War Bringer (3 page)

“You need some help, miss?” the middle-aged cowboy in the driver seat asked.

Fiona wiped her cheeks. She looked back at the guys standing by the vans and in the median.
Casey. They had Casey.
Maybe it was a lie, but she had no doubt if she walked around the other side of the truck and got inside, they’d shoot the man and get her out anyway. She looked at her would-be rescuer, deciding there was still a way to pull some value out of this encounter. “Have you seen Kelan?”

“Who?”

“My boyfriend. Kelan. Have you seen him?” Of course the guy hadn’t. That wasn’t the point. The stranger she acted, the more likely this guy would be to report her erratic behavior to the cops. The team would get wind of it, and they would know it was her.
 

“No, I haven’t. I don’t know what you’re on, lady, but playing chicken in traffic like this is gonna get you and someone else killed.”

“I just need to find Kelan. I need Kelan. Please.”

“I’m gonna call the cops, miss.”

“Please do. And never mind. Kelan said you’d get it. It was just a stupid college prank. Tell Kelan you saw me, okay?”

She turned and walked toward the men in the median, trying to keep herself between them and the pickup driver. Her rescuer waved an angry hand at her as he started off down the highway. Other cars passed, each of them slowing.
 

“I want to see Casey,” she demanded when she reached the vans.

“Sure.” He took her behind the second van. Before she could say another thing, a big hand clamped a thick fabric to her nose and mouth. A sharp scent pierced her nostrils and stung her throat seconds before she dropped to the ground.

* * *

Rocco looked at the glass teacup Yusef’s wife had made him. He’d come down to their hotel in Cheyenne to see if his informant had heard anything about Fiona’s kidnapping.

He sipped the sweet blend and exchanged pleasantries with his host, both of them speaking in Pashto. Funny how clear his mind was when he was acting as anyone but himself.
 

When their cups were empty, both men set them on the brass tray between them. “I am grateful that you are visiting me this evening,” Yusef said, opening their business discussion.

“As am I. It has come to my firm’s attention that Abdul Baseer al Jahni’s representative, Jafaar Majid, may have made some commitments he cannot keep, ones which expose my client needlessly to the eyes of the American government.”

Yusef’s eyes widened. “What has he done?”

“One of the federal agents who has been tracking my client’s work too closely has had his girlfriend abducted. Was not a smart move. I like to watch them, but not stir them up. Abdul will not be happy with this turn of events.”

Yusef got to his feet and began pacing around the small living room, one hand tightly squeezing the other. “That is not good.”

 
“No, it is not. I am trying to ascertain Jafaar’s level of involvement. I don’t want it to come back on Abdul.”

“He has not spoken to me about this. Why would he do such a thing, Khalid?”

Rocco smiled benignly. “One of many questions that beg an answer. Is he still in the area?”

“Yes.” Yusef frowned as if trying to remember details Jafaar had told him. “He was going to be in Denver for a time. I do not know what he is doing there.”

Rocco stood and gave a slight bow as he prepared to take his leave. “Thank you for the tea. It was most excellent.” They exchanged the traditional farewells, then Rocco left.

* * *

Kelan glanced around at the unkempt facade of the motel Kit had selected as the base for their search for Fiona. The place was a dive, but had the benefit of being right off the highway where her security necklace had finally pinged. He and Angel had just come back from checking out that area. Another waste of time. No way of knowing if the people who’d taken her had sent a decoy out east for a long drive with her necklace just to throw them off. Max and Greer had been keeping an eye on the cameras along the border between Colorado and Kansas. So far, no white vans had left the state. Of course, they may well have ditched them by now and transferred her to a different vehicle.

Kit and Val pulled up next to them. He hoped the bossman had some news, anything. Kit shook his head. Angel stayed with the SUVs while the three of them checked in.
 

The motel owner sent them surreptitious looks as he checked them in. “You guys ball players?” he asked.

Yeah, like this was an obvious place for majors—or even minors—to kick back. Wasn’t anywhere near a ball field.

Val chuckled, answering for the group, which was good because his or Kit’s response would have alarmed the little man. “Well, yeah. How’d you know? Is it that obvious?”

“Your size kinda gave it away.”

Another deep chuckle from Val. “Right? It does its own advertising.”
 

Kelan knew the proprietor was not on Val’s wavelength.
 

“What team do you play for?” he asked as he handed them their key cards.

“Well, ours, of course.” Val laughed. “Too many benies to swap for the other side.” His inimitable vapid chatter caused the proprietor to fall silent as he unscrambled Val’s meaning, letting them leave the lobby without more questions.

Kelan dropped his bag on the first double bed in the room he and Val were sharing. Kit and Angel had the adjoining room. He sat on the bed and started unlacing his boots, craving a shower and some quiet so that he could think. He could hear the guys discussing their dinner order in the other room. Would have to be fast food—was the only thing open in the middle of the night.

A phone rang. “Go, Greer.” Kit and Angel walked into their room.

“A man called in a report to the Colorado State Patrol about a woman who waved him down on Highway 70 east of Denver. He said she was crying and acting odd. He saw two white vans on the opposite side of the road. Didn’t see license plate numbers, but said there were several men with her. When he asked the girl if she needed help, she said no and apologized for flagging him down, that it was just a college joke. He didn’t buy it, but either way, thought the cops ought to know about it. The girl matches Fiona’s description. They said she kept rambling about someone named Kelan.”

Kelan felt the muscles in his entire body tighten. She’d been where he and Angel just were. So whoever took her hadn’t separated her from her necklace—at that point, anyway. “When was that, Greer?”

“About two hours ago.”

“So about the time her necklace started pinging,” Kelan said.

“Yeah. We’ve been watching for those vans to cross the border. They haven’t yet. We have the State Patrol looking for them. Max is on his way to visit Pete
.
And Rocco just got back from Cheyenne. He found out from Yusef that Jafaar is supposedly in Denver. And this next thing may not have anything to do with Fiona, but it’s something else.”

Kelan and Angel exchanged looks.

Greer continued,
“Lobo says there’s some buzz going through the sex traffickers about a big transaction happening. In Denver. This weekend. It’s not his investigation, so his boss isn’t sharing deets. Owen is pulling some strings to get more info.”

Kelan’s heart dropped. Thousands of people in the U.S. alone disappeared without a trace each year, many of them sucked into the sex-trafficking trade. And those were people without the enemies he had. Fiona could be anywhere in the world by now.

“If any of this has something to do with Fiona,”
Greer said,
“and we don’t know that it does, why her? They gotta know they’re starting a war by taking one of our own.”

“Maybe they anticipated exactly how we’d react,”
Blade said, his voice a little farther from the phone.
“Fiona’s abduction has made us shift gears, take our eyes off other aspects of King’s operation. It’s brilliant, really.”

Kelan had to bite back his visceral response to Blade. It wasn’t fucking brilliant, but he had to admit it was a good strategy.
 

“So what are we missing?” Angel asked. “What’s the bastard up to that he’s covering by shifting the clamshells?”

Kit shook his head. “Greer, if Owen’s successful at getting more info out of the FBI, dig into whatever he gets, see what you can find from the backend that might help us tonight. The rest of you see what the players from Bladen’s ledger and Greer’s spider chart are up to. Find the patterns,” Kit ordered.

Kelan put his weapons on the dresser, then stripped to his black boxer briefs. He was on his way to the shower when Kit came back into the room.

“Hey,” Kit said. “We ordered you a Caesar salad with double chicken.”

“I’m not hungry.”

Kit wasn’t happy with that response.
 

“What I need isn’t food,” Kelan said before Kit argued. “It’s quiet so that I can sit and listen.”

“If you think you can face what we’re heading toward weakened from not eating, then you might as well go on back to Blade’s, feel me?”

Kelan nodded. “I’ll eat.”

He went for the shower, wondering if Fiona was being fed. Had she been given water? Was she in pain? Afraid? He needed the silence so that he could feel her.

Why,
why
had they taken her? Was it a coincidence they’d nabbed her on her birthday weekend?

Chapter
 
Three

Max stood in Pete’s apartment over the White Kingdom Brotherhood’s clubhouse. Of course the WKB prez wasn’t alone. Two women were in bed with him, naked and wasted like he was. None of them even knew he was there. He hauled Pete up over his shoulder and took him outside. The clubhouse had shut down a while ago. The September night was cold, so the guys had scattered to crash wherever they could find a warm bed.

Feral was the only one awake and keeping an eye out for the WKB’s president. That kid would take a bullet for his club. Too bad his club didn’t give a good goddamn about him.
 

Feral was standing by the bed of the truck Max had hot-wired. “Jesus, Mads. That’s the fucking president. What’re you doing’?”

“Taking him for a little convo.” He met the kid’s eyes. “You gotta problem with that?”

“You gonna kill him?” Feral asked.

“Not yet.”

“What’s goin’ on, Mad Dog?”

“A war, Feral.”

Feral rubbed his nose, shuffling his weight from one foot to the next. “Whatever. A war.” He shrugged.
 

Max looked at him and wondered if he’d ever known a world not at war. There’d been very little peace in the kid’s life—living with the WKB was like being in a constant war zone of sorts.
 

“You know I’m on your side,” Feral said.

“You don’t even know what my side is.”

“I know you’re solid. S’all I need to know.”

Max met his look then nodded. Pete wasn’t getting any lighter. He dumped him in the back of the truck. “Don’t worry about Pete. I’ll leave him the truck so he can drive back.”

Feral nodded, sniffled, then shoved his hands in his jeans pockets.

Max drove Pete to the overlook where he and Hope had shared a beer. Val had parked one of the team’s SUVs a little farther down the road. The big blond helped Max get Pete strung up on the large outcropping overlooking the ravine. The cool air and cold granite helped Pete begin to rouse from his nightly blackout.
 

Max nodded at Val, giving him the signal to wait out of sight. Max cracked open a plastic bottle and dribbled water over Pete’s face. Took half the bottle, but Pete finally gasped. When he opened his eyes and looked around, his hands scrabbled for a hold on the rough surface of the rock.

“Relax, Pete. You’re not going to fall.” He paused then added, “As long as you don’t move too much.”

Pete sent a fast look around them. “How did I get here?”

“I brought you here. Wanted to have an uninterrupted chat with you.”

“Couldn’t we have talked at the apartment?”

“Not my favorite place.”

“And this is?”

Max looked down at the ravine. “It’s one of them.”

“What are we talking about?”

“About my friend’s girlfriend who was kidnapped a few hours ago.”

“How would I know anything about that?”

Max shrugged. “You’re more plugged in than I am.”

“I’ll ask around. Come see me tomorrow. Who’s your friend?”

“He’s one of the Feds down the street.” Actually, they were private defense contractors, but that was one and the same to the WKB.

“Why would I care what happens to a Fed? You forget who I am?”

Max smiled and shook his head. “I haven’t forgotten our agreement either.” Max had promised to give Pete fair warning when the government was coming for him—time enough to OD so he wouldn’t have to face prison. “I need info.”
 

He settled near Pete on the big boulder. “My friend loves his girl like you love your smack. It’s killing him not having her.” He looked out into the black ravine. “Our women and kids are not part of the mix. You know no man fucks with the other’s family. Whoever did this broke the code. Tell me what you know.”

“I know Senator Whiddon bit the dust.”

“Yeah. Tell me something I don’t know.”

“You guys do it?”

Max shook his head. “No.”

“I hear his suicide note was full of interesting info.”

“It was.”

“Am I in it?”

“No.”

Pete leaned his head back against the hard stone behind them. “Jafaar’s been odd lately. Said he was doing a special project for King. Thought it meant he was working with one of the Mexican gangs to move his heroin. Maybe he had something to do with what happened to your friend’s girl.”

“Maybe. One thing’s for sure. I’m going to find who’s involved. And when I do, they’ll be wearing their tongue for a tie. What’s the word from Lion?”

“Haven’t heard a thing about him or from him. King keeps things compartmentalized.”

“Who’s guarding the tunnels?”

“Couple of our officers. They got ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ orders.”

“I hope King doesn’t mind empty vaults.”

“What’re you sayin’?”