by Desiree Holt
“You have a lot of courage,” Kenzi told her.
Mercedes shrugged. “My children are my life. I will do anything to protect them.” She looked at her watch, “And now I must go. I am sure Alex had me tracked today, although he knows I come here regularly. That’s why it’s such a good place to meet. But I wouldn’t be surprised if two of his men are in a car outside, hidden someplace, waiting for me to leave.”
Kenzi looked at her sister, her nerves suddenly doing a war dance.
Dana nodded at her. “We should let you leave first. I don’t know if your husband’s men know what we look like, and we do have security out there, but let’s not take a chance.”
“Oh.” Mercedes covered her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think of that. I was so worried about myself I didn’t think about putting you in danger.”
“It will be fine,” Kenzi assured her. “I’ll get my phone in a minute and let our team know we’ll be out in about fifteen minutes.”
Dana thanked Mercedes Reyes profusely, repeated that she would keep the source secret and wished her good luck. Then she and Dana finished a last cup of tea.
“My bosses are going to go nuts over this,” Dana said.
“Even though you won’t be able to identify your source?”
She nodded. “There’s enough factual stuff in here that they can check into it, and I’ll do my research, too. Oh, Kenzi, this will really be my big break.”
“You really love this, don’t you?”
“Beyond anything. And now, I want to get back to the ranch, call my editor and start on the research.” She was practically dancing as they headed to the locker room.
When Kenzi pulled her phone from her purse again and turned it back on, she made a noise.
“What?” Dana asked
“This thing is ready to blow up with texts and calls from my office. I can’t imagine what on earth is happening. All the documents I gave back to Reed were in top shape. His meeting with Alex Reyes should have been smooth as silk. Except, according to what Mercedes told us, he may have gotten word about the DEA and other things. He’d be in a rush to get the new papers filed and move the money out of this country. I can’t imagine what Reed has his shorts in a twist about.” She sighed. “Oh, well. I’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
Next she sent a message to Mike, who texted back at once that they’d be waiting.
Ten minutes later they were out of the building and climbing into Kenzi’s car.
“Traffic’s a bitch,” Dana said. “Sorry you have to drive through this.”
“Are you kidding? It’s part of my daily menu. And it was worth it for the information you got. Holy shit! Alex Reyes’ wife. Who’da thunk it?”
“I know. I’m going to call my editor now and let him know. He’s been like a bear on a thistle since the incident at the hangar.”
Kenzi laughed. “That’s a different way to look at it. An incident.”
The Interstate was crowded with the end-of-day traffic, people doing all kinds of crazy things in their hurry to get home, so she concentrated on her driving while Dana made her call.
“He’s very excited,” her sister said when she hung up, practically bouncing in her seat. “He said to get all my notes down tonight and call him in the morning so we can decide the best way to break this. He said his bosses will practically wet their pants, so he wants to plan for maximum exposure.”
“This is your big break, kiddo. The biggest yet.”
“Yes.” She fist-pumped. “I am so psyched.” Then she sobered. “But I do feel bad for Mercedes Reyes. On top of everything, the hammer is going to drop on her husband this week. And while she helped it along, I hope she and her children come out okay.”
“No kidding. But she seems like a very strong, smart woman, so my money’s on her.”
At last they came to the exit for the road to Slade’s ranch and were finally out of all the end-of-day Interstate crush. There was usually little to no traffic on the narrow two-lane country road. Besides Slade’s place, there were only two other ranches. She checked the rearview mirror to make sure Mike and Jay were behind her, frowning when she saw another car, a large pickup truck, exit the Interstate too.
It probably belongs to one of the other ranches down this way. Practically all the ranch vehicles are pickups.
And this vehicle has to be from one of them, right? Then why did it make her feel uneasy? She couldn’t help glancing in the rearview mirror every few seconds. Mike and Jay were still behind them, but now it looked as if the truck was riding their bumper.
“What’s wrong?” Dana asked, then turned in her seat enough to see behind her. “Is there a problem?”
“Probably not. I’m just being jittery, I guess. But there’s a car behind Mike and Jay that seems to be following them a little too closely.”
“They’ll take care of it, right? That’s part of what they do.”
“I hope.”
When she looked in the mirror again, she saw the pickup trying to pass Mike and Jay and their car pulling out to block it. But then they swerved around Mike’s car and attempt to pass, crowding them toward the shoulder so the truck could pull alongside Kenzi’s car. She stepped on the gas, trying to put more distance between herself and the other vehicles. They were coming to a curve up ahead with little passing room, a steep hill and a drop-off on the right, so she tapped her brakes to slow enough for the car to pass.
Mike was driving with its bumper nudging them to the left. But despite Mike’s best driving efforts to thwart it, the beast had just enough room to pass and pull alongside Kenzi. The oversized truck hit the car, causing it to skid sideways. Kenzi was startled to see the passenger-side window lower and a hand emerge with a gun. A bullet shattered the window beside her but thankfully missed her.
Holy shit!
“Kenzi?” Fear edged Dana’s voice. “What the hell was that?”
But Kenzi was too busy to answer her. A quick glance in the rearview mirror showed her Mike had regained control of his car and was doing his best to catch up to the truck, which she was damn sure was supercharged.
She stepped on the gas, not daring to take time to look in the mirror. She heard the crack! of a gunshot again, and when nothing hit her or the car, she figured it came from Mike. She just had to get past the hill and the drop-off. She floored it going up the hill, but despite Mike continuing to shoot at the truck, it stayed beside her. She prayed hard as she reached the crest, the sound of the bullets piercing the air.
Just let me get to the other side. Mike will catch up and shoot the bastard.
She heard a crunch of metal and assumed Mike had rammed the truck, but it didn’t appear to stop the beast. Just as she reached the crest, Kenzi felt a huge jolt as the truck banged into her side with all its horsepower. She wrestled with the wheel, the drop-off yawning beside her. Then the truck hit her again, this time the force of its size pushing her to the right no matter what she did. Her tires spun on the gravel of the narrow shoulder as she tried to find purchase, but the truck was relentless. Her tires slid off the edge.
“Kenzi!” Dana screamed. “Oh, my god!”
“Hold on,” she yelled as she fought to gain some control of the vehicle, without much success.
The car slid sideways, tumbled off the road and skidded down the hillside, careening as she struggled with the wheel. Then it tipped over on its side and hit something with a loud crash. The airbags deployed, discharging an irritating mist into the car that burned her eyes. The car shifted once more, her head banged the steering wheel and she was dropped into a pit of blackness.
Chapter Nineteen
Alex Reyes stared at the men standing before him in his office.
“This is the truth?” But even as he asked, the sick feeling in his stomach told him it was.
“Si, jefe. We followed Señora Reyes as usual, but it’s a good thing for whatever reason you decided someone should back us up. Just so you know, Hector sent two of his best men here the moment
you called him.”
“Understood. Now it is to be hoped they can finish the job.”
“Yes. Hoped, indeed.”
And wipe those women off the face of the earth. It will be well worth the bonus I offered.
Alex fought to get his emotions under control. He had suspected Mercedes had something going on, but he’d prayed he was wrong. The thought that his wife would betray him, not just with the reporter but most assuredly with the DEA, made him physically ill. His insistence on molding Sebastian in his own image, especially with the cartel, had been his undoing, his unshakable belief that he could control everything his downfall.
And now, everything he, Antonio and Hector had worked for since they’d taken over control of the cartel was poised to be destroyed.
Mierda!
“All right,” he said at last. “I’ll take care of this.”
The men nodded and left the room. Now what? he asked himself. His life was crumbling before his very eyes. Mercedes had poked her head into the study before to let him know she had returned and that she was giving Ana instructions for dinner. Had her smile been a little strained? Her voice a little tense? Hard to tell, because apparently, she was an excellent actor.
Before he spoke to her—and he still had no idea what he was going to say—he would wait to hear from Javier on the completion of his mission regarding the two women. He would take care of Mercedes, somehow, but if the two women had been eliminated that was one area where he could draw a breath.
His last phone conversation with Reed Calhoun had given him a tiny sliver of hope. The DEA would be descending tomorrow. Reed had managed to bury or disguise all the files relating to his latest endeavor. There was little in the other files going back fifteen years that the Feds could focus on, although he had no doubt they would try. Without either the Bryant woman or the Roberts reporter to question, they had no tangible proof of anything.
It was chancy, but at least if they were dead, it gave him an edge.
The one thing still missing was the Bryant woman’s laptop. If she was out of commission, however—or, hopefully, dead—he could have someone break into her apartment and get it. When he’d told Reed Calhoun, who was as stunned as he was, they’d believed that was why she hadn’t come to work that day. If his men weren’t already taking care of her, he’d kill her himself.
He glanced at his watch. He should be hearing from them any minute now, and it damn well better be with good news. Swallowing a sigh, he poured a glass of bourbon for himself from the bar he kept in his office. He wondered if the entire bottle would be enough to take the edge off his stress.
* * * *
It was the pain that woke Kenzi, pain so sharp and bright it plucked at every nerve in her body. She tried to move and discovered that something heavy was holding her in place. When she tried to shift, she almost passed out from the stab of agony.
“Kenzi?”
Who was that? The voice was familiar.
“Kenzi, can you hear me? Say something.”
“Move,” she mumbled. “Hurt.”
“Lord. Thank god you are still alive.” His face was close to hers but at an unusual angle. “Don’t move. We’ll get you out of here, but we have to wait for some help.”
Her head ached as if a sledgehammer had pounded on it.
“Dana?” she asked.
“She’s right beside you. We’ll get you both out but please don’t move until we get some equipment here. Okay? Can you hold still for me?”
“Mmm,” as all she said. Then, again, “Hurts.”
“I know,” the familiar voice said. “Just hang on.”
She had no idea how long she lay there, her entire body one large fiery pain, as she fell in and out of consciousness. Then the man was back.
“Only a little longer,” he said in a soothing voice. “We’ve got some equipment here to free you.”
She wanted to tell him that was great, except each time she uttered a word, a sharp spear of pain pierced her. She heard some grinding noises, then the door to the car was being pulled off. In the next instant, a pair of male arms reached in to lift her out and place her in some kind of body sling.
“Try not to move,” the soothing voice said. “We’re getting you up the hill to the ambulance. The emergency techs are waiting to help you.”
She gritted her teeth against the pain, so intense that tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Only a couple of minutes. We’re going to get Dana out now.”
Dana! Thank god.
Then she was placed on a stretched and someone was carefully checking her over.
“Watch it bringing the other woman up,” someone shouted. “How is she?”
“Breathing,” came the answer. “That’s all I can tell at the moment.”
“We’d better roll,” a female voice said. “Her vitals aren’t great, and that leg looks…bad.”
Leg? She tried to move one of them and the pain was so intense she almost vomited. She felt tears roll down her cheeks again.
“Don’t try to move it, Kenzi. We’ve got permission to give you something for the pain.”
A needle stick and seconds later she fell into blackness again.
Chapter Twenty
Kenzi came awake very slowly, her brain fuzzy. She blinked her eyes to clear her vision and realized at once she was in a hospital room, one leg in a heavy cast. She tried to move and everything hurt.
“Hold on.” A male voice that she vaguely recognized pierced the fog in her brain and a hand touched her arm. “Don’t try to move or you’ll do yourself damage.”
She slid her glance sideways to see who it was and saw a very disheveled Mike Elliott sitting there, lines of worry creasing his face.
“What…happened?” she managed to say.
“What didn’t.” He rubbed a hand over his face. “Long story short, two of Hector Lopez Garcia’s goons ran you off the road in one of the biggest pickup trucks I’ve ever seen. You rolled down that hillside where the big hill is. I’m just damn glad the car didn’t catch on fire.”
“Dana?”
“Is fine. Broken arm and collarbone, fractured ankle. Two cracked ribs.” He gave a rough laugh. “I think she got those when you fell on her.”
“Oh, god!” She felt the blood drain from her face.
“No, no.” Mike took her hand again. “It could have been a lot worse.”
“My injuries?” she persisted.
“Leg with compound fractures, dislocated shoulder, couple of cracked ribs and a sprained wrist. You are both doing pretty much okay, considering.”
“Yeah.” She twisted her lips in a caricature of a smile. “Lucky.”
A nurse bustled into the room, checked Kenzi’s vitals and injected medication into her IV. Seconds later, Kenzi was out. When she woke again, Mike was still in the room, but he had obviously showered, shaved and changed and looked only slightly the worse for wear.
“I take it I’ll live.” She managed to get an entire sentence out.
“You will.” Mike nodded and grinned, but his smile bespoke fatigue. “You remember everything I told you before?”
“Yes. What about those two men?”
“In the prison ward of a hospital in San Antonio. Not this one,” he was quick to assure her. “With double guards.”
“Who are they? Do they work for Alex Reyes?”
Mike shook his head. “Hector Lopez Garcia. No one works for Reyes any more. Let me catch you up to date.”
Kenzi listened to him relate how the day after she’d been hurt, the DEA, with ironclad warrants, had raided Alex Reyes’ office and pulled every file for every client of his. They had also raided his house, where they found the files he’d tried to hide from the Feds.
“This won’t make you too happy, Kenzi. Reed Calhoun has known about Reyes from the beginning. That law firm was funded with cartel money. Calhoun belonged to them from day one. Big scandal in Texas when this story hits the media.”
She felt naus
eous, and it wasn’t from her injuries.
“What about the other two partners?”
“They claimed not to know anything about it, but until everything can be investigated, the law firm is closed.” He took her hand. “You and your sister did a foolish but brave thing today. Dana even had me make a copy of her session with Mercedes Reyes to give to the DEA. The cartel is being dismantled one piece at a time.”
“But she still gets to write her story, right?”
Mike laughed. “Oh, yeah. Maybe an even better one. The DEA is so grateful for the info she gave them they’re giving her an exclusive.”
“Good. She deserves it. What about Mercedes Reyes? Did Alex find out she was the snitch? God, I hope she’s okay.”
“She’s fine,” Trey assured her. “It seems the DEA also had someone following her, to protect their source. When Reyes’ men tried to run her off the road so they could grab her, the agents rescued her and now she’s stashed in a safe house until the trial is over and her husband is out of commission for good. I think her daughter’s with her. A girl, by the way, who knew nothing of her father’s real business, unlike her brother, who was an integral part of it. The DEA grabbed him, also.”
“What a mess.” Kenzi shook her head. “I guess I’ll be looking for a new job as soon as I’m out of here.” She started to reach for the water on her nightstand.
“I’ll get it.” Mike poured some into a cup and handed it to her. “Anyway, first things first. In a few days, they’ll start to get you out of bed, with crutches, but right now you’re supposed to stay still.”
“Can I see Dana?”
He nodded. “I’ll arrange to have her brought to your room.”
“Listen.” She took another sip of water. “You have things to do. A business to run. You don’t have to sit here with me.”
“Yeah, right,” he snorted. “No thanks to me you and your sister were almost killed. I can hardly wait for Trey and Slade to hand me my ass.”