Armed And Dangerous (The McKinnon Legends - The McKinnon American Men Book 2) Page 2

  Emilio really did love Jacqueline. His love for her managed to get her killed too. He figured it was Vozarosa who put a bullet between her eyes for her infidelity and in no small probability feared she had shared secrets of Vozarosa's operation with the enemy as pillow talk. It also sent a strong message.

  Expecting a meeting with Vozarosa to discuss a possible cartel and alliance, Emilio instead found Jacqueline, dumped on the sands near his private villa. Vozarosa’s message was clear: He and his whore could go straight to hell.

  Diego had returned from disposing Jacqueline’s body and asked the question that Del Torres had been pondering inwardly.

  “What do we do now? Vozarosa obviously doesn’t care about the girl.” Diego got straight to the point.

  Emilio had to try, he supposed. He shrugged mentally.

  “Jesse is not due back to her father for another six days so that buys us time. I have long suspected there is a mole in my operation. I will use the kid to flush him out. The McKinnon family is closely aligned with the DEA and other American federal agencies. If the mole is here, he will make every effort to secure the girl’s safety.”

  “And if there is a mole and he doesn’t make that attempt. What then?”

  Diego was not comfortable with them having taken the girl in the first place. His vote was for putting her onto the first flight out. With their connections in the National Police, they could get her out and keep the questions to a minimum and prevent fingers from pointing back to them. The longer they kept her, the more likely there would be hell to pay.

  Emilio lit up a fine Cuban cigar, inhaled deeply, and slowly blew the smoke out in a leisurely breath before answering. “I have no intention of harming the girl. She is just an innocent child. However, no one has to know it is not my plan to kill her.”

  Diego breathed a full sigh of relief. Keeping her was asking for enough trouble. Killing her was nothing short of suicide. He was fully aware of the havoc the McKinnon family could and would wreak should this little girl be harmed. She was going to be messed up since she saw her mother shot and killed in front of her.

  However, Del Torres needed reinforcements to hedge his bets against the federals and the McKinnon family. His brother was just the help he needed. Just a couple of small problems separated the two brothers -- a holding cell and several National Police who were not currently on his payroll. Both he could rectify.

  His older brother, Carlos, got sloppy on his last operation, using an unseasoned team to execute their plan. That sloppiness, coupled with the information the mole undoubtedly supplied to the authorities, had landed Carlos in custody. And that was not all the issues he had. Emilio did not wish to dwell on the millions of dollars in lost product. It set him back months in his operations in Texas and the American Southwest. Carlos was now in jail awaiting extradition to the United States for federal charges of gun running and murder. Emilio needed to break him out and soon.

  He was not called The King for nothing.

  He called in a few favors, uttered a few threats, and passed out a small fortune.

  Less than six hours later Carlos, also know as The Carver, was knocking at his door.

  Chapter 2

  Dallas, Texas

  13 hours later

  Mason McKinnon reached for the polished brass knob of the sleek, mahogany suite door.

  McKinnon-Bride Personal Security Services was clearly engraved in bold blocked letters on the brass plate just to the right-hand side of the door. It unmistakably notified visitors of the intention of their appointment.

  McKinnon-Bride owned this building along with several others in downtown Dallas and surrounding cities. The elegant suite that his brother, Robert, had recently renovated was positioned on the top floor. In Mason’s opinion, psychologically speaking, it was a brilliant move, giving weight to any potential client’s purpose for being here. The wealthy celebrity types and political figures paid handsomely for the services offered by McKinnon-Bride, thus sending their stock skyrocketing and enhancing their reputation. They took the job seriously and as a result they were at the top of the game.

  It showed, Mason conceded.

  McKinnon-Bride Personal Security was doing very well, and he was reaping the benefits from several directions. Having sold his portion of the agency several years back to a silent partner, he now worked only on a contract basis simply because he was bored, not because he needed the money.

  After leaving Marine Force Recon, his time had been spent working the most challenging cases that came their direction. It kept him active physically and kept him from getting into trouble on several fronts from the boredom that inactivity inevitably brings to a man such as himself. Becoming comfortable financially in the process from this operation was just a very pleasant byproduct. He worked when he wanted and played when he didn’t, which was often. For the most part, it was a good life in his estimation.

  Mason had been in Las Vegas the last three days attending a high-stakes charity poker game when Robert called earlier that morning stating there was an emergency and they needed to meet. He gave up his seat and forfeited his buy-in, a cool quarter-million. He reasoned he would not miss the money, and he was not really interested in participating in the first place. He tossed his name into the ring only as a favor to a Marine Corp buddy whose wife was the charity event coordinator. That being the case, Mason had no heartburn at walking away and flying back to Dallas. He stopped at his apartment just long enough to change and stall for a little time. He just hoped it was late enough in the day for Barbara, Robert’s office assistant, to already be gone for the afternoon.

  It had been over six months since he had seen her and if he saw her today it would still be too soon. She was one of the few women in this world he truly felt was unapproachable, unreadable, and not worth the effort after five years of half-heartedly trying to figure her out.

  As he turned the knob, he admitted inwardly she rubbed him the wrong way with just a single look of those bug eyes of hers. It was an opinion he had never vocalized for the sole reason Robert and the others would unman him for it. He never really understood how she had garnered such devotion from all the other operatives.

  Just on the other side of that same door Barbara was thinking how she was going to be late for her appointment. It had taken calling in several favors and the promise of a hefty tip to get into see Samuel Lexington on such short notice.

  Lexington was supposed to be a miracle worker and worth every penny for his work. However, she knew she had to secure the files. Leaving sensitive documents out was a rookie mistake, one she was not about to make it. Security was their business, and confidentiality was a huge part of that business.

  The door opened and she felt the old familiar feelings as she recognized who had just waltzed through the door.

  “Oh, it’s you,” she sighed dryly. “My day just got brighter,” Barbara said while filing away the last of the morning paperwork. She pushed her glasses back up to the top of the bridge of her nose as Mason walked into the office. “Robert is not here, and you do not have a meeting with him today. So, you need to go crawl back into whatever dark and dank hole you came from and call to make an appointment like everyone else manages to do.”

  She had not seen or heard from Mason in over six months, and out of the blue, here he was waltzing in like he had just stepped in from lunch. He always seemed to catch her off guard. He was like an intermittent dream or nightmare depending on which way she chose to look at it.

  “I don’t need an appointment to see my brother, Barbara. I’m special,” he purred, grinned, and winked.

  He was special. Barbara's instincts were usually right, and buried somewhere deep was a very special man. There was more to him than most would ever see. She was not so sure that was not completely by design to keep his inner-self hidden from all who might accidentally see.

  “Just because you are Robert’s brother does not make you anything special.” She thought perhaps that was not quite the truth
, but he was already conceited enough, and she was not about to add to that huge head of his which would barely fit through the door as it was.

  Placing his jet black motorcycle helmet on the corner of her desk, he took off his sunglasses. Slipping them on top of his head, he made himself comfortable in the waiting area. Flopping down in the soft leather chair facing her desk, he laced his fingers across his stomach and then propped his booted feet up on the expensive coffee table just to annoy her.

  “Oh, but even if I don’t need an appointment, I do have one, my ugly duckling. Be my guest. Feel free to go check his schedule,” he purred.

  This voice, he reasoned, usually softened the most frozen of females who were attempting to play hard to get. He speculated even the Ice Queen had to have some thawing point. He, personally, had just never found it.

  She looked doubtfully at him noticing his eyes were a deep shade of Caribbean blue reflected from the dark turquoise t-shirt he was wearing.

  It was typical Mason, she thought, looking at the tee stretched across the tight muscles on his chest and sporting the slogan: Ride hard and leave them wet. It was a jet ski advertisement. However, she had no doubt hard and wet was exactly how Mason lived his life.

  “And you are a sorry liar, Mason. You do not have an appointment, and I cannot believe you and Robert came from the same gene pool,” she commented while eyeing his feet.

  Chase McKinnon she would definitely believe was Mason’s fellow litter mate, but Robert, no. It was hard to believe the two were even related. Robert was the epitome of refinement and manners. Mason was just Mason.

  “I know for a fact you were not raised in a barn, Mason. So, get your feet off the furniture,” she shamed him.

  He knew she was correct. It was disrespectful to put feet on another person’s property. His mom use to say to them, “Always treat a lady as a lady should be treated, don’t wear a hat indoors, and never, ever put your feet up on the furniture. I’m not raising barnyard animals in my house.”

  However, through the years Barbara had, on more than one occasion, accused him of being a pig or a hound and always full of bull. In some ways she was right, he thought, not ever bothering to deny it.

  However, to Barbara’s point, Betty McKinnon had drilled proper conduct into Robert, Chase, and him as kids. His sister, Eve, had never been a problem, always the epitome of manners and feminine behavior. Not so with Barbara. There was not a damn thing feminine about her, he thought.

  Still, she hit a nerve.

  “Happy now?” he shot back as he complied with her request to remove his feet.

  “Am I happy?” Barbara asked looking pensively off in the distance. Even if he had asked not really wishing an answer, strangely enough, it was a question she had been asking herself lately.

  He left her alone with her thoughts for a moment briefly wondering what was going on behind those eyes. He noticed the moment she came back to herself. If her look had not given her away, he reasoned, her comments surely did the trick.

  “I did not know you cared about my feelings, Mason, but as you have asked so nicely, I would be most happy if you left.”

  “Not a chance, Barbie Doll,” he popped back.

  She sighed, exasperated with him. She needed to get him out. “If you had an appointment with Robert, I would know,” she said while gathering up her keys, hoping he would get the hint as she began to lock up the office.

  “He does not have to tell you everything, Barbara. Have you considered that possibility?”

  It was a rhetorical question on his part. She thought not.

  “It’s always in Robert’s best interest to tell me who he is expecting. So not only would I have known about your little visit here today, but I would have...”

  “Would have what, Barbara?” He interrupted her. “Made sure there were plenty no trespassing signs posted prior to my arrival?”

  “Hum, wish I had thought of that,” she sparred gently with him, actually smiling.

  She was not as bent out of shape with him at this point as she usually would have been. Perhaps, she was mellowing out in her old age?

  Why he was on the defensive with her today was his question. He really had no reason. She was being much more agreeable than usual.

  “Why do you wish you had thought of that, Barbara? So you could have had building security throw me out on my arrogant ass the moment I darkened the threshold?” he gently sparred with her continuing to poke the proverbial bear. It was all in good fun.

  “Yeah, something like that.” She still was on even footing. She marveled. Maybe the advice of her doctor to give up caffeine was working. Under normal circumstances, by this point, she would already be resisting the urge to toss him out, not because she needed to, as was the case today, but because it would have been an uncontrollable desire to see the back of his head going down the hallway.

  “I belong here, Barbara. I have way more right to be here than you.”

  Why he continued to spar with her was always a mystery to him. It was as if some evil force would not let him ignore her. Today, she was actually not nearly as much fun. She was not taking the bait and was not a harpy, leaving him with little ammunition and absolutely no cause to continue to barb her.

  “You need to leave now,” Barbara said, closing the file drawer for emphasis. He had just hit an open nerve with her. She did have a right to be here. “And one of these days you will have to accept I’m not going anywhere, but you are.” She really needed to get him out and soon. She was running out of time in more ways than just one.

  “No, I’m not going anywhere. I have an appointment, and as much as you may annoy me, I’ll wait.” He picked up a magazine and began to read.

  “Must you, Mason?” Barbara said with a dramatic sigh and then looked at the reading material in his hands. “Forbes?” she asked genuinely surprised at his selection. “I would have taken you for a Shark Diver or Guns and Ammo kind of guy.”

  It was the first genuine thing to come out of her mouth, and somehow it stung that she could think he was nothing more than muscle. Few knew he had a double masters degree in mechanical engineering and physics both acquired before the age of twenty-two. Of course, he hadn’t done squat with either of those two degrees, but that was beside the point. He had brains where and when it counted. He chose to expend that brainpower when and where it was necessary. Anything else was simply, in his mind, a waste of a good time.

  “Playboy and Marvel Comics really are more my speed,” he quipped, covering the unfamiliar feeling of caring what a woman, especially this woman, thought of him on some deeper level. “I’m just trying to impress you with my brains as my brawn has seemed to have fallen short over the years.” He grinned playfully at her.

  Rolling her eyes Barbara was not sure how to take that comment.

  “All right, Mason, enough of the banter.” She had to try one more time. “It is time for you to leave. You are in my way, and let’s not mention taking up valuable airspace. I have work to do and you are chipping away at my lunch hour. Once Robert gets back it will be nose to the grindstone again.” She took his hand and tried to pull him up off the chair to no avail. He jerked his arm back forcing her to end up in his lap.

  He laughed triumphantly at her expression of shock and surprise. “Now, little girl, tell Santa what you want for Christmas.” The look he gave her was smoldering.

  He had not been this close to Barbara since..., well never, actually come to think of it. Her perfume wafted over him. She may not look like much, he thought, but she sure smelled good.

  “Oh, go to hell.” She scrambled out of his reach.

  He laughed, earning him a look he fully recognized. Now, he thought, this was the Barbara with whom he loved to battle

  She needed to get him out. At any minute, Robert was expecting Liam Williamson and John Hurling, two of their top operatives. She was not sure Robert wanted Mason to know about their next mission. This one was going to be very personal for McKinnon-Bride Personal
Security. This involved family.

  Robert was very private about their business dealings, sharing with his baby brother only on a need-to-know basis. This was not one of those need-to-know times, at least not as far as she could see.

  “Mason, you need to get out before I call building security.” She was serious. “If Robert gets back and I’m not already gone, then I will not make my own appointment.”

  “Then go. No one is stopping you, least of all me.” He did not look at her as he looked absently at the magazine. It was an off-handed insult designed to dig at her.

  “I will not leave you here alone. You would probably end up with five hookers and a keg in here before it was all said and done and convince Robert it was all my idea.”

  He could see she was serious. He put the magazine down. Cocking his head, he slowly stood up. His 6’5” frame was imposing as he towered over her. She was not one bit impressed. She had been around enough McKinnon men to know for all his blustering he would not lay a finger on a single hair of her head no matter how much she bent him backward. However, if he did manage to lose his mind and touch her, it did not matter. She could take care of herself. She always had, and his tactics just hacked her off, plain and simple.

  “Back off, Mason,” she asked nicely, giving him one warning shot over the proverbial bow.

  “You know something, Barbara, if you worked for me and not my brother, I would fire your smart mouth before you could say ‘unemployment line’. And if you hate working for Robert so much, why don’t you save him the trouble of firing you and quit?”

  He was so close she could smell the leather of his black riding jacket mixed with the very subtle scent of his cologne. She loved the smell of leather. She loved the smell of him, too. It was pure sex and male. Involuntarily, she inhaled deeper, slowly letting the breath out. It was soothing which totally surprised her.

  He was trying to use intrusion into her personal space to back her down. It was just so not working. She took a step closer forcing him to take a step back or their bodies would actually touch.