Code Name: Kayla's Fire (A Warrior's Challenge)

by Natasza Waters

  “He can read lips, Greg.”

  “Then let him read the yes on yours to my question.” Greg rose, and she peered around to see other eyes rising with him, all of them women. He squeezed her shoulder gently, and headed for the bathroom.

  “Yes to what?” Thane asked, looking like a jaguar ready to leap across the table. “Kayla,” he growled. “Yes to what?”

  She shook her head, seeing he was beginning to seethe. The table teetered when Thane thrust himself to his feet, and she had to clamp down on it to settle it.

  “Easy, Ghost,” Cobbs warned.

  “If we don’t come out in five minutes, call an ambulance,” Thane said, and headed for the bathroom.

  “Umm, Lieutenant—”

  Cobbs rolled his eyes and sighed. “Come on Law, think I’m going to need your help.”

  “Help for what?” Law asked, his head jerking around, his owl-like eyes sweeping the restaurant looking for a threat.

  The first shout made it clear across the restaurant.

  “Hurry-up, God damn it,” she said rising to her feet.

  Nina pinned her with a “What the hell’s going on?” look.

  * * * *

  Greg leaned against the laminate counter, one long, muscled leg crossed over the other.

  “I’m going to fucking annihilate you, Lapierre.”

  Greg lowered his chin, and gazed at him with those freaky green eyes. “Why, because I asked her to marry me, and you don’t have the balls to?”

  The men’s room door banged against his back. “Busy,” Thane growled.

  “Ghost, open the door,” Cobbs ordered.

  “Still busy.”

  “Marg will friggin’ kill me if I end up in jail again, buddy. Open the goddamn door.” He stepped away, and Cobbs signaled to someone. “What the fuck is wrong with you two? Seriously, man.”

  His fists clenched. Knocking the Cheshire cat grin from Lapierre’s fucking chops was a predominant thought. “He asked Kayla to marry him.”

  “And?” Cobbs drilled him with a look.

  “What do ya mean…and?”

  “I mean, I don’t see tin cans tied to the ass-end of his car, do you?”

  “Apparently she’s considering it. Considering it,” he shouted, and smashed the wall with his fist.

  Cobbs gripped his arm, and flattened it to his side. “Watch it, friend, that appendage could be considered a deadly weapon.” He stepped back just in case. “Why shouldn’t she? You haven’t asked her, have you? What do you want from her? You expect her to hover in no-man’s land while you figure out whether or not she’s the one?”

  “Of course she’s the one,” he said. “Who the fuck’s side are you on, anyway?”

  “Kayla’s,” he said, surprising Thane.

  “The woman has ridden through a shit storm, Thane. Not a little, not some, but a lifetime of it. Somehow, she’s endured it. She’s smart, beautiful, honest and loving. She’s adorable, and yet you keep her swinging on some hook, pawing at her every once in a while to make sure she’s still yours. Marg thinks you’re an idiot. I think you’re an idiot, and so does the rest of the team. Don’t be pissed at him because he’s not an idiot!”

  “I’m—” He took a deep breath and glared at Lapierre. “She doesn’t love you.”

  Lapierre pushed off the counter, and walked the few steps to stand in front of him, right into his swinging arc. Considering what Kayla would do if he decked this son of a bitch to make himself feel better, he held the idea under water until it stopped wiggling in his gut.

  “She told you what happened to her, but do you really know what she went through, day after day, year after year?

  Gnashing his teeth, he shook his head.

  “My brother beat the ever-lovin’ crap out of her. I watched the bruises and burns as they healed. The broken bones as they mended. I got involved, and every time I did, Daniel took it out on Kayla and hurt her, again, but she wouldn’t leave. I begged her to, but she was adamant. She wouldn’t give in, even if she had to suffer a lifetime with him. She loved Daniel. No matter how badly he hurt her, she loved him, and somehow she rallied hope, day in and day out.” Their gazes locked. “There is no one who understands her, except me. My brother nearly destroyed the most amazing woman because he didn’t want to get help. Don’t get me wrong, he loved her. He still does. When Daniel got out of prison, I told Kayla a lie. I told her Daniel still blamed her, and might hurt her, but I did it for a good reason.”

  He shook his head, refusing the idea. “No way.”

  “Yes,” Lapierre said harshly. “She’d forgive him. If you think otherwise, you don’t know her at all. Her loyalty, once she’s set on something or someone, is indestructible.” He sighed heavily. “I know it’s wrong. He’s my brother, but he doesn’t deserve another chance. It’s our turn. Finally—she’s going to take a chance on us.” Lapierre gripped his arm. “I’m sorry, Captain, but Kayla is coming home with me. I don’t need her to love me a lot, I just need a little, and I’ll ante-up the rest.”

  The door creaked on its hinges, and he hammered it shut.

  “Owww!” Kayla yelped from the other side.

  “Oh, shit.” He yanked it open, and Kayla’s eyes watered and blinked as she held her hand against her forehead. He reached for her, but she swept his hand away. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry.”

  “No worries, had worse,” she said, waving him off, and taking a step into the room.

  A sick churning in his stomach joined the fear furiously rallying in his chest.

  “Greg, I asked you to let me talk to the Captain myself. What are you doing?” Irritation simmered in her eyes.

  His heart twisted into a tight ball, squeezing off the air to their future.

  Cobbs fell back to the wall, and leaned against it. “I think you have something to say, Thane.”

  He shook his head, his heart bleeding out. If Kayla was considering Lapierre’s proposal it meant she wasn’t considering a future for them. “I’m needed at the base.” He blasted out of the restaurant, and didn’t spare a look behind him.

  Kayla’s hand grabbed his arm just as he was getting in his car.

  “Captain, stop, let me explain.”

  He shook his head, biting down hard on the words he needed to say, but it wasn’t the right time, and now he’d never get the chance.

  “What did Lieutenant Cobbs mean in there?”

  “Don’t know.” He shoved the key into the ignition.

  “I’m going to stay and be the bait. We’re going to catch the Shark, Captain. ”

  Keeping his gaze firmly on the front window didn’t help. The pain in his chest cinched tighter. Just let her go.

  “I trust you, Captain. You’ve never been unfair to me. Hard—yes. Expectant—all the time. I’ve watched you all these months. You’re an impenetrable wall of strength, and you command without even trying. When I dwell on what you’ve seen and experienced—by choice—because of duty—”

  Kayla squeezed his arm, but he kept his attention on the destroyer docking across the channel, the tugs pushing on her port shoulder and aft quarter. That’s where his attention belonged—on his career, on war, not on dreams of having a life filled with warmth or the same woman’s arms around him. His life had never been safe. He put it out on the wire for God to choose.

  “Captain Austen, you never weaken, and you’ve seen the worst things humanity can do to one another. You showed me I could do the same.”

  He slowly turned his head to look at her. Who would he become without her?

  “I wanted to tell you a long time ago how much your strength gave me the will to move forward. I had to earn your trust, accept the challenge you set when I first came, remember? You told me you wouldn’t take flourished compliments from anyone else. That I’d have to prove myself, but you gave me the chance to prove it.”

  He gently grasped her little hand in his, not able to stop himself, and she folded her soft palm over his. So delicate. So breakable, but her will
was forged in titanium.

  “I healed more in the last ten months than I have in ten years. If I could start over, the only thing I’d change is allowing you to know what happened to me. I keep thinking I’m a disappointment in your eyes, and that’s the last thing I want.”

  She’d healed him too. Kayla unlocked the door to a hidden place where his feelings were raw and pale, never seeing the light of day. She held it open, and exposed him to what he’d walked away from—a life that had nothing to do with war. “Kayla, you deserve to be loved. Safe, not used as bait.” She had him cornered with her beautiful eyes. He’d never, ever forget her eyes. “You deserve happiness.”

  “So do you,” she whispered, the words catching in her throat.

  “I do. It’s what you taught me.” Slipping his arms around her slender waist, he pinned her body to the valleys of his. She filled all the missing parts in him. “Kayla, you’re the only woman who ever saw the man, not the warrior in me.” He kissed her, and their tears met on their lips.

  She kissed his cheek, her lips only straying an inch and kissing him again. “I’m not afraid of the Shark, and I won’t leave until he’s caught.” Releasing his hand, she took a step back. “I know we have never…talked, but if you want—” She jumped when he pulled away from her, and slammed the door.

  Talk? She said it as if she were his sister, not the woman he loved. They’d shared moments of wild ecstasy, moaning into each other’s mouths, wrapped in each other’s arms, so close they were almost one being. Before he lost it completely, he drove away.

  Two miles down the road, he pulled over, because he couldn’t see it any more, and cried like he’d never cried in his life. All the memories; death, hate, the sounds of war, the trembling legs of peace, scrambled up with Kayla’s smile, her laughter, loving her. For the last twenty years he thought he’d accepted what he’d done, but he hadn’t. The things he’d seen chewed into him until he became a black hole. Every time he took a life, it had taken a chunk of him, until human life became unworthy. Through Kayla’s eyes, he began to forgive himself, and see there was still a man with empathy left inside the warrior.

  In Arizona, Cobbs had said, God brought Kayla to you. He didn’t want to believe it, but he’d found hope could still exist within the darkness, and he found it in the most unlikely place—Kayla’s heart. He swiped at his eyes, his mind swirling like a whirlpool with one question. Why would she leave him? It sucked every other thought into its churning force. She needed a happily ever after, a man to protect her, be there for her, and he—would always be a warrior. She knew it. She’d always known it, and so did he. It’s why she’d never told him she loved him. She’d already done that with another warrior, and he’d ripped her to pieces.

  His fist hammered the steering wheel, and then he hammered it again. A cyclone of loss swept through him, shredding him, ripping the stones of a path he’d begun to lay, and never got to walk on, away. She was going to marry Lapierre. She was going to leave. He’d lost Kayla. For the first time in his life, the harsh bite of heartache tore him open, and something died inside him. Hope.

  Chapter Ten

  “I haven’t seen him in three days,” Greg said, holding the door to the San Diego Triumph building open for her.

  “Neither have I,” she said, feeling the lump in her throat thicken. He’s probably working with Manchester.

  Greg forked his fingers through hers, and led the way to the elevators. “No, Manchester hasn’t seen him either, nor has the team.”

  “What?” Stopping on the spot, a woman following them nearly ran into her, but did a quick zig to her zag. “What did you say to him, Greg?”

  Greg drew her to the edge of the busy lobby. His familiar hands slid down her arms, and folded around hers. Greg, like his brother, like Thane, always made her feel exposed. All three of the men in her life were impressive, not only in their features and physique, but in their hearts. She loved Greg, and no woman in her right mind would want to refuse his rugged beauty, his alluring draw, but her heart transmitted little messages to her mind these past few days. She knew she could have a good life with Greg. Saying yes to forever with him wouldn’t be a mistake, but it wasn’t what she wanted.

  “I told him the truth, mon amour. I told him I’d asked you to marry me.” His gaze darted away from hers.

  “Greg,” she hissed. “I said I was considering moving home.”

  Greg’s large but always gentle hand slid around her waist. “With time, you’ll believe me when I tell you, you’re all I want.”

  “I believe that already.” She covered his hand.

  “We have been together since we were eighteen, Kayla. Our lives are twisted together through all the hard and the good times. We love each other. You’ve held me back for all the wrong reasons.”

  She swallowed, knowing what she wanted to say, but she didn’t want to hurt him either. “Greg, we do love each other. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t been in my life all these years.” She hugged him close, afraid of being totally honest with him, afraid that if he knew what she felt for Thane, she’d lose him. “You are my most trusted friend in the whole world, but saying I’m considering coming home is not the same as saying ‘I do.’”

  “I’ve already put in for a transfer.” He leaned over and kissed her, his strong, sure lips marking hers. “We’re going to have the rest of our lives together, Kayla. The way it should have been.”

  Why did all the men around her have to have a Master’s degree in stubborn? “I have a serial killer to catch, and I’m not leaving until I do.”

  Greg’s lids hooded his brilliant eyes, and he nodded slightly. “But you are leaving?”

  “Please, we can talk about this later.”

  “I don’t want later. I’m not going home without you. You’re too far away from me. Kayla, Austen is not a one-woman man. He’ll hurt you.”

  She peered around uncomfortably. “That’s not true.”

  “The guy has never settled down. He’s never had a committed relationship.”

  “Neither have you. Don’t point a crooked finger at him.”

  “Angel.” He grabbed her shoulders, and lowered his head, searing her with the beautiful eyes all the Lapierres had been gifted with. “I have been committed. To you. I’ve spent my entire adult life waiting for you.”

  Her brows furrowed. “I didn’t ask you to.”

  “Have you even been honest with him? Does he know what we share? How…close we are.”

  She swallowed deeply. “Mostly, yes.”

  Heat wavered in Greg’s eyes. “But not all of it. You left one part out, didn’t you?”

  “I’m not going to argue about this. Our life, what we are, is between you and me, that’s it. Now let’s go.”

  Pushing open the frosted glass door to the San Diego Triumph, they entered a neat, modern waiting area. Two women looked up at them with welcoming smiles.

  “We’re here to see Casey Burton,” Greg said as they approached the reception desk.

  The blonde stood up, and her gaze flashed with appreciation across his torso. “You have an appointment?”

  “Yes, Lieutenant Commander Lapierre and Lieutenant Banks.”

  The woman gave her a quick once-over. “Have a seat. He’s running a few minutes behind.”

  They settled in a cool tan leather couch that did a great job of gobbling her ass. She pulled out her cell, and sent a text to Thane. Where R U? “Don’t use my rank. I don’t have it anymore,” she said, waiting for Thane’s usual quick response. She checked her battery power when it didn’t come.

  “Burton doesn’t need to know that.”

  The blonde approached them within a couple minutes. “Follow me, please.”

  They walked a curving, carpeted path through a maze of cubicles and offices lining the center of the massive office space. The blonde knocked on a corner office door and then opened it. “Lieutenant Commander Lapierre and Lieutenant Banks,” she said.

  Casey
Burton looked about the same in person as he did on TV, blond, late thirties, and a distinct snake-oil salesman smile.

  “Come in, have a seat.” He waited until they were both seated before he swaggered around his desk to shake their hands. “You’re both from NAB Coronado?”

  “No,” Greg said. “I’m from Canada, actually.”

  Burton’s brows quirked. “But you’re here because of the Blood Shark. You said you had information. Since I’ve been leading the investigation, I was interested in hearing what you had to say.”

  Leading the investigation? This guy didn’t think much of himself, did he?

  Greg’s rigid posture and distinctive features were bereft of friendliness. It had the desired effect, wiping the cheesy smile off Burton’s face. “Have a seat yourself, Mr. Burton.”

  He did, without question. Although Burton tried to regroup, he looked uncomfortable.

  “Mr. Burton, I work at NAB Coronado,” she offered. “We’ve learned something about the Shark.”

  “What’s that?” he asked, fiddling with a pen

  She leaned forward and reflected for a moment. “Well, I think we both have information. An exchange could be beneficial.”

  “I’m always open to enlightenment. Would you like something to drink?”

  “No, thank you. We thought we’d come see you before the police do.”

  “I’ve been working with the police. I believe our men in blue need a hand on this one.”

  “I’m sure you are. I’m also sure that you know more than you’re sharing. In fact, I’m a hundred percent certain that you are withholding information for your own benefit.”

  A subtle but mocking expression blossomed on Burton’s face. “Now, Ms. Banks, that would be cold and calculating. That’s not me.”

  “I think it is. You were the first person to name the Shark. Before any information was leaked about him, you coined the Blood Shark handle. Why did you pick that name?”

  She was sure Greg saw it too, a whisper of doubt, and a slight tensing of his body. “Ms. Banks, I haven’t missed the fact that your characteristics are very similar to the women the Shark has victimized. You being here, explains a lot, without you having to say a word.”