No Way Out

by Allison Brennan

  Juarez spoke in the bullhorn. “I only need you, Kane. I will spare your brother if you throw out your weapons and get out of the truck now. I will not ask twice. We’re on the clock.”

  “Kane, we can’t give in.” Sean tried the truck again. Dead. He hit the dashboard.

  “I’m not counting,” Juarez said. “Out now. If you don’t give me what I want, I’ll get it from your girlfriend. I have men following her as we speak.”

  Kane’s grip tightened on his gun. “Fuck fuck fuck!”

  Kane opened his door and tossed out his gun.

  “No! Kane, you can’t—”

  “He won this round, he won’t win the war,” Kane said.

  But he didn’t say trust me.

  Kane didn’t know what was going to happen. He didn’t know that they were going to get out of this alive, or that these men wouldn’t be waiting here for Lucy and Siobhan. He had lost his confidence, Sean realized, because he hadn’t seen this coming.

  Kane looked at Sean. The fear in his eyes wasn’t for himself. “First chance, get away. I’ll figure it out.”

  Kane climbed out of the truck and knelt on the ground, his hands behind his head.

  This couldn’t be happening. Kane never gave up without a fight. He was practically Captain America. He could do anything . . .

  And yet he was on his knees, surrendering.

  Four of Juarez’s men approached Kane, and four more approached Sean.

  A heavily armed man tapped on Sean’s window with the barrel of his rifle. “Don’t be a hero,” he said with a heavy accent. “Out.”

  Sean didn’t have a choice. He could fight and most likely die—or he could bide his time and find a way to escape.

  But if Kane thought Sean was going to run without him, he was a fool.

  Sean opened his door, keeping his hands visible. The men roughly pulled him out of the truck and pushed him to the ground. They searched him and tossed his weapons back into the truck. His wrists were tied behind his back, and then four rough hands yanked him up, forcing him to walk toward Felipe Juarez.

  He and Kane stood side by side. Kane didn’t take his eyes off Juarez. Sean assessed the force against them. Two against a dozen. Real shitty odds.

  “Good boys,” Juarez said. “Pete, take the brother. The soldier will come with me. I don’t trust either of you, and certainly not together. Vamanos!”

  Sean was pushed into the back seat of a rusty old blue Chevrolet and forced to lie down. Two gunmen sat with him, and two men—boys, really—were in the front. Kane was taken in Juarez’s truck. But not before Sean saw Juarez coldcock him with his handgun.

  Sean winced, then vowed to find a way to escape and find his brother.

  Chapter Four

  The front gate had been rammed open.

  The ranch was fenced all the way around, but it was still relatively open—people could hop the fence, but someone had chosen to break through the main gate.

  “What happened?” Siobhan said, a hitch to her voice. “Why aren’t Kane and Sean answering? Are they—no. No.”

  “Stop,” Lucy said firmly. Her stomach was twisted in knots, but she couldn’t afford to let her emotions dictate her response. “Proceed with caution.”

  She pulled out her Glock, then glanced in the back at Andie. “Do you have a sidearm?”

  “Yes, ma’am, in my bag in the trunk.”

  “Siobhan, as soon as I tell you to stop, stop and pop the trunk.”

  The house was visible a minute later. Padre’s Jeep was parked out front, but Lucy didn’t see him. No other vehicles could be seen.

  Fifty yards from the house, Lucy said, “Stop.”

  Siobhan did, and popped the trunk. Andie jumped out and retrieved her sidearm. “Stay here,” Lucy told Siobhan.

  Lucy and Andie approached the house cautiously but quickly. There was no way to conceal their approach—a small grove of trees encircled the house and provided shade, but most of the ranch was flat and open.

  Padre stepped out onto the porch. “They’re not here,” he said.

  “Father, what happened?”

  He shook his head. “I got here five minutes ago. The gate was mangled, and I came right here—I found that.” He pointed to a drone on the porch.

  Lucy didn’t touch it, but inspected the device. It had been shot down. The box on the bottom, which should have held a camera, had something else instead. “I think this is a cell blocker. That’s why we couldn’t get through.” Or they were already gone.

  “I just got off the phone with the sheriff. He had calls about gunfire out here fifteen minutes ago. People don’t call when they hear guns go off—this is the country, people shoot all the time—but this was more than target practice.”

  Siobhan drove up to the house and got out. “Padre—where’s Kane?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “The ranch truck isn’t here. He and Sean must have fled. Was there—blood?”

  He shook his head. “No sign that anyone was hurt.”

  “We need to search the property,” Lucy said. She didn’t want to. The very real fear that she was going to find Kane and Sean executed hit her hard.

  “Andie and I can do that,” Padre said.

  “I will. Andie?” Lucy said.

  Andie nodded and Lucy took the keys from Siobhan. “Padre,” Lucy said, “see if they left a note or clue about what happened. Search the place again, look for booby traps or anything out of place.”

  “Kane’s go-bag is gone,” Padre said. “It was the first thing I looked for.”

  That was a good sign, Lucy thought, and by the expression on Siobhan’s face, she was relieved too.

  “Padre, do you have someone you can call? To keep an eye on things?”

  He knew what she meant. “The sheriff will assign a car.”

  Padre and Siobhan went inside, and Lucy steeled her fear and got into the car.

  “Did you see the tracks?” Andie asked.

  “A chase.” There were multiple tire tracks on the dry earth, certainly recent. As if there had been a car chase through the property. She followed the tracks and saw Kane’s truck in the distance, and no other vehicles. She was fixated on the truck—both doors were open.

  Andie said, “The side gate is open.”

  Lucy looked at the western gate which accessed a narrow, unmaintained road that both this property and the farm next door used primarily for heavy vehicles. It was a dead end to the south, but merged with the main road to the north.

  She was more worried about what she would find when they reached the truck.

  She stopped the car behind the truck. No bodies on the ground. She didn’t see any blood on the windows, but bullets had riddled the metal. All tires were flat.

  But no blood. She almost breathed easier.

  She looked inside the cab. Kane’s go-bag was on the floor on the passenger side. Sean’s gun was on the driver’s seat—along with his backup gun, knife, wallet, and cell phone. The keys were still in the ignition. A grenade was on the passenger seat.

  “Andie, you know grenades.” She pointed.

  Andie carefully inspected it without touching, then picked it up. “He didn’t pull the pin. I’ll secure this. He shouldn’t even have it in his possession.”

  Taped to the steering wheel was a note addressed to Siobhan.

  Lucy pulled on gloves she always kept in her purse—she couldn’t rush through this, though she was desperate to know what had happened. She had to preserve evidence in case . . . She didn’t want to go there.

  She unfolded the paper. It was written in Spanish, but Lucy was fluent and read it with ease.

  If you want to see your boyfriend alive,

  you will pick up your phone at exactly 7:00 p.m.

  If you don’t pick up,

  he will die.

  Do not doubt me.

  F Juarez

  No mention of Sean. Just Kane.

  But there was no blood, no body. That meant Sean was alive.
It had to mean Sean was alive.

  Juarez. That name was familiar, but Lucy didn’t know why.

  Andie had walked around the perimeter of the truck and came back with Kane’s handgun. “One bullet missing, recently fired.”

  Lucy showed Andie the letter and checked Sean’s guns. He hadn’t fired them.

  “They were trying to get away,” Andie said, “but there were multiple vehicles involved—not just the vehicles chasing them, but it’s clear there were several trucks parked along that fence. I didn’t find any blood.”

  Small blessing. Did that mean they were alive and well? Or being tortured?

  A lot of people wanted Kane Rogan dead, and getting Sean would be icing on the cake for some of them.

  A chill ran down Lucy’s back. She could not think that way.

  They weren’t dead, not yet. This note would likely turn into a ransom demand.

  She was about to call JT Caruso, one of the principals of RCK, to find out what she should do. She knew what to do as an FBI agent, but every principal of RCK had ransom insurance. She looked at her phone; still no service. Maybe the drone hadn’t been disabled, and the blocker was still operating.

  “Juarez,” Andie said with distaste.

  “Who is he?”

  “Nine years ago Siobhan and Kane rescued his daughter, relocated her. She was going to be married off to another criminal family—she was thirteen.”

  Lucy frowned. “I never heard about that.”

  “Remember last year when Kane was trapped in Mexico, after he rescued Siobhan?”

  Then it clicked. “Juarez took the contract.”

  “Right. He kidnapped Siobhan in order to get Kane down there. I think that put them both back on Juarez’s radar.”

  They had taken his daughter—likely they’d never gone off his radar, Lucy thought.

  “Then why not kill him?” Lucy said. As she said it, she realized. “They’ll torture him.”

  “I can’t say, but there has to be a way to track them down. That many vehicles—that many men? Kane has a lot of friends, as well as enemies. We need to get the word out and gather information.”

  “Let’s talk to Padre. He knows this area better than anyone.”

  “I don’t trust Juarez, but he would know that when he calls, Siobhan will demand proof of life. And Siobhan isn’t going to turn herself over to him. I wouldn’t let her, and Kane wouldn’t want it. He’s resourceful, and I hear Sean is the same way.”

  “Sean isn’t military.”

  “But he’s smart.”

  True.

  They gathered up all the weapons from the truck, and Lucy unlocked Sean’s phone. The screen was cracked, and like her he had no service.

  But she saw his unsent text messages for her.

  Multiple drones with cell blockers. Gate breached. We’re heading to west gate, stay away until clear. Don’t know who or why.

  The second message was shorter.

  Juarez. We’re surrendering. No injuries. TX-TSB223 JBB197

  “I love you,” Lucy whispered.

  “Excuse me?” Andie said.

  Lucy showed her the messages. “These are Texas license plate numbers, and six digits, so they’re from the nineties. Trucks most likely. Probably stolen or unregistered, but this gives us something to go on, and we might get lucky. We need to disable all the cell blockers and call in this information.”

  They drove back to the house. Andie secured the weapons in Kane’s safe, and Lucy showed Siobhan the note.

  She stared at it.

  “Juarez?”

  Her voice was a squeak. She began to shake.

  “Why would he come after you now?” Lucy asked.

  Siobhan shook her head. “It’s been nine years . . .”

  “But you and Kane went to his territory last year,” Andie said. “It would take him time to plan an operation like this.”

  “But if he wanted to kill them,” Lucy said, “it would have been smarter to wait until they were together.”

  She looked at her watch. It was six thirty. “If he’s telling the truth, we have thirty minutes. Padre—did you learn anything from the sheriff?”

  Padre shook his head. “He’s reaching out to his trusted sources, has all deputies on alert.”

  “I need you to do the same. They are going to stay local, is my guess. Border security has been beefed up here along International Road, and it would be nearly impossible to get Sean and Kane out quickly.” Though Lucy could think of half a dozen ways to take them south, because smuggling out of the US was much easier than smuggling into the US. “My guess is he has a safe house in the States. Sean sent the text messages at five twenty-seven and five thirty-two, they just didn’t go through. They have about an hour head start.”

  “He wants me,” Siobhan said. “He hates me because I took Hestia. He thinks I brainwashed her. She wanted to go. She wanted to escape. She said if she had to go through with it, she would kill herself. She didn’t want to—to be married to that pervert.”

  “Stop,” Lucy said. “We don’t know why he’s doing what he’s doing, or what his endgame is. It could be revenge, but I think if that was the case we would have found their bodies in the truck.”

  Siobhan shivered, and Lucy probably should have been more sensitive. Except . . . she had to think like a cop. She had to work the case and forget that the man she loved more than anything in the world was being held captive by a brutal criminal who wouldn’t hesitate to kill him.

  Andie had brought the drone inside. She dumped it on the table. “Cell phones should work.”

  Lucy looked at hers. Suddenly, the two messages from Sean popped into her feed, and she blinked back hot tears. Swallowed. Forced herself to regain her composure.

  She called JT Caruso. He would know where to start. Padre got on his phone and started to spread the word and work his contacts.

  Andie said, “I have a couple of people I can call.” She stepped outside.

  They would find Sean and Kane and they would be alive and well.

  Lucy had to believe it.

  Chapter Five

  Kane didn’t know where they took Sean. He could be in another vehicle following him, or he could be taken to another location. He had to trust his brother to get himself out of this mess, because it was clear Kane was the primary target.

  Or Sean was already dead.

  Kane couldn’t think about that. Not if he wanted to survive. Emotions, grief, made even the strongest of men weak.

  Mourning would come later.

  After vengeance.

  They’d been on the road for thirty minutes. Though Kane’s head ached, he kept track of every turn, which were few. Based on the speed and road quality, they were on route 281 heading east, away from Hidalgo. He knew these roads well and the small towns that branched off them. He counted the times they slowed, the sound of traffic, and based on his memory, they turned north just before they hit Santa Maria. Less than five minutes later they turned left twice. This was all farmland up here. Open and spacious. Did Juarez have property here? Was he working with a local thug? Or had he found an empty warehouse?

  The problem with open space, from a prisoner’s perspective, was that it would be easy for Juarez’s men to see someone coming for a rescue, and it would be difficult to find cover if Kane managed to escape.

  But he would put money on his ability to escape and elude.

  He was hauled up and out of the back of the truck. No blindfold or hood—so clearly they didn’t care if he knew where they were—or they planned on killing him.

  Both, Kane figured. Whatever reason Juarez had for not killing him on sight didn’t mean that he didn’t plan on killing him as soon as he got what he wanted.

  Kane saw nothing but open fields, though far to the south he could make out the lights in a couple distant houses. But here, rows of neatly stacked hay, two high, led to a large barn. Solar-powered security lights faintly illuminated the entrance. They pushed him inside, which was
lit only by two portable battery-operated lamps. There were tools to one side, a large harvester and tractor near the rear. No electricity. The lock on the large doors hadn’t been broken, which told Kane that someone who worked for the farmer, or the farmer himself, had given Juarez the key. Kane’s guess based on the visual and the fresh smell of cut dried grass was that the field had been recently plowed, possibly even that morning, the hay bundled and left to be collected. Tomorrow? Monday? Maybe it wouldn’t matter to Juarez. Whatever he had planned, he would do it quickly.

  They didn’t bring Sean in, which concerned him. Juarez’s men restrained Kane to a support beam in the middle of the structure. They didn’t take any chances—his wrists were bound, then his arms tied behind the beam. His ankles were bound, then they doubled up the rope around his body and secured it behind the beam.

  Kane just stared at Juarez.

  Juarez backhanded him. He looked smug, satisfied. As if he had won.

  He knew something that Kane didn’t know, and that deeply disturbed Kane. Because in the nine years that Juarez had hated Kane, he had never made a move against him, until last year when his gang had been hired by a drug cartel to kidnap Siobhan to lure Kane in, because the cartel thought Kane had information they needed.

  Something happened between then and now that gave Juarez the balls to come after him.

  “I’ve waited for this day for years, but now your death will mean so much more. I will have my daughter back, and you will die knowing your girlfriend will suffer for her deception and lies.”

  Kane stared at him, didn’t react. Giving Juarez any reaction was foolhardy. He didn’t bait him or play him. There was no way that Juarez knew where Hestia was. Even Kane didn’t know. He’d turned her over to one of the few federal agents he completely trusted. All he knew was that Sonia had successfully obtained Hestia a new identity—name, social security number, birth certificate—and placed her with a family that Sonia trusted. He didn’t know where, he didn’t know her new name, he didn’t know anything—and he preferred it that way. And there was no way that anyone could find out that Sonia was involved at all—her name wasn’t on any paperwork because nothing was official.