Blade

by Harbin, Mandy

  “You two are flying into Little Rock this afternoon.”

  What the—Oh no. No, no, no.

  The look on her face must have been telling because Rick’s gaze narrowed. “You have a problem with Arkansas?”

  Yes. Well, not the state, just one particular inhabitant. The further she could stay away from Blade, the better. And now her boss wanted her to work a case near him? That was too much for her body to handle. She liked being a state away from Blade and his hold on her. But it wasn’t as if she could tell Rick any of this or even be vague about not liking Arkansas. This was her job. She swallowed, pushing down her panic along with the sudden lump in her throat. This would be fine. Blade didn’t live in the city. Hell, he didn’t even live in the same county. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. Who said she would even have to cross the river? It could be her new geographical boundary. “No, sir,” she answered automatically, hoping the moment between his question and her answer hadn’t dragged by as it had felt to her.

  “Good.” He looked down and opened a file. “I need you to meet up with the Bang Shift crew.”

  Fuuuuuuuck. Her eyes closed, her silent thanks from before morphing into a string of colorful curse words. This could not be happening! She wasn’t just going to be in the same state, or even the same town. Anna was going to have to work with Blade.

  Again.

  Shit. Triple fucking shit, shitty shit!

  “Fisher,” Rick said tersely.

  Looking up quickly, she said, “Sorry, sir.”

  “What’s your problem?”

  I boinked Blade while on assignment, and ran from him like an awkward chicken. Please, don’t make me face him. She didn’t think that response would fly, so she improvised. “Arkansas is miserable in the summer,” she said, hoping to make light of it. No matter what, she would try to maintain her professionalism while in front of her superior. She’d embrace her bad-assery FBI agent persona right now. Later, she could be all girly about this and drown her sorrows the best way she knew how. With her trusty friends Ben and Jerry.

  He flashed a half smile. “It does get humid there.” Then his face grew serious. “You could be there a while, so pack accordingly.”

  Great.

  “I thought we sent them assignments, not agents,” Darrell said, and she was relieved to have the group’s attention focused on him now. “Well, except for Gauge.”

  Anna had turned to Darrell, but at the mention of Gauge, she couldn’t help notice Viola stiffen. Word around the office was she and Gauge had a thing when they were at Quantico, but nothing had been confirmed by either. Anna figured it was why the lady across from her had never been the one to go to Arkansas when dealing with the Bang Shift…even if Viola was now happily married to another man.

  “Gauge is one of them. His allegiance is with those men.”

  “He’s still an agent,” Viola quickly said before adding, “And those men are still government contractors.”

  “They’re hired guns. Never forget they’d kill for the highest bidder,” Rick said.

  “I don’t think that’s a fair assessment, sir,” Anna said, taken aback by her boss’s words. “I’ve been down there several times and never got that vibe from them. Gruff? Sure. And tough as nails, but not gun-toting extremists.”

  “They’re mercenaries,” Darrell said with exasperation. “Colonel brought those guys together, and he was an evil bastard. They sure as hell ain’t a bunch of Boy Scouts.”

  “Just because Gauge’s life is the only one not a mystery to us, doesn’t mean he can’t be influenced by his family.”

  “His brother’s in the military,” Shelby said, frowning. “So is mine. We’ve both talked about their tours. Most people consider that a noble profession.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t know,” Rick said. “And not all family is blood.”

  Anna frowned, not liking how this conversation was going. Yes, Colonel had been the leader of the crew in Mayflower, Arkansas, until they’d learned he was in cahoots with the mob, a life-threatening reality for everyone, especially Brody and Xan. But the feds trusted them enough to work with them. They went to those guys for assignments. Maybe Rick’s attitude now was politically charged, like the budget cuts he’d discussed earlier. It wasn’t as if the work the Bang Shift crew did for the government was out of the goodness of their hearts. Maybe she should’ve paid more attention to that part of the meeting.

  Whatever the reason for his personal feelings on the working relationship, it didn’t change the fact that there was some new threat that necessitated her going back to the state she never wanted to set foot in again. Several possible scenarios flitted through her mind. Most obvious being that there could be a new threat of Brody’s old mafia connections showing up, guns blazing. But if it involved Brody—or Xan through Marco’s family—Jack Parsons’s RICO team would handle the case. Anna Sue had been on assignment in Arkansas when Jack needed extra eyes on Brody and his buddies because she’d already been familiar with the inner workings of the crime family’s financial and illegal activity. But Jack’s team spearheaded that. Unless the Bang Shift needed one of them to assist, as was the case with Hunter’s sister, or other cases involving national security took precedence, her team focused on the financial aspects of various crimes.

  “And that’s why the SEC wants us to have a closer look.”

  “The SEC?” Carson asked, leaning back.

  “Closer look at what?” Anna asked at the same time, gaze narrowing at Rick. She couldn’t explain why the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood. If the SEC was involved then it made sense why her team was being pulled in. But that just raised a bunch more questions as to how the Bang Shift came into play in all of this.

  “Not sure I like your attitude, Fisher.”

  She took a silent breath. “Those guys aren’t white-collar. I’m trying to understand what the SEC wants with them.”

  He focused on the other members of the team and answered, “They’re investigating an investment firm and want us to look into a new executive. Mason Showalter. I’m pulling intel on him, but as of right now, this isn’t one of our typical forensic accounting cases.” His gaze slid back to Anna. “Mr. Showalter has a connection to one of the Bang Shift crew members.”

  Who? Though the cold dread flowing through her answered that silent question.

  “Braxton Young, a.k.a. Blade, receives a call from him on the twenty-fifth of every month. I want to know why. We don’t know enough about that group of guys in Mayflower. I’m meeting with Jack Parsons…again…to talk about them. Frankly, I feel we need to determine if continued working relations with the Bang Shift and any FBI team is the way to go.”

  “But the federal government has been relying on them for years to handle contracts,” Viola said.

  “Even though we’ve learned Colonel made no bones about sealing records and obliterating their pasts and most family connections, we still continue to work with them. Put the lives of citizens in their hands. Two of those men had mafia connections to two different crime families. Now this? We should be able to identify the connection of Mason Showalter and Braxton Young with a few clicks on a keyboard. We can’t. Colonel had been methodical, so we really have no idea who these men are. Who the hell knows what else we’ll find. This is exactly why anytime someone tried hiring an external group to handle government business, I have always been against it.”

  Anna’s heart thudded in her chest, her emotions pinging all over as a memory came drifting back. One particularly long, boring night of surveillance, Blade had told her something about himself, and it had totally caught her off guard.

  “Blade was arrested once,” she heard herself say.

  Rick’s eyes narrowed. “When?”

  “I, um, I don’t know. He told me when we were watching Heather Anderson. Didn’t volunteer any details, though.” She’d later tried to look up specifics of his crime, but found nothing. She’d figured it was something minor. Maybe public intox with sh
ort probation and a guaranteed clean record at the end if he stayed out of trouble. Something small that wouldn’t leave a record. She’d dismissed the small confession almost as quickly as he’d made it. But maybe it was something bigger than the average misdemeanor. Colonel had definitely been meticulous enough to want everything on his men locked tight or completely erased from the system. Not that it would’ve been necessary if they were just mercenaries. That particular job didn’t require a clean record to take hits. But to work with the federal government? Now, that was a different story.

  “Well, now. The fact he felt free enough to confide in you makes you the perfect choice to go. Love it when my instincts are right.”

  Oh, the bad feeling she had grew stronger.

  “So what’s the cover?” Darrell asked. “Because we can’t tell the men she’s there to pry into Blade’s life.”

  Pry? Anna was gonna be sick. Her emotions were all over. On the one hand, they trusted those men and now she was being tasked with going behind their backs…one back in particular. On the other hand, she really had no idea what Blade had done in his past. Or what was he doing now. When it all came down to it, she didn’t really know him at all. Not that that changed how she felt about him. Or the fact that those guys had worked with the government for years, taking many of the shit jobs they either didn’t want to do or couldn’t because of red tape. They’d skirted the law for the sake of justice, and now they could be punished for the very thing the government paid them to do.

  This had disaster written all over it.

  “There’s a hunting lodge in Louisiana he goes to every year. Two years ago, he bought some shares in the business. A developer’s buying surrounding land. We’re going in under the guise of investigating the developer.”

  “Those guys know we primarily focus on the money, but if we tell them we’re working with the SEC, they’d have questions as to why that branch is involved,” Viola said.

  “Agreed,” Rick said. “Instead of telling them we’ve partnered with the SEC, we’ll say we’re working with the IRS. That agency gets everyone’s attention. Since Blade is linked to the business, it should make him want to help and be an easy in with him.” Rick looked at Anna. “Though it seems you already have one.”

  She kept her mouth shut and hoped her face didn’t give anything away.

  “And we just expect the Bang Shift to help investigate this bogus developer in hopes of finding the connection of Mason Showalter to Blade Young without offering a contract for their services?” Carson laughed without humor. “Guns for hire don’t work for free.”

  “Unless it’s personal,” Anna added, remembering the call about Flint Willis and the massive drug bust.

  “It wouldn’t have been personal if Mr. Knight had reported Mr. Willis as soon as he was propositioned.” Even though Anna knew Bear’s last night, it was weird hearing him called anything other than his nickname. “They screwed the pooch on that, too. We still haven’t been able to locate Flint Willis.”

  “We’ve seen some card activity out west,” Carson said. “We’ll find him.”

  “Good. Anyway, we’ll give the Bang Shift the you-scratch-my-back-I’ll-scratch-yours spiel.” Rick shrugged. “There are budget cuts, and they need us if they want to keep getting money.”

  “Assuming we don’t find reason to and stop contracting with them anyway,” Viola said. Anna could hear the discomfort in her voice and was glad she wasn’t the only one who seemed to have a problem with this assignment. And she wasn’t even thinking of the big, fat personal reason.

  “Nothing is ever guaranteed,” Rick said.

  “So Anna gets close to Blade for the SEC’s inquiry into Showalter. And Shelby’s role?” Darrell asked.

  Rick looked to Shelby. “I want you at the shop, watching, seeing if you can learn anything else about the other men. To them, you’re a peace offering sent to help with legal contracts and work at the shop since they’ll be a man short. You remember basic auto repair?”

  Shelby smiled. “Yes, sir. Grew up running around my daddy’s garage in Nebraska. When other little girls were playing with Barbie, I was learning how to rebuild a carburetor.”

  Carson chuckled. “Can’t see you as a grease monkey.”

  Shelby winked. “I’m really good at lubing a chassis.”

  Darrell growled. “Not funny.”

  Rick’s lip twitched, but that was the only sign of humor he showed. “Good. Fit in with the guys, and see what you can learn.” He’s gaze cut to Anna. “We need to learn everything we can about these men. Starting with Young. No matter what, you stick to him like glue. Find out about this Showalter man and report back. But, Fisher, solving that is just scratching the surface. By the end of this mission, I want you to know more about Braxton Young than he knows himself. Understood?”

  With confidence she didn’t feel, Anna gave him a quick nod. “Understood.”

  How could she get close to him without letting her defenses down? It would be a miracle if she could do her job without getting too emotionally close to Blade. She avoided him after their night together for a reason, but that didn’t mean she stopped thinking about him, hoping at her weaker moments that maybe he could be different, that there could be more with him.

  None of that mattered now. None of it.

  This assignment would forever shatter even the tiniest of dreams where she and Blade had a future. Because even if they considered picking up where they’d left off after that night of passion, she’d never be able to tell him why she was really coming back six months later.

  And if he ever learned the truth, Blade would never forgive her.

  Chapter Two

  “Glad you decided to join us today, brother,” Brody said, looking from under a ’64 Corvette’s hood as Blade walked into the Bang Shift Garage. It was where the guys of the crew worked as mechanics by day and mercenaries by night. The feds had dubbed their team the bang shift because they were the pseudo third shift working alongside the FBI, not that the feds were their only client, but where the feds were concerned, the group was an off the books team who took some government contracts when the powers that be wanted to avoid that troublesome red tape. The guys either spent their time banging gears or shooting—banging—their guns, so the moniker fit. Once Colonel was taken out, Bear became their fearless leader and renamed the garage to the team’s name. No one outside their group would get the true meaning, apart from the FBI agents they worked with, and there weren’t many. Blade considered them a necessary evil and usually avoided any interactions with them. Except for Gauge who was a permanent fixture of the crew.

  And Anna Sue who was a constant figure on his mind.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Blade grumbled as he passed Brody, but gave him a light shoulder check and a smirk as he walked by to get in his grease-stained jumper.

  “Damn, did ya bathe in Beam?” Brody said.

  “Jim and I are on a first name basis.”

  “Smells like he’s your bitch.”

  Blade suppressed a wince. He’d been hungover every day this week. A trend he started oh, about six months ago. Some days he hadn’t shown up quite this bad, but that just meant he’d been too tired the night before to get too shit faced. Brody was like a brother to him, and the man had said something to him about his drinking on more than one occasion. Usually, he pulled him aside away from judging eyes. The fact that his closest friend blurted it out right in the middle of the garage was proof that the whiskey Blade drank last night was trying to escape out of his pores.

  Blade wadded up his jumper. “I’ll take a quick shower.” Not that he figured it’d help, but it couldn’t hurt.

  “You got twenty minutes,” Bear called out. “Team meeting at eight.”

  Blade didn’t even look over his shoulder to see who all stood around. He knew everybody had already arrived at the shop by the vehicles in the parking lot, so it was possible every member of their team had been in earshot of the reprimand. He silently cussed as he made his
way to the bathroom off the shop. It wasn’t large, but working on cars got messy. The shower came in handy for when one of the guys needed to freshen up before heading somewhere.

  Or when one of them had more alcohol in their system than blood.

  After shucking his clothes, he showered, using the heavy degreaser, stripping all the natural oils, and hopefully stale booze, from his body. He washed three times. Once he finished, he dug out his bag of essentials stored in the cabinet and brushed his teeth the same number of times he washed his balls, gargled, and dressed. He sprayed some cologne on, too, just to be on the safe side, before snapping into his coveralls.

  When he walked out into the hall, he stumbled to a stop before running into Brody who leaned against the wall, arms crossed, watching as Blade exited.

  “Sorry I said that out there, man. Wasn’t cool to rag you like that.”

  He shifted his weight, unable to hide his uneasiness. “It’s all right. I mean, I need a swift kick in the ass.”

  “Yeah, you do.” Brody sighed. “But I should’ve pulled you outside rather than ream you in the bays.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Blade began to walk around him.

  Brody stuck his arm out to stop him. “I worry about you.”

  Blade’s gaze cut to his closest buddy. “I know.” What else could he say? He knew he was in complete self-destruct mode. But he couldn’t seem to find a good reason to get off this runaway train to Hell.

  “Why don’t you come over to dinner tonight? Xan put on a pot roast this morning.”

  “Sure, yeah, sounds good.” The thought of hanging around Brody’s domestic bliss had him craving another Beam and cola, though he wouldn’t dare admit that. Brody was happy for the first time in his life, and no matter how shitty Blade’s life was right now, he didn’t want to rain on the guy’s parade.