“What does that mean?”
He didn’t look at her. “I’m going to kill Alvarez and I don’t care what the consequences are.”
His bitterness poured over her and into her, adding to the same tainted emotions she already felt, enhancing them. Kara didn’t ask him why he wanted to kill Alvarez. She knew now that Alvarez had burned some deep ache into his soul. She saw the pain bleed from his eyes every time she looked at him. Alvarez had taken her sister, too. And other people’s sisters and daughters. Even after her parents had been killed by a man like Alvarez, she’d lived to please her father, to support the law, the system. Not anymore. Men like Alvarez always got by the system.
“Good,” she whispered, letting her head fall back against the window. She didn’t say more. He didn’t say more. Silence carried them to the other side of the Bay Bridge.
Chapter Four
Blake parked his truck several rows back from the black sedan sitting in the exact spot Kyle had told him it would be in. “That’s them?” Kara asked.
Blake checked the plate against the license Kyle had managed to text him and nodded. “That’s them.” He keyed in Kyle’s cell.
Kyle answered on the first ring. “You’re here?”
“With eyes on our target,” Blake confirmed. “Get the girls out of here while we distract the jerk offs.”
“Will do,” Kyle agreed. “Luke set up rooms at the Oakland Marriott, so we’re headed there. He and Royce already have a team headed to the airport. They’ll be here in a few hours.”
The muscles in Blake’s shoulders bunched just thinking about Luke and Royce showing up. “Then what are you talking to me for? Get the hell over there.”
“Right. Reading beneath your assholeness, I’m stressed about them showing up too. You better stay alive tonight. Your brothers want to kill you themselves.” He hung up.
Blake ground his teeth and settled his phone back onto his belt.
“We need a plan,” Kara said instantly. “If they saw us helping the girls—”
“We have to assume they did. And we have a plan. You stay here and I go confront them.”
“I’m not staying here.” Stubborn determination laced the words.
Blake turned to her. “You’re supposed to be a secretary, Kara. The idea is that we convince them that’s exactly what you are.”
“You aren’t going out there alone. We don’t know how many of them there are.”
“You’re staying.”
“I’ll just follow you, Blake. This is what I do. I’m an agent. I’m—”
“Sweet Jesus, woman, I swear I want to beat your ass way too often. Fine, you can back me up. Keep your hand on your gun and fire the damn thing if you have to.” She was already getting out of the truck and Blake cursed. He couldn’t function at one hundred percent when he was afraid he’d get more than himself killed. When he was afraid he’d get her killed.
Blake exited the truck, meeting Kara at the hood, scanning the deserted parking lot at the same time. “You take the passenger side of their car,” he ordered Kara, his hand sliding under his leather jacket to feel the cold steel comfort of his weapon.
“Copy that,” Kara said, and Blake noted that her purse was strapped cross-body to free her hands, one of which was inside it, no doubt, closed over her weapon as well. She knew what she was doing. He wanted that to be comforting. Instead, it told him that getting her out of this wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d wanted it to be.
Blake started walking briskly and he assumed with Kara’s skills, she’d automatically keep pace. She did, cutting over on the opposite side of the cars from him so that she was aligned with her target. Once the sedan was in view, Blake and Kara exchanged a look, pulled their weapons, and charged forward, both aiming at the front window and slowly moving to the side windows.
“Roll it down or I’ll shoot it out,” Blake shouted.
The window came down and Eduardo, the manager of the restaurant they had just been to, was revealed. “What’s this about?” he demanded.
Blake quickly assessed the car to find only one other man he didn’t recognize inside. “Other window down,” he ordered, not about to let Kara stand outside, unable to see what the guy was doing.
The man didn't move. Blake held the gun between Eduardo’s eyes and Eduardo grunted and said, “Roll it down, Juan.”
Blake kept the gun on Eduardo’s head, aware of Kara shoving her weapon into Juan’s face. “And here I thought you only knew how to grill burgers,” Blake observed. “Seems your job duties are much more vast.”
“Ignacio is going to kill you for interfering. You and the bitch over here who ran off with two of our women.”
“One of them was wired from the feds,” Kara hissed. “I saved your piece of shit ass by getting them away from you.”
Blake was impressed with her big fat white lie and ran with it. “In other words, she saved you from bringing the heat on the rest of the operation over some sideline profit gig you’re running on Mendez’s clock.”
“He knows you, pinche white boy.”
“Now, that doesn’t sound nice,” Blake said. “I might have to wash your mouth out with soap, but first I’ll call Mendez and chat first. He might not think it’s worth cleaning up.” Blake reached for his phone, wondering why the hell Mendez wouldn’t tell him about a sideline operation, not overly surprised when the man answered on the first ring.
“This better be important,” Mendez growled, his tone as biting as Blake’s gun in Eduardo’s forehead.
“Are you running some sort of slave trade operation on the side you didn’t tell me about?”
“Why is this important?”
That would be a “yes”. Mendez knew about the women and just didn't tell him. He’d analyze why that felt so off later. “It’s important,” Blake replied, “because one of the girls told Kara she’d been contacted by the feds and that she was wearing a wire tonight. You all but got taken down. She saved everyone’s asses.”
“Kara,” he said flatly. “My secretary.”
“That’s right. The same one holding a gun to one of your men’s heads right now for being a pinche Mexican who almost destroyed you. We need to talk, Mendez. I’m going to deal with the problem this woman was about to cause and make her go away. Saving you from complete annihilation covers my contract. I won’t operate with half the facts. We re-negotiate or I’m done.”
Silence. “We should talk in person.”
Blake ground his teeth. “Let me think about that while I save your ass. I’ll get back to you.” Blake hung up, but didn’t drop his gun. “Mendez might know what you’re doing, but he has no patience for stupidity like what happened with these two women. I’m handling them. You go think about how you’re going to convince Mendez you should stay alive.” He let his gun drop and stepped back from the car. The windows of both sides of the car rolled up a moment before it pulled away.
Blake joined Kara to walk side by side toward the truck. “The son of a bitch knew about the women and didn’t tell me. He wants me to find out who’s skimming drugs from him by playing head of security and he tells me half the story.”
“I gathered that,” she said, “but we have another problem.”
“Of course we do.” They stopped at the hood of the truck.
“Juan works in the finance department at the corporate office. He’d have the means to doctor the reports Mendez gets on product moving in and out of the restaurants.”
“But you caught discrepancies. Wouldn’t he stop that from happening?”
“I intercepted the reports before they went to finance. My guess is I caught what he hadn’t had time to fix.”
“And you know what?” Blake asked. “The only reason this matters to me is that it means you’re a target. I couldn’t give a rat’s ass who's stealing from the cartel unless it helps us find the women they kidnapped, and Alvarez. When my brothers get here, we’ll have resources we don’t have now.”
“Then why
aren’t they already involved?”
“Yeah, well, there’s only one problem with my brothers. They really are the good guys.” Blake left that piece of good news hanging in the air, walked to the truck, and climbed in.
Kara joined him and shut her door. “If they’re the good guys, what are we?”
“Not ‘we’, sweetheart. Me. Just me, and I’m Alvarez’s worst nightmare. I’m the guy who doesn’t give a damn if he dies as long as I take him with me.” He started the truck and pulled onto the road. Neither of them spoke but the air was suddenly thick, the tension in the small space thicker.
Several minutes passed before Kara said, “I care.”
“What?”
“If you’ve already decided you’re going to die, you will and I care. I don’t want you to die.”
“Don’t. Don’t care.”
“Too late.”
“Kara—”
“When are you going to get it into your thick head that you can’t control me, and that includes what I feel. You can’t stop me from caring, and if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you go on a death mission, you’re the one who’s sadly mistaken.”
Blake felt like he’d been punched in the chest. He didn’t want her caring, and her fighting for him, to matter anymore than he wanted to care for her. But at least she’d solidified his decision. He had to get her out of this city, and his life, before he dragged her to hell with him and they burned together.
***
“She actually told them one of the women was wired?” Kyle asked, scrubbing his light blond bearded jaw. “That was freaking genius. It made her a hero, not a traitor.”
Blake glanced at the adjoining hotel doorway where he could hear Kara talking with the women, trying to comfort them and convince them that despite leaving all they knew as their life behind, everything was going to be fine. Pride swelled in Blake over how Kara handled herself. And Kyle was right. Her actions tonight had been genius. “Yes, well, smart as it was, it won’t matter. I’m getting her out of this.”
“Good luck on that one,” he said. “Not only is her sister missing, but that woman is so sharp she managed to drug you and get away with it. She has fire in her eyes. She’s not going anywhere without a fight.”
“Kyle.”
Blake glanced up from the small round table he sat at to find Kara standing in the doorway. And damn if his groin didn’t tighten instantly at the sight of her long, dark hair looking rumpled and sexy, in a “just been fucked” kind of way he only wished were true.
Kyle twisted around in his chair. “What’s up, darlin’?”
“Well, bubba, the girls want you to play poker with them again. They can’t sleep.”
“Bubba?” Blake laughed.
“Yeah,” Kyle said, standing up. “What’s with the bubba?”
“If I’m ‘darlin’, then you’re ‘bubba’. That’s how it works. Since you’re ex-FBI, you know the rules.”
Kyle snorted and looked at Blake. “Like I said. Good luck holding this one back.” He ran a hand through his short blond hair and headed toward the other room. “Never let it be said I failed a woman in need of entertainment.”
He passed Kara, who stood inside the door and didn’t move. “What does ‘sweetheart’ get me?” Blake asked.
She shut the door and locked it, then leaned against the wall. “Why don’t you come find out?”
And there it was. She threw out another challenge. He wanted to take it. Every damn time he wanted to take it, take her. And it was a mistake. Over and over, a mistake, one leading her to a place she didn’t belong. Right in the middle of his quest for vengeance. Blake thought of her words from the truck and they replayed in his mind. You can’t stop me from caring, and if you think I’m going to sit back and watch you go on a death mission, you’re the one who's sadly mistaken. Damn, he wanted her to care and it was selfish. It was wrong. He had to end this now. He had to lay down the law. For her own good.
Chapter Five
Blake stood up and stalked toward Kara, pressing his hands to the wall above her head, careful not to touch her. “We need to talk, Kara.”
“Later,” she whispered, and before he could stop her, she wrapped her arms around his neck, molding her body to his. “For once I want to kiss you knowing you aren’t the enemy.” She pressed her mouth to his.
For several seconds, Blake managed not to move, but when Kara’s soft little tongue pressed into his mouth, he moaned, and settled one hand in the center of her back, the other at the side of her face. Slanting his mouth over hers, he claimed her in a hot, hungry, damning kiss, a kiss that screamed of how dangerously lost he was in this woman. She made a soft sound of pleasure and his cock thickened to the point of pain. He needed her. Needed. The word jolted him and Blake tore his mouth from hers, pushing her against the wall, but she clung to him.
“Blake?” she asked, sounding breathless, confused.
“I can’t do this, Kara. I can’t think when I’m inside you. Someone else, yes. Not you.”
Her eyes went wide. “Did you really just say that? Did you say…” She let go of him and ducked under his arm and he reached for her but she was gone. She whirled on him. “You want to fuck someone else? There’s the door. Go find a good ‘fuck’ escape. That’s what you do, right? Fuck everything that moves to try to forget whatever it is that’s eating you alive?”
“Kara, sweetheart…”
“Blake, go to hell, and stop calling me that. I’m not your sweetheart and I’m not your fuck buddy either. Damn, you’ve made me hate that word more than I already did.”
“You took what I said wrong.”
“I took it wrong? How am I supposed to take it?” She crossed her arms in front of her body. “It’s fine, Blake. Just go.”
Oh, shit. He knew enough about women to know the word “fine” was not a good thing. “I…damn it, Kara, it came out wrong.”
“You owe me nothing, Blake. Not an explanation. Nothing. We hardly know each other.”
“That’s the problem, woman,” he half growled in complete, utter frustration. “I can’t just fuck you and forget you. And you were right. That’s what I do. I walk away and if I never knew the woman’s name, all the better. That’s what I swore would be how I operated for the rest of my life.”
She looked appalled. “What made you like this? What happened?”
Blake’s skin started to twitch; the shadows swirling around in the back of his mind were threatening to take shape. He walked to the bed and sank down onto it. He dropped his face to his hands. “I can’t do this, Kara.” The shadows began to part, the bloody images started to take shape.
The bed shifted and Kara’s fingers gently stroked his hair. “Blake…”
Her touch was both soothing balm and liquid fire. He grabbed her hand, trying to control what he felt, trying not to feel at all, and it was impossible. Steeling himself for her probing stare, he forced his gaze to lift. “Kara.” His voice was hoarse, laden with emotions he couldn’t seem to control. “You…you make me…”
Feel. He didn’t put another name to it. He couldn’t. He didn’t want to. He didn’t want to feel anything, and yet he did. He felt way too much.
Her expression softened instantly. “You make me…too. Blake, I know what pain feels like. I’m here. If you need me—”
“I don’t want to need you,” he said vehemently, unable to hold back.
“I know. Believe me, I know. I get it. I get you. I have from that first night we met in Denver.” She reached up and touched his temple, letting her fingers trail down his cheek, and Blake felt her touch chase fire through his blood—but even more, it stirred a hot burn in his chest that had nothing to do with desire, and everything to do with emotion. Like it or not, and he didn’t, he was feeling again and it was heaven and hell. It had to stop.
His lips tightened and he moved her hand to her leg. “I can’t focus on what I have to do and worry about you.” He started to get up.
She wr
apped her arm with his. “Oh no. You were right. We need to talk. I’m FBI, Blake. I don’t need you to worry about me.”
“Believe me, Kara. I’m crystal clear on what your job is.”
“Are you? Because all this talk about protecting me says you’re not.”
“I am. And it’s part of why—” He stopped himself before he said too much. “You think because you’re FBI you know how to stay alive. You don’t. Not with Alvarez. So I’ll do it for you. You’re out, Kara.” His gut clenched, waiting for the impact of what came next. This was where her hating him came into the picture. “You either get out on your own or I’ll blow your cover and force you out.”
“What?” she gasped, shoving off the bed to whirl on him, her pale cheeks flushed red with anger. “I trusted you and you’re threatening to expose me?”
“I’m doing what I have to. I’m keeping you alive.”
“Oh right. Mr. Death Wish himself wants to keep me alive? Well, two can play that game, Blake. You expose me and I’ll damn sure expose you.”
Smack. He should have seen that one coming. “You’re getting out, Kara, and you won’t get the chance to expose me.”
“You underestimate me, Blake, or you wouldn’t have ended up drugged and asleep in Denver. Who else will you underestimate and end up dead while Alvarez is still alive?”
Double smack. His fingers curled into his fist, adrenaline pumping through his veins. She’d hit ten nerves, all of which had been raw since the night Whitney had died. “You’re right. I underestimated you and you aren’t the first.” He’d underestimated too many people, or Whitney would be alive today. “I won’t take the risk and I won’t do it again. You’re getting out.”
“Not without my sister, and not until I make sure you don’t go and get yourself killed. I might be furious with you right now, Blake, but I know you are trying to be a hero. I’m not a damsel in distress. I’m an FBI agent. You have my back. I have your back. That’s how this works. That’s how it is.”
She hit the big nerve, the raw, throbbing, aching one he wished he could just bury in the hell of his past, and Blake snapped. He grabbed her and took her down on the bed, covering her body with his, fighting a memory that was sure to shred him to pieces. “Don’t say that to me again,” he growled. “Not ever again. Do you understand me?”