Betrayed

by Rebecca York

  Her tension mounted. With no other option, she kept driving, praying that she would hear from the man who was holding her brother. Finally, the phone next to her crackled.

  “A road is coming in on the right. Take it.”

  She dragged in a breath and let it out before answering, “Okay.”

  “Don’t have an accident in the rain,” Mr. Big said, his voice cheerful, and she knew he was confident that he had total control of this situation. Hopefully, he was dead wrong.

  “I won’t,” she answered, thinking that he probably was hoping she’d crash, and then he wouldn’t have to trade anything for the SIM card.

  ***

  Shane drove as fast as he could through the pelting rain and darkness, feeling sick as he calculated his chances of getting Elena out of this alive.

  “Take it easy,” Max murmured as the car skidded on the wet pavement and Shane fought to keep control. “If we crash, you’re not going to be any good to her.”

  “I know that,” Shane snapped and slowed down a few miles per hour.

  “We’re getting closer to her,” Max said.

  “Thank God.”

  “We’re going faster than she is. We should be able to catch up.”

  “Well, not entirely,” Shane cautioned. “We don’t want anyone to think we picked up her trail.”

  In the backseat, Jack was consulting computer maps while Max manned the tracker up front.

  “I think she’s headed for another industrial park,” Jack said.

  “Okay, good. That’s better than an isolated farmhouse where we’d have to get out and sneak through the fields.”

  Max made a sound of agreement, then caught his breath.

  “What?”

  “She’s stopped abruptly. Either she’s there or she had an accident.”

  “How fast can we get to her?”

  “If you don’t crash, in ten minutes.”

  Shane gripped the wheel, knowing that ten minutes could mean the difference between life and death.

  ***

  Elena pressed on the brake, the car fishtailing on the slick road surface. Ahead of her she could see water flowing across the pavement.

  “There’s a flood,” she said aloud.

  “What are you talking about?” the man on the other end of the line snapped.

  “Water is flowing across the road.”

  “Go through it.”

  “It looks like it’s too deep.”

  She was greeted with a string of curses, then “Just a minute.”

  She waited with her heart pounding.

  “Back up,” he snarled. “Go to the last intersection. Take Owen Mills Road.”

  “Okay.”

  She looked behind her and saw that nobody else was dumb enough to be out in this storm.

  Turning the wheel, she tried to make a U-turn, but the road wasn’t wide enough for her to do it and stay on the blacktop. Her right front tire crunched onto the wet gravel shoulder. There must be a thin layer hiding mud below because the tire sank in, and she had to back up, the wheel grinding as she fought to gain the pavement again.

  Chapter 29

  Shane had pulled to the side of the road as he waited for Max to tell him which way to go.

  “Wait a minute, she’s moving again.”

  “Still heading in the same direction?”

  “She’s backtracking, but I think the ultimate destination is going to be the same. She must have hit a spot where she couldn’t get through.”

  “You guess,” Shane snapped, then said, “I’m sorry. I’m on edge.”

  “We know. Slow down again until we find out what direction she’s going.”

  Shane slowed, fighting anger and frustration and his need to save Elena. At this point, he didn’t give a damn what happened to the brother, but if she didn’t come out of this okay, he was going to smash Lincoln Kinkead.

  Was this Kinkead’s fault? Maybe, maybe not. But the man had been up to something he wasn’t talking about. Maybe Elena could explain what that was—if he asked her the right questions.

  But for the moment, he had to keep his focus on making sure she came back to him, safe and sound.

  ***

  Elena backtracked along the rain-slick pavement, then made the next turn, as directed. She could see more houses in the area now, although she still didn’t know exactly where she was going.

  “Take the next right,” Mr. Big directed. She slowed and turned, seeing that she was coming into another industrial park, although this one was a lot more upscale than the previous location.

  “Drive down to location 651 and stop,” the man directed.

  Oh Lord, this was it. She was going to exchange the fake information for her brother.

  She drove down an access road lined on either side with buildings that held warehouse facilities. At the far end, some of the buildings were illuminated with exterior lights. But for three-fourths of the length, the lane was dark and silent.

  She had to squint to see the numbers, which were high up on the buildings and thankfully painted white. When she saw 651, she pulled to a stop, the car parallel to the buildings instead of perpendicular. Looking around, she saw no other vehicles. But that didn’t prove anything. Mr. Big had probably been here for hours, waiting for her to arrive. Making preparations. She shuddered as she wondered what he was planning.

  But maybe she didn’t have long to wait.

  A light clicked on inside building 651, and she looked up at the back of the small warehouse. It had a loading dock with a garage door that opened onto a platform about four feet above ground level, a pedestrian door, a landing, and a set of stairs leading to ground level.

  “Get out of the car,” Mr. Big ordered. He was still speaking to her from the phone.

  ***

  “She’s stopped again,” Max said. “I think this could be the place.”

  Shane sped up, trying to drive as fast as he could and stay on the slick pavement.

  At least the rain had slowed to a drizzle.

  “Turn here.” He did, leaning forward and peering through the windshield, hoping to see something.

  “Slow down,” Max warned.

  “Why?”

  “We’re almost there. We don’t want the Big Guy to figure out that Elena’s not alone.”

  Shane slowed and switched off the lights. He waited a moment for his eyes to adjust before proceeding along the two-lane highway. Luckily, at this time of night and in this weather, nobody else was on the road.

  “There’s a turn ahead,” Max said. “Into an industrial park.”

  “But the unit where she is won’t be visible from the access road.”

  “Good. That means we can get close before we have to get out of the car.”

  Shane’s tension mounted as he glided into the complex and looked around at the darkened buildings. Nobody seemed to be here, but that was the point. It was the way Mr. Big wanted it, and he’d had a long time to plan this confrontation. Too bad Shane couldn’t say the same for himself and Elena. Still, he’d given her some strategies, and he hoped to hell she kept her head and used them. The danger was that when she saw her brother, she’d forget that she was already standing in a lion’s den.

  ***

  Elena had pulled up so that the driver’s door was facing away from the building. She cut the lights on the borrowed car and picked up the cell phone. Clutching it in her hand, she exited the vehicle, keeping it between her and the warehouse. Would the thin metal sides stop bullets? Probably not, but it helped that she was on the wrong side of the car to get ambushed. At least not yet.

  “Bring my brother out,” she said into the phone.

  “You first.”

  “Not until I see Alesandro,” she said, wondering how Mr. Big was working this. Was he here at t
he warehouse, or was he giving someone inside directions? She thought it was more likely the former than the latter since he was so anxious to get his hands on the S&D program.

  She looked back the way she’d come. Did Shane and the Rockfort men even know where she was? Maybe not, so maybe she was on her own.

  A flash of light at the warehouse drew her attention. The door at the top of the stairs opened, and three men came out. Two of them looked tough and capable. The middle one was Alesandro, and the two other guys were holding him up. They each grasped one of his arms with a large hand. In the other, they both held automatic weapons.

  She took in the trio at a swift glance. The two on the outside both had buzz cuts and were wearing neat slacks and dark-colored button-down shirts. Her brother’s dark hair was matted, his face was covered with bruises and dried blood, and his clothing was rumpled, with a tear in one arm of his shirt. As she stared at him, the world seemed to sway around her. He looked like he’d been to hell—and hadn’t been able to claw his way back.

  The voice on the phone brought her to her senses. “Come and get the miserable slug,” Mr. Big growled.

  Keeping her voice hard as steel, she answered, “I’m not coming any closer. I want him to walk down the stairs by himself and come toward me.”

  Again there was no response.

  She waited a beat before saying, “You don’t get the information until I get my brother.”

  “Now that you’re here, we could just shoot him.”

  She felt her throat clog. “And you won’t get what you dragged me here to deliver. I can still get back in the car and drive away.”

  “You won’t.”

  “I will if you shoot him. Send him to me.”

  “How do I know you won’t do it when he gets to you?”

  She dragged in a breath and let it out, knowing she was about to take a big risk. “I’ll give you the car keys.”

  Mr. Big’s voice brightened. “Great suggestion. Toss the keys toward the steps.”

  “When my brother is halfway here.”

  There must have been a conference among the men that Elena couldn’t hear. One of the tough guys let go of Alesandro, and he wavered on rubbery legs, then grabbed the railing to keep himself from falling. When he was almost steady on his feet, he started down slowly, his hand gripping the rail, and she thought he looked like he’d aged fifty years since the last time she’d seen him in her apartment.

  As he descended the steps, he raised his face to Elena. She watched his mouth as his lips formed the word “run.”

  Dios, he was telling her to leave him. But she couldn’t do that, because she knew he wouldn’t get out of this alive.

  She focused on her brother’s shaky progress toward her, which was probably what the men had intended. But something warned her to look up, and she saw one of the men raise his arm.

  When it registered that he was pointing a gun at her, she ducked behind the vehicle as a bullet slammed into the wall in back of where she’d been standing.

  The weapon she’d taken from her purse was already in her hand before she had made a conscious decision, and to her relief, she noted that her brother had dropped to the ground.

  Reaching above the top of the hood, she returned fire.

  Obviously the man who had shot at her thought she’d be an easy target. And he certainly didn’t think she’d be armed. Not after that remote-control strip search at the last warehouse. But she’d hidden her movements from the camera when she’d gotten the SIM card from the purse.

  Now she had a clear shot at the two men who had come out of the warehouse with her brother. She pulled the trigger and one of them dropped. The other one was already firing at her. He ducked back up the steps, shooting as he went and weaving a zigzag pattern across the open space, heading for the door from which he’d exited the warehouse with Alesandro.

  She heard her brother cry out, but she couldn’t go to him, not when the thug was still laying down a spray of bullets, intent on getting back into the building before she could drop him.

  It was then that she heard the roar of an engine. From out of the darkness, a vehicle with its lights out came barreling down the access road toward the scene of the confrontation.

  But who was it?

  Shane or reinforcements from Mr. Big?

  Elena gasped as she saw it speeding toward her brother, who was lying where he’d fallen in the middle of the blacktop—halfway between her and the bad guys.

  “Alesandro, watch out!” she screamed.

  Chapter 30

  The vehicle skidded to a stop, its wheels inches from Alesandro’s head and shoulders.

  Shane jumped out the driver’s door. Max flew from the passenger side.

  Jack came from the back.

  “They’re inside the building,” Elena shouted.

  “Are you all right?” Shane called urgently.

  “Yes.”

  He turned toward the warehouse as the loading-dock door opened, followed by a blast of gunfire.

  Elena screamed. She couldn’t see Shane, and she dashed around the borrowed car, using the SUV for cover.

  As she peeked around the fender, she saw the Rockfort men crouching below the level of the loading dock, using the concrete barrier as a shield.

  Shane had a backpack with him. He set it down and reached inside, pulling out something and tossing it through the open door into the warehouse interior.

  It exploded inside with a terrible noise, a burst of smoke, and a concussion that shook the surrounding area.

  He tossed in a second, then pulled a gas mask over his face. The other Rockfort men followed suit before dashing up the steps and pulling the door open.

  Gunfire rattled through the smoke. The Rockfort men went in shooting, and Elena could see nothing. But she heard the sounds of battle.

  ***

  Shane led the way up the stairs. Instead of pulling the pedestrian door open, he eased around to the garage opening. Beyond was a large room with cinder-block walls and industrial shelving clustered in several locations. At the back were spaces partitioned off into what might be offices. One of their opponents lay on the floor about halfway between the front and back of the open area. Jack moved toward him and rolled him over.

  “Dead.”

  As he spoke a burst of gunfire came from the back of the building.

  While Jack retreated to the staging area, Shane and Max were already leaping toward the nearest shelves. They pulled them away from the wall and toppled them on their sides. Using the barrier as a shield, all three Rockfort men began to advance on the back of the building, pushing the shelves in front of them.

  “It sounds like only one guy firing,” Shane said.

  “Hopefully, the rest are dead,” Jack answered.

  They kept moving toward the lone gunman, who must be holed up in one of the offices.

  “Wait,” the gunman shouted.

  “For what?”

  “I’ll cut a deal with you.”

  “Now? After you’ve spent so much time going after S&D?”

  “Because Kinkead has something worth billions.”

  “What?”

  “A program that can predict which stocks are going to make fantastic short-term gains. Nothing like it exists. He’s going to market it to investors, and it will make them some money, but he’s keeping the best parts for himself.”

  “Where did he get it?”

  “From the father of a smart-as-shit kid.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “Your girlfriend’s got a copy of it. And we can share it.”

  ***

  Elena knew she should stay where she was. She knew, but her brother was still lying in the middle of the road.

  She ran to him, caught him under the shoulders, and dragged him back so that the bulk of the SUV
was between him and the gunfight.

  She’d gotten Alesandro to safety, but she gasped as she saw the smear she’d left on the wet pavement. He’d been lying in a pool of blood, and a red trail had followed him to the shelter of the SUV.

  “Alesandro,” she gasped.

  His eyes flickered open. “Elena…you came for me.”

  She frantically pulled at his shirt. She had tended Shane’s wounds. She could do the same for Alesandro. “Where are you hit?”

  He reached for her hand to stop her. “Don’t. It doesn’t matter.”

  “But…”

  “They beat me up pretty bad. Stuff inside me is broken. This is a mercy.”

  “No!”

  “Listen to me. I don’t have much time. I heard them talking…” He stopped and took a breath. “They called him Mr. Weller.”

  “Just stay quiet,” she soothed as she leaned over her brother.

  “Elena, you’re a good girl. I was always going to disappoint our parents.” He stopped and coughed, then started talking again. “Tell them I’ll wait for them in heaven.”

  “Alesandro.”

  He didn’t answer, and when she leaned over him and felt for a pulse in his neck, there was none.

  Tears welled in her eyes as she reached to close his eyelids. She had thought she could rescue him, but she’d been wrong. He had suffered so much, and now he was dead.

  ***

  “Nice of you to offer, but I don’t think so,” Shane growled.

  “Wait. Why not?”

  There were a lot of things Shane could have said, but he kept it simple. “Because you’re a motherfucking scumbag.”

  He pushed the metal shelving forward, advancing on the man who began to shoot again, the sound of the automatic weapon echoing in the towering space.

  Shane reached the wall of the first office, picked up the shelving, and smashed it through the window as an arc of gunfire followed the unexpected intrusion.

  Taking advantage of the distraction, Shane darted around the corner and saw a tubby guy wielding an assault rifle. He shot the man in the chest. Cautiously he advanced on him, but the bastard wasn’t playing possum. He was dead, and as Shane stared down at him, irony washed over him. They’d called this guy Mr. Big. And he was bulky enough to live up to the name.