Wicked Ties (Steele Security Series) (19 page)

“You don’t know that,” Commander Harper countered.  “Now that we’re here, we will conduct a thorough search and if anything turns up, we will haul them in.”

Bull shook his head.  He knew a decoy when he saw one.  He knew they’d been duped and the search of a tanker would take hours.  He was stranded in the ocean on a cutter with no other way to get back to shore.  He was positive he would have a stroke before he was able to get back to land.

Three hours later, the search of the tanker was concluded with the exact results Bull had
predicted—Chaise wasn’t onboard.  They’d wasted all that time on a wild goose chase and he was no closer to finding her than he was when he left shore.  He stood on deck, feeling the wind whipping through his hair, as he imagined how frightened she must be.

As soon as he was back on land, he stalked off while Rebel and Reaper thanked Commander Harper for his help.  He held his cell
phone in his hand and was conflicted on whether he should contact his father yet.

Even that thought alone was foreign to him.  Contacting his father had never been an option before
.  He thought about all the strange turns his life had taken over the past couple of weeks.  How his ties to Reaper led to his ties to Chaise and ultimately led him to his ties to his father.  As a man who didn’t believe in coincidences, he knew there was a higher power at work, bringing them all together.  He had to believe it would all work out in the end.

Putting his phone away, he decided he couldn’t contact John just yet.  He didn’t want to chance blowing his cover and losing Chaise for good.  He racked his brain, trying to decide the next move they should make.  The idea struck him like lightning and he grabbed his phone up again.

“Brad, it’s Bull.  I need you to pull a list of every piece of property the Cordovas own in Miami.  Send that to us ASAP.  Thanks, man,” Bull said, ending the call and turning to his brothers.

“Brad is pulling the Cordova owned properties in Miami.  She’s here, Reap.  They haven’t taken her away yet.  We have to find where they’re keeping her,” Bull explained.

“Sounds like a good plan to start.  Let’s see what Brad comes up with in his research.  If there are too many, we can call in more men, divide them up and save some time,” Reaper said.  The stress and concern was infused in his voice, though he tried to maintain his edge and remain the fearless leader.

Bull’s phone pinged with the incoming text from Brad.  “There are
twelve warehouses and two estates.  The warehouses are all relatively close but the two houses are pretty far away from each other,” he relayed.

“Let’s get to the office and get our gear.  I’ll call in Blake and Roman for additional recon help on the way there.  We’ll get our game plan together so that we’re all on the same page,” Reaper directed.  “We need a coordinated front to make this work.  We have no idea how many men Cordova has.”

Bull agreed even though it was killing him to wait another minute.  He wanted to storm in with guns blazing and take Chaise from wherever it was they had her hidden.  He knew Noah was right—without a plan of attack, they would unwittingly put Chaise in more danger.  He just hoped that she was being held in one of the known Cordova properties.

If not, Bull didn’t know where else to look.  He only knew that he damn sure wouldn’t ever give up.  There was no explanation for how she had invaded his thoughts, his life
, and his heart in such a short time.  Bull only realized that he had strong feelings for Chaise and he couldn’t let her go.

He would’ve looked for her just because he was a good man, he was good at his job
, and he had a duty to act.  His heart, however, was more than involved in the case.  It ruled him, it ruled his decisions, and it ruled his actions.  A soft, loving woman turned the tough, stoic man inside out in a matter of days.  It defied logic and reason but it was no less true.

They drove to the main Steele Security headquarters to change clothes and start gathering their gear.  They dressed in all black and donned a variety of weapons in numerous locations. 
Laying out a map of the city, they pinpointed the location of each warehouse and the private homes.

The warehouses were located fairly close to each other, as expected, and in an old rundown section on the outskirts
of Miami.  Where one of the houses was located, however, was a complete surprise to everyone.  The first one was in Key Biscayne, an influential island town that was connected to Miami by a bridge.

The second house was on Madden Island, which was an island off the coast of South Beach that could only be accessed by boat or helicopter.  Bull and Reaper exchanged concerned looks.  Any rescue attempt from that island would be very tricky with such limited access points. 

“One step at a time, Bull.  Let’s check these warehouses first.  The helicopter was a decoy, so she’s probably still on the mainland,” Reaper said. 

Looking around at the five men, Reaper continued, “We’ll split up and check every warehouse.  If you find her,” he stopped and pierced Bull with his gaze, “
do not engage
without all of us there unless you have no other choice.  Understood?”

Four of the men responded affirmatively.  Reaper cleared his throat and waited for Bull to respond.  “Understood,” he finally answered, but his voice lacked conviction.  Reaper shook his head, knowing that it was fruitless to argue with him at
that point.  Bull’s nickname may have been originally given to him because of his size, but it also described his personality.

Once they had parked in a covered garage, they moved on foot
toward the warehouses.  They were all heavily armed and experienced in covert operations.  The urban warfare maneuver would be a walk in the park compared to the dangers the team had collectively faced.

The
Cordovas had just created an enemy they could have never imagined, even in their worst nightmares.  Bull parted from his friends to conduct his search of his two assigned warehouses for any signs of Chaise.  His stride was swift and confident and his determination was set in the hardness of his eyes.  After he rescued Chaise, he would unleash hell at the Cordovas’ front door.

Chaise was taken back to the
warehouse and put in the small, crowded cell with the younger girls.  Many of them looked emaciated and almost lifeless.  Their eyes were dull and their stares were vacant.  Chaise had a strong suspicion that they were drugged to keep them compliant.

As she stepped over the bodies strewn across the floor, trying to avoid stepping on anyone while she looked for an empty space, she saw a familiar face.  Her breath caught in her chest and her mouth gaped open.  Tears sprung to her eyes and she stumbled to reach the sleeping girl in the corner.

Chaise cried, “Aura!  Aura!”

The girl slowly opened her eyes and tried to force them to focus on the shadowy figure moving
toward her.  She heard the name Aura being called but she thought she had been dreaming.  She had been in that shithole for so long, she was beginning to forget what life outside it was like.

“What did you call me?” she asked, the shadowy figure finally coming into focus.

“Aura, it’s me, Chaise,” she said as she knelt beside her.  Chaise had suddenly forgotten the stench and the filthy conditions of the cell.  All she could focus on at the moment was the fact that Aura was in front of her.  She was just so relieved that Aura was still alive.

“I’m not Aura,” the girl replied weakly.  “I’m Ana.  Aura is my twin sister.”  A single tear escaped from her eye.  From the looks of her, she was dehydrated and malnourished; she didn’t have many tears left in her to cry.

“Ana?  Twin sister?” Chaise was repeating the words but they hadn’t quite sunk in yet.  “If you’re Ana, then where is Aura?  Have you seen her?”

“No.  Oh God, I hope they didn’t get my sister.”  Ana’s face contorted in pain, as if her heart was breaking in two and she wanted to sob.  But no tears would flow and she made no sounds as she curled into a fetal position.

Chaise easily lifted the girl’s head and shoulders off the cold, concrete floor and slid her lap under her.  As Chaise laid her back down across her legs, Ana’s frail hand grabbed Chaise’s and held on as tightly as she could muster.  Chaise stroked her dirty, matted hair as she uttered words of comfort.

“I’m sure she’s fine, Ana.  If she isn’t here, she’s probably hiding somewhere,” Chaise reasoned.  She was beginning to get a good idea of why Aura was so adamant to help with the research at
Viboro Distributing.

Leaning forward as far as she could, Chaise whispered to Ana, “Did you work at
Viboro?”

Ana simply nodded her head ‘yes.’  In that simple gesture, she confirmed exactly what Chaise thought was happening.  They would hire young, attractive Latino women and then abduct them for their own nefarious plans.  Her thoughts then strayed to Aura and how responsible she’d felt for Aura’s disappearance. 

The young girl was trying to save her twin sister, whom she loved and missed.  The poor girl who was lying in Chaise’s lap, sound asleep, had obviously been mistreated and abused at the hands of her captors.  Chaise wanted to ask Ana more questions but didn’t have the heart to wake her up.

Chaise leaned her head back against the metal bars and fought back the panic attack festering just under the surface.  The situation as a whole was too much to handle at once.  She started breaking it down into bite-size chunks so she could deal with one issue at a time.

The first issue, obviously, was that she had been kidnapped and no one knew where she was.  That thought alone threatened her last thread of sanity.  A fleeting memory took root in her mind and it suddenly calmed her and filled her with a sense of peace.  Her thoughts created a temporary refuge from her reality.

Bull had called her hotel room phone just before they knocked on her door.  He knew where she was and he knew that she’d been taken.  He would find her.  Bull wouldn’t leave her
there.

Thoughts of Bull simultaneously broke her heart and gave her strength.  Regret filled her over the way they parted, the way he found out who she was, and especially that she answered the hotel room door instead of just talking to him on the phone. 

In her drunken stupor, she had secretly wanted to punish him for rejecting her in front of everyone.  She thought they had moved past that stage of their relationship when he relented and let her touch him while they made love.  Thinking she had gotten through to him in a way that no one ever had before, she wanted to be
the one
for him—like she felt he was for her.

Suddenly
, she realized the deeper meaning of his call.  First of all, he was back in Miami and had searched until he found her.  Second, his tone of voice was a mixture of relief and regret.  That told her he still cared about her and that there may still be a chance for them to salvage their budding relationship from the mistakes they’d both made.  And third, it gave her even more reason to fight, to live, and to escape the situation with as many of the girls as she could take with her. 

Chaise must have fallen asleep at some point.  She was already completely exhausted by the time she reached her hotel room.  The adrenaline dump after being “escorted” to Rico’s room and then Ricardo’s yacht had her running on all cylinders for several hours.  When she crashed, she did so sitting on the uncomfortable concrete floor, leaned against the hard iron bars, with a scared, young girl in her lap. 

Her legs were asleep and the painful pin-prickling sensation ran through them like lightning bolts.  Her back and neck ached and her ass just simply hurt.   From the small holes near the ceiling, she could tell it was still dark outside.  The male voices approaching had awakened her and put her nerves on high alert.  

Chaise turned her head to the side to get a glimpse at who was approaching.  She tried to hide her surprise when she saw a familiar face.  It was one of the men who had shot at her and Bull in the parking lot.  It was Bull’s father.  He was walking with the other men who had taken her from her room, talking to them like he knew them and was one of them.

When he looked at the girls in the cell, his face registered no emotion.  She knew if what Michelle had said was true, then John was trained to keep his emotions locked away deep inside where they wouldn’t blow his cover.  His eyes raked over the bodies in the cell until they met Chaise’s eyes. 

The flash of recognition and concern was so quickly masked that Chaise would’ve missed it had she not specifically been watching for it.  She didn’t know if John could get word to
Bull fast enough to help her.  He wouldn’t blow his entire case just for her safety, but maybe he could find a way to help.

“We need one of these
putas
to make a run before daylight. We have to make a stop by Rico’s house, too,” the tall, thin thug told John in his thick Spanish accent.  Together, they walked to the cell to choose who would go out next.

“Diego, these girls look bad.  Are you feeding them, man?” John asked.

“They eat sometimes,” Diego replied nonchalantly.  He opened the door and walked around the cell, not bothering to avoid stepping on anyone who was in his way.  He approached Chaise and Ana and kicked Ana with the toe of his boots.

“
Puta
, wake up.  It’s your turn,” he said cruelly. 

“She’s not a
bitch
,” Chaise spat out at him, venom lacing her voice as she spoke.  “And she’s in no shape to go anywhere.  Leave her alone.”

Diego smiled at her bravado and then he backhanded her across the cheek.  Her head jerked violently to the side, clashing against the metal bars and sending her toppling over onto her side.  Her cheek immediately swelled and she felt a small bead of blood roll down her face from where his ring cut her skin.

Ana fell to the concrete when Chaise was knocked over.  She woke and rubbed the side of her face where it had hit the concrete.  Diego kicked her again with his boot and told her to get up.  Ana tried to push herself up but couldn’t muster the strength to finish her movement.

Chaise jumped up, faced Diego and took a step
toward him to block his access to Ana.  “I said she’s not going anywhere.  I’ll go in her place.  Just tell me what I need to do.”

“Well, aren’t you a brave little
puta
?  Maybe I should teach you some manners.  You need to know who
el jefe
is around here,” Diego said with a snide smile. 

He started to reach for Chaise when the shorter, but stockier, man’s words stopped him cold.  “Diego, don’t touch her again.”

“Okay, Manuel,” Diego replied, sounding like a whipped dog.  Looking at Chaise with anger and disgust in his eyes, he said, “Follow me.”

Diego led her out the door that led to the docks.  John and Manuel followed close behind them.  Diego, Chaise
, and Manuel got into the speedboat.  John untied the mooring line and threw it into the boat.  Manuel looked up at John and said, “Stay here and watch the girls.  We’ll be back sometime tomorrow.”

John watched until the boat disappeared into the blackness hovering over the ocean.  He had to find some way to contact Colton and let him know he’d seen Chaise.  He needed a way that wouldn’t call attention to him and blow his cover before he was ready to close
the case.  There were still questions that had to be answered and people who had to be arrested before he could walk away.

The deplorable conditions the girls were left in turned John’s stomach.  He could easily take
the men out and turn the girls loose, but that wouldn’t give him what he needed to stop the Cordovas from doing it again somewhere else.  His rationalization weighted heavily on his conscience and he couldn’t wait to retire from the insidious underworld life.

John had already given up too much in his life under the guise of justice and protecting others.  The nagging issue that kept him up at night was the injustice he’d committed
toward his own family.  He was young and impetuous when he made the decision to leave for the sake of his wife and son. 

Looking back, he decided if he could do it all over again, he would have never left them.  As soon as
the case was finished, he would retire and move back home to Alabama.  If Michelle wanted, they could even move to Miami and be close to Bull.  One way or another, the case had to wrap-up soon because John wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

As he looked at the pitiful creatures in the cell, part of him rejoiced that he had moved up in the Cordova ranks.  Another part railed against him for being such a good undercover agent that he could actually pull
it off.  Unable to stand it any longer, he brought the girls food and water from the kitchen.  He had no doubt he would hear about it later.  With any luck, Chaise’s connection to the case would help bring it to a close sooner than he could alone.

John wanted to go with Diego and Manuel to keep an eye on Chaise.  She was obviously very important to his son and John was once again very conflicted over his duty to his country and his duty to his son.  Watching them take Chaise away was one of the hardest things he’d had to do as an
agent—right behind leaving his family.

His inner turmoil boiled down to one
question—
Will Colton ever forgive me?

****************

Bull moved around the darkened warehouse and instinctively knew it was empty.  It wasn’t the location where they were holding Chaise but he could see Viboro Distributing boxes stacked on pallets.  Rows and rows of boxes reaching almost twelve feet high lined the interior of the rundown building.  No reputable company would use such dilapidated buildings.

That made him want to know what was inside those boxes even more.  Every bit of intelligence he could collect on the
Cordovas would help solve one more piece of the puzzle.  Anything that helped him locate Chaise was worth whatever he had to do.  Bull crept inside, keeping low and in the shadows, until he had cased the entire inner perimeter and verified no one was there.

All the boxes were exactly the same height, width
, and depth.  Bull opened one of them and removed a wooden box with a hinged lid.  It was marked with the
Blue Cypress Casino
logo on the top.  Bull opened the lid and stared at the casino chips inside.  They appeared to be genuine, high-quality clay chips that were used by the higher-end casinos. 

Bull picked up one of the multi-colored chips and immediately noticed the weight was wrong.  He closed his fist around it and felt it start crumbling from his grip.  Underneath the colored outer shell, a white, powdery substance crumbled in his hand.  He looked around again at the rows and rows of boxes that were ready to be shipped.

He walked through the warehouse, looking at the shipping labels, and noted they were being sent to casinos across the country.  “Holy shit,” he uttered under his breath in disbelief.  He unpacked one package and counted twenty wooden boxes.  Each wooden box contained one thousand chips.  The amount of drugs passing through just one warehouse was staggering.

  Bull took pictures with his phone, capturing the names and addresses on the shipping labels.  He also snapped pictures of the contents and the compressed, white powder inside the chips.  He rushed back the way he entered and on to his next destination as he continued his search for Chaise.