“The team is fully aware, even though breaking into the satellite office won’t do him any good.” Steve placed the tablet next to the laptop on a nearby table. “We don’t store equipment there.”
Reese and Amarion already knew that because that’s how they met him. They had attempted to break into Crossroads Security office and searched the place, unaware he’d taken down the alarm system to let them in. After Daron made his presence known, he had a long conversation with them about choices and consequences. The fact that Amarion had come to him showed he was committed to his new path. Unlike his aunt, who was still attracted to that fast money lifestyle.
“Contact Red to see if he’d be willing to fly in from New York and discreetly find Midas,” Daron said. Red was a man who went on an undercover black ops assignment, got burned, and ended up working with Bishop. Daron never quite got the full story of how that came to be, especially since he never really stopped helping law enforcement catch the bad guys.
“I’ll reach out to him,” Steve replied, typing into his cell. “I’ll have him send you an audio recording of the conversation.”
“Is my aunt staying out of trouble?” Daron wished he could convince Brandi that no one had tampered with his brother’s car. Despite every attempt, she was still convinced he’d been murdered. Unfortunately, Brandi couldn’t know that Troy was alive and in witness protection.
Steve leaned forward, resting an elbow on each thigh, looking more like a high school grad than the director and part-owner of Crossroads Security. “She rolls with a hard-core group of friends but she hasn’t gotten in any trouble yet.”
“Give me the rundown on Marquise’s involvement with The Castle.” Daron settled onto a stool in front of the long rectangle workbench.
He hadn’t been able to wrap his mind around Khalil selecting him as one of the people to help turn things around. Of course, his son, Vikkas, was an obvious choice. The others had attended Macro International Magnet School where Khalil had mentored the majority of them. Daron had met all of the criteria and was selected to attend but had declined since he wanted the program that allowed him to take classes at a local university.
“Oh, before we get to that, I’ve assigned a team to Calvin. Mia is officially on the payroll.”
Calvin Atwood had created a spectacular invention, which made the wearer practically invisible to the naked eye by reflecting the images around it. The device became such a coveted item that several governments had sent teams to kill him, simply to make off with the project for their own purposes. Daron was working with him to install trackers in the device. Mia Jakob was now his fiancée, but she came by way of an agency hired to protect him and the invention.
Now that he and Calvin had teamed up, Marquise was determined to make problems for the project unless Daron cooperated with his demands. And that wasn’t going to happen.
CHAPTER 3
Daron hated that he’d brought an additional threat to an already dangerous project. However, when he agreed to participate, he had no idea he’d become a King of The Castle.
“How did the meetings go at The Castle?” Steve asked, as he pulled up an image of Khalil sporting shiny black hair with a sliver of grey. His deep-olive skin looked vibrant, unlike the pale tone he had acquired after a failed attempt to murder him the day Daron visited him in the hospital several weeks ago.
“Interesting.” Daron spread his fingertips and opened a folder on The Castle onscreen. The hospital visit had a profound effect.
The edge of Khalil’s mouth curled up ever so slightly as the medical equipment hummed and beeped in the background. “The program that paid for your college tuition and allowed you to start your business right after high school was a Castle initiative.”
Daron slid back in the seat and silently cursed. He’d wanted to give back to the program but by his second semester at the university it no longer existed. “You do realize that my membership and being connected to Bishop is going to create issues.”
“Bishop has been in your life since you were young, so I know you can handle it.” Khalil grimaced as if speaking was painful. That didn’t stop him from talking about the criminal mastermind who had left Daron The Castle membership. “You’re needed on this team, in this brotherhood. More importantly, the next young person with a brilliant mind and a talent like yours will need people who think outside of the box to teach them how to create wealth and provide substance to others.”
Daron pondered those words for a moment.
“I’m already working on something. A large group would slow down the process of moving from concept to reality.” Daron was happy for the first time in years. No amount of wealth could buy that. He’d just spent the last five years being a sacrificial lamb for others. The people who benefited the most seemed to be the biggest “gangs” around—the CIA, FBI, and Interpol. The things some of them did behind the scenes ranked them right up there with the criminals. Putting his happiness and well-being on the back burner had become taxing. He didn’t know if he was willing to do it again, especially so soon after he had finally managed to get back to doing what he loved full time. Now he had someone who didn’t need him to complete her, and having a family was once again a possibility. “I’ll consider it, but there’s a great personal risk to take this one on. Even if I agree, I’m not promising long term.”
“I’ll take what I can get.” Khalil reached for Daron’s hand the minute he vacated the chair at his bedside, his slight moan indicating that the pain meds were wearing off. “Who is she?”
The image of Cameron’s hazel eyes, deep dimples and full lips came to mind. “A woman who’ll dive into the depths of hell for someone she loves, and uses that same amount of energy to destroy people who make her an enemy.”
Khalil closed his eyes momentarily, inhaling and exhaling as if trying to steady himself. “Participating shouldn’t make her an enemy.”
“No, it shouldn’t, but keeping secrets that involve proximity to the type of criminals who’ve been managing The Castle will not keep her in my life.”
“Daron. Daron.” Steve called out, snapping Daron out of his reflection. “So the meetings changed your stance on getting involved?”
“At first, I felt it wasn’t my fight.” He wanted to be an inactive member but he could hear his mother saying, making no decision is a decision. “The director of the agency, who was vetting membership, waited until Khalil was on a five-year world tour to become lax on the strict criteria which governed The Castle, allowing criminals to buy a seat at the table and pushing out any dissenters.”
The Castle members with the biggest stake had a say in the general running of the property, which led to Khalil’s current problem. The majority of those members were now criminals who had moved away from Khalil’s original vision. Daron had already been threatened by Marquise Sinclair, a crime boss over an international art theft ring, who had become a member of The Castle for the power and the network to back up his schemes.
“It’s an ugly situation.” Steve grabbed a small black remote from the table.
“We need to figure out how the shooters got past their state-of-the-art security.” Daron pulled out the top drawer of his work station and retrieved a laptop. “And it might give Dro a clue and some insight on who hired them.”
Grant Khambrel’s image popped up next to Steve. He ran a premier commercial construction company in Texas; was a self-made multi-millionaire and his company had been selected to renovate the United Center. Daron, who had also signed his acceptance on the same day as Grant, hadn’t expected him to be on the list.
“According to the whispers in the streets, people were waiting eagerly for his arrival in Chicago. They weren’t the good kind of people, either.” Steve frowned, indicating there was much more to the story.
The laptop pinged. Daron checked the message from Steve, reading the details surrounding the rumor on how Grant started in the business. “Damn, that’s not good.”
“And before you a
sk, the info is from a reliable source, but it’s still only a rumor.”
Grant’s image disappeared, replaced by the person Daron knew would make the cut. Kaleb Valentine, a real estate developer in the Metro Detroit area and former gang member who turned State’s evidence against a well-known gang leader.
“The property he recently acquired on the South Side of Chicago burned down. Five people were trapped inside.” Steve pulled up the photos from the scene. “It’s a very active investigation.”
Daron’s laptop chimed as another message came through.
Steve stood, his top half nearly disappearing from view. “Last person.”
Next Jaidev Maharaj’s face appeared. “He runs the Chetan Health Center. Seems he’s under industry scrutiny for incorporating unconventional methods and one of his comatose patients is nearly eight months pregnant.”
“I don’t understand the issue.”
“Eight months pregnant,” Steve repeated. “She’s been a guest of the facility for a year.”
“Well damn, that has to be eating him up.” Daron figured him to be a man who took immense pride in what he did and cared deeply about the people. “How could that happen?”
“The police are investigating him and his male employees. The State is trying to close his facility down—permanently.”
Daron added some notes about a device that could prevent another patient from having a similar experience in the future.
“While Shastra, Mariano, Victor, and Dwayne didn’t produce anything that screamed immediate concern, remember this was an initial search.” Steve lowered himself back onto the chair and tapped a few keys.
Steve was referring to Shastra “Shaz” Bostwick, an immigration lawyer who serviced a wide range of clients that came to America from all over the world. Mariano “Reno” DeLuca had amassed several properties in the Chatham area and opened a women’s shelter. Victor Alejandro “Dro” Reyes, who owned a Crisis Management Company, was better known in the streets as a fixer; someone who discreetly cleaned up and handled “situations” for high profile people. Dwayne Harper was a local college professor teaching world studies. They had to practically twist his arm to get him to agree to become involved in The Castle.
“And you can include Vik in that grouping.” Vikkas Germaine was Khalil’s son as well as an international and intellectual property lawyer. “It’ll be interesting to see if Jai and Vikkas will bump heads a lot. They could actually be twins.” He pulled up the drone feed from The Castle before sending it to Steve.
“Why is that?”
“Just a feeling I have.” Considering the group of men Khalil put together, Daron knew decision-making time was going to be interesting. Vikkas had taken the lead in both meetings, but he doubted that would always be the case in the future.
“I’ve put Linc on security for Calvin’s shipment since Nicco is Khalil’s main protector.”
Daron shifted the ghost drone, at least that’s what Cameron called it. He managed to make it invisible to the naked eye, all except several small internal pieces. “The shipment should arrive soon so that we can dive in.”
“Time’s up. We have a lot on our plate.” Steve glanced at the Rolex on his dark brown wrist. “I’ll get you a picture of Levi ASAP.”
“What about the candidates to manage my program?”
“A preliminary report should be finished soon.” Steve rose, walking toward the center of the screen. “You’re sure you don’t want a protection team?”
“Positive.”
Having a security detail the last few years was necessary. Now that he has been without any for a while, he wasn’t ready to go back to being accompanied everywhere.
“Try not to get yourself killed,” Steve warned.
Unfortunately, if Cameron found out about The Castle, she’d be the first one to do the honors.
CHAPTER 4
The perimeter alarm beeped moments after Daron ended the call. He immediately grabbed his weapon, then snatched up a tablet from the counter. He glanced at the display screen and sighed, putting the Beretta back in place as he chuckled.
Cameron Stone kept him on his toes. She loved to test his security system for any weakness. Last week, she found and used a sensor that had been blocked by a branch to enter the property undetected, but he’d already installed a secondary one. Today, she managed to bypass the first two but wasn’t aware of the third one. Daron didn’t know if her actions were meant to keep him sharp or to make sure her skills stayed on point. Maybe a little of both.
He made his way from the basement workshop up the stairs to greet her. When she approached, he pulled open a steel door camouflaged by a layer of Cherrywood.
“Hey gorgeous.” Daron stared at her baggy workout pants and over-sized shirt. Not that she didn’t look beautiful, but he couldn’t wait until she changed into the clothing that accentuated her shape, and rocked those high heels he loved. His mind flashed back to the evening at the garage when she was ready to rumble with Marquise’s men, wearing one of his preferred outfits. Intense anger filled him as he thought how the incident ruined the remainder of his night.
She gave him a peck on the lips before sliding past him. “What’s that face for? Did one of your top candidates for the program get eliminated?” She slipped off her sneakers as he locked up. “Warden.”
Daron smiled, realizing he’d taken too long to respond but not missing the intentional use of the name associated with his illegal past. “Not yet.”
“Mmm.” Cameron’s eyes seemed to study his face again as she slung the backpack strap onto one shoulder. “Are we still meeting up with Calvin and Mia?”
“They rescheduled, but we’re leaving within the hour for our dinner date.”
“I’m good with that.” A slight smile curved her lips, then her expression darkened. “Should I come prepared?”
He stared into her eyes, hating the brown contacts covering the natural hazel color and her face altered to hide those adorable dimples. A reminder that, once again she was hiding in plain sight. “To have a good time?” he hedged.
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” She lifted an eyebrow but didn’t say anything else.
Unfortunately, having developed a tracker that located a missing girl, working with Calvin on an invention worth billions, and taking a seat on The Castle’s board of directors didn’t bode well for Daron remaining under the radar. “Did anything else unusual happen besides your mom showing up asking you to look into your dad?”
“You don’t have to avoid my question.” She stepped into his path as he made his way to the basement. He felt the heat of her gaze lasered on him. “We’re a team, remember.”
“Yes, and we live a life where we always need to be ready for anything.” Daron kissed her forehead then turned her in the direction of the master bedroom.
Drawing attention to himself had also put a spotlight on her. When he met her under the alias of Tandria Jenkins, her hazel eyes were always on display, as well as her reddish-brown hair that skimmed the middle of her back. Now the hair was black and hidden under a sable wig unless they were at his hme and staying in all night.
“For a while, we weren’t,” Cameron pointed out in a solemn tone. “Not like this.”
His heart ached because their post-retirement bliss hadn’t lasted longer. Things hadn’t been the same since the day Tracy went missing and all the madness started. “Babe, take your shower.” He patted her round ass. Daron wished the answer could be different but until he was no longer working with Calvin, The Castle, and now the program, he was always expecting trouble. “I’ll be in my workshop.”
“I hope you picked a good restaurant for tonight,” Cameron said as she walked away.
Forty-five minutes later, Daron glanced back as Cameron quietly slid into the workroom wearing a peach spaghetti-strap dress that hugged her curves, eliciting some carnal and sensual thoughts. Daron smiled as her arms wrapped around his waist. Her breasts pressed against him as she placed
her chin over his shoulder, giving him a squeeze.
“What are you working on?”
“A tattoo, in case a man doesn’t wear an earring.” Daron couldn’t say it was for Dro because Cameron knew nothing of The Castle or the eight men he was working with. “It would work similarly to the earring but it pulses if you accidentally activate the sensor.”
She picked up the schematics and the circuitry the tattoos required. “Where will the tattoo be worn?”
King of Morgan Park Page 2
