Dark Nights Dangerous Men

by Elisabeth Naughton, Cynthia Eden, Katie Reus, Alexandra Ivy, Laura Wright, Joan Swan

  Porter nodded as he pulled it out of his pants pocket and handed it to her. Now that they were both wearing regular clothes and she’d had a chance to brush her hair—and thank God brush her teeth—she felt more like her old self again. Not completely, but anything was better than running around in that dress with no shoes on. The sneakers Grant had brought for her were a little big, but they were cushioned and helped with her soreness.

  She quickly dialed her number then punched in the voicemail code. After deleting a message from her mother, and her oldest brother Santos, the bottom of her stomach fell out when she heard Orlando Salas’s unmistakably cruel voice on the other end. “I have something you want and you have something I want. Let’s make a trade. If not, the thing you want will disappear. Forever. Call me to make arrangements. And if you tell your fucking bodyguard about this…well, people disappear all the time.” He left a number which she immediately memorized.

  She could feel the color from her face drain as the call ended so she slightly turned away from Porter, hoping he wouldn’t notice. She wasn’t ready to tell him about this call just yet. Especially since Orlando had not-so-subtly threatened him too. Instead of deleting or saving it, she replayed it again. Her hand tightened around the phone, her palm slick with perspiration. She could only assume the ‘thing’ she wanted was Benny. Orlando had been very careful to leave a fairly generic message. Sure the last bit was threatening, but it was nothing that could get him in trouble with the law. Sneaky bastard. Once she’d heard the number again and was sure she’d committed it to memory, she snapped Porter’s phone shut and handed it to him.

  “You okay?” he asked, concern in his deep voice and in every line of that handsome face. The man didn’t miss a thing. Those eyes of his were so damn searching, so…full of warmth it nearly undid her.

  Instead of answering she asked what had been on her mind the past twenty-four hours. “Why are you helping me, Porter? You don’t owe me anything. You could have turned me over to your brother and let the cops deal with all this. After today I wouldn’t blame you if you did just that.”

  Something flashed in his eyes, something predatory and primal. It was gone so fast but she knew she hadn’t imagined it. “I can’t not help you, Lizzy. I’d do any damn thing you asked me to.” He ground the words out, as if admitting it was painful.

  For the second time in minutes, her stomach dropped. Because of what he’d said and his use of her nickname. His voice always softened when he called her Lizzy and she liked it a little too much. “What—”

  The buzz of Porter’s phone made Lizzy jump. They both looked at it in his palm. “It’s Grant,” he said as he snapped it open. “Yeah?”

  A few ‘yeahs’ later, he shut the phone once again and looked at her. That heat was still simmering in his gaze. “You’re good to go. Grant’s inside the lobby.” Turning around, Porter grabbed a ball cap from the backseat and handed it to her. “Not super spy material as far as disguises go, but tuck your hair into this and keep your head down. I’m right here, watching you the whole time. We have no idea how many eyes Orlando has on the street. It’s better if we’re not seen together right now.”

  She nodded. They’d already gone over this a few times in the past couple hours. Porter had wanted to wait until after the lunch rush to check out the safe deposit box so they’d had time to kill. Having him reassure her that he had her back eased her fear. “Porter…” She didn’t know how to put any of her feelings into words. Not when he’d been so amazing. Pushy and bossy sometimes? Definitely.

  But the man had stood by her when he had no reason to. They weren’t in a relationship and she’d broken up with him. Yet here he was, watching her back. For that alone she wanted to tell him about the message from Orlando but she couldn’t find the words. Orlando had threatened Porter and she couldn’t bear the thought of him getting hurt. And what if Porter told his brother about it? Then the cops would get involved and might get her brother killed…No, she needed to see exactly what was in the box first before she made any big decisions.

  Guilt swamped through her at not telling Porter but she shoved it back down. Leaning forward, she took his face in her hands and full on kissed him. Tangling her tongue with his, she took a few precious seconds to savor the spicy taste of him. Porter seemed caught off guard for all of a millisecond, but he didn’t hold anything back in the kiss. It was raw, hungry and she felt his sensuous strokes all the way to her toes. Heat built inside her, sweeping through her like a tidal wave until she had to force herself to pull back.

  Breathing hard, she stared at him for a long moment. She could do this. With Porter outside watching, it would be a piece of cake. A little voice in her head told her to tell him about the phone message from Orlando but there was nothing they could do about it now anyway. Not until she knew what was in that stupid safe deposit box. Better to find out the contents first.

  After slipping the plain blue ball cap on her head and grabbing the small backpack Grant had also retrieved for them, she headed across the street.

  Once inside she saw Grant lounging in the sitting area. Four short, modular couches were angled together to create a square around a perfectly square glass table. Managing to keep her gaze away from him—even though she was very grateful for his presence—she headed straight for the first open teller.

  Though her heart beat like crazy the entire time, once she showed the teller her ID and the gold key, the woman dressed in the sharp black skirt-suit led her down a set of stairs, a long tiled hallway and through two sets of locked doors. Opening the box was a simple thing and once the teller had inserted her matching key and pulled the box out of the slot, the woman left.

  The moment the door shut behind her and Lizzy was alone in the cold room with rows and rows of safe deposit boxes, she opened the one on the small wooden table in front of her.

  Inside was a thin, long rectangular black notebook. There was nothing else there. Frowning, she flipped it open. As she scanned the pages she realized what she was seeing and for a moment it felt as if her heart actually skipped a beat.

  Dates, meeting places, names of some very powerful government officials and what she assumed were bank account numbers were listed all the way back about seventeen years. This must have originally belonged to Alberto Salas, but looking at the current dates she realized Orlando had held on to it and continued adding information about all sorts of interesting stuff.

  The high profile political names were interesting, but also interesting were the listings of some men Lizzy thought were Orlando’s competitors. She couldn’t be sure, but she’d seen some of the names on the international news enough to know that they were bad men. Drug dealers, arms dealers…bad, bad stuff. And he had information on who they were sleeping with, where they golfed, who they golfed with, how many mistresses they had, who would possibly take a bribe in their organization, who was taking bribes. A lot of it just looked like scribbling and random notes. In the right—or wrong—hands, this book could be very powerful. After shoving the notebook into her backpack she pressed the call button on the wall to let the teller know she was ready to put the empty safe deposit box back.

  As she waited, Lizzy tried to wrap her mind about what she now possessed. And figure out what the hell she was going to do with it if Orlando really did have her brother.

  * * * * *

  Porter continued scanning the area in front of the bank. No suspicious cars. No men carrying guns. Still, the vise around his chest cinched tighter and tighter each second that Lizzy was out of his sight.

  And forget about thinking of her as Elizabeth anymore. Something had changed between them. He couldn’t put his finger on what ‘it’ was, but he’d felt things shift between them last night. That heated kiss before she left the car told him she knew it too.

  As his phone buzzed, announcing that he had a new text, he tensed until he saw his brother’s brief message. Lizzy coming outside.

  Only then did that snugness around his chest loosen.
Not completely. That wouldn’t happen until he saw her with his own eyes.

  A few seconds later, tightly clutching the straps to her backpack against her chest, Lizzy walked out of the bank at a brisk pace. She kept her head down but he knew she was aware of everyone around her.

  Since the two lane road was deserted, Porter pulled out of the curb side parking spot and flipped a U-turn so he was level with the other curb.

  Lizzy didn’t pause. She just jumped into the passenger’s seat and the moment he saw her face he knew she’d found something. “Drive,” was all she said, her tone clipped.

  Palm trees and cars flew by at a steady pace as he headed in the general direction of Coconut Grove. While Lizzy had been inside the bank he’d called Harrison and set it up so that they had a safe house to go to.

  Porter still wasn’t one hundred percent positive that Orlando didn’t have access to their listing of safe houses, but at this point, he and Lizzy needed to get out of Miami proper where Orlando definitely had spies. Keeping an eye on the road and rearview mirror, he began weaving in and out of traffic and making random turns. If they had a tail, he’d know soon enough.

  As he drove, Lizzy unzipped the backpack and stuck her hand inside, but didn’t pull it back out. A quick glance at her told him all he needed to know. Her lips were pinched tight and her eyebrows drew together in worry.

  “You might as well just tell me what you found, Lizzy,” he said quietly.

  “You’ve got to promise you’ll help my brother.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

  Damn it. He couldn’t tell her no. How did she not realize that by now? Porter bit back a sigh. “Did Benny do something illegal?” Other than his drug habit.

  “Not exactly, but he’s definitely in trouble. In…more ways than one.” She bit her bottom lip and clutched the pack closer to her chest with her free hand.

  “What’s in the backpack?”

  “You’ll need to read it yourself and we’ll want to check some of the entries to make sure all this stuff is legitimate, but it’s very damaging to Orlando. There are names of dirty government officials, blackmail information on some of his competitors, lots of nasty stuff. It makes sense why he’s after me and why…” She gave him another worried look, “…why he left me a voicemail wanting to trade Benny for this. I don’t know for sure but Benny probably told him I had this. Or had access to it or something. Maybe to keep Orlando from killing him or maybe…I don’t know.” Sighing, she pulled out a thin rectangular notebook.

  Porter’s hands tightened on the wheel as he looked away from her. “When did Orlando call?”

  She audibly swallowed. “I got the message before I went in to the bank.”

  And she hadn’t said anything to him. He fought back his temper. “What did he want?”

  “His message was cryptic, but it wasn’t hard to read between the lines. He thinks I have something he wants—which I do now—and he wants to trade it for Benny. He also inadvertently threatened you. Told me not to say anything to you.”

  Porter ignored the threat. He didn’t give a shit what Orlando said. That man was as good as dead. “Do you know for sure he has your brother?” He glanced at her as they came to a stop light.

  Taking her ball cap off, she shook her head. Her dark hair fell around her shoulders in soft, seductive waves. Something he shouldn’t be noticing. “No. Orlando wants me to call him though.”

  “He’ll want to set up a trade as soon as possible.” The drug lord wouldn’t have made contact with her unless he definitely had Benny. Porter knew Lizzy wouldn’t walk away from her brother, but he also knew that whatever was in that notebook was something they couldn’t just give back to Orlando. Then the bastard would have no reason to keep her alive. Hell, he’d have even more motivation to kill her now.

  “Are you going to tell Grant or Harrison about this?” she asked.

  He’d be telling them, but before that he and Lizzy needed to iron out some details. “We’ll need to set up a meet with Orlando first.”

  “You want me to call him back?” Shock laced her voice.

  He nodded as a plan formed in his mind. With one hand on the wheel, he fished a burner phone out of his back pocket. “Do you need to check your voicemail for Orlando’s number?” When she shook her head, he turned the phone on. “Do you trust me?”

  She hesitated for a brief moment, then nodded. “Yeah.”

  “Orlando’s going to want to choose the place and the time. You’re not going to let him do either. He’s got your brother, but you have something he desperately wants. If he kills Benny he’ll lose his leverage over you and there will be nothing stopping you from doing whatever you want with the notebook. He’s going to want to meet today, but you’re going to stall him. Tell him you had to drive a couple hours to get the notebook and that you’re going to need to lose me before you meet him. He needs to think you’re desperate enough to come alone, but not so desperate that you give him whatever he wants. If you do that, he’ll know it’s too easy. You can’t have a meeting place picked out yet either, but tell him you will the next time you call him back. And you also need to demand proof of life for Benny. Now and before we meet him. You got all that?” Porter had been in the protection business for a long damn time. Dealing with hostage situations was rare but Red Stone gave classes to all its security employees. Hell, even law enforcement took classes when they opened them up. This wasn’t technically a hostage situation, but it was the same conditions.

  And Lizzy was smart. He knew she had practically an eidetic memory so remembering all his instructions wouldn’t be difficult. Especially considering it was her brother’s life at stake.

  Chapter Eleven

  Lizzy took a deep breath and punched in the number she’d committed to memory.

  “What?” Orlando’s voice grated on her last nerve.

  She steeled herself to talk to the monster who had her brother. “I got your message.”

  “It’s taken you a while to call. Your…product might not make it to our trade.” He sounded so smug she wanted to jump through the phone line and punch him.

  She took a calming breath, trying to keep her emotions out of this. “I want to talk to my brother.”

  Orlando laughed, which only infuriated her.

  Anger was better than fear. “I talk to him or you’re not getting anything.” She put a punch of heat in her voice.

  Next to her Porter nodded encouragingly. Seeing his face gave her strength she didn’t know she had. Orlando cursed then she heard a soft rustling.

  “Lizzy?” Her brother’s voice made her throat tighten.

  “I’m here. Are you okay? Has he hurt you?”

  He laughed though it came out harsh and strained. “I’m fine. Don’t give that bastard anything.”

  “Don’t worry about what I’m doing, I just need to know you’re okay.”

  “I’m fine, I promise.” His voice sounded a little stronger, but she worried he was lying.

  Lizzy looked over at Porter. His knuckles were white as he gripped the steering wheel and his jaw was clenched tight as he watched the road. Having him next to her, supporting her, made even more tears well up. Thankfully they didn’t spill over.

  “You’ve heard your brother’s voice. Now, we are going to make a trade and you are going to give me exactly what I want. You brother tells me you have nothing, but he’s a sniveling little liar. Or is he? Maybe you have nothing and I should just do away with my problem right now.”

  Another punch of anger surged through her. Anything was better than fear. She laughed wryly. “Yes, I have what you want. Want me to start reading entries to you?” She flipped the notebook open. “How about I start with one from…five years ago. Looks like Wendell Crane took a payoff from your father in the amount of—”

  Orlando cursed so loudly Porter could hear him as she held the phone away from her ear. When Orlando was through with his tirade she put the phone back to her ear. “I’m not meeting you today. I’m too f
ar away. Benny wasn’t stupid, he hid it somewhere you’d never find.”

  “If you’re trying to stall that makes you a very stupid little puta, risking your brother’s life like that.” His voice dripped with venom.

  “I would never risk my brother’s life. I don’t give a shit about your stupid book. I just want Benny back.” She hoped she’d injected enough fear into her voice to be believable—which the fear wasn’t exactly a lie anyway. Before he could speak she continued. “We’ll meet early tomorrow morning somewhere of my choosing. And you’re going to text me a picture of my brother ten minutes before we meet with a newspaper from tomorrow and you will also let me speak to him. And I swear if Benny is injured, you’ll never see your book. I’ll post this on the Internet, mail it out to your competitors, let the whole world know about it.”

  Porter’s eyebrows raised as he pulled up to another stop. For a moment she thought she’d gone too far but he just grinned. She just hoped her demand would keep her brother unharmed.

  She snapped her mouth shut as Orlando let out another litany of curses, but eventually the shouts stopped so she said, “I’ll call you as soon as I’m in the city.” Then she hung up.

  Feeling nauseous, she let out a long breath and leaned forward, placing her head between her legs. “I think I’m going to puke,” she muttered.

  “You were fucking amazing.”

  Her head snapped in Porter’s direction at the surprising curse word. “Really?”