by James, Ranay
“You still want to go through with it?” Robert asked one more time. “It is not too late to back out.” He waited for confirmation. He barely perceived the small nod of her brunette head.
“Yes, I’m prepared. I’ve handled the likes of him before.” And with ease, she mentally added. Mason might be a handful, but he was manageable.
“By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Mason, my man, you may kiss the Bride.” Robert thought the play on words was just a little clever. It was a joke only he caught.
He was not sure either one really realized he had the legal authority to perform civic ceremonies. However, he saw no other way. The documents had to be legal to get the passports and tickets. McKinnon-Bride was not the federal government with the ability to falsify documents. So, it was necessary for the marriage to be authentic. They just did not have to know that fact.
Mason covered the distance of the office in several long strides fully prepared to get to know this beauty that he was going to have the pleasure of calling his woman for the time being.
If there was one thing he knew it was women. If he grabbed her it could spook her or piss her off, neither boded well for a positive first encounter. So, he carefully reached out cupping her face. When she did not resist, he gently pulled her to him, kissing her softly yet deeply. He pulled her leg up high on his thigh opening her to his hips as he pressed her further into the door jam. Slowly exploring and savoring her lush mouth, he had to change his opinion. Her mouth was definitely her better asset. She had left him reeling and heady from that kiss, and he knew she had not been unmoved by his advances. Experience told him as much. This might be a great mission after all, he thought.
“Um, nice,” he whispered into her ear just before nipping it playfully.
He usually liked his women uncomplicated. Not necessarily dumb, but not deep either. As long as they looked good, he really did not care if they had brains. It had never been a prerequisite. This woman was obviously intelligent. Otherwise, Robert and Josh would never trust her to help retrieve Jesse. There was too much at risk. She was intelligent, amazingly lush, provocative, and sensual, a combination he actually liked. When he tossed in extremely sexy, it just sealed the deal.
It was only after he inhaled deeply catching a whiff of familiar perfume that he pulled slightly away and began to see the woman behind the makeup.
“YOU!” Mason stepped away, narrowing his eyes and drawing his lips across his teeth.
“Oh look, Robert. As man and wife, Mason and I are about to have our first fight.” Barbara Allen Bride, partner, wife, and Mason’s boss, answered back in that cool voice Mason had come to despise.
Chapter 4
Mason wheeled on Robert. “Oh, no you don’t, Robert. Is this some kind of sick, fucking joke?”
Robert snapped. It was time for Mason to grow up.
“Watch your mouth, there is a lady present. And no, this is not a joke, but a deadly serious situation. So, just get over it. Barbara is the best in this business at what she does otherwise I would not have her as a business partner.”
“Business partner? What the hell?” Mason was confused and thrown off by this piece of information.
“Mason, meet Barbara Allen Bride. She is your boss, deal with it. You signed a contract, Mason, but even if you hadn’t, you know the terrain and recon better than anyone. Moreover, it is not about you and how you might feel. Contrary to popular belief the world does NOT revolve around you. This is about Jesse and Josh and getting that kid home alive and in one piece.”
Robert was actually angry with him, something Mason had not seen since he was a kid. Well, since a kid, if you didn’t count the time that he was caught with the daughter of his commanding officer and Robert had to subsequently bail him out of trouble by calling in some pretty serious Washington favors.
Barbara laid a soft hand on his forearm. “Do you dislike me so much that you would be willing to let someone with less skill go in to extract Jesse?”
Her soft pleas pierced him. Damn her hide, he cursed internally. Why were women his weakness? Especially ones who looked like her? And how had she hidden her looks for all these years? She was beautiful. She truly was an ugly duckling who transformed into a gorgeous swan.
He took a deep breath. How did he really feel? He felt betrayed. He felt played. Robert would never take legal action against him even if he did walk on the job. He could walk away. He should walk away, he thought. However, like a ton of bricks, a stark realization weighed heavy on him. Of all the operatives within their organization, Robert and Barbara placed their trust in him to get the job done right, and this job was very personal. Jesse needed him.
“Give me credit, Barbie Doll,” he answered her. “I’m not willing to risk Jesse’s life just because we cannot seem to push this thing we have for each other aside. We are professionals. I’ll make it work, even if it kills me.”
Mason was feeling more than just a little betrayed. Why had they kept her involvement in the business such a secret? He had no idea Barbara had such a background. He always assumed that she was an office assistant-turned-sometime bodyguard after beginning her career here at McKinnon-Bride. Robert had kept this from him. Why? Not that it really mattered, he supposed, in the grand scheme of things. It was Robert’s business to run. However, it hurt that Robert did not trust him enough to share who he had sold his share in the company.
He quickly concluded he could deal with her. They would be in and out in seventy-two hours, tops. If he could put up with a toothache for a week in the Iraqi Desert while doing recon patrol in one hundred and thirty degree heat, he would put up with her for a few days.
At least she looked better than his partners did at the time.
Smells better, too, he added mentally.
Robert stood up from his desk. “Good. It is settled then. Here are your tickets, marriage license just in case you need it, and Barbara's updated passports."
"How did you manage to get this so quickly," Mason asked while looking at Barbara's passport sporting her, or should he say, his last name.
"Chase still has some very powerful friends. I'll leave it at that," Robert said keeping it as vague as possible. "Your flight leaves in less than two hours. I’ll check you in for your flight. So, get a move on."
Robert looked at Barbara. "Mason can brief you on the plans we have made while on the way to the airport.”
She nodded while signing her name to the marriage license. She had to remember to compliment their document preparer. These were some of the best forgeries she had ever seen.
“The limo is still downstairs waiting,” Barbara informed the men.
Robert turned back to Mason. “I took the liberty of packing your necessary items on the off chance you would agree to take the mission. They are in the limo.” Robert handed him an envelope containing a photo of the Del Torres brothers, maps, and satellite recon photos of the villa compound. “Sorry I don’t have more for you,” he said apologetically.
“It is a start and better than nothing. My gear?” Mason asked taking the packet from Robert and opening it.
“It will be waiting for you in Panama.”
“Do we have a contact on the inside,” Mason asked, already putting himself into mission-ready mode.
“According to Cullen, we have an agent inside Del Torres’s operation deep undercover. I cannot risk his position. Your contact, once in the country, will be a man by the name of Enrique Vasquez. His cover is working a guide for the resort.”
“One of ours?” Mason asked while looking at the photo of the agent and their contact. He would leave the photos behind. It was the safest thing to do. He did not want to risk them being found once they got to Panama. He passed them to Barbara to look over. It would be important for her to know both the faces of their enemies and their friends.
Robert shook his head. “No, but he will work with us.”
“By force or voluntary?” Mason understood sometimes compliance w
as gained by less than honorable measures.
“Carlos Del Torres killed his son’s wife and his three grandchildren.”
“I’d say pretty damn voluntary then.” Mason and Barbara both agreed.
Robert handed him another package, much smaller this time. “Your wedding rings,” he explained.
Mason handed Barbara her band just before slipping his on as well. It felt like a noose, and he had the urge to shake it off his finger. The added weight was constricting.
Robert noticed his reaction to the ring. “You will get accustomed to the feel of it soon enough,” he offered placing his hand on his shoulder. “I’ll make contact with you through Enrique once Josh and I have a chance to get some aerial reconnaissance photos and make the final plan of attack. It may be a few days. Until you hear from me, just enjoy yourselves. You are on your honeymoon.”
Teasing him, Robert smiled mischievously, gently squeezing and lightly rocking Mason’s shoulder.
Mason snorted.
“Mrs. McKinnon, after you.” Mason opened the office door to let her go out first. His mamma also taught him to let the lady go first. He saw no issue in following his mother’s directive as it always gave him an alternate view of the scenery. At least there will be some fringe benefits, he mused as he watched her hips softly swing as she walked in front of him to the private elevator. At least he would not have to have an ugly woman to claim as his wife. However, she was more than just pretty. She was alluring, provocative, and oozed sensuality. He could see where she would draw attention. Not necessarily a good thing in this instance. As to her clothes, well, he thought, she had better change in the limo into something less obvious. Upon closer inspection, he was not sure he wanted her out in public dressed quite so provocatively. There was only one type and kind of heterosexual male that he knew who would not want to have a taste of that luscious piece of dessert and that would be a dead man. He was not up to defending her honor, and he was sure there would be plenty of unwanted male attention. It actually disturbed him that a man could ogle her body. He remembered his initial reaction to her. He had wanted to strip her naked on the spot.
Um, Christ Almighty, he thought, mentally shaking his head. It would not be good if he had to kick some poor man’s ass for treating her inappropriately. He almost had. Better she change. He wondered if she had those ugly overalls handy. They were the perfect man repellent.
On a positive note, the current state of their relationship would put him into the position to pretty much do whatever he wanted. She would have no issues with him finding agreeable company. He definitely did not feel guilty about leaving her alone in the hotel room. There was no way that he was snuggling up to this ice queen. Frostbite hurts.
The doors opened and she stepped inside the elevator leading to the private section of the parking garage. He followed only a step behind. Reaching across her, he inserted the pass card allowing him to push the button for the basement level. Stony silence filled the carriage of the elevator as each floor dinged on the electronic panel.
“At some point we will have to get into character.” Barbara broke the heavy silence.
“I know.” He looked at her in the polished stainless steel of the elevator doors thinking the next hour getting to the airport was never going to be enough for him to get into this. The ring on his finger felt foreign.
“Here, this might help,” she offered as if reading his thoughts.
She hit him below the belt. He was looking at the photo of Jesse.
“Dirty pool. Sneaky little bitch.” It was not meant as an insult. It came out with admiration for a worthy opponent. “I’ll have to really watch you, won’t I, Barbie Doll?” His lopsided smile usually did the trick to disarm his female opponents.
It was a miscalculation, he quickly saw.
This was Barbara that he was dealing with and if he did not get that through his head it was going to be a very long week.
They stared at each other in the steel doors.
“Yes, you will have to watch me like a hawk, and never call me bitch again, teasing or otherwise. I may look like a pole dancer, but trust me, Mason, your exotic dancer friends don’t have shit on what I could do to you, in or out of bed.”
That got his attention as he whipped his head around.
She never looked in his direction stepping out of the elevator doors as they opened as if on cue.
Chapter 5
Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
Boarding Area - Terminal D
“For those of you in the boarding area, we will begin boarding Flight 235 to Panama City in ten minutes. Please have your tickets out and passports open for the ticketing agent.”
The announcement came over the intercom alerting them this was it.
“Game on,” Mason whispered under his breath, still trying to get into form. His best skill was recon, not undercover. This was going to be harder than he thought. After he briefed her, they had neither spoken much on the way to the airport nor much more going through security. Now, at the gate there was nothing to occupy them except each other.
He was never one to sit in an airport, so he leaned against a support column and used the vantage point to survey his surroundings. His training and bloodline had taught him to be hyper-observant and sensed that she was there even before she came into his peripheral line of vision.
Barbara looked up and leaned into him placing her hand on his pecks. “Baby, I’m really thirsty. Will you go get me a something from the coffee shop while we still have a little time?” She looked lovingly into his face, blue eyes pleading. “Please?”
“Back off, Barbie Doll,” he spoke the words softly, smiling while he did. He looked down at her hand on his chest, covering it with his own, then squeezed hard enough that it should have hurt. She never flinched, the smile never wavered. Then bringing those same fingers to his lips, he kissed them as if to say, “I’m sorry.”
She nodded in mute acceptance of that apology.
He was being a jerk. He knew it.
He did not want anyone to think that her request or physical contact pissed him off. It didn't, not really, and he went to go get her the drink as would any newly wedded husband would do, he supposed.
Getting a black coffee for himself, he brought her request back handing it to her and taking the seat beside her. He did not like it. It put his back to the crowd, but they were in a secured area. What possibly could happen? He could never seem to turn off the mercenary mode, even when he could. He figured it had kept him alive this long. So, why change?
“Thank you, baby.” She noticed he also threw in a piece of banana nut bread, a blue berry muffin, and a scone.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked.” He shrugged offering an explanation at her questioning look. “I’ll eat whatever you don’t. I’m not picky.”
“That’s an understatement,” she mumbled.
He heard, understanding the inference was not toward food.
“Just eat already, will ya. Seen and not heard, remember?” He gave her a small smile.
“Not on your life.” Low and direct, she let him know in no uncertain terms that she was not going to play the quiet, shy type. “Baby, you know I cannot eat nuts,” she said just a little louder than she needed to. “You remember what happened at your Uncle Ben’s birthday party last year.”
“Hives. Sorry, I forgot.” His reply was flat. He hated role playing and freely admitted that he did not need to give up his day job to become an actor. He had been approached by modeling agencies and producers alike. He knew that he had the looks, skill, and build for the next great Hollywood action hero, but he never could get the character down. For him real life was way better than some script.
Furthermore, he understood what she was doing. It was better to get into full character here where the chances of someone seeing them associated with Del Torres was slim to none. Once they boarded that plane, touched down in Panama, and passed through immigration, there was only one way to look at everyone, the
enemy. Once the passports were swiped and the information fed into the immigrations computer system, their presence in Panama would be undeniable.
The fact that they were going in the front door might be the only way to keep them alive. It was just too blatant not to look bona fide. Mason was on almost every third-world country’s watch list. So, passing through customs and immigrations in full-blown daylight was gutsy if he were on a mission. He hoped it would be so overt that the local authorities would not necessarily overlook him, but at least not stop them outright. If he could just get past the fact that his partner was Barbara they just might, in a few days time, board a flight back to Dallas sitting in first class and not in the cargo hull in cardboard caskets and body bags.
He really had no choice other than to get past it. He had chosen to take this mission, knowing full well what it entailed, or so he thought he understood what it entailed.
Reaching over and taking her hand, he squeezed her fingers for a different reason.
“I may not always like you, Barbara, but I promise to keep you alive. You deserve that much from me.”
“And that is a promise I fully intend to make you keep, Mason.” Her smile was genuine, and he saw the woman behind it. She was human.
Damn, he thought. She really was a woman after all and not some mechanical robot encased in frumpy coveralls.
But more than that, she was a woman who was unselfish enough to agree to go into a foreign country and risk getting killed just to save a child that she never met simply because it was the right thing to do. There was only one kind of woman he knew who would do that voluntarily. She was a warrior at heart.
Christ, what was Robert thinking? She should not even be here. She could die. He could have done this alone getting into the country on some other farce. Maybe it was not too late.
“You need to back out and let me do this, Barbara.” He had to try.
“No, Mason. We are doing this together or not at all.”
