by Shauna Allen
Text copyright ©2018 by the Author.
This work was made possible by a special license through the Kindle Worlds publishing program and has not necessarily been reviewed by Stoker Aces Production, LLC. All characters, scenes, events, plots and related elements appearing in the original Special Forces: Operation Alpha remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Stoker Aces Production, LLC, or their affiliates or licensors.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, I couldn’t possibly publish a book in this Kindle World without thanking the phenomenal, amazing, wonderful, and most generous Susan Stoker. It was such a serendipitous blessing to meet you, and I am so thankful to get to call you friend. Thank you for all you do both inside and outside the writing world.
Much love to all my other writerly friends who help behind the scenes to make this, and all of my books, shine. (Plus they make writing fun!) Susan Muller, Kimberly Dawn, and Ella Gram. My three amigos! The same to my Divas—Selena, Sharla, Jamie, and Jennie. You girls are my sounding board, and more importantly, true and solid friends in a world where that is very rare. Thank you.
More love to my awesomesauce Shauna’s Angels Street Team, who provide me with unending love and support and make it all worthwhile. You gals rock!!!
And, lastly, and definitely most importantly, all of my love and gratitude to my husband and my three amazing children. You are my heart and soul.
~ ~
***Please continue reading after the last page for a complete listing of all my books, including my Family Creed series and my YA series written as SC Montgomery.***
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Prologue
Grace
I could ignore a lot.
I’d seen too much in my short life to not have learned how to survive in a world of cartel corruption and violence. It wasn’t the life I would have chosen, but it was what I’d been forced into, my father the third in command under the notorious drug lord, Enrique Mendez. Both were now dead—Mendez killed by American special forces in a raid, and my father several years earlier in a firefight with another cartel. With my mother long gone, I’d been left in violent hands, raised by my uncle and bloodthirsty monsters, but at least there had been some loyalty to my father’s memory and I enjoyed the life of a cartel princess.
At least until Mendez was killed.
Now, Marco Esteban is the leader and he would just as soon kill me as he would a cockroach. I’m really not sure why I’m still alive—I know too many secrets—other than the fact that I’ve kept quiet and off his radar while he’s been forced to deal with more important matters.
Still, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being watched. It crawls over my skin like fire ants, burning me alive. I can’t get away. I have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. I’m caught in his trap, awaiting either my miracle or my execution.
God, how I long for simpler times, when I was just a girl, running and playing under the mango trees with my best friend, Brianne. Her white-blonde hair and big, blue eyes always fascinated me, as did her American accent, but since I had English tutors, we could communicate just fine. Attending the same fancy private school, her father a diplomat, mine a cartel lord, gave us certain privileges, but when we were young, we didn’t see any danger. Everything just seemed so fun.
It wasn’t fun anymore.
I peered out my blinds for the tenth time that morning. Nothing. My skin continued to crawl as the feeling of being watched amplified, even as the sun broke through the haze of dawn.
I hurried through a shower then dressed for work, the unease never leaving me. I picked up my phone and tried Brianne’s number again. It rolled straight to voicemail. Again.
“Hey, Bri. It’s Grace. Where are you? You haven’t answered my calls for weeks. This isn’t like you and I’m worried.” I paused and bit my lip. “Call me back. I need to talk to you. Love you.” I didn’t dare say anything specific just in case someone was listening to my calls. If and when she ever called back, I’d see if she could meet me somewhere private. Maybe help me figure out why I was feeling so tangled up and scared.
Suddenly, the phone rang in my hand, making me jump. I answered without checking the caller ID. “Bri?”
“Sorry to disappoint, Miss Trevino,” he drawled in Spanish, his voice deep and menacing.
I swallowed, my stomach sinking to my toes, and answered him in Spanish. “Good morning, Mr. Esteban. I apologize. I thought it was someone else calling. What can I do for you?”
“I had hoped to meet in person, but important business has kept me away. Still, I don’t like to discuss such matters over the phone. How soon can you be to your office, so we can have a video conference?”
I didn’t bother to ask him how he knew where I was. “Twenty minutes, sir.”
“Make it fifteen.” Then he hung up.
I’d learned quickly you never defied the boss, so I grabbed my bag and rushed out to my car to get to the office. What could possibly be so important that he would need to speak to me by computer? That meant he wanted to see my face when he said whatever it was he had to say. Not a good sign. Or was it? Maybe he had a job for me to do? Something in real estate, which was my chosen profession? Something utilizing my other, more hidden skills? No. They had other, more talented people for that now, and I’d been more than grateful to have lived under their radar for the past few months.
Or so I thought.
My intuition was screaming at me as I sped to the office, swerving around slower vehicles, and I made it in fourteen minutes flat.
I ran inside and sprinted for the computer in my office. I booted it up and hit the icon for the video conference site.
It rang with an incoming call immediately.
I sucked in a breath, straightened my shoulders, and hit accept.
Mr. Esteban’s round face came into view. “Miss Trevino,” he drawled. “You look lovely this morning.”
“Thank you, sir.” I fought the urge to fidget. He didn’t seem angry. In fact . . . was that a smile? Something was off.
He pulled another man into the frame with him. “You remember my younger brother, Juan?”
Juan leered at me as I took in his greased-back hair and loose jowls.
“Yes, sir. I remember him. Hello, Juan.”
Mr. Esteban continued to speak while Juan eyed me as if he could eat me up through the computer screen, while behind them muffled sounds carried through the speakers as if several people were in the background. My gut crawled uncomfortably. Juan was into even dirtier dealings than his brother and I could only imagine what they wanted me to do for him. Perhaps go back to infiltrating opposing cartels to recover assets—
“. . . wedding.”
I snapped back to attention. “Excuse me, sir?”
“The wedding. Next week.”
Something painfully hot curled in my stomach like a cattle brand. “Wedding?”
Now Mr. Esteban frowned, his brows thundering down, making his face a storm cloud. “Yes, Miss Trevino. Your wedding. To my brother.”
I began to shake my head as I started to tremble violently. �
�No . . . no, that’s . . . I’m not . . . I can’t—”
“You can, and you will.” His steely glare cut through me like a blade as Juan continued to leer. “Need I remind you who you work for?” His words clearly translated to I belonged to him and I shook even harder. “I’ve allowed you your freedom to come and go and have your little career, so long as you understood your loyalty to me was first and foremost.”
I opened my mouth to plead my loyalty, but he cut me off.
“Your father was a good soldier. I swore to him when we both worked for Mr. Mendez that if anything happened to him I would take care of his little princess, and I have fulfilled my end of the bargain, asking very little of you in return. But please don’t think me a fool, Grace. You know our ways. Our secrets. You are a liability and we must keep an eye on you.”
I frowned, wondering what had brought this on so suddenly. Then, as I felt Juan’s eyes like slime on my flesh, I knew the answer. He’d been making inappropriate comments to me since the moment we met. His intentions had always been clear, and he’d finally found a way to get what he wanted by exploiting his brother’s position and planting suspicion and doubt about my loyalty.
“Mr. Esteban . . . sir . . .” My voice took on a pleading tone as I imagined every possible thing that Juan could do to me. I couldn’t allow it. This couldn’t be happening. “I’d never—”
“I’ve learned that you never say never, Miss Trevino,” he bit back. “I’m sorry if I gave you the impression that you have a choice in this matter. You don’t.”
Something thick and hard thunked in my chest like a block of ice. They didn’t want to use my skills. They never had. They wanted to put me on a leash. This was an ultimatum. It was a wedding or my life. I simply knew too much. Marriage to Juan Esteban was their way of keeping me in check so I didn’t spill cartel secrets.
I opened my mouth to say I’d rather choose death over a forced marriage to a monster, but the words were ripped from my lips as a third man appeared on screen with a woman in his arms.
I took in her ratty, blonde hair, sunken, hopeless eyes, and too-thin frame. A gasp escaped before I could stop it. “Bri!”
I had no words, seeing my best and oldest friend like that.
I was beyond heartbroken. Beyond scared.
Then, my eyes caught on a note on my desk, scribbled in a small, unfamiliar scrawl. How had I missed it when I first sat down?
Do you feel Lucky?
Just those ominous words and a foreign phone number. Nothing more. Who had left this? Esteban’s crew? Was it a threat? It made no sense. In this moment, nothing did.
I glanced back up at Brianne and she blinked her too-large blue eyes at the screen as if seeing me for the first time. “Don’t do it, Gracie,” she whispered, her voice coarse like sandpaper.
But I knew, in that moment, I’d do anything to save her.
One
Lucas
“Dude, will you sit down? You’re wearing a hole in the already shitty carpet.” Tex didn’t even bother to glance up from his computer screen as he typed away, working his magic on the stuff I’d downloaded from Grace Trevino’s computer. He’d been at it all damn day, and so far, we’d learned nothing more than she had a mile-long list of high-end real estate clients, a penchant for expensive lingerie, and a firewall to rival the CIA.
I pivoted and flopped down on the end of my creaky bed, raking a hand over my head. “Sorry, brother. Sitting still has never been my strong suit.”
Dark eyes flashed up to mine. “No shit.”
I huffed out a laugh. “How about I go find us some dinner?”
“Sounds like a plan, just nothing from that hole in the wall you found last time. And take your time. Grab a beer or something. This might take me a while and all your nervous energy is killing my focus, man.”
I froze, my stare telling him what I thought of his words.
He belted out a laugh. “All good things to those who wait and work for it, Lucky, my man.”
I stood. “Yeah. Right. Okay.” I grabbed up my wallet. “You focus. I’ll drink. See you in a few.”
He nodded, but was already back to clicking keys and focusing on whatever was on his screen.
“I’ll update the team too,” I added as I stepped out the door.
“Yup.”
I drove around town for a while, but somehow, I found myself back in front of Grace’s house. I knew she was probably still at work, but something about knowing she most likely hid her darkest secrets behind these walls drew me like a moth to the flame. I wanted to be inside her head. I wanted to know what made her tick. Her computer was too clean and something about that bothered me. Something about that fucking white wolf painting in her office bothered me even more.
Could she be—?
My phone rang from my pocket, killing my train of thought.
“Yeah?”
“Lucky. What’s good, bro?”
“Hey, Bubba. I was actually getting ready to call you, man.” I tapped out a drum solo on the steering wheel to silent music as I studied her empty house. “Nothing new yet. Tex is still digging through her computer files. She’s laying low, no major movement. How about with you guys?”
“All good. Wolf and his team are on a quick mission to South America. Something with a competing cartel. He said they’d keep us updated if anything came up related to Esteban. Kinda wish we were with ‘em because Tito’s got us doing nothing but PT and paper pushing from our last mission.”
“Missing the field already?”
“Damn straight.”
“Well, at least you have Scarlett and the boys there with you.”
“True.”
“They settling in okay?”
“They are. They boys love the beach and Scarlett really loves working with Rebekah at the café. Though, I’m not sure how long she’ll be able to keep it up. She’s already getting so big.”
“Don’t let her hear you say that, man.” I laughed, my eyes skating over Grace’s neatly trimmed bushes.
“Nah. Never. I tell her she’s glowing.” He cleared his throat. “So, when do you think you and Tex will head back?”
I sunk into my seat as a black Escalade coasted past slower than necessary. “Uh . . . probably in a day or two, depending on what Tex finds when he finishes going over her files. If he finds anything worth following up on, we might stay longer.”
“Aren’t you going to make contact with her?”
“I haven’t decided yet.” I hadn’t told them about the wolf painting, unsure of the implications. Could be nothing. Could be everything. Until I knew, I was going to keep it to myself.
“Lucky—”
The black Escalade slid past me again, going the other way, slower this time. The driver’s window rolled down as it passed, the driver eyeballing me with deadly intent. “I gotta go, man.” I ended the call and put the car into gear, hitting the gas before Bubba could question me.
I took off, watching my rearview mirror for a tail.
The Escalade kept going in the opposite direction, making no move to follow me. Guess he figured he’d made his point. Still, it rankled that I’d been made. That I’d been sloppy. Over a woman.
“Fuck!”
I sped through the crowded streets, meandering in no particular direction, until I was sure I was not being followed. After a good half an hour, I slowed and found some food before circling back to the motel.
I checked my weapon before exiting the vehicle, then slipped out and up the stairs to our room. I let myself in, locked the door, and peered out the peephole to double-check the corridor, before meeting Tex’s questioning gaze.
“Don’t ask.” I set the food down. “Tell me you found something.”
“Actually . . .” He stood and followed his nose toward the bags of tacos. “I did.”
“Yeah?”
He yanked out a taco and slathered on the homemade salsa. He bit, chewed, and swallowed, while I waited impatiently. “She’s definitely in
with Esteban.” I raised a brow. “How tight or how deep, I can’t tell just yet since she’s got her shit locked up tight, but there’s a definite connection. Emails, teleconference calls, that kind of thing.”
I grabbed my own taco. “That’s not much. He could’ve been a client.”
“True. But do you really believe that?”
“No.” I bit and sat back to think. “Still, we need more.”
“Well, there is something else . . .”
I glanced up sharply. “What?”
“I’m actually not sure. It’s weird. Some kind of embedded code. I found it just before you got back, so I haven’t had time to dig deep. I’ll have to play with it some more to be able to tell what it is for sure.”
“Any clue at all?”
“If I had to guess? The only time I’ve seen anything even remotely like it was in spy software.”
“You think she’s a spy?”
He shrugged.
“For who?”
He grabbed one of the bottles of Coke. “Like I said, I’ve gotta keep digging.”
My mind began to churn with possibilities. Spy software? What the hell?
On the table, the satellite phone rang shrilly. I leaned over and grabbed it, shooting a glance at Tex. I checked the ID screen. The incoming number wasn’t one of the stored government numbers. Something made my heart leap to my mouth.
I hit accept. “Hello?”
A soft female voice began rattling off in Spanish, her words wobbly and frightened.
“Whoa, whoa. Slow down.” I swallowed and looked at Tex again. “Who is this?”
“Grace.” She sucked in a breath over the line and my brow lifted to my hairline in surprise as she flipped to accented English. “Grace Trevino, and I need your help.”
~ ~
I didn’t trust the situation one bit, but Grace Trevino had offered me an opportunity that was too damn good to pass up. After her cryptic call, Tex had grilled me, but I had no details to give him.
“She wants to meet me at midnight in the alley behind her office. Won’t say why, just that she needs help.”
He reclined back and laced his fingers behind his head. “Help?”
