She screwed up her mouth and didn’t bother refuting him. The man in the alley had shaken her up and she hadn’t appreciated Josh’s intervention at the time. Now that she knew Ricky really was dead, she was grateful for his protection. This might be a new type of assignment for him, but he’d caught on quickly.
Digging her elbow into the table, she buried her chin in one palm. “How exactly did the Navy SEALs fit into the raid on my father’s place?”
“I can’t talk about that.”
“Okay, top secret.” She tapped her fingertips against her cheekbone. “What now?”
“Keep your eyes and ears open, and be careful. I’ll be here to look out for you until we can figure out why your father’s associates are trying to contact you.”
“If they tell me anything, I’ll be sure to pass it along to you.”
His dark eyes narrowed. “Tell you anything? Why and how would they have the opportunity to tell you anything?”
As she studied his glittering eyes, a chill touched her spine. In that instant she had an odd sense that she was staring into Ricky’s eyes again. Josh’s expression contained that same single-minded ferocity that Ricky had, but surely, Josh had a passion for good and justice, not evil and greed.
“I mean, if they text me again or, God forbid, call me since they seem to have my cell phone number.”
Josh leveled a finger at her. “You’re not going to run off and meet anyone again, are you?”
“No. I just thought...” She glanced down and studied her fingernails as she trailed off.
“Ricky’s dead, Gina.”
“I know.” A single tear puddled in her right eye. Ricky had died a long time ago.
Josh slouched back in his chair and downed the rest of his beer. “Are you ready?”
She tapped her phone to wake it up, and the numbers of the clock glowed in the dark bar. “My mom’s going to think I had one hot date.”
“If you want her to think that, you need to take a couple of deep breaths. Your face looks—” he touched a finger to her cheek “—tight.”
His fingertip seemed to scorch her, to brand her. She sucked in a breath, and then shook her head. He was right. The events of the evening had taken their toll on her. The fear still had her senses buzzing.
“With any luck, my mother will be sound asleep and not lying in wait to ask nosy questions.”
“Did your mother have any contact with your father after the divorce?”
“Divorce?” She dropped her phone into her purse. “Your sources aren’t very well-informed. My mother and father never divorced, but they had very little contact after the separation.”
“Did they separate after she discovered his business, or did she know his line of work before they married?”
“Top secret.” Her lips formed a thin line, and she dragged her finger across the seam. If Josh, and the US government, didn’t know the details of her parents’ lives, she sure wasn’t going to inform them.
She still had to protect her mom.
Clasping her purse to her body, she pushed up from the chair. “I’m ready to go.”
Josh hopped up beside her and placed his hand at the small of her back to guide her out of the still-crowded bar. They spilled onto the sidewalk, joining the rest of the late-night revelers, stragglers from spring breaks across the country and snowbirds escaping the last ravages of winter in the Northeast.
A few steps later, and a popping noise had the press of people scattering and yelping in confusion.
Gina tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and stumbled off the curb. The cars in the street honked, as people surged into the road from the sidewalk to escape the firecrackers.
As Gina stood on her tiptoes to find Josh, she noticed from the corner of her eye a car peel away from the curb where it had been illegally parked. She turned toward the white sedan, and the back door flew open. A man lurched into the street and made a beeline for her.
Taking a step backward, Gina bumped into someone who wouldn’t budge. She put a hand out. “Excuse me.”
“Stop pushing, lady. Somebody’s gonna get hurt.”
“Yeah, me.” She twisted her head back around, and the man from the car was an arm’s length away.
Gina shifted sideways, but the man anticipated the move.
His fat fingers clamped around her upper arm and he almost lifted her from her feet as he dragged her toward the sedan.
She dug her heels into the asphalt. She was no match for him, but Josh was.
“Josh! Josh!”
As they got to the open door of the car, Gina grabbed onto the door frame. The big man peeled her fingers from the metal and twisted them back. She screamed amid another flurry of pops.
It was the driver of the car who’d been tossing firecrackers out the window.
Her abductor gave her a hard push from behind, and she fell face forward across the leather seats.
The man from the front seat growled, “Welcome back, Mrs. Rojas.”
Chapter Five
The firecrackers were some sort of diversion. Josh craned his neck just in time to see Gina carried into the street by a sea of people.
He swallowed hard and plowed his way through the panicked pedestrians, losing sight of Gina in the process. A big white sedan, the same one that had carried away her assailant in the alley, blocked his view of the rest of the street and when he saw a large man at the open door, Josh’s heart slammed against his chest.
He pushed a few people out of his way, and then jumped on the trunk of the car, sliding to the other side.
The big man was stuffing Gina into the back seat of the car.
Josh drew back his fist and landed it against the side of the man’s head. The man stumbled back and Josh shouted, “Get out of the car, Gina!”
Encouraged by a pair of legs in white denim that appeared in the doorway, Josh went at the big man again who was quickly regaining his composure and reaching into his pocket.
This bunch didn’t want a dead body in the street any more than he did, but the big guy would probably make an exception for him. Josh charged the man, which felt like running into a brick wall. He grabbed the man’s arm, twisting it behind his formidable bulk in one fluid movement.
The guy grunted and Josh continued to apply pressure until the man dropped to his knees. The driver began to get out of the car, but the whoop of sirens stopped him in his tracks.
Josh kicked the man’s fat gut before leaping over his body and making his way back to the sidewalk. The whole attack took seconds, and the cops were rolling in for crowd control.
The squeal of tires told him the men in the sedan weren’t going to stick around to answer questions about why they were tossing firecrackers onto a crowded sidewalk.
Josh’s gaze swept up and down the street. Had Gina run to her mother’s building? He squinted toward the purple awning, hoping to see her waiting there for him.
When someone wrapped an arm around him from behind, he spun around, fist clenched.
Gina held up one hand. “It’s just me.”
Warm relief rushed through his body and he pulled her into his arms. It’s what he’d been wanting to do all night anyway.
“Are you all right? That big guy wasn’t the same one from the alley.”
“No, but I think the driver was the same guy.”
He rubbed his hands up and down her arms. “Did he hurt you?”
“Just my fingers.” She shook out her hand. “They really want me to go with them, don’t they?”
“They sure do. They were behind the firecrackers. They wanted to create a panic and separate us.”
“It worked. I nearly got trampled in the street. Before they drove off, I tried to get a license plate but there was no plate on the car.”
�
�They’d never allow themselves to be traced through something like a license plate. Even if the car had one, it would’ve been stolen.” He squeezed her shoulders before releasing her. “But good thinking.”
“Maybe I should’ve just gone with them.”
“What?” That was not good thinking. “Are you crazy?”
“Maybe they’d just tell me what they want and I could tell them I didn’t have it, and they’d leave me alone.” She chewed on her bottom lip.
“You know that’s ridiculous, don’t you? You already know what they want. They texted that to you—drugs and weapons. And you already told them you don’t know anything. Do you think they believe you?”
“I don’t know.” She tucked her fingertips into the front pockets of her jeans, crossing one leg over the other where she stood. “I didn’t recognize those two tonight, but some of these guys have to be past associates of my father. Maybe I can reason with a couple of them.”
“You don’t follow the news much, do you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Does it look like the drug cartels are big fans of reasoning with anyone?”
“But my father...”
Josh sliced his hand through the air to stop her. “Your father was a vicious killer getting ready to deal with terrorists.”
Her face blanched and her eyes glimmered like dark pools.
Anger bubbled in his blood. Didn’t Gina realize by now that the company you kept could get you killed? How could she have ever married a man like Ricky Rojas, a member of her father’s cartel?
Look what had happened to his own mother.
A shaft of pain pierced his temple and he massaged it with two fingers. “Let’s get you home.”
She shuffled her feet like a zombie as he walked her to the entrance of her mother’s building. He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but maybe someone should’ve shocked her out of her naïveté long ago.
Or was it something other than naïveté?
Ariel, his contact for the assignment, had indicated that not only was he supposed to protect Gina De Santos but find out if she knew anything. Maybe she did know something. Maybe that’s why she wanted to meet with her father’s associates. He’d have to keep an eye on her.
As he glanced down at her wavy dark hair dancing around her shoulders and the curve of her hips in those tight jeans, he had a thoroughly primal male response. He wouldn’t have any problem keeping an eye on Gina.
She turned at the doorway of the building. “Do you want me to call you when I hear something, or what?”
“Is this place secure?” He tipped his chin toward the pink art deco building with its purple-striped awning.
De Santos must’ve laid quite a settlement on his ex. That’s probably why they didn’t do the split legally.
“It’s a safe building, and my mom has additional security, cameras. I’ll be fine here.”
“Touch base with me tomorrow if anything happens. Are you going to work?”
“Of course.”
Her quick glance encompassed the luxury condo. “I have to make a living and support my son, even if I’m not sure realty is my thing.”
He took her hand and smoothed the pad of his thumb over her knuckles. Guilt had been nibbling at the edges of his conscience ever since he snapped at her. He didn’t know her story, didn’t know what demons had pushed her into the arms of a drug dealer.
“Be careful and please don’t meet with these people. They don’t love you like I’m sure your father did, for all his faults.”
An explosive little sob burst from her lips and she stabbed the buttons of the security keypad for the door. With one foot inside the ornate lobby, she twisted her head over her left shoulder. “I’ll keep you posted, SEAL.”
Josh watched her through the glass as she sauntered to the elevator. She flicked her fingers over her shoulder, and a flash of heat claimed his chest. He hadn’t been as subtle in his...admiration as he thought if she knew he was watching her like a boy with his nose pressed against the candy case.
Josh blew out a breath and turned on his heel, diving back into the press of people still hopping from bar to club to bar. As he floated through and among the crowd, he felt as if he inhabited his own private island apart from the rest. These people had no idea about the danger that lurked in their presence. But he knew.
His teammates and superiors always tried to tell him he couldn’t protect the entire world. But right now he’d be happy if he could protect just one woman.
* * *
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Josh rose early to work out in the hotel gym and eat at the hotel restaurant. Then he settled in his room with his laptop whirring to life in front of him.
Drumming his thumbs on the keyboard, he gazed out his window onto the roof of another hotel. He had to compose a report to Ariel relaying the developments of last night without allowing his own suspicions of Gina to bleed into his words.
He dug his fingers into his scalp as he clutched his head. And what were his suspicions of Gina?
She seemed genuinely upset at the deaths of her father and husband. She’d seemed desperate to reconnect with Ricky Rojas. And she had secrets in her eyes.
Did she know something about the drugs and weapons? The DEA had originally thought so and had questioned her accordingly. They didn’t break her, though.
Something told him Gina wouldn’t break easily.
He flexed his fingers and began typing his message to Ariel. He stuck to the facts and kept his opinions to himself. He didn’t even know if the men who’d tried to abduct Gina were from the cartel or the terrorist cell—or both.
When he finished his report, he clicked Send and heaved out a sigh. He never much liked paperwork, but he had to furnish one of these reports every day to Ariel—whoever that was. The name sounded female, but he couldn’t even count on that. This assignment reached the upper echelons of power, and the people pulling the strings had tightened security to a suffocating degree. He had a few contacts in Miami for outside help and support, but Ariel expected him to manage this mission on his own, creating as few waves as possible.
He shoved aside the secure, encrypted laptop and powered on his personal one. He did still have a life outside this assignment and planned to take advantage of being back on US soil.
His sniper team unit was somewhere on the other side of the world right now, but two of his team members, Austin and Slade, had already fulfilled missions for Ariel and her covert bunch. His team had been singled out specifically because of their connection to Vlad, a sniper for the other side. Had Vlad really grown so powerful that he’d been able to assemble a band of terrorists with worldwide connections? Austin and Slade had been convinced of it.
Josh scrolled through his email and stuttered over one from the NYPD. He double-clicked on it and hissed through his teeth when he saw Detective Potts’s name at the bottom of it.
Dragging his finger across the text, Josh read every word of the message and pumped his fist when he reached the end. He’d hit pay dirt with Potts, the new detective for cold cases in the fifty-second precinct.
Potts had reopened his mother’s case and had come across some information that hadn’t been investigated previously. He wanted to meet with Josh.
Too bad the detective hadn’t let him know sooner—like when he’d been in New York a few weeks ago assisting Slade with his...disposal problem.
He responded to Potts, letting him know he was in Miami for a few weeks, but would tell him if he made it to New York again. Josh slumped back in his chair and scuffed his knuckles across his jaw. Would it be a few weeks? How long would it take to protect and secure Gina De Santos...or find out what she was hiding?
If this assignment went well, his superiors in the navy would have to give him a couple of days leave before he deployed. He’d
spend them meeting with Potts in New York.
He skimmed through the rest of his emails, deleting more than he read.
As he closed the lid on his personal laptop, he eyed the file he’d been provided on Gina. He thought he knew her story but after meeting her, he couldn’t figure out why a woman like her would give a punk like Rojas the time of day. He swept the file from the table and settled on the bed after punching a few pillows into submission.
He flipped open the file and scanned the details of her life. Her age surprised him. She seemed older than her twenty-six years, maybe because she’d been through a lot already—and had more coming her way.
He stared at the date she’d married Rojas, the birthdate of her son and the date of the day she’d become a widow, although he already had that date drilled into his memory. But those cold, hard facts didn’t do a thing to explain why she’d married Rojas at the age of twenty-two or why she’d stayed with him as he climbed the ladder of the cartel.
She’d met him right after college, but the file didn’t specify where. They’d opened a bar together a year later and had a son shortly after that.
He tossed the file off the bed with a grunt of disgust. Probably opened the bar with drug money and laundered it there. That had to be why the government took the place after the...assassinations.
She’d lost everything, and he’d been partially responsible for that.
He leaned over the side of the bed and gathered up the photos that had fanned out from the file. The first pictures showed Gina after the hits on her father and his associates, including her husband.
Josh squinted at the images. Gina seemed strangely detached. While everyone else scurried around in shock and terror, she comforted them. She alone knew exactly what had happened and why.
The next few pictures showed her in the interrogation room, her face strained but not a teardrop in sight. Did her composure indicate shock and disbelief or did it mean a new opportunity had just opened up for her?
A female head of a cartel would be different—and tricky. Had she taken over where her father and husband had left off?
He stacked the photos and turned them over. He needed a bottle of water to get the sour taste out of his mouth.
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