Undercover Rebel (The Mighty McKenzies Book 4)

by LENA DIAZ,

  He stared at her in wonder. “About what I said, at the cabin. I’m not so sure that I—”

  “Ian, Shannon.” Colin stood on the other side of the room. “You coming or what? Adam’s scarfing down all the cookies. We’ll have to roll him out the door later.”

  “I heard that,” Adam yelled from the kitchen.

  Colin grinned and winked before disappearing again.

  Ian took Shannon’s hand. “Come on. It looks like the rule is that when you more or less reconcile with your family, you have to eat chocolate-chip cookies.”

  “I can think of worse things.”

  They headed into the kitchen.

  A short time later, Ian led Shannon outside to his car. He held the passenger door open for her, then pulled her in for a kiss. When he finally came up for air, she pressed a shaking hand against his chest.

  “Wow,” she breathed. “Whatever I did to deserve that, let me know so I can do it again.”

  He grinned, feeling lighter than he had in a long time. But as they headed back down the mountain, the reality of what still remained to be done and the life-and-death stakes pressed in on him. “After I drop you off at my cabin, I’m going to check in on my confidential informants and look around town to see if there have been any sightings of Butch or the others. Eventually I’ll head to the duplex and get us both some fresh clothes. Even with my brothers’ help, I don’t know how many more days this thing will drag on.”

  “I’m sure I can amuse myself with that wall of electronics at your cabin, or that library. It makes me drool just thinking about all of those books. Although if you don’t mind grabbing the book I was reading at my house, that would be great. I’d like to finish it.”

  “The Lisa Gardner thriller?”

  She blinked. “You remember which book I was reading? I’m impressed.”

  “Yeah, well. I’m a special agent, you know. I notice things like that.”

  She rolled her eyes.

  He grinned.

  When he pulled into the driveway, he started to get out, but she put her hand on his. “You’ve given me your alarm code, a door key and the phone number for your current burner phone. I think I can handle walking myself to the front door. Go on. You have a lot to do. I’ll be fine.”

  He cupped her face and kissed her, but forced himself not to deepen the kiss, or he’d be there all day. He wanted her so much. And there were things he needed to tell her, things that had surprised him, things he’d never expected until he’d sat in the kitchen with his family today and looked around and, for the first time, felt like maybe he just might belong. But those things, those epiphanies about himself—about the future he now realized he wanted—would have to wait.

  After watching to make sure that she got in okay, he took off down the winding mountain road toward Gatlinburg.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Shannon had just finished straightening up the kitchen after lunch when the doorbell rang. She froze, not sure what to do. No one knew that Ian McKenzie lived here, not even his family.

  If he’d ordered a package to be delivered, he’d have told her. She was sure of it.

  Her gun was upstairs, in the bedside table. Should she get it? Or just ignore whoever was at the door and hope they’d go away?

  The doorbell rang again. She jogged to the stairs to get her gun. Then she’d call Ian and—

  “Shannon?” a woman’s muffled voice called through the front door.

  She froze, her hand tightening on the railing. This wasn’t possible. It had to be a trick. That voice couldn’t be who it sounded like.

  A frantic knock echoed in the foyer. “Shannon, it’s Maria. Please. I came to warn you. They’re on their way here.”

  The palpable fear in the woman’s voice along with her words sent a chill snaking up Shannon’s spine.

  “Please, hurry. Shannon?” The doorbell rang several more times. “Hurry! If they see me standing out here, warning you, they’ll kill me. Let me in.”

  Shannon ran to the front door and looked through the peephole. A sob caught in her throat when she saw that her ears weren’t playing tricks on her. Maria stood there in a tattered blue dress and bare feet, dark curly hair matted and whipping around her face in the frigid wintry air. She didn’t have a coat. Her entire body shook, either from the cold or fear, probably both. Her dark brown eyes looked hollow and bleak. Tears streamed down her face.

  Behind her in the driveway was a bright yellow Camaro with the driver’s door standing open. It was parked sideways as if Maria had turned a half circle for a quick getaway. With the house’s elevated position in front of the steep driveway, Shannon could clearly see that no one else was in the car. She looked left and right. The road that wound around the mountain out front was clear.

  “Shannon, please—”

  “Maria,” she called through the door, desperately wanting to open it. But none of this made sense. “What’s going on? How did you know I was here?”

  “I heard them talking about you, the men holding me. One of them said they found out your boyfriend was a special agent, and discovered where his parents lived. They hid in the woods by the parents’ cabin. You were there with the agent earlier today, right?”

  Shannon pressed a hand to her throat. “How did you know that?”

  “I told you. I heard them. They put a GPS tracker on your boyfriend’s car and got this address. They’re planning an ambush. Let me in before they get here or we’re both dead. Please!”

  An ambush? Oh, no. She had to warn Ian.

  “Come on,” Maria pleaded, looking over her shoulder. She banged on the door again.

  Shannon threw it open and wrapped her arms around her friend. Maria clung to her, tears wetting Shannon’s blouse.

  “I can’t believe you’re actually here,” Shannon said. “I’d almost given up hope of finding you. Don’t worry. I’ll call Ian and he’ll—” Behind her a rapid beep started in the hall.

  Maria shoved out of her arms. “I think that’s your alarm. It’s about to go off.”

  “Oh. Hang on.” She ran to the keypad and entered the code, disabling the security system.

  “I’m so sorry, Shannon. He was going to kill my baby. I didn’t have a choice.”

  Shannon turned, her mouth dropping open in shock. Maria was now clutching an infant against her chest, wrapped in a yellow blanket.

  Beside her was the tall, lanky man who must have handed her the child. Shannon recognized him as one of the men she’d seen at the truck stop when Ian had told her to wait in the car.

  Ian had called him Wolverine.

  Greasy hair hung to his shoulders. A triumphant grin curved his lips as he aimed a pistol at her.

  She slowly raised her hands. “What do you want?”

  He cocked his head, as if contemplating her question. “What do I want? Hmm. I want a lot of things. I want to make a living without interference from do-gooders. I want the money I would have made from this latest shipment. But mostly, I want to kill a very special agent, the one who ruined everything and brought the heat down on our operation. And after I saw that tender kiss he gave you outside his family’s cabin, I decided a bullet was too good for him. It will be much more enjoyable to make him suffer, by making you suffer.” He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer. “Then I’ll kill you both.” He slammed the side of the pistol against her head.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  With still no sightings of Butch or his minions, Ian finally headed to the duplex. Once he had another duffel loaded with shoes and clothes for both him and Shannon, he started for the garage. He’d only made it to the couch before his phone rang. It was Adam. He plopped the duffel onto the couch beside him and sat to take the call.

  “The ADA was a no-show,” Adam announced. “Which is good to know. Cameron Ellison always seemed like a stand-up guy to me. I’d wo
rked with him in Memphis before both of us moved back here. I’m glad I didn’t completely misjudge him.”

  “You know Ellison personally? From your Memphis days?”

  “Personally might be stretching it. But professionally, yeah. He always seemed fair, and had a great prosecution record. Looks like you can mark him off the list of potential suspects for blowing your cover.”

  “That’s good to know. Thanks. Really appreciate your help.”

  A few minutes later, Duncan checked in, followed by Colin. They both said pretty much the same thing as Adam. Neither the police chief nor Ian’s boss at Homeland Security took the bait. After thanking them, Ian called his boss to tell him everything that he’d been doing. He told him about Wolverine being Andrew Branum, about his lack of success in any of his informants seeing or hearing any word on the street about any of the traffickers they were trying to find. Lastly, he told him about the evidence on the back of the index card. He had to hold the phone away from his ear while his boss yelled obscenities at him for even suspecting he could be a mole. It took several minutes to calm him down.

  “Have you made any progress in the investigation?” Ian asked.

  “Not much better than you. I’ve got the full cooperation of Gatlinburg PD as well as our guys, resources coming at me left and right. But we still don’t have a lead on where the women are being held.”

  “Maybe knowing Wolverine’s real name will help shake something loose on your end. I had someone look him up but he didn’t find any assets here in town. And I haven’t figured out the real names of the other two thugs that work for Gillespie. So, basically, I’ve got nothing.”

  “I’ll get some of my guys to dig deep into this Andrew Branum. Maybe he’s hidden assets under some shell companies. Everything else has been a bust so far. The BOLO on his yellow Beetle hasn’t yielded any sightings. If he’s still in town, he’s driving something else now.”

  “About my administrative leave—”

  “Ah, hell. Consider it over. It’s not like you really took a break anyway. Might as well be official so you can commandeer any resources you need in a pinch. But once this thing is over, you’re taking some time off. A lot of it. That’s an order.”

  Ian grinned as he ended the call and slid the phone into the pocket of his leather coat. He reached for the duffel, then paused. If the ADA, police chief and his boss weren’t moles, then how had Butch and his men found out that he worked for Homeland Security? He couldn’t think of anyone else who knew his secret, aside from Shannon, Chris and, of course, his brothers. None of those were viable possibilities. Who, then?

  No one. There just wasn’t anyone else.

  Then how?

  He sat on the couch, thinking it through, looking at every angle. He thought back to all the times when he’d even discussed the fact that his real name was Ian McKenzie, and that he was a special agent with Homeland Security. And he realized there just weren’t that many times he’d said those two things out loud. Even in his dealings with his liaison, Chris, everything was in code. When they spoke, they made cryptic references to what they were doing, or put things in writing—which was rare—and then destroyed those messages immediately. Heck, the only place he’d ever spoken to Chris openly about their mission was when he’d brought him to the duplex to guard Shannon.

  He straightened. It was also at the duplex where he’d spoken to her about being a special agent. He’d been in her bedroom and apologized for all the lies. And he’d been in jail all night right before that. If Wolverine saw him being arrested, which he’d assumed he would since the van had left right before the police arrived, then he would have known his side of the duplex would be empty.

  His blood ran cold. He jumped up and started tossing the place, looking under lamps, taking apart the smoke detectors in the ceiling, unscrewing light switches. Then he stood at the kitchen counter looking down at the results of his search—six electronic listening devices, three from Shannon’s side of the duplex and three from his. Knowing that the traffickers had been in Shannon’s home had him sick to his stomach. Thank God she hadn’t been hurt.

  He stared at the transmitters. They were still on and sending data. Which meant that everything he’d just said to his boss had been heard by whoever was on the other end of the bugs.

  He swore.

  If his boss was right, and Wolverine did have assets in town hidden under a maze of shell companies, it wasn’t likely that he’d be sitting around waiting for them if they showed up to seize those assets. Wolverine was in the wind now, on the run. So how were they going to find him?

  Ian pondered that question as he smashed the devices. Then he grabbed the duffel and headed into the garage. He was about to get in his car when another thought occurred to him. If Butch’s men had bugged the duplex after becoming suspicious that Ian was a cop, could they have done something else? Like put a tracker on his car?

  He didn’t see how. Since that night at the hospital, he’d kept his car in the garage specifically because of the fear that someone might put a tracker on it. He’d parked it on the street out front only once, hoping to draw Butch’s men out. But he’d watched it the whole time. No one had come near it.

  Plus, every time he’d come back to the duplex or driven around town, he’d taken the long way back to his cabin outside of Gatlinburg for the specific purpose of making sure that no one could follow him. In fact, the only time the Charger had been out of his sight was when he’d gone to the café to talk to Adam. But, as always, he’d kept an eye on his mirrors and drove a circuitous route to ensure that no one followed him to the café. There was no reason to think that anyone would have randomly seen his car parked behind the building and decided to put a tracker on it.

  He shook his head. He was getting paranoid. He tossed the duffel into the back seat and slid behind the wheel when it occurred to him that there was one place he’d gone where he hadn’t parked in a garage. A place where he’d been for several hours without being in view of his car.

  His parents’ cabin.

  No one could have followed him there without him knowing. But Butch and his men knew his real identity. A short internet search would lead them to the Mighty McKenzie, and his parents’ cabin. They could have hidden in the woods, waiting to see whether he’d show up at the house. But when they saw the National Park Service SUV parked out front, they decided it was too risky to shoot him there. Instead, they could hide a GPS device on his car while he was inside, and attack him later when he wasn’t with other law enforcement officers.

  He shoved the door open and made a quick check of the car’s underbelly. A few minutes later, he stared in growing dread at the magnetic tracking device that he’d found in the rear wheel well. They’d known every place he’d gone since leaving his parents’ home. Which meant they knew where his cabin was located, and where he’d left Shannon, alone.

  Oh, dear God. Please, no.

  He grabbed his phone in a panic and pressed the button for his home number.

  No one answered.

  * * *

  SHANNON WOKE TO the rancid smell of unwashed bodies and urine, and to the worst headache she’d ever had. She groaned and reached for her head.

  “Don’t,” a familiar-sounding voice told her as fingers slid up Shannon’s arm and gently eased her hand back down. “Don’t move or even try to talk. And please don’t touch your head. I just got it to stop bleeding. I don’t want you bumping it and starting it up again.”

  “Maria?” Her voice sounded as groggy as she felt. “Is that you?” She blinked, but she couldn’t see anything. It was pitch-dark. She blinked again, panic rising inside her. “I can’t see.”

  “Shh, it’s okay. None of us can. The cops are searching for them, so no lights. Nothing that might give away our location. It sucks, but it is what it is. There’s a portable toilet in the corner. And some bottles of water and a small stash of fo
od. You need to pee? I can help you to the toilet.”

  She started to shake her head, then realized Maria couldn’t see her. “No. Where are we? What happened? You had a baby in your arms. And then that awful man—”

  “Wolverine. That’s what the little twerp likes to call himself. And it fits, in spite of how scrawny he looks. He’s like a rabid animal and he’ll turn on you in a second, tear you to pieces. Shannon, sweetie, I’m so sorry for betraying you. I didn’t have a choice. He had my baby. He was going to kill her. He forced me to go up there and draw you out of the house. I didn’t want—”

  “Stop. I understand. I’m just glad that you’re okay. But how did he know to use you to draw me out?”

  “I’ve talked about you often enough that he knew we were friends. Once he figured out that you had a connection to that special agent—”

  “Ian.”

  “Right. Once he heard that, he came up with a plan to use me as bait. I’m really sorry.”

  “It’s all right. We’re both alive. And so is your baby. That’s what matters. But we need to get out of here if we’re going to stay alive. We need to—”

  A loud metallic screech was followed by a blast of sunlight. She raised her hand to shade her eyes, blinking to try to focus with the sudden change in light.

  “No, leave us alone,” Maria yelled. She cowered over a small yellow blanket, shielding her child with her body. And for the first time, Shannon realized where they were. And that she wasn’t alone. There were dozens of women—most of them painfully young—huddled around each other like cattle in a barn.

  A shadow fell over her. She looked up at a man, his features obscured because the sun was behind him. But she’d know that silhouette anywhere. He was the man who’d hit her back at Ian’s house—Wolverine.

  Two more men stood off to his right, one to his left. She recognized all of them from the truck stop meeting. Ian had been trying to locate Maria while rescuing human trafficking victims in his constant bid to atone for what had happened to Willow. Or at least that was what Shannon had thought. Now she knew he was also doing it as part of his job. Most likely the women he’d been trying to save were the same ones stuffed into this tight space with her right now.