Mighty Men with Weapons (17 page)

Donovan stepped beside Colby Carrington then. Colby still looked good enough to suck into a blissful afternoon, too, but Darby couldn’t Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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forgive himself or Colby for coming in between what he enjoyed with Donovan.

The hairs stood up on the back of his neck when he thought about Donovan and Colby. Were they intimate now? Had they given into carnal desires while working together on the island?

No way, he thought. If anything, Donovan was more Nate’s type.

He knew the kind of men Colby preferred. Donovan certainly didn’t fall into Carrington’s category. If so, then Donovan was temporarily playing him for professional gain.

He lowered his spying device once more. If Donovan made a personal contact sport out of Colby Carrington, then for the sake of revenge, Darby hoped he understood the rules well. When playing on Carrington’s field, one learned the games always changed. Any ISO

going against him needed preparation, skill, and intelligence, or he simply needed to accept the possibility of losing to a man who always came out a frontrunner, if not a clear winner.

Darby turned toward the sea. The calm tide rolled in and then drifted out, like the tug of the undercurrent refused to let the waves of salt water disintegrate into the sand.

Adjusting the focus on his glasses, he watched. Nate stood, knelt, retrieved the body, and held the form closer to his face. That’s when Darby saw the long hair and dainty features of a woman.

Zooming in on the scene, Nate lowered his lips to her forehead, and as if the final kiss goodbye snapped him into a different mode, he tossed the body overboard and never watched to ensure she safely sank. Instead, he returned to the wheel and fled for shore.

Back on land within a few minutes, Nate walked away from the vessel like he never used the boat at all. He stormed up the front steps without acknowledging Colby or Donovan and disappeared into the hut.

Donovan and Colby exchanged a long stare, what looked like several words, and then Donovan hit the sandy beach while Colby went inside.

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Addison Avery

Darby felt his heart race as Donovan walked closer. He kept zooming in and out, taking the time to capture all the things he loved about him. The way his shoulders squared when he realized he was facing the unknown particularly held Darby's attention.

Donovan relied on his gut and seldom, if ever, did his sixth sense steer him wrong. Donovan stared right at him then. Darby knew he saw him, but before Donovan spotted him, he sensed him.

Darby tossed his visual aids aside and watched the man he’d always loved, approach. Then, he saw him sprint.

* * * *

Donovan couldn’t believe his eyes. Darby Winslow was there with them, spying on them. What the hell? Had he decided to become the son his father always wanted him to be?

Donovan ran. He couldn’t remember a time when he ever ran harder or faster. He sprinted up the beach and watched Darby toss his field glasses to the ground.

Darby stepped away from a row of beach chairs and took one or two steps in his direction. Then, he backed away, like he suddenly had a change of heart, a different goal in mind that changed his immediate plans.

“Darby!” Donovan shouted.

Darby turned, grabbed his duffle, slung the gear over his shoulder, and started to flee.

In a final attempt to stop him, Donovan made a sudden leap, jumping over an older woman sunbathing in the process, and the two men rolled to the ground.

“Let me go!” Darby yelped.

“Like hell,” Donovan sneered. “What the fuck are you doing here? Why would you run from me?”

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Pinning him under the weight of his body, Donovan stared down at Darby. Their hands were locked above Darby’s head, and he squirmed under Donovan's weight.

“You aren’t going anywhere. Give it up.”

Donovan stared into the eyes of knowledge. Darby always relied on facts and information.

“Why are you here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Darby fired back.

“I’m here to die, apparently,” Donovan said.

Darby’s eyes looked hollow. He had dark circles under them, and he looked a little frail, even for a muscular fellow.

“Are you sick?” Donovan asked suddenly.

“No, hell no,” he stated flatly. “Get off me.”

“Can’t do it,” he said, taking the time to remember other moments like these. They used to love wrestling around on the ground.

Donovan growled, “If anything, I may get off inside of you. Would you like that, Darby? God, I’ve missed you.”

Darby turned his cheek to the sand. “I said get off of me, and I mean it.”

“You want me off, get me off,” he said, taunting. He should’ve fucked him there, teach him some manners. What the hell did he hope to accomplish by spying on them?

Darby tried to knee him in the cock, and Donovan replied with a

“tsk, tsk” sound before squeezing Darby’s ribcage with his knees.

“You gonna run if I let you up?”

Hard and erect with the sweetest of memories, Donovan pressed his groin against Darby’s stomach. “Answer me.”

Darby flinched.

Prior to their Cook Island assignment, Donovan learned about Darby’s so called “condition.” He was concerned, but he also wasn’t sure if he believed rumors. Sure, he knew Darby had a few loose screws, but he also believed anyone killing for a living had certain issues the average person didn’t understand.

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Addison Avery

“Let me up,” Darby said, glancing over his shoulder.

Donovan turned and saw Nate walking up the beach. He moved faster and faster when he saw Donovan sitting erect on a man.

Drawing his weapon, Donovan held up his hand. “Don’t, Nate.”

Nate hurried over and tossed a chair out of his way. “What the fuck?”

“Darby Winslow, meet Nate Francisco.”

Darby stared up at Nate and held his breath. He probably knew all about the man on paper. He was cold, calculating, a definite killer. A man who trusted no one, he’d seize every advantage, and with Darby in Rarotonga, Nate most likely recognized the added benefits of meeting the admiral’s only son.

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Donovan paced the open porch. “This is insane, Nate!”

“Maybe so, but if we can’t go to Shoemaker, we’ll make damn sure he comes to us.”

“He’s not going to show,” Colby said. “If he hasn’t been here yet, he’s not coming to Rarotonga. All you’re doing is agitating the situation. More ISOs will arrive here. Is that what you want?”

Nate tilted Darby’s chin upward. He studied him well. Donovan wondered if he saw Darby the way he did. A handsome man with perfect features, Darby possessed a flawless complexion, but he also had his share of scars. One scar ran straight across his middle.

Embedded in his skin, the jagged pattern left behind solid reminders of a past battle.

Nate licked his lips and dropped between Darby’s legs. With his hands on his knees, he said, “Oh, you can count on one thing.” He eyed Darby’s cock and continued, “Shoemaker will show. And when he does, we’ll be ready.” His focus returned to Darby’s own hazy gaze. “Won’t we, Darby?”

Patting Darby’s cock, Nate left his hand over the man’s groin, and Darby didn’t resist. Instead, when Nate moved his hand, Donovan saw the hard point of a thick mushroom head pushing against thin material.

Donovan’s own dick twitched when he saw the rise in Nate’s pants, too. Hell, the bastard was getting off on the ideas he had in store for an admiral’s son.

Colby grabbed Nate’s arm. “If you’re going to do what I think you want to do, you’ll die here, Nate.”

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“Then I’ll die. I’m tired of waiting on death like the afterlife has something better to offer a guy like me.” He turned his face toward the sea and shouted, “Here I am, Admiral Shoemaker! I have your bastard son! Come and get me, you sorry son of a bitch! Better still, come and watch!”

“Nate, no,” Donovan said.

“It’s the only way,” Darby stated flatly.

Nate cupped Darby’s neck and kissed him hard on the mouth.

“Don’t worry, Darby. I’ll make sure you enjoy every moment, on the chance it’s the last one you have.”

* * * *

They weren’t entirely cruel. In the hottest hours of the day, Nate moved Darby inside and allowed him to stretch out on the sofa in the cool breeze of the air conditioner. Then, when the sun started to go down again, they all returned to the porch.

Darby and Donovan continued to swap glances. Nate hoped he wasn’t wrong about Donovan. He chose to believe in him, and thanks to Karen, he placed the appropriate faith in his team.

Karen.

God in heaven help him, he felt the loss. He felt her absence like he had fought beside her for years and years.

Wrapping his arms around his waist, he glared down the beach.

Shaking off too many recent memories and the unexplainable reason he felt so alone all of a sudden, he said, “Any idea how many of your father’s men are here?”

Darby shook his head.

“He’s been in a mental facility for crying out loud,” Donovan snapped.

“You don’t say?” Nate drawled sarcastically. “Are you crazy?”

Darby grinned. “As crazy as you need me to act when the time is right.”

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“Insanity may have instant appeal if your father shows up in time to witness the madness.”

“You want me to act crazy?”

Nate sneered, glanced at Colby, and then said, “About me.”

Colby shook his head. “Nate, this is going way too far.”

Donovan chimed in, too. “You’re going to get him killed.”

“Not if he can act. If he can convince his father he is a little loco, then daddy dearest will march right up those steps and try his best to save him.”

Darby suddenly understood. As if the natural light burned out of his eyes at the same time the sun sank behind the sea, he said,

“You’re going to kill him.”

Nate said, “I’m damn sure not going to ask him in for a drink.”

“You’re using me to lure him, and then you’re going to kill him right in front of me.”

“If that’s the only place I can, then yeah.”

“I won’t do it, then,” Darby said.

“Uh,” Nate said, scratching his chin. “Yeah, I’m thinking you will.”

“No, Nate,” Donovan said. “You can’t make him stand against his own father.”

“I don’t think I’m going to have to make the choice for him. He will willingly make it because if he doesn’t, the first shot fired will likely be the one into your skull, not mine.”

Donovan flinched. “I’m a puppet, too?”

Darby grunted. “Hell, we’re all his pawns. That’s how he works.”

Nate crossed his arms and stood over Darby. “Damn if you aren’t a pretty thing.”

“Flirting won’t get you anywhere, Nate,” Darby said. “I know all about you. I’ve read case files and personality assessments. I know what makes you tick and where your weaknesses are. I didn’t fly all the way down here without interesting reading.”

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Nate stared down the bridge of his nose until his eyes nearly crossed. “Then you have the advantage here, don’t you?”

“I take it you don’t know as much as you’d like to know about me.”

Nate shot Colby a sideways glance. “I know all I want to know.”

“From him?” Darby tilted his head toward Colby.

“You didn’t answer me earlier. How many ISOs are left here?”

Nate asked.

“I told you I don’t know.”

Donovan spoke up again. “How the fuck would he know?”

“He knows.”

“I can guess,” Darby said. “I imagine three to five. Otherwise, my father wouldn’t fly down here. He’s too vulnerable here.”

“Will he show with more ISOs?” Nate asked.

“No,” Darby said with assurance. “He’s too arrogant. You’ve most likely taken out half his team. He considers their defeat his personal failure.”

Nate understood, too. When he couldn’t protect Karen, he failed.

The life she lost was a personal loss to him, and since Colby hadn’t said very much since she died, Nate imagined he felt the same.

Darby cleared his throat. “He’s already risked a lot by placing a bounty on your heads. He’ll come here to finish the job his operatives were unable to successfully start, much less finish.”

A bright red dot suddenly shone on Donovan’s head. “Get down!”

Darby hollered.

Nate kicked Darby’s chair over, dove into Donovan and hurriedly looked back at the blaze of gunfire. Colby rolled onto the ground and crawled up on his knees, shooting off more rounds than Nate realized he possessed. The deafening noise of the machine gun filled the air.

“Clear,” Colby said. “Damn, I hate this. I’m sick and tired of being a fucking target.”

With a hard push, he set Darby’s chair upright again. “Apparently, Daddy doesn’t know who we have here on our front porch yet.”

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Mighty Men With Weapons