“So who’s at the door?” She leaned forward with her eyes darting between him and the closed door. “Come on, Hank. In a second, that won’t be a secret anymore.”
“That’s just it, Alexa. I don’t know.” He rubbed his palms across his shirt to dry them off.
“Don’t you know who’s heading up the op?”
“No. I follow orders, Alexa, something you should consider doing from time to time.” Hank reached for the door and pulled his weapon. After he nodded at her, making sure she was ready to back his play, Hank opened the door.
“What the hell . . .” He lowered his gun. “So you’re in charge of this mission? Well, I’ll be damned.”
And Alexa stood with her mouth open. She couldn’t help it. She was stunned.
“I thought you were . . .” She shook her head, staring at the man standing in the open doorway.
“You two better have a real good reason for risking this mission, especially you, Alexa.”
Larger than life, Garrett Wheeler filled the threshold and lowered a weapon of his own.
Chapter 8
Alexa was completely shaken. After seeing Garrett Wheeler standing in front of her, she didn’t know if she should be happy he was alive or be mad as hell. And he had the nerve to point the finger at her, accusing her of messing up his op.
“And you better have a damned good reason for breathing.” She pulled him into the room by the arm and after she gave a quick look down the hall to make sure he was alone, she closed the door and turned on him.
“What’s going on, Garrett? And why all the secrecy?”
“You ever look up the word ‘secret,’ Alexa? You should try it sometime.”
“I was worried that something bad had happened to you. Sorry for caring.” She glared at him. “If you’re here, then who is Pérez holding as hostage?”
“What do you know about that?”
Typical Garrett. He had shifted gears by going on the offensive.
“Don’t change the subject. Answer me.”
She knew she was pushing it with the man who was her boss, but she was in no mood to be diplomatic.
“Give me one legitimate reason why I should? You’re not part of this mission, Alexa. And from the way you’ve barged in here, I think that was a good call.”
“Whoa, now. I don’t wanna get hit in the cross fire.” Hank raised both eyebrows and backed off. He found a corner in the room and crossed his arms, playing it as neutral as Switzerland. When Alexa saw Hank’s reaction, she mumbled under her breath, “Coward,” before she directed her anger back at Garrett.
“I was worried about you. If I had gone missing like that, what would you have done?”
“Touché, but jeopardizing a mission in progress? That’s . . .” Garrett searched for the right word. “ . . . irresponsible.”
“So is disappearing without a word. And I refuse to apologize for caring about you.” When Garrett softened the stern expression on his face, she knew he was finally listening. “Tell me about this mission. I’m down here. You might as well use me.”
“I can’t.” He shook his head and turned his back on her. “The reason I didn’t ask you to join us hasn’t changed.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Damn it, Alexa. I need you to walk away from this. You came here looking for me. Well, you’ve found me. And I’m telling you to go home.”
When Garrett looked her in the eye, he flinched for an instant. His reaction was enough for her to realize he was holding back. And it was personal.
“You’re hiding something. What is it?”
When Garrett looked to Hank for support, the guy shrugged, and said, “Hey, don’t look at me. This op is on a need-to-know basis. And, apparently, you didn’t want me to know anything either.”
“Not you, too.” Garrett raked a hand through his dark hair as he thought about what to do next. His jaw tightened, and he avoided looking at either of them.
“I got a call a few weeks ago,” Garrett began. “ . . . a guy telling me that he had an operation already in play. He told me he would be infiltrating the Pérez cartel, the hard way. He had personal reasons for wanting to kill the son of a bitch.”
“Who? Pérez?” Hank asked. When Garrett nodded, Hank narrowed his eyes. “Didn’t know you needed a reason to kill that sorry bastard.”
“Yeah, well, this guy had two good reasons. Pérez had ordered a hit on him several years ago, but his family got killed instead.”
Alexa saw the pained look on Garrett’s face and knew there was more to this story than what he’d told them.
“That’s horrible, but why did he call you?” she pressed, moving close enough to look him directly in the eye.
“Because I owe him. I was the one who’d ordered the protection detail on his wife and little girl. His family was killed on my watch.”
Alexa’s next breath caught in her throat. She’d seen the same look of guilt on Garrett’s face before. And a face from her past emerged from the shadows of her mind. Green eyes she’d seen not long ago, eyes filled with a never-ending sadness that had haunted her since she’d last seen him.
“I know this story,” she whispered, not completely sure she had spoken aloud.
“Yeah, you do. And that’s why you weren’t asked to come along, Alexa. You’re too close to this.”
“Would someone please clue me in?” Hank asked.
“Jackson Kinkaid is the guy inside.” Alexa felt numb. Saying Kinkaid’s name made it all real. “He’s on a suicide mission to kill the man who murdered his wife and child. And damn it, Garrett, you should’ve told me.”
“Why? So you could watch him die? You’re as crazy as he is, Alexa.”
“I could’ve talked to him, made him listen to reason. Getting hijacked by Pérez, that’s a one-way trip.”
“You know how Kinkaid operates. He didn’t give me any choice. By the time I got our team deployed, he was in the thick of it, with no way to back out. The guy doesn’t know how to back down. I’ve known him longer than you have. He’s been living for this. In his mind, it’s all he has left.”
Kinkaid wasn’t with the Sentinels now, but he used to be. And after what had happened to his family while he had worked for their organization, she figured Garrett had authorized the mission based on the obligation he felt toward a man who had suffered as much as Kinkaid had.
“I can understand going after Pérez if the guy killed his wife and kid, but how do we know what’s going on in there?”
“We have a burst transmitter on him, embedded under his skin,” Hank told her.
“Don’t tell me. Let me guess,” she interrupted. “That was his idea, right?” When she looked at Garrett, all he did was nod and shrug.
“Unbelievable.”
“That transmitter has been sending us his vitals, as well as his location, so we can track him via satellite,” Hank continued. “I’m in charge of the ground team, and we’re located right outside the compound, ready to go in once we get the green light. And as for his vitals? The medical doctor on our team thinks Kinkaid is being tortured.”
“Tortured? What for? If they knew who he was, Pérez would just have him killed. I’m not arguing for that, mind you, but killing him would tie up a very big loose end. What am I missing?” she asked.
“That’s just it. He got abducted when they thought he was someone else. And that’s who they think they’re interrogating, a bigger fish in their eyes.”
“Oh, yeah. Who?”
“Me,” Garrett said. “The Pérez drug cartel, they think they have me.”
Shoreview Motel
La Pointe, Wisconsin