by LENA DIAZ,
Why she wasn’t being included in that meeting made no sense to her. Lily was her sister, after all, and both of their futures were on the line. Those two facts should have ensured that she was allowed inside the DEA “hallowed offices” instead of relegated to the lobby with Tanner and Chuck babysitting her. She wasn’t sure if they were really worried about her safety or whether their job was to make sure she didn’t run away. She didn’t get the feeling these DEA agents trusted her any more than Nick did.
The clock on the wall showed that Nick had been gone for over half an hour. Heather let out a deep sigh.
Chuck looked up from the newspaper he was reading in the chair across from her. “Are you sure you don’t want anything, Miss Bannon? I can send Tanner out for Starbucks or Mickey D’s.”
Tanner, sitting next to Chuck, cocked a brow. “Or I can send Chuck out to get whatever you need.”
His quick glance at the door to the other room told Heather he was just as anxious as she was to find out what was going on. Heather vaguely wondered what Chuck and Tanner had done to draw the short straw and be stuck in the lobby with her.
Before she could tell them she didn’t want anything, the door opened.
Heather jumped to her feet, expecting to see Nick. Instead, Dante Messina—whom she’d met briefly when they first arrived—strode out of the room and stopped in front of her.
“Miss Bannon,” he said. “Thank you for waiting. We’re ready for you now.” He held his hand out toward the open doorway.
“Thank you.” Heather preceded him into the room and Dante followed behind.
As soon as she stepped inside, she stopped and stared in amazement.
Dante moved past her and spoke in low tones to three men standing beside one of the computer monitors on the left side of the room.
“Impressive, isn’t it?”
Heather jerked around at the sound of Nick’s voice. He was standing beside her, grinning as if everything were perfectly fine. As if none of the horrible events yesterday had ever happened. Then she noticed the tiny lines around his eyes, the tension in his stance. Nick wasn’t fine at all. He looked...worried.
“It is impressive,” she answered. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Neither have I. And I’ve been in a lot of DEA offices around the country. I have to admit I’ve got a bad case of technology envy right now.”
Heather could understand why. This office was unlike anything she’d ever seen, except maybe in a movie. There were no cubicle walls. The entire room was open, with three enormous semicircular tables that stretched from one side to the other, in tiers, all facing the front like stadium seating in a theater, or maybe a NASA control room. Agents sat at the various workstations, talking into headsets or typing at their state-of-the-art computers. An electronic map of the Florida Keys was currently displayed on the screen at the end of the room, with live pictures of different parts of the Keys being flashed down the left side.
Dante finished his conversation with the three men he was with and waved at Nick and Heather to join them.
“Come on,” Nick said, resting his hand on the small of Heather’s back. “That’s our cue.”
They headed down the stairs and went through a side door with Dante and the three other agents. Though smaller than the room they’d just come from, this office had the same theater-style screen on the far wall, showing the same live shots.
Dante didn’t sit behind the desk that dominated one side of the room. Instead, he and his agents sat in the well-worn group of chairs arranged in a circle in front of the desk. Heather couldn’t imagine Nick’s boss giving up his position of power by sitting with his agents like Dante. Nick led Heather to one of the chairs and sat beside her. He squeezed her hand as if to reassure her, then let go.
“These men are my section leaders,” Dante said, directing his comments to Heather.
He introduced each man and Heather shook their hands.
“I’m sorry I left you waiting so long,” Dante apologized. “But I had to gather some facts together and hear Nick’s side of what happened before I spoke to you.”
“No problem.” She glanced worriedly at Nick. He gave her a reassuring nod.
Dante rested his forearms on his knees. “I understand you and your sister were arrested for possession of cocaine, with intent to sell.”
Heather jerked back in her chair as if she’d been slapped.
“I’m not judging you,” Dante assured her. “I’m fact-finding so I can make some decisions.”
“Fine. The facts are that my sister had cocaine in her possession because she’s mixed up with a drug-dealing boyfriend who took advantage of her vulnerability. I tried to destroy the drugs to keep her from using them or from doing something worse, as you said, like selling them.” She directed her next statement to Nick. “I’m not a drug dealer.”
Nick’s eyes widened. His reaction told Heather he’d never considered that she was. Well, it would have been nice if he’d bothered to tell her that. She crossed her arms and faced Dante.
“The boyfriend you’re referring to is, of course, Jose Gonzalez,” Dante continued. “He’s a major trafficker of cocaine through the Keys to Miami, and on to other cities like Saint Augustine. Nick tells me that Waverly offered you a deal, that if you helped him get Gonzalez he’d drop all charges against you and your sister. I have a problem with that, because Gonzalez is on my turf. Rickloff is out of the Miami office and never consulted me. If he had, I wouldn’t have offered you a deal.”
Heather shot a desperate look at Nick, but she couldn’t read the hard expression on his face. What was going on?
“I don’t understand. I signed an agreement. I was sent here with Agent Watkins...” She swallowed hard against the tightening in her throat and flushed with guilt because Watkins had been injured, but she plowed ahead. “I did exactly what I was told. I’m cooperating in every way that I can.”
He held up his hand to stop her. “I’m not nullifying your deal. I can’t. It’s legal and binding. I’m just saying that I agree with Nick. It was a bad deal, a lousy idea, and if anyone had consulted me—which they didn’t—I would have explained to them how stupid it was.”
“I don’t understand,” Heather said.
“As far as I’m concerned, Waverly is responsible for Watkins being hurt and for you and Nick almost being killed. Not to mention, he didn’t provide backup. Rickloff isn’t an idiot. He knew what would happen. I can only conclude one thing. He wanted Gonzalez to abduct you.”
Heather’s hand flew to her throat. “That’s insane.”
“No, that’s desperation. Rickloff has been after Gonzalez for a long time, with no more success than I’ve had. He wants to get him, badly, so that blinded him to the dangers. I can’t imagine he wanted you hurt. There’s nothing to gain by that. But it’s logical to assume if Gonzalez’s men grabbed you they’d have taken you back to one of his private compounds. Rickloff wanted to follow you to that compound to capture Gonzalez.”
He stood, picked something up off his desk that appeared to be a remote control and crossed to the screen on the far wall. The pictures changed, revealing a more detailed map of the Keys, with several red Xs on it. He waved his hand to encompass the entire screen. “Gonzalez has dozens of homes throughout the Keys and south Florida. Most are protected like military compounds, with the latest security gadgets and a full staff of security guards. There are some remote houses, too, on smaller islands, basically little blips of land just a mile or so across that you won’t see on most maps. Gonzalez likes to go from compound to compound like a game of musical chairs, because he knows we’re watching. The problem is, he has several look-alikes, much like Saddam Hussein had in Iraq. We’re never quite sure where the real Jose Gonzalez is at any particular time. It’s an old-school trick, but effective.”
He tossed the remote back on his desk and sat down again. “We really don’t know which house Gonzalez thinks of as his real home, which brings me to my point. We have no way of figuring out where your sister is without searching every compound, every little island he owns. No judge is going to give us a warrant to do that, and Rickloff knows that. I believe he was hoping to get Gonzalez to kidnap you so he could follow you to where Lily was being held. Armed with that information, he could get a search warrant. I’m sure he thought it would be a simple in-and-out procedure, no one gets hurt. But, as usual, he underestimated Gonzalez.”
Heather stared at the map. All those Xs made her slightly nauseous. Finding Lily was starting to look like an impossible task. “But if what you’re saying is true, about all those compounds, how would Rickloff have known where to go if Gonzalez kidnapped me?”
Dante twisted sideways in his chair to pick up something from his desk. He held it out in his palm—the parrot transmitter Mark was wearing on his shirt in the bar.
“This isn’t just a microphone,” Dante said. “It’s also a homing beacon. I believe Rickloff planned to use that to find you after you were taken. Since Mark was still wearing the pin when he was taken into the E.R., the nurse who cut off his clothes put this in the bag that contained his belongings. That bag was put in his room. None of my agents noticed the pin or realized what it was until there was an attempt on Mark’s life this morning at the hospital. Even though we had him sequestered in a remote room under a fake name, one of Gonzalez’s men found him and tried to kill him.”
“Oh, no. Is he...okay?” Heather asked, her nails biting into her palms.
“Yes. Fortunately we had him well guarded, but the man who tried to kill him was killed in the scuffle, so we couldn’t get any additional information out of him. Regardless, my point is that Rickloff made some terrible mistakes. I could have told him what outcome to expect if he paraded you in public for Gonzalez’s men to see. Rickloff and Waverly may make deals, but Gonzalez doesn’t. Your sister—”
“Lily.”
He nodded. “Lily. She’s been living with Gonzalez for a while. She—”
“Wait, wait,” Heather said. “Everyone keeps saying my sister was Gonzalez’s girlfriend. Now you’re saying they were living together. You just showed me that he owns entire islands. That means he’s wealthy, right?”
Dante frowned, not looking pleased at her interruption. “Yes. He’s quite wealthy actually. He owns many legitimate businesses that we believe he uses to launder his drug money. But yes, he’s rich.”
“Does he normally spend money on the women he associates with? Does he buy them cars, clothes, things like that?”
“Of course.”
“Then why did my sister show up in Saint Augustine a couple of weeks ago flat broke, driving a car that wouldn’t even start the night we were arrested?”
The room went silent. Heather looked at each man, including Nick, waiting for someone to answer her, but no one did. “None of you have thought about that?”
“It’s a valid question,” Nick finally said. “One wouldn’t expect that Gonzalez’s mistress would have a rattletrap car and no spending money. I have no idea what this could mean, but I think Dante’s men should look into it.”
“We will,” Dante assured them. “But back to my original point. Your sister knows how the system works, that if she destroyed Gonzalez’s drugs, she’d be dead. So, when his lawyer talked to her in jail, I assure you the first thing she told him, regardless of how much she may love you, is that you’re the one who flushed that cocaine. She probably told him you tricked her somehow into taking the drugs in the first place. Basically, she gave him what he wanted, a way to place blame on someone else and not hurt her. But by doing that, she moved you to the top of Gonzalez’s hit list. I imagine his lawyer was supposed to bail you out of jail so Gonzalez’s men could abduct you. When that didn’t work, he took Lily and tempted you to the Keys with that note. Going to Skeleton’s Misery was like offering yourself up as a gift. The end result was inevitable, that Gonzalez would send someone to kill you. Lucky for you, Nick stepped in. Unfortunately for Nick, it cost him his job.”
Heather froze, her heart stuttering in her chest. “I don’t...I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Nick?”
His jaw tightened. “When Dante called Waverly to report what happened, Waverly fired me for not staying in Saint Augustine and for coming down here without permission.”
Heather’s stomach twisted into a hard knot. She knew Nick loved being a DEA agent. It seemed to matter more to him than anything else.
Including her.
If he hadn’t hated her before, he must hate her now. “But you were a hero. You saved Mark and me.”
“Exactly what I said to Waverly,” Dante said. “If it weren’t for Nick, Agent Watkins would be dead. Of that I have no doubt. And you would probably be in one of Gonzalez’s compounds right now being interrogated by Gonzalez or one of his men. Nick saved both of you, several times from what I’ve heard. He’s extremely good at what he does, which is why I offered him a position on my team. Unfortunately, he turned me down.”
“What?” Heather grabbed Nick’s hand. “Why would you do that? You shouldn’t lose your job because of me.”
He gently pulled his hand back. “For the same reason I defied Waverly by coming down here in the first place. I don’t want you to get hurt. And now Dante wants to put you in danger just like Waverly. I’m not going to allow that. After this meeting, you and I are going back home, to Saint Augustine.”
Panic bloomed inside Heather, making her legs shake. “I can’t go back, not without Lily.”
“I agree,” Dante said. “And I have a plan to help get her back.”
Nick swore, leaving Heather little doubt that he knew exactly what Dante’s plan was.
And he didn’t like it.
“Okay, what’s the plan?” she asked.
Dante grinned. “We’re going to play the identical twin card.”
Chapter Nine
“You’re proposing the same ill-fated plan Waverly proposed,” Nick said, his voice low and menacing.
“Close, yes, but far less dangerous, because I’ll make sure she’s protected,” Dante said. “Miss Bannon, believe me when I tell you I would never have agreed to Rickloff and Waverly’s plan had they asked me ahead of time. But the wheels are in motion and two agents were nearly killed. That sends the wrong signal to the bad guys. If I don’t bring Gonzalez down, I might as well declare open season on all my agents. To get him, I need inside information, which has proved exceedingly difficult with Gonzalez. His men are so afraid of him they’re loyal without question.” He leaned forward in his chair. “I’m proposing a twist in the original plan. Instead of presenting yourself as Heather, I want you to pretend to be Lily.”
Heather blinked, not certain she’d heard him correctly. “Excuse me?”
Nick mumbled something that sounded like “stupid plan” and “dangerous” beneath his breath.
Heather clutched the arms of her chair in frustration. “If Gonzalez has my sister, how can I pretend to be her in public? Everyone will know I’m a fraud.”
Dante shook his head. “Last night, no one thought you were Lily. You didn’t dress like her or act like her, because you weren’t trying to pretend to be her. Gonzalez had no problem sending men after you because you were obviously not your sister. But if you can convince everyone you’re Lily, he has to be more careful. If his men grabbed Lily in public, he’d be sending the message his mistress had defied him, and he’d be forced to kill her. But he doesn’t want to kill her. So, instead, he’ll come after you himself and try to bargain with you so you’ll go with him without making a fuss, allowing him to save face and not hurt his girlfriend.”
Heather shook her head. “This is all so confusing. But I’ll do whate
ver I can to save her. How will your plan do that?”
“After forcing Gonzalez out into the open, we’ll be able to follow him back to see where he’s holding your sister. Then we can get a warrant and raid the compound and free Lily. The beauty of it is that I then get to charge Gonzalez with kidnapping. I’ll take that to get him off the streets. Of course, we’ll have to figure out how to make all of this happen, without Gonzalez taking you prisoner as well.”
Nick swore. “Yet another reason not to use her in this crazy scheme. There’s no way to guarantee her safety. Your plan isn’t any better than Rickloff’s or Waverly’s.”
Dante frowned at him. “Waverly sent a civilian with one agent and no backup. That was stupid. I’ll send her in with plenty of backup. And we’ll have every possible escape route covered.”
Nick shook his head. “There has to be another way to find Gonzalez and rescue Lily without putting Heather in danger.”
“We have no way of knowing where Gonzalez is holding Lily. We need a way to narrow it down. If you have a better plan, please, tell me. I’m listening.” Dante leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head.
“Send your men to all the local bars,” Nick said. “Let them infiltrate Gonzalez’s network and gather information, find out where he is. Use all this fancy equipment and resources you have to launch a rescue operation.”
“That will take too long—weeks, months. Even though Gonzalez has hidden Lily’s thievery from most of his men, his close inner circle has to know what happened by now. He can’t afford not to punish her. And he’s not going to wait weeks or months.”
The unspoken conclusion seemed to weigh on everyone in the room. Lily was still in danger, mortal danger.
Nick glared at Dante. “What, exactly, do you want Heather to do?”
“One of Gonzalez’s men’s favorite hangouts is a marina a couple of miles north of here. There’s a restaurant on the boardwalk that’s considerably more tame than Skeleton’s Misery. We’ll have men inside and out, and scattered throughout the marina. Heather will wear a wire and sit as bait, waiting for Gonzalez to approach. She’ll walk outside with him and we’ll cause some kind of commotion to let her escape. Then we’ll follow Gonzalez without him realizing it.”