Spies & Stilettos: A MacKenzie Family Novel, Book 18 (The MacKenzie Family) Read online

  Spies & Stilettos

  By Liliana Hart

  A MacKenzie Family Novel, Book 18

  Spies & Stilettos

  A MacKenzie Family Novel, Book 18

  Copyright 2017 Liliana Hart

  ISBN: 978-1-942299-85-1

  Published by Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental.

  Book Description

  Spies & Stilettos, Book 18

  By Liliana Hart

  New York Times bestselling author Liliana Hart returns to her bestselling MacKenzie family with her trademark of “Passionate Romantic Suspense & Spine-Tingling Mystery” in SPIES & STILETTOS…

  Elena Nayal has worked for MacKenzie Security for years. Quiet and unassuming, she stays in the shadows of the world’s most elite clandestine agency. But she’s trained relentlessly after hours, and her only thought is to be strong enough to track down and kill every last one of the men who brutally attacked her.

  Lieutenant Brady Scott is no stranger to special ops. He commands the greatest SEAL team in the history of America. But fighting for the woman he loves turns out to be the most difficult mission he’s ever been on. He must decide whether to let her walk into a suicide mission on her own, or ignore every rule he’s sworn to follow.

  About Liliana Hart

  Liliana Hart is a New York Times, USA Today, and Publisher’s Weekly Bestselling Author of more than 50 titles. After starting her first novel her freshman year of college, she immediately became addicted to writing and knew she’d found what she was meant to do with her life. She has no idea why she majored in music.

  Since self-publishing in June of 2011, Liliana has sold more than 5 million ebooks and been translated into eight languages. She’s appeared at #1 on lists all over the world and all three of her series have appeared on the New York Times list. Liliana is a sought after speaker and she’s given keynote speeches and self-publishing workshops to standing-room-only crowds from California to New York to London.

  Liliana can almost always be found at her computer writing or on the road giving workshops for SilverHart International, a company she founded with her husband, Scott Silverii, where they provide law enforcement, military, and fire resources for writers so they can write it right.

  Connect with me online:

  twitter.com/Liliana_Hart

  facebook.com/LilianaHart

  My Website: www.lilianahart.com

  Also by Liliana Hart

  Click to purchase

  The MacKenzie Series

  Dane

  A Christmas Wish: Dane

  Thomas

  To Catch A Cupid: Thomas

  Riley

  Fireworks: Riley

  Cooper

  A MacKenzie Christmas

  MacKenzie Box Set

  Cade

  Shadows and Silk

  Secrets and Satin

  Sins and Scarlet Lace

  The MacKenzie Security Series (Includes the 3 books listed above)

  1001 Dark Nights: Captured in Surrender

  Sizzle

  Crave

  Troublemaker

  Scorch

  Sweet Surrender

  Spies and Stilettos

  Dawn of Surrender

  THE GRAVEDIGGERS SERIES

  The Darkest Corner

  Gone to Dust

  Say No More

  ADDISON HOLMES MYSTERIES

  Whiskey Rebellion

  Whiskey Sour

  Whiskey For Breakfast

  Whiskey, You’re The Devil

  Whiskey on the Rocks

  Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

  JJ GRAVES MYSTERIES

  Dirty Little Secrets

  A Dirty Shame

  Dirty Rotten Scoundrel

  Down and Dirty

  Dirty Deeds

  STANDALONE NOVELS/NOVELLAS

  All About Eve

  Paradise Disguised

  Catch Me If You Can

  Kill Shot

  Breath of Fire

  Acknowledgments

  To Liz Berry and MJ Rose. I can’t thank you enough for your encouragement, kindness, and patience. Two years ago you took a chance on this idea and ran with it, and I can’t imagine anyone doing it better. Thank you.

  A huge thanks to Jay Crownover, Lynn Raye Harris, Kaylea Cross, and Gennita Low for each contributing a story in the MacKenzie World. You’re some of my favorite authors, and I’m so honored you joined the project.

  Jillian Stein, you’re amazing. You make my life so much easier, and I want you to know how much you’re appreciated. Also, a huge thanks to Kim and the editorial team for all your hard work on this book.

  Last but not least, words can’t express the gratitude I have for my husband, Scott Silverii. A thank you isn’t enough. I’m glad you told me I was going to marry you. I’d do it all over again.

  An Introduction to the Mackenzie Family World

  Dear Readers,

  I’m thrilled to announce the MacKenzie Family World is returning! I asked five of my favorite authors to create their own characters and put them into the world you all know and love. These amazing authors revisited Surrender, Montana, and through their imagination you’ll get to meet new characters, while reuniting with some of your favorites.

  These stories are hot, hot, hot and packed with action and adventure—exactly what you’d expect from a MacKenzie story. It was pure pleasure for me to read each and every one of them and see my world through someone else’s eyes. They definitely did the series justice, and I hope you discover five new authors to put on your auto-buy list.

  Make sure you check out Spies and Stilettos, a brand new, full-length MacKenzie novel written by me. This will be the final installment of the MacKenzie series, featuring Brady Scott and Elena Nayal. After eighteen books of my own and ten books written by other bestselling authors in the MacKenzie World, it’s going to be difficult to say good-bye to a family I know as well as my own. Thank you for falling in love with the MacKenzies.

  So grab a glass of wine, pour a bubble bath, and prepare to Surrender.

  Love Always,

  Liliana Hart

  Available now! Click to purchase.

  Spies & Stilettos by Liliana Hart

  Trouble Maker by Liliana Hart

  Rush by Robin Covington

  Never Surrender by Kaylea Cross

  Avenged by Jay Crownover

  Bullet Proof by Avery Flynn

  Delta: Rescue by Cristin Harber

  Hot Witness by Lynn Raye Harris

  Deep Trouble by Kimberly Kincaid

  Wicked Hot by Gennita Low

  Desire & Ice by Christopher Rice

  Table of Contents

  Book Description

  About Liliana Hart

  Also by Liliana Hart

  Author Acknowledgments

  An introduction to the MacKenzie Family World by Liliana Hart

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  C
hapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  From the Journal of Declan MacKenzie

  Discover the Liliana Hart MacKenzie Family Collection

  Discover the World of 1001 Dark Nights

  Discover More Liliana Hart

  Special Thanks

  Chapter One

  Elena Nayal knew fear. She knew what it tasted like. What it smelled like. And she knew what it felt like for silent screams to echo relentlessly in the mind.

  Her heart pounded and she watched impotently as lives hung in the balance. Her job was to save lives, not to panic, no matter how badly she wanted to. Ink black eyes remained glued to the bank of electronic screens that covered the wall inside the MacKenzie Security HQ Command Center.

  “I don’t care what it says, Titus.” Her voice was calm and commanding, despite the butterflies dancing in her stomach. “I’m telling you to go straight ahead.”

  “HQ, we’re getting overrun out here. I can’t afford one wrong turn.” Titus was the newest team leader of highly trained operatives that MacKenzie Security had dispatched across the globe. Expanding the operations of MacKenzie Security was an experiment, and it was failing.

  Her nails were short and neat, her fingers unadorned, and she typed with quick efficiency as she studied the data and images scrolling across the screens. Her mind was focused, despite the rattled transmissions from Titus. She’d heard his fear. Recognized it. And discarded it. Fear would only get them killed. Her job was to provide the team with an escape route.

  She’d never been to Somalia, but she’d spent her nights researching it before the team had left for the mission—it wasn’t like she was able to sleep, so she might as well make herself useful.

  The mission should’ve been simple. They were rescuing petroleum researchers from Somali pirates. Those who worked for MacKenzie Security were the best—more than capable enough to get the job done. But what had started as a quick grab-and-go mission had turned into a fight for survival.

  “Get us out of here, HQ.” Titus’s voice broke as he pleaded to a woman he’d never met but now entrusted with his very life.

  “I’m working on it,” she assured him. “Stay with me, Alpha One. Stay calm. I’ll get you out.”

  Elena was the head of logistics and support for MacKenzie Security. She’d managed high-threat communications over the last several years. It was her responsibility to keep the team leaders informed, aware, and alert to all data relevant to their team’s situation. She was their eyes and ears while they were on the ground. Technology was a beautiful thing. Especially the kind of technology MacKenzie Security had access to.

  Although she was over nine thousand miles away from the city of Merca, she was completely plugged in to Titus and the nine other warriors running blind through the East African jungle.

  “Alpha One, maintain your course,” she said. “I’m programming new coordinates into your navigator that will allow you to meet the next chopper evac from a less hostile position.”

  “Screw that. Send in backup.” Titus was letting emotion control him, and she could sense his unraveling. “We need more guns on the ground, HQ.”

  She shook her head, even though she knew he couldn’t see her. The team was on their own. You never risked more men to rescue the rescuers.

  “Alpha One,” she said. “Are you there?”

  “Go, HQ.”

  “You’re it. There’s no backup.”

  Her eyes scanned the geographic navigation maps, and a live-feed satellite image of the ten men—each living, breathing soul nothing more than a blur of red on the screen. And she was responsible for getting them the hell out of there.

  A powerful insurgent group called al Shahaab was creating chaos for the African governments of Kenya and Somalia to capitalize on the abundant wealth that lay below the surface—black gold. Global petroleum developmental companies couldn’t move in because of the extreme violence. But like in all things, money was a great motivator.

  BrexCorp, a United Kingdom-based petroleum firm, had hired MacKenzie Security to protect their staff. Their CEO had relied on the security firm in the past and shared a close friendship with Declan MacKenzie, the head of MacKenzie Security, though all the MacKenzies had a stake in the company. But the Somali pirates had far outnumbered the staff and agents assigned to them and they’d been taken for ransom.

  There was a lot more riding on the line than just the safety of the BrexCorp staff, though that was the priority. MacKenzie Security’s reputation was on the line, along with Declan’s.

  “Damn it, HQ,” Titus said. “You’ve led us to a dead end. Kiss our asses good-bye because this fight won’t last long.” He ripped into her and she felt every lash of his tongue, though she knew it was desperation, not hate, that coated his words.

  “Turn left,” she told him.

  “Repeat. Taking gunfire. Repeat, command.”

  “Turn left, Alpha One.”

  She kept her voice steady and calm. He needed her to be his rock, even though her heart was pounding and fear clutched her belly. It was now her job to get them into a safe location to allow him to regain a cool head and revert to his training.

  “You want us to turn left?” he asked, and then he laughed. “Fuck that. Straight ahead is a cliff and left is a giant rock wall. Right looks like the better option. Sorry, HQ, but your eyesight is warped. Thanks for nothing.”

  Elena stood and felt the slow burn of anger beneath her skin. Reckless bastard. He was going to get them all killed. She studied the large bank of touchscreens on the wall, and her finger traced across the detailed images of where Alpha Team was stranded. What was she missing?

  She pressed three fingers against the screen and zoomed in. Greens and blues with jagged lines of red came into focus, outlining the areas that surrounded them.

  “HQ to Alpha One, if you proceed to the right, you will die. If you disobey my instructions, you’ll be acting on your own. Our contract with you is very clear about your duty to follow directions. This isn’t a standard military op. If you manage to stay alive, I can assure you it’ll be the last mission you’re assigned to.”

  “We’re taking bullets,” Titus screamed. “I don’t care what the contract says. Get us out of this shit.”

  Elena blocked out his comments. Time was running out. It was time she took the reins from Alpha One. He clearly didn’t have what it took to command, and now that command would fall to her. She just hoped like hell she could get through to them before lives were lost.

  “This is HQ to Alpha Team,” she snapped. “If you want to live, disregard Alpha One’s orders. He’s been relieved of command. You’ll see a sheer rock wall to your left. There’s a slight gap that leads into a basin at the ten o’clock position. Set up on the west side of that wall, inside the basin, and use the narrow gap to eliminate the enemy.”

  “Roger that, HQ. Moving left.” It was a female voice that answered, and Elena checked her roster to the corresponding red blur of a body on the screen. Megan Murchison. Thank God someone had some common sense.

  Elena blew out a huge breath of relief and dropped back into the chair, turning off her comms for a second so she could take a breath in peace, but the danger wasn’t over yet. All she could do was watch as nine fuzzy, reddish silhouettes followed her directions and moved left. All but one. Alpha One stood alone.

  “Idiot,” she whispered.

  Elena checked the settings on her screen option to make sure there were image and audio recordings of the mission. She’d been through administrative panel reviews many times and knew the drill, and she’d be damned if she went down because some hot-shot rookie commander with more balls than brains decided it was a good day to die.

  The truth of the matter was, th
e business of security on a global scale was dangerous. Agents didn’t always come back alive. But someone had to be accountable. Because of her position behind the control panel, that person was usually her. She’d held up under briefings when agents were killed in the line of duty. Her record stood for itself, and she had the documentation to back it up.

  She’d always been able to withstand the pressure. The job was her life. It consumed her. Only something with that much intensity could make her forget the nightmares that left her sweating and screaming. She had a feeling documentation was about to become critical for her own survival within MacKenzie Security. Titus was signing his own death warrant, and she wanted no part of it.

  Dread knotted her gut. “Move, you fool,” she said, but he couldn’t hear her because she’d turned her comms off. She swiftly turned them back on and said, “Alpha One, move in with the others.”

  But his red pixelated form began to move along the steep cliff’s edge in the opposite direction.

  “Dammit, listen to me. Retreat to safety.” She zoomed in on a growing horde of what she knew to be indigenous rebels encroaching on the dead-end intersection where her men were trapped.

  Nausea roiled in her stomach as she watched the large amoeba-like collection of red silhouettes on the satellite screen overtake Titus. He was no longer distinguishable among them, the blurs of red forming into a larger image

  “No, no, no,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief as Titus’s vitals flatlined on her screen. She’d never known him, but she would grieve for his loss. Just like she always did.

  Elena composed herself. She was an expert at pushing down her emotions to the point that no one knew she was screaming inside. This time would be no different. Notifications would have to be made to Declan, but her report would be just that. A report accompanied by the recording of the event.

  The door to the communication room opened, and her head snapped around to see who the intruder was. She didn’t have time for distractions, and she almost growled an order to get out before she saw Brady Scott’s quick grin of greeting. She didn’t return the smile. Talk about distractions.