by Logan Fox
Javier’s cologne hung in the air for a long time after he’d left the room.
It was a smell Tony now recognized. One he’d often caught from Naomie’s hair. He’d always thought it was her shampoo. A new face lotion. He’d tell himself anything back then to temper his own jealousy.
Tamping it down when he should have let it flourish.
Perhaps, then, he’d have killed Javier.
How much better that would have been.
8
Unreasonable sonsofbitches
“Agent Price?”
Kane looked up from his notebook. A white-coated veterinarian came around his reception table to greet Kane as he stood up.
He’d decided to forgo his glasses for this meeting. He’d also run a comb through his hair and put on a suit and tie. When he’d scrutinized himself in the stand mirror of the shitty motel he was staying in, he’d checked all the boxes for a busy DEA agent.
The only thing missing was a coffee stain on his shirt. But there’d been no time for coffee this morning.
“Dr. Ford.”
“What can I do for you?” The vet was holding a clipboard, and tucked it against his chest as he waited for Kane to talk.
Kane glanced around. There were two patients waiting—an elderly golden retriever that wheezed where it lay on the floor, and a cat with a bandaged paw looking sullen inside its cage. “Could we…?”
The doctor swept out an arm. “Of course.” He looked past Kane and murmured, “I’ll be with you in a moment,” to the group of waiting pet owners.
They all seemed as sullen as the cat with having to wait.
“I won’t take up too much of your time,” Kane said as he followed Ford down a narrow hallway. It stank of medicine and wet fur in this place; he’d be out of here as soon as humanly possible. “I just have a few questions—”
The vet turned, extending a hand to usher Kane inside a small office. When Ford closed the door, it blocked out some of the barking dogs and that medicinal stench…but not all of it.
It would drive him mad having to stay in a place like this all day.
“My secretary said you had a question about one of our patients?”
“Not the dog,” Kane said, thumbing back a page on his notepad. “The owner.”
It was Zachary’s only weakness—his dogs. Kane doubted he’d allow one of his cartel members to bring them in for checkups or shots. Which meant this vet had spoken to Zachary, perhaps even more than once. He’d seen the man, interacted with him.
“I don’t follow.” Dr Ford put his elbows on a table cluttered with medical books, marketing brochures and pamphlets, and branded coasters. Seemed the veterinary profession was just as much a target of pharmaceutical reps as the medical profession.
Kane grabbed one of the vet’s pharmaceutically-branded notepads and copied the chip number of Noah’s pitbull onto it from his own notebook. “This dog’s owner brought the animal in for vaccinations quite recently.”
Ford studied him for a moment before taking the pad from him and slowly inputting the number into his computer system. The faded sounds of confused, injured dogs made an unpleasant background to the doctor’s soft mouse clicks.
“Approximately three weeks ago.” The vet turned back to Kane, body stiff. “What of it?”
Kane curled his toes inside his shoes. There was no mistaking it; the doctor was on edge. “I need the contact details of the owner.”
“I’m sorry,” Ford said, lacing his fingers as he set his hands on the desk. “That information is confidential.”
Kane took out his badge and laid it on the desk between them. “You don’t have a choice, Dr. Ford.”
The vet seemed to have recovered; he pushed the badge back across the desk with a grim smile. “Then I assume you brought a warrant with you?”
Sonofabitch.
Kane smiled, and slowly retracted the badge. “Sure you want to go that route?”
The vet’s face didn’t change. He murmured, “I cannot release any information without a warrant, officer.”
And as soon as he left this room, the vet would undoubtedly call Zachary to warn him.
Or would he?
“What’ll he do to you if he thinks you gave him up?” Kane asked carefully as he sat back in his chair and crossed his legs. “I know he likes feeding people’s tongues to his dogs. Think that will be your punishment? Would be kind of ironic.”
It was a long shot of course. There could have been a hundred reasons why the doctor had decided to clam up. But there was something about the sudden coldness in the room; that and the fact that Kane Price didn’t believe for a goddamn second in coincidences.
The doctor’s lips became a thin line. “Are you threatening me?” he asked in a hollow voice.
“Merely stating a fact, Doctor.” Kane leaned forward, touching a fingertip to the desk before moving it closer to the vet. “People who provide information that’s useful to my investigation…I can make sure they’re protected.” He sat back again, shrugging. “Capos, in my experience, can be unreasonable sonsofbitches, at best.”
“I will have to ask you to leave my practice,” Ford said. “If you get a warrant, then you can come back and ask for my records. Until then—”
“Department’s backed up,” he cut in. “Could take a few days.”
Kane’s pulse palpitated in his throat. This was his only chance to get whatever information the vet had. The vet would either destroy it, or Zachary would destroy him. Kane touched a knuckle to one of the concealed pockets inside his suit. He shifted his gaze to a certificate hanging on the wall. “That thing legit?”
Dr. Ford’s eyes flickered to the certificate just long enough for Kane to slip the matchbox-sized device from his pocket and palm it.
“How dare you?” Ford said, white spots marking his cheeks.
Kane lifted a soothing hand. “Just curious.” He leaned forward, attaching the listening device to the underside of Ford’s desk. He masked the movement by lifting his ass and making as if he was adjusting his suit pants. They had become a little loose over the last year; he seemed to lose more weight the closer he got to taking down Zachary West.
“Get out,” Ford said, gripping the edge of his desk and sitting forward in a rush.
Kane rose to his feet with a sigh. “For your sake, I hope I get that warrant before Zachary West finds out about this meeting.” He shrugged again, tugging out his cigarettes as he made for the door.
His hand was on the door handle when Dr. Ford called out, “It won’t help. The only number I have is for a disposable phone.”
Kane paused to savor the moment, and then turned back to the vet. “And the address?”
The vet looked about to clam up again. But Kane could see fear shivering his mouth before his lips reluctantly parted.
“It won’t do any good,” the vet said, but he was already turning back to his computer. He clicked a few times. The printer behind him started up with a ferocious clatter.
“Let me be the judge of that,” Kane said as he crossed over to the desk.
Ford’s face solidified into suppressed anger—tight mouth, narrow eyes—as he leaned back to collect the printout.
When the vet handed it to him, Kane gave him a tip of his chin in thanks. “I’ll see what I can do about getting some officers over here as lookout.” It was a lie of course, but he had to give the guy something. “You know, in case Zachary—”
“Forget it,” the vet snapped, rushing to his feet with a briefcase he’d pulled out from under the desk. “See yourself out.”
Ford snagged a framed certificate from the wall and shoved it inside. His cellphone and a few of the medical books went inside next. As Kane was about to close the door behind him, he saw the vet open a drawer and draw out an orange bottle of pills with a hand that trembled so hard, the pills inside it shook.
Maybe he should have felt sorry for Dr. Ford. Then again, he’d chosen to work with a criminal, and had become a criminal
himself.
Nothing good ever came from something bad.
9
Howsabout El Guapo?
A whistle made Finn glance up at Lars. They’d gone to the entertainment room downstairs to wait for Javier or Cora to arrive; whoever came first. There was a soccer match on, and two of Javier’s men watching. Neither had been willing to respond to any of their questions.
Outside, someone called out in Spanish. Boots ran past, and then silence.
Finn and Lars both headed for the door, Finn reaching for his pistol. They’d clipped the walkie-talkies to their belts, but hadn’t turned them on. Lars followed a step behind and Finn led them out into the gardens and scanned what parts of the villa he could see from his position.
Nothing.
Then they heard voices coming from the villa’s entrance.
They arrived at a trot, Finn skidding to a halt in the villa’s doorway. Several of Javier’s armed guards had spread out around the driveway, all looking casually alert.
Javier climbed out from the SUV, spotting them immediately.
“Mr. Finn! Mr. Eklund!” Javier beamed at them. “Have you two settled in?”
Finn bristled immediately. It wasn’t just Javier’s happy-go-lucky grin, but the way he treated them like friends. As if he hadn’t ordered his sicarios to gun them down when they’d run with Cora. As if he hadn’t beaten them so severely they’d almost never come back to this life.
You were stealing his goddaughter, his beast reminded him in a throaty growl. Wanted her all for ourselves, but he didn’t want to let her go.
Maybe the guy really was bipolar.
Finn realized his hand was on his pistol, but if Javier noticed he didn’t care. If anything, his smile only grew wider. None of the other armed men seemed to care either.
He could shoot him right now.
But would he be fast enough?
Lars came to a stop beside him, and he glanced at the man from the corner of his eyes.
Even if he got a shot in, he’d be gunned down. Or, more likely, they’d gun down Lars first, and then him. Maybe even force him to watch Lars choking on his own blood. And perhaps they wouldn’t even kill him after. Because living with that image would be infinitely worse than anything Javier could do.
“Play nice, Milo,” Lars murmured as he walked past him, holding out a hand for Javier.
Finn managed to drag his hand away from his pistol, and fisted it at his side instead. Javier shook Lars’s hand vigorously, and then turned at a giggle coming from the villa’s entrance.
A familiar shape stumbled out from the villa. His first thought was Cora, but then Ana’s blond head cleared the masonry. He was turning away when a second figure caught his eye.
If Lars hadn’t caught his arm, he’d have walked right past Javier and scooped Cora up in his arms. The instinct was so strong that he rocked before he could stiffen his legs and force himself to stand still.
Javier glanced at him in surprise, and then turned to look over his shoulder. He tutted, turning back to Finn with a rueful smile on his broad mouth. “That’s the problem with these young people today; they can never handle their alcohol.”
True enough, Cora and Ana fell together in a giggling huddle. It was impossible to see which of the two girls helped up the other. Both had their arms slung over their shoulders, whispering and giggling as they walked closer. Had they been sent out to welcome Javier? Or was this was what Cora did now—welcoming home El Guapo whenever he returned.
Cora hadn’t even seen Finn. Wouldn’t see him, if she didn’t look up.
And he thought she would never look up. That she and Ana would just move past them, welcome Javier, and then return to the villa as if he was a ghost.
She will see us. Must see us.
But it was Ana who looked up. It took her a few seconds to register who she was looking at, and then she pointed. “I know you!”
Cora giggled, frowning in confusion as she glanced over to Finn and Lars. And then she did a double take, her eyes widening and her expression growing sober in an instant. Of everything he expected in that moment, her running up to him and throwing her arms around him was nowhere on the list. She smelled of wine and citrus, and her arms were clumsy and desperate in their attempt to grab him into a hug.
Also nowhere on that list was his own reaction. He slid his arm around her waist and gripped her so tight that she let out the most delightful squeal he’d ever heard. And then she turned to Lars, pulling him into their hug, and gave them both a kiss on the cheek before nestling her head between theirs.
“I thought I’d never see you again,” she whispered fiercely.
He didn’t know if she meant him or Lars. He didn’t care. With his nose in her hair and her slim body pressed against him, he couldn’t give a fuck about anything.
She pulled back, giving them a wide—if somewhat lopsided—smile and then her expression cleared. “What are you doing here?” Her voice thickened, and she glanced at Javier. He’d been watching them with an unreadable expression on his face. “Tío?”
Javier raised his hand as if to cut her off, and then waved at Finn and Lars. “I have hired them back, mi reinita.”
“Hired…” she trailed off and slipped away from him and Lars, glancing back at them with a strange mix of emotions on her face. Confusion, hope, perhaps even happiness.
And fear.
Javier came up to the three of them, laying a hand on Cora’s shoulder and turning her to face him. He grabbed the tip of her chin in a hand and tilted her head up. The touch was so intimate, the hair on the back of Finn’s neck stood up. And what was worse, Cora didn’t seem bothered by Javier’s proximity. What the fuck had happened while he’d been gone? While he’d been laying in a hospital cot, so deeply unaware of the world that he hadn’t even dreamed?
“I could think of no two men more suitable as bodyguards,” Javier murmured.
The safety of Javier’s villa was questionable, of course. Zachary West, the capo of Plata o Plomo cartel, knew where it was located. Yes, it would be difficult to infiltrate, but not impossible. Javier’s statement made sense, and for a moment Finn’s chest grew tight.
He’d known he would protect her again. And, secretly, he’d been longing for that ever since he woke up. His first instinct had been to reach for her, as if they’d been waking up next to each other for years.
Instead of finding Cora’s soft skin, he’d grabbed Lars’s hand. The man had been waiting at his bedside when Doctor Gomez brought him out of his medically induced coma. A friendly face, he’d said, when Finn had just stared at him blankly. Then Lars’s eyes had crinkled with concern, as if wondering if Finn could remember him at all.
But he’d been wondering why Cora wasn’t there.
Lars had fought when they’d dragged him back to his cot and handcuffed him to the rails again. And that was when Finn had realized he too was handcuffed.
Where they were.
What that could mean.
“Care to share the specifics of this arrangement you’ve dreamed up, buddy?” Lars asked, his words dripping with acid.
Javier looked away from Cora. When he took his fingers away from her face, the gesture looked reluctant. “You will address me as Don Javier,” Javier said with a frown. “Disrespect is something I cannot tolerate.”
Lars snorted, “Howsabout El Guapo?”
Javier laughed, but the sound cut off just a little too soon. “If you prefer.” Then Javier waved both his hands, as if shooing geese. “Let’s go to my office.”
Cora’s hand slipped into Finn’s. He looked down, gave her a smile, and almost tugged her close again. But he could feel Javier’s eyes on him, and the questioning weight of his gaze.
Finn pulled his hand free from Cora’s with an apologetic twitch of his lips which she completely failed to comprehend. Her gaze wasn’t quite as focused as it should have been, and she couldn’t take her eyes of him. Except to look over at Lars.
And then she bega
n blushing, like she’d just remembered their last night at the villa a few weeks ago.
And Lars obviously saw her blush, because he let out a throaty, suggestive laugh before following Javier inside the villa.
“Finn,” she called as he turned to follow. “Can we talk?”
“Of course,” he said, glancing at her over his shoulder. Had her eyes always glowed so brightly? The way the late afternoon sunlight caught her skin, she looked more like a statue cast from precious metal than a real person. “Soon as I can.”
She gave him a faint smile, and then pressed the back of her hands against her cheeks as if just realizing how hot they were. “Then I’ll see you later,” she murmured.
He had hardly gone four steps before he heard Ana giggling and a rush of whispered words. Then Cora giggled and shushed her.
God, but he wanted to turn around and kiss her so bad his skin broke out in goosebumps thinking about it. And he nearly did, if it hadn’t been for Javier’s voice.
“If you’d be so kind, Mr. Finn? I don’t have all day.”
He realized he was grinding his teeth, but he couldn’t make himself stop.
Javier waved them inside his office and, surprisingly, closed the door behind them without letting one of his bodyguards through. The room seemed almost empty with just the three of them inside.
“Have a seat.”
Finn and Lars sat in unison, glancing at each other. Lars’s expression was blank above his faint smile. Finn wouldn’t be surprised if he was busy trying to figure out Javier’s urgent business before the man even began speaking. He had a habit of doing that; scrambling ahead with a hundred possibilities like he had to foresee the pitfall in every conversation so he could be prepared.
Except out there. Had Cora’s unexpected arrival thrown him just as much?