Fury (The Agency: Young Guns Book 10), page 1
FURY
The Agency: Young Guns
Book Ten
Carolina Mac
Copyright © 2023 by Carolina Mac
FURY - 1st ed.
ISBN 978-1-990882-15-9
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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To: My Family
Fury: Extreme strength or violence in an action.
―Oxford dicTIONaRiEs
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter One
Saturday, August 19th.
The Blackmore Agency. Austin.
Blaine was up at dawn. He put the dogs out and while coffee was brewing, he cleaned the kitchen just the way Carmy liked it. Spotless.
He was already in the doghouse with Misty and couldn’t risk Carmy being mad at him too.
Casey trudged downstairs in his boxers and filled a mug with coffee. “You should order flowers and have them delivered, bro. Be a nice gesture to have them here when Misty gets home.”
“Good idea. I need all the help I can get. Any more suggestions?”
“Umm… let’s see. Think of something Misty asked you to do a couple of times already and you didn’t do it.”
“Shit, that list could be long,” said Blaine. “I’m a fuckin procrastinator when it comes to household stuff. Sometimes if I’m busy with work, I tune her out. But she’s good to me. She hardly complains about anything.”
“What about the swing set and monkey bar thing she wanted for the yard for Forest? I didn’t see that happening yet.”
“I said I’d order one of those at the beginning of summer. Jeeze, I might have promised her that in May.”
“It’s August. Is it here yet?” Casey laughed.
“It will be here today. Go pick one out.”
“Me?”
“One with a slide. Forest loves the slide at the park.”
“Jesus, why did I mention it? I was trying to help you out, not make work for me.”
“See if they send guys to put the fuckin thing together,” said Blaine. “That would speed things up for us.”
“Yeah, I’ll find out. Be less work for me. What time is Misty arriving?”
“Not until later. Carmy will be tired and I figured we’d order in from Truluck’s.”
“Yeah, Misty loves their crab cakes.”
“I’m doing my best to make up for the mess I made of our vacay.”
Casey laughed. “You were barely there.”
“Don’t remind me.”
Donovan Ranch. Elgin.
Farrell filled a bucket with hot water and mopped all the floors on the main level. Billie Jean had peed at least a couple of times in every room before she was house trained. She rarely had an accident anymore unless Farrell forgot to put her outside.
While the floors were drying, he sat outside on the patio and lit up a smoke. His cell rang and it was his wife.
“Hey, Donovan, we’re at the Louisiana line. We’ll stop probably one more time, then we should be home by early afternoon.”
“Fantastic. Me and Billie Jean are waiting for y’all. Can Ford and Mark stay for a while? I want to meet them and talk to them about something.”
“About what?”
“Something that might be fun for all of us.”
“Fun? Sure, Mark and Ford are all about fun.”
“Can’t wait to see you, babe. I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’m sorry about all of this, Donovan. I made a mess of things the way I left and I have a lot to make up for.”
“As long as you can walk and talk, we can get through almost anything. We’ll talk about it later when we have some private time.”
“Sure. I want that. I love you, Donovan. I love you so much it hurts.”
“Same.”
Farrell ended the call and fought back the tears. He was so emotionally wound up about Laine coming home, he was barely holding on.
“Come here.” He scooped Billy Jean up off the floor and hugged her.
Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.
Annie’s phone lay on the island beside her while she was eating the bagel Riley toasted for her. Her cell signaled an incoming text every few minutes.
“You’re getting a lot of texts this morning, Annie,” said Riley. “Don’t you want to look at them?”
“Most of them will be from Cage. He wants his job back and I’m not giving it to him.”
“Right, you told me something happened in Vegas and you fired him.”
“Never should have taken him back after the first time, sugar. The same thing was bound to happen again, but he’s a damned good bodyguard and I went for round two. My mistake.”
“Now you have to find somebody new?”
“I guess, but I don’t want to. Great bodyguards are so hard to find. It has to be somebody I can spend hours at a time with without throat punching them, and somebody without a life of their own. It’s tough to find that person. Honestly, I wish I had Obie back. He was the best ever.”
“How is he doing with his little boy?”
“Don’t know. We should invite them for dinner and get caught up.”
She picked up her coffee mug and her phone and headed back to her room to do some private texting.
First to Adam.
“How’s the weather?”
“Gorgeous… and hot.”
“Go swimming and keep cool.”
“Just got out of the pool.”
“Wish I was there with you.”
“Me too.”
“Can’t come for a while.”
“I know. I’ll be patient.”
She sighed thinking of the Panama house she loved, but she couldn’t go there too often or Adam would be exposed. She couldn’t take the kids there because they might accidentally talk about Adam when they got home.
Too risky for him.
She was harboring a felon, and there were a lot of other things she was guilty of as well. Every day was a day she wondered where Lukas was. He wasn’t taking her calls and she had stopped trying. He didn’t want to talk to her, although she didn’t know why. She left him alone.
She went through the texts from Cage and deleted all of them. One from Lee Armstrong that she’d missed.
“Wondering how you were.”
“I’m okay. How’s the divorce depression going?”
“Funny. You could help.”
“How?”
“Just give me something to hold onto.”
“Okay, you caught me in a benevolent mood. How’s this? When I’m in D.C., you’re my guy.”
“In what way?”
“Possibly in new ways.”
“My heart is pounding now.”
“No relationship. Just very close friends.”
“I can live with that.”
“You’ll have to.”
Giddings Hospital.
Paul was sitting beside Jesse’s bed talking to him when Annie came in to visit. “Hi, Annie. Jesse was just asking about you and I said you’d been in when he wasn’t awake.”
Annie smiled down at Jesse and picked up his hand. “You doing better today, cowboy?”
“Much better. Doctor said it was a mild one this time.”
“Were you doing too much?”
“No, I don’t think so. Nothing different than my normal wussy routine.” Jesse laughed, but it was a weak one.
“Want to come to the ranch for a week of rest when they cut you loose?” asked Annie.
“Umm… nice offer but I think I’ll go home. Charity will be worried about me.”
“Sure.” Annie turned and left the room.
Jesse can be so fucking brutal.
“What did I say, Paulie?” Jesse turned his head to look at his brother.
Paul shrugged. “Don’t know for sure, but I think you just reinforced the fact that you left Annie, took Charity away from her, and destroyed your marriage and Annie’s life. In just a few words, you rammed that down her throat and hurt her all over again. Weren’t you looking at her face? You’re a goddamned fool, but you already knew that, right?”
“Damn it, Paulie. Now you’re mad at me too.”
“I’m going out for a smoke.”
Donovan Ranch. Elgin.
Farrell had finished cutting the huge expanse of grass at the back of the house and was putting the tractor in the driving shed when a Jeep the same as Laine’s drove in and parked.
Farrell ran towards the Jeep with Billy Jean running behind him, her long ears flopping as she loped along.
Farrell opened the passenger door, kissed Laine, and then helped her out of the Jeep. Billy Jean ran off chasing a butterfly.
“I’m so happy to see my wife.” He kissed her again and gently held her close to him. “I don’t know if I should be touching you.”
“I’m okay, Donovan. Better every day. I have exercises to do.” She turned to the redheaded guy getting out of the back seat. “This is Mark and that’s Ford, my army buddy, coming around to shake your hand.”
Farrell shook Ford’s hand. Good looking guy; a solid six feet of muscle, and Farrell would have every reason to be jealous of him and Laine—if Ford weren’t gay.
“Nice to meet y’all, and I want to thank both of you for helping Laine.”
“Our pleasure, Farrell,” said Mark. “We love Laine like our own sister.” He laughed. “If we had any sisters.”
“Come on in and I’ll get you guys a drink.”
“Where’s my puppy?” asked Laine.
Farrell whistled and Billie Jean came running.
Laine had difficulty bending forward to pick her up and Farrell helped her. “You are so big and heavy. Look at you. I missed you so much.”
“All we’ve heard about is the puppy,” said Mark, “and now that I’m seeing her in person, she is awfully cute.”
Farrell led them to the patio table at the back of the house, the air smelling of fresh cut grass. “So glad to meet you guys. You have no idea how grateful I am.”
“Not necessary,” said Ford, as he sat down under the umbrella. “Laine saved my ass more than once when we were playing in the sandbox, and I’ll owe her forever.”
There’s a lot of stuff I don’t know about Laine.
“What can I get y’all to drink?” asked Farrell. “I think I have everything; Whiskey, vodka, tequila, rum, beer, and wine.”
“I’ll come in with you,” said Mark. “Ford likes a mixed drink and I can fix it for him.”
“Sure.” Farrell turned to Laine. “Babe?”
“Just a Miller for me.”
Farrell went inside with Mark to get the drinks, and while they were raiding the fridge and the liquor cabinet, Farrell asked, “You guys have anything going on during the next week?”
Mark shrugged. “I’m waiting on a new hotel job to start. There’s an opening at the Westin that I applied for. And Ford works from home. He’s a systems designer and works on projects when he finds ones that interest him.”
“How would you and Ford feel about a week in Vegas at my Mom’s house in Summerlin? Pool n’all. That’s where Laine and I spent our honeymoon and I thought it would be fun for her if we all went for a week. Play some poker, do some swimming. Go to the good restaurants.”
“Sounds fantastic to me. I’ve never been to Vegas, but I think Ford has. He loves to play poker, but I’m not much good at it.”
“You’re open to the idea?”
Mark grinned. “Sure, why not? It’s a great offer and it will be fun.”
Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.
Dinner at the ranch was lively with Mark and Ford, and Farrell was more relaxed than he had been since the day Laine fell. He had watched her walking around the house and he was worried but tried not to let it show.
They had tons of fun at dinner. Both Ford and Mark seemed to like Annie and she told them about the Vegas house and how much fun they would have.
“Hell, Mom,” said Farrell, “you should come with us and play some poker.”
“I don’t want to be in your way.”
“When have you ever been in my way?”
“You’re so sweet, Farrell. Actually, I can go this week with Jackson away at rodeo camp with Rowdy.”
“Sure, come with us,” said Laine. “It’s your house.”
“When do y’all want to go?” asked Annie.
“We need to do laundry and repack,” said Mark. “I wouldn’t be ready until later tomorrow or Monday.”
“I’ll book a charter for tomorrow night at seven,” said Annie. “We’ll be in Vegas by nine.”
“Wow, a charter flight.” said Mark. “How exciting.”
“Not exciting,” said Annie, “but more convenient and more relaxing than flying commercial.”
“It’s a plan,” said Farrell. “I’ll go to the barn and ask Monroe to feed Diablo.”
“We’ll have to take Billie Jean with us,” said Laine. “I’ve missed her too much to leave her behind.”
“She’s no trouble,” said Farrell. “She’s house trained, mostly thanks to Virge. He worked on that when he stayed with me.”
Laine turned her head and couldn’t bear to talk about her father.
Chapter Two
Sunday, August 20th.
The Blackmore Agency. Austin.
Carmelita made pancakes for Sunday morning breakfast and Blaine was supremely happy to have Misty and Forest back home. He couldn’t stop smiling.
“The flowers are lovely, Beb. Thank you for the thought.” Misty’s voice was devoid of warmth, but at least she was talking to him.
“You’re welcome.” He didn’t risk a glance at Casey. Taking the credit for Casey’s good idea and feeling a tiny bit guilty.
“And thank you for Forest’s backyard gym. He’s going to play out there for hours.”
“It should have been there in May or June when you asked for it. And I thank Casey for reminding me. I’m sorry I’m such a wretched husband, Misty. Honestly, you have a lot to deal with and I apologize for all my shortcomings.”
Blaine could feel the tension between them and his chest tightened up.
“Can I have more syrup, Mommy?” asked Forest.
“No, Forest. You have plenty of syrup to finish three bites of pancakes.” Misty turned to Blaine. “Get your inhaler, Beb.”
“Yeah. I’ll go get it.”
“Is it upstairs?” asked Casey.
Blaine nodded. “On my dresser.”
“I’ll run up and get it.”
“Thanks.”
Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.
Annie hated sleeping alone and wished she was in Panama with Adam next to her, but that could never be permanent. Even with his new ID, there was still a huge risk he’d be recognized, apprehended and tossed in jail for years.
The only thing about spending time in Vegas that worried her was the B-team and the Black Breed with no bodyguard around. But Farrell would be there. Should she invite Lee?
Better not to. He was a friend in D.C. only, and she rarely went there. She hated the nation’s capital city and avoided it.
Maybe Lee was psychic because he texted her a moment later.
“When do the Rangers play at Camden Yards again?”
“I’ll find out.”
“Plans for the weekend?”
“Vegas tonight. Flight at seven. Staying for a week with Farrell and Laine.”
“Can I come?”
“Can you?”
“I’ll see if I have anything important in Nevada and move it onto my schedule.”
“Ah, a manipulator.”
“That’s me.”
“Another thing I didn’t know about you.”
“Where will you be?”
“At my house in Summerlin.”
“My life suddenly improved.”
“All in your mind.”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’ll break your heart, Lee, or you’ll break mine. We shouldn’t do this.”
“I suddenly have something to live for.”
“Don’t say that, please.”
“I love you, Annie.”
Anger filled her as she read the text. “Don’t love me, dammit, and don’t insinuate yourself into my life. I said DC only, and now look. Why didn’t I just say no like I should have?”
