Poker Face (The Masks Series Book 4) (9 page)

Eric

Rhodes told me to meet him in Yuma. I looked on the map and it was a good five hours away. He was driving across from Arizona and would be there by early evening.

I checked my watch and snatched up my stuff, ready to join him. My eyes darted around the house as I went to leave. Nicole and Dale weren’t in the living area, just Dad. He threw the surf magazine he’d been flicking through onto the floor.

“Where are you going?”

“Out.” I grabbed my keys off the side table.

Dad’s hand landed on my shoulder before I even reached the door. “Where?”

I shook him off me. “I’m meeting someone.”

“Care to tell me who?”

“Nope.” I accentuated the P and spun for the door.

Dad chased me out to the car, slapping his hand against my door before I could open it. “I don’t care if you hate me. I know you have every right to, but I’m not leaving you. I will do whatever it is to keep you safe, and if that means being your personal bodyguard while you search for Caity, then so be it.”

I unlocked the door and went to pull it open, but he slapped it shut again.

“Let go of the door.”

“No.”

With a deep scowl I tried again, forcing the door with as much pressure as I could, but his body was working as the perfect weight against me. I gave up with a loud curse.

“I told you. I’m not going anywhere. You take me with you or we’re going to be doing this well into the night.”

Placing my hands on my hips, I muttered a string of unhealthy swear words and resisted the urge to punch him.

“Good.” He nodded once I’d stopped. “Do you want me to drive?”

My incredulous look made him snort with laughter. He jogged around to the passenger side of the car and jumped in before I could lock the door on him.

Jerking my seatbelt over my body, I snapped it into place and started the engine.

“This is gonna be a long drive, so do me a favor and don’t talk.”

His lips pursed to the side, but he did me the courtesy of nodding and turning to look out the window.

Much to my surprise, he kept his word. The five-hour drive to Yuma was slow and painful; no amount of music or radio chatter could make it better. Antsy, I kept flicking through the channels until an hour from our destination, Dad eventually slapped my hands away from the switch.

“You’re doing my head in, buddy. Just. Leave. It.”

I smirked, glad I’d managed to piss him off.

“Where are we going anyway?”

“A little diner in Yuma.”

“Why?”

I raked my hand through my hair and decided to spill. He’d no doubt refuse to stay in the car, so I had no choice but to tell him.

“I got a call from Caity’s cell this afternoon. It was this guy called Agent Rhodes. He was one of the guys working with her on this case. He doesn’t know where she is, but he’s gonna help me find her.”

My words were clipped and sharp. I felt like a robot.

“You really love this girl, don’t you?”

“She’s everything, Dad.” My jaw worked to the side.

Thankfully, he didn’t say anything more, just nodded as if he knew exactly what I was talking about. I wondered if he was thinking of Mom and it surprised me how much I wanted that to be true.

I frowned at my seditious thoughts. I’d been hating my father for way too long to picture him happily-ever-after with my mom. Gripping the wheel, I focused on the road, not even noticing the bright orb setting in the rearview mirror.

The diner was easy to find, right off the main highway. More of a rest stop than anything.

We got out of the car and stretched our backs in much the same way. I hated how alike we were. I’d actually forgotten how similar our facial features were and I was finding it really off-putting. Dad still looked pretty young for his age.

The door jingled when we opened it. I had no idea what Rhodes looked like, but he waved at me the second I walked in. It only occurred to me then that he’d probably known me from watching Caity. I felt violated in a weird kind of way.

We slid into the booth opposite him. He flicked his thumb at Dad and was about to ask who he was when his skin blanched. I thought his green eyes were about to pop out and roll across the table.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

Dad’s eyes narrowed. “Uh-huh.”

Rhodes swallowed, leaning back against the plush booth seat and flicking his menu open, completely stumped.

I clicked my fingers to get his attention. “Hey, can we focus? We’re here to talk about Caity, not him.”

Rhodes’s head bobbed, but his eyes were still fixed on Dad. He shook his head and muttered, “Unbelievable.”

“So, what can you tell us?” I pressed my elbows into the table, getting straight to the point.

Rhodes nodded, his brow scrunching with what I assumed was shame.

“Kaplan suspected Mendez of human trafficking. He’s been in the smuggling business for a while now and when those girls started disappearing, she thought of him first. She’s never wrong, you know? Her gut instinct is solid.”

“Unlike her morality,” I snipped.

Rhodes didn’t fight back, just shook his head with a sad smile.

“I questioned it when she first wanted to bring Caity onboard, but she was convinced it would work...and she was right. Caity was amazing. She’s not even trained and she led us straight to those girls. She saved lives this weekend. Most of those girls made it back to their families because of her.”

A familiar pride swelled in my chest. That sounded like my Caity.

“What happened? What went wrong?” Dad asked.

Rhodes shrugged. He looked as defeated as I felt. “The raid went smoothly, minimal injury to our agents and the SWAT team, and I swear we searched every room for her. But she was gone.”

“Who would have taken her?”

“I’m not really supposed to talk about the case.”

I thumped the table, making the cutlery dance. Rhodes lifted his hands as two white flags.

“But I’m breaking the rules, because I can’t just sit by and...” He shook his head and glanced out the window. “This guy, Detective Sullivan, called Kaplan and I heard her on the phone. She was denying all knowledge of Caity and...” His jaw clenched. “It wasn’t right. I figured someone must be looking for her, which is why I called you. She—” His lips drew into a thin line, like he was resisting the words somehow. “She really loves you. It nearly killed her to break up with you, and then that day she ran away.” He let out a dry laugh. “She told Kaplan exactly what she thought.”

I didn’t like the way Rhodes’s eyes were sparkling. It was obvious how much he admired my girlfriend. I shot him a dark glare and he cleared his throat, adjusting his expression.

“Why did Caity have to break up with Eric? What was the point?” Dad tapped the table to draw Rhodes’s attention.

The agent scrubbed his face and let out a tired sigh. “We knew Eric would fight her going. She couldn’t tell him the truth and we needed her in Mendez’s house. Her job was to get close enough to Quella that she’d be invited home for the weekend. That way she could sneak around and get us whatever information she could.”

“How the fuck could you go along with this! She’s nineteen!” My muscles vibrated as I fought the urge to leap across the table and deck him.

“I know, but she’s a talented girl.” His eyes flicked to my dad in question and I shook my head.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Dad looked between us.

With a sigh, I quickly related the details of Caity’s eyesight. I kept my sentences short and factual. Dad’s disbelieving suspicion slowly ebbed as Rhodes backed up my every word.

“That’s why Kaplan wanted to use her. She never would have asked otherwise.”

“I can’t believe she got away with it,” I muttered.

“Look, she screwed up and she knows it; that’s why she's denying everything. She has to save face, right?” Rhodes’s bitter tone was encouraging. I was glad he was just as pissed as I was. At least we were on the same page. “Caity went offline Thursday morning. She called in at 3.15 a.m. telling us she’d found the girls and that Mendez had a meeting scheduled for some time that day. She was supposed to check in again that afternoon, but we never heard from her. I wanted to go in then, but Kaplan ordered us to wait for the buyers, so we were watching the exits. We saw three cars approaching the house from the south, late afternoon. It was the buyers. We caught everyone we needed to, except...”

“Caity.” I finished for him.

“And Miguel Vera.”

“Who?”

“Head of security for Mendez. I don’t know if he was in the house or not when the raid happened, but I’ve been doing some digging on the guy.”

“And?”

“He’s got a gambling problem. He plays high-stakes poker.”

My heart fell into my stomach; I could feel it sizzling in the acid. I pressed my fingers into my forehead and closed my eyes. Caity, the poker-playing queen. I relived the day she beat her arrogant brother, Toby, by using her eyesight and calling his every bluff.

“He used her. He somehow found out what she could do and he used her to win at poker.”

“It’s a theory.”

“It’s the truth.” I slammed back into the seat and gripped the table. “You know it is.”

Rhodes had to nod.

“Do you think he’s got her?”

“Quite possibly, but we can’t find him right now.”

“Who’s looking?”

Rhodes flicked his eyes away from me.

I kicked him under the table.

“Ow!” He scowled at me.

“Who. Is. Looking for him?”

Dad sighed, running his hand over the shiny tabletop. “No one.”

Rhodes dipped his head.

“This is so incredibly fucked-up!”

The waitress at the counter jumped, scrambling for a pencil. “Sorry, sirs, I’m coming.”

I closed my eyes, feeling nauseous.

She flittered to our table. “What can I get you?”

I couldn’t speak. Dad ordered for us, mumbling softly to the waitress. Her eyes kept jittering to me. She probably thought I was a complete douche bag, but she didn’t know. She hadn’t lost the love of her life to some human-trafficking, poker-playing scum.

As soon as the waitress trotted off with our order, Dad restarted the conversation. “What’s to say Mendez didn’t sell her before Miguel even got his hands on her?”

“Nothing.” Rhodes shrugged. “But I still feel like Miguel is our best bet.”

“So, explain something to me.” Dad rested his elbows on the table. “I don’t know Caity at all, but I’m struggling to figure out how a nineteen-year-old college student would agree to do this.”

“You’re right, Dad. You don’t know her,” I muttered.

“She’s got a heart of gold. She couldn’t turn her back on those girls. As soon as Kaplan told her the story, we knew we had her.”

“Seriously? You convinced her to break up with Eric and go to some guy’s house and play spy just by telling her about the girls? That seems way too easy.”

My dad was so freaking cynical!
If he knew Caity even a little bit, he wouldn’t be saying this shit.

“It wasn’t that easy.” Rhodes’s voice was dry. “She outright refused to dump Eric. In fact, she was going to tell him everything.”

I looked up at Rhodes, my breath going on hold.

“That weekend in San Diego. She was going to spill it all, but I stopped her.”

I clenched my fists. “Why?”

“Because Kaplan had a really big card up her sleeve.” Rhodes swallowed, scratching the back of his neck. “She threatened Caity with the one thing she couldn’t stand to lose.”

My brow wrinkled in confusion.

Rhodes gave me an apologetic look before finally muttering, “Your life.”

Eric

I couldn’t quite buy into it. A confused look marred my features as I tried to wrap my head around what Rhodes had just said.

“Are you trying to tell us that Kaplan threatened to
kill
Eric if Caity didn’t do what she said?” Dad’s voice was like iron.

“In a roundabout kind of way.” Rhodes grimaced.

“How could you be okay with that?”

“I wasn’t! But she’s my boss, we needed to find those girls and Caity was getting sick of it. When she took off to San Diego without telling anyone, Kaplan needed a way to pull her into line.”

The comment made me want to punch that slightly crooked nose right off his face. My fists were so tight my nails were digging into my palms.

“The only way to keep me safe,” I muttered. “That’s what her note said.”

“Note? What note?”

I rubbed my forehead. “She left me a note. Gave it to Dale to give to me.”

Rhodes’s forehead crinkled, his lips twitching before breaking into a grin. “That little...” He shook his head with a chuckle. “She said that was for Nicole.”

I glared at him, not enjoying the look of admiration on his face.

Rhodes caught my expression and pursed his lips. “She’s an amazing girl.”

“I know,” I seethed. “Which is why I can’t believe you let Kaplan hold something over her. What kind of threat did she have against my life anyway?”

The agent sighed. “She found some money trail that lead back to this guy, Marchant? She built a file and threatened to post it to him if Caity didn’t break up with you and go away with Quella.” Rhodes shrugged.

Dad jerked beside me, his body going rigid. “That was you guys?”

Rhodes frowned, his head shaking in confusion. “She wasn’t going to post it, at least I was pretty sure she wouldn’t, but just the very idea freaked Caity out enough to do exactly as she was told.”

Dad was across the table in a flash, ripping at Rhodes’s collar. “Your little stunt led them straight to us!”

Rhodes tried to slap Dad off him. “We didn’t notify them! It was just a hacker looking for dirt.”

“Dad.” I pulled on his shirt, aware of the waitress and her wide-eyed shock. “Sit down.”

With a firm yank, I pulled him back into his seat. His expression remained black and furious.

“My father died because of your stupidity.”

The news startled Rhodes. Digging his fingers into his thick curls, his cheeks puffed wide and he blew out a slow breath. “But Kaplan never sent the file.”

“Yeah, well, all the searching obviously set off alarm bells in the Marchant camp and he sent his goons to hunt down my son.” Dad let out a disgusted snort and shook his head. “Do you even know what this guy is capable of?”

“We know he’s a dirty businessman who’s gotten away with the odd murder, but—”

“That’s it? That’s all you think he is?”

Rhodes frowned.

“Lucian Marchant is a supply and demand guy. He will get anyone
anything
for the right price. We’re talking artwork, sports cars, drugs, women...” Dad swallowed. “Children. This guy has no boundaries, no morals and your little search undid everything I’ve been trying to do for the last eight years!”

“Human trafficking?” Rhodes shook his head. “No way. Kaplan would be all over that. She’s got a real thing about slavery, especially when it involves kids.”

“What makes you think the FBI would even know what Marchant is really up to? His name’s not attached to anything. He’s the ultimate silent partner, runs it all behind the scenes.” Dad shrugged. “Sure there’s the odd suspicion, but the LVPD are too afraid to go after him, and you guys...you can’t get enough proof to make a move.” Slumping back in his seat, Dad dug out that poker chip of his and started tapping it against the table. “I tell ya, Rhodes, this is one hell of SNAFU.”

The agent scoffed, leaning forward and looking gray. “Nothing was ever
situation normal
about any of this. The whole case is...” Rhodes pressed his lips together, the angles of his face highlighted by his taut expression.

The waitress arrived, the tray in her arm a little unsteady as she placed our orders down. She gave us each a quivering smile and I made a mental note to leave her an extra-large tip.

I forced a closed-mouth smile her way and nodded my thanks.

She scuttled back behind the counter and I gazed down at my food. It looked foul. A dry burger patty slapped between stale bread with a limp lettuce leaf on top. The coleslaw side was runny and even the fries were overcooked.

Dad slapped down the ketchup bottle next to my plate. “Just eat,” he mumbled.

I banged out a healthy dollop and dipped a fry into the red sauce.

Rhodes chewed his mouthful with a slight grimace. “Look, I can’t take back what I’ve done, but Kaplan cutting Caity loose is wrong. She knows it too, but she never screws up. She always gets the bad guys and comes out golden. Caity’s disappearance has really thrown her, which is why she’s gone into denial about it. If she finds out I’m talking to you guys, my ass is grass. But I don’t care. We fed that beautiful girl to the wolves and I’m not walking away from that. I told you, I will do everything in my power to help you find her, and I mean it.”

I paused, french fry halfway to my mouth, and really looked at him.

He was telling the truth. I could see it. His open face showed me everything.

Jealousy ripped through me. I didn’t want this guy loving Caity the way I did. She meant more to me than anyone could. Part of me wanted to get rid of him. We could do this on our own. But he was an FBI agent and he had connections I’d never be able to make. I needed him, damn it.

“Where are we going to start?”

“I’m looking into Miguel Vera. If he’s got a gambling problem, there are plenty of debt collectors out there who will have a bounty on his head. I’ll go underground, see what I can find out.”

“What about Kaplan?”

“I’ll be doing this on the quiet. She can have her glory wrapping up this case. She doesn’t need me around.”

“She doesn’t deserve it.”

“It’s better that she’s distracted. It gives me time to work behind her back.”

I nodded, finding it impossible not to keep scowling at him. I was still pretty pissed that he’d let it go this far.

“I know what you’re thinking and I’m sorry, okay. I should have stood up for her. I should have told Kaplan she was way out of line, but I didn’t, and there’s nothing I can do to change that now. All I wanted was to get those girls home to their families. And now all I want to do is offer Caity the same courtesy. So please, stop looking at me like you hate me and let me help you.”

I sighed and turned away from him.

"She saved a lot of lives doing this operation, you know."

“Yeah, and sacrificed her own,” I spat.

Rhodes looked glum as he picked at the food on his plate. “I just hope she knows they made it out okay.”

Dad cleared his throat. “Well, when we find her, we can tell her.”

Rhodes and I nodded in unison, but neither of us could crack a smile. Yes, the hopeless situation didn’t seem as dire as it did this morning, but our chances of finding Caity were still slim...and the worst part was, I just had to sit around and wait until Rhodes managed to dig up a lead we could follow.

The rest of the meal passed in silence and after ten minutes, Rhodes couldn’t hack it anymore. He dumped some money on the table and stood.

“I’ll call you as soon as I get anything.”

I nodded and watched him walk out of the diner. Dad stood and went to pay the bill.

When he got back to the table, he hitched up his jeans. “I left her a decent tip. I figured she deserved it after putting up with all our bullshit.”

I snorted out a short laugh and shuffled out of the booth seat.

Dad followed me to the car.

“Where do you want me to drop you?”

“I’m sticking with you, buddy.”

“Dad, this is not happening. I don’t need a puppy nipping at my heels.” I yanked out my keys.

“Eric, wait!”

With a sigh, I turned, feeling like a petulant teenager.

His expression was dark, but his voice remained even. “I know this sucks for you right now, but I’m telling you, kid, you have to be careful. I’m not going anywhere and I don’t want you sleeping at your place tonight.”

“Dad...”

“No!” He held up his hand to stop me. “We are not having this conversation again. You might not give a shit about your welfare, but I do, and if you don’t watch your back, you’re going to end up like Gramps.”

I blinked, grinding my teeth together. “I’m not going into hiding. You know I have to find Caity, so would you shut the hell up about the Moochan guy!”

“Marchant! Lucian Marchant and no, I won’t shut up about him.” Dad banged the hood of the car. “The way you feel about finding Caity is the way I feel about protecting you. I’ve been doing it for the last eight years and I won’t stop now. Marchant will not give up and like hell am I gonna let him get to you.”

“I’m not running from this!”

“I respect that, but I’m asking you to please show a little caution. You don’t know this guy; you don’t know what he’s capable of. If he gets to you, you’ll never see Caity again, and who do you think’s going to look for her when you’re gone? You want Rhodes swooping in and saving the day? She doesn’t want him coming to the rescue.” Dad pointed at me. “She wants you.”

I squeezed the back of my neck, hoping like hell he was right.

“You need to stop being so cavalier about this whole thing. Stay underground and let me help you.”

I didn’t want to let him in. I’d been trying to live without him for nearly a decade and I didn’t want to depend on him ever again, but he was right. I could use all the damn help I could get. With a stiff nod, I finally gave in.

“Thank you,” Dad muttered, opening the passenger door and jumping into the car.

I slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. I felt weary down to my core, but I wasn’t asking Dad to drive. “So, where do we go now?”

“I need to head back to the motel and get my stuff. We can spend the night there.”

“No going back home for me?”

“Not right now.”

“What about Nicole and Dale? Will they be safe?”

“Might be worth giving them a call and telling them to get out of Dodge for a while.”

Blowing out a sigh, I found Dale’s number and made the call. He agreed without so much as a murmur. The story of Gramps had really unnerved him and he wasn’t sticking around to be questioned by some mafia thugs.

“We thought we’d go on a little road trip to San Francisco for a few days, until this thing blows over. Nicky doesn’t want to, but I’m not losing her over this. I’ll throw her over my shoulder if I have to.”

I chuckled. “Sounds good, man. You take care.”

“You, too. Keep me posted.”

I nodded and hung up after a short goodbye.

“They’re heading out of town.”

“Good. You sure you don’t want me to drive?”

I gripped the wheel, my head pounding like a bass drum. Gramps’ words kissed the edges of my brain.

“Pride comes before a fall, son. Don’t be an idiot.”

A short, dry laugh puffed out of my nose and I let go of the wheel. “Yeah, okay. Thanks.”

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I walked around to the other side of the car while Dad climbed into the driver’s seat. I slammed the door shut behind me and leaned my head back against the headrest. We drove into the darkness, my mind running with the mantra,
Please find something, Rhodes. Please find something.