Gavin E-Book

Mayer Dale

• Herausgeber: Valley Publishing Ltd.
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

When four members of one family-owned corporation are kidnapped off the streets in Honolulu, Gavin’s intel says this is a corporate espionage case … but is it?

There’s not much to like about this case. Too many people are involved, … including an old friend of Gavin’s. But, as Gavin digs deeper into the motives of the suspect pool, events get uglier, and bodies start to fall.

Rosalina has no idea how she ended up in this nightmare, but all she cares about is her ailing parents who have been separated from her and her sister. Even when she and her sister are freed, Rosalina finds no sign of their mother or father. Trying to rescue them means deciphering friend from foe …

It comes down to the wire as this close family corporation falls apart, revealing the core of darkness inside, … and leaves Gavin and Rosalina struggling to stay safe as enemies work to take out them both.

Leseprobe

Gavin

The Mavericks, Book 11

Dale Mayer

Books in This Series:

Kerrick, Book 1

Griffin, Book 2

Jax, Book 3

Beau, Book 4

Asher, Book 5

Ryker, Book 6

Miles, Book 7

Nico, Book 8

Keane, Book 9

Lennox, Book 10

Gavin, Book 11

Shane, Book 12

Diesel, Book 13

Jerricho, Book 14

Killian, Book 15

Hatch, Book 16

Corbin, Book 17

Aiden, Book 18

The Mavericks, Books 1–2

The Mavericks, Books 3–4

The Mavericks, Books 5–6

The Mavericks, Books 7–8

The Mavericks, Books 9–10

The Mavericks, Books 11–12

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

About This Book

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Epilogue

About Shane

Author’s Note

Complimentary Download

About the Author

Copyright Page

About This Book

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.

Welcome to a new military romance series by USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer. A series where you meet new friends and just might get to meet old ones too in this raw and compelling look at the men who keep us safe every day from the darkness where they operate—and live—in the shadows … until someone special helps them step into the light.

When four members of one family-owned corporation are kidnapped off the streets in Honolulu, Gavin’s intel says this is a corporate espionage case … but is it?

There’s not much to like about this case. Too many people are involved, … including an old friend of Gavin’s. But, as Gavin digs deeper into the motives of the suspect pool, events get uglier, and bodies start to fall.

Rosalina has no idea how she ended up in this nightmare, but all she cares about is her ailing parents who have been separated from her and her sister. Even when she and her sister are freed, Rosalina finds no sign of their mother or father. Trying to rescue them means deciphering friend from foe …

It comes down to the wire as this close family corporation falls apart, revealing the core of darkness inside, … and leaves Gavin and Rosalina struggling to stay safe as enemies work to take out them both.

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Prologue

“Are you sure I can’t look now?” Helena complained good-naturedly, her eyes shut.

“No,” Gavin said. “You don’t get to look at anything right now.”

“That’s not fair,” she said. Gavin had her in the passenger side of his Jeep. They were heading to Lennox’s, and Lennox and Carolina were expecting them.

“And we would have been here a long time ago,” Gavin said, “but you’re the one who wanted to stop and get flowers.”

“Of course I did!” she said, as her arms tightened around the big bouquet. “It’s my first visit to Lennox’s house.”

“Hardly a visit,” he said. “You’re moving in.”

“I am,” she said, a blissful smile on her face.

Lennox was, indeed, a lucky man, Gavin thought. He didn’t know how the hell these two had finally gotten past their differences, but they had, and that’s what counted. And now here Gavin was, taking her to Lennox’s house, while she took her first step into their future. Gavin pulled up to the front, parked, and said, “Now I’m coming around to your side.”

“Okay, okay,” but she hopped out impatiently and waited for him to grab her arm. As they got to the sidewalk, he said, “Now you can open your eyes.”

She looked up to see the stone-and-cedar Tudor house in front of them for her very first time, one that Gavin had seen many times. “Oh, my goodness,” she said, “it’s gorgeous.”

The door opened, and Lennox stepped out. She cried out, handed off the flowers to Gavin right before she raced forward. Lennox opened his arms, and she dashed into them. Lennox picked her up and swung her around in his arms.

Gavin stood back and smiled up at them. “You two look perfect together,” he declared.

“Good,” Lennox said. “It’s taken Carolina and me a couple days to get everything ready.”

Gavin nodded. His phone went off just then. “Hang on. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Don’t bother,” Lennox said. “I can tell you all about it.”

He looked at his phone and back at his buddy and asked, “What is it?”

“The next job,” Lennox said. “I’ve got your orders here. I was going to hand them to you before the call came through, but you guys were late.”

Gavin laughed. “Am I going alone?”

“No,” Lennox said, “you’re going with a friend. You just don’t know which one.”

“And you?”

“I’m running ground crew,” Lennox said with a grin. “I get to stay here with my beautiful Helena.”

“Okay, that’ll be pretty sucky on my part but perfect for you. Do I get to come inside for a bit before I head out?”

“Sorry, bud.”

Just then a military vehicle pulled up to the front of the house.

Lennox held out a brown envelope to Gavin and then pointed. “That’s your ride.”

“What about my gear?”

“It’s all waiting for you.” Lennox turned Helena around and said, “Say goodbye to Gavin.”

She lifted a hand, confusion on her face.

Gavin smiled and said, “I’ll be back.”

“We’ll wait for you,” she said.

He shook his head. “Don’t bother. I won’t be back for days yet. Have a good one.” And he hopped into the truck and headed off. He had the brown envelope from Lennox, but that’s all he had. He looked at the driver and asked, “What are your orders?”

“I’m taking you to the dock,” he said. “A destroyer’s waiting for you.”

“Any other details?”

“None,” he said.

“Fine, let’s go.” Gavin was headed somewhere; he just didn’t know where yet. And maybe that was okay too.

Chapter 1

Gavin Werkster dropped his duffel bag on the bottom bunk before jumping up to the top, where he laid down to open the envelope Lennox had given him. The trip from Lennox’s house to the docks and out to the USS Gettysburg had been fast and furious, but he was here now, and he still had no clue where he was going or what he was doing.

Before he had a chance to even open the envelope and dump out the contents, the door opened, and a man walked in and did the exact same thing Gavin did. His duffel bag hit the bottom bunk, and he jumped up onto the top bunk opposite Gavin. Then he rolled over, looked at him, and said, “What the hell, Gavin. You want to explain why I’m here?”

Gavin’s jaw dropped. “Shane?”

His old buddy grinned somewhat sheepishly. “Yeah. It’s me. Not exactly sure why I’m here or even how.”

“Well, unless they shanghaied you somewhere,” Gavin said, “you probably have about as much understanding of what’s going on as I did before the last job.”

“You helped out Lennox, correct?” Shane asked.

“Yep,” Gavin said. “So you know Lennox?”

“I did a tour with him, yes. But I haven’t seen you in what, three years?”

“At least that,” Gavin said, as he sat up and reached across, and the two men did a forearm shake across the aisle. “Damn good to see you.”

“It is,” Shane said cheerfully.

That was the thing about this guy. He always had a positive and optimistic attitude; in fact, sometimes he was too damn cheery. But Gavin had always appreciated it, since some guys were such serious downers. But not Shane. He was a fun guy to have around. “Do you have any clue what’s going on?”

“Not much,” Shane said. “Lennox told me that you had the deets.” He motioned to the envelope Gavin had in front of him. “So what are we doing?”

“A businessman and his wife have been kidnapped, apparently. That’s as far as I’d gotten.” He sat up straighter, and, grabbing the envelope, he said, “Let’s take a look.” He pulled out several stacks of paper, took half of it, and handed the rest of it off to Shane. “When I worked with Lennox, I had more details than he did.”

“A file was supposed to come with me,” Shane said, “but it didn’t make it.”

“Paper copy?”

“A USB,” he said. “So Lennox told me to just talk to you.”

“Great,” he said. He pulled out his phone and quickly sent Lennox a text. Shane’s here. But he didn’t come with anything.

He came with enough, Lennox replied. Check your phone. I’m uploading information.

Gavin watched his phone downloading every link as it came through, since he didn’t know when they would lose internet. At the same time he kept looking through the physical file. Most of it was background information into the family members, but no red flags popped at Gavin’s cursory review. So the paper intel was bulky but provided little to pursue.

“So the businessman, his wife, and two daughters were on a trip through Japan,” Gavin continued, as he shared what bits he knew with Shane. “They moved on from Japan to Hawaii.”

“Sure, that makes sense,” Shane said. “And then what?”

“Then they dropped off the face of the earth,” Gavin said. “Last-known sighting was at the Marriott in Honolulu.”

“Well, it would be pretty easy to disappear in that crowd,” Shane said. “Talk about a major tourist draw.”

“Exactly.” Gavin nodded. “The question is, did they disappear willingly or were they ‘disappeared’ by somebody else?”

Shane cracked up at that. “Well, chances are it wasn’t by choice,” he said. “Do we have a clue where we’re going?”

Gavin went on. “I presume we’re heading toward Hawaii, but who the hell knows. They went missing two hours ago.” He stopped and shook his head. “No way.”

“No way what?”

“Seems like the report of them going missing coincides with the kidnapping event. How did we get that intel so fast? I’m not seeing anything about that in this packet.” Reaching for his phone, Gavin quickly sent a text asking Lennox. The reply message came back immediately.

Daughter called 9-1-1, and they could hear her screams on the phone.

So why the hell haven’t you got somebody local there?

We do, Lennox texted. Don’t get comfy.

Gavin snorted at that. Great. I’m already what, seventy miles from the coast?

Yep, you are. Flights will be picking you up pretty quick too.

Not even time for coffee?

Hell no.

Gavin stared at that and shook his head, but then he got a knock on the door. Immediately the two men hopped from their bunks, grabbed their bags, and collected the paperwork from the file that they still hadn’t had a chance to read fully. They followed the seaman at the door. Still trying to download as much of the material as Gavin could onto his phone, he and Shane continued up to the deck, where the helicopter awaited them. They were quickly loaded and immediately took off out over the water. Gavin sent one message to Lennox. In the air.

For this leg, yes, Lennox replied.

Gavin shook his head and pocketed his phone. Looking at Shane, he said, “If nothing else, the methods of travel are pretty interesting.”

“Anything but commercial works for me,” Shane said. “I’m too big for those damn tiny airplane seats.”

As he said it, Gavin eyed Shane’s 250-pound frame with broader shoulders than his own. “Haven’t ever considered what a commercial flight would be like for you.”

“Absolute hell, that’s what,” he said. “Absolute hell. But, hey, I’ve done it before, and I’ll do it again.”

“Good to know,” Gavin said, “because, in this business, it seems like it’s nothing but craziness.”

“Exactly.” Shane resumed looking through the material and said, “So the father was there for a business meeting on medical implants and prosthetics. He’s a doctor, a researcher, and a scientist. Looks like his wife works with him in the same field.” Shane continued to read out loud their biographies. “Both are in their sixties with two adult daughters. One is missing a leg and wears a prosthetic, which started them down this path. The other one is a scientist and a doctor and a researcher in her own right,” Shane said, with an eyebrow raised.

“More brainy people,” Gavin noted, as he studied the water under them. “What the hell is going on in the world that all the brainiacs keep getting into trouble?”

“The problem is,” Shane said, “that other people want use of their brains.”

“Good point,” Gavin said, as he looked at the images in his part of the physical file. “Standard gray-haired male professor and matching wife,” he said. “Nothing very distinguishable about either of them.”

“Nope. The one daughter appears to be twenty-two, no, forty-two, sorry. She’s divorced with two children and went on this as part of a family trip. Her fiancé and children are in Honolulu and are safe.”

Gavin frowned. “Interesting that the four of them were taken but not the extended family.”

“Wrong place at the wrong time, maybe,” Shane wondered.

“Yeah.” Gavin’s gaze fell on the image of the other daughter. “So, the second daughter looks quite a bit younger.”

“Thirty-one,” Shane read off his stat sheet. “Scientist in her own right and also working in the family business.”

“But not the daughter who’s missing a leg?”

“No. Not from what I’ve got here anyway.”

“She’s also very striking,” Gavin said.

“Yeah, nobody’ll miss seeing her walk down the street.”

“Beauty and brains,” Gavin said. He faced Shane. “We’ve had several cases where those two were combined already.”

“So, in this case, was she the target, and everybody else was collateral damage, or were the parents the intended targets? They own a significant interest in Trident Corporation. Like 33 percent of the shares, technically 16.5 percent for each of the parents.”

“Anybody own 51 percent?” Gavin asked.

“Just checking,” Shane replied, and then he whistled. “Each of the daughters owns 10 percent as well, giving the immediate family a controlling interest.”

“Well then, 53 percent of the company. The major shareholders.”

“Not exactly,” he said. “The rest, the 47 percent, is in a family trust, granted by the paternal grandfather. With funds not to be released until two years after his passing.”

“Is that normal?”

Shane gave a one-arm shrug. “I wonder if this could be more of a business play.”

“Hard to say,” Gavin replied. “For all we know, somebody just knows they have lots of money, and it’s a simple ransom deal.”

“Who would pay it if the entire family is kidnapped? Do they have other grandparents still alive? Siblings?”

“I’ll ask for more data,” Gavin said.

Shane asked, “I understand there’s a chat system too?”

“Yes. But I’ll give you a number, and you can text into that.” Gavin quickly gave him the number he used for information gathering. “Just be aware that whatever you ask for tends to come.”

Shane looked up, an eyebrow raised. “So, like a whiskey at ten o’clock for a nightcap?”

“If they can get it to you, they will,” Gavin said, in all seriousness. “So we try not to waste it on trivialities.”

“Message received,” Shane said. “But since when is a nightcap trivial?”

Gavin shook his head, but he couldn’t tear his gaze from the image of the beautiful woman in front of him. She wore a white lab coat, and her arms were crossed over her chest, as if impatient for someone to take the picture so she could move on. Instead of a flirtatious look in her eyes, he saw more of an intelligence, questioning the wisdom behind wasting five minutes of her time to do this photo op. Or maybe it was just her reaction when someone took her photo. He shook his head. “There’s a definite tilt to her jaw that means she’s not the easiest to deal with.”

“Who?” Shane asked, looking up. But then he caught Gavin staring at the image.

“Her name is Rosalina Rennert,” he said.

Gavin continued to go through the paperwork until he understood exactly what had happened in Honolulu. But, regardless of the stacks of paperwork he had been given in the envelope, the relevant information was very slim. The family had gone out for dinner, and, on the way back to the hotel, all four had been shanghaied into a van.

The hotel security cameras had picked up the actual occurrence and had tracked the license plate, but the vehicle itself had been ditched a few blocks away, and they’d switched to a different vehicle with no license plates. Gavin suspected, very soon afterward, that vehicle had probably been ditched as well. In other words somebody was moving and moving quickly and efficiently.

“Well, I don’t have a problem going to Hawaii,” Gavin said, “but I would like to know the motive behind this kidnapping before I get there.”

“We should be there within twelve hours of when they were snatched,” Shane said, “and the Mavericks at command central are collecting as much information as they can get for us.”

“Twelve hours is too long,” Gavin chafed.

“Maybe,” Shane said, “but we’re moving as fast as we can.”

And, sure enough, they landed on another carrier and were moved to another helicopter. They pretty well were hopscotching their way from one to another. “We should be in Hawaii sooner than we expected,” Gavin said, looking at his watch.

“We’ve cut off a good two hours from a commercial airline flight,” Shane said. “Interesting mode of travel.”

“Yeah, just missing the food,” Gavin said. “As soon as we land, we’ll need a place to stay and food at some point.”

“The paperwork states we’ve got accommodations in the same Marriott. Plus we have a liaison set up with local police—someone from one of the military bases is waiting for us,” Shane said, frowning. “They’ll be attached to our mission.”

“I don’t like that,” Gavin said, as he stared at Shane, shaking his head. “Okay, the additional download is complete, or I just lost internet service. Let’s get through the paperwork first, share any usable intel. Then one of us can sleep for two or three hours while the other reviews the data on my phone. Then we’ll switch up, compare notes. See what leads we can find to pursue once we’re on the ground.”

They approached the Oahu airport, off to the side where the private planes were. A large helicopter hangar was here as well. Gavin hopped out as soon as he could, then bent down and walked away from the helicopter.

“I don’t think we’re supposed to go in this direction,” Shane called out.

“I don’t give a shit,” Gavin said. He was a part of the Mavericks for a reason. No more ridiculous red-tape rules that made no sense. He enjoyed avoiding all that and getting down to work. Plus he appreciated his Maverick buddies, and they hadn’t been working with anybody else so far, and Gavin didn’t plan on signing up for that extra baggage to restrict him now. “Nobody attaches themselves to us or to our mission, much less dictates what we do.”

He could feel Shane’s surprise. Looking at his buddy, he said, “I just want to make sure that we’re free and clear to do what we need to do,” he said. “I can’t operate effectively with someone trying to tie my hands all the time.”

“They said you’d be difficult,” a voice called out.

Gavin turned to look, his eyebrows going up. “Steve?”

The man walked toward him with a lazy grin on his face, his hand outstretched to shake. The two men shook hands as Gavin introduced him to Shane.

“Steve Arbrey, what are you doing here?” Gavin asked.

“Whatever I need to,” he said. “I was told to meet you and to take you to your hotel first off.”

“Why can’t we go on our own?” he asked.

“Because I’ll debrief you,” Steve said, sounding exasperated. “You’re still the same go-go Gavin, aren’t you?”

Gavin shrugged. “Well, we’ve got a whole family missing,” he said, “and it doesn’t seem like taking our time is a very good option. We’re almost halfway into those first critical twenty-four hours.”

“Which is why I’m debriefing you on the way,” he said, as he pointed out a black SUV ahead of him. “Come on. Let’s go.” As they hopped into the vehicle, Gavin looked around and asked, “Why you?”

“Because Melinda is my fiancée,” he said. “And I damn well want to get her back alive and well.”

“Interesting,” Gavin said. “You know the military likes to keep you guys a hell of a long way away from any personal involvement in an investigation.”

“Yes,” he said, “but I asked to drive you in so I could talk to you and to give you some personals about the family.”

“Well then, let’s hear it,” Gavin said and put his phone on Record.

“The two daughters were raised almost as if separate families,” he said. “Melinda is early forties, Rosalina is early thirties. With a decade between them, the sisters didn’t have a whole lot to do with each other. There were a lot of problems and jealousy until they became adults and came together, working on a common goal, which is working for the company.”

“Problems in the company?”

“No. Not that I know of.”

“Either of them angling to take over the company?”

“No. Not that I know of.”

“Do you have shares in the company?”

“No,” he said, “but obviously Melinda does.”

“Yes. Each sister has 10 percent according to our intel,” Shane added.

“What are the board members like?” Gavin asked.

“Stuffy old white men,” Steve said. Then he laughed. “That’s according to Melinda.”

“Right, and how long have you known her?”

“Five years,” he said. “My brother was on a mission in Afghanistan and got his foot blown off. I met her through his treatments and the process of getting back on his feet with some state-of-the-art technology. He was part of a military program, testing out new stuff for Melinda’s company.”

“So Trident has defense contracts?”

“No, they have military contracts,” he corrected. “Nothing defense-related about it.”

“Ah,” Gavin said. “Interesting. So keep talking. What do we need to know?”

Steve filled him in on what he knew about the family, but it was all cursory boyfriend and peripheral stuff.

“Enemies?”

“Not that I know of.”

“Corporate enemies?”

At that, Steve shrugged. “A couple competing companies, sure.”

“Anybody competing for the same contract?”

“Not that I know of.”

“We need to find out,” Gavin said, looking at Shane, who was busy texting and sending messages. He nodded at his partner, then turned to Steve again. “Does anybody have a line on the men who grabbed them off the street?”

“No. We initially thought it might have been a terrorist group. But nobody’s recognized them.”

“Ransom note?”

“Nothing,” he said. “And no one has claimed responsibility either.”

“Which a terrorist group definitely would have. But, in this case, we’d also have bodies to show for it,” Shane chimed in.

“So, a private problem then?” Gavin asked Steve.

“It’s possible. The father has a brother, and the mother has two sisters. They’re all friendly enough. I can’t see anybody kidnapping them over something personal.”

“So, you are the fiancé of the one woman, but what about the other woman, Rosalina?” Gavin asked. “What about her relationships?”

“She was married to a doctor for a couple years. They divorced. She’s been single ever since,” Steve replied.

“Amicably divorced?”

“I believe so,” he said. “The ex-husband remarried and has a two-year-old.”

“So not still longing for her?”

“No. The divorce itself was a bit difficult, as I think all divorces are wont to be, but there didn’t appear to be any lasting impact.”

“Interesting,” Gavin said. “Are they designing anything new? Anything different or unique? Do they have a million patents pending on something that the world really wants and that people are trying to get their hands on?”

“Not a million, but they do have over a dozen patents pending,” Steve confirmed.

“That’s fairly standard for any R&D company,” Gavin said.

“They don’t believe corporate espionage or anything along those lines is a part of this,” Steve told them.

“They?” Gavin pounced. “Who is they?”

“The police,” Steve said. “I’m in contact with them because I’m related, of course, as Melinda’s fiancé.” With that, his voice dropped. “Jesus Christ, I hope you can find them.”

“We’ll find them,” Gavin promised, with a long exhale. “I just can’t guarantee what shape they’ll be in.”

Rosalina Rennert woke up and looked around the small room she was in. She was seated on a chair, her hands tied behind her back, and both her feet were tied to one leg of the chair. Her sister faced her from across the table. The two of them stared at each other, wide-eyed and terrified. No sign of their parents. Rosalina wasn’t gagged; her sister was.

“I have no clue what’s going on here,” Rosalina whispered. “Do you?”

Her sister shook her head emphatically.

“Have you been threatened or blackmailed?”

Her sister shook her head again.

Rosalina closed her eyes, trying to think. She knew she had a lot of brainpower, but this kind of stuff was beyond her. She did much better with numbers, equations, formulas. Human machinations and betrayal were beyond her ability to comprehend. She liked things simple and clear-cut. Not this bullshit.

If the kidnappers had wanted something from them, why hadn’t they just said so? Instead, the two of them were sitting in this room for hours now. Her parents’ safety worried her the most. They were older, and her dad already had a bit of a sticky ticker. Not good. Stress was something he was told to avoid.