Hot Extraction: SEALs, Marines, and Infantry - A Military Romance Boxed Set

by Kathryn Thomas

  “So you think Lundergrund was right?”

  “That Lima 6 is muling drugs? Yeah. Maybe. But I don’t think it is everyone. I can’t see Fitz or Copper being in on this.”

  “Who then?”

  “I don’t know. I would bet on Lucas and Gigolo. They were always Ron’s guys. A few others probably. But even if Fitz and/or Copper aren’t in on it, I can’t just accuse Ron of running drugs without proof. That will get straight back to him.”

  “So what if it does? Maybe he needs to be put on the defensive.” She paused as another thought occurred to her. “What if Tuck’s and Two-Tone’s deaths weren’t the cartel?”

  “You don’t mean...?”

  “I do mean. You no longer have your two most trusted allies. Members that others respected and trusted.”

  “If he was planning this, they why leave me alive?”

  “Maybe he is making this up as he goes. Maybe he didn’t plan on running drugs until the rancher support dried up. That was the bad times, remember. Maybe he was afraid that killing you would raise too many questions. So he just isolated you.”

  “I don’t know… maybe,” Leo said slowly. “I don’t know who I can trust, other than Will. But killing members seems like a bridge too far.”

  “Would you have said that about muling drugs yesterday?”

  “Why would he do that? If this is true, it will destroy him!” Leo protested.

  “I don’t know, Leo. I just know that you were taking over the club—”

  “I was not!” Leo objected.

  “You were. Whether you intended it or not, the club was looking to you more and more for guidance. You were becoming their leader. Ron probably saw that too. Maybe he is just trying to hang on for as long as he can.”

  He thought about what Jamie said, and try as he might, he couldn’t fault her logic. “Shit… what am I going to do? If you’re right, I’ve shit in my nest. He’ll never trust me again.”

  “You need help. You need someone on the inside. Someone that can keep you in the loop.”

  “I don’t know who I can trust. Fitz maybe.”

  “Will.”

  “Your brother?”

  “Yes.”

  “How is that supposed to work? He’s just a prospect.”

  “Have him cozy up to Ron. He can tell you when the next intercept is. Maybe you can follow the drugs and see where they go.”

  “Ron won’t trust him. Will and I are too close.”

  Jamie thought for a minute. “Then let’s break you two up. I have an idea.”

  ***

  “You’re sure about this?” Will asked.

  “Are you?” Leo responded.

  “Hell no. But I can’t think of a better way. Roshambo for who gets the first shot?”

  “Just make it count,” Leo said with a grimace. “How about you two? You ready?” Leo asked Ellen and Jamie.

  “I’m just going to pretend she’s Lundergrund,” Jamie grinned.

  “Yeah… I had a beef in college with someone that kind of looked like you,” Ellen said to Jamie.

  “Just try not to break all the tables,” Jamie said to Leo as she patted him on the chest.

  ***

  Three hours later, Leo was sitting at a table with several Lima 6 members as they teased him about Jamie giving him the cold shoulder. He laughed it off, claiming she was just mad because she thought Ellen was hitting on him.

  A little later, Ellen came in and sauntered up to Leo and the rest of Lima 6. “Hey boys,” she cooed. “Buy a girl a beer?”

  “What about Will,” Leo asked, playing his part.

  “I still like him, but he’s just not doing it for me anymore. Not like you are for Jamie,” she said with a sultry look at Leo.

  “Goddamnit, Leo… what is it with you and the chicks?” TC asked good-naturedly. “Can’t you leave some for the rest of us?”

  “Excuse me brothers, I need to buy a lady a beer.”

  Leo rose and led Ellen to the booth in the back corner. “You ready?”

  “I’m so scared I’m about to piss myself,” she whispered.

  “Okay… try not to get hurt.” Leo parked her than sauntered to the bar.

  “You’re on,” he said quietly.

  “What if I just pull out the gun and shoot her?”

  Leo had to work hard not to smile. “Make it look good, but try not to get hurt.”

  Leo put on a frown and then smiled as he turned and walked back to Ellen.

  “Drink your beer, then get out!” Jamie said as she banged the mug down on the table in front of Ellen, slopping the beer over the side and making it foam.

  “What? Why?”

  “Because I don’t want some whore in my place. Go back to the street corner where you belong.”

  That must have stung because Ellen’s face turned red. “Well, if you could satisfy him, then maybe he wouldn’t be sniffing around.”

  Now Jamie’s face turned red. “Get out.”

  “Fuck you. Come on, Leo.”

  Will walked up. “Come on Ellen. We don’t need any trouble.”

  “No trouble,” she said as she stood up and got in Jamie’s face.

  “You had better back off, bitch…” Jamie snarled.

  “Will’s right. Let’s go,” Leo said taking her by the arm.

  “You’re not leaving with her,” Will said, pulling Ellen away from Leo.

  “Look… prospect… she came over to me. Unless she is your old lady, if I want to leave with her, then I will. Got it?”

  Leo could see that every eye in the bar was focused on the drama playing out. “Let’s go Ellen,” Leo said.

  Ellen gave Jamie her best nasty smile. Until Jamie’s slap hit her.

  Jamie pulled the slap as much as she thought she could and still sell it, but the way Ellen’s head snapped back, she was immediately concerned she might have actually hurt her. She needn't have worried as Ellen came at her like wildcat, driving her two steps back and into the wall. Fully into it now they tangled their hands in each other’s hair as they cursed and yanked at each other’s hair and clothes.

  Leo and Will waited a few seconds before pulling the women apart. Other than a slightly pink hand print on Ellen’s cheek, and some clothing and hair in disarray, they appeared unharmed.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Will yelled at Leo.

  “You need to mind your place… prospect,” Leo sneered.

  Leo told him to make it count, so Will let fly with a hard right that connected solidly with Leo’s cheek. Leo stumbled and went down, but popped right back up. “That was your first, and last, mistake.”

  “Bring it asshole.”

  “No!” Leo barked when the club members started to separate them. “He needs to learn his place.” He waded in, throwing a couple of hard punches, only one of which made it to its target. He and Will had agreed that the women could just pretend, but they were going to have to get bloody if Ron was going to believe he and Will had really had it out.

  Will stepped back and shook off the stars from Leo’s punch. Leo could punch like a fucking gorilla! He came in hard and fast, trying to get inside, but Leo connected again, a bruising shot to the ribs that drove him back.

  Jamie watched as Leo and Will fought. She and Ellen had promised not to intervene, but she was dying as the two men began to get bloody. “Kick his ass, Leo!” she suddenly shouted, realizing that if she didn’t do something she wouldn’t be able to see him for a while. And she desperately wanted to be with him tonight, to nurse his wounds and, if he was up to it, fuck his brains out. She had fought for her man, and won, even if it was only pretend... and she would have him.

  She saw Ellen look at her in shock before realization dawned. “You can take him, Will!” she cried.

  The two men went hard to the floor, scrabbling and kicking, both bleeding from the nose and mouth, and Leo from the cheek. They rolled over, shoving tables out of the way as they tumbled. Finally Leo got Will in a nasty choke hold, his ar
m under his chin, cutting off his air.

  Will hauled on Leo’s arm with one hand, clawing for his face with the other, the muscles on both men’s arms standing in stark relief as they strained and grunted. “I give!” he finally croaked.

  Leo let him go then shoved him away. “Next time you come at me, prospect, I will fucking kill you,” he panted.

  “Fuck you,” Will coughed as he sat up holding his neck.

  “This is all your fault!” Jamie shouted at Ellen. “Get out before I kick your ass again!”

  Leo and Will struggled to their feet. “Come on, Ellen,” Will said has he took her by the arm and escorted her out, wiping at the blood on his face.

  Leo watched them leave, wiping at his mouth and nose. The moment the door closed behind them, he turned on Jamie. “As for you…” he said before he pushed her hard against the wall again and kissed her for all he was worth. He had heard her cheer him on as he fought her brother… and he was going to fuck her stupid when he got her home.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “What happened to you,” Carlos asked the next morning as Leo stepped into Jamie’s house.

  “Part of the plan,” he smiled. “Will, the other guy in the van with us, and I had a fight. I talked to Ron and… something is going on. Something bad. Will and I are trying to get to the truth. This,” he said waving at his face, “is to try to get Ron to trust Will.”

  “I’m sorry amigo. Drugs are very bad. It causes friends to turn on each other.”

  “Well, in this case, it was all an act. A painful one to be sure, but Will and I are together on this. What I need from you Carlos is bait. Something I can give the DEA to make them deal.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know… what do you know?”

  “Everything.”

  Leo grinned. “Then this is going to be a piece of cake.”

  While Leo talked with Carlos, Jamie spoke with Manuela. Manuela couldn’t speak but a few words of English, but with Jamie’s rudimentary Spanish, and plenty of hand gestures, they managed. Manuela was quite pleased with Jamie’s small home and insisted that they were well equipped, though when Jamie looked in the refrigerator, she could see they were low on milk, juice, and other items the children would need. She began a grocery list as the four small children smiled at her shyly with wide brown eyes.

  As she was completing the list, her phone rang.

  “How’re you feeling?” she said by way of greeting.

  “Okay. Your boyfriend has a punch like being kicked by a horse,” Will said.

  “How’s Ellen? I didn’t hurt her did I?”

  “I’m fine,” Ellen’s voice came over the phone.

  “I was concerned that I slapped you too hard.”

  “It was a pretty hard slap, but I kind of hammed it up a little. You okay?”

  “Yeah. But… we’re okay, right? No hard feelings?”

  Ellen’s merry giggle came through the phone. “Are you kidding? That was fantastic. I have never had a man fight for me, I mean really fight for me. I don’t care if it was all planned. I was so turned on that when I got Will home I—”

  “Ellen! Wait… there are kids here. Hang on a minute.” She moved back into the living room with Leo and Carlos. “Okay, sorry, what were you going to say?”

  “Nothing, really. Just that we had a long, hard night. You?”

  Jamie flushed and then cupped her hand around the speaker as she whispered. “We couldn’t wait to get home. As soon as the bar closed, Leo bent me over my desk. Then we did it again when we got home.”

  Ellen laughed again. “We may have to do this again sometime. Maybe without the guys actually trying to kill each other.”

  “If you two are done comparing notes… I need to talk to Leo,” Will said.

  “He’s right here. Leo! Will wants to talk to you,” she said as she handed over the phone.

  “How you feeling?” Leo asked.

  “Like I’ve been stomped by a horse. You?”

  “About the same. What do you need?”

  “Ron called me. Seems it didn’t take long for word to get out about our… spat… to get back to him.”

  “And?”

  “And he grilled me pretty hard. I basically told him I still wanted to be in Lima 6, and I could work with you, but as far as being friends, that was done.”

  “What did he say?”

  “Not a lot. He seemed very pleased that I kicked your ass. He doesn’t like you very much, did you know that?”

  Leo chuckled and let the dig pass. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Do you think he will pull you into his inner circle?”

  “Don’t know. I will reach out to Lucas and Gigolo when I can. We’ll see what happens.”

  “Okay… just watch your back.”

  “Got it,” Will replied as he killed the call.

  ***

  “Get what you needed?” she asked as they sat in her car.

  “Yeah. Enough I think. He said there was no retaliatory hit -- that he knew about -- after the hit at the bar. It also seems the cartel has another route into the states that bypasses Lima 6. He wasn’t sure, only that Lima 6 was out of the picture. But if that is the case, I don’t understand why we are still running intercepts. He also said the reason the cartel hasn’t hit us after we torched their second lab is they thought it was the Cuervo Cartel that hit the place. So if they didn’t hit Tuck, Two-Tone and me… then who did?”

  “I think the answer is obvious.”

  “Ron?”

  “Who else?” She couldn’t understand why he couldn’t see it. It was like there was a blind spot when it came to his club. She decided that it was her job to keep shining the light there until he saw the club for what it was.

  “That doesn’t make sense. I don’t see what benefit he would get from having us killed.”

  “We talked about this, Leo. Ron is going off the rails, flailing around. I don’t think he has a plan and is just making this up as he goes. That’s what makes him so dangerous. You can’t predict what he will do next. You may have to face the fact that Lima 6 is also muling drugs. That would explain why ‘Lima 6 is out of the picture’ but you are still running intercepts. That’s where the exchanges are happening.”

  “I hope you're wrong.”

  “I know. I do too,” she said then touched him on his cheek again. He relaxed, but she could see the darkness trying to take him and she was determined that it wouldn’t have him, not again. “It will be okay. We’ll find out what is going on and you can take the club back. You can make it a force for good again. You and Will, okay?”

  Leo nodded and smiled, but she could tell it was forced.

  “We need to go grocery shopping. The kids need milk and cereal and some other stuff. You can call Lundergrund and set up the meet, or whatever you are going to do. We’ll get through this.”

  His smile was a little more genuine this time. “Yeah… okay.”

  ***

  “She wants to meet him,” Leo said as he stepped out of the car to help Jamie load the bags into the trunk. Why Jamie had shopped, he has sat in the car and worked the deal with Lundergrund.

  “When, and where?”

  “Your house, three pm today. She is driving down from El Paso.”

  “Is that safe? What if she just swoops in and arrests him.”

  “Then he won’t talk and she gets nothing but an illegal alien bust.”

  “But if she plays ball…?”

  “Then she can take credit for bringing down the Prieto Cartel… and doing it on DEA’s turf. That is the part that she really likes. She is a nasty one, willing to knife anyone in the back to get to the top.”

  “I’m going to be there.”

  Leo sighed. “Why?”

  “Because it’s my house, that’s why.”

  “Fine,” he said with a small shake of his head.

  “You’re learning,” she teased.

  ***

  “So we have a deal?” Leo asked Lundergru
nd.

  “I will have to get the District Attorney to buy off on it… but I think I can convince him,” Lundergrund purred.

  “No games, Lundergrund. Protection, amnesty, and a path to citizenship for Carlos and his whole family. For that he will tell you everything he knows about the Prieto Cartel. The document had better be signed when you come back.”