Make Them Pay

by Allison Brennan

  “I killed her brother.”

  “Dunning gave me a verbal report. I’ll need a report from you as well, along with the weapon you used. But the reports aren’t going into the official record.”

  Noah didn’t know how Rick Stockton could do what he did and sleep at night. Except now … maybe he was beginning to. And he didn’t like it.

  Noah turned over the sidearm he’d used. He didn’t know where it had come from, it had been in the plane when he left Hidalgo for Tampico. His service weapon was still at Jack’s place in Hidalgo.

  “I’m not going to tell you this will be easy, but—”

  “Stop,” Noah said. “I can’t discuss this now. Have you talked to anyone about Lucy?”

  Rick sighed, rubbed his face. “I don’t know anything except JT left Sacramento at eight p.m. Pacific time and I haven’t heard from him since.”

  “What about the SEAL team? You said—”

  “I know what I said, Noah,” Rick snapped. That’s when Noah saw the fatigue and worry in his eyes. “I can’t send them to a location I don’t know. As soon as I know something—anything—I’ll send them in. They’re waiting for actionable information. Just like we are.”

  Rick pulled out his cell phone. “Stockton.” He listened. “Send the coordinates and the pickup time.” He hung up.

  “Well?”

  “They have a plan. I need to get the team ready.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Gabriella thought Dante was dying. He hadn’t moved since Jasmine’s men brought him into the locked basement and dumped him unceremoniously on the dirt floor. She crawled over to him. Her foot was still chained, but she managed to sit cross-legged and put Dante’s head in her lap.

  They’d taken Lucy hours ago and she hadn’t returned. Was she already dead?

  Gabriella checked Dante’s pulse often. He was breathing, his heart was pumping, but he had been beaten until he lost consciousness. He hadn’t even stirred since they brought him in. There were no windows, she didn’t know what time it was, and she didn’t know what Jasmine was going to do. She’d assumed Jasmine would kill Dante on sight. Dominick Flores would have, at the first sign of betrayal. So why keep them alive? Why not kill them? No one would buy them, they didn’t have value like Lucy Kincaid did.

  Except … Dante had information about every major, minor, up-and-coming, going-out player in central and eastern Mexico. He had contacts, he knew who had loyalties to whom, who was on the outs, who could be bribed, who was screwing whom. Which businessmen and politicians had odd fetishes, who could be blackmailed, and how much they could be taken for. He knew which cops and politicians could be bought, whose payroll they were on, and if they could be approached. Dante didn’t deal in drugs or humans; he dealt in information.

  Jose knew that. Jasmine? Probably not, unless Jose had told her. Gabriella deserved this fate—she had hurt Jose, used him to seek her revenge on the man who had murdered the love of her life. She was willing to pay the price.

  Not Dante … not her baby brother. He did this all for her. He had never wanted her to infiltrate the Flores cartel, but when she couldn’t be deterred from this path he had freely helped. He had always been there for her, from when they were children.

  She didn’t know how long she sat holding Dante in her lap, thinking about growing up the good and bad. How Dante and her father had been so obsessed with the treasure. How Liam and Eden were convinced the four of them were meant to find it. She should have been there with them … if she were, there would have been no reason for Dante to risk his life to come to her.

  But her need for vengeance outweighed everything else, and she’d believed—convinced herself—that if she stayed she could walk away later.

  She’d wanted to take down everyone, including Jasmine. And if Jose got in her way? She would have taken him out, too.

  She was no better than the animals she battled in this pathetic war.

  Dante shifted and moaned.

  She lightly tapped his face. “Dante … It’s me, Gabriella. Thank God. You’re okay.”

  He grunted and shifted. “Gab—”

  His voice was rough.

  “I don’t have any water, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

  “’kay.”

  “Why’d you come? You knew it was a trap.”

  He nodded, then winced and clutched his side. “Not a trap for me.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Kane.”

  She froze. “What?”

  “Leave no man behind.”

  “You’re talking nonsense.”

  “They’ll come.”

  He drifted off. “Stay awake, dammit! You have a concussion. You’re sick. Dante.”

  He groaned when she lightly slapped him.

  “I’m awake. What time is it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Be ready. And— I might need some help. Help me up—I need to be able to walk.”

  She didn’t want to, but she did it anyway. Dante winced. “I don’t think they’re broken, but they hurt like hell.”

  “What happened?”

  “We found the treasure.”

  She hadn’t even been thinking about the treasure. “The treasure. It exists.” She didn’t know whether to shake her brother or jump for joy.

  “Yes. Exactly where we thought. The valley is beautiful, Gabby. Glorious. Then Kane found us, as we headed back to camp. Liam would have killed him … Liam’s in serious condition. I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

  “No, no, that can’t be.”

  “We found the statue of Saint Michael. Liam carried that statue out and he was obsessed, worse than ever before. It’s like the longer he had the statue, the more delusional he became. Kane was there, at our camp, told us about Jack’s sister, and still Liam wouldn’t listen to reason.”

  “I knew that treasure was cursed.”

  “He had a gun.”

  “Liam? He never carries a weapon.”

  “He shot Kane. Then the man Kane was with shot him.”

  “Kane’s … dead?”

  “No. He’s fine, but Liam would have killed him.”

  “Dear Lord, Eden must be insane with grief.”

  “It was awful, Gabby. But at that moment, I didn’t care about the treasure. I knew if Jasmine had tracked me to the safe house she suspected you weren’t loyal. I feared for your life. No treasure, no amount of money, is worth losing my sister.”

  He lowered his voice. “Kane was with me when Jasmine picked up your phone. They’re putting together a team. We just have to be ready.”

  “It might be too late. Jasmine sold Lucy to Reynosa. Reynosa wants to use her to kill Jack and anyone else who comes for her. I thought she’d be back hours ago, but they must have already exchanged her for the money.”

  “Do you remember when you told me you and Greg were getting married?”

  Tears welled in her eyes. She nodded. “You were kind of a jerk.”

  “I knew what it meant—I would have to ease out of certain entanglements. That was me being selfish. But you were so happy. And you deserve to be happy. I liked Greg. But do you remember what I said?”

  “You said a lot of things.”

  “Specifically, I said, ‘You marry a man, you gain his platoon.’ That platoon was Jack Kincaid and everyone on his team. RCK never condoned my work, but I respect them. And this is why they have my respect—Jack isn’t going to let you die, not like this. I saw the same thing in Kane, and I didn’t expect to, not after everything I heard about him from Liam. I wanted to see the same in Liam—I wanted him to drop the treasure hunt and help us save you and Jack’s sister. And he couldn’t. Kane would be dead if he weren’t wearing a bulletproof vest.”

  “Dad always said the treasure was cursed, that bad things happened to anyone who looked for it.”

  “Maybe it is cursed … maybe finding it, disturbing the spirits, hell, I don’t know, I don’t believe in that shit, but non
e of it’s worth losing our lives over. And if it is cursed, and that’s why you’re locked away down here, I don’t want it.” Dante smiled. “I’m smart enough to make money the old-fashioned way.”

  “Hard work?”

  He laughed, then winced and clutched his side. “Of course not. Blackmail.”

  “That why Jasmine wanted you. What’s in here.” She tapped his head.

  “No. She wants what’s in my safe. I didn’t even think of it, but Kane did. That man is superscary, but he understands the criminal mind even better than I do.”

  * * *

  It was nearly nine in the morning when Jasmine had confirmation that Raymond Reynosa’s $10 million was in her account. She’d sent the proof of life photo last night when she first met the feisty federal agent.

  Jasmine ordered Morrison to transfer the money into a secure account immediately. All her accounts had been seized by the US government, save for one under a shell corporation that Carson Spade had never known about. She had learned much from her traitorous accountant and had created her own separate but parallel enterprise. Smaller, for emergencies. Now that Morrison knew about it, she would either have to kill him—not really an option at this point because she didn’t have anyone to replace him—or create another parallel account Morrison didn’t know about.

  Once that was complete, she called Raymond. “Darling, I’ll have my men bring Agent Kincaid to wherever you want. She’s all packaged up and ready to go. I’ll even put a bow on her if you’d like.”

  Raymond laughed. “You’ve always had style, Jasmine, but style isn’t going to win points. Agent Kincaid is a consolation prize. I want her brother.”

  “As I told you last night, I have word that he is, in fact, in the area. I would not be surprised if he made an appearance in an attempt to rescue his beloved sister.”

  “I’m counting on it. No federal agent is worth ten million, not even a Kincaid.”

  “What about a Kincaid who is marrying a Rogan?”

  Raymond was silent.

  “Agent Kincaid is supposed to be married in a week to the youngest Rogan.”

  “Is Kane Rogan here?”

  She hesitated. She could lie … but that wouldn’t help her in the long run. She decided at this point honesty would be the best. “The only word I heard was from my men who captured Agent Kincaid in the first place. Two mercenary types stormed the house after my men left. One was confirmed to be Jack Kincaid. The other was too young to be Kane Rogan. I suspect it was the betrothed.”

  “Hmm. What about the rest of their people?”

  “I’m still rebuilding Dom’s network.” Meaning, she had no way of knowing, but she wasn’t about to admit that to her competition. The only reason she knew about Jack Kincaid was because one of her idiots had escaped without engaging him. He’d recognized Kincaid, described Sean Rogan. Could have been Kane, but she doubted it.

  “One thing you should know about these people,” Raymond said in a condescending tone, “they don’t operate in a vacuum. I suggest you spend more time building your intelligence network.”

  “And I suggest you don’t insult your colleagues.”

  “We’ll see, Jasmine, we’ll see. Thirty minutes, my office.” He hung up.

  Office? Where the hell is that?

  “Get Zapelli in here,” she told her bodyguard.

  Reynosa might think she wasn’t worthy of taking over her family organization, but he didn’t know her. He didn’t realize that she’d kept business flowing for decades. She was better than her brothers in so many ways … but she needed to learn this end of the business, and fast.

  As soon as Reynosa thought he had her cowed, she’d show him she wasn’t weak. If she had to kill him to do so? So be it.

  Thomas Morrison walked into her office, not Zapelli. “Jasmine,” he said, “I need to take Joshua to the hospital. He’s had a fever for twenty-four hours. It could be serious.”

  “No.”

  “He has serious medical issues. He needs care.”

  “No one leaves the house today. It’s not open for discussion.”

  “You promised that my wife and son would be protected. That includes their health.”

  “You work for me. You walk out, you’ll be dead. I don’t think you’ve grasped the precarious situation we’re in right now. If you want your wife and son to each have a bullet in the back of their weak skulls, leave. Take them. Watch them die.”

  Thomas visibly paled. Good. He needed to understand that while he may have been the partner of his law firm, he had no power here. He was only as good as what he could do for her.

  Zapelli walked in, glanced at Morrison. “You wanted me, Ms. Flores?”

  “Leave, Thomas.”

  “Tomorrow?” Morrison said. “Can I take them tomorrow?” He cleared his throat. “Please, Jasmine.”

  She needed him to comply, and he didn’t push the issue now. Good.

  “If it’s safe, I’ll have a doctor brought in this afternoon. Fair?”

  “Yes.”

  “And?”

  He stared at her, as if not understanding what she wanted. Then it dawned on him.

  “Thank you,” he said slowly.

  She smiled. “You are so very welcome.”

  When Thomas left, she turned her attention to Angelo Zapelli. His face had met with a brick wall, it seemed, dark bruises on his jaw and cheek only just starting to heal. He had proven to be useful over the years, but he was a wild card. Mostly because he was a wimp. He would bend with the wind, and break when pushed. How he handled that little whore breeder Marisol de la Rosa proved he couldn’t be trusted. But he had given Jasmine valuable information of late, and he had brought her the Kincaid girl. He knew more of the local players than she did.

  She could have asked Jose, but even though he’d stood with her when they confronted Gabriella, she wasn’t positive he was truly with her. She had her own people—people who didn’t have loyalties to Dom or Jose—watching him. Last she heard, he was sulking in his room.

  “How many armed men do we have on-site?”

  “Eleven. Not including you and your brother.”

  She didn’t like those odds. She also didn’t like Jose having a weapon, but she couldn’t very well take it from him without making him suspicious—and half of those eleven men were loyal to Jose.

  “Kincaid took out three at Romero’s safe house,” Zapelli said. She didn’t need to be reminded of that failure.

  “Where’s that fool who ran?”

  “In hiding.”

  “When he gets out of hiding, kill him.”

  Zapelli frowned. “He called it in as soon as he could.”

  “And now we have the girl, which is good, and two mercenaries on our trail, which is bad. Dom had twenty men here and Kincaid and Rogan took out half of them and killed three of my brothers before they escaped.”

  “I can bring in more men, but it takes money.”

  “Like everything,” she muttered.

  “I have a flight back to Monterrey this afternoon,” he said.

  “Like hell you do. I need you here.”

  “I did my job.”

  How dare he argue with her! “You will stay as long as I tell you to stay.”

  He opened his mouth. Then closed it. Good. He understood who was in charge.

  “Where’s Reynosa’s office?”

  “Office?”

  “Yes, dammit! He told me to bring Kincaid to his office. What the hell does he mean by that?”

  “I suspect he means a barn he converted into a jail.”

  “He has his own jail?” Very cool. She wanted her own jail, too.

  Zapelli nodded and shrugged at the same time.

  “You’re in charge of the handoff. Take Kincaid and three men with you. No tricks. Leave her and walk away. I need you back here ASAP. Reynosa is expecting you in”—she looked at her watch—“twenty-two minutes. Don’t be late.”

  It was clear to her that Zapelli didn’t want to
do this, but he wasn’t in a position to argue. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, and walked out.

  No way in hell was Jasmine leaving the safety of her compound. Not now, not when Jack Kincaid could be on his way. The fences and walls had been reinforced, this was the safest place for her right now. When Zapelli returned, she would work on bringing in more people. She needed money to do that. Lots of it. She had the money from Reynosa, but that would only go so far.

  She hated Carson Spade with all her heart and soul. That bastard had stolen everything from her and turned it over to the government to save his own ass. If she could get to him, she would put a bullet in his head. Torture? Hell no, she wanted him dead, dead, dead!

  “Is something wrong, Ms. Flores?” her bodyguard asked.

  “I’m fine,” she snapped. “Secure the grounds once Zapelli leaves—no one gets in or out before he returns. No one.”

  The bodyguard had opened the door to leave when Danielle Morrison ran into Jasmine’s office.

  “I don’t have time for this,” Jasmine said.

  “Joshua needs a doctor. He has a fever. He’s only a baby.”

  “Give him two aspirin and call me in the morning,” Jasmine said.

  “You don’t understand!”

  “You don’t understand, Danielle. You think that some teenager who didn’t use birth control got knocked up and let you adopt her kid? No. Your precious Joshua was born to a prostitute. She was dying and my on-call doc cut little Joshua out of her stomach just for you. Because you so desperately wanted a little-bitty baby.”

  Jasmine stood up behind her desk, leaned over, put both hands flat on the surface. “But get this—when your husband came to me about finding a baby for you, I gave him pick of the litter. And I’m not talking about the babies.” She laughed as Danielle realized exactly what Jasmine meant. “If you doubt it, do a paternity test. Joshua wasn’t any test-tube baby. Your dear, darling husband screwed the whore multiple times to ensure she got knocked up. Paid extra to make sure she didn’t fuck another man because he wanted to make sure it was his sperm that did the job. I mean, nights are money. And when she was pregnant? He came back. Maybe you are as cold and rigid as you look and he needed some hot Latina spice.”