Page 12 of Secrets Beneath the Waves (Beach Read Thrillers #2)
CHAPTER
TWELVE
“This is boring.” Zeyla shifted in her seat, adjusting her position.
She took a sip of her soda, now down to the end, so she made a lot of noise trying to get the last few drips out of the mountain of ice in the cup.
She dropped it back into the cup holder and grabbed a pen from the little tray under the radio, tapping it over and over on the handle of the door beside her.
Ramon reached over and put his hand on hers.
“Trust me, I feel you. Last time I was on a stakeout behind an FBI bar in Phoenix, Jax let me go inside and ruffle some feathers, at least.” He figured telling her a good story would distract her.
“A couple of weeks later, I did some real PI work, taking photos and following one of their agents. He was dealing drugs out of the back of the bar and a bowling alley a couple of miles away. The cops caught him selling to some teenagers.”
“And?” She lifted her hand. “Is that it?”
Ramon looked at the firehouse across the street, a few buildings down. They could see the parking lot out front where Drew Chamberlain and the other firefighters on his shift were about to get off for the day.
The sun had long set, but still, he couldn’t see any stars.
He wouldn’t have said that it bothered him, but he was beginning to understand Kenna’s need to be out in the wilderness rather than surrounded by buildings and people.
There was something inherently claustrophobic about metropolitan areas, and he hadn’t realized that until he left Mexico.
She was still waiting for him to explain, so he said, “Cops and the FBI like to think that they get along. They’re supposed to cooperate these days so we don’t have another 9/11 type incident.
But deep down, the rivalry is still there.
The chance for some local LEOs to take down the high-and-mighty special agent corrupting kids in their precinct?
I figure I did the Phoenix PD the favor of the year. ”
“I prefer door-kicking stories. Or ones where you’re forced to put a knife in the bad guy, content knowing that he’ll never hurt anyone else ever again.”
Did she actually believe that, or did she just talk a good game? Sure, the girl was trained. But she’d been through all kinds of things as an operative and a double agent. Right now, she seemed a little more fragile than she pretended to be.
He said, “That makes me wonder why you’re insisting on just getting this guy’s DNA instead of putting a stop to these kidnappings. Why not take him down?”
“I’d rather kick a firefighter.”
“I have some other ideas that might work better than kicking. But we’ll leave that on the list, maybe as a last resort.”
“See? Was that so difficult?” Her body language shifted to fully alert. “He’s on the move.”
Ramon didn’t start the car right away. He waited for Chamberlain to pull out of the parking lot and turn west before he started the car and followed.
If Drew had come this direction, the two of them would have had to duck down below the windows to remain out of sight.
But thankfully, all they had to do was keep back enough that Drew wouldn’t see them.
“He’s probably just going home to sleep it off.” She sat forward a little in the seat, ready for action.
“With any luck, he’ll go to a retirement home and start harassing old ladies. Then we can really go to town.”
Zeyla snorted.
Ramon focused on following the firefighter, keeping back far enough that it didn’t look like they were obviously in pursuit.
As he did that, snaking through streets of businesses and passing an elementary school, he tried to reconcile Miguel and the threat against Zeyla with the need to take down a dangerous man.
Every time they had gone up against Dominatus , Kenna and the whole of Banbury Investigations had wound up in over their heads.
At every turn, things had become far more deadly than expected, even if, in the end, they had won.
Jax had even managed to get Kenna back from them, but that didn’t necessarily feel like a victory.
Without Zeyla here, he could single-mindedly attack the problem.
Which meant that if he could get her the DNA and persuade her to leave town, Ramon would be able to stay and take down the Count of Shadows and his entire operation.
If that was what was happening here. Right now, he didn’t have a lot more than supposition and stories, but someone was kidnapping young women with similar features, hair, and eye color, and even if it wasn’t the Count, then there was still a suspect to take down.
Either way, justice could be served.
It was something he could do to assure himself that he had done some good in the world.
“He’s pulling into the gas station.”
Ramon tapped his turn signal and did the same, finding Drew’s car alongside a pump. “How long does it take you to clone a phone?”
Drew exited the gas station store and wandered back over to his car, sidestepping a low slung Acura pumping loud music with the windows down.
“I guess we’ll find out.” Zeyla pushed her door open and climbed out, palming her cell phone as she moved. She turned back to him, laughing. “Is that all she did?” As if he’d been telling a hilarious story. After a second more of laughter, she said, “I wanna pump the gas!”
Ramon slammed his door shut and stared at her over the top of the car. “I suppose you want my credit card, though.” He set his elbows on the top of the car and held the card out. Beyond the gas pump, Drew Chamberlain glanced over. Ramon focused on Zeyla. “Jump and get it.”
He didn’t like pretending to be that type of guy, but if she needed Drew to trust her, the fastest way was for Ramon to play the bad guy and for Drew to be the rescuer.
Zeyla shot him a look, planted her boot on the hood of his car, and launched herself up to grab the credit card out of his hand, hopping down when she had it in her grasp.
“You better not have scratched my paint.” He barely managed to react the way he should have because that had been completely unexpected.
She turned away, grinning. Using the machine and then getting the pump going in the car’s fuel filler.
As soon as it was pumping gas, he turned away and got on his phone.
Acting completely distracted and ignoring her.
Assuming that she wandered over and was going to start chatting up Drew Chamberlain.
After all, she had to get pretty close to him to clone his phone.
“Nice car.” She gasped. “Are you a firefighter?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“Oh my gosh, did you work that motel explosion today? That’s crazy. My girlfriend was staying on the top floor. Thank goodness she was out with me getting into trouble instead.” She laughed, then immediately he heard an intake of breath. “Wow, you must work out.”
“Is your boyfriend gonna want you touching me?”
She made a pfft sound with her lips. “Hon, he ain’t my boyfriend. But if you ask me nicely, maybe you could be.”
The gas pump clicked off on their car.
“Welp, it was nice talking to you and all that. Have fun saving the city.”
Ramon turned to her in time to see her hop off the center curb and pull the gas pump out.
He eyed Drew, staking his claim without words that the guy was not to pursue Zeyla.
Which, honestly, didn’t take a lot of acting.
And it was mostly because the man’s DNA had been under the fingernails of a severed hand.
The rest of it was about the mission he had come here to do.
They climbed in the car and pulled out, waiting down the street for Drew to do the same. As soon as the firefighter got back in his car, Zeyla said, “He’s making a call.”
She put it on speaker, and they listened to the phone ring.
“Yeah?”
“You gonna be there?” Definitely Drew Chamberlain. Whoever he was talking to, they didn’t bother exchanging pleasantries.
“I’m here now. Where are you?”
Drew said, “I’ll be there in five.”
The line went dead.
Zeyla shook her head. “Well, that was revelatory.”
“I guess we’re following him until we find out what he’s got going on tonight because first thing tomorrow morning, the cops are going to be all over him.
” Ramon stayed back like last time, but now a little farther, given that this man had seen both of their faces and their car.
With a five-minute deadline, it didn’t take long before Drew pulled into a closed-down store parking lot.
The firefighter parked alongside another car, got out, and climbed in the passenger side. A second later, the car—a white sedan—headed out.
“I think we can get close enough to get the license plate.”
“Hang on, Drew is texting now. Asking someone else to confirm the delivery location.”
Ramon said, “Delivery of what?”
Zeyla looked up from the phone screen. “The reply just says, The house on Williamsburg .”
Ramon eased off the gas a little and hung back even farther as traffic started to grow sparser.
After a few seconds, he shut off his headlights so the driver up ahead wouldn’t know there was someone behind him.
The streets were lined with houses set back from the road, some with fenced front yards and several had cows or other animals.
He spotted a couple of rusted-out vehicles in one front yard and an old RV for sale.
Up ahead, Drew’s buddy hit the brakes and slowed down.
Ramon pulled off to the side of the road, stopping where he could see the vehicle.
It waited alongside the road until a car traveling in the opposite direction passed them.
The driver was clearly in some kind of distress.
The car swerved and jerked around on the road.
Drew and his buddy got out of their car and jogged across the road, catching up to the car just as soon as it slowed.
It was barely stopped before they had the doors open.
Ramon watched Drew haul a limp body from the driver’s seat. “They’re kidnapping her. That’s what the delivery location means. It’s wherever they’re supposed to bring her.”
“You’re armed, right? I reckon we can take both of them.” She grabbed the door handle, and he stopped her before she opened the door and let the interior lights give them away.
“Hang on. If we follow them to where they take her, we can find out who they’re delivering her to and work our way up the chain.”
Zeyla shook her head. “Nope, doesn’t work for me.” She pointed out the car window. “She doesn’t need to be scared for her life even one second longer than necessary.”
“If you rescue her, they get away with this, and whoever is above these guys will pack up shop and start over again somewhere else. We will lose the ability to take them down. It could even cost you your shot at finding this Count of Shadows.”
“We’ll find a way. That girl isn’t going with them.”
Ramon put his hand over hers and held on to it. “We are going to save her. They aren’t going to hurt her. But we need to know who they are working for and where to find them.”
“I’m going to regret this.”
He squeezed her hand, then grabbed the wheel. “Call the police, report a kidnapping at this location so they at least find the car and start looking for her.”
He pulled out and followed the other car, hoping he had made the right decision.
And that his choice wouldn’t cost the young woman her life.