Her Cowboy Protector (18 page)

When Niall stepped forward to pat down the would-be killer, the man struck, kicking back a foot and throwing an elbow. Niall dodged the elbow and blocked the foot. His patience thin, Niall planted two good punches on the man's kidneys and dropped him. A strangled groan penetrated the black mask. All fight left the intruder. Niall picked up the lighter than expected man and gave him a quick pat-down.

But as his hands moved over the body, Niall realized this wasn't a man at all. It was a woman, and he had a very good idea of her identity. Regret and guilt punched him in the gut. He'd just hit a woman. He'd sworn he'd never be his father but he'd gone and done it. Granted, he hadn't known it was a female at the time but that didn’t change things.
I hit a woman
.

"Sit." Niall shoved her down in a chair. He reached behind him and yanked open the junk drawer. His fingers detected the cold metal of handcuffs. He made quick work of securing the wrists of the intruder behind the chair. Niall used a couple of dish towels to tie the woman's legs to the chair.

Certain she was secure, Niall pulled down the hood and ripped off the full ski mask. Jolene's sweaty, red face appeared. He gritted his teeth and stared at the woman he'd once considered a friend. Rage and disbelief blazed through him. Incredulous, he shouted at her. "What the hell is wrong with you? Are you out of your damn mind, Jolene?"

"I did it to protect you!" She spat the words in anger. "That pregnant whore is poison!"

"You call her one more name, and you’ll be carrying your teeth out of here in your pocket,” he warned with a hiss. “Cruz is a survivor, Jolene. You ought to be protecting her, not sneaking around trying to kill her."

"He's going to kill you, Niall! I did this for you!" Jolene's face screwed up as she started to sob. Niall gaped at her, unsure whether to comfort or turn his back on her. "Please," she begged, "just let me take care of her, Niall. It'll be quick and painless. I'm really good at that. She won't even know what hit her." She hopped forward on the chair. "Let me save you."

Niall's gut twisted at her despicable plea. "You've killed before?"

She sobered. "We're not so different, you and me. We've both seen the ugliness of war. I understand you, Niall. I've been there. I can get you like no other woman ever could." She scowled. "Why don't you see that? Don't you realize how good we'd be together?"

Niall couldn't believe what was he was hearing. This side of Jolene, this monster, had been so well hidden from him. Was she totally off her rocker or just that cold and evil?

"We're nothing alike." He slashed his hand through the air. "When I killed it was in service of my country, not for drug money."

"Don't be so high and mighty, Niall. You think there wasn't drug money greasing palms over there? You think oil money wasn't a motive for sending you and your men to those hellholes?"

Niall put up a hand. This was a topic that wasn't up for discussion. "Say whatever you want, Jolene. I'm not going to sit here and argue with you."

Taking the upper hand, Niall moved to the cabinet above the sink, one that Cruz hadn't been able to reach and search, and retrieved the milk crate stored in there. Jolene's eyes widened as he set the crate on the table and started placing the contents on the laminate top. Good, he thought, as she squirmed. He had no intention of using any of the interrogation implements the crate contained, but she didn't know that. This was one time when psychology was useful to him. He could play mind games with the best of them.

"Have you told anyone about Carlos?" Niall hefted the car battery out of the crate and let it drop loudly onto the table. "Have you blown my best friend's cover?"

Jolene gulped nervously. "No."

Niall studied her. He wanted her off-kilter and uncertain. "I don't believe you."

"I didn't!" She sucked in a startled breath when Niall started laying out pliers and medical instruments. "Please, Niall, you have to believe me! I didn't say anything about Carlos."

"Believe you?" He flicked his fingernail across the sharp edge of a straight-razor. "I don't know, Jolene. You've been lying to me since the day we met. You're a dirty cop." He bent down until they were eye to eye. He held the razor menacingly close. "You tried to kill the woman I'm falling in love with."

Jolene's lips wobbled. "I didn't say anything about Carlos, Niall. I was waiting to use him as leverage."

Niall lowered the razor. "Leverage?"

"For after…" Her gaze jumped to her gun on the counter behind him. "I was going to need something to save my ass."

"You were going to trade Carlos's DEA status for your life?" Niall realized he and Cruz had been working under the wrong assumption. "You didn't get that from your DLG buddies?"

Jolene shook her head. "How would my contact in the De La Garza outfit know about an undercover DEA agent in the Reynosa cartel?"

Niall could think of a few ways. "So where'd you get the information?"

She swallowed and said, "The day after you showed up in town, the sheriff got a call from the DEA. He wasn't in the office so I took it. Some guy told me he was the liaison for an undercover agent and that he needed me to keep tabs on the agent's sister."

"And after you ran Cruz's fingerprints…"

"I put two and two together. Someone flagged her sexual assault file with a known associates list that included Carlos Cortez. It wasn't that hard to figure out Carlos Cortez was Carlos Montes."

Niall decided right then and there he was going to find the person who had compiled Cruz's file and beat the tar out of him. What kind of idiot did a thing like that?

"So what was the plan, Jolene? Huh?" Niall tossed the razor onto the table. "What? You were gonna come in here and kill Cruz and do what with me? You thought I'd just let you walk out of here alive?"

She shook her head. "I planned to shoot you, too. Nothing serious but enough to put you in the hospital. If you were down and bleeding, I could make a clean getaway."

"You came here to save me by shooting me?" Niall fought the urge to laugh in her face. This woman was certifiable!

"I was going to call 911!"

"Oh, yeah, that makes it all better, Jolene." He put both hands on the table. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Let me go, Niall." She turned pleading eyes on him but to no avail. There was only one woman who could win with those types of charms and Jolene most certainly wasn't her. "I won't say anything to anyone. I'll just disappear."

"Yeah, that's what worries me." Niall walked to the counter and grabbed the prepaid cell phone. "I think we'll let the Coleman County sheriff sort this one out."

"Wait!" She hopped forward a few more spaces, the chair whacking the linoleum and leaving dents. "You need to know something about that DEA agent who called me."

Niall's finger paused over the phone keys. He fully expected some lie or some other stall tactic but decided to give her the benefit of the doubt. "And what's that?"

"He wasn't calling to ask me to help keep her safe. He wanted me to stay out of it. He didn’t want me to screw up his operation."

Niall almost dropped the phone. "What operation?”

"The Scorpion wasn't after her. It was all a ruse, some joint operation between the Feds. They planted the story to get Cruz out of Austin and away from Carlos. They worried she was a distraction, that she was going to blow the mission for him. Apparently, they hoped that if she ran, The Scorpion would come after her." Jolene smirked. "I guess they were right."

His fingers curled into tight fists at his side. "What do you mean?"

"She was protected, Niall. He put the word on the street. No one was to touch her."

"That's why she had the tail," he murmured more for himself than Jolene. They had wrongly assumed the men following Cruz in Austin were there to kill her, but they had been sent there to babysit her while The Scorpion was off doing his dirty deeds. "And now?"

"And now he's on his way to get her and that baby."

Rage threatened to overwhelm Niall. "So the Feds used her for bait to draw him out!"

Jolene's mean smile made his stomach pitch. "About all she's good for anyway."

Niall fixed her with a glare. "The same could be said for you."

Jolene shrank back against the chair. "You wouldn't."

"Try me." Niall scrolled through the sent calls list. He couldn't believe he'd forgotten to erase the number last night but it had saved him having to find his wallet this morning. He let the phone ring the agreed three times before hanging up and turning his attention on Jolene. "Maybe I should let you see what it feels like to be hunted by The Scorpion. That psycho killer wanted Cruz safe, but you've been trying to kill her. The snake, now this?" Niall shook his head. "You're dead meat, Jolene."

She gulped in a panic. "No, Niall. Please. Let me make a deal. I could bring down the De La Garza cartel from the inside. Please, Niall!" She sobbed pitifully. "Put me in contact with your people. Let me talk."

Niall's cell phone chirped. He glanced at the screen. "Who knows, Jolene? This may be your lucky day."

* * *

Cruz moved the flashlight beam to the cell phone grasped in her hand and squinted to read the display. Forty-six minutes. She turned the beam toward the tunnel behind her. Panic stabbed her chest. She really,
really
didn't want to go down there. The space wasn't big enough to walk through upright. She'd have to crouch down so her pace would be slow, making the trek all the more torturous.

She leaned against the wall and flicked off the flashlight to conserve the battery. She turned her face toward the ceiling and listened. A long time ago, she'd heard footsteps and the muffled sound of talking in the bedroom above her. Since then, there'd been nothing.

Prickly heat burned her eyes. She slid down the wall and ignored the overwhelming need to pee. All she could think about was Niall. Was he alive? What if he was up there bleeding to death on the kitchen floor? What if he needed her? The urge to push over the table and haul herself through the trap door and into the bedroom was so strong.

But she had to think of Felix. Niall had put her in the panic room for a reason. He wanted her safe. He'd willingly put himself in harm's way for her and the baby. She had to remember that and not go off half-cocked.

Inhaling a steadying breath, Cruz made up her mind. She'd wait ten more minutes and then venture down the tunnel. She hoped it wasn't a long walk because she really needed to get topside and find a bush to hide behind. Her bladder felt like it was about to explode. Felix punching and kicking wasn't helping matters any. She wondered if he could feel her anxiety and fear for Niall. He seemed to be more active than usual.

Footsteps, the sound low and soft, met her ears. She hesitated only a second before taking four steps to the table and grabbing the gun from the basket. She'd already checked to see if it was loaded. Her fingertip felt for the safety. Now armed, she felt her way along the short wall to the tunnel. Crouching down and grimacing at the uncomfortable pressure, Cruz slipped inside the passage and moved far enough inside that she couldn't be seen from the hatch. If the door was discovered, she needed to move fast.

She gasped with terror as the bed scraped along the floor above her. Fingers tight around the pistol and flashlight, Cruz turned down the tunnel and started to run. Well—waddle very quickly. She heard the hatch squeak open. Her legs faltered and she very nearly ate concrete. The flashlight scratched the wall as she fought to maintain her balance. She had to keep moving. She had to make it to the other end of the tunnel. She had to—

"Cruz?"

Niall's voice stopped her. She heard someone drop into the room behind her. Was that really Niall or was it simply her mind playing tricks on her? Very slowly, she pivoted back to the opening of the tunnel and waited.

"Cruz? Sugar, where are you?"

She sagged with relief. Tears dripped onto her cheeks. "I'm here," she said, her voice weak. "I'm in the tunnel."

At the sound of footsteps, she flicked on the flashlight. Niall's face appeared. He smiled warmly and held out his hand. "Come here."

She hurried to meet him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her out of the tunnel. He took the flashlight and gun from her hands and set them aside. The welcoming heat of his bare chest comforted her. She tucked her head against his neck and let the tears of stress and relief fall. Niall rubbed her back and kissed her cheek. "You're fine. We're okay."

"Was it him?" She had to know. "Did he find us?"

Niall pressed her back and gazed down at her. "It wasn't El Alacrán." He hesitated. "It's Jolene."

"What?" Cruz's brain hurt. "Is she really that insane?"

"Seems so."

"How did she find us?'

"Her ex-boyfriend is the game warden out this way," Niall grumbled. "I guess he's seen me out here in the winter a time or two."

"Lucky break for her," Cruz replied. "But why, Niall? Why come out here for us? She wanted me gone. I left her town. What more does she want?"

"It's complicated. Suffice to say, Carlos is safe. Well." Niall made a face. "Relatively speaking. He is undercover with a drug cartel."

"And me? Am I safe?" She curled her fingers against his biceps. "Well?"

Niall looked so defeated as he shook his head. "We have to leave. Soon."

"Again?" All hope within her faded. "I'm tired of running, Niall."

"I know." He cupped the back of her head and pulled her tightly to his chest. His lips brushed the crown of her head. "I'm sorry, Cruz. I want better for you. You deserve so much more but this is where we are right now. We've just got to get through this."

It wasn't much of a pep talk but his realistic approach struck a chord with her. He was right. She had to put her head down and survive. "I'll shower and pack."

Niall caressed her cheek and held her gaze. He lowered his mouth, leisurely teasing his lips across hers. When he deepened the kiss, she gladly parted her lips and swept her tongue against his. The kiss was hungry and hot as they displayed their need for one another. Niall's insistent touch and powerful kiss reminded her just how lucky she was to be alive. Things fell into perspective. She had Felix and Niall. She was breathing. She'd found love. Life could be a lot worse.