by Katie Reus
His gaze narrowed. “He’s not the only one from that crew who saw the woman and her partner.”
Skye nodded. She was already ten steps ahead of him. Maxwell and Smith shouldn’t be a problem if things went right. And if Heath tried to narc Olivia out, he would just look like a bitter ex. “I know. Don’t you worry about that. There’s one phone number in that phone. It’s to another burner. Now, you can try to track me with it but you’ll fail. Or you could try to set me up and lie to me about where the evidence is. You’ll fail.”
“You’re pretty sure of yourself.”
“I am. And I don’t think you’re stupid. You’ll do the right thing. We’re both on the same side. We want Neely taken down and for him to pay for his crimes. So you let me know where that evidence is and you get what you need to make Neely go away for a long time. He’s a piece of human garbage.”
“You could be too, for all I know.”
Her lips curved up at his attitude. “True. But if I was, you’d be dead.” She scooted to the back of the van and released the door latch.
“You can’t untie me?” he snapped.
“Hell no. I give you ten minutes to get out of your restraints. If you can’t do it on your own, then you don’t deserve to work for the DEA.” She slid from the van and kept her mask on. The streets of the business district were ghostly quiet so she wasn’t worried about being spotted. And she didn’t want to get caught on any CCTVs in case Moore decided to try to figure out who she and Colt were.
Which she figured he would. They might not have the resources the CIA did, but the DEA still had a lot of intel and technology at their fingertips. And they had a big presence in Miami. Even if he didn’t betray them, he’d still want to know who she was.
“You plant the listening device on him?” Colt asked as they broke into a jog.
“Yep.”
“Think he’ll try to betray us?”
“Don’t know.” If he did, they’d know ahead of time and be able to get in front of it. At least that was the plan.
“This plan is a little insane. We’ve got to have perfect timing with everything.”
“I know.” It would work. It had to. No matter what, Skye wasn’t letting Olivia go to jail. No way was she letting Valencia grow up without her mother.
Chapter 20
—I’ve seen all of you and I’m all in.—
Zac estimated how long it would take him to get to Neely before the man got off a shot. Zac would likely be shot, maybe die, but he’d be able to break Neely’s arm, knock him out before he hurt Olivia. Yeah, he could do that.
And have no regrets either.
“Drop the bag on the ground,” Neely ordered, keeping his pistol trained on Olivia.
If Zac tried to make a move the man would just shoot Olivia. The woman he was pretty sure he loved.
He dropped the empty Glock and then the duffel bag. “Olivia, I need to tell you something. I love you. It’s too soon and I’ve never said it to another woman. But I don’t care. I’m not playing a role either. I am obsessed with you.” He kept his gaze on Neely even as he spoke. Gage and the others were supposed to be down here but in case shit went sideways, he was letting her know how he felt. He wasn’t going to die with anything unsaid. He’d lived most of his life without regrets. He wasn’t going to die with any.
“Zac, no,” she whispered.
“God, you two are annoying. I’m going to take pleasure in killing you both. Step back and away from the bag.” Neely didn’t move any closer to them, likely because he knew Savage could disarm him. Apparently he wanted to make sure his loot was in the duffel before he killed them.
Savage held out his arms and pushed Olivia behind him as they started slowly stepping backward. “You’re the most incredible woman I’ve ever met,” Zac murmured. “Whatever happens, I want you to know that.”
Olivia tried to step out from behind him but he shoved her back, keeping his hands visible and wide open. If he went for the other weapon tucked at his back, Neely would fire.
She sucked in a little breath, likely having finally seen the pistol. Yep. She pulled it slowly out from his waist. From what he’d seen she didn’t seem to care for weapons but he hoped she’d be able to use it.
Neely crouched down by the bag, unzipped it. His weapon hand wavered only slightly as he looked inside, distracted for a moment.
That was all Zac needed. Reaching back he grabbed the weapon from Olivia. In two moves he had the pistol up—fired.
Neely pulled the trigger at the same time. The man flew back from the impact of Zac’s hit.
Olivia’s arms wrapped around him as she tried to tackle Savage to the ground. Already in motion, he dove with her, twisting in midair to fire again. Dirt flew up a few inches from Neely, who was clutching his shoulder, his weapon on the ground.
Zac shoved up as Gage, Brooks and Leighton sprinted along the side of the building dressed in tactical gear from head to toe.
“Stay,” he ordered Olivia as he ran at Neely, weapon trained on him. He kicked the pistol out of the way and slammed his boot into Neely’s side.
Before he could do any more, Gage tased Neely, full force. “We need him alive,” Gage snapped as Neely writhed on the grass in pain.
Zac knew that. Didn’t mean he had to like it. They had a plan and had to stick to it. Especially in order to keep Olivia out of jail. Everything hinged on what happened next.
He stripped off his harness and pulled it onto Neely’s now unconscious body. The cops were going to have a hell of a time figuring out what had happened and would likely never cross their t’s and dot their i’s but they’d have a few bad guys in custody.
“Did Skye—”
“Yep. She and Colt took care of the other thing. We’re gonna get what we need,” Gage said.
Sirens wailed in the distance. He turned to find Olivia right next to him, because of course she wouldn’t stay put.
She held her harness and other gear in hand. “Are they coming for us?”
“They’re coming for Neely and the others. Let’s go.” Savage reached into the duffel bag and grabbed the small bag of flash drives but left the cash and files right next to Neely’s body.
Olivia looked as if she wanted to say more but nodded and fell in step with them as they raced back along the length of the building toward the main street.
Before they’d made it halfway, a van jumped the curb and came tearing up over the grass, kicking up dirt and taking out bushes as it sped toward them. No doubt in his mind who was driving.
It screeched to a halt and Colt threw the side door open. “We’ve got about three minutes.”
They all jumped in and he didn’t give a shit what anyone thought, he pulled Olivia into his lap, wrapping his arms tight around her as Skye jerked the wheel, tearing up more of the pristine lawn as she booked it toward the street.
“What happens now?” Olivia asked quietly. “Kyle will sell me out. He’ll try to make a deal and turn over that video footage.”
“That’s what we’re counting on,” Gage said.
“What? Why?” she asked.
Zac hadn’t been able to relay all of the plan to her earlier and she hadn’t been on the same comm channel. So he understood her fear and frustration.
Skye turned down a side street and the sirens grew fainter. Some of the adrenaline surging through Zac abated. But not completely. That wouldn’t happen until they had exactly what they needed.
“We’ve got a listening device on the DEA agent Neely thinks is dead and we’ve got one on Neely now.” Gage looked inordinately pleased with himself as he pulled out a laptop and earphones. “We’ll hear everything either one of them says in the near future.”
“If he tells them where his evidence is—”
“We’ll steal it before they get there.” Zac wrapped his arm around her tighter and was pleased when she leaned into his hold and placed her own hands over his. He wasn’t under the illusion that it meant anything to her but he’d t
ake what he could get. Because he wasn’t giving up on them. This woman was his and he planned to claim her forever.
“Okay.” She didn’t sound convinced but that was okay. Zac was going to personally retrieve what Neely had stashed.
* * *
Olivia couldn’t stop the nervous energy crackling through her as she stood in the small kitchen of the new safe house with Gage. Skye had driven them to a one-story ranch-style house that was under a foreclosure notice. She wasn’t sure how they even had power at the house but Gage was clearly a miracle worker. Everyone except Leighton were elsewhere in the house keeping an eye out for cops but she couldn’t leave Gage or his laptops. She’d wanted to ask where Leighton had gone but figured it must be important.
Two laptops were set up on the kitchen table as they listened to Agent Darius Moore—aka Alonso—interrogate Kyle.
Everything seemed to be happening so slowly. It had been hours since Kyle and the others had been arrested and then processed. Then they’d had to listen to Agent Moore give a brief report to his boss. And Kyle had to go to the hospital to be checked out and patched up. It turned out he wasn’t as injured as they’d thought. His shoulder had been grazed and he’d lost blood, but he was going to be fine.
Unfortunately.
Fortunately, however, and to Olivia’s surprise, Agent Moore had lied about her and Savage to his boss, just leaving them out completely. And Maxwell and Smith hadn’t said a word about her or Savage’s involvement either according to what she’d heard when Agent Moore had been talking to them. Neither had Heath—but he hadn’t said a word at all apparently. As in, nothing, according to Moore. Not even to ask for a lawyer. He was in the hospital, refusing to speak even to the doctors. Soon he was supposed to be transferred.
Which still didn’t make her feel any better. Because soon enough Kyle would narc her out. And what happened then? What if they couldn’t get to the evidence in time? Or what if he had it uploaded somewhere? What if—
Skye stepped into the kitchen suddenly and placed something warm in Olivia’s hands, making her blink. “What’s this?”
“Hot chocolate. Now sit.” She pointed at the fold-out card table that one of the guys had brought in from the garage. They’d also found rusted chairs. Things the previous owners hadn’t cared to take with them, because this place was otherwise unfurnished.
“Where’d you get this?”
“Savage did a run to a Quick Stop. You look like you’re about to have a panic attack so I need you to listen. Smith and Maxwell won’t be telling the Feds that you and Savage were part of the heist.”
“Just because they haven’t yet doesn’t mean anything. They could still say something.” And she wasn’t certain why they hadn’t yet. Maybe they had, and it hadn’t been to Agent Moore. Unless Moore was in the room with someone, Olivia or the others couldn’t hear a word of what was going on. They were completely dependent on the listening device planted on him for knowledge.
“Leighton took care of it.”
She blinked. “He hurt them?”
“No.”
“Then how?”
“I’m not going to tell you—it gives you plausible deniability.”
Olivia didn’t think to push Skye for more details as relief flooded her. She was too damn grateful. “Thank you.”
“If Heath brings you up, he’ll just look like a jealous ex.”
Olivia nodded, still uneasy. She might have blackmail on Heath, but Kyle still had blackmail on her. There were too many damn balls in the air and she was terrified one of them would fall, causing everything else to come crashing down.
She looked past Skye to the doorway of the kitchen, as if that would make Savage magically appear. He didn’t, of course. Which was just as well. That whole “confession” he’d laid out for her had to be utter crap. She’d realized it when he’d pushed her behind his body and she’d seen that gun. He’d just been trying to distract Kyle long enough for her to get the weapon. It had been a good plan too. Even if her heart hurt when she realized nothing he’d said was true. Not that any of that mattered right now. Well, it did matter but it wasn’t something she could focus on.
“Thank you.” Olivia lifted the Styrofoam cup to her mouth and sat on the uncomfortable metal fold-out chair.
Skye crouched in front of her, the dark contacts and blonde wig making her appear like a different person.
She started to say something just as Gage snapped his fingers at them. “Moore is in with Neely again.” He turned up the volume.
“My client should still be in a hospital,” a male voice said, definitely his lawyer.
“Your client has been reviewed by the best doctors in Miami and deemed fit to speak to us. And your client is in a lot of trouble. He was found with a couple hundred thousand in cash, and classified files.”
“Anyone could have planted that.”
Agent Moore snorted. “Oh yeah. Did we also stage the heist itself, tie up all the security guys ourselves and dress your client in rappelling gear? Not to mention that he ordered the death of a federal agent—me. And of course there’s a dead body we’re still trying to identify from the crime scene. Let’s cut the shit right now. We know you were working with someone else and we know there was more they took from the safe. If you help us find whoever escaped we’ll think about cutting a deal. And you better make a decision fast before one of your other guys talks.”
“What kind of deal?” the lawyer asked.
“If he forgoes a trial, forty years with eligibility for parole.”
There was a pause, then murmuring.
“My client is prepared to hand over evidence of the criminals involved in the robbery of Tatiana’s Fine Jewelry a couple days ago. Video evidence. The same couple involved—a man and woman—are the same couple involved in the Prisock robbery. And this same man killed the dead man you found at the Prisock building. What will you give in exchange?”
There was a long silence, then, “If you give evidence that leads us to this alleged couple and they have the rest of the stash from the safe, we’ll knock a decade off your sentence.”
“Knock off fifteen years. With eligibility for parole.”
“Fine.”
“We want it in writing,” Neely said.
“If you lie to us, you’re getting forty years, no eligibility for parole.”
The lawyer murmured his agreement.
Agent Moore spoke to someone else and Olivia heard the sound of a door opening, then closing. Then it was mostly silent with only the sound of rustling clothes and a chair scraping over a floor.
Roughly ten minutes later the door opened again. Then there was more rustling and murmuring, then, “This works.”
“Talk,” Agent Moore ordered.
“The name of the woman who stole the rest of the contents of the safe is Olivia Carter.” He rattled off her address and other personal information about her place of employment. Then, “She’ll claim she’s innocent but I’ve got evidence of her committing the heist at Tatiana’s. She worked with a man named Savage. The evidence against them is in a safe at…” He continued talking, rattling off the address and the code to the safe.
Before he’d finished Skye had moved into action and Colt, Brooks, and Savage spilled into the room. As if they’d been waiting outside it. Maybe they’d been trying to give her space. It appeared as if Leighton still wasn’t back. She hoped he was okay.
They all started talking about the game plan and who was going.
“I’m going. This is my mess too,” she said into the murmur of voices. She couldn’t let them do this by themselves. They’d all already given so much of themselves to this operation.
Everyone turned to look at her but she only had eyes for Savage. Zac.
He stepped toward her as the others started talking amongst themselves again. Taking her by surprise, he grasped her hands and pulled her close. “You’re going to get on a plane and head back to Redemption Harbor with Brooks. You can’t be anywhere
near this evidence just in case the cops beat us there. You need to be in another state with an alibi. Brooks will go over everything with you.”
“Zac—”
“No. We don’t have time to argue. You have to go.”
She wanted to resist but knew it would just waste time. Time they didn’t have. “Please be safe. And don’t get caught. If it looks like you will, just get out of there.” Because she didn’t want anyone getting arrested because of her.
Leaning down—and taking her off guard—he brushed his lips over hers. “I’ll be a ghost.” Then he was gone with Skye and Colt. Gage was apparently staying to provide technical support.
“You ready?” Brooks asked quietly, a hint of that cowboy drawl in his voice.
No, she wanted to say. Instead she nodded. “Yeah.” Before they left she turned to Gage. “Will you keep me updated? Make sure…” She wasn’t sure how to phrase it and felt weird even asking.
“I’ll let you know what happens with Savage. But we’re all very good at what we do. Your man will be fine.”
Zac wasn’t hers in any way that mattered but she nodded, her throat tight, and turned to Brooks. Crying wouldn’t do anyone any good now. It was time to leave, time to get back to her daughter and Martina.
Soon it would be time to say goodbye to Zac. She just hoped she got the chance—and wondered if he would even care, or if he’d be glad to have her out of his life.
Chapter 21
—I wouldn’t say no to a nap.—