Killian Read online

  They didn’t have any answers as to where Dean came into all this. Sure, Max was his buddy and all that, but still—

  Just then came a knock on the door.

  Hatch came out of the bathroom, looked at him, and said, “I presume that’s breakfast?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “It is.”

  Killian got up, walked to get plates and to put them on the table, and, when he turned to the door, Hatch stood in the doorway looking at him, a gun against his head.

  “Wow,” Hatch said. “Security is not like it used to be.”

  Behind Hatch, holding the gun, was none other than Dean.

  He pushed Hatch inside, toward where Killian was.

  Killian looked at him and said, “Well, there you are.” He stopped and stared and said, “Turn your head to the side.”

  “Fuck you,” Dean said, but he did turn his head ever-so-slightly.

  “Now I get it.” Then he shook his head. “No. I mean, I get it, but I don’t get it.”

  “Of course you don’t get it,” he said. “You’re too damn stupid to get anything.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that,” he said. “But maybe you should tell me why you were following her kidnapper.”

  At that, Hatch looked at Killian. “What?”

  “This is the guy I put the tracker on,” he said. “I didn’t quite see it within the shadows of the park, but, just now, with that angle, that’s him.”

  “You are too damn smart for your own good,” Dean said, with a sneer.

  “What the hell?” Hatch said, looking from Dean to Killian.

  “Come on. Tell me why,” Killian said.

  “Because when the second kidnapper made contact,” Dean said, “we needed to see exactly what he was up to.”

  “And you wanted proof that he’d killed Stacey, I suppose.”

  “Well, it was the only way to put an end to this of course. Not that Max had a problem with her being dead, but he wanted to do the job himself.”

  “Of course. I mean, that is what he did with his first wife, wasn’t it?”

  Dean glared at Killian. “You don’t know anything.”

  “We’ve already pinpointed where you two buried her. It’s just a matter of time before her body is dug up. You guys just love to hurt women. That bonded you together—making money illegally and hurting women, feeding power trips as the small men you are.”

  Dean just gave him a flick of his hand and said, “You’re nothing. So where the hell is the bitch anyway?”

  “I still don’t understand why you didn’t step in and take care of things at the exchange. You could have killed the kidnapper at the same time.”

  “I could have, but you were an unknown element that I didn’t understand at the time. We didn’t know this guy was double-crossing us and blackmailing someone else for ransom. That didn’t make any sense, when we saw you arrive, so we didn’t want to take out anybody until we understood just what the implications were. She is a minor cog in our wheel. But now Max is dead,” he said. “And, for that, I’ll make sure I take you two out as well,” he snapped, taking a step forward. “Because no way in hell should Max be dead. He had forty or fifty more years left in him.”

  “Maybe so, but, when you live the lifestyle you do,” Hatch said, “well, it’s not all that unexpected.”

  “You didn’t have to kill him,” he snarled. “You didn’t even know him.”

  “No, we didn’t, but he’s the kind of guy we know all too well,” Killian said. “The ones who abuse women, who beat them up, and who use them as punching bags, all because they needed an outlet for their anger that day.”

  “She was nothing,” Dean said. “No more than any of the other women he’d ever met. She was nothing to Max. The two of us were close. I knew exactly what he needed and what he was like. You know nothing.”

  “You loved him too, didn’t you?”

  “Not like that,” he said in disgust. “The friendship between us nobody could understand but us. Including you guys.”

  “You’re quite right there,” he said. “But he’s dead now, so that relationship is over.”

  “Not so much,” he said, with a smirk. “It’s not like you’ll do anything about this right now.” And Dean lifted his gun and went to pull the trigger.

  As Killian caught motion out of the corner of his eye, he started to move. Hatch dropped to the ground as the gun fired, but something came out of nowhere and slammed Dean hard in the shoulder and knocked him against the wall. Killian was already on the move and quickly grasped the wrist of Dean’s gun arm and slammed it hard against his knee, forcing the gun out of his hand. Then Killian immediately kicked him in the nuts and finally dropped him with a hard right clip to the jaw.

  As Dean fell to the floor, Killian looked over at Stacey, standing there, the base of a shattered lamp in her hand.

  She stared down at him. “I didn’t kill him, did I?”

  “No,” he said. “You didn’t.”

  She took a long slow deep breath. “Too damn bad,” she said. “Because I really would like that to happen.” She kicked him hard with her good leg. “Asshole,” she muttered.

  Killian laughed, picked her up in his arms, and swung her around. “It’s okay. He’s down, and we’ve got him.”

  Hatch walked over, checked his pulse, and said, “He’s alive.”

  “Yeah, I just knocked him out.”

  Hatch rolled him over and quickly tied him up, then made some phone calls.

  She sat down in a nearby kitchen chair and asked, “Does that mean we don’t get food?”

  Hatch looked at her and nodded. “Sorry, sweetheart. That’s exactly what it means.”

  She glared down at the gunman. “Asshole, I’m hungry.”

  “Food is coming,” Killian added, “but we also have a body to get rid of and people who will want to know what happened.”

  “That’s your department,” she said. “You said I can order anything I want. Well, I’m ordering peace and quiet and time away from this nightmare. So you give them all the explanations and don’t involve me. I’ve had enough to deal with. As a matter of fact, I’ll go back to bed. Let me know when breakfast is here.” And, with that, she turned and walked away.

  Killian looked back at Hatch, who was grinning like a fiend. “I told you that I liked her,” he said. “She really knows how to rise to the occasion.”

  And Killian had to admit, as he looked at the gunman, that she’d done a good job. It did take a few minutes to coordinate and to get somebody involved to get Dean out of here. Killian went through Dean’s pockets and pulled out the information that they needed from his wallet, including the names of lawyers. And, with that, he passed off everything to the team. When the last vehicle left, one more arrived carrying food, so he walked into the bedroom to see her lightly sleeping.

  He leaned over, kissed her thoroughly, and said, “Hey, sleeping beauty, breakfast is here.”

  She reached out, stretched, hooked an arm around his neck, and said, “Too bad we can’t have it in bed.”

  Hatch cleared his throat from the bedroom doorway. “Like hell you can,” he said. “I’m right here. Get your ass out of bed and come to the kitchen.”

  She laughed at him. “Just don’t be too sour that we found each other,” she warned.

  “Sour? Oh hell no,” he said. “I knew right from the beginning you were meant for each other, long before either of you did.”

  She looked up at Killian and whispered, “I did too, she said. “I just didn’t trust myself anymore.”

  “That is no longer an issue,” he said. “Nobody’ll bother you again.”

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  And he reached down and scooped her up in his arms and carried her into the kitchen.

  “I’m not that badly hurt,” she protested, looping her arms around his neck.

  “Nope, but you shattered that lamp pretty well, and, although we cleaned it up, I don’t want you to get any glass in yo
ur feet.”

  She chuckled. “Will you carry me around everywhere in here?”

  “Well, I thought maybe we could go away for a while,” he said, looking at her. “You know? Like maybe that cabin you were talking about?”

  She looked at him eagerly. “When can we leave?”

  “A vehicle’s being prepared for us right now,” he said. “But you’ll need a good breakfast before we go.”

  She looked over at Hatch. “Are you coming too?”

  “Hell no,” he said, “I’m going back to my place to heal up and to commiserate on the fact that I never get the girl.”

  She chuckled. “You didn’t want this one,” she said. “We would do nothing but argue.”

  “You got a point there,” he said, with an affectionate grin. “But it’s fun arguing with you.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “You too, and, hey, if you did want to come with us,” she said magnanimously, “we’d love to have you.”

  At that, Killian said, “Wait, what? Who said that?”

  She looked over at him and said, “I know how close you two are. So I don’t have a problem with it.”

  “No,” Hatch said gently. “Take your time, heal, rest up. I’ll go do the same.”

  She looked at him, smiled, and said, “Your turn will come.”

  He shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not,” he said. “I’m just happy to know that this is over and that you’re safe.”

  She leaned a hand across, squeezed his fingers, and said, “Thank you.”

  He nodded, as he popped a piece of bacon into his mouth. “Now, if you won’t eat, I’ll steal that sausage off your plate.”

  “Oh no, you don’t,” she said, immediately picking up the wrangling that they both enjoyed. She looked over at Killian. “Are you packed?”

  “Oh, yes,” he said. “Packed and ready to go.”

  “Anywhere?” she teased.

  “Anywhere you are,” he said. “As long as you’ll come with me, I’m happy to go on a road trip.”

  “Ditto,” she said.

  And, for her, she didn’t think life could ever look better than this.

  Epilogue

  Hatch Collar had convalesced on the California base, per Mavericks’ orders. He stretched out his legs and gave his arms and shoulders a good shake. It had been two weeks since the end of the last mission, and his body was back in fighting form again. And that was a damn good thing because he was raring and ready to go. Killian and Stacey had gone away for a week, and now they were back, only a couple blocks away. They were happily rearranging their lives, as they figured out what they would do.

  Hatch wished them well, and what she had said—that Hatch’s time would come—kept ringing in the back of his head.

  The Mavericks had a bit of a running joke going on the subject. And, while nobody could do anything to force a happily ever after ending, Hatch really hoped that one day, maybe, if he were lucky enough, he’d find the right person for himself too.

  The phone rang, and he snatched it up and saw it was Killian. “What’s the matter? You bored with your time off already?” he said.

  “Well, the time off was last week,” he said. “Back to work now.” A serious note was in his voice.

  “Oh, what’s up?” Hatch asked.

  “An archaeologist,” he said. “And his entire team.”

  “What about them?”

  “They’ve disappeared out of Egypt.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, there was talk from the government, saying that they had been arrested for doing some illegal digging and had stolen something they had found.”

  “Interesting, but that’s hardly what I would expect an archaeologist to do.”

  “Exactly, but there is also talk of somebody on his team maybe having a part in it. Anyway, they were released and subsequently disappeared.”

  “Great. So … what now?”

  “How do you feel about Egypt?”

  “I love Egypt,” he said. “Am I going?”

  “You are.”

  “And I’m looking for an archaeologist.”

  “And his daughter.”

  “Daughter?” At that his eyebrows shot up. “Okay.”

  “As of yesterday,” Killian said, “they’ve been officially reported as missing.”

  “So who’s looking for them?”

  “Well, they were over there on a grant and are essentially employees of the US government. They have a very high clearance, and, now that they’re missing, it’s brought up some issues.”

  “Of course. And this isn’t something they want any of the SEALs to go after or any of the other fighting teams?”

  “No, they want it to be a very small, low-key investigation. In and out, quiet and fast, because they don’t know whether the Egyptian government is involved somehow or not.”

  “Okay,” he said. “That’s just vague enough to keep me guessing.”

  “Her name is Millie, for Millicent Bragner. Her father is Marcus Bragner.”

  “Oh,” he said, with a whistle. “He’s the one who’s been a strong protester against the current Egyptian government.”

  “Right, which just adds to it. The US government has been trying to keep the peace, and Marcus has been causing quite a ruckus. When he was arrested, the US stepped in to try to smooth out the issues. Then he was released, and he and his daughter promptly disappeared, so now, of course, everybody’s up in arms. Including the Egyptian government supposedly.”

  “Well, if they didn’t have anything to do with it, then of course they would be. And, if they did have something to do with it, then of course they would be because they don’t want anybody to know.”

  “Exactly,” he said. “Glad you understand. By the way, you leave in three hours.”

  “Gee, lots of warning, huh?”

  “It’s the most I could get you,” he said. “Even though you’re going through the base.”

  “Military transport?”

  “All the way,” he said.

  “Okay, I’ll be there.”

  “I’ll be your handler.”

  “Sounds good to me. Am I getting a partner?”

  “You are,” he said, with a laugh. “And somebody who hopefully will put a smile on your face.”

  “I’m not such a grouch that it takes much to put a smile on my face,” he protested.

  “Well, you haven’t seen this one for quite a while.”

  “Do I know him?”

  “Absolutely. You used to work with him.”

  “Says you.”

  “You’ll meet him at the base.”

  “Where?”

  “On the dock. You’re heading out to the destroyer. And I’m not even sure which one yet. I’ll text you as soon as I hear.”

  “How many are in shore?”

  “Three.”

  “That’s fine,” he said. “Tell my partner that I’ll be there.”

  “Wait.” There was a stunned moment of silence on the other end. “You’re transferring to a different base because transport’s already revving up to go. We initially hadn’t been given clearance. But they’re giving it now.”

  “So how quickly am I leaving?” he asked. He looked down at his gym bag. “I only have my gym bag with me.”

  “No problem. Your new gear bag will be in the vehicle that picks you up.”

  “When is that?”

  “Head out now,” Killian said and hung up.

  Hatch had his wallet and his phone on him, so just walked outside.

  A vehicle drove up, and a head of spiky red hair and a face filled with freckles popped out.

  “Jesus. Corbin?”

  “Yep, that’s me,” he said.

  “Great, are you my partner?”

  “We’ve been partners forever anyway, so why not again?” he said. “You just haven’t seen me in a bit. And I must say, they patched you up pretty well, considering.”

  Hatch hopped into the passenger side and said, “Yep. So, where are we go
ing?”

  “Down to the docks and out.”

  “It would be nice if I had enough time to get at least one change of clothes.”

  “In the back, mate, in the back.”

  He looked in the back seat and laughed. “How damn typical.”

  “It so is.” He looked over at his buddy and said, “You ready to go kick some Egyptian ass?”

  “I’m always ready to kick some ass. I don’t think I’ve kicked any Egyptians lately.”

  “Well, we’re only after the bad guys. So we have to keep an open mind that it’s even Egyptians in this case.”

  “Too often in these cases people try to make the Egyptian government look bad. And they set it up so they look like the fall guy.”

  “I know,” he said. “So what do you know about the case?”

  “Only that a gorgeous chick is involved,” Corbin said. “And that means I’m on board.”

  At that, Hatch laughed. “Well, it’s my turn. If a cute chick is on board, she’s mine.”

  “What?” Corbin said. “How come? I’m not into having to take a number here.”

  “Too bad,” Hatch said. “I’ve waited a long time.” He looked over at his buddy and grinned. “Besides, I’m better looking than you.”

  At that, the two of them burst out laughing. Even though it was a trip that would be fraught with danger and many twists and turns, Hatch was always happy to have this man watch his back. Now, if only they could get to Egypt in time and find out where the family had gone—before whoever had arranged all this decided the father and daughter were more of a liability alive than dead.

  This concludes Book 15 of The Mavericks: Killian.

  Read about Hatch: The Mavericks, Book 16

  Hatch: Maverick (Book #16)

  What happens when the very men—trained to make the hard decisions—come up against the rules and regulations that hold them back from doing what needs to be done? They either stay and work within the constraints given to them or they walk away. Only now, for a select few, they have another option:

  The Mavericks. A covert black ops team that steps up and break all the rules … but gets the job done.