“It’s a good start,” she teased.
“This is just a start, Kara,” he promised, and then he kissed her, silently vowing to make this the first night the first of forever. She was his. He wasn’t letting her go.
***
Kara’s day started with the wonderful feeling of being wrapped in Blake’s arms, and she had been amazed it was nearly noon when she’d looked at the hotel clock. Any guilt at the late hour that might have driven her out of bed faded when Blake gave her a reason—or two or three—to stay a little longer.
Now, at nearly two o’clock in the afternoon, freshly showered and dressed in dark jeans, a turquoise silk blouse, and black lace-up boots, Kara exited the bathroom, expecting to find only Blake. Instead, she was once again submerged in testosterone overload, with Blake, Royce, Luke, and Kyle all present, all eating hamburgers from a takeout joint.
“There has to be a fire code about this many men in one room,” Kara said, as Blake, who was sitting on the bed, wrapped his arm around her hip and pulled her close.
“Hungry?” he asked, glancing up at her, his long, dark hair damp and loose, framing brown eyes that said he wasn’t talking about food.
“Starving, actually,” she replied, barely containing a smile sure to make their flirtation more obvious.
“Kyle isn’t,” Luke said with a bark of laughter. “First time I’ve ever seen him miss a meal.”
Kara cast Kyle a closer inspection to realize he actually wasn’t eating. He was slumped over in a chair, his blond hair mussed, though he wasn’t quite as bluish. “You any better?”
“I’m sitting in a room without a toilet,” he said. “That’s an improvement, but I hear you’ve decided to be smart about Alvarez. I won’t throttle you.” He winked.
Kara laughed and Blake’s fingers flexed at her hip. “Something I need to know about you two?”
Kara grinned. “Don’t worry. I drugged you first. You’re my number one.”
“Kara,” Royce said, drawing her attention to where he’d claimed the desk as his own again. “We were just talking about how to get you out of the cartel without blowing Blake’s cover.”
“Yes, well,” she said, “I was thinking about that. Before we pull me out—”
“Kara,” Blake growled, turning her to face him.
“Relax,” she said, her hands settling on his shoulders. “I’m not suggesting I stay in.”
“You just said—”
“I didn’t say anything. You cut me off. I was going to say that I have access to Mendez’s office. It’s Saturday. We should go in and dig up everything we can before Monday morning.”
“I don’t want you anywhere near Mendez.”
“The offices are closed, Blake. I know my way around. You and I can go in, and if we’re caught we say we’re auditing the books to find the thief who’s stealing drugs from the operation.” Kara glanced around the room. “You all know it makes sense.” No one said anything and she grimaced. “Come on, someone say something.” Still nothing. Crickets. In fact, the big, brawny, overbearing Walker brothers, and Kyle along with them, looked like deer in the headlights. Kara refocused on Blake. “They know I’m right. They’re afraid of you.”
“If only you were,” he complained.
She ignored that comment. “Once I’m out, I’m out. This might be our last chance to get to certain information. We have to do this, Blake.”
Blake’s jaw flexed. “I don’t like this, Kara.”
“I know. But you’ll be with me. Nothing is going to go wrong.”
Chapter Six
“Any luck?”
Kara glanced up from the desk she was sitting at to find Blake, dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt that stretched deliciously over his impressive chest, standing in the doorway of the human resources manager’s office she’d been searching for the past hour. She shook her head. “Nothing. I took pictures of the files for female employees who seemed like obvious targets for the trafficking operation, though.” Thankfully Kyle had hacked the computers, but pictures reinforced the evidence trail.
“Mendez’s office is clean,” he said, scrubbing his jaw, and while he was every bit the tall and dark, and gorgeous man she’d fallen in lust, and then love with, he practically radiated edginess. Her being here after Alvarez recognized her was making him crazy.
“I’ve only got a few more files and I’ll be done,” she promised. “We need to hit accounting before we go.”
“Great,” Blake said, looking relieved. “I’m headed to the lobby to dig through messages and then we’re out of here. Five minutes, Kara, and then we go to accounting. We’ve already been here too long in my book.” He disappeared and she quickly finished with two more files before she stood up.
Her cell phone rang and a chill ran down her spine. No one but Blake and the rest of his team had this number, and she was on mic and camera. They wouldn’t call her. She dug it from purse and glanced at the “unknown” number on her screen.
Swallowing hard, Kara answered the call and immediately heard, “Kara.”
Oh God. “Myla?” She started walking toward the door.
“Stop,” Myla said, sounding panicked. “Don’t leave the office. If you say anything to anyone right now Alvarez told them to kill me. And they said to tell you Blake’s at the reception desk and they have a gun pointed at him. They’ll kill him too, Kara.”
No. No. This wasn’t happening. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” a male voice said. “She’s fine but she won’t be if you aren’t downstairs at the back door sixty seconds after we hang up. And Kara—we have a camera on you, too. We’ll know if you dial, text, or call out. We’ll kill Blake first. That way you see the bloody results of your failure.” The line went dead.
Kara squeezed her eyes shut, and for the sake of Blake and Myla, she willed herself into “calm agent” mode, her mind racing. If she used the mic, Blake would hear and come to help, which would be sure to get him killed. She had to count on Kyle realizing something was off once she’d hit the stairwell, but she couldn’t let him know there was a problem any sooner. She had to get out of the building before they killed Blake. And what if they killed him anyway? She couldn’t think of that or she’d panic.
Somehow, she calmly walked out of the office and went to the exit door. Once she was inside the stairwell, she took off running. She had a tracking device in her boot, one that Kyle had assured Blake was about ten times better than the one he’d used on the boat. They’d find her. She’d be okay and she’d bring Myla home with her.
At the bottom of the stairwell, driven by her deadline of one minute, Kara burst out of the doorway and ran for the back exit, punching the red button and the glass. The instant she stepped outside, she was aware of the dumpster to her left—a moment before a man grabbed her. Another man was in front of her as she kicked, but they were too big, and the cloth one of them held found her mouth, fumes penetrating her senses. And just like that, everything went black.
***
“Meet me at the back exit now. Kara’s gone. Go now and I’ll meet you at the door.”
Blake went completely still at Kyle’s words for all of two seconds, before he took off running. “Do you have her on camera?”
“She took off down the stairwell and exited the back door, and—”
Blake was already in the stairwell, headed down the steps, and his heart felt like it was going to explode out of his chest. “And what? What happened?”
“Blake—”
What the fuck happened, Kyle?” he growled, jumping four steps to get to the next flight.
“Two guys grabbed her and a car pulled up and”—a pause—“she’s gone, Blake.”
Every nightmare he could possibly have came to life in that moment. His world spun. His stomach rolled and his muscles ached as he pushed harder down the stairs. Everything was a blur until he burst out of the back door of the building. The van his team was using waited with an open door. Blake was inside and it
was moving before Luke shut the door behind him.
“Tell me you’re tracking her,” Blake said to Kyle, who was sitting at a computer panel. Kyle pointed out the beeping dot on a large screen mounted on the wall. “That’s her. They’ve got a lead on us but we’re gaining.”
“Royce and the rest of the team are falling in behind us now,” Jesse called from the driver’s seat.
Blake cut Kyle a damning look. “I thought we had the exterior of the building covered. How did someone get to her?”
“They came out from behind a dumpster,” Kyle explained. “We never caught them on camera before that.”
Blood rushed in his ears and he flexed his fingers, fighting the urge to shake Kyle for letting this happen. “How the fuck did we not see them? And why did she leave in the first place?”
“You want to see this,” Kyle said, punching a keyboard. Another smaller screen lit up with an image of Kara. Blake squatted by Kyle, watching Kara take a call, and he saw the panic in her face, the calculation and fear in her eyes.
“Whatever they said to her, she felt like she couldn’t communicate with us,” Luke said.
“Thanks for pointing out the goddamn fucking obvious,” Blake spat. “Why don’t you point out how fucking stupid I was to let her come here today too, while you’re at it?”
“Blake—”
“Shut up, Luke. Just shut the fuck up.” Blake ran a hand through his hair and held it there. His scalp was splintering with pain. His chest was tight. Kara couldn’t die. Why the hell had he let her come today? Why? Why? Why? He was coming unglued at the seams. He leaned on the wall, fighting the adrenaline of fear and failing. He punched the wall and welcome pain radiated up his arm. Luke shouted something at him but he tuned it out. He was already throwing another fist. His knuckles hit steel and there was more pain, but it wasn’t enough to stop the image of Whitney bleeding out from the throat, or how her faced morphed into Kara’s. Kara. He was going to lose Kara, too. He reared back to hit the wall again and Luke grabbed his arm. Blake whirled on him and shoved him but Luke grabbed handfuls of his shirt.
“Blake, damn it,” Luke ground out. “Stop. Stop now.”
“If it were your wife, would you stop? Would you fucking stop, Luke?”
“You can’t save her if your hand is broken and you’re climbing out of your own skin. Get a grip, Blake. Get a fucking grip now.”
Blake sucked in a deep breath and let it out, and he suddenly became aware of his shaking. Jesus. He was shaking all over. He was out of control. He inhaled, and slowly, somehow, pulled himself back from the edge. Luke seemed to realize it, loosening his hold on Blake’s shirt and letting it fall away.
Blake turned away from his brother and lifted the lid to a locker sitting beside the tech setup, pulling out a shoulder holster and two Glocks. The cold steel didn’t come close to matching the ice in his veins. He should have killed Alvarez when he had the chance. He was taking Kara back and making sure that bastard never took another breath.
***
Kara blinked awake to the sound of soft music playing and intense throbbing in her head. For a moment, she couldn’t remember what had happened, but a rush of memories filled her mind. She sat up and blinked and then blinked again. She had to be dreaming, because not only did she appear to be in a sitting area of an office with a fireplace crackling in a full orange glow to her right, but her sister was sitting across from her. And, impossibly, Myla didn’t look bruised and beaten. She looked perfectly fine. She was also sitting next to Alvarez, smiling up at him, her hand resting on his leg.
“Myla?” Kara whispered.
Myla turned, her green eyes lighting with excitement. “You’re awake.” She jumped up from her seat and rushed past the shiny mahogany coffee table separating them to throw her arms around Kara’s neck. “I’ve missed you.”
Kara hugged her sister and whispered, “What’s going on?”
Myla leaned back, her green eyes aglow, her long, silky brunette hair groomed to perfection. “I found out you were looking for me and I wanted you to know I’m okay. Kara, I’m in love. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.”
“In love? With who? Ignacio?”
Myla laughed, and Kara noted the dress her sister had on was a clearly very expensive silver sheath no waitress could afford. “Ignacio?” Myla asked. “Oh God, no.” She motioned to Alvarez.
Kara looked at Alvarez and gaped. He arched a brow. “Is there a problem, Kara?”
“Yes,” Kara said. “Yes, there is.” She turned to Myla. “We need to talk alone.”
“Michael is with me, Kara. I’m with him.”
“Michael?” Kara asked. “You call him by his first name?”
Myla took Kara’s hand. “I want you to come back with me. Spend some time with me and Michael and see what life can be like for us.”
“Back with you? Back where?”
“She can’t tell you that,” Alvarez said. “Not until we know you’re with us.”
“I’m not with you. I’ll never be with you.” Kara’s hands went to her sister’s face. “Listen to me. Whatever he threatened you with—”
“I love him, Kara. I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.”
Kara shook her head. “No.” Myla’s words didn’t ring true. Not in her tone. Not from her sister. Myla hated crime. She hated everything associated with its poison. “No, I don’t believe you. Our parents—”
“Michael would kill anyone who tried to hurt us.”
There was a coldness to her tone that Kara barely recognized from her sister. “Do you know who and what he is?”
“You don’t know all there is to know about him.” She took Kara’s hand again. “I need you in my life.”
“I can’t be in your life if you’re with him. I won’t.”
Tears suddenly pooled in Myla’s eyes. “I don’t want to say goodbye to you.” She wrapped her arms around Kara, holding her as if she was clinging for life.
“Please don’t stay with him,’ Kara whispered.
“I have to,” Myla whispered. “You have to see that.”
Was there torment in her words? Kara leaned back to try to read her sister, but Myla pushed away and stood up. “Goodbye, Kara,” she said, and the tears were gone.
Alvarez stepped beside Myla, taking her hand in his. “You will be escorted back to your hotel, Kara.”
Hotel? He’d said hotel, not apartment. He knew where she’d been staying? The door to the office opened and a man with a well-equipped shoulder holster stepped inside. Myla and Alvarez turned away and Kara’s heart lurched. “Myla, wait!”
Myla turned. “You’ll come?”
“No. Don’t go.”
“I have to go.” She walked toward the man with the gun and he held the door open.
Kara took a step forward, but the man stepped in front of Myla and Alvarez and placed his hand on his weapon. Law Enforcement 101 replayed in her mind. Bullets didn’t believe in second chances. All Kara could do was watch the door shut and feel helpless.
Seconds turned into minutes and she didn’t move. She just stood there, staring at the man with the gun, him staring back at her. Suddenly, a roaring sound filled the room, radiating through the ceiling. A helicopter. Myla was leaving on a helicopter. Panic rushed over Kara. She could never track Myla if she left by sky. Her mind raced, seeking a solution, but before she could come up with one, the door behind her burst open. The man guarding her whirled around and pulled his gun. A second later he was on the ground and Blake was holding the gun that had put him there.
“Myla!” Kara screamed, running towards him. “The chopper!”
Blake handed her a gun and Kara gladly accepted it, and in the process he grabbed her and kissed her. “Don’t ever fucking scare me like this again.”
“I’ll try,” she promised. “My sister, Blake. She’s with Alvarez on that chopper.” She took off for the hallway of what appeared to be an office building, with Blake on her heels.
“Here!
” he shouted, pointing at a stairwell entry.
The charge up the four flights of steps was eternal, and they cleared the door and made their way to the roof too late. The chopper was lifting off. Kara slumped in defeat. “No. No. No.” She turned to Blake and shouted. “Alvarez is with her. He has her. He—” A blast sounded and Kara and Blake both turned to watch the chopper go up in flames.
Shock surged through Kara and the gun fell from her hand. She began to shake, and she couldn’t catch her breath. “No. No. Nononononono.” And then her knees gave way and she was falling. Blake caught her to him and she grabbed his shirt, tears streaming down her cheeks, a waterfall she couldn’t control. “Save her. Please. I…Please. Help her, Blake. You have to help her.”
He pulled her tight against him and hugged her, and she clung to him, the only strength she had left. “I’m here, Kara. I’m here.”
But Myla was gone.
Chapter Seven
After hours of officials swarming the secluded office building off the San Francisco shoreline, feeling hollow and stunned, Kara sat in the back seat of a van. Blake was beside her, practically attached to her side, acting like he’d never let her go again. And she needed that. She needed him. Without Blake, she wouldn’t even be sitting upright, trying to survive.
“Send it to my phone,” Kyle said and ended a call, punching a button on his cell and watching something on the screen.
“You okay?” Blake asked.
Kara teased a strand of his hair, wishing she could wash the torment from his eyes. It had killed him to think she might be dead. Like losing Myla was killing her. “Yes,” she whispered. “Because of you.”
“You need to see something,” Kyle said, moving to squat in front of them.
“When you say that it’s never good,” Blake said grumpily. “Not now.”
“This time it’s good,” Kyle insisted.
“Nothing can be good right now, Kyle,” Kara said, and when she thought she was done crying, her eyes burned all over again.