Rule Breaker (Project ROOT Book 1)

by Michele, Ryan

  Son of a bitch. Why did this shit always have to be so fucking hard? Asher rubbed the back of his neck as he headed for the apartment where the Franks family had been relocated. Instead of forcing the meeting like he planned, he gave Sydney and Joseph time to bond with their baby boy and Gabby time to begin mending.

  O’Malley called him a fucking softy. Hanover said he was compromised. The rest…well, they stayed out of his fucking way. After their little stunt in the morgue, he’d be lucky if he could convince Rae not to report them. Those smug assholes were going to get an earful from him after he spoke to Joseph.

  As he approached the door, he saw a flicker of white to his right. There she stood. The woman who had his nuts in a vise since the minute he got balls deep inside her. He knew it’d been a mistake. He didn’t have time for feelings or girl things, yet the minute he saw the way she handled a complicated birth, and a scared little girl who only wanted her mommy, every instinct kicked into high gear, and he had to have her.

  “Morning,” he grumbled.

  Rae stared at him. “Morning. I’m checking on Sydney and Gabby, then you can haul Franks to medical and I can check out his teeth as well.”

  Her caustic tone did little to soothe his already tattered psyche. “Perfect.”

  “I would rather you wait a few more days,” she said, pushing past him. “Sydney is still not out of the woods completely and Gabby is slowly making progress.”

  He braced his hands on his hips and blew out a breath. “This isn’t the Four Seasons, Rae. This is a military base. We’ve already had one suicide on our hands and there’s a potential for more if we don’t figure out how many have the cap and when they got it.”

  “I get it.” She knocked on the door. “But you have more at stake now. You have his wife and kids to think about. The added stress will only compound the situation.”

  And the U.S. government crawling up his ass for answers. None of which he had yet. “Do you think I don’t realize this? I wouldn’t be asking or pulling him from his family if it weren’t important.” God, the woman infuriated him while also turning him on to the point of pain.

  “Fine.” The door opened and she pasted on a smile. “Good morning, sweetheart. How are you feeling today?”

  Gabby stood at the door. Her color was better and her eyes were clearer. “Better. Mommy. Daddy. The doctor lady is here,” she announced, then skipped away from the door.

  Sydney waddled over to where they stood waiting, carrying a swaddled bundle in her arms. “Morning.” Exhaustion colored her features. Purple and blue rings circled her eyes. Her hair had been pulled back in a messy bun, and her face still seemed a bit pale. “Come on in and don’t mind the craziness.”

  Gabby sat at a small table with a juice box and cereal next to her while she doodled in a book. Some kids program played on the TV and she hummed along to the song as she colored. None of this fit the tight ship Asher ran.

  “How are you feeling?” Rae took the baby from Sydney and made her sit. “How’s this little man?” She opened the blankets slightly and began cooing at the baby.

  Asher bit back a groan. Of all the times to sport wood, it had to be in the middle of a living room occupied by two children. Son of a bitch, he had to get his shit together. However, seeing Rae holding Joseph’s son, he wanted one, too. With Rae. Another inconvenience he didn’t have time for.

  “We’re good. He wakes about three times during the night. But he’s not a fussy baby, more impatient than anything.” Sydney chuckled.

  Asher left the women to talk and wandered into the kitchen where Franks made breakfast. The man seemed at ease. Working at a steady pace without a care in the world. When he glanced up, Asher nodded and took a seat at their small table.

  “Morning, Commander. Coffee?” Joseph held the coffee pot up to indicate they had a full pot if he wanted some.

  “Sure, thanks.” Instead of waiting for it, he helped himself. “I have a few questions I need to ask you, but we need to do it down in medical, if you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t mind. What’s this about?”

  Asher took a sip of his coffee. “I would rather not say here. I don’t want to upset your wife or little girl.”

  “Am I in trouble?” Silly question to ask after everything.

  “No. But I have to check on a few things.”

  “Okay. Give me a few more minutes to get Sydney her food, then I’ll be ready to go.” Franks plated up scrambled eggs, bacon, and fruit. Everything had been carefully prepared for his wife, and a pang of jealousy shot through Asher.

  “Not a problem.” He finished his coffee then placed the cup in the sink. “I’ll be waiting outside.” He nodded to the women on the way out and took his position by the door.

  His heart hammered. His gut twisted. Everything he didn’t think he’d ever want lay behind the door he guarded, and he’d effectively destroyed it by being a prick. He had to figure out some way of getting back into Rae’s good graces. He couldn’t take this. It’d only been a few days and it felt like years since he touched her. Kissed her. Gotten her naked and beneath him.

  “I’m ready. What’s this all about?” Franks stood before him as Rae stepped out and closed the door behind her.

  “We had a situation. One we should have been on top of.” He started towards the elevator. “Dr. Rae, here, will be looking at your teeth, specifically your molars to be sure you don’t have any unnecessary products in there.”

  “Unnecessary…what?” He scrunched his face in disbelief. “I don’t understand what you’re implying.”

  The elevator opened and all three stepped inside. “Do you or did you know everyone on your team from Barclay has a capsule built into their back molar?”

  “What?” Joseph looked at Asher as if he’d grown a second head. “Are you serious?”

  “Dead.” The doors opened once more on the medical floor. “Let’s get you in a chair and then we’ll go over what we know and you can fill in the holes.”

  “Sure,” Joseph answered. “Whatever I can do to help.” He took a seat on the table Rae patted on. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Open.” Rae positioned the light where she needed it and proceeded to check Joseph’s teeth. “Hmm.”

  “Arrrm?”

  Asher sat forward. “What?”

  “He’s clean. No false tooth. No cyanide capsule,” she answered, placing the tools on the tray beside her.

  “Wait, what?” Joseph glanced between them. “Cyanide? Shit. That’ll kill you. I’d never let them do that to me.”

  It didn’t make sense. All the men worked for Barclay, including Joseph. Unless…

  He began to pace. What made Tinsman and James special? Were they high enough up the food chain they had secrets? Knew things about the company no one else did? Since Franks didn’t, did that mean he’d be expendable to them? The deeper they dug into this case, the more questions Asher had. One thing was for sure. If they disappeared, so did the case Asher was building against Senator Lincoln.

  “Walk with me,” he said, pointing to the door after Rae removed the small towel she placed over Joseph’s chest. “I have more questions for you.”

  “I have some of my own. Unfortunately, you can’t answer them,” Joseph grumbled.

  “Probably not. However, I have my own theories.” They headed for the mess hall. Asher hadn’t eaten yet, and he pulled Joseph from his family as well.

  “Oh, I do, too.” He shook his head. “I joined up to help my family. Give Gabby a shot at a good life. A healthy life. Instead, we’re here.” He motioned to the subterranean base. “Not that we’re not extremely grateful for the help of Doc Rae.”

  “I understand.” Asher nodded. “So, let’s get some food and coffee and talk this through.” He smacked the guy on the back of the shoulder. He should have been treating him as a prisoner, yet reading over his files, Franks had a clear record and, like he said, he needed help for Gabby. In essence, this job had been a wrong place, wrong time
for the guy and his family.

  “Sure, I could eat.”

  They stepped inside the mess hall and made their way through line. Ideas of why two members of the team could have the capsule and not the others formulated. He wanted Franks’ take on it, though. The guy had built up a shit load of resentment toward his team and, pushed a little farther, he believed Joseph would tell them everything they needed to know. However, he had to play it cool.

  “We’re pawns,” Franks said without prodding. “The only people who were of value to Barclay are Tinsman and James. The rest of us, we’re grunts. Take the orders and do the job. That’s it.”

  “What makes you believe such?”

  Franks snorted. “We had no clue what the higher ups wanted out of Puerto Nariño.” He leaned in. “The official story we’re supposed to tell everyone is, that it was observation.”

  “But?” Asher tensed. What the hell had Barclay gotten all of them into?

  “But there was more. When Tinsman talked to us again before we hit the town, he said mission’s changed. We were told that a transaction was going down with guerillas and we needed to stop it.”

  “Then all hell broke loose.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. Look, as much as I have gone over the day in my head, over and over, none of it makes sense. Add this part…Sounds like some fake Tom Clancy novel or some shit.”

  Asher laughed. “Good analogy. I think your assessment is right.” It didn’t answer why Franks lied, though. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “Fuck, man. I just witnessed the genocide of a town. One I thought we were going to protect. Everything is still a jumbled fucking mess in my brain, and I am trying to piece it together. Add in Gabby, my wife and now our son… I’m running on fumes.”

  Asher believed him. Which meant the ones who held the knowledge were dead or getting their tooth removed. It also meant Lincoln would do everything in his power to get Tinsman back.

  “Doesn’t it give you pause and make you wonder what they know, and we don’t?” He took a sip of his coffee and leaned back.

  “It has. There’s more to this mission we don’t fully understand. We don’t have answers for basic stuff. Like, how high up the chain did this raid go? How much security clearance did Tinsman and James have? Who payrolls Barclay besides Lincoln? And, on top of it all, what does the senator get out of all this?”

  Franks frowned. “Yeah. Are you sure staying in one place is the best idea?”

  Yes. Instead of taking the fight to Lincoln, they’d fight from their stronghold. Also, once they could put all the evidence together for the whys of the raid, they’d go before congress, nab the bastard and those involved red-handed. “This place is built for combat. We’re safer here than out there. Trust me.”

  “So, what happens next?”

  What did happen next? He wanted to speak with his uncle to see if they could drop the charges against Joseph and offer him a job. He’d thought about it from the moment the guy spilled his guts and gave the first real lead in the case. He could be an asset to them. Plus, Joseph had a loyal streak a mile wide. Something they valued as a team.

  “We’ll talk about it later, after Gabby has gone through her round of treatments and Sydney and your son are healthy. Until then, enjoy the downtime. Watch movies. Color. Make love to your wife.” He smirked. “When the doc says you can. Do the things you’ve missed.”

  “I’m not under arrest?” The guy sat back in his chair, shock filled his features along with a tinge of relief.

  “Not by me.” For now, he didn’t need the stress of knowing the truth. “Like I said, we’ll discuss everything in a few weeks’ time.”

  Franks blew out a breath and shook his head. “Fucking hell, man. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t say anything,” Asher replied. “Right now, you’re an active witness to a major crime operation. In a sense, you’re in witness protection here, with us.”

  “Okay. What do I tell Sydney?”

  “The same. You are a witness for the federal government and here for your protection and theirs. When something changes, I will be the one to tell you. No one else. Understood?”

  “Yeah…yes. Thank you, sir.” Franks dug into his breakfast with gusto.

  The gnawing ache in Asher’s gut made him aware of his own neglect when it came to eating. He dug in, and tried to come up with a way to set things straight with Rae as well. The last forty-eight hours of a shit storm blew the progress he’d made with her to hell and back, causing him to start over.

  No way in hell, though, he’d let her get away.

  Chapter Twelve

  After checking on Gabby, Sydney, and the new baby, Rae walked to the room Asher assigned her to be close to Gabby and Sydney, determined to take a shower on the hottest setting her skin could take. If her bathroom had a tub, she’d do a good long soak till all the tension in her shoulders and neck dissipated. Too bad she didn’t. She rubbed at the tightness at the base of her neck and groaned.

  The stiffness in her upper body had absolutely nothing to do with her being at base, taking care of the Franks family, or an ongoing investigation of the murder of so many people.

  Nope.

  All the tension she felt in her body came from a single individual, Asher Rainer.

  Ugh. She didn’t want to think about him now. The dull ache behind her eyes throbbed every time she did. She suspected it had to do with the fact her blood pressure rose every time she did.

  Using the key card he’d given her, she swiped it and pushed the door open when the lights on the read out flashed green. Throwing the card on the small desk, she removed her lab coat, then tossed it on the chair before heading toward the tiny, sparse bathroom with determination. After turning on the shower, she methodically removed her clothes and placed them in a pile. Soon, she’d have to wash them. Hopefully, somewhere in this giant tin can, there was a laundry facility.

  Steam filled the bathroom, fogging up the mirror over the small sink, indicating the water was ready. Stepping under the strong spray, she sighed in pleasure.

  Damn. It felt good.

  Rae rolled her shoulders several times in the hope of easing the tight muscles. Many nights after her grueling day of working in the clinic, she’d wished she could do just as she was. Being there made her realize how much she missed the simple things in life when she’d been stuck in some jungle.

  Most evenings and mornings while in some third-world location, she used tepid water from a bucket to clean the private areas of her body, and once a week she allowed herself to wash her hair. In the beginning, it grossed her out. The idea of not being able to shower properly made her shudder. Yet, to those around her, it didn’t bother them. They’d always lived in those conditions, so they never saw an issue with it. It taught Rae a lot of about herself, and what she’d been able to endure once she put her mind to it. It also made her realize fresh water shouldn’t be treated as a commodity, but as a right.

  Less than a week at the base, Rae was already back to long, hot showers which included washing and conditioning her hair every day. Going to wherever Doctors Without Borders assigned her was going to suck.

  Placing her hands on the cool tile, she allowed the slow, steady pressure of the hot water work its magic on her tense shoulders and neck muscles. The headache, which had slowly built all day, finally started to ease. She needed to take pain relievers before she lay down. If she didn’t, she ran the risk of a bounce back headache. It’d be ten times worse than what she was dealing with right now.

  After rinsing her hair out, she turned the water off and snatched one of the plain, army-green towels off the rack. The only positive thing she could say about the scratchy towel was that it had been big enough to wrap around her, providing her some warmth until she got dressed. Brushing her teeth and hair was the extent of her nighttime routine.

  Gathering her discarded clothes, she opened the bathroom door and stepped into the living area.

  “Hey—”r />
  She screamed, throwing her clothes in the air.

  “Jesus, Asher.” She laid her hand over her chest, feeling her heart pounding. “You ever hear of knocking?”

  “I knocked. You didn’t answer,” he responded. His gaze swept over her body. She shivered, not because of the cold, but in need for the big man lounging on her bed without a care in the world.

  Asshole.

  Since he had no issue checking her out, she did the same. Her gaze slowly scanned down the long length of his body, making her heart pound for a whole other reason. She had a couple of regrets from their encounter. She hadn’t really had a chance to explore his big body. Sure, she had felt him pressed against her back. She just hadn’t been able to see or feel him.

  “Perhaps it had something to do with the fact I was in the shower,” she snapped. “How’d you get in here, anyway? I locked the door. And get off my damn bed.” Him being on the bed made her think of other things. Things she didn’t want to deal with at this moment.

  “My pass key overrides everything,” he stated matter-of-factly.

  “Asshole,” she spat the insult, uncaring if it hurt his feelings.

  “I heard you, you know.”

  “I don’t care.” She bent down to pick up the scattered clothing and dumped it in the ugly green bucket which sat on floor by the bathroom wall.

  “Shit,” he groaned from where he sat on the bed.

  Determined to ignore him and the heat filling her face and chest, she stalked to the small metal cabinet which housed her clothes. Finding a robe, she pulled it out, shoving her arms in and tightly held it closed over the towel. “Are you going to get off my bed or what?”

  “I’ll pick the or what,” he stated, patting the bed as if to tempt her. “Though, I hoped you’d join me.”

  Her eyes widened at his blatant invitation. Her mind said no, her body screamed yes, and apparently her body was done listening to her brain, because she blinked and found herself standing beside the bed.

  Oh, fuck. He’s hard.

  She could see the outline of his dick pushing against the front of his uniform pants. The size of the tent confirmed what she suspected when they had sex the other day. He was big. Very big. She licked at her lips, wanting to taste him.