by T. J. Kline
He opened the door, and she gulped, working herself up to scream. He held out his badge for her to see and she sobbed, sagging into herself with relief.
"I'm LVMPD. I need you to stay quiet and answer me, okay?" He had to keep her quiet and under control. Leo peered around the door. She followed his instructions. "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
"How many people are in here?"
"I…I don't know. It was just me but then I woke up in here like this. I don't know how I got here."
Leo didn't have to guess. "There wasn’t anyone else in the building before that?"
"I don't think so. I used my key to get in to clean."
There was a faint sound from one of the other room and Leo looked at her, holding a finger to his lips. "Stay in here. Help is on the way."
"Don't leave me," her voice pitched higher.
"Shh. Stay on the floor and do not come out until the police arrive. You're safer in here right now."
He shut the door silently and slipped out of the kitchen. Moving carefully down a hallway, he found two offices converted into private sex dens. Disgust rolled through him at the thought of the many women victimized in them. Leo pressed onward until he found himself at the edge of the main hall. It was empty and still. Light filtered in through the heavy curtains on the windows, filling the room with shifting shadows.
As he stepped into the room, there was a flash of movement near the bar and a man's voice on the other side of the room. "Will you hurry up? You weren’t supposed to leave the basement. Do you realize how risky this is? If he finds out—"
"I am," complained a woman's voice from down the hall, across the main room. "And why would he find out? I needed a shower.”
Leo pulled back slightly, using the corner of the wall as cover, and spotted Monique Bentley poking her head out of a room and yelling at the bastard she had working for her, standing down the hall from her.
But neither of them was what had drawn his attention. It was the blonde head rising from behind the bar as Toni stood upright, making herself an easy target.
The crack of the gunshot echoed through the club.
Monique and Tank bolted in two different directions. Toni immediately dropped back behind the bar at the sound behind her but when she peered out again, Monique disappeared through the doorway she'd been standing in. The big son of a bitch turned and ran, his footsteps pounded, getting farther away with every second. Doors slammed, and she didn't know which of the two she should follow. Monique had to be in charge but, if that fucker going after Rose, that was where the greater danger lie.
The sound of someone running toward her had her spinning back toward the center of the main room, raising her weapon, ready to fire. With adrenaline pumping through her veins, her heart racing in her chest, she barely recognized Leo and slid her shaking finger off the trigger, fighting to catch her breath at the realization of what she’d almost done.
He crouched as he ran toward her, sliding behind the bar.
"I nearly shot you," she hissed. "Are you insane?"
"Me? I'm not the one who came here without backup. What the hell? You can't take on both of them." His eyes flashed with righteous indignation. "You're putting both yours and Rose's life at risk."
"I'm here to save Rose."
"Getting killed won't help her."
She turned her back on him. "I didn't ask for your help, Leo. You should leave. If you stay, best case scenario, you'll get fired."
"Yeah?" She glared at his firm grip on her upper arm. "Well, there's no way I'm watching you get yourself killed while trying to—"
"Leave Leo."
Toni jerked her arm from his grasp, creeping from her spot behind the bar, making her decision clear. She was going after Tank since he probably held Rose. Besides, it would take more effort to take him down. Monique would drop like a rock with one hit, but Toni would need every bit of muscle and adrenaline left in her to get Tank down. It was also the reason she'd come armed to the teeth with three weapons loaded and ready.
Thanks to Leo discharging his gun to warn her, he'd also warned the other two, giving them ample time to get armed and prepared for a fight. She'd lost the element of surprise and now, with shots fired, there was a piss-poor chance of getting out of here without more.
Toni edged down the hall, silent as a wraith, pausing at the door where she'd seen Monique. It was quiet inside. For all Toni knew, Monique might have already escaped through a window.
Toni turned to find Leo following her. She flicked her hand at him, indicating that he should go after Monique in the depths of the room. He shook his head, and she repeated the gesture, more insistently. She easily read the refusal in his eyes and the tension in his body language. He didn't want them to split up. He might be right but she didn't have time to argue. If he went after Monique, she would follow Tank and find her sister. They could cover double the ground before it was too late.
Before she said anything more, he nodded once in agreement, surprising her. Gratitude flooded through her body. Toni fisted her hand in the front of Leo's shirt and dragged him down to her, pressing her lips against his, praying he understood every bit of what she tried to tell him with one quick kiss. That he was the man she'd always hoped to spend forever with - a man who understood her and didn't try to change her. That she realized how lucky she’d been to have him in her life. That she loved him more than words, or a kiss, would ever express.
She deepened the kiss, answering the question he didn't ask. If they got out of this, she would step down, quit the Bureau, do whatever he wanted.
She pulled away and Leo cupped her face in one palm, pressing a lingering kiss to her forehead. Toni closed her eyes, pausing for a heartbeat, wishing she could stop time, that she could go back to a moment before taking the case. She would have made a different decision. She would have stayed home with Leo and never gone undercover.
"Go. Get Rose so we can go home."
With leaden steps, she tore herself away from him, well aware that this might be the last time she ever laid eyes on him. She was putting herself directly in the line of fire of a man who expected her to come for him and wouldn't hesitate to kill her or her sister.
This was a suicide mission.
16
"Get them to a van. Now!" Monique heard the panicked pitch creeping into her voice.
She had no idea who had located them or who'd fired that shot in the bar, but she wasn't about to wait around and find out. It didn't really matter if it was LVMPD, SWAT, the Feds, or her boss. The last thing she wanted was to end up in cuffs. Or worse. Even a couple hundred thousand wasn’t worth dying for. They needed to get the hell out of Vegas. The money should already be in the account. She could transfer it to her off-shore and run. It wouldn't be the first time she'd gone into hiding. It probably wouldn't be the last.
"What the hell is taking you so long?" She'd climbed out the locker room window and snuck back into the garage at the rear of the building.
"I'm coming," Tank’s voice was thick with resentment. "I'm trying to carry a drugged woman. She isn't exactly light. If you're not going help, shut the fuck up.”
"Freeze! FBI!"
They both paused mid-step, but only for a moment as they realized the woman's voice was still down the hall, not yet in this outer room. But it was close, closing in, and she'd already proved that she wasn't afraid to fire a gun.
"I'm won't go down for Gupta," Monique hissed. She pointed at Casey. "Move her to the van first. She’s our high-ticket. You can get the other one—"
"I’m not going back in there."
"I pay you to deal with this shit so I don't have to,” she spat at him.
"Do you want to bury another body? Because if I go back in there, someone'll die and it won't be me. Dead Feds cause a lot of questions."
“It’s not like I’m sticking around to deal with it.”
“Word'll spread and it’ll freak your clientele out.”
She glare
d at Tank and held the door open so he could get his ass into the garage. She glanced at the lock on the door, hesitating. It was a cheap one and wouldn't hold anyone off for long, but it might buy a few minutes.
“Fine. Leave the other one here. Hurry up!"
Monique ran to the bay door they used for deliveries and raised it as Tank shoved the barely conscious woman into the back of an unmarked delivery van. He slammed the back door shut when a crash sounded at the doorway they’d just come through. A woman burst through it, gun trained on them.
"FBI! Don't move!"
Monique's mouth pinched into a thin line and pure bewilderment registered as she recognized the woman in front of her, identical to the one Tank had put into the van.
"Where's my sister?"
Sister? Realization dawned on Monique. Twins.
Was it conceivable they’d snatched the wrong woman? The full impact of her situation clicked into place. Casey must have been an undercover FBI agent and Tank seized her twin by mistake. Her mind raced, trying to come up with ways to stay alive, to keep this agent off-kilter enough for her to come up with an alibi for all the charges they would throw her way. The only one that made sense was to profess her innocence until this woman cut her lying tongue out. As long as she pled innocent to everything, they had the burden of proof and there wasn’t enough to convict her. What they had, her boss would easily make disappear.
"I don't understand what’s happening." She let her gaze slide slowly over the woman in front of her, stalling as she raised her hands to her shoulders and took a step backward. "Casey…Miles, right? What in the world are you doing here?"
"A better question would be why you’re here." The agent smiled but there was no humor in her expression as she pulled out a second gun and trained it on Tank. Her lips drew back in pure hatred and ferocious malice. Monique knew it mirrored her own. “Monique Bentley, you’re under arrest.”
“Arrest? For being at one of my own buildings?”
“On charges of trafficking, possession of narcotics, and kidnapping.”
Monique's brows lifted high on her forehead in mock surprise. “I don't understand what you’re talking about.”
"You had this dipshit kidnap my sister."
Monique saw Tank's face distort with contempt. If he got his hands on this agent, she was dead, but at least he knew enough to keep his mouth shut. For the moment. "I did no such thing."
"You've been using the 4Teen Center as your front while you drugged and sold women to the highest buyers."
Monique let loose a loud guffaw. "My goodness, you've a wild imagination. I help abused women. Of all people, I would be the last one to exploit—"
The gunshot reverberated through the room, making her ears ring as concrete from the floor chipped and scrapped against her shin, drawing a thin line of blood. Monique's body jerked backward in shock as the agent leveled the gun at Monique's chest.
"The next one won't be a warning. Both of you, on your stomachs, hands behind your head."
"Okay, let's all calm down." Monique eyed Tank who followed her lead, raising his hands behind his head. She eased her body closer to the passenger side of the van, prepared to open the door to shield her body. "If you would put down the guns, we'll discuss why you think—"
"There’s nothing to discuss. Where is my sister?”
"I have no—"
"Toni?" A woman inside the van called out, sounding like a weak puppy. “Toni!”
It was louder this time as if knowing her twin was near gave her strength to call out. Monique cursed her luck, wishing they’d had time to knock the woman out before moving her.
Recognition flashed in Casey’s -Toni’s - eyes. "Rose?"
Her grip on the gun slipped, and it was all Monique needed to make her move. Diving for the passenger door, Monique yanked it open and jumped inside. In sync with her movements, Tank jerked open the back door of the van, revealing the woman inside, curled in a ball with her arms around her knees, leaning to one side, her wrists and ankles zip-tied together. They had only seconds before gunfire erupted and Monique screamed at Tank. He jumped into the driver's seat, twisting the key in the ignition and slamming his foot on the gas pedal. Tires squealed on the concrete floor, dark smoke rising behind the van.
She might end up losing Gupta’s delivery but they would live to start over.
“Go!” she yelled.
Panic rocketed through Toni’s body. They were escaping and, if she didn't get Rose out of the van before they hit the street, she would never see her again. It was too risky to shoot at the driver through the open rear door of the vehicle . It was more likely that she would hit Rose.
She played through the few options to safely retrieve to her sister and only one made any sense. But the chance of hitting her mark was extremely slim. She took aim at the back tire of the van and fired one shot. A loud whoosh of air reverberated toward her and the car listed to the left, swerving. Rose's body slammed against the side of the van and Toni saw the driver trying to regain control as it skid sideways.
As the vehicle swayed, the doors swung closed, blocking Rose from view as Toni raised her gun and took aim again. Her second shot took out the left tire. This time, it exploded, rubber peeling off and flying to the sides. Sparks flew as the rim scrapped the asphalt of the parking lot, cutting into the concrete. With their getaway vehicle useless, Tank let the van skid to a stop.
"Get out!" Toni yelled, running for them, slowing as she got close. She spotted Leo coming out of the building to her left where he'd triangulated his position from the door that was their original access point at the rear of the building. Somehow, he must have heard her shots and located her.
"Freeze!" he yelled. “Las Vegas Police!”
The front doors on either side of the van opened and Leo and Toni each took aim, covering the exit points. There was no escape and both Tank and Monique seemed to recognize the matter.
"We’re coming out," Monique called.
Cautious relief flooded Toni. The situation wasn't completely diffused, so she couldn't let her guard down yet, but Rose was here, only a few feet away and alive. Once these two were in custody, she could hold her. There was an end of this nightmare in sight.
Toni positioned her body to the left side of the door, preparing for Monique's surrender from the passenger seat as Leo did the same on the driver's side, moving closer to the back corner of the vehicle opposite her.
The rear doors of the van flew open, nearly hitting Toni as she angled herself in the opposite direction. She froze, instinct kicking in and dropped into a crouch, making herself as small a target as possible in the open parking lot.
"Is she what you want?" Monique's bodyguard held Rose by her matted hair, her neck arched as she knelt in front of him in the back of the vehicle. "I'll give her to you but, you're have to let us go."
Leo shot a warning look her direction. They weren't letting them get away, but neither was about to tell this maniac that, not while he still held Rose hostage. From where Toni stood, the door blocked her view of Tank still holding Rose captive and Toni wasn't able to get off a clear shot. But Leo had a clear view of them both.
"Drop your gun," Tank ordered.
No, don’t!
Leo raised his hands, his weapon held out in an open palm, useless, before he squatted to the ground and laid it flat.
"Kick it away." Leo followed the order, kicking it toward where Toni crouched. It stopped almost a foot away, between them. "And your other one."
If he dropped his second weapon, Leo had no way to protect himself. He was a sitting target and Toni didn't doubt for a second that there were weapons stashed in the van. She slid the gun in her left hand, the 9mm she'd taken from Monique's office to the ground, preparing to kick it toward Leo. His gaze flicked toward the gun on the ground as she pulled her Sig from the holster at her ankle.
Toni pointed the Glock in her hand at the passenger side door, still waiting for Monique’s exit, and the other at the back of
the van, searching for a reflection in the passenger side mirror. She needed a better idea of what was happening inside the van, to alert her to where Monique might be since the passenger seat appeared empty. In fact, from the reflection, the entire front of the vehicle looked empty. Toni stood, hoping it would give her a better vantage point. If making herself into a bigger target deflected attention from Leo and Rose, she'd do it. She wasn't going down without a fight.
"Okay," Leo cajoled Tank, trying to keep him from noticing Toni creeping closer on the other side of the open door. "I put it down. Now, let her go."
The scrape of shoes dropping to the asphalt was music to Toni's ears as she edged closer to the back door of the van. She saw her sister's feet, teetering in high heels at the bumper, her body still blocked by the back door. Rose’s first step toward Leo was wobbly and tentative but grew steady as she realized she was being set free. Toni reached the edge of the door, her weapon trained on Tank, when Rose spotted her.
"Toni!"
Shock registered on the face of the man in the back of the van when he realized Toni had him in her sights. Rose stumbled toward her sister, having no idea what she'd done to compromise their positions, and blocked Toni’s shot.
Toni ignored the bruises marring her sister's face and the dress tangling around her legs as she lunged for her sister's waist, pulling her away from the back of the van to get her out of danger. Gunshots exploded all around.
She went down with Rose, rolling on her back. Toni pushed herself up on one arm, folding a knee underneath her as she tried to leverage her weight and drag them to some cover before either got hit. Her left leg was useless, unable to bear her weight and she couldn’t move. She looked down and spotted the entry wound as blood seeped through her jeans, spreading across her thigh. She clasped a hand over it, trying to stem the flow. As if seeing it suddenly made the pain a reality, her leg burned, on fire, and she groaned with the sheer agony.
"Rose, you have to get back inside. Call for help." Toni nudged her sister who lay beside her. Rose took the brunt of the impact when they fell and Toni prayed she hadn't hit her head when they went down. She shook her again. "Come on, Rose. Get up."