He let go of Graham and sat back, giving that a moment to sink in before he continued.
“If you think I’ll lose one moment of sleep over causing pain to a man who participated in kidnapping innocent people, cutting out a young woman’s eye, and murdering a man whose family couldn’t pay his ransom, think again. You brought this on yourself. Tell me where he is.”
Graham hesitated, but when Levi lifted his hands, he blanched and exhaled a frightened groan. “Okay, okay! There’s a house in Boulder City: 1123 Olmo Road. It’s where we were supposed to go if things went sideways. The rest of them would have gone straight there after they evacuated the desert cabin, and with their faces all over the news, they’d try not to move around too much. If they have this guy you’re looking for, they’d be keeping him there while they come up with an exit strategy.”
“Thank you.” Levi stood up. An address—that was a good starting place. Even if the kidnappers were no longer there, it was a fresh lead.
“You’re not going to get away with this,” Graham said, brave now that Levi was no longer sitting beside him. “I’ll tell everybody what you did. You’ll go to prison.”
Levi struck him with a backhanded blow, knocking his head to the side.
“I don’t give a fuck,” he said, and stalked toward the door.
Dominic’s face was impassive, but he put a hand on Levi’s arm as Levi reached for the door. “I need a moment with Graham alone.”
“Why?”
“Just trust me. I’ll meet you at the car.”
Levi shrugged and left the room. Dominic could handle whatever scheme he was cooking up; Levi had more important things to focus on.
Stanton wasn’t going to spend one minute longer at the kidnappers’ mercy than he had to.
It had taken Dominic some time to put his finger on what about Levi’s behavior was unsettling him so much. It wasn’t the ruthlessness—he’d always admired that aspect of Levi’s personality. Nor was it the disregard for personal consequences, because Levi wasn’t the type to worry for himself when someone he loved was in danger, and that was something he and Dominic had in common. It wasn’t even the willingness to cause pain.
It was that Dominic had never seen Levi hurt someone dispassionately before.
He’d seen Levi engage in fights for his life, lash out in rage, put a handsy asshole in a nasty joint lock, pistol-whip a Nazi sympathizer and leave him for dead in a warehouse under armed assault. All those incidents had one thing in common—for Levi, violence was always linked to powerful emotions. It was never cold and calculating.
When Levi had opened that box with Barclay’s eye, it was like all his emotions had shut off. Maybe that wasn’t so surprising, since it was keeping him functional under overwhelming stress. But Dominic couldn’t shake a creeping sense of dread that when those emotions came back online, it was going to result in nuclear levels of destruction.
After the door shut behind Levi, Dominic turned back to Graham, who was whimpering quietly. Dominic felt no sympathy for the man; as Levi had said, he’d brought this on himself. There was only one concern on Dominic’s mind right now.
As Dominic moved closer, Graham’s breathing sped up and he put his uncuffed hand out defensively. Dominic couldn’t blame him—his stature made him seem more intimidating than Levi, even though Levi had been the far greater threat.
“What, it’s your turn now?” Graham asked. “I told him everything I know!”
“I believe you. Besides, causing pain has never really been my thing.” Dominic glanced at the spreading patch of blood seeping through Graham’s hospital gown. “You served in the military, right?”
“1st Battalion, 5th Marines.”
“You’re an embarrassment to your country,” said Dominic.
Graham flinched, then tried to cover it up with a glare. “Me? What about you two? You’re both going down for this, I swear to God—”
“I don’t think so.” Dominic inclined his head toward the door. “You know who that was, right? I could tell from the look on your face when we came in that you recognized him.”
“Everyone in Vegas knows who he is,” Graham muttered.
“Have you been watching the news while you’ve been cooped up in here?”
Graham licked his lips. “They’re saying he might be the Seven of Spades.”
“He’s not,” Dominic said. “But it is true that the Seven of Spades is fond of him. Obsessed with him, actually. You remember Drew Barton, the guy who was shot by a sniper outside the Justice Center last summer?”
Graham nodded jerkily.
“He tried to kill Detective Abrams, then had his lawyer go after the detective’s reputation in court. The Seven of Spades didn’t like that.” Dominic lowered his voice. “And the other men you’ve seen on the news this week? They hurt Detective Abrams over a decade ago, but the Seven of Spades still managed to hunt them down, drag them out here, and pick them off one by one. If you ask me, people who pose a threat to Detective Abrams don’t have a very long life expectancy. You might want to keep that in mind.”
Graham’s hands balled into impotent fists, but his eyes were dark with fear, his chest heaving. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. “Fine. I’ll keep my mouth shut.”
“That’s probably wise. You can start by coming up with a plausible explanation for how you popped your stitches.” Dominic pulled Graham’s blanket back up to chest, then returned his call button to its original position. “Feel better.”
He said goodbye to the still flustered cop outside the room and returned to the parking garage. Levi was sitting in the passenger seat of his truck, Dominic’s laptop propped on his knees. When Dominic slid into the cab, Levi shot him an inquiring look.
“All good.” Dominic wouldn’t share the details with Levi until Barclay was safe and sound. Levi wouldn’t care before then.
Levi nodded and returned his attention to the laptop. “I looked into the address Graham gave me. It’s a small house in your run-of-the-mill suburban neighborhood in Boulder City. The bank foreclosed on it a few months ago, so it’s currently vacant.”
He rotated the computer, showing Dominic the property information he’d pulled up along with some images from Google Earth. Foreclosed houses did make good temporary safe houses, as long as the neighbors weren’t the curious type.
“So now is when we call the police, right?” Dominic asked.
Levi was silent.
“Levi. Come on. This is crazy.”
“If I report that address to the police, and they storm the house and Stanton ends up getting caught in the crossfire . . .” Levi shoved the laptop into Dominic’s hands. “I can’t risk it.”
“I hope you’re not thinking that you and I are going to storm the house instead, because that could end in the same result, with the added complication of being totally illegal.” Dominic snapped the laptop shut and set it aside. “Even if you had your badge, Boulder City is a separate jurisdiction. Cop or no, there’s no way for you to legally enter that house, and I’m a private citizen.”
Levi stiffened. “That’s not completely true, though, is it?” Pointing to the laptop, he added, “Let me see that again.”
Though Dominic heaved an exasperated groan, he handed the laptop back without argument. Levi worked on it for a minute before making a triumphant noise.
“Here, look at this. One of the mercenaries, Ramon Acosta, sometimes operates under the alias Carl Trujillo. This wasn’t important before because the police are already after him and they know all this anyway, but Trujillo failed to appear in court for a battery charge in Carson City six months ago.”
Dominic’s pulse picked up. “He skipped bail?”
“Yes. And you’re still a licensed bounty hunter.”
“Bail enforcement agent,” Dominic said absently.
He was startled by Levi’s laugh, the sound brief but genuine. “Whatever. The point is, if you accept this warrant, you could legally pursue him. You could
enter a foreclosed property to arrest him.”
“Well, yeah. But that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t.”
Levi made a face. “I don’t care about that.”
“I do.” Dominic put out a hand to cut off the impatient reply he anticipated. “And so would Stanton. How do you think he’d feel if he found out you threw away your career and possibly your freedom trying to save him? Is that something he’d want?”
“No, but I . . .” Levi flung himself back in his seat, frustration written in every tense line of his body. “Look, it’s like you said—I’m not a cop right now. That actually works in my favor. Without a badge or service weapon, I’m a private citizen, acting under the extreme duress of knowing a loved one is in life-threatening danger. It’s too difficult to make charges stick in that context; juries are sympathetic and it can be bad PR for the prosecutor. I’m willing to take the chance.”
“No way. We’re talking about suburban infil/exfil in a civilian-populated area, with a team of two against an unknown number of armed enemies with military backgrounds in an unfamiliar environment. You don’t even have SWAT training!”
“Then it’s a good thing I have an ex-Ranger on my side.”
“Oh my God.” Dominic rubbed his eyes. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll accept the bounty for Acosta’s alias, and we’ll go scope out this house, assess the situation, get as much information on layout and numbers and patterns as possible. It’s common courtesy for a bounty hunter to alert the local PD when executing a warrant in their jurisdiction, so once we know what’s going on, I’ll call it in and let them know I believe my bounty has a hostage. Then we will wait for them. Agreed?”
Levi glared out the window, his jaw set and his arms tight across his chest. “Fine,” he said, at length and with poor grace.
“All right.” Dominic started the truck. “Then I guess we’re going back to Boulder City. Looks like we’ve come full circle.”
Boulder City was where they’d pursued Keith Chapman last year when the Seven of Spades had been setting him up. At the reminder, Levi’s body language relaxed somewhat, and he gave Dominic a faint, fleeting smile.
“We need to stop by my apartment first, though,” Dominic said as he shifted into drive.
“What for?”
“Supplies.”
“I can’t believe you pawned your microwave before you pawned these guns,” Levi said.
Dominic sighed and reached over to shut the metal case Levi held, which contained three Glocks of varying sizes, including a tiny pistol that was handy for secreting in an ankle holster. “I need them for work.”
Rebel watched them attentively from the back seat. Because Levi had no car and Dominic’s pickup was too conspicuous, Levi had rented a Ford Explorer for their impromptu reconnaissance mission. They had just parked a full block away from the kidnappers’ alleged safe house in Boulder City.
“I only brought those to be prepared for a worst-case scenario,” Dominic added. “And even then, you’re not bringing a gun anywhere near that house.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’ll choke.”
Levi glared at him in silent, open-mouthed outrage.
“Are you going to tell me you don’t freeze before you can pull the trigger in a life-or-death situation?”
“I shot that member of the Slavic Collective at Volkov’s compound just a few months ago!”
“You shot him on pure instinct because he was about to kill me.” The memory still filled Dominic with an uncomfortable mix of guilt, gratitude, and breathless adoration. He would never forget that Levi had taken a life to save his. “It wasn’t a conscious decision. You have unresolved issues about firing a gun that make it dangerous for you to bring one into a volatile situation.”
“I—”
“Levi, you know it’s safer for you to carry a nonlethal weapon you’ll use without thinking twice than a gun that could make you hesitate at a critical moment. I brought plenty of those too.”
Dominic nodded to the duffel bag on the floor behind their seats. He’d tossed in a couple of stun guns and a can of mace, in addition to some flashbang grenades and a few other potentially useful items. Then again, Levi’s body was a weapon in its own right.
Though clearly disgruntled, Levi muttered his agreement.
“But this discussion is just academic, because you’re not going in that house,” said Dominic.
Levi didn’t answer. They both turned their gazes toward the windshield, looking down the road even though they couldn’t see the house from this distance.
After a minute of silence, Levi said, “Was that microwave even yours to pawn? Doesn’t it belong to the apartment?”
Dominic dropped his head back against his seat and closed his eyes.
He’d been fighting the urge to call the Boulder City PD—or Martine—for the past two hours, knowing that would only push Levi further off the deep end. But he didn’t fool himself that what they were doing was anything other than stupid.
He and Levi shared a propensity for reckless behavior, especially when the people they cared about were concerned, so it wasn’t like he didn’t empathize. If it were Carlos and Jasmine in there—or his mother, his grandmother, one of his siblings—Dominic would be acting exactly the same way, determined to shoulder all the risk and responsibility himself, unwilling to trust the lives of his loved ones to strangers. Yet he’d also be relying on Levi to pull him back from the brink before he did something monumentally idiotic.
While he’d been packing up supplies at his apartment, waiting for Levi to return with the rental car, he’d almost talked himself out of coming here several times. How could he insist on caution and circumspection one moment, then turn around and stuff a bag full of infiltration gear the next?
Because he couldn’t control Levi, that was why. He’d do his best to keep Levi safe in the car, but there was always a chance Levi would go rogue. And if Levi went for that house against all logic and common sense, Dominic wasn’t going to let him do that unprepared or alone.
“I’m going to take Rebel to assess the situation,” he said, opening his eyes. “You are going to stay here, in the back seat, where the windows are tinted. Don’t get out of the car for any reason. These guys would recognize you right away.”
Levi didn’t argue, just exchanged places with Rebel as he climbed into the back and she hopped into the front passenger seat. Dominic zipped a windbreaker over his ballistic vest and shoulder holster, then clipped Rebel’s leash to her collar and got out of the car. Rebel had her own K-9 ballistic vest, though hers was disguised to mimic a service dog’s—at least from a distance.
Of the three of them, Levi was the only one without similar protection. He didn’t have access to his own vest, had refused to tolerate even the suggestion of detouring to obtain one, and couldn’t wear Dominic’s spare because of their size difference. That was just one more reason for Dominic to keep him out of harm’s way.
After ensuring Levi couldn’t be seen in the Explorer’s back seat, Dominic set off down the sidewalk like he was taking Rebel for a leisurely Sunday evening stroll. She trotted dutifully at his heel, her ears twitching back and forth.
The location of the kidnappers’ safe house was well-chosen. This suburban neighborhood was on the far eastern fringe of Boulder City, right at the edge of a vast desert. Only a single street with no fencing separated the outermost block of housing from the wilderness, so a vehicle with off-road capabilities could drive from a garage straight into the desert without even slowing down.
The house itself, a small ranch, stood on a narrow corner lot with easy access to multiple escape routes. According to the property information Levi had accessed, it was fifteen hundred square feet, with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Dominic would have preferred full blueprints, but there was no chance of that—not on such short notice and while they were operating with murky legality.
As he and Rebel casually walked the perimeter, he noted addit
ional details. Like every other house in the neighborhood, the property was surrounded on three sides by a chest-high brick wall. There were no cars in the driveway, but the closed garage door could be hiding as many as two. All of the blinds were shut tight and there were no lights on inside or out, even though the sun was almost down.
He clocked a few possible entry points: a gate beside the garage door, as well as another in the rear wall, plus sliding glass doors on the side and back of the house. However, these mercs had military backgrounds, and worse, they’d had plenty of time to fortify their position. They could have blanketed the entire property with dense security measures and even booby traps.
The more Dominic observed, the more pessimistic his outlook became. This house was shut up tighter than a convent. As he walked past, he caught a few glimpses of movement behind the blinds, so there was somebody in there, but he couldn’t prove who or how many. It was impossible for him to get eyes or ears inside. Anyone in the house would be able to see an enemy approaching long before said enemy had an opportunity to do any damage, and God only knew what precautions they’d taken for such an event.
He and Rebel walked all the way down the block behind the row of houses, then turned around and retraced their steps so they could circle around the corner lot again. This time, when they passed the house next door to the kidnappers’, Dominic noticed that the mailbox was overflowing, and there was a flier stuck in the front door that wasn’t on any of the other houses on the street.
Returning to the Explorer, Dominic let Rebel into the back and got in the driver’s seat. “The next-door neighbors haven’t been home in at least a couple of days,” he told Levi. “Stay in the back seat. I’m going to park in their driveway so we have a better vantage point.”
He didn’t say anything else until they relocated, but once they were settled next door, he could no longer put off telling Levi the ugly truth.
One-Eyed Royals Page 23
