Mackie's Men by Lynn Ray Lewis

of saving people?” He waited until the nurse almost ran into the room with a capped syringe, and put the shot in her IV. Mackie’s jaw slowly unclenched as the medicine began to work.
    “We’ve had inquiries from the head of Klinger Corporation, but they are being stonewalled by Ishmeal. The old man is trying to throw his weight around, but he won’t get the answers he wants, so that’s one problem we don’t have to concern ourselves with in the foreseeable future.” He waited for her to gather her thoughts before she would be able to converse about the situation.
    “I feel like shit.” Hurrell smiled at her statement. “So did you crack that traitor Edwards?”
    “Oh yes, and his men decided to turn on him with the promise of one life sentence in the penitentiary instead of death. Edwards was in it for the money, he has a few very bad habits, and he planned to live in one of his choice vacation spots after the family had been killed. When they went after you, Mackie, they had no idea about the bunker. They were looking for proof to show their bankers that their mission was complete. They thought that the woman and kids were in the house with you. Edwards tried to say he was checking on you, but his timeline was screwed up and we had him dead to rights.” The Diplomat’s family that was being protected in the bunker was safe and the man could do his job gaining support for an alliance with America now. Neither the General nor Mackie voiced the knowledge that Edwards would never make it to trial. He would probably be found in his cell after committing suicide.
    “They figured that you could be persuaded to tell them where the family was being held if they weren’t at your place. When the house locked down with the steel curtains, they gave up being nice and figured you’d make a run for it. Edwards was very unappreciative of you being such a stubborn bitch. He was in a bit of pain when he confessed to planning a slow painful death for the thorn in his side for too damn long. Meaning you of course.”
    “Isn’t that what they all seem to want to do? What is it about men that have to act like shitheads? It seems every man I’ve met, excluding you and Ishmeal, have the urge to compete with me to show me who wears the balls. Rich men, poor men, it doesn’t matter what the walk of life, if it’s testosterone based, the competition is on.” She remembered Liam Klinger and his butt hurt expression when she told him that he would get his answers from someone else. She knew deep inside that men were capable of just about anything, but why did he have to act like a Neanderthal?
    Thom could only repeat the same thing he always told her when she was feeling low. “Look at you, for Christ’s sake, you look like a Valkyrie, carry your weight like you own it and to hell with anyone who doesn’t like it. You are an attractive looking woman with an air of command, some men like to be dominated by a strong woman. The flip side is that some dominant men want to master a strong woman. The payoff is for the man who respects her strengths, and earns her respect. That man will be allowed to command her pleasure as long as she trusts him.”
    He grinned when the door opened and Laura Downs peeked her head through the doorway. It still surprised him when he looked at the two women in the same room, or standing together. Laura was only an inch shorter than Mackie, but their hair and eye color was the same. Laura had sprinkles of silver running through her light brown hair that was cut in a shoulder kissing length, where Mackie’s hair was longer, reaching past her shoulder blades without the silver. The body style was almost identical too. His wife had hips to fit his big hands and breasts that he enjoyed at his leisure almost every night now that Laura was finishing her last term as a Senator. He hoped she wouldn’t give into the pressure to run for Governor of the state. He planned to retire next year as well so they could