by Marie Harte
“So, you stole this from Joe’s office.”
“His secret office, and yes.”
She wanted to know more but didn’t want to push. Despite feeling so gooey in love she wanted to puke, she realized they’d both fallen hard and fast. For two people not used to trusting others or letting in emotion, they were bound to crash and burn before long. She’d made a study of people, knew how to best exploit frailties.
Lovers burned hot and fast at first, but couples who lasted could handle arguments. She felt it best to go easy into their first oncoming big fight before…
“Hey. We’ve already had our first big fight, haven’t we?”
He stopped shoving his mouth full of bacon for a second. “First fight?” He scoffed. “Vi, we fight all the time. You’re constantly wrong. It’s a struggle having to remind you I’m always right.”
“Idiot.”
“See? I prefer the term moron.”
She laughed. “So, this info, moron, lay it on me.”
He plugged in the drive and started typing faster than she’d realized he could move those huge fingers. The screen soon cleared, and he read aloud. “Jonas Hood. Age thirty-six. Acquired at age nineteen. Excellent marksman, infiltrator, handy with weapons, particularly enjoys close-up kills. Ladies’ man. Extremely effective at seducing information out of our targets.” He frowned. “No listed family or friends. A note about his association with Burleigh before we axed Burleigh from the roster.”
“Weaknesses?”
“Arrogance, an addiction to sex—according to my uncle—and a need to be the center of attention, though it’s noted here he’s extremely intelligent and recently laying low. Hmm, more notes on suspicions of illegal activities in pursuit of his own gain. Looks like Jonas was a naughty boy running his own drug and prostitution ring in Mexico. Ah, so that’s the tie-in.”
“What?” She leaned closer to the screen, seeing those smug features as Jonas stood between two gorgeous, topless women on a tropical island.
“When we hit the cartel on the Sinaloa op, Deacon’s job was to grab some information for the client. Ice had his back. I was the distraction. I’d been part of the gang running arms, providing protection. I was Julio’s cousin who…never mind. My cover wasn’t important.” He gave her a sheepish grin.
“You’re so cute when you get distracted.”
He chuckled. “Sorry. Anyway, I’d figured out that there was more going on, a few of the guys were working side jobs for someone with connections. At first, I’d thought it was a rival gang trying to muscle in on the Diablo Blanco Cartel, but I kept hearing about some golden prince. Sure, I thought, the Prince? Had to be Jonas, that prick. But would he be that arrogant to use his own name in illegal activities?”
“Yes, he would.” She read more. “Big Joe had suspicions about Jonas a long time ago. He also monitored the activities of several key administrators in the Business Jonas had turned. Oh, that explains the turnover a year ago. I’d wondered about that.”
“Huh?”
“I have my own sources.” She smiled. “I learned a lot of our admin assistants at the Business had been shifting around. Now I know why. Big Joe found a few moles and discreetly replaced them.”
“Does he know you know this?”
She shrugged. “Not my problem. What concerns me is he mentions Angel a few times here. He’s worried she and Jonas are spending more time together than he likes. And he’s sorry he put her under… Oh my God. He knew Jonas was dirty but needed more proof. He used my sister to dig deeper. Except he knew things went wrong when she disappeared.”
Hammer frowned. “This makes no sense.”
“What?”
“He clearly knows Jonas links to Angel and has from the beginning. There’s no mention of Jonas dying, just that the cartel was taken down, and with it Jonas’s operation.”
She hated the concern she saw on Hammer’s face. She shared it. “Hammer, he knows Jonas and Angel were a couple. That Jonas likely didn’t die. He never mentioned any of it to you?”
“No.” Hammer’s expression closed. “And there’s something else. Look.” He pointed to some medical testing at the end of the file.
“Holy crap. So, Jonas is definitely Gunnar’s father.” The medical test Jonas had run proved it.
“Yeah. Joe knew and said nothing. We need to leave. Something’s wrong.”
She didn’t speak. On edge, they moved fast. While he grabbed their bags, scanning them with gear to make sure they weren’t tagged with electronic bugs, she threw some food into a bag and doubled down on her weapons.
He did the same, strapping guns and a few throwing knives over his body in all sorts of interesting places. When he glanced up to see her staring at him, he grinned. “We’ll have to do some strip searching later, eh?” He lowered his sweater, hiding his powerful abs and two knives strapped to his sides. Then he put a coat on to cover up the pistols in his shoulder holster.
They checked over their vehicles, and Hammer had to remove two tracking devices and one bug from the interior of his car.
On Violet’s rental they found nothing. They returned her car and took his, doing the speed limit but just barely. “Where are we going?” she asked once they’d settled in.
“I want to say back to the guys at Bainbridge Island, but I don’t think we should.” He glared at the road. “We need to find Jonas.”
“He’s alive.” Saying it out loud made it real. And believable. “He’s got to be behind everything. But the question is, does he know he’s Gunnar’s father? He hasn’t tried to get the baby back.”
“Yeah, that’s just one of the many things that’s been bothering me.”
She read through the file on Jonas several times, looking for inconsistencies, trends in movement, anything that might pinpoint what they’d missed. Michael Scoria’s name came up a few times as well.
“Scoria keeps popping up.” A contractor many had seen but no one knew much about. Just that he seemed dirtier than most.
“He’s bad news.” Hammer frowned.
“You two ever have a run in?”
“No, but I heard things. I have no idea what his designation is. People only refer to him by last name. But I do know he’s been linked to some shady deals, shady even by our standards. And I have no idea who his handler is. It’s not Joe.” He shook his head. “At least, I don’t think it is. I’m not sure what to make of my uncle anymore. And that worries me.”
She patted his shoulder. “It’ll all make sense soon enough.” No sooner had she said the words, she saw him tense. “Hammer?”
He gazed at the rearview mirror and started speeding up. “Buckle up, sweetcakes. We’re about to have company.”
“Oh, the honeymoon’s getting ready to start. Now I know I love you.”
He barked a laugh. “Alright, Phantom. Let’s see just how good you really are.”
* * *
HAMMER HAD BEEN EXPECTING AN ATTACK, but not one so close to the estate. They were only twenty minutes out, along an out of the way alternate route south, though Hammer didn’t know where they headed just yet. But to have a tail so soon? That was a problem.
No one should know where Joe lived. That someone had targeted them so close by suggested Joe’s involvement. Hammer didn’t want to believe it, but nothing else made sense.
“You weren’t followed, were you?” he asked Vi.
“No.” Vi sounded annoyed. “I’m not an amateur. I left Noel’s car at the airstrip, flew on a private plane I paid for with cash, then drove a rental out here. No one knew I was coming.”
“Shit. I know you’re good; I had to ask.” He glared at her before turning his attention back to the road. “Don’t bite my head off.”
“Ah, there’s my Destroyer.”
He blew out a breath as he laughed. “Pain in my ass. No way in hell we were taking I-5. Imagine dealing with traffic and these guys on a major highway.” He made a few quick turns and had them gunning down a rural dirt road. Behind them,
two large black SUVs—obvious much?—were gaining.
“At least they haven’t started firing yet.”
Someone behind them starting shooting.
“You just had to say it, didn’t you?” Hammer laughed, feeling his adrenaline surge. He normally worked alone, and he loved the chase, though he preferred being on the other end of the hunt. Having Vi with him didn’t stress him out, as he’d thought it might. Instead, he got to share something he enjoyed, seeing a fellow adrenaline junkie in her smiling eyes.
“Well? Hammer down, so to speak.” She nodded to the speedometer. “We can lose them on a back trail.”
He nodded, and they continued to try to evade pursuit. But every time he turned and lost one car for a second, the other car ended up finding them.
“There must be a tracker on us we missed,” he said.
“My thoughts.” She withdrew a pistol.
A shot hit the back windscreen but didn’t pierce the bulletproof glass. “Okay, now I’m annoyed. We should stop and take them out player by player.”
“Two against who knows how many?” She grinned. “I’m game.”
“I’m heading for deeper forest. I’m going to slow for you.”
“Got it.”
“But Vi, you kick ass and keep it tight, okay?” Stay safe because I love you.
Her bright grin hit him right in the feels. “You too, Monty.”
“I am going to kill my uncle when I see him again.” He just prayed he didn’t have to literally carry out that threat.
She gave him a peck on the cheek and readied to jump.
Hammer took a chance and darted into a service enclosure, the road narrowed to one dirt lane. He slowed only long enough to go into the trees. “Now.”
Vi jumped out, and he turned fast to whip the door closed then sped up. Turning the car around in the field ahead, he parked under a copse of trees to the west. The car would be visible, but he’d be hunting in the woods. Only the shadows of the canopy overhead gave him any darkness of cover. But he didn’t mind, wanting to out these assholes in broad daylight.
He ran with speed and stealth and heard one SUV, then another, pull to a stop.
He hunkered down behind a boulder and watched as four men pulled out of one vehicle and disappeared in the trees. The other vehicle boxed him in, and three people exited, two women and one man.
Seven enemy against the Destroyer and Phantom. That would work.
He heard muffled shots and realized they were up against quiet professionals. No one made much noise, no loud comms. He waited, and when the first of his pursuers neared, he struck fast. Hand to hand, the guy was good, preferring weaponless combat, like Hammer. But when he tried to stab hammer with a needle, no doubt meant to incapacitate, Hammer knew to end things differently.
He blocked a strike to his neck and another to his solar plexus, kicked the man in his knee, forcing him down, then delivered a blow to his jaw, snapping his head back. The guy went down, unconscious, and Hammer knew he had little time. He patted the bastard down, found nothing but a pistol with a silencer and two more needles, and used one on the guy.
He took the other two needles with him as he stalked his prey, once again the hunter. He had no doubt Vi would take care of herself, and that trust in her made him appreciate what a good thing he’d found in the woman he loved.
After taking down a slick woman who’d managed to nick him in the forearm with her knife, he found her partner. He avoided stabbing the guy and managed to tie him up instead, using the man’s own secure ties.
“Who are you and why are you here?” Hammer asked.
The man stared at Hammer with irritation. “Can we just get on with it?” He nodded to the needles Hammer held.
“Fuck no. Tell me what I want to know, and I won’t break your strong hand.”
That had his opponent reconsidering his tone. But not fast enough. Hammer broke his trigger finger and let him scream. Psychological warfare helped win wars. Scaring the shit out of one’s enemy lowered their resolve to win.
“Stop it, you freak.” The man growled in pain. “I need that hand.”
Hammer broke his thumb. More yowling.
“Your name?”
“Miter. Leon Miter. I’m just a gun for hire, you dumb fuck.”
“Your orders?”
“To find you and your girlfriend and bring you back.”
“To who?”
“Actually, it’s to whom,” came a familiar voice from behind him. Before Hammer could turn, two men knocked him off Miter, his neck stung, and he started to lose consciousness. “You missed the third car,” his uncle said. “But don’t worry, boy, Violet found it.”
SIXTEEN
Violet woke, groggy and sore. As her memories came back to her, she catalogued her aches. Nothing broken but definitely bruised.
She’d taken care of two of their attackers, leaving them alive but hurt. Then she’d paused to watch Hammer take care of one of them and been thoroughly entertained. He was like a tank, able to inflict major damage while taking little himself. She’d also liked that he didn’t kill the enemy but left them knocked out.
See? It’s fun to drug your opponent, she remembered thinking.
Then she’d turned to deal with a woman and a man, taking a few hits but nothing she couldn’t manage. Before she could tally the downed enemy, someone shot her in the side.
She felt her ribs and grazed a raised welt. Not a bullet wound, but a reaction from a tranquilizer, she’d guess. She hadn’t heard anything after that.
But now, where the hell was she?
She cautiously opened her eyes and found herself in a dark room. No windows, one door, wooden, probably locked. Slowly sitting up, she took stock of herself. Same clothes she’d been wearing…an hour ago? Yesterday? She had no idea how much time had passed.
Or how Hammer fared.
She would worry about him after she freed herself, compartmentalizing to be effective.
She hadn’t been tied up, and someone had left a bottle of water and a glass next to the slender bed upon which she’d been placed.
Adjusting to the low level of light in the room, she spied a plain but well-built wooden armoire across from a nightstand, bed, and floral pictures on the wall. She swung her feet to the floor and waited until the dizziness passed. When she stood, she let the blood rush from her head, grew steadier, then looked around.
Nothing in the armoire or nightstand. The water bottle appeared unopened, but it could have been tampered with, so she left it alone despite her parched throat. Her pockets were empty, though she’d been left one throwing star, this one with sharp edges.
Odd. She tucked it into her pocket.
She removed the hairband holding her escaping hair back and fixed her hair back into a ponytail. After pacing the room to get her blood moving, she felt more like herself. She moved to the door and put her ear against it to listen.
She heard a low rumble of male voices.
She slowly turned the handle, but it didn’t move. Locked in, then.
To better hear, she lay on the floor and tried to look under the door.
She saw the backs of two men, one big enough to be Hammer, though she didn’t think it was him. He wore jeans and black boots, his shoulders broad, but… Shoot. He’d moved closer to the door, and she missed seeing his face. Now she had to wait.
The other man didn’t look familiar. He had a dark complexion and angry eyes, a scar bisecting his left brow. In Spanish, he said, “This wasn’t smart.”
“I know. But I had to do something.” She froze. That sounded like Joe’s voice. “The plan was to grab her after they separated,” he continued in flawless Spanish. “But he’s a dumb fuck. He stayed, and the plan changed. We still have someone to trade for information. And Jonas has the Destroyer to play with until he’s calmed down.”
“Man, that’s cold, Joe. He’s one of your own.”
“He is,” Joe bit back. “So stay the fuck out of it. I know what I’m
doing.”
“I hope you do.” The man with him smiled, and his beauty gave Vi pause. Because the smile transformed his face from menacing to gorgeous, the scar giving him a sexy, almost piratical look. “I have to go play nice with Jonas. God, save me now.”
Joe laughed. “Better you than me. Just remind him to go easy on his new toy while I prepare the one he really wants for transport.”
“Be careful. She’s a fighter. Took out four of ours.”
“I know. I saw. It’s really too bad it had to go down like this. She’d be much more valuable back out in the field.” Joe sighed. “But it can’t be helped.” Something dropped between them on a table, but she couldn’t see anything but the underside of the tabletop. “Give him this as a gesture of well-being.”
“Got it.” The scarred man paused. “It’s pure?”
“Yeah.” Joe sounded unhappy about that fact. “And worth a fortune. That should keep him calm until I can join you.”
“Well hurry up. He makes my skin crawl.”
“Get out.”
The man chuckled and walked away. She heard a door shut.
“I hope you heard all that,” Joe was saying, still in Spanish. Then he switched to Russian. “You’re sure Scoria’s not onto the plan?”
No one answered. Then she realized he must be talking to a hidden microphone or perhaps a cell phone she couldn’t see. “Do your part and I’ll do mine. We’ll have a long talk when this is all over. If we’re lucky.” A pause. “I know. I’m sorry. I never thought it would go on for so long. It couldn’t be helped. With any luck I can recoup our losses. Losing two contractors hurts. I’m not sure we can afford to lose two more. But hey, it’s business. We’ll recover.”
The Business or regular business?
She had no idea and still had a tough time wrapping her mind around the fact they’d been betrayed by Hammer’s own uncle It would crush Hammer to learn Joe had turned on him. She knew how much her lover valued family.
God. Had Joe said Jonas had Hammer? She had to get out and free him.
