Gray Wolf Security: Back Home

by Glenna Sinclair

  I grabbed for her wrists again, but she saw me coming and shifted, moving out of my reach. When she came toward me again, she delivered a hard blow to the side of my face despite the fact that she was half a foot shorter than me. I struggled to gain control of her hands again, but she was slippery, moving out of my reach before I could get a strong hold. It was like trying to fight a damn octopus!

  I finally got hold of her upper arms when she came at me for the third time, but not before she smashed the heel of her hand against my nose. I cried out, expecting blood to spout everywhere, but there was none. Just the swelling pain of the blow itself. I pushed her back and was rewarded with multiple kicks to the shins.

  “Stop it, goddamn it!”

  She was like a wild animal, struggling against me like I had a knife to her throat. All I could do was hold her, but holding her arms and pressing her back against the kitchen counter wasn’t good enough. She still had too much room to move.

  I jerked her around, stopping the kicks by forcing her to use her feet just to stay upright. I turned her and forced her back against my chest. She cried out, the scream more guttural, more animalistic than anything I’d ever heard before. Once she realized she couldn’t free herself, she slowly stopped struggling as I held her trapped against my body in the middle of her own kitchen.

  “Let me go!” she growled, trying to kick back at me, but finding it difficult with my arms wrapped around her in a warped sort of bear hug.

  “Calm down.”

  “You broke into my house and you want me to calm down?” Her tone was shrill and incredulous. “You must be insane!”

  “I only broke in to show you it could be done.”

  “You’ve shown me. Now get the hell out!”

  “I need to talk to you.”

  She laughed, such bitterness in her tone that it almost hurt. “You really think I want to sit and talk to you? Now I know you’re insane!”

  “You need to know what you’re dealing with, Erin.”

  She stiffened as hard as a board. “Don’t call me that!”

  “What would you like me to call you? Tessie?”

  Her body jerked a little at that. She tried to twist in my arms, but I refused to give even an inch. My nose was still throbbing.

  “You know who I am,” I said softly against her ear. “Why do you think I wanted you to have that information?”

  She grew still then. No more trying to kick me, no more fighting my hold on her arms. I could almost feel the wheels turning in her head.

  “If you promise you won’t hit me again, I’ll let you go.”

  “I won’t promise that.”

  “Then promise you’re done for now.”

  She was quiet for a second, like it was something she really had to consider. “Okay.”

  I released her and stepped back—way back—in one movement. I wasn’t going to risk another blow to my still aching nose.

  She turned, her eyes a little wild. She studied me, distrust oozing from every inch of her slight, but powerful, body. There was color high on her cheeks, her short hair wild and curly, her clothes slightly mussed. It was one of the sexiest things I’d seen in a long time, this crazy woman standing in front of me. Just the sight of her made me ache in a way I hadn’t thought my body was capable of anymore.

  “How did you get into my house? How did you get past the security system?”

  I tilted my head slightly, taking in the fear that was barely concealed behind those words. I gestured to a window behind the small kitchen table.

  “Someone forgot to put a motion detector on that window.”

  “That window doesn’t open.”

  “It does if you use enough force.”

  She stared hard at me for a long moment, then walked over to the window and tried to yank it up herself. The window wouldn’t budge. I sighed, moving up behind her.

  “If you’ll get out of the way…”

  “It doesn’t open. The installer tried and he couldn’t get it open.”

  I gestured impatiently and she sighed, side stepping me. I pressed my hands under the edge of the frame and shoved upward. The window opened slowly at first, then slid up without much effort the last ten or fifteen inches. I turned, gesturing widely. She moved up beside me, sliding her hand under the bottom edge of the window.

  “But that’s only fifteen, eighteen inches. You slid through that?”

  “I did.”

  I thought maybe she was impressed, but she didn’t say anything more. She simply slammed the window shut and tapped away at her phone, probably informing the security system installer that he needed to come remedy this problem.

  “Why are you here?” she finally asked.

  “We need to talk.”

  She released a slow sigh, the sound like a car tire going flat very slowly. She opened a cabinet and pulled down a couple of coffee mugs, moving around the room to gather the things required to make a cup of tea.

  I thought this was more of a situation for whiskey, but I didn’t say so.

  Once we were settled at the table with our tea, the weight of her eyes on my face became almost unbearable. She never said a word, but that look was more than enough.

  “I’m guessing you already know that Jenna Walker doesn’t exist.”

  She inclined her head slightly.

  “Her name is actually Elizabeth Tanner. She’s a con artist I’ve worked with a time or two in the past.”

  “Is she a gigolo like you?”

  I lifted a single shoulder in a small shrug. “I suppose you could call her that. She prefers to think of herself as more of an opportunist.”

  “That’s not much better.”

  I smiled softly. “No, I don’t suppose so.”

  “This thing was her idea?”

  I shook my head. “No. Someone had something on her, something she didn’t want to become public. She never told me what it was, but her part in all this was fairly small.” I wrapped my hands around the tea mug, enjoying the heat on my palms. “She showed me a file they had on me, too, a scam I ran years ago that ended badly. They were threatening to give new evidence to the family if I didn’t cooperate with them.”

  “What did they want you to do?”

  “To get close to whoever worked the case Elizabeth was assigned to take to Gray Wolf—you. They want an insider at Gray Wolf, someone who can get access to the Matthews family.”

  I could see the color drain from her face. She tilted her head slightly as she looked up at me. “Why?”

  I shrugged. “They waited until Joss Matthews went out of town. Then they sent Elizabeth in with her little sob story and a bug. They were listening when you were assigned the case.”

  She sat back heavily, hard enough that her chair bounced a little. But she didn’t say anything.

  “They knew all about you. They showed me a file, told me exactly how I could get to you. They wanted me to seduce you.”

  “Is that why you showed up at the restaurant the other day?”

  I nodded. “They want me to get close to you. And if that didn’t work, Jules would be the next person I had to try. They want me firmly implanted in one of your lives before Ms. Matthews returns from her trip.”

  “Why?”

  “They want access to her family and she’s made that nearly impossible by assigning bodyguards to each of them day and night.”

  “But why? Who’s behind this? What do they want from those little girls?”

  I could see something like panic in her eyes. She was suddenly agitated, her legs bouncing under the table, her nails biting into the thin flesh of her palms. I reached over to touch her, but she jerked her hands away.

  “I don’t know. But these people…they’re not playing games.”

  Erin suddenly jumped up out of her chair. I tried to grab her arm but she was out of my reach before I even moved. I got up and followed her into the living room, watched her scroll through the address book on her phone before it finally sank in what she
was doing. I snatched the phone away, winning myself another quick punch to the nose.

  “Damnit!” I cried. “That fucking hurts!”

  “Give me my phone back!”

  “You can’t tell anyone. They’ll know.”

  She reached for the phone, but I stepped back and held it up over my head like I used to do to my younger sister when we played games like Monkey in the Middle. Erin angrily reached for it again, but the attempt caused her to press her body against mine, which caused something like revulsion to bloom in her eyes.

  She immediately stepped back, her arms wrapping themselves around her chest.

  I tried not to take it personally.

  “These people are dangerous. They’ll come after both of us if they find out I’ve told you all this. We can’t bring anyone else in on this.”

  “Then why did you tell me?”

  “You didn’t tell Jules what you knew this morning. That seemed to prove I could trust you.” I studied her with my head slightly tilted. “I can trust you, can’t I?”

  Instead of answering, she turned away and stood facing her computer, dragging her fingers through her hair until some of it began to stand up on end.

  “Erin, I can’t just walk away from this. If I do, I go to jail for a very long time. I took a chance coming to you.”

  “Why did you?”

  I was quiet for a second, thinking of the photographs they’d shown me of this woman. She wasn’t even a woman in those pictures, just a child who’d experienced something no child, no woman, no person, should ever have to experience. How they didn’t know that those pictures would strike a familiar chord inside of me, I didn’t know. They seemed to know everything else about my life.

  “They’re just kids. They deserve to live a life untouched by the sort of violence these people are planning.”

  She turned to face me, a new light in her pretty blue eyes. I found myself studying her as she studied me, wondering if she wore the high collar to hide the scars that must mar her perfect skin. Her arms were wrapped around her chest again as if to protect her from my touch. I wanted nothing more than to draw her in, to offer her a sense of security against the irrational fears I knew must rule her life. I was awed by all she’d endured and how she’d survived to still be here, to still function in a world of uncertainty.

  She was much stronger than Shannon. Much stronger than even me.

  “What are they planning?”

  I offered a slight nod, taking her question as acceptance of my terms on this deal. I handed her phone back and sat on the edge of her couch.

  “They want to kill Carrington Matthews. And they’re not too terribly concerned about collateral damage just as long as Joss Matthews lives to see it unfold. Whoever’s behind this wants Joss Matthews to suffer.”

  Chapter 10

  Joss

  Clint Butler was a good-looking man, tall with intense green eyes that reminded me too much of Sutherland’s to not wonder why it took us all so long to see the family resemblance. Suggestion is a strong thing, I supposed. We all knew she was an orphan with no known family. Coming to it from that point of view clouded our conclusions.

  Now, however, it was obvious. She practically bounced when she walked over to greet him, her smile so wide that it nearly took my breath away. Sutherland was a beautiful woman, but she seemed to radiate happiness these days. Between her new marriage, her new baby, and the discovery of her long lost brother, she’d had a pretty amazing year.

  “Clint, you remember Joss Matthews, right?”

  Those green eyes fell on my face and he lowered his head in that polite way cowboys tend to have. “Ms. Matthews. Of course I remember you.”

  I stood and accepted the hand he held out to me. He had a good handshake: firm, but not too aggressive.

  “Joss is visiting with the Parishes and she was hoping to get a few moments alone with you.”

  “Is that right?” Curiosity burned in his eyes.

  “I know you were hoping to take some time off the next couple of days, but I have a few questions.”

  He nodded. “Sure. Why don’t we head out onto the porch?”

  “I’ll bring some tea,” Sutherland volunteered. Clint turned to her and kissed her cheek softly. “Thanks, sis,” he said warmly.

  There was so much affection between them, it almost hurt to watch.

  We settled on the beautiful lawn chairs Sutherland had on her porch, subtly sweetened tea in sweating glasses in front of us. Despite the fact that it was early October, the air still held a hint of heat to it. I picked up my glass and crossed my legs, staring out at the short lane that led to the main road just beyond the gates of MidKnight Ranch.

  “I imagine this is about your husband. Carrington is his name, correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “I heard about James Conway’s brief escape from jail. You were part of the team that apprehended him?”

  “I was.”

  “I’m glad your family is safe.”

  I acknowledged his kind words with a slight nod of my head. I sipped the tea before setting it back down, turning my full attention on Clint.

  “You worked with Conway. You studied Mahoney for years.”

  His expression tightened slightly. “That’s true.”

  “Is there anything you can tell me that would explain why Mahoney is so determined to kill my husband?”

  Clint pressed his hands against the thighs of his jeans, his eyes focused on them. I waited patiently, hoping he was simply reviewing information he had in his head rather than trying to find some reason why he couldn’t help me.

  Clint was probably the only person who could help me at this point. He knew Jack Mahoney better than any other person on this side of the law. If there was a reason why Mahoney was torturing my family, he would know it.

  “Like I told the FBI agent who came out here, I don’t know any one reason why Jack would be after your husband. But I would guarantee it’s personal.”

  “You think Carrington did something to piss Mahoney off?”

  “No. I think you did.” He looked up at me, sympathy warm in his eyes. “I don’t know what or when, but I know Jack Mahoney. If he’s out to kill your husband, then it’s not about him. Death is too easy for Jack Mahoney’s enemies.”

  “You think he’s after Carrington because he wants to punish me?”

  “I think that’s the most likely reason.” He sat up a little and leaned toward me just slightly. “Think about it. The information Jack used to get Carrington to come up here and screw with our investigation was all about you.”

  I shook my head, thinking he was misremembering things. “He threatened to tell Carrington’s coworkers that he was unknowingly shipping illegal weapons through his shipping company.”

  “And that he’d had a one-night stand with a client representative.” His eyebrows rose slightly. “That is all about you.”

  I started to shake my head, but in some simple sort of way, he had a point.

  “Either way, Carrington’s response to the blackmail would have blown back on me.”

  “Yes. All of your friends and coworkers knowing he cheated on you? How humiliating. But he went through with it and you were able to control the release of that information, but then he agreed to testify so now everyone knows that your husband was behind the kidnapping of your boss and friend. How humiliating is that?”

  I glanced back out over the yard, needing to look away from the intensity of his gaze for a moment. I didn’t want to feel the pity I saw there.

  “I just assumed all that was just a side effect.”

  “Maybe. But if I know Jack, some of it was intentional. A win-win for him. Why else would he have chosen Carrington to kidnap Ash?”

  “Because he knew him.”

  Clint shook his head. “That’s not Jack’s way. Besides, if he wanted someone with inside information on Ash, why not blackmail his brother or his friend, Donovan? Or you?”

  He had a point there, too
.

  “Carrington was a poor choice if you look at the picture as a whole. He was running the crew here in Wyoming, but all he really did was slip information to Mahoney’s men and help plan that botched raid in Casper. He didn’t hurt Ash, didn’t execute him as he’d implied he was instructed to do. He didn’t hurt me, didn’t do anything to go after that girl, Becky Kay, even though she was the one thing Jack really wanted. Carrington was essentially useless to Jack.”

  “But he was in charge here, he was behind Ash’s kidnapping.”

  “And he turned on Jack the moment he had a chance. The brought him in and he told them everything. He didn’t hurt Ash. He was useless to Jack, I’m telling you. And Jack knows better than to get someone like that involved in his stuff, someone who might be a liability or disloyal.”

  “He had Bodhi Archer working for him. Do you think Bodhi was more capable of this stuff than Carrington?”

  “I think Bodhi was paying back a debt. I think Jack got off on the idea of controlling someone like Bodhi. But I don’t think that has anything to do with this.” Clint leaned forward again. “Jack likes to play games, Joss. Games that are long and complicated and have rules that are always changing. I think that’s what he’s doing with you, keep you on your toes and have you guessing the whole time.”

  “But I’ve never done anything to warrant someone like Jack Mahoney’s attention.”

  “That’s what puzzles me about the whole thing.”

  “There was the Bazarov thing—”

  “That’s not it. Killing old man Bazarov did Jack a favor. He was probably applauding you from the sidelines when that happened.”

  “Then what? Could he think I’m involved in whatever it was Ash was doing that caught his attention?”

  “That’s another thing.” Clint sat back, this thoughtful look on his face. “We always assumed he wanted Ash taken out because of his investigation in Mahoney. He started looking into Jack Mahoney because he was trying to head off any trouble for his boy and everyone assumed that was why Jack had him kidnapped, to stop him from helping the FBI and Homeland from taking Jack down. But I’ve begun to wonder.”

  “What else could it be?”