Targeted (29 page)

“You’re coming with me?” she asked as he opened his door.

His brow furrowed. “I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

The thought of shopping for any sort of undergarments with Jack was . . . interesting. “If you say so.”

C-4: a common variety of the plastic explosive known as Composition C.

He looked up from his computer screen as Wesley walked up. “What’s going on, boss?”

“Conference room. Two minutes.” Wesley headed toward another desk, making any questions pointless.

He wiped sweaty palms on his pants, then logged off his computer. Over the past twenty-four hours, he hadn’t been able to get anything useful from Wesley, especially regarding Sophie Moreno and everything surrounding SBMS. His boss had switched phones, and hadn’t been communicating on many open channels. At least not that he could find. Wesley was paranoid by nature, but lately his boss had been taking extra precautions—as if he knew he was being watched.

And now the Abarca woman had disappeared according to Vargas. He hadn’t heard that she’d been picked up by the NSA, but for all he knew, he was being kept out of the loop. At least Vargas didn’t seem to think she’d been arrested. He was pissed about her disappearance but seemed to think she’d decided to run with what money she had. Even if she had been picked up by a government agency, the woman didn’t know much. She’d been recruited to watch the inner workings of SBMS, but she wasn’t privy to any real knowledge.

Grabbing a notepad, he headed toward the conference room, wondering if it was possible anyone was on to him. No, he’d been too diligent. He’d cleared all his tracks after running the facial recognition scans, but before that he’d even pointed those tracks toward someone else in case someone got really suspicious and managed to extract his online trail. And he hadn’t gotten any dings on his offshore accounts, so no one should know about his growing stash.
Just breathe,
he ordered himself.

As he walked down the hallway, he was surprised to see two other analysts and five field men heading toward the room also.

Once they were all seated, Wesley closed the door. “We’re all leaving in thirty minutes, so shut down whatever you’re working on. If it’s necessary, delegate your work to someone else. We’ll be gone for a few days.”

“Where are we headed?” one of the new field guys asked.

“That’s classified.” Wesley glanced around the room expectantly, but no one else said a word.

They all had bags packed for emergencies or special operations. That was just the way things worked. This wasn’t the first time he’d gone on a mission when he had no clue what was going on and no previous notice.

Wesley glanced at his watch. “If that’s all, everyone better be on time.”

As they all started to rise, Wesley spoke again. “One more thing. Leave work cell phones and computers at your desks. All materials will be provided on-site. There will be a security check when we get to the hangar, so don’t let me catch you with anything.”

Hangar.
That meant they were flying. But to where? He picked up his notepad and exited the room with everyone else. Sweat rolled down his back as he headed back to his desk. No one was paying attention to him, so he slipped into the nearest restroom. There was one person in there, so he waited in a stall until the man left. Then he called Vargas.

“Yes?”

“Something’s going down in the next few days, but I don’t know what it is.” He kept his voice low.

“What do you mean, you don’t know?”

“It’s all hush-hush. There’s nothing on file either. I’m getting on a plane in half an hour to God knows where.”

“Call me when you know more.”

“That’s going to be a problem. They’re taking away all our communications.”

“Do they know about my arrival?” Vargas asked.

“It’s possible, but I don’t know where we’re going.” He hadn’t heard anything, but that didn’t mean shit anymore. The past couple of days he might as well have been invisible. Wesley hadn’t confided anything to him. Not that he hadn’t tried to subtly get his attention. He’d been making pointless trips to his office with excuses to talk to him. Nothing was working.

“Contact me if you can.”

“Are you still coming to the States?”

“Of course. If they try to interfere, I have another—how do you say?—ace in the hole.”

He frowned but didn’t comment. He didn’t like being kept in the dark, especially when he might need to use Vargas. “When are you going to wire the rest of my money?”

“When this job is over.” His answer was expected, but it still annoyed him. He’d put his neck on the line and now he might lose everything he’d worked so hard for. Now that he didn’t have to worry about paying off his debts, he could enjoy the benefits of his work. He deserved it. He was underappreciated here, and for how smart he was, the pay was a joke. Besides, it wasn’t as if he was actually harming anyone. He might pass on valuable information for the right price, but his hands were clean.

“Fine, I’ll be in contact when I can.”

Vargas disconnected without responding, so he slid his personal cell back into his pocket. He’d have to get rid of this before he left.

All his survival instincts told him to disappear now, but there was no way he could get out of the building undetected, and more important, Vargas still hadn’t paid him the majority of what he was owed. Even if he managed to get to his car, they’d send someone after him, track his accounts, and freeze his money. Without all of his funds, his early retirement wouldn’t be as lush as he’d like and everything he’d done would be for nothing.

•   •   •

“Why did you buy all those cap guns?” Sophie asked as she slid into the passenger seat.

He didn’t miss the amused note in her voice. Jack loaded their bags into the backseat, then got into the driver’s seat. Trying to banish the image of watching Sophie pick out undergarments—simple cotton panties had never been so sexy—he said, “For the sulfur.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“I need it.”

“Again, care to elaborate?” She crossed her legs toward him as she shifted against the leather seat.

“Wesley is bringing a team in with plenty of firepower, but I always like to be prepared.”

“Like a Boy Scout?” Her lips curled up slightly, the vision seriously tempting him to lean over and take her mouth the way his body was urging him to. Last night definitely wasn’t enough. It had only enflamed his lust and need for her.

“Exactly.” He knew she didn’t understand what he was saying, but the less she knew the better.

Jack’s boss would be bringing in a good team, but he didn’t know some of the men and Jack always liked to have a backup plan in case things went wrong.

He pulled out another one of the throwaway phones as he steered out of the parking lot. Jack had contacts all over the country—hell, the world—and while he
hated
using this particular one now, he didn’t have a choice.

After five rings, he was about to give up when someone answered. There wasn’t an audible response, but Jack could hear muted movement on the other end. “Alexander?”

“Who is this?” his contact barked.

“It’s Dante.”

“Holy shit, man. It’s been what, four years?”

“That sounds about right. I hate to call and ask for a favor like this, but I’m in town for an unexpected job and need some packaging material.” Code for C-4.

Alexander Lopez wasn’t the brightest weapons dealer Jack had ever dealt with, but he was careful. Which was why he was still in business.

“How much?”

“Enough to wrap up a small warehouse.” More code. Not exactly genius code, but if someone was listening they couldn’t bring Alexander down on anything without solid proof.

“I don’t know, man. That’ll take some time.”

“Payment up-front.”

“Why didn’t you say so?”

“So we have a deal?”

“Remember that abandoned warehouse we used to party at?” Code for a storage container they’d made exchanges at twice.

“Yes. When can you meet?” Jack asked.

“Tomorrow?”

“Sooner. How about twenty minutes?”

“Man, how do you even know I’m in town?”

Jack snorted. The man rarely left Miami and they both knew it. “Can you do it or not?”

The other man sighed. “I’ll be there.”

Jack disconnected, then took the battery out of the phone. This was one phone he wouldn’t be using again. The others he was using he was fairly sure weren’t being tracked, but he was ninety percent sure Alexander was being watched by someone. The DEA, FBI, who knew? Hell, he was probably being watched by the local cops too.

“What was that about,
Dante
?” Sophie asked as he headed toward I-95.

He suppressed a smile at her sarcastic tone. “I hate bringing you with me, but I’ve got to pick up some stuff and I’ve got to do it now.”

“Packaging material, huh?” She raised a dark eyebrow at him.

“That’s right.”

“Mm-hmm,” she murmured. “So, what do you do when you’re not busy being a spy?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, for fun. Spies are allowed to have fun, aren’t they?”

The past few years he hadn’t had much downtime, but there was one thing that never got old. “I like to fish.”

“Really?”

“Why is that surprising?”

She lifted her shoulders slightly. “I don’t know. That just seems so . . . normal. And pretty boring. For someone like you, I mean.”

“Nah, I love it. Maybe it’s my Irish blood, but being on the water is the only time I feel grounded.” Maybe he should have left that part out. Jack Stone was Irish, but so was his former self. She didn’t seem to notice. “What about you?”

“I love to paint and draw.”

“I know.”
Damn it!
The words were out before he could stop himself. This was why he needed to keep his mouth shut around her. The more he let his guard down, the more likely he was to slip up. When she was a teenager she’d always been drawing and sketching. The girl had filled up notebooks.

“You know?”

“Your file. It said you minored in art. Why didn’t you pursue anything after school?”

“I wanted stability.” Her answer was immediate and real and he loved that she was being honest with him.

He’d already guessed why, but couldn’t tell her that. “Are you going to go back to work at SBMS when this is over—if there’s a company to go back to?” Which Jack wasn’t sure there would be. It might end up being dismantled.

She snorted in a very un-Sophie-like manner, completely taking him off guard. “No way. Even if he doesn’t go to jail, I don’t know if I can ever look Ronald in the face again after all this.”

Jack was pretty sure Weller wouldn’t go to jail, not if he helped them enough to bring Vargas down. If the threats against him ended up being bad enough, he’d likely be put into WITSEC. There were too many variables and Jack didn’t give a shit what happened to Weller anyway. “What are you going to do?”

“I . . . have no idea. After the past couple days, I’ve started to realize that no matter what I do, I can’t be truly safe from everything. I want to do something that makes me happy.” She paused and bit her bottom lip. “Is that totally cheesy?”

“No.” He pulled off the next exit and circled back under the overpass.

“Okay, where exactly are we going? Because this area looks a little like that gross motel.”

“We’re almost there.” They were in one of the worst parts of town. As they drove past an abandoned apartment complex covered with graffiti, he pointed toward an eight-foot chain-link fence across the street. The fence surrounded what used to be a parking lot but now housed storage boxes and garbage. “See those green storage boxes? That’s where we’re going.”

She lifted an eyebrow. “Your friends hang out in some interesting places.”

“This guy isn’t my friend, so you’re staying in the car. And remember, my name is Dante, not Jack.”

“How many names do you have?”

“Too many,” he said as he steered into the deserted area. Gravel and dust flew up as he turned into the only cutout opening along the fence.

Avoiding potholes and bags of trash, he parked in front of one of the containers. He glanced in his rearview mirror as an old pickup truck pulled up. Withdrawing his backup pistol from his ankle holster, he laid it on the center console. “This should be over soon, but if something happens to me, drive away and don’t look back.”

Her lips pulled into a thin line. “Really, again with this? You expect me to leave you behind?”

“Sophie—”

“Fine. I’ll do it.” There was no conviction in her words and he knew she was lying, but there was nothing he could do about it. Even though he hated the thought of her not following his orders, he felt another crack around his chest at the thought of her sticking by him. It was one of many things he’d always adored about her. Once she decided she was on your side, she was loyal to a fault.

Alexander was the only person that he could see in the truck, so after another visual scan of the area, he reached behind his seat and grabbed a small duffel bag, then got out first. He’d called this meeting, so he needed to make the first move.

When he stepped out, the other man did the same.

“It’s been too long, my friend,” Alexander said. Wearing a bright green and blue Hawaiian button-down shirt and faded cargo pants, he didn’t look like the typical weapons dealer Jack usually dealt with. As long as Jack had known him, he’d never seen him wearing a suit or anything other than the tacky getup he was in now. Maybe that was another reason he’d stayed alive so long. He knew how to blend in with his surroundings.

“I’ve been out of the country. Had to lie low after that last job.”

Dante nodded knowingly, then quickly switched gears. “Have you brought the money?”