“Don’t worry, I’ll buy you a truckload of new ones. I like the ‘ease of access’ feature.” Drake ran his hands over the cheeks of her ass and gripped them, pulling her closer to his erection.
“That isn’t a feature. You just like to play He-Man and ruin them!” Jillian sat up and undulated her hips over his cock, now pinned under her.
“Is that a problem?” Drake asked, as he lifted his hips and pushed up when she moved down. Moans mingled in the dark. His hands traveled the length of her waist, rising to cup her breasts as she lifted and lowered again.
“No.” Jillian couldn’t manage more of an answer. His hand drifted down to his cock. As she rose, he centered his hard shaft at the entrance to her core. She leaned forward and braced herself on his shoulders before she lowered her hips and took him into her body; his size, no longer a shock, just so damn perfect. She loved riding him, listening to him as her body drove him to abandon his quiet reserve. Having him at her mercy was a new and rewarding concept for her. If she worked her hips just right, she could make him beg, and that power thrilled her, but it was a privilege she’d never take lightly. Jillian knew few, if any, had ever seen this man vulnerable. It was a gift she’d always cherish.
His hands blazed a trail across her skin as she lifted and settled, moving her hips just enough to gain the growls and curses that told her he was ready to take over. Like breakers cresting on their roll toward shore, the pleasure of their union pushed forward, building in intensity. Jillian gasped when Drake pulled her down and ground up into her.
“Yes!” The jolt of pleasure/pain stoked the banked heat at her core, building the smoldering fire into a raging inferno. He lifted her and held her hips, staying any voluntary motion on her part, and then he began to thrust. Each sharp, powerful push edged her closer to an explosion that threatened to consume her. One of his powerful hands reached up and found her breast and teased her nipple into a hard point. He ran his callused finger over the tip, and she shuddered as his hands triggered wave after wave of climactic ecstasy. Mindless, she writhed on the hard organ splitting her into a thousand shards of ultimate gratification. She sensed rather than knew when Drake found his release, her mind and body utterly focused on her own orgasm.
His hand stroked her hair. The repetitive motion grounded her, slowly bringing her back to their reality. Still, with all the unknowns and danger that surrounded them, she allowed herself to float in the aftermath of their lovemaking. Sated, she fell asleep, cradled in Drake’s love and strength.
Chapter 20
Using a pair of tin-snips, Drake cut the wire and finished the last of the explosive triggering mechanisms he’d built. He could wire these devices in his sleep, and on one or two occasions while on deployment with Alpha Team, he’d swear he’d actually done so. He glanced over the equipment they’d pulled out of the weapons safe Joseph had hidden under the tool shack. He released a long breath and glanced toward the bedroom where Jillian slept.
As much as he wanted to stay in bed and hold her close, necessity had forced him from her warmth. The two small bricks of C-4, eight hand grenades, ten blasting caps, three timers, and remote activation devices had come in handy. The M-4 semi-automatic rifles, three forty-five caliber automatic handguns and two full ammo cans would be placed strategically around the house and outbuildings so he could access them. The C-4 and hand grenades would be rigged into the lines of defense he’d plotted around the area. The wired detonations would be placed far enough away from the cabin to give them a running start should they be activated. He could cover the most obvious routes to the cabin with the snares but would use the timers to annihilate the enemy should the need arise. He wouldn’t take any chances. Unwittingly, he’d been the one to bring Jillian into this mess. He was damn sure going to make sure she got out of it.
The latest intel on the movement of the threat, or the lack thereof, would be available soon. He glanced at the clock over the door. It was just after six, so seven in the morning on the East Coast. Jewell would be at work by now. He powered up the Sat phone and poured another cup of coffee while it acquired the secure link. The summer air bordered on hot, but there was a nice breeze through the high meadow valley behind the house. Drake closed the door behind him as he went outside. He didn’t want to worry Jillian, but his gut told him something wasn’t right.
Jewell’s voice floated across the connection. “Good Morning, Drake. The line is secure. Alpha is already in the office, he’ll be on soon.”
“Okay, and good morning, Jewell. I need some good news.”
“I wish I could give you some. There has been zero for us to trace. I honestly don’t know if we are being played, if someone in Russia is messing with Tatyana, or maybe they were fed the wrong information. I have zero; I mean absolutely zero to go on. Everything leads to dead ends and brick walls.”
Drake gave himself a minute to digest the information. “Thinking outside the box, could they be good enough to move on us without being seen?”
A long sigh preceded Jewell’s reply. “Yeah, they could be. We’re damn good, but that doesn’t mean someone couldn’t be better. I learned that lesson the hard way when Zane went after our last Russian hacker.”
“Okay.” He took a sip of his coffee. It was tasteless.
“Alpha has just signed on, his line will go secure in just a minute, and D?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m sorry. I just can’t validate this threat, one way or the other.” Jewell sounded utterly defeated. It was something he’d never heard before.
“Girl, you can’t be expected to pull a rabbit out of your hat on every case. We’ll hunker down and wait it out. Sooner or later they will make a move. If not against me, then…”
“Yeah. At least we got ahold of Maliki. Like you, he’s gone underground and holed up. Tatyana and Chief called back in. They will be making their way back to the States.”
“So, Dixon is the only one who doesn’t know to watch his six.” Drake closed his eyes and shook his head. Dammit, he knew he should have stopped Dixon from taking this damned assignment.
“That’s not true. He’s undercover. He’s watching and vigilant.” Alpha chimed in.
“Skipper, what’s your gut telling you on this one? Do you think there is a threat?” Drake respected the fuck out of his Skipper’s intuition.
“Yes, although I don’t know to what extent. Too many things have surfaced too close together to think it is anything but a coordinated effort. You need to dig in, fortify and keep your head and your ass low to the ground.”
“Roger that.”
“Did Jewell brief you?” Jacob asked.
“Yes, I did,” Jewell cut in. “Fat lot of good that did anyone.”
“Jewell…” Jacob’s long drawn out release of her name provided the subtext. She was beating herself up. The woman was damn near an IT goddess, and if she couldn’t find anything, then the people after him were actual deity or Guardian was chasing ghosts. Either way, apparitions, and immortals were fucking impossible to track—or he assumed they were.
“I’ll do as you suggested, Skipper. Jewell, stop worrying about us. I’m prepared and ready for them if they come. Do me a favor and concentrate on Dixon and the others.”
“Roger that.” Her confirmation lacked the enthusiasm he’d hoped for. “CCS out.”
Jacob sighed. “Zane is at the ranch working a situation that developed on the heels of a Shadow operation down in Colombia. I don’t think Jewell has slept since he left. I need to head over to her section and check up on her.”
“Roger that, Skipper. I’m here for the duration.” He chuckled humorlessly. “For as long as it takes.” People who hadn’t walked a mile in a Guardian’s shoes had no idea the gravity those words held. The words weren’t just a motto. They were indicative of a way of life. Sometimes, those in Guardian’s employ tenaciously clung to those tenets as they struggled to survive.
“Just another fun-filled day at the office.” Jacob sobered suddenly.
“Seriously, D., do you need anything?”
The unease in Jacob’s voice did little to settle the anxiety the lack of information caused, but he heard the concern and that mattered. “I need intel, but sans that, I’ve used the C-4, grenades, and armament Joseph had buried to make sure if they come after me, they have to go through hell first.”
Jacob coughed as if he’d choked on his morning beverage. “C-4?”
Drake took a sip of his own coffee before he chuckled, “Roger.”
“Damn, brother of mine uses a fucking knife, and yet he buried C-4 and hand grenades? How does that make any sense?” Drake smiled at the humor in Jacob’s voice when Jacob quipped, “Do not blow yourself up.”
“Not what I’m planning on, but thanks for the vote of confidence.” Drake took another swig of his coffee and gazed out over the pasture.
“Oh, I have every confidence you’d be able to level the entire mountain.” Jacob laughed before he reminded Drake, “Check back in twelve hours.”
“Roger that.”
Chapter 21
Jillian watched the sun set behind the mountains. The summer evening held the warmth of the day, but a gentle breeze made the profusion of cornflower blue, vermillion and lemon-yellow wildflowers in the field behind the house bob and sway in a gentle dance. From the swearing and sounds of rattling, Drake played hot potato with the pots in the kitchen. It was his night to cook. It was amazing the recipes they’d concocted using the canned food they had available. The stew simmering in the kitchen smelled heavenly. Her stomach rumbled in agreement with her nose.
Six days had elapsed since they’d pulled into the small valley. She could sense Drake’s growing frustration at the stasis they found themselves in. It was obvious Drake needed to meet a challenge head-on. He didn’t fare well with the directives his employer had put in place. Reacting to the threat coming after him was his natural inclination. He tried hard to keep his concerns to himself, but for the majority of her life, she’d been a wallflower. She was an old pro at watching and learning. What she’d learned about Drake could fill volumes.
Two important aspects of their enforced hiatus in the safe house nestled in this snug little valley hit her immediately. His past had more than adequately prepared him for what they faced, and hers had not.
She glanced to her right. The pathway leading away from the house to the right was twenty-three running strides from the bottom of the porch stairs. She could make the tree line in less than forty seconds. The two pathways to the left were thirty-seven and forty-three strides, and both, because of the terrain took her just under a minute to clear. Drake had made her run the paths repeatedly. She’d counted each step. At twenty-three, thirty-seven and forty-three steps, depending on the route chosen, she shifted off the track and then back on to avoid a trip wire. To miss the jag in her mad dash to the top of the trailhead meant her body parts would fertilize the wildflowers. Furthermore, there were three remote activation devices, one at the top of each trail. If she reached the top of the trail and Drake signaled her, she was to push the switch on the detonator—an innocuous looking, dull, scratched, aluminum lever that would result in three separate explosions, one near the house, one near the shed and one near their vehicle. She had no way to gauge the size of the explosion, but Drake said they’d be “big enough to distract the bad guys.”
Jillian glanced down at the dirt under her feet. She’d practiced and had assured Drake she’d understood. What she didn’t tell him was she wasn’t sure she could push that button. How could she when he could be in harm’s way? A snort of derision escaped as Drake’s words echoed through her thoughts. “I need to know you’ll do exactly what we’ve practiced. Knowing you’ll follow the exact steps we rehearsed will enable me to do what I need to do, and it will give me an advantage because I know what’s coming. The bad guys don’t. It will also tell me you’ve escaped and you’re safe.”
She told him what he wanted to hear—that she understood and would implement his instructions. She just didn’t know if she could. How could she? If he wasn’t clear of the blast zones before… She’d never be able to live with herself if she was responsible for his injury or death.
“That is a somber expression for such a beautiful night.” Drake walked across the porch and dropped down beside her.
She nodded to the trails on her left. “Running the routes in my mind.” She could run those trails in her sleep, but it was a likely excuse and the first thing she’d been able to come up with. “Do you think they are out there?” She leaned over and dropped her head on his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her as they sat together.
“I do.” The answer was solid and sure. She lifted her head and glanced at him. “Something has happened. What?”
He stared at the wildflowers just as she’d done and shrugged. “The position of another Guardian target who’d gone ‘dark’ for the same reason we have done was compromised, and he was attacked. He was able to escape, but not before he was injured.
Jillian jumped to her feet, spinning as she demanded, “Who? Not Dixon?”
He shook his head. “A friend. Doctor Maliki Blue. Guardian has sent a team to extract him from his fallback position. He’s injured, so he’ll be taken to the complex in Arizona. There are no families there. It’s bare bones, and all non-essential personnel have been evacuated.”
Jillian rubbed her arms, warding away the gooseflesh that rippled over her. “Will we need to go there?”
Drake’s gaze continued to study the distant horizon and shook his head. “If we are detected, there will be nothing left of the people who come after us. Maliki is a doctor. He wasn’t prepared to fight his way out. He’s trained in self-defense and weapons only as a precaution, but…” Drake stood and wrapped her in his arms. “If they come, the only place we are going is home, because I am trained to eradicate the threat. There won’t be anyone alive to follow us home.”
Jillian calmed in his arms. “I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that you kill people,” she murmured. “It’s not easy.”
He spun her around, so she faced him. “They will be trying to kill me. I’m a federal law enforcement entity. I have the right to defend myself and to defend you against their use of deadly force. I’m not telling you this to frighten you. You need to know what is happening so you can be mentally prepared. If they found Maliki, it is only a matter of time before they find us.”
Jillian blinked back tears. “If we kill them all, they’ll just send more. How is your ranch safe then?”
“Because nobody knows I’m there. We’re hidden in plain sight. For the bad guys to find the physical location of the ranch, they’d need a reason to examine hundreds of hours of satellite footage of an obscure part of South Dakota. Guardian has never given anyone a reason. I’ve never been on the grid. Like everyone else, the majority of my pay goes to a bank account offshore. Most of the staff and personnel at the complex are paid in cash. What they don’t need is banked in masked accounts that are untraceable. No one there has a digital footprint. No internet presence whatsoever.”
No internet presence? In this day and age, that was ridiculous. “How do you buy things online?”
“Other than the secure link we have with Guardian, we don’t, but nobody has complained about the lack of internet. It actually became a challenge to see how we could adapt and live without being plugged in 24/7. We do a weekly run to Rapid City. We take a van. Anyone who wants to go shopping can go. Once a month, we fly those who want a weekend away to a major city. Usually, we vote on where we are going. New York, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco. There isn’t anyone who suffers from the lack of an internet presence. All phones are Guardian issued and secure. Guardian also has a logistics branch specifically created to provide undercover and covert operations with needed equipment. When we opened the complex, the division expanded to take care of the day-to-day needs, like medicines for the hospital and staple food supplies for the dining facility. They fly it in on the weekly sup
ply plane. That flight plan is not filed. It never has been, and it never will be. If we are asked by any local people, we say we are employed as hands on the Marshall Ranch. The people in Hollister know Guardian has a presence, but to the last man, they keep it quiet. Guardian has helped everyone in that community, from free energy, to bringing in feed for their cattle or even helping to rebuild a barn that burned down. The people in that little South Dakota town are hard as nails and true patriots. They won’t talk to strangers about us.”
Jillian stared up at him. The steps the organization took to keep the complex off the grid were remarkable. “What exactly does this complex do?”
“I’ve already told you that it started as a rehabilitation site. A safe place to send our people when they needed time and safety, so they could concentrate on getting back on their feet. It has morphed over time. Now it is a training branch, and it is home base for a few.”
“Like you and Dixon.”
Drake nodded. “And a few more.”
He lowered and kissed her softly. “You don’t need to worry. We’ll be…”
Jillian gasped as a small herd of deer in the meadow bolted as one and leaped out of sight into the tree line.
“Run, now!” Drake spun her to the right as he barked the command.
Her arms and legs pumped as she flew up the path. She hopped over the small rock and pivoted, missing the trip wire, before she pounded up the trail. Her breaths came in huge ragged gasps that were ripped from her chest. She pulled up and dove under the bank of cover they’d built. Scared hands gripped the straps of the backpack that had been prepositioned, and she put it on before she grabbed the detonator and put it within a moment’s grasp. Her heart pounded, and she sucked in air, but the raw, intense burn meant nothing because her eyes were focused on the house below. She had an idea where Drake would be, or rather where he needed to go to gather weapons. The kitchen light shone through the window over the sink, and in the twilight, a pale-yellow light had started to filter onto the porch.
Drake (The Kings of Guardian Book 11) Page 17