Against the Odds Read online

  He tickled her ribs until she was begging him to stop.

  “You know that’s not what I meant.” He held her until she settled again. “I can say in all honesty, I’ve never apprehended a felon while my pants were off.”

  She laughed. Sid was fun to be with. How had he become so important to her so quickly? Her parents had met, fallen in love and married within two months. When retelling the story of their whirlwind engagement, her mom would often say after the first date she just knew he was the one.

  Could Alexa get as lucky? It didn’t seem possible.

  Chapter Eleven

  Sid sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast with the three people who meant the most to him and sincerely wished two of them weren’t there.

  Alexa hadn’t said a word since she’d sat down with them. Her back was rigid and she rarely lifted her eyes from her plate, though she had eaten next to nothing.

  It was easy to see Teague’s and Sammy’s presences made Alexa uncomfortable. He kept glancing her way, wishing she’d meet his gaze. He should have spoken to her alone, but it was too late for that now.

  “We acquired Hackman’s cell phone.” Sid needed to lay out his plan and see if she was willing to help. Keeping it from her was starting to bother him. He didn’t want secrets and what felt like a sin of omission between them. He would demand full disclosure from her and he planned to honor her with the same.

  “Oh?” Alexa stopped picking at her food, instantly alert and on guard.

  “Based on the texts, we know Hackman was hired by ‘Desi’. We’re assuming that’s your brother. We’ve kept his death under wraps and we’re continuing to message Desi with daily updates. Desi instructed Hackman to deliver the ‘bolt’ to the usual storage facility.”

  Alexa laid her fork on the plate and sat up straighter in her chair.

  “Did you know Hackman?” He was pretty sure what her answer would be, but he needed to ask.

  “No, he must have met Danny after…” She looked at her food, anywhere really but at him.

  “And yes, Desi is Danny.” She answered as if resigned to her fate. “That’s been his nickname since high school. I guess it goes without saying that I’m the bolt.”

  “Hackman was an enforcer for the trafficking ring we suspect your brother is affiliated with.” Sid kept the conversation moving in hopes she wouldn’t focus too much on the past.

  She nodded though she was clearly lost in thought. “What happens when Hackman doesn’t show up?” she asked quietly.

  “Don’t worry your pretty little head about that,” Teague interjected.

  Alexa ignored him and continued to look at Sid expectantly. It warmed his heart that she focused completely on him, effectively shutting out anyone else.

  He winked at her and smiled. She immediately blushed and looked down at her hands. “We’re working on it. The problem is, we don’t have any direct evidence pointing to Desman’s guilt. He’s a small time player and the agencies that we know are investigating the ring haven’t focused any real attention on him. They have enough to bargain with. Both the DEA and FBI are interested in flipping him, but they don’t see any value in arresting him. At this point, it would only jeopardize their investigation.”

  “Flipping him?” Her eyes bored into Sid.

  He wished he had something more to give her. “Using him to testify against others more culpable.”

  “He killed Ezzy and he gets a free pass?” She pushed her breakfast plate into the center of the table and leaned away from everyone.

  “We need evidence. It’s his word against yours,” Teague informed her.

  “And he has the cops on his side. So I’m screwed.” She leaned back against her chair and closed her eyes for a moment.

  “No, Alexa. We’re going to bring him to justice, but right now we lack enough evidence to take it to court,” Sid explained as gently as possible. He scooted closer to her and rested his arm on the back of her chair while he ran his fingers along her neck.

  She met his gaze and tapped her finger against the table. “How? If he doesn’t see Hackman at the meeting place, he’s not going to stick around. He isn’t stupid.”

  “We have reason to believe the drop isn’t a face-to-face meet. The ‘bolts’ are left drugged and restrained in a storage container. Once delivered, Desi transfers an agreed upon sum into Hackman’s account in the guise of a ‘consultant fee’,” Sammy explained. “When he goes to the drop, he’s only expecting to find you.”

  The blood drained from Alexa’s face as she pushed her chair away from the table. “No, no way.” She hurried down the hall to the room they were using.

  “Good job, man, now she hates us both.” Teague patted Sammy on the back as Sid followed Alexa.

  He reached the door as she slammed it closed. He blocked it from hitting him in the face as she ran inside the bedroom. “Come here,” he ordered.

  Her steps faltered, but she continued her path. At the entrance to the bathroom she turned and looked at him. It was only the length of the room separating them, but the emotional cavern was growing ever wider. “Come here,” he said again, softer this time.

  Alexa tipped her head to the side and exhaled. “Sid…”

  He spread his arms and remained silent.

  “You can’t boss me around.” She leaned on the door frame and bowed her head submissively.

  “Come to me. I need you.” His tone was more of an enticement than a command.

  She pushed off the wall. With shoulders slumped and her gaze on his feet, she closed the distance between them.

  Alexa stopped a foot or so in front of him.

  He gladly met her the rest of the way and engulfed her in his arms. “Thank you, baby.”

  “I can’t do it. I can’t serve myself up like a sacrificial lamb. Don’t ask me to, Sid. You don’t understand what he’s like.” She grabbed his lapels and buried her face against his chest.

  “I love you, Alexa. Do you really think I would put you in a situation where you would be harmed?” He understood her reticence, they were just building a semblance of trust, but he didn’t like it.

  “I won’t let anyone drug me, Sid. Not even you. Not even under a doctor’s care. I have to have my full faculties. I can’t be caught unaware.”

  She couldn’t possibly know what she was doing to him. He could feel her trembling. The urge to secrete her away was almost more than he could ignore. “I wouldn’t expect it of you,” he assured her.

  “Teague did it before and I suspect he’d have no qualms with doing it again,” she snapped in a fit of temper.

  “It will not happen again. You have my word on that. Besides, he won’t be accompanying us to New York. He’ll be of more help to us here.” As he felt a bit of tension ease from her tight muscles, he hid his smile in her beautiful hair. Teague was going to have a hard time extricating himself from the mess he’d made this time. Alexa may be a pacifist, but she clearly held a grudge. “I’m not making excuses for him. He was way out of line, but he thought he was protecting me.”

  “And next time his excuse will be ‘it was for the good of the investigation’. Men like that always think the end justifies the means.” She glared at him defiantly.

  “I’m running the case and I will not allow you to be harmed,” Sid repeated, hoping it would sink in. “I won’t lie, baby. We need your help to nail him. And I have no doubt that facing him will be difficult, but seeing him brought to justice will go a long way toward easing your nightmares and it will get you your life back. No more running. You can buy some land and start your own horse rescue if that’s what you want.”

  She stepped away and turned her back toward him. “I could have done that with Jacob, but I don’t know if Sid even likes horses.”

  His heart stuttered for a moment. She was including him in her future plans. Sure, she was saddling around the subject, but she was thinking of them together after this mess was cleared up. A terrible weight lifted off his shoulders. He went to her,
wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed the top her head. “Sid loves you and if horses make you happy then Sid likes horses just fine. I don’t have much experience with them. Sammy gave me a crash course, emphasis on the crash, but I want to learn more. They’re spectacular animals, protective and smart. I can easily see why you fight for them.”

  She leaned her head against his chest. “I don’t know you and you’re asking me to put my life in your hands.”

  “You know I’ll keep you safe, Alexa. You can believe that.” Sid waited, knowing she had more on her mind.

  “You confuse me.” She sighed. “On an almost instinctive level, I do trust you and it scares the hell out of me. There’s nothing logical about it.”

  “I feel the same way. I would hand you my gun and never think twice about it. I know you would do anything in your power to keep me safe. You’ve already proven it. In that moment, you could have shot both me and Hackman. My back was turned to you and there were plenty of bullets. You had your get away money and the exit out the back was clear. You could have started over, just like you’ve done so many times in the past. Instead, you saved me and stuck around knowing there are murder charges still hanging over your head. You wouldn’t have done that if you didn’t trust me.” Nothing else mattered.

  Slowly she nodded. Their eyes locked and he felt as if he was seeing into her soul. He knew they were meant to be together.

  He sat down on the bed and took her hands in his. “Alexa, you own my heart. It’s a little war-torn and beat up, but it’s all yours.”

  Tears dotted her lashes and she blinked rapidly. “You’re killing me, Sid. You’re handing me everything I’ve ever wanted on a silver platter. I’ve been alone since I was just a kid. I never imagined I’d find a man to spend my life with let alone have the opportunity to settle in one place. I’ve never dreamed of a house or a ranch of my own. It’s not that I didn’t want it. I just try to be practical, set goals I have a prayer of achieving.” She looked up at him expectantly. “Do we have a chance at making this work? Really?”

  He wasn’t sure if she meant a successful relationship with him or bringing Desman to justice. It didn’t matter, he planned to make both happen. “Absolutely. I won’t let you down, Alexa.” He took her in his arms and held her tight.

  “I’m afraid,” she confessed.

  “I’ll keep you safe.”

  * * * *

  Alexa sat in the back of Hackman’s van as they drove through the warehouse district down by the docks. NBIA had ‘secured’ Hackman’s New York apartment and storage unit. There were so many holes in this plan it was too scary to contemplate. Chances were good Danny wouldn’t stop to visit. He’d probably come in guns blazing and all her worries would be over. She hadn’t voiced her concerns because she was afraid Sid would stop her from going through with it. As the days had gone by while they’d traveled across the country and prepared for the showdown, she’d realized just how right Sid had been. She needed to see this through and she needed to be an active participant.

  As they’d made their way from Phoenix to New York, Sammy had explained what they knew about Danny’s role in the human trafficking ring. It killed her to know their family business was being used as a front for a sex slave ring. Her heart went out to the young men and women who were brought here under the guise of legitimate employment opportunities only to find themselves drugged and chained inside a dark steel jail at the mercy of someone like her brother.

  She had allowed fear to rule her life for too long. It was time to stand up to Danny and see that he paid for what he’d done, not only to Ezzy, but to every other living soul he’d reduced to a ‘bolt’. Their lives mattered and it was time he was held accountable.

  “Coming up on the unit. Keep your head down,” the driver ordered.

  A microphone had been woven into the waistband of her pants and another into her braid. The handcuffs she wore had a hidden release catch and a short dagger was concealed in the heel of her shoe. None of which would do her any good if Danny decided to shoot first and chit-chat later.

  She had every confidence though that if he did kill her, he’d rot in jail for at least that crime. She’d take some solace in that.

  “Remember, Alexa, you’re supposed to be drugged,” Sid reminded her. “We haven’t spotted Desman yet, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t here watching. We’re on his home turf now. You’re doing great, baby. We have you in sight and the unit is wired for both sound and visual. I’m not far away. At the first sign of trouble, you say the word and we’ll be there.”

  Buried into her right ear canal was a bud allowing her to hear Sid. His calm reassurance was keeping her anxiety at a manageable level. Sid had no idea how hard it had been for her to get into the van. While it made perfect sense to have an agent that resembled Hackman drive the vehicle, it had been damn near impossible for her to stand calmly while they handcuffed and placed her inside with a stranger.

  “Don’t come rushing in until you have the evidence you need to convict him. I’ll be fine.” Danny had always been a hothead with a quick temper. Chances were good he’d smack her around a bit as she goaded him into incriminating himself. She knew Sid’s first response would be to rush to her rescue and she needed to head him off before he ruined their only chance. “I can take whatever he dishes out, Sid. You just make sure to get it all on tape.”

  “We’re here.” The driver kept his head down and pulled the brim of his baseball hat a little lower. “Just like we practiced, Alexa. Stay limp. You’re supposed to be barely conscious. Do me a favor though, don’t hit my spine with that cast of yours. I’d rather not be paralyzed.”

  Alexa forced a chuckle since he was trying to keep things light. Shame it didn’t help much. She still jumped as the back door swung open. As the agent tossed her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, she managed to relax her taut muscles and ignore his collarbone biting into her ribs with each jarring step.

  The storage unit was nothing more than a shipping container like the ones she’d seen on flat cars in trains or stacked high on cargo ships. It smelled of urine and sweat, causing her stomach to roll. For a moment, she allowed her imagination to consider what the other ‘bolts’ had to have felt as they’d ended up in this wretched place. Terror soaked through to her bones.

  “Breathe, Alexa. I’m here, baby. It’s going to be okay,” Sid whispered through her earpiece. “Stay focused.”

  The NBIA agent posing as Hackman dropped her on a dirt covered, crusty brown square of carpet and clipped the chain of the handcuffs to the rigid steel walls of the unit. “Good luck, honey.”

  Though she was trembling with fear and nearing panic, she was still determined to see it through. Danny needed to be stopped.

  She watched as the driver slid the door open far enough to slip out. Light reflected off several hooks attached to the walls. How many ‘bolts’ did they normally bring at one time? Would being with others help or make it worse? Watching someone be battered would tear Alexa apart. She’d rather be hurt herself than watch another suffer.

  As the door slammed shut, panic engulfed her. It was so dark she couldn’t see anything around her. Little scratching noises had the hair on the back of her neck rising. She imagined all manner of bugs crawling toward her. A shiver sent the chain jangling. It was crazy how loud things sounded in the dark. How long would she have to wait? Her shoulders were tingling and her arms were going numb from being held above her head. She shifted around, but it was impossible to get comfortable. Would she be able to get the handcuffs off if she needed to? She supposed when her life was in danger she could muster the strength.

  “I asked a realtor friend of mine to look for horse property in the north valley. There’s a couple of places near where you ride that I want you to see. Do you want to buy land and design the facility yourself or buy something already set-up?” Sid whispered to her.

  His voice took her mind off the stench and her aching muscles, allowing her breathing and hear
t rate to settle.

  “I don’t care about the house. Something simple and utilitarian works fine for me. I have some ideas about the barn and tack room though.” She’d lived in hovels for so long it didn’t matter, but having the opportunity to help abused and neglected animals meant the world to her.

  Over the last few days, she’d realized that Sid needed a balance in his life almost as badly as she did. In his work, he saw all the horrors one human could do to another.

  “A van has circled the area and is slowly approaching the unit, Alexa.” Sid was all business now. “What’s your code word, baby?”

  “Parents,” she answered immediately. They had wanted a word that wouldn’t raise his suspicions, one that would feasibly fit into a conversation, but still alert the team to trouble.

  This was it, if everything went according to the plan, Danny would be arrested and she would be free to start her life over.

  “He’s out of the vehicle and heading straight for the unit. We’re moving in, Alexa. Just keep him talking,” Sid advised her.

  “Don’t rush it, Sid. Let’s see this through,” she whispered as the door rattled and slid open.

  The beam of a flashlight hit her dead in the face, blinding her. Though her heart was hammering in her chest and thumping loudly in her ears, she focused on the man shuffling toward her. Something was off. Unless her brother had changed dramatically, he’d sent someone else. As he drew near, the smell of sweat and dirt were overpowering. Her brother had always poured on the cologne. No way was he Danny.

  “So what has the Hatchet left me this time?” the man muttered as he tipped her chin upward.

  “Where’s Danny? That man that brought me here said”—she shrank away from the stranger—“he said, he was taking me to my brother, Danny, Danny Desman.” She kept her voice small.

  The man froze. “Brother? What the fuck? Desi don’t have no sister that I ever heard of.”

  “I’m so confused.” She hung her head down. “I know if I could just see Danny we could figure this out. He’s my big brother. He’ll tell you this is all a mistake.”