by Loki Renard
“Oh,” she said. “Well, there you go then.”
He nodded, his expression filled with interest. “What happened after you made your little heist?”
“A lot of bullets, then Iron Horse,” she said, giving him the edited version of the story.
“So you have a great many people looking for you. This facility might be the best place for you.”
“Maybe,” Zora shrugged. “Or maybe I don't care anymore.”
“You don't care if you die?”
She frowned, thinking about that. Did she care if she died? She wasn't particularly keen on the idea admittedly, but with life being nothing but a long string of kidnaps and incarceration she wasn't sure her existence had much of a point either. With that simple question, Tex had unwittingly triggered the final flow of verbal madness. She was tired of lying, tired of her secrets being unknown. She was tired of caring what happened next. “Since my little trip to Bulgaria I don't really worry about that sort of thing anymore,” she said in carefree tones.
His ears almost pricked visibly. “Bulgaria?”
“Yes, terrorists with a nuke, nasty business, sure you know all about it,” she said. “Code was a bitch to break, took me all of a minute.”
“You?” He smirked in disbelief. “Pull the other one, Miss Matthews.”
She ignored him as she kept talking. “Old hardware though, eccentric security system. They'd be better off with modern sensors, not some cockamamie algorithm and current-free zone. Must be a bitch if someone forgets to take off their calculator wristwatch. It's almost like it's difficult to get good equipment in darkest Bulgaria. All that communist fallout and whatnot,” she said, taking another nibble of the toast.
“Why are you telling me this now?” He didn't sound quite as suspicious or surprised as she would have liked.
“Because,” she smiled sweetly “I don't care anymore. Congratulations, you win. Sorry it's not the prize you thought you were getting. No super secret agents here, just some lady with a bit of a talent for numbers.”
“And an almost total lack of social inhibition and nerves of steel,” Tex said, sounding quite complimentary. He was smiling broadly. “I knew there was something about you.”
“Yes, sure you did,” Zora said. “Here,” she reached for a napkin, picked up a pencil on the table and scribbled a few lines of numbers in it. “Run these through your system.”
He picked the napkin up and frowned at it. “What are they?”
“Could be proof, could be my way of giving you a nasty virus,” she grinned. “Your people can figure out which one it is, I don't much care what you do with it.”
Her generosity was rewarded with what she could only describe as a dark look. “I can only think that you need your handler,” Tex said. “There is no way any operative capable of doing the work you've done can behave the way you do.”
“You mean Savage? If I see him again, I'll kick his ass myself,” she said, a dark cloud passing over her usually light features. “He's dead to me.”
“Is he now?” A knowing, thoroughly patronizing look was on Tex's face.
“He is,” she declared vehemently.
“I don't think he'll be pleased to hear that.”
“I don't think he'll give a flying fuck.”
The next voice came from behind her in a low authoritarian drawl. “On the contrary, Matthews.”
She stood up so fast her chair fell over and whirled around to face the doorway. It was filled with 6'3 of the most powerful man she'd ever laid eyes on. Her face went sheet white as her eyes ran over familiar features. It was him, the same strong nose, the same scar, the same super scale build and most of all, the same dark eyes that held her in thrall like a charmer holds a snake.
She'd imagined their meeting many times before, what it would be like to rush into his arms and be held. Her dreams had been filled with how she would kiss him and hug him and never let him go. She would tell him how much she cared and beg him to never leave her side again, and he would promise to always be there for her and keep her safe.
What actually happened was quite different. She did not rush into his embrace, she folded her arms over her chest and glowered fiercely at him. Likewise, the first words out of her mouth were not soft words of love and they certainly weren't filled with tender sentiment.
“Where the FUCK have you been?”
Chapter Eight
“What the FUCK is going on?” Zora followed her first expletive laden question up with a second. This time she was pretty sure it really was him, but earlier disappointment made her cautious so she examined the man who probably was Savage closely. He looked a little different than he had done when she last saw him, he looked a little older, a little more worn. Not that it made any difference to how attractive he was, the salt streaks in his dark pepper hair made him look distinguished and the additional weathering on his face only served to make him look even more thoroughly masculine.
He was wearing civilian clothing, dark pants that enhanced the appearance of his long, strong legs and a close fitting sweater that attempted to minimize his broad shoulders and well shaped torso but only drew attention to it. Savage was a man built for one thing: action and a lot of it. People quite often dismissed him as a grunt, but that was a mistake, as one look at his keen eyes would have told them had they been able to tear their own ocular devices away from his battle hardened body. An acute intellect lay behind the magnetic eyes topped with sharp black brows.
Zora felt herself tremble as Savage's intense gaze settled on her. He did not seem pleased, his usually sensual mouth was set very hard and his brow was furrowed. She felt mildly guilty, though she couldn't quite put her finger on why. He couldn't blame her for being out of sorts, what had he expected, coming up on her like that? A damn parade?
Tex fielded her question before Savage could speak. “We er, extracted, Captain Savage a month ago. He was the one who advised me on your handling and care,” he said, speaking as if she were some kind of exotic rodent. “He has been shadowing us most of the way from Iron Horse.”
Zora opened her mouth to ask why the bloody hell they'd been toying with her when a simple 'hello, how do you do' would have sufficed, but Tex answered the question before she could ask it. “Your stay here has been an assessment of sorts. I needed time to get acquainted with you without interference, and without you knowing what was going on. Captain Savage made some extraordinary claims about your temperament and abilities that required extraordinary proof.”
She looked from one man to the other. “You two are the biggest assholes on the planet.”
“I understand your anger,” Tex said placatingly. “But it was for the best. I now know who I am dealing with.”
“Oh fuck you both so fucking hard.”
Savage had remained quiet whilst Tex spoke, but there was a tic in his strong square jaw, a tic she didn't pay nearly enough attention to. “Settle down, Matthews,” he growled suddenly.
She rolled her eyes, not even deigning to look at him. “Oh fuck off...OWWWW!”
His hand came down with enough force to propel her forwards, almost off her feet. The slap felt like a TNT explosion in her rear, short, sharp, and big enough to make her howl. Clutching at her bottom, she turned around, ready to scream at him, but he was already moving forward and he looked mad. “That's enough out of you Matthews,” he ordered curtly, backing her up against the wall and towering over her. “One more curse word and you'll be very sore.”
“Okay okay,” Zora abandoned her ass and held her hands up in surrender, her own anger disappating under his forcefulness. “So much for cuddles and kisses.”
“Open your ears and shut your mouth,” he snapped, his mouth set in a thin line. He wasn't treating her like a long lost lover, he was treating her like some badly behaved recruit on the verge of embarrassing him.
She gave him an incredulous look. She'd been pining away for months for this? He was an overbearing bully, a mean, inconsiderate, completely hear
tless excuse for a man. She scowled as he took a step away, turned for just a second so his back was to Tex and flickered an unexpected conspiratorial wink at her. Her tummy quivered as she was filled with a quick current of desire, his snappishness instantly forgiven.
He turned back and his expression became severe and authoritarian once more. What precisely was he playing at? She glanced at him often as Tex spoke, making noises about how necessary it had been to lie to her and put her through 'stress situations' to see how she reacted. In spite of Savage's orders she wasn't listening to Tex, not really. She couldn't take her mind off him Had he always been that big? That ruggedly handsome? She supposed he must have been.
“Miss Matthews?”
“Huh?”
Tex stopped speaking and both he and Savage looked at her as if she was supposed to have some sort of response to whatever it was he'd been saying. She hurried to fill the empty space with words to hide the fact she hadn't been listening at all. “So what now? Now we go and live happily ever after?”
“Now we work,” Savage said.
“Work?” She wrinkled her nose. “I don't much like the sound of that.”
There was definite censure in his voice as he leaned towards her. “That's because you haven't done any of it in a long time.”
“Hey, it's not my fault...” Her argument trailed off under his scowl.
“It is very much your fault that you decided to drink yourself halfway into oblivion and eat a diet that would make a dog sick.”
It had never occurred to her that he would know or care what she'd gotten up to in Iron Horse. He hadn't told her what to do after all, he'd just said to hide, and she had hidden. She crossed her arms over her chest defensively and tried to change the subject. “So we work for the government now?”
It was Tex who smiled slowly. “I'm not exactly affiliated with the government.”
She turned away from Savage and gave Tex her attention. “Who the hell are you then?”
“Miss Matthews, you might want to modulate your tone,” Tex suggested. “If for no other reason than the fact your captain appears to be on the edge of a disciplinary outburst. As I said but a minute ago,” he said with a significant look, not at her, but at her 'handler'. “I am one of the directors of a rather large private security firm. We do work all over the globe. Men like Captain Savage are very sought after in our organization, as are those with your talents, Miss Matthews.”
“So... mercenaries,” Zora said.
“If you like the term,” Tex said with a shrug. “It's occasionally apt.”
“Since when are you a mercenary?” She turned back to Savage. She wouldn't have thought he'd ever leave the military willingly. He was a military man through and through. Why, he'd seen fit to properly bugger her life up in the name of the big M.
“Since this is the only game in town that can keep someone like you safe,” Savage said, as if it were all her fault that everything had happened the way it did, as if it were her fault she were so good at doing bad things.
“Hey fuck you, I was an accountant, and a pretty shitty one before you made me 'someone like me',” Zora snapped. “If you'd left me the fuck alone then none of us would be here.”
“I told you to watch your mouth,” he growled.
As intimidating as he was, Zora wasn't prepared to back down on that particular fight. She stepped up to him, glaring up and wishing that she didn't have to crane her neck quite so much to meet his eyes.
“I warned you what would happen if you swore again,” he said, his voice dangerously soft.
“Lay a finger on me and I'll make you wish you were never born,” she replied. Her threat was overblown bluster, but she hoped it would save her from the consequences that were written in his eyes. Her ass would have been grass if it weren't for Tex interjecting.
“Children, children,” he said, a little mocking smile on his face. “Let's not fight.”
There was nothing but silence for a long moment as Savage's eyes slid from Zora over to the well dressed, handsome man who had stood up from his chair with a silly placating grin on his face. “Call me a child one more time and it will be the last thing you ever say,” Savage said in a low and menacing voice, turning his wrath upon his new employer.
Zora sniggered as Tex went a little pale. She didn't blame him, Savage was not given to wanton violence, he had self control beyond imagination, but he looked like the sort of man who might enjoy rending other men limb from limb. “I do apologize, force of habit,” Tex said quickly.
The matter was dropped as quickly as it had been raised. “Matthews is tired, as am I,” Savage said, taking control of the meeting. “We can continue this when everyone is rested properly.”
“Of course,” Tex agreed amicably. He didn't seem to mind Savage's authoritarian approach to everything, in fact he seemed to rather admire it. Zora wasn't sure if that was a weakness on Tex's part, or if he was simply enamored of his new toy like a boy proud of his strong new puppy. “I've arranged rooms for you two to share, rooms that don't have additional hallway ventilation,” he said pointedly.
“Very kind of you,” Savage said, looping his arm around Zora's waist in a gesture that was both possessive and comforting.
“I'll show you the way,” Tex said rather eagerly. They wound through corridors, Tex chatting the whole way about the mod-cons and satellite uplinks and the entertainment centers and how comfortable they would be. He was very clearly quite awestruck by Savage who was everything he was not.
Tex was a man of course, and quite a masculine and attractive one at that, but where Savage was built to destroy, he was built to evade. His body had a lithe quality suited only to the sinewy type of strength that favors flight over fight. Next to Savage he seemed small and slight as he moved quickly through the halls pointing out delights like a veritable Willy Wonka.
“Well, here we are,” he said, gesturing towards an open door that lead into a set of two rooms, one living room and one bedroom, bath adjoining. “I think you'll both be comfortable here.”
“Thanks,” Savage nodded after passing a cursory glance around the rooms. “These will do nicely.”
Tex made a few more remarks that neither Savage nor Zora paid any attention to then wandered off, shutting the door behind himself.
Finally alone, the couple stared at one another for a long moment, saying nothing. There was a lot Zora wanted to say, a lot of questions she wanted to ask, a lot of accusations she wanted to hurl, but when she opened her mouth to say something, nothing came out but a wail as she went and burst into tears like a complete idiot.
Savage made a soft tutting sound and pulled her into his arms. She could barely believe that he was really there, really holding her once more. Her shoulders shook as she cried uncontrollable tears that seemed to come from a hidden well inside her. He tried to calm her, but there were no words that could assuage the pain that was tumbling out all over him. “I'm sorry Zora,” he mumbled into her hair. “I'm so sorry it had to be this way.”
“I thought you were never coming back, and he, he touched me,” she cried.
“I know, I'm sorry,” Savage comforted her.
She blubbered against his chest, wetting his sweater thoroughly. “Why did you let him do that?”
Savage stalled for a little time by walking her across their shared space and drawing her down into a sitting position in the bed in the far room. “I thought it would be better than the alternatives,” he said when he had her settled on his knee. “He never laid an inappropriate hand on you, or hit you when you didn't deserve it, did he?”
She pouted. “But...”
“No buts,” he shook his head at her and pressed a light kiss to her lips. “You were a total brat sometimes.”
“No...”
“You took your clothes off in the middle of nowhere.”
“Okay maybe I was a little bratty,” she admitted with a small smile.
“Maybe nothing. You've not changed at all, Matthews,” he s
miled, holding her close. “Still the same pain in the ass as always.”
“Well if I'm that bad, why'd you come get me?” The question had a lot of attitude in it, but there was more than just plain attitude, there was a yearning for reassurance that came quickly.
“Because I love you.”
Love. She'd yearned to hear that word from his lips again and hearing it made her entire being flood with joy. “I love you too,” she said softly.
“So I'm not dead to you then?” He smiled a little to let her know he was teasing, though she was sure it must have hurt him to say that.
“You'll never be dead to me, I was just, I was mad and scared and...”
“I know,” he rubbed her back soothingly. “I know. But that's over now.”
She nodded. It didn't feel over. It felt surreal. As if they'd managed to catch a brief moment of peace in a storm that had yet to blow over. “Did you organize all of this?” She waved an arm at their surroundings.
“Sort of. After I got you out, things got a little nasty at work,” he said vaguely. “I had to find a place where we could both be safe.”
“And that's with Tex?”
“Did you listen to a thing the man said?” Savage growled at her, though not too seriously. “ He has a lot of money, and a lot of power, or at least, his father does. We're safer here than anywhere else.”
“But we have to run around being mercenaries? That's not very safe is it?”
“That is a small flaw in the plan,” he admitted. “Though I do not foresee Tex sending you into any war zones.”
“No, he's too much of a gentleman for that. He'll stick me in stockings behind a desk instead,” Zora said glumly.
“Poor girl,” Savage mocked her gently.
“You're too old to be a mercenary,” she said taunted him in return. “You should be retiring.”
“Brat!” He laughed at the idea of retirement.
“I am not a brat, and you were mean to me in front of him,” she looked at him reproachfully. “Why were you so mean?”
“You need a little meanness,” he said knowingly. “Actually, I think you need a lot of meanness. You've been running amok, young lady.”
