Locked and Loaded (20 page)

“It's a family business,” Kieran offered by way of an explanation. He'd never freely admit that he owed his success to Jensen.

Charlie gave him a pointed look. “It still is.”

Was it wrong to play off Kieran's sense of family in order to get what she wanted? If it came down to it, Charlie didn't doubt that Kieran would throw Mason under the bus if he had to. At the end of the day, Kieran's loyalty was to himself. So was Charlie's. She'd do whatever it took to bring Faction Five down. If that meant manipulating Kieran's only weakness—Mason—to get it, then so be it.

Kieran didn't chuckle this time. He didn't flash a charming grin or try to dazzle Charlie with his words. He contemplated her for a long moment. Discomfort at being so closely scrutinized made her squirm in her seat. A nervous tremor skittered up her spine and Charlie willed her breaths to remain calm and even, despite the fact she felt like hyperventilating.

He didn't look away from Charlie when he said, “Is that what we are, Mason? Family?”

Charlie burned with curiosity as she forced herself not to make eye contact with Mason. She wanted to see the expression on his face, if only to try to gauge his current mood.

“We are,” Mason said after a tense moment. “You know that. Even if you don't trust me enough to bring me in on whatever you've got going on. Like Charlie said, we'll do all right on our own.”

“You think?”

Kieran's words dripped with sarcasm. Even though Mason had given her bits and pieces of insight into his childhood, Charlie couldn't even begin to imagine the history that lay between him and Kieran. Their lack of mutual parentage didn't make them any less brothers. And brothers fought. She simply had to do what she could to smooth this momentary bump in the road between them.

“Yeah.” Mason's response lacked even an ounce of humor. “Doesn't matter who's signing my paychecks. The people who matter know what I'm capable of. My job doesn't change who I am. Who
my
father is.”

Kieran flinched as though he'd been stung.

The car pulled up to the unloading area at the airport. Kieran shifted in his seat and let out a frustrated breath. “One hundred thousand for Charlie. One and a half for you. That's my final offer. Take it or leave it.”

“We'll take it.” The car came to a stop and Mason didn't waste any time climbing out and rounding the car to wait for the driver to open the trunk.

They needed to skirt the one sore spot in Mason and Kieran's relationship if this was going to work. If Charlie had to play the peacemaker and placate the both of them in order to keep everyone happy, so be it. Kieran moved to get out, but Charlie grabbed him by the arm.

“Listen, Kieran. I'm not gonna lie. We need the reputation you've built. Mason's just being stubborn and trying to push your buttons. You're both Jensen's kids as far as anyone in the business is concerned. It was my idea to reach out to you, not Mason's. I wanted to work with you. Mason can be helpful. He's helped me to skirt the feds for months. I just need you to know, I'm in. No matter what.”

Kieran's gaze narrowed and his lips thinned. “And if I don't want to work with Mason?”

She was afraid it would come to that. But there was no way she was letting go of her only chance at infiltrating Faction Five. “Then I'll respect your decision.”

Kieran regarded her for a brief moment. “Good.”

If Mason knew she'd just made a deal with Kieran, he wouldn't be happy about it. Charlie hoped that Kieran's sour mood would pass and Mason would never have to find out.

She didn't want to be on the receiving end of Mason's anger. Especially if he thought she'd betrayed him.

Chapter Twenty

“So basically, the trip to L.A. was a bust.”

“Not necessarily. We walked away with a couple hundred thousand dollars and some street cred.”

Mason rolled his eyes as he relaxed back into his chair. A couple of weeks ago, Charlie wouldn't have been quite so cavalier. If he'd given her a snarky comeback like that, she would've read him the riot act. Not anymore, it seemed. Charlie Cahill was the queen of 'tude.

Chief Deputy Carrera looked about as thrilled with Charlie's flippant response as Mason was. Because Kieran still hadn't fully let his guard down, they'd agreed that a full debriefing with the entire task force wasn't a good idea. Mason had picked Charlie up from the Fairmont and they'd driven around for a good hour before he was sure they weren't being tailed, and met Carrera at the rendezvous site, a little hole in the wall coffee shop at the opposite end of the city.

“What do you think, Mason? Is this a waste of time, or do you think Kieran is ready to trust you? If not, we can't keep Charlie in this situation for much longer. It's dangerous, not to mention a huge liability.”

That was an understatement. Mason gave Carrera a nod of acknowledgment. “Kieran likes to be the one holding all of the cards. But I don't think he's going to string us along.” Mostly because Mason knew that Kieran's interest in Charlie wasn't strictly professional. He wouldn't let her simply walk away.

“It's been almost a week,” Carrera pointed out. “I was hoping to have Charlie clear of this by now. So far it's not looking good. We went into this knowing it could be months or longer before Kieran gave you anything solid. That sort of timetable isn't going to work for Charlie.”

It was true that stings like this could take months, even years, to conclude. Kieran was in charge. Period. Mason wanted what Carrera wanted: for Charlie to be free and clear from this part of the operation as quickly as possible. “Like I said, he's trying to get a point across. And yeah, I think he's ready to trust me.”

“Trust
us
,” Charlie interjected. “And how about asking Charlie what she thinks about all of this?” Mason cringed at her accusing tone. He didn't like being talked about like he wasn't there, so why would she? “I think the both of you are delusional if you think Kieran's going to easily accept any limited future involvement on my part. I knew when I got involved that this wouldn't be over in a few days. I'll do what I have to do.” She leveled her gaze at Mason. “For however long it takes.”

Damn, she was stubborn. But Mason admired her determination. True, it was stupid to think that Kieran would hand over the keys to the castle so soon—or accept Charlie fading off into obscurity. Mason could hope though, couldn't he?

“What if Kieran cuts you loose?” Carrera definitely wasn't convinced. “He's got ten million in seed money that could very well be going to Faction Five, thanks to your little field trip. He might not need you anymore.”

If Carrera thought Kieran would turn that money over so easily—or that a criminal syndicate as big as Faction Five would be satisfied with a measly ten million—he was crazy. “That money was for Kieran.” Mason was almost positive. “He used Charlie and me to prove to Katarina that he was worth her respect. That's not seed money. It's a trophy.”

“Could be.” Carrera was skeptical, but the chief deputy didn't know Kieran like Mason did. None of them did.

“I agree with Mason,” Charlie chimed in. Mason appreciated the solidarity, but honestly, he didn't want her out in the field any more than Carrera did. “At least in that L.A. was personal and not professional. He's not going to leave us high and dry. I'm not willing to throw in the towel yet.”

That was the problem. Charlie's tenacity wouldn't allow her to quit. It could be months. Hell, a year, before Kieran deemed them worthy of knowing his secrets, and Faction Five could be up and running in full swing by then. There was no possible way Charlie could live out of a hotel for the next year, abandon her job, and follow him and Kieran on whatever wild-goose chase his brother dreamed up, no matter what she thought to the contrary. There had to be another way. A faster way to get Charlie and the task force what they wanted.

“How do you know Kieran is involved with Faction Five?” Up until now, everyone had been pretty tight-lipped on the intel they had. “If you don't even know who's running the outfit, how can you know that Kieran's got the inside track?”

“About six months ago, we arrested a hacker who'd been on the run for several months. He tried to make a deal by offering up a little information.” Carrera fiddled with his paper coffee cup before he met Mason's gaze. “He said there was talk about an up-and-coming crime syndicate that was about to make some big waves in the underground. Gave us the name Faction Five.”

Carrera's information wasn't anything new. They'd already gone over this when Mason had been brought on to the task force. “Wait a second.” Mason looked from Carrera to Charlie. “If these guys are so secretive that you can't even identify their members, how did some third-rate hacker know about them?”

“He'd come across interactions between Faction Five and a couple of potential recruits on the Internet,” Charlie said.

“Kieran was one of these potential recruits?”

Charlie rolled her lip between her teeth. “Not exactly.”

Jesus Christ
. All of this time spent getting close to Kieran, and Mason was starting to believe the most informed people on the task force weren't even sure what they were dealing with! His head pounded. The residual stress that hadn't worn off after L.A. pooled in his gut and sent a renewed surge of agitation through him.

“
Not exactly
isn't going to cut it, Charlie.” He couldn't help his curt tone. “I need to know everything that you know from here on out.”

Charlie's gaze met Carrera's. “I told you in the initial briefing that Faction Five reportedly comprises members from various government and law enforcement entities. We're working on the assumption that the
five
in Faction Five represents the number of founding members. The problem is that the second they sensed we might be on to the group's existence, they disappeared. We don't have any leads on who might be running the show. Their membership is obviously loyal. So loyal we can't pinpoint any of the members or leadership structure.”

They might as well be chasing ghosts. “That still doesn't tell me how you know that Kieran is involved with them.”

“A few months ago, the CIA started monitoring a Twitter user who went by the handle BlackDragon. The tweets seemed nonsensical, but they got some code crackers on it and realized that BlackDragon was sending out invitations to certain individuals. Offering up a business opportunity to high-level players who could afford to buy their way in. Whoever set up the account knew what they were doing, though, and we weren't able to track the user to an IP address.”

Technology made it easy for people operating outside the confines of the law to communicate. Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook . . . any and all social networks could be used to send and receive esoteric messages. Sure as hell beat using the classifieds. Mason had worked several cases for CBP that involved social media. Coyotes especially used social media to their advantage. The smuggling of people across the U.S. borders was just as lucrative as smuggling precious gems.

“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.”