In a hurry to catch up with Elena, he burst into the open area, then stopped dead when he saw a man grab her and hustle her into the backseat of a vehicle.
Chapter 13
Panic seized Alesandro. He’d scared the mierda out of his sister, then sent her over to S&D to get the information he needed. All the time he’d been waiting in her apartment, he’d thought she’d done it.
But the puta’s nerve had failed.
That left him up shit creek in a wire canoe, an interesting American phrase that fit his present situation well.
He channeled his panic into anger at Elena for double-crossing him. Jesus, if he’d known she was going to screw him, he would have gotten the hell out of her apartment hours ago. With his heart almost blocking his windpipe, he pushed himself off the couch, wincing as his injuries protested.
Waiting a moment until he was steady on his feet, he started moving, heading for the door. The climb down the stairs was agony, and he cursed Elena for living in an apartment without an elevator.
Outside, he paused for a moment on the stoop to catch his breath and make sure the coast was clear. To his relief, he saw no one lurking in the shadows. He was almost to his car when two tough-looking men stepped up, one on either side of him. One was tall and muscular, the other shorter but also in good shape. He knew who they were—enforcers for the man who had given him the assignment of getting the information from S&D.
“What?” he gasped, fighting the sudden sick feeling in his chest that made breathing almost impossible.
“Give me your keys,” one of them demanded.
He looked wildly around the parking lot, hoping someone would show up and interrupt the scene, but there was no one around but him and the ruthless thugs. They must have been outside all along, waiting to see what would happen. Which meant it wouldn’t have done any good to leave earlier.
“Wait. My sister will be here soon.”
“You lying piece of shit. We had a directional mike on her apartment. We heard you talking to her on the phone. She’s not coming back. Now give me those keys.”
Struggling to control his shaking fingers, Alesandro dug out his keys. The man snatched them away and hustled Alesandro to the back of his car, where the man clicked the lock on the trunk.
“What…”
One of them held his arms. The other punched him in the stomach, making him double over in sudden pain. Another punch to the jaw made him literally see stars. He was fighting to stay conscious, for all the good that was going to do him.
Dimly he heard them talking.
“The boss said to make sure he arrives with his cell.”
More of his senses returned as one of the men fumbled for the phone at his belt and unclipped it. Then they dumped him into the trunk and folded his legs so he’d fit inside, the awkward position adding to his misery.
“No, please,” he managed to gasp.
Before he could say more, the trunk lid slammed shut, leaving him in darkness. He clenched his teeth, trying to think. Was there some way out of here? Like if he broke a taillight, could he stick his hand out and attract someone’s attention?
“Christ.”
Shane couldn’t let them take Elena out of the garage. Determined to cut them off, he ran for his SUV, then realized he didn’t have the goddamn keys. He’d given them to Elena.
Cursing, he thought his only option was to rush the other car on foot. Then he spotted something on the cement floor where the thugs’ vehicle had been moments earlier. The keys. She had dropped them, maybe on purpose, knowing he was going to need them.
As the car with Elena headed for the garage door, he scooped up the keys and ran back to his vehicle. Once inside, he whipped out of his parking space, almost crashing into a pickup in the row behind him.
As he gunned the engine, he could see the car with the bad guys ahead of him. There were two men inside—in addition to the ones who had come into his apartment. An impressive strike force. Apparently whoever had sent them wasn’t taking any chances.
One of the thugs was driving, and one was in the backseat with Elena to keep her under control. She was sitting up, which he hoped meant she hadn’t been drugged, and she’d be able to run when he needed her to.
The lead car slowed as it approached the mesh door at the garage entrance. The driver must have acquired the code for the garage door and an automatic opener to go with it. As the door wheezed upward, Shane barreled forward, intent on escape, but there wasn’t enough head room to exit immediately.
Taking advantage of the momentary delay, Shane pressed the button on his own automatic opener clipped to the sun visor. The wide door made a grinding sound and reversed directions, coming down just as the other car sped forward. Taken by surprise, the driver crashed his car into the barrier, and the vehicle bounced back toward Shane.
The driver leaped out of the car and whirled, firing his automatic pistol at Shane. But Shane had already opened the door of his SUV. Using it as a shield, he returned fire, and the guy went down and lay unmoving on the floor of the garage. As Shane advanced on the car, he could see Elena in the backseat struggling with the other man, who had his attention focused on her.
The thug yanked her long, dark hair, whipping her head around so violently that Shane was afraid her neck might snap. The guy was hauling back his other hand to smack her when Shane pulled the door open, jerked the guy out, and slammed him onto the ground, hearing his head crack against the concrete. Elena raced out after him, crunching her shoe on his gun hand. He screamed and let go of the weapon. Shane kicked it a few feet away, then kicked the man in the face. He went still.
Grabbing the extra weapon, Shane fired a bullet into the car’s engine before hurrying Elena to his car.
“Are you all right?” he asked as they both climbed inside.
“Yes.”
“You dropped the keys.”
“I was hoping you’d find them.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
He worked the controls on the garage door again, lifting the metal barrier just as the stairwell door in back of them burst open and the men from upstairs stormed out.
He gunned the engine, making it out of the garage as he heard bullets whizzing past.
They sped into the night.
Elena had twisted around. “They’re getting in the car I was in.”
“I don’t think it’s gonna start.”
She was still looking back as they exited the apartment development onto Rockville Pike.
“Did you kill that man?” She asked. “The one you shot?”
“I don’t know.”
“Shouldn’t we call the police?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Because?”
“Because those goons found you at my apartment. They could just as easily find you at the police station. Or maybe they even have contacts inside the police department, for all I know.”
“Madre de Dios,” she whispered, then asked, “Where are we going?”
“To a safe house where we can hole up while I find out what’s really going on.”
“I told you about my brother.”
“But there’s more to it. I mean, who wanted that information, and why?”
Jerome Weller made a fist with his left hand and pounded it into his right. He wanted to spit out a stream of curses, but he knew that wasn’t going to do him any good. He’d thought everything was under control, but then it had all blown up in his face because Elena Reyes had had a stab of conscience.
That was the trouble when you dealt with people who thought they had a moral code. He’d had no problem like that with Arnold Blake. The guy might have once cared about right and wrong. But he’d given that up when he’d found out he could get more of the luxuries that his wife insisted she wanted and that were impossible to procure with his salary from S&D.