At the mention of sausage rolls and chicken, Lexie’s mouth snapped shut. She was hungry, and if Wyatt had the goods, why not accept his hospitality?
Ten minutes later, Wyatt returned with two giant plates of food. As he placed them on the coffee table, Lexie’s stomach growled loudly. Any other person may have been embarrassed. She was too fixated on the food in front of her.
Moving to the edge of her seat, she was about to stand when Asher shook his head.
“I got you.”
Food and service. She could get used to this.
Asher handed Lexie a loaded plate and she dug in like she hadn’t eaten in days. You would think that finding out criminals had been watching you from their secret hideout would kill your appetite.
Nope. Not the case at all. Not for Lexie, at least.
“Okay, so, tell me what you found,” Wyatt said, dropping into a seat.
Asher sat next to Lexie, his hand going to her knee. “We went to Marino’s Pizzeria after we locked up Marble, but Bill had shut the shop.”
Wyatt’s expression didn’t change. “That’s not unusual. He often closes shop at the beginning of the week.”
“My thoughts exactly. But Lex left her sweater in there so we used the spare key we have to go in and grab it.” Asher’s grip firmed on her knee before he continued. “There was a buzzing coming from upstairs. We went up to check it out and found a whole lot of shit suggesting that whoever is living there has been watching us. Watching Lexie.” Asher paused for a moment. “Those military guys that Evie discovered around town…I’m pretty sure they’ve been renting Bill’s spare room upstairs.”
Wyatt cursed as he ran a hand through his hair.
Lexie paused midbite at Asher’s words.
“Evie discovered military guys here in Marble Falls?”
Asher hesitated, almost like he wasn’t going to tell her. Lexie was about to demand he tell her when he saved her the trouble. “Three. One of them was the man who attacked you. The man I killed.”
Lexie swallowed before gaining the courage to ask her next question. “Do you have pictures of them?”
“Lexie—”
“I’ve seen him,” she hurried, cutting Asher off. “I’ve seen the man who’s renting the apartment from Bill. Or one of them at least. I can confirm whether the man renting the apartment is the man Evie has seen around town.”
Asher appeared far from happy, but still, he turned to Wyatt and nodded.
Wyatt reached over to lift a laptop that was sitting on the side table. Opening it, he pressed a few keys before swinging the laptop around.
“His name is Dominic.”
Lexie’s breath caught. It was him. The man she’d run into at the fundraiser, then the pizzeria. The man with the dead, black eyes who’d made Lexie’s skin crawl.
And one of the men who’d kidnapped her.
Holy heck. Why hadn’t she recognized those eyes when she’d been taken?
“It’s him.”
She was angry. Angry at herself for not making the connection. Angry, upset, frustrated…everything.
As if sensing her turmoil, Wyatt’s expression turned sympathetic. “Fear does strange things to the brain. It can block you from identifying certain information. Making connections and remembering details.”
But they were important details. Details that could have helped. Saved everyone time and stress.
“If I’d connected that one of my kidnappers was renting Bill’s apartment, we could have been at this point ages ago.”
Asher placed his hand on her cheek, turning her face toward him. “We all missed things. Your focus has been on our baby, like it should have been. Don’t feel guilty about that for a second.”
His words comforted her somewhat. But the guilt was still there. Lurking beneath the surface.
Leaning down, he pressed a kiss to her head before turning back to Wyatt. “I got us out of there as quickly as possible. We need to come up with a plan and send a team in to search the place.”
Wyatt spun the laptop back to face him. “I’ll message the guys. I’m guessing you came to me because you want me to look into—”
“Bill,” Asher interrupted.
Lexie almost choked on the bit of chicken she’d just placed in her mouth. “You think Bill’s in on this? No way. Bill is a good guy. Why would he want to hurt us?”
Lexie saw regret wash over Asher’s face before he spoke. “I don’t like to think he would be out to get us, either, but not everyone is who they say they are. And even if Bill is a good guy like we thought, sometimes there are extenuating circumstances that make good people do bad things.”
Bad things like intentionally harboring criminals in his restaurant.
“You think someone threatened him?” Lexie murmured in alarm.
Ah jeez, Lexie didn’t like to think he may have known. Or that someone had forced him to keep the secret.
Before Asher could answer, Lexie felt it again. The lightest twinge. Pressure low in her abdomen. She was better at not reacting this time but worry filled her.
“I hope we’re wrong,” Wyatt continued as his fingers flew across the keys. Jesus, the man was a machine when he had a piece of technology in his hands. “I’ll see if I can find any useful information on Bill.”
Asher and Lexie sat and waited in silence for what felt like a long time when, in reality, it was likely mere minutes. In that time, Asher had begun drawing circles on Lexie’s thigh with his thumb. The movement was comforting, particularly when she felt another twinge.
Lexie knew he was worried about her stress. He was probably cursing himself that he’d discovered the information with her in tow. She had no doubt she never would have heard about it otherwise, or at least not until after their baby was born.
“Shit.”
At Wyatt’s curse, both Asher and Lexie returned their gazes to him. A sinking feeling grew in the pit of Lexie’s stomach.
Oh, Bill, what have you done?
Wyatt looked up, all emotion wiped clean from his face. “I took a look into his finances. Don’t ask me how because it was in no way legal. I can see that Bill began getting payments the week we chased John Roberts around town.”
“Rental payments?” Asher suggested.
Wyatt nodded. “Amounts look about right.”
Well, that wasn’t suspicious. He probably didn’t realize who he was renting to.
Wyatt looked back to the screen. “A bit over a month ago, the payment changed. It increased.”
Asher leaned forward. “How much?”
Wyatt raised his eyes. “More than ten times the original amount.”
No. No no no. It just didn’t make sense. “Bill is a good person, Wyatt. There’s no way he would sell us out.”
Lexie just couldn’t accept that Bill had done anything malicious without a damn good reason.
If possible, Wyatt’s face turned grimmer. “The money doesn’t stay in his account for long.”
“Where does it go?” Asher asked quietly.
Lexie wasn’t sure she wanted to know.
“Mostly El Royale. Also Bovada and Super Slots.”
Gambling. Bill was a gambler. Lexie never in a million years would have picked that. But then, no one had picked her mother for an alcoholic growing up, either. People let others see what they wanted.
Asher remained silent beside her. His stillness spoke volumes.
Wyatt hit a few more keys. “He has debts spanning over years, showing this is a long-term problem.”
Asher scrubbed his free hand over his face. “So, he discovers his new renters aren’t playing on the right side of the law, probably threatens to out them, they offer him money to keep his mouth shut.”
When Lexie glanced at Asher, she could see the strain on his face. But there was still something that wasn’t adding up to her. “Wouldn’t it have been easier for them to kill him?”
Why would the people behind Project Arma pay out a large sum of money when the simple solut
ion would be to get rid of the problem?
Wyatt shook his head. “No. Not if they wanted to remain hidden. Bill going missing would raise too many questions.”
Oh yes, that made sense.
Another twinge hit Lexie’s stomach. Holy heck, if this was the beginnings of labor, baby was not good with timing.
About a month ago, she had grilled Sage about anything and everything to do with labor and birth. Sage had told her that she could feel mild, uneven contractions hours or even days before giving birth. Some women feel them for weeks.
Yikes. Lexie didn’t know if she wanted that to be the case for her or not. She did know that now was not a good time to go into labor.
“How the fuck did we not see it?” Asher growled.
Wyatt scowled. “No clue. We should have seen it.”
Bringing her mind back to the problem at hand, Lexie flicked her gaze between the men. She knew exactly what Asher was doing. Likely what Wyatt was doing, too. Blaming themselves.
Well, that was bullshit. “Addiction of any type is hard to spot. Sometimes, impossible. I would know, I grew up with an addict and no one around us spotted it. Not a single teacher or parent. So in this case, absolutely all the blame for this whole mess lies on Bill for taking the money and those assholes at Project Arma. Now get your asses on the phone and let your team know what’s going on.”
Wyatt’s scowl lessened at Lexie’s words, whereas Asher showed a hint of a smile. Wyatt reached for his phone. Asher remained still for another moment.
“You, too, Asher.”
Rather than immediately pulling out his cell, he leaned over and planted his lips on Lexie’s.
“Damn, I love you.”
“I love you, too. Now get on the phone.”
Shaking his head, Asher joined Wyatt in calling the team.
* * *
An hour later, everyone knew what was going on. A raid had been organized for six the next morning.
Leaving Wyatt’s home, Asher felt slightly better. Only slightly.
The team knew what was going on, they had a game plan, and if everything worked out, Marble Falls would be that bit safer. But it didn’t change the fact that some assholes from out of town had been watching Lexie every damn day.
Clenching the wheel a bit tighter, Asher glanced over to Lexie. He was in awe of her strength. When he had wanted to lose it, it had been her who had kept him on track. Act now, think later.
Reaching over, he placed a hand on her leg.
He loved the woman. But he hated that tonight she’d been in a dangerous situation at the pizzeria because of him. He’d put her life in danger. He’d brought it right to her doorstep.
“Stop it,” Lexie gently scolded.
Asher’s mouth pulled up at the corner. “Stop what?”
“Whatever thoughts are running through your head about anything and everything being your fault.”
“Are you a mind reader, woman?”
Lexie shrugged. “Don’t need to be a mind reader to know when you’re tearing yourself down internally. It’s written all over your face.”
Christ, he should be better than that. He was better than that. When the problem didn’t involve Lexie. “I don’t mask my emotions enough in front of you.”
“Enough? You should never mask your emotions in front of me.”
Asher looked over and smiled—but the smile dropped when Lexie’s face pinched in pain. She’d been doing that all evening. Every time he’d asked her about it, she’d avoided the question.
“You okay, Lex?”
She looked over to Asher, her amber eyes shining in the moonlight. “There’s actually something I need to tell you.”
He got another of those bad feelings. Was there another hidden threat? Were there more plans he needed to make? Did he need to go after this whole damn town to make sure his woman was safe?
“It’s about my appointment with Sage.” Lexie rubbed her hand over her stomach. Asher’s body tensed in anticipation about what she was going to say. “I had this plan for us to have an intimate dinner and tell you then.”
Forcing calm into his limbs, Asher rubbed Lexie’s leg. “It’s okay. You can tell me now.”
Lexie paused. Desperation to know what she was hiding tore at him.
Opening his mouth, Asher was about to attempt to soothe Lexie into opening up to him—but his full attention returned to the road when a car suddenly sped out from a side street.
The high beams were on and the car was close. Too close.
Cursing out loud, Asher swung his rearview mirror away so the light wasn’t directly hitting him.
Pressing his foot harder on the accelerator, he could see in the side mirrors that the car behind him also accelerated.
Lexie started to turn her body around, but Asher stopped her by placing an arm across her chest.
“Don’t move. Keep your seat belt on and go as low in the seat as is safe,” Asher commanded, leaving no room for debate.
He could hear Lexie’s heartbeat accelerate but pushed that fact to the back of his mind. Taking a corner much faster than he was comfortable with while Lexie was in the car, Asher hit dial on his phone.
He didn’t know who he’d called, just that it was one of the guys.
“Striker,” Bodie answered.
“Got a tail. He’s speeding up and blinding me with his high beams.” Asher bit the words out.
“Location?”
“Coming up to Lakeside Pavilion. I’m gonna take some detours and try to lose them.”
“I’ll call the guys and circle the area. Stay safe until then.”
The line went dead as Asher reached into his IWB holster and withdrew his gun. Ignoring the small gasp from Lexie, he placed the weapon on the middle console in case he needed it.
The vehicle behind again inched closer, forcing Asher to speed up.
“Asher”—Lexie’s voice trembled—“maybe we should stop. You’re a good shot.”
Asher’s gaze flicked to Lexie before pulling back to the road. “No.”
That was a hell no. Not with Lexie in tow. Asher had no idea how many people were in that car or how much of a threat they posed.
“Lexie, brace your hands on the car dash. Make sure your seat belt isn’t on your stomach.”
Lexie sucked in a shaky breath but did as he said.
Her panic was thick in the air. He needed to get her to safety. He just had to run this guy around long enough for his team to get to them.
In the next moment, a second car suddenly appeared from another side street and hit the back bumper of Asher’s car.
Asher fought to control the spinning car by working the wheel.
When his car came to a stop, Asher’s gaze flew to Lexie. She was gulping in deep breaths, but she had avoided any collisions with the car interior. She seemed unharmed. Tuning in, he could hear that her heart rate was galloping but the baby’s was steady.
“Stay down, Lex. Everything will all be okay.”
Asher surveyed the scene and waited. The car that had been trailing theirs was parked behind. He could see the outline of two men in the front.
The car that had hit them had moved in front. One man sat in driver’s seat.
Asher waited for them to make their move.
Finally, the man in the driver’s seat of the car behind stepped out.
Reaching to the ground, Asher lifted his gun before kicking his door off the car. He kept the car so that it was always in his line of sight. So that Lexie was always in his line of sight.
When the man ran toward him, Asher cut out all emotion. Swinging his body around, he kicked a foot out, hitting the enemy in the gut. Before the guy could recover, Asher threw his arm out, punching the guy in the throat.
Showing no emotion, Asher fought the man in front of him. The assailant met Asher blow for blow. He was strong. But Asher was stronger.
When another shadow crept around the car, Asher knew it was time to end it. In one lethal move, he snappe
d the man’s neck before moving to the next.
Grabbing the other man around the throat, Asher was about to follow suit when sudden footsteps near Lexie pulled his attention.
The momentary distraction cost him, as the man flipped Asher onto the ground. A boot came at his ribs, but Asher was able to grab the leg and flip the other man to the ground.
Jumping to his feet, Asher was moments away from killing the asshole when a whimper from Lexie pulled his attention.
Asher stopped dead—and his eyes shot to her.
A gun was pointed at her head. Bill was holding the weapon.
“Don’t make me do it, Asher.”
Asher sucked in deep breaths to tame his wild rage at seeing Lexie so close to harm. Stepping back, he let his arms drop.
Bill swiftly turned the gun to point at Asher and fired.
The last thing Asher heard was Lexie’s cry before his world went black.
27
Lexie gave the rope around her wrists another tug. Nothing. Not even an ounce of leeway gained.
She sagged into her restraints. It was no use. She was stuck, tied to this wooden chair until her kidnappers decided otherwise.
Her eyes lifted to Asher’s still form across from her. Anxiety shot through her yet again. God, she wished he would open his eyes.
Lexie estimated that at least a couple of hours had passed since he’d been shot. The only thing helping her keep it together was the fact she could see his chest lifting and falling with his breaths. That, and the fact that blood wasn’t pouring from his chest.
Lexie could only assume that the gun Bill had used hadn’t been a normal handgun. It had to have been some sort of tranquilizer. A strong one, if she went by how long Asher had been out.
While Lexie was tied with rope, Asher sat opposite her also on a chair, but he’d been chained to a metal pole that ran from the floor to the ceiling. His upper body was hunched over.
After Asher had been shot, Bill had tied a rag around her eyes and driven them somewhere. But not before she’d recognized the still form on the ground as Thomas. The man who had kidnapped her all those months ago.
Lexie had tried to talk to Bill in the car. Heck, she’d just about begged the man for help, compassion, anything! But she’d wasted her breath. He’d given her nothing.
Asher: A steamy contemporary military romance (Project Arma Book 3) Page 21