Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Javier pulled into the parking lot of the deserted beach. It was two in the morning. Not a fucker was around, which was why he chose this time and place for the phone call. He didn’t care if the time was inconvenient for the other party.

The phone on the center console vibrated as he switched the engine off. He picked it up and connected the call.

“How are you?” his contact asked.

“Been better. Shit’s turning real,” Javier said.

“On this end, too.”

He sat a little straighter. “What do you mean?”

“Red Feather has cracked the file. She knows.”

Javier cursed but also wasn’t surprised. Red Feather’s computer skills were legendary. Not to mention her tenacity. He’d seen it firsthand when she’d been a child and had had everything ripped away from her.

He was surprised she’d been released by the CIA as easily as she had. The fact she’d fallen in with a group that turned out to be equally protective of her was good fortune.

Alliez Security hadn’t been on anyone’s radar, but they’d turned out to be more impressive than many of the other security firms in California. It’d just been in the last twelve months that their presence and abilities had become more apparent to him.

“Ramirez is upping the action. He’s had enough. He told me that he’s getting her back. Returning her to the family where she belongs.”

His contact cursed. “Shit just got messier.”

“True, but would it have been any easier if Red Feather didn’t know the truth? Didn’t know who she really was.”

“In some respect, I think it would be. But the horse has bolted, and we need to chase it down and corral it.”

Javier laughed harshly. “Good luck with that.”

“I know. She doesn’t know what they did to her. There’s no record of it,” his contact finished quietly.

He didn’t want to know what they’d done to a child, but he’d been around long enough to be familiar with questionable methods, and not knowing was for the better. “There’s always someone who will talk.”

“Maybe, but as far as I know, most are retired now or have moved on.”

As if that would stop Red Feather from finding what she wanted. If anyone could find the locations of the people involved, it would be her.

After all, she’d found her two friends that had been kidnapped, the ones he’d saved.

“What’s our next move?” Javier asked, but he was really ready to be done.

“We wait.”

He’d been afraid of that. “Not helpful.”

His contact sighed. “I know. Do you know what Ramirez has planned?”

“No not yet. He hasn’t said anything. There are things that he does that I’m not always privy to, even with my position in the organization.”

“You’ll let me know when you do?”

“I’ll make contact, yes. I hope you’ll do the same for me as well.”

“Red Feather is covered, you know that, but if there’s anything you need to know, then I will make sure to let you know.”

Well, that wasn’t the assurance Javier wanted, but he’d have to deal with whatever crumbs he was handed. Some days it felt like this was going to be his life now. He’d done things he never thought he’d do, and he did it all without blinking and with only a twinge of his conscience.

“Appreciate it.” Fatigue washed over Javier and all he wanted to do was sleep for days, but that wasn’t likely.

“Before you go, Alliez is aware of you.”

His blood cooled a little. “What?”

“They know we’ve got a man under. They don’t know it’s you, but they’re aware of your existence.”

“Right.”

Anyone who knew who he really was could compromise everything he’d endured over the last eight years.

Eight fucking long years he’d been living this life.

“You can trust them.”

“I know,” Javier said. He knew he could, he’d done some discrete investigations. They were all former special forces soldiers. They’d all worked special assignments. Hell, he’d even had close contact with one of the guys, although he tried not to think about what he’d done all in the name of keeping who he was believable.

When the truth came out, if it ever did because he may not survive at the end of this assignment, and if he did live to make contact, those people were going to hate him.

Maybe it would be better if he died in the battle that was looming because there was no way it wasn’t going to end in bloodshed.