Jake: The Sinner Saints #3 (14 page)

Jake gave her a long look, as if debating with himself what to do with her.

Verity didn’t say another word. She just patiently held the door open for him.

After a long moment, he finally relented.

“All right,” he said, moving past her and out into the hallway. “But don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

Verity struggled to keep up as he strode past the rows of doors, all the way down to the one at the very end.

“Of course not,” she said as Jake raised his hand and rapped his knuckles against the door. “How bad could this guy really be?”

A second later, it flew open and the whole doorway was filled with one of the most massive men that Verity had ever seen. Massive and solid…and most definitely dangerous. His dark brown gaze zeroed in on her immediately. His mouth fell into a flat, disapproving line.

Dear Lord, when was she ever going to learn to keep her mouth shut?

Still, she’d made Jake a promise. So, she held out her hand.

“H-hi. I’m Veri—”

“I know who you are,” the man said, cutting her off. His stare moved down from her face to her outstretched palm.

Even though it had to be already nearing eighty degrees out in the morning sun, Verity still felt a chill sneak up her back. She slowly pulled her hand back.

Jake on the other hand didn’t seem at all intimidated.

“That’s enough, Bowie,” he said, sounding fed up with whatever game his
friend
was playing. “Step aside and let us in.”

The man gave Verity one last hard look before taking a step back and giving them enough room to pass.

Just in time, one more second of that deadly glower and Verity feared that her knees were going to give out underneath her. She followed Jake into a room that was identical to theirs.

Well,
almost
identical. Spread out across what would have been her bed was an organized arrangement of paperwork. Verity stepped over and looked down at the spread of aerial shots of the farmhouse they’d been at yesterday, mugshots of various gang members, as well as what appeared to be financial spreadsheets.

Dang. This Bowie guy might not be the most welcoming sort, but he certainly did his homework.

Verity lifted her head as the scent of fresh coffee made its way over to her. On the table by the door, she saw three to go cups with steam still rising from the top.

“Are those for us?” she asked.

Bowie gave a terse nod. “I figured you’d be tagging along.”

“Well, thank you,” Verity said, suddenly feeling a little better. Anyone who went on early morning coffee runs couldn’t be
all
bad. That was a fact.

She went over, picked up a cup and sat down in one of the chairs.

"So, Bowie, you work with Jake at Macmillan Security,” she said, hoping that a little conversation would help break the ice.

“I do,” he said, flatly. “And you're Roman Green's sister.”

Verity froze, the cup halfway to her mouth.

So that's what this was all about. She should have known.

“Bowie.” Jake’s voice practically dripped with warning.

Verity raised her hand to stop him. She didn’t need Jake to take on this battle for her. It was as if something inside her had snapped. She’d been through too much to allow someone to talk to her like that. Especially someone who was supposed to be a
friend
.

She put down her coffee and met Bowie’s gaze without flinching this time.

“I am,” she admitted without a hint of shame. “Tell me, Mr. Tamatoa, do you have any brothers or sisters?"

Bowie narrowed his eyes. “No.”

“An only child. How surprising.” Verity raised her brows in mock amazement. “But it explains your ignorance. You have no idea how lucky you are to only have your own sins and accomplishments to answer for.”

Bowie blinked.

“You’ve got a backbone,” he said.

“Does that annoy you?” she asked.

Bowie shook his head, his expression staying flat. “Surprises me is all.”

Well that made two of them. Cause the truth was it was certainly surprising the hell out of her. She had no idea where this sudden streak of courage was coming from.

“Well, now that we’ve gotten
that
out of the way,” Jake said, walking over to the array of paperwork that Bowie had assembled on the bed, “what do you say we figure out how to bring Silas down?”

“Easier said than done,” Bowie grumbled as he turned away from glaring at Verity long enough to join Jake. “You two have kicked one hell of a hornet’s nest.”

“What have you uncovered?” Jake asked.

“Nothing surprising,” Bowie said. “Mason and Charlie dug up what they could on Silas, but everything just confirmed what you already feared.”

“So, it is heroin?” Jake said, his face falling.

“Looks that way,” Bowie said. “It appears that he has been smuggling the raw materials back into the country through the nearby Air Force base and partnering with the Norteños for processing and distribution. I reached out to a contact in the DEA, and she confirmed that they’ve had their eye on him for a while now.”

Jake let out a long sigh. “But let me guess. They haven’t been able to prove anything.”

“Same old story,” Bowie said. “Silas walks away scot free.”

“But surely not this time,” Verity spoke up. “The people at that farmhouse shot at us. Surely that has to be good enough to get a search warrant.”

Bowie lifted his eyes to meet her gaze, but his hard expression didn’t change.

“Under any other circumstances, I’m sure it would be,” he said. “But in order for us to secure one you’d have to tell that story to the police, and right now, with all the charges you’re facing, I’m doubtful they’ll listen to a word you say.”

“But I have the truth on my side,” she tried. “They’d have to listen to me.”

“No, they wouldn’t,” Jake said with a shake of his head.

“Silas has already won that battle,” Bowie added. “He’s rendered you useless. He’s forced you into hiding. Silenced you. Even if you are caught, he’ll have plenty of time to move his operations before the authorities get around to checking into your story.”

Verity swallowed hard.

Crap. When he put it that way, everything sounded so…futile.

But she refused to give in to such defeatist thoughts.

“Then you could tell them, Jake,” she tried. “You were there. You saw everything. And the FBI isn’t looking for you.”

“Yet,” he said, slowly shaking his head. “If I go in and give a statement, the cops are going to put the pieces together pretty quick. They’ll figure out I was there with you.”

“And they’ll arrest you as an accessory,” she finished for him. “I can’t ask you to get in that kind of trouble for me.”

“I don’t care about that,” Jake said. “But if I go to jail, then I’m not here to protect you, and that’s not an option.”

Verity didn’t miss the twitch in Bowie’s jaw at his friend’s answer.

That was it. There was
definitely
something weird going on between these two—something that had nothing to do with her or her brother. Something that she would have to figure out later.

Right now, she had other—more important—things to deal with.

“There has to be another way,” she said, her voice growing more passionate with every word. “This Silas guy is smuggling art and pushing poison.”

“And your brother is helping him do it,” Bowie said, piercing her with a sharp look.

“And I’m here trying to stop him,” she countered.

“Is that what you’re doing?” Bowie taunted. “Because as far as I can tell all you’ve done is make things more complicated.”

Verity felt the hair on the back of her neck bristle. That was it. She was sick of being pushed.

“Seriously?” she said, shooting up from her seat. “I’ve been shot at. My career is in tatters. I’m wanted by the FBI. And
you’re
the one throwing a tantrum because there’s a chance you’ll have to work through the weekend?”

Bowie’s lips tightened into a hard line. He squared his shoulders, pulling himself up to his full, impressive height. He didn’t look any kind of happy to be talked to like that.

On any other day, Verity would have crapped her pants at the sight. But today was not shaping up to be just another day.

Verity narrowed her eyes, waiting for Bowie to hurl his next insult, but Jake stepped in between them before Bowie could open his mouth.

“Stop,” Jake said. His voice was ice cold. His hands were curled into fists at his side. “Stop, or I promise you that things are about to get a hell of a lot more complicated.”

Bowie’s stare slid from her to Jake. Verity held her breath as the two men glowered at each other. Jake might have been a couple of inches shorter than Bowie, but he didn’t seem at all intimidated by the man’s size. Maybe if Verity was as good with her fists as Jake was she wouldn’t be either.

Bowie didn’t seem to want to test his friend. After a long moment, he backed down, continuing like nothing had happened.

“We don’t need to throw in the towel just yet,” Bowie said. “I’ve spoken to my DEA contact, and she says she’s willing to go to a judge if I can get her evidence that hasn’t been sullied by a fugitive.”

Verity rolled her eyes at
sullied
, but in the interest of getting out of Bowie’s room, she kept her mouth shut.

“And how do you plan on getting that?” she asked.

“By going out to Silas’ compound and getting it for her myself.”

Verity shook her head. “You can’t go out there by yourself.”

“And why not?” Bowie asked, narrowing his eyes.

“Because it’s too dangerous,” she answered. “We nearly got killed just driving by the place. You go out there alone, and they’ll kill you for sure.”

The guy might be a jerk but that didn’t mean that Verity wanted to see him turned into a block of Swiss cheese.

“Bowie won’t be going alone,” Jake said. “I’ll back him up.”

Verity felt the blood drain from her face.

“Why you?” she asked. “Why not this DEA friend of his?”

“Because we can’t directly involve her yet,” Bowie said. “She’s a fed, and if she finds out your exact location, she’s obligated to share that information with the FBI. Like I said, it’s complicated.”

“It’s okay, Verity,” Jake said, stepping around the bed toward her.

“Like hell it is,” she said, wrapping her arms around him the moment he got close enough. “They tried to kill you yesterday.”

Jake held her tight against his chest.

“But today is different,” he said. “Now I know the lay of the land. I know what we’re walking into. We’re not going out there to engage, just to do some reconnaissance. No one is going to get hurt. No one will even know that we were there.”

She turned her head up to look him in the eye. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because this is what I do,” he answered. “Trust me, Verity. I’ll come back. I promise.”

He tilted his head down and pressed his lips to her forehead.

It was a sweet moment. And one that was utterly destroyed a moment later, when Bowie cleared his throat.

“If we’re going to do this, we need to leave now,” he said.

“Bowie’s right.” Jake lifted his head. “Come on, Verity. I need to get my gear from the room. I’ll walk you back there.”

She didn’t want to, but Verity let her arms slide away from around his middle. She took a step back.

“You go ahead,” she said. “I still have a couple of questions about this DEA case. I’ll catch up in a second.”

Jake arched a brow. “Maybe it would be better if I stayed until you were done.”

Verity opened her mouth, ready to tell him everything was fine, but Bowie got there before she could.

“Don’t worry, Jake,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt your girlfriend.”

Jake slid his gaze between them for a second before heading for the door.

“Who said I was worried about
her
?” he asked as he disappeared outside.

Bowie crossed his arms in front of his chest the moment the door clicked shut, his massive arm muscles flexing and straining the integrity of his shirt. There was no doubt that the man could rip her in half if he wanted to, but Verity didn't flinch, and not just because she believed Bowie was good to his word and wasn’t going to hurt her.

But because she was done with being scared. It hadn’t served her in the past, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to do her any favors now.

“Well?” Bowie prompted when she didn’t start talking right away. “You had questions?”

Verity pulled her shoulders back as she met his hard gaze. “The truth is I was hoping we could take a second to try to clear the air between us.”

“I don’t see what good that would do,” he said. “I’m here to do a job, not throw a tea party.”