Chapter Twenty-One Wildcard

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: WILDCARD

I can see the worry in Brigit's eyes, but she agrees to meet with Rafe. Her trust in Puma and the club fills me with pride. Rafe is trustworthy, for a cop. There is little risk that he'll betray us by taking her in. But there is still a risk. She's putting her faith in us. In me. We won't let her down.

"Puma, can we talk?" When he nods, I turn to Brigit. "Stay here. I'll come and get you in a minute. I just need to talk to Puma first." Leaning over, I kiss her forehead before following Puma to his office.

"You want an escape plan, just in case?" Puma asks after I shut the door to his office.

"Yeah. I trust Rafe, but…"

"He's a cop. I get it. Hold on." Puma picks up his phone and makes a call.

"Puma," Dante says when he answers.

"I have a situation." Puma lays out the problem. "We might need help getting Brigit, Wildcard, and their son out of the country. Maybe her father, too."

"Mexico?" Dante asks.

"I could make that work," I reply, even though moving to Mexico isn't ideal. Escaping to Mexico doesn't mean we have to stay there.

"If you have to go on the run, come to the clubhouse here. We'll get you to Ranch's place. He has easy access to the border. It's right on the other side of the fence. We have contacts in Mexico who can get you to my mom's place. You'll be safe there."

"That works. Thanks Dante."

"No problem. Also, if you need a lawyer, Evie can get to you quickly. She's licensed to practice in Vegas."

"What about Boston?" I ask.

"No, but I'll ask her to find you someone you can use. I'll check with Havoc, too. We'll make sure you and your family are safe." He ends the call.

"Thanks, Puma."

He nods. "It's what family does. Now let's go grab your girl. Rafe should be here soon. We'll take him to Spark's room. That will make it easier to show him the evidence that proves Brigit's innocence."

We return to the common room just as Viper brings Rafe inside. His eyes scan the room and land on Brigit. My stress spikes when he narrows his eyes and shakes his head. "Shit, Puma, what did I ever do to you?"

Puma chuckles as he steps forward to pound Rafe on his back. Rafe stumbles forward with a few curses before he offers his hand to Brigit. "You must be Brigit Jones. I was here earlier, but I guess we missed each other."

Brigit blushes as she shakes Rafe's hand. "It wasn't you, but the company you were keeping."

I chuckle as Rafe nods in agreement. "Let's talk," Puma says, gesturing toward the hallway that leads to Spark's office.

We find the man waiting in front of his bank of monitors.

"Not sure how much you know about what happened in Boston. But I'm guessing your visitor told you that Brigit here murdered her boss, Mike Perry?" Puma starts. Rafe gives him a nod. "Brigit saw the murder, but she didn't pull the trigger."

Rafe turns to Brigit. "I'd like to hear it from you. I hate to make you go through it again, but I need to treat you like I would any witness."

Brigit nods. She walks through her arrival at the hotel and hearing her boss arguing with someone in his office.

"Did you recognize him?" Rafe asks.

"Yes. He's a frequent visitor at the hotel. Misha Orloff."

"He's a member of the Bratva," Rafe says. Brigit nods. "I know. Which is why I've always tried to avoid him."

"But you're saying he's a regular at the hotel?" Brigit nods. "Conducting business?"

"I think so. The hotel has several conference rooms. I spotted a pattern where Misha would always show up when Mike reserved a conference room. I know sometimes they would have illegal poker games, because I attended a few. Misha was also there. But I don't think that's all that happened in those rooms."

Rafe nods. "The Bratva have their hands in several illegal activities. A hotel would be a brilliant way to bring buyers and sellers together."

"Tell him about what Misha said about the undercover cop," I tell Brigit.

She repeats the words she heard about Mike letting an undercover cop get too close and how they had to take care of him. Including how the undercover gained access.

"Who is George? Is he the same man Sully claims saw you commit the murder?"

"He's the witness? George is the assistant manager. But he shouldn't have been at the hotel at the time of Mike's murder. He works nights and leaves when Mike shows up. I don't remember seeing him there that morning."

"We think whoever claimed to have seen Brigit lied. Watch this." Spark hits a few keys and a grainy image pops up on the monitor. It's a hallway with a man rushing down it while he wipes his hands with a cloth.

"That's Mike," Brigit says. "About half an hour before I arrived."

"How did you get this?" Rafe asks, then raises his hand up in the air to stop Spark from answering. "Never mind. I probably don't want to know."

The video continues to play and less than ten minutes later, three men walk down the hall, following the first. The scene shifts to show them entering an office and disappearing from view.

"Misha is the one in the middle. The other two are his henchmen. That's Mike's office that they enter." Brigit provides the commentary.

Twenty minutes later, I see Brigit. She walks to her office door, stops, and then continues down the hallway to the door where the previous four men disappeared. The camera gives us a clear view of her standing outside the door. I know when Misha shoots Mike, because my girl stumbles back a step. Then she's running. The two goons follow her. When they disappear, Spark shifts to a different camera angle. I watch helplessly as they chase her out into the parking lot and shoot at her retreating car. Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pull her close. Needing to feel her.

"Has Sully seen this?" Rafe asks. "I imagine he'd get access to the hotel servers."

"Havoc, the President of the Boston Chapter, said someone destroyed the servers. We had access to the servers prior to that, thanks to Brigit. We think the Bratva destroyed the servers. Havoc's man, Wired, sent copies of everything to Sully. However, Sully still seems fixated on Brigit."

Rafe nods. "My opinion is that Sully's dirty. Likely working for the Bratva. He reeks of desperation. I left him calling every judge in the county to see if he could get a search warrant. He won't get one and I think he knows it. He threatened to go to my captain if I didn't help him out. I told him that my captain already knew about my ties to the club. Hell, he's on Team Puma."

Puma smirks.

"So, what are my options?" Brigit asks.

"I think we need to call in the FBI," Rafe says. "Or, more specifically, you need to contact the FBI."

Brigit visibly recoils from this suggestion. "Me?"

"Yes. We need to find someone who will listen to your story. Someone in Organized Crime. I can call around. See if there is someone who might be interested in going up against the Bratva."

"What about that DEA agent?" Puma asks. "The one who assisted with the drug bust at 1%."

"Reed Pence. He's not with the DEA any longer. He moved over to Internal Affairs. I met up with him again when they were looking at my former lieutenant. Before he kidnapped Viper."

"Do you think Pence has contacts?"

"He might. I'll call him and ask. In the meantime, Brigit, let's get a witness statement from you for the murder. I'll need copies of the video."

Spark nods.

"You can use my office," Puma offers Rafe.

I watch Brigit leave with Rafe and want to follow. But I trust Rafe to take care of my woman. Puma and I return to the common room, where I find Gramps waiting.

"Is Brigit safe?" he asks, keeping his voice low.

"Yeah. She's with Rafe. You know him, right?"

"He's a cop. So, I'll ask again. Is she okay?"

I chuckle. "Rafe's a good guy. He's Viper's man. He won't hurt Brigit. She told him what happened, and he's seen the video of her standing outside the office when Misha killed Mike. He's helping us figure out how to get the FBI to look into the case, since we believe the detective is on the take."

"Okay. Because if she needs to leave the country…"

"Already planned," I assure him. "If we think they're going to arrest her, we'll head to San Diego. Dante has a clear path into Mexico."

Gramps nods. "Good. Good. I don't want to leave, but if she goes, I go."

"We all go," I correct him. "Brigit, Colt, you, and me. We're family."

"Family. Speaking of family, I need to start on dinner."