Max
A s I sat there talking with Harper, I wanted to be the old Max, the guy who she’d loved all those years ago, or anyone other than me. I didn’t want to be the man who was responsible for her brother’s death, or the man who’d broken her heart, but whether I liked it or not, I was that man. As much as I wanted to change the past, I knew I couldn’t. It was a part of us, and like a puppet master with an evil plan, it guided our each and every move, using our mistakes against us. I had no idea how to cut the strings, but I had to try. I had to convince Harper to take a chance on me—a chance on us, otherwise I’d live out the rest of my life consumed with regret.
After I threw another log on the fire, I walked back over to the sofa and sat down next to Harper. As she reached for a blanket and pulled it over her legs, she said, “So, tell me. How did you end up in Clallam County?”
“Just by chance, I guess. After I finished out my tour, I spent some time working odd jobs and traveling. I was on a flight home when I met Nathan. We started talking, and a week later I moved here, and I’ve been working for him ever since.” Before she had a chance to ask for more details, I asked, “What about you? How did you get started writing?”
“Wait! Nathan is who you do security for?”
“Yes.”
“And you met him on an airplane?”
“More or less.”
“What does this guy do?”
“He works in trade … does business all over the country.”
“What kind of business?” She pushed.
There was no way I could tell her the truth—that I was helping to distribute the very weapons I’d used and fought against in Iraq. There was no way she could understand. Hell, there were times I didn’t understand it myself. I’d let myself believe that it was my way of taking the control back, that I had some kind of say, but I knew that wasn’t true. Just like when I was in the Marines, I didn’t get to decide who lived or died, otherwise it would’ve been me in that grave back home instead of Brody.
“It’s not important.” Trying once again to change the topic, I said, “I’d rather hear about you.”
“There’s not much to tell. I was working as an editor and liked it, but when I was reading everyone else’s books, I kept thinking about all the stories I wanted to write. I finally pitched one of my ideas, and my boss decided to take a chance with me. The rest is history.”
“So, in this new book … are we finally going to find out who the killer really is?”
“You’ve read my books?”
“I’ve read everything you’ve ever written,” I admitted.
“Except my letters .” When I saw her smile, I knew she was just teasing, so I shook my head and gave her a sarcastic laugh. “Anyway, yes. This book will be the last one in the series, so you’ll finally find out who is behind all the murders.”
“You’re really something, Harper. I can’t believe I know a famous author.”
She shook her head. “Don’t get carried away. I’m far from famous.”
“You’re a best seller. I’d say that makes you famous. I bet you have all kinds of fans waiting on the edge of their seat for this new book.”
“I might have a few.” She giggled. “I actually received a message last night from a woman in Lithuania, and I have a few others in Canada and the UK who read for me.”
“Lithuania. That’s amazing.” I could see that she liked talking about her books, so I asked, “And these people in Canada and the UK? What do you mean by ‘they read for you’?”
“It’s not a big deal. I send them …”
Her voice trailed off when my phone started to ring. I quickly reached for it, and when I saw that it was Nitro calling, I stood up and started towards the door. “I need to take this.”
She nodded and watched as I walked out the front door. As soon as I was out of earshot and answered, Nitro’s voice said, “We’ve got a problem.”
“I’m headed that way.”
I shoved my phone back in my pocket, and as I stepped back inside the cabin, Harper was in the kitchen washing dishes. I walked towards her and she asked, “Is everything okay?”
“Something’s up at work. I’ve got to get going.”
“Okay.” She forced a smile, but I knew she was just as disappointed as I was. I liked being with her and hated the thought of leaving. “I really enjoyed tonight.”
“I did, too. More than you know.” I needed to hold her, even if it was just for a moment, so I took a step towards her and wrapped my arms around her, holding her close to my chest. Taking in a deep breath, I inhaled her scent, and savored the moment as I felt her body next to mine. For so long, all I had were memories, but none of them compared to this moment. She felt so damn good, and when she slipped her arms around my waist, pulling me closer, I feared I’d never be able to let her go. It was like the missing piece of my soul had finally returned, and I was whole again at last. Knowing one night would never be enough, I said, “I want to see you again.”
With her arms still wound around my waist, she looked up at me and smiled. “Okay, we’ll figure something out.”
I kissed her lightly on the forehead before I forced myself to take a step back. She followed me to the door and just before I stepped outside, I gave her one of my business cards. “If you need anything, just give me a call.”
As she took it from my hand, she smiled and said, “Okay. Goodnight, Max.”
“Goodnight, Harper. I’ll see you soon.”
Pulling out of that driveway wasn’t an easy task. All of my hopes and dreams were in that little cabin, and the last thing I wanted to do was leave, especially when she was there alone. I knew the area was relatively safe, but it was miles away from town and had very little security. I knew if she was going to continue staying there, I’d have to do something, but for now, I had other issues to contend with.
To say that things in the gun-trafficking world were unpredictable would be the understatement of the century. Over the past six months, Nitro had a run-in with Cotton, the president of Satan’s Fury MC and our biggest client. That run-in ultimately caused us to cut ties with them, or them with us. The details were never clarified on my end. Shortly after, I was shot and almost died while trying to rescue Nitro’s girl from a group of greedy, second-hand criminals. Just as I was recovering, we were contacted by a small, unknown group of bikers who wanted to offer us a load of unmarked artillery—the very same artillery that had just been heisted from Satan’s Fury. Needless to say, this information gave Nitro the means to mend fences with our former client, and we were finally getting back to normal. Then came Frankie.
I could only assume that Nitro’s latest call had something to do with Frankie and his big, fucking mouth. I’d put up with enough of his bullshit and was ready to deal with him on my own; unfortunately, I wasn’t the boss. It was up to Nitro to decide how we handled him. I was eager to hear what was going on as I headed to the warehouse. It was after ten when I pulled up, and Nitro was waiting for me as I got out of my car. Nitro wasn’t a man you ever wanted to piss off, not unless you had a death wish. It was clear from the expression on his face that he was biting back his rage, which was never a good sign.
As I got out of the car, I asked, “What’s going on?”
“Someone broke into Frankie’s warehouse out on Tulum Road.”
“How the hell did that happen?” I groaned. “What about his security system and guard?”
“Let’s say they were both out of date and easy to disable.” He ran his hand over his face and sighed. “They made a real mess of the place.”
“Got any idea why?”
“I’d say they were sending a message about something Frankie fucked up, but can’t say for sure,” he growled. “I’ve just about reached my limit with him.”
“Good. Glad to hear that we’re finally on the same page. So, what are we going to do about it?”
“First, we need to know who the hell broke into that warehouse. See what you can find out, and then we’ll go from there.”
“And Frankie?”
Nitro just shook his head. “Before this is all said and done, we’re gonna have to weed him out. But for now, we need to get Jay to keep an eye on him—at least until we get this shit settled. He’s a smart kid. If he plays his cards right, he’ll be my first choice to take the reins.”
While Jay was young, he was ex-military, with a specialty in handling roughnecks. I thought he’d make a good replacement for Frankie, but like Nitro said, he’d have to play his cards right. The guy gave new meaning to the term player . He always had a string of ladies at his beck and call, especially the married ladies, and they always seemed eager to please where he was concerned. To fill Frankie’s spot, he’d have to get his priorities straight and limit his distractions, but if he set his mind to it, I had no doubt he could do the job and do it well.
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll head over to the warehouse now and see what I can find out.”
He nodded, then added, “Ryder is already there. Catch him up to speed and get back to me.”
I jumped in my car and drove over to the warehouse. By the time I arrived, Ryder was already in the building, but he wasn’t hard to find. He was a big guy at 6’4” with a large, athletic build, and he was known for his short fuse. Like me, he hated dealing with bullshit, and I could tell by his angry expression, he wasn’t happy about being called to deal with Frankie. He was standing beside a cargo trailer that had been tagged with spray paint; not only was it covered with dents, the doors had been ripped off the back. I looked around the warehouse and found that there were several more like it, each with its own symbol painted over the crumpled metal. “Fuck.”
“You got that right. Looks like your guy, Frankie, did something that really pissed some motherfucker off.” Ryder snickered. “Just gotta wonder what he did this time.”
“There’s no telling,” I grumbled as I started looking through all of the destruction.
Ryder came up behind me, peeking over my shoulder as I checked the damage on the third trailer. “So, what is it with this guy? What’s he doing to piss everybody off?”
“Just like Murray works with you and Bennett to make sure all our overseas distributions go without a hitch, he’s supposed to do the same thing here with our cross-country distribution. The problem is, he isn’t maintaining his trucks, and they keep breaking down. He’s over-running his drivers, which gets them flagged for too many hours, and the delays are fucking up everything. And it’s not just our people he’s dealing with. This motherfucker is transporting shit his old man would’ve never touched. It’s all catching up with him, and we’re stuck cleaning up his fucking mess.”
“So, what are we going to do about it?”
“I figure we got two choices. Find someone else to take over, or find someone else for our land distribution. Neither are going to be easy.”
As we continued to search the area, we were coming up empty-handed, then Ryder asked, “Hey, has that always been there?”
When I looked over to him, he was pointing to some graffiti that was painted on the back wall. After a closer look, I realized it was a gang sign. I took a step back and glanced at the other graffiti painted on the trailers. From the angle where I was standing, I able to see that together, they all made a larger, almost three-dimensional gang sign. While we’d gotten the lead we needed, I knew we had real trouble on our hands. There were all kinds of gangs—those that were small and insignificant and those that were continually growing in numbers and were known for retaliation and violence. Unfortunately for Frankie, the gang that had just totaled his warehouse was one of the worst in the state. I looked over to Ryder and said, “This isn’t good.”
“Fuck! What the hell happened?” Jay asked as he stepped into the warehouse. He looked like an old-school mafia guy with his black suit, flashy watch, and trademark diamond rings. And I found myself wondering if he was truly the right one to step up into Frankie’s position.
“Frankie,” Ryder clipped. “Any idea what kind of business he was doing with the Blades?”
“Damn. I told him to steer clear of those guys.” He ran his hand through his perfectly combed hair. “One of them had contacted him a few weeks ago about transporting a shit-ton of coke to East LA. There was no way we could move that kind of stash. You know how it is. There’s only so many places that we can hide that shit.”
“You didn’t know he’d moved forward with the deal?” I asked.
“Hell, no. The last time we talked about it, he told me that he’d decided against it.”
“Then, it’s time we had a chat with Frankie.”
After we told Nitro what we’d found, Ryder and I set out to find Frankie. He’d been squirreled away in his office since he’d contacted Nitro, which only meant he was too chicken-shit to show his face back at the warehouse. He knew he’d fucked up again, and this time, there would be consequences. When we walked in, he looked up from his desk with a concerned look on his face. “Did you find out anything?”
He had told Nitro that he had no idea who’d fucked with the warehouse, but we all knew he was lying. “We did.”
“And?”
The color drained from his face when I asked, “How did you fuck up with the Blades?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Stop playing stupid, Frankie!” I growled. “Don’t you know that tonight was just the fucking start with these guys?”
“I know.” He sighed as he leaned back in his chair. “The truck that was carrying their cargo got held up at a weigh station outside of Portland.”
“You’re telling me that he barely got out of the state before he was held up at the fucking weigh station?”
“Yeah … There were some issues with the truck and …”
“What kind of issues?”
“It got called in for being overloaded, and during inspection, they noticed that the tire tread was low. So, they declared it out-of-service. I’m sending in another one of my guys to pick up the freight.”
“And what happens if someone starts sniffing around?”
“That’s not going to happen, but if they do, they won’t find anything. They never do.”
“That’s because you’ve been lucky, Frankie.”
“No. I know how to handle my freight. And you don’t have to worry about the Blades. I’ll handle them,” he grumbled. “I just need some time.”
“That’s just it, Frankie. You’ve run out of time.”