by Tarah Scott
“I don’t know how to process all this,” she said. “Four days ago I was attending a party and my biggest worry was whether or not we could pay off a company debt.” She gripped his shoulders. “You’re too young to die.”
“We’re all too young to die at the hand of a man like Sanchez,” he said.
“Ben, what if—” She sobbed.
“Liz, honey.” He hugged her close.
She tensed and he thought she would resist, then she turned her face into his chest and cried in earnest. Blood roared in his ears and the fear he’d kept at bay since her disappearance unleashed like a whip of lightning. He wanted to lock her away where no one could possibly hurt her. Make love to her until she couldn’t think of any other man but him. He closed his eyes. What would he have done if they’d really harmed her?
She shifted and he froze when she slid an arm around his neck.
“Ben.” She began to tremble.
“Easy, Liz. You’re going into shock.”
She tugged his face close. He brushed a kiss across her mouth, then eased her head back to his chest. “It’s shock, that’s all. Try to relax.”
She buried her face in his neck and her tears bathed his flesh. Ben swallowed and held her close, stroking her hair, thinking of anything but the fact those animals had their hands on her. Anything but his need to assure himself she was all right… anything but the need to make love to her.
He relived last night: her legs wrapped around his waist when she came to her pleasure, and the way he’d exploded inside of her. He wanted that again so bad it hurt. But he kissed the top of her head and held her, stroking her back and neck and shoulders, until the trembling ceased and her tears dried.
“I still don’t want you to go,” she finally said.
He released a breath. “I know, honey.” Every woman who loved a Ranger faced the same dilemma. He’d put Liz in this position before their first real date. He could only tell her the truth. “There’s no one else in a better position to stop him.”
“If Mr. Sanchez is focused on getting you,” Liz said, “does that mean he’s not kidnapping women right now?”
Ben remembered the truckload of six undercover female agents who had crossed the border yesterday afternoon under the guise of being kidnap victims.
“I wish I could say it has stopped him,” Ben said.
“Oh,” she said.
“We’re not down for the count, Liz. The Rangers are known for getting their man.”
“Less than one percent of men who serve as Rangers die in the line of duty,” she said.
“You did more on that borrowed computer than answer email,” he said. “I think I’m flattered.”
“Is that how many Rangers have set themselves up to be shot by snipers? One percent?” she asked.
Ben couldn’t prevent a smile. “No.”
“I don’t want you to be part of the one percent. I can start a life somewhere else.”
He startled. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, Mr. Sanchez isn’t God. If I leave the state, change my name, start a new career, he’ll never find me, and you won’t have to enter Mexico.”
“What about the Remmeys?” he asked. “What about all the other parents who are lying awake right now, praying for a call from their missing daughter or son? What about me? Sanchez won’t let me walk away. I can’t stop being a cop any more than you can stop creating things. I have no intention of letting him steal our lives.” He rested his cheek against the side of her head. “What about your plans?”
“Plans?”
“Plans. Goals. Dreams. What do you want to be besides a highly sought after dress designer?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Sure you do. I plan to make Captain.”
“Captain? I thought you were happy being head of .the recon team? “That would take you out of the action, wouldn’t it?”
“Some.”
“How is being captain better that the recon rangers?” she asked.
“I don’t know that I’d say it’s better,” he replied. “Just a different phase. A captain can affect certain changes that I can’t.”
“You want to affect change?”
“I would like to see some of the Rangers’ tactics taught in other branches of law enforcement,” he said. “We are the best of the best.”
She laughed and he was relieved to hear genuine pleasure in her voice.
“Come on, Liz, you’re an accomplished woman. How do you define success?”
“I want to see Nina Bruno become a household name.”
“A contender,” Ben said. “Very nice. Then what?”
She relaxed against his chest and released a breath. Some of the tension eased from Ben’s shoulders.
“You’ll laugh,” she said.
He gave her a squeeze. “Never.”
Several heartbeats of silence passed and he thought she wouldn’t answer. Then she said, “It’s been a dream of mine since I was a teenager to spend a summer in the Australian outback.”
“Now that’s a dream I can get behind. I would make a great Australian cowboy.”
Her chest rose with a deep breath, then slowly contracted. “I suppose you really do have to stop him,” she said. “After you let me go, that is.”
Ben hugged her tight. “I don’t plan to ever let you go, Liz.”
* * *
Liz ended the call and released a breath. “Richard says no one’s hurt and the damage isn’t too bad. We got very lucky. The security company that patrols the property spotted a flickering light inside the corporate office. They discovered the fire and called it in.”
Ben glanced from the highway to her. “Did you lose anything important?”
“Paper records,” she said. “But we backup everything on computer. It’ll take some time to reconstruct, but it can be done. I’m surprised they didn’t go for the manufacturing area. It’s small, but if we lost production, we would have no way to fill orders.”
He slowed for a car and merged into the middle lane. “Most of these thugs aren’t that intelligent.”
Unlike Ben, who was smart as a whip and drop-dead gorgeous. Ben Hunter had gone to her head—and she’d lost her mind. When this was over, how was she going to make him understand that they’d simply needed each other during a crisis? How was she going to convince herself?
He merged onto US 85N toward Las Cruces as his phone blared an old-fashioned rotary ring. She handed him his phone.
He flipped it open and pressed the receiver to his ear. “Hunter.”
A male voice spoke in indistinguishable tones and the tension in the air suddenly thickened.
“Completely off the grid?” Ben asked in a tight voice. “What about Loyola? He’s been straight with us up to this point. Is it possible Sanchez got to him?” Another response Liz couldn’t hear, then Ben said, “Someone had to have told Sanchez, Captain. There’s no way—” He broke off.
He listened for a minute, then said, “All right,” and hung up.
“What’s wrong?” Liz demanded.
He slipped the phone into his jeans’ pocket. “I can’t explain, Liz, but it’s got nothing to do with you.”
“It has something to do with Mr. Sanchez,” she said.
“Yeah, but he encompasses a lot.”
She started to reply, but he said, “Leave it alone, Liz.”
She hesitated, then nodded, and decided now was as good a time as any to talk about something she’d been considering before the call came in about the fires. “I’m not going to Las Cruces.”
Ben glanced sharply at her. “What are you talking about? It’s settled. There are officers from levels of law enforcement that go all the way to God himself waiting there to debrief you.”
“Where will the Remmeys go?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Send them to Las Cruces.”
“You’re going to Las Cruces,” he said.
“No. I’m staying here.�
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“Here? At this late date, I can’t get another team set up. The Rangers are spread thin as it is, and I don’t trust the Feds. Dammit, Liz, I can’t go to Mexico and worry about you.”
“What about R.W. and Hal?”
Ben shook his head. “You said you didn’t want to involve them.”
“I don’t like the idea. But like even less the idea of being fifty miles away.”
“It’s an hour’s ride,” he said. “It takes longer to get to some places in El Paso during rush hour.”
“Maybe, but I’d rather stay close to El Paso.”
“Why?”
“I don’t have to give a reason. It’s my prerogative.”
“You like me.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “But that has nothing to do with this.”
“No, Liz, it doesn’t. You have to go to Las Cruces. Let me do my job.”
“I’ll let you do your job, but I’m not going.”
He shot her a frustrated look. “I’m not going to talk you out of this, am I?”
“No.”
“I’ll authorize the boys to use whatever force is necessary to keep you in check,” he said. “R. W. might be an ass, but he’s tough. You won’t put one over on him.”
“I won’t try.”
“I’m serious, Liz. He’ll lock you in your room if he has to. R.W.’s good that way.”
“No need to worry. I’ll be a lamb.”
Ben merged into the right lane and slowed for the exit. “You don’t know how to be a lamb.”
“Maybe not,” she agreed, and hoped to God she did know how to keep from going insane until he returned home.
* * *
Ben called his father and warned him that Sanchez now knew his identity. Then he took Liz to a small diner owned by an ex-cop. They had a quiet, safe, breakfast, then at seven thirty, Ben settled Liz at his desk, and went to Captain Medina’s office. He knocked on the open door, and entered when the captain looked up.
Ben took the seat opposite his desk and said, “Any word on the missing officers?”
Medina leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Loyola has a few trusted men searching. We’re sending three of our men in the team that’s crossing the border with you. They’ll break off and meet with Loyola to coordinate the search. They’ll stay in touch via secure cell phone.”
“It’s my fault,” Ben said. “How could I have been so wrong?”
“You know better than that,” Medina said. “Those officers knew what they were getting into when they agreed to pose as kidnap victims. And you’re taking credit that isn’t yours. You had an idea—a good one—and people who know more than you do arranged the operation.”
“If I hadn’t come up with the idea, they wouldn’t be missing.”
“I think you’re being a little sexist,” Medina said.
Ben frowned, then shook his head. “You know I respect female officers.”
“Yeah, but if this was a group of men, you’d be thinking they had a chance of fighting their way out of trouble. Are you saying half a dozen female officers can’t take on some low-level thugs?”
“Men can be killed as easily as women,” Ben said.
“So you’ve given them up for dead?” Medina said.
Ben released a slow breath. “You’re right. This case has gotten to me.”
Medina’s phone rang. He answered and the few grunts he gave in response to the caller were enough to tell Ben something more had gone wrong.
“Keep me posted,” Medina said, and replaced the phone on the receiver. His mouth turned down even than it had been when Ben arrived. “A young woman died in the Remmeys’ fire, and one of the burn victims is in intensive care.”
Pain slashed through Ben. “For every one we save there’s a price.”
“A man like Sanchez never lets anything go for free.”
“Any word on the Nina Bruno fire?”
Medina shook his head. “I’ve got a call into the chief there. If I don’t get a callback later this morning, I’ll call again. We know Sanchez didn’t set the fires himself, but I’m following the trails anyway to see what we can rustle up. As for you, the El Paso DA is handling your transfer to Mexico. That way, it looks legit to Gomez. The Feds will be there under the guise of El Paso homicide detectives. A little unorthodox, but Gomez set up the deal with Chuck’s office, so this isn’t an actual extradition.” He paused, then added, “Why is Ms. Monahan here and not in Las Cruces?”
Ben glanced through the open mini blinds of the office’s glass wall at Liz, who sat in a chair at his desk. “I would rather she went, but she refuses. She had a point about us needing a place to put the Remmeys, and it would have been crowded in that small house with the four of them. We could have done it, but I recruited R.W. and Hal to take care of her. They’ve got a line on a place and I expect to hear from them any minute. They’ll keep her safe until I get back.”
“And then?” Medina asked.
“Sanchez will be in jail.”
Medina studied him for a moment. “That’s where he should be.”
“As long as they throw away the key,” Ben said in all honesty.
“We do our job right and they will. You going to be able to work with Masters all right?”
Ben shrugged. “He’s only escorting me to the border.”
Medina nodded, then a knock came to the door and his gaze shifted past Ben. “Yeah?” Medina said.
The door opened and Ranger Wright stood in the doorway. “We got a member of the press out here who says he heard about a midnight trade.”
Ben jerked his gaze onto Medina. “How did anyone find out?”
“I would say someone working for Sanchez leaked the news. He’s turning up the heat. Who is it?” Medina asked.
“Jonathan Meyers with El Diario,” Wright replied.
“Tell him we’ll get back with him.”
“He wants to talk to you, Captain,” Wright said. “Says he’ll go with what he has if he can’t confirm details with you.”
“That would be interesting,” Ben said.
“I’ll talk to him,” Medina said. “Hunter, you get on the line with your boys and find out where they’re taking Ms. Monahan. It’s seven-thirty now. We said we’d meet the FBI at ten.”
Ben nodded and he pulled out his phone as Medina left. Ben shifted his gaze onto Liz and paused without hitting speed dial for R. W.. She concentrated on the screen of her phone. As if sensing him, she looked up and met his gaze. She smiled, and Ben was certain he would never grow tired of seeing her smile like that. A flash of turquoise blue in the corner of his eye jarred him from the thought. He turned his head as Sheila Antonio entered the open room where the desks were located. Her gaze fixed onto him.
Ben cast another glance at Liz to find her attention on Sheila. Ben rose as Sheila continued toward the captain’s office, and he started toward the door. She reached the door before he did and stepped inside, forcing him back a pace. She closed the door, then grasped the handle to the mini blinds and twisted. Ben glimpsed Liz’s stare and her furrowed brow in the instant before Sheila closed the blinds.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Ben demanded.
“I could ask you the same thing,” she said.
“No,” Ben snapped, “you can’t.”
She advanced until she had to look up to maintain eye contact. He retreated a pace and was stopped when his butt struck the desk.
“Going to Mexico to answer to murder charges,” she said. “What the hell is this about, Ben?”
“What are you doing here?” he demanded. “The DA’s only role in this operation is to tell Juarez DA they’re handing me over.”
“Guess who got that job?”
“It’s not a job. It’s paperwork.”
She shook her head. “That’s not how we work. I’m thinking we need to take a closer look at your paperwork, make sure everything is in order before turning you over to the Juarez authorities.”
“Yo
u don’t have the authority to do that,” Ben said.
“But I do.”
He forced back frustration. “The Feds will step in.”
“My understanding is that they aren’t officially involved.”
Ben leaned his butt against Medina’s desk and folded his arms over his chest. “Sheila, I’ll lock you in the holding cell myself if you hinder this investigation in any way.”
“I’m not sending you to Mexico to get killed.”
“It’s not your decision and, in case you haven’t noticed, I know my job. I have no intention of getting killed.”
She snorted. “No one does. Here’s an FYI: I have carte blanche on this case.”
“No, you don’t. You’re not the least bit involved.”
“You’re doing this because of her, aren’t you?” Sheila demanded.
“I’m doing this because Carlos Sanchez is killing young men and women and selling them into a life of slavery we can’t begin to imagine.”
She opened her mouth to say something, then released a sigh instead. “I don’t want you getting yourself killed. Contrary to what you might think, I do care about you.”
“I know you do. But it was never like that between us, and even if it were, I’m never going to stop chasing men like Sanchez.”
“It could be like that between us.” She took a step closer and flattened her palms on his chest. “I could be what you need.”
He grasped her hands and started to straighten away from the desk. The door opened. Medina stood in the doorway. Behind him, Liz stood staring. Ben met her gaze. He caught the surprise on her face and the flicker of hurt that vanished an instant later. Don’t you read too much into this, she’d said when he made love to her. And he read in her eyes the conviction that he’d taken her advice.
“Am I interrupting?” Captain Medina’s question shifted Ben’s attention to him.
Ben gently, but firmly, eased Sheila back and straightened. “Not a thing, Captain.”
“Good. It’s always nice to see you, Ms. Antonio.” He pulled the door closed as he entered the office, then passed them and sat down in his chair.
