Nash Security Solutions

by Lola Silverman

  Kayla gently nudged Carson. “I’ll stay here with Wallace until he’s got what he needs. Maybe you should go get the car and check for unfriendlies.”

  “Good idea,” Carson murmured. “Wait five minutes and then come outside.”

  “Got it.” Kayla glanced at her watch. It was funny how five minutes could turn into an eternity.

  “Um, not to rush you,” Kayla said hesitantly. “But we really need to get moving. Our friend is going to bleed to death at this rate.”

  Wallace muttered something about impatient people using hospitals, but within seconds, he was ready to go. Kayla led the way to the door. Wallace was busy turning his sign to closed and flipping off lights. She wondered if he often made house calls that had him out of the shop at odd hours.

  “Are you a doctor or something?” Kayla asked him as she leaned out to look at the passersby on the street outside the pharmacy.

  “I used to practice medicine,” Wallace said with obvious reluctance. “I got tired of insurance companies deciding who lives and who dies.”

  “True dat,” Kayla muttered. “Okay. Let’s go! Carson is idling in the road right in front of the shop. Don’t stop for anything.”

  Kayla opened the door, and Wallace shot out with his bag banging against one hip. He made a mad dash for the car with his gangly, long legs. Kayla followed close behind. Just as she was getting into the backseat of the car behind Wallace, she spotted a familiar-looking face staring at her from an alcove across the street.

  “Kayla, let’s go!” Carson urged.

  She frowned, not even sure that she’d really seen the face. Why would her cousin Ralston be here of all places? That didn’t even make sense.

  Kayla slammed the back door and Carson tore off down the block. He rounded the corner and headed back to Ava’s house. Kayla craned her neck back around to try and catch one more glimpse of the man that looked like Ralston. She couldn’t see any sign of him. It had to be a delusion of some kind. Her mind was just playing tricks on her. That had to be the answer.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Carson had shunned the idea of affection in public for most of his life. As he stood in Ava’s kitchen with his arms around Kayla’s curvy body, he wondered if it was his feelings toward affection or his definition of public that was changing. He didn’t care what Nash might think. He didn’t care what anyone thought. Having Kayla’s warm body pressed up against him was comforting. He rested his chin on top of her head and let the rhythmic cadence of her breathing soothe him.

  “Pass me that needle,” Wallace told Ava. “I can’t believe you have this man on your kitchen counter. I don’t even know what to say about it.”

  The man had been muttering nonstop about their unorthodox operating table, about the fact that Nash refused to take his employee to a hospital, and pretty much about everything that wasn’t to his liking. Fortunately for Wallace, Carson was willing to let the bitching go because the guy really seemed to know what he was doing.

  “The bleeding has stopped,” Wallace announced to the kitchen. Tegan made a noise of relief. Carson had been certain the young woman was going to lose it more than once, but she’d managed to hold herself together. “The bullet seems to have gone straight through.”

  “Can you tell what kind of rifle it was?” Nash wondered out loud.

  Wallace shot him a look over the top of those wire-rimmed spectacles that could have frozen a lava pit. “I’m sorry, but I’m not that well versed in bullet wounds to be able to tell you the caliber.”

  Nash held up his hands defensively. “Hey. I’m sorry, man. I told you. The circumstances of our contract are really iffy right now. I can’t take Wrath to a hospital. And we handle most of this kind of thing in-house anyway.”

  “In-house,” Wallace muttered. “Ava, where did you find these primates?”

  “It’s a long story,” Ava said with a sigh. Then she winked at Nash. “But it has to do with Stedman.”

  “Ugh!” Wallace said dramatically as he pulled open a sterile package of gauze to use for bandaging. “Do not get me started on that man! If you had any idea what he’s been doing to those neighborhoods in Southie…”

  Carson could feel Kayla straighten up in surprise. “What buildings in Southie?”

  “Those old apartment complexes,” Wallace said over his shoulder. “The man has been evicting people with no reason and no warning. The buildings just sit there vacant. He claims he’s selling, but there’s no indication of to who or what management company. In the meantime, there are thousands of displaced residents!” Wallace glanced at Ava. “I have plenty of clients from that area. Older folks, you know. They’ve lived in Southie practically since they filled in the Back Bay and before Southie became quite so rough.”

  “That has to be the buildings from my trust!” Kayla burst out. She pulled away from Carson’s embrace. He let her go, but he couldn’t understand what was upsetting her. “Aunt Ava, do you think those are the buildings that Felix said he was trying to sell?”

  “He” obviously referred to Stedman. Nash was now frowning at Kayla. “Is this about what you guys discovered at the bank?”

  “Yes!” Kayla was practically vibrating with irritation. “I was supposed to get control of my trust fund two years ago. Stedman made sure that I didn’t even know there was a trust!”

  Nash was rubbing his chin. Carson recognized the gesture as one of deep thought. “And you’re saying that you corrected that today?”

  “Began the process,” Ava offered. “That’s something we need to talk about, because Stedman is not going to take that lightly. He is going to come after Kayla and try to bully her into signing her inheritance back over to him.” Ava motioned to Wallace. “I bet the reason he’s evicting people and then waiting is that he has to have full control of the trust in order to liquidate assets and then transfer the money to his personal accounts. I bet Felix’s prediction about what he was doing with the real estate hasn’t actually happened yet. It would be illegal until he has full control of the trust.”

  Kayla visibly shivered. “You mean until I’m dead.”

  Even the idea of Kayla dying because Stedman Hyde-Pierson was a selfish bastard was more than Carson could handle. He clenched his fists tight and tried to think of something that they had learned today that could be helpful.

  But Kayla wasn’t done with her revelations. “I still think the fact that he’s been moving money without permission is significant.”

  Carson flashed back to the little Russian he’d had a quick conversation with in the bushes. “The little lackey that Wrath and I found said that Sokolov himself was known for being able to take money out of people’s bank accounts without them even knowing it was gone until it was too late to act. Maybe that’s what brought all of this on?”

  Nash grunted. “Stedman was working for Sokolov, but Anton gets greedy. He tries to make a deal with Stedman behind Sokolov’s back, and boom! Sokolov gets pissed and calls out the dogs. Sounds plausible to me.”

  It sounded plausible to Carson too. He just didn’t know how to get around it. “How do we get evidence of that?” Carson fumed. “It’s all hypothetical. It’s that cyber crap that doesn’t really exist unless you can track down a paper trail.”

  “I might know someone,” Ava murmured.

  Nash gave her a warm smile. What was up with those two anyway? “Why is it that you almost always know someone?”

  Tegan cleared her throat. “In this case, she’s talking about my brother, Ralston. He’s amazing with a computer. Total geek. It drives my father crazy because he knows that Ralston can access anything he wants at Pierson Financial.”

  Carson frowned. “Don’t we have Ralston on our list of people who are supposed to have protection details?”

  “Ralston opted out,” Nash said grimly. “At the time, I didn’t see anything wrong with it because I went over to his place myself and the man’s got a better security system than I could even hope to give him.”

  Car
son nodded to Nash. “Now you’re wondering if Stedman won’t use this as another opportunity to get rid of a family member he finds annoying?”

  “Excuse me.” Wallace did not look up from the wound he was carefully bandaging. Ava and Tegan were helping him turn Wrath’s body and lift the man just enough to get the bandage beneath his body. “But if Stedman Hyde-Pierson is your paying client, aren’t you being sort of unethical to work against him?”

  “That’s the thing,” Nash said through gritted teeth. “The man hired us to provide security for his family members. He paid my company for the job, but so far, he’s managed to get my crew on the Russian mafia’s hit list. I’ve had nothing but trouble dealing with him and his ridiculous demands.”

  Carson grunted. “And don’t forget there’s been ample proof that he actually doesn’t want certain members of his family protected.”

  Wallace shrugged. “So, what’s his real angle?”

  THE WORDS SEEMED to bloom inside Kayla’s brain. Angle. Stedman Hyde-Pierson’s angle. What was it? Why would a man like Pierson hire a firm like Nash’s to protect people he didn’t want protected?

  “What’s happened so far?” Kayla demanded. She looked at Carson and at Nash. “What have you guys done on this job?”

  Nash shrugged. “Wrath here seems to get freaking shot every five minutes. Other than that, we’ve picked off a few foot soldiers and hitmen.”

  “We’re basically waging war against the Sokolovs,” Carson mused. “I think I see what Kayla’s getting at.”

  Kayla felt a shot of dread as she realized what they were doing for her uncle. “He doesn’t really want his family protected. Publicly, that might make him look good. Did anyone see the newspaper article the other day that quoted Stedman as having great concern for his family”—Kayla pointed to Ava—“even for his ex-wife. They made him look like a saint.”

  “But, privately, he’s using us like his own personal army,” Carson finished.

  “Exactly.” Kayla put her thumb to her lips, gnawing just a little on her cuticle. She felt sickened by the suspicion that was growing in her mind. “Look what he’s already done with Bridge and Jinx. What do you want to bet that in a few days he’ll propose that you and your men do an open and aggressive attack on the Sokolovs?”

  “He’s already planning it.”

  The voice came from the living room. Nash and Carson had weapons drawn in the blink of an eye, but Kayla gently touched the top of Carson’s hand. “This is my cousin Ralston.” Then she pointed to Ralston. “It really was you that I saw near the pharmacy, wasn’t it?”

  “I wondered if you spotted me,” Ralston said with an amused grin. “You were always much more aware of your surroundings than most people, and your friend there was already in the driver’s seat ready to go.” Ralston made a vague gesture toward Carson.

  Ralston emerged from the dimly lit living room and lounged against the wall. He was dressed casually in jeans, thick-soled boots, and a button-down shirt. Kayla always laughed when Tegan referred to her older brother as a total nerd because, while Ralston was a nerd, he looked like an underwear model. With his dark gold hair curling about his ears and those brilliant blue eyes, he actually looked like one of Boston’s most elite playboys.

  Nash glared suspiciously at Ralston. “You were following my men?”

  “Kayla is not your man,” Ralston said mildly. “She’s my cousin. And as to my following them, yes, I did. I’ve been on Kayla’s tail since she left the bank.”

  “The bank?” The acknowledgement made Kayla feel strangely vulnerable. She stepped closer to Carson. “Why were you even there?”

  “I work there.” Ralston made it sound completely normal. “Which is why I wanted to talk to you. If I thought I could get in touch with you and not set off Dad’s radar, I would have done it ages ago. As it is, his radar is on overtime because of all this mafia bullshit anyway. And now that he’s already on to you, I thought it was time that we had a chat about your financial information and why my father has been stealing from you since your parents died when you were four.”

  On the countertop, Wrath finally jerked awake. All conversation stopped as Carson, Tegan, Ava, and Nash tried to keep Wrath from attempting escape. They wrestled to keep the muscular former marine down while Tegan murmured reassurances in his ear. Finally, Wrath seemed to settle.

  Wrath coughed a few times and made a face. “My mouth tastes like I’ve been eating old pennies.”

  Kayla wrapped her arm around Tegan as her cousin made a low sound of distress. “He’s fine,” Kayla whispered. “He’s even talking. He’s going to be fine.”

  Nash gently touched Wrath’s shoulder. “The old pennies are just blood. Fortunately, you’ve stopped wasting that. At the rate you were going, it was becoming like liquid gold.”

  “I remember I was hit.” Then Wrath cranked his head around to look for Carson. “You carried me. I owe you one man.”

  “No,” Carson said quietly. Kayla’s heart swelled with pride for the man she secretly considered her own. “You’d have done the same for me.”

  “Never leave a man behind,” Wrath quoted.

  “Never,” Carson agreed.

  Ava shooed Carson away and then pointed at Ralston. “We need to finish up in here with Wrath. If you’re going to talk computers, go in the living room. I think this poor man has had enough excitement.”

  “I need Kayla’s help,” Ralston told Ava. Then he glanced at Kayla. “If she’s amenable.”

  Kayla had a bad feeling that Carson wasn’t going to like her answer. “I’m ready whenever you are.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “I think we made your boyfriend a little mad back there,” Ralston said loudly. He had to be loud in order to be heard over the roar of his engine.

  The classic sports car had been her cousin’s vehicle of choice ever since Kayla could remember. She vaguely remembered the day that her uncle had purchased the car for a sixteen-year-old Ralston. Stedman hadn’t approved of his son’s fetish for classic cars, but he had also considered it an acceptable hobby for a rich man.

  “He’s not my boyfriend,” Kayla corrected quickly. “I’m not sure what he is, but I suppose he’d better get used to me being independent or our relationship will never go anywhere.”

  Ralston whipped the Mustang around a corner and downshifted as they headed into the city of Boston proper. “Kayla, when a man worries about you, it isn’t necessarily because he’s trying to squelch your independence. Sometimes it’s just because he wants to be there to protect you and doesn’t like the idea that something bad could happen when he’s not.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Kayla said stubbornly. “And I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

  She didn’t want to think about Carson right now. She desperately wanted to be with him, and it was starting to bother her a little bit. Was she really becoming one of those women that needed a man in her life? She had never been in a long-term relationship before. Was she really contemplating one now? And was that wise?

  “Fine.” Ralston shrugged. “Have it your way. I’m just interested in using you to poke at my father.”

  “Excuse me?” Kayla whipped around to stare at her cousin. His handsome face did not look as though he were joking. “Are you serious? I’ll wind up in a box six feet underground!”

  “No.” Ralston laughed. The irreverent sound made her feel less than confident. “I got my job at the bank just so I could watch the transactions that my father makes. The bank hired me because they’ve started to get a little suspicious of good old Stedman Hyde-Pierson lately too.”

  “Then why not do something about it?”

  “He steals from criminals,” Ralston said flatly. “When a criminal has something stolen, he doesn’t want cops involved at all. That means it doesn’t go reported and there’s never a report. The bank can’t prosecute when there’s no case.”

  “Damn.” Kayla couldn’t believe how underhanded her uncle had t
o be in order to pull something like that off. “Then why do you need me? I’m pretty sure this is probably the reason that the Russian mafia wants him dead.”

  “I think you’re right.” Ralston pulled up in front of an office building. “But what my father has been doing to you is illegal. As in he’s breaking the actual law in ways that could get him arrested.”

  “So, you want me to testify or something?” Kayla guessed. She shivered at the thought. “I figured I would be lucky if he didn’t just kill me himself once he found out that he no longer has access to my trust accounts.”

  “You may actually be right.” Ralston started to get out of the car.

  Kayla glanced up at the building. “Where are we?”

  “My building.” Ralston motioned for her to get out. “I want to show you a few things.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like maps of your property that have mysteriously gone missing in the last few weeks,” Ralston said flatly.

  He certainly had Kayla’s attention. Without another thought, she climbed out of the car and followed Ralston right into a five-story building labeled 1156.

  *

  “I shouldn’t have let her go!” Carson snarled.

  He had been pacing back and forth in front of the picture window in the upstairs bedroom at Ava’s. Wrath had been comfortably settled in the bed and was now watching with obvious amusement as Carson had what amounted to a tantrum right there in the bedroom.

  “Okay,” Wrath reasoned. “You really couldn’t have stopped her. The guy is her cousin. He had information for her. Nash told you to stay here because of the whole disavowal thing.” Wrath made a face. “What were you going to do?”

  “I don’t know!” Carson flung up his hands. “Tie her to a chair? What is she thinking?”

  “I can’t be sure, but I’m pretty sure that she’s thinking she wants to know what’s going on with her trust fund.”

  Tegan came strolling into the room with a tray laden with food for Wrath. She glanced at Carson and rolled her eyes. “You know,” she began irritably. “You were the one pushing poor Kayla to find out about her inheritance anyway. You should be glad that she’s decided to pursue the truth about it.”