Taste Me Deadly (Sensory Ops)

by Duncan, Nikki

  “There are alternatives.”

  “Not for a woman in WitSec or for one with my past.” She had screwed up too badly to deserve a child. She had too far to go for redemption.

  “Grey…” Liam’s phone rang. “Shit.”

  He reached for it and looked at the display. His brows drew together in that way that enhanced the vertical line. Pressing Talk, he raised the phone. “Micah.”

  Grey tried to hear what Micah said, but he was too muffled by the phone against Liam’s ear. Liam smiled in a way that encouraged her, but what really lifted her spirit was the way he reached out and straightened her hair.

  “Ten minutes will be fine.”

  Liam ended the call and dropped the phone on the bed. He looked around with his shoulders slumped.

  “What is it?”

  “Micah’s heading over with an attorney to get your video statement.”

  “Oh.” She’d forgotten all about Micah and the statement, and for the first time she didn’t like the idea of her time with Liam being interrupted. “I guess we should get dressed.”

  Liam called the guard on duty at the front gate to approve Micah and the attorney for entry.

  They got out of bed, neither moving quickly, both giving the other brushing touches as they passed each other their clothes and got dressed.

  With phones in their pockets and his gun again holstered on his belt they headed for the door. He took her hand and pulled her to a stop. She looked up at him. For a moment he said nothing, just looked at her.

  With a sigh, he brushed a finger along her cheek. Whatever he might have said went unspoken as he instead leaned in and kissed her. With the fingers of one hand linked with hers and the fingers of his other hand resting on her cheek, the caress was tender and sweet. Raw in its intensity. Powerful in its ability to make her want to explore the alternatives with him.

  Damn. She wanted to explore every moment of every day with him.

  The doorbell peeled through the house. He pulled back and led her downstairs. Five minutes later, Micah and Grey were set up in the formal living room. The attorney, Micah said, was minutes away.

  Micah’s phone chimed at the same moment a light tapping sound came from the kitchen. Liam tensed and exchanged a look with Micah.

  “Watch her. I’ll check it.”

  Grey was on her feet and crossing to Liam before she could stop herself. Preparing to record her statement, a precaution in case something went wrong on the operating table, made the moment all too real. She didn’t want to be apart from Liam for even a minute. “Do you…?”

  “Yes.” He smiled, as if he knew what she was feeling and shared the sentiment. Pulling her aside, he winked so only she saw it. His voice, when he spoke was a whisper. “If you aren’t safe in this room with the man who’s protected you for five years we have more issues than Karl Jessup.”

  “You’re right.” Micah was rarely the kindest person. More often than not he forgot people had feelings or opinions different from his own, but he wasn’t a bad person.

  The tapping came again, but this time was followed by the distinct sound of breaking glass. “I’ll be right back,” Liam promised.

  She stiffened her spine and tried not to worry about whatever they’d heard. When she turned to return to her seat, Micah had unholstered his weapon and held it at his side.

  So much for not worrying.

  “You’re sleeping with him.” Micah shook his head and practically sneered.

  “You’re here for a case. You have no right to the details of my life any longer.”

  “I warned you you’d regret coming back here.” He rotated his wrist at his side, rotating the gun.

  Chills crawled across her skin. Moving closer to the entryway, she listened for Liam. She heard nothing. With fear at her back and suspicion in front of her, she eased her way into the foyer. Micah followed.

  “Why exactly is that, Micah?” She fought to keep panic from her voice. She didn’t know where Liam was or what he’d found and she didn’t know exactly why she suddenly felt the need to be away from Micah, but she couldn’t sit calmly in the living room and wait.

  Step by careful step she worked her way through the foyer and down the hall toward the kitchen. Toward the safe room. Toward, she hoped, Liam.

  “Are you really going to pretend you didn’t feel something for me?”

  She angled her head, shocked. What could she have possibly done to make him think…? It didn’t matter. “I’ve considered you a friend, Micah.”

  “Friends who shared dinner regularly on Friday nights and weekend morning coffees.”

  All of which were under the guise of him checking up on her. She cocked her head and kept moving backward. Shuffling sounds and grunts reached her from the kitchen. Whatever was happening, she was on her own with Micah for a few more minutes.

  “You wanted more.”

  He shrugged and continued rotating his wrist. “You’re not like other women, Grey.”

  “If you wanted me for yourself, why would you call Liam? Why call the FBI if you wanted me back with you?”

  “I needed to have eyes here in case Jessup made a move. Agent Burgess had checked into you. He seemed logical.”

  “Because you couldn’t ask your own people to watch out for me?”

  “You weren’t in the program. I couldn’t use our resources for you.”

  He spoke the truth, but there was more he wasn’t saying. Something that had to do with the gun in his hand. “You didn’t need Liam’s team to keep an eye on Jessup.”

  Grey suppressed a shiver as she studied Micah. His eyes were colder than normal. Calculating. He didn’t need to answer for her to know. Maybe it was a result of spending five years in hiding, of looking for conspiracies and danger in every shadowy corner. “You didn’t need your own people to watch Jessup, because you knew every move he was going to make.

  “How did he buy you, Micah? What was your price?” There was a gun hidden at the entrance of the safe room. Even if she couldn’t get the door closed, and Micah was close enough she didn’t think she would, she could grab the gun.

  “One of my witnesses used to run with Jessup.”

  “He saw us together and went to Jessup, who is now blackmailing you.”

  “I’m sorry, Grey. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  “But you care more about yourself.”

  “Well, yeah. I owe some people money. Jessup’s my way out.”

  “What’s he get out of the deal? Other than me on a platter?”

  “I know how to make people disappear.”

  Two steps away and around a corner the gun waited in a hidden push panel of the wall. She figured she’d have about five seconds to get it, flip off the safety and aim. The element of surprise was not working in her favor, so she had to hope his deal with Jessup included her not being dead.

  Micah had training on his side, and he knew her skill level since he’d taught her to shoot, but she couldn’t not try to protect herself.

  She reached the corner and lifted a hand as if she was grabbing the wall. Her heart slowed as the final moment of her plan drew closer. Listening became a challenge because the main thing she heard was the thumping of her pulse. “Something tells me he can do that without you.”

  “I can.” Jessup stepped in from the kitchen. Blood dripped from a cut across his cheekbone. Liam wasn’t right behind him, which filled her with worry.

  Cold gripped Grey’s spine. She swallowed as she pressed the panel. It slid inward. She reached in and wrapped her hand around the grip. She was a better shot with her right hand, but they were close enough she could make do with her left.

  “In fact—” Jessup turned the gun on Micah, “—I prefer it.”

  He squeezed the trigger. Blood spattered. Micah’s body collapsed into the wall with a thud and then slid down.

  Grey’s pulse beat so fast it could make an Olympic runner look like the fabled tortoise. She quickly moved the gun out and aimed it at
Jessup making sure the safety was off. “I’m not as easy a mark as I used to be.”

  “Girl, you’ve been a problem from the beginning.”

  Weird. He was clearly pissed, but he still sounded like he admired her for being difficult. Moving the gun into her right hand, she asked, “Really? Me?”

  “You stole my product, which I let go, until that punched a huge hole in my business. You went into hiding which left me in prison for five years.” He waved his gun at Micah who moaned softly from where he sat against the wall. “And do you have any idea what it takes to turn a U.S. Marshal against his own witness?”

  “Looks like you did it.”

  “Yes.” He raised his gun a fraction so the barrel was aimed at her head. The man liked his head shots. “But I’m tired of prison, and I’m tired of looking for you.”

  “I’m tired of being afraid. And I want you out of my house.”

  The front door slammed open at the same moment a scraping sound came from the kitchen. Liam was moving, but so was someone else.

  Jessup’s finger twitched. Grey dropped to her knees and pulled the trigger before he could. Blood stained the front of his shirt at his shoulder.

  Jessup’s gun clattered to the floor. He howled and gripped his wrist. Blood seeped between his fingers as he held his new wound. She’d thought she was aiming for his chest, but he was unarmed now and she’d accept the small victory.

  Shaking, Grey didn’t lower the gun or sit fully on the floor. She needed to be able to move quickly.

  Liam rushed in from her right. The man from the hospital rushed in from the entry foyer. Both men had a gun drawn.

  The man from the elevator looked at Grey and shook his head. His eyes were less scary than they’d been in the elevator. His tone, when he spoke, sounded apologetic, and not in an I’m-sorry-I-have-to-kill-you way.

  “Things would have been so much easier if you hadn’t come back.” He looked toward Jessup and frowned. “You should have stayed down.”

  Liam leveled his weapon on the newcomer. “FBI. Drop it.”

  Pain lanced Grey’s mind. You should have left it alone.

  Memories snapped free of the barriers holding them back. The scene from five years ago, the part she’d blocked, rushed back.

  The storeroom door opened and standing over Jessup’s shoulder was a dark, intense man with a hard-set frown. “You should have left it alone, Jessup. This is going to complicate things.”

  Shaking, Grey rose to her feet, studying the man from a new perspective. “Liam.”

  “You okay?” Liam moved to her side, never breaking his gaze or aim.

  She nodded. “Do you trust me?”

  “Of course.”

  “Then shift your aim to Jessup. He and Micah are the only threats now.” Liam did as she requested, but there was no doubt he could re-aim in a flash if it became necessary.

  With a slight drop to his chin, the other man bent down and laid his weapon on the floor before him. Keeping his hands up and open, he used a thumb to ease his denim jacket back. Clipped to his belt, a badge identified him as DEA. “I’m Agent Sims. I’m here to help.”

  Liam watched the man who identified himself as DEA as closely as he watched Jessup. He didn’t have the advantage of her memory and the best explanation she could offer was, “He’s the reason I’m alive.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Liam paced the crowded hospital waiting room floor certain he would crash if he stopped moving. He wasn’t going to stop moving until Grey was out of surgery and the doctors assured him she would recover. Then, only if he saw her for himself and believed them, would he relax.

  Everyone who’d met Grey and Ruby since Grey’s return either was in or had been in the waiting room with him. Kami and Lana, Kieralyn and Lori, Ava and Gara, Simon and Breck, Aidan and H. They filled the torture devices called chairs. Tyler and Ian had gone off with DEA Agent Patrick Sims to process the surveillance video from Liam’s house.

  Jessup could deny his actions all he wanted, but thanks to Madame X Liam had a security system that had recorded everything. With Ian’s help, they were processing the audio from outside the house. Nothing escaped Ian’s supercharged hearing.

  “Grey helped make them.” Lana held up a Tupperware container of chocolates when Liam passed. “Want one?”

  He shook his head, pivoted on the ball of his foot and continued his path.

  “Want me to hug you?” Ava offered with a wink. Her empathic touch wouldn’t help. He didn’t need to be calmed down. He needed Grey within reach.

  He shook his head, pivoted on the ball of his foot and continued his path.

  “I could write you a happy ending,” Gara, his newly published sister, suggested.

  The only happy endings he wanted… Well, his sister didn’t have a role. He sure as hell didn’t want her orchestrating them.

  He shook his head, pivoted on the ball of his foot and continued his path.

  “I have an idea,” Aidan chimed in.

  Liam glared.

  “Why don’t you pace a hole in the floor,” his brother said. “That always helps me.”

  “You guys are cruel,” H said from his chair where he leaned his head against the wall. “Poor guy is distraught and you’re poking fun.”

  “Please,” Kieralyn scoffed. “Liam takes great pride in giving us grief. This is just the first time he’s been vulnerable.”

  Liam glanced at their hardest won friend without breaking his pace. “They’re right, H. Just be glad they didn’t know you well enough to mess with you when you were falling for Ava.”

  “Falling for and eloping with are two different things,” Kami said softly. “We just want to know more about the woman capable of wrapping you so tightly around her finger.”

  Fortunately, they wouldn’t know the worst of her, because her testimony wouldn’t be necessary in court. She was no longer the threat keeping Jessup in prison, so she was no longer his target. Agent Sims and Liam were his top contenders, but taking them out still wouldn’t cancel out the video.

  “Good news,” Tyler announced as he and Agent Sims stepped into the waiting room. Ian was right behind them with Bucky Barnes, mostly called Bucky, his new service dog.

  “Grey?” Liam asked, dropping into the nearest open chair. His leg immediately began bouncing rapidly.

  “Ruby?” Simon asked, sitting up straighter in the chair he’d claimed.

  All three men shook their heads. Ian spoke up first. “We have Jessup on tape, outside your house, talking about the hitter’s screw up. We now know the shooter to be Thomas Iono.”

  “From the most-wanted list?”

  “Yes.”

  “Also, Micah activated the voice recorder in his car when he was with Jessup. He got more than enough on tape. Seems he wasn’t flipped entirely.”

  “Bastard shouldn’t have turned on Grey at all.” The mention of Micah’s name was enough to piss Liam off. He gritted his teeth and restrained himself from punching something.

  “He might not have if Jessup hadn’t found the one chink in his armor,” Agent Sims said.

  “Why’d he reach out to me?”

  Agent Sims spoke up. “He was hoping she’d get scared and decide being here wasn’t important enough.”

  “And when she did, she’d run back to him for protection. Though with her no longer officially in the program he wouldn’t be bound by the same restrictions.”

  Sims confirmed with a nod and waved at everyone in the room. “He didn’t plan on all of you closing rank around her.”

  “We take care of our own,” Breck said.

  “Even some of us who aren’t,” Lori added.

  “You’re Trevor’s and that makes you ours,” Kami put in.

  “That,” Sims said with a nod, “is what Micah didn’t know how to defeat. So, he played the only card left. He helped Jessup escape.”

  “What have you been doing for the last five years?” Liam asked Sims.

  “I’ve been taking
down one connection after another, weakening Jessup’s business. As long as Grey was hidden it was fairly simple.”

  “Simple?”

  “He wasn’t on the outside and I was able to limit the information he had access to.” Sims shrugged. “There was only one connection I hadn’t identified, but with Jessup’s escape, he showed himself.”

  Grey had been raped and nearly killed. She’d been taken from her sister and then had faced a betrayal. Her trust issues were only going to be bigger when she had time to think about it all.

  “Mr. Burgess.” Nurse Reinhart stepped in and looked around the group.

  “How are they?” Liam was on his feet and across the room.

  “When can we see them?” Simon was at his side in an instant. The private detective had grown attached to Ruby as quickly as Liam had to Grey.

  “Dr. Keiths is with Ruby now. Grey will be in recovery in a few minutes. They’re both strong women and things are going smoothly so far.”

  Liam breathed a sigh of relief that had tears threatening. He was almost too tired to care, but not quite. “When can I see Grey?” Liam asked.

  “I can take you to her now, but you have to promise to let her rest.”

  Liam followed Nurse Reinhart to the recovery room. Energy and nerves rose higher and higher with each step.

  And every step closer became heavier and heavier. Grey had wanted an annulment. She’d tried walking enough times and had never said she wanted to stay. She’d been tortured and then she’d had to face her rapist a second time. A gun had evened her odds, but torment was torment.

  She hadn’t thought herself strong and though he loved her and believed in her, he couldn’t block the worry she’d give in to pressure and become addicted again. This time she’d have prescription strength meds to start her off.

  No. She had fought her way out from beneath the oblivion of drugs. She’d remember the costs and avoid it again. He would be with her to make sure of it.

  Decided, he stepped into the recovery room. His eyes were drawn instantly to the back of the room where she lay in a bed.