“I’ll pay you,” Mr. Krieger promised.
“Two.” Samuel stared holes into Douglas’ head.
“Okay. Fine. I can-I can get you the video. Just leave my family alone.”
“That’s the spirit.” Samuel adjusted his aim and fired.
The bullet resounded in the metal building.
Several people screamed.
Theodore Krieger howled and pitched sideways on the concrete.
“Next time I ask for something, don’t make me wait.” Samuel slid the gun into its holster.
He was going to get everything he wanted, and it wasn’t even Christmas yet.
SATURDAY. RONALD REAGAN Washington National Airport, Washington, DC.
Nolan had thought after putting Yvonne into the ambulance that today had gotten as bad as it could get.
He’d been wrong.
Driving around the airport knowing he’d left Yvonne pissed off and hurt was worse and compounded by fact they all knew her family might very well not come out of this alive.
“FBI is calling again,” Grant said via the headset.
“We should use them.” Nolan kept his gaze on the street. It was complete bullshit their only possible action was driving around aimlessly waiting for a lead.
“And tell them what?” Vaughn glanced at him. “How long would it take to get them up to speed?”
“Fuck. FBI again.”
“Answer it,” Nolan said.
“I am.” Grant cleared his throat. “Hello? ... Yes, Agent Brooks, I—what?”
Nolan’s muscles tensed and he eased to a stop at the curb, every fiber of his being wanting good news.
“Ito’s at the airport, private hangar.” Urgency vibrated Grant’s voice.
Nolan twisted the wheel and cut through traffic. Cars blared their horns. He ignored them and pushed the accelerator down.
The rest of Grant’s garbled words melded into the traffic sounds.
They might know Ito was in the airport, but there were till hurdles in the way.
How did they gain access? Which hangar? Were the Kriegers alive?
So many things could still go wrong.
Nolan didn’t want to fail Yvonne. He wanted to bring all her family home safe. He knew how losing even one person could shatter their lives. It was the last thing he wanted for her.
He turned the wheel.
The security entrance to the private area of the loomed ahead.
“Slow down,” Grant barked.
Against Nolan’s instinct, he did as ordered and lowered his window as he reached the guard shack.
“You the Aegis guys?” The uniformed security officer frowned.
“Yes,” Nolan ground out.
“I’m told to let you through.” The man didn’t appear happy about it, but he reached back and the arm rose, granting them entry.
“Someone is accessing the drone footage now,” Gavin’s voice broke the silence. “From your position, go north.”
Nolan maneuvered the SUV, following the tech’s guidance until they nearly ran into the side of a metal building.
“They must be right in front of you,” Gavin said.
“Everyone—out. Let’s end this,” Grant ordered.
Nolan left the SUV running and got out, drawing his sidearm before his feet hit the pavement.
“Look out is down,” Riley whispered through the comm.
Nolan approached a side entrance, one that might get overlooked. “Heading inside.”
Vaughn was at his back, Brenden not far behind.
Nolan pulled the door open and went to a knee. Hushed voices echoed in the enclosed space, but no one sounded an alarm. Nolan crouched and darted inside, behind a stack of crates.
Under a pool of light, Mr. and Mrs. Krieger sat on the ground, clinging to each other. Douglas knelt, a tablet in hand. Melody leaned forward, whispering to the couple, no doubt trying to keep them calm. And standing off to one side was Samuel Ito with the muzzle of a gun pressed to Theodore’s temple.
God damn it.
Their window was closing.
Three other men stood around the cluster, weapons in hand. They were the war weary, the experienced soldiers, dangerous people.
If Nolan and the team were going to bring the family back safe, they’d have to take down all of Ito’s people at once. No mistakes.
Nolan glanced at Melody. Her gaze swept the room’s perimeter. The hair on the back of Nolan’s neck rose, and he held perfectly still.
Melody’s gaze met his.
“Guys? Pick your target,” he whispered.
“I’ve got the one on the west,” Riley replied, so soft it was hard to make out his words.
“Bandana dude,” Vaughn muttered.
“Ready,” Brenden said.
Nolan held up three fingers.
Melody didn’t nod. She inclined her head, ever so slightly.
“Counting down, three...” Two fingers. “Two.” One finger. “One.” Go time.
Three shots ripped through their targets. Screams followed in the chaos.
Nolan sprinted forward.
One of the guards wasn’t down. He whirled, but not fast enough. Melody came up off the floor, kicked the man’s legs out from under him and took his weapon in a move so smooth Nolan barely processed it.
“Wow. Wow. Wow!” Samuel held Theodore tight to his chest and backed up, turning to check his escape route.
“Samuel Ito, you are surrounded,” Nolan said. “It’s over.”
“Is it?” The man grinned, a wide, crazy expression. “I don’t think it—”
His words were cut off by a gunshot.
Theodore pitched forward, going to his knees, hands over his head.
Samuel stumbled sideways, revealing the one person he’d underestimated.
Melody kept her stolen weapon up, face emotionless, eyes on the target.
If Nolan had time, he’d be impressed. Instead he rushed in with the others. While Grant went to the Kriegers, Nolan checked Samuel for a pulse.
The man was gone.
It really was over. This whole nightmare, the lies, the secrets, they were done.
A huge weight slid off Nolan’s shoulders. At long last he could focus on what really mattered.
Melody remained standing in the shadows, hands bound.
Nolan rose to his feet. “Mel?”
“Hm?” She shook her head and glanced at him.
“You did good.” He stared at her, willing her to know that.
“It was a clean shot,” she said.
“I didn’t know you were that good of a shot.” He holstered his weapon.
“Melody, what the hell?” Grant stalked past Nolan.
Before his temper could flare, Grant cut Melody’s wrists and wrapped an arm around her in a never-before-seen show of affection. Grant just wasn’t that guy. Melody’s eyes went wide, and it seemed she was just as taken off guard by the act as Nolan.
He turned, weariness latching onto him as he watched the Kriegers huddle together.
And to think, he had a lifetime of being around these people ahead of him.
Nolan’s phone vibrated. He reached into his pocket, but it wasn’t the rehab center. He pressed the phone to his ear and pulled his comm out.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Nolan! You answered. What have you been doing? Where are you?” She pelted him with half a dozen other questions.
“I can’t talk right now, Mom. A job just wrapped up, but I’m going to come see you soon, okay?” Nolan might not like his mother, but he had a feeling he was about to understand his parents in a way he’d never expected.
Nolan managed to get off the phone without concrete promises of when he would call or visit. By then lights were flashing outside the hangar and he knew the next few hours were going to be a mess, but he had one last call to make.
He jabbed in the number to Yvonne’s room and prayed she wasn’t asleep.
The line sort of rang.
“Hello?�
�� Yvonne’s breathy voice was wrapped up in nerves, fear, and everything he wanted to protect her from.
“They’re safe,” he said.
“They are?” her voice broke now.
“Yeah.”
“And you? Are you okay? Melody? The others?”
“We’re all fine.”
“Oh, thank God.”
“FBI,” someone bellowed.
“Listen, I’ve got to go. I’ll be there when you wake up. Promise.”
He ended the call, then held his hands up.
It was going to be one hell of a long night.
21.
Sunday. Private Recovery Facility, Bethesda, MD.
The aches and pains had set in. Yvonne’s head hurt. The night nurse had encouraged her to take some pain pills. Yvonne had declined. It was already too hard to stay awake.
She turned the faucet on and splashed cold water on her face. The icy needles shocked her awake again. She straightened and looked herself over in the mirror.
Boy, she was a sight.
The lump on her head was going down, thanks to whatever miracle cream the nurses had given her. There wasn’t anything that could be done about the bruising. It looked far worse than it felt. The electrical burns on the other hand hurt far worse. But she would heal. The physical hurts always did.
It was the ones she couldn’t see that worried her.
Nolan hadn’t called her back. There was no word except for a short phone call from Dad. She had no idea what happened where they all were. With the early morning hours creeping onward, they were probably sleeping.
Yvonne turned the lights off and paced into the room.
Her head was still fuzzy. She couldn’t recall Nolan’s exact words, but she couldn’t forget the hurt and anger in his eyes. That was her fault.
What if he never came back?
What if that was his answer?
Her heart ached and tears prickled her eyes.
She sank down on the sofa and turned to stare out the windows at the city. Any moment now the sun would begin to rise, starting with a little gray, a tiny bit of light in all that darkness.
Yvonne would get through this. She was too tough not to. But she didn’t want to be alone. Nolan had become her partner, the person she could trust, and she missed that. She missed him. He was right. They’d shared something special, and now it was dying because she’d been too scared to trust him all the way.
She had no one but herself to blame.
He’d told her about his mother, the lies. It didn’t take a genius to understand that he would see her hesitation as deception.
She buried her face in the crook of her elbow and let her tears fall onto the couch cushion.
When she’d told Nolan work came first, and then everything else, she hadn’t known she’d been in love with him. Or would be. She still didn’t know when it had happened, only that it had and now the idea of him not in her life scared her.
Someone tapped at her door.
Yvonne was in no mood for the nurse’s regular check-in.
“I’m awake. I’m fine. I don’t need anything,” she called out and hoped the woman took the hint.
The door creaked open anyway.
Yvonne lifted her head and stared out the window, doing her best to stealth-wipe the tears away.
A large figure reflected back at her, too big to be the petite nurse.
Yvonne’s heart twinged and for a moment she forgot to breathe.
Nolan was there. She wanted to be happy, but the truth was, she didn’t know what his presence meant.
“No one needs apology donuts,” he said and shut the door behind him.
She dried her cheek then turned, only now noticing the white bakery box in his hand.
“I think best when I can just drive, and I figured I shouldn’t show up empty handed.” He remained standing by the door, all that space between them.
Yvonne swallowed. What did he need to think about? Why a gift?
“Your family is going to stay in a FBI safe house for the night, probably tomorrow. Everyone has questions. Best they can tell right now, the people who kidnapped you were doing it on a competitor’s dime. An agent will be by to bother you tomorrow, but the most important thing is that everyone is okay.”
“A competitor? Who?” Yvonne gaped at him. They worked in IT security, nothing crazy.
“Don’t know. It’s just a theory right now.”
“Is Melody okay?”
“Yeah.” His brows rose, and he shook his head.
“What does that mean?”
Nolan ambled toward the bed and set the donuts on the rolling tray. “I’ve worked with Melody for about a year and a half now. I knew she had a license to carry a gun, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her with one until last night. She’s always behind the scenes. I guess I didn’t realize she’s not just there to handle things for us.”
“Why is Grant so mean to her?” It was a question that had bugged Yvonne.
“You know, that’s been bugging me for a while. They’re almost always at each other’s throats behind the scenes. You don’t see how they get into it when you’re not around.” He shook his head. “I’m wondering if there isn’t something going on we don’t know about?”
“You mean, are they together?”
“Nah.” Nolan shook his head.
Yvonne wasn’t so sure. Melody was a strong personality despite her quiet exterior. If she wanted to take Grant on, Yvonne’s money was on Melody. But not everyone wanted a challenging partner.
Nolan was challenging.
They remained where they were, studying each other.
“Can we rewind?” he asked.
“To when?”
“To the part right before my phone rang, when I realized my mouth was moving but my brain wasn’t working?” Nolan took a few steps closer.
“Okay.” Yvonne clasped her hands in her lap.
“I was pissed because all I heard was that you didn’t expect me to be involved—”
She sat up straighter. “That wasn’t—”
“Let me finish?” He held up both hands. He was only a few feet away now, creeping closer. “Because that wasn’t what you said.”
“No.” She’d specifically led with other options for that reason.
“You were being you, planning for every inevitable outcome, but all I heard was, I don’t need you.” Nolan perched on the edge of the sofa, a little ways away from her. “You’ve had a little time to wrap your head around all of this. My first reaction is not always my best one.”
Yvonne could attest to that. Nolan reacted. He was passionate. She didn’t have to wonder what he thought because it popped out of his mouth, wanted or not. And what had struck a chord in him was the idea that she didn’t want or need him in her life. That was the exact opposite of her intentions.
He wanted to be part of it. This. Whatever was happening.
Nolan scooted closer. Yvonne stopped breathing as that fact sunk in.
He was willing to fight her to be in their child’s life.
He reached over and wrapped his hand around hers. She could smell soap on his skin. He wasn’t wearing the same clothes he had from earlier. His jeans and T-shirt were different. Under that, he was still Nolan. The man she hadn’t expected.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” he said. “I’m totally out of my depth here. But I’m not abandoning any kid of mine or you. You got that? Now, we said we’d see where things went after all this. So it’s a little more complicated? Big deal. I know Vegas was a bad way to make you believe that I’m not a guy who walks away from things, but I promise you that’s not who I am.”
“Oh.” The one word stuttered out of her and her heart squeezed. She needed him to say exactly what he meant because she’d fallen off a cliff into something she wanted so badly.
His face went serious. Hard. “I don’t want your parents jerking your strings. I’ll play nice right now but you have got to know I’m not puttin
g up with that shit.”
“Deal,” she said around the lump in her throat.
“My parents aren’t much better. We’ve got shit role models to go off. I’m going to fuck up a lot. I have to work on thinking before I react. I’m stubborn and hardheaded which means our kid is probably going to be a tough shit.”
A laugh bubbled up out of her and a tear trickled down her cheek. She could work with this. If he wanted to give her a chance, maybe she could show him he could love her like she loved him.
“Come here. I need this.” Nolan gently tugged her to him until he had her tucked up against his side, his arms sheltering her. “God, Vee, today is the best and worst day of my life.”
She felt his lips kiss the top of her head.
“It has been a roller coaster, hasn’t it?” She laid her cheek on his shoulder, her heart swelling so much her ribs hurt then whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“No more secrets, okay?”
Her throat closed up. She couldn’t speak, so she nodded. Except she was lying already.
Yvonne was hiding one more thing. She’d gone off and fallen in love with him.
NOLAN CLOSED HIS EYES and breathed in the scent of shampoo, soap and disinfectant.
She hadn’t tossed him out. She’d listened to him. Maybe he’d get her to forgive him, too?
He’d never forget staring into her wide, fearful eyes right before he’d shut the closet door on her.
I love you.
He bent his head and kissed her brow again, so damn grateful everything had worked out.
She tipped her chin up. Her hand rose to cup the back of his neck. His whole world shrunk to her lips, the sweetest ones he’d ever kissed. When he would have pulled back, she shifted closer, holding him tighter. All he wanted was her in his arms, his life, his heart. He was powerless against this tiny woman.
Yvonne slid onto his lap, her fingers weaving through his hair.
This could get out of hand fast. As much as his cock wanted to sink into her, there was more to discuss. He groaned and broke the kiss, burying his face in her hair.
She laid her head on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around him.
How lucky was he?
On a random night in a flashy bar, he’d run into this amazing woman, and his life was better for it.
Dangerously Involved (Aegis Group Lepta Team, #2) Page 27
