by Gemma Hart
Roy looked at me with a measuring gaze. “Like her that much, do you?” he asked. “Then why didn’t you come looking for her during the Juarez deal?”
I raised a brow.
“I made sure I sent Gary over to you when I left. That big blabbermouth couldn’t keep his trap shut if his life fucking depended on it.” Roy cocked his head a little. “She wasn’t too enticing then? Is that it?”
“I did come,” I said slowly. “I came just in time to watch her and the Juarez Family be taken into FBI custody.”
Roy leaned his head back. “Ah, I see,” he said. “So bad timing, I guess. I should’ve sent Gary in earlier.”
I narrowed my eyes at the man who was supposedly my father. “What the fuck is going on?”
Roy gave a great big sigh as if tired. “For the last few months, the FBI have really been getting too close for comfort. They were breathing down our fucking necks and I wasn’t liking it too much. They were getting pretty good at expecting some of our old maneuvers and it was harder to shake them.” He shrugged.
“So I contacted some of my people in the Bureau to find me the best possible ears to pitch to. Two agents came up in the search. I told them I could get them a high profile criminal Family that had ties to the US. In return, they back the fuck off of the Desmond Family and keep their nose clean around our business.”
Roy made a dismissive gesture with a large paw. “The negotiations were all set and soon it was just a matter of time in luring that greedy little Juarez shit to the States.”
I stared at Roy. The deal had been a set up? He had thrown one of the largest South American Families under the bus so he could have a little breathing room from the Feds? God, was there no end to Roy Desmond?
“Where the fuck did Halle play into this then?” I demanded.
Roy laughed and shook his head. “You were always quick. She came into this whole mess for you. I wanted to have someone come in and grab you, hook, line, and sinker so that when the deal happened and I brought the girl with me, you’d come too, willing or no.”
Roy frowned as he rubbed his chin. “I worried because I was pretty sure it hadn’t worked. The girl they had sent had a face, sure, but she couldn’t seduce a tree if she tried. Clumsy as fuck.” Then he looked up through his hooded lids and gave me a disgustingly sinister grin. “But it did work, didn’t it?”
I gritted my teeth, my hand itching to reach for my gun that was holstered under my arm. Of course Halle looked clumsy to Roy. She wasn’t some trained FBI seductress. They had probably sent in their most attractive employee to fill the job.
And attractive, Halle certainly was. Undeniably so. But trained seductress, she was not. And thank god. It had been that guileless charm that had pull me to her.
But besides all that, what the fuck was going on? How could Roy go against all criminal code and throw away the Juarez Family like that? And why would he go about trying to seduce his son through the FBI?
“What if it did?” I threw back. “What was the point of it?”
Roy gave a broad shrug. “Oh, either get shot during the shoot out or arrested with the rest of the Juarez trash,” he said easily.
The casual revelation hit me.
So this hadn’t all just been to make Roy a little less uncomfortable with the FBI. He had taken advantage of the situation and thrown my life in as well. Getting rid of the Juarez? Why not throw in my own son as well. He had taken Halle with him so that I would follow into the line of fire.
“I know how you’ve been gunning for my seat,” Roy said, his beady eyes narrowing. I could see the slight sheen of sweat over his upper lip. “You think you’re man enough now to become head of the Family, don’t you? Think you can take out your old man like yesterday’s garbage, huh?”
It had finally happened. I stared at the man in slight awe. Roy’s ever present paranoia and suspicion had finally gotten the better of him. His paranoia over the FBI had led him to sell out an entire criminal clan. His paranoia over his position within his own Family had led him to murder his own son.
Or at least, attempt to.
I realized now why he had called me out here and why he had not brought any men.
Just like I couldn’t bring any men with me for fear they wouldn’t be able to betray Roy, Roy couldn’t bring men with him for fear they wouldn’t be able to betray me.
I was not the head of the Family. Everybody knew that. But I was second-in-command. I had the most ruthless record of kills and an impeccable reputation as the hand of the Desmond Mafia.
There were probably a sizeable number of men, even within Roy’s own personal guards, that would feel hesitant about firing at me.
Roy had wanted a clean and uncomplicated job. That meant doing it himself.
“So you’re planning on finishing the job tonight?” I said slowly, measuring up the man. I was faster than him by far. He had weight on his side but that also slowed him down. Physically, I was better equipped to take him down. Without his men to help him, how did he intend to kill me? After all, we both were probably armed to the teeth. “There’s no raid to use as a cover to shoot me.”
Roy shook his head, waving a hand at me. “No, no, no,” he said. “That’d be too messy. If you cooperate, we won’t need to do any shooting.”
I waited, not sure exactly what was coming but knowing instinctively it was bad. I could feel every muscle within my body tense and taut for action. A flash of Halle’s blonde hair and sweet lips passed through my mind and I had a sudden overwhelming urge to feel her softness against my body.
“We can strike a happy deal,” Roy said in an almost pleasant voice as if we were just discussing the weather. “You stay in this location. Within an hour, I can have several FBI agents here. Go quietly with them. Or don’t, actually. I don’t really care. Just as long as you end up being taken into custody.”
“Then what?” I said, eyes narrowed.
“Then let the legal system take over,” Roy answered. “My guess is, considering you’re the son of the Desmond Family, you’ll end up with several life sentences. It’d be hard to get out with any jail time even with the best of lawyers and you won’t be having any of those in your corner this time.”
So that was his plan. Give myself up, get myself tried, and get locked up for the rest of my life. Only then would Roy Desmond feel smug and secure in his seat of power.
“And I’m supposed to just agree to this, am I?” I asked, raising a brow.
“Well,” Roy started, pursing his lips, “I would think you would after I told you that if you don’t comply, I will send a text to someone in London. It’s already all written out.” He pulled out his cellphone, the screen bright with a short text. “And before you could even get your gun out, Jamie will have a bullet through his head.”
And there it was. His trump card.
This man was no man. He was a piece of fucking scum that even the Devil himself wouldn’t step on.
From the minute I’d been born, he had beaten and bruised me into a killer. He had thrown his youngest son into danger, injuring him permanently for life. He had struck a crooked deal to throw an entire Family into prison for his own needs. He had hired a slip of a woman to seduce and use me. And now he was about to kill his me while using his other son as bait.
Roy Desmond was layers upon layers of evil and cruelty compressed together to create a black hole of inhumanity. His entire life had been completely covered in the blood of not only his enemies but his own children. The man had no end to his sadism.
And he had me right in his crosshairs.
Chapter Twenty Six
Halle
I parked nearly half a mile away from the hangar.
Although it was a cloudy night without a lot of moonlight, I could still see the two cars parked outside the hangar. They were already here.
Not wanting to draw attention to myself with any engine noise, I came to crawl and parked a good distance away.
I sighed in relief as I took a
moment in the still car.
“Tomorrow. Original drop point. Same time.”
That’s all Agent Truman had said when I had caught him in his offices. I had had to do careful guesswork to figure out where this location was. I had debated called Marco to warn him but couldn’t risk it. With the FBI and Roy Desmond this chummy, who knew who was keeping tabs on Marco’s phone.
Instead I had to deduce that ‘original drop point’ meant the drop point from our mission—which would be the hangar. That had been referred to on occasion as the drop point.
Throwing up every prayer that I would be right, I had gotten into my car and had driven to the location. Four miles away from the abandoned hangar was a small town.
Actually, town was a generous word. It was really just a gas stop with a few eateries dotted around. The only draw of this gas stop was that it was a required point to pass to get to the hangar.
Parking my car carefully between a diner and the gas station, I had settled myself into stakeout mode.
I knew whatever meeting they were going to have, it would be at night. I just didn’t know when at night.
So I had sat in my car, waiting, hoping that I was right.
The relief I felt when I saw Roy Desmond’s Range Rover pass by me was indescribable. It was all the confirmation I needed that I was right.
I debated whether I should follow him right then but I decided to hold back. Marco wasn’t with him, which meant that another car would be coming. That’s when I could follow and hopefully rescue him.
It was a nerve-racking mission. This was harder than the original Desmond mission in many ways. Because this time around, I had nobody I could trust to be on my side. And being rogue from the Bureau meant I had no idea how many eyes they had on Marco and Roy.
Careful was an understatement in what I had to be.
But here I was now, at the hangar.
I had no idea what I would do but I had tried my best to prepare for the worst. Making sure I was ready, I carefully stepped out of the car. Hugging the shadows of the area, I reached the back entrance door.
Luckily, because of its aged and warped shape, it hadn’t shut all the way when Marco had last entered.
Wedging a finger in between the door and the jamb, I carefully eased it open, not wanting any squeaking to notify my arrival. Once inside, I stayed hunched down, stepping slowly and methodically down the hall.
I could hear the echoes of voices from within.
Having already been here once before, I knew I couldn’t just walk out into the main interior. They would immediately see me. And putting myself in danger like that could very well put Marco in greater danger. I paused halfway down the hall, breathing shallowly.
I looked around the space. It was quite dim since the only light bulb that still functioned gave off as much light as the dark side of the moon. I squinted trying to see if there was any other way to the main hangar.
Then my eye caught sight of something. Instead of the corrugated steel of the hallway, I saw something softer and floppier. Carefully scooching towards it, I poked it. It was limp cardboard.
With feather light touches, I reached towards the cardboard to see how much of it there was and what it was doing there.
Through gentle groping, I could tell that the cardboard was still attached together as a box. I reached towards the edges of the box and felt cool air and the sharp clean edge of steel.
Ah ha.
So there was some kind of hole in the hallway walls and someone had thought to cover it with some boxes. But how many boxes?
I remembered last time that I had noticed some discarded old boxes in the corner but I didn’t remember if there had been enough to cover a whole person.
But there was no other way. It was either this or go through the main entrance. And that was definitely not possible. Not if I wanted to keep everyone (or close to everyone) alive.
Carefully, I shifted the cardboard with my fingers. Luckily, it was empty and moved without making so much as a whisper. Looking through the sizeable hole, I saw the shadows of other boxes. They were stacked haphazardly together and looked like they would blow over with one single breath. But they were high enough for me to possibly crouch behind.
“I worried because I was pretty sure it hadn’t worked. The girl they had sent had a face, sure, but she couldn’t seduce a tree if she tried. Clumsy as fuck.”
Pushing the cardboard box away from the hole, I could now hear Roy’s gravelly voice clearly. Another wave of shaking adrenaline hit me. This was such a long shot to be here. I was literally in between two of the most dangerous men in America. What chance did I have to save one and take down the other?
But swallowing my nerves and forcing my knees to quit knocking, I carefully pushed the cardboard box to the side, revealing the whole fully. It was just big enough for me to crawl through.
With painstakingly slow movements, I crawled through the hole. Holding my breath, I inched my way forward till I was right up against the boxes. I kneeled to make sure I had complete balance.
Once in position, I searched for any openings that would give me a sight into what was happening.
To the right of me, I found a box with a torn corner. It allowed me to carefully peek through, giving me a slightly angled view of the hangar interior.
I saw Roy Desmond clearly in front of me. His jowly face and hooded eyes, just as threatening as ever, were focused on his son. Shifting carefully, I saw the profile of Marco to my left. I couldn’t see all of him from the angle that I was at but I saw enough of him to notice how taut his jaw was and his clenching fists.
“We can strike a happy deal,” Roy said, his weight leaning back on his heels. “You stay in this location. Within an hour, I can have several FBI agents here. Go quietly with them. Or don’t, actually. I don’t really care. Just as long as you end up being taken into custody.”
Oh god. He really intended to go through with this plan. I knew Agent Hadfield and Truman were probably on standby. Anger burst through my veins at the thought of those two disgusting cowards that called themselves agents. Because of their disloyalty to justice, Marco was now in danger.
“Then what?” Marco said, his low voice rumbling through the hangar.
“Then let the legal system take over,” Roy answered, giving a simple shrug. “My guess is, considering you’re the son of the Desmond Family, you’ll end up with several life sentences. It’d be hard to get out with any jail time even with the best of lawyers and you won’t be having any of those in your corner this time.”
I tried to scan carefully through my little hole. I hadn’t seen any guards posted outside and there didn’t seem to be any inside either. How was Roy planning to make Marco comply? He couldn’t possibly be thinking of physically overpowering him. Marco was built like a Spartan warrior. There was no way that was even a contest.
“And I’m supposed to just agree to this, am I?” Marco asked dryly, echoing my own thoughts.
“Well,” Roy started, pursing his lips, “I would think you would after I told you that if you don’t comply, I will send a text to someone in London. It’s already all written out.” He pulled out his cellphone, the screen bright with a short text. “And before you could even get your gun out, Jamie will have a bullet through his head.”
My heart stopped.
He couldn’t be serious. He was gambling with one son’s life in order to end another son’s?
This man was a monster. No, there was no accurate enough word to describe the kind of being that Roy Desmond was.
I could feel Roy’s words reverberating through the air. Marco’s entire body was rigid. His tall powerful frame was locked in internal combat as he tried to figure out how he could possibly win.
But there was no way. Nobody would consider Roy Desmond a bluffer. Marco knew that best. If he were to not comply, Jamie would be dead within minutes.
I took in a deep breath. This was why I had come.
Carefully, I reached towards th
e back of my waistband and slowly pulled out my .45.
As a trainee for the Bureau, we had all been issued firearms and given brief classes on gun safety and usage. As soon as those classes had ended and I had been rejected from field ops, I had carefully put away my gun in a corner of my house, sure that I would never need it again.
Pulling the gun forward, I made sure that it was cocked. I had cocked it out by the car, afraid the tiny noise of the hammer would echo within the cavernous hangar.
With my heart pounding in my throat, I carefully shifted my body so I could aim through the tiny hole. I knew this was a long shot. At best, I could wound him to incapacitate him momentarily. Then hopefully by then, Marco will have his gun out, ready to shoot.