Never Surrender: A MacKenzie Family Novella (The MacKenzie Family)

by Kaylea Cross

  “But I want to hear—”

  Without looking up from the map, Ruby tutted and pointed a finger in the direction of the bar. “Go.”

  Candace shut her mouth, gave him a long-suffering look and muttered something under her breath as she got up and left the table. Ryan blinked in astonishment. “Wow, that was impressive. Is that all I have to do to get her to do what I want? Give her a command and point my finger?”

  The shiny tines of a fork appeared an inch in front of his nose. He yanked his head back and jerked his gaze up to hers, startled. What the hell?

  Those shrewd green eyes narrowed on him in warning. “You even think about speaking to my granddaughter like that, I’ll stab you in the heart with this thing.”

  Maya chuckled darkly across the table. “You tell him, Ruby.”

  Ruby gave a decisive nod and aimed the fork at the other guys, one by one. “Same goes for the rest of you boys. I don’t ever want to hear you’ve been disrespecting these women.”

  Cam held up his hands in self-defense, dark blond eyebrows hiked up. “No, ma’am.”

  Ryan scowled at her. Cam was too damn polite. “I was kidding.”

  “Just making sure.” Ruby lowered the fork and went back to the map. “Now. About this site you saw.”

  Wade slid into Candace’s vacant seat and took off his Stetson, staring at the woman who’d just threatened to do him bodily harm with a damn fork. “What kind of bunker?”

  “Secret, underground type,” she said with a knowing smile that told Ryan she was enjoying herself and the attention way too much. “A system of them.”

  “What were they for?” Ryan pressed. There was something to this. Ruby might be a crazy old lady sometimes, but she was also sly as a damn fox.

  Ruby paused and glanced around them, as if to make sure that no one else was listening in. She had everyone at the table on the edge of their seat, including him as she focused on Wade. “You’re with the CIA, right?”

  Surprise flickered in his dark eyes for a moment before he masked it and put on a blank expression. It was damn eerie to see, but explained why Wade had managed to infiltrate the infamous—and now dead, by Wade’s hand—terrorist Rahim’s network and serve as his second-in-command for years without detection. “I’ve worked with them from time to time in the past,” he said, his tone guarded.

  She snorted. “Still do, from what I hear.”

  He frowned, his gaze sharpening. “Where’d you hear that?”

  She flapped a hand dismissively. “Around. I know people. You don’t get to be my age without making important connections, young man.”

  Wade’s gaze cut to him, and Ryan gave a slight shrug. Her son was a senator, so who the hell knew what kind of connections she had in the government?

  Candace arrived back at the table and thrust a tumbler at her grandma. “Your drinky-poo. And by the way, when I asked the bartender, he told me this is already your third of the afternoon.” She sidled up to Ryan and slipped her arms around his chest from behind. He reached up to rub her hand, enjoying her easy affection and the fact that she wasn’t mad at him anymore.

  Ruby took it with an innocent smile. “Thanks. So,” she said, totally ignoring Candace’s comment as she turned back to Wade, “tell me. Ever heard of Project Sentinel?”

  Wade’s face went dead still. “Yeah,” he said slowly, searching her face as if he was either looking for something, or unable to believe what he was hearing.

  Ryan couldn’t stand it. “What’s Project Sentinel?” It sounded really cool.

  Ruby smiled and tipped her head at Wade. “Ask him. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go have a smoke.” She picked up her drink, rose from the table, and sauntered away with a swish of her hips, sipping on her rye.

  Everyone looked at Wade, who chuckled and shook his head. “Talk about a mic drop.”

  “Grandma’s favorite kind of exit,” Ace said, then smacked Wade gently on the shoulder. “Come on. What the hell was she talking about, bunkers?”

  His dark eyes danced with humor. “It’s not classified anymore, but even if I told you, you’d never believe it.”

  “Try me. The drama is strong in our family.”

  Wade took a sip of his beer and lowered the bottle back to the table. “The CIA was growing more and more suspicious about the Soviets toward the end of WWII, so they decided to take precautions and set up an intel network across the country. It included a system of underground bunkers in remote areas that served as bomb shelters, storage facilities, and think tanks.”

  Candace’s dark brown eyes widened. “My grandmother was part of a secret CIA program?”

  “Must have been, because there’s no other explanation for how she knew the program name and the bunker’s location.” Wade picked up his beer again, a low laugh rumbling out of him. “Your grandma’s the shit.”

  Well, hell. Ryan tugged his wife into his lap and grinned so wide his cheeks hurt. Apparently Ruby had been holding out on them all this time.

  Chapter Seven

  “I can’t believe your grandma was a WWII spy!”

  Candace rolled her eyes at Ryan as they stepped into the elevator, hand in hand, having just left dinner a few minutes ago. He sounded so excited and impressed, but she was stressed about the possibility of Ryan and the others having stumbled across something dangerous, and because she desperately needed to finish their conversation from yesterday morning.

  She wanted it over and done with, so she could fully enjoy the rest of their stay here. “So what, now you’re her number one fan or something?”

  “I told you, she’s growing on me. And come on, how freaking amazing is that?” He chuckled to himself as he hit the button for the fourth floor.

  “I’m sure she wasn’t an actual spy. You know how she likes to tell stories, and even the real ones are embellished. Maybe she had one too many drinky-poos and decided to use a little poetic license with this one to give it more…flair.” Or something.

  “Nah, she’s the real deal. It’s so awesome,” he muttered under his breath, then grinned.

  It wasn’t awesome, it was bizarre and Candace couldn’t picture it. She was definitely calling her dad in the morning to get answers.

  Just as they entered their suite, her phone rang. She dug it out of her purse and sighed when she saw Grandma’s number on the display. “Dare I?” she asked Ryan.

  “Hell, yes,” he said, all excited as he reached for it. “Let me answer it.”

  Shooting him an annoyed frown, she angled her upper body away to block him and answered. “Hi.”

  “Hope I didn’t interrupt anything?”

  “Unfortunately no.” Although she would have been if she’d called a minute later. “What’s up?”

  “Bring everybody back downstairs. I’ve called a meeting.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “Now? What for? It’s midnight.”

  “Oh, you’ll have lots of time to enjoy your young stud of a husband after. Come down and meet us in the study right away. It’s important.” The line went dead.

  Exasperated, Candace growled and began punching in a text, beginning with the word Sorry. “Come on, we gotta go back downstairs. Grandma’s apparently called us all to a meeting.”

  Ryan paused in the act of unbuttoning his shirt, his expression lighting up. “A secret meeting?”

  “Who the hell knows?” She was definitely calling her dad to find out what was going on. Her grandma was a character, but sometimes Candace worried she was losing it. A little damage control or medical intervention might be in order here.

  Ryan practically tore past her out into the hall, a giant grin on his face. “I can’t wait to see what she’s got up her sleeve.”

  Shaking her head, Candace finished typing out the message, then sent it to the others and followed Ryan back to the elevator. After receiving several WTF responses from the others, she replied that no, this wasn’t a joke, and yes, there was in fact an actual meeting. She hoped.

  On their
way to the elevator a door opened behind them. Candace looked back to find Maya and Jackson hurrying after them. Maya was tying the sash on her robe tighter, her hair was mussed, and her lipstick was gone. Her blue-green eyes shot sparks at Candace as she strode toward them.

  “This better be damn important, Ace.” Jackson was right behind her, the laid-back Texan looking uncharacteristically annoyed. Yep, her text had definitely interrupted some sexy times.

  “Yeah,” she agreed, badly wanting some alone time with Ryan. After their talk yesterday she was anxious to hash out the rest of what she wanted to say, as well as talk about the timing of having a family, and she also craved the intimate connection that came only from having him inside her. She wanted all of that tonight, so she hoped this meeting didn’t last long. “It better.”

  By the time they reached the study, located off the lobby in the main building, the others were there waiting. Everyone was gathered around the rectangular table, along with a well-built, dark-haired man Candace didn’t recognize. A scar ran along the side of his face and jaw, and his intense gray gaze and bearing told her immediately he had some kind of military or law enforcement training.

  “Grandma,” she said by way of greeting. “Okay, we’re all here.” And nobody’s too thrilled with you right now. “What’s this all about?”

  Grandma stood and took her by the arm. “This is my granddaughter, Candace. The gunship pilot I told you about,” she told the stranger proudly. “Candace, this is Declan MacKenzie.”

  She recognized the name. “Hello,” she said, shaking hands with him. Everyone around these parts knew who the MacKenzies were. “MacKenzie, as in co-owner of this resort?”

  The man’s eyes warmed a fraction as he smiled. “Well, not just me. Mostly I run the family security company here out of Surrender with my brother, Shane.”

  “I understand you two know each other,” Grandma said to Wade. “Being that you used to work for the same…organization.”

  So MacKenzie was a former spook? It made sense that he and Wade would have crossed paths, if he had in fact been with the CIA.

  Wade inclined his head. “We know of each other. Good to meet you finally, MacKenzie.”

  “Likewise. That was great work on the Rahim case. One for the books.”

  “Yeah, it was memorable.” Wade held out his hand.

  The details of the Rahim case were classified, but the story had been splashed all over the news for weeks after the dirty bomb attack outside of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Erin had been directly caught up in it. Thankfully she had suffered only a broken arm and some mild radiation exposure, but Candace and their entire group knew all about what had happened.

  Ryan wound an arm around her waist and she leaned into him, savoring the feel of his solid, muscular body against hers.

  Wade shook hands with MacKenzie, then the man smiled at Erin. “And this must be your beautiful bride-to-be I’ve heard so much about.”

  She shook his hand. “I’m Erin. I’m a Montanan too, grew up outside of Billings. I recognize your name and know of your family.”

  “Well, sorry to interrupt your night, but given what Ruby told me tonight, I thought this needed to be looked into more.”

  “Sure, no problem.” Erin took the seat Wade pulled out for her and scooted in closer to the table.

  After all the introductions, Grandma clapped her hands once. “All right, let’s sit down and get started.”

  “On what?”

  She shot Candace an exasperated look. “On the camp your boys found up in the hills.”

  Everybody looked at MacKenzie.

  “My company does contract work for the government. I’ve been gathering intel on something, and given what you found the other day, I thought you should all see what I’ve got.”

  They all moved closer to the table. A map was laid out in the center of it, this one complete with all the topographical information the previous one had lacked. “Ruby tells me the site you found was about here?” MacKenzie said to them.

  Wade nodded. “Ryan’s got the exact coordinates.”

  Ryan released her to pull them up again on his phone and MacKenzie marked them on the map. “And about how many casings would you say were out there?” the man asked.

  “High hundreds at least, maybe more,” Ryan said. “Some of the smaller trees up to about ten inches thick were cut in half by the volume of fire.”

  “Know something about it?” Cam asked, folding his arms across his chest.

  “There’ve been rumors,” MacKenzie said. “Stories about hunters hearing large volumes of fire in the distance, but no one’s ever seen it happening. People are saying they’ve heard talk about a militia operating in the area.”

  Jackson frowned. “What kind of a militia?”

  Wade spoke before MacKenzie could answer. “Are you talking about the March Madness?”

  The man nodded, face grave. “Yes.”

  “What’s that?” Candace asked, not liking the sound of it or the direction this was taking.

  Wade straightened but kept his palms flat on the tabletop as he answered. “For over a year now there’ve been rumors of a guy named Eric March forming a secret militia here in Montana. He’s former army, and after he was court-martialed and convicted of conduct unbecoming, he received a dishonorable discharge.”

  “What did he do?”

  “Got caught up in the politics of war,” Wade said. “Intervened to stop a nine-year-old boy from being raped by a villager and beat the shit out of the guy. Put him in the hospital. The villager pressed charges and the Afghan government put pressure on ours to do something. So to calm the situation down, they charged March with assault causing bodily harm, convicted him, and kicked him out of the army.”

  It disgusted Candace. “That’s so twisted.” He should have been praised for his actions, not punished.

  “Yeah. Needless to say, he wasn’t too happy, and now he’s anti-government and looking to stir up shit by training his own militia to attack government installations across the state.” His gaze shot to her grandma. “Sorry, Ruby.” Apparently even Wade knew her grandma didn’t like people cussing in front of her.

  “No, something about this smells bad, so it’s definitely shit,” her grandma said. “He should have gotten a medal, not a conviction, but even though he was right to be angry, it doesn’t excuse his current plans to arm and train people around here to attack the government. Does he pose a serious threat?”

  Wade nodded. “Yep. And now word is, various agencies have been looking for him for a long time. He went off grid a few years back and no one’s been able to find a trace of him since. Unless we did just that last night,” he added, looking at the other guys.

  “Got a file on him here,” MacKenzie said, laying a manila folder on the table and opening it to reveal a picture of March.

  Candace studied it. White male, early forties. Graying, light brown hair, blue eyes.

  “Latest intel estimates his followers are numbered around a thousand or so, but it could be more. His ability to avoid detection and capture says a lot about his capabilities. Wherever he is, he’s well stocked and has had lots of time to plan whatever he has in mind.”

  “Potential domestic terrorist attacks?” Maya asked him.

  “Yes.”

  Candace glanced at MacKenzie, putting it all together. “And so you think maybe the site the guys found yesterday is possibly where this militia trains? Or that maybe March is using the old bunker systems?”

  “We were told they were all destroyed at the end of the Cold War,” her grandma said, her gaze sliding from MacKenzie to Wade.

  “You ever go back there, after it was destroyed?” Wade asked.

  “No,” she admitted, looking pensive.

  “Ruby, where did you say the entrance to the bunker system is?” MacKenzie asked.

  “Somewhere around here,” she said, circling an area on the map with her fingertip. “Not too far from that rock formation I tol
d you about earlier.”

  “When’s the last time you were down there?”

  “Right after the fall of the Berlin wall. We went there to help clean it out before they destroyed the complex.”

  “They didn’t destroy it,” Wade said, face grim. “At least not the entire thing.”

  Struggling to take all this in, Candace gaped at her grandmother. “Does my dad know any of this?”

  “Course he does. He’s a senator.”

  “Then why the hell am I just finding out about this for the first time today? I’ve still got my security clearance.”

  Her grandma shrugged. “Never seemed important enough to mention before, and you never asked.”

  Candace gave Ryan a disbelieving look. “Unreal.”

  “What are the chances that anyone saw you?” MacKenzie said, and the guys all got quiet.

  Too quiet.

  Ryan shook his head. “We split up and searched the immediate area before setting up camp. There was no one else out there.”

  “You’re sure?”

  Ryan hesitated a moment, and Candace’s heart sank. He glanced at Wade, then Jackson and Cam. “Not a hundred percent, no. It’s possible he had cameras or some other kind of surveillance equipment set up that we didn’t find.”

  So then a domestic terrorist might have seen them looking in the area. She reached for Ryan’s hand, dread squeezing her stomach. He twined his fingers through hers, gripped in reassurance but it didn’t make her feel any warmer.

  “You gonna check it out?” Ryan asked MacKenzie, releasing her hand to wind an arm around her shoulders and tug her close. She wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her cheek on his chest, told herself there was no reason for her to worry.

  He nodded. “I’ll call it into my local FBI contact and do some recon. At the very least we’ll want to search the area and check out the site and the bunkers.”

  “No need.” Maya pulled out her phone and stood. “I’ll call my boss right now. He’ll spread the word, get the right people in touch with you. They can have a team out here by morning.”