“Say you want this,” he said.
She blinked and nodded, amusement filtering through the lust in her eyes. “Oh. I want this. Right or wrong.”
Who the hell cared about right or wrong? He kissed her clit, appeased when her entire body shuddered. “Then it’s my way. Remember?”
She bit her lip, desire and uncertainty crossing her face. “Okay?”
“Hands back up, Piper.”
The hold tightened on his hair. “Or what?”
His girl wanted to play, did she? With an easy motion, he flipped her onto her stomach and smacked her ass. Hard.
“Hey—” she protested, her hands now flat on the rug. “You are way too strong.”
He rubbed the imprint of his hand, quite liking it there. A quick survey of her legs and back revealed a scar just under her right shoulder blade. He reached up and fingered the puckered skin, feeling the small tag beneath the skin. Drawing in a breath, he tuned into the frequency to memorize the pattern. She probably didn’t even know it was there. “What happened?”
She shook her head. “Um. Oh yeah. A chair at work had a loose spring, and the damn thing cut me. Had to have stitches.”
His head dropped, and his shoulders slumped. Well, he’d found the tracker. For now, they’d leave it there. If he had any more time for regrets, his heart would break at the thought that the commander had tagged her, the lying bastard. For now, Jory could steal a few seconds of heaven.
Taking the moment, he wanted to bring pleasure to the one woman who’d dug under his skin to see the real him. When she’d talked about his MacGyver moves, she’d seen the true geek beneath the soldier’s training. More than anything, he wished he could be that guy. For her.
They didn’t have much time. Her being in Earl’s house was part of her normal routine, so the soldiers would think he hadn’t considered their surveillance, even though he knew full well they were listening. The commander would think he had fooled Jory. He wouldn’t try to capture Jory now, not when there was a chance to get all four brothers.
The soldiers were probably on surveillance only. No doubt they were recording all sound, but right now, he didn’t give a shit. Time was short, and the woman was sweet. So he flipped her back over and sucked her clit into his mouth.
She arched against him, sighing.
He looked up at her. Glorious. Tousled hair, needy eyes, so much softness a guy could get lost. Forever. Instead, he wanted to push her over. To see her in the throes, completely lost to him. “Hands up.”
Expressions crossed her pretty face as she considered her options, each one more revealing that the last. The woman should never play poker. Finally, with a snort that almost sounded like submission, she slid her hands back up over her head.
He rewarded her by slipping one finger inside her, and then a second. Twisting and turning, brushing a bundle of nerves that made her thighs tremble. With a sigh, he lowered his face and licked her clit, going to town with just enough pressure to drive her crazy. Forcing her up, waiting until sweat slicked her body and she mumbled incoherent pleas, he waited until one of the pleas included his name.
Then he nipped.
She went off like an AGM-65 Maverick missile, all explosion and fury. Crying out his name, she arched her back off the rug, waves wracking her body.
He gripped her hips to hold her in place, and continued playing until she settled back down with a soft sigh. Still, he tasted.
She shuddered and smoothed the hair back from his head. “No more.” The sound came out like a whimper, and he smiled. One more kiss, and he levered up. God, she was fucking perfect. “Thank you, Piper.” There weren’t any words to explain what her trust meant, nor how much he wished things could be different. But he’d taken enough time for himself and now had to get back to saving his brothers. Setting her clothes back in place while she lay limply, he picked her up and dropped to the couch, warm woman in his arms.
A warm, snuggly woman. She cuddled her face into his neck, one hand rubbing his chest as she wiggled on his raging hard-on. “What about you?” she whispered.
His heart thumped. Hard and just for her. “I love that you just asked that.” The woman cared with everything she had, and the bittersweet moment attacked his heart. “But we don’t have time.”
She lifted up, her eyes luminous in the soft light. “What do you need, Jory?”
He reached over his head to flip on the radio to a mellow country station. Loud enough anybody listening in wouldn’t hear the gist of his words. “Help. I need your help, sweetheart. Please,” he whispered.
“How?” she asked.
“Chance, the kid from the facility? He’s one of my three brothers held captive in the facility by your father.” Jory gripped her chin, turning her to face him. His jaw hardened, and he tried to remain gentle. “Time to make a choice, sweetheart. Please. Choose me.”
In the middle of the inland facility, near a massive mountain range, Chance cleaned the weapon, his hands steady, his senses tuned to the surroundings. Outside the barracks in the inner Utah compound, construction noises continued throughout the day. The beeps of backing up equipment, the yells of men, the sounds of more buildings being built.
Apparently the commander was consolidating his base in Utah.
Too bad. A beach in Hawaii would’ve been a lot more fun.
A chill hung in the cement barracks this time of year, and Chance drew the cold into his body. Accepting was easier than fighting it.
Four cots scattered throughout the hollow room, and the fourth bed would forever haunt him. The gun lay heavy and sure in his hand, and if he didn’t have two brothers to save, he’d use it. Right now and directly to his temple. Life was just too fucking damn hard.
Instead, he glanced at Kyle, his younger brother, sitting on a bunk and sharpening a Sharkman blade while humming an old AC/DC tune. “How did blade training go?” Chance asked.
Kyle lifted his gaze, and dark circles lined under his eyes. The kid hadn’t slept through an entire night since Greg had died. “Fine. The commander’s off his game, though.”
“I know.” Chance engaged the safety on the Walther 9mm pistol. “I think the guy in the cage escaped, and the commander is freaking.”
“Jory?” Kyle asked, his shoulder hunching.
“Yeah. Why?” Chance eyed the bruises down Kyle’s slender arms. The kid was about ten years old and needed to grow. Fast. They also had to spend more time with knife practice after grappling training the next day.
Kyle shrugged. “You should’ve gone with him when he escaped. You know that.”
“I’d never leave you.” Chance shook his head. Besides, he didn’t know shit about Jory, now did he?
Kyle slid the knife into a sheath and scooted to sit on the army cot with his back to the wall. “Me and Wade were talking.”
Chance lifted an eyebrow. Wade was probably a year younger than Kyle and rarely spoke after Greg’s death. “That had to be a short conversation.”
Kyle didn’t remotely crack a smile. “Yeah. It was.”
Chance tilted his head to the side, narrowing his gaze on his brother. “So? What did you two talk about?”
Kyle’s shoulders went back, and his eyes darkened to emerald, making him look much older than ten. “You go on more missions than we do. If you get the chance, we want you to escape and have a life. To be free.”
“No.” Chance forced command into his voice. He’d give anything to have escaped with Jory but not without his brothers. If there was a way to freedom, he’d find it with them. That much he knew.
“Yes.” Kyle plucked at a string on the rough wool blanket. “Maybe that Jory will come back for you? He saw you, and he knows you. Right?”
“Probably not.” Chance hated to erase the hope from Kyle’s face, but they had to be honest with each other. “If he actually made a full escape, then he’s long gone from here. He has to be.”
Wade jogged inside, his boots leaving mud tracks. “The commander is pissed, and
we’ve gone on high alert.”
Chance stood. “From the prisoner escaping?” It was easier using designations instead of Jory’s name. He couldn’t get attached, because no way would the soldier come back for a few straggly kids.
“That and something else.” Wade dropped onto his cot, his blond hair standing up in freshly cropped spikes. His blue eyes opened wide. “Some other threat that really pissed him off.” He wiped mud off his cheek. “You said that Jory guy was huge and scary?”
That’s not exactly what Chance had said. “I said he was bigger than the commander and didn’t seem frightened at all.” Chance’s chest puffed out. “He stood up to him, and the commander kind of seemed worried. Even Dr. Madison stepped away from Jory’s cage.” Yeah. That was pride in Chance’s voice, and he needed to knock that shit off. “Not that it matters.”
Wade’s lip twisted. “Maybe Jory will come back and take out the commander. Help us get the hell out of here.”
Kyle nodded. “You two need to get free. You do.”
Chance frowned. “What about you?”
Kyle’s chin lowered. “I’m not leaving Greg.”
The figurative punch to the gut nearly doubled Chance over. “He’s not here anymore. Only his body is buried on the other side of the training field.” Beyond a barbed wire fence, and beyond their reach—there to remind them what happened if they failed. But they’d seen the casket, and he’d seen Greg’s body. The kid was dead and hopefully in a better place. Hell. Any place was better. “If we find a way out, you’re coming. Period.”
Kyle slowly focused. “It sounds like you have a plan.”
Not yet, but he was working on it. “We’re on our own, and we need to come up with an escape.” Because his instincts were on full alert, and something bad was about to go down. He’d never understood his special abilities, the ones that had saved his life more than once, but he trusted them. “The only strategy I can think of is to invite to dinner the folks who want us dead.”
If he didn’t get his brothers out soon, they’d all join Greg in the ground.
CHAPTER
14
PIPER WRAPPED HER cardigan closer around her body and adjusted the computer chair again. She just couldn’t get comfortable. Since Jory had escaped his cell, she and her computer system had been moved to an office just down from the commander’s, and all day he’d been behind closed doors.
Something was going on.
Trying to grab a thought was like trying to harness a firebug right now. Jory had pretty much blown her mind, first by going down on her, and next by asking for her help. Claiming that Chance, the kid from last week, was his brother. Created in a test tube and forced to train as a soldier to kill.
By Piper’s father.
The day she had worked with Chance, the kid had kept his gaze on the computer, and she hadn’t really looked at his facial features too closely. Damn, she wished she would’ve looked.
How was any of this possible? Better yet… how was it not?
The door slid open, and Chance loped inside. “We have less than three days to fix the computer program,” he said, sliding onto the adjacent chair.
Piper stiffened. “Look at me.”
The kid turned, one eyebrow raised.
Heat slammed into her gut. Gray eyes. Seriously gray eyes, black lashes, hard fallen-angel features. God. It was so obvious. “You’re his brother.”
Chance blinked. “Who?”
Her head lifted. “You know who.”
“You’re crazy, lady.” Chance turned back to the computer, quickly engaging the correct program.
“Are there two more kids here?” she whispered.
Chance glanced up at a vent in the ceiling and then turned his head toward her while continuing to type. “Yep.”
“His brothers, too?” She could barely breathe. How was this even possible?
Chance nodded, his gaze again sliding up and over. “Yep.” His shoulders stiffened.
“He’s coming for you, you know.” She wanted to touch the kid, to reassure him, but instinct held her back.
Chance swiveled to face her completely, the keyboard forgotten. “If he’s that fucking stupid, he’s going to get us all killed.” Familiar fire burned in the kid’s gray eyes. “God. It’s a fucking trap, lady. He’d better be smarter than you are.”
He was, actually. Piper blinked. “Did you plant the file about him so I could hack it?”
“No.” Chance went back to typing. “No more questions.”
Was he lying? The sense of urgency surrounding the kid transferred to Piper, and she focused on the computer program. If she didn’t find a way to reach Jory’s chip, he’d be dead in days. Her stomach clenched.
She tentatively reached out and cupped Chance’s shoulder gently.
He stiffened.
“I promise, this will all be okay,” she whispered.
A shudder wound through his body.
“You can trust me, Chance. Tell me what’s going on.”
He glanced at her, brows furrowing. “You can’t be for real.”
She released him. “I am. Trust me.” The phone buzzed at her elbow, and she glanced at the alarm she’d set on her smartphone. Then she swallowed. Okay. She could do this. Standing, she smoothed down her navy blue pencil skirt. She’d paired it with knee-high brown boots, which for some reason made her feel tougher than normal. Her white blouse was rather plain, but she’d donned silver jewelry to dress it up. To further add sophistication, she’d tamed her curly hair up and away from her face. However, after working all morning, some tendrils had escaped.
“I’ll be right back,” she murmured.
Chance sighed and leaned back. “Don’t tip your hand. You don’t know it, but we’re all expendable. Even you.” His voice softened at the end.
A chill swept beneath her skin, and she shivered. “I can handle it.”
Chance grunted, turning back to his screen.
Straightening her shoulders, she stood and left the room, traveling at a swift clip to reach her father’s office. A businesslike rap on the door earned her an “Enter.”
She swallowed and wiped her expression clear before opening the door and walking inside. “Our meeting is set for now.”
The commander remained at his desk, a pile of papers in front of him, a slight scruff covering his jaw. “Sit.”
She took a seat and crossed her legs. Her heartbeat ripped into a roar. “I’m closer to figuring out a way around Jory’s damaged chip, but I need Chance to stick around and help me out.”
The commander lifted one still dark eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Yes.” She tried to relax into the hard chair and breathe normally. A part of her wanted to blurt out every question she had about Jory and Chance, but her father knew more about subterfuge than she’d ever learn. If she tipped her hand, she’d never be able to help Chance. How did she somehow end up in a Bond movie? “Chance is quite knowledgeable.” Was she too obvious?
“I see.” The commander clasped his hands together. “I trust you are recovered from your kidnapping ordeal?”
She searched for concern in his eyes, in his expression. Nothing. No emotion. Hurt cut through the fear. The hacker inside her propelled her full on to seek answers. “Do you care?”
He sat back, his mouth opening slightly. “You’re my daughter, and I asked, didn’t I?”
She shook her head. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, striking her nerves into an alert fight or flee state. “That doesn’t mean you care.”
He eyed his computer. “I don’t have time for word games. What did Jory tell you?”
Before or after he’d brought her to a mind-blowing orgasm? “Why?” She lifted her chin.
The commander sighed. “Insolence? That man got to you.” He steepled his fingers beneath his chin. “I don’t think you understand the training he has had.”
“Oh, he’s a hell of a soldier.” What she didn’t understand was her own father. Did he care, even a little?
“No. I mean, ah, other training. In seduction, in sex, in manipulating a mark to gain information or cooperation.”
Piper coughed. “You trained him in sex?”
“Yes. The best experts in the world have trained him. Not just in technique, but how to get beneath layers and earn trust.” The commander tapped a couple of keys on his keyboard. “That boy seduced the mistress of a high-ranking Chechnya military leader and gleaned secrets you couldn’t imagine when he was just eighteen. He’s very good at his job.”
She blinked. A rock settled into her stomach, and her body ached. Either Jory had used her, or her father was lying to her. Or, more likely, both. “I haven’t slept with Jory, for goodness’ sakes.”
“I’m aware of that fact.” The commander rustled papers. “We had surveillance pointed at Earl Frank’s house as well as yours last night.”
A strangled cough choked her, and heat rushed up her torso to burn her face. “Excuse me?”
He cleared his throat. “I have your encounter recorded, if you’d like to hear it.”
How loud had she been? She dropped her face into her hands. “I don’t believe this.” Then fire burned through the embarrassment, and she lifted up. “How could you?”
“I felt Jory might contact you again, and surveillance is necessary for your safety. You don’t realize how dangerous he can be.”
Oh, she had a clue. Had Jory anticipated the surveillance? If so, he’d known everything they’d done had been recorded. He’d known the commander would hear and thus understand Piper’s doubt. Her lungs compressed and tears tried to prick her eyes. She blinked them back. “Erase the recording.”
The commander punched in a couple of buttons. “Done.”
“Really?” she breathed. Oh, she could play the game to get some answers, and she wasn’t leaving until she knew exactly what was going on. “Thank you.”
He pinned her with a look. “I don’t want that recording out there any more than you do.”
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