“At least five, sir.”
That meant they had seconds to make a plan and escape. Jameson turned to the cracked door and motioned them forward.
Jameson looked at the two Rahmi guards and could see a fierce determination in their faces to protect their princess. “Stay here. I want you to shout orders as if Ariana is still with you. Tell her to stay down. Then barricade yourself in the apartment. You’re the decoy so we can get Ariana out of here. Okay?” They nodded and stood firm in the face of the battle. They were obviously well trained and that made things easier for Jameson to do his job.
“Put your hand on my belt,” Jameson ordered Ariana. “Don’t let go. Ready?”
Ariana turned to the two Rahmi soldiers and said something in their own language. She kissed each of their cheeks before they saluted her. “Let’s go,” she said with firm resolve.
“Grant. Give us some time,” he ordered her as they hugged the wall and ran toward the stairs.
Grant reached the stairs first and fired downward. “Protect the princess. Lock her in the safe room!” he yelled even as Jameson and Ariana raced up the stairs with Valeria right behind them. “Open the door. I’m coming!” Grant yelled a moment before a flash grenade went off.
Jameson felt Ariana flinch, but she kept her hand on him as they sprinted up fifteen flights of stairs to the roof. He knew Grant was a flight or two behind them as he kicked through the rooftop door. Valeria took up position at the door to wait for Grant and to make sure no one else was following them.
Jameson paused and let his eyes adjust and take in the rooftop. They weren’t in the tallest building, but they were close. Even from the roof he could hear the sirens. An attack on the building holding so many diplomats would be responded to quickly. As much as Jameson wanted to help the Rahmi soldiers, he couldn’t. He wasn’t in Special Forces anymore and it hurt to leave men behind. It went against everything he believed. However, his job was to protect Ariana at all costs.
“Here,” he ordered, finding a spot that had offered a good field of vision across the rooftop but was partially protected by large HVAC systems. “Sit down here and cover your head. Val and Grant, spread out and provide cover,” he ordered when the tall Scot made his way onto the roof.
“Like hell I will,” Ariana said. She didn’t hide. She kept her gun at the ready as she watched the door with him. “Do you know what we’re up against?”
Jameson listened to every sound from the rooftop. He couldn’t hear Valeria or Grant and knew they must have found cover. “Twenty men, but other countries are fighting them, too. I don’t know how many got through the lobby, but your guard reported some did.” Jameson said a second before the door was kicked open.
He didn’t have time to look back at Ariana. Instead, all his focus was on the two men fanning out from the door. Everything came into sharp focus as he evaluated the threat. Jameson raised his gun and saw Ariana shift into position next to him with her gun aimed. Then suddenly the men dropped a second before the sound of a high-caliber rifle rang out.
What the hell?
“Grant, Val?” Jameson asked into the silence. It sounded as if it came from nearby, but definitely not that close.
“That wasn’t from us,” Grant responded as he came out of the shadows and kicked the weapons away from the men before darting back to into the shadows.
“Stay down,” Jameson ordered. He didn’t know if this was an ambush or a rescue. His heart was pumping hard as he turned to his senses and military knowledge. The trouble was that the shot echoed so it was hard to tell where it came from. He slowly scanned the neighboring buildings looking for hostiles.
A loud whistle pierced the air and Ariana jumped up. Jameson reacted instantly. He threw his body on her and dragged her down to the ground before covering her body with his. “What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
“I know that whistle,” he heard Ariana’s muffled voice say.
“Hey, Ari! Is your DSS agent that hottie from Crusina?” The woman’s yell from the neighboring building’s rooftop seemed to echo across the entire city.
Valeria snickered and stood up as Jameson heard Ariana groan. “Did I hurt you?”
“No, that honor belongs to Greer for embarrassing me.”
“Greer?” Jameson asked before he was hit with the memory. “The FBI hostage rescuer.”
“I’ll meet you in your apartment. You have the all-clear!” Greer yelled, but Jameson called in to check before he let Ariana up.
“We’re all clear. Eight men got through the lobby and into the stairwell, but guards from Andorra, Barbados, Togo, and Iceland got six of them and we got the other two. There were ten casualties in the lobby fight—one lobby guard and nine attackers. Two attackers were captured alive by our guards,” Jameson told the rooftop gang as he stood up. He reached down and helped Ariana to her feet. With adrenaline pumping through his system, he felt his emotions amped up. His mind went straight to images they shouldn’t. However, knowing he shouldn’t ask did nothing to stop the words from coming out. “So, you think I’m hot?”
* * *
Ariana was going to kill Greer. Don’t get her wrong, she loved her to death for saving their lives, but as soon Ari thanked her, then she was gonna kill Greer.
“I believe that was Greer who said you were a hottie,” Ariana tried to draw on her princess power of letting embarrassment roll off of her, but it wasn’t working.
“Too bad. I was hoping it was you who did.”
Jameson turned and walked off toward the door as Valeria came over to join her.
“You’re all flushed. You okay?” Val asked.
Ariana nodded as they headed inside to take the elevator down to her floor.
“Your friend is right, you know. Jameson is a hottie,” Val whispered a second before they stepped into the elevator to join Grant and Jameson.
Jameson turned to look at her and then slowly smiled. Not the welcoming kind of smile, but a smile that told her he knew about all the sex dreams he’d been the lead in the past couple of months. “Princess, you look rather flushed. Would you like a cold shower while I meet with the officials in charge?”
Ariana sucked in a breath and looked straight ahead as she heard Val snicker behind her. When she cast a quick glance at Jameson, he was staring at her with a smile that made her think of the big bad wolf contemplating his next meal. Something must be wrong with her because right now she’d love nothing more than to be that meal.
The elevator doors opened and the hall was swarmed with so many different law enforcement agencies her head spun as they all pushed forward introducing themselves.
“FBI.”
“Homeland Security.”
“NYPD.”
The men and the names whirled together as they pushed in on her.
“Gentlemen!” Jameson said, raising his voice and sounding very much like her father when he commanded a room. “I am Jameson Duke of DSS and the person in charge here. The princess will be going inside and will be meeting with Greer—”
“Parker,” Ariana filled in.
“With Greer Parker of FBI Hostage Rescue. I will meet with the division heads of each agency here. That is all we are allowing at this time. If you have an issue with it, bring it up with my superiors.”
Jameson pushed through to where the two Rahmi guards helped her inside. Jameson closed the door and left Valeria and Grant on the outside to carry out his orders on who was allowed into the apartment.
Ariana had been calm under fire. She knew she had. However, now was a different story. Someone wanted her dead. Greer had to kill two people to protect her. Jameson would have given his life to protect hers. She didn’t want anyone to die because of her. The emotions opened like a floodgate. Her body began to shake so hard her teeth chattered.
“Princess?” her Rahmi guard asked with worry.
Suddenly a warm blanket was around her shoulders and she was being pulled into a strong embrace. Jameson held
her tightly against him as she trembled. She took a deep breath and inhaled him. “You’re safe, Ariana.”
Ariana took one big shuddering breath and nodded against his chest. While the hardness of his chest might be from the bulletproof vest, the muscles in his arms weren’t. They were strong and as he held her, she felt as if she never wanted to leave.
Ariana heard the door open. “Hey, Agent Hottie. I see you’re taking care of my girl.”
“Greer,” Ariana groaned as she looked up to see Greer looking pointedly at him embracing her.
“Still think Abby, Dylan, and I were stuck with our job?” Greer asked and it was like a splash of cold water.
Ariana pulled away slowly and looked up into Jameson’s face. His jaw was tight, his lips thinned as he pressed them together, and his eyes shot daggers at Greer. “What’s she talking about?”
Jameson’s face didn’t soften as he looked back down at her. “She’s referencing when we first met. I thought you were a spoiled princess and I asked them how they’d gotten stuck on your detail.” He said it almost emotionlessly as Ariana felt a punch to the stomach.
She stepped farther away from him and pulled on her princess persona. She refused to show the hurt she felt. “I’m glad we have that cleared up. Let’s get these interviews over with. I need to get some rest before my speech tomorrow.”
“You’re not speaking tomorrow. It’s too dangerous.” Jameson objected.
Ariana stared at Jameson with disbelief. “It’s cute you think you have any say over my life. If you’re not man enough to protect me tomorrow, then leave. My team will do it without you.”
“Ari,” Greer said gently but firmly. “I actually agree with Agent Hottie. And I think he redeemed himself today. Don’t hold it against him for making a snap judgment about you, which I’m sure has changed. I was just giving him a hard time. A little interdepartmental hazing between government agents.”
The door opened again and Val stuck her head inside. “You ready for the circus?”
8
Jameson forced his personal thoughts of Ariana to stop and tried to harden his heart. Ariana was a job. No, the Princess of Rahmi was the job. He’d let himself get too attached. “Yes, I’m ready,” Jameson told Val as he turned away and strode to the front door.
“Jameson,” Greer said as she raced to catch up with him. He didn’t have time for this distraction. He needed to get these reports in, find out who was behind the attack, and assess the risk.
Greer reached out and grabbed his arm. He yanked it away without even looking at her. Unexpectedly he felt the weight of impact behind him as Greer leapt on his back. Her arm slipped under his chin and in a split second, he was in a chokehold. He watched Valeria as she struggled not to laugh.
“I have two older brothers and a father in the FBI. Trust me when I tell you my mother taught me how to make them listen,” Greer said into his ear as her legs wrapped so tightly around his waist he felt his kidneys crying out in pain.
“Greer!” Ariana gasped.
“Just a moment. Jameson and I just need to have a little chat,” Greer called out as Jameson debated fighting back or not.
She was strong, but he was stronger. He shifted to test out her hold and she tightened the chokehold enough to make the edges of his vision go blurry. Okay, she knew her stuff.
“Don’t be a stubborn ass, Duke. It’s clear as day you’re a good agent who has very non-agent thoughts about Ari. Now, take the ribbing with grace as it’ll be ongoing if you’re in her life for more than ten minutes. It’s what we do and it’s out of love. Plus, I just cleared the way for you to prove yourself to her and have nothing hidden from her. Trust me. I see it everyday with my parents and my older brothers. They’re happily married and if you can’t take my teasing, you’re not man enough for her. Do you know what we do to boyfriends when they’re brought home? It’ll make any Special Forces mission seem like a five-star vacation. Now, what are you going to do about this situation?”
Jameson rammed his elbow back, grabbed her arm and shoulder, bent forward, and flung Greer to the ground. When he looked down at her, she was smiling. “I’m going to keep her alive. Then I’ll show you that all of you have been bringing home the wrong boyfriends.”
“Jameson! Oh my gosh, Greer. Are you okay?” Ari rushed over toward them and bent down next to her friend.
Shoot. He was really blowing this. He’d just slammed her best friend onto the ground. Just pick up the shovel he’d used to dig this hole he was in and put him out of his misery.
“I’m great. Did you see that move? Agent Hottie, you’ve got to teach me that.”
“He threw you to the ground,” Ariana said slowly.
“Yeah, so?” Greer asked as she stood up. “If he can’t handle me, how is he going to handle your godfather?”
“I’m not going to toss some old man to the ground,” Jameson said, entering the conversation.
Ariana and Greer looked at each other and then burst out laughing.
“For the record,” Greer told Ari, “he has my vote. That’s now three.”
“He doesn’t even like me like that. You just told me so,” Ari tossed up her hands and Jameson saw his opening.
“I admit I thought it when I saw you in Crusina, but I was wrong. You’re brave, intelligent, and compassionate.” Jameson was sure he’d be fired any moment. This was not the job. However, he also couldn’t let Ariana go on thinking he thought poorly about her.
Ariana smiled shyly. He hadn’t seen this side of her before. “Thank you. Now what?”
Jameson let out a deep breath. “Now I do my job and protect you. That’s all there can be.”
Ariana nodded. “I never asked for more.”
“I know,” Jameson said, trying to stay professional even as his stomach turned. His whole body rejected the knowledge that there couldn’t and wouldn’t be more to them. “Val, let them in.”
Jameson shrugged into his mental raincoat for the bureaucratic pissing contest that was about to happen. Val let in men with more letters than the alphabet and Jameson herded them into the dining room away from Greer and Ariana.
There were fights over why Greer got to talk to her and not them. They demanded to know every detail of Ariana’s time in New York and even before then. They were doing their jobs, but the egos in play made it hard to focus solely on the job.
Finally Jameson turned the questions away from Ariana and to the men who attacked the building. “Were they after anyone else?”
“It’s hard to tell,” the FBI agent-in-charge answered. “Numerous countries reported the men trying to get into their apartments. However, one man was captured at your door by your two guards who then caught the other man as he tried to sneak up the stairs. So, was the second man coming to help capture the princess or was he running to another target?”
“Any positive identification of the suspects?” Jameson asked the FBI agent grimly. He had a bad feeling about this.
“None. Their fingerprints were all burned off. Most likely they used acid. We’ve pulled DNA and are running their pictures through facial recognition. They weren’t nice enough to leave their IDs on them.”
“So, while we think they were after Ariana, there’s no direct evidence of it,” Jameson said to the group of men sitting around the dining room table.
They all nodded and Jameson had nothing to tell Ariana. He had no clue if it was Crusina, although, they tended to use poison as their go to method of assassination. So, who was behind this attack and were they after her or someone else? Everything about tonight led to more questions than answers.
“Thank you. If you need anything else, you have my number.” Jameson handed out his card and took all of theirs.
Valeria showed them out and Jameson went in search of Ariana. He told himself it was to give her an update but he needed to see her to make sure she was safe. Not that he didn’t trust Greer; he just felt unsettled when he wasn’t with Ariana.
As if thinking a
bout her conjured her, Greer came walking out of the master bedroom. “You did well tonight.”
Jameson would have been amused by a pretty girl-next-door-type woman telling he was good at his job, but with Greer he took it as high praise. She wasn’t one of the tag chasers who went into military bars looking to snag a military man. And she certainly wasn’t a badge bunny. She had her own badge and she didn’t strike him as the type to fall for men who played that game.
“Thank you. You did, too. I do have a question. How did you come to be on the building across the street?” Jameson asked Greer.
“Abby’s brother Kale is a computer genius and he found a lot of new threats against Ariana on the dark web. He told Nash, the second-in-command for the royal family. Nash called me since he knew I worked here. He got special permission for me to be there. Good thing since I had to fire my weapon.” Jameson blinked and Greer laughed. “You’ll get used to it. There are no secrets in Keeneston. Even when top-secret government clearance is required. If you want to see something funny, just research who has top secret clearance from the town.”
“So, what I’m hearing is Keeneston is a gossipy small town and everyone should have their clearances revoked.”
Greer shook her head. “And I was just starting to like you, Agent Hottie. Just look into Keeneston. It’ll help you understand why Ariana is different from other diplomats and royalty.”
“Will do. Thanks again, Greer.”
“Anytime. One last word of advice . . . don’t blow this. It’s not fate that you’re here.”
“I know. It was my mother,” Jameson said under his breath before pasting on a smile.
“Oh, and if you ever come to Keeneston, treat it as a hostile interrogation complete with baked goods and casseroles,” Greer said with a wink before walking down the hall.
Jameson thought over the strange conversation. One, he’d never have a reason to go to Keeneston and he was surprised to find he was sad about that. The town had piqued his interest. Two, he liked and respected Ariana. Three, he wasn’t going to do a damned thing about it when it was his mother who put her in his sights. His mother was ruthless and she didn’t do anything out of the goodness of her heart. Jameson refused to play her game and he sure as hell wouldn’t let Ariana be his mother’s pawn.
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