by Desiree Holt
“Fine, although I’m not sure how hungry anyone will be. Later.”
He disconnected the call and put the phone back on the nightstand.
Devon moved around so she was face-to-face with him. She had the sheet pulled up to her breasts, which was a damn good thing, because he didn’t need a distraction right now.
“Okay, Malik, spill it.”
He nodded. “I’ll tell you everything, but let’s get dressed and go in the kitchen. I could use a cup of coffee and you need something more substantial than soup. I told Avery we’d have dinner when she and Sheri got here but that could be a while.”
In the kitchen Logan fixed coffee for himself and pulled out a tea pod for Devon but she shook her head.
“I think I’ve had enough tea for a while.”
Sitting at the kitchen table, he gave it all to her, chapter and verse. To her credit, she sat quietly and listened to everything he said, not interrupting him the way a lot of people he knew would have. For a moment panic flashed in her eyes but then he could practically see her pull herself together. Damn, the woman had strength. But, as he’d told Avery, she had a right to know. She was the lynchpin in all this and her safety was of prime importance. Giving her full knowledge was a way to help ensure that.
She took a swallow of coffee and set the mug on the table.
“My father is putting his own life in jeopardy to protect me.” A statement, not a question.
Logan nodded. “I’d say that shows he loves you very much. Just because he got his nuts caught in a wringer and vanished, leaving you holding the bag, doesn’t diminish that fact. And think about this. Maybe he thought by doing a disappearing act, he was taking the heat off both of you.”
“Did—Did he say where he was?”
Logan shook his head. “No. Nor would I expect him to. I think it took a lot of guts for him to reach out to us the way he did. Del tried to pinpoint the source but he’s been smart enough to use phantom servers.”
“But why now? And why Vigilance?”
“His e-mail said he read online what was happening, especially to you. He’d sent an e-mail to Cruz Moreno warning him off. When that didn’t happen—when, in fact, things escalated—he decided to make good on his word. He knows it’s a much safer bet for him to go through us than directly to the Feds, especially since the paper stupidly printed that you have a Vigilance bodyguard with you. He’s leaving it to us to decide the best way to handle it.”
Devon rubbed her forehead. “This is all such a mess. When will Avery and Sheri be here? I want all the details from them.”
“And you’ll get them. I’d say at least another hour. You hungry? I can fix you a snack.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Who has an appetite? But I’d sure love another drink.”
He reached over and squeezed her hand. “Another shot of Jack Black coming right up.”
* * * *
“This is your mess. You’d better clean it up.”
Cruz Moreno growled the words into the telephone. He drew on his cigar and blew a perfect smoke ring into the air. He needed to focus on something like that to control his escalating rage.
“What do you think I’m doing?” Vato asked. “If you had sent someone with one iota of intelligence, none of this would have happened.”
“Don’t try to throw this back on me. You failed to keep Cole in line.” His big hand tightened on the phone. “You assured me he was controllable, like the others. I think you misjudged him from the beginning.”
There was a long moment of silence.
“I didn’t misjudge his desperation,” Vato protested.
“This is a business operation.” Cruz ground out the words. “I am a businessman and someone is fucking with my operation. It needs to be fixed. Now.”
“Before I do anything else,” Vato said at last, “I have to clean up the mess those idiots made here. Luis’s body was turned over to the medical examiner. I think—”
“Which might lead back to me if they identify him,” Cruz interrupted. “And what about Agustin? Is he safely away?”
“How the hell should I know?” Vato spat the words. “You had me tell him to disappear right after he did the deed, so he’s in the wind.”
“I instructed him to ask for your help in that.” Cruz ground his back teeth. “If he’s picked up…” He let the words trail off.
“Well, he’s gone. And I can’t exactly round up a crew of people to look for him.”
“Mierda!” Cruz wanted to kill someone but he had no one handy.
“I’ll see what I can do about locating Agustin, but my guess is he’s halfway to Tampa by now. He can get lost in the Hispanic community there.”
“If he knows what’s good for him, he’ll stay lost.” He blew another smoke ring, using the focus it took to pull himself together. “I have to know if Cole made good on his threat to release information about the cartel.”
“Just how the hell am I supposed to do that?” Vato raged. “It’s not as if whoever received it is going to take me into their confidence.”
“What if he sent it directly to the Feds?” He tightened his hand into a fist, wishing it was closed around someone’s neck.
“Jesus, calm down, Cruz. If he sent anything to the Feds, they’d be crawling up your ass by now. And probably mine, too.”
“Then who? Find out for me.”
Vato gave a short laugh. “Exactly how should I do that? Take out an ad in the paper?”
“Your sarcasm is out of place. Remember. If I fall, I take you right along with me.”
Cruz was silent for a moment, thinking. “I think we need to shut down SMX before they get to it. Do it now,” he instructed, “and set up a new one.”
“Shit. I can’t do it with one stroke and you know it. It’s a complex arrangement. Let me see what I can do. And quietly,” he added. “No sense stirring things up if Cole never outs us.”
Cruz thought for a long moment. “The key is the daughter. We need to grab her. She’ll be our leverage.”
“Oh, sure.” Vato snorted. “She’s got more protection than the damned president.”
“I don’t care. You’re so fucking smart. Find a way. I can contact Cole by e-mail. I have the address, even if I can’t find the location. I’ll bet every dollar he’ll exchange himself for her.”
“Cruz.” Vato’s sigh came over the connection. “You’re playing with fire here.”
“Then it’s your job to see I don’t get burned. Here’s what needs to be done.” He outlined exactly what he had in mind. “You’d better get busy. We both have a lot to do. I will call you at the same time tomorrow. Have answers for me.”
He hung up on the man’s outrage. Then he sat for a few minutes, mulling the whole thing over in his mind. At last, when he had his thoughts straight, he went in search of Mateo, his lieutenant, his right-hand man.
“I have a project for you,” he told the man when he found him. “I can’t trust anyone else with it. Don’t make me sorry I trusted you.”
* * * *
Logan opted for the easy route and made sandwiches for everyone, but no one seemed to be very hungry. They sat at the table, plates in front of them but the food mostly untouched.
Sheri filled them in on the dead cartel member but had no information on the killer.
“The sheriff’s all over it,” she reported. “And he’s got the word out at all the airports around here. But truthfully? The chances of finding him are fifty-fifty.”
“I can’t believe all of this.” Devon raked her fingers through her hair.
Logan was watching her carefully, worried at how she was absorbing all this and its effect on her. He could have made her eat something when they came home, but she needed him more than food, and one thing led to another. He nudged her plate a little closer.
“Do
me a favor and eat more than a bite or two. You’ve hardly eaten all day. Getting sick won’t help things.”
“I just don’t have an appetite,” she protested. “Sorry. Avery? Did you say you have people tracing that e-mail? Have they gotten anywhere yet? Is it hard to trace?
“I’m not going to lie to you. The answer is yes. Your father’s pretty damn smart. He set up a network of anonymous e-mails on a virtual server that makes it almost impossible to backtrack. That doesn’t mean we won’t try.”
“Why didn’t he take me with him?” She tightened her hands around her mug, as if the warmth from the hot liquid could seep into her body. “Never mind. That’s a stupid question.”
“So what’s next?” Logan asked. He wanted action. A plan. The sooner they put one in place, the closer he’d be to neutralizing the danger to Devon.
“I e-mailed Graham Cole to let him know I got his information and tell him my plan.” Avery looked around the table. “He wants them to back away from Devon, so the smartest thing is to hit them where it hurts.”
“The money,” Logan guessed.
“Right on. I’ll contact a friend who is a DEA special investigator and send him the info on SMX Group. They can disrupt the money trail, forcing Moreno to set up a whole new system. The DEA can monitor it and when the process begins, shut it down and move in on Moreno.”
“I don’t mean to sound like a ninny,” Devon said, “but shouldn’t they arrest them?”
“Easier said than done,” Logan told her. “Moreno’s undoubtedly well protected in a heavily guarded estate, and we don’t have the actual proof yet to nail him.”
“Your father said he has every bit of information on the cartel that he can send us,” Avery told her. “Right now what he wants is someone to rattle their cage so they’ll leave you alone. As soon as he acknowledges my reply to him, I’ll turn everything on SMX over to the DEA and let them do their thing. Your father e-mailed Moreno and warned them there’s more coming unless they stay away from you.”
Devon’s head was spinning with the complexity of the situation. “And they’ll just do that?”
“That’s what we hope. If not, your father’s prepared to dump everything about them in the DEA’s lap.”
She blew out a breath. “So we just wait?”
“I gave him my cell number so he could reply directly. I’m expecting an answer any minute. I’m pretty sure he was waiting at his computer to hear from me.”
Even as she spoke, her phone chimed with an incoming text. She tapped the screen to open it, read it, and nodded.
“What did he say?” Logan asked.
“He said to do whatever we think best as long as the cartel leaves you alone. So to make that work, I’ve got to get this stuff to the DEA right away. Let me contact my friend.”
At that moment the landline rang.
“I’ll get it.” He stood and reached for the receiver. “Hello?”
“Yeah, hello.” The familiar deep drawl made his hand tighten on the receiver. “Cash Breeland here. Can I speak to Devon?”
Logan frowned. What the hell did he want now? “She’s really busy, Cash. Can I give her a message?”
“Oh, well, no.” There was a brief pause. “I was just checking again to make sure she’s okay and ask her if there was anything I could do for her.”
What the hell was up with this guy, anyway?
“She’s just fine. And well taken care of,” he added.
“Earl Flannery and I were talking and wondered again if she should really be out there in that house all by herself.” He lowered his voice as if they were exchanging the most intimate information. “We thought she might be better off in town. Like I told her the last time, Marian and I really want her to come stay with us. But if not, at least at the B and B.”
Logan felt a little thread of something cold wriggle through his system. This was way out of left field.
“I’m sure she would appreciate it, but she’s fine here. And she’s definitely not alone. But I’ll pass along your concern.” Breeland was still talking when Logan hung up the phone.
He turned to the table and found everyone staring at him.
“What is it?” Sheri asked. “You have the strangest look on your face.”
“That was Cash Breeland.”
Devon raised her eyebrows. “Again?”
“What do you mean again?” Avery asked.
“Oh, he called before and wanted me to come stay with him and his wife.” She snorted. “As if. He’s nothing to me except one of my father’s friends.”
Sheri snorted. “That old busybody? He thinks he’s the unofficial mayor of this place and responsible for everyone and everything. Anything the least bit interesting happens, he’s got his nose stuck in it.”
Avery leaned forward toward her. “Devon, did you ever spend much time with him?”
“What?” Her eyes widened. “No. Hardly at all. My dad spent time with him. Cash was one of the first friends Dad made when he started sailing into Arrowhead Bay. But me?” She shrugged. “Maybe five or six times over four years.”
“Something about him is bugging me.” Logan refilled his mug with fresh coffee and sat back down at the table. “I wish I knew what.”
“It’s just Cash being Cash. He’s one of those people who thinks he has the right to mix in everyone’s business,” Sheri said. “He’s always been like that.”
“Maybe. Something just doesn’t feel right but I can’t tell you what. Avery, did you run a profile on him?”
She nodded. “At first blush he looks clean, but I told Ginger to dig deeper.” She pushed back from the table. “We’ll see what she comes up with. In the meantime, I’m heading back to the office. I’m going to have Graham Cole call me so we can strategize. It’s important for Moreno to think Cole is serious about his threat but make him believe he can still save his empire if he backs off of Devon. I’m also contacting my DEA friend.”
“Call and keep us in the loop,” Logan reminded her.
“I will.”
Sheri also rose. “I’m off to get back in touch with the sheriff and find out when the autopsy is. I asked him to put a rush on it. Told him we had exigent circumstances.”
When they were gone, Logan cleaned up the kitchen. Then he poured them each a small drink and sat down at the table. He placed his cell in the center and turned on the record feature.
“Now. Let’s see how much of your dad’s life the past four years we can reconstruct. Hopefully it will give us a clue as to how he got into this mess and with who.”
Chapter 16
Sipping her bourbon slowly, Devon made it last until halfway through the session with Logan. She switched to hot tea, and Logan pushed more cookies on her. She nibbled on them as he asked questions to pull out everything she remembered about the last four years as it related to her father.
He had just called for a break when his cell phone rang.
“Yeah, Avery? What? Okay.” He looked at Devon. “She wants me to put this on speakerphone.” He tapped the speaker icon and placed the phone on the table between them. “Okay. You’re on.”
“Devon? You there?”
“I am.” She tightened her hands into fists. “Did something else happen?”
“First, let me get this out of the way. I sent Sam to the dock to see if she could get anything else out of Gary. She flashed a little money and his tongue loosened up.”
“And?”
“A little surprise here. When he told us two men had been asking about Graham Cole? We thought it was the cartel thugs.”
“It wasn’t?”
“No, it was our two buddies from Cole International.”
“What the fuck?” Logan shook his head. “They were in town long before they made themselves known to us.”
“Uh-huh. It could even have been th
em showing up that hastened Cole’s disappearance. If in fact they went to see him.”
Logan wanted to pound something. “This whole thing just keeps getting more convoluted.”
“No kidding. Anyway, Graham Cole said he’d call me, but only on a phone that is secure and not a cell phone. Too easily traced. And…”
“And what?” he prompted.
“He wants to talk to Devon.”
“To me?” She almost squeaked the words. “Really?”
“He wants to explain, he says. He never expected this to happen. You’ll have to bring her here so we can use the secure Vigilance line.”
“She’s pretty wiped, Avery.”
“Do we want to get this done or not?” she reminded him.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, when?”
“As soon as you can get here.”
“Got it.”
“Also, Cole agrees with our DEA plan, too, so I put a call into my contact. He’s in Tampa and he’s on his way.”
“So are we,” he assured her and hung up.
“I can’t believe this.” Devon scrubbed her hands over her face. “What did Avery mean, she might want you to take me someplace else?”
He took her hands and pulled her closer to him. “When all the cards are on the table, she may decide you’re safe out of this war zone completely. Someplace where Moreno has no idea you are.”
She leaned into him for a moment. “It’s like a nightmare that never ends.” She sighed, then moved away from him. “Okay. Let me just wash my face and throw on some shoes and I’m ready.”
Before they left the house, he made sure the alarm was properly set and synced with his watch. He looked carefully as they headed down the drive and onto Seacliff Road, but he didn’t see any cars. Although by now it was dark and with no street lights out here they’d be easy to miss. He’d just have to be hyperalert.
“I’m going to stop and get gas. I’m lower than I like to be.” There was a gas station conveniently at the end of the road at the turn into town, but Logan bypassed it.
“You missed the gas station.”