Undercover Lovers (34 page)

“
I am. If I wasn’t, you’d be
playing dead.” Really, really well.

“
So tell me where that bitch
and my son are.”

Distasteful as it was to
answer, Cade could keep a deal. “I have no idea
whatsoever.”

Carter’s beady little eyes
narrowed. “You fuckin’ with me?”

Not even if he begged. “I
drove her to Eureka three months ago. Where she went from there, I
have no idea.”

“
You… you…” Carter’s mottled
color turned dark, nearly purple as he all but vibrated like a
volcano about to go off. Roaring, he threw himself at Cade,
grabbing the end of the rifle, trying to wrestle it out of Cade’s
hands. Surprisingly, he just about did it, until Cade suddenly
shoved the stock forward, unbalancing the smaller man and cracking
him in the face with it. The skin on his forehead burst, blood
splashing on the gun butt, but Carter didn’t let go.

Not until the ground beneath
them literally jumped, sending them both sprawling and choking on
the flying earth. Trying to clear his vision, another delayed crash
split the air just before the door to the cabin opened and Trina
stood there like an avenging angel of some kind. She’d put her
pants back on, thank God, but both hands were extended out, each
with a 9 mm, hunting for a possible target in the front yard. As
the dust blew out of the way, all he could make out was the upside
down truck with an uncomfortable number of bodies laid out in
overturned earth and—hopefully—moaning all around it. He wasn’t
sure. Both of his ears were still ringing slightly.

He must have managed an
incredulous look of his own though, because Trina simply hitched a
shoulder. “They moved.”

Sure they did. Cade used the
rifle still in his hand to roll himself back to his
feet.

“
You fucking bitch,” Carter
groaned, staring blearily toward the yard. He wasn’t moving,
though, not after having crashed through a 4x4 railing bar. It
almost seemed unfair to go over there and pin him with the rifle to
his neck, but Cade had never really cared too much about fair. He
cared about right.

He leaned his weight onto
the gun, making sure Carter wasn’t going anywhere. “What did Shana
take from you?”

“
Screw yourself,
Evigan.”

Cade heard the snick of the
blade shuttling from the band on Carter’s wrist, just barely
catching the man’s hand before he could sink it into Cade’s kidney.
Instead, he arrowed it down into Carter’s own thigh. Carter roared
in pain.

“
I guess you didn’t hear me.
What did she take?”

Carter lurched up, looking
like a rabid beast, but this time, Cade just dropped his weight
entirely and slammed the rifle across the man’s chest
again.

“
She’s already in custody,
Carter. Whatever she took, you’re not getting it back so you might
as well tell me what it was.”

“
Money!” Carter finally
yelled. “She took my stash, all right?”

“
Stash?” Trina kept the guns
out, but she did look down at the two of them. “You mean you’ve
been skimming the payments to the Columbians? Are you out of your
mind?”

“
Three million of my buyer’s
money. I earned that shit!”

“
Like hell you did. Who’s
the buyer?” she yelled.

It took another slam from
the rifle, but Carter finally coughed it up. “Blu-Wood, all
right!”

Cade frowned. “Isn’t
Blu-Wood a construction company? They make prefab houses or
something, don’t they?”

“
It’s a front,” Carter
groaned. “It’s owned by the Scarapacci family.”

Trina dropped her guns
entirely. “You know what? Let him go.”

“
What? Why?”

“
Because that bastard is
planning to go state’s evidence and I’m not going to watch decent
agents die protecting his ass from the fucking Mob and a bunch of
pissed off Columbians. He made his bed, let him die in
it.”

Cade looked down at the
vaguely smiling visage of Frank Carter, wishing he could do just
that. Instead, he crashed his fist into the man’s face and had to
settle for the less satisfying crunch of bone as he sent him into
unconsciousness.

He got up, that much at
least settled and headed back to Rick. “Get my kit.”

Trina spun around back into
the cabin while he knelt in front of his friend.

Rick watched him through one
badly swollen eye. “Sorry I got you into this mess.” The words were
a mumbled mess.

“
Not yet, you’re not,” Cade
said, carefully taking stock. It wasn’t good. “Your arm’s broken.
Your hand, too. At least three fingers snapped. Probably the
cheekbone, too. Shit, kid, what’d they work you over with, a lead
pipe?”

“
Aluminum bats. And a
car.”

Which led to the internal
bleeding question Cade was already moving to check. “We need a
life-flight.”

Rick’s hand gripped Cade’s,
not hard, but with urgency. “I wasn’t trying to get you
killed.”

“
I know.”

“
Wanted your help. Then I
saw you and Trina. Couldn’t drag you in further. I’m sorry,
man.”

“
Make it up to me and don’t
die, okay?” Trina arrived with the heavy kit, but Cade sent her
right back in for the transceiver. “You live and you can be the
best man at our wedding.”

Trina handed him the device,
waiting precious seconds while he called in on the emergency
frequency. Then she handed him a pair of latex gloves. “Just so you
know, that’s a crappy way to propose, Evigan.”

“
Hey, I let you blow up my
cabin, got you your case settled and even got you an informant.” He
snapped them on, already looking for the best place to start.
“That’s the best proposal a cop ever gave, period.”

She grumbled, but he saw the
smile on her face as she donned her own gloves.

“
If you two are done
planning your future,” Rick groaned. “Could you get back to saving
my life, please?”

“
Ah, you’ll live,” Trina
declared. “And when you’re all done healing up, I’m going to kill
you for getting us all in this mess.”

“
Sounds fair,” Rick mumbled,
his open eye falling shut.

“
No,” Cade sighed, smiling
at Trina. “It sounds right. Absolutely right.”

Epilogue

Marketta Bugle, June
23rd.

Announcements: SSgt Cade
Evigan, Retired, and his wife, Katrina, welcomed the latest
addition to their family in the form of an 8 lb 12 oz little girl,
whom they named Merina. She’s the second child for our town’s
elected Sherriff and his wife, a decorated federal agent—also
retired—who already have a son, Ricky, age three. The Evigans say
the undersheriff, Richard Trelane, will be standing as Godparent to
their daughter as well.

Congratulations to the happy
family!

About The Author

Dee Tenorio has a few
reality issues. After much therapy for the problem—if one can call
being awakened in the night by visions of hot able-bodied men a
problem—she has proved incurable. It turns out she enjoys
tormenting herself by writing sizzling, steamy romances of various
genres spanning paranormal mystery dramas, contemporaries and
romantic comedies. Preferably starring the sexy, somewhat grumpy
heroes described above and smart-mouthed heroines who have much
better hair than she does.

The best part is, no more
therapy bills!

Well, not for Dee, anyway.
Her husband and kids, on the other hand...

If you would like to learn
more about Dee and her work, please visit her website at
www.deetenorio.com or her blog at
http://www.deetenorio.com/Blog/.