Tightrope [Black Ops Brotherhood 6] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Bella Juarez

  “Rock! What the hell’s going on with the Pentagon? What am I supposed to tell my mission commander aboard the Washington?”

  “I’m working on it!” Rock yelled back.

  “The general at AFRICOM also said there’s a shit ton of chatter coming out of Algeria bitching about the government’s state of emergency. There’s also an increase in chatter from inside Jordan about the elections not being fair. A group called ISIL is doing all the talking in Jordan.”

  “Just what I need, a hot North Africa with an untested weapons system in the Med,” Dixie said, turning away.

  “ISIL? I’ve heard that before somewhere,” Friday said.

  “It stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; it’s a self-proclaimed Islamic state. Its al-Qaeda joined with all the ragtag groups in Iraq,” Gavin said.

  Rock finally walked into the room. “Pentagon said to stay on course; they’ll monitor the situation, and get back to us.”

  “Are you fucking with me?” Dixie asked.

  “Nope, that’s what I was told,” Rock said.

  “Do they have iPhones? Did they see the tweets and Facebook posts?” JJ asked.

  Dixie looked at JJ as if he’d just lost his mind, and the entire room including the admiral broke down laughing.

  “Rock, tell Cobra stand by until the Pentagon can get their thumbs out of their asses. Reese, tell AFRICOM to update us every twelve hours and sooner if there’s a significant increase in chatter. Jensen, spool that listening station back up. Let’s see if anything comes out of our buddy in Mexico. Dan, Shaq, lets figure out what we need to do to keep our eye on this situation, then call the group back home to see if we can get something going. Friday, get my phone hooked up with Twitter and Facebook so I can monitor this situation,” JJ said, tossing Friday his iPhone.

  Dixie looked at his best friend and the man who’d kept him sane all these years. “I’ll deal with the Pentagon in the morning, once they’ve had a chance to wrap their hands around this. I get the feeling they got caught with their pants down. Reese, JJ, Rock, let’s see when we can get briefings set up with the AFRICOM and the CENTCOM commanders. We need a plan.”

  Chapter 32

  118 Indigo Brush

  Cibolo, Texas

  February 10, 2011/0045 Zulu

  Dan closed his eyes as he parked his truck in the driveway. He was getting another headache. His days since the beginning of the year seemed to run together. He looked at his phone and saw a message from JJ about a meeting in the morning with AFRICOM and CENTCOM to review intel. Now, eleven countries in the Middle East and North Africa were all in the middle of some sort of civil war. Egypt had now become the big problem because of its proximity to where the USS George Washington would be conducting operations and testing in less than thirty days. It was pretty certain that President Mubarak of Egypt wouldn’t be in power much longer because the protests hadn’t stopped in two weeks, and now, he’d taken action against some of the more popular protesters inflaming their supporters.

  When he walked inside, the smell of what Rio had left in the crockpot to cook all day surrounded him. He set his backpack in one of the elevated seats that lined the counter and remembered she wouldn’t be home until later because today was one of the few days she had to go to the campus. He shrugged his shoulders to ease the tension that had settled on them and twisted his head to crack the bones in his neck. Maybe eating something would take away his headache. Then again, he could go for a run to see if maybe he could trigger the release of the endorphins he needed right now. While he changed out of his uniform, he switched on the weather and saw that it would be a cold night, so he decided to go for his run. Hopefully, by the time he was done, Rio would be home, and they could have dinner together.

  He pushed hard as he ran and felt his shoulders ease as the miles slipped by, but it was nothing like he needed. He wondered how to get his wife back to where he wanted her to be. Since his capture and recovery she’d avoided the subject of their play. At first, he chalked it up to the lack of time with the wedding, moving to San Antonio, and the crazy hours they were both working in the wake of this new crisis. Rio was also taking classes online, and when she wasn’t studying or working, she was training dogs.

  After they’d moved, for a while they were both so exhausted they simply passed out holding each other. The sex between them was great, but there was something missing, and he hadn’t been able to put his finger on it until a few days ago. When he’d first tried to mention it, she changed the subject, and he let it go.

  When she got home, they ate, and he watched a little TV before they got ready for bed. He was sitting on the edge of the bed when she came out of the bathroom after her shower. The smell of candy apple filled his senses when she walked up to him and slid in between his knees. Her fingers running through his hair made his cock stiffen, and his eyes closed on visions of being on his knees in front of her. Leaning forward he buried his face in the middle of her chest and groaned. He needed a serious play session with his Mistress, and it made him miserable that she’d gone away.

  “I need something from you,” she said.

  “What do you need, babe?” he asked, wrapping his arms around her.

  “Can you brush up on your calculus? I have a test next week, and I’m having a little problem with implicit differentials. I need my tutor, again.”

  There was something he needed from her, and maybe now would be the time to force her hand and discuss why she’d given up on being his Mistress.

  “Do you have a book, or do I have to look it up?” he asked.

  “It’s on my tablet, but I can print some stuff out.”

  “I’ll help you.” He let his hands roam lower to her ass and squeezed. “But it’ll cost you.”

  “Oh? How much?” she asked, leaning in for a kiss.

  “I need a night with my Mistress,” he replied. The change in her body language and expression didn’t escape him. She tensed and pulled away, signaling he hadn’t been wrong. She’d been avoiding this subject.

  “We haven’t played in a long time. I miss it.”

  Pulling farther away, she flashed him a nervous smile and ran her hands over his shoulders. She was upset and looked scared. They really did need to talk, and he had to figure out what had changed her.

  “We’ll talk about it later. You still need some time to recover,” she said, pulling away.

  There was no way he’d let her out of this conversation, so he tightened his knees and his embrace around her.

  “Babe, I was cleared to return to active duty as a SEAL five weeks ago. If I can go back into combat, my Mistress can pay me a visit. What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing,” she said, pulling away.

  “Why won’t you do this?” he asked, taking her hands.

  “I can’t,” she whispered, shaking her head.

  Kissing her hands, he almost gave her an out, but he had to know why she’d taken this vital part of their relationship away from him. They had to address it and the pain he sensed she was attempting to hide. He didn’t understand why it was so hard for her to discuss this with him because the way he remembered it, she loved it almost as much as he did.

  “Talk to me, babe.”

  “I can’t hurt you. Those bruises didn’t heal for over a month, and the scars on your shoulder are still swollen. I know what they did to you because I saw the pictures that were sent to Felix when they were trying to find out who you were. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t hurt you.”

  Her eyes shone with unshed tears. He had no idea that the cartel had sent a picture and was mortified that she’d seen it. At times he’d forgotten what she did and how much she knew because whenever they were together she was someone he’d known all of his life, not a budding FBI agent or a former border patrol supervisor who was intimately familiar with society’s criminal element.

  “There’s a difference, babe, and you’re not hurting me. I can’t explain why, but it helps me,” he said, pleading w
ith her.

  “Danny, please don’t ask me to do this,” she said, burying her face in his shoulder.

  The plea broke his heart. He pulled her close and held her knowing that once she made up her mind about something it was usually set. She relieved him from making most of their decisions, but he needed the physical closeness they shared after intense play. After one of their sessions his work and responsibilities faded into the background, and now he knew why he’d been so stressed out; he hadn’t had a release that freed him so completely. Looking back, she seemed so much more edgy and tense than before his ordeal. He realized that she needed the release, too. After a play session, she’d giggle a lot more, and his mischief didn’t seem to bother her the way it did now. This was putting an unconscious strain on their marriage. He kissed her cheek and rubbed her back.

  “Maybe we can get away. Our two-month anniversary is next Friday, and Monday’s a holiday. Let’s go somewhere.”

  “Where do you want to go?”

  “I don’t know, babe. But promise me we’ll at least talk about this some more.”

  Pulling away, she looked at him. He knew that look; they’d talk, but it wouldn’t go anywhere because her mind was made up.

  “Promise me,” he said.

  “I promise.”

  * * * *

  “Did you figure out where we’re going? When are we leaving?” Danny asked.

  “I thought you were taking care of that,” Rio said.

  “No, why would I?”

  “I had a big test tonight; you know that. You helped me study for it. I also had to get a presentation ready for work for the new dog facility. You’re the one that wanted to get away. Why didn’t you make plans?” she asked.

  Anger and frustration filled every ounce of her being right now. For the last week he’d been pulling this crap. First, he’d forgotten to pay the bills because he’d gone out after work with his buddies and played video games until two in morning. Then, he hadn’t picked up the dry cleaning and heartworm medication for the dogs like he promised he would. Why in the hell did she have to take care of everything? He was the one that wanted to get away, and he expected her to do all the work.

  “Why didn’t you take care of it?” she asked again.

  “I was busy, too…”

  “Busy doing what? All you do when you get home is play on your Xbox or watch TV. What the hell were you doing?” Her aggravation was evolving into outright anger now.

  “What the hell’s you’re problem? Why are you so bitchy?”

  God, she wanted to throttle his ass this minute, but the last thing she needed to do right now was argue. She had a paper due in a week that she needed to get done so she’d have time to get it looked over before she turned it in for a grade.

  “Forget it,” she declared. “I don’t want to go anywhere anyway.”

  “Fine,” he said in a snit and got up and left the room.

  Things had been tense over the last week, and all of a sudden they seemed to be fighting about everything. Being as busy as she was, she needed to be able to focus, but he kept fucking with her. She was pissed as she pulled out one of the chairs that lined the breakfast counter that separated the kitchen from the family room. Every time she wanted to sit down she had to move something that belonged to him. She gritted her teeth because his backpack was in the chair, and his shit seemed to be scattered all over the house. She heard a vibration that turned out to be his damn phone, which was lying on the counter instead of on his nightstand where it belonged. It lit up with a message on the screen. She normally didn’t look at his phone, but the name that flashed on the screen caught her attention. She picked up the phone to make sure she’d seen it correctly.

  Sylvia Martinez.

  Back in town r u still coming over?

  All of the blood in her body drained to her feet. Sylvia’s here? Her mother had told her when they’d talked a few weeks ago that Sylvia and the Maceys had left the area about the same time she and Danny had moved. After the lengths Sylvia had gone to before, Rio didn’t put it past her to move here from Arizona. Rio went to the table and took out her laptop, attempting to focus. Danny came out from the back of the house and into the kitchen. Out of her peripheral vision, she watched him dig through the fridge, walk to the counter, and pick up his phone. He read the message and smiled.

  “I’m going out for a few. I’ll be back later,” he said.

  And that’s the way it went for the rest of the week. He’d get a text and leave. When their anniversary came around on Friday, he didn’t deviate from his routine. He left her sitting at home…by herself…watching TV…just like he’d done when he’d taken Sylvia to the damn prom. The longer she sat the more she fumed. She waited until one in the morning before she went to bed. Danny finally decided to come home at three. When he curled up beside her she got out of bed and went to the couch, but her reaction didn’t seem to faze him. He turned over and went to sleep.

  On Saturday, she had errands to run, but anything that related to him, she left for him to take care of. While she did her chores and completed her busy to-do list, she thought about what she needed to do about Danny. If he was screwing around on her after only two months of being married, what could she expect for the rest of her life? She sure as hell wasn’t putting up with that shit. Not for one second.

  What really pissed her off was his lack of respect. He didn’t give a damn if she knew or not. It was just the way she remembered back in high school. Sylvia would snap her fingers, and he’d go running like a puppy to a treat. Last night, when he turned over and went to sleep, she seriously thought about tying him up and beating the shit out of him. She slammed the car in park and sat at the new strip mall near the house attempting to get a grip on her ever-increasing anger and fumed about the fact that she wasn’t only his wife, but she’d somehow turned into his goddamn maid. When she dropped off her uniforms at the cleaners, the girl at the desk greeted her and asked her if she wanted to pick up the ones that Danny had left. She curled her fingers into a fist and almost walked out but didn’t want make a scene at the already busy cleaners, so she smiled and nodded—something else he’d forgotten. He still hadn’t picked up his uniforms—in four fucking days.

  As she closed the back door to her Jeep, she saw a shop with a big sign advertising a grand opening. It was in the back corner away from the road, so she walked to the store and went inside hoping to get a grip on her mounting anger. It turned out to be a women’s boutique that specialized in sexy lingerie. After taking ten steps into the shop she knew she was wasting her time, but before she could turn to leave, a display in the back caught her eye. It stopped her cold, and she closed her eyes at the thought that had just run through her head. But she was drawn to it as she walked toward the shelves and picked up one of the objects. A woman asking if she needed help startled her.

  “May I help you find something?”

  “Tell me about this; is it good quality?”

  “That one, not really, but I have some over here that are. Would you like to see them?”

  “Please,” she said.

  As the woman explained the quality of what she was looking at, Rio decided to grant Danny a last wish before she left him to Sylvia.

  Mistress would return…from hell…with a vengeance.

  Chapter 33

  118 Indigo Brush

  Cibolo, Texas

  February 10, 2011/0045 Zulu

  When Rio got home, Danny’s truck was already gone, which was fine because it would give her the opportunity she needed to put her plan in place. Walking into the bedroom and seeing that he’d left the bed unmade—again—was the final straw. He knew that leaving the bed unmade was one of her biggest pet peeves. Knowing she was on a roll, she walked into the kitchen and saw the trail of dishes he’d left behind on the counter and in the sink when he knew damn well the dishwasher was empty. He’d been too lazy to open it up and put three dishes inside. She cleaned up the kitchen, picked up all his stuff he’d
left lying around, and made the bed. She needed to start some laundry, so she went into the master bathroom for the laundry basket—and promptly lost her shit. He’d left a towel on the floor after he’d taken a shower, and his workout clothes were like bread crumbs leading the way to the closet. He knew what a freak she was about the house, and now he’d made it crystal clear he didn’t give a shit.

  After cleaning the bathroom, she took a seat on the couch and read a few things on her tablet. When the door opened and Danny walked inside, she glanced at the clock on her tablet and noted it had been two hours since she’d gotten home. He walked to the kitchen, and as he passed the counter, he laid his phone down. His phone vibrated, and her teeth ground in anger. That damn noise had become like fingernails on a chalkboard for her, and it was grating on her last nerve. He read the message and smiled. Looking at her he said, “I’ll be back later.”

  “You just got home. Where are going?” she asked.

  “I’m going to hang out with a friend.”

  When she didn’t respond, he shrugged and headed for the door.

  “You walk out that door it’ll be the biggest mistake you’ve made in a long time. You’re not going anywhere.”

  “Do you have plans?”

  “It doesn’t matter. You’re not leaving,” she said. Scoffing, he turned and moved toward the door again. “Don’t mess with me, Danny. Get your ass back here now. Right. Fucking. Now.”

  Walking to the center of the family room, he stood and silently challenged her before speaking.

  “Now what? You’ve been acting like a bitch all week. Is it any wonder why I don’t want to be here?”

  “I’m about to take bitch to a whole new level for you. Now get over here, and get on your knees, right here,” she said, pointing to the spot in front of her.

  “I’m over it already,” he said, turning around.

  “You either get your ass back here or walk out the door and do not come back. It’s your choice.”