“Sure, whatever you like. It took me three days to get back here from Camp Pendleton, where I separated from the Corps. I’m not real tired. Let’s go.”
“Oh, good!” Alexa pressed the button and the doors to the elevator opened. She pulled him in, leaning up, kissing his cheek. “I’m so glad you’re home, Gage.”
“Me too,” he murmured, sliding his arm around her shoulders. “You look good.” Whole. Almost like her old self. But Gage knew from those first days after her rescue that Alexa had cycled up and down like a roller coaster. He wondered if she was still going through that pattern of healing. He’d find out later. She leaned into him from beneath his arm, sliding hers around his waist, hugging him fiercely, giving him a look that awakened his lust-filled fantasies. He was glad he was wearing jeans, because it wouldn’t show.
Alexa led him down into the Bunker. Their operations planning center was located in the subbasement, the lowest level of the five stories that comprised Artemis. Its location deep underground protected all the important electronic assets of the company. As she walked down the light gray carpeted hall, she led him to an enclosed glass area that held all their servers, electronics, and security measures, plus the backup generators, in case electricity was cut off to them. Gage was more than impressed.
Next, she led him down to the mission planning rooms on either side of another hall. The place hummed with people coming and going. Gage looked into some of the open rooms and saw at least fifteen people at work, or at a table with laptops and huge screens hung on the surrounding walls.
“Kind of reminds me of the CIA at Langley,” he told her. “Similar, but your company looks like it’s running with top-of-the-line equipment.”
“And people,” she added proudly, nodding, holding his hand as they walked down the long, wide hall. “We’re hiring the best of the best, Gage. They are all veterans of the military or CIA, Mossad, the NSA, or other black ops organizations from around the world. We employ men and women from foreign military branches as well. They come from Israel, Jordan, the UK, Canada, Europe, South America, and Africa. We’re still getting our security teams together, sorted out and assigned. It’s a huge job and we’re nowhere near up to speed,” she said.
Alexa halted at a closed door, opened it, and Gage recognized Tal Culver, who was sitting at the end of a large tiger maple table that gleamed beneath the lights. She wore a pair of white cotton trousers and a white blazer, a bright red tee beneath it. Next to her was his good buddy Matt Culver, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt, like himself.
“Gage!” Tal said, standing up, she smiled and, held out her hand to him as she came around the table. “Good to see you again.”
He shook her hand, smiling. “Same here, Tal.” And then he chuckled. “Seems odd not to call you ‘Captain Culver’ or ‘ma’am.’”
Tal smiled and released his hand. “We’re civilians now, Gage.”
Gage nodded and reached out, shaking Matt’s hand as he stopped next to Tal.
“Glad you could make it, Gage. Come on in and have a seat. We’ve got coffee if you’re interested.” Matt pointed to an espresso machine in the corner of the room.
“Hey, coffee sounds real good,” Gage murmured.
“Espresso?” Matt asked.
“Naw, just plain black coffee, thanks.”
Tal slid her hand around his arm. “Come on, sit down with us. We have some business to discuss.”
Gage sat down at Tal’s right elbow. Matt brought the coffee over to Gage as well as a cup for himself. Alexa sat opposite Gage, looking as if she knew some big secret and was barely able to keep it to herself. He loved her for her ability to be that open, that vulnerable, with him.
He picked up the coffee, thanking them.
Tal said, “Gage, you and I have known one another for five deployments. I never succeeded in drawing you over to my sniper unit because your captain knew just how good you were.”
“I wanted to come over to your unit, believe me,” he told her. “You had better numbers. I wanted to be on your team, Tal. But a sergeant in the ranks doesn’t have any pull to do anything except follow orders. You know how it is.”
“Indeed I do,” she said. “Look, Matt, Alexa, and I are still building the foundation of Artemis from the ground up. We’re officially online as of June first—today. But we’ve been in the trenches since late last year, even as this place was being built around us.”
The door opened and Wyatt Lockwood entered with his laptop beneath his arm. He nodded to everyone.
“Gage, this is my fiancé, Wyatt Lockwood. He’s the head of Mission Planning for Artemis.”
Gage reached over, shaking Lockwood’s hand from across the table. He sat down next to Alexa.
“Nice to meet you, Gage,” he drawled. “Sorry I’m late. I got embroiled in a last-minute mission change on an op.” He opened up his laptop.
“You’re here,” Tal said. “That’s all that counts, cowboy.”
Gage grinned at the repartee between the two of them. He knew from Alexa that Tal was going to marry Wyatt in August over in Kuşadası, Turkey. The look in the man’s eyes as he held Tal’s told Gage how much in love they were with each other. Glancing at Alexa, he caught her looking at him with that same look in her eyes. His heart skipped a beat. This was some kind of official meeting that he hadn’t been told about. What was going on?
“Yes, ma’am, this Texas country boy aims to please his boss lady,” Wyatt said, smiling absently as he fiddled with the keys on his laptop.
Gage saw the screen down at the end of the mission room light up. It was a huge panel screen, nearly the length of the wall it hung on. He’d seen similar ones at the CIA, but this one was even larger. He saw Wyatt put up a blueprint of Artemis on the screen.
“Okey dokey,” Wyatt said, turning to Tal, “I think you can move on, darlin’.”
“Thanks,” she murmured, giving him a smile. Turning her attention to Gage, she said, “I’m looking for an ex-military sniper to run the sniper corps here at our firm. We need the best of the sniper cadre at Artemis, for obvious reasons, when we go out on an op to a country where one of our charities is being threatened. Gage, I want you to head up this department. Your name is well-known, you are highly respected, and you know the ins and outs of the sniping business.” She pointed her laser at a diagram showing all the divisions and departments of Artemis. “You would work under Wyatt. He heads up all of mission planning for us. We’re developing the sniper department right now. We have other ex-military snipers who want to work with us, but I wanted to wait until you got here.” Her voice lowered. “There’s no one more qualified than you to run that department. We will give you a salary of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year to run it for us. Are you interested?”
Shock rolled through Gage as he stared in disbelief over at Tal. She was serious. Dead serious. “I . . . didn’t expect this, Tal.”
Grimacing, Tal muttered, giving her sister a look, “Believe me, after Alexa found out, I practically had to tape her mouth shut so she wouldn’t tell you before we could get you here to our office.”
Laughing, Alexa raised her hand. “Oh, guilty as charged, big sis!”
Gage saw the hope, the yearning, burning in Alexa’s eyes as she turned her attention back to him. He’d been worried about trying to find a job somewhere. About the only thing open to him was going into law enforcement, joining the CIA, or finding a security job with some corporation. “Well,” he hedged, holding Alexa’s gaze, “the kind of jobs that are out there for someone like me aren’t many. And the ones that are available don’t appeal to me. I don’t want to become a police sniper, nor do I want to work for the spooks, because I’d be overseas more than I’d ever be home here.”
Wiping his mouth, he looked at all of them. “And I sure didn’t want a job running a security detail for a corporation.”
“No,” Wyatt drawled, “you’re right. But if you come to work for Tal, she’ll treat you right. You’l
l have full autonomy over your department. You’ll answer directly to me. You’ve not only got five years of experience, Gage, but you also taught at the Marine Corps sniper school for two years as an instructor. Tal, Matt, Alexa, and I all agreed we need someone of your caliber to head up that department. I think you’ll find our benefits package, the medical and dental plan, better than anywhere else you could go. Plus, you would be with people you know. Tal is a known person to you.” He briefly gestured in her direction. “We all work for her, and you know she was a fine leader of her sniper unit at Bagram.”
Nodding, Gage looked across the table at Alexa. She was barely able to sit still, so much of her old bounce was back.
“What do you think?” he asked her.
“I think you should take it, Gage.”
“I guess,” he told them, opening his hands, “I need to sit with this offer. I’m a sniper, and we never make a fast move. We chew on it, look at it from a lot of different perspectives and angles first.”
The most important consideration—and it wasn’t something Gage could speak about—was whether or not he and Alexa had a relationship that was going somewhere. He couldn’t see himself working at Artemis if she didn’t want the same thing he wanted—love and, at some point in the future if that went well, marriage.
Alexa became somber, giving her siblings a look. “Gage and I have a lot to talk over,” she offered quietly.
“Understood,” Tal said. “Gage, take your time. You’re our first choice and we want you, but you need to sort other things out first.”
Gage nodded. “Thanks for understanding. It’s a dream-come-true kind of offer, and I am interested.”
Tal rose. “That’s good enough for me. Alexa? Why don’t you show Gage around?”
*
“Will you come home with me tonight, Gage?” Alexa stood with him in her office after she had shown him the entire facility.
He closed the door to her office and turned, walking over to where she stood near her desk. “Is that what you want?”
She reached out, moving her fingers down his arm. Gage had taken off his leather jacket, and he looked powerful in just his black T-shirt. She felt the muscles beneath her fingertips tighten as she grazed his flesh, saw his eyes narrow upon her. “More than anything.”
Hearing the tremor, the yearning, in her voice, he nodded. “I’d like that.”
“I’m taking the next week off with you just as we discussed on Skype,” she said, searching his eyes. “I want to drive up to our cabin in the Smokies, Gage. We have so much to talk about . . .”
He saw the anxiety in her eyes and felt it as well. The need to protect her was always simmering just beneath the surface, and he drew her into his arms. She came willingly, resting her head against his chest. “Then that’s what we’ll do, Alexa. I felt good about it when we discussed it last month. I feel good about it now.” She nuzzled into his chest, her hands sliding slowly up and down his chest. His fierce love for her nearly made him tell her just that, but Gage was a sniper and knew timing was everything. There were some things they had to get out of the way first, things that Alexa needed to know about him no matter how painful they were for him to speak about.
She sighed softly. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this moment?”
“No, but it’s nice to know,” he rasped, kissing her hair, inhaling the slight almond fragrance.
“There was so much I wanted to say on Skype, but I know you were monitored, and I couldn’t say much at all.”
“Same here,” he admitted, skating his hand lightly down her back. “And what I need to tell you, Alexa, I don’t want on an encrypted video chat. What I have to say to you, what I want to share—that’s strictly between you and me.”
Easing away, she gave him a warm look, briefly touching his clean-shaven jaw. “Then shall we stop at my condo? I’ve got my bags packed. All I have to do is put it in my car and water my houseplants, and then we can leave. It’s only a three-hour drive west of here. Are you game?”
Was he ever! He filled himself with that radiant look in her eyes. “I’m game.” He released her before he could smother her in his arms and kiss her senseless. Wrong time, wrong place, but soon that would change.
*
They sat out on the wraparound porch of the two-story log cabin, which looked over the setting sun to the west of them. Gage pushed the toe of his boot idly on the cedar deck as the swing moved gently back and forth. They’d arrived a few hours earlier Alexa had made them a steak dinner, salad, and garlic toast. For dessert, she had brought up a cake she’d made the day before, a lemon cream. Before leaving her condo, she had climbed into a pair of jeans, hiking boots, and a pale lavender tee that outlined her small, beautiful breasts and slender body. What made Gage smile was that she placed her long hair into a set of braids, giving her such a youthful look. No longer did she look like the director of the Safe House division.
“This,” she whispered, leaning her head against his shoulder, her forehead against his neck, “is perfect. I feel like I’m in one of my dreams . . .”
Hearing the elation in her low tone, his squeezed her shoulders gently. “This is better than any dream I’ve ever had. All I’ve ever had is broken dreams. Can I dream along with you?”
Alexa opened her eyes and leaned back enough to meet his downward gaze. “There was so much I wanted to talk to you about, Gage, but we couldn’t any earlier than now.”
“I know.” He lightly kissed her. “Time hasn’t been on our side, has it?”
She shook her head, smoothing his T-shirt across his chest. “Gage, you need to know something . . . something that I’ve been wanting to tell you from the moment I met you.”
His hand stilled on her hair and he saw the turmoil in her eyes, heard the quaver in her voice. “Tell me.” He held his breath because he lived in fear that Alexa would, at some time, tell him that she didn’t see them in a serious, long-term relationship like he did. His stomach clenched, waiting. He saw fear in her eyes, trepidation. He allowed his hand to fall on her shoulder, smoothing the material of her shirt.
“I never got to tell you all that happened to me after we were kidnapped.”
“I figured that when the time was right you’d share it with me, Alexa.”
She pulled out of his arms and turned, facing him. “I’ve had nearly four months since it happened, Gage. And I’ve been lucky from the moment you and the SEALs rescued us.” Reaching out, she laid her hand on his. “You were there for me and”—she swallowed, giving him a searching look—“I need you to know just how important that was to me. I know I was a basket case after we got back to Bagram.”
“Anyone would have been,” he said, his voice low. “All the women were reacting just like you were.”
Giving a nod, Alexa whispered, “It’s been rough since I got back to the U.S., Gage. But I’m sure it has been for all of us.”
Her mouth tightened and she looked away for a moment. The evening was so silent, the breeze barely moved the trees around the cabin. The soft pinkish light from the sunset gave the area a beautiful radiance but it wasn’t how she felt inside. Picking up his hand between her own, she began to tell Gage everything that happened to her. As she did, she saw anguish, rage, and turmoil come into his eyes. It was hard to speak the words, to say them aloud. Her fingers became clammy as she told the story, leaving nothing out. His fingers, warm and strong, curved protectively around hers.
“Physically? I’ve healed up just fine. If it weren’t for Becka and my weekly sessions with her, I’d have been lost in all my rage, my grief, and so many tears. God, I’ve never cried so much in my entire life, Gage. I’m not one to cry a lot anyway. But this pushed me where I had no way to protect myself. If you hadn’t been there for me afterward, I know I wouldn’t be where I am today.”
Gage could barely contain his reaction to her story. The harm done to Alexa was far more extensive than he’d ever realized. And it hurt him to see the terror still lurking beh
ind her glistening eyes, to hear a tremor every once in a while in her hushed voice as she forced out the words to share with him. “I’m glad I was there, sweetheart. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He squeezed her cold, damp hands. Just speaking about it sent her into a physical reaction.
“You were the key to my getting my feet under me again, Gage.” Alexa dragged in a deep breath and looked around the quiet porch. There was an owl somewhere in the distance calling to its mate nearby. The sounds were soothing to her. “Becka took over where you left off. She’s got training like Major Donahue had, in rape and domestic abuse situations. At first I had nightmares four or five times a week. I couldn’t sleep. My mind was churning over everything that happened to me. Just being able to drop by her office at Artemis and sit down and talk to her for a few minutes was of enormous help.”
“No one could get through something like this by themselves,” he agreed. But inwardly, Gage was shaking with rage. The only good thing out of it was that Alexa had killed the general who had done so much damage to her psyche, to her. That gave him brutal pleasure. And he could tell that while she didn’t like killing anyone, it had given her a modicum of retaliation against the sick sonofabitch. Gage could tell it bothered her, though.
“Listen,” he urged her, “you were a combat pilot, Alexa. You were in the air war. You never saw what your bombs or that fifty-caliber Gatling gun did to the enemy below you.”
“You’re right, I didn’t. I’m not sorry I killed that bastard. He would have shot me if I hadn’t shot first. And worse? If I hadn’t killed him, he’d have shot the rest of the women around me. I’m not sorry I did it, but I’ll always pay a price for it . . . usually in my nightmares.”
“And where are you at right now in your healing process?”
She smiled a little. “See? That just another thing I love about you, Gage. You see things from a positive viewpoint.”
Broken Dreams (Delos Series Book 4) Page 26
