Wild Ways by Tina Wainscott Read Free Book Online

tangled hair. “I can’t afford your services.” She glanced at her car. “I can’t even afford to fix that.”
    Detective Boyd said, “I’d feel a lot better if you had one of these guys with you. Because now the Kings are going to be pissed.” He met Chase’s gaze. “I’ll give you what I have, but this is a fairly new club in our area. So far this chapter hasn’t caused a lot of problems. But they have a nasty rep as a whole. We have a tow truck coming to move the car. This is where it’ll be when you’re ready to claim it.” He handed her a business card, bid her goodbye, and walked over to a group of the crime-scene techs.
    Julian turned to Chase. “I’ll work the case without pay.”
    Chase shook his head. “This will be a pro bono case. I told you I pay my J-men for those, too.” He focused on Mollie. “That’s what the operatives call themselves. Julian might be new to TJA, but as you saw, he’s more than capable.”
    She gave her head a shake. “You’re helping me for free? Why?”
    Chase gave her a smile. “That’s what we do.” He gave her one of his cards. “You won’t find much about the firm if you sniff around; we keep a very low profile. The agency deals with both private and government entities on the shadow end of the law. Did you hear about the canned hunting operation down in Georgia? That was us.” He glanced at Rath, who was hovering at the outer edge of the conversation as usual. “You’re the last holdout. Ready to talk?”
    Rath ran his hand down his beard. “No, thanks, though I appreciate you claiming me.”
    “Figured it would be cleaner that way. But I can make it official.”
    “I’ve got a couple of other things on my agenda. But I’ll back up my boy here.” He shifted his gaze to Julian. “Unofficially. First thing I’ll do is get this car to Thorny.”
    “Thorny? He sounds like another gang member,” she said.
    “That’s his military nickname; his last name’s Thorndyke,” Julian said. “He’s a friend just over the Texas border, one of the guys from our platoon who retired. He owns a bike shop, but he also works on cages, as he calls cars.”
    “I don’t have a lot of money to pay him right now.” The furrow between her eyebrows deepened. “Add in the cost of having it towed …”
    “We were just down there visiting, spelling Thorny for a week so he and his wife could take a vacation.” Julian grinned at Rath. “Guess we’ll call in that favor he owes us.”
    “I’ll have him bring up his tow truck.” Rath lowered his chin at Julian. “Don’t do anything stupid till I get back, y’hear?” He walked over to her car.
    “Now,” Chase said to her, “if you can stomach some breakfast, let’s find a restaurant and go over the particulars of your case. Julian gave me the rundown on your sister, but the more information I have, the better I’m equipped to ferret out leads. Understand that those leads go through Julian. His job is to investigate and keep you safe.”
    She clutched the card, reading it and listening to Chase with a stunned expression. “I’m not going home. I won’t sit around and wait for news. I’ve done that. If you find her and grab her, she’ll be terrified. If you wait to approach her until I come back, she might be gone. I’m grateful for your help, more than I can express. But I have to be there when you find her.”
    When
. Julian liked her optimism. And her
cojones
. “She’s been walking into biker bars and gatherings alone,” he said to Chase. “She’s capable.” He knew she wouldn’t be swayed. “I’ll handle her.”
    She arched an eyebrow. “Handle me?”
    “I mean, keep you safe. I’ll cover you.”
    Damn, there was that look again that clutched his stomach. Hope and fear. Thenskepticism. “Just give me some notice before you give up.”
    And there was her pessimism, too. She expected him to give up and, even worse, to bail like that Bodyguards R Us
bicho
had. She didn’t know him