by Sheila Kell
AJ wiped his forehead before speaking. “If they still think she’d dead, why the problem now, especially if she’s just at her friend’s house and your brother hasn’t told you of a threat?”
Danny took in a calming breath to keep from feeling that urgency and fear lacing like knots through him. “Last night, two men followed her.”
AJ’s inhaled breath permeated through the room. Alpha team stood stoically. Doc and Cowboy must’ve updated them before they entered HQ.
Danny continued, “Based on Doc’s and Cowboy’s visual IDs, we think they’re from the Underground. Whether they chose her or Boyle—the drug lord in Ireland—hired them, we don’t know.”
AJ swore, and Danny wasn’t sure which option garnered it, and that set like a lead weight in his stomach, rolling around to keep him from stopping. “How’s your brother getting his information?”
“He works for Boyle.” As he expected, a stillness raced through the room. All eyes were riveted on him. “That’s a story for another day, but it benefits us right now. We can trust him. He got them out.”
The brothers seemed to think for a minute. Then they both began snapping orders.
Devon told Stone to get to the computer and keep watching that dot.
“But this is my team, too. I should be by their side,” Stone insisted.
“They need you at that console watching that dot. Besides, you need to earn your keep.” Stone sullenly left the room, and Devon chuckled.
Since Stone had begun helping Devon with their computer backup—their lifeline—he’d had a hard time making the break with the team. While they’d hoped he could do both, it wasn’t possible.
AJ rattled off his instructions. “Saddle up. You’ll cover Franks’s house and Moira. Ken, you go back home and recuperate. If the team needs help, we’ll get it for them.”
Ken looked around the group. “Where are the replacements?”
“Oh,” AJ said with a sly smile. “They’re here.”
The twins stepped out of the shadows and almost scared Danny. They were damn spooky. If they’d talk more, they could probably offer a lot to the team. Until then, he’ll take backup. They’d saved him on that cliff when the hostiles had closed in on him, before he’d stepped into blackness.
That flight through the sky had been a scary-as-shit move and an exhilarating one. Now he knew why Cowboy pushed for more and more. That rush of power… no, life… could become an addiction. He had heard that from Ken and Jesse while discussing all the services. That had been a conversation that got him thinking as to why, if spec ops were a better fit, had they hired “alphabets?” It made him feel second-hand, but now wasn’t the time to ponder that any further.
Ken walked over and shook their hands, and, to the team’s astonishment, Jane and John had a conversation with him. The team kept glancing at Ken or each other, not sure what had happened. Maybe their talkativeness would carry over to the rest of them or at least to ops.
Turning back to the brothers, Ken appeared ready to argue, as Danny would’ve expected. Then AJ held up a hand, stopping their tangent conversation. “Do you want me to call Sugar and tell her I sent you home, but you didn’t go? I imagine she’d not be happy with you taking your battered body out of your home.”
Boss—as the team called him, even though the brothers were technically the bosses—dropped his head a bit and brought his hand up; using his thumb and forefinger, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed as if it pained him and lifted his head. “All right, but I expect to be kept in the loop.” His glare at Danny told him he should make it happen.
AJ nodded. “Done. Now go home.”
Before he left, Ken put a hand on Danny’s shoulder, gripping tightly. “If you need me, you’d better call me. If any of you get hurt—or Moira—because you didn’t want me out there, I’ll kick your ass so bad you won’t be able to sit down for a month. Then, you’ll run drills from dawn to dusk.”
There was no chance he’d call Boss. The man had been beat to hell and shot, oh, and held captive. He hadn’t fully recuperated, but Danny wouldn’t say anything that might keep him from leaving. “You know I will.”
After Ken departed, they got back down to business.
“Is there anything you can think of about last night that we haven’t discussed?” AJ asked, with his brows raised.
Telling the brother that he’d kissed her and that might’ve made her run wouldn’t happen. He’d come to that possible conclusion because she’d run in for help, then ran out to possible trouble. Then she hadn’t stayed where her bed was located. At least, he told himself, she hadn’t been in a man’s bed… as far as he knew. He hadn’t worried about Luke, but maybe a friend of her friends?
He wracked his brain to find any little snippets that caught his attention last night but came up with nothing because his back had been turned. “No, but Cowboy and Doc might’ve seen more.”
AJ’s face scrunched in confusion. Danny feared it, but he should’ve known he couldn’t avoid this question, no matter how much he wanted to.
“Why didn’t you see anything? Were you in the shitter?”
Cowboy laughed, and it only got louder, until he’d bent over, clutching his gut. Danny wanted to shoot him in the ass.
Hoping to head off Cowboy, Danny turned back to AJ and said, “We, uh— We—” He couldn’t get it out.
“We played movie star,” Cowboy said, with a grin so wide Danny wanted to knock it off his face. He liked Cowboy, but the man sometimes tested his patience.
“Movie star?” AJ asked, looking between the men.
Oh, hell. He’d forgotten that wasn’t a HIS standard protection technique. In fact, Cowboy had only come up with it a few days before as a joke.
“It’s something we created—more out of fun, than anything else. The way Moira crashed into me and our being about to exit before the confrontation, with limited options, we decided to implement it. It worked great.”
“Uhm, so I take it the two of you stood as protection refusing to allow anyone close. What I’m curious about is how you hid her from prying eyes?”
Danny coughed into his fist. He felt like a school kid trying to find a way around the truth. A truth he’d promised himself he wouldn’t share. Well, he had a negative trend on keeping secrets where Moira was concerned. Ready to buck up and tell the truth, he should’ve known that Cowboy would take this glory or shame, since he’d hidden it until now.
“He kissed her. And I’m not talking about a peck on the lips. They were down and dirty. I expected them to drop on the floor and tear their clothes off,” Cowboy said proudly.
Danny groaned. He needed to transfer Cowboy to the other team. He wondered how Cowboy’s former Air Force Pararescuemen tolerated him while he’d been on active duty.
AJ looked at him sternly. “Was she willing?” Devon halted and looked at him expectantly.
Anger rushed through Danny’s veins at the implied meaning of the question. “What kind of man do you think I am? Of course she was willing.” Shocked at first, but she’d easily fallen into their kiss, and there was no way she’d been faking it for the sake of their ruse.
The brothers each crossed their arms over their chests and leaned back. It was eerie how much these two were alike. They surveyed him, looked at each other and both nodded. What the hell? He hated when the brothers did that. It was weird how they could communicate without speaking out loud.
“All right. We’ll let you and your team take the lead. If I feel you’re not using your head, I’m bringing in Bravo team.”
He surged to his feet and felt the heat creeping up his body, his spine, and his neck. “The fuck you will,” he all but shouted. They wouldn’t take him away from protecting her.
The brothers both grinned. At least they hadn’t given him that sly smirk or twitched on one side of their mouth.
F
ired up to get this party on the road, he asked, “Can I get ready now to go pick her up?”
AJ shook his head. “No. We know where she is, so sit down. We have more to discuss.”
Were they for real? He needed to be at her friend’s place when she woke, or he might lose her again. His heart was too invested. Danny couldn’t handle it if someone took her, and he wasn’t there to protect her.
“Now,” AJ said forcefully.
“Can we at least send someone to sit on the house?”
“Ken sent the twins there before he left.”
Holy hell, those two were going to bring their team to a whole new level. He didn’t know them, but deep down knew they’d take care of her. So, he sat, ready to negotiate if necessary. Anything for Moira. Even if it meant losing his brother’s love in the bargain.
Chapter Twenty
Disoriented, Moira searched for what had woken her. Cuddled deep in the softest mattress she’d ever known, she wished to sleep the day away, unless her mind woke her with inspiration that she needed to get on a canvas right away.
With a sigh, she admitted that she was acting like a big chicken. She and Danny had become friends. So much so that she thought about the pain of losing him when she returned to Ireland. Of losing what they’d built and the emotions behind the two of them.
That included the underlying desire that had simmered all along but took a new turn last night, which brought her back to how she’d act around him. He’d kissed her as part of a ploy to hide her. It hadn’t been real to him. Once she’d overcome the shock, the kiss had turned real for her.
Three knocks pounded on the front door and jolted her to a full sitting position. Rubbing her hand over her face, she knew her time to decide how to act was over.
While most people would worry who knocked at this early hour, she knew who it was. Danny Franks. She imagined that not returning home last night had worried him. She shouldn’t have turned off her phone to avoid his calls and texts. It’d been immature.
Climbing out of bed to dress, she heard Luke at the door. Knowing Luke, he wore only his boxers because, while he liked to look at a good-looking man, he also liked to show off his personal-trainer body, hoping he’d get a look that’d excite him. She chuckled as she put her shoes on, then straightened the bed.
She finished in just enough time because Danny walked into her room without permission. She rolled her eyes as he searched the room before his gaze turned softly on her.
Obviously realizing she was safe, he leaned against the door jam, crossing his arms over his chest and moving one booted foot over the other. He half pulled off the cool pose, but the black military type clothing and the weapons ruined it. If he’d been trying to pull off badass, she’d have given it to him. The grin, though, was too flirty for badass.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
The concern ringing in his voice made guilt rise for avoiding him last night. “Yeah. Listen, about last night—”
Standing straight, he held up a hand. “There’s nothing to say.”
She studied him, trying to decipher if he meant her coming home or them snogging? When a woman shorter than her five-six and looking equally as badass as Danny moved behind him, she decided it’d have to be a discussion for a later day.
“Sorry, Jane. I couldn’t wait.”
This—Jane, she supposed—looked as if she’d been prepared to enter the room until she saw Danny. Interesting. Had their plan been for the woman to come in first? That would’ve been nice since she might not have been dressed. In other words, he couldn’t wait to either check for her safety or miss her not being dressed. The latter sent a delicious chill skidding up her spine.
Picking up her purse from an armchair in the room, she glanced to make sure she hadn’t left anything. She spotted the inhaler beside the bed and wasn’t sure she should take it or leave it. She liked that Laura and Luke had one on hand, but could she trust her trip to Danny’s? Last time they’d been that close—snogging—she’d had to use one.
Laura appeared in the doorway—not in her usual silk robe but dressed to the nines. How had she put on makeup that fast? Of course, since Moira mostly used a tinted moisturizer, it took her less time than most to put on her face paint. That’s what it felt like. A clean canvas with all colors available but some standard rules, like eyeliner goes around the eyes.
Laura nodded to the bedside table. “You can take that one. We have another. Just bring another cylinder next time you’re around.”
She snapped it up and flew to her friend, tossing her arms around Laura’s neck. “Thank you. Thank you so much. You might’ve saved my life.”
“What?” Danny’s words came in a bark, and the two women jumped and split apart. “What happened and why didn’t you call me?”
Laura stepped up first. “Chill, GI Joe. We didn’t have any trouble.”
Not wanting a war between the two overprotective ninnies, she walked out of the room. “You coming, Danny?”
A growl emanated from one of them. She couldn’t tell which. Too many people were focused on her, and she didn’t much like it. The fact they cared warmed her heart, but this was too much.
Before she reached the front door, Jane moved in front of her.
Moira did have a problem that she wanted to discuss with Danny. The more she’d thought through the events of the night—excluding the public make-out session—this didn’t have the feel of the troubles she had from Ireland. They could be, which was why she wanted to go through it with Danny. This Underground possibility that Luke had been mentioned also bothered her. In fact, it scared her more than the Irish drug lord since she’d get a heads-up from Justin if he became a problem.
Secretly glad Danny had arrived to collect her, she’d been surprised he’d been wearing his work gear.
Able to sense Danny approaching from behind, she didn’t jump at his words. “Moira, this is Jane. She’s going outside before you, and you will stay behind her at all times.”
“Are you sure all this—”
“Yes,” he said curtly.
She shrugged. If that was best, then she’d trust him. She only hoped Jane, or anyone else, didn’t plan to watch her paint. She’d call a halt to that quickly.
They exited as he’d instructed. They acted as if bullets could fly at any moment. With it being so early in the morning, the streets were nearly empty.
He spoke in her ear. “Never let your guard down.”
She was officially freaked out, especially since she’d gone on her own from the tavern to Laura’s. Was this what the security Danny and his teammates did day-to-day?
Danny slid a hand to her lower back to guide her from following Jane. “You’re in the back with me.”
Things would feel better and make more sense when they got to Danny’s house. If she said that enough, she’d eventually believe it. Once belted into her seat, her body went rigid at the armory the agents carried. Were their weapons and carrying them even legal?
Life had been easier when she’d just been a painter in her homeland. She sighed. What was done was done. She’d been in the US long enough—three months—that she’d felt safe, until last night.
In the driver seat was someone she didn’t recognize, but he looked a lot like Jane. “Where are Cowboy and the other guy from last night?”
“Investigating.” He didn’t sound happy about it.
Thinking on that response, she pulled in her eyebrows and asked, “I thought you said the brothers—these Hamilton men—worked the investigations.”
“They do, but it’s different. If they were available, they’d help with this.”
Noticing they didn’t seem to be going directly to Danny’s, she looked at him in question.
“Since we don’t have Cowboy and Doc, we’re checking out the neighborhood before we stop.”
“Oh.” She tu
rned to stare out the window, keeping her gaze on nothing particular. Would this become her life now? She’d been lucky in having Justin and Danny at her side, and she’d been safe.
When they pulled into a spot on the street right in front of his house, she wondered how they’d been so lucky. These spaces filled up fast and stayed that way. Then, Jane, who’d exited the SUV before they parked, tossed an orange cone in the back of the vehicle.
She spun to Danny. “I thought you couldn’t do something like that.”
With a one shoulder shrug, he grinned. “You’re right. Slide over and exit my side.”
She turned to the window, where another guy faced outward from the vehicle, but he also covered her entire door. She just shook her head. There was time to figure out all their Mission Impossible stuff. Danny had informed her that wasn’t the type of agents they were.
While the two of them moved up the walk to the front door, Jane had already opened it. She turned and looked at them, before walking in the house with her gun like she was on some cop show.
Beside her, Danny stiffened, and she didn’t know why.
“Shit,” Danny said beside her. “John, get up here.”
The man had already been doing that, so she guessed they had those ear things Danny had told her about.
Before Danny dashed off, he reminded John, “Protect her with your life.”
She froze, fearing what had Jane and Danny spooked. She jumped at that thought.
They waited for what seemed forever, even though she knew it’d only been around five minutes, before John turned to her and motioned her toward the front door where Danny waited, watching their back. Their six, he’d taught her one night.
When she faced Danny, sympathy swam in his eyes. Why?
“I’m sorry, Moira.” His voice had almost cracked at his emotions. She couldn’t understand what he was apologizing for.
Glancing behind him, her heart sank. “Nay.” Her pulse sped up, beating through her veins. Her hands turned so clammy she wanted to rub them on her pants. Instead, she pushed by him. Her studio had to be secure. Surely, they wanted something downstairs. Drugs or money? After racing up the stairs, she sank to her knees when she reached the top. Everything was in disarray and destroyed.
