Gray Wolf Security: Back Home

by Glenna Sinclair

  Neither did I, I’m ashamed to admit.

  “We’re going to Florida.”

  Chapter 27

  Carrington

  I was exhausted, but I couldn’t force my eyes to close or my head to stop replaying the tape of Mahoney’s confession. Was that what it was, really? A confession? Or was it something else, something less easily defined?

  I’d sat there in that observation room and listened to Rahul Rush tell Joss about the land in Wyoming, about the odd behaviors of his boss, Jack Mahoney. I heard him talk about the many rumors that circulated through the organization, the suggestion that Mahoney wasn’t really the one in charge. But none of it really sank in until Joss got the man himself to speak. Until I heard it from his lips.

  It wasn’t Mahoney who’d been torturing us. It was his sister.

  He explained things that never occurred to me to wonder about, such as why there was such a gap between the time Runion died and the time during which Mahoney began torturing our family. Runion went to jail eleven years ago, lost his ability to walk ten years ago. He committed suicide not long after Aidan was born, nearly seven years ago. Why hadn’t he come after us in all those years?

  The answer was, it wasn’t Mahoney who came after us. It was his sister and she only began hunting Joss after Mahoney went to prison because he lost his tentative level of control over her.

  Mahoney was the cool head, the calm head of the organization. He ran the business end of things, kept things structured. Lilith was the criminal minded one, the one who dug up dirt on every person who could ever be an aid to the organization. She was the one who ordered assassinations, the one who manipulated businesses and politicians to do what her brother needed them to do. She was the muscle, he was the brains. By keeping her focused on the needs of his business, he was able to keep her distracted with logic. If they went after Joss, they could risk exposing themselves. But when he was gone and that voice of logic was no longer at work, she went a little berserk.

  Lilith continued to run the remnants of the organization, not even aware that people were turning on her, that she was killing the few who were still loyal to her for the slightest offenses. She was going to find herself on the wrong end of the gun eventually if she was left to her own devices. Perhaps the death of her daughter had finally sent her over the edge. Maybe word of her brother’s death would be the last straw. Or maybe just the news that he’d built a bunker out in the middle of Wyoming in order to escape her control would push her into the abyss.

  It didn’t matter now. We knew the truth. And Joss was determined to stop her.

  We were on a flight bound for Miami, planning to rent cars and make our way down to the little island in the Keys were Lilith had fled when Jack was arrested. Joss was asleep in the seat beside me, snoring softly in her exhaustion. Donovan and Kirkland appeared to be out, too, but David was busy on his laptop, reviewing the research that Joss had apparently been working on for days without telling anyone. I thought she was researching Mahoney, but she was looking into the rare pieces in the press about his family, especially Lilith. She already had specs on the island compound we were headed toward, having discovered it in a property search I didn’t even know a person could do.

  It was all incredibly fascinating. And frightening.

  I turned to stare out the window, thinking about my kids and my easy life back in California. I’d had a chip on my shoulder since my early twenties when my father’s sudden death at the side of my brother’s casket had propelled me into a life I was never sure I really wanted. When my wife committed suicide and left me alone with our infant child, I took it on myself, believed it was all my fault. I’d let her down.

  None of that seemed to compare to what was happening now. The things Joss had gone through—was still going through.

  This needed to end for her sake if nothing else.

  I slid my phone out of my pocket and did something I never believed I would do.

  I texted Mike Spencer.

  Chapter 28

  At the Compound

  Ash burst through the doors, anger making him move with more confidence and strength than a man his age had a right to possess. Rose immediately stood from her desk and started to explain to him why an FBI agent was sitting at his conference table, working furiously on a laptop, but Ash didn’t have the patience for it.

  “You got the same email I did.”

  Mike Spencer looked up. “I did.”

  “The governor is a fucking traitor?”

  “Looks like it. It’s got our entire office in a tizzy.”

  “Yeah. At least it explains why my most trusted allies lied to me.”

  Ash threw himself down into a chair, aware that he should go upstairs and alert his wife to the fact that he was home unexpectedly, but this felt more urgent than niceties. He knew Mina would understand and that made it worse. Her understanding wouldn’t always be something he could take for granted if he didn’t want to lose the connection they shared. He’d have to make it up to her later.

  “I went by the Santa Monica office, but Jules has resigned. She’s probably on her way home by now.”

  Mike shook his head. “Don’t need her. Turns out things are moving faster than we can imagine.” He gestured toward the television just as the CNN newscaster spoke Jack Mahoney’s name.

  “Jack Mahoney, the infamous leader of the Mahoney Cartel who escaped federal custody yesterday morning, was found dead of a single gunshot wound to his forehead. Authorities believe he committed suicide.”

  Ash leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s where they were?”

  “Looks like it.”

  He shook his head. “They apparently walked off the ranch yesterday afternoon, but no one noticed because we were out searching for Mahoney. The alarm didn’t go up until the middle of the night and shortly after that I got the email.”

  Ash leaned back and regarded Mike. “And I just learned that they took one of my private planes and filed a flight plan for Miami.”

  “That makes sense.”

  Mike handed Ash his phone open to the text message he’d just received from Carrington.

  “I should have looked at it sooner. I didn’t know the number…”

  Mahoney dead, the message read. Going after Lilith in the Keys.

  “Who’s Lilith?”

  Mike pulled something up on the computer and turned it toward Ash. “She’s Mahoney’s sister. We talked to Rahul Rush and he intimated that someone else in Jack’s family was the true leader of the cartel. I didn’t take it seriously, but Joss said something before she left for Wyoming that got me curious. So I did a little research. Lilith is the only member of Jack’s family who makes sense for the role. And she also makes sense as far as the torture that’s been rained down on Joss’s family. It was, after all, her kids whose deaths Mahoney blamed on Joss.”

  “Jack Mahoney isn’t the leader of the cartel?”

  “He was, I think. But I also think they likely shared the duties.”

  Ash sat back, his mind whirling with this new information. He’d never heard of Jack Mahoney until a few years ago when he began looking deeper into the associations of the Bazarov family. His son, Ford, was the biological son of the last leader of the Bazarov mob family, Dimitri Avdonin. When Kipling discovered that it was Avdonin and his cronies who’d murdered his wife some ten years ago, Ash wanted to make sure that no more secrets were going to come out of the woodwork and hurt his son. What he discovered was that the Mahoneys were behind Bazarov’s actions all those years ago; they were the ones who pushed them on Matthews Shipping, the ones who instructed Avdonin to take control after old man Bazarov died. And then he learned how large Mahoney’s organization had grown over the years and made it his purpose to stop them in order to protect Ford from any fallout.

  He believed it was those actions that had brought himself and Carrington onto Mahoney’s radar. He was mistaken, but it was likely what had led to his own kidnapping at Carrin
gton’s hands. And it was Mahoney’s miscalculation of Carrington that spared his life.

  And now…who was it that had really blackmailed Carrington? Who was it that had really orchestrated Ash’s kidnapping? Was it all about Joss and revenge for Carl?

  It was beginning to look that way.

  Ash pulled his phone out of his pocket.

  “We can’t let them do this alone.”

  Mike nodded. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  Chapter 29

  Joss

  My body hurt and I was having these little, pinching cramps low in my belly. I wanted nothing more than to stretch out in a big, soft bed and sleep for an eternity, but we were so far from home. The bouncing of the car made the ache in my muscles ten times worse. Carrington offered his lap as a pillow, but I felt like I was going to vomit every time I moved where I couldn’t see out the windshield.

  I’d forgotten how miserable it could be to be pregnant.

  “We’re about an hour out,” David said. “We should stop and eat something.”

  I nodded. “We can’t do anything until after dark, anyway.”

  We pulled into the parking lot of a small greasy spoon type diner. I climbed out of the car and sighed as stretching relieved some of the discomfort. I found myself wondering if they’d have passionflower tea, but I doubted it.

  Where was Mabel when I needed her?

  I used the restroom and came out to find the guys chattering about the burgers on the menu. Even Carrington. After nearly eight years of marriage, he was finally bonding with my coworkers. Wasn’t that sweet?

  Nothing like a little military style operation to bring people together.

  “What are we getting?”

  “Tell your man that a cheeseburger is not a cheeseburger if he puts mayonnaise on it!”

  I laughed. “I’ve been telling him that for years.”

  “I like mayo.”

  I shook my head, patting him on the shoulder. “I know, babe. I know.”

  The food was surprisingly incredible. I ate more than I should have, grateful the morning sickness seemed to finally have run its course. Then David pulled out the computer and it was time to get down to business.

  “She has a large compound on a small, private island in the Keys. The place is only accessible by helicopter or boat, both of which are very carefully controlled through the security system at the house. There are fences ten feet tall all around the compound, dogs running wild on the grounds, motion detectors, armed men. This woman takes her security very seriously.”

  “Sounds impenetrable,” Carrington commented.

  “Nothing’s impenetrable,” Donovan announced.

  “He’s right, but…” David turned his computer around so that I could see it. “I broke into the network at the compound. It’s similar to the network at the bunker and the house in Connecticut. As careful as they are, they weren’t careful enough.” He gestured to the document on the screen. “This is an invitation to speak at a women’s club meeting on the mainland that Lilith accepted weeks ago. I think she’s going to attend and that it will be much easier to hit her there than at her compound.”

  “How do you know she’ll be there?” Carrington asked.

  “She’s already there.” David pulled up another file, this one a video feed. “I snatched this from her security system just twenty minutes ago. That’s her boarding a helicopter.”

  I glanced out the window. It was a little before five, the sun still bright in the sky.

  “How far are we from this club?”

  “Twenty minutes,” David said.

  “What about collateral damage?”

  “It will be minimum if we play it smart.”

  I nodded, watching the cars pull into the parking lot outside. “I guess we’d better find a bigger place to develop our plan.”

  As I said it, Ash and Mike Spencer stepped out of the front SUV as it came to a stop.

  “How the hell?” Donovan muttered, but I don’t think any of us were truly surprised.

  ***

  “What took you so long?” I asked Ash as I greeted him.

  He shook his head. “You’re a fool, always trying to do this stuff alone.”

  “I wasn’t. I was trying to protect our information.”

  He inclined his head slightly. “I had no idea about the governor. But that information is with the FBI and he will be on his way to prison very soon.”

  “I’m sorry, Ash.”

  He shrugged. “Shit happens. You never really know who you can trust in this business.”

  I turned to Mike. He was watching me with that same soft smile on his lips, the one that announced how he felt about me without him ever having to say a word. But then his eyes shifted to Carrington.

  “Thanks for the heads up.”

  Carrington nodded even as I shot him a dirty look.

  “What can we do to help?”

  I looked around the parking lot at the army he’d brought with him. Not only were there the Gray Wolf family, but Mike had mobilized a number of agents from the local field office as well as his own task force. We had more than two dozen people ready for this operation.

  “I don’t think it’s going to be much of a fight this time.”

  Mike seemed to agree. But then he took my arm and pulled me off to one side. “I wanted to tell you how pleased I am to see that you and Carrington have worked things out.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  He smiled one of those polite, but not really, smiles. “Maybe not. I would have loved to have found out what it was like to be your partner. But your happiness—”

  I laughed. “Let’s not bullshit each other, Mike. I know how you feel about me. And, truth be told, if I’d met you first…but I didn’t. And I love my family.”

  He nodded. “I hope this doesn’t mean the end of everything.”

  “You never know where life might take you.”

  I reached up and kissed his cheek, then walked away, slipping up beside Carrington to take his hand. “How are we going to do this?”

  Chapter 30

  Carrington

  It turned out to be quite simple. Mike, Ash, and Joss walked into the ladies’ club, much to the horror of the ladies at the front desk, and served a warrant on Lilith Mahoney. She surrendered with visible contempt, rolling her eyes and promising she’d be free again in a matter of hours.

  I watched them put her into an SUV and put cuffs on her wrists. It was all sort of anticlimactic, to be perfectly honest. Not that I’d wanted a shootout or anything dangerous. But a little drama would have been nice.

  After hours of paperwork and interviews and things I didn’t even have words to describe, we were free to go. I took Joss to a hotel on the beach, the sound of the surf coming to us through the French doors on the balcony. And then we slept for what felt like years.

  “We should go to Europe and hang out with the kids for a few months,” I suggested when she woke and snuggled into my arms.

  “I agree. You can run the business from there, right?”

  “Sure. I could run Matthews Shipping from anywhere we have ships at port. We have several in Europe.”

  “Maybe we should just stay for good.”

  I kissed her shoulder with something like a sigh. “That sounds nice. You could quit your job and come work for me.”

  “Your mom would love that.”

  “Actually, she would. She worries about us.”

  “You could move her in, let her be the kids’ nanny. We’ll need one when the new baby arrives.”

  “Can you imagine how thrilled she and the kids will be when we tell them?”

  Joss laughed. “I’ll bet you anything McKelty will be horrified, but Aidan will be thrilled. Babies are just toys to her.”

  “I think we should. Take a year and live in Europe. Put all this bullshit behind us.”

  The timing was incredible. The words were still slipping from the tip of my tongue, my hand still running slowly ov
er the bare baby bump that seemed to be growing inches every day low on Joss’s belly. And then came the crash of the balcony doors shattering, the man with the gun, the pain that smashed through my back, and the blood.

  There was a lot of blood.

  Chapter 31

  Joss

  Carrington didn’t react. One second he was talking, his hand caressing my belly, and the next, he was falling back against the pillows, blood blooming under his body.

  Instinct pulled me out of the line of fire. I fell from the bed, yanking my holster off the chair where I’d left it, but the gun was gone.

  It was in Mahoney’s dead hand.

  My rifle was with the rest of them, locked up in a rental car down in the parking garage. Did I really have no protection?

  And then I remembered the knife on my utility belt just as the gunman came around the side of the bed.

  I sliced at his ankles, forcing him off balance for an instant. It was enough. I threw my shoulder into his leg and felt him fall like a tree in the forest. The gun went flying, clattering silently over the carpet. I launched myself at him, but he rolled to one side. I landed with another thud on the carpet.

  He grabbed my arms, pulled me back against his body as he reached for the knife I still held. I thrust back with my elbows, catching him in the ribs. I heard the whoosh of air leave his lungs. I thrust again and his grip loosened.

  With a twist, I managed to land a couple of blows to the side of his head. He went down, but wasn’t out. He twisted and reached for the gun. He missed.

  The irony not missed on me, I punched the knife into his back about the same place one of Mahoney’s people had stabbed me just a month or so ago. But I didn’t stop.

  He reached for the gun again and again, but each attempt grew weaker as he lost blood. I didn’t stop until he was unconscious, until the fight was gone. And then I came back into myself, remembering my husband bleeding out on the bed.