UP IN FLAMES

Chloe snorted. “I looked, believe me. Despite that, I still haven’t a clue what Christopher did with it, but I’m guessing it’s sitting in some private offshore account right now. I would venture a wild guess that Chris knows exactly where it is, but I haven’t had any luck in locating him.” With her gun still trained on Vanessa, Chloe squinted her eyes. “I don’t suppose you know where he is, do you?”

For a second, Vanessa considered shaking her head. Instead, she decided to go with the truth. “He’s in police custody in downtown Anniversary.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s been threatening me. He’s the one who shot out my back window and sent a package bomb.”

“No.” Though the hand holding the pistol never wavered, Chloe appeared on the verge of hysterical laughter.

“Are you serious?”

“I am.” Eyeing the gun, Vanessa decided she might as well ask point-blank. “What are you doing? Why are you holding a gun on me?”

“Tying up loose ends. You truly didn’t have any idea about anything, did you?”

“You mean about Christopher being in love with someone else? No. Or about you and him engaging in illegal activities like money laundering? I’m going to venture a wild guess that there’s a lot more that I didn’t know.”

“Definitely.”

Catching a glimpse of Alaric from the corner of her eye, Vanessa prayed he’d finish up his call. “Chloe, are you going to shoot me?”

“Not yet.” Chloe’s ambiguous answer didn’t make Vanessa feel any better. “But I will shoot him, if I have to.” She gestured toward Alaric with her pistol. No one will even hear me shoot. Just the way no one noticed me come in. Silencers.” Chloe pointed toward some sort of attachment she’d put on her weapon. “They’re very effective at keeping things quiet.”

Plural. Which most likely meant Chloe hadn’t come here alone.

“What if I know where the money is?” Vanessa asked.

Chloe snorted. “You don’t though. Or you would have told me already.”

Could Vanessa manage to convince the other woman? Or should she abandon this line of defense and try something else? Carefully, heart still pounding, Vanessa began to look for something she could use as a weapon. “Please don’t hurt Alaric.”

“Aw, you care about him, don’t you?” Chloe sighed. “He’s easy on the eyes, I’ll give him that. But you know what? He’s been working undercover on Christopher’s case before you two even met. He knows a lot more than he’s been telling you.”

“What? No, that’s not true.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“You really are gullible, aren’t you? I just found out from one of my contacts that he’s been on the case for months. He was investigating Christopher and the cartel before Christopher’s death. He’s been using you to get to the bottom of the case and get the evidence he needs, honey.”

“He’s not.” At least Vanessa could speak with authority.

Though she remembered what Alaric had said earlier, when he’d tried to tell her about lying to her and how he wasn’t who she thought he was. What if it was true? Devastated, she pushed the sense of betrayal away. “I don’t know why your contact, whoever he is, would say such a thing, but Alaric is on my side.”

“Right. At least until he’s finished his job. I’m not sure what that is, but I can take an educated guess that it has a lot to do with the cartel, BOS and a large shipment of drugs.”

“How do you know all this?” Vanessa asked, stunned and not sure what to think. “How reliable is your source?”

Now Chloe grinned. “Pretty damn reliable. I can promise you, the cartel is going to pay a lot of money when we deliver you and your precious Alaric to them. Now move.”

Aware she had to stall to at least give Alaric time to realize what was happening, Vanessa stood frozen. “Move where?”

“Here. In front of me. You’re going to be my shield in case your bodyguard gets any foolish ideas.”

Outside, Alaric appeared to be finishing up his call. Though he continued to talk, he turned and made his way toward the door.

“Now,” Chloe barked. “He’s worth ten times more than you are, so don’t make me shoot you.”

Reluctantly, Vanessa moved closer to Christopher’s former campaign manager. As Alaric reached for the door to come inside, he looked up, glanced through the window and locked eyes with Vanessa. His expression hardened as he caught sight of Chloe and her pistol.

“He saw,” Vanessa said, warning Chloe. “He’s not going to let you get away with this.”

“Really? I’m willing to bet you’ll be his first priority, Vanessa.” Chloe grabbed her arm, yanking her up closer and putting the barrel of the gun against Vanessa’s temple.

“I guess you’ll find out quickly how much you actually matter to him. Will he rush in and try to save you or run off and alert his law enforcement coworkers?” Chloe’s savage grin made Vanessa feel ill. “We’ll know any second, won’t we?”

Vanessa swallowed hard. “Yes, we will,” she replied. In her heart, she had to believe Alaric would choose her. In her head, she wasn’t entirely certain.

As soon as he turned enough to see in the window, Alaric took in the situation in an instant. Chloe Davis, armed with what appeared to be a . 38 with a silencer, had her weapon trained on Vanessa. He still had Bobby Brown on the phone. Instead of hanging up, he murmured a request for help and dropped the phone, still connected, into his pocket. Hopefully, Bobby would be able to hear well enough to understand exactly what was going on and would send agents, as well as medical personnel in case someone got shot. Either way, he couldn’t afford to worry right now. Not with Vanessa’s life in danger.

Moving slowly, keeping his hands in plain view, he opened the door and entered the room. “Chloe. What the hell are you doing?”

“Exactly what I need to do,” she replied.

Her confident demeanor and tone should have warned him. Instead, he didn’t turn until Vanessa squeaked out a warning, which came a millisecond too late. Three men, cartel from the looks of them, stepped inside. They were all armed, with their weapons pointed at Vanessa and Alaric.

“Three cartel members,” he said loudly, needing to make double sure his handler heard. “Why so many of you?”