A Love For Always (26 page)

“Look, I know what you’re thinking,” Lassiter said. “My brother-in-law had heard about the GDE wonder drug and its brilliant inventor. They’ve entertained ideas about doing business with the ACS, but I advised against it.”

“Why? If it could save Pasteur Science Lab?”

“You never go in business with organized crime,” the other man said, throwing his cigar to the ground and putting it out with a decisive twist of his work boots. “You’ve only seen the drug trade in Afghanistan. Have you ever dealt with the Mexican Cartel and the Colombian drug traffickers? They’re ruthless and cruel. They’ll integrate themselves into your livelihood and squeeze you dry until you’re totally subservient to them. The ACS has a little more finesse with how it deals with its enemies, but they’re the same evil, Reece. They’re the scourge of the modern world. The poison. Arms, drugs, prostitution. You name it. You let them infiltrate our pharmaceutical companies, what do you think will happen, huh? You’ll have a new avenue for manufacturing illegal drugs.”

The man sounded very passionate in his beliefs, so much so that Nate started doubting his read on the guy. This was rare. He was pretty sure he had his man, but he wasn’t being objective because it was Sylvie’s life on the line. Fuck. His phone vibrated in his back pocket. It was Cat.

“I need to get this,” Nate said.

Lassiter gave him a weary wave, shook his head, and sighed as if the weight of the world was on him.
 

“Reece.”

“I’ve been trying to get hold of you for the past ten minutes,” Cat said. “Where were you?”

“I told you I was meeting Lassiter. He lives out near Travis’s parents. Signal was bad.”

“Anyway, listen,” Cat said impatiently. “We got it all wrong. I’m glad you had me check Harold Tisdale. Two hundred thousand dollars was transferred from his account to a David Connor. That ID is a fake. I tried to verify that identity several times but came up with nothing. The account has been emptied into a bank in Hong Kong, and then part of it was transferred to the Cayman Islands.”

“How did you figure all that out?” Nate asked.
 

“Some serious hacking, but I think I may have tripped some of their alarms.”

“Their alarms?” Nate repeated; he was now alarmed himself.
 

“On the Black Plane, this group is called The Jackal Pack.”

“Huh? Jackals don’t usually stay in packs,” he murmured.

“Focus, Nate!” Caitlin yelled at him, her exasperation ringing clear through the line.

“I’m listening. So what about this group?”

“According to Porter, the government thinks they’re a myth, but they’re not. It’s a small team of about six men, very low profile, which is probably why you’ve never heard of them. They’re never always on a job. Sometimes they’ll do one and then go off the grid for months. They frequently do corporate espionage, but are not above doing assassinations.”

“Christ.”

“You’re not gonna like this, Nate. I’m still running confirmation, but I had to dump all my node addresses, so they couldn’t trace back to me. I think it’s Cade Bowen.”

Nate froze. “What? What about Cade?”

Lassiter’s gaze snapped to his and the other man came closer to listen in.

“I ran my crosscheck algorithm—the one I’ve been developing for the NSA. David Connor had been in Cade’s alias sets, but he never used it. There were other people with that alias of course, but Cade was the only known connection.”

“He’s at Sylvie’s right now.”

“What?” Caitlin shrieked. “When was the last time you talked to her?”

“I talked to Sam an hour ago. Fuck!” Nate was starting to come undone. “Cat, send whatever you have to my phone. Call Travis and tell him to send security over to Sylvie’s. Hell, call 911. Wait. No. They might botch this up. Just . . .
 
call Travis and let him know what’s going on. I’m going to call Sam.”

“Cade?” Lassiter growled. “Now you’re going after Cade? What the fuck, Reece?”

Nate’s ignored the man. He had no time to explain.
 

Sam’s phone kept ringing until it finally went to voicemail.

He tried Sylvie’s.

It kept ringing as well. Nate was choking on terrible fear.
 

Finally, she picked up. His relief almost knocked him from his bike.
 

“Thank Christ, Sylvie.” His words came out in a rush.
 

“I’m sorry, Reece, but Sylvie can’t come to the phone right now.”

Cade.
 

His blood turned to ice.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Holy shit, it melts in your mouth.”

Sylvie watched the ecstatic look on Cade’s face as he chewed on the thin slice of seared Wagyu.
 

“Taylor’s special teriyaki sauce,” Sylvie said proudly. Her Wagyu beef was directly imported from Japan—the Kobe region to be exact, which was why it was sometimes called Kobe beef.
 

“These caramelized bits around the fat are perfect,” her ex-sous chef said.

“It’s the ratio of mirin and sugar in the sauce,” Taylor said.
 

“I’m glad you savored it,” Sylvie quipped. “That’s high-grade Kobe.”

“Wouldn’t you defeat the purpose of the RevivalTrail campaign if you spent it on expensive ingredients for the dinner menu?”

“I got that at cost. And my father sent it through one of his friends.”

Cade raised a brow. “How often do you communicate with your dad?”

Sylvie stiffened as a strange uneasiness washed over her. “Hey, no questions about my father.” She tried to keep the acid from her tone.
 

Cade’s mouth tightened. “Fair enough.” Just then, his phone rang. Sylvie turned away to let him answer the call.
 

Taylor moved close to her and gave her a nudge with his shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yes. It’s nothing. I got spooked,” Sylvie whispered.

“You sure?” Cade spoke into the phone. “Okay. Give me five minutes.”

Kato, who was oblivious to the tension in the kitchen, finished the appetizer experiment. “You’re not leaving, are you?” He was addressing Cade. “I just finished this assorted tempura.”

“I can get that tempura shit anywhere,” Cade scoffed. “Why would that be on the menu?”

Kato’s face turned beet red, and it pissed Sylvie off.
 

“You know what, Cade, I don’t think we’re ready to be around you,” Sylvie said, turning to face the obnoxious man. “You need to leave.”

“No, it’s okay,” Kato quickly said. “He’s right. Tempura is—”

“I agreed to put it on the menu, and you have an idea with the batter, which I thought was ingenious. So no, Cade is not right. He’s no longer part of the team.” She glared at the man in question.

A smirk formed on Cade’s lips. He moved a couple of steps toward her; she backed away and bumped into Kato. “What? I can’t even give you a kiss goodbye?”

“I’ll pass on that, if you don’t mind.” Yes. She was still pissed at Cade, and it was probably not only from today. She knew it wasn’t fair, but his lack of remorse for insulting Kato rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe she was overprotective of the kid, but so what?

“Now, you’re hurting my feelings, sweetheart.” His eyes had shuttered from all emotions and his smirk had turned into a sneer.
 

Something was terribly wrong. She didn’t recognize this Cade. It was as if he was a snake that had shed a skin, and what she was seeing in his eyes sent a shiver through her. “You need to leave.”

“You heard her, man,” Taylor said, walking up to Cade and gripping his arm. “I’ll walk you out.”
 

Everything happened quickly. Taylor’s head was smashed against the countertop, and Sylvie watched in horror as he dropped to the floor.

“Cade, what the hell?”

“Sylvie, I’m leaving, but you’re coming with me.”

He lunged for her.

But after being a victim too many times, Sylvie was prepared for anything. She neatly sidestepped Cade who, because of his bulk, was too slow for her. Her hand gripped the handle of the skillet sitting on the countertop and she swung it wildly and connected with the back of Cade’s head. He cursed and sank to his knees. Kato immediately kicked him in the head.

“Saaaaam!” Sylvie screamed, grabbing her chef knife and scrambling to check on Taylor. Kato was also down on his knees beside her. She was about to tell the young man to get out of the kitchen when Sam burst into the room and immediately went after Cade, who was still dazed from the double whammy he had received from her and Kato. Cade, surprisingly, didn’t put up much of a fight and let Sam drag him to his feet with his arm twisted behind his back.

Meanwhile, Taylor groaned, regaining consciousness. “That son of a bitch.” He turned his head to glare at Cade who was smirking at them. “What’s so funny, asshole?”

“This whole little team trying to go against me.”

“Uh, excuse me, dickhead, but you’re the one with his arms behind his back,” Kato pointed out.
 

Out of nowhere, gunfire erupted from the back exit, followed by an explosion.

“Is Boyd out there?” Sylvie asked Sam fearfully. Boyd was Sam’s partner.
 

“A fucking diversion.” Sam’s face hardened in fierce lines.
 

“Poor Sylvie,” Cade mocked. “I’m sorry for the mess we’re making again. I think you might have to go shopping for a new insurance company.”

There was a flurry of activity and voices coming from the hallway.

“We got your man here, and if you open fire, he’s going to die,” a voice shouted. “We’re approaching the second door to the left. Any sign of hostile intent, we will kill your man and all of you.”

“Shelby, you fucker. Don’t you dare shoot!” Cade called out, but there was a smile on his face.

“Bowen! Hey, brother, glad you’re still alive,” the same voice responded.
 

Footsteps grew louder, and soon, four men in black commando gear appeared. They were armed to the teeth with assault rifles. Boyd was bleeding and barely conscious, propped up only by two of Cade’s crew.
 

“Thought we’d have to split the money by five instead of six,” a blond man, presumably Shelby, said with a smirk.

“You’re a motherfucker,” Cade shot back. “Harper, I think you can let go of me now, unless you want Boyd to bleed to death. Looks like he needs immediate medical attention. All we want is Sylvie.”

“How sure am I you’re leaving us alive anyway?” Sam asked, twisting Cade’s arm further up his back.
 

The muzzle of two assault rifles pointed at Sam’s head. A third one was aimed at the trio of Sylvie, Kato, and Taylor.

“Guys, put your guns down,” Cade said sternly. “No one is going to get hurt.” He looked at Sylvie. “I have no intention of killing you. That was never the plan. I controlled the bomb that went off here. It was only meant to scare your father.”

Sylvie closed her eyes briefly. After Cade turned on her today, she’d had a sneaking suspicion he had caused the explosion. Hearing the words, though, drove the stab of betrayal deeper.

“How could you?” she whispered, her throat clogged with emotion.
 

Regret flickered in Cade’s eyes, but quickly disappeared.
 
“Tell your guard dog to let me go before someone else gets hurt,” he said instead. “Some of my guys are crazy.”

“You’re crazy,” Sylvie muttered under her breath. “Let Boyd go first.”

Cade jerked his head at his men and they immediately released Boyd who fell straight into Sylvie and Taylor’s arms. Taylor helped the injured bodyguard to the floor.
 

“Fuck,” Sam said, letting Cade go and then raking his fingers through his hair. “I’m fucking useless. Again.”
 

“Uh, this time, you can blame it on Reece,” Cade said. “For a former spook, your boss was just too trusting of me.”

“You had everyone fooled,” Sylvie said, straightening up. She breathed a heavy sigh. “Let’s get this over with.”

Her ringtone sounded in her chef jacket.

She ignored it.

Cade closed the short distance between them and fished the phone from her pocket.
 

Recognizing the caller, he smiled.

*****

Nate experienced a feeling of déjà vu as he rode his bike up to Sylvie’s restaurant. The low key, yet unusual activity at the back of the parking lot flashed him back to the day of the bombing. How his insides seemed to be ripped from his gut and replaced with an anvil that weighed so heavily, he almost couldn’t breathe.
 

Travis was outside directing their crew. Someone was on a stretcher being loaded up in the back of the van. It was Boyd. Dr. Lester was supervising. She was their go-to physician/surgeon whenever anyone on their team was injured and needed medical attention that had to remain off the grid.

Even then, he knew Sylvie wasn’t in there. He was barely holding on to his shit after his brief conversation with Cade. That two-faced motherfucker. How could Nate be so blinded by that son of a bitch? He should have let Ed or Travis handle Sylvie’s security. Protocols were broken. He was too close emotionally to the principal, and it was never a good thing. He swore to protect her, and he’d lost her a second time.
 

Fuck.

Getting off his bike, he noted Lassiter pulling up in his SUV beside him. Nate walked toward Travis and Sam who were currently in a grim conversation.

“Do we have anything yet?” Nate asked tersely.

“Not yet, we couldn’t get them on any traffic cams and they must have switched license plates. Cade and his men must also be aware of satellite timings. They’ve disappeared.”
 

“Who the fuck are we dealing with?”

“Cat’s working with Porter on backgrounds of the other men. We had a clear sketch on the man Cade called Shelby.” Travis handed Nate a composite.
 

“I doubt it’s his real name.”

Travis scowled over Nate’s shoulder, recognizing the DEA boss.

“What do we have?” Lassiter asked gruffly.

“Anything you can share on Cade’s whereabouts?” Nate asked. “I still don’t trust you, Lassiter. For all I know, you’re in cahoots with your boy. You have more to gain than Bowen.”