Seducing Texas (So not Prince Charming #2)(67)

Aedan brings Willa home, and Fay drives up in her Mercedes with Tanner. What is she doing here?

Willa rushes into the house and hugs me. “We’ll find him. I know we will.”

Dead, I think while my axis tilts sideways, letting me slip off the earth. I want to sit down and bawl. If there’s the slightest possibility he’s alive, I have to go to him, even if it could be our last. He came back for me in Alaska, and he didn’t have to. I would be dead without him.

Fay rushes into the house, her face pinched with concern. “I got here as quickly as I could.”

“What are you doing here?” I ask Fay. What could she possibly do? She can’t even hold a gun right, but Tanner can. He showed a lot of patience teaching her.

Fear strains her face. “Willa called me. Hell, I’ve always liked Shane, and I couldn’t let my family go after him without me. I told you to marry him instead of Waits. I always liked Shane.”

You always wanted to get into his pants, I think, smirking.

I need to put everything behind me. I need her, and she’s here to help. “Thank you.”

Tanner walks into the house and puts his arm around her. He kisses her cheek and draws her into him. “And I couldn’t let my future wife go without me.”

“What?” Willa says, smiling. “That’s great.”

“I don’t know where Shane is,” I say, my heart plummeting.

“Juarez might know,” Willa says.

I should’ve thought of that, but my mind is muddled with horrible thoughts and images of Shane lying in a puddle of blood instead of Lindsey. When I catch up to Tang, I will kill him myself.

My fingers shakily call Espinoza, and shortly after I end the call, my phone rings from an unlisted number. “Senorita Diaz,” Juarez’s smooth voice comes across the line. I didn’t think I’d ever speak to him again.

I explain what I know before Juarez speaks again. “The Chinese have lost almost a half billion in the last week, which I believe is the amount they stole from Senor O’ Flannery.”

“Yes.” Shane said he only got 150 mil back.

“The Chinese owe a significant amount of money to their suppliers, and they are not happy that they can’t be paid. The Chinese will keep him alive until the funds are returned. You have to get to him before that.”

Don’t I know it.

Shane can’t return the money. He paid the IRS with most of what he had. “Do you know where they’d take him?”

“The heroin shipment was supposed to arrive to their warehouse today in Port Lavaca. I would imagine the Chinese will take him there because they have to meet their suppliers and pay them.”

That’s a hundred miles away, and what if we’re wrong. “It’ll take us a couple hours to get there. What if he’s not there?” Shane could’ve flown us there. What if they’re flying? Panic rips into my chest, making it hard to breathe.

“Thank you,” I say, my hopes of saving him circling down the drain.

“Don’t worry, senorita. I will have your back.”

I wonder what he means by that, but he ends the call.

“Juarez thinks Shane’s being held in Port Lavaca at a warehouse where their shipments arrive,” I say. I don’t have the money to charter a chopper and hire a pilot. I feel helpless and sick.

“That’s two hours away,” Willa says, her face crumpling in the hopelessness I feel.

“My chopper will fit us all, and we can land close to the docks,” Tanner says. The resume sheet said he had money, but I had no idea.

“What about guns?” We can’t go there empty-handed. “How will we get them past security?” I shouldn’t be negative, but the more time we take the less likely we’ll find Shane alive.

“We’ll fly out of a private airport, no security,” he says, his arm securing Fay in an embrace. “We drive right up to the chopper. We can leave now, and I’ll fly.

I hug Fay. “You did good.”

“Don’t I know it,” she says, returning my hug.

“May I ask why we aren’t calling the police?” Tanner asks.

“Shane called the feds,” I say. “He’s been working with them. They’re at his condo investigating the murder of his ex-girlfriend. What if Juarez is wrong, and Wong is still in Austin?” I have no idea if we’re making the right decision. It seems like Wong would have to meet his suppliers if he’s screwed up with them.

“I’m familiar with the warehouses in Lavaca,” Aedan says. “We shot a news special on Wong’s interests and businesses that employ Americans.”

“That’s good,” I say. “We don’t know what we’re getting into, and I don’t know how many men will be there. If the suppliers are there, then that’ll be double whoever Wong has hired. I don’t like asking you all to come with me when we may not return.”

“I’d do anything for my lady love and her family,” Tanner says in a strong southern drawl. He’s a good ole boy, and we need him.

“Let’s get there and see what we’re dealing with and then we’ll call Agent Timmons,” I say. If he’s not there I don’t know what I’ll do. How will I find Shane?