He wouldn’t be expecting me to take the fight right to him. Reaper was en route, and the plan seemed to be coming together. Plotting revenge gave me a feeling of smug satisfaction.
I would be in Vegas before lunch, leaving me with plenty of time to scout the place, take care of some business, catch up on some sleep, and get some Thai food. There was this one little hole-in-the-wall place off the strip . . . My phone rang. I was expecting Reaper, but the caller ID was a surprise. I stared at it for a moment. I had arranged for the drop to be in Nevada once I had figured out that was the prefix from Jill’s phone, but now with the handoff arranged . . . She sure has lousy timing.
I flipped the phone open. “Jill?” I asked.
“Guess again, Lorenzo.”
It definitely wasn’t Jill. The voice was familiar . . . from Zubara. It can’t be. “Valentine?”
“Yeah.”
It took me a long moment to wrap my brain around this. How had Dead Six found her? Valentine, the killer with the .44 Magnum, and he was only alive because of my stupidity. I should have killed him when I had the chance. “If you hurt her, I swear I’ll—”
He cut me off. “Shut up. Listen to me.”
“No, you listen to me! I’ll cut your eyes out if you don’t put her on,” I shouted into the phone.
“Goddamn it, if you want that girl to live, listen to me.”
“What did you do with her?” I asked before he could say anything else.
“For Christ sakes, I didn’t do anything with her. Somebody else did. They took her.”
“Who did? Where?”
“I don’t know. Who else have you pissed off?”
Answering that accurately would require a lot of time and thought. “Where was she taken?”
“Quagmire. It’s in Nevada.”
“I’ve never been there, but I know where it’s at. I’m a few hours away,” I said, stomping on the gas. The terrorists’ Ford wasn’t built for speed, but I would make it work. “What happened?”
“They grabbed her on the way to work. I was going to stop in and say hi, get some breakfast, but she never made it. I found her stuff on the ground in the parking lot.”
“Wait, what are you talking about? What’s Jill doing hanging around with you?” My hand tightened on the phone so hard I thought it was going to break.
“She was in Quagmire when I got there.”
“Then what are you doing in Quagmire?”
“None of your goddamn business,” Valentine said. “Try to keep up. I was in Quagmire. I met the girl there, your little sidekick that shot me in the back in the Zoob. Something happened. She was taken. I don’t know who did it. I found her phone. I called you. Still with me?”
“Yes,” I said, trying not to let my frustration bubble over into anger. “Could it have been Gordon? Jill told me about a run-in at the embassy with somebody named Gordon Willis.” There was no response. “Valentine?” I wondered for a moment if the line had gone dead.
“Yeah, you’re right. I thought they were looking for me. But I think they were looking for her. They’re good at cleaning up the loose ends.”
“You know this Gordon Willis?”
“Long story. Look, if they have her, they’re going to make her disappear. We don’t have any time.”
“That’s not going to happen. I’ll be there in a few hours,” I repeated.
“Can I ask you something?” Valentine said after a long pause.
“What? Go ahead.”
“Is it true that you pulled me out after I went down? In the fort, I mean.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“Why did you do that?” he asked.
“I . . . I don’t know. You don’t sound very grateful.”
“I’m not,” he said harshly. “Call me when you get here.”
The line went dead.
LORENZO
Quagmire, Nevada
Quagmire was a typical, pissant desert town. The only things that looked new were the McDonald’s and the slot machines. Nothing interesting ever happened in towns like this. It wasn’t the kind of place that attracted rogue government operators, that was for sure. This should have been a great place to disappear.
You would think.
Valentine had given me directions to a small ranch on the outskirts of town. Even in the middle of the day, the roads were mostly deserted. If this was a setup, I was walking right into it.
The house was far enough out of town and away from any neighbors that there could be a ton of gunfire and nobody would notice. It was rather isolated on its own gravel road, surrounded by barbed wire and trees. Some horses studied me stupidly. I hate horses.
The weight of the STI on my belt was comforting, but if this was a professional trap, it wouldn’t do me a bit of good. Somebody would snipe me from the trees or a SWAT team would toss flash-bangs and then swarm around every corner. I walked up the porch, knocked, and waited. If I was the hitter in this situation, this is when I would just shoot them through the door.
There was a noise as the door was unlocked. Then it creaked open.
Valentine.
This was the first time I’d seen him in person without immediate violence. He was just over six foot. Dark hair, a face that made him look too young, muscular, but he really didn’t look like much. Yet I had already gotten my ass kicked once by this guy, so I knew that looks could be deceiving. His face was still healing from where I had cut him, and that wasn’t the only scar visible. Valentine looked older now than when I had met him before, tired and run down. Zubara had taken a lot from him. His eyes were different colors. I’d never noticed that before. It was weird. It made it a little unsettling to look him in the eye. It kind of pissed me off.
“Hey.”
“Hey.” He leaned his head out of the doorway and looked around the gravel driveway. I don’t know what he was expecting to see. It wasn’t like I would need to bring friends if I was going to waste him. Valentine regarded me warily, like most people would look at an unfamiliar dog. Finally he turned into the entry, nodding his head for me to follow.
The living room was vaguely rustic, with antlers mounted on the walls and a few pictures over the fireplace. It didn’t feel like his place. It was an awkward moment. Neither one of us offered to shake hands. I stepped inside and he gestured toward a chair.
“No thanks. I’ll stand.” It was slower to draw from a hip holster while seated and I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.
“Suit yourself.” He closed the door.
“Anything new on Jill?”
“Nothing. There’s not much to Quagmire, so she’s probably not here. I don’t know where they’ve taken her. We didn’t get the authorities involved. Hawk called her boss at the diner and said she had to leave for a family emergency, so no one in town is suspicious.”
“The cops can’t do anything I can’t,” I said. The FBI handles all kidnapping cases, and I really didn’t want them involved in this. Especially not my brother.
“Like I said, they must’ve grabbed her on the way to work. I found her purse, her phone, and her gun lying on the ground. She didn’t get a shot off or anything. I have no idea who would’ve taken her.”
“Maybe they were looking for you,” I snapped. “What the hell are you doing here anyway?” It infuriated me that Jill might’ve gotten caught up in Valentine’s mess. I swear this kid destroys and ruins everything he comes into contact with. He was the bane of my existence, and it was all I could do to not punch him in his stupid face then shoot him between his stupid mismatched eyes.