by Anna Blakely
“Sounds great.” Matt nodded. “So what happened?”
“She…” He paused, sliding a sideways glance in Nate’s direction. “She ghosted me.”
Kole’s brows arched high as he blinked. “She what?”
“She took off. One minute, everything was great.” Better than great. “The next, I get out of the shower, and she’s gone.”
Understanding filled Gabe’s eyes. “And you haven’t heard from her since.”
“Not a word. She left me a note, but that was it.”
“What’d it say?”
Zade shrugged it off. “Thanked me for a good weekend, wished we had more time together. Yada, yada.”
There was a bit more to it than that, but he didn’t feel like sharing all of Gabby’s last words to him with the team.
“Damn, man.” Matt sounded sincere. “That sucks. I’m sorry.”
“Wait, what did Nate say her name was…” Matt tried to remember. “Gretchen…Gertie…”
“Gabby,” Zade said her name aloud for the first time in weeks. “Gabriella Smith is how she introduced herself. But that’s not her real name.”
Matt frowned. “How do you know?”
“Because we’ve tried to find her,” Nate answered for him. “The Gabriella Smith Zade described to me doesn’t seem to exist. There’s no record of her anywhere. And you know if there was, I’d find it.”
The man spoke the truth. Nathan Carter wasn’t only a badass in the field. He was a wiz when it came to computers and finding shit.
“I don’t know what you’re complaining about.” The comment came from Kole. “You’re single. I’m assuming she was single. So you had a little, no-strings vacation fling. What’s the big deal?”
The big deal was, it wasn’t just a fling. Not for Zade, anyway. Apparently that’s all it was for Gabby, however. Or whoever the hell she was.
Christ, man. You gonna host this pity party the rest of your life or actually try and have a life?
For once, Zade decided to listen to that tiny voice of reason. It was right, and so was Kole. He’d had fun with Gabby while it lasted. Now it was time to forget about her and move the hell on.
“You know what, Kole?” Zade looked at his friend. “You’re right. It was fun and now it’s over. No harm, no foul. Right?”
“There’s the spirit!” Kole reached over and tapped the top of his beer bottle to his. “Just because the rest of us have happily settled down with the love of our lives doesn’t mean you have to be.”
Gabe cleared his throat.
“Oh, sorry, Dawson,” Kole offered their team leader a chagrined smile. Returning his focus to Zade, the sniper amended his statement. “Just because some of us have been lucky enough to find ‘the one’, that doesn’t mean you have to. You’re young. You’re single. Enjoy it, man.”
Despite the sliver of pain Zade could’ve sworn had flashed behind Gabe’s eyes, the former SEAL nodded. “Turner’s right, King. One piece of advice, when the time comes that you do find the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with, grab on tight and don’t let her go. Second chances are a hard fucking thing to come by these days.”
The other man’s words seemed to have come from experience. One that, from the look Gabe was trying damn hard to hide, was not a pleasant one.
“Preach, brother.” Matt snorted, and the emotion in Gabe’s eyes vanished. “Most mornings, I wake up next to Kat, and for the first few seconds I think I’m dreamin’.”
Refusing to think about how close Matt and Katherine came to losing their second chance—because of me—Zade decided to ask Gabe about his words of wisdom.
“Sounds like you’re talking from experience, Dawson. Care to elaborate?”
And while you’re at it, maybe take the focus off of me.
“Nothing to elaborate on.” Gabe shook his head. “Merely offering some advice.”
“Yeah, but based on what?” Matt’s eyes narrowed as they looked over at their team leader.
The experienced man arched a brow. “Based on none of your damn business, Turner.”
Rather than seem intimidated, Matt offered Gabe a slow smile. “Copy that.”
“All right, enough of this touchy-feely shit.” Nate sat back in his chair. “We’ve been here damn near three hours and Andino is still a no-show.”
“Carter’s right.” Kole took a sip of his drink. “And I have yet to see the super-hot redhead Ryker’s asset claims has been hanging around here lately. I’m starting to think this entire operation’s a bust.”
Gabe grinned. “I thought snipers were supposed to be masters at having patience.”
“Oh, I have patience.” Kole shrugged. “Just ready to get the show on the road, that’s all.”
Nate nodded. “I’m with Kole on this one. I prefer to take the bastard down sooner, rather than later.”
“And we will,” Gabe assured them all. “We just have to trust the intel we’ve been given. That intel says he’s on the prowl for a foxy redhead in a tight skirt.”
Matt grinned. “You mean like the one walking through the door right now?”
At the guy’s words, Zade turned his head toward the club’s entrance…and forgot how to breathe.
“Damn.” Kole nodded in appreciation. “If I wasn’t already married to the woman of my dreams, I’d definitely offer to buy that one a drink. But, hey…you’re single, King. Why don’t you go cozy on up to the bar? Woman who looks like that, in a skirt like that…I bet she could do all sorts of things that would make you forget about…”
“Gabby,” Zade barely choked out her name.
“That’s right.” Kole snapped his fingers. “Why do I have such a hard time remembering her name?”
Zade shook his head, his heart hammering inside his chest. “No. I mean, that’s Gabby.”
The table rumbled with a collective, “What?”
“You sure?” Gabe swung his head back around to face him.
Zade gave the man a shaky nod. “I’m sure.”
I’ll never forget that face. Or that body.
“What the fuck?” Matt frowned. “You’re telling me, the same mystery woman who hooked up with you in Grand Isle before vanishing into thin air is here? In La Paz?”
Gabby hadn’t noticed them yet. Something Zade was grateful for because he couldn’t take his eyes off her. He nodded woodenly. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“Hector Andino is supposed to be coming here tonight in search of a beautiful redhead,” Nate reminded them all. “Now, the same woman who ghosted our boy shows up, and she’s beautiful with red hair? Can’t be a fucking coincidence.”
Matt scowled. “She must be involved with Andino.”
No!
Zade’s refuting thought was instant and unwavering.
“How the hell do you figure that?” He turned away from Gabby—Jesus, she’s here!—and lowered his ballcap to conceal his face. “I met her over a month ago. We didn’t even know about Andino until two days ago.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Matt shook his head. “The same chick you hooked up with winds up here, the same night we’re here? No way that’s a fucking coincidence.”
“Look, man.” Zade scooted closer to the table. “I get what you’re saying, and yeah, this whole thing reeks of a set-up. But I’m telling you, it’s not possible.”
His Gabby couldn’t be involved with a man like Hector Andino. His Gabby was sweet and loving. Caring and passionate. His Gabby was…
Not his Gabby.
Gabe leaned his elbows on the table. “Did you tell her who you were, King? Who you worked for?”
“She knows my name, but all I said was I worked for a private security company.”
Nate shook his head. “It would take all of two seconds to do a Google search and find out which company that was.”
“Even so,” Zade continued to argue his point to his teammates, “I had zero ties to Hector Andino or any of his operations when I met her.
“So
you’re saying her being here is a coincidence?” Kole asked. It was clear the man was not convinced.
“I’m saying, there’s no way she can possibly know what we’re doing here.”
“Unless she bugged your shit while she was shacking up with you,” Nate piped up again.
Zade nearly growled. “She didn’t bug my shit, Carter.”
“Then why is she here?” Kole leaned in, working to keep his voice down. “Think about it, Zade. We may have just gotten this job, but you heard what Ghost and Ryker said the other day. The government’s been after Andino for a while. No, our team didn’t get involved until now, but it’s still possible the idea of bringing Bravo on board was pitched to one of the agencies early on.”
“So what?” Zade looked back at his friend. “You think Homeland has a mole and they slipped information to Hector Andino?”
It was possible, but highly unlikely. Jason Ryker ran a tight-as-fuck ship over at Homeland. If someone was leaking sensitive government intel, the man would be all over that shit.
“I think what Carter’s trying to say”—Gabe jumped back in—“is if the woman you know as Gabby is in bed with Andino, it’s possible she targeted you.”
Jesus. Zade couldn’t believe they were seriously having this conversation.
“Makes sense.” Matt shrugged. “She gets close to you to see if you’ll slip up and give away anything pertinent to the case she thinks you’re working. When she realizes there’s nothing to find, she splits.”
Zade was shaking his head before Matt even finished. “No. I’m tellin’ you, it wasn’t like that.”
“So what was it like?” Kole asked with a challenging tone. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but there has to be a reason she connected with you in Grand Isle, Zade.”
She connected with me because we had a connection. A real, deep, electrifying connection.
“Sorry, man.” Kole gave him a sympathetic look. “But if you’ll take a second to think like an operative instead of a guy who got played, you’ll see I’m right.”
Zade glanced over to where Gabby was standing. Thankful she was looking in the opposite direction from their table. Kole’s words were harsh, but it didn’t make them any less true.
Was it possible? Did his desire for this woman cloud his judgement so badly he hadn’t seen the truth about her? Had she been playing him for a fool all along, and he’d missed it?
His heart still said no, but the operative in him couldn’t help but think maybe that’s exactly what had happened.
“I don’t know what’s going on.” Zade tore his gaze away from her to face his team. “But I damn sure intend to find out.”
He started to stand, but Gabe wrapped one of his strong hands around Zade’s forearm. “Wait.”
“For what?”
Zade didn’t want to wait. He wanted to sprint his ass over to where Gabby stood and ask her what the fuck was going on.
“If this woman was trying to play you in Grand Isle, we need to know why.”
“That’s exactly why I’m going over there. I’m going to find out what she was doing there.”
What she was really doing while she was with me.
Gabe kept his grip tight and shook his head. “Not like this.”
Zade stared at the former SEAL as if he were crazy. “Are you kidding me right now? I’ve been looking for this woman for the last month. She shows up here on the exact same night we’re here, and you seriously expect me to sit on my ass and wait?”
“No one’s sitting on their ass, King. If she’s involved in Andino’s business and you approach her, chances are she’ll get spooked and take off. That happens, we run the risk of losing our best shot at getting to Andino.”
Damn it, Zade really hated that the man was right. With another sideways glance in Gabby’s direction, he sat back down.
“Fine. We’ll do this your way. How do you want to play this?”
Gabe’s brown eyes zeroed in on his. “What would we do if this were any other op?”
Zade thought for a moment. Shit. “You want to interrogate her.”
Nodding, Gabe said, “We need to find out what she knows and why she targeted you. See if she can be of use to us.”
A ball of dread settled in his stomach. “And if she can’t?”
The seasoned operative’s square jaw tightened. “Either way, we hand her over to Ryker when we’re finished. Let him and his boys figure it out.”
“Jesus.” Zade shook his head and sat back in his chair. He ran a hand over the scruff covering his jaw.
He couldn’t believe this was happening. Were they really talking about putting the woman he’d come damn close to falling for through a black ops interrogation? Could he actually turn her over to Homeland Fucking Security?
Zade’s chest tightened, and his stomach churned. He’d participated in hundreds of interrogations. Most were fairly uneventful, but it was the others rolling through his brain now. The ones where they had to persuade their subjects to give up the intel.
That shit still gave him nightmares.
The outcome of Gabby’s questioning would depend solely on her cooperation. While Bravo would never resort to physically harming a woman, Zade had no idea what would happen to her once they turned her over to Homeland.
As sick as it made him to think she’d be involved in something as horrifying as human trafficking, he knew even the most beautiful of women could be the Devil in disguise.
Adjusting his ball cap again, he covertly glanced at the woman in question once more before looking back at Gabe.
There was only one way he was ever going to learn the truth about Gabriella Smith, which was why Zade heard himself saying, “All right. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 4
This was it. Her last chance.
Gabby took a sip of her third club soda, her heart racing with nervous anticipation as she looked around the bar. If she didn’t make contact with Hector tonight, she’d be forced to go home empty-handed.
The thought of that happening was soul-crushing.
Thanks to another sleepless night, she’d gotten here later than planned. The place was already crowded, and Gabby prayed she hadn’t missed the man she was hoping to meet.
She could tell from the brief glance Hector Andino had given her last night, he was interested. How interested, she wasn’t sure.
Hopefully enough to make an encore appearance.
The night before, after his sudden disappearing act, Gabby had taken a chance and struck up a conversation with the bartender. Since Hector owned the place, she thought maybe his employee would pass along her strong desire to meet him.
Acting as if she wanted to hook up with the dangerous man, Gabby had laid it on thick. Told the young woman how handsome she thought Andino was. How she’d give anything to be introduced to him.
After that little performance, she’d left and gone back to her hotel. Once there, she’d stayed up half the night, worrying herself to the point of physical sickness.
Gabby had laid in that bed and cried, terrified her weeks of questions, cashing in old favors owed, and traipsing all over the country—and here, to Mexico—were all for not. That Sam’s fate had already been sealed.
When the tears had all dried up, she’d spent the rest of last night tossing and turning, telling herself she was crazy to think she could do this on her own. Of course, then she reminded herself there was no one else to turn to.
With the exception of Shoemaker’s financial support, Gabby was alone in this. Just as she’d been during most of her twenty-six years.
When her thoughts threatened to turn to Zade, Gabby had quickly shut them down. It was a waste of time to dream about a man she wanted but could never truly have.
One she could see herself loving but would never see again.
You might be wrong about that. Maybe I’ll see him again. Someday, once this was all over and Sam was back home where she belonged.
Which was something that would n
ever happen if she didn’t get her head out of her ass and focus on why she was here.
Pushing all that aside, Gabby took another drink and looked back toward the door. Hector still hadn’t shown, and though she hated to run the risk of missing him, her need to visit the ladies’ room was becoming too strong to ignore.
Setting her glass down, she quickly made her way along the bar toward the narrow hallway at the back of the club. Once inside the crowded bathroom, she waited in line, hurrying when it was her turn to go.
After taking care of business, Gabby washed her hands, only bothering to half-dry them before rushing into the hallway. She was so busy focusing on getting back to the bar, she didn’t see the man coming up behind her.
Or the syringe in his hand.
Feeling a sharp prick on the side of her neck—almost like she’d been stung by something—Gabby stopped suddenly and slapped a hand to the area.
“Ouch!”
Her fingers met bare skin, but the stinging persisted. A few seconds later, a cool, burning sensation began spreading through her neck and into her shoulder.
What the hell?
She didn’t know what she’d been stung by, but whatever it was, it hurt.
Shaking it off, Gabby started walking again…or at least she tried to.
After one, heavy step, she began to feel dizzy. Before she could even try to call out for help, her knees buckled and her legs gave out.
A set of strong arms caught her before she could hit the floor, and Gabby could’ve sworn she heard Zade’s familiar voice tell her he was sorry a second before everything went black.
Sometime later—she had no idea how long she’d been out—Gabby woke with a pounding headache and the worst case of dry mouth she’d ever experienced.
It didn’t make sense. She’d only had club soda to drink at the bar. So why did it feel like she’d been on an all-night bender?
A quick flash of memory jolted through her.
She’d been coming out of the bathroom. There was a sharp stick in the side of her neck. She’d gotten dizzy and was falling.