Diaz frowned. “Don’t call me that.”
“Then stop treating me like a kid. It’s pissing me off.”
Spence laughed.
“Shut up, Spence,” she said.
He held his hands up. “Can we help it if we still see you as the skinny little kid who first came to us?”
“I wasn’t skinny.”
“You were, too. And you had an attitude. Thought you knew everything about everything.”
“Did not.”
“Oh hell yes you did. You were our little diva with a chip on her shoulder. You didn’t want to be there, didn’t want to take classes and finish your education. You fought Grange every step of the way.”
He was right. She did. God, had she ever had an attitude back then. She’d been so lost. Thank God for Mac and the rest of the Wild Riders. God only knows what would have happened to her. “I did a damn fine job stealing that car.”
“Bullshit,” Spence said. “You might as well have called the police before breaking the driver’s side window. Mac said you made enough noise to wake the whole neighborhood. If he hadn’t grabbed you and hightailed your ass out of there, you’d have done time in juvie.”
“No, if he hadn’t scared the shit out of me by coming up behind me and jerking me away, I’d have hot-wired that Chevy and hauled ass out of there before anyone found me.”
Spence shook his head. “Brat. You’d have been toast.”
She smirked. “I’d have been gone. With wheels under me.”
“You’d have been caught at the next corner.”
She paused, laughed. “You’re probably right. I was so green.” So desperate. “But look how much I’ve learned since then.”
“Yeah. Now you’re a great thief,” Spence teased.
She snorted, turned to Diaz, who only frowned. He never did join in with the other guys’ teasing her, even when she was just a kid. Always remote, always quiet. Oh, he was boisterous enough with the other guys, just not with her. Never with her. He kept his distance, muttered a few words now and then. She always thought he disliked her.
Now? She wasn’t so sure.
“From our research into the Skulls, they have a rep as trouble-makers. Fights here and there, a bit of gun and knife activity during altercations, normal gang stuff,” Diaz said, obviously changing the subject. “From the packet Grange gave us we know they’re based out of Arkansas. So we start there as far as checking them out.”
Spence nodded. “Notoriety is a big thing. But they must be pretty low profile because I haven’t heard any bad news on them and I travel a lot in Arkansas.”
“We ran into some other biker groups when I rode with them,” Jessie said. “No altercations. Everyone kept their distance, but Crush and his gang didn’t seem to be looking for trouble.”
“And didn’t start any with you,” Spence noted.
“No, they didn’t. They found me on a fairly deserted stretch of road, too, so if they’d wanted to mess with me, they could have.”
Diaz heaved a heavy sigh. Jessie knew he was frustrated with her again, no doubt because he thought she took too many chances with her own safety. She supposed she should appreciate his concern, but she wished he was more confident in her abilities to take care of herself. She wasn’t some sheltered rich girl who didn’t know the ways of the world. She was streetwise, had grown up seeing and experiencing the worst. She knew what was up and how to avoid getting into dangerous situations. And if she somehow got into one, she knew how to get herself out.
“So maybe they were having an off day and decided to be nice,” Diaz said, not sounding convinced. “Because the intel we have managed to get on the Skulls said they’re brawlers, carry guns and knives, and spend a lot of time on the wrong side of the law.”
“That could be PR and nothing more,” Jessie argued. “You know how that goes with biker gangs. The same could be said of the Hells Angels, and they do more good things than bad. Sometimes the law spins things their way to make bikers look bad.”
“True enough. But what we need to find out is if their gang is a front for a group of survivalists who are buying and stockpiling illegal arms. We know for sure there are illegal arms shipments coming into this area, and intelligence says the arms are connected to Crush’s gang somehow. So let’s meet up with them and see for ourselves what side of the law the Devil’s Skulls are straddling.”
She nodded. That made sense, though her interactions with the Devil’s Skulls had only been positive. Crush and Rex had been good to her, had helped her out when she’d desperately needed it.
Though that didn’t mean they weren’t the bad guys, and it was important she remember that. She had to keep an open mind, not be too trusting or too wary.
Diaz had his way of doing things. She had hers. Perhaps the mission would benefit from the two different approaches. She supposed that remained to be seen.
They finished eating and got on their bikes again, heading up north the last couple of hours into Fayetteville. The rally was already underway. Over thirty thousand bikers were expected in for the weekend’s festivities. The roads were crowded with motorcycles already and Jessie thrilled to be surrounded by her fellow bikers. Alone and on the streets at fifteen, starving and desperate, she’d never foreseen this kind of future for herself. Thanks to Mac and Grange and the Wild Riders, she had an exciting life ahead of her, and now she had her first assignment as a government agent.
Who would have thought that could happen, when she could have ended up dead, or in jail—or even worse, if she’d stayed at home with her mother?
It was too early to check in to the hotel rooms Grange had managed to wrangle on their behalf, so they hit the main drag first. Bikes lined both sides of the street, all parked in neat rows. Bikers walked along, watching other bikers ride up and down the road. People waved and checked out the custom bikes. It was like a circus or party atmosphere.
Jessie loved bike rallies, never missed an opportunity to come to one. She always met new people or caught up with old friends. This one would be even more exciting because she was working—on a case. She couldn’t help the tiny shiver of excitement skittering down her spine. She felt like Bond, Jane Bond, secret agent girl.
At a stoplight, she pulled up alongside Diaz, with Spence on her other side.