SEAL Guardian (Brothers In Arms Book 3)

by Leslie North

  “Felicity,” Mark said. “You can come back to the house. There’s a good vantage point from there to this office building. You’ll be able to see if anyone is snooping around.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” she said, crossing her arms.

  “Go with Mark,” Jace said.

  “Do as you’re ordered, soldier.” Her green eyes sparked with fury as she spoke.

  “I’m trying to protect you.”

  “And I’m trying to run a mission here. I don’t need your protection. I need your cooperation.”

  Air. He needed some air before he said something he’d regret. It was the heat of the moment, the heat of the impending confrontation with Quinn that was driving this, he knew that. Didn’t stop his snarling anger from getting the better of him though. She wanted to sit here in the office alone? Fine. He’d guard the perimeter and this office too. Wouldn’t be the first time he’d been called upon to multi-task.

  Jace stalked to the door and yanked it open. “Keep the doors locked and stay away from the windows until I get back.”

  Her furious snarl chased him out the door.

  The woods near the back border. That would be his best hiding spot. It would allow him a clear view of the office building. He’d started his walk of the perimeter so he’d end up there. And if he happened to run into asshole Quinn along the way, that guy better start praying because as pissed as Jace was right now, he’d shoot that son-of-a-bitch first and ask questions later.

  He made it about a quarter of the way around the compound when his walkie-talkie buzzed to life. Mark’s voice crackled through. “Smooth moves back there, dumbass.”

  “Fuck you.”

  “She’s royally pissed.”

  “She’ll get over it.”

  Jace skirted the fences lining the vineyard, keeping an eye out for any suspicious footprints or tire tracks. Vann would’ve been proud.

  “You love her. Admit it,” Geneva this time over the radio.

  “How I feel about her is nobody’s business. Right now, this is about catching Quinn.”

  A slight scuffle sounded over the walkie-talkie followed by Mark coming back on the line. “I’ll keep an eye on Felicity as best I can. I’ve secured the gym facilities and the storage building. I’ve also checked the office again. I’ll guard the farmhouse once I get there.”

  “I’m watching the office from here too.” Jace kept moving, his tension and anger draining away with each step, leaving determination in its wake. “I’m heading for the woods. That will give me the best vantage point and that’s really the only place for cover, other than the buildings.”

  “Agreed,” Mark said. “Be careful, Heinz.”

  “You too.” Jace shook his head. “See you on the other side.”

  “Yep.” The walkie-talkie went dead.

  Jace finished his patrol about an hour later, finally reaching the tree line and slipping through the woods to the small hunting stand nestled in the branches of one of the older trees. He quickly climbed the trunk then hunkered down to wait again. At least out here, he felt like he was alive and doing something.

  This was the same spot where he’d seen that amazing buck. God, had it only be a week? It seemed like an eternity ago now. Funny how life could change so fast. Felicity’s face flashed in front of him and he smiled, coming to a decision. Once this was over and things were safe and back to normal—well, as normal as they could be for a guy like him—he was going to tell her how he felt—how he really felt. No trying to minimize it like he had the last time he’d tried telling her. This time he’d tell her he loved her and see what she had to say about that. Knowing Felicity it would be plenty.

  His chest still ached at the thought she was in that office building alone, but she had two SEALs guarding her from different angles. And like she’d said, she could take care of herself. That was one of the things he loved most about her. Some guys liked their women helpless, but Jace had always found smart, independent women the most beautiful. Perhaps it went back to his own mother being forced to take care of things herself. Whatever the reason, he couldn’t wait to see Felicity again and let her know how much he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

  A twig snapped nearby and jolted him out of his head and smack into reality.

  Slowly and silently, Jace clicked the safety off on his rifle and scanned the area.

  The angle of the sunlight cast small shadows across the ground, making it more difficult to distinguish friend from foe.

  Another snap, closer now.

  His pulse tripled and he swallowed hard, calling upon his years of training to channel his energy into controlled action. He watched each spot long enough to detect anything suspicious before moving to the next—a tactic they’d used a lot when approaching and infiltrating enemy encampments in Afghanistan. Building-clearing. Close quarters combat. He’d never expected to use those same techniques at his place of business in the good old US of A.

  Another two trees. Clear.

  The small thicket to his left. Clear.

  Creek. Clear.

  Then a pair of antlers appeared. The same antlers he’d seen that day on the buck.

  Jace held his breath as the huge deer stepped into the open, locking eyes with him.

  A silent understanding seemed to pass between them, a silent respect.

  No more hunting. At least not for this buck.

  Having made a three-sixty check of his surrounding, Jace flipped the safety back on and exhaled slow. The walkie-talkie sizzled back to life.

  “You in position?” Mark again.

  “Yes, sir,” Jace replied, more out of habit than anything. “You?”

  “Yep.”

  Jace glanced over only to find the buck gone. Sighing, he hunkered back against the tree trunk to wait some more. Pulling out his phone, he thumbed in a quick text to Felicity. Not quite an apology, but close enough until he could give her a real one, until he could say the words he wanted to say. “Stay safe.”

  No reply.

  Dammit. Was she not answering because she was pissed or because she was hurt or worse?

  The longer he sat in that tree, though, the more persistent those thoughts niggled. Kevin Quinn was a smart bastard. Crazy as fuck, but far from stupid. So why would a smart guy walk right into a trap?

  He wouldn’t.

  Jace frowned and shifted his position to relieve some pressure off his now-numb ass. So if Quinn wasn’t going to stroll into the compound via the front door and he wasn’t lurking in the woods—since Jace had seen nothing else move out here but the buck—then where the hell was he?

  An idea occurred, lancing through his calm like a scalpel.

  What if Quinn had been inside the office the whole time?

  Agitated now, Jace shifted positions again. Mark had said he’d checked the buildings and secured them, but what if somehow he’d missed Quinn somehow. The office building was basically one big space with a bathroom and a tiny attic for storage above the—

  Fuck.

  Jace had shimmied down the tree and was racing back toward the building in an instant. He pulled out the ancient walkie-talkie and clicked the talk button. Nothing. Tried again, but still nada. Must be out of range. Screw it, he’d deal on his own. If Quinn had somehow gotten back to the compound before them and managed to hide himself away in the attic, that meant Felicity was alone with that murderous piece of shit. They’d grown so used to the odd creaks and groans from the faulty pipes that he doubted Mark had checked up there. Hell, he wouldn’t have checked up there either under normal circumstances.

  Except they weren’t dealing with normal where Kevin Quinn was concerned.

  They were dealing with a psychotic, homicidal maniac.

  He pushed himself to go faster. The office building loomed in the distance like a bad nightmare, somehow seeming to get farther away with each step he took. Felicity could take care of herself, no question. But if Quinn had caught her off guard, gotten her weapon away from her
, hurt her in any way….

  Pulse pounding and muscles tense, he forced himself to run faster.

  The woman he loved was in jeopardy and he’d do whatever was necessary to save her.

  Or die trying.

  17

  Felicity was glad to be alone in the office. Mark had left shortly after Jace, making sure she knew where everything was at and doing one last check of the facilities for intruders.

  Coast was clear.

  Given her level of fury over Jace going rogue, it was for the best. Otherwise, she would’ve said or done something she’d regret. He’d known how important this mission was to her and he’d still taken off on his own, disobeyed her direct orders. And yes, he’d said it was to protect her, but… dammit.

  She shook her head and paced the room. She’d been in enough relationships with men who treated her like some precious flower who couldn’t fend for herself. Like it wasn’t bad enough she had to prove herself every day at the Bureau. Equal rights might be preached in public, but behind closed doors there were still bastions of male-only brotherhood and the FBI was certainly one of them.

  What hurt the most though was that she’d thought Jace was different. Thought he respected her and trusted her enough to know she could take care of herself. Not that she didn’t appreciate his concern, but….

  Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she pulled it out to see a text from Jace.

  Stay safe.

  Fingertips itching to type back a response, Felicity sighed. No. Better to leave it as is until they could talk this mess out and see where they stood.

  She tucked the device back into her pocket then checked her service revolver. Locked and loaded. Ready for action, as Ted used to say. She’d thought about him a lot since he’d gone back to DC alone and planned to call and check in on him as soon as this whole mess was over. She hoped he was doing okay and that things were progressing with that teaching job he wanted. The guy was a natural when it came to relating to people. He’d make a great instructor at the academy.

  CREAK!

  Felicity squinted up at the ceiling again, tamping down the flutter of fear that tickled through her gut. There went that pipe again. Mark had warned her it might act up and not to go shooting holes through the ceiling, thinking it was the boogeyman or Quinn.

  Sighing, she flopped down on the sofa once more to wait.

  Her instincts told her Quinn would show up. It was only a matter of time.

  Hopefully not too much time, though.

  The guy had to be jonesing about now. His money gal was gone, it was time for another kill, and now he had some pesky federal agent trying to ruin his bliss.

  CREAK, CREAK, THUD!

  That sound was new. Felicity frowned up at the ceiling. She’d heard the creaking several times before, but not the thud. Nerves on edge, she pushed to her feet once more and placed her hand atop the butt of her gun. This was stupid. She was getting paranoid, sitting around waiting for Quinn to show up.

  Frustrated, she walked the room again. She’d reached the window behind Jace’s desk when all hell broke loose behind her.

  THUD, THUD, CRRRAAAASHHHH!

  Feet from where she stood near the end of Jace’s desk, the whole ceiling collapsed on top of her. Something hard struck her in the head and she thought she might’ve blacked out for a moment. When she came to, eerie quiet had descended over the office again, with only the occasional creak from the still faulty pipes, now exposed through the ceiling, and the occasional tap-tap of drywall raining down from above.

  Coughing and waving a hand in front of her face to clear the dust, Felicity squinted upward to see a gaping hole where the ceiling had been and piles of debris around her on the floor. She started to push herself up, only to feel a sharp stabbing pain in her right shoulder. She’d fallen hard on it and now it throbbed and refused to move.

  Dislocated? Broken? She wasn’t sure. All she did know was that it hurt like hell and it put her in a really shitty spot, defense-wise. She was right-handed.

  From the middle of the chaos, beneath a large chunk of drywall, rose a person. A man, from what she could discern through the haze. Her heart sank even as it kicked into high gear, and more adrenaline dumped into her veins.

  Kevin Quinn.

  He was covered in streaks of white from the busted drywall and blood seeped from a cut on his cheek. He smiled at her, a slow sinister affair chock full of crazy. His glasses sat crooked on his face from the accident, only adding to his off-kilter persona. He must’ve been hiding in the attic this whole time and fallen through when he’d tried to leave. “Thought I’d drop in and see you, Agent Belasko. Heard you’ve been looking for me.”

  With her left hand, she fumbled for her revolver only to find it gone. It must’ve fallen out of her holster during the chaos. Not that she’d be able to get off a decent round in her predicament, but having a weapon was better than having no protection.

  Well, shit.

  Kevin Quinn stepped closer, speaking to her in a weird, friendly tone. “I’d hoped you’d leave California with your partner Ted, Agent Belasko. Hoped we could avoid this unpleasantness. But no. You had to go and be stubborn. I’m not a bad guy. But this is what you’ve forced me to do.”

  Stopping near her and crouching down, he traced his fingers over Jace’s medal of commendation from the SEALs that had fallen from the desktop as if he touched a holy relic, his expression an odd mix of reverence and hate.

  “That's gonna be your downfall one of these days, you know. Stubbornness.” He blinked several times, frowning down at her. “Yep,” he said, adjusted his glasses then looked up at the ceiling he’d destroyed. “You're a hard nut to crack, Agent. Gave me no choice.”

  “There’s no way you can get away with this, Mr. Quinn. You know that, right?” Felicity hoped to keep him talking long enough to grab her gun from the floor. “Kim Rigsdale turned on you. Told us everything. We’ve got enough to convict you and put you in prison for life.”

  “Ah, Kim.” He snorted. “Such a stupid bitch. Always thought she was better than me. And please, call me Kevin. It’s the least I can offer you, under the circumstances.”

  “Under what circumstances?” she asked. Keep him talking. Keep him talking.

  “Agent Belasko, don’t play me for a fool. We both know that these could quite possibly be your last moments on earth. Do you really want to spend them asking stupid questions?”

  “I want to hear you say it.”

  “Say what?” He sneered. “That I killed all those SEALs? You already know I did. That’s why you’re here. So you must get off on other people’s misfortune, huh? You dirty, dirty girl.”

  He poked her injured shoulder and she bit back a scream.

  The bastard would pay for that, one way or another.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Did that hurt?” The mock apology in his tone made her want to kick him in the nuts. “In case you were wondering, I’ve been hiding up in that attic since I evaded those two idiots at the gas station.” He shook his head. “So hard to get good help these days, isn’t it?”

  “What’s your plan, Kevin?” Felicity struggled to sit upright, gritting her teeth at the agony ripping through her shoulder. Yep. Dislocated, given the odd angle her arm was resting at against her side. “You going to kill me now too?”

  The phone in her blazer pocket continued to buzz periodically from Jace’s text. If only she could get a message to him, let him know Quinn was here so he could call for law enforcement back up.

  “Unfortunately, yeah. You and your boyfriend have royally fucked up everything for me.” He grabbed an unopened bottle of water that had rolled to a stop near his feet from the toppled refrigerator that had sat near Mark’s desk and cracked open the lid to take a swig. “You two just had to keep sticking your noses in where they didn’t belong. Oh, yeah. I’ve been watching you both too. Tapped your phones, traced your calls. Spyware is so easy to buy on the Internet these days. Funny though, for a trained FBI agent and an ex-SEAL h
otshot, neither of you seemed to have any idea you were under surveillance. Either that or you wanted me to track you here. Haven’t figured out which one yet.”

  “Go to hell.”

  “Maybe I should let you text Jace Stevens so you can lure him back here and I can ask him about it myself?”

  “You’ll never find him.”

  “I’m betting he’s slouched in that piece of shit hunting stand of his in the woods right now. Waiting for his chance to blow my brains out. Should I wave?” He bent slightly and waggled his fingers toward the far window across the room. Felicity took the opportunity to do a visual search of the area around her for her missing gun. She spotted the tip of the barrel peeking out from beneath the edge of Jace’s desk.

  “I’d be careful if I were you,” she said, inching slightly to the side to hide the weapon from Kevin’s view. “Jace was a top marksman for his SEAL team.”

  “Right. Isn’t he just the fucking golden boy, huh?” Quinn’s tone turned sarcastic. “Such a worthless, arrogant loser. He never could spot genius.”

  “The genius being you?” Taking jabs at a total lunatic probably wasn’t the wisest move, but Felicity was done playing nice with this asshole.

  “Damn straight.” He put the water bottle down and moved closer to her, grabbing her right knee to keep her in place on the ground with her back against the desk as he pulled a Bowie knife from under his brown corduroy sport coat. The blade gleamed wickedly in the dust-dimmed room. “Do you know I scored higher than any other recruit in my class on the written portion of the exam? Did that matter to those fucking dicks on the admission committee? Nope. Denied.” A small muscle ticked near his jaw and his eyes narrowed, the knife waving around wildly in his grip. “Should’ve known better than to trust the government after what they did to my brother.”

  “That’s right.” She gave him a cold smile, egging him on as she carefully slid her left hand behind her to feel for her gun. “They messed Ed up pretty good didn’t they.”