Free Drive by Sidney Bristol Page A

the game.
    He pulled into the drive at the garage and paused, surveying the lot. The security system would pick up anyone trespassing and relay it back to their Walking Brain of an IT guy, Emery, but computers and cameras weren’t infallible. Everything was quiet. One small mercy, at least.
    Aiden tucked the gun in his waistband before letting down the chain barring entry to the shop and left it there. He didn’t plan to be around long. The night was growing old, and there was still a hell of a lot to do.
    â€œNow are you going to tell me?” Madison asked when he got back in the car.
    â€œYou are a dog with a fucking bone, aren’t you?” He drove the car up next to the shop and shifted into park. “This isn’t the first job I’ve taken from Dustin. A month and a half ago he brings me in through a mutual contact to do a job for him. Quiet-like. Seems the Eleventh Street Gang has started stepping on their territory.”
    â€œTerritory? Seriously?”
    â€œIn case you are unaware, your husband—”
    â€œEx-husband.”
    â€œYour ex-husband deals a lot of coke. Eleventh is getting shipments from someone, and selling to your ex’s customers. He didn’t like it, but he was also told to take care of the problem without causing a big thing.” He shouldn’t tell her, but she needed to know exactly what she was dealing with here. Thank goodness she had a cop detail. It would give her some measure of protection.
    â€œAnd you did it?”
    Aiden nodded. “It’s economics. Someone like Dustin has the cash to bankroll a shipment of coke. The Eleventh? They’re working on credit. So I stole it and burned the take. Now, the Eleventh is in debt to their suppliers, they can’t fulfill their demand, so that puts Dustin back on top, without anyone getting killed.”
    â€œExcept? There’s a but in there.”
    â€œBut, somehow the Eleventh found out what I did, and they’re pissed. I don’t think Canales knows for sure, but it won’t be long before he doesn’t care if it’s the truth or not, he’ll just want to kill me.” He shouldn’t tell Madison any of this. Outside of his organization, only the mutual contact knew of his involvement. And yet, she was part of it now.
    Madison gasped. “Shouldn’t you go to the police or something?”
    He laughed. That was cute. Real cute. “And what would I tell them?”
    She stared at him, mouth hanging open.
    â€œSorry, officer, I don’t have any drugs or evidence why this guy wants me dead, he just does. Trust me, okay?” He shook his head. “That’s not going to go over well.”
    He didn’t blame her disbelief. How did he explain the delicate nature of being undercover? On one hand, he had to do the job. On the other, he had to keep up appearances. The Hoovers didn’t mind that he’d disposed of the product because it meant the DEA had one less leg to stand on when it came to who called the shots on their operation. And that wasn’t even counting the cops, who were butt hurt about being told to back off. If they knew the undercover FBI operation was run out of his garage, they should send Evers a notice as well.
    Besides, his crew was capable of handling someone like Raibel. It would just be a lot more convenient if Aiden weren’t trying to sell himself as Dustin’s go-to guy for outside jobs at the same time.
    â€œWhat are you going to do?” Madison asked.
    â€œFigure it out later. Canales isn’t stupid. He knows he can’t come at me unless he can take my whole crew on and he’s not ready to open that can.” If it came down to it, CJ could tip off the DEA and have the Eleventh raided simultaneously, but Aiden wanted to avoid that. The less federal activity going on, the easier his job was.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œDon’t worry about it.” He cut the engine and opened his