Deadly Pursuit (SCVC Taskforce) (33 page)

He knew Val was dead without checking for a pulse. His fiery rookie had shot the man three times in the center of his back. The coroner would find his heart and lungs shredded from her accuracy.

Cooper lifted her from the hot, sandy ground and moved her to a shady spot under the trees. As the cops Dyer had alerted went to work securing the body, reporting the crime, and checking for survivors in the vehicles, he eased her down to the ground and checked her for fresh injuries.

There was a slight swelling on the side of her head. Nothing else he could visibly see. One of the cops handed him a bottled water and told him they’d found bodies in the van. Both had sustained gunshot wounds. Both were still alive. Barely, but there was hope. Cooper told him who they were as an ambulance siren sounded in the distance.

“Celina.” He gently patted her cheek. “Wake up, sweetheart, and drink some water.”

Her eyelids fluttered open. Her brown eyes slowly focused on him. He cradled her head and she sipped some of the water he offered.

“Did I get him?” she asked.

“Bull’s-eye to the back.”

She sat up fully, whisked a few strands of hair away from her eyes. It seemed to take her a minute to find her balance. “Where’s the gun?”

“It’s been confiscated by the police for evidence. Why?”

Locking onto Valquis’ body, she leveraged herself to a standing position using the nearest tree trunk. “Give me your gun.”

“For what?”

“I’m going to shoot him again.”

She was delusional from the heat. “He’s dead, sweetheart. You don’t need to shoot him again.”

“I
want
to shoot him again. A bullet for everyone he killed or hurt.” She held out her hand, wiggled her fingers. “Give me your damn gun.”

Not delusional. Just vengeful.

He liked it. “You need medical care, and the cops need a statement.”

“Screw that. I owe him.”

“Save that anger for Emilio. He’s still on the run.”

That got her. Her gaze swung to his. “Then let’s go get him.”

“We can head for Mexico after you see a doctor.”

“Emilio’s not in Mexico.”

Cooper checked her pupils to make sure her head injury wasn’t messing with her logic. They looked normal, her eyes simply determined. “Then where is he?”

She headed for the bike before he finished speaking, staggering slightly. “Right under our noses.”

One of the wet-behind-the-ears cops rushed over to her with a fresh bottle of water and a healthy stare. She waved off the water, and patted his cheek. “No, thanks.”

He looked flustered and Cooper shook his head and sent the guy away. “Did Val tell you where Emilio was hiding out?”

“Londano’s house in the hills is still vacant, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Cooper wasn’t following. “As far as I know, nothing was done to it after he went to prison. Too much red tape tying things up. Everyone from the FBI to Homeland and the Mexican
Federales
want their cut, so it’s sitting empty while the courts figure out who gets what. Why?”

“Something Valquis said. The way Emilio lives—what he
needs
to live and operate his enterprise. His house fits the bill in a way nothing else can. It was specially designed for him. Lana may have even known he was there. She made a deal with Valquis to draw him out. That’s how he knew to meet us here.” She sighed heavily. “And that deal cost her her life.”

“She’s not dead. Not yet, anyway.”

A look of surprise mixed with relief flashed over Celina’s features. “Quarters?”

“Still breathing. Ambulance is on its way.”

“Lana wanted to be the hero. She thought she could blackmail Valquis and save the day. Think about it, Cooper. This type of score would have catapulted her career into the stratosphere.”

He stared at her for a moment, pulled out his cell and speed-dialed Dyer.

“You catch up with her?” Dyer said by way of greeting.

“Everything’s cool. She killed Valquis.”

“No shit. Really? How’s she holding up?”

“Time will tell. I need you to assemble the team and send them to Londano’s house in San Diego.”

“He doesn’t have a house anymore.”

“His former place. The one the Feds confiscated. Celina thinks he may have holed up there.”

“Nah. Lana had it under surveillance. We would have known if he tried to move back in. He’s still in Mexico.”

“Like Val was? I’m looking at Val’s dead body right now. Everything points to Emilio being here too.”

“Put an extra round in Val for me. Make sure he’s good and dead.”

Celina was quiet, staring at the cops administering basic emergency care to Lana and Quarters. Her eyes were flat, her arms crossed tightly over her chest as if holding herself together.

“Lana was running her own game behind the scenes,” he told Dyer. “Which may have involved cutting deals with Emilio and Valquis. Celina and I are heading to the house now. Send the rest of the team.”

“The team is off to Mexico, remember? I’m all you’ve got.”

Damn. He’d forgotten about the manhunt. The wild goose chase. It had been one damn good distraction after all. “Lana sent everyone to Mexico while she stayed here to capture Valquis and Emilio.” He shook his head. “Damn woman. I knew she was ambitious, but this takes the cake.”

“I’ll call Dupé. Some of his other agents can meet you at Londano’s.”

“No. No FBI. I don’t know who we can trust at this point. Sounds like Lana was working alone, but we still may have a leak in the ranks. Word goes out we know where Londano’s hiding, and he’s in the wind again.”

“If he’s even there.”

“Yeah,
if
. It’s our best lead, though.”

“You shouldn’t go alone.”

“We’ll recon the place to start. I see anything suspicious, I’ll call Kipfer or Dupé.”

“I don’t like it.”

Seemed like they were both saying that a lot these days.

He didn’t like it either. Taking Celina to Londano’s was poor protocol. Not calling for backup was as asinine as Lana cutting a deal with Valquis. The whole situation went against his training and experience, but what choice did he have? He needed to follow Celina’s instincts. She hadn’t been wrong yet. “I’ll check in as soon as I have something to report.”

He disconnected and climbed on the bike, ignoring the shouts from the lead police officer. “Hold on,” he told her over the noise as he gunned the engine.

Her arms went around his waist. For the first time in a long while, breaking protocol felt right. Like it had in Des Moines. In fact, nothing in his world felt more right at that moment than her hands wrapped securely around him as she sat on the back of his bike.

Leaving the scene in a hail of dust, he took off for San Diego.

Chapter Thirty-eight

“How many fingers am I holding up?” Cooper yelled at her over the roar of the motorcycle as they zoomed down the freeway.

Celina leaned her head against his strong back. “Two, and I’m fine.”

Her ribs hurt. Her head throbbed. The vibration of the bike echoed loudly in her ears.

But it also soothed her tired body. Or maybe it was Cooper’s presence. Even though they flew through the Southern California afternoon at eighty miles an hour, weaving around traffic and heading for the one place she was scared to go, he was a rock to hold onto. The one solid thing in her life.

Tucking in even closer, she closed her eyes and held on tight.

The drive that should have taken them an hour only took forty minutes. Cooper parked the bike at the bottom of the hill where Emilio’s estate loomed over them. He took out binoculars and scanned the area.

Emilio’s house, an elegant gated Spanish number, had an elevated view of Coastal San Diego. Over seven thousand square feet with five bedrooms, six baths, a theatre, and wine cellar, it also contained an underground firing range and weapons room.

Although the house had sat empty for the past year, from what Celina could see, the grounds had been cared for, groomed. The house didn’t have the distinctive air of abandonment.

She shivered. A storm was moving in from the west, darkening the ocean. The temperature had dropped and a gusty wind teased her hair. “Anything?” she said, rubbing her arms.

“Nada. If he
is
here, he’s laying low.”

No surprise. If Emilio was hiding, he wouldn’t exactly be flaunting it. “We need to get closer.”

“I’ll take a walk around the perimeter. You stay here.”

“There are a dozen or more security cameras. He’ll see you.”

Cooper handed her the binoculars. “I know where they are. I’ll avoid them.”

She started to argue, saw the set of his jaw and knew it would be pointless. “I can’t just stand here and do nothing.”

He patted her shoulder. “You’re the backup this round, rookie. You see anything funny, call it in. Otherwise, stay out of sight in case Londano is hanging around.” He handed her his weapon—hers had been confiscated at the crime scene with Valquis. “Shoot first, ask questions later.”

“I’m shocked you’d consider leaving me alone.”

“Val was our biggest threat and you handled him like a pro.”

There was more to it than that. She could see it in his eyes. “And you don’t believe Emilio is here.”

He looked away without answering. The argument burning her tongue came out, but before she could say anything, Cooper grabbed her and drew her to him. His lips shut off her complaint with firm, warm kisses.

She melted against his strong body. The kiss deepened, wet and hot. She no longer felt any pain, had no fear of the coming moments. All she could feel was Cooper’s powerful hands holding her up, his warm, urgent lips caressing hers.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured against her lips. “About this morning. About everything.”

“Shh,” she murmured back. “We’re together now. After we nail this guy, you’ll have years and years to make this up to me.”

“Years, huh?”

“Decades.”

“You’re going to put up with me for decades?”

“That’s what you do when you love someone.”

Love. It scared him. She could see it in his eyes. But she wasn’t letting him off the hook. “Just admit it. You love me too.”

The fear left his eyes. He chuckled. “You ever do anything half-assed?”

“No, and neither do you, remember? So stop finding excuses not to be with me, and accept the fact I’m sticking around, Beast.”

He kissed her again, and held her tight for long moments, trailing his hands up her spine, down to cup her ass, pulling her into his groin where a serious erection had grown.

Celina chuckled. “My, my, you’re breaking a lot of rules today, Agent Harris.”

“Yes, I am.” He cupped one of her breasts through her shirt. “And it’s all your fault.”

“I’m a bad influence?”

“The baddest. But if we don’t nail Londano, all this rule-breaking will be for nothing.”

In other words, they had a job to do. So even though they wanted to continue their make-out session, it would have to wait.

Celina wished they had comm units to keep in touch. She waved her phone in front of him. “Text me every few minutes, okay?”

He nodded, and with one final kiss, he slunk off into some overgrown shrubbery ringing the gated estate.

Celina sighed and watched him go. Then she tucked herself out of sight from the road and the house. Her head felt better, although the lump Val had given her courtesy of his gun was sensitive to the touch. Her ribs were the same. Maybe it was the adrenaline pumping through her body from Cooper’s kisses, but all in all, she felt stronger, ready for what was about to happen.

Cooper may not believe Emilio’s here, but I do.

As the minutes wore on, the adrenaline faded. Restlessness set in. No word came from Cooper and anxiety flooded her system. She didn’t hear any sounds from the house or the grounds, but it was a huge place that had sat empty for a long time. Maybe Cooper was right and it still was empty.

She got up, paced, snatched up the binoculars, and scanned what she could see of the area. Nothing moved except palm trees blowing in the wind.

Another five minute passed. Fumbling with her phone, she texted Cooper.

No reply.

Fumbling with it some more, she managed to call Bobby. “Cooper’s gone to reconnoiter the place, but he hasn’t checked in for twenty minutes. I haven’t heard any shouts or gunfire, but I’m worried. If no one was here, why isn’t he back?”

Bobby said some curse words under his breath. “I’m calling in backup.”

“What should I do?”

“Sit tight.”

He hung up.

Sit tight? Hell with that. Just because she hadn’t heard sounds of a struggle or fight didn’t mean Cooper wasn’t lying in a pool of blood or knocked unconscious.

Lightning flashed over the water, the storm moved closer. Thunder boomed, its echo ringing down the hill. She tried Cooper’s phone again, calling this time. The call went directly to voice mail.