Neil exited his office for lunch, just as Adam knew he would. Adam started his truck to follow the Escalade. His plan: corner Neil and get the truth, through force if necessary. He was done with whatever bullshit game was being played. He wanted Liv out of it.
She’d been unbelievably sexy in her robe and the way she’d pushed him down on the couch that morning. Only this time, she didn’t get to tease him as she had over and over the previous night. This time, he’d done the teasing. He’d explored her body until she’d begged to be taken. Remembering her calling his name out made him hard as he sat in his truck wearing his black laced boots, cargo pants, and shirt.
Neil didn’t drive toward any of the dozens of restaurants that peppered downtown San Diego. He moved away from the hustle and bustle into an industrial area. Adam had picked the right time to follow. He stayed back as Neil pulled up next to a warehouse, got o ut, and started a conversation with a man standing outside. Neither party seemed pleased.
Adam reached for his binoculars to try to catch any clue on the tone of the discussion. Suddenly, all of the air was sucked out of the cab and his lungs. Fucking Neil was having a conversation with Victor Gamble—a.k.a. the kingpin in the Haros cartel that Adam and his team had been trying to take down before Vam died. Shit. How is Neil mixed up with Victor?
The Haros cartel dealt in more than drugs. They had a small hand in other illegal endeavors, but the new venture of hiring military trained people to do their enforcing took their organization to a new level. Unlike other vicious criminals, the Haros cartel was highly organized and smart. Members were compartmentalized—kept in the dark about the overall plan, only instructed to carry out their assignment.
Liv can’t walk away. The chances of their taking back their black bag of goodies and not killing her were slim to none. Tying up loose ends is what this orderly crime syndicate did well—that was how they’d evaded being completely shut down. Only the truly committed remained in their circle.
The sweat emanating from Neil was enough for a small child to swim in, and Victor’s finger looked to be leaving multiple bruises on Neil’s chest. Why was Neil still alive? They needed something from him if he’d presumably screwed up badly but remained breathing.
Neil left the meeting with all of his digits intact. Adam turned down a side street, opting not to follow the little man back to the pity party he would no doubt be having.
Instead, he pointed his truck toward the WIG office. He checked the cameras on his phone. The marina was full and Eddie and Liv bounced around helping customers. Good. She’ll be there for a while yet.
“What did you find out?” Adam leaned on the side of Willamina’s desk.
“Your new case directly corresponds with the op we just did, or are still doing, for the DEA.”
He nodded. Victor didn’t dabble in anything outside of the Haros cartel. What he didn’t know was how Victor and Neil intertwined or how deep the shit that meant Liv was in.
“Who are the guys in the photos I sent you?” he asked, already suspecting the answer wouldn’t be fun to hear.
“The one who cut the ties, actually all of them, either have direct connections to the Haros cartel,” Willamina paused and looked almost apologetic, “or are active military.”
“Mother…” Adam grunted. Liv had happened right into the thick of it.
The facts were all coming together in a very bad way.
“That boat was the drop site, wasn’t it?” His question was rhetorical, but Willamina nodded anyway.
“This is the missing piece,” she confirmed what they both already knew. “If the keys have been missing, which I assume is to the money and the way they paid the shooters, then that is why they haven’t contacted you for payment. Their system has been compromised.”
“So they shut down until they could figure it out,” he finished the thought. Adam and his team had been called in to go farther than anyone undercover had attempted before with the Haros cartel. The crux was the drop site. The keys and the rifle had to do with the hits they were ordering using military personnel. They used the sniper rifle to kill the target, then put it back into hiding for the next guy, and the keys were for, what? A locker? A mail box? A bank box? Somewhere, no doubt, that contained the payment for the deed.
Neil had been a part of the operation. Responsible for the site and the money, and maybe even so far as laundering it through his successful company.
“Are we going to tell the commander?” Willamina’s wide-eyed expression told him she used “we” in the loosest sense of the term.
“Shit.” Adam tried to come up with a way not to. Liv should’ve gone to her father in the first place with her little find. “Do I have a choice?” He was open to suggestions.
• • •
Liv’s step had an extra spring as she headed on the wood-planked path toward the gas dock to deliver a much-deserved snack to her summer help. Then she’d go meet the girls. She couldn’t wait to tell Sadie and Hannah about Adam over drinks at Sugio’s. She’d been toying with the phrasing all day. Should she say they were dating or just hooked up? She didn’t want to sound trampy or like it was a one-time thing. Last night was more than casual.
She put a foot onto dirt only feet away from the gas dock shack when she was pulled from behind so swiftly, she lost her breath. Large arms wrapped around her waist and hoisted her off the ground. Her mind raced to put together a logical explanation, but found none. Adrenaline shot through each limb and her pounding heart thudded against her ribs. A loud rumble of a sliding door sounded behind her. She screamed and flailed her arms and legs. No! No! Hot metal stung her skin as she reached for the outside of the van to heave herself out. In one motion she was forced back in and she saw black.
• • •
Dammit, Liv. Getting mixed up with the Haros cartel wasn’t her fault, directly, Adam reminded himself. He was going to take the brunt for this, though. The commander would surely not be happy his only child was messed up with drug runners. Adam hated being the bearer of bad news. Contrary to the popular saying, the messenger always got shot.
He made his way down the hall toward the commander’s assistant.
“I don’t suppose he’s in a meeting and left strict orders not to be disturbed, did he?” He could dream.
“He just took an urgent call from the police chief on Coronado, but I’m sure it’ll be okay if you go in.” She smiled politely and resumed typing.
“Terrific,” he muttered and straightened himself up as he opened the door.
Police Chief Henry and the commander went way back. Adam knew they had lunches together and their families celebrated events on a regular basis. What could be so urgent?
He’d just put his hand on the back of a big leather chair when the commander held out his palm to stop him with a glare that could freeze stone.
His heart slowed and his ears shut off for a moment. The telephone slammed down and rung Adam back to reality. His brows furrowed in question.
“Liv’s been taken,” the commander said between clenched teeth.
The confirmation of his worst fear sucker-punched Adam in the gut. “When? What do they know? What can you tell me?” He needed answers as fast as he asked the questions. Every second counted.
“A worker, Eddie, saw a van pull up by the gas dock and one guy picked her up and forced her inside. He couldn’t get there in time but called it in and Henry called me immediately.”
“How much time has passed?”
“Twenty minutes or so.”
“Shit.” Adam retrieved his phone from his pocket. Dead. “Did Eddie recognize them?”
“No.”
“Did he hear anything?”
“Liv screaming.” The commander’s words were precise, his face set, and he stared straight into Adam’s eyes. Adam felt the pain stewing in his own gut flit across the commander’s face.
The commander stood with one hand in his pocket. Shit. That was his boss’s one and only tell. It had taken Adam a year to figure out one hand in the pocket equaled anxiety.
He didn’t blame him. It couldn’t be easy hearing your daughter had been kidnapped. It certainly wasn’t easier for Adam to hear the news. He was going to find her. That’s what he knew how to do.
“Anything he could make out?” Adam sought to gather any helpful information before he bolted from the room.
After one curt shake of the commander’s head, Adam turned and ran down the hall to Willamina’s office.
“I need a new charged battery for my phone,” he demanded.
Willamina’s questioning pause wasn’t going to get thorough answers.
“Liv’s been kidnapped.” The words tripped over themselves. “It’s gotta be these guys. I need any intel on locations they own.” He pointed to the pictures splayed on her desk. “Warehouses first. Now!” He ran down to see who was still in the building.
Sword and Darby, his weapons specialist and compass man, were in a deep discussion over Hot Pockets.
“Liv’s been kidnapped. We need to move. Now!”
“Who?” and “Shit” came out simultaneously and they jumped to follow Adam to the weapons room.
“The commander’s daughter?” Darby asked.
Am I the only one who didn’t know who she was?
“Yes. It’s the Haros cartel and I don’t know much else. It’s linked to our investigation. I don’t know what they want with her. I’d have to assume they want their black bag back.” The men started to question what the black bag was until he stopped and both men froze, looking at him expectantly. “She won’t be able to give it to them. I took it and didn’t tell her. We need to assume she doesn’t have much time left.”
They finished loading themselves up with weapons, vests, and anything else a fight like they were walking into might require. Which, really, could be anything. They don’t know who they’re messing with.
“Willa!” Adam stopped in her door frame.
“On it. I’ve put in a call to our contact at the DEA. I’ll call Darby so your line stays open.” She glanced up from her computer. “Just in case.”
They all knew what that meant. Just in case Liv’s captors let her call him. Just in case they let her try to find the stuff they wanted—before they killed her. Adam pushed away the image of Liv held captive by a bunch of thugs. He couldn’t focus on what might be happening. He needed to be present, come up with a plan.
The three loaded in his pickup. His tires screeched on the way out of the parking lot.
“Willa. Talk to me,” Darby said into his phone.
“I’m getting the most activity at the warehouse at Vera Cruz and Guadalcanal. You should enter the area from the southeast. I’m sending Sword the blueprints now.”
Their destination was in the exact opposite direction he’d followed Neil earlier that day and found Victor. Victor. Adam bit down hard on his jaw and navigated the traffic without using his breaks. Victor was going to pay.
“How do you know Liv?” Darby asked.
“The marina.” Adam slid an annoyed glance toward Darby in his rearview mirror. “She co-owns it with me,” he told them reluctantly.
“That’s Liv? Your Liv?” Sword’s surprise silenced the cab.
Adam stepped harder on the gas pedal.
They made quick time across town. He parked a block up from the warehouse Willamina tracked Liv’s body heat signature to. She was on the first floor in the far corner. Adam slung his M16 on his back. He checked to make sure his Sig Sauer magazine was loaded for backup, and brought up Liv’s body signature on his phone. He waited for the program to lock onto her while the guys strapped on their gear.
They planned for Adam to enter through the front of the warehouse and Sword and Darby to come in from the top and side, respectfully. He’d be the one most likely to be detected and Liv would recognize him, leaving Sword and Darby for backup to take out the bad guys.
Adam sincerely hoped he was able to do the talking, with his gun. Before this moment in his life he’d always believed in due process, in letting the justice system do its job. Today, he’d be the judge and jury.
The warehouse appeared like any other on the block: run down, the red paint faded and peeling. The start of nightfall revealed light shining from the south side of the building.
He glanced at his team. An unspoken message passed between them. Save Liv at all costs. They broke and went their separate ways.
Adam ran silently to the wall on the south side where he was set to enter. Willamina hadn’t detected any surveillance equipment. These guys were probably confident no one existed who was stupid enough to mess with them. Adam loved being underestimated.
He peeked in a window. No movement. He waited a second and peeked again. The space remained empty. He could see a room off to the right where light emanated from underneath the door. He tried the handle of the entrance. Unlocked. Was that good luck or bad? Adam could never remember the superstitions men had about missions.
He slowly opened the old metal door, thankful someone knew how to use WD40, and slid inside, making sure the door closed quietly behind him.
The inside space was wide and held nothing. Dammit. There were no boxes or equipment for cover—Adam and his team were exposed. Sitting fucking ducks. Pylons sparsely populated the area, but they were nothing like the mask the sea would’ve provided. She couldn’t get into it with pirates, huh? Nope. She had to go and get mixed up with a drug cartel. This woman is something else. He swore under his breath. He moved along the hall, careful to stay out of the shadow from the faint light. He stopped when the voices started.
“Liv. Please! Just tell them where it is!”
Adam recognized the voice. Neil.
“I did!” she shrieked. “Are you sure you looked under the dock?”
Sweet baby Jesus, thank you. On the ride over he tried his damnedest not to picture any outcome other than putting bullets into the right people. He couldn’t think the worst right now. Liv couldn’t afford it. He had to focus on the mission or he wouldn’t be able to function.
“I’m sure.” Victor’s smooth timbre filled the room.
“That’s where I put it. If it’s not there, then I don’t know where it is! Let me go!”
“Not until we have what we need.” Victor paused and Adam could hear Neil sobbing. Adam rolled his eyes. “So.” Victor’s voice was on edge. This wasn’t going to last much longer. “Tell me what I need to know.”
“I am. I swear,” Liv said. “I found it and put it under the dock because I didn’t know what else to do with it.”
That’s right, babycakes, keep ’em occupied.
“You found a sniper rifle, bullets, and keys to money and decided to hide them. Why didn’t you go to the authorities?” Victor asked.
“I didn’t know it was that serious. This is California. Doesn’t everyone find a gun at some point?”
“No.” Victor, if possible, sounded less amused than before.
“Okay … well, see, I had all this stuff going on in my life and I sort of forgot.”
Liv’s words tumbled out fast and he knew she was getting close to full panic mode. The woman could not shut up when she was scared. Adam really wished he could tell her he was here and he was going to get her out. In one piece. No matter what.
• • •
“Vam died and then I got the marina and then Adam showed up out of the blue,” Liv said. Her chest burned with fear and she tried hard to focus on Victor. “He thought I swindled his grandma, but I didn’t. We hated each other, but then we didn’t. He saved my life.” She took a moment to glare at Neil before returning her attention to Victor, the man who’d decide if she lived or died. “Oh! And, to make things worse, he works for my dad. Now I’m here. I mean … what kind of messed-up life do I have? All I wanted was a simple, awesome life for myself. Now—”
“Enough!” Victor slammed his hand down on the rickety old table that stood as the only thing between her and him. His two bodyguards stood behind Neil and her.
“Do you not believe we’re serious?” His eyes narrowed on her.
She nodded her aching head. She knew they were serious all right; she had a concussion to prove it. She tried to move her hands; they were starting to fall asleep and the rope was digging into her skin. She was glad they were behind her back. She didn’t want to see her blood.
“You’re not acting like it. This isn’t some game. I don’t have all the time in the world to hear about your sad, pathetic life.”
“It’s not sad,” she whispered.
“No? I’m glad you value it because I’m going to give you one more chance to tell me where it is.”
“You dumb bitch!” Neil sneered to the right of her.
He’d been in the room and tied up when they’d brought her in. His face bloody and worse for wear, they’d clearly used him for a punching bag prior to her arrival, and a little after. Thankfully, she’d only been subjected to the ropes that tied her wrists and ankles and harsh words at this point. Soon, she feared, that wouldn’t be the case.
She cocked her head to stare at Neil.
“All you had to do was put minimal effort, like everything else you do, into fixing up that pile of shit so it could be sold and not draw attention. That’s all! I couldn’t be associated with the boat and no one was stupid enough to take it on.” Neil’s left eye was swollen and he spat through a fat lip when he spoke.
“Why didn’t you just sell it if that’s what you needed? Why get someone else?”
Victor, Goon A, and Goon B huddled together in serious, probably death-debating, conversation. Apparently they didn’t care that Neil was yelling or giving her information. The pit in her stomach grew. Not a good sign.
“I couldn’t have my name being associated with the sale. Not with the other stuff I do for them.”
“You owned it!” Liv gritted her teeth. If he had just grown a pair, then she wouldn’t be tied up right now wondering if she’d ever see her parents again—or Adam. Adam. When will he notice I’m gone?
“Yeah, but if I was associated with the sale of it to the Haros cartel, then the DEA or who the fuck ever would’ve had reasons to look into me, and that’s the last thing I need.”
“Why?” Liv asked. What was so secretive about his life?
“Obviously I’m involved with them!” Neil’s incredulous attitude was uncalled for in Liv’s opinion. How was she supposed to know? He raised his voice “But I’m not involved with you! The boat was a drop site. A hit man gets hired, picks up the rifle, then when the job is complete they return the weapon and are told which key they need to access the payment. Hands-off experience. Until you had to go mess it up!”
Liv’s body numbed as she registered the words he spat. Hit man? The odds she’d calculated of getting to see another sunset drastically dipped.
“Why’d you let me sell it then if it wasn’t to Victor?” Liv’s outrage sounded in her voice. How in the hell was he blaming her for any of this? Yeah, so what if she found the rifle and moved it? He should’ve taken it before giving her the renovation assignment.
“How was I supposed to know that?” Neil questioned her with what facial muscles still worked. “You said anonymous and I thought it was Victor, and that it was smart to do it that way so I could claim innocence.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh. And then you freakishly stumbled onto the only thing on that boat you weren’t supposed to.”
“Why didn’t you move it while I worked or just asked for it back?”
“I did ask! I had one more contract to fulfill, which is why I hadn’t moved it before I gave you the project.”
Oh. Right.
“I didn’t know you had it at first. I only found out after the sale when a guy needed it and it wasn’t there.”
“So you hired these … what? Hit men?” Liv shouldn’t have asked, but why not? She had no idea Neil was capable of any of this and that she’d volunteered to be in such a cluster. The more she kept him talking, the longer she could put off Victor talking. Neil’s hatred was better than Victor’s dead-behind-the-eyes stare.
“No, I was more of the money go-between. And obviously provided the neutral hand-off.”
“Why are you here then?” This was the first time in captivity she’d considered the reasoning.
“Because they assume I’m in this with you, trying to screw them!”
“Enough!” Victor silenced both of them.
She’d stalled them long enough. How was she supposed to know the bag wouldn’t be where she left it? No one else even knew about it.
Adam. Adam knew about it. Shit. He must’ve taken it. Why would he do that and not tell her? She was going to die because he got curious. If she got out of this alive, she was going to slap him across the face. Liv hated when men did things “for her own good.” It was condescending and arrogant. “I think I know who has it,” she blurted. Calling Adam would at least buy some time and alert him to her situation.
“Who?”
“Adam.”
“The boyfriend?” Victor raised a brow.
“I don’t know if I’d go that far … I mean … maybe … we haven’t talked about it.”
She really, really, really hoped she would be alive tonight to take a hot shower and talk to Adam about that word, boyfriend.
Victor pulled out his cell phone and stared straight at her. He raised his Glock and shot Neil in the face, keeping his dark, pinpoint eyes on her the whole time. Liv froze and sucked in air as blood splattered the right side of her body. Her ears rang and she struggled to focus. Nausea filled her stomach, inching all the way up to her throat. She fought with all she could to wriggle out of the restraints, but they only cut deeper.
“Now. This is your last chance. Fail and my hombres will have two bodies to clean up tonight.”
Liv nodded solemnly and tried like hell to hold back tears. He shot Neil. His blood is all over me. Breathe. Settle down. He’s dead. You’re still alive. Adam needed to understand her.
“I need my hands to dial and hold my phone.”
“I’ll do it. What’s the number?” Victor asked.
“It’s … ” Holy shit, I don’t know his number. “In my phone … I don’t have it memorized. My phone’s in my purse … wherever that is.” She had it with her right before they’d forced her into the van and knocked her out.
“Kids these days.” Victor tsked in disgust. “Everything is saved on their precious phones. Then they’re helpless without them.” He pointed to his men. “This is why it’s important you’re forced to memorize things.”
He turned his eyes back to her. His smooth skinned face had a mean pair and her throat tightened. She wasn’t going to get that shower after all. This was it. After she called Adam, he’d never be in time to save her. They’d kill her and then him when he showed. And he’d show up. Adam would rush only to find her dead right before getting his own bullet to the head. She blinked back tears.
Liv couldn’t do it. She couldn’t lure Adam to his death, especially when it wouldn’t save her in the end. She closed her eyes and pictured him, naked and cuddling her in his strong arms, her fingertips grazing his beautifully tanned skin that was firm, yet soft to her touch. He granted her soul peace and her body sweet mayhem. She wanted to tell him she loved him. Their connection wasn’t a love she chose, but even though she tried to deny it, she couldn’t. He’d always be the one. Everything was finally coming together. Life is so unfair.
She opened her eyes and knew what she had to do.
Goon A, the taller one, handed Victor her phone. He searched for the only Adam she had stored in her digital phone book and hit “send.”