Sins of the Flesh (35 page)

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Late Winter

He normally didn’t take jobs involving kids. They were too troublesome a commodity, Mick Carrera thought.

But his sister Bobbie had asked for the help, making it almost impossible to say no. Especially since in a couple of days
she was heading off for her second tour of duty in Iraq.

Mick wanted her safe and sound which meant he needed Bobbie free of worry about her friend’s missing daughter. After obtaining
information from Bobbie’s friend on the custody agreement her ex had violated, he had started investigating the man.

In no time Mick had tracked the sleazeball to one of the casinos in Atlantic City’s Marina area. Rumor had it that his target
was holed up in a VIP suite where a very private, very high-stakes poker game was occurring. One where the stakes sometimes
included young girls.

Although Mick held out hope that the deadbeat dad cared for his eleven year-old daughter enough not to turn her into the ante
for a poker game, he had seen too much in his thirty-something years to rule it out.

Taking a sip of bottled water, he swept the binoculars in his hand across the length of the VIP suite across the way from
his hotel room. He smiled as he took note of the room service wagons being wheeled into the space. When he had overheard one
of the players placing the order earlier that night, he had managed to intercept the delivery and slip some bugs onto the
service carts.

With room service in place, he engaged his laptop and tuned into the conversation in the room while continuing to observe
the activity through his binoculars, vigilant for any sign of the missing girl. The child wasn’t there, which brought both
relief and worry.

Where had the deadbeat left his daughter?

The delivery of the food brought a break in the gambling, but less than half an hour later, the five men around the table
were back at it.

Mick listened and watched as the men played. It became quickly apparent that his target was in over his head. He lost hand
after hand, dropping thousands until he had no chips sitting in front of him and, apparently, no cash either.

“Seems you’re out,” one of the other gamblers said, his voice sandpaper gruff and brooking no disagreement. The gambler had
a thick accent. Eastern European, Mick concluded.

“Actually, I have one more thing I think will interest you. I just need a moment to get her.”

Grabbing his smartphone, Mick slipped in his earpiece and forwarded the audio feed from the bugs to the device. With a quick
toggle of keys, he flipped over to the elevator bank controls he had hacked earlier. One elevator went to the floor for the
suite and then headed for the ground floor.

Damn. With three towers joined together by an assortment of restaurants, shopping and gaming areas, he feared losing his target
on the busy main level.

He raced out of his room and to the elevator, impatient as he waited for it to arrive and take him down. Once on the first
floor, he pushed forward through the crowd in the halls and the gaming areas. As Mick neared the central lobby, he noticed
the deadbeat dad walking toward him. The man’s steps were rushed and as he kept on looking behind him, as if he expected that
someone would be following.

No one was. As Mick stepped aside to seemingly place a bet at one of the slots, his target scurried past.

Mick waited a beat and then followed, careful not to be seen. When he arrived at the elevators, his target had already entered
along with an older couple. Mick sneaked in just as the doors were closing and turned his attention to his phone, making believe
that he was texting while all the time keeping tabs on his target from the corner of his eye.

The man had his hands in his pockets and was jingling keys and some change. He tapped one foot constantly. A fine line of
sweat gathered above his upper lip and the along the edge of his hairline, even though the air in the hotel was downright
frosty.

When his mark got off the elevator, Mick delayed enough to make it seem as if he hadn’t been paying attention. Then he hopped
off in the opposite direction, still seemingly engrossed in his cell phone, while the man headed to the far end of the floor.

With only a quick glance down the hall, the man entered his room.

Mick rushed close and listened carefully. He heard some scuffled steps and crying from within. A louder slap carried through
the glass by the front door and was followed by more intense sobs.

“Shut up you! Or I’ll give a reason to cry!”

Mick’s jaw tightened at the man’s words. He rapped his knuckles forcefully against the door.

The door flew open to reveal the man holding the struggling young girl with one hand. The man’s other hand was tucked behind
his back in a too-familiar stance.

“Mark Smith?” Mick asked, but saw the tell-tale twitch in the man’s arm.

With a lightning fast move Mick delivered a punch that knocked Smith away from the door. As Smith stumbled, the gun he had
been holding behind his back clattered to the floor and he released the girl, who hurried away.

Mick hated the show of violence in front of the child, but Smith was not going down easily. The man lunged for him and Mick
connected with another shot to Smith’s face that had him falling to his knees. Despite being momentarily dazed, the man was
soon scrabbling on all fours toward the gun.

Mick kicked the gun away and then delivered a punishing knee to Smith’s face that brought the sickening crunch of bone. With
that, the other man finally dropped unconscious to the ground. Quickly Mick pulled handcuffs from his jacket pocket as he
closed the hotel room door and met the young girl’s tearful wide-eyed gaze.

“I’m your mommy’s friend,” he said, worried that the girl would create a ruckus that would bring hotel security running.

Instead she came up to Mick as he kneeled by Smith’s prone body to snap on the handcuffs. She encircled Mick’s neck with her
spindly arms. Cuddling close, the girl sighed peacefully and Mick had no choice but to awkwardly embrace her.

Damn and double-damn, he thought as he held the little girl close. Never take a job that involved a kid.

His sister Bobbie stood by him as he watched the reunion between mother and child.

The sound of a weepy sniffle came from beside him and he glanced at his sister as she wiped at her eyes. He hadn’t figured
Bobbie for the emotional type, but then again, even he was feeling more than a scintilla of happiness.

“I have to go,” he said gruffly and with a curt nod, extricated himself from the gathering. He had already left Bobbie’s friend
with the name of someone who could help her deal with her ex in the courts.

He rushed out the door, but Bobbie was immediately beside him.

“I appreciate what you did for my friend,” she said as she zipped her leather jacket tight against the cold blustery wind
outside.

Mick shrugged and said, “Just doing a job.”

“Right. I forgot you’re a big bad-ass gun for hire,” she replied, but a teasing lilt colored her tones. Before he could say
anything else, she said, “My going away party is on Saturday. Will you be there?”

Bobbie’s going away party
. Just a couple more days before she was off to war.

He glanced at his sister while they walked shoulder-to-shoulder.

“Maybe,” he answered honestly. He was brave enough to face down most anything. Except his mother who would likely start in
on him again about settling down and leaving his current occupation.

Bobbie laughed loudly and playfully nudged him with her shoulder. “You’re afraid of
mami?
You are
so
not a bad ass.”

He slipped his arm around Bobbie’s shoulders and gave an affectionate hug. His little sister might be nearly as tall as he
was and probably as tough, but he still worried about her.

“I’ll try to be there,” he replied as they paused at the corner to allow a car to go by on the nearly deserted avenue, then
crossed over to the boardwalk and strolled to the metal railings separating the walk from the beach. The wind was even stronger
here, angrily whipping the dried stalks of dune grasses and occasionally tossing sand up while they stood there, staring out
onto white-capped waves.

Bobbie turned to lean back on the railing and faced him. “You should visit the family more often. They miss you.”

He missed them as well, only… There was still too much he had to do and too many wrongs to right.

“I’ll try,” he said, but then a second later his cell phone rang.

He glanced down at the caller ID. Wardwell Laboratories. It was the second time today that they had phoned and he wondered
what they could want with him. He hadn’t done corporate security in quite some time.

Bobbie asked, “Do you need me to go so you can take that?”

Mick shook his head and snapped the phone shut, ignoring the summons, although he knew Bobbie would understand if he had decided
to take the call. Out of all of his family, Bobbie was the one most like him. Or maybe it was better to say most like the
old him. The man who had once understood the meaning of honor and duty.

The new him was a different creature and not above bending the rules to finish a job that he had been paid to do. But as he
met Bobbie’s gaze, he realized she still saw him as a hero. A heavy burden to bear and one which he wasn’t sure he could shoulder.

“Be safe,” he said and hugged her, harder than before.

It was his way of saying goodbye before he walked off alone into the cold winter day.

Enjoy this exciting peek at

THE LOST
by Caridad Piñeiro
!

Adam Bruno is no ordinary millionaire. The heir to an ancient race possessing a dark, powerful magic, he can shapeshift and create energy. His gifts make him a living weapon and have forced him to live in seclusion. But now an inhuman force hunts down Adam-just when he finds someone who makes him feel more human than he ever imagined possible…

Home from combat in Iraq, Bobbie Carerra wants only peace, yet soon joins Adam in a terrifying battle against paranormal enemies who hide in plain sight.
She’s
drawn to his strength of mind and body;
he’s
attracted to her courage and intoxicating energy. Their scorching passion can either transport them to the heights of ecstasy or-if Adam’s powers rage out of control-destroy them. But when an invisible brotherhood tightens its nets and someone Adam trusts betrays him, only a heartrending decision can save them.

Twenty Years Later, Jersey Shore, New Jersey

S
elina stood in the wash of the ocean, arms beckoning the sea breeze to sweep over her. The wind was like a living thing as she commanded it to circle around her and she fed from the power in its embrace. So different from the hot desert zephyrs to which she was accustomed. There was so much life from the wind’s journey over the vast ocean shifting and swirling before her.

Selina could better understand now why this clan of Light Hunters had chosen to live here along the water. The ocean and all that flowed from it would be an excellent source to recharge their life energies. With such power nearby, they could avoid taking from the humans as they hid in plain sight amongst their possible prey.

Even as she absorbed the refreshing energy, Selina was aware of her husband’s approach long before he slipped his arms around her waist and drew her against the lean body that she would never tire of exploring. From the first moment she had seen him nearly forty years ago, his power had called to her the way two sides of a magnet drew one other.

“You feel it, don’t you?” Kellen said, but he wasn’t referring to their bond. He, too, sensed the life force emanating from the nature all around them.

“It’s hard not to sense such vitality. It makes me wonder why our ancestors chose the desert for our clan.”

He shrugged and laid his chin against the top of her head. She was a tall woman, but Kellen was well over six feet and broad, nearly swallowing her up as he held her. There was comfort in that physical power, although Kellen understood she possessed the more powerful Hunter gift.

“They thought we would be safe there. Away from the humans and the Shadows,” he replied, but there was a sadness in his tone that was impossible to miss. Their isolation in their desert commune had only made it easier for the Shadow Hunters to find them and attack. For nearly twenty years, Kellen had blamed himself for that fateful night and the loss of their son Kikin along with so many other members of their clan.

“We will find him this time. I know it.” Selina turned in his arms and laid her hand along the side of his face. She glanced around the beachfront to make sure they were alone before allowing her power to join with his. As she did so, the energy created a shimmering glow wherever skin met skin. Their auras brightened and merged into an iridescent red-gold, and within her core the power awakened passion, dark and demanding.

“I want to believe that,” Kellen said, dropping a kiss at the edge of her brow before laying his forehead along hers. Beside her belly his desire was evident and growing stronger as their life forces melded with each other.

“Believe,” she whispered against his lips, caught up in the exchange of energy, an exchange made even more potent by the love she had for him.

He groaned and tightened his hold until not an inch separated them and returned her kiss before promising, “I will not fail you.”

Selina smiled, more hopeful than she had ever been that their search was finally over and their son Kikin would be with them soon. And when he was, the continued existence of both the Ocean and Desert clans of the Light Hunters would be guaranteed.