Chapter 5
CHAPTER 5
Carter watched the van pull out and memorized the plate. The large black-haired guy with a lot of tattoos got into what Carter assumed was Mia’s car and followed the van out. He’d only caught the very end of whatever happened, but it was enough to make his stomach churn.
When he’d started out of the bar, Mia was getting into the van. To be fair, it was more like she was being forced into the vehicle. He couldn’t tell exactly what was going on from his angle and only moonlight for illumination, but he didn’t think it was anything good. He’d kill for a pair of night vision goggles. His gut said there was an issue and if he trusted nothing else, he trusted that.
Carter hustled to his borrowed SUV, jumped in, and fired it up. Gravel crunched under the tires as he sped after the car and van. He’d caught up with them just as they reached the main road. He let them both pull out ahead of him and then let another car go by before following.
It was dark, and he hoped that whoever was driving the van and Mia’s car wasn’t really looking for a tail because with only one car between them, his headlights wouldn’t be hard to spot.
They wound their way through town and into a neighborhood. The car ahead of him turned off leaving him fully exposed. Carter swore and dropped back. He kept the taillights of Mia’s car in view but then lost them around a turn. His heart rate ticked up. He didn’t know this woman from Adam, but seeing her get forced into that van caused major anxiety to tighten his chest. He sped up, but by the time he got around the corner, both vehicles had vanished.
“Fuck,” he growled as he scanned the street. His heart rate kicked up another notch. Where the hell had they gone? The street was still. No cars moving. He put his window down and stopped. Was that car doors slamming? Instinct told him it was, and he peered at his surroundings. A small lane on the right veered off the roadway, heading up an incline. They must have gone up there. He killed his lights, reversed, and then took the hidden lane going up the hill. He crested the top and glanced in both directions. The van was parked in front of a small white house. The car was in the driveway.
Carter pulled onto the street and parked facing the opposite way. It was a risk if he needed to chase them but he didn’t want to park next to them just in case he needed to follow them some more.
Carter watched the house in his rearview mirror. Maybe Mia wasn’t in trouble. Maybe everything was fine, and he would look like some kind of weird stalker. He took a deep breath. And maybe not. He’d go with his gut on this one. Hopefully, this was all a misunderstanding and Mia would be okay with him following her.
Right now, he was helpless when it came to the investigation into what was going on with the other guys on the team. He couldn’t stand by and do nothing here as well. He fucking hated being helpless.
Carter waited a couple of minutes and then got out of the SUV and made his way quickly to the van. Peering inside he found what he expected. It was empty. He glanced at the little house. The lights were on, but every window was covered. He had no idea if anyone was inside but he was betting that’s where they’d taken Mia.
He opened the mailbox at the end of the driveway and pulled out a piece of mail. It was addressed to Mia. So it was her house. Carter moved swiftly up the driveway sticking to the dark shadows in case any neighbors happened to be looking out their windows. The last thing he needed was to be reported as a peeping tom. He crept to the side of the house. Sticking close to the wall, he slid up to a window and glanced in. An empty bathroom. He moved to the next window and risked a quick glance in. Kitchen. The lanky man who’d been driving had his back to the window. The two large guys, one with two full sleeves of tattoos and one with tattoos on his neck, were standing on either side of Mia. He didn’t know her, but her expression told him she was pissed off and more than a little scared.
He took another quick peek. The two men were facing the window, so he had to be careful. Moving to the end of the building, he checked around the back of the little house. The small yard was taken up by a concrete patio with some grass beyond. Sliding glass doors led from the patio into the house. The doors were closed but thankfully, no curtains covered the opening.
Carter moved along the wall, ducking under a second kitchen window, and approached the glass doors. He cocked his head, heard them talking. He couldn’t make out their words, though. Glancing around he quickly noted the kitchen window was raised a crack.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Mia,” the first voice said. “We’re in this together now. If I go down, you go down. You’re the accountant. They’ll look at you when those books come to light.”
“You asshole!” Mia’s vehement cry cut through the night. “I was doing the fake books. I had no idea you were laundering money through the cafè.”
“That don’t matter now, does it?” Didn’t need to see the guy’s face to catch the sneer Carter knew would be on it. He continued, “If anyone says anything, I’ll tell them you were in on the whole thing. And don’t think I won’t take down Akela and Kai, too.”
“What the fuck do you want, Bobby?” Mia demanded. “There’s no way you’re just after my silence. You always want something.”
The man named Bobby laughed. “You always were a smart one. Okay, Mia, I do want something. I want you to go back to start gambling for me again. I need you to win me some money.”
Silence greeted these words and then, “No way. Not going to do it. I’m not going back to that, Bobby. I’m out. I’m done with that world. Hell will freeze over before I go back.”
There was the sound of a scrape and then Mia let out a yelp. Carter’s blood iced, and every SEAL instinct in him kicked to life. They were hurting Mia and he was fucking going to stop it. Now.
Carter ducked back under the window and hurried back toward the front of the house. He paused to look into the kitchen window one more time. The tall guy had Mia by the jaw and he was all up in her face.
Carter’s gut rolled as he headed for the front of the house. He couldn’t let this continue. Three against one wasn’t great odds, and chances were good that these guys had a gun or two. But he’d also bet they were all slow. Big guys usually were. They used their size to intimidate people and rarely had to do any serious fighting.
He climbed the front steps as quietly as possible and then paused at the front door. Ever so gently, he tried the front door. The knob turned easily in his hand and opened just a fraction. He drew in a deep breath and then pushed the door open. “Mia, they didn’t have any…” he let the words die out as he entered the house and took in the scene before him. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded.
The three men stared at him. The guy Carter assumed was Bobby dropped his hand from Mia’s face and she swung her head in his direction as well, with her eyes full of confusion.
“Mia, honey, what’s going on?” Carter demanded as he moved into the room. He positioned himself so he could take out the guy with the neck tattoos first and then Bobby. The guy with the full sleeves was on the far side of Mia and there was no way to reach him without going through her at this moment.
“I—I?—”
“Whoever the fuck you are, you need to leave,” Bobby demanded.
Carter shot him a look. “I’m Mia’s boyfriend and I think you need to leave.” He moved further into the room and got ready for a fight.
“You all need to leave,” Mia said flatly. She tried to pull her arms from the two giants in the kitchen and they started to resist, but Bobby shook his head.
“Fine,” Bobby said, “but this isn’t over. Keep your mouth shut until we can talk some more. You feel me? Akela and Kai’s lives depend on it.” He cocked his head back in a way that made Carter want to cock his arm and throat-punch the asshole.
Mia said nothing but she remained still as Bobby and the two jacked-up bros with him moved slowly out of the little house.
Once the door was closed and locked behind them, she turned to Carter. “What in the hell are you doing here?”
Carter gave her the once over. “I saw the way you were manhandled into that van. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” She stared at him. “Did you follow us here?”
“Yeah. Like I said, I saw you get into the van and had a bad feeling about it.” He let his eyes roam over her. There were no outward signs of physical harm other than two red splotches on her cheeks where Bobby had held her face. That was enough to make him want to put the man six feet under. No one should treat a woman that way. Not ever. “Who were those guys?”
“It doesn’t matter who they were. You can go, too.” Mia started back toward the front door.
“Mia, you’re obviously in trouble. Let me help you.”
She turned and met Carter’s gaze. “Look, I owe you one, okay? You saved my butt, but I have to deal with this stuff on my own. I don’t need you sticking your nose in. It will just complicate things and they’re complicated enough.”
“Mia, I think I can help?—"
“Carter, is it?” she asked as she frowned at him. “I barely know you. Now I appreciate you coming to my rescue, but things are way more complicated than they seem. And I do not need you in the middle of it, making it worse. So…” She walked over and unlocked the door, opening it wide. “Please leave.”
Carter stood there and stared at the petite woman in front of him. He wanted to argue. To explain that it went against his nature to leave if she was in trouble. But he’d seen that look on his sister and mother’s faces enough to know he was not going to win this argument. He was going to lose this battle. The important thing was to figure out how to win the war.
“Okay, but reach out if I can do anything to help. I didn’t like the way those men manhandled you.” He started passed her and then stopped. “I mean it. I’m tougher than you think. I can handle a whole lot. Let me help you.”
She just stared at him, so he dropped a quick kiss on her hair and went out the door. She closed it after him and he waited on her front porch until he heard the snick of the lock engaging. Then he headed back to his SUV. The van was gone, but Carter knew whatever trouble Mia was in, it wasn’t likely to go away.
He just had to figure out a way to get her to let him help her. He had a feeling that if she didn’t get some kind of help, things would go very badly for her. A likelihood he wanted to avoid at all costs. Mia had captured his attention, and he wasn’t about to let anything happen to her. Not if he could help it.