CHAPTER NINETEEN
He was sulking, he knew it. Her words had stung. They shouldn’t have, but they did. He just wasn’t entirely sure why.
“At the roundabout, take the first exit.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Did you just answer GPS lady?”
He paused at the roundabout for traffic to make a space for him and glanced at her as she stretched and yawned, waking up from her snooze. “I sure did. She managed to get me to La Spezia and didn’t ask me to make a freaking U-turn once.”
“Shh, don’t say that too loud or you’ll jinx us.”
“Ha.” He braked hard to avoid the driver who had no clue that the flicker lever was for more than decoration under the steering wheel. “I have a fair idea of where I’m going now. I did some training missions with the Comsubin Incursori near here a few years back.”
“Yeah, I heard they have a base near here.”
“Out by the reserve.” Small talk, he could do. Hell, he was a level expert at small freaking talk. But he wanted more between them than small talk. “Do you know any of the McKinley brothers?”
“I’ve run across them a time or two.”
Up ahead he spotted the signpost for the garage he remembered being at the exit to The Four X’s group villa and hit end route on the GPS before it could tell him to take the turn. He glanced in his rearview mirror as he flipped on his indicator and frowned when the vehicle behind them did the same. “Shit.”
If that car behind him was the CIA, then they too probably knew exactly where he was going. He punched speed dial one with his finger.
“Go.”
“Trev, tell The Four X's that we’re coming in hot, and I think I’ve got spooks on my tail.”
“On it.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the sedan he was watching follow him up the side street. “You think it’s them?”
“I don’t want to take a chance that it is. If I say nothing and bring spooks in his house, Gunnar will shoot me.”
“You’re bringing me.”
“You don’t count.”
“Why?”
As he approached the massive electric gates at the end of the street, he eased his foot off the gas, allowing the car to coast up to the gate. “Because you’re mine, that’s why.” There was just about enough room for their car to squeeze through when he hit the gas again and drove down an elaborate driveway and around the big circular hedge with the other car right behind them. “Get inside now. Go.”
Thankfully she didn’t question him but unclipped her belt and bolted for the double doors of the villa the second he’d slowed the car enough for her to safely jump out. He yanked up the handbrake and bailed out just as Gunnar McKinley let Indy into his home.
“Stop. Stop right now.” One man jumped out of the other car and ran after Indy. He made it to the steps just as she disappeared inside.
“Who the fuck are you?” Gunnar growled. He closed the door behind him and glared at the potential spook.
Draven side stepped around the spook who spluttered, but thankfully stopped short of trying to push Gunnar out of the way. Draven put his back to the house. He trusted the people who were in there and stood side by side with Gunnar on the top step.
“This is an outrage,” the man said.
Out of the corner of his eye, Draven saw Gunnar’s eyebrows fly almost into his hair line.
“What’s so outrageous about it?” Gunnar asked mildly.
“We are guests here.” The man gestured to his friend who came to stand with him. “And our sister has been kidnapped by this man.”
“That’s what you’re going with, huh?” Gunnar reached behind his back and pulled a weapon from under his shirt. He handed it to Draven. “It’s loaded. If they try to come in my house while I’m inside asking your woman if these two are related to her, kick them off my marble steps before you shoot them. Marble is a bitch to clean blood off of, it smears everywhere.”
He was going to kiss him. No bro hugs for Gunnar McKinley today, he was going to kiss him right on the damn mouth. “You got it, bud.”
“You can’t stop us…”
“Wanna bet?” Draven grinned at the asshole. “You really want to piss off The Four X’s?” He lifted one shoulder. “I suppose you could, but good luck the next time an alphabet agency wants someone to…”
“She’s never seen you before in her life.” Gunnar came back out of the house. “I suggest you remove yourselves from my property before I call the police. They don’t take kindly to people trying to break into a resident’s home here.”
“This is a hotel…”
“This is not a hotel.” Gunnar flung his arms wide. “ This is my house, and you don’t have an invite. Get out. Now.”
Draven could see the indecision on the men’s faces, and clearly Gunnar could too as he stuck his fingers into his mouth and gave a short sharp whistle. Immediately the door opened, and Draven moved out of the way to allow the three men to stand next to Gunnar.
“We,” Gunnar pointed to each man, and then himself, “are the McKinley brothers. Either get the fuck off my property or tell the CIA to lose my fucking phone number, because we no longer will be taking their calls.”
Draven opened his mouth to tell Gunnar not to go too far—the CIA was a huge contract to lose—but he snapped it shut again when Gunnar’s brother Remi made a signal with his hand.
The two agents on the steps glanced at each other and for a second Draven thought it was going to come down to war to get them to leave, but they exchanged glances and turned away. “This isn’t over,” the one getting into the driver’s seat called. “Tell India we will be waiting.”
“You touch her, you die.” Draven wasn’t letting Gunnar take the lead on that decision. Indy was his to protect.
“By the way,” Remi interjected, “you ought to know, Nemesis is calling in that favor you two jackasses owe him.”
“Nemesis?”
“Yeah.” Remi smirked and pointed at Draven. “He’s Nemesis’s man, and that woman in our house is his woman.” His smirk grew to a full-on grin. “Do you understand what that makes her?”
“Shit…”
“Nope, quite the opposite,” Remi replied. “It means she’s off limits. The way I see it is the CIA has two companies they call to get people like you out of shit. Us and Nemesis. If you touch her or come after her, you piss off a lot of people. Who’s gonna save your asses then?”
“Get off my property,” Gunnar repeated the order. “And don’t come back. This house, my house, is fucking Switzerland as far as the CIA is concerned. Period.”
They watched the men leave without talking. When the car reached the gates, Gunnar pulled a remote from his pocket and opened the gate before closing it behind them again. “What the hell, Kilkenny? You’ve brought shit to my front door. I fucking hate when something stinks in my house.”
“I’m sorry, Gunnar. I wasn’t expecting that to happen.”
“You know the second we go out that gate tomorrow to take you to the airport that they’re gonna be waiting to follow behind. Right?”
“Yeah.” Fuck, he was going to have to call Nemesis himself and figure out a way to evade them. This shit couldn’t fall on the McKinleys.
“Good thing,” Gunnar clapped him on the shoulder, “we have an alternate way out that nobody knows about.”
“I swear to god you guys are like rats on a ship. You always have an escape route.” And he was so freaking grateful, it wasn’t funny.
“Your girl pissed off a lot of people.” Talon, the quietest of the brothers, led the way into the house. “They have advisories out to every agency that she’s to be brought in by any means necessary.”
“Fuck.”
“Yup.”
Indy jumped up from a seat partially hidden behind a plant in the massive entranceway. “What happened?”
“They left, but they will be waiting.” Draven caught her hand and tugged her closer to him, grateful that she followed his lead without protesting. “What’s going on, Indy? Because the CIA doesn’t blackball people for nothing, especially not the deputy director’s daughter.”
“Shit,” Gunnar muttered softly. “Come with me.”
Draven and Indy glanced at each other, then followed Gunnar through arched double glass doors into what turned out to be an office. The sound of a child crying somewhere in the house had the other three brothers disappearing, closing the doors behind them, leaving just Draven, Indy, and Gunnar in the room.
Gunnar crossed the room and plucked a decanter off a shelf along with some glasses. He lined up the glasses on his desk and poured a couple of measures into each one. “Brandy. We’re gonna need it.”
For a brief second he considered how much he could reveal. But this wasn’t an official mission. No orders had come down that he was aware of, so he figured an open conversation was in order. “How bad is it?” Draven took the glass Gunnar nudged toward him, handed it to Indy, and took another for himself.
“There’s talk of stolen documents…”
“I don’t have any documents,” Indy interrupted.
“Said like a true spook.” Gunnar studied her. “It doesn’t matter if it’s documents or not, but you have something they want.” He rolled the glass in his hand, warming the brandy. “And the agency is almost willing to piss us off to get it.” He sipped from the glass, peering at them over the rim. “Almost willing.” He repeated himself.
Draven worked to keep his face neutral, because the up and close encounter with the snake in Congo told him she did have documents. “Is there any indication what these documents contain?”
“Nope.” Gunnar tapped a keyboard and typed with one finger before turning the laptop toward them. “This is the BOLO.”
“Crap.”
Draven stared at the photo of Indy on the top left of the notification issued by the CIA. “Who else got that?”
“Hell, man, it’s on Interpol’s most wanted list.” Gunnar flipped screens. “I’m surprised you guys got through Napoli without triggering a lockdown on base.”
“You have a child in the house. It’s dangerous for me to be here.” Indy drained her glass as if the booze would give her some extra strength. “I’ll leav—”
“You won’t.” Gunnar glared at her. “The kid is leaving tomorrow. I have enough men to take on the agency if needed. It will take them a while to find where they stored their balls before they come back here.”
“Hell no.” Draven spun her toward him. “If you leave, you are vulnerable. We’ll figure out a way to fix this…”
Indy reached for one of the green leather armchairs in front of Gunnar’s desk and sat in it. “I don’t understand what’s going on,” she said softly. “I just did the job I was ordered to do.” She looked up at him. “I’m not sure what’s going on or why. But I think it’s time to call Dad.”
“He’s compromised somehow,” Draven reminded her. “I think we should call Nemesis and see what the guys found out.”
“I agree.” Gunnar picked up the phone, flipped through a rolodex, and punched in numbers. “We should call someone, but I’m not sure Nem is the one we need. We need someone with way more clearance than Dalton Knight.”
“Who—” She stopped talking when Gunnar’s brows narrowed and sighed. “Fine…”
Draven hoped Gunnar knew he was on dangerous ground when she said ‘fine’ in that tone. But he wasn’t about to warn him of it either. Despite the fact they did need Gunnar’s help, seeing him get all flustered while Indy lost her shit might be epic.