Locked and Loaded

by Mandy Baxter

  “We monitored the account for six months,” Carrera continued. “And BlackDragon finally got a bite.”

  “Kieran?” Mason found it hard to swallow. Kieran was old-school. No way would he use social media as a tool. Besides, he was well established in the trade. He’d handled every aspect of his business for years. He didn’t need a leg up to make a fortune. His business was already well established.

  “No, not Kieran.” Carrera spun his coffee cup between his palms. “Andrew Gentry.”

  Gentry’s reputation almost rivaled Mason’s dad’s. He’d been a heavy hitter in his day, but rumors had circulated for years that he’d given up the life. It seemed the more Carrera tried to explain, the more tangled the story became. None of it made sense.

  “Gentry?” Mason scoffed. “He’s my dad’s age. I’d be surprised if he even knows how to turn on a computer, let alone use social media.”

  “It wasn’t quite that simple,” Charlie added. “It was more of an I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows a guy situation.”

  Yep. A total tangled mess. “So you put surveillance on Gentry?”

  “Yeah,” Charlie said. “He never met with anyone in person. Whoever Gentry communicated with, they exchanged messages hidden in books at local libraries. We weren’t able to intercept any of the messages.”

  Now that was more Gentry’s speed. Sometimes the tried-and-true ways were the best. The Internet was forever. Gentry obviously knew that.

  “After a while, Gentry quit going to the libraries,” Charlie said.

  “But Kieran started showing up?”

  She gave him a sad smile. “Yep. It was a bit of a surprise, since the rumors were that Kieran was living somewhere in Europe. Once a week for a month and a half, he made a stop at a library. Then, he completely stopped. The trail went cold.”

  Mason didn’t have to guess what had happened next. “And Carrera reached out to me.”

  Charlie didn’t respond. She didn’t have to. Mason had been their last resort, and he’d played right into their hands.

  “What if all of this is for nothing?” Mason asked. They didn’t have much to go on. In the back of his mind he wanted them all to be wrong. He didn’t want Kieran to be involved in any of this. “There’s no proof that Kieran is trying to buy his way into Faction Five. You could be wrong.”

  “We could be,” Charlie agreed. “But I’m betting we’re not.”

  “So we keep going.” Did Mason have any other choice at this point? “We wait for Kieran to contact us again and see where the trail leads.”

  “That’s the general consensus.” Carrera took a sip from his cup. “But the sooner we get Charlie out of this, the better.”

  “No way. I already told you, I’m in for however long it takes.”

  Here we go. Mason knew that talking her into taking a backseat role would be a wasted effort. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to try.

  *

  If Charlie had known she was about to be ganged up on, she would have considered phoning in to this meeting. “I’ve proven I can handle it,” she replied. “There’s no reason not to use me. Besides, if I’m suddenly not in the picture anymore, it’ll throw up a red flag.”

  Charlie didn’t want to admit to Mason that she’d given Kieran the impression she’d used Mason to get her an introduction. His mood was bad enough already; there was no reason to further ignite his ire. Cranky Mason was a hell of a lot harder to deal with. In fact, raging pain in the ass pretty much covered it.

  He’d kept his distance from her since L.A. Not even so much as a phone call. Charlie’s own agitation over his silence put her in a less than congenial mood herself. She hated to think that what had happened between them was just a one-night stand. But with the way Mason had iced her out the past week, coupled with his stoic treatment of her now, Charlie felt like he was sending her a pretty clear message.

  She didn’t think it would hurt so badly, but the pain of his rebuff sliced through her rib cage.

  “Why will it throw up a red flag?” Mason pinned her with an accusing stare. “I’ll tell him that what happened in L.A. spooked you and you’ve reconsidered our business relationship. Easy enough.”

  Fine. If he wanted a fight, she’d give him one. “I don’t think he’d buy that explanation.”

  Mason’s gaze narrowed. Charlie was pretty sure if it were possible, daggers would be shooting out of his eyes right about now. “Why?”

  The one word hung in the air. Carrera leaned forward as though pretty damned eager to hear this one.

  Charlie squared her shoulders and knocked her chin up a notch. “I might have told him that it was me who’d wanted to do business with him in the first place and that I’d used you to make the introduction.”

  A quiet moment passed while Charlie envisioned the steam building up pressure in Mason’s head.

  “You did what?”

  Somehow, the level calm of his voice was so much scarier than an angry shout. Charlie cringed. “You two were arguing. We were losing him and—”

  “We weren’t losing him.” Mason’s jaw clenched. “We’ve always argued, Charlie. It’s part of who we are.” He raked his fingers through the length of his dark hair and let out a frustrated gust of breath. “You know, this would all be going a hell of a lot smoother if everyone would quit assuming that they know Kieran better than I do.”

  “Nobody’s assuming that.”

  Mason turned his attention to Carrera and cocked a doubtful brow. “You’re trying to manage him. You’re trying to manage us both, and that’s where you’re fucking this up.”

  “So far, there hasn’t been a single aspect of this operation that’s been managed,” Carrera said with disgust. “We’re so off the rails we’re not even close to the tracks anymore.” He gave Mason a look. “I wouldn’t know how to manage you if I tried.”

  Charlie sensed the coming storm of Mason’s temper. Too bad Carrera seemed oblivious.

  “And yet, you offered me a job in exchange for my help. Who made you do it?” Mason’s tone escalated and drew the attention of a few people in the coffee shop. His eyes met Charlie’s. “Ah. Figures.”

  It figured that Mason would make the leap to assume that she’d been the one to bring him on to the task force. It hurt to think he assumed she’d railroad him like that after everything that happened between them in L.A. Or was it simply her ambition and own need to take control of the situation that had him riled and disdainful? Not for the first time, Charlie wished she could get into Mason’s head and see what he was thinking.

  Mason’s gaze smoldered as he looked from Carrera to Charlie. “I told you when I came on that this had to be done my way. And so far, all anyone’s done is hover, butt in, and try to take over a situation and manage someone they know nothing about.” It didn’t take a genius to know that Mason was addressing her directly. “You need to let me handle this from here on out. Period. If you don’t, you’re going to lose the only connection you might have to Faction Five. Is that what you want?”

  He might as well have ended that sentence with Charlie? Mason wasn’t the only one dealing with frustration. Ever since they’d gotten back from L.A., Mason had behaved as though nothing had happened between them. Hurt sliced through her as he looked at her with nothing more than casual interest. Charlie wanted to kick herself for thinking that an intense intimacy had been forged between them in that hotel room.

  Pathetic.

  “You know what I want,” Charlie snapped. Mason’s eyes widened a fraction of an inch and Carrera sat back in his chair and cleared his throat. She was tired of making amends for the way she’d botched Mason’s plans with Kieran. She’d made a mistake and she’d apologized for it. “But even you have to admit that Kieran isn’t totally sold on the idea of working with us. You can’t cut me out now. It needs to be business as usual.”

  “Business as usual?” Mason scoffed. “Wanna fill me in on what exactly that is? Because there is nothing about this situation that’s
even close to business as usual.”

  Now he was just being difficult. His attitude ignited Charlie’s anger. Stubborn ass. “I’m not going to let you bait me into an argument, Mason.”

  “Oh, there’s no baiting,” Mason assured her. “And I’ll argue my point until I’m blue in the face.”

  Of course he would. “Because you’re stubborn to a fault.”

  Mason’s eyes went wide. “I’m stubborn?” Charlie bristled at his incredulous tone. “Seriously, Charlie, you’re crazy if you think—”

  The muted sound of Mason’s cell ringing cut him off. He fished his phone out of his pocket. “It’s Kieran.”

  Charlie’s stomach knotted with anticipation. Carrera leaned forward in his chair, attention focused on Mason, who slid his finger across the screen. His gaze met Charlie’s for the barest of moments before he answered. “What’s up?”

  Mason kept his expression blank as he listened, which only helped to crank Charlie’s anxiety up into the stratosphere.

  “Yeah.” Mason paused. “Okay.” Another long pause that lasted at least a year. “Whatever.”

  Charlie felt like she might crawl out of her skin at any second. The suspense was killing her. Mason’s grouchy, disinterested tone didn’t help either. His approach to dealing with Kieran was thinly veiled hostility. Charlie couldn’t fault him, she guessed. Had she been in court, it would have been her approach in dealing with the defense.

  “I can do that,” Mason said after a moment. “I’ll need a few days to get everything set up, but it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  The longer they talked, the antsier Charlie got. She wished Mason would wrap up the call already. The suspense was killing her!

  “Why do you need her for this?” Mason’s gaze slid to his left, and Charlie’s jaw clenched. He was trying to cut her out! Dirty, rotten traitor.

  The chances of her being able to prosecute this case were slim-to-none, thanks to her involvement in the undercover aspect of the operation. If Mason managed to get his way and benched her, she’d be practically useless. She wouldn’t be proving any points to anyone if that happened.

  Mason’s expression darkened and tension pulled at his shoulders, tightening his T-shirt over the muscled expanse of his back. “It might take her a few days to line someone up, but I’m sure she can do it.”

  Another silence passed. “I’ll be in touch,” Mason said as he wrapped up the conversation. “Later.”

  He ended the call and shoved the phone back in his pocket. Charlie stared at Mason, her eyes practically bugging out of her head. “Well?”

  Rather than address her directly, Mason turned to Carrera. “Kieran needs to move a large shipment of gems into the country. Four days from now. He wants me to get them past customs and to keep the feds off his back.”

  “And Charlie?” Carrera asked.

  Mason let out a long-suffering sigh. “He wants Charlie to line up the buyers.”

  “Why?” Carrera seemed as skeptical as Mason. Did neither of them think she was competent enough to pull this off?

  “My guess is he doesn’t want the sale connected to him.” Mason’s brow furrowed and his jaw squared with the words. Something bothered him. “He pulled the same thing in L.A. Sort of. He could have negotiated the sale to Katarina, no problem. But he wanted to put a cushion between them.”

  “He could be trying to figure out a way to cover his tracks,” Carrera suggested. “Making sure he could work with Faction Five without anyone being able to make the connection.”

  “Maybe,” Mason said. “Or his motives could be entirely personal.”

  Carrera’s brow furrowed. “How so?”

  “He’s got a thing for Charlie,” Mason said darkly. “He could be looking for an excuse to see her again.”

  “Shit.”

  Carrera’s displeasure didn’t fill Charlie with confidence.

  “Mason’s exaggerating.” She turned the stink-eye on Mason. She wasn’t exactly excited about Carrera reporting that little tidbit to the rest of the task force when he briefed them. “It’s not like that.”

  “The hell it isn’t.” Mason met her look for look. “Which is why we should get her out now.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Charlie said. They could try to get her out, but she’d be damned if they succeeded. “I can handle myself. Period.”

  Carrera and Mason exchanged a look. The chief deputy’s resigned sigh made Charlie want to pump her fist in the air. “We’ll play it by ear. If having her around keeps Eagan happy and distracted, it’ll only help us in the long run.”

  “Jesus.” Mason’s disgusted tone pricked at Charlie’s chest. “This is a fucking joke.” He turned to Charlie as he stood. “Hope you’re happy. You’re getting exactly what you want.”

  Without another word, he strode from the coffee shop and let the door swing shut behind him.

  What in the hell was wrong with him? If he thought he could treat her with disdain and simply walk away, Mason had another think coming. He wanted to go toe-to-toe with her? So be it.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Mason slammed the front door and strode into his living room. He paced from wall to wall, back and forth, back and forth, as he tried to burn off the anger that pooled and burned in his muscles. No one seemed interested in exercising the least bit of caution, especially Charlie. Goddamn it. Mason’s fist connected with the wall and he let out a grunt of pain. The drywall cracked, marred with a streak of crimson. Not even his bleeding knuckles could distract him from the agitation that twisted his gut.

  Fucking Kieran. Fucking Carrera. Fucking task force. Fucking ambition.

  From the start, Charlie had disregarded the danger of her situation. Blind to anything other than the glory, the win, she’d run headlong into something she knew nothing about. Had zero experience with. All Mason wanted to do was get her out. Keep her as far away from Kieran’s world as possible. And not only had Charlie insisted she stay right where she was, she’d managed to convince Carrera that Kieran’s interest in her would benefit them in the long run. Was there anyone on this task force who had their damn head on straight?

  A knock came at Mason’s door. He glared in the direction of the offending sound, knowing full well who stood on the other side. Stubborn didn’t even begin to describe Charlie. Her hardheadedness was absolutely exasperating. He’d spent days trying to get her out of his head. To pretend as though he wasn’t dying inside every time he talked to her, saw her, got within touching distance of her. So many days practicing detachment, and she’d shown Mason how much their night together meant by offering herself up to Kieran on a silver platter.

  Mason knew he had no right to be jealous. Charlie wasn’t his. He wanted her to be, though. That got to him more than anything. He didn’t care about the job, the glory, none of it. Not anymore. The only thing that mattered was her.

  Another round of obnoxious knocks started up. It seemed his relationship with Charlie stemmed from their antagonism. She couldn’t help but wind him up. Mason stalked to the door and threw it wide, to find her standing on the front steps, arms folded across her chest, her expression livid.

  “You’re seriously just going to walk away from me like that?”

  She must have run to her car and followed hot on his heels after he’d left the coffee shop. He fought a smile as he pictured her, enraged, outraged, and prepared to throw down for whatever wrong she perceived had been committed against her.

  That indignant fire was one of the things Mason loved about her. Unfortunately, it was also one of the things that drove him up a freaking wall.

  “Yeah,” Mason said as a matter of fact. “I’m a grownup. I can do what I want.” Charlie stomped past him, into the living room, and Mason closed the door behind her.

  “You’re a pain in the ass, is what you are.”

  “I’m a pain in the ass?” Laughable. “I’m not the one who’s out of her depth and refuses to admit it.”

  “Out of my depth?” Charlie�
��s voice escalated with disbelief. “This is my task force. I know exactly what I’m doing.”

  “And you won’t let me forget it, will you?” Mason asked. “That you’re the boss. That every decision is yours to make. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re throwing your weight around again. It was made pretty clear to me today that you’re not even above extortion to get what you want.”

  “I can’t believe you’d jump to that conclusion.” Charlie leaned forward, hands on her hips. “It was Carrera who suggested it would be in the task force’s best interest to offer you a position with the Marshals Service in exchange for your help.”

  Mason sneered. “So I’m supposed to believe that you hadn’t done your homework and didn’t know a job with the Marshals Service was the one thing I wanted?”

  Charlie met his gaze head-on. “Yes! You were in that boardroom with me, Mason. I didn’t have a clue who you were or what your connection to Kieran was. Carlos insisted we bring you on. I didn’t want you.” She looked away as though embarrassed to make the admission. “You’re stubborn, opinionated, have a problem with authority, and you quit your job with CBP. I saw no value in adding you to the task force. I told you, Mason, there isn’t anything I won’t do to bring Faction Five down. I thought you’d accepted that about me.”

  Her words hit with the impact of a blow to his gut. “What else are you willing to do for the win, Charlie?”

  Mason wished he could take back the words the second they left his mouth. He waited for the inevitable crack of her palm across his cheek but it never came. Instead, she leveled her icy blue gaze at him. Her silence was far worse than any other punishment she could dish out. Hurt accentuated her delicate features as she turned and headed for the door.

  The eerie, pre-storm quiet of Charlie’s hurt and anger settled on Mason’s shoulders and pressed him toward the floor. It compressed his lungs. Squeezed the air from his chest. He forced his legs forward and reached the door as Charlie pulled it open. His fingers closed over hers on the knob and he eased it shut.

  “What happened to your hand?” she asked without turning to face him.