Outside the Law

by Carsen Taite

  Syd chewed her food slowly, certain there was some undercurrent of meaning in his words. The food was good, but she hoped she wasn’t in over her head. When the waiter came back to clear their plates and ask about dessert, she deferred to Carlos.

  “We’ll have my usual, but upstairs.” As the waiter wandered off, Carlos stood. “I have something to show you.”

  Syd looked around, a bit disconcerted. “Here?”

  “Close by.”

  Uh-oh, she thought. Leaving the restaurant with Carlos wasn’t part of the plan, but since she hadn’t managed to get any information from him so far about whether he was working with Gellar, she wasn’t ready to rule out going off script for a bit. “I should get back to the office,” she said half-heartedly.

  “Where is the woman who was talking about breaking rules?” he challenged. “I promise it won’t take long, and if you are truly interested in changing your life for the better, you will want to see what I have to show you.”

  Tanner would come unglued if she left here with Carlos and no one knew where they were headed, but Syd knew if she didn’t go with him now, there probably wouldn’t be another chance. She said a silent prayer that wherever they were going, Mary could keep tabs on them, and she feigned an excitement she didn’t feel. “Then by all means, lead the way.”

  * * *

  “What do you mean she left with him?” Tanner gripped the phone as if she could squeeze a different answer from the speaker.

  “They ate lunch and then left together. I followed as close as I could, but I lost them when they got on the elevator.” Mary cleared her throat. “She didn’t look like she was under duress.”

  Tanner held back a sarcastic retort about how Mary barely knew Syd, so how would she know if she were under duress or not? The simple fact was she should have been the one at the restaurant, keeping an eye on Syd, but instead she’d spent the last hour and change sitting in Syd’s hotel room trying not to think about the fact the bed where Syd slept every night was only a few feet away. Having Syd meet with Aguilar had been a stupid idea from the start, and now the team that had come up with it had lost control. “How long ago did they leave? Do you even know if they’re still in the hotel?”

  “They left about twenty minutes ago. Dale is checking with the valet to see if Aguilar’s car has been checked out, but we’re trying to be subtle. I don’t think they’ve left the hotel, though.”

  Tanner heard a slight inflection in Mary’s voice. “Why do you say that?”

  “I saw a couple of guys seated not far from Aguilar at the restaurant. They didn’t order any food, and when he left with Syd, the guys followed. I’m betting they’re Aguilar’s body men. They’re in the lobby right now.”

  “Shit.” Tanner stared at the wall in Syd’s room, trying desperately to formulate a plan, but all she could come up with was for the entire team to bust down Aguilar’s hotel room door and go in guns drawn. She needed to get a grip and figure out something workable, but the column of fear twisting around her spine was paralyzing. “What’s your plan, and please say something other than wait for Syd to make contact?”

  “Where are you?”

  “What?”

  “I’m heading your way so we can talk this out. Where are you?”

  “No. I’m coming to you.”

  “Tanner, you know Syd better than any of us. Do you really think she’d take a big risk if she didn’t feel like she could handle it?”

  I used to know her. Tanner forced her breath to slow and rolled Mary’s words over in her head. Syd was a planner. Meticulous and orderly. She charted a path and stuck with it. That’s the Syd she used to know. But the Syd who’d walked back into her life a few weeks ago was different. This Syd risked her career by becoming a whistle-blower. She’d abandoned her dream job to work for the government. She’d volunteered to meet one-on-one with a guy who might very well be a cutthroat cartel boss. This Syd wasn’t the one she knew. Not at all.

  “I’m at Syd’s hotel. Don’t come here. If anyone happened to make you and they followed you here…” Tanner ran a hand through her hair. “Besides, I’d rather you stick close in case you spot her. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

  “Bad idea. I’ve got Dale watching outside the building and I’m inside. What are you going to do, charge into the penthouse?” Mary dropped her voice to a whisper. “I get that you’re worried, but there’s nothing you can do right now. Wait there, and I’ll keep you posted.”

  Tanner paced the length of the room, doing her best to tamp down her frustration. Several times, she started to send Syd a text and ask what the hell she was doing, but if Syd was in trouble, a bunch of concerned texts from an FBI agent would only exacerbate the situation. The wait was aggravating, but even more so was the lack of information. Tanner could handle anything if she knew what she was up against, but Syd’s reappearance in her life and the uncertainty of what it meant for her future had thrown her completely off balance, and the unknown was going to do her in.

  * * *

  In her time at the law firm, Syd had seen plenty of posh places from client offices to private suites at expensive hotels, but Carlos’s suite at the Ritz was next level. They entered via a private entrance that opened into a massive living area. He excused himself to make a call, and she spent a moment taking in her surroundings, partly out of curiosity, but mostly in case she needed to make a sudden getaway. Silly really, since Carlos had been the consummate gentleman. If Peyton hadn’t told her he was suspected to be behind a dangerous cartel, she wouldn’t have guessed he was anything but what he purported to be—an entrepreneurial restaurateur bringing the food of his heritage to the public.

  She walked the length of the living room and spotted a hallway that led to four closed doors. Was Carlos’s food empire big enough to support what must have been a lavish expense, or was this luxury funded by illicit income? Was evidence of either behind one of those doors?

  Carlos’s voice intruded on her musings. “It’s an extravagance, I know, but I have meetings with potential investors here, and it’s important that they believe in my success.”

  “Believe or know?” Syd asked.

  “You are very insightful, Ms. Braswell.” He walked over to the window that offered an irresistible view of the Dallas skyline. “I do not lack for anything, but that doesn’t mean I am satisfied. Nothing is more dangerous than for a man to think he is satisfied.”

  “Or a woman.” Sydney could do this word dance as long as he could, but she wanted to push things along. “I appreciate your desire to be subtle, and maybe it’s the crass American in me, but I don’t see anything wrong with admitting that you are wildly successful and able to afford whatever luxuries you want.”

  She waited for him to recoil, but he only smiled and changed the subject. “Have a seat. Dessert will be here in a few minutes, but in the meantime, I’d like to hear all about what brought you to Dallas and your work with our mutual friend.”

  Syd thought quickly. Her first instinct was to deflect, but she’d done that at the party the first time he asked about why she was in town. If she put him off again, he’d likely shut down, and she wanted just the opposite. Decision made, she opened her mouth and offered a fictionalized version of the truth. “This is not public knowledge.” She stopped and waited for him to nod a promise of silence. “The task force that Herschel has been running has gone a bit rogue, and he wanted someone to bring them into check. He’s much too busy to watch their every move, so that’s why I’m here. While they should be doing everything in their power to put together the strongest possible case against the Vargases and Cyrus Gantry, who was laundering money for them, they have lost focus.”

  “And how are you getting them back on track?”

  “It’s not easy, but I have insisted on overseeing their work, reviewing all of the evidence and having them account for all their time. They don’t like the oversight, but it’s not up to them.”

  “And this evidence, does it support
the case?”

  His body tensed slightly as he waited for her answer, sending the signal that his interest was way more than casual. Syd nodded vigorously. “There’s absolutely no doubt that Cyrus Gantry had been laundering money for the Vargases, who are not only behind one of the biggest drug operations in this part of the country, but they were responsible for kidnapping that reporter, Lindsey Ryan, and,” she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper, “we have reports that they were also behind the death of a federal prosecutor, Maria Escobar.”

  As she said Maria’s name, she scrutinized his face, hoping he’d have some reaction that she could read, but she got nothing. His eyes were focused on hers and they were piercingly interested, but he didn’t flinch or smile or shrug at her declarations. She didn’t know what she’d expected. She didn’t have any reason to believe he knew anything about the crimes she’d described, so why would he have any kind of reaction? Coming here was a dumb idea.

  The doorbell to the suite rang, and Carlos excused himself again. A moment later, he returned with a tray of cookies in his hand and a maid behind him with a coffee service. He directed her to pour them each a cup and then he set the tray on the table and resumed his seat on the couch. “Eat, please. These are biscochitos. The pastry chef makes them especially for me when I visit. I shared a version of my abuela’s recipe with him.” He handed her a small plate with several cookies. “You see, these are the kind of luxuries you can indulge when you are, how did you put it, ‘wildly successful.’”

  Okay, maybe I don’t suck at this after all. Syd vowed to be patient since it was becoming clear that Carlos would only reveal information at his own pace. She ate one of the cookies and moaned her response. “These are amazing. I can only imagine what the authentic recipe must be like.”

  “You can try them sometime. We serve them at Paladar.”

  “The source of all your success.”

  “A smart man does not rely on any one source for his success unless that source is his own ingenuity.”

  “The same is true for a smart woman.”

  He nodded. “This is true. I suspect you are a very smart woman, Ms. Braswell.”

  “Please call me Sydney.”

  “Sydney it is. Would you like to see some plans I have for expanding into the north Texas market?”

  “Absolutely.” She didn’t have a lick of interest in looking at a restaurant business plan, but the longer she was here, the more likely she’d stumble onto something that might show a connection to Gellar.

  Carlos walked over to the desk against the wall and opened a drawer, but before he could get any farther, a piercing ring filled the room, and someone started beating on the door. Sydney placed her hands over her ears and Carlos lunged toward the door. Syd heard shouting, and Carlos reached into his jacket, the door flew open, and two large men charged into the suite. She should’ve listened to Tanner.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tanner cursed the four people in the elevator who’d each stopped on a different floor. When the car finally reached the main floor, she stormed through the lobby of the Adolphus, desperate to get outside. Her phone conversation with Mary had been abruptly cut short when a loud noise broke through the line and she hadn’t had any luck getting her back on the line. Phone calls to Dale had gone unanswered, and no fucking way was she going to sit here and wait to find out what the hell was going on.

  When she pushed through the doors, she paused for only a second to consider her options. Her car was parked almost half the distance between here and the Ritz. She could wait on an Uber, take one of the cabs idling nearby, or run through downtown. She had her hand on the door of a cab when she heard a voice shouting her name. She looked up and Dale was jogging toward her. Tanner waved the cab on and stepped back. “What the hell are you doing here?” she shouted at Dale.

  Dale didn’t respond until she was standing right next to her. “Get a grip, Cohen. She’s fine.”

  Tanner stared at Dale, not quite willing to believe what she couldn’t see for herself and too disconcerted to act nonchalant. “Where is she? Aren’t you supposed to be the second set of eyes? Why in the hell did you and Mary let her leave that restaurant? This was the dumbest idea ever.”

  “Can’t say I disagree with you. When Syd didn’t show up after a while, I pulled the fire alarm at the hotel to smoke them out. Mary spotted her in the lobby and sent her a text that she was needed at the office.”

  “Why didn’t you do that in the first place?”

  “Because as much as you can’t see it right now, some risk was worth letting her try to get some information. She’s fine and she’s probably on her way back here.”

  “Tanner?”

  Tanner froze at the sound of the familiar voice, cutting through her aggravation at what Dale had just told her. All these years, all the tension between them, and Syd’s voice still filled her with hope and promise. But despite her relief, she wasn’t ready to set aside what had just happened. She turned slowly to face Syd. “Why did you do it?”

  Syd’s eyes narrowed slightly like she was trying to puzzle out the words, and then her expression softened into a gentle smile. She held out a hand. “Let’s go inside and talk.”

  Syd jerked her chin at Dale and Dale looked between them, nodded, and walked away. Tanner watched her go, part of her wanting to follow to avoid whatever fallout was about to occur, but her legs betrayed her and stayed rooted in place. When Dale was out of sight, Syd moved closer, slipping an arm around her waist. “Tanner, come with me. Please?”

  She let Syd lead her through the lobby, into the elevator, down the hall, and into Syd’s room. She’d left this space mere moments before, but the waiting had been like a haze that enveloped her with its shadows. Syd walked over to the desk and poured whiskey from a bottle into a short, fat glass. Tanner opened her mouth to say, “You don’t like whiskey,” but the words stuck in her throat. What Syd liked and didn’t wasn’t her business anymore. Neither was whether Syd chose to take foolish risks that might jeopardize her life. Syd had made the choice to walk away from their relationship, and no amount of time or distance could repair the break between them.

  “Drink this.” Syd pushed the glass into her hand. “Then let’s talk.”

  Tanner stubbornly refused to accept the drink. “I don’t want to talk.”

  “Then you drink and I’ll talk.”

  “There’s nothing left to say.” Tanner paused to try to slip the paralysis that was taking hold. “I asked you not to do this thing, and you did it anyway. I asked you not to take unnecessary risks, and you ignored me.” She wagged a finger between them. “Nothing has changed.”

  Syd looked down at the glass in her hand, then raised it to her own lips, taking a deep drink. Tanner watched her eyes water from the burn of the whiskey and then darken with steely resolve. Syd set the glass down hard. “You’re right. Nothing has changed, but this time it’s me doing something that doesn’t fit your plan. When it comes to our past, maybe I should have reacted differently when you went behind my back and signed on for a career that was exactly the opposite of everything we’d ever planned, but that’s easy to say now. At the time, you didn’t care how I felt or how your selfish decision swept away all of our dreams.”

  “Our dreams? Big law, big house, big bank accounts? Those were never my dreams, only yours. You never gave me a chance to explain I didn’t want those things. Besides, look how well they turned out for you.” Tanner spat the harsh words, and the lack of a filter felt liberating. Until she saw sadness drape Syd’s face as she backed away. Torn between doubling down and backing off, she simply said, “Syd, wait.”

  Syd held up a hand. “Don’t.” Hurt cracked through Syd’s voice and Tanner stepped closer.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t say you’re sorry. You’re not sorry.” Syd gathered steam. “You made a choice and you’ve never regretted it. You haven’t had to live your entire life wondering what might have been. You walked away and n
ever looked back.” Syd shook her head. “You always were the smarter one.”

  The hollow echo of her sadness pierced Tanner’s heart and she gathered Syd into her arms. She wasn’t the smarter one. She’d never been the smarter one. She’d given up the one great love she’d ever had for what? A life dedicated to protecting strangers and slumming with criminals. She tilted Syd’s face toward hers. The pain in her eyes reflected years of missed memories they would never be able to recapture, but in this moment she could share the fire that burned through her regret. Before she could think the feeling away, she leaned down and took Syd’s lips between her own, and everything else—the case, the conflict, the past—fell away.

  * * *

  Syd groaned at the familiar feel of Tanner’s mouth on hers, immediately reconnecting with every sense memory she’d held tightly in reserve for the last ten years. Soft lips, firm touch, hooded, soulful eyes drinking in her reactions. Seconds into the searing kiss, her own eyes fluttered shut to let her absorb the onslaught of emotion. Was Tanner still watching?

  And then the sensations stopped. “I’m so sorry,” Tanner murmured. “Are you okay?”

  Syd opened her eyes and looked deeply into Tanner’s. She wanted to ask if she was really sorry, but she didn’t want to know. All she wanted was the press of Tanner’s lips on hers again and to forget about everything else. “Kiss me again,” she said. “Just like that. And this time, don’t stop.”

  Tanner answered by running her hands up Syd’s side. Syd craned her neck, arching into Tanner’s touch, craving it with increasing urgency, but Tanner made her wait, leaving whisper soft kisses on her neck as if they had all the time in the world. Syd reached her hands around Tanner’s waist and tugged her shirt loose. She skimmed her hands over Tanner’s tightly muscled abdomen with light, leisurely touches that mirrored the excruciatingly slow strokes Tanner was teasing her with. Tanner moaned. “You’re making me crazy.”