Endings and Beginnings (Death and Destruction Book 8)

by Patricia Logan

  “I figured they did,” Jarrett said.

  Thayne nodded. “So, Devecchio has to sit with someone and learn how Josiah Flynn communicates so that he doesn’t go in and immediately blow his cover.” He sipped his coffee.

  Jarrett nodded. “Yeah, well, my guess is he already did that. I saw Diaz hand him a flash drive probably with recordin’s and communications on it before we left last night.”

  “Okay, so, finish your coffee. We have time for a run and then we can take off for the office.”

  Jarrett swallowed more coffee and set his mug on the counter before reaching out and grabbing Thayne around the waist. Thayne had to set his coffee down beside Jarrett’s to keep it from sloshing out of the mug. Jarrett grinned at him and leaned in to kiss the side of his neck. He smelled like sleep and the sex they’d had the night before.

  “You don’t want to cram a little alone time in there before we have to go to work, darlin’?”

  Thayne chuckled and turned his head, baring his neck so Jarrett could continue the way he was nibbling at it.

  “Down boy. We need to work. I’m not going to be rushed when I get you naked and we really need a run.”

  Jarrett sighed against his neck and then lifted his head, gazing into Thayne’s bright blue eyes.

  “Fine, but this jogging is bein’ done under extreme protest.”

  Thayne laughed. “Noted.”

  ****

  Nico wasn’t sure he was ready to leave Mac’s bed. They’d fallen asleep in each other’s arms without Mac having fucked him but as Mac said, these things couldn’t be rushed when it wasn’t organic. There was something so alluring about how comfortable Mac was in his own skin. The big man certainly wasn’t shy about who he was and Nico didn’t envy the man who’d dare call Mac names for his sexuality. Though he’d never seen or heard Mac talk about dating men—or women—before last night, Nico still wondered whether his name was on a long list of the Green Beret’s conquests.

  A man like Mac certainly had men and women lining up to date him. With a sick feeling, he really hoped Mac had meant it when he said that he’d been waiting to tell him how he really felt. If he was planning on fucking around and Nico was just another one of his many lovers, Nico didn’t want that. He knew he would be disappointed to learn that he was not the only person in McBride’s bed. He was feeling pretty territorial about Mac already and they’d only shared a hand job and a BJ.

  He forced himself to get out of bed before dawn and dress. He didn’t want to leave Mac asleep without saying goodbye so he slipped out of the bedroom and went to the kitchen where he made coffee after hunting around for ingredients. He was pleasantly surprised to find Starbucks in a foil bag in the cabinet above the coffee pot. While he waited for it to drip into the pot, he walked over to the small attached dining area and perused the pictures on the walls. Most were black and white and filled with soldiers standing side by side with a backdrop that appeared to be some desert place.

  It was easy to pick Mac out. Unsurprisingly, he was the tallest man in the pictures. He looked happy and his buddies grinned as widely as he did. Nico stopped to wonder how amazing these men were. They selflessly went into battle headfirst, unafraid of what they had to do with a solid courage that was staggering in Nico’s mind. He was so engrossed at looking at the photos that he didn’t hear Mac coming up to stand right behind him. When he laid his chin on Nico’s shoulder and slipped his arms around him from behind, Nico almost jumped out of his skin.

  “Holy crap! Make some noise when you do that!” Nico cried, feeling his heart beat wildly as shivers washed over his skin. The harsh shudder of fear for a split second nearly blinded him but once he could breathe again, he relaxed back against Mac’s bulk and dropped his head back on the man’s collarbone where he could turn and look into his light eyes. They were twinkling with mirth. Son of a bitch.

  Mac grinned. “Sorry. You were just being nosy so I figured all was fair.”

  “Nosy? No, I was just trying to glean everything I could about you from pictures. I don’t know that much.” Nico asked, turning in Mac’s arms.

  Mac grinned again and pulled Nico up against his body. “You could ask. Those pics don’t tell you anything about me. My buddies took them. I don’t keep any on my desk at the office either. You’ve been in the FBI offices before. You never noticed I have no pictures on my desk?”

  “No.”

  “You ever wonder why?”

  “No, but just how much time do you think I’ve spent thinking about your desk?”

  “I can’t imagine it’s been a lot of time.” Mac chuckled.

  “It hasn’t.”

  Mac grunted, pulling him tighter. “Then that’s what I’m talking about, Devecchio. You won’t learn anything new about me from photos. If you want to know something just look me in the eye and ask me. I’m an open book.”

  He was sexy as hell, that’s what he was. He had no shirt and wore gray sweatpants which bulged nicely against Nico’s belly. The man was hard underneath and for a split second Nico had the desire to drop to his knees right there in the kitchen. His smile was captivating though. He had to know why he thought Nico was nosy.

  “I made coffee, Mac. I was waiting and I just thought it might be nice to look at your pictures. I figure if they’re that private, they wouldn’t be stuck on the fucking wall.”

  Mac grinned again and bent to kiss his neck. “Don’t be prickly. I just got up. It’s too early for prickly.”

  Nico grunted. He wasn’t trying to be prickly. He was just a plainspoken man. It was part of his personality which he refused to change. His mother had called him serious but he figured a lot of that came from having to deal with a whole lot of assholes growing up. First and foremost his father, then in school, classmates who weren’t as smart as he was and didn’t like it when he or a teacher pointed it out to them. He got picked on a whole hell of a lot. It didn’t help when his father died and his mother was out of his life most of the day and night working two jobs to pay for her and Nico to eat without his meager sporadic income.

  When he started skipping grades and became the shortest kid in the class of older kids, he got bullied even more. Graduating college with an advanced computer science degree at twenty didn’t make him any more popular and joining the police department on a whim made him the biggest freak of all. Nico didn’t think he was prickly but maybe he really was. He just saw no reason to lie or sugarcoat things. He shot from the hip which pissed off a lot of people. He had hoped things would be different with Mac. He wanted the man to respect him so much. He sighed and decided to try to relax around Mac.

  “I made coffee. You want some?” He ignored the prickly comment as much as it pained him to do so.

  “I’ll get us some.” Mac kissed him again and let him go, turning to walk to the kitchen. His back was amazing. Nico didn’t think he’d ever seen someone as gorgeous as McBride McCallahan. He was the very definition of built. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on his gorgeous back, neck, shoulders, or arms anywhere. He was lean-cut muscle and his back tapered to a perfect waist like an inverted triangle. His skin was alabaster white, dusted with ginger freckles all over which matched that red orange crew cut on top of his head. Nico had pulled on the strands the night before as Mac had given him the ultimate blowjob, but he’d wished he grew it out longer. He wanted to be able to run his fingers though it and feel the softness. It was very soft and Nico guessed it must be curly from its texture but it was impossible to tell with way he kept it little more than a buzz cut.

  Nico sat down at the small wooden table and waited for Mac to bring over the coffee. He wanted to look over the documents and recordings on the flash drive. He was confident that he could mimic Josiah Flynn’s online voice after only one perusal and if he wasn’t ready by the time he was finished reading the documents, he’d let Stanger and Diaz know. They had a lot of stakes in the fact that he could get in and gather the evidence from the Minnow disks that would bury Stryker-Dunn. He had to be bel
ievable or there was no way Drake Archer would let him anywhere near the IT offices, much less give him access to the sensitive files on floppy that he needed to see. He glanced up as Mac walked over. The man was holding two cups of steaming coffee. He set Nico’s on the table.

  “It’s hot,” Mac said, taking the chair across from him.

  “Thanks. You know I take it black.” Nico smiled.

  Mac shrugged and then gazed at him with flashing eyes filled with intelligence. “I told you. I’ve been watching you for months, trying to figure out if you liked guys or if coming on to you would be a really bad thing. It turns out, I didn’t have to worry, now, did I?”

  Nico sipped his coffee and reached for Mac’s hand. “Oh, hell no, you didn’t. It feels so good knowing how much you want me.”

  Mac raised his hand to his lips and kissed Nico’s knuckles. Jeez. Sometimes the man did something so unexpected and sexy, Nico didn’t know what to say or do.

  “I’m glad,” Mac said. “I didn’t want you getting distracted but you are. I can see it in your eyes.”

  “How did you…?”

  Mac waved a hand in the air over his body and head. “Special Forces. We’re trained to pick up on signs. Where’s the information you were supposed to go over? The drive you got yesterday?”

  “Right here.” Nico reached into his suit pocket and pulled out the flash drive, holding it up. “You have something I can play it on?”

  Mac slid his chair back and stood up. “Yeah, let me get my laptop.” He walked away from the table, once again gracing Nico with the display of his naked back. When he returned a minute later, all that delicious skin was covered with a tight olive-green camo T-shirt stretched tightly across his pectorals. Mac had a laptop in his hand. He set it down on the table in front of Nico and opened it.

  Mac typed in his password and the desktop opened. In the foreground was the picture of a huge cupcake with rainbow frosting. In the background was a tiny white unicorn galloping down a yellow brick road toward the cupcake with its rainbow mane and tail blowing backward in the wind. It looked like a Lisa Frank painting. Mac stood back and crossed his arms, watching Nico’s expression. Nico burst into laughter.

  “What?” Mac asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said, wiping his eyes. “Green Beret, you know. I just figured I’d see a Bradley fighting vehicle or at the very least an M1A1Abrams tank screen saver.”

  “If it makes you feel better, I’ll put up a picture of a Patriot missile,” Mac snorted.

  “No way. This is much too fun,” Nico said, inserting the drive into the side of the laptop. “Besides, I think I had a Patriot missile in my hand last night.” He looked at Mac and winked.

  “In so many ways, you don’t even know, Devecchio,” Mac said, smiling behind another sip of coffee. Nico snorted a laugh.

  “You interest the hell out of me, McBride,” Nico said. He noted Mac’s smile and then turned to the task at hand and began pulling up the information stored on the flash drive. When the screen flashed a set of several folders, each numbered, Nico shot a sideways glance at Mac who’d pulled up a chair beside him and was watching the screen. “This is a lot. I guess we start with number one.” Nico glanced at his watch. It was nearing 6:00 a.m. He really should have done this last night and had planned to but then the opportunity to get Mac alone to talk to him came up and the rest was history as they say. He moved the mouse over and opened the first file. Inside was a list of links. He clicked on the first one. It was an email chain beginning four days before when Titus Kerr sent an email to Josiah Flynn.

  Someone sniffing around operations, J. Rogers is close to sussing them out. You should get sec. checked before I notify Archer we might be compromised.

  T.

  Make damn sure 2 notify me if Rogers trns up anything, TK. Advise u wait till I’m done running analytics 4 security before u notify Archer. He’s gonna be on r asses if shipment is compromised. Don’t need this shit rt now.

  J.

  Agreed and understood.

  T.

  Nico glanced over at Mac. “You think our operatives are compromised?”

  Mac frowned at the screen and then glanced at Nico. He sat back and rubbed a large hand over his face.

  “I really don’t know. If they are, that spells trouble for us. Keep reading.”

  Nico did as asked, reading out loud. The next email in the chain was from Kerr, dated three days ago.

  J, security okay?

  T.

  Would notify u if any change. Sec program confirms no intrusions. Need new PoC 2 hack their system 2 set 4 delivery. Time of essence. Handle ur end. I’ll handle mine. Wouldn’t want 2 piss anyone off, TK.

  J.

  Updated PoC is Tianjin, Thursday the 15th. Tell Archer to make sure FR is onsite.

  T.

  Saw him speaking with TL lst night. Appears 2 be all set. Will tell him u asked.

  J.

  Nico wondered at the initials. He read the next email in the chain without commenting to Mac who’d gotten up to refill their coffees. It was dated yesterday.

  J, need confirm that FR will be onsite for delivery. Archer won’t answer a fucking email and shipment is important to him. Heads will roll if things go tits up.

  T.

  Archer anxious about delivery, jst preoccupied. FR confirmed. Will be onsite 4 pkg.

  J.

  Confirm no intrusions to system.

  T.

  Christ! Running reg analytics 2 ck 4 intrusions. No red flags. Handle ur end! Rogers find anyone?

  J.

  Calm the fuck down. Things are fine in SA. Rogers on high alert. Haven’t identified threat. Fucker was probably wrong.

  T.

  Make sure. Anyone fucks us up, Archer won’t stp 2 take names.

  J.

  Nico exchanged a glance with Mac. “They sound like a couple of disgruntled employees.”

  Mac nodded. “Yeah, like they’re some corporate underlings bitching about the boss.”

  “Yeah, but there’s more to it, Mac. Josiah Flynn is really afraid of Archer. What do you want to bet the guy has a shitty temper and takes things out on the first guy that gets in his path?”

  “Sounds like it. It may be what prompted Flynn to cut ties with the company and run. Whatever it is, I don’t like it.” Mac pointed to the email they had open. “They’re getting ready to send out a shipment, probably of palladium. This says Tianjin is the PoC. He’s referring to the port of call.”

  “Yeah, that makes sense,” Nico said. He squinted harder at the screen before glancing over at Mac. “Who’s FR and TL?”

  “Don’t know but whoever they are, they’ll be at the Port of Tianjin to receive the shipment,” Mac said. “That’s one massive port in Northern China, nearest Beijing. Flynn has been running a security program to check for intrusions to their system. Why wasn’t the FBI’s hack detected?”

  “Don’t know unless this entire chain is planted to throw the FBI off and make them think the hack wasn’t seen,” Nico said with a lifted eyebrow.

  Mac stared at him and shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. They wouldn’t be talking about a shipment to Tianjin or anywhere else if it was a plant.”

  “Yeah, you’re right unless that’s bogus too.”

  “Anything is possible. We’ll learn more once we’re inside.”

  “I hope so.”

  Mac nodded. “So, are you comfortable with their relationship and the idiosyncrasies of their conversations?”

  Nico nodded. “My job is to be Josiah and judging by the way he writes, I think I can assume his identity. I’m only worried that since he’s been out of touch with Titus Kerr for more than twenty-four hours, we may have a really big problem when he suddenly shows up like nothing ever happened.”

  Mac nodded. “Yeah, I thought about that.” He reached up and ran a hand through Nico’s hair. “I gotta get ready to make contact with these guys up close and personal-like and you are probably going to be directed
to contact Kerr after your long absence.” He leaned down and kissed Nico. “Gonna go get ready. I’m due at the office in less than two hours so I need to shower. You keep reading through those emails and checkin’ the folders. Maybe you can figure out what’s going on with these guys, Devecchio. The shipment they’re expecting is imminent. I think we need to start with it.” He stood up and leaned over, kissing the top of Nico’s head.

  Nico flushed. The gesture felt so… domestic… like they’d been together forever. He couldn’t remember when he’d felt as relaxed around a man he’d just spent the night with. The thought was crazy, but it was still there. Is it possible you’re actually falling in love with this man? Nico stood and faced Mac. He was a towering solid mass of muscle clothed only in his olive-green camouflage T-shirt and sweatpants. His biceps bulged where the sleeves of the muscle shirt clung to them. The freckled white skin above the collar made Nico want to lick Mac’s neck until he could taste last night’s sweat. He stepped into Mac’s arms and felt the wide expanse of his chest against his own dress shirt. He was warm and solid and Nico desperately wanted to push his shirt up and over those pecs and taste the skin beneath. When Mac lowered his mouth and swept him up into a passionate kiss, his knees buckled.

  Mac knew how to kiss. Damn the man. Nico’s dick went hard as Mac’s arms closed around him and he was enveloped in the larger man’s hug. The kiss wasn’t tentative and it wasn’t shy. McBride McCallahan, former Green Beret, knew how to kiss another man. His lips were firm and demanding. His tongue swept into Nico’s mouth in a no nonsense way that left little to the imagination as it tangled with his own, making promises of what it wanted to be doing to other parts of Nico’s flesh. He’d felt some of it last night.