Page 16 of Secrets Beneath the Waves (Beach Read Thrillers #2)

CHAPTER

SIXTEEN

“This is ridiculous,” Zeyla said quietly beside him.

Ramon wasn’t sure he could agree. “They’re just doing their jobs. Hopefully, with integrity. Otherwise, we can’t even trust the justice system to take care of their simple duty.”

“Admit it, being a vigilante is looking better and better all the time.”

Ramon shook his head, sitting next to her on the edge of the curb. A uniformed officer stood over them while forensics technicians gathered evidence from inside the house, and the detectives walked around taking charge of everything.

The officer standing over them cleared his throat.

Zeyla rolled her eyes. “Don’t say you’ve never thought of it.”

The guy was probably barely twenty-four and had red hair. “If I had, I probably wouldn’t have become a cop. At least this way, I get to be on the right side of the law.”

The detective who had been speaking to Zeyla walked back over to them. “Okay, who wants to tell me how you knew the girl would be here?”

Ramon said, “Drew Chamberlain told us.”

The officer frowned. “Isn’t he a firefighter?”

“He’s also one of the kidnappers, as we’ve been saying to you over and over. He’s in the hospital in police custody,” Zeyla said.

“How about you tell me about that incident, Mr. Santiago?”

Ramon immediately regretted having handed over his ID earlier.

“I was protecting Dr. Swanson from Pioneer Forensics as he was transporting sensitive evidence that relates to this case. Evidence that implicated Mr. Chamberlain in the crime. He tried to kill the doctor and was probably planning to destroy the evidence that would convict him of kidnapping and probably also murder.”

“This is going to take longer than just one curbside conversation. We should take these two over to the station, Officer. Get them situated where we can interview them.”

Zeyla asked, “Do I need my lawyer?”

Before the detective could answer her, a black SUV with government plates stopped at the curb. The driver jumped out, coming right toward them. Pulling out a cred pack with FBI identification and a badge. But it wasn’t any FBI agent Ramon had ever met.

He showed the detective his badge. “Special Agent Pedro Alvarez. This man is my confidential informant.” He motioned toward Ramon with a dismissive wave. “I’m pretty sure the woman is a hooker he picked up and trained to help him with cases.”

Zeyla made a choking sound.

Mr. Special Agent turned to Ramon. “Do we need to have another conversation about you sticking your nose into other people’s business?”

“I’m going to go with…yes.” Ramon stared him down, trying to figure out what on earth this guy was playing at.

He glanced at the detective. “I have to take them with me, per my boss’s orders. You can have him back tomorrow, or you can come to the FBI office with any questions you might have for either of them.”

Ramon didn’t even know if there was an FBI satellite office up here in Spokane. He should probably look that up at some point, although presumably, Miguel had…before he decided to pretend to be an FBI agent. It was a little on the nose as far as ruses went.

Special Agent Alvarez dug in his back pocket and pulled out a zippered pouch. He opened it and held it out. “You can both put their weapons in here.”

The cops handed over what they had.

“Any backup weapons I should know about?” the fed asked.

Zeyla gave him the sweetest smile, and Ramon didn’t believe she was innocent. Not one bit. “Nothing else.”

“Me either.” After all, they’d likely have to defend themselves from someone soon enough. Why risk their lives having to do that with no weapons, and when he had all the advantage? “So, let’s go.”

Ramon strode away from the group of cops, happy to be away from here even if it meant going with a fed.

Answering questions always took longer than it needed to, and there was no way they’d be satisfied by his responses.

All of it would point to the fact he knew more about this case than he should.

Or, at least, more than they did. Either way, they’d be suspicious as to how he’d learned what he knew.

Cops didn’t like private investigators on the best of days. Ramon wasn’t doing them a favor working their case for them. They would see it as him trying to undermine their work.

He pulled the rear door of the SUV open for Zeyla.

Special Agent Alvarez said, “You get back there, too.”

Ramon figured that would enable him to whisper to Zeyla or communicate silently in some other way. He climbed in, and the fed shut the door a little too quickly. The toes of Ramon’s boots bumped a clear plastic plate behind the front seats, floor to ceiling.

“Buckle up.” Alvarez pulled out fast, shifting both of them back in their seats.

Zeyla pushed against the glass. “This is great,” she muttered under her breath. “We’re trapped back here with this psycho at the wheel.”

Ramon clipped his seat belt in. “Buckle up,” he whispered. “Just in case.” Louder, he said, “Hey, Alvarez? What’s going on?”

The special agent hit the gas, taking the corner hard with both hands on the wheel. Ramon caught a glimpse of the look on his face in the rearview mirror and the smirk curling his lips up.

Ramon slapped his palm on the Plexiglas. “Where are we going?”

“Doesn’t matter,” the agent said. “It’ll be over soon, so maybe say your prayers.”

Zeyla growled under her breath. “He’s gonna kill both of us?”

He leaned over and whispered, “I’m not going to let that happen.”

“Yeah, duh. You think I’m just gonna let it happen?” She tossed his words back at him, then said, “We need to overpower him. What do you still have on you? I probably have a couple of knives.”

“You don’t know for sure?”

“It’s been a long day. I landed on one of them when that kidnapper guy hit me.”

Ramon’s head swam with what was going on, but one thing rose to the surface. “We saved that girl.”

“We hope.” Zeyla didn’t look so happy.

“What do you mean? She’s off to the hospital. Her parents will come and pick her up. Her life will go back to normal, and she’ll be safe.”

“Maybe.” Zeyla shrugged one shoulder.

Two streets over, the agent pulled off to the side of the road behind another car and got out. Miguel emerged from the car and the two men switched places with a quick chin lift.

Miguel got in the SUV and they set off again.

I’m going to kill you. “This was all a ruse.”

Zeyla said nothing.

Ramon took a quick inventory of everything he still had on him, trying to decide if the tools in his lock-pick kit counted as weapons.

They were too small to do much damage. But if it came down to it, he’d rather have them than nothing.

He’d already stabbed Miguel once this week, and the guy didn’t seem to be suffering much.

Except for the grunt when he climbed on the stool at the bar.

What had he said?

Zeyla was the job. Ramon wasn’t. And the client was…precise? Something like that. Implying he couldn’t kill Ramon even if he wanted to, which was probably why he’d chosen to rattle Ramon instead. Throw him off his game.

Now it seemed like all bets might be off.

Miguel drove to some kind of park area with a wooden sign and maps for hiking trails.

He drove through the gravel and dirt parking lot to an exit road at the far end that climbed up the hillside—a narrow dirt track that was probably built for access during fire season, when crews needed to reach the terrain.

The car bumped and jerked over the ground, and at points, the landscape dropped off entirely on one side.

“He’s going to bury us in the middle of nowhere.”

Ramon dug out his phone, not sure who he would even call. The cops weren’t going to send anyone out here to some unknown location. At least, not in time to help them.

The signal had dropped off somewhere down the mountain. Of course. Probably why Miguel had chosen this spot to…what? Murder them, and leave their bodies somewhere no one would find them? Or a place where the police would rule their deaths as accidental?

“Do you have cell signal?”

Zeyla checked her phone. “Nope. This is just great.”

He leaned over and whispered, “All we need is a coordinated attack.”

“Jump him and get his gun?”

Ramon nodded. “Take his keys and get out of here.”

“We should kill him, and you know it.”

“I don’t want to do that unless it’s self-defense.” After all, if Ramon always defaulted to the man he’d been in the past, then he hadn’t grown. All he had was wishful thinking.

Zeyla rolled her eyes. “Then stay back and let me take care of it.”

Up in front, Miguel dug something out of the cupholder. He put an earplug in one ear, then the other.

Ramon whipped his head around to Zeyla. “Cover your?—”

It was too late. Miguel hit a button on the dash, and an earsplitting alarm turned on. The sound was so loud it was disorientating and made his head swim, coming through too many speakers around them. Bile rose in his throat, and he was just about to puke when everything went dark.

Ramon woke up with his head pounding and the sun shining on his face, sweat covering most of his body, making his shirt cling to his chest. Someone had removed his shoes.

And his belt.

Plus all the weapons on his body.

“Miguel.” The word came out barely audible, mostly just a groan from his lips. Ramon blinked at the sky. The view above where he lay was mostly the tops of trees and a plane flying over far to high up for them to see he needed help.

He rolled to the side and saw Miguel had Zeyla by the hair. Her face and arms were covered in scratches. The back of Miguel’s shirt had a tear in it. He dragged Zeyla away from the SUV, toward where the hill dipped slightly and the trees got lower.

A drop-off.

Ramon planted his hands and got his feet under him. The world rotated around him, and he spat out the bitter taste in his mouth. He sucked in a deep breath and pushed his body toward her.

Zeyla slammed her bare foot down on Miguel’s shin. As he reacted to it, she planted that foot and brought the other knee up. But she didn’t hit her target. He pulled on her hair and dragged her over until her upper body was almost horizontal.

She cried out.

Ramon stepped on something sharp but kept going. He raced over to them both and slammed into Miguel at full speed, purposely hitting him in the spot where Ramon had stabbed him. They all tumbled onto the ground. Miguel shifted, and an elbow slammed into Ramon’s face.

He flopped back, unable to think for a second.

Zeyla screamed.

Ramon scrambled to sit up, still so dizzy. Zeyla practically spun in front of him. Then she fell away, screaming, and he couldn’t see her anymore.

Miguel turned.

Ramon spotted the gun between them on the ground. He dove for it, snatching it up just as Miguel landed on him. Ramon twisted around and got the gun aimed. He squeezed the trigger and felt the bullet hit the other man.

Miguel became deadweight on top of Ramon. He rolled the guy off and scrambled to his feet.

He sucked in a breath and yelled, “Zeyla!”