The Line: The Complete Series

by Nikki Rose

  “Yeah, I got it.” I pressed my hand against the blood-soaked cloth. The man winced but I held strong. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry. It just hurts a lot more than I thought it would.”

  “My name is Addy.” I forced a smile hoping to offer some comfort to him.

  “I’m Sean.”

  “Nice to meet you, Sean.”

  “You too. Just wish it was under better circumstances.” I could hear the pain and struggle in his voice.

  He looked worried. His eyes were heavy and pained. “I don’t want to die here.” His sudden confession caught me off guard.

  “You’re not going to die. Hunter’s going to get help and I’m going to stay right here with you until they get here.”

  “I wish I could go back in time and change things that I’ve done. I wish I could take back working for Olivia. I betrayed my country. The other agents. I deserve to die.”

  He was giving up. Giving up was the most lethal decision anyone could make. I had to convince him that there was something worth fighting for.

  “Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone does things they wish they didn’t at some point in their lives. It’s how we go on after those mistakes to make up for it. I’m not saying you’re not going to be in trouble for the part you played in all this but you helped Hunter a lot with the things you told him.”

  “If you hadn't told him those things he wouldn’t have known about Olivia and things could have been a whole lot worse.”

  “Thanks.” He chuckled weakly and winced.

  “You just have to hold on and be strong for a little longer.”

  I kept the pressure on the wound but the blood continued to flow. The color of Sean’s face faded and the light in his eyes dulled.

  “I’m cold.” Sean barely got the words out as he struggled to breathe.

  “You’ve lost some blood. I think that’s normal.” I tried my best to keep positive.

  “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For being here with me. For staying with me at the end.” He nearly choked on the last words and a single tear ran down his cheek until it hit the cold concrete floor.

  “This isn’t the end. Sean, look at me.” I spoke to him gently as his eyes began to close.

  I cupped his cheek in my hand and forced him to look into my eyes. His skin was cold as ice and just as pale.

  “Sean?”

  He opened his eyes again but only for a moment before his head dropped to the side as his strength drained from him.

  “Sean?” I raise my voice in urgency. There was no response. “Sean,” I yelled but there was nothing.

  I lifted my fingers to his neck and felt at his pulse point the way I had seen people do. There was no pulse. His heart didn’t beat.

  Hunter rushed in. “Addy, I’m sorry there’s no cell service in here so I had to go all the way outside. They’re on their...”

  “He’s gone.” I let my hand drop from his neck to my side.

  “Shit.”

  Hunter grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me into his arms. I rested my cheek on his chest and sobbed.

  Hunter didn’t say a word. He just let me cry. The sound of several footsteps echoed down the hall growing louder as they neared the interrogation room.

  When the door swung open, I expected to see EMS and police. But what I saw instead was a group of Special agents who rushed in to examine the scene.

  A couple of agents went for Sean while three others hurried to Olivia. Once they confirmed both were dead, they slowed down slightly, wrapping the bodies in black bags and carrying them out without saying a word to me.

  I sat to the side, numb and silent as they worked and Hunter talked to an agent from time to time about the events of the night. The door swung open again. Chris rushed in straight to us.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Olivia came to Hunter’s apartment and told me he needed me down here right away. She brought me here and that’s when all hell broke loose.”

  “No kidding. The boss called me personally and filled me in. Told me to get my ass down here ASAP.”

  Hunter held me tight. “Olivia would have killed me. Addy saved me.”

  “Addy made the kill shot? Damn, remind me not to get on your bad side.” Chris teased but I hadn’t really had time to think about how I had, in fact, killed someone that night.

  The blood drained from my face and a chill ran up my body. Chris must have noticed the change because his smile dropped and he pushed all teasing aside. “Shit, Addy. I’m sorry. That couldn’t have been easy. Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I—I just hadn’t really given what happened much thought. All I knew was that she was going to kill Hunter and I had to stop her.”

  “And you did,” Hunter spoke softly against my hair and kissed the top of my head as his arms tightened around me. “You did what you had to, to save me.”

  “I know and I’d do it again without hesitation. She was a killer.”

  “Then why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

  I tilted my head back to look up at Hunter. “You could have died tonight.”

  “But I didn’t, thanks to you.” He squeezed me tight.

  “Am I going to be in trouble?”

  “Trouble? For what?”

  “Killing her?”

  “No. You only acted to save me. I’ll make sure it’s all cleared.”

  I nodded and at that moment I understood. I got it. Hunter didn’t kill because he was evil or because he found some sick joy in it. He was a good man. I hugged him tightly, burrowing into his chest as tears streamed down my face.

  “What’s wrong, Addy?”

  I shook my head from side to side. “I get it. I finally understand. You’re a good man, Hunter. I wanted a normal life and I tried but I couldn’t get you out of my head. I love you.”

  “I love you too. But you deserve normal. I ripped you out of your life. I tried to give you what you wanted—the life I messed up for you no matter how much it killed me to be away from you.”

  “You didn’t mess up my life. You helped me see that there was so much more to life—so many things I never realized I wanted. I thought I wanted an ordinary life but with you, it would be extraordinary.”

  He pulled me to him, crushing my body into his as his lips met mine. I melted into him and parted my lips, welcoming him. Life with Hunter wouldn’t be what I originally had planned for myself—it would be so much better.

  Blurring the Line

  CHAPTER 1

  Chris

  I fought my way through the crowd gathered in the Syntagma Square. Lifting my hand to shield the blinding midday sun from my eyes, I focused on the Greek ambassador taking his place at the microphone in front of the Old Royal Palace. We’d heard some chatter online about the attack planned by foreign enemies wishing to stir trouble for the U.S. and its allies. Several strikes were planned in low risk countries to show the United States and anyone who allies with us that nowhere was safe.

  “Mason, you on standby?”

  “Not yet. This crowd is impossible to get through.”

  “Hunter, you see anything?”

  “Nothing yet.”

  “We need to get up there. The shooter could be anywhere.” I pushed my way to the front of the crowd gathered in Syntagma Square, ignoring the scowls of disapproval at my rudeness.

  “Are they sure about the location and time? This is the third event we’ve crashed with no shooter so far.”

  “This is it. I’m sure.” I used my arms to spread the crowd, struggling past the mass of people gathered to hear the U.S. ambassador speak. “Out of the way. I need to get through.” I pushed a large man out of my path and he turned around swinging his fist toward my jaw. I dodged his blow and restrained his arm behind his back in one smooth move.

  “Whoa, big guy. I am here on official U.S. business. Do you understand? I’m police.”

  He quit fighting to get out of my gri
p and I released him so I could move on.

  “Why do I always seem to get the violent ones?” I chuckled into my mic and could hear Mason laugh on the other end.

  “Maybe you just have one of those faces,” Hunter's voice came through my headset.

  “Very funny.”

  I rolled my eyes before looking over my shoulder at every possible perch but there was no sign of a shooter. I pushed my way farther through the crowd, making my way toward the podium. Every few steps I took a look around, trying to find some sign to show me where a shooter might have perched. My path cleared when I made it to the stairs where the public wasn't allowed. I glanced around again and the smallest glint of metal in a fifth-floor window caught my eye.

  “Gun!” My legs propelled me up the stairs of their own accord, I reached the podium, and lunged at the ambassador. We tumbled to the ground, me landing on top of him. Cries from the crowd sounded distant and my arm burned from the impact.

  The voice of one of the men on my team came through my earpiece. “We got him. I repeat, threat is neutralized. Threat is neutralized.”

  I lifted myself off the ambassador and spotted the blood covering his right shoulder. “Shit, sir. Are you hit?”

  “It’s not mine,” He inclined his head toward my left bicep and for the first time I felt the full extent of the pain pouring into my arm.

  “Damn it, you’ve been hit,” Mason ran to me and clasped his jacket over the bloody spot on my arm to stop the bleeding.

  I gritted my teeth and spoke through the pain, “I’m okay. I don’t think it’s that bad.”

  “We’ll let the medic determine that.”

  “Fine. But first, get the ambassador inside.”

  “Hey, Chris. Welcome back,” Several guys called out as I walked through the office.

  “Thanks Andrew, Dom, James.”

  “How’s that arm?”

  “Still stronger than yours,” I teased Dom as I walked past him toward Wendy's desk.

  Wendy was Director Applegate's secretary and though she wasn't that many years older than most of us, she acted almost as mother hen to all us guys.

  “Hey, Wendy.”

  “Chris. I'm so glad you're back. It just isn't the same around here without you.”

  “Thanks. It's good to be back.”

  “How are you feeling? Fully recovered?”

  “Yep. I'm back and ready for action.”

  “Always so anxious to jump into an assignment,” her warm smile was a nice change from the cold agency medical staff poking and prodding.

  “It's what I live for.”

  “Well then, you're in luck. The Director wants to see you in his office.”

  “Uh oh. Am I in trouble?”

  “I'm sure you'd never do anything to get in trouble for.”

  I gave Wendy a wink and reached for the door.

  I knocked on the heavy wood that stood between me and my boss. It was never a good thing to be called to Director Applegate’s office. The experience gave me flashbacks of my junior high principal's office. I hoped it was just to check in on my recovery and insure I was ready to get back in the field since the doctors had cleared me three days prior.

  “Come in,” his voice boomed from behind the door and I opened it slowly.

  “You wanted to see me?”

  “Yes. Come in. Sit,” Director Applegate appeared solemn from across his desk as he hung up his office phone.

  I took a seat, never letting my eyes leave him.

  “How’s the arm?”

  “Better, sir. Doctors say I’m good as new.”

  “Good because I have an assignment for you.”

  My shoulders relaxed as a rush of air left my body. “Oh. Okay.”

  “This is a special assignment. You won’t have a regular handler for this. You will report directly to me.”

  “Yes, sir,” I leaned forward in my seat, waiting to hear what exciting mission I’d be going on that the Director wouldn’t even let his trusted secretary pass along the assignment details.

  “As the whole division is well aware, we’ve had to go into high alert after that hacker made it passed our security and into personnel files. They accessed several employees, myself included.”

  “Yes, sir. Do we have a lead?” I couldn’t wait to find the assholes who dared break into our computer network. It was an embarrassment to have part of the government’s security compromised.

  “Tech is still combing through things. We are looking into the ring Olivia was part of, trying to find out how high the corruption goes.”

  “You think they’re connected?”

  “I’m not ruling it out but at this point, we just don’t know. It’s not like the agency hasn’t made its fair share of enemies over the years.”

  “Just point me at them. I can’t wait to take those guys down.”

  “I’m afraid it's not that simple.”

  “Oh?” I sat back in my chair partially deflated by the Director’s discouraging tone.

  “Tech has been scouring the web for any chatter on who might have done this and what their objective was. Last night they picked up an exchange on the dark web that leads us to believe that whoever these people are, they were targeting me specifically and used the other files to throw us off.”

  “You? Who are these men? I’ll take them out—”

  “We don’t know who these men are and until we do, my family and I will all be under security watch twenty-four-seven. I want you on that security team.”

  “You want me to be your bodyguard?”

  “Not me. O'Neill will be watching my back.”

  “Then who?”

  “Caroline.”

  “Your daughter?” I’d never met the Director’s daughter. I only ever saw the professional headshot of her that sat on the Director’s desk. She had a pretty face but there was something in her expression. She looked annoyed or unhappy. Like taking the picture was beneath her. The same picture had been in his office for the past four years and was taken when she graduated high school. I was sure she’d changed a lot in the last four years. Hell, I probably wouldn’t even recognize her if I saw her in person. Other than the single picture, I wouldn’t have known she even existed if it weren’t for Wendy. The Director’s secretary liked to chat. I’d heard stories about the Director having to go get his daughter out of trouble from time to time.

  “They could target Caroline to get to me. You know that’s how some of these people work.”

  “So, you want me to babysit your daughter until we catch whoever’s behind this?”

  “She’s almost twenty-three. It’s hardly babysitting. But, yes. I want you to act as her twenty-four-seven security detail until we are sure she’s safe. I wanted to send her out of town to stay with my in-laws out in Wyoming but she wouldn’t have it.”

  She wouldn’t have it? The fact that a twenty-two-year-old girl was calling the shots over the Director was not lost on me.

  “Sir, if I may speak frankly...?”

  “Of course.”

  “Am I being punished?”

  “Punished? Why on earth would you think that?” Director Applegate sat back in his chair, studying me with narrowed eyes.

  “It’s just—being put on babysitting duty...” I didn’t want to offend him but with an assignment like this, it seemed as though somehow, I already had.

  He laughed. A deep belly laugh I’d only heard on rare occasions. “No, you’re not being punished. Although I can see why it might feel that way. Caroline is the joy of my life. She’s my little girl. I want my best watching her until this threat is taken care of and after your actions in Athens, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather watch after her.”

  I should be honored by this assignment. The Director was trusting me with his only child. But somehow it still felt more like a punishment than a reward. “When do I start?”

  “Immediately. I had an agent pick her up early this morning as soon as the threat was verified. She’s waiting i
n the council room. I wanted to talk to you about the mission before bringing her in on it. I'll need you to stay with her whenever I'm not home and anytime she is out and about even if she is with me. The house has a well-equipped security system to help keep her safe but when we are out, I want someone whose only job is to keep her safe.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Director Applegate pressed the call button on his office phone and spoke into the speaker. “Wendy, please send Caroline in.”

  “Yes, sir,” Wendy’s voice came through the speaker with a mix of crackling white noise.

  Moments later there was a quiet rapping on the door.

  “Come in,” With the Director’s command, the door slowly opened to reveal Wendy. She held open the door and looked behind her as she stepped out of the way.

  “Right this way.”

  “Thank you.” A sweet sultry voice came from just beyond my view.

  Every thought of babysitting was knocked out of my mind once my eyes landed on the knockout that walked through that door. I stood in silence taking in every lush curve of the tall, goddess of a woman. Her V-neck showed just enough cleavage to leave a man wanting more. Her legs went on for miles before disappearing under the black skirt that led somewhere, I imagined was as close to heaven as a man like me would ever get. I'd always been a shallow man when it came to my dating life. I made no effort to hide that fact. But, as the Director cleared his throat, I realized it was his daughter I was leering at like the wolf in the nightclub cartoon. I rolled my tongue up off the floor and sucked my eyes back into my head before turning my attention to the Director who hadn’t missed a thing. He eyed me with a knowing look and drummed his fingers on his desk.

  I cleared my throat and rose from my seat to offer her my hand. “I’m Chris.”

  “Caroline.” She barely took time to shake my hand before heading straight to her father’s desk. “Dad, I don’t need some bodyguard following me around all the time. I barely get any freedom as it is and now you want to have me under guard?”

  “It’s just until we sort out the validity of this threat.”

  She didn’t back down, mounting her hands on her hips. “How am I supposed to go out with my friends or on dates with a babysitter tagging along?”