Page 34 of Kane (Ghost Ops #4)

Chapter Twenty-Four

They’d found her. Her father. Jackson. They knew where she was and they were coming for her. They wanted her to know she couldn’t run far enough, couldn’t hide forever. The card was a warning, and a promise. It was also a giant fuck you because they didn’t believe she could escape them again.

But she wasn’t going to stay in Sutton’s Creek like a lamb to the slaughter and let them take her easily. No fucking way. She had to go. She’d figure it out as she went, but staying was not an option.

She started to surge to her feet, intent on grabbing a few things and getting the hell out. Going back to the farm, getting her bag, talking Kane into taking her to the range so she could retrieve the memory card, and then disappearing into the night.

But Kane stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. Held her firm so she couldn’t stand. She thought about fighting him, but what good would it do? He knew all the moves because he taught them. She might have the element of surprise on her side, but mostly all she’d do is piss him off.

“You need to tell me what this is,” he said, nodding at the card on the table. “And you need to tell me why you’re terrified. Who left this for you? What does it mean?”

She dragged in a breath, her mind racing with plans—and terror. “I can’t. Not here. We need to go, Kane. Before they find me.”

“Who?”

She surged to her feet. He didn’t stop her this time. “Are you listening to me? We need to go before they get here. I’ll tell you on the way back to the farm.”

His expression was a mix of anger, frustration, and resignation. “Okay, fine. At least tell me what I might be facing from here to the parking lot.”

Her heart skipped. “Oh, God. I didn’t think of that.”

And she should have. Jackson might be waiting, intending to trap her. He’d have his enforcers, and they’d be armed to the teeth.

“It’s my job to think of those things.” He took out his phone and turned away from her.

A moment later, he was talking to somebody.

“Hey. Got a situation here at Daphne’s place.

Gonna need backup to get her to the vehicle and back to the farm…

No, nobody here, but I don’t know if they’re watching the place… Okay, great. Thanks.”

When he turned back to her, gone were all traces of the man who’d been playful and fun earlier. “The guys are going to check out the parking lot, see if anybody’s out there. Ethan and Alex will follow us back to the farm, make sure nobody else does.”

She could breathe again, but barely. She nodded, unable to find her voice at the moment.

Kane made her wait while he checked the hallway, then he returned for her and they left the apartment, locking it behind them and heading down three flights of stairs.

When they got to the bottom, he made her wait until his phone pinged with a text.

Then they went outside to find Ethan’s truck sitting at the bottom of the steps.

Kane hustled her into the passenger seat, tossed his bag in the backseat, and went around to change places with Ethan.

He handed Ethan his keys to the Yukon and then they were heading out of the parking lot and back to the range.

“Start talking, Sunshine,” Kane growled.

She thought about lying, making something up he’d believe, but she was tired. So tired of lying and running and looking over her shoulder. Tired of hoping for more and believing she didn’t deserve it. She’d finally gotten something good—him—and now it was over before it’d really started.

“Before I do, I need you to know it’s dangerous.

These are dangerous people, Kane, and I don’t want anything to happen to you or the guys.

I don’t want Emma or Rory or Callie or Nikki to be in their crosshairs.

I don’t want any of you hurt, so you really just need to let me grab my things and disappear. ”

His hands flexed on the wheel. “You seem to think you have a choice. You don’t. If I know what’s going on, there’s every chance I can help you. And if I can’t, if leaving is the best thing for you, then I’ll help you do that.”

Daphne bowed her head and covered her face with her hands. Tears pressed hard behind her eyes, clogged her throat, but she refused to cry. If anything happened to him, if Jackson hurt him…

Stop.

Kane wasn’t helpless or clueless. He was a man who’d served his country, who’d seen combat, and who could defend himself if he knew what he was facing.

She lifted her head, swallowed down her tears, and turned to look at him.

She wanted to watch him when she told him who she was.

Wanted to see the disgust and anger she knew she’d find there.

She needed to see it to stop her heart from bleeding.

Her stupid, stupid heart that’d loved this man from almost the first moment she’d seen him.

He was going to hate her, and she wasn’t about to shield herself from it.

It was the only way to get over the heartbreak.

“You’ll be glad to hear this part. I’m not twenty-three. I’m twenty-eight. No cradle robbing for you. How awesome is that?”

He didn’t look at her but his body tightened.

“My name is Josephine O’Malley. Josie.” Her throat ached.

It felt so strange to say it. To say the name she no longer associated herself with.

“I’m a woman whose father runs a criminal empire, whose brother is a psychopath, and I was part of that empire until recently.

I’ve laundered money, accepted protection payments, and benefited from money earned off the blood, sweat, and freedom of others.

I guess you could say I’m a mafia princess.

Mafia in this case being Irish and Southern rather than Italian. ”

If he was shocked, he didn’t let it show. “Who left the playing card?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Jackson—that’s my brother. It’s not quite his style to warn me first, but he’s also a psycho who likes to terrorize people.”

He shook his head. “The fucking fleur-de-lis. Crescent City Armory, right? John O’Malley is your father?”

“Bingo,” she said, folding her arms over her body as a chill swept through her.

“Fader?”

“I don’t know him. But he thought I looked familiar, and then Seth said he might be a customer of my father’s.

I guess he is since they found me. He must have called Jackson or my father and told them he’d spotted me.

” She sucked in a breath. “It was stupid to work in a range. I should have left months ago. I never intended to stay anywhere very long because I know they’re looking for me.

I’ve endangered all of you by being here. ”

“Not worried about your brother or your dad. But you know what? You should have fucking told me—told all of us—a long time ago. Knowing what we’re facing is critical to mission planning.

We never, ever got on a plane without knowing what we were up against. Even when we didn’t know everything, we knew something.

Because our commanders weren’t going to let us go blindly into a fight we couldn’t understand.

Surest way to get killed. But you know what?

They respected us—our training, our talent, our worth to the fucking United States Army.

They briefed us and we got the job done. ”

She’d never seen Kane angry. She’d seen him annoyed, amused, intense, focused, and determined. She’d probably seen a hundred shades of those emotions and the little ones in between. But real anger? No, never.

Until now.

“If you’d told us weeks ago, we’d have been prepared for this kind of shit. We could have done something to keep you safe. Now we have to defend you from a threat we didn’t see coming.”

Her heart squeezed—both at his anger and at the idea he still intended to protect her.

“I couldn’t tell you. Maybe I should have, but you have to understand how I was raised.

What I’ve done—Jesus, I’ve betrayed them all.

The family. Everything they stand for. And yet the training is ingrained in me.

O’Malleys don’t talk. Because we know what happens when people talk.

They die. I would die because my father is that ruthless.

” She dragged in a breath. “He’s killed people, Kane.

When he suspected one of his men was skimming profits, dear old Dad ordered his death—and the deaths of his family.

Jackson personally took care of it. He won’t hesitate to eliminate all of you because you helped me.

” She shook her head. “I wasn’t ever going to tell any of you the truth because I didn’t want you to know.

I planned to leave before they found me. ”

“Yeah, but you didn’t, did you? And now you’ve got a fucking playing card under your door and you’re terrified.” He swore softly. She didn’t say anything because what was there to say?

They rode in silence for a few minutes. But he wasn’t done. She’d known he wasn’t. He’d been cooling off before he continued.

“What’s the meaning of the queen of diamonds? Or does it mean anything?”

“It’s me. I ran a nightclub in New Orleans called The Diamond Queen.

I was its queen. Everybody who was anybody frequented my club.

My dad did business there when he wasn’t doing it at the armory, making deals, meeting clients.

Jackson…” She shuddered. It was Jackson who’d started her down this path.

“He was doing things I didn’t know about, things I didn’t approve of.

When I found out… Well, too little too late, I guess. But I decided I had to get out.”

“Anything else you need to tell me?”

Her heart was in her throat, her stomach in her shoes, and everything felt surreal. But she’d come this far. In for a penny, in for a pound, as John O’Malley always said.