“No.” She didn’t even look at Gabe for confirmation. She wouldn’t let Adam take the accountability by himself. It would hurt his career in the private sector badly. It could take years to recover, if ever. There were some who would never trust him with sensitive work after this kind of failure. The organizations that would be willing to hire him would poison his soul with the kind of work they’d give him.
It might sound dramatic, but the repercussions of this couldn’t be exaggerated.
“I can do this.” His face remained serious, earnest. “I’m at the beginning of my private career. I have options. This is something I can recover from.”
“You’re my partner, you don’t do this on your own.” She was not going to let him go that easily.
Gabe cleared his throat.
Heat burned her cheeks as she turned her attention back to her commanding officer.
Gabe studied each of them in turn. “Obviously the two of you have cemented into a working team.”
His tone was dry.
Neither she nor Adam responded.
“Let’s go over the plan. Then we’ll talk about the required repercussions for anyone on the Safeguard team.”
* * *
“That went well.” The words came out lighter than Adam felt, but in reality, it was the truth. Their conversation with Gabe Diaz had gone far better than he’d anticipated.
Things worked very differently at Safeguard than he was used to in the US military, or even the way he’d expected a private contract organization to work. When it came down to it, they were business people. They worked for money. The private sector was the evolution of mercenaries in the modern-day world. The Safeguard team might be one of the more ethical groups out there, as was their parent organization the Centurion Corporation, but they still had a bottom line to look to. Resources, weaponry, ammunition and supplies all cost money. The high quality of all of those assets required heavy-duty financial backing.
Even if they did their best to do right by their clients, Adam hadn’t expected them to try so hard to work out a solution for a situation like Roland and Manny’s. But Safeguard—specifically Victoria—had.
Peace, conviction, were growing inside him the more he worked on this one project. He’d hoped to develop this kind of dedication to an organization again, a team. He hadn’t anticipated finding a partner so quickly, and with Victoria, the partnership had so many facets he wanted to explore. He wasn’t sure either of them had had a chance to grapple with the impact of it all.
They didn’t need to, though, not all at once. They’d handle the current fun now and take the rest a little at a time. He planned to invest whatever it took in time and effort to make it work.
“That was planning.” Victoria slumped in her chair. “It’s been a long day into night and almost day again. Everything that happens next is all ‘if this happens, then this.’”
Adam stood and stepped behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders. As he gently squeezed the tight muscles, she groaned and sat up just enough to give him better access to her neck and back muscles. “Both of us have to get some rest but you’ll never fall asleep this tense.”
“Hmm.” Her voice was slurred with fatigue. “We’ll have to take watches anyway. Anything can happen at any time. We need to be ready to defend or get out.”
“I can take first watch.” He started to smooth his hands gently over her shoulders, sweeping up her neck and back down in soothing circles. She was too tense to go for the knots in her muscles right away, he was going to have to warm her up some.
She tilted her head forward to give him better access to the back of her neck. “If you keep that up, I’m going to fall asleep right where I’m sitting.”
He continued his ministrations, adding light pressure with his fingertips and thumb to loosen her surface muscles. “I’m betting we’ve caught sleep in worse positions.”
“True.” She sat with her hands in her lap.
No way was she keeping watch at the moment, so he split his attention between her and the laptop monitors. All was well so far. They needed as much peace of mind as they could get, if not real sleep, to be ready to act when necessary. If they couldn’t sleep, they needed the next best thing to reenergize them.
Working on her like this was calming and eased a tension in him. Minutes ticked on by and he was happy. Happy in a way he hadn’t ever been before and maybe he should be worried but he didn’t mind at all. He wanted to be touching her always. But they were on the job and despite previous acts of amazing lust, they did need to be professional too. They both cared about their work. He couldn’t be jumping her every quiet moment they had, and they couldn’t both be distracted right now. But this, the chance to touch her, soothe her, ease some of the aches and pains of the day, this was almost enough to feed his need.
“Mmm.” She might’ve been aware of the noise she made, but he was guessing not.
He chuckled. “Good?”
Her response was inarticulate.
He continued to find knots of tension, pausing to gently roll those spots with his fingers and stretch them until they released. Then he slid his palms over her skin until he found another tight spot and applied targeted pressure again. Every other second, he kept watch on the monitors.
Her trust in him was a growing rush through his system. This wasn’t a momentary thing for her. She had completely relaxed under his hands and given over the watch to him. A quick lean forward to get a glimpse of her face confirmed her eyes were closed. This was Victoria, micromanager extraordinaire. He wasn’t sure she’d ever done this with a working partner, ever.
She was still upright though, so she was at least partly conscious. But she was resting, and that was important. Dozing, even. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d felt safe enough with his former teammates to doze when they were in the quiet moment during a prolonged mission. She felt safe enough with him.
He used his thumbs to stroke circular patterns on either side of her neck, traveling upward until he pressed his thumbs firmly into the base of her skull. He thought he heard an almost inaudible groan from her, the good kind. His cock jumped at the sound and his pants started becoming tighter.
Down, man. Down.
He shifted the position of his hands to find the pressure points behind her ears with his fingertips, taking the weight of her skull as she tipped back her head in response. As her face turned upward, her long eyelashes lifted and her blue gaze focused on him.
“Time has completely disappeared.” She sat up and he let his hands fall away. She rolled her shoulders. “I feel so much better though.”
“Pleasure to be of help.” He figured it was good to keep his words light. Damn, he wanted her.
“I’d return the favor but I don’t think I’d have the same self-restraint.” She stood and turned, patting the chair.
He took the hint and sat, quirking an eyebrow at her. “Then can I hope for a fun surprise now that I’m sitting?”
“Yes and no.” She settled into his lap and he steadied her with an arm around her waist. “I see no reason for one of us to be standing all night. For the moment, there’s no one to see us sharing a chair.”
Her firm butt and thighs in his lap definitely blew up the majority of neurons in his brain. “Okay.”
Her hands were on the keyboard in front of them though. “Nothing alarming on the surveillance, but is there a chance someone compromised them and we’re watching some sort of loop instead of the live feed?”
It happened. The trick was learning to recognize when what they were seeing wasn’t the real here and now. Or a sharp technician could layer in preventative measures.
He chuckled. “If anyone tries to hack into the visual feeds I’ve set up, they’re going to get a surprise.”
She stirred in his lap, moldin
g her back and rear to the curve of the inside of his body. “How so?”
He reached for his smartphone on the desk. Thumbing the security swipe, he unlocked his phone and pulled up a GIF.
Victoria glanced, then leaned forward slightly. “What is that?”
He laughed out loud, then, a full belly laugh. “That is a kakapo. He looks so happy, doesn’t he?”
Her shoulders shook as she watched the GIF loop. “Some sort of bird?”
“A flightless parrot from New Zealand.” He kissed the bare curve of her shoulder just inside her shirt collar as she continued to silently giggle. “He’s a rather lonely soul. He and his bros are from an island in southern New Zealand. Large, flightless and continually calling out to the ladies to come check out their sweet as bowl in the ground for mating. Here’s the original video.”
He flipped to the original video clip from which the GIF had been created.
She watched for about a minute before covering her mouth with her hand. “Oh no!”
He buried his face into her long hair as he laughed uncontrollably. He’d admit he was giggling maybe, but she wasn’t calling him on it. “Oh yes. He climbed up on the photographer’s head. And really, he looks so happy!”
“He’s...” Victoria spluttered. “His face!”
“The sad truth—” Adam gasped for air “—is both our mole and this parrot will be unfulfilled. There’s no actual kakapo females on the island.”
She laughed until she lost her breath. “Ah no. You said mole.”
He sobered. It’d been on their minds, but this was the first one of them spoke of it out loud. “Yeah. I did. At this point, we have to assume. I put the kakapo response in place on a hunch, but I’m sure someone is going to see it at this point. I can’t imagine any other private organization leaving Roland without close surveillance.”
“Well, with the house locked down, the mole is going to be dying to know what’s going on in here.” She stood up, out of his lap.
He missed the weight of her already. But thinking of a mole had him restless too. This aspect of any mission was hard, the wait-but-be-poised-to-make-miracles-happen-when-shit-exploded.
“We’ve got all the gear set up. We’re ready to respond if it happens tonight. Otherwise, we open up in the morning and proceed as if it was just a test.” He handed her the controls for one of the drones. “But it never hurts to do more active surveillance if it’ll give us peace of mind.”
“Thanks.” She took the controller. “That cat nap was perfect and I’m too edgy to try resting more right now. I like constructive action. You going to be able to trace if our mole triggers your...kakapo response?”
He grinned in spite of the seriousness of the situation. This was what made this job epic. “Should be able to, yes. In the meantime, we’ll use the drones to keep an eye on our patrols, so we’ll know who is patrolling and who has the time to be poking around our visual feeds and network.”
She gave him a return smile with a predatory edge to it. “It won’t be long then.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Boom.” Adam sat forward in the office chair. “We have a kakapo hit.”
Victoria set down the glass of water she’d been sipping. “We could send a drone to see who it is, but I think in person would be better.”
Their mole could run and the drones weren’t equipped with anything to stop him.
“Agreed.” He tapped in a few commands to trace the hack back to the source and log the information for later reference. Evidence was always good to save for later. “I’ll go. I had the most recent rest time.”
Neither of them had truly slept, but they had switched off watch and light naps between them. They were both as rested as could be considering the situation, and they had the experience to be in ready condition even with the limited rest.
Victoria didn’t countermand him. “Go. I’ll lock the house back down after you head out and monitor from here. I’ll use the drones to keep an eye on who is out on patrol to be sure we’ve only got the one mole.”
In minutes, Adam was outside and headed for the small security shed. Right there, under their noses. Approaching with caution, he opted to play clueless and see what the mole had to say if it wasn’t certain how much they knew about the mole.
As he rounded the corner to the entrance of the security shed, there was Jay, his face red and suffused with frustration.
“All good, bro?” Adam kept his tone light, friendly.
Jay speared him with an angry glance. “What brings you here?”
Adam shrugged. “Out for a supplementary patrol. You know how my partner likes to double—and triple-check everything.”
Adam wanted to know why Jay was doing this. No way to be sure Jay would share, not once he knew he was caught, but damn. Jay had it good in this job. Why would the man screw it up? Had the money been that good?
Adam had thought better of Jay.
“Don’t bullshit me.” Jay spit to one side. “We both know why you’re here. I’m not stupid.”
Well, no need to play stupid after all.
“Why?” Adam still wanted to know. It didn’t make sense to give up a steady, solid paying job for a one-time act of treachery. Jay was going to kill Roland if Jay had a chance, and Manny too. Adam wanted to understand.
Jay barked out a laugh. “Shit. I’m human too. I have feelings.”
Adam stared at Jay, wondering where this was going. The look in Jay’s face was ugly, personal hate. Very personal. Adam’s gut twisted as he realized this, this was what he’d been missing.
Oblivious, Jay started stalking around the security shed. “Since the beginning, man, right from the first day of boot, we were buddies. We got to know each other. And no matter what insane shit we ended up knee-deep in, there you were always saying it could be worse.”
It could’ve been. They’d found out with every new assignment, every new deployment. There was no limit to the nightmares a soldier could face on his next mission. In a lot of ways, Adam had remained sane just by telling himself and his fellow riflemen that things could be a lot worse.
They weren’t dead yet, for example.
“And when you talked to me about your life? Fuck.” Jay was still going, building up momentum. He kept dragging his hand through the longer hair at the top of his head, giving himself a crazed look. “You’ve been shafted over and over. The hits just never stopped coming for you.”
Family life had been rough. Not rough enough for Adam to have shared with Victoria yet. After he’d been discharged from the military, all of that had seemed to pale in comparison. He’d started learning real lessons in life.
Adam remained still, taking note of the potential weapons in the room. Hopefully, this would fizzle out and his suspicions would be wrong. A crazy thought in a heated moment. But his gut instinct wasn’t often wrong. Jay was on a tear, and he was spilling more than a B-movie super villain.
When Jay just kept pacing, Adam cleared his throat. “Life isn’t fair. That’s okay.”
“Okay.” Jay laughed again, a bitter sound. “Totally okay for the universe to be out to get you. Right? Thing is, I don’t think I ever screwed you over.”
“Never said you did.” Adam thought back to drunk nights, any time when he might’ve accused Jay of screwing him over. He couldn’t remember a single time. He’d never thought Jay had. “We’re friends.”
Jay came to a stop and glared at Adam. “From day one, right? For almost our entire military careers, I’ve been there to watch your back, hold your ammo, clean up your puke.”
“The honors are even on that score, man.” Adam watched Jay’s face flush with growing rage. He pitched his voice as neutral and non-provoking as possible. “There were plenty of times I had to clean up after your messes too.”
Jay wave
d the comment away. “We were always following your lead. I figured, hell, why not. You had more serious shit to deal with. Even on leave, I took time out from my other friends, my family, my life for you.”
Whoa. “I never wanted to take you away from your friends and family. I’m pretty sure if I called, I asked if you had time to talk.”
And he had called. The times between deployment had been tough, a struggle to blend with the day-to-day pace of civilian life. He’d called Jay to exchange a few words with someone who got what it was like. There’d never been an expectation for Jay to sacrifice time with his friends and family, his world.
“Yeah, you did ask.” Jay was just about spitting words now. “But I could tell what you really meant.”
Adam stared at the man. It was like Jay expected him to be psychic, reading into things said years ago. Or Jay had been the one seeing meaning where there wasn’t anything intended. There were layers and layers of perceived bullshit here. Too much to wade through and none of it was actually of Adam’s making.
“You needed me, so I was there.” Jay slapped a hand into his chest. “I ignored my other friends, my family, my life for you. That’s reality. And then when the time came after that last mission, you didn’t have my back. I know what you told them.”
“I didn’t ask you to do any of that.” Adam cursed silently. There was no reality for Jay but whatever he’d made up for himself. Even the sequence of events in their last mission had been warped in Jay’s report. But Adam hadn’t argued at the time, only submitted his own report. The man was so sure he had it right, there was no getting him to see other points of view.
“You didn’t have to ask. That’s what being a friend is.” Jay’s lip curled in disgust. “To me, anyway. But friendship is supposed to go both ways. It didn’t matter what came our way so long as you were there to cover me.”
Contracted Defense Page 16
