He eyed Cain. “If the opportunity comes up, I’ll point her in your direction. After that you’re on your own.”
“Sounds good to me. So what happens when we get back to Tampa? How are we going after Alyssa’s sperm donor?”
Sighing, Jake grabbed his water from the center console and took a sip. “For now, you’re heading back to the compound for more training.” He chuckled at the other man’s muttered curse. “Sorry, dude, but Ian is a stickler for training. Don’t worry though, if we need backup for anything, you’re in. Anyway, I’m going to check in with some of my informants. It’s been a while since I went looking for any info on Wagner. Then we wait until this Jordyn retrieves the photos and videos. Hopefully, by that point we have a plan to bring the bastard down. I’m hoping Jordyn can find something else in the safe that we can get him on, instead of having Alyssa testify. She doesn’t want to do it and I understand her reluctance.”
“So do I. But I would love to tell everyone on his future cell block what a fucking pervert he is. You know how much most inmates hate child molesters.”
Nick and Jake both agreed. Molesters were the scum of the earth even to other criminals. None of them would be surprised if Wagner was shafted after being beaten and raped himself, letting the bastard know what if felt like to be helpless at another person’s hands. Jake was determined to make that a possibility by putting the bastard away for what he’d done to the sweet teenager. The sooner the better.
* * *
“We’ve got a tail.”
Nick glanced into the passenger side-view mirror and spotted the dark SUV Jake was referring to. “Two people in front, can’t see anyone in the rear. When did they latch on to us?”
Snorting, Jake changed lanes without giving the men following them any indication they’d been spotted. “As soon as we left the compound. Idiots couldn’t have been more obvious if they fucking tried.”
After dropping Cain off, and giving Ian and Dev updates, Nick was surprised when Jake invited him along to find one of his informants. After the incident in the woods earlier, he was afraid Jake would shut him down for good. There was so much he needed to learn about the man and his lifestyle, but if Jake wasn’t forthcoming with information, who the hell could Nick ask?
“You still carrying?”
He glanced at Jake. “Yeah, why?”
A smirk came over the man’s face as he flipped on the left turn signal. “Because once I find a more secluded place, I think we’ll have a chat with these boys. Sound like fun?”
“As long as I don’t have to tell my lieutenant, then count me in.” Yeah, the Navy frowned on their SEALs getting in trouble on U.S. soil. But this was important to Jake, therefore, it was important to Nick. “Let’s do it.”
Hitting the Bluetooth feature on his steering wheel, Jake instructed the female voice prompt to dial a number. When the call connected, he laid out his plan.
Seven minutes and many turns later, Jake found a rundown area, void of witnesses. Accelerating quickly to get their tail’s attention, he made his way across an empty parking lot, heading to the rear of an abandoned strip mall. As expected, the SUV sped up as well. After circling around to the back of the building, Jake turned the wheel hard while slamming on the brakes, sending his truck into a hundred and eighty-degree spin, before stopping it and throwing the gear shift into park. Nick and Jake leapt from the vehicle, weapons drawn, using their doors for cover, as the SUV rounded the corner and came to a screeching halt. Before the driver could put it in reverse, Brody’s Ford F-150 boxed the vehicle in. The geek and Marco exited, also with guns drawn, and approached the driver and passenger doors, keeping a fair distance to the sides in case Jake and Nick needed to open fire.
When Brody was almost parallel with the driver, he raised his voice to be heard through the closed windows. “Show your hands!”
After a moment’s hesitation and a dirty look, the driver held up his hands with the passenger following suit. With his gun still pointed at the driver’s head, Brody gave his next commands. “Moving nice and slow, roll down all the windows.” Once they were down, the team was assured there was no one else in the vehicle. “Open the doors slowly. Get out and lay down on the ground. Any sudden movements and I’ll pump you full of lead.” Okay, a little dramatic, but Nick knew it was not a false statement.
With Jake’s eye on the passenger, Nick kept the driver in his weapon’s sights, praying the guy didn’t do something stupid. The last thing they needed was a repeat of a nineteenth century gunfight. This wasn’t the Wild West in Tombstone, Arizona—it was modern day Tampa, Florida. And the law was less forgiving around here.
Both doors opened and the men exited, hands in full view, as they dropped to the ground. “You’re making a big mistake,” the driver growled at Brody, who smirked as he rounded to the man’s feet.
“See, that’s where you’re wrong, ass-hat. Your mistake was getting out of fucking bed this morning. Hands behind your head and lock your fingers together.”
Nick approached the driver, keeping his weapon’s muzzle level with the guy’s head. On the other side, Jake was doing the same with the passenger. When they were close enough to their targets that they couldn’t miss if things went to shit, their other two teammates re-holstered their weapons. Kneeling next to the driver’s hips, Brody reached up and slapped a handcuff around one wrist, bringing the guy’s right arm around to the small of his back. The left arm followed and the other cuff was closed with a snick. Nick couldn’t see what Marco had taken off the other guy, but a gloved Egghead pocketed the S&W 9mm semi-automatic, Kahr .380 pistol, and switchblade he removed from the driver’s body as he patted him down. These goons had some serious hardware on them. Once both men were secure and relieved of their weapons, as well as their cell phones, Jake and Nick holstered their own handguns.
On the passenger side of the SUV, Jake growled at his suspect, “All right, asshole, what did Wagner hire you to do?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The man’s bravado and false ignorance earned him a boot to the ribs from Marco, and Nick smirked when he heard the satisfying crack and grunt from several feet away.
Jake eyed Brody over the hood of the vehicle. “Is your guy any smarter than this idiot?”
“Hmm. Let me see.” The grin spreading across the geek’s face told Nick he lived for moments like this. It was a guy thing, as well as a SEAL thing—a chance to kick the ass of someone who deserved it was always welcome. Leaning down, Brody grabbed a handful of hair, ignoring the driver’s yelp of pain. “Are you smarter than your buddy, fucktard? You want to tell us why you were tailing my friends here?”
“Fuck you!”
“I was hoping you would say that.” Nick winced, then chuckled when Brody shoved the guy’s face back into the pavement, breaking his nose. The driver screamed in agony. “Damn, that had to hurt. Sorry, Jake. This asshole isn’t any smarter. It’s your guy’s turn to try and grow some balls and brains.”
Whatever Marco did to his thug on the other side of the SUV elicited a screech worthy of a girl meeting her teen idol, followed by begging…lots and lots of begging. “Please! Oh, fuck, stop! All right! I’ll tell you what you want to know, just…just get him off me! Please!”
Jake nodded toward his teammate and the screaming dropped several octaves to groans. “Start talking.”
The passenger’s words were raspy and pain-filled. “W-Wagner and Allen want the girl. We were s-supposed to follow you, hoping you would lead us to her. T-that’s all we were told to do and I don’t know why they want her.”
Snarling, Jake bent at the waist. “I know why, asshole. Wagner’s a fucking pervert who’s been raping his daughter since she was twelve years old. He’s also on my fuckers-I-want-to-destroy list, before I cut off his dick, shove half of it up his ass and the other half down his fucking throat. Now, unless you want to be added to that list, I suggest you turn down any other fucking jobs he offers you and forget we ever
had this talk. Understand?”
There was a long pause, then a screech again. “All right! All right! I understand!”
Brody kicked the driver none to softly in the ribs. “What about you, fucktard? You understand?”
“Fuck! Yeah, I get it.”
Ten minutes later, after un-cuffing the men, forcing them to strip to their birthday suits, and duct taping them together face-to-face, Marco and Brody stuffed them into the rear of the SUV. Meanwhile, Jake made a call to one of Trident’s contacts in the Tampa P.D. to come and release the two assholes in about fifteen minutes or so, long after the teammates were gone. The weapons that’d been confiscated, along with the drugs Nick had found in the glove-compartment, were left for the police to take care of, but Brody kept both of their cell phones to be reviewed later for other contacts. After a quick check to make sure they were leaving no evidence of their own presence, the four operatives took off in their vehicles, heading in opposite directions.
CHAPTER 14
Clicking his seatbelt back on, Nick glanced at Jake. “Back to finding your snitch?”
“Yeah. It’s what…” He checked the dashboard clock. “Almost eighteen hundred. He should be getting out of work in a few minutes, so hopefully we can catch him.” Silence filled the air, making the tension between them grow. If Jake didn’t do something, it was going to be a major distraction at a time when they both needed their heads on straight. “Nick…I’m sorry I blew you off earlier.”
The kid smirked and snorted. “Funny…I thought I was the one who blew you.”
He couldn’t help the amused grin which spread across his face. “That you did, Junior. And very well, I might add.” He paused before getting serious again and letting out a weary sigh. “I hate to sound cliché, but you’re not the problem. It’s me. I’ve got shit buried so far down inside me that I don’t know if I’ll ever be rid of it. I’ve never spoken to anyone about it, either—not the team, a boyfriend, a submissive, a shrink, or a priest, so don’t take offense.”
“You know, they say confession is good for the soul, or are you just going to suffer in a lonely silence for the rest of your life?”
Good question. Was he? “I don’t know. I honestly don’t. But with all this shit with Wagner going on, I can’t focus on my problems. Neither one of us can afford to be distracted. I just…can you let it go for now?”
Mulling over the request, Nick hesitated a moment, then cocked his head to the side in reluctant agreement. “Yeah. I can. But after this crap with Alyssa is over, I’m going to want answers, Jake. I may not know a lot about the lifestyle, but I do know communication is a major part of it. Throwing your words from this morning back at you—is this just a game to you? Am I a convenient fling who’ll be tossed aside after I head back to California?”
Pulling into a gas station, Jake parked and turned off the engine. “You’re right. Communication is a big part of it. And the only games I play are ones that are mutually agreed upon.” He opened his door and climbed out with Nick doing the same on the passenger side. And while both dropped the subject for now, it didn’t go unnoticed to either of them that he hadn’t answered the second question.
A few minutes later, sitting in the diner across the street from the gas station where Jake’s snitch worked, Nick tried to appear relaxed and as non-threatening as possible. While the nineteen-year-old kid was comfortable with Jake, he was still wary with the stranger at their table. Not wanting to make things any worse, Nick remained silent and let Jake do his thing.
From what Jake had told him, Todd Wheeler was a kid who had fallen through the cracks of the system when his single mother died at the hand of an abusive boyfriend. Wheeler had been sixteen at the time and placed in several foster homes, each one worse than the last. After the third one, the kid ran away, hit the streets and turned to drugs to ease his emotional pain. About a year ago, Jake had come across him one night outside the YMCA where he’d been playing basketball with some guys. The kid had been looking for cars to break into for money or anything he could sell. Luckily for Wheeler, Jake had been the one to catch him and not one of the cops he’d been with.
Something about the lost, strung-out, skinny kid had gotten to him. Instead of turning him in, Jake took him to his brother’s pub and fed him. It had taken a few weeks for Wheeler to realize Jake was one of the good guys and wasn’t looking for anything in return. The kid started providing his benefactor street information in exchange for cash or food. After a while, when Wheeler took Jake up on his offer to help him get off the streets, the Dom had been relieved. He found the kid a job, a studio apartment, a drug counselor, and got him enrolled in a class to obtain his GED. Aside from one brief, remorseful setback with the drugs a few months ago, the kid seemed to be on his way to a better life.
The waitress placed a greasy bacon cheeseburger and fries down in front of Todd and walked away. After spotting a cockroach when they first sat down, Nick passed on eating anything there. It seemed as if Jake had spotted the same insect or wasn’t hungry, because he’d declined to order as well. While the kid began to dig into his dinner, Jake got to the point of their meeting. “Do you know who Oliver Wagner is?”
Swallowing a huge bite of his burger which Nick expected him to choke on, Todd nodded. “Owns a bunch of laundromats, one of those dollar stores, a landscaping business, and a few other stores and shit around the city. Some of them a little shady, but he’s got political contacts, so he gets away with it. Treats his employees like crap, too.”
“I’m aware of all that. What I need to know is, does he have a new right-hand man? Someone to do his dirty work? The guy he was using last year is serving time for drug possession and I don’t know who the replacement is.”
Through another mouthful of food, this one smaller than the first one, Todd answered, “Yeah. Some dude named something Allen. Greg or Craig or something like that.”
When Jake’s eyes narrowed at the name, Nick spoke for the first time. “You know him?”
“Not sure,” he answered. “The name sounds familiar, but I can’t place it. I’ll see what Brody can dig up on the guy.” Sliding out of the booth, Jake pulled out some money to cover Todd’s dinner plus a tip and left it on the table. “Ask around. See if you can find out anything that has to do with his wife and daughter—a hit may have been ordered.”
While Nick stood as well, Todd looked up in surprise, the burger paused inches from his open mouth. “The ones who disappeared without a trace last year?”
“Yeah. Call me if you hear anything, and stay out of trouble.”
“Where’s the fun in that?”
With a soft smack to Todd’s head for his smart mouth, Jake told the kid to watch his back, and then exited the diner with Nick on his heels.
It wasn’t long before Jake pulled into the parking lot of his condo. He’d mentioned he had some phone calls to make to Tiny and Brody, then planned on throwing together something for Nick and him to eat. Halfway into a parking space, he braked suddenly. “Shit. Forgot. I was supposed to go food shopping the other day. I’ve got nothing in the house to eat.”
Nick shrugged. “I can go grab us a pizza while you make the phone calls. That is, if you don’t mind me taking your truck.”
Leaving the Suburban idling, he climbed out of the driver’s seat. “There’s a place a few blocks up that way,” he pointed to the road heading east, “called Mama Rosa’s. I’ll eat anything on a pie but anchovies. That’s Boomer’s thing and it grosses the rest of us out.”
Nick climbed over the console and frowned as Jake pulled out his wallet. “I got it. Dinner’s on me.”
Jake seemed about to argue, but then relented. “Thanks. It’s condo 112 on the ground floor, just past the stairwell.”
Driving away, he was glad Jake hadn’t insisted on paying. While he was willing to submit to the Dom in their sexual relationship, he wanted Jake to treat him as an equal outside of the bedroom. He didn’t think he could agree to have it any other way between t
hem. One step at a time, Nicky-boy
The dinner run took a little longer than expected due to Mama Rosa’s being overrun by a bunch of teenagers celebrating their high school soccer team’s win against their biggest rival. Parking Jake’s truck, Nick shut off the engine, then grabbed the pizza and beer from the passenger seat. It was almost eight p.m. Maybe, if there weren’t any new leads they needed to check out, they could spend a quiet evening vegging on the couch together and talking…among other things. Striding through the parking lot, he kept his head on swivel. It wasn’t that he was expecting trouble, but the need to inspect his surroundings had been ingrained into his psyche from years in the military and combat. As he rounded the corner of the stairwell, he noticed a man about to knock on a condo door. The number on the door was 112—Jake’s unit.
“Can I help you?”
The man turned and Nick came face-to-face with the asshole—Drew, wasn’t it?—who’d been trying to set up a date with Jake in the airport. He wasn’t bad-looking, with his fit physique, blond hair, and brown eyes, but Nick was having a hard time being this close to one of Jake’s former lovers—especially one with an arrogant look on his face. His skin bristled with jealousy and annoyance as the guy arched an eyebrow and regarded him with noticeable distain.
“No, I don’t think you can. I’m here to see someone, not that it’s any of your business.”
If Nick hadn’t hated the guy from the moment he saw Jake talking to him a few days ago, then he did now. He stepped just inside the asshole’s personal space, with the only thing stopping him being the pizza he was balancing in one hand. “Well, since you’re obviously here to see Jake, then, yeah, it is my business. He already has plans for tonight, tomorrow, and every other day in the future, so why don’t you take a fucking hike.”
Topping the Alpha: Trident Security Series Page 10
