by Jodie Bailey
Will dragged a hand down his face, scrubbing against a day’s worth of stubble. Darrin was the one trying to kill Jasmine. There was no other explanation. Once he realized he’d emailed her his master list, he’d decided had no other choice.
Will had found his smugglers...and his smoking gun.
* * *
Hand to her mouth, Jasmine stepped away from the counter and sank onto the bar stool behind her. Her throat tightened. There was no way she was seeing what she was on that screen. Her heart refused to believe it.
But her mind couldn’t deny it.
Darrin maintained the flight schedule. Keith piloted those flights.
Beside her, Will continued to speak to Eli, but their words buzzed around her head in an incoherent babble. Her senses couldn’t take everything in all at once. They could only see. See that Keith’s mysteriously highlighted flights lined up perfectly with the anonymous tips that had led to her plane being boarded this week and Kramer Anderson’s being boarded the week before. To other flights that had been targeted in the past.
Darrin and Keith had used her. Had pointed the Alaska State Troopers in her direction. On purpose. To throw the scent off their trail.
To make unreal amounts of money by destroying the lives of people on the Alaskan frontier.
How many flights had Keith made? How much had he ferried on each flight? How many people had he pointed the finger of false accusation at?
And he was still flying.
Wait. “What about the flight this morning?”
Will broke off from whatever he was saying to Eli to address her. “We had a tip come in last night, but it was lost in the shuffle of the happenings in the Violet James case.”
At this very moment, Keith was likely distributing tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of illegal drugs. Jasmine grabbed Will’s arm. “We have to go get him.”
His sigh was heavy. “I’ll call you back in a minute, Eli.” He punched the end call button, then slipped free of Jasmine’s grasp and wrapped both of his arms around her, pulling her close until she rested her head against his shoulder.
She couldn’t relax against him. Her mind was too blown.
Will swallowed so hard she could hear it. There was no doubt he’d do anything to take this pain away from her. He’d been working with Sean to protect her from physical harm, but no one had stopped to think what might happen to her emotionally. What it might do to her to know that her bosses were not who they seemed.
How it would feel to be facing down murderous drug runners. Again.
Will shook his head. “It’s too late to go after Keith today. According to the schedule, he’s due back in an hour. He’ll have already dropped off whatever he was hauling. But we know where he flew, and Eli is getting in touch with the colonel to get some of our people into those areas ASAP to see what we can uncover and how much we can round up.”
“But we can’t afford to wait!” She pulled away from him and looked up into his eyes. “Will, he flies again tomorrow.”
“And he has no idea we’ve seen this yet.” Will guided her onto the bar stool, then perched on the one beside hers, holding her right hand loosely in his. “I have a theory.”
She stared down at her hand in his but didn’t say anything. As much as she could still feel his lips on hers, and as much as she’d like to lean in and find comfort in his arms again, now was not the right time.
“I think Darrin accidentally sent you the wrong file. That’s why he took your work laptop. That’s why your apartment was trashed. He was looking for your personal laptop. He knew you couldn’t access your email from your phone, so his only hope was to delete his mistake from your laptop before you could see it.”
“I don’t know.” Jasmine shook her head. How could this be happening?
“Jas, Eli found that file in an email that had been deleted from your inbox, but not from the main server. I think Darrin couldn’t take the chance that you’d seen it or that deleting it from your work laptop would guarantee it was gone from your personal one.”
“So he tried to kill me before I could log on.” Her words were barely a breath. The more she considered her situation, the more her lungs refused to expand.
He hesitated, and his fingers tightened around hers. “It’s possible. The attempts on your life didn’t start until the day after the email was sent. He had time to sabotage the plane before you took off, though I’m not sure how mechanically inclined he is.”
“He used to service all the planes before we hired Jerry. He could easily have made a mess of my plane.” She swallowed against emotion that tried to choke her. “But he didn’t have time to get to the edge of the airfield to shoot at me.”
“True. But there could be some other factors at play, other players in the game. They could have partners, or they could have hired someone. Eli will do that Dark Web thing he does and see if he can find any evidence that the Hawkins brothers put a call out for a—” He clamped down on the words Jasmine had hoped she’d never hear again. Hired assassin.
His thumb drew a small circle on her wrist, somehow comforting and disconcerting all at the same time. There was nothing she could do. Darrin had no idea whether or not she’d seen that email, and he would keep coming at her.
But Jasmine couldn’t focus on herself right now. There were so many bigger factors to think about. “The way he’s acting, he doesn’t believe we’ve seen it yet. That means he has no idea that you know about tomorrow’s flight. He might be greedy enough to take the risk of making the delivery.”
“Which gives us time to set up an operation to catch them in the act, assuming they don’t get too cautious and scrap the shipment. I’m guessing that, if there’s enough money at stake, they’ll still make the flight.” Reaching for her other hand, Will held both between them. “If all goes well, by this time tomorrow, you’ll be safe.”
“With no job. No security.” She lifted her eyes to his. Either she kept her mouth shut to avoid possible humiliation, or she took a risk and spoke what was in her heart. After the way he’d just kissed her, if she was going to make a leap, it was now or never. “And no you.”
Will seemed to stop breathing. His gaze dipped down and to the left, to something under the lip of the bar where they sat.
To anywhere other than her eyes.
Somehow, she’d read the situation wrong. She’d been that foolish woman who fell for the hero who was only doing his job.
Except he’d kissed her.
Maybe it had just been a moment for him. Maybe they were both overly emotional. Maybe if she got a good night’s sleep, she’d wake up with Will Stryker out of her system.
Jasmine pulled her hands from his. If she couldn’t take the words back, she could try to make them less humiliating. “I just meant that you’re the only one who knows about me. I’d hate to lose you as a friend. That’s all I’m saying.”
She stood and turned her back on Will. “I’m going to try to get some sleep.” Not that she’d be able to relax, but she couldn’t bear to be in his presence any longer.
“Jasmine, wait.” Behind her, it was easy to tell he had stood.
But Jasmine didn’t stop. She kept walking, up the stairs, and away from Will Stryker.
SIXTEEN
The sun had just begun to peek over the edges of the horizon, filtering dim light over the quiet airfield. With one knee on the ground and the other bent for stability, Will surveyed the area. Around him, Sean and other members of the K-9 team who had been able to assemble on short notice concealed themselves in various hiding places, along with several DEA agents who had been called in and were taking point on the raid. It seemed no one was willing to blow this bust.
After yesterday’s discoveries, he’d obtained a warrant and had Eli find a way into the Kesuk Aviation computers as well as into any personal devices that could be linked to the brothers. S
ean had been instrumental in helping Eli last night, entering the building under the cover of darkness to work from this end. Hopefully, their tech equipment would yield even more answers than today’s operation.
Beside Will, Scout sat quietly. His rigid muscles and nose in the air said he sensed the tension and adrenaline as he waited for a command. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be much longer. They would come in behind the initial raid to sweep the plane for the drugs Will was certain Keith and Darrin were hiding.
Will adjusted Scout’s small bulletproof vest. His partner wasn’t fond of it, especially on warm days. At least in the dawn hours, the temperature hovered around fifty, so there was no chance of the dog overheating. There was no way Will would let him into the fray without gear. He’d do all he could to protect his partner and friend.
Just like he’d do all he could to protect Jasmine, who was also his...
Friend was no longer the right word. His finger tapped the grip of his Glock. He had never been one to kiss and run. His faith was ingrained too deeply for frivolous relationships.
He sensed she lived the same way, with the added weight of her identity to bear. A kiss for either of them was more than the cheap thing the world had made of it.
He had no idea what to do with that. That moment between them was so much more than two people who were happy to find friends. It was...
Impossible. There was no way he’d fallen for her so quickly. His history said that was a foolish idea.
Yet leaving her this morning in the care of his team member Poppy Walsh and her Irish wolfhound, Stormy, had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done. Jasmine had merely stood at the top of the stairs and looked down as he’d prepared to leave. She hadn’t spoken since she’d walked away the day before, all because he’d lost his words when she’d laid her heart at his feet. Her confession had shocked him more than their kiss. He’d wanted to pull her close and promise her forever.
He couldn’t. Not when her life was up in the air and his was filled with duty and danger.
His radio earpiece crackled and drew him to his mission. Sean’s voice was low in the transmission. “Targets on-site. One vehicle. Navy blue Expedition. Both entering building.”
Will drew deeper into the shadows, as he was sure the entire assembled team did. They’d better be right about this. Keith and Darrin needed to load that plane in the next fifteen minutes or the entire operation would collapse when they lost the cover of predawn darkness.
Trooper Helena Maddox’s voice came across the radio. “Target one approaching hangar. Target two crossing north side of airfield to storage shed.” Where she waited with her partner, Luna, a Norwegian elkhound trained in suspect apprehension, she had a view straight down the runway.
From across the runway, the scrape of an opening hangar door tore through the morning stillness. Darrin appeared, opening a small storage shed on the far side of the hangar.
Will and Scout had made a cursory exterior search of the small shed earlier. It was different than the others on the property, a sturdier construction, likely to keep sniffers like his partner from detecting what was inside.
Will flexed his fingers, then scratched Scout behind the ear. Just a few more minutes, buddy. Hopefully, today’s search would turn up all the evidence they needed.
“Wait for them to load the plane. Move on my signal.” A DEA agent Will hadn’t met before spoke the orders. “Perimeter doesn’t detect any other movement on-site.”
The brothers were acting alone. No backup waited to blast in and take out the team when they moved in. Will breathed a sigh of relief as the moments ticked past and the brothers carted crates to the plane. He’d been on raids before, but this one had his palms sweating and his muscles itching to move. This one was personal. These men had tried to harm the woman he loved.
The realization nearly rocked him to the side, but there was no time to unpack the emotion because his radio hissed. “On my mark.”
Will focused on the scene, where the two men loaded the last crate onto the King Air. As soon as Keith slid the door shut, Will’s earpiece exploded with sound. “Move! Move! Move!”
Will eased forward, weapon ready. He would provide perimeter support while the main team went in. Like a well-oiled machine, troopers and agents crept from the shadows toward the two men who, until now, had been oblivious to their presence.
“Drug Enforcement agents executing a warrant! Lock your fingers behind your heads and get on your knees!” The scene erupted as nearly a dozen law enforcement officers converged on the brothers.
Darrin and Keith froze. For a second, it seemed Darrin was going to run, but then he took in the overwhelming number of men and women surrounding them and slowly lifted his hands.
Keith hesitated, but as the team drew closer and their sheer number and firepower became obvious, he complied as well.
Along with several other members of his team, Will hovered around the edges to provide cover as the DEA took the men into custody.
Once they were secured, he holstered his pistol and approached with Scout. He let his partner off the leash, hefted him into the King Air, and commanded the K-9 to search. His partner stopped at the first crate he sniffed and began to paw at the hasp lock, an active alert that there were narcotics present.
Busted.
He shot a hard look at Darrin, who stood off to the side in handcuffs and surrounded by federal agents. “Is there paperwork for the drugs in these containers? Is this a legal shipment?”
Darrin responded with a defiant glare.
There was so much Will wanted to say, so many things he wanted to unleash on the man who’d lied to Jasmine, who’d used her and had put her life in danger.
Who’d tried to murder her, simply because he’d mistakenly sent her the wrong attachment in an email.
Fists clenched, Will bit back the words and faced Keith instead. Given the man’s propensity for disappearing when law enforcement was around, he was likely the weak link. “Key?”
Before his eyes, Keith seemed to deflate. His shoulders slouched forward, the mark of a man who knew he had nowhere to hide. “My right jacket pocket.”
Behind him, Darrin spewed a series of violent curse words, likely meant to burn his brother alive.
The trooper closest to Keith fished out the key and passed it to the nearest DEA agent, who climbed into the plane and opened the box. “I’m looking at fentanyl, and what appears to be heroin.”
Definitely busted.
The agents near the plane didn’t need Scout, so Will crossed the tarmac toward the lead agent. “Ma’am, I’d like to get my partner into that building.” He tipped his chin at the shed that Darrin and Keith had been in earlier. “I know you don’t need us to go in, but I’d love to finish what I started.” He wanted to see this through to the very end.
Agent Reeves nodded, and her red ponytail swung from the movement. “I can understand that, Trooper.” She motioned to a small contingent of agents, and they trekked to the thick-walled metal building. A few moments later, she produced a ring of keys. “We got these off the foul-mouthed brother. He wasn’t happy to part with them.”
The third key opened the door, and Will unleashed Scout. His partner entered the empty building and almost immediately sat in the middle of the floor. Will smiled grimly and tossed his expectant partner a treat. The crates were already on the plane and being searched, but there was satisfaction in knowing he’d found his men.
“Did you get the closure you needed?” Agent Reeves stepped up beside Will and watched Scout, who still sat in the darkened shed. “Now we just have to track who’s bringing the cargo into this airfield. I’m guessing Keith Hawkins will lay out some information for a deal. He doesn’t seem like the type to hold back if he thinks he can finagle a lighter prison sentence.”
Will glanced over at the brothers, one who was staring at his shoes and the ot
her who glared with malice at whoever caught his eye. “And Darrin is the type to take the hard way out. He’ll hit prison and think he can take over.”
“He’ll learn a hard lesson.” Agent Reeves twisted her lip as she studied the brothers. Then she gave Will a curt nod. “You and your partner have done some good work here, Trooper. This is going to land some bigger fish than you thought when you started tracking these guys.”
As Agent Reeves returned to her team, Will called Scout over and knelt to reward him with another treat and more pets than the dog could handle.
Scout rolled over onto his back for a coveted belly rub.
With his first genuine smile of the day, Will complied. “Yeah, you earned it, buddy.” When his phone buzzed at his hip, he continued scratching Scout’s neck with one hand while he pulled the phone to his ear with the other. “Stryker.”
“Will, it’s Eli.”
The tension in Eli’s voice stilled Will’s hand. He rocked back on his heels. “What’s going on?”
“The colonel got a call from WITSEC concerning Jasmine. Did you know she was a protected witness?”
“Yes.” Will’s eyes squeezed closed. “She told me.”
“Well, there’s a team of marshals headed to Jasmine’s location, but you’re closer.”
No. This was going to be bad. Very bad. And just when he’d thought the danger was behind them. “What’s happened?”
Eli cleared his throat. “Are you near the Hawkins brothers?”
He stood as the DEA team herded the two men to a waiting SUV. “About fifty yards away.”
“They’re in custody?”
“Yes. Why?”
“So you don’t do something you’ll regret.” Eli’s voice was grim.
Will snapped Scout’s leash to the harness and rose, watching the SUV ease down the runway away from him. “Spit it out, Eli.” He was already walking, headed for his vehicle. He caught Sean’s eye and gestured for his teammate to follow.