She froze, looking terrified. “I do not know his last name, but in Mexico, in Emilo’s compound, he was called Hector. And he was greatly feared and fiercely loyal to my brother-in-law. He is not a man you want to cross.”

  Trees scowled and rose to take Laila in his grasp. “Did he hurt you?”

  “Many times.”

  The big man’s face turned mean. “Then he’ll find out I’m not a man to cross, either. I’ll make him pay.”

  Laila looked at him like he was crazy. “You cannot.”

  “Can’t,” he corrected. “And oh, yes. I absolutely can.”

  He pulled up some search engine Tessa had never seen, one far more powerful and secretive than Google. He typed in Hector Johnson’s name. Moments later, an address popped up. “Gotcha, you son of a bitch.”

  Tessa scanned it, wondering what part of town that was when a ding resounded in the background.

  Trees flipped to that window, read a few lines of some long string of code, and smiled. “Gotcha, too. Should have known you assholes would stick together.”

  Tessa’s heart caught. “What do you mean?”

  “Hector and your ex? They’re at the same address.”

  “Fuck,” Zy cursed. “They’re in this together.”

  “Cash helped take his own daughter from me?” Tessa couldn’t comprehend it. Cash had never wanted Hallie before.

  Of course, he only wanted their baby when she could be used to help him get ahead.

  “Yeah. Let’s go save Hallie and get the bastard.”

  “Both of them,” Trees growled. “I’m coming with you.”

  Zy scowled and sent a head bob in Laila’s direction. “You’re supposed to stay here.”

  “One-Mile can come protect her for a few hours.”

  “You’d leave her with that crazy SOB?”

  “He didn’t hurt her in Mexico when he had the chance.”

  “True. Then I’ll call him and tell him to get his ass out here.”

  “Tell him to hurry,” Tessa insisted. She needed her baby almost more than she needed to breathe. And she was desperate to get over to this address before the men moved—and took her daughter with them. “We need him.”

  Zy nodded. “You got it.”

  Zy glanced at Tessa, who looked tense and withdrawn in the passenger’s seat of her little sedan. As they sped to Hector Johnson’s place, he wished like hell they could clear the air now. But she wasn’t in a good headspace, and he was at least half to blame for that.

  Why hadn’t he shut the fuck up in the bunker when he’d had the chance?

  The only good thing he’d done this morning was drop Hunter a text to tell him Tessa’s double cross wasn’t at all responsible for Kimber’s abduction and that he needed a few more hours. After that, he’d explain everything.

  “Baby, I know you’re worried.” Zy was, too…but he didn’t want to say that. Even if he didn’t share Hallie’s blood, that was his little girl, damn it. He knew how ruthless cartels could be. He’d seen the human carnage they left behind firsthand. It fucking killed him to think of that baby in their clutches. “But—”

  “How can I not be?”

  “If Hallie isn’t at this location, we’ll keep looking. We’ll find her. I’m not giving up.”

  “We’re running out of time.” Her voice broke with worry—and broke his heart. “Hector Johnson supposedly lives at this address, but what if he’s not there now? Or at all anymore?”

  “Cash is. We can physically place him there. He knows something, guaranteed. It’s not a coincidence he’s at the very address of the man who accosted you in the parking lot. And if that’s a dead end, we’ll find Aspen. She’s somehow involved. She can’t be too hard to track down. And she didn’t come across as too tough…or too smart. Believe me, I’ll do everything in my power to bring Hallie back.”

  And if he was too late, he would cause every motherfucker who’d had a hand in hurting their baby girl ten times the pain before he ended each one. Not only to rain Hallie’s vengeance down on them but to prove to Tessa that he would always be here for her. She didn’t believe that now, and if he could take back the hurt he’d caused her in the last few hours, he would. But regrets were like assholes; everyone had one. Lamenting what he couldn’t change was pointless. He could only try to move forward from here.

  Tessa gathered her knees to her chest, eyes filling with tears. “I’m scared.”

  She didn’t mean for her own safety. The fact she’d insisted on coming along, even though Trees had decided to join this operation, told Zy she wasn’t giving a thought about her well-being. She only cared about Hallie’s. Zy was both awed and terrified of the lengths she’d go to in order to save her daughter.

  He took Tessa’s hand in his. “We have a plan. Hector and Cash have no idea we’re coming. We’ll surprise them. If Hallie is there, I will die before I let anything happen to her.”

  “Zy…”

  She thought he was full of BS and hyperbole, but he straight-up meant that. “I’m going to make it better, whatever I have to do.”

  Tessa bit at her lip but didn’t respond.

  Maybe she believed him. Maybe she didn’t. That wasn’t where he needed to focus now. Time to get his head in this op or there would be casualties…and not just among the enemy.

  Zy glanced in the rearview mirror. Trees followed in his Hummer. When they neared Johnson’s neighborhood, Trees would take the lead since neither Hector nor Cash had ever seen him, cruise by the house, then report back on activity. From there, they’d finish formulating their plan of attack.

  “Seriously,” Zy told Tessa. “Trees isn’t going to let this go, either.”

  He had a vendetta to settle, and he was out for blood.

  “Trees definitely seems ready to avenge Laila’s honor or whatever.”

  Zy shrugged like he couldn’t explain it, but he could. If Trees had stepped over the corporate line to take the skittish woman to bed—Zy still wasn’t sure how that had happened—then Trees was feeling something more than passing lust. The man lived by a rigid code of right and wrong. He would only violate that for a cause he considered more important than rule and more sacred than order.

  “He’s a protector.” That was a safe answer.

  “You all are. But for him this situation is more.”

  Tessa was definitely observant. “Yeah.”

  “When did Laila get here? How?”

  Zy hadn’t been honest with her about the retrieval mission when it had gone down, but he had no reason not to explain now. He gave her the short version. If they made it through this confrontation, he’d answer whatever questions she had. If not…it wouldn’t matter.

  “She’s had a really rough life.”

  Since they’d only make her worry about Hallie more, he spared Tessa the grittier details about the terrible things Emilo Montilla’s men had done to Laila as a child. “Hopefully, now that she’s free of that asshole, she can finally take her first steps to a new future.”

  Tessa scowled. “You don’t have to sugarcoat this for me. I know Laila isn’t home free. No one tangled up in this mess is because it’s obvious there are different sides warring for the power vacuum left after his death.”

  Clearly, she was also smart. “You’re right. We think Emilo’s father, Geraldo Montilla—a legendary drug lord for decades—has Kimber and that he wants revenge on the colonel and the bosses for helping Valeria escape a couple years back. Kane has been asking the woman questions about all the players, but nothing so far. After Laila’s revelations today, I’m thinking maybe a group of Emilo’s old compadres have banded together to seize control of the territory Emilo used to rule.”

  “Then why kidnap Hallie? I don’t know anything useful.”

  “But you work for the people who have all the information.”

  “Not for much longer.” Then she shook her head like she couldn’t think about that reality now. “But until they fire me, the kidnapper thinks I’m able to learn our next moves. And do what with the information?”

  Zy frowned. Trees had never gotten to finish the deep dive on her computer or phone. “I don’t know. What did they ask you?”

  Tessa filled him in, and that reinforced most of his suspicions—except one thing didn’t make sense. “Hmm. I don’t know why Hallie’s abductor would want to know how Valeria and Laila’s safe houses kept getting hit. If he or his buddies wanted her location, why didn’t they just ask for that? It’s what Emilo himself tortured One-Mile to learn. He wanted that one piece of information every fucking time he had someone spy on us.”

  “But Hector Johnson only wants to know how it’s happening.” She frowned. “I didn’t ask why he wanted the information.”

  Of course not. That hadn’t been her concern or her role. They wouldn’t have told her anyway. “Trying to assess our vulnerabilities, see if they could further exploit them? That’s my only guess right now.”

  “This might be a war for a drug cartel, but it’s seemingly an information battle.”

  “Yeah.” Later, Zy would see if Valeria could shed any light. It might also be time to move her elsewhere, rotate out her bodyguard. He’d left the new guy with a lot of responsibility, and Kane had handled it well, but the arrangement was starting to make Zy uneasy.

  “How much longer?” She fidgeted.

  “We’re about to turn in. Recognize this part of town?”

  “No. I’ve never come this way.”

  Zy hadn’t, either, and he didn’t like flying in blind. Normally, he and Trees would case the place, get schematics, do hours and hours of legwork, and make sure they knew what to expect. Then they would go in, using whatever tactic made the most sense. This shit was a wing and a prayer, and he hoped like hell for a miracle, that Hallie would come out of this unscathed.

  Just then, his phone buzzed. He scooped up the device. “Talk to me, buddy.”

  “Why don’t you cruise past the entrance? This is a mobile home park. A small one apparently. I’ll call you as soon as I’ve gone in and scoped around. Hang tight.”

  “You got it.” He overshot the entrance to the neighborhood full of newish mobile homes and modest cars, then pulled under a big tree to wait, rolling down the window and pretending to look at his phone as if he was lost.

  As they waited, Zy thought Tessa would crawl out of her skin with each moment that ticked by. He wasn’t faring much better, gut churning with nerves. He knew how much this meant to her because it meant everything to him, too. He couldn’t tell Tessa that she might never see Hallie again or that her daughter might already be dead. He didn’t want her crossing that bridge unless Hector Johnson pushed her off of it. But he couldn’t pretend the likelihood that this ended in heartbreak wasn’t high.

  “Baby…” He took her hands. “About what happened…what I did in the bunker, I’m sorry.”

  “We don’t have to talk about that now.”

  “At least let me apologize.”

  “For telling me how you felt? You can’t change that, and we both know I’m not without blame. I don’t expect you to forgive and forget anything.”

  “I love you.”

  Tessa frowned. “Why would you say that now? You didn’t love me in the bunker.”

  “Yeah, I did. I was mad that I still loved you even when you knew you were sending me to my death.”

  She bowed her head, looking near tears. “That ripped me up inside. It was the most painful thing I’ve ever done.”

  Because she loved him, too? Now wasn’t the time to ask, and he was too afraid of the answer. “Just like it ripped me up inside to hurt you.”

  She gave him a little nod. An acknowledgment? Then she looked out her window. “What’s taking so long?”

  Trees had been gone less than two minutes. But Zy got it; she wasn’t ready for this conversation. She was rightfully focused on her daughter’s safety. “He’ll call in a minute.”

  Sure enough, a handful of seconds later, his phone buzzed again. “Whatcha got?”

  “Nothing visible from the street. House looks closed up, like maybe they’re still asleep. Wait. I spoke too soon. The front blinds just opened. I see…” Trees paused. “Someone’s in there. There’s too much glare to a make out a face or an outline, but the place isn’t empty. And there’s a truck in the carport. I’m running the plate now.”

  “What’s he saying?” Tessa demanded.

  Zy held up a finger. “I don’t want to know how you’re doing that, buddy.”

  “You don’t; it’s illegal as fuck. Gimme a second. And what do you know? The truck is registered to Hector Johnson.”

  Good news. “So he’s probably there. How do you want to play this?”

  Normally, Zy wouldn’t question the approach. He’d go in one side, Trees in the other, and flank them so there was no escape. But they didn’t know this place, and he had Tessa with him.

  “I cased the perimeter of the mobile home park. It’s enclosed inside a brick wall. The only way in or out is the entrance you’re parked next to.”

  So Johnson couldn’t sneak out the back. “Excellent. That simplifies the situation.”

  “Yep. I should knock on the door. Neither Cash nor Hector knows me. I’ll draw their attention while you slip around the back.”

  “With Tessa?”

  Trees sighed. “I don’t suppose she’d wait in the car.”

  Zy glanced over at her. She looked ready to hurtle herself out of the seat, run to the house, and tear her daughter from the place with her own two hands.

  “Negative.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Yep.” Now that the moment was almost here, he was afraid for Tessa. But they’d already argued about this. She refused to budge. Nothing was more important to her than Hallie. She’d proven that.

  “Then put her behind you. Sneak in the back. See if you can find the baby while I keep whoever’s inside occupied.”

  “You going to read their meter? Or sell them insurance?”

  “I’ll wing it. Something will come to me.”

  It always did. “You got everything you need?”

  “Yep.”

  “Where should I roll in?”

  “The mobile home park is shaped like an O so it’s a curved street on each side, bisected by a long, straight drag in the middle. At the entrance, take the fork to the right. Go all the way to the end of the street and park just before you round the bend at the back. From there, walk toward the left side of the park. Johnson is along that wall, in the middle. You should be able to pass yourselves off as a couple taking a morning walk.”

  “Roger that.”

  After a few more details, they hung up. Zy started the car and followed Trees’s directions, stopping between two mobile homes, one with a well-tended fence and planters out front. The other looked like a cookie-cutter shithole.

  He double-checked that his Glock was loaded and the blade he’d strapped just under the hem of his pants was secure. Then he stepped from Tessa’s sedan, watching as she did the same, and locked it before he walked to the front of the vehicle. “Let’s go.”

  “What are we doing?”

  “Take my hand and walk with me. I’ll explain.”

  She did, clasping him tightly. Tension pinged off of her.

  “Baby, for this to work, you have to trust me.”

  “There’s no one I trust more with my safety.”

  Just not with her heart. Zy cursed under his breath. It wasn’t as if he could blame her for that. If he’d pulled his head out of his ass long enough to listen to his gut and kept reminding himself that she would never betray anyone without good reason, maybe he wouldn’t be worried that even if he rescued Hallie and won this battle…he might still lose the war—and Tessa.

  Their shoes made almost no sound in the soft earth as they walked toward the address. When they rounded the corner, Trees knocked on the front door. It took a while, but someone finally answered. A man with a glower.

  Hector Johnson.

  Trees turned on his most congenial smile. Since the guy’s lips rarely curved up unless he got to kill someone who really deserved it, he figured Johnson was as good as dead.

  As Trees kept talking—Zy overheard something about extermination services and had to chuckle—he kept his head down and urged Tessa to do the same as they walked past the open door, then veered around the side of the house once they were beyond Johnson’s line of sight.

  “Follow me. Stay. Behind. Me. Is that clear?”

  Tessa frowned. Yeah, she probably didn’t like him ordering her around.

  “I get it. You hate me right now, but if you want Hallie back alive, you need to listen to me.”

  “I don’t hate you. I just want my daughter back. Until I have her again…”

  Nothing else mattered.

  “I know, baby.” He squeezed her hand.

  They rounded the mobile home and found a sliding glass door covered by dark curtains. He released Tessa’s hand and tested it. Locked.

  Time to get creative.

  He withdrew the blade from under his pant leg.

  “What are you doing?” she hissed.

  “Prying it open.”

  She looked shocked. “Are you kidding?”

  Clearly, Tessa didn’t grasp that, in the larger scheme of his job, this was one of the easiest things he did. “No. The door is mounted from the outside. If it had been mounted from the inside, it would be a bitch, if not impossible. But this? Piece of cake. All I have to do is wedge this knife between the door frame and the door itself about six inches from the corner. Here, diagonal from the latch, at the bottom. Now, I’ll just pry upward and tilt the door.” He demonstrated and heard a faint click, then smiled. “That’s all it takes to release the latch from the bracket. And we’re in.”

  Zy tested the door, gratified when it slowly slid open. He stepped inside, motioning her to wait on the back steps. He peeked in and scanned the living room. He saw no one except Johnson, who stood at the open front door, his back to him and Tessa, while Trees gave him an off-the-cuff sales pitch.

  “Your neighbors, Jessica and Bill, across the way”—Trees gestured vaguely as he cut his eyes over at Zy with a barely perceptible nod—“you know them, right?”