Protecting Arizona (Special Forces: Operation Alpha)

by Holt, Desiree

  “I will make sure to mention it in casual conversation as soon as I leave this room,” Octavio assured him. “You know you can trust me to do that. And of course we have absolutely no idea why she would be at that motel. We are shocked. Stunned.”

  “Exactly.” Vasquez drew in another lungful of smoke. “Go take care of setting up surveillance on Arizona Hunt. Check any contacts that can give you a hint of what’s happening then come back here and we’ll finish the plans for the next distribution run.”

  “Consider it done.”

  Octavio left the room, and Luca went to sit behind his desk. He had planned to go to his office at the dealership this morning. When everything happened with Florida and Ruby, he’d decided to stay home until he got a report back that the situation was taken care of. He was sure the sister had called the police but he had no idea how fast things had moved after that. He decided it would be better for him to go to his office and let the cops find him there.

  Several shipments had arrived recently, and he had scheduled them to be dispersed. He had developed an excellent system hiding them in motor homes set for delivery and a steady crew of drivers who handled it. He had a lot of out-of-state and out-of-town customers who ordered online via video. Or came down here, ordered their motor home, and didn’t want to hang around waiting for it to be specially outfitted. It was easy to hide the drug shipments in the motor homes, and his drivers dropped off the goods on their way to deliver the motor homes. Things could easily get screwed up if he didn’t oversee every little detail. He knew he was good at it, which was how he came to have the unique position he did. Even as much as he trusted Octavio, this was something he insisted on handling himself.

  Tamping out the cigar, he placed it in the carved ashtray to finish later and went to find Octavio. On the way to his office, he would practice being shocked and saddened when the police visited him.

  And life would go on.

  Chapter 5

  The black sedan might look like a conservative set of wheels but the moment Arizona backed it out of her driveway, Razor could feel the power of the engine beneath its hood.

  “You had this modified,” he commented.

  “Of course.” She flashed him a tight grin. “I can’t have a car everyone else could outrun.”

  Of course.

  “Tell me about where we’re going. If it turns out we have to breach any of these places, I need to know everything about them that you can provide for me.”

  “No problem. I’ll give you the skinny on Vasquez’s house when we get close to it.”

  He focused on studying the landscape as they drove from Arizona’s residential area which she told him was known as South Tampa. Single family homes and townhouses lined the tree-shaded streets

  “It’s a wild mix of homes priced at anywhere from a hundred and fifty thousand to five million. Mostly single residences but some nice apartment communities and townhouses. It’s desirable for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the eclectic shopping and dining areas. Hardly any chains in South Tampa.”

  The street they were on ended at a wide avenue Arizona identified as Bayshore Boulevard.

  “Again, lots of money. Many new condos priced at one mil and higher. The street borders Tampa Bay and is considered a prime spot for real estate.”

  They drove through an unexpectedly busy downtown and across a bridge to yet another upscale residential area.

  “Many of these homes have been here forever,” she told Razor. “Even the smaller ones would be way out of our price range.”

  “I guessed as much.” But he’d learned a long time ago to memorize everything about his surroundings. You never knew what situation you might find yourself in, and knowing your environment was a big step toward self-protection. To that end, he committed everything he saw to his vaunted memory pack.

  Focusing on his surroundings and absorbing every detail also helped him to distract him from his acute awareness of the woman sitting next to him. Her jeans and soft T-shirt clung just enough to a body his hands had memorized. When he glanced at her in the driver’s seat, the memory of those slender hands stroking his cock and squeezing it, kneading his muscles from his neck to his ankles, made said cock press so hard against his own jeans he was afraid the zipper on his fly would malfunction.

  Cool it, asshole. This is business, not pleasure, and a serious business at that.

  Which meant using his rigorous SEAL training to keep everything in check. Sex wasn’t a part of this op. What was wrong with him, anyway? Of all the many women—maybe too many—he’d known in his life, none had ever imprinted themselves in his memory the way Arizona Hunt had. Good thing he had enough inner discipline to stick to business, here, because she definitely needed him.

  “Davis Islands is really two islands treated as one, built of mud dredged from the bottom of Tampa Bay,” Arizona told him as they drove down a wide street. “The best way to describe it is expensive. Luca Vasquez has an income that fits right in with the upper level of residents there.”

  “Yeah, I can see you’re right about that.” He’d been in enough high-dollar neighborhoods for various reasons to be able to assess this one.

  “It’s considered one of the ten best places to live in the country. A lot barely over a half acre here recently sold for six million dollars plus.”

  “Vasquez must really be raking it in with his drug business.”

  She snorted. “He tells everyone it’s from his motor home dealership. Granted, he’s the largest distributor in Central Florida, and one of the largest in the state, but still.”

  “Is that how he distributes the drugs?”

  “Good call.”

  He didn’t know why the note of approval in her voice made him feel good. He really needed to get his shit together here.

  “So what’s his method, exactly? I assume you know since the team you were on put the takedown together.”

  “There are plenty of places in a motor home to hide a large amount of drugs. A lot of people, believe it or not, buy motor homes and have them customized. Then they don’t always want to fly back down here to make the trek home. Vasquez has drivers he uses for the deliveries. The drugs are hidden in various places in the units and, as the drivers head to whatever state the clients lives in, they manage to make a detour to deliver the load. I told you the net’s going to drop in a week, so this is critical.”

  “Have you called your boss to update him with the latest about your sister?”

  “No and I should. It may affect their plans.” She picked up her cell from the cup holder and punched a speed-dial number, putting the call on speaker.

  “DeLoach.” The voice was deep and slightly rough.

  “It’s Arizona,” she told him.

  He barked a laugh. “I know. I have you programmed into my phone, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah. Right, right, right. Sorry.”

  “How’s your sister? Did you hook up with her and get her to someplace safe?”

  She swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. “Florida’s dead.”

  There was a brief moment of silence, then, “Details, please.”

  “You won’t like what I have to tell you next.”

  When she finished, there was a long moment of silence.

  “Well, that bites,” he said at last. “It’s a hell of a time for a murder to get mixed up in this mess.”

  “Isn’t that the truth.” She gave him the rundown of the scene in the motel and that she’d called 911 then gotten the hell out of there. “I made the call from the phone in the room,” she told him, “so that was the only number they’d have to trace.”

  “Good thinking. Did anyone see you at the motel? Calling 911 from the motel phone was smart but what about someone having eyes on the place.”

  “It was really hard to tell. I didn’t see anyone in the parking lot, and I scanned across the street as best I could, but I didn’t think it was smart to hang around there for too long.”

&
nbsp; “I’m pretty damn sure he knows by now you and Florida are sisters, despite the fact she kept her distance and so did you.”

  “But, Joaquin? Listen. Ruby’s missing. Florida had the little girl with her, but I think Vasquez had someone grab her from the room. And before you say anything,” she hurried on, “even you should be able see I have to find her and get her away from him. The police will be all over him about Florida’s murder. He’ll probably try to hide Ruby away someplace so they can’t question her about this morning, and then I’ll never find her.”

  “I don’t think he’ll do that just yet,” DeLoach told her.

  “Why not? You can bet he doesn’t want her talking to the cops.”

  Another moment of silence.

  “I think there’s another person he’s much more nervous about and would like to eliminate.”

  Arizona wrinkled her forehead. “Yeah? Who would that be?”

  “You. He’ll be after you, Arizona.”

  “Me?” Every bit of saliva dried up so she had trouble swallowing. “Why is he after me?”

  “Think about it. Florida’s called you more in the past six months than she has in the last six years. You can bet he tracks her cell phone calls and knows about it. Probably blamed you for her leaving today. Do you think he wants to give the cops the chance to question you about what goes on in that bouse? That marriage?”

  She tamped down the tiny thread of fear that wanted to wiggle through her. “I’ve had people after me before. You know that.”

  “This is different,” he insisted. “This is personal for him. He won’t rest until he’s sure you’re out of the picture.”

  “I’m not going to hide in my house,” she argued. “I can’t. I have to get Ruby away from that man. Florida would want me to.”

  “And how do you plan to do that?”

  “I, uh, have a friend helping me. And we won’t fuck up the raid,” she hurried to say. “But I can’t leave her with him.”

  “Let’s think this through. We certainly can’t grab her when we hit his house, if you had that in mind somehow. Or when—.“

  “No,” she interrupted. “I understand. And I won’t do anything on my own to screw up weeks and weeks of planning for this takedown. I just wanted you to know this is my top priority and I have to find a way to make it happen.”

  “Fine. I trust you not to get in the way of this. But if that’s your goal, you have to make sure you stay alive to do it.”

  Her stomach knotted. She’d been shot at and targeted before, but none of those episodes had been as personal as this one.”

  “You really think he’ll try to kill me?”

  “Count on it. You said you have someone with you? Who is he, and where did you get him?”

  “I got help like you said. His name is Clint DaCosta. He was recommended by Tex Keenan, the guy who taught the advanced computer class a while ago.” She paused. “I know you’ll run all his creds and that’s fine, but you need to know he’s a former SEAL.”

  There was a brief pause. Then, “SEAL? Arizona, you know I was a SEAL for ten years before I joined the DEA.”

  “I did. I thought it would set your mind at ease to know I had someone like that and that I wouldn’t be going off half-cocked.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to, anyway,” he assured her. “Let me speak to him.”

  Arizona felt like a child unable to take care of herself, but she handed her phone to Razor and managed a tiny smile. “I think he wants to give you the third degree.”

  “I’d expect no less.” Razor took the phone. “Clint DaCosta here. Uh uh. Yes, Twenty years. Sniper and team leader. Yes. That’s correct. Yes. Uh huh. Yeah. That’s what I had I mind. No, we won’t do that. But she’s damn worried about Ruby.” Another pause. “Yeah, okay. Got it. Yes. Hoo Yah.” He handed the phone back to Arizona. “He wants to talk to you again.”

  “Satisfied?” she asked her boss.

  “Yes. But again, be sure to keep me in the loop, okay?”

  “Will do. And thank you.” She disconnected the call.

  “Your boss sounds like he has a lot of respect for you,” Razor commented.

  “I worked hard to earn it,” she told him. “I don’t want to do anything to destroy that, but Ruby as to be my first priority.”

  “Understood. Okay. Let’s scope out Vasquez’s house. It’s probably a fortress, but I want to see if we can catch sight of Ruby at all.”

  “Yes.”

  She turned onto a street lined with a row of McMansions. Razor scanned each one carefully, noting how close they were together.

  Not much land to spare,” he commented.

  “At the cost per square foot, every inch is precious, believe me.”

  He noticed that between the houses he could see the water of the bay stretching out to the horizon. If the area was wide enough he also caught sight of boats. Of course. If you live on the water, he thought, of course you have to have boats.

  “And this is it.”

  Arizona slowed just a tiny amount as they drove past a huge two-story house. A wide driveway curved from an entrance gate on the left to an exit on the right. The house itself, set back from the street had a massive, columned entrance, and most of the house was faced with gray stone.

  Razor had pulled out his cell phone and snapped a series of pictures as they drove past.

  “Place looks like a damn fortress,” he commented.

  “And I’m sure that’s exactly what it is. You can bet Vasquez has at least six of his men in various guard positions at all times. Out of sight, of course,” she added, “when he hosts events in his role as a millionaire businessman.”

  “He brings civilians to the place?”

  “You bet.” Arizona snorted. “He’s worked very hard to cultivate a reputation and position as a leading businessman in the Tampa Bay area. He serves on some community boards, sponsors a few events, is a patron at major fundraisers. I always wondered how my sister fit into that situation, because high society is not her thing.”

  “Maybe he didn’t take her,” Razor suggested.

  “Oh, he took her, all right. Diligence pays off. I managed to find a couple of pictures of the two of them at an event. I hardly recognized her. Her hair, her clothing, everything was totally different.”

  “Maybe she changed when she married him,” he suggested. “It happens.

  “I have a hard time believing that. I think she was so happy to have him spending his money on her she would have dressed in a sheet if he told her to. And another thing. The latest pictures I saw of her? She didn’t look happy at all. I guess that’s why I wasn’t all that shocked when I got her call. Maybe the money and jewels and all were wearing thin. Or he might have stopped paying so much attention to her.”

  Razor had known women like that at all, only with a slightly different shade to it. They were called “frog hogs” because they only slept with SEALs, only chased after SEALs. Some of the men they chased married them, cleaned them up, toned them down, but underneath they were still the same. He hated thinking of Arizona’s sister in that category, falling for men like Luca Vasquez, drawn by their power and exotic personality and money. Always money.

  “Luca’s leaving the house.”

  Arizona’s voice jerked him to attention.

  “Vasquez?”

  “Yes. Here he comes. Mercedes moving up behind us.”

  She turned right to get away from the vehicle. Razor watched in the rearview mirror as it breezed past. He tried to get a glimpse of the driver, but the angle was wrong and he didn’t want to call attention to them.

  “Only one person in the car,” he noted. “Doesn’t he have a driver?

  “Sometimes, but Florida mentioned he liked to have the freedom of driving himself. One less person to worry about if he had one of his so-called “business meetings.”

  “He doesn’t trust anyone?”

  “I think it’s how he’s survived all this time. Florida told me in one of our rare c
onversations that the only person he trusts completely is his segundo, his second in command, Octavio. Apparently they came up in the business together and have been friends forever.”

  Razor thumbed through the pictures he’d taken. “I’d like to get some shots if we can. For one thing, I don’t see Ruby in any of them.”

  “They probably keep her away from the front windows. We can take another cruise past the house,” Arizona offered. “I know from what little Florida said that when Luca is out of the house the guards he has are more relaxed. Not counting traffic or anything. Maybe they aren’t paying as much attention.”

  “Then let’s do it.”

  Arizona slowed the car to a crawl as if she was scouting the real estate so Razor could get a good look. He had seen the a set of iron gates on each end of the driveway on that first pass. Now he noted a small black box set into the stone pillar on the left entering. He assumed the exit gates were operated from inside the house. To the left facing the house was a strip of land possibly five feet wide. Looking straight down that line he could see the bay and beyond it some boats cruising in the water.

  It’s a gorgeous Florida day, he thought. Why wouldn’t someone be out there!

  He snapped more shots of the house, just so he’d have as many angles as possible. Then he told Arizona to move out of the area.

  “Do you know anyone who has a boat, or a place that rents them?” he asked.

  “You want to get a look from the water.”

  “Right. We could be an ordinary couple out on the waves enjoying the sunshine. I want to get an idea of what the back of his house looks like and what kind of visible security he has. In case that’s where we have to grab Ruby.”

  “I’m sure he has an electronic system,” Arizona pointed out.

  Razor glanced at her.” Of course he does. But I have a handy dandy little gadget that can take care of it.” He studied the street through the windshield. “Drive us around this immediate area. It appears this is where the most expensive homes are, so I need to get a picture in my mind of everything around Vasquez’s place. We never went out on a mission as SEALs without knowing everything possible about the surrounding areas.”