Taking Aim. Elle James
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back to Zach. “Since you are former FBI, this was to be your first assignment.”
Chapter Three
Zach rode back to the Raging Bull Ranch, a knot the size of Texas twisting his gut.
Hank couldn’t be serious. To ask him to take on the FBI as his first assignment? The organization that had left him and Toni to die in the godforsaken hell of the Los Lobos cartel in the Mexican state of Chihuahua?
Captured in Juarez on assignment, drugged and transported to a squalid compound in Mexico, Zach and Toni had been tortured and starved in the cartel’s attempt to attain information from them about who in the FBI was supplying military weapons to their archrivals, La Familia Diablos.
He’d been forced to watch as they raped, mutilated and finally killed Toni. Bound and gagged, he’d been helpless, unable to do anything to save her.
When another gang stormed the compound, they’d crashed into the concrete building where Zach had been held, giving him the opportunity to escape under cover of the night. But it had been too late for Toni.
Wounded, dehydrated and barely able to see through swollen eyes, he dragged himself out of the compound and hid in the mountains, stealing food from a farmer until he could make his way back to the States.
Two years, surgery, rehab and psychiatric treatment had healed the external scars, but the internal ones festered like a disease.
Jacie rode on the back of the four-wheeler, her arms circled around Zach’s waist.
Hank wanted him to help her and her sister, who was certain to be experiencing exactly what Toni had been subjected to, if not worse. If she wasn’t dead, likely she would be wishing she was soon.
No. Zach couldn’t do this. He couldn’t commit to finding Tracie, not when he knew the outcome wouldn’t be good. Her twin would expect him to come back with a woman intact, healthy and cared for.
The arms around him tightened, reminding him that the woman on the back of the vehicle was already counting on him to help her.
As he pulled into the barnyard of the Raging Bull Ranch, he mentally prepared his exit speech. “Hank, I’d like to talk with you privately.”
No use bringing the woman in on his cowardly departure. She wouldn’t understand, and seeing the desperation in her eyes would only drive another stake through his heart.
Red and blue flashing lights shone from the road leading into the Raging Bull Ranch.
“Zach, we’ll talk as soon as I’ve had a chance to bring the local law enforcement up to date on the situation. Meet me in my office in five minutes.” Hank and his two bodyguards left. The foreman rode one of the four-wheelers to the back of the barn, leaving Zach alone with Jacie.
He glanced away from her, the look of worry and sadness in her eyes more than he could handle.
A hand on his arm precluded ignoring the woman. “Zach, what are we going to do now? How are we going to find my sister?”
“There is no we.” His words came out sharper than he’d intended.
Jacie snatched her hand away from his arm as if she’d been bitten. “What do you mean? I thought Hank said you were the one assigned to help Tracie.”
“If I chose to accept the assignment and go to work for Hank in his insane business.” Zach snorted. “Truth and justice. There is no truth and justice when a gun’s held to your head or a whip’s lashed across your naked skin. I won’t be a part of Hank’s fantasy.”
“You mean you’re going to turn your back on my sister and leave her to die?”
Her words struck him where it hurt most. Square in his gut where guilt ate away at his insides. “I can’t do anything for your sister.” He turned his back to her. “She’s as good as dead.”
“No! She’s alive. She’s my twin. I can feel her presence.” Jacie grabbed his arm and jerked him around. “You can’t just walk away. My sister needs you. I need you. I can’t do this on my own. I will if I have to. But I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Don’t worry, Hank will find some other cowboy to ride to your rescue. It just won’t be me. I’m not the right man for this job.”
“You’re not a man at all,” Jacie spat out. “What kind of man would run away rather than help save a woman’s life?”
Zach rounded on her and grabbed her arms in a vicious grip. His heart slammed against his ribs, and rage rose up his neck to explode in his head. “That’s right! I can’t help your sister. I can’t save a woman from the cartel. I couldn’t save Toni and I refuse to watch it happen all over again. I. Can’t. Help. Got that?” He shook her hard.
Tears welled in Jacie’s gray-blue eyes, her long, rich brown hair falling down over her face. “I get it. You have your own issues. Fine. I’ll do this without you.” She struggled against his hold. “Let go of me. I don’t want or need you or any of Hank’s hired guns. I’ll get my sister back. Alive! Mark my words.” She shook free of him. “In the meantime go find a bottle to crawl into or see a shrink. Whatever. I don’t give a damn.” She spun on her booted heels and marched away from him.
The farther away she moved, the more Zach’s chest tightened. If Jacie went tearing off after her sister, she’d end up captured and tortured, as well. What kind of fool would throw herself at the cartel and expect to survive?
The rage subsided, leaving Zach cold and empty.
Jacie was a fool. But she was a fool who loved her sister enough to sacrifice her life to save her twin.
Zach had begged his captors to torture him and leave his partner alone. Instead they’d tortured her in their efforts to drag information out of him. Sadly he didn’t have the information they’d wanted and Toni had paid the price for his ignorance. His captors had wanted the name of the agent feeding their rivals information about upcoming sting operations. While the Los Lobos cartel took hits, losing some of their best contacts, La Familia Diablos got away with all their people and goods intact.
Heartsick by his own agency’s betrayal, Zach had returned to the States, healed his wounds and quit the FBI. Tired of the politics, the graft and corruption.
If Tracie had been after the same person … the one disloyal to his country and fellow agents … she was crazy. The traitor kept his hand so close to his chest. No one knew who he was.
As Jacie disappeared around the corner of the ranch house, Zach started after her. Jacie, unskilled in the art of spying and tactics, wouldn’t last two minutes going up against a drug cartel.
His footsteps sped up until he was jogging. Since he was on the outside looking in, he might discover who the mole was in the FBI, the man who’d sacrificed his own people to line his pockets with blood money.
Jacie had almost reached Hank when Zach caught up with her. “Wait.”
The woman kept walking. “Why should I? I told you, I don’t need you or anyone else to help me find my sister.”
He snagged her arm and spun her toward him. “Look. Despite what you’re saying, you won’t last two minutes out there. The cartel employs trained killers. What kind of training have you had in shooting and dodging bullets?”
Her shoulders were thrown back, her chin held high. “I’m a damned good shot.”
“At game. Ever shot a person?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Not before tonight.”
“You have to be willing to shoot before you’re shot.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes to find my sister and bring her back alive.” She swallowed hard, her chin rising even higher. “Even if it means killing a man to do it. And I might just start with you if you don’t