Hunted (FBI Heat Book 1) (12 page)

Forty minutes later, Amber sat in a conference room inside the San Diego FBI office. Ben had expedited the security clearance process and gotten her into the inner sanctum without too much hassle. Since she didn’t match the picture or description on her driver’s license because of the disguise, some questions and eyebrows were raised. Without Ben to vouch for her, she would probably be sitting outside in his car.

He had left her with a bottle of water and run off. Hopefully, he’d return soon, because she was totally out of her element. After being secretly watched at the Dream Makers offices, the possibility she was also under surveillance here made her even edgier.

Tuesday had turned into a crazy day. Giving up her beloved Suburban for a stranger’s Civic this morning had been the first clue. Showing up for a meeting at a surrogate mother clinic with a fake husband ratcheted it up a notch. Waiting in an FBI office to find out who Maria was absolutely put the day over the top. She gulped the water and forced herself to remain calm.

The door was flung open, and a woman about Amber’s age with short, auburn hair marched into the room and then pulled up short. They eyed each other for a moment. Her expression said,
Who the hell are you
, but she didn’t speak.

“Hi. I’m Amber Jollett, Agent Alfren’s… neighbor.” She spotted a smirk before the woman turned it into a grin and sat down at the table across from her.

“Special Agent Staci Hall. Ben and I have known each other since the Academy.”

Amber bristled. What was that supposed to mean? Did the woman think she had a claim on Ben based on time known? If so, apparently he didn’t agree, because he sure didn’t seem like the cheating type.

“Uh, I’ve only known him about a week and a half.”

“How are you involved in this op?”

Damn, she had no clue, but she didn’t want to admit it to this abrasive woman. Besides, how could she explain something she didn’t understand herself? She was saved by the door, which opened to reveal a fortyish man in a gray suit.

“You must be Amber,” he said and extended his hand. “I’m Supervisory Special Agent Rex Kelley. And I see you’ve met Staci.”

“Glad to meet you.”

“Thank you for agreeing to help us. It’s always best to stick with a known commodity in situations like this.”

I don’t remember agreeing to help. And would someone please explain what this damn situation is?
Before she figured out an appropriate response to actually say aloud, a tall, blond man in a tan suit entered the room. He nodded to Staci and Rex and then noticed her. His blue eyes narrowed slightly before his gaze darted back to Rex.

“You let a civilian into the inner sanctum?” he asked.

Rex huffed.

“Play nice, Conrad,” Staci said.

He snorted and ambled across the room to Amber. “Conrad Regis,” he said, shaking her hand.

Amber had barely introduced herself when a third man in a suit and a young Hispanic man in worn clothing entered the conference room. Both of the Latino’s wrists were wrapped in bandages. The words
suicide watch
surfaced in her memory.
Poor kid.

His dark eyes swept the room frantically. “Where is Ben? Where is Maria?”

Ah, a clue.

“He’ll be here shortly to explain. Have a seat.” The newest suit nodded to Amber. “Hi, I’m Special Agent Dillon O’Malley, and this is Pedro Casas.”

Another clue.
Pedro, the subject of the call Ben had received the night they slept together the first time. And he’d left her bed and the promise of more sex out of genuine concern for this young man.
Compassionate. Unselfish. God, I’m in trouble.

She smiled. “I’m Ben’s neighbor, Amber Jollett. Glad to meet you both.”

“You find Maria?” Pedro asked.

“I—”

“We’ll let Ben explain everything, Pedro,” Dillon reminded him.

As if on cue, Ben hustled into the room. All eyes were riveted on him.

“Thanks for getting in here on such short notice. I assume you’ve handled the introductions among yourselves so I won’t repeat them,” he said to the group, but headed straight to Pedro. He sat down on the arm of the chair next to the kid. “How you holding up, man?”

Pedro shrugged. “You find Maria,
sí
?

“Yes and no.”

The guy’s expression turned grim. “Is she…? Is she…?”

Ben laid a hand on his shoulder. “No, she’s not in a whorehouse.”

The kid closed his eyes and crossed himself.

* * *

“Listen up now, Pedro, you have a role to play.” Ben walked to the head of the table, giving Amber’s shoulder a gentle squeeze as he passed.

“Ben will be organizing and running this. He has the most complete knowledge of all the situations involved,” Rex said.

“Thanks, Boss. I’ll be writing this up ASAP to fill in the details, but right now, it’s more important to get the ball rolling on plans for this week’s ops. Yes, that’s ops, plural. A lot has changed since our raids on the whorehouses.”

Staci grumbled something, but he ignored her.

“Amber works as a nurse at the San Diego Surrogate Agency, a surrogate mother clinic that is facing extraordinary competition from a new company, Dream Makers. When she visited that clinic last Saturday and Monday, she could tell something was wrong. She recognized their Dr. Ortega as being Dr. Raul Garcia, who had been arrested in Texas for writing illegal prescriptions. Dillon’s research has confirmed Garcia is a distant cousin of Enrique Hermosillo.”

“Holy shit,” Staci said. “Are you sure it’s him?”

“I met him. The physical resemblance is unbelievable. But I also snagged his coffee cup, hoping we can get a fingerprint match from his Texas arrest records. We’ll also run a cross-check in available databases.”

“Good work, Ben,” Rex said.

He acknowledged the compliment with a nod. “Amber and I went to a meeting at Dream Makers today, posing as prospective parents…”

Staci coughed behind her hand.

“… and we were shown a binder with bios of the available surrogate mothers.” He paused, making eye contact with Pedro. “I saw Maria’s picture.”

Pedro jumped up. “She is okay?”

He smiled. “She looked beautiful… and healthy. Since Garcia plans to use her as a surrogate, I doubt they’ve… hurt her.”

“
Muchas gracias
, Ben,
muchas gracias
.” Then Pedro frowned. “What is a surrogate?”

Ben cleared his throat and shot Amber a grin. “I’ll explain later, Pedro. Just remind me.”

The boy glanced around the room self-consciously and plopped down.

“More good news is the other four kidnapped women’s pictures were also in the binder.”

“They’re being held at this clinic?” Rex asked.

“No. Garcia said Dream Makers had purchased and renovated a small hotel to serve as a dormitory. I’m sure it’s more of a prison. I couldn’t get a location out of him, other than San Diego County.”

“That’s a lot of ground to cover,” Dillon said.

“I already have an agent checking property records.”

“It could be held by several layers of shell corporations,” Rex cautioned.

“Agreed. But I have another idea on how to find the damn dormitory.”

“Good. Let’s hear it.”

“Amber and I are interviewing five of the potential surrogates at one o’clock tomorrow.”

“The five who were kidnapped?” Staci asked.

“No. I thought that might be too obvious. I picked Maria, of course,” he said with a nod to Pedro. “Carmen, another one of the five, and three others. The women will have to be transported from the dormitory to the clinic sometime before one. We’ll have eyes on the ground outside the building, at both entrances inside the lobby, and in the underground garage. If we spot the vehicle on arrival, great, but if not, we ID it on departure.”

“Why do we care about the vehicle? Aren’t we going to raid the clinic and grab them while they’re there?” Staci asked.

“Always the patient one,” Ben muttered. “If we raid the clinic before we know the location of the dormitory, Garcia’s and Loco’s goons could escape with the remainder of the forty women they have imprisoned.”

“Good point,” Rex said, frowning at Staci. “I think I see where you’re going with this, Ben.”

“I’ll be wearing a wire while Amber and I are in the clinic so the women’s arrival and departure can be monitored off-site. We’ll also have eyes in the sky by then. When the Dream Makers vehicle leaves to return them to the dormitory, we tail them with the chopper and at least two cars.”

“Then we hit them,” Staci said.

Ben tamped down his exasperation. “No. I’ll post agents to stake out the place overnight. The next morning is Thursday, Loco’s delivery day. That’s when we make our move. We’ll have choppers out east of Alpine watching for the coyote to separate the men and women from this week’s border crossing. Once he’s been spotted with the women’s van, we’ll follow him to the apartment. If he leaves the apartment with any of them, he’ll be taking them to the dormitory. At that point, four teams will be in place at the men’s house, the women’s apartment, the clinic, and the dormitory. Only by timing the raids simultaneously can we prevent one location from warning another. I’ll be leading the dormitory team. When it’s clear we have Loco in position to be apprehended, Rex will give the signal for all teams to move in. Conrad will cover the men’s house. Staci, you’ll lead the team at the women’s apartment. And Dillon will head up the raid on the clinic. Any questions?”

“Not about the ops, because there are obviously a shitload of details to be arranged, but about H’s involvement. I can’t believe a surrogate mother clinic would provide the instant cash he wants,” Staci said.

“I doubt H is involved in the clinic. His new business is the illegal prescriptions for Oxy and other meds. H probably offered his cousin a deal he couldn’t refuse: a new identity, a clinic in another state, and a supply of surrogate mothers who have to work for free. And in exchange, Dr. Ortega writes bogus prescriptions for drugs H can sell on the street.”

“Oh, so that’s how they can do it,” Amber said, her eyes widening with sudden realization.

Ben nodded. “Yeah. Dream Makers’ fees are rock-bottom because they’re basically using slave labor.”

“Oh God, those poor women,” she whispered.

“We’re going to get them out of there, Amber.”

“How do I help save Maria?” Pedro asked.

“We need to let Maria know we’re the good guys. I want to warn her about the raid so the women can protect themselves if things go south.”

“Go south? Where? To Mexico?”

Ben grinned. “Sorry. It means ‘go bad.’ Shots fired. The guards grab hostages. We have to be prepared for anything.”

“I do what you need,” the kid said. “I know how to shoot.”

“That won’t be necessary, son,” Rex interjected. “I imagine Ben has a less risky role for you. ICE would run my ass up the flagpole if we let you get involved in that way.” His boss sent him an I-better-be-right glare.

Pedro looked completely befuddled by the “ass up the flagpole” statement.

“Yes, I do. I want to get pictures of you holding It’s-a-Girl and It’s-a-Boy signs to share with the surrogates.”

“Won’t it seem odd to have a picture of some random Hispanic guy with your signs?” Conrad asked.

“It would if I hadn’t laid the groundwork today when Amber and I were there. I mentioned that the photo of Maria looked like our neighbor. We’ll say Pedro is our neighbor’s husband. When Maria sees the picture, she should realize we’ve connected with her boyfriend somehow. If possible, we’ll slip her a note warning about the raid. If we can’t, at least she’ll know the good guys have found her and help should be coming.”

“Still—”

“I also want pictures of us in a new baby nursery we can claim Amber has had decorated for months. The picture of Pedro with the announcement signs won’t seem out of place then.”

“Where are you going to find an unused baby’s room?” Staci asked.

“I thought maybe you’d know of a woman in our office who had one. You know, a pregnant woman.”

She fidgeted and shot an embarrassed glance at Amber. “Nope. Ankle-biters aren’t my thing.”

“I’m not asking you to get pregnant. I thought maybe you knew of upcoming baby… parties—”

“Baby showers,” Amber supplied.

“Yeah, showers.” He waited expectantly.

Staci shrugged. “Nope. Again, not my thing.”

“Uh, maybe I can help,” Amber said. All eyes turned to her. “Mandy Clark, a coworker, just had a baby shower three weeks ago. She and her husband didn’t have the gender test done, so it’s decorated in yellow and green to be gender neutral. That could work for Ben and me…” Her voice trailed off.

Ben watched a blush creep up her cheeks.
What was that about?
“Yeah, that should work. Can you convince her to let us take a few photos without explaining why?”

Amber kept her gaze on the table, her hands clenched together in her lap. “Sure. No problem.”

He frowned. But there was a problem. Her body language screamed it. And he didn’t think it had anything to do with the op.

“Thanks for suggesting the Party Place for the baby announcement signs. We need to be in and out quickly,” Ben said, his tone stilted, not warm and casual as usual.

Amber cringed inwardly.
It’s my own fault.
What in the world had come over her at the mention of babies and her and Ben? “Sure. The store’s right over there,” she said, pointing.

He swung the BMW into a parking space, and they hurried into the store. Since she’d been there a few weeks ago picking up items for Mandy’s shower, Amber led the way to the appropriate aisle. Ben stopped at the end as if hesitant to enter the Baby Zone.

Amber made note of his dazed expression and kept going. She already had both signs in hand by the time he joined her.

“I can’t believe all this… stuff,” he said.

“This is nothing compared to the wedding department.” As soon as the words left her lips, she cringed.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Heat rushed into her cheeks and spread to her ears. A ripe tomato standing in the middle of aisle seven. She hazarded a glance at Ben. Bad move. He was studying her with that intense stare of his. “C’mon. You said we had to be quick.”

She felt his gaze on her back as she escaped.

When he caught up with her in the checkout line, he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her against his side. He pecked a chaste kiss on her neck beneath her ear. Tingles ran all the way to her toes with strategic stops along the route. Despite the affectionate gesture, neither spoke until they were in the car.

“What’s going on?” he asked, cranking the engine to a roar.

“Nothing.”

“I’ve read that when a woman says ‘nothing,’ it means
something
, and a man should be worried.”

“So now you’re a guru and a psychic.”

“No. I’m your… boyfriend, and I’m worried.” He pulled out of the parking lot and into traffic.

She gaped at him.
OMG.
He’d said
boyfriend
. Not
neighbor
. Not
friend
. Without any prompting. Without any coaxing.
I am sooo in trouble.

“Talk to me, Amber. Are you nervous about the surrogate interviews tomorrow at Dream Makers?”

“Yes,” she said with relief. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either.

“Good. A healthy dose of nerves keeps you on your toes. Are you concerned about the raids on Thursday?”

“Yes. I-I’m scared someone…
you
… might get hurt.” She gulped.

“Understood. Are you afraid Jeremy is about to strike?”

“Always.”

Braking at a traffic light, he turned to look at her. “But you’re committed to letting me help you get rid of him, right?”

“Yes, Ben, but…”

“But what?”

She shrugged and peered out the side window.

“Don’t stop talking now. We’re on a roll. Are you worried about…
us
?”

Her head whipped around. “What
us
? We were very up-front about no commitment before we… we had sex.”

He glared at her. “You make it sound like a one-nighter. It wasn’t.”

“Okay, so it was a three-nighter. Still nothing serious.”

He shifted gears, literally and figuratively. “Yeah, I admitted I was just recovering from a painful breakup and wasn’t looking for anything serious. But shit happens. You said you wouldn’t be living here much longer. I plan to change that.”

“There’s no guarantee we’re going to stop Jeremy. It’s always easier just to move on.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched. “Is that what you want to do?”

“No. No, it isn’t. But what I want quit mattering two years ago.”

“Only if you continue to let Jeremy win.”

Damn, here it was again. The age-old fight-or-flight dilemma. “Running is better than dead.”

“Hunt or be hunted. Look, together we can stop him, babe.”

“I can’t do this right now. There’s Mandy’s house.”

* * *

While they waited for Mandy to answer the door, Ben pretended to check his phone. It was easier than trying to determine what was going on inside Amber’s head.

Shit, he didn’t have time to deal with her indecision right now. He thought they’d settled the issue already, but obviously, she was having second thoughts. He also didn’t have time to figure out why it bothered him so much. He should’ve been happy with a casual, short-term fling. That’s all he was looking for, after all.

“Uh, Amber? Is that you?” Mandy asked when she opened the door.

She laughed. “Yeah. Sorry.”

“Um, what’s up with the… uh… disguise?”

“Oh, it’s just part of… this.” She shrugged and rolled her eyes. “Mandy, meet Ben Alfren, my… neighbor.”

They shook hands.

“Thanks for letting us do this,” he said.

Her gaze darted between him and Amber. “I’m still not clear on what ‘this’ is.”

“My folks are always hounding me about when I’m going to give them grandkids.” Something odd tightened his throat. He coughed. “So I thought it would serve them right to punk them with a picture of me and a woman they’ve never met, standing in a nursery as if we’re pregnant.”

Mandy arched her eyebrows. “I guess it’s funny as long as they don’t have heart attacks.”

“Nah, they’ll catch on pretty fast. I just want a moment of shock-and-awe.”

“If you say so.” She gestured for them to follow. “The nursery’s this way.”

When they entered the room, Amber sniffed. “It smells like baby powder. Are you practicing changing diapers?”

A foolish grin lit the expectant woman’s face. “No. I just like to sprinkle a little powder on the carpet to make the room smell… right.”

“Ah, that’s so sweet,” Amber said. She handed her iPhone to her coworker. “Okay, Ben, you take the boy sign, and I’ll take the girl. We’ll stand at opposite ends of the crib.”

They set up, and Mandy took the shot.

“Now let’s stand together.”

Another photo snapped.

“I have an idea,” Ben said. He took the sign from Amber’s hand and set both on the floor. Then he pulled her in front of him. With his hand splayed across her belly, he kissed her. And kissed her. And kissed…

Time froze for a few moments while he caressed Amber’s belly. He peered into the hazel eyes staring up at him, wishing he could see the pools of molten dark chocolate that were her real eyes. How would he feel if she really had their child inside her? Possessiveness and protectiveness surged through him.

Mandy giggled. “All right, already. I got the picture. Three times. You sure you two aren’t more than neighbors?”

“Oh yeah, we’re definitely more than neighbors,” Ben said.

Amber blinked and stepped back. “Don’t we need to be going?”

After thanking Mandy, they headed out. An awkward silence filled the car.

“You know we can’t use the last photo with you rubbing my belly. That’s not where the pretend baby is going to be,” Amber said tightly.

“Yeah, I know. That picture was for you, not for our charade tomorrow.”
To hell with this.
He cleared his throat. “You’ll be married someday, Amber. And you’ll be pregnant and decorating your own nursery. You just have to get rid of Jeremy so you can get on with your life.”

“I’m glad you said ‘you’ not ‘we.’ Don’t worry, Ben. Even if you help me get Jeremy off my back, I won’t expect you to take care of my other dreams.”

“You’re twisting my words. That’s not what I meant by ‘you.’”

“Whatever.”

“Ah, a woman’s way of saying, ‘Screw you.’”

Amber stared at him in surprise. “You’re right.” She chuckled. “Are we having our first fight?”

“I don’t know. Are we?”

“I guess. What does the relationship guru have to say about that?”

Ben laughed. “If this is the worst fight we ever have, we’re golden. C’mere.” She leaned over, and he kissed her. “If you can just lay low at my place until this op is over, I’ll take off a few days to concentrate on
us
and catching Jeremy.”

“Promises, promises.”

“Damn straight.”

* * *

Back at the San Diego FBI office, they paraded Pedro outside with the birth announcement signs. With him posed next to some generic landscaping, Amber took several shots before he relaxed enough to give her a genuine smile. After the conversation with Ben, she was relieved they had a break from being alone together.

“What if Maria does not recognize me?” Pedro said.

“Why wouldn’t she?” Ben asked.

“Because she’ll be nervous,” Amber explained on Pedro’s behalf. He nodded agreement. “Don’t worry. I’ll be sure Maria looks at the picture until she does.”

“Then what?” The boy’s voice cracked with emotion. “She will not understand.”

Amber grasped his trembling hand. “I’ll talk to her, woman to woman, and make a connection.”

“We’re also going to try to pass her a note. From you,” Ben said. “Does she read English?”

“She understands more what she hears than reads. I will write Spanish.”

“Makes sense.” Ben raked his fingers through his hair. “I’m not certain we’ll be able to pass it to her. Understand that I won’t risk the entire op for the sake of the note.”

“What if Maria thinks you are more bad guys hunting them?”

“Look, man, it can’t be helped. There are a lot of lives at stake.”

“What I think Ben is trying to say is that he doesn’t want to scare Maria, but it’s more important to rescue her,” Amber said, sensing Ben’s frustration. As much as he was committed to saving Maria, his responsibilities went far beyond one person, while Pedro had tunnel vision only for his girlfriend.

The kid shook his head. “Maria is brave. She is not scared. She fight you.”

“Will she understand we’re the good guys when we yell, ‘FBI’?”

“She know FBI is an American
policía
. But in Mexico, we do not always trust
policía
.”

“Shit, I hope she trusts us,” Ben said.

“I tell her in note. Okay?”

“Yeah, let’s do this.”

The trio returned to the conference room. Amber sat at the table watching Ben work patiently with Pedro to draft the note. The kid wanted to write a long, loving letter. Ben needed short and to the point. They compromised.

“If you were in Maria’s situation, how would you react to this?” Ben asked before reading the English version aloud. “‘Dear Maria, Trust Ben and Amber. The FBI will rescue you tomorrow. Stay down when the shooting starts. I love you. Pedro.’”

She imagined herself being kidnapped, torn away from her lover, and held against her will in a foreign country. Being told she would have to bear someone else’s child, whether she wanted to or not, would be horrendous. Not knowing if she would ever escape or see her loved ones again could only be described as heartbreaking. Any ray of hope would be welcome, regardless of how long or how brilliantly written.

Her eyes stung with unshed tears.
We’re coming, Maria.

“Well?” Ben prompted.

“I’d be thrilled.”