“Damn it.” Simon touched his earpiece. “Yes, I’m ready.” He turned to Jesse. “I’m going to start the engine. You be ready to shut the doors and hop in. We’re leaving ASAP.”
Shit. There was only one real reason for that. Moving too fast could bring unwanted attention. “Who called the cops?”
Simon moved to the driver’s side door. “Apparently your girl has everyone in the hotel thinking she and Jake are having a domestic dispute. Several of the guests have called the police and security is looking for them, but the security cameras are all down so they’re having to do a floor by floor search.”
“Do they have the package?” He couldn’t believe he was calling Phoebe “the package,” but he’d been emotional enough today. Now it was time to go cold.
She’d betrayed them all. He had to view her as the enemy. That was good. Enemy combatant. That’s what she was and nothing more. She was just one more bad guy in a long line of them.
“Yes. They’ll be here any second. Be ready.” Simon slipped into the driver’s seat and Jesse heard the engine come on. All around him people bustled, going about their lives and jobs. Dallas was a busy city and this was one of the busiest streets for pedestrian traffic, yet almost no one looked up at him. Even the valet stood at his station, staring down at his phone. The van was a defense in and of itself. It was nondescript and looked like a service vehicle, so no one tended to notice.
Rather like him. He was a grunt and no one noticed him except Phoebe.
Oh, he could find a woman for the evening. That wasn’t a problem. There were plenty of pretty subs at Sanctum who would have sex with him, but he thought Phoebe had really seen him.
The doors to the hotel lobby opened and Big Tag strode out with Jake Dean at his side. Jake had his head down, his eyes covered in a pair of mirrored aviators and his right arm cradled against his chest. They walked past the valet, who looked up briefly and then got back to checking his e-mail or texting his girlfriend or whatever the hell he was doing.
“Your girl seriously fucked up my arm and I’m pissed. This is my fucking dominant hand,” Jake complained under his breath.
Tag chuckled. “He’s gotten soft in his old age.”
“I still got this one, Tag.” He used his left hand to shoot Tag the finger before climbing into the passenger seat.
“Where is she?” The question was out of his mouth before he could stop it.
“Adam and Alex are bringing her out,” Tag said quietly as he looked up at the buildings around them. “Why don’t you get into the van?”
He didn’t want to get in the van. He wanted answers. “Who is she working for?”
“I don’t know. I do know that if you don’t get in the fucking van, you won’t be working for me. There they are. Move it. She said there could be a secondary,” Tag growled.
The service doors opened and Adam walked out followed by Alex, who was pushing a large laundry bin.
Phoebe was in that bin. God, if she was in that bin and it wasn’t moving then they’d knocked her out or drugged her.
A secondary? Shit. She said there had been a secondary sniper and he might still be around. Someone was serious about wanting him gone.
He let that knowledge settle in his mind.
Jesse moved to the back of the van and got in. Alex pushed the bin to the van and tilted it forward.
There was Phoebe, her body completely slack. There was a black wig on her head. It was short and curled at her jawline. She’d put some makeup on, and for a second he thought maybe they’d gotten the wrong woman. She looked so different from the Phoebe whose hand he held. She had dark hair, but it was threaded through with reds and golds and there was so much of it. She usually put it in a ponytail or a bun, but when she let it loose it seemed to go everywhere. She certainly wasn’t this polished, professional-looking woman.
“Jesse, we’ve got incoming,” Tag reminded him.
The cops. He could hear the wail of sirens in the background now. He reached in and grabbed her, hauling her into the van. Tag reached down again and came up with what looked like a suitcase and Phoebe’s purse. The gun was likely in that case. They wouldn’t leave evidence behind.
Tag, Alex, and Adam were in the back of the van in a heartbeat, abandoning the bin to the street. The minute the doors were closed, Simon took off.
And he was left holding the woman who had tried to assassinate him.
“Adam?” Ian asked.
Adam needed no prompting. He opened his laptop and looked up with a smirk. “We’re good. I took out all the hotel’s CCTV cameras. Luckily Dallas is behind the times on security cams. No one is going to pick us up on a camera. They’ll have to go off eyewitnesses and since no one was actually hurt, they’ll dump it the minute something more exciting comes along. I’ve already texted Derek. He’ll handle it.”
There was a moment of silence before Ian turned to Jesse.