ACE (The Trident Series Book 1)

by Jaime Lewis

  “Are you sure you’re good to continue?”

  “Yes, I promise.”

  ◆◆◆

  Derek sighed, “Alex, before you say anything, hear me out. Considering what we are dealing with and all the unknowns, please promise me that you’ll take extra precautions. Try to stay with the team as much as possible. At least until we can get some clear information.” Derek looked in the direction of Ace. “Since the Lt. seems to be generous with his volunteer hours, I’m entrusting him with your safety.”

  “What? Derek, you do realize that if I were involved in any other operation, this conversation wouldn’t be happening.”

  Derek gave his shoulders a shrug. “Maybe not, but this is my operation and my orders.”

  “You’re serious? You’re assigning a bodyguard to me?”

  He grinned. “If that is what you want to call it. I call it more along the lines of personal protection. Understood?”

  She thought about it before she responded. There were bigger battles to be fought.

  “Do I have a choice?” She mumbled as she crossed her arms and looked over at Ace, and judging by the grin on his face, he found it was amusing. Wasn’t this just fucking dandy.

  “Alex, don’t take it personally. My decision doesn’t mean I don’t respect your capabilities. I just don’t trust the environment you’ve been placed in, and I’m not willing to take any chances, especially when I can provide you additional backup.”

  She thought about it and was surprised how easily she agreed with him. Extra protection never hurt anyone. In fact, she had been in multiple operations where she could’ve used additional backup. She found the word rolling off her tongue with no hesitation. “Understood.” The last thing she needed to be was uncooperative.

  The look Derek gave her made her want to laugh. Knowing Derek, he had been prepared to argue his point because she usually wouldn’t have given in so quickly. She smiled when he just nodded his head, then glanced at his watch, “I need to take care of a few things before we brief the others. I’ll talk to you all shortly.” The screen went blank, and the Colonel excused himself, leaving just her and Ace in the room.

  ◆◆◆

  Alex stood there as she nibbled on her lip, and even though she appeared so serious and deep in thought, Ace thought she looked damn adorable. “I hate it when he’s right,” she finally said, looking up at him.

  He pulled her into his arms and rested his chin on the top of her head. “I know that was probably hard for you to do, but I agree with him. It never hurts to have a little reinforcement.”

  She hugged him around his waist and looked up at him, her mouth twitched up on one side, “Does that mean you’ll be moving in with me for the duration?”

  He raised one of his eyebrows. “You think I’d let any of the others stay with you?”

  She ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders and couldn’t help but egg him on. “I’m sure Irish would be more than happy to watch my six.” She laughed when he growled low, drawing her in and hugging her tight. As he pulled away, he slipped his hand under her silky hair, palming the nape of her neck. She tilted her head back, and he stared into her gorgeous green eyes.

  “She grinned, and he saw the playfulness in her eyes. He moved closer to her lips. “I can already tell you’re going to be a troublemaker. Just remember, I know many forms of torture techniques.”

  “Hmm…it could be worth the experience to break the rules.”

  God, how he wished he could take her somewhere and show her what he really wanted to do to her. Instead, he leaned forward and covered her mouth with his. He needed to breathe, but he couldn’t get enough of her as he continued to explore her mouth until he was forced to pull away before he passed out from lack of oxygen. Her eyes were still closed as her chest rose and fell. He placed his forehead against hers, letting his heart settle down.

  “Shit, baby, what are you doing to me? Keeping you a secret is going to be one hell of an order.”

  She opened her eyes and gave him that sexy little lopsided grin of hers. “Yeah, well, you almost let the cat out of the bag with Derek.” She chuckled. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen his face turn that red so fast. Not even when he and my Uncle Tink caught me making out with a guy in my junior year in high school.”

  “I think his expression was more intense than some of the combat missions I’ve been a part of.” He shook his head, then laughed. “Jesus, I can’t believe I said that.”

  She was laughing with him. “Well, Derek is going to find out sooner or later.”

  He rubbed his hand along his jaw, “I know, but I’d prefer for us to at least be on the same continent when we tell him.” His eyes widened at his next thought. “Jesus, I hope he doesn’t think I slept with you.”

  He started pacing the room, cursing himself out. When she started laughing at him, he stopped and stared at her.

  “What is wrong with you? My commander is sitting at home, probably thinking I had sex with his daughter, and you’re laughing.”

  She laughed harder as she walked over and hugged him. “Don’t worry yourself to death. If Derek were truly upset, he wouldn’t have assigned you as my personal protection.” She giggled again as she used Derek’s words, making him chuckle. “We just need to be careful in this room.” He didn’t understand and looked down at her, and she grinned as she nodded toward the TV. “Remember, Derek can pop in anytime he wants.” He groaned, causing her to laugh again.

  Pressing his body against hers, he slowly backed her up against the table. He secured both of her hands behind her back. He could see how aroused she was. Her breathing picked up, and her pulse could be seen beating on the side of her neck. She was getting pleasure from being at his mercy. He was in complete control. He bent and licked the shell of her ear, causing her body to shiver. She closed her eyes and moaned, arching her upper body and causing her perky breasts to brush against his chest. “Are you sure you want me to keep my hands to myself? Not knowing if you’re going to get caught is part of the fun,” he teased, knowing damn well he would never put her in that type of position.

  ◆◆◆

  Ace’s alpha male ways had all of Alex’s senses on overload, and she could feel her body coming alive. Her nipples pebbled beneath her bra, and when she didn’t answer his question, he started torturing her neck with his lethal lips. Oh, dear God, she was going to explode, not to mention anyone could walk in the room at any moment.

  “Ace.” She sighed.

  “I love hearing my name fall from your lips.” He kept up the assault, strategically leaving a trail of wet kisses against her skin, hitting certain erogenous zones. “You are too tempting to keep my hands off you.” He lightly bit down on the sensitive skin where her shoulder and neck connected.

  “Oh, God…” she uttered under her breath. She couldn’t sense anything right now except for how good his soft and gentle lips felt against her delicate skin. Lord have mercy, did the man know how to play her strings. She tilted her head more to the side, giving him better access to her neck as he kissed, licked, and nibbled.

  She was grateful she had enough of her senses to hear the approaching voices outside the door. Ace must have heard too as he nipped her shoulder one last time before releasing her wrists and backing away like nothing was happening.

  She knew her cheeks looked flushed, hell her entire body felt on fire. When she looked up at Ace, his blue eyes had taken on a darker hue of blue. He took a seat at the table just as the team walked in and started claiming their seats around the larger table.

  She couldn’t hold back her laugh at Ace’s expression when she took a seat at the other end of the table, right next to Irish. This should make for an interesting meeting.

  If he could tease, so could she.

  Once Colonel Johnson arrived and Derek re-joined on the TV, they began laying out their plan.

  ◆◆◆

  Three hours later, Alex’s brain felt like mush. She was not only mentally exhausted, but she w
as also feeling a tad bit annoyed. After the first hour of explaining to the team what she discussed with Ace, Derek, and the Colonel earlier, they all agreed that they would work through eliminating the five sites since they had no other Intel to go on. It wasn’t until they brought Bert into the mix that things started to get a little intense. Since Bert was involved in the prior mission, Alex thought it would be a strategic move to get Bert’s thoughts on her claims of the reports being very similar to hers.

  The last two hours had been what Alex could only describe as blistering. As it seemed, Bert was up to his old tricks. It appeared that Bert had been privy to some supplementary Intel from the agency to piggy-back on the reports received from Bowman this morning. But it had been evident he had no plans on sharing the new information until his colleague Mical spoke up and reminded him of it. Of course, Bert tried to bullshit his way around it, saying he thought we had received the same information and didn’t want to be redundant. It was apparent she didn’t have the same information, or she would have shared it during her presentation.

  Bert’s Intel included additional details about two of the sites mentioned in the reports. Because of their close proximity to one another, it was discovered that the hostages were being shuttled back and forth between the two using various routes.

  It had been hard for Alex not to laugh when Derek tore into Bert’s ass for not stepping forward with the said information immediately. That was then followed up by a scorching verbal beat down from the Colonel, who threatened to notify Bert’s superiors about his lack of transparency and leadership skills. Of course, Bert responded with his typical arrogance, not fazed by the reprimand. After a short break to let everyone cool off, they reconvened and decided that the team would leave tonight to begin scouring the sites.

  As the meeting wound down and the team discussed logistics with the Colonel’s staff, Alex sat back in her chair and kicked off her shoes. She wished she had a pair of flip flops in her bag.

  She picked up a stack of papers from the table and saw some mail that Staff Sergeant Hill had given her this morning when she arrived. She knew the two white envelopes were from Mason because he told her he was sending them to her. She pushed those to the side and picked up the larger manila envelope. She studied it, noting it lacked a return address but was postmarked from Washington, D.C. She slid her finger under the flap breaking the seal. Before she could reach in to pull out the contents, some photographs spilled out onto the table. It had taken a couple of seconds to register what the pictures were, and a sudden terrifying chill seeped through her body. She tried to speak, but fear had robbed her of her voice. She couldn’t pull her eyes away from the picture closest to her. Black spots appeared in her vision, and her body began to sway. She thought someone called her name, but she couldn’t focus. Suddenly, her stomach lurched, and she covered her mouth just before sprinting out the door.

  ◆◆◆

  Even as Derek spoke to him, Ace had been keeping an eye on Alex in his peripheral vision. He knew something was amiss when she froze and looked as if she was in a state of shock as she stared at whatever was on the table. Others became aware when Ace called out to her. At first, he thought she was having another episode like earlier, and thinking she was going to pass out, he called out to Frost, who was the closest to her, but it was too late as she switched gears and bolted for the door.

  Ace was torn. He wanted to follow her to make sure she was okay, but he also wanted to know what in the hell caused that type of reaction from her. He quickly rounded the table just as Frost and Stitch each cursed. As soon as his eyes zeroed in on the photograph closest to where she had been sitting, he literally felt sick to his stomach. He almost didn’t even recognize Alex as she lay sprawled out on the ground, her clothes tattered. She was bloody all over, and if he didn’t know better, he would swear she was dead. Knowing this was what she overcame and had been dealing with for the last two years enraged him. Hearing about an incident was one thing, but to see actual visuals was disturbing. And judging from not only his reaction but the others in the room proved it was upsetting for all parties.

  “Jesus, what is this shit?” Dino asked, looking over his shoulder. There were other photos, very graphic ones of burned body parts.

  “Shit, these were taken on Alex’s last mission here,” Stitch spoke aloud.

  “What did you say?” Bert asked, as he too, started looking over the photos. “These must have been taken before the rescue team arrived.”

  Ace suddenly got an awful feeling in the pit of his stomach. Looking up from the photos, he locked eyes with Derek and swallowed hard. This new development wasn’t going to sit well with the commander, but this was a warning that all but confirmed that Alex had a target on her back.

  Ace explained to Derek what was going on. Using a napkin as not to disturb any possible evidence like fingerprints, he flipped through the photos. The more he saw, the worse his stomach felt. It was sickening, but unfortunately, this world was full of sick people. No wonder she was having flashbacks.

  Frost was looking over Ace’s shoulder as he flipped through the pictures. “How in the hell did she survive?” He stated angrily, and Ace had to agree.

  “There are pictures of Alex specifically?” Derek demanded to know in-between a separate conversation he was having with someone else on his end.

  “Yes, Sir.” He told Derek there were pictures of her both before and after the explosion. All taken at different angles as if there possibly could be more than one person involved. “They are pretty graphic.”

  Irish held up a finger, interrupting Ace as he came around the table. “Did you say there are some of her on the ground after the explosion?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “Let me see those,” Irish said, taking them from Ace. He watched as Irish carefully studied two of the photos that were taken of her at close range. “Bingo!” He exclaimed as he pointed at the pictures. “There is no phone in any of these pictures.”

  “What does a phone have to do with this?” Bert asked, standing there with his arms over his chest.

  Irish looked at Bert. “Alex mentioned you were there during the rescue.”

  “So, what does that have to do with a phone?”

  “She told us that you told her that she was the person who called for support. However, she doesn’t recall doing that.”

  “And your point is?” Bert questioned, clearly agitated by Irish’s line of questioning. Ace found it rather interesting the defensive stance Bert was taking, and it was either his imagination or Bert’s face was turning redder by the second.

  “My point is, where is the fucking phone? She would have had it in her possession if she were, in fact, the one who called.”

  Bert threw his hands in the air. “How should I know, I wasn’t there. All that I can tell you is what I was told.”

  Irish leveled his stare at Bert. “Unless she has some pretty mighty superpowers, that seems impossible considering she was unconscious. Is there someone who can validate that it was her who made the call?”

  “Are you trying to insinuate something, soldier?” Bert said, revealing the ugly side of him.

  “No, sir. I’m just stating the facts. Let’s say she made the call before she blacked out; the phone should be on or near her, right.” He pointed to the picture. “The point is that there is no fucking phone within her reach.” When Bert didn’t respond, Irish continued his rant. “My theory is if there is no phone, then she never made the call, and someone else did. Possibly the person who took these pictures and sent them to her, here. I’ll be honest, man; this smells awful fishy, and I don’t think we’ve been given all the factual details.”

  Ace hadn’t seen Irish this fired up and opinionated in well, quite a long time. But the more he listened to Irish and his rational thoughts, Ace had to agree with his lead sniper. He felt the knot in his stomach grow. Coupled with the mysterious events that have occurred since they’ve arrived, along with the new revelations that Alex re
membered from that night, Ace was feeling confident that someone was manipulating the situation to lure her back. A sudden surge of protectiveness rose within him.

  Bert snorted a sarcastic laugh. “That is an insane theory. Why would someone go to all the trouble to eliminate her team but leave her there alive?”

  Irish crossed his arms against his chest and glared at Bert. “I don’t know. But you’re supposed to be the expert, so why don’t you tell us. Why do you think she was left alive?”

  “Jesus, I don’t believe I’m standing here arguing with you over this. Look, there could be several reasons. Hell, maybe they thought she was dead. After all, she was supposed to be inside that house with her team.”

  “Enough!” Derek roared. “Mr. McMahon, while we all appreciate your expertise on this matter, your presence is no longer needed right now. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to speak with my team privately.”

  “What? But what about the missions being coordinated? We haven’t finalized the details. I need to log everything.”

  “My team or the Colonel’s staff will touch base with you regarding the mission when your assistance is required.”

  Ace saw the fire in Bert’s eyes and knew the pompous man wasn’t going to leave well alone. Ace could tell that Bert had it out for Alex from the moment he first met him. And this little blow-up just added fuel to the fire. Alex was right, something was off with Bert, and his loyalty laid elsewhere. From here on, they all needed to watch their backs.

  Once Bert had stormed out of the room with his two associates at his heel, Derek asked where Alex was. This wasn’t just the voice of a man who commanded a SEAL team, but of a man of compassion and love who was worried about his daughter’s safety.

  “Colonel Johnson, along with Potter and Stitch, went to find her.”

  “I don’t want her out of your sight for even a second! You got me? Not until we get some damn answers. This shit just got personal.”