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Now that she thought about it, she’d spent an awful lot of her time at the club paying attention to Pony. And it definitely wasn’t because she thought he was breaking the law. Quite the opposite; she found herself hoping and praying that she wouldn’t see Pony do anything that might end up with her slapping a set of handcuffs on him.
Well. At least not in a professional way. Maybe recreationally…
“Whatever,” Harris said, pulling her out of her thoughts. “You said that he’s the one who seemed like someone who might open up to you.”
Piper didn’t like where this was going.
“I said we got along well,” she said.
“Same thing,” Harris said. “This job is manipulation, Special Agent. Plain and simple. Get close, get information, use that information to squeeze the suspect to give up more of the organization. Whatever these bikers are up to, we’re going tofind out all about it and use that to bring the whole damn club down. If you’re not on board with that, get out now.”
Piper didn’t say anything at first.
She didn’t like it, but Harris had a point. There was something going on in this town, something wrong.
Yes, everyone around seemed to think highly of the MC. There was hardly any violent crime reported, or hard drug use throughout the entire county.
But then there was the blown up truck strewn across the highway. Harris was dead right about that. Illegal weapons, heroin, and then there was the forensic report that the explosion had been caused by C4 explosive.
C4 plastic explosive was a big deal, not exactly illegal fireworks that you could pick up easily from a roadside stand on the Fourth of July. This was heavy-duty, military-level stuff, and possession of it was carefully controlled.
Plus the bodies. Four members of The Warlords, a small MC out of upstate New York, had died in that explosion.
And then there were the Mexican women that Piper had seen being brought to the clubhouse. She had no idea why they’d been there, or where they were going, but their appearance just before the truck explosion couldn’t be mere coincidence.
Piper couldn’t imagine that a man like Pony was capable of something as awful as sex trafficking, but then, how much did she really know about him? Her instincts were telling her that he was a good man, but you never knew. People could surprise you. They kept all kinds of secrets, put up all kinds of fronts to make their way through life while hiding their true nature.
She had to laugh at the irony. That was exactly what she was doing at the MC, wasn’t it? Hiding her true nature. She didn’t know what to make of any of it.
The only answer was to do her job. Get to know Pony better, find out what she could, and follow the evidence to wherever itled her. Do her best to stay impartial, an observer. Discover what the real truth behind the MC was, come what may.
She had to admit, she liked the undercover life, being Wild Girl Piper, rather than straight laced Special Agent Marino, who meticulously tracked the paper trails of white collar criminals. Her undercover work at the MC was exciting, edgy, and not only that, it felt like she was actually getting something real done.
It had been less than a year ago that she’d made that trip to Juarez, and seen those things she could never un-see. The real effects of the crimes she’d been tracking from a distance.
The cartel violence had been vicious beyond belief. Seeing the aftermath had shaken her to her core, and Harris had given her a chance to stand between that violence and unsuspecting innocent civilians.
There was no way she was going to let the cartel get a foothold in this area. Not if she could stop it.
“I’m on board,” she finally said.
4
It was early enough when Pony walked into the clubhouse that he was the only one in the place. That was, with the notable exception of Piper, who was stationed at her spot behind the bar, wiping it down with a wet towel that smelled of disinfectant.
What the hell, he thought. It was on the early side for drinking, but seeing Piper made him feel like now wasn’t such a terrible time for a beer. And with the place as empty as it was, now was as good a time as he’d ever get to finally make a move on Piper.
He’d sure been thinking about it long enough. Devil had been giving him no end of shit for weeks now, egging him on to finally go for it. Pony had never told him about the crazy ex who’d left a scar on his hand, or how that had left him scarred in other ways as well. It wasn’t the kind of thing you told another man. You simply had to get over it yourself, in your own time, and move on when you were ready.
He figured he was as ready as he was going to get. Enough of living in the past. He’d taken a chance when he’d joined the MC, and that had turned out exactly the way he wanted. Time to roll the dice again, take another chance, this time on Piper.
By the time he made it to the bar, she already had his favorite brew poured and waiting for him. He had to smile.
“It seems like you’re always here,” he said.
“Someone’s got to keep the bar from falling apart, the way you party animals keep tearing it up,” she said.
“I guess that is a full time job.”
