Page 232 of Protective Heroes

Her Mr. Sterling mirrored his name. Cool and unbreakable.

“And did you tell Dyson what you experienced? Sorry to sound intrusive, but this is important.”

Dyson was her sister’s super-hot Marine boyfriend and a fellow unit member of the special forces Recon alongside Reece and Caden when they were still in the Marines. She’d liked him from the second she met him and, in the months, that Abigail had worked for Re-con Securities, she’d come to really appreciate just how small the world was sometimes. Within a week of her sister meeting Dyson, Abigail had landed a job with Re-Con securities. On several occasions she had a feeling there was a little backdoor communication between the men. She just couldn’t prove it.

“I just thought it was a bad connection. No need to tell Dyson about it.”

“I understand, Shay. To us it means something else. It means someone is listening in on the conversation. Look, we need to cut this short. We’ll be in touch, and tell Dyson to keep you close until we sort this mess out.”

“I read you loud and clear, Reece. Is this line secure?” Dyson spoke up in the background and his deep voice carried over the speaker to fill their living room.

“Dyson. Good to hear your voice again. Yes.”

“What’s all this about?”

“There’s been threats placed against Abigail. So far, all we know is that a Mexican drug lord is involved. We just can’t figure out how Abigail got involved and what merited their flavor of special treatment.”

“Drug lord?” Her sister questioned with a hesitant pause.

Abigail answered, “It’s a really long story and I’m not sure if we have time now or?—”

“We might be able to help,” Dyson cut her off mid-sentence. She looked between Caden and Reece, who shook their heads in unison for her to continue. “Then I’ll make it quick. Yesterday I received some photos of myself, photos no one would have unless they were watching me from a well-hidden angle on my property, my house was burned down, we were chased by Uzi-toting goons and to top it all off, I received a death threat and the guy who, I don’t know, was given the job of whacking me, left behind a present—a bullet with a symbol carved on it that leads back to a Mexican drug cartel.”

The line went silent for long seconds for Dyson cursed viciously.

“Reece, Caden, what the fuck?” Dyson’s tone mirrored her thoughts to the letter.

“For real man, this is some fucked up shit, but I wouldn’t go as far as to say Uzi- toting, but yeah, that’s the gist of it all.” Reece squeezed her hand and gave her a small reassuring smile.

“Dane.” Dyson said the name of the guy that had helped them unearth that much information the previous night as if anyone who heard it would understand.

And it worked. Both Caden and Reece nodded and replied, “Yes. We’ve been in contact with him.” Obviously, these men still held their former team members in high regard. The thought warmed her. And the fact her sister was in good hands with Dyson in case whoever was after her decided two sisters were better than one. And right now she’d take all the silver linings she could get.

“A few months back, when Shay and I were in Cabos, we had some trouble with a drug lord named Bautista.”

Abigail froze. Cold chills prickled her skin and her mouth fell slack.

She clamped her hands over her head. Of course! How could she be so stupid? How could she not have connected the dots between what happened to Shay in Cabos to what was happening to her now? He was once a family friend who wanted a piece of her sister’s flower business to use as a means to transport his drugs. Her sister had the luck of having Dyson there to make sure that didn’t happen.

“Dyson, it’s Abigail, you think he’s out for revenge against me and my sister? Why would he pick me?” She suppressed the panic edging closer to the surface. Why did knowing who was after her make it scarier? Putting a face to the man behind the attempt on her life should make her feel a step closer to catching him.

So stupid!

She palmed her forehead and let out a growl of frustration. She pushed up and stalked over to the floor to ceiling sliding glass doors that led out to the beach. The drawn curtains held the tropical heat at bay, but she could still see the bright flashes of light from the sun bouncing off the water through the thin material. Beyond the deck, the beach lay deserted, and the eerie feeling of someone watching her returned.

You’re safe, chica, just a little freaked. No one knew where they were staying. The conversation continued behind her between the men.

“Not Bautista. He’s still in prison serving a life sentence, but it’s not him that would be after you. It would be his family or second in command. It’s true what they say about taking the head off the snake and two growing in its place. In their organizations, if you fuck with one of theirs, they will come after not just you, but your family too. And that would be you, Abigail. There is no way his second in command wouldn’t retaliate.”

Caden slapped a hand down on the coffee table and cursed. “We should have seen this coming, damn it.”

“We have one thing on our side— they don’t know where we’re at. We can hunker down until we get a few more people in for backup. In the meantime, when I go for my meeting with the governor of Jalisco, I’ll ask for their support. We need heavier firepower ASAP. Given the nature of the emergency, I’m sure they’ll be all too willing to lend a hand in getting Bautista’s second in command off their streets.” Where Caden sounded pissed off, Reece came off as collected and sounded so sure of how to deal with the clusterfuck that had become her life.

Which made what she had to say next all the more difficult.

“Ummm… guys? I… uh…” Abigail turned from the window. She worried her lower lip and grimaced at what she had to tell them. “Fuck, here it is. I left a message for Shay last night and told her where we were going. Not the location, but I mentioned the town and Mismaloya area since that’s what you guys told me last night.” She waved in the air to represent the small hillside community that lined the southern Mexican bay.

She turned on her heel to face back out toward the water. She didn’t need to see the disappointment etched on their faces to know she screwed up. She clamped her eyes shut, but she could still feel the burn of their stare between her shoulder blades.

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