Page 9 of Raider Unleashed

Piper knew this was it. If she didn’t convince Denlo, she was a dead woman. She took a step closer to him and yelled, “It’s not fucking convenient,” she said through clenched teeth. “Not at all. Motherfucker dumped me for some other bitch. I want to cut his heart out with a fucking spoon but we don’t got a choice. I didn’t fly over here for the fucking good of my health. I wanna get paid. And Slick sent me so you fucking well know I’m not a fucking cop.”

Denlo stared at her, keeping the gun leveled at her chest. She refused to look scared or back down. Finally, he lowered the gun. “You trust him?”

“Hell no! But he won’t screw up a job.” She shrugged. “Up to you but if we can’t do the job without an explosives guy then we should give him a call.”

Denlo narrowed his eyes at her. “What’s his name?”

Piper’s mouth was dry as the Sahara and all she wanted to do was guzzle water. Instead, she said, “Rick Sinclair.” It had been a cover name that he’d used on some kind of assignment in the past. She had no idea if it would pass any kind of deep dive, but she was guessing Denlo and the Snake didn’t have time for a deep dive, so it would probably do. “People call him Raider.”

Denlo stared hard at her for a long minute and then he turned and went back to the corner to make a call. He was back in a flash and said, “Make the call,” as he handed her the phone. He must have gotten the all-clear from the Snake.

She took the phone. There was no help for it but to dial Raider’s cell. If they ran the number they’d discover Sinclair was a false name. Not much she could do about it now. She punched in the digits she’d tried to forget over the last five years.

“Yeah,” a familiar voice said over the phone line.

Denlo grabbed her wrist and pulled her arm down, then put the call on speakerphone. Then he gestured toward Piper.

“Hey, Raider, it’s Piper.” She tried to keep her voice cool but she also needed to warn him not to say anything. “I know it’s been a while. Not since that job we pulled up in Silicon Valley. Other than the store yesterday, I mean.” She prayed that he would play along.

“Piper,” he drawled, “how ya been? I thought that was you. Been a long while.” His words were right, but she could hear the slight tension in his voice.

“Not bad, baby. You know how it goes. You?”

“All good, here.”

“How are you on the Big Island?” she asked. “The volcano shit is wild.”

“Yeah. Crazy. I’m here hanging with friends. Just taking a break.”

Denlo glared at her and made a motion with his hand telling her to speed it up.

“Listen, if you’re interested, I got a job for you.” She did her best to keep her voice level but it was damn hard. Bringing Raider into this mess was a nightmare. They may not be together but she didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. Ever.

“What kind of job?” he asked sounding suspicious which is how he should sound if he really were an explosives expert that did illegal shit and a guy who dumped her.

“It’s a?—”

Denlo ripped the phone out of her hand and turned off the speaker. He put it to his ear. “It’s a fucking job that needs a guy that’s good with explosives. You in or out?”

Raider must have said something about needing more details because Denlo snarled. “Meet me at the pharmacy.” And he gave the address. “Twenty minutes.” Then he hung up and gestured to Piper. “You get in the van.” He looked at Wells and Baker. “You two stay here in your room. If I find out you went out or you fucked around in anyway, I’ll kill both of you. Understand?”

Both men nodded and stood. They all left the room together with Wells and Baker going two doors over and disappearing inside. Piper climbed into the driver’s seat of the van and turned it over. Denlo sat in the passenger seat with the gun in his lap. “If this turns to shit, you’re the first one to die. I can find any idiot to drive. You get it?”

She bit her lip and nodded. She got it and it scared the hell out of her.

It took her a little more than twenty minutes to get through the traffic to the pharmacy. She pulled into the parking lot and looked for a parking spot. The place was jammed. She found a spot in the far corner and backed in. They sat and waited. She didn’t see Raider anywhere but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. He was a SEAL, after all.

He used to make a game of sneaking up on her. No matter how she tried to be prepared, he still managed to get her. It was frustrating as hell but also endearing and it was one of the things she missed most about him. She missed a lot of things about him. Almost everything, as a matter of fact. She swallowed hard. Now wasn’t the time to think about all that ancient history. She cleared her throat and looked around the parking lot.

“Your friend is late. He doesn’t show in the next five minutes and we’re out of here.” Denlo jostled the gun in his lap.

Piper glanced around the parking lot once more. “There,” she said breathing a sigh of relief. Raider was making his way across the parking lot towards them. Denlo got out of the van and Piper followed suit. They met in the front.

“Piper,” Raider said as he leaned down and gave her a big hug. “Good to see ya, girl.”

Piper wanted to respond but suddenly her throat closed over with tears and she couldn’t get any words out. The hug was brief but damn if it didn’t feel good. Really good.

“She says you’re good with explosives,” Denlo growled.

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