“Sure, when?”
“Now. Make it good. Make something up. I just need him out of his penthouse. He’s here with Montego and I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“You and me both.”
“You need his number?”
“Nope. Got it. If you’re there, you might want to hide. You’ll be seeing him soon,” Seth whispered as well.
“Copy that,” Renner replied before he disconnected.
Stepping behind wall-to-wall curtains in the living room, similar to the ones he’d met Tara behind, Renner waited. In seconds, McCormack burst out of his bedroom, still in pajamas, his silver hair mussed, his cell at his ear, and a naked Montego close behind.
“Now you listen here,” he bellowed into his cell. “If you damage that headstone, if you so much as… Damn it. He hung up on me!”
Oh, crap. Seth had done it now, threatening what had to be McCormack’s wife’s grave.
“But, darling,” Montego pitched in her gravelly smoker’s voice. “It’s just a rock. How could anyone possibly hurt marble or granite or whatever it is?”
“They could break it. Chip it. For the love of God! They could defecate on it! On her! It’s not just a rock. It’s… It’s…” McCormack turned on Montego like a wild animal, his eyes wide and his chest heaving. He raked a hand over his head, and for the first time Renner could remember, McCormack looked old and tired. Confused. “You don’t understand. I know sh-she’s gone, b-but…”
Montego sidled up to him, rubbing her bare breasts up his chest while she lifted to her toes and kissed his chin. The elderly gentleman blinked down at her like his brain had short-circuited behind his eyeballs. And maybe it had. Montego’s nude charms seemed to be working. The longer she kissed his chin, then his cheek, and the faster she stroked his manhood, the less agitated he grew until…
“You’re absolutely right,” McCormack breathed at the same time he sucked his gut in. “She’s dead, but we’re still here, aren’t we? We’re still alive.” His head canted as if he’d just realized that.
Renner stopped breathing. Say what? Just like that? She’s dead, let’s party?
“And I have something you know you want,” Montego teased in a sing-song tone that so did not gel with her rasping smoker’s voice. Old man McCormack might deem that sexy, but Renner wanted to throw up in his mouth.
Montego grabbed hold of McCormack’s pajama collar, turned back to the bedroom and led him away. Just like that, he gave up and gave in. He forgot the faithful woman who’d cared for and loved him for years. Yet Renner knew that Lois had stood by her husband through every battle, every heartache, and every war. They’d faced their only son’s traumatic injury and then his untimely death together. What was wrong with McCormack?
Renner stayed where he was, not believing what he’d just seen or heard. For years, old man McCormack had commanded nothing but respect and admiration for his unflagging support of the military. The man was a financial wizard, a billionaire. He was no dummy. You didn’t become that kind of powerful if you were. Yet he apparently still had a working dick, and…
Renner forced a swallow down his dry throat. That was it. Montego had McCormack by the balls. An easy piece of tail worked every time.
Pressing redial, he got his excited buddy back on the line.
“Did it work?” Seth all but yelled. “I knew it had to be good, so maybe I went a little overboard when I told him a bunch of skin-heads placed a burning cross over his wife’s grave, but did it work? I’ll bet he ran out of there like his ass was on fire, huh?”
“He’s still here,” Renner whispered. “He’s not leaving.”
“What?”
“You heard me. He went back to bed with…” Renner could barely say it, “…her.”
“Well, damn. What do we do next?”
Yeah. Damn. “Not sure. I planted a couple dozen Tattle Tales throughout the penthouse.”
“You activate them yet?”
Renner stepped out from behind the drapes, stunned. “That’s next on my list.”
Seth huffed through the connection. “You know, deploying those listening devices without Jed’s knowledge is illegal.”
“What else can I do? Leaving him alone with that bitch is just as wrong.”
“I hear you, man, but if Montego finds even one of them—”
“Tell Alex to disavow me if this leaks to the press,” Renner said quietly. He’d take the fall for his boss. Any day. Any time. Seth would too if he were there.
“Maybe you should go dark,” Seth murmured. Going dark meant disappearing for a while, dropping out of sight, not contacting anyone on The TEAM. Basically, ceasing to exist on any public records or systems. He’d have to leave his apartment and go completely off-grid. It was a drastic option. Almost as bad as being disavowed.
“Not yet. She thinks she’s got McCormack where she wants him, but I’m not convinced. I mean, you should’ve seen the look on his face when he first stormed out of his bedroom.” That was what didn’t make sense. Jed had been pissed and ready to act. Until she’d touched him. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Not going dark then?”
“Not until I have to.” Renner disconnected the call. He needed to get out of there. Fast.
Chapter Ten
Instead of calling his boss, Renner hit the interstate and headed west toward the Shenandoah Mountains to talk to Alex in person. He and Kelsey lived in a gated community just short of the Shenandoah National Park. It was a good forty-mile drive, give or take, and Renner needed the music of the road to help him think. There was a day not too long ago, he would’ve saddled up his Harley for this kind of lonely midnight drive. But not with winter weather coming on strong. Thick gray clouds still scudded low and cold over the small towns and rural areas, heavy with snow and slush that had yet to drop. Definitely not a night for cruising.
The steady hum of tires on concrete soothed a man’s brain waves like nothing else. It gave him time to think. There had to be a way to get McCormack away from Montego.
The kitchen light was on at Alex’s house, which was more like a stone fortress. But that light meant someone was up. Renner called his boss to request entry. Kelsey answered instead.
“Sorry, Kelsey, if I disturbed you. I need to chat with Alex.”
“No problem. I’ll buzz you in.”
The heavy-duty security gate slid open and Renner steered his boss’s armored Cadillac onto what had to be the most secure estate in the world. Security cameras were everywhere, and didn’t that speak to Alex’s deteriorating sense of reality? He’d become uncommonly paranoid since Montego’s return.
Renner didn’t dwell on that TEAM problem for long. Kelsey already waited at the now open front door, waving him to hurry up and come on in.
“Aren’t you worried some witch will fly by on her broom and cast a spell on you?” Renner meant that as a gentle jab at Alex’s paranoia as she waved him inside.
She shook her head. Dressed in black running pants and a matching tank, she could’ve passed for Tara’s twin, well, except for her chocolate brown hair, now wrapped into a messy bun. Renner had noticed her hair and her deep brown eyes when he’d been introduced to Kelsey, which proved once again that Alex was a smart guy. He’d totally scored with this beauty. But what on earth did she see in him? That was the real question.
“Personally, I don’t think Montego has ever set foot on our property,” Kelsey replied wearily. “We have dogs, remember? Whisper and Smoke would kill her before she knew what hit her.”
“True.” Alex did own some amazing guard dogs. “Where is he anyway?” Renner thought he’d at least be in sight, grumpy as hell, but visible.
A funny, worried, guilty smile fluttered over Kelsey’s face. “He’s sleeping,” she whispered. “I’m sorry, but I couldn’t bear to wake him, and I know you came all this way to talk with him, but he’s exhausted, and I made him take Motrin and melatonin.”
“You mad
e Alex do something?”
She nodded. “Sure. He listens. Sometimes.”
Renner held up a palm to stop more unnecessary explanations. That Kelsey had gotten Alex to do anything was magic enough. “No problem. I can come back tomorrow or you can pass my sitrep along. It’s not top-secret, just the latest word on Montego and McCormack.”
“Oh, I hate that woman. Let’s retreat to the kitchen. I’ll fix coffee.”
Renner had to smile at that very military invitation to retreat. Everyone knew Marines didn’t do that. They weren’t smart enough. “Thanks, but no more coffee, ma’am. I’ll never get any shuteye if I drink one more drop.”
He slouched into the nearest chair, and like everywhere he went, Renner measured distance to exits, the type of glass in all windows within range, whether bullet-proof or wired to a security system, important details like that. A man didn’t live months in twenty-four-seven combat zones without learning how easily a grenade could take out the fancy tilework on Kelsey’s kitchen floor. Or that, no matter how hard Alex tried to prevent and control it, shit still happened. Even in the most secure places on earth, men and women still died.
It helped that Kelsey was smart enough to carry—her much smaller pistol was tucked in a holster at the small of her back. Alex had taught his wife well. Renner liked that.
Hmmm, he wondered. Would Tara mind carrying? A date at the range might be in order.
In minutes Kelsey presented him with a plate of steaming hot French toast slathered with butter, a pitcher of warm maple syrup, and… a big mug of hot chocolate, complete with star-shaped marshmallows.
“Thank you, ma’am,” he said through a smile. This breakfast looked like something she’d make for Lexie.
“Oh, stop with the ma’am business, will you?” she asked as she took the chair opposite him, a big mug of cocoa in her hand as well. “How about I don’t call you Agent Graves and you don’t call me ma’am, Renner?”
He almost replied, ‘Yes, ma’am,’ but he caught himself in time. “Understood. I’ll be Renner, you be Kelsey. Got it.”
The nod she sent him was Alex all over again. Curt. To the point. And she was no doubt a lethal shot with that pistol. Made Renner feel right at home.
“So, what’s going on? Why is Montego so hard to kill? Why can’t you guys find her and end her?”
Also like Alex, Kelsey didn’t believe in the PC rhetoric currently smothering American’s freedom of speech. Kill, not reform. End her, not sign her up for a year’s worth of Hollywood-style counseling because her parents were mean to her once upon a time. Wah. Wah. Wah.
Was Renner cynical? Maybe. He’d just been there. He’d seen firsthand what lay in store for America if Lady Liberty didn’t get her act together. And it was not a pretty sight.
“She’s changed,” he told Kelsey honestly, pulling up that first photo taken at Arlington. “Check this out.” He handed his cell to her while he finished eating. Home-cooked was always best.
Kelsey nodded as she cupped Renner’s cell. He’d positioned two photos of Montego side by side, her old look and her new look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Different hair color, yes, and she’s taller in this one, but a good pair of heels’ll do that. It’s her eyes, Renner. Can’t you guys see, it’s in her eyes? She hasn’t changed at all. She’s still a killer.”
He huffed at the astute observation coming from a petite lady who ran a halfway house for teenage runaways. “Try telling Channel 13. They’re the ones pushing her agenda, making her look good, lying to the public by making her seem innocent—”
“When we know she’s not.” Kelsey’s gaze drifted to the floor. “Beau died,” she said quietly. “That day. Right here in my kitchen. Did you know that? His heart stopped. He’d lost so much blood that he almost died from what that bitch did to him. She cut his finger off! What kind of a human being does that? I’ve seen men die before, but that…” She trembled. “McKenna had to shock him before he started breathing again. She brought him back to life, right here in my kitchen.”
Renner understood Alex’s paranoia, his compulsive need to protect his home. It all came down to his need to keep this beautiful, courageous, determined woman safe.
“We’re getting closer,” he assured her. “Trust me. I’ve been inside McCormack’s penthouse. I was that close…” He held up two pinched fingers. “…to cuffing her—”
“So, what went wrong? Why didn’t you punch her in the face and break that snooty nose job?” Kelsey sat back with a huff. “Why isn’t she behind bars right now, or better yet, dead?”
Yup. Just like Alex. Renner winced as he lifted the mug to his lips, needing a taste of fortitude before he admitted for the second time today that, “I screwed up. I thought—”
“You thought what?”
Dayum, he wanted to grin. This inquisition was so much like the last. Did Alex have any idea how much he’d rubbed off on his wife? But Renner knew better than to smile when a woman had her dander up. They were, after all, the stronger sex. Even a dumb jarhead knew to stand clear of that.
“Yeah,” he said evenly. “I thought I had her cornered, even had a flex cuff on her, but…” This humiliation just wasn’t going away, was it?
“But what?” At least Kelsey didn’t bellow and snort.
“But…” Here goes. “I thought I’d cuffed Montego to my wrist. I only did that to make sure she didn’t get away this time. I honestly thought once I dragged her out of there, I could, you know, make her disappear for a change instead of losing more of our military guys.”
“That makes sense.”
Renner appreciated Kelsey’s encouragement. “Well, it would’ve if it had actually been Montego I cuffed, but no. I ended up stuck with a burglar who was only there to pilfer McCormack’s wife’s jewelry, the ones Montego’s been flaunting everywhere she and he go.”
“A burglar? Up there? In Jed’s penthouse?”
Renner nodded, his eyes on the last gooey marshmallows stuck to the bottom of his mug. “Yup. Stupid move, I know. But I’d already cleared the penthouse. I knew no one else was there. When Montego turned the shower on, I thought I had her. I mean, how hard could it be to overpower a naked woman and haul her ass to FBI jail?”
“Or throw her out the window,” Kelsey muttered, her voice so low Renner cocked his head to be certain he’d heard right.
He smiled at her then. “You sure sound just like your husband.”
Her lips thinned. “Alex is right. She needs to die. So, you caught a burglar instead. Then what?”
Renner cleared his throat, tired of talking about his latest, but no doubt, his stupidest mistake. “Well...” Cough. Cough. “Seems this burglar came prepared to fly off that penthouse like a bat. After we discussed our options… which were zip… nada…” Damn, it was harder telling Kelsey how stupid he’d been. “We decided we’d fly together.”
“Not like you had a choice. Did Montego hear you? See you? Did she know you’d been inside Jed’s home all that time?” Just like Alex, Kelsey didn’t seem surprised by his decision to jump off a high rise.
“No. We were on the window ledge when she exited the bathroom. I’m sure of that.”
It was then Kelsey’s head tipped nearly onto her shoulder. “Oh, my heavens. You fell off the penthouse? Just like that? You stepped into thin air and—”
“Something like that.” He was not going to tell her that Tara had pushed him or that he might’ve called out—something—on his way down. “My new best friend was wearing one of those wingsuits, the kind with flaps between the legs and under the arms to catch the wind. Anyway, by the time we landed, the police were there and—”
“Why were the police there?”
Renner froze. Until that second, he’d assumed someone inside the penthouse had notified the police because he might have bellowed a little too loudly on the way down. It was possible. But now... “You know, I’m not sure. Good question.”
Int
erestingly, Alex hadn’t caught that detail. An icy shiver skated down Renner’s spine. Was it even remotely possible that Catalina had someone else involved, either watching Alex and his agents or watching McCormack? The woman did own her own private army, her second batch of kidnapped and tortured male slaves. What would they do to stay alive and in her good graces? Follow and report? Track and assassinate? If one of Montego’s bitches had seen Renner and Tara dive off McCormack’s window ledge, he could’ve called the police, and that meant…
Christ. Someone might have seen him with Tara. They could’ve been followed. And Tara was alone. The need to run to her swamped Renner. He should have stayed!
“Well, someone called them,” Kelsey pointed out, her mug to her lips again, her brown eyes clear and intelligent and expecting an answer.
Renner shrugged, feigning calmness he no longer felt. His cocoa was gone. He yawned, working his way out of Kelsey’s cozy kitchen. “You’re right. Someone apparently called, but the police arriving might not be related to me or that woman I—”
“What woman?”
“The cat burglar. The one I jumped off McCormack’s penthouse with.”
A tiny light clicked on in Kelsey’s bright eyes. “You didn’t tell me Jed’s burglar was a woman.”
And he wasn’t about to name names, either. “Yeah, some crazy nut job. You should’ve seen her, all decked out in that wingsuit. She had the damnedest tattoo. A cat, can you believe that?”
Another sip of cocoa. Another nod. Yet Kelsey didn’t seem surprised at all. “Well, I guess it takes all kinds,” she breathed.
“Yes, yes it does,” Renner muttered as he pushed away from the table. “Hey, I really need to go. Would you tell Alex we’ve got eyes inside McCormack’s penthouse? He’ll know what I mean. If he’s mad about it, he’s got my number. Oh, and thanks for putting up with me tonight. As usual, it’s been a pleasure.” But now I have got to get out of here.
“You’re a good man, Renner,” she said as she saw him to the door. “I hope you know you’re welcome here anytime. One of us is awake most nights, but tonight you got me.”
Renner (In the Company of Snipers Book 19) Page 9