Chris bit his lower lip and shook his head. “Where the hell are they?”
No patrols and no guards at the back door.
“I don’t like this.” Joel pulled them back beyond the tree line. “But we’re going. Just like we planned.”
Joel and Chris sprinted from the tree cover toward the back door.
Nothing.
No sound from the building. No gunfire from the windows above.
Wylde shrugged and headed out toward Joel and Chris. Kayla trailed him.
They arrived at the steel backdoor without incident.
Joel tested the knob. “Locked.”
Not unexpected.
Chris and Joel could have battered their way through, but that was so last week for Xi Force. Now, she’d become the ultimate skeleton key.
“On it.” Kayla went into phase mode and slid into the door.
In the duskiness of the inner room, Kayla almost tripped over the two bodies lying by the door when she materialized. “Oh crap.”
The coppery stench of fresh blood permeated the dank chamber. An icy chill ran up her spine. She pulled the POS from her holster as she flipped open the lock, then turned the handle and dragged the door open as far as she could against the bodies.
“Careful,” she said as she felt pressure from the other side.
Joel pushed the door and the bodies far enough to slip around the edge. “What the hell?”
Kayla shook her head. “I didn’t do it.”
That much should have been obvious.
With the light streaming through the doorway, it became evident the prone men hadn’t been stunned. The two bodies showed evidence of being hacked and stabbed numerous times with some kind of blade.
Chris elbowed his way around the carnage. “That’s unexpected.”
Sniffing, Wylde followed him inside. “Smells like a plot twist to me.”
~ ~ ~
The mansion lay eerily quiet.
Like a tomb.
And also like a tomb, it was filled with death. Thirty-two bodies. Some hacked like the two door guards. Others shot, point blank, execution style in the back of the head.
Joel swept the mansion with every type of vision Kirk could load into his memory circuits. He uncovered hidden rooms and stairways, caches of weapons, piles of illicit drugs, and duffle bags filled with cash.
Curiously, the dead did not include the two Ghaim leaders they’d been trying to capture. Edward Nottingham and Peter Clifton were nowhere to be found, alive or dead, anywhere in the mansion or on the grounds.
With Pike’s Rangers cordoning off the property, no one got in or out after it had been positively confirmed the two leaders were here. Yet, they were gone and everyone else here was dead. How had they gotten away?
“Damn it!” Joel kicked the wall.
Chris shrugged. “This could be a hit from a rival criminal organization.”
Joel rubbed at his suddenly aching head. “But the weapons, the drugs, hell even the money is still here. And Jason’s team would have seen anyone coming in or leaving.”
But someone had slipped in. What had they been after? Nottingham and Clifton?
Nothing added up.
Joel threw up his hands. Maybe forensics would offer some better answers as to what happened here. “I’m sending in the cleanup team. Let’s get back to headquarters.”
~ ~ ~
“I don’t know whether to keep banging my head against the wall, or just accept this with thanks.” Joel tossed the hard copy to his desktop.
Ghaim, their greatest threat, apparently defeated, and Xi Force hadn’t lifted a finger to assist.
Agencies around the world worked to identify the Ghaim ruling council. Those high in the leadership of the organization. Seventeen individuals, probably not all, but certainly most of the people pulling strings at the top of the criminal organization.
Over the past day, every one of them had fallen off the radar. Missing from homes, offices, places they frequented. Just like the two men Xi Force had tried to apprehend, most of them had gone missing in the midst of slaughter. Friends, family, and associates were left hacked or shot, while the primary target disappeared off the face of the Earth.
And Ghaim activities world-wide ground to a halt.
Was it a takeover of some kind? Some new threat emerging?
Movement behind him interrupted his musing. He spun in his chair.
Kayla’s sexy form materialized through the wall. “Are we out of a job, Joel?”
Not having Ghaim to worry about did have its upside. He could concentrate more fully on this thing growing between them. “Don’t you ever use doors anymore?”
She shrugged. “I would have had to go all the way around.”
So his door remained closed, with people thinking he was in here alone. Not the worst thing. It allowed him a measure of freedom.
He rose and wrapped his arms around Kayla. “True, and every second you’re not in my arms is wasted.”
Her floral scent held minty undertones. Something new. Perhaps shampoo. The woman was a constant adventure and a feast for his senses.
“I love the new hair color and style.” He twirled the feathered end of one of her raven tresses through his fingertips. Then he stole a kiss, savoring the taste of her lips on his. It was all they could do right now. But, only one more day and he’d be free to take this further. One more day until he could officially quit being a public servant, subject to the office rules and etiquette of a government employee.
He broke the kiss. “And to answer your question, no, we’re not out of business. There are plenty of threats we need to prepare to address. We just have a little more . . . breathing space.”
“I don’t need any breathing space with you. Are you still a free man tomorrow?” She took his lower lip between her teeth, biting and rolling gently.
“Yes.” It came out sounding more like yesh.
He doubted he could hold off much longer anyway. Protocols be damned, his cock was rock hard and his libido was screaming at him. He wanted Kayla like he’d never wanted anyone before in his life. “And thanks to this new development, we also have some time off tomorrow night, if things stay calm. Would you like to go out on a proper date?”
Kayla’s eyes lit with mischief. She ran her finger down his chest toward his aching crotch. “Just as long as it ends improperly.”
Joel’s cock pulsed with desire. “I think I can arrange that.”
~ ~ ~
Kayla spun in front of her bedroom mirror. The skirt flared nicely, showing off her legs to advantage. All her training had toned the limbs to the point she’d become quite proud to put them on display, especially for Joel.
“Oh, girlfriend,” Heather squeed. “That LBD is killer. He will be putty in your hands.”
A burning desire simmered in Kayla’s core. “Hopefully he’ll be a little harder than putty.”
Heather chuckled. Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “Go get ‘em, girl.”
Tonight was the night. It took longer than Kayla would have liked for Joel to extract himself from the bureaucracy. But as of today he’d finally, officially, become a private citizen and government contractor like her.
A boy scout at heart, Joel refrained from taking their relationship further than stolen kisses because of government restrictions on fraternizing with subordinates.
But oh, those kisses. And he’d stolen a lot of them over the past couple of days.
Her heart warmed.
Despite the passionate frustration it built inside her, she’d respected his position.
Now he was free of those restrictions. The only position she wanted him in was horizontal, on top, burying that sizable cock of his deep inside her.
; “And there’s also this.” Kayla stepped through the bedroom wall into the living space of her apartment. The dress came with her.
“You made it phasable?” Heather’s eyes went wide. “How?”
Her Phaze costume was tight by necessity. Early design theory relied on linking each fiber to one of her anchor atoms. The top on this black dress and her new underwear used that same technology, but on the skirt she’d tried something different, a new process that aligned poli-synchronous resonating threads along the anchored fibers. The piecing had been tricky, and the weave calculations almost drove her through the roof, but the end result had been so worth it. Now, if she had to phase tonight, she wouldn’t end up naked.
Though she did plan on ending up naked at some point anyway.
The black microsatin bra and panties she’d designed to go with the dress would add a special touch for Joel when the dress came off.
Kayla then considered shoes to go with the outfit. Her new salary allowed her to shop a little more higher end than she was used to, and she’d added a couple of wonderful shoe options to her closet. Still, there really was only one clear choice. The black Magdalena pumps amped up the attitude of the dress. They wouldn’t phase, but they were killer with the outfit. Sometimes you sacrificed for fashion.
Not that Joel would probably notice.
~ ~ ~
Joel’s hands shook as he tried tying his tie for the third time. Excitement or anxiety?
An actual date, a little romance, possibly more. Joel would have thought this evening’s adventure completely off his platter until a couple weeks ago.
Even after months of therapy to cope with his twisted sexual experiences with Amber Harris, Joel found no desire for women. Amber ripped something from him while he’d been her prisoner. Sex drive and desire he’d feared he’d never get back.
Then Kayla caught his eye. Even before she’d fallen naked into his bed that night, her sweet, innocent sexiness rekindled his flagging libido into a roaring fire. So different. So genuine. So . . . good.
His lawyer said he’d had a case for a rape charge against Amber. He’d turned the opportunity down. Amber already looked at life in prison without parole, so it really wouldn’t have mattered, and the thought of sitting on the stand reliving the dark sexual deviations the woman forced on him made him physically sick.
And now that twisted bitch was free once again.
In the weeks following her escape from prison, every government law enforcement agency put her on their most wanted lists, but there’d been no sightings, no rumbles or hints of where she was hiding out.
At least she was out of his life. He needed to keep her out of his mind as well.
He needed to turn the page and start a new chapter.
“God, I’m thinking like Wylde now.”
Chapter 12
Kayla kept close to Joel’s side as they exited the movie theatre. The evening had chilled and she welcomed the warmth and comfort of his body so near.
“So, how did you like it?” He hooked his arm around her waist and drew her close.
Warm, musky male filled her senses. “Are you kidding? Ryan Reynolds, even with a messed-up face, is still Ryan Reynolds. He reminded me of you when that building exploded in your face and it took a few days to grow back properly.”
“I loved the way he constantly broke the fourth wall. I read somewhere that the character does that in the comic book as well. You know that’s what Wylde thinks he’s doing when he talks to the air, don’t you?”
Kayla threw him the side eye. “Remember, we agreed. No work talk tonight.”
Joel detached himself momentarily to remove his suit jacket and place it over her shoulders. “I hate to cover that dress, it’s really beautiful, but you seem cold.”
“A little.” Though the slight chill raising gooseflesh on her arms was nothing compared to the passionate simmer trickling through her.
“So, if my face was messed up permanently, like his, would you still go out on a date with me?”
Turning into his heat to face him, she placed the palm of her hand against his cheek. “I love your face.” Then she patted his chest with her other hand. “But I like what’s in here even better.”
He used the opportunity to kiss her. Bold, exciting, thrilling, she drank him in.
She’d found a comfort level with him that didn’t diminish the sexual tension fluttering through her core. Firm yet sweet, his lips played over hers fanning the passionate embers into a roaring fire.
He broke the kiss. “Hungry?”
“Starving.” And damn it, she was. Between the extra training, and whatever happened to her body physiologically, her metabolism had kicked into over drive. She ate like a horse. Now days, Heather wasn’t the only one scarfing down at lunch time. Kayla would often times take the whole other half of that pizza. Thank goodness she wasn’t gaining weight.
Joel’s soft smile said he knew. “There’s an amazing Italian place just around the corner.”
“Mmm. Pasta.” Time to fuel up for the rest of the evening.
~ ~ ~
Guido’s offered intimate dining. Just what Joel was looking for, a quiet place to eat, talk, and just be with Kayla. Tonight was the first time he’d felt anywhere approaching normal in months.
Kayla radiated beauty and high fashion in her little black dress and high heels. So different from the jeans and T-shirts she usually favored. So entirely sexy.
Well, she’d always been sexy. This was just a different kind of sexy.
And she proved so easy to talk to. “Do you read comic books?”
Her broad, easy smile. “As a kid, yeah. I used to be a big Wonder Woman fan. I haven’t read one in years though.”
The waiter brought their food and refilled their wine glasses. As much as he wanted her so badly in bed, he wasn’t about to rush this. Just being with her was wonderful.
“Did you know Chris has a small comic book collection?”
Kayla’s eyes brightened. “No. But that doesn’t surprise me. I’ll have to get Heather to sneak me a couple to help with costume designs.”
Joel rolled his eyes at her, but he also chuckled. He knew where this was going. She’d been after him to add more color to his uniform. She’d have him in neon spandex if he let her.
It was getting harder to stay in the shadows, and with the team coming into its own, he’d need to establish his name and identity on the Xi Force team with the public. Maybe he could stand a little more color. He did need to distinguish himself from Chris, but he wasn’t looking forward to the press and paparazzi. Going public meant moments like this would be harder to manufacture.
“Remember, we agreed, no work talk tonight.”
Voices rose from the front of the restaurant. Someone wasn’t happy.
“You can’t—”
The maître d’ flew past their table, collided with the wall, and slid to the floor unconscious.
What the hell?
“I can do anything I please.” The voice sent icy fingers creeping up Joel’s spine.
He rose, kicking back his chair and turned to confront the speaker. “Amber.”
Auburn curls bounced as she strode purposefully toward him. Emerald eyes widened as an evil smile creased her ruby red lips. A viper, ready to strike would look more appealing.
“Hello, lover.”
~ ~ ~
Kayla bounded to her feet, jumping to Joel’s side.
Amber was dressed in a black cat-suit. At her side hung a samurai sword. Her left hand rested on the pommel, her right was fisted at her side. Every eye in the restaurant was on her.
Dumph.
Behind Kayla, a sudden disturbance, a presence. Cigarette breath wafted around her.
That damn teleporter.
An electronic crackling filled the air before she could turn.
Joel’s eyes glazed as he fell to the floor.
Some kind of silver mechanism attached to the back of his neck hummed and shot sparks.
Amber chuckled. “Sorry, love, but I know how you’re put together. And how to take you apart.
Kayla dropped into her fighting stance and swung around, kicking out as she whirled. Just a hint of the black-suited figure behind her before . . .
Dumph.
Crap.
Her leg swung through empty air. She followed it back around to once again confront Amber.
“Well, you’ve picked up a few skills since we last met.” Amber reached toward Kayla, moving with amazing speed, she grasped her by the neck and lifted her off the ground. “So have I.”
Incredible strength.
Kayla struggled for air, pulling at Amber’s hands with no effect as her head reeled.
She phased, dropping back to the floor.
“What?” Amber’s eyes widened. “How?”
Surprise, you little witch.
Kayla solidified and struck, kicking Amber’s legs out from under her.
“You bitch. I’ll kill you.” Eyes blazing hatred, Amber crab-walked back before jumping to her feet again.
Dumph. The black-suited man appeared behind Amber, Joel draped unconscious over his shoulder. “I’ve got him. Let’s go.”
Amber sneered. “Not yet.”
She charged at Kayla, lifting her like she weighed nothing and hefting her toward the back of the restaurant.
Kayla phased before she hit the wall. Even with the drag of her anchor atoms, the wall barely slowed her velocity. The tug of her shoes, before they pulled free of her feet, slowed her enough to allow her to tumble into the back alleyway mostly unscathed.
They had Joel.
Kayla phased once again and dove back through the wall.
Phaze Page 9
