Intercepted by Love: Part Five: A Football Romance (The Quarterback's Heart Book 5)

by Ayala, Rachelle

  Other hands restrained her, how many, she didn’t know, except her dress was ripped from her body, and rude fingers yanked her panties and tossed her bra.

  She was pushed face down on the bed and examined. Even though her FBI trainer had told her to relax, to let them frisk her for wires, Andie’s veins were flooded with adrenaline and she bucked and twisted as hard as she could.

  “It’ll be easier if you cooperate,” Ronaldo said, his voice as cold as ice. “Tie her up.”

  Cuffs clamped her hands and feet, and someone pulled the chains over the bed, ratcheting them until she was stretched to the limit, her arms and legs at all four points of the compass.

  Again, the fingers examined her from head to toe. Tears leaked from Andie’s eyes and she whimpered, no longer caring to be tough. She should have gone with Cade and aborted the mission. What if they left her here or killed her? Her screams were useless anyway, and she didn’t have her transmitter.

  “She’s clean,” one of the goons announced after the poking and prodding stopped. Someone else fitted an earpiece into her ear and swept her hair to cover it.

  “We’re going to uncuff you, only if you cooperate. Otherwise, you forfeit your share,” Ronaldo said with his ice cold voice, in contrast to his usual joking snark.

  Andie nodded and tried to relax. The worst part was over. Adrenaline zinged through her veins and she was ready for whatever came next. The most important thing was to nail the crooks and rescue Cade’s mother. Her mind sharpened, no longer fuzzy, and she focused on the endgame. “I’ll cooperate. Don’t worry about me.”

  “Good, get dressed and meet me outside,” Ronaldo said. “The game is winding down. Five minutes.”

  The four cuffs clicked, unlocking, and everyone left the room. Andie found a jade green dress and a necklace—a green four-leaf clover which fronted a voice activated transmitter. Natasha had said she shouldn’t assume anything, so she put on the necklace, and slipped into the too tight and clingy dress.

  They hadn’t bothered to leave her any underwear, so she pulled the dress over her butt, barely, and found sparkly green stilettos at the foot of the bed.

  Every beat of her her heart punctuated her nerves, but Andie took a deep, cleansing breath and opened the door.

  Without a word, Ronaldo took her hand and kissed her cheek, then led her like a trophy to the gaming table. This time, she didn’t need to put any money down.

  As soon as she took her seat, the croupier passed a pile of chips to her, and she waited for the voice to connect in her earpiece.

  No one was at the wheel except for her and the croupier. Even Ronaldo had disappeared. All casinos had video monitoring above every table, the so-called eye in the sky, so Andie was sure the bookmakers were watching her every move.

  The connection was made, and she heard the noise of the football game. Coaches shouted plays and whoever was connected to her breathed heavily, as if he were full of nerves.

  The crowd roared and the referees’ whistles blew.

  “Miss, you there at the table?” the man’s voice said.

  “Yes, I’m ready,” Andie replied.

  “Bet on red and put another chip on four.”

  She cast in her mind whether she’d ever heard the man before. His voice was deep and honey-toned, almost like a singer’s bass voice. Melodious.

  “Red and four,” Andie confirmed. She placed one chip inside on the number four and another one outside on the word ‘Red.’

  This was really too easy, except for the subterfuge. Who was this guy?

  “If I need you to back out of it, play zero,” the voice said.

  “Got it.”

  “Wait for the play.”

  Meanwhile, in front of her, the croupier said, “No more bets.”

  As if there were anyone else around the table. Andie watched the turn of the wheel and the hopping little ball while she listened to the noise on the field—the thudding of the men hitting each other and the ‘Shit’ expelled by her contact.

  “Okay, I need you to back it out. Play zero.”

  “Sure, no problem,” Andie replied. “Zero on the next spin.”

  A few minutes later, the voice said. “Go black and six.”

  “Got it, black and six.”

  Again, she heard the background of coaches shouting. Someone said, “Hey, Rob, you talking to your girlfriend again?”

  “Fuck,” the voice said right before cutting the connection.

  Rob Cash! That asshole. She should have known. The problem now was to prove it was him. Her effing voice recorder was gone, and it would be her word against his. But glee rose in her heart and she felt like jumping up and down and clapping. Rob was the crook. They’d gotten their man.

  All that remained was to find out why he wanted to kill Cade’s mother and where he was holding her.

  The little ball rolled and rolled, jumping and skittering. It landed on six, a black number.

  “Squee!” Andie bounced on her seat and clapped. “I win. What do I do now?”

  The croupier put the glass dolly on her chip. “I reckon you collect. Thirty-six to one on a hundred thousand dollar chip. You’re one lucky girl wearing the four-leaf clover.”

  Andie waited, but her earpiece was not connected again. Ronaldo returned to the room and clapped a hand on her shoulder. “Game’s over. Warthogs blocked the field goal attempt and ran it back for a touchdown.”

  “Warthogs won? Flash lost?” Andie clarified.

  “Yep, and the spread was exactly six. Good job.” He clamped an arm over her shoulder and kissed her on the lips, short and impersonal, while slipping the earpiece from her ear. He handed her a green leather purse. “Here are your winnings. You’re free to go back to your husband.”

  “You mean back to my room?”

  “Yes, don’t ask any more questions.” Ronaldo pinched her arm, pushing her into the elevator. He tapped a code into the panel and stepped out of the elevator right before the door closed.

  Andie opened the purse and gasped. It was full of chips. But why was she going back to the room she shared with Owen? Wasn’t she supposed to turn the chips over to the crooks so the Feds could catch them in action?

  Suddenly, she wasn’t feeling well anymore. Dizziness overtook her as her mind worried over the details. A jolt froze her veins and her heart slammed in her chest. What if Owen was the mastermind of the entire operation? What if all the FBI people she met were criminals? What would happen to her now?

  No one was watching her. She could throw the chips away or call the police and turn them in. But would they believe her or think she was crazy?

  The elevator door opened to the main casino. Andie stepped out as the doorman held the door. She glanced at her surroundings, but no one made a move toward her.

  What to do? What to do? She had no identification, no cell phone, nothing but the bag of chips worth millions of dollars. The only person she could trust was Cade, but where was he?

  They couldn’t possibly let her go with all this money, just walking around. Should she go back to her room and find that prepaid cell phone so she could contact Cade? But then whoever they were could be there, waiting to ambush her.

  Andie wobbled on the stilettos that didn’t quite fit her. Decision made. She wouldn’t go anywhere until she found Cade.

  Walking around the casino, she peered at the groups huddled around the gaming tables. When she was young, her mother had always told her to go back to the last place she saw someone if she was lost.

  Cade hadn’t been at the bottom of the elevator. Perhaps he was waiting for her at the fourth roulette table. Andie rounded the corner toward the roulette area.

  An arm clamped around her shoulder and a female voice said, “Give me your purse.”

  It was Barbara, Cade’s mother.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Barb? You’re involved with this?” Andie’s gut fell to the floor, feeling sick and nauseous.

  “Hush, child. Give me the purse.” />
  “Sure, take it.” Andie handed her the purse. “But why? Don’t you know how worried Cade’s been? He’s tearing himself to pieces looking for you.”

  “Sorry, Andie. You’re a good kid. Don’t mention that you saw me. With this money, I’ll be far, far away by the time you get back to Hollywood.” Barbara tucked the purse inside her sweatshirt and walked away.

  Hot and cold chills flooded Andie’s body, and she felt dizzy and light headed. At least Barbara was safe, but Cade would be so hurt and disappointed. First, Rob, his agent had betrayed him, and now his mother.

  Had they no conscience?

  Now that she no longer had the chips, she was free to go, except where? She could no longer trust Owen or anyone else. Cade was nowhere to be found. What if Owen had had him neutralized? After all, in the movies, the person least suspected was the guilty one. Ack! She was up shit’s creek without a paddle.

  Her heartbeat popping like radioactive popcorn, she wandered back to the lobby. Maybe she should go back to her room and grab the rest of her clothes and that prepaid cell phone. Yes, that was it. She could contact Cade with it. She’d slipped it between the mattress and box spring, so it should still be there. She had no keycard and no identification, but maybe she could get another one at the front desk.

  “May I help you?” one of the clerks at the front desk asked.

  “Yes, I’m checked in to room twenty-nine, but I lost my purse. Can you let me into the room?”

  “Sure, what is your name?”

  “Patty. I’m Owen Williams’s wife.”

  “Okay, not a problem.” The clerk typed into a computer. “Can I verify your zip code?”

  Andie gave the Hollywood one, hoping for a match.

  “Great, I’ll make you another card.”

  Well, that was easy. Andie thanked the clerk and made her way down the hallway. Every voice in her head screamed for Cade. Where was he? Did he know his mother was involved in the gambling scam? What would he do? Or should she not tell him?

  Andie crept along the corridor to her room, her feet wobbly in the oversized stilettos. No one was around, but she still felt on edge. She rubbed her bare arms but only managed to raise more goose pimples.

  She slid the keycard to open the door.

  “Stop. Don’t go in there.” A man approached her from behind.

  She’d never met him before, but there was something familiar about him.

  “Why?”

  “It’s a trap.” He held his hand out to shake. “I’m Cade’s brother, Devon. He sent me to make sure you’re safe.”

  “Where is he? I was looking for him.” Andie shook the man’s hand. His grip was firm and warm, just like Cade’s.

  “He got held up. Casino security. Kind of caused a ruckus, but we’re trying to find a lawyer to get him out.”

  “Oh, no. Why would they hold him?” If things were bad before, everything had just taken a turn to sheer disaster. Owen had to be behind this. After all, wasn’t he the one who caused all the ruckus?

  “Not to worry,” Devon said. “He’s at the county jail if you want to see him.”

  “Not to worry? Of course I’m worried. I have to see him. I have to get my things. I mean, I can’t go to the jail dressed like this.” Andie crossed her arms, feeling exposed in front of this man who resembled Cade, but wasn’t.

  “Forget your things. The guy who told you to come here? He’s got men in there. They’ll want the chips, and as I can see, you don’t have them.”

  “Someone grabbed my purse when I was on the way over. Do you think I’m in trouble?” Andie couldn’t help her lower lip from wobbling. Some secret agent she turned out to be.

  “I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” Cade’s brother said, pulling her down the corridor. “Let’s get away before they hear you. Hopefully they don’t look out the peephole and start shooting.”

  Andie shivered. If Owen was in there waiting and he was part of the gang, he’d be really pissed off that she’d lost the chips. She trotted along after Devon’s long legs. He opened the door to the stairs and looked up and down before signaling that the coast was clear.

  “Where are we going?” Andie followed him up the stairs. “I thought we were going to find Cade.”

  “We are, but I have to bring Cade a change of clothes to the jail.”

  “Hopefully he has a large T-shirt for me to wear,” Andie said. “The desert gets kind of chilly at night, even in summer.”

  “It sure does,” Devon said with a grin that seemed overly friendly. “Real chilly.”

  * * *

  “Unbelievable.” Cade slammed his palms on the bar after the last play of the game was replayed and analyzed by the sports commentators. “That was so obvious.”

  “No kidding,” Owen agreed. “No one misses a field goal that close.”

  “There’s something fishy about the kicker.” Cade wiggled his almost-healed finger. It was still stiff, but he no longer wore the splint. “He’s friends with Todd Irvin.”

  Owen knocked back the last of the beer. “So he breaks your finger and Todd gets the starting job, and now, he misses an easy field goal. I’ll bet Andie was told about this. She should be finished by now and have delivered the dough. We’re supposed to meet in the room and continue our fake honeymoon.”

  “Over my dead body.” Cade hopped off the barstool. “So, basically, Andie pulls off the tip to the bookies, then she collects the chips and hands them to the crooks, the FBI swoop in, and she goes back to your room?”

  “Yep, everything went off without a hitch since I haven’t heard any distress calls from the FBI listeners.” Owen glanced at his watch. “Game’s over already, so they would have paid off.”

  “I’m still pissed at her for doing this, getting herself in danger,” Cade grumbled, tightening his fists. She’d better be okay. After this, he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight.

  “It’s over. We pick up the pieces and go home. If you want to take her home, go ahead.” Owen handed him his keycard. “Might be nice to surprise her.”

  “Sure will.” Cade grabbed the card. “Maybe I’ll let you live.”

  “You’ll thank me. Right about now, the Feds should be moving in on the contact person out on the field. Who do you think it is?”

  “I always thought it was Dick, but he’s no longer on the field. Hard to believe that the owner would want his own team to lose.”

  “True, but he needed more money than he could siphon off his wife. Okay, good luck with Andie.” Owen swiveled on the bar stool and ordered another beer.

  Cade took the keycard and consulted a map. He strode quickly through the lobby. Every step he took cranked up his heartrate. Andie was in danger. Didn’t matter how complacent Owen seemed to be. If she at all identified the perp, they’d want to eliminate her. Even worse, what if her cover had been blown because he’d showed up when he was supposed to be at the game with the team?

  He rounded the corner to her room.

  * * *

  Devon slid the keycard into room four hundred and forty-four, still holding on to Andie’s arm with one hand. Strange. Wasn’t this the original meeting place? The one Joanie had told her, all fours? Table four, room four hundred forty-four.

  Something wasn’t right. Andie heard a thump before she felt the pain exploding in her head. Images flashed left and right. A dog barked, and another one whined. Gollie. Gollie and Red. And then Cade was in and out, fading away. They were in a cemetery, a pet cemetery with scary cats and dogs coming out of graves.

  She was lying on a cold, frozen slab and someone was shoveling dirt over her. Her fingers scrabbled to get out, painful and bleeding, but the more she scratched and clawed, the more dirt filled her mouth. She screamed and screamed for Cade. But he was running down a staircase and through rows and rows of bookshelves.

  “Andie, Andie,” he called, frantically throwing books off the shelves. “Hold on, Andie, I’ll get you out.”

  Her chest was crushed under t
he dirt, and she could no longer breathe. Everything was fast forwarding, her mother and her father, her elementary school teacher, her best friend from high school, college parties and pretending to be Michal, Queen of Israel. Now she was getting married, so in love with Declan. He was funny and so cute, dragging her to the Elvis Presley chapel. He donned an Elvis wig and she dressed in a flowery hippie dress with love beads around her neck, and then she was in the library and a big hunk of a man took a book away from her. Her heart went pitter-patter and she almost wet herself. But he disappeared, and she was pulling her dog, Gollie, away from a male Irish setter. The dog, Red, belonged to Cade. Cade who went snow biking with her and fell off a mountain. She blushed and tingled all over. She and Cade were making love at the snow lodge, and then he was gone because a woman showed up wearing furs.

  No way. She wanted him back, still loving him as she jogged up a spiral staircase into a room of black velvet. Handcuffs, a blindfold, the soundtrack to Fifty Shades of Grey, and Cade. Her vision sped up, so fast she could barely catch a glimpse: food trucks, dogs, Sylvia’s half and half jackets, Leroy in Hasidic garb, Ronaldo kissing her over two-hundred dollar burgers, and baby Bret, Barbara, Roxanne, Declan and the divorce papers. He signed it, and she filed the papers, then the cameraman got in the way and pow! White airbags punched and socked her and she was turning over and over and over. Her screams were silenced, and she was back in the sand again. The dusty, dry desert, and her throat stuck on the word, ‘Cade.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  Cade slipped the keycard into Andie and Owen’s room. His nose perked to the scent of her perfume, passion flower and vanilla. She was here. Finally, he could take her home away from all the sordid sin and crime.

  “Andie? You in there?” He opened the door and startled.

  Muffled moans combined with the coppery smell of blood assaulted him.

  “Andie!” He flipped on the light and barged in.

  A man and a woman lay on the floor, bloodied and tied up. The man had his back turned, but the woman faced him. She opened her eyes wide and wiggled her head, entreating him to untie them. The man was out cold with blood poured over his head. Ronaldo?