Don Juan

by Leanne Tyler

  “But I should have taken her to work today. Why didn’t I realize that? Instead I was too preoccupied with Whittenbrier’s death to pay much attention to when she left. I don’t even recall what she was wearing. I can’t give a detailed description if I’m asked. What kind of a protector am I? I let her get abducted because I…got too close.”

  “What happened?”

  “I slept with her.”

  “You did?”

  “Yeah. I slept with her. Brand told me to remember she was my assignment, not my date, but I threw caution to the wind and forgot all of that. If he finds out, I’m sure I’ll be off his team.”

  “We’re men, Liam. Brand is one, too. I’m sure he’ll understand if he finds out. But the only way he’ll know is if you tell him.”

  “He always knows when we screw up.”

  “Well, for the record I want you on my Chicago Protection Task Force, so it doesn’t matter what Brand says. Do you want to work for me or not?”

  “Sure.”

  “Then it is settled. If he gives you flack, he’ll have to answer to me.”

  There was a brief pause on the line before Hawkeye said, “Now, about Simone. You’ll need back up.”

  “Yeah. I will, but I think Hank has provided that already. I spoke to him yesterday about sending someone if I needed it, but I never dreamed he’d show up with another Brotherhood Protector today. They just walked into the hotel here.”

  “How’d they find you so easy?”

  “GPS tracker on my phone. I better go talk to them. I’ll keep you informed.” Liam ended the call, still not believing that Hank had gone ahead and traveled all this way with Alex ‘Taz’ Davila.

  Taz was like him. He’d had a traumatic brain injury after an IED explosion and, after his rehabilitation, was tagged by Leigha Nipton as potential Brotherhood material. Hank Patterson had approved and the rest was history. Taz went on to work at the Better Days Ranch on assignment where he met his wife, Hannah Kendricks.

  Liam walked to the middle of the lobby and greeted them. “Man. You guys showing up here is perfect timing.”

  “I was afraid after we spoke yesterday you’d be needing help faster than a team could get here, so Taz and I talked and decided to jump on the next available flight.” Hank explained. “What’s happened?”

  “Simone, the girl I’ve been assigned to protect, never showed up for a meeting with a client this morning. I was just notified thru Chicago PD when her boss got word to them, trying to reach me.”

  “Okay. So what can we do?” Taz asked.

  “Track her cellphone via GPS to see if we get a location while gathering intel from local Central Intelligence Technology (CIT) spots around town.”

  “Let’s see if we can get a room and get set up in it.” Hank said. “If not, we’ll go to yours, Donovan.”

  “Sure.”

  Hank spoke to the manager at the front desk and the next thing Liam knew, they were headed upstairs to the second floor to a small conference room where they set up their equipment. Liam started a GPS search on Simone’s phone, while Taz worked on connecting to the local CIT towers.

  Half an hour later, room service arrived with food that Liam didn’t realize Hank had ordered for them. But he’d gotten burger and fries for the three of them along with iced tea. They ate while they worked.

  “I’m having no luck pinging Simone’s phone. It must be turned off.”

  “Come look at this. I think I finally found the footage we want. Here is the metro line right before eight a.m.,” Taz said. “Do you see her in the crowd?”

  Liam came and stood behind him, watching the poor quality color stream of people coming out of the metro station. “There she is. See her red hair shining in the sunlight?”

  “If you say so.” Hank leaned in closer. “Is she talking to the guy to her right?”

  “Can you slow the footage down, Taz?” Liam asked.

  “Sure. I can even back it up if you want a replay of the last few seconds.”

  “Do that so I can see it again. I need to see if she was really talking to the guy on her right.”

  Liam watched closely. Simone glanced at the guy to her right. She did speak to him and he was definitely saying something to her. They even walked in the same direction and together for a good distance before they parted ways.

  “Does she know anyone in town that you know about?” Hank asked.

  “Not that she has mentioned to me.”

  “Taz, can you get a good close up of that guys face so we can run a facial recognition on him.”

  Liam turned away for a moment, placing his hands on the back of one of the table chairs and thought about this. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions. It could have been a friendly conversation for all he knew. Maybe someone she sees on the metro every morning. But it still irked him that she’d be so careless in a city this size when her father is already missing. Not to mention after they’d just spent the night together.

  He tamped that emotion down. He couldn’t go there. She’d said she wanted to keep things between them casual. Maybe she could do that, but not him. Not after the way they’d come together and everything had exploded. It was like they’d bared their souls to one another and he wasn’t usually the type to get all gushy and sentimental over a sexual encounter with a woman like Simone, but something was definitely different with her. He’d picked up on it from the moment he’d walked into the Pied Piper.

  “Hey Liam, look at this.”

  “What is it?” He turned back to the laptop monitor and saw Simone coming out of a coffee shop and walking down the street when a white, nondescript van came out of an ally way. It stopped, blocking her path. The side door opened. Two men jumped out, grabbed her and pulled her into the van.

  “No!” He gripped the back of the chair tight.

  “This is good. We know what happened. Now we have to figure out where they took her. We’re gonna see if we can’t track that white van. You keep trying to ping her cell while I run facial recognition on the guy she was walking with on the street.”

  Hank grasped him on his shoulder and squeezed. “This really narrows our search down. It may feel like the end of the world, but it isn’t.”

  “We have to get her back, for so many reasons.”

  “I understand. One being she’s yours, am I right?” Hank said.

  Liam blinked. “How?”

  “I’m your leader. I know things.”

  “Just like Brand always knows.” Liam shook his head.

  “That’s right. Besides, her red hair wasn’t glowing. That was a dead giveaway to me that she meant something to you,” Hank added.

  “Oh yeah,” Taz agreed. “Dead giveaway.”

  Liam grimaced, going back to his laptop to sit down and ping Simone’s cellphone number again. This time he got a hit, and he followed the cell towers in the city trying to triangulate a location.

  “I got a hit,” he announced.

  “I got a facial recognition,” Hank said a moment later. “And I think you will want to come see this one, Liam.”

  He jumped up and went over to where Hank sat. The elation he felt drained from his body when he saw Sam Jensen’s military picture on Hanks’ screen as the match to the guy Simone had been talking to on the street.

  He tore out of the conference room with both Hank and Taz calling after him. Hank caught up with him by the elevator as he passed back and forth waiting for one to come.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he demanded.

  “Lincler, to beat the shit out of Jensen.”

  “No you aren’t.”

  “Watch me.”

  “Don’t make me fire your ass, Donovan. I’m ordering you to stand down immediately. You going off halfcocked is not going to get Simone or her father back here any quicker. We need to strategize. Come back into the conference room and let’s talk things through before we go out there unprepared.”

  It took Hank half an hour to convince Liam that his pla
n of action was the right one to take. And another half hour of talking with DC metro police chief to get him on board with what their plans were. Liam, Hank, and Taz left the Hamilton with their gear and were picked up by an unmarked, DC metro car.

  “Here are the directions of the location,” Hank handed the driver the information on a piece of paper.

  “Gotcha. I’ll go ahead and give these coordinates to our SWAT team who are on standby. They’ll be in the area waiting for our go ahead once we check the place out. If it turns out to be a bust, they won’t move in.”

  “Sounds great,” Hank said.

  “Once we get Simone, then we can hit Lincler,” Liam said.

  “You won’t have to do that,” the driver said.

  “Why’s that?” Taz asked.

  “The FBI raided them this morning. Shut the whole facility down.”

  Liam hit the back of the front passenger seat with the palm of his hand. “I knew that company was bad news. Can you drive a little faster?”

  The man pulled out his siren, reaching through the window to stick it on the roof of the car before speeding through traffic, weaving in and out of lanes faster than most New York taxi drivers that Liam had seen. He just prayed that they reached Simone before the kidnappers got antsy and decided to move for good measure.

  Simone lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling, resting. Her dad was across the room somewhere, doing whatever he had been to preoccupy himself since he was taken. He still hadn’t told her the whole story. He’d attempted to tell her, but she knew what bits and pieces he’d shared had plenty of holes in it like Swiss cheese.

  “Dad, are you still there?” she asked.

  “Yes, where else would I be?”

  “Just checking that they didn’t come and take you away while I was spaced out,” she said.

  “No, they didn’t.”

  “I’d get up and walk around the room, but my legs still feel like jelly.”

  “That is odd.”

  “Is there a bathroom?”

  “Yes. Over here.”

  Clayton came out of the shadows and helped her walk the short distance to the tiny bathroom that actually had a shower. The light was dim, but it was okay. There was a shelf with towels and wash cloths. Toiletries, including an electric razor. No wonder her dad had not looked bad in the video.

  “I think I can manage. Thanks.” She held onto the wall for support until he closed the door, then she lifted the soft eyelet, cold shoulder dress to her waist, glad she’d decided on it instead of the suit today. It was far more comfortable to be captured in that a suit. She removed her hose while she sat on the commode. There was no point wearing them any longer. Her pumps were gone.

  She finished up in the bathroom, washed and dried her hands before she opened the bathroom door. Voices greeted her, so she stopped and slowly inched the door back shut.

  Leaning against the door, heart pounding, she felt ill for a second. She slowed her breathing the best she could, taking deep, calming breaths, in and out, until she felt more in control of the situation. Then she gently pulled back on the door to see if she could tell who was out there with her father. Was it the men in black who had kidnapped her?

  Before she could get a good look, the door was kicked open and she was pulled out into the main room with her father by one of the masked men.

  “No hiding,” he said.

  “I wasn’t hiding.” She defended herself.

  “We’re leaving. Let’s go.”

  No! No! They couldn’t go. What if Liam had tracked them down? What if he was on his way to wherever this place was to find them? Think, Simone, think. How can you stall this move?

  She clutched her stomach. “I don’t feel good. I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “That’s right. She’s been ill ever since she came around. Whatever you gave her has made her ill,” Clayton said.

  “We’ll get you a barf bag for the ride. Let’s go.” The guy grabbed her arm and jerked her along behind him as they started down a hallway.

  “Hey now, no rough handling.” Clayton tried stopping him.

  The guy stopped, pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at him. “You watch yourself old man. I’m not afraid to use this on you or her. I don’t care if the rest of them believe you are a cash cow. I see you as nothing but trouble.”

  “Then let us go.” Simone looked him straight in the eye showing him she wasn’t afraid.

  The guy looked back at her for several heart beats before he finally shook his head. “I can’t do that.”

  “Ah, then you’re not in control of this operation.”

  Simone felt she was walking on dangerous ground trying to bait him, but it was worth a shot to get it to slow their move from this location. For some reason she had a strong feeling that Liam was on his way. Maybe it was only wishful thinking, but she knew they didn’t need to leave here.

  “No more talking.”

  The guy was getting testy, so she had hit a nerve. That was good. Now for her next move, but what? What could she say to make him falter further down the rabbit hole? Maybe she didn’t have to say anything. After all he was pulling her along. All she needed to do was pretend a trip or a stumble and fake a sprained ankle. That would put a halt on things for a few moments.

  She did a perfect move, tripping up the last step, yelping out in pain at the exact moment Liam and his team burst through the double stairwell doors and met them on the loading dock landing.

  The two men with Liam had the gunman, removed the gun from him and were leading him away in no time. Simone was so glad to see Liam, but she remembered how he’d ignored her this morning before she left the hotel room.

  “It took you long enough,” she told him.

  “Sweetheart, you’re not an easy woman to track down. Which is good, because I’m always up for a challenge.”

  He had her grinning at him with that line, and she knew she was so far gone it was pathetic.

  Her dad cleared his throat and she looked at him, having forgotten he was there.

  “Liam, my father, Clayton Reid. Daddy, Liam ‘Don Juan’ Donovan, the man I’m crazy about.”

  “Is that so, Sweetheart?” Liam said.

  Simone nodded, stepping toward him and wrapping her arms around his neck. “You know it is. Now shut up and kiss me.”

  Liam looked at her dad. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Reid. Do I have your permission to do as she asks?”

  Her dad chuckled. “He’s polite. I’ll give him that. Proceed son, before she gets surly.”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

  Chapter 16

  The DC Metro PD Chief wanted both Simone and her father be taken to the nearest hospital to be checked out. However, Hank Patterson convinced him that neither looked to be suffering from their abduction, and if the EMT who checked them over didn’t think they needed additional care, then they should leave it at that.

  “It’s your call, but if either have issues down the road, it will be on you for not letting them be seen.”

  “I hear you chief. I hear you.” Hank signed the refusal for treatment form, as well as Simone and her father, before they left the Lincler property where they’d been held.

  “I’m going to take off, honey,” Clayton said, giving Simone a hug.

  “What do you mean? No, you aren’t leaving. You still have some answering to do.”

  “I’ve told you everything I can, Simone. Don’t make me lie to you like I had your mother all those years ago.”

  Simone tilted her head to the side and gave her father and long look. “Oh, daddy. Why didn’t you ever tell her the truth?”

  “It was safer that way. And that is all I am saying now. It is safer this way.”

  “Your luggage is still at the Palomar, sir.” Liam reached out his hand for him to shake.

  “You take care of my Simone. She’s my most valuable asset.”

  “That I will.”

  Simone hugged her dad tight, then
kissed him on the cheek. “Be nice to Edna. She deserves a special something when you return.”

  “Of course she’ll get something special. She always does. She’s my Rock of Gibraltar. I couldn’t manage without her. I’ll be in touch, kiddo.”

  They watched as he walked away. As Simone wiped a tear from her eye, she turned to Liam and hugged him.

  One of the men who had been with Liam earlier when he’d burst through the door came over carrying her purse and laptop bag. “I believe these belong to you. They were found in the white van inside the building there.”

  “Thank you! Thank you.” Simone took both, sitting the laptop bag down. She dug into her purse looking for her cellphone. She had several missed calls from Robert Cranston and even more calls from her mother.

  “I bet I’ve lost my job,” she said.

  “No. Cranston was trying to reach you, but when he couldn’t he called Hawkeye who then contacted me.”

  “I know, but I promised him I’d follow through and not let my dad’s disappearance get in the way of me doing my job and I have. Without meaning to, I have.”

  “Things happen. If your boss can’t understand that, then maybe that isn’t the job for you.”

  She looked at the man not sure what to say.

  “Simone, meet Alex ‘Taz’ Davila from the Brotherhood Protectors. He flew all the way out here with Hank Patterson today after I spoke to Hank yesterday because they wanted me to have backup when I needed it.”

  “We arrived just in time, too,” Taz said.

  “Thanks for coming,” Simone said. “I really appreciate your assistance and everything you and the Brotherhood Protectors stand for. Plus, your service you gave for our country.”

  “Thanks. You’re welcome anytime out at Better Days if Liam ever decides to come back to Montana. I’d better go find Hank. He was checking on a flight back tonight. It would be great to get back there and sleep in my own bed. If you’ll excuse me.”

  “What does he mean, if you ever go back to Montana?” Simone asked.