No. I can’t do that to her.
Why not? This wouldn’t be happening if she hadn’t done something to piss off these men. It was her fault. She had left him.
“What is the password?” Pablo asked and Gregory opened his eyes to see the man had set Gregory’s and Tori’s laptops on a workbench. Pablo had Gregory’s laptop open and ready at the password screen.
Before Gregory could respond, John kicked his shattered leg. He shrieked with pain, unable to speak for a moment as tears flushed his cheeks. Spots appeared before his eyes and he nearly passed out.
“Password,” Pablo demanded again.
In between sobs, Gregory gave it to him.
Pablo entered the password and Gregory’s desktop came up with icons for all the applications he used. The tracker app that would locate Tori’s phone was on the right side of the screen. Pablo clicked on the address book icon first.
When the address book popped up, Pablo did a search. He looked at Gregory and scowled. “I find nothing for a Henry and Josie Cox.”
John raised his leg to slam his foot into Gregory’s broken leg.
“Wait!” Gregory screamed. “It’s probably on her computer.” He sobbed. “I don’t have their address on mine.”
Pablo stared at him for a long moment. “I believe you.” He turned to the other laptop. “Is this Tori’s?”
“Yes.” Gregory could barely get the word out.
“What is her password?” Pablo asked.
John started to bring his foot down on Gregory’s thigh again, but he shrieked, “I’ll give it to you. I’ll give it to you! Just promise you’ll stop.”
“I don’t promise anything.” Pablo sat on the edge of the workbench. “Except more pain if you do not talk.”
“Anything you want, I’ll give to you.” Gregory gave out each symbol, letter, and number in her password and Pablo wrote them down. On installing the program, Gregory had been impressed with her complicated password.
When he finished giving the information to Pablo, the man hit Enter and Tori’s desktop came up. He clicked on the address book icon and it opened. He immediately went to Cox.
“Ah, here it is.” Pablo gave a smile and flashed a glance at Gregory. “If you gave me the correct information.”
“I did.” Gregory let out his breath. “Josie and Henry are her parents.”
Pablo seemed satisfied as he scanned the address book. “She has many friends who we may find interesting to talk to as well.”
Gregory thought of Tori’s best friend, Paula. He’d never liked her, but he couldn’t imagine her being strung up like the men had done to him.
“Look here.” John pointed to the screen of Gregory’s computer, drawing Pablo’s attention. “I recognize this app.” He cut his gaze to Gregory then to Pablo. “This is an app for a special tracker for a car or in a phone, independent of the phone as a power source.”
Gregory watched, his heart sinking, as John opened the app. John had a satisfied leer on his face. “This shows exactly where she is. She’s in Bisbee and she’s on a street near the high school.”
Pablo smiled at John. “Excellent.” Pablo turned his smile on Gregory. “Thank you for making this easy for us.”
Gregory hung his head. If he didn’t writhe now in so much agony, he would have thought all this to be a horrible nightmare. But the screaming pain in his body told him all too well he hadn’t died…yet.
God knew he loved Tori. His obsession with her had started before he had introduced himself, and she belonged to him. But now these men would kill her—unless they planned to torture her first. Gregory closed his eyes again, shutting out the image of Tori being tortured and murdered.
Pablo’s voice broke into Gregory’s rambling thoughts. “Is there anything else you can tell me?”
Gregory looked at Pablo again. “What did she do? Why do you want her?”
Pablo studied Gregory. “She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. For that she must die.”
Chills racked Gregory’s body from Pablo’s words. “Tori is an innocent. She doesn’t deserve to die.”
Pablo shrugged. “My boss tells me she does. So we will find her and kill her.”
A lone tear rolled down Gregory’s cheek and he looked away. Tori belonged to him and had been his to do with as he wanted. She belonged to him. But it meant he should protect her and in the end he hadn’t. He’d failed her.
Gregory heard a click and knew Pablo had cocked his gun.
He managed to cast his eyes up at the man and saw the barrel pointed at his head. Death would be better than being alive and knowing what Tori would go through because of him. He welcomed death rather than suffering any longer, his body one incredible mass of agony.
Gregory’s throat tightened as he stared at the gun. He raised his chin, determined to die with some shred of dignity.
“I am pleased you have been of some use.” Pablo gave a slow smile, a smile nothing short of evil. “Goodbye, Mr. Smith.”
Pablo pulled the trigger.
Chapter 10
Back at the safe house, Landon gestured in the direction of the front door. “I’ll grab dinner for us and be back after I meet up with my mom.”
“Okay.” Tori felt numb from everything that had happened.
“Hey.” Landon rested one hand on her shoulder. “Two of the best are here with you. Everything’s going to be all right.”
She nodded, but even though she liked O’Donnell and Johnson, she still felt as if she’d be safer with Landon.
Landon gave her shoulder one last squeeze, along with a reassuring look, before heading out of the kitchen.
Tori’s hand shook as she brought it up and put it over her mouth. She felt as though she wanted to cry or scream, maybe both. She’d never been so scared in her life. To have a powerful cartel after her—would anyplace be safe?
She’d told Landon she would testify and that meant no changing her mind. He wouldn’t let the cartel get to her. She needed to be brave.
Be brave…
She wasn’t sure she could be—it took everything she had not to lose herself to complete and total fear.
How could her brother ever have sunk so low as to deal with people like the members of the Jimenez Cartel?
Johnson came into the kitchen, carrying a paperback book. “You all right?”
She nodded, moved her hand away from her mouth and straightened her spine. “I’m fine.”
Johnson went to the back door and peered through the blinds prior to moving to the table. He sat where he could easily see both the back door and the entrance from the living room into the kitchen. He’d holstered his gun at his side. It reassured her to see that both agents wore weapons at all times.
He showed her the paperback, a thick one. Stephen King’s The Stand. She’d read the book at least three times over the years.
He lowered the book. “There’s a bookshelf in one of the bedrooms if you like to read.”
“Thanks.” She wiped her sweaty palms on her jeans. “I’ll see what I can find.”
She had the first bedroom, but it didn’t have a bookcase. A bookcase with three shelves stood against the wall in the second bedroom. It housed a selection of fiction and non-fiction. She usually liked suspense, but right now, she felt as if she lived in a thriller and had no desire to read anything close to that. She picked up a historical romance by Susan Wiggs then went back to her room and lay on the bed with her head on the hard pillow and started to read.
Books were a wonderful way to escape without actually going anywhere. But this time she had a hard time focusing. She kept seeing Alejandro shoot Miguel and she kept going over and over the scene in her mind. Had she missed anything else that could help in the case against the Jimenez Cartel?
Tori woke to a darkened room. She’d drifted off without intending to. The growing darkness made her feel jumpy, as if someone might pop out of the room’s shadows at any moment and her heartbeat stepped up. She swung her legs over the
side of the bed and fumbled for the switch on the lamp on the lone nightstand then clicked it on. Immediately the light flooded the room with a soft yellow glow and her heart slowed to a more reasonable pace.
The sound of the front door opening and closing had her getting to her feet. Landon, it had to be. The delicious smells of pizza met her when she walked into the living room. The warm smell covered up the musty odor of a house clearly not lived in often.
Landon set the pizza on the coffee table. He looked up and smiled at her. “How are you doing?”
“Fine.” She smiled. “And, thanks to the great smell, I’m now hungry.”
He opened one of the two large boxes. From out of a bag he brought a stack of paper plates, a bunch of paper napkins, and packets of crushed red chili peppers. On the floor beside the couch were several shopping bags—he must have carried everything all at once.
Moments later, O’Donnell had pepperoni pizza on a paper plate and had kicked back to watch TV again. Landon handed Tori a plate with two slices then put three large pieces onto the third and fourth plates, which he carried into the kitchen. Tori and Landon sat at the kitchen table with Johnson after giving the man his pizza.
Even with the other agent there, Tori got lost in her attraction to Landon. While she ate her pizza, she found herself stealing glances at him as he talked with Johnson. She ached to run her fingers over the coarse stubble along Landon’s jaws and trace his firm lips with her tongue.
A stirring in her belly sent tingles of awareness throughout her body. Her hardened nipples pressed against her crop top and she feared that her desire would be noticed by Landon. Maybe even his fellow agent.
Landon glanced at her, catching her watching him. Their gazes met and held for a long moment before he looked at Johnson, who’d just asked him a question.
Tori wiped her mouth with a napkin as she finished her second piece. “It reminds me of when I lived here in town and we used to hang out at the pizza place where you got this.” She smiled when Landon glanced at her again. “Bisbee might be a small town in the southwest, but I swear it has the best pizza ever.”
He nodded. “They do make a mean pizza.”
After he’d finished eating his third piece, he and Tori took the shopping bags from the living room and into the bedroom assigned to her. She dumped out the bags onto the bed to see his mother had bought her jeans, tops, and socks as well as a large T-shirt and comfy sweatpants to sleep in like Tori had told Landon she preferred.
Her cheeks felt a little warm when she emptied another bag containing panties and bras. It felt intimate having him see what she would be wearing beneath her clothing.
His mother had also purchased a black overnight bag to carry everything in, as well as every kind of toiletry a girl could need, along with a toothbrush, hairbrush, and comb. She put those into a bag she would take with her into the bathroom when she got ready for bed.
“Tell your mom thank you for me.” Tori looked at Landon and paused, feeling a moment of awkwardness and embarrassment. “And thank you for everything. You saved my life and you’ve been looking out for me. I owe you more than I can ever repay.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” Landon’s low voice vibrated through her. “I’m just doing my job.”
She shook her head. “You’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.” She stopped talking, suddenly unable to think of another word to say.
For a long moment, they stared at each other. As the silence lingered, the tension grew stronger between them. At that moment she knew his attraction to her matched her desire for him—his eyes and his expression told her he felt the same way. She’d known him for such a short time, yet she knew the attraction went beyond sexual.
The incredible need to have him touch her made her want to slide into his embrace. What would it be like to have his hands caressing her, his lips covering her own? She had to know, every part of her being straining in his direction.
When he moved closer to her, she had to look up to meet his gaze. Without really thinking about her actions, she took a step toward him and stopped with only a couple of inches still separating them. She swallowed as his body heat warmed her through and she caught his scent that made her even crazier for him.
Butterflies stirred in her belly and she could see an even stronger desire reflected in his eyes. She wanted—needed—his hands on her. To kiss him, to taste him.
He didn’t move, just looked at her as if he had frozen in place. She raised her hands and slid them up his chest, his muscles flexing beneath her palms.
A low groan rumbled up inside him and he grasped her hips and pulled her closer, her body snug against his. He lowered his head, ever so slowly. She didn’t wait for him. She rose up on her toes, moved her mouth to his, and his firm lips pressed to her own.
He kissed her gently, but she felt the tension in his body as if he were fighting to restrain himself. She gave a soft moan as she kissed him harder, slipping her tongue between his lips.
He lost the tight rein on his control. He groaned louder this time and kissed her with a fierceness that set all of her senses on fire. His mouth moved over hers, taking, demanding. He gently bit her lower lip and she gasped at the eroticism of that one little action.
Her nipples tightened and she ached at the juncture of her thighs. She desired Landon with everything she had. She wanted to climb him, wrap her legs around his waist, and hold on for the ride she knew he’d give her.
She clenched his T-shirt in her hands and her mind spun as she became lost in the kiss. He slid his hands along her curves, over the bare skin of her back revealed by her crop top. She loved the feel of his hard body against her softer form. The ridge of his cock pressed into her belly and she gasped into his mouth, the sound lost in the kiss.
When he raised his head, she almost whimpered from the loss of his lips on hers. His pupils were dilated, his chest rising and falling with each harsh breath. Her ragged breathing grew stronger and she could do nothing but be lost in the depths of his gaze. The moment stretched out, the silence between them heavy with their desire.
“I’m sorry.” His expression looked pained as he released her hips. He caught her off guard, capturing her wrists and drawing her hands away from his chest. “That shouldn’t have happened.”
She blinked, the spell binding them vanishing with those few words. Her cheeks heated and she dropped her gaze as she stepped back. With her gaze still averted, she tried to pull her wrists from his grasp but he didn’t release her.
“No.” She looked back at him. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have—”
“Ah, hell.” He lowered his head and captured her mouth with his, still gripping her wrists in his hands. He took her mouth in a demanding kiss, like a man staking his claim.
This time, when he pulled back, she turned her face to him, her moist lips parted, her eyes wide. His expression burned as fiercely as his kiss had done.
“I’ve never crossed this line before.” He kept her wrists clasped in one of his big hands. He brushed the knuckles of his free hand over her cheek and she shivered from the sensual touch. “But I don’t know if I can keep my hands off you, Tori. I can’t explain it.”
“You don’t have to explain.” She searched his gaze. “I feel it too.”
“This isn’t a good idea.” He blew out his breath and swallowed hard. “It’s not good at all.”
She opened her mouth to say how good, how right it felt to her and she wouldn’t change a thing. She wanted him and opened her mouth to tell him. She lost the words in an instant.
The lights went out.
Chapter 11
Landon’s senses went on full alert and prickles scrabbled up and down his spine. The blinds blocked what little light might have come from the moon or a streetlight, making the room dark.
“What happened to the lights?” Tori’s voice wavered.
“Get behind the door and stay down,” he told her. “I�
��m going to find out.”
His eyes adjusting to the darkness, he saw a flash of fear cross her face before she hurried to do what he’d told her to.
He drew his Colt .45 and peered out of the doorway. The darkness made it impossible to see anything down the hall. He eased out of the bedroom and moved toward the living room, holding his weapon with the muzzle pointed up.
The TV no longer blared in the living room, leaving it as silent as the bedroom had been. “O’Donnell.” Landon spoke in a low voice as he reached the archway into the living room.
“We’ve got company.” O’Donnell kept his voice down, his response coming from the direction of the front door. “I’ve called for reinforcements.”
His eyes now accustomed to the dark, Landon could make out O’Donnell’s outline to the left of the door. He’d be behind the door, waiting, if someone breached it.
Landon eased along the wall toward the kitchen and crouched beside the doorway. “Johnson.”
“I’ve got the back door.” Johnson’s hushed tone gave Landon a small measure of relief.
No doubt Jimenez’s men were outside the safe house. Landon prayed they did not have night-vision goggles, so the dark would handicap them too.
How the hell had they found the safe house?
Landon gritted his teeth. He’d promised Tori she’d be safe here, and somehow the cartel had tracked them down. There could be only three options. One, Landon hadn’t been careful enough and he’d been followed. Two, somehow when they’d gone back to the scene, the cartel had put a tracker on his vehicle or the other agents’ SUV. Three, a traitor existed in the DHS, a possibility Landon had a hard time believing but couldn’t discount.
None of those options sat well with him or seemed remotely possible.
Then how had the cartel found them?
Gunfire erupted, the rounds of a machine gun tearing through the walls. Drywall and wood splinters exploded with the impact of every round. Landon dove for cover behind the couch. His weapon gripped in both hands, he peered around the couch and saw O’Donnell had flattened himself on the floor. The agent propped himself up on his forearms, still gripping his weapon.
Hidden Prey Page 9
