The Alpha Bodyguards Books #4-6

Chapter Twenty-Four

D ialing T alerco for the tenth time, Luna sped west on one of the county roads leading out to the middle of fucking nowhere.

“They’re not out here,” I clipped, scanning every side road we passed.

The call, on speakerphone, went straight to voice mail as Talerco’s drawl filled the car. “Leave a message, or don’t.”

Luna hung up. “We’re not far enough out.”

“We get any farther, we’ll be in the Glades.”

“Just about,” Luna answered absently, scanning the countryside.

“Where are you going?” He was up to something.

“Following a hunch.”

“Which is?”

Luna checked the rearview mirrors. “If it plays out, I’ll tell you.”

“Tell me now.” He knew he could trust me. “I don’t run my mouth.”

“No, you don’t,” he agreed.

This was pissing me off. Everything was pissing me off. “Then lay it out.”

“Not my information to share.”

“What the fuck does that mean?”

“Exactly what I said.”

I put two and two together. “Whose place are we going to?”

Luna glanced at me, but he didn’t answer the question. “Why’d she want to leave your penthouse?”

Goddamn it. I looked out the window. “I don’t know.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“She’s married,” I reminded him.

“ Dios mio ,” he muttered like he was talking to a fucking twelve-year-old. “This again? How married? Because there’re shades of marriage, amigo. Many shades.”

No there weren’t. There was only one kind of marriage as far as I was concerned. “Legally married.”

“Then where the fuck is her pendejo of a husband? Because he sure as hell isn’t here right now protecting her.”

“He walked into the hospital, patronized her, then left as soon as possible.” My jaw clenched just thinking about it.

Luna frowned. “So they’re separated.”

I didn’t know her exact living situation. “I didn’t see her place. You know Preston grabbed her shit.” Which I was still pissed about.

“Did he say her husband was there?”

“No.” My back teeth ground together thinking of that prick as her husband.

“Preston wouldn’t have missed noticing if she was shacked up with someone.”

I didn’t comment.

Luna was quiet a moment, then, “Separated isn’t exactly married. Intent is obvious at that point.”

“Not signing divorce papers and leaving my place is also obvious. I’m done with this conversation.”

“Okay, but did she tell you why she didn’t sign the divorce papers?”

I turned and unleashed a temper I hadn’t known I had until a hot mess of a redhead literally stumbled into my life. “She fucking lied to me . I asked her if she was seeing anyone, and she looked me right in the eye and outright told me she was unattached.” She’d lied . Like every other goddamn female I’d ever fucking encountered.

Luna inhaled. “Bro—”

“I don’t fucking do married, and I sure as hell don’t fuck with liars.” Or women who ran out on me. “ Period .”

Luna opened his mouth to speak.

“Don’t,” I warned. “Do not defend her or her situation. I know what I signed up for, and I’ll get her out of this bullshit because I got her into it, but don’t try to placate me with shit about gray areas and intent. None of that matters.”

“If it doesn’t matter, then why are you so pissed off?”

Because I was. “We’re done talking about it. Where are we going?”

Luna let it go, but he didn’t budge on where we were going. “Not my place to say whose property it is.”

“I could just reverse search the address.”

“You could, but you wouldn’t find anything.”

I put two and two together. “Then it’s either Neil Christensen or Dane Marek. And since Christensen lets us use his properties when we need a safe house, I’m going with Marek. Doubly so since Christensen wouldn’t hide his whereabouts. He’d welcome someone trying to fuck with him just so he could teach them a lesson.”

Neither confirming nor denying it, Luna tried Talerco again. When his voice mail picked up, Luna hung up, but then his cell rang. Glancing at the display, he swiped to answer and held the phone to his ear to take the call instead of using the Bluetooth. “Hey, thanks for calling back. Did you get my text? Have you heard from Talerco?” Luna frowned. “How long ago?” He glanced at the clock on the dash. “I’m on my way with Sawyer. A new employee I have is trailing behind Talerco, or he should be. He’ll be in a company vehicle. Comms, GPS and cell phones are down because we suspect they have a jammer. When they get close, you’ll be affected too. Talerco has a woman with him, redhead, midtwenties… Yeah, she’s their target… Don’t know how many, but I want to get answers first if we can… I know. Copy that, I won’t.” Luna hung up.

“You know and you won’t what?”

Luna spared me a glance as he slowed down. “I know that gang members will shoot first, ask questions never.” Luna turned down a dirt road I hadn’t even seen, the entrance almost completely masked my overgrown trees. “And Marek said not to approach his place using the main road.”

So it was Marek. The SUV dipped and bounced on the lane that was little more than washed-out tire indents with potholes.

“Talerco told Marek he was coming?”

Luna focused on the path ahead, the headlights the only source of light as we drove deeper into the woods. “Yeah, called him a few minutes ago.” He dialed his phone using the car’s speakers again.

Tyler answered. “What’s up, boss?”

“Call everyone back,” Luna ordered.

“You found them?” Tyler asked.

“I’m taking it from here. See you tomorrow.”

“Boss.” Tyler’s tone said it all. “This doesn’t sound good.”

“Got it handled. Let the others know.”

There was a shuffling sound, then the background noise lessened and Tyler spoke again. “You need me? Just me?”

“Negative, but appreciate the offer. Later.” Luna hung up.

I read between the lines. “Marek doesn’t want anyone else knowing where he lives.”

“Nope,” Luna confirmed.

“Then why’d Talerco go to him?”

Luna slowed to a crawl and turned the vehicle down an even smaller lane. Then he brought the SUV to a halt and leveled me with a look. “Because Marek has better security than all of us combined, the skills to make shit disappear permanently, and these pendejos won’t be the only bodies buried out here if it comes to that.”

Jesus Christ . “How good of a security system?” Because camera feeds meant evidence.

My door flew open.

“Good enough to know you’re here,” a deep voice clipped.

My instincts intact, I whipped my 9mm out and aimed dead center on the man’s chest who was holding my door open.

Dane Marek, dressed in all black with a black ball cap pulled low over his face, stood in the open door with his piece already aimed at me.

If he’d been one of the gang members, I would’ve been dead.

“Christ.” My heart fucking ricocheted around inside my chest. I hadn’t been taken off guard like that since my first IED in Afghanistan. “How did you hear what I said?”

He touched his ear, then tipped his chin at the comm in mine in response.

“I don’t have my comm turned on.” There was no way he heard me through the heavy, closed car door. Luna’s SUV was armored.

“Doesn’t have to be on. Not with the equipment I have.”

“Which is gonna be useless as soon as Talerco shows up with the pendejos and their jammer in tow,” Luna cut in as he took his tactical vest from the back seat. Stepping out of the SUV and strapping it on, he grabbed another handgun, then hefted his sniper rifle from the floor behind his seat before asking Marek about Ty. “You see my other man yet?”

“Negative.” Marek stepped back enough to let me out. “No sign of him on any of my security feeds.”

Luna swore in Spanish, then English. “Shit.” Sparing me a glance, he nodded toward the cargo area of the Escalade where I’d stowed my guns. “Gear up. We’re going in on foot from here.”