Mine To Protect (Mine #6) (12 page)

“I don’t think the FBI has jurisdiction here,” Cain murmured carefully. “Though I am glad you hauled your butt in here. I need statements from you. And Zoe.” He rose, looking over Victor’s shoulder. “Where is she?”

“Like I’d tell you—or any cop in this place.”

Cain’s jaw hardened. “I didn’t know I was working with a traitor. Get that shit straight.”

“I want to talk to him.”

“The captain is calling the shots, not me. I wish I could help you, but I can’t.”

Not what Victor wanted to hear. “Roy told Zoe that he was going to trade her for Michelle.”

Cain’s eyelids flickered.

“You said she went dark.
Roy
was willing to kidnap and kill because he thought Michelle’s life was on the line. If you’ve got a cop out there—one who is in mortal danger—why the hell isn’t your captain acting?”

“Because he’s afraid everything is about to blow up in his face!” Cain glanced angrily toward the captain’s closed office door. “The guy knows that he should have pulled Michelle at the first sign of trouble. He didn’t. And now he’s trying to cover his ass.”

“I can get you FBI assistance.” Victor kept his voice calm with a supreme effort. “I can help you, but first you have to help me.”

Cain yanked a hand through his hair. “Why are you still in town? I figured you’d vanish as soon as you had your lady back.”

He did want to vanish. But… “Zoe came here to find her friend. She’s even more convinced now that Michelle is in danger.”

Surprise widened Cain’s eyes. “But she knows Michelle is a cop.”

“Doesn’t matter. Zoe wants to find her.”

Cain’s hand lowered to rest near his holster. “And let me guess…you want to make Zoe happy, right? If she gets what she wants, then she’s more likely to trust you. To cooperate with you. To turn on her father and do whatever the hell you—”

“I don’t want her crying because her friend is dead.” Cold, brutal. “I don’t want her hurting because she blames herself for something happening to Michelle.”

Cain seemed to absorb that.

“So you going to work with me?” Victor waved his hand around the precinct. “Or should I just go over your captain’s head, too? Maybe the FBI
does
need to take jurisdiction. I’m sure I can. After all, it was my case that was jeopardized. My
witness
that was taken and nearly killed.”

“Dammit…” Cain’s frustration was obvious.

Victor smiled at him. “Get me face-to-face with Roy. Do it now or I will use every bit of pull I have to take total control here.” Yeah, he was a bastard, and, right then, he didn’t care.

Zoe. I’m doing this for Zoe.

This…and so much more.

***

“Five minutes,” Cain muttered as he directed Victor toward an isolated cell in the back of the holding area. “We have five minutes back here, and then our asses are toast.”

Victor looked through those bars and saw Roy rising to his feet. He gave the bastard a grim smile. “I guess we meet again.”

“No!” Roy held up his hands. “I’m not talking to you. I’m not talking to
anyone
but my lawyer.” His face was bruised, one eye nearly shut. His nose swollen. His upper lip busted.

“Do you really care about Michelle?” Victor asked him. “Or was that some bullshit line you fed Zoe?”

Roy jumped toward the bars. “I
love
her!”

So much for talking only to his lawyer. With guys like Roy, it was all about knowing which buttons to push. “You love her
and
the two million you were going to get for Zoe?”

“Michelle was going to die!” Spittle flew from Roy’s mouth. “What was I supposed to do? Zoe was made when she headed into Dice. The wrong person saw her. Why do you think that other hitter was already in the alley? She was
made.
In this town, danger is always two fucking steps behind you, so you have to learn how to walk real fast.”

Victor had wondered about that man in the alley. Had the hitman been in the shadows of Dice? Just outside, watching? But Victor would question that would-be shooter, soon enough. For now, his focus was on Roy.

Roy’s cheeks flushed. “I got a call from some guy, okay? Right after you two made the mistake of going into Dice. Fellow said he was at the Vine. Guy promised me that if I brought Zoe to him, then Michelle could live
and
I’d get the pay.”

Cain was silent. Did he buy the guy’s story? Victor didn’t. “The Vine…” Victor repeated the name even as he made the connection. He’d seen the sign for the place when he and Zoe first arrived in town.

“
That’s
where Michelle went to work,” Roy said quickly. “That casino—it’s a front, I know it. And when I got the call, telling me to bring Zoe if I ever wanted to see Michelle again, I-I just stopped thinking clearly. Panic took over.”

“When did you get the call?”

“Like I already told you—right after you walked into Dice.” He licked his lips. “Someone saw Zoe. Someone made the connection. I was told to get her, and I did.”

“When was the exchange supposed to take place?”

Roy’s stare jerked between him and Cain. “What will happen to me?” Roy asked. “I was a good cop…”

“
When was the exchange supposed to take place?”

“I don’t know! I was told I’d get another call. That’s what I was waiting for at that motel! But then you assholes took me into custody!” His voice rose as he yanked on the bars. “So I didn’t get the second call! I didn’t make the trade! And Michelle is going to
die!
”

Was the guy telling the truth? Or just making a desperate attempt to dig himself out of the serious shit-hole he’d already dug? Victor gave a grim nod. “Okay, let’s go back and take this story from—”

“You’re not taking anything.” The voice was smooth, smug, and coming from right behind him. “My client is done talking with you.”

Hell. He should have known that a lawyer would show up to spoil his fun. Victor threw a glance over his shoulder. “If your client wants to keep talking, that’s his choice.”

The brown-haired male in the suit that reeked of money smiled a bit, a faint curving of his lips. That smile didn’t reach his cold eyes. “My client isn’t talking because I don’t want him spending the rest of his life in a prison surrounded by inmates who want nothing more than to get payback on the cop in their midst.”

“
Oh, Jesus,”
Roy mumbled. “Jesus.”

“You’re done here,” the lawyer said to Victor. “I need to confer with my client.”

Victor turned to fully face the attorney. His gaze swept over the man, head to toe, taking his stock, not liking the guy at all with his stiff posture and cold eyes. “Didn’t catch your name,” Victor murmured.

“And I didn’t catch yours.” But the lawyer stepped forward, offering his hand.

Victor took that hand. “FBI Special Agent Victor Monroe.”

Once again, that faint smile appeared. Only this time, the lawyer’s eyes hardened. “I’m Xavier Winters. But my friends call me Tom.”

Sonofabitch.

***

He was so screwed.

Roy Duncan hunched over against the cell bars. He’d thought that he could get away clean. Get the money. Get his girl. And ride away into the sunset.

Now his ass was locked in a jail cell.

Cops couldn’t go to prison. Everyone knew that. Everyone knew the shit that waited for them in those hellholes. He couldn’t go down like that. There had to be a way out.

Footsteps padded on the concrete floor. His eyes locked on the dark-haired guy heading his way—the guy who’d identified himself as Roy’s attorney. Only the problem was that Roy had never seen that man in his life. The fellow sure as shit
wasn’t
his lawyer.

“Now that the FBI agent is gone, how about we talk privately?” The attorney smiled at him. Some dude in a fancy suit, with perfect features and an old money vibe rolling off him. As Roy stared at the fellow, the lawyer’s head inclined toward the uniformed cop who watched from a nearby corner. “Total privacy would be best.”

Roy got the message, loud and clear. The attorney wanted the uniform gone. Fine. Roy nodded. “Leave us alone,” he told the cop.

The uniform hesitated.

“I’m locked up! What the hell do you think I’ll do? Give us privacy!” Because Roy wanted to know who this fellow was…

And how he could use him.

The uniform glared at Roy, but backed away.

The
lawyer
smirked at Roy.

“Xavier Winters,” Roy murmured, trying to place the name but coming up blank. “Funny, I don’t remember hiring you.”

Xavier laughed. “That’s probably a good thing because, you see, my normal rates are very, very high.”

What was going on?

“But don’t worry. I have a special deal for you, Officer Duncan.” Xavier sidled closer to the bars. “I think you and I can help each other.”

“How the hell are you supposed to help me?”
Try bribing a judge. Maybe that would work.

The lawyer straightened his already straight tie. “I can make sure you never see the inside of a prison.”

Now
those
words sure caught Roy’s attention. “Keep talking.”

“No, actually,
you’re
the one who needs to talk.” Xavier locked his gaze on Roy’s. “Tell me everything you know about Zoe Peters. Every. Single. Thing.”

***

“Was that everything you hoped and more?” Cain drawled as he and Victor marched away from holding. “Because to me, it sure seemed that we got jackshit out of the guy.”

Xavier Winters.
It was no coincidence that the lawyer had shown up. “I got plenty I can use.” Just by seeing Winters. His eyes sharpened on Cain. “I want to see the shooter you arrested in that alleyway. Maybe he can tell us who hired him for the hit.”

Cain’s lips thinned. “Right this way.”

The guy wasn’t going to argue with him? No bitching about case territory this time? Victor hurried to follow Cain down the hallway, but they weren’t heading back to holding. Cain took him downstairs. Down, down below to…

“What in the hell?”

A body was tagged and bagged down there, and an ME stood to the side, tapping on a laptop.

“There’s the shooter,” Cain said, voice tight. “Within five minutes of him getting to booking, another prisoner had knifed him. The guy will be telling you
nothing.
”

Victor shook his head.

“
That’s
why Roy is in holding alone. Because we suspect there’s already orders pending to have him killed, too.” Cain rolled back his shoulders. “But, hey, I’m newer to this game than you are, so you tell me…you think Luther Bates could really have already heard about the attack on his daughter? Do you really think that man’s reach is so strong that he could’ve had the shooter killed the instant he came into this place? Or…” Cain blew out a rough breath. “Do you think someone
else
ordered the shooter taken out? Maybe the power player we’re after in Vegas?”

“Even Luther couldn’t get a hit moving on the shooter this fast.” At least, he didn’t think so. Luther couldn’t, but someone in Vegas could, someone pulling the strings in this city…
puppet master.
“Your power player is one busy asshole.” And Victor would be stopping him. “Better double the guards on Roy,” Victor advised darkly. “Or he may not make it through the night.”

When the hotel room door opened hours later, Zoe felt as if she were about to explode. Victor strode inside, looking all tall, dark, and dangerous, and she wanted to rage at him.

Drake Archer had proven himself to be a very annoying opponent. She’d tried—at least three times—to give the guy the slip.

Not happening.
Either Drake—or his security goons—had found a way to stop her each time. And he’d kept her trapped in the suite.

“I kept my promise,” Drake said as he rose languidly from the couch. “She didn’t get away.”

Victor gave a jerky nod. “You don’t even realize what an accomplishment that is.”

Her teeth were clenched so tightly her jaw ached.

“Yes, well,” Drake mused, “I learned from Jasmine’s work. Wasn’t about to make the same mistake again.”

Victor met Zoe’s stare. He winced. “So you’re seriously pissed?”

“Pissed doesn’t do me justice.” Not even close.

“Will it help if I say that I found out information we can use?”

She rose. Didn’t leap at him. Didn’t scream. Zoe just stood there and softly said, “You cut me out.”

“
I wanted to protect you.
”

“You cut me out,” she repeated. “Don’t ever do it again. If you do…”

Victor’s eyes glittered.

“I’ll walk.” He should know that she meant those words. “I’ll vanish. Sure, maybe Drake kept me here today, but we both know…I can eventually get away. I will
always
get away. So whatever intel you
hope
you’re going to get from me about Luther, it won’t happen if you shut me out again. I won’t be left in the dark.”

He rushed toward her. Reached for her but stopped. “You think I can’t see that I’m screwing things to hell and back with you?” His voice was low, ragged. “I see it. I know it, but I don’t know how to stop. I want you safe. I want to give you everything you need. I just don’t fucking know how.”

There was pain in his words. Pain and confusion and he seemed so lost.

As lost as she felt.

“What if another cop there had been tempted by the two million?” Victor asked. “I couldn’t do it, Zoe. I couldn’t risk you, so I went to the station on my own. I wanted to learn something that would help Michelle. Help you. I swear, baby, I never meant to hurt you.”

Drake cleared his throat. “Okay, so you two have lots to work out—obviously—but how about we focus on the part about Michelle for a bit? What happened when you got to the station, Vic? Did you throw your big, bad, annoying FBI weight around—as you and I both know you like to do—and find out anything else about the woman?”

The faint lines near Victor’s eyes deepened. “She went to work as a showgirl at the Vine.”

“Yes, yes, we know that,” Drake muttered. “I meant did you find out something
new
?”

“She went to work at the Vine, only she never danced,” Victor continued, his voice sounding tired. “I talked to Cain about her. Seems she spent all her time with upper management. Behind closed doors. She was working her way to the top. Trying to find out who was the power behind the corporate front…because that power is the new crime boss in town.”

“He’s the one she sold me out to,” Zoe said. He had to be the one.

Victor nodded. “And all signs at the Vegas PD point to him being the one who has the hits on you. That fool hitman that Cain stopped in the alley? He’s already dead because someone wanted to make sure he didn’t talk.”

Zoe’s hand rose to her throat.
When would the bodies ever stop piling up?

“I did get that bastard Roy to reveal some information, and everything he said just pointed back to the Vine.”

“Then we need to get in there.” They should be storming the place right then. “We have to search there and see what we can find out about Michelle.”

Victor shook his head. “The cops can’t get in. Not yet. They’re waiting for orders from above.”

“I’m not a cop.” So she didn’t have to wait for any orders from above. “We can do this, Victor. You and me. We can get in there and help her. If you want to make this whole abandonment mess up to me…
then we will work together on this.
”

Victor’s gaze was so bright. So intense. “Drake,” he said, without glancing away from Zoe. “Leave us, would you?”

“Already heading for the door.”

Zoe wrapped her arms around her stomach.

The suite’s door opened.

“Thank you,” Victor called out. The words seemed a bit rusty.

“Anytime.” Just like that, Drake was gone.

And she was locked in a face-off with Victor.

“I’m afraid for you,” he confessed.

Those words were the last she’d expected to hear from him. Zoe shook her head in automatic denial. She had a hard time imagining Victor being afraid about anything.

“The people in the Vine…they want to kill you,” Victor said.

“Yeah, I got that.”

“Zoe, you’re coming too close to death. Don’t do this. Don’t ask this shit of me.” Victor strode closer to her. His body wasn’t touching hers, but she could feel the heat that seemed to cling to him. “Cain and his crew can handle the search for Michelle. They’ve got this case covered.”

Zoe shook her head. “They don’t have me. Roy said he could trade me for Michelle. I’m the ticket we need to get her out alive.”

His eyes closed. “What am I supposed to fucking do?”

“You’re supposed to be at my side, helping me stay alive.” She reached out and curled her fingers around his hand. “We can do this. Together. We can come up with a plan that will work, I know we can.”

He looked at their joined hands. “I won’t be able to handle it if something happens to you. When I couldn’t find you after the fire, I swear, it was like something flipped off inside of me. I wasn’t…I wasn’t quite sane.”

“How do you think I felt when I woke up in that little motel room, and I didn’t know if you were alive or dead?” She squeezed his hand. “The whole world went dark on me right then.”

His head snapped back. His eyes locked on hers. “Be careful, Zoe.”

She stood on her tip-toes and pressed a kiss to his lips. “Why? I’ve got a special agent to keep me safe.”

“Be careful with me. I’m wanting you too much.”

“Is it possible to want someone
too
much?” She wanted him right then. Wanted him in her. Wanted the reassurance that they were both safe. Alive.

Together.

“You don’t want me to lose control.”

Actually, that was exactly what she wanted. Zoe swallowed and said, “I didn’t think the great Victor Monroe ever lost at anything.”

“I do.” His voice was grim. “Trust me, I fucking do.”

Staring hard into his gaze, she said, “I do trust you.”

Surprise flashed on his face.

“I thought, maybe, it was time you knew that,” she whispered the confession to him.

His head lowered toward hers. His mouth pressed against her lips. Softly. Carefully. “What are you doing to me?”

I have no idea.

“You are blowing my plans to hell.” His words were angry, but his mouth was so careful on hers. “And I don’t even care.” He licked her lower lip. “I can’t stop…with you, I can’t.”

Was that good? Or bad? “Victor…”

His head lifted. “If you didn’t have a concussion, I would be fucking you as hard as I could right now.”

The concussion? What concussion? She felt fine, and it had been
hours
since he’d forced her to stop in at that hospital.

But he pulled away from her and stalked toward the window. He seemed to be staring so hard at the gleaming Vegas lights. “Sometimes, I hate my job.”

She rubbed her chilled arms. The chill had come from the coldness of his voice. “I thought you liked upholding the peace. Stopping the bad guys.” She tried to make her voice sound light, but Zoe knew she failed.

“Some bad guys…they get beneath your skin. They twist the world around them. If you’re not careful, they’ll twist you.”

The drumming of her heartbeat filled her ears. “You’re talking about Luther.”

He was still not looking at her. “He’s one of the coldest SOBs I’ve ever met.”

Her father
was
the coldest SOB she’d ever met. No doubt about it.

“We can’t ever let him get out of prison, Zoe. Help me make sure that doesn’t happen.”

She could barely breathe. The idea of her father, loose…

“How many people will he kill…” Victor continued, “once he’s on the street?”

Her gaze fell to the floor. Guilt cut through her, the way it always did when she thought of all the terrible things her father had done.

Like father, like daughter…

“There’s something else.”

But she didn’t want to hear anything else right then.

“More is at play in Vegas than we realize. More that involves
you
.” His footsteps padded toward her. His fingers curled under her chin, and he tilted her head back. His touch was so gentle as he gazed down at her. “Your ex, Tom Winters…”

“You told me he was in Vegas.” She tried to keep her voice even. “It’s not like we’re going to see him—”

“Yeah, I already
have
seen him.
”

“What? When?”

“While I was questioning Roy, Tom arrived. Seems he’s Roy’s attorney, too.”

“No.” An automatic denial. Tom couldn’t be working for Luther
and
for Roy. There was no way coincidences like that happened.

It’s not a coincidence.

Victor’s gaze was solemn. “The players in this game are lining up.”

Not a game. Don’t call it that.

“And I don’t like what’s happening. I don’t like what I think could be coming.”

Luther Bates. Tom. Planning some kind of legal twist to get my father out of prison.

“We need to work together, Zoe. You said you trusted me—keep trusting me. I will help you get Michelle. I will stand by your side through whatever hell might come our way.”

He already had. He’d been risking his life for her, again and again.

“And I
will
protect you from the thing that you fear the most.”

She stared into his eyes. Zoe gazed deep and saw that he’d uncovered her darkest secret.

The thing she feared most in the whole world…

It was her father.

“Once Michelle is safe…” She exhaled a ragged breath. “I’ll do everything I can to help you keep my father in jail.”
My father.

She saw the satisfaction flash across his face. But she wondered—did he have any idea just how much the deal would cost her?

***

Cops could be such pains in the ass. Xavier—Tom—Winters made sure to keep his casual smile in place as he left the station. Every eye in the place had been on him. What had they expected? That he’d slip up right there? It wasn’t amateur hour.

His driver was waiting at the curb, standing in front of that long, sleek ride as if he were waiting for a celebrity.
That’s what I am now.
Tom nodded to him as he climbed into the back. The door shut behind him and Tom started to reach for his phone, but then he stopped.

No need to check-in. He had this covered. Everything was moving along perfectly.

FBI Special Agent Victor Monroe was back in town, and that meant, of course…that Zoe Peters was close. The guy had her stashed someplace. That wouldn’t do. Zoe needed to come into the open.

The better for me to see. The better for me to touch.

Zoe didn’t understand just how many lives were on the line. The woman also didn’t get that she was being used. Coldly. Brilliantly.

That was Zoe’s problem, though. She didn’t have her father’s killer instinct. From what Tom could tell, she had
no
killer instinct. Zoe wanted to save the world, to atone for all of Luther’s sins.

Not happening.

His fingers tapped against his phone. There were plenty of ways he could handle the situation, but why not just go for the direct route?

FBI Special Agent Victor Monroe.

He
was
the direct route. Good thing Tom had already done plenty of research on Victor Monroe. That had been Luther’s primary directive to him.

Tear apart Monroe’s past. Find his every weak spot.

Then exploit the hell out of that weakness.

His eyes closed as he leaned back against the leather seat. After his little chat with Roy, he had a pretty good idea of exactly what Victor’s weakness might be. And Tom knew that he didn’t have to go out and hunt Victor and Zoe…

They’ll be coming to me.

***

“Zoe…” She turned at the low whisper of her name. She’d been waiting all day for Victor to work out the arrangements on their plan. He’d been calling in favors at the FBI, making sure that
he
took over jurisdiction in Vegas.

It was almost time to act.
Michelle, please, hold on.

“I have something for you.” He stood in the doorway.
Her
bedroom. The suite had two bedrooms. This was the first time he’d walked into her room. He lifted up the box he held in his arms. Some fancy box with a high end store name written in script on the side.

She stared at that box as if it were a snake. “You got me a present?” She couldn’t remember the last time someone had done that, and she sure didn’t know how to act. “Victor?” She looked at his face.

And saw his shock. His pain.

He put the box down. Went to her. Took her hands in his. “You deserve so much.”

Embarrassment flooded her cheeks. “It’s not a present. It’s for the-the case, right? I mean, I know, I—”

He kissed her. Deep. Hard. Hot.

She moaned into his mouth. Desire beat in her blood. When he started to pull back, she twisted her hands, holding onto him then. “Don’t be a tease.”

His eyes glittered down at her. “I’m not teasing.”

“It’s been twenty-four hours since I got the bump on the head.” Twenty-four long hours. “I am
fine.
And before anything else happens…” Another attack, their recuse attempt with Michelle…whatever hell might be waiting. “I want to be with you.”

A muscle jerked in his jaw.

“Don’t you want to be with me?”

“More than I want my next breath.”