“We didn’t show up here to watch you stalk off, asshole,” Dawg called out as they followed close on his heels until he reached Timothy’s pickup.
“No, you accomplished what you showed up to do,” Brogan informed them, keeping his voice calm. He’d caused Eve enough heartache and pain; he wouldn’t compound it by sending her brother and cousins to the hospital. Not unless they forced him to it.
“Well, there was that,” Dawg agreed with a vein of amusement behind the words. “But that’s not the only reason we’re here.”
“I’m already aware someone tried to break into her room.” Thank God for Eli and Jed. Brogan wasn’t certain Doogan would have told him, if it had been left up to him.
“Well, there was that,” Dawg repeated. “But once again, not the only reason we’re here.”
“Then why the fuck are you here, Dawg?” he snarled back, his hand clenching on the truck door to keep from ramming his fist in the other man’s face.
He’d get the first strike, but he doubted he’d leave unscathed. Then Eve would just be pissed as hell at him. And if he did manage to get her to let him touch her again, he’d be too sore to do much.
Dawg chuckled. “You see that look on his face, Rowdy?”
Rowdy grinned, his arms crossed over his chest, the smile amused and mocking.
“That’s the ‘I’d love to try to kick his ass, but if I do, she’s gonna be too pissed and I’m gonna be too sore to love her later’ look.” Natches snickered knowingly. “I’d tell him to join the club, but he’s not quite paid his dues yet; what do you think?”
Rowdy shook his head. “Nah, not yet. We’ll make him wait awhile just for being a prick about us showing up and all.”
“The three of you are fucking insane.” Brogan moved to step into the truck.
“Pull out before we’re finished and I promise you, I’ll make your life such hell that you’ll beg me to let up on you. And I can do it, Brogan. I promise you I can do it.” Arrogant assurance and self-confidence filled Dawg’s expression as well as his voice.
Brogan gripped the door hard enough that he could feel his knuckles turning white as he glared back at the three men.
“I don’t like your endangering my sister’s life, and if I could have steered her toward some nice, safe, simpleminded little farmer or accountant to ensure her safety, then I would have done it. But you’re what she wants. So I’m trying my damnedest to help you here.”
“You made her promise to stay the hell away from me,” Brogan accused him furiously. “That’s not helping me, Mackay. And that was only after threatening my fucking career if I didn’t stay the hell away from her.”
Rowdy and Natches turned to Dawg incredulously.
Brogan bit back a curse as he just ignored them.
“And I knew damned good and well she wasn’t going to keep that promise.”
The acknowledgment had Brogan narrowing his gaze on the other man.
“Then why do it?”
“Because she’s my sister,” Dawg grumbled irately. “And I needed time to finish what I was doing to protect her before she drew any more attention to the fact that she was most likely the only weakness you had. You weren’t doing anything to keep her out of your bed.”
“But you couldn’t come to me.” Mackay’s arrogance and stubborn independence reminded Brogan of a crazed bull staring at a red flag.
“You’re too close to Doogan. And if you weren’t, then we knew your partners definitely were,” Dawg informed him, his tone hardening. “Until Doogan asks one of us for help, then he’s getting nothing from me that he can use to pull me into his bullshit without a hell of a compensation package, Brogan. You know that bastard as well as I do, and you know damned good and well he’d use us up, then throw us to the wolves when he was finished.”
Brogan had no idea Dawg knew Doogan, let alone that he knew him so well.
“Agreed,” Brogan growled.
“What I’ve done instead is work from where it counts,” Dawg informed him. “That motorcycle touring club is bullshit. A bunch of veterans riding around sightseeing? Give me a fucking break,” he jeered. “I know exactly what it is, what it was started as, and what it will always be now that it’s established. Just as I know there’s not a chance in hell you’re going to be pulled into the inner circle of that group, no matter how long they let you carry that title of ‘leader,’ without our help.”
Brogan stiffened, his gaze going between the three men as suspicion rose inside him.
“Tell me what’s going on,” he demanded, suddenly certain these three men were the exact reason he’d never been able to break the ice where the club was concerned.
Brogan had known there was far more to that club than he’d ever been able to figure out. Just as he’d known that many of the tours they’d taken came far too close to the known locations of small militia groups rumored to be operating from those areas.
“Not without that compensation package,” Dawg growled.
Brogan shook his head. “Fuck Doogan. He’ll come to you; I promise you that. I don’t need Doogan to do my job or to protect Eve any more than you need him to tell me what I need to know.”
Dawg glanced at his cousins, each man meeting his gaze, communicating as only men as close as they were, who had fought together and worked together in the operations that they had been conducting in the county, as long as they had, could communicate.
Finally Dawg nodded before turning to him. “Your thieves aren’t in the motorcycle club, Brogan. And the files that have been stolen don’t have a damned thing in them that tie them together. What they do have, though, is the ability to draw three men out of hiding who were working with Chandler and Dayle Mackay in the Freedom League. Twenty years ago, Chandler was stationed at Fort Knox when a transport hauling more than six million in gold bullion was hijacked. Rumor in the Freedom League was that the gold was hidden by one man and the location of it supposedly encoded in a set of files at Fort Knox in case something happened to him before it could be recovered and used to fund the League. Timothy managed to acquire the files and we found the gold. What we don’t have are the three high-ranking military officers Chandler was working with.”
Brogan stiffened in sudden outrage. “You mean I’ve been busting my ass for two and a half years for nothing?”
Dawg grinned. “Well, you did get Doogan here. And you obviously drew the attention of the three we’re looking for. Unfortunately, now Eve’s drawn their attention as well.” He glared at Brogan for that. “It was suggested to Doogan that he pull us into this, because we’re the only chance he has of recovering the gold or arresting the traitors involved in it. When Doogan refused to come to us, and decided to find the answers without us, then we let him. Don’t doubt that you’ve done your part, despite his machinations. You’ve done exactly what we would have wanted you to do if we had been working together. But when Eve became involved, I had to adjust the plan a bit to ensure she was protected.”
“You’re the bastard Donny said has the information Doogan wants and will help only if Eve was involved with me?” Son of a bitch, and they called Timothy and Doogan game players?
“Not quite.” Dawg rubbed at the back of his neck as he grimaced in irritation before propping his hands on his waist and blowing out a hard breath. “We didn’t know who that was until last night, after Eve went missing from the restaurant. He came to us then.”
Brogan looked between the three men, more amazed that they had been able to accomplish drawing that contact out without raising red flags with Doogan, or with him.
“Who is he?” Brogan demanded.
Dawg shook his head. “You have enough. Get Doogan on board with the program. We want those packages. Full immunity, no matter what we have to do from here on out, no matter the investigation or the agent conducting it. Because I’m telling you, we’re getting damned sick of being pulled into the agency’s bullshit, threatened, our families endangered, and our freedom placed on the line beca
use the agents in charge are too damned arrogant to accept defeat, or to acknowledge that they don’t know what the hell they’re doing once they get in these mountains.”
He was right, and the fact was that Doogan wasn’t the only agent with the opinion that just because a man was from the backwoods Kentucky mountains, then he was somehow not as smart, as quick, or as capable as one born and raised in the city. Or in Doogan’s case, the boardrooms and drawing rooms of the ultrarich.
Brogan shook his head. “Delaying risks Eve,” he protested. “Wrap the case up; then play games with Doogan.”
Dawg shook his head in the negative, his expression as well as Rowdy’s and Natches’s turning grim as they watched him.
“I have Eve covered, but that won’t last forever,” Dawg informed him, his voice tight. “Get those packages in place, Brogan; then we’ll finish it.”
“And if Eve gets hurt while we’re fucking around with Doogan?” he snarled furiously. “What then, Dawg?”
“What if she gets hurt because our hands are fucking tied, or later one of the others is hurt because our hands were fucking tied or we didn’t know they were pulling an operation beneath our noses?” Natches sneered, his eyes, so like Eve’s, glittering in fury. “I don’t think so, Brogan. We’ve told you enough; get it fucking taken care of; then we can finish this.”
“If Doogan doesn’t cooperate? What then?” Brogan questioned harshly, beginning to see exactly where this was going.
“If he doesn’t want to play ball, then you have other connections,” Dawg stated knowingly. “Use them.
“My father,” Brogan surmised mockingly. “This is where it’s been going all along. You want me to go to JD and have it taken care of.” Brogan rarely called his father by anything other than “JD.” “John David” if he was pissed with him.
Son of a bitch, just what he needed.
“I want you to do whatever it takes for me to see to my family’s fucking protection. And if you care anything about Eve, then that’s all you should want, too,” Dawg retorted heatedly. “As long as DHS is using this county and the Mackays to do their dirty work, then we’re all at risk. And that includes Eve, her sisters, and her mother. And trust me, you think she’s pissed at me?” he warned with dark emphasis. “Then how will she feel if one of her baby sisters, or God forbid, her mother, who nearly died of a chemical infection trying to feed Eve and her sisters, or her brother and cousins who all but got on their knees and begged for your help.” Dawg grinned mockingly. “If any of us end up hurt because you didn’t go to daddy to ensure we were all protected, then how do you think she’s going to feel?”
Brogan stepped into the truck, slammed the door, and started the engine.
Throwing the three men one last bitter, furious look, he reversed the truck and whipped it to the side of the parking lot before pushing it into drive and hitting the gas. Gravel spewed as the tires bit into the unfinished parking area and the truck shot forward and sped from the cabin.
Folding his arms over his chest, Dawg frowned before sliding his dark sunglasses over his eyes and turning back to his cousins. They, too, were watching the truck speed away, their expressions brooding.
“Are we doing the right thing?” Natches murmured.
Dawg could only shake his head. “Timothy and Chaya are right, Natches. As long we’re alive and living here, DHS or some other American alphabet agency is going to play games with us for the simple fact that they know we love our homes, our families, and our country too much to stand back and just protect our own asses. And if they get the urge to demand more from us, they can always threaten our family’s freedom to ensure they get it. We have too much at stake and too much to lose not to do this now, while we have the chance.”
“And you really think Brogan will ensure that it happens?” Rowdy muttered, unconvinced.
“He ensured that he had his own agreement and compensatory package before ever agreeing to work with Timothy Cranston and Chatham Doogan.” He shrugged. “And I know Director Bryce. He wants the gold. He has no idea it’s been found, and that’s been okay until now, because he wants those traitors more. They’ve been a thorn in his side since before DHS existed. I think this is the best chance we have.”
“Think Eve’s going to forgive you for playing these games with her?” Natches asked quietly, compassionately. “You should have talked to us, cuz. Told us what was going on. We work better together, remember?”
Dawg turned away from his cousin’s too-perceptive gaze to stare into the beauty of the mountains for one long moment. When he turned back, he took a shaky breath and said, “If she can’t forgive me, she’ll need you and Rowdy. I couldn’t chance her hating all of us. She’s too much of a Mackay, Natches. Too much pride, too much spirit and fire, and when she hurts, she hurts too deep. I didn’t want her hurting and feeling she didn’t have one of us to come to.”
Natches breathed out roughly and gave his head a hard shake.
“It doesn’t work that way, Dawg.” It was Rowdy that chastised him quietly. “She wouldn’t come to us. She’ll go to our wives. And that’s okay, because that’s what makes them strong. They’ll always have each other, and they’ll never be alone if the unthinkable ever happens and we’re not there anymore. And we have each other, Dawg. Our ladies take care of home and hearth, our babies and our hearts. We keep their lives, their families, friends, and homes safe. We do that together. No more hiding things, you got that?”
“I got that.” He gave a hard, sharp nod of his head.
“What about Eve, Dawg?” Natches asked again.
Dawg knew he wasn’t repeating his earlier question, but that earlier question was all Dawg could consider.
Would Eve forgive him?
Dawg’s lips tightened. Shaking his head, he strode to the dual-cab pickup he’d driven in, and stepped into the driver’s seat without answering.
He didn’t have an answer because he simply didn’t know.
What did he know?
If it were him, he knew he wouldn’t forgive—no matter the reason, the explanation, or the circumstances. He wouldn’t want platitudes and promises of protection. He’d want the trust and the ability to choose his own path and his own protection. And he knew Eve was often far too much like him and his cousins, just as the other girls were.
There was a chance, a very good chance, that she might never forgive any of them.
SIXTEEN
A week later, Eve entered the backyard of Ray and Maria Mackay’s farmhouse and stared around at the gathering of family, relations, and scattered friends.
This year there were nearly a hundred family members who had confirmed attendance at the Mackay family reunion, and it looked as though every one of them had shown up.
The reunion was a yearly endeavor Ray and Maria—Grandpa Ray and Grandma Maria—had begun insisting on the year Rowdy and Kelly had become engaged. As he had explained it to his son and nephews, as children came, they would need traditions. And his “boys”—who comprised his own son as well as his two nephews—well, their children deserved a far better life than their father had had.
Not that Rowdy’s life had been too hard, as Eve heard it. He’d had Ray, and then, once Ray had married Maria, he’d had a mother. The stories she’d heard of Rowdy’s mother had never been pleasant, but there was no doubt Maria had loved Ray’s son.
Just as Ray had taken her daughter, Kelly, in and loved her.
Eve had always found it amusing that Rowdy and Kelly had lived in the same house for so many years and then ended up married.
But Grandpa Ray had bragged that his boy, his Rowdy, hadn’t been base or without honor. When his son had realized he was feeling things for Kelly, Rowdy had moved out. And even before he’d realized he was falling in love with her, Rowdy had made certain he’d taken care of her, his father bragged.
Once Rowdy and Kelly became engaged, Ray had begun the family reunions, even though the first “reunions” were only him, Maria, Kelly, Rowdy, Dawg,
and Natches.
He said kids needed traditions. They needed to know and understand family.
Christmas, New Year’s, church on Easter morning, then the egg hunt before dinner once the girls had been born. Ray made certain each holiday was celebrated for the meaning it was intended by the family, with the family. And every June, there was the Mackay family reunion.
That Saturday, Eve had no choice but to slow down, take a day off, and show up at Grandpa and Grandma’s farm. The reunion had begun as a meal, and had turned into a daylong circus as years had gone by.
It was a day Eve and her family looked forward to every year. And each year it had only grown. With Dayle Mackay, Nadine and her son, Johnny Grace’s, deaths eight years before, the separation of Ray, Dawg, Rowdy, and Natches from their relations had ended. Now, all the Mackay relations and their families had begun showing up. Among them were the Augusts from Madison, Texas—Cade, Brock, and Sam August—along with their wives and children.
The Mackays and their extended families were just as interesting and just as complicated as Eve had always imagined they were as she grew up. Living in northern Texas, so far away from the brother and cousins her father had told her mother about, Eve had often hungered for news of them. She’d built them up in her mind instead, and at times she could honestly say she hadn’t done them justice.
Grandpa Ray and Grandma Maria, as they insisted they be called, were the grandparents Eve and her sisters had always dreamed of having. From day one, they had accepted Mercedes Mackay and her daughters with such warmth and acceptance that it often seemed her family had come home when they stepped foot in Kentucky.
That first family reunion, Eve and her family had cried. They had never been to such an event; they had never known family. All they’d ever known was one another. Having that tradition and then so many others as well had been a dream come true for them.
And having not just one big brother, but three, had always been so incredible to Eve. Rowdy and Natches never accepted being described or introduced as her cousins. They were her brothers, too, they promised.