Raiden: A Stand Alone, Irish Mob Crime Romance (The Kent Brothers Book 2)

by A. M. Hargrove

  Isla grinned. “It’s perfect. And I have an even better idea. We fly there. Someone can bring the cars or the bodyguards can drive the SUVs up.”

  “No, we have vehicles up there and we can rent different ones to throw them off. I want everyone to get different phones too. Leave the old ones here, in case they’re tracking us,” I added. “Isla, can you sweep the place for bugs?”

  “Yeah, but the equipment I need is at WI.”

  “Can someone meet us at the airport with it?”

  “I’m sure that’s not a problem.”

  With solid plans in place, we told our parents when they woke up. They quickly packed, and it wasn’t long before we were on the way to the airport. One of our guys went ahead so he could get us new phones set up. We gave him the list of numbers and he was off.

  I called Elena and told her how to handle things while Cruze did the same with his admin. Then we were off.

  Isla had a burner phone Drex was using to communicate with her on, and he called after we took off.

  He and Gemini loved the idea of going to the mountains. They would tell the employees what to expect for the next couple of weeks, and then fly up that afternoon. He and Gemini also had a house up there, but I didn’t know where. Luckily, it ended up being about a mile away from mine. He contacted us after they arrived and said they’d call in the morning. They would crash after a long day of flying, and I didn’t blame them. Disappointment stung me as I didn’t get to speak to Scottie that night.

  In the morning, my new phone rang. I grinned when I saw her name.

  “Hey, beautiful.”

  “Where have you been? I’ve been calling you.”

  “We got new phones in case O’Brien was tracking us, so I was off the grid for a good while yesterday.”

  “Damn, after I heard about the house, I freaked.”

  “All’s good here, babe, and I heard your mission was a double-decker success.”

  Her groan surprised me. “Everything but contacting O’Brien. We couldn’t reach him. And now we have a little spoiled shit in our midst.”

  “You mean she’s with you?”

  “Uh, yeah. What else are we supposed to do with her? She’s the key to everything. And the daughter who rants and raves constantly. My head aches around those two.”

  “Hopefully, when O’Brien finds out, he’ll give himself up quickly.”

  “One can only dream.”

  “So, babe, when can I see you?”

  She moaned again. “About that. One more issue. You can’t come here. The more people the screaming banshees see, the more people we put in danger. And I can’t leave because we need as many guards on them as possible.”

  “Well, fuck me. That just sucks.”

  “Right? I didn’t know this mission would extend to babysitting.”

  “Maybe we can figure something out.” I wasn’t hopeful though.

  “Yeah, call me if you work something out.” She didn’t sound very optimistic.

  “I miss you, Scottie Sullivan.”

  “You do? How much?”

  “Stop teasing me. You know I miss the hell out of you.”

  Her bubbling laughter rolled over me and ended at my dick. Damn, that woman was a sexpot. Even her laughter got to me.

  “Maybe we can figure something out.”

  “You’re the expert on covert operations. I’ll leave that up to you.”

  “Just leave your bedroom window unlocked.”

  “About that. Scottie, my bedroom window is over a canyon, so unless you can scale the side of the house, that’s a negative.”

  “Let me come up with something then. I’ll text you when I figure it out.”

  After we spoke, I headed to the shower. My dick wouldn’t allow me to sleep in this condition. If she didn’t come up with something, I would call Drex and demand her presence here. Nothing would suffice but that.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Scottie

  Raiden put a smile on my face, the first in days. Too bad everyone noticed. I was locked into this mission, but staying with Gem and Drex took a toll on me.

  Gemini tapped my shoulder. “I know who you’ve been talking to.” Her husky chuckle had me doing the same.

  “Yeah, and I’m not as lucky as you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’ve got to be joking.”

  Drex approached her and slapped her on the ass. “Don’t be obtuse. You know Scottie is in a difficult situation.”

  Gem pouted. “I was only teasing.”

  I bumped shoulders with her. “You can stop. It’s not fair, and that’s all I’m saying.”

  Drex’s expression switched from playful to serious. “All kidding aside, Huff has noticed an increase in chatter on the dark web.”

  My gaze was now directed at Huff, who sat at the counter on his computer. “Can you explain that?”

  Huff answered instead of Drex. “We know O’Brien ordered Raiden’s house to be destroyed. The preliminary reports from WI via the fire department say it was probably an RPG.”

  “Fuck. That would account for the explosion the neighbors heard.”

  Huff, who still tapped away on his keyboard, added, “Look at this.”

  The report he’d pulled up described grenade fragments but omitted explosive charges or trace elements of explosives you usually saw with bombs. “Damn. Do you think he knows?”

  “Not sure if he did when he ordered this attack, but he’s bound to by now,” Drex answered. “Raiden made an excellent call coming up here. It bought us a few days, at least. But there’s something else.”

  Drex was not a jovial person by nature. Brevity was not his strong suit, which was why Gemini suited him so well. She brought out that side of him. However, his eyes darkened when they pierced mine. Something was incredibly wrong, and I feared what he would tell me.

  “Spit it out. Not knowing is worse than how you’re making me feel right now.”

  “Huff?”

  “Scottie, your name came up on the dark web. I’m not sure how they picked up on you, but they did. There’s a contract out on you.” Huff motioned for me to check it out. I didn’t want to. I wanted to run and bury my head in the sand. Only I didn’t and checked out the screen. There were over a dozen pictures. In some, I was alone. In others, my bodyguards surrounded me. There were photos of me outside of my house, and some outside of Raiden’s. They had watched me for a while.

  My voice trembled when I asked, “Who put the contract out?”

  “It was O’Brien. I applied for it, but the reply was they had filled it,” Huff told me.

  “What am I supposed to do now?” I was a pathetic mess.

  Gemini grabbed my hand and squeezed it. “You’re going into hiding tonight. Disappear and don’t tell anyone. This is the hard part, Scottie. Not a word to anyone, even Raiden, because it could mean his life too. Destroy your communication with us on burners. We’re setting you up in a safe house with a new identity. You’ll cut your hair and bleach it blonde.”

  “I’m not sure if I can do that.” They didn’t know I was already in WITSEC.

  Drex crossed his arms and looked ready to take on an army. “Why the fuck not? One solid reason.”

  “I’m already in WITSEC.”

  The room became eerily quiet. Then Drex spoke first. “Care to repeat that?”

  “No. You heard me and I’m only telling you three because I trust you. I can’t lose who I am again. It’s a fucking nightmare.”

  Drex pointed to a chair and demanded I take a seat. We all did.

  “Explain,” he said, “and I will guarantee that what’s said here will stay here.”

  My long, painful story came out in pieces. It took a while because I shed a lot of tears. Losing your entire family, including your child, wasn’t something to skim over. “Now you know.”

  “You were a fed before you were a DEA agent?”

  “Yeah, and I was working the O’Brien case, which is why I have this v
ested interest in them.” I sucked in my tears, trying to appear stronger than I was. “It’s also why I was so on board with grabbing the brat. An eye for an eye and all that.”

  “‘The best revenge is not to be like your enemy,’” Drex said.

  “You can quote Marcus Aurelius all you want, but you still have your family. I don’t.”

  “She’s right, Drex. When a woman loses a child, nothing can replace it.” Gemini put her arms around me and hugged me. “I’m so sorry for your losses.”

  Drex threw his hands up as he leaned back in the chair. “Then what do you two propose? We have to keep you safe, Scottie.”

  Gem stood. “I have an idea and you won’t like it.”

  “What is it?”

  “We’ll go somewhere, using different identities, until this is over. You contact O’Brien, tell him if the contract on Scottie isn’t removed, his daughter and granddaughter die.”

  “Where will you go?”

  “No one can know, not even you. We’ll stay in touch through burners and I’ll get us fake IDs, passports, credit cards, etcetera, so we can travel. We’ll fly commercial so they won’t be able to track us because they won’t know our names.”

  His jaw twitched, but he agreed. “Fine. Get some photos with your new looks sent to WI so we can get that taken care of, along with the burners. And just so you know, I don’t like this one bit.”

  “You can’t always get what you want, Drex.”

  “So now you’re quoting The Rolling Stones?”

  “No, I’m telling the truth.”

  Gemini and I went to work on our looks. She cut my hair, adding layers, which was fine. It would grow back.

  “Hey, you’re awesome at this. I like it.” It was right above the shoulders, and if I didn’t dry it, my waves would give it some bounce and texture.

  “I used to do my own for years until Drex and I got together. I didn’t have the money for the salons, so I learned how to do it by trial and error. Now for mine.”

  “You’re not asking me to do it, are you?”

  “You any good?”

  “Hell, no,” I said, laughing. “Unless you want to look like a frightened squirrel.”

  “Um, no thanks.” I watched as she pulled her long locks up and out to the sides, cutting and cutting. Tons of hair fell to the floor, and I gasped.

  “Don’t worry, it’s cool.” She continued with snipping here and there, even cutting bangs.

  “Oh, I love that look on you! It changed everything.”

  She ran her fingers through her thick mane, shaking her head, and declared, “Finished. I like it too. But Drex will shit.”

  “So will Raiden. I wonder what I’d look like in bangs.”

  Grabbing a chunk of my hair and holding it up, she said, “Like this. But I think we need to change your part if you decide against them. It changes your looks even more.”

  “I’ll wait until after I bleach.”

  “Good idea. I’ll run and get the color. Oh, ask Drex to order contacts for us.”

  Wasn’t this a bitch? I had green lenses implanted in my gray eyes, and now I had to wear colored contacts to change my eye color again. “I’m going for blue. What color do you want?”

  “Anything that covers these dark eyes of mine. He’ll know what’s best.”

  Gemini left, and I sought Drex for the contacts. He said he’d handle it. “I’ll get you enough for two months. I hope you won’t be away that long.”

  “Hope not either. What do you think?”

  “Don’t ask.”

  “You hate it, don’t you?”

  “Scottie, hate is a strong word. Let’s just say I prefer long hair.”

  “Like most men.” I went back to the bathroom to clean up our mess.

  Gemini returned with a bag full of goodies. “What’s all that?”

  “Makeup to go with our new styles. Let’s get this going.”

  We soon had our heads covered in the smelly stuff and then were rinsing our way to new colors. I turned out to be a pleasant shade of blonde—not too platinum, but golden with some red tint in it. Gemini went brown with auburn highlights. It was great on her. Drex almost had a cow when he saw her.

  “What the fuck did you do to your hair?”

  “I changed it.”

  “Why did you cut it off?”

  “So I’d look different. Don’t worry, it’ll grow back. Besides, I like it.”

  “I don’t. I want my wife back.”

  “Lucky for you, she’s right here.” She stuck out her tongue at him. “And since when do you get to decide how I wear my hair?”

  His mouth clamped shut and Huff laughed. “Shut up, Huff,” he said before stomping away.

  Huff kept laughing. “I love to see you put him in his place.”

  “Me too,” Gem said.

  “What next?” I asked.

  “Names. Come on. Let’s figure this out.”

  Before we left the room, I asked, “Huff, has anyone fed the brat and the bitch today?”

  “Yeah, don’t worry about them. We have two guards down there and they communicate with us every fifteen minutes. That young one is a real piece of work.”

  “Tell me. I had to sit next to her on the helicopter. I wanted to push her out.”

  Gemini grabbed my hand and pulled me away. “We have work to do.” An hour later and we had new names and pictures to send to WI for our new IDs. I would be Emily Jenkins, and Gem was Lindsey Walsh.

  “From the time we leave this place, we call each other Emily and Lindsey. We have to memorize our new phone numbers and addresses, along with our birthdates and socials.”

  “I got it. So, where are we going?”

  “It’s a surprise, but you will love it.”

  “Lindsey, I love surprises. When can we leave?”

  “As soon as we pack and memorize our shit. Tomorrow or the day after.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Scottie

  The drive to the airport turned out to be a bit tricky. We didn’t want to be followed so we had to come up with something. Drex came up with the idea of wearing long coats with hoods and going to a nearby hotel. When we got inside, we would ditch the coats and come out as our new selves, hop in a taxi, and ride to the airport. That’s what we did. Only we took it one step further and went in two separate vehicles.

  Our flight took off, taking us to Denver, where we changed planes and left for Hawaii. Sun and fun for a few days. Then it was on to Tahiti.

  “Where did you come up with this?”

  Lindsey shrugged. “I always wanted to come here so I figured, why not now?”

  “I never thought I’d get to Tahiti. This is glorious.” And it was. We had a two-bedroom bungalow that was situated over the water. I’d like to say it was romantic, but being with Lindsey/Gemini was slightly disappointing.

  “We’re getting massages today in our bungalow.”

  “Ooh, I love the sound of that.”

  We ate and drank our umbrella drinks as we swam in the warm water. The great thing about where we stayed was we didn’t have to mingle with anyone.

  A few days later, we left Tahiti and went to Fiji, which was absolutely gorgeous too.

  Gemini stretched her long, tanned, body on the chaise and said, “If I lived here, I’d never get any work done.”

  “It totally makes you lazy.”

  On this island we decided to brave it and go deep sea fishing and snorkeling. After that, we became more adventurous and took one of those quick courses to get certified to scuba dive. It was fantastic and neither of us would stop talking about it.

  We stayed there a week and then went on to Vanuatu. It was stunning. We stayed at an eco-lodge and had our own beachfront cabin. We went diving, snorkeling, ate fresh seafood every day, and relaxed. By this point I was getting antsy. I knew Gemini/Lindsey spoke to Drex every day, but I’d purposely not asked. Today was different. We came in from the beach and after we both showered sat on the porch, sipping
a fruity beverage, I posed my question.

  “I’ve stayed away from this subject, but I’m ready for you to bring me up to date.”

  After a long sip from her drink, she said, “I wondered how long it would take for you to ask. O’Brien is making things difficult. He’s turned Drex in and they’ve had to move the two prisoners.”

  “What? How? He’s a wanted man.”

  “True, but he has plenty of accomplices working for him who were more than happy to oblige.”

  “How did Drex handle that?”

  Gemini pushed out a long sigh. “He moved them to another safe place and then told the law O’Brien had a fruitful imagination. Both houses were searched and when they came up with nothing, they believed Drex. That pissed O’Brien off even more, so he doubled the payout on your contract.”

  “That’s good to know,” I said sourly. “What about Raiden?”

  She flinched when I asked. That wasn’t good.

  “He’s… not taking this well. He keeps threatening to knock Drex’s lights out. Acer and Cruze have their hands full but he’s turned into a bull in a china shop. Nothing is calming him down.”

  “Maybe I should call him.”

  “Emily… you can’t. Not safe for either of you.”

  “Can Drex tell him, then?”

  “What if O’Brien grabs him? Then what?”

  “They’ll torture him.”

  “Emily, you know they’ll kill him either way, but that doesn’t mean both of you should die.”

  That was true enough, but the idea of Raiden at O’Brien’s hands was nauseating.

  “Jesus, this is such a mess. I figured as soon as he heard about the daughter, or what have you, he’d come out of his hole. I never thought it would take this long.”

  “He’s a crafty fox. It’s how he’s stayed alive this long.”

  “Lindsey, can we at least get a computer?”

  “Not a chance. Too risky. Listen, I want to go back too. But this is the best thing for us right now.”

  I pushed to my feet and disappeared inside. When I came back out, she asked where I was going.