Copper (RBMC: Tulsa, OK Book 2) Page 4

  Guilt claws at my heart. Erin is still out there because I thought there was more to the big picture. If the bad guys had stuff about the Koynakovs, then maybe they were the heart of the entire operation. As I got involved with the Royal Bastards, I soon realized I’d opened a can of worms, but it strayed from my original investigation. I became so fixated on the Royal Bastards, specifically the Koynakovs, since I was living with them, I lost sight of my goal.

  “I’m not perfect,” I snap, scowling at him. “I think we’ve established that.”

  He studies me for a beat and then sighs. “So back to Collins and Vidal. Why were they looking into us?”

  “I’ve wondered that a lot, but I can’t seem to find an answer.”

  He begins tapping away on the computer. I can’t see, so I stand and round his desk to get closer, abandoning my blanket on the chair. Copper doesn’t seem annoyed at my nosiness and continues to search through the FBI database for information regarding Collins and Vidal.

  “The company name was Watcher’s Group. Check there,” I tell him. “There’s got to be something on Collins in the system.”

  But, after a lengthy search, we come up short.

  “I’ll have Koyn break into Collins’s server if we can locate one to see what we can find out.” He shoots Koyn an email and then leans back to look at me. “We’ll find out what happened to her.”

  For a brief moment, we’re both Feds working on a case. I feel a swell of gratitude for this man. It’s quickly dashed when reality rears its ugly head. He’s just as bad as Vidal and Collins.

  “Anything else you can remember about the file?” Copper asks. “Any emails or letters that stand out?”

  “Nothing of any significance.”

  “Then tell me all the insignificant things instead.”

  I place my hands on my hips and shrug. “I saw notes like ‘follow the money’ and ‘he’s in hiding’ and ‘no emails or text correspondence because Koynakov is a tech genius.’”

  Copper frowns. “Who’s in hiding?”

  “I assumed they meant Koyn.”

  “Koyn’s not in hiding. Everyone knows he’s a Royal Bastard and that his brother is a Fed. His property is under his legal name. My brother doesn’t fucking hide.”

  “You then? A dirty rat?”

  His jaw clenches at my dig. “I’m not hiding either.”

  “I was the only female until Hadley came along,” I grumble. “How the hell am I supposed to know who ‘he’ is?”

  “We need to find out who they were truly after. They clearly stumbled upon us looking for someone else.” He cocks his head to the side, his brows furled in confusion. “Who could they possibly be looking for? Why? Who would be hiding from these motherfuckers and keep that from us?”

  His nostrils flare as he slams his fist down hard on the desk. He seems more pissed about this betrayal among one of his brothers than what I’ve done to them.

  “I don’t know, but you’re going to find out, Copper.”

  “Damn straight I am.” He stands up, sending his chair hurtling backward. “Let’s get you settled in your new accommodations.”

  I crane my neck so I can look up at him. “You make it sound like I’m at the Ritz Carlton.”

  “Stop sassing,” he growls. His hand grips my jaw as he angles my head back even further. He leans in and I’m forced to grip onto his T-shirt, ready to knee him in the balls if he tries to hurt me. “Let’s go.”

  He releases my jaw to grip my bicep. His touch isn’t rough, but he’s not exactly sweet either. More like efficient in the way he drags me out of his office and into the hallway. I’m all poised and ready for a fight until I see one of the dogs. I squeal and damn near climb him like a tree.

  “Such a pussy,” he complains, but I hear the smile in his voice as he grabs my ass.

  Unashamed of my actions, I spread my legs, hooking them behind him as I hold on to his neck. It’s intimate for him to hold me this way. I try not to focus on the way my skin heats and my heart stammers. I certainly don’t allow myself to think about what sex with a man like Copper would be like.

  He walks us into a guest room with a woodsy theme. I’ve noticed his rustic décor travels throughout the rooms of the house I’ve been in. I don’t tell him I like it because who admits to enjoying their prison cell?

  “You have a bathroom and cable. I’ll bring you a snack before bed.” He grips my hips, sending a shock of a thrill shooting through me. “Let go.”

  I huff but release him. He tosses me onto the bed. My tiny shorts and cami leave me underdressed and exposed. Because he’s a man and I have a body most men can appreciate, he drags his heated stare over every inch of me, settling on my tits.

  “Be good,” he says as he leaves. “If you try to escape, you’ll pay for it, Stormy. Don’t make me regret bringing you here when it’d be easier to toss you into the fire at the slaughterhouse.”

  “Never,” I lie.

  Our eyes meet and I don’t hide the fact that one day I will leave this place.

  “Always lying to further your agenda,” Copper states, penetrating me with a hard stare. “One day soon, you’re going to learn how much I don’t like liars.”

  It’s on the tip of my tongue to taunt him like old times. This isn’t like before, though. I’m not a guest. I’m a captive. Because I’m a Fed, I know I can escape. I’ve been trained for situations like this. I’ll run at my first opportunity.

  Unlucky for me, he’s a Fed too.

  I’ll have to run fast and hide well because he’s been trained to find people.

  I know for a fact the next time he catches me, he won’t be as nice. I have one shot and I can’t fuck it up.

  Copper

  I file out of the briefing room at headquarters, my mind still on the fact I have a captive in my house. But, unlike most captives, mine is bitchy and unappreciative over the fact I don’t have her chained to a bed. There was a calculating glint in her eyes this morning, but with the shock collar and cameras on my house, I’m not too worried. Plus, she’s scared to fuck over my dogs. I think she’ll barely venture out of her room, much less try to escape.

  “Koynakov. A word.”

  My superior and good friend, Dan Greene, motions for me to follow him into his office. As I get older, I’ve taken less leading roles on investigations, hoping to move toward retirement sooner than later. Today, I could barely focus on Dan’s words as he gave intel on a cell of drug traffickers all the way up from Mexico who’d moved into the Tulsa area. I’m sure he’s going to chew me out.

  I follow him into his office and shut the door behind me. Dan is a few years younger than me, but he’s already a grandpa. I’d kill Blake if he made me a grandpa before I turned fifty.

  “What’s up?” I ask, settling into my seat across from him.

  He fusses with the knot on his tie before letting out a heavy sigh. “What’s going on with you, man? Your mind is elsewhere all the damn time. You’re my best man and I can’t even rely on you anymore.”

  Ouch.

  “My brother,” I say, because it’s not a total lie. “He’s been having family problems. I’ve been doing what I can to help. I’ll get to work on this drug case and give it my focus.”

  Dan visibly relaxes. “You’re close to your brother. I get it.” He sighs and scrubs his palm over his face. “I actually need your focus elsewhere, though.”

  I cross my arms over my chest. “You didn’t mention any other cases in the briefing room.”

  “That’s because it’s unofficial.” He leans forward like he’s afraid of being overheard. “I got a call last night from an untraceable number. The voice was muffled on purpose, but they told me I needed to look into the Royal Bastards MC here in Tulsa.”

  My thoughts immediately go to Stormy. Did she somehow get a call in before she tried to play hero at the slaughterhouse?

  “Male or female?”

  “Most definitely male,” he says, making me relax a bit knowing she didn�
�t also betray us this way.

  “The Royal Bastards are just a biker gang who like to work on Harleys and drink beer,” I say slowly, watching his eyes for any tells that he knows I’m connected with said gang. “Hardly feels worth our time.”

  “But it is,” Dan argues. “When I search it in our database, it comes up empty in Tulsa. Nothing. No record of them existing. There are chapters all over and all kinds of shit on them, but nothing in the Tulsa chapter.”

  “You want me to dig in and learn more about them?”

  He nods. “I know calls like this are often bogus and a distraction, but I wouldn’t feel right about ignoring it. But, since it was just the call and no other information to go off of, I can’t exactly open up an active investigation.”

  “If you get me the number, I’ll do what I can to figure out what’s going on.” I go to stand, but he stops me, pointing to his computer.

  “Keep this between us,” he says in a near whisper. “I think we might have been hacked.”

  The hairs on my arms stand on end. “The FBI has a whole department to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  “I know,” he grinds out. “Makes me sound like a conspiracy theorist. But watch this.”

  He logs into the program and opens a new investigation with Royal Bastards MC Tulsa chapter as the title. After typing in some random information, he saves it. Then, when he goes to look for it, it’s gone.

  Because Koyn designed it that way.

  Fuck.

  “Sounds like a computer glitch. It’s worth looking into, though. I’ll see what I can come up with.”

  Dan’s features relax. “Thanks, Jeremy.” He smiles at me, no longer stressed from before. “Come out and visit Miranda and the girls. Valerie and her boyfriend have been staying with us, so we’re getting our fill of the new baby.”

  I like Dan, but I have too much shit on my plate to come play with his grandbaby.

  “I’d like that,” I lie. “Maybe we can go downtown for dinner or something one weekend. I’ll let you know.”

  As soon as I leave his office, I’m on the phone to Koyn. He doesn’t pick up, so I leave the office and head out to his compound. I drive along the long dirt road toward Koyn’s and notice Katana sitting up in a deer stand, a rifle pointed right at me. I give him a slight wave and he nods. After Genworth and Putnam last night shooting out half the windows at Koyn’s as we lured them in, everyone seems to be on high alert. I notice Payne in the woods near the house, a rifle in his hands too.

  All the windows have been boarded up. Bermuda is outside talking to a couple of guys who are standing near a truck with the logo Robertson Glass Company emblazoned on the side. If I had more time, I’d listen in on whatever story Bermuda is spinning for these guys. Most times, money is enough. When Bermuda hands them a wad of cash, I can tell they’ll do their jobs of replacing the windows without argument.

  Inside, Bizzy and Gibson are sweeping up glass. In the conference room where they have Church, Blake is inspecting a hole in the flat screen made by a bullet.

  “Nees,” I greet. “How you doing, Son?”

  “Copper.” He gives me a stupid little chin lift that used to piss me off when he lived under my roof because it felt disrespectful.

  “Where’s Koyn?”

  “Office.”

  It was hard making the change to call Blake by his road name Koyn gave him. It was even harder every time he’d call me by mine rather than Dad. But, it was either let him join up with the Royal Bastards or watch him ruin his fucking life. My son is a mouthy sonofabitch who typically bucks at authority. I blame Krista for that one. The Royal Bastards allows him to run his fucking mouth, but also learn a little respect. Koyn doesn’t cut him any slack either, even if he is his nephew.

  I find my brother in his office chair, pounding away on his keyboard like it personally wronged him. Filter sits across him in a chair and Dragon is leaned up against the wall, hiding in the shadows of the office where the light fixture was damaged and the window is boarded up.

  “We have a problem,” I bark out as I enter the room and close the door behind me.

  Filter’s glare is murderous as he sweeps it over me. I can see the questions dancing in his stare, clearly wondering how I’ve made Stormy pay, but I ignore them for now. Koyn turns his dark, serious eyes my way, mild annoyance flitting in them.

  They’re all pissy over Stormy. I get it. I’m fucking pissy too. But that bullshit has to be shelved for a later date. We have bigger fish to fry.

  “Koyn, we need to find out who called from this number. Any and all calls going to my superior or anyone at the FBI for that matter from this phone number need to be rerouted or blocked.” I slap a sticky note down on his desk. “They called and told Dan he should be looking into the Royal Bastards MC Tulsa chapter. Imagine his surprise when he can’t even search or save the name.”

  “Fuck,” Filter growls. “Stormy?”

  “A man,” I grind out. “If I had to guess, it’s Vidal and Collins.”

  Koyn scowls at me. “I suggest you start talking fast, big brother, because I don’t know what the hell you’re going on about.”

  I pace the room, running my fingers through my hair that’s far too overgrown these days. I need Krista to cut it, but she usually comes over to do that. There’s no way in hell I’ll ever be able to explain Stormy at my house wearing a fucking shock collar.

  “I got some information out of Stormy last night and—”

  “How?” Dragon asks, emerging from the shadows like the goddamn Boogieman. “Are you punishing her? You should be. She deserves it. Hell, I can do it if you’re not up for the task.”

  Fucking sadistic freak.

  “I was persuasive,” I spit out. “I can handle my own shit. Now let me get this out.”

  Koyn nods at me to continue.

  “She said she wound up in Tulsa looking into some guys for a friend of hers. When she went to see them, there was a file on the desk with our names on it plus the Royal Bastards,” I say to my brother. “She got sidetracked and went on a wild goose chase looking into us. Her superior ignored her requests to investigate, fucked her because he could, and then put her on administrative leave.”

  Filter mutters out something hateful about Stormy, but I ignore it for now.

  “She wouldn’t let it rest, because, well, it’s fucking Stormy we’re talking about here,” I mutter. “She came back, weaseled her way in, and has been gathering intel ever since.”

  Koyn nods at my words. “Which lines up to what you said last night. She was here and no one really knew about her agenda. What about the two cops you killed?”

  “Dirty. Using her as much as she used them.” I shrug as I glance over at Filter, who is boring his stare into me. “The cops won’t be a problem. But Collins and Vidal might be. If they were looking into us, there might be a reason. With the anonymous call to Dan, who knows what the fuck they’re up to now.” I point at the number on the sticky note. “We need to find everything we can on Collins and Vidal. Have Bermuda pull up any financials if there are any on them to follow the money. From what Stormy says, she thinks they’re trafficking women because her friend ended up going missing after coming in contact with these guys.”

  “We’ll find them,” Koyn growls, “but I want to know why in the fuck they want us? Do you think they were involved somehow with Genworth or Putnam?”

  “I don’t think so,” I mumble, my eyes darting between Filter and Dragon. “There’s more.” My eyes land on Koyn’s. He reads me like he’s done since we were kids.

  “You can say what you need to say in front of them. They know what we say in here stays between the four of us,” Koyn assures me. “Spit it the fuck out.”

  “They’re looking for someone,” I rush out. “Someone in this house.”

  Koyn’s jaw clenches. “If they try to take Hadley—”

  “Him,” I bark out. “They’re looking for a man, not a woman.”

  The room goes deathly q
uiet.

  “A fucking rat inside my house?” Koyn asks in a low, menacing growl. “Again?”

  “Maybe not a rat. Just someone they want.” I bounce my gaze between Dragon and Filter, who wear matching pissy frowns, but neither is giving off a guilty vibe. “If it were me, I’d drag each man in here and interrogate the fuck out of them.”

  Koyn is quiet for a long moment. “You’re not me. This is my club. I’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  I know he’s more than capable, even if he does things a little differently than I would.

  “I need to get back home. Keep me posted,” I say, starting for the door.

  “You need to get rid of her,” Filter barks out, stopping me in my tracks. “Stormy is relentless. She’ll get under your skin through your dick and that mouth of hers she’s always running. Before you know it, you’ll have given the bitch the keys to your castle. She’s a liar and will do whatever is necessary to further her own agenda.”

  I turn around and pin him with a glare. “I can handle my captive. Why don’t you worry about the intel I’ve given you before it lands every one of our asses in prison?”

  A vein in Filter’s forehead pops with homicidal rage.

  Koyn slaps his hand down on the desk. “Enough. Both of you.” To Filter, he says, “Get over your shit. She betrayed us. Boo fucking hoo. We have bigger shit to stress about. Copper can handle her skinny ass.”

  Filter deflates, giving his prez a sharp nod. “The bitch is his problem now.”

  A problem I’m eager to get back home and deal with.

  “And you better make her sing like a fucking canary with any other information that can help us,” my brother growls. “Don’t make me send Dragon to do the job for you.”

  Dragon grins like the Cheshire cat.

  His dick is probably hard as fuck imagining how he’ll cut out all her organs one by one. Fuck that. She knows what a psychopath Dragon is, which means she’ll give me whatever I want and I won’t have to touch a hair on her pretty head.