Beneath the Secrets Part 3(3)

“Why would you be desperate?”

“It isn’t just me on the line here, Blake. You have no idea how much trust I really am putting in you to tell you this.”

“So you’re not alone?”

“I am. I’m alone.” More than she ever had been in her life. “It’s…my sister disappeared two months ago. Officials came up clueless and while they promised they were still trying, it wasn’t enough for me.”

“And your investigation brought you here,” he supplied.

She gave a nod. “She came here for a job as a merchandiser for a large retailer, but it was eliminated when she arrived. The last I heard from her, she was waitressing and trying to find something better. Then…she just went silent.”

Understanding registered in his face and he released her hands, settling his weight on his elbows on either side of her. “And she was working for one of the cartel’s restaurants.”

“Yes.” She hesitated and then let her hands settle on the warm wall of his chest and somehow the connection made her feel safer. “She worked at the one we were at tonight, but of course, the company files have no record she ever existed. And she’d started dating a man who fits Ignacio’s description.” Fear for her sister burned in her belly. “The landlord at her apartment said he’d never heard of her. I know where she was living. I talked to her every day until she disappeared.”

“If the cartel is looking for women they can wipe off the map, her connection to you would rule her out. She doesn’t fit the profile.”

“She has no connection to me on record. My father was FBI. Years ago he penetrated a motorcycle club, and they came after him, and our family. The FBI split us up and created new identities for both me and my sister. We didn’t find each other again until I used my resources to make it happen.”

“Why did your father let them split you up in the first place?”

She glanced down. “He’s dead.” Bitterness twisted inside her and she forced her gaze to his. “Our parents didn’t survive the attack.” Rushing past her confession before he offered sympathy that never helped, she quickly added, “I know my sister got involved with Ignacio. I’m just praying she’s still alive.”

Several beats passed, his expression impossible to read—until, abruptly, he moved, sitting up and giving her his back. Kara pushed to a sitting position, unsure what to think, watching him scrub a hand over his face before he stood up and whirled on her with a challenge. “And you thought you’d just walk into the cartel and find your sister yourself?” he demanded, his hands settling on his hips. “Are you insane, Kara? We’re talking about one of the largest, most dangerous cartels in the world.”

She scooted to the end of the bed and curled her fingers into the mattress. “This is my sister, Blake. This isn’t about the cartel. This is about her. She’s all I have.” Her voice cracked. She hated how weak it made her seem. “I don’t know if you have siblings. I don’t know how important they are, but—”

“Two brothers,” he surprised her by sharing. “And yes. I’d die for either or both of them but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you die for yours. What was the purpose of drugging me in Denver?”

Kara blinked at the sudden turn of subject, but she rolled with the punches, too deep into this to turn back now. “I wanted the documentation you were handing over to the cartel.”

“Why?”

“I never worked for the Denver operation. I knew about the meeting through Mendez and I knew high-level officials would be in the reports. I thought some of them might be tied to the missing women in some way. And I’m not stupid enough to think I could do this all on my own, by the way. That list had powerful names on it. If I can tie one of them to the sex-slave operation, even slip it to the press, then I can convince my superiors to take action.”

He glared at her, fury pouring from his eyes. “I could have killed you, Kara. If I was anyone else, I would have killed you. You’re over your head and headed to the bottom of the bay with concrete blocks on your feet. If you think I’m going to let that happen, think again.”

She should have been comforted by his protectiveness. She wasn’t. Not when she was confident he meant to interfere in all the wrong ways in her investigation. “I’m going to find my sister.”

“I’m going to find your sister,” he corrected. “But right now, I’m going outside to make a call. Don’t even think about trying to leave. I’ll be by the door.” He pushed to his feet and headed across the room and down the stairs.

Kara was on her feet in two seconds flat, running for the kitchen and opening a cabinet, pulling a gun out of a box of cereal and then running for the window, hoping she could hear his call. Praying he wasn’t going to call Ignacio or Mendez. Praying she’d been right to trust him.

Cracking the window open, she squatted down and listened, letting the heavy weight of her weapon be her security blanket. When Blake returned, she was going to be ready for him.

***

Kara had too much in common with Whitney, and Whitney was dead. He wasn’t letting Kara end up that way too.

Fighting a bloody flashback of the night Whitney had died, Blake walked down the stairs of Kara’s apartment with every nerve ending in his body jumping. That night, that damnable night, when Whitney had been undercover inside the cartel, lived deep in his soul, a rabid animal clawing away at him, slowing ripping him to pieces. And now Kara was inside the cartel, just as Whitney had been, too close to a man who would slit her throat and forget her before the blade ever left her skin. She was too close to dead, too easily stolen away. It shouldn’t matter. He shouldn’t care, but he did. This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to give a damn about anything but killing Alvarez.