Page 39 of Kade

Shit. Angel glanced around, but she didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Then again, she wasn’t trained for that. She hustled and got in the back seat with Kade. Conner tossed their luggage in the back then climbed in the vehicle.

“How many?” Kade kept his voice low and calm, but Angel could see his white knuckles.

“At least four, maybe more. I spotted them about five minutes before your plane landed. You’ll find guns in the duffle bag back there. Yours should be on top.”

Angel hated guns. Hated them, but she wasn’t about to complain this second. Kade pulled out some kind of large handgun and tested it out.

“We don’t want to shoot up the freeway with an automatic.” Kade tossed the bag onto Angel’s lap after extracting his personal Beretta. “Go straight to the police station. Some of my team from the BAU will be waiting for us there.”

“I figured. I already have the GPS set for it.”

“No.” Angel looked at the route on the GPS and shook her head. “That will take you straight into the heart of the traffic. Cut off on the next left and go straight through seven lights, then turn left. The police station will be three lights after that.”

“She grew up around here. I’d trust her.”

Conner shrugged and did as she told him. Angel had no wish to get stuck in traffic and not be able to defend themselves if the cartel decided to make a move while they were stalled.

“I forgot how fucking humid it is down here.” Kade wiped his brow. “Is the AC on?”

Conner turned the AC on full blast, and the cool air hit Angel in the face. While it was still technically spring, the heat in Florida had kicked in full force. It would be even hotter come summer. She turned her attention to the streets they passed. Kids played outside in the small suburb they were going through. Sprinklers were turned on, and several children were squealing as they ran back and forth under them. Palm trees swayed in the wind the closer they got to the beach. She’d missed this place so much.

Angel had liked Boston well enough, and New York was…well, it was New York. Nothing truly compared to it, but Miami had been her home for the first twenty years of her life. She loved it from the unbearable humidity to the overcrowded beaches. The ocean at night had been her favorite place. Her mom used to take her and Peter to play on the beach at night. She’d sit beside her mother and listen to the sound of the surf hitting the rocks. It had been the most soothing sound she’d ever heard.

It was the memory of her mother she cherished the most. After her mother died, she’d sneak out of the house at night and go to the beach and listen to the waves crash against the tide wall. It scared Peter senseless when he figured out what she was doing. He forbade her to do it again unless he was with her. She hadn’t been wise to the world back then, not knowing what could happened to an unchaperoned kid late at night on an almost deserted beach.

And then there was Kade. She’d met him here. Granted, their first meeting had not gone as she would have expected. She’d just come in from changing the oil in her car, her face and hands streaked with motor oil. God only knew what he thought the first time he’d seen her. She’d been so embarrassed she’d run to her room and stayed there until she was sure he and Peter had left. She laughed softly to herself thinking about it. She’d been such a child back then.

But she hadn’t been a child when he’d walked into the strip club where she worked. In fact, Angel was pretty sure she’d blown his mind when she danced that night. She’d been dancing just for him, wanting to prove the dirty little grease monkey wasn’t who she really was.

It had been a while later when he’d found her on the beach, lounging with Jasmine and some of the other girls from the club. He’d grinned with such confidence and said, “Hi.” That had been the real start of their relationship. She’d met him in Miami, fallen in love and married him here, and lost their child. She’d been devastated by him in a hospital and learned to hate him here. Miami held the best and worst memories of her life.

It was home.

“You okay?” Kade nudged her, concerned.

“I’m fine, just thinking about the past.”

His forehead creased with his frown. “Don’t get lost in the past,moye serdste. We’re only focusing on the future, remember?”

“Yes, I know, but it’s good to remember the past. I was thinking of the first time you saw me strip and the look on your face.”

“Strip?” Conner turned his head to look back at her for a moment, curiosity all over his face. “You worked as a stripper?”

“Exotic dancer,” Kade clarified, and Angel laughed out loud. Stripping was stripping.

“I danced, but I was a stripper. Kade hated it.”

“There’s nothing wrong with being a stripper.” Conner turned his attention back to the road. “Strippers make more money than some executives do.”

“See, your brother gets it.” Angel settled back and went to move the duffle bag off her lap, but Kade stopped her.

“I might need to change guns quickly if these guys decide to start shooting. Leave it in your lap.”

There went that idea. “Are they still following us?”

Kade nodded. “Three cars.”

“Four.” Conner pointed to a car barely visible between the houses on their right side. It was driving down a parallel street. “My guess is they’re going to try to box us in at the end of this street.”

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