Killer Moves Read online

  Killer Moves

  An Ex-Military Vigilante Romance

  Killer Series Book Two

  Anna Lee Rose

  Killer Moves Copyright © 2020 Anna Lee Rose

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations under the fair use law.

  This book contains adult themes and graphic content, and is intended for adults ages 18 and over.

  Cover design by coverkicks.com

  Killer Moves is a complete story with no cliff hanger and a guaranteed Happily Ever After. Yay!

  Author website: www.annaleeroseauthor.com

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  Table of Contents

  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

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Note From the Author

  Chapter 1

  Rosie

  My son Cesar just turned eight, and he’s my whole world. He makes me laugh just about every day. Jake’s the best big brother a girl could have, and with his good buddy Mike living here, it’s like having two big brothers—with double the teasing.

  Jake got married not long ago and now Hanna is both my sister-in-law and my best friend. I haven’t been this close to another woman for a very long time, and it feels so good.

  It took me a while to put all the pieces together about what happened in Mexico, but I think I finally have it straight in my head. After his tour in Afghanistan (and almost being killed by his own guys), Jake came back home, but his enemies made sure he wouldn’t be able to work in security. They blackballed him, so he did what he had to do.

  With few other options available, my brother became a contract killer, finding his clients on the Dark Web. But he would only take out people who needed it—the scumbags of this earth. Drug dealers, criminals, terrorists. He wouldn’t kill an innocent person, ever. He was sent by an anonymous client down to Mexico to take out Anton Sokolov, a particularly nasty Russian Mafia kingpin, and ended up with the man’s girlfriend on his hands. That was Hanna. Jake helped her escape and they fell in love, which I think is the most romantic thing ever.

  And Mike, he was Anton’s bodyguard. He got involved because, before the hit on Anton, he and Hanna were planning to escape from the criminal organization together.

  Okay, so right in the middle of all that, Malcolm, this crazy ex-soldier, comes after Jake to pay him back for something that happened in Afghanistan. Actually, he came after me first, trying to use me to lay a trap for Jake. But that didn’t go quite the way Malcolm thought it would. He’s been fish food for a while now.

  Nikolai is Anton’s son. He reached out to Mike and Jake to help him escape from a life in crime he never wanted, so they both went back down there and got him out. He and Mike now work for Jake in his new company, Dark Knights Security.

  Convoluted? To say the least.

  But all’s well that ends well, as they say.

  Even Mami has been better lately. She lives here with me and her grandson Cesar, in the nice house in Santa Fe that Jake bought for us. She’s been getting supportive therapy as well as excellent medical care, and her attitude seems to be steadily improving. For the first time, we have some real hope that she can recover from a lifetime of drug addiction and alcoholism.

  I’ve got love, I’ve got money, I’ve got my family—it seems like I have everything. But buried deep down inside me, there’s still this little black place, like a sore eating away at my insides. I do my best to hide it, but Jake knows me all too well. Whenever he asks, I just blow it off as menstrual issues, or sadness about losing Cesar’s dad (that is part of it, to be honest), and he seems to accept my words as truth.

  But I’ve never told my brother, or anyone else, the real truth about what happened while he was off in the Army; he still doesn’t know to this day. And I’m not planning on ever telling him.

  Hanna has been so good for Jake. She’s helped him a lot in getting over what happened in Afghanistan, and he’s so much healthier now. The last thing he needs is a problem of mine to knock him back down—another burden to carry around.

  The weird thing is, it’s all in my past now. It’s completely over, and has been for some time. The last payment I sent Hector was almost a year ago, just before Jake moved us up here to Santa Fe. I was counting on the fact that Hector wouldn’t be able to find me after we left, and I was right. Jake tends to be very secretive—in that line of work, you have to be. So when he moved us out of that terrible neighborhood in Albuquerque where we grew up, he made sure to leave no clue about where we went.

  But now I find that, even though it’s been over for ages, my feelings about the things Hector did to me have been growing instead of diminishing, worming their way out of me like parasites that keep multiplying deep inside. I keep dreaming about him, reliving those days, and my hatred and grief only grow stronger over time, seeming to want to burst right out of my body. I wake up and realize I’ve been crying, and I hold myself stock still, listening hard to make sure I haven’t woken anybody up.

  As for men—well, let’s just say I’ve had zero interest. I made that clear to Mike right from the get-go, and he’s been cool about it, although it’s pretty obvious he’s attracted to me. Same with Nikolai when he started making eyes. Hector was my last; by the looks of it he might be my last ever. I go to bed alone every night, by my own choice. I stay awake as long as I can, but of course, eventually I have to give in to sleep. My eyes drift closed, and the dreams come.

  I’m at Esteban’s funeral, with baby Cesar in my arms; we’re swathed in black, and a lace veil hides my face. I look down and notice that every visible part of my arms and hands are covered in black tattoos.

  Esteban lies in his open casket; I can see his face. In that way of dreams where strange things seem perfectly normal, his eyes are open and he’s looking at me, pleading silently. He doesn’t want to be dead, doesn’t want to leave Cesar and me. My eyes fill with tears, and I have to look away.

  I spot the gangbangers who killed Esteban, standing across from me on the other side of the grave. How dare they come to my husband’s funeral—the man they murdered! They leer at me, their arms crossed, brazenly displaying their colors, their bling glittering in the sunlight.

  Suddenly the scene shifts and I’m running through the city. Someone’s after me and I’m trying to evade them. It’s Albuquerque, but at the same time, it’s not. I’m suddenly aware that Hector is the one I’m fleeing from, but no matter where I go, he appears in front of me as if by magic. “Hey, baby,” he says, and places his big hands around my neck. He pushes my chin up with his thumbs and kisses me, and I force myself to hold still and not back away, because I know will happen if I do. He pushes me down onto the bed and starts to undress me. “I’ve been thinking about you all day, Rosie,” he says. “Wanting you. You drive me crazy, you know that?”

  In the dream I turn my head and Cesar is standing there, his thumb in his mouth, looking at me with his big brown, pleading eyes. He ne
eds to eat and his diaper is wet and sagging.

  “But Cesar is—” I start to say, but Hector’s hand comes down on my face, covering my mouth and nose. “Shh,” he says. I can’t speak, can’t move. His weight is crushing me to the bed. I struggle to take a breath, but he presses his hand harder and harder on my face, cutting off my air. I’m dying…

  I wake up gasping and shuddering, finding the bed covers twisted into knots. I sit up, reach for my Kindle and turn it on. Reading seems to be the only way to shake the dreams from my mind, other than using substances, and I’ll never use again.

  I thought, given enough time, my secrets from the past would fade away, but I was wrong. Instead, my hatred for Hector has festered and grown, rotting my soul. When I look back on those days, I’m so ashamed of myself. I realize that I was timid and weak. I let him do that stuff to me, let him abuse me and lead me into bad ways. I was a terrible mother, neglecting Cesar. I had no strength of character, no grit. And now that I’ve kept my past a secret for so long, it’s become nearly impossible to tell Jake the truth. I’m just too humiliated and ashamed.

  Later, long after the thing with Hector was over, Malcolm came along. He was looking for revenge against my brother, but in the process, he brutalized Cesar and me. It was awful, like Hector all over again. I never thought I’d be happy to see someone dead, but for that man I made an exception, God forgive me. In the end, he took his own life, and I’m thankful for that.

  Jake and Mike are here to protect me now, but all too soon, they’ll be going away, and I’ll be exposed to any psycho who manages to find me and Cesar. Who knows, Hector might even show up at my door again!

  I’m so sick of this shit, but to make it stop, I’ve got to do more than change my circumstances; I need to change myself. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ll start by learning some necessary skills.

  And then, when I think I’m ready, I’m going to find Hector. I can’t let it stand, what he did to me, and I can’t live in fear of him anymore. Not and have any remaining shred of self-respect. I’m going to find him, and I’m going to get my revenge, I swear it. And if I end up killing him in the process, I won’t lose any sleep over it.

  Chapter 2

  Mike

  When I first started living here in Rosie’s house in Santa Fe, after we all came back up to the States from Mexico, I couldn’t help but admire her. She’s a smart, beautiful woman and a wonderful mother to Cesar. But she’s Jake’s sister and I really didn’t want to go there, if you know what I mean. He’s my bro and I want to keep his trust, his respect and good will.

  I gotta admit, though, his sister is definitely hot and the longer I stay here, the harder it gets to keep my distance.

  It won’t be an issue much longer, though. Nikolai and I had our meeting with Lamb and we both passed, just like Jake said we would. The three of us will be taking off for DC pretty soon for this debriefing/orientation/training thing. Not sure how long it’s gonna take, they’re kind of vague about it. I gotta say it’s gonna be a relief not to be around Rosie for a while, what with the constant temptation. I keep having to fight the urge to just grab her and plant a big kiss right on that sexy mouth. At the same time, I’m really gonna miss her. We’ve gotten to be good friends and she’s told me some shit about her past life. I get this feeling that she’s not telling me everything, though, like she’s holding something back. Not that it’s any of my business anyway. I wonder if Jake knows about this stuff. If not, I won’t be the one to tell him; it’s up to Rosie to do that.

  I always tell Jake there’s nothing going on between me and his sister, but I gotta admit she’s really gotten under my skin. The sooner Jake and I are outta here, the better. It’s a constant struggle not to try and make a move. Especially when she starts horsing around with me at night, after Cesar is in bed. She wants me to show her some self-defense, and I’m all for that anyway.

  “Come on, Mike,” she says, her dark eyes snapping at me, a little smile playing on her lips. “Show me some of your killer moves. With the kind of work you do, I bet you’ve got plenty of them.”

  I give her the basics: how to use your opponent’s strength and momentum against them, how to target the pressure points, stuff like that. She’s a good student, picks things up fast. She’s a tall woman and well built; I think she’ll be able to handle herself well once she gets some confidence.

  “Just don’t say anything to Jake about this, okay?” she cautions me. “I want to surprise him.”

  Of course, I’ll honor her wishes.

  When I pretend to be an attacker with my arm looped around her neck, pressing into her from behind, my heart starts banging away and I feel definite stirrings down below. I want to bury my hands in her soft hair, whisper things into her ear, make her turn around, press her body against me and kiss me.

  Instead, she crushes my fantasies by driving her heel into my knee and throwing her head back against my face, trying to break my nose, just like I taught her.

  “Ow,” I say, abruptly letting her go and staggering back. She nearly did some real damage to me, but it’s my own fault. I was too distracted to guard myself properly.

  “Oh, Mike—I’m so sorry,” she cries, instantly morphing into her mothering persona. “Here, let me put something cold on it.”

  I follow her into the kitchen, where she takes out a small bag of ice and lays it over my face. She stands so close, I can breathe in her scent, and I can’t help it—my fingers find their way to her waist. At first they hover, just barely touching, but then I find some silky bare skin beneath the hem of her top, and start stroking just the tiniest bit.

  Her face changes abruptly and she reaches down, grabs my hands and guides them up to the ice pack. Once I’m holding it in place, she steps away, going over to the coffee maker to brew us a cup. Neither of us sleeps very much, and this routine always reminds me of the nights at Anton’s villa when Hanna and I used to hang out in that staff room off the kitchen.

  Rosie fills the carafe, pours it into the machine and then turns around, leaning back against the counter. She crosses her arms and studies me, her face solemn.

  “I’m sorry, Mike. I hope you don’t think I’ve been leading you on. ‘Cause it’s not like that for me. You’re an awesome guy and I really like you, but not that way. Just as friends, you know? It’s probably best just to get that out in the open so there’s no misunderstanding.”

  “Yeah, okay. Sure thing,” I say, my voice muffled. I lift off the bag of ice; my face is starting to freeze. “Don’t worry, Rosie, I understand. And I don’t think you’ve been leading me on. It’s just that you’re a smart, beautiful woman and a guy like me can’t help but try something.” I grin, trying to look sheepish but friendly, and it seems to work okay, because she smiles back at me.

  “So we’re cool?” she asks. “No hard feelings?”

  “Absolutely none.”

  “Awesome. I’d hate to lose a good friend.”

  “Never gonna happen. C’mere.” I hold my arms out and she moves into them, and we have ourselves a good, long hug.

  I don’t say anything about it out loud, but privately I’m starting to wonder what the hell is wrong with me, that I catch so much rejection from the ladies. First Hanna, and now Rosie…

  Never mind. I’ve got no time for women now, anyway. In a week, me, Nik and Jake will be off to DC. Both Jake and I have been working out like crazy just in case they test us, trying to prepare ahead of time as much as we can. I quit smoking as soon as I was accepted by the Feds. Jake has never smoked and he’s lighter than me, so he and Nik outpace me every morning on our six-mile runs. Of course, I can press a hell of a lot more weight than they can, so that makes me feel a little better.

  The night before we’re scheduled to leave, Jake, Nik and I go out for a last beer at McClellan’s. It’s the first time we’ve been back here in weeks.

  “I don’t think I’ve drunk so little alcohol in my whole life,” Jake says after sucking down a healthy
swig. “I used to really pour it down, know what I mean?”

  “Yeah, me too. Kind of feels good, though, don’t it?”

  “It does, yeah.” He looks back and forth between Nik and me. “Have you guys noticed anything different about Rosie lately?”

  “Not really, no. Different how?”

  “Well for one thing, she’s lost weight and she’s starting to get really buff. I can see the new muscles when she wears a tank top.”

  “Nothing wrong with that,” Nik points out. “I like my ladies lean and mean.”

  “We’re not the only ones who’ve been working out, you know,” I remind Jake. “Rosie and Hanna have been using the equipment in your home gym fairly regularly. Hadn’t you noticed?”

  “Yeah, but I guess I didn’t think she’d be so serious. It’s like she wants to become one of those female bodybuilders.”

  All three of us shudder and laugh, picturing the greased up, muscle-bound females featured on women’s bodybuilding magazine covers.

  “I really don’t think she’s going to take it that far,” I say.

  “I know. I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s more to it than that. Something’s changed.”

  “I think she’s finally getting over Esteban’s death. It’s taken her a really long time.”

  “Yeah, that’s probably it,” Jake says. “She seems less sad now, but not so much happy as… maybe determined is the right word. But I’m not sure what it is she’s so determined about.”

  “She’s a hell of a woman, your sister,” Nik says. “I’d love to make her my lady—with your permission of course, Jake—but she’s not interested. At all.” He takes a consoling slurp of his beer.

  I’m always fascinated by the way Nikolai talks. He’s Russian, grew up in Mexico City, but his mob boss daddy bought him a very expensive education. He did Hanna a favor by not telling his father that she was trying to escape from his estate. After that, Jake and I helped him get away from his life in organized crime, but we don’t really know him. We’ve invited him to work with us in our new company, Dark Knights Security, but we can’t trust him a hundred percent. Not yet—that shit has to be earned.