by Rebecca Deel
“Hey, man, I need to use the restroom. Untie me.”
“Too bad.”
“That’s cruel.”
“Ask me if I care.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Information.”
A snort. “You’re out of luck. I ain’t talking. Who are you?”
“Adam Walker.”
All expression vanished from Raul’s face.
Adam smiled. “I’m flattered. You recognize my name.”
“You’re a dead man.”
“Not even close. As you can see, your boss didn’t manage to kill me and you won’t be that lucky.” A knock sounded at the front door. Adam flicked a glance at Veronica. “Watch this clown.” He would have sent her to the door, but she didn’t know Curt Jackson.
“Leaving me with your woman?” taunted Raul. “Not smart. I’ll kill her before you return.”
“If you believe that, you’re more stupid than I thought.” Veronica would gut him before the arrogant man had a chance to lay a hand on her. His woman was as tough as they came.
He checked the peephole. “Thanks for coming, Curt.” Adam could interrogate Raul. He’d done enough of it in the field, but Curt had better training in the art and was more effective. Adam wanted fast results.
“No problem. Where’s our boy?”
“Kitchen. Veronica is watching him.”
Curt paused, glanced back over his shoulder. “Veronica Miles is here?”
Adam raised an eyebrow as he stared at his friend.
“What? That woman is legendary in our circles.”
“Yeah, she is. She’s also mine.” Good grief. He would be beating his chest like Tarzan before long. If Veronica heard him claim her in that way, she might take him down a notch or two herself. She was more than capable of doing the job.
Curt held up his hands. “Sorry, bro. I’ve looked forward to meeting her.” He followed Adam into the well-lit kitchen where Veronica had closed the blinds.
By the time Curt walked into the kitchen, his entire facial expression changed. Coupled with the thousand-yard stare he had down pat, his cold demeanor sent chills down Adam’s spine, maybe because he knew Curt’s capabilities.
Raul’s face lost every trace of color at the sight of Curt Jackson. Guess it wasn’t Adam’s inside knowledge. Old Raul was a thug, no match for a professionally trained interrogator.
“Raul says he won’t answer our questions,” Veronica said.
Curt smiled. “We’ll see. The information you want is still the same?” he asked Adam.
“Copy that.”
He slid his gaze to Veronica, gave her a genuine smile before saying, “You should wait in the other room or, better yet, outside.”
Her jaw dropped. “Why?”
“Deniability. You can’t tell what you don’t know.”
She was silent a moment, then left the room.
As soon as she was clear, Adam grabbed a chair, turned it around backwards, and draped his arms across the back. “Last chance, Raul.”
The man spit at him.
Curt circled around behind Raul, nodded at Adam.
“Who sent you, Raul?” He already knew, but wanted confirmation.
No response.
The operative behind Raul lifted his hands and pressed against a sensitive pressure point. Raul gasped, his eyes widening. He clenched his jaw, fighting to squash his response to the pain.
Waste of time. Curt would increase the pressure, raising the pain to an excruciating level.
“Answer the question and the pain stops,” Curt murmured.
Raul’s response was a vile curse.
The operative shifted slightly. A moan escaped the restrained man, sweat beading on his forehead. His skin blanched as Curt increased the pressure on the nerve. “Be smart, Raul.”
A jerky shake of Raul’s head. He tried to get away from Curt’s hands, couldn’t because of Adam’s tape job. Ah, the wonder of duct tape. All Fortress operatives carried rolls of the stuff. They found the tape useful. One of their operatives even duct taped his shoulder wound until he could seek medical help.
Adam rose, grabbed his mug and poured another round of coffee for himself. Returning to his seat, he took a couple of sips. “Save yourself some pain, man. I already know the name. I want confirmation.”
“Yeah?” Raul’s lip curled. “Prove it.”
“Collins.”
“Peter Collins is dead.”
“His daughter isn’t.”
The thug’s gaze dropped. “She’s a pampered princess. You ought to know that. You worked for the old man long enough.”
He was lying. “Thanks for the confirmation.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to. Let’s move on to something more interesting.” Adam set aside his coffee. He hoped Veronica was far enough away that she wouldn’t hear the next part. He wanted to live long enough to marry her. “Who hurt my woman?”
“I don’t know your old lady.”
Curt shifted slightly. Raul screamed in pain. When he fell silent, Curt murmured, “Answer the question.”
“You answer a question,” he spat out. “Who is your woman?”
“Veronica. She was captured and tortured for days on Collins’ orders. I want the name of the man who hurt my woman.”
“I don’t know. I’ve been in the U.S. for months.”
Adam shook his head. “You’re making this harder on yourself, Raul. It’s not necessary. You really want to suffer for an organization that won’t lift a finger to help you?”
Another curse from their captive.
“I want the interrogator’s name.” He stared at the thug. “I’ll learn that name no matter what I have to do to get it, including going after your family.”
Raul scowled, trying to brazen his way out. His eyes gave him away. “You lie.”
“Your family lives in Belize, about two miles from the Collins compound. You have four children. Two beautiful little girls, two handsome boys. Your wife, Maria Elena, is a great mom who will soon be a widow if you don’t tell me the name of the man who hurt my girlfriend.”
Another increase in the pain level had Raul screaming again, then sobbing as he squirmed, trying to relieve the pressure and pain.
Adam signaled Curt to ease up, knowing the nerves would throb and ache, a constant reminder of what he’d endured and might yet experience again. “Tell me his name and the pain stops.”
“He’ll kill me.”
Satisfaction filled Adam. So this clown did know Interrogator’s name. “I’ll kill you if you don’t. She’s mine to protect. He signed his own death warrant. If I get to him first, you won’t have to worry about him coming after you.”
“Will you come after me?”
Adam just smiled. “Name.”
He remained silent.
Curt lightly touched his back.
Immediately, Raul tensed up. “No, don’t.”
“Name,” Adam repeated.
“Tony Silverman. He’s the interrogator Collins kept on retainer.”
“Why should I believe you, Raul? I never heard this man’s name mentioned while I was in Belize.”
“No one knew his name.”
“How did you find out? You’re not second in command at the organization.”
“Lilah’s husband knew. He’s been part of the organization for years, in charge of the west coast operations. He was hand-picked by the old man to marry his daughter.”
“So who’s in charge of the organization? Lilah or her husband?”
“They both are. She’s the public face of business with the Collins Foundation while he runs the rest. But Lilah has as much say about her old man’s other business as her husband.”
“What about Los Diablos? What’s their connection to the Collins organization?”
“We have a deal with Los Diablos. They are our sole distributors.”
“So you found out Veronica would be in Mexico and sent
Los Diablos after her.” Adam’s soft voice caused the other man to flinch.
“I was doing my job. She’s connected to you. The boss wants you found and brought back to Belize.”
He smiled. “I’m going to make your job easy, Raul. I’m going to go to Belize and take care of unfinished business.”
“What about me?”
“You will be my guest for a while.” While Adam texted Zane, Curt filled a hypodermic needle with a drug to knock out Raul.
“What are you doing?” Raul fought against the duct tape and zip ties. “Don’t kill me. I told you what you wanted to know.” By the last word, the thug was screeching.
Curt administered the drug and within seconds, the thug was unconscious.
“Did you kill him?” Veronica hurried into the kitchen, her gaze locked on Raul.
“No, ma’am. He’s taking a nap.” He smiled, held out his hand. “Curt Jackson. It’s nice to meet you, Veronica.”
“You’re with Fortress?”
He nodded. “I’ve been helping Jake Davenport protect your friend, Carol.”
“How is she?”
“From what I understand, she might go home in a few days. Of course, her activity level will be restricted for a while. Jake says she’s doing great.”
“Thank goodness.” She eyed Raul again. “What will we do with him? We can’t turn him loose. He’ll run to Lilah Collins.”
“Zane is sending two operatives to pick him up.” Adam dropped a light kiss on her mouth.
“What will they do with him?”
“Take him to a black site and encourage him to spill his guts about everything while they record it. That along with the documents Zane and Jon will provide proving you were framed will get your job back if you want it.”
Relief flooded her face. “Let’s take care of Lilah Collins and her crew, including the interrogator. I’m sure you plan to protect your woman from future pain.”
Adam’s cheeks burned as Curt laughed. When Veronica smiled at Adam and winked, he tapped her nose. “Very funny, Miles. Once we take care of the Collins organization, I imagine there are government agencies who would like to chat with him. According to Zane, Raul is associated with several crimes here and abroad. You and Risa don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
“I’m more concerned for Risa than for me.”
When the operatives arrived, they covered Raul with a blanket, carried him to their SUV, and tossed him in the cargo area. Curt returned to the hospital. Veronica called Graham and told him Risa could return home, that she was safe.
That done, Adam held out his hand to Veronica. “Let’s go back to the hotel and get some sleep. In the morning, we have a mission to plan.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Adam walked with Veronica, Remy, and Lily into the Fortress conference room and pulled up short when he saw the center of the table piled high with breakfast food. A table at the far side of the room held several kinds of juice, coffee, water, and sodas. “What’s this?”
Maddox turned, waved them to the plates. “Help yourselves. We have a lot of work to do.”
“You have enough food to feed an army.”
“The Shadow unit is joining us. Nico made it a point to tell me they were coming hungry.”
“That’s because we just got off the plane,” Nico said as he walked into the conference room followed by his teammates. “You didn’t give us a chance to go home and freshen up before we came here.”
“Load your plates and sit. Durango is joining us via video conference any minute.”
“Why are so many people involved in this meeting?” Veronica asked.
“We’re going to take down Los Diablos first, then go after the Collins organization.” Maddox’s gaze swept over all of them. “By the time we’re finished with both groups this time, there won’t be anything left but ashes. No chance of a resurgence.”
“Please tell me you didn’t start without us.” Eli Wolfe walked in with his partner, Jon. “Claire threatened to stalk us with her camera if we dared order any food in the suite this morning.”
Adam scowled. “Who is with my sister?” He would personally knock heads together if the SEALs left his sister unprotected.
“Kill the death glare, Walker. She came in with Zane. They’ll be here soon.”
“Load your plates and sit,” Maddox said. “Durango will be joining us when Zane arrives.”
“I’m here.” The Fortress tech guru rolled into the room and set up at the end of the table with the comm system and his computer with frequent glances toward the door.
“Is Claire okay?” Adam asked, concern tightening his gut. Normally, she was with Zane if they were in the same vicinity. For some reason, his sister was nuts about the frog boy.
“She’ll be along.”
Zane didn’t look too worried so she must be all right. Still didn’t make Adam feel better. He wanted to see that his sister was doing fine with his own eyes.
A couple minutes later, Zane said, “Durango is ready.” An image of each member of Durango filled the screens on the wall.
“Why didn’t you invite us down?” Quinn Gallagher asked. “You must be getting soft, boss. I don’t remember you putting out that kind of spread for us when we were in town. I thought we were your favorite team.”
The other operatives in the room hurled various insults at Gallagher.
Maddox grinned and, in a lull, said, “There is an excellent reason for this spread, but you have to wait until one more person arrives for an explanation.”
“Now you have my curiosity raised,” Josh Cahill said, the Delta unit’s leader.
“You can wait with the rest of them.” He glanced toward the door. “Here’s the woman I’ve been waiting for.” Maddox swept Claire into a hug. “All right, sugar, the floor is yours.”
So that’s what the spread was for. A celebration of Claire’s pregnancy. Adam relaxed deeper into his chair.
“Hi, guys,” Claire said to the Durango team.
“Claire, it’s great to see you,” Rio Kincaid, the team medic, said with a smile. “How’s Z treating you?”
“Like I’m a princess.”
“He better if he knows what’s good for him.” The quiet words came from Alex Morgan, Durango’s sniper. He was one of the best shooter’s Adam had worked with.
“If he slips up, let us know. We’ll pay him a visit.” Nate Armstrong’s Cajun drawl was distinctive. The EOD man was in a class of his own.
“Sweetheart, tell them the news before they hatch a plot to teach me a lesson,” Zane said.
“Brent was kind enough to let me hijack your meeting for a minute so I could tell you all at one time that Zane and I are going to have a baby.”
Cheers broke out in the conference room and in the meeting room in Otter Creek where Durango was based.
“Congratulations to both of you,” Josh said after the pandemonium died down.
“Thank you.” Claire smiled. “I’m leaving now. My stomach isn’t settled enough to tolerate the smell of food this early in the day.”
“My sister, Serena, drank chamomile mint tea or Coke when she was pregnant with Lucas. She said those were the only things that worked for her when she had morning sickness.”
“I’ll try those.” She cupped Zane’s face and kissed him, then waved at the others as she left the conference room in a hurry.
Zane’s face reflected his worry. “Maybe I should go after her. If she’s sick, she might need help.”
Sam, Shadow unit’s medic, set her plate on the table. “I’ll go. The boss needs you more than me right now.”
The members of Durango took turns razzing Zane while the others in the conference room filled their plates and settled around the table. Adam handed Zane a plate. “Need your strength, Z. I doubt Claire will let pregnancy slow her down any.”
His brother-in-law sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of. I might need to attach a turbo booster to my chair to keep up with her.”
“Let’s get started,” Maddox said.
“Do you have permission to treat this as a mission?” Adam asked.
His boss slid him a look. “What do you think?”
That’s what he figured. Brent Maddox was persuasive, especially when defending his people. The boss hadn’t forgotten what Adam went through the year before or what Veronica had endured to protect him. “Objective?”
“Government will be arranging cleanup. Our job is to capture or eliminate the leaders, and destroy the organizations. The president wants the flow of Los Diablos’ fentanyl into the U.S. stopped.”
Beside Adam, Veronica started. “The President of the United States is your employer?”
“In this instance. Of course, you don’t know that.”
She held up her hand. “I didn’t hear a thing about President Martin.”
“Adam, bring everyone up to speed,” Maddox said.
He gave a rundown of events without interruptions. Once he finished, the questions began.
“We’re in,” Cahill said. “St. Claire’s team is in place here at PSI. They’ll cover in our absence. What do you need from us?”
For the next few hours, the group studied maps of the target areas and diagrams of the buildings. “Pack heavy,” Maddox said as they were wrapping up. “Fortress doesn’t have any friends in the Chihuahua province. We’ll take two planes. Josh, does PSI have a two teams ready for low-level field work?”
“Yes, sir. What did you have in mind?”
“We’ll leave part of our equipment on the planes. I need one team with each plane to guard our gear and transportation.”
Cahill leaned closer to the monitor. “You’re going, sir?”
“You think I’d let you have all the fun? The four teams will operate with their own leaders. Someone has to coordinate the efforts of the teams and pick up the slack. That’s my role. One other thing. We need to take care of business in the next 72 hours and get back here. My daughter has a karate tournament. If I miss it, all of you will be explaining to Alexa why her father missed her first match.”
Nico flinched. “We’ll get you back in time, boss. No one wants to upset that little charmer.”