Chogan was trained to fight those who, to her, were less than human for raping women, selling girls into unwanted unions, and chopping off people’s heads. That wasn’t human. That was pure evil. But this here, this was a business looking man—normal white guy meets something darker. And this here was America with two women just working their job in an upscale hotel. And what he did was just…fathomless. She couldn’t explain it. He just shot Amber in the back of her head. There was no warning, no chance for defense, no real reason for his actions Amber wasn’t a threat to him. She wasn’t stealing from him. There was absolutely no reason, that she could see, for that beast to murder her best friend. It was evil. It wasn’t gangs killing gangs, the typical drive by shootings she read about in those less than stellar neighborhoods across the country, it was just murder and she didn’t understand why. She didn’t understand why he killed her and maybe that’s what she needed to bring some sense of hope into her heart. She needed to know the why. She already knew the how and the where, but the why was nearly tearing her apart. Did he just not like that Amber had spilled his paperwork, his pictures? Did he just not like the way they cleaned the room? Did he just like shooting people, women, in the back of their head?
She wasn’t like Chogan. She wasn’t trained to look out for every threat or to know how to deal with it. She was just another human living in a senseless world and lost, so undeniably lost, right now. As much as she wanted to hope for the best outcome she still felt, in some corner of her mind, that her fate would be the same as Amber’s had been. She had seen his face. She could testify against him if the right authorities ever caught him. The fact that cops were involved too told her making it into court to testify just got a thousand times more unlikely for her. If the man didn’t kill her he could get one of his on the take cop acquaintances to do it for him.
She wanted to just go hide somewhere. Someplace tropical and secluded would be a nice hiding ground. But she couldn’t do that. Hiding wouldn’t be fair to Amber, to her family, or to the man she loved so much—Chogan. He, just like his parents, deserved justice. Amber deserved justice.
She clutched the blanket to her chest and she cried, sobbing loudly and so hard she thought she might shatter into pieces from the force of her tears. Chogan had been out making sure the property was set up to his standards. He had picked up monitoring and surveillance equipment at their car switch and of course he had his own stash of stuff he brought with him too. She was so lost in her own pain that she hadn’t realized how long she had been huddled on the floor crying. She hadn’t realized that Chogan had come back in. And she hadn’t realized that he was standing over her until he scooped her up in his arms and held her like she was a sick child in need of love and compassion.
“I’m sorry,” she tried to make herself stop crying but she couldn’t. The more she tried to stop the harder she cried.
“Shh,” his breath softly warmed her forehead before his lips placed a gentle kiss on her cooled skin. He had switched the heat on so she knew the room would warm up soon, but right now being in his arms was providing her warmth both inwardly and outwardly.
“I talked with Autumn Kitsap. She’s the lead in the Special Conditions Witness Protection program.”
“Are you sending me away?” She heard the almost whining tone in her voice. She didn’t want to be away from him. She felt safe with him.
“No. I arranged to get you some clothes. Since my teammate, Skip Lowery, is coming in through D.C. she’s arranged to have a tag, that’s what she calls the people who handle handoffs when the situation is so tight they can’t use somebody anybody knows is with the unit to make needed deliveries. Anyway, that tag is going to make sure Skip brings some clothes that fit you. I saw the size of your bra when I was cleaning up the damaged clothing from the floor. I told Autumn how small you are and your approximate weight and she says she can get something that’s good for you, even warm for you. You’ll have something in a few days because Skip won’t take as long to get here as Trace.”
“Trace?”
“Yeah, his name is really Tracer—don’t ask,” he chuckled. “His father was Navy born bred raised and died so all the boys have a name related to something their father did in the Navy. In my opinion Trace got the lighter sentence here.”
She laughed softly thinking of what names the other boys might have.
“He’s good at doing the job of tracing people too, so the name does fit him. He finds what needs to be found and I’m going to use him to locate this guy.”
“We don’t have much.”
“Nope, but from what I hacked out of the police files on my sister’s case, and what description you gave me along with the security footage I’ve been watching and trying to piece together from the lobby…well, we’ll get him.”
“The hotel gave you the footage?”
“Nope. I hacked that too.” And he had no qualms about admitting that fact. “Skip has different skills. He’s…let’s just say if you want things erased he knows how to do that.”
“Erased as in dead?”
“Erased as in erased,” he evaded a direct answer. “We’re all trained to kill, Liv. But this guy is mine.”
The harsh growl in his tone told her he meant every word of what he said. This wasn’t so much about making sure the cops did the right job, arrested this guy and tried him in a court of law; this was about justice, vengeance, whatever people would call it this was a man who had raised the war flag and was in full battle mode. There was no live and let live in prison to him. This was about life for a life type biblical justice. This was a warrior ready to put a man under for killing his sister. She couldn’t blame him. She wouldn’t dissuade him. Somehow she knew even if Chogan had wanted to do this on every letter of the law it wouldn’t be possible. Somehow she knew that this man would kill before surrendering and that meant trying to take him in alive wasn’t likely to happen.
Not to mention the fact that she was the only witness who could place him and she was sure he would find a way to take her out even if he were sitting in prison awaiting trial. There is no way he would let her cross the threshold of a courthouse and seal his fate. No, he would put a hit out on her so fast she wouldn’t even get through the door. Heck, she would be lucky if she even got to the courthouse. The man was lethal and she could see that in the way he handled the kill of Amber. He wasn’t honest; he wasn’t nice; and he most certainly was not a man who would show mercy. She could beg, cry and beg some more and she was sure this man would still kill her without hesitation, without regret. She was probably less than human to him. She was just another woman he had to kill to protect whatever it was he was doing that was illegal. What had all those papers and pictures been about? Was he blackmailing somebody? What?
She thought about how Chogan had responded when she mentioned the pictures and figured he had a clue, or some idea, and she wanted to know what he thought. She wanted to know when his mind seemed to be made up that he wanted a different kind of justice. Then again, maybe she was just reading something into his words. Maybe he wanted to rough the guy up before handing him over to the right authorities. She wouldn’t know if she didn’t ask him. She could speculate and assume, but assumptions weren’t a smart way of living.
“You know don’t you? You know what this man is, what he’s hiding.”
“I have a feeling I know and a feeling I’m right. Silencer, pictures, papers, and the easy kill of my sister…yeah, I have an idea what he is.”
“What?”
“An assassin,” he said flatly and she gasped. “A paid killer who got caught. Amber found his kill list. The people he still has to take out and maybe an x-mark on the pictures of the ones he had killed. Or a cross off the list type thing. He’s a hired killer and she stumbled upon the proof. She died for that and he’s going to come after you because without you nobody will know who and what he is. Without you he walks free to kill again, to finish off that list, collect his final payments, and move on to the next hired
hit.”
“My God,” she gasped again, more afraid now than she was before. An assassin?—that’s who was after her now. Dear goodness she had just brought Chogan into a world of danger. She knew he was used to military combat, but was he used to this? Could he really go against a guy who was so skilled at killing and getting away with it? As easily as that man had killed Amber and made a call for a cleanup she knew he hadn’t just started doing this work. He had to be a pro. For a hotel suite like that—yeah, somebody was paying him big and as far as she would imagine, beginners didn’t get high payments. He was a pro, and he was coming after her.
“I know you’re scared,” he uttered those words softly yet the anger in his voice was clearly evident. “But I will protect you, Liv. You have to believe that.”
“I do. I just…he’s…he’s a monster. He’s done this before I’m sure, and he’s gotten away with it all this time. What if he’s…”
“Better than me?”
“That’s not what I meant.” She tried to get down but clearly he wasn’t going to let her get out of his arms. He kept walking around holding her against his chest.
“Sure it is. You’re worried more about my safety than your own. You’re worried he’ll kill me. I’ve been through hell. I’ve faced worse devils than this man. Trust me when I say I will protect you. My guys are coming. If I need more backup I can get it. Don’t worry about me.”
She sighed. “How can I not?” She loved him. She had been smitten with him since the first time she saw him, and had grown attracted to him each time Amber talked about him. She had grown to love him over time and she had kept that love wrapped up in a tight package in her heart until now. She didn’t want him to die because of her.
“Trust me,” his voice was demanding yet gently so. She did trust him. She just didn’t trust that good would always conquer over evil. This man, the beast who was after her, was pure evil. The look on his face when he killed Amber showed no remorse, no discomfort at the blood seeping out of her. He just wasn’t human and that’s all she could say about him. He was like one of those demons she read about in the Christian studies her mother had shortly entertained before deciding it just wasn’t for her and her family to be part of any organized religion.
This was going to drive her mad. The images of Amber sitting there on the floor, rearranging the emptied case files back to where they went, the look of the man pointing the gun at her head, and the fear that she felt racing through every nerve in her body just wasn’t going away. She couldn’t shake it. It wouldn’t leave her and she wanted it gone. She wanted those images to stop haunting her. She wanted those daggers of fear to stop stabbing her. But she couldn’t get that. Every time she closed her eyes, every time she sat down unoccupied, the memories flooded her mind.
She trembled in Chogan’s arms. There was one thing that could help her stop remembering even if only for a short time. She needed that connection to something good, something safe, something love induced. She looked up at him, his eyes staring back into hers. “Make love to me,” she whispered those words. “Please?”
“Olivia,” he used the fullness of her name which she wasn’t sure if he was getting ready to say no or lecture her on how she couldn’t use sex to make herself feel better.
“Please?” She let her fingers gently rasp over his neck, seducing him, or at least trying to. It wasn’t as if she had any experience on the art of seduction or anything like that.
“I can’t…you’re…”
“You’re good. You’re honest. You love me; at least I think you do. Maybe you don’t, but I still want to be connected to you—deeply connected to you.” She placed her lips in a trail of soft kisses along his jaw line to his ear and then down his neck.
He groaned. His actions were so swift she hadn’t had time to prepare to go nearly flailing onto the bed. By the time she got settled on the bed he already had the palm of his hands anchored to it, caging her in and staring down at her with such intensity in his eyes that it made a trembling force of passion and fear race through her. Would he give in to her request? Would he take her here and now?
His eyes raked over her body, up then down and then up again. There was such a hard look to him that she couldn’t read it. Was that desire lurking beneath his armor?
“I don’t think you understand,” the harsh tones of his voice flooded her body with a completely different kind of emotion—and it wasn’t fear. “You don’t understand what you do to me. You don’t understand how hard it was for me to see you and look at you as just my sister’s friend. You don’t understand how hard it was for me not to bend you over that picnic table at the family outing, pull your jeans down, rip your panties off and take you right there. And if you think one time with you was enough for me you’re wrong. It wasn’t enough. It will never be enough. But I can’t give you soft and gentle. If you think the other day was rough I can assure you that’s as easy as I get. I held back because I knew you were hurting emotionally and I felt kind of bad about taking you—almost like I was taking advantage of you, but I assure you if I take you now there is nothing gentle in what I’ll do to you.”
She felt her heart racing. Their first time was holding back for him? If that was holding back then what was he like at full throttle?
“I’m running on my own adrenaline rush here, Olivia.” He stressed her name with a sway in his accent that sent ripples of desire down her spine. “I’m the Marine hot off a mission and firmly entrenched in another. If you don’t want me to pound you into this bed I would advise you to stop enticing me—now.” His hand moved to her inner thigh, pushed the skirt of her dress up a little along his way and he pressed his fingers into her skin hard and squeezed with his hand just the same.
She eased up on her elbows and he moved back, standing a measured distance from her as if he were satisfied that he had made his point. He didn’t want to hurt her and she knew that, but she wanted him more now than she had before.
She pushed the hem of her dress up, gathering it in the palm of her hands and pulling it over her head. The dress was too big on her so she didn’t have to unzip or unhook anything. And he had ripped her only underwear off the last time they were together so now she sat here, naked and open to his gaze.
He growled a guttural groan. She could see his erection growing in his pants.
“I made it easy for you, Chogan.” She slid her hands to her center and swept a finger up her folds. “But I’m not sure I’m wet enough yet for what you say you’ll do.”
“And I’m not sure I can control it,” he growled as he started to tug off his own clothes. His eyes were dark with passion, with a primitive force that she couldn’t explain, yet she could feel the heat of it as if somebody had dug a tunnel full of lava in the room.
“In fact,” he said as he stepped out of his pants, “I’m sure I can’t control it.” And in his words she saw the truth in them—he couldn’t control it, but more than that, he didn’t want to control it.
And like lightening streaking across the sky and impacting the tree on the ground he was on her so fast it nearly knocked the breath out of her. He was hard angles to her soft curves. He was primal force to her docile serenity. He was her opposite and yet they fit—his power to her softness, his masculinity strong and hard to her femininity soft with an edge was so perfectly binding, meshing in complete harmony, that she felt this was right, perfect, fated. They were meant for each other. All roads in her life had led her here, to this man, to this moment, to this finality. There would never be another man like him in her life. There would never be another man who could claim her heart the way he had done. That should have scared her, but right now all she could think about was how much she wanted him, how much she needed him, and how much she would surrender to him.
In that moment she didn’t fight the power of his heat. She gave in to it, embracing it fully and allowing his force to control, to entangle, to empower her and consume her. In that moment she gave a promise to herself—nobody el
se would ever share this part of her body, her heart, her life. Nobody but Chogan could consume her like a supernova, and guard her like an uncontrollable force of nature. This man was her match in every way, and in this moment she had made that promise to herself that he, and he alone, would claim the rapture of her heart.
Chapter Four
Chogan looked at the soft woman spooned against his body. He had taken her relentlessly as if he were some primal beast claiming and conquering. He was never the play it soft kind of man—in the bedroom or out of it—but how he took her surpassed even him. Something about her felt like a drug that he got one taste of and craved more. He hadn’t taken her just once, or twice; he had come inside her all night. Ride ‘em hard was an understatement. He had taken her long, deep, and overpoweringly so for hours until he collapsed on top of her unable to move to do more than lick, kiss and nip her neck.
She had come. He knew she had enjoyed it because she had come each time, moaning, gasping for breath and even screaming out his name. And the way her walls constricted on his penis fueled his furry even more. She was the match and he was the gasoline waiting to set the forest on fire. One moan from her, one inhaled breath, pushed him harder, made him drive deeper. Control was not an option. And now she lay here with him, her hair disheveled and falling across her shoulders and over the curve of her breasts. Now she lay here sleeping peacefully with his cum drying on her skin and working its way through her on a mission—he wanted a baby with this woman. He wanted a family with this woman. More than that, he wanted a life with this woman. This woman was his and he would be damned if he let anybody take her from him.
His disposable phone buzzed. He reluctantly twisted out of his hold on Olivia. She squirmed a little but drifted right back into a sated slumber. He reached his pants still in a puddle on the floor, sifted through the pocket and pulled out the phone. One text awaited him, ‘ETA STE,” and that told him all he needed to know. Skip was coming in sooner than expected which meant he was probably nearing the place and would be there in less than an hour. Chogan felt a slight twinge of loss for their private moment, but he got over that. His mission was to find this man, save Olivia, and then he could enjoy all the private moments with her he wanted. That thought hit him hard. What was he thinking? He would be plucked out of the States as soon as another mission required him and the team. With the state of the world affairs he was sure that mission would come sooner rather than later.
Kill List (Special Ops #8) Page 8
