by Katie Reus
“Who is this?” his contact barked.
“It’s Dante.”
“Holy shit, man. It’s been what, four years?”
“That sounds about right. I hate to call and ask for a favor like this, but I’m in town for an unexpected job and need some packaging material.” Code for C-4.
Alexander Lopez wasn’t the brightest weapons dealer Jack had ever dealt with, but he was careful. Which was why he was still in business.
“How much?”
“Enough to wrap up a small warehouse.” More code. Not exactly genius code, but if someone was listening they couldn’t bring Alexander down on anything without solid proof.
“I don’t know, man. That’ll take some time.”
“Payment up-front.”
“Why didn’t you say so?”
“So we have a deal?”
“Remember that abandoned warehouse we used to party at?” Code for a storage container they’d made exchanges at twice.
“Yes. When can you meet?” Jack asked.
“Tomorrow?”
“Sooner. How about twenty minutes?”
“Man, how do you even know I’m in town?”
Jack snorted. The man rarely left Miami and they both knew it. “Can you do it or not?”
The other man sighed. “I’ll be there.”
Jack disconnected, then took the battery out of the phone. This was one phone he wouldn’t be using again. The others he was using he was fairly sure weren’t being tracked, but he was ninety percent sure Alexander was being watched by someone. The DEA, FBI, who knew? Hell, he was probably being watched by the local cops too.
“What was that about, Dante?” Sophie asked as he headed toward I-95.
He suppressed a smile at her sarcastic tone. “I hate bringing you with me, but I’ve got to pick up some stuff and I’ve got to do it now.”
“Packaging material, huh?” She raised a dark eyebrow at him.
“That’s right.”
“Mm-hmm,” she murmured. “So, what do you do when you’re not busy being a spy?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, for fun. Spies are allowed to have fun, aren’t they?”
The past few years he hadn’t had much downtime, but there was one thing that never got old. “I like to fish.”
“Really?”
“Why is that surprising?”
She lifted her shoulders slightly. “I don’t know. That just seems so . . . normal. And pretty boring. For someone like you, I mean.”
“Nah, I love it. Maybe it’s my Irish blood, but being on the water is the only time I feel grounded.” Maybe he should have left that part out. Jack Stone was Irish, but so was his former self. She didn’t seem to notice. “What about you?”
“I love to paint and draw.”
“I know.” Damn it! The words were out before he could stop himself. This was why he needed to keep his mouth shut around her. The more he let his guard down, the more likely he was to slip up. When she was a teenager she’d always been drawing and sketching. The girl had filled up notebooks.
“You know?”
“Your file. It said you minored in art. Why didn’t you pursue anything after school?”
“I wanted stability.” Her answer was immediate and real and he loved that she was being honest with him.
He’d already guessed why, but couldn’t tell her that. “Are you going to go back to work at SBMS when this is over—if there’s a company to go back to?” Which Jack wasn’t sure there would be. It might end up being dismantled.
She snorted in a very un-Sophie-like manner, completely taking him off guard. “No way. Even if he doesn’t go to jail, I don’t know if I can ever look Ronald in the face again after all this.”
Jack was pretty sure Weller wouldn’t go to jail, not if he helped them enough to bring Vargas down. If the threats against him ended up being bad enough, he’d likely be put into WITSEC. There were too many variables and Jack didn’t give a shit what happened to Weller anyway. “What are you going to do?”
“I . . . have no idea. After the past couple days, I’ve started to realize that no matter what I do, I can’t be truly safe from everything. I want to do something that makes me happy.” She paused and bit her bottom lip. “Is that totally cheesy?”
“No.” He pulled off the next exit and circled back under the overpass.
“Okay, where exactly are we going? Because this area looks a little like that gross motel.”
“We’re almost there.” They were in one of the worst parts of town. As they drove past an abandoned apartment complex covered with graffiti, he pointed toward an eight-foot chain-link fence across the street. The fence surrounded what used to be a parking lot but now housed storage boxes and garbage. “See those green storage boxes? That’s where we’re going.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Your friends hang out in some interesting places.”
“This guy isn’t my friend, so you’re staying in the car. And remember, my name is Dante, not Jack.”
“How many names do you have?”
“Too many,” he said as he steered into the deserted area. Gravel and dust flew up as he turned into the only cutout opening along the fence.
Avoiding potholes and bags of trash, he parked in front of one of the containers. He glanced in his rearview mirror as an old pickup truck pulled up. Withdrawing his backup pistol from his ankle holster, he laid it on the center console. “This should be over soon, but if something happens to me, drive away and don’t look back.”
Her lips pulled into a thin line. “Really, again with this? You expect me to leave you behind?”
“Sophie—”
“Fine. I’ll do it.” There was no conviction in her words and he knew she was lying, but there was nothing he could do about it. Even though he hated the thought of her not following his orders, he felt another crack around his chest at the thought of her sticking by him. It was one of many things he’d always adored about her. Once she decided she was on your side, she was loyal to a fault.
Alexander was the only person that he could see in the truck, so after another visual scan of the area, he reached behind his seat and grabbed a small duffel bag, then got out first. He’d called this meeting, so he needed to make the first move.
When he stepped out, the other man did the same.
“It’s been too long, my friend,” Alexander said. Wearing a bright green and blue Hawaiian button-down shirt and faded cargo pants, he didn’t look like the typical weapons dealer Jack usually dealt with. As long as Jack had known him, he’d never seen him wearing a suit or anything other than the tacky getup he was in now. Maybe that was another reason he’d stayed alive so long. He knew how to blend in with his surroundings.
“I’ve been out of the country. Had to lie low after that last job.”
Dante nodded knowingly, then quickly switched gears. “Have you brought the money?”
“I assumed you’d want it electronically. Just like old times.” For all Alexander’s old-school ways, he rarely dealt with cash.
The other man motioned with his hand. “This way.”
Jack glanced back at Sophie before following the other man toward one of the locked storage boxes. Alexander unlocked it, disabled what looked like a booby trap—which would probably cause an explosion if anyone tried to break into the unit—then opened it for Jack. With the flip of a switch, an overhead fluorescent light came on. The low buzz reverberated around them. Rows of packaged explosives and stacks of M-4s, M-16s and other military-grade weapons lined the small facility.
Alexander pulled a laptop from the briefcase he’d brought and opened it. “First things first.”
Jack leaned against one of the metal walls as he waited. He hated not having a visual of Sophie, but she had a gun. It was the only thing that eased his growing tension.
“Who is the woman with you?” Alexander asked as he typed in his password.
“A close friend.”
�
��She must be, you bringing her here. Normally I wouldn’t allow a guest, but it’s you, so I’ll make an exception.”
Jack didn’t respond. He was fishing for information. In this business, anytime someone could get a leg up on anyone, they did. Law of the jungle.
“Okay, here’s the account number.” Alexander handed him a white strip of paper with a string of numbers hand written on it.
With a few keystrokes, Jack wired the fee, then handed the piece of paper back. “Ready to do business?”
“One moment.” He pulled out his phone. After a brief conversation with his bank, Alexander was off the phone and smiling. “Take what you need.”
Jack kept his eyes on the other man as he loaded up his duffel bag. Once the bag was stocked, he hoisted it over his shoulder. “Thanks again.”
He didn’t wait for Alexander to lock up. As soon as he was outside, he scanned the area for any threats, then headed for the SUV. Jack knew that within an hour that storage container would be cleaned out and the rest of the product moved. Alexander might have let him see this place, but the weapons dealer had a habit of moving his products constantly.
“Did you get everything you needed?” Sophie asked as he strapped in.
“Yep.” He slung the bag into the backseat. The good thing about C-4, it was incredibly stable. He could hit it with a hammer and it wouldn’t do a thing. Hell, he could light it on fire and nothing would happen. Of course if he hit it with a hammer while it was burning, now, that was a different story.
Revving the engine, he hit the accelerator and tore out of the parking lot.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just don’t want to hang around here longer than necessary.” For all he knew, Alexander had been tailed and Jack really didn’t want to deal with local law enforcement. Considering the shooting at Bayside Marketplace yesterday, he definitely didn’t need to be noticed right now. According to Wesley he hadn’t been caught on any cameras and there weren’t any witnesses that had come forward, but tangling with the locals until this op was completed wasn’t something he needed.
“Are we going to meet your boss now?”
Jack glanced at the clock on the radio. “Not yet. He should be landing soon and we’ve got one more stop to make.”
“What’s in the duffel bag?”
He debated telling her when she swiveled around and unzipped the bag. “Holy shit, is this what I think it is?”
His lips quirked up. “What do you think it is?”
“Don’t be a smart-ass. Is this some kind of explosive?” She zipped up the bag and straightened back against her seat, her eyes a little wide.
“I told you it pays to always have a backup plan.”
She muttered something in Spanish and turned to stare out the window.
The silence in the SUV was almost deafening until they pulled into the Opa-Lopka facilities. There was tight security at the front gate, but there was a back entrance on the far side of the airport. Something Jack had never understood. A simple fenced gate with a cheap lock was the only preventative measure. Once he’d picked it, they drove through. He slowed his pace as they circled the pavement. Then another thought hit him. “How did you break in here?” For some reason he couldn’t see Sophie picking the lock.
She shrugged. “We’ve been doing business with them forever and I knew that the fence behind Keane’s hangar has a small opening. It’s hard enough to see during the day, so if you don’t know about it, at night it’s impossible to locate without a guide. There are places like that all over this airport. Their security is complete shit half the time. And I didn’t actually break in—I have a key.”
“With you?”
She shook her head.
He could pick the lock easily enough. What killed him was that she’d come here alone. She was damn lucky she’d been able to escape the other night. Jack shuddered to think what could have happened if any of Vargas’s men had gotten ahold of her. He kept his driving slow until he was parked behind hangar seven.
There weren’t any people around and most of the private planes were grounded, but he didn’t want to draw undue suspicion by parking near hangar eight.
Sophie frowned at him. “Are you planting bombs or something?”
“I’m setting up an insurance policy for us. Stay here.”
In response, she opened the passenger door and jumped out. “I’m going with you.”
“Sophie, I don’t—”
She slammed the door and walked around to his side. “I don’t care what you want. I’m helping. Last time I was there they had two security guys and no cameras.”
He almost laughed at the way she said two. As if that would ever stop him. He already knew they didn’t have cameras. If they had, the NSA would have hacked them if possible. But after her recent break-in and the fact that Vargas was expected in the country, they would have increased security. Hell, he hoped it was only two. They wouldn’t even know he was in there. And he wasn’t bringing Sophie in with him.
Covering the distance between them in a few steps, he had her pinned up against the vehicle door in seconds. Her eyes widened and she swallowed hard, eyeing him with surprise.
The thought of intimidating her with his body sickened him, but he did what he had to. “I’m not going to stand here and argue with you. Even with their security, I can move around without being seen. I can’t do that if I have you slowing me down.”
She flinched at his words, but finally nodded. “Fine,” she said tightly, her jaw set.
Against his better judgment, he threaded his hands through her hair and cupped the back of her head in a completely dominating grip. Her lips parted in surprise as his mouth descended on hers. Hell, he surprised himself. It wasn’t the time or the place, but damn if he could leave her looking so vulnerable.
For a moment she resisted, but as his tongue swept past the seam of her soft lips, she moaned into his mouth. Her body melded against his, her breasts rubbing against his chest as she clutched on to his shoulders with a wrenching hold. He’d parked close enough to the hangar that they had cover from outside, prying eyes, but they were still in the open. That knowledge was the only thing that pulled him back to reality.
Somehow he tore his mouth away. She blinked once, her gaze lust-filled even as she watched him warily and let her hands fall away. “You can’t use sex to get what you want from me.”
He snorted. “That isn’t what this is about. I can do this quicker if I’m alone. And that kiss was because I needed it.” Let her make what she wanted of that. “Stay in the vehicle.”
After grabbing his duffel bag he waited until she got in the passenger seat and shut the door. Then he checked to make sure there weren’t any spotters outside before sprinting across the asphalt to the next building. He hated how much open space he had to cross without any cover. But there was no way around it. At least there were no cameras.
The hangar next door was exactly like the one he’d parked behind. It was a square metal building with a ceiling high enough to house planes. There was a hatch that rolled up in the front with an opening big enough to let a plane through and a single door in the back. Just like the rest of the hangars. Not a lot of design went into these buildings, and that was a good thing for him. He had a general idea of the layout without actually having been inside this particular one.
Once he was hidden behind the cover of the other building, he crept along the wall to the entrance. There was a small window on the back door, so he was able to see inside. He could see one man lounging against a wall with his back turned to him, but he knew there would be more inside. The lock was easy enough to pick. Getting inside undetected would be the real trick.
Luckily he was really good at being invisible.
Twenty minutes later he slipped back out the way he’d entered. There had been one plane inside and about ninety crates stacked around the back and side walls. He’d been able to use the wooden boxes as cover as he set up his homemade bombs. Adding
foil-protected detonators had been tricky, but he’d gotten everything into place. If it became necessary, he’d have the ability to set off the bombs using a high-powered laser pulse. Something that would piss Wesley off if it ever came down to it, but Jack didn’t care.
The government had trained him to think outside the box. Hurrying back across the pavement, he only stopped once he’d reached the steel wall. He’d been away from Sophie too long, and even though she had a weapon, he didn’t like being separated from her. He glanced around the wall to eye the vehicle and almost froze when he saw a man dressed in all black peering into the passenger window of the SUV. Jack might have been able to dismiss him, but the man had a pistol in one hand. Jack doubted the guy was security. With the man’s black pants, long-sleeved black shirt, and enough bulk under it that he was likely wearing a Kevlar vest, Jack guessed he worked for Vargas.
The hangar they were parked behind was empty and he didn’t see a golf cart or other transportation for the dark-haired man. He also didn’t see Sophie in the passenger seat, which sent his heart rate into overdrive.
Dropping his now empty duffel, he crouched low and hurried to the driver’s side of the SUV when the man started walking to the back of the vehicle.
“Hey, I see you in there!” the man shouted in a heavily accented voice. A harsh tapping followed. The sound of a gun hitting the window. “Come out now or I shoot.”
Over my dead body. Using the element of surprise, Jack stayed low and rounded the front of the SUV. Not drawing his weapon because he wouldn’t need it in close combat, he hurtled himself at the man before the guy had even fully turned to face his attacker.
The weapon fell from the man’s hand as Jack slammed his body onto the ground. Not wanting to draw this out longer than necessary, he hauled back and head-butted the guy. Bone crunched and blood spurted everywhere and the man’s hands automatically went to cover his nose.
Flipping him onto his stomach, Jack wrapped one arm around his neck and pulled tight, cutting off his air supply. The man started struggling, instinct kicking in as he clawed at the asphalt and tried to buck Jack.
But he had at least fifty pounds on the guy and clearly a lot more experience. Less than thirty seconds later, the man passed out. After retrieving the fallen weapon and his own duffel bag, he’d started securing the man’s wrists behind his back when the back door opened.
