Lethal Justice (An Alliance Agency Novel Book 3) Read online

  Shane considered her words for a long time. “You’re sure of yourself. A lot is at stake, including lives, and it all depends on your ability to bring Kasten down. What if you fail?”

  She wouldn’t even consider such a thing or think about it. The Agency, every member of it, had become part of her family, and Malco held her heart.

  “I won’t fail.”

  Behind them, the door to the infirmary opened and closed behind Emme. Frida leaped forward, but Shane merely smiled.

  “Malco’s fine. He’s asleep now, or more precisely, he’s sedated. It was a deep wound. He should’ve gone to the hospital. I fear it will leave a mean scar on his side, but he was adamant. He should be back on his feet and as stubborn as ever in a couple of hours. Sleep will help.”

  Frida relaxed a little, knowing he was fine, but she knew that time was of the essence. She put her hand on Shane’s arm. “Time to go see JaKheel. If I’m going to bring down those crooked cops and protect your Agency, I need to convince him to cooperate now.”

  The normally hour long drive to the safe house had been well orchestrated by Shane, and turned into a three-hour journey, filled with detours, vehicle swaps, and utmost secrecy.

  James and Mercy accompanied Frida, keeping an eye on her safety. Both of them were stern and silent the entire way, which mirrored the general mood.

  Frida barely had time to change and check on Malco before leaving. When she’d seen him sleeping peacefully, but pale and drawn, guilt invaded her. Could she have prevented him from being hurt? That thought haunted her and still did as she looked outside the car window.

  Guilt was swept away by a steely resolve when the car turned into a small dirt road that led to what seemed like a small farmhouse.

  Nicholas was waiting for them on the steps. He was in charge of the team and overseeing the security of the safe house for the time being. When she exited the car, the sun was low over the horizon.

  Nicholas, always so stern, looked even gloomier. Looking around, he gestured at them to come inside. “Got the update from Shane about what happened. Took you a while to get here.”

  James rolled his eyes. “Getting rid of potential tails takes time and isn’t fun. I’d rather put a bullet in their heads, but Shane ordered otherwise.”

  Frida stepped inside, Mercy behind her. “Where’s the asset?”

  Nicholas gestured to the floor. “He’s in a secured cell downstairs. Hasn’t talked or attempted anything. I hope you know how to crack hard nuts because he’s definitely one.”

  Nicholas opened a trap door in the floor and led the way. The basement was larger than she expected, specially designed as a holding block. Only one cell was occupied, and she could see JaKheel inside, sitting on the small cot, looking straight at them with all the rage the young man could muster. As he stood, he reminded Frida of a panther, a very inexperienced, angry one, which made him both a liability and her only hope.

  She gestured to the men to stand back.

  “I always thought torture came first, and then I’d be given something sweet to sway me to whatever bullshit you have in mind.”

  Frida crossed her arms and moved forward. “Do you know who I am?”

  “The fucking lawyer who can’t stop putting her nose where she shouldn’t.”

  “That’s an interesting perspective. I guess on one level, you’re right.”

  “I’m not doing any kind of deal with you. With anybody for that matter, so you and your guard dogs can fuck off.”

  She’d seen that kind of defiance many times in her life, and while he was projecting it well, he wasn’t fooling her. “If you’re trying to impress me, you aren’t.”

  The young man snickered. “So leave me the fuck alone then.”

  “You think I’m here to sweeten you up but what you don’t realize is I’m your only option. The only one for you, Danie… and your unborn baby.”

  The look on JaKheel’s face lasted only a second, but it was true vulnerability she saw before he put his mask back in place.

  “You have balls spreading those kind of lies. As if that would make me go against the Razors.”

  “I’m not talking about the Razors. I don’t give a shit about them. They’re not my target. I want Kasten and Pool.”

  With a shrug, he put his hands in his pockets. “One way or another, you want me to betray Bullet and the Razors, and that I won’t do.”

  “Even to have a new life? To protect your family?”

  This time, he exploded in her face, gripping the bars between them as he shouted. “Fucking stop with your lies!”

  She felt the men shuffle behind her, but they stayed back.

  Frida reached into her pocket to retrieve a piece of paper and let it fall to the floor. “I’m not lying.”

  JaKheel took the small square picture and looked at it. It was hard to see anything on the ultrasound picture, but it was the only proof she had.

  It was the first blow, and she had to keep punching to get through. “Danie is with us and is safe. She wanted to tell you, but you disappeared on her. We barely got to her before Pool raped her.”

  It was a cheap shot, but she wasn’t above using them.

  “I’m not speaking on behalf of the FBI or even Miami. If it’s what you want, I can give you a new life. For you, Danie, and your baby, one away from the Blood Razors for good. On your own terms.”

  For the longest time, JaKheel ignored her, and Frida feared he hadn’t heard a word she had said.

  “Danie is safe?”

  Frida nodded. “Yes, she is. But I won’t be able to keep her that way forever. You know her, she’ll want a life of her own.”

  A corner of his mouth quirked up, so she continued. “She doesn’t know we have you, or what I’m offering. I wanted your decision before I got her hopes up. Do you want to return to the Blood Razors? If that’s your decision, I’ll make sure you’re freed tonight. But Danie will be gone. She wants more for her baby than a life in a gang and will take her chance to escape, even though she loves you. So, the choice is yours. A new life with Danie and your baby, or continue as the second-in-command of the Razors.”

  JaKheel turned his back to her. “What’s the price for that dream life?”

  “I want to clean house. I need you as my main witness. If you agree, here and now, Danie gets sent away, protected 24/7 until it’s over. When Kasten and Pool are behind bars, I’ll send you to her.”

  “They’re the only two you want intel on?”

  Despite the temptation, her heart squeezed at his tone. Loyalty was hard to smother in a man’s heart. “Whatever you have to bring Kasten and Pool down, or anybody else on the force that’s dirty. The Razors aren’t my target.”

  Very slowly, the young man turned and nodded. “I want to talk to Danie. If she confirms what you said and wants this, I’ll do it.”

  Frida nodded and turned on her heels. Relief mixed with anticipation flooded her veins when she headed upstairs. Mercy had listened to everything and was already talking to Shane on a burner phone, organizing for Danie to be brought to the farmhouse.

  Her thoughts went to her next move. With newfound fire, Frida couldn’t wait to start building the case and bring those dirty rats down for good.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Malco came awake in a rush, pain slamming into his side as he sat up quickly, making him feel lightheaded and nauseous.

  “Hey, slow down.” His eyes moved to Emme, who was seated beside the bed doing paperwork. She placed it aside and assessed him. “How do you feel?”

  Malco frowned. “Like you fucking drugged me,” he accused angrily.

  “We had no choice, Malco. If we hadn’t, you’d have gone running off half-cocked to JaKheel with Frida and gotten yourself hurt even worse.

  “Frida is with JaKheel? Are you fucking insane?” His anger was hitting altitude now as fear mixed with the pain.

  “Watch your fucking mouth,” Shane growled from the door. His voice was low with anger as he glared
at Malco. Malco was instantly contrite for speaking to Emme that way. She was a good boss and an even better friend, and the rational part of him knew that. Unfortunately, the rational Malco had taken leave, and the worried one was in residence.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that. I’m worried about Frida. She thinks she can save the world, and while I believe in her, I can’t let anything happen to her.”

  Malco saw understanding flash across Shane’s face, and the anger from moments ago take a back seat.

  “I understand, I do, but don’t let that shit happen again or bullet wound or not, I’ll punch you in the face.”

  “Nothing to apologize for,” Emme said with a glare at Shane.

  “Who’s with her?” The fog from the drugs was wearing off now, and with a clearer head, he knew Shane would never have let her go alone. His team was more than competent, but that didn’t change the fact that nobody would be able to protect her better than he could because he loved her, and they didn’t.

  “I’ve been where you are, Malco, and it fucking sucks, but you have to trust your team to keep her safe. Mercy and James are with her, and Nicholas is at the safe house.” Shane pulled up a chair beside the bed as Malco swung his feet off, testing his legs and luckily finding them firm beneath him. Emme couldn’t have given him a large dose.

  “We have a bigger problem right now.” Malco had a horrible feeling he knew where this was going.

  “We have a leak.”

  He’d known the second the bullet hit that something was wrong. There was no way that anyone should’ve known they were responsible for the raids on the Blood Razors.

  Shane nodded. “We have a leak.”

  “Any thoughts on who it might be?” Malco asked carefully.

  “I have full faith in the Alliance Team. No doubt whatsoever. However, I’d be a fool not to investigate, and there are only two people that aren’t part of this team and had access to our plans.” The way the words were said so carefully, Malco knew exactly who one of those two were. Malco clenched his fists, his jaw hard as he tried to contain the fury.

  “No fucking way.”

  “Malco, hear me out for a second. I’m not accusing Frida. Fuck, she was my friend before she was your woman. But it’s either her or Ward. Now, my money is on Ward because I know Frida, and I don’t believe she’d knowingly betray anyone, let alone us. That said, she and Ward are the only two people it could be. So, if you trust Frida and for the record, so do I, then we have a big fucking problem because Ward knew our plans, and he knows about the kids being here, and JaKheel being somewhere else.”

  “Does he know where they are?”

  “I don’t believe so, no. I put Caitlin and Alex on him as soon as my suspicions were raised. He’s still with Danie, but that, in its own right, isn’t great. We need to get him away from her, Tycen, and his mother without arousing suspicion.”

  “But we still don’t know it’s him,” Malco said, not wanting to believe the man he’d worked with these last few years to rehabilitate so many kids was on the Blood Razor’s payroll.

  “No,” Shane said carefully, “we don’t, but at this point, my priority is keeping my team safe.”

  Malco nodded and slipped off the bed, moving for the door. “Where the hell are you going?” Emme asked with her brows in her hairline.

  “Alex is busy, so I’m going to dig into Ward’s finances to see if we can find anything to prove or disprove your theory.” Emme and Shane followed him toward the tech room, where he sat heavier than he intended, jarring his side. He grimaced but bit back the pain in case Emme went full mother hen on him again.

  His fingers began to fly over the keys as he used software to hack the computer system, hating that he was so slow at it.

  “We need a fucking hacker on the team.” He knew he grumbled, but couldn’t help it.

  “I know, I have it in hand,” Emme said.

  Malco looked at her.

  “You do?”

  “Yep, we have someone starting the end of the month.”

  “Can’t they start sooner?”

  “No. Let’s just say this person is having a holiday at Her Majesty’s pleasure currently.”

  Malco had no clue what that meant, but he was glad they were getting someone on board soon.

  “I’m in,” he said a few minutes later as he scanned Ward’s accounts for any obvious clues to if he might be involved. It didn’t take long for Malco to spot the one thing he didn’t want to see. Regular deposits of twenty-five thousand dollars had been hitting his account for the last year. He frowned as he turned to Emme. “Do we have the dates each kid was taken?” Emme, who had been looking over his shoulder, must have realized the conclusion he was drawing. She moved to the computer beside him and started tapping away on the keys. Moments later, she turned to him and reeled off the dates. Every single one was a day before the deposits hit Ward’s account.

  “Fucking hell.” Malco felt bile and disappointment crawl up his belly. “We need to bring him in and find exactly how deeply he’s involved in this.”

  Shane already had a phone to his ear.

  “This will stretch us thinner than I like.” Emme murmured.

  “I can bring him in, tell him we need his help with JaKheel. I’m fairly sure he will buy it.” Emme frowned, and he saw her weighing it in her mind. “Shane should go with you in case he gets spooked. I don’t doubt your skill, but you lost a decent amount of blood, and while we stitched you, you should’ve gone to a hospital.”

  “Fine.” Malco bit out, not liking the feeling of being half functioning. Not since he’d lost his leg had he felt this useless. He had a feeling it had to do with the fact that he couldn’t protect Frida at this given second, and he didn’t like that at all.

  Shane paced back toward them, his face severe, making him look unapproachable until he looked at Emme and his face softened.

  “That was James. They were struggling with JaKheel, but within ten minutes, Frida had him agreeing. The original plan was to take Danie to him, but I feel happier having her here, and JaKheel brought to us.”

  “What about Tycen and his mom, are they safe?” Malco asked, trying to get up to speed in this fast-moving situation.

  “Yes. We moved them as soon as this went down. I have some frog buddies of mine looking after them at a black site.” Malco nodded.

  “Is it wise to bring Ward and JaKheel here? If JaKheel sees Ward, this could get messy.” Shane grinned at Malco, and he got his intent.

  “That’s what you want.” Malco smiled.

  “The best way to see if Ward is guilty is to put him in a controlled meet with JaKheel. With JaKheel knowing what he does about Danie, if Ward is guilty, he’ll expose him in a heartbeat.”

  “Do you think he knows?”

  “Undoubtedly. He’s Bullet’s right-hand man. Of course he’ll know who’s dirty.”

  “Let’s bring these fuckers in and clean house then,” Malco said, wanting this over so he could have a few days with Frida before this went before a court and other headaches started. Namely keeping the witnesses and the main prosecutor safe. Keeping his Frida from ending up hurt.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “You’re sure he’s going to be there?” Danie sounded so young and vulnerable when she tightened her grip on Frida’s hand.

  Once she left the safehouse, plans had changed. James had received a call from Shane, telling them to bring JaKheel to home base, even if it wasn’t the initial plan. James looked grim after his call, but everything moved fast; James would stay with Nicholas and bring JaKheel in while Mercy and Frida would go get Danie.

  Despite everything, Frida offered the young girl an encouraging smile. “I can guarantee you he’ll be there.” She didn’t mind repeating if it set Danie at ease. From the moment she’d arrived where Danie was living and explained the situation, the girl had repeatedly asked her if she was telling the truth.

  There was no doubt the situation was still dire.
It was one thing for JaKheel to accept the deal, but things could go wrong. The young man could be playing them in order to escape, or their carefully laid plan could unravel in the blink of an eye. Despite everything she’d suffered in her life, Frida prayed for Danie’s own happily ever after, one her sister never had.

  The rest of the route, Frida listened the best she could to Danie’s happy chatter about the future, keeping her calm until they reached the Agency. Immediately, Frida saw a couple of men she didn’t know discreetly patrolling the perimeter, and that was a sign the danger level had spiked.

  Mercy drove the car right to the entrance, and Alex came out to usher them inside.

  Emme smiled and welcomed Danie inside. “Welcome, Danie. We’re so glad you’re here. Follow me. I have someone who is impatient to see you.”

  Danie kept a tight grip on Frida’s hand as Emme lead them to a small bedroom. As soon as Emme opened the door, Danie let go of her and flung herself into JaKheel’s arms and started weeping.

  Slowly, Emme closed the door on them and sighed. “It’s a mess of a situation.”

  Frida could only nod. “Are you going to leave them alone for now?”

  “We’ve secured the room. A signal can’t get in or out, and we have eyes and ears on them. They’ll remain locked in for now. JaKheel had been informed of the situation and agreed to it. There are a couple more things you should know.”

  Frida rubbed her neck as she Emme told her about Ward. “What a mess. Are we certain it’s him?”

  “We’re digging, but it doesn’t look good. That’s why we have eyes on him and plan to have him meet JaKheel. If they recognize each other, that would be undeniable proof.”

  Tiredness pulled at her, and she dreamed of a shower and changing clothes, but Frida knew her work was far from done. “Where’s Malco?”