by A. R. Ford
I chortled with delight at his words when he left the room. Everyone disappointed me at one time or another. Everyone except Elise.
Chapter 20
Leah
THE NEXT MORNING A bombshell awaited us. Ryder logged into the laptop, entered the dark web, and checked the email account. His eyes widened at what he read there.
“Enigma wants to meet with the girl. That’s the response we got via email. What the actual fuck?”
Nick stood up, brow furrowed, fists clenched at his side. His voice was low, and husky. “No. I don’t like the sound of this. What if it’s a set up, Leah?”
“We won’t know if I don’t go. This could be the break we’ve been looking for.” I moved in front of him, a hand resting reassuringly on his chest. The shirt he wore was unbuttoned several buttons at the neck revealing the dark hair on his chest. A rush of longing, and love filled my heart. He was protective.
“We should run this past Ally, and Lukas,” Ryder encouraged. “I’m not too hot on the idea either, but it could be our only chance.”
The meeting was arranged with minimal delay. Lukas and Morgan sat near Ally. Agent Halman was absent. It eased my concerns about another shouting match developing at an integral point of the proceedings. Ryder laid out the information. We all sat silently waiting for a response.
“Are you out of your mind, Leah?” Lukas nearly shouted. “I refuse to put you in harm’s way. What if you’re hurt, or worse yet, killed?”
“I agree. It’s a horrible idea,” Morgan added. The men appeared to have their minds made up.
Ally was the only detractor. “I think with the right planning we can pull this off.”
“There is no way in hell I’ll allow this.” Nick’s voice was a roar. He stood up; body coiled with tension. “And you should be ashamed for considering this, Ally.”
“Don’t I have a say in this?” Nick pivoted to face me when I spoke. “There is a risk, but it’s necessary to move forward.”
“Leah, don’t do this.” Nick’s voice was so low, I could barely hear the words.
Silence stretched interminably in the conference room. Agent Halman’s appearance in the room broke the silence. “Sorry I’m late. What’s this I hear about Leah meeting with Enigma?”
“She isn’t meeting with anyone outside this building,” Nick growled. He paced near the windows much like Ryder did on his first day in the conference room.
“Agent Halman, what are your thoughts on this?” Lukas asked, eyes shuttered. A twitching muscle in his set jaw told me all I needed to know. He was as upset as Nick. A glance in Morgan’s direction revealed pretty much the same expression.
“I think it’s an opportunity to get information that we’ve been unable to garner through traditional methods,” Agent Halman said. “We can have people stationed nearby in the event things go south. Leah can wear a bulletproof vest, a wire, and the car can be lojacked. If Leah is willing to move forward with it, I say let’s do it.”
“You son of a bitch,” Nick muttered. “What if it was someone you loved, Agent Halman, Agent Brendel?”
“We have to keep our feelings out of what we do in order to be effective,” Agent Halman said. Agent Brendel nodded in agreement. “It’s one way we keep a clear head.”
Ryder reached for my hand beneath the table. His eyes caught mine as a faint smile lifted the corners of his mouth. It was his way of being supportive as an argument between the others at the table began. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and stood up.
“I want to do this.” My voice rose to a shout. Everyone instantly stopped talking.
“It looks like we’re ready to plan a meet,” Agent Halman said with a soft laugh. “Give us a time, and location, Leah. We will take care of the rest.”
Nick walked out of the conference room without saying a word. I couldn’t let this fester between us. I found him in our room looking out the window. The set of his shoulders told me he was furious, and worried.
He tensed when my hands slid across the broad shoulders. “Talk to me,” I murmured.
Nick pulled away before turning to face me. He may as well have punched me, it hurt that much. “There’s nothing to talk about. You made a decision regardless of my thoughts on the matter.”
“Please don’t shut me out.” For a moment I wanted to go back in time to the moment right before I learned that Enigma wanted to meet with me.
“I’ve just found the love of my life. I’m protective. I’m worried. I don’t like that she’s putting herself in harm’s way,” he snapped. Shaky fingers ran through his hair.
I could feel the waves of anxiety, and anger. Somehow, I had to help him see the value of the plan. “Did Rose, or Jacinda, ever worry about you when you were on the force?”
His head snapped back. “That’s not the same.”
“People worried about you going out on the streets wearing a badge. You were in the line of fire every day.”
“It was different,” he protested. “At least I had backup.”
This time he didn’t resist when my hands came to rest on his chest. “I’ll have backup. I’m sure you’ll be there. Or maybe you can help. We have to find Soranno, or this will never end. I want a life outside of the Knight Security compound.”
“If anything happens to you...”
I cut him off with a kiss. Nick’s fingers tangled in my hair. He pulled my head back, dark eyes searching my face. “I’ll be careful. I promise.”
“I don’t have to like it,” he grumbled.
ENIGMA WANTED TO MEET the next evening in the park on Orion Lake. It was an area I knew well. I jogged the paths, and trails by the lake regularly. Knight Security, Nick, and the special agents worked hard and fast preparing everything from surveillance, to a wire, to a bulletproof vest, and a lojacked sedan.
Before I got into the sedan Nick kissed me, a hand curling around my neck. “Come back to me safe and sound, baby. Promise.”
“I’ll do my best.” I smiled in an effort to reassure him.
“Everyone is in position,” Agent Halman interrupted. “We need to roll.”
I maneuvered the sedan from the underground parking garage at Knight Security. Park Avenue in Warner was the central thoroughfare leading north, and south. The normal evening congestion slowed the car’s progress, but gave me time to settle the swirling nervousness that threatened to turn to nausea.
After parking the car, I took the main paved pathway in the park. My head swung left and right until a Washington Redskins hoodie caught my eye. Enigma was supposed to wear the same hoodie. My stomach churned when I left the walkway. The instant I saw who sat there my knees nearly buckled. Never in a hundred years would I imagine this. Never.
“Hello, Leah. Please join me.”
“What the hell are you doing here, mom?”
She was thinner than I remember. Wisps of grey hair escaped the hoodie. A hand, palm up, beckoned for me to come closer. “Just, please, sit with me. Let me try to make things right, Leah. It’s the only way I knew how.”
“You loved heroin more than you loved me.” Old hurt awoke. Its raw agony brought out my ugly side.
“I’ve been in recovery for a year now. I’m sorry for the choices I made, Leah. Let me help with your problem,” Mom sighed heavily, eyes pleading with me.
Of course, I would sit with her. We needed the information she could give me. I joined her on the bench, fingers tucked beneath each leg in the event she wanted to hold hands, or some sappy shit like that. “Talk. You’ve got sixty seconds to make me believe it was worth the risk in coming here.”
“Leo Soranno has a hit out on you, and someone named Nick. He’s afraid you know too much about the intelligence business he’s involved in. He sells the nation’s security to Russia, China, Iraq. Always the highest bidder.”
“Who’s giving him inside info?” I looked at the ground as I hoped for something more. Something concrete.
“Jacinda is one name. Then there’s an unknown man. Someone with tie
s to the force. No one knows who he is because he always wears a ski mask. He’s cold, and callous, Leah. Jacinda did something to piss Soranno off. The guy took her into some kind of torture chamber. No one knows what he did to her.” Mom’s voice was hoarse with emotion when she talked about Jacinda.
“Who helped you do this? You don’t know enough about the internet, or computers, to pull this off, mom.” I sat quietly fighting down the urge to hug her. Regardless of the things she had done, she was my mother. There had been good times, and fond memories before heroin got in the way. Heroin that Soranno brought to the city.
“A counselor from the rehab I went to introduced me to someone that could help. Her son. He gave me an old laptop with all the programs I would need. I lost touch with him awhile back. He’s about your age, Leah. Nice boy, just odd in some ways.” Mom caught my hand the instant it left the bench. She leaned close enough to kiss my cheek.
“What was his name?” Something bothered me about the scenario. Something was off.
“It was an odd name. Rio? I’m not sure I can remember,” mom replied.
“Ryder?”
“That was it! How did you guess?”
My stomach tossed at the information. I knew Nick was listening. I had to get to Ryder before Nick did. I had to find out why Ryder was helping my mother. “Is there anything else I should know?”
“Soranno uses the lake somehow to pass information. Something about an island. I didn’t know there were islands on Lake Orion.” Mom smiled when I kissed her cheek. “Thank you, Leah. I’ll be in touch if I find out more. Please, be safe. Soranno is a dangerous man. I love you.”
I left the bench with tears trailing down my cheeks. I wanted desperately to believe her story about being in recovery. The tears blurred my vision as I turned north onto Park Avenue. A red light at Fourth Street held me up. The burner phone rang. Nick’s number flashed on the screen before I answered it.
“Good job, Leah. That’s more than we knew before,” Nick said. “I’ll see you here. I love you.”
The light turned green. “I love you, Nick. See you soon, babe.”
The sedan moved forward. Squealing tires, shattering glass, and the crunch of twisting metal came the next instant as a jacked up four-wheel drive pickup t-boned me. My head bounced off the side window. Nick’s voice faded when the phone fell from my hand. Darkness overwhelmed me.
Chapter 21
Nick
THE SOUND OF A COLLISION, followed immediately by breaking glass made my blood run cold. Leah grunted softly. I swore I heard her say my name. I was out of the surveillance van parked at the corner of Park Avenue and Third Street, running hard toward the intersection just north of our location. Sirens echoed in the distance. Agent Halman called the accident in before I left the van. My heart pounded, feet thudding on the pavement. Hold on, Leah, I’m coming.
By the time I got there only shards of glass, and pieces of the wreckage remained. Rubber marks on the pavement led toward West 4th Street. I knew the area well. It was located just north of the docks on the northern shores of Lake Orion. I wanted to keep running, keep searching for her, but my training kept me from it. It was inherently necessary to get boots on the ground. I called Agent Halman. “She’s gone. Everyone converge on the docks on West 4th. That’s where it looks like the car may have been pushed to.”
I continued running along West 4th Street until the wreckage of the dark sedan came into view. Leah was gone. The vehicle that t-boned her was gone. I roared with rage before ripping the driver’s side door open. Blood smeared the door panel, and shards of glass lay on the floor. The only trace of Leah was blood, and the burner phone lying on the floor. My eyes detected a glint from something lying on the ground beside the car. Her engagement ring. I knew Leah would never take this off willingly. But who? Who would strip her of an inanimate representation of our love?
Larger droplets of blood trailed away from the car, then abruptly disappeared. I continued following the trail even as sirens grew louder in the distance. The SUV driven by Agent Brendel appeared at my side. “Nick, let us help,” Agent Brendel yelled out the window.
“We need to find her before Soranno kills her. Get your people in the air, and spread out. You can back me up if you want, but I’m following this trail,” I snapped, eyes on the ground, feet continuing to move at a rapid pace.
Within minutes, the team assembled by the feds spread out, and began searching the area. Agent Brendel stayed at my side while Agent Halman coordinated the search from the SUV.
The voices around me faded into a ringing sound that filled my ears. Any delay could mean Soranno would take her somewhere.
Unknown Revealed
SORANNO’S PLAN WENT off without any problems. I carried Leah into the warehouse while Soranno prepared the yacht. I placed her on a sofa in a corner office before joining Soranno on the dock.
There was no doubt in my mind we were headed to the island, or possibly the Atlantic for a period of time. Who knew where we would end up afterwards? The Shesonee River drained water from Lake Orion before emptying into Gales Lump Sanctuary. The sanctuary connected to the Atlantic Ocean. Escaping Warner would be easy.
Soranno played a key role in faking my death all those months ago. A dead homeless man near my height and weight substituted for me at the mortuary. Cremation made identification of the remains nearly impossible. Then, I was free to pursue Leah.
The bomb was meant for Nick Fowler. The hours following the explosion were exquisitely painful. The thought of Leah being killed was nearly my undoing. Word that she lived came just as I intended to pass the pain to an unwilling Leah lookalike I picked up in a bar in another city.
Soranno stood on the dock. He glanced at me with a grin. “You still insist on wearing that ski mask?”
“Always.” The icy stare I gave Soranno made the man fidget nervously. He was weak, dependent on others to do his dirty work.
“Just saying,” Soranno replied. “You get your prize?”
“Everything is taken care of.”
“We are headed to the Atlantic. Time to put Warner behind us,” Soranno muttered. “You should go get your prize. The yacht leaves in a few minutes.”
Having an associate like Soranno has its benefits. It brought me the one thing I wanted more than anything. There were just a few loose ends to tie up in order for things to be perfect.
Chapter 22
Nick
A COP’S TRAINING NEVER leaves him. Agent Brendel and I took cover against the side of the warehouse near the docks. The blood trail led us here. It was one of Soranno’s properties. The sound of a motor running told me there wasn’t a lot of time to act. I said another silent prayer for Leah’s safety. Come back to me safe, baby. I need you.
Backup began filtering into the area. We had minutes to act. I knew this instinctively. It was a good thing I had a concealed carry permit, and thought to bring a handgun. Agent Brendel motioned for the SWAT team to move behind the warehouse to the western side. The remaining officers would join us.
My worst fears were realized when I saw a muscular man carrying Leah toward a yacht on the dock. Soranno stood on the dock preparing to board the yacht. Agent Brendel shouted, “Put your hands up!”
Warner Police Department’s patrol boat closed in on the dock. Any path of escape was now blocked. The man carrying Leah laid her on the ground near a shipping container. He stood before tugging a ski mask off. Mendez’s face was revealed. How in the hell? Two unknowns on Leah’s diagram were filled in. Mendez. Jacinda.
The next few minutes moved in slow motion, at least in my mind they did. Mendez and Soranno both pulled guns. The second shots were fired, the SWAT team moved into action. A man appeared at Leah’s side. He scooped her up off the ground before moving behind the shipping container, and into a safer area.
Soranno was the first to go down. He took a bullet to the leg, fell hard, and cried like a baby. Mendez was another story. He advanced toward me, eyes red-rimmed, and fille
d with something that I assumed was madness. The second he raised the gun in my direction, it was over. Bullets rocked his body. Still he kept coming. I raised my handgun, and took aim. A single bullet hole appeared in the center of Mendez’s forehead before I could fire. He folded like a house of cards. My old partner, Phil, appeared at my side. He gave me the curt nod cops exchange after events like this, the one that says you did what you had to do.
Mendez’s actions bothered me. Why kidnap, Leah? And why raise a gun when so many law enforcement officers were on scene with loaded weapons? I’ll never understand it. Maybe it’s what he wanted to happen. Suicide by cop was a real thing. I saw it too many times while on the force.
My thoughts turned to Leah a split second later as the man who saved her appeared with her in his arms. I saw Leah’s hand rise to the bloody wound on her head. “Are you Nick Fowler?” he said.
“I am.”
“I’m Leah’s stepfather. I promised her mother I would save her. She’s got a nasty cut on her head, but she’s starting to come around.” He placed her in my arms, smiled, and stepped away. His hands rose in the air as Agent Brendel moved forward to frisk him. “My name is David Jamison. Tell Leah we’ll be by to visit after this mess is straightened out.”
My head was spinning with everything that had just happened. Leah groaned when I sat her on the ground leaning against the warehouse. The laceration on her head was superficial.
“What happened?” she asked. Her brow was furrowed, eyes narrowed against the sunlight, a hand coming up to block the brightness. Blood stained one side of her face. All that mattered was that she was alive and safe with me.
“Soranno’s in custody. Mendez was working with him. You have a stepfather, Leah. His name is David, and he saved your life.” I leaned close enough to kiss her.
“Stepfather?”
An EMT carrying an emergency kit appeared. His eyes flickered from Leah, to me. “Take care of her. I’m not injured.”