At Any Cost

by Allie K. Adams

  He spun around and twisted the man's arm until his shoulder popped out of its socket. The man staggered back as he cried out. The next threw a punch, hitting Dan in the temple. Dizzy but still functional, Dan threw a punch of his own and knocked the guy out cold.

  The greaseball jumped him from behind. He pulled a switchblade and held it up. Dan spotted the knife and saw red. Flashbacks of Raven trying to cut out his heart blinded him. He whipped around, twisted, and had the knife in his hand in one deft move. Holding the knife up, Dan smiled.

  The gunshot came out of nowhere. Everyone froze and turned to the source. Snyder stood behind the bar, a shotgun in his hand. He stared them all down before resting his eyes on Dan.

  "Get out of my bar," Snyder ordered.

  Shit. Even Snyder thought this was part of the plan. "No."

  "I said go." He held the gun up and pointed it at Dan's chest. Instinctively, Dan brought his hands up. Either Snyder really wanted him to leave, or he had a second career in acting.

  Fine. They wanted to act out the plan? Then Dan would act out the jealous boyfriend. With modifications. "Not without my girl."

  "I'm not your girl. Not anymore." The tone of her voice made Dan question whether it was an act.

  "Come back to the room with me. Let's work this out. I love you." He almost swallowed his tongue. Why did he say that? Did he feel that way? Regardless, a barroom full of strangers wasn't the ideal place to confess one's feelings. He cupped her cheek with his hand. She closed her eyes and covered his hand with hers.

  When she opened them back up and looked at him, he felt a surge of hope. She was softening. That's it, JT. Listen to the sound of my voice. You are getting weak. Verrrrry weak.

  But then she dug her nails into his palm and twisted his hand off her face. "Nice try. I'm not falling for that line." Her voice shook as she looked up at him.

  "But—"

  "Leave me alone!" She pushed him back and turned. Right into the arms of the greaseball. He smirked at Dan as he brought his greaseball of an arm up and pulled JT to him.

  "You no safe here. You go with me."

  JT brought her gaze back to Dan. He shook his head again. "Don't do this, Jessica. Please."

  She winked, and Dan's heart sank to the bottom of the ocean. She didn't get it. She thought this had all been part of the plan. An act. "I'll go with you, Bernardo. But only if you promise to introduce me to this boss of yours. He sounds so interesting."

  "I am muy interesante."

  Every set of eyes in the bar swung to the door. Holy shit. It was him. Santos Mercado. Dressed in all white, from his fedora all the way down to his shiny white shoes. He walked with a cane of white, of course. Dan didn't notice him with a limp, which meant the cane served another purpose.

  "Is this the American woman you told me about, Bernardo?" He casually walked in, followed by half a dozen huge men all dressed in black. Bodyguards, had to be.

  "Sí, señor Mercado. Ella desea regresar con nosotros."

  He smiled, revealing a set of freshly polished teeth. Dan stole a glance at Snyder. He looked back at Dan. Yeah, Dan told him with his eyes. She really thinks she should go back to him compound with him.

  Mercado brought his attention too JT. "¿Regresar de desea de Ella nosotros contra?"

  JT darted her eyes from Mercado to Dan, then back to the man in white.

  "She doesn't speak Spanish," Dan spoke up. "Sálgala sólo. Yo le mendigo." He held the man's eyes with his own, even when he spiked his brow, mocking Dan's request to leave her alone. He clenched his hands into fists. He'd kill the bastard with his bare hands if he tried to take JT back with him.

  "¿Usted me mendiga?" Mercado sneered. "You say she does not speak Spanish, yet you do disrespect her by speaking to me when she does not understand."

  He turned back to JT. "He begs me to leave you alone. Who is he to you, my dear?"

  JT thrust out her chin, playing her part perfectly. "My ex-boyfriend, and he wants me back. He followed me here." Mercado circled JT, his eyes lazily taking every inch of her in. Dan's short nails dug into his palms.

  "Are you wanting to go with him?"

  Mercado slowly removed a white glove and brought his hand up to her cheek. As he touched her, Dan watched her skin crawl with goose bumps. His responded in kind. Goddamn it. "N-No," JT answered.

  His fingers traveled up and down her arm. "You wish to leave with me?" He brought his hand up to her chin and pulled her toward him. She turned her head just in time and his lips landed on her cheek.

  Oh, the man was going to lose his left testicle for that. Screw it. He'd lose everything below the waist. Dan took a step toward him. Drug lord or not, no one laid a hand on JT, let alone his lips.

  "You can't," Dan interrupted.

  Mercado turned his focus to Dan. "You are American, too?"

  Dan refused to answer, instead choosing to stare the man down.

  "So many Americans," he stated and smiled malevolently. "And so little time." He nodded and Dan felt a blow across the back of his neck.

  He dropped to his knees, then to his chest. He looked up to see Mercado leading JT out of the bar. Dan wanted to yell out for her, wanted to reach out for her.

  But instead his world went black.

  Chapter 17

  JT was going to ride in a limo after all. Mercado escorted her into the long white car and scooted in next to her. He then tried to kiss her again. JT yawned and turned her head.

  "I'm sorry. Do you mind if I take a nap, Mr. Mercado?"

  "Por favor, I insist you call me Santos ."

  JT smiled. That tequila went right to her head. She closed her eyes to stop the inside of the limo from spinning. "You got it." She pretended to fall asleep, resting her head on his shoulder. He said something about it being cute and left her alone. Hopefully her ears were close enough for Dan to pick up anything Mercado might have to say. She couldn't remember which side held the mic, so she scooted closer.

  JT listened as they started a conversation when they thought she'd fallen asleep. She could make out some of it, but they spoke so fast she had a tough time keeping up.

  "Blah... Blah... Peck... Blah... Tonight... Blah... Airplane."

  JT hoped the mic picked that up. Oh, Superspy? Are you getting all this?

  "He... Blah... Blah... LEON ... Blah... Ten million US dollars."

  She definitely understood that.

  "Blah... Take Marcella out... Blah... Jessica in... Blah... Reward the barkeep... Blah... Have him... Blah... The boyfriend."

  Boyfriend? What about the boyfriend? What did Mercado want Snyder to do to him? And what was that about rewarding Snyder? For what?

  She really should have paid more attention in her Spanish class.

  "Miss Jessica." Someone nudged JT awake. Her eyes flew open. Did she fall asleep? How could she fall asleep? What else did they talk about? Maybe Dan heard it all and would debrief her the next time they saw each other.

  She frowned as her pulse jumped. When would be the next time they saw each other? They never got that far in the plan.

  "Miss Jessica?"

  JT spotted a hand reaching inside the limo. She accepted it and allowed herself to be pulled out into the sunshine. Squinting to focus, she looked into the face of the man she was sent to kill.

  He smiled at her. A smile that did nothing to hide the black poison clouding his eyes. She could see the monster in him, feel it as he held her hand. As he brought it to his lips, her blood turned to ice. She'd never experienced the feeling of just raw, unbridled evil before. Apprehension washed up her spin. What had she gotten herself into?

  "Come, my dear. Meet your new familia."

  Oh good. A new family to replace the one family member she had left—the one who's now dead thanks to Dan Weber. She stopped her internal rant. That wasn't fair. He did what he thought he needed to do. Uncle Charlie new the dangers when he took the position, just as JT now faced. Unarmed and definitely undermanned, she had to find some way of taking ou
t the head of the Mercado cartel.

  She looked up at Santos as he led her up large marble steps to a mansion that rivaled the Tara plantation from Gone With The Wind . She'd never seen anything like it. Huge marble pillars flanked the doorway. As she stepped through the set of enormous double doors, she looked above her. The ceiling had to be twenty feet high. It glistened with threads of gold woven into some sort of bird. Maybe it was a flamingo. They liked flamingos down here, didn't they?

  The entry way was bigger than her entire apartment. A grand staircase, covered in red carpet, ascended in a curve to the left, lifting up to another story overlooking the one below. It wasn't fair the bad guys got to live like this, and she struggled to pay her rent each and every month.

  " Santos , mi amor." A woman with long black curls and even longer legs hurried over to Mercado. With her bright red stilettos and matching lipstick, overly tight and way too short black dress, she looked just like what JT would expect a woman pairing with Mercado to look like.

  She planted a kiss on Mercado, leaving red lipstick residue. He pulled out his white handkerchief and wiped it away, his eyes darkening with every passing moment. The way he looked at this woman scared JT, and should have scared the hell out of the woman. But she just kept on doting over the man.

  She started talking to him in Spanish, but talked way too fast for JT to pick up more than a few words. She went shopping. The shoes were new. Oh, and she loved, loved, loved him. The rest JT couldn't understand, nor did she really care to.

  "Marcella." Mercado raised his hand to shut her up. She did. Thank God for small miracles. "Speak English. This is Jessica. She does not speak Spanish."

  Marcella's chin started to shake, but she quickly recovered. She nodded and turned to Jessica, held out her hand. "Nice it is to meet you." She smiled and looked back at Mercado for his approval. He nodded, and her smile grew.

  "Suba las escaleras. Estaré con usted en breve." Mercado said to Marcella. JT caught most of it. He told her to go upstairs, and that he'll be with her soon.

  Huh. So Mercado already had himself a lady. Maybe she would just be the eye candy and would have to do anything more than sunbathe for the man.

  "Do you like your new home?"

  She shrugged. "I've seen better." She hadn't, but he didn't need to know that. "Who's Marcella?"

  Mercado laughed at her question, but his eyes remained cold. He placed his hand on the small of her back and led her around the corner, through an amazing room full of antiques, and out a set of French double doors to the back. The patio was, again, bigger than her entire apartment. He led her over to an umbrella-covered table next to the Olympic-sized pool.

  "Do not concern yourself. My devotion belongs to you."

  Yeah, right . "But Santos . We've only just met."

  "I feel as if we were destined to be together." He held her chair as she sat, then sat down with her. As he brought his eyes to her face, they narrowed.

  Her heart painfully skipped. It was as if he already knew why she'd come. He kept looking at her, waiting for her to do something. And he kept scooting his chair closer. And closer. And closer. Until he was only a foot from her side.

  She moved her chair away. When he gave her a puzzled look, she smiled. "I like my space."

  He obviously didn't believe her. "Why did you agree to come with me, Miss Jessica? You do not act as if you are agreeable to my presence."

  His English could use some work. But then again, so could hers. "It isn't that. I'm just nervous. That's all."

  "You do not need to be. I will not hurt you."

  Promise ? She fanned herself, trying to calm her nerves and think of something to say. And he kept staring at her. No, not directly at her. At her breasts. "Boy. Sure is hot. Is it always this hot on the backside of your house? Or maybe it's the fence I see off in the distance limiting the breeze. What is that, like five hundred yards?"

  He gave her a narrowed glinting glance. "What is it you said you do for a living back in America?"

  He was already suspicious. Time to tone it down. She looked around. Something had to come to mind. Come on, JT. Think!

  "Why do you hesitate?"

  "Nothing." She swallowed when she realized she spoke aloud. With a smile, she looked at him. "I don't have a job. My boyfriend took care of me."

  "Now I shall take care of you. With no job and no lover back in America, you have no need to go back."

  Oh shit. That backfired. "But I don't want to live here."

  His eyes narrowed again. "Then why are you here?"

  "I just wanted to get away for awhile."

  He reached over and took her hand in his. Her skin pricked with goose bumps. It hurt. His touch felt like ice and the coolness washed through her. "You will stay here. I could not bear the thought of you leaving me. Now that you have seen my paradise," he said and motioned around him. "There is no need to go anywhere else. Ever."

  She tried to pull her hand away, but he held it firmly in his. Too firmly. It started to tingle from the lack of circulation. Jerking her hand only made him tighten his grip. As he locked his gaze with hers, JT understood. It wasn't a request.

  It was a warning.

  After several uneasy seconds of him attempting to stare her down, he let her have her hand back. She continued to hold his gaze as she rubbed her hand to get the feeling back. Finally, he broke their contact to stand.

  "I must go. I have some business to attend to. Marcella is leaving. I will have someone bring you something refreshing to drink."

  Marcella leaving? JT wondered if Marcella knew that. She certainly didn't act like someone who planned on leaving any time soon.

  JT waved to him sweetly until he disappeared back inside his mansion. She lost her smile and slowly looked around, hoping the little mic in her earrings picked up that conversation. Translation: This guy is a psycho. Get me the hell out of here.

  The grounds were beautiful, lush and green. The pool was a crystal blue, the grass an emerald green. Mango trees kept the patio shaded. JT wanted to see what was beyond the trees. She could just make out the top of the fence. When the sun went down, she'd insist on going for a walk and check it out.

  In the meantime, she needed to check out what she could without raising suspicion. She jumped to her feet. There had to be something she could use as a weapon.

  She eyed the pool. Promising, but only if Mercado couldn't swim. JT kept searching the grounds around the pool. Eyeing the pool house, she decided that was as good as anywhere to hide weapons. A man as paranoid as Mercado would have stashes of guns across the entire compound. She just needed to find them.

  Compound? JT straightened, looked back toward the house. They were back at the compound? What happened to Mercado being in hiding? Or were they at another compound NASSD didn't know about? This didn't look familiar. Having just been at the compound less than twenty-fours ago, she should have recognized something. Anything.

  And yet she didn't. She didn't remember a pool. Then again, running away from the house as fast as she did, and in the pitch black, she couldn't see much of anything. But a pool would have been hard to miss.

  JT glanced up at the house, tracing the windows and trim with her gaze. This house stood three-stories tall. The house from last night wasn't much bigger than a bunker.

  Oh no. They were at the wrong compound last night. Even if they had succeeded in sneaking into the house, Mercado wouldn't have been there. The blood curdled in her veins when she finally and fully comprehended her position.

  They'd been sent into a trap. Then.

  And now.

  Oh she was in trouble. Big time trouble. JT turned away from the house, speaking into the air and hoping Dan picked it up from the mic in her earring. "Dan? You'd better have this thing on. I don't think this is the compound we were at last night. I don't recognize a damn thing!"

  She paused. "I'm going to go for a walk tonight after dark and take a look around. You'd better have this thing on. I'm really starting to frea
k out here. This guy is nuts. He's got the raging psycho bit down. Hopefully this thing really has GPS and you'll find me, because I haven't a clue where I am." She wanted to add the fact she was terrified out of her mind, but decided she didn't need to admit as much.

  She tried the door to the pool house. It opened. Stepping inside, she felt the wall for a light and found the switch. "I'm inside a building I'm guessing is the pool house. There are ropes on the floor." She flipped the light on and allowed her eyes to trace the room. No obvious stashes, which kept Mercado out of the 'stupid' column.

  There were large air mattresses off in the corner. She didn't know if Dan could hear her or not. But just the thought of him listening to her made her feel better. "There are some air mattresses off in the corner. I'm going to move them and see what I find."

  "¿Dónde está usted, bonita?"

  Oh no. She stepped back and turned to make her escape before they caught her snooping and grew suspicious. She jumped out of the building, tripped on the rope, and did a face plant in the grass.

  JT pulled her face out of the grass and looked up, spitting a few blades out of her mouth. Bernardo looked down at her, a puzzled look on his face. "You are looking for something?"

  Think fast, Turner . "Yes." She darted her eyes around and spotted the pool. Jumping up, she pointed at the water behind them. "I wanted to take a dip in the pool. I was just looking for a suit."

  Bernardo eyed her frame, a slow and sleazy smile spreading across his creepy lips. "Muy bueno. I find suit and come keep you company."

  Swell. JT forced a smile. "That would be—" She couldn't bring herself to finish, and didn't have to. Just as she paused, a single gunshot rang out. "What was that?"

  Bernardo looked back at the house, his gaze lifting to a second-story window. "Señor Mercado. He was, how you say, having final moment with Marcella."

  His last moment? Or Marcella's? "Did he kill her?"

  Bernardo traced her frame again. "I find suit for you." He hurried away, leaving JT standing alone.