Locked and Loaded (22 page)

“You drive me crazy, Charlie.” She strained to hear his whispered words. “I can't even be in the same room with you without wanting to tear your clothes off. Even when I'm not with you, I'm thinking about you. I need you to understand what that's doing to me. It's pulling my focus. I can't afford to let my guard down with Kieran. You're a beautiful distraction. When I'm with you, nothing else matters. Do you understand that? If you want Faction Five, you have to give me the space and clarity of mind to do my job.”

The emotion in his words gutted her. She rolled onto her side, away from him so she wouldn't be forced to look him in the eye and see the honesty in his expression as well. She'd been seduced by the excitement of working the case, being right in the middle of the action. She'd enjoyed playing a part and leaving the reality of her life behind for a little while. And though she hated to admit it to herself, she'd even enjoyed the attention that Kieran bestowed on her.

Charlie had always been the smart girl. Level-headed. Organized and focused. She'd never been the desirable woman. Beautiful. Wanted.

She'd been selfish and hadn't once considered how all of this affected Mason.

His weight left the mattress. Charlie glanced over her shoulder and watched as he walked into the bathroom and pulled the pocket door closed. The faucet came on and she listened to the sounds of Mason cleaning up. A chill settled on her cooling skin and she pulled the coverlet around her.

How in the hell had they gotten to this crazy place? When Charlie had stepped into that elevator and taken in Mason's cranky countenance almost a month ago, she never would have guessed this was where they'd end up. He'd totally thrown her a curveball.

Charlie's life was all about control. Her parents had steered the course of her life from childhood; and after she'd passed the bar, she'd given herself over to her job, letting it define her, shape her, dominate her time and her thoughts. Being with Mason allowed her to let go of that control inch by inch. He made her feel wild and unfettered. She couldn't plan her next move because he made it impossible to gauge what it should be. That lack of control didn't frighten her, though. Instead, it empowered her. She could trust Mason and she could trust herself with him.

She simply had to be brave enough to give him the reins and let him run. The question was, could she actually do it?

Chapter Twenty-Two

Charlie's nerves were shot. Ever since their wild afternoon at Mason's town house, she hadn't been able to shake the guilt over her selfishness. It had taken him opening up to her when they were both still raw and shaken from their passion, for her to see what all of this was doing to him. She had to hear the stress and worry in his voice to realize that she needed to take a step back and let him do his job.

Thanks to her own silly ego, they were stuck doing at least a couple more jobs with Kieran, and hopefully once they were completed, she could take a backseat and give Mason the space he needed to see this assignment through.

It hadn't been a problem to give Kieran what he wanted. Thanks to Mason and CBP, Kieran had managed to get the first of several considerably large shipments of gems into the country without anyone even batting a lash. He'd breezed through customs, and with Mason's help had transported the stones to a safe-deposit box until they could fence them.

“Looks like you're up, Charlie. Dazzle me with the wealthy buyers you've set up.”

Kieran had let his guard down a little since L.A. He appeared more relaxed and at ease. His smile reached his dark eyes as he sipped from the wineglass. Charlie swore she'd never met a man more into gourmet dining—or wine—than Kieran Eagan. He should've shunned his criminal lifestyle and become a restaurateur a long time ago.

Again, everything had been orchestrated to impress Kieran. Undercover FBI and U.S. marshals would pose as buyers and supply Kieran with the money that he needed for his business endeavor. Once the arrests were made, the government would seize the money and everything would be tied up in a neat, easy-to-prosecute bow. At least, that was Charlie's hope. She wanted everything from here on out to run without a hitch. Mason deserved it.

“I've got buyers lined up in San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego,” Charlie replied. “I also have buyers wait-listed in L.A. and Portland.”

Kieran raised his glass in a silent toast. “Impressive. Who are they?”

“Two are jewelers,” Charlie said. “San Francisco and Seattle. They'll purchase the bulk of the product. Do you have the Kimberley certificates?”

Kieran nodded. “A stack of them. The forgeries are good. No one would know the difference either way.”

It was true. The current system for policing the export of blood diamonds was certainly flawed. It was an easy thing to forge a Kimberley certificate and pass the stones off as coming from a conflict-free zone.

“Who are the other buyers?”

“Private collectors.” Charlie took a sip from her glass. “I've promised the largest stones to them.”

Kieran chuckled. “Of course. Do you have a projection of what we stand to make from the combined sales?”

Charlie shrugged. “Somewhere around twenty million.”

“Very nice.”

Kieran had made sure to separate Charlie from Mason for this particular meeting. Anxious energy skittered through Charlie's veins, but she kept her nerves under wraps. Deputy marshals were posted a block down the street, surveilling the restaurant from their car. Knowing someone was close made Charlie feel better, but she had to remind herself that she couldn't let her guard down.

“Why aren't you fencing the diamonds yourself?” Charlie's goal for today's meeting was to try to get Kieran to reveal some part of his involvement with Faction Five. “You've got plenty of connections and fences you trust. Why use me at all?”

Kieran's voice dropped a couple of decibels to a sensual rumble. “Don't you want me to use you, Charlie?”

She'd expected him to come on to her. He'd made no secret about his interest when they'd been in L.A. That didn't make Charlie any more comfortable to be alone with him.

She let her lips relax into a coy smile. “I wouldn't have come otherwise. But you understand my curiosity.”

“You said you used Mason as a way to connect with me,” Kieran said. “Why? You already have connections to buyers.”

“True,” Charlie said. “But I didn't have the diamonds.”

“I'm not as well connected as you think.” Kieran drained his glass and poured another. “I need buyers with deep pockets.”

“For what?” Adrenaline trickled into Charlie's bloodstream. Would he finally confide in her?

His expression turned sour. “I need to raise a shitload of capital in a short amount of time.”

“Thinking of fleeing the country?” Charlie forced a smile, but she really hoped this wouldn't end up being an international manhunt.

“Not yet.” His expression turned wily. Back to the mischievous Kieran. “But everyone has to pay the price of doing business, Charlie. Even someone like me.”

“How much?” Charlie came to play hardball. She doubted Kieran would expect anything less.

“Too damn much.”

Vague. Not to mention frustrating. He'd netted a little under ten million from Katarina. If Charlie managed to bring in another twenty, he'd be on his way to earning a hell of a lot of money. What was Faction Five's buy-in price? They could stand to make billions depending on the kind of members they allowed to join their ranks. An international crime ring with all the autonomy in the world. The implications of what they could accomplish with that sort of power and backing made Charlie's head spin.

“I don't understand.” Any chance of finding Faction Five dwindled with every tangled word from Kieran's mouth. “You promised us an epic payday. What it sounds like to me is that you're using us to do the legwork and buy you out of debt.”

Kieran sat back in his chair and blew out a breath.

“If that's the case,” Charlie continued, “I don't see any reason for us to work together.”

She stood and Kieran grabbed her by the wrist. “It's . . . complicated.”

She leveled her gaze. “I can't work with you if I don't know what's going on.”

“Are you sleeping with Mason?”

The question knocked the air out of her lungs. “I don't see how that has anything to do with anything.” He was deflecting, changing the subject in order to steer the focus onto her. “And besides, it's not any of your business.”

He leaned in close. “What if I want it to be my business?”

Mason would throttle her if she used Kieran's infatuation to gain the upper hand. But Charlie didn't see any other way. Maybe in this instance it would be better to ask forgiveness than permission.

Charlie leaned down until her face was mere inches from Kieran's. “Give me what I want, and maybe I'll give you something you want.”

His gaze smoldered. “All right.” A slow smile spread across his lips. “We're set for tomorrow's sale, right? Seven o'clock. I'll pick Mason up and then we'll swing by your hotel.”

Charlie answered with an indulgent smile of her own. “It's a date.”

He let go of her wrist. “I'm going to let you in, Charlie. Just be patient for a little longer.”

Charlie had no choice but to be patient at this point. “Thanks for dinner.” She turned and walked away, her heart lodged somewhere in her throat.

If she managed to string Kieran along, hold his interest for a little bit longer, maybe she'd finally get some answers. But oh man, was Mason going to be pissed when he found out how she was going to get them.

* * *

“Jesus Christ, Charlie. What part of
don't encourage him
did you not understand?” Mason couldn't be mad at her—she'd used what she had to work with at the time. Still . . . she was obviously trying to worry him into an early grave. He raked his fingers through the length of his hair. “Did he at least act as though he was taking the bait?”

“I think so.” Charlie sat on the couch in her suite, surprisingly relaxed for someone who'd been dropped into the deep end of the pool. “He said he'd pick us up tomorrow at seven.”

Mason's nerves were shot. Aside from tomorrow's sale, Kieran had done a damned good job of keeping Mason and Charlie separated. No way was Charlie going to be alone with Kieran again without a wire or some kind of backup. It wouldn't be an issue to get Carrera to post some marshals to keep an eye on Charlie after tomorrow, since Mason would once again be busy helping to bring another shipment of gems into the country.

“None of what he said makes sense,” he said. Generally, Kieran could be counted on to be up-front. He never pulled punches. And so far he'd been more forthcoming with Charlie than Mason.

“Tell me about it.” Charlie chewed her bottom lip. The simple act was enough to distract Mason, and he gave himself a mental shake. “That's what worries me. What if we have this all wrong? What if we've spent countless resources chasing our tails? If after all this time we find out that Kieran has nothing to do with Faction Five and we've just helped him to pay off a very large debt?”

Kieran was smart. Smarter than their dad ever was. Smarter even than Mason. It would be one hell of a con to trick the government into picking up the tab on his mountain of debt. It would go down in history as one of the greatest heists of all time. For Charlie's sake, he hoped that wasn't the case.

“There has to be more to it than an elaborate con.” But what? Mason had been racking his brain for hours and still had no idea what to think. “We need to know more about Faction Five to start to put the pieces together. Like, where are they based? Do they own any assets? There's always a paper trail. We just have to find it.”

Charlie snorted. “Believe me, we've tried. They aren't based out of anywhere. We can't find any holdings, no trails, or even a crumb that would lead us to someone whose membership we could confirm. They're like the illuminati.”

“A myth?” Mason laughed.

“No,” Charlie said solemnly. “So secret that no one believes they exist.”

Conspiracy theories aside, Mason agreed with Charlie on one thing: They needed some answers and they needed them now.

“Don't you have any hackers on the payroll? Social media experts who can help to decipher what you already know?”

“Of course,” Charlie said. “But as soon as the owners of the social media accounts realized what we were up to, they went old-school.”

Right. The libraries. “And in all that time watching the libraries, you never found a common denominator? One person who had shown up at all of the locations?”

“Nope,” Charlie said. “We had eyes on every person in and out. No one did anything out of the ordinary.”

“Damn it, this is frustrating.” Mason's teeth ground. “We should bypass all of this cloak-and-dagger bullshit and let me beat the information out of Kieran.”

“You'd like that, wouldn't you?” Charlie said with a laugh.

Mason let out a slow sigh. “You have no idea.”

The little bit of levity helped to lighten the mood, but it didn't change the fact that they'd made absolutely no progress in a little over two weeks. Charlie's brow furrowed as she stared at some far-off point, lost in thought. Mason could almost hear the gears cranking. Her beauty took his breath away. It made him wish she'd let him say the words he'd wanted to say at his town house a few days ago:
I think I'm falling in love with you
.

Perhaps it was better left unsaid for now. At least, until their lives went back to some semblance of normal. Mason didn't want Charlie to be able to use the undercover investigation as an excuse for his feelings. And she would. Ever pragmatic, she'd try to explain his love away rather than see what was right in front of her face.

“Wait a sec.” A thought struck and Mason grasped on to the idea as it solidified in his mind. “You watched the people who came and went from the library and never found out who was leaving messages for Kieran, or how.”

“Right.” Charlie gave Mason a curious look. “We had people on the outside and the inside. We kept our distance from Kieran because he's too smart not to know when he's being followed.”

“What did he do while he was there?”

“He'd wander the aisles, pick a book, read for a while, put the book away, and leave. We checked the book each and every time afterward. There was no pattern. The books were random. No notes tucked inside, no words in the margins. Not even a pencil mark.”

He could have taken a note with him, but Mason was starting to think Faction Five would never leave a paper trail of any kind. “And he didn't talk to anyone?”

“No.” Charlie shook her head. “From what I remember from the reports, he'd exchange a few polite words with the librarians, but that was it.”

Mason's eyes widened a bit as he waited for the lightbulb to go on in Charlie's head. Realization dawned but she remained skeptical. “You think the library employees were his contacts? It seems far-fetched that each librarian at every branch he visited was somehow involved with Faction Five, don't you think?”

Sure. But at this point, anything was possible
. “Maybe not directly involved,” Mason said. “Maybe one day, some guy slips a library employee a hundred bucks and says, give a message to this other guy when he shows up today. There's no paper trail, plus it keeps the marshals and FBI from putting their finger on a specific mark.”

“If that's how it went down, it's sort of genius.”

And definitely old-school. “It's simple too. No muss, no fuss.”

“It can't be that simple.” Charlie pulled her bottom lip between her teeth in concentration. Mason's gaze was drawn to the action and he lost his own train of thought as he wished he was pulling that lip between his teeth right now. “It would implicate the library employees for starters, and it would expose Faction Five.”