Gabe: The Alvarez Security Series

by Maryann Jordan

  Shane looked at him, saying, “Budget cuts keeps our department from having some of the cool toys these guys have. Fuck yeah, we work with them.”

  The men proceeded quickly and quietly, knowing what needed to be gathered and put on. After suiting up, they each grabbed a large, black duffle bag and headed for the underground parking garage.

  Arriving at the vehicles, Tony turned to face Gabe. “Your head on the mission?”

  Gabe wanted to tear into him but knew his commander was right. Special Forces always kept their minds on the mission knowing lives were at stake if they did not. Sucking in a huge breath and letting it out slowly, he nodded. Vinny stepped up behind him. “We’re good,” giving the typical response the twins always made. They were in it together…all the way.

  CHAPTER 22

  A noise coming from the hall had Jennifer scuttling back from the window to the bed. Sitting down, she anxiously awaited who was on the other side of the door. Licking her lips nervously, she tried to prepare but still startled when it swung open. A dark haired, dark eyed man in a suit came in followed by a huge, bald man whose purpose seemed to be guarding the door. She looked from one to the other, as the first man walked to the chair and sat down.

  “Well, well, Ms. Lambert. How nice of you to join us,” a smooth voice pierced her ears.

  The helplessness of her situation washed over her, realizing that she had no power over one man much less two.

  “If we’d wanted to rape you, Ms. Lambert, I assure you it would not have been done while you were asleep. My friend here,” the man speaking nodded to the large, bald man next to the door, “likes his women awake, even if not willing.”

  Sucking in a breath, she stared at the one sitting in a chair nearest to her. Dark hair, neatly trimmed. A tailored suit, fitting him perfectly. Black eyes…boring holes straight into her. Licking her lips nervously, she tried to understand what was happening.

  “Where…where’s my brother?” her voice shook. Wanting to be brave, she could not help the quivering that radiated out from her inner core invading even her speech.

  “He’s well. And will stay so as long as you do what you are commanded.”

  Her eyes glanced around the room, not recognizing their location before being drawn back to the man speaking. “Who are you? I don’t understand.”

  “There is no reason for you to know where you are or to understand anything, Ms. Lambert. My boss wants your signature on the deed, transferring the building you now so fortuitously own into a company that he designates.”

  Her brow crinkled as she took in his words. Building? All of this for a building?

  Seeing her look of confusion, Santo continued, “You are but a small pawn in a much larger scheme. My boss will not tolerate anyone getting in the way of what he wants. And your building, combined with the other buildings in the area, will give him the perfect platform. High-end clubs, condos, exclusive gentlemen’s clubs. With the zoning commission in his back pocket, all that stands in the way of his next million dollar maker is your little corner of the world.”

  “Who’s your boss?”

  “That my dear, is not your concern. But what will be revealed is this – you will sign the deed over to us and stay out of our business or your brother will suffer the consequences. And if you think of ever changing your mind, we know where he goes to school. Where you live. We know where you stay when you’re with your security boyfriend. We will always have one eye on your dear brother and his life will be worth nothing.”

  Gasping, she saw the grin spread across his face showing even, white teeth. How can a smile look so evil?

  Pulling her quivering lips inward and pressing tightly, she said, “I want to see him. I want to see Ross.”

  “I don’t think you’re in a position to make requests, Ms. Lambert.”

  “If not, I won’t sign. If you’ve hurt him already, there’s no deal. If you’ve done anything—”

  Santo held up his hand, giving her a curt nod. Without turning his head, he gave the order to the man at the door, “Bring him.”

  The man turned and left the room, leaving her alone with the one in charge. A silence descended between them, uncomfortable and awkward. She wanted to look for something she could use to defend herself with, but his eyes never wavered from her face. Hating to show fear, she found she could not hold his stare. She looked down at her hands for a moment until she heard a sound at the door.

  Just as she looked up, Ross came barreling through, seeing her and launching himself at her. A sob caught in her throat as she wrapped him in her embrace, thankful that he was still alive.

  “Jennybenny, what’s going on?” he asked, lifting his head from her neck to peer into her face.

  “I don’t know, buddy, but I’m going to try to take care of everything.” Gabe, please find us. Please.

  Her eyes went back to the men in the room, wondering what would happen next. A knock on the door had the larger man opening it. Jennifer could hear a voice outside the door saying that Santo was needed. That voice? Why does it seem familiar?

  A furious look crossed the face of the man sitting in front of her as she realized he must be Santo. He stood abruptly and with a last glance her way, stalked to the door. Jennifer pulled Ross in tighter as she watched the door.

  She could hear voices outside but was unable to detect the conversation. As the door opened again, she caught a glance of the man talking with Santo just before he looked inside and stared at her. Roy? Her breathing caught in her throat as she stared into the eyes of her co-worker.

  Roy had the grace to blush as he realized that she saw him. He lifted his hands in supplication, but she saw red as she stood, slowly lowering Ross to the cot. “You? How are you involved?”

  “I’m sorry, Jennifer,” he said. “It’s not personal, honest.”

  She walked straight over to him stopping just a foot away, her chest heaving. “Not personal? My brother was kidnaped, Roy. What the fuck do you mean ‘not personal’?”

  His mouth set in a grim line, shrugged as he said, “You have no idea how expensive it is to have twins. They offered money for me to just keep an eye on you and report what you were up to. That’s all. Then,” he ducked his head, “they said I’d lose my job if I stopped. So that’s all I did. Just kept tabs on you and reported when you were going to the Capitol or over to the center.”

  The loud crack of her hand hitting his face echoed in the empty room. Her handprint immediately reddened his face. His eyes flashed, but he did not move.

  “You incredible prick. You have no idea who you’ve gotten in bed with! You think these kinds of people will ever let you go? You’ve got children of your own now and you’ve put them at risk now too. God, what an asshole.”

  She turned back to the cot, seeing Ross’ fearful expression and she immediately felt contrite. Rushing back to him, she gathered him in her arms, crying, “Oh Ross, it’s okay.”

  “You hit him,” he whispered. “Is he a bad guy too?”

  The air left her in a whoosh as she pondered the question, the adrenaline of earlier beginning to leave. “Kind of,” she said over Ross’ head, staring into Roy’s face. Tears stung her eyes as she thought of the memories of him, Sybil, and her sharing many lunches talking about their families, their cases, their lives.

  Roy turned and walked toward the door. He stopped with his hand on the knob and slowly turned back, his eyes glancing at the boarded-up the window. Walking over, he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out his key chain. Slipping off a key, he held it out to her.

  She looked down at the key in his hand then lifted her gaze back to his, a question in her expression.

  “It’s not to anything specific here, but might be useful on that window if you get a chance. The…uh…man that was here may be out for just a little bit.”

  He tossed the key onto the cot and left the room quickly. She continued to hold Ross as her gaze went from the door to the key and then over to the window.

&nbs
p; *

  Santo was escorted into Michael’s study by his wife, who had greeted him warmly before leaving the men alone. Michael, not one to mince words, said, “I know you’re wondering why I summoned you, but first, did everything go as planned?”

  Nodding, Santo said, “No problems. The kid and Ms. Lambert are at my place. She had just woken and I have told her why she is there and what she will need to do to stay alive.”

  “At least something is going according to plans,” Michael said, anger reverberating from his chest.

  “What’s up?”

  “That goddamn, weak link, Reno, called to tell me that his assistant is missing. Didn’t make it back from lunch and his desk was somewhat messy, which it not normal for him.”

  Santo lifted his brow, asking, “You think he’s a plant?”

  “Don’t know, but I don’t like the sound of any of it. If he is, how could that moron have hired him? He’s had full access to all of Reno’s life for the past six months, including his accounts, personal as well as professional.”

  “What do you have in mind?”

  “For now, hold on to your hostages. Get her to sign, but keep her. We may need a little leverage with the good Senator if he starts to get cold feet.”

  Nodding, Santo stood asking his boss, “Is that all for now?”

  “Yeah. Just be smart. I don’t need any more cock-ups now.”

  Santo left quickly and began the drive back to the city. Michael watched him leave and walked back to the liquor cabinet, pouring a tumbler of scotch. Taking a sip of the smooth, amber liquid, he glanced around the room. Elegant. Expensive. Family pictures lining the mantle. Works of art on the wall. Leather bound books lining the shelves. Indian carpets on the polished wooden floor. This was his favorite room, always giving him comfort.

  He gripped the glass in his hand so tightly he wondered if it was going to shatter. His empire was shaking and all because of one tiny, meddling woman. Santo would keep her alive for now…just for now.

  *

  The door had barely closed and locked before Jennifer set Ross down on the cot, grabbed the key and ran to the boarded-up window. Finding the slight separation between the plywood and the window frame where the air gently blew in, she inserted the key. Working it back and forth, she made a little wiggle room. At one point, the key became wedged tightly and she tugged hard to move it again. Please don’t break off, she begged silently.

  Ross had slid off the cot and stood watching what she was doing, his eyes alert. She turned to him as she managed to get one corner of the plywood loose. “I’m working it, buddy. But I have no idea what’s outside or where we are.”

  The look of utter trust he gave her caused her heart to beat faster and she battled the tears that threatened to form. Turning back to the task at hand, she pushed her curls back and said, “I wish I had something to pull it out with.”

  Ross looked around and then down at himself and then quickly pulled his belt out of his jeans. “Can you use this?” he asked excitedly.

  Jennifer grabbed the belt from his hand while planting a huge kiss on his cheek. “Perfect!”

  Looping the belt around the corner of the plywood she used her body weight for leverage and pulled with all her might. The plywood almost bent in half before flying out of the window toward her and Ross. She fell back on her ass, landing hard, but was glad the large piece of wood landed on her and not the floor, realizing too late how much noise it would have made.

  The cool air rushed in from the open window and the night sky was littered with stars. Sucking in a deep breath, she felt a rush of adrenaline course back through her. We just might make it out!

  Grabbing Ross’ hand, she ran over to the windowsill and leaned out. Oh fuck. They were on the third floor and the only thing on the outside of the building was scaffolding. To their right were some boards lying flat across some of the poles, creating a platform to stand on, and beyond that was more. But directly outside their window was just the poles. If we can just make it to the first platform, then we can slowly make our way down. Not knowing how much time was left before Santo returned, she knew there was no time to waste.

  “Ross? Honey, this is the only way out and you’ve got to hold onto me as tight as you can so we can get to safety.”

  “Is Gabe not coming?” Ross asked peering down into the darkness beyond the window.

  “We can’t wait right now. We have to try to get away so he can catch the bad guys.”

  Once again, the look of trust crossed his face and he grinned. “Then let’s go. I’m best at the monkey bars at school.”

  She grabbed the thin sheet off of the cot and wrapped it around his body, then had him climb onto the windowsill, she tied the ends to the long pole leading diagonally down toward the platform.

  Crawling out, she carefully put her feet on the horizontal bar nearest her and held onto Ross and the sheet. Maneuvering slowly, they inched their way to the first platform. The muscles in her arms ached as her knees shook. As her feet touched the flat surface, she felt her heart pound a rhythm in her chest.

  Dropping to her hands and knees she untied the sheet and slid Ross out onto the platform. Glancing down, she realized that she had only gone about ten feet. The streetlights below appeared to be very far away. She clutched Ross to her chest, beginning to doubt the idea of escaping. He leaned up to peer into her face.

  “We did it, Jennybenny!” he said excitedly.

  She could not hold back the nervous giggle that erupted at seeing his joy. “Well, we’re not quite there, Ross, but you’re right. We did get out of the window!” She sat up and looked at the next platform about ten feet to their right again. “You ready to do this again?”

  His grin was her answer, and they made the move one more time. This brought them down to the next floor. Only two more to go…we can do this.

  *

  The vehicles pulled up silently to the building that Lily and BJ had pinpointed. It was dark and Gabe looked around anxiously for any sign of activity. Or life.

  As his eyes perused the remodeled warehouse, he noticed the scaffolding covered the front and side of the building. The men exited the SUVs, pulling on their night vision goggles. Checking their earpieces, they spread out, each focusing on the mission.

  The mission. Who the fuck was he kidding? This was personal. He could feel his heart rate increase and forced it back to normal.

  “East side. Single window, light on. All other boarded,” came the sound of Jobe through the radio. Gabe and Vinny were closest to that side so they rounded the corner. Looking up they could see the lighted window. His eyes searched the nearby scaffolding for signs of activity.

  Toward the left, he saw movement. Jesus fuck.

  “Sighting?” came Tony’s voice over the radio. Gabe realized he’d cursed out loud. Quickly covering his error, he said, “Roger. East side. Thirty feet up and twenty feet from back corner, on scaffolding. Looks to be two figures.”

  Gabe felt Vinny at his back as he strained to see what was moving. Tony and Shane were on the inside with the police and Gabe heard three men had been apprehended so far. No sign of Jennifer and Ross inside. Could that possibly be them out there?

  As the larger of the two figures leaned over the side, he saw the mass of curls fall around her head and knew it was her. “Sighting on the scaffolding. Confirm Jennifer.” Right then, a small head popped over the edge of the platform as well. Thank fuck, she’s got him. “Confirm Ross.”

  The rest of Tony’s men converged on the east side. Gabe was already beginning to climb by the time Tony made it around and grabbed Vinny, who was about to climb as well. “I need you back, trained on the window.” Vinny knew what that meant – he had been the best sniper of the squad. A quick nod was his response and he jogged to a place where he could see the window clearly.

  Gabe continued to climb as quickly as he could. He wanted to shout out to her to warn them he was coming, but knew stealth was imperative. He could hear Ross’ voice ca
rrying through the night air and wanted to warn him to not speak, but then heard Jennifer’s soft voice hushing her brother. That’s my girl, he thought proudly.

  A shout was heard from above and he looked up toward the window where the light was pouring out. A lone figure was at the edge, with a gun trained down on the platform. A shot rang out and he heard a scream. Hanging onto the metal poles of the scaffolding, his heart leapt into his throat, the pounding threatening to choke him.

  Jennifer had just moved Ross over to where she could tie him to the next diagonal pole when a gunshot zipped by and a scream ripped from her lips. Looking up, she saw Santo leaning out of the window with a gun trained on them. Another shot sounded as she tried to throw herself over Ross’ body to protect him, shaking so hard she was afraid of them falling off.

  A final sound zinged through the air and she saw Santo fall from the window, tumbling down onto the scaffolding, his body banging lifelessly through the metal poles before going out of her sight.

  Her heart beat wildly in her chest as she pushed up off of Ross. More may be coming. Ross did not move and as her eyes looked down the white sheet, she saw a dark stain. Oh Jesus, he’s been hit. Screaming his name, she tried to untie the sheet to see where he had been shot, screaming over and over his name.

  Below her, Gabe’s heart stopped as he realized the reason for her scream. Calling out her name, he continued to climb as quickly as he could. Grab a pole, pull body up. Next pole. Next pole. When he was a few feet away from her platform, he called her name.

  “Gabe!” she cried out hearing his voice. “Ross is hurt.”

  “Jennifer, baby. Move over. I’m coming up.”

  Unable to move away from her brother, she gathered him in her arms and scooted a few feet away, giving Gabe room to hoist himself up onto the platform. The sight of the woman he loved holding the brother they both loved, covered in blood, had the mission fly out of his head. He no longer cared about stealth, but about getting them out of there.

  Taking his weapon, he shot at the plywood window-covering closest to where they were. “Rescue needed. Window nearest us partially shot out. East side, thirty feet from the southeast corner.”