Endings and Beginnings (Death and Destruction Book 8)

by Patricia Logan

  “Keep going,” he huffed out. “Feels good.” His own groan sounded alien in his ears as it slipped out of him.

  “That’s it, baby,” Mac grunted. “Relax for me.” He held on to Nico’s legs and pressed deeper. “I’m almost there.”

  Nico wasn’t sure about that at all. He was afraid to look down, away from Mac’s intense stare that was focused on him. Besides, it was like being caught in a tractor beam, holding his gaze as he sank deeper and deeper.

  When Mac suddenly managed to brush his prostate, Nico’s softening cock perked up again. He hadn’t even realized he’d gone flaccid from the pressure Mac’s body was exerting on him, but he finally glanced down only to see his dick refilling as Mac slowly rocked out and then back in again, brushing against the sensitive gland.

  “That’s it, Nico. Let yourself feel all of me.” Mac’s breath was coming in gasps and Nico realized how hard it was for Mac to hold himself back as he noticed the sweat beginning to bead on his forehead. The man was as sexy as any man Nico had ever seen and as he realized the biceps under his fingertips were also wet, it made him horny as hell… as if he wasn’t already crazed with lust. Mac rocked into him and Nico gasped.

  “I’m all the way in, Devecchio,” Mac said with a shy smile. “You took it all.”

  Nico had guessed but he wasn’t about to glance back down and confirm it. All he wanted to do was feel Mac move because his own cock, now fully hard and begging for friction of any kind, was going to blow any moment.

  “Move!” he ordered Mac. The big man grinned and then leaned down, kissing Nico as hard as he could as his cock pulled out and then pushed in strongly. The way he drew it over the nerve endings inside Nico made him insane. “Jesus, Mac!” he cried out, feeling electric shocks zinging through his body, lighting up all those sensitive nerve endings inside him. “Go faster… ahh…” Every word that came out of his mouth was forced out breathlessly because Mac was stealing it with every slow thrust.

  Mac smiled at him and he did as he was commanded to do, thrusting harder, plunging deeper, working Nico’s body. The lube slicked the way but the way his body grasped Mac’s cock was amazing. He never thought it could be possible but they actually fit together. Everything Mac was doing to him felt overwhelmingly natural and hot as hell. Once he got going, the man really knew what the hell he was doing. Hot damn.

  Nico screamed into Mac’s mouth as he suddenly slammed into climax without warning. Mac fucked him through it, nailing his prostate with every pulse of Nico’s cock as come shot out of him, soaking both of their bodies.

  “Fuck!” Mac yelled as he reared back and then plunged deeply into him. Nico felt a strong throb deep inside his ass and he realized Mac was filling the condom buried inside him. For a moment he wished he was riding Mac bareback so he could feel his release as he poured it into his body. But he’d never barebacked for anyone and had no intention of doing so. The fact that Mac’s eyes were squeezed tightly shut as he rocked back and forth, or that Mac’s grasp on his shins was beginning to hurt, didn’t matter to Nico. He somehow knew Mac was experiencing what he was, the climax of his life.

  ****

  Mac rode out the wave of his orgasm, letting it crash over him as he came in pulsing hot spurts, buried in Nico’s body. Nico clung to him, holding him through it as he panted in his ear. Everything about taking him to bed felt natural to Mac. It was as if Nico was made for him. And that fucking plug had been a surprise. Goddamn. The man was a caution if Mac had ever seen one. Something about the reserved man he’d first met in Thayne and Jarrett’s hotel suite several months back had intrigued him but if he’d known he was a wild thing in bed, Mac would have probably tried to get him there a lot sooner. Mac held him until his climax finally subsided and then he leaned back and looked down, meeting Nico’s lazy gaze.

  He looked well-fucked with mussy hair and flushed cheeks. Mac suddenly wanted to fuck him all over again. Instead he briefly smiled and then reached down to hold the edge of the condom and pull out slowly. Once Mac was free of Nico’s body, he rolled to the side, reaching down to deal with the condom. He was surprised when Nico rolled with him and reached down.

  “Let me, please,” he whispered against Mac’s lips.

  Mac stared at him for a few seconds before he realized what Devecchio was asking. He wanted to deal with… the condom… himself? When Nico nodded, brushing at Mac’s fingers, Mac sighed and let go of the condom. Nico smiled and proceeded to roll it carefully off Mac’s softening cock, tying the end into a knot and tossing it into the trash. He was shocked as hell when Nico leaned down and began licking the remnants of his release off him. His dick was sensitive and Nico seemed to understand that, licking gently along the shaft and cleaning him well before moving downward. When he took the large head into his hot mouth and sucked gently, Mac groaned.

  It felt so fucking amazing to have Nico’s mouth on him, even if it was to do nothing but tongue bathe him. He threw one arm over his eyes and wrapped the other hand in Nico’s hair, holding him to his groin as the man ever so thoroughly cleaned him of every last drop. Nico laved his way up his body, lapping his own come off Mac’s hips and abdomen. By the time he was finished, Mac had begun to grow hard again and Nico rested his cheek on Mac’s thigh, staring at his cock, running the fingers of one hand lovingly over his balls and through the thatch of hair above his dick. When he moved his gaze upward, meeting Mac’s, he smiled. Mac couldn’t help but smile back. He didn’t think anyone had worshipped his body the way Nico had before.

  “I wish we had more time together before we go under,” he suddenly said. The words broke Mac’s reverie and he sighed, wishing the same thing. He ran his fingers through Nico’s hair, breaking his gaze to stare at how the straight black strands looked running through his fingers.

  “I wish we had more time too.” He shifted his gaze to meet Nico’s. “But we’re gonna have lots of time together when it’s all said and done. You know we gotta catch these guys.”

  Nico broke his gaze and looked back at Mac’s body, He raised his hand and ran it over Mac’s pecs as he settled in next to him, laying his cheek on Mac’s bicep as he pulled him close.

  “I know. I’m just happy we have tonight.”

  Mac hugged him close, speaking into his hair. “Get some rest, baby. I’m gonna order a pizza if that’s okay. After that, we’ve got all night.”

  He felt Nico’s contented sigh. “Yeah, pizza’s good. I like olives.”

  Mac chuckled. “I like olives too.”

  Chapter Seven

  Jarrett and Thayne walked into the SCIF early the next morning, having to touch an electronic pad that ran a laser scanner over their palms before being admitted by the guard at the door. The room wasn’t large, only about twenty-five feet deep and forty feet wide. At the front of the room was a wall covered with screens, all of which played out various real-time scenes from God only knew where. Jarrett recognized the sandy deserts of some of them as looking quite familiar. Other screens played scenes washed in darkness and in the lower right corner was a view of the Sydney Opera House at sunrise. He absently wondered what was happening down under at the moment. Another screen showed a world map with blinking lights of various colors on all continents clustered around geography that Jarrett knew housed US bases, as well as in the oceans. He realized the latter must be the locations of fleets of US Navy ships.

  He figured the FBI SCIF was getting transmissions from places all over the world, similar to the Situation Room at the White House. Anything from a terrorist threat to an impending tidal wave or earthquake aftermath—that could trigger a security threat—could be happening globally at any one time and would be displayed on these screens. Everything in the room including these maps was considered top secret which was why they’d been issued code word clearance for this mission. Jarrett felt strange about it. He hadn’t been issued that level of clearance before, even while in the Corps unless it was for a specific highly classified mission. Faced with the screens in front of
him, the nature of the threat to national security became all the clearer.

  The widest screen, taking up over half of the wall, was split to show the front entrance of the Stryker-Dunn building they’d seen in SAC Diaz’s slide show on one half with the digital clock ticking down. It read Los Angeles, USA, 08:02:47, the current Pacific Daylight Time on the West Coast. The other half of the screen showed the exterior of what appeared to be a military compound at night. The lower right-hand corner of the map read Pretoria, SA, 23:02:47 and was also ticking. After 11:00 p.m. in South Africa then. Several FBI agents, all in standard attire—black suits, white shirts, black ties—sat at a console of computers at the back of the room. Stanger and Diaz waited for them at the front of the room near another set of monitors and they walked past several rows of stadium seating to join them where they stood.

  “Good morning,” Thayne said.

  “Special Agent, Wolfe, Evans, glad you could join us,” SAC Diaz said.

  Jarrett had the distinct impression she didn’t like him a hell of a lot but he did his best to smile as she shook hands with them both. They shook their boss’s hand as well and then turned their attention to the screens.

  “South Africa?” Thayne asked. “Is that the mine?”

  “In fact, it is,” Diaz said. “As you can see it’s heavily guarded.”

  Jarrett looked closely and noticed several men in fatigues carrying AK-47s on their shoulders walking perimeter patrols in front of the chain link fencing that walled the compound. To the left, floodlights lit several long trailer-like buildings which he figured to be barracks judging by the familiar look of them on one side of the compound. Lights were on in the buildings. Parallel to the barracks on the right side of the compound were several permanent buildings made of cement blocks and painted bright white. They had red tile roofs. Those were probably the mining company’s offices. A much larger building sat perpendicular to the other two rows of structures and it had a much higher roof line than the others.

  If Jarrett were to guess, he’d say that’s where mining operations took place, either sorting ore, or breaking it down, or whatever the fuck one did to palladium once it was taken out of the ground. At one end of the building, strong floodlights shone on a road which was populated by several trucks which were driving in and out of the building. Red dust from the truck tires filled the air and was clearly visible. Beyond the building, they couldn’t see where the trucks were headed in the dark, but he could only assume the actual mine was somewhere behind it.

  “They’re operating around the clock?” Thayne asked.

  SAC Stanger nodded. “Yes, they work around the clock. The CIA is convinced they’re getting ready to ship a massive amount of ore to China where it will be processed.”

  “Okay, but the emails that we read showed that Drake Archer is expecting a delivery at the port of Tianjin very soon. What’s that if it’s not palladium?” Jarrett asked.

  Thayne looked at him. “It might be the raw product,” he said. “China is probably extracting the palladium to make whatever they are planning on making, chips for computers and cell phones, most likely.”

  “So, the shipment to China is the palladium is being sent in raw form?” Jarrett asked.

  Thayne nodded. “Makes sense.”

  “It does,” SAC Diaz agreed.

  “Okay, so, I guess we’re gonna sit here and twiddle our thumbs until something happens?” Jarrett asked, trying to keep the disgust out of his voice. “And if it does, then we call the bat phone or somethin’?” He had to give the two bosses credit because they both held back a smile. Thayne snorted silently beside him and lifted his hand to his mouth.

  “Pretty much, Evans,” SAC Diaz replied. “But you’ll have your partner to keep you company and all these nice agents to alert you if any communications come in from McCallahan and Devecchio. Their safety is in your hands as well as Galvez and Snow’s.”

  Jarrett grinned. “They’re in the bus?”

  “Yes,” Stanger replied. “They’re monitoring body cameras which Devecchio and McCallahan will be wearing as well as their earwigs. The earwigs are military grade so we will pick up what is being said to McCallahan and Devecchio as long as whoever is saying it is standing within six feet of them. Galvez and Snow will be the only two communicating with McCallahan and Devecchio, however. Galvez and Snow will not be talking into their earwigs unless it’s an emergency and Devecchio and McCallahan know they won’t be hearing our conversations either. We don’t want them distracted but they can reach out to us if it’s a matter of life or death. Your job is to watch what’s going on globally, in South Africa, and here. You will have to communicate that back to Snow and Galvez in real time. Is that clear?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Thayne replied. He glanced as his partner. “I think we’re just used to being more involved in the action, that’s all.”

  She patted him on the shoulder. “I’m well aware of that.” She turned to give Jarrett a sympathetic glance. “You were spared the bus this time, Evans. If something happens at Stryker-Dunn, they’ll be running ops and you two will be heading the TAC teams. That should be fun for you, Evans… running into a building with over three thousand soulless mercenaries armed with automatic weapons and by all accounts, weapons of modern tactical warfare.”

  Thayne did laugh at that.

  “Fine,” Jarrett growled. “I get it. Watch the screens and hope no one gets his ass blown off until Devecchio and Mac get the fu… uh…” He glanced at SAC Diaz who was frowning at him. He cleared his throat and smirked at her. “Uh… we’re gonna watch the screens until our men are safe.”

  Diaz grinned. “You got it, Evans.”

  ****

  Nico sat in the huge marble lobby of the Stryker-Dunn building in West Los Angeles waiting for someone to come down and meet him. He’d come into the lobby and identified himself, asking for Drake Archer. He wasn’t sure who would come and collect him but he watched everyone who exited the elevators he could see from his vantage point in a padded black leather chair. He’d taken a slow 360 degree turn in the lobby, trying to act as though he was admiring the interior so the camera he was wearing could see what he saw. Nico resisted the urge to reach up and brush his fingers over the American flag pin he wore on his coat.

  The military-grade earwig in his ear would pick up his voice if he spoke but he’d been ordered by Stanger to not communicate unless he was in trouble. They truly had no idea how Nico and Mac would be monitored once inside the building but Stanger and Diaz wanted to err on the side of caution. They believed that not only would they have cameras on them at all times but that the building would be wired to monitor anyone audibly even if they thought it was safe to speak. Everyone knew these mercenaries would be lethal if Nico and Mac’s deception was detected.

  The building was huge, Nico estimated at least fifteen floors above the soaring ceilings in the massive three-story lobby. Nico knew the company was highly automated with the latest in technology. The massive number of cameras he could see just in the lobby area alone told him that they were watching him even now. The number of cameras he couldn’t see were the ones he was really interested in. The exterior of the building seemed to be all glass but sitting inside it gave him a unique perspective. Sure, there was plenty of glass but there was a hell of a lot of other hard surfaces to die against if anyone decided to start shooting.

  Nico had put on his cop face after kissing Mac goodbye that morning and he was as ready as he could be for whatever happened within these walls. He didn’t like the fact that his gun had been left behind in Mac’s house out of necessity. Armed only with the credentials the FBI had prepared for Josiah Flynn left him feeling helpless and naked. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. A tall dark man dressed in black fatigues stepped out. He looked nothing like the photo SAC Diaz had shown them of Drake Archer. As the man sauntered toward Nico and he got a good look at him, he realized just how gorgeous he was. His curly brown hair and deep brown eyes gleamed as he step
ped up and held out his hand.

  “You must be Josiah Flynn,” the man said. His sexy voice sent a shiver down Nico’s spine. He had a slight Mideastern accent, but Nico had never been very good at separating those accents by country. In any other scenario, he would have been attracted to him in a big way.

  “Yes, I am. Mr. Archer?” Nico asked, shaking the man’s hand.

  “No, I am Isaac Hayut. I’ll take you to Colonel Archer. He’s been expecting you.” He turned sideways and swept a hand out toward the elevator. “Follow me please.”

  Nico nodded and followed the man as he turned his back on him. When they got into the elevator, they both faced the front of the elevator. Hayut reached forward and pressed the button for floor fifteen, the highest floor in the building. He smiled at Nico pleasantly and then to Nico’s surprise, he sobered and made a quick downward motion with his eyes. As Nico tried to process what he’d seen, he felt Hayut’s fingers brush his own. His first instinct was to glance down but as Hayut’s smile returned to his face, one silky black eyebrow lifted. Nico smiled back as he felt something sharp press into the palm of his hand. He closed his fingers around it, realizing that it was a small folded piece of paper.

  The fingers of the man’s hand fell away and Nico blew out the breath he hadn’t even realized he’d been holding, turning back to face the front of the elevator. A flick of his gaze up to the numbers counting up showed a dark glass square directly above the lit number display. The elevators were rigged with cameras but not only that, he guessed there was audio surveillance going on as well. If Hayut—or whoever this guy was—wanted to pass him a message, he clearly couldn’t say it out loud. The elevator came to a stop on the fifteenth floor and as Hayut stepped forward before the doors opened, Nico realized his body was blocking the camera. Nico lifted his hand and slid the note into his pocket just as the doors slid open. By the time the corridor beyond was revealed, both of his hands were at his sides as if nothing had ever passed between him and the dark stranger.