In Deep Read online

  table of contents

  Back Cover

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Deep Ch1

  Deep Ch2

  Deep Ch3

  More from The Malones

  About the Authors

  Copyright

  BACK COVER

  You think you know my story, but you have no idea. My death was just the beginning.

  In the years since I escaped the shadow organization that owned me, my vow to protect my family is the only thing keeping me alive.

  Until I meet her.

  (In Deep is the prequel to the Deep Duet. Book 1, DEEP, is available now!)

  chapter 1

  8 years ago…

  Rafael DeMarco leaned over the table, his eyes scanning a digital replica of the city of New York. The digital map carried numerous x marks all over. X marks the spot, Rafe thought. How morbid that each of those marks represented a life. Someone with children, with hopes and dreams. Someone whose days were numbered.

  Dead men walking.

  Rafe pointed at the X mark currently under discussion. “This isn’t a one man job. Plus, the location is a risk. There will be too many civilians around at that time. I think we should wait until we have more intel or more direct access to the target.” They rarely ever did one-man jobs. The standard rule was two. It built in redundancy.

  The head of ORUS, the shadow organization that had nurtured and trained him, narrowed his eyes. He hadn’t changed much over the years, with the same obsidian black hair and dark eyes, but then again he’d already looked like he’d survived a million battles when Rafe had first met him. Harsh and incredibly arrogant, Orion had never been a patient man, but he was usually open to input from his most trusted operatives.

  Apparently not today.

  “The op is a go. This isn’t a negotiation.”

  Rafe remained silent even while he seethed internally. For years he’d bitten his tongue and taken orders like a good soldier, all for the greater good.

  The lies upon lies were eating away at him. Especially considering his two bosses; Orion on one end and the FBI on the other. Granted, Orion didn’t know about the FBI, otherwise, Rafe would have been fitted for a lovely casket years ago.

  He was so tired of hearing that he was almost done, that he’d soon be free to pursue his own life. Lately those promises rung hollow as he lost more and more of his soul with every life taken. Every order that came in chipped away at him. Especially the ones he could do nothing about. He wasn’t sure how much more he could take.

  Most of his missions were sanctioned government hits. When some branch of the government couldn’t do things the easy way, ORUS was called in to do things the messy and silent way.

  The Feds had placed him undercover in ORUS because they suspected Orion was taking jobs on the side. And they were right. The ones Rafe could impact, he did. The others…those were the ones that chipped away at him. This particular job was one of those pesky non-sanctioned ones.

  He had a vested interest in keeping ORUS away from that house. The house belonged to a drug lord responsible for most of the cocaine distribution on the East Coast. The Del Tinos. The FBI had a man inside who had risen to the rank of lieutenant. Rafe had a sick feeling that he might get hit in the melee and he needed to do what he could to prevent that.

  “You ask me for my opinion because you trust my experience. My experience and training tells me this operation is a clusterfuck waiting to happen.”

  Orion’s lips narrowed into a thin, cruel line but his dark eyes concentrated on the schematics of the house that were displayed on the upper right corner of the table. The Del Tinos were the scum of the earth. They peddled that shit on the streets of his city while the head of the cartel languished in his luxurious Hamptons mansion every night. Taking him out would do the world some good. But every cell in Rafe’s body said he was not the target.

  Someone had likely risked their life to get those schematics to that house. When ORUS planned your downfall, there was nowhere to hide. He glanced over at Orion. Rafe could almost see the wheels spinning in that calculating mind, looking for pitfalls and weighing them against the potential benefits of a successful op.

  The problem was that Orion valued a successful op over most anything else, including the lives of his agents. The bastard would think nothing of ordering any of them, even Rafe, to his death if he thought there was something ORUS would gain by it. They were supposed to be taking orders directly from the government but Orion didn’t take orders from anyone.

  Then again you didn’t get to a position like Orion’s by being warm and trusting. Or by being a fool. Rafe would have to tread lightly going forward.

  “I understand your concerns, Libra.” Orion said, referring to him by his codename. “We’ve taken the difficulties you mentioned into account.”

  “Excellent. If there’s nothing else, then I’ll see you next week.” He stood. He needed to get word to his handler to get their man out.

  Orion nodded briskly and turned back to the table. Rafe didn’t waste any time getting the hell out of there. He’d just about hit his asshole tolerance for the day. Before he got to the street, he pulled a black skull cap from his pocket and tugged it over his hair. Although he was certain no one had followed him here, it was second nature to protect his identity. He couldn’t even blame ORUS for his distrustful nature; that was a by-product of growing up in Brooklyn. He’d learned early that the only one you could trust was yourself and it was better to never be seen or heard in case someone decided to try to pin their crimes on you.

  A half hour later, he walked through the door of the brownstone where his grandmother had raised him and his sister. Voices and laughter filtered through from the back of the house and Rafe paused, allowing the warmth and comfort of the sound to flow over him. Before he approached his loved ones, he liked to let the stench of his association with Orion roll off him. He was a man with many different layers, but he never wanted the different sides of his life to touch. His family deserved better than that.

  There was noise and before Rafe could categorize it, his arms were full of giggly girl and he had a face full of his baby sister’s wild, curly hair.

  “Whoa, you’re getting stronger Lulu. I can barely breathe.”

  He made an exaggerated choking sound, and Lucia relaxed her stranglehold on his neck. He set her on her feet gently and smiled as she tried to push her hair behind her ears. Finally she gave up and grabbed his hand.

  “What are you doing out here? We’re already eating but we’re still on the antipasti. Come on!”

  He allowed her to drag him through the living room and into the dining room where he was greeted by a chorus of hellos and slaps on the back. A few minutes later, Nonna handed him a plate filled with all the things he loved, tomato slices, mozzarella and a heap of prosciutto. Lucia kissed his cheek and then sat back down in her usual seat and started talking to her friend Jessica.

  “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Lucia’s birthday.”

  He glanced over at his friend and mentee, Noah Blake, before checking to make sure Lucia wasn’t listening in. Everyone else was busy eating and talking so no one paid them any attention. Rafe was planning a party for Lucia’s fifteenth birthday and was determined to actually surprise her for once.

  “Do you know what music she’s into lately? I wanted to get her something more personal than a gift card, you know?”

  Rafe smiled. “She’s into one of those boy bands. Honestly you could probably just guess, and even if you got it wrong she’d still love it.”

  Lucia was a sweetheart, despite losing their parents young and having only him as a father figure. Rafe sighed. He’d been fif
teen when his parents died in the car accident. Young, but he’d had the benefit of a strong father growing up who’d made sure he understood what was important in life. Family. Honor. Self-respect. He’d tried to help Nonna instill those same virtues in Lucia, but he was pretty sure her sweetness wasn’t due to his efforts. She’d always been a sweet kid.

  “Everything okay?” Noah asked.

  The kid was mature for his age but definitely looked every bit of the five years younger he was than Rafe. He was still growing into his large hands and feet, so he’d probably end up as tall as Rafe, easily a few inches over six feet when it was all said and done.

  “Fine. Just had to meet with the top dog.”

  He didn’t have to explain further. Noah would instantly know who he was talking about.

  “You should have brought me with you,” Noah mumbled.

  Rafe acknowledged the comment with a grunt but didn’t bother responding. The kid had been asking for more responsibility lately, wanting to be more involved in the planning and research phases instead of just the execution.

  Rafe had always been able to put him off so far, but he wasn’t sure how much longer that would work. There were so many things he wished he could tell him, so many times he’d wondered what would have happened if he’d never been introduced to a young apprentice looking for guidance. But if the kid hadn’t been brought to Rafe to train, he would have just ended up with someone else or in jail. At least Rafe had the ability to try to instill some values and honor into him, or at least he hoped he had.

  “I don’t leave you behind because I don’t think you can handle it. I leave you behind because I want more for you than this.”

  Noah’s scowl relaxed slightly. “We’re doing good. What’s better than that?”

  Rafe buried his instinct to tell him the truth. It killed him sometimes, his double life that required him to constantly mislead, omit or deceive. He wished sometimes that he could go back in time and change everything. Then he wouldn’t have to hide who he was, and more importantly, he wouldn’t have to wonder every day when his decisions would blow back and hurt the ones he loved most.

  “One day you’ll understand. I promise. But for now, I’d rather have you here with them.”

  Noah looked down the table to where Nonna and Lucia were. Rafe wasn’t sure if the kid understood how much trust it took for Rafe to leave someone else watching over his family.

  “You’re the only one I trust to take care of them.”

  Noah seemed to understand the importance of the statement. He nodded once and looked Rafe directly in the eye. He only knew the bare bones of where Noah had come from, that he’d been bounced between a bunch of foster homes before ending up on the streets. But Rafe knew when a man was worth his word, and Noah looked like he’d just accepted a blood vow.

  “I’ll always take care of them. Not just because they’re your family. But because they’re mine too.”

  chapter 2

  The next day found Rafe looking across a very different table, one that wasn’t half as advanced as the one he’d seen the prior day. It was ironic that ORUS had been originally founded as a shadow organization supporting the US government’s intelligence agencies but somehow had better technology. The tools available to him as one of Orion’s operatives were miles ahead of anything issued to the men around him.

  That was the conundrum of being an undercover FBI agent.

  “It’s becoming harder and harder to come in without being detected. I don’t think Orion trusts anyone these days.” Rafe sighed.

  It was difficult for the men who were his contacts in the FBI to understand the stress of living on both sides of the line. The only one who got it was his prior handler, Agent Granger, but he’d been injured on the job last year. He’d worked undercover for many years.

  His current handler, an older agent named Alan Dawkins, regarded him warily. Lately he’d gotten the vibe that they didn’t believe him when he had trouble checking in. The FBI had recruited him young, chosen him specifically, and at first he couldn’t understand why. Then it had become clear. As a young man in his shitty neighborhood, he was a prime candidate for ORUS recruitment. They looked for guys just like him, young men who needed money and honestly didn’t have that much to lose.

  Rafe couldn’t pretend that he wouldn’t have been tempted to join ORUS proper if he hadn’t been approached by the FBI first. They offered more than just money; they promised protection. As the man of the house at such a young age, he’d had to quickly lose his scruples and do whatever was necessary to help Nonna make ends meet.

  He’d done a few drug runs for a local dealer before he’d seen someone get capped right in front of him. That had been the moment he realized he was unlikely to get out of their neighborhood through any other means than a body bag if he didn’t shape up. He’d managed to get a scholarship to Fordham in the city and work part-time after that. It hadn’t been much, but he slept better at night.

  When the FBI had approached him to be an undercover agent, he’d seen it as a chance to make the money that he couldn’t get any other way.

  All he’d had to do was say yes when someone from ORUS approached him and then infiltrate one of the most secretive organizations in the world. Simple.

  Deadly.

  Every day Rafe was aware that he was one slip-up away from being exposed and finding himself on the end of an ORUS-approved hit. But somehow over the past years he’d only risen in the organization until he was one of the most decorated and skilled operatives they had. He had the ear of the leader and more money than he knew what to do with. But the stress had started to catch up with him lately.

  He had no idea what it was like to sleep all the way through the night anymore. His family was safe and well provided for, but he couldn’t spend much time with them. They shouldn’t be subjected to his dark moods.

  “This is important. There’s been chatter about the Vandergraffs.” Dawkins placed a file on the table between them.

  A smoky tendril of dread curled through Rafe. The job that haunted him the most. “I thought that was a closed case.”

  “The Vandergraffs will never be a closed case. The father’s death only means that his sons took the reins and they’ve now expanded his criminal holdings threefold.”

  Dawkins held open the file, and Rafe pretended to read it. Really, his mind was racing, images from that night coming back. Images that he’d bury forever if he could.

  “So what do you need me for?”

  “We’ve gotten intel that the sons are looking for information on their father’s hit. They believe it was government authorized to get access to a family heirloom. They’re fueling all kinds of conspiracy theories about every government under the sun looting private citizens. It’s becoming a problem. Do you remember anything unusual about that job? Anything happen that was out of the ordinary? I know it was a few years ago…”

  Two years exactly. Rafe tensed. They were discussing a man’s death as if it were just another day at the office. He’d grown accustomed to the cavalier way they played with people’s lives but in this case, it was particularly bad. Rafe knew that not only was he the one who’d killed Dieter Vandergroot, he’d also traumatized his young daughter. He’d been forced to do a lot of things in his ORUS tenure, but that particular job would always stand out. She’d been so young, couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen, and had stared at him with big, haunted dark eyes. He’d just shot her father and then had heard the whimpering of what sounded like a wounded animal. Then he’d pulled the curtains back to find her curled up in the window seat, terrified.

  She hadn’t even tried to fight him.

  It had been the moment he was forced to realize what he’d become.

  “No, I don’t remember anything unusual happening. It was a standard job. In and out.” The last thing he’d ever do was tell the FBI that there had been a witness to the hit. They turned a blind eye to the things ORUS did because it was seen as being for the great
er good. But he’d killed a young girl’s father in front of her. He’d left a witness to the crime behind because there was no way he could do what he’d been officially trained to do in that circumstance. He wouldn’t hurt an innocent to cover his tracks. Thank God, he’d been wearing a mask.

  He couldn’t tell them that. He could never tell anyone that. Of course the Feds would not have sanctioned a hit on a child, but they would have had him bring her in, and that would have been far worse for her. There would have been a trail, and that kid would never have been safe.

  “What are they saying was taken?” Rafe scanned over the information in the folder, looking for any mention of the girl. Did they know that she’d been there? Had there been another witness that he’d missed?

  Had she told anyone what she’d seen? Or had she listened to him when he told her to go to her room and pretend she’d been there all night. He’d warned her that he’d know if she lied. That he’d come back and find her.

  Yes, he was truly a thing of nightmares.

  “It’s a twenty karat blue diamond called the Jewel of the Sea. Not sure how much you know about jewels, but blue diamonds are rare. And expensive as hell. This thing is worth more than twenty million dollars.”

  Rafe whistled. “And they think whoever killed their father, did it to steal the diamond?”

  They exchanged a look. Off the record, Dawkins knew that Rafe had been the one sent in to take out old man Vandergraff, but they never spoke of it directly. But he could tell what the other man was thinking. If you were being sent to do a job, why not make a little money on the side? Rafe almost laughed out loud. If he’d gotten his hands on a diamond worth that much, he wouldn’t still be hanging around. He’d have already flown Nonna and Lucia to their own private island by now.

  “Well, when I was there…visiting, I didn’t see any kind of jewel. That’s not the kind of thing I’d miss either. So whoever took it, must have done it before I arrived.”