“What? You quit.”
“I quit that agency.” She had something else to brandish.
An FBI badge.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Stella Moore, FBI,” she announced with a faux-deep voice. “Funny how quickly they scooped me up after I put myself out there as a free agent. By the way, Maggie and Jay say hello.”
“Are the FBI planning to raid this before we can too?”
“No. They’re… we’re… watching. In case something goes bad. Don’t worry, loverboy.” She patted Joseph’s shoulder. “The FBI is willing to let you guys take the credit for this one.”
“Joy. What are you doing here, then?”
“I’m the only FBI agent at large, if that’s what you mean.” Her hand lingered on his shoulder a little too long. “I’m stopping by to let you know that Sylvia is not okay in there. He’s already got her made.”
Joseph’s heart dropped into her stomach. “How the fuck could he?”
“One of his bodyguards isn’t all muscle. He’s also a tech grunt. That disturbance that happened back at your station? He must be blasting interference and seeing where it bounces. Sylvia’s got about two seconds before they realize she’s got a wire somewhere on her.”
The look on his face must have told her everything, for Stella instantly dropped her hand from his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic glance.
“Shit, Joseph.” Stella rolled her eyes. “You’ve really got it bad for her, huh?”
“Does that trouble you?” Where was his gun? Did his mother know about this? How about Jim? Surely Jim would know before anyone else that something was wrong! “Last I checked I was a free agent, like you.”
“Only in matters of love, apparently.” Stella kept one of her guns out while the other went back into its holster. “So let’s go save your girlfriend. I’ve got my own date to get to anyway.”
“Go save my girlfriend, huh?”
Stella opened the car door and stepped out, gun still at her side. “You’ve got two seconds before she’s made, loverboy. What kind of heroic boyfriend are you if you leave her to rot with Alexander Sheen?
She had a point. She had many good points. Joseph announced his intentions into the radio. Jim was the only one who heard him – and the only one to tell him that he was a suicidal maniac.
When he eventually saw who else was in Sheen’s possession? Suicidal maniac didn’t even begin to cover it.
Chapter 33
Sylvia
“Pigs in the farmhouse, boss.”
Sylvia barely had time to react. The bodyguard’s clipped, gruff words weren’t in her ear before the linebacker grabbed her where she stood.
“You’re sure?” Sheen, who had been cut off midsentence, asked. He gazed at Sylvia, whose paling face was on the verge of spewing the entire contents of her guts. Oh my God. What is going on? Have I been made?
Yes.
“She’s got a wire somewhere on her, that’s for sure. I’ve jammed the signal, but it will only last a minute before I need to restart the juice. Get it off her before that happens.”
“Let me search her, boss.” The linebacker squeezed Sylvia until she stopped breathing. When he released her enough to gasp for air, every bone in her body rattled with relief. Short lived relief. “Maybe she’s got one in her snatch.”
“Oh, I don’t know how that would be possible.” Alexander plucked a tissue from his pocket and slowly approached Sylvia. Blood pumped like wild from her heart. Don’t touch me, you bastard. She couldn’t speak, not even to defend herself. “A woman of her profession can’t keep much held up there.”
You fucking did not suggest…
“Where’s the wire, Sylvia?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” That was the first thing out of her mouth, and she sounded like a kitten mewling for her mother?
“Come on, now.” The fakest look of concern to ever exist crashed on top of Sylvia’s head. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either tell me where the wire is, or I’ll go looking for it.” He held his tissue covered fingers up.
“I honestly don’t know nothing about any wire!”
“You’re a decent actress, Sylvia. I’d hate to have a bullet put in your head when your career in drama is getting started.”
Yeah, she was going to throw up.
“Jesus!” One of the bodyguards jumped back when Sylvia coughed up some bile-flavored spittle. It covered the front of her black dress and dribbled down her chest. Everyone but that one bodyguard was completely unfazed. “That’s disgusting.”
“Just a bit of body fluids.” Alexander motioned for that bodyguard to make himself useful. The man was more than happy to leave the room. In the far corner, Reina remained tied up and gagged. She had long stopped squealing at Sylvia as if she were the worst of all traitorous bitches.
I’m so sorry. Now Sylvia was wishing she had called Reina by name when she had the opportunity to summon the wrath of Joseph Montoya. Joseph… shit, I’m so sorry. I fucked it up! Now what was going to happen to her? Maybe she didn’t want to know.
“Wrap her up and put her in the other room with the girl. The truck is loading as we speak. I'll get the boys to come by to pick up an extra two.”
Oh my God! Was he going to put her on a truck and send her to Thailand? Shit! The irony!
She spared Reina a sympathetic look before a cloth bag was placed over her head. What ensued was thirty seconds of two men searching for a wire before she finally caved and told them where it was. It was better than having them find it after they searched every cavity in her body. With whatever body parts they wanted.
Chapter 34
Joseph
The door to the lobby opened the moment Joseph’s radio started to work again.
“Joseph!” His mother rarely sounded so perturbed. “Are you still there? Come in. Montoya.”
He waited until he and Stella were in a dark corner before responding. “I’m here. We’re going in. Sylvia’s been made.”
“What!” A rabble commenced behind Genevieve. “Who the fuck is we?”
“Stella’s here. She’s with the FBI.”
“The FB… fuck!”
“Sheen has Sylvia and another girl in possession. I’ve gotta get them out of there.”
“Hold tight, Joseph. We’re coming.”
“Hold tight,” Stella mumbled. She cocked her gun. “God only knows what they’re doing to her.”
Don’t go there. Joseph couldn’t bear the thought of Sylvia suffering any more than the trauma Alexander already foisted upon her. If he almost assaulted her then… No. No, his mind could not go there. He would rescue Sylvia before that happened.
“Joseph.” Stella tilted her head to the left once she had his attention. “Sheen’s on the third floor. Let’s go.”
They crouched low and took the stairwell. Smile, Joseph. You’re on Sheen’s camera. Hopefully he was too distracted by Sylvia’s betrayal to notice two agents creeping up the stairs. Exposed lightbulbs illuminated the bare minimum, but a good camera – and Sheen would have good cameras – could still easily catch their shadows. They stayed close to the wall the first two flights of stairs. By the third, a large figure came into view hauling a lithe feminine body that fought for its life.
“Hold,” Joseph hissed. Stella stopped behind him and pointed her gun up toward the figure. “Don’t you dare take a shot unless it’s clean.” That could very well be Sylvia.
“I’m going.” Stella resumed her creep up the final flight of stairs. “Cover me.”
Joseph didn’t like it, but he also wasn’t arguing. Better for Stella to take the shot than for him to attempt it. If I missed and hit Sylvia, I would never, ever forgive myself. All the more reason for him to steady his weapon and focus on the task at hand.
They shuffled through the entryway to the third floor as the figure made its way by. Stella kept her Glock up; Joseph stayed right behind her.
“FBI!” she
called. “Drop your weapon and release the woman!”
Sheen’s bodyguard swerved around, his own weapon up – and the woman as his shield.
It was not Sylvia.
It was Reina.
Joseph almost dropped his gun, but Stella remained firm. “I said drop your weapon and release the girl!”
The bodyguard grinned. That was usually not a good sign. “Now why would I do that?”
A bullet went off. It came from behind them.
Stella went down, blood spurting from her shoulder. Her scream of painful alarm made Reina scream too.
Joseph swung around in time for another bodyguard to barrel into him. His Glock landed on the floor. So did he.
***
Joseph could now say he had lived through two of the most embarrassing moments ever as a law enforcement agent. The first was having his case pulled out from beneath him and being made the laughing stock of not only his department, but the regional FBI office as well. The second was being knocked out and taken hostage, as if he never had any training in his life.
But he had training. Lots of it. How many times had his mother made him go back and train for hostage situations, both as a hostage and as a negotiator? Only now did he realize that she did it out of fear for him, her only damn child.
Wasn’t it weird that the human mind realized these things when it was too late? What good does that do me on a survival level? Absolutely none! So of course he would start thinking about all the little ways his mother ever showed she cared while he was coming to in some dark, damp and stinking storeroom.
“There’s my baby,” Sylvia said, her voice as cold as the air around them. “My big hero has finally arrived.”
First, Joseph was beyond relieved to hear her all right. He was even happier to feel her tied to him. They sat on the floor, back to back, a rope tied tightly around them. Joseph had been stripped of his radio, phone, and every weapon he carried – even his damn pocketknife. A lump on his head hurt more than the ropes rubbing against his bare arms, and his eyesight was so blurry that he wondered what had been irreparably damaged. But at least from here he could clutch Sylvia’s hand and take refuge in what little warmth she offered.
“Are you okay?” he murmured.
Sylvia snorted. “I was almost violated once they realized I was wired. Then I was manhandled all the way here. I don’t even know how the fuck they figured out I was wearing a wire. Sheen and I were having a nice chat… then bam! One of his bodyguards said there were pigs in the farmhouse, or something.”
Joseph leaned his head against hers. “He found the signal. They’d been looking for one.” And they should’ve realized those meatheads would know to look for one. “They also jammed the radios back at the station.”
“Please tell me your mom’s coming.”
“I think so.” Joseph attempted to break free from the ropes, but to no avail. All he did was annoy Sylvia to the point she told him to knock it the fuck off.
The image of another woman entered his mind.
“Reina!” He jerked against their binds. “Fucking hell on wheels, please tell me that was my mind playing tricks on me.”
“Oh, by the way,” Sylvia muttered. “I found your sister. Sheen had her kidnapped.”
No doubt to get back at me. All of this smelled of Sheen. It couldn’t be a coincidence that Reina went missing. Sure, Sheen was after women of different means, but Reina had to have been targeted for her relationship to Joseph. Gotta get to me, and all that. Did he know about his relationship to Sylvia? How many other people had been hit by him?
Stella… she had been shot. Was she okay?
“We have to get out of here.” Joseph was going to burst through those ropes even if he had to turn into the Hulk to do it. Unfortunately, that meant yanking on Sylvia’s arms and sending her into a fit. Whoever had tied these knots must have had military training. These definitely aren’t BDSM knots, that’s for sure. So much for giving people a quick escape should they need it. Joseph had a feeling that Sheen and his cronies would’ve been those types of Doms. “Shit!” It didn’t help that every muscle from the waist up was sore and his strength sapping from his body. Didn’t matter. He was pissed. First his girlfriend, now his little sister? Low. Low.
“Calm down and let me think!” Sylvia sighed when her boyfriend refused to settle down, as if he were some monkey let loose on a playground. “Would you knock it off? You’re not helping, Joseph!”
“Calm down? You want me to calm down? They have my sister!”
“I know! I saw her!”
Joseph slumped against Sylvia in resignation. “Do you think they’ve hurt her?”
“Do you want me to honestly answer that?”
“You saw her up close.” It dawned on Joseph that the woman Sylvia was observing earlier… saying all those awful things about… Reina. She was the one brought before Sylvia to test her loyalty to Sheen. Yeah, it was deliberate. They know she’s my sister. “I need to know exactly how many bullets to put in that fucker’s head.”
“You’re not putting any bullets in anyone’s head without a gun.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Sylvia shook her head. “She looked tired and hungry, but I don’t think they’ve hurt her. Not like that.”
He was glad he didn’t have to explain exactly what he meant. If any one of those bastards touched my sister like that… They already had death wishes going as far as they had, but Joseph would settle for some cold hard justice at the hands of the court.
“Why are you even here, Joseph?” Sylvia asked with a soothing voice. Where the hell did that come from? Joseph swallowed. The last thing he expected tonight was to hear Sylvia sound like that… before the worst was over. “I thought you were backup, not the first wave inside the building.”
“Shit got real, okay? One moment everything was as it should be. The next? The signal’s jammed, my mother is freaking out unlike I’ve ever heard before, and Stella shows up waving a gun in my direction and saying she’s with the FBI now.”
“Stella’s with the FBI?”
“Right?” Joseph still couldn’t believe it. “She said that you had been made and we had to get you out of there. So I followed her in.”
“Did she lead you into a trap?”
“I don’t think so.” Joseph highly doubted that his ex-girlfriend intended to be shot. She’s not that altruistic for any cause. Stella was curiously into the more painful arts of BDSM, but getting shot was on another level, even for her. “She was shot right in front of Reina and me.”
“Oh my God! Is she okay?”
“I have no idea.” Joseph squeezed his girlfriend’s fingers. “I’m glad that you’re okay.”
Sylvia shuddered. Was she crying? “Fuck it, Joseph.” Yeah, she was crying. Shit. Don’t cry now, Sylv. I need you to be strong, okay? That’s what he should have said. Instead, Joseph was propelled to squeeze even harder, as if he could pass his confidence into her. Not that he had a lot to share right now. “We are so not okay right now. He was going to ship me off with the rest of them. I don’t know what he’s going to do with you. He’s probably going to kill us!”
“No, no, don’t go there, Sylv.” Could his other hand reach her? “Don’t cry, mi cosita.”
That only made her cry harder.
Wasn’t there some way for Joseph to break free from these ropes? If only to turn around and hold his beloved as she needed to be held right now? If there’s a God out there, I wouldn’t mind the power right now. If the Montoyas knew what was happening, they would be lighting every candle they could get their hands on and start reciting whole lists of saints. Not just for him, but for their dear daughter as well.
“We’re going to get out of here, okay?” Joseph did his best to caress the spaces between Sylvia’s knuckles. “We’re going to get out of here, we’re going to go home, and we’re going to, I dunno… have dinner, take a shower, and fall asleep in each other’s arms.”
Sylvia laughed thro
ugh her tears. “You’re such a romantic, baby.”
Lord, did he love it when she called him that. “You make me want to do the most mundane things and declare them the pinnacle of romance. Because that’s how you make me feel, Sylv. You and me, you know? We don’t have to be crazy fancy. But I guess we could be, if you’d like.”
“I want to get out of here and never let go of you.”
He felt exactly the same way, but he couldn’t say that. For all he knew, these could be their last few moments together. “I love you, Sylv. I don’t say that lightly.”
One of her fingers pushed between his. “I know.” The world was nothing but pure silence for the next few moments. Heartbeats throbbed. Breaths steadied. It almost felt like they were somewhere else, far, far away from the horrors they already had been or may be yet subjected to. Sylvia’s voice was the first to crack like thunder. “I love you too.”
“When we get out of here, I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll marry you.”
She laughed. “Now, come on, don’t be ridiculous. You’re saying that because we’re high on adrenaline. You’ve ever seen Speed? You know how this goes with the sequel.”
“Never seen those movies.”
“Then I won’t spoil it for you.” Sylvia’s fingers continued to caress his. “We’ll watch them when we get home.”
“I promise you we’ll get home.”
“I’m promising you the same thing.”
“I…”
Gunshots.
“Oh my God.” Sylvia shook so hard that she made Joseph shake. “What’s going on?”
It didn’t take long to find out.
Someone beat down the door to the storeroom. A man dressed in SWAT gear, weapon at the ready, stormed in to the sound of Sylvia’s excited screams. The moment the man recognized Sylvia and Joseph, he called over his shoulder, “I’ve got two in here, Commander!”
Another man was attacking the knots holding Joseph together with Sylvia when Genevieve Stone appeared in the doorway, Glock returning to its holster. Joseph had never, ever been so happy to see his cold and distanced mother.
Damaged Goods Page 38
