Last Strike

by Regan Black

  “There’s a difference between following orders and malicious killing.”

  He refused to hide behind the excuse of orders or manipulation. “I’m done with that.” What kind of an idiot was he that it tweaked his pride to be replaced by a newer, deadlier model? “From now on I’ll only defend myself. I won’t kill.” Unless he killed himself. Which might be the best solution, once she was safe. He needed one person in the world to see him, to remember him, as something other than a monster.

  And he needed to be sure that one person, this woman in front of him survived. Daria was his only opportunity to pull something truly good from his existence with UI.

  She stepped closer, her lean legs pushing his knees wider. Picking up his hands, she brought them to her hips. His fingers flexed into her soft, supple curves. Her gentle touch glided over his head and all of their contrasts struck him as laughable. He was bald, she had thick, glorious hair. He was hard and vicious, she was warm and supple.

  Bending close, her hair fell across his cheek as she graced him with the softest kiss on his lips. A touch he couldn’t fight and didn’t want to. Her lips melted against his, tasting, giving, drawing a yearning out of his black soul. A need so intense he trembled.

  “Shh,” she whispered against his mouth. “I’ve got you.”

  Her small hands smoothed over his nape and he shook, recalling how he’d thought to snap her neck. “Daria…” He couldn’t get out the ‘no’. Couldn’t refuse her while her hair fell around them like a curtain, her lips feathering kisses over his face.

  He dropped his forehead to her shoulder and tried again. “I can’t. We can’t do this.” His body told him to shut the hell up and let her take whatever she wanted. “I’ll hurt you.” His body was so much bigger than hers. He wasn’t sure he could manage his enhancements around her.

  “Never,” she murmured at his ear. Her tongue blazed a trail along the curve of his ear, suckling at the lobe. “Noah.” She moved over him, her knees hugging his hips as she perched on his thighs. “I’ve got you.”

  That angelic voice stroked him as effectively as her hands. He believed her. Maybe he just wanted to believe her. Was there a difference? The more she touched him, the stronger he felt. He watched his big, ugly hands shape the length of her beautiful thighs covered by worn denim, outside and in, as she sighed and scooted closer.

  “Be smart, Daria.” One of them had to be smart. It had to be her. She had all the degrees. He dug his hands into her hips when she pushed closer, holding her just out of reach. If any part of her brushed up against his hard-on he’d be lost.

  In her, to her.

  Daria strained against his hold, desperate to touch all of him, all at once. He didn’t trust himself. How could she show him the man she saw? She relaxed, felt him respond, as she pressed her mouth to his. Filling the kiss with the tenderness he’d shown her at every turn. Had she wanted a man the way she wanted him? Never. If he was determined to leave her, she was determined to make it the toughest decision of his life.

  She braced her hands on those impossibly strong shoulders and pushed gently while her tongue stroked deep into his mouth.

  His body yielded, as she knew it would. The position brought his erection right up against her core. Beneath her, she devoured that glorious torso with her eyes, her mouth and hands, not giving him time to argue.

  Overwhelming him was key, though technically that was impossible. Well, so was being alive when the program’s best assassin had been sent to eliminate her.

  She smiled against his warm skin. They were both alive and if she succeeded with her seduction, they’d both have more to fight for. She continued her exploration, carefully avoiding the bruises and wounds from the earlier fight. No bad memories here. No triggers. Only love.

  Love. She didn’t dare say it. She told him without words what her heart and body knew. Sitting up, she stripped away her t-shirt, reached back and unhooked her plain white bra.

  His hands flexed on her thighs and she brought them up to cup her breasts. Her eyelids closed in the immediate ecstasy. His rough callouses scuffed her nipples and she moaned in delight. She reached for his fly, barely sliding the button free before he tugged her down.

  Her hands braced on either side of his head, her breasts swayed in front of his face. He captured one aching peak in his mouth while his eyes watched her react.

  His lips were the only soft thing about him, she thought, rocking her hips against his hard length. The right pressure and a hint of pace and she’d have an orgasm before they got the rest of their clothes off.

  She focused her efforts and attention on him, reflecting the exquisite pleasure he was giving her. His breath sighed in and out as she moved against his brawny body, touching him everywhere she could from this position. She reached for his fly again, this time succeeding enough that she could reach in and wrap her hand around his erection.

  The delicious contact seemed to freeze them both in place. She thought he’d protest again. He didn’t. His pale eyes weren’t cold or indifferent, they were lit with a blatant, sexual promise she’d never seen in another man.

  He rolled them until she was stretched out under him. His weight pressed her into the mattress and she caressed his face and arms, kissed his shoulders. But he didn’t stay within reach. He slid lower, stripping away her jeans and underwear, the socks she’d worn against the room’s over-achieving air conditioner. He ditched his pants as well and she savored the exceptional view.

  Beautiful warrior. Heroic lover. Under all of UI’s programming and enhancement, he was the most honorable, the strongest of men. Love me, she cried out with her eyes and her seeking hands. She wanted to give him those tender words, the certain knowledge, beating inside her ribcage. It was too soon, for both of them.

  His eyes studied her from head to toe and back up. Everywhere his gaze lingered her body responded with a hot flash of anticipation. At last he touched her, blazing a sizzling trail from her feet upward with lips and teeth and hands. Slowly, so slowly she thought she’d die before he reached the hot, weeping juncture of her thighs. As he put his mouth on her sex, she knew she wouldn’t survive the onslaught. Her heart hammered and her hips bucked until those big hands held her down, held her open to his demands.

  She cried out his name when the orgasm shattered her senses. Her hands beckoned him close, her body craving more. More of him. He bent his head to her breasts, his erection teasing her. She begged, delighted. He laughed, the rough, out-of-practice sound teasing every raw nerve.

  He wouldn’t let her push him back and take what she needed. No, with one smooth thrust he buried himself deep inside her, satisfying them both. Eyes open, gazes locked, she reveled in the beautiful sensations. Thrilled, her greedy body clung to his, reluctant to let go as he began to move, sliding back and sinking deep again. Over and over.

  He leaned down, covering her, kissing the sensitive place where throat curved into shoulder. He wrapped her in his arms, his cross caught between their pounding hearts as his hips pumped and her legs came up to cradle his body.

  She felt him everywhere, inside and out, giving all of himself, taking all she could give. Nothing in her life had prepared her for this kind of beauty, this stunning glory. Life affirming. Life altering.

  She’d never belong to another man, never belong solely to herself, ever again. Not after this experience. His name was her prayer as his body shook with a climax.

  Chapter Eight

  Noah woke to the soft sound of a ringing phone and the softer voice of Daria answering. He listened to her end of the conversation, heard her breath catch as the news excited her.

  “The proving ground was helpful?” he asked when she ended the call and rolled back to stare at the ceiling.

  “Definitely,” she replied, curling onto her side and smiling at him. Her small hand looked out of place on his scarred chest. “The first of Amelia’s articles will go live today.”

  “UI will go on the offensive.”

 
“Yes, but this first article alone should put a halt to operations and prevent an evacuation of the program hub in Boston.”

  He should feel happier that they were one step closer to putting this behind them. “Where do you want me to take you? We have to get you out of here.”

  “To the lab.”

  He flinched. “No.”

  She propped up on her elbow, tucking strands of golden hair behind her ear. “Relax. It will draw Messenger to us again. John has a plan to deal with him while I work up a serum to counter your tracker. Once that’s fried, we can escape.”

  “We?” It was such a foreign concept.

  “Amelia says they can get us both out. Together.”

  He resisted her affectionate enthusiasm. “I’m a risk to you, Daria. To you and the plan.” ‘Together’ couldn’t mean what he wanted her to mean, not so soon. Maybe when they were safe, he could get a few more days or weeks with her. “You should go alone.”

  “Not after... last night,” she said. Visibly, she braced herself to argue. “Whether or not we fry the tracker, you’re the only man I trust with... with my life.”

  This had to be a residual side-effect of the sex last night. If playing along with her claim was the only way to get her out safely, he’d do it. Until he had to walk away to be sure she stayed safe. “All right.” He caught the way she studied him for any hint of deception. “The lab first. You get one chance at the tracker, then we’re out.”

  “Together.”

  He nodded, unwilling to lie to her face when she was naked and warm, her skin pink from the scruff on his jaw, and her tantalizing lips within easy reach. He kissed her, discussing options and contingencies between alluring touches and intimacies. If this was his last chance to feel what decent men felt, he’d make it count.

  * * *

  Two hours later on the drive to the lab, he hesitated. Him, the man who never shirked a fight or a kill, turned away from the parking garage to circle the block. If he only had a few minutes left with her, he should tell her the truth.

  The words wouldn’t come. He made three quick turns, putting them back on course. It seemed he didn’t have the courage for three equally quick words.

  She reached over, her fine-boned hand soft as a feather on his hard thigh. “We’ll go in, get what you need, and get out.”

  Once more they were walking into a trap, together. Being fully aware, didn’t change the dangerous facts. “I need you,” he said, his voice jerking a little on the admission.

  “I need you too,” she said, giving his thigh a squeeze. “I refuse to let the UI program keep abusing the best man I’ve ever known.”

  He shook his head at her choice of words. So many men, even within UI, were better than him. So many men had taken the high road and died rather than submit and obey.

  If they didn’t take care of this now, he’d forever be more threat than asset to her. If they failed here, if her theory didn’t hold, if Ben’s mysterious errand didn’t pay off, he’d never be free of Messenger.

  His stomach heaved and he swallowed the surge of bile rising into his throat. Each of those ifs turned to needles biting his skin, sinking deep into his veins to eradicate the last of his free will. One more injection and she was sure he’d be free. He smothered his persistent doubt by focusing on her belief and her trust.

  No one intercepted them in the garage, though he was sure they were monitoring the cameras. Alarms didn’t scream when the access card slid through the reader. No guard waited behind the tall desk in the center of the lobby. Even the computers were down. The facility had been closed. Would she have the materials to create her serum, or had Messenger anticipated their move and ordered it all destroyed?

  His mind drummed up a bleak vision of an empty lab, her supplies long gone and their fragile hope along with them.

  “If -” he began.

  She silenced him with a touch, taking his big hand between both of hers and kissing his battered knuckles. “We’ll find a way,” she promised, her deep brown gaze shining as she peered at him from under her lashes. “Today, hopefully, tomorrow if necessary. This isn’t the only lab in the world, Noah. I won’t stop until you’re free.”

  Walking away from her today, tomorrow, or the day after would be the hardest task of his life. Harder than saving her a few days ago. Harder than letting her body take his rough, desperate passion last night.

  “They’re close.” Again, he chose the obvious rather than the necessary words lurching around behind his glum heart.

  “We’ll survive anything they throw at us. Together.”

  She sounded so damn sure, he almost believed her. What he knew, beyond any experimental mind control, was that she would survive. He would see to that.

  One hand still wrapped around one of his, she swiped the access card through the electronic lock protecting her lab. The door slid back and they peered inside.

  “It’s all here,” she said, her relief obvious as they crossed the threshold. “This won’t take long.”

  A figure materialized out of the shadows at the far end of Daria’s lab. “Take your time,” Noah replied. He’d hoped for another shot at Messenger’s new cleaner. Smiling, he stepped up as the feral lust for combat surged through his veins.

  Sound crystallized into individual notes around him. Daria’s shoes squeaking on the linoleum with her hurried steps, air roaring through the ventilation ducts. His heartbeat thudding in his ears, the crackle of his opponent’s knuckles curling into fists.

  “Surrender.”

  Noah shook his head. “You first.” He knew they were being watched. Messenger surely had a team ready to close in if Noah gained the advantage. Standard protocol. They’d discussed it, yet living it, the dreadful consequences piled up far worse than they’d been in theory. He would die here for the sole purpose of Daria’s survival.

  It had been a good life.

  He took it in, absorbing the detail of each separate second. His opponent advanced and Noah rushed to meet him. He dodged the blow aimed at his nose, bypassed the hook that followed and plowed an elbow into his opponent’s ribs.

  Noah smiled as bone crunched. The lack of deadly weapons meant the replacement had been told to toy with him. No problem. He was more than ready for the rematch and anything that followed.

  He exchanged body blows with Messenger’s new assassin as they slammed through lab equipment and fragile, abandoned experiments. Two bulls raging through a china shop. Only one of them would walk out when the trap sprung.

  He knew, for Daria’s sake, it had to be him.

  Hand to hand combat was no easy task against the replacement fighting with fresh, new enhancements. Noah rose to the challenge, thinking two strikes ahead, waiting for the right openings to land stunner punches and debilitating hits.

  “Almost ready,” Daria cried out from the other end of the lab.

  He didn’t care about salvaging his freedom. Every minute they lingered here, Messenger’s net cinched a little tighter. He could feel it. Luring Messenger here had backfired. Noah altered his role in the plan, fighting only to give Daria an opening to escape. John assured them Ben was standing by in some soft shadow and Amelia, with John’s help, would create a new life for her.

  As he hooked his hands over his replacement’s head and brought that head to his rising knee, he grinned at the odd sense of victory.

  His short time with Daria had turned four faceless code names into real people. People he valued. People who might be friends under different circumstances. She’d be so happy if he could tell her. It was a damned-near human accomplishment for him. As was the hope that followed the new awareness.

  He wanted to escape with her. He wanted to live. With her.

  “Stand down!”

  Noah dropped to his knees, the habit to obey Messenger’s commands too deeply ingrained to ignore. Ashamed, he tried to stand and couldn’t. A UI strike team flooded the lab, weapons drawn, red laser sights leveled on him.

  Daria shouted, twisti
ng against the hold of two merciless men in standard UI strike gear. Noah surged to his feet, the need to protect her stronger than the willingness to obey his old master. He checked his move the instant a gun pressed into her side. A sharp report echoed through the lab and he swore, expecting her to crumple. She didn’t. The startling flash of pain in his thigh told him the gunshot he’d heard had been aimed at him. Sheer relief put a smile on his face.

  “Stand down!”

  He hit his knees again, awkwardly adopting a penitent pose with head bowed, gaze lowered. Blood soaked into his pants, the dark red stain spreading, molding the wet fabric to his leg. His mind drifted. The wound was irrelevant. He didn’t even see the result, he saw Daria’s hand on that very spot. This morning. Last night.

  Those hours had been the best of his life.

  Messenger shouted at him, at others. He ruled the room, barking orders and making declarations as if he were a god. As if...

  Noah raised his head. Something cracked inside him, through him. Messenger was a man. Never a god, not even a ruler of a minor kingdom. Just a man on a big power trip, with superior forces at his disposal. A man who would cower and bleed as soon as Noah attacked.

  It wouldn’t be over until he put Messenger down. He realized it with a brutal clarity. Traps and plans aside, it was the only possible outcome.

  His eyes met Daria’s. Taking out Messenger could be his last, best gift for her, his attempt at redemption for all the lives he’d ended along his ugly career. A small restitution for the horrendous trouble he caused John, Amelia, and countless others when he’d blindly followed Messenger’s commands.

  Daria and her new allies would get the word out about UI’s horrific experiments. They would take the right steps to see that Messenger’s deadly mission ultimately failed. If he could overcome this catastrophic setback of Messenger’s trap springing first. Ben and John might hate him, but they wouldn’t leave Daria in the lurch.