.

  “Even if he’d known, he wouldn’t have been able to get all this intel. That bitch is something else,” Squid mused, flipping through the evidence Liv had left with them. He was their Treasurer and worked with Biff a lot, mostly when it came to cleaning money for the club. Scrubbing cash was one thing, getting into private surveillance cameras was something else.

  They all knew Biff’s abilities were limited, but so far they’d been adequate. Torch understood Buddha’s frustration, he was fired up himself, but there was no reason to be laying blame on anyone within the club.

  “Does he need some training?” Buddha hissed.

  “Cut him some slack, man,” Torch interjected. “How was anybody supposed to see this coming? Not like we had problems with these fucks until now. We’re lucky Livia came through. Let’s leave it at that and figure this shit out.”

  “I’ll be more than happy to show her our gratitude,” Grimm, their Sergeant at Arms, grinned. “Wowee… Think I found my new kinda broad.”

  It seemed Buddha was the only one who had any doubts about Liv’s motives, the rest of them were too blinded by tits and ass to see her as a threat.

  Torch fought back the urge to reach across the table and slap the shit out of Grimm. That asshat would screw anything with two legs and a pussy. Actually, the legs didn’t matter. He’d do a peg-legged midget if it meant he’d have a cool story to tell. He’d once screwed a bitch to death. Literally, to death. She was sixty-five and had a pacemaker that gave out mid-climax.

  “Can we get back to the matter at hand before all you deranged motherfuckers start in with your shit?” Torch groaned. “She’s off limits.”

  Zed, the club’s secretary and Torch’s best friend, laughed. “Listen to you, all huffin’ and puffin’ and ready to pull your dick out.”

  These idiots would be giving him shit for days. “Fuck off, asshole.” Jesus, he really did sound like some pussy-whipped bitch.

  “You seem mad, bro,” Gauge piped up. “Something got your boxers in a bind? It’s that sweet ass, right? Or maybe those lips that look like they could suck the chrome off a hog?”

  “Hey, shitheads,” Buddha cut in, “you ladies done? Torch’s boner can wait. What are we doing about Maric and his merry band of morons?”

  “Make ‘em choke on their own shit and cut their throats,” Mace, their Enforcer, suggested. Violence was generally his answer to any question. He was just one of those guys that needed to get bloody every so often or he got bitchy.

  Buddha shook his head. “I know we’re all fucking pissed, but we need to get to the bottom of what they’re up to. And we need to find their investor. Can’t do that if they’re all dead. That means you, Biff. Get cracking on finding out who Masters is in bed with. I want names and information on all the people in those pictures.”

  “Yeah… Okay,” Biff agreed, sounding less than confident.

  Buddha picked up on it too. “Is that a problem?” he asked.

  “No. But didn’t you say Livia offered to help if we needed it? I’m nowhere near her level of expertise. Maybe she can—”

  “No. Figure it out.”

  “Okay, boss,” Biff resigned.

  Torch leaned back in his chair. “I think we should pay their warehouse a visit tomorrow. Lure them to their own fucking turf. We’ve got twenty-two to their fifteen. Might as well grab the guns while we’re at it and have a little fun.”

  Buddha nodded. “I’m with Torch.”

  “Think Viktor would appreciate a head’s up about what his kin’s up to?” Zed asked. “It could buy us a favor down the road.”

  “Yeah. Doubt he’ll be too happy about his right-hand man starting a losing war behind his back. Let’s vote. All in favor?” Buddha asked and looked around.

  A chorus of aye’s resounded.

  Buddha slammed down the gavel. “Unanimous. It�
�s settled. Everybody get some sleep, it’s gonna be a long ass couple of days. Let’s meet back here at eight. Gauge and Mace, you call the rest of the crew and get their asses here too. We need all hands on deck.”

  : : : :

  It was done and over with. My nerves were even more shot on the way back home, but I’d managed to keep it together at the clubhouse and that was all that mattered. I was still trying to figure out what the fuck had possessed me to fire off a gun in front of a biker clubhouse, and how that outrageous idea even lingered in my mind long enough to actually go through with it.

  But, they got their warning and I was still alive. Fuck it, a win was a win.

  Ty stayed on my ass the entire way home and parked his bike outside the garage.

  “Stay here,” he demanded as I took off my gear, then proceeded to walk around the entire house. I let him do his thing, despite having motion sensors and cameras linked up to my cell phone. He was just following orders, I assumed.

  “Keys,” he ordered with an outstretched hand as soon as he came back around.

  “You’re wasting your time. This place is secured,” I said, tossing him the keys anyway.

  “Can’t be too careful.”

  “Oh, give me a break,” I said. “We both know you’re here to babysit. Nobody’s coming for me.”

  “I do what I’m told,” he shrugged, then opened the door, flipped on the lights, and looked around before walking in. The alarm started going off, both inside the house and on my phone. I punched in the code to turn it off.

  I let him wander around while I went to the kitchen and poured a glass of merlot. He was young, early twenties maybe, and had a buzzcut to top off a clean-shaven face. If it wasn’t for his gauged ears, tattoos, and the cut, he could have passed for a yuppie or military recruit. I couldn’t tell if he was tense because that was his natural disposition, or if he was still pissed off about my entrance at the clubhouse.

  “Beer?” I asked, after he’d made his way back down.