Dark Temptation (Dark Saints MC Book 2)(20)

I went back to the library and essentially hid in my corner for the rest of the day. My phone had a missed call from Benz. I ignored it. I was too afraid I’d mess up and give myself away somehow.

Benz Bass. I pulled up the name Bass on my computer. The details of the bank robbery and my Daddy’s death were there again.

Benz said his Daddy wasn’t officially a Dark Saint.

I wondered about that. All this time my Grandmother had told me that all three of the men involved were Dark Saints.

And yet Benz said his Dad wasn’t.

Grandmother said The Saints got off scot-free after the bank robbery. The money they took was recovered, that much was true. But I wondered about the safety deposit box that was never recovered. Did that have cash in it? Did it make it to The Saints? Is that how they’d been thriving over the years?

In the ten years since that day, Port Azrael had changed for the better. The town was growing and so was the MC.

I pulled up arrest records from the last ten years in the Port Az Police Department. I should have done more of this over the last few weeks, actual research on The Saints. Then I wouldn’t have been so blindsided by Benz.

I didn’t see the name Bass in the recent arrests. I also did a docket search of the municipal court. Again, no Bass anywhere.

Whatever Benz had been up to since that day both our Dads had died, he hadn’t got caught.

I looked for other names in the arrest logs. Most of the men in The Saints went by aliases or ‘club names’ and I only knew a few of those. It made for tough going in terms of finding out how clean or dirty they were.

I did know Benz’s real name now, Benjamin Bass.

Benz had a clean record, at least as an adult. No way to know if he had priors as a juvie. But I’d categorized all The Saints as criminals. It looked like the only criminals I could actually track were the ones who’d called themselves Saints when they robbed Port Az State Credit Union.

Were they posers? Were they just trying to get into The Saints? Or take The Saints down?

It was too late to be able to ask them, since the two that were apprehended had died in prison. No question, that was suspicious, but it still meant I couldn’t ask them a damn thing. Whatever secrets they had died with them.

I don’t know if it was love or guilt, but I started to worry.

What if I was wrong about Benz? Officer Peck was going to try to make a name for himself. Just like I was trying to do by busting Benz and whoever else showed up tonight.

I had no real idea about what I could or would do.

But as the sun set, I realized I was going to go that warehouse next to the dock. I was going to hang back and see what I saw. Benz Bass and the entire Dark Saints were shady. I knew they were.

Who cared whether the three that were involved in the bank robbery were ‘official’ or not. What the hell did that even mean?

The Dark Saints were running something through this town. They were getting rich off of it and they weren’t paying. My Daddy had paid the ultimate price.

I dropped the librarian costume. It was time to be a cop, sort of. I was going to be back up for Officer Peter Peck whether he liked it or not. He sure as hell needed it. That much was clear.

I was going to be sure Peck arrested The Saints at the docks for smuggling drugs into this town. It was sickening really. Drug smuggling. Benz Bass was a drug smuggler, the lowest form of life. The heroin epidemic was out of control and he was helping to fan the flames.

I bolstered my lifelong hatred of The Saints with every passing moment.

I was going to finish what I had started.

Benz was an expert at women. That had to be true too. I was turned inside out just by being in the same room with him. I obviously couldn’t think straight anywhere near the guy.

That was my rookie mistake. Falling for a ruggedly handsome outlaw. My body shuddered again thinking about how I’d felt with him.

That was the cost of doing business, I guess. If you really want to go under cover.

The deal was supposed to go down at nine. I needed to hurry. I was going to be there too, and I was going to take down the son of Kenny Bass.





14





Benz



It was an easy run. I’d sit back and let two scumbag drug dealers think they were making a big sale here in Port Az.

And they would.

After that, we’d track the shipment after they made their sale.

We’d see where it went and we’d see where they went with the cash.

We’d also take a fair amount off the streets with the help of the Port Az PD.

We were all the dark that Port Az needed. And we were plenty. The kind of traffic that the Devil’s Hawks and other crews wanted to bring in would usher in more nights like the double murder last week. We’d seen it in other towns.

Drugs, money, addicts, traffickers; it was a mess. It also brought the law down on every other thing that we were into. We kept it quiet here and it was good for everyone. We’d shed blood getting Port Az on its feet. No Saint was going to let it fall again if they could help it.

I parked far enough away from the warehouse to be unseen, but close enough to be sure I could watch the door. Kade had the other exit.

The word was that two out of town traffickers would be coming into the warehouse with enough New Jack Swint to supply a local dealer for a week.

The local would sell out and want more, that’s when we would be able to trace up the food chain.