Sex, Lies & Lipstick (A Moonlight and Magnolias Novel Book 2) Read online

  “Man cave, Mimi. Man cave,” Polly shouted, making sure Mimi heard her correctly.

  “Well, you don’t have to yell about it. I’m old, honey, but I’m not deaf.”

  Polly looked to King and grimaced. “Sorry.”

  “No offense taken,” King smiled. “It is a man cave. It was designed to be.”

  “To answer your question, Mimi,” Mac continued, “another agent will be here any moment. We have a conference call with Washington in an hour, and I’ll know more then. I promise I don’t want any of us to be here any longer than we have to be.”

  “Who’s the other agent?” I asked.

  “Leonidus Xanthis. They call him Z.”

  11

  MAC

  I waited for Z to report and began going over the information the D.C. office had sent to me, including a new and disturbing photograph.

  I dialed my old office, hoping to hear a familiar voice. I needed to ask some questions and I knew who might have the answers.

  “Micah, old girl. How’s it going? Have you threatened to rip anyone’s throat out today?”

  “Fuck off, Mac,” she rasped. “Do you know I had to drag ass in here in the middle of the night? No. Do you care? No.”

  “I’ve missed you too,” I teased.

  Micah had been my assistant at the Bureau from my start. She was thirty, attractive but wore too much makeup and jewelry and was from New Jersey. Micah acted like a man, worked like a dog and cursed like a trucker. We fought like brother and sister, but loved each other the same way. I’d do anything for her and she’d do the same for me. She was the perfect Betty Bureau – married to the job.

  “What a shit-storm, Mac. Have you talked with Dan this morning?”

  “What’s going on?”

  “The cartel. We got confirmation that Hector Quintes has been cut off.”

  “He’s rouge?”

  “He’s fucking nuts – that’s what he is. DEA sent over the intel last night. Hector’s own cartel is looking for him, and when they find him I have a feeling they plan on sending him home in pieces.”

  I took a deep breath and sat back in the old creaky chair. Hector had been pegged as Halcones, or falcon long ago. A term meaning he was the eyes and ears of the street. After his affair with the now dead Autumn Valley CEO became public, he provided unwelcome exposure and plenty of leads for the DEA and the FBI.

  “What’s the report say? Is there a hit out on him?”

  “I’m putting you on speaker. Dan’s here,” Micah rasped.

  “So is there a hit out on him?” I repeated.

  “Latest phone tap led them to believe so. We’re trying to confirm with our agent inside. Listen,” Dan lowered his voice. “The report says they’ve killed Hector’s son.”

  “The photo,” I uttered as I took a long look at the picture of the bloody boy lying face down on a dirt road. I was used to seeing heinous crime scene photos. The ones involving kids were always the most disturbing. Now that I had children of my own, they were unbearable.

  “He had a kid. The cartel got to him. Five year old boy named Diego,” Dan sighed. “Maybe we should let Hector go and allow the cartel to take care of him.”

  “No way,” I blurted.

  “They think he’s loco. And now that his son and lover are both dead, I would tend to agree with them,” Micah added.

  “He’s crazy, armed, and set on revenge. That’s just another day at the office, Micah.”

  “Like hell it is,” she quipped.

  “What are you trying to say? That I’m rusty?”

  “No, Mac. You’re not rusty. You’re soft.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “Okay, you two,” Dan interjected. But Micah wasn’t having any of it.

  “Remember, I’ve known you from the beginning,” Micah continued. “I knew the Mac who was the gentleman on the outside and underneath it all didn’t give a shit about anyone or anything. You were balls out, all day, every day. Now you’ve got Sam and a family. Believe me, I think it’s nice and all. You’re just not the same person.”

  “Enough!” Dan shouted.

  I clenched my teeth and leaned into the phone with disgust. “I’m not soft, Micah. Hector shouldn’t be afraid of his drug lord. He should be afraid of me. I’ll have this fucker’s balls in my back pocket before this is all said and done. Don’t…” I lowered my voice, mad as hell. “Don’t fuck with me.”

  “That’s the Mac I’m looking for. Where the hell has he been?” she shouted.

  “I’m right here. Bring it on.”

  “I’ll tell you who’s bringing it,” Dan interjected. “Z. He’s on his way.”

  “Yeah, why are you sending BSU?”

  “This is a Behavioral Sciences Unit case now,” Dan explained.

  “Micah, didn’t you have a thing for Z at one time?” I asked, trying my best to ruffle her feathers for goading me.

  “No. Although I’ve never understood how a man as fucking hot as Z has gone all these years without a woman. God knows there’ve been plenty who’ve thrown themselves at him.”

  “Including you?” I prodded.

  “You know I don’t go for all that Southern gentleman crap. Give me an Italian stallion who’s tan, works out, loves his mother and goes to Mass.”

  “Don’t forget the tattoos, Micah. I know you love a man with a good snake, barbed wire cuff or crucifix on his body.”

  “You know it,” Micah rumbled.

  “Z should be there any time,” Dan added, trying to deescalate our attitudes.

  “Try to keep your women off of him,” Micah added.

  “I’ll do my best,” I said. “I’ll check in later.”

  “Hey, Mac. You coming to D.C. or staying in the boonies?” Dan asked.

  “Don’t know yet. I’ll keep ya posted.”

  I hung up and saw a black SUV kicking up dust as it roared up the long lane. I watched the car, windows down, music blaring, roll to a stop at the front door. Only one agent would travel in such an overt way. Leo Xanthis.

  I could hear the knock at the door. Everyone had retired to various parts of the house as the morning came to a close. Sam was on the couch reading a magazine and sat alone in the room.

  She rose to answer the door and I shook my head and shouted. “No one answers this door – no matter what, no matter who you think it is, no one answers this door but me.”

  “Fine,” she protested as she quickly sat back down.

  I opened the door and there he stood.

  “Z,” I nodded as I shook his hand.

  “How y’all doin’ out here in the middle of nowhere?” he asked, his accent dripping with the Cajun drawl he’d attracted so many girls with over the years.

  “It’s good to see you,” I nodded.

  I’d always liked Z. We’d been a little bit of a dynamic duo during our time at Quantico. The FBI Academy was never the same after we left.

  “Samantha, darling,” I said as I turned to her and shut the door. “I’d like you to meet Leo Xanthis, better known as Z.”

  I watched Sam light up with charm as she always did. Dressed in a pink skirt and blouse, she was clearly ready for a day on the Champs-Elysées in Paris and not King’s lake house.

  “Z, it’s so nice to make your acquaintance.”

  Z took the hand Sam offered him and gave it a kiss without losing eye contact. “The pleasure is mine, cher,” he drawled. “Please, call me Leo.”

  “Z,” I continued. “This is my wife, Samantha.”

  “Wife? Isn’t that just the cat’s pajamas,” Z continued, not taking his eyes from her. “When did that happen?”

  “Yesterday,” Sam blurted, seemingly taken by his charms.

  Z snapped his head to meet me. “You should be off honeymooning with your gorgeous wife.”

  “Don’t I know it,” I sighed, running my hands through my hair.

  “You look good, man,” Z continued. “I mean to be on your honeymoon with a psychotic drug dealer hot on you
r trail.”

  He was dressed in a perfectly cut, dark blue three-piece suit and yet he wore no tie. Obviously tailored specifically for his muscular frame, he looked like he worked for the mob more than the FBI.

  At six foot five, Z was a menacing presence and his dark, Greek skin made him look dangerous. Part of that was his hair.

  Black, wavy and to his shoulders, he pulled it back in a ponytail most of the time. The women swooned over his hair. The other agents, including me, generally gave him a hard time about it. True to his Greek heritage, he wore it long and told everyone at Quantico he was really Samson and if he cut his hair, he’d lose the ability to kick all our asses.

  Z wasn’t a run of the mill agent, but he’d have to be a little crazy to work in BAU. It was the worst of the worst. Criminal minds were one thing, but sick criminal minds? That was another world and the idea that Hector had now been lumped into that category made me uneasy on more levels than one.

  “Leo,” Sam smiled. “May I get you something to drink? Sweet tea, perhaps?”

  “Thank you, darlin’. You surely know the way to a man’s heart,” he sighed as he clasped his hand to his chest in gratitude.

  “Have a seat, Z,” I gestured to the large sectional couch that covered the open room. “Catch me up. I need to know.”

  “Thank you, cher,” Z said as Sam handed each of us a tall glass of sweet tea.

  “If you don’t need anything else, I’m going to check in on the baby.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart,” I smiled, leaning up to kiss her cheek.

  Z watched Sam glide from room to room with elegance. I knew the look on his face and witnessed it many times in the weeks we trained together at the Academy. He approved of her.

  “You did a damn fine job there, Mac.”

  “Thank you. I’m the luckiest man in the world.”

  “And you have a new baby?”

  “Yes. I guess that was in the file.”

  “No, she just said she was going to check on the baby. I just assumed it was yours.”

  “Sorry, Z,” I sighed. “I’m just a little more than on edge right now. Before I never cared. Now I have a family to protect.”

  “I understand,” Z said coolly. “You’re only willin’ to die for what you’re livin’ for.”

  I nodded.

  Z shifted in his seat and took a long sip of his sweet tea, leaving it to rest on the table in front of him. “Hector Quintes has gone off the rails. He’s considered armed and dangerous. He’s been using aliases and classic stalking techniques, but at the same time he’s not stalking in a possessive manner. He’s not seeking to control Samantha or you.”

  “What then?”

  “What fuels the soul like love but isn’t as sweet? Revenge.”

  I sat quietly taking it all in. Z had a PhD in psychology, was smarter than hell, and tough as nails.

  “Here’s the whole story. Hector was sent into Alabama to set up part of a drug route from Mexico. The larger cartels have been using smaller towns to move through. They feel it’s safer, they blend in with some of the migrant seasonal workers and no one really bothers them. I doubt anyone would’ve bothered Hector had you not exposed his love affair with the CEO of Autumn Valley.”

  “I agree.”

  “What we didn’t know was that the CEO, James Miller, had been funneling Hector money. Whether it was a pay off or he was just funding his lover – pay for play, we don’t know. That money has allowed Hector to remain mobile even after the cartel cut him off.”

  “And they cut him off because of me,” I added.

  “You and your takedown. Although if Hector had just kept his mouth shut and his hands to himself, he might’ve continued to fly under the radar, but he couldn’t.”

  “He kidnapped Sam to kill her, blaming me for Miller’s suicide,” I added.

  “He came from a poor, abusive family. Whether his immediate family knew he was gay or not, who knows. He found recognition and a sense of belonging in the cartel. Maybe he thought he and Miller would live happily ever after. Maybe not. As far as I can see, Hector Quintes wants Sam dead to make you pay for what happened to Miller. And in turn what happened to his kid.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed, leaning back and running my hands through my hair. “I saw the photo. What was his son’s name?”

  “Diego.” Z nodded. “In the beginning it was his rage that fueled him. When he didn’t kill you, it became a game. Now that they’ve killed his son, well…”

  “He blames me.”

  “Who knows, man? He’s got nothing and nobody. And he’s got nothing to lose.”

  “And I have everything.”

  “Unfortunately.”

  “Z, I need to get to D.C. I feel like I’m trapped here in the middle of nowhere when I need to be out there, looking for this man.”

  “I will say this,” Z laughed. “You’re off the beaten path. Hector would be hard pressed to find you here.”

  “I want him to find me, dammit. I want to blow his head off.”

  “I think you’re too emotionally involved in the case, Mac. Besides. He’s not looking for you.”

  “I’m looking for him,” I ground through my teeth as I stood and began to pace the room. “Z, you know me. Hell, we’re cut from the same cloth. Put yourself in my place. What would you do if a psychotic man was threatening your family and somehow, even though you’ve got the best trained agents watching your back, still finds a way to get to you? What would you do?”

  “I’d find him.”

  “Exactly. So don’t start your pyschobabble bullshit on me now, because you know what I’m going to do. And you’d do the same.”

  “Fine, but you’ve got to make some changes around here.”

  “Like what?”

  “We need to get the elderly folks back to Shadeland. In the thick of it last night it was a good idea to just clear everyone out. But let’s make a plan and get them under heavy supervision back at their nursing home.”

  “Agreed. What about King?”

  “The doctor who owns this place? Let’s get him home and out of harm’s way as well. What about Sam and the children?”

  “I’m not sending them back to Shadeland to be sitting ducks. And Sam won’t leave them.”

  “Based on the notes sent by Hector it’s Sam he’s targeting, although I don’t think at this point he’d pass up an opportunity to blow your head off.”

  “Lower your voice,” I cautioned. “Sam is upset enough as it is.”

  “Where would you move them? Or would you stay here?” Z asked.

  “I don’t want them in the middle of nowhere even if I do surround them with agents. Hell, it’d take forever to get back up out here in the boonies.”

  Z sat back and took a long draw on his sweet tea and sighed.

  “I’m sorry,” I heard over my shoulder.

  Polly walked into the room wearing a sundress, no doubt part of Sam’s honeymoon trousseau.

  “No, no, cher,” Z’s deep voice dripped with charm as he stood in Polly’s presence. “The pleasure is mine.”

  “Polly, this is Leo Xanthis. Z, this is Polly, Sam’s best friend.”

  Polly extended her hand to him and as expected, Z lifted it to his mouth for a kiss.

  “So is it Leo or Z?” Polly asked. “I’m confused.”

  “And I’m smitten,” Z drawled. “Z is my nickname, but you can call me anything you’d like.”

  Polly giggled a little and I watched the two have a moment that I promptly broke up. “Did you need something, Polly?”

  “No. Not really. I… ah…no. Nothing. It was nice to meet you, Z.”

  “I’ll see you soon,” he smiled. “You can count on it.”

  Z watched Polly all the way out of the room and I shook my head. “You’ve not changed a bit.”

  “You used to be just like me. And you know it. We’re cut from the same cloth. Remember?”

  “I want to get to D.C. by morning. I can make arrangements for my mo
ther and Miss Mimi to go back to Shadeland and I’ll send King and Celia with them. I’ll have Dan coordinate security at the nursing home, Sam’s house and Lone Oak.”

  “Who does that leave here?” Z asked. “Your wife, your baby and her best friend?”

  “And my son.”

  “You’ve been busy, my friend.”

  “Dax is Sam’s son from her first marriage. She was a widow. I adopted him – day before yesterday as a matter of fact,” I sighed, putting my face in my hands.

  “Look, Mac,” Z offered as he came to my side. “No one would fault you if you left this up to Dan and the boys in D.C. You know they’re more than capable of handling this. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster for you and it’s not going to get much better until Hector’s in custody.”

  “Yeah,” I agreed, looking to the floor. Z had been a good friend over the years and I knew I could let down around him. “If we get the first group back to Shadeland, all that’s left is Sam, Polly, Dax and Katy.”

  “I’ll take them to my house in New Orleans. The place is a fortress. You know my family’s history. There’s more surveillance at the house on Third Street than Fort Knox.”

  “You’ll watch over them while I go to Washington for a couple of days?”

  “Of course.”

  “We need more agents than you, Z.”

  “I agree. How else would I have the time to get to know your friend Polly?”

  “Dude, my family is in danger. Can you keep it in your pants until Hector is dead or behind bars?”

  “They’ll all be in good hands,” he gruffed. “You take care of you. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  12

  SAMANTHA

  I heard the front door close and decided it was safe to come back to the great room.

  “How’d it go?” I asked.

  Mac walked to me and whisked me off my feet, bringing my face to his for a long, drawn out kiss. I felt his hands rise up my back as he slowly brought my feet to the floor. “Have I told you how much I love you today?” he asked, leaning his forehead to mine.

  “No. But we haven’t really seen each other that much this morning,” I confessed. “I take it that things went well with your friend Z?”