Target in Range (Ranger Ops Book 5)

by Em Petrova

  Slipping his hand around her nape, he pulled her in. As soon as their lips met, she issued a hungry groan, as if she’d been waiting for this all night. As though it was the only thing she needed in the world.

  Desire flashed through him like a blast of C-4. His cock strained against his fly, and he deepened the kiss. Tongues working, they threw themselves together. She locked her arms around his neck and dragged herself close enough that her breasts brushed his chest.

  He hauled her across his lap. Her round bottom settled over his thighs, and her eyes widened at what she felt there.

  “Take me, Jess. I need to feel…” She broke off, glancing down.

  He nudged her face up and pinned her in his stare. “To feel what?” he rasped out.

  “Desired.”

  He made a noise deep in his chest and moved to strip her of the tank top and lounge pants. When he had her stretched out on her bed in only a skimpy pair of cotton panties, he groaned and rubbed a hand over his face.

  “Jesus, your panties are soaked. Spread your legs and let me look at you. Yeah, just like that. Fucking hell, baby.” He tore at his clothes and had a condom in place in seconds, all while keeping his gaze fixed on the damp spot between her thighs.

  Naked and with his cock jutting out, he covered her with his body. She curled around him and found his lips, delivering kisses that grew in intensity. When he eased his fingers over the wet spot on her panties, he bit off the words that had been threatening to loosen his vocal cords since he’d walked through her front door.

  I love you. I fucking love you.

  He held it back and instead pressed on the crotch of her panties. The cloth gave way and sank between her aroused, pouty lips.

  Call him perverted, but he had to look at her, commit the erotic sight to memory. Leaning back on his knees, he parted her thighs and gazed at the cotton worked into her folds.

  She shoved on his shoulders, guiding him down, and there wasn’t any other place he’d rather be than right here in Avery’s bed—between her legs in the heaven of all heavens.

  * * * * *

  With a gym bag slung over one shoulder and an energizing celery juice in hand, Avery meandered down the sidewalk toward home. Her body felt great. Her heart too, when she allowed her mind to linger over Jess’s lovemaking. How he’d stared into her eyes, as if looking into her soul as he thrust his cock into her.

  She had far too much time to contemplate what that look in his eyes meant. It was almost as though he… loved her.

  She’d never seen love in a man’s eyes. Heard the words fall from many men’s lips, sure, but she’d known at the time they didn’t mean it.

  Ugh, she was overthinking again. She needed to let things happen as they were supposed to and shut off her mind when it came to Jess.

  The next hour was spent in the psychologist’s office and then ten more minutes to set up a time for the anger management classes. Feeling wrung out again, she headed home.

  When her phone buzzed, she fished it out of her pocket and saw it was her parents. If she answered, she’d be met with their chipper voices on speakerphone for their weekly call.

  Something told her to ignore the call and wait for a better time. She was just stuffing the cell back into her pocket, when it rang a second time.

  Fear took hold—her father was sick. Her mom was in the hospital. There’d been an accident.

  She pressed it to her ear. “Mom? Dad? I’m here.”

  “Thanks for the greeting, Aarons.” Reggie’s low drawl filled her ear, and she felt herself melt with relief.

  “Hi, Reg. My parents just called and then I got another one directly after and jumped to conclusions, thinking something might be wrong.”

  “Not wrong—right. Chief asked me to give you a call. The board wants to meet with you at three.”

  “Three? Oh God, what time is it?” She’d lost all track between kickboxing, standing in line at the raw juice bar and the appointment with the shrink.

  “It’s only a little after one. You’ve got time, Avery. Don’t stress. Look, don’t get your hopes up either. This might just be more questioning.”

  Her heart sank from the small place it had lifted to when Reggie told her the board wanted to meet with her.

  “All right. I’ll keep a level head.”

  “Yeah, and don’t lose your temper with them either.”

  “What is it you’re not telling me? You know something.” She narrowed her eyes, not even seeing the sidewalk before her.

  “Honest to God, I know as much as you do. But I also know you and how frustrated you’ve been. Just don’t let that get the best of you—I need my partner back.”

  “I’m always professional.”

  “Good girl. Call me after the meeting breaks up, okay?”

  “I will.”

  They ended the call, and she gazed at the ribbon of gray cement leading her home to shower and change and then go into the precinct for that meeting.

  Reggie’s tone of warning reverberated through her head. She didn’t know what to think of it. He wouldn’t lie to her, not about something as important as her badge. He really must not know what the meeting would be about. Yet… Reggie had the best sixth sense she knew.

  And she didn’t like his warning one bit.

  The remainder of her walk home had her mind clouding with what-ifs. What if she never got her badge back? What if her career was finished? What would she do with her life then?

  It sure wasn’t teaching kickboxing classes twice a day. She’d be bored out of her mind, bouncing around to the same routine day in and out. Besides, the instructor would return soon.

  Maybe her fate wasn’t to die at the hands of a criminal—it was to lose the job she loved. Each step home was weighted.

  Arriving a good half hour early for the meeting gave her time to hang out in the precinct and get a read on the atmosphere. She sat and talked for a while with the receptionist. Then she and one of the dispatchers, Sadie, shared a coffee. Not much was said to her about the meeting, and Avery was left to read between the lines.

  She crossed her legs and brought her coffee cup to her lips and then set it aside again. “I’m already tripping on that caffeine. Better not drink anymore.”

  Sadie was not someone Avery would call a best friend, but she and Avery hung out together at office Christmas parties or barbecues. When they all hit the cop bar down the street for drinks after a long day, she and Avery would pull up a stool beside each other and shoot the breeze while sipping tequila sunrises.

  Sadie looked her over. “You look different.”

  Oh boy, not her too. Reggie had said something similar days before.

  Avery stood and did a three-sixty, showing off her body that had never been so toned. “Twice daily kickboxing.”

  “Wow, your ass looks great!”

  She spun to face Sadie again, laughing. “Boredom sent me to the gym more often.”

  “You’re lucky. Boredom would have sent me to the bakery more often.” She stood too, twisting to wiggle her own ass.

  They shared a laugh, and for a moment, Avery was grateful for the comic relief. She was so knotted up over what was about to come. The board could drop the guillotine on her days as a cop, and she didn’t know what she’d do if that happened.

  Seeing this pass over Avery’s face, Sadie reached over and patted her hand. “It’s going to be okay.”

  She lifted her brows. “You think so?”

  Offering a small smile, Sadie nodded.

  At the sound of the chief’s voice, she bolted to her feet. He dashed a look at her on the way to his office and said, “Aarons, follow me.”

  She tossed a glance at Sadie. Her warm smile was meant to reassure, but Avery couldn’t help but think it was one of pity.

  As she entered the conference room behind Chief Gilbert, she remembered to breathe. Her chest burned with worry. Right now, she wished she could talk to Jess and gain his take on things. But he was off, had been called out i
n the wee hours of the morning. Their last exchange had been him leaning over her, lips brushing across her forehead. And Avery had clutched his shirt and pulled him down for a real kiss.

  Then she’d lain awake for hours after he’d left the condo, worrying if he would be injured this time. Or worse, if she would ever see him again.

  If there was one thing she knew, it was that life was short. Maybe her traumas in youth had helped wake her up to that fact, but she never missed out on opportunities to let those around her know they were important.

  As a couple gentlemen entered the conference room, she looked up, thoughts of Jess floating away and reality setting in. She greeted them with silent nods. More men entered, and she was relieved to see two ladies were sitting on the review board as well. When the table filled up, she took her chair and rested her hands on the tabletop in a calm manner.

  The chief of police looked from person to person. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

  As the formalities were observed, with the case presented again, and the reports on what had happened in the parking lot that night what felt like ages ago read aloud, Avery fought back the urge to jump up and give her side of the story all over again.

  Though, how many times had she stated facts? There was nothing left to say on the matter.

  The only question remaining was whether or not they believed she had acted in self-defense or her past had finally caught up to her and she had gone mad.

  She listened to the discussion between those in the room.

  “…out of her jurisdiction.”

  “Off duty on top of that…”

  “Past psych evals show…”

  She did not add to it—after all, she was observing her Miranda rights. She did not wish to make things worse, and at some point, she feared she’d finally lose her temper and it would be all over for her.

  “It was recommended that Officer Aarons go through a basic course on anger management.” Chief Gilbert turned his head to look at her. “Aarons, have you done so?”

  “I’ve enrolled, sir. The course doesn’t begin until this Friday.”

  “All right, then. We give Officer Aarons time to complete the course and then reconvene here the following week. Is that acceptable to everybody?” He glanced around at the other members of the review session.

  Nods answered him, and then the meeting was finished. She stared in shock as people left the room.

  She got to her feet. “Nothing changed. Nothing happened. Why was a meeting even held today?” she asked the chief.

  He eyed her. “Avery, these things take time and we require that every channel be investigated. You can’t rush it.” He gave her a stern look. “Not even by having your friend call and demand answers.”

  She blinked at him. “Excuse me?”

  “This morning, a former Texas Ranger by the name of Jess Monet called asking about your case. He was warned to back off, and I’ll reiterate that sentiment with you right now, Officer Aarons.”

  Her heart jerked against her chest wall so hard that it knocked the breath from her. She could do nothing but stare at the chief for a long moment. Finally, words flooded onto her tongue.

  “I assure you that I had nothing to do with that. If Jess did call, then it was his own idea.”

  “That may be true, but it doesn’t look good for you. Lucky for you, I did not share that information here today. Now, I’ve got work to do. You know the way out.”

  Dismissed, she gathered herself up and left the precinct. Her mind was cluttered, fogged with everything that had taken place. And just what had Jess been thinking to call and interfere? This was her life—and a man she’d been seeing all of ten minutes wasn’t going to jeopardize her position.

  Anger washed over her, hot and brighter than the Texas sun blasting down on her head. Each step she took toward the parking garage where her car was made her burn more with fury.

  Trouble was, she couldn’t even direct it at Jess. He was off doing God knew what to protect their country from threats.

  The tough guy thought he could fix everything, but that wasn’t the case here, and he’d only complicated things for her.

  Chapter Eight

  “Jess, we need you on this.” Colonel Downs held out a sheet of paper to him.

  He shot the colonel a look before taking the paper from his hand. One glance, and he knew exactly who they’d intercepted the message from.

  “I’m on it.” He was already moving to the conference table and sinking to a chair, his eyes locked on the words of the message. “How was this received? Email?”

  “Text from Moreno to Acosta.”

  Jess nodded absently, his brain shooting ahead to which letters were to be replaced by others, therefore shaking the entire message up like a box of Scrabble game pieces and revealing a message with another meaning.

  He plucked a pen from his pocket and began scribbling under the words. He murmured under his breath as he worked. The colonel stood back, arms folded, and watched him a minute.

  Jess looked up. “I’ll get this to you as soon as I’m finished.”

  He nodded and walked out of the room, leaving Jess alone with a cloud of letters and ciphers in his mind.

  He stared at one letter in particular. At a glance, he knew it’d been used twelve times within the message, and that wasn’t only coincidence.

  Replacing it with letters wasn’t getting him anywhere, and he drew a breath and started over again.

  As soon as one word clicked into place, he clenched a fist on his knee. “Colonel Downs!”

  The man must have been standing just outside the door, because he stepped into the room in a second. “What is it?”

  “A strike.”

  “Where?”

  “I’m about to…” He fell silent as another word locked in.

  He looked up at Downs.

  “Location?”

  “Puerto Madryn.”

  “You’re certain of this?”

  “A hundred percent. But there’s more. I…” He drifted off again, lost in the letters that wouldn’t mean anything to a person who didn’t know Moreno as a man. A man who was paid for trading espionage, who would replace the twelfth letter of the alphabet with the first letter of his daughter’s name. Every L in the message—all twelve of them—were replaced with Ms, the first letter of his late wife’s name.

  He jolted in his seat. “Oh God.”

  “What is it?” Colonel Downs leaned over the table, an expectant expression on his hard features.

  “The twelfth is the date the attack will occur, and that’s—”

  “Tomorrow,” Downs finished. He spun to the door and bellowed for Sully. Their captain’s thumping footsteps echoed in the hallway and their voices reached Jess.

  “I’m dispatching troops to Puerto Madryn. Ready your team. You and Knight Ops are heading to Chiapas to go after Moreno as soon as I can get a helo here.”

  Jess got to his feet. “Colonel.”

  The officer stared at him.

  “Moreno cannot thwart an attack—he’s just the middle man, handing off the baton from one to another. Even if we take him into custody, it’s unlikely an attack can be stopped. It’s been in place for weeks now—months even, and there will already be men on the ground in Puerto Madryn.”

  Downs gave a stiff nod. “We’re aware these men don’t follow him, Monet. But he’s the pivot point in all these attacks, and we have to suspect him as one who could be calling the shots and not only delivering the intelligence as we first believed. Anything else?”

  Jess nodded. “His children live with him, sir. If we attack his home, it’s likely we will kill innocent children.”

  “Then we’ll have to do our best not to let that happen. Sully, your team.”

  “On it, sir.”

  Jess dropped back to his seat, sweating, heart racing.

  It was finally happening—all his late nights spent listening to phone calls and deciphering correspondence between Moreno and countless m
en was finally coming to a head.

  They were set to attack Moreno in his own home.

  Even if the Ranger Ops saved Moreno’s son and daughter, by dawn of the next day, their father would be dead and the children orphans.

  He planted his elbows on the table and jammed his fingers through his hair. “Fuck.”

  * * * * *

  On a map, seeing Moreno’s big house and plot of land his family had owned since back in the days of coffee farming was one thing. Seeing it in person was quite another.

  He stared at the rich beauty of the landscape before him. The white stucco house with the clay red roof was nestled up against a backdrop of what looked like rainforest. But Jess knew just on the other side of those trees was a small town where Moreno took his kids for treats like ice creams and torta de tres leches.

  He swallowed hard enough he heard it in his own ears. On his three, Cav peered through his rifle scope at the windows of the house.

  “We need him to come to one of the windows and it’s all over,” Cav said, low.

  “Just make fucking sure one of the kids isn’t around.”

  “I’m aware of the situation, Jess. Just take it easy, okay?” Cav didn’t look away from the window that was trimmed in the same red as the tiled roof. The yard was a series of terraced gardens with barriers of hedgerows that created an octagonal pattern across the property. In the center of everything sat a small gazebo with a thatched roof, and Jess could easily picture the children going there to play or relax after finishing their schoolwork.

  Cav jerked, his finger perched on the trigger. Jess pressed his own eye to the scope but saw nothing in the window. From the bottom corner of his vision, he tracked movement.

  “A dog,” Woody said into their comms unit.

  “No, a goat,” Jess responded. “The goat’s name is Vincent Van Goat.”

  A chuckle sounded to his right, and Cav moved his rifle away from the harmless animal.

  “Why the hell did they name a goat?” Cav asked.

  “It’s the kids’ pet.”

  “I got movement, and it’s not the four-legged variety.” Sully’s drawl had Jess’s adrenaline kicking in big time.

  His heart slammed faster, and he positioned himself as backup to the shot Woody, as sharpshooter, was set up to take.