“Oh, no. Is he...okay?” Heather asked, her nails biting into her palms.
“Yes. Fortunately we had him well guarded, but the man who tried to kill him was killed in the scuffle, so we couldn’t get any additional information out of him. Regardless, my point is that Rickloff made some terrible mistakes. I could have told him what outcome to expect if he paraded you in public for Gonzalez’s men to see. Rickloff and Waverly may make deals, but Gonzalez doesn’t. Your sister—”
“Lily.”
He nodded. “Lily. She’s been living with Gonzalez for a while. She—”
“Wait, wait,” Heather said. “Everyone keeps saying my sister was Gonzalez’s girlfriend. Now you’re saying they were living together. You just showed me that he owns entire islands. That means he’s wealthy, right?”
Dante frowned, not looking pleased at her interruption. “Yes. He’s quite wealthy actually. He owns many legitimate businesses that we believe he uses to launder his drug money. But yes, he’s rich.”
“Does he normally spend money on the women he associates with? Does he buy them cars, clothes, things like that?”
“Of course.”
“Then why did my sister show up in Saint Augustine a couple of weeks ago flat broke, driving a car that wouldn’t even start the night we were arrested?”
The room went silent. Heather looked at each man, including Nick, waiting for someone to answer her, but no one did. “None of you have thought about that?”
“It’s a valid question,” Nick finally said. “One wouldn’t expect that Gonzalez’s mistress would have a rattletrap car and no spending money. I have no idea what this could mean, but I think Dante’s men should look into it.”
“We will,” Dante assured them. “But back to my original point. Your sister knows how the system works, that if she destroyed Gonzalez’s drugs, she’d be dead. So, when his lawyer talked to her in jail, I assure you the first thing she told him, regardless of how much she may love you, is that you’re the one who flushed that cocaine. She probably told him you tricked her somehow into taking the drugs in the first place. Basically, she gave him what he wanted, a way to place blame on someone else and not hurt her. But by doing that, she moved you to the top of Gonzalez’s hit list. I imagine his lawyer was supposed to bail you out of jail so Gonzalez’s men could abduct you. When that didn’t work, he took Lily and tempted you to the Keys with that note. Going to Skeleton’s Misery was like offering yourself up as a gift. The end result was inevitable, that Gonzalez would send someone to kill you. Lucky for you, Nick stepped in. Unfortunately for Nick, it cost him his job.”
Heather froze, her heart stuttering in her chest. “I don’t...I don’t understand,” she whispered. “Nick?”
His jaw tightened. “When Dante called Waverly to report what happened, Waverly fired me for not staying in Saint Augustine and for coming down here without permission.”
Heather’s stomach twisted into a hard knot. She knew Nick loved being a DEA agent. It seemed to matter more to him than anything else.
Including her.
If he hadn’t hated her before, he must hate her now. “But you were a hero. You saved Mark and me.”
“Exactly what I said to Waverly,” Dante said. “If it weren’t for Nick, Agent Watkins would be dead. Of that I have no doubt. And you would probably be in one of Gonzalez’s compounds right now being interrogated by Gonzalez or one of his men. Nick saved both of you, several times from what I’ve heard. He’s extremely good at what he does, which is why I offered him a position on my team. Unfortunately, he turned me down.”
“What?” Heather grabbed Nick’s hand. “Why would you do that? You shouldn’t lose your job because of me.”
He gently pulled his hand back. “For the same reason I defied Waverly by coming down here in the first place. I don’t want you to get hurt. And now Dante wants to put you in danger just like Waverly. I’m not going to allow that. After this meeting, you and I are going back home, to Saint Augustine.”
Panic bloomed inside Heather, making her legs shake. “I can’t go back, not without Lily.”
“I agree,” Dante said. “And I have a plan to help get her back.”
Nick swore, leaving Heather little doubt that he knew exactly what Dante’s plan was.
And he didn’t like it.
“Okay, what’s the plan?” she asked.
Dante grinned. “We’re going to play the identical twin card.”
Chapter Nine
“You’re proposing the same ill-fated plan Waverly proposed,” Nick said, his voice low and menacing.
“Close, yes, but far less dangerous, because I’ll make sure she’s protected,” Dante said. “Miss Bannon, believe me when I tell you I would never have agreed to Rickloff and Waverly’s plan had they asked me ahead of time. But the wheels are in motion and two agents were nearly killed. That sends the wrong signal to the bad guys. If I don’t bring Gonzalez down, I might as well declare open season on all my agents. To get him, I need inside information, which has proved exceedingly difficult with Gonzalez. His men are so afraid of him they’re loyal without question.” He leaned forward in his chair. “I’m proposing a twist in the original plan. Instead of presenting yourself as Heather, I want you to pretend to be Lily.”
Heather blinked, not certain she’d heard him correctly. “Excuse me?”
Nick mumbled something that sounded like “stupid plan” and “dangerous” beneath his breath.
Heather clutched the arms of her chair in frustration. “If Gonzalez has my sister, how can I pretend to be her in public? Everyone will know I’m a fraud.”
Dante shook his head. “Last night, no one thought you were Lily. You didn’t dress like her or act like her, because you weren’t trying to pretend to be her. Gonzalez had no problem sending men after you because you were obviously
not
your sister. But if you can convince everyone you’re Lily, he has to be more careful. If his men grabbed Lily in public, he’d be sending the message his mistress had defied him, and he’d be forced to kill her. But he doesn’t want to kill her. So, instead, he’ll come after you himself and try to bargain with you so you’ll go with him without making a fuss, allowing him to save face and not hurt his girlfriend.”
Heather shook her head. “This is all so confusing. But I’ll do whatever I can to save her. How will your plan do that?”
“After forcing Gonzalez out into the open, we’ll be able to follow him back to see where he’s holding your sister. Then we can get a warrant and raid the compound and free Lily. The beauty of it is that I then get to charge Gonzalez with kidnapping. I’ll take that to get him off the streets. Of course, we’ll have to figure out how to make all of this happen, without Gonzalez taking you prisoner as well.”
Nick swore. “Yet another reason not to use her in this crazy scheme. There’s no way to guarantee her safety. Your plan isn’t any better than Rickloff’s or Waverly’s.”
Dante frowned at him. “Waverly sent a civilian with one agent and no backup. That was stupid. I’ll send her in with plenty of backup. And we’ll have every possible escape route covered.”
Nick shook his head. “There has to be another way to find Gonzalez and rescue Lily without putting Heather in danger.”
“We have no way of knowing where Gonzalez is holding Lily. We need a way to narrow it down. If you have a better plan, please, tell me. I’m listening.” Dante leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head.
“Send your men to all the local bars,” Nick said. “Let them infiltrate Gonzalez’s network and gather information, find out where he is. Use all this fancy equipment and resources you have to launch a rescue operation.”
“That will take too long—weeks, months. Even though Gonzalez has hidden Lily’s thievery from most of his men, his close inner circle has to know what happened by now. He can’t afford not to punish her. And he’s not going to wait weeks or months.”
The unspoken conclusion seemed to weigh on everyone in the room. Lily was still in danger, mortal danger.
Nick glared at Dante. “What, exactly, do you want Heather to do?”
“One of Gonzalez’s men’s favorite hangouts is a marina a couple of miles north of here. There’s a restaurant on the boardwalk that’s considerably more tame than Skeleton’s Misery. We’ll have men inside and out, and scattered throughout the marina. Heather will wear a wire and sit as bait, waiting for Gonzalez to approach. She’ll walk outside with him and we’ll cause some kind of commotion to let her escape. Then we’ll follow Gonzalez without him realizing it.”
“Won’t he smell a trap?” Nick asked.
“Possibly. I didn’t say the plan was perfect, just that I don’t have a better one.”
“I don’t think he’ll show,” Nick insisted.
“You may be right,” Dante said, his tone matter-of-fact as if that didn’t really matter. “I’d give it fifty-fifty odds. But even if he doesn’t show, having Miss Bannon pretend to be Lily will stir things up. That might increase the activity in the compound where Gonzalez is holding the real Lily. If Gonzalez thinks the DEA is going all out to trap him and find Lily, he may have his security doubled or tripled where he’s holding her.” He gestured toward the screen on the far wall. “We’ve got eyes on all of his major holdings. If he starts making changes, we’ll know about it. Once we know where she’s being held, we can do everything the old-fashioned way, get down to basics and perform twenty-four-hour surveillance until he makes a mistake. Then we’ll get that warrant and go in.”
Nick stared down at the floor for a moment. Heather watched him carefully. She trusted his judgment. She wanted to save her sister, and she believed Nick was her best chance. If he didn’t want her to go along with Dante’s plan, she wouldn’t. She’d learned her lesson. But if he did agree to the plan, she’d do whatever it took to help.
Nick looked up and met her gaze. “Do you want to do this?” he asked quietly.
“I want to save my sister. If you think this is our best shot, then yes, I want to do it. It’s your decision.”
His brows rose in surprise. He stared at her for a full minute before blowing out a breath and sitting back. “All right, Dante. Reinstate me and put me in charge. I plan every single detail down to which men come along, where they sit, even what weapons they have. The second I feel antsy, I pull Heather out. You either agree to my terms, or we’re leaving.”
Heather couldn’t help but smile. Nick was all about conditions, and he was reciting condition number two to Dante.
Dante slapped his hands on his thighs and grinned. “Agreed.” He stood and held his hand out to Nick.
Nick rolled his eyes and stood to shake his hand. “You had this planned all along, didn’t you?”
“You bet. Waverly’s loss is my gain. Welcome to my team. When do you want the operation to take place?”
Nick looked at his watch. “Might as well do it tonight. We’ll plan everything out right now. Then you can work on putting all the pieces in place while I take Heather back to Saint Augustine for a couple of hours.”
Heather frowned. “Why would we go back home?”
“Because if you’re going to pretend to be your sister, you’ve got to look like her. That means finding the perfect clothes, which my sister-in-law can help with. But more importantly, it means going where I have a special contact with very special skills.”
Heather stared at him suspiciously. He looked like he was suddenly enjoying this way too much. “What special skills?”
He grinned. “Tattoos.”
* * *
H
EATHER
BALKED
AT
the entrance to the tattoo parlor. The look of distaste on her face as she stared at the sign over the door was priceless. Nick knew he was having far too much fun teasing her, but he also knew she was far too uptight and nervous for tonight’s dangerous operation. He needed her to loosen up, to have some fun, to relax. And if he enjoyed himself along the way, so be it.
She bit her lip. “Are you absolutely sure it won’t hurt? And that the tattoos won’t be permanent?”
Nick grinned. “Permanent wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” He leaned down next to her ear. “Show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”
She rolled her eyes.
Nick winked and pulled the door open, ushering her inside.
“I still don’t see why we had to fly all the way to Saint Augustine for this,” she grumbled.
“This is my home turf. I know whom to trust here. And we couldn’t risk anyone in Key West finding out about you getting these fake tattoos. They have to believe the tattoos are real, that you’re Lily, for this to work.”
She stared up at him. “You were just teasing me about having a tattoo, right? I know you don’t have any.”
“You sure about that?” He dipped his head again, his mouth hovering next to her ear. “We only made love once. Are you sure you saw every...single...inch of me?”
Heather blinked, her face flushing an adorable shade of pink.
Nick laughed out loud, thoroughly enjoying himself.
“Can I help you folks?” A man shorter than Heather, with tattoos completely covering his arms from shoulder to wrist, stepped in from the back. When he saw Nick, he smiled and held out his hand.
“Hey, man, it’s been a while. You here for a touch-up?”
Heather stared at Nick in surprise. He could practically see the thoughts whirling through her mind as she tried to figure out where his tattoo might be. She deliberately turned her back on him, pretending to study a book on the counter that contained dozens of designs.
“Nope, I’m not here for me today, Mitch. This is Heather, a friend of mine.”
Heather turned around and shook his hand, but she didn’t look at Nick.
“What can I do for y’all?” Mitch asked.
In answer, Nick pulled some copies of Lily’s mug shots out of his shirt pocket. He and Heather had stopped at the station earlier for the photos. They were the only pictures that clearly showed Lily’s tattoos.
Mitch didn’t even blink when Nick handed him the pictures. Apparently mug shots weren’t anything new to him.
“I need you to reproduce these tattoos on Heather. I need them to look exactly like the pictures, but they need to be temporary, lasting no more than a couple of weeks.”
“Afraid to commit, huh?” He smiled at Heather. “Don’t worry, you’ll fall in love with my artwork. I guarantee you’ll be back once this starts to fade. You’ll want me to make everything permanent.”
“Don’t count on it.” She allowed him to lead her to a chair that resembled the kind in dentist offices.
The bell above the door rang. Nick turned and smiled with genuine pleasure. He stepped over to greet his brother and sister-in-law.
* * *
H
EATHER
TRIED
NOT
to be too obvious with her interest as she watched Rafe Morgan enter the shop. She’d only met him once, after she’d called 911 about her sister’s abduction and he escorted her to the police station. She’d never understood why he’d been the first to arrive after her 911 call, since he was a detective and not a uniformed officer. But he must have been close by and responded when the call came in.
She hadn’t really noticed much about him at the time because she was so focused on her sister’s disappearance. But now, seeing him standing with Nick, she was struck by how alike they were in height and build, but how very different they were in other ways. Rafe had dark hair and dark eyes. He didn’t smile nearly as much as his blond brother, or laugh the way Nick tended to do. Rafe was definitely the more serious of the two.
“Heather?” A soft voice had Heather turning around. She’d been so busy staring at Nick and his brother that she hadn’t realized the petite woman who’d come inside with Rafe was now standing beside her chair. Mitch was a few feet away, in his own little world, studying the pictures of the tattoos as if he were Michelangelo preparing to paint the Sistine Chapel.
“You must be Nick’s sister-in-law,” Heather said, offering her hand and a smile.
The woman shook Heather’s hand and returned her smile. She pushed a thick strand of dark hair back from her face. Her chic-looking bob swished back and forth every time she moved. Her suit was perfectly tailored to fit her tiny figure, and looked like it cost more than Heather could earn on a month of stakeouts.
“Yes, I’m Darby. Mind if I sit down?”
Heather shook her head, and Darby pulled a folding chair from nearby and sat. “Nick called Rafe earlier this morning and asked if I could pick up some clothes for you. He said you might have some pictures I could use to get some outfits for the case you’re working on. I’d love to help. I know all the specialty shops around here. I can find whatever you need and make it back before Mitch is finished.”
Heather shot a glance at Nick. He was still talking to his brother, but he was watching her.
“Um, what exactly did Nick tell you about me?”
“All he said was that you were going undercover on a case together.” She hesitated, glancing at Nick before continuing. “But I know Nick fairly well,” she said, lowering her voice. “I can tell he cares about you. I’ve never seen him so...focused on anyone. I know you two have some sort of past, but Rafe wouldn’t give me any details.” She grinned. “Even though I tried everything I could to get him to tell me, after Nick called this morning.”
Heather sighed. “I wish you were right about Nick, but I’m afraid if he’s focused it’s because he doesn’t trust me. Let’s just say, he’s judged me and found me lacking.”
Darby frowned. “Hmm. Maybe you’re right. I could have sworn...well, it doesn’t matter. How about it? Are you going to let me pick out some clothes for you?”
Mitch laid out his tools on a tray beside the chair and waited expectantly. He was obviously ready to get on with his plans to pepper Heather’s arms and torso with tattoos.
Heather grimaced and leaned in close to Darby. “Thank goodness he’s not going to give me any real tattoos. I can’t imagine having someone stick me with needles and paint my skin permanently.”
Darby’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “It’s not as bad as you think. And the right tattoo, in the right location, can drive a man crazy.”
Heather laughed, surprised a woman as conservative-looking as Darby might actually have a tattoo. “Are you saying that you—”
Darby nodded, her face flushing a light pink. “Now give me those pictures so I can go shopping. By the time I’m done, you won’t recognize yourself.”
Heather gave her a wan smile. As she passed copies of Lily’s pictures to Darby, she felt her face flush warm. She wished she had other pictures of her sister, but these were the only ones. She and Lily didn’t exactly go for photo ops when Lily blew into town.