Armed And Dangerous (The McKinnon Legends - The McKinnon American Men Book 2)

by James, Ranay

  At the front desk Mason read Barbara’s note explaining her plans. He didn’t like it, but what else could he do except let her go for now? She was already on a flight back home by way of the LA corridor bypassing the Gulf Coast region altogether. He called Robert asking him to pick her up and to look after her until he could get back to Dallas.

  That accomplished, he turned his attention to the other envelope. Looking it over, he did not recognize the handwriting. It was not Barbara’s. He ripped the envelope open only to see the Polaroid photos of a naked, blood soaked Holly strapped to the bed with eyes wide and glassy in death. The note attached warned he would be next, but Carlos wanted Mason to suffer emotionally first for killing his brother.

  “Call Captain Juan Redondo of the National Police.”

  “Is everything all right, señor?” The front desk clerk asked seeing the expression on Mason’s face.

  “No, now just make the damn call!” Mason felt his stomach turn. It looked doubtful that he would be leaving any time soon. He called his brother for a second time. If this went bad, then Robert would need to send in the best lawyers that McKinnon-Bride money could possibly buy.

  Chapter 41

  Mason found a private room to sit and talk. He gestured for Captain Redondo to have a seat just before he closed the door.

  “Well, Señor McKinnon. You seem to have a knack for finding trouble.” Juan spoke to Mason as he seated himself. “Do you purposefully seek it out or does it just follow you around?”

  “It’s sort of all in a day's work, unfortunately.” Mason nervously rubbed the side of his face.

  “I gave you a fair chance to leave. You should have run like the rest of your team. Now, who are you, and what are you doing in my country?” Juan was done and wanted some honest answers. If this man lied to him, he would know it and he would find himself in jail so fast it would make his head swim.

  Mason knew he had to be honest if he was ever going to get out of this jam. “I work for a private company specializing in personal security and hostage retrieval. And trust me, Captain, I would have gladly left except Barbara needed some serious medical attention and the flights are all grounded due to Hurricane Kathy.”

  “Hostage retrieval, you say. So what is your real name?” Juan narrowed his eyes. He believed the first part of the explanation. Let’s see, he wondered, if this guy would be honest about his name.

  “I’m Mason McKinnon. I didn’t kill her, sir. Otherwise, I never would have called you. I trust you. I think this is the work of the other brother. You did not find his body did you?”

  “No,” he answered shaking his head in understanding. There was no need to place a name to the man in question. “Why would you think this would be his handiwork?”

  “This note and it is his M.O.” Mason was thinking about the file he looked at in Robert’s office. Carlos had a nasty habit of cutting his victims in a very specific pattern of torture which had earned him the nickname The Carver. He prayed Carlos had cut Holly’s throat first. It would have been a much more merciful way to die than the torture he could have and most likely did inflict upon her to some degree.

  “You came after him, didn’t you?” Juan questioned.

  “No.” Mason was quick to deny it. “If we had been after him he would be dead. We got who we came after.”

  Juan was not stupid. Carlos Del Torres had escaped from his jail with the help of insiders. He understood that involving his department would have resulted in both Emilio and Carlos getting away totally free and whoever this man and woman had come to retrieve would be dead. “You need to level with me, Mason, if I am to help you.”

  Mason nodded. “I had hoped not to involve your department. Do not take what we had to do personally, Juan. You seem like an honest man.”

  “I am, but I have issues, just like every department but this issue is much more widespread. Corruption is a hard cancer to snuff out especially when it goes as high as this.”

  The Del Torres brothers had been untouchable for years because of the connections they had managed to buy with money or fear. No matter what he got on them, nothing ever seemed to stick.

  “Emilio was holding hostage the daughter of Sheriff Josh McKinnon, my first cousin.”

  Mason let Juan know that according to Jesse’s testimony her mother was Emilio’s mistress. He also told Juan that Jacqueline was also married to Cesar Vozarosa who shot and killed her on Del Torres’s private beach.

  “The little girl is ten and family, Sir.”

  Alright, Juan thought. This places a little different spin on things. Even if it was a turf drug war for Emilio and Vozarosa, it was not from Mason’s standpoint and involvement, and even though he was still a mercenary for hire, in this instance it was family helping family. It just so happened to be that this family was not the run-of-the-mill sort who commute to a cubical each day in some high rise office building. They were connected politically and were fully armed and dangerous.

  Juan pulled off his glasses and methodically cleaned the lenses, then held them up to the light before slowly placing them back. “What specifically made you decide not to involve me?”

  “We saw the tapes of Carlos’ breakout. We had no way of knowing how high up the corruption went. He had inside help, and if we had gone through legitimate channels Jesse would be dead. We both know it, too.”

  Juan nodded his agreement, resigned to the fact there were some things it just did not pay to deny. “It is as you say.”

  Mason felt he needed to soothe over some rough feathers. “Having personally met you, I can say you would have aided us. However, hindsight is always 20-20 and there was too much at risk.”

  “Even my honesty may have not been enough with these two brothers. How is this woman involved?” Juan pointed to the photos on the table.

  “She was a woman I was going to sleep with, but just decided it wasn’t what I needed once the moment arrived.”

  Interesting, Juan thought studying the young man across the table from him. “How did you meet?”

  “The first time was on the night Barbara and I arrived. I turned her down thinking it would blow my cover. Earlier today, I saw her in the bar with some trick around five-thirty. Then, I met her again on the beach about six, and I guess Carlos followed us to her suite. I’m wondering if he thinks she was Barbara. We were pretty open with the affection, and I’m supposed to be on my honeymoon.”

  “So you and Señora Barbara are not actually married?” he asked surprised.

  “No. It was a cover. Barbara is my boss just in a different capacity.” Mason had gotten up out of his seat and was staring out the window at the beautiful waters and wondering how he was going to manage to get out of this mess, both emotionally and politically.

  “Hum.” Juan pondered this piece of information. He had been wrong about that part then. He would have placed bets on them being a couple, and he still would place bets. “When did you leave her room?” Juan asked trying to get a timeline.

  Mason sat back down. “I left almost as soon as I got there. It was about six-fifteen to six-thirty, I would guess. I left before touching her, and she had on all her clothes. I took a walk on the beach to clear my head, went to the bar for a quick beer, and then went back to the room to find Barbara gone. That was when I called the desk to see when she left.”

  “You think he has her?”

  The thought almost choked him. He was looking at Carlos’ handiwork in the photos “No. She took the time to pack and leave me a message at the front desk.”

  Juan sat in silence pondering what he should do next. “You know, I should arrest you,” Juan flatly stated. However, he did not feel this man was guilty.

  “I understand if you do. But before you toss me into jail think about the fact that Carlos is still out there and he wants me, too. I could be the bait you need to catch that bastard, and then I could take him off your hands. Legally, I can retrieve fugitives and transport them back to the United States. Barbara could, too, if s
he were still here. ”

  Juan was curious about something. “You say Barbara is your boss, so she is an operative?”

  “Yes. C.I.A. actually, reactivated for this mission.”

  “You love her?” Juan asked point-blank.

  “What the hell does that have to do with this?” Mason growled.

  “Everything. Now, answer me, Mason. Do you love her?”

  He shrugged. “I do, but it is immaterial,” he answered honestly. He knew he was in love with her, but at the same time he was not sure he was totally ready to give up his way of life. She would never take him as he was. Besides, she was in a committed relationship.

  Juan knew without a doubt that Mason was innocent. He was wrestling with himself, but not over a guilty conscience.

  “Don’t be a fool, Mason. You think for one minute he would hesitate to carve her up? This is a man who killed his own son and son-in-law and left their parts in the bathtub. He has no honor and no remorse. At least Emilio was somewhat a gentleman. Carlos is simply an animal. Find Barbara and take your woman home, Mason. Let me finish this.”

  “She is on her way to L.A. by now.”

  Her message had said that she was flying out and heading to the West Coast circumventing the weather in the Gulf by flying through the pacific corridor. Then she was coming back to Dallas by way of LAX. Right about then Mason was wishing he had thought of that idea first. It would have saved them a lot of trouble.

  Mason did not get a chance to elaborate before the front desk clerk knocked lightly and handed him a second message.

  “Son-of-a-bitch.” Mason looked back at Juan. “With the help of your traitorous men, Carlos has Barbara. Pray to Jesus nothing happens to her because of them.”

  Juan let the thinly veiled threat pass.

  Chapter 42

  Barbara couldn’t breathe. The cloth over her face was dense and smelled of lighter fluid or kerosene giving her a horrific headache. She did not know how much time had passed. She was hungry and needed to take a bathroom break, so there had to have been four or five hours minimum tick off the clock.

  The wait was horrible.

  She wondered when Carlos would finally kill her. He had already beaten her senseless. Not to mention he had used the deep wound on her arm as leverage, twisting the staples at every turn and opportunity. Several, he had already ripped out just because he enjoyed seeing her in pain.

  She had been sitting upright in the straight-backed chair with her hands tied behind her and her ankles tied to the chair legs. She could not feel her toes. Not that it mattered. It was the least of her worries.

  She had been at the airport and ready to board her flight to Los Angeles when five men dressed as National Policemen pulled her out of line and dragged her into a waiting car. She kicked and screamed the whole way, pleading for someone to call Juan or Mason. Maybe someone would find that unusual and get involved. If not, then she was probably a dead woman. Unless, of course, he was trying to get to Mason through her, an action that she would never let happen.

  “Take the hood off. We need to see what she knows.” She heard someone order. It was not Carlos, but instead it was a woman.

  She cringed as the light hit her eyes. Someone grabbed her by the hair and jerked her head backwards so that they could all see her face. Then Carlos roughly jerked the gag from her mouth. It was a relief.

  “What do you want, Carlos?” Barbara needed to make sure he did not see her fear.

  She quickly scanned the room continuing to slowly loosen the rope. Her hands were almost free. Her feet were another matter entirely.

  The woman, she recognized as the bartender from the resort. The man standing next to her was the gentleman in the red polo shirt that Barbara had spotted in the weight room with Carmen on the night of the reception. That made Carmen a double-agent, playing the ends against the middle. Barbara wondered if Juan knew.

  The gun was within reach resting on the corner of the make-shift desk comprised of two saw horses and a piece of ply board. She just could not see if it was loaded. Her bet was it was. Carlos was a gun runner, drug dealer, and murderer. Her best guess was a water pistol would not exactly be his weapon of choice.

  However, even if she did get her hands free, her feet were still bound. She would only get a single chance, and if she did not make it count, she was a dead woman.

  “What do I want?” he laughed. “You dare ask me what I want? You dumb bitch!” He struck her again. “I want to fuck you and then kill you and leave your parts for that boyfriend of yours. I’ve already killed his wife and left photos for him.” He got right in her face. She turned her head to avoid his rancid breath. It was making her gag.

  Carlos roughly grabbed her chin and turned her back to face him. “He also has those lovely photos we took of you earlier and the news that I also have you.”

  “He could care less about me.”

  “Oh, tisk tisk. I think not. Are you prepared to die Agent Bride? Oh, yes. I know you are C.I.A. I also know you are Mason’s whore.” Carlos grinned proud of his handiwork.

  This woman should draw Mason out and into the open, Carlos thought. He had been doing some digging into Mason McKinnon’s background. The man was a notorious womanizer, and this woman was his latest piece of candy in a long line of many.

  Barbara was wondering exactly what Carlos meant by his having already killed Mason’s wife. Then she remembered seeing a suspicious man follow Mason and Miss Dessert into the hotel. Could this lunatic have killed an innocent woman caught up in the cross fire? What if they tried to arrest Mason for the murder? There were witnesses to Mason and the woman being together. Witnesses or not, the National Police were not exactly Boy Scouts as she could attest. Juan was probably the exception. However, he was just one man in a sea of corruption.

  Mason? Mason? Can you feel me? She forced the thoughts to fly out of her mind. She pushed them out and away searching for him. She had no idea if it would work. She hoped. It was all she had as she looked around her surroundings.

  Chapter 43

  Mason instantly felt her and relief flooded him. She was not dead, yet. His bond to her was too strong not to feel her fear.

  “Where are you?” He pushed back and instantly began to see images of a warehouse by the cruise docks. He received an image of a name and some numbers, and then it was gone. “I’m on my way. Just hang on,” he spoke softly hoping she would feel him too.

  Something must have happened to her because the images he got from that point forward were dark and foggy. He could feel her fear even through the darkness of her mind, and then he felt nothing.

  Carlos was a dead man. Mason closed his eyes to get a mental picture of the place Barbara was being held against her will. Juan felt the air leave the room, and for a moment needed to loosen his tie to breath.

  “Juan, does Century Smith mean anything to you?” Mason released the room and Juan breathed a sigh of relief not fully understanding what had just happened.

  Hold on, Baby Doll, Mason kept saying over and over. She might not be bonded to him, but hopefully she could still feel him there with her in the deep recesses of her unconscious mind.

  “Yes. It was a canning company Emilio owned down by the docks. They went bankrupt a couple of years back because of a lawsuit. The warehouse and cannery are closed. Why?”

  “That is where she is being held.” He saw the questioning look on Juan’s face. “Don’t ask. Come on. We have some mopping up to do still.”

  Juan pulled his arm, stopping him short. “Wait.” He waved over two of his deputies as witness. “I, hereby, deputize you as an officer in the National Police force. Now, you can carry that gun of yours legally,” Juan said and then patted the almost imperceptible bulge at the base of Mason’s spine.

  Chapter 44

  They were on their way to the warehouse.

  Mason was expecting additional contact at any minute. There was no way Carlos was going to let any more time lapse without taunting Mason further. His
hotel room number was forwarded to his cell in an attempt to fool Carlos as to his whereabouts.

  He looked at his watch.

  It had been four hours since he last saw her. The longer this went on, the more her chances to survive dwindled. Logically, he understood that. Emotionally, he was not going to accept it. They had been lucky with Jesse. This would not be the case with Barbara if he was not lightning fast in reacquiring her. He wished he had his trusted team to go into this fight. Juan’s men were good men, but this was way out of their league of expertise.

  He had already received a call at the hotel, and a second packet containing photos of Barbara bound to a chair and gagged with a filthy rag stuffed into her mouth. She had been beaten, and her face and hair were covered in blood. The instructions were for him to await further orders and any attempts to find her would result in her pretty throat being cut.

  Screw that, Mason thought. Carlos was not dealing with just any ordinary man. He had pulled from all his experience, slipping with frightening ease past the men Carlos had cleverly posted to watch his movement. They had just not been clever enough. He wanted to kill them, but he understood that action would only serve to alert his real target that he was on the move.

  Mason thought about the photos, which was an act designed to demoralize him and to make him submissive to Carlos' will. The foolish man, Mason thought as they made their way through the streets of the city. Carlos thought that he could rattle him and thereby control all the cards by controlling Barbara’s fate.

  It was not working.

  Hate and rage boiled hot inside of him when he first saw the photos. He quickly got his feelings under control. To lose control and run on emotion was the very thing Carlos was banking on him doing. Del Torres figured it would cause him to make a mistake and cloud his judgment. It was a miscalculation on Del Torres’ part. He was not going to play into Carlos’ hands.