Chapter Twenty #24
Lany shrugged. “I don’t know why he’s freaking out. I just had a conversation with him.”
Everyone pretty much snorted at that one.
“When we made it inside,” Vinnie stated, “Fernandez was on his knees begging for someone to cuff him.”
I glanced at Lany. “You scared him into submission?”
Was that like a new interrogation technique or something?
“I didn’t do anything except talk to him.” Lany pointed to the ripped material in the center of the tactical vest he was wearing. “He, on the other hand, shot me.”
My eyes narrowed. As soon as I stood up and turned, people started shouting. I was able to take two steps before I was grabbed.
“You can’t kill him, Sal,” Marcus started. “It’s against the law.”
“I’ll do the time,” I spit out, trying to take another step, intent on getting to Fernandez. He’d tried to kill my baby. I wasn’t going to allow him to live.
When I took another step, dragging Marcus along with me, Burke and Clarke raced over and grabbed me.
I still took another step.
I was stopped by a pint-sized sex kitten’s arms wrapping around me, his warm body pressing into mine. “Sal, you can’t. I know you want to, and believe me I want to also, but you really can’t. I need you here with me and the kids, not locked up in some prison.”
That might have been the only thing to stop my manic rage.
“Jerry?”
“Yes, Sal?”
“I want him in a maximum-security prison.”
“I’ll see that it’s done.”
“Maximum security?” I never expected Fernandez to perk up. “Are you talking about the one where there are no visitors allowed and you have to be in your cell twenty-three hours a day? That maximum security?”
“Yes,” I answered, confused.
“Please.” Fernandez pressed his hands together. “Please, I’m begging you. Put me in maximum security. I swear I will tell you everything I know if you just lock me up and never let him near me.”
He was pointing at Lany.
I stared down at the alluring man in my arms. How could he ever think Lany was a threat? Lany was adorable. He’d never intentionally hurt anyone.
I chuckled as I hugged Lany in my arms. “Only you could scare a drug kingpin into begging to be locked up.”
Lany beamed. “I told him I was special. He didn’t believe me.”
“I may need to bring you in to train my men.”
When I heard someone speak, I glanced over toward the doorway to find Supervisory Special Agent Crenshaw standing there, a look of total disbelief on his face.
“Oh.” Lany pushed away from me and ran over to the storyboard. He quickly wrote something down on a sticky note and then stuck it on the board. “All of these guys”—he pointed to the storyboard before pointing at Fernandez—“are Hector Fernandez.”
“We’ve been looking for him for a long time,” Crenshaw stated, “but no one has ever seen a picture of him. How do you know it’s him?”
“He admitted it to me,” Lany stated. “Brant can get you a copy of the surveillance tapes for the study. He admitted to everything, including torturing and killing Agent Decker and Alex SeRoy.” I growled when Lany pointed to the torn fabric on his tactical vest. “He also shot me.”
“He’s pleading for maximum security,” Jerry stated. “Says he’ll tell you guys everything he knows if you promise to keep Junior away from him.”
Crenshaw’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious?”
“We’re serious.” I nodded before gesturing to the man kneeling across the room. “If you don’t believe me, you can ask him yourself.”
Supervisory Special Agent Crenshaw glanced at Fernandez before walking over to stand in front of him. “Are they telling the truth? Are you really Hector Fernandez?”
Fernandez glanced at Lany. I don’t know what he saw, but his face went pale, and he started talking rapidly, giving out names, drug manufacturing locations, secret bank accounts, the works. He admitted to every crime right down to stealing a stick of gum when he was six years old.
By the time Supervisory Special Agent Crenshaw had someone take him away, it was daylight and Lany was leaning against me, his favorite throw blanket tossed over him.
We’d seen the kids and long ago sent them off to bed.
Lany had seen his mother, cried all over her, and then swore up and down he’d never get shot again.
I didn’t believe that one.
“How does he do it?” Crenshaw asked. “How does he solve all of these cases when the best minds at the FBI and the DEA couldn’t?”
I shrugged but just a little. I didn’t want to wake Lany. “We’ve never been able to figure it out.” There were a lot of things about Lany I had never been able to figure out, like why he had been single when we met. “He’s the way he is, and we just accept it.”
Crenshaw chuckled as he stood. “Well, I’m glad he is. He just broke open one of the biggest cases in our agency. We’ve been after Hector Fernandez for years, but we’ve never been able to catch him. Hell, we didn’t even know what he looked like. Now, we can connect him to a bunch of other cases.”
“Just make sure he’s put behind bars at a maximum-security facility.” I wanted the man locked up for the rest of his life.
“Oh, he will be. He refused to answer any of our questions unless we promised maximum security and a guarantee that Lany will never visit him.”
I chuckled as I stroked my hand down the side of Lany’s face. “He doesn’t like my little darling.”
“He’s terrified of your little darling.” Crenshaw chuckled as he started for the door. “I’ll send cupcakes tomorrow.”
“This was a pretty big bust, Crenshaw. You might want to send a cake.”
Supervisory Special Agent Crenshaw waved as he walked out of the room. I was pretty sure Lany’s sugar craving was going to be fully satisfied come tomorrow.
“I’m going to head out, too,” Jerry stated. “If I don’t check my eyelids for pinholes pretty soon, I may go blind.”
“What’s going to happen to those guards at the prison?” I asked.
“They’ve already been arrested,” Jerry replied. “Fernandez gave us enough evidence to put them behind bars for a decade.”
Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
“Lyn and I are taking one of your guestrooms,” Clarke said as he pulled Lyn away from his laptop. “We’ll see you in a few hours.”
“Jenna will watch the kids so sleep as long as you want.”
One by one, the rest of my team of fellow SWAT members and my friends trailed out of the study. I knew some of them would be taking up guestrooms. Others would head home. As long as they were all safe, I didn’t care where they slept. I was just glad that today was over.
I lifted Lany up in my arms and then stood. I tossed the blanket back over the back of the couch and then walked out of the study.
Brant stepped out of the security room before I could reach the stairs. “I’d like to meet with you tomorrow to talk about increasing the security along the waterfront. Too many people were able to access the estate in the last two days without us knowing.”
“Write up a plan of what you want to do and then give it to me. I trust you to know what we need.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Night, Brant.”
“Goodnight, sir.”
“Make sure you get some rest, too. We need you to be on your toes.”
“I will, sir, goodnight.”
I turned and carried Lany up the stairs and then down the hallway to our master bedroom.
I was so ready for this day to be over.
Chapter Twenty
Lany
“We both need a shower,” I grumbled into Sal’s neck as he carried me into the bedroom and laid me on the bed, coming down on top of me.
To say it had been a long day was ridiculous.
It had been totally insane. I needed a clean body, and then maybe a dirty body, maybe another shower after that, and then some serious snuggle time.
“We both need something, caro, and I know just what it is.”
Sal curved his hand around the back of my neck. His other hand went to my back, and he pulled me flush against his body. He leaned down until his cheek was pressed to mine, his warm breath blowing out across my ear.
I swallowed hard.
"But I promise we’ll need a shower after I’m done with you."
I shivered when I heard Sal's whispered words and then felt the man's arms tighten around me. I soaked everything in with a deep hunger—the chiseled jaw, the warm copper-colored eyes, the chestnut-brown hair framing Sal's rugged face.
I licked my lips, my hunger riding me hard.
I leaned in and shoved my face into the curve of Sal's neck, inhaling deeply.
I shuddered at the deep rich scent of cinnamon and whiskey that filled me.
My cock hardened as the sweet, manly scent started weaving in and around me.
I nuzzled my face against Sal's skin, rubbing the man's heady scent all over my face.
I would bathe in Sal's scent if I could.
I moaned and arched into the air when I felt Sal’s hands stroke down my back. It felt so good to be touched, caressed. It felt as though it had been forever.
I wanted to touch as well.
All that smooth skin combined with a smattering of dark hair across the top of his chest… It was incredibly yummy. I leaned down and licked a trail up Sal's chest to one dark-hued nipple. I heard Sal cry out when I gently bit down on that nipple. Large hands curled into my hair, holding me there.
I took it as an invitation for more and gently bit down again.
One of Sal’s hands stayed in my hair. The other moved down my back to grab my ass. I moaned as heat filled me. The need to feel more snapped any control I might have had.
I wanted the man naked, and I wanted him naked now. I grabbed at Sal's pants. I groaned in protest when my hands were pushed out of the way until I realized that Sal was undoing his pants and pushing them down his legs.
As soon as the pants were gone, I scooted down Sal’s body and buried my face in the man’s groin.
The strong masculine fragrance was overwhelming.
I inhaled again and again, rubbing my face back and forth over Sal’s warm skin.
His erect cock smacked me in the face. Damn, it was such a perfect cock, too—all nice and thick and long with hot silky skin.
I wanted to feel that hard cock in my mouth.