Page 73 of All Twisted Up
“We caught up to the Porsche,” Candy suddenly interrupted my thoughts as I heard his voice in the coms. “It’d been abandoned.”
“You can’t be serious, Captain,” I replied. “Who the fuck parked it practically next to the school? I mean, why abandon a car like that?” I looked at Joshua and was met with wide eyes, a look of shock on his beautiful face. I squeezed his hand again, only then remembering he still wore the earbuds I’d given him.
“They got away again?” he asked shakily.
“We don’t know why the driver would leave a quarter million-dollar car near the school, Mr. Calder,” Candy said. “Continue on route to the safehouse, Huerta…Way. Just be cautious. We don’t know what games this guy is playing at.”
“Will do, Captain,” both men echoed at once.
“And, Mr. Calder—”
I heard a deep sigh in Captain Sorensen’s voice. “Will you please return the coms to Nash?”
Joshua looked at me and then nodded. “Yes, sir.”
I watched him pull the earbuds out and hand them over, barely able to hold back a smile. Clearly, our boss had forgotten he was barking orders on a party line. I tucked the earbuds into their case and settled in as Mickey continued to drive.
I ran all kinds of scenarios through my head, trying and failing to figure out what the mole was playing at, because that was just what he was doing…toying with our team. It really pissed me off and posed a danger to everyone I held dear. Why had someone parked the Porsche near the school? Had they meant to split our team? Though that was likely just what he was doing, I just didn’t know his motive.
Fifteen minutes later, Mickey slowed at the bottom of a freeway off-ramp, and I realized that while I was trying my best to figure out what was happening, my best friend had gotten us nearly all the way back to the safehouse without incident. I turned around and spotted the other SUV back there, just as Miguel had promised.
“Almost home,” Mickey singsonged. I looked into the rearview mirror to find him looking back at Joshua and me. The smug smile on his handsome mug and the way his eyes danced as he stared back at me, made me want to punch him in the face.
I remembered the pang of jealousy I’d felt when he’d dropped back to walk and talk with Joshua tonight. I was going to find out what they’d been discussing the minute I got a chance. Since I wasn’t positive I’d get the whole story from the grinning idiot driving the car, I’d start with Joshua. He’d tell me. Lying wasn’t in his vocabulary. And the very idea that Mickey knew something about Joshua that I didn’t, bothered me more than it should.
This whole “love” thing was a distraction I didn’t need right now.
It took us less than five minutes to drive up into the hills north of the 101 Freeway. Mickey shut off the lights as we approached the street where the safehouse was located. I squeezed Joshua’s hand tightly and he turned to look at me.
“We’ll wait in the car until the others have secured the house, got it?”
He nodded, staring at me with an expression of absolute trust. “I understand, Nash.”
I had to wonder whether he’d been taking the danger seriously once we’d driven away from the school; it had to be apparent that we weren’t taking any chances with him. If the DEA mole had figured things out and found our safehouse—even though the FBI kept their locations top-secret known only to the Bureau—Joshua could still be in grave danger. If they had a mole, the FBI might have one too. And though it made me sick to think about, things like that had been known to happen.
We’d all worked with SAC Bannister who headed up the DEA here in Los Angeles and my gut told me she wasn’t involved. I was, however, not naïve enough to trust the rest of her team. I certainly didn’t trust Turley—whom I’d disliked the second he opened his stupid, egotistical mouth.
As Mickey drove up the street to the house, I wondered just how much Candy had shared with Bannister, hoping that he’d decided to debrief her onlyafterwe’d shut down the threat and rooted out the mole. Then again, our own SAC—Donovan Bradley—might have done that already.
I watched the street as we approached the house, concentrating on shadows and anyone who might be using them as a method of concealment. The moonless night wasn’t helpingmatters. There were shadows everywhere. I also searched for the backup Candy had promised. Though he hadn’t specified who he’d called, I hunted for anyone who’d match that description in the vicinity. I realized that there weren’t any LAPD cruisers parked on the street which only served to intensify my wariness. Who the fuck had he called for backup, if not the police?
“Candy?” Mickey asked, pulling up in front of the house, Miguel right behind us. “We’re at the house and I don’t see any backup,” he said, echoing my concern.
I spotted a vehicle parked in the shadow of a large tree down the street. Leaning forward, I tapped Mickey’s shoulder and pointed. “There’s a black SUV at the curb down over there.”
“Your backup radioed that they arrived ten minutes ago, Way,” Candy barked. “Hang on.”
I looked around again, getting a bad feeling.
“What’s happening?” Joshua asked.
I turned to him, struggling to keep my expression neutral. “Don’t worry.” I squeezed his thigh, wanting more than anything to pull him into my arms and keep him safe. The tenseness in his body told me he wasn’t reassured by my words. I glanced around again and was brought up short when I spotted the gate fronting the safehouse.
Overwhelming dread filled my guts. “The gate’s open!” I shouted, grabbing my semi-automatic with one hand and pushing Joshua to the floor of the SUV with the other. “Stay down!”
“What’s happening, Nash?” Joshua screamed, terror lacing every syllable.
Mickey shouted into the coms, relaying the news to the rest of our team as I swept the surroundings.
