Blackstone's Heart (Blackout Security Inc. Book 1) Read online

  Your daughter is mine. The sooner she accepts that, that you accept that, the happier she will be. You need to convince her to write me back.

  Ethan saw red now. Letter after letter, all saying variations of the same thing. Krista was his, that they would be together, nothing would keep them apart. Yet it was the final letter, dated only two days ago that nearly sent Ethan over the edge.

  YOU BASTARD. THE F.B.I CAN'T PROTECT HER AND THEY WON'T FIND ME. YOU WILL PAY. KRIS WILL PAY. NOTHING WILL KEEP US APART.SHE AND I WILL BE TOGETHER. KEEP GOING TO THE POLICE, THE F.B.I, AND I WILL KILL YOU RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER. IF I CAN'T HAVE HER NO ONE WILL.

  Ethan could hear his blood roaring in his ears, rage coiling in the pit of his stomach. Yet he couldn't understand why. After all he hadn't seen Krista since that first Christmas after he joined the Marines, yet there it was.

  "Has Krista seen these?" Ethan asked, surprised at just how calm his voice sounded.

  "No." Nick answered.

  "Nick, I need to bring my team in on this." Ethan stated, noting the sharpness his voice had taken on.

  "So you will help me?" Nick inquired, his voice hopeful.

  "Yes Nick. We, I will help you." Ethan nodded, his voice cold and hard as steel. He clenched his fists at his sides. Unclenched them. Clenched them again. He finally unclenched them and moved to the phone on the conference table, picked up the receiver and called Gage. “Gage, get the rest of Alpha team and come to the conference room. Now!”

  “Yes sir.” Gage responded, sounding surprised at the authoritve tone in Ethan’s voice.

  ***

  Half an hour later Ethan studied his men and Nick as silence now filled the room. He had finally calmed down somewhat after the situation had been explained to his team. His eyes moved to each of his men. Gage, Lance "Hawkeye" Archer, Tony Pace, and Grant Whitney. They had been on the same MARSOC Raider team as him, he had been their Staff Sergeant and he trusted them with his life.

  Tony let out a low whistle after reading the latest letter. He looked over at Nick. "Damn, this guy is nuts. Sir, how much does your daughter know?"

  "I haven't told her about the letters I've been receiving since she's still receiving letters from him as well. She is however in the loop with the Feds. She told them that she would not be shut out of the investigation and if they tried, she would stop cooperating and that they could go straight to hell." Nick laughed.

  Ethan and his guys laughed as well. "Oh, I like her already." Tony grinned.

  It was Gage who spoke next. "This subject has found out that Kris James and Krista Jameson are one in the same. Do you or your daughter have any ideas how he managed that?"

  Nick rubbed the back of his neck. "None. When she does public appearances and photo shoots, she does so in disguise. A wig, contacts and such. The letters to her are still being addressed as Kris James, yet the letters to me clearly show this man knows she's my daughter."

  "Why the disguise to begin with?" Hawkeye inquired, a lifted brow the only show of expression on the man’s face.

  "Because of my position as D.A. I've put a lot of people behind bars during my career. Krista wasn't going to make herself a bigger target for someone looking for revenge or looking for a ransom from the wealthy District Attorney." Nick explained.

  Ethan slowly paced the room. Though he saw logic in Krista's thinking and Nick's reasoning for not telling her, he knew she would have to be told. Especially if they wanted her cooperation on this thing. He slid a hand over his buzz cut in frustration at the whole situation. His shoulders felt tense. His gut a boiling cesspool of rage. He looked up when Grant spoke again.

  "Mr. Jameson, why haven't you told your daughter about these letters? It sounds like you and she keep very little from each other."

  Nick's shoulders sank. It broke Ethan's heart seeing this usually strong and fierce man look so dejected. Nick lifted his head. "I didn't want to add to her stress. She has a new book due for release in just a few weeks. On top of these letters, she's still prepping for the release."

  "Where is Krista now?" Ethan questioned, trying to keep his voice professional and level.

  "She moved back home to Austin just last year. She bought a house two streets from her mother and I. Her agent Jerry came with her to man the Austin branch office of the publishing house which is based in New York." Nick answered, his eyes boring into Ethan's. "Please Ethan, please help me protect my daughter."

  Ethan's breath left in a slow whoosh. He turned and looked at his men one by one. Tony was on board completely, not that Ethan was surprised there. Tony would follow him to hell and back, in fact he had. Next was Gage. Gage's brown eyes revealed nothing, all he did was nod once. Grant looked ready to throttle someone. Ethan knew the man had three little sisters and no tolerance for men who threatened women. He jerked his head in agreement. Finally, there was Lance, AKA Hawkeye, who wore a deep frown. Ethan found this strange since the man was often called Ice Man by those who didn’t know him. All because he rarely showed any facial expressions.

  "Hawkeye, what's up?" Ethan demanded.

  Lance didn't speak to Ethan, instead he looked at Nick. "Sir, if this man now knows Kris James and Krista Jameson are one in the same, why is he still writing to her under her pseudonym?"

  Ethan had been wondering the same thing. He studied Nick closely as he began to speak. "I have no idea, Mr. Archer. I've been beating my brain trying to figure out why. The two agents think maybe he's just toying with her, waiting to pounce. As much I hate the thought, it's the one that makes the most sense." Nick theorized.

  "Nick," Ethan began, waiting for Nick to face him. "We'll help you. But, we need to tell Krista. If we want to protect her, we need her cooperation, and to get that, she needs to know."

  "I know. I promised myself once I talked to you I would tell her." Nick agreed.

  Ethan nodded. He then faced his men. "Okay, Hawkeye, you and Tony get together a security package. Everything state of the art. Once Krista is filled in, I want you two there installing it. Gage, start digging. My gut's telling me that this asshole has come into contact with her somewhere. I want you to reach out to her agent, Jerry and go over everything public that she did in the last year. No, make it two years. Grant, start putting together contingency plans and hardware."

  "What about you, boss?" Gage asked.

  "I'm going with Nick to fill Krista in. I can give her an idea of what we will be doing to help protect her as well as assure her we won't interfere with her life." Ethan answered.

  "Interfere?" Lance inquired quirking an eyebrow.

  Ethan and Nick both chuckled. "Mr. Archer, my daughter grew up in a house filled with men. She has become fiercely independent and does things her own way. If any of Ethan's plans cause an interference with her work, personal life or both she will disregard his ideas and come up with her own."

  The other men smirked. Tony however laughed. "Oh ho, I kind of feel bad for ya now boss."

  "Oh fuck you Tony." Ethan sneered, causing the other men to openly laugh and even Nick's lips twitched.

  Shaking his head at his men, Ethan led Nick from the room. “You said Krista doesn’t know you were coming here, but does Debbie?”

  “She’s one of the peopel who told me to come to you when I first started getting the letters. The woman gave me a tongue lashing when she found out I hadn’t told Krista about them. I’m just glad she’s in Denver right now.” Nick answered, looking very much like a scolded little child.

  “Now you know why I tried to stay on Krista’s good side when we were younger. She’s got Mama Debbie’s temper.” Ethan said, a small chuckle somehow escaping him when he was sure he could spit fire.

  “Yes she does.” Nick laughed, as they exited the building. “This is me. If you follow me, I’ll take you to Krista’s place.” Nick said, pointing to his royal blue Lexus.

  Nodding, Ethan moved to where his bike was parked on the sidewalk outside Blackout’s office. Pulling into traffic behind Nick, Ethan struggled t
o push the thoughts out of his head. He had made a promise to his mom when he bought his first motorcycle to never ride it when he was feeling angry. One mistake was all it took to hurt yourself on one. He succeeded in pushing the dark thoughts away, but not the excited thoughts of seeing Krista Jameson again after all these years.

  Chapter 2

  Krista sighed as she entered the kitchen of her home. The kitchen, as well as the room she used as her writing studio, were what sold her on the house. The kitchen was modern yet had a country feel to it. Stainless steel appliances mixed with the East Texas country feel. The cabinets were a light pine, with crystal nobs that caught the morning sunlight that filtered through the large bay window in the nook that faced her spacious backyard. Rolling her neck, she set about making more coffee.

  She pushed her blonde hair off her shoulders and sighed. Krista would never call herself a beauty, but all her girlfriends in Austin said she was. She felt a little awkward due to the fact that she was nearly five foot nine, a bit tall for a woman. Yet her height worked to advantage with the motorcycle she owned. Her baby was a 2013 Triumph Bonneville T-100. Triumph were tall bikes and her height made it a perfect fit for her.

  Since the was a motorcycle rider, she had to stay shape. Unless you rode, people had no idea what kind of a workout riding really was. She stayed in shape with yoga, running, and playing softball with old friends from high school. Despite being athletic, she hadn't lost any of her feminine curves that men seemed to love. The stick figure looks of super models or the trashy look of some celebrities wasn't for Krista. She wanted to look like a woman, not an anorexic twig or a two-bit hooker. She took her mug and headed back to the front porch where she decided to work that morning since the rain from the previous day had disappeared overnight.

  The air was cool and the smell of fresh rain and the impending fall filled the air. The neighborhood she had grown up in was always peaceful this time of year. School had started back up and on weekends the neighborhood was filled with kids getting in play time or practicing football in someone's yard. She should know, after all hadn't her brothers and herself done the same? Shaking her head, she sat on the glider and stared at her laptop screen.

  Her ocean blue eyes began to twinkle as her elegant fingers once again began flying across the keys. Despite the tension in her life with her rabid fan, her creative juices were flowing in full force. According to Jerry her writing had never been better. She quickly became so lost in the story she was telling that she never heard the car pull into the drive, but the sound of a motorcycle however, was what pulled her from the imaginary world he was weaving. She looked up and spotted her dad emerging from his car and a man climbing off a beautiful Triumph Thruxton.

  She saved her work, closed the laptop, sat it aside and stood. She felt herself smiling as she descended the four steps of her porch to greet her dad. Krista hugged him tight. The smell of his Brute aftershave and pipe tobacco invading her nostrils.

  "Hello honey."

  "Hi Dad." Krista smiled, closing the laptop before hurrying to her dad.

  "You doing okay?" Nicholas asked hugging her tight.

  "I'm fine." Krista giggled. "I was just trying to get some work done."

  At that moment Krista looked up and spotted the man who had arrived with her father. She felt her breath catch as she stared at the man who had once meant so much to her. Ethan Blackstone. He looked different, yet still the same as he had the last time she had seen him over nine years ago. Slowly she moved out of her father's embrace. Krista knew her mouth had to be hanging open, but all she could do was stare.

  "Eth...Ethan?" Krista said.

  "Hello Krista." Ethan smiled softly.

  Krista barely stopped the shudder that came over her at that husky baritone voice. Hearing her name on his lips had always sounded so erotic to her and now was no different. Maybe it was the look he had in his eyes when he said it. Or the deep, almost gravely timber of his voice. She would never know for sure, but even now it still made her heart skip and heat filled her body.

  "You look good Ethan." She smiled, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

  "You too Krista." Ethan nodded moving closer. "So, you're an author now? Can't say I'm surprised really."

  Krista couldn't help but laugh. "Well between you and my brothers I got lots of practice. Oh, and you forgot something Ethan. I’m not JUST an author, I’m a BEST-SELLING author.” She teased with a wink, causing both men to laugh. “Well, let's go in. I just made some coffee."

  Krista turned and went to gather up her things from the glider and the coffee table. The whole time she could fell Ethan's blue-grey eyes on her. Even after all this time she felt drawn to him. Had always felt drawn to him. Ethan had been her older brother's Jax and Hayden's best friend. Jax was a year and half older than Hayden and Ethan, but the three had been inseparable until Jax headed off to college. She was a year younger than Hayden and Ethan but had insisted on following the three boys everywhere.

  It was comical as she recalled those years. Once they realized she wasn't going to go away, the boys had taken her under their wing. They had taught her to fish, shoot, ride dirt bikes and motorcycles as well as fight. It had been Ethan who taken an interest in showing her to fight with the best of them. Jax hadn't liked it, but decided it would be good if his baby sister could defend herself.

  "What brings you two by?" Krista questioned, pushing back memories of the past as the two men sat at the table and she went about pulling down two more coffee mugs.

  "I went to Ethan for help." Nicholas stated, jumping right in.

  Sitting the mugs on the counter with a hard clank, she spun to face her father. "Wait. You went to Blackout Security? Dad, why on earth..."

  "Krista, there's more." She frowned, and crossed her arms over her chest as she watched her father run his hands through his salt and pepper hair. He suddenly looked much older than his sixty-four years. She waited for Nick to continue. "Honey, I..."

  "You what Dad? Just tell me." Krista pushed, feeling bad for her tone but needing to know why in the hell her own father had gone to Blackout Security.

  "I've been receiving letters too. They're from the same man."

  Krista felt her mouth gape open and eyes widen. Had she heard him right? "You’re...what?"

  "Yes," Nicholas nodded, reaching into his briefcase. Krista moved and plopped into the chair next to him. "They started about a month ago. He said the F.B.I. would not find him and that I couldn't keep you from him. I went to the police at first, but the letters kept coming and said to stay away from the police. I had to do something Krista."

  "Where are the letters Dad? I want to see them for myself." She demanded. “You went to Ethan after yesterday didn’t you?”

  Nick simply nodded as he pushed the letters toward her. Krista took the letters and began reading them. She felt her temper increasing the more she read. After the last letter, she jumped to her feet, causing her chair to topple back and clatter to the floor. Krista felt both men’s eyes one her and she slammed the last letter onto the table, causing coffee cups to rattle.

  "Son of a bitch. That son of a bitch." She growled as she began pacing. "Okay, he knows who I am and that you're my dad. Yet still he's contacting me as Kris James. Why?"

  "Kris, I'm sorry I didn't tell you..." Nicholas began to apologize.

  "Dad, I'm over that part. I know you were just trying to not stress me out more because of the book release and all. I get it." She smiled softly at him. "Now, I want to know why he keeps writing to Kris James despite knowing the truth. What is he trying to accomplish here?"

  Her head turned when Ethan cleared his throat. "Nick said the Feds seem think it's to keep you and Nick guessing and I would agree. It also sounds like he's watching Nick at least, possibly even you. All your fan mail goes through your agent right?"

  Krista nodded. "Yeah, Jerry, Jerry Summerland. Whenever a letter arrives he takes the original to the FBI for analysis and they make a copy for him to bring to m
e. He and I have been combing through every piece of mail I get, just in case the guy tries to contact me some other way or has a partner. So far nothing. Just the letters and the occasional gift. All the letters appear to be written by the same hand and they all have the same dark tone."

  "That's smart Krista." Ethan smirked, clearly impressed by her thoroughness. "Do you still have the copies of the letters?"

  "Not here, the copies are locked in Jerry's office. I can call them and tell them to share if you want." She replied. “If you want, I’ll even text Jerry and have him get the copies.”

  "For the moment just reach out to Feds. At least we may be able to establish some kind of timeline. After I talk to them, I might change my mind about those copies, but for now just have your agent sit on them. How do you sort your fan mail when you get it?" Ethan instructed.