Isaac’s hands were balled into tight fists at his sides, but his anguish was clearly readable in his eyes when he turned to look at her. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you need to know.”
He ran his fingers through his hair as he let out a frustrated growl. “What the hell do you expect me to do? I have to get his ink. My choices are limited to fake or real, but you’re telling me neither of those options will work.”
“I could’ve told you all of this before you made the deal. If I would’ve been in the meeting today, we never would’ve wasted the time on this trip.”
“Really?” His voice held a clear challenge. “And what would we have done instead? Seeing as you have all the fucking answers right now, why don’t you tell me what I missed.”
“Izzy.” Everything came into sharp focus as she stared at Isaac. “We need to get Izzy. She’s the only one who can pull this off.”
Chapter Ten
It could work. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it. Izzy was a shifter. She’d just played a major role in the death of her drug-dealing half brother, Alex, a year ago by taking the form of an angel. Shifting into Isaac’s form would be simple for her after accomplishing that. And no one would suspect it. Izzy could shift but, since she’d married her DEA human and left the Community behind, she never did. As far as they were concerned, she was as human as her husband.
And the best part was, the plan was so deceptively simple Rathe would never expect it. No, Rathe would be expecting some elaborate plot befitting his crime lord status. Sending in a vulnerable woman, his daughter no less, in disguise to capture him would be too insulting for him to even contemplate.
Damn. It would work.
Isaac went through the plan again before turning to face Nikki. As soon as his gaze met hers, though, all joy left him. He’d known it was going to end from the beginning. By her own account, he was never anything more than a temporary distraction. But looking at her, seeing the sparkle in her eyes die in front of him, hurt more than he ever imagined possible.
Granted, it hurt worse knowing some—okay most—of that pain was solely his fault. Years from now, when he looked back on this day, he’d carry the burden of being the ass. But there was no way he could’ve let her sit in on that meeting.
He understood her arguments, agreed with every single one she’d made—right up to her seducing the truth out of Agent Thomas. That, he could never stand by and watch. It would’ve killed him to watch her seduce any man. But up to that point? Yeah, he got it. She wanted to be valuable to the operations, prove she was worth something. He couldn’t let her know that Thomas was undercover, though. It would put not only Molly’s but also Thomas’ life in jeopardy and Isaac just couldn’t do that. Only four people knew who Thomas James was and each and every one of those four needed to know for this operation to have any chance of success. It was Isaac’s job to make sure no one else found out.
“We should go back to your house. Izzy can shift into you without anyone seeing the two of you together.”
He hated how flat her voice was. Hated how cold and distant she was. Hated that he couldn’t just grab her and tell her how this was killing him. But he had to be honest with himself. How he felt didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was finishing this.
Before he could cave to his weakness and pull her to him, he nodded stiffly, turned the car around and started back toward his house as she called Izzy. When they pulled up into the drive, he was relieved to see Jacob’s car already parked in front of his house.
Nikki followed him in silence, a silence that Izzy noticed right away of course, which didn’t bode well for Isaac. Having his own guilt nagging at him was one thing. Having a shape-shifting, pissed-off sister nagging at him would be an entirely new level of hell.
“You know,” Izzy started in before he even got the door shut behind them, “I could just as easily shift into something large enough to kick the shit out of him.”
“That’s not necessary, Izzy,” Nikki said tightly. “Just shift into him, get the ink, and do the trade. Our father will never know what happened. Isaac will be able to slip through security and strip Dad’s magic. We’ll never have to see Isaac or our father again.”
That hurt, especially the part where she lumped him with her asshole father. But, since he mostly deserved her anger, he let it go unchallenged. “I know, I’m nobody’s favorite person right now. Let’s just get through this, okay. I’ll get Molly back, you guys will finally be free of your father and everyone gets to have their lives back.”
Izzy snarled at him, but Nikki grabbed Izzy’s hand and led her away before she could carry out her threat.
“Either you’re really brave or really stupid,” Jacob said as the women disappeared down the hallway.
“Stupid. Incredibly stupid.”
Jacob followed him into the kitchen and then took a seat at the table. “So… You’re going to let her walk away when this is all finished, right?”
“I can’t keep her.” Isaac refused to think about the truth in the words. Instead he focused on brewing the coffee just the way Nikki liked it.
Jacob’s hollow laugh pulled his attention away from the coffeemaker, though. “She’s a person, not a pet.”
Despite the shitty turn of events, Isaac found himself smiling. He was starting to like the agent brother-in-law. “So Izzy’s okay pretending to be me?”
“Nice change of subject. And yes. Izzy will do whatever it takes to end this.”
“The exchange is set for tomorrow morning. All Izzy has to do is keep Rathe focused on her. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“And Nikki?”
“Nikki just has to be her charming self.”
“Good to hear. I’ll have a team of DEA agents ready to make the bust as soon as you neutralize Rathe.”
“Could be a career launcher for you.”
Jacob shrugged. “My career will be fine one way or the other. Izzy, however…” He let the sentence die. He didn’t need to finish it for Isaac to understand. Izzy needed to have that chapter of her life closed once and for all.
“Then let’s get this done.”
Isaac stayed at the house with Jacob while the girls went back to the tattoo parlor so Izzy, disguised as Isaac, could get Rathe’s ink. He hated letting Nikki go anywhere without him but, since it was a little late in his life to convince anyone he had a twin, he had to stay out of sight.
In theory, Nikki could take care of herself. She had been doing quite well up to this point. But he still wasn’t comfortable until he heard the rumble of his car pulling back into the drive. And, when she stepped through the door, it took every ounce of willpower he had not to rush to her and pull her into his embrace. He’d never felt so lonely in all his life. Even when his family kicked him out and he had no friends to turn to.
Still, the worst part of the evening lay ahead of him. Not greeting her when she returned had been an interesting form of torture, but not holding her through the night turned out to be hell. When he woke up the next morning, his eyes were gritty from not getting enough sleep and his head was pounding with unrelenting pain. If today were any other day, he’d stay in bed until it was a decent hour to drink. But that plan would have to wait for tomorrow.
His shower was brief and his breakfast unremarkable. Not that he was complaining. If the rest of the day passed unremarkably, he’d consider it a success. But success was never given, it was hard-won. And when Nikki stepped through the kitchen door, he knew he had his work cut out for him.
How did she make looking so sexy seem so effortless? After his sleepless night, he looked like he’d been hit by a truck. She looked like she’d just stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine.
“Good morning.” Her voice sounded as if she’d swallowed some gravel, but there was no other evidence that she’d had as miserable a night as his. “Today’s the day you get your life back.”
He nodded in answer and then ground his
teeth together in the uncomfortable knowledge that they were going to have to talk before all hell broke loose. There wouldn’t be any time afterward.
“After the DEA has your father in custody, I’m going to release the bond.” His voice, though he meant to speak softly, seemed too loud in the small space.
“Good to know.” She filled up a mug with coffee and then pulled the milk out of the fridge. “Have we heard when the next Council hearing is going to be held?”
Fuck, with everything else going on today, he’d completely forgotten about his mother. “Not yet.” At first he was surprised by her lack of reaction, but then the truth of it hit him. “But you weren’t planning on hanging around for it, anyway.”
Her smile was sad as she nodded. “There’s a beach out there somewhere calling my name. And god knows I’ve earned a vacation after all this.”
“Of course.” He turned away from her but paused before starting to walk away. “I do appreciate everything you’ve done to get Molly back. And I am sorry it’s ending this way.”
“I’m glad I was able to help. And you’ve done nothing that warrants an apology. This was the plan from the beginning, remember? Use me as bait, lure my father out into the open, and neutralize him as a threat. I have to admit, I was kind of hoping for the death form of neutralizing, but this works too.”
He’d been secretly hoping she’d be bitter or angry. Bitter and angry women were easy to forget. But the solemn resignation and honesty in her voice was like a tiny razorblade slipping under his skin. It was going to take him a long time to heal after this was done. “I guess it was the plan.”
The knock at the door signaled the true beginning to the day.
“You ride with Izzy, I’ll be with Jacob and his team. Her releasing you from the bond will be my cue to infiltrate the building. Hopefully enough of his attention will be on getting you bound to one of his men that he won’t notice.” Rathe had insisted on that caveat. He had to bear witness to the release. It was a condition Isaac had been all too happy to agree to. For one, it ensured Rathe would actually be there and secondly it meant the man didn’t know Izzy was disguised as Isaac. Their plan was still viable.
“Got it.”
“After the raid starts, you need to stay down until Jacob or I give the all clear. We should have the element of surprise, but underestimating your father would be a fatal mistake.”
She followed him down the hall, pausing only to grab her purse. “Don’t worry, I’ve seen him in action.”
“Good.”
He opened the door for Jacob and Izzy, but didn’t offer much in the way of greeting. The clock was ticking. Nikki showed Izzy to Isaac’s room so the woman could shift and dress in private and then they were set.
The last thing for Isaac to do was put on the baseball cap, dark glasses and the DEA windbreaker that made up his disguise. It wasn’t much, granted, but unless someone was actually looking for two of him, it would work.
Jacob followed the girls down the twisting streets with ease as Isaac stared out the window. No one needed to talk. The all knew the destination—the warehouse district. Tucked away on the outskirts of town, few people ever went there and the ones who did knew to mind their own business. The countless access roads leading into and out of the area didn’t hurt, either. If one needed a quick escape route, this was the place. Which, surprisingly, worked in their favor for once.
As soon as they entered the maze of warehouses, Jacob slowed down and hung back from Izzy and Nikki. The last thing they needed was to be spotted. Everything had to go off perfectly. Thankfully, they had Thomas working on the inside to ensure everything was in place once Izzy and Nikki were out of view. Isaac had been skeptical but, once the guy’s story checked out, he had to admit having Thomas undercover had been a freaking miracle and might have been the thing that tipped the scales in their favor.
Once Izzy and Nikki had their father’s undivided attention, Isaac would infiltrate the warehouse and strip the man of his magic. Once his magic was gone, he wouldn’t be a threat. The DEA would take him away and Thomas would release Molly from the blood bond. In all his years he’d never worked a case that’d come together so neatly.
“We’re in position.” Nikki’s voice was clean and crisp in his ear thanks to the earbud.
“Jacob and I are circling around the long way. We should be at the back of the warehouse in less than two minutes. The rest of Jacob’s team will be here in five.” Hopefully that’d give them time to get Rathe under control before the DEA stormed the warehouse.
“Good to know. I’m going silent.”
Isaac took a deep breath to calm the anxiety that clawed at him with those words. This was it. They’d reached the point of no return. Now he just had to hope keeping his cards so close to his chest had been the right thing to do.
Jacob parked down a nondescript alley just a block away from the warehouse to make sure their car didn’t gain any unwanted attention. From there, it was only a short walk to the back of the building. It was daytime, which made keeping their movements covert more difficult, but thankfully Jacob seemed almost as well-trained as Isaac. And, given that Jacob was a human, that was a pretty big compliment for Isaac to give. Not that he had any plans on actually telling the man.
There were three men guarding the back of the building but Isaac and Jacob were able to find a window that was hidden behind a fire escape. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to provide them some cover. Being under a shadow also helped them to see into the cavernous building. Though it was terrifying to see Nikki surrounded by her father’s men, that wasn’t what sent the painful bolt of fear through him as if he’d just been punched in the gut.
“Where’s Thomas?” Isaac hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but he realized he had when Jacob answered.
“Who?” Jacob’s attention remained focused on the warehouse in front of them, but the man’s body tensed noticeably.
“Thomas. He’s the man holding Molly’s bond. He was supposed to be here.”
“One thug’s as good as another,” Jacob said, still not looking away from the glass.
“Not this one. He was an enforcer.”
Nikki’s gasp was clear in his ear. Shit. He’d forgotten about her earbud. She could hear everything he was saying. If she’d been pissed before, she was going to be murderous now. Hell, even he was pissed at himself. He’d sent her in there assuming she’d be covered, but now she was on her own until he could get in there.
“What does that mean for the plan?” Jacob asked.
“It means you’re going to have to improvise, Nikki. You’re going to have to see if Thomas still holds Molly’s bond. If not, I need to know who does. We take out Rathe without knowing and the bastard could order Molly to kill you and Izzy, or even herself.”
“Maybe we’re making too much of this. Thomas could be with Rathe. Everything could be going according to plan,” Jacob offered.
But Isaac’s worst fear was realized as Rathe appeared. The tall man was elegantly dressed in a designer pinstriped suit that had obviously been tailored to fit him, and his perfectly styled black hair and clean shave made him look as if he should be at a fashion show, not in a dusty warehouse. It was the man’s devastating good looks that kept so many in the Community blind to his illegal exploits for so long. But it wasn’t Rathe’s good looks that held Isaac’s attention right now. It was the company Rathe had with him. Thomas was there, all right. He was actually right next to Nikki’s father. Unfortunately, he was being held there with a knife at his throat by one of Rathe’s men. “I think it’s safe to say Thomas has been made.”
“Shit.” Jacob’s breath came out in a long hiss next to him. “Does he know about Izzy?”
“There’s no way to know.” Isaac’s mind raced as he went through the very short list of people he’d told about Jacob’s enforcer status, and crossed it against the even shorter list that knew Izzy was masquerading as him today. There was only one person who knew both—the president
of the Council. So the question was, would his own mother sell him out? “But it is a possibility.”
“We have to call this off.” Jacob’s voice was harsh as he whispered, but Isaac had no problem hearing the raw fear in the man’s words.
“It’s too late. Rathe’s already there. If he doesn’t know it’s Izzy standing in front of him, he’ll figure it out the moment he sees me. We have to let this play out.”
Jacob ran his fingers thought his hair in obvious frustration. “If he knows—”
“We can’t put the cat back in the bag. All we can do now is keep our heads straight and see this through.”
“I think the bastard is pretty preoccupied. We should get in there and do our part.”
“Give Nikki a second to see if she can find out who’s holding Molly’s bond.”
Jacob growled softly. “I’m sorry man, but if it’s between your sister and Izzy—”
Isaac’s hand was around the man’s throat before Jacob had a chance to move. “Give her a second, damn it.”
“That’s my wife in there. Back the fuck off.”
The sound of a gun being cocked near his ear was enough to make Isaac release the other man and then take a step back. The man was good. “She’s my sister. She’s all I’ve got,” Isaac said as soon as Jacob put his gun back in its holster.
“And you’re willing to risk Nikki’s life?”
“Nikki’s smart and she’s tough. She can do this. I trust her. Just give her a minute.”
Jacob looked at his watch and then back at the window. “We don’t have much time to play with.”
“She can do it.”
“Before I release Nikki, you’re going to have to release Molly.” Isaac was surprised to hear his own voice through the earbud. There was a moment of silence Isaac guessed was Rathe countering before Izzy continued, “I don’t give a shit what the deal was. I’m not handing Nikki over until Molly’s free.”
Bond Betrayed Page 14
