Down & Dirty_Romantic Suspense Series

by AJ Nuest

  Fuck, there was that mind-bending time thing again. A cold sweat broke along Ben’s brow as he slipped his cell from his back pocket. What seemed like no more than five minutes ago, he’d still had a solid hour before needing to leave.

  He returned Xander’s chin bump as the Brofessor strode across the room toward Charlie. A glance at his phone, and Ben opened the message from Captain D’Avella, informing him the SWAT team was in place. ADA Fiore and SAC Elias Byrne had both checked in and their teams were set and awaiting his orders.

  Ben braced his knees against the impulse to sink to the floor.

  He’d be the last to argue Tanner had come up with a good plan, a solid plan. Compliments of her quick thinking, they’d set a trap to confirm Adder’s identity once and for all even as it shored up every contingency the team had brought to the table.

  But Jesus H. Christ. The thought of her staring down his worst enemy while he was purposely driving the opposite direction had him ready to snap a piece of steel rebar in half with his teeth. Why he’d ever consented to this bullshit, he’d never know.

  “You ready?” She tugged on the bill of Trey’s cap and Ben zeroed in on her from under his brows. “Just a little longer and this will all be over, I promise.”

  He loved her, that’s why.

  Ben confirmed receipt of D’Avella’s text and returned his phone to his pocket. He understood Tanner’s need to flip death the bird on a level that echoed back to the day it had swooped in on a pair of veined wings and everyone he’d once cared about had been lost.

  If these last twenty minutes were all they had left, then so be it. Death could come at him, hissing its forked tongue right along with Adder. There was no threat on the planet that was gonna stop Ben from being the man she deserved.

  She started toward the fireplace and he pushed up from the mantle, snagging her vest off the arm of a nearby chair. The beep of her cell drew her up short, and she slipped it from the zipper pocket of her black leather cat suit, eyes on the screen as she snorted.

  “It’s Mocha. He says the package has been delivered and they’re ready to make the switch.” Her thumbs worked the letters, and she tapped send. “Also says that had he known you had a thing for bulletproof boobs, he would’ve started wearing Kevlar years ago…despite how it’s not very slimming.”

  Good Christ. Rolling his eyes, Ben waved her forward, eased the collar over her head and settled the straps on her shoulders. Tanner lifted her arms as he turned her back and forth, adjusting the Velcro and tightening the slack until the vest hung snug against her body. “Comfortable?”

  “Yep.” She stole a peek toward the table, and he narrowed his gaze as she placed her hand on his bicep and stepped in. “Listen, Ben. I want you to know I totally appreciate how hard these past few days have been for you. And I can’t even begin to—”

  “Don’t.” He pressed his finger to her lips. If there was anyone who could understand why she wanted them to look forward not back, that person was him. “You don’t need to explain, Tanner. Not to me, not ever. Right here, right now, it’s just the two of us. And regardless of what happens next, I don’t wanna waste a single breath rehashing things we’ve already decided. This moment isn’t about the past, or Adder, or the chances of whether or not we’ll succeed. We’ve done the best we could. The rest should be about us.”

  “Holy shit.” She blinked, then cleared her throat with another sidelong glance at the group. “Every time I think I’ve fallen in love with you as hard as I can, you go and say something else to prove me wrong.”

  Okay. Nice sentiment, but… Ben frowned, cutting a sharp glance toward Xander and the team, himself. What was she doing? The way she kept checking to see if anyone was watching rode his very last nerve.

  He refocused on Tanner and his jaw firmed. Given his history, maybe she assumed he had trouble with public displays of affection.

  Cocking a brow, he jammed his finger under the front of his vest, snagged the chain from around his neck and worked it past his ears. “Here.” He lowered the necklace to her shoulders and centered his dog tags on her chest. “These are for you.”

  “Wow.” She gathered the tags and metal chinked as she bounced them in her hand. “What are these for?”

  “With all the distractions the past couple days, I didn’t have time to go shopping. I figure those are as good a way as any of letting everyone know you’re mine.”

  She snapped her chin up. “Oh-h-h, crap. I really wanna kiss you right now.”

  “Good.” A scoop of his arm, and she gasped as he plastered her against him, one hand buried in her hair and the other planted firmly on her ass. “I don’t give a rat’s ass what everyone thinks of us. And if they got a problem with the two of us kissing, I’d be happy to show ʼem how to look the other way.”

  A brush of his lips over hers, and he came at her like man starved, as much to prove a point as to get his fill of the way she always calmed the chaos inside him.

  Tanner softened against him. Her arms rose to around his neck as she went up on her toes. Flicking his tongue in sync with hers, he tipped his head and dove in for more, ignoring the squeaks of two female voices and clapping that came from his right.

  A bawdy whistle pierced the applause, and Tanner broke off from him with a husky chuckle. She sank back to her heels and a low growl formed in Ben’s throat as he followed her gaze across the room.

  If the call were his, everyone within eyeshot would’ve kept quiet and minded their own damn business.

  Trey dropped his chin to his chest, eyes squeezed closed as he shook his head. Molly spun her chair in a circle, feet extended and hands flipping through the air as she let out a loud whoop! Maggie DeFranco had her hand on her chest, beaming, and behind the lenses of his coke bottle glasses, Nick’s face had gone eight shades of red.

  “Xander, look. You’re missing it.” Charlie elbowed the Brofessor in the ribs, but all his attention stayed riveted to his phone. “Thank God you two finally got over yourselves and realized what you were missing.” She blew a breath off her bottom lip and her long bangs leapt into the air. “I swear, watching you go at it was enough to exceed the limits of my medication.”

  Tanner rested her cheek against Ben’s chest, arms cinching him in a tight hug as she laughed.

  “Yeah, yeah, nice.” Xander swept his thumb over the screen. “Hate to be a downer, but the traffic cameras show we got incoming. ETA eight minutes.”

  “Shit.” Molly pivoted toward her laptop, fingers dancing along the keyboard. The DeFrancos stood and rushed for the exit, presumably to get settled in the safe room Xander had shown them located off of Malcolm Smith’s old office.

  Ben’s arms instinctively tightened around Tanner, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “How many vehicles, Molls?”

  “One, so far.” She jabbed enter and leaned in. “Black four-door sedan, but the windows are smoked. I can’t tell how many occupants.”

  Walking Tanner toward the table, he stopped behind Molly’s chair for a better shot at the screen. His fingers tensed on her hip over how it was same make and model as the car Adder had hopped into the day he and Tanner had been working that John on the street. “Make sure you track the plate number. And any others that show up before this over. Feed everything to me through coms.”

  “Come on, come on. We should’ve been gone five minutes ago.” Xander waved his arm, urging Charlie and Trey along, and Ben’s heart dove for his boots as he turned to find her exchanging a hug with Tanner.

  “Be safe.” Charlie squeezed Tanner’s shoulders before stepping back to snag Trey’s hand.

  “We’ll see you on the other side.” Xander extended his palm and Ben grasped it in his for a firm shake. “Don’t get dead. I need you to be my best man.”

  Ben’s brows jacked toward his hairline, but he couldn’t help the small smile that hitched one side of his face. It was a humbling request, and one that also expressed much more in the asking.

  “It would be my hon
or.” He slapped a hearty hug on Xander’s back. Turned out, Ben wasn’t the only one lobbing coins at the fountain in an effort to stay positive about what lie ahead, and knowing that provided a dose of reassurance that couldn’t have come at a better time. “Thank you.”

  The Brofessor dipped a nod and disappeared with Charlie and Trey out the door.

  Ben turned and found Tanner’s eyes waiting for his, filled with adoration, conviction, strength and a whole host of other emotions he would’ve gladly spent the next fifty years trying to name. She lowered her gaze to his hand, her fingers twined through his and, together, they headed into the hall.

  Gravity dragged at his feet as she walked him past the stairs for the kitchen. His throat closed as she led him around the island to the back door. Hands resting on his shoulders, she rose on tip-toe and offered him a light kiss.

  She pivoted without saying goodbye, striding for the entrance to the basement. But he knew what she was doing. How the act was her way of saying they’d see each other soon. Just like him and everyone else involved in this mess, for Tanner, the future was where hope remained.

  “Hey.”

  She froze with her grip on the doorknob. Swiveled her shoulders and met his gaze.

  “If a guy ever got it in his head to marry you, who would he need to ask for permission?”

  A grin lit her face, and she stepped back to swing the door wide. “You don’t need permission, Ben. You met the requirements the second you strapped on that semi-automatic and a flak jacket.”

  Chapter 19

  “Officially moved to the safe room with Nick and Maggie, and I’m back online.” Molly’s voice filtered through the wireless com link Tanner had plugged into her ear, and she nodded toward the security camera above the side entrance as she hit the garage. “Giving them access past the main gate now.”

  The door slammed with a hollow boom and the pneumatic bolts thunked from the wall. Her boots clomped against the glossy concrete floor, the steady scuff echoing off the ceiling and bulletproof partitions Xander and Ben had stationed at various intervals after they’d relocated Malcolm’s car collection.

  “They’re pulling up. Looks like we got four men.” The rapid click of Molly’s keyboard came through the mic. “Casper just exited the vehicle along with two others and the driver is waiting behind the wheel. And shit, you guys. He’s either completely paranoid or we got a worst case scenario on our hands. They’re armed. Everybody, stay on your toes.”

  Dammit. The tiny flicker of hope Tanner had been nursing puffed into nonexistence at the same time Ben cursed in her ear. A wince fluttered her eyelashes, and she canted her head as his f-bomb followed by the words me and sideways ricocheted against the opposite side of her skull.

  “On behalf of hearing aids everywhere, thanks for that.” She took her position beside the video equipment Xander had set up near the back wall, legs braced and forearms folded along the small of her back. “I think about a billion of my brain cells just died.”

  “Not to cast aspirations or anything, but I’ve actually had the pleasure of doing it sideways.” Mocha’s sigh was wistful. “You’ll need ropes and a few pulleys. Vaseline to protect against chafing.”

  Tanner sputtered and Molly laughed at the same time Ben exhaled what sounded like every ounce of air in his lungs.

  “Can the chatter.” Xander broke through the noise. “We guessed Adder wouldn’t come alone and planned for this. Ben, we’re approaching the rendezvous point. In bound in T-minus two minutes, but we’ve already picked up a tail. White service van on our eight o’clock.”

  “Copy, that. GPS shows the gas station five miles ahead on my left. Undercovers on scene have been advised how to proceed…and sorry, everyone.”

  “No, don’t apologize.” If anything, Tanner was the one who should be sorry. Naïve as it had been, she’d been holding onto the weak possibility they’d somehow gotten it all wrong.

  Settling her shoulders, she attempted to relax in a way she was seriously not feeling. There’d once been a time Casper was one of their own. Dumb or not, a small part of her had clung to the belief that being chosen as one of the original hallowed three had earned him the benefit of the doubt. “We’re all on edge. Just keep me updated on the status. And if they sever the connection, remember to stay on point. I’ll give you as long as I can.”

  Xander grunted. “I’m taking that as a personal insult. They’re not getting through my firewall, no way, no how.”

  “Oh, good God.” Tanner rolled her eyes. “Are we done? I’d like to land this 747 at some point before the second coming.”

  A weighted pause, and then the mingled octaves of several different voices came at her at once. “Yes.”

  “Thank you.” She dipped her chin toward the camera a second time. “I’m ready whenever you are, Molls.”

  “Activating the controls. Good luck, sweetie.”

  The garage door jerked into motion and a frigid gust of air fluttered Tanner’s hair against her cheeks. Three sets of legs came into view, black cargo pants tucked inside ankle-laced boots, side arms holstered against their outer thighs below the fitted width of three Kevlar vests.

  A supercharged motor revved a few feet down the drive and the headlights winked out.

  Casper stood in the center, two thick-necked men a step or two behind him. And while neither of them seemed familiar, with those dark glasses and billed caps shadowing their faces, it was difficult for Tanner to tell whether or not she’d sparred with them before.

  “Casper.” Meeting the incisive glint in Adder’s green gaze, she lifted a brow. “I see you brought some friends along. I don’t remember that being part of our agreement.”

  He smiled, the flash of his white teeth winking off the fluorescents, and a beat passed before his shoulders bounced with his husky laugh. “Come on, Tanner. We both know how this works. Nothing is ever what it seems and the only winner is the one who can run the con better than anyone else. Let’s not insult each other by pretending I’d waltz in here without back-up.”

  So…what? He was pitting himself against her with the clang of the starting bell?

  She searched his gaze, looking for the smallest glimmer of the Casper she’d talked to not three short days ago.

  But he wasn’t there, and the blinding realization of the sadistic man she might be facing slammed into her so hard, her knees nearly buckled from the force.

  How depressing. And while she was at it, what a horrible waste.

  She’d always believed Ben. Had trusted he’d told her the truth to the best of his ability in order to keep her safe. But witnessing the proof right before her eyes, stripped the last of her doubt and replaced it with a toxic combination of sadness and strife.

  Casper had already lost. In so many ways, if she stood in this cold garage with him for the next twenty years, she wouldn’t be able to list the collateral damage he’d invited into his life. “If you thought this was a set-up, then why did you come?”

  “Curiosity, for the most part.” He shrugged, strolling a few feet to the side. “I knew you guys had gone to a lot of trouble to get me here and didn’t want to disappoint.”

  Yep, there was the ego Ben had said would make an appearance, and hard as that was to swallow, in the long run, maybe Casper dispensing with the fakery was best.

  They’d known all along someone was watching the manor. In fact, since the moment of Ben’s abduction, they’d been counting on that very thing. With Casper freely admitting that someone was him, at least her rehearsing the part of the inexperienced newcomer would pay off, and the two of them could easily move on to the rest.

  Getting him to believe he had the upper hand was a critical element to the first phase in her plan. Every bit as much as keeping him distracted so his attention would stay split between her and Trey.

  The more she could accomplish those two things, the more everyone else running the real scheme in the background would have at success.

  “I figured it out, you kn
ow.” Releasing her arms, she lifted her hands in a show of surrender, indicating the video equipment on her left with a tip of her head.

  There was every chance he wouldn’t buy the scam, and if he did, then so much the better.

  If she was sure of anything, it was that Casper had made sure to stick a few aces up sleeve the same as her. She couldn’t take anything for granted, no matter how much he tried to convince her the end game was here.

  That being the case, she’d needed a flub of sorts. A way to show him she was trying—and falling pretty darn short—of his knowledgeable expertise. The best way to achieve that goal was for her to act exactly as he expected. To push back a little in typical Tanner style, while capitalizing on her weaknesses in an effort to set him at ease.

  “Charlie and Trey just entered the gas station.” Xander spoke quietly through the com link, but Tanner kept her focus on Casper and did not move. “Mocha, Trey should be inside the bathroom any second. Standby to receive. White van’s behind me topping off their tank and I got an unmarked squad with two uniforms parked on the north side of the building.”

  “Ten-four, standing by.”

  Casper’s eyes flicked to the screen and back, and Tanner gave an internal fist pump as his full lips curved in an indulgent smile. “Sure, go ahead.”

  Reaching over, she tapped the feed and hit the mute button as the pre-recorded video of Trey popped up on the monitor, sitting on the couch in the manor’s living room as if he were right above their heads.

  Casper huffed, exchanging a glance with his goons as they shared a laugh at her expense. “I know he’s not here, Tanner. I saw Trey leave with Xander and Charlie ten minutes ago.”

  Perfect.

  “You sure about that?” She slid a side-long glance at the two men standing on Casper’s left and right. “Or is that only what you think you saw?”

  Counting the seconds to pinpoint the timing, she unmuted the sound and waited for Trey to sit forward, his thumbs working the remote in a tire-shredding round of GTA. “Trey, are you there?”