“See,” Mackenzie began, with an obvious attempt to reassert control of the situation, “I never expected that I was pursuing this little loose end”—he waved at Cassidy—“in all the wrong ways. She’s made herself quite a nuisance anyway. And as I’m sure you’ve noticed, she is rather brash and lacks any hint of subtlety.”
“One of her best qualities,” Romero agreed. “And just so you know, I’m fully aware that your little security team is trotting up the stairs—probably wearing their riot gear—while you stand here and pontificate as a way to keep us from going anywhere.”
Beside him, Romero felt Cassidy tense. He moved closer to her and felt her relax. They were going to be fine. He wasn’t particularly sure how he knew that or what the plan was, but he had faith in himself and in Cassidy, and in their ability to work as a team.
Mackenzie laughed. “You’re quite the wild card, Jase Romero.”
Romero raised an eyebrow.
“Oh yes, we know who you are.”
“I’m so flattered. Really.” Romero was waiting, Mackenzie was gearing up for a classic villain info dump speech, and Romero wished he would hurry up and get to it.
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with here.” Mackenzie’s expression turned hard. “The Broker does not suffer fools. Nor does he appreciate having his operation interrupted by two bumbling idiots who do nothing but run around in circles and beat up the help.”
Romero chuckled. “It’s so sad. You’re this big real estate mogul, and yet this Broker clown is pulling your strings as if you’re just a puppet. So the building is yours, the club is yours, and yet he’s the one taking all of the profits while you stand here holding the bag—legally speaking. That must really burn.”
“What?” Mackenzie said angrily, slipping the leash on his temper. “I’m part of the Inner Circle! I’m in charge of my club. I run it!”
“And yet I bet you don’t really know where the money trail is, or how the entire process works. Because the Broker isn’t going to trust anyone but himself with that information. He doesn’t want to take a chance that one of you will bump him off and take over the operation on your own. That’s pretty classic. You’re not management, Mackenzie. You’re just a pawn.”
“I’m not a pawn!”
The door behind Cassidy and Romero bounced open as six guys about the size of Beefcake entered wearing tactical gear and carrying high-powered assault rifles. They stood there looking very intimidating, but it was plain to see that they were a little confused as to why they had been summoned.
Romero turned, putting his back to the wall. He gently pulled Cassidy behind him a little. He didn’t like her being so close to all that itchy finger firepower. Then he glanced at the man who was obviously the leader of the security team. “Nice show of force.”
The man removed his helmet and looked straight at Mackenzie. “Orders?”
“Take these two down to the holding area in the basement,” Mackenzie demanded. “Make sure they’re tied. And don’t let the man out of your sight. He’s a SEAL.”
“SEAL?” The CO lifted his brows. The crew cut suggested he might have been a Marine at one point. “You want me to put a SEAL in holding?”
“Didn’t I just say that?” Mackenzie snarled.
“Sir, that’s not a good idea.”
“I didn’t ask for an opinion. I gave an order.”
The CO shrugged. He put a hand out to indicate that Romero should walk out of the office. “Sir, if you would come this way.”
“Don’t treat him like a guest!” Mackenzie was positively howling now. “What is wrong with you?”
The CO turned a cold gaze to the man who was presumably his boss. “When dealing with a SEAL, one must remember that courtesy will go a lot further than force. You might remember that now and again, Mr. Mackenzie.”
Romero turned and looked at Mackenzie. He didn’t bother to hide his smile. “You can sit up here in your tower and plot all you want, but at the end of the day you’re just a pawn on a board so big that you can’t even see the edges. If I were you, I might start wondering what I’m going to tell the police when they come looking for all those women you’ve been shipping overseas. You might not know where those containers go. You might not have any clue about the buyers’ identities. You might not even fully realize that you are participating in human trafficking. But the Justice Department isn’t going to care about all that. You’re still going to wind up holding the bag.”
Romero had the distinct feeling that his work here was through. He gave an appreciative nod to the CO and his men, took Cassidy’s hand in his, and then walked out of Mackenzie’s office as if he owned the place.
CASSIDY DIDN’T KNOW what had just happened. One second they’d been having a verbal battle of wits with John Jacob Mackenzie, and the next they were being escorted to the elevator for a ride to the basement.
It was eerie. The doors whooshed open onto a hallway lit with horrible fluorescent lights. It was cold, and it felt a little damp as well. The walls were cinder block, and there were crates stacked everywhere.
The men carrying guns flanked her and Romero on all sides, yet he seemed totally comfortable. She was not. She was shivering and clinging to his hand as if she were in danger of peeing her pants at any second. It was horrible.
“Right this way, sir.”
That was another thing. Why was the guy who apparently led this SWAT-looking team being so deferential toward Romero? Shouldn’t they be attempting to subdue him, or tying him up, or doing something to stay on top of him? Romero wasn’t a kitten. He was a pit bull, and he was more likely to tear your arm off if you stuck it out there at the wrong time.
“You and your woman can have a seat right in here.” The leader opened the door to a tiny room. “Do either of you need anything? Bathroom break, water, food?”
“No. I think we’re just fine, thank you.” Romero gave the man a nod and then entered the tiny room, tugging Cassidy along behind him. They sat down, and she immediately began to wonder what would happen next.
“What is going on?” She whispered her fervent question and hoped he’d answer.
“At the moment?” Romero shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure. But I know we need some help to get out of here, and these men are our best option.”
She rolled her eyes. “Is that why you’re being so weird?”
“Weird?”
“You guys are so friggin’ polite! It’s crazy. Shouldn’t he be trying to overpower you and establish dominance or something?”
Romero snorted. He reached over and took her hand. Lacing his fingers with hers, he lifted them to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “Sweetheart, that man knows if it came to combat, I would very likely be the winner.”
That took a moment to process. “Really?” She took a peek over her shoulder at the entire group milling about in the hallway outside the tiny holding cell. “There are six of them.
“Yes.”
“You could take six of them and their guns?”
“Yes.” He seemed to reconsider. “You would be my weakness, but it would very likely come out in my favor anyway.”
“Sometimes I think you might just be horribly arrogant, and other times I just about believe you must have mad skills. Either way, you’re impressive,” she told him wearily. “So if you’re commando Joe here, can we get out?”
“Patience,” he advised. “I don’t think these men truly realize what’s going on. They seem like good men. Most good men don’t want to be working for someone who is trafficking American women all over the world.”
“Ah.” She began to understand where he was going. “You’re looking for allies.”
“We have to get back into that office,” he said firmly. “The man who leads this group would have access to just about every room in the building, even the boss’ office.”
“Do you ever stop thinking?” she asked wonderingly. “It’s like your brain just keeps a constant situational awareness that pretty muc
h strategizes every second of every day.”
He winked at her. The man actually winked! Then he leaned over and nuzzled her neck. “When you and I are together, there is absolutely nothing else on my mind. You’re it.”
Her heart swelled so fast she thought it might burst. “That’s really sweet,” she mused. “In fact, it might actually be one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.”
Romero looked solemn. “Then I have a lot of complimenting to help you catch up on. You’re an incredible woman, Cassidy. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. I could have never made it this far without you.”
“Wait.” She gave an inelegant snort, feeling ridiculous. “You mean you would have never wound up a prisoner in your enemy’s basement if it weren’t for me?”
“What do you think good old Mr. Mackenzie is doing right now?” Romero pulled his chair closer to her, until he could nearly pull her into his lap.
She snuggled into his side and rested her cheek against his pectoral muscle. Then she thought about the guy upstairs and how strange he had been acting. “He was really sensitive about the whole who’s in charge thing. Wasn’t he?”
“Exactly.” Romero dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “So he’s calling everyone he knows in his organization, or Inner Circle, as he referred to it. He’s trying to figure out who the threats are, and he’s wasting a bunch of time and energy on that futile search.”
“Okay, so what happens then?”
“The best way to take a castle is treachery from within. If we get this organization bickering on the inside, they’ll be more likely to make mistakes and leave a trail.”
“So what do we do while we wait for him to have a hissy fit?” Cassidy began drumming her fingers lightly against Romero’s belly.
He was watching the men outside the little window. The tactical team appeared to be arguing and discussing something very seriously amongst themselves. Cassidy wondered if they were having a team meeting or something. It looked intense.
“Just be patient,” he murmured.
There was movement right outside the door. She could hear the key turning in the lock, and then two men entered the room. They had put their guns down and weren’t wearing helmets. Their expressions were honest, and they looked concerned.
The leader gave a nod to Romero. “Is it true that Mr. Mackenzie is involved in human trafficking?”
“All of the evidence points to yes,” Romero said quietly.
Cassidy took a breath to speak, but Romero squeezed her back to silence. She almost argued. And then she remembered what the two men had said about military and politeness. Apparently this was a military thing she just didn’t understand.
Romero pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Let me share what we’ve learned so far. Then you can make an informed decision about what to do on your own.”
“That’s fair,” the leader agreed. “Tell me what you know.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“So the access panel for the security cameras is here?” Romero pointed to the schematic lying on the table in front of him.
The leader—whose name was Hughes—bobbed his head in the affirmative. “That’s right. If you take out the connections in that panel it will knock out the security feed for the whole floor.”
“How long before they mobilize security personnel to go check it out?” Romero wanted to know. He didn’t relish the thought of having another SWAT team crawling up his ass. He’d had enough of pursuit for the time being.
“It takes roughly twenty minutes for the help desk to be notified and run through their protocol,” Hughes said grimly.
“Okay, in this case it works to my favor,” Romero mused. “But those numbers suck.”
“Tell me about it.” Hughes shoved his fingers through his short, stubbly hair. “Most days I wonder why I bother. Nobody else seems to.”
“Yet this guy is operating on the wrong side of the law most of the time.” Romero wondered at the inconsistency. “You would think he’d be all over the idea of having his own personal security force.”
Hughes seemed to be thinking things through. “I think it’s more arrogance than anything else.”
“That certainly fits the profile,” Cassidy piped up from the fringe of the group.
Romero smiled at her. She’d been oddly subdued since they’d enlisted the help of Hughes’ security team. Romero hadn’t really had a moment to wonder what was going on inside her head. At this point he just considered it a boon that she was being so cooperative.
“All right. So when does the shift change in the main security booth?” Romero was piecing it together in his head. He knew the route. He knew the goal. He knew exactly what he needed to do to achieve his objective. He just needed to know when to begin.
Hughes glanced at his watch. “Five minutes.”
Cassidy raised her hand. “And you’re sure that Mr. John Jacob Mackenzie is gone for the day?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
It was plain to see that Hughes wasn’t used to dealing with or being around women. Especially women like Cassidy. The man continually seemed to lose his composure when she interacted with him in any way. Romero was glad. It made him feel like a little less of an ass that she’d managed to so thoroughly wrap him around her little finger.
CASSIDY WAS JUST about sick of all of these high-handed men making their decisions and choosing exactly how they thought things should go. What was the deal, anyway? They all had some kind of military mind-meld going on where they spoke the same weird language of half-words and grunts. Then they just made decisions without even consulting her. It was like she wasn’t even there!
Silently fuming, she nearly ripped Romero’s head off when he made some kind of hand gesture to indicate that they were leaving the holding area. She was just contemplating the horror of having a whole platoon’s—or whatever it was called—worth of bossy men telling her what to do, when she noticed that Hughes and his men were going back into their dingy little basement office.
“Hey!” She turned around and stared at the door, which had just closed. “What the hell do they think they’re doing?”
Romero turned, cocking his head at her as if he couldn’t figure out what she was talking about. “This is their station.”
“They were helping us.”
“But they’re not going to help us violate their boss’s privacy.” Romero’s tone made it seem like that should have been obvious.
“But they’ll show us how to violate his privacy by ourselves?” She didn’t bother to temper her sarcasm. “I’m sorry. How does that make any sense?”
He shrugged. “They don’t approve of what he’s doing, but violating their employment contract would have serious repercussions for them. I can’t guarantee them any sort of compensation for their work. They have to think of themselves and their families.”
“This is crap!” Cassidy fumed. Of course, a minute ago she’d been bitching about the prospect of having them along, but that didn’t matter. Now that they weren’t along, she felt a little vulnerable.
“We’re fine.” Romero sounded entirely too confident. What was wrong with him? Didn’t he realize that they were getting to the end of the rabbit hole? That was when things would really go to hell. At least, that’s what happened in movies.
“You’re so arrogant,” she shot back. Stomping ahead of him, she yanked open the door to the stairwell. “And if I’m going to die, it’s going to be on my own terms and not yours.”
She let the door slam closed behind her and stalked toward the stairs. She listened. Not just to the barely audible boot steps of the man behind her, but to anything that might be happening upstairs as well. There was no noise. Nothing. And that was almost worse.
Swallowing back her fear, she quietly climbed the steps. They had twenty-one flights to go before they would be back in Mackenzie’s office. She wondered if anyone would care if she passed out at some point during the journey.
Nope. Wonder-boy back
there would probably just throw me over his shoulder and keep going.
ROMERO WAS GETTING whiplash trying to keep up with Cassidy’s wildly shifting mood swings. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong. One second she was on board, brave, and ready to bring the fight to the enemy’s doorstep. The next she acted as if he were trying to get her killed and seemed ready to give up. It was damned exhausting.
“What’s wrong?” he finally asked. He wasn’t going to get any answers if he didn’t ask. Right?
“You and I have made a pretty good team so far,” she finally said after they’d climbed another two flights of stairs. “Right?”
“Yes.” He didn’t have to think about his answer. She’d been amazing. He’d never trusted anyone but his team the way he trusted her to watch his back. That was something special, although maybe she didn’t actually understand that.
“But back there you went all military gaga with those meatheads. You acted like I wasn’t even there.” Her tone was what he would have called “wounded puppy”.
Great. He had hurt her feelings. It had been an accident, but it had still happened. “Cassidy, I didn’t mean for you to feel that way. And if you didn’t want those men around, why did you get all pissed when they didn’t come along with us?”
“Because if someone is going to die, I’d rather it be them than you.” She said this last bit with a little sniffle.
“Are you crying?”
“What? No!” She waved her hand in the air. “Of course not. I’m just out of shape, and this climb is killing me. I mean, I’m sure it’s awesome for my core and everything, but geez! By the time I get up there my legs are going to be jelly. We should have brought the cannon fodder.”
“The what?”
“You know,” she said with a giggle. “The cannon fodder. Those men. The ones that I would rather see hurt if it means keeping you safe.”
Romero had to forcefully bite back his chuckle. It would be foolish to let out a loud laugh in an echoing stairwell when they were attempting to get in and out without alerting the remaining security personnel.
SEAL INVESTIGATIONS: A 5-Books SEAL Romance Series Page 13
