Mission Undercover

by Virginia Vaughan

  Pain riddled through her and the desk was the only thing that kept her from hitting the floor. She dropped the gauze and tape she’d been using to bandage his wound and pressed her hand to her jaw to try to stop the sting.

  Mason paced like an angry lion on the hunt, moving from one side of Sherri to the other. He held the gun in his hand and she watched him go back and forth. She expected him to shoot her, but Holly knew he wouldn’t. It wasn’t his call anymore. Mason Webber answered to someone even more evil than him. And that person was on his way inside right now.

  She heard footsteps approaching and gasped at who she saw through the glass. Moments later, the door into the room swung open and the person behind the drugs, the deaths, and Mason stepped inside.

  “Gabriel.” She gasped, her mind unable to comprehend how he could be standing there in front of her. “But I—I saw you get shot. I saw you drown.”

  His mouth curved into a mischievous grin. “Yes, you did, and thank you for that, Holly. Too many people were getting a little too close to finding out I was in charge of this entire operation. When you and Blake showed up on my doorstep, you offered me the perfect escape. Death.”

  Her mind whirled at the possibility.

  “While I was out of the room pretending to call Blake’s DEA friend, I placed a call to Mason here. I had him set the entire thing up. I figured if I were dead, no one would come looking for me, would they?”

  “But Blake said you were working with Mayor Banks to clean up the city.”

  “I was working with Mayor Banks to keep my nose clean and to make certain her investigation never went anywhere. After all, I couldn’t give her reason to fire Chief Waggoner, could I? She might discover he was on my payroll all along.”

  “So you killed her?”

  “Unfortunately, your and Blake’s investigation has created problems for me, Holly. Problems with the locals, problems with the state police, problems with the DEA waiting on the other side of the bridge, just itching for a reason to come in here and take over my city. I had such a good thing going, too.”

  Holly balked. “You had a good thing going? You’re selling poison to children. It doesn’t get any lower than that, Gabriel.”

  “I’m a businessman, Holly. Or at least, I used to be. Now I’m dead and living off the fruits of my labor. I can see we’re done in Northshore, though. This town has been compromised so now we’ll have to find another place to set up shop.”

  She shook her head. “Blake will stop you. He’ll figure all this out and he will track you down.”

  “Not me. No one is even looking for me, Holly. I’m a ghost. And, unfortunately, in order to stay that way, I can’t leave anyone alive who has seen me not dead.”

  Sherri’s sobs started again but Holly remained silent. She wouldn’t beg for her life because she knew the only reason Gabriel had come here was that he’d planned to kill her all along.

  “No, please,” Sherri begged, tears streaming down her face. “I have a daughter. Please, I won’t tell anyone about you. I promise.”

  “Shut up!” Mason yelled then slapped her. “You already proved you can’t be trusted when you talked to Blake and told him all about our operation.”

  “I didn’t,” she said, pleading. “I didn’t tell him.”

  “Then how did he know where we were?” Holly smirked, causing Mason to glare at her. “What’s so funny?”

  “Sherri didn’t know anything about this place. It was Jimmy. He led us here.”

  He looked confused. “Jimmy?”

  “His journal specifically. He followed you here one night and he wrote it down. Blake is the one who figured it all out.”

  “Blake Michaels had you figured out real quick, Mason,” Gabriel said. “He knew you didn’t have enough brains in your head to pull off an operation like this. He played you and you allowed it.”

  “I did not.”

  “Face it, he bested you.”

  Mason’s face reddened. He grabbed Holly and pulled her to her feet then jabbed the gun into her head. “He didn’t look like a victor when I yanked his girlfriend right out of his arms as the helicopter was taking off.”

  “Maybe so, but he’ll be back with reinforcements. We can’t be here when he does. Close this shop down and start shipping these containers to the Oklahoma plant. We’re relocating. You have one hour.” He got up and started walking for the door then stopped to give Mason one last instruction. “Kill them and dump their bodies.”

  Gabriel vanished through the doors and the other men followed him, leaving Mason alone in the room with them. Sherri’s cries and pleading started again, but Mason’s expression was stoic. He cut her binds, then pulled her from the chair and dragged her kicking and screaming from the room. Holly leaped up and grabbed his arm, trying futilely to stop him. He shoved her and she went tumbling backward, hitting the chair and then the floor. The door slammed shut, but Holly could still hear Sherri’s cries. A gunshot moments later silenced her. Horror raced through Holly along with fear and dread as she heard someone approach the door. She glanced around, hoping in vain to find some way of escape, but she was trapped. The door opened and Mason walked back inside, gun still in hand.

  She saw no remorse in his expression. It didn’t bother him at all to shoot Sherri and then her. How many others had he killed? She shook away that thought, realizing she didn’t really want to know. She knew now with absolute certainty that he was a killer.

  She didn’t want her last thoughts to be of Mason. She allowed another image to slip into her mind’s eye. Sitting on the pier with Blake in the moonlight and the feel of the cool water on her feet and his arm wrapped tightly around her. She smiled. It was a good last thought to have.

  Mason raised the gun and Holly grimaced.

  Take care, Blake, her heart cried. He deserved to find someone who would realize what an amazing man he truly was. Heal his scars, Lord. And help him to find love again.

  She closed her eyes and waited to hear the click of the gun then braced herself for the end.

  It didn’t come.

  Instead she heard a low thump, thump, thump fill the air. Her eyes shot open. It was the helicopter returning!

  Mason had heard it, too, and ran to the window to look out. He swore then turned back to Holly, but she was through kowtowing to him. She picked up the chair he’d forgotten to strap her to and smashed it over his head just as she had the jar. His knees gave out and he slipped. She raised the chair again, slamming it even harder this time. Mason hit the floor and groaned.

  When the gun slipped from his hand, Holly dropped the chair, snatched up the gun and ran, heading for the doors, determined to make it this time. But before she reached the doors, an explosion sent her reeling.

  * * *

  Blake leaped from the DEA helicopter at the sound of the blast. Panic burst through him. They’d only just arrived when the explosion occurred and he had no idea what had caused it. Was Holly still inside that building? And had she been anywhere near the blast?

  Matt’s hand on his shoulder stopped him before his urge to burst inside overcame him. “We’ll find her.”

  Blake found confidence in his friend’s reassurance but he knew the truth. He’d been gone for hours. Mason could have moved Holly somewhere else by now...or worse, killed her. He pushed back that thought. He would find her and once he did, he would never let her go again.

  Matt signaled to the other DEA agents who’d arrived with them in the chopper to surround the building and sweep it for survivors. Blake readied his weapon and followed Matt, who kicked in the front door and ran inside. Blake came up behind him and flanked him. Scorch marks were evident on the floor and walls, indicating a recent explosion. Blake kicked away debris as he moved through the repair shop, his eyes scanning for both Mason’s men and any sign of Holly.

 
“I found something in the back office,” a voice said over the radio in his ear. Matt moved in that direction and Blake did, too. As he approached the agent who’d made the call, he noticed a woman’s figure lying on the concrete floor.

  His heart raced at the sight of dark hair. Please no, Lord. He hurried over and saw it wasn’t Holly after all. His racing pulse began to slow as he knelt beside the familiar figure.

  “Her name was Sherri Livingston,” he told the men. Mason had finally tied up that loose end.

  But where was Holly?

  Another call came over his earpiece. “We found a body.”

  Blake held his breath until they announced the details. “It’s a man’s body. Looks like he died in the blast.”

  Blake let out a sigh of relief that it wasn’t her. At least that was something.

  He heard a groan coming from a corner and rushed over, moving several pieces of debris. He spotted a leg and movement and knew someone was pinned beneath the rubble.

  “Hang on,” he said, pushing away several pieces of paneling to reveal a familiar but unexpected face. “Gabriel!” He grabbed the man’s hand and pulled him free. His knees wobbled but he managed to get on his feet. Blake couldn’t help the surprise that filled him. “I thought—I mean, I saw Mason shoot you.”

  “Yes, he did shoot me, but he only wounded me. He’s kept me a prisoner here in this awful place ever since. You have to find Mason and stop him. He’s a maniac.”

  “You don’t need to worry about Mason anymore. We’ll find him. We’ve already located one man killed in the explosion. Any idea what caused it?”

  “I don’t know. There are a lot of chemicals inside this building. Perhaps one of them combusted.”

  Blake heard movement a few feet away and turned toward it. His heart lurched when he spotted someone under more debris. That could be Holly.

  He turned back to tell Gabriel to stay put, but when he did, Gabriel had a knife in his hand. He lunged at Blake with it.

  * * *

  Pain riddled through Holly as she dragged herself back to consciousness. Every inch of her hurt but a heavy weight seemed to be holding her down. She forced her eyes open and tried to glance around, realizing a large cabinet had fallen on top of her, pinning her legs beneath it.

  She felt around her and touched the cold metal of the gun. She still had it. Good. But now she needed to get free of the cabinet.

  She heard footsteps and froze. Was it Mason coming to find her? Voices rose and then there was the sound of a scuffle. She couldn’t see and was afraid to even try to look for fear of alerting Mason to her whereabouts, but she needed to know if it was him coming after her.

  She lifted her head and strained to look over a pile of debris blocking her view. She still couldn’t see, but recognized Blake’s voice the moment she heard it. He’d returned for her! That realization gave her new strength and she managed to free one leg. The other was still stuck, but it was enough for her to twist and turn to see over the pile of junk. It was Blake. He was dressed in gear similar to what his friends had been wearing earlier and he was in the middle of a hand-to-knife fight with another man. Gabriel. Blake would have been as shocked to see him alive as she’d been and she imagined Gabriel used that to his advantage to pull the knife on Blake.

  The two men were now locked together in some sort of stranglehold and Holly could see Blake was struggling to keep the knife from cutting him. She scrambled to grab the gun and pull herself into a position to shoot it, but her right foot remained trapped beneath the cabinet, restricting her movement.

  Please, God, help me.

  She couldn’t do this herself and she had to get free. She had to free herself and help him.

  The two men continued their struggle and so did Holly, freeing herself inch by inch. Finally she managed to turn and face Blake and Gabriel. She raised the gun and aimed it, but finding her target was difficult when the two men were so close together. She wanted to call out, but her throat was raw and hoarse from the explosion and the smoke in the air. All she managed to do was cough and neither man heard her.

  She aimed the gun again. Firing it would grab their attention and possibly open up a shot for her. She raised the gun again to fire, but a hand grabbed hers from behind.

  “Not so fast, Holly.” He ripped the gun from her hand then kicked at the cabinet restraining her and pulled her to her feet. Pain ripped through her ankle when she tried to place her weight on it. “You’re coming with me.”

  He wrapped his arm around her neck and literally dragged her across the floor, her ankle screaming the entire way.

  Blake spotted their movement. “Hey, let her go!” he shouted but Mason didn’t stop and Holly saw Blake take a hit from Gabriel. And the last thing she saw before Mason pulled her out the door was Blake falling to his knees.

  * * *

  Blake winced at the blow Gabriel had given him but he didn’t let it stop him. He spun around as Gabriel lunged with the knife again. But Blake had a renewed determination. He’d seen Holly being dragged away by Mason and he wouldn’t let her go again. He kicked the knife from Gabriel’s hand then leaped to his feet and tackled him. Gabriel hit the wall then slid to the floor, holding his head. He’d put up a good fight for a guy who was supposed to be dead, but Blake figured that had all been a ruse for their benefit. Obviously, Gabriel was working with Mason. But why the charade?

  Blake retrieved his rifle from where it had fallen then pulled a zip-tie from one of his pockets and bound Gabriel’s hands.

  “It’s not too late, Blake. You can still be a part of this. There’s a lot of money to be had in this operation and it can be yours. All you have to do is let me go.”

  Understanding dawned on Blake. “You faked your death because you were the one behind this drug ring.”

  “Do you really think Mason has the brains to pull something like this off? I’ve got six factories all cranking this stuff out. Mason couldn’t even keep one of them protected.”

  “Well, your operation is officially shut down,” Blake said. He clicked on his radio and called to Matt. “I found your ring leader. It’s Gabriel Butler.”

  Confusion was evident in Matt’s response. “Isn’t he dead?”

  “Not anymore. You’ll find him by the front entrance. I’m going after Mason. He ran out the back door and he has Holly.”

  “I’ll send someone to get Gabriel and I’ll meet you at the back.”

  Blake ran toward the back door and burst through it, gun raised and ready to fire. He wouldn’t let Mason get away with Holly again. This was ending today.

  He spotted Mason pulling her around a corner.

  “Stop!” Blake called, raising his weapon and ready to fire.

  Mason spun around and put the gun to Holly’s head. “Don’t come any closer,” he demanded. “We’re getting in that truck and we’re getting out of here.”

  Blake shook his head. “That’s not happening. Let her go, Mason. Let’s end this right now.”

  “I’ve got the girl, Blakey. I’ve got the upper hand again. I win.”

  “You can’t win this, Mason. The DEA has this town locked down. Chief Waggoner has been arrested and Gabriel is tied up inside. It’s over.”

  Mason jabbed the gun at Holly’s temple to make his point, but Blake could see he was racking his brain for a way out and wouldn’t just surrender peacefully. This was going to end bloody. He may have no choice but to shoot, regardless of how close Holly was to him.

  Lord, guide my hand.

  He was usually a good shot but his hands were shaking with fear that Holly would be ripped from him again. He couldn’t stand losing her, especially since he hadn’t had a chance to assure her he trusted her completely. Blake heard Colton’s calm voice. “I’ve got my sights set on him.”

  He nearly breathed a sigh of
relief. Colton’s hands were steady and he had a sniper’s aim. He could take out Mason if necessary.

  “I’ve also got a shot,” Garrett echoed through the earpiece.

  “Ditto,” called Josh.

  At the same time Matt rushed through the door along with a pair of heavily armed agents.

  Having the Rangers on his side, knowing they were there for him, bolstered Blake’s confidence. They could take out Mason...only he didn’t know if they could do it before he shot and killed Holly.

  He kept that lingering doubt out of his voice. “You can’t win this, Mason. You’re surrounded.”

  He tightened his arm around Holly’s neck. Her eyes were wide with fear, but Blake tried to reassure her with his tone that everything would be fine.

  “We can work this out. We already know Gabriel was the one in charge. You were just following orders.”

  Mason spotted the guns trained on him.

  Blake saw panic rising in him and sensed things were about to get interesting.

  Suddenly, Blake saw Holly jab her elbow into Mason’s stomach. He doubled over and released his grip on her. She didn’t hesitate before slipping through and hightailing it toward Blake.

  Mason saw her and raised his gun, but they all had a clear shot on him now.

  Blake fired and heard several other shots ring out, as well, before Mason could even pull the trigger on his gun. His body shook, riddled with bullets, for several seconds before he hit the ground. This time, he didn’t get up.

  Holly ran to Blake and fell into his arms. He swept her up and sighed with relief and a flood of emotions he couldn’t even verbalize. He cupped her face and kissed her long and hard until another voice from the sea of men spoke via the earpiece.

  “Don’t get any closer to the building. The sparks you two are emitting could set this whole place ablaze in a heartbeat.”

  Blake broke away then gave an embarrassed look at his friend. “Very funny, Colton.”