Lawson

by Diana Gardin

  Frannie frowns. “Well, that’s inconvenient. I didn’t come armed; I didn’t know it was that kind of party. I keep my gun in my apartment and the other in my car.”

  My eyes widen a fraction. “You own two guns?”

  She narrows her eyes at me. “My husband is Eli Ward, and I’ve been running from him for a year. Wouldn’t you own a gun if you were me?”

  Minutes tick by, minutes where both Frannie and I are lost in our own thoughts. I’m thinking about what I’m going to say to Brandon to get him to let Frannie go, and I imagine she’s thinking about whatever reason she has for not trusting me.

  “Frannie,” I say finally. “Look at me.”

  She does, even though there’s a reluctance in her movements that lets me know something fundamental about the way she feels about our friendship has changed.

  “Whatever you think of me right now, you and I are in this together, okay? We need to trust each other. Our lives depend on it. Do you hear me? It’s you and me against them.”

  She doesn’t hesitate this time. “You and me.”

  Her agreement comes just in time, because there’s a sound on the other side of the rolling door just before it opens.

  Brandon enters the storage unit, followed closely by one of his mechanics, whom I vaguely recognize from seeing around the garage.

  “Ladies.”

  He carries two Styrofoam boxes in his hands. “I brought food.”

  Hot fire surges inside me. “Oh, really, Brandon? And how are we going to eat it when our hands are tied?”

  Placing both boxes on top of one of the crates, he walks toward my chair and kneels in front of me. “I’m so sorry, Indigo. The only reason I have you tied up is because I knew you’d fight me. And you weren’t even supposed to be here.”

  Fury flashes. “I never should have trusted you! You’re supposed to be my CI! And you were just going to let your cousin kidnap his wife? You were going to let this deal go down a day earlier than the task force thought and let him get away scot-free?”

  Hurt, real hurt, rushes over his face, flushing his skin and turning down his mouth. “Don’t say that. I tried, I really did. But shit went down, Indigo…shit I had no control over. And when Eli came to town and demanded I help him, you’re the first person I came to. The only reason he’s here in the first place is because Frannie is here. He could have done the thing with the cars in any coastal city.”

  I lift my chin, glancing at Frannie, who’s watching us carefully. I also don’t miss the revolver Brandon’s friend pulls from the back of his jeans and holds down by his side.

  Waiting.

  My skin prickles, real fear skating along my skin. Because no matter how sorry Brandon feels for the way all of this turned out, it’s still turned out this way. He still brought Frannie here, and it doesn’t matter to me that he didn’t think I’d be with her.

  “I’m in the hole.” Brandon unburdens himself like he’s giving some great confession, but all I can see is that this is, and has always been, about money. “They’re calling in the loan on the garage, and I’m drowning in debt, Indigo. What was I supposed to do? Eli wanted Frannie…She’s his wife, GoGo. I grab her for him, he pays me half of what he’s making on the cars. I needed to make sure this deal still went down, so I made sure he knew to move the deal so it happened today.”

  I snort. “And what…when you disappear to God knows where, no one is going to notice you’re gone?”

  His gaze is earnest. “You weren’t supposed to be here, GoGo. I don’t want to hurt you…God, Indigo. I don’t want to hurt you. Just work with me on this.”

  I attempt to stare him down, but nothing about the sincerity and pain and desperation in his gaze changes. This man is truly sorry for what he feels like he has to do, but he’s not going to change his mind. I could talk to him until the cows come home, but he’s not going to budge.

  So I only have one option. Mine isn’t the only life on the line; it’s Frannie’s too.

  I look Brandon straight in the eye, swallow an overwhelming sense of panic, and nod. “Brandon, this doesn’t have to be over for you. You can still do the right thing here, and the team will reward you for doing something heroic. I can convince them to give you money, or pay off your debt for you. But you have to let Frannie go first. Then you and I can figure out what we’re going to tell my team about the botched sale.”

  And, against everything screaming inside of me to fight, to beat his jaw in, to roar with the injustice of the situation, I offer him a smile. “I need you to let Frannie go. I don’t want Eli to hurt her anymore. And then you and I can figure everything else out. You’re still my CI, right?”

  He pulls back, assessing me as he sits on his haunches and looks up at me. “You want me to be your CI still? And what do you think Eli will do to me when he finds out I let her go?”

  The thoughts are coming fast and furious in my head, and I fight to sort them before speaking. “She’s my friend, Brandon. You have to do the right thing here. I know you wanted to go straight. Don’t let Eli ruin that for you. You’re not the bad guy here. Are you?”

  Brandon swivels around, facing Frannie, and I hold myself back from screaming his name, from trying to focus his attention back on me. Instead, I look at Frannie too. Pleading with her through silent eyes to play along. Not to be a hero.

  He studies me now, searching for something in my eyes. When he turns away, scanning Frannie again, he relents.

  And on the inside, I cheer with triumph and relief. He turns to his friend and says the words that make me want to cry with joy.

  “Let her friend go. We’ll tell Eli we already put her on the boat.”

  Brandon turns to me. “If I cut your ties, will you be a good girl?”

  I nod, as solemn and trustworthy as I can possibly appear. “I promise.”

  His friend, the mechanic whose name I can’t remember, moves forward and unties Frannie’s binds. Frannie gives me a long look before turning away.

  “Thank you,” she says to Brandon.

  “Hey.” He turns, and she pivots to face him. “For what it’s worth…I’m sorry.”

  She doesn’t answer him, doesn’t even give him a second look. Instead, she turns to me and wraps me up in a hug so tight it takes my breath away.

  “Good luck, Indigo,” she says, before she disappears out the storage locker door.

  26

  LAWSON

  We stand in a broad line of men, facing the docks. There’s silence around us, occasionally broken by the sound of the ocean rushing against the wood or a gull who should be sleeping flapping over the waves.

  There are four sets of military-trained, battle-honed senses turned on the docks, four sets of eyes and ears and hearts turned toward anything that could possibly work against us.

  Taking in the surroundings so completely, there’s no chance we’ll be taken by surprise in this mission. This undocumented, vital mission to bring home the woman I love, so that I’ll have a chance to tell her that she’s mine.

  My voice rises above the natural sounds living at the docks. “Everyone understand their role here?”

  Three heads nod.

  We starting moving to fan out to the positions we’ve agreed on, when running footsteps pounding against wood stop us where we stand. We shrink back into the shadows, until a woman comes into view.

  And then, heart slamming against my rib cage, I step out into the moonlight.

  “Frannie?”

  She slams into my arms, her body a trembling mass of coiled terror. “Logan! Oh God. He took…GoGo’s still…I can’t…” None of her words are making sense, but the one that matters most stands out in color while all the rest fade to black.

  I hold Frannie at arm’s length as I hear Thorn curse and shift into position beside me. “What happened, Frannie? Where’s Indigo?”

  I scan the docks, looking for a petite, dark-haired beauty running along behind her. But my heart plummets when my eyes don’t find her among the woo
d and metal and salt water.

  Frannie gasps for breath. “She’s not…She’s still in there. She made him let me go…” Thorn’s arm wraps protectively around Frannie, and she leans into him without glancing up to see who holds her. “She agreed to stay with him so I could get away.”

  “Stay with him?” The words taste foreign on my tongue, and I can feel myself rappelling down a mountain, to a dark place I know there’s no coming back from.

  But succumbing to the darkest part of my memories isn’t a part of the plan right now, so I beat them back and focus on the woman in front of me. “Where is she?”

  “Easy, Sleuth,” Thorn murmurs. “She’s trying.”

  I know she’s trying, but trying isn’t good enough. Not when Indigo still isn’t in my arms.

  “It’s time to call this in.” Ben’s voice sounds from somewhere beside me. “Someone’s got to take Frannie in, question her. I’m calling Jacob.”

  I nod, the movement absent as I focus on Frannie. “How many are there?”

  In the background, I can hear Ben speaking into his phone to Jacob, explaining the situation.

  Frannie’s brows pull together; she’s trying to piece the facts together in her head so she can spout them out loud. “There’s only two.”

  I blow out a huge breath. Two? I can handle two in my sleep. “Armed?”

  She nods. “At least one of them was armed. I saw a revolver, but I didn’t see whether or not Brandon had a weapon. I think Eli is in there somewhere, but I didn’t see him.”

  Thorn and I both glance at one another at Frannie’s use of the proper name for the gun she saw. Most untrained women would have just said gun.

  “But,” she continues, “Indigo said she was going to help him, to stay with him.” Her face crumples, her eyes going glassy and wet. “Why did she agree to that? We were supposed to stick together.” Frannie’s voice breaks on the last word, and Thorn lifts a brow as he pulls her closer to his side.

  I nod, indicating that I’ve got all I need from her, and he turns her around, walking her a short distance away.

  My shoulders rise, going tense as Ben sidles up next to me and speaks. “It’s not the same, Sleuth. She’s not Hadara.”

  My heart, already on such dangerous ground, quakes as I hold my breath. “Don’t. Don’t say her name. I know it’s not the same.”

  Ben cocks his head to the side. “Do you? Because I think you’re making comparisons. And it’s dangerous, brother. Not just for you, but for In—”

  I whirl on him, my eyes flashing and my entire body trembling while my fists clench at my side. Bain stands nearby, watching. A silent but deadly bystander, unless one of us needs him to step in.

  “Don’t, Ben. Just shut the fuck up.” My words carry a note of warning.

  But even as I say the words, I can feel the bone-frying heat and body-filth stench of the desert creeping in on me, fighting its way up from the darkness inside.

  The smell, oh, God, the smell. The rising steam from a mass of burned bodies still smoking from the fire that destroyed them. The home in charred ruins. The clear message the insurgents sent through the atrocity…

  Turning away from Ben, I swallow down the bile rising in my throat.

  Not this time. I won’t lose her.

  “We have to go in,” I murmur, my eyes straining toward the rows of storage containers beyond the docks.

  Thorn growls. “Just wait. Jacob will be here soon.”

  Shaking my head, the movement rough and jerky, I growl right back. “Minutes ticking by means he could be hurting her. Or worse. I’m going.”

  “We’re going,” Ben snaps. “Don’t forget you’re part of a team, Sleuth. Thorn will stay with Frannie. You, me, and Bain will move forward as three. Got it?”

  I nod, the weight of the rifle strapped to my back comfortingly heavy. “Yeah.”

  The three of us move forward, stealth living in our hearts as our boots hit the wooden dock without a sound. As soon as we breach the line of storage containers, we split, Bain moving toward one of the warehouses adjacent so that he can climb on top and gain an aerial vantage point.

  I take point, Cowboy taking up position at my six as we move steadily toward the container whose number we found on the bill in the garage office and that Frannie confirmed a few minutes ago. Adrenaline throbs inside my temples, and I force every single thought out of my head except one: the mission.

  Sights.

  Darkness looms, but the full moon above us and the stars that wink so clearly in the black horizon light the area, along with buzzing spotlights on the edge of each storage container. Nothing dances in and out of the shadows, not another soul in sight with the exception of Cowboy silent behind me. As we round a corner and onto another aisle of containers, I note the numbers on the two mini-buildings beside me and know that this is the place where I’m going to find her.

  Smells.

  The brine from the salt water lapping just feet away on the other side of the docks isn’t unpleasant, but it’s not as fresh as it’d be if we were standing on a beach. There’s a slightly chemical scent hugging the air, mixing with oil and fuel from the many ships in the harbor and the vehicles that work at the docks.

  Sounds.

  Even though I can’t hear him, I can practically feel the scope of Bain’s rifle as he lies in silent wait somewhere above me. The area is eerily quiet, the only sound the occasional metallic banging of something hitting the side of a container somewhere in the distance. I strain my ears, hoping for some sound made by Indigo, something that lets me know she’s alive and fighting to come back to me.

  She’s alive. She’s smart and she’s strong and she’s coming home to you tonight.

  We approach the last container on the row, the one with the number from the letter in Hawke’s office, and the faint sound of voices pulls me more quickly to one side of the open rolling door. Brandon Hawke’s voice meets my ears, and the sound of it prickles the hairs on the back of my neck.

  “—you and me, Indigo. The guys are getting ready to load one of those ships out there, and then I will go see the buyer with Eli, and I’ll get my cut. I have to play my part so Eli doesn’t get suspicious. Then we’ll be set.”

  Indigo’s voice is softer than I’ve ever heard it. “That sounds good, Brandon.”

  “Okay, sweetheart.” The nickname makes me see red, bringing the blood already running hot in my veins to a boil. “I’ll be back.”

  “Where is the buyer, exactly?” asks Indigo, nothing but sincere curiosity in her tone.

  “His ship arrived two days ago. Tonight he’ll be waiting at port number nine by the gangplank. We’re heading there now.”

  Behind me, Cowboy drops back and I can hear his whispered words in my earpiece: “Wolf, let Jacob know that the big fish is swimming at port nine. You copy?”

  Thorn’s answering “Copy” comes through the comm, and I decide that this is where Brandon Hawke’s road ends. I clear the doorway in less than a second, Ben right behind me as the muzzle of my weapon sweeps left and right. The man standing at the entrance to the storage container turns, weapon raised, but there’s a bullet in his shoulder before he can squeeze off a shot and he goes down with a cry as his gun clatters to the ground.

  I slide forward, kicking the weapon out of the way as I round on Brandon Hawke. Indigo sits in front of him, her legs zip-tied to a chair. I scan her, and the sight of the red marks around her wrists makes my teeth grind together as I force words out.

  “Hawke. Step away. This is over. Do the right thing and let’s end this now.”

  Indigo looks at me with something like pride and exasperation in her eyes, and I dip my chin in her direction before turning my full attention back to Hawke.

  He stands slowly, hands in the air, moving so that he’s completely blocking Indigo from my sight where I stand, feet planted wide, just inside the storage container.

  Not being able to see her does something to my insides, like dropping a bucket of ice-cold
water over my thudding heart. “Don’t resist.”

  Hawke shakes his head. “You’re not ruining this for me, Snyder.” His eyes glaze over as he takes me in, then glances at Ben over my shoulder. “GoGo and I have a plan. If you’d just wait a fucking minute!”

  His voice lifts on the last word, and I know he’s about to snap. I need Indigo out, and I need her out right now.

  But I can’t get to her, not with Brandon blocking her.

  “Brandon,” she says softly. “You need to give up. Everything I said to you is still true. You can still come out of this, okay? No one needs to get hurt.”

  His head jerks at her words, his eyes darting to the left, and I inch closer.

  “No one will get hurt, Indigo. Especially not you. Trust me, okay?” His words tremble slightly.

  “Of course I trust you, Brandon.” Soothing words from Indigo. “I’ve always trusted you to do the right thing and have my back. Do you have my back now?”

  He nods, moving to his right so that he can see her and still keep us in his sights. “I’ll always have your back. But you’ve gotta explain it to them. You promised. They need to let me walk out of here. Before Eli shows up.”

  “Not gonna happen, Hawke,” I growl. “Let her go.”

  Bain’s urgent voice crackles in my earpiece. “Company. Two of them, coming up fast. Shit!”

  But Hawke is still talking to Indigo. “It’s just you and me, remember? Eli—”

  “—doesn’t like being left out of the loop.”

  My head whips around as the voice lifts from behind me. I won’t turn my back on Hawke and Indigo, but the sight of Eli standing behind Ben with a semiautomatic weapon aimed at my friend makes a curse slip from my mouth.

  My heartbeat hammers as time seems to slow. I didn’t see a weapon on Hawke, but I don’t doubt that he has one. But now there’s a dangerous, deadly weapon trained on my friend and in the vicinity of Indigo, and I know I need to act. Counting on the hope that Hawke won’t hurt her, I drop back until I’m standing right in front of her chair, beside Hawke.

  I turn completely and face Eli standing at the lip of the storage container.