Page 26 of Honor ’N’ Duty

“I know a place. Wait here while I get our bags.” He stood and didn’t stick around for a response.

He went back outside and swapped his DHS SUV for his Suburban in the garage where Laia’s car was parked, then headed for the door to the house to pack their bags.

Colon knew he was Josh’s brother, and it probably wouldn’t be too difficult to find out where Kade lived. But how would Colon have known that Laia was staying with him? She’d only moved in yesterday. If cartel goons had been skulking around his neighborhood, he would have noticed.

Kade reached for the doorknob but stopped and turned to stare at Laia’s Escape.

I never checked her vehicle.

He grabbed a flashlight hanging on the garage wall, then searched beneath the Escape. Just when he’d begun to think he was wrong, he saw it. A tracker. Kade grabbed the black box, set it on the concrete, then slammed the heel of his boot down hard. The cover cracked. Pieces of tracker guts skittered across the floor.

Kade hurled the flashlight against the wall. He should have seen that coming. Instead, he’d been distracted enough by Laia and Rosa’s presence that he’d let his heart interfere with his duty.

Shake it off and focus.

He charged back into the house to pack. Rosa had taken most of her toys to Ashley’s. What little she’d left behind he stuffed into Laia’s overnight bag, along with Laia’s toiletries, clothes, and an emerald-green silk slip of a nightie she’d left draped over a chair. As he crammed the shimmery lingerie into her bag, he shoved aside all thoughts of her wearing it.

And of me stripping it off her with my teeth.

He stowed their bags in the Suburban’s rear compartment, then gave the sergeant his business card and requested he be notified of any investigative findings. After transferring the booster seat from the Escape to the Suburban, he closed the garage doors.

No more than ten minutes had passed before he returned to Ashley’s house. “Thanks, Ashley. We’re heading out. I don’t know when we’ll be back.”

“I figured that,” she said. “Let me know if I can do anything to help.”

“Will do. Let’s go,” he said to Laia, pausing at the threshold to look both ways down the street. With Sergeant Morales on their six and two other cops on the street, he didn’t really think anyone would try something but still… “Stick close.”

Kade turned to see Laia heft Rosa in her arms. “I’ve got her.” He slipped a now-fully sleeping Rosa from Laia’s arms to his. “Thanks, Sergeant,” he threw over his shoulder.

“You got it.”

“Smoke.” He hitched his head for Smoke to go first, and his K-9 bounded down the stairs, loping to the Suburban.

“Wait!” Laia said. “I need to get a—”

“Booster seat? Already done.” He glanced behind him to see a surprised look on her face, one mixed with gratitude.

When she opened the rear door, he gently placed Rosa in the seat, leaving Laia to buckle her in while he rounded the hood and opened the other side door for Smoke to hop in. Seconds later, they were speeding east on I-78.

Every mile or so he glanced in the rear- and side-view mirrors, mentally tagging every make, model, and color of the cars behind them and continually varying his speed. Anyone who sped up to stay with them was suspect, and anyone who slowed so as not to pass them was suspect, too.

With every mile, Kade’s heart rate slowed, and he breathed a little easier. None of the vehicles behind them pinged his radar.

He cued up Manny Dominguez’s number, continually glancing in the rearview as he waited for Manny to pick up.

“Dominguez.”

“Manny, it’s Kade. They tracked us to my house. We’re okay, but we’ll be staying…someplace else.” Not that he didn’t trust Manny, but the smaller the circle of people who knew where Laia and Rosa were the better. “Did you find Jesus Montoya?”

“He’s in the wind. I’ll find him.”

Kade had a bad feeling it could take a while to pin anything on Fernando Colon. “Keep me posted.”

“Ten-four.”

Kade set the phone in the console. Risking the likelihood that she’d only pull away, he rested his hand on Laia’s. Surprisingly, she not only didn’t resist but actually clasped his hand tightly. “You okay?” he asked.

“Not really,” she answered in a shaky voice.