Chapter 30
Two days later
As they all waited, Cormac was on the comm line with Nick, Berkley, Micah and Daniela. Daniela was annoyed about being a block over with Berkley, but they didn’t want to risk anyone seeing her. She was in a disguise in the back of one of Micah’s work vans, but still.
“I don’t want to think about how many laws we’re breaking,” Nick muttered over his earpiece on the multi-comm they were all using.
“Then don’t think about it,” Cormac said.
“So what’s up with you and my brother?” Berkley asked, clearly talking to Daniela.
There was a long pause, then Daniela said, “You know everyone can hear you, right?”
“Yeah.” He swore he could hear the smile in his sister’s voice.
God, she was such a chaos goblin.
“She likes the chaos,” Nick, her soon-to-be husband murmured.
Cormac and Micah both snorted.
“Okay, focus. Vickery and Samuels are on the move,” Micah said suddenly. “I just clocked them. The construction signs are working for now.”
Beau Vickery—Mr. Mustache—and Luis Samuels were the two cops who’d tracked Daniela to the safe house using their access to traffic cams and a little dumb luck. Which Micah was going to have to stop using now, but that wasn’t important at the moment.
“They just drove past us,” Daniela said, her voice vibrating with anticipation. “As soon as they’re out of view we’ll grab the signs.”
In order to get their targets to the exact intersection they wanted, they’d set up road construction and detour signs basically forcing them to go in one direction. The two partners had a poker night every Thursday, and left—definitely under the influence—around the same time every game night.
Finding out that tidbit had been the easiest part of this whole plan. The rest was a lot trickier.
“Okay, we’re pulling the signs up,” Daniela said.
He could hear her and Berkley opening the van’s back door, then their hurried breathing.
Cormac hated not being with Daniela, but he had a role to play tonight. They all did.
“Nick, you ready?” Micah asked.
“Yeah,” the other man muttered. He didn’t love this plan, probably because it involved intentionally destroying his truck, but it was for the greater good. “I see them coming down the street now.”
Cormac could see Nick clearly from his hiding spot in the Whataburger parking lot. Cormac was sitting in a plain beige sedan right at the corner of the lot, giving him the perfect view of the intersection.
“I’m changing the traffic lights now,” Micah said.
Vickery’s car, which had been slowing down, sped up again as the light changed to green.
And Nick rammed right into the front of their car, sending it into a tailspin.
“You okay?” Berkley demanded over the line.
“I’m good. Barely felt it.” Nick’s voice was tight.
They’d had to disable the airbags, but Cormac wasn’t sure they’d have gone off anyway. Nick had a grill on the front of his truck so the impact with the car had been serious, but Cormac couldn’t see any damage to the truck.
“You’ve got a small window, go,” Micah ordered.
Cormac was already moving, duffel bag in hand. Micah had hacked into the traffic cams and would have control for about ninety seconds. It would have to be enough time.
As he stood at the corner of the intersection, ball cap on, he glanced around, taking in the quiet scene.
Smoke billowed out from the front of the hood of the totaled car as Nick approached the vehicle, his cell phone in hand.
A few people from the Whataburger were in the window, looking at the accident.
Nick reached the driver’s side of the ruined car, and if Cormac hadn’t been watching him closely he’d have missed the sleight of hand as he tossed the smoke bomb underneath it.
“Are you okay?” Nick asked as he helped the driver out.
Vickery. The man was coughing as he cursed. “What the fuck happened?” he snarled. “Is my car on fire?”
“Let’s get your friend out,” Nick said, his voice clear over the comm line as the smoke started to billow even more, creating a cloudy haze.
Cormac slipped on his gas mask and stalked into the billowing smoke.
“You okay, man?” Nick said, presumably to Samuels.
Cormac could hear the car door opening and more cursing from the other cop as Nick said, “I got you. Here, put your arm around my shoulders.”
As Nick moved them away from the scene, Cormac popped the trunk and hefted the duffel bag into the back of the trunk.
He half unzipped it and left it so that a very clear brick of cocaine was visible.
There was more in the duffel, including cash, weapons and a couple smoke grenades.
It was the only way they could think of to blame the smoke on these guys because they wouldn’t be able to retrieve the one Nick had tossed.
Not that it was going to matter once the responding officers saw what was in the trunk. Cops or not, these two assholes weren’t walking away without being hauled in for questioning.
“I made the call,” Micah said. “Cops are on the way, two minutes out.”
“People are coming out of the Whataburger,” Nick murmured, his voice pitched low.
Okay so Cormac couldn’t head back that way, which was fine. “I’m almost done.” His voice echoed under the gas mask. “I’m going to head for the west corner of Church and Power.”
Sirens sounded in the distance, likely a fire truck and police.
“Pulling up now. Hurry,” Berkley ordered.
Cormac took purposeful steps through the white haze even though he wanted to run. He knew which direction to go and he had to stay steady—this wasn’t the first time he’d had to maneuver his way through a smoke bomb.
“Come on, come on. Cops are close.” This from Daniela.
“I see you.” The smoke was starting to clear at the edges of the smoke zone, so he didn’t bother taking off his gas mask as he put on a burst of speed.
He dove into the back of the van, tore his mask off the second Daniela shut the door behind him with a loud metallic whoosh.
“You’re amazing,” she said right before she kissed him, hard.
The display of affection took him off guard but he leaned into it, tuning out the background noise on their comms as he tasted her. This had been a brilliant idea and he was so damn impressed with her.
“It was your idea,” he murmured as he pulled back.
“You’re still amazing.”
“Um, I’m the getaway driver here. And my fiancé set all this into motion,” Berkley said from behind the wheel.
“Oh my god.” Cormac sat up fully and leaned back against the uncomfortable metal of the van’s interior wall. “I’m sorry, Berkley. You’re a badass too.”
She sniffed once, but he knew she was grinning.
“Cops are on scene, smoke is already clearing,” Micah said. “Fire truck is on scene too.” He paused. “And if it wasn’t for me controlling the traffic lights, this would have been a whole lot harder. Just for the record.”
“Your family is seriously competitive.” Daniela leaned into him, her back against his chest.
“You have no idea.” He set his chin on her head.
“Apollo is going to be bummed he missed this,” Berkley said. “But hopefully he’ll get to see the aftermath on the news.”
“I’m calling Krystal now,” Micah said. “And sending the recording to Special Agent Lee.”
“Now we wait.” Something Cormac hated doing. He didn’t want to put his life or the lives of those he loved in the hands of others.
But Special Agent Lee had a lot more resources than they did. They’d gotten the ball rolling. Now it was up to her to take down Logan Brown.
Because if she didn’t, Cormac was going to kill the guy and no one would ever find his body.
But that would still leave too many things up in the air. They needed him arrested for murder. Once that happened, the cops would look at him a lot closer for the attack on Julian Hill.
Once Brown was out of play, he hoped that would give Dani a buffer of safety while they figured out what to do about her father.