Chapter Twelve
The present
JL watched the men sitting around Cole’s dining room table. All the partners except Rick Latrobe had choppered in for this meeting, bringing with them the results of the week’s investigation. She wondered how she’d ever be able to repay all of them for what they’d done. Vestiges of her ordeal still clung to the edges of her life. Even though she slept securely in Cole’s arms every night, the nightmares still intruded, waking her and causing fear to slice through her. She could still hear the grinding, screaming sound of metal on metal from when the huge garbage truck smashed into them. Still feel the impact of the double collision as it shoved them into the trail car. Still hear the sound of breaking glass, feel the pinch of the tranq dart in her neck, and then the nauseating fall into darkness.
The hours in that cabin, the shock of finding a fully outfitted lab and assistants who had been paid huge sums to assist her, and the fear of the guards with their ominous-looking guns who made it very plain if she didn’t produce the formula for their employer, she wouldn’t produce it for anyone—all that had left its permanent mark. Especially when her senses had been wide open, and the dark auras of the people involved, the evil in them, had surrounded her like a permanent cloak.
If she’d had any doubts about Cole’s feelings before, this incident dissipated them as if blown away by a breeze. The risk he had taken to rescue her, and the patience and love he’d shown since then, nullified any lingering doubts about the strength of their relationship. She had to find the right time to tell him. Right now as far as Phoenix was concerned, she was still in danger and would be until everyone responsible had been rounded up and arrested. And hopefully buried in some prison for a very long time.
She finished refilling everyone’s coffee mugs and took her seat next to Cole again.
“Cassandra Grigsby has been snooping around in Clayton again,” Troy said. “Kevin was quick to let us know he spotted Gene Dempsey hanging out in Feed Me. If Kevin and Noel hadn’t been doing outside surveillance on the lab, he might not have been spotted. We don’t have everything up and running again yet.”
“Including the lab,” JL reminded them. “I’m not complaining,” she was quick to add. “But do we have any idea when I might be able to get back to work?”
“As soon as we know it won’t put your life in jeopardy, darlin’,” Cole said.
“Okay.” Dan leaned forward. “It took Andy longer than he expected, which is really saying something. But it also shows no one can hide from him.”
“So what do we have?” Mike asked. “You all know Rick and I had to take a little side trip this week, so I’ve been out of the loop.”
Cole had told JL the “little side trip” involved a hostage situation in Abu Dhabi. The executive vice president of one of their clients had been over there supervising some changes to their facility and staff when a rebel faction had decided he’d be a good source of income for them. Rather than kidnap him, they decided to hold the entire staff hostage. Mike and Rick, along with a highly trained small group of agents, had resolved the situation.
As they always do, JL thought. The more she learned about these people, the more she came to respect them. And the happier it made her Cole was now a part of their organization.
“Andy’s done a great job here,” Dan said. “If you all check your tablets, you’ll see the file he and I finished putting together late last night.”
JL leaned over so she could share Cole’s with him. As he scrolled through the document on the screen, the tendrils of fear still clinging to her tightened their hold on her. It was exactly as they’d suspected. Of the three suspects, this one had the most resources, the greatest outreach into the world of evil, and the most power to get things done.
“Doesn’t he have enough money?” she asked. “I guess he doesn’t believe in anything for the greater good.”
“He doesn’t believe in anything unless it lines his own pockets,” Cole answered.
“Which are getting thinner than we expected,” Mark put in. “He’s leveraged up the ying-yang, and portions of his conglomerate are slipping badly. If he could get his hands on this formula, he could buy some time. Production and sales of it would get him healthy for a very long time.”
“How did you discover it was him?” JL wanted to know. “All three of them could have done this.”
“But not all of them had ready access to an isolated cabin in the woods and the resources to outfit it in days. That eliminated the Cervantes brothers immediately. They didn’t have time to make the purchase, create the setup, and get it ready without leaving a highly visible paper trail. Besides, thanks to Kat, we knew you weren’t in Argentina. That you were still here in Texas.”
“Thanks to her is right,” JL agreed. “To everyone.”
Dan picked up the thread. “So then it was a matter of tracing two things—the ownership of the cabin and access to the EMP machine. The cabin ownership was really buried in a layer of shell companies, but he didn’t have enough time to completely hide the purchase of the lab equipment.”
“The guys he hired sure didn’t know anything,” Cole said. “The one we snagged and questioned at the airport hangar knew nothing about anything except he’d been offered an obscene amount of money if he worked on a secret project and kept his mouth shut.”
JL shifted her gaze to Dan. “I never asked, but why did he have those scientists there? If he knew anything about what I was doing, he would have been aware I only worked with one lab assistant.”
The men all exchanged looks with Cole.
“What?” she demanded. “What aren’t you telling me?”
“He had a backup plan,” Cole answered finally. “He got your computer out of the lab, right?”
“Yes, but it’s no good unless I use my handprint for the biometric password.”
“Exactly.”
“B-but what if I refused?”
Cole took one of her hands in his and squeezed gently. “He was going to get that computer unlocked with or without your cooperation, darlin’.”
She frowned. “But—”
“Simply put, if you refused to cooperate, he probably planned to kill you, use your hand to unlock the password, and let the scientists he’d hired pick up the work on your project.”
JL felt all the blood drain from her face. For a moment, she thought she might pass out. “Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. Honey, this man doesn’t mess around. And right now, he’s desperate. Greed and desperation are a lethal combination.” He cupped her chin. “But we were on it right away and got to you in time. That’s what you have to keep remembering.”
The fear was suddenly replaced by a surge of anger. “That bastard. I hope you send him to hell.”
Dan laughed. “That’s exactly what we’re planning to do.” He glanced down at his iPad again. “So. Back to what we’ve got here. Andy had to do a lot of digging to trace the purchase of the EMP.”
“That was what really gave it away,” Mark added. “Those babies are hard to come by unless you own a place that can build them. All the bribe money in the world couldn’t assure the secrecy when the man who sold it learned he could be facing prison time.”
“It’s got to be Damon Horner,” JL said. “I knew he was a vile, nasty person. His aura was blacker than anyone’s. But I didn’t think—” She broke off and wrapped her arms around herself, shivering at the memory.
Dan looked around at everyone. “We’ve got the information we need. Now we have to figure out the best way to take him down.”
“Can’t you just give all this to the authorities?” she asked. “I mean, they can arrest him, right? Put him away?”
“I wish it were that easy. We have a paper trail here, but if we turn it over to the feds, by the time they can act on it, Horner will have everything buried so deep no one will be able to ever dig it up again.”
“He set the cabin to blow if his security was breached,” Cole reminded her. “We’re damn lucky we got out of there with you scant seconds ahead of it.”
“What about the EMP seller?” She had to bite back her frustration.
Mark leaned forward, his face solemn. “I’m willing to bet by this time he’s gone with the wind. Setting up shop someplace else. Trust me, he wants no trace of this to lead back to him.”
“So, what then?” She turned to Cole. “Do I have to live with armed guards for the rest of my life? Or worse yet, give up this project completely?”
Dan shook his head. “No. I think the next thing we do is to let Horner know we’re on to him.”
“Is that a good idea?” she asked.
“We have proof he bought the EMP. Proof he owns the cabin, and we’re following the trail of the money used to pay the scientists waiting at that cabin.”
“And,” Mark added, “he’ll know he can be arrested for kidnapping once we have it all together.
“Will what you have be proof enough? He’s not going to give up easily.”
“True enough. But he also doesn’t want the people he does business with or those in the great state of Texas to know what he did. Don’t worry. We’ll have eyes on him.”
“And his no-good lackey Leo Guerra,” Troy added. “I wouldn’t mind seeing him taken out of the picture, too.”
“Let’s get back to San Antonio,” he told the others. “Cole, you keep JL tucked safely away here until we get Horner squared away.”
“Will do. But be sure to keep us in the loop.”
Gene Dempsey looked at his boss. “The lab’s closed. I went by to eyeball the situation, like you asked, and it’s shut up tighter than a drum.” He frowned. “Although they still have guards on the place, inside and out.”
“How do you know?”
“Cars in the parking area, and none of them hers. One of them had two guys sitting in it, and they didn’t appear one bit friendly.”
“But it’s been more than a week,” she protested. “How can she afford to take that much time away from her work?” She frowned. “You don’t think she finished her work and the association is already testing it on some remote piece of property, do you?”
“Not possible. The cops are trying to keep it quiet, but there was some kind of attack on the facility and they shut it down tight.” His grin was humorless. “Believe me, they couldn’t talk about anything else at Feed Me. You’d be surprised the gossip you pick up, sitting at the counter.”
“What did you hear?”
“Phoenix strong-armed the county into letting them put up some super-duper floodlights around the building after the last incident.” He frowned at her. “I told you that would be a disaster, if you remember.”
“Forget that. I want to know what people are saying.”
“The lab was breached.”
“How the hell did you find out?”
“There are no secrets in a town that small. Believe me. You sent me out there to see what was happening now. All I had to do was sit at the counter at Feed Me. No one had details. All they knew was that a week ago something shut down all those brand-new spotlights Phoenix installed. Some kid driving through town on his way home from a date saw the whole thing.”
“What whole thing?” she persisted.
“The lights going off like someone threw a switch, and a couple of guys getting into the lab. He called the sheriff’s office, then hung around to see what happened next. By the time a patrol car got there, the doors to the lab stood wide open ,and whoever broke in was gone. How the hell could someone shut down all that security? They’ve got things we’ve never even heard of.”
“Which we discovered when the idiot you sent out there tripped one of them.” Cassandra tapped her fingernails. “EMP. It has to be.”
Gene lifted an eyebrow. “What?
“Electromagnetic pulse. All you’d need is a small one to shut down all the electronic security at that place.”
“Those things have to be outrageously expensive.”
“They are. And not easily obtainable.”
“Well, we know it wasn’t us,” Gene pointed out.
“It has to be that asshole Horner,” she spat. “He’s got the money and the connections.”
“Not the guys from Argentina?”
She shook her head. “A possibility, but we checked them out pretty thoroughly. I don’t think they have the outreach.”
“So that leaves Horner. His conglomerate has facilities and contacts all over the globe.”
“That piece of crap. I remember when he didn’t have two pennies to buy a fart.” She tapped her fingernails on the desk again. “What else did you find out?”
“About thirty minutes after the lights blew, a helicopter landed in the parking area, and two guys got out. They chased the deputies away and locked the place down tight again. That’s it. They haven’t reopened it.”
“Do you know if he got her work? Her computer? Her notes?”
“Wouldn’t do him any good. According to the lab guy in Feed Me getting a sandwich, it has a biometric password. They’d need her handprint to open it.”
Cass picked up a pen lying on her desk and flipped it back and forth. “So they’d need her. But how would they get her? Did they get her?” She tossed the pen down. “Shit. You have to find out what’s going on. The lab being closed isn’t enough. Something else has to be taking place, and I want to know.” She glared at him. “Now, Gene. Not tomorrow, not the day after. Right now.”
“You don’t think we should back off for a bit?”
“I think we need to figure out how to get ahead of that jackass Horner. He may have her notes, but he doesn’t have her.”
“Damn, Cass.” Gene sat forward in his chair. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking about snatching her? That’s kidnapping, for fuck’s sake.”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” She drummed a steady rhythm with her nails. “I’m thinking she might be in need of money to start up again. If we could slide in with an offer right now—”
He held up a hand. “Cass, listen to me. I’ve checked more into the Phoenix Agency. Those guys don’t mess around. You get on their bad side, and losing this company will be the least of your problems. Please. Leave it alone until the dust settles. I’ll keep an eye on things.”
“And let Horner get his hooks in deeper?”
“Right now, he hasn’t got his hooks into anything. All he’s done is create a mess. J. L. Mitchell is tucked away someplace where no one can get to her; the lab is closed. He’s shut out for the moment.”
“For the moment,” she repeated.
“Yeah, but if Phoenix gets evidence of any kind he was behind any of this? Life as he knows it will be over.”
“I want eyes on him, on the lab, and anyplace else important,” she ordered. “Hire as many people as you need. Discreet people. And give me daily reports.”
He rose from his chair. “I’m on it. This fight is not over yet.”
“It better not be.”
“There is trouble.” Thiago cringed as he spoke the words into his cell. He could imagine Tomas’s reaction and it wasn’t a pleasant thought.
“What kind of trouble? What happened? What do you know?”
Thiago swallowed a sigh. Which question to answer first.
“I have driven through Clayton a couple of times, and the lab is closed up tight. There are guards there, outside, but I’m sure inside, also. But only the one vehicle is parked in the lot. So, last night I invited some of the ranchers I’ve been meeting with to have drinks with me.”
“And I assume you worked the conversation around to our project?”
“I didn’t have to. They were only too eager to share with me.” He cleared his throat. Tomas would not like what he had to say next. “I think it is time for me to come home.”
“What?” The word exploded over the connection. “Give up? Unthinkable.”
“Listen to what I’m going to tell you. There was another attempt to break into the lab.” He hesitated. “That wasn’t you, was it?”
“What? Bastante. No, it was not. What happened?”
“No one has hard answers, and the sheriff’s office was politely told to mind its own business. But from what someone observed, and from speculation, it appears someone used an EMP to shut down all the electronic security, then broke into the lab and stole La Señorita’s computer.”
“Mierda.”
“Shit, indeed. The lab is shut down, the woman is nowhere to be seen, and four guards who you can be sure are from Phoenix sit in the parking lot to keep an eye on things.”
“An EMP.” Tomas was silent for a moment. ““I wonder why—“ He stopped. “That is, I had—“
“You had what, Tomas? Someone else here? Watching me? Spying on me?” Anger surged through him. This was going from bad to worse.
“It had to be Horner,” tomes said at last. “I’ve done a thorough study on him and the woman, and she doesn’t have the resources or contacts to obtain one. And I do not think she has the cojones, either. Let me think for a moment.”
“I should come home,” Thiago repeated. “I think this is a lost cause.”
“Shut up. I said, I need to think.”
Thiago gripped the cell phone and ground his teeth. He was afraid that Tomas, in his urgency to get this formula, would come up with something that would bring them more difficulty than it was worth.
“All right,” Tomas said at last. “I’m sure they have the woman tucked away somewhere until they have this whole thing resolved. Much as it pains me to admit it, you are right. Pursuing this any longer would only bring trouble to our door. Phoenix will go after Horner, and I don’t want to get caught in the mess sure to follow.”
“I’ll make reservations.”
“I’m very disappointed in you, Thiago. You have let me, all of us, down.”
What could he say? “I’ll text you with my arrival information.”
He disconnected the call and sat down on the bed. His head throbbed, and his stomach ached. His first major assignment for the family, and he had failed miserably. But what else could he have done, really? At this point he was glad to be getting out of it with no trouble.
Scrolling through his apps, he punched up the one for the airline and proceeded to make his reservation.
“Fuck.” Damon Horner slammed his thick fist down on his desk so hard the items sitting on it actually bounced. As the opportunity to grab the formula became less and less viable, his desperation grew.
“You’ll give yourself a stroke,” Leo Guerra said. “Calm down.”
“Calm down?” Horner glared at him. “Everything has turned to shit, and you want me to calm down?”
“I don’t want you to drop dead in your desk chair. We need to reevaluate the situation.”
“The situation,” Horner said between clenched teeth, “is the self-destruct switch was activated at the cabin I spent a small fortune outfitting. The situation is the asshole we bought the EMP from has disappeared into the wind, and I have to hope in fucking hell he didn’t give my name to anyone. The situation is I’m sure we now have Phoenix on our tail, and I have to shake them loose.”
Guerra raised his eyebrows. “You’re still going after Dr. Mitchell and her formula?”
“If I can’t have it, I’m going to make damn sure no one else does.”
“Well, I don’t know how the hell you’re going to do that. You can’t even get to her.”
“I know, dumbass. Shut up a minute and let me think.”
Horner was beyond enraged. All his plans had exploded; everything was falling apart. In a massive power grab, he’d leveraged the conglomerate, banking on the income from some of his foreign subsidiaries. The grain would have given him some breathing room. But this morning he’d received notice that three of his major businesses teetered on the verge of financial collapse. The economies of the countries where they were located had self-destructed, and rebel forces had taken over his facilities. He saw everything in his life falling apart. He’d robbed Peter to pay Paul and run out of pockets to steal from.
Fuck them all. If he couldn’t have this, if he couldn’t use it to save his empire, he would at least make damn sure no one else got rich from it. And that it didn’t end up being distributed for “the common good.” Neither would be acceptable to him.
“Listen, Leo. I need you to get me out of this building. We need to use one of the company SUVs. I’ll drop you somewhere so you can catch a cab, and I’ll keep the SUV.”
“What do you mean? You have your own car here. Why can’t you just drive it away?”
“Because unless I read them wrong, Phoenix has eyes on this place, like I’m sure they do on Thiago Cervantes and Cass Grigsby. I’ll bet they’re watching you as well. I need to get away from their surveillance.”
“Where are you going? And won’t they recognize me?”
Horner shook his head. “We’ll take one of the vehicles with tinted windows. Even if they spot it leaving, they won’t be able to see inside. Besides, they’ll be watching our vehicles and that’s all.”
“Damon, I don’t like the look on your face.” Guerra’s voice was tinged with unease. “What are you thinking?”
Horner frowned. “Nothing you need to know. Now. Will you do it?”
“I know I’ll live to regret this, but okay. Don’t get your ass in a bigger sling than it’s already in, okay?”
“We’ll go down in my private elevator.”
“Aren’t you going to tell Connie you’re leaving? I didn’t think you took a breath unless you told your assistant.”
“There’s a lot I don’t tell her. Safer that way, for her and for me. Come on.”
He inserted a key into a disguised slot in his office wall, and two panels slid open to reveal an elevator.
“Well?” He motioned to Guerra. “Get over here. I need to get going.”
As he rode down to the garage in his elevator, he ran over his idea again in his mind. He was planning to commit a brazen act, but desperate times called for desperate measures. He was ruined anyway. At least he could make sure no one else profited from what he believed should rightfully be his.
Dan Romeo’s cell phone rang as he and Mike pulled off the interstate. “What have you got?”
“Eyes still on the building housing Horner’s office,” the Phoenix agent said. “Front and back. We’ve been here since he arrived this morning.”
“Does he know you’re watching him?”
“We made ourselves a little obvious when we picked him up at his house,” the man told him. “Just like you said.”
“Good. If he knows we’re watching him, he’s less likely to do something stupid.”
“I hope you’re right. I talked to a guy who used to work security for him, and he said when this guy is threatened, he can easily go off the rails.”
“As long as you’re watching him, and we have JL hidden away, we’re good to go. We should be there in a few.” He disconnected he call.
“Horner still there?” Mike asked.
“Yeah.” Dan gave a humorless laugh. “Can’t wait to brighten his day.”
Mike’s cell rang. “Yeah? Uh-huh. Okay, good.” He glanced at Dan. “Ed’s standing by with the chopper. He’s fueled, preflighted, and ready to go, just in case.”
They had decided the best move would be to present themselves at Horner’s office and demand to see him. Lay out for him what they knew. Phoenix men could be threatening and intimidating when need be, and today was one of those times.
A receptionist at a curved desk smiled at them as they stepped off the elevator, but that smile disappeared quickly.
“Which office is Horner’s?” Mike asked.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“We don’t need one. Just point us in the right direction.”
“B-but I have to ring his executive assistant if you don’t have an appointment,” she stammered.
“Which office?” Dan repeated, towering over her.
“T-the end of the hall.”
As they walked away, Dan saw her punch numbers into her phone.
“She’ll give the assistant a heads-up,” he murmured to Mike, “but that’s okay. He still won’t have time to prepare for us.”
The double doors at the end of the hall stood open, giving them a good view of the woman sitting behind the modern desk. As they approached, she rose and came to meet them, an anxious expression on her face. “Mr. Horner never sees anyone without an appointment. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to leave.”
Dan’s smile was anything but pleasant. “Oh, I’m sure he’ll see us.”
He and Mike moved around her, never breaking stride. But when he opened the door to Horner’s office they got an unpleasant surprise. The office was empty. He and Mike scanned the room carefully before he turned back to the assistant. “Okay, where the hell is he?”
Her face was pinched with a look of distress, and she twisted her hands together.
“I-I don’t know. He was here a few minutes ago with Mr. Guerra. I didn’t see either of them leave.”
Dan punched a number into his cell phone, calling one of the agents in the parking lot.
“Horner’s done a vanishing act. I thought you had eyes on him.”
“We do,” the agent told him. “On the building and on the parking garage exit. He hasn’t moved, and neither has his car.”
“What about Guerra?” Dan wanted to know. “Who’s watching his car?”
“Billy is. It’s still in its parking place. Easy to see because the lower level of the garage is wide open. Horner’s car is still there, too.”
“So no cars left, and neither Horner or Guerra made an appearance.”
“That’s right, boss,” Billy agreed.
“Well, they didn’t vaporize into thin air. Somehow they got out of here without us seeing them. Don’t go anywhere. Hang tight.”
Dan was pretty sure the building would have security cameras. Although it housed other businesses within its five stories, Horner owned the place. As paranoid as he was, he’d want to know everyone coming and going at all times. He turned to the assistant who still stood anxiously in the doorway to the office.
“Your boss said nothing to you about leaving?”
She shook her head.
“When did you last talk to him? See him?”
“I—uh—about forty-five minutes ago, when Mr. Guerra arrived. Mr. Horner closed his door and said not to disturb him for any reason.”
“Where’s the security office for the building? Is that where the camera feeds are kept?”
“I—uh. That is . . .”
Mike could be damn intimidating when he wanted to be, and today Dan knew he wanted to. He stood towering over the woman, radiating authority.
“Okay. You’ve got two choices here: you can cooperate with us, or we can call the police and the FBI and get them in here. Then it won’t be much fun for anyone.”
Her jaw dropped. “The FBI? What—”
“Are you aware your boss is involved in a kidnapping? You know that’s a federal offense.”
“But he . . . kidnapping?”
Mike nodded. “Now. Which way to Security?”
In less than ten minutes, they had introduced themselves to the guards on duty and asked them to call up the video footage from the past hour. Dan and Mike watched every frame intently.
“Stop.” Dan pointed to the screen. “Run that back and replay it again, slowly.”
The guard tapped his computer keys and reran a section of footage.
“Stop again. There. Right there.” He touched the screen. “See that, Mike?”
“I do. Who owns the SUV with the tinted windows?” he asked the guard.
“That’s a Horner Conglomerate vehicle,” the guard told him. “They keep a half dozen of them here for visitors to use.”
“Do they all have the tinted windows?” Dan wanted to know.
“Yes. The theory is it reduces heat from the sun.”
“Damn.” Dan wanted to strike something. “Roll it back so we can get the license plate.”
“We need to let Cole know what’s happening,” Mike said. “Horner could be headed in his direction.”
Dan shook his head. “No, he’s too smart for that. He wants JL, but he needs her in a vulnerable situation.”
“Does he really think he can force her to work on this formula at gunpoint?”
“Worse than that. If he’s so desperate, if he can’t get the formula, he won’t want anyone else to have it, either. He’ll kill JL before he lets her work for anyone else.”
“Already on it.” Mike punched a number into his phone. “I’m calling Sheriff Davis in Clayton to give him a heads-up. He can put the license-plate number out to his deputies and also be ready for whatever happens.”
“We need to get to Clayton ASAP.” Dan hit a speed-dial number on his own phone. “Ed? Bring the helo to the parking lot at the Horner Conglomerate building. You can hand the chopper over to Mike and drive our car to Clayton.” He disconnected. “Ten minutes,” he told Mike.
They had barely landed in the field behind Cole’s house when Mike’s phone rang. When he hung up, he turned to Dan, his mouth set in a grim expression.
“That was the sheriff. They tagged Horner’s SUV coming off the interstate. Bad trouble, Dan. They followed him to Jed Mitchell’s place.”
“Do they have him?”
“They’ve got two patrol cars there. Davis went up and rang the doorbell, got a shot at through the door for his trouble.”
“Was he hit?” Dan asked. Jesus, this got more fucked by the minute.
“No, but he says Horner shouted through the door for him to go away. He wants JL, and everyone else should stay away.”
At that moment Cole came running out the back door, a frantic JL with him.
“It’s all gone to shit,” Cole said as soon as the men hopped out of the chopper.
“We got a call from the sheriff,” Dan said.
“Then you know he’s got my dad.” JL’s face was white and pinched. “He says he’s going to kill him unless I come to the ranch.”
“I told her she’s not setting one foot near there.” Cole’s entire body vibrated with tension. “He’ll kill both of them.”
“We have to do something.” JL’s eyes were filled with tears. “Please.”
Dan and Mike looked at each other.
“What we need is a plan,” Mike told her. “You need to buy us some time. Call your dad and see if Horner will let you speak to him. Make sure he’s okay, then tell him you’ll be on your way shortly.”
“Uh-uh,” Cole broke in. “Not happening. She’s not going anywhere near that place.”
“Dial it down,” Dan told him, his voice kind. “Nothing is going to happen to JL. Or her father. But we have to let Horner think he’s got the advantage while we put things in place. Damn. I wish we had Rick and Mark here.”
Mike shook his head. “I think all we need is you. Here’s my idea.”
Cole was sure he’d go out of his friggin’ mind. He had not been in favor of this whole idea. Putting JL at risk was not on his list of acceptable plans of action, but he’d been outvoted by everyone, including the woman in question. If he took emotion out of the equation, he could see what they had in mind made sense. But it also depended on split-second timing and on JL being able to do her part.
“Horner says you’ve got twenty minutes to get here,” Jed had told her when she got him back on the phone. “I told him it’s a thirty-minute drive from your place.”
Smart Jed, buying them extra time.
But his next words froze Cole’s blood. “He said if she doesn’t agree to come to work for him and bring the formula, he’ll kill both of us.”
Exactly what they’d all suspected. They hadn’t had time to fine-tune the plan as much as they wanted, but Cole was aware of how many tricky situations these men had finessed before. Mike had done a flyover of Jed’s place with Dan, who had taken pictures so they had a good idea of the lay of the land. They’d called Sheriff Davis and asked him to pull back. Then they’d put their plan into action. Now, Cole had to put his faith in these people to help him save the woman he loved.
Ten minutes ago, Mike had dropped Dan into the trees about half a mile from the Mitchell ranch. Carrying his sniper rifle, which he’d had in the helicopter, Dan would be making his way as close to the ranch house as he could. Using the pictures he’d taken, the men plotted a path to the nearest barn for him that would have cover most of the way. It was JL’s job to maneuver the men so Horner was framed in one of the two huge windows at the rear of the house.
Riding in the trunk of her car was a tight fit for Cole, but it was the only way to get him to the ranch house without Horner seeing him. The sheriff had blocked off a section of highway so Mike could set the chopper down, get his own weapons, and make his way to the house as yet another backup.
Cole realized he and Mike were only additional firepower. This all rested on Dan’s incredible skills as a sniper. Cole had wanted to do the job himself, but his partners had refused. A sniper needed to be emotionally detached, they reminded him, and he was having trouble getting to that point.
He felt every jounce and bump in the gravel driveway leading from the road up to the ranch house. Then the car came to a stop. JL must have pushed the trunk release because the lid popped open slightly. Cole waited until the door to the car opened and closed, counted to thirty, and eased the trunk lid up. Peering around, he saw JL at the front door. Jed answered, and Cole could vaguely make out the image of another person behind him.
“You asked for me,” he heard JL say. “I’m here. Now let me in with my dad.”
The door swung inward, and she stepped into the house.
Showtime!
JL wanted desperately to throw her arms around her father, but Horner had his arm around Jed’s neck and the gun pressed to his head.
“Inside,” he growled. “All the way in. You came alone, right?”
“That’s what you told me to do.” She was proud of the calmness in her voice. Inside she shook like a leaf in a storm.
“Get down on the floor,” he told her.
“What? Why? What—”
“Just do what he says,” Jed’s voice was tight with fear, but she was sure it was more for her than for himself. “He’s nuts.”
“Yeah, nuts.” Horner’s smile was pure evil. “So you’d better follow orders. Now, down on the floor, flat, arms outstretched. I want to check outside myself, and I don’t want you trying anything.”
She did as he asked, watching while he dragged Jed back to the doorway, gun still in position, and scanned the outside. She knew what he’d see: her car and nothing else. Sheriff Davis had moved his vehicles far enough down the road so they were out of sight.
“Good. Damn good. Nice to see you can follow orders. Okay, get up and walk ahead of me to the kitchen. We’re going to have ourselves a little talk here, and I don’t want to do it near the front of the house. I don’t trust the fucking sheriff or those mercenaries you hang out with.”
JL could have cheered. Dan explained to her she had to get Horner to one of the large rear windows, and she hadn’t been sure exactly how she would do that.
Once they were in the kitchen, Horner shoved Jed into a chair and pointed to another one for JL.
“Sit. We have some talking to do.”
He moved himself out of reach of the table so neither of them could make a grab for him. But in doing so, he brought himself even closer to the window.
Be in place, Dan. Please be in place.
She knew by now Cole would be around the house, working his way down low to the back door. Mike would also be approaching the house from the opposite direction.
“Honey, I’m so sorry about this,” Jed said. “I told him to go ahead and shoot me because I wasn’t going to get you here under any circumstances. But then he said he’d kill you anyway.”
“It’s okay, Daddy,” she told him with a calm she didn’t feel. “You did the right thing.”
JL forced herself to sit quietly and wait for Horner to speak. The man’s face was an alarming shade of red, his breathing choppy. Rage poured off him in waves. Maybe they’d get lucky and he’d drop dead of a heart attack.
“Okay,” he said at last. “Here’re your choices, girlie. I want that formula. It’s the key to saving my hide. Say yes, I’ll take you someplace nice and private, get whatever you need, and you can get back to work on it.”
“You stole my computer,” she pointed out, “and it blew up in that cabin. I’d have to start from the beginning.”
“But you know all the pitfalls now,” he reminded her. “You’ve made the early mistakes. I know how this shit works. I’m not stupid. It’s a lot easier to recreate than it is to start from scratch.”
“That’s true,” she agreed. “But I don’t work well with a gun at my head. Or at my father’s.”
“Too bad. Because that’s how it is.” Horner stopped, placing himself so he could shoot either of them but far enough away they couldn’t rush him. “So if you say yes, you and I and dear old Dad here are going to get in your car and get the hell out of here. And you’re going to tell that man of yours and the asshole sheriff that if they try to stop us, I won’t hesitate to shoot both of you.”
“Even though they’ll kill you if you do?”
“If I don’t get that formula, it won’t make one hell of a lot of difference.”
“And if I say no?” she asked. As unobtrusively as she could, she snuck a peek at her watch. Dan and Cole had given her the countdown, and she was doing her best to stick to it.
“Well, I’m not about to let anyone else get their hands on it. Get rich on it. So I guess we’ll all take that little trip out of here anyway, and when I get to where I need to be, I’ll get rid of both of you. So what’s it going to be?”
She dropped her gaze to her hands again, pretending to think things over.
“Don’t worry about me,” Jed told her. “You do what you have to for yourself, kiddo.”
“You shut up,” Horner snapped. “Or I’ll go ahead and shoot you now.”
JL wet her lips, eyeing the man watching the two of them. She’d figured out ahead of time what to do if she managed to get them in the kitchen. Shifting slightly, she pushed her chair back as if she planned to get up.
“You sit right there, damn it.” Horner pointed his gun at the ceiling and fired. “You hear me? I’m not kidding around here.”
JL jumped at the loud sound.
Take one step back. Just one.
“I mean business,” Horner repeated, and took one step farther away from her, one step closer to the window.
He stared from one to the other, the air heavy with his anger.
The sound of glass shattering broke the silence, and Horner pitched forward, falling heavily to the floor, the back of his head blown away by a sniper’s bullet.
JL stared at the body of the man for a long moment. She heard the chair scrape as her father got up, felt him lift her to her feet.
“You don’t want to see that,” he told her, and turned her face against his shoulder.
“JL?” The front door opened, and Cole raced into the house, gun in hand, looking left and right.
“In here.” Her voice was muffled against her father’s body. “I’m fine. We’re both fine.”
Cole reached her and tugged her into his own embrace.
“Everyone good in here?” The back door opened, and Dan strode into the kitchen, sniper rifle slung over his shoulder by its strap.
“Good job,” Cole applauded. “I guess you’ve still got the stuff.”
“Not that I enjoy using it, but thanks. Always happy to help take out the trash.”
Mike arrived, followed by Sheriff Davis and two deputies. Jed brought a bottle of bourbon from his den. Cole led JL into the living room and poured a short drink for her. He coaxed her into a chair before handing her the glass.
“Drink this, darlin’. You’re nerves need settling.”
“I’m okay,” she insisted. “I’m fine. Really.” Then gave lie to her words by bursting into tears.
Cole lifted her, sat in the chair, and settled her in his lap.
“It’s okay.” His lips brushed her forehead. “It’s over. It’s done. Finished.”
“I’m sorry I ever started that damn formula,” she sobbed.
“No, you’re not.” He stroked her hair. “When you perfect it, a lot of people will benefit from it.”
“Cole’s right, honey,” Jed put in. “This is a really important project, and a lot of people are depending on you.”
“We’ll take some time off first.” Cole tightened his arm around her. “And talk about a new place to set up the lab. But that’s all details. First, I’m going to make sure you get some quality downtime.”
Dan walked into the living room, Mike behind him. “They took Horner’s body out the back. I told them JL didn’t need to see it.”
“Damn straight,” Cole agreed.
“Jed, you might want to camp out at Cole’s until we get that floor cleaned and the window replaced.”
“I’m good. If someone can put a board over the window, I can handle the rest for the moment.”
“Uh-uh,” Dan disagreed. “That’s off-limits until we get it good as new.”
“Please, Daddy.” JL wiped the tear tracks from her cheeks. “Only for a couple of nights. I’ll sleep a lot better. And the hands can take care of the work around here.”
“Okay, okay.” His voice was gruff, but the emotion underlying it was evident. “Let me go pack a bag.”
“Sheriff Davis wants to talk to everyone,” Mike told them. “He agreed it can all wait until tomorrow, though. He’ll come to your place, Cole, and take everyone’s statement. We’ll keep an eye on Cassandra Grigsby, but I don’t think she’ll be a player after this. And I understand Thiago Cervantes is back in Argentina. I don’t expect we’ll see him again anytime soon.”
Cole rose from the chair and set JL on her feet. “Let’s get you and your dad out of here. I think all of us can use a good drink after this.”