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hard stare. “I’m a cop or did you forget? I know how to get
around without being followed. I want to know what the hell you’re
up to.”
    The man stared back with worried eyes.
“Nothing. Everything is fine.”
    “What about the farm? Carter got busted
yesterday. How are we gonna deal with that?”
    “It’s been taken care of.”
    He slammed his fist down on the wooden desk.
“Don’t pull this evasive bullshit with me! Viper knows I’m here.
He’s been tracking my ass, and now he’s got some mysterious female
riding with him. They gave us the slip when we cornered them at
their hideout. Led us on a wild chase…I still can’t figure out how
she got away.” He paused reflectively, struggling to figure her
out. “If our customers suspect a snitch they’ll be coming after you
too.”
    “What woman? I’ve never met your friend
Viper, only heard his name dropped several times. Wasn’t his
brother a cop too? Didn’t he OD or something?”
    “Or something,” Pike replied with a laugh.
“His older brother Trip has been tracking me ever since
Ty… retired …from the police force. Word is he has some kind
of evidence on me. I’ve been hearing a lot of that lately.” He
leaned over the desk with a smirk. “You wouldn’t know who Carter
entrusted his insurance policy with, now would you?
The pathetic weasel told me that everything he knows is on a disc
and in safekeeping with an attorney.”
    “What about the woman?”
    Pike rubbed his chin while observing his
cohort through narrowed eyes. “Carter hired me to track her. Sure
enough, I caught the little vixen coming out of the bank holding a
shitload of cash.” His thoughts drifted. “I have no idea how she
pulled it off. I swear she walked straight through the damn
wall…then that damned horse…strange.”
    “Horse? You’re not making any sense,
Draven.”
    “Maybe not. Still, she was the hottest thing
I’ve ever seen. If only Viper hadn’t swung in like Zorro and taken
her away, I’d have been able to persuade her to join us. She was
starting to doubt him until he blazed into the barn.”
    “Are you deaf? I asked what woman?”
    “Her name is Shye. She’s like some kind of
ghost woman or something. A sweet little Indian chick with a killer
body who somehow hooked up with Viper.”
    Pike noticed the range of emotions flash
through his cohort’s eyes and wondered if he’d be able to keep his
cool. It was no secret that Gage had the hots for the raven-haired
seductress. He thoroughly enjoyed toying with the man’s
emotions.
    “So what about this evidence Carter claims to
have hidden?”
    “I don’t know anything about it. He’s out of
the picture now anyway. Even if he did start yapping nobody’s going
to believe a convicted felon.”
    “True…” Pike grinned. He’d planned on taking
the dirty banker out in any case, as he was becoming an annoyance.
“But we need him for the land and a place to move the money. We no
longer have a bank, and he’s gonna have to sell that farm to cover
his bail.”
    “We’ll find another bank. Don’t worry about
the land. It’s ours. Carter sold it to me right after Shye
returned. He got nervous when she started dogging him. We agreed it
would be best to make a quick, quiet sale, and let little Miss
Halayi believe he still owned the place.”
    “Probably not how I’d have handled it, but
not bad strategy to keep her looking the other way, especially with
her new boyfriend helping her out.”
    Again that mixed look of rage and pain
whipped across his partner’s face yet he kept mum on his thoughts
regarding the shifty woman.
    “If there’s nothing else, I’d appreciate it
if you’d get the hell out and never come in here again. I don’t
need suspicious eyes on me. You should know that.”
    “Yeah…just had to make sure you weren’t going
soft on me, too.”
    “I’ll take care of the farm. You keep the
clients happy and nobody will be the wiser. And you best make sure
Trip Viper