Under Threat

by B. J Daniels

  “As a woman, I find cases about kidnappings very disconcerting.” She never once looked away, because she knew that would give her away more than anything else. She stared straight into his eyes and willed him to believe her words.

  “That wasn’t your first kidnapping case,” he said, all calm, emotionless delivery.

  She swallowed before she could will away the nervous response. She had worked a kidnapping case before, but just one. It had been the abduction of a little boy in the middle of a custody battle. It had been nothing like her sister’s case, and she’d known that from the beginning. “He was a small boy. I couldn’t see myself as a victim.”

  “Herman said he keeps girls. Last time I checked, you were a woman.”

  Natalie’s pulse started thundering in her wrist and in her neck, panic fluttering through her. “Obviously you’ve never been a young woman in a rough part of town,” she returned, proud of how steady her voice sounded.

  He held her gaze, but he didn’t say anything. He simply looked at her as though if he looked long enough, he could unravel all her secrets.

  She almost believed he could.

  “What do you know about The Stallion, Ms. Torres? I won’t ask again.”

  “Good. Because I don’t know anything about him. I don’t even know what he is. So, please, don’t ask me again, because this is the truth. I have no clue.” She managed to swallow down the “trust me, I wish I knew more.” But only just.

  “Lies could get us killed at this point. Remember that.”

  It struck her hard, because he was right. Some lies could get them killed in this situation, but not her lies. All she was doing was not explaining why she’d been superinterested in this case.

  Her interest in the girls had nothing to do with why her house had been burned down, and had nothing to do with why she was stuck in this little place in the middle of nowhere with this Texas Ranger.

  Her lie was personal, but it was...incidental almost. She didn’t know anything about The Stallion or what he might be into that would make him the kind of man to kill people and burn down houses.

  She reached across the table, not sure why it seemed necessary to touch him, but she thought she could get her truth across if there was some sort of connection. She touched her fingertips to the back of his hand and looked him in the eye.

  “I have no intention of getting us killed. I have no intention of lying to you. All I want is to be able to go back to my life.” She slid her fingers off his hand, and something shimmered to life inside of her. She didn’t understand that odd feeling, and why she felt off-kilter and short of breath. Why the warmth of his hand seemed to stay in her fingertips.

  So, she looked down at her soup as she said, “And if we’re going to discuss honesty, why don’t you tell me what you know about why we’re being chased? Because I think it’s a whole heck of a lot more complicated than you’re letting on.”

  She brought a spoonful of soup to her mouth and then slid a glance at him. He had narrowed his eyes, and he was still studying her, that intensity never leaving his face.

  And Natalie wondered just how long she could keep her secret...

  Chapter 6

  Vaughn still didn’t trust Ms. Torres. There was something she was hiding, he was sure of it. Despite his absolute certainty though, he found himself inclined to believe she didn’t know anything about The Stallion. She wasn’t scared enough. If she knew what that man was capable of, she’d be petrified.

  “There’s nothing about this case that seems to directly apply to you. The Stallion is the head of an organized crime ring that deals mostly in drugs. Human and sex trafficking is also a possibility.”

  He noted the way she paled. It could be that fear he thought she needed, but he tended to think that the mention of trafficking didn’t make people pale unless they had some sort of personal stake in the matter.

  He could question her again. He could keep interrogating her until she finally gave in and told him her secret.

  And he would. Yes, he would, but first he needed to finish his soup and get a few hours of sleep. That was just common sense, not caring about her feelings. He certainly didn’t care about those.

  “We have at least four unsolved cases we think might be connected to The Stallion and his cronies. Not to even begin to mention the current cases. Getting Herman on the leash and willing to talk was a huge breakthrough in our cases. And then you ruined my interrogation.”

  “You were asking the wrong questions.”

  “I know what the right questions are. I’ve been doing this for too long to ask the wrong questions. You were taking too direct an approach, and it wasn’t even your job to approach anything.” He gritted his teeth to stop from talking. He wasn’t going to let her rile him up with her ridiculous accusations.

  He finished his soup and then closed out all the files he didn’t want her to have access to. He set his computer up so he’d be able to track whatever she did try to look up while he was asleep.

  He didn’t consider it underhanded, he considered it necessary.

  “I’m going to sleep. Obviously you can make yourself comfortable, but keep all doors locked, all windows covered. You hear a noise, see anything suspicious, anything, you come get me immediately.”

  “What if someone blasts through the window and I have nothing to protect myself with?”

  She made a good point, but it wasn’t a particularly comfortable one. Did he trust her enough to arm her while he slept? “What are your qualifications?”

  Her eyebrows drew together. “My...what?”

  “Do you have a permit? Training?”

  “Well, no.”

  “Have you ever used a gun before?”

  “Well...” She sighed at his raised eyebrow. “No.”

  Vaughn resisted rolling his eyes. Barely. “We’ll see about training you, but in the meantime, don’t touch a firearm. If someone comes blasting in here, they’ll have you disarmed before you even figure out how to aim and pull the trigger.”

  She scowled, but she didn’t argue. He’d count that as a win.

  “If you see something suspicious, come get me. Otherwise, stay out of trouble.”

  Her full lips remained pressed together. The lips were distracting, but not as distracting as how...formfitting his sister’s clothes were on this woman. And thank goodness they were his sister’s clothes and he could keep any wayward thoughts at bay with that reminder.

  He turned abruptly and headed for his room. It didn’t make sense to sit here sniping with her when he needed to catch a few hours’ sleep. He didn’t bother with a shower; he’d deal with that later. For now, he went straight to his bed and slid under the covers.

  He was exhausted enough that his eyelids immediately closed, but he didn’t drift off right away. No matter how exhausted he was, there was too much on his mind.

  Unfortunately, a large portion of that was Natalie Torres. He still hadn’t had a chance to dig deeper into her background beyond the file the department had kept on her while she’d been employed with them.

  No criminal record. Hell, not even a speeding ticket. She’d lived at the same address for the entirety of her employment, and none of her other jobs struck him as peculiar or suspicious.

  It was simply her that was both peculiar and suspicious. The way she’d jumped in and questioned Herman after years of following the rules. The way she’d paled when he mentioned trafficking.

  The way she chewed on her bottom lip when she was thinking, leaving it wet and...

  He groaned and rolled face-first into his pillow. He’d never been... He punched at the pillow, irritated with the truth. No matter how suspicious he found Ms. Torres, he was physically attracted to her.

  Which didn’t matter, of course, it was just increasingly obnoxious that the woman he didn’t want to be attracted to was the one he wa
s stuck in an isolated cabin with. For who knew how long.

  But, he couldn’t think like that. He had to focus on one thing at a time. If he got too worked up about what could happen, he’d miss something about what was happening, and that could get somebody killed.

  He hadn’t let it happen yet. He wasn’t about to let it happen now. That was how he had to think. He had to be certain that he could solve this case before any more people got hurt. But he needed to get in a couple hours’ sleep so he could focus on the files and find the connection he was missing.

  He needed to figure out what Ms. Torres’s connection was. Because she had to have one. Maybe it wasn’t with The Stallion, but she was involved with something. He was sure of it.

  And when Vaughn Cooper was sure of something, God help the person on the other side.

  * * *

  Natalie glanced at the hallway Ranger Cooper had disappeared down at least twenty minutes ago. Surely he was asleep. She’d been afraid to move the entire time he’d been gone, afraid that he would somehow read her thoughts and her plan and come rushing back out and take the computer with him.

  But he’d left it. Ranger Cooper wasn’t a stupid man. She didn’t think he’d actually have anything on that computer she could access that would give her answers, but if he had the internet, or even a basic case write-up of something, she might be able to find the information she needed to make the connection. A connection between her sister and this Stallion person.

  A clue. A hint. Something, something to help her figure out how to proceed.

  Natalie stood, and her heart was nearly beating out of her chest. She had to get a handle on her nerves at being caught. What did it matter? He knew what she was doing. He had to know this was what she was going to do. Getting caught was the least of her worries.

  Her heartbeat didn’t seem to listen. It continued to beat guiltily in her chest, but she had do something. She took her bowl to the kitchen and rinsed it out. She waited after each movement to see if she could hear Ranger Cooper moving around or coming back out to the hallway. But the cabin was eerily silent.

  Now her heart was overbeating for a completely different reason. The fact someone could be out there. Someone could be out there and watching her and just...

  She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. She couldn’t think like that. She could only think about survival. Thinking about who or what was after her and why...

  She had to push it away, just like the knowledge her house was gone, that her sister could be dead, that her family could be in danger. She had to push it all aside and focus on what she could do.

  She walked out of the kitchen and headed for the table and the open computer. She put her hand on the touchpad, and the computer sprang to life. No password to enter. No apparent security practices in place. Just an open, easily accessible computer. She glanced back down the hallway with narrowed eyes.

  There was no way he would leave his computer completely unattended. Even if nothing was on here. There was something to this. Some kind of setup. Or maybe he was simply trying to prove she was underhanded.

  It was insulting. He thought she was this dumb. For some reason that made her want to do it all the more. To do everything he thought she would do. Because it didn’t seem to matter what she did, he was going to think she was hiding something. She might as well get something out of it.

  It was possible her sister had been taken by The Stallion. But it was also possible her sister was taken by some other lunatic, and Natalie would never find her. But Natalie was never going to know if she didn’t take this chance—regardless of what Ranger Cooper thought.

  So, she pulled up the web browser and tested the availability of the internet. She cursed when she couldn’t find anything. No wireless, and he didn’t appear to have any kind of hot spot. So what had he been reading so intently all through lunch?

  She skimmed the names of the folders on his desktop. The one on the very top was named CASE FILES.

  “Oh, you really think I am just such an idiot, don’t you?” she muttered, more and more insulted.

  She opened the folder anyway. Maybe this was all information he didn’t mind her having, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t worth having. It would still be more than she knew. She would take this opportunity, no matter how he used it against her in the future.

  When the folder opened, there were a variety of documents inside. They didn’t appear to be official police documents. They weren’t reports or labeled in the way she knew cases and information at the precinct was labeled. These had to be his personal notes.

  Even better.

  Each file name included the words “The Stallion” plus a number code of some sort. Either his own or one outside of police work.

  She began to read them in order, getting lost in the twists and turns of all the possible cases they thought The Stallion might be involved in.

  It was a lot of drugs. Things she didn’t know anything about. She couldn’t imagine her sister had been wrapped up in drugs. Surely Natalie would’ve noticed that. They had been too close for Natalie to have not known or suspected that.

  When Natalie got to the suspected instances of human trafficking, her blood ran cold. A lot of it was mixed up with immigration issues, but the thing that hit her hard and left her reeling was a mention of the Corlico Plant.

  Her father had worked there for twenty years. He’d only stopped when Gabby had disappeared from the parking lot, waiting for him to get off his shift.

  He’d never been able to go back.

  And here it was, in the cases tied to The Stallion. Natalie shivered, reading quicker through the notes.

  Apparently the Rangers suspected the factory of being some sort of drop-off point, or transfer station based on one raid they’d conducted, but the two women who had been freed hadn’t been able to give any information that gave the Rangers further leads.

  Between Herman saying he kept the girls, and this connection, Natalie was more and more convinced The Stallion was keeping Gabby. That he had her.

  She was alive.

  It was strange that the rush of tears overtook her, considering how often and how much she’d cried over Gabby. How many moments of hope she’d had that had been dashed time and time again over the course of eight years. Yet this new little tiny trickle of a lead felt like a revelation.

  She’d always been certain Gabby was still alive. Her certainty had been something of a crutch, really. But there’d always been that little question in the back of her mind. What if Mom and Grandma were right? What if Gabby was dead, and Natalie had wasted her life chasing nothing?

  But it wasn’t nothing. This was the biggest lead she’d ever had. It wasn’t proof, and maybe it was even grasping at straws, but it was something. Something had to mean everything right now. On the run, in this tiny cabin with a man she didn’t understand—and was afraid she was a little too interested in understanding—she finally had a sliver of hope.

  She would hold on to that for all she was worth.

  She kept scanning the documents, eager to find a connection between the Corlico Plant and The Stallion.

  An eerie sound pierced the air. Natalie froze. She didn’t know how to describe the sound, and she had even less of a clue where it might have come from. She didn’t move a muscle and strained to hear something else. Something that might identify it as harmless.

  What on earth would be harmless in the middle of nowhere? Again her heart pounded so loudly she could barely hear anything, and knowing she needed to hear made it even worse. She breathed slowly and evenly, trying desperately to listen carefully. She didn’t want to wake up Ranger Cooper for something stupid.

  A noise in the middle of nowhere isn’t stupid. It was actually probably pretty damn important. Looking a little stupid was better than being dead.

  Carefully, she stood. Her legs were shaky, but she
tried to walk as quietly as possible, still straining to hear something, anything, to give her a clue as to what the sound might have been.

  She inched her way toward the hallway, eyes trained on the door and the windows. She didn’t know whether she was expecting someone to burst through one, or one of those red dots from a laser sight to show up on her chest.

  The sound didn’t repeat, and she slowly moved down the hallway. Just as she reached Ranger Cooper’s door, she heard it again.

  It was oddly high-pitched, but not quite mechanical. Where she had originally planned to be very careful and quiet, gently waking up Ranger Cooper, the sound repeating caused Natalie to move forward clumsily and jerkily, swinging open his door with no finesse it all.

  He was bolting up in the bed before the door even banged against the wall. His hand immediately closed over his weapon, which had been placed on a nightstand next to his bed.

  It was the second time he’d almost pulled his weapon on her in the course of not very many hours, but she was glad he had such quick reflexes. It was oddly comforting to know he would immediately grab for his gun and try to protect them both. Considering he had never actually done anything with the gun, just placed his hand on it both times, she still felt safe in his presence.

  He flung off the covers, getting out of the bed in one quick, graceful movement. He was wearing athletic shorts and a T-shirt, and perhaps a little bit later she’d have more time to appreciate just how sculpted his muscles were, but for right now she had her life to save.

  “What’s happening?” he asked, his hands clutching the gun at his side, looking like a man ready to fight.

  “I...heard a noise,” Natalie said, feeling foolish and scared and just damn lost.