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  Without the need for Ken to ask, Cowboy slipped back outside to watch over the house. Franks talked low and concise, and with the information they’d learned, rage surged through Ken like none he’d ever felt on an op. He tried to contain the emotion enough to take over the questioning, but as he worked to release the tension in his jaw and body, he still dealt with his blood boiling and sparks of anger shooting through his body.

  That lying, conniving woman deserved to be horsewhipped, and he’d be the first in line to do it, no matter how much Sam protected the bitch.

  8

  Ken barged back into the breakfast nook. Looking up at him, Sam knew the agents had new information, something bad based on Ken’s furious face. Ken was almost red with what was clearly controlled rage. He stopped, touched her lightly on the shoulder which calmed and reassured her. Much to her discomfort. This whole being angry at what he supposedly did and the man he’d shown himself to be was a constant battle in her confused brain, and heart. Her problem with Ken aside, she had an inkling Bev held something back. Something critical, and even with Ken’s calming touch, her body tensed at what he was about to say. Before he spoke, he removed his hand from her shoulder and put his hands on his hips. He made a formidable presence that even had her a bit unnerved. Yet, that could be from the loss of his touch.

  “Who the hell is Alejandro Ramirez?” he barked.

  While she knew that Ken—and surely Devon—had to have an idea of who this man was since it appeared her teammates brought the information back, she focused back on Bev since she’d ignored Ken’s question.

  “Who is it, Bev?” Her soft, soothing tone had disappeared. Tired of running in circles while she treated Bev like a friend instead of a client, she gave up all pretense of patience. Becoming more and more disconcerted by her friend’s actions and knowing because of them she’d probably lost her team time they needed to find Cody, she no longer cared if Bev hated her or ended their friendship. The boy mattered more than any of that.

  Bev fiddled with the same tissue she’d held since Sam began questioning her nearly an hour ago—straightening it, folding it, then crumpling it. “I don’t know what you mean.” Her shaky voice and unwillingness to meet either of their gazes belied that point.

  “Bev, to get Cody back, we have to question everything. It’s the only way. No one will think anything different of you or Cody. We just need to know the truth.” It angered her to no end that her friend, Cody’s mother, would hold out on them. She couldn’t make sense of it. Maybe the information on this individual was wrong, and he had nothing to do with the Shoduns.

  “Sam, make them all go away. I don’t want to talk about this with—” She waved her hand at the men with a disgusted look marring her features. “—them around.”

  That obviously meant she knew this Alejandro that Ken had asked about and he might be important. Her instinct wanted her to tread easily again, but she held strong to distancing herself to do what they needed to bring Cody home safe. “No,” Sam said forcefully. “Tell us about this man, or I swear to God, Bev, we’ll knock on every damn door in your neighborhood and ask the question.”

  Bev’s shocked then wounded look didn’t sway Sam to be easy again.

  “He’s, uh—” Her hands shook despite the death grip she had on the tissue.

  Obviously having enough, Ken answered his own question. “She’s been dating him.”

  Sam sat stunned for a moment. Her friend—her best friend—had not only kept that information from her as a friend but also in the investigation.

  “Is it true, Bev?” She couldn’t hold the disbelief laced with unleashed hostility out of her voice. And, truly, she didn’t care. Although she’d never used the term “bitch slap” before, now she understood its meaning and provoked need. Yet she held back. They were here for Cody. She’d deal with Bev after he’d been returned home.

  “Well,” she hedged, “he and I….”

  Good God, she might reconsider that slap. “I’m tired of playing, so don’t push me. Now”—her assertive voice had Bev snapping her head up to look at Sam—“you two what, Bev?”

  Shock didn’t begin to describe the woman’s expression. “Sam, why are you being like this?”

  She didn’t fall for the wounded routine. She’d seen it before when Bev didn’t get her way. “So help me God, I will come across this table and beat your ass until you give me the information. Now,” she bit out and stressed each word, “tell me about this man.”

  “I didn’t tell you, Sam, because I can’t imagine he had anything to do with this. He wanted our relationship to be secret.”

  “Bev, I’m one step away from doing what I said. Now, tell us about him.”

  By this time, the entire team had returned and most stood outside while Ken remained beside the table, refusing to sit.

  Tearing a piece off that damn tissue that Sam wanted to yank from her hands, Bev began, “We used to date.”

  Sam ignored the pang in her heart when Bev confirmed Ken’s statement. Had she really been such a shitty friend to Bev that she hadn’t felt compelled to share something as huge as this? This was the first time since Adam’s death that Bev had dated anyone. Well, as far as she was aware. Who knew what else Bev had held back. “Used to?”

  “We broke up last week. That’s why I know he had nothing to do with it,” she rushed to assert again.

  Gritting her teeth and almost hoping Ken would take over the questioning because there was no assurance she wouldn’t explode, Sam took a breath then asked, “Where does he live?”

  Bev’s hesitation before she spoke had Sam narrowing her eyes at her friend. “I don’t know.”

  “Those are three words I don’t fucking want to hear again.”

  Sam startled at the force of Ken’s words.

  “Well, I don’t.” Bev shrugged. “He stayed at a hotel. I think he said he lived in Mexico. I never asked specifically.”

  With that information—as vague as it was—Jesse slipped from the room, pulling his phone from his pocket. God, she hoped Devon could make something of the crap information they had so far about Alejandro Ramirez. That’d obviously be a challenge since she imagined there were tons of men with that name. She didn’t care how Devon narrowed it down for them—and he would—they’d pay the man a visit. She reminded herself that everyone was a suspect until proven otherwise.

  The desire to close her eyes to it all—Cody’s abduction and the changes in Bev—held strong, but her need for them to succeed held stronger. “Why did you break up?” If Bev didn’t answer because the men were in the room, friendship be damned, they’d have to pull her off the woman.

  “I don’t know,” Bev whined, but with her fidgeting, there was no question that she knew the answer. Yet, her holding it back, and Sam’s pulling teeth to get all the information, made Sam wonder what the hell kind of relationship she had with this man.

  She took a deep breath to calm herself. Either Ken noticed or he’d had enough too because he forced the question. “Why did you break up?”

  The waterworks started again, and Sam wanted to roll her eyes at the melodrama that she realized she’d fallen for in the beginning. Sam couldn’t believe Bev’s apparent lack of urgency to find her son. Unsettled, Sam struggled to contain her growing anger or unease. There was something off with Bev… with Cody.

  “Beverly,” Ken barked, “answer the damn question. A little boy’s life is at stake and I’ll do anything—anything,” he stressed, “to find him. We don’t deal with bullshit in a case like this. Instead, we carry shovels with us in case they’re ever needed to bury the bodies of obstacles.”

  If that didn’t break the tension amongst the team, nothing else would. While all held back their grins at Ken’s bluff since the situation didn’t warrant them, his statement had the desired effect on Bev.

  Openmouthed and bug-eyed, she looked at Ken with f
ear. He did appear ferocious. A sexy ferocious, but one had to be on this side of the table to see that. “He said—” She wailed and for the first time, Sam became sick to her stomach at her growing doubt of Bev’s care for her son and his safe return home. She’d called Sam for help, but she wasn’t helping. Sam didn’t think it had anything to do with HIS. Bev had to be hiding something.

  While they had to consider everyone a suspect—especially the parents—Sam couldn’t believe Bev had her hand in Cody’s disappearance. She knew Bev loved her son, no matter how poorly she showed it, and it took more smarts than Bev demonstrated on any given day to pull this off. But something didn’t sit right, and she couldn’t put her finger on it. Maybe this person—this Alejandro—had been the secret and hopefully the key to unlocking Cody’s location.

  Ken took one step closer to the table and thumbed his hands on it, leaning forward. Bev jumped and Sam no longer cared if the team put fear into her friend. “He said—” Her next words were almost lost in her next fit of wailing. “—I was an unfit mother.”

  Holy shit. If they’d had this at the beginning, they’d probably have Cody home by now because this man could be Cody’s kidnapper. Her head hurt, but that might’ve been from her mentally beating it against an imaginary wall. After all the runaround from Bev, they finally had a suspect. Alejandro Ramirez.

  Ken straightened and stiffened as Stone carried a box into the home. Sam hadn’t seen Stone and Doc when they’d returned, although she’d heard it in her earbud. They’d remained outside to keep from crowding Bev and to watch for anything suspicious.

  As Ken took fast strides to the door, Sam stood. “I’ll be right back. You stay here and think if there’s anything else that’ll help.”

  Bev nodded, playing with that nasty tissue. Thankfully, she didn’t turn to see what drew Ken and Sam away.

  “The postman showed me the routing information on his little handheld tracker. It went through the post from Mexico, mailed five days ago. The return address says it’s from Alejandro Ramirez,” Stone informed them.

  Without knowing for sure if that was correct, Sam imagined there’d been a collective holding of breath at that news. Two things came to mind—Bev was lying about when she’d last seen Alejandro, and because of the time the package was shipped, Alejandro might not be their man.

  With a sinking stomach, Sam hoped that somehow—even remotely—this provided a lead to Cody. Then again, the questions of what this could mean to their investigation flared to life. It’d mean most of what they’d learned so far had been a lie, but if it led them to the boy, they’d deal with that later.

  Ken pulled a knife from a sheath on his belt. “Let’s open it. It may be nothing.” Sam could tell from his intense focus he didn’t believe that. “He could be sending something of hers back, like some couples do when they split.”

  “You don’t really believe that, do you?” Franks asked a question she knew Ken had already considered. They all contemplated that question before they did anything similar. It’d been ingrained in them.

  Shaking his head, Ken motioned for Stone to place the box on the closest coffee table with care.

  “I’m curious,” Ken said, “why he’d send something to someone he split with—someone who never stayed at his home in Mexico. If he wanted to reunite, there are easier ways.” He held back for a second and looked around the box. He started to speak into his comm system, when he obviously thought better of it, and she knew why. They had to make sure they weren’t dealing with a bomb. “Go get Cowboy,” he told Franks.

  Stone and Old Man looked expectantly at the door while she observed Ken. He slowly circled the table with his eyes riveted on the package.

  When Cowboy entered, with Franks on his heels, their munitions expert ignored everyone and went straight for the package. Due to the height of the table, he knelt and began to circle like Ken had. After a lot more observing and even eyeballing it at close range, Cowboy stood. “There’s nothing tied to opening it, but cut easy and cut shallow. I’m not psychic enough to know what’s inside and without my equipment….” He shrugged.

  Ken nodded. “I want all of you to get back.”

  No one moved.

  He looked at Jesse. “See, I can’t even get my team to follow my instruction.”

  Jesse shook his head. “We’re keeping you, so stop it.”

  Sam’s head snapped to Ken. What the hell was that about? She wanted to ask, but other things took precedence at the moment. Later she’d ask. All she felt right now was that she didn’t want Ken to die. Irony described her life.

  “Don’t worry,” Franks said with a quirk to his lips, “if we all get blown up, Doc’s outside. Who better to have tend to you than a medic?”

  While a bad joke, it helped ease the tension that flowed through the group.

  Ken knelt and slowly sliced through the clear tape securing the box lid. The brown box had no markings except for the shipping information. They’d send it off for prints, but if Alejandro resided in Mexico, he might not have prints in any US system.

  Realizing she’d actually been worried and thankful nothing had happened, she sighed with relief. Now to the second part that had her heart thumping in her chest. Please lead us to Cody.

  Opening the box took an excruciating amount of time. Going slow for a potential bomb made sense, but something inside her gut told her they’d find something about Cody. Which would mean Bev had lied about more than just when she’d seen Alejandro.

  Once the lid was fully opened, the note, on top of a navy backpack that she’d purchased for Cody, told them they’d been played for fools.

  “He’s better off with me.”

  Sam didn’t know this man, but based on what she’d seen with Bev today, she wholeheartedly agreed.

  9

  Ken knew his men and knew they didn’t care how intimating the group of them came across as they surrounded Beverly. The scowls on their faces no doubt covered the rage that built within each of them.

  Ignoring Sam beside him and any feelings she had for her friend, he went in like a rabid dog after a bone. He ground out, “How long did you say your son has been missing?”

  Beverly looked around the group with wide eyes. When her gaze landed on Sam, as if calling her back to her side but not seeing what she perhaps expected, her head fell in defeat. “I-I,” she stammered, “I don’t know what you mean.” With what appeared to be renewed courage, the crazy bitch lifted her head and stared straight ahead, away from them. “I told you. It’d been about six hours when I called Sam.”

  His control might snap after all. Why? Why would she lie to them? Either she knew it’d been more than six hours, or she knew that Alejandro had taken Cody. In either case, she didn’t want to own up to it, which created a whole new level of concern for the boy. With the information the men had gathered, the notes and the backpack told them it had all been a lie. The question for them to resolve—albeit later—was why Beverly had lied to them. Even to Sam who she’d claimed was her best friend.

  He crossed his arms over his chest to keep from reaching out and doing something he might regret. Might. “You want to try that again.”

  “What?” She gave them the same bewildered look. He had to hand it to her, her acting had them in the beginning. Knowing they’d been played for fools while a child had been abducted set the team on edge. They didn’t know this man or how he’d treat Cody. “I told you the truth.”

  Ken nodded to Franks, motioning to the room where they’d left the package. Once Franks returned with the backpack, Ken unfolded his arms and accepted it before shoving it in front of Beverly. “Does this look familiar?”

  She turned her face away.

  Beyond pissed, he pushed the backpack in her face so she couldn’t ignore it, no matter how much she tried. When she closed her eyes, he roared, emphasizing each word, “Does. This. Look. Familiar?”


  She nodded. “It’s Cody’s.” Her voice broke as she admitted what they’d already learned from Sam. Finally, they got one snippet of truth from the woman.

  “When did he really disappear?” With his head, he motioned the men to the door before handing the backpack back to Franks. They didn’t need anything more from Beverly right now, but he hoped to grab one more grain of truth while the men prepped them to get to the airport. Not like he thought he’d get anything useful.

  “I don’t know.” The crying restarted, but he had no sympathy for her.

  “Why don’t you know?” Sam asked. When Beverly didn’t answer her, she prodded, “How long did you leave him alone?”

  She sniffed. “I don’t know. Maybe a week.”

  Christ. A fierce resolve settled in him. They’d do something they’d never done before when rescuing a child. They would bring Cody back from his kidnapper, but they wouldn’t return him to his mother. Finding him a better situation would be a new goal for Devon while his team located the boy.

  Ken caught Sam’s eye, and they turned their backs to Beverly and departed without another word to her. Sam’s heart had to be hurting, but he couldn’t do anything about it right now. Not like she’d allow him to do so.

  Like always, he had to hold those thoughts and emotions for another time. One day he’d just buck up and tell her the depth of his feelings. Even though she pushed him away after their kiss, they’d shared something strong. She’d kissed him back with something powerful that he thought might’ve scared her. He wanted her love more than anything in the world, and he wouldn’t let her push him away.

  First, they’d save the boy.

  Giving one last look at Beverly’s home, Ken climbed into the SUV. Because of all the time they’d wasted, they wouldn’t arrive in Mexico until nearly four in the morning—if they could fly out right away. They could grab combat naps on the plane. When they arrived, darkness would hamper their recon efforts.