"Out," Pepper said, cutting off the complaints and questions. "Now."

Confusion kept the woman huddled on the bed. "I'm not going anywhere! I'm waiting for-"

Pepper didn't want to know what alias Rowdy had used. She withdrew her knife. "Take your clothes," she enunciated clearly, "and leave. "

"Ohmigod!" With great haste, the woman scampered out of the bed, stepped into a slinky dress and grabbed up her sandals and purse. "You're insane!"

"I noticed." Pepper held the door for her until she'd cleared it. Insane?

Maybe. Driven with her purpose? Most definitely.

Boy, would she give Rowdy hell.

Later.

At least, she hoped she'd be able to.

Please, God, let him be okay.

In less than five minutes she'd cleared out all signs of Rowdy's presence.

Luckily, her brother kept the majority of his meager possessions in the trunk of his car. He had only a change of clothes and toiletries in the motel room, never anything incriminating. But they couldn't take chances, and so Pepper did as she'd been taught and removed all traces of his stay. She didn't leave behind a fingerprint or even a hair.

Since the run-down place was a pay- as-you-go establishment, and no way would Rowdy have given his best- known alias, she didn't have to bother checking him out. She loaded his stuff into the car, got back behind the wheel, and headed to the safe location they'd established long ago.

Rowdy had kept tabs on it, making sure it remained abandoned, secured and well-stocked with supplies.

He expected her to go there, so she knew her brother would die before giving up the address.

In the dark of the night, without security lights and with little moonlight, the big deserted warehouse gave her the creeps. Rodents had surely inhabited it by now, and after so many years, it looked capable of crumbling down around her.

But she unlocked the rolling metal door, drove the car inside and parked in the back behind heavy, broken machinery.

The car would make her transformation easier.

And the transformation would aid in everything else.

NOT KNOWING WHAT TO EXPECT, Rowdy

sat still, silent, in the interrogation room.

A bruise under his left eye swelled, but he barely noticed. His shoulders burned from the scuffle in handcuffs before the cops had gotten him into the backseat of that car, but the small aches and pains were the least of his concerns.

He didn't know what it all meant, but he knew he had reason to worry. For himself, but especially for Pepper.

Out of necessity, the times he saw her were few and far between. To see her tonight, in the middle of a nightmare situation... damn it.

At any moment, he half expected someone to come in and gig him. It'd be easy enough for cops to do-he knew that much firsthand.

Had Pepper gotten away? Please God, don't let her- Logan Stark-no, Riske, Rowdy had heard him tell Pepper-walked in. His unflinching gaze met Rowdy's. He didn't exactly gloat, as Rowdy had expected. In fact, the detective looked resigned, dogged and frustrated.

Logan eyed the cuffs on his wrists.

They'd left behind ugly bruises, proof of his efforts to escape.

The cops hadn't given him an opportunity. So far, they hadn't made a single mistake.

Pulling out a chair, Logan sat opposite him. "You're not an easy man to find."

Staring at him with red-hot hatred, Rowdy said nothing.

Logan sat back, looked down at the tabletop. "Pepper didn't give you up. I -"

"I don't need you to make excuses for my sister." He fucking well knew Pepper would never do anything to endanger him, not on purpose anyway.

The blame belonged to the detective.

And to himself.

Rowdy had to admit that he'd done a piss-poor job protecting her, and now, because of his incompetence, she might be hurt after all. He should have killed Morton instead of dodging him. He should have razed Checkers so that nothing remained of the club.

He should have done so damned many things....

"She doesn't deserve your rage."

Rowdy laughed. "You don't know shit about what she deserves." If Logan did, he never would have used her.

Logan sat forward. "I know she deserves better than a life on the run."

Narrowing his eyes, Rowdy considered him. Anger on Pepper's behalf? That wasn't what he'd expected from the detective, but then, what better way for the cop to try to get around him than using his sister?

Again.

"I'll kill you."

The whispered words took Logan back in his seat. "Is that what you do now? Murder?" He tossed out a file. "I looked through your history, but I didn't see that one. Is there a confession you want to make?"

"Go screw yourself." It'd be better than screwing with his sister. No, he couldn't let himself think about that. If he did, he'd break his own arms trying to get free so he could take Logan Riske apart.

"I need information."

Rowdy said nothing. Trying to share information had started this whole fucking catastrophe. Trusting a cop, any cop, could get him killed. Not really a good trade-off.

"You worked at Checkers a few years ago, at the same time that a city commissioner was murdered. Jack Carmin."

Saying nothing, Rowdy looked away.

Logan pressed on. "I know you remember. You went to the reporter-"

No, he hadn't, but he said only, "The reporter who got his throat cut open?

Yeah, I remember it well." It was something he'd never forget. Now he prayed Pepper wouldn't forget, either.

"Where the fuck were the boys in blue back then? You ever wonder about that?"

"Often, actually."

That surprised Rowdy enough that he started to reassess. "No shit?"

After a second of indecision, Logan leaned forward with purpose. Rowdy didn't know if Logan planned to slug him, murder him or make a confession of his own.

Before Logan could say a word, the other detective opened the door. "You have a call, Logan."

Logan scowled at his buddy. "The lieutenant?"

"No."

Irate over the interruption, he said, "So take a message."

The big man's gaze crawled over Rowdy, then returned to Logan. Voice lower, he said, "It's about his sister."

The chair crashed backward as Rowdy launched out of his seat. With his hands shackled to the table, he could do nothing more than cause a disruption.

"Where is she?" Helplessness strangled him. "What's happened?"

Logan reacted almost as badly.

"Watch him," he ordered the detective, and in two long strides he left the room.

Breathing hard, Rowdy stared at the other man. "If she's hurt-"

"Emotionally, I'm sure she's devastated." In a show of insouciance, the cop put his hands in his pockets and took a relaxed stance at the edge of the table. "The two of you seem hell-bent on ensuring that."

Taking him to task? And including Logan in the censure?

"I'm Detective Bareden, by the way.

Reese Bareden."

"Fuck off." This was the weirdest situation he'd ever experienced. An arrest that maybe wasn't. Questioning that didn't cover the expected. Casual introductions. And now concern for his sister? Not just from Riske, but from Bareden, too?

None of it made sense-yet.

"You don't know anything about her."

But the detective was right. Pepper needed him now, more than ever.

Still with disregard for the extreme circumstances, Bareden rolled one shoulder. "I know she's a young woman who's been put in an untenable position, with few choices left to her."

Unfortunately, Rowdy had even fewer choices than his sister. "Damn you, tell me that she's all right."

"I have no idea," Bareden said. "But I do know she slipped away from my officers."

It took a few seconds for that to sink in past the fear, for the gnawing panic to recede. Pepper had eluded the hawks.

Thank God.

Rowdy needed to sit, but he'd toppled his chair. He folded his arms on the table and put down his head instead, intent on regaining his calm.

Helplessness was not a comfortable happenstance.

He felt Bareden approach, tensed for an attack, but then heard the chair legs scrape as the detective righted it.

"My officers are diligent."

Not diligent enough, obviously. Not for Pepper. Rowdy sent more thanks heavenward before lifting his head. He smiled at Bareden. "The evidence would prove otherwise, yeah?"

Bareden ignored that to say, "That was some extreme reaction you had."

"Fuck you again."

"I'm curious." He studied Rowdy's face. "Are you worried about her giving up info on you, or for her safety?"

Gratefully, Rowdy dropped into the chair. "She'll never talk." Not that she had anything incriminating against him anyway. He rubbed tired eyes and prayed that Pepper would disappear, then stay gone. Arrangements had been made to enable her.

But would she leave him?

Logan stormed back in. He hit the door so hard that it bounced off the wall with resounding force. Reese tried to stop him, but he shoved past with uncensored aggression to grab Rowdy by the shirtfront. "Where the fuck is she?"

Unfazed by the anger, Rowdy eyed Logan's taut features, the bunched muscles, the clenched jaw. Huh. If he didn't know better, he'd think Detective Riske was actually worried for her.

Interesting.

He glanced at Bareden. "And you thought my reaction was extreme?"

Logan shook him. "Tell me, damn you."

"Sure thing." Knowing it'd get to the cop even more, Rowdy let his satisfaction show. "She's where you'll never find her." And now, finally, he could relax a little-at least on that score.