Chapter 9
Kade
The car starts outside, spurring my ass into gear. I zip up and race through the cabin, grabbing my coat. No keys, no phone, and no girl. This can’t be happening.
Fuck!
I grab the extra burner phone from my bag and think twice about calling Jay to get some help.
Hell, that team has helicopters at their disposal, and I could beat her back to the city just like that, but that would be admitting defeat, that would be me saying goodbye to any chance in hell that I have of getting hired on by the most elite security team in the business.
This was my one chance to prove to Jay that I’m worthy to work by their side and damn if she just didn’t toss it all into the wind.
The jog down the road in the snow takes longer than I like.
I lift the collar of my coat as the wind whips into me until I get to the bottom of the hill and onto the main road.
The big red Ford 150 sitting at the gas pump is perfect.
As soon as its owner pops in to pay for gas, I sneak down the hill and open the door.
Lucky for him, he left the keys in the ignition.
The last thing I have time for right now is a knock-down, drag-out fight to get keys from some tourist driving through town.
The minute I’m behind the wheel, I throw it into drive and put my foot to the floor.
Ava’s going to have the disadvantage of not knowing the area and there are a lot of twists and turns in the roads around these parts, and that burner she’s got, it’s not hooked up to the internet so unless that GPS on the SUV has been keeping up with the road changes up here, she’s bound to get lost or at least slowed down a little.
I have to assume she’s heading for the highway for now, and point the truck in that direction, pushing my foot to the gas to increase my speed.
I call the gas station with the burner and an old friend’s voice comes on the line.
“Eb, I need you to give me a hand. I’m in hot pursuit of someone, and I’ll explain later, but would you be able to let the guy who’s missing a truck know that I’ll bring it back or call you to let him know where to pick it up very soon? ”
“Kade!”
I hold the cell away from my ear. “I know, I know. Just smooth things over for me, will you, Eb?”
He lets out a long, drawn-out sigh. “Ya had to go and take it from some smooth operating city slicker, huh? He was just asking questions about you and some young woman he’s looking for. In fact, I was just going to call you and give you a heads up. He’s in the john right now.”
“Shit, Eb. Forget I called, forget I asked you to do anything. Say nothing, okay? I’ll get in touch with him myself,” I tell him, no doubt when he’s least expecting someone to come in from behind and knock him the fuck out.
I toss my phone onto the spare seat.
These fuckers are good. How they made the connection between the name I’m using and this cabin is beyond me. The only people who know about that are family and the man I used to call my closest friend.
But it’s not like he’s going to rise from the ashes and tell someone where I am, even if the fucker wanted to after what went down between us.
I turn onto the open highway, and now I can make up some time. I put that twin turbo charged engine to good use, rocketing down the empty highway, keeping my foot on the gas for miles before I see the back end of the white SUV ahead of me in the distance.
My chest tightens when a car coming toward me slows to the edge of the road, flips a uey, and gets behind Ava.
I put my foot to the floor but there’s a lot of distance between me and that son of a bitch. He pulls up beside her and crashes into the side of the SUV, causing her to overcorrect and flip off the side of the road and into the ravine.
My foot stays glued to the floor and when the man gets out and heads toward her car with his gun pointed in her direction, I barrel right the fuck over him, feeling the crunch of his body beneath my tires.
I slam on my brakes and spin around, jump out of the vehicle and race down the small incline. The car is leaking gas faster than anything and at any time this whole fucking thing could light up like the Fourth of July.
“Ava,” I yell, reaching the side of the car. She’s banged up and has blood trailing down the side of her face, and can’t get out the other side or get the door pushed up. “Cover your face, look the other way,” I yell.
She turns away, hiding her head in her coat. I smash the glass with the gun I had ready and waiting for that son of a bitch if he hadn’t been dead.
Her arms curl around my neck after I clear the glass and get her pulled through the window. “He seriously just ran me off the road. He was trying to kill me,” she sobs.
I scoop her into my arms and walk quickly back to the truck in case the SUV goes up in flames.
“Yep, and there’s another one back at the gas station.
We just missed them.” I buckle the seat belt around her before closing her door and head back to the body of the son of a bitch who just about killed her and lies smashed on the ground in front of me.
A quick rummage through his pockets gets me the cell phone I need. I scan through the messages and my jaw locks tight with pent up anger, but at least I know exactly who we’re dealing with now and who will be the next on my list of bodies.
I drag his remains closer to the SUV, light a match, and toss it before racing back to the truck as the ground around it ignites.
I slide in beside Ava, do a quick check to make sure she hasn’t sustained any injuries other than the superficial scratches that will heal with time, and use the turbo charge to peel out onto the highway.
“It’s my fault,” Ava says quietly. “My brother always makes me keep a burner with me at all times. Until last year I didn’t even know that it was an untraceable phone, but it’s only untraceable if you don’t tell the people who want to hurt you where you are.
The only one I told was my brother. I left him a message when I was in the bathroom last night. ”
I nod not giving two fucks what she’s done, that she’s not told me the entire truth and as a result has gotten us caught in the middle of an attempted ice, as long as she’s not hurt, not dead, still breathing and sitting right next to me.
“Thanks to you they’re going to find that cabin empty when they get there.
It wasn’t your brother that gave you away.
He just made the mistake of trusting his best friend.
Tony’s the one who gave the order to have men come up here and find you and get rid of you. ”
Ava gasps.
“How do you know that?”
“The dead man’s cell phone. The messages were pretty clear.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you about the phones or tell you what I did right away. I could have gotten one or both of us killed, and after last night—” She sighs.
I nod, because after today, after last night, and if just the feeling of her being in any type of danger at all is any indication of my feelings for her already, then time will make that stronger and stronger.
And if we’re going to have a chance in hell of a future, there should be no lies or secrets between us.
Better that this shit comes out right now.
“You ran because you heard me on the phone?” I ask, a hunch since nothing else makes one hell of a bit of sense.
She nods. “Whatever Paulie’s done, he’s my brother and I’m not going to let you or anyone else hurt him.”
I get that, I really do. “So, here’s the plan.
I’m going to find Paulie when we get home, and get him to take me to the dock where a shipment is coming in.
If it’s what I think it is, his boss, one of the capos for the Bernatelli family, and everyone straight up their fucking organizational structure is going to wish it weren’t.
I’m working for a family who gave Bernatelli very strict orders not to run girls through this territory.
It’s not going to be good for them if they are. ”
“And Paulie?”
I shrug, because if we’re going to come clean, I’m not going to lie to her about this either.
“It depends on how he wants to play it. If I get this assignment done, I’m a shoo-in for the position with the team who works for the largest crime family in the country and around the globe.
The Bernatellis of the world are small potatoes compared to them. ”
She nods. “And if you’re a shoo-in there’s a job for my brother, maybe?”
“I don’t know about with the team. They walk a fine line between right and wrong, but as a foot soldier, my guess is definitely yes, if he helps us get what we need.”
“Fine, I’ll tell him.”
“You’ll tell him what?”
“To give you the location of the dock, the shipment number, and everything else you want to know.”
My brow furrows. “Because you know this how?”
“Because he talks a lot and I have big ears, but you should know going in, nothing he’s said would lead me to believe they are running girls. Paulie knows how I feel about that, and I don’t think he has the stomach for that, either.”
“That’s good, because he wouldn’t fit in with the family I’m hoping to work for if he did. Right now, I want you to get on that burner, call your brother, and have him meet us at the docks. Tell him nothing, just tell him he needs to do it, capiche?”