by Leslie North
Travis didn’t look pleased at the lack of explanation. “You could’ve done that yourself.” He motioned to Brick’s body lying in a heap. “Why’d you need me?”
“You started the fight before I could signal you that I’m actually here undercover,” Chance answered bluntly, riffling through Brick’s pockets and removing his phone and weapons. The Glock and backup 9mm he’d hand off to Agent Butler, but he was keeping the knife. “I went with it, playing along so Brick wouldn’t warn Nolan.” Chance shot Travis a wry smile. “Seconds in, I realized I was dealing with another military man who knows what he’s doing. Figured you’d enjoy knocking the asshole out, and to be honest, I couldn’t afford to take a nap if you really put your heart into the fight.”
“You’re going after Nolan.” Travis tested his busted knuckles with his fingers.
Chance’s own bruised hands throbbed in time with his heartbeat after two fights in one day, but he ignored it. The punch to his cheek was harder to overlook. Thank you, Travis.
“You working with the Feds or something?”
“Yep. I’m helping build a case against that bastard.” He hustled to the door when he heard tires screech outside. “And you were right.” Chance peeked over his shoulder. “It’s about a girl.”
He pushed the door open and two agents ran into the gym. One to handcuff Brick, the other to corral Travis.
Mandy stepped down from the van and Chance’s long gait crossed the distance. She opened her mouth, but he picked her up and put those lips to better use than yelling at him.
18
Mandy paced in front of Chance, sitting on a weight bench in the smelly gym. What in the world did they do in here to toxify the room this bad?
Holding an ice pack to his cheek over the bruise he’d gotten from Travis, Chance watched her staccato movements. Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap. Her flip-flops hit the cement floor, and she longed to take them off to kill the annoying sound, but…ew. She didn’t trust the floor had been mopped with any type of disinfectant in the last month.
The FBI agents that had been cooped up with her in the van spread out in the gym. Someone cut off the music. Mark had Travis cornered near the punching bags, another watched over Brick, still lying in a heap on the floor, and two agents had a briefcase opened on the edge of the boxing ring, preparing some type of spy equipment.
“You don’t have to go back to Nolan’s,” Mandy pleaded for the second time. “We’ve got enough to arrest him.”
Chance captured Mandy’s hand and pulled her until she stepped between his legs. “I didn’t go through all this just to stop now. We have to be sure we have enough evidence that he can’t escape prosecution.” He tossed the ice pack on the bench beside him and squeezed her hand. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing he could come after you. And he would.”
Mandy cupped his cheek. The swelling from his fight with Travis already started developing a light shade of purple beneath the angry red. “We’re supposed to be partners, Chance. You’re doing all this without me.”
“And you survived two years of this without me.” His arm encircled her waist. Resting his uninjured cheek against her belly, he shuddered. “Just thinking about what might have happened makes me mental.” He squeezed. “Please. Let me finish this. Let me do this for you. I wasn’t there before, but I’m here now and I’ve got the skills. Let me use them.”
“It’s hard.” She stroked a hand through his messy hair. “You shouldn’t have erased that text.”
“I know. I’m sorry.” He pulled back. “At the time I was so livid, I wanted to crush your phone. A poor defenseless carrot bore my wrath instead.”
Mandy barked out a laugh and shook her head. “Honestly. What am I going to do with you?”
“I can make quite of few suggestions,” he leered, grinning up at her.
“So could I.” Mandy winked. “If Nolan’s thugs hadn’t pulled me from the salon, Pepper and I were headed to the mall next to raid the lingerie store.” She’d never owned anything sexy or frivolous before. She wasn’t sure she had the body type to pull it off, but she would have tried.
He growled and his eyes darkened. “Cruel woman. Now I’m going to be picturing you in all kinds of silky lace.” He pulled the left side of his coat over his lap. “Sending me back to Nolan’s with a hard-on is just mean.”
Mandy licked the top edge of his ear and whispered, “I can help you take care of that.”
“If only we had the time.” His fingers buried into her hair, and he gently forced her head back until she looked him in the eyes. “You trust me, right?”
“Of course.” She caressed his uninjured cheek.
“We need to record Nolan confessing.” Chance fingered her scalp lightly. “If we get him to incriminate himself, we’re free. You’re free.”
A thrill stole over her at the hope soaring in her chest.
Chance nodded toward the boxer. “Travis gave me a reason to go back without suspicion. He knocked Brick out so even if the thug somehow gets word to Nolan, I’m still clear.”
“I know.” Mandy bit her lip. “But I’m terrified Nolan will sense you’re wired and pumping him for information. He could do a lot of damage before the agents rush in.”
“So can I.”
Witnessing the end of the fight this morning where he took down two large goons without a scratch put an exclamation point on his declaration.
Chance rested his forehead against hers. “I can handle most anything but you walking away from me again. Please tell me you forgive my calling Agent Butler in and erasing Walter’s message.”
“I’m pissed off you set this all in motion without talking to me like I asked, but I’m also so glad you did. So, yes, I forgive you as long as you don’t go behind my back anymore.” She poked his chest. “That’s two strikes, mister.”
“Promise.” His eyes lightened. “Unless I’m planning a surprise for you.”
“I can live with that.” Mandy laughed and reached inside her pocket, pulling out the photo. She eased back enough for him to see her holding it up. “I can’t believe you kept this with you.”
“Some days, it was the only thing that kept me going.” A haunted depth she never wanted to see again crept over his irises.
“I hate that your last memory of me for so many years was our breakup.” She tucked the photo in his inside suit coat pocket. “If I could take that day back, I would.”
“I would do a few things over, but I don’t know if I would change entering the Navy.” He stretched his fingers deeper into her hair. “I would have made you miserable if I stayed, but I should have talked to you about it first. We might have worked something out.”
“Maybe.” Mandy traced a finger over his temple and down his swollen-free cheek. “But I do know one thing for sure. I never stopped loving you.”
He stilled.
“I had wished to stop so many times over the years, but I gave you my heart for keeps the day I met you. These last few weeks just made me fall in love with you all over again.”
“You don’t know how much it means to hear you say that,” he uttered in a hoarse tone. “I’ve been in love with you for just as long, and I’m probably even deeper in love now.”
Mandy captured his lips.
Chance tilted his head and nibbled on her bottom lip until she opened her mouth and then he dove his tongue in.
She kissed him with every ounce of love she had in her body, showing him she meant every word.
He grabbed her hips and twisted, making her fall into his lap.
Laughing, she smothered his scruffy jaw and neck with kisses. “Are you ever going to learn what a razor is?”
He scraped his jaw against her cheek, the hair rasping against her skin. “I kinda like seeing you scuffed red. You’re bearing my mark.”
“Okay,” Agent Butler boomed, materializing right beside them. “As enjoyable as this Hallmark moment is, we need to either execute the rest of the plan or hightail it out of here.”
Mandy sobered.
“I’ve got local police in plain clothes waiting at the hospital to babysit him.” Mark thumbed toward Brick. “With no phone or weapons and the police keeping him in custody, there should be no risk of him blowing your cover, but I don’t want anything jeopardizing your safety. It’s getting late. Nolan will be starting to wonder where you two are.”
The two FBI techs at the boxing ring rushed forward. One carried a small object in his hand, the other a tablet.
Mark motioned to the device. “This camera has audio.”
The tech cut a button off Chance’s suit coat. He replaced it with the camera hidden inside a button.
“It’s got enough battery to record you dropping off Brick at the hospital and talking to Nolan,” Mark continued, “but don’t expect it to last all night. We’ll be watching in the van, so we’ll know when we should move in.”
Mandy swallowed at reality smashing her euphoria into bits.
Mark pulled a folded white paper out of his inner coat pocket and thrust it toward Chance. “While I can’t comment on active investigations, this is a high-level list of suspected crimes we believe Nolan’s had a hand in. Either he ordered the deaths or killed the victims himself. If you can get him to admit to even one, we’ll be beyond golden.”
Chance opened the document. A bullet-pointed list filled the entire page with the cause of death listed after each name.
Mandy’s stomach lurched and her hold on Chance’s shoulder tightened. How could she let him go through with this, go back into that monster’s home and face him alone?
“I’ll be fine,” Chance murmured, obviously sensing her spiraling panic.
“Get in, get the confession, get out.” Mark pointed at Chance. “If you don’t think you can make him say anything, don’t push. Your safety comes first.”
“Yes.” Mandy pinched Chance’s bicep. “Please. Don’t be the macho SEAL.”
“But I am.” He grinned and winked.
She rolled her eyes.
“Seriously,” he murmured, rubbing her thigh. “I’ll be fine.”
“Chance.” She lightly ground her forehead against his. “Don’t take any risks. I’ve got big plans for us. You hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He grinned so wide, he showed most of his teeth. “I’ve got a few ideas of my own, but we’ll talk about them when I get back.”
Mandy forced herself to slide off his lap. It took everything she had to stand back and watch Chance drive away in Nolan’s SUV with Brick.
19
Chance tromped into Nolan’s office with his shoulders slumped, feigning dejection and disgust. He’d never been much of an actor, but he had plenty of motivation to get into the role of beaten, loser thug.
“Chance,” Nolan beamed, dropping a legal-sized file onto his desk. “How did it go?”
Shuffling to the front of the loan shark’s desk, he held up a set of papers. “It could’ve gone a lot better. Travis knocked Brick out.” He rattled the wrinkled documents. “I dropped him off at the ER. These are the intake papers. He’s probably got a concussion or something.”
Nolan’s eyes narrowed onto Chance’s hands. “Is that the only thing you brought back?”
“Yeah.” Chance nodded. “I hope you have a good insurance plan—”
“Where is my money?” Nolan stood and tossed his fancy pen down, all traces of his earlier smile now gone.
Chance shuffled his feet, adding a gulp to sell it. “I, uh, didn’t get the money.”
“I see.” Nolan stared at the surface of the desk for a full minute. Rounding the massive furniture, he sauntered closer to Chance. “You take out two of my men with no problem, but you can’t handle one guy, even when you have backup?”
“I didn’t think you’d want Brick dying—”
“I don’t give a shit about Brick,” Nolan thundered, his skin flushing red. “He can be replaced.” The loan shark inhaled and seemed to count in his head or some other Zen exercise. “Maybe I haven’t properly motivated you.”
Papers crinkled in Chance’s tightening fists. “I don’t need motivation.”
“Excellent.” Nolan pointed to the door. “I’ll give you one more shot to collect what Travis owes. Ms. Loomis may have slipped my men earlier, but it won’t be hard to draw her out by capturing her roommate.” He bored his gaze into Chance. “Since you’re not understanding, maybe you’ll grasp this. Once I have them, I’ll sell the roommate to the highest bidder, and give Ms. Loomis back to you one piece at a time. Is that clear?”
Chance swallowed again but didn’t need to call on any acting skills. Nolan wouldn’t know that the trembling in his body had nothing to do with fear but rage. “It’s clear,” he said once he’d forced his teeth to unclench, “but you don’t really have connections in human trafficking, right? You wouldn’t really kill Mandy either, would you? I mean, I get that you want to make sure I have an incentive, but those seem extreme. You’re a businessman, not some killer.”
“Chance,” Nolan chided, shaking his head. “You’re not that naïve. Being a businessman means I have friends in all kinds of low places.” His green eyes sharpened. “I kill people who step out of line or I order someone’s death to motivate others who think to renege on their debt.”
“Like that story I heard in the news?” Chance asked dumbly. “What’s his name? Had a mob moniker.” Chance pretended to grapple with his memory. “Pinhead…no, Pencil. No, wait—that’s not right either.”
“Pauly Pincher,” Nolan supplied, referring to the man who enjoyed dismembering his victims with long-nosed pliers. He was listed as a suspected associate of Nolan’s. “Yeah. I’ve worked with him. He’s my cousin’s man. Does some work for me if my guys are tied up. He’s a bit messy for my tastes, I prefer a cleaner death.”
“I agree.” Chance forced his muscles to relax and leaned forward in a confidential pose. “A gun’s too impersonal and a knife can have you soaked in seconds if you do it wrong. But a garrote.” He smiled wide as if picturing the device. “That’ll challenge your will to kill your target against the victim’s will to live.”
Nolan’s face lit up. “Exactly. I feel the same way!”
Bastard. One of the victims on Agent Butler’s list had been killed that way. Chance worked hard not to show the disgust on his face.
“I had this one woman,” the loan shark continued without Chance having to prompt him. “Sheila Myers.” His expression turned dreamy, making Chance sick. “She was a fighter.” He shook his head and chuckled. “I had to punch her in the temple twice to get her to stop flopping around so I could finish the job.”
And with that, Chance had the golden ticket. He had everything he needed and more to put this asshole away for life.
“I’ll head back to Travis’s tonight.” Chance edged toward the door, unable to stomach another second with this miserable excuse for a man. “I bet he won’t be expecting a second visit so soon. I’ll get your money.”
“You’d better.” Nolan lost his smile. “Ms. Loomis’s life depends on you.”
A loud crash echoed beyond the sheer-curtained windows.
Nolan snatched the black phone on the desk up and punched a button. After a few seconds, he slammed it back down. “How hard is it to answer the fucking phone?”
“I wouldn’t think it’d be hard.” Chance took another step.
Knock. Knock. Knock. Chance opened the door before Nolan could say a word. Three FBI agents in full body armor poured into the room, aiming AR-15s at the loan shark.
“Nolan Nickel,” Agent Butler shouted, “you’re under arrest.”
Chance turned to leave when he heard a creak. Whirling, he yanked the knife out of the sheath strapped to his forearm. Throwing it, he nailed the thug sneaking in with an automatic rifle through a hidden passage in the side wall. Chance’s aim hit right where he’d wanted—directly into the joint of the shoulder to make the weapon drop to the floor.
One of the FBI agents broke away a
nd ran to the newly revealed door. “Come out,” he yelled. “Hands on your heads.”
Two men complied and lay on the hardwood floors on their stomachs. Chance studied the rest of the room, but nothing else moved.
Another unit of FBI agents swarmed into the office with their weapons up and searching for threats.
Seeing they had everything covered, Chance strolled through the mansion’s first floor and out the front door. More agents milled outside, but he didn’t care about them. He searched for a russet-haired girl who loved him.
“Hey, Chance,” Mark Butler called out, walking Nolan outside by his cuffed wrists along with a procession of captured thugs including Walter. “You looking for a job?”
A small group of agents moved, revealing Mandy striding up the walkway. Chance exhaled, the relief at seeing her healthy and whole hitting him hard.
“I’ve already got one,” he answered, locking his eyes with his future. “I don’t have plans to leave it. Ever.”
Epilogue
Mandy swirled her finger over the tattoo on Chance’s chest. Adjusting her head against his shoulder, she purred, “I don’t think I can walk.”
A low rumble vibrated in her ear and she grinned at his sexy laugh. “I’m not sure I can either. You’re insatiable, woman.”
“I had to burn off that adrenaline somehow,” she sniffed. “And there’s remembering you all beastly sexy when you beat up those thugs or sitting there in a suit—”
“Beastly sexy?”
She lifted her chin and winked. “Your scruff is bordering on a beard and you turned all caveman at my shop. What would you call it?”
“I’m pretty sure I’d use almost any description but that.” He lazily stroked her spine.
“Chance?”
“Um-hmm?”
“Are you…your brothers are off having an adventure…” She stumbled to get her question out, terrified of the answer. “Are you planning on joining them?”
“No.” He shrugged, her head rising and falling with the movement. “I’ve had all the adventure I can handle for a lifetime.”