Secrets and Satin: A MacKenzie Novel (Romantic Suspense) (MacKenzie Family) (5 page)

Max let out an audible sigh and started walking. He stayed relaxed when the other guard flanked him. “I don’t think you know who I am,” he said indignantly. “I’m not going to be treated like a common criminal in the senator’s home.”

Max heard footsteps pounding up the back stairway and knew he had to make his move quickly. His foot lashed out and kicked the guard on his right at the side of the knee. A sickening crack sounded and Max covered the guard’s mouth with his hand so his scream couldn’t be heard over the party below. Max touched the pressure point in the guard’s neck and let him fall unconscious to the ground.

The other guard reached for his weapon, and Max grabbed his wrist, twisting it so the bone broke and the gun fell from his useless grasp. He gave him a short punch to the jaw, and the guard crumpled on top of the other one.

“I need a distraction,” he said, running towards the stairs at the front of the house.

“I’m on it,” Cade said.

An enormous crash sounded below, and Max heard a few screams from the women in the crowd as champagne glasses filled to the rims crashed to the marble floor and splashed their dresses. Cade had come through, and Senator Henry was apologizing to his guests while berating the poor server Cade had tripped.

Max walked at a sedate pace down the wide center stairs at the front of the house, pushing past the crowd of people that had converged there while they waited for the mess to be cleaned up. He ignored the shouts from upstairs where he’d left the guards and kept moving forward, getting closer to freedom. He reached the bottom of the stairs and Cade bumped against him, giving him the opportunity to slip the flash drive into Cade’s pocket. The front door was only steps away and people were starting to panic from the unknown shouts and the sudden swarm of security everywhere.

“There he is!” Someone yelled from behind him.
“Stop him!” He didn’t turn around to see who had said it. His training kicked in, and the only thing he worried about was blending. Making himself invisible. None of the people around him could tell who the guards were pointing to.

“I’ve got an alternative pick up en route,” Elena said. “
I just got word from Declan about half an hour ago that he’s in town and we have extra men. I’m trapped behind a limo. Head east towards the next cross street and they’ll meet you there.”

Indignant shouts of partygoers echoed in his ears as guards shoved their way through the crowd, and Max slipped out the front door and down the garden path. The front gardens were lush and the fragrant scent of roses reminded him of his grandmother
—overpowering and slightly stifling. Each of the estates in the exclusive neighborhood sat on a couple of acres that were tree lined and picturesque. Only people with a lot of money could force their lawns to be that green in a Texas summer.

The air was stagnant and
smothering and the humidity so thick it felt like breathing water, so the only people outdoors were parking attendants. Max was halfway down the arched driveway before security guards swarmed from each side of the house. He couldn’t fight all of them, and he didn’t want to kill anyone. They were only doing their jobs. But he knew they wouldn’t have any compunction about using their weapons on him, and damned if he felt like taking another bullet anytime soon.

He ran. It was all he could do, and he hoped to God the pick up team was waiting where Elena had said it
would be. Yells came from behind him, but he focused on the trees to the east and to the street he knew would be on the opposite side.

The loud crack of a gunshot sounded like it was right next to his ear, and the bark on the tree in front of him exploded, sending tiny shards of wood into his face and neck. Blood ran into his eye and his leg ached as he pushed himself harder and harder. He weaved in and out of the trees, in no particular pattern, making himself a smaller target, but the gunshots didn’t stop and if anything, they sounded closer.

He ran out of the cover of trees and straight into the open residential street in front of him. If his driver wasn’t there, he was screwed. He heard the squeal of tires before he saw the tiny silver car turn the corner and drive straight toward him. He kept running as the driver’s side window opened and a slim hand appeared, holding a semiautomatic handgun.

T
he driver laid down cover for him, firing shots steadily, and he heard a couple of grunts from too close behind him as the bullets found their target. The driver turned the wheel at the last possible second and the passenger door flung open. Max jumped inside, and the car was speeding back down the street from the direction it had come from before he was able to get the door closed.

“Thanks for the ride,” he said.

Jade looked at him out of unreadable green eyes. “It just so happened I was in the neighborhood.”

Max shrugged out of his coat
and used it to wipe the blood from his face. None of the cuts were deep, but they were bleeding like a bastard.

“Dec’s going to be pissed. You know he doesn’t like bodies left behind.”

“I just winged a couple of them in the leg to slow them down. Everyone’s still breathing.”

Max winced in sympathy, his own leg aching. He rubbed it absentmindedly to loosen the tight muscle.
“They’ll be looking for us. We’ve got to ditch the car.”

“Already on it,” Jade said.

And weren’t they being fucking polite with each other, Max thought.

She got onto the highway, weaving in and out of light traffic, and finally swerved into the far rig
ht lane to take the exit towards the Galleria. Jade’s driving had always made him a little lightheaded, but with the pounding headache on top of it, he was hoping he could keep the contents of his stomach down instead of on the floorboard of the car. The mall parking garage was massive and overflowing, and she followed the road as it spiraled upward until they were almost to the top.

Max pushed his hand against the roof so he wouldn’t end up in her lap as she took the corners with a squeal of tires. He jerked against the seatbelt with an
oomph
as she zipped into a small parking space between two large SUVs.

“You’re looking a little pale, Max,” she said, her grin letting him know how much she’d enjoyed herself. Her eyes sparkled and there was a flush to her cheeks. This was the Jade he knew. The one he’d met so many years ago who loved what she did and had a zest for life.

“You did that on purpose.”

“Of course I did. My driving is the only time I ever get to see you with that look of panic on your face.”

“Yeah, well you should have seen me a few months ago when Brant was here helping us on a job. He brought Darcy and the baby with him because she was restless and wanted to get out of the house for a while. She’d been complaining of going stir crazy since she was pregnant again and also taking care of a one-year-old, and Brant wasn’t about to deny her anything, even though she probably shouldn’t have been travelling as far along as she was. Then she ended up going into labor right in the office.”

“You’re kidding.” H
er laugh was like music to his ears, and he couldn’t remember when he’d heard it last. “Declan never said a word.”

“Because he was just as traumatized as I was. It’s the only time since I’ve known him where he went completely pale at the sight of blood. It probably didn’t help that Darcy threw a coffee mug at his head. She’s got a hell of an arm.
It bounced right off that thick skull of his. But Brant stayed completely calm and ended up delivering his son. The whole thing scared the hell out of me. I could go a lifetime without seeing all of that again.”

Jade’s smile softened. “Well
, it’s not every day a man gets to deliver his own child. Brant knows how lucky he is.”

Max could have kicked h
imself for bringing it up. She hadn’t gotten that opportunity with her own husband and child, and he could tell by looking at her that she was remembering that day as he was. But the look of sadness and desperation was no longer so heavy in her expression, and instead there seemed to be a peace that hadn’t been there before.

“I’ve got an extra weapon and ammo in the glove box. We’ll need to call in and have someone retrieve the car. It should be fine here for a couple of days though.”

Max opened her glove box and removed the extra weapon and magazines she had there, and Jade popped the trunk. He was pretty conspicuous in a bloody tuxedo, and he waited until she’d gathered all of her things before getting out to join her.

“Which one do you want?” he asked, pointing to the line of cars on the opposite side.

“Get the red one.”

“How did I know you’d say that?” he sighed.

“Some things never change.”

Jade pulled license plates
and an electric screwdriver from her bag and went to work while he pulled his iPhone from his pocket. The team had an app specifically designed to override the computers in modern vehicles. The door locks popped open with a click of a button and he slid inside the new model Camaro.

The push button ignition wouldn’t start without a key fob or at least a key fob simulator. He switched apps on his phone and let it scan the computer inside the vehicle they’d picked. It only
took a couple of minutes before the phone made the car think it had the right electronic device to start the car. He put his foot on the brake and punched the start button, and the car roared to life. Jade got in the passenger side and he put the car in reverse.

Adrenaline pumped through his body, and he knew when the crash came it would come hard. It had been almost two years since he’d come close to death, and it had been the hardest two years of his life. He’d changed—inside and out—and even though he was in better shape than he was before his injuries, he still had to deal with the horrific headaches that made him as weak as a baby.

“How’s your head?” Jade asked.

“It’s fine.” Blood dripped into his eye and he swiped at it with his hand as he maneuvered his way out of the garage and back onto the highway.

“Liar. I’m more than happy to drive.”

Max just grunted and pressed his foot down on the accelerator. It hadn’t really sunk in that she was here sitting beside him. They’d fallen into their old habits and
camaraderie as if they’d never been separated, and he felt as if the part of himself that had been missing was finally in place.

It had been nine months since he’d seen her. Nine months since the day she’d walked out his door and he’d moved halfway across the country. She hadn’t answered her phone when he’d called, and she’d only answered emails when it had pertained to business. And it was all his fault.

“What are you doing here, Jade?” he asked, more harshly than he normally would have.

He couldn’t help it. It hurt that she’d cut him from her life so easily, so completely. And a day didn’t go by where he didn’t wish he’d somehow handled the situation differently. He could have taken her that day. Given her what her body had needed even though her mind wasn’t there yet. He could have pushed into that soft warmth and let her pretend it was someone else, all the while hating himself for giving in.

He heard the soft exhalation of her breath and his cock came to full alert. It didn’t matter that it felt like jackhammers were pounding away at his skull. That one breath had whispered across his skin until it was everything he could do not to pull over to the side of the road and pull her into his arms.

“I’m here for a couple of reasons,” she said. “A
problem with your current mission has come to light, and Dec needs us to try to contain the situation. I’ll fill you in once you do something about that headache.”

“I told you I’m fine.”

“I thought the doctors said the headaches would go away.”

“Forgive me for wondering why the hell you care all of a sudden.” He guessed he was angrier than he’d thought.

“I guess I deserve that,” she said, looking out her window.

“We were friends, Jade. We
are
friends. That above all else. Running away was never the answer.”

“I owe you an apology.”

“Bullshit,” he said. “You’ve never owed me a damned thing. Did you think I couldn’t see you were hurting? That you had needs you’d been ignoring?”

“To tell you the truth
, I was embarrassed. I’m still embarrassed. You always seem to be the one to witness my weak moments, and part of me hates that. I don’t want you to think I’m not strong enough to handle whatever comes up.”

“Baby, you’re one of the strongest people I know. It doesn’t make you weak to lean on someone every now and then.”

“You deserved better than what I did to you, and all I can say is I’m sorry.” She tapped her hand anxiously against her knee and kept checking the side mirror to make sure no one was following them. “If it helps, I’ve missed seeing your face.”

“Yeah, it helps,” he said,
swiping to clear the blood from his eye again.

Max pulled into the underground parking garage next to the high rise where the MacKenzie Security offices were located and parked near the elevators. The gold plaque inside the front of the building said that floors 9-11 belonged to Reliance Financial Group. It was the same company Dec used in a similar building in his offices in Washington—a legitimate front for what was really going on behind
the doors of MacKenzie Security.