by P. A. DePaul
“Absolutely.”
Griffin fought his gag reflex at all the cutesy-smootchsy I-love-you crap the call had reduced itself to before they hung up.
He rested his head against the seat and inhaled deeply, then out. He once had a woman in his life who he had spoiled rotten and loved with all his soul, but the minute he came home missing an arm and sporting a ton of bandages on his face, his fiancée declared she couldn’t handle it and left him. Just another of the many reasons he’d accepted Victor’s offer to work for SBG. It wasn’t a hard decision to go along with the man’s plan to appear dead so he could concentrate on his physical therapy and help plot the ultimate revenge.
Chapter 26
Michelle yawned for the third time since waking up a moment ago and fiddled with the flap of torn fabric on her sweats. She slumped against the fence. Blood still seeped a little down her leg and she wasn’t looking forward to reopening the barely formed scabs when she moved.
Ugh. She peered through the bushes but didn’t see much other than sun illuminating an open grassy area beyond. Unbidden, her mind drifted to Cappy. Bits of his recounting the events right after he put her on the helicopter played in her head. The way he recited it—remorse, anger, and sometimes cold acceptance filled his halting words. No matter how wrong it was after hearing the results, she couldn’t help feeling flattered he had struck back at the cartel for what they did to her. That proved they were connected even back then. So why couldn’t he see that, and instead of giving her shallow excuses, just tell her the whole truth and help her find a way out of this mess?
Sting from a cool breeze washed over her knee, yanking her out of her thoughts. A prickle of unease tickled her scalp. She had to get going. Cappy had probably discovered her missing by now.
Go where, though? With the FBI involved and her lack of suitable clothing, her options became tremendously limited.
The hairs on her arms stood a second before she heard Jeremy’s gruff voice. “I need to look at that injury.”
She banged her head against a branch, then the fence, searching for him.
He stretched a hand through the iron bar near her leg.
She scrambled back. “Don’t touch me.” Her butt snagged on a limb of an over-full bush, stopping her backward progress.
Cappy sighed, his fingers visible as he gripped the bars. “All these mixed signals. Touch, don’t touch . . . I can’t keep up.”
“You think this is funny?” She jerked to her feet.
The branch kept her pants.
“Cute undies.”
Joseph Mary’s Carpenter! She crouched and yanked at the fabric.
“Pink’s a good color for you.” His voice was light but she caught the undertone of strain.
She jerked the stubborn material and a horrific riiiiiiippppppp filled the air. “Son of a—”
The fence shook and a loud thwump vibrated the ground beside her.
“Let me see.”
Angry tears gathered and she batted his hands away. “Leave me alone.”
***
“Michelle,” Cappy said softly, squatting to fit between the small opening in the bushes. His heart rate had yet to return to normal. The whole time he followed the dots of blood, he kept imagining worse and worse things. Even after seeing with his own eyes her gash, while large, wasn’t life threatening, his thoughts wouldn’t settle.
She jerked the fabric again and the material ripped some more. The tears falling steadily probably prevented her from seeing that she couldn’t loosen it by pulling.
“Let me help,” he tried again, ignoring the uneven internal thumping. He hated for her to have even as much as a hangnail. That she got injured running from him cut deep.
“I think you’ve helped me quite enough,” she lashed out. “And you’re right, this was a mistake.” Yank. Rip. “I shouldn’t have been so naïve to rely on a memory of a man I met briefly six years ago. That guy had honor and integrity. He didn’t avoid answering questions and lie, even by omission, which I suspect you’ve become quite adept at. Go back to your phantom shadows or wherever the hell ghosts go.”
Ouch. A sledgehammer of remorse and misery nailed him in the chest. Fuck. If it was only that simple. The thought of throwing away every oath he swore to SBG and every rule he vowed to follow and just answer all her questions truthfully sounded so appealing he had to bite the inside of his cheek to stay quiet. For six years he kept his silence. Gave up his entire life and walked away from everyone he ever loved to keep them safe. But now? Now he wanted something for himself. And the woman in front of him fighting so hard to survive could give him not only a future but a slice of his past back.
The cold, unemotional part of his mind fought back by displaying images of Grady’s destroyed house, suffering business, and how the civilian got roped into the maelstrom of Delta Squad. After Colombia, Michelle deserved to be with someone who could give her peace and stability. A man who wouldn’t leave her behind and make her worry whether or not he’d return. What right did he have to ask her to accept that kind of tumultuous lifestyle?
Thin white scars near her hairline stood out on her red face, and she let out a frustrated grunt.
He couldn’t, pure and simple. His pulse slowed, though his heart now limped through each beat. He needed to remain focused on the objective. Let her be mad. She’d move on quicker pissed off.
A car tooled slowly into the parking lot near them and Cappy tensed, leaning forward to block Michelle from sight. When it came parallel to their position, he relaxed. Driving lessons would be his first guess based on the young girl sitting behind the wheel and an older man expressing something as he talked with his hands.
After the car cruised out of the lot, he knocked Michelle’s fingers away and reached for the tangle.
She slapped two hands on his chest and pushed. Not prepared for the retaliation, he lost his balance and fell into the bush next to them.
“I already told you. I don’t want or need any more of your help.” Her blazing eyes turned away and she clasped the material, loosening it with a little more patience until it sprang free from the branch.
She shot up, pulling her sweats back into place, then searched the ground. Resolutely looking everywhere but at him.
He disentangled himself from the bush, feeling stupid at being caught so unaware. If the team could see me now. A flock of birds took flight from a tree at the corner of the pool, their caws sounding suspiciously like laughter. Bastards. He pushed his sunglasses back in place and rose to his feet.
She spied her purse on the backside of the material-eating shrubbery and bent to pick it up. It took everything he had to hold back the bark of laughter sitting on the tip of his tongue. Pastel pink flared brightly through the large hole, contrasting nicely with the black sweats.
She pivoted and caught him staring at her ass. Her jaw hardened and she notched her chin up. “See something funny?”
Damn. “Not at all.”
She pulled the strap over her head and dropped the bag in place. The leather band now rested snuggly between her breasts, causing her long-sleeved T-shirt to mold around them.
His palms tingled at the memory of cupping those perfect mounds—
No. He shut his mind off and told his stirring cock to pipe down.
“Excuse me.” She limped forward and, against his will, his nostrils flared, inhaling more of her intoxicating essence on the breeze.
He clenched his fists to keep from reaching forward. Vow or not, this woman pushed his self-control to the limit.
“You can tower there and be menacing and hard-jawed all you want,” she snapped. “But I’ve got to go. You know, wanted criminal and all.”
He didn’t shift an inch, instead, crossed his arms.
“Move, Cappy.”
A dog barked in the distance and he peeked over his shoulder. The dog walk
er glanced their way but didn’t seem concerned as she corralled the excitable mutt away from their spot.
He turned back. “You going to run? Got it all worked out?”
She scowled and scanned the landscaping on both sides.
“Of course you do,” he answered himself, hoping he’d get her to wake up and see he was her best option. “I mean, you’re a state park ranger, right? So naturally that means you’ve had training on evade and escape.”
She paused what had to be calculating an alternate escape route and said with a derisive edge, “In one of my favorite romantic suspense novels, the CIA operative told the heroine they had to keep moving. To stand still would be to die.” She shrugged. “Sounds like good advice to me. Now move.”
He dropped his hands to his hips. “That’s not a plan, it’s an action . . . And not a well-thought-out one at that. Do you even know what you’re doing?”
She halted her retreat backwards, no doubt having decided to barrel through a different set of bushes. “Heck no, I don’t know what I’m doing.” Her eyes flashed and her arm waved in an arc. “No one in their right mind would know except maybe a former soldier and whatever the heck you are now.”
“You can’t run by yourself. You need me.” His cell phone buzzed but he ignored it, lowering his sunglasses to bore his gaze into hers. “Let me help you.”
She wrenched her eyes away and stared off toward the road, a deep frown creasing her face. “How? By turning me over to your buddies in the FBI?”
His phone buzzed again. Cappy sighed, still unsure how much to tell her. “Where you going to go? You haven’t done all that great staying under the radar.”
“Hey.” Her attention whipped back to him. “I haven’t been caught—”
“Yet.” His phone began vibrating again. “As you’re so quick to hurl at me for having the knowledge, be thankful I did. The authorities were hauling ass to pick you up if we hadn’t intervened. I’ve got resources you don’t have to hide from the FBI, U.S. Marshals, and the local police.” He fished the constantly buzzing device out of the holder. “Not to mention the national press had your face plastered everywhere before the Marshals intervened.”
Her face drained of color.
“Yeah, you can bet for damn sure someone in the cartel had stopped their in-fighting long enough to see the YouTube video and the coverage.”
She swayed.
His phone stopped pulsating so he decided to drill home the seriousness. “Didn’t think about them, did you, with your romance-novel theory.” She clutched the strap of her bag and he stepped forward into her space. “You lashed out at me about honor and integrity, but you ditched me after agreeing to talk to me this morning about Friday night. I tried to be a good man and give you leeway because you looked like you were about to drop after that episode, and this is what I get.” His phone buzzed in his hand again. He swiped the device awake. “What?” he barked into the mouthpiece. “This had better be good.”
“Depends on what you’re doing,” Talon retorted, then continued before Cappy could respond. “Check in every ten minutes, remember?”
Damn. He really needed to get control of himself. “I found her.”
“We figured that out.”
“We?” He surveyed the area again, noting the way Michelle stiffened in front of him.
“The Senator is on his way to you with Magician and Isis on his heels.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“True, but this is about you. When you didn’t come back right away, the Senator thought for sure you were orchestrating an elaborate ruse to hide Michelle. He demanded that Romeo and Magician figure out how to track you. When they pulled up your GPS and saw your beacon remain stationary he took off in pursuit. Romeo tried to call, but you didn’t pick up so he got a hold of me instead.”
“Goddamn it. Where are you?”
“Other side of the pool.” Talon’s long stride had him at the fence in a few steps and he easily sailed over the five-foot barrier.
Cappy hung up as his teammate jogged around the pool’s edge and hopped the wrought iron behind Michelle. She flinched, scooting away even though Talon landed as quiet as a cat.
“Uh,” Talon drew out, giving Michelle a cursory once over. “Right after Bob left, his protection detail showed up. It seems as if our party crasher forgot to tell them he was slipping out this morning.”
Shit. Shit. Shit. Cappy scanned the road. “Are they on their way too?”
“No. Stiles managed to head off the detail by feeding them a false lead, but that won’t last. He said he’d be here in a minute.”
“Jeremy?”
He glanced sharply at Michelle, the quaver in her voice grabbing his attention, only she wasn’t staring at him but at something to his left.
He whirled and let out another string of curses.
Tires scrunched over the asphalt and a black BMW rocked to a halt in the parking lot. The Senator flung his door open and vaulted out of his car just as the throaty growl of a large Suburban tore into the lot. The driver parked perpendicular to the BMW’s trunk, effectively blocking the sight of the car from the road.
Magician opened the driver’s door and jumped to the pavement while Isis climbed out of the passenger side, smiling as if she were a movie star about to greet the press.
The SBG operatives hustled to catch up to the Senator, who had already managed to cross three-quarters of the manicured grass. Isis wobbled on her heels, the spikes digging into the ground while Magician sailed across in her low, wide-heeled boots.
“Why am I constantly chasing you down, Cappy?” the Senator barked, closing the distance and turning his fierce gaze on Michelle.
She stumbled back into the fence and Cappy stepped in front of her, blocking the Senator from getting any closer.
“Don’t touch her,” Cappy warned, holding up his hand.
The thunderous expression on Bob Harris’s face froze the blood in Cappy’s veins. The man continued hurtling forward, his hazel eyes blazing with fire and grief.
“Stop right there,” Cappy demanded, stepping forward, but the Senator kept coming.
“You,” the politician spewed, reaching his arms toward Michelle and all but leaping toward her.
Cappy braced his legs and struck low like a linebacker, catching the Senator around his chest and hauling him back.
The man cried out and shouted, “Let me go! I have a right to talk to the murderer!”
Cappy grunted at the man’s wiggling. “If you don’t shut up,” he wheezed, setting the politician down and securing one of his arms, “you’ll bring the whole apartment complex out to see this spectacle.”
Magician slid to the politician’s other side and grabbed Bob’s flailing arm. She wrenched it up behind him and leaned forward. “Do you want to end up on YouTube as well?”
Isis stepped in front of Bob Harris, blocking his sight of Michelle. “We get it,” she hissed. “It’s tragic and your grief is warranted but calling attention like this could compromise all of us.”
Bob instantly stopped and hung his head. His lungs rapidly moved beneath his suit and a large shudder racked his body. “You’re right,” he finally said as a few drops of tears hit the ground. “You can let go.”
Cappy exchanged a look with Magician. She nodded, understanding his silent command to be ready for anything.
They both let go.
The Senator straightened and shook his left arm. He pulled a handkerchief out and wiped his face. While he wasn’t a raging bull, the fury and conviction in the man’s eyes hadn’t lessened a bit.
This should be fun.
Cappy followed the Senator’s glare and saw Michelle had flattened her back against the fence. Her mouth hung open and her eyes were huge. Talon leaned against the iron, just to her side, as if prepared for her to bolt or faint.
Bob Harris stepped forward and Cappy hurried to position himself in front of Michelle again. The Senator shot Cappy a sour look but didn’t say a word.
Romeo strode around the other side of the pool, straightening his coat and tie. He paused as if sensing the skyrocketing tension and jogged to take up his usual spot beside Magician with his hand at the small of her back.
Chapter 27
Nacio lowered the brim of his newly acquired Colts cap, pulled his blue hoodie over it, and strolled along the busy sidewalk across from the Blakely Hotel. Last night had been a bust. The few dealers he had managed to find who didn’t work for his family claimed they hadn’t seen a thing.
Well, that’s not true. One guy, who couldn’t stand for more than two minutes without tweaking, said he saw a girl running up the street crying. No shit. Estupido chivato. Anyone with a half-baked brain—like this guy—could have watched that video by now and claimed they saw it firsthand.
Nacio paused in front of a bookstore’s window and pretended to study the colorful displays. Large banners filled the window letting him know the store was running a sale on textbooks and study manuals. A fresh surge of anger shot through his veins. Ever since that disastrous field trip with the puta, he hadn’t been able to finish college or get his degree. She totally ruined his life with her lying, two-faced American ways. Being coy so he’d chase her, making him work to fuck her when all along she’d only wanted a way into his family’s compound. How the hell was he supposed to know she wasn’t just a student but a spy sent to set up his family?
He caught himself before he spat on the ground. A group of Japanese tourists with their fifty cameras around their necks lingered nearby. They might take offense to the gesture and bring attention to him when they yelled in their gibberish.
He angled his head and used the overlarge windowpane as a mirror, taking stock of who else might be loitering in the area like him.
A foot patrolman strolled behind a bus bench. He doubted anyone, besides his family, cared enough to want to find him. His attack on the puta’s parents had happened in a tiny town in Delaware. No way would the police here even expend the effort to download the report since they were all too busy searching for Michelle herself.
