The Boss

by Melissa Schroeder

  “Why didn’t you have us come here from the first?” Jay asked.

  “Not a good idea,” Vic said, not waiting for Mac to answer. “First of all, getting out of the city was important, but there is always a chance one of us would run into someone we knew in our careers.”

  “Okay.”

  “And not enough rooms,” Mac said. “We need a place to regroup, and while this is a huge apartment, it only has two bedrooms.”

  “Good to know,” Jay said.

  Mac rolled her shoulders. “I need to clean up, and I’m feeling a little queasy.”

  If she was admitting that to the group at large, there was a good chance it was worse than she said. Vic nodded and watched her go. The urge to follow her rose up, but he fought it back. He knew from experience that she needed time alone. If he approached her now, there was a good chance he’d leave with scars.

  He nodded and watched her go.

  “She’s taking this hard,” Jay said.

  He glanced at his brother, then looked out the window. “We all are.”

  “No. She thinks this all comes down to her. You left, she was the boss.”

  “Why? It was my planning tonight.”

  “First of all, we all planned that. Second of all, when you left, she was the boss. You know how that is. She feels responsible for everything that has happened, even if it isn’t her fault.”

  Dammit, he hated that everyone kept bringing up the fact that he left. Instead of saying anything, he ground his teeth together and walked into the kitchen. There wasn’t much, but there was some bottled water. He grabbed one and twisted it open.

  “There’s water in here.”

  “I’ll take one,” Tessa said.

  “So what now?” Jay asked.

  “I need to go over what happened with you all, see if it triggers any ideas. Then we need to start from the beginning and try to figure out who the hell is behind all of this. I need some pain relievers first,” he said.

  Tessa pulled out a bottle of over-the-counter medication. “Here,” she said, tossing it to him.

  “Thanks.”

  After downing a few pills, he sat down on the couch. “Let’s get to work.”

  …

  Forty-five frustrating minutes later, they were no closer to figuring the mess out.

  “I’m ready to give up,” Rock said. While his best friend was smart and at times methodical, he lived by the rule that if all else fails, punch it or shoot it. Without a target, they were all irritated.

  One of their phones beeped.

  “Who is that?” Vic asked.

  They all rose to check their phones they had charging at various outlets around the room, when the sound went off again on Jay’s phone.

  “What the hell is that?” he asked him.

  His brother looked down at it and frowned. “It says that I have some kind of notice of a tracking device.”

  “Like you are being tracked? Why would your phone tell you that?” Vic asked

  He shot Vic a nasty look. “No. Do you think I’m that stupid?”

  “Sorry.”

  He looked down at his phone again. “It says I’m tracking some…”

  “Jay?”

  Rock walked over, as did Tessa.

  “What’s up?” Rock asked.

  “I don’t know,” Vic said. He opened his mouth to order Jay to answer him, but his brother let out a whoop.

  “Hot damn. This has got to be Millie.”

  Vic took the phone from him. “The tracking says they’re in Maryland. Heading up toward Boonsboro.”

  “What the bloody hell is going on out here?” Mac demanded. She’d been asleep for the last half an hour in the bedroom. He knew she was definitely hurting, because she rarely took a break unless she was at her breaking point. She looked a little better, not as pale.

  “I think Millie had a safeguard.”

  She walked over to them and took the phone from Vic.

  “What is this?”

  Jay tried to take the phone away from her, but she held it away from him. Her gaze was fixed on the screen.

  “It looks like she put a tracking device on herself and then uploaded something on my phone to track it.”

  She looked up at Vic, then looked at Jay. “Do you think she did this? Do you remember her doing anything with your phone?”

  His brother frowned. “I’m not sure. She did take it and told me she wanted to make sure I hadn’t been hacked.”

  Mac looked down at the phone again. “This is brilliant, if she actually did it.”

  “What are the chances that someone else got ahold of my phone? I haven’t been out except twice, and one of you has been with me the entire time. This has to be Millie.”

  She nodded as her brow furrowed.

  “Is there something else?”

  She shook her head. “No.” She handed him back the phone. “I’ll be right back. I need to change, and then we can get on our way.”

  Vic watched her walk away and almost called out to her. There was something in her expression that was not sitting right with him. Before he could say something, Mac had slipped into the bedroom and closed the door.

  “Do you think it’s smart to just go in there?” Tessa asked.

  He glanced at the agent. “Yeah. We aren’t going in blind. We know sort of what we are up against. Besides, we don’t have a choice. If this is her, we at least need to check it out.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t always go in pursuit. I am more into research.”

  He nodded. “Let’s gear up and make sure we have everything. Also, I want to make sure we don’t have any tracking devices. Jay, you need to take care of that.”

  “Why would it be my job? And when would they have gotten a chance to plant one on us? I’m pretty sure if we had one on our vehicle, they would have caught up to us.”

  And this is why he didn’t want to have his brother work for the company. When they got through this, they were going to have to work out the details of their work relationship.

  It hit him then. He was coming back. There was no doubt in his mind. He wanted to be the head of the company, and he wanted a life with Mac. Of course, the woman in question might have some different ideas, but Vic knew he could convince her.

  And if he was returning, he would have to deal with his brother—starting now.

  “First of all, you do it for me, because I told you to. I’m in charge. And we do it as a precaution. Double checking is always a good idea.”

  His brother said nothing, but he nodded.

  Rock grabbed a couple of waters. “I think Tessa should stay here.”

  Tessa frowned and crossed her arms. “Wait, no. I want these bastards.”

  Rock chuckled. “And that makes me even more attracted to you, but we need someone to stay behind. If something happens to us, someone needs to go to the authorities. We also need a contact on the outside.”

  The agent glanced at Vic, then back to Rock. “Attracted to me?”

  Rock just smiled.

  Tessa nodded. “Okay. I’ll wait here.”

  “What is taking Mac so long?” Jay asked.

  He shrugged and walked to the bedroom door she had disappeared behind. He knocked.

  “Hey, babe, we’re ready to roll.”

  Nothing. Not a peep. The stillness set off alarms in his head.

  “Mac?”

  Jay came up behind him. “What’s wrong?”

  Vic shook his head as lead settled into his belly. Something was wrong.

  “I’m coming in there if you don’t answer.”

  Silence. He set his hand on the doorknob, and it twisted without much effort on his part. The door swung open to an empty room. The surge of anger almost choked him. He strode in, with Jay on his heels. Vic switched on the light.

  “Dammit, what the hell is she thinking?” Jay said, as he searched the room and the bathroom.

  Vic noticed the door for the first time. He hurried over to it and opened it. It
led out to the other apartment, and more than likely, the hall. Dammit. She had run.

  “Where’s Mac?” Tessa asked from the doorway, but he ignored the agent.

  Vic walked over to the bedside table. A picture of the two of them the last time they’d made it out to San Francisco sat next to a notepad. She’d left a message.

  Sorry. It’s all my fault.

  “What does that mean?” Jay asked.

  “It means she ran off without us,” Rock said, irritation threading his voice.

  “Why would she do that?” his brother asked.

  Her fault. He turned the idea over in his head, then remembered the expression on her face when she had looked at the tracking app on Jay’s phone. It had shown the location and their direction. Then it hit him.

  “Because she knows exactly where this is at and who is behind it.”

  For the last few years, they had been a team. Always relying on each other, knowing they had each other’s backs. Now, she had bolted, not wanting to burden him.

  He dropped the notepad and strode to the front door.

  “Let’s go.” He grabbed his gun and holster on the way out. “Tessa, lock the door, and don’t budge unless you get notice from us.”

  “What if I never hear from you again?” she asked.

  “I’m sure they’ll report our deaths.”

  He didn’t even wait to see if they were following him. He knew Jay and Rock would.

  “What the hell does she think she’s doing?” Jay asked, as they approached the elevator.

  “She thinks she’s fixing everything,” said Rock.

  The door to the elevator opened. They all got in, and Jay punched the basement button.

  “Vic, are you okay?”

  He glanced at his brother and then back straight ahead. “Yeah. I just need to have a little conversation with a hardheaded woman.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Like it or not, your past will always come back to haunt you.

  —Mac Donovan

  Mac sped along the highway and told herself for the hundredth time she should not feel guilty. Okay, she felt a little guilty about popping the car, but she would return it somehow. At least she knew this wasn’t being tracked. Stealing—no, borrowing—a car would make sure of that.

  She’d known the moment she saw where Millie had been taken what was going on. It was then that the pieces of the shit puzzle they had been working on for days came into focus. Her past association with a certain diplomat had come back to haunt her in more ways than one.

  She tried not to think about everyone, especially Vic. She knew Vic was going to be pissed she’d left, but she needed to set this to rights. The idea that she was the reason all of this had happened to them was bad enough. The fact she’d drawn Vic back into the business because of it… Well, that sucked bollocks.

  Bloody hell. She had only ever wanted Vic to be happy, and if that meant without her, so be it. She’d been the root of all the crap that had hit them these last few days. People had died. But, before she let him go, she was going to make sure she fixed it. She owed Vic that much.

  She took the exit that led to the house. She had stayed there a time or two and knew that some of the security was going to pop off and alert the residents. She knew they would let her come in. They thought to trap her.

  She turned down the road that led to the house and noted the guards. They weren’t your average guards. In fact, they looked more like mercs, and knowing whom she was dealing with now, that was probably true. They did nothing but watch her go by.

  She pulled up to the house and parked her car. It was one of those overly big houses that served no purpose. Of course, it did in a way. It made other people envious, and that was the only reason it had been built. It was gorgeous. Made from the most beautiful Canadian cedar, it looked almost rustic. It wasn’t, but this was for people who liked to be seen a certain way while they acted differently. They would present the world with the idea that they loved the outdoors, but they really loved convenience and money over all else.

  She went through her memories, trying to go over the past few days and what that meant for the fight about to happen. She could have snuck up, avoided the sensors, but that would be a waste of energy. The bastard knew she was coming. If not, the guards would have stopped her. She walked up to the front steps, nodded to the guards.

  “Hullo, Mike. David.”

  “We have to check you, Ms. Donovan,” David said.

  She said nothing, but she held up her hands and let him pat her down. She’d left her gun in the car, but she had a knife in a holster on her leg. Unfortunately, David found it. He shook his head and straightened.

  “Sorry. You know how I like my weapons.”

  As soon as David gave her permission, she stepped around him and opened the door without knocking.

  She stepped over the threshold and noticed not much had changed since her visit years earlier. There were a few more pieces of furniture, but for the most part, the refined gentry-in-the-country look was still there. She scanned the room and found Millie in a dining chair next to the fireplace. A gag had been tied around her mouth, and her wrists were bound to the arms of the chair. Mac felt her heart almost stop as she moved closer. Millie wasn’t awake. She sat slumped in the chair. Mac’s first instinct was to run to Millie and free her. But she knew better. That was the kind of thinking that would end up with both of them dead. Then, something caught her attention, and she turned her head toward the dining area.

  Simon stepped out of the kitchen and smiled at her. “Hello, love. It’s about time you got here.”

  …

  Vic drove, ignoring all speed limits and rules of the road. He was pretty sure he had committed enough misdemeanors in the last thirty minutes to cost him a thousand bucks. He didn’t care. All he cared about was getting to her on time.

  Why had she run? Did she not think he would stand by her? The hollow pit in his stomach expanded. Regret rode heavily on his shoulders as he tried to think back to their last conversation. Had he let her think she had to do this on her own?

  “Take this next exit,” Jay said. “Then turn left and go under the underpass.”

  He grunted and said nothing else. He knew they were about ten minutes behind her. She could easily be walking into a trap. They had no guarantee Millie was even alive. There was always a chance her abductors had found the tracker and were using it to trap all of them. None of that mattered. Not now. He had only just realized how much Mac meant to him. He wasn’t about to let anything bad happen to her.

  Fear and anger made a dangerous mix. He had been wavering between both all the way to their destination. Right now, he wasn’t sure which he was feeling, but Vic knew one thing: he would definitely develop an ulcer from this insanity.

  “How does she know where to go?” Rock asked.

  “Not sure.” Why did the guys want to get chatty just now? He wanted to focus on what they needed to do to find her, and just how much he was going to yell at her when they did catch up with her.

  “I think she knows who has Millie. She knew exactly where this was or where they were going. She knows whoever is involved.”

  He spared his brother a glance but said nothing.

  “How do you figure that?” Rock asked.

  “The look on her face when she saw the area on the map…she knew. I didn’t realize it at that time. I should have,” Jay said.

  Great. Now his brother was feeling guilty. He couldn’t allow that, not when it wasn’t Jay’s fault.

  “No, you shouldn’t have,” Vic bit out. “ I should have. I knew she was acting funny, but I thought it was the situation. I should have known.”

  “And how would you have known? Are you some kind of super human?” Rock asked. There was no mistaking the sarcasm in his voice.

  “Because, like Jay said, she had a look on her face. I know her better than everyone else. I should have picked up on it.”

  “Jay and I have spent a lot of
time with her in the last few months.”

  “Yeah, but the truth is, I knew there was something wrong. But I didn’t want to mess with it just yet. I figured we could work it out later.”

  And he should have pushed her. He should have followed her into the bedroom and forced her to tell him what was wrong.

  “Oh, get over yourself, Walker,” Rock said.

  He looked up in the rearview mirror to find Rock staring right back at him. “What?”

  “Get over yourself. You screwed up. Isn’t the first time. We both know it won’t be the last.”

  “She could be walking into a trap.”

  “So, we save her.”

  What if we’re too late? He didn’t say the words out loud, because if he did, he might just lose it. Even thinking it had his head pounding and his heart aching. The idea of losing her now was just too much to bear.

  “Here we are,” Jay said.

  Vic nodded and drove past the entrance to the property. It was well hidden, and there was a good chance that whoever had her had good cameras. Still, he wanted to do everything they could to keep whoever it was in there from knowing they were there. He just hoped they weren’t too late.

  …

  Mac stared at Simon. He was standing there, holding a drink and acting like she’d just shown up to a cocktail party. The smile he gave her was the one he used at embassy events.

  “Would you like a drink?” he asked.

  “What the bloody hell is this about?”

  Millie made a noise and shifted in her chair. Her eyes were still closed, but she moved again. Mac moved toward her, but Simon stopped her.

  “Don’t go any closer, love.”

  She glanced at Simon, and that was when she noticed the gun. An icy finger dragged down her spine as she filtered through her options. Confrontation was never good with Simon. He was a diplomat, so it was always best to work around to what she wanted. Being nice always produced good results with Simon.

  “I want to be sure she’s not injured.”

  “She’s okay. The idiot I paid to get her used a little bit too much of the drug. She’ll wake up soon.”

  Mac wanted to press the issue, but she didn’t think that would go over well with Simon. Instead, she looked around, happy to note that none of the guards had come inside yet. Then she turned back to the diplomat.