He rose from the desk and did another search of Mick’s apartment and the office.
Nothing else provided any useful information.
As he was about to leave the office, he noticed the security camera tucked up into one corner of the room where it would provide a view of everything and everyone who entered the space.
He walked up close to the camera, wanting to make sure there was no doubt about who had paid a visit. Smiling into the camera, he slashed his hand across his throat, his message clear.
With that broad satisfied smile on his face, Mad Dog left behind the mess he had created, certain that the small bit of the address from the envelope would soon point him in the right direction for finding Mick.
* * *
Mick had been in a number of dangerous places, but none more dangerous than this.
In her arms.
He hadn’t expected the peace and contentment that had followed the sex. Amazing, satisfying, mind-blowing sex.
Each time had been different and possibly more satisfying than the first.
Because of the danger of remaining in her arms, and possibly finding the strength to do it yet again, he was trying to muster the will to leave and she must have sensed it.
Caterina propped her head on her arm and glanced at him as he lay on his back beside her. She had been resting against him, her head pillowed on his chest.
“I’d understand if you want to go,” she said and made no motion that contradicted that statement. No touch or caress. No little pout of those full and incredibly mobile lips. Nothing like what he was used to from the other women he’d taken to bed.
Which only confused him more and had him about to protest her statement when the angry buzz of his cell phone alerted him to a security breach.
“Shit,” he said as he rolled off the bed, reaching for the cell phone with one hand while grabbing his weapon with the other.
The code buzzing on the cell phone indicated the breach was at his office/apartment and not at one of the perimeter points surrounding the house.
“Stay put,” he said to her, needing to get to his laptop and find out who had broken into his apartment.
He jerked on his sweatpants, raced out of the room and to his office. With a flick of his finger across the touchpad, the laptop sprang to life to display the feeds from the house, office space, and apartment on the three monitors sitting on the desktop.
The view of the loft area was empty of any intruders, but clearly someone had gone through his things. Clothes and other items littered the floor of the apartment.
He caught a flash of motion from the camera trained on his office. Someone leaving the area? he wondered as Liliana and Caterina walked into the room.
Liliana took one look at his half-naked state and another at Caterina’s in his robe and immediately put two-and-two together. She narrowed her eyes, assessing the situation, but kept silent about it. Instead Liliana asked, “Trouble?”
Caterina walked over to him, tightening the belt on the robe as she did so. She laid a hand on his bare shoulder and that touch alone was enough to awaken need in him.
He slipped behind the protection of the desk and sat down. He worked on recovering the stored video feed to see what had happened and said to the two women, “Someone broke into my place in Philly.”
Liliana came to stand beside Caterina. Both of them had a view of the monitors as Mick replayed the video, from the moment Mad Dog had entered the location to the last few minutes when he slashed his hand across his throat.
His sister tucked her arms tight against her midsection and glanced down at him. “Is he serious or is this some kind of game he plays?”
Mick tucked his arms across his chest and leaned back in his chair. “Mad Dog loves to play sick games and he is nothing but serious when he’s on an assignment.”
Surging back toward his laptop, he rewound to the point where Mad Dog had pieced together the shreds of paper, captured that screen shot, and sent it to the printer. The printer kicked to life and a few seconds later, the picture rolled out onto the paper tray.
He picked up the photo and stared at it, recalled the pale pink envelope that had come from his mother together with a letter and family photo. The photo was in his wallet, but the shreds of envelope and letter were the only things in his Philly place that had anything to tie him to anyone outside of his life as a hired gun.
He had been so careful to separate his two lives to avoid the violence of one spilling over into the other. Now the smallest trace of his personal life may have possibly changed what might happen next and not for the good.
He said nothing as he handed the screen shot print to his sister, who examined it and said, “It’s just some paper.”
“With part of an address I think,” he said and watched as Caterina took the paper from his sister. She perused the photo with seemingly great care and said, “An address for here?”
He shook his head. “It was a letter from our mother, so it would be our parents’ address.”
Their home was several blocks away, but even just the name of the town was enough to provide Mad Dog with the information he needed to begin his search. A visit to town and some questions to the right locals and Mad Dog would know where to find his parents. Maybe even possibly where to find him.
“It won’t take much effort for Mad Dog to pinpoint an exact address. A little longer to connect the dots to us,” he warned and held out his hand so Caterina could return the screen shot.
“What do we do now?” Liliana asked.
“We’ve got a day or two at best before Mad Dog gets here.”
“Is this Mad Dog is the one you warned me about before,” Liliana interjected.
He shot a glance at her and then Caterina, who stood there, hugging her arms around herself, clearly in defensive mode.
“Yes, this is the man I warned you about. He’s quite dangerous. If we can’t settle this thing with Edwards soon we’ll need to decide what to do.”
“I’ll turn myself over to the authorities,” Caterina jumped in, looking back and forth between him and Liliana. “If the police have me – ”
Mick rose and laid a finger on her lips. “There’s no place you’ll be safe so long as Mad Dog is around.”
Caterina eased her hand into his, once again shaking his core with her simple touch. She raised her chin and cocked her head at a thoughtful angle. “I’m not worried about my safety. I’m worried about your family. They shouldn’t be at risk because of me.”
He was about to answer, but Liliana beat him to it. “The Carreras stick together, Cat.”
“We don’t leave anyone behind,” he added. His family was as tight as any military unit in which he had ever served. He knew they would band together to protect each other and in this case, to protect her.
Caterina embraced his sister in a hug and then leaned into him, encircling his waist with her arms, the gesture more telling than it should have been. As she did so, he met Liliana’s gaze over Caterina’s shoulder.
Liliana’s concerned gaze. His sister was clearly worried about the logic and possible risk of what he was doing.
He awkwardly returned Caterina’s embrace and she stepped away and whirled to face Liliana. Apparently seeing that his sister was aware something had happened, she said, “We had sex. Just sex. No commitments. No promises.”
Post announcement, Caterina fled the room, leaving him to avoid Liliana’s sisterly stare down as he sat before his laptop to start formulating a plan.
Liliana stalked right to the edge of his desk and jammed her hands onto her ample hips. “Miguel de la Guadeloupe Roberto Carrera,” she began, but he raised his hand in the air to cut off a tirade that sounded too much like his mother.
“It won’t happen again.”
“It should not have happened in the first place,” she chided. “She’s vulnerable. You’re . . . a bad boy. Dangerous. Women eat that up.”
Didn’t he know it only he refused to acknowledge that it could be di
fferent with Caterina. How could it be different considering the playing field where they were starting their little game?
“It won’t happen again,” he repeated, hoping to foreclose any further discussion.
It worked. With an annoyed huff, his sister stomped out of the room.
He turned to the laptop and considered calling Franklin to see if he had found out anything else. Given Franklin’s usual mode of operation, however, he knew his old friend would have phoned if he had any additional information to offer.
He didn’t even know if Mad Dog would reach out to Franklin, but suspected that when he did, it would be to flush out confirmation of something Mad Dog already suspected – like the address on the envelope.
Late as it was, he had to forewarn his friend about Mad Dog.
He dialed him and when Franklin answered, he quickly provided him with an update on Mad Dog’s break-in as well as the details on the Wardwell-Gates Genengineering merger.
Franklin emitted a low whistle and said, “No wonder he has the three of us after Shaw. That’s a lot of money to lose if the merger goes south.”
“It’s the kind of money people kill for which is why he probably had Wells eliminated.”
There was hesitation on the line before his friend said, “You think Edwards did it and not Shaw?”
“I’d put my money on it not being Shaw, wherever she is.”
No sense admitting he knew just where Caterina was. That would only complicate things further if Mad Dog went after Franklin.
“I made some progress with the families of those two patients. They think their loved ones died from medical complications relating to their illnesses. I’ll keep on digging around, but if it’s getting too hot I have to pull out of this.”
“I understand. You’ve got other obligations more important than this assignment. I’m five-by-five with that,” Mick offered, wanting to be square with his friend on what he expected.
“I’ll be back at you if anything comes up.”
Franklin hung up and Mick went back to work on the Internet, trying to gauge just how long it might take for Mad Dog to connect the bit of address on the envelope to their current location.
Less than an hour later he had his answer.
Not very long. Not more than a day or two.
Combined with information from one of the investigative services or a personal visit to the area, the security of this safe house would be compromised in no time. His family, with the exception of Roberta who was doing a tour of duty in Iraq, would be vulnerable.
Liliana was already aware, but he would remind her in the morning. He would talk to his parents and brother as well. Possibly suggest that they all take a vacation together somewhere for at least a week.
In the meantime, he picked up the phone and dialed Ramon to ask his cousin to see if he could arrange for some additional drive-bys of the restaurant and his family’s home nearby. Even though he suspected Liliana wouldn’t like it, he mentioned her problems with her ex-fiancé as well, eliciting a promise from Ramon that a discreet call would be placed to hospital security.
Mick needed to keep his family safe.
And he needed to reaffirm to Caterina that he intended to keep her safe as well.
Sins of the Flesh: Chapter Thirty
Sweet music reached Mick’s ears as he neared the closed door and he assumed she had the stereo turned up to help soothe her.
But when he entered, Caterina was in the far corner of the room, eyes closed, playing his younger brother’s old beat-up cello. Clearly lost in the music as she played, her body swaying and shifting as her fingers and bow arm stroked emotion from the strings and wood.
Trying to ease the tension created earlier in the night, he lightheartedly said, “Never sounded that good when Tony played.”
Caterina stopped mid-stroke, opened her eyes, and shot him a puzzled look.
“Tony?”
“My younger brother Antonio. He stopped playing when he got to high school. Didn’t think the girls would find it sexy that he was in the orchestra.”
That comment dragged a fleeting smile to her lips. “I suppose he became a jock instead.”
Mick chuckled and shook his head. “Lettered in lacrosse and was All-State in football, but he has a geek’s heart. He’s working and going to school part time to get a bioengineering degree.”
* * *
Caterina nodded and set aside the cello, carefully leaning it on the chair as she rose and slipped into bed.
She didn’t look at him again as he stood at the foot of the bed. She couldn’t without revealing the turmoil she was experiencing about her emotions toward him. Emotions she had poured into her music as she played, releasing them into the music until balance had returned.
Of course Mick’s entry had dashed her equilibrium once again. As she sat there, distressed about him and the threat to his family, she sensed the change coming over her and watched as the hand lying on the sheet before her assumed the pale blue color of the linens.
No way, she thought, focusing on that transformation and forcing it away by sheer willpower.
“Cat,” he said, the tones of his voice uncertain and apologetic as walked to the side of the bed.
“It’s okay, Mick. I totally understand,” not that she did, only it wasn’t his fault that she was confused.
He said nothing else. She sensed his continued presence by her side; heard the slight groan of the wood frame on the chair by the bed as he sat down, and the swoosh, fabric sliding against fabric, maybe when he covered himself.
Covered all that wonderful muscle.
She forced that thought from her mind, but nature abhorred a vacuum. Her mind was soon filled with other images of the assorted small scars on his body, the shocking white of the tape on his stitched up forearm, and the bruises he had earned on this latest assignment. An assignment intended to deal with her existence.
One hundred million dollars on her head.
Quite a reward for someone to resist and yet she had no hesitation about Mick’s earlier promise to protect her.
After resting her head on the pillow, silent for long moments, she said his name, not sure if he had already fallen asleep.
“Hmm?” he answered sleepily, although she knew just how quickly he became alert.
“You’re not the hard ass you try to be. There’s a big soft spot inside that you hide.”
No response followed. Before she could question if he had heard her, the swoosh of fabric came again. The bed dipped her toward the center and over the corner of her shoulder she caught a glimpse of him as he eased himself next to her. Too quickly for her to protest, his front was pressed to her back and he had thrown his arm across her waist.
“Go to sleep, Cat.”
Easier said than done, she thought. The press of his body against hers reminded her of the passion they had shared earlier, but closed her eyes anyway and told herself it was something that couldn’t be repeated.
She could risk her life to get to the truth of what had happened to her. Risking her heart was far more dangerous.
* * *
Mick lay awake long after the cadence of her breathing announced that she had finally fallen asleep.
He couldn’t rest. His mind was too busy working out all the possible permutations of what might happen once Mad Dog figured out where they might be.
He had already set some of the gears into motion. Franklin. His cousin Ramon and his police force. Hospital security.
When he thought about the way Mad Dog had tossed his place in Philly, it tore at his gut that he might do the same here.
This was his safe house in more ways than one.
No matter what mission he had been on, from his time in the Army to his life as a hired gun, this place had always been his escape from it all. This home had always been where he could go for comfort and peace.
This mission had threatened that, in more ways than he wanted to consider.
He could take Cateri
na and run. Find a different place to hide.
Or he could take a stand.
Force Mad Dog to bring the fight to him because the only way he would allow his old nemesis to trash this home and hurt his family was if he was dead.
“Mick?” she asked and turned to face him.
He caressed the satiny skin of her cheek. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You haven’t slept yet, have you?”
He shook his head and rubbed his thumb along the elegant ridge of her cheekbone. “Too much to think about.”
“This Mad Dog guy has you really worried? It’s about more than this assignment, though, isn’t it?” Caterina covered his hand with hers, stroking it tenderly. The pressure of her hand light, but disturbing nevertheless.
He met her gaze in the dark of the night. The deep blue of hers was interrupted here and there by bits of blue-green glow. A testament to how little time he had to set things right. Something he hadn’t been able to do that the last time Mad Dog had been involved in his life.
“Three years ago, Franklin, Mad Dog, and me were on a private security detail down in Miami. Should have been an easy gig. Keep an eye on the wife and nine year-old son of some bigwig politico who had been receiving death threats.” He sighed deeply and looked away as he recalled that day, but Caterina would not allow his avoidance.
She cradled his jaw and urged him to face her. “What happened?”
Sins of the Flesh: Chapter Thirty-One
“We had a protocol if we were threatened. Call the police and head to the nearest secure location. Easy enough to do,” Mick explained.
The tension radiated from Mick’s body. It was what had woken her from a sound sleep. Beneath her thumb, the vibrating anger in his body communicated his upset. She ran her thumb across the hard line of his lips and urged him to continue with a soft, “It should have been easy, but Mad Dog wasn’t on board with that, was he?”
He shook his head and against her face, his hand trembled. “We picked up a tail going over the McArthur Causeway on the way to the politico’s home on Star Island. Mad Dog was driving. He could have kept on going to the police station in Miami Beach. Instead he pulled into the entrance for Star Island.”
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