He glanced at Joe. They exchanged a look with one another like each knew exactly how poorly this diaper change was about to go. While he had changed a diaper in the past, it had been at least twenty years ago when he’d taken home a lifelike doll from his health class and put it through the ringer. And while the requirements for a good diaper change were probably the same, he wasn’t sure whether diapers were or not. In fact, he couldn’t remember or not if he actually used duct tape last time he’d been asked to do this.
“Rico and the other dude may not have figured it out, but whomever they are working for probably has...or is probably about to. All they have to do is run it on a big enough server and they are going to encounter errors.”
“You are assuming the information they are looking for isn’t buried deep.” As much as he thought he understood IT and cyber security, he still felt out of his depths. “What exactly was the coding used for?”
“IGS,” she snapped.
“That, I’m more than aware of. I know it’s for the information gathering systems.” How could he forget a bug that could infiltrate anyone’s home and life? “I guess what I’m asking is why they couldn’t just write this code themselves, or find someone who could?” he pressed, hoping for a real answer this time.
“Does it matter?” She raised her arms akimbo, giving him that cute look that used to make him forget what he was doing and sent them straight to the bed...the bed that was now hosting a wiggly baby.
Joe made a little raspberry sound as he stuffed the back of his fist into his wet mouth.
“Even you know she’s being ridiculous, don’t you, little guy?”
Joe kicked his feet as Mike went about stripping him down, making getting his little doll-size clothes off something closer to a rodeo event than the blissful moments he’d seen on television commercials.
“You want to put the extra diaper under his bum, and get a wipe ready for the splash zone.” She motioned at her undercarriage.
Yep, this was definitely something he could imagine at the annual Arlee Rodeo. He could almost imagine the announcer talking through the tinny ring of an outdated sound system, his words coming faster and faster as he neared the eight-second mark.
He pulled out a wipe after slipping the clean, open diaper under Joe. Joe tried to roll, forcing Mike to hold him in place with one hand while trying to close the open lid of the container with the other. Apparently, juggling was also part of this rodeo act; and...well, he was quickly starting to feel as if he was playing the clown.
Summer put down a shirt that she was folding and stepped forward as if she was going to take over the operation.
“Nope,” he said, putting his hand up to stop her. “You do your thing. Joe and I’ve got this.” He smiled down at Joe. “If we are going to be buddies, then I’m going to have to figure this dad thing out.”
Summer turned away from them, but not before he saw a pained expression flash across her face. She had brought him here and into their lives with all kinds of talk about him taking on an active role as Joe’s father. But now that things were getting a bit more complicated, it felt like she was driving a wedge between them.
What else was there to say? What could he do to reassure her and make her see that he was going to be in their lives, and protecting them as long as he needed to?
“I know you’re scared right now, but I told you before that I got you. If I need to get STEALTH on board for security or whatever...we can do it. We specialize in helping people in situations all too much like this.”
She didn’t turn to face him, just waved her hand in acknowledgment.
He opened Joe’s sodden diaper and set about changing him, moving as rapidly as he could to keep from getting the mess anywhere it shouldn’t be. Joe looked up at him with wide eyes, his lower lip starting to quiver as he grew chilled.
He let out a long wail, followed by a stream of warm liquid...hitting Mike’s center mass. “Oh! Oh crap...” he said, covering Joe up with the clean diaper as fast as his hands would allow. Joe stopped wailing as Mike fastened the last strip over the baby’s waist and slipped his pants back on over his flailing legs. Picking him up, he held him in one arm.
Joe’s wail stopped and he went back to sucking on the back of his hand as Mike looked down at his soaked shirt.
The damage was done.
From beside him, Summer’s laughter rang through the air. “I told you to watch out for the splash zone!” she said between laughs.
“A little splash zone I can deal with, but this—” he motioned toward his shirt “—was like sitting front row on Splash Mountain.”
“No one said you weren’t going to get your hands dirty,” she teased. “I offered to take over, but no...someone was trying to be all cute and charming with his little fatherly act.”
Mike wasn’t sure if he should be offended or bemused, so he went with the latter. “Cute, huh? You think me getting peed on is cute?” He picked up the sodden diaper and wrapped it into a little ball.
“Don’t you dare throw that at me, if you do...”
“What?” he taunted, holding it up a little higher in a mock threat. “What would you do to me?”
She stepped closer to him and they stood chest to chest, with her looking up at him. “You think you are real tough, don’t you?” There was a look in her eyes that made him temporarily forget everything other than her and the boy in his arms.
That look. He loved that look; he had seen a flash of it last night. But this time it was different. This time it didn’t carry the pain of the past; instead it only spoke of the present and begged for a future.
“I’m always stronger when I’m with you,” he whispered into her hair after leaning in.
She melded into him, Joe between them as she wrapped her arms around Mike and he took her with his free hand. This. This was his family. No matter if they were married or not married, in a relationship or not. These were the people he would happily lay down his life to protect and love.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do for them.
“Babe, I hope you know how much I love you.” The pressure that had been building in his chest from the first moment he had seen her in the parking lot released as he spoke the words.
There was a long silence. The only sound was of Joe making smacking noises as he sucked on his hand.
Summer didn’t have to say anything back. He didn’t care. He just couldn’t hold those words in any longer. Not when they had already gone through so much, and not with her leaving without him.
She needed to know the truth—that his love for her hadn’t gone anywhere and hadn’t diminished with time. His love for her would be with him until his dying day, no matter the status of their relationship.
There was a bang on the apartment’s front door and Summer jerked out of his arms. “What the hell?” Her voice sounded strangled by fear. “You don’t think Rockwood found us already, do you?”
That was fast, but so was everything else in their lives.
“It’s going to be okay,” he said, handing her Joe. “You just take him and go into the bathroom. Get into the tub in case things move to guns. No matter what happens, I will deal with it.”
“You can’t go out there alone.” She pulled Joe against her body, wrapping her arms around him like she was his shield.
“And we can’t risk Joe getting hurt or taken again. If they get their hands on any of us, I have a feeling we aren’t going to make it out of this alive.”
Her eyes widened as his words struck home. “You...you have to be careful.”
There was another series of bangs on the door, the sound reverberating through the apartment like church bells beckoning from their tower.
He nodded, motioning her to hide in the small en suite bathroom. “Go.”
Watching to make sure the door clicked closed behind her, Mike made his way
out of the bedroom and into the living room. He stared at the white door for a long moment. If he looked out through the peephole, he was the perfect target for anyone standing on the other side just waiting for the right moment to pull a trigger.
If there was a suppressor on the weapon, no one in the apartment complex would even know what was happening. The attackers could shoot him, come in and kill Joe and take Summer. Or, they could kill them all.
Summer was strong, capable, smart, and myriad wonderful things, but he was more practiced and physically stronger and, right now, he was their first line of defense. He couldn’t just let an attacker get a bead on him, not when so many lives were at stake.
He rushed to the back door, silently closing and locking it as he slipped outside. The night air had the bite of coming frost and carried with it the unmistakable odor of danger.
The alley behind the apartment building was empty and he was careful to step lightly as he made his way down the potholed road and around the side of the building. Thankfully all the apartment blinds were closed. He made sure to remain concealed as he glanced around the side of the building. Standing in front of her door was a man, late fifties, gray hair, and he was wearing a suit jacket.
Though the man didn’t look like either of the men who had taken Joe, Mike couldn’t be sure that he wasn’t their boss or someone else from the Rockwood organization. If anything, it was smart to send someone they didn’t recognize, someone who could get in and get out without really being noticed.
Then again, if this guy was going for being unnoticed, what was he doing banging on the door? If the man was like Mike, he would have slipped in through the back of the apartment, done what needed to be done, and then slipped out into the darkness of the night.
Their murders would have gone unsolved forever.
It struck Mike how wrong it was that he was, in fact, planning their deaths.
He was warped. Yet it was this ability to think about the unthinkable and to plan for the worst that had made him effective as a military contractor. Death was inevitable; it was just how one got there that was up for grabs. And today, he would be pushing it away with both hands and maybe a foot to the ass.
The man banged on the door again, looking over his shoulder as if he could feel Mike watching him in the moonlight. It was odd how the human being had a sixth sense when it came to danger and yet rarely actually listened to it.
Yes, the man was right to be afraid. If he was smart, he should have listened to the fear and turned tail and gone back to where he had come from.
Tonight, he was playing with fire.
The man shifted slightly, his back to Mike as he looked out toward the main road. Mike slipped around the side of the building as he unholstered his gun and stalked forward. The man had pulled his phone out of his back pocket and was hitting buttons as Mike drew nearer.
He was so close that he could smell the man’s expensive cologne and make out the faint red line on the back of the man’s neck where he must have recently gotten a haircut. The guy put the phone up to his ear. “She’s not here. Are you sure this is where you tracked her phone to?”
Oh crap.
Mike wished he could hear what the other person was saying, but all he could catch was a guttural moan escaping the man’s throat. “I’m sure that she is going to go underground, given what happened to her son. We’ve trained her well enough.”
Was this someone from the DTRA? Was her team swooping in to help her out? Something about the man’s being there, even if he was someone from the DTRA, didn’t quite sit right with Mike. Why wouldn’t they have told Summer that they were coming? Why would they just roll up on her door in the middle of the night, especially knowing all that she had recently gone through?
“We need to get a bead on her. Use your resources,” the man said, clicking off his phone and stuffing it back into his pocket.
The man moved as if about to turn around, but before he could, Mike grabbed him by the neck, effectively pinning his head in a choke hold as he pushed his Glock’s cold steel barrel against the guy’s temple. “Who the hell are you? And what the hell are you doing here?”
The man gave a slight yelp, moving for what Mike was sure was a weapon at his waist.
He pressed the Glock harder against the man’s temple, no doubt leaving a nice little ring on his flesh. “That’s a bad idea. Just tell me who you are.”
“My name’s Kevin. Kevin Warble. I work with Summer. I’m here to help.” The man spoke fast, brusquely.
“Help her with what?” Mike could give the man nothing, no clues he had any idea about what was going on or why.
“She is in danger. I can’t tell you anything else.” Kevin looked at him as Mike tightened his hold around the man’s neck.
“Did they use the code? Are they coming for her?” Mike asked, giving the guy just enough information to make it clear that he wasn’t completely in the dark.
Kevin said nothing but scowled and then moved to break out. Mike pulled tighter. “Dude, I don’t want to hurt you. I just need to get some damned answers. Why are you making this harder on yourself than it needs to be?”
The man sighed. “I wasn’t expecting Summer to have a security detail.”
“You thought you could just come here and get the drop on her?” Mike countered.
“What?” Kevin stopped moving. “Why in the hell would I want to hurt Summer? She is a tremendous asset to our team.”
Mike kept his gun firmly pointed at the man’s head as he let go of his neck and allowed him to stand straight. “You can’t expect me to believe you are standing out here and banging on her door in the middle of the night for her own good. So why are you here? Are they coming for her?” he asked again.
“We have reason to believe so, yes. They ran the code.” Kevin scowled. “I have to admit I’m disappointed you have any knowledge of what is happening here.”
“Well, if you hadn’t left Summer with her ass hanging out then maybe she wouldn’t have had to come to me for help. If you are pissed, you need to look to yourself. As you said, Summer is a tremendous member of your team, and she has always been the same to me.”
Kevin glanced away, like he, too, had known the DTRA had made a mistake when it came to the safety of one of their team members. “It wasn’t our intention for anything to happen as it has. We didn’t believe Rockwood had any knowledge as to what she had gained access to and had managed to send to us. If we had, you have to know we would have done everything in our power to keep her safe.”
“You should have gotten out in front of this,” Mike said.
“And you should lower that gun, but it seems like we are both a little bit jumpy when it comes to this situation.”
This situation? The man talked about Summer’s life like it was an afterthought. No wonder she had run to Mike for help.
He didn’t like this man, not at all. But he lowered his weapon. For now, the only person who could find a way out of this muddied circumstance was the one person who Mike wanted to keep safe.
Hopefully he wasn’t making a mistake in letting this man come close to the woman he loved.
Chapter Sixteen
Summer stared at Kevin like he had lost his mind. “You want me to do what?” she repeated.
Kevin smiled, the action saturated with remorse. “Your friend, Mike, was right in what he said out there. It was wrong of us to put you in this kind of situation. And I know that this solution is the best. It will keep you out of the line of fire for a while.”
They stood in her living room, arguing. As soon as Mike had let Kevin in, he’d started to explain his plan. It was simple, straightforward, and unattractive. Be carted off to a safe spot. Alone.
“And what about Joe and Mike? Do you really expect me to just pack my bags and disappear? Leave my child behind?” She looked over at Mike. She didn’t want to leave him; he
seemed like the only person in her life who really had her best interests and her safety in mind. And she couldn’t bear the thought of leaving Joe, who now slept peacefully in his crib in the back bedroom.
“I know that you are probably thinking this sounds crazy, but you need to keep your son safe. Mike can take him until we get a hold on these Rockwood people and can guarantee your safety. Then you can come back.” Kevin paused. “You knew when you took this job that things weren’t always going to be ideal when it came to having this career and a child. I’m sorry, but now it is time to follow through on your oath.”
Her entire body clenched with resentment and anger. She had fallen into the “it won’t happen to me” trap when she’d agreed to work for the DTRA. She had told herself that she was putting Joe first by taking the job with its financial security and eventual stability. She would only be a field agent for a short period of time and yet, here she was, paying the reaper for her hubris in thinking she had the world on a string.
It seemed like she would never be able to do the right thing.
She had promised that she wouldn’t leave Joe again and here she was...
If she took Joe with her, he would be in danger—even on a military base. And what would she do with him while she went to work? They wouldn’t let her take him into the field office, and she’d be damned if she’d leave him in the hands of a stranger. So that left her at odds again. Mike was her only option, but it still meant leaving Joe.
“Your son will be safer not being with you until we get this sorted. If you want, I can have him placed in a foster home if you don’t feel good leaving him alone with him.” Kevin motioned toward Mike.
“Oh hell no.” She shook her head violently, nauseated by the mere thought of someone she didn’t even know having physical custody of her baby after she had just gotten him back to safety. “Mike can take him. I will go with you.”
“Perfect,” Kevin said, his remorseful smile growing. “We have a private plane waiting on the tarmac just outside the air base. They will take us to Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. You can hole up while we gain control over the situation.”
Rescue Mission Page 14
