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Hunter and I stepped outside into the brisk El Paso night, and the merriment quieted as the bar door closed. While I took a swig, I glanced over at the unmarked Crown Vic wishing it was a bit more inconspicuous. Maybe I’d get it some old lady hub caps to hide the exposed steel wheels…
“Can we go somewhere more private?” I asked.
“I was thinking my place, once you’re done with that,” Hunter grinned. “The club’s going to want answers soon on why there’s a member of the force in our midst… they’re nice and liquored up tonight. Hopefully not too liquored up, since we’re always on call for a job… But there’ll be questions in the morning. Lots of questions.”
I nodded, kicking back another swig. The whiskey sour certainly didn’t taste like it had been desecrated, and for that, I was thankful.
“I have questions too,” I replied. “I’m not here for pleasure… there’s some business to attend to.”
“Well, Detective…” Hunter chuckled, taking a step towards me. I could practically feel the same youthful, hungry energy crackling between us… just as it had eight years ago. “Finish up your drink and follow me. I’m not far from here…”
I glanced down at the whiskey sour.
“Are you asking me to drink and drive?”
He smiled mischievously. “Last I checked, you weren’t the kind of girl who got tipsy on a couple sips. I’ve seen you drink three hundred pound bikers under the table… I’m asking you to accept my hospitality. It beats the hell out of sticking around here, especially with my bartender’s… fragile sentiments towards you.”
I realized that I hadn’t paid for the drink, and turned back towards the door. With the motion, my gaze turned inside, and I could spot the bartender glaring at us over the drinks she was pouring.
“Don’t worry,” he murmured, his hand grasping my arm. “It’s on the house, remember? Just finish that up and let’s hit the road. I’m not far…”
Chapter 44
While riding his steel, rumbling hog, Hunter led me a couple of miles away to his place – a small, single-story house off of a dirt road.
Flicking lights on as we entered, he directed me towards the den. “Coffee? Or another drink?”
“You pick,” I smirked. “It’s going to be a long night.”
“Well aren’t you optimistic,” Hunter noted coyly. “Give me a minute. Make yourself at home.”
I did as suggested, sitting down on the single sofa in the room. It brought back memories of that receded sofa in the strip club floor, and I wondered if he thought of that last night together every time that he sat here.
The wafting smell of fresh coffee came into the room, and I felt a little invigorated. Oh good, he’s behaving…
However, I knew Hunter. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when he came in with a pair of double-shot whiskey neats instead, impishly handing me one without a word.
“You just like the roasted coffee bean aroma for ambience, right?”
Hunter laughed. “Something like that.”
My former lover pulled the coffee table in the room closer, propping up his boots on it as he took a swing of the drink.
I followed his lead, watching how effortlessly he slid into this role. The last second that I’d seen him, he had looked like I’d ripped his heart to shreds… and then he’d ducked out of that window and out of my life. For all he’d known, the police could have been right on his tail…
If any of that was on the mind of this cool, confident man beside me, then he didn’t show an ounce of it. There was a scarily comfortable air between us, as if the pains of the last eight years had been nothing but a bad dream.
Worse than that, he knew it. His gaze fell upon me, transparently telling me that he could sense my apprehension and my fear…
“Well now, Detective…” he began, setting the drink down on the surface in front. “Let’s get business out of the way. What brings you out to El Paso?”
I blinked in confusion.
It hadn’t really occurred to me that he’d go straight for that. All these questions, all these concerns about the time we’d spent apart…
“Business…” I murmured, realizing that he was getting to me. His leather jacket was discarded again, and those rippling muscles were clearly out on display. I couldn’t help but trace his rugged, hardened physique with my gaze.
I wondered if coming here had been a mistake. Spit in the drinks or not, I was probably safer back at the bar…
“Yes, business…” He repeated, a faint smile curling at the edges of his lips. The smug bastard could see the effect he was having on me.
I swallowed quickly.
“You’ve come to my town for something, and we both know this isn’t a social visit. I want to know why you’re here, and how you found me.”
“Tell me you’re smarter than that,” I toyed.
“Right,” he answered calmly. “The girls.”
“The girls?” I asked, sipping my drink. Selfishly, I needed to know how useful Hunter would be to my case. My memories painted him as being particularly sharp and perceptive, but if he was going to be a proper ally in this case…
“You’re not the first detective to sit here asking me questions about our little investigation in Tucson, Sarah… I’m not interested in playing games here.”
“So, that was your investigation,” I confirmed aloud. I fought how my core warmed as his voice trickled over the syllables of my name. “But why you? Why them, and why now?”
“You know why,” he answered quietly, his eyes stern as he regarded me coolly. “That’s why you came here.”
“Your sister.”
“That’s right,” Hunter nodded calmly. “Eight years ago, the Devil’s Dragons MC helped me find her. In exchange, I joined the club as a junior enforcer…”
“You never told me much about her,” I pressed. “That might help me here, with this.”
Hunter’s haunted gaze turned inward.
“My sister… she was vacationing in Cancun when they took her. She was always so careful, always sticking to the safer, touristy places… The bastards took her and her best friend right out of their damn hotel room. We never found the other one, but we did find my sister…”
“Who took her?” I asked.
Hunter’s gaze darkened. “The fuckers call themselves Víboras Verde,” he explained. “The Vipers of the Green. They’re a Mexican cartel, one of the rougher ones. Until then, they’d only dabbled in kidnappings…”
“Sex trade?” I asked, as respectfully as I could.
“None other. Turns out, there’s plenty of money to be made in selling pussy to discerning buyers, and there’s a lot less overhead compared to the drug trade. No fields of illegal plants, no chemical labs, and if you set up somewhere nice the product comes to you…” Hunter laughed mirthlessly. “We found her before she could disappear into that particular hell… but she was never the same again.”
I reached forward, placing my hand on his. His posture didn’t change, but his fingers absentmindedly parted around mine.
“What did they do to her?”
“She never told me the details. Poor girl abandoned her life and disappeared into the world. I hear from her sometimes…”
I nodded, unsure of what to say.
“I… I’m sorry, Hunter.”
He smiled sadly, refocusing our topic.
“So, this cheerleader kidnapping thing absolutely stunk of their handiwork. I reached out to some contacts and confirmed my suspicions… With the new passport laws and all the goddamned violence there’s less tourists heading down into Mexico. The cartel has been getting bolder every day. They’d started placing manpower across the fence. Began abducting people from this side of the border…”
“So you went after them,” I stated.
Hunter nodded. “I grabbed my men, and we high-tailed it to Tucson. It’s a little outside my network, but we’ve got relations with the underground scene out there. I knocked on some doors, and
we started our own investigation from our side of the law.”
“And you attracted attention.”
“Damn right we did,” he smiled nostalgically. “Police sure do have a tenuous grasp on logic… ‘Sure, these biker guys look suspicious. Showing up AFTER the disappearances and making a big ruckus… OBVIOUSLY they’re the culprits!’”
“You don’t think that looked a bit strange?” I asked, taking another swig of whiskey. “You guys came out of nowhere and started rattling cages.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Hunter chuckled. “Either way, we got results. Confirmed a few things. Got a few leads. Hell, I even approached the local authorities against the better judgment of the club… I was rewarded with a nice fat threat of an obstruction of justice arrest if I stayed in town.”
“They didn’t believe you?”
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on with that police department, but they instantly dismissed my findings. Maybe they couldn’t get over the fact that a bunch of renegades could run a better investigation than their prized officers…”
Hunter glanced at our empty drinks and stood up, stretching briefly. A moment later, he returned with an open bottle of Jack Daniels, halfway refilling our glasses before setting it down on the coffee table.
We ceremoniously clinked glasses together, both taking heavy swigs of the whiskey.
