As he rounded the second dormer, Risto found Callie with Loren in her arms as she held a field dressing on his neck. The SEAL had another bloody dressing on his shoulder. Both of them had blood, bone and other organic matter all over them. Cruz lay on the ground, not moving, for a very good reason.
“She blew Cruz’s fucking head off,” Paul said for the others on the ground’s benefit. He moved past Risto to get to his brother’s side. “I’ll take him, Callie.” He dragged his twin into his arms and sheltered them from ground fire against one of the dormers. He quickly and efficiently began to check out his brother’s condition. “Jesus, bro, you look like something out of Friday the 13th.”
Loren cursed a blue streak. “Fuck, you ham-handed ape. I want Callie. She has a much lighter touch.”
A crack of gunfire and splinters flying from the top railing on the balustrade had Risto pulling Callie under him.
She touched his face with a bloodied, gloved hand. “Couldn’t wait for you. Sorry.”
She shook within the shelter of his arms like an aspen in the wind. He rubbed her body, warming it. She was shaking from both aftermath and cold. His little soldier had pushed herself to the limit and beyond. “Damn, I’m proud of you, but enough is enough.” He kissed the top of her head. “You’re done. The men can handle the rest. Cruz’s mercs will be on the run once they know the man paying them is dead.”
“O-o-kay.” Her voice was as tremulous as the rest of her. She held on to him and buried her face in his parka.
“It’s okay. You’re fine.” Risto wasn’t sure who he was reassuring—her or him? It had been close—too close. He groaned and clutched her more closely against him. “Sweet fucking hell, when I heard those two shots, I died inside.”
She petted his chest. “Sorry. I couldn’t take the chance the bastard wouldn’t kill Loren right in front of me.”
“Poor Loren is fucking grateful you didn’t hesitate. The bastard would’ve killed me as soon as he had you within reach,” Loren said as his brother worked on his neck. “Watch it, dipshit. I want Callie back.”
Paul laughed, tears in his eyes. “You’ll live.” He slapped another field dressing over the cuts and taped them down. “Just nicked you. Most of this shit on you is Cruz’s.”
“Head and neck wounds bleed like stink, dad always said.” Callie stretched a hand to pat Loren’s good arm. “Check his shoulder wound, Paul. I think the sniper’s slug went through, but it needs to be cleaned out to make sure nothing got in the wound.”
Paul nodded as he peered under the dressing. “We’ll need to irrigate it to be sure. We can do that inside. We need to get off this fucking walkway.” Proving Paul’s point, another bullet hit the dormer right above the twin’s heads. Paul swore. “Loren’s stable to move. Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“With you on that one.” Risto looked down at Callie. “You ready to move?”
“Yes, please. I was heading inside when everything turned to shit.” She looked from Paul to Risto. “I’ll stay with Loren. You need to help the others. We’ll be fine.”
“God, sweetheart, you’ve done enough.” Risto couldn’t imagine any woman doing what she’d just done—well, no woman other than Keely Walsh-Maddox. He looked to the cloudy skies and mouthed “thank you” to her father and God for watching over her. He kissed her cold forehead. “Okay, turn over under me. Belly crawl to the attic door. I’ll be right behind you so I can move the other dead body out of the way.”
She sighed and turned over with his help and began to slither her way along the walkway. “I have to say I’m getting kind of tired. This will be over soon, won’t it?”
Risto followed on her heels. “Soon, baby. Big Earl and the guys are doing cleanup. We’ll tuck you and Loren in bed here. Paul and I will remain in the house to watch over you. No one else will be shooting at you today.”
“No, go help Big Earl and the guys. I can watch Loren.” She stopped crawling a couple of feet from the dead body blocking the door.
“Let me move the body.” He scooted past her and shoved the man along the walkway until he cleared the doorway. “How did you move this bastard?”
Callie sighed. “Women’s lower bodies are very strong.”
He grinned. “I love your lower body.” She smiled weakly and buried her face in her arms as if she’d fall asleep right then and there.
No way would he leave Callie alone to guard Loren. She was exhausted and Loren needed pain meds and would be useless to take care of himself, let alone Callie. God knew, he might never let her out of his sight again. None of them ever expected a scenario where she’d put her life on the line for the ex-SEAL. But he wasn’t surprised she’d stepped up and handled it. After all, she’d dashed into a raging battle zone in Ungaía to save the Mayor’s wife, a perfect stranger. Why would she do any less for a man who was like a brother?
He’d always known true courage was doing what had to be done, when it needed to be done. His woman was the perfect example of the adage. She proved it again and again. Damn, he was a lucky man.
“Let’s get inside, love.” He opened the door. She raised her head and resumed bellycrawling into the attic. Paul supported his brother’s bad side and they tandem-crawled behind Callie. “Find them a bed, Paul,” Risto said. “One room so I can defend them easily. I’ll want you and Conn back out to help the others. I’m going to get a sit rep and do some cleanup of the widow’s walk.”
Paul’s eyes widened, then his lips quirked. “Yeah, clean up sounds good.” He shoved his brother inside. Loren protested the rough handling. “Stop whining, bro.” He winked at Risto and shut the door.
Now that the others were inside and out of sight, Risto breathed easier. “Big Earl? Berto? Conn?” He spoke into his mike. “Someone report. What’s going on?”
“The house is still secure, but the gunfire is heading this way. You off the roof?” Conn sounded his usual bored self which meant he had shut down all emotion and was ready to fight all Hell’s minions to protect the house and those within.
“Callie and Loren are being put to bed by Paul. Stay on the front door until I relieve you.”
“Got it.”
“Conn is correct,” Big Earl said. “The rats are working their way to your position. Guess they want to see what happened with their employer. Callie okay?” Several shots rang out. “Chalk up another dead tango.”
“Callie’s fine.” His little soldier spoke for herself. “Are all our guys okay?”
Everyone reported in as a-okay. Loren spoke over his mike, pain evident in his voice. “Well, hell, guess I’m the only lucky one.”
“Big Earl?” Risto eyed the dead, practically headless bodies of Cruz and the other man who’d attempted to take the roof and failed. “What do you think would happen if Cruz and his equally dead buddy fell over the widow’s walk and landed on the ground in front of the house?”
“Might bring the rest out into the open or make them run. Dead men don’t transfer money into mercenaries’ off-shore accounts.”
“That’s what I thought.” Risto smiled grimly. “Watch for the garbage dump. Be ready to take care of the resulting chaos.”
“Gotcha.” Big Earl sounded way too happy. But he wouldn’t be after Homeland Security and a bunch of DOD types came to crawl all over Osprey’s Point. That would be a real goat roping in just paperwork alone. Callie as the intended victim couldn’t be kept out of the resulting investigation. His protective nature told him to swear every man present to secrecy about her sniper’s role, but the practical side of him said to detail her deadly skill in the official report. The knowledge would then get back to the DOD traitor and he might think twice about aiding and abetting anyone wanting to go after Callie. He’d have to think about that, ask her what she wanted to do. He knew she’d have a definite opinion.
Risto rolled the body by the attic door to the widow’s walk railing, then muscled the man up and over. Then he crawled to Cruz and did the same to his body.
“
Fucking A! Little Callie did a number on old Cruz’s head. The fall finished the job.” Big Earl’s voice was low and rough. “Damn good shooting, Callie. Oops, no time to talk, the rats are leaving town—and in an all-fired hurry.” Automatic gunfire sounded, echoing off the buildings.
With a few adjustments, Risto manned Callie’s rifle and provided additional coverage to his team. He wanted this done and over so he could take Callie home and take care of her.
Shower. Food. Cuddling. And sleep, in that order. He’d deal with the official aftermath of this morning’s work tomorrow.
“Big Earl. No one makes it out of town. No one.” He found his first target and took the shot and went into the zone.
* * * *
Once Big Earl assured him the invading force was either dead, dying or captured, Risto searched the second floor until he found the bedroom Callie and the twins had taken over. He sent Paul to relieve Conn so that man could help with clean up. Paul would stop anyone who might have escaped Big Earl’s net from entering the house.
A noticeably cleaner Loren smiled weakly, pain etched on his forehead. Naked from the waist up, the white dressings looked stark against his deeply tanned skin. Callie, minus the heavy outerwear and blood, lay on the huge bed next to the wounded man, sound asleep. Risto frowned. “How’s Callie?”
“She’s fine—not a scratch on her. Paul and I convinced her she could keep a better watch over me by lying down on the bed rather than sitting in a chair.” Loren smiled down at Callie. “She fell asleep in seconds. Ren told me once that Keely did that a lot early in her pregnancy.”
“Good thing this is a big-ass bed, ’cause I’m joining you.” Risto approached the bed and edged onto it next to Callie. He kicked off his boots, then stretched his legs out. Needing to touch her, he smoothed some errant curls from her wind-burned cheek. “You do consider yourself a big brother to Callie, right?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well, I’d hate to have to kill you.” His lips twisted at the look on Loren’s face.
“You’re teasing, right?” Loren narrowed his gaze. “You’re not. Fuck, Risto. She’s just as much a sister to me and my brothers as Keely is.”
“That’s good to hear. Though, Tweeter didn’t think that way at one time.” Risto idly detangled some of Callie’s curls, the backs of his fingers gently stroking her neck with each pass.
Loren cursed under his breath. “Paul and his big mouth. Trust me, Tweeter only told us about that time after four shots of tequila. He said his body liked the experience,” Risto hissed and Loren held up a hand, “but his head told him it was wrong. Hell, I recall Devin kicked his ass a couple of times about it and threatened all of us with emasculation if we touched Callie in that way.”
Risto nodded. Devin was a marine and a mean son of a bitch, which weren’t mutually exclusive. He knew Ren and Trey wanted to recruit Devin and Andy Walsh to come aboard at SSI when they got out of the Marines. “Tell Paul if he ever mentions that incident in Callie’s past again and I find out about it, I’ll take care of removing his balls and shove them down his throat.”
“Got it.” Loren winced, then laid his head against the pillow propped on the headboard. He looked down. “We’ll need to replace the homeowner’s bedding and towels. It took both Callie and Paul to clean the shoulder wound. One to hold me up and the other to irrigate. The bathroom looks as if an ax murder occurred there.”
Risto snorted. “Big Earl will handle it. He has access to a crime scene cleanup service.”
Footsteps coming up the stairs had Risto pulling his handgun. He covered Callie with his body and aimed at the doorway.
“It’s me,” Paul’s voice called out.
“Come in, slowly,” Risto responded, not letting down his guard until he saw Paul and the local who he knew was a fireman/paramedic on the Osprey’s Point Volunteer Fire Department. The man had a huge metal box with a red cross on the side. “Everything quiet?”
“Yeah.” Paul moved to his brother’s side. “Shit, you’re bleeding again, twin.” He looked at the paramedic. “If he needs blood, I’m your man.” The medic nodded and opened his kit and began to pull out what he needed.
Risto swung his legs over the side of the bed and found his boots and put them back on. “With all of you here, I’ll go get a report before I move Callie to the boat and take her back to the island. Paul, have Big Earl loan you one of his boats to get to the island. Conn knows the security procedure for my dock.”
“Got it,” Paul said. “Big Earl’s leaving the dead where they lay until the State Police and Homeland Security and anyone else coming to the party do their thing. The live ones are locked up in Big Earl’s jail.” Paul chuckled.
Risto laughed. Loren looked at his brother then Risto. “What’s so funny?”
“Big Earl’s jail is an old root cellar under his diner,” Risto answered, his fingers stroking over Callie’s blanket-covered legs. “It’s colder than the dark side of the moon in that shit hole. He uses it to keep produce and meat fresh for his convenience store and the diner.”
“The bad guys will be thrilled to go to a real jail after that.” Loren gasped then cursed as the medic peeled off the dressings sticking to his neck.
Both Paul and the medic applied pressure to stop the renewed bleeding. The activity and the ever louder and creative curses Loren issued didn’t even rouse Callie. With one last stroke of her leg, Risto left the room. The sooner he spoke to Conn and Big Earl, the sooner he could get Callie home.
* * * *
Eight hours later, Risto’s Island.
Risto licked and stroked Callie’s pussy lips and clit. Her moans and tensed abdominal muscles told him she was close to her climax. “Don’t come, baby. I want to be in you this time.”
She laughed, then her breath stuttered as he thumbed her clit harder. “You said that the last time.”
“And you came so I had to start all over again.” He rubbed his beard-roughened cheek against her inner thigh and she trembled.
He’d woken her an hour ago with her first orgasm and had taken her to the edge and over one more time since then.
“This time I mean it.” Giving her clit one last lingering lick, he pulled her over him. Bracing himself on his elbows, he watched as she guided his erection into her moist opening. She wiggled her ass as she took his cock fully into her.
“God, you feel so good in me.” She moaned and arched her back, settling his cock even more firmly within.
“You okay?” He loved this view. Her lean muscled body topped by full breasts hovering above him. He stroked a hand over one luscious breast. He cuddled it, massaging the rosy red nipple with his thumb. He lay back against the pillows and pulled her to him so he could nuzzle along her hyper-sensitive jaw line to her chin, which he nipped, then proceeded to nuzzle the other side of her face. Her hips moved up and down on his cock, her inner muscles fisting him tightly. With each downward movement, she circled her hips, grinding her clit against his pubic bone. Her breaths came in gasps and moans as she used his body for her pleasure—and his. He gritted his back teeth, holding back his orgasm as long as possible. When she reached her pleasure, he wouldn’t be far behind. Her pleasure always came first—always.
“Love you, Calista Jean Meyers.” He sucked on her earlobe. She sighed and closed her eyes. She shivered both within and without and began to ride him faster. His hips rose to meet her. “You’re my heart. My soul. Mine.” He licked the outline of her ear.
Her silver gray eyes opened. She smiled and reached for his face with one hand, her other remained on the bed by his shoulder. “I love you, Risto Smith.” She kissed his chin then nipped his lower lip with her teeth. “Mine.” She squeezed his cock and he groaned. She took the sound into her mouth, kissing him deeply. He held her head to him. She lifted her mouth and whispered over his lips. “Come with me. Now.”
“God, yes.” He took her lips in a ravenous kiss and met her hips, faster, deeper, harder. He held her to him so she couldn’t
move away from his hips as he took over the depth and speed of their mating.
As Callie went wild above him, he released her lips to shout his own climax. “Callie!”
She rode him until her spasms faded away and his cock softened within her. She collapsed on top of him, her body a sweet, female-smelling blanket. He circled her with his arms, rubbing her back with long, slow sweeps of his hands. Tugging the covers up over their cooling bodies, he kept her on top of him, her head nestled in the crook of his neck.
“Risto?” she said on a yawn. She kissed his sweaty chest.
He kissed her forehead. “Yeah, sweetheart?”
“What now?”
“We’ll go to Chicago. Pack up what you’ll need for a long stay at Sanctuary. Make sure your brothers get back to their lives okay. Then we’ll move to my suite of rooms in Sanctuary until after the baby is born.” And maybe beyond that, depending on the lingering danger from the DOD traitor. Nothing would be allowed to happen to Callie or their child. They were his future.
She moved her head until she could see his face. “Why go to Idaho at all? Your island is safe. We have Big Earl and his buddies and the Walsh twins. Why can’t we live here?”
“It’s not secure enough. Cruz found us too easily—and that has to be chalked up to the DOD traitor. Next time, we might not be forewarned.” He shuddered at the thought of a rocket attack on his island. The DOD traitor had access to all sorts of technology and weaponry and mercenaries who would do anything for money. He kissed her lips, swollen from his love-making and her teething on them through the orgasms he’d given her. “I need for you to be safe.”
“I don’t want to be separated from you.”
“You won’t. I’ll only be here when Paul and Loren need me.”
She scrunched her nose. “I hate that you have to change your…”
He cut off her words with a kiss. “I need to have you safe. I also want to be with you—watch as you grow big with our child. Ren understands. We’re all good. So, stop worrying, okay?”
She nodded. He smiled and kissed the tip of her nose. “Once I feel sure you aren’t a target of Paco and the DOD traitor, we’ll move back here.” He rubbed his cheek over her hair. “The Sanctuary move is temporary. We have our whole lives ahead of us to live in Osprey’s Point.”
Cold Day In Hell Page 36
