Page 52 of Embedded
“Just follow my lead.” I didn’t wait for her to answer and steered her in their direction.
“Ms. Winter.” Grim Gates stood and loomed over her as he buttoned his suit jacket. I knew that jacket probably cost more than our chopper. “Nice to meet you again. I’m glad it’s in a much calmer setting.” His eyes seemed to glow under the lights.
“Mr. Gates, I hardly recognized you without blood dripping from your hands,” she replied smoothly, and I squeezed her shoulder as a warning to be nice.
“Job hazard.” He grinned.
I moved on. “Nicole, this is?—”
“No introductions needed.” She sat in the chair I pulled out for her. “Trigger, it’s been a while.” I glanced at Trigger; he never mentioned they’d met.
“It has.” His voice carried its usual rasp. He tilted his head and cracked his neck as he studied her. “Nice to see you made it over the border alive.”
“Only time will tell.” She gave a wry smile then looked around while I tried to process the fact that she knew the two of them as well as she seemed to.
I cleared my throat. “I wasn’t aware you knew each other.”
“Job hazard.” She shrugged a shoulder. “So, gentlemen,” she jumped back in, “where’s the third horseman?” Fuck, she had balls sometimes.
“Mr. Capri isn’t on this particular trip,” Grim seemed amused rather than annoyed, “though I will send him your regards.”
“Oh, yes, please do.” I really couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or serious but either way, she was impressing the hell out of me.
“All right,” I knew we didn’t have much time, “so, I’m going to jump right into this. Nicole, Grim and Trigger have offered their help on this mission.” She physically flinched. “We’re all in this for the same reason, Nicole,” I explained as her face paled. “Grim will be visiting Bruno the same day you arrive. He’ll get what you need past security and hand them off to you to plant later. If you have any problem, your code word is to ask him about his wife.” I expected pushback, but instead, she looked at Grim and nodded.
“Understood.” She raised a hand. “As long as it’s us three and not the other.”
Trigger’s jaw ticked. “You have a problem with Elio Capri?”
“No,” she shook her head, “but I do with that FBI agent Colin who tried to take Chase from me. I don’t know who sent him, but I sure as hell wasn’t giving a child to that slimy?—”
“Paul?” Trigger interrupted her and looked at me straight on.
I closed my eyes and steadied myself. “Chili mentioned something about them being intercepted on their way back to us, but we got interrupted, and I told him to take it to Frank. Clearly not a good choice.” I sucked in my cheeks. “If I’d known Colin would get involved, I’d have said something.”
“Okay, so,” Nicole looked around, “who is this guy? And who sent him to take Chase from me?”
I hesitated to reply. I’d always felt there was something off with Agent Colin, but I could never pinpoint it. He had helped us out more than once, but I didn’t like that he always made it a point to mention how he liked people owing him favors. Trigger saved me answering as he turned to Grim.
“Maybe it’s time to make our move.” I saw them exchange a glance. “Nicole, do you remember exactly what Colin said to you?”
“I do, and better. I have the entire thing on camera.”
I swung my gaze over to her. “That’s news to me.”
“And all this is news to me.” She waved at us. “I’ll hand it over if you fill me in. I’m getting a major vibe here. Maybe whatever you’ve got going on, I can help with. FBI or not, whoever he is, I want in.”
Trigger eyed me as he rubbed his chin. I knew he was intrigued by Nicole being so gutsy. It made me nervous that she was willing to go down a dangerous path. I glanced over my shoulder at Mike, who shook his head.
“I don’t know what Colin’s up to, but we’ll check it out.” He didn’t look happy.
“We’ll pick this back up later.” I knew things needed to move along. “But no, Nicole, Agent Colin isn’t a part of this.”
“Good,” she shot back.
“Good,” I repeated and turned to Trigger and saw him nod at Mike. I knew they went way back. Then he looked at Nicole. His Mohawk covered part of his eye as he sucked back on a joint, and it went through my head that in a room like this, rules didn’t apply. “Trigger will be in town with the rest of his biker club. They’ll be trying to locate someone. He’ll have one of his men stay down the hill from Bruno’s place. There’s a guest room that looks over the church?—”
She cleared her throat. “I know it.”
