Quadruple Duty

by Krista Wolf

  CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

  I fired three crisp shots into the air. Both men stopped immediately. Both of them turned to look at me, their expressions equally shocked as I swung my arm down.

  “I said get the FUCK off him!” I growled, leveling my gun at the red-bearded bald man.

  He hesitated for an instant… then put his hands up. His eyes were locked on mine. There must’ve been something there he didn’t like, something that told him I meant exactly what I said. In short, he believed me.

  He was wise to believe me.

  “Sammara!”

  Kyle was standing beside me, totally out of breath. He was holding his hand out. Expecting me to give him the weapon.

  Yeah, right.

  “Go get the others,” I ordered. I had my weapon trained directly on his attacker, center mass. My finger was on the trigger, ready for even the slightest forward movement. “YOU,” I ordered him. “Get on your knees.”

  I couldn’t see Kyle’s expression, but I could imagine it. It was probably priceless.

  Suddenly there was another sound; boots rushing up the hard ground of the path. I breathed a huge sigh of relief as Dakota and Ryan sprinted into view. Their faces were red, their bodies heaving as if they’d just run all the way around the lake. Maybe they had.

  “We heard the shots!” Dakota breathed. “Are you alright?”

  He looked from Kyle to me, then back to Kyle again. Ryan laughed. “Maybe you should ask if he’s alright,” he said, pointing down.

  Dakota wrenched the man’s arms behind his back and stood him up. Ryan helped him.

  “Where’s Jason?” I demanded, looking around. Kyle stepped up and put his hands over mine, gingerly. It occurred to me I still hadn’t lowered the gun.

  “Back at house,” said Dakota. He glanced over his shoulder at us, then jerked his head at his captive. “He should be the last one.”

  Kyle was confused. “The last one of—”

  “Come on.”

  Together, they led us back toward the house, pushing our new guest in front of us. The grill was a total loss; black smoke and soot were virtually everywhere. Ryan reached out and shut it down as we passed it, somehow without burning his fingers off.

  “Give me a number,” said Kyle. “How many of them?”

  “Seven,” Dakota said coldly.

  “Seven?” I stopped walking. “Seven!”

  “Don’t worry,” Dakota said. He looked back at us and winked. “It’s not as bad as you think.”

  Fifty-Nine

  SAMMARA

  Back inside, the kitchen was a mess again. There were footprints everywhere. Dirt. Debris. Glass…

  “Briggs!” Dakota called loudly.

  “Back here!”

  Once more he shoved the prisoner forward, this time toward the salon. The man stumbled awkwardly, nearly falling forward onto his face. With his arms secured behind his back, I had terrible visions of him skittering his teeth across the newly-refinished parquet floor.

  “You got her?” I could hear Jason’s voice saying. “Murphy too? Everyone’s okay?”

  “Everyone’s good,” I assured him, entering the big room. Then I stopped.

  There were a ten or so people in there, including the two men and the woman who’d worked for Jason and were watching the grounds. But there were others here too. Others with guns.

  At first I was scared… but then I realized not one of the guns was pointed at Jason Briggs.

  “Well fucking finally,” spat Ryan. He stomped over to the man in the center of the room — the only man who was seated. The only man tied to a chair. “Look who slithered into the sunlight?”

  “More like he was dragged,” said Dakota. “Just like this asshole.”

  He kicked out with his leg, sending the red-bearded man falling next to the one in the middle. The man in the chair had his arms behind his back. I could see now that his wrists had been zip-tied.

  What the…

  I still had no clue what was going on. It was starting to freak me out.

  “Jason, who the hell—”

  “Say hello to Markus Ladrone,” Jason began. He kicked the chair hard. “Soldier, comrade, brother-in-arms.” At first the names sounded good to me. But as Jason circled the man in the chair, his face twisted. “Also a liar. A traitor. A thief.”

  The man snarled but said nothing. He was thick-looking, with dark greasy hair and a dishonest face. At one time, he might’ve been handsome, and his body in much better shape. Unfortunately for him, those days were long gone.

  “Not even a good thief,” laughed Kyle from behind me.

  “And not even a good liar,” said one of the other men.

  I stared from man to man. Many of the people in the small semi-circle were dressed like the one who’d attacked Kyle. They had their weapons out, but they weren’t trained on any of my boyfriends. They were trained downward… toward the enemy.

  “Markus is the Commander of Di Spatia” Jason went on. “A once premiere mercenary company.” He leaned down into the man’s face. “Or should I say, ex-Commander...”

  The man grunted loudly in reply. He had a fresh gash on his chin, all dark and red with blood. Otherwise he looked no worse for wear. Although he did appear… well… angry.

  “Loyalty, Markus,” said Jason. “Fidelity. Allegiance. It’s the one thing you were always missing, the one lesson you never learned.” He pointed with his chin. “Your people are my people now. Your men are my men. All because of your betrayal. All because of how you treated them.”

  Some of the men that stood in the room nodded. But all of them shifted uncomfortably in some way.

  “This one even tried remaining loyal till’ the last,” said Jason. He tapped the man with the red beard. “Though I don’t know why. You obviously don’t deserve him. You don’t deserve any of these men.”

  Jason motioned, and the red-bearded man stood up. A look passed between them. There was understanding in it.

  “Maybe I have a place for him, too,” said Jason with a shrug. “That is, if he’s any good.”

  “Kicked Kyle’s ass,” Ryan quipped.

  The man stiffened into what was almost a salute. Kyle only shook his head.

  “The point is, everyone knows what you did,” Jason said. “Everyone here has seen the files, the data, the requisitions. The transfer of monies. Everyone except the only person who matters: good old Uncle Sam.”

  Markus still hadn’t said a thing, but his body language spoke volumes. I could see him shrinking away. Slumping so low in his chair, he might melt to the floor.

  “Even worse, we have copies. All of us.” He turned to Kyle. “You have copies, don’t you Murph?”

  “Yep.”

  “Dunham? Bradley?”

  Ryan nodded. Dakota even held up a tiny black object — a USB drive. “Affirmative.”

  “See?” said Jason. “Isn’t that nice?”

  He nodded toward Ryan. I watched as he approached, grabbed Markus Ladrone by the hair, and yanked his head back.

  “Everyone here gets a copy,” he snarled. “I want you to think about that. We’ll all have it. We’ll all be able to release this information in the blink of an eye.”

  Markus tried to drop his head. Ryan shook him roughly, pulling him up until they were eye to eye.

  “Screw with just one of us?” He shook his head slowly. “You’re screwing with us all. Remember, it only takes one, Markus. Which means you’ll have to get us all at the exact same time…” His mouth broke into a lethal smirk. “Or you don’t get us at all.”

  He let go. Markus’s head fell like it was on a swivel. There were no defiance now, only defeat.

  “Or…”

  He perked up a bit. He even raised his eyes.

  “Or you could walk away,” Kyle said, stepping forward. “Leave the company in the hands of Briggs, and retire immediately.”

  “Retire fully,” Dakota added. His tone was ominous. “No looking back. Ever.”

&nb
sp; I didn’t understand everything that was happening, but I knew enough to realize the significance. I was seeing the end of a very long, very complicated struggle. I was watching the victors — thankfully, my boyfriends — and I was watching the vanquished.

  “You do all that,” Jason sighed, “and you get to keep what you have now. Minus the company accounts, of course. Those belong to us from this moment forward.” He looked around the room. “All of us.”

  The whole room went silent for a moment. It was absurd, really. A dozen grown men with cutting edge, military-grade rifles… standing in a two-hundred year old dining room where men and women once ate pheasant shot by muskets.

  By far, it was probably the strangest meeting this ancient house had ever seen. Beyond weird, really.

  But it was also thrilling.

  Markus finally showed some signs of life. He spat, cleared his throat, and lifted his head on his own.

  “What about—”

  “NO,” Kyle said coldly. His expression deadly serious. “You get NOTHING else.”

  There was the flash of steel as Jason unsheathed his knife. I sucked in my breath, watching as he brought it to the mercenary captain’s throat and held it there.

  “Remember,” he growled, loud enough for everyone to hear. “We can always find you, Markus. Let it go now, and this is the end of it. You go back to Austria. Or your place in Fiji. Or any number of the other dirty little holes you’ve managed to dig for yourself.”

  Markus leaned backward, away from the knife. I could see the razor-sharp edge, pressed tightly into the flesh of his neck. At any moment I expected it to draw blood.

  “But make even one motion toward any of the people in this room…” Jason made a circular motion with his finger. “Any single one of them at all…” The man leaned back even further as Jason pushed in. “And Bradley will punch a bullet through your heart from two miles out.”

  Over his shoulder, Dakota nodded grimly.

  “And then it won’t matter how much of your corruption we turn over to the United States government.”

  Markus flinched as Jason’s hand dropped suddenly and reached behind him. He jerked his shoulder, hard, and cut through the zip ties.

  The man rose slowly, his face frozen in an eternal grimace. He stared hatefully at the rest of his company — or rather, Jason’s company now — meeting each of his men eye to eye. I could feel the disdain as he stared them down. Cursing them silently for what he saw as the ultimate betrayal.

  “GO,” Ryan prodded, nodding toward the exit.

  Eventually he went. Slowly. Rubbing his wrists.

  “And remember, Markus?” Kyle said at last.

  He turned and looked back.

  “You no longer exist.”

  Sixty

  DAKOTA

  Her mouth tasted sweet — like a watermelon Jolly Rancher, or raspberry bubble gum. Or whatever the hell she’d been eating before I grabbed her and plopped her down in my lap, where I’d dreamed of having her for all these many months.

  “Sorry darlin’,” I murmured, holding her beautiful porcelain face. I kissed every square inch of it before diving back to her lips again.

  “What for?” she asked breathlessly.

  “For you having to go through all that.” I inhaled, and my senses nearly overloaded. She even smelled like watermelon. “It wasn’t right. It was like… like bringing our work home with us.” I paused for a moment, turning away. “And I hate that we put you in danger.”

  Sammara’s fingers brushed my chin as she turned my head back to face her. Her blue eyes flared — all wonderfully full of life and fire.

  “Well with four big, strong, Army Ranger boyfriends?” she whispered sweetly in my ear. Squirming into my lap, she closed her hand over my bulge and squeezed. “I know it comes with the territory.”

  I smiled and kissed her some more, driving my tongue back into the sweetness of her mouth. We’d been kissing half an hour already. It wasn’t nearly enough.

  “It’s over now, isn’t it?” she asked softly.

  “Yes.”

  “It’s just us now, right? Tell me its just us.”

  “It’s just us,” I said. “The five of us.”

  Sammara’s mouth closed over my neck. I could feel her tongue, tracing its way downward. Kissing, licking, sucking…

  “Thank God.”

  The living room was still empty and silent, as I realized the guys were giving me my moment with her. It was nice, having her alone. Keeping her here in my lap, teasing myself against the inevitability of what would take place next.

  “Just me and my big, strong boyfriends…” she teased. She was stroking me openly now. Working my zipper down with her free hand. “Oh wow. Very big…”

  She pulled my shirt up, and started kissing my bare chest. I could feel her hair, tickling my skin. Her lips, pursed together. Her tongue poking out to trace wetly around my nipple…

  “I missed you,” she muttered into my chest.

  “Not half as much as—”

  She shushed me with a finger against my lips. “I missed my big, strong teddy bear…”

  Her painted fingernails roamed my chest, eliciting shivers everywhere they traced. It was amazing how much of an effect she could have on me. How quickly I melted under even her slightest touch.

  “Hey.”

  I looked up, and Kyle was standing in the doorway. So much for being alone.

  “Just wanted to say Briggs took the others off grounds, to clean up loose ends. Ryan went too. Could be out ‘till tomorrow.”

  Sammara didn’t miss a beat. She didn’t stop, or look back, or look up. She only continued…

  “I’ll be in the kitchen,” Kyle said, shooting me a knowing grin. “I’m starved. Maybe I’ll make you two something also. You know, for when you’re… done.”

  The fingers of my right hand found their way into Sammara’s hair. It felt just as soft and amazing as I remembered it.

  “Bro…”

  Kyle looked back as he was about to exit. I motioned him over.

  “She’s got two ends, remember?”

  He perked up, suddenly looking ten times happier. “Yeah?”

  “Yeah.”

  My shorts dropped, and Sammara’s mouth closed over me as I spread my legs. Leaning back even further into the softness of the couch, I could tell she heard me. And that’s because her ass was now wiggling.

  Kyle continued forward, stepping out of his clothes along the way. I had to chuckle as our girlfriend continued blowing me, only now she was thrusting her ass high and swaying it back and forth seductively in Kyle’s direction.

  “Thanks,” my war-brother said, sinking down behind her. He took her ass in his hands and began shimmying her pants down.

  “Mi novia es su novia,” I chuckled.

  “Literally.”

  For the next few minutes, the living room was filled only with soft moans and familiar sighs. I did my best not to fire off early, sending my welcome home load straight down our girlfriend’s gorgeous throat. It wasn’t easy. Especially with Sammara whimpering around me, as Kyle devoured her fully from behind.

  Finally he sat up and looked at me. “You wanna go first?”

  “Either way,” I sighed. “As long as I get in there soon.”

  Abruptly, Sammara popped me from her mouth. “Why don’t you both go first,” she said. There was a diabolical edge to her voice.

  Kyle squinted. “You’re saying—”

  “I’m saying any vacancies back there are open for double-occupancy.” She laughed wildly and shrugged. “Ryan and Jason… well, they kinda upped the stakes while you were gone.”

  Kyle and I exchanged surprised looks. It was something we’d always loved doing with Erika. Something we’d done well… and often.

  “Oh really?” I asked smartly. “So you’re… all good with that?”

  Sammara climbed up into my lap. My eyes rolled back in ecstasy as she sank down… sheathing me all the way to the hilt in he
r warm, wet folds.

  “Why don’t you try me and find out?” she growled wickedly.

  Sixty-One

  SAMMARA

  They took me as one person, as one entity, with the practiced ease of having done it countless times before. Thinking more about it, I should’ve been jealous. I should’ve felt the bitter sting of envy, knowing they’d done this with other women like Erika well before me.

  Oh God…

  It was just too incredible for me to care.

  Even as Kyle and Dakota penetrated my body, the space I held in my heart for them filled with love. I’d missed them terribly, especially after how close we’d become. And I’d gotten a firsthand glimpse at how awful it was for the wife or girlfriend of a single deployed soldier… much less two.

  Does that make it any easier?

  In theory it should’ve. Having Ryan, and then Jason, was supposed to make the deployment less painful. In reality though, I’d missed them just as much. There was no less longing in my heart for Kyle and Dakota while they were gone, even though the house — and of course my bedroom — remained full.

  Sexually, the experience was beyond words. As a team they were even better than Ryan and Jason, although I’d never, ever admit it. They simply had so much history. Their bodies moved as one sometimes, thrusting with perfect rhythm, pumping in and out of me deeply, bringing me to all new heights of doubled pleasure and ecstasy that no single man ever could.

  And I realized the same thing as before: I could never go back. Not ever.

  Not after this.

  I went limp after my third orgasm, allowing them to fold and position and use me any way they desired. It was even hotter that way. With the last of their inhibitions and restrictions gone, Kyle and Dakota took what they wanted from my body. They even filled me on my back, double-penetrating me from beneath. Kyle was on top, breathing my breath, seizing my eyes with his own as he flooded my pussy. And Dakota…