Locked and Loaded (27 page)

The sudden rush of adrenaline left Mason shaky and unsteady on his feet. Charlie went to his side and it was clear from her own trembling form that she wasn't doing much better. “Kieran?” he called out. It had grown much too quiet in the living room for Mason's peace of mind.

“Yeah.”

Mason let out a relieved sigh. “You good?”

“Yeah.”

His response was a little too tight. Mason kept Charlie tucked behind him as he ventured back into the living room. Kieran had his gun to Carrera's head, his finger placed precariously on the trigger. He shook like a freaking leaf, his temper simmering under the surface of his barely contained rage.

“Let law enforcement deal with him.” Mason kept his tone as calm as possible. He didn't feel any more under control than Kieran looked.

Kieran snorted. “He
is
law enforcement.”

“No.” Though Carrera sure as hell made a point for Kieran's opinion of cops. Mason wanted to coldcock the son of a bitch on principle. “He's not. He's a lying piece of shit, is what he is. You need to let the system deal with him. You're a lot of things, Kieran, but a murderer isn't one of them.”

“He fucked us,” Kieran said from between clenched teeth. “Jensen
fucked us
.”

Mason felt sorry for Kieran that he was only now realizing what Mason had known most of his life. “Yep. They fucked us,” he agreed. “And the best way to fuck them back is to let them rot in their cells.”

“You're a hypocrite, Decker. You know that?” Mason turned his attention to Carrera's sneering countenance. “You're so ready to put me in jail, but you're just going to let him walk? As if he wouldn't have put a bullet in your head if it would have benefited him somehow.”

Mason had told Carrera from day one: No one knew Kieran like he did. Kieran had chosen his path a long time ago, and whereas Mason didn't agree with it, he also knew that Kieran tried to be a good man in his own way. He pulled a thick black zip tie from his back pocket and secured it tight around Carrera's wrists. “Carlos Carrera, you're under arrest for conspiracy and attempted murder. You have the right to remain silent . . .”

Carrera laughed as Mason read his Miranda rights. “You stupid son of a bitch,” he spat. “You don't have the authority to arrest me.”

The sound of sirens grew louder in the distance. A shoot-out like they'd just had didn't go unnoticed in a peaceful suburban neighborhood like this. Mason's gaze met Kieran's for a silent moment and he held it.

“I might not,” Mason agreed. “But they do.”

Kieran stepped up to Mason as the sound of sirens grew deafening. He pulled back his right arm and gathered his hand into a fist. Mason smiled at his brother a split second before his punch connected with Mason's chin. Stars swam in his vision and Charlie's surprised gasp filled his ears before he hit the floor.

Damn, Kieran really didn't pull any punches.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“We're lucky Carrera refused to take the fall for Faction Five alone.”

Charlie tapped her pencil on the yellow legal pad as she considered interim Chief Deputy Benson's words. Her concentration had been crap for the past month as she waited for the remaining members of the group to be arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service.

“We are,” she agreed. “Not that it's made our job much easier.”

So far they'd arrested Judge Joseph Erickson, and Captain Bruce Augusta from San Francisco PD along with Carrera. Senator Bob Penn was still unaccounted for—along with a huge chunk of Faction Five's seed money—and the marshals were closing in on the group's fifth member, Steve Jenks, a coder for the CIA who'd been spotted in San Diego and heading toward the Mexico border yesterday.

“It could have been a lot worse.”

Charlie gave him a rueful smile. “Probably.”

“We'll get Penn,” Benson assured her. “Jenks too. It'll take a little time, but no one can hide forever.”

“What about Kieran?” Charlie tried to keep the concern from her voice.

“I'll admit, he's going to be a little tougher to track down. So far, there aren't any leads, but we'll get a hit eventually.”

After knocking Mason out, Kieran had taken off. The manhunt had been intense the first week, but Charlie knew he'd left the country almost immediately. He'd been a tool for Jensen to buy his way into Faction Five, and nothing more. He wasn't a relevant aspect of her case against Carrera and the others. When it came down to it, Kieran was another of their victims.

Charlie's focus wandered to her office window and the crystal-clear blue sky beyond. The moment when Mason had all but let Kieran coldcock him replayed in her mind. She knew there was no other way it could've gone down. They were brothers. Their bond was pretty damned unbreakable.

Charlie had always thought that life was so black and white. There were only two sides and you either chose the right one or you suffered the consequences. But maybe not all criminals were bad guys. After all, she'd certainly learned that not all good guys were honorable. Doing the right thing didn't always mesh with what fell within the boundaries of the law. For better or worse, Mason had done the right thing in letting Kieran go.

“How's Mason doing?”

The one thing Charlie made sure the task force made good on was Carrera's promise to Mason. She'd demanded that his application to the Marshals Service go through, and he'd been accepted to the training program at Glynco. He was the
only
reason Faction Five had been taken down. He deserved this. Charlie felt his absence every day, though. She didn't know it was possible to miss someone with such a deep, resounding ache. It distracted her, possessed her every thought.

She hadn't told him how she felt about him before he left.

Six weeks might as well be forever. What if their time apart made him realize that he didn't want her? What if all they'd had was the case and the task force, and everything he felt for her was a result of being thrown into that situation together? Worry gnawed at Charlie's stomach. Her feelings for him hadn't changed at all. If anything, they'd only intensified in his absence.

“Charlie?”

Benson's voice pulled her from her thoughts. “Sorry,” she said with a nervous laugh. “It's been a long day. What did you say?”

“I asked if you wanted to go over the arrest records before Jensen Decker's hearing next week?”

“I think I'm good.” Jensen's attorney was trying to broker a deal by offering up the names of possible Faction Five co-conspirators. It wasn't going to do him any good, though. Charlie was determined to make sure he never saw anything but the inside of a jail cell for the next couple of decades. “I'll give you a call if I need anything though.”

Benson headed for the door. “Perfect. Have a good weekend.”

She checked the time at the bottom of her computer screen. “You too.” She'd promised to meet her dad for dinner tonight. Getting back to her life, her normal routine, should have felt good. Instead, Charlie found herself yearning for something more. At any rate, she could use a drink.

* * *

“You look tired.”

Charlie's dad gave her a peck on the cheek as he settled down beside her at the bar. Charlie glanced at Lacey from the corner of her eye before casting her gaze upward. Lacey subdued her own amusement as she turned her attention to her customers at the other end of the bar. Charlie wished she had a similar escape route.

“I'm all right.” She pushed the scotch she'd ordered for her dad over to him and he took a long sip. “I've had a few late nights this week, but my workload's been pretty light.”

“You should've taken some time off.” Her dad had insisted that she take a leave of absence after he'd found out what had been going on. Charlie appreciated his concern, but work was the only thing keeping her mind off Mason lately. If she didn't have work, she'd drive herself crazy thinking about him.

“I'm okay, Dad. Really.”

“Do the marshals still have a security detail on you?”

“No. I put an end to that after the second week.” Charlie appreciated that the USMS had taken her safety so seriously, but she wasn't about to waste resources on herself. “No one's going to come after me.”

Her dad's brow furrowed. “You don't know that, Charlie. You pissed off some very important people.”

True. But she knew the risks when she'd taken this job. If she allowed herself to be intimidated by people like that, men who deserved to be in jail would never be prosecuted. “I'll be okay, Dad.”

He took another long sip from his glass. “That Eagan fellow still isn't accounted for. From what I've heard, he's bad news.”

A rueful smile curved Charlie's lips. Kieran had everyone snowed. He wasn't half as ruthless or dangerous as he led people to believe. “He won't come after me.”

“And you know that how . . . ?”

Kieran hadn't disappeared empty-handed. He had thirty million in cash that Charlie herself had helped to put into his hands. If she had one regret, it was that. She knew he didn't feel an ounce of remorse for taking it, either. It wasn't tough to picture him on some obscure beach somewhere, living a luxurious life. Probably retired. Hopefully retired.

“I just know, Dad.”

They sat in relative silence for a while, each of them decompressing from their day. Charlie's mind inevitably wandered to Mason. What was he doing? Was he breezing through basic training? Was he happy?

“I'm proud of you, kiddo.” Her dad's voice broke the silence and Charlie stared at her dad. He'd never uttered those words to her. Ever.

Emotion clogged Charlie's throat. “You are?”

“I couldn't be prouder.”

Tears pricked at Charlie's eyes. “Thanks.”

He reached over and hugged her. Charlie let her eyes drift shut as she relaxed against her dad's shoulder. She felt as though they'd reached a turning point. One where expectations didn't exist anymore. Funny, it had taken becoming a black-market diamond broker to get them to this point.

As per their routine, they took their drinks to a table and had dinner. They talked about work, their cases, the usual stuff. Afterward, Charlie said good-bye to Lacey and hugged her dad one last time before heading around the corner back to her office. She'd decided to grab the arrest records for the case after all. Anything to keep her mind off of Mason and how much she missed him.

Charlie stepped into the elevator and hit the button for the sixth floor. The doors began to slide shut. “Hold the elevator!” She let out a sigh and reached for the button to open the doors at the same time a large hand slid into the opening to push the doors wide. Charlie looked up. Her heart beat a mad rhythm as her gaze met Mason Decker's.
Dear God
. Was it possible that he'd grown even more striking in the weeks he'd been gone?

“You had me worried there for a second.” The deep rumble of his voice vibrated through her, coaxing chills to the surface of Charlie's skin. “I thought you were trying to shut me out.”

Charlie looked up at him and a slow smile curved her lips. “I would
never
shut you out.”

* * *

A hundred words sat at the tip of Mason's tongue. Words he'd practiced over again in the long month he'd been apart from Charlie. Instead of saying his carefully rehearsed speech, he took her in his arms and put his mouth to hers.

Sometimes actions spoke louder than words.

Mason hadn't known he could miss someone with such a crippling intensity. The past six weeks away from Charlie had nearly destroyed him. Not a day had gone by that he didn't think about her. Worry about her. Long to hear her voice, feel the softness of her skin. Kissing Charlie was a homecoming unlike anything Mason had ever experienced. It solidified his feelings for her in an instant. Every doubt that plagued him vanished.

His tongue flicked out at the seam of her lips and Charlie opened for him to deepen the kiss. The sweetness of her mouth intoxicated him, her sweet scent swirled around him. Mason wrapped his arms around her. He held her body tight against his as his mouth slanted over hers.

He was in love with Charlotte Cahill. He'd never loved anyone more.

The elevator door slid open to the sixth floor and silently closed once again. He barely took notice when the car lurched and started its descent, and he didn't stop kissing Charlie when the doors opened once again on the third floor and three passengers stepped in. The minutes melted away as they kissed, and when the elevator reached the ground floor and they were finally alone again, Mason pulled away to look at her.
Beautiful
.

“I love you, Charlie.” The words tumbled from his mouth in a rush. “I should have told you before I left.”

Because of Carrera's involvement, Mason's relationship to Kieran, and the fact that Kieran had managed to flee with thirty million of the government's money, there had been an internal investigation into the task force. He'd been ordered not to have any contact with Charlie, and once Mason was cleared of any wrongdoing, the interim chief deputy had sent him on to Glynco. There'd been no time to say the things he wanted to say to her, and he'd worried that when he came back, everything would be different. But one look from her told Mason everything he needed to know. She loved him too.

“I think those are the best words anyone has ever said to me.” Charlie's beautiful blue eyes shone with emotion.

“I mean it, Charlie.” He needed her to know, without a doubt, how he felt about her.

“I know you do.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “I love you too.”

“God, I missed this face.” Mason cupped her cheeks and put his lips to hers.

“Just my face?” she teased.

He kept his lips over hers and said, “As soon as I get you alone, I'm going to show you—in detail—how much I missed every sexy inch of you.”

The sound of a throat clearing drew their attention. An elderly woman stood with her hand bracing the elevator doors wide as she waited for Mason and Charlie to get out of the car. He flashed her a wide smile and showed her his badge. “U.S. marshal, ma'am. Official investigation. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to wait for another car.”

Charlie tucked her body against his and laughed as the woman released her grip. Mason reached over and hit the button to close the doors once again, shutting them out from the world.

“I can't believe you just did that,” she said, laughing.

He kissed her again. “I promise it's the only time I'll abuse my power.”

“Please,” Charlie scoffed. “You're the last person on the planet who's in jeopardy of abusing their power.”

“I'm not as squeaky clean as you think,” he said. “I don't know if you know this or not, but I come from a pretty infamous family.”

“I've heard the rumors.” She nuzzled Mason's neck and his cock stirred behind his fly, more than ready to take this reunion somewhere a hell of a lot more private. “But I trust you.”

“What do you need from your office?” Mason's voice rasped as he put his lips to Charlie's throat.

“It can wait until Monday,” Charlie said.

“Good. Because we're going back to my place, where I can get you good and naked.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan.” Her hand ventured beneath his shirt and he shivered from the contact. “Besides, I thought small spaces made you uncomfortable.”

He could suffer through it. For her. Anything for her. “One more trip up,” he said as his mouth found hers once again. “I'm not ready to let go of you quite yet.” The kiss deepened, intensified, until they were both breathless and panting.

Her hand slithered past his waistband to cup his erection through his jeans. “Maybe in the meantime, I'll make a trip down?”

Holy shit
. “Are you trying to rattle me, Charlie?”

“Depends,” she murmured. “Is it working?”

“Hell yeah.”

She smiled as she stroked him through his jeans. “Good.”

* * *

“Have I mentioned how much I missed you?”

Charlie snuggled in closer to Mason. Her head came down on his shoulder and her palm rested over his heart. They'd made love for hours. Questing hands, slow kisses, and tentative caresses became frenzied touches, hungry mouths, and low moans that filled the silence. The weeks apart from Charlie melted away by slow degrees, and the desperation that had eaten away at him was replaced with a contented glow that warmed his muscles and exhausted him. He was far from sated, though.