Undercover Rebel (The Mighty McKenzies Book 4)

by LENA DIAZ,

  And it wasn’t Ian’s.

  She pressed her ear to the cheap hollow door that did little to dampen sound, then breathed a sigh of relief when she heard Ian’s deep voice in answer to whatever the man had asked. When Ian responded, he called the man Chris. She’d never heard him mention anyone named Chris before. That wasn’t the name of one of the mechanics from the shop. In fact, this was the first time that she’d known him to have anyone else in the duplex, besides her. But their voices weren’t raised in anger, so the man must be a friend—not one of Butch’s thugs or even one of Ian’s brothers.

  She was about to return to her place when she heard Ian mention her name. Unabashedly curious as to why he’d talk about her with someone she’d never met, she pressed her ear to the door again.

  “—Wolverine seemed way too interested in her when we spoke earlier today,” Ian said. “That’s why I came straight here after passing you that note at the pizza place. I needed to see for myself that Shannon was okay, that no one had bothered her.”

  Shannon’s heart sank. Had he come by only to check on her well-being? He’d gone there because he felt obligated, because it was his job to make sure no one was hurt while he was trying to wheel and deal with the dregs of society.

  “Does he think she knows something? Or that she and you are an item and he wants to use her as leverage?”

  “I don’t see how. We’re casual friends because we rent two sides of the same house. That’s it. I guarantee that even if Wolverine has been watching this place, the most he would have seen is us talking on occasion or me working on her car.”

  His casual-friends comment had her heart twisting in her chest.

  “But you still want me to keep an eye on the place?” the other man asked.

  “Just for tonight, until the deal is done. I can’t risk any civilians getting hurt. Once Butch and the others are in custody and we’ve rescued the victims, any potential for danger will be over. Okay, Chris, now it’s your turn. Tell me what Nash has planned. We have to make sure no one is seen anywhere near the warehouse. Wolverine said Butch’s men would kill anyone out there, that I’m to go alone.”

  “Nash brought ADA Ellison up to speed, and he’s going to provide logistical support and—”

  She blinked in shock as Ian and Chris discussed the details of the transaction, planned for this very night in just a few hours, at a warehouse outside of town. She recognized the location. It had been a trail-horse stable at one time, but the recent wildfires in the area had destroyed all of the fencing and the house. While the horses had been spared, the owner didn’t have insurance. He’d had to sell them and the land.

  It had been sad seeing a row of warehouses go up where the stable had once been. Even more shocking was that the warehouses were being used by Butch and his men. Was that where Maria and the others were being housed in between being forced to turn tricks or perform in porn movies that would be distributed across the dark web?

  Ian’s deep voice broke into her thoughts. “I’ve shown you where everything is. Any other questions?”

  “Just one. Where do you keep the beer?”

  Ian laughed. “None of that, Chris. Sober is your middle name while you’re on guard duty. But I do have a couple of steaks you can pop in the broiler if you get hungry.”

  The sound of their footsteps retreating across the room into the kitchen had her tripping over her own feet in a hurry to get back to her side of the duplex. She slid down onto the couch and dropped her face into her hands. How could Ian have kissed her so sweetly earlier, and several other times, and then act like they were barely even friends? His voice had been so matter-of-fact, so...businesslike when he’d talked about her. Was she really just that, a job, a civilian to protect while he was forced to live here for his undercover work? What would happen when the case was over and he moved on to the next case? Would he just disappear one day? Would he even bother to say goodbye?

  Good grief, how had she fallen so hard and so fast for him? She was acting like some lovestruck teenager instead of a grown woman who’d survived some of the worst abuse imaginable. She’d survived, escaped and begun a new life. She was stronger than this. So why did it hurt so much?

  She sat there a long time, furiously trying to get back her equilibrium and her confidence. The metallic screech of Ian’s garage door opening had her lifting her head. A moment later the throaty roar of his Charger started up. It slowly faded into the distance. He was off to the warehouse, to finally get Maria and the others. He didn’t want her help. He didn’t even want her, period. But she wasn’t going to sit here feeling sorry for herself any longer.

  Maria was what mattered.

  All those young women were what mattered. She’d been in their place before, sold into modern-day slavery by her very own mother. And it had taken years to find her way back to freedom. It had been Maria who’d covered for her so Shannon could finally escape. When the hunt had died down, and Shannon was able to sneak back to try to help Maria get out too—she was gone, sold to yet another buyer.

  Now, with Maria found once again and about to be freed, Shannon wasn’t about to miss that moment and not be there for her friend. No matter what Ian wanted. Shannon wouldn’t interfere. But she was determined to be ready once it was over, and help the woman who’d once helped her.

  Still, she knew all about the dangers of this kind of world, the kind where slavery still existed and destroyed lives. A world with large amounts of money at stake. The men and women who ran it were rabid about defending their livelihood. Shannon needed to be prepared in case things went horribly wrong.

  She headed into her bedroom and went to the far back corner. After sliding the TV tray that she used as a nightstand out of the way, she pried up a scuffed piece of the wood flooring to reveal a dark hole. Reaching inside, she drew out her savings, a roll of bills held together by a ponytail holder. She peeled off two bills and dropped them back into the hole as her emergency fund. The rest she shoved into her jeans pocket. Finally she’d be able to pay Maria back for the money she’d given Shannon all those years ago. It was money Maria was supposed to give her “owner” later that night, the haul from that day’s tricks. And she’d likely paid the balance in flesh when she’d had nothing to turn over at the end of the evening. Now it was Shannon’s turn to pay her back as best she could.

  But that wasn’t all that she kept in her little cubbyhole. Money wasn’t the only thing her friend had given her so very long ago.

  She reached down again and pulled out a pistol.

  Chapter Twelve

  Ian itched to get out of the eighteen-foot rental truck and go into the warehouse. But his boss was adamant that he wait in the parking lot for Butch and the others to show. Because of Ian’s history with Butch taking him at gunpoint, and Butch’s earlier suspicion that Ian’s cover might not be real, Nash wasn’t taking any chances. Which had Ian frustrated as hell. He didn’t join Homeland Security to sit in the cab of a truck waiting for the bad guy to show. And waiting was all he’d been doing for the past hour.

  He checked his watch yet again. Almost midnight. He scanned the empty parking lot and surrounding tree line for the hundredth time. Nothing. Not even headlights flashing in the distance, indicating a vehicle was coming up the mountain. He’d followed Wolverine’s instructions, had gotten here a few minutes before eleven, mindful of the warning that if he was late the deal was off. He hadn’t been late. His knocks on the door of the warehouse had gone unanswered before he’d returned to the truck to wait. So why hadn’t Butch and his men shown up?

  The radio in the truck squawked. “Heard anything from them?” Nash asked.

  Determined not to risk even moving his lips in case Butch was out there watching, he tapped twice on the transmitter, indicating no.

  “Ellison is pushing us to raid the warehouse. He claims probable cause, wants to go in.”

  Ian tightened
his grip on the steering wheel. If this was a test to find out if Ian was a cop, if Butch was watching to make sure that Ian was alone, then raiding the warehouse now would ruin everything. He tapped twice on the transmitter again, hard.

  A sigh sounded from his boss. “I don’t know that I can put him off much longer. He’s insistent. And he’s got plenty of officers with him. He doesn’t have to wait for us. If those women are inside the warehouse, or if your contact got scared and took off, I want Homeland Security to be the first on scene to get the credit. I think we should move in soon. Something has either spooked your guy or—”

  Ian shoved the door open and hopped out of the truck, ignoring his boss’s alarmed calls through the radio. He slammed the door shut and stalked toward the warehouse. If his contacts were here, maybe going inside would be the push they needed. If it had been up to him, he’d have gone inside long ago. And if Gatlinburg PD and his fellow agents were about to pour down the mountainside into the parking lot, this was his last chance to get in ahead of them and hopefully salvage the deal.

  He crossed his fingers that his gut was wrong, that he hadn’t been sitting in that truck for over an hour for nothing. That all of his months of hard work hadn’t been thrown away because one of his brothers happened by the same truck stop as him. If the warehouse was empty, then Butch had decided not to make the deal. Which meant something had spooked him and he was likely on his way out of town already with his haul.

  And Ian wouldn’t be able to save Maria or the others.

  He reached the door to the warehouse and cautiously turned the handle. It wasn’t locked, yet another bad sign. If there was something inside worth protecting, the door would have been padlocked from the outside, maybe even barred from within with a guard inside.

  He yanked out his pistol, then pulled open the door and ran inside, sweeping his gun back and forth. The lights had turned on automatically. They must have been on a motion sensor. And what they revealed made him sick to his stomach. The warehouse was empty.

  Ian prayed his boss kept everyone outside until he had a chance to find out what was going on. They’d all concealed their vehicles at the bottom of the mountain and had hiked through the woods, in the cold, to get here. They’d been hiding for hours, well before the planned meeting time to ensure that Butch didn’t see them. Hopefully all of that work wouldn’t be thrown away because of some impatient ADA pushing everyone to run into the warehouse before Ian had a chance to see if there was anything left to salvage.

  Even though the place seemed empty, there were some doors on the back and sides, going into other rooms. He made a complete circuit of the interior, keeping his gun out as he checked every potential hiding place. But every door he opened revealed the same thing—nothing—until he reached the very last door. He yanked it open, sweeping his pistol back and forth. There was no one there, not even a piece of furniture, like the other rooms he’d tried. But there was something, a bright yellow index card dead center in the middle of the floor.

  He rushed forward and crouched to read the card. He scanned it, then jerked his head up toward the ceiling. The sounds of shouting and doors being thrown open had him grabbing his pistol and aiming it at the door.

  It burst open and his boss stood in the opening, flanked by half a dozen agents in full body armor, pistols drawn.

  “Hold your fire! He’s one of us,” Nash yelled, as the agents swarmed in beside him.

  Ian swore and shoved his gun into his holster. The other agents rushed back out of the room, presumably to search the rest of the warehouse.

  Ian swore again, shaking his head. “You couldn’t give me even five minutes in here before bringing in the damn cavalry?”

  Nash frowned as he holstered his gun. “You were supposed to wait in the truck, and you went in without backup. What did you expect me to do?” He thumped Ian’s chest. “And you were supposed to wear your vest, McKenzie.”

  Ian pointed up at the ceiling and repeated the words written on the index card. “Smile for the camera.”

  Nash looked up, his face going pale as he noticed the red blinking light. He looked at Ian. “What’s going on?”

  Ian motioned toward the index card. “Butch was testing me, to make sure I’d follow orders and wouldn’t bring anyone from law enforcement. The card has instructions to meet Wolverine tomorrow in the parking lot across from the garage where I work. He’ll give me the true meeting time and place, but only if I passed tonight’s test. And then it said to look up and smile for the camera.” Ian shook his head. “It was a freaking test. And we just failed the hell out of it. No way will Wolverine meet me tomorrow. Six months wasted. All those girls, those little girls—” He fisted his hands and stalked out of the room.

  He left the collection of the index card to his boss. Not that it would matter. It wasn’t like any fingerprints or trace evidence would have been left on it to help them find Butch and his victims. He was too smart for that.

  Ian wove his way through the cops and agents milling around the parking lot and was halfway to the truck when he noticed familiar dark hair with blue tips as a woman was led toward him by a Gatlinburg police officer.

  Shannon. Her hands were cuffed behind her.

  By the time he’d reached her and the officer who’d detained her, Nash and Assistant District Attorney Ellison had caught up to him.

  “Let her go,” Ian snarled. “She’s a civilian and not associated with the traffickers.”

  The officer shook his head. “I’ve placed her under arrest. She was hiding in the bushes at the edge of the lot and was armed.” He pointed to a pistol shoved into his utility belt.

  Ian stared at Shannon in disbelief.

  She stared defiantly back at him. “I wanted to be here for Maria, to help her. The gun was for my protection in case something bad happened.” She looked around. “Where is she? Inside the warehouse?”

  Ian turned to the police officer. “This is Shannon Murphy. I can vouch for her. She’s not one of the ones we’re after. You can release her into my custody.”

  The officer shook his head again. But Ellison stepped forward. “Do as he says. Special Agent McKenzie can take custody of the gun and this young woman. I’ll update Chief Thomas.”

  Ian winced at the use of his real name. Not that it really mattered at this point. His cover was blown.

  “Where’s Maria?” Shannon demanded as the police officer unlocked her handcuffs.

  “Later,” Ian snapped.

  Her eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything else.

  Ian checked the loading on her pistol, his jaw tightening when he saw the magazine was full, except for one round. The officer had either ejected the chambered round or she hadn’t chambered one herself. Thank God for small favors. He ejected the magazine and slid it into his pocket, then shoved the now-empty pistol in his other pocket.

  “What’s the status here?” Ellison asked, glancing from Nash to Ian.

  Since the officer was still standing there, Ian glanced at his uniform to get his name. “Officer Jennings, thank you for your help tonight. Would you mind placing Miss Murphy in the back of your squad car until I can retrieve my personal car hidden down the mountain?”

  The lot was rapidly filling as officers were driving each other to bring their squad cars out of hiding.

  Jennings looked to Ellison for permission.

  Ellison nodded. “If Chief Thomas comes looking for you, I’ll let him know you’re guarding a civilian on behalf of Homeland Security. Go ahead.”

  “Thank you, sir. My car’s not here yet, but I’ll borrow someone else’s. No problem.”

  “I don’t want to sit in the back of a police car,” Shannon insisted. “I want to know what happened. Where’s Maria?”

  Ian noticed the panic in her expression. At any other time, her deep-seated fear of the police would have had him making some kind of concessi
on. But not tonight. Her actions could have gotten her killed. And he needed to know, for sure, that she was safe.

  “Home or the police station?” he gritted out. “Those are your choices.”

  Hurt flashed in her eyes. But she quickly covered it with a nonchalant expression as if she couldn’t care less about what was going on.

  Jennings took Shannon’s arm and led her toward a patrol car near the tree line.

  Ian deliberately turned his back on them, too incensed to even look at Shannon. It had almost destroyed him seeing her there, knowing that she could have been killed. Twice now, because of him, she’d been placed in an untenably dangerous situation. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do about her. But that decision would have to wait.

  “Give me the sitrep,” Ellison demanded. “Chief Thomas said the warehouse is empty.”

  Ian narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, ready to let Ellison have it for ruining months of undercover work.

  Nash moved between them, his back to Ellison. “Take a walk, Special Agent.”

  Ian gritted his teeth. “He ruined—”

  “Take a walk. Now. I’ll handle this.”

  Ian strode to the truck. He had too much adrenaline and anger running through his system to sit in the cab. Instead, he paced back and forth, waiting for the political grandstanding between agencies to end. That didn’t seem like it would happen anytime soon since the Gatlinburg PD police chief had just joined the ADA and Nash.

  Finally, disgusted with the whole thing, he decided to head back into the warehouse to see if maybe he’d missed something the first time around. Obviously, Butch and his men had been here recently to have placed that index card inside. Maybe they’d left something else lying around that could give him a clue about their current whereabouts.

  He went in and headed straight for the room with the index card. He wanted a picture of it, if it hadn’t been taken into evidence yet. A Gatlinburg PD evidence tech was placing the card into a clear evidence bag when Ian got there.