Open Life (Open Skies #5)

by Marysol James

  “Mr. Saunders, just what the hell do you want with Maria?”

  So she was like that, huh? A no-bullshit kind of woman? Well, good. ‘Cause he was a no-bullshit kind of a guy and her attitude was going to save him a lot of time.

  “She’s maybe in a great deal of danger. I need to get her someplace safe.”

  “And where is that?”

  “A safe house in Denver.”

  “What makes it so safe?” Julie said. “Is it protected by the police?”

  “No.” Dillon accepted another coffee from Manny. “It’s owned by a private security company, run by a guy named Matt Kingston. He uses it to hide witnesses and clients.”

  “And which one is Maria?” Jake said.

  Dillon paused. “Neither.”

  “So…” Jake’s voice trailed off. “Why is she in danger, then?”

  “Because her sister is.”

  “Gabi?” Maria was finally startled out of her shocked silence. “Is she OK?”

  “Yes and no. Gabi was attacked last night at a bar in Denver called Dangerous Curves.”

  “She works there,” Maria said. “She cleans.”

  “Yeah, I work there too. I’m a bouncer.”

  The others stared at him, taking in his height and width and hard face. Yeah, Dillon Saunders was the epitome of the kick-ass bouncer, no doubt about that.

  “What happened to Gabi?” Maria said, feeling that this was the most relevant thing to know.

  Dillon sighed again. “OK – long story short. She witnessed a murder a few nights ago and she ran. She hid out at Curves for two days, but somehow these guys found her. They tried to grab her last night, but they didn’t manage it, thanks to our bartender. Gabi’s now staying with him and she’s worried about you, Maria. She’s afraid that these guys will come for you next.”

  “Me?” Maria’s lips were almost numb, making it hard to speak. “But I don’t know anything.”

  “No. But they may think you’re leverage.”

  “I’m not leverage in any way. Gabi and I barely even know each other. We’re half-sisters and we only met for the first time in our whole lives a year ago.”

  “Yeah, I know all of that,” Dillon said. “But these guys might not and even if they do, chances are they won’t care. They’ll just want something to force Gabi to turn herself over to them. They’ll hurt you bad to make that happen, believe me.” Those green eyes were cold again. “We’re dealing with the worst of the worst here.”

  “Who?” Julie said. “Who are we dealing with?”

  Dillon paused at her use of the word ‘we’. He supposed Julie and Jake were now as involved as he was, in their own way. “You ever heard of the Fallen Angels?”

  They all paled.

  “The motorcycle club?” Jake said.

  “Yep.”

  “Holy fuck,” Julie said, startling Dillon a bit with her language. “Gabi witnessed a murder committed by the Fallen Angels?”

  “She did.”

  “Oh, God.” Julie bit her lip. “No wonder Gabi hid.”

  “Yeah.” Dillon ran both hands through his hair. “So you see who’s involved, yeah? And this is why I need to get Maria out of here and somewhere safe.” He turned to her now and spoke to her directly. “I’ll take you back to Denver and King and his team will keep you guarded in the safe house until this is all sorted out.”

  “King?” Julie muttered under her breath to Jake.

  He shrugged and muttered back, “I guess he’s the man in charge.”

  “King is Matt Kingston,” Dillon explained. “He and my boss Jax Hamill sent me here to get Maria.”

  “So… wait.” Maria was struggling to catch up. “So Gabi’s hiding and I’m supposed to go in to hiding too, right?”

  “Yep,” Dillon said.

  “For how long?”

  Dillon shrugged. “I have no idea. Until King can talk to the MC Prez and negotiate your safety.”

  “So – you mean days?”

  “Probably longer.”

  “And what – I’m supposed to sit in a safe house in Denver that whole time?” Maria’s eyes were wide with disbelief. “Not work, not leave?”

  “Yeah, that’s the plan.” Dillon was getting impatient now. “Is that a problem?”

  “Well, yes. Julie and Jake’s wedding is in two weeks and I’m handling everything for it. I have to stay here and finish that.”

  Dillon was literally speechless. He stared at her like she’d suddenly sprouted a second head. “You – you’re going to stay here… and plan a wedding?”

  “I – I don't know." She thought for a few seconds. "I think I'd better talk to Gabi.”

  Dillon was immediately relieved. “Good idea. She tried to call you about fifty times after she was attacked but it went straight to voice mail.”

  Maria gasped. “God, I forgot to turn my phone on today.” She scrambled to her feet. “It’s back in the overnight room.”

  “Check your messages,” Dillon said. “You’ll have about twenty of ‘em.”

  She left the restaurant and now Dillon found himself being scrutinized by Jake and Julie. He leaned back a bit, more relaxed. He was pretty sure he’d be able to talk them in to backing him up with Maria and he’d be on his way soon enough. But boy, was he in for a surprise.

  “We can take care of Maria here,” Julie said now. “We have security systems in place.”

  Dillon stared at her, torn between amusement and incredulity. “You think?”

  “Yes. We had an… an incident last year where one of our female staff was badly hurt by her husband. Since then, we’ve upped our security. We have cameras everywhere and we set up a twenty-four-hour guard at the front gate.”

  “Yeah.” Dillon smirked. “I saw your guard. I walked past him, actually.”

  “You what?” Jake said.

  “Uh-huh. I parked my truck right outside the guard station, hopped the fence and walked up the road past the stables and in to the Reception area. I wasn’t even trying to be sneaky, believe me, since I wanted someone to see me so I could ask where Maria was. Nobody saw me, nobody stopped me. It was easy, man, and I wasn’t even in stealth mode. This place ain’t anything like secure.”

  “Where was Travis?” Julie demanded. “Wasn’t he in the booth at the front gate?”

  “The guard? He was sleeping.”

  Julie and Jake stared at him.

  “Fuck,” Jake growled.

  “Yep. So you see, your security is only as good as your weakest part of it – and Travis is a serious problem. No way I’m leaving here knowing that Maria’s being guarded by a guy who lets someone like me stroll on up to the hotel unchallenged. I was all alone with her in that lobby and I could have done anything to her, believe me. I wouldn’t have even broken a sweat.”

  “Oh, God,” Julie muttered. “I’ll kill Travis myself.”

  “You do that. Also? Help me convince Maria to come with me back to Denver.”

  “We’re not going to force her,” Jake said. “If she really doesn’t want to, then we’ll tighten up things around here. I’ll take the night shifts in the guard station personally. The cameras all feed in to it, so if anyone’s skulking around, I’ll know.”

  Julie nodded. “I’m sure Phil and Rob would take some nights, too, once they find out what’s going on. Maria can stay in the staff quarters and we can set up extra cameras outside her room. During the day, someone’s always around so she’ll be safe. Between all of us keeping an eye out, she’ll be fine.”

  Dillon was dumbfounded. “This is a hotel! People are coming and going all the damn time!”

  “This place is more closed than you may think,” Julie said. “We have six cabins and all reservations on them are from at least four months ago. By the end of next week, they’ll all be full of our wedding guests,
so obviously, we’ll know everyone staying here. Besides the regular staff, we have our delivery people who are on contract and we know all of them. That’s it, Mr. Saunders. If a stranger showed up out of the blue, they’d be noticed, trust me.”

  “Ms. Everett, please. I have my orders and they were clear… I’m to bring Maria back with me.”

  “Well, this isn’t a dictatorship and I don’t give a crap what King or Emperor or whatever the hell his name is told you. I don’t take orders from him – and I sure as hell don’t take them from you. You can get your ass back in your truck and go back to Denver and tell your boss that we take care of our own here.”

  They glared at each other, their almost-identical mint-green eyes flashing fire. Jake grinned when he saw that Dillon was at a complete and total loss about what to say or do next. Jake didn’t see this cold, bitchy side of his fiancée all that much anymore, but goddamn, when he did? It simultaneously scared and delighted him. Well, as long as it wasn’t directed his way; if it was, then he was just petrified.

  “Ms. Everett, Mr. Weston.” Dillon kept his voice level. “Look, I’m sure you have the best of intentions, OK? You all seem like people who care about Maria and that’s great. But do any of you have any formal training? Military or security?”

  Jake and Julie glanced at each other.

  “No,” Julie admitted. “But –”

  “But nothing,” Dillon interrupted. “These guys that are after Gabi are cold-blooded killers. You get me? They’ll hurt anyone who gets in their way, so you’d better be prepared to shoot them like the vicious animals that they are if they show up on your doorstep. You guys ready to do that?”

  “Yes,” Jake said.

  That stopped Dillon for a second. “You can shoot?”

  “Yes. Phil and Mattie too and any one of us would do it in a heartbeat. One of our guests arriving next week is a former cop from Houston and I know he’s still registered to carry. Believe me, Mr. Saunders – we’ve got this.”

  Dillon paused, wondering what argument to put forward now, and Maria came back in to the restaurant. She looked pale and Jake and Dillon both got to their feet, alarmed.

  “You OK, hon?” Jake said, gently grasping her elbow. “Come on, sit.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I’m OK.” She took a breath. “I talked to Gabi. Everything Dillon says is true.”

  Dillon noticed that she’d used his first name and this pleased him, for some reason. “So…we off then?”

  “No.” Maria shook her head. “No. I’m really sorry, but I'm staying here.”

  “What the fuck?” Dillon’s patience was now officially at an end. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “No.” She was shaking a bit, he saw, and he dialled it down a notch. “With all due respect – I know you've come all the way out here to warn me, but I don’t know you. I don’t know any of you people in Denver. I mean, I barely know Gabi and she’s my half-sister. But here, at Open Skies? There are people I trust and I know they’ll do whatever they have to do to keep me safe. They won’t let anything happen to me.”

  “You are damn right about that,” Julie said. “We’re going to get rid of Travis and install more cameras and I’m hiring you a personal bodyguard.”

  “Oh, no, Julie,” Maria protested. “That’s too much.”

  “No, it’s not. I’ll get on the phone right now and call this one place I’ve heard of in Denver – Dallas Foreman’s security firm. They do private stuff and they’re the real deal. I’ll have someone here by this afternoon.” Julie smiled at her. “And I’ll specifically request that he be smoking, crazy hot, OK?”

  Shocked out of her worry for a minute, Maria actually giggled. “OK.”

  “So, Mr. Saunders.” Julie tuned back to Dillon. “We’ve got things handled at this end. You guys do whatever you have to do in Denver to keep Gabi safe and let us know when the negotiations are over, please.”

  “No. No, wait.” Dillon was stunned at what had just happened. “Look… let me call Jax and King, OK? Get them up to speed?”

  “Sure,” Julie said.

  He got to his feet and went out in to the hallway. He found a chair away from the Reception area and he closed his eyes as he waited for his call to be picked up.

  “Yeah?” Jax’s deep voice sounded alert. “You got her, man?”

  “Uh, no. Slight problem.”

  “Hold on. I’m putting you on speaker. King’s right here.”

  There was a clicking sound and then some scuffling. Dillon assumed Jax was putting the cell on his desk at Curves.

  “OK, go. What do you mean ‘a problem’?”

  “Well, I found her and I told her everything. She’s refusing to come back to Denver with me.”

  “She what?” King’s snarl made him flinch. “The woman has a death wish?”

  “No. She just says she doesn’t know or trust any of us, and her boss here is willing to protect her. The woman’s talking about hiring one of Foreman’s people to come out and do private bodyguard duty for Maria until it’s all sorted out.”

  There was a silence at the other end.

  “Well, actually,” King said slowly. “That’s not a bad idea.”

  “What’s not? Private security?”

  “Yeah. I mean, she is safer where she’s surrounded by people who love her and who she trusts, no doubt about that. And if she’s got someone trained and carrying watching her back twenty-four-seven, then she can get on with her life. It’s a good plan.”

  “OK.” Dillon sighed. “So I’ll tell them we’ll keep them informed and I’ll start heading back in a few minutes.”

  “Nope,” King said. “You’ve missed my point.”

  “What’s your point?” Dillon ran his hand over his chin.

  “That you stay and watch Maria’s back.”

  “Me?” Dillon almost fell off the chair. “Aw, no… hang on a second…”

  “Why not?” Now Jax was in on it, the bastard. “You’re trained, you’re qualified, you’re already there.”

  “I bounce for you, Jax, and that’s it. I don’t do bodyguard shit. Not anymore.”

  “Well, now you do.” King’s no-nonsense tone made Dillon’s heart sink. “Effective immediately, you stay put at Open Skies until we can get things under control over here.”

  “But – what if they tell me to take a hike?”

  “Then you sit outside the hotel on some public road and you keep an eye open.”

  “Wait.” This was spiralling in to a disaster zone fast. “You expect me to sit in my truck and just watch the hotel? Maybe for weeks?”

  “Yep. If anything happened, you’d be right there as back-up.”

  “Yeah,” Dillon said reluctantly. “But –”

  “But nothing,” Jax said. “I’ll be paying you double your usual salary and I’ll cover all your expenses, OK? I’ll send you an advance to your bank account right now, to cover any immediate costs. Get receipts for everything.”

  “But –”

  “No, this is what we’ll do, at least for a few days.” King again. “We’ll talk about it again on Friday, see how things are going. I want to talk to you every day until then, just to have you check in and to pass on any info from our end.”

  “But –”

  “Nuh-uh, Saunders. This is our final word. Go on and tell them and let us know what they say.”

  The call ended and Dillon was listening to dead air. He stared at the phone in his hand, shocked and a bit confused.

  What the actual fuck just happened?

  Well, he couldn’t sit there all day with his jaw on the floor. With a groan, he dragged himself to his feet and went back in to the restaurant. A few guests had shown up in the meantime and they gave him startled, wary looks, which Dillon was well used to. He knew that he was an intimidating bastard – from his physique to his sco
wl. That was how he liked it, just fine.

  He sat down again. “OK. Change of plan.”

  “Oh, yes?” Julie was polite. “And what’s that?”

  “I’ll be taking bodyguard duty, so don’t bother hiring one of Foreman’s staff.”

  Despite his annoyance at the situation, Dillon couldn’t help but enjoy their reactions: ‘shock and awe’ didn’t even begin to describe it. He took a sip of his lukewarm coffee and calmly watched them recover enough to speak.

  “No!” Maria managed at last. “No way!”

  “Yes way,” he said. “You’d better get used to seeing my face, ‘cause it ain’t going anywhere.”

  “And if I say get the hell off my property?” Julie asked between gritted teeth.

  Dillon shrugged. “Then I go and sit out on the public road and watch things from there. You hiring someone from Foreman won’t change that fact. You can have me up here at Open Skies protecting Maria or you can have me out on the road playing stalker – but either way, you’re stuck with me until I get word from Denver that the coast is clear and Maria’s safe. Your choice, folks.”

  “You qualified?” Jake asked him. “You trained?”

  “Yep. I was a SEAL for six years and when I finished my last tour in Iraq, I got work as a bodyguard. I worked for Dallas Foreman for almost two years, actually, so feel free to call him for a reference.”

  “Why’d you quit?” Julie asked.

  “Got shot on duty, decided that I needed a break from the psycho ex-husband stalkers.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry.”

  Dillon shrugged. “No biggie. The point is that I’m more than qualified to assess risks and read people and take care of any trouble that comes up.”

  “You have a gun?” Maria said quietly.

  “Always.”

  They stared at him some more, then they stared at each other.

  “Maria?” Jake asked. “What do you think?”

  “I – I –” She felt tears starting now. “I don’t know. It’s all just a bit much, you know?”

  “Look.” Dillon was amazingly gentle all of a sudden. “I get that. I really do and I’m sorry that I showed up and brought all this shit in to your life, Maria. You’ve done nothing to deserve it and that sucks. But my only priority right now is keeping you safe and I’ll do whatever I can and what you allow me to do to make that happen.” His eyes were bright in his tough, handsome face. “So, you tell me: what’s it gonna be? Am I parking my truck outside the gate or am I staying up here with you?”