Chapter 16 #2
They settled in the office. Maggie hovered by Gus, who kept shooting her wary glances.
“I’m fine,” he gritted out.
“I know, but I was worried. Really worried. It’s going to take me a while to settle down.”
Ace squeezed the back of her neck.
“Oliveira, control your woman,” Gus said.
“All right, Gus,” Hunt said. “Start at the beginning.”
Gus sniffed. “Well, I was at that fancy bar.” He recounted what they already knew.
“I woke up tied to a chair in an aircraft hangar. That beauty—” he nodded out the window at the old, rusted helicopter “—was in the corner, with some of its engine in pieces. Someone had been trying to fix it.” He ran his tongue over his teeth.
“Clearly that person was a blind monkey. They had no idea what they were doing.”
Hunt just stared for a beat, then shook his head. “Okay, then what?”
“Haye was ranting. He was sweating a lot, too. The guy’s lost it. He was screeching that everything is Maggie’s fault and he needs to make her pay.”
Maggie gasped. “My fault he’s a murdering coward who can’t run a business? Yeah, right.”
“He’s unhinged,” Gus said. “One wrench shy of a toolbox. He was ranting about revenge, then he calmed down. He talked about getting out of Dodge. Running to Mexico.”
Her heart lurched. “Do you think he’s gone?”
“Was the last thing he said,” Gus said.
“We’ll check.” Ace hoped the guy was long gone.
“He left the hangar, so I got free of my cuffs. Then I peeked outside. He’d left two of his guards, so I decided the Huey was my best bet.
I found some tools, pieced her engine back together, then I set a fire, and flew that baby right out of there.
” He broke into a deep laugh. “Pretty sure those guards pissed themselves.”
“We found them making a run for it,” Hunt said. “We have them in custody.”
“So it’s over.” A smile bloomed on Maggie’s face.
“We’ll see.” Ace tugged her close. He wouldn’t be smiling until he saw proof that Davis Haye was dead, or in jail.
“Gus, it looks like Haye got a few licks in,” Vander said. “You need to get checked out.”
Maggie made a sound and Gus glared at her. “You hug or kiss me again, and I won’t be happy.” He looked over at Vander. “I don’t do hospitals.”
“We have a good medic. Hunt’s brother.”
Gus grunted and Ace guessed it was agreement.
Ace let Maggie hover over Gus while they waited on Ryder.
“You think Haye’s gone, and is sunning himself in Cancun?” Ace asked Vander quietly.
Vander sniffed. “I’m not the trusting sort.”
Ace nodded. He wasn’t either. Especially not when it came to Maggie and their baby.
He headed to her desk and worked on her computer.
“Ace?”
He looked up to find her standing beside him.
“Haye bought a plane ticket to Mexico,” he told her.
Her eyes widened and he saw hope flare in them.
“It left an hour ago. It says he was on it.”
She blew out a breath. “Thank God.”
“Yeah.” Ace pulled her down for a kiss.
Once Ryder arrived, he checked Gus over and put some ointment on the man’s wrists and gave him the all-clear. Hunt offered to drop Gus home.
Ace saw Maggie yawn—a jaw-cracking one. She’d had a rough night, and not much sleep.
“Naptime,” he said.
She shot him a sleepy smile. “I won’t say no.” She lowered her voice. “Especially if you’re with me.”
That tone arrowed right to his cock. “Whatever my gatinha wants.”
Her slow smile warned him that she wanted a lot.
“Ace, Maggie?” Hunt called out.
They looked over at the detective.
“One of my detectives questioned the guards from the hangar. They said Haye told them he was getting on a plane to Mexico.”
“He’s really gone.” Maggie’s smile was wide.
Ace wasn’t ready to let her out of his sight. “Let’s go.”
He drove them back to his house and when she moved to skip up the stairs, he grabbed her arm.
“Take it easy on the stairs. I don’t want you falling down.”
She looked punch-drunk from tiredness. “Okay.”
He kept a hold on her hand as they walked upstairs.
“So, I can go back to work as normal tomorrow,” she said.
Ace scowled. “Once I confirm it was actually Haye who got on that plane.”
“You going to hack airport security?”
He grinned. “I am a hacker, remember.”
She shook her head.
He dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “Go and lie down. I’ll join you soon.”
She shot him a saucy smile and disappeared down the hall.
In his office, Ace dropped into the chair behind his monitors. His fingers danced across the keyboard. It took him a few minutes to hack into the San Francisco Airport security system.
He pulled up the camera at the gate for the flight to Cancun.
It gave him a perfect shot of Davis Haye looking over his shoulder, about to board the plane. It was definitely him.
The air whistled out of Ace, and he sat back.
Haye was gone. It was over.
Ace set up a few little things to keep an eye out for the man. His facial-recognition program would scan for Haye in San Francisco. Just in case.
Ace smiled, some of the weight lifting. Time to celebrate with his woman.
He expected to find her asleep. He didn’t expect to find her sprawled on his bed in a tiny scrap of bronze lace.
He sucked in a breath, his skin tightening.
She smiled. “The girls didn’t just have baby onesies in all those bags. There was something for me, as well.”
She shifted those long legs. She was like a punch to his gut, stealing his breath. “I think it might be for my benefit, too.”
Her body showed no signs of the pregnancy yet, but he knew it would come. And he was excited to see those changes.
“You like?” she asked.
“I like what it’s covering most of all.” He stalked toward her.
Her gaze fell on the bulge in his jeans. “So I see.”
He covered her with his body, and cupped one firm breast. “Now, I’m going to fuck your brains out so you’re tired enough to nap.”
“Oh, if you have to,” she said.
As he kissed her neck, he savored her laugh.