Deadly Secret

by B. J Daniels

  “Take Alyssa. I can handle more days here. Tabitha and Jasmine... We can hack it, but Alyssa cannot take another day. You know that. Take her. Get her out, we’ll cover it up, and when the raid comes, you will come and get me.”

  “Have you lost your mind?”

  “No! You’ve lost yours.” Part of her wanted to push him, or reverse their positions and shake him, but the bigger part of her wanted to reach something in him. She curled her fingers into his shirt. “You know it isn’t safe to take me out. Why are you risking everything?”

  “Because I love you,” he blurted, clearly antagonized into the admission.

  She only stared up at him. It wasn’t... She...

  Love.

  “I do not have time to argue,” he said, low and fierce.

  That, she was sure, was absolutely true. He didn’t have time to argue. He didn’t have time to think. But she knew the girls better than he did. She knew...

  She reached her hands up and cupped his face. She drew strength from that. From him. From love. “If you love me,” she said, low and in her own kind of fierce, “then understand that I know what they can handle. What they can’t. I couldn’t live with myself if I got out and they didn’t. Not like this.”

  She wasn’t sure what changed in him. There was still an inhuman tenseness to his muscles and yet some of that fierceness in him had dimmed.

  “What am I supposed to do if something happens to you?” he asked, his voice pained and gravelly.

  “I can take care of myself.” She knew it wasn’t totally true. A million things could go wrong, but she had to trust him to leave and save Nattie, and he needed to trust her to stay and keep the girls alive.

  That she’d have a much easier time of doing if he took Alyssa. No matter that it made her want to cry. No matter that she wanted to be selfish and take the spot. But she couldn’t imagine living the rest of her life if their deaths were on her head.

  If there was a chance to get them all out, alive and safe, she had to take it. Not the one that only saved her. “You know I’m right.”

  He looked away from her, though his tight grip on her shoulders never loosened. “You understand that I have to go. I don’t have a choice.”

  “I want you to go. To save my sister.”

  His gaze returned to hers, flat and hard. “I’m not taking Alyssa.”

  “What? You have to.” She gripped his shirt harder in an attempt to shake him. “If you can get one of us—”

  “Gabby, I could get you out. Because you’re supposed to be locked up, but more because I know you could do it. I could trust you to handle anything that came our way. I can’t trust Alyssa. I can’t trust her to keep her mouth shut when it counts. I can’t trust her to get home. Like you said, she can’t hack it. If I can’t leave her here, then I can’t take her, either.”

  “Then take one of the other girls!”

  “You said it yourself. Alyssa would blab someone was missing. She’d... You can’t trust her not to get you all killed. Don’t you understand? It’s you or no one.”

  “Why are you doing this?” she demanded, tears flooding her eyes. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. He should take someone. Someone had to survive this.

  “I’m not doing anything. I saw a chance for you—you, Gabby, to escape. If you won’t take it, there’s no substitute here. There is only you or nothing.”

  “Why are you trying to manipulate me into this? If you love me—”

  “Why are you trying to manipulate my love? I know what the hell I’m doing, too. I have been trained for this. I have—”

  “Gabby?”

  Gabby and Jaime both jerked, looking down the hallway to Jasmine standing wide-eyed at the end of it. “What’s going on?”

  Jaime shook his head. “I can’t do this. I don’t have time to do this.” Completely ignoring Jasmine, he got all up in Gabby’s face, pulling her even closer, his dark eyes blazing into her. “I can save you now, but you have to come with me now. This is your last chance.”

  “It’s your last chance to think reasonably,” she retorted.

  He looked to the ceiling and inhaled before crushing his mouth to hers, as though Jasmine wasn’t standing right there. He seemed to pour all his frustration and all his fear into the kiss, and all Gabby could do was accept it.

  “Goodbye, Gabby,” he said on a ragged whisper, releasing her. “I love you, and I will get you safe.”

  She started to say his name as he walked away, but stopped herself as she looked at Jasmine. She couldn’t say his real name. Even if she trusted Jasmine, she couldn’t... This was all too dangerous now.

  She wanted to tell him to save her sister. She wanted to tell him she loved him. She wanted to tell him he was being unfair and wrong, and yet none of those words poured out as he started to walk away. She wanted to tell him to be safe. That it would kill her if he was hurt.

  But Jasmine was watching and she had to let him walk away. To save her sister. To save them all.

  “What’s happening?” Jasmine asked in a shaky voice. “I don’t understand anything that I just saw.”

  Gabby slumped against the wall. “I don’t know. I don’t...”

  “Yes, you do,” Jasmine snapped, her voice sharp and uncompromising.

  Gabby felt the tears spill unbidden down her cheeks. What was happening? She didn’t understand any of it. But she knew she had to be strong. If they were going to be saved, she had to be strong.

  She reached out for Jasmine, gratified when the girl offered support.

  “We need to make a plan,” Gabby said, sounding a lot stronger than she felt.

  * * *

  Jaime wasn’t sure he could hide his dark mood if he tried. He was furious. Furious with Gabby for not coming with him. Furious at The Stallion for being the kind of fool who needed him to be there to do all the dirty work. Furious at the world for giving him something beautiful and then taking it all away.

  Or are you just terrified?

  He ground his teeth together and slid a look at The Stallion. The man sat in the passenger seat of the Jeep, typing on his laptop, swearing every time his Wi-Fi hotspot lost any kind of signal. He had a tricked-out assault rifle sitting precariously on his lap.

  Jaime drove fueled on fear and anger. He’d had to leave the compound before he’d been able to be certain his message to his superiors had gone through. For all he knew, he could be out there alone with no backup. Gabby could be alone with no backup.

  He wanted to rage. Instead he drove.

  They were in the Guadalupe Mountains now, having driven through the night. Apparently, Gabby’s sister and Ranger Cooper had run this way. Jaime was skeptical, considering how isolated it was. How would they be surviving?

  But it didn’t really matter. If they were on the wrong track, all the better.

  What would actually be all the better would be reaching down to his side piece and ending this once and for all. It would put an end to two years of suffering. Eight for Gabby. Who knew how much suffering for everyone else.

  But no matter how much anger and fury pumped through his veins, he knew he couldn’t do it. Those same people who had been victims deserved answers and they deserved justice. In an operation like The Stallion’s, so big, so vast, taking the big man out would produce perhaps a confused few days, but someone would quickly and easily usurp that power. Taking over as if The Stallion had never existed. It would create even more victims than already existed.

  He couldn’t overlook that. His duty was his duty. Intractable no matter how unfair it seemed. No matter what Gabby would think of it.

  Gabby had implored him to trust her and, in the moment, he hadn’t. He’d been too blinded by his fear and his anger that she wouldn’t go with him.

  In the quiet of driving through these deserted mountains, Jaime could only relive that moment. Ove
r and over again. Regret slicing through him. He’d ended things so badly, and there was such a chance—

  No. He wouldn’t let himself think that way. There was no chance he wouldn’t see Gabby again. No good chance they didn’t escape this. He would find a way and so would she.

  “Drive up there.” The Stallion pointing at, what seemed to Jaime, a random mountain.

  “There is no road.”

  The Stallion gave him a doleful look. “Drive to the top of that mountain,” he repeated.

  Jaime inclined his head. “Sí, senor.” He drove, adrenaline pumping too hard as the Jeep skidded and halted up the rocky incline. He gripped the wheel, tapping the brakes, doing everything he could to remain in control of the vehicle.

  Finally, The Stallion instructed him to stop. The man pulled out a pair of high-tech binoculars and began to search the horizon.

  Jaime watched the man. He looked like any man, hunting or perhaps watching birds. He appeared completely sane and normal, and yet Jaime had seen him fondle dolls like they were real people.

  “Senor, may I ask you a question?” It was a dangerous road to take. If The Stallion read anything suspicious into his questioning, Jaime could end up dead in the middle of this mountainous desert.

  But The Stallion nodded regally as if granting an audience with the peasants.

  “If you believe women are diseased, so you say, why do you keep so many of them?”

  The Stallion seemed to ponder the line of questioning. Eventually he shrugged. “Waste not, want not.”

  Jaime didn’t have to feign a language barrier for that to not make sense at all. “I... Come again?”

  “Waste not, want not,” The Stallion repeated. “I find them hideous creatures myself, as the perfect woman remains elusive. But some men, like yourself, require certain payments. Why should I waste the work they can do for the possible insurance they can offer me? It only makes sense to keep them. To use them. In fact, it’s what women were really meant for. To be used. Perhaps the perfect woman is just a myth. And my mother was a dirty liar.” The Stallion’s fingers tightened on his gun, though he still held the binoculars with his other hand.

  Jaime said nothing more. It was best if he stopped asking for motives and started focusing on what he was going to do if they found Natalie and Ranger Cooper. Focus on thwarting The Stallion’s plans without tipping him off to it.

  Or you could just kill him.

  It was so tempting, Jaime found his hand drifting down to the piece on his left side without really thinking about it.

  “There!” The Stallion shouted, pointing.

  Jaime blinked down at the bright desert and mountain before them.

  “I saw something down there. Get out of the Jeep. Remember, I don’t care what happens to the Ranger, but I want the girl alive.”

  The Stallion jumped out of the Jeep, scrambling over the loose rock, his gun cocked, laptop and binoculars forgotten in the passenger seat.

  Though Jaime wanted nothing to do with this, he also jumped out of the car. He had to make sure The Stallion did nothing to Ranger Cooper or Gabby’s sister.

  Jaime grabbed a gun for each hand. It was easy to catch up with The Stallion given Jaime’s legs were longer. Since The Stallion had his gun raised to his shoulder, Jaime pretended to accidentally skid into him as he fired his weapon.

  “Damn it, Rodriguez. I had a shot!” The Stallion bellowed.

  Jaime surveyed the ground below. He could see two figures standing like sitting ducks in the middle of the desert. They were too far away to make a shot a sure thing, but why weren’t they moving after that first shot?

  Jaime raised his gun. “Allow me, senor.”

  Jaime was surprised that his arm very nearly shook as he took aim. He’d used his guns plenty in the past two years, though usually to disarm someone or to scare them, not to kill them.

  This was no different. He aimed as close as he could without risking any harm and fired.

  “You idiot!”

  “They are too far away. We have to be closer.”

  “Like hell.” The Stallion raised his gun again and since Jaime couldn’t run into him again, he did the only other thing he could think of. He sneezed, loudly.

  Again, The Stallion’s shot went wide. He snapped his furious gaze on Jaime, and as his head and body turned toward him, so did the gun.

  Jaime held himself unnaturally still, doing everything he could to show no fear or reaction to that gun pointed in his direction. He couldn’t clear his throat to speak, and he could barely hear his own thoughts over the beating of his heart.

  “Perdón, senor, but we need to be closer,” Jaime said as if a gun that could blow him to pieces wasn’t very nearly trained on him at close range. “If you want to ensure the Ranger is dead and the girl is yours, we need to be closer.” Jaime pointed out over the desert below, where the couple was now running.

  With no warning, The Stallion jerked the gun their way and shot. The woman scrambled behind the outcropping, but Jaime watched as Ranger Cooper jerked. Jaime winced, but Cooper didn’t fall. He kept running. Until he was behind the rock outcropping with Gabby’s sister.

  “Get in the Jeep,” The Stallion ordered with calm and ruthless efficiency, making Jaime wonder if he was really crazy at all.

  Jaime nodded, knowing he was on incredibly thin ice. The Stallion could shoot him at any time.

  You could shoot him first.

  He could. God, he could all but feel himself doing it, but Gabby was back in that compound, defenseless. And if the message hadn’t gotten through to his superiors... Even if he shot The Stallion his cover would be blown. He’d have to take Ranger Cooper back, and the FBI would intercept all that. Then they’d make him follow their rules and regulations to get Gabby out.

  As long as he remained Rodriguez, there was a chance to get Gabby, and the rest of the girls, out by any means necessary.

  So he drove the Jeep like a madman down to where the couple had been hiding.

  “They are gone by now,” Jaime said, perhaps a little too hopefully.

  “Keep driving. Find them.” The Stallion clenched and unclenched his hand on the rifle.

  Jaime did as he was told, driving around mountains until The Stallion told him to stop.

  “Stay in the Jeep,” The Stallion ordered. “Turn off the ignition. When I call for you, you run. Do you comprende?”

  Jaime nodded and The Stallion got out of the Jeep, striding away. Jaime thought about staying put for all of five seconds and then he set out to follow his enemy.

  Chapter 14

  Gabby sat in the common room with Jasmine, Tabitha and Alyssa. They were huddled on the couch, pretending to work on a project The Stallion had given them a few days ago. Layne and Wallace were groaning and limping around the house. Both clearly very injured and yet not seeking any medical attention.

  “They’re vulnerable. We have to press our advantage now. We have to hit them where it hurts,” Alyssa whispered fiercely, staring daggers at the men who were currently groaning about in the kitchen.

  Jasmine looked down at her lap, pale and clearly not wanting any part of this powwow, but...

  “Unfortunately she’s right,” Gabby said. “It’s our only chance. They’ve had time to call for backup. The longer we wait...the more chance someone else comes.”

  She felt guilty for not telling them about the possibility of an FBI raid. They deserved to know the full truth, and they deserved to know what possibilities lay ahead, but Gabby knew they had to get Alyssa out of there before she got killed or got them all killed. They couldn’t wait for the FBI to come. They couldn’t wait for Jaime to magically fix everything.

  No, they had to act.

  “We have to time it exactly and precisely. Two of us against one, the other two against the other. Same time. Same attack. Same plan.”


  Gabby took stock of the two men grousing in the kitchen then of the three women huddled around her. Alyssa practically jumped out of her seat, completely ready to go, Tabitha looked grim and certain, but Jasmine looked pale and scared.

  Gabby didn’t want to draw attention to that. Not with Alyssa as...well, whatever Alyssa was. Without looking at her, Gabby reached over and gave Jasmine’s hand a squeeze.

  “I’m just not strong like you, Gabby,” she whispered. “What if I mess up?”

  Alyssa started to say something harsh but Gabby stopped her with a look. “That’s why we’re doing it in pairs. We’re a team. Me and Jasmine. Alyssa and Tabitha. Right?”

  Alyssa mostly just swore and Gabby watched her carefully. Jaime’s words about trusting her rang through her head. Because how could she trust a woman who’d clearly lost her mind? Who’d just as soon kill them all as anything else?

  But Jaime had been too cautious. Too afraid for her safety. Gabby didn’t have anyone’s safety to be afraid for right now. She and the girls were getting to the now-or-never point. Alyssa was already there, and though Tabitha and Jasmine had been somewhat more resilient, they had to feel as she did. They had to be losing that perilous grip on who they were.

  Jaime had given herself back to her. Hope, a possible future, but those women hadn’t had that. So she had to get them free.

  “We’ll take Layne,” Gabby said, nudging Jasmine with her shoulder. “You two will have Wallace.”

  “But he’s the bigger one,” Jasmine whispered.

  “It’ll be fine. He has a gunshot wound to the shoulder. Wallace has one to the leg. We’re four healthy, capable women.”

  “B-but what do we do, exactly? After we attack them, what do we do? Run?” Tabitha asked, clearly forcing herself to be strong.

  “Kill them. We want to kill them. They did this to us. They deserve to die,” Alyssa all but chanted, a wild gleam to her eyes.

  Gabby wasn’t sure why she hesitated at that. She had indeed been stripped from her life by men like these two, and they surely deserved death. But she found she didn’t want to be the one to give it to them.