Dangerous Lines (11 page)

“What else, you had to have told him something
else,
Yancy
,” she said. No way would Moreau have
grabbed her, beaten her, for that alone.

“I may have told him that we were busted that
night, that it was my second strike. I may have told him I didn’t remember
seeing you in holding before we were booked.”

“Son of a bitch,” Shawn muttered. “That’s why
Moreau grabbed you.”

Because he’d been sure she was either an informant,
or a cop or Fed. Shit.

Turning, Rhonda walked over to Vincent and into his
arms. She let out a breath when he wrapped his strong arms around her, holding
her close.

“What are you working with Moreau on?” Shawn asked
Yancy
.

“Aw, man, I can’t tell you that.”

“Break his hand,” Shawn ordered.

“No!”
Yancy
screamed.

“Then fucking tell us what the hell you’re doing
for Moreau,” Shawn demanded loudly.

“He’ll kill me man, he’ll fucking kill me,”
Yancy
whined.

“I won’t, but I will ensure that Moreau knows you
told us everything, even if you don’t.”

“Fine,”
Yancy
grumbled.
“He brought me in because of my connections in Colombia. I made some friends on
my last stint inside. My roommate was the cousin of a guy I worked with in the
past. The guy knew I’d kept his cousin’s name on the down low so he didn’t end
up busted. I got sent up for a couple years, but I never sold him out.
Apparently, to the family that was huge. Moreau wants to purchase from them,
has a shipment coming in tomorrow night, a test run to see how his guys handle
the merchandise.”

“What’s he bringing in?” Shawn asked.

“This run’s a shipment of heroin, just a couple
dozen kilos. Like I said, it’s a test run. He wants to see if his men have
actually got the network up and running before he risks bringing in more. If
this run goes well, he’ll be bringing in a shipment in another two weeks.”

“How much will he be bringing on the second one?”
Vincent asked this question.

“He was talking in the range of about a thousand
kilos. He wants to ensure he has stock for the demand he’s thinking he’ll have.
Then he plans on bringing more up every month or so depending on how sales go.”

Shawn grunted at that. “Come on, you two,” he said
under his breath.

With an arm still around Vincent, Rhonda walked
with him to where Shawn was near an outer door. “Well, this is a shit show,”
Vincent said, keeping his voice low.

“To say the least.
We can nail Moreau on this shipment, but only if he takes possession
personally,” Rhonda said. “If it’s one of his guys, then we get nothing on
Moreau and he cuts ties with the Columbians which means we can’t use any of
Yancy’s
information. I need to talk to my captain about
this. We have to bring him into the loop, and we have to get
Yancy’s
statement too, so we can use the information
officially.”

“Well, fuck,” Shawn grumbled. He was glaring at
her, but she knew it wasn’t meant for her. He was just as frustrated as they
all were trying to figure out how to nail Moreau down. “I hate to say this,
especially since I like you, kid, but I think we need to use you for bait.”

“Did you just call me
kid?
”

Shawn shrugged.
“Maybe.
Anyway, we have your testimony about what Moreau said in that basement, but no
other witnesses. Vincent can corroborate your story, since he got you out of
there, but that then implicates him in the death of the goon, not that the body
will ever show up. I’m sure Moreau’s already ensured he’s well off the radar,
not needing a dead guy tied to him.”

“Okay, so how do we go about this? Using me as
bait, I mean?” she asked.

Vincent hadn’t said a word. He didn’t need to. She
could feel the tension in his muscles.

“We have Adam call up Moreau, tell him he has you
stashed, and sets a meet. We control the meeting place because Adam will be
twitchy with all the extra activity from the cops. They’ve been out in full
force of late, so it’s not a lie, and Moreau knows it. We have you in place,
tied up,
maybe
made up to look like Adam had to rough
you up a bit to get you where you are. Moreau shows up, likely with his goons,
gives the order to get something out of you and we nail him.”

“Which is all well and good, but not enough to hold
him for very long,” Rhonda pointed out.

“It will be if we let that heroin shipment come in
first,” Shawn said. “We get surveillance on him, photograph everything, and
then he shows up to off you. That, along with the original abduction of a cop,
should put him away.
Especially when his guys start to sing
like canaries with all the deals that will be flying their way.”

Rhonda thought about it, but she still needed to
talk with her boss. “Okay, I’m good with it, but I need to clear it with my captain.
He may not like where we’re going with this. Vincent, you’ve been very quiet,
scary quiet.”

His blue eyes met hers and held. “I’m not happy
with this plan, but I know that you know what you’re doing. Just know that I
will be there. I don’t fucking care what your captain, or the entire SFPD
thinks, I’m going to be there to watch out for you.”

“Good,” she said. Her knees felt weak with relief
so she tightened her hold on him. Burying her nose in his neck, she breathed
him in. “I want you there. I need you to be there, Vincent.”

“Well then, we’d better arrange for the captain to
come and collect
Yancy
, I guess,” Shawn said. “I
think we should meet him over in C&M though, not here. We’re a little close
to Moreau’s buildings for the cops to show up. At least at our place, it won’t
be unduly suspicious.”

Rhonda didn’t care where they met. Her mind was
already moving ahead, working out the angles and how to ensure her ass didn’t
end up as shark bait.

Chapter Fourteen

After the call to Rhonda’s captain, everything
moved fast.
Yancy
had been placed under arrest, read
his rights, and taken off to get his statement officially on record. With a
little friendly warning from their masked C&M man to tell it straight or
Yancy
would end up with a lot more than just broken bones.
Which was about the time
Yancy
wet
himself.
That had been disgusting.

Ro’s captain had agreed to the plan, reluctantly,
Vincent had been glad to note. But he’d agreed. So the drug shipment was
allowed through, with full surveillance and lots of video and photos taken of
Moreau accepting the shipment, and paying off the driver.
Basically,
lots of evidence for the cops to do their thing once Moreau was arrested.

C&M handled all the surveillance, at the behest
of the SFPD.
Subcontracting at its best, mainly to keep the
legalities flexible, but also because of the mole that may, or may not be in
the police department.
Since getting back to San Francisco they really
hadn’t heard much about any leak.
If there even was one.
Vincent understood. The captain was playing everything close to the vest,
likely in the hopes of making the mole complacent, and maybe revealing
themselves.

Which only left the part Vincent was
not happy about.
Putting Rhonda in
the same room with Moreau.
Again.

He’d wanted to talk her out of it, over and over,
but he’d resisted. She wouldn’t appreciate his overprotective urges. She was an
independent woman after all, a trained officer of the law. But all that really
didn’t matter when he was scared to death for her. He cared about her, and if
he was going to be completely honest, he loved her.

Yeah, there was a kick to the gut. He loved Rhonda
Delacour
. Vincent hadn’t told her, couldn’t, not yet. She
had to have her head in the game, to be aware and not distracted. So he kept it
all to himself. Or so he thought.

“What the hell is going on, Vincent?”

Turning at the question, he saw Tamara standing in
the doorway to his office.

“Nothing, what’s going on with you?” he asked.
Okay, he was attempting a deflection, but damn it, he wasn’t ready for any deep
and meaningful conversations.
Least of all with Rhonda’s best
friend.

With a snort the tall blonde who’d
stolen his boss’s heart wandered closer.
“That’s a lie. Dish,
before I go and tell Rhonda some fib to get her in here with her gun drawn.”

She’d do it too. Narrowing his eyes, he huffed out
a breath and went to shut the door. “All right, I’ll tell you, but you fucking
can’t say a word until after the operation.
If she knows
ahead of time...
Fuck, I need her to come out of this alive, Tamara.”

“Holy shit!
You’re in love with her,” she whispered.

He was that easy to read, seriously? “How the hell
did you guess that?”

“It’s all over your face. It explains why you’ve
been twitchy, nervous and yet haven’t said no to anything she’s planned. Holy
shit,” she said again. Then she grinned and threw her arms around his neck,
squeezing tight. “You lucky bastard, you have yourself the second best woman
out there as your own.”

Grunting, he hugged her back. “I’m guessing you’re
the first on that list.”

“Of course.”
Stepping back, Tamara flipped her hair over her shoulder and shot him a
demure look for all of two seconds before dissolving into laughter. “You
absolutely have to tell her though.”

“No, I can’t. Not until she’s done. I don’t want
her thinking about it until after. Besides, hell, I barely convinced her to go
out with me. If I drop this on her, she could damn well head for the hills.”

“Good point.” Tamara paced, tapping a finger to her
chin. Spinning back around, she pinned him with a look, tilting her head
slightly. Vincent suddenly had an understanding of what a bug might feel like
under a microscope. “You need to take her somewhere classy, yet relaxed.
Somewhere that has really good food, is more on the pricey end, but not too
snobby. Somewhere you know the chef for example.”

Frowning, he shook his head. Then it hit him.
“Carmelo’s,” he said. The restaurant that Mallory Trent’s fiancée, was head
chef at. It was upscale and yet had a very homey feel to the place. The owner,
David Carmichael, was actually a friend of his and Shawn’s, ever since they’d
helped Mallory out of the jam she’d been in.

“Precisely.”
Tamara clapped her hands and grinned. “She can dress comfortably, yet
with a bit of pizzazz, and you both can eat what you like. I know she’s been
there a couple of times, just because Mallory bribed her with chocolate, so she
likes the place. Call Mal and let her know when you plan on bringing Ro in,
have her do up a special menu of both of your favorite foods.”

Favorite foods.
That was a nice touch. “Okay, I can do that.” He knew most everything
there was to know about Rhonda. Well, most things. Not everything. Hell, he
likely never would know everything about the woman. He wouldn’t mind trying
though.

Then he had a thought. “Why are you being so
helpful?”

Smiling, Tamara stepped in and put a hand on his
chest, over his heart. “You love my best friend. I’ve thought so for a while
now, but wasn’t really sure until just now. I know she’s got her own baggage,
as I’m sure you do too. I also know that you are good for her. She smiles more
with you around, relaxes more,
seems
more satisfied
with life. But, and I only say this because she’s my best friend—” Tamara shot
him a dark, deadly look, surprising the shit out of him. “You hurt her and I
will make sure you suffer immeasurable amounts of agony for the rest of your
life. Okay?”

“Okay,” he breathed. Holy mother of God, she could
be downright scary.

Patting his chest, she turned for the door. “Oh,
and Shawn needs to see you to finalize some things.”

“Right.”
Swallowing hard, Vincent
followed on her heels. He had to wonder though, did Shawn know about Tamara’s
sadistic little streak? He’d have to ask.
Later, much later,
after many drinks.

Vincent shook his head. Apparently you never really
knew about some people.

In Shawn’s office, he found Shawn, Ro, and Trent.
With them was Adam, the guy they had in Moreau’s operation acting as a bounty
hunter, and who would be the one to “catch” Ro. As well, there were two other
C&M bodyguards, both ex-military, Michael and Sheila. Michael looked the
personification of hardened warrior, big, strong, and without an expression on
his face. Sheila, though, was the opposite. She looked more like a college
student, always a bit rushed in appearance. Then again, appearances could be so
very deceiving. Sheila used the assumptions people made based on her appearance
to her purposes, and did it well.