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running then Cooper and the others wouldn’t know what was going on. And anything they found out could endanger a life.
    She looked at Zeke and asked, “Any coincidence as to why bikers would show up and do this the same day you roll back into my life?”
    “Not that I can think of,” he said, parroting her.
    “We didn’t find any other breached areas,” Cooper said, heading up the short stairs to her porch. “They knew the entry point they wanted and knew how to enter. This is a reinforced steel door and at night you pull down the cage behind it for added security.”
    “Yeah, but nothing is infallible,” she said. “Obviously. But it’s a time-consuming job. They had to cut through the hinges and remove the door completely. The alarm would’ve been sounding, but guys like that wouldn’t care. And they’d have the right tools on hand to be able to get in. They’d use the same blade on the pull-down cage and then walk in. There are at least eight or ten skid marks and grooves dug into the gravel of the parking lot.”
    “Ballsy to draw such attention to themselves,” Lane said.
    “No one is ever on this stretch of road after midnight.”
    Zeke walked off toward the road and she could tell he was trying to get a better feel for how many there were, which direction they’d entered from, and hopefully, which direction they’d exited.
    “They’d know Surrender would be the closest responding department,” Mia said.
    “And that we only have one on-duty officer working the night shift,” Cooper finished for her, his look grim. “Proof of the liabilities of being a small town and working with a limited budget.”
    “This isn’t your fault.” She wanted to make sure he knew that. “It’s location and timing. I’m pretty far outside of town. By design. And even though I’m technically part of Surrender, you and I both know that if I were on the other side of that hill with the other businesses, this never would’ve happened. But I’m not and there’s no easy way for emergency personnel to get here. They knew they had at least twenty minutes to get the job done.”
    Zeke walked back to their group and said, “They split off in each direction. Pretty typical behavior. We can assume this is the work of The Vaqueros since this is their territory. And they’re known to converge on a location, wreak havoc, and then separate so they can lay low for a while. They’re well organized and they run an intelligent operation. I’ve watched the way they work from the inside. It’s why they’ve been so successful running drugs these past years. They’re like ghosts.”
    “We can try and pull identities from the security cameras,” she said, “but knowing who they are won’t help us on how to find them. Identifying them and plastering their faces on the news is like a badge of honor.”
    “Which brings us back to the question,” Riley said. “Why here and why you?”
    Cooper looked at her and said, “Have you had any run-ins with The Vaqueros?”
    “I threatened to shoot one yesterday,” she said. “I suppose he could’ve taken it personally.”
    All four men stared at her with varying degrees of surprise on their faces. “What? You know I’m always armed and I don’t put up with bullshit in my place.”
    “Or maybe you could’ve mentioned it?” Zeke said.
    “When would’ve been a good time? When you popped up in my shop asking for the same item the biker was, or maybe when you showed up at my apartment to get me into bed? You’re right, Zeke. I should’ve confessed the second you showed up. My bad.”
    Riley coughed to cover a laugh and Cooper looked down at his boots, but she could see his smile. Lane never showed much expression at all, but she knew him well enough to see that he wanted to smile.
    Zeke’s jaw was clenched hard and all he said was, “Mia,” in that tone of voice that didn’t bode well.
    She arched a brow and narrowed her eyes. Now wasn’t the time for him to try