Brotherhood Protectors_Lost Signal

by Regan Black

  It was a distraction, if not much of a break, allowing John, Ben, and Scott to pick through the wreckage of his brain day after day. He was determined that his time in that damned cell would serve some good purpose. Scott and Ben were planning another field trip to locate the new UI compound where Owen and Tucker had been put through the initial procedures of the enhancement program.

  They were all in agreement that the setup had to be somewhere in the Southwest, hopefully on the U.S. side of the border. Owen didn’t think Arizona was right, if only because that’s where he’d been told to dump the JAG officer’s body. Hard to imagine a man as calculating as Messenger toying with authorities in close proximity to his secret operation. Ben and John, with more experience with Messenger, disagreed, poring over maps of the rural areas.

  During a lull in the planning conversation, Owen heard the three women in the family room discussing something about pregnancy, hormones, and nesting. All things he would be happier not hearing. He hoped Ben was right that he’d eventually learn to control his enhancements and dial out the excess sounds he didn’t want to hear.

  “How long did it take before Messenger let you guys loose on operations?” Owen asked.

  John glared at him. Apparently he’d found the one question that unsettled the UI veteran. “I was rarely in the lab. They only pulled me in to tweak something.”

  “You might call John the pilot program,” Ben said, barely visible on the other side of the map spread across the desk. “They didn’t bother with fancy tracking systems or wiping our memories with drugs, they just pumped in the crap to change us.” A glass filled with water rose into the air as Ben paused for a drink. “This is good stuff. One more reason you made an excellent decision here.”

  “Glad you approve, Ben,” John said, amused. “Messenger worked the early operatives differently.” He met Owen’s gaze. “Technology and chemistry have helped him up his game.”

  “What’s your deal?” Owen asked, curiosity getting the best of him at last.

  “Me?” John’s grin was wicked. “I’m bulletproof.”

  Owen gaped. “No way.”

  “I’ll punch you in the throat if you shoot me,” John said. “Still hurts like hell.”

  “Most of the healing stuff came from what they learned from John in the lab,” Ben told him, completely invisible now.

  Owen tracked the voice and found the oily smear in the air over at the window seat. “What do you mean?”

  “That is so damn cool that you can see me, man. Isn’t it cool, boss?”

  “Sure is,” John said, his gaze aimed at Owen. “Ben learned quickly he could use his enhancement against UI. Right up to the point we blew the lab, he was a double agent.”

  “Still am when I can get close enough.”

  “And we appreciate it,” John assured him.

  Owen could tell that John wanted something better for his invisible friend.

  Scott piped up, shifting the subject back to the search for the lab. “Why not come with us? With you and Ben we can cover—”

  He stopped, his body jerking to the side as if something shoved him. Or someone, Owen thought, as a translucent Ben revealed himself. “It’s your choice, man,” he said. “The boss isn’t a dictator like Messenger. Even with a new ID, the risk is real. If you’re not ready, stay home. We get it.”

  “He’s right. I don’t mean to push.” Scott propped his elbows on the desktop, rubbing his temples. “I just think it would help to have you with us. You might recognize something.”

  The stress on his face was so familiar from their Army days, Owen blew out a long sigh. “You’re not pushing.” He clapped Scott on the shoulder. “None of this is your fault, Scott. We were all manipulated from the start.”

  “You were at UI’s mercy for months.”

  “Come on, kid,” Ben began, “We’ve talked about this. You can’t still believe the bastard would have kept his word about that one-kill-and-you-all-go-free deal.”

  “No.” Scott lifted his eyes to Owen’s. “I swear we’ve been trying to find you.”

  “I know.” Owen paced to the window, staring out at the dark mountains stretching toward the star-spangled sky. “When I think of going out there with you… Hell when I think of picking up a gun again, I’m sick.” He pressed a hand to his stomach. “I know that’s ridiculous considering what the Army asked of me, but it’s true.”

  “You could get even,” Scott pointed out. “Better offense than defense, right?”

  “Sometimes,” Owen allowed. “Strategic retreat isn’t the worst thing.”

  “Especially in this case,” Ben agreed. “If he’s not ready for action, it’s cool if he goes walkabout.”

  “And what if UI catches up with you?” Scott demanded. “You need someone at your back.”

  Owen shrugged. “I’ll call it in. Defend myself.”

  Scott swore. “If I could have taken your place, I would have,” he said.

  Emotion churned in Owen’s gut, rising dangerously close to his heart. “Cut yourself some slack. And have a little faith in me.”

  “I still say you’re better sticking with us than wandering off alone.”

  Maybe there was a happy medium. A way to stay out of the public eye and still lend a hand when needed.

  “Rushing back into the fray before you’re ready is a mistake,” John said. “And we all know UI will pull out the big guns now that two of three recent recruits are out in less than six months.” He turned to Owen. “Wherever you want to be, take the time to recover. There will be plenty of action if and when you’re ready to pick up a gun again.”

  Scott turned on John. “And if UI finds him?” he repeated. “What then?”

  “Then we’ve failed,” John replied baldly. “This property is the line the three of us drew in the sand.” His gaze, locked on Scott wasn’t unkind, but it was clear to Owen the discussion was closed.

  “I’ll check in,” he assured his friend. “My theory is if I’m out in the wild I’ll hear and see them long before they see me. Eventually they’ll give up. And if they send resources after me, it gives you and Ben better odds.”

  “He has a point, kid.”

  In the other room, the women burst into raucous laughter and the tension bracketing Scott’s eyes eased. The man was so determined to fix a problem he hadn’t created, but meeting Jaime gave him something bigger, something to come home to. Seeing those relationships encouraged Owen. After spending a week with Scott and the others, he realized a somewhat normal life was possible. The challenge was to stop inserting Hope into that role in his life. She might not want a bodyguard tagging along as a sorry excuse for an assistant. Without her, he didn’t have a clue what his new normal would look like.

  First he needed to get comfortable in his own skin again. He needed to believe in his heart and his head that he was free. Free of the drug, the poison, and the controlling man in the gray suit.

  “Go on.” John gave his shoulder a shake. “Wander. Shake off the crap you’ve been through. You have the radio and you’ll always have friends here listening.”

  “Thanks.” He felt an obligation to Scott and John and the others but he couldn’t muster any enthusiasm for facing off with UI any time soon.

  He ducked out the back door and headed for the bunkhouse, wondering how to start the conversation with Hope. How could he ask her to take a chance on him? When he walked in, he found her sorting gear into her new day pack and a bigger pack that had been ordered from a supplier in Bozeman.

  “I thought you were still at the house,” he said, surprised.

  She smiled up at him. “Just wanted to play with my new gear.”

  “You’re leaving?” His heart pounded against his ribs.

  She sat back on her heels. “I need to get back out there. Audubon isn’t the only group waiting on pictures and…” Her voice trailed off, her gaze adrift.

  “And you need to prove you can.”

  She glanced up at him. “Pretty much. D
id you come to a decision about searching for the lab?”

  “Pretty much.” He dropped to a knee beside her. “I can’t help them hunt for UI, not yet.” He pushed a hand through his hair, the lives he’d taken on UI’s orders once more marching though his head. “Noble says I can stay here as long as it takes. No obligation.”

  “That’s generous.”

  “Yeah.” It still amazed him than anyone who’d been subject to Messenger for years could be so well-adjusted. Normal. Despite his enhancement, the man was having a kid soon and it was clear how much Amelia loved him, regardless of what they’d been through. What they might yet face.

  “It’s good you’re taking the time, Owen. What you were subjected to was unthinkable, especially for a man so honorable at the core.”

  Her assessment set him back. His behavior had been despicable. Hell, he’d nearly killed her simply because a voice in his ear had told him to.

  She scooted closer, her hands warm as she cradled his jaw. “You’re strong, Owen, mind and body.” Her palms dropped to his shoulders cruised down over his arms and back up in a long, slow caress. “UI never owned you and they’ll never be able to divide you again.”

  It wasn’t the first time she’d said it since they reached the Noble ranch and it was finally sinking in. “You believe that.” It was almost too much to bear.

  “I believe in you. You’ll get past this.”

  “I only got this far because of you, Hope.”

  Her lips tilted, parted. Whatever she might have said, he silenced her with a kiss that went from soft to blazing need in the span of a single heartbeat. Scooping her into his arms, he carried her to the bed and laid her back.

  Everything he’d held back since their first kiss, he set loose now. He tuned all of his senses to her, reading every sigh and moan, layering pleasure upon pleasure. Hands and mouths met, coaxed, teased until she arched into a gorgeous climax that left him trembling with need. He gazed down at her lovely, willowy body as longing poured through him. His only desire was to make this moment last a lifetime—for both of them.

  She drew him into her heat, deep, and deeper still, her arms and legs holding him close, closer. Nothing had ever felt so right and he knew nothing ever would. When she quaked, her body clinging, he joined her in that stunning, incomparable release.

  He stretched out beside her, belatedly realizing the sun had set while they’d been distracted. Legs tangled, heart thudding, and her fingers tracing indecipherable patterns over his chest, he’d never felt so content. Happy. In the UI labs, mind blurred by drugs, he’d never thought to be happy again.

  He patiently waited until her fingers stopped moving and her breath went deep and calm before he said the words pulsing through his system. “I love you, Hope.” The words had been on his heart for days. It was too soon to say them even now, in this quiet aftermath, but he didn’t want her to walk away without them.

  Her fingers curled into her palm, away from his skin as she propped herself up to stare at him. In the faint light, he wondered what she hoped to see. His enhancement gave him a good look at the wide-eyed shock in her eyes and the little gasp that slipped past lips swollen from their kisses.

  “You mean that.”

  Apparently her vision was excellent as well. “Yes.” He swallowed. “Did I say it too soon?”

  She brushed her mouth across his. “I don’t think it’s possible.”

  “The words or the timing?” It hadn’t escaped his notice that she hadn’t aimed the same sentiment his way.

  She shook her head, her black hair streaming over his skin. “I don’t think love has a perfect timeline,” she murmured, her voice plush as velvet. “It just is. I love you too, Owen.”

  He tucked her hair behind her ear, savoring the miracle of her words, drinking in the moment. Bringing her close, his mouth found hers, staking a claim and surrendering at the same time. She was where he belonged, both touchstone and freedom. Whatever came next, she’d given him more than he deserved.

  *

  She was dozing, her body spent and languid, when his voice rumbled across her senses.

  “What do you need, I wonder.”

  He was merely thinking aloud, assuming she was asleep, but she roused enough to answer him anyway. “Sleep.” Clearly his enhancements meant he needed less sleep than she did.

  He chuckled. “I sort of meant professionally.” He kissed her hair. “We can talk in the morning.”

  “Hmm.” The first answer that occurred to her was that she simply needed to be with him. She dragged her mind back from satiated contentment to give him a real answer. “I need to get out in the field. Researchers are counting on me, even if I can’t fulfill the longspur migration this season.”

  “Did my intrusion make you afraid of hiking out alone?”

  He’d been with her on every short hike so far, giving her no time to figure that out. “I don’t think so.” His spotting her in that deadly state had certainly derailed her primary assignment, but she didn’t feel trepidation or fear about going back out. “You’re a once in a lifetime experience.” She smoothed a hand over his sculpted abs. “I’ll be okay once I’m back at it. Will you be okay here on the ranch?”

  “Not without you,” he stated simply.

  His candid reply resonated through her. And here she’d been worried about being too clingy.

  “I’d rather go with you. If you trust me,” he said. “I know you’re probably not in any danger, but I’d feel better if I was there to fall on any stray bullets.”

  “Owen,” Of course she trusted him. She traced the hard line of his jaw. “There isn’t love without trust.”

  His eyebrows pinched in a skeptical frown. “I love being free of UI, but I don’t trust that freedom yet.”

  “That’s different,” she said.

  “Maybe.” His palm caressed her shoulder, bringing her closer. “What if having me around throws you off and disrupts your rhythm?”

  She hid her laughter behind kisses to his chest. “So far my rhythm feels perfect with you,” she said, deliberately embracing the double meaning. “I’m sure it will be the same in the field.”

  “You’ll let me tag along?”

  His eagerness warmed her. “I’d rather be out there with you than alone.”

  “Then we’ll leave tomorrow.”

  “Now pretend you need some rest,” Hope said, snuggling into his comforting embrace. She couldn’t imagine how they might explain how they met to their children and grandchildren, but thanks to Scott and the others they had years to figure it out.

  Epilogue

  Owen was up with the sun simply because he couldn’t be anywhere else. He slipped from the bed, though it was tempting to linger over Hope. Feeling healthy and whole was more addictive than the UI drug or enhancements.

  Showered and dressed, his pack ready, he stood on the back porch of the new bunkhouse with the first cup of coffee. He couldn’t stop staring at the mountains and the expanse of the sky. He was coming to appreciate his enhanced senses, especially when he thought of helping Hope rather than hunting men.

  He understood Scott’s plea and Noble’s logic, but he wasn’t ready for another confrontation that would surely end in violence and bloodshed. How had Amelia phrased it? “Let us find justice for you.”

  Yeah, that still felt like the right move. He’d given them what he could about the UI locations where he’d been held and how they’d dosed him. He’d given them plenty of blood as well, samples that were likely to break a microscope or two.

  He heard her footsteps long before Hope came up beside him and slipped her smaller hand into his. “Ready?”

  Nodding, he gave her hand a squeeze. “For you? Always.”

  “Such a charmer.” Her smile bloomed, as sweet and warm as the sunrise, making him feel like the hero he someday hoped to be. For the foreseeable future, they would hike and camp, get the pictures she needed and wanted, give him time to embrace this new, lasting freedom. It helped knowin
g they were welcome to return here, a safe haven in a world he didn’t precisely trust anymore.

  “I owe them,” he said quietly as they started out. Scott had found him. Ben and John had shown him it was possible to fully recover from the hellacious UI training and the enhancements that appeared to be permanent.

  “We both do.” She pressed up on her toes and kissed him. “And you’ll help them. After you help yourself.”

  “I won’t argue with that.”

  They walked on toward the mountains that framed the Noble property, a lightness in his mind and spirit that only this woman could bring. He brought her hand to his lips. “I love you, Hope.”

  “Careful what you say,” she warned him again. “I’ll believe you.”

  “You should believe me.” He wanted to run, but not to get away, only to celebrate that he could go any direction he chose. Instead he gave her a quick spin as they crossed the grassy pasture. “Your turn,” he prompted.

  “Hmm. If I say I love you, I might try and capture the moment on camera.”

  Grinning down at her, he jogged ahead, though he’d never try to outrun her. “I bet you’ll be too busy being loved to think of your cameras.”

  “As if.” She dashed after him and when he caught her she giggled. “I love you, Owen.”

  He gave her a spin and she raised her new cell phone to frame them. The selfie was a perfect record of two people in love, happy beyond measure under a wide open sky.

  *

  John drew Amelia close as they watched the dwindling figures of Hope and Owen hike out toward the mountains.

  “You did a good thing,” Amelia said, resting her head on his shoulder. “He needs the time.”

  “We did a good thing,” John said. “This place was a brilliant idea.”

  “Score one for nesting instinct.” She patted her belly. “Now, about names…”

  “In a second,” he said. “Hank called me yesterday and he’s asked us for help.”