All of You: The Lonnigans, Book 1

by Dee Tenorio

  “Good. Good.” Daniel’s mind seemed to be on auto as he patted down his pockets, looking for something and turning absently. “I don’t have anything to leave her a note—”

  “A note?” Was he nuts?

  “Just tell her I’ll be back tomorrow. It’ll all be over by then and I’ll be able to take care of her like she needs.”

  Kyle’s indecision about what to do fell away and his anger focused. It was probably a stupid move, but someone had to do it. He stalked forward and grabbed hold of Daniel’s jacketed arm. Pulling the bigger man behind him, he led him into the hall where the elevators were so they were at least out of earshot of the rooms. A few people came and went, but not many.

  Kyle finally let him go and tried to calm down. Daniel was looking at him like his nose had fallen off. “Look, if you need money, I understand. I’ll lend it to you and we’ll work something out to take care of Dory.”

  “Money?” The shock on Daniel’s face was almost real. Right there next to the affront. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about you ditching your mother for a drug deal. What did you think I meant? What about Dory? You don’t think she’s going to be proud of you for this, do you?”

  Daniel’s friendly puppy smile came back and he straightened away from the wall. “Whoa, Kyle, man, I think you got the wrong idea. I don’t know what you think you know—”

  “I heard you on the phone, Daniel. I know about your shipment. Five o’clock? Ring any bells?”

  Daniel paled slightly, but his mouth came together in a grim line. “I knew you did, damn it, I knew.” He swore a few more times, then checked his watch again. “I don’t have time for this, but I swear, it’s not what you think.”

  “Sure it’s not.” Just like Jessica believed he didn’t know what he knew about her.

  “Give me a few hours. I can explain then, I really can. For now, forget you heard anything. I’ll explain it all tomorrow, I swear, but right now I have to go. If I’m not outside in the next five minutes, some guys you don’t want to meet are going to come in after me. Believe me, they’re not good at waiting.”

  “You brought your connection here? Are you insane?”

  “I didn’t bring them. They came for me. Where do you think I’ve been all morning? Trying to buy more time. I’m telling you, Kyle. There isn’t any. I have to go.”

  “No, you stay right there and explain right now.” Everyone wanted to explain later or not explain at all and Kyle had about all he could take of it. He pushed Daniel into the wall with a loud thump, making the bigger man’s eyes widen in surprise. “Explain the calls. Explain the threats. Explain the gun.”

  To make his point, Kyle pushed open the coat to expose the holster again, while Daniel let him, opening his arm wide enough for Kyle to finally get a good look at it. Tan leather, tucked close to his side by a strap over his shoulder and forming a fat lump encasing a cold piece of steel with a black-textured handle. Kyle didn’t know gun makes but this was big and looked dangerous. Still, it didn’t gleam half as brightly as the shining badge hanging from it.

  He looked up at Daniel’s dry expression. “You’re a cop?”

  “DEA. Been undercover for two years and it all ends today. The only reason I have the badge is to explain my gun if hospital security gets wind of it or it’d be in my boot where it belongs. Now you need to get your ass back in that hospital room, where you belong.” The elevator dinged and Daniel’s relaxed pose changed in an instant, his arms clamping closed and his back straightening.

  But it wasn’t fast enough.

  “What the shit?” a voice asked in a growl.

  Kyle spun around. There were four guys of various sizes forming a half-circle around them, all wearing denim and black T-shirts or leather. All apparently from Daniel’s gang of riders. All looking at the two of them as if they’d just robbed a bank.

  Or spilled the truth.

  “You’re a narc, Danny? After all this shit, you’re a fuckin’ narc!” The talker looked roughly Kyle’s own age. If you took off the mud and the sun-baked lines on his face. He wasn’t yelling, not in volume, anyway. More like a whispered rant that could get loud any second. He shoved at Daniel’s shoulder, sending him back into the wall again. “I brought you in. I trusted you, asshole.”

  “You never trusted me,” Daniel actually bothered to correct, sounding just as angry. “You used me to finance your big ticket. You’d have known what I was if you’d stayed in touch over the years, Cody. But that’s you, isn’t it? Only ever out for yourself.”

  “I should put your head through that wall, you bastard. Did you make up the bullshit about your mother too? Who’s this guy? Your contact?” The biker turned to Kyle, already reaching for his throat.

  Kyle swayed back, only to bump into one of the other men.

  “He’s just some guy here in the hospital, Cody. Thought I was after his wallet,” Daniel said, sounding bored. “No one you need to worry about.”

  “Like I’m going to believe anything you say.” But Cody didn’t throttle Kyle where he stood, which was a moment’s relief, at least. Then the fact that he was still surrounded by a bunch of drug dealers who’d just found out they’d been infiltrated sank into Kyle’s head and relief spirited away. Quickly.

  Daniel didn’t look like he had any such problem. He just stared Cody in the eye like he didn’t care one way or another. About anything. Kyle would have liked to know how he did that, because right this second he was caring about everything. A lot.

  “Take him or leave him, I don’t care. We just can’t stay here much longer,” one of the guys said, looking around at the people moving just outside the hall. For now, no one really cared much about the clump of men talking near the elevators in low voices. In ICU, no one bothered anyone else unless they were making a scene. No one was even acknowledging them. But that could change at any time and Cody seemed to know it. He gave Daniel one more glare then turned his back on him and hit the button for another elevator. Two of the men flanked Daniel and shoved him forward.

  Maybe it was still the shock of the situation, but Kyle put a hand on him to hold him back. Daniel flinched, as if reminded that he had someone next to him who wasn’t in the mood to kill him. Or maybe someone he felt responsible for. That flinch only served to remind Kyle who was really responsible for this scene: nobody but himself. He’d jumped to a conclusion. Now look at them.

  “Bring him with us. He knows enough.”

  “He don’t know shit, Cody, leave him.” Daniel braced his feet at the doors, making himself a hard parcel to move.

  Cody didn’t even acknowledge him with a look. “We bring him with us or cut his throat and stuff him in a closet. Your pick, Pierson.”

  Daniel hesitated, then shook his head and let them both get herded into the elevator. Kyle got put next to him, a sense of surrealism wrapping around him like one of his mother’s quilts. His heart thumped and every sound took on a muted quality, fear slowing everything down to a snail’s pace. He watched almost absently as someone passed the closing doors of the elevators without even looking in. Without caring.

  The whole thing took a total of three minutes. Maybe four. That was it. No one had noticed anything. No one would remember them all leaving together. Other than the doctor and Dory, no one even knew they’d been there.

  “We’re gonna die, aren’t we?” he asked, realization seeping slowly through the cottony fog.

  “Yup,” Daniel replied without emotion.

  “Yeah,” Kyle sighed, becoming strangely detached from even his mounting terror of being back in a barely moving elevator with a clear knowledge of his own upcoming demise. He could feel that, couldn’t help but notice it in the press of angry men all around him. He just didn’t feel it like he normally would. Weren’t people supposed to run when they confronted the fact that their lives were about to end? Think up some noble way to go? Or even fall to their knees sobbing and begging or something?

  Instead
, in the quiet—was that really Muzak playing his death knell?—he’d gone numb. His brain raced like the whirring of an overtaxed computer, but nothing seemed to be clearly thought. “Just checking.”

  One of the men shifted, jabbing an elbow into his side hard enough to shift a rib, probably to tell him to shut up. It sounded like a good idea but all of a sudden he had so much to say.

  He wanted to call Lucas; tell him to stop pretending he wasn’t in love with Belinda. Stop taking no for answer or at least ask her the damn question. He wanted to tell his parents to take that Hawaiian cruise they kept putting off until next year when the market was better.

  But most of all, he wanted to tell Jessica he loved her and that he knew she loved him too. Tell her that he’d wait until she was ready to say it, wait until she was ready for his dog and his house and his yard. Tell her he’d give them all up forever if she gave him a chance to be part of her life. He had so much to say and no one to say it to but Daniel and the four thugs preparing to kill him.

  “Sorry about pushing you,” he said softly, knowing it was a lame start and even lamer last sentiments.

  Daniel remained silent.

  “And…you know…blowing your cover.” He looked around briefly at the dirty men, rough haircuts and various tattoos on bare shoulders or arms. A deep breath pulled in the scent of dust and sweat, among other things he didn’t want to identify. “Really sorry about that part.”

  “S’right,” Daniel mumbled. What was he supposed to say? That he’d be holding a grudge?

  The apology didn’t make Kyle feel any better, but at least it had been accepted. “Thanks.”

  “Shut up,” Cody barked.

  Kyle clamped his mouth closed. The elevator doors opened and they walked as one big block through the hall. Cody led the way, not through the main lobby but through a side door to the underground parking. There they made their way to a plain white van. Sliding the door open, revealing a stripped cargo bay with some blankets for seating, they pushed him and Daniel inside. Two of them climbed in next to them and slammed the door shut.

  A few rough seconds later they were being searched and both Daniel’s gun and Kyle’s cell phone were taken, but Kyle didn’t care. All he could do was stare at the closed doors of the van and watch the curved walls lean in. After all these years, he was still going to die compressed into an impossible position in a goddamned car. If he could control the tightening in his throat, he’d laugh at the irony.

  “Uh Daniel?”

  He heard a grunt.

  “Would now be a bad time to mention I’m claustrophobic?”

  Kyle heard the sadistic chuckles from the others until Daniel asked, “You gonna throw up?”

  Oddly enough, that almost made Kyle smile. “No, probably not.”

  “Then no, now’s good.”

  Cody got behind the wheel and started the loud engine while the men in the back tied their hands and feet in front of them.

  “Where are they taking us?” Kyle asked a few uneventful minutes later, his bound hands resting on his knees. It wasn’t so bad, really. Better than having them behind his back, especially with just a blanket on the corrugated metal floor for cushion.

  “Death Valley,” Daniel answered, blasé, leaning his head back against the wall of the van as if he were going to take a nap. “Emmanuel Santos is meeting us there with a boatload of heroin. Literally. We’re late, so they don’t have time to kill us on the way.”

  “That’s good news, right?”

  “Not really. When Santos finds out he’s been dealing with DEA for the last year, odds are he’ll disembowel us instead of just shooting us.”

  Kyle swallowed. He looked at the other guys, one of whom nodded.

  “Sounds…” Okay, disemboweling was hard to joke about.

  “You’re taking this pretty good, Kyle. I expected something with less dignity from you by now.”

  So had Kyle. “Yeah, well, you haven’t seen my shorts.”

  Daniel gave a lazy grin. “You should get some sleep if you can. It’ll be a few hours.”

  “I don’t think I can sleep.” Not with his heart racing and the cold sweat starting to run down his back. The windows of the van’s front doors were down, sending a steady stream of air his way, but while it kept the claustrophobia from sucking him down, it wasn’t enough to keep the fear for his life at bay. There weren’t even enough smudges of dirt to count and distract himself from the impending doom. Like Jessica had warned, he’d run out of distractions.

  “All right. I’m gonna knock out, then. I’ve hardly slept at all the last few nights.”

  Kyle looked at him incredulously. “At a time like this?”

  “Not gonna be able to do it later.” That said, Daniel closed his eyes and within a few minutes was snoring.

  Kyle looked around, but no one seemed particularly bothered. The other guys were settling in, trying to get comfortable too. With nothing else to look at for an hour and the drone of the wheels on the road, the summer heat warming the air until it wasn’t worth it to fight it, Kyle let his own lids droop and decided to dream of Jessica for what little time was left to him.

  It wasn’t as if it were difficult, since she was the only thing he dreamed about these days anyway. But instead of the usual dreams where she huskily said she loved him and couldn’t live without him right before taking his cock deep into her mouth, he dreamt memories. Jessica, smiling against her will that first night he’d met her, the lightest rose flush across her cheeks because he’d teased her about wanting hot beef. The graceful curves of her shoulder and arm, leading to the rise of her hip beneath her sheet, visible only in the moonlight, a sight that haunted him long after he’d left her. In the elevator, her eyebrow raised while she taunted him about their impending fiery doom, never knowing how impish she looked there on the floor or that he’d been able to see all the way down her blouse from his vantage point of hanging on for dear life. But the best, the very best, was the memory of her from the night before, curling into him there on the floor, her hair wild around her face, her blouse open so he could see her perfect, creamy skin from her face all the way down to her belly button. But as much as he’d loved the sight, had wanted to trace the curves of her breasts peeking out from behind the open folds, the only thing he’d been looking at was her face. So soft, so open for the first time since he’d known her…so confused by the feelings she had for him.

  You make me feel things I can’t even name…

  Because she’d never known it before. Could barely recognize love—not his, not even Dory’s. For a few precious seconds, though, she’d let him in. Let him see on her face what it meant for someone to care about the man he was instead of the man he thought he should be.

  Until he’d crushed it.

  Kyle jolted awake to hot, oxygenless air and a stopped van. His startled gaze met Daniel’s steady one.

  “We’re here.”

  And that’s when the fear broke past the cotton of numbness.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The sweat that had been burning his body turned frigid despite the fact that it was so hot everything looked like a mirage. His stomach turned into a giant coiled knot that made him wince at the pain of it. The bindings at his wrists carved into his flesh as his hands tried to twist out on their own. But there was no escape.

  Daniel’s friends opened the sliding door of the van and hopped out. The sun outside had turned the whole sky orange, which meant it was either so hot his eyeballs were on fire or that it was low enough to be starting to cool. Of course, cool in Death Valley was high noon in hell anywhere else. Either way, he’d never seen anything more beautiful than that open door.

  Until he remembered he was still going to die.

  Shit. A few more words popped up in his head, but he bit his tongue to keep from saying them. Otherwise he’d be swearing ’til they killed him.

  “You could have had a part of this, Danny,” Cody said from the front seat, startling Kyle into looking away fr
om the gold light. He’d been so happy to see it he’d completely forgotten about the man still in the van with them. If Cody hadn’t spoken, Kyle might have talked himself into hopping out and seeing if he could make a dash for it. All those years of running could have paid off, even in the desert. Couldn’t they?

  He pulled his feet closer and started toying carefully with the knots in the rope. Whatever else these guys were, they were good at tying knots.

  “I’d rather be a part of what I already am, Cody,” Daniel said evenly.

  Kyle kept his eyes on his ropes. He didn’t want to be here. Not just because of the obvious. There was something between these two men that he didn’t have a right to be listening to.

  “What you’re part of is going to get you killed.” Cody sounded almost sorry about that. “Your friend there too. Maybe even me. What happened to you, Danny? The guy I knew would never let his job be more important than his friends or his family.”

  “Could ask the same for you. Deals with Santos don’t exactly extend your life expectancy. He kills all his associates, eventually.”

  “Yeah, well, if that day comes he won’t find me.”

  “Sure, he won’t, Cody.”

  Kyle waited for the other man to say something else, to get mad and yell again, but instead he just opened his door and left the van with a solid slam of the door.

  “No one’s going to stay here and watch us?” he asked after a few minutes when no one came back.

  “No reason to. We step out of this van we’ll be surrounded by twenty other crews with vans just like it, ready to kill us. If somehow we made it past them, we’d have to get past Santos’s men and there’s bound to be a hell of a lot more of them.”

  Kyle looked down at his loose knot. Great. Free but if he took one step outside, he’d die. So much for claustrophobia. Looking for something else to do, he went to work on Daniel’s hands. The other man looked amused but he didn’t stop him. “So what happens now?”

  “Well, if it all goes to plan, Cody out there is going to make a deal with Santos using the money I brought with me for the deal. Last year, Santos’s operation was pinned down in Southern Mexico. He beat the agents out, though, taking pretty much everything he could scrape with him. We figure he’s been floating around the Pacific on a ship, transferring cargo containers for months. But that couldn’t last and with his accounts frozen, he needed to move the smack.