Luke: Armed and Dangerous (27 page)

“I rather liked you in that position.” Butler aimed her gun at Trinity’s temple. “Make
another move without my permission and you’ll be one dead little slut.”

Forcing his arms to relax around Trinity, Luke said, “Let Trinity grab her clothes
and leave. Whatever you’ve got going on, this isn’t about her.”

“Oh, sure. Like that’s going to happen.” The woman grinned, and she actually looked
like she was having a little fun.

Egotistical bitch thought this was all a game. Well, he sure as hell could use that
to his advantage.

Butler’s gaze lingered for a moment on his cock and her tongue flicked against her
lower lip. “Nice firearm you’ve got there.” Her cold gray eyes moved to Trinity. “What
a waste, firing your bullets in that hole.”

Luke ground his teeth as he clenched Trinity’s arm tighter and felt her tremble beneath
his hand. He didn’t know whether it was from cold, embarrassment, or anger, but figured
it was probably a little of everything.

“Toss me your weapon.” Butler turned her gun on Luke. “The one you keep under your
duster. And you know how it works... nice and slow, cowboy.”

Luke released Trinity and started to ease his right hand toward his back.

“Uh-uh.” Butler shook her head. “I’ve seen you shoot at the firing range, too, and
I know you’re right handed.” She indicated Trinity with a nod. “Hold on to the slut’s
arm with your shooting hand, where I can see it. Use your left to bring out the gun.”

Luke tensed at her continued insults to Trinity, but obliged and gripped Trinity’s
arm with his right hand. He could feel her shaking even harder, and sensed her fear
and confusion.

Very slowly he moved his left hand beneath his duster. Course, he was just as deadly
a shot with his left as his right, but he wasn’t about to take a chance with Trinity’s
life. He’d have to find another way to deal with this bitch.

Sorry again, Ralston, but I’m afraid you read this one ass-backward. We all did.

Butler pointed her gun toward Trinity’s head again. “You know she’s dead if you make
me the tiniest bit suspicious.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said as he slid one finger along the cell phone in his
holster and pressed button number one, hoping like hell the cave didn’t block the
signal... all in the same motion it took to move his hand to the butt of his gun.

Keeping his movements as slow as possible, Luke brought out the gun and held it up
where the woman could see it, barrel pointing down.

Butler indicated the cave opening with a jerk of her head. “Throw it all the way up
there.”

Luke tossed his weapon.

It clattered, spun, and came to an abrupt stop at the boulder that guarded the entrance.

Her eyes never left his. “How does it feel to be left alone and defenseless with your
cock hanging out, Agent Denver?”

She stared between his legs again.

God damn it. How far would she take this?

Trinity gasped as she stared at Joyce, unable to believe what the woman had just said.
“Agent Denver?” she repeated as she looked to Luke and almost reflexively started
to step away from him.

“Don’t move,” he commanded her, tightening his grip on her arm.

Butler giggled and propped one hand on her hip, her nails bright red against her jeans
and her pale gray eyes filled with mirth. “Sorry to spoil those feelings of love,
sugar.” She gestured at Luke with her gun. “Your sweet innocent cowboy isn’t what
he seems to be at all.”

Trinity had felt cold and vulnerable as she’d stood there in only her socks and looking
down the barrel of the gun. But now the slow heat of anger and confusion crept through
her, melting away the frost.

She couldn’t for a moment believe that Luke had kept something that major from her.

“You’re lying.” Trinity clenched her fists as she glared at Joyce.

“Go on.” Joyce smiled at Luke and gave an encouraging nod. “Tell her that you’re DEA,
undercover. That you hired on to the Flying M to investigate Skylar, among other things.”

Trinity’s gaze shot to meet his. “Luke?” she whispered, feeling like she was caught
up in the middle of a kaleidoscope. Her whole world seemed to turn upside down and
every which way with only a few words, and nothing was what she thought it was. “Are
you—is this... true?”

The grip he had on her upper arm lessened and he rubbed his thumb along the soft flesh
of her inner elbow, as though to comfort her. “I am with the DEA, and yes, your sister
was part of the initial investigation, but—”

She jerked her arm away.

“Be still,” Joyce shouted, her voice echoing throughout the cave. “Time to get you
two down to where the action is. You’re both going to be my saving grace, so to speak.
Wayland and Hunter are far too close, just like you, Denver. Hell, even Noah’s got
pieces of this puzzle, and he’s trying to put them together. I need a smoke screen
fast, so thanks for coming way up here. I figured it would be Skylar and Zack—seen
them up here at least once a week. That’s who I was waiting for, but it’s no big deal.
I can still solve a bunch of problems at once with you two.”

Luke gave Trinity a measured look, as though that was meant to clear up everything
he’d neglected to mention.

Like his real name.

Like his real job.

If there wasn’t a gun trained on them right now, she’d have socked him in the gut,
like she’d done in the barn when he scared her during her workout. This time she’d
make sure it would hurt like hell.

Luke turned away from Trinity, every possible scenario running through his mind as
he fixed his gaze on Joyce. “Let’s see... Trinity and I are going to have a lover’s
quarrel. I’ll have supposedly shot her with my weapon and then turned my gun on myself.
That’ll keep everybody stirred up and distracted while you shut down this pipeline
and move your operation elsewhere.”

Joyce’s lips tightened and her smile seemed forced. “My, what a smart agent you are.”

A muscle twitched along his jaw line. “Not very original, Butler.”

“Whatever.” The woman gave a bored look and braced her shooting arm with her opposite
hand. Looked like she might be tiring a bit. “With the extra groundwork I’ve laid
storing my stock in this cave’s back chamber and running three sizeable tunnels under
the Flying M—well, that gives me some advantages, too. It’ll be a big help when the
feds think they’ve found the pipeline and the bitch who’s been helping Guerrero. I
can make my ‘escape,’ and nobody will be bothering to investigate me anytime soon.”

“You’re gonna try to make it look like Skylar was letting Guerrero run his drug operation
off the Flying M all along,” Luke said like it was cold fact. “Then you’ll quietly
wait until everything dies down, and help him open up shop again.”

Smile broadening, Joyce replied, “Something like that.”

“Your family has money and major political connections.” Luke narrowed his gaze. “Why
the hell are you helping a psychopath like Guerrero?”

“I’m not helping him, you stupid fuck.” Joyce rolled her eyes, but then focused on
Luke in a flash. “I’m carving out his territory.”

A new coldness swept through Luke as he finally got a grasp of the full measure of
Butler’s insanity. “You’ve hooked up with another cartel to compete with Guerrero.”

“Had to do something when the market crashed. My daddy’s campaigns need a lot of money.”

“Does he know about this?” Luke had to fight not to charge toward Joyce Butler, grab
hold of her, and shake the shit out of her. “Does your father have one clue what you’re
doing to his good name?”

“Leave my father out of this.” Her face darkened, and Luke knew he’d struck a nerve.

He took advantage of her distracted anger and stuffed his cock back in his jeans and
zipped them up as he spoke. He knew now she wasn’t planning to shoot them until she
got them out of the cave, and probably near the entrance to one of her tunnels. Luke
would be too big a body to drag far, and she couldn’t afford an evidence trail that
close to the cave. Not until she found other options to stash her stock, and got some
new tunnels built. Besides, her plan would lose its impact if his body and Trinity’s
didn’t point the way toward the tunnels Butler wanted law enforcement to find.

“You think killing us will keep Guerrero off your ass?” Luke risked prodding the woman,
looking for any other opening he could find. “He’s probably got an army out looking
for you now. He’s already trashed your house.”

Anger turned Joyce’s face an odd shade of purple. “I’m not some pussy he can scare
off by painting puta on a smashed wall and breaking a bunch of glass. I’ve made this
operation bigger than he ever dreamed. Hell, my men are smuggling double the drugs
his boys are bringing out of Mexico. That’s why he’s buying up property like crazy,
looking for any advantage to up his transport and production.”

Luke fastened his belt and dropped his hands to his sides. “He’ll kill you. That’s
what Guerrero does.”

“We’ll see. If he moves on me after I implicate Skylar MacKenna, he’ll just be tipping
his own hand.” Joyce’s eyes regained some of their focus, and her grip on her pistol
tightened. “I think he’ll spend his time planting evidence to implicate rival cartels,
distancing himself from the tunnels, and chasing after my UDA mules. Francisco Guerrero
is all about appearances. It’s his weakness—and by the time he gets back down to business,
I’ll have most of the border property in this area sewn up. He’ll have to pack up
shop and move on down the road.”

Trinity folded her arms across her naked breasts and stared at Butler, an incredulous
look on her face. “How do you intend to pin your drug smuggling on Skylar?”

“Well, you see...” Joyce’s expression was like a wicked little girl who always got
her way. “Skylar MacKenna will be getting an urgent message from her kid sister to
meet her right away. Near the tunnels, of course.” Sighing, as though with great pleasure,
Joyce continued, “Your sister will find both of your very dead bodies about the same
time the sheriff’s department arrives to investigate an anonymous tip.”

Trinity’s thoughts spun and she hugged herself tighter, her body shivering as she
grew even more numb from the cold. “So you were the one who sent the postcard,” she
said, her voice harsh. “But not to get revenge for your ex-lover Woods getting caught
rustling cattle for Guerrero. To make it look like my sister had pissed off her drug-running
partners?”

“Good job, Meaty. I’m impressed.” The woman’s giggle was really getting annoying.
But for once the nickname didn’t. Joyce’s voice was almost sing song as she went on.
“The fire—now that was just for kicks. I’d hoped to cook a few of those horses and
that damned prize bull, but oh well. It was fun enough to watch all of you run around
screaming and moaning. I sent Skylar another postcard about that, from her drug buddies,
telling her the next time it’ll be her house.”

Trinity had no idea what to say to this psychotic bitch, but she didn’t have to talk,
because Joyce was filling up all the air space.

“So, Sheriff Wayland will find not only bodies, but threats from Skylar’s gang, plenty
of drug residue in this cave, the tunnels—and in one of those tunnels, meticulous
records that show Skylar’s been running this operation for the past two years.”

“They’ll never buy it,” Luke said. “You’re wasting your time.”

“I’ve bought the best forgery in the country. So good, in fact, that Skylar MacKenna
will be locked away for a very long time.” Joyce stuck out her lower lip and shook
her head. “Sad, really. Grieving in jail for her dead sister, and for her husband
who will have lost his life in the line of duty, not long after. And that leaves another
border ranch open, and I’ll beat Guerrero to it when it hits the auction block. If
I can’t run him out of town outright, I’ll shut off all his access points, one way
or another.

“Bitch,” Trinity said with such venom that she was sure she was going to sprout fangs.

Joyce eyed Trinity’s naked form and smirked. “Amazing. From such a fat cow to a skinny
slut. What did you do, have head-to-toe lipo?”

Luke forced himself to remain calm and to keep from reacting to Butler’s barbed tongue.
His heart twisted as he saw how blue Trinity’s lips had become, and the red blotches
on her skin. “Let Trinity put on some clothes.”

“I am getting sick of looking at that ugly body.” Butler nodded toward Trinity’s clothing.
“Go ahead, but just remember the ‘no sudden moves’ rule. Not that you’re capable of
doing anything more than screwing the ranch hands.”

Trinity’s body wracked with shivers as she moved to put her clothes on, and Luke’s
gut tightened. If he’d been close enough to her, he’d have taken a chance on disarming
the bitch. She was getting tired, and she was definitely overconfident.

Butler waited until Trinity had dressed herself, then the bitch waved her gun toward
the cave entrance. “Start walking. Hands up where I can see them, yadda yadda yadda.”

“Too bad we won’t get to finish what we started in the barn,” Trinity said with an
odd note in her voice. Luke cut his gaze to her and she gave him a look that said
, Listen to what I’m not saying.
“You know, what I was doing—what we were doing—before Race interrupted us.”

“Shut the hell up,” Butler said. “I’m not interested in hearing or for God’s sake
seeing any more of your fuck-a-pades.”

Luke wanted to tell Trinity
no, don’t try it
, but she had that look in her eyes that said she’d made up her mind. Without smiling,
Luke winked at Trinity, so that only she could see, telling her he got her message.
At this point, since backup hadn’t arrived, this might be their only chance. He had
no idea where the tunnels were, but when Butler got them close enough, she’d shoot
them both, and fast—and the bitch was a good marksman.

Luke raised his arms, palms forward, and started toward the cave entrance.

Hope you’re as good as I think you are, sugar. Both of our lives depend on it.