“I know, I just…”
I sat up a little straighter as we approached the wrought iron gate that guarded the compound. The house was a good distance from the road, but we could see cars lined up on either side of the lane. Lots of cars.
“He having a party or something?”
Carrington just shook his head. “Don’t know.”
He slowed the car as the gate began to open, responding to the program on his phone that automatically identified him to the security system inside the main house. When the gate opened wide enough, we made our way up the lane.
“That’s a rental,” I said, gesturing to a car we were passing. “So is that. And that’s Donovan’s car.” I laughed a little, pleased with the idea of seeing Donovan. We hadn’t seen each other in months despite the fact that we lived in the same town. “Do those plates say Texas?”
Carrington was smiling broadly as we reached the front of the main house. There were long, wide windows all along the front of the house that revealed secrets normally kept between those four walls. My heart jumped into my throat when I recognized Kirkland standing at the window closest to the door. He came running out at the same moment I wrenched open the car door and jumped out, rushing into his arms.
Kirkland was my best friend, my constant companion when I first came to work for Gray Wolf. He and I were the odd men out and we’d been drawn to each other, leaning on each other through all the good and bad that came with the lives we lived. We had a bond that couldn’t be broken, not even by the separation of miles and marriage.
“What are you doing here?”
“I came the second I got the call. Or text, I suppose it was.” Kirkland nodded toward Carrington. “He said you needed help, so I dropped everything and came.”
I glanced back at Carrington. He was leaning against the car, just watching.
“He texted you?”
“He texted all of us,” another voice said. I peeked around Kirkland and watched as Donovan and David came out of the house. Behind them were Kipling and Alexander and Knox and Elliot and Nolan. And following them were Sutherland, Bodhi, Lance, Grainger, Hank, and Ryan. And, of course, Ash. The founder of it all.
I was so overwhelmed that tears began to flow unbidden.
“Thank you,” was all I could say.
***
It was a party. Ash fried burgers and hot dogs, children ran wild in the yard, and music played as liquor flowed freely. I had a chance to catch up with people I hadn’t seen in more than a year and get to know the people I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet yet. I learned who was married, who had children, and how many were currently looking.
It seemed like one thing about those at Gray Wolf was that once an operative found love, he or she was unlikely to move on. We were probably the most grounded, most faithful group of people to exist in one faction of society.
I was more than honored that they’d all come running when they heard I was in trouble. But I had no idea what I was going to do with that. I didn’t even have a plan.
As the night wore on, I escaped to the porch of my old cottage, a beer in hand—root beer, unfortunately. I settled on the steps and stared up at the stars, remembering all the silent nights I’d done this before I met Carrington. Kirkland would sometimes wander over, sit beside me and talk, always happy to have finally found someone who wouldn’t interrupt his colorful rants.
It occasionally came in handy to have a friend who didn’t speak.
“Hey,” he said now, strolling over to join me almost as if I’d conjured him out of my thoughts.
“Do you ever wish I hadn’t started speaking again?”
He laughed a hearty, belly-shaking laugh. “Now there’s a question.”
“Seriously. Do you?”
Kirkland tilted his head to one side, regarding me out of the corner of his eye. “I’m glad I no longer have to guess what you might want to say. I value your opinion. But I do miss being able to get a word in edgewise.”
I laughed, knocking my shoulder into his. He laughed again, the sound so familiar and so soothing that I could allow myself to forget for a moment the darkness that had settled over my life these past months.
“How’s the baby?”
Kirkland shrugged. “Mabel is like an earth mother. She just looks at that kid and she settles down. I don’t know how she does it. She leaves the house and it’s utter chaos until she gets back.”
“I can see that.”
“I was never meant to be a father. But I’m loving every minute of it.”
“Isn’t it funny how far we’ve come? And in such a short time, too.” I glanced at him. “How many women did you have in that little cottage before Mabel?”
Kirkland leaned his head back, actually considering the question. “More than a dozen, I’d say. Definitely less than a hundred.”
I shook my head. “In, what, two and a half years, right? Slightly more?”
“About that. But I was single and on the prowl. You don’t count women while you’re sowing wild oats.”
“Tell that to Mabel.”
“I try not to talk about that time in my life with Mabel.”
That didn’t surprise me.
“And you,” he said, knocking his shoulder against mine. “Wouldn’t talk to anyone, wouldn’t hang out. You’d get up early to surf and then you’d go to work, retire early when you weren’t on a case. You were a hermit.”
“I was grieving.”
“You were isolated. If it weren’t for me, dragging you out from time to time, you would have been a virtual monk!”
“I prefer to think of it as a nun.”
“Nun. Whatever. If you hadn’t met Carrington on that case, you never would have come out of your shell.”
I nodded slowly. “Probably not.”
“Not even I was enough to draw you out.”
“Aw…”
I leaned over and kissed his cheek, watching his puckered lip disappear.
“It’s weird being back here now,” he said a few minutes later, looking around the compound. “Nothing’s changed, yet it seems so completely different.”
“We’re the ones who changed, I think.”
He nodded. “What is that thing they say? You can never go home again.”
I straightened up a little, taking a large gulp from the root beer bottle I was holding. Kirkland rested his hand on my knee, drinking from his own bottle—his was beer, the same label we used to sit out here and drink. He tipped his against mine and nodded, not saying anything, but clearly noting the lack of alcohol in my drink.
We sat in silence for a while, just enjoying the cool night air and the sounds of the party floating over to us. And then a shadow turned into a familiar person walking our way.
“There’s Daddy now,” Kirkland said in a loud side comment.
“We’re having a party for you and you just disappear?” Ash said, shaking his head at me. “Shame, shame.”
“It’s been a long week, Ash.”
“Yeah, I suppose it has.”
He dropped down onto the steps below us and stretched out sideways so that he could see us but still monitor what was happening in his own backyard.
“Really nice having the whole gang here,” he said.
“Kind of crazy to see how big the family’s gotten,” Kirkland added. “We’re spawning in all kinds of directions.”
Ash crossed his powerful arms over his chest and sighed. “When I started this firm, it was only meant to be an outlet for those of us who didn’t know how to adjust from the military life to the civilian world. But it became something else almost overnight.”
“You’ve done a good thing, Ash.”
He glanced at me. “Did I?”
His eyes were haunted and it surprised me. I’d never seen Ash as a weak man. But I guess we all had our demons.
“You couldn’t have known that things would get this deep with Mahoney. You didn’t even know who he was until a year ago.”
; “But I played along with his game just the same and dragged you in with me. All of you.”
“You didn’t know.”
He sighed. “Yeah, well, how are we going to end this?”
We were all quiet for a moment. Then I cleared my throat. “Do you remember your contact in the governor’s office? The one you told me about before the Red Door operation?”
Ash glanced at me. “I remember.”
I hesitated because I wasn’t sure I wanted to do this. Rush had told me things and, so far, most of what he said proved to be accurate. But would this be, too?
I didn’t want it to be.
I cleared my throat. “They’ll have to move Mahoney for his trial. Maybe your friend can find out the details of that.”
“You want to hit him while he’s being moved?”
“I think the only way to stop this is to cut off the head of the snake.”
Kirkland grunted. But Ash nodded slowly. “I think you’re right.”
I dragged my fingers through my hair. “If we had information: where, when, how…we have enough bodies on hand now to make it happen. We could take him down.”
“And get ourselves arrested in the process if we aren’t careful,” Kirkland said.
“We’ll be careful. Sutherland has friends in law enforcement up there in Wyoming. We’ll read them in as much as necessary to make it legal.”
“We can formulate a plan,” Ash agreed.
“We just need the information. And a plan.”
“We’ll have a meeting in the morning, include everyone. Do a little brainstorming.”
“I think that’s our best option.” I rested my hand on Ash’s shoulder. “We’ve got to end this once and for all. We thought putting Jack Mahoney in jail would be the end, but clearly that’s not good enough.”
“He’s forcing our hand.”
“But what if this is what he wants?” Kirkland asked. “What if he wants us to come after him?”
The thing was, I knew that was exactly what he wanted. Rush had told me what he believed Mahoney’s end game was. He gave me the information I needed to stop Mahoney and it was nothing like what I’d expected. It was ten times worse. But I couldn’t share that information with Ash and Kirkland and that killed me a little. But I had to be sure who I could trust and who I couldn’t. Not that I thought anyone here was giving information to Mahoney intentionally. Yet, someone was leaking our every move and I couldn’t allow Mahoney to know what I knew.
Wasn’t it ironic that Rush was the only one I could really trust at this moment? A killer who’d sold women into prostitution, who’d forced women to work for him by making promises he never intended to keep? A man who worked for the very criminal mastermind we were trying to take down? But I believed it when he said he wanted Mahoney stopped for the safety of his wife and child. Sometimes protecting one’s family can be the ultimate motivation.
“We just have to be smarter than him.”
***
Carrington crawled into bed beside me a few hours later, wrapping his body around mine. I snuggled back, loving the familiar feel of him against me. We’d decided to stay at the old cottage for the night, partly because Carrington had enjoyed himself with the liquor and partly because I wanted to be there for the meeting first thing in the morning. It was a little odd being back in that room after the tension that had exploded between us the last time we spent a night there. But it was kind of nice, too.
“They’re going to help formulate a plan?”
“Yes.”
He pulled me closer against him. “Good.”
I closed my eyes, my thoughts going in a million different directions. It seemed like this ball of fear had formed in the center of my chest the moment I realized it was James Conway who’d escape prison to assassinate Carrington. It grew when I learned that Elizabeth Runion was gathering information on both Carrington and McKelty for Mahoney. And then it became an unsurpassable growth when Aidan was taken. I didn’t think it could grow any larger, but when Rush told me what he knew, it did. And now it was weighing me down.
“I know that you want to be part of this,” I said softly into the darkness, not even sure Carrington was awake, “but you have to promise me that no matter what happens, no matter what the next few weeks bring, that you will survive to watch our girls grow up.”
Carrington stiffened against me, his muscles becoming one solid piece of rock. “Joss…”
“Promise me.”
His hand slipped down over the slowly growing bump in my lower belly. “Only if you promise you’ll survive to bring this life into the world.”
Tears filled my eyes. I wanted to make that promise, but I didn’t want to lie.
“I love you, Joss, and I trust you more than I’ve ever trusted anyone. I will do whatever you want from me as long as you keep me in the loop.”
“Thank you.”
He kissed my shoulder lightly. “I know you’re doing this for our family. And I know you’re not telling me everything, maybe because your protecting me, maybe because you’re afraid of what that knowledge will do to my peace of mind. But you don’t have to take this on by yourself. That’s why I called your colleagues, your friends.”
“They’re my family.”
“Yes. If you can’t talk to me, promise you’ll talk to them.”
“I promise.”
I rolled toward him and kissed his neck lightly. “I love you.”
He stole my lips and we moved close together, our hands beginning a familiar exploration. I was so incredibly grateful to have this back, to have this connection between us back. I hadn’t realized how much I’d taken it for granted before everything began to fall apart. But we were on the same level again, connecting in ways we hadn’t been. And I was never going to take that for granted ever again.
There was no point to this fight I was waging without the prize that would be waiting for me when it ended. Carrington and the girls were my prize. Without them, there was no point to anything.
And, in this fight, I was going to need all the motivation life could throw at me because I was about to take on a foe like none other I’d ever faced. And I had to win.
There simply was no choice.
Chapter 15
Jules
I moved around the room as quietly as I could, but she woke anyway.
“Where are you sneaking off to?”
I held up my cellphone. “Boss called. I have to get to a meeting.”
She rolled over and looked at her own phone. “It’s not even six yet.”
“I know. Sorry. Go back to sleep.”
She groaned, rolling back toward me. “Do I get a kiss goodbye, at least?”
I smiled, crawling onto the messy bed to lean forward and kiss her full, soft lips. She sighed against my mouth, her hand slipping up under the bottom edge of my blouse.
“Do you really have to go now?” she asked.
It was tempting, but…
“I should really go.”
I headed for the door and was almost through it, when she called out, “I thought Joss was in Atlanta or somewhere like that.”
“She got back yesterday.”
“I guess she’s happy to have everything settled.”
“I don’t think anything’s ever truly settled with Jack Mahoney still out there.”
“She thinks he’s still after her?”
“I don’t know. But I assume that’s what this meeting is about.”
She rolled onto her side, purposely pushing the blankets down so that I could see her naked side. “You going to tell me all about it when you get back?”
I groaned. “Stevie, you know the things I tell you are highly sensitive, right? If anyone found out I shared information with you—”
“I know how to be discreet. You can’t work with politicians without learning how to keep secrets.”
“Or tell lies.”
“I would never lie to you, baby.”
“I certainly hope not.�
� I blew her a kiss and headed out the door. “I’ll talk to you later.”
***
Joss was surrounded by people when I arrived at the compound. And there were so many people there. I recognized a few familiar faces who stopped by the Santa Monica office from time to time, but most were strangers to me. It wasn’t difficult to pinpoint David Grayson, however, the legend standing next to his brother in the flesh.
He was even better looking than people said.
“Jules,” Joss said almost breathlessly as she approached me. She offered me a quick hug, unaware of the effect being that close to her had on me. It was a cliché to have a crush on your boss, but I’d had a crush on Joss from the minute I walked into the new Gray Wolf offices years ago and set eyes on her for the first time. I was crushed to learn she was married.
Straight I could deal with. Commitment—not so much.
“How are you?” I studied her face before shooting a cautious look toward Carrington. “How’s the baby?”
“Fine. We’re both fine.”
“Carrington know now?”
“He does, but we’re keeping it on the down low from everyone else until this operation is over.”
“So you are going after Mahoney?”
She nodded in confirmation, making my heart twist in my chest just a little. It was one thing to go up against Mahoney’s goons, but she was seriously going to take on the man himself? How dangerous was that?
If anything happened to Joss…
“We’re going to get started here in a minute. If you could take notes—Ash doesn’t want recordings, but my head tends toward fogginess when I’m pregnant, you know?”
“Of course.”
“And pay attention to who speaks, who doesn’t, and who seems disinterested.”
“Are we looking for someone in particular?”
“No.” Joss looked around the room. “I just…I worry, you know.”
“You think there might be a mole?”
Joss shrugged her shoulders. “Just being cautious. You never know who you can trust and who you can’t. I only know that I can trust you.”
I smiled proudly. “Of course.”
“You’d never talk about what happens in this meeting to anyone, right?”
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