Page 12

Chapter twelve

Tracked

Gideon

T he moment Chase drove off with Kylie the rest of us got to work. It gnawed at me. The way Santos found us with such ease. We each took a level and scoured it. Mateo met a command center van with all the equipment he requested, including a new phone for Kylie and a few GPS bug detectors to see if there was a tracker placed on board by Santos team before we arrived at Kylie’s place.

When I finished the main deck sweep and didn’t locate a bug, I donned the scuba suit. They could have placed it somewhere on the external hull. I checked the oxygen tanks first before I shouldered them on.

“Found one.” Mateo’s voice came through the walkie.

Motherfucker. I cursed myself. This was my failure. It never occurred to me that they would bug the yacht. And I should have. It made me a piss poor agent. We almost died, Kylie almost died, because of me. I had been so focused on my anger over Grant’s death that I failed to conduct a sweep of the damn boat. “Where?”

“Engine room.”

I glanced skyward. We were lucky it was only a bug. I’d done a sweep for explosive devices the first day at Kylie’s and had come up empty. “Don’t destroy it. If that signal is what Santos and his men used to track our ship, then we need to use it to our advantage. I have an idea how.”

“Will do.”

“I’m still gonna check the hull. Make sure we didn’t miss one.” Because if it were me, and I planted tracking bugs on a yacht, I would install more than one.

“Understood. Check in once you resurface. If you’re not out in an hour, one of us will come in after you.”

“Shouldn’t take me that long. Keep searching just in case they doubled up.”

“Agreed.”

“I’ll check in, in thirty minutes.”

“Good hunting.”

“Hooyah.” I set the walkie down. Affixed the scuba mask with headlamp.

I hopped in off the back and plunged into the sea. The shock of the water temperature, even with the body heat regulated suit, was still a shock. It took me a hot minute to adjust and gain my bearings.

I turned the headlamp on. Then with the submersible bug detector I swam beneath the hull. I started on the starboard side and conducted a full sweep. Then progressed to the port side and did the same.

The hull was sound and intact. Somehow, we pulled through that battle without any damage. At least that was working in our favor. Because from the start everything had gone wrong with this case.

Not that I expected it to be easy. Santos wasn’t an everyday run of the mill criminal. The fucker was a criminal mastermind who had outsmarted the CIA for the past decade. Although theories abounded that his organization had been behind cartel crime for much longer, but had been ascribed to another mafia don.

I wouldn’t put anything past the son of a bitch.

But I was damn tired of him outsmarting our agents. My brother, Grant, had been the best in the business. And Santos swatted him off like he was no more than a fly bothering him.

Once I was certain the hull was clear, I surfaced at the back of the yacht. Axel stood on deck with a scowl.

He leaned down and gave me a hand up. I shoved my mask up. “Everything okay?”

“We found two more. That fucker has been tracking us this whole time.”

“Fuck.” The oversight and blame was mine. I should have checked for bugs. Stupid mistake. It was a rookie mistake, all because I’d been blinded by my grief.

“Sums it up nicely. Mateo said you have an idea of what to do with these that could help.”

“I do. We need a drone.”

A grin spread on Axel’s face. “Planning to send them in the wrong direction.”

“It’ll work. We need command to triangulate their location. Once the sun sets, we have the drone move out in the opposite direction from our destination. Then we wait until we’re sure they took the bait and are following the drone. And then we slink out of the harbor under the cover of darkness.”

“It could work.” Axel nodded with a smirk.

“Yeah, it could. Get on the horn to command, tell them what we need.” I stripped off the scuba suit.

“What direction do you want it to lead them?”

“Opposite from us. Send the fuckers toward Central America. That way when they figure out it’s not us, we’ll be a thousand miles away. This way we can get to the Alaska house, grab what we need and go before Santos reaches us again.”

Because I doubted a man that slick wouldn’t figure out our heading, eventually. We had no idea whether Santos knew about the house in Alaska or not. It’s not like Carlos Vega and Luka Santos had been bosom buddies.

“There’s more.”

“Just spit it out.” Axel looked like he swallowed a hot poker.

“Kylie’s phone is compromised. The Find My Phone app is up and running. We don’t know who is tracking her phone. It might have been her dead husband.”

Mother puss-bucket. The laundry list of ways I’d fucked this case of was getting longer by the damn minute. “Was Vega’s cell phone found with his body?”

“Nope. I’d bet money Santos has it. Likely how he found her in town the other day.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. We made mistakes. I fucked up the most though. As the leader it had been my job to handle all this shit, and make sure there wasn’t anything we missed. Honesty, from the moment Kylie opened the front door, my focus had been on her. I’d wanted her with a desire bordering on obsession.

“Her phone needs to go with the drone too.”

“What do we tell Kylie?”

“As little as possible.” The less she knew about the case, the better. It wouldn’t stop Santos from torturing her if he got his hands on her. But I wasn’t going to let that happen.

***

Kylie

“Are you sure this will all fit in the van?” I stared with skepticism at the five cartloads of goods.

When Gideon mentioned that Chase would take me shopping for supplies, I figured we would grab what we needed and be done. But this mountain of items went far beyond what I thought we were picking up. We had everything from eggs to coffee creamer to fresh fruits and veggies. Loaded into the carts were pounds of meat, loaves of bread, rolls, baking supplies, bags of frozen goods, dairy products, and everything else in between.

“I’m sure it will, beautiful. What’s put that frown on your face?” he asked as two sales associates helped us wheel the carts out to the van.

“Don’t worry about it.” I didn’t want to spill my guts in front of strangers. Chase grimaced. I saw the question in his eyes. He wouldn’t let this go.

But for the time being we focused on loading the van. Which already had a few bags from the first few shops we visited. We’d picked up clothes for me and the guys, along with more toiletry items. Chase insisted I get things like makeup and the skincare line of products I used.

We loaded the van, utilizing boxes from the warehouse to store it all.

Once we finished, and it was just the two of us in the front of the van, Chase turned toward me. “Okay, gorgeous, spit it out. I know that brain of yours is bubbling away. Out with it.”

“It’s just…I feel helpless. Santos is like this big cat and we’re the mouse. And all he’s doing it toying with us, giving us some distance before pouncing in for the kill. I hate it. I spent so many years in fear. It’s left me wondering if I’m always going to be on the run. And that I sealed my fate when I married Carlos. What I thought was love was simply a trap. A means of imprisoning me. And even though Carlos is gone, I can’t get past the feeling that I’m just a mouse in a maze with a cat watching my every move, waiting for just the right moment to strike.”

It was my biggest fear. That I would never be free of Santos.

Chase cupped my face, his gaze blazing. “Listen to me. We’re not going to let that happen. I know we’ve been through a shitstorm the last few days. I know you’re scared. But I swear to you, he will never get his hands on you. I won’t allow it. None of us will. Understand?”

“I love you.” I didn’t mean to let my feelings slip out. It’s just his fierce determination to safeguard me, knocked me off kilter.

“Fuck, gorgeous, I love you too.” He claimed my lips, kissing me deeply enough it felt like he touched my soul.

I sank into him. My body went fluid. Chase lifted his mouth, and we were breathing heavy.

“I love Axel, Gideon, and Mateo too. I hope that’s okay.” I didn’t know it was possible to love four men at once. But they each had wriggled their way past my defenses until I didn’t want to breathe without them.

Chase cocked his head with a wry grin. “Did you think I’d be mad about that?”

“Yes. I don’t have a good track record with relationships.”

“I understand. But you don’t have to worry. I’m not the jealous type. We should get going before the ice cream melts.”

I blew out a shaky breath. “Okay. Don’t tell the others. I want to say it individually to each of you.”

He kissed my forehead. “Understood.”

“Too bad there’s no room in the back of the van for a quicky.”

Chase chuckled and put the van in drive. “No doubt. But perhaps once we’re back on the boat we can indulge.”

“Promise?”

“Always, gorgeous.” He flashed a sexy grin that churned my insides.

I shivered at the hot look. I had come to know him well. He wore it right before he fucked me stupid. And I craved his torrid lovemaking. I could use the distraction of a hot, fast quicky the moment we got all the supplies on the boat.