Heroes in Uniform: Soldiers, SEALs, Spies, Rangers and Cops: Sexy Hot Contemporary Alpha Heroes From NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Authors

by Sharon Hamilton

  His gaze cut to Erin, still leaning over Schafer in the backseat, her eyes wide as she stared back at Wade. “See if he’s got a phone on him,” he told her. He wasn’t worried about a wire, since Erin would have noticed it when she examined and treated Schafer’s wounds. Without a word she sat up and checked Schafer’s hoodie and jeans, and pulled out a cell phone.

  “Here.”

  Wade grunted. “Open it up and check for anything weird with the SIM card and battery.”

  “Hold on a sec.” She fiddled with it for a few seconds before popping open the back compartment. He caught her frown. “There’s something on the card.” She glanced up at him, worry lacing those big green eyes. “About the size of a grain of rice, either metal or plastic.” She pried it off and held it up between her thumb and forefinger for him to see.

  Fuck. “Open the window and chuck the phone as far as you can.”

  Schafer made a sound of protest but she ignored it as she straightened and cranked the window down. The whistle of the wind increased and once it was open fully, she cocked back her arm and hurled the phone through it. Wade watched in satisfaction as it hit the shoulder and bounced off into the long grass.

  So long, assholes.

  “Didn’t…know,” Schafer gasped, and Wade believed him.

  “Save your air, man,” he told him, allowing himself to relax slightly even as a new knot formed in his gut. “Gonna get you help real soon.” Someone at headquarters must have bugged the phone. Someone connected to the hit squad. And he had a sickening suspicion who it was. “Just another fifteen minutes or so.”

  While Schafer was getting treatment, Wade was getting some fucking answers.

  * * *

  Erin walked out into the waiting area to find Wade talking on his cell phone, likely to someone at the CIA. Soon after they’d arrived, the hospital had been flooded with federal agents and local police to secure the area and take their statements. Wade spotted her the moment she entered and gave a nod, but kept talking and didn’t approach.

  Not wanting to intrude, she stayed where she was. Wrapping her arms around her waist, she leaned against the wall, feeling uncertain. She didn’t know who Wade was talking to though she knew it had to do with everything that had happened this morning. God, it wasn’t even ten o’clock yet and it felt like she’d been up for twenty-four hours straight. Rubbing at her tired eyes, she drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. So many things had gone down she didn’t even know what to feel anymore.

  “Hey.”

  She looked up as Wade stopped in front of her. “Hi.” She tried a smile but it must have fallen short of its mark because he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to his chest. Shuddering, she returned the embrace and buried her face in his neck, savoring his scent and the rasp of his whiskers against her skin. Up ‘til now she’d held it together fine but it was like everything had hit her all at once and she couldn’t find her footing.

  “It’s okay,” he whispered into her hair.

  She didn’t know if he meant it was okay to cling, or if he was giving her permission to lose it here in the middle of the waiting room, but she knew he didn’t mean everything was going to be okay. Thankfully he just held her while she pulled herself together and she relished every second of him holding her. When she felt steady again she raised her head and he relaxed his hold enough to shift her until she rested her cheek against his chest.

  “How’s Schafer?”

  “Stable. As soon as they got the chest tube in and drained all the blood his vitals bounced back almost right away. They did x-rays and an ultrasound and nothing else showed up so he only needed minor surgery to stop the bleed in his chest. They’re doing some stitches in his calf right now. They want him to stay at least overnight but he’s refusing.”

  “Good, because he’s not staying here.”

  At that she lifted her head and met his eyes. “Why not?” Were the gunmen still after them?

  “We’re going in to headquarters. I’ve got something I need to take care of there.”

  The hard gleam in his eyes sent a shiver of foreboding up her spine. “You think someone set us up?”

  “I’m gonna find out.” As he stared at her, his expression softened and he lifted a hand to stroke a thumb along her jaw. “You’re amazing, you know that?”

  A delighted smile tugged at her lips. “Yeah?”

  He nodded. “Way tougher than you look, that’s for sure, and you’re quick on your feet. That was fast thinking with the duct tape and plastic. Bought him enough time to get us here.”

  She looked away, her face heating up at the praise. “Just lucky it worked.” She rubbed her hand over the center of his chest, feeling his heartbeat steady beneath her palm. “You’re the one who got us out of there and away from those guys.”

  He didn’t answer, only slid a hand into her hair to gently explore the back of her head. She covered a flinch when he touched the lump from when she’d hit the truck window and his eyes darkened with anger. “I’m gonna find out who did this.”

  Erin swallowed at the buried rage in his voice, the black expression. “Please don’t do—” She stopped talking when Wade looked to his left and she noticed the young nurse standing there.

  “Miss Kelly? Your friend is asking for you. He’s still insisting on leaving AMA.”

  Against medical advice. Big surprise. “I’ll be right there.” She looked up at Wade, raised her eyebrows. “You really want him to leave here?”

  Wade nodded and released her. “For the best right now. Come on.”

  She followed him back to find Schafer in the process of pulling his bloodstained hoodie over his head. He grimaced as it pulled at his wound, that startling blue gaze landing on Wade the moment he stepped into the room. “Find out anything?”

  Wade gave a mute shake of his head.

  Schafer grunted and eased the hoodie down the length of his torso, covering the bruises and the bandage on his right side. “Still think I’m involved?”

  “No.” He said it so emphatically that both she and Schafer looked at him in surprise.

  Schafer’s shoulders lowered a bit, as though he’d been expecting the opposite answer. “So what now?”

  “We go in and I talk to Robert.”

  Schafer seemed to weigh the words for a moment. “Sure that’s a good idea?”

  “I’m sure. You up to leaving?”

  “Hell yeah,” he answered with a scowl. “I wanna find out who shot me and nail the fucker.”

  One side of Wade’s mouth curved in an approving grin. “Let’s get the hell outta here then, huh?”

  A couple Feds drove them to headquarters, where the guards at the gate called inside to verify their identities before letting them through. Once they entered the building and passed through security, Wade immediately took them down into a medical area located in the basement and told them to wait there.

  Erin jumped up and grabbed his arm, following him out and shutting the door behind her to give them some privacy. He was leaving her here, just like that? “Where are you going?”

  “Upstairs to talk to someone.”

  His voice was so grim, his expression so remote that it alarmed her. Were they even safe here? For all they knew someone in this very building had set them all up. “We don’t know who was behind it. What if—”

  He stopped her with a gentle finger against her lips and he looked her dead in the eye when he spoke. “I would never leave you here if I didn’t think it was safe. Schafer’s not in any shape to be up and about, let alone confront anyone, and he could still develop complications. I need you to stay here with him until I get back.” The finger wandered across her mouth to trail across her jaw, his touch almost reverent, as though he couldn’t get enough of touching her skin. “Okay?”

  Everything he said made sense. Erin licked her lips and nodded. “You’ll be careful?”

  “Yes.” He cupped the side of her face with his hand and leaned in to kiss her. His lip
s molded to hers in a tantalizing caress that belied the tension she could feel humming in his body. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Watching him go, Erin couldn’t help but think about how close they’d both come to dying today. She felt so much for him—more than she’d ever felt for anyone—and she didn’t want to hold back anymore. He was absolutely worth the risk. The moment all this was cleared up, she was going to lay it all on the line.

  And pray her heart wouldn’t get shattered in the process.

  Danger Close: Chapter Eighteen

  With Erin as safe as he could get her for the time being, Wade rode the elevator to the director’s floor and got off. After receiving instructions to wait for Robert in his office, Wade passed through security and strode down the office-lined hallway, his anger growing with every step.

  People stopped and stared when they saw him and his bloodstained shirt. Wade barely paid them any notice, all his focus on the upcoming confrontation. Once he confirmed who was behind all this, he was going to rip him apart.

  Robert’s office was at the far end of the hall. Wade didn’t make it that far.

  He stalked to the fourth office on the right and threw the door open. Seated at his desk on a phone call, Bill’s eyes widened as Wade stormed in and slammed the door shut hard enough to rattle the framed diplomas on the walls.

  “I’ll call you back,” Bill muttered, and set the receiver into the cradle on the desk. He eyed Wade warily. “Problem?”

  “Yeah.” He took two menacing steps forward and planted both hands on Bill’s desk, bending at the waist to glare down at him. “Did you set me up?”

  Bill hesitated the barest second, a subtle tension taking hold of his frame. “I don’t know what you’re—”

  He slammed his fist down on the desk, hard enough to make it vibrate. Bill’s expression tightened. “Did you set me up?”

  His mouth tightened and resentment flashed in his eyes. “Not in the way you think.”

  The fuck did that mean? “What the hell did you do? You were my goddamn handler. I got you everything you ever wanted—”

  “Except Rahim.”

  Wade absorbed that for a second then shoved back from the desk. He would have given him Rahim, too, if not for the situation with the Sec Def, and Bill knew it. Wade folded his arms tight across his chest and forced in a calming breath, afraid he might vault over the desk and beat the ever living hell out of Bill before he got to the bottom of this. “Did you send a hit team?”

  “No.”

  He wasn’t convinced. “Did you send Schafer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Did you bug his phone?”

  “Yes.”

  The admission surprised him. “Why? You knew where I was.” Then a disturbing thought occurred to him and the rage built again, yanking against the chains holding it back. “You wanted to set it up so it looked like he was the one behind everything?”

  Bill’s face and neck were slowly turning red, either from humiliation at being called out or anger from the accusation. Knowing him, probably both. “You don’t know shit,” he growled.

  “Don’t I?” He clenched his jaw, counted to three before responding. “I know somebody sent a hit team this morning with a fucking lousy sniper who had to resort to hitting the house with an RPG. I might’ve believed it was Schafer who’d orchestrated all that because of the timing when he just showed up like that, except for what happened afterward. He’s downstairs recovering from a couple bullet wounds, by the way, one of which was nearly fatal, so I know it wasn’t him.”

  At that, Bill’s face seemed to pale slightly and the hostile gleam in his eyes turned to wariness.

  The tiny bubble of hope that he’d been wrong about this burst inside Wade’s chest. “Didn’t count on him being alive and talking, I take it?”

  Bill didn’t respond, but he didn’t have to. The lying, traitorous sonofabitch was behind at least some of this. “You fucking asshole,” Wade snarled, and the tenuous hold on his temper snapped. He lunged forward. Bill shot out of his chair and hastily backed up out of range, putting the length of the desk between them.

  Before Bill could say anything, the door flew open behind him. “What the hell’s going on?” the director demanded, then stopped when he saw Wade facing off with Bill.

  Wade straightened but didn’t take his eyes off his handler. “That’s what I was just asking Bill. And so far he’s had some pretty interesting answers you might want to hear.”

  Rather than seem surprised, Robert grunted and stepped back. “Both of you in my office. Now.”

  In all his dealings with the director, Wade had never heard that tone from him before. Dark. Deadly. The back of his neck prickled with heightened awareness as he watched Bill round the desk and go out into the hall. He never took his eyes off the man, not even when they reached Robert’s office.

  Wade stood by the left hand wall, his back to it, gaze pinning Bill as the man sank into a chair positioned in front of Robert’s desk. The director snapped the door shut and crossed to his desk, but didn’t sit. Instead he stood next to it and folded his arms across a chest that was still plenty impressive despite him being in his early fifties, and darted a glance at Wade before turning his full attention on Bill.

  “So where were you last night and this morning?”

  Robert’s question threw Wade as much as it seemed to throw Bill. Wade quickly focused on his handler, gauging his reaction.

  “I stayed the weekend at my cabin,” Bill replied tightly. He didn’t fidget or sweat but Wade could tell from the tightening around his mouth and eyes that he didn’t like where this was going.

  “I don’t think so.” Robert’s voice was even colder than his frigid expression as he stared down the man who had been one of his best officers.

  A knock sounded at the door and it cracked open when Robert told the person to come in. Wade was surprised to see Erin and another man standing there with Schafer. Bill rose from his chair, slowly, and mimicked Robert’s posture. Except instead of being intimidating, it was defensive.

  Wade spared a glance at Erin, who helped Schafer into the other empty chair and stepped back toward Wade, casting him an uncertain glance that told him she had no clue why they’d been summoned here. Wade curled an arm around her shoulders and pulled her next to him, not giving a damn that the move was possessive or what anyone thought of it. He hated that Erin was about to witness the dark, ugly side of the covert world of espionage.

  “I wanted them both present to hear everything, since they both almost died today,” Robert continued. He glanced again at Wade then went back to glaring at Bill, who stood frozen in place, looking like a trapped animal. Wade realized that his pulse was racing, aware that they were all about to hear the unthinkable.

  “You’re close to retirement, Bill, and the Rahim case was going to be your send-off. But everything went to hell when the Sec Def got captured and Wade made the only call he could have. You couldn’t let it go, couldn’t stand the thought of not being the one to break the case and bring Rahim in. And when leads weren’t turning up fast enough, you got desperate. So you decided to stop trying to bring Rahim in, and let him come to you instead.” His eyes cut to Wade. “Using the bait you knew Rahim couldn’t ignore.”

  Erin’s gasp sliced through the deathly quiet in the room. Wade tightened his arm around her, taking comfort in her presence even as the truth of it exploded inside him. He’d trusted Bill—as much as he’d ever trusted anyone in this business, for a long time, and that’s why it hurt so much.

  You mean the same way Rahim trusted you?

  Wade shoved that thought aside. They were two different things entirely.

  Bill let out a short, humorless laugh. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

  Pinning him with a withering glare, Robert called out to someone waiting outside. “Aaron.”

  At the mention of the name, Bill’s face paled and he swallowed. Wade glanced at the door in time to see a yo
ung guy in his early twenties step into the room, looking nervous. He shut the door behind him and leaned against it, casting a guilty look at Bill.

  “This is Aaron, one of Bill’s hand-picked interns. Bill’s had him making some interesting phone calls over the past few days, hasn’t he, Aaron?”

  The young guy swallowed and looked around helplessly, and it was obvious to Wade and probably everyone in the room that Aaron hadn’t realized the magnitude of what he’d been doing, let alone the illegality of it.

  “Turns out Aaron didn’t think the calls were that secret though, since someone overheard one of them,” Robert continued.

  Wade’s gaze shot to Schafer, who frowned and nodded in confirmation. “Yeah, I told Wade already.” Schafer glanced up at him for affirmation, and Wade nodded to Robert.

  The director cocked his head and studied Bill, who at last looked uneasy. “You had him call someone in Rahim’s network, but you didn’t tell him who it was. You had Aaron pass on little tips the network might find useful, knowing they’d eventually funnel up to the top of the food chain because they had to do with Sandberg, the agent formerly known as Jihad. Things like his travel itinerary from Bagram to Kabul and the location of the safe house here. You made Aaron believe he was passing on that info to someone on the security team, when in fact you were using him to help dangle the lure you knew would bring Rahim out of hiding.”

  In the taut silence that followed, all eyes were glued to Bill. He stood with his arms folded across his chest, face pale, body tense. He knew he’d been caught, but he wasn’t going down that easily. Wade ground his back teeth together, careful to keep from squeezing Erin too tight as his muscles bunched.

  “I didn’t know if anything would come of it or how it would pan out,” Bill muttered defensively. “I didn’t know how they’d use the information, or if it would—”

  “Shut the fuck up,” Robert barked and Bill fell silent. A muscle jumped in the director’s jaw and he seemed to struggle to regain his composure for a moment. “I’m not really interested, but anything else you wanna say? Maybe to the three people in this room you nearly killed this morning?”