by J. M. Madden
Haven began to push forward. He needed to see or hear what was going on. Hands tried to hold him back, but he’d waited long enough. Dodging through the kitchen doorway he started down the long hallway toward the front.
Donna!
I’m here. We’re in the formal living room.
We have Lilly.
The wave of relief he felt from her was staggering. He could feel her struggle not to show any emotion to the senator. McCullough took off. I’m not sure where he is.
Okay.
Dropping a curtain of concealment over himself with a mere thought, easier than he ever had before, Haven moved forward.
“Agent Rose, how nice to see you again,” the senator said, leaning back in his big office chair. The man looked smug and condescending. Belladonna stood just behind his right shoulder, hands clasped in front of herself. Her eyes flicked in his direction, like she could feel him just at the edge of her consciousness.
Rose and several of the other officers stepped further into the room and down into the sunken seating area. “Hello, Senator. I hope you’ve had a lovely day today.”
“Mm, yes. Great lunch, several productive meetings. Called my buddy Ted just to see how he was doing and what he thought of the new guards I sent him.”
Was that a subtle threat against the president’s life? Haven still wasn’t sure if President Kelvin was in on this or not. If he was, this entire exercise would have been for naught and Hall would be walking out the door before dinner. Glancing around, he looked for McCullough. That man was like a snake in the grass.
“That’s so nice,” Rose said, calm faced. “I’m going to have to talk to him soon as well.”
He gave a nod to the team behind him. Three men moved toward the senator, in spite of the senator’s own four guards ranged around him.
“Senator Cameron Hall, I have a warrant for your arrest, as well as for every one of your employees and the Secret Service Agents assigned to you.”
The guards looked alarmed but Hall didn’t. “You’ve been on a witch hunt for a very long time, Officer Rose, and it really needs to come to an end.”
“I agree, Mr. Hall,” Rose said, moving forward. He looked at the guards. “You need to hand over your weapons. We don’t need any more blood spilled today. Team Two, move forward.”
The senator, after a long look at Rose, gave them a nod, obviously realizing he would be caught in the crossfire himself. Then he turned back to Rose. “What do you mean, more blood?”
Rose refused to answer and moved behind the man, slipping a pair of flex cuffs onto his wrists. When he did, he also very smoothly unfastened the watch from around the man’s wrist.
“Now, wait a minute, that was a very expensive gift from my wife,” Hall said angrily, jerking in Rose’s hold.
“Mm, really?” Rose said, holding it to the light. “Looks a little cheap to me.”
Hall slammed a look to Belladonna. “Do something,” he hissed.
She smiled and shrugged slightly. “I already did.”
Hall blinked, just realizing that he had been betrayed. Haven thought it was a good time to make his presence known, so he dropped the cover and stepped forward. Hall’s face purpled with rage when he saw him and Haven grinned.
“That’s the man you need to arrest!” Hall yelled. “He threatened to kill the president, so I took him into custody.”
Rose chuckled. “Oh, really? Tell me more.”
Hall looked at him with righteous indignation in his expression. “How dare you!”
Rose shook his head. “I’ve heard that tune before, Mr. Hall. I dare because you’re dirty.”
“You don’t even have the authority to arrest me! I’ll just get off like I did last time.”
“Hm, actually I do have the authority. As of about,” he glanced at his watch, “four hours ago, I am part of a joint task force with the CIA, NSA, and the Joint Chiefs. I’ll make sure to note in my report to the Senate Ethics Committee that you believe, quote, that you’ll get off like last time, end quote.”
Hall went a brilliant shade of purple, then a very pale gray as the repercussions finally began to sink in. “I want to talk to my lawyer.”
“Mm, I’m sure you do.”
Rose handed Hall off to a couple of his people. “Take three more men to escort the senator to the safehouse. Then we’ll arrange transport to Washington. Take this lot to Number 316. We’ll arrange separate transport for them.”
“May I,” Belladonna murmured, stepping toward the men. “They are enhanced, though it’s a fairly low-level ability. But they’ll give your men trouble if I don’t muffle them.”
Rose looked at her for a long moment. Then he turned to Haven, one eyebrow raised questioningly. Haven was surprised that Rose wanted or needed his confirmation, but he nodded.
The guards seemed to sense that they were about to be changed, whether they wanted to be or not. One of them, a tall, dark-haired man, shook his head. “Belladonna, don’t, please. I didn’t treat you the way the rest of them did.”
“But you thought about it,” she murmured, resting a hand on his forehead. He went limp in the CIA officer’s hold, as did the following three.
Then, proving to Haven that he had the biggest balls ever, Rose turned to Belladonna and held out his hand. “Officer In Charge Kevin Rose. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ms. Frame. When I spoke to the other team, they had your daughter in custody and were escorting her out of the house.”
Donna very carefully took Rose’s hand, tears filling her eyes. “Thank you. I didn’t dare hope that it would actually happen,” she said, looking at Haven, “but here you all are. And, to be perfectly clear, I will testify that Project Spartan and Marathon were financed, in part, by Senator Hall, who kidnapped fourteen people to my knowledge, and killed more than eighty people, either directly or in conjunction with a cover-up with Secret Service agents. Thirty-two military personnel were considered expendable and disposed of. I will also testify that I was used as a weapon on more than thirty politicians and aides to influence a decision, including the president himself on three separate occasions.”
Haven’s mouth fell open. Rose’s eyes glittered with satisfaction and he looked at the team remaining in the room with him. Every single one of them nodded, acknowledging that they had heard the same thing. “Donna Frame, for your safety and that of your daughter, you will be placed into protective custody of the Joint Task Force Omega.”
She tipped her head in acceptance and even gave Haven a grin. They had a lot of work to do.
Raine gasped as the arm around her throat jerked her off her feet. The hold was awkward, though, because she had her backpack over her left shoulder, so they weren’t flush. She yelled out but a hand slapped over her mouth. She had a glimpse of Noah using the jamb of the door to hold his balance as he walked out. Then he glanced back, and for a split second his gaze connected with hers. She knew that no matter how hurt he was he would be charging in for her.
She struggled, trying to get her right hand down to her hip. Just… barely…. She was able to grip the weapon that Forbes had given her, when her attacker wrenched her around a corner and her fingers were ripped away from the weapon. There was a roar from behind them and her attacker jerked. Raine’s feet were still swinging in free air so the guy had to be pretty big, but she doubted he wanted to face Noah.
Then something happened and her mind went quiet. Unnaturally quiet. Her body began to sag and grow heavy, like she was really tired. The hold on her gentled and a voice in her head told her she was done for the day and it was time to go to bed.
Wait a minute! No! She struggled against the voice and the power, tensing her body. She opened her mouth and tried to bite the hand over her mouth. The guy had gloves on, though and she couldn’t bite through. Then she thought of the sedatives Elizabeth had had her take. She had two in the front pocket of her bullet proof vest if she could reach them. No, she doubted they would work on a guy this fired up.
; “Leave the woman, we have to go,” another voice snapped.
The hold loosened and it was distraction enough for her to get her hand down to her hip. This time she gripped the gun for all she was worth and twisted it out of the holster. Then, bracing her own weight against the guy holding her, she fired the weapon into the ground behind her, where she hoped her attacker’s feet were. There was a yell and she was dropped like a sack of potatoes. She landed on her butt hard and rolled out of the way just as Noah barreled around the corner. Moving better than she expected he jumped over her legs and plowed into the guy that had been holding her. She was dismayed to see that they were almost the same massive size, and Noah’s first punch only grazed the guy’s cheekbone. Then he returned the punch, hitting Noah hard in the jaw.
There was movement behind the two fighting men and the second attacker she hadn’t seen looked right at her. The guy was younger but had a military bearing to him. Raine scrambled to climb to her feet, trying to get out of the way of the two flailing men. She tightened her hand on the gun, knowing that if she got a clear shot she would take it to save Noah.
He listed to the side as he gained his feet and she thought they might be going their separate ways, then the two massive men charged each other again, clashing like bulls. It was aggressive and terrifying. Even though blood flowed from the first attacker’s booted foot, he moved like nothing was wrong. She knew he was enhanced mentally, but also maybe physically.
Movement drew her eye and she saw the second man had a weapon out. Immediately, Raine aimed at him, shaking her head. “Don’t do it,” she called loud enough that he should have been able to hear her.
The young guy glanced at her, then at his partner fighting with Noah, and somehow she knew he had made the wrong decision. With a grimace on his face and his teeth bared, he pulled the trigger.
And so did she.
In a way she was thankful that Noah was already hurt because the sound of the weapon firing right over top of him in the hallway probably would have caused him an extraordinary amount of pain. As it was, he didn’t even flinch until the body fell beside him. The distraction was enough to make her own attacker hesitate and Noah drove a fist into his temple, then again and again. The guy swayed for a moment before crashing to his knees, then falling forward, straight onto his face. For good measure Raine dosed him with one of the sedatives Elizabeth had given her.
That was when the Delta Force cavalry arrived, coming in through the back. They looked at the carnage, then moved in to cuff the two attackers. Raine didn’t think they actually needed it for the second guy, but she let the team do what they needed to do.
She went to Noah. He’d taken a beating in this latest encounter and was listing to the side. Her backpack had come off somewhere, so she took a moment to find it and dig out a stack of pads. Then, very carefully, she started blotting the blood from Noah’s once handsome face. When he was as clean as she could get him, she gave him a gentle kiss on his swollen lips. Then she swirled a finger around his face. “Not sexy,” she mouthed.
His thick chest moved in a chuckle and he shook his head at her, then abruptly stopped the movement. “Don’t make me laugh,” he wheezed.
Raine glanced at the team on the other side. Clark made a shooing motion so, wedging her shoulder under Noah’s arm again, and with another operative’s help, she walked Noah out of the craziness of the senator’s mansion.
Apparently, there was a lot of logistics to taking a senator down. There were people walking around with cameras documenting every square inch of the one beautiful space. Now it was blood spattered and riddled with bullet holes. There were NSA people going through paperwork and books and computers. One of the men arrested in the house had been a man named Miles, the senator’s personal assistant. When Green explained why they were there, the man got a very cagey look on his face. “I might be of service to you, then.”
Raine hadn’t watched anymore, preferring to look at Noah. The poor man was so beat up, and a lot of it had come from protecting her. He’d taken off the now perforated vest and she’d taken the chance to look under his black t-shirt. Yep, heavy bruising around two places on his chest, one on the upper right pectoral, the other on the lower right, down around the liver. That one was in a dangerous spot because the vest had barely covered it. An inch lower and he would have bled out, probably.
He tipped her chin up to look at him. His left eye was swollen shut and both of his lips were split, but he was still beautiful to her. “I’m okay,” he whispered, pulling her close.
Raine allowed herself to be held for a long minute, amazed at the events of the past four hours. Many first experiences and hopefully many last experiences. She didn’t like worrying about Noah. She didn’t like being attacked. The helicopter had been the highlight of the night. Actually, finding out Noah was okay had been the highlight of the night. She would never wish for this much excitement again.
They sat on the bench in the back of the sprinter van, waiting for some kind of security to be set on the senator’s house. Green had said he had a doctor coming, so they waited for him to arrive to check the wounded. At some point Noah had laid down upon the seat with his head resting on her thigh, looking up at her. Raine ran her fingers over his head and cheeks, through his short hair, anywhere he wasn’t hurt. Eventually he closed his eyes and went to sleep, but she could tell it was an exhausted, painful sleep.
When a normal person ruptured an eardrum, it usually took a couple of months of healing and it was back to normal. Noah would be completely different. She really hoped that he would recover within a few days, if not sooner. Yes, his ability was painful at times, but she thought he would prefer pain to silence.
A couple of hours after everything went down, there was a knock at the back of the van. An older man with a sharp black goatee, wire rimmed glasses and kind eyes stepped in. Noah roused, probably feeling the vehicle rock.
Noah gasped as he sat up and she knew he had to be feeling everything, every strike his body had taken.
“I’m Dr. Giraldi,” the man told her. “I work with Rose on his operations, and I’ve helped the Dogs of War a few times on their retrievals. Can I help?”
“My name is Raine Walters. I’m a nurse at the Elton Recovery Building. This is Noah Cross. He also works at the Elton Building. We were sent out to retrieve one of our residents.”
The man’s dark eyes lightened.
“Ah, you must be talking about Haven. I just saw him. Remarkable man. I remember him from Guyana. We didn’t think he was going to make it. Amazing story. So, tell me about Noah. Hearing loss, is that right?”
Raine explained that Noah had been part of the Marathon group of guards working for Wilkes when he’d still been running things. She explained about his enhanced auditory abilities and being shot from close range.
“Ah,” the doctor said, nodding. “Even a normal hearing person can have their eardrums blown by a gun shot. I can only imagine how wonderful that felt for an enhanced.”
The doctor reached into his bag and drew out an otoscope, a little different than the type she used. He made a motion to Noah’s ears, obviously asking if he could look. Noah glanced at her and she gave him a smile and a nod, so he allowed the doctor close. He did a much more thorough exam than Raine had been able to.
“His balance is off as well,” she explained as Noah swayed on the seat.
“Completely normal,” Giraldi said, using a swab to clear debris and dried blood. Noah gasped at one point and Raine stepped close, trying to offer support. Noah wrapped his arms around her hips and rested his head on her belly, sighing heavily. Braced that way it allowed him to stay still as Giraldi cleaned out the canals. When the doctor drew back, he had a frown on his face.
“I’m not going to say I’m a hundred percent certain he’ll recover his hearing, but it seems likely. Whether or not he’ll have enhanced hearing is anyone’s guess.”
Raine nodded, glad to hear him echo her thoughts. Hopefully he wouldn’t c
are if it was enhanced or not as long as he got some hearing back.
“Thank you very much, Doctor. There were some men inside that needed care…”
“Yes, I checked them already. There was nothing you could have done for the second one. That bullet went straight through the man’s heart. As for the one I’m told you shot, I think you know he didn’t make it.”
That’s what she’d suspected, but she wasn’t going to mope over it. “So, can Noah go on the helicopter back to the city?”
Giraldi nodded. “Absolutely. It shouldn’t hurt him any more than it already does. I have a feeling his head is throbbing, though, so I’ve going to give you some pain pills.”
“He was also shot twice in the vest, as well.”
Giraldi made him stand up so that he could look at his chest. He probed the bruised areas. “I think he’ll be fine. He’s a very lucky man he had that on.”
Raine nodded, relieved all over again that he wasn’t hurt more seriously. “Thank you for checking on him, Doctor.”
Giraldi smiled at her. “No problem. I have a feeling I’ll be seeing you again. I believe I’ll be taking a position at the Elton Recovery Building soon.”
“Oh,” she said, smiling, “congratulations! You’ll love it there.”
Noah looked at her when the doctor left and she could tell he was wondering what he’d said. Maybe the facial hair made it harder for him to lip read. She shrugged eloquently and made motions with her hands as she tried to explain that they didn’t know anything concrete. Noah frowned. “Can we get out of here then?”
She nodded and held up a finger. “Let me see if we have a ride.”
Luckily, they did. The Delta Force was leaving, heading back to the same air base where they’d been picked up. Noah seemed a little steadier on his feet as they climbed up into the double-rotored machine, but she still kept a hold of his waist until he sat.
Then, she deflated. It had been an extremely long day and she craved her hard bed at the CIA safehouse. Noah wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her tight against him. Resting her head against his chest, she allowed her eyes to fall closed.
