No One to Trust (Hidden Identity Book #1): A Novel (21 page)

“Jealous?” David asked.

Chase went red. “Not of you and Summer specifically, just the fact that you have someone you love and who loves you.”

Surprised at the admission, David glanced at the man just before he grasped the door handle. “Well, things aren’t perfect and they’re never going to be the same, but I sure hope and pray Summer’s willing to work with me on keeping our marriage together.”

“Yeah.”

“So, you’re ready to find someone, settle down, and have a few kids?”

“Maybe. Yeah, I think I am.” At David’s raised brow. Chase shrugged. “Some days I have to admit the job’s getting old.” He paused. “And so am I.”

David snorted. “You’re what . . . thirty-four? You’re not any older than I am.”

Chase gave him a wicked grin. “Like I said. Getting old.”

David rolled his eyes. He looked up the street and back down. The sidewalk teemed with people on their way to work. Everyone with a place to be and people to see.

On the drive to New York, David had been in constant contact with the governor of South Carolina. She’d made a quick call to some military higher-ups, then granted him and his unit law
enforcement powers. She’d agreed to see if she could get the cooperation of the New York governor to allow them clearance for the operation. He wanted his team on it but didn’t need the local cops getting in the way or asking questions. It had taken some finagling, but she’d managed to convince the governor to let them come in and do the assignment. “I owe him now, David,” she’d warned him. “Don’t mess this up or my head is on the chopping block and Operation Refuge is toast.”

“If I mess this up, ma’am, I’ll be dead.”

“Well, yes. Let’s not see that happen, okay?”

“I’m good with that.”

“You have four hours.”

Four hours? “Starting when?”

“Now.”

That had been an hour ago. Local law enforcement had already cleared as much of the building as possible, going door-to door and telling residents there was a gas leak. They were under strict orders to go no higher than the twenty-first floor.

The gas truck pulled up as they entered the building. They’d be safe in the basement where David had reported the leakage. It had an outside entrance with no access to the main building except through a door that Papa Bear had already secured. By the time the gas people got that far, hopefully Raimondi and his goons would be wrapped up prettier than a Christmas present.

He hoped. Prayed.

Besides, Ron would keep them occupied, releasing them only when the mission was a success and David gave the all clear.

Papa Bear’s voice came right into his ear. “Cameras are down. We’ve cleared the five floors directly under Raimondi’s and NYPD is working on the rest.”

“Of course Raimondi’s on the top floor,” Chase grunted and pushed his earpiece tighter into his canal. Having everyone wired and in contact with each other was priority.

“Naturally. Where else would a Mafia don live?” David asked.

“Wish he lived anywhere but an apartment building. Figured he would live on some big estate with lots of fence and a few guard dogs.”

“He’s got one of those too. The big estate in the country, I mean.”

“Then how do we know he’s here?”

David eyed Chase. “Trust me. He’s here.”

Chase shook his head. “He’s already got one hostage, we don’t need to give him the opportunity to terrorize someone else.” He paused. “I’m really questioning whether or not we need to fill the NYPD in on the rest of the story. They know the gas leak is bogus. We might need them for backup,” Chase said.

“I’ve got the Chief of Police on speed dial thanks to the governor. He knows the whole story. He’s dispatching various teams to be on standby. They’ll be there if we need them. Right now, the less people involved the better. We’ve got the training and we know who we’re after. Coordinating with everyone would take time we just don’t have.”

“Your friends could still get in a lot of trouble for this.”

“They know the risks.” He knew he sounded cold. He didn’t mean it that way, it just was what it was. He figured Chase would get that too, since he was risking his neck going into the situation with him. “This is above and beyond the call of duty for you too.”

“I’ve got well over a year invested in this case. I’m seeing it through to the end.”

“All right, then, let’s go.” They made their way to the elevator.

Through his earpiece, he heard Doc B say, “One elevator is working. As soon as you’re at the top, give me the signal and Blue will jam that one too.”

“So the only way down will be the stairs,” he told Chase.

“Wonderful. Guess I didn’t need to go for my early morning jog today.”

“You’ll be fine. It’s only twenty-six floors.” He checked his weapon once more. “At least we’ll be coming down, not going up.”

Chase gave a long-suffering sigh. David knew he didn’t care, he was just letting off tension. “So how are we going to get in?”

David held up a key. “I’m hoping this still works.”

Raimondi stared down at Marlee. “You have failed me too.”

She sat on a wooden chair, arms bound behind her. Tears leaked down her bruised cheeks. “I did what you wanted. I let your guys beat me up and put me in the hospital. I wouldn’t leave with the marshals, I made her and David come get me at the hospital to give you the chance to get them. I did everything! Everything!”

“Yes. You did. However, you failed to put Hackett and your sister into my hands. Therefore our deal is off.”

She jerked against the ropes and glared through her fear. “It’s not my fault you can’t hire competent help.”

With the speed of a mad snake, he struck, adding one more bruise to her face. She cried out. “Stop! Hayes said you just wanted David. He said you would get him away from her. He said he would be out of her life if I helped. Well, I did!”

“And you have one more chance to help me.”

She stared at him, lips quivering, lower one bleeding. “What?”

“I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”

He shut her door and opened the one next to it.

The woman with her two children cowered together on the bed next to the wall. They’d arrived about an hour earlier. The children said nothing. They didn’t speak or even cry, just huddled against their mother. For some reason, the older girl’s eyes made him uneasy. “What are you staring at?”

She didn’t answer and he walked over to her. Lifted his fist. She simply watched him. No cringing. No fear. The little one whimpered.

The mother said, “Leave them alone, please.”

He ignored her and focused on the one who watched him with
no emotion or expression. “I asked you a question. What are you staring at?”

“Nothing,” she whispered and dropped her head back against the wall with a thud and closed her eyes. “Absolutely nothing.”

Raimondi waited a few seconds to see if she would look at him again. She didn’t. And yet he still had the strangest feeling about her. Like he’d better not turn his back on her.

He couldn’t remember the last time someone made him feel like that.

A few enemies, but certainly not a child.

Shrugging off the weird sensation, he grabbed the woman’s purse and she shrieked. “No, please. I need that.”

He eyed her suspiciously. “What’s in it?”

“Sandy’s inhaler. She’s already used it twice. Take the purse, but please, leave her medicine.”

Raimondi rummaged through it. His phone interrupted him, and he tossed the purse back to her as he pulled the device from his pocket. He left the room, walked down the hall, and shut the door at the end. He twisted the key and pressed the button to move the bookcase in front of the door. He smiled. He loved his home. So many hidden secrets behind his doors. The phone was insistent. He sighed and looked at the number.

Rosalinda. He ignored her.

He entered his office. The boa waited patiently, his head bobbing against the side of the tank. Raimondi reached in and lifted the reptile. The snake slithered through his fingers and Raimondi felt a rush at the thought of how easy it would be to crush the life right out of the boa. But he would never do that. The snakes were his friends. They brought him pleasure. In their presence he found a peace that seemed so elusive everywhere else in his life.

He dropped into his chair and looked at his monitor.

Blank.

He frowned. That was odd. He wiggled the mouse. Still blank.
He gave a disgusted sigh and pushed the mouse away. He picked up the phone and dialed security. “Trent, what’s wrong with the cameras?”

“Just a slight malfunction, sir. We’ll have them up and running in about five minutes.”

Raimondi hung up. His brain whirled as he absently stroked the snake he’d yet to name.

A sound distracted him and he looked up from his boa to find Agostino in his office doorway, simply staring at him. “Something I can help you with?”

The snake wrapped itself around his wrist and turned its attention to the newcomer, weaving and bobbing, curious.

Agostino stepped farther inside, hands shoved into his back pockets. “I’ve been talking to Georgina, she seems to be doing better.”

“Yes, I think she does. Maybe she has finally put that traitor behind her.” He waved a hand. “But I don’t want to talk about her. What have you got for me on Hackett?”

“We don’t know where he is.”

Raimondi wasn’t surprised. Agostino moved forward and took a seat on the love seat to the right of Raimondi’s desk.

Raimondi stroked the boa. “I just received word that Hayes and his two associates have been arrested by the FBI. They’re under arrest for attempted murder and an assortment of charges.”

Agostino closed his eyes and sighed, then tilted his head back to look at the ceiling. “Should we just drop this?”

Raimondi stared at his nephew. “Do you understand what is at stake?”

Agostino opened his eyes and leaned forward. “Yes. Of course. I’m sorry. It’s just . . .”

“What is it?”

“Do you ever get tired of it all?”

“Tired? Of it all?” Raimondi stood, impatience making him rise fast. The chair slammed back into his bookcase. He walked
to the tank on the far wall and placed the boa inside. “Agostino, we do what we do because this is our life.”

“Yes. I know. Isn’t it possible to have a different life?”

Raimondi felt his face grow red. He snorted. “Who has been filling your head with this nonsense?”

His nephew shook his head. “No one. Of course you’re right. This is the life I was born to. Forget I said anything.” He stood. “I’m going to tell Georgina goodbye and then head out to see if I can find anything else on Hackett.”

“I need you to go to North Carolina and take care of Hayes and those two losers he was using.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to take them to Disney World,” he snapped. “What do you think I want you to do? Get rid of them. They’re no longer of any use to me.”

Agostino’s eyes went wide. “Hayes too?”

Raimondi’s jaw tightened to the point he thought it might snap. He pulled in a deep breath through his nose and forced himself to relax. “Yes. Especially him. He has utterly failed me this time.”

Agostino rose, his eyes on his uncle. “He’s been with the family for years, Uncle.”

“Do you have a problem with what I’m asking you to do?”

Agostino hesitated. “No. I will take care of it.”

Raimondi said, “Before you do, get rid of that woman.”

“Marlee, the sister?”

“Yes.”

A frown pulled his brows together. “I thought you still needed her.”

“Not anymore. Kill her and make sure her body is never found. She has annoyed me to no end. I don’t want to even breathe the same air as she does.”

Agostino shoved his hands into his coat pockets and nodded. “Fine.”

“Good.” His phone rang as his nephew left. “What?”

“They’re on the way there.” He could barely hear the low voice.

Raimondi stood. “They are coming here?”

“Yes.”

“How long do I have?”

“Not long.” Click.

“Agostino!”

Blue nodded as they passed the security desk. Another man sat beside him, quiet and pale. Trent Porter. A hint of excitement lit his brown eyes, though. Blue would make sure he stayed safe and out of the way.

David punched the button for the floor just below Raimondi. Ron’s voice came through his earpiece. “Gas leak is contained.”

“Copy,” David said. He understood that to mean the gas guys were busy looking for the nonexistent leak and were safe for now. He looked at Chase. “Like I told you guys at the cabin, Raimondi’ll have guards on the doors. One on the entrance to his home and one on each of the halls at the stairwells.”

“And you know this how?” Chase asked.

“Long story.” They stepped onto the elevator and Chase gave a jaunty salute to Blue, who nodded again.

The elevator came to a smooth stop on the twenty-fifth floor. The doors whooshed open and David’s adrenaline kicked in to high gear. “All right, boys, here we go.”

Papa Bear and Doc B went left. David and Chase went right. They hit the stairwell and started up. David spoke, knowing the mic would carry his words to the others who were mimicking his movements. “Don’t hit the door yet.”

“Let us know when you’re there.”

At the last flight of stairs, they slowed, measuring their steps, keeping their upward progress silent. Finally, David stopped and lifted his hand. Chase handed him a small device with a mirror attached. David slid it in the crack under the door. Fortunately, the door wasn’t well sealed and soon he had a picture. “Nothing to the right. Guard immediately to the left—and he’s watching the door with his weapon ready.” He knew Raimondi paid his help well. It had to be the most boring job on the face of the earth, but these guys lived like kings.

And the job was about to get a little more exciting.

He spoke low to Papa Bear and Doc B. “Your guy waiting for you?”

“Affirmative.”

David frowned. “Can you go low?”

“On three.”

“One,” David counted.

“Two,” Papa Bear said.

David dropped to his knees. Chase did the same. “Three,” David said and nodded to Chase, who grasped the knob and gave it a twist even as he dropped lower and rolled to his back with his weapon up. The door flew open, the guard fired. A low
pop-pop
that told David he had a silencer on the end. The shots cleared his head and missed Chase by a nice margin. David clipped the shooter in the knees while Chase fired once. The man screamed and dropped, left hand clutching his right shoulder.

David kicked his weapon away and looked up. Papa Bear and Doc B had their guard taken care of as well. David patted his prisoner down, removing a pocketknife, a wallet, and two other guns, one hidden in the waistband, the other around the man’s left ankle.

The guard stared, his eyes narrowed. Hate and pain spilled out. David ignored him and took the duct tape from Chase. He bound the man’s hands behind him, ignoring the gasp of pain when he pulled on his wounded shoulder. He then slapped a piece of tape over the guard’s mouth. Several layers of tape around his ankles
and Chase rolled him into the stairwell. “Sit tight and we might get you some medical attention before too long.”

David checked on the others. Identical measures were happening down the hall and no shots had been fired on their end. David figured he could count on Papa Bear rubbing that in when it was all over. He prayed the man had the chance to rib him.

When they were done, they slipped down the hall, David and Chase coming from the east, Papa Bear and Doc B from the west. David led, Papa Bear faced him. David’s blood rushed, his senses sharp and in tune. He’d missed this. The action, the rush. Probably one of the reasons he’d turned to gambling. It gave him a similar emotional high he’d found in running missions.

Only he’d discovered that after marrying Summer and finding Christ, he didn’t need that high. He’d found peace. A contentment for the first time in his life.

And there was no way he was going to give that up. After a quick prayer to the Almighty to end this madness, he was ready.

Summer couldn’t take her eyes away from the front of the building. The glass doors had shut behind David and Chase only a short time ago. Ron had disappeared around the side to take care of the guys in the gas truck. Law enforcement was there, but not in huge numbers. Not enough to make her feel safe. But she hoped the uniforms would keep away the people after her.

“No one knows we’re here, right?”

Adam sat beside her, keeping watch. He slanted her a glance. “Right.” Then silence. A silence that stretched until he finally broke it. “David’s a good guy.”

She looked at him. “Tell me why you say that.”

“I guess he told you the story about how he and Ron met.”

“Yes. At least most of it anyway.” She looked back toward the building. “He told you the story?”

“No. Mike did.”

“Is Mike all right?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t heard from him.” The grim tone said more than his words. He checked the street one more time. “According to Mike, David’s personality did a one-eighty after he ended up in the hospital. After Ron got ahold of him.”

“He said Ron paid off a huge gambling debt.”

“I know. It’s crazy, but apparently David’s not the first person Ron’s helped.”

She nodded. “Who
is
Ron?”

Adam shrugged. “I’m not sure. I don’t think David even knows the details about him. He just seems to show up when he’s needed.”

Summer watched the pedestrians passing and absently wondered who they were and where they were going. She felt a pang of jealousy at their outward confidence that no one was going to try to shoot them as they walked down the sidewalk.

She shifted, antsy and uneasy. “You think they’re in there yet?”

“Yes. I’m listening to them.” He pointed to his earpiece. “But right now they’re only speaking when they have to.” He paused. “Why were you so determined to be at court on Tuesday?”

She lifted a brow. “You mean you haven’t read the dossier that contains every last detail of my life, including my past?”

He had the grace to flush. “Yes. I’ve read it.”

“Then you know why.”

“No, not really. It had the basics in there, but nothing about you, your personality.”

Summer looked away. “It’s not a pretty story.”

“I know your father was killed in a bar fight.”

She let out a bitter laugh. “That was a blessing.”

Adam stayed silent and Summer shrugged. Why not? “My parents were a lot like Silas and Olivia Todd with one exception. My mother was . . . is . . . a very weak woman while Olivia grew a backbone and saved her kids.”

“Your father was abusive.”

A statement, not a question. She nodded anyway. “Very. Verbally, physically, you name it. Especially when he’d been drinking.”

“But your mother got up the guts to leave him.”

“She did. Finally. When I was almost ten years old. Marlee was around four and Nick was seven. My dad broke Nick’s arm and his jaw one night, and I think that’s when my mother had had enough. At least for that night. She packed us up and took us to my grandmother’s house about an hour away.”

“Then what?”

“He came after us the next day, of course, but my grandmother was a fighter. She’d been trying to get my mother to leave my dad for a couple of years at this point. Grams called the cops and told them what he’d done to Nick. My mom didn’t want to press charges, but my grandmother did. It didn’t matter anyway. You know how a domestic violence report works. It doesn’t matter what the facts are, if someone makes a report, the cops make the arrest. So they arrested my dad, but of course he didn’t stay there very long. When he got out, he was ready to draw blood. And the way to do that was to use us kids.”

Adam snorted and she nodded. “Right,” she said. “He moved out of the house and filed for divorce.”

“He did?”

“Yeah. And he filed for full custody of us kids.”

Adam winced. “And?”

“He got it. He had some dirt dug up on my mom that he used against her. And then my mother’s lawyer didn’t show up and his lawyer went for the jugular.”

“Ouch, I’m sorry.” He peered out the window, moved to the back, and looked out that window. Then the front. Then he settled back into the seat beside her. “Keep an eye on that side mirror. We don’t want any surprises.”

She nodded. “My mother’s lawyer had been detained. She’d
passed out in the bathroom of the courthouse, and no one found her until after the judge ruled.”

“But you would have had to have a lawyer, right? I mean the judge just wouldn’t rule without hearing arguments.”

“Oh we had a lawyer. They had someone come over from the firm. Someone totally unfamiliar with the case. He didn’t care what happened to us. The judge ruled my mother unfit and gave us to my father.”

“Didn’t you protest?”

“All the way out the door.” She bit her lip. “I actually had a choice. I could have gone to live with my mother, but my brother and sister were to live with my father. I wasn’t going to leave them alone. And I paid for it for the next three years.”

“Then he was stabbed to death in the bar fight.”

“Yes. But—”

The van window exploded and Adam shouted. A gunshot cracked and Summer screamed as she saw Adam jerk. In horror, she realized the bullet had gone through his Kevlar vest. She reached for him. He stared at her and mouthed, “I’m sorry,” before his eyes closed and he went limp. Her window shattered and glass flew in on her.

Another scream welled as a black-gloved hand reached in and flicked the lock button. Summer scrambled for the handle on her door, but she just couldn’t move fast enough. Adam’s door flew open and rough hands grabbed her. “Don’t give me a hard time or I’ll just kill you right here.” He pulled her across Adam’s still body and onto the sidewalk.

Pedestrians scattered, fleeing into open doors or hiding behind vehicles, terrified and screaming. What had only seconds before been a busy sidewalk now looked deserted and bare. Summer fought against the hold, kicking out, but he was too strong and her position too awkward for her to do anything.

She struggled wildly as he pulled her toward the building.