A frown tugged at Victoria. Somehow the part about the child didn’t quite gel. “Why would Angel want to take your son?” Victoria thought briefly of the small dark-haired boy sitting in her outer office under her secretary Mildred’s watchful eye.
Rachel looked away for a moment. “Because he’s Josh’s father.” Her lips trembled with the effort it took to force her next words. “Five years ago, we were…involved.”
“Involved?” Victoria heard the contempt in her own voice, and immediately regretted it. Humiliation clouded Rachel’s expression.
“I was very young. It was a mistake.” She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head slowly from side to side. A soul-deep pain clouded her gaze when she opened her eyes once more. “He used me to get to my father.”
“Yet you’re still alive.” Victoria arched a speculative brow. “That’s not Angel’s style. He never leaves loose ends.”
“He would have killed me…” Rachel blinked furiously at the tears gathering, then shrugged. “I was lucky to escape. I’ve been running ever since. Later, he found out about Josh, and now Angel wants him.”
If her story were true, Rachel Larson was as good as dead. Angel allowed nothing to stand between him and what he wanted. Anyone who tried to stop him was accepting a death sentence. Though Victoria employed the very finest in their fields, tracking down a man like Angel would take resources she simply could not risk. She had learned that lesson too well seven years ago.
Victoria braced herself for what she knew had to be said. “Regrettably, Miss Larson, the Colby Agency cannot provide the services you have requested.”
Rachel stiffened. “You won’t help me?”
“I don’t mean that at all.” Victoria pulled open her right desk drawer and flipped through her files. She removed a manila folder and scanned its contents. Satisfied with what she found, Victoria turned her attention back to Rachel. “There is only one man, to my knowledge, who knows Angel well enough to be of any assistance to you, and he doesn’t work for me anymore.” Victoria copied the name and address from the folder onto the back of her business card. “I can’t guarantee that he’ll be willing to take your case, but he’s your only possible hope at succeeding. Tell him I sent you.”
Rachel accepted the offered card. “Who is he?”
“Someone who used to work for this agency.” Victoria leveled her gaze on Rachel’s. “Someone I would trust with my own life. His name is Trevor Sloan.”
“He must be the investigator Detective Taylor mentioned.”
Victoria dipped her head in acknowledgment. “Sloan was the best investigator the Colby Agency has ever had the privilege of employing.” Regret trickled through her. “As I said, he doesn’t work for me anymore. Although this agency has utilized his services from time to time over the past couple of years, Sloan is very selective in the offers he takes these days.” Victoria paused before continuing. “Considering the circumstances, he might not want to take your case at all.”
Rachel searched Victoria’s gaze. “If he’s willing, how can he help me?”
Memories Victoria would rather not have recalled played in the private theater of her mind. “He knows Angel. He knows how the man operates and what motivates him.”
Frowning, Rachel hesitated at first, but then asked, “How is it that Sloan knows Angel so well?”
Victoria sighed her own hesitation. What would it hurt to tell her? If Sloan could help the woman, Victoria rationalized, understanding would make dealing with him somewhat easier. “Seven years ago Angel assassinated two very prominent businessmen here in Chicago,” she began. “The Colby Agency was called in to consult on the case.” Victoria tamped down the guilt that quickly surfaced. “I assigned Sloan to support them. He possesses an uncanny ability to read people. He studied Angel’s case, tracked him for months.” Victoria met Rachel’s unsuspecting gaze knowing that what she would say next would only add to her growing fear. “When Sloan got too close, Angel retaliated in a particularly ruthless manner. Recognizing the kind of man Sloan was and what would hurt him most, Angel murdered Sloan’s wife and took his three-year-old son.”
Rachel gasped and her eyes widened in horror. “Oh God.”
“The child’s body wasn’t discovered for a while, and during that time Angel taunted Sloan with telephone calls of his son’s recorded cries for Daddy…” Her voice drifted off as the painful memories of that seemingly endless year of tracking Angel sifted through Victoria’s thoughts. Sloan had pushed himself beyond any man’s physical and mental limitations, and found nothing. Then, finally, they’d discovered the small body burned beyond recognition. Something had snapped inside Sloan then and he’d simply disappeared. Months later, Victoria learned that he’d resurfaced as a private contractor in Mexico. He hadn’t allowed her close since. But he was still the best in the business of tracking and protection.
Rachel’s complexion turned a whiter shade of pale. “How will I ever stop him?”
Victoria studied her a long moment before answering. Perhaps Angel had some sort of twisted reasoning for allowing Rachel to live just as he had when he spared Sloan’s life. Living with the loss was much more difficult than dying. Gabriel DiCassi was evil incarnate.
Victoria pointed to the card in Rachel’s hand. “Talk to Sloan.” If even a small part of the man she once knew lived behind that hardened, go-to-hell armor he wore, Sloan would never be able to turn this woman and her child away. And maybe the opportunity would allow him to lay his own demons to rest. “And don’t let his attitude scare you off,” Victoria added. “If there is anyone who can help you, Sloan can.”
RACHEL STOOD ON the street corner in downtown Chicago and stared at the card in her hand. Los Laureles Cantina in Florescitaf, Mexico. That’s where she would find this man named Sloan. What sort of man used a cantina for his business office? Maybe she didn’t want to know. Rachel shivered despite the August sun beating down from the clear blue sky. No amount of heat would ever make her feel warm inside knowing what lay ahead of her.
But she had no choice…she had to do something.
No matter how far and fast she ran, Angel always found her. He wanted her son. Angel only allowed her to take care of Josh for the time being because he felt the boy needed his mother. He had said those very words to her on more than one occasion. One day though, he intended to take Josh. Rachel shuddered at the thought. She had to do something before that day came.
“I’m hungry, Mommy.”
Rachel’s attention jerked back to the here and now. She smiled at the little boy whose hand she held tightly in her own. “I’m sorry, honey. We’ll have lunch soon.” Satisfied, Josh smiled back at her. Somehow she had to find Sloan and convince him to help her.
No matter what it took.
Chapter One
Thank God.
After searching all afternoon beneath the blistering August sun, Rachel Larson had finally found the place no one seemed to know about. Or perhaps it was her poor excuse for Spanish they didn’t understand. Rachel surveyed the run-down building before her. Located in an unsavory part of an obscure little Mexican town called Florescitaf, the cantina known as Los Laureles looked even more forbidding than she had expected. Maybe that’s why no one would admit to knowing its location.
Squaring her shoulders against the uneasiness skittering up her spine, Rachel reminded herself of why she was here. She had to do this. There was no other alternative. Besides, the place was named after some sort of flower, surely it couldn’t be so bad.
Instinctively Rachel tightened her hold on Josh’s hand when he peeked around her skirt to watch the children playing in the alley between the cantina and the equally run-down, open-air meat market next door. Rachel glanced