A Marked Man Read online

Riley still felt a tingle in his lips from the kiss of the Mystery Man. The man had a gorgeous dick, at least eight inches long and thick. Riley could suck it all night and never get bored. He looked at the time and made his way over to the coffee pot. Hell, he might have to make another trip out to Casa Grande to see if he could taste that luscious cock again. Riley turned around to the far window and made his way over, looking out of it. His office was basically four walls of glass; he liked the view of the city. Thousands of people living their lives the way they wanted to. Or so he hoped. He realized he was still holding the carafe in his hand and walked back to the coffee maker.

  His mind was elsewhere today. He was never going to get anything done with the Mystery Man invading his thoughts. Not to mention the damn missing chips. Riley sat down at his desk and rubbed his hands over his face. He missed his mother. When she died, the buffer that stood between he and his father went with her. Margaret Flynn had had beautiful chestnut brown hair, ocean blue eyes, and a smile that could light up a room. Riley had been with her on a shopping trip when they were hit by a drunk driver. He was in the passenger seat when the car flipped multiple times. His mother had been ejected on the third roll. Riley barely remembered crawling out of the wrecked vehicle or finding his mother bleeding. He held her hand before she died, and she told him she loved him no matter what.

  Fourteen years she’d been gone, and it seemed like it was just yesterday. His childhood ended that day. Riley had been groomed to take over a company he couldn’t touch until he was eighteen. His Father ran the company until Riley was old enough to take over, and when he did take the reins, it caused a huge fight between Riley and his Father. The company was going in new directions

  because of the planshemade, not his father.

  His life had revolved around school. There were no birthday parties, no trips to the zoo or the fair and no sleep-over parties with friends. It was school and more school. Riley looked at the time, then back at his coffee cup. “Oh who am I kidding? I hate this coffee.”

  ~~*~~ Mateo sat across the street on a high rise and cursed himself. Something about this job wasn’t sitting right with him, and he couldn’t do it no matter how hard he tried. He worked for the good guys and always did his homework on his targets, so why was he questioning this one? For once he couldn’t find a damn thing wrong with the target, that’s why. Mateo looked at his rifle in the briefcase, and shut it. Getting his cell phone out, he dialed Derek.

  The phone rang four times before Derek’s voice came over the line.

  “Hey Mat, how’s your vacation?” Mateo froze. “I>MatRm working.” A puff of air whizzed by Mateo’s ear, leaving a trail of heat behind it. Mateo rolled to the side trying to find cover. “Fuck! I’m being shot at!”

  More bullets reigned down just mere inches from his position, and Mateo closed his eyes listening to the sound and where it was coming from.

  “Jesus Christ Mateo, get the fuck out of there and grab the package!” He lunged for his briefcase and opened the roof door propelling his body into the stairwell. “Mother fucker!” Mateo ran down the steps three at a time. “I’m going now, I’ll call when I have the package and we’re safe.” Mateo hung up and flew out of the building. Across the way, exiting for his morning coffee was an oblivious Riley Flynn. Mateo ran across the street and right into Riley, knocking his briefcase out of his hands. There was a loud “umph” from Riley and then the plaster behind them cracked open.

  “ Shit!” Mateo pushed him down on the ground. The plaster on the building behind him cracked again, and he knew the shot had just barely missed Riley. People were screaming as more shots went off, and the street broke out in pandemonium. Mateo pulled Riley up and pushed his head down. He grabbed Riley by the arm and yanked him into the Starbucks coffee shop next door. They ran by the startled manager, into the back room and out the back door. “Come on!” Mateo shouted while running across the street to a parking garage. Mateo took them down to the lower level. They passed car after car as Mateo looked for an unlocked older model. It would be easier to break into and faster to hotwire. He finally found an older Mustang way in the back, and shoved Riley in closing the door. The guy hadn’t said a word for a few minutes now, and Mateo finally looked at him. “What are you into?”

  Riley blinked. “What?”

  “Why would someone put a hit out on you?” Mateo pulled the wiring out, and preceded to hotwire the car. “I’m not into anything. Look, if it’s money you want, you can have it. You don’t have to kidnap me to get it.”

  Mateo sat back looking at him, asking again. “What are you into Riley?” Riley looked at him in shock. “How do you know my name?” Then it clicked and his face went pale. “Wait, a hit on me?”

  Mateo put the wires together starting the car. “Someone wants you dead Riley, for reasons I need to know right now.”

  “How…how do you know?”

  Mateo looked over at him. “They hired me to take you out.”

  ~~Chapter Four~~ To say the conversation went smoothly after that admission, would be an outright lie. Riley had tried to jump out of a moving car and Mateo had knocked him out with one punch. He called Naomi and told her he was coming home and would be bringing Haagen-Dazs with him. She knew right then to get the fuck out of the apartment and to a safe place. In his rush to get Riley out of the line of fire, he had left his briefcase in front of Starbucks. He knew they wouldn’t be able to open it, but it had Naomi’s address on it. Thank God it hadn’t been his favorite rifle…

  An hour and a half later they were pulling through Marana. Mateo went to his storage locker to get his other car and his weapons. It came in handy over the years. Having extra clothes, clips, phones, everything he would need when the shit hit the fan. Riley was slowly coming around, and Mateo crouched by the open door looking at him, he had beautiful lips.

  “Well, hello.” Mateo smiled.

  “Jesus!” Riley backed further into the car trying to scramble out the other side. Mateo slid across the hood and landed on the other side of the car blocking his way. “If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have saved your life, and I would have taken the shot.”

  “You…you tried to kill me?” Riley’s eyes widened. Mateo looked at him, he looked scared shitless. “Look, I’m not going to kill you. I proved that in front of Starbucks when I saved your ass. Now, please tell me why someone would want you dead.”

  Riley sat down on the hood of the car and sighed. “I honestly have no idea. I mean, I make guidance chips for the military and some of them came up missing, but I don’t think the Military would try to take me out for that.” Mateo sighed. “And that’s it? “

  Riley made a face. “Yes that’s it! I’ve never even gotten a parking or speeding ticket.” Riley gingerly touched his eye. “You hit me.”

  “ Well, the alternative would have hurt worse. I don’t understand this.” Mateo shook his head. “This is one big clusterfuck of confusion.”

  “Where’s my phone?” Riley tapped his suit pockets.

  “It’s somewhere on I-10. You can’t use it anyway they can track you with it.”

  “So what now?” Riley looked at the man that had been hired to kill him. Mateo began stripping out of his clothes. He started with his tie, moving onto his jacket and shirt. Pulling a Tshirt out of his bag, he looked at Riley. “What size are you?”

  “Huh?” “ Clothes. You really want to be on the run in a twenty thousand dollar suit?” Mateo sighed and grabbed a pair of jeans out of his bag and handed them to Riley. “Here, put these on.”

  Riley sat back and looked at him. “I don’t even know your name.”

  Mateo stopped and looked up. “It’s Mateo.” “ Where are we going?” Riley watched Mateo yank his pants off, and swallowed hard. The guy was built. He had huge biceps with tribal tattoos on them, and the rest of his body was just breath taking. Mateo was so beautiful. Riley almost laughed out loud, and he would have, if the situation weren’t so damned fucked up. Here he was, checking out the guy th
at was hired to kill him.

  “ Benson. I have a friend who owns a house out there. It doubles as a safe house for us when we need it.” After Mateo had parked the stolen car in the storage locker, he grabbed everything he needed and pulled out in his own car. Riley was quiet as they drove through Tucson. Mateo could smell the rain coming and looked out over the mountains. “She’s going to open up tonight.”

  Riley looked at the sky and saw the first crack of lightning off in the distance. “Yep.”

  “Look I know this is weird for you—” “ Weird?” Riley gave him an incredulous look. “How would you feel if you found out you were marked for death?”

  “This isn’t a Steven Segal movie Riley, this is real life.”

  Riley made a noise that sounded an awful lot like a snort. “Oh, I forgot. You’re the one doing the killing.” “You’re still breathing.” Mateo said, arching a brow. “ Whatever.” Riley muttered. They rode in silence the rest of the way. An hour and a half later Mateo pulled off the exit for Benson and Riley looked around; there were maybe five traffic lights. It looked like a place to stop and refuel, not live. They made their way up a hill and past a row of schools, then up a steep driveway. Mateo turned off the ignition and shifted in the seat to look at him. “Okay, now what?”

  “Look I know this is overwhelming but you have to trust me ok?” “ Well, seeing as how you could have killed me and didn’t. And then you saved my life, I guess I really don’t have a choice do I?”

  “Nope.” Mateo got out of the car. “ Shit.” Riley sighed and got out. He helped Mateo with the bags and they walked to the door of the house. Mateo moved tree branches aside and opened a panel in the wall of the house. Riley could see a key pad and averted his eyes as Mateo punched in the numbers. Riley heard what sounded like bolts unlocking and then the front door clicked. Stepping into the house, Mateo flipped the light on and Riley took a look at his surroundings. The house was a fixer upper for sure. Old brown tiles with cracks line the floors. The kind you found in houses built in the seventies. The walls were painted white with minimal pictures on the walls, and done in mostly Arizona desert scenes. There was one couch and a flat screen TV in the main room, and Riley could see a futon in the adjoining room with another flat screen that took up most of the wall.

  “ Take a look out back.” Mateo motioned to the back door. When he had first come to Derek’s house, he had almost the same look on his face. When they had gone outside to the backyard though, Mateo figured out why Derek had bought the place. It was close to the Army base with a knockout view of the valley. Over the years they had taken the house apart and rebuilt it, adding steel and concrete to the walls. Mateo dropped the bags on the couch and grabbed his backup phone. His old one was with Riley’s somewhere on the highway. Mateo made his way out back to find Riley. He found him standing by the pool, mesmerized by the view.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Mateo smiled. Riley turned around and looked at him. “I didn’t think you would, or could for that matter, appreciate something like this.”

  “Why, because I kill people?” Mateo made his way over to where Riley stood.

  “You take lives, you are a murderer.” “ You know, the last guy I took off this planet was a guy that just loved fucking young boys. A pedophile, and a rich one. You think he would serve one day in jail if he got busted?” Mateo smirked at the look on Riley’s face. “Of course not, his high priced lawyers would have gotten him off, probably in more ways than one. The world isn’t black and white Riley, bad shit happens to good people. You should know that better than anyone right now.”

  “Fine, I get it, ok?” Riley snapped.

  Mateo grabbed his arm and looked at him. “No, you don’t, I’ve seen some fucked up shit, Riley. Some people do not deserve to breathe air, like rapists, murderers, and pedophiles. Sick people, who get off doing what they do at the expense of others. The way I see it, I’ve saved more lives by taking them out. So, you can pass judgment on me if you’d like, but we both know I won’t have to answer to you.” Mateo brushed past Riley and went back into the house.

  “ Well shit.” Riley stayed outside for another half hour before going back inside. He found Mateo at the stove cooking, and it smelled really good. He felt like shit. No matter what, the guy had saved his life. Jesus, the man had an ass. Riley wanted to run his tongue down those ass cheeks and bury himself in them. Again, here was checking out the guy that had tried to kill him today. God, but he couldn’t stop. The jeans Mateo wore accentuated his ass and carved out a beautiful portrait of his thighs and cock. What was the expression? His jeans were so tight you could tell his religion? Mateo was definitely Catholic.

  “Um, is there something I can do?”

  “ Not right now.” Mateo looked over his shoulder at Riley. “I need to show you the house though. There is an alarm system on it, and the windows are all bullet proof. The walls are lined with steel too, so we are perfectly safe here. You need to memorize the code.” Mateo sat down at the dining room table and ran his fingers through his hair. “No one knows about this place but me and my boss.”

  Over the next few hours, Mateo showed Riley the house. He made Riley repeat the door code to him over and over, again and again, backwards and forwards. Once Mateo hit the keypad again, the locking mechanism engaged and a loud sound vibrated through the house.

  “What is that sound?” Riley looked up at the ceiling and walls. “ That would be the locks on all the doors and windows. I told you Riley, you are quite safe here.” Mateo went back to the kitchen and sat down again. Derek’s kitchen itself was small, but it had a much larger dining room that sat just off to the side. Mateo watched the pots on the stove.

  “You’re tired huh?” Riley sat down across from him. “I think I might be in shock or something.” “ You are.” Mateo looked at the time. “We need to eat, get cleaned up and go to bed. I’ll show you where you’re sleeping and where everything is.”

  Riley nodded and tried to keep his eyes focused. The adrenaline high was wearing off and his body started shaking. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “ Down the hall second door on the right.” Mateo watched Riley running down the hall. He heard Riley’s retching and got up to grab a glass out of the cabinet. He filled it with cold water and went to the bathroom. Riley was crouched in front of the toilet, knuckles white, holding onto the bowl. “Here ya go.” Mateo handed the glass of water to Riley.

  Riley looked at the glass being offered. “I bet you think I’m just this stupid, scared idiot, huh?” “ I think you have been thrust into a situation you know nothing about. I’m not a babysitter. They have guys that do this job, but for right now you’re stuck with me.” Mateo sighed and stood up. “The best thing for you right now is sleep.” Mateo showed Riley to his room and left to get him a plate of food, in case he got hungry. Making his way back down the hallway with the plate, Mateo could hear Riley in the room mumbling. He stood in the partially open door watching Riley change. Mateo licked his lips as his eyes traveled slowly up Riley’s lean physique. “Here’s some food.”

  “Oh shit!” Riley jumped at the voice and turned to see Mateo in the door. “Um… thanks. Goodnight, Mateo.” “ We can tour the rest of the house in the morning. Just know that you are safe here and I’m right down the hall. I’m a light sleeper.” Mateo pulled the Desert Eagle .44 from the waistband of his pants. “And I’m armed at all times.”

  “ Okay.” Mateo left and Riley took in his surroundings. Certificates of training lined the wall, along with pictures of Mateo and a group of men. Riley made his way closer and looked at the picture of the guys. Two Native Americans and a blonde were smiling back at him. Another man with quite a bit of rank was flipping the camera man off. Riley smiled at Mateo in the picture. He was by far the better looking of the bunch, at least in his opinion. Too tired to take a shower, Riley climbed into bed and pulled the comforter up to his chin. The food smelled amazing but his stomach was still protesting. He closed his eyes and wondered
what would happen to him. He was on the run with an assassin, the one sent to kill him. The events of the day played back in his mind and Riley tried to figure out why he had been chosen for death. Riley finally succumbed to the pull of sleep. ~~Chapter Five~~

  Derek Jacobs sat at his desk going through promotion paperwork. He hated the paperwork part of his job. He loved being in the thick of shit, but the higher you were in rank, the less time you spent boots on the ground. When Mateo and the rest of his company had decided not to reenlist he understood. Too many rules to play by, too many men killed. When James Pruitt from Homeland Security called Derek with the idea of a new team, Derek had jumped on it and recommended his men. For the last ten years his job consisted of running the team, sending them out on their missions, and getting them back safe. Now though, they had a leak, and the bureaus had been all over it. He sighed, picked up one of his darts, threw it at his door, and barely missed the private walking through it.

  “ Um…Sir?” “There’s a guy on the phone. Says you owe him fifty bucks because the stripper in Thailand was a man and you—”

  “What?” Derek looked up.

  “What line?” Derek narrowed his eyes.

  “Two, Sir.”

  “Get the fuck out of my office Private.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  Derek picked up the phone. “You fucking asshole.”

  “Hey, Derek.”

  “Jesus Christ, Mat, you have no idea what you just did.” “ Yes I do, I was right with you. The rumors will spread that the General fucked a man. So anyway, you got any info for me on this fucked up shit?”

  “ We’ve got a leak in the department. Someone accessed the phone records of all our operatives and guess whose number is at the very top?”

  “Mine.” Mateo sighed and closed his eyes. “Jesus.” “ Look you didn’t shoot the guy. Riley Flynn is important Mat. We’ve put this guy through every security measure there is. He’s trustworthy and that’s why we keep him and pay him well to supply us. You are going to have to keep him alive until we can get a team together to take over. We have our guys looking into it and as soon as I know something I will contact you. In the meantime I’m going to need all the information you can give me. Which building you were on, which building you think the shooter was on etc. We’re going to access all the cameras we can to see if we can get this guy’s face.”