Ride Hard (Raven Riders #1)(93)

The late afternoon sun beat down warm and heavy, and an excited energy encompassed the whole venue as cars rolled into the lot and people streamed toward the track. Music played, announcements echoed over the loudspeakers, voices and laughter carried on the breeze, engines revved.

And all Dare wanted to do was head up to the clubhouse and steal a few final minutes with Haven. But it wasn’t in the cards. Taking a deep breath pressed the guns in the holsters at the small of his back and under his left arm into his skin, and the feeling was one of comfort. He was ready for f*cking anything.

Spotting Nick and Shane down by one of the entrances to the field, Dare headed that way. He gave a wave as he neared. “How goes it?”

“We’re set,” Nick said. He and his men were in regular street clothes tonight, not wanting to call any special attention to themselves. “Patrols are in place. Communications are up and running. Everything looks good.”

The only thing keeping Dare sane was how smoothly the day had gone so far. The Brothers of Steel had arrived as promised, a dozen strong. Marz had had no difficulties getting the security cameras set up and had hacked into two potentially useful traffic cameras as well. And there’d been no major snafus on the racing side of things either. Even the weather had cooperated, giving them a gorgeous day sure to bring fans out in droves.

“All right,” Dare said. “Stay in touch.”

“Roger that,” Nick said.

Before he’d taken two steps away, Dare’s cell rang, and he looked to the screen, relieved to see Caine’s name. Fucking finally. “Caine, what’s the word?”

“We got a problem,” Caine said.

“Don’t tell me that,” Dare said, that feeling of dread creeping up his spine. He covered his other ear with his hand as an announcement echoed through the loudspeakers.

“Nothing’s ready. It may be later tonight. If not, definitely tomorrow, but good shit takes time.” Frustration was plain in the guy’s voice.

“That’s the one thing we don’t have,” Dare said, his mind whirling on how to make this work.

“I know. Tank, Domino, and I are still in the city. We’ll stay until we have everything in hand and then we’ll hustle back,” Caine said.

“Let me know the second you have it, brother,” Dare said. They hung up.

“What’s going on?” Nick asked.

“My relocation team’s delayed with what we need for Haven and Cora.” Dare sighed, thinking through the schedule.

“Fuck,” Shane said. “What are you thinking?”

Dare shook his head. “The stuff might still come through tonight, which would be fine. We could get them out late and then get in touch with the Iron Cross about tomorrow as soon as we know they’re clear.” Maybe. Possibly. Sonofabitch.

“Or you could send them out of town now. Have your team catch up with the documentation,” Nick said.

“Yeah. That’s what I’ll do if the paperwork isn’t going to be done tonight,” Dare said. He didn’t want Haven anywhere around once the Iron Cross knew the Ravens weren’t paying up.

“Play it by ear then?” Nick asked.

“For now,” Dare said, keeping his mouth shut for a moment while a big, rowdy family with a bunch of kids moved toward the entrance. When they were out of earshot, he continued, “Though we didn’t have a plan in place for protecting the women tonight.”

“We can consolidate a few of the patrol sectors at the edges,” Nick said. “That would free up people to create a protection detail to stay with them up at the clubhouse.”

Nodding, Dare considered the idea. “Think that’s better than bringing the women down here?” Part of him wanted Haven right by his f*cking side, though the track was where any danger would most likely focus—assuming anything actually went down tonight. Man, was it too much to hope all this was overkill and the Iron Cross would be good on its word?

“If we get company, they’re way more likely to show up here, don’t you think?” Shane asked, echoing his thoughts.

“Yeah. All right, I’m going to consolidate sectors eleven and twelve,” Dare said. “I’ll take the former twelve team up to the clubhouse and let the women know what’s going on. Be back in twenty to thirty unless you need me sooner.”

The other men nodded. “We’ll hold down the fort,” Nick said.

Dare was already in motion and on the radio. His truck was parked in the service driveway farther down the lot, and Dare used it to pick up Jeb, Bandit, and Gunny, whose stint in the Marines and expertise with a gun made Dare particularly happy to put him on this assignment. It was the matter of a few short minutes until they walked into the clubhouse, where they found three duffel bags of the women’s meager belongings waiting by the front door and Bunny, Doc, Bear, Haven, and Cora sitting at a table in the mess hall.

“What are you doing here?” Doc asked, his face sliding into a frown.

“We’ve got a slight delay,” Dare said, his gaze going right to Haven. Fuck, she was beautiful. Beautiful and so damn innocent. Too innocent for all this bullshit. He hated it for her. “The package isn’t ready. Caine, Tank, and Domino are waiting in the city for it and will be back as soon as they have it. Probably still tonight. If not, we’ll go ahead and move the two of you a couple hours out and Caine’s team will catch up.”