Dane - A MacKenzie Novel (10 page)

Her eyes stung with unshed tears as she
closed her front door behind her. A man like Cade MacKenzie wasn’t
in the cards for her. He was too hard, too demanding, and he’d
never let her get away with giving him anything but all she had to
offer.

She wasn’t willing to sacrifice everything
for a casual fuck buddy. That wasn’t her, and she’d let him
convince her she’d be all right with the non-intimacy of a real
relationship. But she had dreams of a family and a man who loved
her. She might have been engaged to the wrong man before, but at
least she was trying to find happiness. Cade had just given up on
it.

There was no way she could stay cooped up in
the house today. And she sure as hell didn’t want to face him when
he got home from wherever he was going. She’d just have to avoid
him. His late night visits and the constant temptation he presented
would have to stop.

It sounded good in theory. Now all she had to
do was convince her body to do as her mind wanted.

Chapter Seven

Fluorescent lights flickered in an unhealthy
shade of green over Cade’s desk, casting ghoulish shadows over the
case file he’d been poring over for the last hour. He’d spent all
day at the crime scene, making himself as large a target as
possible.

It wouldn’t be long before the cartel made
contact. At least, he’d thought it wouldn’t be long. Maybe his
instincts were off after all. He’d been in town two weeks, and they
hadn’t done anything but send him messages through the women they’d
decided to use the drug on. There were three bodies on his
conscience now. If the cartel didn’t make a move soon he was going
to have to do something to draw them out.

He’d delayed going home as long as he
could—at the crime scene and now at the station—but the cartel
still hadn’t made contact. He was sure it would have been
today.

Warm air ruffled the papers on his desk as
the heater kicked on, only heightening the smell of stale coffee
and sweat. He finished typing up the report from the crime scene
and shook his head at the cruelty of these men. He’d never
understood it, but he accepted it—to the point that he was always
surprised when someone did something good instead of the other way
around. There were no rose colored glasses left in his life.

The rundown bar just off Avenue P and
15
^th
Street didn’t fit the profile of where a drug like
Rabbit
was used. The clientele who could afford the drug
weren’t known to frequent seedier places to get their fix—where the
booze was cheap and the women cheaper. They didn’t want their
victims used up and rough. They wanted fresh-faced girls from good
families. Girls who had a future. Girls they could destroy. It only
added to the high when they raped them.

So Cade’s instincts started humming the
moment he’d gotten the call about another murder—the only
difference between this one and the other victims being that the
deceased was a prostitute. He’d made the forty-five minute trip to
the other side of town to the crime scene, when he’d had the sudden
urge to turn the truck around and head back to Bayleigh. Something
wasn’t right, but damned if he knew which direction to head until
he could get tangible proof of where they were watching him from.
He hadn’t felt eyes on his house, but that didn’t mean they didn’t
have them there.

The top men in del Fuego’s cartel had been as
well trained as any soldiers or agents he’d worked with. Hell, he’d
helped train some of them during his time there. If they didn’t
want him to know they were there, then he wouldn’t know plain and
simple. All he could go by was the instincts that had been
ingrained into him over the last sixteen years.

And those instincts hadn’t failed him as his
truck pulled up to the crime scene. He’d felt the crosshairs on the
back of his head from the moment he’d stepped onto the graveled
pavement. But only because they’d wanted him to know they were
there. They wouldn’t take him out so soon.

The victim had been brutally raped and
strangled. The syringe in her arm filled with the drug was just
overkill, as she’d already been dead by the time it had been given
to her. No one would waste a quarter of a million dollar drug on a
prostitute unless they were trying to send him a message.

And it had been one hell of a message. Cade’s
name had been carved into her thigh just below the number three,
signifying she was the third victim. The cartel was sending him a
message that they were out for blood. His in particular.

The cartel was playing a game he didn’t want
to be caught in the middle of. They didn’t care who got caught in
the crossfire, which meant he had to shut them down before more
bodies started piling up. Three in the two weeks he’d been in town
was three too many.

He closed the file he’d been staring at
blankly and locked it in his desk drawer. Thoughts of Bayleigh had
been bombarding him all day—visions of her laid out on the table,
drenching his fingers, and so fucking hot he’d almost come in his
jeans. She was distracting him, stirring up thoughts he hadn’t had
in a long time, and she was making it damned hard to keep his
attention on his job. He was here to draw out the remaining cartel
members. Period. Not to fuck his neighbor. And certainly not to get
attached to her, or let those emotions he’d thought were destroyed
after Carmen’s death come to the surface again. But damned if he
could help himself.

The station was all but empty except for a
few uniform cops coming in early for third shift. He grabbed his
leather jacket from the back of his chair and was just slipping it
on when his cell phone rang. The number was blocked and he knew
this was the contact he’d been waiting for. Someone at the DEA
would be monitoring the call and they’d be trying to run a trace,
but they wouldn’t find the source that easily.

“MacKenzie,” he answered.

“Long time no see,
cabron
.” The voice
was lightly accented and familiar. That of a petulant child who’d
grown up with a monster for a father and every creature comfort at
his fingertips. It had always amazed him the Carlos and Carmen were
related.

“I heard you’ve decided to be a city cop,”
Carlos said, the sneer evident. Local cops had been easy to buy off
in Miami. It was part of the reason the DEA had had such a
difficult time pinning down the cartel members. “Tell me it ain’t
so. It seems like such a waste of talent.”

“I didn’t realize you cared, Carlos. I would
have forwarded you my address had I known you were looking for
me.”

Cade made his way to the bank of windows that
overlooked the street and opened the blinds a quarter turn.
Headlights cut into the darkness and a few pedestrians walked along
the sidewalks, headed into the restaurant across the street. But it
was sparsely populated. There was no sign of Carlos that he could
see.

“Don’t think for a second that I haven’t
always known where you were, asshole. You think I would just forget
about what you did to Carmen?”

Cade’s gut clenched and he closed his eyes as
memories assaulted him, but he forced his voice to stay light and
uncaring. “You’ve got a faulty memory, Carlos. You see, I remember
your father putting that bullet through her brain. So how is that
my fault again?”

The breathing on the other end of the line
grew heavy with rage and Cade smiled. Carlos had never had the
control his father did, which was why they’d have a much better
shot at taking down the cartel with Carlos behind the wheel. Cade
closed the blinds and slipped down the back stairs, jogging down
the three flights to the gated parking lot behind the precinct.

“Listen closely, MacKenzie,” Carlos said.
“Because your days are numbered. Did you know the only reason
you’re alive is because my father gave the order that you’re not to
be touched?”

Cade raised his eyebrows in surprise at that
bit of information. “What can I say? Miguel always did like me
best.”

“And look what it got him. Serves him right,
if you ask me.”

Cade shook his head. He didn’t understand
families like the del Fuego’s—flesh and blood who would murder you
instead of stand beside you, betray you for a bigger piece of the
pie. His family might be a little overwhelming and wouldn’t
hesitate to butt into your business without asking, but they’d
stand beside you when times were tough, and they’d fight like hell
to protect you if you were in trouble.

Carlos’ voice was laced with pain and
bitterness. “Father said he needed you alive because it would drive
you crazy not being able to kill him. That not knowing when and how
the cartel would strike would possess you until you became
careless. You think you destroyed my legacy by having your American
soldiers and agents come down on my family? Homeland Security
thought they could capture my father and use his knowledge to their
benefit, but he outsmarted them. He’s been running the cartel right
under their noses.”

Cade opened the door leading to the parking
lot, and pressed the button on his key chain to start his truck.
The engine caught immediately, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
The last thing he needed was to find himself splattered in a
million different pieces across the pavement. The cartel was fond
of using explosives to do their dirty work when up close and
personal couldn’t be accomplished.

“This is all very fascinating, Carlos. But
you forget, I was there when Miguel was arrested and taken in. The
cartel is in pieces and your father is in lockdown. And you’re
starting to bore me. The last I heard, you didn’t have the balls to
go against dear old dad. So why are you here?”

“I’m here for you,” Carlos said with a sneer.
“I guess your friends at DHS didn’t pass on the news. Miguel is in
a coma. Seems like someone snuck in some bad shit and gave him a
taste of his own medicine.”

Fuck
, Cade thought. Someone should
have told him. If Miguel wasn’t in charge of the struggling cartel
then someone else would be. It was always better the devil you
know.

“Speechless, MacKenzie? Things aren’t looking
good for the old man. Lucky for me. Not so lucky for you. The
cartel is now completely under my control. And I don’t care how
much Miguel wants you alive. The orders are mine to give now. And
we’ve been watching you these last weeks, planning for your
arrival.”

“So come get me,” Cade taunted. “You think I
haven’t felt your eyes on me? I’ve been waiting on you, Carlos.
What’s taken so long?”

Harsh laughter assaulted his ears and he
checked his rearview mirror as he pulled out into traffic. He
immediately saw the black sedan pull in behind him, not even
bothering to be subtle about following. Cade recognized the guy
driving the car. He’d been a lower level soldier in the cartel when
Cade had been there, but it looked as if he’d worked his way up in
the world.

“You always were a cocky bastard,
MacKenzie.”

“But it was me your father was going to hand
the cartel to instead of his own son. Why do you think that was,
Carlos?”

Cade felt the waves of anger pulsing through
the phone and kept his eye on the car tailing him, testing how
serious the situation was by taking a couple of side streets and
cutting off a couple of cars to take a quick exit. The guy stayed
on his ass like white on rice.

“Because my father was weak, and he couldn’t
see a liar when he was standing right in front of his face. I never
liked you,” Carlos spat out. “And I knew you weren’t what you
seemed. Now you’ll pay for Carmen’s death and for destroying what
should have rightfully been mine. The cartel isn’t what it once
was, but I still have product and I still have loyal men. Don’t
underestimate me.”

“I’d never dream of it,” Cade said. “What do
you want, Carlos? If you think I’m going to make this easy on you,
you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Oh, no. It’s you who have had it much too
easy. What good would it do to kill you if you didn’t suffer first?
When was the last time you talked to your sister?” he asked. “I
spoke to her myself just last week. She seems to be doing quite
well. Finishing up her Master’s Degree and living in that big house
all by herself while her brothers are out saving the world and her
parents are doing a little traveling in their retirement years. You
should take better care of what’s yours.”

A cold chill slid down Cade’s spine and
terror gripped his heart. They’d taught Darcy how to protect
herself, but she was no match against Carlos or one of his men. She
was also head-strong and impulsive, which had gotten her into
trouble more times than it had gotten her out of it.

“Where is she?” Cade bit out, terrified he’d
be too late.

“Oh, she’s safe and sound, tucked into bed,
my friend. At least for now. But she’s turned into a beautiful
young woman. All that silky black hair and those violet eyes.
Should I fuck her first before I kill her like you did my
sister?”

“Stay away from her,” Cade bit out. “I will
hunt you down for this, Carlos. You have no idea what I’m capable
of.”

“I think I do. But I believe in an eye for an
eye, and I don’t see why you should have your sister when you’ve
deprived me of my own. It hardly seems fair.”

The urge to hang up and call home was
prevalent in his mind, but he held on, knowing that’s exactly what
Carlos would expect him to do.

“You know, MacKenzie, I’ve never understood
your appeal to the opposite sex. You hadn’t been in the compound
three days before Carmen spread her legs for you. Fucking
puta.
She’d been a good girl before you came along.”

Cade still remembered his surprise as he’d
broken through the barrier of Carmen’s virginity. She’d responded
to his touch unlike any virgin he’d ever known, not that he’d had a
lot of experience with virgins, but it had caused him to stop and
reevaluate the woman he thought he’d understood. She’d been
everything good and innocent in the world—everything the rest of
her family could never hope to be—and he’d taken a part of that
innocence from her because it had been part of the plan. He hadn’t
loved her until much later, and that guilt still ate at him.