“Anyway, all of that is about me and I already know about me. Tell me something about you.” She wanted to know who Alex was. What did he do when he wasn’t rescuing the world? What movies did he watch or music did he listen to? Was he into sports? He said he was good with math and science, how much of an interest did he have in both subjects? She wanted to know everything she could about him. The man with the emerald eyes and brownish-blond hair intrigued her. If she were being completely honest she would just come right out and admit that he aroused her. She hadn’t had that kind of instant reaction to a man—ever. The moment she saw him inside her tent, when she awakened to see those eyes looking down at her, she had felt a sudden sense of sexual awareness for the man. For the first time in her lifetime she had wanted to get physical with a man she didn’t even know. It had nothing to do with the gun he was carrying or the clothing he wore; the man was just sexy as night from first sight. And when he spoke…ooh, that voice had lit a fire in places she didn’t know was still interested. She was young and her sex drive should have been high, but she hadn’t wanted sex in a long time. She hadn’t wanted that physical connection that took her from earth to heaven with a few delicious strokes in a really long time. But the moment she saw this man she had wanted it; she really wanted it—she wanted it with him. She didn’t know him. This was crazy. Yet that wasn’t stopping the ache between her legs.
She wanted to hear him speak in that sexy almost bedroom voice he had. It wasn’t too deep, but it wasn’t high pitched either. It was perfect, smooth, masculine. It drew her in to a point where she could just forget about the horror that had become her life and get lost in the musical magic of his tone. Unfortunately he seemed to be a man of few words. He was letting her do all the talking. She knew what her voice sounded like. She sounded like a valley girl, like one of the girls in the move Clueless, only smarter. Her voice wasn’t sexy to her own ears and she doubted it registered as sexy to anybody else’s either. She had no desire to hear herself talk—but she did desire to hear him talk. Heat rushed to her cheeks just thinking about the way his voice made her feel. She was thankful he was turned around paying attention to the food he was cooking and not to her otherwise he would have known where her thoughts were going. Her thoughts seemed to be going straight to the bedroom. That was just crazy. Not only did she barely know the man—maybe she didn’t even really know him at all—but she was also injured. Those painkillers were going to wear off eventually and she was sure she was going to be in a heck of a lot more pain than she was now and yet still she sat there envisioning all the things a man like that could do to her body.
“This isn’t going to end well for me; is it?” The thoughts going through her mind darted from one reality to another. In one version she saw the happy ending where she got the guy, the bad guys went down hard, and happiness ensued. In the other reality she saw the cold hard facts that terrorists were not easy to take down and lives would always be lost in the process. Right now it was her life on the line.
“I told you I’ll keep you safe—”
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Alexander. Don’t get your shorts in a wad. It’s just that these are terrorists—a rather large group of them. I’ve stepped on toes, crossed lines, and I know they won’t allow me to live. Even if we get one or five or even ten of them, what’s to stop the others from coming back for me? The life I had isn’t the life I’ll have when this is over.”
“Carissa,” he took the sandwiches off the Panini grill and the fries out the oven, placed them on two plates and came to sit with her at the table. “I know this seems hard right now, but we’ll take care of this. You have to believe that.”
“My life is going to be different. You and I both know that. Even if the Feds decide to drop me after they get what they want I’ll never really be safe. There will always be somebody out there just waiting…”
“Then you’ll stay with me and I’ll keep you safe,” he snapped in a manner that made her think he was ready to take her head off for denying him the chance to protect her. She started to speak and he held up his hand to stop her. “You’ll stay with me as long as it takes.”
“You still don’t get it do you? I don’t think this will ever be over.”
“I guess you’ll be staying with me forever then.”
She laughed a sarcastic laugh. “Why would you do that? Why would you put yourself in danger to keep me safe?”
He looked her over, his eyes peering into her in a way that made her nervous and aroused all at the same time. “I just would,” he finally said and then he set about eating his food, letting her know the conversation was over. He might think he could keep her safe, but she wasn’t sure he understood the brevity of what she was mixed up in. If, and it was a big if, she could get the Feds what they needed then she might end up in their witness relocation program or something. She wasn’t sure about that as they hadn’t really told her what would happen to her after they got what they needed. Garrison had promised she would be safe, but that promise only seemed to extend to the timeframe in which she was helping them—and looking at how things were going now she could honestly say she wasn’t really confident in the promise anymore.
“Eat,” he pointed to her food. “Eat it before it gets cold. You’ll need your strength.”
She didn’t have the strength to argue with him or to try to keep the conversation going. He clearly wasn’t going to hear her argument, and she really couldn’t keep trying to make him hear it. Instead of insisting on the conversation she picked up her sandwich and started eating. “Hmmm,” she moaned as she chewed the food.
“Good?”
She nodded affirmatively until she was able to swallow. “Very good,” she took another bite. She knew she was hungry, starving even, but this was so delicious she figured she would eat it up entirely even if she weren’t starving. A man who could cook, was good at science and math—at least that’s what he said anyway, and he had the rescue thing down to a science. What a catch. She could take care of herself, but she wouldn’t deny that there was something special about having a man put his life on the line for her. She chuckled softly. Delusional must be a side effect to getting shot because Alex was not putting his life on the line for her. He was doing his job. He was getting paid one way or the other and it had nothing to do with wanting to save her personally. Self sacrificing without getting anything in return heroes were the stuff fictional movies were made of, not reality.
His phone started ringing and that pulled her out of her thoughts. She hadn’t even noticed he had the phone on him, but then why wouldn’t he? They weren’t exactly vacationing lovers. He was working and he needed to be in contact with his people the entire time.
He answered the phone, but he didn’t leave the table or the room. She thought that in an effort to keep her out of the loop on whatever was going down that he would have left the room.
“Thanks Preston,” he said before disconnecting the call. Well, that was short. Maybe that’s why he didn’t feel a need to get up. Maybe he knew the conversation was going to be brief.
“What’s going on?” She needed to know. Her imagination was getting ready to runaway with her.
“Special agent Samantha Garrison is dead.”
“Wh—what?” She stammered.
“They found her body earlier this morning. She was out jogging, or so they say. Apparently she went out every morning and jogged a set path along one of the quieter roadways. Somebody killed her.”
“Did somebody run her over or something?”
He exhaled slowly. “Whoever did it bashed her head in with a tire rod and they left a note beside her body.”
“A note?”
“Soon the butterfly will be just as free; whatever that means.” He shrugged. She dropped her sandwich back on the plate.
“That’s me.”
“What?”
“My mom, when I was a little girl, always called me her little butterfly because I was always asking her to catch
them for me. My dad picked up the nickname after she died, but he didn’t call me that as much as she did. I don’t feel so well.” She felt the bile rising and she knew she wouldn’t make it to the bathroom, not on her leg. The closest place was the sink and there is where she lost what lunch she had managed to eat. Alex came to her side and rubbed her back, whispering words of comfort to her.
She couldn’t be consoled. She was going to die. Agent Garrison was the only person she worked with on this covert operation and now she was dead. Carissa knew she would be next. It was just a matter of time now. And sadly, she figured she was going to end up taking this guy down with her.
“It’ll be okay,” he assured her. “Preston is going to secure another safe house for us. He wants to keep us moving for a little while. After we leave here we won’t stay in one place for more than a week if we can help it.” He kept moving his hand up and down her back. “Preston is going to keep working on this from his angle and Jet is looking into some things. He’ll meet us at our next safe house when he can. We’re going to double up on you to make sure you survive this.”
Great, now she was going to be putting two men in danger instead of just one. Maybe they should all get as far away from her as humanly possible. She had clearly already managed to get Garrison killed. This was all her fault. All of it. Had she kept her mouth shut then none of this would be happening.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said in a voice so low and calming that she found it difficult to hold on to her fear and anger. “But this isn’t your fault. You did the right thing. You helped save lives and you know that.”
“But I cost her hers,” she turned her head to look up into his eyes. Those emerald balls of truth pierced through to her soul.
“She would have been working on this even without you. You know that.”
He was right; she did know that. “Why would they kill her? She’s not the only person investigating them.”
“But she is the only person with access to you. I’m guessing they planned to get your location out of her.”
“But she didn’t have it; did she?”
“No she didn’t. But they wouldn’t have known you hadn’t contacted her yet. They can’t find you and they’re reaching for whatever possible connection they can.”
“So it is my fault.”
“No, it’s not.” He placed the palm of his hand on her cheek and smiled at her. He had the most calming way about him. She imagined it was difficult for anybody to be afraid around him because he just had an abundance of goodness that made him seem safe.
“Come on,” he scooped her up in his arms. “It’s time for you to get some rest.” He carried her to the bedroom. She hadn’t wanted to rest before, but right now she felt as if she needed to. She needed to close her eyes and sleep because it was the only possible way to shut out the memory of the current events. At least she hoped the memories wouldn’t haunt her in her sleeping world.
Chapter Four
Preston was smart enough not to walk into the lion’s den. He knew too much about self preservation to do something so stupid. So instead of going into Ronald Jones’ office or home, he made sure Ronald Jones found his way to him, Or more like, he and Jet made sure they yanked the man out of the parking garage and took him some place isolated. Thanks to Micah they had taken care of the security cameras in the garage long enough to claim the treacherous bastard.
When jet pulled over to the side of the deserted stretch of road that’s when the conversation began. Preston sat there giving Ronald the death stare; letting him know if he moved he would get hurt. Ronald looked like any other man whose day of reckoning had come. He obviously knew his secret was out, and now what Preston wanted to know was just what lie he planned to tell about it. Would he try to continue to say Carissa liked to make things up?
“Overthrow the Government,” Preston sat back in the rotating chair in their SUV. “Was it worth killing your only daughter for?”
“She’s dead?”
“Was it worth it?”
“I…” Preston watched the baldheaded man struggle for words. Ronald had been going bald at one point, but Preston could tell the completely bald look was partially genetics and partially due to a razor. “I asked you all to go in for her because I knew they would kill her. But I couldn’t tell you why.”
“You expect us to believe that?” Jet narrowed his ash eyes and stared at Ronald.
“I didn’t have a choice. I had to help them. I never expected her to find out and when…when Dallas Ferguson saw her coming out my office, and he saw that I didn’t have to unlock my desk drawer to get in it, he just put it together that the leaks must have come from her.”
Jet snorted in disbelief.
“Start from the beginning,” Preston growled. “And try not to lie to me.”
“Fifteen years ago they approached me— Dallas Ferguson’s father actually…before he was killed in that attempted subway bombing. I said no then and I meant it…but…Eleanor—my wife,” he shook his head and lowered it. “I told her about them and what they wanted. I told her I thought it would be best if she and Carissa stayed with her mother for a while. Eleanor wanted to go visit her anyway. She was planning for it…but she didn’t want to leave me. She wanted me to go with them. Nobody knew they were going for the visit because we didn’t give out that information. We were always worried somebody would grab Carissa because of the money they could get.” He sat back and rested his head against the headrest of his seat. “I told her I had to stay. I wanted to contact the Feds and let them know what happened. She warned me not to,” he chuckled. “She was always the smart one,” he looked at Preston and Preston could see the truth written on his face. This man was in over his head and he couldn’t get out.
“Anyway, we agreed that she would go. We argued about it because I wouldn’t go with them. That night she said she should leave Carissa with me because then I could bring her out after I met with the Feds. She said it would look less suspicious that way. And then the plane crashed and they all died…I received a letter after that, in typical computer print it had the words how would you like to lose another; and that was it. I knew it was them. I knew what they had done and I knew the only other person in my life they could go after was Carissa.”
“Why didn’t you go to the Feds?”
“Because a Fed is the one who delivered that letter.”
“What? Which one?” Jet was ready to go on the hunt, Preston could tell that. But they needed to focus. They had somebody they had to keep safe right now, thus taking their search and rescue job in an entirely different direction once again.
“He died in the line of duty five years ago, but if there’s one I knew there had to be others. Plus, by the time he died I was already in too deep. They wanted money at first and I made sure they had it, but the more I gave the more they wanted. I knew they’d go after Carissa and that’s why I came to your agency. There’s no secret in the right circles of how good you guys are. Air Force men and a Marine with decorated honors and I figured retired or not you all had to be above board honest. At least I hoped so because I didn’t know where else to turn.”
Preston watched the tears start to stream down the man’s cheeks. “My baby girl is dead,” he cried.
“She’s safe, for now,” Preston added and he saw the look Jet gave him. He believed this man. He wouldn’t give away location, but he would at least let him know she was alive.
“She is?”
“I won’t be telling you more than that.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to. Just knowing they haven’t gotten to her makes a world of difference for me. They won’t stop though. I know they won’t stop.”
Preston kept his distance from the man because he had no intention of making him completely comfortable. He was still a traitor, no matter his reasons for doing what he did. “It’s time you do the right thing Mr. Jones. It’s time you step up to the plate and be a dedicated American.”
“Will you kee
p her safe if I do?”
“We’ll do our best.”
“Tell her I love her. Tell her I didn’t do this to her. She needs to know that. Everything I’ve done I’ve done it to keep her safe.”
Preston saw the man’s dilemma but there had to have been another way. He didn’t have kids so he didn’t know what kind of love a parent felt, what kind of obsession with protection they felt in order to do something this drastic to ensure the survival of their child. Preston brushed his hand through his hair, black with little slivers of silver strands told of his aging, but not of his own heartache. He couldn’t relate to what a man would do for his child, but he could relate to the pain a man in love went through when he lost the woman he loved no matter the type of loss. Not to mention the fact that Ronald was no doubt blaming himself for his wife’s death.
Sworn to Secrecy (Special Ops) Page 6
