Gray Wolf Security: Back Home

by Glenna Sinclair

  “Yeah? Maybe that should tell them something.”

  “Sam was happy in his last assignment. He’d be thrilled to take down anyone even peripherally related to Gray Wolf. To find out that’s who you work for, why you’re in the motel, would push him over an edge you don’t want to see him go over.”

  “Do you think I’m afraid of Sam?” I held the knife between each of my index fingers, staring at him over the dirty blade. “I know how to handle guys like Sam.”

  “It really looked like you were handling him tonight.”

  “I was holding my own. If I weren’t on a case, he would have been on the floor, writhing in pain.”

  Tommy smiled. “I’d like to see that.”

  I started to smile, too, caught off guard by his charm. Again. But then I sat back again, looking down at the knife as I reminded myself why we were here.

  “Why are you there? Why do those women know you so well? Why does Peach seem to think you and she are in some sort of relationship? What would you have done if it wasn’t me in that room that day?”

  He held up a hand, chuckling softly. “Slow down. One question at a time.”

  “Why are you there?”

  His eyes widened slightly as he leaned forward toward me over the table. “I’m on a case, just like you.”

  Lie number one.

  “Doing what?”

  “I’m after Sam Wilson. We have reason to believe that he’s behind multiple murders from here to Connecticut beginning back in the early two-thousands.”

  “I’m sure he is. But why is the FBI interested?”

  “Because he’s also connected to this criminal underground group, the Mahoney Cartel. They have the head of the cartel in jail, but there’s rumors that there’s something of a fight among his old lieutenants on who gets to take over in Southern California. Sam moves with several of the men who are known to be running for the position.”

  Tommy sat back. “There’s a task force at the office who have been following this for years. Only recently have things heated up, in part because of a case your security firm took on a month or two ago. That’s when Sam’s name hit the board again, along with a handful of these potential new leaders of this part of the crime family.”

  “My firm?”

  He nodded. “It was an undercover thing your boss ran out of The Red Door Club.”

  Audra’s case.

  “The club that was using women by promising them they would bring their families across the border if they worked long and hard enough?”

  “That’s it.”

  “I thought all the key players in that mess were arrested.”

  “They were. But Sam managed to escape their grasp.”

  “So, you’re making up for that?”

  Tommy shrugged. “I just go where I’m told to go.”

  Lie number two.

  “How long have you been working on this?”

  “They’ve only been at the motel a month. But I’ve been following the investigation on Sam Wilson since the beginning of my career. I lost track of him when Jack Mahoney was arrested in Wyoming. So when I heard he was here, in Santa Monica, it was like someone had delivered him to my doorstep. It was too perfect to pass up. That’s why I couldn’t let you blow my cover the other day. It would have ruined everything and Jorge likely would have put us both down right there in the office.”

  “Jorge?”

  “He looks disinterested, but he’s not. That man is hyper aware of everything going on around him.”

  I looked down at the knife in my hands, twirling it between both fingers as I digested what he was saying. A waitress wandered over while I did, offering coffee. We both accepted though I was sure neither of us really needed any more stimulants in our already edgy systems. Once the waitress was gone, coffee pot in hand, Tommy leaned his arms on the table and studied me.

  “Why are you there? What is Gray Wolf up to now?”

  “Joss wants to rid the city of all of Mahoney’s people. She believes that Todd Michaels is the answer to doing that.”

  “You’re after Michaels?”

  “I’m supposed to locate him.”

  He shook his head emphatically. “You won’t. He hasn’t been to the motel in weeks, not since the initial setup. I’ve heard rumors that he’s left the country. And I’m pretty sure Sam and Jorge don’t know where he is. They communicate over text messages only.”

  “He’s paranoid.”

  “Yeah. Has something to do with the fact that his brother was arrested, I’d bet.”

  “Or the fact that his brother’s dead.”

  Tommy frowned, his eyes moving over my face. “He’s what?”

  It seemed like proof that Tommy wasn’t part of the task force if he didn’t know something so basic to the case. The only reason I knew was because Shaw was part of that case. She told me. But she also mentioned that Mike Spencer helped smooth things over with the Mexican authorities when it all happened. If that was true, and Tommy was part of Mike’s task force, he would know all about it. Hell, he should have been there.

  Lie number three.

  “Who did Sam kill?”

  That caught Tommy a little off guard. He stared at me, his eyes growing slightly darker. “Mostly women,” he said slowly, like he was trying to figure out why I wanted to know even as he told me. “He’s been involved in strip clubs, mostly. He likes to pick on the women and when they don’t respond the way he thinks they should, he kills them.”

  “How has he not been caught before?”

  “Mahoney protects his people. That’s part of why it’s been so hard to take him down until this past year. His people don’t turn on him because he doesn’t turn on them.”

  “And this is why the FBI is after him?”

  “Does the FBI have to have a reason? He’s a bad man, Kari. You saw that.”

  “If we could just arrest all assholes, half the world’s population would be in prison.”

  He didn’t miss the implication in my words. He sat back and sighed heavily, something like regret floating over his expression. I watched as he struggled with something, darkness in his eyes turning him into someone I didn’t recognize. Again.

  “What would you have done if it hadn’t been me to walk into that office that day, Tommy? Would you have done the same thing to some innocent girl?”

  “I don’t know what I would have done because it wasn’t some other girl. It was you!”

  Tears filled my eyes. “That makes it okay?”

  “Nothing makes it okay, Kari. But I had no choice!” He slammed the palm of his hand on the table, rattling the coffee cups in their little saucers, some of the coffee spilling out onto them and the table. “Some other girl, I might have found a way around it. I might have…I don’t know! But you were at as much risk as I was in that room that day! What choice did I have with him watching over that goddamn camera?”

  A tear ran down my cheek and I quickly wiped it away. “What about the other girls? Do you fuck them, too? Peach? Do you fuck her?”

  “You know me better than that,” he growled low in his throat.

  “Do I? I thought I knew you, but now I wonder.”

  I slid out of the booth, deciding I’d had enough. For the second time that day, I felt this crawling sensation over my shoulders as I anticipated him attempting to stop me. He didn’t. Not in the diner.

  I was two blocks from the diner, out from under the bright lights of the intersection where the diner stood, when he did grab me. He pulled me into an alley and pushed me up against the rough bricks of a tall building.

  I raised my knee to kick him in the groin, but he anticipated the move and sidestepped even as he lifted my arms over my head and forced them roughly against the brick, too. I kicked out again, smashing the toe of my boot against his shin more than once, but he didn’t reach except to wince once or twice as he stared down at me.

  “Cut it out!”

  “Why? So you can do it again? Get a taste for it the firs
t time? Do you like forcing women to fuck you?”

  “As I recall, it wasn’t all force.”

  My face burned with those words. I knew he was right. I remembered that moment as well as he did, how I pushed my hips back against him because I knew he was right about having no choice.

  But that didn’t mean he had to take what was being offered.

  “We had a good thing going before this,” he said, moving his face close to mine. His lips were so close to the side of my face that I could already feel their pressure against my flesh. “I don’t know where it was going, but I was hoping it was one of those things that lasts for a lifetime. I kind of got the impression you felt the same way.”

  I shook my head. “I was just having fun. It’s not fun anymore.”

  Those lips were practically inside the crease of my ear. “You can lie to yourself, babe, but you can’t lie to me.”

  He lowered one hand from my wrists, pressing it against the swell of my breast. He cupped it, his thumb moving almost rhythmically against my nipple. It was hard, my nipple, standing up to beg for his touch.

  “I don’t want this to ruin what we had. But this case—taking down Sam Wilson—is more important than anything else.” He brushed his lips against the curve of my jaw. “I’m sorry, but that’s the truth. If losing you is the price I have to pay, then that’s what I pay. Willingly.”

  Despite my determination not to fall for him, despite my anger toward him and the sense of betrayal that had settled over me from the moment I saw him standing in that office, it hurt to hear him say those words. I raised my head to hide my tears, but there was no hiding as we stood that way, as we stood so painfully close.

  He brushed my tears away with the pad of his thumb.

  “You’re the best thing that’s happened to me in years, Kari.” His voice was deep, filled with emotion. “You’re the last one I wanted to hurt.”

  “Why?”

  He studied me for a second before coming in to steal a kiss. I opened to him immediately, my body, my heart, recognizing the tenderness of the man I’d been sharing my bed with these last few weeks. I pressed my body against him, his hand slipping down over my hip, drawing me even closer. Like before, it felt so good to be enveloped in his arms, to feel the security of his massive body against mine. I didn’t want to need it, didn’t want to desire it, but I couldn’t resist.

  What is that saying? The heart wants what it wants? Was I insane for allowing my heart to want this?

  He let go of my wrists in order to encircle me in his arms. I wrapped my arms around his neck, tugging him closer to me even as I ran my palms over his bald head. I missed the crew cut he’d worn, but the small lumps and crevices of his scalp were still familiar.

  His phone vibrated strong enough that I could feel it against my belly. He grunted, his lips lingering on mine for a long moment before he tugged it out and glanced at the screen. Then his face tightened and he once again became the man I didn’t know.

  “Check into them,” he said, his voice rough as he untangled my arms from around his neck. “The victims. Then you’ll know.”

  He was gone before I could ask any more questions.

  But I believed him. Despite all the lies, I believed him.

  Chapter 12

  Joss

  I walked out of the bathroom, wiping my mouth with a wet paper towel as I went. How cliché was it to have morning sickness in the actual morning?

  Jules shot me a look that informed me that she’d noticed all the trips I was taking to the bathroom. I didn’t even have the strength to smile or pretend that I didn’t want her to put two and two together.

  At this point, I really just didn’t care. I wanted to go home and crawl into bed.

  Mike was in my office when I pushed through the door. I paused a second, closing my eyes as I bit back angry words meant for Jules that I knew I would regret later.

  “What are you doing here, Mike?”

  “You don’t look good, Joss.”

  “Gee, thanks.”

  He cleared his throat as he stood, acting as though he wanted to help me to my chair but didn’t know how. He finally stepped back, allowing me to pass him. I fell into the chair, sighing as my wounded back cried out from the movement.

  “Is your back infected?”

  I shook my head. “I’m told it’s healing well, though it still hurts like a son of a gun.”

  “You got the stitches out?”

  “Tomorrow.”

  He nodded, his eyes moving over me, pausing at the dark shadows under my eyes and the lack of color in my cheeks. “Are you ill?”

  “Just exhausted. There’s a lot to do these days, Mike.”

  “I suppose there is.”

  “Did you just come by to ask about my health?”

  “No.” He settled back in the chair he’d abandoned upon my arrival, crossing his legs as he continued to study me. “I contacted the prison in Wyoming as you requested. At first, they refused our request because Jack Mahoney apparently is not taking visitors. But they called me back several hours later and said he would like to see you.”

  “Is that right?”

  “It’ll take some time to set up the logistics, but it’s doable.”

  I nodded, not sure if I was pleased with that news, or frightened. A little of both, I supposed.

  “Let me know when it’s all arranged.”

  Mike nodded, his eyes still moving over me. “Do you really think this is a good idea?”

  “Can you think of a better way to get the man to back off my family?”

  Mike shook his head. “But I don’t see how you walking into the prison where this man is being held will do anything more than hurt you.”

  “I’ve got to do something.”

  “What about your family? Does Carrington know what you’re up to?”

  “No. And you don’t need to tell him.”

  “Does he even know about the attack? Does he know you were injured?”

  My mind flashed to the small pool of blood on the bed in the cottage I used to call home. “He knows.”

  Mike shook his head again, frustration clear in the movement. “You’re making a mistake, doing this all alone, Joss. You have family, you have friends. You don’t have to take this man on all alone.”

  “I’m the one he’s after,” I said, anger suddenly flaring. “Every time one of my friends gets involved, he makes them a target too!” I sat back hard enough to cause the chair to slam against the back wall of my office. “I won’t lose anything more.”

  “But Joss—”

  “Please don’t argue with me, Mike. You haven’t been around long enough to comprehend what I’ve suffered. You have no idea what’s at stake here.”

  “No?” He tilted his head. “You think I don’t have access to the internet? You think I didn’t check into you the moment we crossed paths?” His voice softened slightly as he continued. “I know what you lost. And I know what Ash Grayson did for you to make it better. I know what’s at stake.”

  I looked down at myself, at the place that would soon swell with the new life living inside of me. He really had no idea. But he meant well.

  “I just need to look him in the eye, to hear him tell me why he’s doing this. That’s all.”

  Mike could see right through me. The way he studied me reminded me so much of how Carrington used to look at me. I wished I could look at him the same way, but Carrington was still the one I saw when I closed my eyes, the one I missed when he wasn’t around. Carrington was the love of my life in ways no one else could ever be, not even the man whose name I took before his. Carrington and Aidan and McKelty were my life. I had to do everything in my power to make sure nothing happened to them, even if it meant destroying what made them mine.

  “I understand if you don’t want to help. I can take it from here.”

  “No. I’ll help. I know if I don’t, you’ll go anyway and I don’t want that.”

  “I can take care of myself.” />
  “I realize that. But even superheroes need sidekicks.”

  I smiled at the image that conjured. I could almost see him in tights.

  Almost.

  “Is there any word on Todd Michaels?”

  I shook my head. “Not yet. What about your end of things?”

  He nodded slowly, pulling a file from the small case he’d had sitting on the floor beside him. He set it on the desk, flipping it open to the front page.

  “We believe he might be after Sam Wilson because of this woman.”

  I studied the picture for a moment. She was beautiful, a dark-haired woman about thirty with one of those smiles you couldn’t help but melt when it was directed toward you.

  “Who is she?”

  “Lisa Boyles. She was a manager at a nightclub in Miami when Mahoney and his men bought it out, turned it into a money laundering operation for their organization.”

  “Sam Wilson took an interest in her?”

  “Not her. One of the waitresses. Ms. Boyles, from the stories we were able to gather, came to her employee’s rescue when Wilson got a little too frisky with her one night in the back room. He didn’t like that, especially since she did it front of Rahul Rush. She disappeared a week later.”

  “What does that have to do with your rogue agent?”

  Mike shrugged. “Don’t know for sure what the connection was. But we found this file on his computer. It includes articles on her disappearance and the discovery of her body a little over two years ago. We also found files on Wilson he shouldn’t have had, things he didn’t have access to. He was hunting Sam Wilson and it was because of this woman. The current theory is that she was his girlfriend at some point in time.”

  I didn’t think so. I didn’t know this man well—I didn’t know him at all—but I couldn’t imagine a man would risk his career for an ex-girlfriend. She had to be more than that.

  “If he puts my operative at risk again, you know we will have to deal with him.”

  “I know. I would have pulled him out if I thought that might be the case. My bosses—” Mike shook his head, frustration written all over him. “They want him forcibly removed and arrested. It’s only your operation that’s kept that from happening. But if this case doesn’t resolve itself soon…”