“Somebody attempted to kidnap you,” Mick corrected her. “And his men were nowhere to be found. He did something wrong.”
Trevor understood their anger, and didn’t fight it. He was angry with himself too. Devastatingly so. “Let’s go inside,” he said. “We can discuss it inside.”
Big Daddy was still hot, and so was Mick, but they agreed with Trevor: out here was not the place for this kind of conversation.
Big Daddy placed his hand around Carly’s waist, and walked with her inside Trevor’s house. Mick followed them. Trevor checked out Mick’s security (nearly ten men strong) as they stood outside of their SUVS. And went inside too.
Once inside, Big Daddy and Mick sat on either side of Carly on the sofa, as if they were sandwiching her into their spear of protection, and Trevor sat in the flanking chair. Nobody wanted anything to drink or to eat. They just wanted answers.
Trevor leaned forward. Carly could see the anguish in his eyes. “There was a breakdown,” he said. “No doubt about it. I’ve got every one of my men working on it.”
“Where were these men of yours when Carly was being attacked?” Big Daddy asked.
“I’m still in the process of finding that out. But I will.”
Although Big Daddy appeared on edge, Mick was leaned back with his legs crossed, seemingly very calm and collected. But inwardly he was a raging bull. “Is this related to that hit on Celletti?” he asked.
Big Daddy and Carly looked at Trevor. Neither knew who Celletti was, or anything about a hit.
“I don’t know yet,” Trevor said. “But I believe I know who set me up.”
“Who?”
“Guy called Dodge Rogers. An agency man. He’s gone to ground, but I have my guys out searching for him now.”
“What else?” Mick asked.
“I know the agency’s field chief was killed. He’s the man who gave me my assignments. He was killed when he was about to tell me who might have set me up.”
“A woman showed up at the job,” Carly said. She wasn’t holding anything back. Not from her family. “She claimed to be Trevor’s wife.”
Both Mick and Big Daddy looked hard at Trevor. “Your wife?” Big Daddy asked.
“It was a lie,” Carly quickly said.
“How do you know that?” Big Daddy asked her.
Carly knew this would sound naïve, but she said it anyway. “Because Trevor said it wasn’t true,” she said.
Trevor felt a surge of warmth inside for Carly. His word was enough for her. Nobody had ever had that kind of faith in him ever. He loved her even more.
But he expected her father and uncle to lash into her for taking anybody at their word. But they didn’t. Big Daddy even nodded. “Okay,” he said. “So she was lying. But the question remains why?”
They were looking at Trevor for answers. He exhaled. “She’s a trained assassin.”
“You mean like you?” Mick asked.
Trevor glanced at Carly. “Not like me, no,” he said. “I do sanctioned hits the government needs done. Usually involving people who are national security risks. But she works for the highest bidder. You pay her, she’ll do the job.”
“Including jobs the government wants done?” Big Daddy asked.
Trevor nodded. “Yes,” he said.
But Big Daddy was still confused. “Why would she show up at Reese Marketing claiming to be your wife?” he asked.
“She wanted to see what she was up against.”
Big Daddy needed more. “Meaning?”
Trevor hated to go there. But he knew he had to. “She wanted to eyeball her target,” he said.
Big Daddy frowned. Mick’s heart dropped. “Her target?” Big Daddy asked. “Who was her target?”
“From what I’ve been told,” Trevor said, “the target is Carly.”
Big Daddy frowned. “Carly? Why in the world would my daughter be in the bullseye of a contract killer?”
A look of guilt, regret, and anguish appeared all over Trevor’s face. “Because she’s with me,” he said. “They’re after me, but instead of a direct hit, they want to bring me around.”
“Around to what?” Big Daddy asked.
Trevor exhaled. “I don’t know yet,” he said.
“But it’s agency related?” Big Daddy asked.
Trevor nodded. “I believe so, yes.”
Big Daddy ran his hands through his hair. This was turning into a nightmare. “How do you know she’s targeting Carly if you don’t even know why they’re targeting you?”
“I’m searching for answers now,” Trevor said. “There are no ready answers. I’m doing all I can.”
“Who told you Carly was the target?” Mick asked.
Trevor hesitated. “My brother,” he said.
Even Carly looked at him. “Your brother?” She was stunned. “I didn’t know you had a brother.”
“It’s not known, no. The agency has scrubbed my record of any link to him.”
Mick was staring at him. “Why?” he asked. “Because he’s an agency man too?”
“One of their most powerful,” Trevor said. “Yes.”
“Who is he?” Mick wanted to know.
Trevor looked Mick dead in the eye. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Yes, you can,” Mick said. “And you will. He has knowledge about my niece. Who is he?”
Trevor hesitated. He knew making an enemy of Mick the Tick would be unwise on any given day, but especially when the man’s niece was involved. “Hamilton Reese,” he said.
Mick was shocked. “Hammer Reese?” he asked.
Trevor nodded. “Yes.”
“Damn,” Mick said.
Big Daddy and Carly looked at Mick. “Who is he?”
“He was once Director of the CIA,” Mick said.
Big Daddy and Carly both were astounded. They looked at Trevor. “Your brother once ran the CIA?” Carly asked him.
Trevor nodded. “Yes, before he was forced out. But like most men in his position, he keeps a shadowy organization going strong, with him at the helm.”
“And this trained assassin?” Mick asked.
“One of his, yes,” Trevor said.
“What does Celletti have to do with this?” Mick asked.
“I don’t know if he does,” Trevor responded. “But they got me to kill that man right when he was in a power struggle for control of his own syndicate. Now they want to send me a message. Carly was probably going to be their bargaining tool.”
“And what were they bargaining for?” Mick asked. “What you know about the agency? Or what you know about Celletti?”
“Those are questions I can’t answer yet,” Trevor said.
“But if they wanted to kidnap me and not kill me,” Carly asked, “why would they hire an assassin to do the job?”
Big Daddy nodded. “Good question,” he said. And then he and Carly looked at Trevor.
Trevor hated to admit it. “They were going to kill her,” he said with pain in his voice. “After they got what they wanted. An assassin doesn’t do the kidnapping, but one wouldn’t be involved unless there’s an end result.”
Carly felt that dread again, and so did her father. He placed his arm around her. And he made a decision. “She’s coming back to Jericho with me,” he said.
Trevor’s heart dropped. “Jericho? To Maine?”
“Daddy, I can’t leave Trevor.”
“Like hell you can’t! You’re coming back with me until he can get this shit straightened out. If he’s the ultimate target, then I need to take you out of the bullseye.”
She hated defying Big Daddy, but she felt she had no choice. “I’m staying with Trevor,” she said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Even Mick was surprised by her comment. Big Daddy looked at her with anger in his eyes. “You don’t tell me what you aren’t going to do,” he said bluntly. “If I say you’re going back to Maine with me, that’s where you’re going. Understand?”
Carly wasn’t accustomed to standing u
p to Big Daddy. It just wasn’t done in their household. “I’m with Trevor now,” she said. “I have to stay with him.”
Big Daddy stared at her. He was as shocked as anyone else, but he respected the fact that she did not back down. “You love him. I get it. But you’re going back with me.”
“No, she’s not,” Trevor said and everybody looked at him. “She’s my woman, my responsibility. I’ll take care of her, sir.”
“The way you took care of her at that gas station?” Big Daddy asked.
“That was on me,” Trevor admitted. “I had two teams on her detail, and both bailed. I’ve got to do better than that, and I know it. And I will, I promise you that. But if we’re going to be together, and we are,” he added, “then at some point you have to let go, and I have to take over. I’m taking over. Like it, don’t like it, I can’t give a fuck. Carly is my responsibility. She’s staying with me.”
Carly knew those were harsh words, but she agreed with every word. She looked at her father. “I love you, Daddy,” she said. “You know that. But I’m with Trevor now. You don’t have to worry about me anymore.”
Big Daddy couldn’t believe she said that. Not worry about her? Was she insane? He knew it wasn’t as simple as they were making it out to be. He was never going to stop worrying about Carly.
Trevor knew it too. So he looked at Big Daddy, and pressed the issue. “If your wife’s father would have told you she was leaving you, and going with him because she was in a tough spot,” Trevor asked Big Daddy, “would you have allowed it?”
“Before I married her?” Big Daddy asked.
Trevor stared at him. “Before she became your wife, yes,” he said.
Big Daddy could have said yes, he would have allowed her father to take her away from him because it would have been for her own good. But he knew that would be a lie. “No,” he said. “I would not have allowed it.”
“Neither would I if it had been Rosalind,” Mick volunteered, and all of them, surprised, looked at him. “She belongs with her man,” Mick said to his big brother. “He’ll get his shit together.”
Trevor and Carly both smiled. The idea of Mick as their defender was heartwarming. Even Big Daddy felt a sense of relief too. Mick had a knack for sizing up the good and the bad in people. He wouldn’t leave his niece with a man he didn’t feel was up to the job.
But just as they were about to thank him for his support, the sudden sound of gunfire could be heard outside.
Mick jumped up, pulling out his weapon. Trevor jumped up, pulling out his too. And Big Daddy and Carly jumped up. Trevor pulled out a second gun, and handed it to Carly. “Stay in here,” he said, as he and Mick hurried outside.
It broke Big Daddy’s heart to see his child have to be placed in this kind of situation, but there was no turning back now. She was in the situation.
“You can handle that thing?” he asked her, looking at the gun in her hand.
Carly nodded. “Yes, sir,” she said with determination in her eyes. “I can handle it.”
And Big Daddy, oddly confident that she could, pulled out his own gun and hurried to see what the commotion was about too.
It was a gun fight. Some of their men were down, while others were shooting, not at an enemy in front of them, but at an enemy above them. Gunfire was raining down from two helicopters buzzing above them. Big Daddy, like Mick and Trevor, ran and took cover behind the SUVs in the driveway, and began firing too. They mostly missed, but fired as much as they could. Trevor, however, saw the futility of their efforts and ran back inside of the house.
Big Daddy and Mick and the security that remained continued firing. But Mick saw the problem. They were spreading their firepower all over the place, and it wasn’t doing either copter damager. “Take one!” Mick yelled. “Everybody focus on one, the one to the left of us, and get that sucker down!”
They all heeded Mick’s order, with everybody firing at the same object, and eventually it worked. After volley upon volley of shots, the copter careered to earth and crashed.
But the firepower on that second copter was more than they could handle. They kept shooting, but mostly they took cover.
Until Trevor came back outside with a tube-shaped rocket launcher, a bazooka, in his hand. He ran into his yard as the others gave him cover. He aimed his bazooka and fired once, hitting just above the landing skid, near the cockpit, of the helicopter. The helicopter lurched into a downward dive, and then went into a tailspin, and began smoking and spinning completely out of control, until it crash-landed in a nearby field.
Mick, Big Daddy, and their men who were unharmed all stood from their stooped positions and looked at Trevor. Mick was smiling.
Big Daddy was shaking his head. “A fucking bazooka,” he said. Then he nodded his head. Yeah boy,” he said. “I think you can handle this.”
“This is not mob shit,” Mick said. “A copter? This has government written all over it.”
And Trevor, who finally brought his bazooka down from over his shoulder, couldn’t agree more.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Trevor was back in the house as soon as the threat was eliminated, and Carly ran to him. “Is everybody okay?” she asked. “Where’s my father? Where’s Uncle Mick?”
“Everybody’s okay,” Trevor assured her as he removed the gun from her hand. “We took some casualties,” he admitted, “but we’re okay.”
“What happened out there?”
“An attack.”
“By whom?” Carly asked.
“We don’t know yet. Come on,” he took her by the hand and began hurrying her toward the exit.
“Where are we going?”
“We’ve got to move. It’s not safe here. Let’s go!”
Carly started to ask more questions, but she bit her tongue. Trevor would not be dragging her out of his home, with that look of deep concern and urgency on his gorgeous face, if he didn’t absolutely have to.
The convoy of SUVs left Trevor’s estate and arrived at Mick Sinatra’s home in Boston: a safe house that looked more like a mansion. Big Daddy, who sat behind the passenger seats beside Mick, smiled. “Is there a city anywhere in this country where you don’t have a safe house?” he asked his brother. “But wait a minute. Let me guess: Mississippi?”
“Wrong,” Mick responded.
“Then where? Which state doesn’t have a safe house with your name on the deed?”
“Alaska,” Mick said and Carly, who sat on the back seat with Trevor, behind Mick and Big Daddy, laughed. Big Daddy laughed too. Everybody did. Except Trevor. He, instead, held Carly’s hand tighter. He still blamed himself for the fuckup that almost took the life of the most important human being in this world to him. He had nothing to laugh about.
The security around Mick’s “safe house” was unbelievably thick as they rode through the gate. Outside of the gate were armed men. At the booth were armed men. Inside the gate were even more armed men. Trevor thought he had tight security, but he had nothing on Mick Sinatra.
Once inside the safe house, the domestic staff provided them drinks, offered food, and they all settled in the living room. Trevor sat beside Carly on the sofa, with their bodies so tight against each other that there was no daylight, Big Daddy noticed, while he and Mick sat in the two flanking chairs.
“Who in the agency knows you’re dating my niece?” Mick asked Trevor.
Trevor leaned forward. “The agency knows I’m fucking her,” he said bluntly, causing Big Daddy to grimace, “but they think she’s one of many.”
“That’s what you thought anyway?” Mick asked.
Trevor nodded. “Yes,” he said. “Apparently, I thought wrong.” Then he frowned. “I tried to keep her out of the glare.”
“It doesn’t work,” Mick told him and everybody looked at him. “I tried to keep my wife out of the glare, too. Big Daddy tries also. But when you have secrets to hide, you have enemies. And enemies have to make sure you don’t have secrets.”
“The only way y
ou’re going to shield Carly,” Big Daddy said, “is to leave her. Are you willing to do that, Trevor? Are you willing to give her up for her own good?”
Big Daddy and Mick stared at Trevor as if his answer would tell them what he was made of.
Trevor felt shame, and hurt, and pain, but he was not going to lie. “No,” he said honestly, squeezing Carly’s hand. “I can’t give her up.”
Carly felt a surge of emotion sweep through her body. She leaned closer against Trevor, if that were possible. But Big Daddy and Mick were feeling a different emotion. They were feeling relieved.
Mick even nodded his head. “Good,” he said. And then he made, for him, what was a bold assertion. “I couldn’t give mine up either,” he said.
Trevor looked at him. He was a mobster’s mobster. He was a man every man feared. “Isn’t that called selfishness?” he asked him.
But Big Daddy answered for his kid brother. “No,” he said bluntly. “It’s called love. If you were willing to give her up, I was not going to allow her to have anything more to do with you. I would not respect you if you could give her up.”
It felt as if a burden had been lifted from Trevor’s shoulders. He might have feared Mick the Tick the way he would fear a worthy opponent, but he respected Big Daddy Sinatra. Mick was a mobster’s mobster. Big Daddy was a man’s man. Mick knew it too.
“What we need to figure out,” Mick said, leaning forward, “is who’s behind the attack. And if it’s connected to what happened to you in San Diego.”
Carly and Big Daddy both seemed surprised. “What happened in San Diego?” Carly asked.
Trevor didn’t want to go there. Not with Carly present.
“My suggestion,” Big Daddy said, “is that you hide nothing from her. She has to know, if she’s going to be with you, what she’s up against.”
Trevor could tell Mick didn’t share Big Daddy’s opinion. He could tell Mick probably did not share all that went down in his other life with his wife. But he wasn’t in love with Mick’s daughter. He was in love with Big Daddy’s daughter. Big Daddy knew what she could handle and couldn’t handle. He knew what was best for her.
Trevor Reese: His Secret Love Page 13