Rule Breaker (Project ROOT Book 1)

by Michele, Ryan

  “You hungry?”

  “Huh?” She blinked up at him.

  He chuckled. “For food, Rae. You want to eat dinner?”

  “I could eat,” she replied with a little hitch in her voice.

  “Sit, I’ll get us some grub.”

  When she didn’t move, he guided her into the waiting chair. With her settled, he walked to the chow line and placed food onto his tray for them. He then snagged a bottle of water for himself and a can of orange soda for her. After paying, he walked back to their table.

  Her gaze flickered up to his when he placed the tray down. “How’d you know I liked orange soda?” She reached for the cold can.

  “Told you. I know everything there is to know about you,” he said as he sat.

  She rolled her eyes as she took a long sip of her soda. “Can you tell me what’s happening?”

  “Yeah, some of it.” Twisting the cap off the bottle of water, he took a long chug before he told her why a part of the team had left earlier, where they were going, and an overview of what they were doing.

  “How does this work?” she inquired.

  “What?”

  “You’re here. Why aren’t you leading your fearless group of ragamuffins?”

  He snickered. “Not every mission requires a full team. O’Malley’s my second for a reason. Depending on what skill set is needed, depends on who goes.”

  “Makes sense.” She gestured to his still full plate with her fork. “Not hungry.”

  “Can never eat when my guys are on a mission and I’m not there,” he admitted.

  “Because you’re a control freak?” she asked.

  “Pretty much.”

  She shook her head. “Why invite me for dinner then?”

  “What the fuck, Rae? Seriously?”

  She shrugged.

  “I asked you to dinner because I wanted to spend time with you. Have a conversation, get to know you better.” Frustration filled him. For every step forward, they seemed to take two back. He realized gaining her full trust would take months, if not years, but sometimes he had to wonder if she’d ever let him in completely. Like you’ve done the same? In a way, he supposed he told her about his uncle, but not much else. “Figure out your likes and dislikes.”

  “According to you, you know everything there is to know already.”

  “I know everything about you, baby, but I want to get to know more than what I’ve read in a report. I understand we’ve done all of this backwards. I guess, I’d like to do it all. The whole relationship thing.”

  She laughed. “You’re too much, Asher.”

  “So, they tell me,” he snickered. “Eat your dinner. If you’d like, we can go for a walk when you’re done or I can walk you back to my room and we can hang out there for a bit.”

  “And do what, fuck?”

  “Not now. I’m too distracted. But expect me to get balls deep two minutes after I walk into our room.”

  Her hazel eyes widened. He’d bet if he placed a finger on the pulse point on her neck, it’d be beating erratically. “Cocky asshole,” she muttered in a slightly husky voice. “We can just go back to my room. I’m not really in a mood for a stroll.”

  Leaning back in the chair, he tucked his hands behind his head and watched her. “Awesome. Maybe then you can tell me some of your naughty fantasies.” He smirked. “I bet you have a thing for men in uniforms, don’t you?”

  “Asher,” she laughed.

  “I knew it.”

  * * * *

  He grabbed a shower and changed into a pair of camo pants and black T-shirt after Rae fell asleep on his bed. She’d been working too hard. It’d been why he didn’t want her on the case with him. It required long hours without much downtime. After he tucked her in and left a bottle of water on the table next to her, he headed for C&C once more. The high stress environments required comfort, so he grabbed the ergonomic chair near the bank of computers. They still had an hour before go time, but it didn’t mean he could close his eyes. He had shit to check and things to make sure were in place for his team.

  Hanover sat at his station as well, with Murray beside him.

  “Status check,” he ordered, putting on the headset he’d left on the desk earlier.

  “Wheels up in fifteen,” Hanover replied. “Military weather command is still showing heavy cloud coverage in our drop zone and surrounding areas. The boys are making their way to the bird now. O’Malley will be on comm in five. Video and sound are working like a dream. I also reminded them to give the bird a full tank. And, just in case we need it, I have a C-130 on standby for refueling.”

  He nodded. “Go dark and bring up all monitors,” he commanded. The room immediately went lights out. Brightness from the computer monitors and big TV were the only source of illumination in the room. Doing it now meant when O’Malley came on line, all their eyes would be adjusted and able to see what O’Malley saw in his night vision.

  “Guys are on board,” Hanover called out. “Blades turning.”

  The main TV flickered and came on line. It was fuzzy and green. O’Malley already had it set to night vision. The guys were hunkering down in the hawk and doing their final check. He could also hear the pilot and co-pilot doing their preflight.

  Reaching up, he took his microphone live. “This is command, you have clearance to commence JWB.”

  “Roger that,” O’Malley responded. “Wheels up when precheck is complete.”

  The bird took off five minutes later, flying toward their destination. Little happened in the next three hours. O’Malley, Callahan, and Schoell reviewed the schematics on the building, debating the best entrance point. Hanover guzzled coffee, keeping the guys constantly updated on the weather and local foot traffic around the building. He watched it all, only giving his input when necessary.

  Five minutes before they reached the drop off point, O’Malley made his announcement. “Activate video and audio.” Two more monitors populated with a picture. Each monitor was tagged so they knew who was who. “Shoot to maim if we encounter hostiles. We have plenty of room for passengers.”

  Schoell snorted. “I’ll try my best, but y’all know it’s hard for me not to aim to kill.”

  “Not a request, Schoell,” Asher said. “The more dumbasses we have to interrogate, the better the chance we have to implicate Lincoln.”

  “Boss.” O’Malley’s voice cracked through his headset.

  “Yeah.”

  “Stop worrying. It’s a simple in and out,” O’Malley said.

  He just shook his head, knowing O’Malley couldn’t see him. Simple could turn south, real damn quick. “Not easy, man,” he replied.

  “Oh, yeah it is,” O’Malley stated. “Landing in two. Going silent.”

  “Roger,” he answered.

  It would take them approximately thirty-five minutes to walk the six klicks. O’Malley would only talk if they ran into an issue. Hanover, knowing how much time he had, pushed back and got up. The feed bobbed up and down as all three men moved through the streets, using hand signals instead of talking.

  “Need to take a piss.” Hanover gave him a sheepish grin as he walked past where he stood. Piss his ass. He’d bet dollars to donuts Hanover was not heading to the head; he was going for a smoke.

  Ignoring the scent of nicotine as Hanover walked past him ten minutes later, he kept his gaze on the monitors. The building they would be checking out, occasionally popped up on one of the feeds. They were making good time and should arrive at the building way before schedule.

  Reaching over, he flipped the switch, allowing the audio from all three to be heard in the room. He kept the headset on as it was the only communication between him and O’Malley.

  “Approaching,” O’Malley’s toneless whisper filled the room.

  “Clear,” Schoell said in the same tone as O’Malley.

  They were going in through the back. Intel said the door was used for trash.

  “Clear,” Callahan’s voice followed.
/>   O’Malley was on point, entering first. “Clear.”

  The team swept the room, searching out every nook and cranny before they moved to the next floor. They did the same for each of the three levels.

  “It’s empty, boss. We can’t find charges on any of the support columns,” O’Malley said. “Callahan’s checking the blueprints again to see if we missed something.”

  “Fuck me,” Callahan grumbled. “We should have found a couple charges somewhere on each floor. This makes no fucking sense.”

  “Keep looking,” Asher ordered. His gut started churning. Something wasn’t right. None of this made sense.

  “Schoell and I are going to the basement to see if something is there,” O’Malley announced. “Callahan will follow.”

  His gaze flicked back and forth between O’Malley and Callahan’s feed and Schoell, who was still stationary.

  “Son of a bitch,” O’Malley said. “Boss, we’ve got an issue.”

  “Talk to me,” Asher demanded.

  “This building is not set to demo, it’s set to explode and potentially take out a city block or more.” He could hear the anger in his second’s voice. “Don’t fucking touch it, Callahan!” he yelled at their linguist expert.

  Whatever Callahan was doing, it brought Asher closer to what had shaken up O’Malley. Little red blocks lined the walls of the basement. O’Malley was right.

  Shit.

  “Semtex?” Semtex was a plastic explosive similar to C-4, highly malleable and waterproof. However, unlike C-4, it had a greater temperature range and was often used in terrorist attacks because it was extremely hard to detect.

  “Yeah. A couple truck loads,” Callahan stated.

  This looked more like a terrorist attack. A smart move on Lincoln’s part. Even in Bogotá, an act of terrorism would throw the scent off the dirty senator.

  “Look for the damn detonator,” he ordered. “Carefully.”

  “On it.” Schoell’s voice came through now. Schoell wasn’t just their weapons expert in all things gun and ammo. He had spent several years in the army working as an EOD specialist. He knew his shit. Knew how to build a bomb, knew how to blow a bomb; most importantly, he knew how to deactivate the fuckers.

  “This is going to take a while, boss,” Schoell informed him. “Tricky little bitches. We have multiple denotators.”

  “Can you do it?” Asher fisted his hands at his sides.

  “Of course, I can. Asking that question is like asking if O’Malley is a prick,” Schoell’s chuckle filled the room. He didn’t curtail the joking. The team was in a stressful and dangerous situation and needed to let off steam however they could. “Guess this means O’Malley is my bitch for a while.”

  “Looks like. While Schoell deals with the Semtex, O’Malley, Callahan I need you to handle the perimeter. It’s unlikely someone left all those explosives unguarded in a war-torn, drug-filled country.”

  “I got the front,” Callahan volunteered. O’Malley got the back.

  “Go silent, unless there is an issue. Update me every fifteen,” he decreed.

  “We have movement,” O’Malley said in a toneless whisper. “I see three…no, four shadows, one is coming right at me.”

  “Coming to you,” Schoell announced.

  “I’m at the southwest corner, by the dumpster,” O’Malley replied.

  “Coming up behind you. I’d appreciate if you didn’t shoot me as I approach.”

  O’Malley didn’t respond; instead he gave the thumbs up sign in front of his video recorder. It meant he couldn’t speak. The three shadows came into view on the monitor.

  “He’s taking a fucking piss,” O’Malley said, again in a toneless whisper.

  Moments later, the shadows opened the door O’Malley had stepped out of not more than ten minutes ago.

  “Callahan is vulnerable,” Asher barked.

  “I’m aware, boss, and he can hear us. We’ll need to clear the area again.”

  Asher felt helpless watching both monitors as O’Malley and Schoell moved slowly toward the door and into the building. With exact precision, they worked toward the basement. Schoell tucked himself into a corner where he continued to work on a detonator even with three hostiles in the building.

  “Callahan,” O’Malley hissed at the distinct sound of a gun being fired.

  Squinting, he kept his focus on the monitors, trying like hell to figure out what the fuck was going on. Schoell had moved toward the stairs. Callahan’s view was disoriented, like he was struggling with someone, and O’Malley’s was shaking because he was running either to Schoell or Callahan. He didn’t say a word, not willing to distract the team. When they had something, they’d speak. In the meantime, he continued to watch and listen.

  “Don’t even think about it, motherfucker,” Schoell yelled as he raised his arm, his weapon held steady and straight in front of him at the shadow. “Drop it.”

  Schoell waited a second and fired. The shadow crumpled to the ground.

  “Boss?” O’Malley broke his silence. “Callahan’s been shot. And we’ve acquired three more witness.”

  “Fuck me,” Callahan hissed in pain. “It’s not bad. Just stings like a bitch.”

  “Four more,” Schoell stated. “I didn’t kill mine.”

  “O’Malley, patch up Callahan so he can help Schoell disarm the bomb, then make another sweep through. I don’t want to miss a thing.”

  “Callahan won’t be able to make the hike back to the bird,” O’Malley informed him.

  “The hell I won’t,” Callahan bitched.

  “Give me five. I’ll find a place to get the bird closer.”

  “The roof might be an option,” his 2IC suggested.

  “Might be. Check it out,” he ordered. Unless O’Malley was a hundred percent certain, he wasn’t willing to risk the Blackhawk, the crew, or his team on a shitty roof. “In the meantime, I’ll see what’s closer. For all I care, we drop the damn bird right in front of the building.”

  An hour later, after the Blackhawk landed at the front doors, the team loaded an injured Callahan and the four men they had captured. O’Malley suspected the guy shot by Schoell would die before they landed at the base in Puerto Rico. They kept the audio feed up and running so he could continue to converse with the team. Video had been shut down the second they stepped onto the bird.

  “Boss,” O’Malley called out with a hint of humor as the helicopter moved through the night. “Who’s your favorite second-in-command?”

  “I’d hoped it be your stupid ass, since you’re him,” Asher replied. “Why are you asking?”

  “Found something while I was out behind the dumpster,” O’Malley informed him.

  “You mean while the guy was pissing on you?” Callahan asked.

  Asher cleared his throat. “Gentlemen, and I use the term loosely, O'Malley was busting my balls about being my favorite.”

  They went silent.

  “What did you find?”

  “Evidence, boss,” O’Malley stated.

  “How much and tell me you're bringing it back with you?”

  “I took it. Two boxes,” Jake stated. “Even had a second or two to tag it as evidence.”

  Asher bowed his head and took a deep breath. He hoped whatever it was helped put Lincoln away for a long fucking time. It could possibly save himself from murdering the bastard himself.

  “Boss,” O'Malley called.

  “If you were standing in front of me, I'd kiss you,” he declared.

  “Is Rae aware you swing both ways?” O’Malley chuckled and he joined him.

  “Fuck you. Get here safely so I can debrief you.”

  “Really makes us want to rush home,” Callahan said. “I'd think I'd rather get shot in the ass again.”

  “Suck my dick, asshole,” O’Malley barked. “He didn’t piss on me. It was near me, motherfucker.”

  “You do realize I’ve been shot. Seven years as a SEAL, traveled all over the damn world in wars and skirmishes in
countries most people can’t even pronounce. I go to fucking Bogotá and get shot by a guy who most likely never even fired a gun more than twice in his life. I can’t make this shit up even if I tried,” Callahan continued to bitch.

  Hanover laughed from his chair in front of a monitor. “Where’d you get shot again, Callahan?” Hanover’s curiosity getting the better of him

  O’Malley laughed. “In his ass.”

  “Laugh it up, you yahoos. It’s not funny. Shit hurts,” Callahan grumbled.

  “Are you going to bitch the entire flight home?” O’Malley chuckled.

  “Maybe.”

  “Boss, we might have to leave Callahan in Puerto Rico for medical care,” Schoell teased.

  “Only if it’s classified as R&R,” Callahan groused.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Rae…” Heavy-lidded brown eyes stared down at her. The bright sunlight behind the looming form of Asher shimmered, causing a halo effect. “Wake up, sleepy head. Are you going to sleep our vacation away?”

  Vacation? She frowned. Wasn’t she in a secure base?

  “Come on, wake up.” He pressed his lips to her forehead, then her eyelids, each cheek then her nose. “We’re going to miss the best waves.” He swiped his lips over hers. “Mmm, I can never get enough of you.”

  She couldn’t either. He traveled down her body, nipping and sucking on her flesh. She giggled when he licked at her sides, then moaned, spearing her fingers through his hair when he nibbled on her hip. “Asher, more.” She lifted her hips in invitation, shifting the sheet covering her lower body.

  He groaned. “You are fucking perfect.” Asher settled his big body between her legs, her thighs rested over his shoulder.

  She dug her heels into his back, silently urging him to fuck her with his tongue. He didn’t take the hint. Instead, he nipped on her thigh before nuzzling her sex. He breathed deeply and a rumbling sound of contentment left him. Holy shit, he was going to destroy her. Rae raised to her elbows to watch him devour her. He gripped her hand with his as he watched her. With each lick of his tongue, he turned her on a bit more. Desire flowed through her languid limbs, waking them inch by inch.