by Rebecca Deel
“I’ll bring you coffee and join you,” Sam turned on her heel and returned to the bedroom.
Nico considered saying something to Joe about Sam and decided the timing was wrong. Soon, though. His teammate was crazy about the medic. He didn’t know what held Joe back, but he needed to wise up. Operatives from other teams had noticed Sam and knew she wasn’t involved with anyone. It was only a matter of time before Sam gave up on Joe and turned to someone else.
By the time the microwave signaled the end of the heating cycle, Joe had settled into a balcony chair with his back to the suite. A moment later, Sam left the bedroom with Mercy trailing behind her.
Mercy looked sheepish. “I’m sorry, Nico. I told Sam I was fine.”
“Come here.” He set the tea on the counter to steep and opened his arms. He drew Mercy against his chest and held her while Sam poured two mugs of coffee and went to the balcony. Then he and Mercy were alone.
“This will be the first of many sleepless nights,” he murmured against her ear as he trailed his hand up and down her back. “Different things will trigger nightmares. You have an excellent reason to be sleepless. The ambush set you off this time. Testifying before the Intelligence Committee will probably stir emotions and memories, too. We can set up another video chat with Marcus if you want.” The longer he talked, the more Mercy melted against him. “Want to watch a movie with me?”
“If you don’t mind.”
Nico carried her tea to the couch where he sat beside her and draped a blanket over her lap. Warmth would help her become sleepy. Sitting on the couch the rest of the night would be well worth the discomfort to help Mercy rest.
Grabbing the remote, Nico found an action-adventure movie with a romance thread he thought Mercy would like. He draped his arm around her shoulders and tucked her against his side.
When she finished the chamomile tea, Nico urged Mercy to lay her head against his shoulder. Within half an hour, she was sound asleep.
Perfect. Nico turned down the volume so the sound registered as background noise, propped his feet on the coffee table, and settled more comfortably on the couch. Knowing his teammates were awake and on watch, he fell into a light sleep.
He opened his eyes when Ben took over the watch from Joe. The EOD man signaled that everything was fine and for Nico to sleep. With a slight nod, he drifted off again.
When he woke the next time, the sun was beginning to make an appearance on the horizon. Nico held Mercy another few minutes before stroking her cheek to wake her. “Mercy.”
She opened her eyes. Mercy glanced out the French doors and frowned. “Nico, why didn’t you wake me and tell me to go to bed?”
He tipped her chin up and kissed her. “The whole point was to help you sleep.”
“But not at your expense.”
“I slept more than I usually do.” And that was a surprise. He hadn’t expected to sleep much himself. Nico had been afraid for Mercy when she’d shot at the gunmen pursuing them. All he could see in his mind’s eye was her falling in the cargo area with a bullet in her head. Maybe having her safe in his arms allowed him enough peace to sleep himself.
“I still feel guilty.”
“Don’t. I enjoyed holding you.” He stood and extended his hand. “I’ll order room service while you’re getting ready.”
After Mercy disappeared into her bedroom, Nico stretched and went to the kitchen to make another pot of coffee. While he dumped the grounds into the basket, Trace wandered in from the balcony.
“When do we leave?” he asked Nico.
“No more than two hours. Sleep. We’ll save you breakfast.”
With a salute, Trace returned to the bedroom he shared with his teammates.
Nico perused the room service menu and called in a large order, then grabbed his duffel bag and headed for the bathroom. With a signal to Joe to take over the watch, he made quick work of showering and dressing. He considered shaving, but growing out his beard would be safer while he was in D.C. The media hounds would be all over Mercy when they learned she was in town. Since he didn’t plan to leave her side, his face would be splashed all over television, newspapers, and tabloids.
Back in the living room, he clapped Joe on the shoulder. “Thanks. I’ll take the watch now.” He studied his teammate’s face and didn’t like Joe’s troubled expression. “Want to talk?” he asked.
“What’s the point?”
“I make it a policy not to stick my nose into my team’s personal business.”
A sour look crossed Joe’s face. “But you’re going to make an exception in my case.”
“I don’t have a problem if you want to date Sam. I will have a problem if your feelings for each other interfere in Shadow unit’s cohesiveness, and it’s starting to.”
Joe looked stunned. “Wait. Sam is interested in me?”
“Are you dense?” Nico murmured. “Open your eyes before you lose your chance with her.”
The bedroom door opened and Sam stepped out. She paused when she saw Joe, then continued into the living room. “Good morning.”
Joe cleared his throat, darted a look at Nico before turning back to Sam. “Morning. Thanks for the coffee and company last night.”
The medic smiled. “You’re welcome.” She turned to Nico. “Mercy looked well rested. Your tea and movie must have done the trick.”
“I’ll be back,” Joe said and walked into the other bedroom.
Nico went to the French door to take up the watch. “Breakfast should arrive in thirty minutes or so.”
Once Ben and Joe showered and changed, they joined Nico and Sam in the living room. When the knock on the door came, Joe pulled his weapon and checked the peephole. “Room service,” he said as he slid his gun into his holster.
Two bellhops delivered carts loaded with food and juices. Not long after they left, Mercy emerged from her bedroom, cheeks pink and her hair damp. She was dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and tennis shoes.
Nico eyed her critically. Sam was right. Mercy looked better. Good. She would need every bit of strength she possessed over the next few days. He handed her a plate. “Choose what you want. The rest of you need to leave enough for Trace.”
Two hours later, they pushed the carts into the hallway, checked out, and loaded the SUVs. This time, Ben opted to ride with Nico and Mercy in case they ran into more trouble.
After a long day of driving, Nico and Trace parked behind a colonial-style, two-story house. As soon as they turned off the engines, a broad-shouldered man dressed in black opened the back door and stepped onto the deck.
Nico relaxed when he recognized the Fortress operative. He should have realized Maddox would think four or five steps ahead.
“Is that Eli?” Mercy asked.
“It is.” Nico climbed from the vehicle to open Mercy’s door.
“Need help with your gear?” Eli asked.
“We’ll handle it. Do you mind showing Mercy around?”
“Glad to. Come on up, Mercy. I’ll show you where you and Sam will stay.”
Jon walked onto the deck. He nodded at Mercy as she passed him. Once she and Eli were inside the house, he bounded down the steps from the deck and reached into the cargo hold to grab Nico’s duffel bag. “Heard you had some trouble on the way here. What happened?”
Nico summarized the events since he’d last seen the SEALs.
Jon whistled. “Your girl is one tough lady. Did you know she could shoot?”
“Had no clue.” He smiled. “She was ticked off it took her a magazine and a half to take out the truck.”
“You’ll train her?”
He nodded. “I’m taking time off after we dismantle the Scorpions. I’ll work with her then.”
Jon’s lips twitched. “Does Maddox know?”
“I told him last night.” Before Mercy had come to him. “Shadow needs a break. We were two days into a break when Maddox called us in to rescue Mercy. I’m glad we were available.” Thinking of what would have happened
to her if they hadn’t been tore him up inside.
“When is the hearing?”
“In two days. Jeffries wants to talk to her tomorrow.” Something that didn’t make him happy. The only advantage in talking to the senator a day before the hearing was it gave Shadow a chance to scope out the setup before the media circus began.
A nod from Jon as he hefted Nico’s duffel bag onto his shoulder. “Eli and I will keep watch tonight.”
“Thanks. We’ll work out a rotation for tomorrow night.” He followed the sniper inside the house. “Where will Mercy sleep?”
“Second floor, corner bedroom, east side. It’s the most secure room in the house.” Jon sent a pointed glanced over his shoulder. “We put you in the room across from hers. Figured you’d want to be close.”
Jon dumped Nico’s bag on the bed in his room, then left him alone. Nico set his Go bag on the floor near the bed and walked across the hall. He leaned one shoulder against the door jamb. “You okay?”
Mercy turned from the window. “Shoulder hurts some,” she admitted.
“Are you hungry?”
“Not really, but I should have something on my stomach before I take the pain meds.”
That she’d even mentioned taking the medicine told Nico how bad she was hurting. “Let’s find out what Jon and Eli brought in for us.”
He started to follow her downstairs when his cell phone rang. After a glance at the screen, Nico motioned for Mercy to go on as he answered the call from Zane. “What do you have for me?”
“Cops in Sherwood filed a report of multiple gunshots. They found three vehicles abandoned, all of them stolen. No sign of the drivers or passengers. However, the cops ran their prints and got multiple hits. From the evidence they gathered, the Scorpions sent nine men after Shadow and Mercy.”
Nico scowled. “They know she has a protection detail. Any inquiries on our names yet?”
“On your real names, no. They ran the aliases from Trace and Ben.”
“They’re tracking us.” How had they managed to do that? A tracker on the SUVs? “We’ll check the vehicles again, see if we missed something.”
“Good idea. We’ve used the Garden Hotel before, but the most likely explanation for the attack there was the government leak.”
“I’ll buy that. What about the ambush outside Sherwood?”
“If you don’t have a tracking device on your vehicles, I’d consider a bug or hidden camera in Mercy’s house. The thugs who broke in had plenty of time to wire the place. With that much chaos and very little time to search, you might have missed both.”
Nico blew out a breath in frustration. “Send someone to Mercy’s house. Call her father and have him meet an operative to let him inside the house. Mercy has a neighbor who keeps an eye on the area. He called the police who cuffed me within fifteen minutes of arriving in town.”
“I’ll take care of it. We’ll let you know what we find.”
After he ended the call, Nico walked into the kitchen. “Joe, with me.”
His teammate rose and followed him outside. “What’s up?”
“Check for a tracker.” The thought that he might have missed one made Nico’s stomach burn. Had he led Scorpion to Mercy’s safe house?
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Nico pulled an electronic scanner from his pocket, turned it on, and circled his SUV. Nothing. Still not satisfied, he grabbed a flashlight from his vehicle and crawled underneath to check for anything amiss.
Minutes later, he stood and brushed off his clothes. Nothing. “Clear,” he said to Joe.
“Same. What made you think we had a problem?”
“Ambush outside Sherwood and the attack at the hotel in Murfreesboro.”
“Government leak?”
“For the Murfreesboro incident. Zane thinks there might have been a bug or camera, maybe both, at Mercy’s house.”
The spotter flinched. “We were so concerned with protecting her and sorting through all the debris we didn’t think about the bozos leaving something behind.” He leaned back against the SUV and sighed. “We’re slipping, Patch.”
“I’ve already told Maddox as soon as Mercy is safe we’re taking a month off.”
“The beach trip?”
“Maybe not the whole month.” He smiled. “No offense, but I’d like to romance Mercy without my teammates watching every move.”
“I don’t know, man. I might learn something from the master.”
Nico got him in a headlock. After tussling with his friend for a minute, the men returned to the kitchen.
“Problem?” Trace asked.
Nico shook his head. “Double checking that we didn’t have a tracker on one of the vehicles.” He turned to Mercy. “Zane is going to call your father. We want one of our operatives to go through your house to search for bugs and cameras.”
She set down her partially eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich. “That’s how those vehicles ambushed us. We could have taken three or four different routes from Sherwood, but they were on the one we chose.”
“Yeah, but we talked about taking Highway 10 while we were inside your house.”
“What did Zane discover about the clowns who attacked us?” Ben asked.
“All three vehicles were stolen. The cops ran the fingerprints. Turns out these guys were associated with the Scorpions.”
“Big surprise,” Ben muttered.
“Was anyone hurt?” Mercy asked, her voice soft.
Nico sat in the chair beside hers. “Doubt it. No one was around to ask.”
Relief filled her eyes.
“Finish your snack so you can take your meds.” When she resumed eating, he looked at Eli. “How is Brenna?”
“As beautiful and amazing as ever. I’m one lucky man.”
“Is she working on another book?”
A snort from Eli. “She’s always writing another one. My wife takes two or three days to do whatever she wants between books, then jumps back into writing. She says if she takes a long break, it’s too hard to resume a regular writing schedule.”
“Ask him why Brenna is writing like a crazy woman right now.” Jon smiled.
“This sounds good.” Sam folded her arms and leaned on the table. “Spill.”
A broad smile curved his lips. “Brenna is pregnant. She’s writing fast so she can take two months off with the baby before she writes while our son or daughter is napping.”
After a round of congratulations and back slaps, the talk turned to favorite vacation spots. Nico deliberately steered the conversation away from anything to do with Mercy’s situation. He wanted her well rested for the interview with Jeffries. He had a feeling she wouldn’t be sleeping much once the circus started.
When she and the others finished with their snacks, Nico held out his hand to Mercy. “I’ll walk Mercy to her room, then we have plans to make.”
Jon stood. “I’ll get my laptop.”
With a nod, Nico clasped Mercy’s hand and walked upstairs with her. At the doorway to her room, he cupped her nape and drew her in for a kiss that heated his blood. He was in so much trouble. Nico was addicted to Mercy’s touch and taste. No other woman would do for him anymore. Mercy’s rejection would kill him. “If you need me, I’ll be across the hall after we finish planning. Eli and Jon will cover the watch tonight. Promise you’ll come get me if you need me.”
“I don’t want to impose.”
He brushed her lips with his. “Holding you while you fall asleep is not an imposition. It’s a privilege. Promise?”
Mercy hugged him tight. “I will.”
“Good.” Knowing he couldn’t stay any longer, Nico nudged Mercy inside the room and closed the door before he gave into temptation to stay with her longer.
He followed the rumble of voices to the kitchen and stopped by the coffee pot to fill a mug before joining his team.
“So, your girl took out a carload of terrorists.” Eli leaned back in his chair. “The boss may try to recruit her.”
They spent the next two hours looking at schematics and routes to and from Capitol Hill. Nico pointed to one room. “This is where Jeffries wants to meet with Mercy tomorrow.”
“Too many access points,” Trace said. “Worse, we won’t be able to carry our weapons in the building.”
“I brought ceramic knives that will fit in your combat boots.” Jon shrugged. “Not as good as a firearm, but it’s better than nothing.”
Nico grinned. Of course Jon brought a weapon undetectable to metal detectors. All of them were lethal without weapons. However, a weapon upped the odds of survival.
“Why does the senator want to see her tomorrow?” Sam asked. “Shouldn’t he wait until Mercy is before the committee before he peppers her with questions?”
Nico had wondered the same thing. Why wasn’t the senator concerned about being accused of impropriety? Maybe he had enough power to sweep away the accusations. “He wouldn’t tell Mercy why he wanted to meet with her. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow.” Nico didn’t like it. Wouldn’t be the first time he’d worked without full intel. He glanced around the table. “Everybody satisfied we’ve covered all bases?”
When no one spoke up, he sent his teammates to bed. He eyed the SEALs. “Concerns?”
“Your objectivity is shot.” A smile curved Eli’s mouth. “For good reason.”
Like that was news. “Other than that?”
Jon closed the lid of his laptop. “I don’t like her being in this town. If it were Dana, she wouldn’t be out in the open, especially near Jeffries. Mercy is already a target. Bringing her here is like throwing meat in front of a starving lion.”
Nico stiffened. “You think I don’t know that? I hate this arrangement more than you do. I don’t want Mercy in the same state as that man and his father, but I can’t keep her a prisoner.”
“Won’t help if the committee sends law enforcement after her for refusing to appear to answer questions,” Eli pointed out. “Mercy isn’t Dana. She’s already shown herself to be one tough lady and she didn’t face the same problems.”
