Evil Without a Face (26 page)

The thrill of the hunt always stirred her blood, and with what she’d learned, Alexa could barely contain herself. Her hard work and perseverance was about to pay off, thanks to the help of Jessica Beckett, a local yokel with plenty of grit.

“I’ll take it from here. Thanks for—” Before she could finish, Tanya interrupted her.

“The order’s been given. I’ve already provided the coordinates to the man himself. He said to give your work top priority—as if I wouldn’t do that anyway. Didn’t you know all this? He made it seem like you did.”

“Yeah, well…we don’t always speak the same lingo, you know what I mean?” Alexa hated to look like she was out of the loop on such a big op. Since Tanya always referred to Garrett Wheeler as “the man,” it didn’t take much to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but was he trying to cut her out of the action? Anger roiled in the pit of her stomach until Tanya defused it.

“He told me to tell you he was coming to pick you up in two hours and that you’d know where to meet him.” The
woman heaved another sigh. “I sure hope you know what he’s talkin’ ’bout, ’cause I don’t want to get in the middle of this.”

Alexa looked at her watch. She had no time to lose. Fumbling in her pocket for money, she paid the bill and gulped down the last of her lukewarm coffee. Two hours would barely be enough time for her to pack, check out of her hotel, and meet Garrett at the private hangar he used at O’Hare. His jet would be arriving soon.

“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got his number.”

“Uh-huh…I bet you do, honey.”

She heard the sarcasm in the woman’s tone and had to smile. “Thanks for pushing on this one, T.”

Alexa ended the call, flooded by a mix of relief and frustration. Garrett had intervened and taken over. On the one hand, she was happy that he’d finally seen the light on Globe Harvest. Blood had been spilled on this one, and she’d nearly gotten blown into hamburger meat. She knew her investigation had merit. But on the other hand, Garrett always had his own agenda, and she was never quite sure she trusted his motives when it came to the Sentinels.

Before now, he’d all but dismissed her case against Globe Harvest, refusing to utilize the vast resources at his disposal. Yet overnight it had become his top priority. Why?

“What are you up to, Garrett?”

She headed for the café door, making a mental list of what she’d need to bring on this trip. But someone important deserved a bone tossed her way—Jessica’s words. Making a heads-up phone call to the bounty hunter felt like the right thing to do. And in Alexa’s world, the “right thing” wasn’t always clear-cut. Garrett would have no appreciation for her gesture, but she didn’t care. Because of Jessica Beckett’s help, she’d get a chance at taking down Globe Harvest.

A phone call was the least she could do.

Marriott Hotel
Oak Brook, Chicago
Early morning

Last night, rain on the window might have been magic, but in the light of morning the dresser mirror sure wasn’t. The same old face stared back as she sat on the edge of the bed, trying to straighten her disheveled appearance. She had stopped finger-combing her hair when reality bitch-slapped her across the cheek. She’d taken a good long look at her reflection and in the unyielding light of day the magic of last night vanished like a bright gold coin snatched away by a slight-of-hand parlor trick.

“Hey, remember me?” she muttered to herself, but stopped when she glimpsed something else in the mirror—Payton.

Bare chest and wearing his pajama bottoms, he was still asleep in bed, lying flat on his belly with his sun-streaked hair against tanned skin. Wrapped in white hotel bed linens, he looked like a Christmas present, all shiny and new. That thought made her smile until she remembered last night. In Payton’s arms, she had nearly forgotten who she really was. For a brief time she had allowed herself to feel…normal. But that simply wasn’t so, and she had to remember.

The reality of the woman she’d become was plain to see—as immutable as the scars on her face and body. Years ago she had refused to have them removed. Plastic surgery would only improve the outside, denying the person she had to contend with on the inside. She explained it to Sam once, but not many would understand her way of dealing with the past—penance for what she’d done and what had been done to her.

She endured the scars of her past with a fierce determination to protect faceless others from what happened to her. If she’d “fixed” the scars, her outward appearance would have
been more tolerable to others, but screw them. If others chose to judge her book by its cover, then so be it. As far as she was concerned, her scars served as fair warning, like the Hazardous to Your Health label on a pack of cigarettes. It hadn’t been easy to live this way, but in her mind it had a ring of honesty to it. And she could live with that.

“Good morning. Did you sleep okay?” His gravelly morning voice jostled the insides of her stomach—in a very good way.

She looked at herself in the mirror one last time, forced a smile, then turned around. The pale glow of morning shone through the window, casting a welcoming light on him like a long-awaited invitation.

“Yeah, I did. Thanks.” She cleared her throat and avoided his eyes. “Maybe coming here wasn’t the best idea I ever had, but it’s a new day and we can start over.”

“What are you saying?” he asked.

Payton shoved the sheets aside and sat up, staking out his own corner of the mattress. Jess didn’t know where she was heading with this, but she felt the need to galvanize her heart before it was too late.

“I mean, Nikki is out there and I think we both have to believe we’ll find her…so maybe we should focus on that for now.”

Payton narrowed his eyes and thought about what she’d said, letting silence build an awkward obstacle between them. Jess watched his reflection in the mirror, her way of distancing herself. Nibbling the inside corner of her lip, she had no idea what he was about to say, and waiting for him to do it was making her miserable with regret…and expectation.

“Jessie, I thought we—” He stopped and fixed his eyes on her through the mirror. “I agree Nikki should be the focus, but searching for her is not the only thing between us.”

“I’m just saying we have a clear priority here, that’s all.” She wanted to distract him from the personal connection
they had made last night. In the long run, it would be best for him. “For you and your sister, it’s important to keep hope alive and give it all your energy.”

She coaxed another smile and went on.

“Until you know for sure, you should hold onto the hope that you’ll find Nikki alive, Payton. Hope can get you through some pretty tough times.” She reached for his hand and clutched it. “Believe me…I know.”

With her touch, he looked into her eyes and listened. Jess searched her heart for what to say next, but what she found completely overwhelmed her.

“The thing is, Nikki made a mistake. She trusted the wrong person and believed what they told her. But a kid’s mistake isn’t supposed to be a death sentence, damn it. This wasn’t her fault. And when we find her, she’s gonna need a lot of help to recover, Payton. She’s gonna have an uphill battle each day. It angers me when I—”

She stopped herself, stifling the rage. Nikki’s plight had hit far too close to home. And the urge to tell Payton what had happened to her felt like floodgates opening, the force of water not to be denied.

“When I was a kid, I was taken from my mother. I was too young to remember all the details of that day, but I do recall images, you know?” She swallowed and edged closer to him on the bed, shoulder-to-shoulder. His warmth gave her the courage she needed to continue.

“A bright sunny day. Fall colors. And a woman’s smiling face, playing with me at a park. She must have been my mother. They were the last happy images I remember, and I’m not entirely sure if they were…real. I just know that they’ve stayed with me even after all that happened. I guess they were real.” She nodded. “Truth is, I need to believe they were.”

Jess always pictured vague fragments of a woman’s face and wondered who had meant so much to her that she recalled her face even now. Over the years, she had clung to
the belief that the woman had been her mother, but the truth was that she really didn’t know.

“Wait a minute. You mean you never got to see your mother again?”

“No.” Jess shook her head. “The police never found her. I became a ward of the state.”

With all the effort the police had put into finding her family, it was surprising that no one ever claimed her. That weighed heavy on her mind over the years—and still did, if she were being honest.

“I’m so sorry, Jessie.” He squeezed her hand.

She fixed her eyes on Payton, surprising herself with how easy it had been to open up to him. “But the man who took me left me with plenty to remember him by, as if I would ever forget what he did to me…and the others.”

“There were others?”

His question reminded her that the truth about her life was ugly—gnarled and twisted like a destructive and malignant tumor leaching life from the living. No one wanted or needed to hear about it. And the last thing she wanted to do was rob Payton and his sister of hope. Hope made for a terrible first casualty, and she had no intention of adding to their misery.

“I shouldn’t be telling you this. Not now. I only brought it up to say that I made it through and Nikki can too.” She tried to pull away, but he stopped her.

“I don’t know who did this to you, but I hate the sorry bastard. I’d sure as hell like to beat the crap out of him.”

Men always thought they could fix things with their fists, but underneath his anger, she knew Payton only wished he could have protected her from a lifetime of pain.

“You’d be too late. Cops shot him the day he got caught. He’s dead, but picturing you beating the crap out of him still works for me. Thanks.”

She wielded her sarcasm like a shield, unable to bring herself to tell him more. She had blocked much of her degradation
from her mind, mercifully banished into the oblivion of time and distance. And there were things in her memory that no one would ever know. Things she hadn’t even told Sam. But as she saw it, nothing would be gained if she continued.

“If I tell you much more of what happened to me, it won’t be any comfort to you. And that’s not my intention. I just wanted you to know that it’s not in my nature to give up, and I get the feeling you’re the same. We can’t give up on Nikki.” She let go of his hand and pulled away. “I’m sorry. I thought I could talk about what happened to me, maybe give you a pep talk, but…I can’t.”

“That’s okay.” He leaned toward her, closing the gap she’d made. “We haven’t known each other very long, but time doesn’t always play a part in how close you can feel to another human being. In hard times, you get to know who your friends are. What I’m trying to say is, if you ever want to talk…I’d listen.”

“Thanks, Payton.” She smiled and clasped his hand again. “I appreciate that.”

Something in her gut told her that placing trust in Payton would not be a mistake. And he’d been right about knowing who your friends were during hard times. Her friendship with Sam had endured over the years. But why had she opened up to him? Perhaps, in her heart, she knew it was time for the healing to start. If she would ever wrestle her life back, it had to begin with a first step. And Payton might be hers.

He was a good listener, and she had a feeling she might eventually get an opportunity to test those listening skills. If she was right about Nikki—that the girl was still alive and in the hands of the Russian—she might need to confide how she’d found the will to endure her own ordeal. And she prayed Nikki could dig deep and do whatever it took to survive.

Now, after what she’d said to Payton about Nikki, she realized there had been a change in her way of thinking.

She’d allowed Alexa to take over, which made sense. Alexa seemed to have the resources to handle the international
magnitude of Globe Harvest and not be hampered by the rules of fair play. Her trust in Alexa had surprised her, but her unflinching need to find Nikki—one girl—had taken on an equally surprising urgency.

But when she thought about it, it made sense. Kids make mistakes, but an error in judgment should not be a life’s sentence. Nikki was an innocent kid who had come into the crosshairs of ruthless and cruel men. If Nikki wasn’t to blame, then was
her
story so different? If Nikki could be forgiven, she had to admit that she could too.

For the first time, the weight she’d been carrying on her shoulders all these years started to budge. And it felt…good. Damned good.

“I could sure use some coffee.” She crooked her lip into a smile. “Maybe something quick to eat. I’ve got to call Seth to tell him about Alexa.” Jess rose off the bed, but stopped short when she heard her cell phone ring. Reaching for it on the dresser, she said, “That’s probably him now. The boy has a way of reading my mind.”

She answered the call, “Beckett here.”

“Just wanted you to know that your contribution netted us fifteen more hot spots.” The woman didn’t identify herself, but she recognized Alexa’s voice. “Can’t tell you when this is going down, but I wanted you to know. Thanks to you, we’ve improved our chances at shutting down this target for good.”

“I didn’t really expect you to call, but…thanks for the bone.” Before she’d finished, the call went dead.

Alexa had spoken her mind. No frills. No ticker tape parade. She had to satisfy herself with the subtext of the cryptic message.

“Was that Seth?” Payton asked when she shut down her phone.

“No. Alexa,” she replied with a grimace. “She’s a woman of few words, but I think she may have given us just enough information for Seth to work his magic.”

The woman had identified fifteen locations from the pages she’d given her. Now she’d have something more for Seth to work on. And that was all the ticker tape parade she’d need. Just because Alexa had what she wanted, that didn’t mean Nikki would be found. Payton’s niece was a needle in the proverbial haystack. And any attempt she and Payton made to find her would be at even worse odds. Still, she had to try. Rolling over and giving up wasn’t an option.