by Dale Mayer
“But that’s wonderful. You can make the medicine, save yourself, and give it to the world so others can be helped.”
“Anyone who wants it will have to pay for it.” He glared at her. “Do you know what it’s like to beg for just the basics of a health-care program? It’s disgusting. We spent years helping others, and yet nobody would do the same for us. That’s what I take away from this. If somebody else wants that goddamn medicine, then they’ll have to pay for the treatment.”
Not liking what she heard, she sat back. Before her was not the same man she’d worked with for months. Instead she was seeing the bitter hard result of a man who’d fought and lost a war and his wife as a result. “I’m so sorry about Susan,” she said. “I had no idea she was sick.” She nodded at the box with the perfume in it. “Take it. Take it and go.”
“It’s not that simple anymore.” He turned his fury to Stone. “You involved these men.”
“I didn’t involve anyone. My father hired them to rescue us. We went to the airport to collect our bags, only to be told they were caught up in customs because they found something odd. Your drug concoction,” she said accusingly.
“Yes, and, if those bags had cleared, I wouldn’t have needed the stuff I sent you.” He shrugged. “I sent a shipment to my house in France, but it was seized as well. The French officials want to talk to me about it,” he said bitterly. “And to top it all off, we’ve already been paid for the product. And now they want the goods. They want all of them.”
“But they can’t have the stuff from England because it’s already been destroyed, and you can’t access the shipment in France,” Stone said calmly. “So you have this, and nothing else.”
Lissa cried out, “Give them what you have and tell them you can make more.”
“No. I need this bottle for myself, to stay alive,” he snapped, reaching out and snagging up the medicine. “I only came here to get it from your house. You wouldn’t even be there, so no harm to anyone. The dealers were supposed to get this, but I can’t afford to let them have it now. It will kill me if I do. And they will kill me if I don’t. I have to run before they find me. At least until I can collect the ingredients to make more, and that’s not so easy to do,” he finished in frustration. “It’s illegal to import the ingredients. Better I go to the Middle East for them.”
“They’ve already found you, haven’t they?” Stone asked.
Lissa stared at Stone. “What do you mean?”
Her gaze went from one to the other. “Stone?”
“Kevin didn’t kill Marge. Neither did he trash your place.” Stone leaned forward, his face hard. “So someone else knew he was coming here, and he’s been one step ahead of Kevin, and been here the whole time.” He waited a long moment, then snapped, “Right?”
Kevin frowned. “Yes, damn it. I had told the boss, Harold Jorgenson, about the stash I’d mailed here because I thought I had the other shipments. It would have been so different if I hadn’t. He was supposed to keep his eye on the house for it. When Marge showed up to collect the mail, I told him to follow and find out where she lived so he could search her house, but he wasn’t supposed to hurt anyone.”
“A little late for that, considering Marge is dead,” Stone said in a hard voice. “Of course Narque Ltd. has a long history that the authorities are very interested in. We’ve picked up several minor-league henchmen but there’s no guarantee someone higher up the food chain doesn’t still want your ass.”
Kevin looked slightly relieved, but he didn’t ease up the pressure of the gun on her ribs.
She studied his face. “This has been a shit show for days, Kevin. What do you need to do to get out of trouble?”
He turned to her, a light in his eye. “I need money, lots of it. I have to pay them back.”
“Just make more and give it to them. Tell them you need another week.”
Stone added, “Or however long it takes. If you give them a bit of this supply for them to test, then it will hold them off for a little longer.”
“And if you have any of the money left, give him some until you get the rest of the drug made up.”
He curled his lip at her.
“Money is not so easily found or handed over.” He sneered.
“What choice do you have?” she asked quietly. “You’ve lost Susan already.”
“And Susan failed awfully quickly,” Stone added. “Maybe she wasn’t reacting the way you thought she would, or maybe the drug doesn’t work the way you thought it did.”
“That’s because she didn’t get the next dose,” he said in frustration. “If we’d just had that, she would’ve been fine.”
“Are you sure about that?” Because the more she thought about it, the more Lissa wondered if the drug worked at all. Maybe Susan was dying regardless of whatever drug he’d given her. Although Lissa had no proof. “Does it really work?”
He froze.
She leaned forward in shock. “Oh, my God! You took money and promised delivery for a drug that doesn’t work.”
“It does,” he insisted. “It’s just Susan was getting accustomed to it. We needed to switch up the dosage and frequency, but we didn’t have any more of the drug to do so.” He stared out the window, pain in his gaze. “The drug kept her alive for this last year. But like all medication, the body adjusts. I just needed more time. She’d improved so much …”
“Or it needed more testing and you ran out of both money and time.” Stone leaned forward. “Isn’t that correct?”
Kevin leaned forward, and the two men glared at each other.
Then suddenly Kevin slumped in his seat. He pulled the gun from her ribs and tucked it into his pocket. “What am I going to do?”
*
Stone studied the man across the table from him. Stone hated the fact that Kevin sat beside Lissa. That was the last time Stone would let her sit on the opposite side of the table. It left opportunities like this one. Anger burned inside him for Kevin pulling a gun on Lissa in the first place.
But right now they had to decide how to get out of this mess. “How did you find us?”
With a blank look, Kevin shrugged. “They’ve been watching for you. They told me to come in and get the drug.”
Damn. Stone was afraid of something like that. “Let’s get to the compound. Levi can figure this out.”
For a moment Kevin looked hopeful, then his face fell. “No, I can’t do that.”
Stone stood up. He motioned toward the door. “Then I’m taking Lissa home.”
Thankfully, all the fight seemed to have left Kevin. He stood up meekly, pocketed the bottle, and walked ahead of them to the front door of the restaurant. Stone held it open with one hand for Lissa. He tossed the empty packaging in a trash can behind the door.
As he stepped out, he heard two hard spits. Kevin’s body jerked before collapsing to his knees.
A man raced away from Kevin. The bottle in his hand. He dove into a sedan as it accelerated past the café. Almost for good measure they fired once more. But Stone was already on the move, sending Lissa to the ground and covering her body with his while pushing Kevin all the way to the ground.
Stone felt his shoulder jerk, then heard the vehicle as it screamed off in the distance.
He rolled off Lissa, still swearing a blue streak. Lissa sat up and screamed.
“How bad are you hurt?” she cried. “Oh, my God, they can’t keep getting away with this.”
“I’m fine, it’s just my shoulder.” He sat up and glared at the neat hole in his shirt now soaked in blood. “Damn it. I liked this shirt.”
She froze, leaned closer, and said, “You really are fine?” Then she grinned. “Well, that was one way to end this.”
“Glad you are enjoying yourself.” Stone pulled his phone from his pocket and tossed it to her. “Call Levi. Give him an update. Kevin is dead, and the shooter has the medicine. Have Levi let Bullard know too. They were after Kevin all along. Hopefully this ends it. We’ll let the authorities d
eal with Narque Ltd.”
In the distance they could hear sirens. Someone had called the cops, so that was done. He lay back on the grass and groaned softly. “This isn’t how I had planned our evening.”
She kneeled down beside him, ending her call. “Levi and crew are on their way.” She picked up his hand. “How did you want it to go?”
He gave a strangled laugh. “I’d planned to discuss our future over coffee and then maybe continue it a little later in bed.”
She leaned over and stared into his eyes. “Is that what you meant about where do I see myself in six months?”
“Yes,” he whispered. “But you weren’t ready to open up.”
“I wasn’t exactly sure what you were talking about.” She kissed him gently on the lips. “But now that I know …”
“What do you know?”
“That I want to spend the next six months—per my new address notification—with you. Getting to know you, spending my days and my nights with you …”
He reached up and grabbed her hand. “You have to realize that sometimes my work is dangerous.”
“I know.” She placed a finger on his lips. “Apparently sometimes mine is too.”
“Are you prepared for that?”
“Of course not,” she said smoothly. “Who is, until it happens? But what I can tell you is I want to try.”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely.” She grinned and lowered her head. “Surely, with a bum wing, you’ll spend the next couple days in bed, right? We do have lots to talk about.”
They did at that, and he realized he’d finally found someone he could be himself with. Not just on the good days but on the darker ones too, when life looked gloomy and lonely. It would take a lot for him to open up, but for the first time, he could see himself doing it. Surrendering to what he had with Lissa—in all ways.
A few days in bed? Hell, yes.
“And lots of other things to do?” He grinned at her. “Depending on what you want of course.”
“I want one thing and one thing only.” She leaned in closer. She whispered against his ear, her warm breath stroking along his neck, sending shudders down his big frame. “Love me, just love me.”
His gaze widened, and he twisted so he could see into her eyes, and saw the truth. “That part,” he whispered, his heart in his throat, “I can do easily. In fact I already do.”
She dropped her forehead gently to his, tears glistening in her eyes. “Thank God. I hated to think I was in this alone.”
“I was lost from the start,” he murmured. Damn his shoulder. All he wanted to do was hold her close—all night long.
He knew he didn’t need it, but he’d do his darnedest to stretch his healing into several days, just so he could stay with her. The guys would understand. They’d bug him about it, but they’d do what they could to give him the time. Life had never looked better.
Epilogue
Merk would move out. That’s all there was to it. Or he would insist on every job Levi had out of the damn state—better yet, the country.
The compound had turned into The Love Boat on land. Sickening.
There were way too many loving looks and hugging moments for Merk to handle as a single guy. And he knew Sienna had felt the heat too, as had Rhodes. So, okay, Merk wasn’t as bad off as he originally thought but still, Legendary Security was getting a name for itself, and he wasn’t sure this angle was the type Levi had intended.
He walked past Lissa and Stone sitting at the kitchen table, heads bent together as they made plans. Merk gave a happy sigh. Okay, he was glad for the big guy. Stone had had a much larger hurdle, maybe more than any of them, to finding a permanent relationship. Then again, Lissa was special. And from day one she’d had eyes only for Stone.
They looked so right together.
So did Levi and Ice. Hard to imagine any two people more suited to each other. He knew Mason’s unit had been given the moniker Keepers, much to the men’s chagrin, but it was seriously true. Now what was Levi doing here? Instead of their nickname, Heroes for Hire, it seemed Heroes for the Heart sounded a whole lot more appropriate.
Merk shook his head and walked to the living room. Alone, again. He sighed. Sometimes he wished for what the two couples at the compound had, but he had no idea who would be a perfect match for him. He’d had many relationships, but none had worked out.
Then again he had no illusions as to what they were all about. He’d been married once. Not that it counted. How long did a marriage have to last to count? Not that it mattered either; his was over a long time ago. But he’d learned his lesson—and he had no intention of making that mistake again.
Not in this lifetime.
This concludes Book 2 of Heroes for Hire: Stone’s Surrender.
Book 3 is available here.
Merk’s Mistake: Heroes for Hire, Book 3
Buy this book at Amazon.
Heroes for Hire Series
Levi’s Legend: Heroes for Hire, Book 1
Stone’s Surrender: Heroes for Hire, Book 2
Merk’s Mistake: Heroes for Hire, Book 3
Rhodes’ Reward: Heroes for Hire, Book 4
Flynn’s Firecracker: Heroes for Hire, Book 5
Logan’s Light: Heroes for Hire, Book 6
Harrison’s Heart: Heroes for Hire, Book 7
Jarrod’s Jewel: Heroes for Hire, Book 8
Author’s Note
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Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed Stone’s Surrender, and I look forward to hearing from you.
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Dale Mayer
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Touched by Death
Adult RS/thriller
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Death had touched anthropologist Jade Hansen in Haiti once before, costing her an unborn child and perhaps her very sanity.
A year later, determined to face her own issues, she returns to Haiti with a mortuary team to recover the bodies of an American family from a mass grave. Visiting his brother after the quake, independent contractor Dane Carter puts his life on hold to help the sleepy town of Jacmel rebuild. But he finds it hard to like his brother’s pregnant wife or her family. He wants to go home, until he meets Jade – and realizes what’s missing in his own life. When the mortuary team begins work, it’s as if malevolence has
been released from the earth. Instead of laying her ghosts to rest, Jade finds herself confronting death and terror again.
And the man who unexpectedly awakens her heart – is right in the middle of it all.
By Death Series
Touched by Death – Part 1 – FREE
Touched by Death – Part 2
Touched by Death – Parts 1&2
Haunted by Death
Chilled by Death
By Death Books 1–3
Vampire in Denial
This is book 1 of the Family Blood Ties Saga
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Blood doesn’t just make her who she is…it also makes her what she is.
Like being a sixteen-year-old vampire isn’t hard enough, Tessa’s throwback human genes make her an outcast among her relatives. But try as she might, she can’t get a handle on the vampire lifestyle and all the…blood.
Turning her back on the vamp world, she embraces the human teenage lifestyle—high school, peer pressure and finding a boyfriend. Jared manages to stir something in her blood. He’s smart and fun and oh, so cute. But Tessa’s dream of a having the perfect boyfriend turns into a nightmare when vampires attack the movie theatre and kidnap her date.
Once again, Tessa finds herself torn between the human world and the vampire one. Will blood own out? Can she make peace with who she is as well as what?