The Millionaire Cowboy's Secret (15 page)

“Cut the bull,” Diego snarled. “José has told us that you know all about this.”

Matt froze. José. Again. None of this made sense. “Let me talk to him,” he demanded. “I need to make sure he’s safe.”

Again the chilling laugh. “Do not worry, Señor Landeta. José is still alive. We have given him something to help with the pain. Perhaps you’re familiar with his addiction to heroin?”

Damn it. Matt closed his eyes. José had been doing so well. He’d dried out while in prison and had stayed clean the two years since getting out. He regularly attended his Narcotics Anonymous meetings. If they had given him heroin...

Tamping down a burst of pure fury, Matt bit back any response. It wouldn’t be good for this scum to know what a bull’s-eye his words had been. One thing he had learned over the years was to never let your enemy know your weakness. Never.

Especially since he couldn’t be certain Diego was telling the truth.

“I’m still waiting for your answer,” Diego said, his voice impatient.

Answer? How could he decide anything until he knew the truth?

In the bathroom, the shower cut off.

Matt needed to talk to Skylar. He could use her clear head to help him come up with some sort of a plan. “I need some time to think.” Hopefully, he could stall Diego.

“You have one hour, no more. I will call you then.” And Diego ended the call.

When Matt looked up, he saw Skylar watching, her hair still wet from her shower, her hands jammed into her pockets. “I take it that wasn’t José,” she said drily.

“No.” For the space of a heartbeat their gazes locked. “Everything has gotten way too far out of hand,” he said. “This time it was Diego Rodriguez.”

She frowned. “What’d he say?”

So he told her. When he’d finished, she dragged her hand through her hair, her expression mirroring his shock and disbelief. “I don’t understand,” she finally said. “There’s still a chance that Diego’s lying about having José, but why?”

“Or—” he hated to say it, but had no choice “—José is working on his own with La Familia and is somehow double-crossing Diego Rodriguez.”

“That would be playing an extremely dangerous game.

“He knows I’m an ATF agent.” She stared off into the distance, considering. “And the heroin thing. How would he know something like that?”

“Exactly. He’d have no way of knowing unless José told him.”

“You’ve been sort of doing the same thing, you know,” she said. “Playing two powerful factions off each other. Both are inherently evil.”

“No, that’s where you’re wrong. Diego is the one who is trying to break away from La Familia. All I’ve done is pretend to offer him the necessary ammunition to help him do it.”

“Perhaps.” She conceded the point with a slight smile. “But you still had to realize La Familia would get involved.”

“Actually, I was hoping they wouldn’t. I don’t know how they found out, but Diego is a dead man. They don’t mess around when their own people are disloyal.”

“Then he must be even more desperate.”

“I’m thinking he needs the ammo more than ever, especially if he’s managed to amass a small army of followers. He’s got nothing to lose, so if he goes out in a blaze of gunfire, that’s better than torture and mutilation.”

“More desperate equals more dangerous,” she said. “And what’s up with this whole trading-me-for-him thing? What the hell good is that going to do?”

“He says he plans to use you as a bargaining tool to get the ATF off his back.”

She shook her head. “Obviously he has no clue how this works. If he was holding me, the ATF would pull out all the stops to rescue me and get me back safe and sound. They’d call on other agencies, if necessary.”

While in Special Forces, Matt had been a part of a few of these rescue attempts himself, so he knew she was right. “Well, if he doesn’t know that La Familia is onto him, I’m guessing he thinks the might of the cartel would protect him.”

“I guess so.” Skylar gave him a grim smile. “But in this case, he’d be wrong.” Taking a deep breath, she continued, “So let’s outline what we’ve got. José says he’s being held and that they’re ordering him to reveal the location of your stockpile.”

“Right.” He nodded. “And the ATF already
does
know the location, though we have no idea where they got the info.”

She played along. “And since the other person who knew that besides you is José, he’s the only one who could have told them.”

Though he blanched, he had no choice but to agree. “That would mean he’s playing several sides at once.”

“Yes, it would.”

“Meanwhile,” he continued, “I don’t understand why Diego Rodriguez would want to trade you for José. What’s the point of that?”

After a moment, she snapped her fingers. “I know. Here’s what I think. Whether or not José is working with them or is a prisoner, let’s assume Diego is the one who has him. He gets José to give him the location of your stockpile. He wants to set up this trade—knowing it’s not going to happen, but thinking you’ll try—as a distraction so he won’t have a problem getting the ammo out.”

Considering her words, he nodded. “In that scenario, José warning us wouldn’t be part of the plan.”

“True. But it would mean that José somehow found a way to call us without them knowing.”

“Or that they ordered him to phone but the person listening to the call spoke only Spanish, not English.”

She smiled. “It could happen. It’s a little far out there, but you never know.”

Exhaling, he wished he could express to her how much her determination to help him get to the truth—as opposed to trying to bulldoze him to her way of thinking—meant to him.

“Thank you” was all he could say.

Her smile widened. “You’re welcome.”

“We have one hour. Now we just have to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“I like the way you included me in that,” she said lightly. “Thank you for that.”

“We’re a team.” Though he kept his tone casual, he knew she understood how important this was to him.

A muscle worked in her jaw as she swallowed. “We are that, aren’t we?”

Touching her shoulder lightly, Matt pulled back so he could see her face. Though her eyes were suspiciously bright, she hadn’t started crying, for which he was grateful.

“I think we make a good team,” he said softly.

“So do I,” she agreed.

He took a deep breath. “Can I ask you something?”

She shrugged. “I guess. About what?”

“About you.”

Though she frowned, she readily agreed. “Go ahead.”

Bracing himself for her reaction, he pushed ahead. “Did you get him? The man who killed your husband and son?”

She stared at him, her green eyes going dark with remembered pain. “You mean did I get vengeance, like you want to do with Diego Rodriguez?”

“Yes.”

Straightening her spine, she inhaled deeply. “No. Not like that. I got justice instead. He was captured—the Dallas police were able to make an arrest. I attended when he stood trial. He was found guilty and is now serving life imprisonment without parole.”

Her brusque tone told him she was finished, that she no longer wished to discuss this particular topic,

But he wasn’t. Though he knew he shouldn’t ask, he couldn’t help himself. He truly needed to know. “Did that help you at all, Skylar? Were you able to sleep better at night, knowing that son of a bitch is behind bars?”

The tiny lift of her chin told him how she was going to answer. “No,” she admitted. “Not at all.”

“There you go.” Hoping he’d made his point, he waited for comprehension to dawn in her beautiful eyes.

“I see what you’re trying to say,” she admitted, her expression still grave. “But I can’t say it would have helped any more if he’d been killed in a police shoot-out or sentenced to death by lethal injection.”

“I find that hard to believe,” he said.

She shrugged. “Believe what you want, Matt. But in the end, nothing can bring your family back.”

Stunned, he eyed her, wishing—hell,
yearning
—for her to be wrong.

But he knew she only told the truth.

He swallowed hard. “You know what? José said the exact same thing.”

And one more truth—one final thing he wouldn’t say out loud. He’d known José was right all along and he hadn’t cared. Nothing would bring his family back. That was a given.

But he owed it to them—and to
himself
—to avenge their deaths. Because he honestly believed once he did the hard knot that clenched like a vise around his heart might finally disintegrate.

Chapter 14

L
eaving Matt to wrestle with his own demons, Skylar headed out to the camper, ostensibly to let Talia out. With everything that was going on, especially after learning of José’s capture, she had a few calls of her own to make. It was time she told her supervisor everything, including the fact that her cover was blown. Everything except the fact that she’d told a tiny white lie about where the ammunition was being stored.

She considered herself lucky that David himself answered the phone. Keeping her voice unemotional and professional, she reported to him exactly what was going on, including the fact that her cover had been blown.

David cursed. “That’s not good. Not good at all.”

Inwardly wincing, she took a deep breath. “I know. And there’s more. The cartel is also apparently aware that I’m ATF. They want Matt to exchange me for his friend José.”

“What?” Now she’d succeeded in shocking the unflappable David. “He told you this?”

“Yes.”

He cursed. “Is he crazy?”

“No. We—I—believe Rodriguez feels if he had me as a captive it would give him some sort of bargaining leverage against the ATF.”

David snorted. “You and I know differently. Out of curiosity, what does Landeta want to do?”

“He isn’t sure. He asked my opinion.”

“I see.” The phone line went silent while David considered. “You do understand that this is out of the question? I cannot allow any of my agents to be at risk.”

Skylar forced a chuckle. “Of course, sir. I honestly think this is just a ploy. They’re throwing a lot of scenarios out there and trying to see which ones stick.”

“Even if that’s the case, I’ll need you to come in” was his response, as she’d expected. Standard procedure, for her own protection. After all, her boss was a play-it-by-the-book type of person.

“I think I can still do some good here,” she said, still warring with herself internally whether or not to spill all of the beans.

“How so?” he asked mockingly. “Your cover is shot to hell, and people are disappearing left and right. Even the damn Mexican cartel knows who you are. You could be next.”

“Maybe,” she conceded. “But I don’t think so.”

“Explain.”

Taking a deep breath, she told David what Matt had said about his family and the cartel, and how he’d stockpiled the ammunition merely as bait to bring Diego to him.

“And you believe this nonsense?” David’s scathing tone told her he did not. “Matt Landeta is all about the almighty dollar. He’s gone through elaborate methods to keep his wealth hidden—we know he’s a multimillionaire several times over, but haven’t been able to pinpoint the source of all that money.”

“So you think that means it was gained illegally?” she finished for him.

“Exactly.”

“Not true. He told me he won the lottery.”

David snorted. “And you believed him? He’s lying, Skylar. Face facts.”

“But Matt’s not the kind of person who—”

“Who what?” David barked, making her realize she’d just revealed way too much.

This time, she had enough sense to remain silent.

But it was too late. She’d already given herself away.

“You’re coming in,” he said. “Now.”

“But, sir—”

“Do I have to remind you that none of this is personal?” Relentlessly harsh, he hammered the words through the phone. “You are a federal agent and are there to uphold the law. Nothing more, nothing less. If Matt Landeta is breaking the law, you—or in this case, we—will have no choice but to arrest him. Regardless of the reason behind his actions. Where the law is concerned, reasons don’t matter. Is that understood?”

Textbook. She’d learned all this at Quantico. Well aware of how much she’d managed to make herself look like a fool, Skylar swallowed hard and answered in the affirmative.

A long silence while her boss considered. “We’ll debrief you fully when you get back to headquarters. In the meantime, is there anything else you would like to report?”

“No, sir. That’s everything.” Throat tight, Skylar knew for the first time in her career she was going to disobey a direct order. Up until this particular assignment, her job had been more important than anything.

Now she’d found something that meant more.

Saddened but resolved, she decided to give it one more try. “Sir, please let me stay. I’ve worked super hard on this case. I think I can still do some good here.”

“No.” He didn’t even hesitate. “I’m pulling you now. You’re in too much danger with your cover blown.”

Aware that no amount of arguing would sway him, she kept quiet.

Taking her silence for assent, David continued, “Now that we’ve settled that, let me fill you in on what we’ve learned. The cartel—La Familia, to be exact—is now aware of the location of the stored ammunition. Perhaps this is due to their capture of José Nivas.”

Skylar waited expectantly. Would the location be the false one she’d reported earlier? If so, Matt and José would be right. There had to be a mole inside the ATF.

But David’s next words were worse.

“Your intel was wrong, incidentally,” he continued. “The stockpile is not inside the basement of the original ranch house. Landeta keeps it in some large caves on a remote part of his property.”

“Seriously?” she blurted. “Where are they located?”

“We’re getting the exact location now. We’ve got somebody undercover working the border. He got word that La Familia has been looking for the site and finally was successful.”

“What about the other group?” she blurted. “Diego Rodriguez and his people, the ones who’ve supposedly captured José Nivas. Do they know where it is, as well?”

“That, I couldn’t tell you. But it’s highly likely,” he said. “We’ve learned that there are two groups involved. La Familia, the big, bad guys. And a second, splinter group, headed by your Diego Rodriguez. La Familia plans to take the ammo. We believe Diego is the one with whom Landeta has been making arrangements for purchase. Rodriguez is apparently trying to split off from them and form his own fledgling cartel. La Familia doesn’t take kindly to stuff like that.”

He cleared his throat while she sat stunned.

Good intel,
she thought. It was as accurate as if she’d been reporting the truth all along. Which she should have been doing. Damn.

When he continued, his brisk, businesslike tone had taken on a bit of sympathetic warning. “To sum this up—you’ve got two warring groups both heading for Landeta’s ranch after the same ammo. Either way, it’ll be a bloodbath.”

Add to that the ATF special-operations teams, which she assumed he’d be sending in. Damn and double damn. “I can assume you’re planning to try to arrest the Mexicans?”

David snorted. “I doubt there’ll be many left alive, but yes. We’ll extradite them back to Mexico to stand trial there.”

Back to Mexico. Exactly like Matt had said. Where if they were connected well enough, they’d go scot-free. Otherwise, they’d be executed by their former compadres before they ever made it to trial.

Either way, the situation was even worse than Matt thought, especially if the ATF and both Mexican groups knew the real location. A powder keg waiting to explode. She shuddered. All she could think of was how badly she needed to find Matt and let him know.

“When?” she asked. “When is all this going down?”

“Word has it that La Familia is making a move soon—likely tomorrow night—and that they plan to leave no one alive.”

She thought fast. “Unless, of course, we’re able to intercept them and prevent it. If we can help it, we’ve got to stop them from getting their hands on that much ammunition. I think I can do that, sir.”

“Do you?” The sarcasm in his voice wasn’t lost on her. “This assignment has been a colossal failure on your part,” David mused. “We’ll go over that in person, but I have to say we’ve learned more from outside sources than we have from you.”

Clenching her teeth, Skylar didn’t respond. What did he expect her to say anyway? Apologize? Damned if she would. She’d done what she’d thought was right. She’d done her best.

As the silence dragged on, she debated ending the call. David had always liked to make her squirm, but until now, he’d had little to use against her.

“Maybe next time things will go better,” she finally said. This was about the safest, blandest statement she could come up with. If she said what she really wanted to say, she’d be fired.

“Next time?” A hint of steel colored David’s dry tone. “I’m not sure there will be a next time. We do have more capable undercover agents, you know.”

Skylar winced. “So you’re pulling me, and then what? You don’t have anybody else in place. You’ve got the most powerful cartel in Mexico making a move tomorrow night, which will result in what you yourself have just described as a bloodbath. What are you going to do about it?”

“Right now we’ve got a request in before the judge for a search warrant. As soon as that’s in place, we’re moving a couple of teams in.” David sounded smug and satisfied. “They won’t be expecting us, so we’ll have the element of surprise on our side.”

Gripping the phone so hard her hand hurt, Skylar wanted to scream and curse at him. She wanted to tell him what she thought of his high-handed treatment. But she didn’t, partly because if she did so it would only reinforce his already low opinion of her and partly because she knew in some aspects David was actually correct.

She had failed. But how could she make things right if he wouldn’t give her a chance to redeem herself?

“Maybe you’re right,” David said, making her realize she’d said the words out loud. “There
is
something you can do to assist us.”

It was all she could do to keep holding on to the phone. “What is it?” she asked. “I’ll do anything I can to help.”

“Talk to Matt,” he said, surprising her. “You’ve got to warn him. Hell, it should be easy enough to do now that your cover’s blown.”

Confused, she agreed. “How is that going to help anything?”

“Simple. Tell him we can abort this whole thing if he’ll just give us a confession. We won’t need to wait for the warrant then, so our teams can swoop in and remove the ammunition, plus deal with the Mexican nationals once they arrive.”

A confession. Briefly, she closed her eyes. Matt would never confess to something he hadn’t done. And worse, Matt wanted Diego Rodriguez so badly he was blind to the disaster about to unfold.

David spoke again. “Meanwhile, we’re going to keep the request for the search warrant in motion. If I don’t hear from you within one hour, I’ll go ahead and green-light the original plan.”

“Yes, sir.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll do my best.”

Evidently he felt it was necessary to give her yet another warning. “Remember, a lot of bloodshed can be avoided if Landeta will simply confess. You make sure to tell him that, will you?”

“Got it.” Skylar heard the unnecessary reminder. Still, there was one more important thing that hadn’t yet been mentioned. “Oh, I need to know something else. What about José Nivas?”

“What about him?” David sounded slightly impatient, as though he’d already moved on to other, more important tasks.

“Are we going to do anything to get him out?”

There was the briefest of hesitations, enough to give Skylar her answer. Shocked, she couldn’t push the accusation past the lump in her throat. This was the organization she’d devoted her life to for the past several years. They were, every one of them, sworn to uphold the law. And at this point, no matter how bad things looked, both José and Diego were innocent until proven guilty.

They couldn’t just abandon him to his fate. She had to be wrong about this. She had to be.

“We’ll see what we can do,” David said. “We’ve got a couple of sharpshooters on the special-ops team. I’ll try to designate one to protect Nivas. After all, we wouldn’t want him to become collateral damage, now, would we?”

“Not at all.” In this, they were in agreement.

“Oh, and, Skylar? One more thing. I don’t have to stress to you how important this is. Our entire operation—not to mention your career with the ATF—is riding on this. Get it handled and head in for debriefing. Got that?”

Wishing David would hurry up and end the call, she realized her hands were shaking. Her entire career. And there you had it. Though she knew Matt trusted her somewhat, she understood there was no way he would agree to confessing. No way in hell.

Truth be told, she didn’t want him to.

Still, she had to at least give Matt the opportunity. As she went to find him, it dawned on her that she had the perfect bargaining tool: herself. Maybe Matt would consider doing what David wanted if they agreed to help him get José back safely. Once José was returned unharmed, they could clear up the mess that would be created by Matt’s false confession. She certainly would testify on his behalf.

It was a long shot. But she had no choice.

David cleared his throat, reminding her he was waiting for a response.

“I understand,” Skylar replied.

Satisfaction rang in his tone. “I’m sure you do.”

After she ended the call, she sat motionless, trying to think. Without saying the actual words, her supervising officer had told her what would happen if she didn’t swing this case around the way he wanted.

Collateral damage. She knew that was exactly what José would be if she and Matt didn’t do something to free him.

Still...they wanted Matt to give a false confession. Simply so they could close the case and tie everything up neatly with a bright red bow.

Taking a deep breath, she went to find Matt and fill him in. Striving for calm, she’d try to present the news as objectively as possible.

He listened attentively while she described her phone conversation with David. When she’d finished, steeling her nerve, she asked him to consider confessing to a crime he hadn’t committed.

She felt as foolish as if she were requesting he jump off a cliff into a pool full of ravenous sharks.

“You want me to do what?” Matt stared at her as if she’d grown two heads. She didn’t blame him.

“I’m not sure I agree with this myself,” she said. She spread her hands. “I know it doesn’t make sense. But he says if you confess, the ATF will come in and remove the ammo, and we can avoid this entire gun battle.”