Chase

by Sidney Bristol

  “That’s an understatement. Someone needs to stop him.”

  “That someone can be us.” Gabriel held out his hand.

  Nico glanced from Gabriel’s face to his hand and back again. The moment dragged on as the other man weighed whether or not to accept the gesture. Finally, Nico placed his hand in Gabriel’s.

  “You’ve got my number. Things go sideways and you guys need help—call me. Nikki has to follow all the rules. That’s why she busts your chops like that. I don’t.” At least he hoped that was why she did it.

  “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that,” Nikki said.

  She stood at the entrance to the hall, arms crossed. She didn’t look at Gabriel, but her expression was softer.

  He was in deep shit.

  Hadn’t they just talked about him sticking his foot in it?

  “Need anything, man?” Gabriel turned his attention back on Nico. One problem at a time.

  “Get away from you guys.” Nico turned and let himself out through the front of the shop the way he’d come in.

  Gabriel had a bad feeling about this. Sending Nico back, when he might already be under suspicion, was asking for more trouble. But on the other hand, he knew the FBI couldn’t guarantee him safety without more to go on. They had plenty of evidence to slap on Wilson and get it to stick, so Nico’s testimony would be another brick in the prison, but not enough to get him off the hook.

  “He might die,” Gabriel said.

  “I know, and I don’t like it.” If possible, Nikki’s voice was even frostier than before.

  He watched Nico stroll down the sidewalk, hands in his pockets, until he disappeared from sight, shielded by the neighboring buildings.

  “You totally undermined my authority,” Nikki blurted out. Part of Gabriel liked the anger, but not when it was directed at him. Not like this.

  “We were going to lose him. You were too hard on him.” He squeezed his eyes shut. This was not a conversation he wanted to have.

  “Too hard on him?” Her footsteps were near silent, but her voice grew louder as she approached him. “Gabriel, the man is involved in a bomb plot. He made no effort to stop things until we became the blockade in this plan.”

  “I know that, but look at him.” He threw his arm out to where Nico had been and turned to face her. “That man has had one too many shit storms in his life. He needs a hand. Can’t you see it?”

  “And we need to stop Wilson. I can’t believe you would blatantly go behind my back like that again. After we just agreed this wouldn’t happen.” She turned and stalked down the hall.

  “Nikki, Nikki, wait.” He followed her, closing the distance fast.

  She wheeled around and he almost barreled over her.

  “I believed you when you said you never went against my orders intentionally. Now I’m not so sure. You sure as hell meant to do that.” She jabbed his chest with her finger.

  “I did. Because we were losing him. Didn’t you see it?”

  Nico was breaking. The man was close to shattering, and putting pressure on him would only make it worse.

  “Did you read Nico’s file?” Her voice was eerily calm.

  “No.” Shit. He should have, but everything was happening so fast.

  “Nico was taken prisoner once while he was serving. The account by his commanding officer was . . . enlightening. Nico traded false information for his release. He was in a situation out of his control, and he did exactly what he had to do to save his ass. He sent the terrorists after their own people and escaped in the process. It was brilliant. Until you look at the situation we are in now. Even if Wilson kidnapped Nico’s kid and her mother before approaching him, he had choices. What’s to say he isn’t taking us for a ride and buying time for Wilson and his militia?”

  Gabriel felt the blow of her words in his gut.

  “Shit.” He scrubbed his face. “I didn’t know.”

  “No, you didn’t, so instead of trusting me, you undermined my authority. I just can’t win with you.” She wheeled around and strode back into the office.

  He’d just broken one of the cardinal rules of undercover work.

  Assume no one is your friend.

  Gabriel had looked at Nico and, in some ways, seen himself as he could have been. A highly skilled man with no place in society, caught in an impossible situation. So Gabriel had offered Nico what Julian had offered him. A way out. The problem was, Nico wasn’t him. They didn’t know that Nico hadn’t been corrupted. That he was telling them the whole truth. Adverse conditions made men do strange things. What if Wilson had turned Nico? What if he was buying the militia time and throwing them off the trail? Nico wasn’t all that concerned about his ex-wife. Maybe he planned to run off with Becky after this was all done?

  Worst of all, he’d done exactly what he said he wouldn’t.

  Gabriel followed Nikki into the office at a slower pace. She sat in Aiden’s chair, her phone to her ear, and didn’t once look at him.

  “That’s right. Can you start on that for me? I’d appreciate it . . . No, that’s not necessary. I’ll handle it . . . Okay . . . When you’re done, send it down here and I’ll have it signed . . . You and me both . . . Okay, bye.” She hung up the phone and laid it on the desk.

  “I screwed up,” he said. He couldn’t fix what he’d done. If Nico called on him, he’d have to figure out how to make it all right, by both Nico and Nikki.

  “You did.” She lined her phone up to the edge of the desk calendar taking up most of the surface.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Will you look at me?” He stood with the desk between them, not daring enough to get closer. In her current mood Nikki would probably cut him with a look.

  She lifted her gaze to stare at him, but not with agent-cold eyes. There was anger in their depths, and it was well deserved. He might have just offered a killer a way out.

  “I should have made myself as familiar with the files as you were instead of assuming you would tell me what I needed to know. Here—that’s the way it works. It’s not bureau perfect, but it’s the system we’ve been using. I do trust you. I need to be better at showing that to you, mi amor.”

  “No, you do not get to play the relationship card.” Nikki held up her hand.

  “Relationship card?” He frowned. “I’m telling you I fucked up and I’m apologizing for it. That’s it. If you want me to be perfect, you picked the wrong man to love, mi cielo.”

  Nikki blew out a breath and pulled her feet up into the chair. She looked younger, softer than she ever had before. He liked to think these were positive changes thanks to him. Around her family and the bureau, she’d revert to her tight-laced, ever-perfect persona. But not around him.

  “I don’t expect you to be perfect, Gabe, but you consistently undermine my authority. It’s a constant reminder that you don’t trust me.”

  “I do trust you. I told you this time it was a judgment call. I made the wrong one.”

  “That’s just it. You don’t trust me enough to let me go out on a limb even if it’s the wrong one.”

  “I shouldn’t have done that, you’re right. I’m trying here. What do you want me to say?”

  Nikki closed her eyes. “I want to know you trust me as much as I trust you.”

  “I do, Nik.” He circled the desk and went to a knee, turning the office chair until he could drape his arms over either side.

  She looked down at him, her lips twisted up into something kind of like a frown.

  “I won’t make an excuse or reason away what I did. I made the wrong call and I’m admitting that, mi cielo.”

  “My sky?”

  He chuckled. She was changing the subject, which meant she wasn’t ready to let the argument die, but it was mostly over. She’d forgive him and grumble about it.

  “You’re being too literal,” he said.

  “Then what does it mean when you say that?”

  “When I call you mi cielo?”

&n
bsp; “Yeah.”

  “It means my everything. You are my world.”

  “Oh.” She blinked a few times, but she didn’t shift or brush him off. She was growing, and hopefully becoming more comfortable in their relationship.

  “What do you think about that?” he asked after a moment.

  “I think I don’t know what to say.”

  “Can we at least agree I fucked up and move on?”

  “You did fuck up.” She unfolded her legs, sliding them between him and the chair.

  “And I did apologize.”

  “You did. And thank you. I’m still . . . frustrated about it.”

  “I’ll make it up to you.”

  “I’m not keeping a tally or anything.”

  “You sure? You spend a lot of time looking at that tablet.”

  “Because unlike you, I’m studying.” She smacked his shoulder, but it was in fun.

  “Well, you are the brains of this operation.”

  “Someone has to be.”

  He leaned in and kissed her lips, once, twice, light, barely there kisses. She didn’t pull away or turn her head. He even felt her smile a bit.

  “Come on, before I bend you over the desk.” He pushed to his feet and held his hand out to her.

  “Gabe!” She glanced pointedly at the cameras.

  “Fine.”

  “Where are we going?” She put the chairs back into position while he locked the interior office door.

  “First, we pick up some bulletproof vests. Then we follow Nico. Emery has cameras all up and down this street. We can track him as far as we can trace him. He knows where he’s going, which means he probably knows where Wilson is at least.” He wanted the soldier to be on their side, but Nikki was right, there was no guarantee he wasn’t fleecing them. Too bad he hadn’t listened to her in the first place, but he didn’t mind making up with her, either.

  * * *

  You are my everything.

  Nikki took a swig of her water and stared out of the windshield.

  How could he drop that on her without warning? They’d gone from one extreme to the other in four days, not to mention fighting to full-on raging hormones. It was a big adjustment. Sure, deep down she’d had a fantasy of coming to Miami and picking up with Gabriel once more, but she hadn’t actually thought it would happen. Not after the way things had ended. But here they were.

  There was always the chance that their intense situation was a perfect breeding ground for rekindling their relationship. Once Wilson was gone, the way they thought and felt about each other could change. She hoped not. Her poor heart might not be able to take a second breaking.

  “You’re quiet,” Gabriel said.

  “I’m keeping an eye out for Nico. Emery hasn’t been able to get a read on the plates.” She checked her phone again for a new message from the tech and adjusted the lay of her Kevlar vest. A few days without wearing one, and now it felt foreign. “He said earlier he thinks Nico must have one of those plate protectors over it.”

  “Does Nico have a truck?”

  “Not one registered to his name, but there’s no telling. He could have bought one and never transferred the title.”

  “Or he could be in one of Wilson’s trucks.” His tone deepened into dangerous notes.

  Gabriel hadn’t stopped beating himself up over the missed details on Nico’s file. She appreciated how seriously he was taking the incident, especially his apologies. He’d never apologized for that before. It was progress.

  “What was the last you heard from Aiden about the hostages?” she asked.

  “Nothing. They’re getting the place cleaned up and food delivered. That’s it.”

  “Matt send the EMT team to check them out?”

  “Earlier.”

  “Good. He really is resourceful.”

  “Tell me about it. I just hope he doesn’t get his ass handed to him for helping us.”

  “It does seem like he’s making himself part of your team.”

  “You could say that. If we didn’t need him so bad, I’d run him off for his own good.”

  “No, you wouldn’t.” She smiled.

  “Why not?”

  “Because you’re like him.”

  “Like the golden boy cop? Ha. No way.”

  “Of course you are. He wants to do the right thing. He wants to help people. Sounds a lot like you.”

  “Great. Next you’re going to tell me I’m like a Care Bear.”

  “You have the stare down.”

  “Shut up.”

  She chuckled, soaking up the lighthearted moment. There were too few of them now.

  “You realize we’re within ten blocks of the storage unit?”

  “No, I hadn’t.” She sat up a little straighter.

  “Our theory that their secondary location had to be close to this seems right on the money.”

  “Should we drive it, street by street?”

  “Text Emery. Get him to do a search of the properties. We need to know anything that was sold in the last year. Large space, like a warehouse or something. Shop fronts would be too conspicuous.”

  Nikki grabbed her phone, jotting down the list of parameters, and sent it off to Emery. If she had to guess, they would get a reply in under fifteen minutes. Still, it wasn’t quick enough. They needed Nico’s insider information.

  “Hey,” Gabriel tilted his head toward her, “let’s pull the others in closer. I know we need to check out all the events happening today, but if we know this is where Wilson’s people are, we have more chance of cutting it off here.”

  “Agreed.”

  She made quick calls to Julian and John, then Roni and Tori. Until they were in the clear, Aiden would have to remain camped down with the hostages. It was a small team to work with. A little slimmer than she’d have liked, but the local office still hadn’t responded to her request for the paperwork to process Nico’s potential plea deal, and they couldn’t tip off the cops more than they already had without risking interference. They were playing too fast and loose to involve local law enforcement without some sort of warrant or evidence. Nikki and Gabriel’s eyewitness accounts just weren’t going to cut it.

  Gabriel’s phone rang through the speakers.

  She didn’t recognize the incoming number.

  “Bueno.” Gabriel threw on a heavier accent, disguising his voice a bit.

  “Half the goods are gone.” Nico’s voice was pitched low.

  “What? Where?” Nikki sat forward in her seat, clutching her phone.

  “No clue, but they’re loading up the rest of us in a dozen different vehicles.” The noise bleeding through the line was all yelling and the rev of engines.

  “Where are you going?” Gabriel asked.

  “My guess? Homestead Track. Look, the guys and I, we’re in two vehicles. We’ll do what we can to stop them, but it’s already started. They were gone before I got back, man.”

  “I know, you did what you could,” Gabriel said.

  “Where are you now, Nico?” Nikki tapped the text icon and hovered her thumbs over the keys.

  Nico rattled off the address without hesitation. She fleshed out the text and sent it to Detective Smith. Chances were the location would be empty, but they couldn’t risk not covering every option. Which meant their hand was being forced. It was time to involve cops. Bomb squads. SWAT. Everything they could, but she couldn’t coordinate that. She’d have to leave it up to Emery and Matt.

  “We’ll meet you at the track. Try to hold off doing anything until then,” she said.

  “I’ll try. Hurry. I don’t know what they’re planning. None of us do.” Nico hung up, leaving them in silence.

  Gabriel took a hard left turn. The squeal of the tires broke the tense moment.

  “I’ll redirect everyone,” she said. A couple of quick texts and their crew was covered.

  “Good. Also, warn the track. We need uniforms there. And—get a vest from the backseat.”

  She dialed, chanting Ple
ase pick up over and over again.

  “Homestead Police Department. How may I direct your call?” a chipper woman said on the other end of the line.

  “Hello, my name is Supervisory Special Agent Nikki Gage. I’m with the FBI currently in an undercover operation. I need to speak to whoever is handling the security at Homestead Track.”

  “Uh, one moment, please.”

  The line went quiet.

  “What’s going on?” Gabriel demanded.

  “I’m on hold.”

  “What?”

  The speakers rang with an incoming call on Gabriel’s phone.

  “What?” He swerved and a car horn blared at them.

  “There was an explosion at that art fair you checked out yesterday.” No emotion colored Emery’s voice.

  “What?” Nikki gasped.

  “Shit.” Gabriel pounded the steering wheel.

  “Ma’am?” Another woman answered Nikki’s line.

  “Yes?” Nikki refocused on the emergency call.

  “Anyone hurt?” Gabriel asked Emery.

  “I’m trying to verify you with the local office, but they say you aren’t working with them.” The woman’s tone was all doubt.

  Emery’s voice broke in. “No one was hurt. It opens late today, so it was poor timing on their part, lucky for us.”

  “Hold on, Emery,” Gabriel barked. He pulled the hand brake and sent them around a turn with squealing tires.

  “What?” the woman on Nikki’s phone asked.

  “Let the cops and Feds answer that one. Wilson’s people will be long gone,” Gabriel said. It was a good, rational call. Whoever placed the bomb would have left as soon as they could. If it went off without hurting anyone, it might have even been on a timer. They just couldn’t tell without examining the fragments.

  “Shit. I’m not working with the local office. I’m out of DC working with an undercover unit. Let me give you a different number. Look, there’s a bomb threat for the track. You know the explosion that just happened in Miami? It’s the same people.”

  “Bomb?” Now the woman sounded even more skeptical.

  “Look, call Deputy Director Gage, or Detective Matt Smith with Miami-Dade. They will both back me up on this. This is not a prank call.” If she could reach through the phone and wring the woman’s neck, she would.