Edge of Danger (San Antonio Security #2)

Chapter Nine

“Nothing all day. Movement and shadows mostly but nothing verifiable. Nobody in or out.”

Brax groaned, rolling his head around on his stiff neck. “I never knew sitting still and watching an apartment could leave me aching the way it does.”

“You don’t get up and move around enough. I warned you about that.” Weston would know, having performed his fair share of stakeouts when he’d been with the police department.

“I can’t shake the feeling that the second I look away for anything more than an emergency, I’ll miss something important.”

“I get it.” Weston took a seat where Brax had spent the day in the apartment they’d rented across from that of a suspect they suspected in a string of home invasions. When the San Antonio PD had thrown up their hands in despair after a dozen invasions left them with no evidence and no real suspects, one of the victims had hired the Patterson brothers to look into it.

Within two weeks, they’d found their prime suspect and had been staking out his apartment ever since, keeping track of his movements and of any visitors.

“I guess you’ll be on your way home now.” There was a hint of a smile tugging Weston’s lips as he looked Brax up and down. “A hot, hearty meal waiting for you. A woman to serve it. You’ve got it made, brother.”

Brax waved off Weston’s obvious joking. “Please. She has time on her hands, and she likes to cook. I’m not getting any ideas about it.”

“Why not?”

“Because she works for me. Enough of the devil’s advocate.” He cleared his throat before changing the topic. “Anything new about Robert?”

“Nothing we didn’t find before. Though truth be told, we’ve been busy.”

“Yeah, and I’ve been doing all right with Tessa—and Walker,” Brax added, but it was too late. The spark in Weston’s eyes said everything.

“Doing all right with the nanny. I wonder what Mom would think about that.”

“Okay, enough.” Brax held up his hands in mock surrender. “Fact is Tessa is twenty-two years old. A nine-year age difference is sort of substantial.”

“I’ll grant you that. But don’t pretend you don’t look forward to getting home and seeing her. You smile almost as much as Luke does nowadays. Honestly, I don’t recognize either of you.”

“Funny guy. You know, Walker might have something to do with that.”

He did. Now that those early days were over and there was no more panic, Brax had been able to relax and get to know his nephew. The kid was adorable when he wasn’t screaming. Tessa was good with him.

It cracked him up to no end to see the baby watching as the two of them held a conversation. He was so serious, studying their mouths with his little face scrunched up in concentration. He’d be a smart kid, no doubt.

Unlike his father.

“So? Have you spied on her while she’s alone with the kid?”

Brax bristled at this, though there was a slight amount of embarrassment behind it. “How’d you guess?”

“I’d wonder about you if you didn’t. Where did you hide the cameras?”

“One in the kitchen, one in Walker’s room.”

“And?”

“And she was great with him the entire time. I only did it for the first couple of days. Just to satisfy myself that she was as good to him in private as she was in front of me.”

“Of course.”

He didn’t tell Weston about her singing. About the endless games of peekaboo. How she talked and talked to the baby—the audio went in and out depending on her volume and the room she was in at the time, but her facial expressions said it all.

She loved Walker, and it showed.

If anything, that only helped him like her more. They had something they loved in common. Something they worked together to nurture. Something that made them laugh at the dinner table with his comical facial expressions and sudden outbursts.

Those evenings with Tessa had become the highlight of his day.

Which meant he had to get moving if he was going to enjoy another one. “I’d better go. She might worry if I’m late.”

“She’s got you following orders already.”

“Watch it,” Brax warned, and he was only half kidding. There were limits to joking around.

“Can I offer you a little brotherly advice before you go? In all seriousness.” When Brax nodded, Weston continued. “You have a lot to think over. Plans to make. Decisions to come to.”

“I know I do. And once my testimony against the cartel is delivered, I’ll have the emotional bandwidth to consider the rest of my life. I’ll start making those plans once that’s all wrapped up.”

“Do you think Tessa might fit into those plans?”

He only shrugged a shoulder and grinned before saying goodbye. There was only one word to answer that.

Yes.

With each passing day, she had worked her way deeper into his heart.

He already regretted his original attitude toward Walker, who now gave him reasons to smile, to relax and enjoy life. His heart had already changed.

What about having a woman to come home to? His woman. Not a nanny or babysitter. Somebody whose face lit up when he walked through the door.

The way Tessa’s did.

“No way,” he warned himself. Hadn’t he promised there wouldn’t be any funny business? The last thing that poor, haunted woman needed was to feel pressured. Like she had to sleep with him if she wanted to keep her job.

There were times when he wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and beg her to tell him what was wrong. What she hid about herself. Why she sometimes averted her eyes when they touched on the topic of Robert or her life before meeting Brax.

Whenever that happened, he recalled the wounded bird who’d first walked into the office and given him the sense of somebody needing help. Protection. Safety.

His cell rang, the sound echoing through the car’s sound system. He imagined it was Tessa calling from the house asking him to pick up something on the way.

It wasn’t. The call came from a very different number. “District Attorney Morgan. I just mentioned the cartel case to my brother a few minutes ago. Your ears must be burning.”

He could normally charm just about any woman with little to no effort. It was a talent he chose to use for good instead of evil.

Janice Morgan didn’t so much as snicker, which was how he knew they had a problem even before her voice rang out. “Remember that shopkeeper? The main witness we have lined up for the trial?”

“Of course. Older guy, right?”

“Mr. Henderson is in his fifties, yes. And he just had a heart attack. I got word from the ICU just a few minutes ago.”

Brax muttered a curse under his breath. Of all the things...

“Did they give you an indication of an expected outcome?”

“No.” She sighed. “But I don’t think it matters much either way as far as the case is concerned. He’s set to testify in ten days, and he’s in the ICU this very minute. No way is he going to be strong enough for court. You don’t face down Prince Riviera and his entire gang when you’re at half strength.”

Prince Riviera. The name still made Brax roll his eyes, even knowing the sort of filth and degradation the man and his gang were capable of. The Riviera cartel practically owned the border between west Texas and Mexico and had since before any of the Patterson brothers had been born.

“Honest question—do you think the cartel is capable of this?”

“Giving the man a heart attack to keep him from testifying?” She sighed heavily, the sound of a woman completely run down by work. “I’ll just say I wouldn’t put it past them to inject him with something and leave it there. Let’s keep in mind that our witness is at an age when heart attacks are more common.”

“True.” It felt hollow, but what else was there to say?

“What about you? Are you still set on testifying?”

“Absolutely.”

“Even though it’s obvious you suspect the heart attack was cartel related?”

“Let me tell you something. The things I saw those scumbags do are seared into my memory. I want to take them down.”

The women in the box truck being herded like cattle into waiting vans. Filthy, covered in bruises, looking like they hadn’t eaten a decent meal in weeks. Chained together at the waist, one after another.

Not to mention the other items removed from the truck. Crates, one of which was opened to reveal plastic-wrapped bricks of white powder.

Brax had hidden himself in the shadows outside the warehouse—he’d been searching the riverbank for the presence of skid marks after a sketchy, staged car accident and happened to be around when the truck came through. Nobody had seen him in passing, and they hadn’t noticed his presence outside the loading bay.

“They don’t know who I am,” he reminded the district attorney. “But I know who they are. I know who Prince Riviera is, and I’ve seen what he’s capable of. No way I’m going to let this guy back out on the street. We both know he’s the entire backbone of that organization. With him behind bars, they lose all their clout and protection. They’ll go down in flames.”

“You don’t know how relieved I am to hear that. I was afraid the news would scare you off.”

“I don’t scare that easily, ma’am.”

She chuckled this time, though it was short-lived. “Still, I want you to watch your back. There’s no telling what these scumbags know. Let’s not underestimate them.”

Brax turned off the main road and onto the smaller, two-lane dirt road leading to his house. There it was, lit up inside, with two people waiting to welcome him home after a long day.

Now was not the time to underestimate anybody.