Chapter Thirty-Three
RILEY AIMED HER Sig at Carlos. “Can’t say I expected to see you in my home, Carlos. What are you doing here?”
He snorted. “Isn’t it obvious?” Abby’s boyfriend jabbed his pistol against the back of Andre’s head. “He’s pathetic, Riley. You should have someone worthy of you. This clod isn’t the right one.”
“Really?” She pretended to think about that for a moment while slowly shifting her position to have a better shot if given the opportunity. “Do you have any suggestions for me?”
He smiled, his expression smug. “Me.”
Her eyes widened. “You? But you’re dating Abby. I don’t poach on another woman’s man.”
“Baby, whether I date her is my decision. You should take a chance on me.”
“And if I don’t?”
His smile faded. “I’ll have to return to my original orders.”
Riley eased a step closer. “Which are?”
“Kill Andre, then kill you.”
“Who sent you, Carlos? I deserve to know that at least.”
“Who else? Obsidian Storm. I work for Mr. Garcia.”
“Good old Javier.” Riley shook her head. “He just doesn’t know when to quit, does he?”
The intruder tightened his grip on the gun and shifted the muzzle toward her.
Excellent. At least she didn’t have to worry about Carlos shooting Andre by accident. “You shouldn’t put your faith in Javier Garcia, Carlos.”
“Why not? He’s a great man, who will make me wealthy. He promised.”
“Do you know what happened in Izabal overnight?”
He stilled. “No.”
“We gutted Obsidian Storm.”
Carlos glared at her. “That’s impossible. Obsidian Storm has hundreds of members. You’re lying, Riley, and I don’t like liars.”
“I’m not fond of them myself. Unfortunately for you, I’m telling the truth. We had more than one black ops team in Mexico. Do you know what your glorious leader planned to do?”
“I’m not supposed to discuss that. It’s a secret.”
“If it’s a secret, why do I know about it?” She eased closer to Andre. “I know what Javier and Diego planned to do.”
He scoffed. “You can’t know.”
“They weaponized a flu virus and planned to infect innocent civilians who wanted to sneak across the US border to start a new life and use them to infect hundreds of thousands of people across the country. From there, the virus would have spread all over the world.”
He stared. “I don’t believe you. Mr. Garcia and Mr. Mendoza were working on vaccines to keep our people from getting sick, then sending them into this country to live out their lives free of illness.”
“Nice story. It’s not true, though.”
“Why would they do that? It makes little sense.”
“You’ll have to ask him when you see him. Did you ask Javier and Diego why they wanted me and Andre dead?”
He straightened his shoulders. “Storm soldiers don’t ask questions. We follow orders.”
“You’re smarter than that, Carlos. What does your gut tell you?” Riley eased another step closer to Andre. Just a little farther, and she could incapacitate Carlos.
He waggled his gun at her. “Stop moving.”
“Sorry. I fidget when I’m nervous. Old habit.” Total lie. She was famous for remaining motionless for hours if necessary. “Answer my question. Why would your leaders want me and Andre dead?”
After a moment of silence, Carlos said, “They see you as a threat.”
“Good. What else?”
More silence, then, “You did something, didn’t you?”
She gave Carlos a slow smile. “What do you think?”
“Stop playing games, Riley. Otherwise, I’ll carry out my orders.”
Riley held up both hands. “All right, Carlos. You win. You would have found out what happened soon, anyway.” She paused. “This is a long story.”
“Shorten it.” He shifted the muzzle of the gun to the back of Andre’s head.
Rats. That wasn’t what she’d wanted to happen. “Hey, right here, pigeon boy. You said you wanted the story.”
Outrage burned in his eyes. “Pigeon boy?”
She shrugged. “If the name fits. Do you want to know the truth or not?”
“Tell me. After that, I’ve decided you and your boyfriend will die in a murder-suicide.”
Dork. As if their teammates would believe either of them capable of such an atrocity. “Carlos, I killed Javier’s father ten years ago.”
Blood drained from his face. “What? No, that can’t be true.”
“Oh, it is. An hour after I rid the world of Garcia, Andre took out Diego’s father.” She tossed a look of pity his way. “You know, you really should ask questions about your missions before you go on them.”
“You’re telling the truth?” Shock bloomed on his face. “You killed Mr. Garcia’s father?” He shifted the muzzle in her direction again.
“Careful,” Andre whispered.
He was right. Riley couldn’t overplay her hand. If she did, both of them would die. Dying wasn’t on the agenda today. If she and Andre lived through this mess, she had plans today for that man.
The muscles in Carlos’ face hardened. “Drop your gun. Now. If you don’t, I’ll shoot your boyfriend.”
She glanced at Andre and saw the fury in his eyes and the unspoken order not to comply. The trouble was, she didn’t have a choice. Allowing Carlos to shoot Andre wasn’t acceptable.
“All right.” She lowered her voice to a soothing pitch. “I’ll do what you want. Just don’t hurt him.”
“Aww. Sweet.” He shifted the gun toward Andre again. “Hurry up.”
Riley lowered both hands. With her left hand, she gripped the muzzle of her Sig and handed it to Carlos, grip first. “Here. Take my gun. Please don’t hurt Andre again.”
Carlos reached for her weapon with his left hand.
Perfect. Riley activated her wrist sheath, and a steel blade slid along her palm. In a split second, she adjusted her grip and tossed the knife with a snap of her wrist.
The knife blade sank deep into Carlos’ throat. Eyes wide, he dropped both pistols to reach for the knife. Gurgling, he started toward her, still pawing at the knife.
She grabbed her Ka-Bar, stepped into Carlos, and executed a quick figure eight, slicing across all Carlos’ major arteries, then shoved him away from her and Andre. Abby’s boyfriend was dead in less than a minute.
As soon as she checked to be sure Carlos was no longer a threat to them, Riley used the Ka-Bar to cut through the zip ties binding Andre’s wrists and ankles.
The moment she released him, Andre swayed and would have hit the ground if Riley hadn’t steadied him.
She pressed the panic button on her watch. A second later, someone sent a silent message across her phone screen. “I can talk freely. This is Riley Sloan. I need a cleanup team at my house immediately. I also need an ambulance for Andre Marsh. Notify Brent Maddox.”
“It’s Zane. Are you okay, Riley?”
She rushed to her bathroom to grab a handful of hand towels. “I’m fine. Andre isn’t.”
“What happened?”
“Carlos Jimenez was waiting for us inside my house. This is the second time my security has been breached without my alarm going off.”
“I can’t explain that.” Zane’s voice was tight.
“Oh, I think I can. Bring in Abby Dale. She works in the lab, and her security clearance is high enough that she’d have access to my home address and my security code.”
“If that’s the case, I guarantee it won’t happen again. I’ll lock down that portion of the database with codes only I can break. Is Jimenez incapacitated?”
“Try dead. He didn’t give me a choice. Good old Carlos planned to kill Andre, then kill me.”
“I understand. The team will be at your home in fifteen minutes. The boss will be there in five, just ahead of the ambulance.” He sighed. “You know the cops will be all over this.”
“Can’t be helped. Send me the best lawyer we have on retainer. I need to be with Andre, and I don’t want to waste time in an interrogation room.”
“Copy that. I’ll take care of it. Keep the line open, Riley. I want to respond in an instant to what’s happening. What are Andre’s injuries?”
“He has a head injury that’s bleeding like crazy.” She touched Andre’s shoulder. “Any other injuries besides the one on your head, sweetheart?”
“Nope. Carlos pistol-whipped me, stunning me. I hit the floor, and the next thing I knew, he had me on my knees, wrists and ankles bound. The only other thing hurt is my ego.”
Zane chuckled. “I understand. The boss is one minute out. The ambulance is three minutes away.”
At one minute to the second, Brent Maddox strode into Riley’s office and stared at Carlos Jimenez, his disgust obvious. He glanced at Andre and Riley. “Are you two all right?”
“We’re fine, boss,” Andre said, pointing to his head. “This is just a scratch.”
“A scratch, huh? Looks like you need stitches to me. Riley?”
“Fine, but in need of an excellent lawyer.”
“You have one coming. She’ll meet you at the hospital. Her name is Maggie Wainwright.”
Relief swamped Riley. “Thank you, sir.”
“Give me the details before the EMTs and cops arrive.”
By the time she finished giving her report, Brent had his phone in his hand. “Don’t worry about Abby.” He sent a text to someone, then smiled. “Done. Jon and Eli are on the way to pick her up as we speak. She’ll be debriefed and relieved of duties.”
“For what it’s worth, sir, I don’t think Abby understood the consequences of her actions. She’s never been mean or hateful to me. I think she sees us as friends.”
“That friend betrayed you in the worst way. She put you in harm’s way and nearly got your man killed. I wouldn’t trust her near my family for any amount of money.”
She held up her hand. “Got it, sir. I’m shutting up now.”
“I have four pieces of good news to share.”
Riley’s eyebrows rose. “Don’t keep us in suspense. We could use some good news.”
“Thanks to your research files on Christopher Hatton and his parents, one of our lawyers was able to convince a judge to give me temporary custody of Christopher. According to our lawyer, we have a good case against Ambassador Hatton for child endangerment and abuse.”
“What about Christopher’s mother?”
“Still working on that. We won’t give up until we find her or locate her body.”
Riley’s eyes burned. “Thank you, sir.”
“You followed your instincts, Riley. Because you did, Christopher will have the kind of life that he deserves, one with a family that will love and support him as he grows up.”
Andre wrapped his hand around Riley’s. “What’s the second thing?”
“Harlen Ludlow is dead.”
“How?”
“Made the mistake of holding up a grocery store and shooting the night manager in the leg. The manager on duty used to be a baseball player, so he had a bat handy.” Maddox smiled.
“Because Ludlow threatened to shoot a store employee who was pregnant, the manager felt he had no choice. One strike, and Ludlow was out.”
Andre looked stunned. “I don’t believe it.”
“Oh, believe it.”
“What’s the third piece of news?”
“The US Marshals found your friend Jared Brown. He is now safety back behind bars where he belongs.”
Andre blew out a breath. “Thank God. At least I won’t have to worry about him coming after Riley.”
“Last bit of good news.” Maddox turned to Riley.
“Kara Street received an anonymous email that contained details of Miles Thomas’ assaults on fifteen teenage girls.
Only one of those girls was brave enough to file charges that ultimately sent him to prison.
The email was thorough enough that Ms. Street called off the wedding and tossed Thomas out of her home. ”
Relief flooded Riley. “That’s excellent news, sir.”
“Oh, there’s one more bit of news. It seems Thomas received a middle-of-the-night visit from five men dressed in black from head to toe.”
Her heart skipped a beat.
“Thomas understands what will happen to him if he comes near you. He’s decided he’ll be better off leaving this area for good.”
This time, Riley couldn’t stop the tears from trickling down her cheeks. Leave it to her boss to ensure his people were safe, even from childhood nightmares. “Thank you, sir.”
He gave a brief nod.
The EMTs arrived, and on their heels were officers from the Hartman Police Department.
Riley sighed and brushed the tears from her cheeks. Let the fun begin.