The Men With the Golden Cuffs (6 page)

“I don’t hear anything,” he said after a moment or two. He tried again but nothing. “Maybe she’s not here. Maybe she’s staying with a friend.”

“Not according to Ian.” Jake walked back out to the driveway. “I talked to him before I changed out of my leathers. He said Lara spoke to her earlier in the evening, and Serena had promised her she would stay locked up tonight. Apparently she’s working on another book. Ian was going to call her to let her know we’re coming. If she’s pissed off, well, she’s in for a surprise. She’s not really the client. Lara is. I’m not about to let her little temper tantrum keep me from doing my job.”

Adam slapped his partner on the back. “Just keep talking that way, buddy. That’s the attitude that’s going to have her eating out of our hands.”

“I’m sorry.” Jake sighed heavily. “I just wish this case was a little more cut and dry. If she’s doing this for publicity, you’re going to get hurt again.”

And he wouldn’t? Jake was the badass, but there was a soft spot underneath that had been damaged in the past. It was up to Adam to gently push him toward the right outcome of this little mess. If Jake wanted to be the bad cop, Adam would let him play it that way. But only to a point. “Fine. But let’s not call her very reasonable anger, with you I might add, a temper tantrum.”

Jake’s face remained closed. “Fine. I was an asshole. But we both know I’ll be an asshole again. Let’s go around and check out the back. She’s got the front closed up, but she has windows everywhere. You want to bet they didn’t secure the small windows?”

Jake looked at the small metal sign that proclaimed which security firm proudly protected the home. “No way. I know that firm. They secure the doors and large windows. They never tag the smaller ones.”

Despite the fact that he didn’t want to scare her, he always did like a little breaking and entering. It reminded him of those days in the Green Berets, going on covert operations. He’d been a different person then. He’d loved being part of a team. It was why he’d been happy to join McKay-Taggart. “Let’s get going then.”

Jake’s lips curved up in a grin. “You know you would have made a good criminal.”

“Absolutely.” Adam followed Jake toward the back of the house, stopping at Serena’s car. “Wow. Nice ride.”

The little Audi A6 was a pretty car.

“Apparently writing has been good to her. Between this car and that house, she seems to be doing well.” Jake got to one knee, his hand tracing the sleek lines of the car. “Although if it was parked in the garage all the time, no one would guess that she lives alone.”

Adam could hear the suspicions underlying Jake’s tone. Some people would do a lot to keep a lifestyle like this. Some people would do even more to move up. An odd line on the car’s side caught his eye. It was a jagged white streak that looked wrong against the black of the car. “Is something wrong? Is that some damage?”

“Someone keyed her car.” Jake showed him the thin line that ran across the passenger side of the Audi from the rear all the way to the front.

“Bastard. She didn’t mention property damage this morning.”

Jake got to his feet. “No. She said it was just threats. Looks like this guy is escalating at precisely the right time. Just as she thinks we’ve turned her down, something worse happens. Interesting. I want security cameras around the perimeter of this house.”

Because he wanted to see if Serena had a hand in this herself. Adam didn’t agree, but there was zero reason to argue with Jake until he had some proof. Jake was a “guilty until proven innocent” kind of guy.

Jake came to the backyard gate and gave it a tug. It didn’t budge. “Good girl. She has a lock on it. Unfortunately, I can climb.”

Jake hefted himself over the tall gate without a care. Adam planted his feet, pulled himself up, and followed. If this stalker worked out at all, he wouldn’t have a problem.

Her small backyard looked like an oasis of calm. She had a lovely patio with sunny furniture and a little fire pit. The whole house was surrounded with old-growth trees—the kind that would be easy to climb and hide in.

There were five windows on the back of the house. Jake checked the largest two carefully.

“Sensors on these.”

Adam inspected the smaller windows. The blinds were drawn. It could lead to a bedroom, but he would bet his money that this was a kitchen or a dining room window. He didn’t see any wires or other sensors. “Here’s our in. Are you sure we shouldn’t just keep knocking on the damn door? We could easily prove this to her without giving her a heart attack.”

“No.” Jake shook his head as he pulled out the super sharp knife and duct tape he’d brought. Jake had a bag in the trunk of his vehicle filled with helpful items. “She needs to understand a few things. We won’t always protect her in the manner she wants to be protected. You know how these things can go. She thinks because she’s the ‘client’ that she gets to call the shots. And that will get her killed. I would rather have her pissed off and alive.”

“And if she knows we’re out here and she comes after us with a baseball bat, or worse, she shoots our asses?” Both were very reasonable scenarios. He’d just recovered from the last time he’d been shot. Without thinking about it, he put a hand over the scars on his gut. A single bullet had torn him apart. He was lucky to be alive. When he’d woken up and realized he hadn’t gone into the light, he’d sworn he wouldn’t let anything hold him back. He wouldn’t give in to fear. He would be open to the possibilities. But when the possibilities included another round of surgery…

“She won’t. If that woman owns a gun, then I can’t read people. She’s one of those ‘gun control’ nuts. Trust me, the only thing we might be in for is her cat meowing us to death.” Jake worked quickly. It wasn’t the first time they’d broken into a place to complete a mission. He passed Adam the knife as he tore through the duct tape. “Get to work on the glue.”

It was a frighteningly simple thing. Jake made small handholds out of the duct tape while Adam cut through the glue that held the glass pane to the window. His knife was small and wickedly sharp, making quick work of the glue. In mere minutes, Jake pulled the entire pane out of the window and they had easy access to Serena’s haven.

Adam decided to go first. Maybe she’d hold back when she realized it was him. He was pretty sure she’d shoot off Jake’s junk the minute she had a chance. He lifted the shades, and sure enough, there was someone waiting for him. An enormous dog sat with wide eyes as though he’d just been waiting there for a playmate to show up. Adam got a big old kiss from the large mutt who seemed to have some form of doggy halitosis. He sputtered a bit, wiping away dog drool. “You were wrong about the cat. It’s a really big dog.”

Jake’s low voice floated into the room. “He doesn’t sound like he’s growling.”

The dog wasn’t. His tail was wagging in a powerful thump, and he licked at Adam’s face as though greeting an old friend. “Yeah, I think we can bet that this boy wasn’t top of his class at security dog school.”

The dog panted and did a couple of circles as Adam threw a leg over the sill and hauled himself in. The dog took advantage of his now fully exposed body to hop up, put his massive paws on Adam’s shoulders, and lick at him enthusiastically.

“Well, at least we know you’re going to find love in this house. It’s a guarantee now,” Jake said with a smirk as he, too, entered. “That dog is worth nothing.”

But he put a hand out and greeted the enormous thing. Jake snorted slightly as the dog licked him, too. “I think this is a mix between a lab and a retriever. Do you think she walked in and asked for the biggest pussy dog she could find? Yes, boy, I called you a pussy. That’s what you are. You should have already gnawed through Adam’s leg. Yes, that’s what good dogs do.”

Adam had to admit it. Things weren’t looking great for Serena Brooks. If he’d wanted to brutally murder her, he’d already gotten past her security system. He’d made friends with her guard dog, and so far, no one had shown up to clock him with a baseball bat.

Either Serena was very naïve or she wasn’t that terrified.

His concern must have shown on his face since Jake slapped him across the shoulder. “There it is. I knew you could do it. I knew you could think with the other head.”

“You’re an asshole.” His gut churned a little at the thought that he was wrong about Serena.

Jake shrugged. “Yep, but I’m an asshole who so far has managed to keep us in one piece.”

There it was—that odd invisible tether that somehow kept them together. They had met their first day of basic training. Adam had felt the weight of generations of service on his shoulders. Jake had joined because he had nowhere else to go. Adam had come from privilege and Jake from poverty. And they had fit. Ten years, a war, several near-misses with death and countless women later, Adam couldn’t imagine his life without Jacob Dean in it.

And he’d never forget the way his father had called him a faggot after they had gotten kicked out of the Army for sharing a woman.

His father would never understand. No one would.

Adam cleared his head and got back to the case. His father would never forgive him. Neither would his brothers. Jake was his only family now.

“Do you hear anything?” Adam asked. The house seemed perfectly quiet. Serena had turned off most of the lights. He was in a small breakfast area. Her kitchen was to the right. There was a bottle of wine open on the counter. Sauvignon Blanc. It looked like a decent year.

“At least she has good taste in wine,” Jake noted. “Probably not the best idea to drink when someone is trying to kill you, though.” His head came up. Jake gestured down the hall.
That way
.

And he saw her. She was in the living room. Her figure danced across the opening that led to the large space. She was actually dancing. And then she stopped, as though having a revelation. She was still for a moment and then a single fist pumped in the air and she began dancing again. Ear buds sat in her ears, connected to a small device hooked to her shirt.

Serena Brooks looked completely different than she had earlier in the day. Gone was the bulky sweater and loose fitting jeans. Her hair was out of its messy bun and flew out at odd, strangely sexy angles. In the soft light from her lamp, he could see that her hair wasn’t a simple brown. It was threaded with blonde and red and dark brown, and there was a ton of it. Without the confines of a comb, the soft stuff seemed to go everywhere in a silky cloud. She wore red cotton underwear and a black tank top. Neither was inherently sexy, but on her the cotton clung to her every curve, accentuating her hourglass figure. Her breasts bounced, obviously free of confinement.

“What the hell is she doing?” Jake asked, his mouth slack as he watched her dance.

The dance wasn’t some seductive siren call. It was odd and slightly awkward and joyous. It was the dance of a woman who was completely sure that she was alone. Adam relaxed a bit. She sure as hell didn’t look like a woman who would ruthlessly plot her own stalking to get a little publicity. Maybe he was the naïve one, but damn, he didn’t want to believe it.

“I got it. So simple. Why didn’t I think of that before?” She started to sing. Again, it was probably not a thing she would do if she knew someone was watching. And Adam found her entirely adorable.

“She’s insane.” But there was a smile on Jake’s face.

He had to see that Serena wasn’t anything like Jennifer. Jennifer had been utterly perfect. She was an elegant female, never a hair out of place, even when she was in uniform. She always did the right thing and knew exactly what to say. She’d been ambitious, and she’d known exactly how to get what she wanted.

Serena didn’t even know the words to the song she was trying to jam to. And she played a terrible air guitar. But damn she had pretty tits.

“I could have killed her ten times by now.” Jake didn’t even try to keep his voice down. It was obvious that the music was far too loud for Serena to overhear their conversation.

“You need to get your head on straight and forget the violence,” Adam tossed back, never taking his eyes off Serena. The big mutt had sat down in the middle of the floor between Adam and Jake, as though he belonged there. “Think about the other things we could have done to her by now. We could have her stripped, tied up, and part way to some sweet double penetration.”

“Not a good idea, Adam.” But his voice was tight, as though he was a bit uncomfortable.

It seemed like a perfect idea to Adam. She was unattached, obviously submissive, and in definite need of male attention and protection. They could handle all of her needs. They were a one-stop boyfriend shop. “I don’t see why not.”

Jake turned and shook his head. “Let me show you why not. In three point two seconds, she’s going to be the one thinking about violence.”

Jake strode down the hall just as she turned and finally opened her eyes at the precise right time.

Serena’s pretty green eyes widened to the point of looking slightly painful and she screamed. It wasn’t a girly scream. It was a full-on death scream that must have hit the Richter scale somewhere. The dog whined and ran to his mistress, his tail down but thumping. She pulled the ear buds out, grabbed her dog’s collar, and started to run for the front door.

Jake was on her in an instant, moving almost faster that Adam could see. There was a reason his call sign had been Ghost. He moved like one. Jake wrapped an arm around Serena’s waist and pulled her backwards, lifting her feet off the floor. She dropped the dog’s collar, and the poor boy just whined and turned in circles as though trying to figure out what to do. Serena kept screaming, her legs kicking out, her fists trying to find purchase.