Page 59 of Ricochet

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Adelia’s underground network would never get exposed. Not unless she was caught red-handed. If it was going to happen, it would have been in the early years, when she had no idea what she was doing, and she and Seven had spent time under the most ridiculous of circumstances finding people to help and then relocating them without any resources.

“Let’s hope that Amen headsfrom your lips to the motorcycle god’s ears,” Seven whispered.

Adelia’s text message notification chirped, and they jumped.

“That’s probably someone else.” She waved Seven’s attention away, suddenly unsure that she wanted her best friend looking over her shoulder if Colin’s name popped up with an overly sweet message preview.

Seven’s forehead pinched, and her chin lifted, giving Adelia enoughtime to grab her phone and glance.Not Colin. “Or not.”

She opened the message and it was a small distributor, explaining that they had a larger shipment than usual, and they didn’t care how or where it went, but it had to go. The last line broke Adelia’s heart.All offers considered.

Seven groaned. They both knew that horrible circumstances were expected, but when there was no rock bottom,it was abysmal.

They went to work quickly, making sure they had contacts in the Baltimore area who could respond to them tonight. It was easier said than done on short notice. They were Mayhem old ladies, and they had to get off their grounds, compound, or out of their houses without raising suspicion. No easy task at night.

If they could pull that off, Adelia could find the money. She alwayscould eventually. The time crunch made her sweat though.

Seven’s fingers already flew on her phone.

“You got a hold of someone?” Adelia asked.

“I know a place to store a group of people.”

“Sweet.” All they had to do was handle transport and calm them down. Then they eased into the harder finds like clothes or medical care.

Adelia and Seven worked side by side, texting and conferring, comparingtheir quick thoughts and what they’d lined up.

“I think we’ve got everything covered,” Adelia said with an anxious building excitement. “I’m going to pull the trigger.”

“Do it.” Seven gave her the last needed push.

She sent the text to the distributor with her offer. “Now, we wait.”

The strumming of an electric guitar jammed from outside as her heel bounced on the scarred tile floor.

“Let’swait to hear outside.” Seven jumped off the couch, always offering that first step of encouragement. “Let’s go watch Skull.”

Members, old ladies, and guests had filtered out to the large asphalt lot to watch the jam session. The cool night’s air rushed over her skin, and Seven had been right that she needed a breath of fresh air in addition to ridding themselves of an extra seat for unwelcomed,uninformed new recruits who wanted to join them.

Skull and friends shredded. The crowd hollered and spurred on the band. Adelia and Seven moved close to a speaker, and the music traveled through them. Base thumped hard. It vibrated through her clothes and made her feel alive—untouchable—knowing a web sworn to silence was ready if she was awarded the shipment.

The phone lit with the offer acceptanceand payment instructions, and she held it for Seven to see. “We did it.”

“Let’s do this.” Seven broke away first, but Adelia swiped it open and read the coded message for the merchandise. She hated that word, but this was what they needed, and she turned to catch up, linking arms with Seven.

Anticipation pulsed in time with the quickening pace of the music. It paid to have a criminal lawyerstep-mom who lived with this secret too. She’d never tell Tex. It was the one thing they both kept from him, and maybe one day, it would make them feel like a real mother and daughter.

Adelia and Seven stepped from the crowd, watching Skull as Hawke stepped from the back row and grabbed Seven’s shoulder. “Haven’t seen you since you’ve been back.”

“I just got back,” Seven pointed out, inchingaway.

“Seven.” Hawke stepped closer. “We need to talk.”

“Now isn’t the best time, Hawke.” Seven layered on her most princess-like manners, and that was one of the nicest smiles that Adelia had ever seen. “Can you give me a few minutes?”

Hawke grumbled, and Adelia heard the countdown clock ticking for the distributor’s payment. It had to go through within a certain amount of time, or they’dmove to the next buyer. Every second they waited for Hawke to spit out what he wanted was a moment wasted. Adelia’s foot itched to bounce, but she kept both feet planted on the ground. Everything was fine. They had conversational-wiggle room. All she needed to do was get to the computer, find and move money quickly while Seven acted as a lookout or provided a distraction for anyone who came theirway.

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