No One Heard Her Scream

'Damn it.'

With men waiting on his order, Draper reminded himself of two vital things. He didn't do guilt, and he had made his decision. He hit the switch to his com set.

'Tac team leaders? No one moves without my order. I repeat. Wait for my order.'

CHAPTER16

Becca strained against the duct tape that bound her hands and body to the metal railing. Her heart hammered in her chest as she worked the tape with her weight.

Matt Brogan kept an eye on her, but his real focus was Danielle. Under the stark light overhead, Dani looked washed-out. And so afraid. She lay sprawled on the cement floor, too scared to move. Brogan knelt over her with a knife in his hand.

In the stillness, Danielle's fear echoed off the walls. Every gasp, every shiver made a sound. If others stood in the shadows, Becca couldn't hear them. They watched in cruel silence, witnessing the atrocity without lifting a finger. She had to do something to distract him from her sister.

'Tell me. How did a classy guy like Hunter Cavanaugh get into trafficking and prostitution?' she prompted. 'I mean, he's got the money to invest in anything he wants. Why pick something so vile and despicable? It seems like such a bonehead move.'

'He saw an opportunity to make real good money, that's why. That damned Mex Galvan acts so high-and- mighty, but do you think some lame merger with Global Enterprises has made the old man what he is today?' Brogan raised his voice. 'No. I'm the one who asked him to step up into something better. I had the connections. He just took my advice. It was all me.'

She'd struck a chord. Under the heading of good news, Brogan was talking. But under the header for bad, she could list the same thing. Flexing his jowls the way he was, and admitting to criminal acts, the man had no intention of letting them go. He had too much to lose. But Becca had no choice. She kept working the duct tape, keeping him engaged in conversation.

'Does Cavanaugh come down here often? I mean, who's he gonna trust with an operation this size?'

'Boss man leaves it all up to me. He trusts me to take care of . . . things.' As he spoke, Brogan tugged at her sister's grimy T-shirt, a taunting move. ''Cause I know what to do.'

'Please... no.' Danielle trembled, eyes wide in terror. 'I'll do whatever you want, but don't hurt me.'

'It's not that simple anymore, sweet meat.'

In a steady and measured move, Brogan made his first cut.

His knife ripped through her shirt, from the collar down the middle. It hissed—a high-pitched and abrasive sound—like fingernails on a chalkboard. Becca's mind raced with what to say next. Her breath caught in her throat when Brogan trailed the blade down Dani's breasts. She forced herself to think and remain calm, when all she wanted to do was scream.

'Sounds like Cavanaugh has been playing this whole thing real smart.' Her voice cracked.

Brogan looked up and smiled at her. 'Yeah, that's what I said before. He's a real smart man. Knows a good thing when he sees it.'

'Knows to steer clear of a disaster you mean.' Becca set her jaw, watching the look of surprise on his face.

'What are you talking about?' Brogan let Dani go.

'Sounds like Cavanaugh is playing both ends against the middle. He's keeping this thriving enterprise going with you, but washing his hands of it in case the cops knock at his door. I'd say that's a real smart move.' She took a gamble Cavanaugh hadn't set foot in this dump. And by the look on Brogan's face, she'd guessed right.

'It's not like that,' he argued. 'I'm runnin' the show here, but he wouldn't leave me hangin'. I know too much.'

'Exactly.' She nodded. She had planted the seed of Cavanaugh's betrayal. Now she would test the waters with another approach. 'Earlier, you told me an old friend gave you the connection between me and Danielle. I got a pretty good idea who told you. Only she's not much of a friend.'

Brogan snapped his head in Becca's direction, seething but curious. 'Humor me. Tell me what you think you know.'

'More like who I know, Sonja Garza,' she said. Recognition flashed across Brogan's face. 'In fact, I've met with her on more than one occasion. And she loves talking about you.'

'You're lying. Sonja told me she saw you once. And she came to me right after. We met at some roach coach motel off Guadalupe Street. And we did a hell of a lot more than talk. That bitch knows better than to lie to me.'

'Maybe she hasn't told you about our little meeting tonight.' Becca definitely had his attention now. 'She told me about you raping her at the pool house years ago. And about you buying your girlfriend Isabel Marquez an expensive gold necklace back then.'

Brogan grimaced, then started to laugh. His intense curiosity vanished. What the hell had just happened?

'You don't know jack shit. Sonja always wanted a piece of me. I never had to rape her to get it neither. And I don't know nothin' 'bout that other girl . . . what's her name. Sonja knew her, not me.'

'But you got Isabel the necklace, the heart with diamonds on it. Sonja said so.' Becca tried to recapture the moment, but she'd lost Brogan. She tugged harder at the duct tape, panic setting in. She couldn't budge it. 'I met with her tonight in the Cielo Vista cinema parking lot. She said you might've killed Isabel seven years ago.'

'You got some imagination, lady. But you don't have all the facts. One of my guys tailed you to that theater, but he got spooked and took off when you turned the tables on him. So that much might be true.' His voice low and threatening; Brogan was ready to blow. 'But Sonja knows I'd kill her if she told lies about me. Hell, I'm not taking credit for that dead bitch. Sonja knows what happened. And buying some bimbo an expensive necklace is not my thing. I get plenty of the Big O right here. And what my bitches don't gimme, I take. I don't need to pay for it with jewelry. Shit.'

He wasn't buying any of her story. Brogan's face knotted in a sneer. 'You're playing me for some kinda fool. But I got a better idea. From here on out, every time you open your fuckin' mouth, I'm gonna cut off a piece of your sister and feed it to you. Now let me see what kind of a rise I can get out of you.'

Brogan fondled Danielle's breasts and squeezed too tight. She cried out in pain, but the sound of her cry only fueled his lust. He lowered his lips to her nipple, sucking and biting until her sister couldn't stand it any more.

'Please . . . don't,' Dani wailed.

Seconds bled into hours for Becca as she struggled against her restraints, helpless and unable to speak. But when she looked up, something caught her eye. Danielle had turned her head toward Becca, even as Brogan fed on her fear. New tears streaked her rawboned face, but Becca saw something more. In a show of submission, Dani collapsed under Brogan's weight, submitting to his degradation one final time. And with her surrender, she fixed her precious eyes on Becca—eyes brimming with all the love she held in her heart.

Her baby sister mouthed the words—I love you— in silence. Danielle knew she would die. And Becca could only watch it happen.

Diego recognized the seedy neighborhood, making him more anxious. Sometime back, he and Draper had raided an old textile factory nearby, thinking Cavanaugh had his girls stashed in it. At the time, he believed it to be another waste of energy and manpower. Not so much now.

As their Mercedes pulled up to a loading ramp and a subterranean parking garage entrance, the driver hit a code into a keypad. The heavy door rattled as it lifted. With the noise and Cavanaugh's distraction, Diego peered out the rear window. He searched for any signs of Draper but saw nothing. If the fed had gotten his message, he should have stormed the garage with the door open like this.

Why hadn't Draper gotten his message, damn it? There should have been enough time, but now things were looking bleak. It was probably too late. Cavanaugh had screwed him over with the FBI surveillance. The man switched cars, sending the higher-profile stretch limo on its way with two other passengers on board, no doubt with the FBI on its tail. And Cavanaugh had taken the less conspicuous Mercedes of Brogan's. They had planned it from the beginning.