Harmony froze, her breaths coming fast as white puffs of air formed in front of her lips. “You’re what?” she whisper screamed at him as she finally came unglued from her seat and hopped to her feet.
Slowly reaching inside the back pocket of his jeans, Jacob kept his eyes on her face and pulled out his wallet. Flipping it open, he passed her his credentials. “I’m an agent with the DEA, babe.”
“You… what… how is that…” Harmony floundered as she stared down at the badge in her hand. “Are you for real?” she finally managed to ask, lifting her head to stare at him with suspicious eyes.
“To make you understand everything, I need to start at the beginning,” he explained gently. “Please, Harmony, sit down and give me that chance.”
Chapter Thirty-six
“I gave you a chance. In fact, you had six weeks of chances, Jake,” Harmony whispered, her blue eyes troubled and confused as she faced him. “You wasted them all.”
“You’re wrong, darlin’,” Jake replied calmly. “I took those six weeks of chances to show you who I am, not what I do. I wanted you to know me. The real me, not the DEA’s fabled star agent. Me.”
“You said you were in security,” Harmony retorted, her hands dropping to her hips as she narrowed her eyes on him.
“I am in security. Security for our nation against the drug trade. That wasn’t a lie,” he stated adamantly. “I also do plan on opening a private security firm in Paradise. Doing what I’ve done for the last twenty years, I got pretty good at being a private investigator. I’ve already talked to Abel, and his office is chomping at the bit to throw some business my way. So, that wasn’t a lie either. Again, I have not lied to you. I just haven’t shared everything. Yet.”
Blowing out an irritated breath, Harmony glared at him. “You get that a sin by omission is still a sin, right?”
“Yeah, I do,” he agreed with a guilty wince. “But, I had my reasons. Let me explain them to you, baby. Give me that much,” he encouraged her softly, holding at a hand to her.
Harmony ignored his hand, but she did sit – as far away from him as she could get on the narrow bench- but she still sat. “Talk,” she demanded, balling her fists in her lap as she stiffly settled against her seat.
“Okay, babe, I’ll talk. It’s kind of a long story, but it’s important you hear it all and that you hear it from me,” he began, draping an arm across the back of the bench. “I started my career nearly a quarter century ago in the Army.”
“The Army?” Harmony questioned, turning her head toward him and furrowing her eyebrows.
Nodding, Jacob murmured, “101st Airborne. I’d just graduated high school, Desert Storm had just started, and I was ready to get the hell out of my hometown. It was selfish, really. My mother had just lost my father the year before and my sister was still in school, but I couldn’t wait to get the fuck out of our little town. There were too many memories. Everywhere I looked I saw my dad. We were close and I missed him. So, I signed up to serve our country on the day I got my diploma. I figured it was a way out and I’d get to see the world. The next week, I was at boot camp at Fort Benning, Georgia. That lasted about ten weeks then I was assigned my first duty station out of Fort Campbell. Next thing I knew, I was in a dry, dusty shithole called Kuwait. I don’t regret signing up though things might have turned out a lot differently for me if I’d gone another route. But, I didn’t and I’ve made my peace with that. The military laid the foundation for the man I’d become. They taught me control and discipline. I learned about brotherhood. I learned that some fights are worth the blood, sweat and tears a man has to shed to win it.”
It wasn’t hard for Harmony to believe that Jake had served their country; he had that way about him. What she couldn’t believe was that he had a sibling she’d never heard about before now. “Wait, you have a sister?” Harmony questioned. She remembered him mentioning his mother in passing and knew the woman was still alive, and he’d shared that his father had passed, but this was the first time she’d ever heard him talk about his sister.
“I had a sister,” Jacob corrected softly, his jaw clamping as he felt his throat get tight. “She died while I was in Kuwait.”
Harmony inhaled sharply. She knew too well what it felt like to nearly lose a sister, but to actually have to bury one? She couldn’t imagine anything worse. “Jake, I’m so sorry,” she whispered, involuntarily reaching out to clasp his hand in hers.
“Me, too,” he whispered, flipping open his wallet again to pull out a faded picture. Passing it to her, he nodded down at the often handled photograph. “That was Vanessa. She was gorgeous, wasn’t she?”
Handling the snapshot with care, Harmony stared down at the smiling teenager in the picture. “Yes, she was. She has your eyes,” she noted, carefully passing the photo back to him.
“She had my temper, too. The girl could cuss like a soldier on leave when she got riled. I once saw her tree a guy she was dating just with a look,” he chuckled, gazing at the picture for a few seconds before slipping it back into his wallet and reaching for Harmony’s hand again. This time, she didn’t resist and allowed him to lace his fingers through hers.
“She sounds like quite a girl,” Harmony returned quietly.
“She was,” Jacob affirmed with a slow nod. “Quite a girl. Until…” He trailed off, his own eyes staring off into the distance as memories of Nessa played through his mind like a movie on fast forward.
“What happened to her, Jake?” Harmony prodded gently, squeezing his hand to bring him back to her.
Licking his lips, he shook his head. “Life happened. After I left, Nessa went wild. Drinking, partying, men, drugs, you name it. I think she tried it all. See, I’d run from the memories of our family, but she was stuck there with hers. So, she found a different way to escape.”
Listening as Jake’s voice took on a jagged edge, Harmony waited.
“Nessa graduated college by the skin of her teeth, but after that, Mom lost what little control she had of her. I was gone, and mom was dealing with losing Dad. Nessa was more’n she could handle. She got so deep into booze and drugs that Mom had to ask her to leave. Strange men were showing up at the house at all hours of the day and night, and these fellas were not the kind that a mother just asked into the house. They were rough and scary. They were not what mom wanted for Ness, but she was a stubborn little shit. After one of ‘em broke in on Mom while she was alone and terrified the crap out of her, she made Nessa choose. Her lifestyle or her family. My sister chose wrong.”
“She was young, Jake. Girls do stupid things when they’re that age- especially when they’re grieving,” Harmony pointed out carefully. “You can’t hold yourself responsible for that,” she added, knowing the whole time she spoke that he did and he probably always would.
“Wouldn’t have happened if I’d been there. None of it would.”
“You don’t know that,” Harmony denied, shivering slightly as a burst of wind rustled the dry leaves on the ground.
“I do, and I’ve got to live with that. At any rate, Nessa’s taste in men only got worse after she moved out of mom’s house. She hooked up with a mid-level thug in Atlanta by the name of Diego Fuentes.”
That name struck Harmony, but she didn’t have time to think about it because Jake was continuing with his story.
“Fuentes was a just a pusher then, but his father ran a cartel out of Mexico. That kind of power was like an aphrodisiac to a young woman from a small town outside Atlanta. Diego wrapped my sister up in the best designer labels and jewelry, put the best booze in her hand, and shoved the very best coke he could provide up her nose. What he didn’t do was monitor her consumption of it. She OD’d on his bathroom floor in his penthouse. All alone.”
Harmony gasped. “Jacob…”
“She died all alone. Fuentes didn’t even find her until the next day,” Jacob whispered, his face hardening as he continued to speak. “I’ll never forget getting the news. I’d just walked out of the mess tent and
saw my First Sergeant walking toward me. I spotted the Red Cross message in his hand and remember going solid. I knew what it was – what it meant. I’d seen enough of the other guys get ‘em while I was over there. I just assumed it was my mother,” he whispered. “I never expected it to be Vanessa. I told the guy he had to be wrong. I’m pretty sure I took a swing at him. Luckily, he was a decent guy and let it go. Some of my friends got to me… locked me down until the shock wore off. Before that day, I’d killed men, Harmony, but I’d never wanted to kill one. After that, I knew what it was like to actually want somebody dead because I wanted to watch Diego Fuentes burn. I still do.”
Pausing for a minute, Jake inhaled the frigid air, letting the burn soothe his nerves. After a while, he continued, “Nessa’s funeral was the first time I went home after signing up with the Army. We buried her on a Saturday afternoon...just Mom and me. Do you know who wasn’t there to say goodbye to her? Fucking Fuentes.”
Privately, Harmony thought that was probably a pretty good thing. The man she’d gotten to know over the past six weeks would have no problem slitting that guy’s throat. If they’d crossed paths while Jake’s grief had been fresh and raw, the result would have probably been real bloody.
“His papa had scooped his boy up and sent him packing back to Mexico. If I wanted the son of a bitch, I’d have to go hunting and I had a job to get back to doing.”
Harmony frowned. “Jake, I’m sorry all this happened to you, but I don’t understand what this has to do with my sisters or me.”
“Just stay with me awhile longer, darlin’,” Jacob urged, squeezing her hand in his. “Please?” he asked as the arm he had draped over the back of the bench moved to settle over her shoulders.
“Okay,” she whispered. She could listen. That much she was capable of offering him.
“I went back to Fort Campbell. My unit had come home while I was on leave. No matter how hard I worked, though, the need for vengeance was like a fire in my blood. My captain saw it. Word had gotten around and he knew my story. He also knew that I was coming up on my re-up date.”
“Your re-up date?” Harmony repeated, tilting her head to the side.
“The date my enlistment was up. It’s the day I had to choose whether I was gonna stay with the Army or take a different path. I’d been in four years and I was a sergeant. I’d climbed in rank fast and had a great service record. I was combat trained and tested. Anyway, my captain knew all of this. This guy also had a brother in the DEA and had taken the liberty of having a talk about me with him. Turns out, they wanted me. I applied formally and they accepted me the next week. The agency offered me a way to find some justice for my sister. Oh, I knew I wouldn’t have it right away, but it was the road I needed to take in order to get it.”
“Wow,” Harmony murmured. “But you haven’t gotten this Fuentes guy yet, right? You said that you still wanted to watch him burn.”
“I do,” Jacob agreed roughly. “And no, he isn’t in custody yet. Just stay with me a while longer, Harmony, and this will come together for you.”
Shoulders sagging underneath his arm, she just nodded.
“Now, this next part, you’re not going to like, but I’m done with hiding shit from you so you’re gonna get all of it.”
“Great,” she muttered under her breath.
“When I joined up with the DEA, I was an undercover operative. That means that I often infiltrated a less than desirable group, Harmony. I did things when I was involved with them. Bad things. Things you wouldn’t agree with, but I did them with the best of intentions. I did them with the ultimate goal of putting these people behind bars or under the ground, baby.”
“What things?” Harmony queried reluctantly. She felt Jake get tense beside her, his arm tightening convulsively around her shoulders.
“I’ve done drugs when it was necessary. I’ve slept with women to get information. I’ve killed people, more than a few but less than a lot. I’ve…”
“Stop!” Harmony threw up a hand. “That’s enough. I don’t wanna know anymore.”
“I was undercover, Harmony. My survival depended on my ability to blend in with the people I was targeting. I never did anything that wasn’t absolutely necessary. I’m not proud of it, but I’m not ashamed either.”
Harmony felt sick. Her stomach churned and her head pounded with knowledge she didn’t want to possess. “Why? Why are you telling me this?” she asked faintly, squeezing her eyes shut.
“I’m telling you because you need to know the things I’ve done. You also need to understand that the things I’ve had to do to get my jobs done do not define the man I am. Especially the man I am with you now.”
Running a hand through her hair, Harmony dug her nails into her scalp. “Jesus, I slept with you. I know we used protection, but still,” she whispered frantically, jerking her gaze to him. “Are you even…”
“I’m clean, Harmony. I’d never put you at risk if I thought there was a possibility that I was unhealthy. I can provide you with my medical records if it will put your mind at ease.”
“Seems fair since you’ve already seen mine,” Harmony grunted, trying to shrug off his hand. God, she wanted to get away. Far, far away. Maybe China. Or Antarctica.
“Don’t do that,” Jake snapped, pulling her against his side when she would have stood to flee. “Don’t put a wall between us because I made choices in my past that you don’t agree with. I told you what I did, and I told you why. I’m being honest. Don’t punish me for it.”
“Jake, this is a lot,” Harmony yelped, turning wide eyes on him. “And by a lot, I mean too fucking much!” Her eyes darted around the park, searching for a spot where she could just hide and lick her wounds. But all she saw was a few ducks slipping into the rippling water, the park otherwise quiet and deserted.
“I’m sorry, baby. I truly am. I’m sorry you’re overwhelmed, but giving it to you in small doses won’t make the truth go down any easier. Let me get it all out so that we can deal with it and move on.”
“Jesus Christ! How much more is there?” Harmony shouted weakly. “Honest to God, Jake, I can’t take much more. I’m going to snap. And it’s gonna be ugly. Especially since there isn’t a fucking cookie in sight.” Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to stare at him. “Tell me why you’re here in Paradise. Were you supposed to be here for an undercover assignment?”
“No,” he denied simply. “I’m here because Diego Fuentes is making a move to bring his drug business into the area and I needed to be sure that neither you nor your sisters were involved with him, Suarez, or anything to do with the drug cartel. Or, at least that’s why I came here to start with, but a lot of things have changed since then. Now I’m here because I fell in love with a woman, her kid, and her family that happen to be in a whole heap of danger and it’s up to me to protect her and them.”
Harmony stared at him a long minute before she began to laugh hysterically. “You thought me and my sisters were drug dealers?” she cackled, her hand pressed against her stomach. “Us? Have you met us? I think the strongest thing any of us has ever had is morphine and that was in the fucking hospital! Oh, my GOD! You must suck as an agent if you thought we were criminals. Star DEA agent, my ass!”
Jake watched as Harmony bent, her face to her knees, as she continued giggling and his own lips twitched in amusement because…well, she had a point. The McKinnon sisters were probably the farthest thing you could get from criminals. Winding a hand through the silky strands of the hair at the back of her head, he tugged gently. “I had to be sure, Harmony,” he informed her softly. “I’ve seen stranger shit happen, but it took me about thirty seconds in your presence to figure out that you were clueless about what your ex-husband and Diego Fuentes are up to.”
“Glad to know you were sharp enough to figure that out all on your own,” Harmony snickered, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “Jesus, Jake, you could have just asked.”
“In my experience, telling the truth isn’t real
ly in a criminal’s wheelhouse.”
“Or a DEA agent’s. Explain the files I found,” Harmony demanded, her face becoming serious as she looked at him again.
“Most of it, I had when I arrived. Technically, I wasn’t assigned to this operation for the obvious reasons, but my commander suggested I take some of the vacation time I never used to come up here and scope things out. He gave me the basic information in those files. I gathered the rest of the info after I got here. I’d heard the stories around town about what Tanner did to you, and I wanted…no, I needed to see everything there was. Zeke and Cain provided me the information I wanted to see.”
“So, to recap, Tanner and Diego are working together. Cain, Abel, and Zeke are working with you. Diego wants to expand his drug industry into our neck of the woods, and he is using Tanner’s connection to me and Heaven to do it. I assume this is why Tanner wants the land my granny left me,” she guessed succinctly, her eyes closing as she took in the entire scope.
“I’ve scouted the area and it’d make a nice, secluded base of operations for him,” Jake agreed with a nod.
“Great,” Harmony said with a sigh, lifting her head to stare at the darkening sky above them. “Just perfect.”
“Harmony, let me…” Jake began only to have Harmony cut him off again.
“There’s a flaw in Tanner’s plan that he didn’t know about until today, Jake. One I’m surprised you didn’t uncover in all that handy information that you have on me and my family.”
Jake remained silent and simply stared at her.
“I don’t own that land any longer. I can’t give him what he wants because it’s not mine to offer,” she explained. “Tanner knows that now because I shared, and I’m going to take a wild guess and figure that this will put a crimp in Diego’s plans.”
Jake stiffened. “Who did you deed the land to, Harmony.”
Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters) Page 30
