“We were getting worried,” Graham said.
“I told you they would call. They look to be in one piece,” Vaughn stated.
“We’re in one piece and exhausted,” Jace replied as they all got into the SUV.
“Hungry, too, so tell me you got a nice juicy steak ready to grill,” Micah said to Graham. Graham chuckled.
“You bet your ass I did,” he replied.
Jace gave his brother Micah a nudge against his shoulder. “I told you he would come through. Always does,” he said.
As they drove home Micah listened as Jace told them about the flight, and about not wanting to visit Cuba again anytime soon. Other than that, no questions were asked and that was how it needed to be. His brothers knew that. So once Jace finished talking Micah asked about work.
“Anything new with the hotel, or with Ultimate Defense?” he asked them.
“Clark, Dane, and Jonah took a job that came up two days ago in Cairo. Knox, Niall, and Trace are helping out with an event Saturday at the hotel,” Daxton told him.
“What event?” Jace asked.
“Apollo and the guys have some big shots coming in and staying at the hotel for the weekend. They’re jewelers, importers, and exporters with fine art and things that will be on display to purchase,” Cooper explained.
“Pricey stuff?” he asked.
“I don’t think any of the art pieces are priced under ten thousand, so yes, and the jewelry is outrageous,” Graham told them.
“Miss Cortland must be beside herself with all the responsibility. Has she been hell to deal with?” Jace asked, and Micah noticed everyone got quiet.
“She’s okay, right?” he asked.
“Oh, she’s fine. She has a helper now,” Daxton said.
“A helper? So she finally decided to accept an applicant?” Jace asked.
Daxton nodded but got quiet.
“Who is it?” Jace asked.
“A friend of Apollo and his brothers’ girlfriend,” Graham told them.
“Oh, so Miss Cortland was forced to take on help?” Micah asked.
“No, actually Louisa interviewed for the position without Apollo and them knowing and without interfering even after they found out. Eliza hired her that day,” Cooper told him.
“She must be good, then,” Jace said.
“You’ll see if you’re up to helping out on Saturday night,” Graham said to him.
“I don’t know. I think we need a few days,” Micah told them and looked out the window. He and Jace nearly bit the bullet on this last job. Someone knew where their client was heading and exactly what he was picking up. All three of them could have been killed. He and Jace were good at their jobs, but it was too close for comfort.
“Well, the guys all want to hang out and have a few beers tomorrow night at Carlyle’s Bar. I think you two would be up for that,” Graham said from the driver’s seat.
“A few beers and kicking back with no worries for a little while sounds awesome,” Jace said. Micah looked at him and they exchanged nods.
“We’ll do a debriefing when we get home either before dinner or after, your choice,” Graham said. As much as Micah wanted to wait and not go over the shit, he knew he and Jace needed to. Someone released information indicating where they were headed, but it could have been anyone. He was going to find out who.
Once they got to the beach house, showered, and changed they met with their brothers in the kitchen. It was an informal meeting, yet everything was documented by Daxton on the business computer. By the time Jace and he started telling them about the exchange of gunfire Graham and Cooper were irate.
“We were escorting Tobias out of the warehouse and heading toward the SUV when both Jace and I noticed a van. Black tinted windows, dark blue exterior, and also a man standing on the corner smoking who wasn’t there when we entered. He didn’t belong there. It’s a quiet street. A dump really, and a good cover-up location for these jewelers to do exchanges,” Micah explained.
“Yeah, and we were the only people scheduled for that time. They don’t want cross-distribution, or competition meeting up during an exchange. It’s well organized. Or at least used to be,” Jace added.
“So what happened, and what about the inside security?” Graham asked.
“Once you walk out that door, Graham, the client is on their own, which is exactly why Tobias hired us as security,” Micah replied.
“There have never been any problems ever with these exchanges. We’ve been at this for a few years now. Importers, jewelers, investors come from all over the world to these locations, and if there was a breakdown in security, then this is a major fucking problem for the boss,” Cooper stated.
“What happened next?” Vaughn asked, leaning back in his chair, sipping a beer, and wearing a tight black snow hat. His brother Vaughn was badass, and the goatee he grew added to that mean, don’t-fuck-with-me personality. He barely ever smiled.
“We head toward the van, both of us with our hands on our weapons and one on Tobias as we get to the SUV and the van starts heading toward us. Shots start hitting the SUV and that guy on the corner has a weapon drawn and is shooting. We get Tobias into the SUV with the briefcase and start shooting back. I take out the one running and Micah shoots through the windshield of the van, taking out the driver and passenger. We get into the SUV and get the fuck out of there and have Tobias call Slade and let him know what went down and that there may be a mess to clean up,” Jace told them.
“You guys could have been killed, and the client as well,” Daxton stated.
Jace ran his fingers through his hair and locked gazes with Micah. Micah felt his heart racing at the thought. “I don’t know how either of us didn’t bite the bullet. I fucking don’t, but I can tell you this, Graham, someone knew we were going to be there, and since the process is limited to our security firm and Tobias’s small set of employees, it has to be an inside job,” Micah told him.
Graham ran his fingers through his hair.
“What did Slade say to do?” Graham asked.
“To sit tight and let him and his brothers do a little investigating, but I don’t think we should do nothing,” Micah said to him.
“I don’t either. This is our business, our livelihood, and someone just fucked with our reputation. The whole point of having security is for protection. Where was the breakdown? Who slipped up? You know as well as I do that Mercury James, and his brothers would think nothing of cutting the ties with us. The incident this morning doesn’t help either, though technically we were on the clock yet. Daxton, Gus, and Hunter were still there when the client was robbed. Could someone have known we were going to be there providing security?” Cooper asked and exhaled.
“What happened?” Micah asked and Cooper explained.
“Shit, this isn’t good at all,” Jace said.
Micah and his brothers knew Mercury, Rome, Falcon, Remo, Slade, and Rylan for years. They owned and operated Merk Enterprises and were connected to many different businesses, mostly criminal. They hooked them up with dangerous contracts, but clean ones, or at least until now. Something wasn’t right here and Micah sensed trouble brewing.
“Did Slade say he would call you on this soon?” Graham asked.
Vaughn chuckled sarcastically and took a sip from his bottle of Bud. “Are you fucking kidding, Graham? He’ll just cut the ties if there’s any indication the fuck-up came from our end. You know how this shit works,” Vaughn stated.
“Would that be so fucking bad?” Daxton asked and they all looked at him, their youngest brother.
Daxton and his baby face looks always snagged the pretty ladies, but he was just as badass as the rest of them.
“What I mean is that you guys came close to getting killed. I know it’s part of what we do and shit, but still, coming this close brings it closer to reality. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad move to drop these dangerous as shit escort security jobs overseas,” Daxton said and then stood up. Micah watched him walk over to the refrige
rator and grab another beer. He then leaned against the counter.
“Daxton, the overseas jobs pay the most money. We’ve established a reputation and still get to pick and choose jobs. It’s what we do,” Jace said to him.
“Maybe we should settle down a bit. We have a shitload of money,” he replied and took a slug of beer.
“It’s not just the money, it’s the whole game of things. We’re soldiers,” Vaughn said to him.
“We’re businessmen, too. You know as well as I do, Vaughn, that we don’t need to do any of those overseas jobs or even the dangerous ones here in the States if we don’t want to,” he replied.
“We have set clients. Merk Enterprises alone gives us so much work,” Micah said.
“The security business with high-price hotels and resorts, like working with Corb Enterprise, can fill our schedules and still leave downtime.” Daxton argued his case.
“How long before you, each of us, gets bored of watching over rich pricks? It’s consistent, it pays the bills, and is our downtime between the real fucking jobs. The jobs that fulfill the need we all fucking have for danger, for being a soldier on the hunt and surviving, hell, helping others survive. We all fucking have it, Daxton, you included. The hotel business is fucking boring,” Micah said with attitude. They were all quiet.
“It hasn’t been boring this week,” Daxton said and looked at Cooper.
“You crashed and burned on that one, Daxton. She isn’t biting,” Graham said and then Cooper shook his head and exhaled.
“She’s incredible though. Can’t blame him for trying too hard, too soon,” Cooper said.
Graham snorted. “Rumors are a killer. We got quite the reputation with the ladies apparently,” he said.
“What are you talking about?” Jace asked.
“There’s this hot new events coordinator working at the hotel. She apparently heard through the grapevine that Graham, Daxton, and Cooper have their own personal way of welcoming the good-looking female employees into the hotel,” Vaughn told Jace and Micah.
Micah scrunched his eyes together. “What?”
“It isn’t true, but someone spread that rumor quickly and now Louisa isn’t even looking our way. She’s fucking incredible,” Daxton said and leaned back as he took another slug of beer and looked utterly disappointed.
“She is, and apparently she had a little trouble in her last job,” Cooper said to them.
“What do you mean?” Jace asked.
“She was working for this other company for two years. She’s friends with Venetia, Apollo, and his brother’s woman,” Cooper explained.
“What’s the trouble attached to her?” Graham asked.
“This guy she worked for had the hots for her and was constantly trying to get her into his bed. Whatever transpired in the last two months had her quitting, but the kicker is that she got a stellar recommendation from her boss. Eliza said he raved about her, was disappointed in her leaving to seek work elsewhere but knew she needed a change,” Cooper said to them.
“So how do you know it was bad? Maybe she fucked the guy and things didn’t work out?” Micah asked.
“Apollo was vague but basically said that the guy cornered her and she needed to use self-defense moves,” Graham said to them.
“What? When did you find this out?” Daxton asked, standing up straight instead of leaning against the counter. He was obviously upset at the information.
“Earlier today, Daxton,” Graham said and Daxton shook his head.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, Daxton. She sounds like trouble to me. You should forget about her. She could be playing games and after money. A gold digger, and you don’t need that,” Micah stated and smirked at Jace and Vaughn.
“Wait until you see her, and then tell me the same thing,” Daxton replied.
They were all quiet.
“There’s definitely something about her that draws you in,” Cooper said.
“Affirmative,” Graham said and Micah looked at Jace, who was squinting his eyes and seemed to be wondering what was going on there just like Micah was.
“Wait, all three of you are attracted to her, and want her?” he asked.
Graham looked at Daxton and Cooper. None of them said a word.
“Holy shit, who is this woman? We’re gone for two fucking weeks and this happens? What are you thinking?” Jace asked them.
“We aren’t thinking anything. We all met her and all feel an attraction to her. She is a very attractive, but young, woman,” Graham said and stood up. Micah knew his brother well. As the oldest he was like their commanding officer. He ran the show, but what was he not saying?
“Graham, she’s twenty-four, will be twenty-five in a couple of weeks from what we read in her application file,” Daxton pushed.
“Daxton, she made it clear she isn’t interested. Leave it alone,” Graham said.
“No. She isn’t interested because she believes some rumor someone told her about us fucking women to welcome them to the hotel. She felt the attraction, too. I nearly fucking kissed her in the elevator today,” he stated.
“You did kiss Bianca. Maybe she spread the rumor to get back at you for not reciprocating her affection,” Cooper said to him.
“Don’t pull that shit on me. If a rumor started it probably had something to do with you and that Brazilian chick you fucked in the gazebo on the beach after the wedding,” Daxton told Cooper.
“She was hitting on me all night. My shift was way over and we weren’t on hotel property,” Cooper said in his defense.
“The gazebo on the beach is part of hotel property, Cooper.”
“She was fucking hot and all over me.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter,” Daxton said in a huff.
“Apparently it does matter. You’re awfully worked up over this woman,” Jace said calmly.
Daxton stared at Jace and then Micah and Vaughn.
“You’ll meet her, and you’ll know immediately why I’m so worked up,” Daxton said and then walked out of the room.
Micah was more than curious about this Louisa woman and he couldn’t help the uneasy feeling he had thinking that Daxton, Cooper, and Graham were attracted to the same woman. Would they want to share her among the three of them? It wouldn’t be the first time they fucked the same woman. Separately of course. They steered clear of taking any woman together except maybe two of them with one woman who was adventurous. This seemed different. They were on edge and Daxton was downright pissed off. Was this woman a troublemaker? he wondered until Cooper brought up the event on Saturday and the level of security he still wasn’t certain was enough. That got his mind back to what he did best—being a soldier and protecting those who couldn’t protect themselves.
* * * *
“He’s pissed off. Things didn’t go as planned,” Don Romo told Paulano over the phone.
“I don’t know why they didn’t go as planned. My source had a perfect connection. You can’t get better information or more precise than a time, a location, and a pretty damn exact description of the product being transported. Sounds like your people fucked up,” Paulano replied with an attitude. He wasn’t scared of Don Romo or the fucking heavies he was involved with. This was the name of the game.
He was working with Miles and they just had a successful hit. Plus it was another show of incompetence to Ultimate Defense securities and their lack of ability to provide protection. Miles was a crazy bastard shooting the one guy, but the three men got out of there with a lot of money. He wasn’t going to let Romo know that he was in on it or had that money.
“Well, the boss is going to use someone else for the next one? He isn’t pleased.”
“Someone else? Who the fuck can he use? I’m the one with the connections, the in,” Paulano said.
“Apparently not the only one. See you at the event Saturday,” Romo said and hung up on him.
Paulano threw the cell phone down onto the desk and leaned back in his chair. The hit was supposed to go
smoothly. The two security guards wouldn’t be expecting it and weren’t supposed to get out of there alive. Instead Paulano lost three decent men and a hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar payoff from the boss. His source said that the jewels were in the briefcase and were worth two million. How the fuck did this go wrong? Were the security guys that fucking good? He needed to think. He couldn’t screw up again. Saturday was a risk, but one he had to take in order to make the money. He owed Liam Russell over a hundred grand, and if he didn’t have it by Monday he was a dead man. He couldn’t reveal that he was involved with Miles and their heist went over perfectly. He needed cash and fast. He needed to make this happen. There had to be a way to snag something from the hotel Saturday. This was his only option.
He picked up his cell phone and made the call.
“We have a situation and need to work quickly. I need everything on the security there and a layout of the merchandise and what will be easiest to steal. I know, but we have no choice. Our lives depend on this. Both of ours.”
* * * *
“Okay fine, Deanna, I’ll do it. The money is too good to pass up and I’m off from the hotel that night. Yes. Fine. Talk to you later.”
“Who was that?” Venetia asked Louisa.
“Deanna. I was requested to do this event, but now that I’m working at the hotel I really can’t coordinate the whole thing, so I told the person to call Deanna and that I would assist her and not be lead. I was hoping he would look for someone else.”
“Who is it, some rich business guy?”
“Yeah, kind of good-looking and, well, he likes me but is totally wrong for me. I’ve met so many men like him, it gets tiresome.”
Venetia chuckled. “You’re a very attractive woman, classy and professional. Having standards is a plus. No matter how you feel don’t rush into anything.”
“Says the woman who was swept off her feet by six men.”
“Three of them are right there. Look at them. Can you blame me?” she said and smiled from ear to ear. Louisa chuckled. Her friend was in love and very happy. Louisa couldn’t help but to be envious.
Kamikaze Nights [Love on the Rocks 3] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) Page 6