Made for You (14 page)

Reese gave a nod. He spoke into his radio and divided his team into three. One team to penetrate from the back of the building, one team to enter through the front entrance, and a team for the truck.

On Reese’s signal, the teams went into action. Shouts of “Police!” rang through the air along with gunfire the moment the two teams entered the house.

Reese and Kelley were with the team that was prepared to take the truck. Reese had his weapon ready. Like Reese, Kelley had her gun trained on the truck driver. The man’s window was open, so Kelley knew he had to hear every word they said.

“Step out now with your hands up,” Reese shouted as he eased closer to the driver’s side door. “We
will
shoot.”

The truck motor roared. Kelley saw the fierceness in the driver’s eyes and in his expression.

“He’s not going to surrender,” Kelley said.

Reese gave a nod to one of the snipers. “Take him out.”

The truck vibrated as if the driver was shifting into gear.

A crack from a rifle. A hole appeared in the driver’s forehead and his eyes went blank. He slumped over the wheel.

The rig started to roll.

Reese bolted the few feet to the truck. He jumped onto the running board and wrenched open the door of the cab.

The truck crept slowly forward as he hung on with the three fingers of his left hand and grabbed the dead man by his collar with his opposite hand. He pulled the man’s body out of the cab and it tumbled to the ground.

Kelley’s heart beat faster as the semi slowly picked up speed, heading toward the line of vehicles in front of it.

Reese swung inside the cab. He wrangled for control of the truck as it got closer and closer to the police cruisers. Officers jumped clear as the huge semi plowed into the vehicles.

Metal crunched. Glass shattered. Brakes screeched.

And then moments later, the truck came to a shuddering stop. Reese killed the engine and the rumble died away.

Even though she’d been concentrating on the semi, she’d also been aware of what was apparently going on in the building. Whoever had been inside had put up a fight, but now the teams that had taken the building were marching cuffed men outside.

Reese and Kelley both ran to the back of the semi trailer. A large padlock was on the back, locking the doors tightly. Reese called out for bolt cutters.

Kelley’s heartbeat was erratic as she waited to see what was in the back of that trailer. Would Belle be there? What about the women Zip had claimed were in the back of a semi? Was this the right one?

In moments, an officer had returned with bolt cutters. John came up beside Reese and Kelley as they waited for the lock to be cut. The lock dropped to the ground and both Reese and John climbed up and opened the trailer’s doors.

Kelley’s breath stuck in her throat as she saw eight women and girls bound and gagged. They looked terrified, as if suffering from heat exhaustion, and faint with hunger, even as they blinked away the sudden brightness from outside.

“We’re the police.” Reese walked into the trailer. “You’re all safe now.”

Looks of relief crossed some faces, disbelief on others. Tears rolled down many of the women’s and girls’ cheeks.

Kelley climbed inside. The hot interior reeked with smells of sweat and unwashed bodies. She recognized several from pictures that had been circulated of each missing woman or girl from missing persons cases. How long had some of them been gone from their families?

While she walked through the back, stepping over many of the occupants, all appearing to be blonde and blue-eyed, Kelley made reassuring comments as she went. With single-minded determinedness, she searched for Belle.

“I can’t find her.” Kelley fought to keep her voice calm. “I can’t find Belle.”

“I don’t see her, either,” Reese said as he knelt and began freeing the occupants by cutting their bonds and then removing their gags.

Louder sobs and whimpers could be heard now that gags were being removed. Officers helped women out of the back of the trailer. Grateful words were being said by many of the women while others looked too shell-shocked to speak.

Sirens approached, no doubt ambulances. Some of these women could be transported in available vehicles to the hospital, but others needed immediate care.

Kelley still kept her eyes open in case Belle was here, but her heart sank even further when she didn’t see the girl anywhere.

“Petrova.” John’s voice had Kelley turning to face the truck’s opening. “You need to see this.”

Kelley finished freeing a girl then helped her to the back of the truck. When they reached it, Kelley handed off the girl to a paramedic.

“What do you have?” Kelley asked John.

John inclined his head to where Reese was now standing and holding a blood-splattered document. Kelley felt a renewed pounding in her chest.

“What is it?” Kelley asked as she reached him.

He raised his head. “John took this off the dead driver. It’s a bill of sale to someone named Ortega.” He handed the papers to Kelley, his features hard. “These women were being sold like cattle.”

Her stomach churned and bile rose in her throat. “We’ve got to get to Johnny Rocha.” The paper wrinkled in her hand as she clenched it. “I’ll kill him myself.”

“If I don’t get to him first,” Reese said in a growl.

Chapter 14

Sometime later, after things had been sorted out and the women and girls whisked to the hospital, Reese took Kelley to her home. Unbelievably, it was only two in the afternoon. It was hard to believe that only that morning she’d awakened in Reese’s bed and had enjoyed breakfast with him before Zip called. Everything from that point had tumbled from one thing to another.

She was so wound up that when she looked at Reese, she felt a need so great for him that she could barely keep from touching him. She clenched and unclenched her fists. God, she had to have him.

When they reached her home and Reese parked, Kelley looked at him. “You are coming inside,” she stated.

He looked at her, his eyes darkening with arousal. She hurried out of the truck and he walked with her to the front door. She fished her keys out of her purse and unlocked the door.

When they were inside and had closed the door behind them, he grabbed her by the waist and she gasped as he slammed her up against the wall. His mouth came down hard on hers and she groaned as he kissed her with savage need.

She let her purse drop to the floor with a loud thump. He drew away long enough to pull her T-shirt over her head, taking care not to hurt her shoulder, but stripping her bare all the same. He dropped the shirt and unfastened her bra before tossing it aside.

With a growl of need, he lowered his head and sucked her nipples. She moaned, wanting to climb him, wanted him inside her.

She pushed his overshirt off and he let it fall to the floor, then he helped her tug his T-shirt over his head. And then they were bare chest to bare chest as they kissed with frantic abandon.

“Where’s your room?” he asked in a husky voice. He’d been to her home before, but never to her bedroom.

“I don’t want to wait.” She had a hard time getting the words out, she was so anxious to be with him. “I want you now.”

Her words seemed to incite him even more. He swung her around and set her on the sofa before going down on a knee and removing her boots and socks. He brought her to her feet again and shoved her jeans down to her feet and she stepped out of them.

He moved her up against the wall again as he paused long enough to fish a foil packet out of his wallet and then tossed the wallet aside. He unbuckled his belt and unzipped his jeans before pushing his jeans and boxers down and freeing his erection. He tore open the packet and quickly sheathed his cock.

With a groan, he lifted her up by her ass and she wrapped her legs around his hips, feeling his erection against her. He positioned himself at the entrance to her core and slammed his cock inside of her.

She nearly screamed at the suddenness and pleasure of his entry. He took her mouth again as he fucked her hard and fast. She hung on for dear life. The wall was hard against her back, his kiss fierce. She matched him with her own hungry kiss.

An orgasm rushed forward, and her head seemed to spin. He pulled away and he watched her as she came. Sparks exploded in her mind as her orgasm slammed into her. She screamed.

He took her harder and harder yet, his expression primal as she climaxed again. Her core pulsed around his cock and then he was shouting his release. She felt the throb of his cock inside her as he moved in and out a few more times.

A groan rumbled out of him as he sagged against her, pinning her to the wall. Both of them were breathing hard, perspiration coating their skin. He kissed her again before raising his head.

He took only long enough to pull his jeans up to his hips, and then with his eyes fixed on hers, he took her down to the rug and brought her into his arms. She sighed and rested her head against his chest. His embrace felt secure and she melted more fully against him. He smelled of sun-warmed flesh and his bare chest was hard against her cheek.

For a moment she wondered why she didn’t mind showing any kind of weakness in front of him now. Their relationship had changed irrevocably and with it, so had her need to hide anything from Reese.

When she tilted her head back to look into his eyes, he was studying her. He lowered his mouth and kissed her long, sweet and slow.

He drew away, breaking the kiss, and brushed hair from her eyes with his fingers. “I don’t know how long I can be your partner without worrying about you.”

She frowned. “We’ve been partners for a long time. You know I can take care of myself.”

He gave a gentle smile. “Yes, you can. I’ve never doubted that.”

She moved her hands to his chest. She liked the feel of his bare skin against her palms and how his body heat radiated through her. “Then what’s the problem?”

“I—” he started say but his cell phone rang and he paused.

“Go ahead.” She let her hands slide away from his chest. “Take the call.”

He sat up and unholstered his cell phone. “Detective McBride,” he answered. As he listened to the caller, his expression darkened. “I’ll be right there.”

“What happened?” she asked as he holstered his phone.

“Your informant, Zip.” Reese looked grim. “He’s been found. Dead.”

Chapter 15

“Zip has been murdered?” A cold chill washed over Kelley’s skin. “Where?”

“In his apartment.” Reese pushed his fingers through his hair. “Neighbors heard shots and called the police. When they arrived they found his body.”

“I’m going to the scene.” She scrambled to her feet. “I just need to get on some clean clothes.”

Reese looked like he was going to say something, but thankfully he didn’t.

She hurried to her room and changed into clean panties, bra, jeans, and T-shirt. At least she’d showered that morning. Having met with Zip and then immediately investigating his lead, she hadn’t had a chance to go home and get into clean clothes until now.

When she returned to the living room, she scooped up her cross body purse from where she’d dropped it on the floor. Reese reached for the doorknob, opened the door, and held it so that she could walk through. She locked the door behind him as he stepped out of the way.

As she shoved her keys into her purse, she hurried down the steps to his truck to keep up with his long strides. Within moments they were in the vehicle and driving to the part of town where Zip lived.

She felt jittery, as if she’d had a dozen cups of coffee. Had someone found out that Zip had given her the lead to the women and girls? Or had he been murdered for some other reason? Damn, she should have made him accept the protection.

When they arrived, squad cars were parked in front of the apartments, the vehicle’s red and blue emergency lights flashing. The area was cordoned off with yellow tape.

Kelley and Reese climbed out of his truck and met up with John.

John glanced toward the first floor apartment door where law enforcement personnel were going in and out. He looked at Kelley and Reese. “No sign of forced entry or struggle. The victim may have known his assailant, but so far we haven’t been able to determine if that was the case.”

Kelley nodded. “Anything else?”

“It wasn’t clean,” John said. “He was shot in the gut and he bled out.”

Kelley felt a moment’s pity. Zip hadn’t been an upstanding citizen, but he hadn’t deserved to die like that.

“Any witnesses?” Reese asked John.

John gestured to a woman speaking with a uniformed officer. “She heard shots then looked out her window in time to see a vehicle fleeing the scene. It was an older rusty pickup truck, but that’s all she could tell us. Using her description, we’ve got an APB out on the vehicle. No one seems to have seen anyone coming out of the victim’s apartment.”

“You’re sure the victim is Zip?” Kelley asked.

John gave a single nod. “Yeah, it’s him.”

“Thanks, John.” She turned to Reese. “Let’s check it out.”

They entered the apartment that was being looked over from top to bottom. Zip’s body was face down, but his head was turned to the side so that Kelley could see his bloodless face. There was a path of blood behind him, as if he’d dragged himself this far, and a pool of blood beside him.

She shook her head and cut her gaze to Reese. “Do you think he was killed for tipping us off about the shipment of women and girls?”

“Could be.” Reese took a pair of disposable gloves out of his pocket and Kelley dug a set out of her purse.

Reese and Kelley worked their way through the apartment. He picked up a cell phone near the location where Zip’s body lay. Reese scrolled through recently called numbers.

“Here’s your number.” He paused then scrolled to the next one. “Look at the date and time stamp. Someone called him around the same time we found the victims.”

“Look.” She knelt. A corner of a piece of paper, wet with blood, was sticking out from beneath Zip’s body. “Help me move him so that I can get the paper out.”

Carefully, Reese raised the body. Zip’s hand that had been pinned beneath his body was clenching a pen. Kelley pulled the paper out that was half covered with blood and bloody fingerprints. There was writing that was legible on a portion of the paper that wasn’t coated in red.