She tilted her head left then inched her way that direction. Martin had to be up here. There was no other place for him to go. And if he did have a friend in the building, chances were high they’d come up here to conduct their business. It was open and, if either tried to pull something, would ensure higher rates of survival versus being cooped up at close range with a psycho like Martin. At least that would be her thinking. Loki’s too, apparently, since he’d followed her.
She stepped around an air conditioning unit, gun at the ready, thinking maybe Martin and his buyer were hiding behind them, but found nothing. She’d just taken another step when the sound of a trigger being cocked sounded behind her.
“Don’t move,” Martin said, his usual American accent faltering, letting a hint of Russian through. “I will blow your fucking head off. Put your weapon on the ground. Slowly. The knife too.”
M’s breath caught in her chest, her heart pounding against her ribcage, while her mind stilled. Okay. She’d been here before, been trapped with no visible means of escape and still managed to somehow get out of her predicament. Think. Just think. Stay calm. Her years of training served her well as she glanced around the area while doing as he asked. If she moved fast enough, she might be able to stab him in the thigh with the knife and scramble to freedom. But if she wasn’t quick enough, she’d be dead. She could turn and fire herself, but then Martin would shoot too and they’d both be injured, if not killed.
Possibilities were dwindling when she heard another voice, the same deep strong timbre that made her toes curl in bed and soothed her restless soul like a balm. Loki. He chuckled. “Jesus, Martin. You really are pathetic. Did you really think you could get away with this?”
Todd Martin kept his gun and his attention focused on M. “I already have, asshole. You’re too late. My buyer’s gone. The information will be leaked and more American pig soldiers will die because of it.” He spit on the rooftop for emphasis. “Serves them right.”
M caught Loki’s gaze and held, trying to buy time. “What about your double life, the career you’ve built in music?”
“You think I give a shit about any of that?” Martin cackled like the crazy bastard he was. “I don’t give two fucks about any of that. It was all a means to an end. This end.” With that, he took off running for the edge of the building. Would’ve made it too, but Loki was faster, snagging him by the back of his shirt and stopping him cold. Still, Martin strained, teetering over the side of the building.
“Suicide is too good for you. You’ll be standing trial for your crimes. As will your buyer.” Loki pointed down at the alley below with his free hand. M walked over to look herself and spotted Hunter holding a struggling man up against the brick wall of the building. “You’re both going to jail for a long, long time, asshole.”
M frowned, squinting at the guy in the alley. “Hey, isn’t that your arms dealer client?”
“Unfortunately, yes.” Loki hauled Martin back onto the roof, then punched him hard in the back of the head, knocking him out cold. Martin crumpled at their feet and Loki gave him a disparaging glare. “I suspected something wasn’t right with the guy early on, but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what. Now I know.”
“What about your business though?” M asked, ripping strips of material from the hem of her already short skirt to tie up Martin’s wrists and ankles. It left her in little more than a T-Shirt, but she didn’t care. She’d stop by her apartment on the way down and grab some jeans. Shoes would be good too, given that her toes were numb with cold now. “Weren’t you counting on his fees to cover your expenses for another year?”
“We were,” Loki said, dragging Martin’s lifeless body by one arm toward the door. “But we’ll figure something else out. We always do. But at least you’ll get your promotion, right?”
“Yeah, right,” M said, not feeling nearly as ecstatic as she’d expected to wrap up this mission. She’d get her promotion, sure, but she’d lose Loki and he’d lose his business in the process. Hardly seemed like a winning solution at all.
There has to be another way, she thought as she collected her weapons then followed Loki back inside the building. She didn’t know what yet, but she’d think of it.
13
Loki sat around the offices of Norse Security a week later, staring at the pile of bills he couldn’t pay and the empty appointment book on his desk. He’d basically sacrificed everything to give M her promotion and damn if he could make himself regret it.
Martin and the arms dealer client had been taken swiftly into federal custody once M and Loki had brought them in and both were now sitting behind bars awaiting their arraignment hearings. The press and paparazzi had had a field day with squeaky clean Todd Martin’s hidden life and his and his family’s traitorous ties to the KGB. If anything, the notoriety had made him more famous now than he’d ever been during his pop music days. Loki was sure his high-dollar lawyers would find a way to spin it to make the media machine work in Martin’s favor down the road, probably get him a tell-all book deal and maybe even a cable network movie deal.
As for Cam and Hunter, they were sticking with Loki for now, even though he’d encouraged them to find themselves steady work where they could. Cam had told him he’d received several offers from tech companies wanting to hire him for cybersecurity positions and some Hollywood production company wanted to hire Hunter to play bodyguard for their celebrities under contract, but neither man had made any firm commitments.
And Loki? Well, for now, he was content to sit here in his quiet space and just be for once. He’d spent so many years pretending to be someone else that it was nice to relax into his own being for a change.
He was just starting to doze off when the phone on his desk rang, the shrill sound jarring him from his near-slumber. Loki sat forward and frowned at the caller ID. It was his mysterious backer, a guy he’d known only as Steele. Steele had contacted Loki right out of the SEALs, had claimed to be a patriot looking for a cause to champion. When Loki had proposed his idea for Norse Security—a team of vets using their brains and brawn to fight crime and corruption—Steele had been all over that. He’d put up all the funds needed to start Norse Security and keep it running for six months, but preferred to be a silent partner, giving Loki and the guys basically free rein.
Until now. Now, it looked like their time was up.
Loki reached out and pushed the answer button, leaving the call on speaker phone in the otherwise silent offices. “Good afternoon, Steele.”
“Well done, Loki,” Steele said, his smooth tone belying no accent or distinguishing markers at all. It was kind of uncanny, like speaking with a robot. Loki sat back and clasped his hands on his stomach as his backer continued. “I have to say I was very impressed with your handling of the arms dealer case. All the loose ends neatly tied up in a bow.”
“Except for the fact that the client double-crossed me. Did you know that he was the buyer for Martin’s secrets when you sent him to me?”
“No,” Steele said, a slight hint of humor in his voice now. “No idea, though he was a tricky character. Suppose he’d have to be in his business. I had faith you’d figure it out in the end. And you did.”
“Nice to know you had faith in me.” Loki shook his head. “That makes exactly one of us.”
“You’re a smart man and more than a bit tricky yourself,” Steele said. “Made you perfect for this job.”
“Too bad it’ll be our last. I was counting on that arms dealer’s cash to fund our budget once your money runs out.” Loki twiddled his thumbs, ignoring the stab of hurt in his chest. Truth was he was going to miss this place terribly. Norse Security had become like home to him, with Cam and Hunter being the closest thing to brothers he’d ever had. And sure, their missions hadn’t always turned out quite as expected—with the wrecked government car and Hunter’s sex ring operation going awry. But still, they’d done good work and met good people. Everly, Cam’s wife, was the best. And Alexandra, Hunter’s fiancée, was a sweethe
art too. And M…
Well, M had her promotion and should be on the way to living the life of her dreams, jetting off to new and exciting feats of espionage around the world. He’d miss her too, more than he cared to admit. But he’d let her go as planned and bless her journey, because it was the right thing to do.
He just wished doing the right thing didn’t make his heart ache so badly.
It was his own fault, really. He’d gone and fallen for the last girl on earth he should want. And damn if it was a beautiful disaster from start to finish.
“I hate to break this to you, Loki,” Steele said, forcing him back to the present. “But this is only the end if you want it to be.”
“Excuse me?” Loki straightened, frowning.
“I’ve been thinking things over and while the company hasn’t exactly turned the profit I wanted, I can still see a purpose in keeping it going. With certain conditions.”
His pulse quickened. This was good. Very good. “What conditions are those?”
The sound of a door opening and closing, followed by the sound of footsteps, had Loki glancing toward his office door. Soon, Cam and Hunter stood there, looking exceedingly proud of themselves.
“Uh, Steele, hang on a second please,” Loki said, hitting the hold button before waving the guys inside. “What’s going on? I gave you both the day off.”
“We’ve got something to tell you,” Cam said, grinning.
“Yeah, we think you’ll like this, Low.” Hunter flopped down into the chair in front of Loki’s desk while Cam took the other one. “We think we found a way to save Norse Security.”
“Seriously?” Loki blinked at them, surprised. “How?”
“Well, you know that Everly’s been working on the Aeon since we brought it back here, right?”
Loki nodded. Everly was probably the best mechanic on the East coast, maybe the country.
“She finished it, in between breastfeeding the baby and working on stuff at her dad’s shop on the side. When all this shit went down with your mission, I started asking around to see if we might be able to sell it for cash to put into the business.”
“And?” Loki asked, glancing over at the flashing red light on his phone.
“And I found a buyer.” Cam practically beamed with eagerness. “You’ll never guess who it is.”
“I’ve got Steele on the other line guys,” Loki said. “I don’t really have time to guess.”
“The federal government. They want to buy it back from me and Everly, along with the souped-up tech I’ve installed on the car. It’s way better than the original prototype and they’re willing to pay us big bucks to get it.”
“How big?” Loki frowned.
“One and a half million big. That’s gotta be enough to at least cover a year’s worth of expenses here, right?” Cam asked.
A million and a half was good. Loki sat back, doing the calculations in his head. That would last them about a year, with overhead and expenses and any unforeseen costs of doing business in their world. But it wouldn’t leave them much of a cushion after that and it wasn’t like there would be more cash coming in from that corner. Once the car and its tech was sold, that was it. Plus, they’d be spending months recruiting new clients, outputting cash without a lot of new revenue coming in.
The phone on the desk beeped and Loki held up a finger to his lips to tell the guys to keep quiet. He took Steele off hold. “Sorry about that, sir. You were saying you might keep the business running, with conditions?”
“Yes.” The sound of rustling paperwork issued through the phone line from Steele’s end. “I have other connections who require a certain…set of skills. And discretion. I could throw their business your way, as long as you and the others would be willing to be…flexible…with your ethics.”
Loki stared at the guys’ faces as that word “flexible” sank in. They were all used to obeying orders they didn’t always agree with while in the military. It was how you got the job done. But once they were out, they’d all taken an oath to never compromise their ideals for the sake of efficiency again. Of course, at the time they’d vowed that, they hadn’t been threatened with bankruptcy either. He wouldn’t fault Cam or Hunter for changing course now. They both had other responsibilities—wives, kids, fiancées—and all Loki had was himself to worry about these days.
The ache of loneliness settled in his chest again and images of M resurfaced in his mind. Her laughing, her giving him hell when he deserved it, her crying out his name as she’d come apart in his arms. God, he’d do just about anything to have one more night with her.
As if conjured by magic, the sound of the door opening echoed down the hall and then there she stood. Mirabelle Walker, M, in all her made up, colorful glory. Her hair was pink today, matching the glittering pink shadow on her eyelids and the shimmering gloss on her lips. Loki didn’t think he’d ever seen a more beautiful sight in his life.
“Loki, are you still there?” Steele asked from the phone line.
“Oh, um, yes sir. I’m still here.” His gaze was locked on M in the doorway. She was soon joined by Everly, with the baby in her arms, and Alexandra, who pushed past the other two and came in to sit on Hunter’s lap.
“Did you tell him yet, baby?” Alex asked Hunter after giving him a long kiss.
“Nope. Not yet. Cam here’s been hogging all the spotlight.” Hunter hiked his thumb toward his buddy, who was now cooing to his infant daughter like an idiot. Loki couldn’t help but smile.
“What’s your decision, Loki?” Steele demanded. “I don’t have all day.”
“Put him on hold again,” M mouthed to him and Loki did as she asked.
“I’m sorry, sir. One more second.”
“Loki, I’m warning you—” Whatever else Steele had been about to say was cut off as Loki hit the hold button again. “What’s going on? Why is everyone here? And what were you going to tell me, Hunt?”
“Alex here has decided to invest some of her hard-earned movie money in our company.” Hunter kissed his fiancée’s cheek. “Her financial advisors have been bugging her for months to diversify so this is the perfect opportunity.”
“Plus, I like to feel as if I’m making a difference,” Alex added. “You guys need the money and I know you’ll spend it wisely. Consider it an investment in my husband’s career.”
Loki sat back, considering the offer. “I’ll require a significant initial outlay and subsequent infusions of cash each year, indefinitely, until we get on our feet. Are you willing to take that on?”
“Whatever you need.” Alex smiled then snuggled closer to her soon-to-be husband. “I’ve instructed my accountants to handle all the paperwork and give you anything you ask for, within reason.”
“So, what do you say?” Cam asked. “Should we take over Norse Security ourselves?”
“Hey,” M said, walking into the office to perch on the corner of Loki’s desk. Her position gave him an excellent view of her smooth, creamy thighs beneath her short black leather skirt and damn if his body didn’t tighten in response. “I want in on this too.”
Those words shocked him out of his lusty imaginings. “What? What about your promotion?”
“What about it?” M shrugged. When he raised a brow at her, she rolled her eyes and gave him an irate stare. “Fine. I turned it down, okay?”
“Why?” He scowled. “That promotion was everything to you. You worked your ass off for it.”
“Not everything. Not anymore.” She slid off the desk to sit in his lap, her sweet scent and warmth surrounding him. “Look, I think you and I made a pretty good team, in and out of the sack, and I’d like the opportunity to explore that further.” With those last words she slid her fingers up his chest to tangle in the hair at the nape of Loki’s neck, making him shiver. “That is, if you’re interested.”
Oh. Fuck. Yes.
He was more than interested, but after years of deception and suspicion, he had to be sure. “I’m interested. But you realize this means u
s trying to live with each other, both in business and outside of it, right? Twenty-four seven. You and me.”
Her smile started small then grew as she looked deep into his eyes. “Yes. I realize that.”
“No more pretending,” he said, cupping the back of her head and pulling her closer.
“No more pretending,” she said, closing the tiny gap between then and kissing him deeply.
The world around him fell away and there was only his M, in his arms, in his life once more. Hope and happiness swelled inside him, shoving aside the cold loneliness he’d thought he’d have to live with forever. All he wanted was to hold her and love her and keep her with him forever.
Until the sound of a clearing throat broke them apart.
M buried her face in his neck and Loki looked over her head to see four pairs of curious eyes watching them. The light on the phone blinked angrily and he reached over to push it one last time.
“Steele? I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to decline your offer. We’ve decided to buy you out and take over Norse Security ourselves. I’ll have my attorneys contact your attorneys next week. Thanks anyway.”
His backer blustered and cursed, but Loki just hung up.
A huge cheer erupted from his office. The guys shook hands and the girls hugged. Even Cam’s infant daughter got in on the celebration by letting loose a healthy wail. Loki kept M in his lap, his arms locked tight around her waist, holding her close. While the others chattered amongst themselves, Loki whispered in M’s ear, “Are you sure you want to be saddled with a charming chameleon like me? Half the time I don’t even know who the real me is.”
M raised her head and cupped his cheeks, her warm smile the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “I’m more certain about you than I’ve ever been of anything ever. And I know where to find the real you. I can always find him, no matter how lost he becomes. He’s right here.” She placed her hand over his racing heart. “I love you, Kevin Low.”
Norse Security: The Complete Series Page 28
