Hard as Stone (Passion in Paradise: The Men of the McKinnnon Sisters)

by Sarah O'Rourke

  Harmony jerked as a second bullet tore through the air, this one finding its mark in the center of Juan’s forehead. Stunned, she watched him drop, face first, into the dirt. Holding Honor close as her sister sobbed, Harmony’s head twisted in the direction the bullet had come. Seeing a well-dressed man in a suit standing on the porch with a lit cigarette in one hand and a smoking gun in the other, she gasped. A few years older than Jake, she put his age around 45, give or take a year. Still good looking despite his age and the long scar that rode jaggedly down one side of his jaw, Harmony recognized that while muscular, he didn’t carry himself at all like a thug. His posture was excellent and his bearing held an almost palpable power. He didn’t look like any typical hired muscle she’d ever seen. He was a different kind of dangerous altogether.

  Honor followed her gaze with her own and shuddered as she, too, stared at the man as he disappeared inside the cabin. “OhGodohGodohGodohGod,” she whispered over and over again.

  The man said nothing, instead exchanging a long look with Diego and jerking his chin toward the house before going inside himself.

  “Let’s move this inside,” Dante said, taking Harmony’s arm but carefully avoiding touching Honor as two men appeared out of nowhere to drag Juan’s now dead body toward what looked to be a shed toward the back of the property.

  “Was that…” Harmony began to ask if that man had been Diego Fuentes, but Dante cut her off.

  “Inside. Now,” he repeated, hustling them all toward the rickety steps that led into the cabin.

  Tightening her arm around Honor’s waist, Harmony reluctantly followed Dante up the steps, inside the door and through a dimly lit front room where a couple of men loitered on stools, playing a game of cards on the table between them. Following their kidnapper/guard through another door, Harmony realized they were in a room that could be considered a kitchen. Looking around the dirty room, she saw several used coffee cups in the old, stained sink, and discarded food wrappers littered the floor. The table in the center of the room held what appeared to be the remnants of Diego’s men’s last meal, dirty knives and food everywhere.

  “Sit,” Dante ordered them as the kitchen door swung shut behind him.

  Helping her still shaken sister into one of the old ladder back chairs around the table, Harmony glanced at Dante before taking the seat nearest Honor. “What do you want from us?” she asked as the man stood against the Formica counter watching her with dark eyes.

  Licking his lips, he inhaled deeply. “Do you know who I am?”

  Harmony blinked, wondering if this was some kind of trick question. “Dante de la Cruz? That’s who you said you were. I know you’re the man I chased around the side of the Piggly Wiggly some weeks back, but that’s it. That’s all I know.”

  “Jake didn’t tell you anything else?” he asked softly, tilting his head to the side.

  Harmony’s eyes widened slightly, but unsure whether she was being tricked, she shook her head.

  “He didn’t mention his inside man?” Dante asked, taking a step toward her.

  Honor stiffened as he approached them and Harmony reached for her hand. “What do you want from us?” Harmony asked again.

  “I’m the inside man, Harmony,” Dante said softly, barely loud enough to be heard. “My real name is Luis Vega and I was Jacob’s partner once upon a time. Feels like a different life now if you want to know the truth. Does that put your mind at ease a little bit?”

  “You’re Jake’s friend?” Harmony whispered as hope began to invade her limbs again.

  “I was. I hope I still will be after this is over, but I’ve got every confidence that he’s probably gonna put a bullet in my head for this, but you’ve got to know that we didn’t have a choice. Diego needed to talk to you, but when Tanner got wind of it, he thought he’d save his own ass with the Boss Man by being the one to bring you here. We had no idea about what he staged this afternoon. Neither I nor Diego did until after it was over. That’s when he had me intercede. Originally, Tanner was going to snatch you and Honor himself. Neither one of us wanted that to happen,” he stated with a meaningful look at Honor.

  Harmony frowned. “I don’t understand. Diego knows about you? About who you are and who you work for? How the hell are you not dead?” she whispered frantically.

  “That’s a long story that will make much better sense coming from Diego himself. Suffice it to say that I didn’t know who he was…not until three days ago when communication went dark with Jake. Command’s orders, Harmony. It was a decision made well above my pay grade and I didn’t have a choice. I hope you’ll believe that.”

  “I’m lost,” Honor whispered huskily, forcing himself to look at Dante/Luis. “Are you a good guy or a bad guy?”

  “I’m a good guy pretending to be a bad guy, preciosa,” Dante explained with a kind smile at a pale faced Honor. “But all the other men you’ll see here are bad guys. Much worse than anything you’ve been exposed to before. Most of them were hired by Diego’s father, and Diego’s father makes Diego look like a man of God, do you understand what I’m saying? Diego’s father has been the ultimate goal all along. He’s the definition of evil. Do what you’re told while you’re here, and I’ll do everything I can to get this over for you both quickly.”

  Trying to comprehend everything she was being told, Harmony asked quickly, “And Diego? You said he’s working with you. Is he a good guy? Because, honestly, it’s going to be next to impossible for me to believe that after everything Jake has told me.”

  Dante/Luis pursed his lips, his face uncertain. “He’s not a good guy, but he’s not a ‘bad’ bad guy. Honestly, the guy’s an enigma. A criminal with a code of honor. Not going to lie, it’s the most fucked up thing I’ve ever seen, but according to my bosses at the DEA, Diego has helped take down a lot of guys a whole lot worse than he is.”

  “He works for the DEA?” Harmony asked incredulously, trying desperately to make sense of what Jake’s former partner was sharing with her.

  “No,” he denied flatly. “He’s more like an….ally. An informant. A double agent. All those would describe his role here. But, no, I wouldn’t qualify him as a good guy. He won’t, however, hurt you. Or, allow anyone else to harm you if he can help it. That’s part of the reason he had me bring you here. Up until now, his entire role in this has been kept under wraps to all but a select few. Jake didn’t know about him. Hell, I thought I was working to bring him down until just a few days ago. Turns out, he’s not the big catch. His papa is.”

  “Dante…or Luis, or whoever you wanna be called, why are we here? What does any of this have to do with us? Jake, Zeke and the rest of our family are probably losing their minds by now!” Harmony said desperately, reaching out to grip the man’s wrist when he would have taken a step backward.

  “I think that’s a question that I should answer,” a heavily accented voice said from the doorway.

  Chapter Fifty-two

  “Damn it,” Jake cursed, throwing his cell phone on the dashboard of Zeke’s SUV. “That was the last one I could think of calling. Nobody seems to know anything about this operation. Either that, or they’re really good at playing stupid.”

  Navigating the curves of the highway, Zeke offered Jake a sidelong look. “What about that former Unit Chief of yours? You think he’d help?”

  “He might have if he hadn’t had a fucking heart attack a week ago. Man’s in the hospital undergoing surgery for a blockage.” Turning toward Zeke, Jake frowned. “I’m afraid we’re on our own here.”

  “Probably for the best,” Zeke grunted, focusing on the road as he stepped on the accelerator. “Less hassle that way.”

  “Doesn’t sound much like the lawman I’ve gotten to know the past few months,” Jake noted blandly, watching Zeke’s face carefully as the man’s jaw tightened.

  “Don’t feel much like that man right now,” Zeke returned hollowly. “You didn’t see them…either of them… when we got the women back the last time. Harmony, God bless h
er, bruised and worked over by a man that was supposed to love and honor her all his days…then, my Honor,” he muttered hoarsely as his shoulders visibly tensed. “My Honor looked like a shattered china doll. Those animals had torn her to pieces, literally and figuratively, Jake.”

  “Zeke, they’re both stronger now,” Jake said as much for the man beside him as he did for himself. He needed to believe that. Otherwise, he was going to lose his mind.

  “That’s what they want us to believe. Don’t know if it’s true or not. Especially for Honor. She hides behind her apron and her stove, smiling like she’s happy, but avoiding life like the fuckin’ plague. I’ve waited for a shot with her for years, Jake. Fucking years, I’ve known she’s the only woman for me. She’s my one. My everything. Jesus, I’ve loved Honor for so long I’ve almost forgotten the face of every other woman I’ve been with. And I thought we were finally getting somewhere this past year. She’d been letting me get closer. Not too close, mind. But closer. This… these past few weeks, it’s like all that progress just dried up like it never happened. She’s slammed more doors in my face in the past month than she has in six years combined. And now, that bastard has her. Again! So, no, I’m not lookin’ at this from the perspective of Sheriff. I’m looking at it from the perspective of a man that’s had the woman he loves torn from him a-fucking-gain!”

  “Maybe once you get her back, you should see what you can do about keepin’ her at that side of yours,” Jake suggested carefully.

  “Excuse me?” Zeke snapped.

  Lifting a hand, Jake shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong. I know all the sisters are different, but I’m just saying that if I’d given Harmony a choice about me being in her life, I wouldn’t be here right now. Sometimes, you gotta push, Zeke. Sadly, sometimes you gotta really push hard.”

  “If I push too hard, Honor ends up terrified of me,” Zeke retorted harshly.

  “Maybe,” Jake agreed. “But you’ve been movin’ slow and easy with no sudden movements for years, man. Are you satisfied with where you’re at right now?”

  “No,” Zeke muttered as he watched the road ahead of them.

  “It’s a risk either way, Zeke,” Jake admitted gruffly, “I’m just saying that when we get our women back, it might be time to mix it up a bit. In the time I’ve had to get to know Honor, she seems like a woman that’ll have no trouble tellin’ you where to go if you overstep the mark.”

  “If she’s the same woman she was when all this is over,” Zeke mumbled. “Her nightmares are back with a vengeance. Harmony told me.”

  “Yeah,” Jake acknowledged softly. He’d heard Honor awaken screaming several times since he’d moved in with the McKinnons, and the sound was enough to tear at the strongest man’s soul. Harmony always hurried out of their bed to Honor’s side, and he knew when she came back to him she was always shaken, seeking comfort in his arms. “But if you, me and the others do our jobs the right way, nothing will happen to either of them. We’ll get both Harmony and Honor out before the shit can hit the fan.” Jake was unwilling to consider any other outcome. He’d promised his new daughter that he’d bring her momma home and he had every intention of fulfilling his promise.

  Inhaling deeply, Zeke nodded, his jaw hardening. “You’re right,” he replied. “Right now, I’ll settle for getting her back any way she comes to me. The rest, I can wait for as long as I need to wait. Just as long as she’s safe and unhurt.”

  “Amen to that,” Jake agreed as the radio between them crackled to life.

  “Zeke?” Ice’s voice called, the static sound breaking in as the other man pulled off his radio and waited for a response.

  Picking up the radio, Zeke clicked a button on the side of the radio. “Yeah? You got something?”

  “Slow down. There’s a lane about two hundred yards ahead on the left. Turn there and pull over. Twiggy over here says movement has stopped,” Ice replied evenly, Maggie’s voice muffled in the background.

  Following his brother’s directions, Zeke pulled into the lane just enough to allow Ice’s rusted truck and Slade’s Jeep to slide in behind them. Both men were out of the vehicle before the engine had completely died.

  “According to Twiggy’s iPad and satellite map, there’s an old cabin about a mile and a half up this road,” Ice informed them, nodding toward the winding lane. “Property records say the cabin is owned by a Carter Hensley. The guy’s been in a retirement home for the past decade and a half, so you can bet the place is pretty well deserted.”

  Looking at a coolly impassive Slade, Zeke asked, “You up for scouting ahead and taking care of any stray problems you find, man?”

  “Feels like old times,” the former Seal replied with a twist of his lips that Jacob guessed passed for his version of a smile. He hadn’t gotten to know the man all that well, but from what Cain and Zeke had shared, he was a guy that knew his work and had found his way out of more than one tight spot while under fire. He was also Harmony’s and Honor’s kinfolk. And in this part of the South, that counted for a hell of a lot.

  “I’ll call in our location to my deputies, and Jake and I will follow behind you. We should have backup here within a half hour,” Zeke told the other man as he checked the clip on his 9 mil.

  “Sounds good. I’ll clear a path for you,” Slade replied before disappearing into the woods.

  “I’m gonna take Margaret and get high. Hopefully, I can find a location with a clear shot path,” Ice remarked to both men. “I’d go with you, but I promised Abel I’d keep her safe,” he said in a low voice, nodding his head toward where Maggie still sat tapping on her iPad.

  “I can keep myself safe, thank you very much. Look!” she exclaimed, dropping her iPad and digging through her Fendi bag and coming up with a pink-jeweled handgun. “See, I have this,” she announced, waving around the firearm.

  Jake sighed as he watched Ice argue with Maggie about the safety of the weapon and her firearm training, which consisted of two entire sessions. He whistled sharply, cutting off all discussion. “Let’s move out. Now.”

  Tapping the roof of the truck, Zeke nodded. “Be safe.”

  “You, too,” Ice declared before slamming his truck door shut and backing up his truck and heading back to the road.

  Looking at Jake, Zeke muttered, “You ready for this?”

  “More than,” Jake stated with a grim nod, eyeing the road ahead of them and drawing out his own gun. “Let’s go get our girls.”

  It was time to find their women and get them home where they belonged.

  Chapter Fifty-three

  Diego stood in the doorway, his eyes never leaving the two women. “Clear the living room of our men, Dante. I would suggest a perimeter scan. Let my father’s sheep act as fodder for the lions; you stay close to the house.” Shifting his warm caramel colored gaze to the women, he paused for a moment. He seemed uncertain what to say next as his fingers tapped against the expensive material of his trousers. “I would presume that we’ll be having some unexpected guests quite soon, and my intelligence indicates that the McKinnons have some quite resourceful admirers. A former Army sniper and a former Navy Seal among them, isn’t that right?”

  Harmony remained stonily silent as she met the man’s eyes while Honor shuffled her wooden chair closer. Reaching for her sister’s hand, she squeezed it gently.

  Diego’s eagle eyes missed nothing, and he watched the sisterly exchange without comment. “Neither myself nor Dante intend for any harm to come to either of you,” he stated slowly as Dante moved toward the door.

  “Is that why you intimidated us into leaving the hospital and coming with you? The citizens of this country would call that kidnapping, Mr. Fuentes, if that’s even who you are. What you’ve done is a crime here even if it isn’t considered that in Mexico. One that’s punishable by hard time in prison,” Harmony replied, her voice remaining steady even though every organ in her body trembled with fear.

  Eyes going to Dante, Diego’s lips formed a faint smile. “You are r
ight. She is a handful.”

  “Told you she was,” the other man muttered before shooting Harmony an incredulous look that conveyed he thought she was either part crazy or part stupid. “But, she’s Jake’s, and if you’re trying to stem the bad blood between the two of you, pissing off his woman isn’t really the way to go, Diego,” he warned the other man before going through the door into the living room and loudly ordering all the men outside.

  Waiting until he heard the men shuffling outside, Diego took a step toward the table and noted each sister’s stiffening posture. Holding up his hands, he showed them that nothing was in them. “I won’t hurt either of you. Believe it or not, I do not believe in harming innocents,” he said calmly, silently noting the disbelieving look Harmony shot him. “I merely want to sit and explain some things to you that you don’t know.”

  “I think we know everything about you that we need to know. You’re a murderer, a kidnapper, and a drug kingpin. You consort with rapists, child molesters and wife beaters. You’ve brought us to a remote location for what I think I can safely assume are nefarious reasons, and you seem determined to chat about it before you do whatever it is that you’re going to do to us,” Harmony bit off angrily as she lost what was left of her fraying temper. “Exactly how close am I, Mr. Fuentes?”

  “Harmony, let’s not anger the dangerous drug czar any more than he already is, okay?” Honor murmured faintly from beside her, her hand tightening around Harmony’s in a vice like grip.

  “You said we should be fearless,” Harmony muttered out the side of her mouth as she felt Diego’s eyes studying her.

  “Fearless, yes. Not stupid. Fearless is good; stupid is bad,” Honor squeaked as the man turned his attention to her.

  Diego laughed. It was a rich sound, full of amusement and humor, and the sound froze both women in their seats. “I see it now; why your men are so enamored with you. Why they’d wade through the fires of Hell – and my men – to get to you. I think I now understand completely,” he murmured, more to himself than to them. “Jacob is, indeed, a lucky man. And your Sheriff,” he said with a look at Honor, “he knows he has a treasure.”