Chapter 30
NADIA
The lights of the San Jose airport glowed in the distance as Nadia pulled the Ford alongside the car James had described. Tension knotted her shoulders as she approached what felt like her last chance to save Thomas.
James eased his window down and she barely recognized the man staring back at her through narrowed eyes. “Not the car I expected you to be driving,” he said, his voice deeper than she remembered, rougher around the edges. A voice she hadn’t heard since before his “death.”
Had he not sounded vaguely familiar—his tone carrying the same cadence as Thomas’s—she might not have recognized him at all.
The physical transformation was jarring.
Gone was the stylish businessman with the charming smile.
But his eyes, the shade and shape were the same.
Those she’d recognize anywhere. They were Thomas’s eyes.
“Nadia?”
She struggled not to stare, searching for traces of the James she once knew beneath the scarred face and sun-lightened hair.
“Yeah,” she managed. “Long story about the car.” About everything, really. She wondered what he thought, seeing her in this beat-up Ford when she usually drove a Mercedes. Her car was still parked in Thomas’s driveway and hopefully undamaged after the siege on his house.
“Go park. We’ll talk.”
She pulled in front of his rental and cut the engine, her hands shaky with exhaustion and agitation. Every second felt precious. Every minute Thomas was out there alone inched him closer to death.
James was already approaching as she got out, as were the two suits who’d been parked in the car behind him.
FBI, she guessed. When he reached her, he towered over her.
He’d always been tall, taller than Thomas since he shot past him in high school.
But his frame was leaner than what she remembered compared to his brother, especially now that Thomas had been taking care of himself.
A short beard covered his jawline and, she suspected, more scars.
But the tropical print shirt with green palms against a black background and the loose linen pants he wore threw her off.
“Not the look I’m used to seeing on you,” she said, tossing a version of his words back at him. The corporate executive of the past was gone.
His mouth twitched but didn’t curve into a smile. “Been a long time, Nadia.”
“Too long.” She offered her hand to shake but he tugged her into a hug. The nostalgic scent of him made her chest tighten with years of accumulated guilt.
“Wish it was under better circumstances,” he said close to her ear.
“Same.” She broke the embrace quickly, uncomfortable with the false familiarity between them. They weren’t friends, not anymore. Not after everything. Her eyes tracked the man and woman who had joined them. “Who are they?”
James turned to the two agents. “These are Special Agents Simone Carter and Dan Kovacs. They’re with the FBI.” He gestured at her. “This is Nadia. She’s looking for my brother, so she’ll be riding with me.”
“Already told you. Not keen on that, James,” said Simone, a woman about Nadia’s size with light brown hair and a small scar above her right eyebrow. She extended her hand nonetheless. “Nice to meet you, Nadia.”
“Dan,” the broad-shouldered man with a swimmer’s build introduced himself, shaking her hand firmly.
“Nadia.” She met his eyes directly. “Why aren’t you keen on me riding along?”
“Instructions explicitly stated ‘come alone,’” Dan replied, his tone making it clear he didn’t appreciate the civilian tagalong.
“You already said we’re not being followed, which is why you’re here right now,” James countered. He turned to Nadia. “Otherwise, they’d be tracking me from a distance with the rest of the circus.”
“Who’s all involved?” she asked, looking between the agents and James.
“Enough, and we’re all trained professionals,” Simone said. “You have no need to worry.”
“DEA surveillance teams are keeping a wider perimeter around us and the NSA is tracking our progress through satellite imagery and traffic cams,” James clarified when Simone’s answer told Nadia nothing useful.
“She’s involved. She needs to know what you told me,” he defended when Dan glared at him, clearly of the opinion James had said too much.
Some of the tightness around Nadia’s lungs eased.
If James was right about them heading to the same location as Thomas, they had considerable resources backing them up.
Thomas should have been working with the FBI and DEA instead of charging into danger alone.
But Kane had destroyed his trust in the feds, possibly beyond repair.
“We should get on the road,” Dan said with an impatient edge in his tone. “We have a long drive tonight, and you don’t want to fall behind their schedule or they’ll be suspicious.”
“Where are we going?” Nadia asked.
“We received updated coordinates right before you arrived,” James said.
“Wait—they changed the coordinates?” A cold weight settled in her stomach.
“So far they’ve sent new coordinates every time he texts he’s arrived at a given destination,” Simone explained. “He makes it to one, they send him somewhere else.”
Nadia thanked whatever providence had Nick reach James when he did. The timing couldn’t have been better for her to meet up with him. She never would have found Thomas on her own.
“Where are they sending you now?”
“Phoenix,” James answered.
“Arizona? That’s a good ten hours from here.”
“Twelve,” Simone corrected.
“We aren’t flying? Why?” The idea of spending twelve hours in a car while Thomas faced God knows what made her want to scream.
“I was instructed to drive this leg,” James explained.
Nadia cupped her hands over her mouth and nose, trying to control her rising panic. So much could happen to Thomas in that time. He could be tortured. Killed. The weight in her stomach was bruising. It flipped violently at the thought.
James seemed to understand her fears. His eyes—so much like Thomas’s that it physically hurt to look at them—softened with sympathy. “We’ll find him.”
Their gazes held, and though she nodded, they both knew he couldn’t guarantee that promise. They might find him, but in what condition?
“Let’s roll,” Dan barked, already retreating to his car with Simone.
“Grab what you need and get in,” James told Nadia, heading back to his rental. “I’ll fill you in while we drive.”
Nadia retrieved the bag Cammy had given her for her change of clothes, and minutes later, they were on the freeway headed south, with the feds following at a three-car distance.
She and James had a complicated history.
He’d once been her friend, then he was supposedly dead, which she pretended she hadn’t known.
Then when he reappeared, she’d kept her distance.
Not just in a show of support for Aimee, who’d severed contact because their past had been too painful and she’d needed to move on, build a life with Ian.
But Nadia’s guilt that she’d colluded with Thomas, chosen him over Aimee, had consumed her.
She had so many questions about his life since he’d resurfaced, about his relationship with Thomas, and where he’d been since the cartel had raided his house in Hanalei. But she asked him the one thing that had nagged her since Thomas had left.
“Are you certain they have your mom? How do you know you and Thomas aren’t walking into a trap?”
His hands tightened on the wheel. “It’s a trap, no doubt there. But they have her.”
“How do you know?”
His jaw flexed, the muscles working beneath his beard. “Aside from a very convincing photo of her, they sent me her severed finger with the wedding ring my father had given her still on it.”
Nadia stared at him, mouth agape in horror. “They did what?”
“SRT found the digit in a small box with a note on my kitchen table after the Hidalgos raided my house. SRT is the Special Response Team with the police,” he clarified at Nadia’s confused look. “Kauai doesn’t have a SWAT.”
“We saw your house on the news,” she said, recalling the footage of the bullet-ridden beachfront property being swarmed by local authorities. “Thomas said you weren’t there.”
“No, thank god. I was with Marcus at a soccer game and Julian had been surfing at another beach with a friend. Natalya luckily had been shopping with Zelie, or they would have been home.” His voice caught slightly.
“Who’s Zelie?”
James gave her a quick glance. “My daughter. She’s six months old.”
“You have a daughter? Does Tom know?” She tried to keep the hurt from her voice that he hadn’t told her he was an uncle again.
James shook his head, eyes fixed on the road. “Other than several days ago, he and I haven’t spoken.”
And that conversation clearly hadn’t gone well from what she’d overheard.
Anger flared unexpectedly. “Why didn’t you answer his calls? He was going out of his mind trying to reach you.”
He released a long sigh. “Easier to ignore him.”
“With all that’s going on?” Her voice hardened.
“You guys should be collaborating, checking in on each other, not fighting. Not when your lives have been threatened. They killed Phil. They’re going to kill your mom if we can’t stop this, and there’s a very good chance they’ll get to you and Thomas too. ”
“You don’t think I know that?” James fired back. “You don’t think I’ve lain awake at night terrified they’ll come after my family after they get to me?” He was nearly shouting. “Nat and I had the worst fight we’ve ever had when I agreed to their demands.”
“Why did you?”
“I am so over them interfering with my life,” he growled. “This ends now.”
“It could end with yours and Tom’s deaths,” she shot back, fear heating her temper to boiling.
“I’m very well aware of that.” He firmly spoke. “But unlike my brother who’s notorious for flying solo, I got help.”
“Then why not loop Tom in?” she demanded. “You left him no choice but to fly solo when you didn’t pick up the phone.”
His neck visibly tensed, the cords of muscle tightening as he struggled to keep his composure. “The feds advised me not to.”
“I don’t believe you,” she challenged.