Scorch (The MacKenzie Family Book 17) Read Online Free

I know what I want to do with my life?”
    “Pretty much. It’s my job to gather information. I know you as well as you know yourself. And I also have the benefit of being an observer to your true nature, whereas you’re too close to the matter at the moment to get a clear picture.”
    “I was going to go to Aruba before you asked me to come here,” she said. “To assimilate into civilian life again.”
    “Our plane can have you there by tomorrow afternoon if you’d like. We have a villa that’s empty at the moment. Take a couple of weeks off. A month if you wish. Have an island romance. You’ve earned it.”
    She laughed and shook her head. “This has to be a weird dream. Things like this don’t happen to normal people.”
    “Who said you were normal?” he asked. “We don’t do normal at MacKenzie Security. We do extraordinary.”
    He watched as she thought through all the variables, and felt confident in her answer, so he took another swig of beer and checked his watch. In another half hour Cade and Bayleigh would be on their way and he could escape to get some work done.
    “All right, MacKenzie,” she finally said. “I’ll have your answer…after I get back from Aruba.”
    He smiled. “That’s what I thought you’d say. And the offer will still be available when you say yes.”
    “I don’t think I like being so predictable,” she said.
    “Wouldn’t you be disappointed if the head of MacKenzie Security wasn’t more extraordinary that everyone else?”
    “I guess when you put it that way…”

Chapter 2
    E ight Years Later …
    Shane MacKenzie sped along the winding dirt road, the top and doors off his Jeep so the wind whipped around him. Brady Scott stood in the passenger seat beside him, bracing himself on the roll bar and howling like a maniac every time Shane skidded around a corner and spewed mud from the tires.
    It was a hell of a day. The sun was out after a night of rain, the air was fresh, and they were on leave for the next two weeks. It was going to be a glorious two weeks of sleep, sun, and sex, in no particular order, though sleep was probably going to have to come first. Their last mission had just been completed—successfully—and they’d been awake for thirty-six hours straight. Eventually, they’d crash hard, but a second wind had taken over the moment the plane had landed on the private airstrip owned by his brother.
    Montana was home. No matter how far and wide a mission took him—from the deserts to the jungles—there was nothing quite like home.
    The Jeep had been parked exactly where he’d left it six weeks before—in one of the hangars Declan used to store maintenance vehicles. They’d tossed their duffle bags in the back and taken off for Surrender. Cresting over the hill that looked down over the sleepy town was one of his greatest pleasures in life, and he paused for a second at the top and took in the sight.
    He wasn’t good at being still. Staying in one place too long made him antsy. But the sight of Surrender always calmed him. And he knew he’d always be welcome there.
    It wasn’t much in the way of cities, and little had changed since the late-1800s. There was only one way in and one way out of Surrender. The main street was as long as a football field and paved in brick. The city council had passed an ordinance several years before requiring cars to be parked behind the buildings instead of along the street for beautification purposes. There were no stoplights to be found.
    The buildings on each side of the street mirrored one another. They were the original clapboard structures, painted a fresh bright white, and connected by thick brick walls. Black awnings hung in front of each store, and the sidewalks were wooden. Little pots of blooming flowers flanked the doorways and gas lights hung from above. It was a quaint, postcard of a town.
    Shane had known early on he wasn’t meant to stay in Surrender forever. His soul had always craved adventure, and