“Wild Riders?”
He cocked his head to the side and cast her a half smile that she’d always found boyish and charming. It reminded her of the old Mac, the one who could make her toes curl. “That’s the name of the organization. We’re into cars and bikes. We all ride together.”
“So you’re all bikers?”
“Yeah. Grange made sure to choose guys who were familiar with bikes and cars and comfortable riding them.”
“And stealing them?”
Mac let out a laugh. “Yeah, you could say that we all had that kind of history in our backgrounds.”
“So do you all ride bikes? Certain kinds? Harleys, crotch rockets or what?”
“One bike is pretty much the same as another, Lily. We can ride anything. But mostly we’re all Harley riders. Each guy has his own preference as to the type of Harley he runs with.
And muscle cars, too, just like the ones I used to work on when we first met.”
“The other guys ride bikes and drive fast cars too?”
“Yeah. We’re all around the same age.”
“Are you all from Dallas?”
He shook his head. “No. Wild Riders headquarters is in Dallas. Convenient for me since that’s where I grew up, but the other guys are from all over.”
“So you live at this headquarters?”
“A few of the guys hang out there a lot because they don’t have a permanent place and travel a lot. Some have apartments in another city. Grange and I do live at Wild Riders headquarters, though. Easy for me to stay there instead of paying rent at another place. We all meet there when we have an assignment or when Grange wants to run through some kind of operation, like tech stuff or to work on the bikes or cars.”
“All the bikes and cars are stored there?”
“The ones we use for ops, yeah.”
“I see. I guess you have a lot to tell me, don’t you?”
“About Wild Riders?”
She shook her head. “No, about how you became one.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
Mac’s eyes lit up as he told the story of his transformation. She felt the pride emanating from him. “You’re an amazing man, Mac.”
He shook his head. “Nah. Grange is the one who did it all. I just went along for the ride. He took a bunch of worthless losers and made us into something.”
She reached for his hand. “You were never worthless or a loser. I never thought so anyway.”
He put his other hand over hers. “Then you’re about the only one who didn’t think it. Most everyone else did.”
“I always believed in you, Mac. I still do. That’s why I’m still here.”
“And waiting for answers on the virus.”
She nodded.
He dragged his hand through his hair. “We were hired to retrieve an artifact from a traveling exhibit, already knowing it contained the vial with the virus inside. The virus was stolen from a government lab—an inside job, it was assumed, though they don’t know who did it. A major f**k up and one that our government, obviously, didn’t want anyone to know about.
Their own operatives have been involved and searching worldwide for it. Word was that it could have been located in multiple places. We had a lead that it was sold to a private party and was making its way across the country. Since they couldn’t bring in the FBI or any government resources without calling attention to what was going on, our job was to search the museum artifact.”
“So you weren’t certain the virus was even inside the artifact?”
“No. It was just one of about a dozen leads. We got lucky.”
“Lucky, huh?”
“Yeah. Of course, getting shot at wasn’t in the plan. We didn’t count on anyone else being there to intercept, but there was always going to be the possibility that someone else would be after the virus, too.”
“Any idea who?”
“No clue. I was supposed to retrieve the artifact, and if the vial was there, run it down here to Tom’s, who would turn it over to his government contact. Which is still the plan.”
The plan she’d almost ruined by running off with the virus. No wonder Mac risked his life coming after her on the bike. “I didn’t know.”
“Of course you didn’t. I should have been honest with you earlier. But we swear an oath, Lily, never to reveal information about the Wild Riders. Anyone who tells an outsider about it is out.”
In other words, Mac’s career was in serious danger because he’d told her. “I understand. And I won’t tell a soul, Mac. You can trust me.”
“I know that, too. And I’m sorry you got caught in the crossfire and in all this. I didn’t intend for this to happen, but when the artifact broke and you saw the virus, I had to make a snap decision. I couldn’t let you go knowing what you did, and I couldn’t tell you the truth. Not then, anyway.”
She nodded. “I understand. So now what?”
“Now we—”
He started to say something, but his cell phone went off and he grabbed it out of his pocket. Lily knew something was wrong right away when Mac frowned.
“What happened?” he asked. “How bad is it?”
Lily froze, knowing whatever was going on wasn’t good.
“Get yourself to a safe place in a hurry. We’re out of here.” He closed the phone and looked at Lily.
“What?” she asked.
“Tom was ambushed on his way back here.”
“Is he all right?”
“He’s been shot.”
“Oh, God.”
“Our cover is blown. Tom’s certain whoever hit him is heading this way. We’ve got to take the virus and get the hell out, now.”
Lily was on her feet and upstairs in a hurry, jamming things in their bags. They were out the door and on the bike in five minutes, roaring through the gates and heading south.
She didn’t even know where they were going, but this time she trusted Mac completely. The important thing was to get the virus away from whoever had shot Tom, whoever was after it.
Mac would keep it, and them, safe.
Chapter Thirteen
They rode hard and for a great distance, zipping through towns so fast Lily’s head began to spin. Mac only stopped long enough for them to gas up the bike, use the bathroom and grab a bite to eat and a drink, then they climbed back on and rode again. He made a quick phone call right after they left Tom’s place when he’d stopped for gas, but other than that he didn’t volunteer where they were going, and she didn’t ask. She figured Mac knew what he was doing, and that was good enough. Besides, he seemed preoccupied—worried, even.
About Tom, no doubt, and she couldn’t blame him. Tom was a really nice guy. Lily was worried about him, too, wondering how badly he was hurt.
Adding to Mac’s burden with a bunch of questions wasn’t going to help, so she stayed silent. When he had something to tell her, he would, but she assumed that wouldn’t be until they made their final stop.
She knew he was taking them someplace he thought was safe. They rode straight through Oklahoma and crossed the state line into Texas. Mac stayed as much as possible on the less traveled roads, even though they’d been followed before.
He said he still didn’t want to take the interstates, that they’d be safer on the back roads.
By the time they hit Dallas, it was nightfall. Lily was sore and exhausted, and utterly shocked to find herself back in the city where she grew up. Would they stop here, or keep going?
She got her answer a short time later. Mac took them to a secluded area where the houses were more spread out. He pulled into a ranch with a wired fence and a gate much like what Tom had. The house was set way back from the property line, but it was well lit and even though it was dark it loomed before them like an imposing mansion.
Damn. Who lived here?
Mac pulled to the gate and waited while the security cameras scanned them. The gate opened slowly and he eased up the asphalt drive toward the house.
It was huge! Who did it belong to—another friend of Mac’s? Another contact, maybe?
Mac wound around behind the house, where there was a long row of garages. One was already open and he pulled the bike inside. Lily climbed off, stunned to find several Harleys parked there, along with quite an awesome display of muscle cars.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Wild Riders’ headquarters.”
“Oh.” Her stomach knotted up in an instant. “What’s your general going to think when he sees me?”
“No clue. We’ll find out in a minute. But don’t worry about it, I’ll explain everything to him.” He unpacked their things and slung the bag over his shoulder, then took her hand, which offered her a great deal of comfort. He led the way out of the garage and toward the back of the house.
Lily’s throat had gone dry, but her palms were wet. She had no idea what to expect, but she figured General Grange Lee was not going to be happy to see her, considering the Wild Riders was supposed to be a secret organization. And just how much of a secret did the government intend to keep this? How much of a liability was she? Was Mac’s job in jeopardy? She hoped not.
The back door was an elevator, actually. Mac pushed a series of buttons on the keypad, and the doors opened. They stepped inside, and Mac entered more codes. The door closed and he pushed a button. Finally, the elevator started moving up.
“Damn. That’s some security.”
“We can’t let just anyone in here.”
“They saw you at the gate. They know you’re coming.”
“Never hurts to take extra precautions.”
Okay, then. Now she was really confused about what she’d find when the doors opened. Some high tech military operation? Guns drawn and pointed at her? She licked her desert-dry lips and prepared for the worst.
The elevator lurched to a stop and the doors drew open.
Hard rock music filled the room. Loud music, blasting throughout the house. And leaning against the wall was a muscle-bound warrior.
Oh, my. Beefcake didn’t even begin to describe him.
Six foot four at least, with sandy brown hair, a T-shirt stretched tight over an impossibly muscled chest that led down to a lean waist, trim h*ps and steely legs encased in camos. He was tan, with surfer boy blue eyes and a full, sensual mouth that seemed incongruous with the rest of his physique.
Lily was mad for Mac, but Jesus, this guy was gorgeous.
“You’re in deep shit, Mac,” the guy said with a smirk, in a voice that melted her panties on the spot. Deep and oh so dark.
“Suck my dick, Spencer.”
Lily’s gaze shot to Mac’s, but he was grinning. When she looked back at Spencer, he was, too. Okay, so that must be hello in guyspeak. Mac stepped off the elevator, still holding onto Lily’s hand.
“This is Lily.”
Spencer raised a brow as he looked her over from head to toe. “Grange know about her?”
Nice to meet you too, Spencer.
“No.”
Spencer let out a hard laugh. “Oh, man, you are in deep shit.”
She felt invisible. And irritated. “I am present, you know.” She stuck out her hand. “Shall we try this again? Hi, Spencer, I’m Lily. Nice to meet you.”
Spencer nodded as he looked from Mac back to Lily, then shook her hand. “Your lady has some balls. I like that.
Nice to meet you too, Lily.”
“Spence is rude, crude and completely without manners. We’ve tried our best to work with him, but he’s hopeless.”
Lily turned at the deep voice beside her. An older man in military uniform held out his hand. “I’m Grange Lee, Lily.
Welcome to Wild Riders.”
She shook his hand, feeling a lot less intimated by General Lee than she had been by Spencer. “Thank you.”
“Spencer, go do something that doesn’t require your presence in this immediate vicinity,” Grange said.
“Yeah, yeah.” Spencer turned and walked away, giving Lily a glimpse of one fine, tight ass. She blinked and turned back to Mac.
“Don’t worry. He’s the worst of the bunch,” Mac said.
“There’s more of them?”
He grinned. “A few.”
“Any word on Tom?” Mac asked.
Grange looked at Lily.
“I already told her everything and she was there when the call came in. You can talk in front of her.”
“That’s not the deal here and you know it.”
Mac shrugged. “It couldn’t be helped.”
“It was my fault, I’m afraid,” Lily said, feeling like she needed to intercede on Mac’s behalf. “I did something really stupid and ran off with the virus. The only way Mac could stop me was to tell me everything. God knows he’d done everything he could to keep it from me, but I’m pushy as hell and refused to give up until I knew the truth.”
“It didn’t go down like that at all,” Mac said.
“It most certainly did.” Lily couldn’t believe Mac was going to lie to Grange in order to protect her.
Grange frowned and crossed his arms. “Guess we’ll sort this all out later.”
“About Tom?” Mac asked.
“Nothing yet. Could be he’s lying low and staying out of cell contact because he’s been compromised.”
“Let’s hope that’s all it is.”
They started walking, and Lily followed them. The floor they were on was laid out like a normal house. Kitchen, living room, though every room was enormous in size. How many people lived in this place? Modern conveniences, big screen television and state of the art stereo system—every gadget known to man in the space age kitchen, too. Lily was in awe. The floors were wood throughout the house. Everything was open and expansive, with a loft and railings overhead leading to a second floor. There was also a second elevator that led upstairs She heard noise and voices up there—and music, but so far she’d only met Spencer.