Rendezvous with Danger (Reunited Series) (25 page)

Muscle relaxers.
Alandra tried to remember how many cookies she’d eaten.
Two, three or was it four?
Depending on the amount of Cyclobenzaprine he used, she would have to ingest quite a bit for it to cause any major effects like spiked blood pressure or cardiac arrest. Right now staying awake was her greatest challenge, but not being able to control her movements was her biggest concern.

“Why?” She managed to ask, willing herself to keep her eyes open. Not only did she want to see where he was taking her, but she also had questions. She needed to know why he sold her out in Guerrero and then tried to kill her in Tzbekystan. She and Vance had been good friends, or so she thought. What changed?

“I’ve always liked you, Alandra, but I didn’t have a choice. You probably won’t understand this, but when my wife’s medical bills started pouring in, I did whatever…”

Alandra couldn’t make out Vance’s words as his voice faded. Her eyes drifted closed and thoughts of Quinn clouded her mind. A sense of calm fell over her and she could almost hear Quinn saying, “I need you to hang on, baby, just a little longer.”

****

Malik turned into the motel parking lot and a sick feeling came over Quinn. It was because of him she was staying at this dump. Broken down cars, a huge pile of old wood and debris occupied the pothole-infested parking lot.

“God, I can’t believe she’s staying here.” Had he kept his mouth closed and let all that she’d shared with him marinate before telling her it was over, he wouldn’t be in this mess.

Malik pulled his car next to Quinn’s rental truck. With the spare key he’d received from the car rental company, Quinn unlocked the vehicle and looked inside not sure what he expected to find.

“Let me see if I can get the motel manager to give me Alandra’s room number,” he said to Malik. Quinn walked across the lot, dodging broken glass and stepping over potholes.

“How you doing?” he said when he walked into the motel’s office. “I’m looking for my wife.” He showed the old man at the front desk a photo of Alandra. “Have you seen her?”

He looked Quinn up and down. “Maybe.”

Quinn wasn’t in the mood for games and it was taking every bit of restraint he had not to reach through the small glass opening and wrap his hands around the guy’s neck.

“Is that a yes? Because if it is I need to know what room she’s in”

“We don’t give out guest information, but since you have her picture in your wallet, I guess you’re alright. It’ll cost you fifty dollars.”

“What?”

“If you want the information, it will cost you fifty dollars. I can’t just be giving out that type of information for nothing.”

Unbelievable.
Quinn reached into his wallet and snatched out a fifty-dollar bill. The motel manager held it up to the light, inspected it to make sure it was real and then thanked Quinn.

“She has room 218.”

Quinn shook his head disgusted the man was so quick to give Alandra’s room number, and that it had cost him fifty bucks.

“But she ain’t there,” the man said before Quinn walked out the door. “She left a couple of hours ago with some guy. Seemed to be pretty chummy.”

Quinn wanted to strangle the office manager, but instead he said, “Can you describe him?”

“A big, white guy with good posture and he had spiked hair. Would probably be considered a pretty-boy if he didn’t have a scar down the side of his face.

Damn
.
Vance
.

“Thanks.” Quinn hurried out of the office and jogged back to the truck. His cell phone rang before he had a chance to fill Malik in.“Yeah.”

“Her phones on,” Wiz announced. “I’m tracking her on a map and she’s moving pretty fast up Lee Highway heading west toward Shenandoah National Park.”

“Where the hell are they going?”

“They?” Wiz asked.

“The motel manager said she left with someone who fits Vance’s description. Hold on a sec, Wiz. Let’s take the truck. I’ll drive,” Quinn said to Malik and grabbed his gear, including his tactical bag carrying his rifle, out of Malik’s car. “Wiz, did you find anything on Vance?”

“Yeah, he just returned from Chicago earlier this morning, and there’s a Chicago telephone number he’s been blowing up for the last couple of days. It looks like there wasn’t much conversation based on the minutes used.  I haven’t figured out who he’s been calling, but I will. So, getting back to Alandra, do you have any idea where she could be going?”

“If I remember right Harry has a cabin or house near Sperryville, just east of Shenandoah National Park, but I’m not sure why they would be going there.”

“I don’t know, but she has you by at least forty minutes and now that it’s raining, maybe even more. I’m closer, do—”

“No. I need you by the computer. If she’s heading to Harry’s place, which my gut tells me she is, I’m going to need
reconnaissance
of the area near his place. I remember you were able to do something on your computer for one of our ops years ago. Any chance you can give me some info about the property as well as put a trace on Harry’s phone? I tried calling him, but haven’t been able to reach him.”

“You got it.”

Quinn headed west on Interstate 66 knowing it would get him to Lee Highway. Not only did he have to find Alandra, but he had to beg her forgiveness. With all the new information, it was clear that he was the reason she’d been gunned down in Tzbekystan.

****

Vance glanced back at Alandra to find her sound asleep. Considering the amount of sleeping pills and muscle relaxers added to his cookie batter, she’d stayed alert longer than he had anticipated.

He changed lanes to go around a slow moving vehicle, and then sped up. He wanted to be in Sperryville, Virginia and at Harry’s cabin by nightfall.
It would soon be over.
He looked at Alandra through his rearview mirror. If he hadn’t heard her voice or seen her with his own eyes, he never would have believed she was alive. He first found out when she called well over a week ago, but the other day when Congressman Ramos insisted that he and Vance meet, Vance knew he wasn’t the only one who knew Alandra was alive. Ramos told him that if he didn’t fix the mess he’d made of getting rid of her, he would publically humiliate Vance, airing all of his dirty little secrets.  

Thirty more miles
. Anxiousness settled over Vance. He’d done many things over the past few years that he wasn’t proud of, one of those things was working for Congressman Ramos. It all started with him trying to make extra money to cover his wife’s medical expenses. All he had to do was make a couple of drops for
Los Hermanos
. It wasn’t until Vance started using the product that things got complicated. With the stress of his wife’s illness and the demands of his job, he was weak and had succumbed to the numbing pleasure of cocaine.

It didn’t help that Alandra got in the way. If she hadn’t have been in Guerrero to gather Intel about
Los Hermanos
drug cartel none of this would have happened. When Orlando Medina started accusing Vance of using the product, of course he denied it. He told Medina that he should be more worried about his organization than accusing him of using. That’s when he told Orlando about Alandra and the reason for her being in Guerrero. Vance had no idea Quinn Hamilton would come to her rescue and tear the organization apart.

“Alandra, Alandra, Alandra,” Vance said aloud, knowing she couldn’t hear him. “If only you hadn’t gotten Hamilton involved.” Congressman Ramos was livid when he found out Quinn had destroyed everything they had built and he promised to get even. Vance didn’t know that he would be the one contracted for the hit on Alandra. Ramos wanted Quinn Hamilton to suffer for interfering in his family’s business, and he thought killing him would be too easy. Instead, Alandra became the target.

Vance had refused to accept the contract, knowing he couldn’t kill Alandra, but he needed the money and the amount that was being offered, was way too good to pass up. Besides, Ramos had too much dirt on him. When Ramos threatened to release information about Vance that would not only ruin him, but would destroy his family, he had no choice. He would do anything for his children, even if they still didn’t agree with the way he had handled their mother’s last days.

 Vance stepped on the gas and gripped the steering wheel tighter. It was time he finished what he’d started so that he could move on with his life, but there was one thing nagging at him – Quinn Hamilton. Vance didn’t believe Alandra when she said she’d come to D.C alone. If she was here, it was safe to assume Quinn Hamilton was too.

****

Quinn found the cabin just south of Sperryville, Virginia. It sat off the main highway in the middle of a wooded area. His mind flashed back to that night in Tzbekystan and his stomach muscles tightened. He’d never felt fear the way he felt that night, but now it was as if he was reliving it. He couldn’t lose Alandra again.

“Park over there. It’s getting dark, and if someone passes by they won’t notice the truck near those trees,” Malik said.

Quinn hid the truck under a large oak tree. He’d never been to Harry’s place, but with the information Wiz had gathered he knew there was a little trek to the cabin. The rain had picked up, but it was one of those flash rains where it rained hard for a few minutes and would probably lighten up just as quick, or at least that’s what Quinn hoped.

He pulled his hat down lower over his forehead and exited the truck. Just as he opened the back door to grab his rifle bag, his phone vibrated.

Alandra
.

“Dear, God, Lan?” His heart pounded against his chest when he answered the call.

“Quinn,” she whispered, her breathing labored. “Help. In…car. Sick.”

“Baby, where—”

“Vance…”

“Lan,” he called her name several times with no response, but she hadn’t disconnected. “Let’s go. She’s in a car,” he said to Malik. “And she mentioned Vance.” They grabbed the rest of their gear. According to Wiz, Vance and Alandra were no longer moving and were on the property. “You take the east side, and I’ll take the west,” Quinn instructed. They took off through the dark overgrown grass, sloshing through mud and dodging trees but staying close to the driveway.

Quinn had avoided love prior to meeting Alandra, and again after he thought he’d lost her. He had failed her once in Tzbekystan, but now given another chance, he would get it right or die trying.

****

Vance held the shovel handle firmly in his hand and stepped on the top of it, helping it through the heavy soil. He lifted a chunk of mud, tossed it to the side, and dug up more. This was more work than he’d planned. The thick guck forced him to move slower than expected, but he refused to stop. This was the only way to bring closure to a job he had failed. He hated he couldn’t let Alandra live, but she knew too much. Besides, her mission was to kill the person who had tried killing her and he couldn’t let that happen.

Just a little deeper
he thought. The back of Harry’s cabin was the ideal place for what Vance had planned. Not only would he bury Alandra, getting rid of her for once and for all, but also when they found her body, Harry would be the main suspect. Since Harry was responsible for keeping Alandra alive, he automatically became the fall guy as far as Vance was concerned.

Vance knew he’d be long gone by then. Since someone had helped him out by killing the Congressman earlier in the day that was one person he no longer had to worry about. No more threats, blackmailing or calls in the middle of the night to do a job. He was finally free.

Vance looked back near the tree, fifty yards away to see Alandra moving. He had originally left her in the car until he finished her new home, but it was too far away for him to keep an eye on her. She was definitely a fighter. The amount of muscle relaxers he’d put into those cookies should have knocked her out for several hours, but instead she was coming out of her haze.

He really did like Alandra, but she should have stayed
dead
. When he shot her in the chest and she fell to her knees, he didn’t think he would have to shoot her again. Even with Quinn running to her rescue, no one should have survived that type of wound, but she had. After shooting her, Tangos came out of nowhere and started shooting at Quinn and his team. Everything exploded around Vance and he didn’t stick around to make sure Alandra was dead, which turned out to be a big mistake. But tonight would be different. He would make sure she took her last breath before he walked away.

****

Quinn arrived at Vance’s vehicle. There was no sign of him or Alandra, and the back door of the car stood open. Anger and fear roared inside of him. Was he too late? He checked the back seat and found Alandra’s bags, and her cell phone was wedged between the seats. But his blood ran cold when he saw blood. Only drops, but enough to let him know Alandra could be injured.

Dammit!

“I have a visual. East side of the house,” Malik said through the earpiece Quinn was wearing. “Thirty yards, slight slope.”

Quinn set his gun bag behind a four-foot high concrete wall separating the deck area from the yard and pulled out his binoculars, thankful the rain had turned into a light drizzle. He searched the area, a large portion inundated with trees. “Got it,” he finally said to Malik. Vance was dragging Alandra.

“Oh, shit,” Malik said. “There’s a three by five hole and I have a feeling he didn’t dig it for himself.”

A burning fear twisted around Quinn’s heart when he saw the hole from his vantage point. The thought of Alandra being buried alive, assuming she was still alive, made him sick to his stomach. Anger boiled inside him and emotion strangled his vocal cords. When it was all said and done, he would make sure Vance died a slow death and bury him in the grave he dug.

Quinn dropped the binoculars back into his bag, and he set up his rifle on the concrete wall. Looking through the scope he zoned in on Vance. Alandra was too close.

“Damn, that sick son-of-a-bitch.” Rage pulsed through Quinn’s body at the way Vance dragged Alandra across the wet ground.