The Reunion Mission (7 page)

Staying on his stomach, Daniel peered around the couch and zinged a few bullets near Ax Man’s head. While Daniel distracted the gunman, Jake snuck from the other end of the couch to the opposite end of the entertainment center. He gave Daniel a hand signal, and Daniel took his cue, firing at a vase near the front window. The gunman jerked his attention across the room where the vase shattered. And Jake pounced. Before Ax Man could react, Jake took him down and held him pinned to the floor with a knee between the gunman’s shoulders.

With adrenaline numbing his pain and his crutches still outside, Daniel hobbled over on his injured leg and disarmed Ax Man. He gave Jake a nod of thanks. “Get whatever information you can from him before the cops arrive.”

“Roger that.”

A whimper filtered out from the safe room, and Daniel’s chest constricted. “Nicole!” He pounded a fist on the steel door. “Are you all right? Open the door. It’s Daniel.” He paused, listening, but blood whooshed in his ears, drowning out all but his own thundering pulse. “Nicole!”

Chapter 7

N
icole snapped her head up. In the silence following the barrage of gunfire, a familiar voice called to her from outside her father’s office. “Daniel?”

Heart in her throat, Nicole eased Pilar into Sarah Beth’s lap, then scurried to the battered reinforcement door. She threw the massive bolt that locked the steel door in place and struggled to push the door back in the wall pocket. Once the barricade had slid a couple inches, a large male hand grabbed the edge and shoved it aside in one powerful thrust.

Nicole’s breath caught seeing Daniel’s brawn filling the portal, a gun in his hand and a concerned scowl furrowing his chiseled face.
Daniel.
Fierce, handsome and...
here.
A familiar thrill tripped down her back and settled low in her belly.

“You came,” she rasped in disbelief and joy.

His frown deepened. “Of course I did. You were under assault. You said you needed me.”

“I know, but...you were in the hospital.”

He lifted one eyebrow. “I checked myself out.”

Nicole blinked, her ears still ringing from the gunfire and her post-adrenaline crash muddying her brain. “But you...hung up on me.”

Daniel jerked a shrug. “I mobilize faster if I’m not on the phone.”

“Your knee—”

“I’m getting the impression you’re not glad to see me.” He narrowed a dark penetrating stare on her and stepped closer. “Did you really think I’d ignore your call for help?” The intimate whisper and deep pitch of his voice sent a ripple of pleasure to her marrow.

“No.” Maybe that’s why her first instinct had been to call Daniel instead of the police.

He reached for her chin and swiped his thumb across her damp cheek. “Who are they? What did they want?”

Nicole took a few seconds to answer, needing time, unlike Daniel, to mentally shift from the deeply personal moment they’d been sharing back to the frightening business at hand. “I don’t know who they are. I’ve never seen them before in my life. They were trying to take Pilar.”

His eyebrows drew together. “Pilar?”

She nodded. “That’s Tia’s real name—Pilar Castillo. Her father is a prominent judge in Bogotá. I was in the process of confirming her identity through the Colombian embassy when the men attacked us.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched, the only outward sign of what was going on behind those dark eyes. “You’re bleeding.” He touched the stinging spot on her neck.

“It’s just a nick. Slap a Band-Aid on it, and I’m fine.” She forced a smile, hoping he couldn’t tell how shaken she was knowing that a bullet had only missed her carotid artery by a few inches.
Keep it together
.

He scowled his discontent. “You can’t stay here,” he said at last. “You’re not safe until we figure out how Pilar’s location got leaked.”

A chill shimmied through Nicole. Not safe in her own home? Two days ago, when she’d walked on U.S. soil again for the first time in months, she’d believed the nightmare was behind her. She’d been wrong.

Nicole glanced at the dead man lying in the hall behind Daniel, and her stomach roiled. “So what do I do? Go to a hotel?”

The front doorbell rang, interrupting any reply from Daniel. “This is the police. Open the door. We have reports of shots fired.”

“I need to deal with the cops now.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze. “But I’ll be moving you and the girl to a safe house as soon as possible. Be ready.”

A safe house? She opened her mouth to ask for elaboration, but Daniel spun away and limped on his bad leg toward the front door where the police knocked loudly. Nicole turned and staggered back into her father’s office where Sarah Beth and Pilar still huddled together behind the large desk.

“Is it over? Is it safe to come out?” Sarah Beth asked, her face still pale with fright.

Nicole held her arms out to Pilar, who tumbled into her embrace, and nodded stiffly to Sarah Beth. “The police are here, and Daniel...”

She shuddered and tried to erase the image of the blank stare of the dead man in the hall. Daniel and his teammate had arrived just in time. She didn’t want to think about the lethal means they’d employed to save her, Pilar and Sarah Beth.

Over the next couple hours, the police interviewed everyone at the scene, including the surviving man from the trio that had attacked the women. Nicole’s father arrived minutes after the police and surveyed the ransacked house in horror. Nicole rushed to her father and hugged him tightly, reassuring him over and over that she was unharmed, only shaken by the attack.

Jake and Daniel showed the police their military credentials, and the preliminary ballistics assessment supported their claims of self-defense in the deaths of the two intruders. Pending an investigation, no charges were filed against them, but everyone, including Pilar, was required to accompany the cops to the police station so their hands and clothes could be tested for gunshot residue, along with other evidence collection.

The first long shadows of evening stretched across the parking lot of the New Orleans P.D. by the time Nicole and Pilar were released to go home. Jake and Daniel, leaning on his crutches, met them on the sidewalk as they exited the police headquarters. Nicole assessed Daniel’s clenched teeth, the lines of pain and fatigue around his mouth and eyes, and concern burrowed past her own weariness. “You should go back to the hospital. You need rest and painkillers, and—”

“No.” He shook his head, his eyes grim, uncompromising.

“Daniel...”

“No. We’re going back to your father’s place, but only long enough for you to pack a few necessities. Jake’s agreed to drive us to the safe house I mentioned.” He hitched his head toward the street. “His truck’s down here. Let’s go.”

“Daniel, wait. Don’t I get a say in this?” Nicole squeezed Pilar’s hand and squared her shoulders.

Daniel’s stern expression hardened further. “There’s nothing to discuss. These men— whoever they are, whoever sent them—aren’t going to give up just because this attempt to take Pilar failed. This is bigger than just an attempted kidnapping, and you’re in their way. They won’t hesitate to kill you to get the girl.”

Nicole released a shaky breath, nodding. “I get that. But my father can hire men to—”

Daniel’s chin jerked up when she mentioned her father, and Nicole hesitated. “Hold on. You can’t think my father had anything to do with this!”

Pilar inched closer, casting Nicole a wary look when she raised her voice.

Daniel arched one eyebrow. “I can’t?”

“Damn it, Daniel! Do
not
try to pin this on my father!”

Raising a hand to quell her argument, he leaned toward her, pitching his voice lower. “He may not be behind the attack, but we can’t rule him out as the source of the leak. You told him about Pilar, didn’t you?”

“I—” Nicole snapped her mouth shut. She had. Her father had promised to make phone calls to locate Pilar’s parents and smooth over any red tape regarding her presence in the U.S.

Daniel clearly took her lack of response as capitulation. “Until we know where this threat against you and the girl is coming from, I’m not going to trust your safety to anyone else.” Pivoting with his crutches, Daniel moved aside to let her precede him to Jake’s truck. Sighing her resignation, Nicole led Pilar to the street and climbed inside Jake’s dual-cab Ford F-150.

When they reached her father’s house, Jake ran interference with the senator while Nicole packed. Pilar clung to her as she gathered what few belongings she’d amassed since getting back to the States, including some clothes and toys for Pilar. Oreo, clearly recovered from the ruckus earlier in the day, hopped up on the bed and tried to curl up in the suitcase. Pilar’s face brightened when she saw Oreo, and she left Nicole’s side in order to pat the cat.

Daniel, who’d accompanied Nicole to her bedroom, sat on the opposite side of the bed with his bad knee stretched in front of him. He knitted his brow as he watched Pilar with the feline. “That’s not the cat I rescued for you, is it? The one I got from the storm drain was orange.”

Nicole paused in folding a nightshirt and shook her head. “No, that’s Oreo. He’s a more recent addition to the family. Boudreaux is around here somewhere. Boo is an old man now.” She cast a glance to Pilar and Oreo, remembering the events of that afternoon. “You know, Oreo and Boudreaux may have saved us today. They ran when the trouble started, but managed to trip up one of the gunmen, buying me a few seconds to grab Pilar and get to the safe room.” She grinned at Daniel. “They’re heroes.”

He tugged a corner of his mouth up and scratched Oreo behind the ear. “Sure, they get all the credit.”

Nicole placed her hand on his arm and held his gaze. “Not all. I’m fully aware that you risked everything to help me. Again.” She bit her bottom lip. “I’m not sure I can ever repay you for—”

He gave a disgusted grunt. “I don’t want repayment.”

“I only mean—”

“Is this everything you need?” He made an impatient gesture toward the suitcase. “We have to get moving.”

Fine. So he didn’t want her gratitude. Nicole raked her fingers through her hair and turned on her toes to check her room for anything else she wanted to pack. Boudreaux sat in the door to the hall blinking at her sleepily. Shooting a glance back to Pilar, Nicole said, “We’re taking the cats.”

Daniel jerked his chin up. “What?”

“Look at her with Oreo.” Nicole waved a hand toward the little girl, who stroked the black-and-white cat and snuggled close to Oreo’s furry warmth. “The cats calm her. Comfort her. And...I’ve missed them. Why can’t they go?”

Daniel rolled his eyes in resignation. “Whatever. But they stay inside. There are alligators where we’re going.”

“Alligators?” Nicole whipped a look of concern toward Daniel.

He raised a hand, forestalling her arguments. “It’s perfectly safe.”

“Why won’t you tell me where this safe house is?”

“Because if you don’t know, you can’t tell your father.” When she scowled, he added, “Or anyone else.”

Nicole let her shoulders droop in surrender as she moved to the back of her walk-in closet to retrieve the cats’ travel cages. Boudreaux saw the carrier and headed under the bed.

Nicole pointed to the absconding feline. “Grab him.”

Leaning from the bed, Daniel scooped the old orange tomcat up and eyed him. “So we meet again.”

“It’s okay, Boo. We’re not going to the vet this time.” Nicole held out the cage, and Daniel guided the wiggling cat inside. Pilar gave them a curious look when they caged Oreo, as well, and zipped up Nicole’s large suitcase.

“We’re taking the kitties with us, okay?” she told Pilar, and fumbled for a few words of Spanish.
“Llevémonos los gatos con nosotros.”

Pilar gave her a weak smile and nodded as she scooted close to Nicole’s side again.

“I’ll get your bag.” Daniel pushed off the bed and positioned his crutches under his arms. “You and Pilar go on down to the truck. Jake can get the cats.”

Nicole hoisted her suitcase from the bed and extended the handle for rolling. “Don’t be silly. You’re on crutches.”

He tried to nudge her aside. “I responded to your 911 on crutches, didn’t I?”

She nudged back with her hip, noticing how hard and lean his body felt as she brushed against him. “True. And I’m sure you could wrangle my suitcase down the stairs and out to the truck, if you had the chance, but...” She started toward the door, wheeling the luggage with one hand and holding Pilar’s hand with her other. “So can I.”

Nicole bumped her suitcase down the steps from the second floor, feeling the weight of Daniel’s disgruntled scowl following her.

At the bottom of the stairs, she met her father’s frown and sighed. Somehow her father’s disapproval bothered her less than Daniel’s, a switch from years past that didn’t escape her notice.

“I still think this is a mistake.” The senator stormed toward her, blocking her path. “Let me hire protection for you. Your safety is my concern, not these guys’.”

“I trust Daniel and Jake, Daddy. They’re who I want.”

“At least take my Kevlar vest with you, in case there’s more shooting,” her father pleaded.

“I’ll be fine, Dad. Really.” When Jake took the suitcase from her, she motioned toward the second floor. “The cats are upstairs in travel cages if you’d get them, too, please.”

Jake arched an eyebrow and glanced to Daniel. “We’re taking pets?”

Daniel swung to the door on his crutches, then paused and rubbed his temple. “Apparently.”

Jake lifted a hand in concession, then tugged on the brim of his cowboy hat. “This is your gig.”

Daniel faced her father and narrowed a steely stare on him. “If you want your daughter to be safe, don’t breathe a word of any of this to anyone. The fewer people outside this room who know, the better.”

Her father puffed out his chest and squared off with Daniel. Quickly, Nicole wedged herself between the men and patted her father on the shoulder. Pilar scuttled with her, holding tightly to the hem of her sweater. “I’ll call when I can, Daddy.”

“No, you won’t,” Daniel grated.

Senator White aimed a finger at Daniel. “Listen here, pal. Don’t you try to—”

“Dad, stop!” Nicole knocked his hand down and divided a frown between the men. “We’re all on the same side here. Can’t you two stop warring with each other for even a little while?” She smacked a kiss on her father’s cheek and flashed him a taut grin. “Love you. Try not to worry. And you be careful, too.”

Jake finished loading the truck, squeezing the cats’ cages on the backseat next to Nicole and Pilar, and they got on the road just as the night blanketed the city. Pilar curled against her and fell asleep not long after they reached the dark highway bridge that crossed the marshes surrounding the city. After the first few miles, Oreo and Boudreaux ceased their plaintive mewls, and the truck grew quiet.

In the tight space of the backseat, surrounded by darkness, Pilar huddled against her, Nicole experienced a déjà vu that sent a shudder to her bones. Gritting her teeth, she battled down the panic that tried to climb her throat.
You’re not in that cage anymore. You’re safe. Keep it together.