Sweet Seduction Sabotage

by Nicola Claire

  I don't think I had ever felt so bereft as I did listening to Drew's ragged breaths and near silent sobs. How I wished to carry this pain for him. But I knew, even though we were together, these were the types of heartache you had to experience alone.

  Eric was silent for a while, but when he spoke, his voice was firm and steady, an anchor tying us to the earth, a lighthouse beacon calling us safely home.

  "OK, guys. This is what I need you to do. You said you're on the north side of the building?"

  "Y..yes," I whispered, sniffing in an altogether unladylike fashion that I couldn't find the energy to regret.

  "The advance team has met up with the AOS, and are approaching the sixth floor using the same stairwell you did."

  I felt a jolt of something unfamiliar. Hope? No it was more gritty than that, more steel rather than fluff. I think it was determination, courage mixed with resolve.

  "The mercs Drew mentioned have made it to the roof, deactivating that booby trap, and getting ready for the helicopter they think is coming, but because of you we've intercepted and replaced with our own pilots and men."

  I stood up straighter, my heart pounding excitedly, my tears drying up. Drew had stiffened, managed to get a hold of himself and was listening with as much intent as me.

  "Now, our only access onto the floor is through either the air duct you used or the door the mercs just taken to leave the floor. Drew nixed the air duct when I talked to him last time, saying it was too slow for ingress."

  My eyes flicked to Drew's unaware he'd managed to convey so much to Eric when I'd switched off at the sight of Dom. Drew had somehow kept functioning, despite the knowledge his best friend had been killed. Such strength, such determination. My heart swelled at the amount of effort that would have taken to not only achieve that, but do it without letting on to Eric what he'd just seen. I reached over and clasped his hand, wanting nothing but to touch him, to be close to him, to feel connected to this man.

  His eyes met mine, a little confusion mixed in with that grey. He didn't understand the epiphany I'd just had. He didn't realise, despite learning so many wonderful things about him today, that I'd just fallen in love with him all over again.

  "So, what we need from you guys is a distraction," Eric went on, bringing my focus back to the phone call and out of my inappropriately timed romantic thoughts.

  "A distraction?" I queried, my mind running in about twelve different directions at once.

  Danger, danger, danger blaring above all the other alarming suggestions my head decided to contemplate right then.

  "It's our only chance and I have faith in you guys," Eric replied, voice deadly serious. "Time this right and it'll confuse the remaining mercs around King enough to allow you guys to retreat and find cover. The AOS and advance team will take care of the rest."

  He sounded so sure. He meant every word he'd said. Or he was just a good liar, a possibility with Eric, he had a way of making things happen when reality said they shouldn't even exist.

  I sucked in a slow breath of air, but it was Drew who replied.

  "How long have we got to prepare?"

  "Five minutes, starting in three, two, one, now." Drew hit a button on his watch, then nodded his head to let me know he was ready.

  Eric was ready. The AOS was ready. So was the ASI advance team. Even Drew was ready.

  What choice did I have? Drew had made the decision for both of us, because he must have known now I wouldn't let him do this without my support.

  For a second I was furious. How dare he take charge like that?

  Then in the next instant I was relieved, because honestly, it was a wonder I was still functioning at all.

  Sometimes you have to share the load. Sometimes you have to follow and not lead. I'd learned a hell of a lot this day, discovered things I never knew existed before. Had my heart swept away on a wave of contentment and pure joy, and then dashed against ragged rocks with deep-seated loss. I'd been through the wringer and come out a little mangled on the other side.

  But the greatest thing I had uncovered today was that I was no longer doing it alone. This thing called life, full of adventure and hazards, excitement and shock and fear. Its up and downs, its curve-balls and roller-coaster rides. But no matter what it chose to throw at me, I didn't have to do it on my own.

  I had Drew. And right now it was his turn to lead while I followed.

  Tomorrow I realised, with a strange sense of lightness in my heart that really had no right to be there tonight, I may very well be the one leading and Drew may need to be the one to follow.

  Contentment wasn't a good enough word for that thought. I was creating a new one; beautiful-contentment.

  Chapter 27

  Something I Hadn't Believed In, But Couldn't Deny Now

  We crept out of our last sanctuary, a haven that had barely been standing, but had still felt far enough away from the danger to give us what we required. What we were about to do was more than just jumping from the frying pan into the fire. This was doing it with lit dynamite in our hands and yelling surprise!

  The foyer was fairly large, with potted palms in brass pots that had fallen over on their sides due, no doubt, to the explosion that had rocked not only this floor, but the entire building. Dirt had been trodden into the once cream carpet, which now looked more charred and black towards the north side. The palms themselves had been rolled back onto the corners, but not righted. For some reason that made me think the mercenaries were lazy and lacked the will to complete a task.

  Not that that assessment would probably aid us right now, but the thought did flash through my mind.

  We had no set plan, other than to find something to use as a distraction. We'd decided to go with that something being loud. Right now subtlety was not an option. Subtlety had left us one minute ago, when the countdown on Drew's watch had begun.

  We couldn't afford to be picky, but as we tested various door handles around the foyer and found only half destroyed offices within and little else, ideas eluded me and panic began to reappear.

  I could hear voices down the corridor that led back to Declan King. I couldn't hear the drug lord, and could only hoped he was still staring broodingly at art on the wall, but the scent of tobacco didn't fill the air. If he was smoking would I have smelled it? Or were the open windows washing our scent towards them instead?

  I almost sniffed under my arms, but I was well aware of how bad I would have smelled by now.

  Nothing of use jumped out and grabbed us by the time we'd managed a full circuit of those doors still intact on this side of the floor. Drew glanced at his watch and held up three fingers. Three minutes left and we were shit out of luck.

  I balled my fists and glared at the potted palms lying on their neglected sides. Fuck it all to hell, a distraction shouldn't be this hard.

  Drew had crept over to the corridor, peering around the side and obviously listening intently by the look of rigidity across his shoulders right now. With nothing else to do but go to him, I tiptoed over, still trying to wrack my brains for an idea.

  Throw the heavy brass pots out the window? No, the noise they'd make wouldn't be heard from way up here. And they could cause the freaking structure to collapse, what with how precarious it felt on this side of the building; I swear the floor was dipping away towards the north.

  Slam a door loudly? No, they'd just think it was the wind and really how much would a slammed door distract them, these guys were supposedly well trained.

  Set off the fire alarm? No. My guess, it had already been disconnected, if they had security cameras and computer screens set up, they'd have accessed the alarms as well. Someone had switched the earlier one off somehow and I was betting it was King's IT man, because there's no way King would have put up with that kind of noise for long.

  I glanced around the space fretfully, time ticking by like a fucking booby trap bomb. Nothing. I had nothing, and as Drew had stood there for a good thirty seconds, I was picking he was struggling
mentally as well.

  I don't know how many times I'd prayed today. I'd lost count. Maybe God would get sick of me, punish me for praying a lifetime's worth of prayers in one single day. But the axe was about to fall, and without a distraction, the AOS and ASI guys could fail. Be killed. Letting King win.

  I couldn't let King win. The guy was evil incarnate. He'd hit a woman, knocking her unconscious, and didn't even bat an eyelid. But that wasn't really why I walked past Drew, sidestepping his outstretched and frantic hand, and proceeded down the corridor towards the terrorists. No. This creep, this vile piece of inhuman scum, had killed my best friend's fiancé, the father of her unborn child.

  I didn't know how much time we had left, I estimated less than two minutes. I'd decided that I'd try to just time it right, walk out of the corridor into the space where King and his computer guy were, along with those last four mercs. Wouldn't that cause a bit of an uproar? It was the best I could come up with.

  I slowed my pace, because the exit to the corridor was fast approaching and even though I couldn't think too clearly, I was aware I was walking faster than a step per second, which meant I was going way too fucking fast to time this right.

  Two minutes, or just less than, is actually a fucking long time. But as I slowed at the end of the corridor a doorway came into view on my left. Unlike the rooms back in the foyer on the north side of the building, this one was open, as though often used.

  I hesitated, Drew running into the back of me, his arms wrapping around my frame and hauling me hard against his chest and out of the illumination coming from the room. But I'd gotten a glimpse in there before he'd pulled me backwards. Enough to tell me what was in that room.

  Guns. Ammo. That plastic explosive stuff and rolled up spools of wire. All stacked neatly on the table in the centre of the abandoned room. I guess they really didn't think anyone would come in from the side of the building that had been blown all to hell. Which explained, maybe, why they'd done it. One less aspect to protect.

  King had started out with twenty-six mercenaries at my count. A fair decent platoon, I should think. But even with that number maintaining security on one floor would stretch them thin. The District Court building was large, and they'd taken the time to sweep it, locking doors, booby trapping others, setting up cameras, or hooking into existing ones, all of which would have required armed guard for the IT guy. Plus they had hostages on a separate floor further down being guarded. Hence spreading themselves thin.

  So King had cut down on surface area, simply destroyed part of the floor they were on so he didn't need to watch his back all the time. Stupid, stupid man. Maybe it hadn't been the mercenaries who'd left the pot plants on their side, maybe it was King, lacking the foresight to see things through to the end.

  I'd heard Abi talk about him, he was considered intelligent and arrogant in equal amounts. Well, his arrogance was tripping him up tonight.

  I gripped Drew's hand to let him know I had a plan and pulled him behind me into the room.

  Oh, holy Mecca of machine guns, the room was a verifiable vault of munitions. Enough for King to hold the siege for days, not hours. Unless of course, they fell into the wrong hands.

  Drew sucked in a surprised breath, then quickly glanced down at his watch.

  "One minute," he whispered.

  Fuck, not enough time to hide the stash.

  "Destroy it," I suggested, earning an alarmed look back from Drew. "Think about it," I added, using Drew's favourite saying. "It'll make one hell of a distraction."

  Drew snorted, then sucked in a deep breath while running a hand through his short hair.

  "I have no experience with explosives," Drew confessed, glancing at his watch again. 'Thirty seconds," he added.

  Oh, fuck it all to hell. Well, thankfully, Abi had let me fire her gun at the ASI firing range. Admittedly only once and I can't remember the name of the gun, but I do remember her showing me how to take the safety off, aim and pull the trigger. The lesson was meant to teach me how powerful the kickback was and how destructive the weapon. God knows why, but Abi thought I'd find it useful. I still wanted to scoff at that thought. I serve coffee and chocolates, sell the occasional music CD. But then, Sweet Seduction has not been immune to gunshots in the past, maybe Abi had a point.

  And as I reached out to pick up a gun similar in shape to hers, I thanked my gun happy friend, checked the safety and pushed Drew back towards the door.

  "Oh, fuck this is a bad idea, Kels," Drew whispered in my ear, shifting me so I was covered by his torso and having to aim around his frame. Even when the shit was about to hit the fan, he tried to cover my body with his. Mr Protection.

  I lifted the gun and aimed at the table, my hand shaking slightly and swaying back and forth.

  "The plastique or the ammo?" I asked, thinking there's a sentence you don't say every day. Nerves were getting the better of reason right then.

  "Ammo, the explosives won't go off without the detonators and I didn't see any on that table."

  Maybe King wasn't as arrogant as I had thought. At least some safety measures had been used when picking this room to store his munitions.

  Drew tightened his arms around my waist, sucked in a couple of deep breaths and bent his knees, I was thinking in preparation to throwing us down the hall and out of direct blast range.

  I didn't have any more time to consider how futile that probably would be, because he started counting down in my ear from five.

  "Five, four, three, two... one."

  The kickback from the gun was familiar, the sound of bullets exploding one after the other, after the other, was not. Drew threw us sideways onto the floor, covering my body with his as shouts of alarm sounded out in the room just down the hall and a loud explosion followed, rumbling through the concrete floor where we lay.

  Zings and pings and whistles sounded out in the room with the ammunition, intermixed with bangs, claps and zwacking sounds as the bullets hit the wall above our heads. I hadn't considered how thin the partition walls of the office were, because some of those projectiles made it through and embedded on the other side of the hallway we were in.

  Gunshots could be heard coming from the other end of the floor now, down by the east stairwell at a guess. The thudda-thud-thud of automatic weaponry. The grunts and cries when their bullets hit flesh.

  I was shaking and trembling, dust raining down enough to make me cough. But Drew had started to move us over to another office off the corridor, enacting the 'retreat' part of our ill thought out plan.

  Something sharp hit my thigh, the swell of hot blood at the painful site followed. For a second I thought I'd been hit by a bullet, but although it hurt like a bitch, Ben insisted being shot at was more like a fucking ache that sucked away all reason and breath.

  I could still think, I could still hear. So a bullet was low on my list of what had hit. I blocked out the pain and chose instead to concentrate on the noises of men grappling, now hand to hand if the grunts and thwacking sounds of fists meeting flesh could be believed. As Drew finally dragged us into the office and proceeded to shut the door at his back.

  A bubble of hysterical laughter spilled up my throat, thinking the move was a waste of time considering the war zone happening on the other side of that thin bit of wood. But Drew still shut it, and with a determined amount of care, pushed the lock closed too. That just made the laughter come harder, until he made it to my side and cupped my cheeks, demanding I take a breath of air.

  I sucked in a gulp, hiccuped and then grimaced in pain when I went to shift my leg. Drew immediately turned his attention to the blood seeping out of another tear in my trousers, and with one quick grip on the edges he ripped what was left of them off at the wound. Exposing a two inch gash filled with a splinter of wood the size of a decent vampire stake. Or what I pictured a vampire to stake to be.

  "I'm going to pull it out," he announced.

  My only response was a whimper, but I'd meant to say, shouldn't it be left there? Dre
w reached up and touched my chin, his eyes on mine, and then with his other hand, which had already held the tip of the splinter carefully between forefinger and thumb, he yanked it out. Blood oozed, but didn't pulse. Thank fuck.

  He made quick work of wrapping material around my thigh, which hurt about as much as the shrapnel when it went in, but I was mesmerised by his actions. Remembering how I'd tended to him in the air duct, with the same care and gentle touch, and dedication to the task.

  He was unaware of the continued battle, the way the walls rumbled when bodies or bullets hit. The way the building creaked loudly, as though crying out a lament on the night air at the loss of life that was undoubtedly happening out there.

  The whole city should have been crying. Too many lives lost.

  Including Dom.

  When Drew was certain he'd stilled the blood flow and that my body elicited no further injuries, he crawled beside me where I rested against the far wall and wrapped me up in his arms. It hurt to move my leg, but not as much as before, and besides, other parts of my body were beyond pain now. In a realm where only agony exists.

  It went on for what felt like hours, but I watched Drew's watch as the seconds ticked by, becoming minutes, and finally stopping at twelve. Twelve minutes past the kick-off, the moment when we blew up King's weapons stash, providing a distraction, that hopefully allowed the AOS and ASI to gain access and take the mercenaries unaware.

  As silence filled the other side of the door to our room and the building settled into a uneasy hiatus, Drew and I held our breaths. We could hear commands being issued, but quite frankly they still sounded like the mercenaries; military, clipped, deep. We had not way of knowing who had won, who held control of the District Court Building now.

  "You know," Drew declared on a rough whisper, which reminded me of how thirsty I was too. "This is the most interesting date I have ever had."

  I smiled to myself, aware he was trying to lift the moment, distract me before someone either knocked on that door, or simply broke it down.