Ruben Cavazos turned to face me slowly, one hand still around Liv’s neck. I’d only met him once, and I would have hated him then even if his men hadn’t just beaten me into a mass of lumps and bruises. Seeing his hands on Liv now … I wanted to kill him. Not just shoot him. Not kick his teeth in. I wanted to squeeze the last breath from his body and watch the life drain from his eyes.
“If you pull that trigger, it’ll be the last thing you ever do,” Cavazos said, and in that moment, I didn’t give a damn. At least he’d be dead and she would be free of him. Until his men burst into the apartment and killed everyone left standing.
So I didn’t shoot, but I didn’t lower my gun either, and Cavazos turned back to Liv as if I wasn’t still pointing a gun at him—an illustration of the arrogance and fearlessness he was known for. And I hated him just a little more.
“What the hell is he doing in my apartment?” he demanded calmly. “Did you fuck him in my bed? Because I’m not sure I could forgive that, Olivia.”
“Helping,” she gasped, when his grip loosened just enough for her to speak. “He’s helping.”
“Clearly.” His voice deepened with sarcasm. “A gun aimed at my back is always the sign of a helping hand.” He turned to me without letting her go. “Put the gun down, or I’ll crush her windpipe. Now.”
“I don’t think you’re going to do that,” I said, and Olivia’s eye widened. “In fact, I think you’re contractually prohibited from killing her, and even if I’m wrong, if you kill her, I have no reason not to kill you. Then your men will come in here and kill everyone else, and there’ll be no one left to go rescue Hadley. And I don’t think you’re going to let that happen.”
Even if Liv was wrong about his capacity to love a child he’d never met, I wasn’t wrong about his determination to take her back from Jake Tower, at all costs. Cavazos would never let an insult like that go unpunished.
He nodded, once, curtly, as she sucked in another breath. “We seem to be in a draw.”
“No, you’re at a distinct disadvantage. I have a gun and am willing to kill you, but you have no gun and are not willing to kill her. Ergo, I win.”
Cavazos considered that for a moment, then narrowed his gaze at me. “If I let her go, you will put the gun away? Immediately?”
I nodded. “If you swear to leave your men downstairs out of this.”
“Done. I swear.” He let go of Liv’s throat and she half collapsed, gasping for air. He reached for her, as if he’d either help her up or haul her up, but she dodged his grasp before he could wrap a hand around her gunshot wound.
“Don’t … touch … me,” she growled, her voice as low-pitched and hoarse as I’d ever heard it. Then she stomped past him, headed in my direction. “FYI, Cam, he does have a gun. He always has a gun.”
“Good to know.” I holstered mine, but left it exposed just in case.
“Olivia, you can’t trust him,” Cavazos said. “He works for Tower.”
“Not by choice.” In the kitchen, I ran a cold glass of water for Liv and handed it to her across the counter dividing the two rooms. “And if Tower knows I’m here, it’s not because I told him. Liv destroyed my phone. We’ve been operating completely outside both syndicates.”
“You really expect me to believe that?” Cavazos scowled at me from across the room through eyes so dark they could have hidden original sin.
“I don’t give a shit what you believe.”
“Ruben,” Liv said, still hoarse from the abuse of her throat. He looked at her as if he wanted to eat her whole, and the urge to rip his heart out with my bare hands grew from fleeting fantasy to finger-twitching compulsion. “Cam’s not representing Tower in this. He’s telling the truth. And I trust him with my life.”
“Then you’re a fool,” Cavazos snapped. “He’d hand you over with one word from Jake Tower.”
“Yeah, and you just threatened to crush my windpipe. The difference is that you were acting of your own free will. So shut the hell up so we can start planning. We’re going to need your manpower and Cam’s knowledge of the Tower syndicate to get her out of there.”
“Will someone please tell me why the hell Jake Tower took my daughter? Is this a move against me?”
“It has nothing to do with you,” Liv said, while I pulled two clean, short glasses from an upper cabinet. “As far as we know, he has no idea she’s yours.”
“Then what does he want with her? Has he hurt her?”
Liv glanced at the floor, then met his gaze again. “I don’t know. But the more time we waste, the less likely she is to be unhurt when we get to her.”
I set the bottle of whiskey on the countertop harder than necessary to capture his attention, and when Cavazos looked at me, I poured a fifty-dollar shot into each of two glasses, then handed one to Liv. When I drank the other one myself, he scowled, but made no comment.
“If he’s not trying to get to me, why the hell does he want her?”
“He wants her blood,” Anne said from the hallway, having ventured out of the bedroom for the first time since I’d told her to stay put, unsure how bad things were going to get. “How are you going to keep him from getting it?”
Cavazos whirled around fast enough I half hoped he’d injured his own neck. “Who the hell are you?”
“This is Anne,” Liv said, before Annika could dig herself in any deeper. “She’s been raising Hadley since Elle died. Which means you owe her both respect and gratitude.”
“Is there anyone else back there?” he demanded from Liv. “Or are you done pulling rabbits from your hat?”
Anne crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m the last,” she said, and Cavazos truly looked at her for the first time, studying her from head to toe, and I could see that she wanted to squirm, but wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“My daughter thinks you’re her mother?”
“I am her mother,” Anne insisted. “The only one she remembers.”
“And your husband?” he demanded, glancing pointedly at the wedding ring she still wore. “She thinks your husband is her father?”
“She did.” Anne glanced at the ground for a second, silently grasping for composure, then she met his gaze again boldly. “Tower had him killed yesterday, trying to get to Hadley.”
“Did your husband treat her well? Did you both?” Fresh tears shone in her eyes. “As if she were our own.”
“Then I am very sorry for your loss. You will be compensated for your care of my daughter.”
“I don’t want your money!” Anne snapped, cheeks flaming with indignation, fists clenched against injustice. “I just want my daughter back. And she is my daughter. She may have your DNA, but she has Elle’s heart and my love, and you don’t even know her!”
Liv tried to quiet her with one hand on her shoulder, but Anne brushed that hand away and stepped closer to Cavazos, fearless in defense of her daughter. “We could really use your help, but I’d rather go after her all alone than rescue her from one monster only to turn her over to another.”
“You think I’m a monster?”
“I know you are.” She glanced pointedly at Liv’s bruised face. “And I won’t let you have Hadley, even if you help us get her back.”
Cavazos watched her for a moment in silence, evidently waiting for her to take the insult back or soften it with an apology, and when she did neither, his expression broke into a small, genuinely amused smile. “I admire your grit. When this is all over, I’d like to discuss a potential future for you in the syndicate….”
“Go to hell,” Anne spat, and Cavazos laughed out loud, turning to Liv. “Are the two of you actually related? Because I think I see the family resemblance.”
“Anne …” I tugged her toward the table and motioned for Liv to follow, and with us seated on either side of her, she seemed to calm down. “Why don’t we just worry about getting Hadley back for now, and we can sort the rest of this out then. Once she’s safe.” And finally Anne nodded.
Instead of joining us at the table for a civilized discussion, however, Cavazos leaned against the back of the couch, where he could see the three of us, the front door and the hallway, with nothing more than a glance in one of three directions. “First, the facts,” he said, evidently under the impression that he was in charge. Rumor had it he lived his whole life under that delusion. “Why does Tower want my daughter’s blood?”
“It’s not just hers,” Liv said. “He’s collecting Skilled blood samples—or maybe Skilled people, we’re not entirely sure about that—like Noah collecting for the arc. Minus the apocalyptic flood.”
“Interesting recruiting technique …” Cavazos said, as if he might consider something similar, and I wanted to punch him. “But taking children is way over the line.”
I huffed in disgust. “And enslaving teenagers as prostitutes isn’t?”
Cavazos turned to me slowly and the slightly deepened lines on his forehead hinted of caution—not guilt, not regret and certainly not denial—and that pissed me off even more. “I have no moral objection to the skin trade,” he said. “If someone wants to sell his or her body, who am I to object? Beyond that, I’m perfectly willing to profit from the sale, should someone wish to use my contacts to establish a reliable customer base. But I neither sanction nor participate in the binding of minors, for a variety of reasons.”
“Whether you ‘sanction’ it or not, it’s being done in your name, and you’re profiting from it, so don’t start talking like the horse you ride is any higher than Tower’s when the truth is that neither of you would recognize morality if it punched you in the face.”
“Cam …” Liv began, as Cavazos flushed with anger beneath a fragile facade of calm.
“Fine.” I held up both hands, palms out. “I’m done.” I’d had my say, and pissing him off would only hamper our efforts on Hadley’s behalf. “But once this is over, he will answer for what he did to Van and those other girls.”
“And when will you answer for what you did to them?” Cavazos returned, infuriatingly calm and smug, and for one long moment, I was at a loss for words, caught somewhere between guilt and righteous anger. “I know you killed my Binder, and the only reason you survived such an affront is that I wanted your services. Though I must say I’ve benefited from Olivia’s offer of an exchange.”
She bristled over his invasive gaze, and my own anger flared hotter. But Cavazos wasn’t done. “You didn’t free those poor girls from indentured servitude. You merely exchanged one master for another.”
“I was following orders—I had no choice. But they did. I didn’t make them sign, and none of those who did were underage,” I insisted, drowning in my own guilt even as I tried to justify my actions, speared by the disgust clear on Anne’s face.
She hadn’t known what I’d done.
“I didn’t solicit their services, nor did I seal their bindings,” Cavazos said. “I didn’t even know some of them were bound as minors until the report came in that you’d recruited them for Tower.” He paused to let that hang in the air, and I couldn’t even deny the accusation. “When you get the chance, please extend my apologies to your friend Vanessa and assure her that the men who conscripted her have since met with a rather prolonged and painful end, befitting their crimes.”
“Do not say her name.” Names were power, and that bastard had no right to wield any power over Van—not ever again.
“Okay …” Liv stepped between us, as if she’d play mediator, and I read tension in every taut line in her body. “If we could get back to the point, the fact is that Tower’s not recruiting. He’s kidnapping people and stealing their blood, then selling it in the form of transfusions, to give temporary Skills to previous unSkilled people. For profit. For a huge profit, presumably.”
Cavazos blinked. Then he blinked again, and I found his complete ignorance of the issue incredibly satisfying. Especially considering I’d been in the same position only hours before.
He crossed his arms over his chest, and the effect was like watching a spring coil tighter, knowing it would soon explode from the tension. “Are you telling me that Jake Tower is selling Skills? To the general populace?”
“Yes.” I took almost perverse pleasure in confirming that. “And he’s obviously decided that your daughter’s blood should be part of his inventory.”
“What’s her Skill? I assume she’s either a Seer or a Binder?”
“We don’t know yet.” Anne played nervously with the cap from a bottle of water. “She’s only seven. Most people don’t know their Skill until closer to puberty.”
“But for Hadley, that may not be the case,” I pointed out. “Elle knew much earlier, right?”
“How could Tower know that?” Liv asked, and they all three turned to me.
I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest. “You said Elle’s brother’s name is Harrison, right?” I asked, and Anne nodded. “Well, there’s a Sonny Maddox working for Tower. One chain link—he’s about three years in. If Sonny is actually Harrison, my guess is that he’s how Tower found out about Elle and Hadley.”
“That son of a bitch!” Anne shouted. I shrugged. “He may not have had any choice.”
“You know, I’m getting kind of tired of hearing that excuse tossed around,” she snapped, and I couldn’t blame her for her anger, even though it stung. I’d had nothing to do with Hadley being taken. “There are ways around most orders. You’ve all shown me that.”
“Unfortunately, she’s right,” Cavazos said. “And beyond that, people can’t be made to do anything if they never commit to a binding in the first place. So there’s plenty of blame to go around.” He blinked, obviously dismissing the topic entirely, then glanced at each of us. “What else do you know? Where is this project being run? Where are they housing the blood donors? Are they all involuntary, or are people actually willingly selling their blood?”
“Surely not …” Anne said, clearly horrified by the idea, but Liv only shrugged.
“I assume it pays slightly better than donating plasma….”
“But the risk! Having your blood on file …” Anne actually shuddered at the thought. “Tower could bind you, or find you at will. No amount of money is worth that kind of risk.”
“Money is a very powerful motivator,” Cavazos said. “Almost as effective as fear …”
I chose not to comment on that.
“Look …” I ran one hand through my hair, fighting exhaustion and drowning in frustration. “I don’t know anything about the blood-transfusion project. I didn’t even know Tower was involved in it until Kori told us, so I’m no help to you there. But I can track Hadley. In fact, I can probably track her better now that we have her entire real name.”
Cavazos, presumably, would be willing to reveal the middle name he’d given her, if it would help us find her.
“But once we get there, I’ll be largely useless. I can’t fight against the Tower syndicate any more than your men can fight your organization,” I said, holding Cavazos’s gaze pointedly. “We’re going to need your men and your weapons for that. And we’re going to need them fast.” I lifted both brows at him in challenge when he scowled at me. “Is that going to be a problem?”
“My men will be the solution, not the problem. You find her, and I’ll take care of the rest.”
“Good. Once I’ve found her, we’ll call you with an address, and you can trot out your toy soldiers.”
“Fine.” Cavazos pulled his phone from his pocket and tossed it to Liv. “Program your new number. I assume you remember mine?”
“You really have to stop assuming things….” She hesitated for a moment, obviously reluctant, then dug out her own new phone and tossed it to him. While they exchanged numbers, I pulled Anne aside.
“I don’t trust him,” I whispered, pulling a bottle of water from the fridge, just to look busy. “How’s he rating on the truth meter?”
She shrugged. “He hasn’t outright lied yet.” Which meant he was telling the truth about Van’s underage binding—not that that absolved him of anything. “But I don’t trust him, either.”
“Good. I need you to stay with him while Liv and I Track Hadley. Text me if he says anything that doesn’t ring true.”
“No.” She shook her head vehemently while I stuffed the water into the bag Liv had packed for me. “I am not staying here alone with him. Take me and leave Liv here with Cavazos.”
“You saw what he did to her! I’m never leaving her alone with him again.” I zipped the bag and dropped it into a chair at the table.
Her eyes widened. “But you’re willing to leave me with him? Don’t you think it’d be easier for him to just kill me now, rather than fight me for Hadley?”
I coughed to disguise the half smile I couldn’t quite hide. “Anne, he doesn’t need to kill you to get custody of Hadley, legally or otherwise—a single DNA test will prove he’s her father and the courts will give her to him if he wants her.” She started to argue, and this time I spoke over her. “And before you say he’ll never submit to a test, it’s done through a cheek swab—no blood involved.”
And that was assuming he even bothered with the courts, but I wasn’t going to scare her any worse by admitting he’d probably just take Hadley the minute we found her. “But my point is that he’s not going to hurt you. And you can have my gun, just in case.”
But Anne only crossed her arms over her chest, digging in for the long haul. “I’m not staying alone with him. Liv can handle herself, Cam. She’s survived him for the past year and a half, all on her own. She’ll be fine. I’m coming with you.”
I started to argue again, but this time Liv cut me off, and I realized she’d heard at least the last part of our discussion. “Take her. I’ll be fine here.”
“Liv.” I began, but she cut me off with a look.
“You’re wasting time. Hadley’s time,” she pointed out, as Anne shoved my bag into my arms. “You’ll have to take my car back to your apartment.” Because I couldn’t drive hers through enemy territory. But then she really would be stuck there with Cavazos.
“Fine.” But he watched me over her shoulder, hands in the pockets of his suit pants, as petty and obviously satisfied as the cat who ate a whole fucking nest of canaries.
I pulled Liv toward the door with me, whispering on the way, trying not to see how swollen and blue her left cheek was. “Don’t drink with him. And don’t let him out of your sight, even to go to the bathroom. And call me if he—”
She cut me off with a kiss, grim amusement sparking in her eyes. “I got this, Cam.”
“Caballero,” Cavazos called from across the room. “If it’ll set your mind at ease, you have my word that she’ll still be breathing when you get back.”
I glanced at him over her shoulder. “Your word? That’s a joke, right? Why don’t you give me a real laugh and swear on your honor?”
“Okay …” Liv pulled open the front door and pushed me onto the landing ahead of her. “Time to go.” Anne followed me out, and Liv gave me another kiss, so long and deep I got lost in it, and almost couldn’t find my way back. Then a soft click from below brought me back to the real world and I glanced down to find two of Cavazos’s men aiming guns at my head.
“It’s okay,” Cavazos said from the doorway, making a subtle lower-your-weapons gesture with one hand. “Caballero has agreed to do a little job for me, and service has its rewards….” He made another, less subtle gesture toward Liv, as if he was lending her to me, and my temper flared so bright and hot that for a moment the world seemed to glow around the edges.
Obviously furious, Liv muttered several profanities at him, then turned back to me. “Be careful,” she whispered, and I nodded. Then she backed into the apartment after Cavazos while I escorted Anne down the steps.
We ignored Cavazos’s men on the way to Liv’s car, and twenty minutes later we pulled into the parking lot of my own building and transferred all our stuff to my car. I let Anne drive so I could concentrate on Tracking.
I closed my eyes while she drove, repeating the three-quarters I knew of Hadley’s name over and over in my head, peeking out at the city occasionally to suggest a side road or see what part of town we were in. After about fifteen minutes, we turned left and the pull from Hadley’s name—so strong I could feel it buzzing on the surface of my skin—finally matched the direction of the road we were on. I opened my eyes one final time and a sudden jolt of alarm drove Hadley’s name right out of my head. Not that it mattered by then.
I knew the neighborhood. I knew where we were headed, even without tracking Hadley the final eighth of a mile.
We were nowhere near the industrial district where I’d expected Tower to house his new project. We were also nowhere near the commercial district where he owned several large, unused office spaces that might have worked, if his “donors” weren’t prone to loud disturbances that might alert the neighbors.
Instead, we were in a residential neighborhood. A very nice, very expensive residential neighborhood I’d been called to several times a year since I’d signed with the syndicate.
“No, no, no.” I mumbled, staring out the glass, transfixed as the estate looming ahead grew larger and larger through the windshield.
“What?” Anne glanced at me, then back at the road, which ended ahead in a massive circle drive serving just one residence. “Are we almost there?”
I nodded, still staring at what little I could see of the house through the tall iron gate.
“Which way?”
“Straight.”
She frowned, following my gaze. “But the road ends … Ohhh.” She pulled onto the side of the road in front of a patch of wooded-but-manicured land belonging to another property, out of sight from the house itself. “Is she in there?” Anne stared at the property ahead, and I nodded, my mind already buzzing with the complications this new information would mean for the rescue mission.
“Whose house is that?” Anne demanded, but I couldn’t answer. “You can’t tell me, can you?” she guessed, and I nodded. “That means it’s his, doesn’t it? That’s Tower’s house? He’s keeping her in his own house? Why the hell would he do that?”
I couldn’t answer any of her questions, and I didn’t even have an answer to the last one. Yes, the syndicates often reaped the benefits of having influential police officers, politicians and government officials bound into their ranks—secretly, of course—but this was still quite a risk. A man had been murdered—a civilian, unconnected to the syndicate—and his wife and daughter had subsequently disappeared. If the public found out about that.
But they wouldn’t. Tower wouldn’t keep her in his own home unless he was absolutely sure he could keep the whole thing from both the press and the officials.
What he obviously didn’t realize, however, was that the child he’d stolen and hoped to hide from the world would actually shine some very unwanted attention on Tower’s private life—and lead his biggest enemy right to the front door.