LineofDuty (15 page)

Diego Cruz wouldn’t kill her. This barrel would.

Nicole put her hands on either side of the barrel and
pounded her fists against it, sobbing as she heard nothing except her own
anguish echo back to her.

“Somebody. Please, help.” Her voice was weak. She could
barely get the words out.

The bees roared louder and she dropped her arms, too
exhausted to fight anymore. Either Jake would rescue her or she’d die here.
Nicole wasn’t Tanya, she didn’t know how to MacGyver her way out of the barrel.
She wasn’t even wearing panties, for Christ’s sake.

The top of the barrel rose and fresh air rushed in. She
gasped, sucking down lungfuls of air. The buzzing dissipated after several long
moments. She could have wept for that one tiny bit of relief.

“Stand up already.” Diego slapped the outside of the barrel
and the
thump
resounded around her.

Nicole briefly considered refusing the order, but what did
it gain her? Nothing.

She gripped the top of her prison and scooted up, having to
prop herself against the side and slide up, working some of the cramps out as
she stood. Air hissed past her teeth as another twinge of pain shot up her leg.

“Hurry up. I don’t have all day.” Diego grabbed her shoulder
and pulled her upright.

Nicole winced and a cry escaped her lips, but he didn’t seem
too concerned about being heard.

“Hold this.” He shoved a fat bundle of newspaper into her
hands.

She glanced at the headline, something about the baseball
team.

It was the Saturday paper, still warm to the touch.

“Look at me.”

Nicole glanced up and a camera flashed several short, bright
bursts. White spots danced in her vision, making the dim room appear darker.

“If you can get out there’s food over there.” His footsteps
grew fainter but she couldn’t make out more than a darker bit of darkness.
“I’ll be back in a few hours. Going to go see your honey again. Just one more
day.”

Metal clanged and a door squealed.

“Hey, don’t leave me here,” she yelled as loud as she could.
“Someone, help me.”

She dropped the paper and hoisted herself up on top of a
barrel next to her prison and swung her legs out, ignoring the pain still
twisting the muscles.

“Help,” she yelled again.

Diego laughed and slammed the door shut.

Her feet touched the frozen metal floor of her prison and
she yanked them back up. If she’d come here with shoes, they were long gone by
now. She gritted her teeth and put one foot down, then the other. Needles of
frigid pain shot up her ankles.

Nicole shuffled toward the door, her hands outstretched.
She’d gotten the impression of more barrels to her left, a few to her right and
an open path. Her teeth chattered as she made her way to a solid metal wall.
She slid her hands to one side, then to the other, but there were no levers,
doorknobs or handles.

She pounded her fists on the door.

“Can anyone hear me? Help!”

No answer. Not even the rumble of cars or anything. Either
she was far from other people or her prison was soundproof.

She leaned against the door, dry sobs shaking her. She sank
to the floor, shivering uncontrollably now.

“If there is a God out there,” she tipped her chin up, “I
just want to tell him I’m sorry. Please.” Fat tears fell on her cheeks, leaving
chilled tracks in their wake. “I love him so much. Please just let me tell him
that one more time.”

Nicole buried her face in her hands. Jake was a hero, but
sometimes even a hero couldn’t save the day.

* * * * *

Jake stared at the pale face of his wife. She held a
newspaper dated that morning.

“Is it him?” Cole asked.

Jake leaned forward and ran his thumb over her face, hating
the dark circles under her eyes. What kind of hell had she been in for the last
thirty-odd hours?

“Yeah, it’s him.” Jake turned the phone off and scrubbed his
face.

The other officers in Cole’s house were silent, either
watching him or staring off into the distance. Tanya had finally crawled in bed
a few hours ago, and they’d leave her there for as long as she would sleep. He
could still smell the brownies she’d baked while they debated alternative plans
among the SWAT team.

It wasn’t an issue to get the information Diego wanted, but
the drugs and money were beyond what he could do.

“We could rob a bank,” Becca said from where she sat
cross-legged on the floor.

“What about the drugs?” Aaron sat in the armchair across
from Jake.

“I don’t know. I’m sure Jake knows of a drug lord or two outside
of the country. They wouldn’t say no to cash, would they?” Her sad smile said
she knew how foolish the plan sounded. Stuff like that only worked in movies.

Jake sighed and punched in the number for Police Chief
Manzo. It rang once.

“Vant.”

“Yes sir. I just got a text of her and another newspaper. I
can make out something blue, maybe a chemical barrel, behind her. That’s it.”
He didn’t mention the line of text that read “She cries instead of sleeping”.

“Okay. Send it over and we’ll have the techs look at it.”

“Yes sir.”

“It’s not official, but I think we might be able to pull
enough strings and get us some front money. The drugs will need to be
fabricated, but we can still do this. We won’t let him get away with it.”

“Thank you, sir.” Jake hung up the line and blew out a
breath. “They might have figured out a way.”

It was a long shot, but games had been won with Hail Marys.
He just wished they weren’t gambling with his wife’s life.

* * * * *

Tick tock. Deadline is approaching.

Jake stared at the Monday-morning headline held between
Nicole’s hands and hit dial. So far the number associated with the messages had
turned up nothing more than a burner phone.

“Do you have a present for me?” Diego asked through the
line.

“Do you have a place to make the exchange?” Jake stared into
the eyes of Manzo as he spoke.

Diego rattled off a location and time, then the line went
dead.

“Did you get a trace?” Manzo asked the tech, who shook his
head. There wasn’t enough time for that, but it didn’t mean they couldn’t hope.
“Damn.”

“We’ve got an hour. Is the truck in position?” Jake asked.

“Loaded and waiting,” Manzo replied.

Jake nodded and turned away. He needed to move, to pace. He
walked out of the fishbowl office and headed for the coffeepot. The officers
were quiet as they went about their business or waited for the action to start.

He appreciated the show of solidarity, especially from his
team, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Nicole.

Why had they wasted this last year? Why hadn’t they fixed
things sooner? Was she okay? Had she been injured?

The questions kept coming but there were no answers, just
the roaring silence in his head.

One of the girls who worked in evidence and another officer
rounded the corner. She glanced at him and her pitying smile raked over him
like hot coals. He was fucking sick of people feeling sorry for him. It wasn’t
him they should be thinking about. It was Nicole who was really suffering. He
still got to go home if he wanted to and have a meal. For all he knew she was
in a hole in the ground with no food or water.

“Vant. It’s all you,” Manzo called from behind him.

He wheeled around and paced back to the office, ignoring the
evidence girl. “Sir?”

“The money.” Manzo took a briefcase the girl had carried and
handed it to Jake. “Ready to go get her back?”

Jake blew out a breath. “More than ready.”

“Let’s make this happen,” O’Neil chimed in from behind
Manzo. He edged around the other man and handed over a black device no bigger than
his wallet. “I’ve put together all the dummy files on this hard drive.”

Jake glanced down at the sleek silver briefcase and wondered
if he should count it. A million dollars didn’t look like a lot when it was all
in large bills. It didn’t even weigh enough to be worth lifting. This was what
Nicole’s life amounted to? What it was worth?

He knew it had taken a lot of pressure to get the money
released. It was technically on loan from Evidence. Chances were it was money
seized in one of the recent drug stings they’d thrown together at the last
minute and needed to be included in an investigation. He was grateful for the
support, but the red tape pissed him off.

“Come on, man. I’ll ride with you to the staging area.” Cole
slapped him on the shoulder.

Jake followed Cole out to the parking lot. He’d opted to
drive Nicole’s convertible, both because it had decent horsepower and because
driving his police-issue vehicle seemed like a red flag that the department was
in on the whole operation.

They drove twenty minutes in silence to the staging area,
which had been selected for its proximity to the drop location for the drugs.
Jake’s meet point was actually a ten-minute drive.

He used that ten minutes to clear his head, inhale Nicole’s
lingering scent, and promised himself this wasn’t the end. It couldn’t be.

The meet location was the loading dock of a run-down,
boarded-up grocery store. Jake hadn’t even come to a complete stop before an
agitated-looking Diego appeared on the loading dock and jumped to the ground.

Jake opened the door and stood.

“Do you have it?” Diego stomped toward him.

“I have the cash and the information.”

“What about my drugs?” Diego stopped at the nose of the car.

“I’ve got them in a truck but I couldn’t drive it here.”

“What?” Diego pushed his hand through his hair and whirled.

Something was up. Jake glanced around them, wishing for
backup, a lookout, something. He was completely alone here with the man who’d
kidnapped his wife.

“Where’s Nicole?”

“What?” Diego pivoted to face him.

“My wife. Where is my wife?”

“She’s fine. For now.”

Jake didn’t miss the edge of threat in his voice. She was
fine so long as Jake did what Diego wanted.

“Give me the money.” Diego held out his hand.

“This is a trade. Maybe you’ve forgotten how this works?”

“Give me the fucking money or you won’t see her.”

“I won’t see her if I give you the money right now. I know
how this works. I’m not stupid.”

“Then let me spell this out for you, pig. Give me the money.
Tell me where my stuff is at, then I meet you there with the girl and we both
get what we want.” He was too aggressive, completely on edge and ready to snap.
Jake had seen this from him before during interrogation.

If he didn’t hand over the money, he would never see Nicole.
If he did what Diego wanted, he had a bad gut feeling it was signing her death
warrant. But there was a third option. One he could do.

“All right. Here. The information’s in there too on a hard
drive, just like you asked.” Jake held out the briefcase and Diego snatched it.

He set the briefcase on the hood of the car and popped the
top. With practiced ease, he flipped through the cash, ensuring the bundles
weren’t fake money.

“All hundred dollar bills?” Diego scowled.

Jake glared back. He had to play his role of the now-dirty
cop right. “You didn’t give me much time to work with. Besides, how the hell am
I supposed to take cash out of lockup and exchange it? I go anywhere with that,
we both don’t get what we want.”

Diego narrowed his gaze but didn’t reply. He snapped the lid
closed and began to turn away. “Fine. It had better all be here when I count
it.”

“Diego, don’t you want to know where the stuff is at?”

“Are you going to tell me or are we going to stare at our
dicks all day?”

Jake knew in that moment Diego had no intention of coming
for the drugs. Now that he had the cash he’d split, leaving Nicole in whatever
hole he’d dumped her in. Jake could only hope she was still alive.

He rattled off the location.

“Great.” Diego continued walking toward the grocery store.

“Meet you there in twenty minutes? Is that enough time?”
Jake called after him.

“See you there, pig!”

Jake watched Diego disappear into the store. There wasn’t
time for Diego to count a mil in cash, get Nicole and be at the second exchange
site.

Diego didn’t intend to see this through for one reason or
another.

Jake jumped in the red convertible and gunned the engine.
Tires squealed as he pulled around the building. He pulled his phone out and
dialed Cole.

“How’d it go?” Cole asked.

“Sarge, he’s not going to show up. He’s about to run. Pick
me up a block west of the store, and please tell me you followed me.”

“I’m north of your location.”

“Changing direction, headed to you. We need a dark car,
follow him. Something has him spooked and it isn’t us.”

“Gotcha. Leave the keys in the car. Becca and Aaron are
headed this way.”

“I see you.”

Jake threw the car in park and left it idling. He had the
best fucking team. Even when they weren’t supposed to be on this, they still
were. Cole pulled up next to him and Jake sprinted around the SUV.

“I have eyes on him,” Cole announced as Jake closed the door
and accelerated.

“And?”

“He just left, headed west on Patterson.”

Jake grabbed the radio mounted to the dash and brought Manzo
and O’Neil up to speed on the exchange. “We’re tailing him now. He’s not circling
the block, he doesn’t even seem to be watching for a tail. I got a bad feeling
about this.”

“Something’s got him spooked,” O’Neil replied. “We’re
sending a tactical team to you, just tell us where to go.”

“I will when I know.” Jake placed the radio on the console
and leaned forward in his seat.

They were a good six car lengths behind Diego. There were
textbook things a person did to detect a tail, like taking indirect routes that
included circling back on yourself, driving slowly and occasionally erratically
to figure out who was watching you. Diego was driving fast, down one street.