Ultimate Heroes Collection

by Various Authors

  Whatever had happened to her, he had no intention of stopping until he had the body—one way or the other.

  DANNY LISTENED to the voices of the night, his body aching, his blood restless. He looked at the woman in his arms, engulfed by emotions he hadn’t asked for and didn’t understand. He hadn’t expected this. Sure, somewhere down the line when he settled down. But not now, not with this particular woman. Kaye Miller. The Colonel was going to kill him.

  He didn’t care.

  At least she felt it, too—whatever it was they had between them—no matter how hard she tried to fight it. She hadn’t realized yet that neither of them had a choice.

  She was going to change his life—had changed it already simply by entering it. Kaye Miller, future Speaker of the House. God, he was going to have to go to parties and wear a tux. The thought of that hurt more than his broken ribs. Then he thought of her in that black dress she’d worn at The Hotel George, and smiled. Maybe going to fancy parties with her wouldn’t be such a chore after all.

  He would probably have to get some civilian occupation for cover. He let his mind try on a few possibilities. Security consulting? He’d be good at that. Or maybe he could open his own landscaping supply business. It would save a lot of money around the house. He enjoyed spending time outdoors anyway.

  He heard a small noise in the bushes in the distance and reached for the rifle.

  Whatever it was, it moved on in no particular hurry. Probably a deer. He relaxed.

  Kaye stirred in his arms, so he held still, not wanting to wake her. She opened her eyes anyway, looked at him for a few seconds before she came fully awake.

  “What time is it?”

  “A little after three. You can rest some more.”

  She closed her eyelids, but they popped open again a moment later. “I didn’t even ask you. How did you find me?”

  “Congressman Cole is in with the Brotherhood.”

  “Roger?”

  The pain of betrayal on her face made him want to gather her to him, but he wasn’t sure how she would react to that, to some other news he still had to give her, so he stayed away.

  “For what it’s worth, he didn’t want you to get hurt. They were blackmailing him.” He told her what he’d found out from Cole.

  “Roger rammed me in the tunnel? But it wasn’t his car. I know his car.”

  “It was an out-of-state rental he happened to have that week. He saw an opportunity and took it. He wanted to do something to put your security on high alert.” He filled her in on the rest, watched her face change from disbelief to anger as she processed it all.

  “What’s going to happen to him?” she asked when he was done with the story. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

  “He was scared, Kaye, that’s all. When people get scared they do stupid things.”

  She nodded and fell silent for a while.

  “I can’t believe you interrogated a congressman.”

  “Not just one.”

  He really didn’t want to talk about Brown, but he had to tell her at some point. Might as well get it over with. Man, but he hated to see her hurt.

  “There’s something Brown told me.”

  “He can’t be in this, too.” Her eyes were wide and vulnerable.

  “Not in this. It’s personal. It’s about Ian and it might—” What the hell was he supposed to say? “It might change your memory of him. You might not want to know.”

  And he sure didn’t want to be the one to tell her. He was interested in her, wanted her. Trashing her dead husband’s memory was the nastiest thing he could imagine doing.

  He watched her take a deep breath and gather new strength.

  “I want to know,” she said.

  “He, um … He and Suze Cole, Congressman Brown’s wife. I’m sorry.”

  “They dated in college. I knew that.”

  He really didn’t want to say anything more.

  “After we were married?” she asked after a while with a catch in her voice.

  “No, of course, not. But after … after they were married.”

  “Ian would never …” She fell silent and closed her eyes.

  So his instincts had been correct and she hadn’t known.

  “Maybe he didn’t,” he rushed to say. “What the hell does Brown know? Maybe he’s a jealous jackass.” Why the hell did he have to go and tell her? What was he, stupid? “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. It’s—”

  “It’s okay. I’d rather know,” she said as she turned her back to him. Her voice sounded off.

  Was she crying?

  “Kaye?”

  He reached for her, but changed his mind and pulled his hand back. He had no right to touch her, no right to offer her comfort, especially since he was the one who’d made her this upset.

  “Let’s go to sleep,” she said.

  “You can hit me, or something. If it’d make you feel better.”

  “It’s okay. Really.”

  He stared at the silhouette of her slim back, wanting more than anything to draw her into his arms. It bothered him more than all his wounds that he couldn’t.

  Chapter Eight

  “Here it comes.”

  Kaye pulled her head down, hiding behind the bushes while Danny stood by the side of the road and waved at the dark-green pickup. The vehicle slowed, and she registered the two men inside, the gun rack in the back window—nothing to be alarmed by in this part of the state, plenty of hunters.

  When they got close enough, she looked over their faces, but didn’t recognize either man. Were they part of the Brotherhood? There had been too many to remember them all. She’d seen only a few, but had heard many while she’d been hiding under the bed, would recognize a number of voices.

  Danny stood relaxed, probably wanting to look as friendly as he could. His face was bad enough.

  She had tried to convince him to let her stand out there, but he wouldn’t let her anywhere near the road.

  “I need some help,” he said now, making sure his hands were in plain view so they could see he was unarmed.

  Then the door opened and the men got out, both with handguns pointed at him.

  Kaye gripped the rifle. They were too close to Danny. She was a terrible shooter even at paintball—the only time she’d had a gun in her hands before, at Sadie’s insistence. Could she risk a shot now?

  “Looks like this is the end of the road for you,” the taller of the two said to Danny while the other sneered.

  They both wore a hodgepodge of clothing that included a few pieces of camouflage and boots. They looked fine otherwise, no sign of injury. Apparently, they hadn’t been among the ones who’d tangled with Danny in the ravine.

  She kept her finger on the trigger, ready, and watched as Danny stepped closer to them slowly, his hands rising at his sides as if in capitulation. The next second he was grabbing for the handgun tucked into his waistband behind his back.

  Two shots were all it took. He had the men disarmed and clutching their injuries on the ground within seconds. And she was flying out of the woods with the rifle.

  “Didn’t I say not to come out until I tell you?” He shook his head, but was too busy tying the men up with their belts to give her a lecture.

  “Damn, him and the politician bitch were together. Do you believe this?” the short stocky guy said as he stared at Kaye.

  The other one grunted with frustration as he fought against his bindings in vain. “You’re gonna regret this. You don’t know who you’re messing with.”

  “A bunch of gutless losers,” Danny said, and pulled the belt tight.

  “Are we leaving them?” She was shaking but kept the rifle pointed at the one Danny was working on. She was close enough now not to miss, not to put Danny’s life in danger if she had to shoot. She flinched when the man let loose a string of colorful curses.

  “Can’t leave them.” Danny tied off the belt. “Their buddies will be along soon enough, I’m sure. Anyway, Secret Service w
ould want them for questioning.”

  The guy spat at Danny but missed, listed a variety of heated threats then swore some more.

  “Shouldn’t talk like that in front of a lady.” Danny took the guy’s camouflage baseball hat and gagged him with it, then did the same with the other one.

  He picked up the tall man first, bit back a groan as the man jerked around in protest, but dumped him into the back of the truck. Kaye stepped forward to help with the second man.

  “Don’t do it. It’ll open up your wound again.”

  “You have worse injuries.”

  “I’m used to working injured. You keep the gun on them. We shouldn’t both lay down weapons at the same time.” He glanced at the woods.

  He was right. There were still others out there, looking for them.

  She waited for him to finish, her rifle at the ready.

  “Congressman Kaye Miller, commando babe.” He grinned when they were done and sitting in the cab.

  “Think I can use that in my next campaign?” Her lips twitched. They had a car. They’d made it.

  “Color flyers. Nobody could resist this.” He gestured at her.

  She shook her head, trying not to think what her colleagues would say if they could see her now. Kaye Miller, anti-violence poster girl. Funny how life worked out sometimes.

  “Let’s get going,” she said, aware that they were both keeping the mood light for each other’s sake. They were both in bad shape, Danny worse than she. She’d be surprised if he didn’t have internal injuries.

  They reached a roadside gas station in half an hour and called in their location to Cal, along with what information they had on the Summit.

  The chopper took less than twenty minutes to get there with a medic who started an IV on both of them the second they were inside the bird.

  “Feeling better?” Danny asked.

  She nodded. “Thank you.” The words were woefully inadequate. What he’d done for her, that he had come for her alone …

  “And thank you, Congresswoman.”

  She hated that he’d switched back to formality, but understood that he was doing it for her sake. She fisted her hand so she wouldn’t reach out and take his. Anything beyond their professional relationship was impossible between them. Now that they were no longer alone, it was easier to remember that. Easier to remember, but not any easier to accept.

  “Could you lie back, sir?” One of the paramedics was examining his face, a purplish mess crisscrossed with red lines where his skin had split during the beatings.

  “How bad is it?” She couldn’t help asking.

  “Not bad for armed conflict, Congresswoman,” the paramedic responded with a polite smile.

  She took a deep breath, then another, watched the woman wash the injuries and dress them.

  “Shouldn’t they be stitched?”

  “At the hospital. That’s more careful work than we can do in the chopper.” The woman worked efficiently, moving from one spot to the next.

  With not much to do until they got to D.C., Kaye watched them, grabbing on to the gurney when the chopper banked to the left.

  He turned to her on reflex to see if she was okay, making her smile. He smiled back.

  “Are you okay?”

  From the way he was looking at her, she knew he was asking about more than her physical wellbeing. They had talked little all morning, tired from hiking through the woods, feeling awkward after the conversation they’d had in the middle of the night.

  “Fine. Thank you for telling me everything.”

  She wasn’t glad for what had happened between Ian and Suze, but she would rather know it than be protected from the truth as Cal might have done. She appreciated Danny’s vote of confidence that she could deal with it. In the treacherous world of politics, if Congressman Brown had something personal against her that affected their professional relationship, it was better to know so she could be on her guard.

  Ian and Suze. When? She’d asked herself this a hundred times during the night. Then she’d figured it out. It had to be the summer she’d gone to Europe. She’d loved it, had told Ian she might not come back. They’d been kids.

  It hurt, of course. It brought into question the Ian she knew. For a while last night, she had raged, felt fooled, felt betrayed. Then she’d realized that Ian was entitled to his own mistakes. He had made some, but he’d grown somehow through them, learning from them, into the wonderful man she had fallen in love with. Nothing could change that.

  They’d had a good marriage, one that was rare by today’s standards. She had loved and been loved in return. That was as big a blessing as anyone could hope for in this life.

  She watched Danny watching her. And what of him? There was something there. Something warm and safe and wonderful she wanted to fall in to and be enveloped by. And it made her feel nervous. The impulse was unexpected and completely inappropriate.

  Even beyond the fact that he was her bodyguard, she couldn’t fall for Danny. She couldn’t fall in love with him, because if she did, then what of her love for Ian? What of the idea of a once-in-a-lifetime sweeping love, the memory of which was supposed to be enough to keep her alive? It couldn’t be right, to feel like that again, to feel it with another man.

  She wouldn’t do it. She was certainly mature and strong enough to stop now; there was still time. She turned away from Danny and looked out the window instead, just in time to see five Apache helicopters swooping in, moving in the direction of the camp.

  “I CAN’T BELIEVE they’re not keeping you for observation.” Danny glanced back at Walter Reed Hospital, from which they had both just been released. He was fine with his treatment, but nowhere near happy with Kaye’s. He should go back and talk to the doctor one more time. The woman had been stabbed, for heaven’s sake. There had to be more they could do for her than slapping on some bandages. “I can’t believe that doctor is letting you go.”

  “I can’t believe you’re not letting me go home.” Kaye looked between the Colonel and Danny as they escorted her to the waiting black SUV. “They’ve done everything they could possibly do to me. I got disinfected and stitched and X-rayed and ultrasounded and labworked to death. I got a shot!” She glared at Danny.

  Damn right she did. He’d made sure. In the SDDU tetanus shots were routinely administered on schedule. Kaye on the other hand, hadn’t had one since college.

  The Colonel nodded to the guards who stood by his car and who had now started to stop traffic for them. “Just be glad I’m not sending you to a safe house,” he said to Kaye.

  Danny opened the door for her, closed it when she was in, then went around to the front passenger seat. He hated the passenger seat. Unfortunately, when the Colonel was in a car, the man was driving. He’d learned that on the way over and thought it unfair to the extreme that the Colonel would pull rank over something like this.

  “The only reason I’m not at a safe house is because you think your place is safer.” Kaye sulked in the back as the Colonel pulled away.

  “Damn right it is.”

  They bickered like family. It left Danny slightly uncomfortable, feeling like the outsider. Seeing the Colonel from this angle was odd, too. At the SDDU nobody talked back to the man.

  They were going to the Colonel’s lair. He tried to picture it, but couldn’t. When he’d agreed to this mission, he sure hadn’t thought it would involve moving in with his superior officer. But there was no way in hell he would let Kaye out of his sight until everything was resolved. He would protect her any way he could, and hope his mad attraction for the Colonel’s one and only goddaughter would escape the man’s eagle eyes.

  Boy, he was treading on dangerous ground here.

  Landmine training came to mind. That’s what this was going be like. One wrong move and he was likely to get his head blown off.

  At least the ride to Fort Rock, as he named the place the second they drove through the security gates, didn’t take long, no more than forty-five minutes. The Colon
el lived just outside the city. The property, five acres or so, was surrounded by a ten-foot-high stone wall. A long driveway wound its way to the house, a cross between an old mansion and a prison.

  “A retired insane asylum. I’ve been working on it for a couple of years,” the Colonel said by way of an explanation. “The back windows still have bars on them. It’s a lot of work.”

  And too weird by half. Danny stared. He had to be the first from the SDDU to see this place. Word would have gotten around.

  The car pulled to a stop by the front steps.

  Kaye was out before he could open the door for her.

  He followed them up the stairs, took in the state-of-the-art security cameras that looked out of place on the old building.

  The Colonel stepped up to the door, slid aside a metal plate and looked straight ahead. “Retina recognition. I’ll enter you into the system later. Kaye is already in it.”

  “I take it you bring work home sometimes?”

  The Colonel grinned. “Now and then. I try not to make a habit of it.”

  “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me now what it is exactly that you do instead of enjoying retirement?” Kaye was asking.

  “Light consulting on occasion. Nothing terribly exciting.”

  “I bet,” she said.

  So Kaye didn’t know, Danny thought as he followed them. He would have been surprised if she did. The confidentiality rule extended to family members—safer that way both for the family and the SDDU. Their missions had too much at stake.

  He looked around the long hallway, up at the ceiling, at least twelve feet high. Kaye walked forward without looking at much, obviously used to the place. She made no further remarks on the Colonel’s mysterious retirement. She worked in politics, she probably knew how things like this worked.

  Outside of the hundred and twenty or so Special Designation Defense Unit members, only a handful of people knew about the existence of the group—the Secretary of Homeland Security, and a few higher-ups at the FBI and CIA who were sometimes called in when the SDDU needed those connections.

  A phone was ringing somewhere.

  “Would you mind showing Danny around, Kaye? He can have the room next to yours.” The Colonel took off without waiting for an answer.