BILLIONAIRE BIKERS: 3 MC Romance Books (65 page)

“I have my ways. I knew where to look for you, didn’t I?”

“Michaelson told you where I am.”

“Michaelson only said you were in Mexicali.”

Fetsko realized that might have been the wrong thing to say if Blanco took the time to put two and two together between him and Marlena. But, he hoped, to Blanco’s mind, she wouldn’t have necessarily been giving away sensitive information.

“
Así,
what will you charge me to kill Marshal Roberts and the girl, and how long will it take you?”

Fetsko reached into his pocket again and pushed the alert button, indicating to the waiting reinforcements that he had his evidence and was ready to proceed. He withdrew the third cigar, and Blanco continued.

“I don’t know why I should be willing to trust Michaelson again. The first man failed.”

Fetsko proceeded to roll the cigar between his fingers, turn it end to end, and to taste the end of it. It soothed his nerves and gave him time to think.

“Brighton was stupid,” Fetsko said. “I’m not. Brighton exhausted himself walking all the way into the camp. By the time he encountered Roberts, he was half frozen and deranged. He got the drop on Roberts, but Roberts quickly outsmarted him.”

Blanco nodded.

Suddenly, there was a sharp knock at the door. A small man in a waiter’s uniform who Fetsko had not seen before opened it without waiting for clearance. The henchmen in the room immediately alerted.

“¡General Blanco! Hay soldados en la puerta. Se buscan Señor Fetsko.”

He wasn’t kidding when he said “at the door” Fetsko realized. Before anyone in the room could move, the doors were thrown open and four U.S. Marshals entered with plenty of firepower.

Blanco jumped up, pushing Marlena to the floor. “Not soldiers!” he shouted. “
¡Federales Americanos!
”

Fetsko would later think how ironic it was that Blanco felt it necessary to correct the little man, as if his own henchman wouldn’t realize the peril.

The adjutant lurched across the floor, grabbing the messenger by the lapels. The marshals cocked their rifles. “
¡Bozo! ¡Payaso!”
the adjutant shouted at the man. “You brought federal marshals to our door!”

The doors swung aside, and everyone looking could see the room was empty. The guests were gone, and the guards lay sprawled on the floor.

Blanco’s henchmen reached for their weapons, but the marshals spread out, pointing their weapons at each one. One of the details nodded at Fetsko and tossed him a pair of handcuffs.

Fetsko helped Marlena up from the floor and pushed her back against the wall. Blanco opened a desk drawer, but one of the marshals quickly got the drop on him. One of Blanco’s men used the momentary distraction to grab his weapon and shoot the marshal who was covering Blanco. In turn, one of the marshals shot the shooter.

Fetsko grabbed the marshals gun as he went down. A second marshal came to Fetsko’s aid, and together, they yanked Blanco’s arms behind him, and Fetsko handcuffed him. Fetsko really wished that enough fire had erupted that Blanco himself would have been killed, but he realized that would have resulted in several fatalities.

“Ernesto Blanco,” Fetsko began, “you’re under arrest for solicitation to commit the murders of Lucas Roberts and Audra Donahue, solicitation and conspiracy to murder Ethan Roberts, and you are under arrest for the murder of Jaime Garcia.”

Now that his heart had begun to slow from the adrenaline rush, Fetsko looked around for Marlena and found her laying beneath the henchman who had shot the marshal. He started to go to her, but the detail chief, waved them out of the room with his rifle.

Without a word, Fetsko and another marshal walked Blanco out of his villa and to the waiting vehicle of the Mexican Federales. Fetsko put Blanco into the car and secured him. He conferred with the driver, who then drove off with Blanco who would sit in jail in Mexicali until he was arraigned.

Sirens shrilled as ambulances arrived on the scene. Fetsko started back toward the house, but his knees buckled as the tension went out of his body. An EMT came to help him up and steady him, moving him back toward an ambulance. Fetsko looked up to see the remaining henchman being brought out in handcuffs, followed by the downed shooter, the downed marshal, and Marlena all on gurneys.

He wanted to go to her, but the EMT wouldn’t allow him off of the tailgate of the ambulance as he took his vitals. He stood as he saw them bringing her toward him, realizing they were going to load her into the ambulance.

They had a mask on her face, giving her oxygen, but she was still. Very still. He reached for her, but all he caught was the hem of her dress. That was when he saw the blood across the bodice.

The EMTs were working furiously and pushed him out of the way…now that the one EMT had assured himself that Fetsko was okay. Two jumped in back with her. He wanted to go with her, but realized he needed to focus on the scene. One slammed the door closed and got in with the driver, and they sped away, lights and siren.

Back in Calexico, Fetsko’s cell phone rang. He answered it, and Lucas saw his jaw clench. “Okay,” Fetsko said. “Okay. Thanks very much. I appreciate it.” He disconnected the call and gave Lucas a look of semi-relief.

“She’s out of surgery. It’ll be touch and go for a while, but they think she’s going to make it.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’ll just have to keep in touch with the hospital. I don’t think it would be wise for me to go back into Mexicali for a while. The hospital is the one place they would expect me to be.”

Lucas nodded. “It will be at least another 72 hours before we can extradite, and possibly longer.”

“Why longer?”

“The court has to solidify their case against him.”

“You sent them the recording? Doesn’t that let Audra off the hook?”

“Believe it or not, solicitation and conspiracy can be bartered down to 5 years. Even if it’s five years each, that’s only 15 years. They still need her eye witness account for the Garcia murder to put him away for life. They’re hoping to find evidence of more as well, so they can seek the death penalty.”

Fetsko sighed. “So then what’s the next move?”

“I need to get Audra before the Grand Jury. That will give us enough to extradite.”

“Isn’t it odd for us to extradite a Mexican national to the U.S.?”

“We have Mexico’s full cooperation. They’re only too glad to get rid of him.”

“Why can’t they handle it?”

“We don’t want to leave it to them. First, Mexico’s sentences aren’t strong enough. If they only get him for the one murder, the max sentence is 20 years. Second, they would just as soon he got the death penalty, too. Arizona is only too happy to oblige.”

“So is there a date yet for the Grand Jury?”

“Nope.”

“Ye gods. So you have to wait for the Grand Jury, and after the Grand Jury, you have to wait till they give you the go ahead for extradition, and
then
it goes to trial? How long after that?”

“Your guess is as good as mine. I’ve seen these things take up to two years.”

“Was it the plan from the beginning to keep the witness with you for that long?”

“I don’t think Michaelson thought it out that far. He thought she’d be dead, so he didn’t really care.”

“So, back to my original question: what are you going to do now?”

“I despise waiting games, but I don’t know what else to do. Once I’m back under the umbrella of Audra’s safe house, nobody can contact me without compromising its position. So, I guess I’ll have to stay here, or somewhere anyway, to wait to hear.”

“Oh, speaking of Michaelson, he’s suspended.”

Lucas looked startled. “I don’t honestly know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.”

“Yeah. Me neither,” said Fetsko.

“Hmm…that helps me make a decision, then. I’m going to pack up, and I’ll set out after dark to find new digs. What about you?”

“I’m going to find a new hotel and use my other ID, but I don’t want to venture too far. Even though I can’t go see her, just being this close makes me feel better.”

Lucas nodded. “I understand.”

They agreed to leave separately as soon as it got dark.

Fetsko left first. Since his government vehicle was still sitting at the Holiday Inn, he decided to just go there until he could make better plans. At least he would be away from the their current hotel. He would call in a favor or two to get a different vehicle. He was still undercover as far as anything official was concerned, and he wanted to leave it that way.

The only agreement Lucas had about anything was to bring Audra before the Grand Jury, which meant getting her to Phoenix. He hadn’t yet figured out the safest way to do that…there was a lot of empty space between the compound and Phoenix. It would be better if he could find a private plane.

He made reservations for Barstow. He wanted to be close when the Grand Jury call came across. Maybe he could even steal away for a few hours to go see her.

He checked the room to ensure he’d left nothing behind, slung his pack over his back, and grabbed his motorcycle helmet. He had waited until nearly 11 to leave, hoping to discourage anyone from thinking he was with Fetsko.

He avoided the elevator, taking the stairs down, and crossing to the side door into the parking garage. He was walking toward the Harley, fastening on his helmet, when a shot rang out, tearing through his shoulder and knocking him down. He heard two more shots fired, then, oblivion.

# # #

Audra awoke suddenly, her heart beating quickly, and wondered what had awakened her. She looked around the room but saw nothing. She held her breath for a few seconds, but heard nothing.

She decided it must have been something in her dream that had awakened her. She was almost fully awake now and got up to go to the bathroom. She turned the fireplace on and turned the heat timer to thirty minutes.

She crawled back into bed and lay there. Something in her mind felt amiss, but she couldn’t say what. She hoped Lucas was okay.

As she lay there, she felt around her breasts and nipples. They were tender. It started the morning after Lucas left, and she just thought it was because they had been so active those couple of days. But it hadn’t gone away. If anything, they were even tenderer now. She wondered what that was about, as she turned on her side and slipped back to sleep.

Lucas awoke in excruciating pain. He was on a mattress on the floor in a dimly lit room in what appeared to be a slump block or adobe house. He tried to sit up, but the pain knocked him back onto the bed. That’s when he remembered the shooting in the parking lot, and the bullet tearing through his shoulder.

“Fetsko’s dead,” came a voice from across the room.

Lucas turned his head in the direction of the voice but couldn’t see anyone.

“You know, you’re hurting my pocketbook. I can’t even make my rent payment this month thanks to you.”

“Michaelson?” Lucas guessed.

“Bingo,” he said.

Lucas turned back to look straight up at the ceiling, taking the pressure off of his tendon.

“You boys have made big trouble for me. Lucky for you, Blanco’s in custody. But now you have to deal with me.”

Lucas moved his shoulder. He wasn’t sure how, but the bleeding seemed to be stopped. He took stock of the rest of his body and perceived that the rest of him was intact, and that, other than the immense pain, he was probably okay. He was pretty sure the bullet had gone straight through, so at least he wasn’t going to die from lead poisoning.

Michaelson spoke again, startling Lucas out of his inventory. He realized then that the pain was doing a number on his consciousness because he had temporarily forgotten that Michaelson was there.

“Where’s the girl?”

Lucas spoke slowly. “You honestly think I’m going to tell you that when I haven’t told anyone else, not even my partner?”

“You should have told your partner. When I realized he wasn’t any good to me, I shot him.”

Lucas closed his eyes. He realized that if he let Michaelson got it out of him, that he, too, would no longer be useful and might meet the same fate. He had to find some bargaining power quickly before Michaelson decided to torture him.

But his plan was preempted. Michaelson pulled up his chair alongside the bed, out of Lucas’s reach. “You notice I didn’t kill you,” Michaelson said.

“Because I’m the only one who knows where the girl is.”

“Mm-hmm. You’re doing a pretty good job of keeping yourself alive that way. Good strategy. However,” he said, “I think I have something that will change your mind. Something far more effective than torture. I have something you want.”

“Something
I
want?” Lucas couldn’t imagine what Michaelson thought he could persuade him with.

“Yes. Something even dearer to you than Audra.”

How did Michaelson know anything about my relationship with Audra? Oh, right. Brighton must have been reporting back whatever he surmised. God damn.

Lucas said nothing.

“Don’t you want to know what it is? Aren’t you even curious?”

Lucas was losing track of what they were even talking about.
Curious about what?

Michaelson walked over to the window and bounced the shade up, allowing sunlight to flood the room, right across Lucas’s face. He came back and bent over Lucas, smacking him on both cheeks.

“Wake up, Roberts. Pay attention. Don’t you want to know what I have that could interest you more than Audra?”

Lucas still said nothing, but he held Michaelson’s gaze.

“Ethan’s not dead.”

What?
Lucas’s mind wouldn’t even process that.

“What do you mean Ethan’s not dead?”

“I mean he’s not dead. We’ve been keeping him under lock and key in Mexicali.”

Lucas’s mind was spinning.

“But the body?”

“Yes. What about the body? Drowned. In the water too long to be recognizable. The body was the right age and size. All we did was put Ethan’s clothes on him. Too bad these half-white kids all look alike. No distinguishing marks at all, other than his face. And you guys didn’t even think to have his dental records checked.”

Lucas tried to focus on that, to think back to what happened in the days following the discovery of the body, but he couldn’t.

“You can have Ethan back…in exchange for Audra.”

Lucas felt his heart rate increasing, his head throbbing, and then nothing. He had fainted.