He opened the main door before they could reply and men in green Army uniforms stormed into the plane, pointing their weapons at them and the crew, yelling at them to get down on the ground, before placing them in handcuffs.
“We’re here on behalf of the US government—” Lucas began to argue.
“Be quiet!” The hard-faced lunatic who screamed at him wasn’t kidding around.
Fuck. Lucas did not like where this was going.
They were jerked to their feet and marched down the steps, the subtropical heat making his T-shirt immediately cling to his body like a wet cloth. Ashley hadn’t said anything, but she had to be worried her uncle had set this up.
They pushed him and the others toward a bus. This did not look good. Suddenly one of the soldiers cut Ashley from the pack and started herding her toward a different vehicle. Anger and fear boiled over, and he shouldered a guard out of the way and got between the man and the woman he’d gone and stupidly fallen in love with. Staring down the barrel of a rifle was not the best place to have this epiphany, but timing had never been his strong point. He opened his mouth to tell Ashley exactly what she meant to him when a rifle butt smashed into the side of his head, and the world flooded into darkness.
* * *
“Don’t touch him!” Ashley screamed. But the soldier hit Lucas again. “You’re going to kill him, you idiot.” She fought to reach him, but another man came and helped the first, and they dragged her away and shoved her into a jeep. Alex was shouting at the individual who seemed to be in charge, and didn’t notice she was being kidnapped. She’d rather he concentrate on saving Lucas. The driver gunned it. The second soldier sat in the passenger seat and held his pistol at her. She turned around and looked out the rear window. Lucas was lying immobile on the tarmac; Alex was struggling against his captors.
Please be okay.
As she watched, Lucas finally rolled over. Two soldiers lifted him onto his feet, and he stood staring after her.
Ashley was going to have to get herself out of this mess. “I’m an agent of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. I demand to know, what is the meaning of this outrage?”
“We have orders. Be quiet, and no one will harm you.”
She was getting a little tired of being abducted, but at least they’d cuffed her wrists in front of her.
“I demand to be returned to my colleagues, immediately.”
“Your colleagues are being detained while we search the plane for the victim of a kidnapping. There was a tip off.”
Huh.
“Why am I being separated? I demand to stay with them.” She was only saying it to have an excuse to lean closer.
The man in the passenger side gestured wildly with his pistol. She grabbed the weapon, turning it in her grip so deftly he sat there, dumbfounded.
“Pull over,” she demanded to the driver, sitting far enough back that passenger-guy couldn’t grab his weapon back. The driver started scrambling for his sidearm. “Hands off your weapon, or I put a bullet in you both. Pull. Over. Now.”
When he complied, she told him, “Toss the key to the cuffs into my lap.” She raised her eyes to his and knew he wanted to do something foolish. “Try anything, and your friend dies. Hands on the dash. You,” she yelled at passenger-guy as it seemed to be the only volume he responded to. “Key, now.”
He seemed to realize she was serious, and the key landed between her thighs. She picked it up and kept it in her grip, never taking her gaze from the two men in front of her. No doubt her uncle had paid someone handsomely to get her away from her teammates.
“Out.”
Passenger-guy got out of the car and stood in the middle of the road clearly not knowing what to do. She locked his door and held the gun to the driver’s head. “Take out your gun slowly and toss it in the passenger foot well. Leave the keys in the ignition and get out of the car.” He obviously understood English and carefully did as she told him. As soon as he was out, she locked his door. She slid into the driver’s seat and drove just far enough away to safely stop and remove the cuffs. The two men had pulled out their phones and were calling reinforcements. From her uncle, or from the Army?
They’d done what she was sure they were supposed to do—get her alone without backup.
She recognized this part of the coast. The lush tropical vegetation. The craggy limestone bluffs. She toyed with the idea of sneaking back to the aircraft, but the likelihood was it would be well guarded, and the chances of finding Lucas and Alex there were slim. She had no idea where they’d been taken, and she’d only be detained if she tried to find them.
It was better this way. Seeing Lucas injured had ripped aside any blinders as to how she felt about the man. The idea of him being murdered in front of her the way Martel had been was unacceptable. She’d never survive that. Never. She’d rather rot in jail or submit to her uncle’s warped desire than see Lucas harmed.
She was approaching a small village filled with tourist shops, small hotels, and dive centers. The area had revitalized and rebuilt since the tsunami and everything looked fancier, more expensive. Blue and white tsunami warning signs pointed to an evacuation route. A newly installed public-address system gleamed in the setting sun—an early warning alarm that gave locals and tourists a fighting chance should the unthinkable happen again. She could see the blue sparkling sea on her left, and her hands shook at the memory of that wall of water crashing over her. She pulled over beside a dive shop, panting and sweaty from heat and fear. It didn’t matter how much time passed, she would never trust the ocean again. But the ocean wasn’t the enemy today. She stripped off her flak jacket, pulling her damp T-shirt away from her skin. A bus already packed with people sat idling a few yards away outside a small convenience store. She stuck one handgun into the back of her pants, and the other in her boot.
Moving swiftly, she gestured to the bus driver that she was just getting a drink and then jumped on board. Thankfully the shopkeeper and bus driver were happy to take her US dollars.
She’d also purchased a sun hat. Now she pulled the brim low over her eyes and sank into her seat, patiently trundling onwards to her obligatory family reunion.
* * *
Lucas felt like he’d been run over by a Mack truck. Alex was shouting and gesticulating at their captors, but all Lucas could think about was the sight of Ashley in the back of that goddamned jeep.
He spat blood near the boots of the soldier who’d bashed his fucking brains in with a fucking rifle. The look on his face must have promised retribution, because the little fucker backed up another step.
A limousine rolled up, and he blinked when Detective Nelson Shaw of the Hong Kong Police Department and another man jumped out and hurried over to the upstart who seemed to be in charge. The letters “FBI” were being repeated over and over at increasing volumes.
Lucas’s head throbbed like a bitch as Alex sidled up to him.
“Know him?” Alex asked.
Lucas was saved from speaking by Nelson Shaw himself.
“Agent Randall.” His mouth was a grim line. “I’m sorry this happened.”
“I’d heard the Thai people were friendly. Apparently not.” Lucas could barely force the words past his aching jaw.
“This is my fault. I asked them to detain you for a few minutes so we could get here. I didn’t ask them to beat you up.”
The man who’d arrived with Nelson came over and shouted at the nearest soldier to unlock their handcuffs before he introduced himself. “I’m Detective Benny Shinwari. Royal Thai police, Crime Suppression Division.” He offered his hand, and Lucas shook it reluctantly. “They say you resisted arrest. I apologize. They thought you were kidnappers and that Agent Chen was in fact a victim.” He was carrying a SIG Sauer P320 in a side holster.
“Where is Agent Chen?” Lucas asked, wishing the double vision would stop.
The soldiers had climbed back into their trucks. The upstart major strode over and barked something to the Thai detecti
ve in their own language.
The Bangkok detective blanched. “There was some miscommunication. He says he received orders to take Agent Chen to a different location.”
“Tell him he better figure out where those orders came from because that’s got to be someone in league with the Dragon Devils,” Nelson said quickly. “And tell his soldiers to bring her back ASAP.”
Detective Shinwari went to pass on the message. Lucas watched as one of the major’s soldiers handed him a phone. The man’s eyes widened, and he started barking instructions at his troops, who all ran to board the convoy. The drivers started the engines, and the trucks rumbled away.
“What just happened?” Lucas asked.
“Get in the car,” Detective Shinwari said urgently, “I’ll explain while we drive.”
But Alex instead ran back to the plane and up the steps. Lucas watched him speak quickly to the crew, who were standing around not sure what was going on. Alex dipped inside, and Lucas knew exactly what he was doing. Two minutes later, he reappeared carrying a black bag, two bulletproof vests, and their weapons.
Neither cop mentioned the SIG Alex handed him. Lucas checked the chamber as the detective took off after the Army truck. They caught up with them after a couple of miles, pulled up on the side of the road. The truck had stopped to pick up the two soldiers who’d driven Ashley away. No sign of her or the jeep.
The detective jumped out, and Lucas rolled down the window, wishing he understood the language.
The detective came back and climbed inside. “Seems Agent Chen got away with the jeep and took both their weapons. They don’t know where she went.”
Lucas exchanged a look with Alex. They knew. He rolled up the window.
“Why are you here, Nelson?” Lucas asked. Last time they’d spoken, the guy said he was staying in Boston for a few days.
“My boss ordered me back to Hong Kong.” He didn’t sound happy about that. “Then the news of the attack on the FBI agent in charge of the task force hit the wire, along with the kidnapping of your only witness, and I knew the shit was well and truly stirred. I received a tipoff that Yu Chang had been spotted climbing onboard a boat off the coast of Thailand. I headed straight here. I tried to call your office to coordinate an operation, but I was redirected to a man called ASAC Lincoln Frazer. He did not sound very happy.”
Lucas grimaced.
“He told me he had agents en route to Thailand, and if I wanted in on the arrest to get my ass to the Phuket airport as soon as possible and assist you.” Nelson glanced at Detective Shinwari. “Benny and I have worked together many times in the past. We knew we weren’t going to make it in time for your arrival, so we asked the military to detain you long enough for us to get here.”
Lucas glared at him.
Benny interrupted. “We said it involved a kidnapping. We didn’t say you were the kidnappers.” His hands flexed around the steering wheel. “Do we stay here and help search for Agent Chen, or do we head for the exchange Frazer mentioned?”
A thousand thoughts zapped through Lucas’s head, and none of them were good. “The exchange is to be at Khao Lak. Drive.”
“You brought cash?” Benny eyed the black bag via the rearview mirror with interest.
“They didn’t want money.”
“Immunity? They have to know that won’t legally hold up with Thai authorities,” Benny argued.
“They didn’t ask for immunity.”
“So what did they want?” Benny lost his patience.
Lucas looked out the window. “Ashley. They want Agent Chen.”
“Why the hell would they want—”
“Her real name is Jenny Britton. The dead niece from the tsunami? That’s Agent Chen.”
Nelson’s bottom jaw dropped. “Holy fuck. And Yu Chang found out? Does he want to punish her for her betrayal?” His expression twisted into anger, and Lucas read his mind. “Or is she running back to the safety of her family? Is she the reason we’ve been unable to catch these bastards all these years?”
“No,” Lucas gritted out.
“Are you sure you haven’t been blinded by a pretty face?” Nelson asked.
The detective had no idea how close he came to permanent injury in that moment.
Lucas stared the man down. “She said her uncle had an unhealthy sexual obsession with her mother and then with her. She told me that, just moments before the wave hit, he killed a boyfriend of hers, a Martel Gunter?” The local detective’s eyes widened. “She used the natural disaster to disappear and escape from Yu Chang, until someone recognized her, and the Dragon Devils discovered she was still alive.”
“I remember Martel Gunter. His father was a high ranking German diplomat, and he was never happy with the cause of death being declared as natural.”
“He was right to question it.” Lucas blinked away the blurry vision and tried to pretend it was from the blow to the head instead of from a blow to his heart. He’d never hurt so damn much in his life.
“Where’s the backup?” Alex asked, checking his weapon. They’d passed through town and were driving past rubber and palm-oil plantations.
The two detectives exchanged a look. “We’re it.”
“Seriously?” Alex shook his head.
Benny shrugged. “The commander in Phuket has a reputation for taking bribes. If that’s true then Yu Chang probably already got to him. We could call in the military—”
“No,” Alex interrupted. “We’ve seen the military in action.”
“How many men do you think Chang has with him?” asked Lucas.
Nelson grimaced. “A man that paranoid with a world full of enemies…I would expect him to travel with at least twenty well-armed guards. Where exactly is the meet? Perhaps I can arrange some kind of assistance.”
“The villa where they were staying when the tsunami hit.”
Benny nodded sagely. “It’s gonna be nightfall before we get there.”
Nelson checked his watch. “Then drive faster. I’m not wasting this opportunity to catch Yu Chang.”
“Let me drive,” Alex demanded.
The Thai detective laughed. “You don’t know the roads—”
Alex pressed his gun to the man’s temple. “It wasn’t a request.”
They swapped drivers at the side of the highway with the Thai detective loudly complaining about Alex’s manners. Nelson shifted seats so Benny could sit in the front and direct him. Lucas zoned out as he stared at the sparkling ocean, sprinkled with stunningly beautiful islands. It was impossible to imagine the devastation the wave had caused to this region. The fact Ashley had survived that disaster was a miracle.
How was she holding up? She was terrified of the ocean, but going after Yu Chang anyway.
She really was an incredible woman: smart, brave, determined. The FBI was lucky to have her.
His mouth went dry. He was lucky to know her, the real her, not the aloof persona she showed the world. No one else saw that. No one else knew her the way he did.
All the lost opportunities were screaming at him that he’d made another massive mistake. He hadn’t told her he loved her. And now he might never get the chance.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Ashley got off the bus and walked past a coconut plantation and a wild, sprawling tropical forest, to the spit of land where the villa once stood. Now it was a crumbling ruin, one of the few locations not to have been bulldozed and rebuilt. Sapphire blue water stretched out to the horizon, calm and deadly.
She’d fought the impulse to run with every step she took. Her fear wasn’t abstract. It was as solid as titanium and resided inside her mind like a living, breathing monster. And right now that monster was trying to escape.
That, and the memory of Lucas being driven to his knees by that soldier’s rifle made her glad she hadn’t eaten anything for hours.
How could he ever forgive her lies and stupidity? She’d gotten some people hurt, and others killed. Even if by some miracle she survived this thing, the chance
of them being together was zero. No one in their right mind would love someone like her. Someone whose relatives had caused suffering for multitudes of innocents in order to line their own pockets.
They repulsed her. She repulsed herself.
None of it mattered, anyway. They’d connected during a period of intense stress. The attraction between them was real enough, but the rest probably wouldn’t last beyond a couple of dates. They had no common interests—hell, she didn’t even know what his interests were outside the bedroom and work.
So why did the thought of never seeing him again hurt almost as much as the thought of dying?
She had no idea, and couldn’t afford to deal with those feelings right now. She needed clarity. She needed revenge, and God help her, she needed redemption.
The only thing that mattered was finding a way to rescue this teenager and end this nightmare for good. Then she’d figure out the rest—her job, the fact she might be going to jail, Lucas. First, she needed to see her family’s criminal empire destroyed.
Agitatedly, the beast inside her mind started to pace its cage as the scent of the ocean grew stronger. She concentrated on the hypnotherapy techniques she’d mastered over the years. The fact she kept putting one foot in front of the other meant they must be working.
The black tactical pants and long-sleeved shirt were not the usual tourist garb and earned her a few odd glances. At least her hat kept the fierce rays of the setting sun out of her eyes.
Fishing boats bobbed on the water. A large boat was anchored out to sea. It had been the same the day the wave came, and many boats had been swept far inland. She fought the icy surge of dread that tried to drag her under just as surely as that wave.
Khao Lak was a paradise. Only an hour’s drive north of Phuket, it was a mecca for tourists. On that fateful day, the 9.3 magnitude quake that occurred 160 km off the coast of Sumatra was the second largest recorded. The fault line affected extended twelve hundred kilometers and left a scar in the ocean floor that was still there today.
Cold Secrets (Cold Justice Book 7) Page 30
