Midnight Alias: A Killer Instincts Novel (27 page)

Her anger escalated, turning into an eddy of rage. And he was just getting away with it! Nobody was bothering to interfere; nobody was trying to stop him. Not even Luke, who certainly had the skills to put Vince Angelo out of commission.

“Liv?” Kathleen said cautiously, heading for the counter. “You want another cup?”

She shook her head, hoping the fury she was feeling didn’t show on her face. She watched as her mother dropped a spoonful of sugar into her coffee, and was reminded of the spoon she’d seen on Cora’s bedside table. The powder lining that piece of tinfoil. The fucking syringes strewn on the floor.

Another shipment was coming in. Vince had mentioned it during the conversation she’d overheard in her stairwell, and those two goons from the club had spoken of a shipment too.

It had to be drugs. More drugs were being smuggled into the city. Drugs that Vince put in the hands of dealers and in the veins of the girls he decided to pimp out.

Olivia fisted her hands so tight that her knuckles turned as white as the plastic table beneath them. She couldn’t let it happen again. The thought came swift and hard. She knew she couldn’t bring Cora back to life, but damn it, she could at least try to stop Vince from hurting any more of the girls at the Diamond.

“So what were you saying before the phone rang?” her mother asked, settling back in her chair.

She looked up to meet her mom’s gaze. “Oh. It was nothing.”

“You said something about going away?”

“No. Well, yeah, I was thinking about taking a trip, you and me. But . . . I just realized how impossible it would be to get the time off.”

“A trip does sound nice, but it might be best to hold off for a while. I don’t know if I’m up to traveling just yet.”

Olivia reached across the table and grasped her mother’s hand. “Don’t worry. We won’t go anywhere for the time being.” She set her jaw. “We’re staying right here.”

Chapter 15

Luke sat on Olivia’s bed, gaping as the words she’d just uttered registered in his brain. “Are you serious?”

She nodded. In her bright blue leggings and loose black T-shirt, with her long hair tied up in a high ponytail, she looked much younger than twenty-five. The youthful attire was completely out of sync with the deadly look in her green eyes.

“Why?” he demanded, shaking his head in bewilderment. “Why on earth would you stay in this city and continue working at the club?”

“I already told you—I want to stop that shipment.”

He continued to gawk at her. The stubborn jut of her chin told him she meant business, yet he still couldn’t wrap his mind around it. “And how exactly are you going to stop it?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “But it’ll be easier if you help me.”

Disbelief pounded into him. “Are you listening to yourself? You’re a college student, a
civilian
—how the hell do you plan to intercept a heroin delivery? Do you have some secret knowledge about drug smuggling that you didn’t tell me about?”

She bristled. “No, that’s why I need your help.” Her ponytail swung back and forth as she began to pace the hardwood floor. “You’ve got experience with this kind of thing. I’m sure we can come up with some sort of plan. I can’t let Vince get his hands on more drugs.”

Oh, for the love of . . .

Luke drew a calming breath, resisting the impulse to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. “Olivia. Be reasonable. Even if we find a way to intercept and destroy the shipment, do you honestly think you’ll be winning the war on drugs? You know how many dealers are out there? How many suppliers, distributors? Are you planning on taking down every drug cartel too? Ridding the globe of the entire trade?”

She glared at him. “Of course not. I’m not interested in the global drug trade. Just this one shipment. If it doesn’t reach Vince, then it won’t reach anyone who works at the Diamond.”

“Jesus.”

“Cora is
dead
,” she burst out. “Her little girl is
motherless
now! Katie’s never going to know her mom. Cora won’t be there for Katie’s high school graduation, or her wedding, or at the hospital when she has a child of her own. Vince pumped Cora full of heroin and had her killed because she didn’t do what he wanted. What if it happens again? What if another dancer dies at the hands of that bastard?”

“Fine, then we’ll go to the cops. Let them handle it.”

“You’re the one who told me Vince and De Luca have dozens of cops on their payroll. Nobody is going to investigate Cora’s death, and if I tell the police about this shipment, nobody will investigate that either.”

“We’ll go to the DEA then,” he said in frustration.

“So Vince and his fellow mobsters can murder another one of their agents? Or so that mole you were telling me about tips off Vince?” She stopped pacing, visibly angry now. “I don’t trust law enforcement to handle this. You said so yourself—they’ve been giving De Luca a free ride for years.”

“Oh, so you trust
yourself
to take down the Mob,” he said sarcastically.

“No, but I trust
you
.” She marched over, sank to her knees in front of him, and looked up with imploring eyes. “Please help me do this.”

He shook his head again, stunned by this sudden turn of events. He’d come here prepared to organize the necessary identity papers for Olivia and her mother, and instead of snapping a few pictures and assuring her that everything would be all right, he was arguing with her about intercepting heroin deliveries.

With a sigh, he reached for both her hands. “Look, I know you’re upset about your friend’s death, but this is . . . this is
insane
. You need to leave town, now, while Vince is distracted with this drug bullshit and the discovery of Dane’s body. The longer you stay, the more time you give him to regroup—and focus his sights on you again.”

She yanked her hands away. “I won’t let him hurt anybody else.”

“But you’ll let him hurt
you
?”

“He won’t.” She sounded sure of herself. “He told me that he won’t have time for me until Wednesday. So that means the drugs will be delivered before then. Tuesday probably, since he said he has a big meeting that night. I think that’s when the shipment is coming in.”

Luke cursed under his breath, wondering how the hell to talk some sense into her, but she wasn’t done speaking. “Ask your team to stick around. We’ll figure out when and where the shipment will happen, I’ll keep working at the club, and if something goes wrong, I promise I’ll leave town.”

“Goddamn it, Olivia.”

“Please,” she pleaded. “Just have my back when I’m at the club, and help me gather information. Once we have something solid, we’ll turn it over to the DEA and they can handle the bust. But I won’t tip them off before the delivery. If there is a mole, Vince will be warned and the delivery won’t go through.”

He dragged a hand through his hair, frustrated beyond belief. He could see in her eyes that she wasn’t going to drop this. She would go through with her ridiculous plan, no matter what he said or did. And if he walked away, she’d do it alone. With no one to watch out for her.

But damn it, this was foolish. He had no idea how Angelo and De Luca secured their drugs, what cartel they were mixed up with, how they smuggled the shit in. And he had no desire to get involved in the drug trade. The people who dealt in drugs were bad news—they wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone who got in their way.

Like a pretty coed from the East Village.

Letting out a heavy sigh, he slowly got to his feet. “You really need to reconsider this,” he said in a low voice.

“I can’t. I refuse to let Vince get away with what he’s done. He belongs in jail.”

“Which will only happen if he’s caught red-handed. What if he’s not there when the transaction goes down? Did you think of that?”

“He’ll be there,” she said confidently. “He said so himself—there’s a lot of money riding on this deal. If it goes wrong, he’ll be in trouble with De Luca, and he won’t leave something so important in the hands of his goons. He’ll want to be there himself to make sure everything goes smoothly. And he’ll be arrested right along with everyone else when the cops show up.”

She moved toward him and touched the center of his chest. “Please,” she whispered. “Help me.”

“I . . . don’t know,” he said roughly. “I’d need to clear it with my boss, talk to the team. I’ll be honest—I don’t think they’ll be on board.”

“But what about
you
?” she pressed. “If your team leaves, will you stay?”

Would he? He stared into her big green eyes, then pictured her at the Diamond Mine, sticking that pretty nose into Vince Angelo’s heroin business. Fuck. How the hell could he let her do this alone? If he couldn’t dissuade her, he could at least make sure she didn’t get herself killed.

He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll stay.”

A smile broke out on her face. “You will?”

Luke nodded. “Let me talk to my team, okay? I’ll run this by them and see if they want to stick around too.”

Olivia threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. He inhaled the lemony scent of her hair, wondering why it was so frickin’ difficult to say no to this woman.

“Thank you,” she murmured, tilting her head to kiss him.

As their lips met, his pulse sped up and his knees felt weak. Yep, Olivia Taylor definitely had a hold on him.

“I’ll call you after I talk to the guys,” he said, brushing his lips over hers one last time.

A few minutes later, he descended the fire escape, releasing the frustrated groan he’d been smothering during the entire conversation with Olivia. As he strode toward the Range Rover, he sent Sullivan a quick text telling him he was taking off and to keep watching the building. Olivia’s decision to single-handedly fight the war on drugs wasn’t something that should be discussed via text message, so he decided he’d fill Sully in later.

He slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine, letting out another groan as a vise of helplessness pinched his insides. The last thing he wanted was to watch Olivia put her neck on the line, just so she could stop Angelo from getting his hands on some heroin. What he
did
want to do was throw her over his shoulder, force her into Morgan’s jet, and get her far away from this city. Far away from Vince Angelo.

The mere thought of that bastard hurting her made Luke’s blood boil. Rather than putting the SUV in gear, he reached for his phone, hit speed dial, and waited for Kane Woodland to pick up. Of all the guys on the team, Luke was closest to Kane and Sully, but Sullivan wasn’t the right guy to talk to about this. Kane was far more levelheaded, and he had a lot of experience with stubborn women.

“Hey, man,” he said when Kane answered.

“Hey. I heard about Dane. When are you guys heading home?”

“We’re sticking around until the DNA results come in.” He paused. “Listen, you alone?”

“No, I’m in the game room with Ethan. Kicking his ass in pool.”

“Tell him to get lost. I need to ask you something.”

Muted sounds filled the extension, then Kane saying, “Get lost.”

“Fuck you,” came Ethan’s muffled reply.

“Okay, he’s gone. What’s up?”

Luke leaned back against the headrest. “Yeah. Well.”

“Yeah well what?”

Swallowing, he bit the bullet and said, “How’d you know that you loved Abby?”

There was a beat of shocked silence. “For real?”

“Yeah. For real.”

“Okay. Huh. Well, it wasn’t something I knew so much as felt. But it probably happened when I found myself thinking about her every freaking second. And wanting to protect her.” Kane laughed dryly. “Yes, I know she can take care of herself—God knows she reminds me of that every other second—but seriously, man, the thought of someone hurting her sends me into a fit of rage. If anyone touched her I’d slit their throat. And yeah, then there’s the sex . . . it’s out of this fucking world . . . Um, anyway. Why do you want to know?”

“I’ve been spending time with one of the girls at the club. Olivia Taylor. She helped us find Dane.” Luke blew out a breath. “I feel weird, man.”

“Weird how?”

“Like when she smiles at me, my chest goes all hot, like someone cranked the thermostat.”

Kane burst out laughing.

“Hey, I’m sharing here.”

“Sorry. What else?”

“I like talking to her and . . . and yeah, the thought of someone hurting her makes me want to slit a few throats too.” He faltered. “So what do you think that means?”

“Might be love. Could be lust. You figure it out.”

“
That’s
your advice?”

“Who do you think I am, Ann Landers? I can’t decode your feelings for you. But if it helps, I don’t think it’s lust.”

Help? Uh, it fucking terrified him. He’d called Kane hoping to hear that everything he felt was no biggie, just a common side effect of extreme lust or something.

He’d never been in love before, and truthfully, he had no idea what being in love entailed. Was he supposed to buy her a gift? Start referring to their sex life as
lovemaking
? Crap. He was totally out of his element here. Didn’t know how to handle this in the slightest.

But he did know one thing—he wasn’t leaving this city unless Olivia was on the plane beside him.

* * *

“No way,” D announced once Luke finished speaking.

Out of everyone, he’d expected D to be the first to shoot the idea down, and the man didn’t disappoint. However, when Luke focused on Trevor, he was discouraged to find that the team leader didn’t look enthusiastic either.

“I’m doing this with or without you guys,” he said quietly.

Holden leaned against the sofa cushions, looking resigned. “So you’re going to stick around and do what? Watch her back?”

D cursed.

So did Luke. “Screw that,” he said. “I won’t play bodyguard while Olivia fucks around in the heroin trade, and I’m sure as hell not going to hand over the information to the DEA knowing they’ve probably got a few agents on the take.”

Trevor narrowed his eyes. “What does that mean?”

“It means I’ll track this damn shipment myself, and then I’ll intercept the damn thing—myself. I’ll only involve the DEA after the raid goes down.”