You_Only_Love_Twice_ARE

by Lexi Blake

  Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.

  He punched Case right in the face, secure in the fact that the soldier had likely been told not to fire a shot.

  “Shit!” Case yelled before returning with a punch of his own.

  Jesse took it right on the jaw. The pain flared, but it also kept him in the here and now. He looked to his left and the operatives had scattered, though their numbers had diminished since it was taking two of the eight to hold down Li and Erin.

  “They won’t shoot!” Jesse yelled.

  “Like fuck we won’t,” the one pointing a gun at Li said.

  Case pointed that gun at Jesse again. “Stand down. On your knees.”

  Jesse wasn’t fooled again. Though the words the man used were a trigger for him, the actual trigger told the tale. “Your fucking safety’s on, asshole.”

  He punched him again, hard across the bridge of his nose, and Case went down. Jesse looked up and Big Tag was moving into the room, his body protected by a large man in the same black uniform everyone else was wearing. He had his hands up and a tense look on his face as Tag forced him into the room, a SIG at the back of his head. There was no way Tag had the safety on that one.

  “Let my people up or I will blow this motherfucker’s head off his shoulders. And I don’t want to do that. I don’t even have plastic down. My wife has a strict edict that when I blow some dude’s head off, I have the courtesy to put some plastic down. You’re going to get my wife pissed at me.”

  “They have their safeties on,” Jesse said. “I think that’s Michael Malone you’ve got. Si would be sad if you offed him.”

  “I can live with disappointment,” Simon said as he walked in from the break room. Unfortunately, he’d been caught. His hands were up, his eyes icy.

  “Why don’t you let my guy go and we’ll talk about letting this one off the hook,” a man with a slow Southern accent said.

  “Or I could blow your head off.” Charlotte Taggart placed a semiautomatic at the back of Simon’s captor’s head. “Ian, where is the plastic tarp? I told you, I don’t want blood on the carpet.”

  Ian’s whole body went tense. “Oh, there’s going to be blood. I promise you that. You listen and you listen good whoever you are. That is my wife behind you. She’s pregnant. If you try a goddamn thing, I swear to god I will spend the rest of my life hunting you down and when I catch you, I will ensure that you live a long time in as much pain as your body can take.”

  “Fuck.” The guy immediately dropped his weapon. “Taggart, no one said anything about pregnant women. I promise. Check my weapon. There’s no ordnance in it. None of us would ever hurt an innocent woman, much less a baby.”

  The door to the break room opened again. “What the fuck is going on? There are babies back there. And I’m pretty sure one of them pooped. Is Ten playing a joke on us? Is this some sort of practical joke?”

  Jake Dean rushed into the room. “I got one down when he tried to leave the back room. He walked in and stared for a minute before practically running out.”

  “Shit. Did you kill Boomer?” Malone asked.

  “He’s napping. What the fuck is going on?” Dean asked.

  “I want to know where Phoebe Graham is.” Ten strode back into the room, but he wasn’t alone. He had Sean Taggart in his grip, a gun placed against his head. Ten had pulled his mask off, obviously realizing the game was up.

  “Fuck me, Ian. I’m sorry. I had headphones on. I didn’t even know he was in the kitchen until he had me,” Sean said.

  “Because you’re supposed to be safe here,” Ian said to his brother before his eyes shifted to Ten. “I will kill this man if you don’t let my brother go. Do you understand me? You have thirty seconds or I’ll do it.”

  “And you have ten seconds to give me Phoebe,” Ten shot back. “I didn’t want to do it this way, but I’m not leaving here without her.”

  Something was wrong with this scenario. Ten was willing to burn down a whole lot of houses for a single operative. “She’s alive.”

  “Then bring her out here. You give me Phoebe and I’ll let Sean go, and then Tag and I never have to speak again,” Ten practically snarled. “Don’t you call me when you get in trouble, Ian. Do you understand me? I won’t answer it. You’re not the man I thought you were.”

  “She’s safe, Ten. No one’s hurt her.” Jesse was watching Ten closely. Tennessee Smith was always in control. Always smooth and easygoing. Even when shit was going down, Ten was the kind of guy whose blood pressure never ticked up. He was a man who cultivated relationships and yet he was trashing an important one.

  “Tag, I’m going to ask you not to kill my cousin,” Simon said calmly. “Let’s murder this one instead.” He had his hands on the one who had captured him.

  “Or we can kill them all,” Tag promised. “I think that might be the best solution.”

  “Is she your lover?” Jesse wasn’t so sure anyone had to die. Ten seemed more like a desperate man than a leader trying to get back a team member.

  There was only the slightest movement of his eyes before he replied. “It’s none of your business, Murdoch. Just produce her or I’ll kill everyone you love.”

  That one expression made him wonder. His eyes had rolled back just slightly as though the question was too disgusting to answer. He would have expected his eyes to flare or soften at the thought of his lover.

  Only one way to find out. “I think I’ll keep her for myself. She likes to talk during sex. I think if I just fuck her a couple more times, I’ll probably figure out everything I need to know.”

  “You raped her?” Ten’s face had gone a mottled red.

  Again, that response didn’t feel like it was coming from a man who was pissed someone had taken what was his. More like a man who had something to protect, some responsibility he had to perform. And why would he go straight to rape? Jesse decided to push it a little further. He really wanted to see if the man would break. If he could get Ten to break, they would have the advantage again—and the danger would be off Sean, who had a kid and had left the business and should never have to deal with having a gun at his head again. “I didn’t have to, man. She begged me for it.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Tag asked, looking at him like he was the dumbest of all asses.

  But Ten dropped everything and charged.

  Well, that answered one question. This was very personal for Tennessee Smith, and he was about to get his ass kicked. He prayed he could hold onto his sanity long enough to fight back.

  * * * *

  Phoebe heard the lock open with a satisfying snick. So her skills weren’t as rusty as she’d thought. She’d made the torque wrench and pick out of office supplies from Erin’s very sparse desk. The whole office looked like no one was home. There were no pictures, no little knickknacks. Erin Argent’s desktop was empty with the exception of a computer monitor and a charging station for her cell phone. Inside the desk wasn’t better. Phoebe had found gun oil and some cloths and a few office supplies, like the unopened box of paper clips that had become Phoebe’s lock picking set. Other than that, it looked like Erin lived like a Spartan.

  She got the door open just as a loud bang shook through the walls. She shrank back for a second before the acrid smell hit her nostrils.

  Flashbang. Shit. She was going to kill her brother. That was so much damn overkill. She was just about to run toward the lobby when she heard a cry.

  Oh, god. The babies. The babies were here and Phoebe had no idea what Ten had told his men to do. Fear gripped her. She knew her brother wouldn’t ever take an innocent life but bad shit happened in the middle of battle. The idea that any of those precious babies could be lost made her sick, forced her feet to run toward that sound. She ran past the kitchen, catching the barest glimpse of Sean Taggart there. If he was worried, it didn’t show. His head was down and he was cutting something in that quick manner chefs used.

  Another cry pulled Phoebe away. It was a high-pitched little baby wail. She
started to turn the corner when she heard a man talking. British accent. Simon Weston.

  “I’m moving. You don’t have to get rough. Just leave the children alone,” Weston was saying in a perfectly reasonable voice.

  Phoebe glanced around the corner just in time to see Charlotte Taggart start after the big guy who had Weston.

  Phoebe slipped down the hall and into the room they had just come from. Avery, Grace, and Serena were huddled in the back corner with the children while Eve leveled a gun at Phoebe’s head.

  Phoebe could have had it out of her hands in about two point three seconds, but she wasn’t here to fight. “Is everyone all right? Please tell me they didn’t hurt the babies.”

  Eve stared for a moment and then lowered the gun. “We’re fine. I don’t know where the others are. Charlotte is following Simon. I couldn’t stop her. If anything happens to her…”

  “It’s my fault. I know. Just barricade the door. They don’t want to hurt anyone. They just want to get me and go.”

  “Then you should really go,” Eve replied with icy eyes.

  Tears formed as she realized this was her good-bye. Coldness from a woman she’d come to trust, but Phoebe was smart enough to know that a person rarely got a second chance. The old Phoebe—the one before Jamie and Ten, the one before Jesse—would have flipped her the bird and told her to fuck off. It was best to hide pain behind pure disrespect. But this Phoebe was still so raw.

  She simply nodded and looked at the women she’d belonged with for such a brief time. She’d never had female friends before. They’d become quite precious to her. “Take care of those babies. And Eve, I know you’re scared, but you’re going to be such a good mom. That baby boy…he’s so lucky.”

  She started to leave but then felt a hand on her elbow. When she turned, Eve pulled her in for a hug.

  “You stay safe, Phoebe. You know that woman you became while you were here, she was always inside you,” Eve whispered. “You don’t have to lose her. Well, maybe some of the klutziness, but you don’t have to lose the core of her.”

  The core of Phoebe Graham had been a woman who helped the people around her, who gave and gave and rarely requested anything back. When she went back into her brother’s world, it would be different. She would sink back into the personality she’d developed over years of service to the Agency. She would guard herself, her emotions.

  It struck her that the year she’d spent at McKay-Taggart had been precious. It had been the first time in her life that she’d really made friends. Jamie and Ten didn’t count. From the moment she’d met them, they’d felt like family, and a very exclusive one. Their father had taught them to trust no one outside the family, to let no one else in. They only had each other, but for a brief time, Phoebe had Eve and Serena and Grace and the others.

  It had been nice to have a little community to help take care of.

  Grace stepped up and there were tears in her eyes. “Go on, sweetie. I’m worried they’ll kill each other.”

  She shook her head. “Te…the man who’s coming to get me wouldn’t really kill anyone. This is his version of shock and awe. He won’t use deadly force.”

  “Yeah, well, no one told Ian, and whoever is out there is about to get Ian’s version,” Serena said. “And he will definitely be looking to kill someone.”

  Shit. Ten was going to get everyone killed. Without another word she turned and raced down the hall. She had to hurdle over a body encased in a familiar black uniform. The big man had been dumped in front of the break room. She didn’t see blood, but that didn’t mean one of her brother’s men wasn’t dead. The minute the McKay-Taggart men figured out they were in trouble, they would use any and all means to deal with the situation.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  Frustration dripped from Ian Taggart’s tone as she approached the lobby.

  And then she heard a hard thud and a sound that could only be fists hitting a body.

  “Stop it!” She simply yelled the words as she entered the room. It didn’t matter who was fighting. It had to stop. They were supposed to be allies and she’d ruined that, too.

  It was worse than she’d imagined. Everywhere she looked someone was pointing a gun at someone else or had Phoebe’s friends on their backs. And the worst was the ball of rage that seemed to be made up of her brother and Jesse.

  So much for keeping his cover. His mask was off and she could see the rage on his face. “Tennessee! Stop it!”

  He punched out, twisting and turning with Jesse as they both seemed intent on killing the other.

  “Charlie, get the fuck out of here,” Big Tag commanded. “Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’re in? Dean, could you secure the package better than Jesse did?”

  Phoebe squared off against Jake Dean because she wasn’t about to get locked in another office. “He could try, but I swear I’ll take out his balls this time. Remember what I did to your hand, Dean? Back off. Come on, Taggart. You know who I work for. Now can we try to keep those two from killing each other?”

  “You’re not going to run?” Taggart still had a hold on Malone.

  “There’s no reason to anymore,” she explained with a huff. “I was trying to protect that dumbass in there.”

  “Which one?”

  She was just about done with Taggart. “My brother, you idiot. I’m serious. The best thing to come out of my cover being blown all to hell is the fact that I can have a serious talk with you about how you treat Jesse. He’s not stupid. He’s smart. He’s way fucking smarter than you since he knew all along I was working for Ten.”

  “Your brother?” Tag’s hand came down as he released Malone. “Ten is your brother?”

  Yeah, she probably shouldn’t have mentioned that. “Not by blood, but he’s my brother all the same. And he’s being a moron.” She looked back over to where Ten and Jesse were. Jesse had caught sight of her and he turned her way. That gave Ten just the distraction he needed. He charged at Jesse. “Stop it! All of you.”

  Ten got Jesse on his back. “You think you can play around, you little shit? You think you can fuck around with her? You’re going to learn how we do things in my house.” He punched Jesse right in the face.

  Jesse’s eyes went slightly glassy.

  Tag shoved Malone out of the way and holstered his weapon. “Ten, get the fuck off him. He doesn’t like being on his back. It’s a trigger.”

  “Yeah? Well, I don’t like a lot of things.” Ten reared back. “I’m taking this fucker with me. I’m renditioning him. I have some questions I can’t ask on American soil. Malone, tell Ace to fire up the chopper. How about we head to the Middle East, Murdoch? I know you love it there.”

  “You leave him alone.” She walked right up to her brother and started to push him off, but Taggart caught her around her waist and hauled her back.

  “Don’t. He’s dangerous,” Taggart said. “Do you see that light in his eyes? He’s not with us anymore.”

  Sure enough, Jesse started to fight, but not in the controlled way soldiers did. He thrashed, bucking Ten off him and rolling to his knees. He looked up at Ten, snarling like an animal.

  “Everyone move back,” Taggart said in a calm voice. “Si, if you can work some magic here, I would appreciate it.”

  “You’re being a little overdramatic,” Case Taggart said with a roll of his eyes. “Step back, boss. I’ll handle him.”

  Before anyone could say a thing, Case stepped close to Jesse and Jesse pounced. He was on the bigger man, wrapping his hands around Case’s throat and saying something in a foreign language. Phoebe didn’t speak any of the Middle Eastern languages. She’d concentrated on Chinese and Korean and all the subdialects.

  “Jesse!” She called out for him when Ten jumped back in.

  “You’re making things worse,” Weston growled.

  “What’s he saying?” Phoebe winced as Ten got Jesse in a chokehold. At least it would be over soon.

  Or not. Jesse managed to move his head and c
atch Ten’s arm, biting down enough to draw blood. Ten shouted and dropped back.

  “He’s saying he’d rather die,” Taggart explained. “He’d rather die than go back to being a dog. Someone’s dog. I don’t know all the words. It’s been a long time.”

  “Charlotte, will you talk to him? Chelsea was able to talk him down last time,” Weston explained as Jesse turned on Ten.

  Case started to walk up behind him, holding the butt of his rifle up.

  “Stop!” Phoebe used her most authoritative voice and pointed a finger at Case. The man wouldn’t know subtlety if it bit him in the ass. “If you hurt him, I will make sure your next assignment is in the ass end of Africa. You’ll be pulling the leeches off your dick on a daily basis. Do you understand me? Charlotte, stand back. I’ll do it. He’s my responsibility.”

  It had been right there on the tip of her tongue to say “he’s mine.” Every time someone questioned her rights to him, her damn alpha girl seemed to come out. She had to watch it because he wasn’t hers. However, she’d gotten him into this position and she would be the one to get him out.

  Taggart released her. “Be careful. He really does go a little crazy when he’s in this state.”

  Ten and Case stood ten feet from Jesse like he was a dangerous lion they didn’t want to touch but couldn’t let get away because he might eat all the villagers. The only good news was everyone seemed to have stopped fighting. They were too busy watching what was going on with Jesse.

  “Phoebe, get back. That’s an order,” Ten commanded.

  She’d never been really good at taking orders. It was easier to ignore Ten than to argue with him. “Jesse, it’s me. It’s Phoebe.”

  “Softly,” Weston explained. “He’ll respond to the feminine side, not to someone in charge. Make yourself vulnerable to him. It worked before with Chelsea and he has a deeper connection with you. Let him hear the Phoebe he cares about.”

  He didn’t look anything like the Jesse she knew so well. His eyes were wild, sweat covering his brow though it was nice and cool in the office. It was the blood on his mouth that completed the transformation.