by Desiree Holt
“You going to shoot me, Cash?” She tilted her head up, chin out defiantly. “Or are you planning to keep me here indefinitely?”
The look on his face was so evil it chilled her blood. Was this the real person beneath the friendly southern “gentleman”?
“I would,” he told her. “The men might enjoy a new plaything.”
Oh, God.
But then he laughed, and there was nothing jovial about it.
“Where am I?”
“Tampa. A friend of mine owns this property. Has a house and a hangar where he used to keep his plane. And tarmac for a landing strip.”
Tampa?
“Why did you bring me here?”
Cash laughed again, a really unpleasant sound.
“You father must love you a lot, chickadee. He didn’t like us messing with you and he’s offered to exchange himself for you.”
No! She wanted to scream the word. They’d kill him.
“That doesn’t explain why I’m here.”
“Señor Moreno is flying up here to meet with your father, and requires your company on the plane.”
Damn. Moreno himself was heading this? Why? Didn’t he trust Cash and the others to do this?
She wet her lips. “My father is coming here?”
“No.” Cash shook his head. “Just outside Arrowhead Bay at the little private airport. But this was the closest I could get you for him to pick you up.”
They’ll kill him, she thought. And then they’ll kill me. They’ll never let me go. There has to be a way out of this.
“Forget whatever you’re thinking.” He snapped his fingers in front of her. “We control the situation. El Jefe himself will take care of this.”
Devon hoped Logan had a few ideas of his own. And that the Taser hadn’t done any permanent damage.
I trust you, Logan. I’m here. Come and get me.
She had no idea how long they were there after that. They gave her water twice, and allowed her to use the restroom in the corner of the hangar. A couple of times, despite her efforts to keep them open, her eyes closed, but then she shook herself awake. Cash Breeland had walked out, leaving one man to guard her, and it seemed like hours before he returned.
“Well.” He rubbed his hands. “It seems we’re all set. Our ride will be here shortly.”
Another few minutes passed and then she heard the sound of a plane drawing nearer. Cash walked to the door that led outside, and the noise grew louder before shutting down altogether.
“Time to get going.”
He walked over to her and waited while one of the other men released her from the chair. Cash gripped her upper arm in a pinching grasp and practically dragged her to the door. When he pulled her outside, sure enough, a small plane sat on the tarmac outside the warehouse.
“Your coach awaits.” He laughed, a sound with no humor in it. “Come on. Don’t make trouble or I’ll have to kill you here and that would spoil the party.”
Someone opened the cabin door and pushed out the stairs. Cash urged her upward from behind and the strange man dragged her in. Then Cash climbed in behind her. In the next minute, she was strapped in to one of the seats in the luxurious cabin. Cash and the other man settled in their own seats. The man in the seat across from her gave her a smile as humorless as Cash’s had been. He held an unlit cigar in his fingers.
“Well, well. Señorita Cole. Welcome to the party.”
The rotors whined as their speed increased and in seconds they lifted off and banked into the night sky.
Oh, Logan. I hope you’re prepared for this. I have every bit of faith in you.
“This is a nice ride, no?” Moreno looked at her. “We will be at the main party shortly.”
“I don’t expect to be having much fun.” She lifted her chin in a defiant gesture. “Señor Moreno, I assume? I’m shocked you left the security of your estate to come on this ride.”
“Your father is a very important man, especially to me. I want to welcome him myself.”
And kill him.
“And what will you do after that?”
He shrugged. “He loves you very much. He has agreed to exchange himself for you. A fair trade, no?”
She studied him for a long time, fear and rage boiling in her stomach.
“You aren’t going to let either of us go, are you?”
He reached out and grabbed her chin with his fingers, gripping it tightly. It took every bit of willpower not to flinch and try to pull away from him. Instead she stared him right in the eye.
“Well, well. A fighter.” Another of those cold smiles. “I might enjoy this after all.”
“What do you want?” Although she knew exactly what he wanted.
“What is rightfully mine as well as my pound of flesh for the trouble I’ve been caused. I think that’s fair, don’t you?”
“You tricked him. You and that asshole Cash Breeland.”
“A little business maneuvering is what I call it,” he told her. He glanced sideways out the windshield. “Well, well. It seems we are there already. Just do as you’re told and everything will be fine.”
For you.
They were barely up in the air before they were setting down at a small airfield, one she’d seen a couple of times outside Arrowhead Bay. Some residents used it for private planes or helos. Surely they wouldn’t be landing with people around, would they?
Then they were on the ground and she was pulled roughly from her seat. Someone pushed the cabin door open and one of the men lowered the stairs again. He yanked her from the seat and stood her in the doorway. She could make out a small building that looked like it might be an office and off to the left planes were in their tie-down slots. An SUV and a van were parked by a chain-link fence, with two other vehicles close to the building.
What was waiting for her out there? Had her father really shown up? Was Logan out there, hiding? Did he know what was happening?
The man behind her dug his fingers into her arm in a punishing grip, a rifle pointed over her shoulder. Devon swallowed and straightened her back.
Showtime.
* * * *
The night was still, without a breath of air moving. Nothing stirred on the little side road leading in to the tiny airport from the two-lane highway. The only sound was that of the occasional night bird. Logan was about to check the time on his watch when he heard the faint drone of an incoming plane. He looked up in the sky and saw the plane’s winking lights.
“I’m hitting the lights,” came Avery’s whispered voice in his earpiece.
He clicked his throat mic twice to acknowledge. In an instant she flipped the switch inside that lit up the small runway. The plane swooped down, landed, and coasted to a stop near the building. After what seemed an interminable length of time, the door slid open.
Then there she was in the doorway. Standing behind her was a tall, muscular man holding an assault rifle and scanning the area. Logan’s heart rate tripled and he had to force deep breaths to slow it down.
Please don’t let this get fucked up.
“Cole,” the man shouted. “El Jefe wants to be sure you are here.”
“I am,” Cole shouted from the shadows of the overhang. “But I’m not moving until my daughter is off that plane and out of range. He knows the deal. When she’s safely in the SUV, I’ll come forward. Shoot me, and everything I have on the cartel goes public.”
“How do we know you haven’t already given it up?” the man yelled.
“Because it’s my only trump card, you idiot. Now let my daughter off the plane.”
The man started to lift his rifle, then apparently thought better of it and stepped back into the cabin. Logan ground his teeth in impatience. He held his breath as the man nudged Avery forward, causing her to stumble a little as she descended the stairway.
&nb
sp; I’ll kill every one of those fuckers if they harmed her in any way.
“Go on,” the man called to her. “We need to get your father and be out of here.”
He saw her look around the airfield, then spot the SUV and the van and head straight toward them. Her walk was a little unsteady but as she got closer she picked up a little speed. The van blocked the view of the SUV so when she got close enough, Logan reached a hand out and jerked her toward him, clapping his hand over her mouth.
“It’s me. Don’t scream, okay?”
She nodded. “Logan?” she whispered.
“Get in. Quick.” He had the door open and shoved her into the front, over to the passenger side. “Get down and stay down.” He looked at the agent sitting in the driver’s seat. “Get her the hell away from here. Now.”
The SUV was moving almost before he finished speaking.
Logan jumped into the van where another agent waited, the man gunned the motor, and they raced toward the small plane. The moment they began to move, two agents raced from the building, grabbed Cole, and yanked him back into the building. Logan lowered his window, stuck out the rifle that had been waiting for him, and shot out the tires on the plane. At once the plane’s nose dipped toward the ground.
Agents dressed in full riot gear dashed toward the plane. The man who had first appeared in the doorway lifted his assault rifle and began firing but in seconds he was down, shot by one of the agents.
Another man moved into the doorway, spraying the area with his rifle. Bullets zinged everywhere. But then DEA Special Agent Chuck LaValle and his men were up the stairway and boarding the plane. Logan leaped from the van and ran over to the plane, right behind them. He wanted to see for himself the bastard who’d started this whole thing and make sure he was secured. Agents from Vigilance stood at the foot of the stairway, guns at the ready if needed.
He’d always wondered what evil personified looked like, and now he saw it in the face of Cruz Moreno. As the DEA agents cuffed him and his friends, Logan glanced at Cash Breeland, also cuffed, his face ashen, his shoulders drooping. Logan hoped all of them would suffer a special kind of hell for what they’d done. He had to restrain himself from taking a punch at Cash as the agents moved him out of the plane, along with Moreno and the others.
Everyone was herded toward the vehicles except for one man who took a moment to slap a sticker on the nose of the plane: Property of the Drug Enforcement Agency. Then he hurried to catch up to the others. LaValle escorted Graham Cole to the vehicle with Sheri and Avery in the back seat. In seconds they were headed toward Arrowhead Bay and Vigilance.
The only one left was him. The SUV Devon had ridden away in pulled back in through the open gate and right up to the building. When the passenger door flew open and she jumped out, Logan ran to her and gathered her in his arms, holding her close to his chest. For a long moment all he could do was stand and hold her.
He looked at the driver. “You were supposed to take her to the office.”
“I checked with Avery to get an all clear. If I hadn’t brought her back, she threatened to jump out of a moving vehicle and walk back here. Sorry.”
Okay. He’d allow himself the pleasure of holding her for one last time and making sure she was okay.
“Did they…hurt you in any way?” He was afraid to ask the question. Afraid of what he might hear.
“Not really. They tied me up and left me alone for the most part. Brought me water, I guess so I wouldn’t die of dehydration, but that was all.”
In his mind he’d imagined the most terrible things happening to her. It was a small measure of relief that they hadn’t. He wanted to kiss her, but then he remembered if not for him she wouldn’t have been in that situation.
“Okay.” He took a step back. “I’m taking you back to Vigilance. Your father will be there, and he wants a few minutes with you. Are you up for it?”
“I hope so. I’m not sure I know what to say to him.” She touched Logan’s arm. “Thank you for saving me.”
Her soft words were like a knife to his heart.
“Saving you? It’s my damn fault you got taken to begin with.”
“How can you say that? You did everything right. You locked the doors to the truck when you got out. You pulled up close to the pump and wedged yourself between them. You kept looking in all directions.”
“I remember.” He ground out the words. “I should have taken you to Vigilance first and then gassed up the truck. It was a rookie mistake. I didn’t—” He swallowed, hard, unable to get the rest of the words out.
“It wasn’t your fault,” she insisted. “Any more than what happened to Amanda was your fault. Will you please get that through your head?” She reached up and cupped his face with her hands. “What about all the things you said? Things we said to each other? I can’t believe you didn’t mean them.”
“You’re better off if you do.”
He had to get her back to Vigilance before he gave in to the emotion swamping him and told her what he really felt. She deserved better than him. Period.
He was through talking. He just didn’t have anything else to say to her, weighted down as he was by guilt. He wanted to hand her over to Avery and get the hell out of Dodge. Find a place where he could hide away from everything. Go someplace where he’d never see Devon again and be reminded of the fact she almost lost her life because of him.
They climbed into the SUV, the agent who’d been driving now sitting in the back. Devon finally gave up trying to get him to talk and they rode the rest of the way in uncomfortable silence.
* * * *
Devon was beyond frustrated. The moment they arrived at Vigilance and he took her inside, Logan had done a disappearing act. She tried to ask Avery about it but everyone else was there—the DEA agents, her father, and the Vigilance agents.
Her father stood in Avery’s office, a tentative look on his face. She just threw herself into his arms and hugged him as if she never wanted to let him go.
“I’m so sorry,” he said over and over. “I would have killed myself if anything had happened to you.”
“But you didn’t know what kind of a deal you were getting into,” she reminded him.
“I should have. No one gives out that kind of money at a favorable interest rate unless there’s something underhanded about it.” He cupped her chin. “I love you, Devon. You’re my little girl and always will be. It’s my job as a father to take care of you, and I almost got you killed.”
She wanted to stamp her foot, tired of the men in her life telling her that. Logan was busy wearing his hair shirt and her father was wallowing in guilt and stupidity.
“But you contacted Vigilance,” she reminded him. “That was the smartest thing you could have done.”
Then she hugged him, not sure how long they’d have together or when she’d see him again. Avery had told her about the deal with the DEA. Just because Moreno and his top henchmen were either dead or in custody didn’t mean someone else wasn’t running the cartel. Her father would have a target on his back for a long time.
“I wish you could meet Leslie,” he told her after he explained his situation. “You would love her.”
“If she’s good to you and makes you happy, and you’re safe, that’s all I care about.”
“Maybe some day…” He shrugged. “Who knows, right?”
“Right.”
It seemed they had barely spent a minute together before Avery was there along with DEA Special Agent Chuck LaValle.
“We owe you thanks for the information,” LaValle told Graham, “no matter how we came to it. And thank you for putting yourself at risk for us.”
“I did it for my daughter,” Graham said, “but hell, it was also the least I could do after realizing I was in bed with the devil.”
“You know this isn’t the end of it for them,” he said. “
We got the head honcho but he’s got lieutenants who will take over and they won’t stop looking for you.”
“Is there any way to get their hooks out of Cole International?”
“I think with Moreno out of the picture, and SMX Group closed up, the corporation could phase out the operations they were involved in and move those people into other divisions.”
“I’ll give you the information on my new attorney.” Graham pulled out his cell phone. “He’s an old friend and I trust him completely. He has power of attorney to make things happen. He can also facilitate the appointment of a new CEO.”
“Good.” LaValle nodded his head. “Very good.”
“What about Alford and Bodine?” Bitterness edged Graham’s tone when he mentioned their names.
“We picked them up earlier today. And of course Cash Breeland was taken off the plane with Moreno.”
Graham scrubbed his face with his hands. “I feel like the stupidest person in the world to be taken in by them. Hell, I didn’t even suspect a thing when Alford and Bodine and Vince Pellegrino were slipped into Cole International.”
“They’re very good at what they do,” Avery reminded them.
“Do you have any idea why Vince was killed? He was one of their people.”
“As we dig through everything I’m sure we’ll find the answer,” LaValle assured him. “My guess is he asked for a bigger cut of the pie. They also had a sense you were getting ready to disappear and held him responsible for not keeping a tighter hold on you.”
“It’ll be a long time getting over that,” he said. He lifted the satchel he’d brought with him and handed it to LaValle. “The external hard drive. I threw the other one overboard along with the laptop. Everything you want to know about the Moreno cartel is on it.”
“For that alone we’ll figure out how to extricate Cole International,” Avery told him. “Right, Chuck?”