The Unforgettable Queen of Diamonds

by Nellie K Neves

  I palm my phone, holding it close to my lips. “So help me, Marquez, I will kill you. I will cut you myself, if that’s what it takes. Don’t lay a finger on her!”

  “Oh? A finger? You mean like this?”

  Her voice floods the phone. I’m unable to escape the sound of her wailing.

  “Roman! Roman! Please! Help me, Roman! Stop! Stop!”

  I understand Kennedy’s screams this time.

  I sink to my knees.

  Her sobs choke out to gasping breaths and pitiful wails of pain.

  Pedro’s voice comes back over the line, “One hour, shipping yard on the outskirts of town. Hand the flash drive to the parking attendant and he’ll give you the name of the cargo hold. Try anything stupid, and we’ll blow the whole yard.”

  The line falls dead. I drop my phone, falling forward to my palms to catch my breath. It’s my fault. Her life is in my hands, and I’ve killed her.

  “We got the trace,” Rick yells from the van. “He’s at that shipping yard outside town. We need to move.”

  My training takes over. Feelings pack into tiny boxes, compartmentalized where I won’t have to deal with them. All that remains is the rage.

  “Wait,” Hudson catches my arm, “he’s not there. It’s a trap. You’re walking into a trap.”

  “It all adds up, kid. Now, I gotta act on it.”

  Hudson won’t let go. “I’m telling you. You didn’t hear what you thought you heard.”

  “I heard all of it, kid. It was agony, but now I have to do something about it.”

  “You think you heard it,” he blocks my path. “I’ve worked with the sound guy, remember. I know a recording when I hear it. They recorded her, and now they’re playing it back to manipulate you.”

  Ace steps in behind his son. “I agree. The sound echoed differently than his voice. They’re in two different locations.”

  “Palermo! Let’s go!” Rick yells again.

  “Where’s the catering van?” Ace asks. “I checked security tapes. It came in, but it hasn’t left. I have guys out searching the property right now.”

  “You think she’s here?”

  “I know she is,” Ace says. “You can either run off to whatever trap they’ve laid, or you can trust instincts of people who know a bit more about the players. I’ve dealt with the likes of Dante Alvero. Not like him to shoot straight like this. He’s always looking for an upper hand, a backroom deal if he can get one. Two birds, one stone, like he said on the phone.”

  “He’s obsessed with her,” Victoria points out. “That’s what Kennedy told me. Dante wanted to own her. If he can get her, and take out the FBI agents tracking him, why wouldn’t he try?”

  “Now, Palermo!” Rick screams from the van.

  Against my better judgement, I turn to face Rick. “Wait, sir, I have other intel.”

  His face glows red with frustration. “I gave an order. You’ll follow that order, do you understand?”

  “Even if I think you’re going in blind, walking into a trap?”

  “We’re working on the counter plan. Fall in line Roman or face the consequences.”

  For as much as I have a one-track mind with Kennedy, Rick has had a single focus for Dark Fox since the beginning. He won’t listen to reason. I draw in a breath, glancing back at her family once before I solidify my decision.

  “I’m staying here, sir.”

  Rick shakes his head in disbelief. His hands ball into clenched fists and then release.

  “Your funeral, Roman.”

  The van rocks as he jumps inside and slams the door shut, extinguishing the only light besides the moon. Seconds later, the van lumbers out of sight.

  ✽✽✽

  Kennedy

  Blood drips from the corner of my mouth. In the beginning, it was a couple drops, but I fear it’s a stream now, pooling and overflowing. Sweat drips from my head, over my chest, down my arms. The heat blurs my thinking worse than the pain.

  “Tell me, songbird,” Dante pulls close until he’s pressed against my frame, “what do they know? How much did they uncover?? Did they find the roster? Do they know the players?”

  “I don’t know,” I say again. It’s the same answer. I have nothing to give him. If I had something, I’d tell him. “I’m just a talent scout.”

  Dante’s nose bores into my neck, condensation from his breath gathers on my skin. I pull back. His backhand catches my cheek, knocking me to the ground once more.

  “You’re mine now, did you know that? You belong to me.” His fingers lace into my hair, dragging me to my feet, ignoring my cries of pain before he whips me to the ground again. “Mine to do whatever I please, until you no longer please me.”

  I clasp my hands together, bound at the wrists and push back to standing.

  I could run.

  If I could find my way out.

  The world blurs once more as Dante plants a foot into my back and shoves me to the floor again. My face grates against the slick surface, burning and crying out for relief

  “I didn’t tell you to stand yet. You’ll learn to follow my commands, or there will be consequences.”

  Feeling the defiance well up in my chest, I push to standing once more, stumbling as the world tips in my limited vision.

  “I’d rather die.” I spit on the ground before me, a mixture of saliva and blood.

  Even in the dim light, I watch his eyes narrow until a sick smile twists over his features.

  “Don’t worry, that can be arranged as well.”

  Chapter 24

  Roman

  “They found the van.” Ace yells across the field. “They found it on the far side of the property.”

  “Tell them to pull back. We can’t risk anyone seeing them and taking it out on Kennedy.”

  Ace sets the phone to his ear, doling out directions to his employees. I review the recording of my last phone conversation that I received from our analyst, John.

  “Right there,” Hudson stops the tape and reverses it. “Listen. She’s screaming, but there are other sounds as well.” His fingers roll over the switchboard, thankfully eliminating her screams and enhancing the rest.

  “Play it back now,” Victoria leans closer, staring at the screen as though it will give us answers.

  Hudson plays back the ambient noises captured in the recording. To my untrained ear, the sound is nothing more than wind through the trees, but Hudson’s eyes light up.

  “That’s a dove. Did you hear it, Vic?”

  “Definitely,” she says, “but he wouldn’t risk the old barn. Harley would be making noise if he were in there.”

  Hudson presses his lips tight. “That only leaves the old auditorium. Doves have been roosting in the crawlspace up above.”

  “There’s another one?” I check the clip in my gun and slam it back in. “Where is it?”

  “Other side of the property.” Victoria rises with me. “It’s much smaller than this one. Been abandoned for nearly a decade. No one goes in there. The place has to be in total disrepair. Dad’s talking about tearing it down.”

  Hudson bites his lip hard. “Kenny goes in there. That’s where she pretends to be a star. She doesn’t know that I know that. I followed her a couple times. She’s been fixing it up. Lights still work. Recording equipment is still functional. It could have made these recordings easily.”

  Instantly I know the building he’s talking about. I found him dancing with a girl when I was snooping through the warehouse, but it’s not like I got a good handle on the layout.

  “Tell me about the basic structure.” I motion for them to follow me. “How many entrances? How many exits? Hiding places? Anything you can think of?”

  “It’s basically a movie theater. One hallway in, and a large room with seats and a stage. There’s an attic with vents to prop up, and a control room. Entrance is in the front, plus an emergency exit off the auditorium behind the stage curtains, but it has an alarm.” Victoria pulls on a jacket to combat the dropping te
mperatures. “It doesn’t have a backstage area like this one, but there is a crawl space under the stage for storage with access from the top.”

  Hudson breaks off, headed for the main house. Victoria calls after him, “Where are you going?”

  “I’m getting my gun, and yours too. We’re going after Kennedy.”

  I raise my hands, stepping in front of Victoria. “No, that’s not happening. I can’t allow you to put your life at risk. This is my op, and I won’t have you—”

  A rifle cocks behind me. I whirl to stare at Ace Cartwright ready for action.

  “Let’s get something straight here, Mr. FBI. You’re lucky we’re letting you tag along. This is a family matter, on family land to boot. You want to come up with a plan, we’re glad to hear it, but you’re not calling the shots, not with my daughter.”

  ✽✽✽

  Kennedy

  The haze burns off, wicked in its release. I groan from the pain. Time has no meaning. Dante could have taken me hours ago, or maybe days. Pain blurs those lines as well as my vision. Sweat drips and mixes with the blood on my skin.

  “Get up.” Dante jerks me to my feet again. I stumble forward but he yanks me back like a ragdoll. “Stay where I put you. It’s especially important that you follow my commands.”

  My hands come loose. On instinct, I rub the raw flesh, sore from the tight ropes. But seconds later, Dante steals them back. A zip tie catches my skin, cutting into the vulnerable tissue. Weight drags my arms down as he sets a device on top of them. Red glows back at me, like an alarm clock from my childhood.

  “Stay close,” Dante whispers. His lips press against my forehead. I recoil, trying to move away, but I’m anchored to the boards beneath me. I jerk the rope and metal clanks. His footsteps move away, thumping down the stairs, echoing out to the darkness. A hinge creaks and a door slams. The sounds register in my memory, but cloudy.

  Overhead, speakers blare feedback. I cringe, unable to cover my ears with my bound hands anchored to the floor. The overhead lights flash.

  No, not overhead lights.

  A spotlight.

  Dead centered over the top of me.

  My surroundings gel in an instant, too many nights spent on this exact stage. I know where I am, and my stomach drops. No one will think to look for me in the abandoned auditorium.

  My one eye adjusts to the light. My dress clings to my figure, dabbled in blood from my injuries. But my hands come into view, and my horror triples.

  Tied to my wrists, ready, armed and waiting, a clock stretches over my forearms with a block of c-4 sandwiched between. A rope anchors me to the handle of the trap door on the stage. Like a lamb for slaughter, I have no escape.

  Dante’s voice booms over the empty auditorium as he steps down the stairs to the seats below. “We could have been so good together. But Dark Fox doesn’t allow loose ends.”

  My body trembles with fear. “Please, don’t do this.”

  Dante shrugs as if he’s tossing out leftovers. “It’s done, but I’ll tell you what. You sing me something. That way you go out with a bang.”

  Despair brings my chin to my chest, breaking under the pressure of it all.

  I’m going to die.

  It’s over.

  “Sing!” Dante’s command bounces off the walls. I shake my head, unwilling to give him any satisfaction. “Sing, or I end this right now!”

  I lift my gaze, stare out to where he’s perched in a center seat, four rows up, boots on the seat in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He shakes what I have to assume is a detonator in his hand. I’m nothing more than a puppet for his entertainment.

  “SING!”

  ✽✽✽

  Roman

  “You any good with that thing?” I ask Hudson as we close in on the old auditorium.

  “I bet I’m better than you,” he says. “How many guys you shot?”

  I cast him a quick glance. “How many guys you shot?”

  He frowns. “No guys, just ducks, a few rabbits, and one mountain lion last year.”

  Kid’s making a point. Ducks take tracking and calculation. Rabbits are fast. Mountain lions are determined to kill you, and it’s do or die, no hesitation. I let the subject drop.

  “I’m going in the front. You wrap around the back.”

  “Dad and Vic have the exits covered from the tall grass back there.”

  I hope they’re at least as talented as my seventeen-year-old shadow.

  “Don’t shoot anyone if you don’t have to. If you do, go for a leg, shoulder, or arm. I don’t need you having your first kill today.”

  “Kill or be killed, isn’t that the saying?”

  “Just stay alive,” I tell him. “There’s a chance Dante is in there alone. Keep your cell on you.”

  “You ready?”

  “Recon only, you understand?”

  Hudson gives me a quick nod and drops into his knees, following my advice to stay low to the ground, but fast. We move through the dark without a sound. A guard pops up from behind the corner, illuminated by the rising half-moon.

  The flash from his muzzle catches my attention. I shove Hudson to the ground and take the shot. The guard groans and collapses. A second crops up in my vision on the opposite side. I take aim, but a rifle fires from the hill. The guard falls to the ground, unmoving.

  The building remains still. Hudson flashes a thumbs up to his family from the grass.

  “Vic took state in a rifle competition three years in a row. She’s pretty accurate.”

  “Good thing.”

  I signal to move out. Brush smacks against my leg. It’s too hard to see what I’m walking into in the dark, but I keep my sights down the barrel of my gun. Faint strains from the concert still catch the wind. A whole world outside this one that has no idea danger lurks on their doorstep.

  We meet no more resistance along the way. I motion for Hudson to guard the entry and hope his family can pick off any extra intruders before they get to him. Remembering the building, I should be able to enter, clear the hall that leads to the main room and steal a peek inside the auditorium. I pull back the door, clearing the front hall first. Using my foot to brace the sound, I let the door fall shut behind me.

  Heat from the day swelters inside. With no windows, and hardly any doors, there’s no escape from the temperatures. I push forward, gun up, searching for any sign of life. A faint glow emanates from the doorway ten feet ahead. I don’t want to walk in blind. That sort of thinking could get not only me killed, but Kennedy as well.

  Steeling my nerves, I start forward, but the next sound stops me dead.

  Her voice.

  Though trembling, though ragged, I’d know it anywhere. Staying close to the wall, I ease until my view to the auditorium opens up through the open main entrance. She’s right where she belongs, under the spotlight, but just like Pedro promised, she’s in a dress I’ve never seen. My guts churn over the abuse she might have endured. I’m about to pull back when I catch sight of it. Strapped to her wrists is a timer. That maniac strapped a bomb to the woman I love.

  My heart surges forward, ready to take on any danger inside to save her life, but training pushes me back. Protocol dictates calling for backup and notifying my superior. I reverse without a sound, clinging to the fact that she’s still alive.

  Hudson catches the door, pulls it back, and waits with expectance. “Well, is she in there?”

  “Yeah,” I pull out my cell, moving away from the building, “but it just got complicated.”

  “How so?” Hudson trails after me like a puppy. “Let’s go get her.”

  “She’s wired,” I say, hoping it translates. His lost expression tells me I have to clarify. “He strapped a bomb to her. I don’t know where he is, or what he’s planning, but he has the upper hand in this situation.”

  I press Rick’s name on my phone as Hudson launches into his tirade of how stupid I am and what a waste of time this is.

  “Palermo,” Rick’s fury has only deepene
d, “you’ve got a lot of nerve calling me.”

  “I found her,” I say, hoping it will dissipate the anger, “she’s here on the far side of the ranch.”

  “You got eyes on her?”

  “I did. She’s wired.”

  “Any hostiles inside?”

  “Couldn’t see, sir. You’re walking into a trap. Circle back.”

  “I don’t take orders from you. How do we know she’s not in on it? Maybe she’s bait to lure you away? Maybe they’re storing her? We’re set to take down the whole organization in ninety seconds. You expect me to abort because you saw a pretty girl?”

  “I’m telling you, they set you up.”

  “We turned in the fake drive. We’re on the way to the storage container, Trojan horse style. They won’t know what hit them. Trap or not, we’re coming out of this on top. Consider yourself relieved of duty, Palermo.”

  The phone falls, but Rick didn’t cut the call. Sounds of pounding feet fuzz up the receiver. Gunfire rattles over the line, but I have no way of knowing which side has fired. Shouts of alarm, screams of anguish, and cries for help widen Hudson’s naïve eyes. A deafening explosion shatters the air, not only through the phone line, but through the ground we stand on in violent vibrations.

  The phone falls from my grasp.

  They’re gone.

  I’m alone.

  Kennedy needs me.

  Chapter 25

  Roman

  “I can’t disarm a bomb, Hudson. We have to call it in to the locals, get a bomb squad out here.”

  “What kind of FBI agent can’t disarm a bomb?”

  “Most of us,” I snap back. My entire team was slaughtered seconds ago. I don’t have the patience for his assumptions. “You have to go through extra training.”

  “What’s the hold up?” Ace pushes back the last of the brush and stops beside us. “Is she in there or not?”