Riled (The Invincibles Book 4)

by Heather Slade

  “Perhaps you’ll be able to catch up on your sleep if you do, darling.”

  “Thanks, Mother,” she said and turned to me. “If you wouldn’t mind having your driver drop my bags. I’ll walk from here.”

  “If you’ll give me a moment to say goodbye to Kiki, I’ll go with you.”

  “Not necessary, but thank you.”

  She walked out of the room, leaving me unable to follow without making a scene.

  “What about your younger brother, Cortez? Wouldn’t he suit Kenzie?”

  “He’s happily married, I’m afraid.”

  “Disappointing, that one.” She motioned in the direction Kensington had left. “I thought Konstantine von Habsburg was a good match, but she obviously didn’t make much of an impression on him.”

  “We really must be going,” I heard Grinder say as I took ten deep breaths in an attempt to stop myself from strangling the woman standing in front of me.

  Didn’t make much of an impression? The wanker tried to rape her. Before I could stop myself, I heard the words coming out of my own mouth in a tone that could only be construed as angry. “Did you or did you not contact the Queen and tell her your daughter had been kidnapped?”

  Kiki’s eyes opened wide. “I did nothing of the sort! As if I’d have access to the Queen. How absurd. Until I received your message saying you were on your way here with her, I assumed she was off gallivanting the way she always does. What happened with von Habsburg, anyway? Is there any hope things might work out between him and Kenzie?”

  “Had we not arrived when we did, your daughter would’ve been brutally raped, or worse.”

  “Surely, she exaggerates.” Kiki took a step back, and I took a step forward.

  “Time for us to go,” reminded Grinder. “We have a flight to catch.”

  There was no flight, but he was right to urge me to leave. Nothing good could come of a confrontation between Kensington’s mother and me.

  I turned and walked out without the civility of a goodbye, too angry to do anything but. I waited in the car while Grinder, I hoped, gave his regrets and smoothed things over.

  “We have to get her away from here,” I said when Grinder got in the car.

  “You were the one insisting she come.”

  I glared at him. Recriminations were unwelcome, given I had no idea what fresh hell we were delivering Kensington to.

  As we drove to the guest house, I looked for Kensington. While the driver unloaded her bags, I went to the front door and knocked. Hearing nothing, I tried the handle and found it open like that of the main house. “Kensington?” I called out.

  “There she is,” said Grinder, coming in behind me and pointing toward the water.

  I knew from the long hair blowing in the wind that the woman speeding away from the estate, alone in a motorboat, was her.

  “Let’s go,” I snapped.

  “Edge has been released and is on his way to Texas,” Grinder said, looking at his phone on the drive back to the airfield. “Lynx is with him.”

  “We’ll meet them there.”

  We’d been on a mission in China three months ago with Lynx, Edge’s older brother, during which the younger Edgemon was shot.

  In the midst of what seemed an easy in-and-out op, we were met by a hail of bullets moments before we left the building with the agents we’d been hired to extract. Edge was the only one of us hit. A bullet had penetrated his right arm, requiring three surgeries in order for him to regain full use of it.

  It was Lynx I was most anxious to talk to. I’d made him an offer to join our firm, knowing perhaps better than he did himself, that he would soon make his permanent home in America. Currently a high-ranking MI6 officer, he was the perfect candidate to be the Invincible’s managing partner for US operations.

  Presently, we were comprised of four founding partners—myself, Grinder, Edge, and Decker. I had not intended to add a fifth partner until I intuited that Lynx might be available. Before making him the offer, though, I’d called a partners’ meeting; the decision to proceed had been unanimous.

  While I could’ve remained with MI6 until the end of my career, I had no desire to go further up the ranks. I much preferred the idea of working with independent agents, picking and choosing the missions we agreed to accept. It was with that idea I approached Decker Ashford first and then Grinder and Edge.

  I named the firm the Invincible Intelligence and Security Group. My partners weren’t enamored with it, but I was. There were few other instances I exercised power or authority as the founder of the firm. I suppose that’s why they agreed to live with the name.

  Decker’s wife was the first to call us the Invincibles, back when our inaugural mission was to find her sister’s killer. I doubted any of them would admit liking the moniker, but I sensed they did.

  I was anxious to grow the firm and had several agents, officers, and independent operatives in mind to join us. Given several of those individuals were based in the States, I could use the time in Texas to set up meetings.

  “You’re deep in thought,” said Grinder when we arrived at the airfield.

  “Business.”

  “I thought you were going to get into it with Kiki.”

  “Yes,” I murmured. “Thank you for preventing me from doing so.”

  “I wish there’d been an alternative.”

  As did I.

  6

  Rile

  Grinder and I arrived at King-Alexander Ranch a few hours after leaving Kiki’s, and were seated at the dining room table in the ranch’s main residence. We were chatting with the ranch’s owner, Quint Alexander, his wife, Darrow, and Decker Ashford, when Edge walked in with Lynx. I sensed something was wrong, but it wasn’t with Edge himself, or Lynx.

  I watched as Darrow, an MI6 agent in her own right, code name Shadow, greeted the two men.

  When Edge turned to me, I stood and embraced him. I took a step back, held out my hand, and he shook it. “Good,” I murmured. His grip was strong. “Back to normal?”

  He nodded. “Mostly.”

  “You all right?” I heard Grinder ask him when they too embraced.

  When Edge shook his head, I studied him, but still couldn’t get a read on what was troubling him.

  “Can I get you both a drink?” Quint asked.

  “Please. If it’s not an intrusion,” Edge answered.

  “Of course not.”

  The Invincibles team and I had spent many evenings on this ranch and at this table. Quint’s father was Z Alexander, the current chief of MI6, and our former boss. While the ranch still belonged to Z, Quint had run it for years along with Decker Ashford, who Z had adopted out of foster care when he was a teenager.

  “Lynx,” I said, turning to him. “Do you have an answer for us?”

  “Soon. I promise.”

  I watched as Edge leaned down and murmured something to Decker, who stood and followed him outside.

  “What’s going on?” Grinder asked Lynx.

  “Something about the murder of a local man.”

  It wasn’t long before Lynx left and Decker came back inside.

  “There was a murder right before we left for the Chinese mission back in August. Edge believes he may have played a role in it.”

  “He didn’t.”

  Every head at the table turned to me. I couldn’t explain why I was convinced he hadn’t. As with so many things, it was a feeling.

  “A woman was arrested and is currently in county lockup, awaiting trial. Edge says he knows she’s innocent. I’ll contact Mac at the sheriff’s office in the morning and see what else I can find out. Edge plans to visit the jail tomorrow. He’s contacting an attorney now to meet him there.”

  I was certain the woman who’d been arrested was innocent, like Edge believed, but this time, I’d keep my premonition to myself.

  “The victim had ties to the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas,” Decker reported the next morning. “Hammer was able to negotiate the release of the woman arreste
d for the murder, but there was a condition.”

  Sterling Anderson, aka Hammer, was an attorney with ties to the intelligence community, who just happened to live in this part of Texas. “And that was?”

  “She’s being released into Edge’s custody.”

  I closed my eyes and brushed my lower lip with my finger, processing the information I was foreseeing. The most logical assumption was that someone within the ABT or its parent organization, the Aryan Nation, had murdered the man. The other possibility was that a rival gang was responsible for his death. Either way, it would be difficult to prove who carried out the hit.

  Hammer’s best bet to get the woman exonerated was to find enough counter-evidence to prove her innocent, or at least to establish reasonable doubt.

  In anticipation of Edge coming to me, asking for the Invincibles to take on this investigation, I made several calls.

  The first was to a contact at the CIA, Sumner Copeland. Cope was a handler and would know if the agency had anyone inside either the Aryan Nation or the ABT. If not, we would need to get our own team in place as quickly as possible.

  I took another look at the operatives I’d wanted to meet with while I was in the States. There was a good chance we’d need their help on this investigation. Later, I’d give Grinder a list and ask him to reach out to them.

  “Smoke is inside the Aryan Nation,” reported Cope when I asked if they had already anyone undercover. As far as operatives went, he was at the top of my list to recruit.

  Broderick “Smoke” Torcher was a brilliant agent—a warrior, a renegade, and a bloody genius. There wasn’t a single situation he couldn’t step into and master. The man was older than me by a handful of years, making me believe he would be ready to retire from the agency, given the opportunity.

  After my call with Cope ended, I compiled a list of names for Grinder. There were two women included, Calla “Casper” Rey and Siobhan “Siren” Gallagher. Casper was a former CIA agent who’d quit the company and gone independent when her husband, Beau Rey, was killed in what many believed had been friendly fire. However, the CIA wouldn’t own it.

  Siren was an active officer in Irish Military Intelligence. Recruiting her would be more difficult, but eventually, I would.

  The first three men I added for Grinder to contact were Breckin “Ink” Ryan, Garrett “Rage” Williams, and Mick “Jagger” Reynolds. Ink would be ideal to infiltrate the ABT. Rage and Jagger would prove useful if we needed someone undercover in a rival gang.

  If we were able to recruit any or all of this target group, the Invincibles would be capable of handling this investigation as well as take on any other mission presented to us—black ops or otherwise.

  Given that no one on the list worked for MI6, I wouldn’t piss off Z Alexander by luring away more of his best talent.

  I’d once considered making Cope an offer, but his father was a high-profile US senator. Any job his son moved into would need to be equally high-profile. My prediction was that one day, he’d become the director of the intelligence bureau, perhaps even become a senator or presidential cabinet member. Regardless, it would be equally important to stay in Cope’s good graces.

  “Mornin’, Rile,” said Quint, walking into his kitchen.

  “We are inconveniencing you.”

  Quint poured a cup of what looked like black sludge and joined me at the table. “I’d argue and tell you you weren’t, but with you, I’ve come to realize you have a better idea of what I’m thinking before I do.”

  “His mum was the same way,” said Darrow, joining us after pouring a cup of the same thing Quint had. “Don’t turn your nose up until you’ve tasted it,” she said, catching the look of disgust on my face.

  “I have tasted it, and I’ll stick with tea, thank you.”

  “What were you saying about Rile’s mother?” Quint asked.

  “Right. She’s said to have a sixth sense.” Darrow’s eyes met mine as if to challenge me to deny the rumors. She smiled when I said nothing.

  While not public knowledge, my mother, before marrying my father and becoming the Duchess of Soria, had been with SIS. She was credited with exposing the final two men in what came to be known as the Cambridge Five. Unlike the three others who had defected to the Soviet Union, Anthony “Johnson” Blunt and John “Liszt” Cairncross remained with SIS until a year after my mother joined MI6.

  It was her “sixth sense,” as Darrow called it, that put her onto Blunt and Cairncross, eventually leading them to confess to British Intelligence.

  Right before my father proposed, the Queen had offered to make my mother a Dame of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath. However, given an impending marriage to the brother of the reigning Spanish monarch, my mother privately declined the honor. Had she accepted, she would’ve been made a dame before the age of twenty-five. That alone spoke to the significance of her contributions in the short time she was with SIS.

  She quietly retired from duty and, eventually, gave birth to my younger brother and me. I would be lying if I said my mother hadn’t pushed me into service.

  My only regret in following in her footsteps was that joining SIS had led me to meet the one true love of my life only to lose her five years later. The pain of that loss was ever-present, deep in my soul. It hadn’t diminished and never would.

  Darrow reached over and covered my hand with hers. Perhaps she had her own sixth sense.

  Unlike my mother, who’d married into the duchy, Darrow was born into it. Her oldest brother and good friend of mine had become Duke of Bedfordshire upon the death of their father. Thornton “Shiver” Whittaker had been an MI6 officer, slated to become chief. Instead, he and his wife, Orina, a former KGB assassin, had retired to Whittaker Abbey and were raising a family.

  “I’ve gotta get back to work.” Quint kissed Darrow’s cheek and excused himself.

  “How’s your brother?”

  “Which one—Shiver or Wilder?”

  “Both, actually.”

  “Shiver’s well. In fact, Orina is pregnant with their third child. And Wilder, as you know, married Quint’s sister. They’re all very happy back in Bedfordshire.”

  “Brilliant. Please give them my regards.”

  “Rile…I heard another rumor. This one was about you.”

  “You shouldn’t believe everything you hear.” In our world, that meant leave it alone.

  “Very well,” she said, standing, smiling, and kissing my cheek before leaving the same way her husband had.

  It was mid-December by the time our team completed our investigation and exonerated the woman we all knew was the love of Edge’s life.

  We’d finally located the real killer after Edge and Casper had gone undercover into the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas. Unbeknown to us at the time, the FBI had also infiltrated the organization. I was livid upon finding out they were already inside, and didn’t hesitate to let Cope know it.

  “The right hand doesn’t always inform the left of what it’s doing,” he told me.

  “You’re telling me you knew nothing about the bureau’s involvement when your own man was inside the national organization?”

  “Believe me, Rile, internal affairs is all over this.”

  The bureaucratic bullshit was a primary reason why I didn’t miss my employment with SIS. It made me think of Smoke again, and wonder if he was as fed up as I was. Perhaps now would be a good time to contact him and ask him to work for the Invincibles.

  We had one final meeting scheduled to hotwash the investigation. After that, I planned to return to Spain. Both Grinder and Edge were staying on in the States, so I would be traveling alone, and I welcomed it. I prized my solitude, and after a mission that had taken place over the course of two months—involving the entire team along with hired operatives—I was ready for some peace and quiet.

  I’d just taken my bag to the car when my mobile rang with a call from Casper.

  “Can I catch a ride to the airport with you? I just need to make a stop at th
e dining hall on our way out. If it isn’t too much trouble.”

  Given I was headed to my home on the island of Mallorca where I planned to avoid all of humanity for at least a month, I was happy to oblige.

  I was in the car, waiting for Casper, when my mobile rang with a call from my mother.

  “Hello, Duchess.”

  “Cortez.”

  “Something’s wrong.”

  “Yes, I fear it is. Where are you?”

  “In America, headed home in two hours.”

  “Oh, good. I hoped I’d find you still in the States.”

  “Mother?”

  “Yes, yes, I’m getting to it.”

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. “It’s to do with Kensington, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, and I’m afraid it’s terribly complicated.”

  7

  Kensington

  “Of course, Konstantine, you are more than welcome to spend the holiday here with us.” My mother paused. “Oh, you’re already here? That’s brilliant. When shall we expect you?” She paused again. “Perfect. Just in time for afternoon cocktails.”

  I came around the corner when the call ended. “Have you lost your mind?”

  My mother set her phone on the kitchen counter and folded her arms.

  “Do you not understand he tried to rape me?”

  “He tells a different story, Kenzie,” she said, taking a sip of her martini and leveling a nasty gaze at me.

  Of course she would take anyone’s side over mine; it was the way it had always been with Kiki. I didn’t have time to stop and wonder why, not now, with Konstantine on his way here.

  “When is he arriving?”

  “He’s at the airport, waiting to clear customs. When he does arrive, I expect you to welcome him graciously, Kensington.”

  I wanted to scream at her, but I wanted to avoid Konstantine more. “I’ll go freshen up.”

  She downed the remaining liquor in her glass. “I’m happy to hear you’ve had a change of heart.”