“Whoa, whoa,” he said. “I see that look in your eyes. Don’t go getting that let’s-go-break-down-the-door attitude. I told you, my team’s handling it.”
“But if Heinrich’s taking people against their will and forcing them to take Vamp then we shouldn’t wait. We need to—”
“We are. That’s what the other guys on my team are doing. They’ve been watching the compound for a while. But this stuff takes strategy. We need more information. Something solid to nail Heinrich with. Something his lawyers can’t get him out of this time.”
Frustration bubbled inside her, causing a ragged grunting noise to blow past her lips. “I hate that logic.” It made sense, but it still made her angry. People’s lives were being ruined. Likely her father’s too.
“Just be patient,” he said. “I know that’s impossible for you, but I need you to do it. The team’s going to the compound in two weeks. That’s when the next shipment of Vamp is coming. That’ll give them plenty of time to investigate whether your father’s really working for Heinrich or if he’s being forced.”
Or enough time for them to condemn him.
If only she could figure out where the damn compound was. She had no idea who Ash’s team members were or a way to get in touch with them. But she did have the GPS. She and the ladies stopped monitoring Ash’s house, but they never removed the tracker on his truck.
“Are you going?” She tried to sound uninterested, but failed. Especially after he cocked his head to the side and lifted both eyebrows. She shrugged. “What? I’m just trying to figure out the dynamic of your team, that’s all.”
“The team’s making plans to move in and apprehend Heinrich and his supplier, once the supplier shows his face. I won’t be at the compound. But if your dad’s there, my teammates will report it back.”
Her lips thinned, and she nodded. Damn. So he was a part of a team but excluded from the team at the same time.
Arguing was useless. She was stubborn, not stupid. They could spit words back at one another all night, and they still wouldn’t see eye to eye. He cared more about his job, where she cared more about her family.
“Fine,” she said through a heavy sigh. “I’ll sit and behave myself, waiting for your teammates to gather information on my father. It’s not something I’m happy about, but I’ll do it.”
He gave her that skeptical, squinty-eyed expression again, then nodded once. “Good.”
It was good. Now she knew where she stood with Ash Cooper. If he wouldn’t help her, then she’d go to someone who would. Someone who cared about her father almost as much as she did. Good thing she was due into work in another couple of hours.
She was going to find out where that compound was, and she was going to get her father out of there before the DEA team captured him.
…
As usual, Fowler was hunched over his desk, head hung, staring at what looked like a report. Sam knocked on the doorframe of his office and waited for him to look up.
“Sam,” he said, smiling. “How’s it going?”
“Good, Lou.” She sat in the chair across from his desk. “Paperwork’s never done, huh?”
He released a small, weary laugh. “Nope. Not as long as there are criminals in my district who think they can get away with anything.” He slapped his palm on top of a tall stack of papers on the corner of his desk. “These are ready to be entered into the system.” Then he glanced down, scribbling something on the paper in front of him.
She fought back a groan rising in her throat. Yay. More reports.
“Listen, Lou,” she said, crossing one leg over the other. “I was wondering if I could ask you something. It’s about my dad.”
His hand froze, the ballpoint tip resting idle on the paper. After a moment of charged silence, he placed the pen down, and clasped his hands on his desk. “Sure, kid. What is it?”
“It’s just, I miss him,” she said. “A lot. Every day, in fact. And I know you do, too. I mean, he was your partner for a long time before…” She bit her bottom lip. “Before he went away. And I wanted to know if there was a chance to see him again, if you’d take it.”
“Of course,” he said with all seriousness. “You already knew that. I’d do anything to have your old man back here, cutting it up with the fellas”—his gaze flitted to the tall stack of reports—“taking over some of this paperwork for me.”
She did know that. Which was why she came to him. “What if I told you Dad is still alive?”
Fowler’s expression didn’t change, he only blinked and his chest rose and fell with each breath. “What are you getting at, Sam?”
“I think I know how to save him. And I need your help to find the location of—”
“No,” he said. “No. No. No.” It was almost lyrical the way the word came out. “Whatever you have brewing in that stubborn Harper brain of yours, get it out now. Forget about it. We’re not going down this road again. Your father’s gone, Sam. I know it hurts, but you need to let it rest.”
Let it rest? No way, no how. Not until she had closure. Not until she knew once and for all what happened to her father.
“But he isn’t,” she said, hating the childish whine in her voice. “He’s still alive.”
“What’s your proof?” he asked.
She hesitated. She couldn’t tell Lou about Ash and his team. It would ruin their investigation and their chances of nailing Viktor Heinrich. She wanted her father back, but she didn’t want a man like Heinrich free on the streets of Baltimore. She trusted Lou, but Ash made it clear BPD can’t be involved.
“I can’t tell you how I know, but I do. You have to trust me.”
Lou closed his eyes, and his lips curled inward so his thick mustache was all that showed. He opened his eyes and leaned across the desk, the corner indenting against his full stomach. “Sam, listen to me very closely. You’re not a cop. You can’t take the law into your own hands because you have a personal vendetta. We sent men out looking for him. You know we did. But we didn’t find anything suggesting he was still there. He’s gone.”
“But I’m telling you, Lou—”
“No, kid, I’m telling you. Forget it. Don’t go out looking for trouble.”
Her bottom lip trembled in frustration. If there was one person she thought she could rely on, it was Lou. He’d lost his best friend, his partner. He should be jumping for joy that she came to him with information. He wanted to clear Dad’s name as badly as she did. If he wouldn’t help her, she didn’t know what to do next. Even if she corralled the 19th Street Patrol to help, she still didn’t know where the hell Heinrich’s compound was. She knew the city, sure. But not the exact location. And it’s not like she could stroll up to Detective Lyons and ask him. Even if he knew he wouldn’t tell her.
“Your grandma needs you,” Fowler said with soft brown eyes squeezing her heart like a vice. “Don’t make her lose her son and granddaughter in one lifetime. Go home. Be with her. Take care of each other.”
It was slick, but effective. Lou knew exactly where to hit her for the most impact.
She shifted her gaze to the floor beside his desk, glancing at a scuffed tile with a chipped corner. She stared at that imperfection until her insides hollowed and angry tears welled from deep inside, climbing, reaching for a way out. Not today. She blinked a few times and snapped her attention back to her father’s oldest friend.
She’d find another way. And she had a hunch her only option was the man next door. He’d given her more information than anyone else so far, so maybe she could sweet-talk him into giving up more.
Chapter Eighteen
Sam carried the deck of cards to her grandmother’s dining room and placed it on the antique cherry table. “I don’t believe it,” she said. “It just doesn’t seem right.”
Estelle stood at the kitchen counter, craning her neck to peer out the doorway into the dining room. “Sammie, I’m tellin’ ya. When a man has an erection, not only does the blood rush downstairs, but all his common sens
e does, too.”
Estelle pulled a bottle of vodka out of the freezer and poured the liquor into her tumbler until it was nearly full, then tipped the bottle again to let another rivulet drizzle out. She reached into the fridge for fresh-squeezed lemonade and splashed about an ounce into her glass. Turning, Estelle joined Sam in the dining room, sipping the concoction and licking her lips. “That’s a woman’s greatest opportunity. Corner a man when he’s got a hard-on, and he’ll tell you anything you want. He can’t help it.”
“I don’t know about this,” Rose said, taking her seat at the head of the table. She picked up the deck and shuffled the cards as fluidly as a Vegas dealer. “There has to be another option.”
Celia was already in her lucky spot, in the chair to Rose’s right. She cut the deck when Rose signaled. “I agree. A woman shouldn’t have to expose herself in such a way.”
“Of course there are other options,” Estelle said, dropping into the chair at the opposite end of the table from Rose. “But none as quick and effective.”
“I don’t know if I can do it,” Sam confessed. She sat between Estelle and Celia, leaning against the back of her chair. “What if I screw it up?”
“Screwin’ is the main objective here, hon,” Estelle said through a grin.
Grandma sent Estelle a disapproving look.
Estelle shrugged. “Do we wanna get Davy outta there or not? My idea is the quickest way. Seduce Ash and get him to give up the info he’s got. We find out where the compound is, and we go get Davy.”
Sam sighed and rested her hand under her chin. “You make it sound so easy.”
Estelle fluffed her medium-length brown hair. “It is.”
Grandma Rose remained quiet, her gaze on the table as she dealt cards to each player.
Sam wanted her father home more than anything. She just didn’t know if seducing Ash and tricking him into telling her where the compound was located was something she could do. Physically or morally.
Sure, she’d had boyfriends. But sex wasn’t something Sam was comfortable with. Or good at. In fact, her ex had commented often how sucky she’d been the few times they’d done it. “I don’t know…”
Estelle slapped her cards facedown on the table. “In two weeks, the team’s goin’ to the compound and arrestin’ everyone involved. Isn’t that what Ash said?” She looked at Sam for confirmation. When Sam nodded, she said, “We need to find out where. This is our best option. It’s gonna take at least that long to plan a strategy to get him out.” She took a breath and picked her cards up. “Unless any of you Einsteins have a better idea.” She peered over her cards, surveying each woman.
Heads shook in the negative.
“That’s what I thought.” She placed a one-dollar bill in the center of the table.
Maybel entered the room, carrying a bucket of popcorn. She set it next to Estelle’s dollar and then positioned herself in the chair to Rose’s left. “I’m with Estelle. We need the information Ashland has. I asked Jackson. He couldn’t find anything on a compound in Upper Marlboro.” Maybel turned to Estelle and said, “I’ll see your one and raise you two.” She added three dollars to the pot.
“I’m out.” Celia shook her head and placed her cards facedown on the table.
Maybel eyed Sam, who nodded and placed three dollars on the pile.
“We could go to Club Hell. Wait for Heinrich there,” Celia said, smoothing the floral tablecloth with her hand. “Make him tell us where his compound is.” She gave Sam a sympathetic smile, like she was trying to save Sam from a fate worse than death by offering an alternative to seducing Ash.
Sam shook her head. “Dad was spotted at the compound, not Club Hell. It would be too much work to try to interrogate Heinrich. Besides, he might not even be there.”
“Show ’em,” Estelle said.
The four players turned their cards over. Rose beat the group with three of a kind.
“Damn,” Maybel said.
Sam snapped her fingers in disappointment.
“I still don’t like it,” Rose said, reaching toward the center of the table and pulling the bills toward her. “You’re playing with emotions.”
“Emotions won’t be a problem if she does it right,” Estelle said.
Maybel lifted one eyebrow.
“I’m serious,” Estelle pressed. “It’s purely physical. No need to get all misty-eyed over it.”
Rose began dealing the second hand.
“He doesn’t even like me, Grandma,” Sam agreed, remembering the way he’d turned away from her. “There’s no risk of breaking his heart. I’ll just get the info we need and then get out. I don’t even have to see him again.”
Easy peasy. No problem. If the other women believed she could do it, then Sam did too. She could totally do casual sex without commitment.
Rose stilled with her arm extended but didn’t release the card to Sam. She met her granddaughter’s gaze and said, “It isn’t his heart I’m worried about, sweets.”
Sam fidgeted under her grandmother’s honest stare. She’d be a fool to deny her attraction to Ash. What red-blooded woman wouldn’t be attracted to a man like him? But what scared her were the feelings deep inside threatening to come to the surface. Trust, admiration, passion. All qualities to build a relationship on. A strong foundation to be nurtured into deep-rooted feelings of forever. And that couldn’t happen.
First, Ash was leaving. When this deal was complete, he’d be relocated to wherever the DEA relocated people after a job well done. Second, he didn’t feel the same way about Sam. He’d made it perfectly clear this was a job and Sam was in the way.
Her heart thundered in her chest, roundhouse kicking her ribcage, but she kept her gaze trained on Rose’s. “I can do it, Grandma. I can. Don’t worry about my heart. It’s locked up nice and tight.” Yep. Absolutely. Definitely. 100 percent.
Rose hesitated, her expression giving nothing away. Then her lips thinned, and she dropped the card in front of Sam. “I still don’t like it. You’re in too deep. I don’t want you doing this.”
“But Grandma—!”
“No,” she said, jolting to her feet. The table rattled from the impact. “It’s too complicated. You’re going to get hurt.”
“I won’t,” Sam said, desperate. She didn’t have anything if she didn’t have Rose’s support. “I’m telling you. Trust me. I can do it. He’s already told me stuff he shouldn’t have. What’s a little more?”
“And what if more men show up to kill you?” Grandma rounded the table and approached Sam’s side. Rose placed her palm on Sam’s cheek. “I couldn’t bear it, sweets. I couldn’t.”
The other women at the table didn’t interfere, choosing to keep their attention on their cards. The normally raucous room was silent except for the sounds of each woman trying not to pry on the private moment. Estelle’s nails tapped the tabletop. Celia shuffled her cards. And Maybel breathed deeply.
“That won’t happen. I’m going to—”
“Sam,” Rose said. “Viktor Heinrich has already shown how far he’s willing to go. Hasn’t this family lost enough to him?”
What was she saying? This was all they’d wanted since her father’s disappearance. Now they had their chance to find him and Grandma Rose didn’t want to see it through? Inconceivable. “But—”
“He can’t take you away from me. Not like he did your father.” Rose placed her other palm on Sam’s face and turned her attention toward her. “You don’t understand what it’s like to lose a child, sweets. What it does to you. Day in and day out. Knowing there was nothing you could do to stop it. Or bring your baby back.”
Sam tore her face out of her grandmother’s grasp. “But I do know what it’s like to lose a parent.” She picked up her cards and tried to concentrate on her hand, but the damn cards blurred to a mish-mash of red and black.
Rose paused, her hand frozen in midair. Then it dropped, and she stepped away. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” She retreated to her seat at the head of
the table. With her back to Sam and her head dropped forward, she whispered, “It would tear me apart if I lost you, too.”
Sam nodded, clenching her jaw to fight the sting of tears. “My thoughts exactly.”
Which was why she had to see this plan through. Her father was out there. And she was going to bring him home.
…
Strands of loose blond hair danced in the hot breeze across his front window. The owner’s trim body stopped at his door.
Don’t answer. Don’t answer and he wouldn’t get tangled in the mess she was sure to put him in. Everything would go as planned: he’d gather more intel on Heinrich, pass the info on to Tyke, get his team back, and then go to Buenos Aires to track down Lorena and her father. Ash could finally go back to the way things were—before Samantha came into his life.
He’d helped Sam shoot, and with more practice, she’d be on the force in no time. They’d both be living their dreams.
But, there she was. On his porch. Turning his insides out and scrambling his head like a goddamn blender, not allowing him to form a rational thought. On more than one occasion, he’d thought blowing this mission and being marooned in Baltimore wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
But he knew it was.
A knock came at the door.
“Just ignore her.” He kept his gaze fixed on the O’s game and took a long gulp of Natty Boh. “Ignore her and she’ll go away.”
Knock, knock, knock. “I know you’re home,” she shouted.
He sighed. “Who am I kidding?” Ash stood and opened the door, keeping his arm across the entryway so she didn’t take it as an invite.
“Hi-ya.” She smiled.
At the sight of her pink lips, hair down, and bare shoulders, his heart beat a few thumps out of sync. She was in another one of her tiny spaghetti-strap tank tops. The hot weather in Baltimore was a fantastic thing. The small crease peeking above the top of her shirt highlighted where her petite breasts nestled. He gave silent thanks he hadn’t been on assignment during the dead of winter. All conviction to avoid her flew out the window.
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