Chapter Twenty #22
“Okay, I need a couple of you to go downstairs to the kitchen and make some noise, just enough to get whoever is in the study to come out. Marcus and I will go downstairs and try and sneak into the study. The moment you hear someone coming, get to the kitchen panic room. Dmitri, you’ll need to lead that since you know the code to get in. ”
This was a really stupid idea, but it was the only one I had.
Chapter Eighteen
Lany
I followed Marcus down the narrow staircase built inside the panic room connecting the upstairs to the downstairs.
Angelo and Dmitri were right behind us. When we reached the first floor, they left through the security door and headed for the kitchen.
Marcus pulled the door almost all of the way closed and then listened at the opening.
I swallowed tightly, the tension in the air so thick it was hard to breathe. What we were doing was epically stupid because we were technically not trained for this.
Well, I wasn’t trained for this.
Marcus suddenly held his finger to his lips and pulled the door closed just a little bit more.
I swallowed hard again and then moved up behind him.
The footsteps outside the door were almost silent, but I’d been living in this mansion for a long time.
I knew every creak it made. Someone was definitely walking down the hallway.
As soon as it went silent again, I nudged Marcus. He opened the door a little more and peeked out before pushing it open and stepping into the hallway. I quickly followed him out and then shut the door, reengaging the door lock so no one could get into the panic room.
We hurried down the hallway toward the study door. I started to slow down when we reached it, but much to my surprise, Marcus barreled right in, gun in hand.
I pulled my gun and followed him in, only to be slammed into as a man across the room shot Marcus, forcing him back into me. I grappled to grab him and keep him on his feet, but Marcus slumped in my arms. Thank god he was wearing a tactical vest. He’d bruise, but he’d live.
Low malevolent laughter came from across the room.
I felt a chill go down my spine when I looked up and immediately recognized the man standing there with a gun in his hand. I slowly lowered Marcus to the floor and then stood up, moving a couple of steps away from him to keep him out of the line of fire.
“Eben Juarez, aren’t you supposed to be in prison?
” I asked. I took another step as I glanced around the room, trying to spot Lyn.
“Oh, wait, your name is actually Victor Cruz, isn’t it?
Or is it Viggo Marcus? Anton Gambino?” I pressed my hand to my chest as I gasped dramatically. “Oh, I know, it’s Eduardo Salazar.”
The man cocked a single eyebrow. “If I’d know how intelligent you were, I would have added that into your bio. I could have easily made three million dollars.”
“What? Two million dollars wasn’t enough for you?”
“Not hardly.” The man chuckled before tilting his head and giving me an inquisitive look. “What is it about you that fascinates people so much?”
How the hell would I know?
“I’m special like that.”
“Maybe.” Eben rubbed one finger along his jaw line. “It is a mystery.”
“What is a mystery is how you got out of prison,” I stated. “We’ve already found several prison guards with questionable finances, and I’m betting that you might have had something to do with that.”
Juarez started clapping. “Very good.” He waved his hand toward the storyboard. “I’ve seen what you’ve done, and I must say I am impressed. You’ve gotten almost everything right.”
“Oh?” I glanced at the storyboard. “I think we were pretty spot-on. What did we miss?”
“You were right that I tortured and killed Agent Marc Decker, but he was in on the money laundering. I tortured him because he wouldn’t tell me where my money was transferred to.”
“Oh.” I waved a dismissive hand. “I had it moved to a private account only I know about.” I shrugged.
“Seemed like the thing to do at the time. Besides, that Alex SeRoy guy was an idiot. I kept telling him that I needed cooling fans so the computer didn’t overheat, but he tried to get by with some fan that was probably from World War II. ”
“Yes, I was informed.”
I stroked my hand down my still injured cheek. “Besides, he hit me.”
“He has been reprimanded.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “Kill him, too?”
Juarez flashed his pearly white teeth at me. “Yes.”
It was so weird that we were having a casual conversation when there was such killing intent in the room. On the up side, this wasn’t the weirdest thing that had ever happened to me.
Elephant smashing my car still won.
“Mind if I write that down and add it to the storyboard?”
Juarez waved his hand toward the wall. “Go ahead.”
I quickly wrote it on a sticky note and then stuck it to the board. I decided to go ahead and string some yarn between Juarez’s name and the sticky note I’d just added, plus one leading to Agent Decker.
I turned to look at the man. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Of course.”
“Did you really think pretending to be Carlos Gambino’s son was going to work?” That one had always mystified me. I mean, how does someone pretend to be someone else’s kid? Especially an alleged mobster?
“That was the plan, yes. I’m still not sure why it didn’t work.”
“Oh, I can answer that one. Carlos only has one son, and his name is Eddie. When the Anton Gambino name came up during an investigation, we knew right away something was off.”
“And you knew this how?”
I grinned mischievously. “Eddie is one of my best friends.”
Juarez chuckled as he shook his head. “That would do it.”
“So, what is your real name?” I narrowed my eyes at him. “I’m betting it’s Fernandez. Am I right?”
“You are.” The man swept his arm down and bowed. “Hector Fernandez, at your service.”
I started to reach for another sticky note to write that down, but the sudden sound of a gun clicking froze me in spot.
“Ah ah ah, that one name cannot be added to your little storyboard there.”
Didn’t matter. I wasn’t going to forget it.
Juarez, or rather Fernandez, glanced at his watch. “We’re going to have to speed this up. I imagine your husband will be back soon.”
My eyes instantly narrowed, anger stealing all of the amusement I found in this situation. “Did you kidnap my mother?”
“I did, but my men have orders not to harm her. I know how much you care about people, so, much like I did with the bomb threat back at your old residence, I needed a distraction to get your husband’s SWAT team away from here so we could talk.”
Okay, that was a little unnerving. He seemed to know more about me and my life than I was really comfortable with. That was never a good thing where a psycho was concerned.
“You’ve obviously done your research, but I think you missed a few things.”
“Oh?” Fernandez mused. “Please, enlighten me.”
“One, you’re in my house, which means you’re not getting out of here unless I want to let you out.”
Fernandez waved his gun back and forth. “I could shoot my way out.”
I pulled my gun and waved it around just like he had. “You can, but you’ll be dead before you can escape.”
I hoped.
“Two,” I continued as if we both weren’t pointing guns at each other, “I routinely work with the FBI and DEA, not to mention my husband’s SWAT team.
I’m also the nephew of the police commissioner, so I work with him when he needs me to.
So, even if, by some miracle, you did escape, they would all be after you. ”
Fernandez’s eye twitched.
“Three, not only am I protected by my husband’s SWAT team, I have a full security staff on the grounds, including a former Mossad agent.
I’m very close with Carlos Gambino, Vinnie Castellano, and I have a blood pack with the former head of the Irish mob out of Chicago.
So, trying to hurt me is a very bad idea, as you might have learned when you kidnapped me and tried to sell me as a sex slave.
” I made a tsking sound as I shook my head.
“You really should have stayed in prison.”
“Prison is so…restricting.”
Like I fucking cared.
“How did you actually get into the house?” And why hadn’t Brant stopped him? More importantly, where the hell was Brant?
“I was already here when your home went into lockdown,” Fernandez replied. “I snuck in yesterday and hid in one of the spare bedrooms.”
Okay, that made some sense, but… “How did you sneak in?” I wanted to know so we could fix that. I couldn’t have dangerous people sneaking into my home.
“I merely waited until nightfall and then snuck in from the riverfront. Things seemed pretty busy at the time, so it was rather easy to come in through the kitchen entrance and make my way upstairs.”
So, security door on the kitchen. Got it.
I wasn’t sure what to do about the water entrance, as I had used the very same thing to sneak in here. Figuring that out wasn’t my skill set anyway. I’d let Sal and Brant know of the problem, and they could deal with it.
My problem was the dangerous idiot in front of me.
“Like I said, we need to speed this up. I imagine your husband will be headed this way soon.”
I hoped so.
“I need my money.”
“Yeah…about that.” Sal would have shot me himself if he saw me use the barrel of the gun to scratch the side of my head. “I handed all that information off to my friend Lyn.” I glanced around the room again, searching. “Who seems to be missing.”
Fernandez squinted for a moment before holding his hand out even with his shoulder. “Short guy, brown hair, glasses?”
I nodded eagerly with a smile. “That’s him.”
Fernandez sighed before walking over to Sal’s private bathroom door. He yanked it open and then reached inside, pulling Lyn out by his arm. My eyes narrowed when I saw the bruise on his cheek and the cloth stuffed in his mouth. At least he was on his feet.
Clarke was not going to be happy.
“Is this him?”
“It is,” I replied. “What did you do to him?”