Two Firefighters Next Door: A Bad Boy MFM Romance

by Jay S. Wilder

  “That’s unacceptable,” the man said. “You need to get your facts straight and retrieve it.”

  “There’s nothing to retrieve.”

  “Orders are to deliver the USB drive.”

  “That’s not the precise assignment. Besides, I don’t take orders from someone at my pay grade…or below.”

  Without looking at him, the man folded over a newspaper as if to read another subject and said, “Orders change. You, of all people, know that.”

  “I was told to gather intel only.”

  “Is that what you call it?”

  How the fuck?

  Did this guy know? He couldn’t. No way. He was trying to rile up Nick, although he wouldn’t let it work. He wouldn’t give too much away and wouldn’t simply part with something so many people were after. Maybe it was to save Nicole’s ass or maybe it was because Nick was trying to figure things out on his own. He’d gone to too much of an effort as it was to get the drive and stash it away. He wouldn’t easily be parted with it, or even let anyone know it was in his possession.

  “Get it,” the man said.

  “If it exists.”

  When Nick went to stand, the man stopped him and handed him the folded newspaper. “Here, take this, as well. You’ll need it.”

  “For what?”

  “X29 will message you with further instructions.”

  A weapon? Why would he need this now?

  Something wasn’t right.

  “Throw me a fucking bone, would you?”

  “As I said, your handler will send new instructions when you get the data drive. Everything hinges on that drive.”

  Without another word, he got up and he walked away, blending in with the crowd. Nick stood up and then ducked into a corner. They’d armed him, Goddammit. Right here at the airport. Right under the nose of TSA and near undercover federal marshals.

  That meant one of two things: either The Company expected trouble or he was about to get orders to neutralize Nicole Hunt.

  He hoped like fuck it wouldn’t come to that second option.

  One thing he knew for sure, that data drive was staying with him.

  Nicole

  JFK Airport, New York City

  The last time Nicole fell asleep, she’d awakened to an erotic dream followed by the live action version. This time, she was in the middle of a conscious nightmare.

  Sitting straight up, Nicole didn’t hear the whirling hum of the plane slicing through the air or the bouncing of landing on a tarmac. Other that a few stragglers and people taking forever to get their bags from the overhead bins, Nicole was one of the last people on the plane. The first class cabin was completely cleared out. Peeking out the small window, she saw the baggage handlers retrieving cases from the belly of the aircraft.

  They’d landed?

  Oh yeah… and Nick was gone.

  Had he tried to wake her up, was unable, and gave up?

  Maybe he had a connecting flight he had to get to, but then he’d told her he was actually coming here to visit property nearby that his family owned. JFK was his final destination.

  So, what?

  Nick just… left?

  An emotional rush overtook her and the sudden desire to cry like a baby threatened her. After what they’d shared, she’d hoped to maybe continue it at another time – when she was passed what she was embroiled in and when he was back in San Francisco. But, wait… had he even told her he was from the Bay area? Or, had she simply assumed that bit of information due to his point of departure?

  God, she felt stupid. Then again, it was her own fault she hadn’t gotten his number before she passed out, which was a damn shame. She could use another dose of Nick… geez, she never even asked him his last name.

  Anger seethed through her, bringing her fully alert and awake. She guessed she couldn’t be too mad at a hot guy, though, for having a semi-anonymous casual encounter with a stranger on a plane. It had all been her idea, as it was. She supposed she couldn’t be too angry at him, although, she was. What a jerk. He could have left a note, his number, a “thanks for the great sex,” or anything.

  No. He’d simply disappeared as if he’d never existed.

  Nicole knew damn well she hadn’t invented him. Her body still sang out and slightly ached in places she hadn’t used in awhile. That was not imaginary.

  “Are you okay, dear?”

  It was Gloria, the flight attendant.

  “Yeah, I was dead asleep and missed the landing.”

  Concern crossed Gloria’s face. “Wh-wh-where is your fiancé?”

  Nicole wanted to set her straight, but what was the point? She shrugged it off, not wanting to piss off the kind hostess who had given her so many liberties.

  “Oh, um… he went ahead to get our things. We’re meeting at baggage claim.”

  The older woman smiled. “What a sweetheart. Can I help you at all? Do you need a wheelchair escort due to your… condition?”

  Nicole shook her head. You would have thought she was the first “pregnant” person Gloria had ever run across. All the same, Nicole could take care of herself. She had to. And always did. It was paramount she get out to the main counter and purchase her ticket for London as soon as possible.

  “I’m good. Thanks. Now that most everyone is off, I can go. I didn’t want anyone waiting on me, you know, holding them up.”

  “Well, all the best to you two,” Gloria said and moved forward into the galley to clean up.

  Nicole stretched and stood up, careful not to bump into the overhead console. She went into the aisle and reached overhead for her roller board. She pulled it down and jerked the handle up so she could tug it along. She remembered she had put her backpack with her purse and computer under her seat and turned to reach down to grab it.

  It was gone.

  “What the fuck?”

  She scrambled to search under the other seat and beneath the one where she was sitting. Nothing. Fuck, fuck, fuck. It wasn’t in the overhead compartment, and it hadn’t shifted into another section.

  “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  Someone had taken her stuff.

  No, no, no… was it?

  Nick?

  That asshole had run off with her pack!

  She ground her teeth together and threw her hands up. Everything was in there, including her wallet, generic debit card, her ID, money, passport, and the bloody goddamned thumb drive with all the TDE-5X specs and the Terratech visitor log info from Saturday morning.

  Her proof. Her safety parachute. Her life preserver.

  That fucking prick.

  It couldn’t be anyone else. They were in first class, for Christ’s sake. Not exactly the scum of the earth surrounding them at the hefty ticket price. Somehow he knew what he was doing, had masterminded it all, and had gotten away with what she had to save her own ass. Had he even arranged for her to sit with him in first class or was that merely a coincidence?

  She’d been had, plain and simple.

  In more ways than one.

  God! She was so much smarter than that, had been trained by her father not to be so gullible or trusting of new people and their motivations. How could she have allowed this to happen?

  Nicole’s mind whirled, calculated, subtracted, and divided and she came up with the same concluding solution. She spun around in utter panic, not knowing what to do next, or where to even turn. Her world imploded all around her, yet only she could see and feel it.

  She had no escape. No viable means of getting out of the country.

  She had no identification.

  No… anything.

  That fucking prick.

  She couldn’t even hole up in an airport hotel until this all blew over, if it ever did.

  Slowly plodding off the plane and up through the jetway, she stifled the tears. These tears were of irritated frustration this time. Mostly, she was pissed off at herself for being so stupid, so open and trusting, and for not being more diligent, paying attention, or prot
ecting herself, even at thirty-five thousand fucking feet.

  This was the second sexy, conniving bastard who’d screwed her over. In every fucking interpretation of the word screwed.

  You’d think I’d learn my lesson.

  Exiting into the brightly-lit terminal, life went on all around her. People rushed from one gate to the other, lining up for coffee or burgers or the bathroom. Flight crews skittered about in their quest to get to their next assignment. Mothers navigated baby carriages through the mélange of people rushing about. Businessmen oblivious to anyone’s needs but their own, marched through on cell phone calls making offers and closing deals.

  Oh, how Nicole envied all of them.

  She just stood there, dumbfounded, trying to figure out how it had all gone so wrong so fast.

  While other passengers continued along all around her, she was paralyzed in place.

  Because, while they were enjoying their normal life, hers might well be over.

  Nicole

  This was total bullshit.

  Everything. All her stuff. Gone.

  No phone. No computer. Not a cent to her name.

  “It was taken off the plane,” she told the airline customer service rep.

  “By our cleaning crew?”

  “No, by another passenger. It doesn’t even matter who did it at this point. I need to get to London on the evening flight.”

  The man scowled at her. “We have to report your ID missing to the police and your passport missing to the State Department. None of that is timely, so I’m afraid whatever flight you had planned for this evening won’t be an option for you.”

  Nicole pounded her fist on the counter and growled out loud.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am,” the airline rep said. “I’m doing my best, but we have procedures.”

  She closed her eyes for a moment. “It’s not your fault. I’m just… upset, as you can imagine. I appreciate all you’re doing.”

  Fuck it all. Her documentation could be replaced. What freaked her out the most were the facts that she had no money, no other way to pay for anything, or even her phone to make a call to her father. But worst of all, the fucking data drive was gone. It was her bargaining chip in case she needed to negotiate for safe passage. I was the means to keep breathing.

  “I can offer you one night in the Sheraton JFK while you wait for the police to get a copy of your California license and for the State Department to issue a new passport to you.”

  She sighed long and hard. “That’s really thoughtful, but I don’t want to stay here. I need to get to London. Immediately.” She widened her eyes and emphasized the urgency by lowering her voice. “It’s life or death.”

  He was taken aback for a moment. He reached into a drawer and withdrew several pieces of paper. “This is the best I can offer, ma’am.”

  Nicole’s eyes shifted to see a voucher for the food court, as well as offers for a free drink and free movie on her next flight.

  There wouldn’t be a ‘next’ flight for her because someone was going to find her. When she turned, disappointed, with her fist clenching the gratis amenities, she swallowed hard, nearly choking on the breath that stuck in her throat.

  For, across the way to her left, she made out two of the suited dark thugs she’d seen in the office at Terratech and to her left, there sat Nick.

  She decided no matter what, he was the least of the two evils. Sure, he was military trained and could easily overpower her if she didn’t have the element of surprise. The thugs… well, she figured they had firepower, a taser, hell, a vial of something to inject by needle—something—to render her useless.

  She zeroed her eyes on Nick and marched straight across the terminal to where he sat.

  “Well, if it isn’t the world’s biggest cock nozzle.”

  Nick looked surprised for a second, but quickly adapted and let out a laugh. “That’s original.”

  “You aren’t.” She glanced over her shoulder at Humpty and Dumpty. They hadn’t seen her yet, so she had to make this quick. She extended her hand out to Nick. “Hand it over.”

  “Hand what over?” he mocked a bit too sarcastically for her taste.

  “You know goddamned well what I’m talking about. I want my stuff. My bag, my purse, everything that was in it including my computer and passport.”

  He shook his head and sucked air through his teeth to show his disappointment. “You really need to be more careful, Nicole. You need stuff like that when you travel.”

  She wanted to scream at him and attack him with her fists, but that would have called too much attention to them. “I’m not doing this, Nick. I don’t know what your game is or who you’re working for, but give me my shit back. Now.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  God, why did he have to smile at her so wickedly? Was this some sort of fucking game to him? Was this how he picked up women? She didn’t have time for this.

  “Look, if this is your way of flirting or wanting to see me again… okay, I forgive you. Just give me my stuff, we’ll exchange digits, and pick this up another day. Right now, though, I have to get out of here.”

  Nick flattened his mouth. “I don’t think so. We have some things to talk about.”

  She turned back to the goons. Her luck was going to run out and then what?

  “Another time. Now, Nick.”

  “No, Nicole. I don’t think so. You’re in some deep shit. I’m afraid I can’t let you get on that flight to London tonight or any other night.”

  Her breath hitched, threatening to strangle her on the realization of exactly was happening right before her.

  “You…”

  He stood and took a step toward her. “Nicole, let me explain…”

  She put her hand up. “No, I don’t think you need to.”

  Nick wasn’t just some random guy who’d bumped into at the airport. He wasn’t some mysterious traveler who happened to get seated next to her on the flight. In first class. Like that could really occur… an accidental upgrade next to the perfect, sexy, gorgeous con man!

  “You’ve said and done enough, Nick. If that’s even your name.”

  “It is,” he said firmly, advancing another step on her.

  God, she couldn’t believe this. Here she was running from trouble and there she’d gone and fucked it. Invited it. Willingly. With her legs wide open.

  “We’re done here, Nick. Just fuck off and leave me alone,” she snarled out at him, backing away from him.

  However, he took three strides and firmly took her by the elbow, pulling her toward him in what might appear to be a lover’s welcome to passersby. To Nicole, all she could feel under the light jacket Nick was holding was something firm, hard, and steely.

  This time, it wasn’t his cock.

  No, something else was cocked and jabbed into her side.

  Nick

  Nick hadn’t merely been sitting across from Nicole all this time. He’d been watching her and monitoring the perimeter around her. Not only was he following her, but he believed he’d sensed out four others there to observe her, or worse.

  She was feisty, headstrong, and pissed at him—rightly so—but, right now, he needed to protect her and get her away from here. He couldn’t let her know he was on her side, though. Not yet. It went against his code, his assignment, and his directives, but this time, he had to listen to his instincts. He needed her to think he was a threat, so she’d behave.

  “A shortened M16 carbine is usually my weapon of choice, but right now, I have a .38 special pointed directly at your kidneys. If you don’t do what I say, one well-placed shot will obliterate your insides. There won’t be anything left for the ER doctors to reassemble,” he said low and harsh into her ear.

  He felt her stiffen and then tremble in his grasp and felt horribly guilty for causing her so much pain. It was necessary, though, to get her to follow him to safety.

  “Do you understand?”

  She gasped and then nodded he
r head.

  “I don’t want to hurt you, Nicole. You have to listen to me, though.” He nudged her with the barrel of the gun for effect.

  “Okay. Yes. Whatever, Nick. Just don’t—”

  “Shhh…” he hissed in her ear. Acting as if they were nuzzling together at the gate, he began to slowly lead her away. He’d seen a gate nearby that was closed off due to painting and construction. Thick tarp hung from the ceiling to conceal the mess from travelers. It was the perfect place to get her to so he could explain everything.

  “Keep walking,” he said. “There are two men at one o’clock. Definitely ex-Special Forces.” When she went to look, he tightened his hold. “Not good guy ex-Special Forces. Mercenaries. I’ve run into them before.”

  “Isn’t that what you are?” she asked weakly.

  “Just keep walking.”

  “Are you all with the other guys?” she asked.

  “Which ones?”

  “The big dudes over there.” She motioned with her head. “They were at my office back in Silicon Valley. They must have followed me here, but then you’d know that, wouldn’t you?”

  “It’s not like that, Nicole.”

  He steered them away into the crowd of passengers and then ducked into the gate area undergoing renovations. He pushed her in slightly and removed the gun from her back. Securing them inside the tent, he looked back at her just in time to see her small, white-knuckled fist close to his face.

  “Christ. What the fuck, Nic?” he grunted out after her punch made contact with the cartilage of his nose. It barely stunned him. Shaking it off, he wiped at the slight blood that trickled from his right nostril. “I guess I had that coming.”

  “Damn right you did,” she snapped.

  “Just so you know, that tickled.”

  When she came swinging at him this time, he was prepared. He blocked her advance and captured her wrists. He maneuvered her left arm behind her. He was only trying to hold her off so he could speak, not actually hurt her. But fuck, she had a fight in her. Nicole was doing her best to twist away. She got loose for a split second and managed to reach for a paint roller that was nearby.