Secret Bodyguard. B.J. Daniels

It was an alley for hell’s sake and I had to get out of there or Amanda would have seen me watching her.” The voice had a distinct whine to it. A very familiar whine.

      “What I don’t understand is what you were doing there in the first place,” J.B. said evenly.

      “Look, I leveled with you. I’m going to find your granddaughter for you. Nothing’s changed. The only reason I called you was to let you know what I’d seen. As a favor. So what is this all about, getting me down here tonight, interrogating me like this?” Gage Ferraro demanded.

      Gage had seen Jesse and Amanda in the alley earlier. That much was clear. But if Amanda had told her father about her encounter with Jesse, this should have been old news. Unless she hadn’t told him. Yet.

      “I just want to make sure your plans don’t change,” the mobster warned. “I don’t want you having anything to do with my daughter. Or my granddaughter.”

      “Hey, we’re talking about my daughter, here,” Gage said. The soft scuff of soles on the concrete drowned out whatever J.B. said back to him.

      Suddenly all four men came into view beneath the stark light of the single bulb hanging from the rafters.

      Destruction had Gage in a headlock and J.B. was close enough to Gage to steal his breath.

      “You have no rights to that child,” J.B. said in a tone that curdled Jesse’s blood. “I thought we agreed to that?”

      Gage was trying to nod.

      “As far as I’m concerned,” J.B. was saying, his voice low and as dangerous as Jesse had ever heard it, “you have no daughter and you don’t know mine, either. Is that understood?”

      “Yeah, yeah, J.B.,” Gage croaked.

      Destruction released him.

      Gage rubbed his throat. “I told you,” he said, sounding hoarse. “I’m going to do this for you. As a favor. That’s all.”

      J.B. nodded. “Let’s hope for your sake you’re telling me the truth.”

      Gage looked worried.

      J.B. patted Gage on the face. “Find my granddaughter.” The mobster turned and walked toward the door, but stopped at the sound of his cell phone ringing. He motioned for Death and Destruction to go on ahead of him with Gage, then reached in his pocket and pulled out the phone.

      “Yes?” he barked, then listened. “You got Diana? Does Kincaid know yet? Good.” He smiled as he snapped the phone shut and put it back in his pocket. “So now Governor, I have your daughter and soon to be born grandchild. How does it feel?”

      Jesse winced as if he’d been kicked in the stomach. Crowe had kidnapped the governor’s daughter, Diana. The governor’s pregnant daughter.

      He swore under his breath and he jumped down from the crate and ran along the edge of the building. He knew how dangerous it would be for Diana and her unborn baby to be taken in retaliation for Susannah’s kidnapping.

      There was no love lost between J. B. Crowe and Governor Thomas Kincaid, not since the governor had declared war on the mob in Texas. But Jesse suspected there was something else between J.B. and Thomas, something more personal.

      Hurriedly, Jesse ran along the edge of the building. He could see the Lincoln and knew he couldn’t reach it in time. Nor could he let Gage see him again.

      Jesse stopped at the corner of the building, caught. He watched as Gage went straight to the dark-colored Caddy. The driver hopped out as if surprised to see Gage back so soon. It was obvious he’d been asleep, Jesse realized with silent thanks. There was a good chance the driver hadn’t seen Jesse get out of the Lincoln then.

      Gage climbed into the back of his Cadillac and the driver closed the door.

      J.B. stood with Death and Destruction as if waiting for Gage to leave. Gage looked as if he couldn’t wait to get away as his driver climbed back into the front of the car and started it.

      Forgetting about Gage, Jesse considered the spot he found himself in. There wasn’t any way he could get to the Lincoln without J.B. seeing him. For a moment, he actually considered just taking off and not looking back.

      But blowing his own cover now, when he was so close, wasn’t his style. He’d bluffed his way into the chauffeur job, he could bluff his way through this. He hoped.

      Gage’s driver gave the Caddy a little too much gas as he left. Jesse saw J.B. smile in the glare of the Cadillac’s headlights. About then, however, J.B. seemed to notice that his own driver wasn’t at his post, and the smile faded.

      Jesse ambled out from the dark edge of the building and walked leisurely toward the Lincoln.

      “I thought I told you to stay in the car?” J.B.’s voice sounded at once suspicious and furious.

      “I had to take a leak,” Jesse snapped and moved ahead of the mobster to open his door. He could feel J.B.’s gaze on him and looked up to meet the man’s dark eyes without flinching. It took all his nerve.

      J.B. held his gaze for a long heart-stopping moment, then he shook his head as if in disgust or disbelief, and slid into the back seat. It’s so hard to get good help these days, Jesse thought sarcastically.

      Death slid in beside the mobster and Destruction strutted around to the other side, giving Jesse a smug grin that hinted that he was looking forward to the day that he got to kill Jesse.

      Jesse had made it a point to never be cowed by J.B., but it was getting harder and harder not to let the mobster see him sweat.

      “Home,” J.B. ordered the moment Jesse slipped into the driver’s seat.

      Still shaking inside, he gripped the wheel and drove. He didn’t dare look in the rearview mirror again. No one said a word from the back seat.

      Jesse tried to relax but he couldn’t forget how close he’d come to having his cover blown. Gage Ferraro had seen him talking to Amanda in the alley earlier. Fortunately, Gage hadn’t gotten a good look at him.

      But now Jesse wasn’t sure how long his luck would hold. It seemed he and Gage were looking for the same thing. Amanda’s baby, Susannah. And even if, as Jesse suspected, Gage was lying through his teeth to Crowe, their paths were bound to cross again. And it was just a matter of time before Gage recognized Jesse as the cop who’d arrested him for drug possession three years ago.