by Sybil Bartel
I looked in the side mirror. No van, but no SUV either. “The Luna and Associates guy is gone too.”
“Cost of doin’ business.” Talon glanced at his cell phone. “One bar of signal. Let’s see if this works.” He dialed and held the phone to his ear as he glanced in the rearview mirror. “Hey, you home?” he asked whoever answered. “Good, ’cause I’m dragging strays and I need somewhere to land….” He pulled the phone away from his ear. “Shit.” He spun the wheel hard and did a U-turn as he floored it, tossing the phone onto the center console. “Here we go again, darlin’. Hold on.”
I looked behind us as the gray van came barreling around a corner and then gunned it. To my horror, they gained on us and pulled up almost alongside the Challenger on my side. “Talon…,” I drew out, my voice wavering.
“I see ’em, I see ’em.” Except he didn’t speed up. Talon’s foot came off the pedal.
“What are you doing?” Panicked, I pushed on his thigh that was solid muscle. “Go, go, go!”
His glare fixated out my window, he didn’t budge.
The car slowed marginally, but my panic amped up considerably as they came up level with us. “Talon!”
“Hold on, darlin’,” he answered absently, his eyes narrowing. “Testin’ a theory.”
I dared to look at the van, but the windows were tinted completely out and I couldn’t see a thing.
Then the van did the last thing I expected.
It slowed down and fell in behind us.
“Gotta admit, darlin’…,” Talon glanced in the rearview mirror. “That I was not expectin’.”
Which part? Them not ramming into us like in the movies, or the window not going down and a man with a giant gun firing at us? Both? I didn’t know, and I didn’t ask. It didn’t matter. Bad guys were still after us, which I should’ve thought about before I left Sawyer’s, because not only had Sawyer warned me, his friend André Luna had warned me. Not to mention there was a guard outside Sawyer’s condo around the clock, they still hadn’t found the stolen Escalade, and André had said until they did, I wouldn’t be out of danger.
I cursed myself again for pulling that carjacker’s face mask off. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” Talon asked absently, taking another corner too fast and cutting west. “You chasin’ our tail?”
I should’ve been terrified. And I was. But in the cocoon of Sawyer’s friend’s car, with the scent of beach and coconuts surrounding us and the van falling back, it was hard to feel like any of this was real. “They’d really kill me just for pulling off some guy’s ski mask?”
Adjusting the gun he’d taken from his back waistband and shoved between his thighs the second the van had pulled up behind us, Talon spared me a glance. “Darlin’, they’d kill for a lot less.”
I held the Oh Jesus handle, but I leaned my head back. “I didn’t even see him.” Not really.
Talon frowned, turning toward one of the county roads that led us even farther away from Miami proper. “You sure ’bout that?”
No. “Yes.” I glanced behind us. The van was holding steady, and the black Escalade had found us again, because it was behind the van. “Can’t you drive any faster?”
Talon chuckled. “My kinda girl.” He winked then he sobered. “I can, but I’m not aimin’ to outrun them anymore.”
Alarm spread. “You aren’t?”
“Nope,” he said almost cheerfully, checking his rearview mirror. “I got ’em right where I want ’em.”
Oh God. Did I want to know? “Where’s that?”
Speeding down the county road faster than he should, but not as fast as he had been, the night settled around us as Talon Talerco took his eyes off the road.
For one whole heartbeat, he held my gaze. Then he spoke with lethal intent. “Within my sights.”
DIALING TALERCO FOR THE TENTH time, Luna sped west on one of the county roads leading out to the middle of fucking nowhere.
“They’re not out here,” I clipped, scanning every side road we passed.
The call, on speakerphone, went straight to voice mail as Talerco’s drawl filled the car. “Leave a message, or don’t.”
Luna hung up. “We’re not far enough out.”
“We get any farther, we’ll be in the Glades.”
“Just about,” Luna answered absently, scanning the countryside.
“Where are you going?” He was up to something.
“Following a hunch.”
“Which is?”
Luna checked the rearview mirrors. “If it plays out, I’ll tell you.”
“Tell me now.” He knew he could trust me. “I don’t run my mouth.”
“No, you don’t,” he agreed.
This was pissing me off. Everything was pissing me off. “Then lay it out.”
“Not my information to share.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
I put two and two together. “Whose place are we going to?”
Luna glanced at me, but he didn’t answer the question. “Why’d she want to leave your penthouse?”
Goddamn it. I looked out the window. “I don’t know.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“She’s married,” I reminded him.
“Dios mio,” he muttered like he was talking to a fucking twelve-year-old. “This again? How married? Because there’re shades of marriage, amigo. Many shades.”
No there weren’t. There was only one kind of marriage as far as I was concerned. “Legally married.”
“Then where the fuck is her pendejo of a husband? Because he sure as hell isn’t here right now protecting her.”
“He walked into the hospital, patronized her, then left as soon as possible.” My jaw clenched just thinking about it.
Luna frowned. “So they’re separated.”
I didn’t know her exact living situation. “I didn’t see her place. You know Preston grabbed her shit.” Which I was still pissed about.
“Did he say her husband was there?”
“No.” My back teeth ground together thinking of that prick as her husband.
“Preston wouldn’t have missed noticing if she was shacked up with someone.”
I didn’t comment.
Luna was quiet a moment, then, “Separated isn’t exactly married. Intent is obvious at that point.”
“Not signing divorce papers and leaving my place is also obvious. I’m done with this conversation.”
“Okay, but did she tell you why she didn’t sign the divorce papers?”
I turned and unleashed a temper I hadn’t known I had until a hot mess of a redhead literally stumbled into my life. “She fucking lied to me. I asked her if she was seeing anyone, and she looked me right in the eye and outright told me she was unattached.” She’d lied. Like every other goddamn female I’d ever fucking encountered.
Luna inhaled. “Bro—”
“I don’t fucking do married, and I sure as hell don’t fuck with liars.” Or women who ran out on me. “Period.”
Luna opened his mouth to speak.
“Don’t,” I warned. “Do not defend her or her situation. I know what I signed up for, and I’ll get her out of this bullshit because I got her into it, but don’t try to placate me with shit about gray areas and intent. None of that matters.”
“If it doesn’t matter, then why are you so pissed off?”
Because I was. “We’re done talking about it. Where are we going?”
Luna let it go, but he didn’t budge on where we were going. “Not my place to say whose property it is.”
“I could just reverse search the address.”
“You could, but you wouldn’t find anything.”
I put two and two together. “Then it’s either Neil Christensen or Dane Marek. And since Christensen lets us use his properties when we need a safe house, I’m going with Marek. Doubly so since Christensen wouldn’t hide his whereabouts. He’d welcome someone trying t
o fuck with him just so he could teach them a lesson.”
Neither confirming nor denying it, Luna tried Talerco again. When his voice mail picked up, Luna hung up, but then his cell rang. Glancing at the display, he swiped to answer and held the phone to his ear to take the call instead of using the Bluetooth. “Hey, thanks for calling back. Did you get my text? Have you heard from Talerco?” Luna frowned. “How long ago?” He glanced at the clock on the dash. “I’m on my way with Sawyer. A new employee I have is trailing behind Talerco, or he should be. He’ll be in a company vehicle. Comms, GPS and cell phones are down because we suspect they have a jammer. When they get close, you’ll be affected too. Talerco has a woman with him, redhead, midtwenties… Yeah, she’s their target… Don’t know how many, but I want to get answers first if we can… I know. Copy that, I won’t.” Luna hung up.
“You know and you won’t what?”
Luna spared me a glance as he slowed down. “I know that gang members will shoot first, ask questions never.” Luna turned down a dirt road I hadn’t even seen, the entrance almost completely masked my overgrown trees. “And Marek said not to approach his place using the main road.”
So it was Marek. The SUV dipped and bounced on the lane that was little more than washed-out tire indents with potholes.
“Talerco told Marek he was coming?”
Luna focused on the path ahead, the headlights the only source of light as we drove deeper into the woods. “Yeah, called him a few minutes ago.” He dialed his phone using the car’s speakers again.
Tyler answered. “What’s up, boss?”
“Call everyone back,” Luna ordered.
“You found them?” Tyler asked.
“I’m taking it from here. See you tomorrow.”
“Boss.” Tyler’s tone said it all. “This doesn’t sound good.”
“Got it handled. Let the others know.”
There was a shuffling sound, then the background noise lessened and Tyler spoke again. “You need me? Just me?”
“Negative, but appreciate the offer. Later.” Luna hung up.
I read between the lines. “Marek doesn’t want anyone else knowing where he lives.”
“Nope,” Luna confirmed.
“Then why’d Talerco go to him?”
Luna slowed to a crawl and turned the vehicle down an even smaller lane. Then he brought the SUV to a halt and leveled me with a look. “Because Marek has better security than all of us combined, the skills to make shit disappear permanently, and these pendejos won’t be the only bodies buried out here if it comes to that.”
Jesus Christ. “How good of a security system?” Because camera feeds meant evidence.
My door flew open.
“Good enough to know you’re here,” a deep voice clipped.
My instincts intact, I whipped my 9mm out and aimed dead center on the man’s chest who was holding my door open.
Dane Marek, dressed in all black with a black ball cap pulled low over his face, stood in the open door with his piece already aimed at me.
If he’d been one of the gang members, I would’ve been dead.
“Christ.” My heart fucking ricocheted around inside my chest. I hadn’t been taken off guard like that since my first IED in Afghanistan. “How did you hear what I said?”
He touched his ear, then tipped his chin at the comm in mine in response.
“I don’t have my comm turned on.” There was no way he heard me through the heavy, closed car door. Luna’s SUV was armored.
“Doesn’t have to be on. Not with the equipment I have.”
“Which is gonna be useless as soon as Talerco shows up with the pendejos and their jammer in tow,” Luna cut in as he took his tactical vest from the back seat. Stepping out of the SUV and strapping it on, he grabbed another handgun, then hefted his sniper rifle from the floor behind his seat before asking Marek about Ty. “You see my other man yet?”
“Negative.” Marek stepped back enough to let me out. “No sign of him on any of my security feeds.”
Luna swore in Spanish, then English. “Shit.” Sparing me a glance, he nodded toward the cargo area of the Escalade where I’d stowed my guns. “Gear up. We’re going in on foot from here.”
TALON TURNED OFF THE COUNTY road and floored it down a dirt lane in the middle of nowhere. Cutting the headlights, he glanced in the rearview mirror. “Okay, darlin’, listen up. I’m gonna pull in front of the house and you’re gonna jump out. Head straight down the hallway on the left, past the kitchen. The second bedroom on the right, go to the closet and open it. On the back wall, about chest high, is a handle—”
“Wait.” I glanced behind us in a panic. The van was barely fifty yards back. “You’re not coming with me?”
“Darlin’,” he stated with total authority, “we’re out of time. Ten seconds I’m gonna be on the house, and you’re gonna be jumpin’ out. I’m gonna have a mess of pissed-off, armed gangbangers on me, and you’re gonna be in the panic room while I do my thing. You get me?”
Oh God, oh God, oh God. “Talon….” I couldn’t do this.
“Back bedroom, closet, chest-high handle. Pull it open, get the fuck inside and lock the door after you. You don’t open that door for anyone ’cept me or Playboy, you hear me?” He slowed the Challenger.
I started to hyperventilate.
His hand gripped my chin, and he barked words at me. “You hear me?”
“Ba-back bedroom,” I stuttered.
Floodlights outside a ranch home a few dozen yards ahead of us cast his face in shadows as he clipped out a nod. “Closet, handle, panic room, lock the door. You got it?” Holding the steering wheel in one hand, he dropped my chin and reached behind our seats. Hefting a giant automatic-looking rifle, he flipped it one-handed and laid it across his lap, his hand already on the trigger.
My eyes bugging out, my heart faltering, I nodded.
“Tell me,” he demanded, yanking the steering wheel and sliding the car into a half spin.
I grabbed for the oh Jesus handle as my ass slid across the seat. “Back bedroom, closet, handle, lock myself in,” I rattled off as the Challenger jerked to a stop inches from the front steps to the house.
Talon reached across me and threw my door open. “Go, go, go!”
I jumped out.
But my foot caught.
I lurched forward, my hands hit the steps, and one foot twisted under me as the other caught on the low doorframe of the Challenger.
A half cry, half grunt squeaked out as pain shot up my wrists. Panicked, I glanced over my shoulder.
Talon was already out of the car, aiming his rifle as the van pulled up. “Run,” he yelled at me.
I jerked my leg out of the Challenger as the first shots rang out in the cicada-laced night air. Splitting the evening’s silence, an explosion of gunfire rained out of Talon’s rifle, plucking in to the van.
A split second later, bullets were whipping past me, plinking off the house’s siding.
On all fours, I scrambled up the steps and shoved the front door open with all my strength.
My heart in my throat, my stomach outside on the ground, I fell into the house.
It was dark.
Pitch dark.
“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” I cried, fumbling to slam the door shut behind me. But as I shoved it, three bullets hit the solid wood and I jerked back, leaving it partially open.
Hallway.
Hallway, hallway, hallway.
Oh my God, where was the hallway?
The house darker than hell, I glanced around in a complete panic-fueled terror as gunshots rained down outside like the second coming.
A clock on the oven glowed and my brain scrambled.
Past the kitchen?
Around the kitchen?
Opposite the kitchen?
Oh my fucking God, which way was I supposed to go?
The front door was kicked open.
I ran.
Blind, I ran like I’ve never run before…
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For five whole erratic heartbeats and not enough strides.
My shoulder was grabbed a split second before an arm flew around my neck.
“Got you, bitch,” a deep voice growled.
My feet left the ground.
I screamed.
And screamed and screamed and screamed.
But nothing came out past the arm crushing my windpipe.
MAREK LED, I FOLLOWED, AND Luna trailed my six.
Dark as shit, mosquitoes swarming, their buzzing rivaling the high pitch of the cicadas as they dive-bombed us, I couldn’t see ten feet in front of me.
Only a yard ahead, I could barely make out Marek past the heavy overgrowth of palmettos, scrub pines, vining shit, and about a hundred other plants and trees I couldn’t name. “How much further?” Talerco had to be at the house by now. I’d heard tires in the distance five minutes ago.
Marek stopped walking, and if it weren’t for the screen of his cell lighting up as he glanced at it, I would’ve run into him. “Security feeds just went down.”
Fuck. “Did Talerco tell you his plan for when he got here?”
“His call cut out before we could discuss anything.” Marek shoved his cell back in his pocket.
“Then why are we approaching on foot?” Why the fuck weren’t we at the house waiting for him. “He needs backup now.” Not when we get there after trekking through fucking swampy forest.
Marek cut left like he knew where he was going. “He knows what to do.”
What the fuck was that supposed to mean? “Meaning?” I demanded.
Throwing me a look over his shoulder that was meant to intimidate, he didn’t respond.
Goddamn it. “He has a civilian with him.”
“I know who he has.”
I turned and looked at Luna for help. “Do you know what Talerco’s planning?”
Luna used his rifle to shove a hanging palm frond out of his face as he stepped over a fallen branch. “Talon doesn’t need a plan. All he needs to do is get her into Marek’s house. They won’t penetrate Marek’s security if he gets her inside.”
That didn’t make me feel any better. “If being the operative word.”