Cross’s Target (Shadow Hounds: Rogue Waters #4)

Chapter 1

Andrews—Drew LaSalle smashed her skip’s head against the wall one more time. “I told you to stop fucking around. You’re coming with me, conscious or not. Makes no difference.”

The heavy-set man raised his free hand in submission. “Okay, okay. Jeez, you’re brutal.”

“I’m a bounty hunter, what the fuck did you think I’d be like? Oh please, sir, can you get into my car so I can take you back to jail to get re-bonded?”

The man moved his hand toward his face.

“Easy,” Drew snarled.

“I just want to wipe the blood out of my eyes,” he lamented.

Drew hesitated but then gave a curt nod.

“Can I sit for a minute? I don’t feel so good.”

He wasn’t looking so good either. Drew nodded again. “But don’t try anything; I will use my stun gun. Got it?”

“Got it,” Jasper Dunlop leaned against the wall next to the sink and slid to the floor.

Drew glanced around and decided Dunlop really had to be feeling like shit if he was willing to sit down in this bathroom.

The place reeked of urine and body odor.

There was a broken syringe in the corner, and by the look of things, the floors hadn’t been cleaned since the Obama Administration.

Drew studied Dunlop. His skin was slightly gray, and his breathing was shallow. She reached down and grabbed his wrist.

“Hey,” he yelped, but didn’t fight her.

His pulse was racing. Too fast. “Don’t you dare have a heart attack on me.”

Dunlop let out a bark of laughter. “Yeah, I’ll do my best.” He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes.

Drew stared at him. If he died, it was really going to complicate her life.

She didn’t need this shit. Dunlop had jumped bail.

He was up on an armed robbery charge. There was a weapon involved, but Drew just didn’t see it.

Dunlop was just a shade over five feet ten.

He had dark, shaggy hair and permanently sunburned skin, the type she only ever saw in Florida.

He was overweight and moved like he was always in pain, slow and tentatively.

There was no hustle in this man whatsoever.

And the way he jumped every time she moved, even just slightly?

She knew a frightened man when she saw one. And he was scared shitless.

“How the hell did you pull off an armed robbery?”

“I didn’t. I got caught.”

She rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

He gave her a weak smile. “You mean, how does someone like me get involved in an armed robbery? Someone who’s overweight, clumsy, and not the sharpest tool in the shed?”

“Yeah, we’ll go with that,” she affirmed.

“It wasn’t really an armed robbery.” Dunlop started

Drew narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the guy who says I tried to rob him—he’s my best buddy.”

“Dude, if you’ve got friends like that…”

“I know, right?” Dunlop replied. “Here’s what happened. Frank—the guy I supposedly robbed? Yeah, he’s in a financial hole. I mean, he owes big bucks to the wrong people. So, he asked me to help him fake a robbery.

“He’s got a decent house because he works construction, and he has a few things—good TVs, a nice stereo—but he just bought his girlfriend this huge diamond ring, which is part of what got him into trouble.

He promised she was going to be out, and that if I helped him make it look like someone broke in, he’d give me some of the insurance money.

He’d put the ring on the insurance policy. ”

“Okay,” Drew said slowly. “Insurance fraud. Never a good idea.”

“Yeah, well, I know that now.” Dunlop sighed.

“So, what happened was… His girlfriend was out with her friends. Frank’s neighborhood is full of old folks, so he said if we did it between eleven and midnight, no one would see us.

His girlfriend was at some show that wouldn’t get out before midnight, so we were safe.

“Also, he has a lot of trees around his property and a back alley. We took everything—we even took his car, because he had a BMW, out through the alley. We put everything in a U-Haul around the corner and parked the car there, too. Then, after the last trip, he gave me a gun and told me to go around to the side of the house, the one closest to his neighbors, and wave the gun around. Then break the window with the gun. He said that his neighbor on that side was a nosy old lady who had a Ring doorbell camera. He figured that would sell the story better.”

Drew stared at him. Oh my god, what a lame… “And you thought this was going to work? In what universe did you actually think this was a good idea?”

Dunlop shrugged. “Seemed okay, I guess. I didn’t much think about it. Like I said, Frank was my best friend.”

“And where was Frank going to be while you were waving a gun around?”

“He was going to ditch his car and set it on fire.”

“More insurance money,” Drew said.

Dunlop nodded. “Anyway,” he continued, “I put on a mask and took the gun, and I went over and broke the window. Only Meredith, that’s Frank’s girlfriend, was home, and she freaked out.

She started screaming, and it scared the hell out of me.

I took off, but she chased me, and I ended up tripping over a garbage can.

She sat on me as she called the cops. By that point, half the neighborhood was up.

Once the cops showed up, it was game over. ”

Drew gritted her teeth and knew she’d regret asking, but she couldn’t help herself. “And what did Frank say when he arrived?”

“He said he was out picking up his girlfriend’s favorite ice cream at the store, and he just got home.

” When Dunlop rolled his eyes, his whole head moved.

“He managed to get a minute to tell me he was sorry. He just couldn’t light his car on fire, and if he told the truth, his girlfriend would leave him. ”

“So, he left you hanging.”

“Yeah.” Dunlop held up his hands. “I know. Stupid, stupid. But he’s been my best friend since we were kids, and I trusted him.”

“Okay. Did you tell the police any of this?”

“Well, that’s the thing. He begged me not to, because of his girlfriend and all. And he was saying, because this is my first offense, I won’t get anything—maybe a rap on the knuckles.”

“Oh,” Drew said, putting her hand over her face. “You… Yeah, no. You need to tell your lawyer the truth about what happened. You’ll get more than just a rap on the knuckles because you had a gun. A fact that makes this an armed robbery.”

“I know that now. My legal aid lawyer, because I don’t have any money, keeps trying to make me take a deal. I didn’t do anything, but I don’t want to tell him.”

“You need to tell the cops and your lawyer what really happened. This is just ridiculous. You’re doing nothing but getting yourself in more trouble. Do you know where all the stuff is?”

“Oh, yeah. I helped him rent a storage locker.”

Drew sighed. “Tell me it’s not in your name.”

Dunlop’s face clouded over, and Drew groaned.

“But there’s a camera in the office at the self-storage,” Dunlop said excitedly. “We’ll be on it since he was there with me. He had to pay.”

“That’s something, I guess,” Drew confirmed. “Do you know what he planned on doing with the ring?”

Dunlop rubbed his head. “He said he had a work friend who could sell it for him.”

The whole scenario was a nightmare. The level of stupidity was mindboggling, but in truth it was also sort of…refreshing. Not too many people trusted the way Dunlop did. Naivety at its finest. “So why are you running?” Drew asked.

“Well, because I don’t want to go to jail. I didn’t do anything.” Dunlop looked up at Drew. “You know… you could let me go. I can take off, and no one will find me, and then it won’t matter.”

Drew laughed. “Oh, it’ll matter. You’ll never outrun this.”

“Well, I could give it a try,” Dunlop said. “If you let me go.”

“I can’t do that.”

“What if I pay you?”

Drew snorted. “You just told me you don’t have any money.”

“Right.” Dunlop agreed. “But I know people with money.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to help you.” Drew shook her head.

“What if I could offer you another bounty? Someone who’s worth far more than I am. Would you let me go then?”

“Probably not, but maybe.” When he smiled excitedly, Drew arched a brow. “Maybe.”

There was no way she was going to let him go.

Absolutely not. Although his bail bond wasn’t worth much, and she felt sorry for him.

He was such a disaster, and he didn’t have to be.

She’d turn him in—and hopefully help him get out of this mess, or at least point him in the right direction.

She wasn’t here to save the world, but this guy…

he wasn’t a bad guy, just gullible. No one should have to do jail time for that.

She signed. “So, what’s this bounty? Who is it? What did they do?”

Dunlop struggled to get to his feet. His color had returned, and he looked much better. “See, my cousin—Octavio Rodríguez—he wants this guy found.”

Drew froze. “I’m sorry. Your cousin is Octavio Rodríguez? As in the Octavio Rodríguez who runs organized crime in Miami?”

“Yeah. He’s my cousin.”

“Octavio Rodríguez is your cousin?” Dunlop looked a lot of things, but he didn’t look remotely Cuban.

“Yeah, yeah. My mother and his father are brother and sister, or half-brother and sister. So, I’m sort of his half-cousin. And I didn’t get the Cuban looks, but yeah, we’re cousins.”

Okay. Of all the things, she certainly didn’t expect Dunlop to be Octavio Rodríguez’s cousin.

Her stomach tightened. This wasn’t good.

She should just walk away right now. Wash her hands of the whole situation.

“All right. So, what exactly? Octavio wants this guy—could you be a little more specific?” Why was she even considering this cockamamie idea?

“Yeah, I’m getting to it. Apparently, Octavio’s girlfriend left him, and this guy helped her.

O is righteously pissed. No one leaves him.

She is in serious trouble. He wants to find her, and he wants the guy because he says if he finds the guy, he’ll find her.

And because the guy made O look bad, O wants him found.

Really, O wants him dead, but he’ll pay big bucks for him.

Bigger money if O gets to kill him personally.

You could negotiate more, I’m sure of it. ”

“Oh, yeah. I’m not getting involved in this.” Drew shook her head. “No. No way.” This was nothing but bad news. She needed to get out of there. She did not want her name associated with Dunlop in any way. Any way she looked it this, it was just a steaming pile of shit she needed to back away from.

“But it’s worth two hundred fifty thousand?”

“Dollars?” The word slipped out of her lips.

“That’s what O is willing to pay. That’s what he told the guy. He’s told everybody—that’s what he’s willing to pay, but the creepy guy was all about it.”

“Two hundred fifty thousand to find this guy?” She frowned. “Who’s the creepy guy?”

“I think his name was Weasel.”

Her stomach knotted. “Herman Wessel.”

“Yeah. Him. He’s super creepy.” Dunlop shuddered with a grimace.

Dunlop was not wrong. Wessel was a thin, bald, older man with dark, dead eyes and bad teeth.

She’d come across him a few times when the guys she’d been hunting had been particularly bad or involved with the mob in some way.

If Rodriguez was hiring the Weasel, then he meant serious business, and whoever he was after was a dead man walking.

Drew shook her head. “I think Octavio’s girlfriend did the smart thing. Not gonna help anyone find her.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Dunlop said. “And I agree. But you only have to find him, not her, and the two hundred and fifty K would be yours.”

“Yeah, I’m not gonna find some guy who helped her either. No good is going to come of this.”

“But Morgan is worth two hundred fifty thousand dollars.”

Drew froze. She couldn’t draw a breath for a full minute.

“Are you okay?” Dunlop asked. “You don’t look so good.”

“Morgan?” Her voice croaked out as a whisper. “Cross Morgan?”

“Yeah, that’s the guy. O wants him real bad. I don’t envy that guy. Not at all.”

Drew struggled to draw a breath. Cross Morgan had shattered her heart into a million pieces, and now one of the coldest killers she knew was out for his blood. Her world had just spun on its axis, and she knew there was no going back.