by Leslie North
She nodded.
They took off for the woods at a fast pace—none of them were up to a run. From there, they watched the house burn to the ground. Fire trucks arrived far too late, but firefighters put water on the structure and kept the fire from spreading.
Gage turned to Anna. Her shirt was torn, her hair looked a mess, but she was alive. Shivering, too. He noticed then that it was getting cold. “We’re losing daylight,” he said.
Kyle pushed off from the tree he’d been leaning against. “We’d better move.”
Slowly, they made their way back to where they’d left the car. Only to find it gone. Kyle swore and kicked at a rock, and Spencer threw up his hands. “So much for evidence. Anna’s tablet was in there—along with her purse and the rest of our stuff.”
“It’s not all bad,” Scotty said. He held up Gage’s phone. “I copied a few files. The real question is, do we walk back to town or, looking like we do, do you think we can bum a ride? Besides, my bet is we find the car’s been ditched not too many miles from here.”
Gage glanced at Anna. She wasn’t looking at him and had moved away from him, and he couldn’t help but think that the real question was, did she want anything to do with a man who seemed to bring her only danger.
Chapter 15
They walked as far as the highway. Scotty found a convenience store, and sure enough, there was the car parked in the back, with two girls hanging out. While Scotty spun stories and flirted, the rest of them washed the smoke and dirt off in the bathrooms.
Anna’s purse was still there, with most of her ID—all the case, and the weapons they’d left behind were gone, along with Anna’s tablet. The distributor wires had also been cut and the tires slashed. It wasn’t going anywhere.
Gage arranged for it to be towed. He had money stashed in his boot. He bought Anna a sweatshirt and a coffee. She was looking pale enough that he also bought two candy bars, but she waved them off, so he and Spencer wolfed down the food. Gage had no idea what kind of tale Scotty spun for the girls, but it got all of them a lot of giggles and sideways glances, and a ride back into D.C.
Sitting up front between the girls, Scotty kept conversation moving, talking about SEAL training which he made out to be more like something from the comic books, but it had the girls wide-eyed and gasping. Anna fell asleep on Gage’s shoulder. Wedged next to Kyle, Gage held still so he wouldn’t wake her.
The girls dropped them off two blocks from Anna’s place. She glanced up at her apartment and shivered. Gage turned to Kyle. “I’m going up to her place to get her some clothes and her cat. Then she’s staying with me.”
Kyle put a hand up. “No. Let Scotty and Spencer do that.” He looked at Anna. “You okay staying at Gage’s place?”
She nodded. She hadn’t said much, and Gage was thinking shock was setting in—fast. Kyle led the way into a coffee shop. Even though they’d cleaned up at the convenience store, they got looks from others in the coffee shop and folks moved away from their table. Anna sat with a coffee between her palms, not drinking it. Gage downed his coffee, went back for seconds, and the guys showed up at last with her stuff.
Scotty had Romeo in a cat carrier, and the cat was giving low growls that warned someone was going to lose a finger for this indignity.
At the sight of her cat, Anna perked up. Kyle pulled Gage aside. “You think your place is safe enough?”
Gage shrugged. “Can’t let her go back to hers.”
Scotty nodded. “No, she can’t. Not until a cleaning crew’s been in there. There’s also police tape all over the place.”
Kyle pulled out his wallet and gave Gage five hundred. “Use it. Check into a hotel. It’ll keep you both off the radar.” Gage held out a hand to refuse the money, but Kyle pushed it into his fist. “Don’t disobey an order.”
Eyebrows lifted high, Gage asked, “And what will you three be doing?”
Spencer slapped his arm. “Seeing if there’s any trail we can pick up and follow. But that we’ll be after food, sleep and very long showers.” He nodded at Anna. “Look after her. Make sure she’s okay.”
Gage nodded, but he wasn’t sure anyone could be okay after going through shit that changed you. Some folks could adapt—some broke. He was going to put Becks in that latter group, but he didn’t know where Anna fit.
He took her to The Jefferson. A hundred slipped to the doorman meant not so much as a twitch over the cat carrier. Inside the room, he checked the windows, drew the blinds, and ordered two steaks from room service.
He found Anna had opened the cat carrier and was cradling Romeo, who gave pitiful mews like a lost kitten. The big bruiser didn’t fool Gage, who was getting sideways looks that could kill from the cat.
Looking up, Anna offered up a shaky smile. “I can’t thank you enough for coming to save me.”
Gage sat down on the edge of the couch in the sitting room that came with the suite. “Sorry it wasn’t sooner.”
“How long was I in there?” Anna put Romeo down and rubbed her eyes. The cat sat down and started washing his balls. Gage knew the feeling.
“Not long, but that was still too long,” he told her. “There’s time for a shower or that bath you’ve been wanting.”
She nodded, rose, and headed into the bathroom. He heard the door shut and lock. She’d need that for a time—a door she could lock herself.
When room service came, Gage tipped lavishly. Anna came out of the bath wrapped in one of the huge, white terry robes the hotel provided for guests. She looked pink-faced and fresh again, but she picked at her food, and Romeo got most of her steak. Gage ate his like it was his last, since you never knew when it might be.
Anna’s eyes were closing, so Gage came over and scooped her up in his arms. He glanced at Romeo. “Go ahead, cat. Make something of it.”
Romeo sniffed the back of Gage’s hand, put his tail up and stalked off to claim a silk-covered pillow on the couch. Gage carried Anna into the bedroom. She stirred, but he got her on the bed, the covers pulled down and then up over her. He straightened, and she caught his arm. “Stay.”
“You sure?” He thumbed to the sitting room. “Romeo and I can duke it out over the couch.”
Smiling, she shook her head. “Stay. Please. I need…I need something good to wipe out all the bad.”
He took her hand. “Nothing wipes it out. But having more good than bad helps. Let me shower first.”
***
Anna heard the sound of running water. The robe seemed bulky now, so she slipped out of it, lay in cool, crisp sheets. The room was strange, but felt…like luxury. Everything else was starting to fade like a bad dream.
Coming back out, Gage turned off the lights. He left one burning, and she was glad of that. Pulling back the sheets, he slipped in next to her.
He wrapped himself around her, all hard warmth. She snuggled closer. He shifted his hips away but not before she felt his erection poking at her. She put her hand on his ass. “Good things, remember?”
Propping himself up on an elbow, he asked, “Am I a good thing, Anna?”
She picked up his hand and put it on her chest, letting his fingers cover her scars. “That guy—Becks— he said he and I were alike, we were both damaged.” Gage parted his lips to say something, but Anna put her fingers on his mouth. “He’s right, in a way. My scars… They’re hideous. But I…I’m not going to let them define me. They’re on me, but they aren’t me.”
He smiled and kissed her fingers. “I could get used to this. To you. Do you mind that?”
She smiled. “I think I could manage with a bodyguard.”
“So you don’t blame me for what happened?”
She touched his cheek. He looked so damn serious—so ready to break if she said the wrong thing. She couldn’t see that on his face, but she could see it in his eyes. She’d never been this close to anyone and she wondered if it was what happened when you risked your life with someone standing next to you. “Will this last?”
“What? Us?
Hell if I know.”
A thought occurred. “Oh, hell, I need to call work. And my mother. Eloise will be having fits if I was on the news and didn’t call her.”
Gage leaned over and grabbed the phone. “Work can wait, but a mom can’t. What’s her number?”
She gave it to him. Gage dialed but he didn’t hand her the phone. “Hello, Eloise? Hi, yeah, this is Gage, I’m a friend of your daughter’s. No, she’s fine. No…no it’s not like that. Yeah, someone trashed her place so she’s staying with me for a few nights. No…oh, sure.” He held the phone out. “Say hi to your mom. She thinks I’m going to sell you into white slavery or something.”
“Mom? Eloise? Hi, yeah, I—”
Gage pulled the phone away. “She’ll call you in the morning, so you can handle the press for everything. Yeah, yeah, she wants you to handle everything. We’ll meet up for breakfast. Yeah…yeah, it’ll be quite the event.” He reached over her again to hang up the phone. “Wow, she really is something else.”
Anna rolled her eyes. “You really shouldn’t let her handle this. It’ll be a full press conference.”
“Hey, if she does all the talking, I’m fine with that. Not a bad idea to make you very, very public with press following you for a few days.”
Anna shivered. “Do you think…Becks…will he come after us…after me? What am I mixed up in?”
Gage pulled her into his arms. “I don’t know, but for now—just forget.”
She turned, pushed his shoulders down and sat up. The sheets slid off her. She didn’t care that he could see her—scars and all. She was certain now she carried worse on the inside. Straddling him, she ran her fingers down his chest. “What about…about us?”
He reached up and cupped her face. “Kiss me.”
Leaning over him, she did. He tasted like toothpaste—like normal. She put her hand on his chest and wondered if she could pull in some of his strength. He stroked her face and let her lead—let her do the exploring. Straightening, she asked, “You don’t mind?”
“You driving? Anything you want.” He spread himself out for her, put his hands flat on the bed and let her touch him, kiss him, lick him. She reveled in the taste of him, in how smooth his skin was over the hard muscles. Reaching down between them, she stroked him. He gave a groan and closed his eyes. He was letting her take charge—be in control.
She realized then how close she had come—to death, to losing everything. Now, with Gage under her and so vital, she felt alive. Putting her palm on his chest, she could feel his heart beat—it was fast and strong. She lifted her hips and took hold of him, guided him inside her. She took it slow—she wanted to feel every inch of him. She wanted to feel everything. He gave a groan and she stilled.
His eyes popped open. He didn’t say anything, just gave her a slow smile. She took him in deeper—deep enough that he filled her. She didn’t want a condom on him—didn’t want anything between them. She’d worry about not having taken her pill later.
Arching her back, she started to ride him. Slow at first, then faster. Pumping him hard. Sweat trickled down her spine, and slicked her thighs. She gave a moan and took his hand and put it between them. “Rub me…I’m so close. Rub me, Gage.”
He touched her and the world exploded. She shook hard with release, came apart under his touch. Shivering, she put her hands on his chest and looked down at him. He was still hard inside her.
“More?” he asked.
She nodded. She couldn’t talk. He turned her, put her on her back. Then he lay down next to her and draped a leg over his hips. He slipped in from behind on the side—pushed in easily. She gave a moan and he told her. “I want to see you come again. I want to feel it.”
He put his hands on her again, touched the spot where they joined. He urged her, nudged into her, pushed deeper.
She gave up—gave up control, gave up everything. She let Gage take her apart again—and this time she felt him come inside her, with long, hot spurts.
Panting, she lay still, the sweat drying on her skin. She couldn’t move—not for anything. Gage pulled the covers up over them and put an arm around her. “Sleep,” he whispered and started to stroke her hair. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”
But Anna wondered if safe had ever been a reality—or just an illusion she had constructed.
Chapter 16
Gage held Anna until her breathing evened and deepened. When he was sure she’d fallen asleep, he got up. He pulled on jeans and a black t-shirt and headed into the sitting room. He’d left the lights on in here. Romeo gave him a dirty look for disturbing his rest and closed his eyes again. So much for cats being night hunters. Gage was going to guess that Romeo had never gotten that memo.
Hunting up his spare burner phone, Gage punched in a number. He kept his voice low.
“Kyle, what did you find in the file?”
“How’s Anna?”
Gage slumped into a chair and squeezed the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “Good. Or good as can be expected. She ate some. She…it’ll probably hit her later. But she’s sleeping. I want to stay close in case she wakes.”
“Yeah, she’ll probably have nightmares. We’re still working on the file. Scotty dug up a friend who has been known to break a few codes.”
Gage smiled. “Let me guess—female and good-looking?”
“You got it. On a first take, she thinks we’re looking at Agency stuff.”
“What—CIA? How the hell can she tell?”
“Scotty’s friend is NSA, and she knows some of the names she’s seen. She's saying whoever has this list could wreak some serious havoc. Scotty’s got her to agree to keep quiet so long as we can help out—she’s willing to stay quiet for a time, but she’s not happy about it. And what the hell is Coran Williams doing with a list of spooks?”
Gage let out a breath. “You think he’s a handler? Double agent?”
“Honestly, Gage, I don’t know what to think, or what a guy like Becks has in mind for something like this bomb. If Becks is looking for serious payback for something done to him, this could do it.”
“Maybe he’s just looking for the names of whoever set up his team?” Gage sat up. “But how does any of this connect to Nick’s death?”
“That’s another thing we don’t know. Look, you stay put. We all need some rest. Scotty’s staying with his code-breaker friend—seems she comes with benefits. Spencer is hanging with me. Get some sleep and we’ll talk in the morning.”
Gage disconnected and sat there staring at his phone. What had Anna been pulled into? It wasn’t unheard of for ops to lead seemingly normal lives—did that fit Coran Williams? Had he been Agency for years? Or was he really someone using this list for blackmail and money? Gage didn’t know, but it was starting to seem like it was a really good idea to find out.
Gage knew he should rest, but he was too wired. Actions hit him like this—left him wired and needing to do something. Opening up his smartphone, he headed online. He could at least find out a little bit about what had happened in Borneo to Becks.
There was nothing much in the news. There wouldn’t be. It would have been covered over and hushed up—no one liked to talk about the ops that SEALs went on. Most of it ended in classified files that the government buried as deep as they could. But Gage knew something would be out there.
He headed over into the Dark Web—the place where the really bad stuff lurked. That was the world of drug deals, snuff photos, and worse. It also was a place where conspiracy nuts posted anything they could get their hands on. He finally found photos there—not good ones.
To him, it looked an ambush, one the SEALs hadn’t seen coming at them. The guys lay dead, weapons in the kind of poses that said they hadn’t been used. The surrounding area looked bad and some of the bodies had been burned—a whole village destroyed. Gage wondered if someone had been covering their trail.
Well, hell, if that had happened to his team, he wouldn’t be thinking about much more than making someone pay for t
his, too. But if Becks wanted revenge, why was Nick dead? And what did Nick’s wife, Natalie Smalls, have to do with it? Was she—or had she been—one of Williams’ people? Was she the one blackmailing Williams?
He kept digging, but didn’t find much more.
Natalie’s background online didn’t show much of anything, other than that she hadn’t been posting on her Facebook page for some time. She looked a normal kind of person—not much family. Something wasn’t adding up there, either.
Gage checked the room again, made sure the windows were locked and the door bolted. He got another snotty look from the cat, and headed into the bedroom. He climbed into bed, and Anna turned and cuddled into him. For a second, he wasn’t sure what to do.
