Circle of Danger (10 page)

Marie laughed so hard she rolled off the sofa. This was what she needed, a few minutes of hanging out with a friend. One who knew everything there was about protecting herself. No one messed with Charlie.

 

C
HAPTER
T
EN

M
arie leaned over the book and sighed.

“What are you reading?” Jack closed the door behind him.

She slammed it shut and shoved it between the sofa cushions.

“You shouldn't be reading something you're ashamed of.” Jack teased.

“I'm not. Ashamed, that is. What are you doing here? It's not time for my taekwondo lessons.”

“Actually, it is.”

She looked at the clock and sure enough, it was a quarter past one. Time had slipped away while she read. Even before being sold to Theo, her parents were too involved in partying and getting high to remember to send her to school often. Then Theo preferred she stay ignorant. He'd said education was wasted on women, but thankfully she had a knack for picking up the nuances of reading. Marie always wanted to read the romances she'd seen in magazines. She'd worked hard and now was a voracious reader, though certain words slowed her down.

She ordered them online and had them delivered to a local mailbox service. The beautiful women looked so exotic and happy in the arms of such muscular men. Ryker could easily pose for one of the book covers. Maybe a pirate story.

Luckily, not being a great reader didn't hurt her job. Keying information into the computer in the Crypt was easy. She guessed Bryan suspected she had difficulty, as he always gave her the easier tasks. Her handwriting did look like a child's.

“It won't take me but a minute to change.” Flustered by her tardiness, she tripped and caught herself as she was heading for her bedroom.

When she returned, Jack's head was bent over the book. What did he think of the notes she'd written on the side? There were so many words she didn't quite understand until she looked them up. She liked to write a short explanation in the margin.

“A romance novel. I'm surprised, Marie.” One pierced eyebrow rose as he silently read.

“There's nothing wrong with romances. They have happy endings. The world doesn't have enough of those.” Hands on her hips, she dared him to make fun of her.

“With the life you had, I'm glad to know you haven't given up on happy endings.” He closed the book and sat it cover-up on the end table. “Don't ever be ashamed of believing in love. Nothing's wrong with it at all.”

“I rather you didn't say anything to Ryker. You know, about the reason I write in the books.”

He looked at her for a few tense seconds. “It's yours to tell.” In the usual Jack style, he ruffled her hair. “Come on. Let's go and practice.”

She closed her mouth with a snap and followed. She'd never realized until now how much of a softy Jack was despite his gruff exterior.

“Y
our patterns have improved a lot.” Jack referred to the series of taekwondo moves used for practice.

Marie fought her grin as she moved her hands down into double fists at belt level, the chunbi position of readiness. Jack had told her many times, it was best to look solemn during her lessons. Otherwise, when it came time to use her moves for defense and she smiled, the bad guys would attack, thinking her to be an easy target. Crazy, but it made sense.

Jack followed along, occasionally slapping her arm or leg to correct an error, or grunting as a sign of approval. Then she stopped with one fist enclosed by the other hand at waist level, and gave Jack a quick bow.

“You're getting better every day.” He tossed her a towel and took one for himself. “Have you practiced with the Sig Ryker gave you?”

“This morning.” Marie wanted to ask where Ryker was yesterday and last night. He hadn't checked on her. She'd slept alone and missed his warmth. Chances were he wasn't far. He'd promised enough times to be nearby if the drug kicked in again.

“Good. Ryker was right. Until you master this, a gun will come in handy.” Jack nodded, leaving the room and heading toward the showers.

“Maybe I've misjudged him.”

Marie squealed and turned around. “You scared me.”

Ryker stood on the other side of the mats. Arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face, his usual expression along with his standard jeans and dark T-shirt.

“Go. Clean up and change. They brought in the nerd. I want you listening in.”

No doubt in her mind who he meant. She had some questions of her own to ask the asshole who gave her the drug that was making her life crazy.

In less than thirty minutes, she exited her suite to find Ryker waiting for her in the hallway. First he'd disappeared for a day and night and then he returned with a prisoner and immediately sought her out, demanding she listen to the interrogation. His hot and cold attitude shouldn't bother her. He'd used the same one for years. But it still drove her nuts.

Although they had shared an intimacy beyond the sex, a closeness they'd never experienced with anyone else, he constantly worked to keep her at arm's length. They had a shared past. She swallowed to erase the tightness in her throat. Well, he could tough it out. He needed her in ways he didn't realize. He needed a woman who understood where he was from and how he deserved to be loved. And besides, she needed him too.

They walked side by side to the end of the hall. He pulled on a lamp jutting from the wall. A section slid to the side, revealing an elevator. Marie loved the old mansion and all its hidden passageways. She'd been told that at one time the mansion belonged to a bootlegger. She stepped to the side and held on to the rail. They rode in silence down to the cell area.

The door slid open. In front of them a narrow passageway stretched out to what appeared to be infinity under the dim lighting. Only the occasional buzzing from fluorescent lights broke the quietness. The burning sensation of a cleanser assaulted her nose instead of the expected musky scent of dampness of an underground detention facility. By the time they walked several yards, Marie regretted going along with his newest demand. An eerie feeling trickled down her back. Creepy didn't quite describe the atmosphere.

They turned into another passageway and all hell broke loose. They heard shouting and smoke billowed from an open doorway.

“Get behind me,” Ryker said, pushing her to the side. He bent down and pulled out a gun from his ankle holster. They moved to the side, waiting for whoever was inside to come out.

What happened to those inside?

More shouting and three shots echoed from the room. Someone screamed in pain. Then the walls shook and darker billows of smoke rolled into the passageway. Rocks and pebbles pinged against the opposite wall.

Marie fell against the wall with Ryker covering her. A few seconds passed and someone groaned in the other room.

“Are you okay?” He brushed at her hair and sprinkles of white dust made her sneeze.

“Yeah.” She sneezed again. “You okay too?”

He nodded and looked into her eyes as if he wanted assurance she was telling him the truth. Then he turned his attention to the room where the explosion had come from, his gun aimed at any potential attackers.

“Jack! Liam! Are you all right?” Ryker edged a little closer to the door. He glanced at Marie and jerked his head for her to stay against the wall.

Then a shadow emerged from the smoke.

“It's Jack.” Marie grabbed Ryker's arm.

“Damn it!” Ryker clasped her hand. “Don't ever do that. It could get us killed.”

“I thought you were going to shoot him.” Red-faced, Marie kicked him in the shin. “I'll do that instead.”

“This isn't the time to act like a child.” Ryker's aim remained steady.

“I know. You just make me so mad sometimes,” she stated. He had to understand, she needed to express her feelings or she might as well call him Master.

Ryker shook his head and returned his attention to Jack. “What the hell's going on in there?”

Jack dabbed at the cut on his lip with a dust-covered sleeve and winced. His left eye was nearly swollen shut. He swayed and steadied himself by placing a hand on the wall.

“Billy's dead. I have no idea where those guys came from, but they must've broken into the air shaft because they popped out of the vents. They hit Liam in the head and beat the shit out of me until I couldn't stand. They surrounded Billy and yelled, ‘This is for Katerina.' Then they shot a full round into him.” He stopped talking long enough to spit blood out of his mouth. “Then they blew up the shaft after they climbed back into it.” In the time Jack explained what had happened, his left cheek purpled and grew twice its size. A gash on his forehead had painted the right side of his face red.

At that moment, five guards came running down the passageway toward the cell.

“What the fuck took you so long to get here?” The artery in Ryker's neck bulged.

Marie had never seen him so angry. She gingerly stepped around fist-sized rocks littering the floor and looked into the cell. What was left of the skinny nerd was covered by powder from the falling walls. She moved to check on Liam. He still had a pulse. About that time, Doc came running in with an EMT behind him. She moved out of the way.

Strangely, air still flowed from the shaft they blew up. She guessed it was outside air being sucked through the destroyed vent by the open door.

“Some fucking top-secret compound we're running here when any-damn-one can come in and kill a fucking prisoner of ours and get the fuck away!” Hands on hips, Ryker continued to curse as Doc helped the men load Liam up on a gurney and take him out of the demolished cell.

“You handed her off to Mikolas, not her brothers?”

“Except for a couple gun-toting thugs who looked nothing like her or her dad, he was alone. She was pissed when I threw her at her dad's feet.”

“At his feet?”

Jack waved off the nurse, refusing to have the cut on his forehead cleaned and bandaged.

“I had to tie her up and gag that infuriating, smartass mouth of hers.”

“You what?”

“She refused to go and I had no other choice.”

“I'm surprised they didn't shoot you too.”

“What makes you think that?”

“Her brothers are mean as hell, but smart. No one treats their sister like that and lives.”

“Shit. I'd hate to be the guy to date her.”

“If you want to keep your dick between your legs, you'll stay away from her.” Ryker kicked a rock out of the way. “I've heard if her brothers don't cut it off, she will, and then pickle it.”

“Be still my beating heart. Danger in a woman is the best aphrodisiac.”

“You're as dumb as you look.” Ryker shook his head.

Marie jabbed Ryker in the shoulder. “Quit acting ugly.”

His amber eye widened. When she continued to glare at him for his rudeness, Ryker briefly grinned before moving away to chew out someone else.

Her heart thumped. Even during a setback with all that anger inside, he could smile at her. The man surprised her at every turn.

“You're good for him,” Jack whispered.

“How's that?” Considering how Ryker half the time acted like he thought she was in the way and the rest of the time like she was an obligation to endure, she disagreed.

“I've seen him smile more in the last week than the whole time I've known him.”

“That's hard to believe,” she said.

“You know all those stories I used to tell you?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I remember.”

“You know how Master punished those who didn't follow orders by sending them to the Northern Sector?”

“Yes.” What was he trying to get at?

“While there, we were expected to train and work from sunup to sundown. In upstate New York, I can tell you the winters were a frozen hell. If we didn't do as we were told, we often found ourselves locked in a cold cell without food for a few days. It wasn't fun.”

“I knew Master was angry and wanted to punish him, but I had no idea. He was with me one day and then the next gone. You were the only one I could get to tell me anything.” She hated thinking back to that time. She'd been so lonely and afraid. Jack had tried to be her friend, but Master rarely let her out of his sight as she grew older.

“Ryker never told you?”

“Told me what?” Like Ryker talked to her since taking over The Circle. More like ordered her around and mostly argued with her.

Jack rubbed his hand over his shaved head. “I probably shouldn't tell you this, but Master was upset when he caught you in Ryker's bed.”

“It wasn't like that. He never touched me. He treated me like a little sister. For goodness' sake, he slept on top of the covers. He was nice. I was scared. The things Master made me do . . . well, I had nightmares a lot back then. Still do.”

Jack stared at her for a second and then said, “Don't we all.”

 

C
HAPTER
E
LEVEN

M
arie shut her bedroom door. A single light next to the bed gave off a soft glow. She didn't remember leaving it on. She and Charlie had forgotten the time and stayed out later than usual for a weeknight. Starting her shift at six in the morning placed a crimp in her social activities, and most of those were with Charlie.

She hadn't seen Ryker in days. Between the breach in security and the ongoing search for the Wizard, he'd been too busy to boss her around. And thankfully, the few flashbacks she had were handled easily by herself. Doc claimed they could vary and could possibly fade away with time. He just wasn't sure how much longer.

Needing something other than sex and Ryker on her mind, she worked at improving her aim and practiced her taekwondo patterns with Jack, whenever he could get away from his boss.

She glanced at the light again. Shaking off the odd feeling, she tossed her purse on a chair. Maybe the maid left it on.

As she walked further into the suite, she realized someone was in her shower. The running water stopped. Unable to move, she stared at the bathroom door until seconds passed and it opened. Ryker stood in front of her with only a towel wrapped around his hips and the patch over his eye. Did he shower with it on? To think of it, the times he'd been in her bed, he'd worn it.

“Is your shower broke?” She bit her bottom lip. The scars along his ribs didn't take away from the beauty of his well-toned body. Her gaze roamed over his broad chest and followed the slight sprinkling of hair to the towel's edge. She'd heard it called a happy trail. She totally understood now.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

Crossing her arms, she moved over to the seating area—anywhere away from the bed—and she sat on the edge of the sofa.

“I'm fine.”

“Marie.”

She looked up. Half of his face was in the shadows. She'd heard the story. He'd been only eleven when Theo had taken him away from his parents' burning car. Being young probably saved him, but it had scarred him inside and out so badly. Only a person with a strong will at that age could survive losing loved ones and the sight from one eye.

“You confuse the crap out of me.” Had those words come out of her mouth?

She'd wanted to act cool. Had he been avoiding her again? It had been nearly three weeks after the explosion since she talked directly to him. The chicken-hearted turkey had ordered Jack to pass on his messages and demands. Mainly, he told her to let him know if she needed his “services.” Services! She wasn't a car in need of a tune-up.

“How's that?”

She huffed and shook her head. “You can't even take the time out to talk to me yourself but then you show up like . . . like that!” She waved her hand toward his towel doing a poor job of hiding his arousal. “I haven't called you. I don't need your services.” The last she almost spit at him.

“I had my reasons.” His hand dropped to the towel.

Well aware of how crazy she sounded, she couldn't help it. His nonchalant attitude bothered her. “I don't care to hear it. So keep that on and pick up your clothes and leave.”

She wanted him out. Living in the mansion with him was concession enough. She didn't need any more of his sympathy. At least that was what she repeated to the mirror each night.

One end of the towel slipped, hanging onto his cock before he swept it to the side, letting the cloth fall to the floor. Oh, my, he was beautiful. Every delicious inch. There wasn't anything God created more wonderful than a man who took good care of himself. Muscles shifting with each movement as skin rippled across defined abs.

Unable to move, she felt hypnotized by the sway of his cock as he slowly walked across the room. She remembered well how long he could remain hard and what he could do with it. Her fascination was natural. And Dr. Freud was only half right about every woman wanting one. She just wanted hers attached to a man. Preferably Ryker.

That hard part of him touched her first and before she knew it, she had a beautifully naked man holding her. She inhaled the scent of soap and clean virile man. Was there a better smell in this world?

With her cheek pressed to his chest, she heard the rumble of his voice. “I'm trying to find that bastard. You need the antidote. We have no idea what else the drug will do to you.”

Familiar warmth travelled up from her groin over her torso. She brushed her lips across one male nipple. He hissed. Her tongue swiped at the beaded tip.

“Is that the only reason you're here?” She lifted her eyes to his, her cheek remaining on his chest.

His amber eye looked down at her, his face softened.

“I'm here to help you. You're being stubborn. You know I can satisfy you better than any toy you own. I never could resist a damsel in distress.”

She closed her eyes and inhaled his scent one last time. Palms pressed to his heated skin, she pushed off him and moved away. He released her without a struggle.

“Why? Why now? Did you find out something new?”

Everything inside her was screaming at him. She wanted him to come to her for the same reason any man came to a woman. He wanted her. Yet Ryker only felt sorry for her, wanted to help her relieve herself. She straightened her shoulders and faced him. “Whatever is planned, I'm a part of it.”

“I thought you wanted to continue your lessons with Jack.”

“Don't be that way. You know I need to keep busy. I've been working wherever you let me here, but I want to do more. You disappeared. I had no idea when you'd be back.”

“You only had to call.”

“Quit!” He was driving her crazy with his one-path mind. “You know why I didn't. Until you're willing to be more than a cock to me, I think we should concentrate on finding the Wizard and nothing more.”

He crossed his arms. Why was he even sexier angry? She glanced down. And her rejection of his offer hadn't lessened his excitement.

“You're not trained for this,” he said.

“What kind of training do I need? I'll get it. What are you planning?”

“Jack and Liam are going in as potential buyers of Club Rachael.”

“Then I'll go with them”

“Hell, no.”

She crossed her arms. “Why are they going in pretending to buy the club? I take it something suspicious came up about the place.” He was crazy if he thought she'd given up on this.

“Turns out, the guy, Mike Mulcahy, who owns the club where most of the girls were last seen, also owns the house in Gatlinburg through his company, Lone Pavilion Industries. The company is based in New York City. Lone Pavilion is involved with the local Japanese
yakuza
.”

“But this is Tennessee.”

“That's part of what we can't figure out. Why is he here? What's his connection to the Wizard?” Ryker stepped into her closet. “Why did he buy two nightclubs so far from home base and in the same small city? And how in the hell did an Irishman get involved with a
yakuza
?”

“Two?”

“Yep. He also owns the Rocket. The paperwork shows a man named John Smith but when we looked closer, it was Lone Pavilion Industries. Again, Mulcahy.”

“John Smith? Not very original.” Marie craned her neck to see what he was doing in her closet. “Why would he hide the fact he owns the other club?”

“That's why I don't want you anywhere near him. He's an unknown threat.”

She moved to the side and looked inside. One section of the closet that had been empty before now held several dark T-shirts and pressed jeans on hangers. The see-through shelves were filled with underwear and socks. He'd moved in without asking her permission.

“I have the largest stake in this,” she said in her huffiest tone.

Unsure of how she should feel about his invasion, she turned away, refusing to watch him dress. She heard a drawer open and close. Before she realized it, she peeked. Except for more scars, he was beautiful even from the back. Buttocks tight and shoulders wide, he bent over to step into his boxers. She swallowed a gasp. She'd never seen a man's cock from this angle. Erotic, to say the least.

“Marie, if you don't stop staring, I'll give you an up-close and personal tour.”

Face flaming red, she marched into the bathroom and slammed the door.

R
yker chuckled. He'd started to feel like a fool, bending over until she turned around. She thought she didn't need him, but he knew better. He wanted to make sure she had a mental picture of what she was missing out on.

Hell, what was he thinking? For that matter, what was he doing? Theo had always thought he knew what was best for everyone else. Ryker stared at his trembling hand. Just the thought of turning out like that maniac scared the shit out of him. A normal hand brushed over the scars running from his pinky to his shoulder. If he wanted, a few more surgeries could disguise some of the worse ones. But what was the use? They matched the scars he had inside.

He snapped the waistband of his boxers and jerked a shirt off a hanger.

Time for him to give in to Marie. He hated admitting defeat, but he suspected she would do what she wanted. She'd handled herself rather well at the cabin and didn't panic. At least this way he could plan the operation and protect her, better than letting her go all willy-nilly.

Willy-nilly? A favorite word of his mom's. He shut his eyes for a few seconds. In his mind's eye, he saw her in the sunshine, opening the curtains, telling him it was time for school. “Good morning, this morning! No more lollygagging around. Upsy daisy!” He rubbed the ache in the middle of his chest. She had so many funny sayings. Some days his childhood felt like a fantasy. Collin had been a great playmate. They never felt a need to compete against each other like other brothers. Not until his parents died and Theo separated them, telling Collin he was dead, while telling Ryker that Collin was trying to take everything away from him, that he resented his older brother. He shook his head and pulled up his jeans.

Theo and all his lies.

Maybe he needed to give his brother the benefit of doubt, a chance to prove he could be trusted.

He didn't have time for regrets. The operation needed his full attention. By allowing Marie to participate, he could keep a close eye on her and be there if she needed him. Never would he allow her to suffer because of his inattention or mistakes.

He twisted the bathroom door handle. “Marie, open up.” Any thought of using his shoulder to bust down the door was shoved to the side. The old home had thick oak doors in every room and unless he wanted a dislocated shoulder, he'd be patient. “If you still want to be part of the operation, you need to be ready to go over the plans at 0600 hours. Conference room two.” He waited for a few seconds.

“Okay. Now go away.” She sniffed.

Damn. He didn't mean to make her cry. Undecided, he stood staring at the pattern of the wood.

“Go away, Ryker. I hear your breathing.”

He pressed his hand to the door and bowed his head and nodded. Then he walked away.