Heated Pursuit (Alpha Security #1)(12)
“Or maybe she’s f*cking with us because Ortega was getting too friendly with the locals,” Trey jived.
How the hell could this woman disappear? On his watch?
Rafe’s bird’s-eye view from a rickety fire escape let him overlook the alley across the street. To his left, a stray dog barreled after paper garbage that skidded across the wet ground, and just inside the mouth of the alley, a young couple battled it out with a lot of pissed-off body language.
Rafe half wished the dipshit boyfriend would do something stupid so he could pound out a few aggravations, because while on an op, there was no other pleasurable way to relieve stress. It’s not like they could run down the street and hit the weight machine at the local gym, and sex was f*cking out of the running. Mixing business with pleasure ensured a mission went straight to hell. Fast.
A three-month station. Five men. And a shit ton of testosterone. Rafe and the team probably had enough morning driftwood on any given morning to build themselves a f*cking yacht.
About to suggest resetting shop closer to the safe house, Rafe saw the lowlife across the street give his girlfriend a hard shove. The echoing crack of her head hitting brick made him wince. Getting involved in San Pedro Sula’s daily grind wasn’t the reason Alpha Security was there, but sometimes interventions couldn’t be helped—like dealing with run-of-the-mill *s.
Rafe shifted to make his move when the familiar click-clack of heels echoed on the deserted street. His body stiffened as Penny, still dressed head to toe in the painted-on leather number, rounded the corner. Her gait slowed as she observed the quarreling couple.
“Keep it moving, sweetheart,” Rafe murmured under his breath, wishing he could keep her walking by will alone. Prepped to move in case his will wasn’t enough, he announced into the mic, “I got her, but she’s about to poke her nose where it doesn’t belong. Corner of Del Sol and Ramones.”
Penny changed directions, headed straight toward the abusive bastard.
“Fuck! She’s on the move. We gotta get down there. Now.”
Rafe half skidded, half flew down the fire escape. “I’m going to have to go in hot. ETAs?”
“Logan and I are nowhere close.” A slam of a car door announced Trey had left the surveillance van. “Stone? Chase?”
“I’m on the move, but there’s no way I’m making it first,” Stone announced.
“Me neither.” Chase could be heard cursing out a taxi that decided to play chicken with him as he crossed the street. “Rafe?”
“Almost there.” Rafe’s feet barely touched the ground with his mad dash. His eyes locked on the petite form more than twenty-five yards away, and he narrowed both his vision and his thoughts to one thing.
Getting to Penny.
*
The second Penny turned the corner, the hair on her arms stood on end. She saw the man first. He was pressed and primped, an aura of self-importance radiating off his immaculately trimmed hair and high-end shoes. His clothes hugged a tall, rangy build too perfectly for them to be anything but tailor-made, and on his wrist, a gold watch glittered beneath the barely working lamppost.
For this side of the city, his dress alone rose her internal alert system…and then his body shifted and she caught a glimpse of the young woman.
One eye nearly swollen shut, the brunette gasped, eyes frantically searching for a means of escape despite the fact the man had one hand curled around her throat.
To the bar and back—Penny’s plan to return to the safe house was first dodged when she’d had to bypass some kind of drug bust, and then again by a growing group of questionable loiters. Somehow she’d miraculously found herself back on the main road…and now this.
Penny mentally cursed the fact that there hadn’t been anywhere to stash a weapon in Maria’s outfit.
“Did you hear what I f*cking said?” The tall man backhanded the brunette so hard Penny’s teeth ached in sympathy.
She couldn’t walk by and do nothing, and there wasn’t time to trace her steps back to the bar. If anything, she could distract the jerk from doing further damage until either one of the guys happened to swagger by or someone with a phone and a direct line to the police crossed her path.
“Do you know where I can find a taxi?” The Spanish rolled off Penny’s lips effortlessly.
“Back off, bitch,” the man snarled without looking in her direction.
She cocked her hip, slightly insulted he’d dismissed her as a nonthreat without a single glance. Still determined, she pulled her bail enforcement skills to the surface and forced a smile into place, becoming the bar-hopping annoyance this man expected.
She stepped forward as he raised his hand to gift the young woman another punch. “I think I’m lost. Maybe you can help me find my way home.”
“Leave before I realize two of you means double the fun.”
The man’s head whipped in her direction. His dark, impenetrable stare drilled through her armor and snaked a sliver of fear up her spine. There was no emotion on his face except wild, raw, and nearly unrestrained rage—and now she had both his attention and the attention of the cowering woman against the wall.
“Please,” the young woman rasped, begging for Penny’s help. “Help me.”
With a growl, the man released his hold on the woman and swung in Penny’s direction. She ducked, the momentum of his botched punch sending him into a sideways swagger. It didn’t take long for him to regain his balance and come at her again, this time with a small glint of metal in his right hand.