Page 95 of Waging War
I nearly laugh at the irony.
“Fall back.”
Her braid flips wildly in the wind as she whips her head around. “Are you serious?”
“If that’s our only lead, it’s one I’m willing to bet on.”
Without another word, Hazel falls out of line. I hold on as she guns it for the nearest exit.
Cooper’s voice booms in my ear. “What the fuck are y’all doing?”
When I don’t respond, Félix cuts through our connection. “We’re approaching the silos in five. What’s going on over there?”
Cooper responds again. “Hazel and Ben broke off. Standby.”
Anger colors Félix’s words when he speaks. “You better have a damn good explanation for this, Ben.”
I speak to Cooper before he can cut rank after us. “Follow Félix in case I’m wrong, but I’ve got a feeling Diablo won’t be there.”
“What makes you think that?” Cooper asks.
Hazel repeats what she overheard at The Pound as we drive down the access road and away from Jack and the Wolves.
Félix responds this time. “The minute you get to Rosenburg’s, I want you to report back. And don’t make any moves before we get there, am I clear?”
“Crystal.”
We fly down a back road leading to the main strip downtown. The same strip where the charity rally was held, and where I traded Hazel to protect the chief’s family. She hated me then, even after I’d had that first taste of her.
Now we’re racing against the clock, finally closing in on the monster who drove that wedge between us in the first place.
A nine-hole golf course curves around the distillery. The massive building sits directly behind a small clubhouse perched on a hill beside the parking lot.
Hazel slows to a low sputter. “Ben… look.”
I follow her line of sight to a set of cars parked just outside the red brick building. Hills of putting greens and fairways lie between us, but we can just make out the lights shining from the front of the smaller building as well as a semitruck pulling around to the back of the building.
The smile in her voice is victorious. “We were right.”
She halts at the bottom of the hill, parking her Harley next to a pond. I remove the borrowed helmet and check in.
“Félix,” I say, waiting a moment. “What are you seeing?”
His reply takes another minute, cultivating panic. “It seems you were correct.”
Fuck.
“The silos and the storage facility are as empty as they were beforehand,” he says.
Hazel and I carefully trudge across the course. “We’ve made it to the distillery downtown. There are several cars parked out front, and a truck just pulled around to the back. We’re going in.”
“The fuck you are,” he argues. “Stand down and wait for your crew. We’re on our way.”
The line cuts off, and I shake my head.
“Are you armed?” I ask Hazel.
She cocks her head. “Of course I’m armed.”
