The enforcer waved his hand. “In a building owned by an associate of the cartels.”
“Let me guess? Richardson?” The silence confirmed her suspicion. Apparently, his immorality spread all over the globe.
Her stalker gently caressed her cheek. “Please type so we can get out of here.”
She tensed at his touch. Panic pumped through her veins. She knew Kane would find her, but God knew what waited for him when he arrived. The Diablos would likely kill him even if she did give up the formula. And if she got on a plane to Mexico…
The enforcer shoved the tip of his gun into the bruise on her cheek. “Do you need more incentive?”
She bit her tongue, but another whimper escaped.
The enforcer grabbed his brother’s wrist. “Stop.”
“Our plane takes off in thirty minutes. I want that information before we get on it. I’m not taking any chances of missing Mama’s deadline. You know how much beating the other cartels means to her. You know what this formula means to the family business, and you know I need to prove myself to Mama before she’ll let me lead the Diablos.”
“I wouldn’t know, since she kept me locked in a bunker for years so I could hack her enemies.” He waved his hand. “That’s an issue for another time. Right now, we are doing this my way.” He glanced at Beth. “Please,querida.Do what he says.”
Sweat dripped onto her raw cheek. “Please,” she whispered to her stalker. “If I’m yours, then get the two of us out of here.” She didn’t stand a chance with the enforcer, but she might with just him.
The enforcer turned the gun to his brother. “Need a reminder where your loyalties lie?”
Without warning, her stalker executed a martial art maneuver she’d never quite mastered and stole the gun from his brother’s hand.
Holy shit.Her stalker had other skills besides hacking, it appeared.
“I’m loyal to my future wife.” He looked at Beth. Ragged breaths scurried through his lips as he teetered in his boots. “Are you loyal to me,querida?”
Beth choked back a sob as she stared into his gaze. An unstable kaleidoscope of obsession and insanity swirled in their brown depths. Or maybe that was his concussion. Either way, feeding his delusions might be her only hope of escape. “Yes. I’m yours. Take me home.”
He knelt by her side with the gun still trained on his brother. “Seal it with a kiss.”
Fighting revulsion, she leaned into him and hoped she tasted like puke.
Kane’s comms unit beeped with a biofeedback alert as he and the team fanned out to their positions around the warehouse. The surrounding buildings appeared quiet. Hopefully, any innocent bystanders had gone home to celebrate Christmas and wouldn’t get caught in any cross fire.
He glanced at his wrist. Shit, it was warning him that his heart rate was dangerously high.
Chris slid next to him behind a dumpster.“Calm down, brother.”
Kane scanned the desolate street. “You weren’t calm when Scarlett was at the mercy of a psycho a few weeks ago.”
“Point taken.”
As if on cue, Scarlett’s voice came over the mind comms.
“The building belongs to my freaking stepfather.”
A collective “what” sounded over the brainwaves.
“It’s registered under a dummy corporation. I’m sending the layout now. And there’s a plane that’s headed to Mexico at the airstrip. Guess whose name was on the registration at the end of a long paper trail?”
Kane’s leg bounced like a jumping bean.“Can’t they just lock Richardson in solitary already?”
“We’ll deal with him another time,”Chris said. “Let’s get your girl first.”
Kane nodded as the schematics appeared on his comms unit. “What are we working with?”
“There’s a wireless signal coming from the easternmost room with three heat signatures. Three from the room behind it. There are a dozen men positioned at the front entrance and another dozen at the back, all with clear shots. Cameras are situated throughout the exterior. Once you leave your cover, you’ll be a target.”