Facing Home (The Clover Series Book 4)

by Danielle Stewart

  “That’s only half of the proof,” I blurt out, trying to think on my feet. “My contact, he’s suspicious of everyone and wanted to hold the other half for security.”

  “Smart,” Wes nods as a man steps aggressively into his office, closing the door tightly behind him. He’s an angry looking beast of a guy and just the sight of him amps up my nerves even higher.

  “What are you planning to do here, Wes?” I turn so that I can keep both these men in my peripheral vision at once. Not that I stand much of a chance defending myself against the ox-like man with the scar across his cheek.

  “I’m going to go to that meeting at four this afternoon and let these secrets die with all of you.”

  “You’re going to kill all of us? You’re a murderer now?”

  “No,” Wes scoffs as he gets to his feet and comes around the desk toward me again. His hand comes to my cheek and he forces my chin up so that I’m looking right at him. “I’m a civilized human being. I don’t murder people.” He leans in and hisses into my ear, “I hire people to do it for me.”

  I slap his hand away and pull my face back in an angry fury. To my surprise, I feel the cold steel of a gun press against my temple. The scar-faced man is at my side and looking as if he’d love to do his job right now.

  “Really, you don’t think someone might hear it if you shoot me right here in your office?”

  “I know a dozen other ways to kill you,” the man grunts out. “And you wouldn’t even have time to make a sound.”

  “We’re moving the meeting. Call Cynthia and tell her your contact is spooked and we need to meet out on Clifton Avenue, behind the old factory there.”

  “I have to call my contact first. I haven’t checked in all morning and he doesn’t even know about the four o’clock meeting. I was going to call him after I left here.”

  “Just text him and let me read it first.”

  “He’ll know something’s wrong. I have to call.”

  “Oh, you’re screwing him. I see. I was starting to think you were just a good old-fashioned cock tease.” His hand is back on my jaw and this time, with the gun still pressed to my head, I don’t slap him away. Not even as his hand trails down my neck and a single finger slips under the collar of my shirt.

  “He’s my boyfriend,” I lie. “If I don’t call him he’ll know something’s up and he’ll take off with the other copies of the information.”

  “A real hero, huh?”

  “It’s what we agreed to.”

  “Fine. You call him first, but if I hear you tip him off I will have Leon here kill you. And I’ll make sure it’s not quick.”

  I pull out my phone and try to keep my hand from trembling. Now I wish I’d put everything else aside and had Click come with me today. He’d know what to do right now. I’ve got a plan in my head, but I have no clue if it will backfire. All I can hope is Jonah and Click catch on fast enough.

  As the phone starts to ring I clear my throat and lean back so the gun isn’t pressed directly against my head anymore. “I’m not going to be able to sound calm with that thing in my face,” I whisper, and Leon drops it down to his side.

  “Hello?” Jonah says, sounding a bit confused. Calling his phone rather than Click’s is step one in my plan.

  “Hey Jonah, honey, it’s me. I’ve got to update you quickly, okay?”

  “Okay,” he says, still with a little confusion in his voice but at least he hasn’t completely called me out.

  “I have a meeting set up this afternoon at four with a couple contacts who are going to help us out. I’m going to text you the address where to meet. It’s a little bit industrial and it’s going to look off the grid a bit but don’t worry. I’ll text you the address.

  “Okay,” Jonah repeats. “How did everything go this morning? Where are you now?”

  “I’m just leaving a meeting with my contact from the FDA.” The gun is back at my temple as Wes leans down and puts his fingers to his lips, indicating I shouldn’t say anything more about that.

  “Babe, I need you to bring the second flash drive with the different information on it. I know you wanted to keep it safe and I told you that you could, but I was wrong. This is a really big case and I think you should bring it. We need all the firepower we can get.”

  “Umm . . . if you’re sure,” Jonah replies, and I’m so happy that he’s not asking me what the hell I’m talking about.

  “I’m sure. It’ll work out, I promise. I’ll send you the address now and then I’ll call Cynthia Plante back at the EPA and let her know as well. Oh babe,” I say, swallowing back my tears because I’m positive by now Jonah has switched his phone to speaker and that Click is listening intently. “Please let the dog out. I don’t want him tearing up the house while we’re gone.”

  “I will,” Jonah says, and my heart jumps slightly as Wes gives me the hand signal to wrap it up.

  “Okay, babe, I love you, I’ll see you at four.”

  “I love you too,” Jonah says without skipping a beat, and I disconnect the line.

  “Love, really? Jordan Garcia is in love. Well I guess the whole world is upside down, isn’t it? Straight shooter Wes is now playing ball with the bad guys and Jordan is head over heels for a whistle blower.” Wes is talking in an almost frantic tone that tells me his nerves are ragged and he likely is in over his head here. “Call Cynthia and give her the new meeting place. Text it to your little boyfriend too. Then give your phone to Leon so he can trash it. I don’t want anyone tracing you between now and then.”

  “I don’t understand why you’d do this, Wes. You were such a staunch believer in what you were doing. You loved protecting people.”

  “And it got me absolutely nowhere. The only way to get ahead in this world is to align yourself with the people who have the money and the power. Fighting them does you no good. You and your little boyfriend are about to find that out firsthand.”

  “Why even bring her to the meeting? We can get rid of her now,” the scar-faced man grunts.

  “Since when do you give orders?” Wes asks indignantly. “I want to see these two lovebirds together. Let’s not rob them of that.” Wes lets out another hardy laugh and Leon shrugs his agreement as he tucks his gun back into his belt.

  “Get a couple other guys ready to go with us. I don’t want any mistakes here. We need to bury this, and all of them, tonight.” Wes turns toward me and leans in close. “I have no intention of giving up everything I’ve earned just because your little boyfriend got nosy.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Click

  “Shit,” Jonah says as he runs his hands through his hair. “At first I was like, what the hell is she talking about, but then I could tell. Something wasn’t right. Did you tell her the damn hostage word? The dog. That’s what she was talking about right?”

  “Yes,” I say flatly as I continue to strap weapons to my body and then lace up my boots. “We need to find her and fast. I don’t want to wait until the meeting time. I’ve got a system on my phone that can track her cell but hers has been shut off. So we’ll have to go off the clues she was trying to give us.”

  “What clues?”

  “She told us she met with Cynthia Plante from the EPA. We can start there.”

  “Click,” Jonah says as he catches my arm, trying to get me to slow down. “Who could have her? These guys in Tennessee—there is no way they could have linked her to me so quickly and tracked her down in the middle of the city.”

  “You’re right. If they had, they’d likely have come here to her apartment first. So my guess is one of her contacts wasn’t as trustworthy as she thought. Maybe they didn’t like what they were hearing and it went south. But since we don’t know who she was meeting with today we can’t really help her that way. The best we can do is retrace her steps and hope Cynthia knows who she was supposed to see next.”

  “I should have asked her more questions on the phone. I’m sorry. I just wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.”

>   “You did perfect, actually. Asking more questions could have put her in a lot of danger. You played along and let her get out as much information as she could.” I slap him on the shoulder and open the door. Slinging my bag over my shoulder I look back at Jordan’s apartment one more time and try to reassure myself we’ll all be back here together in no time.

  “I need you to start making phone calls or check the Internet. We need to find out where Cynthia’s office is and fast,” I instruct Jonah.

  “Even if we find it, she might not want to meet with us.”

  “I don’t plan on asking nicely more than once. She’ll meet with us.” I know, to Jonah right now, I’m sounding flat and disconnected. I should be freaking out and losing my mind because the woman I love may be in mortal danger. I’ve been trained and battle tested to make sure in the moments when everyone else is falling apart, I’m keeping it together. It’s how lives are saved. Emotion will still be there, but it serves me almost no purpose right now. I can’t cry Jordan back home. I can’t wish her back home. I have to go find her and fight our way back home.

  After just a few minutes and a couple phone calls, Jonah has located Cynthia Plante’s office and we start making our way there. After a harrowing twenty minutes of navigating this city I’m leaning over the receptionist’s desk and speaking in a level tone as I ask to see Cynthia.

  “Sorry,” she says, spinning a coil of her hair flirtatiously around her finger. “Ms. Plante doesn’t see anyone without an appointment. She’s in with someone right now anyway and she’s asked me not to interrupt.”

  “This is an emergency,” I plead.

  “Everyone says that.” She’s batting her eyelashes coyly at me and it’s just annoying the hell out of me.

  “If you tell her I’m here she’ll see me.”

  “You’re the second person today to tell me that. I think I know Ms. Plante well enough. I know how to do my job.”

  “Who was the first to say that today? Jordan Garcia?”

  The receptionist’s face goes flat and I know I’m right. “Jordan is in danger and so is Cynthia. So nothing is going to keep me from getting to her office. Point me in the right direction please.”

  “I can’t. I’m going to have to call security,” she says as she reaches for her phone.

  I nod my head at Jonah and walk past the receptionist’s desk and ignore her demands for us to stop. After I walk far enough away to drown out her voice, I poke my head into the first office. “I’m so sorry to bother you but I’m a bit lost. Can you direct me to Cynthia Plante’s office?”

  The plump woman smiles and nods as she steps out in front of me and directs me through the maze toward Cynthia’s office.

  “Thank you,” I smile, and I walk right into Cynthia’s office, interrupting her and the man sitting across from her desk. The man has a crew cut and a badge hooked on his belt. His pock-marked face and angry scowl lets me know he’s not happy for the interruption.

  “Cynthia Plante?” I ask, and her eyes turn immediately to the man in the chair across from her.

  “Who are you?” he asks, standing and resting his hand over the weapon on his hip.

  “My name is Click, I’m Jordan Garcia’s boyfriend, well fiancé, sort of. Was she here this morning?”

  “Don’t answer that, Cynthia. If you don’t know this guy then we don’t know who he’s working for,” the man with the badge commands.

  As the man starts toward me I hear the clattering of more people behind me. Security has arrived to escort us out. “Wait,” I say, raising my hands, trying to look like less of a threat and speaking to who I hope is the most level-headed person in this room. The only one who doesn’t get paid to kick people out or keep order.

  “Cynthia, please, Jordan is in trouble. Wherever she went when she left here, something went wrong. She needs our help but I can’t find her without getting more information from you. Please,” I beg.

  Cynthia looks at each man in the room and raises her hand for everyone to wait a moment. “Tell me something about Jordan that lets me know you are really her boyfriend.”

  “She’s a pain in the ass,” I blurt out. “She is stubborn and at first glance you’d think she was not at all worth the trouble, but once you get to know her and you see her heart the way I did when I met her in Clover, you know she’s worth every bit of trouble.”

  Cynthia’s nervous face settles into a small smile as she waves off security and invites Jonah and me to join her. “This is Deputy Director Bill Gully from the ATF. I was just briefing him on the information Jordan provided me this morning. Now tell me what’s going on with Jordan.”

  “She called and used the hostage word we’d discussed. I believe whoever she met with after you may not have liked the information she had, could possibly even be involved, and is keeping her against her will.”

  “That’s why they moved the meeting,” Bill says, leaning in toward Cynthia and keeping his voice low.

  “It’s at an industrial area now, right?” I interject and step into the office even farther. “I think it’s a setup. They are likely trying to silence this and will be fully able to if they can get everyone who’s involved in one secluded place at the same time.”

  “Wait, what are you suggesting?” Cynthia asks, her nostrils flaring. “You think they want to kill us?”

  “Yes,” I say flatly, not wanting to soften the news.

  Cynthia’s eyes fix back on Bill’s as she trembles slightly. “Don’t worry, Cynthia, I’ll take care of it. You won’t have to come within ten miles of that meeting,” Bill assures as he pulls out his phone and gets ready to dial.

  “I think I know where she was going when she left here. Who might have been her next contact,” Cynthia squeaks out, still looking scared. “It was an ex of hers. Someone she dated. I don’t know his name but I know someone who might; hang on.” Cynthia picks up her phone and makes a call to someone and speaks frantically but quietly. When she hangs up, she looks up at us. “That was a mutual friend of ours. She remembers her dating someone in that office named Wes, but she doesn’t know his last name.”

  “That’s great, Cynthia,” Bill assures, reaching over and patting her arm. “That’ll help tremendously.”

  “What’s your plan?” I cut in before Bill can try again to queue up a number on his phone. I don’t let the new information that this person holding Jordan might be an ex-boyfriend of hers bother me. It changes nothing. Danger is danger.

  “I’m going to get the closest tactical team briefed and set up at the location. I’ll get as much information on Wes as possible and try to have someone get eyes on him now. If that doesn’t resolve the situation and the meeting has to take place I’ll have an agent pose as Cynthia. I’m guessing this guy is the contact they’re trying to get their hands on?” Bill asks, gesturing at Jonah who’s been silent until this point.

  “Yes sir,” he says, nodding his head.

  “I’ll stand in as him. I want to be there,” I demand and ready myself to have to fight for that.

  “And who exactly are you?”

  “I’m a Marine, former Special Forces. I’ve been involved in numerous hostage situations including extractions from hostile zones. I’m combat trained and I can be an asset. I’ve given six years of my life to this country and all I’m asking is for a chance to use what I’ve learned to save someone I love.”

  “You have absolutely no authority or jurisdiction in the matter. Not to mention you’ve got skin in the game. She’s your girlfriend. I don’t need that kind of emotion clouding things up,” Bill fires back.

  “I can assure you emotion will play no part in my ability to assist. You need me.”

  Bill lets out a dismissive laugh, “And why is that?”

  “Hostage situations turn out significantly better if the person being held can remain calm. If Jordan sees me she’ll be calmer than if she sees strangers. Plus you have under two hours to get a tactical team in place and briefed. Getting an agent up to speed
on the situation and the nuances of the background here will take time you don’t have. No one is closer to this scenario than I am.”

  The arrogance fades from Bill’s face and he clears his throat, giving my words some thought. “You can ride with me and discuss your previous experience and how ready you really are for this. I’m going to have your records pulled and see if everything checks out. If I hear what I need to I’ll let you stand in. But there will be a Tac Ops leader there, and you will take all your orders from him. This is not a one-man mission.”

  “I know how to take orders, sir. I’ve been doing it for the last six years. You have my word.”

  “Wait,” Cynthia calls out as we stand and head for the door.

  “Oh, Cynthia, I almost forgot. I’ll have agents here within the next few minutes and they’ll stay with you until this is over. You’ll be safe. I promise I won’t let anything happen to you,” Bill assures, and in an instant I realize why he’s so motivated to help. He’s jumped into action quicker than I expected and, while I’m grateful for it, I was skeptical. Now I see he, too, has some skin in the game.

  “Thank you, but that’s not why I stopped you. Click, I’ve been working in the same circles as Jordan for almost a decade. We started out around the same time. I just wanted you to know that she told me today she’s never been happier. I’ve never heard her talk about anyone or any part of her life like that. She loves you very much and she called herself your fiancée. I just wanted you to know.”

  “Thank you,” I say in just above a whisper as I avert my eyes and move Jonah, who seems slightly in shock, so we can head for the door.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Click

  Bill is still on the phone ordering everyone around and getting things set up. He’s curt but effective and I’m glad he’s at the helm of this. Jonah and I are in the back seat of his car as he speeds through the intersections, sending us sliding back and forth.