Criminal Alliance

by Angi Morgan

  What they both needed.

  Wade dug in his front pocket and shoved bills into the parking lot attendant’s extended hand. Keeping his arm around her waist, he brought them both at a fast walk to his truck, forcing her to stay in step with him. Then he opened the driver’s door and lifted her inside. She began slipping across the front seat, but spying Rushdan’s men rounding the corner stopped her.

  Before Wade could get the key in the ignition, she pulled his face to hers, kissing him again but keeping her eyes on the men. Just like him.

  Her rescuer pulled away, leaving both of them breathing hard. “I swear...if you keep kissing me like that, it won’t matter what kind of favor you need me to do. We really will be heading straight for my place.”

  Chapter Three

  Hell’s bells, what was all that about? Wade couldn’t wait for answers. The men following Therese were outside. Probably the reason Therese had kissed him again. And again.

  She began to slide to the passenger side, but he stopped her, tugging her back to his hip. “Nope. You’re staying right here. You aren’t going anywhere without me. No disappearing acts.”

  “I was only getting a seat belt. We can’t afford to be stopped by the police.”

  He reached to the far side of her, remembering the silky feel of her thigh. He took pleasure in skimming her hip while he dug between the seats for the middle belt, then fastened it, pulling it tight across her lap.

  He put the truck in gear and pulled past the men she obviously knew. “So what’s the problem? Or should I refer to it as a favor?”

  “Oh, I think you noticed.” She waved to the men. “I hate it when they think I need protection.”

  “Hold on a minute,” he interrupted while pulling from the parking lot. “You might as well come clean, Therese. You chose to bring me into this. Now give it to me straight. No sidestepping the truth. Those guys were not a protection detail.”

  “I understood when you indicated that you didn’t want to get involved. You can’t have it both ways. I respect that. If you drop me at a corner, I’ll call a rideshare to get back to my apartment.” She tried to put space between them. It didn’t work.

  “You aren’t going anywhere. And I am involved. They just took pictures of me and my truck.” He pointed to the last man to head to their vehicle. “It won’t be long before they know who I am, where I live and what I do.”

  “Oh, God. I forgot you’d be in your truck instead of a government vehicle. I can fix this before anything happens. I promise.”

  “No fixes. I need the truth for once, without any stalls.” They were still near the bar as he watched the men get into a car double-parked on the street.

  They crept along at a snail’s pace. If you were driving to a bar on Greenville, you couldn’t get upset about not getting anywhere fast. It was just part of coming to this part of town on a Friday night. Everyone expected to be stuck and frustrated in happy-hour traffic. But it guaranteed that the two cars would be sticking close to his tail. Something he didn’t mind for the moment.

  Not if it finally got him information about Therese.

  “Turn on a side street, speed up and lose them,” she said, stretching a little closer so she could see out of the rearview mirror.

  But he’d made up his mind. He deserved answers. He made a couple of turns and headed into downtown.

  “Where are you going? Wade? Are you... Are you trying to keep them in sight?”

  “I thought you said you were hungry.” It was a stall, pure and simple. Not fooling her a lick, judging by the roll of her eyes.

  “Right. So now you’re interested?”

  He couldn’t see her face. She sat next to him, one arm around her waist and leaning into the other—fingers against her forehead. He had no gauge—no history—to know if she was serious or not.

  “About what? Being hungry? I happen to eat regularly.”

  She turned to look behind her. “They’re not even bothering to hide that they’re following.” She tugged her cell phone from a small pocket he hadn’t noticed before.

  Feeling like a kid on his first real date, he dropped his arm around Therese’s shoulders at the next stoplight. He looked back and counted how many cars behind him the two threats were.

  “Where did you want to go?”

  “A fancy hotel?” She rubbed his knee, causing his mind to detour.

  He kept driving. Proud that he didn’t run off the road with all the distracting images he had running though his head. A protection detail or hit men? Could he keep her safe if they went to a... He swallowed hard and replayed her words.

  Dammit—too much sarcasm.

  “Okay. Enough games and put away that phone.” He pulled through the light, slowing enough to make certain he was still followed until he had answers. “Maybe you should just tell me what’s going on? And I mean everything, Therese. Don’t leave out anything. You should consider me part of whatever operation you’re running.”

  “I can tell you part of the story.” She turned slightly, scraping her fingernails across his after-hours scruff.

  “First.” He squeezed her shoulder, tugging her slightly back to him. “You should probably know that if you invite me to a hotel again, I’m heading straight there. And don’t plan on me sleeping anywhere except next to you.”

  She smiled. It might have even been genuine instead of completely calculated to capture his attention.

  “And second?” she asked, outlining his ear with the tip of her finger.

  He pulled to a stop at a red light. Her friends had moved closer—as in the car was now beside the truck. She looked at him and he prepared. The sultry lips were in front of his face, and her lips connected to his in slow motion. She kissed him deeply, deliberately and for longer than it took the light to turn green.

  Horns honked. Both cars blocked a full one-way downtown street in Friday night traffic. Horns honked more. It registered in his mind, but he didn’t want to let her go.

  She slipped from his arms with a very satisfied grin. “They blinked.”

  “What?” He pulled forward on autopilot after the cars behind him veered around his truck.

  “Drive slow and they’ll have to pull through the next light. Then we’re in the clear.”

  Oh, yeah, the men following her—them. Dammit, he’d completely lost focus. He couldn’t blame anything except holding her—the only woman he’d thought about more than twice since meeting her.

  “I think all the kissing fooled them,” she said. “Oh great. They’re pulling over to wait on us.”

  “We should use their following to our advantage,” he threw out. How? He wasn’t sure.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Tell me what’s going on, beginning with the thugs behind us.” He kept heading west on Commerce, past downtown, past the county jail. They stayed close on his tail, not trying to hide. “Are you in danger?”

  “Short version?”

  “We’ll start with a simple yes or no.”

  “How about an I think so?”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. I need some answers, Therese. Or I’m making a U-turn back to County and a hundred police officers. You can try explaining to one of them. What will your friends do then?”

  “No. Good grief, you don’t have any right to make demands.” She unfastened her seat belt, turned and brought a bare leg up next to his, dropping a hand in her lap and using the other to twirl her hair. “You know this is all your fault.”

  “My fault?” He couldn’t let all that bare skin get under his. But it was definitely getting harder to concentrate. He should make her turn back around and refasten the belt.

  “Asking around town for me actually got these guys all in my face. I wasn’t prepared with answers and had to come up with some type of excuse.”

  “What the hell are you sidestep
ping, Therese?” Maybe his words could have been a little less confrontational, a little less loud. Not really. “Dammit, I need some answers.”

  “The truth is I’ve been on this case for over three years.”

  Case? Three years on a case? “I knew it.” He slowed to a stop, wanting to caress all that silkiness. “You’re undercover FBI. That’s why you were with Steve Woods that day.”

  Her hands waved him to silence even as her lips puckered sexily again. “Shh. Don’t say it aloud even if we’re alone. When you started asking around town for me, I shrugged it off. But then you kept asking and it’s made my ‘boss’—” she shrugged, using air quotes to stress the word “—a little angsty.”

  “Angsty enough to send your um...protection detail?” Hit men, more like it. God, he wanted to pull her to him and kiss her. He shook it off. Men. Guns. Undercover. Favor. Focus.

  “Last chance, Therese. Who is your boss?”

  “What I’m working on isn’t important.”

  “It is to me. I can keep my mouth shut. Secrets are easy.”

  “You can’t mess this up, Wade. It took me over a year to work my way into Rushdan Reval’s confidence. I just need you to stop asking—”

  “You’re working with Reval’s group? So that’s what you were doing when we arrested him last year? Have you been in Dallas this whole time without contacting me?”

  “No...not...really.” She stared him down like he was insane if he thought she’d hide from him.

  “Don’t try that look on me again, Therese. You have a successful disappearing act.”

  “I wanted to reach out, but I was given a direct order to avoid contact. It might have ruined my cover. After he was arrested, Rushdan pushed me off on one of his side gigs in San Antonio. I’ve been waiting for him to clear the charges you brought before I could continue here.” She waved him forward with a finger. “You should probably keep driving even if we don’t know where.”

  He’d sat through the light twice. Reval’s men were hanging farther back, and as he moved forward through the yellow glow, they raced to catch him but got stuck instead.

  “I know where I’m going. We need backup.”

  “No. Believe me. If they were going to attack, they would have by now,” she said, looking back over his hand, still around her shoulder.

  He retrieved his phone from his back pocket, reluctantly losing contact with Therese. “I need to take care of some cover issues before we go forward.” He dialed Company B headquarters.

  “Wade, seriously. I’ve been at this a long time. You’ve helped enough. I can’t put you in danger again. Reval’s going to recognize you as the Texas Ranger from last year.” She sat straight on the seat, scooting toward the passenger door.

  No!

  “Dammit, Therese, there’s no reason for you to jump out in the middle of nowhere. I can hide us for a few days until we sort out what to do.”

  He reached out to grab her arm and missed before she opened the door. Therese could probably jump—he’d slowed for a curve—but he slammed on the brakes so she wouldn’t have to.

  “Just keep driving, Wade. They won’t bother you if I’m not here.”

  Out in a flash, she passed the truck and ran for a path between the trees. He couldn’t follow her before he parked. And as soon as he did, they’d know they were out of the truck. Speeding up, he was far enough ahead of the men following that he could whip into a warehouse lot and cut his engine before he was seen.

  “Dammit. Razor wire.” He couldn’t go over and had to go out through the same gate he’d come in. They’d probably see him if he did. You are not disappearing on me again, Therese Ortis. “Not this time.”

  He couldn’t make his customized truck disappear or blend in with the others taking up the spaces. The built-in compartments made it impossible to mistake. And Therese was right, several of Reval’s men would recognize it as belonging to the ranger they’d captured last year after he’d taken out one of their men.

  There was an upside to him being in his truck—the built-in gun safe holding his weapon. But if he pursued Therese on foot without notifying headquarters... If things went haywire... If he messed up an FBI undercover operation...

  No more being a Texas Ranger. He was done.

  Was she worth it? He didn’t need a thoughtful reflection. There wasn’t a choice. He needed her safe.

  “If I didn’t owe her my life, I could drive away and do nothing.” He eased from the truck. “Hell.”

  The longer he took to make a decision, the farther Therese got ahead of him.

  So be it. There were a lot of ifs in his life. If he hadn’t made a couple of scenes looking for her during the past six weeks...she would have blown him off forever. And if Therese hadn’t come to his rescue by contacting Jack last year... Well, he wouldn’t be here now, needing to make a decision.

  Keeping his head down, he retrieved his weapon. He couldn’t go over the eight-foot fence, or around it. Not with the thug car just outside the gate—not without the thugs seeing and following. Okay. Then he’d just have to go through the building and find a rear exit. He could make it to the open loading dock door.

  That was all. Cross an open parking lot directly in front of the two cars and jump onto the four-foot loading dock without being seen. He didn’t trust Therese’s opinion about being safe. He couldn’t get caught. Once these yahoos realized who he was...he’d be dead. Therese, too. When they caught her.

  One step at a time. A honk from a big rig made the car that had followed them pull to the side of the road closest to the lot.

  But the eighteen-wheeler pulled inside the gate, effectively allowing him to cross the lot without the thugs seeing him. He kept running until he passed two building doors. The third had the street view blocked by a box truck. Once he made it there, it was easy to enter the loading bay. He casually walked through the manufacturing company’s warehouse. Few people were around as he made his way to the west side of the building, which backed up to the railroad.

  He needed wire cutters or something to get through the fence. Nothing. Noticing a man taking his cigarettes from his pocket and heading to an outside door, Wade followed and took a look.

  There was a gate. So instead of sulking around kicking himself, he made his job work for him. He headed straight to the office.

  “Man, am I glad you’re open twenty-four hours,” he entered. “Texas Rangers, ma’am.” He flipped open his creds. “Would you happen to have a key to your back gate?”

  Chapter Four

  The evening hour had made it easy for Therese to hide. Unfortunately, it made it terribly difficult to move through the brush. The heels didn’t help, either. She pulled them off, looping a finger in each strap to carry them. They were too expensive to leave behind and a pair of her favorites. Slowly picking her way from one oak to the next, she carefully walked through the dirt and debris, hoping for a path.

  Far from a Dallas city park, the two ruts were about the same distance apart as a four-wheeler. Nothing was around. Even the ambient light from the city was getting scarce. As scarce as her dress that snagged on every tree she passed.

  Another rip and she groaned. “Shoot. What a night to wear the sexiest thing I own.”

  “It is really sexy.”

  Her heart leaped into her throat. She totally understood what that meant now as her pulse beat at an insane pace. “Oh my God, Wade. You scared me. What are you doing here?”

  “Right. I scared you.” Wade grabbed her hand. “What the hell, Therese? You jumped out of my truck.”

  “If you get involved with this—”

  “I already am.”

  “I admit that it was stupid to march into that bar and ask you for anything. Whatever you’re thinking, you don’t owe me. You have no obligation. Nothing. Do you hear me?”

  “Everybody will hear you if you don�
��t keep your voice down. Your friends found my truck and caught on that we’re out here in the trees.”

  “And if you’d kept driving like I meant for you to...they would have followed you until it was too late to realize I was no longer there.”

  “Pardon me, but you didn’t ask me to keep driving. What you did was apologize.”

  “I don’t apologize.”

  “Well, you did to me.” His voice was louder.

  “Shh.” She couldn’t kiss him into silence this time.

  It didn’t matter. He took her hand, leading her away from the sounds of men tromping through the brush somewhere behind her. They ran and the sounds of the men searching for them grew fainter, but Wade kept pushing forward.

  “How did you find me?” she whispered. “Ow. Hey, slow down.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  She pushed her high heels into his chest. He pushed them right back, then bent in half. Oh, Lord. He stifled her gasp when his hands touched her backside as he lifted her, with the pressure of his shoulder cutting off a lot of her air.

  Hearing above the truck traffic on the nearby road grew more difficult, but voices seemed to carry. She had an unusual view behind them to see if they were being followed. No one seemed to be around.

  “Um... Wade, honey?” she chastised as his fingers slid under her dress to stabilize her on his shoulder.

  “Oh, pardon me.” He laughed.

  The thong only covered so much. Embarrassingly, he’d found a whole lot of nothing. He continued to carry her toward the open railroad tracks. No cover put them at a greater risk.

  She tapped on his back. “Come on, put me down. No one’s following.”

  “Are you sure you can walk?”

  He did a deep knee bend, pulling her dress down, then smoothing it over both hips as her feet hit the ground. After all the kisses she’d laid on him, she deserved whatever teasing he dished out. The playfulness between them had been there since the very first phone call.

  This was all her fault. She couldn’t stop encouraging him. She slipped her shoes back on her feet, admitting two things. No matter how expensive the shoes were, they could never be worn in public again. And she didn’t want to stop whatever attraction she had for this man.