“Aloysha?” The bartender snorted. “He’s the manager.”
“Is that right?” Kayla took the drink the man handed her and sipped it just enough to get her lips wet. Then she gave the bartender a hooded gaze and smiled. “Is he single?”
The bartender threw back his head and laughed. Beside her, Kayla could feel Tegan starting to get irritated. Her cousin actually parted her lips to speak, but Kayla gave her a nudge with one boot.
“Come on now,” Kayla crooned. “You’ll hurt my feelings.”
“Aloysha!” The bartender shouted across the room. “These two want an introduction!”
Now Tegan was frozen on her barstool with her white wine spritzer in one hand and her little clutch purse in the other. Kayla made a slow, deliberate turn to face Aloysha. The man was getting up from a table full of dangerous looking men who were most definitely his flunkies. Kayla made eye contact and sent the man a simmering look that never failed to produce results.
Aloysha moved his head around to crack his joints. The move was an obvious attempt at posturing. Kayla allowed herself an internal smirk. As long as her idiot cousin didn’t blow their ruse wide open, this was going to be like taking candy from a baby.
The big Russian came swaggering over to the bar. Tegan drew back, her blue eyes wide open. Kayla took one last opportunity to try and salvage this plan. The bartender was back at work, and she would have no other opportunity. “Pretend to be comfortable and just follow my lead. Remember the plan. And for shit’s sake, stop gaping at him like a teenager sneaking out past curfew.”
Suddenly, Tegan seemed to get control. She leaned back against the bar in a fair imitation of Kayla. That helped Kayla to relax. It also made her more than ready to address the raging case of narcissism that was currently standing in front of her in the form of the bar manager Aloysha. The guy’s ego was so large she was shocked it fit inside the room at all.
“Hello, Aloysha,” Kayla said in an almost mocking tone of voice. “I hear you’re the biggest and best around. Am I right? Or was I misinformed?”
Aloysha threw his head back and laughed. “Here I expected little girls, but you’re no little girl. Are you?”
“No.” Kayla pressed her lips together and gave him the smile that women have been using for millennia when they want a man to do something. “My friend and I are two women looking for a man who can show us a good time.”
*
“Tell me again why we’re here?” Carson asked Wrath as he threw his head back and stared up at the Brookline estate house that Stedman Hyde-Pierson called home.
Wrath was creeping around the perimeter of the house. Dusk had only just fallen, and the last pink rays of the sun were sinking below the horizon. The estate appeared to be almost deserted. Carson followed Wrath and stayed low as his friend had requested, even though it seemed like a pointless exercise.
“Since the ladies are occupied,” Wrath said in a low voice, “I thought this could be a good chance for us to spy on Bridge and Jinx.”
“Bridge and Jinx are part of Nash’s security team.” Carson hadn’t been on staff as long as Wrath, but he was pretty sure that wasting time spying on coworkers was not in his job description.
“Yes,” Wrath agreed. He squatted and turned around to face Carson. They were hunkered down below a terrace that spanned the entire rear face of the palatial house. “Except I’m pretty sure that Bridge and Jinx have been bought.”
“Bought?” Carson frowned. He didn’t appreciate that notion at all. A marine was only as good as his word. “By who?”
“Stedman.”
“Are you saying the man is paying some of his own bodyguards under the table? For what? Why would someone even need to do that? We’re already compensated. We would take a bullet for one of our charges. It’s just how we do things.”
“You are so black and white,” Wrath murmured. He turned and put his hands on top of the balustrade above his head. Leaping up, he bounded onto the terrace.
Carson followed suit. He could not begin to imagine a child version of Kayla growing up here. The notion was ridiculous. She was bold and practical in her own way, but she was also creative and wildly imaginative. This place was so contrived that even Carson was feeling it.
“Does the guy actually live here?” Carson asked, not even bothering to hide his distaste. “It looks like some magazine show home or something.”
“It sort of is,” Wrath muttered. “Bridge and Jinx usually hide out in the billiard room. It’s at the back of the house. Just through here.”
“We’re seriously spying on coworkers?” Carson nudged Wrath with his boot. “Does Nash know you’re doing this?”
“No.” Wrath gave Carson a dirty look. “If Nash knew, he would insist on having one of his meetings where we all sit down and do a round table discussion about the dissention within the ranks.”
Carson remembered those from when Nash had been his commanding officer as an active duty marine. “Meaning that Bridge and Jinx would act contrite and apologetic and you still wouldn’t know where their loyalties lie.”
“Exactly.” Wrath pulled a set of lock picks from his hip pocket and jimmied the French doors at the back of the house open.
“Isn’t there an alarm system?”
“It’s not on when Stedman is here. With the two monkeys watching him, he feels safe enough to leave it off.” Wrath grimaced as he slipped through the opening.
Carson was right behind. The two men stepped onto a plush Persian rug. The room was filled with antiques and the sort of furniture that did not appear to be for actual sitting. Carson could not help the sense of foreign unease and distaste he felt for this place. He’d grown up in a warm, welcoming atmosphere in a house that was constantly filled with children and pets.
“This way,” Wrath murmured.
They followed the sound of pool balls clacking together. There were low voices, but Carson couldn’t make out what they were saying. The closer they got to the billiard room, the more Carson felt as though he were creeping into a very bad situation. There would be absolutely no way to explain their presence in Stedman’s home. They could spin some bullshit story about running an indoor perimeter check or something about reinforcing the alarm or checking the system. There were a thousand different excuses, and in the end, there was no way that Bridge and Jinx were going to believe any of them.
“Are you sure that your boss doesn’t suspect anything?”
Carson sank into a low crouch and wedged himself into a dark doorway in the hall. Just a few feet away, Wrath did the same. The two men waited, using the patience they had learned while overseas serving in the military. Fast was never better. Patience always paid off.
A man wandered past the half-open doorway. Carson recognized him from photographs only. This was Stedman Hyde-Pierson. And he was the one talking about bosses and suspicions. Great. It seemed that Wrath had been right on the money.
A man Carson instantly recognized as Jinx held a pool cue in his meaty hands. “Nash doesn’t suspect either one of us. After that mess with your daughter, we were cleared up.”
“She’s not my daughter!” Stedman’s sharp voice made Carson cringe. “I do not claim that bastard as mine. No daughter of mine would have taken a job in that upstart security firm over a position in a well-established company like mine! I didn’t raise a fool!”
“As you say.” This came from Bridge. Carson could see him leaning against the wall not far from Jinx. “But that whole incident nearly cost us months of prep.”
“Forget Tegan. She’s not important. What about Kayla?” Stedman sounded oddly worried. “They nearly killed her last night. What’s going on?”
“Your niece isn’t exactly friendly with the idea of having a bodyguard.” Jinx cleared his throat. “Although, they’ve put Carson Holcum on her tail. He’s like a machine.”
“Excellent.” Stedman actually sounded pleased, and Carson started to relax. Then Stedman continued. “It has to happen at the exact
perfect moment and not a second too soon. The perfect moment and I will be set for the next part of my plan.”
Moment? Plan? Was the guy actually going to help the killer get rid of Kayla? What the hell was going on?
Chapter Six
Carson was so intent on the conversation going on in front of him that he did not notice how far he was leaning into the hallway from the alcove of the doorway where he had been crouched. His position became readily apparent though when the voices inside the billiard room abruptly stopped.
“There’s someone in the hallway,” Jinx said in a low voice. “I can see a shadow. It’s probably Wrath. He’s never fully trusted us again.”
Stedman cursed in a low, angry voice. “Then catch him! If Wrath blows your cover, then the whole charade is up!”
Wrath shifted from his position slightly closer to the billiard room door. He pointed at Carson and then jerked his hand toward the far end of the hallway where they had entered. The signal was unmistakable. It was time to go.
Carson stayed low but started moving as quickly and quietly down the hallway as he possibly could without giving himself away even more. Wrath was right behind him. The low light on the walls threw crazy shadows against the walls of the close space. None of the other doors were open. The relative darkness made the interior of the house seem oppressive.
“He’s getting away!”
The voice belonged to Bridge, but the words made it seem as though Bridge had fully separated himself from Nash’s team in his mind. They were coming after Wrath. They didn’t realize that he wasn’t alone. And they were willing to murder him to keep anyone else from realizing what was really going on. This was serious shit.
Adrenaline poured into Carson’s veins. He bounded around a corner and saw their entry point ahead. Behind him, Wrath was quickly gaining. They were both much faster than the heavily muscled Bridge and Jinx, but they needed to get out of here or risk a confrontation.
The thick carpet hid the sound of their boots. Carson and Wrath dodged around antique tables and tufted sofas as they headed for the French doors where they’d first come into the house. Night had fallen outside. It was the perfect lighting for an escape.
“Quick,” Wrath urged. “Out and to the left. I hear Jinx and Bridge behind us.”
Carson only heard one set of boots in the carpeted hallway, but he wasn’t about to argue. He launched out of the French doors and hit the stone terrace running. The cool night breeze was welcome against his hot face.
He turned left as Wrath had instructed. Carson started to leap for the grass when he was knocked out of the air by one big, meaty fist. Carson was stunned. He flipped over. The clothesline move caused his feet to come up and his body to do an entire somersault in midair. The landing knocked the air from Carson’s lungs and left him stunned.
Putting his palms flat on the cool stone, Carson attempted to push himself up. Unfortunately, Bridge’s boot was in the center of his back. The man’s laugh was eerie. He was a former marine and Carson’s coworker. The idea that Bridge would turn on them like this was mind boggling.
“Don’t think so, Carson,” Bridge snarled. “Your snooping is going to cost you the same way that Wrath’s will cost him in the end. The two of you should have just followed orders and rolled with the fucking punches.”
Anger swept through Carson. He was not going to just lie here and accept defeat. Bridge was still laughing like a self-satisfied bastard. The weight on Carson’s back shifted just slightly. It was enough.
Carson flipped over onto his belly. He used every abdominal muscle at his disposal, forcing his body over in one quick move. He grabbed Bridge’s calf with both hands. Twisting the limb, Carson slammed his boots flat on the ground and used the leverage to fling his body up even as he yanked Bridge off balance.
The big man toppled over like a mannequin. His upper body bounced off of the stone planter perched on the edge of the terrace. Carson gave an inward cringe as he gained his feet just in time to see Bridge’s shoulder make hard contact with the corner of the stonework. That had to hurt.
But Carson wasn’t done. He grabbed both of Bridge’s hands and wrenched them around behind him. Keeping the man bent in half over the planter with his face in the dirt, Carson wrenched Bridge’s arms high to put his shoulders in a painful position.
“Wrath?” Carson said in a low voice. “Where are you?”
Jinx appeared from behind the billowing curtains half covering the French doors. He had a gun pressed to the right side of Wrath’s head. “Looks like we have a little standoff here.”
Carson drew his weapon. It seemed unimaginable to press it to the back of a fellow marine’s head, but Wrath was a whole lot more important to Carson than Bridge. Carson curled his lip at Jinx. “You shoot Wrath and your boyfriend here is toast. Or perhaps I’ll just hurry up and shoot Bridge and then take you out too. The two of you are the worst sort of traitors. Nobody will care that you’re gone.”
Jinx pulled a face. It was obvious that he was not entirely certain that Carson was bluffing. Carson couldn’t even be sure of that fact. He had rarely felt so damn irritated or just plain insulted. These two were first-rate bastards.
Then Jinx clucked his tongue and shoved Wrath at Carson. Carson flipped his gun end over end in his hand. He used the butt to smack Bridge once at the base of his skull. The man went limp.
Wrath was already sprinting away. Carson took off from a dead halt and followed his compatriot across the lawn and into the thickness of the surrounding trees. There were no shots, but Carson had a bad feeling that they had not heard the last from Bridge and Jinx.
*
“What are we doing?” Tegan whispered in Kayla’s ear.
Kayla was currently hanging on Aloysha’s meaty arm. Kayla waved at Tegan to shut her up. Then she batted her eyelashes at Aloysha. “Can I buy you a drink?”
“Isn’t that my line?” he joked.
Kayla laughed as though he were the wittiest man on the planet. She wanted to roll her eyes. The guy talked about himself so much that she felt like his biographer. “No! I’m so excited to hear about how you’ve been running all these businesses and making people pay what they owe you. Your life is exciting! The least I can do is buy you a drink to thank you for telling me all about it!”
“Sergei!” Aloysha gestured to the bartender. “Bring me a vodka!”
Kayla gave a little inward curse as she realized she wasn’t entirely sure that the drugs she intended to slip into Aloysha’s drink would be invisible in the clear vodka. Well. She would just have to try anyway.
Tegan finally seemed to be onboard with the plan they’d discussed. When the bartender brought the vodka, Tegan swept it up with a teasing grin and a long once-over with her bedroom eyes. “I want a sip.” She let the tip of her tongue just barely skate over her lips.
Kayla could practically feel Aloysha’s horny factor shoot through the roof. Taking a deep breath, Kayla prepared herself for the all-important moment of distraction. She leaned in toward Aloysha, giving him a grand view of her cleavage. Then she gave him a slow, lingering kiss on the lips while Tegan dumped all of the little Ambien pills they’d crushed into the vodka.
From the corner of her eye, Kayla watched Tegan swirl the liquid around and around the glass. It was hard not to end the kiss and turn around to tell Tegan to hurry the fuck up! The Russian tasted like stale cigarettes and rubbing alcohol. No doubt that was caused by a steady diet of cheap whores and vodka. Ugh!
Finally, Tegan brushed Kayla’s back with her hand. Kayla drew back and ended the kiss. Aloysha grabbed the vodka and threw back the whole glass in one go. Excellent. At this point, there was no telling how much time they had. Kayla realized that they had better get him out of the main bar before his men realized they’d drugged the boss.
With that in mind, Kayla gave Aloysha her best come-hither look. “I think it’s time to go upstairs. Surely you have a place where my friend and I can have a private audience.”
&n
bsp; Aloysha threw back his head and laughed, but Kayla quickly realized that he was more or less doing that to get as much attention as possible. Once everyone in the bar was staring at him, he stood up and grabbed both her and Tegan by the arms. He draped them over his and began steering them toward a door set just behind the bar.
Kayla held her breath as they started up the stairs. Tegan was tense, unbelievably so. But she was at least laughing and flirting like a brainless coed. Then about halfway up the narrow staircase that led to the second floor, Aloysha began to sag between them. All of a sudden, they weren’t being escorted, they were practically dragging him up the steps.
“How much did you give him?” Tegan grunted. “He’s going down right now!”
Kayla shoved her shoulder farther beneath the Russian’s sweaty armpit. Ew. This guy was disgusting! “It’s not like I had him fill out a questionnaire about his freaking weight!” she said irritably. “I just doubled the dosage my doctor suggested for me.”
“You take sleeping pills?”
Kayla reached for the door right in front of them. She managed to get her hand around the knob just enough to turn it. The door creaked open. “This really isn’t the time to talk about my personal problems. You know?”
The two women managed to drag their now very heavy burden into his office. There was a leather couch. Kayla hated to imagine what the eager and randy Russian had been imagining would take place on that couch. At least there was no black light in here. She could not even begin to visualize how many gallons of bodily fluids were in this place.
Kayla and her cousin dumped their burden onto the couch, and then both women eagerly stepped away. Kayla gave a little shiver as she struggled to resist the urge to find a vat of hand sanitizer. “Okay. So, you go through his shelves. I’ll take the desk.”
“What are we looking for?” Tegan wrinkled her nose.
Kayla laughed. “You’re the one who came up with this brilliant idea. What do you think we should look for?”
“A sign,” Tegan joked. She started rifling through the bookshelves. “Maybe a book listing every single one of the…”
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