Air tools ratcheted in quick percussion, metal clanged against metal and voices rose above the din. It was music. The smells of motor oil and tire rubber added to Stephanie’s feast. She leaned against a desk on one side of Arash’s new garage and watched as he instructed a young black woman on the parts under Mariana Balducci’s hoisted pickup truck.
All three of the bays in the garage were full and two more cars were parked on the driveway on the other side of the open doors. Everything from oil changes to new water pumps. And if anyone from the Oakland neighborhood wandered in, they were sure to get a lesson on whatever was being done. The garage hadn’t turned a financial profit, but the benefit to Stephanie and Arash, to the neighborhood and the city, went way beyond the financial. People were able to stay on the road and make a living. And the next generation of mechanics were having their curiosity fed.
Ty Morrison stood at the desk next to Stephanie. Instead of the usual suit he wore as the police chief of his town, he was in casual flannel and jeans. Stephanie could see the resemblance between Ty and his stern ancestor in the old Frontier Justice photographs from the nineteenth century. Two black men with unmovable resolve. But Ty was actually smiling. “Hemmings’s trial is starting soon. Looks like he’ll go away for a long time. And the info you tracked down during the operation has the Seventh scrambling. Their human trafficking is over and they’re scared.” It had been two months since San Pedro. “Vincent said the FBI has cleaned some house and is really going after them now.”
Ty really lit up when Mariana came into the garage. He stepped to meet her and gave her a kiss that lasted just a little longer than proper. But Stephanie wasn’t going to shut them down. She and Arash had been caught during several lingering kisses on the porch of Mariana’s farmhouse, which also served as the Frontier Justice home base. Usually it was Vincent who cleared his throat with some embarrassment. If Javier was around, he’d just grumble and stalk off to the orchard.
Mariana had a tray of four cups of coffee and handed two to Stephanie and Ty. She motioned to Arash with the other and showed him where she put it on the desk. He gave her a wave, then caught Stephanie’s eye. She warmed, even though spring hadn’t made it to the Bay Area. Arash finished up with the girl he was teaching and came over to Stephanie and the others. Stephanie’s blush grew higher when he leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. Even the smallest touch was electric. Something she’d discovered when Arash had brushed his fingers against hers under the table during a generally comfortable dinner with her father and mother.
After taking a drink, Mariana wound an arm around Ty’s waist and stood close. “How does the truck look?”
“Nothing major.” Stephanie had looked it over initially with Arash.
“Maybe new brakes.” Arash nodded. “But Stephanie secured us a deal with a manufacturer to subsidize parts.”
Ty grew serious. “You’re doing good for the people out here.”
“There’s always something to fix.” Arash looked out over the garage, but she knew he was talking about more than just the cars. Between the intel gathered by Frontier Justice, her network, and the information that slipped through the neighborhood into the garage, they were all aware that the Seventh Syndicate and other forces that preyed on disadvantaged people might be quiet, but they weren’t dead.
Arash wasn’t daunted. After seeing the lives he’d saved in the vans, and learning that mourning Marcos was about more than revenge, he’d joined Frontier Justice and made the organization that much more formidable. She understood his strength, and felt it in the light of day and the darkest times at night. She’d seen the same determination in his parents the moment she’d met them. That dedication ran through Ty, Mariana and the others. Stephanie knew that none of them would quit. Even against what looked like impossible odds. They’d survived, and would again. It was a fight they could win because they all stood together.
Keep reading for an excerpt from Marine Force Recon by Elle James.
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