Then both she and the baby would be in grave danger.
…
El Paso, Texas
“So,” Gabe said, drawing the word out.
Jesse clenched his jaw but didn’t look away from the rental car’s passenger side window. “I’m not in the mood to chat, boss.”
“Yeah, I got that.” Gabe sent him a questioning sideways glance. “But I never pegged you as a brooder.”
“I’m not brooding.”
“Uh-huh.” Silence. One beat. Two. “How about you tell me what’s up with you?”
Jesse finally looked over at his boss. The occasional streetlight illuminated Gabe’s hard, square-jawed profile as he navigated the car through the empty streets. Funny how you could have so much respect for a man and yet still want to punch that knowing expression off his face. “What? You want to share a warm fuzzy Oprah moment? ’Cuz I gotta warn you, it’s goin’ to look more like Jerry Springer.”
Gabe blew out a long breath. “C’mon, man. You can’t blame Quinn when she—”
“I’ll blame whoever the hell I want.”
“She was just as involved,” Gabe finished, his tone full of reason. “It takes two to make a baby, and you know damn well Quinn never would have laid a hand on her if she didn’t want him to.”
“Still, he shouldn’t have touched her. Shouldn’t have even thought about her like that. She’s family.”
“Yeah, your family. Not his. He’s not gonna see your baby cousin when he looks at her. He’s just going to see a gorgeous woman, because she’s exactly the type he goes for. Curvy, smart, sweet, a little bit shy—I hate to tell you, but if you had asked me to describe the perfect woman for Quinn, Mara would be pretty damn close.”
“Doesn’t matter. I told him she was off-limits.”
Gabe smacked his forehead with an open palm as if he’d just had an epiphany. “That’s right. You’re Saint Jesse, who’s never once had an impure thought about an off-limits woman.”
Jesse growled. There was one woman who popped instantly to mind—Lanie, Mara’s best friend from high school—and it pissed him off. “I’d never act on it.”
“Bet you’d never have a one-night stand, either.”
“Fuck you.”
“Sorry, I’m married.” He held up his left hand, wiggled his ring finger, then flipped the bird before replacing his hand on the steering wheel. “So, tell me, Saint Jesse. You call up every woman you’ve ever slept with to make sure you didn’t have an oops? Can you say with 100 percent certainty there are no other little Jesses wreaking havoc somewhere out there? No? Huh, imagine that. And, wait. If I remember your dossier correctly, your son came along a few months before you married your ex. Some saint you are.”
“That’s different.”
“Because we’re talking about Mara,” Gabe concluded.
“Yes.” And, yes, he realized how ridiculous that double standard was, but he’d always felt more like her big brother than her cousin and had done his best to keep her safe. “Mara’s always been…fragile, especially after her father died and her mother married Ramon. She was cut off from our family, made to change her last name, and she just went along with it all. She doesn’t have the courage to stand up for herself, and before my uncle died, her brother and I promised to look out for her. I kept that promise as best I could right up until I invited Quinn—” He stopped, shook his head. “Goddammit. I can’t even say his name now without wantin’ to punch somethin’. I invited him and all of his fucked-up issues into her life.”
Gabe stayed silent for three long minutes until Jesse instructed him to turn down Mara’s street. He pulled to the curb several houses down from Mara’s, shut off the car, and turned in his seat.
“Okay, listen up, Warrick. I get you. I get why you’re pissed off at Quinn. But you need to pull your shit together, because even as angry as you are you know Quinn is not the kind of guy to shirk his responsibilities. Am I right?”
Jesse wanted to say no. He wanted to remain silent and stubborn on principle alone, but he knew better. Gabe could read people like the Sunday funnies.
“Yeah,” he admitted, but not without a huge load of grudging reluctance in his tone. “You’re right. Quinn wouldn’t do that.”
“And we all want to find him and Mara and the baby and make sure they’re safe, right?”
“Yes.” No reluctance in that answer. Jesse hadn’t yet told Mara’s brother, Matt, who was stationed overseas in Japan, about her disappearance. It was a call he really did not want to make without the news that she was now safe and okay.
“So we need to focus on finding them.” Gabe climbed out of the car and retrieved his cane from the backseat. “And then we’ll worry about working out the rest of it. But right here, right now in this moment, I need you with me on this. You know Mara better than any of us.”
Jesse followed him to the sidewalk. “Why do you have to make so much goddamn sense?”
“Because, as you so often point out, I’m the big, bad, all-knowing boss.”
Jesse snorted a laugh. “All right. I’m here. I’m focused. Later, though, when we find them…I can’t make any promises I won’t punch Quinn.”
“Good enough for now.” Leaning more heavily on his cane than usual, Gabe studied the street. “Which house is hers?”
“This one.” Jesse led the way up the walk to Mara’s duplex, a tan stucco house that she shared with Mrs. Ruiz, a seventy-year-old widow. “And it’s 98 percent.”
“What?” Gabe said as he followed.
“I’m 98 percent sure there are no other little Jesses out there besides my son.”
“That high?”
“Never had much time for baby makin’. I was married to the army for eleven years, and she’s one jealous, demanding bitch.”
“So’s the navy,” Gabe said. “What’s the other 2 percent?”
“Well, there was this weekend leave in Hawaii right after my first divorce was finalized.” He rubbed his jaw. Winced. “I started drinkin’ soon as our plane touched down, and I don’t remember much after leaving the base. Pretty sure I was so hammered that even if I’d wanted to try some baby makin’, I wouldn’t have been able to get it up, so—”
Mara’s front door swung open and a tall, lean figure stood silhouetted there, weapon aimed. “Who are you and what are you doing here?” Her voice was soft, but there was an edge in her tone that said she meant business.
Jesse reached for his own firearm and saw Gabe doing the same out of the corner of his eye. “Good question.” He aimed at the woman, although he had no intention of firing unless she did. “How about you go first? You know, since you’re outgunned right now.”
“Oh, a lady never gives it up that easily, cowboy. At least buy me dinner before you go asking me to spill all my secrets.” But she relaxed, dropping the muzzle of her gun toward the ground and clicking on the safety. When she stepped into the light, he about swallowed his tongue.
Dayam.
He should have known, but she looked so completely different from the last time he’d seen her at her and Mara’s high school graduation. She’d…grown up. A lot.
“Hello, Jesse,” she said. “Thought you might show up here.”
“Lanie.” He lowered his weapon. “Mara’s best friend since high school,” he explained to Gabe, who also relaxed. “She’s a Texas Ranger. And a mighty pain in the ass.”
“Aw, I’m hurt you think so. Look at me cry.” Lanie smirked at him as she holstered her weapon and approached. In the muted light of the street lamps, her skin glowed a gorgeous mocha and she wore her tightly curled black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She used to be all awkward, gangly limbs—which he’d found appealing as an awkward, gangly-limbed teenager himself—and her clumsiness had always reminded him of a baby giraffe learning to walk. But not anymore. She had to be close to six feet tall now, with jeans-clad legs that stretched for miles, and she moved with the lithe confidence and purpose of a predator.
She held out a graceful, long-fing
ered hand to Gabe. “You must be Gabe Bristow. We never had the chance to formally meet when you and your team were here last summer, but you briefly met my partner, Dennis Aranda, and he had nothing but good things to say about you.”
Gabe nodded and holstered his gun to accept the handshake. “I remember him. Good guy. Solid cop.”
“Yes, he—”
“Jesus, we don’t have time for this chitchat.” Jesse scowled at the two of them before turning his full attention to Lanie. “What are you doing here?”
Her dark eyes flashed annoyance. “I already said I was waiting for you. The local authorities were notified about Mara’s disappearance when her neighbor noticed her door was hanging open and found her dog pacing around the yard. They launched their own investigation, but I knew that Travis Quinn guy had been here and—”
“And you thought he might have had something to do it,” Gabe finished.
“It crossed my mind,” she admitted. “She hadn’t told him about the baby yet when I last spoke to her. I thought—”
“Hold up. You knew she was pregnant?” Jesse demanded. Betrayal soured his blood. Why would Mara confide in Lanie before him or even her brother?
“Of course I knew,” she said like he was an idiot for asking. “I was with her when she bought and took the pregnancy test. What kind of friend would I be if I abandoned her when she most needed one?” She looked at Gabe. “And when I heard about the abduction, I worried maybe her baby daddy flipped his lid when she broke the news.”
Gabe shook his head. “I can assure you, Quinn has nothing to do with this. But he did witness the abduction and went after Mara to rescue her. We’ve been tracking his phone.”
“So do you know where they are?”
There was no mistaking the fragile hope in her voice, and Jesse hated to crush it. “No, we don’t.”
“But we will,” Gabe added.
Lanie nodded, closed her eyes for a moment, and drew in a soothing breath. Then she opened her eyes again and nailed them with the gaze of a woman determined to do something stupid. “All right, here’s the thing. Mara’s my best friend. Honestly, one of my only friends, and I know y’all have a better chance at finding her than anyone else—but if you think for one hot second I’ll let you leave me behind on this, you need to think again.”
Gabe arched a brow, but he appeared more amused by her demands than angry. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. And if you try, I’ll turn your asses in to the local police faster than small-town gossip, and you’ll be tied up in so much red tape you won’t be able to move. Please don’t make me do that.”
“You wouldn’t,” Jesse said.
“No,” Gabe said slowly. “I believe she would.”
She nodded. “If you get in my way, absolutely. I don’t think it needs to come to that, though. Gabe here seems like a reasonable guy.”
Meaning Jesse wasn’t. Heat crawled up his neck, and he realized he was grinding his teeth. “No, you’re staying here.”
She ignored him and met Gabe stare for stare. “Well?”
Gabe considered her for a long moment. Then he lifted a shoulder. “Okay.”
Jesse whirled on him. “Boss—”
“She’s had some training, knows how to shoot, and from what I can tell, has balls of fucking steel. Nothing against my wife or Phoebe, but she’s better than any of the assets we’ve had to work with in the past, and we need all the help we can get.” He held up a hand, cutting off all further protest, and reached into his pocket for his buzzing phone. “Bristow,” he answered and walked away.
Jesse scowled over at Lanie. “You’re not going anywhere, Elena.”
She scowled right back. “It’s Lanie. And oh, yes, I am. Didn’t you hear your boss? I have balls of fucking steel, and you’re stuck with me, cowboy.”
Gabe returned a moment later, his face set in grim lines. “Marcus and Ian found three bodies at the airfield, two men and a woman.”
Lanie sucked in a sharp breath. “Are they…?”
Jesse had the strangest urge to pull her into his arms and comfort her. Jesus. Instead, he faced Gabe. “It’s not Mara and Quinn?”
“No.”
He’d guessed as much because of how calm Gabe was after ending the call, but it still felt like a weight off his chest to hear it confirmed. “Any sign of them?”
“Tank picked up on Quinn’s scent in the hangar and led them to a cell phone.”
Jesse’s body went cold. “Quinn’s?”
“Yeah.”
“How do we trace him now?”
“Ian said he left us a clue,” Gabe said. “They’re headed back to the hotel. Lanie, I’m assuming you already searched Mara’s house?”
She nodded. “After the police cleared it, I had to go in and round up Mara’s animals. Mrs. Ruiz next door has them for now. But if there was anything in there to help us, it’s now in the possession of the El Paso Police Department.”
“Then we’re wasting our time here.” Gabe walked to the car, opened the driver’s side door, and arched a brow in question. “You two coming or what?”
Chapter Nine
Somewhere in Transnistria
“Clothes,” Alexei said in heavily accented English. “Off. Now.”
Quinn glanced around the tiled room, which was like a crappier version of his high school gym locker room. Besides him and Mara, three of the other women had been transported to this place via a van with blacked-out windows. All of the women were exhausted, beaten down, but not one of them moved. They all looked toward him, as if he had all the answers.
He lifted his still-cuffed hands. “Handcuffs,” he said, mocking Alexei’s accent. “Off. Now.”
Alexei just grunted in response and walked over to a hose coiled up on the wall.
Well, it had been worth a shot. Now that his body wasn’t contorted, he could theoretically break out of the cuffs, but he wanted to save that little party trick until he really needed it. Until then, he’d have to live with them on.
He gazed over at the women and nodded. “Do what they say.”
Mara translated his words for the women, then touched his shoulder. “What are they doing?”
“They’re going to hose us down, probably cavity search us.”
She shuddered, and he turned to her, cupping her face in his bound hands. “Any way you cut it, the next few hours are going to suck. I can’t do anything about that.”
Nodding, she covered one of his hands with her own. “I know.” Then she let go of him and glared daggers at the thugs before yanking her sweatshirt off over her head and throwing it to the floor.
Even before they finished undressing, Alexei hit them with a powerful spray of icy water, nearly knocking them both off their feet. It was like needles piercing Quinn’s flesh, stealing away his body heat almost before he could produce it, and it transported him back to his days in Coronado when his need to become a SEAL had been the only thing keeping him going during Hell Week. His BUD/S instructors had loved pushing him to the brink of hypothermia and even one step over, and he’d never forget how cold the Pacific was at oh-dark-thirty when your body was beyond exhausted and you’d taken only the briefest of naps in the last twenty-four hours.
This water was colder.
He gritted his teeth to keep them from chattering and caged Mara between his body and the wall, shielding her from the worst of it. He couldn’t do anything to help the other women and winced with each new scream as the water sprayed back and forth over the line of them.
Mara huddled against his chest. Her skin was warmer compared to the ice of his, but not by much. She was amazing, never making a sound, enduring the torture silently each time the water rained over them. Trembles raced just under the surface of her skin, and he rubbed her back, trying to generate more heat.
Finally, the damn hose was shut off, leaving the room silent except for dripping water and chattering teeth. Alexei and Pyotr laughed as they led the other women away, one by one, until only he and M
ara were left.
“Oh, God,” Mara whispered against his chest. “They’re going to separate us. Travis, please don’t let them take me away. I’m scared.”
He looped his cuffed hands over her shoulders and squeezed her tight. “Shh. I’ve got you. You’re not going anywhere.”
“They’re going to—” Her voice caught on a sob. “They’re going to sell the baby.”
Yeah, that would be their plan. He hugged her closer and eyed the two thugs standing guard by the door. They hadn’t come back into the room since removing the last of the women. Seemed to be waiting for something. Or, possibly, someone.
The door opened moments later to admit a man in a white coat. A doctor. They wanted confirmation she was pregnant.
“I need to examine the woman,” the doctor said with a deadness in his voice that chilled Quinn more than the cold water had.
Christ, he hated doctors.
“I don’t think so.” He removed his arms from her shoulders and stepped in front of her, again using his own body as a barricade. She pressed her face into the middle of his back. Hot tears trickled down his spine to mingle with the water still clinging to his skin.
He had to get her out of here.
He lunged for Pyotr first because out of the three of them, that guy was the most dangerous. He had soulless eyes that spoke of the depths of his brutality and depravity. But for all of that, Pyotr wasn’t trained, and the surprise attack threw him off guard. Quinn had him disabled and on the ground, gasping for breath, in half a heartbeat. He sneaked his hands into Pyotr’s coat pocket, found his cell phone, and drew it out as he spun on Alexei, knocking a knife out of the guy’s hand with a roundhouse kick.
“Travis!”
Pain stabbed into his shoulder, but with his hands cuffed, he couldn’t reach around to dislodge what he thought was a knife. Fuck. He’d miscalculated, had focused too much on the thugs and hadn’t thought of the doctor as a real threat.
The room fuzzed and wobbled around him. Not a knife, then. Drugs of some kind. He dropped to one knee, gagging as bile threatened to come up. A boot connected with his gut, bending him double.
“Stop it!” Mara shouted. “Leave him alone!”
Broken Honor Page 8
