by AJ Nuest
News to him. He grunted. And beside the point, since Molly had gotten it right the first time.
Those scars weren’t something he was willing to mess with. They ran too fucking deep.
Sitting back, the AV tech crossed her arms, sizing him up with an evil squint. “You know what you are, Ben Archer?”
No. But something told him she was about to fillet him up one side and down the next with her opinion.
“Selfish.” She jabbed her finger in his direction. “Any number of women would give their right arm for the opportunity to date a great guy like you, and the way you consistently deny them that chance is plain mean. Simple as that, it’s just plain mean.”
Problem solved. He cocked a brow. “Did you make any progress on that picture I brought in?”
“Did you make any progress on that picture I brought in?” Bobbling her head, she wheeled her chair toward the next monitor down. But it was a good thing they were surrounded by glass. That sarcasm she’d shot at him was toxic enough to strip paint off a wall.
“I saw what you did there, by the way. Thinking you could get one over on me by changing the subject. Geez, give a girl some credit.” She rattled the keys and he strode up behind her as she nodded toward the screen. “All right, here’s what I got, but keep in mind aging a picture still isn’t a perfected science, and since I had to remove the little shit’s hand and the way he had his middle finger in front of his face, the program had to fill in the blanks with an approximate guess. I used the Missing Children’s database since their software is the best. Accuracy is around eighty…eighty-five percent.”
And it was damn close. Familiar in a way that made every tired, worn-out muscle in his body ache.
Bracing his hand on the back of her chair, Ben leaned in. Right skin color. Same jaw line and bone structure as the bastard who haunted his past. Yet different enough from the Adder of today, it confirmed Ben’s original assumption the faces wouldn’t be anywhere near an exact match.
Relief landed on his shoulders, so thick and heavy, he almost slumped. But that was A-Okay with him. In fact, using Adder’s premise of facial reconstruction surgery to his benefit offered Ben the best news he’d come across all damn day.
His instincts had hit the mark and, knowing they had, provided his first small glimmer of hope—one that was bound to be critical moving forward. Especially when it came to how Eden had extended Adder an invitation to attend all the hoopla during tomorrow’s wedding salute.
Based on how he’d agreed, Adder wasn’t going anywhere. At least, not for the next few days. And once he and Molly ran into each other, having that aged photo be so far off the real deal would guarantee she was well outside any danger.
Ben squinted, studying the image. There was just something about that face he didn’t like. At all. While much of the picture had been CG’d, Adder’s expression hit him in a way that was bizarre. Slightly off the norm, creepy and fake, and at the same time recognizable in a way he couldn’t quite place.
What he didn’t know was if the anxiety leaking into his gut had more to with how he was staring into the eyes of a potential mass murderer, or his PTSD was making him miss something that should’ve been obvious. “Can you print it? I wanna take a copy with me.”
“Sure thing.” Two taps of her keyboard, and he straightened as Molly pushed off to the side. “I also have that laptop you requested.” She nodded toward the cluttered desktop behind him, her opened hand resting on the printer tray. The sheet landed in her palm, and she rolled back across the floor, offering him the picture. “Though I gotta tell ya, I’m kinda hurt you even asked. What do you need with an untraceable network card? Isn’t keeping us off the grid my job?”
Not this time, and if protecting her meant he also had to offend her in the process, then so be it. When it came to his suspicions about Adder being Vaheed Shahzar, the risks he planned to take topped out somewhere around less than zero.
The beep of an incoming text came from the breast pocket of his leather jacket, and Ben pulled out his cell to check the screen. “Trust me, Molls. Until I know what I’m up against, it’s all around better you don’t get involved.”
Shit, Tanner and Adder were on the move. Ben scrolled through the text with a push of his thumb. According to Xander, the screwy woman had decided it was a swell idea they get all geared up in disguises and go canvas the scene of the crime.
Clenching his jaw to contain a growl, Ben fired off a return text, thanking Xander and to let him know he was on the way. “I gotta go.” He snagged the laptop off Molly’s desk, grabbed the aged photo and headed for the door.
“Well, hell’s bells. Whoever she is, she’s one lucky woman.” Molly’s voice echoed behind him as he navigated the labyrinth back to the hall. “I haven’t seen you move that fast in like…ever.”
Chapter 5
The rough texture of tar-coated gravel dug into his stomach. Elbows braced near the top ledge of a three-story brownstone, Ben lifted the binoculars to his face and twisted the central knob to fine-tune the focus.
Target acquired. He zoomed in on the blonde hooker leaning against the building at the end of the block, scanned her from head to toe and tensed as his breath vacated his lungs in a rush.
Jesus, that wasn’t a skirt wrapped around Tanner’s ass, it was a postage stamp. His teeth met with an audible clack. Over a pair of fishnet stockings and a red garter that had the crotch of his jeans so damn tight he went from comfortable to a dick-smashing distress call against the roof.
Goddamn it. Rolling his hips, he tried—and failed—to find a workable position. Without fail, the woman had a knack for getting into trouble that made him want to march straight back down the fire escape, toss her over his shoulder and head right for his vehicle parked around the corner. Didn’t she have any idea how showcasing those melt-in-his-mouth thighs was liable to reel in every scumbag on the street? One wrong move from her, and every man within a five-klick radius would get a clear shot all the way into next week.
No. Where the fuck was Adder?
Ben scanned the sidewalk, but came up empty. Eyeballing her in that get-up behind closed doors was one thing. She had a body that deserved to be worshipped. No matter how she dressed. For half a chance at some no-strings sex with that tight little package, he would’ve easily sold out his brothers and turned traitor against the States.
But for Christ’s sake. If she were his, he never would’ve let her out of his sight that way, much less left her displaying the goods in such a rough neighborhood all alone.
A rust bucket SUV turned the corner and slowed—no shit, asshole—easing to the curb as the driver lowered the window. The glass door halfway down the building swung open and Adder strode through. Shiny silver sport coat hanging open over his black shirt and slacks. Felt fedora cocked low on his brow. A smoldering cigarillo clenched between a set of pearly whites that emphasized his inviting leer.
Smug son of a bitch. Something resembling the sharp tip of a knife pierced the lining of Ben’s stomach, splitting tissue as it sliced across the center of his gut. Exploiting women with or without their consent had been a part of Shahzar’s MO since before Ben had even known the asshole existed. If his suspicions were right and the two men were one and the same, he had zero doubts Adder would follow protocol and use Tanner to get whatever it was he wanted.
Bracing his crossed arms on the SUV’s open window, Adder leaned in and exchanged a few words with the driver. His head rocked back with a laugh, and he plucked the cigarillo from between his teeth before waving Tanner over.
The blood pounded in Ben’s ears as she sashayed toward the vehicle, one hand propped on the hip of her purple leather blazer, cherry-red lips curled in a knowing smirk. Adder twirled his hand and she danced a slow circle as the John looked on from the car.
Good Christ. Ben’s lashes caught on the lenses, and he eased off the way he had the binoculars pressed hard enough against his face he’d nearly screwed his eyeballs from the sockets. She stepp
ed one painted toenail inside that SUV and he was storming down there and locking all three of them inside the nearest cell.
Behind the windshield, the driver counted several crumpled bills onto the passenger seat. Adder looked down at the money and shook his head. And just something about the motion… Ben narrowed his gaze as the negotiations began. The way Adder let his hand hang limp past the inside door handle made Ben’s tongue dry up and all but stick to the roof of his mouth.
If he could just find a way to be sure. A vein hammered in his temple as he studied Adder’s face. The times his squad had been out gathering Intel and he’d been granted the rare occurrence of laying eyes on Shahzar had been from a distance. After walking the desert for days on end, his eyes so bleached by the sun it was difficult to tell if half the shit he saw was real or imagined.
Adding insult to injury, Shahzar had made it a habit of covering his face, too chicken shit to get caught on camera by a drone in case he ever got hauled in and was made to be held accountable for his actions.
But there was no denying Adder’s mannerisms were a close enough match to Shahzar’s, the way he moved made something dark and dangerous coil around Ben’s throat and threaten to cut off his airway. What he couldn’t pinpoint was if those same mannerisms were the sole cause of his agitation, the way they mirrored Shahzar’s and brought on the flashbacks Ben hadn’t been forced to deal with in years, or if he was truly seeing things for what they were.
With Kelly and Eden’s wedding less than twenty-four hours away, making a move without being one hundred percent confident he had Shahzar in his sights would only disrupt their plans and set him up to be the worst best man in history.
Ben wasn’t doing that. Busting up what should be the happiest day of their lives with nothing but a bunch of what ifs and unsubstantiated claims would only send everyone into a panic. Even more so if Adder turned out to be Shahzar in the flesh.
If Ben was right, there was no telling how the bastard would react. The people he’d hurt in the process or how many lives he’d ruin trying to escape.
Over everything else, his main objective had to be guaranteeing that opportunity never interfered in his mission. He’d already lived through those hellish circumstances once, and knew how difficult it could be to crawl back and fight for some fraction of living when everyone else had been lost.
Never again. Until he had proof and a clear plan in place, keeping quiet was the safer and only route he could take.
Adjusting the angle of his view, he panned back toward Tanner and a shot of adrenaline hijacked his pulse toward cardiac arrest.
One eyebrow lifted in a death glare, hip jutting to the side, she crossed her arms and launched a visual set of RPGs at him through the far ends of the lenses.
Shit. Abort, abort!
Tucking one shoulder, Ben flipped onto his back.
Damn, he was toast. Squeezing his eyes shut, he muttered a string of obscenities toward the brittle blue sky. Before succumbing to her year-long fight with ovarian cancer, his mother had taught him a thing or two. And as the second kid of what had once been a close-knit family, prior to his older sister’s fatal car crash, he’d been tight with her as well. Enough to know when any woman got that look on her face, if he planned on waking up the next morning with his extremities intact, he’d be better off hitting the sack with his bedroom door locked. And all the lights on. Or hell, foregoing sleep altogether.
But, come on. It wasn’t as if his showing up here should’ve been a surprise. Tanner knew how much it pissed him off for her to be anywhere within eyeshot of Adder. If he’d had any doubts, those had disappeared the second she’d blinked her limpid blue eyes at him this morning in Malcolm’s old office. One look at his face, and it was obvious the woman knew she’d been busted. That he was irate as hell and it was taking everything in him to keep his big trap shut.
So, what? She’d expected him to back off as a result? Admit how much her dark lashes going all damp around the edges had nearly flattened him on the spot?
Not. Happening. Her standing half-naked on the street with that slimy piece of shit was not okay. No matter what kind of attitude she copped with him, he wasn’t leaving her hanging in the wind.
He’d already put her in enough danger by saying he didn’t trust Adder, mentioning anything that would send up a warning flare. Bad as their conversation had been, she should’ve had enough faith and belief in his abilities to recognize he wasn’t messing around.
Ben rolled to his side and peeked over the edge of the building. The driver and his SUV were gone, but Adder and Tanner still stood on the sidewalk, their heads lowered in private discussions.
Tugging on his elbow, she turned them away from the street and Ben brought the binoculars back to his face as the two of them strolled arm in arm toward the middle of the block. At the alley, they pivoted north and entered, their legs gradually shrinking from view.
Dammit. Dread kicked a quick triple-beat in his chest as Ben glanced over the eye piece and back through the lenses. Cornering herself inside a confined space with that prick had to be the worst idea she’d come up with yet.
Waiting…waiting… He pulled a tight breath and slowly exhaled.
Nothing. Two more seconds, and he was—
Adder reappeared and Ben narrowed in on his movements, following Adder’s determined stride west up the sidewalk. He’d replaced his silver sport coat with a green canvas jacket, tugged a knit skull cap low on his brow. Working his cell from a pocket, Adder thumbed the screen and placed the device to his ear.
His lips moved as he glanced over his shoulder, and Ben ducked his head as Adder’s gaze swept the opposite side of the street. Up ahead at the corner, a black four-door sedan eased to a stop at the light. Adder returned his phone to his pocket, and alarm denoted a series of jagged little barbs up Ben’s spine as Adder reached the vehicle, popped the handle and climbed onto the backseat.
What was he doing? Ben swung back toward the alley. And where in the hell was Tanner? He zipped the binoculars left as the black sedan merged into oncoming traffic, wafting a thick plume of exhaust in its wake.
No. Another check of the alley, and sweat broke out on Ben’s brow. What had that asshole done to her? Tossing the binoculars aside, he sprang to sitting and fumbled his cell from his breast pocket. He never should’ve left her alone with him. A tap to speed-dial Tanner’s number, and he slapped his phone to his ear. After losing so many, goddamn it, he knew better than that.
Her voice mail clicked over, and he raked his hand through his hair, shoved to his feet and sprinted toward the fire escape, waiting for the fucking beep to drill into his ear. “Tanner, it’s Ben. Call me as soon as you get this message.”
The sides of the ladder cooled his palms as he slid to the landing outside the building’s top floor. Metal rattled under his boots as he hopped the railings and rounded each corner to thunder down the stairs. There would be no place in heaven or on Earth that son of a bitch could hide if he’d hurt her. The final ladder smacked the ground, and he hurdled the last six steps, taking off at a dead heat for the traffic along the street. Ben would personally see to it Casper Addison spent the last of his miserable life begging for mercy he’d never get.
His feet hit the alley and dread performed a freefall through his stomach as he ran directly into a dead end. No, no, fuck, no. He stormed for the nearest dumpster and tore back the lid. She’d had no escape. For all he knew, Adder had slit her throat and tossed her bleeding body into a pile of garbage to die.
His phone chirped with an incoming call, and he snatched it from his pocket without checking the caller ID. “Tanner.”
“Um, no.” Charlie heaved a weary sigh. “Dude, I don’t know what you did, but Tanner just called me and there is a butt load of female wrath coming your way.”
He didn’t care. Slumping in relief, Ben lowered his chin to his chest and exhaled what remaining oxygen hadn’t been crushed from his lungs. She was alive. And whether she trusted him, or beli
eved in him, or read him the riot act from now until the next millennium didn’t matter. The only thing he cared about was that she was safe, and the gut-sinking realization that, whatever weapons of mass destruction the woman was prepping to unleash, he’d happily take them and then some as long as she lived to see another day.
“She asked me to text you her address, but if I were you I wouldn’t go anywhere near her without first dropping a decent-sized wad on some flowers.”
* * * * *
Down-shifting into first, Tanner eased up on the gas and coasted to a stop in front of the refurbished, three-story rental unit that housed her apartment.
Past the two empty parking spaces ahead, Ben’s red Ford Raptor idled in Park. Headlights off. His stubborn, cowlicked sprig of hair outlined against the brilliant orange and pink clouds of an early winter dusk streaking across the windshield.
He swiveled in the seat and the rigid angle of his shoulders fell. The driver’s side door popped open, and she eyed the stretch of his long legs as he stepped onto the street.
In every way possible, she was glad she’d waited to speak with him. Heeling the kickstand, she shut down her bike and slipped the key from the ignition. The frigid half-hour ride had gone a long way toward cooling her off. Almost as much as the follow-up call she’d received from Charlie, stating she’d delivered Tanner’s message and Ben had agreed to meet her at home.
But even before they’d hung up, Tanner had known delaying their conversation had been a smart move. So she could take a little time to process what had happened. Give herself some much-needed distance to try and see things from his perspective.
Though much of what had been going through her head probably had more to do with Charlie’s blow-by-blow of how panicked Ben had sounded over the phone.
Not that Tanner had needed the description. Slamming his door, he started toward her and she swung her leg over the seat to the ground. Without Charlie having to utter a single word, Tanner had understood how leaving the alley through the back entrance of that hot dog joint would send Ben’s freak careening into outer space. That the only reason he’d followed her to the crime scene was to run back-up and make sure she got out safe. That regardless of how he’d found out, she’d run the scam without telling him and she’d kept him in the dark on purpose.