“Same here. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” As the man headed for the door, Marco added, “Hey. Can you check on Mara? But after you put your clothes back on, because I really don’t want her seeing her uncle bare-assed naked with his junk swinging in the breeze.
The only response he received was a middle finger in the air and he chuckled as the bedroom door closed. On his lap, Harper sighed and cuddled closer as he stroked her back and silky, blonde hair. He didn’t care how long she slept, since she needed it, but he would watch over her while she did, as he tried to figure out how to keep her and their daughter safe. And in the morning, he’d tell them both how much he loved them.
* * *
Three Weeks Later
Striding into Ian’s office, Marco was a little surprised to see Devon there, too. Boss-man had called him during his Wednesday morning workout in the gym to say he needed to talk to him. After wiping off his sweat with a towel, he’d grabbed a bottle of water and hoofed it over to the offices. From where he sat behind his desk, Ian told him, “Close the door and have a seat.”
Uh-oh. This can’t be good. As the door clicked shut, he walked over and sat in one of the visitor chairs in front of the huge mahogany desk filled with papers and files. Devon remained where he sat on the arm of the couch to Marco’s right, with his arms crossed. Marco glanced from one man to the other. “What’s up?”
“Drew Murdock called— “
Excited, he sat up straight. “He’s got a lead?”
Frowning, Ian shook his head, disappointment evident in his expression. “No. They’ve got nothing. Everything has gone cold. Same as us. With no more contact or attempts on Harper’s life, things have died down. I’m sorry, Polo, but we’ve got to move on. We’ve got gigs coming in faster than ever and we can’t keep contracting them out. I need the Omega team training together, so we can start utilizing them for what they were hired for.”
Slumping back in the chair, Marco ran a hand down his face in frustration. When Devon opened his mouth to say something, he held up his hand to stop him. “It’s all right. I knew this was coming. I’m not happy about it, but I understand where you’re coming from. And I got the same shit from Harper last night. She needs to get back to her practice. Her staff has been there, but she can’t continue doing things from here.”
It was obvious neither of his bosses were happy the case had been left dangling without a solution. But who knew if the guy was just bidding his time or had been killed in a car wreck or arrested for something else within the past few weeks. They couldn’t keep hiding here forever. Devon uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. “We’re not saying we aren’t still going to be protecting her, but it’s going to be a lower scale. It could be weeks, months, or never before he strikes again. You two, Mara, and Karen are welcome to stay in Nick and Jake’s apartment. Neither one of them will be in for at least another month the way things stand now. And it’s not like there aren’t enough beds in this compound to accommodate everyone. We’ll keep Blackhawk’s men on a rotating assignment for anytime Harper or her mom have to leave the compound.” There was a pause and Marco could almost guess what was coming. “Egghead, Boomer, and I will be heading out on Monday to do a week’s recon in Belize. Keon called with some info on the white slavery case they’ve been dogging and wants us to check things out. He doesn’t want to go through channels because he’s afraid they have an internal leak. The last two times they tried to check things out, the operation had up and scrammed before they got there.”
Larry Keon was the number-two man in the FBI—the Assistant Deputy Director—and Trident’s main contact in the agency. It was through him many of their contracts and missions had been acquired. Ian dropped his hand on the desk. “You know we’ll do anything for Harper and you. You’re family. But I can’t keep handing cases off. I’m not sending you with Dev because I know you need to be close for now. So, as of tomorrow, you’re back on drill instructor detail with Omega.”
Nodding, Marco asked, “Anything specific you want me to start with?”
“Yeah. How to avoid a hard-on while on the princess detail.”
A bark of laughter came from Devon, while Marco groaned and rolled his eyes. “Seriously? Tahira’s coming for a visit? For how long?”
Princess Tahira was the daughter of the King of Timasur, a small country in Northern Africa near Mali. While the king, queen, and prince were friendly and undemanding during their excursions to the family’s vacation residence in Clearwater Beach, the twenty-four-year-old exotic beauty was a completely different story. Especially when it came to her unmarried American bodyguards supplied by Trident. The original team members rotated through the ‘princess detail’ with personnel from Blackhawk Security and worked with the Timasur guards to keep her safe during the visits. There wasn’t a single one of them who hadn’t been hit on by Tahira, and whenever they turned her down, her ‘revenge’ consisted of hours of shopping in every boutique within a hundred-mile radius—give or take a few miles.
But whatever happened during Ian and Angie’s vacation in Timasur last year, at the King’s invitation, had softened Boss-man’s opinion of the woman. “She’s coming in next Thursday and will be staying for three weeks. Nothing big is scheduled, except a charity function she’ll be attending. I’m supposed to be getting a fax on that later today. Two of her female cousins are also coming in, but Tahira, of course, takes priority over them if anything goes down. Drill it into the Omega team’s heads I will kill anyone who can’t control themselves around her—she’s off-limits. Costello has nothing to worry about, since as far as I can tell Tahira has no interest in other women, but every guy who hasn’t put a ring on someone’s third finger is fair game for her.”
Marco grinned at Ian. “Think I can avoid the come-on if I let her know about Harper and Mara?”
“I actually think she’ll be thrilled for you, but then she’ll add the rug-rat shops to her list of stops.” Marco gave Devon the finger when he started laughing again, since as the bosses, Ian and he didn’t have to rotate through the detail, unless it was an important event. “Anyway, back to the present, you might want to wander into the garage later—Babs reported for duty today.”
Tempest VanBuren’s call sign in the Air Force had been well earned. Babs was short for ‘bad-assed bitch’—a moniker she’d been given after several harrowing missions where she did some remarkable helicopter flying and saved the lives of numerous troops, quite often under enemy fire. Her last military mission didn’t end as planned, though, when she had no choice but to crash land the helo. She’d suffered a career ending injury, but somehow the five men on board with her had walked away with a few scratches, their bells rung, and one or two broken bones. Having been on numerous missions in the Middle East, with Babs flying SEAL Team Four in and out of danger, the news of her crash had reached them pretty quickly. As soon as Ian had heard she was retiring from the military, due to her injury, but could still fly, he’d called her with the job offer. On top of everything else, she was an ace mechanic, so she would be flying and maintaining their new chopper, along with their vehicles.
Marco had experience flying choppers from before his SEAL days and kept current with all his licenses and certifications. But they’d wanted a full-time pilot who would be able to stay with the bird during a mission, and Marco was too valuable a team member to be left behind. However, he would do some training with Babs, so he could take over if needed. “Yeah, I’ll check in with her now.” He stood. “Then I’ll go get Harper’s schedule for you. She’ll probably be calling to thank you since she’s been chomping at the bit to go back to the office.”
“And she’ll be guarded the entire time,” Devon vowed following him out the door of Ian’s office.
“I know. Thanks.” Taking the back door from the offices, down a short hallway, he pushed through the door leading to the maintenance garage. The area took up the back half of the warehouse building and had more than enough room to work on several vehicles at once or
have the bird towed in if the rotor blades were folded. Loud music blared from a nearby radio as he scanned the garage looking for their new pilot/mechanic. A few of the company’s SUVs were scattered around, some with their hoods up, as well as Ian’s Audi S5 Coupe. Not seeing anyone, he strode over to the radio to turn it down.
“Change that station, and we’re going to have a problem.”
Smiling, he only lowered the volume, then turned around to see Tempest walking toward him, with an almost imperceptible limp, from behind one of the SUVs. The brunette was about five-seven with a slender build and dressed in a new maintenance jumpsuit and high-top sneakers. “Just bringing it down to a reasonable decibel. But, seriously, the Bee Gees? Are you kidding me?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “My mom loved music from the sixties and seventies. She always had it on at home or in the car, which was really embarrassing when it was her turn to carpool. But somewhere along the line, it rubbed off on me.”
Marco laughed. “You’re looking good, Babs. How’s the leg?”
“Still missing.” She stopped and pulled her left pant leg up a few inches to reveal the prosthesis she now wore after losing the limb below the knee eighteen months earlier. Someone had painted it with the American flag for her. “But I’m digging the new one. Just can’t wear high heels anymore.” Stepping up to him, she gave him a hug hello, which he returned. “I hear congratulations are in order. Marco ‘I’m-never-getting-married-or-having-kids’ DeAngelis is a dad. Go figure.”
“Yeah, shocker. But I’m digging it now,” he teased, throwing the word back at her. “I’ll bring Harper and Mara by later so you can meet them.” He paused. “Listen. I heard about your father. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to the services—I was OCONUS.”
A heavy sadness fell across her face. “Yeah, Ian told me half the team was in South America somewhere…and…well, committing suicide doesn’t exactly deserve a big send-off.”
She glanced away, clearly wanting to change the still raw subject which had delayed her starting date with Trident, so he dropped it and gestured toward the nearby equipment bench. “I ordered the basic shit for you, but figured you’d want to order your own preferences on some stuff.”
“You got most of it. I’m still doing an inventory, though. Egghead said to tell him what’s missing, so I’m making a list. The bird is awesome, by the way. I couldn’t believe it when Ian said he’d gotten his bloody rich hands on an MH-X Silent Hawk. I love flying stealth. If you get a chance later, want to go up for a spin?”
He feigned horror. “With you? Nope. No way. Uh-uh. Your version of going ‘for a spin’ usually results in someone puking, even someone with experience. Call me when you want to go for a nice, steady flight.”
“Chicken.” Laughing, she stepped over to turn the volume of the radio back up until “Play That Funky Music” was blaring.
Shaking his head in amusement, he left her to finish her inventory and headed up to the apartment they were all still using. After Karen’s release from the hospital with a stable angina diagnosis and new medication, she’d taken the spare bedroom, giving Marco and Harper’s relationship her blessing. With Kristen and Angie’s help, they’d gotten more furniture for the room, including a dresser, armoire, and nightstands, as well as a flat screen TV.
A semi-comfortable routine had developed for them. While one of the Trident women watched Mara, Marco would take Harper to her office for a meeting with her staff about current cases or to court. Foster and McCabe were usually the ones tailing them. After returning to the compound, Harper did what she could on her laptop, and Marco joined Brody and Boomer checking out a bunch of dead-end leads.
They’d gotten Harper cleared for play at the club and Marco had paid her full membership fee, which she’d fought him on, before finally giving up when he wouldn’t budge. They were a couple now—D/s as well as boyfriend/girlfriend, even though he thought those latter terms were so high-school-ish. While he fully intended to put a ring on her finger soon, along with a permanent collar on her neck, he wanted the attempts on her life to be far behind them first, with no chance of recurrence. Only then would they be at peace and ready to start the next phase of their lives.
Scanning his hand, he pushed open the door and found Mara in her ‘command center’ seat, where she could swivel around three-hundred-sixty degrees to play with a variety of attached toys. It was on the floor of the living room floor near Harper, who was sitting on the couch going through her case files and making notes. Taking off her reading glasses, which she only seemed to use while reading court briefs, she smiled at him. “Hi. Done with your workout already?”
The domesticity of the scene was something he’d begun to crave each day. Coming home to his woman and child was a blessing he now knew he couldn’t do without. He hoped one day soon, it would be without the worry that someone wanted to take it all away from him. “Yeah, it got cut short for a meeting with Ian and Devil Dog. Your mom’s not back from cardiac therapy yet?”
She shook her head, then looked at the clock on the cable box. “Nope. Lindsey and Darius should be back with her in about twenty minutes or so. Is everything all right?”
Stepping around the giggling baby, he sat in the recliner closest to the couch. After letting out a big sigh, he filled her in. “The police have run out of leads and have to turn their attention to other cases. So does Trident. We’ll be staying here for now until I’m more comfortable with going back home, but I’ve got to start training the new team tomorrow. We can’t keep putting it off. Half of my team has to head out of the country this coming Monday, but I’ll be staying home. And you’re getting your wish. Devon needs your schedule for the rest of this week and all of next week, so he can set up the contract agents who will be guarding you at the office and in court. They’ll be driving you, though. I want someone experienced in vehicle evasion if someone comes after you again.”
“Okay. I can live with that. I’ll draw up the schedule when Mara goes down for her nap in a little bit.” She paused. There was clearly something else on her mind and his gut clenched as she bit her lip.
“What is it, Butterfly? Talk to me.”
“What…what happens when we leave here? Are Mara and I going back to our house, while you go back to yours?”
Moving from the recliner to the spot next to her on the couch, he took her hand in his and brought it to his mouth for a kiss. “What do you want to happen?”
“Honestly, I want what we have here. I don’t want to go back to living in separate houses. I-I really don’t want to go back to my house. I won’t feel safe there anymore.” Over the past several nights she’d woken in a cold sweat with flashes of the night she’d been attacked. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to give them any information on the attacker. From what she remembered, she’d heard a noise as she entered the foyer and turned. He’d been wearing a ski mask and she only had a quick glance at him before he swung the bookend at her. It’d struck her as she spun around to run. She didn’t remember him saying anything at all.
“I’ll tell you what. This weekend, we’ll put both houses up on the market and start looking for one for our new family…and any other kids who might be joining us down the road.”
Her eyes widened. “Really? Are you serious?”
Chuckling, he kissed the back of her hand again, then turned it over and kissed the palm. “Yeah, I’m serious. I told you, I want us to be a family, and someday soon, we’re going to make it official. And I can’t think of a better way to start than with a new house without any haunts. Nina’s ghost is in my house, even though most of her stuff is gone. I still associate that room as the one where she died, no matter what I do to change it. I want a place that only has room for happy memories of her. Somewhere she can watch over her nieces and nephews in peace. And yes, I want more kids. I want you. I want it all.”
“I think that’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever said to me. I love you.”
He leaned in and kissed her lips.
“I love you, too, Butterfly.”
“Da-da.” Mara’s voice had them both twisting to stare at her. “Da-da.”
Marco was shocked. Although the now six-month-old baby had been saying ‘ma-ma’ for almost a week, this was the first he’d heard ‘da-da’. “Holy shhh…ugar. She said ‘da-da’! Is that the first time she said it?”
“I think so,” Harper giggled. “But remember what I told you the other day. She probably doesn’t associate it with you yet. Same as ma-ma.” It’d been hysterical a few days ago when their daughter had first called Harper ‘ma-ma’, to her delight, and then proceeded to call everyone else ‘ma-ma’, including Tiny and Beau.
Kneeling on the floor, he pulled the play seat closer to him. “Say it again, Mara. Say da-da.”
“Da-da,” she shouted before blowing raspberry bubbles at him and clapping her little hands.
“That’s my girl. I love you, too, sweet cheeks.”
“Da-da-da-da-da-da.”
He smiled, knowing he wouldn’t give this up for the world.
CHAPTER 21
“Fuck you, assholes! Come and get me, you pansy-assed pieces of shit! I fucking dare you!
Marco chuckled as Boomer disappeared behind the black curtain of the third-floor window of the simulation training building to go find a place to hunker down and wait for the Omega team to sniff him out. While the entire six-man team hadn’t all reported for duty yet, for a couple of reasons, the four men who had—Foster, McCabe, Knight, and Mancini—were training with Abbott as an additional member for now.
Yesterday morning, the first day back on training, he’d run them through the obstacle course, various calisthenics drills, and sparring in the gym. Today had started out with gun qualifications at the indoor range and the outdoor shooting gallery, which was set up like the Main Street of a town. Targets would randomly pop out of buildings’ doors, windows, and alleys as a team member walked down the ‘street’.
Watching From The Shadows: Trident Security Book 5 Page 20
