Jade (The Kings of Guardian Book 9)

by Kris Michaels

  "We take care of Mom's arrangements. I'll meet you at the hospital. Then I find the fuckers who did this, and I take them out." Nic spoke with the venom he felt coursing through his veins. He would find out who ordered this, who did the act, and all those in between. He'd take down the entire organization. They had no idea the wrath that would rain down on them.

  "Okay." Mario's voice echoed the determination in his. "Yeah. I'm heading there now. Nico, you got to promise me you'll find these fuckers. Find them and make them pay." Mario's voice faltered. Nic could hear the man's muffled sob. Tears filled his eyes, but he blinked them away. He'd grieve later. After he'd found the vengeance he craved. The line disconnected. Nic nodded and punched in Carmine's number.

  "What?"

  "Mom died. Pulmonary embolism. Call Mario. He needs you to take care of him."

  "Motherfucker!" Carmine's venom spewed across the airspace. "You better find out who did this."

  "Call Mario." Nic ended the call and looked around the room. The bathroom door was open, but Jade was nowhere to be seen. He looked out in the front room. His suit hung on the back of the door. He pulled the damn thing down. First things first. His mother's arrangements. Then he'd find and kill the bastards responsible.

  Five hours later, Nic stalked into the Guardian's New York offices. His head ached from suppressing the emotions he'd dealt with today. He arrived at the hospital first. A nurse walked him to the morgue in the basement of the facility. They allowed him to sit with his mom and say goodbye, but Nic had no idea how to do that. She'd been his only parent and his divining rod of right and wrong. He'd grown up with her at the center of his life, and now there was a huge gaping hole where she should still be. Larger than life, vibrant and filled with joy. Not the shell that was lying on the cold stainless steel table. When his brothers arrived, he let them lead as far as arrangements were concerned. They took over, and he stood back. Nic couldn't deal with the million small decisions about the funeral or his mom's last wishes. He steadfastly refused to face any of the emotions that were bottled up inside of him until he'd found the people responsible for her death. Nic glared at the slow ass elevator display as if by his will alone it would reach Stapleton's floor faster.

  Ross met him as the door opened. He directed Nic to a small office off to the side and closed the door. "I'm sorry for your loss, Nic. Driscol wasn't at the hospital when she passed, but he told me there was nothing anyone could have done."

  "Yeah, thanks. I get that. The staff at the hospital did everything they could for my mom. The people responsible for this are the bastards who blew up the courthouse." Nic moved to open the door, but Ross put his hand on Nic's arm, stilling him.

  "Jason called. He wants you to hold off on the case…" Ross stared him straight in the eyes as he said the words.

  "Excuse me?" Nic could not have heard that correctly.

  "He said he needed to ensure…"

  "Ensure what? That I'm not going to kill the bastards that did this?" Nic clenched his teeth. "You know what, never mind. I need a phone. Now." He ground out the words.

  "Okaaay… Let's just settle down, Nic. Jason and Jared should be here within the hour. There has been some movement on the device. Things are starting to shake loose. Listen, I can't get into the specifics yet because it is still highly speculative. My office is available to you until the big man arrives. He should be here anytime. They landed about thirty minutes ago."

  Nic stared up at the ceiling trying to control his anger. How dare they try to pull him off this case? It was a slap in the fucking face. Every single King had been on the response team when Jade was in danger. His mother's murderer, hell the murderer of over sixty people was on the loose. Fucking fate owed him the right to go after the bastard. He lowered his eyes and glared at Stapleton. "Get out of my way."

  "Nic, man. Please don't do this. I know you're hurting. I fucking get that this seems like bullshit, but Jason was explicit. You were not to get any information on the case until he arrived. He'd hoped to be here before you came back."

  "Where's Jade?" He hadn't seen or heard from her since this morning.

  "She's gone. Left this morning. She left a…"

  Nic lost it. The idea that she'd bail on him at a time like this threw gasoline on a raging forest fire. "Get… the… fuck… out… of… my… way." Nic was so enraged his body shook. Jade was gone. Gone! Whatever fucked up version of a double standard Jason was employing wasn't going to stop him. He had contacts in the city. If the bastards wouldn't give him the information he needed, he'd find it another way. Nic shoved Ross out of the way, slammed open the stairway door, and pounded down the steps, past the security checkpoint. Four blocks away from the office building, lost among the throngs of New Yorkers hell bent on getting from point 'A' to point 'B,' his cell vibrated. He stopped and swiped the face but didn't say a word.

  "Nic, man, what the fuck? Ross said you stormed out of here minutes before we arrived." Jared's voice came over the phone.

  "You can't be serious? Aren't you supposed to be my best friend? What a fucking joke. Your sister bailed on me too."

  "I am your friend. Wait, Jade did what?"

  "You know what? Fuck you, man." Nic's grip on the phone tightened.

  "What? Nic, this is not what you think. Jade is following a lead on the bomb maker. She left you a fucking note, which Ross tried to tell you about, but you wouldn't listen. Jason and I wanted to brief you on the case personally. Shit is moving hard and fast. We thought for sure we would be here before you arrived and asked Ross not to tell you anything so you wouldn't run off half-cocked. Like you just fucking did!"

  Nic kept the phone to his ear and looked up at the small patch of blue sky he could see. He drew a deep breath and blew it out. Jared was still on the line, he could hear voices in the background. Thankfully, he was letting Nic wrestle with his thoughts. "Give me an hour." He needed to find a quiet corner and process. He owed that to himself, to his co-workers and to his friends.

  "See you then, and Nic?" Jared's voice had returned to a normal volume, no longer shouting to get his attention.

  "Yeah?" Nic dropped his eyes to street level and found a small bistro. He headed toward the establishment and prayed for a quiet corner and a cup of coffee that he could nurse while he pulled himself together.

  "Things are moving fast. Take your hour and then get back here. We need you to be involved in what is going down."

  Nic nodded and disconnected the line. His head ached, his eyes burned, and he felt… so fucking empty. He pushed open the door to the small bistro and headed to the farthest unoccupied table. The waiter appeared, and he ordered a coffee. Nic folded his hands in front of him and drew a deep breath. He'd been running on emotions since Jared had called this morning. Grief, anger, and frustration fueled his short-tempered outburst while he was at Ross's office. Nic shook his head and closed his eyes. He was better than that. His mother deserved better than what he'd displayed. At the sound of his coffee cup being set down at the table, he opened his eyes. The waiter asked if he needed anything else. Yeah, he needed the day to have never happened. Nic shook his head, handed the man a hundred dollar bill, and told him to keep the change. He hoped the tip would keep the waiter happy and him isolated.

  Nic dropped his forehead into his hand and stared at the swirling steam as it lifted off the coffee. He'd lost his fucking mind. He was a cop and a damn good one. He knew how to handle stress. Hell, he'd lived inside a constant pressure cooker since taking the job at Guardian. Yet, he felt unanchored and adrift. He recalled the most recent conversation he'd had with his mom. She couldn't be gone. She was the steady, unshakable constant in his life. Nic huffed out a lungful of air. Yeah, she was a constant. A constant pest and a constant irritation. But she'd always given him her unconditional love, and he was lucky to have had her in his life. Man, was she ever involved in his life? The dai
ly phone calls and the repeated questions asking when she was going to be a grandma. Lord, the woman could nag a dead horse into walking ten miles. Nic shook his head. He was going to miss that nosey busybody. A single tear fell to the white paper that covered the small wooden table. Nic watched the wetness absorb into the parchment.

  His cell vibrated beside his coffee cup. He glanced at the face and then up at the window to the street. The evening had started to cast a cloak of darkness around the city. How long had he been sitting here? He got up and headed toward the door answering the phone as he strode out onto the busy street. "Hello?"

  "Are you okay?" Jade's voice pulled at him through the airwaves.

  "No." He couldn't come up with any other answer.

  "Where are you?"

  "Heading back to Ross's office. I needed time to…" What the fuck was it that he needed to do? Accept the fact that his mom was gone?

  "You needed some time to yourself. I get that. Have you been briefed on what's going on?" He heard several male voices in the background.

  "No, I left before Jason and Jared got there. Where are you?" He crossed the street with about a hundred other people and fought through the throng of homeward bound office workers going the other way. Getting anywhere when the office buildings let out for the evening reminded him of moving like a fish upstream.

  "What? Yeah, okay, I'll be right there." Jade's comment was barely audible. She was clearly not talking to him when she spoke. "Nic, I've got to go. Get Jared and Jason to bring you up to speed. You need to be in on this." Jade hung up before he could say another word.

  Nic crossed the street again and headed north. He could see the façade of the Guardian building and lengthened his stride.

  Nic headed to Ross's office as soon as he processed through security. He had an apology to give. He caught Ross leaving the conference room. "Ross, I need to apologize."

  "No, you don't, man. I can't imagine the shit you've been through today. We are solid. Get in there. The operation is building faster than we anticipated."

  Nic dropped his hand on the man's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. He didn't deserve to be let off the hook for losing his shit, but today, he'd take it. He opened the door to the conference room, and every eye spun towards him.

  Jared moved around the table and wrapped him in a bear hug. "I'm so sorry about your Mom. We got you. You're family. When you hurt, we all hurt." Nic let himself relax a bit.

  He pulled out of the embrace and sucked a deep breath. Breathing was hard today. It seemed like he needed to remind himself to do it more often than not. He nodded at Jared because the lump that formed in his throat at Jared's words eliminated the option of talking. He looked towards the screens and then to Jason who was on the phone.

  "What do you have?" He cleared his throat but didn't repeat the words. Thank God, Jared understood.

  "A metric shit-ton of information and our response. Some of this is going to be hard to take in, but operationally, it is fucking brilliant. Jason's strategy comes from so far out of left field that the Triad will never know what happened. Sit down over here. I'll get your tablet."

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jade headed into the crammed conference room. The FBI, NYPD and the Marshals had formed an impromptu taskforce, and she was the sole Guardian representative. The two minutes she grabbed to call Nic had been the only free time they'd had all day. That didn't mean she hadn't thought about him. God, her heart bled for the man. That phone call this morning tore the scar tissue off her own ancient wounds. She knew what Nic was going through. The fact that he didn't want her around when he was going through it? That hurt a bit more than she wanted to admit.

  Lieutenant Flowers from the NYPD Gangland Task Force spoke loudly, cutting through several side conversations that were going on. "Okay, we got word that the operation started by Guardian this morning has been given the official blessing. As of this minute, we are a federally recognized task force, and we have access to all of Guardian's nice new toys, the FBI's intel, and the Marshals' particular brand of crazy. Aren't we all just lucky mother fuckers?" The LT searched the room, and his eyes landed on her. "We have one of Guardian's finest with us today. The CEO of that organization indicated anything we needed we would have. It's about fucking time."

  Jade cocked her eyebrow at the big man at the head of the table. He dropped a folder onto the table and leaned back against the wall mounted chalkboard. Jade had observed the men in the room for most of the day. Each of them was sharp, a few were complete assholes, but they all seemed to know what the fuck they were doing. She'd kept to herself, taking in the information and theories the men were tossing around. No one asked for her input although several had tried to hit on her. The icy stare of death she'd perfected over the years backed those assholes up and shut them down. She answered direct questions and worked damn hard to put the puzzle pieces together. There was so much information, or rather, misinformation and supposition floating around the room, that she could gag on it.

  "Kelso shut that fucking door." Flowers nodded to the door at the side of the room. The man reached back and slammed the door shut with a resounding thud. "Every last one of you motherfuckers, take out your cell phones and turn them off."

  "Say what?" One of the FBI's agents popped off the question.

  "What I'm going to say is that important. Turn your fucking cell off or get the fuck out. My Task Force, my rules."

  Jade turned off her cell while she watched the Fibbies squirm. After an intense stare-down, they eventually turned off their phones. "Well now that we've measured each other's dicks, can we get started?" Lt Flowers drawled.

  Jade chuckled drawing all their eyes toward her. She lifted her hands and shook her head. "Y'all go ahead and whip them out anytime you want, but as for me, I want to know what the fuck is going on."

  "Guardian has contained the information of Judge DeMarco's death. They still have her listed as stable. In fifteen minutes, an ambulance and guarded motorcade will take a patient from the hospital where she was treated to a private facility. Guardian has cleared the facility, and only law enforcement remains as 'staff.' As I speak, a press release about Judge DeMarco's condition and location is going out to all the press agencies. The goal is to draw the Triad into a trap."

  "Yeah, that's nice, great thing Guardian has the resources, but there are so many holes in that plan, I need at least ten more fingers to plug the ones I see." That came from one of the Fibbies. Jade swung her head toward the man.

  "So let's hear your objections." Flowers leaned back again. The relaxed tone of his voice didn't make it to the tense way the man held himself.

  "We don't know the Triad actually tried to take out the judge. Anyone in that courthouse could have been the target." The man's ruddy red cheeks turned almost purple as he spoke.

  "She was the only one with an active death threat against her. The other cases, while felonies, were not RICO cases. The marshals that were in the courtroom indicated the bastard that was on trial made it a point to turn and look at the clock, turn back to Judge DeMarco, smile and then get under the fucking table seconds before the bomb blew."

  "Granted, but that doesn't mean they will go after her again. They got what they wanted. They will have a mistrial." That came from an NYPD detective that Jade had been watching all day. He was a big guy. He had long brown hair, a beard, wore a black t-shirt with a pack of cigarettes in the pocket, jeans, black lace up combat boots and had a black leather jacket slung over his chair. Sexy and dangerous.

  "We have an informant who told us the Triad was making a statement. The explosion, even if it took out the defendant, was intended to kill Judge DeMarco. The real message is that woman dying." Flowers flopped open the folder.

  "The informant suddenly showed up? That shit does not compute, LT. Why kill her? They could tie this up in the court system forever. They don't need t
o take her out." Sexy and dangerous leaned forward as he spoke.

  "The informant is Carrillo's partner." The LT shot the detective a look.

  The man leaned back and dropped his pen. "Jia confirmed the judge was the target?" The big guy's face went pale underneath his beard. His voice had an audible tremor.

  "She did."

  "When?"

  "This morning."

  "She's still alive." The bulky, bearded man dropped his eyes. Jade's mind made the leap. This Jia person was undercover, and there was a history. An unwanted thought floated through her mind. What would it have been like to have someone special waiting for her while she was undercover?

  She studied the detective again before one of the marshals she'd worked with on and off during Nic's mom's case spoke, "You know, Judge DeMarco stared that Triad scum in the face and told him she wasn't afraid of him or his minions. That was right before she started jury selection. It was only the lawyers and the defendant present with us. She point-blank told him that he was no different from any other man and he was not above the law. She dared him to prove her wrong." He turned his attention to Jade who blinked in surprise. They hadn't told her about Judge DeMarco taunting the asshole on trial. "It wasn't anything unusual for her. She was hell-fire and brimstone on that bench, and she wasn't going to be intimidated. I've worked in the court system for years. Judge DeMarco was the target. Guaranteed."

  Jade cleared her throat, and all eyes swiveled her way. "Enough on the background. We understand your intel is credible. Why are we going on with the charade, and who is sitting on the two other DeMarco brothers? Mario won't be a problem, but the other, Carmine? Fuck, he'll blow this case out of the water."

  "Why are you only concerned about two of the brothers? There are three." That came from the Fibbie again.

  "Yeah, asshole, the third is our Chief Operations Officer for Domestic Operations. Guardian's Chief Executive Officer is briefing him on this operation right now. Nic DeMarco is tight, believe me, it is the brothers you need to babysit."