15. Chance
15
CHANCE
A t five o’clock on the dot, I locked the front door and clomped to the register. I’d fixed the wiper blade display and mopped up the blood on the cement floor earlier. No one would know anything had happened by looking at the place.
Mandy would know. Was she still mad? Her enraged expression flashed across my mind. Crap.
I had to figure out how to fix the damage I’d done. She hadn’t called me or responded to the text I’d sent this afternoon. Rooting inside the left pocket of my coveralls, I carefully extracted a three-by-three photo.
My talisman. My one piece of home I never went anywhere without.
The photo I’d cut to fit in my gear showed me and Mandy at Springwell’s Fourth of July barbeque celebration the summer before my senior year. I had my arm slung around her shoulders and she’d wrapped hers around my back. With our cheeks pressed together, we’d grinned at the camera Lee was holding like we hadn’t a care in the world. So in love it radiated out of us. Sunlight beamed off the grass in the background and glistened off the freckles on the bridge of her nose. Beautiful. I’d always wondered how I could interest a goddess like her, but I was never stupid enough to ask, afraid she’d wake up and wonder the same thing.
I rubbed my thumb across the picture I’d carried every day for twelve years. In every mission and every deployment, I’d kept this photo as close to my heart as possible. It had brought me luck, and it had both warmed and haunted me.
And all that time, I’d loved her every minute of every day, even if I hadn’t been brave enough to admit it to myself until now.
I had to find a way to make her listen. I could free her from the loan shark’s hold if she trusted and believed in him. Doing nothing was not an option anymore.
My cellphone rang, and I put the photo away. I fished the device out of my other pocket.
“Agent Butler,” I said, my heart thumping. Please be good news .
“Chance, I got a hit on that name you gave me.” Mark Butler dove right into the topic. “Nolan Nickel is based in Atlanta and has been linked to organized crime.”
Everything in me stilled.
“He’s been under surveillance by law enforcement on all levels. Everyone wants him, but no one’s been able to get anything to stick. The few times charges were filed, witnesses always ended up backing out, leaving the district attorney with just circumstantial evidence. Nothing that could secure a conviction.”
“You won’t have that problem with me,” I said, meaning every word. “I want that asshole away from Mandy and behind bars.”
“You and me both,” Agent Butler retorted. “But to do that, we need proof Nolan’s the one who has been sending his thugs to collect the money from Mandy. If we can prove he’s been threatening her, we can go after him.”
“I’ll talk to her,” I promised. Bringing her in on the plan might smooth things over. But whether it did or not, she still deserved to know what was going on. “Once we have something, I’ll call you back.”
Hanging up, I stuffed the phone into my pocket and debated whether I should go to Mandy’s house or wait for her to approach me. Either way?—
Thunk. Thunk-thunk. Thunk .
I snapped my head up at the car doors shutting and growled. Walter had come back and was now leading four thugs toward the front door.
Unwilling to let them tear up the shop again, I grabbed Unibrow’s phone from beside the register and met the unwelcome committee outside.
“Yikes.” I purposefully studied Walter’s darkening black eye. “That’s got to hurt, although it improves your looks drastically.”
Someone snickered, and Walter glowered at me, then motioned to a thug with a buzz cut.
Buzz Cut swiped his phone awake, then held it up for me to see.
Mandy sat in a chair wearing the same clothes she’d had on earlier. Fear had leached the color from her skin, and her wide eyes seemed to plead with the camera. My caveman side interpreted that as her begging me to save her.
My mind quieted, and I instantly went to the calm mental space I reserved for missions. Men were going to die today, and I’d be their grim reaper. It wasn’t a part of the mission I liked, but when it was necessary, I would do what needed to be done.
I had planned to obtain evidence for the FBI. Planned to use the courts to enact justice. But that was before these thugs had declared war. Before they’d snatched my woman. Before I had to see her with fear in her eyes.
They would all die for this. Every. Last. One.
I snapped my head up. Buzz Cut and the three other thugs stepped back.
“Who touched her?” I asked in a low, lethal voice, measuring every goon’s expression.
Two of them swallowed hard and shot each other a look.
“You two die first,” I promised them.
“You can’t touch us,” Walter sneered, obviously too stupid to understand he’d already condemned himself. “You do anything—” He pointed at the phone still in Buzz Cut’s meaty hand, “—your girlfriend pays the price.”
You die next . I narrowed my eyes. In fact, you die slowest . I’d make sure Walter would lose his voice screaming in pain. Make sure he begged for death long before it came. I owed him for two years of terrorizing Mandy.
Walter lifted his chin, but his trembling belied his bluster. “You’re coming with us.”
“Am I.” I didn’t ask, I challenged.
“Mr. Nickel wants to talk to you.” Walter shifted, his feet fidgeting as much as his fingers. “If you’re good, you can take that b—take Mandy home when you’re through. That’s if Mr. Nolan decides you get to live.”
“First, you touch Mandy.” I adjusted my weight. “Then you order me to come with you. Now, you’re telling me I might not come back.” Cracking my neck, I squared my shoulders. “Not really seeing the incentive to play nice.”
Brown Eyes—one of the men who’d touched Mandy—opened his suit coat, revealing the handle of a Glock nestled in a holster. He wrapped his massive fist around the grip but didn’t pull it out.
“We have your girlfriend,” Walter retorted, then motioned to Brown Eyes. “You get nasty, we kill you and Mandy.”
I had no doubt I could have the weapon in my hands before the thug realized it was gone. I’d then take out Brown Eyes and his partner for capturing Mandy, incapacitate the other two thugs, then take my time with Walter.
I could see it so clearly, I almost felt the blows against my fists and feet.
Brown Eyes whipped the Glock out and centered it on my chest.
Thank you for making it so much easier to take it from you .
Slow down. Think . Mandy’s voice whispered caution in my head. I could drop these jerks now, show them their place. Teach them no one kidnapped my woman or threatened me. But then they’d be dead, and their boss would still have Mandy. My inner killer battled my inner tactician. What was the better option? End it right here or be patient, be cool?
In the end, the choice was easy. Nothing mattered more than Mandy. Exercising restraint hopefully meant they would take me right to her.
Pinpricks stung my palms from my tightening fists. Retribution could wait, at least for a while. For now, I’d leash my rage and gather the evidence the FBI needed against Nolan.
For now.
“Lead the way,” I said.
Walter’s eyes gleamed and he crowed, no doubt thinking he’d won. “Hand over your phone.”
I stared at Walter and did nothing at all. The weasel needed to understand that I was in charge. I’d act if I wanted to, not because I was ordered to. After a long beat that ended with Walter squirming, visibly uncomfortable, I was satisfied Walter got the message and I thrust out Unibrow’s phone. Buzz Cut snatched it. I was a little annoyed to have to hand it over before I’d been able to really search it. Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to unlock the damn thing. I’d planned to drive it over to Atlanta to get the FBI’s tech team on it.
Buzz Cut ripped the cover off the back of the phone and tore the battery out. Dropping the pieces on the ground, he stomped on them all until the phone was beyond repair.
Well, at least stealing the damn thing had been worth something. It had made for a good decoy.
“You armed?” Brown Eyes asked, sounding like a robot. The nose of the Glock had dipped to my stomach. The thug needed to work on arm strength. It had only been a few minutes since he pulled the weapon, and he was already tiring? Pitiful.
I pulled both pants legs up to reveal bare calves, then spread my arms wide, showing off my stained tank plastered to my torso from sweat. “No place to hide anything.” Not that I needed a weapon to hurt these men. They knew it, but they still had to puff up their chests.
Climbing into the middle bench of the SUV, I settled my mind to straddle the line between fighter and logical man, trying to prepare myself for what I’d face in Atlanta. Traffic picked up the closer we got to the city. I slowly inched my hand to my pocket, using the dangling sleeves of my coveralls to cover my actions. I made no sudden movements and kept my muscles loose so no one would pay attention when I palmed my phone, muted it, and redialed Agent Butler. Now at least someone on the outside would know where I was.
Spying the ritzy scenery in the suburbs close to the city, I bobbed my head. “Wonder if Nolan’s rich neighbors realize they live next to a loan shark.” I hoped either Agent Butler had answered the phone or his voicemail had kicked in, and that I had spoken loudly enough for my voice to transmit clearly.
Walled mansions passed us by as we wound deeper into the neighborhood. The vehicle pulled into the driveway of a property protected by wrought-iron gates. The gates soundlessly swung open and we proceeded up the driveway.
I would roll my eyes at all the pomp and circumstance if it wasn’t so tragic. I wanted to get this over with already. At the top of the curved driveway, a beautiful home sat among all kinds of landscaping, but I didn’t study the architecture for the aesthetics. Instead, I memorized sight lines, doors, windows, cameras, placement of guards, everything I’d need to know if I had to fight my way out with Mandy.
Marching inside, surrounded by the thugs, I continued memorizing and formulating escape routes. I hated having to come up with tactical plans on the fly. My SEAL team and I performed much better when we had days to plan an extraction. Or execution.
Remaining on the ground floor, the group herded me into a room full of couches and straight-back chairs. A huge wall of windows took up the east side while a fireplace fit for royalty graced the west wall.
I catalogued it all in seconds as well as Mandy sitting on the couch near the window wall. She had no bindings on her hands or feet, and she looked unharmed but nervous.
“You okay?” I asked, stopping just beyond her couch. The thugs dispersed to various points in the room while Walter lingered near me.
“She’s fine,” answered a man dressed in a black bespoke suit who was leaning casually against the wall. He had short brown hair losing the battle to gray, and a trim physique.
I ignored him and kept my focus on Mandy.
She nodded. “I’m fine. They haven’t touched me.”
Waiting another beat, I switched my focus to the man in black.
“Nolan Nickel,” the guy said, pushing off the wall and lazily striding toward me. The differences between his suit and my dirty coveralls were so vast it was funny. But not really. This was the man responsible for Mandy’s misery and near poverty. He didn’t deserve to breathe anymore, but I would have to settle for the guy wearing baggy orange jumpsuits for the rest of his life.
“Walter had asked for permission to beat you to death,” Nolan announced, as if talking about the Braves game on TV.
A small gasp from Mandy made my heart twinge, but I hid my reaction behind a stony stare.
“But I don’t like to waste resources,” Nolan plowed on, his brow creasing in obvious disappointment at my lack of response.
“You think I’m a resource?” I asked just to get this moving. I wasn’t sure how long Agent Butler’s voicemail recorded, and I needed to capture the good stuff.
“I hope so.” Nolan smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You easily made mincemeat of two of my men, and you have the others very nervous indeed.” His eyes slid to Walter, then to the thugs who’d brought him.
They should be . “And that makes me a resource how?”
“If you do a few jobs for me, I’ll absolve Ms. Loomis’s debt.”
Mandy jerked forward, red rising on her cheeks. “No,” she whispered.
I ignored her. “What kind of jobs?”
Nolan’s smile became real. The bastard thought he’d reeled me in. “I’ve got some particularly…difficult debtors who have become resistant to efforts to collect repayment. You persuade enough of them to give you the cash they owe me, and her debt disappears.”
“No, Chance.” Mandy stood. “Don’t do it. You cannot get in any deeper.”
I wasn’t sure if I’d gotten Nolan to say enough to implicate himself, but right now, my priority was to get Mandy safely out of the room.
“I’ll consider your offer,” I responded as if really thinking about it, “but Mandy has to leave here unharmed.”
“Chance!” Mandy yelped. “No. You can’t do this.”
“I’m doing it for you.” I met her eyes but kept track of Nolan in my peripheral vision.
“Don’t I get a say?” Mandy snapped.
“Sure.” I held my breath and willed her to trust me. To see I had a plan, and that I needed her in it with me, as my partner.
A maelstrom of emotions flitted over her face, but I instantly saw it when the penny dropped.
“You could say thank you, you know,” I goaded to let her know I needed her to argue with me. Pulling her forward, pretending to manhandle her, I slipped my talisman, my prized photo, into her hand. “Things have gone this far—what other choice do I have? I’m a fighter, honey, not a magician. Mark my words, calling in the Butler to clean this mess up isn’t exactly an option for me.” I threw her arm off as if disgusted. “So, you’ve got me. I’m doing this to save you.”
I hoped she’d got the message, but I could see she was scared, her mind racing to catch up with everything that had happened. I couldn’t blame her. This whole thing had spiraled so fast. From the looks of her nails, she’d been snatched mid-mani-pedi, torn away from the peace I was fighting to win her. Maybe when she saw the photo, she’d know she could trust me, know I was the same Chance who would rather die than let her down. The Chance who’d never hurt her. Who’d do anything to keep her safe.
Curling her hand around the photo, she hid it like a pro. “Maybe I’d prefer calling in the Butler ,” she bit out. “At least he’d be civilized—not a caveman resorting to using fists.” She turned to Nolan. “Can I go? I can’t look at him right now.”
Nolan dipped his chin and two of the thugs—the same two who had initially kidnapped her—tromped in her wake as she marched out the door.
“Women,” Nolan grunted. “No loyalty at all.”
Whatever. Keep gloating. Your days are numbered .
I grinned like a shark. “So, when do we begin?”