Protecting Ainsley Read online

  “I have a lock on Janet. She’s at the Flamingo Hotel,” Tex said. “Or at least that’s where that conversation came from, and I pinged Andrew’s phone. He’s there too.”

  Keanu bolted upright. “None of you are obligated to come.”

  “Oh, we’re coming,” Brodie said, draping his arm over his wife’s shoulders. “The only question is am I going or is my wife, because one of us has to get home to the kids.”

  Harper patted his chest. “I’ll let you go this time.”

  “Aw-shucks, hun.” He kissed her temple.

  “Now that we know who is coming, can we devise a plan and get this show on the road?” Every second that ticked by, Keanu died a little inside.

  Ainsley coughed. Her throat scratched as she tried to clear it. Her vision blurred as she blinked her eyes open. She tried to bring her hands to her face, but something prevented them from moving.

  “It’s alive,” a familiar female voice tickled her ears.

  She shivered. “Janet.” Ainsley’s eyes slowly focused. She lay on a bed in some tacky hotel room decorated in Floridan pastel colors. A flamingo lamp dressed the nightstand.

  Janet sat on the edge of the bed holding out a glass of water.

  “Untie me please.” Ainsley shifted, trying to get comfortable, but to no avail.

  “I can’t do that,” Janet said, raising the bottle to Ainsley’s lips. “Drink.”

  Ainsley turned her head. “Not until you tell me what’s going on. You made me believe while we were chatting that you were being forced to do this. Are you in danger?”

  “Only from you.” Janet set the water next to the bed. “For the record, I only kept you talking so we could get a lock on your location. I can’t believe you were so stupid.” Janet laughed, shaking her head. “It always amazed me growing up that no matter what I did, you were always willing to take the fall for me. I could have killed someone, and you would have gone to jail for me.”

  “Did you kill the woman who died on that scuba trip?” Ainsley kept thinking that if she could keep her sister talking, she might be able to find a way out of this mess.

  “I didn’t actually kill her; it was all part of the bigger plan, but then you left Mexico and screwed it all up. Leave it to you to seduce a Navy SEAL and talk him into bringing you back to the States.”

  Keanu.

  Ainsley blinked. Last she remembered, he’d fallen to the ground and blood was oozing from his arm. “He was ordered to bring me in.”

  “Not until after you seduced him, but that’s neither here nor there. You and your stupid fucking Prince Charming were supposed to die when you returned. We had it so well planned out. We even had a man on Keanu’s team, but that dude is a slippery motherfucker. But he’ll get his due, I promise you that.”

  “What happened to you?”

  Janet laughed. “You always had mother’s ear. You were her favorite, and even though Daddy treated me like a princess because I wanted to be like him, he was never home.”

  “Are you telling me you’re jealous of me?”

  Janet stood. “Please. Get over yourself. But that time in my life taught me that I could get whatever I wanted if I knew how to play the game, and the very first time I got in trouble when we were in middle school for drinking taught me you’d do anything to make sure my reputation was kept clean. You were always such an easy mark that way. When I met Andrew, everything changed, and we set out to create an empire. You have no idea how intoxicating it is to be so powerful. To make things happen. At the snap of my fingers.” She raised her hand and clicked her middle finger and thumb together. “I could control a senator. A foreign dignitary. Or an entire terrorist cell. But you had to stick your nose in where it didn’t belong.”

  “You brought me in,” Ainsley said behind gritted teeth. “You told me things about JB. You had me do things…” She let her words trail off as the reality sunk in. “You’ve been setting me up for years.”

  The bathroom door swung open, and Andrew strutted into the room. “Well, well, well. Look at what the cat dragged in.”

  Ainsley’s heart dropped to the bottom of her gut. “You two aren’t going to get away with this.”

  “We already have,” Andrew said. “The only reason you are still alive is because Janet here wanted to tell you in person what a fool you’ve been your entire life. And since she’s the only one I’ve ever loved, I humored her. But fun time is over. It’s time to take out the trash and make sure you’re blamed for everything so we can go back to going about selling secrets and getting away with it.”

  Chapter 10

  Once again, Keanu found himself hiding in front of a cheesy hotel while the humid Florida air clung to his pores like bees on honey. He focused on room number twenty-four. The curtains were drawn tight, but he could see the glow of the light shimmer through the flimsy fabric. He could make out one silhouette, and based on the size, he assumed it was Andrew.

  Keanu hated waiting for the go ahead. He just wanted to get right into the action, helping to take out the enemy, but his role was to watch the front door, and as soon as he got the all clear, he was to go in and save the day.

  Well, save Ainsley. He didn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone else. He’d gladly put a bullet between Andrew’s eyes, and Janet? He wasn’t sure about her, but he’d enjoy handcuffing her and taking her in for what she did to her sister.

  He adjusted his earpiece, hoping someone would say something.

  Nothing but radio silence.

  He inched closer, scanning the area. He knew Mozart and Wolf had taken the back of the hotel, and Brodie and his buddy Declan were flanking the sides. They had noted five armed men. One on the roof. Two in the back. One by the lobby, and one currently smoking a cig in the parking lot. They needed to take out the man on the roof first before doing anything else, and until he got word that Mozart had done that, Keanu could only sit and wait.

  And wait.

  He hated waiting.

  Thunder rumbled as a crack of lightning lit up the sky. Hopefully, the brightness didn’t give away anyone’s position. He focused his attention on the roof. A few large rain drops landed on his head.

  Wonderful.

  “I just heard from Tex,” Mozart’s voice came over the earpiece. “He had some interesting news about your Kip.”

  Keanu swallowed. Since Operation Princess had gone so wrong, he’d been spinning his brain as to how it had become compromised, and it came back to Kip being the only new man on the team.

  “Andrew and Kip were friends. Tex isn’t sure how they managed to get him on your team yet, but we do know your commander Hanson wanted to pull Johnny out of injured reserve just for this mission,” Mozart continued. “Or bring in one of us, but he wasn’t allowed to make that choice, which is totally fucked up because he’s in charge of the platoon.”

  “That doesn’t explain why the CIA was watching me in Mexico,” he whispered.

  “They weren’t watching you. Someone reported they saw Ainsley,” Mozart said. “It snowballed from there, and Andrew does have friends in high places. I’m sure there are more dirty people in this scenario.”

  “While you girls were talking, I took out one man,” Wolf said. “Let’s take out the rest so our man here can barge in and protect the one he loves.”

  Love.

  That had been a foreign concept to Keanu most of his life. The closet he’d ever come to it had been shortly after he joined the Navy. She’d been his high school sweetheart, and she gave him the best going away present a young man could hope for before going off to bootcamp. He’d held on to that memory all through those first months. He and Carla had lasted two years, but his deployments got the better of her, and one day he got the Dear John letter. It stung, and it took him a few months to get over the hurt, but when it was all said and done, he realized he hadn’t loved Carla like he should have, or he would have done more to make it work.

  “Lobby is clear,” Declan whispered. “I’ll stay put as the lookout
.”

  Keanu focused on his breathing, keeping it slow and steady. The waiting was going to make him crazy.

  “Man on roof is down,” Mozart said. “We can move on the rest so lover boy can get his girl.”

  Keanu’s throat went dry as he saw movement inside the hotel room. Andrew stuck his face between the curtains.

  Reactively, Keanu ducked lower, even though he knew he couldn’t be seen.

  Seconds later, Andrew disappeared, but the man smoking flicked his cigarette butt to the pavement and stomped on it with his foot.

  “Men in the back are on the move,” Wolf said. “I’ve taken care of one, but the other one is rounding the corner of the hotel on the east side.”

  “The man in the parking lot is getting in the van.” Keanu knew he had only seconds to react. He pulled his baseball cap over his head. “They either know we’re here, or they will soon. I’m going in.”

  “I’ve got you covered,” Declan said.

  “Mozart and I will take care of the men in the van,” Wolf said. “Brodie, where are you?”

  “I’m behind the car next to the van,” Brodie’s voice crackled.

  Keanu checked his weapon as he walked briskly across the parking lot. The last time he ended up barging into a hotel to get Ainsley, he’d been working with one new man, and everything went to shit.

  This time, even though he didn’t know Brodie or Declan from Adam, the people he trusted and admired most did and that gave Keanu a boost in confidence, something he sorely needed.

  The sound of a man grunting caught his attention. He took a quick glance over his shoulder. Brodie tossed one of the men in the back of the van, then gave Keanu the thumbs-up.

  So, all of Andrew’s men were handled.

  Now to take care of Andrew and his sidekick Janet.

  Kenau paused midstep as Andrew opened the door, holding Ainsley in front of him with a gun at her head.

  “You are a fucking thorn in my side,” Andrew said.

  “How’d you know I was here?”

  “I didn’t until I opened the door, but I knew someone was here when all of my men didn’t check in when I said it was time to go.”

  Keanu took in a harsh breath as he held Ainsley’s gaze. Her hands were tied behind her back. The rain caught her long wavy hair like a spiderweb. Her eyes widened, and he was sure she cracked a slight smile.

  I’m happy to see you too, baby, except for that gun to your head.

  Her twin sister stepped on the other side, with another gun.

  “Well, there goes my clean shot,” Declan said in his ear.

  “Get them away from the door and toward the van,” Brodie said. “Two men reported so they might think we are them, and we can disarm them safely.”

  “That might work,” Mozart said.

  The chatter going on in his ear was going to make him crazy. “Are you okay, Ainsley?”

  She nodded with wide eyes.

  “Have your men show themselves and drop the damn gun,” Andrew commanded.

  Janet pointed her gun directly at him as she marched closer.

  Declan made his way into the light from the lamps with his hands held high, as did Mozart.

  “You’re not going to get away with this,” Keanu said. “Too many dead bodies piling up, and when everyone finds out that Janet is still alive, the jig will be up.”

  “You think I’m going to kill Ainsley?” Andrew shook his head. “That’s funny. I’m not a killer. I’m more of a lover, though Ainsley isn’t half as good in the sack as her sister. One area twins aren’t identical, I guess.”

  Janet took his weapon and laughed.

  Keanu didn’t see what was funny, especially when Janet shoved his own gun into his side. “We’re all going to go for a little ride.” She shoved him toward the van, then turned and headed toward Declan and Mozart.

  This could go bad in so many ways.

  As Andrew got closer to the van, his smile faded. “You stupid prick. Now I’m going to kill her.”

  “I thought you were more of a lover,” he said. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Declan wrested the gun from Janet, and with the help of Mozart, they pinned her to the ground.

  Andrew growled. His eyes turned to fire, and Keanu knew he had less than a second to disarm him before he shot Ainsley in the head.

  Wolf made a noise from the van that caught Andrew’s attention, and Keanu leapt, shoving Ainsley to the side, tackling Andrew.

  Pop!

  Fuck. A sharp pain tore through his gut. It hurt to breathe. He fell to the pavement. Shouting erupted around him. Ainsley screamed. He tried to focus, but he couldn’t see anything as the rain pelted his eyes.

  Pop!

  Keanu held his breath, wondering if he’d been hit a second time.

  “Put this on his wound and press hard,” a familiar male voice said. “Hang tight, buddy; help is on the way.”

  “Ainsley,” he whispered.

  “I’m right here.” Her beautiful voice came into view.

  “Where is Janet? Andrew?”

  Ainsley leaned over him and kissed his forehead. “Your friends are taking care of them. Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “Protecting me. Saving me. Everything.”

  He dropped his head back and closed his eyes. A million things raced through his brain, but he couldn’t catch the thoughts as they whizzed by. The pain in his gut slowly left his body. His breathing no longer hurt.

  He could hear people around him, but he couldn’t make out anything they were saying. Something pricked his arm, and his body warmed. A tingling sensation crawled across his skin from his head to his toes.

  It was so peaceful, and he let himself relax into whatever was happening to him.

  Ainsley was safe. Nothing else mattered.

  Chapter 11

  Ainsley paced in the emergency room, holding her middle. Blood stained her skin and clothes. Too much blood.

  “Why don’t you sit down and try to relax,” Wolf said. “Putting a hole in the floor isn’t going to make the doctor come out any faster.”

  “But it’s been like three hours since he went into surgery.”

  “These things take time, and they won’t come out and give us an update until he’s in the recovery room,” Wolf said.

  “I don’t even have any of his sisters’ names or phone numbers to call them, and you have to bring me to some inquiry by morning. What if he’s not awake by then? He’ll be here all alone.” What if he didn’t wake up at all? She’d never be able to live with herself if Keanu died while trying to protect her, especially when he could have wiped his hands clean of her the second they landed in the States.

  “The military will take care of contacting his family; don’t you worry your pretty little head about that.” Wolf stood and wrapped a warm blanket around her body. He pulled her to a chair between him and Mozart.

  “How can you two be so calm? That’s your friend in there.” She dropped her head back and stared at the ugly drop ceiling with horrible florescent lights.

  “Trust me, we’re not really all that calm; we just know we’ve done everything we can to help Keanu, including giving blood.”

  “He was so pale when they brought him in, and he hadn’t responded to anything since he passed out at the hotel,” she said, squeezing her eyes shut, trying to push the vision out of her head. Everything had happened so fast, and yet it played out in her mind in slow motion. “He faded so quickly, and I couldn’t stop him from bleeding. Every cloth you gave me became soaked with blood in seconds.”

  Mozart took her hand. “Look at me,” he said.

  Reluctantly, she shifted her gaze. Keanu’s friends had risked their own lives for her as well, and she’d never be able to repay them.

  “I know what is going on in your head. I’ve been there a time or two. It sucks. Especially when it’s someone you love. But you can’t get yourself so worked up. When he comes out of surgery, he’s going to need your strength,
so don’t waste it on something you have no control over.”

  “Easier said than done.”

  “We know,” Wolf said. “But he’s in good hands. Brodie said that surgeon is the best in the area.”

  “You should have seen how impatient Keanu was while we waited to storm into that hotel room. I thought he was going to crawl right out of his skin,” Mozart said with a slight chuckle. “He loves you, and he’ll fight like hell to come back to you.”

  “He doesn’t love me. He actually kind of hates me.”

  Wolf and Mozart exchanged an odd glance.

  “When a man like Keanu falls for a woman, he falls hard and fast, like a damn tree trunk,” Mozart said. “The circumstances that brought the two of you together were intense and certainly not ideal for a fairy-tale love story, but I’ve got twenty bucks on him saying he loves you within ten minutes of being in your presence.”

  “I give him five minutes,” Wolf said. “I thought he was about to say it right before the EMTs injected him with a pain killer and sent him to la-la land.”

  “How did they get there so fast?” She brushed her hair from her face as the crushing pain in her chest lessened. “It was like within ten minutes of the shooting.”

  “Six minutes, to be exact,” Wolf said. “And remember, Declan and Brodie are Air Force Fire Protection Specialists, so they made sure people were standing by, just in case.”

  “I owe all of you so much.”

  “Nah. It’s what we do,” Wolf said, pointing toward the doors.

  A woman stepped into the waiting room. “Ainsley?”

  She bolted to a standing position. “That’s me. Is Keanu okay? Did the surgery go okay? Where is the doctor that operated on him?”

  “One question at a time,” the woman said. “The doctor had another case he had to deal with, and Keanu is just fine. The surgery went better than expected. There was less damage than the doctor had originally thought. Keanu is asking for you.”

  “I can go see him?”

  “Follow me. He’s a little groggy still, but he’s already trying to get out of bed. You’ll need to tell him how important it is for him to rest.” The woman lifted a card and ran it over a button next to the doors.