AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No idea what you’re talking about, girl.” Eli feigned boredom, but there was an underlying threat in his tone that made the hair on the back of Liam’s neck rise. He took a step forward, instinctively moving closer to Cora.
“Cora, Liam,” Happy called from across the parking lot as the ambulance drove out. He jogged up, his pinched face coolly assessing the two bikers. “We’ve got people moving out to search for Thompson now. But there’s something you should know. We just found Finley Walsh’s car down a ravine near the state park.”
Cora sucked in a breath. “No! Not Finn.” Her face blanched like she was going to be ill.
Liam felt the same. Not giving a damn who was looking, he curled an arm around her shoulders for support, trying not to show the whirling vortex of dread churning in his own stomach. Though he hadn’t wanted to admit it, a tiny part of him had still hoped things could work out, for some miraculous moment where Cora and Finn might end up together. But even aside from all that, Finn was a good man and deserved so much better than this. The last thing Liam wanted was to find out Finn had met an untimely death in such a violent way. Even though Liam had failed him—failed everyone—he still wanted to imagine that Finn would go on living his life instead of dying in some ravine all alone. “Did they find him?”
“No,” Happy said with a puzzled frown. “They searched the whole area and there’s no sign of foul play. It’s odd. Almost as if his car just rolled off the edge of the road on its own. I’m heading back to the station, and then I’ll check on Slice.”
Liam suddenly remembered what Slice said right before he passed out. “Get him a priest.”
Happy pursed his lips in disapproval, as if Liam insinuating that Slice wouldn’t make it was in poor taste. “The paramedics said there’s a very good chance he’ll pull through.”
“Still, it’s what he wants,” Liam insisted. “He mentioned church, remember? Far be it from any of us to deny a man the right to his religion when he’s knocking at death’s door.”
Bear pulled Eli aside, and they began talking in rushed, angry whispers.
Happy tilted his head in their direction. “Can you two find out what they know and report back?”
“Already on it,” Cora said, squaring her shoulders. She’d somehow locked her emotions away and now appeared calm and collected again. “Can you call us if you hear anything about Finn?”
Happy nodded and hurried toward his car.
“Finn could be dead, Prez,” Bear was saying to Eli. “After all he’s done for us over the years, it ain’t right. We can’t risk letting that scumbag captain get away with this. Magnus Blackwell’s death. Finn’s car. The locations can’t be a coincidence. Both those accidents are too close to where we—”
“Fine!” Eli snarled. He spun toward Liam and Cora, scowling like they’d just flipped him off and set his bike on fire. “I’ll be damned if I let your captain get away with everything he’s done.”
“What else do you know?” Cora asked. “Something tells me you’ve got a lot more dirt on the captain than we do.”
“I could tell you stories that would make your pretty little head spin, girl, but I ain’t got time for that. Still, I’ve got too much at stake here, and I’m not letting that man take anything more from me. But first...” He grimaced like he’d just drunk back-to-back shots of diesel fuel. “I need you both to do me a favor.”
Cora jammed her hands on her hips. “A favor from a couple of no-good, lying pigs like us, huh?”
“Don’t you sass me, girl. I remember your father, and he was squared away. He walked the line back in the day, and he raised you, so I’m going to have to take a chance that I can trust your word.”
“Spit it out, man,” Liam said in frustration. They were losing time. “What do you want?”
“I reckon I know where your captain’s going, but I can’t round up my men to get there fast enough. You can make it if you leave now. But I need your promise you won’t call in the location for at least an hour. Give my guys that much of a head start.”
“I don’t understand,” Cora said. “I need more information before I agree to this.”
“You don’t gotta understand, lady,” Bear said irritably. “Just give him your word you won’t tell your police buddies where we’re headed for at least an hour, and we can get on our way.”
“Fine. Yes,” Liam answered for both of them. “You have our word. We’ll give you a head start before the police arrive.”
Cora blew out a breath of annoyance but didn’t disagree. It went against her better judgment, Liam knew, but even she understood the magnitude of what they were up against. Boyd, the captain of their police force, was a lying, scheming murderer who’d been committing acts of corruption for years, and all behind the guise of a trusted pillar of the community. They couldn’t let him get away.
Eli nodded once. “Bear will go with you. He can keep an eye on you, just in case your fingers get antsy and you feel like breaking your promise and making an early phone call. He knows the way out there. Just follow his lead.”
“To where?” Cora threw her hands up, clearly impatient with all the subterfuge. “Captain Thompson knows he’s been made. And now he’s on the run. We’ve got officers out looking for him already. He can’t access his bank accounts or use his phone because he knows we’ll track him. Where would he go at a time like this?”
Eli’s grin was the kind a shark makes just before it bites. Cold and deadly. “He’s gone to church.”
21
LIAM FOLLOWED BEAR’S directions and drove west toward the mountains. The overcast sky gave way to dark clouds, and sheets of rain began hitting the windshield as they sped away from the city, which didn’t seem to bother Liam at all. Unlike Cora, who was certain they were going to slide across the road and roll the car at the next hairpin turn, Bear sat in the back seat with a begrudging smirk on his face. He seemed to enjoy the way Liam was tearing hell-for-leather down the highway.
“Respect, man.” Bear thumped a fist to his chest when Liam swerved between two semitrucks and shot ahead. “I never ride in tin cans if I don’t have to, but at least you make it interesting.”
