Jason (Kings of Guardian #4)

by Kris Michaels

  “Tippy can stay, too?”

  “Of course.”

  “Can we sleep with you? Tippy’s still scared.”

  “Is he?” Jason guided Reece back onto his chest.

  He let out a contented sigh and breathed, “Maybe a little.”

  “Go to sleep, buddy. I’ll protect you.” Jason kissed his head.

  “Momma and Tippy, too?” The question ended in a huge yawn.

  Jason turned his head toward her and smiled. “Always.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  “But I have everything I need for tomorrow. The dress, shoes, even a purse. Tori helped me pick them all out before we flew out here. I don’t understand what you think I’d need.” Faith smoothed the silk skirt she was wearing and messed with the hem. Tori swore the two-piece suit looked good on her. She wasn’t buying it. The clothes were way tighter than she usually wore.

  “Stop fidgeting, you look beautiful.” Jason cupped her chin in his massive palm and lifted his thumb to caress her cheek.

  Instant denial flew to her lips, but his green eyes held an intense honesty that she couldn’t evade. Instead, she swallowed the lump in her throat and gave him a small smile. “Thank you.”

  She licked her lips and watched his eyes drop to her actions. His low growl spread a warmth inside her that she vowed never to take for granted. “We could go back to our hotel and order room service.”

  Jason lowered as she leaned up. He dropped the sweetest, lightest kiss on her lips before pulling away. Faith chased his lips, lifting on her toes to do so. His low chuckle turned the attempt to prolong the kiss into an embarrassing moment. Faith could feel the rush of blood to her face.

  “Hey, no… I want you, baby. I’d love nothing more than to stand here and kiss you all night, but then they might get upset.” Jason tilted his head and sidestepped to his right. She followed his gesture and gasped.

  Faith spun toward Jason and bounced on her toes to kiss him on the cheek. “Oh, my God! Thank you!” Her squeal turned heads but she didn’t care. She ran as fast as she could in the heels and skirt she was wearing to Helena and fell into a familiar, warm hug.

  “I’m so glad you’re here!” Faith reached over and brought Cal into the hug too.

  “Like I’d miss my BFF’s wedding day? Hell no, child!” Helena wiped none too delicately at the tears that streamed down her face. “Good thing I don’t wear makeup, girl, or we’d have to take a trowel to my face and re-plaster it!”

  “You don’t need makeup, babe, I love you just the way you are.” Cal kissed his wife’s cheek and made her blush.

  Cal leaned in and gave Faith a kiss on the cheek too. “Good to see you looking so happy.”

  “I am so happy! I’m afraid to do or say anything to jinx this.” Faith felt Jason slip his arm around her waist and leaned back into his solid body.

  “Girl, you are not ten, life can’t be jinxed. You are beyond blessed. Enjoy it, you deserve him. And you, mister.” Helena lifted a finger, shaking it at Jason. “Thank you for the plane tickets and the tickets to this show!” Her smile beamed across her face. Faith felt Jason tense, and his terse “Excuse me?” set the hairs on the back of her neck on end. She twisted to see his face.

  “The tickets. Thank you,” Helena repeated.

  Jason glanced at Cal, pulling Faith into his side. He scanned the crowd as he spoke. “I didn’t send any tickets. I didn’t know you were in Las Vegas until Helena’s message came through Guardian’s switchboard.”

  “What message?” Helena asked.

  Jason started walking backward toward the door, catching his security detail’s attention, putting them on alert. “Cal, watch my six, I got yours.” His warning terrified Faith to the point she tripped over her own feet. Jason’s arm supported her and almost carried her as he continued to back out of the room.

  Cal immediately pulled Helena toward the doorway, following Jason’s lead, keeping his attention on the doorway Jason and Faith were backing toward.

  ***

  Jason watched his team deploy through the crowded theater lobby. He carried a Glock 43 on his ankle, nothing more than a close-quarter, last-line-of-defense pea shooter, but a 9mm nonetheless. He hadn’t seen a bulge under Cal’s suit jacket, so if the off-duty cop was carrying, it wasn’t visible.

  Faith stumbled. He locked his arm around her waist and lifted her, carrying her weight effortlessly as he backed out of the room. The lobby was a perfect place for an ambush… one entrance, and the only other exit would push them into the theater, where the elevated seating would be a prime location for a shooter to wait.

  One of his team spun, jerking before he fell. The muted thud of a muffled shot echoed in the large lobby. A lady screamed and all hell busted loose. He and Cal pushed the women into the corner of the room behind them and a large planter. “Get down and stay down. Do not get up!” he roared as he swept his gun from its holster. Cal pulled a small-caliber weapon at the exact moment another muffled explosion sounded and a spit of dust from the drywall behind Jason puffed into the air.

  “Suppressor!” He roared the warning and shifted, trying to locate his target among the throng of people screaming and running for the exits.

  He grabbed Cal. “Take the women. Get them out!”

  The man was moving before Jason could finish his statement. One of his security detail leaned over his teammate and checked the downed man’s pulse. He shook his head and backed away from the body. His rage boiled. He lifted to his full height and easily identified his target. The man wore a hotel uniform. The gun was currently behind his back, but he could see the end of the suppressor’s barrel.

  Just as he found the assassin, the man’s eyes locked on him. A wicked sneer and a flick of the killer’s eyes behind and to the right of Jason was his only indication there was another shooter. He dropped and rolled. The floor exploded several times in rapid succession, sending stinging chips of stone at the exposed skin of Jason’s face.

  He lunged to his right and launched a body block at the legs of the shooter, his aggressive move completely at odds with what every other normal human’s reaction would be while in the sights of a weapon. His flying tackle hit the man at his knees, dropping the smaller gunman, sending his pistol skittering across the marble.

  He had to trust his team would take out the other shooter, but this bastard was his. All his. The man flipped to his stomach and then to his feet, immediately dropping into a fighting stance. He rolled his bulk effortlessly and leveled his gun.

  “On your knees. Hands on your head.” Jason’s aim was direct and at center of mass. If the fucker twitched, he’d be dead. At this range, even his small weapon would do the trick.

  The man’s eyes locked on him. He could see the perp run the scenarios. Fucker wanted to run. “I will kill you.”

  “Then you’ll never know who sent me.”

  “The Russian accent gives that away, ass-wipe.” Jason smiled. After countless debriefings with covert operatives, he knew the tactics the man tried to employ. Keep your mark talking and get him to think of other things besides his own safety.

  “Russia is very big. So many peoples.” The son of a bitch had the audacity to smile.

  He didn’t respond. Instead, he cocked his neck and lifted an eyebrow. “Knees now or I’ll drop you.”

  “You wou—” The Russian’s sudden aggressive movement toward him became the catalyst to break the standoff. He lowered his sights and squeezed the trigger, sending a nine-millimeter slug through the right kneecap of the fucker, dropping the piece of shit. From the screams coming from the man, he’d hit what he’d aimed at. The son of a bitch was lucky. With the smaller weapons, trigger jerk could be such a bitch. He might have pulled his shot high and hit the man in the balls.

  He centered his gun on the writhing, screaming man and glanced into the room. His men had the other shooter handcuffed and on the ground. The fucker wasn’t moving—unlike the worm in front of him.

  He walked over to the man a
nd kicked him onto his back. “You’ll talk. I have no doubt. Sizning tashkilotingiz mening o’ch omon bo’lmayd.” Your organization will not survive my revenge. Jason’s Uzbek was rusty at best, but it was good enough that the motherfucker understood him. The Russian mafia wouldn’t survive his vengeance. The attack on his family would be the beginning of the organization’s end. He’d dismantle the fuckers piece by bloody piece.

  “Siz faqat bilmayman, o’lik odamsiz.” The man spit the threat out and Jason mentally translated the words. “I’m dead? I just don’t know it? Really? It sounds as if you have big ideas for such a pathetic errand boy. I don’t have the time or patience to do this the nice way. So tell me, my friend, what else is planned?”

  “Fuck you!” The snarled retort was choked out between ragged gasps for air.

  “No thanks. But how about you tell me what you know?” Jason put his foot on the man’s shattered joint and added a slight amount of his weight to the damage. The keening high-pitched wail was sickening enough to turn a person’s stomach, at least until the gunman passed out. Pity.

  “What you just did? That shit’s not right.” Cal spoke from behind him.

  Jason spun, looking for Faith. “Where are they?”

  “With about four hundred LVPD uni’s outside.”

  He nodded toward one of his security team. “Secure the perimeter, get our people here, now.” To the last remaining member of his team he barked, “Report.”

  “Johnson is dead. One to the back of the head. That bastard was the shooter. I saw it happen. That’s the other fucker.” He pointed toward the man cuffed on the ground.

  “Give a statement to responding units. Get me Johnson’s contact information. I need to ensure his family is notified.” Jason dropped the clip of his weapon and jacked the slide, extracting the chambered round. He added the bullet to the clip and dropped it into his pocket.

  “Seriously, what the fuck is happening here and what was that all about?” Cal gestured toward the unconscious Russian on the ground.

  “What? I didn’t kill him.” Jason rolled his eyes at Cal’s indignation.

  “But you had no justifiable cause to step on his knee. He wasn’t resisting.”

  Jason did a double-take.

  “Do you speak or understand Uzbek?”

  Cal shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. What you did? That’s fucked up.”

  “Not really. Look, I know you don’t have the background on this situation. You know what I do for a living. Trust me, this is an ongoing event and even if it wasn’t, this man just tried to kill us. His people are to blame for the explosion that nearly killed Faith, Reece and Helena. Honestly, I would skin him alive, use every means necessary to extract exactly what information I need to protect not only my family, but every man, woman and child this bastard’s organization enslaves. You’re in the big leagues now, my friend, and this man is the enemy. Time to grow a pair and step up. He was paid to kill us. Besides, he’s lucky I didn’t kill him, because, believe me, I want too.”

  “Seriously, bro, doing Vegas for most of the world does not include a shootout… unless you are over at that Wild West casino on Tropicana Avenue, but damn, dude…” Jacob’s low whistle echoed in the vacant theater lobby. “The O.K. Corral’s got nothing on you.”

  “Faith and Helena?”

  “With Tori and my team. The kids are secure and the nanny and hotel have been assigned extra security. The ladies should be back at our suites by now.” Jacob walked up and toed the unconscious man. He took out his cell and popped a picture before he worked his phone. “Just sent a text to Tori to let the ladies know you two are alright.”

  Jacob moved across the room repeated the camera action with the second man. Several EMT teams rushed into the lobby and started working on the unconscious men.

  “Get some men here to take over security from LVPD. I want one of my team on each of those fuckers until we get reinforcements here.”

  “Got teams inbound. We have several personal security officers we can pull from assets in California if needed. Jade and Jewell are flying in from assignments. We can put them on Faith when you’re not with her.”

  Jared spoke as he walked into the room. “Well, when you go to Vegas to get married, bubba, you do it in style, that’s for sure. Bet Faith never forgets the night before her wedding.”

  Cal chuckled beside him, and both Jason’s brothers finally gave the man their attention. “Cal Samuelsson. I believe my wife and I are unwitting participants in this plan. We received airline tickets and tickets to this show from a messenger. Helena thought Jason sent them. I didn’t see the note, but I assumed it, too.”

  “Cal, these are my brothers, Jacob, who runs Overseas Operations for Guardian Security, and Jared, who is in charge of Domestic Operations.”

  Both men shook Cal’s hand. They terminated the pleasantries quickly and looked at Jason. He picked up the story. “I didn’t know they were in town until I received a message from Helena through the switchboard. It said they were in town and looking forward to a night out starting with this show. There was nothing to lead me to believe it was a set-up. I thought they were here to surprise Faith.”

  Jacob’s phone buzzed, drawing everyone’s attention. He huffed a lungful of air and flipped in the phone before he pocketed it. “Joseph doesn’t have intel on any Russian assassins currently working in the U.S. He thinks they are probably mob hit men. Amateurs.”

  “Amateurs? They killed a man. What the hell would you call a professional?” Cal’s voice cracked.

  “In our world, if an assassin had accepted a contract for one of us, we would be dead. Elite assassins kill without collateral damage—clean, concise and completely unexpected.” Jason glanced over at where his man was being put into a body bag. He shrugged against the pain of that sight and watched as the crime scene technicians gathered evidence.

  “They were after you?” Cal asked.

  “Yes. Guardian is going after the Russian cartel’s main source of income. Human trafficking. We are the lead agency in a worldwide operation. According to our sources, they don’t know what is coming, but they knew Guardian has been feeling around the edges. This, and the attempt on Faith before, are warnings for us to stop.”

  “Are you going to? Stop?”

  “Can’t. Too much is at stake. I’ll take measures to make sure Faith and Reece are safe. You and Helena have been compromised. We will talk about what that means for you and your options. If our operatives and intelligence on the Russians are correct, they suspect we are after them, but they have no idea what is on the horizon.”

  “War.” Jacob’s voice summed up Guardian’s future in a word.

  “War,” Jason agreed, and looked at Cal as he continued, “One I will win.”

  A technician came over and introduced himself by way of a credential flash. Jason surrendered his weapon to be processed and glanced over at the patrol that waited next to his man. “We need to give statements.” He turned his gaze to Cal and lifted an eyebrow.

  “Pity, I didn’t see anything. I was too busy getting the women out of harm’s way. I’m afraid I’ll be no use, but I’ll make sure LVPD has my statement. Seems I’ve grown a backbone.” He looked directly at Jason. “Just FYI, I’ve always had balls the size of coconuts.”

  Jared barked out a laugh and put his arm around Cal’s shoulders. “Well, then, my tropical-fruit-sporting friend, we need to see about bringing you into the fold. Have you given any thought to a career change?”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Faith watched Tori pour another portion of vodka into Helena’s tumbler. Her trembling hand still held the crystal glass with the first offering. After ensuring Reece was safe and sleeping with Tori’s sons in the adjacent suite, she’d sunk onto the sofa and hadn’t moved.

  “They’re fine and will be here soon. We’ll watch Reece tonight. I think you need some time alone with your man.” Tori’s words hung in the air.

  Helena chugged the shot and held ou
t her glass for another. “I know I don’t need another one, but hit me again.” Tori chuckled and the two women talked, but Faith couldn’t focus on what they said. Two words kept circling on repeat in her brain.

  “They’re fine,” she repeated, almost to herself.

  Tori sat down directly across from her and reached out, placing a hand on her knee. Strange how she didn’t realize how cold she was until Tori’s warm touch.

  “Faith, I need you to drink that. You look kind of pale.” Tori put her hand under the crystal tumbler and lifted it. She blinked, trying to understand what Tori was saying. She couldn’t hold the tumbler steady. Her body shook… no, she was shivering. Why was she shivering?

  She blinked again because Tori was suddenly next to her. “Hey, I know you’re trying to process what happened. Bottom line is your man is alright. Cal is alright. They’ll be here soon.”

  When Tori draped a blanket around her shoulders, Faith glanced up. Helena winked at her and grabbed the vodka bottle. “I don’t know about you, girl, but me and the rest of this bottle are getting up close and personal tonight.”

  “Look, I get that it’s hard, but you have to trust these guys to do their jobs. They’re the absolute best at what they do.” Tori adjusted the blanket around Faith’s shoulders as she spoke.

  Faith used both hands to put the alcohol on the table and grabbed the edges of the blanket to wrap it around her tighter. “How do you do it, Tori?”

  The beautiful blonde smiled and pushed a stray lock of hair off her cheek in a motherly gesture. “Before I met Jacob, I worked for an agency that decided I was expendable. Jacob and his team rescued me from a bad situation that I probably wouldn’t have survived. I left that agency and worked with them, Guardian, I mean. The organization is light years ahead of the rest of the national law enforcement entities because it is privately funded and not constrained by the cumbersome oversight that shrouds the FBI, CIA or Homeland. The King brothers are dedicated to making this world a better place. Sometimes, however, the world tries to stop them. Tonight was one of those times. It would appear, from what I can gather, that there is a big operation on the horizon. If I know those men, they are preparing for an offensive, and I pity whomever they have in their scopes.”