“He’s just in a bad spot,” Cash defended Dev and started for his apartment. Shanna followed, her chuckle had a bit of ridicule in it.
“Right.”
Dev’s words did concern him. They needed to spend more time prepping. Bringing Holly back into the narrative wasn’t the best diversion tactic Dev could have used. He needed to have a long list of ready answers for any situation.
Cash had to do better, focus on what was important if he truly wanted Dev safe.
“What’s the deal with the Cummings release?”
“Don’t know anything about it,” Shanna said. “We should know though, right?”
“Yes.” Cash nodded at what the implication of being left out of such an important finding meant. “We should’ve been one of the first units notified.”
Dev’s door opened, pushed wide. Dev was nowhere to be seen. That had to be some sort of invitation without Dev having to actually ask Cash in.
“I’ve got a meeting and an update,” Cash called out, assuming that was meant as an invitation.
Shanna went ahead of Cash, to his apartment.
“Well fuckin’ hurry it up then,” Dev shouted back. Still no sign of the man.
Cash gave a small smile, dropping his chin to his chest, trying to understand where the breakdown in communication came from within the DEA. Whoever that person was, they needed to be investigated closely.
Chapter 36
Cash had to be good and pissed off by now. Dev saw no other way around it. A deep self-reflection may have caused him to rethink his actions of the day, but he’d never been any good at inner discipline or the regrets that generally followed.
What he had done instead was intentionally set fire to all of Cash’s rules. The dark inner place inside his heart gave a wicked gleam of approval and added that he had not only set them ablaze but burned those bitches to the ground. He had crossed every line. Done it on purpose.
Hell, it wasn’t even his fault. The course of the day was set in motion the second Keyes was put in custody for his crimes against Cummings.
By Dev’s best estimation, it hadn’t taken twelve hours for Keyes to wind up in lockup. Any question about Cummings turning on the club was erased with how fast Keyes had been detained. Meaning his best friend needed every bit of help Dev had to offer. Fuck the rest of the bullshit.
So, no matter what anyone had to say about the reasoning behind Dev’s actions today, at least he fully understood the consequences and still made the decision to go off grid. He considered that maturity on his part.
And the fucker, Cummings, was still alive, albeit in a county hospital bed, but the turncoat would survive his beating. The easiest option would have been to go to Parkland Hospital and end the weasel’s life. Be done with the loser prospect and whoever paid such a price for whatever intel they thought he had, but Dev didn’t choose that really good idea. He’d get there, but not today. Again, adding massive maturity points to his decision-making skills.
Where things got iffy for Dev was the full-scale, apeshit, toddler-style tantrum he had impromptued inside the entry of the jailhouse where Keyes was being held. Had he had time to think, he might have come up with something better to get Mack and his old man out of the waiting area, where Alec Pierce, Keyes’s boyfriend, was already there waiting.
In the end, Dev’s best efforts were in vain. An employee of the correctional institution, a Disciples paid informant, had alerted his old man of Alec’s presence, efficiently tying Alec to his job as a Dallas assistant district attorney. That was ultimately what made Dev throw his promises to Cash and the operation to the wind.
His old man’s guard had gone up immediately, wanting the who, and what on Alec Pierce and why the fuck he was there for Keyes. Vengeance had been clear in every syllable spoken. Dev had instantly volunteered to sneak back and figure out why Alec was there. He’d also made his intentions known by stating it was the club’s second’s responsibility to see this through. When he stripped both his bike and his body of all the tracking and listening devices, even the ones placed there months ago, before Cash had shown up on the scene, that was the moment he sent the double flying birds to the contract he had negotiated with the federal government.
He’d left his cell phone at the ink parlor, next to his speaker, playing “Fuck Tha Police” by NWA on a loop. He figured his choice of song added a bit of dramatic flair to his insolence.
Maybe he wasn’t as grown up as he pretended to be. Fucking okay with him.
With a burner phone in hand, he grabbed a helmet and left through a side door exit where he’d strategically parked earlier. That location blocked him from any visual of the main road where Cash was parked, keeping an eye on him.
He only had two people to stay in touch with. One was his fucking loser old man. And the second was Officer Grisby, who he’d connected with to stay up to date on the pending charges against Keyes.
The secret ride back to the jailhouse had been slow as he stayed off the main roads. Adrenaline pulsed through his veins in shockwaves. The stakes were damn fucking high, coming at him from many different directions.
His hiding place was behind a large pillar on the third floor of a high-rise parking garage catty-corner to where Keyes was locked up. He’d been there now for hours, tensed up and scoping out everything and everyone associated with Keyes. He had to make sure no one else from the club showed up unannounced. It wouldn’t be good for Keyes if they did.
With a badass pair of binoculars in hand, Dev easily identified Clyde, Keyes’s uncle—unrelated to the club. It took a minute to figure out who the hot older guy was, but with Grisby’s help, he learned he was Keyes fancy new attorney, Marc Manners. By the familiar shake of hands and pat of the shoulder, Alec must be on friendly terms with the attorney.
All the fucking lying and half-truths were hard on Dev. It gave him an extra edge of anxiety. It took him half the morning to remember the kid Keyes had mentioned last night. Then another couple of hours to trust Grisby enough to ask him what Alec did for the DA’s office. Everything came together moments ago when he saw Keyes pop out the door by himself, his big body tensed up tight. His buddy scanned every direction, making Dev edge behind the pillar to stay completely hidden.
