We waited down the street from his home until he left for the day, and followed him into the city where he stopped at a restaurant. I got out and sat down against a wall, waiting for my chance to run into him. Knight had given me this super tiny earpiece that I almost lost the moment he handed it over. I also had a microphone attached to the jacket, but I couldn’t see where it was placed. I guessed it was better if I didn’t know so that I couldn’t be self-conscious of it.
“Raegan, remember, Ramos is a DEA agent undercover. He’s paranoid about everything. He’s probably got cameras all over the place, along with a dozen other security measures. You wait until you know you have a good hour to search and you haul ass to find what we need. If you need help, you call us. Don’t hang around too long.”
I rolled my eyes at Knight explaining everything to me for the tenth time this morning. “I’m so glad you keep going over the plan with me. With all this other useless crap in my head, I don’t know how I’ll ever store those simple instructions in my brain.”
“Don’t be a smartass,” Knight snapped. “I’m going over this for your safety. Do you understand?”
“Sir, yes, sir!” I said it harshly, but quietly, so I didn’t draw attention to myself.
“Where do you guys find these women?” Knight grumbled.
“The normal way,” Gabe shot back. “At least I do. I didn’t stalk my wife and I didn’t bring her home from a mission.”
“I didn’t meet Kate randomly on the street,” Knight growled. “She was taking care of me, if you remember.”
“Right, and you just happened to see her around town every single day, all day long,” Jackson laughed.
“She was in danger,” Knight snapped.
“Yeah, not until you started following her around like a puppy dog,” Gabe joined in.
“Is that really how you met Kate? You just started following her everywhere?”
“Not only that, but he shot a man that was trying to get into her clinic for drugs. He just happened to be watching from a distance and just happened to have a sniper rifle on him.”
“Laugh all you want, Jackson. You moved your girlfriend and her parents into your house without ever having spoken to Raegan.”
“Because I knew,” Jackson snapped.
“Knew what?” I asked.
“So did I,” Knight growled.
“Knew what?” I asked again.
“It was like that for me too. After Cazzo beat the shit out of me, of course,” Gabe added.
“Knew what?” I was really losing my patience. It was like they were ignoring me on purpose.
“I’m just saying you should own it.” Jackson was poking Knight, trying to get a reaction out of him. I just wished I understood the context.
“Yeah, Knight. Stop being a hardass all the time and join the rest of us shmucks,” Gabe jeered. “You have your job. You have your woman. Now, you need to learn to chill and laugh a little.”
“I laugh at you every day you step into the ring,” Knight replied.
“Hey!” I shouted, glancing up and seeing people staring at me. Great, people were going to think I was an insane person talking to myself. “What did you know?” I asked.
There was silence on the other end until Knight finally said, “Heads up. Ramos is headed your way.”
I stood up and ducked my head, walking toward Ramos. “Just so you know, this conversation is not over. I will find out what you knew.”
“Just keep your head down and do your fucking job,” Knight growled.
“You know, I always liked you from day one,” I muttered to Knight. “You have that dark, twisty thing going on and you literally growl. Not many men can pull that off.”
“We’ll be talking about this later,” Jackson snapped.
I smirked, laughing to myself that I had gotten to Jackson. Served him right for not telling me what the hell he was talking about. I wiped the smile from my face and kept my head down. I was just a few more feet from him and…I stumbled, falling into Ramos. As expected, he caught me and grimaced when he smelled me.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, peeking out from under my hood and looking at him. I saw a flicker of recognition on his face and pretended not to notice.
“Hey, you’re Xavier’s girl,” he said, grabbing onto my arm. I looked closer at him and made my eyes widen like I figured out who he was. I took a step back and looked around like I was scared there were people coming for me. “What are you doing here?”
“Please,” I begged, “let me go. You’re hurting me.”
His grip loosened and I took a step back, rubbing my arm.
“What are you doing here?”
“Xavier’s dead,” I sniffled, “but his guys thought I was a liability. I just barely got away.”
His eyes narrowed slightly and I let the tears build in my eyes. It wasn’t difficult to cry on demand. I just had to think about what an idiot I had been over the last few years and it brought on the waterworks. Ramos grabbed me by the arm again and pulled me along with him.
“What are you doing?” I said, acting like I was panicked and didn’t want to go with him.
“Taking you someplace.”
“Wait, please, I can’t go with you!”
“You can’t stay on the street. Are you trying to get killed?”
“You’re not…”
He stopped and looked at me, his face murderous. Now I really did take a step back because the guy in front of me was the one that met with Xavier over the last few years.
“I’m not what? Going to kill you? Going to turn you over to Xavier’s men?”
“I…” I ducked my head and shook it slightly as I let the tears slip down my cheeks.
“Come on. I just want to ask you some questions. Maybe give you a shower so you don’t stink so fucking much.”
He dragged me along and then shoved me into the passenger seat of a car. It was easy enough to pretend that I was scared being in the car with him. For all I knew, I wouldn’t be seeing Jackson ever again after this. I fidgeted with my jacket and shifted in my seat. My stomach growled loudly and Ramos looked over at me.
“When was the last time you ate?”
I shrugged, playing it off like I had been on the streets with no food for a long time. He pulled into a local burger joint and ordered for me, not bothering to ask what I wanted. It didn’t matter. I was so hungry at this point that I would eat just about anything. It turned out, he ordered something that sounded really good. We drove back to his house in silence and when we pulled in, I got out and hesitantly followed him into his house, hoping that Jackson could still hear me.
“Why don’t you take off your jacket,” Ramos said.
I shook my head quickly, knowing that if I took it off and walked away, the guys wouldn’t be able to hear anything that was going.
“I’m not going to steal it from you,” he said irritatedly.
“I just…I’ll keep it on for now.”
He nodded, obviously not happy with my decision, and jerked his head for me to follow him. I went with him into his kitchen and took a seat, pulling the bacon cheeseburger out of the bag with the cheese fries. He even got me a strawberry milkshake, which went perfectly with my meal. I devoured my food, ignoring his penetrating gaze and didn’t stop until I had finished every last bite.
“What do Xavier’s men think you know that’s so dangerous?”
“Um…drop off locations, warehouses, people involved. Stuff like that,” I said with a shrug. “But I don’t care about any of it. I just want my freedom. I never wanted to be involved in that part of Xavier’s life, but he dragged me into it and forced me to stay.”
He watched me for a moment and then came to sit down beside me. “What if I told you I could help you get that freedom?”
“How?”
“I want names, drop locations, warehouses, everything you know.”
“What does that get you?”
“It will wipe out anyone that works against m
y goals.”
“And in exchange?”
“When everyone’s gone, you’ll be free to do as you wish.”
Everything that I knew I told to Sebastian already. None of it had been useful to us, but maybe it was useful to this guy. If I told him and got him to trust me, I could get into his office and look on his computer, maybe find something that could help us.
“Okay, I’ll do it.”
His eyes gleamed in satisfaction as he leaned back in his chair. “Good. You can stay here while we’re working on this. I’ve got a spare room you can use. I’ll have to get you some clothes and you need a shower.”
“Thank you,” I said quietly, letting some tears slip through again. I had him hook, line, and sinker.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Jackson
“I don’t like this,” I said as I paced around the hotel room we were watching from. Knight had a laptop set up for us to watch everything that Raegan was doing. He had placed a tracker on Raegan’s shoes and put a camera on her necklace. Logically, I knew we were covered. There was no sign that Raegan was in danger from the DEA agent, but something in my gut was screaming that this was wrong.
“Relax, it’s been two days and nothing’s happened yet,” Gabe said. “We’ve got a handle on this.”
“Nothing’s happened yet. Yet. I’m not really happy with that statement. Would you be okay if nothing had happened to Isa yet if she was doing something that could get her killed?”
“Both of you shut up,” Knight growled. “I got in last night and placed mics all over the place and tapped his phone.”
“Yeah, you’re fucking lucky you didn’t get caught,” I spat back at him.
“I don’t get lucky,” he said as he stood and glared at me. “This is what I do and I’m damn good at it. We have eyes and ears. We’re within a mile of where she’s staying. The only way we could be watching her any closer is if we were in the fucking yard all night.”
“I wouldn’t be-”
“We’re not staying in the fucking yard,” Knight said. “Sit the fuck down before I blow out your kneecaps.”
He sat back down and started working on his computer again when we started picking up some chatter again.
“Raegan, I have to run out for a while.”
That was Agent Curtis coming over the line. He sounded like he was putting on a jacket and it was interfering slightly with the sound.
“Okay, just let me grab my socks,” Raegan replied.
“No, you won’t be coming with. Just stay here and take it easy. Eat something and watch tv.”
“What’s that like?” she laughed.
“Now you can find out. I won’t be gone long. Just lock the door behind me.”
“Sure,” she said. We heard him walking and then the door closing. After another minute, there was some more rustling. “Did you guys get that? I’m going to his office right now.”
“We got it,” Knight responded.
She walked into the office and I waited patiently while she shuffled through paperwork and opened cabinets. Gabe started snapping, getting our attention and pointing to another computer that was monitoring Agent Curtis’s phone. Knight and I sat down and Gabe put it on speaker so we could all hear.
“Carlos, I’ve got Xavier’s woman.”
“How the fuck does that help us?” Carlos replied.
“She knows a lot of shit that will help us track down every last person that betrayed us. We wipe them out and we get in his good graces.”
His? I mouthed to Gabe. He shrugged.
“What do we do when we’re done with her?” Carlos asked.
“We kill her.”
“When do you want to meet?”
“Two o’clock tomorrow at The Greasy Spoon. We’ll make her feel comfortable and I’ll introduce you as my associate. Just act like you don’t want to kill her and we’ll be fine.”
“Xavier killed my sister. When I get my hands on her, I’m going to make sure the last thing she sees is my face, but not before I make her wish she was already dead.”
“Listen, I don’t care what you do to her, but you keep that shit locked down until we have everything we need.”
“Fine. Two o’clock tomorrow.”
Agent Curtis hung up and I immediately walked over to the other computer and picked up the handset. “Raegan, get whatever you can and get the fuck out of there. I’m on my way to get you now.”
“I’m working on it,” she said hastily. “I can’t get on his computer.”
“Is it password protected?”
Knight walked over and hit the speaker button. “Tell me what you see.”
“I don’t see anything. The screen is black.”
“Did you try turning the computer on,” Knight said, trying his best to hold back his irritation.
“I would if I knew how to turn it on. I swear, this computer is hiding the power thingy from me.”
“What kind of computer is it?” Knight asked.
“It’s black with a black screen and a black keyboard.”
I thought Knight was going to explode. He rolled his eyes as he dropped his head back and blew out a harsh breath. “Are you fucking serious? You don’t know how to turn on a computer?” he practically yelled. “Where did you find her?” he said as he turned to me.
“Look, I’ve sort of been restricted from using any technology for the past like six years or so. Sorry if I don’t know how to use the computer.”
“Look for a button,” Knight said, holding back his anger.
“Okay, I think I’ve found it.” Raegan squealed when the computer turned on and then we waited while it booted up. “Alright, what do I need to do now?”
“Are there any folders on the desktop? Anything that would stand out?” Knight asked.
“No, it looks like it’s all personal folders.”
“You’re going to have to go in through the backdoor and plant a code for me.”
“Why would I go through the backdoor? I’m already inside,” Raegan asked in confusion.
“Jesus,” Knight swore. He was about to explode, so I intervened.
“We’re coming to you,” I said before Knight could lay into her again. “Just hold tight.”
“She thought I was talking about the fucking house,” Knight growled.
“She hasn’t been around technology. Give her a break.”
We packed up quickly and headed for the truck. Knight looked like he was going to kill someone and Gabe was trying his hardest not to laugh. “You got something you want to say, fucker?”
Knight spun around and pushed me up against the truck. “Next time your woman volunteers for something, don’t listen to her suggestions. Just lock her in the fucking basement and be done with it.”
He jumped in the truck and slammed the door. I glanced to Gabe and then we both burst into laughter. Knight was taking it just a little too personally that Raegan didn’t know about computers. It took us just a few minutes to get to Raegan. We parked down the street and quickly made our way to Agent Curtis’s house. Once Raegan let us in, it was just a matter of Knight hacking into his system.
“Gabe, you watch the back and I’ll take the front,” I said as Knight headed for the study with Raegan. It had only been five minutes when I saw Agent Curtis coming back down the road. I ran for the study.
“Curtis is back. Move your ass,” I shouted at Knight. I ran back to the front door, taking up my post by the front door. I whistled for Gabe and he quickly joined me on the other side.
“How do you want to play this?” Gabe asked.
“I was hoping we could just slip out the back, but that’s not going to happen.”
Knight walked out with a gun pointed at Raegan’s head and his arm wrapped around her throat. She had tears streaking down her face and her eyes pleaded with me to save her. I almost didn’t get it.
“Trash the place,” I said to Gabe and then ran over to a table, throwing it over and then making a mess in the living
room. Gabe had quickly knocked stuff over in the kitchen. We were just headed back to the front door when it opened and Curtis stepped in. He stopped right in the doorway and stared at the four of us. Gabe and I had our guns pointed at him and Knight was still holding Raegan.
“Okay, everyone just calm down,” Curtis said.
“Stay the fuck back or I’ll shoot her,” Knight sneered.
“You’re not going to shoot her. She’s too valuable and you know it.”
“She’s only valuable if she’s on our side, which I now know she isn’t,” Knight continued. “A bitch that snitches is only good for one thing and I happen to know the perfect market for her. I can make quite a bit of money off her.”
“You’re not taking her anywhere,” Curtis said calmly. “We can work something out. I have-”
He didn’t get to finish his thought because Knight shot him in the shoulder.
“What the fuck?” I shouted.
“He was delaying us.”
I shook my head, reminding myself that Knight was anything but conventional.
“Let’s move,” Gabe said, rushing past Curtis to the door. I stepped aside to allow Knight through and took up the rear, keeping my sights trained on Curtis the whole time. Once we were outside, Knight gripped onto Raegan’s hand and ran for the truck. Just when I thought I was clear to turn and run, Curtis stepped out the door and started firing right the fuck at me. I returned fire immediately, but I had no cover and unless I figured out how to outrun a bullet, I was going to end up in the morgue.
I moved backwards as much as I could as I returned fire, but when my clip ran out, I was fucked. I reached for a second clip and quickly reloaded, ducking behind the mailbox, which only provided minimal cover. Bullets pinged off the metal of the mailbox, one ricocheting and skimming my cheek a little too closely to my eye. I returned fire, turning to run when Curtis ducked back inside.
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