Hidden Prey (Lawmen) (13 page)

She blinked, the spell binding them vanishing with those few words. Her cheeks heated and she looked away as she stepped back. With her gaze still averted, she tried to pull her wrists from his grasp but he didn’t release her.

“No.” She looked back at him. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have—”

“Ah, hell.” He lowered his head and captured her mouth with his, still gripping her wrists in his hands. His kiss was fierce, demanding, like a man staking his claim.

This time when he pulled back, she looked at him, her moist lips parted, her eyes wide. His expression was as fierce as his kiss had been.

“I’ve never crossed this line before.” He kept her wrists clasped in one of his big hands. He brushed the knuckles of his free hand over her cheek and she shivered from the sensual touch. “But I don’t know if I can keep my hands off you, Tori. I can’t explain it.”

“You don’t have to explain.” She searched his gaze. “I feel it, too.”

“This isn’t a good idea.” He blew out his breath and his throat worked as he swallowed. “It’s not good at all.”

She opened her mouth to tell him that it was good, it was right, and she wouldn’t change a thing. She wanted him and she wasn’t afraid to tell him. But the words were lost in an instant.

The lights went out.

Landon’s senses went on full alert and prickles scrabbled up and down his spine. The room was dark, the blinds blocking what little light might have come from the moon or streetlight. It was completely and utterly dark. And completely silent.

“What happened to the lights?” Tori’s voice wavered.

“Get behind the door and stay down,” he told her. “I’m going to find out.”

A flash of fear crossed her face before she hurried to do what he’d told her to do.

He drew his Glock and peered out the doorway. It was too dark to see anything down the hall. He eased out of the bedroom and moved toward the living room, his weapon in a two-handed grip, the muzzle pointed up.

The TV was off, the living room as silent as the bedroom had been. “O’Donnell.” Landon spoke in a low voice as he reached the archway into the living room.

“We’ve got company.” O’Donnell kept his voice down as his response came from the direction of the front door. “I’ve called for reinforcements.”

Eyes now accustomed to the dark, Landon could make out O’Donnell’s outline to the left of the door. He’d be behind the door, waiting, if someone breached it.

Landon eased along the wall toward the kitchen and crouched beside the doorway. “Johnson.”

“I’ve got the back door,” Johnson’s hushed tone gave Landon a small measure of relief that the agent was there.

No doubt Jimenez’s men were outside the safe house. Landon didn’t think it likely that they had night vision goggles, so the dark would handicap them, too. At least Landon hoped they didn’t have that advantage.

How the hell had they found the safe house?

Landon gritted his teeth. He’d promised Tori she’d be safe here, and somehow they’d been found. Had he been followed? If so, how? There could be only three options. One, Landon hadn’t been careful enough and he’d been followed, but he was certain that wasn’t the case. Two, somehow when they went back to the scene, the cartel had put a tracker on his vehicle or the other agents’ SUV, which was one hell of a stretch. Three, a traitor existed in the DHS, a possibility that Landon had a hard time believing but couldn’t discount.

None of those options set well with him or seemed remotely possible.

Then how had they been found?

Gunfire erupted, the rounds of a machine gun tearing through the walls. Drywall and wood splinters exploded with the impact of every round. Landon dove for cover behind the couch. His weapon gripped in both hands, he peered around the couch and saw that O’Donnell had flattened himself on the floor. The agent propped himself up on his forearms, still gripping his weapon.

Landon took a few precious moments to move in a crouch to the bedroom Tori waited in. She was still in the corner behind the door. “Are you all right?” he asked her over the gunfire.

“Y-yes.” She sounded terrified.

“Stay down.” He spoke in a firm but calm tone, trying to keep her from panicking. “Be ready to leave when I come back and get you.”

“I will.” Her voice was small as she said the two words.

He moved back to the living room to see that the door was riddled with holes and a concentration of firepower was directed at the doorknob and lock.

The gunfire stopped, and in the next moment, a man slammed the door open with his body. Men charged inside. Light from the lone streetlight spilled into the room through the open doorway and Landon could see the men coming through.

He picked off the first man with a single bullet to the forehead. From behind the door, O’Donnell had rolled onto his side and he shot the next man. A third man had made it through and swung his weapon around to fire at O’Donnell, but Landon put the gunman down.

Landon swung his Glock toward the door again. Reinforcements had better arrive soon.

Shots were fired from the kitchen. More men were coming from that direction and Landon hoped Johnson would be able to hold them off.

Landon remained on one knee beside the couch. From his vantage point, he could see the doorway to the kitchen as well as the front.

Sirens now sounded in the distance. Landon prayed the men in blue from BPD would arrive in a hurry.

More shots from the kitchen and another man came through the front door, spraying bullets as he charged in.

Landon ducked back behind the couch until the gunfire paused. He rose up from behind the couch and shot at the gunman. The man twisted to the side just as Landon fired, and the bullet hit the man in the arm instead of the chest. The gunman dropped his weapon and ducked behind a chair.

In FLETC, Landon had been one of the best and he rarely missed. Unfortunately, this was one of those times. Landon peered around the side of the couch and saw the man peeking out. Landon got off several shots, but he didn’t know if he hit the man.

A loud crash, the sound of shattering glass, and then Tori’s scream came from the bedroom.

Landon turned and bolted down the hallway, peered around the corner and saw that a man had come through Tori’s bedroom window. The blinds were on the floor and broken glass on the carpet. Moonlight now streamed in through the window and exposed the gunman.

The man raised his gun and took aim at Tori, who was frozen in place near the door.

Landon took in the scene in one blink and fired at the gunman in the next blink, hitting him solidly in the chest. The man dropped to the floor and Landon kicked away the weapon. The man’s body spasmed and blood leaked out of his mouth. And then his eyes were wide, staring up at the dark ceiling.

Everything went quiet in the house save for the approaching sirens.

Landon swung his gaze from the dead man to Tori. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay.” She stared at the dead man. She didn’t sound okay. “Do you think they’re gone?”

Tires screeched to a stop outside and sirens were cut. Landon glanced to the window where flashing blue and red lights could be seen through the blinds. “I don’t know if they’re all gone or dead, but it sounds like backup has arrived.”

Footsteps pounded on the front porch. Shouts of “Police!” came from the front and the back.

O’Donnell called out, “We’re federal agents.”

“Put down your weapons and raise your hands.” Lieutenant Liam Marks’s hard voice came from the living room. “We’ll check your creds. Until we do, don’t make a move.”

“They’re with me, Marks.” Landon held his hands up so he wouldn’t get shot as he stood in the hallway and looked into the living room that was lit only by flashlights.

“Damn, Walker.” Marks motioned to his men to stand down and holstered his weapon. “What the hell happened here?”

“Long story.” Landon lowered his hands. “This
was
a safe house.”

Marks looked over the wreckage and the bodies. His officers were checking pulses and confiscating weapons. “Some safe house.”

Landon noticed the Jimenez Cartel tattoo on the exposed left wrists of a couple of the men’s bodies. No doubt most, if not all, of them had it.

Another officer stood on the threshold of the open front door. “Paramedics are pulling up right now.”

“Johnson,” Landon shouted when he didn’t see the agent.

“I was shot in the leg.” Johnson sounded pissed-off more than hurt as he spoke from the direction of the kitchen.

“Shit.” Landon growled the word. “I’ll be right in.” He couldn’t leave Tori alone.

“Don’t worry about me,” Johnson called out. “The BPD boys have it under control.”

A police officer stepped from the kitchen into the living room. “An ambulance will be here any moment for Agent Johnson.”

More sirens shrieked in the distance.

The power came back on and light flooded the house. Marks tucked his flashlight back into a loop on his utility belt.

Landon looked behind him at Tori. “Come on out.”

She followed him into the living room and Marks looked at her in surprise. “I didn’t realize you’re the protected witness in this place.”

Tori nodded, but said nothing. The look of fear hadn’t left her expression.

“It’s all right.” Landon met her gaze. “The cavalry’s here. We’ll get you someplace safe.”

She visibly shuddered. “I thought this was supposed to be safe.”

“It was.” Landon frowned as he turned back to Marks.

“Who the hell is after her?” Marks asked.

Landon moved closer to Marks and Tori followed. “The Jimenez Cartel.”

“Jesus.” Marks’ expression hardened. “How’d they find her?”

“I have a couple of ideas.” Landon narrowed his gaze. “And I intend to find out if I’m right.” He pulled out his cell phone and looked at Marks. “Can you stay with Tori for a few moments while I make this call?” When he turned back to Tori he said, “Don’t move from this spot.”

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t.” Marks stepped closer to Tori.

Landon gave her what he hoped was a reassuring look. “You’re safe now, and I’m going to make sure you stay that way.”

Tori gave him a slight nod. He turned away and walked out of range of being overheard by anyone. He pressed the speed dial number for the RAC, Sofia Aguilar.

“Sofia, all hell broke loose at the safe house.” Landon clenched his phone as Aguilar answered. “Somehow Jimenez’s men found her.”

“Is our witness all right?” Aguilar’s tone was urgent.

“Ms. Cox is fine.” Landon thought about how close Tori had come to being shot. “She’s scared but safe. For now.”

Landon watched as paramedics rushed to wheel a gurney into the kitchen. “Johnson was hit—a gunshot wound to the leg.”

“Goddammit.” Aguilar’s voice went even harder. “How is he?”

Landon glanced toward the kitchen. “I’ll check with the paramedics and report back to you.”

“I’ll be in contact with his family and get them to the hospital once he’s there.” Aguilar was definitely pissed by the tone of her voice. “How did Jimenez’s men find her? You’re certain they were his men?”

“They were.” Landon’s own anger hadn’t diminished. “I haven’t checked all of the bodies, but I saw the cartel’s tattoo on two of them.”

“Tell me what the hell happened.” As Aguilar spoke, Landon watched paramedics rush in the front door. A BPD officer directed the paramedics to the kitchen to take care of Johnson.

“Not a lot to tell. One minute everything is fine and the next the cartel is coming down on us.” Landon shifted the phone to his other ear and told her his theories of how the cartel may have found them. “I don’t know if it was possible to get a tracker planted, or our agents compromised, but I need two clean vehicles with agents you trust.”

Aguilar paused before responding. “I trust all of our agents, but I’ll handpick who is sent to you. We’ll have the vehicles swept, and I’ll also send two SUVs to get her to another safe house somewhere in the county. One of the agents will have the address.”

“We need to make sure the vehicles are never left unguarded from the outside.” Landon still couldn’t believe they’d been found so easily. “We’ll leave as soon as they arrive.”

“It will be taken care of,” she said. “Call me if there are any other developments. In the meantime I’ll call the ASAC.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Landon disconnected the call as Aguilar no doubt was now dialing the Assistant Special Agent in Charge in Phoenix to update him.

Landon glanced at Tori who was biting her lower lip. “You doing all right?”

She shrugged, but it was not a casual movement. “I’m okay,” she said once again.

Landon didn’t believe her for a second.

O’Donnell moved close to Tori, Marks, and Landon. The agent had a few minor abrasions on his face and hands, likely from being close to the wall when the bullets were slamming through wood and drywall.

“Thanks for staying with Tori.” Landon turned to Marks. “O’Donnell can take over from here.”

“It wasn’t a problem.” Marks’s expression was concerned when his attention returned to Tori. “Be careful.”

She rubbed her arms with both her palms. “I will.”