Chad sat down and looked at Frank. “So, are we doing introductions?”
Jasmine sighed and shook her head while looking around the table. The depth of anger that filled her was the only thing that kept her mouth shut. If they’d done this to Jason when he was dating Faith or, God forbid, given Ember the third degree when Joseph brought her to the ranch, her brothers would have gone ballistic.
Her mom cleared her throat. “I’m sorry, Chad. I can assure you my sons will not be holding an inquisition.” She glared down the table at Jason and Jared.
Dixon chuckled and looked at Drake. “Better than a soap opera.”
“Wassa soap opera, Uncle Dicks?” Reece asked. The entire table chuckled and seemed to exhale a collective breath.
“It is a bunch of grown-ups on television acting like the world is falling apart around them,” Drake answered the boy.
“Are you going to pass the chicken, Grandpa? I’m hungry.” Reece sat up on his knees and reached for his bread.
“Hold your horses.” Frank cleared his throat, and Reece dropped the biscuit. Frank bowed his head, and the entire family followed suit. Jasmine glanced at Chad, who winked at her and held tight to her hand.
“Thank you for the bounty of this table, the hands that cooked it and the loved ones in our midst. Thank you, Father, for your continued blessings and the safety of our family.”
A whispered amen around the table broke the floodgates wide open. People talked over one another as food made its way around the table. Jason caught Jasmine’s attention and motioned toward Chad. She narrowed her eyes and glared back at her brother. He smiled, and she saw the devil dancing in his eyes. Great.
“So, Chad… heck of a day, huh?” Jason stared directly at Jasmine when he asked.
Chad finished the bite of mashed potatoes. He nodded his head and wiped his mouth with his napkin. Leaning back, he put his arm on the back of Jasmine’s chair. “You could say that.”
“I believe I did.”
“You must be another brother.”
“I’m Jason. This is my wife, Faith, and our son, Reece.” Reece waved from the end of the table where he was sitting on his knees between the twin towers of Dixon and Drake. Jasmine smiled at him and waved back; so did Chad.
“You do the Guardian thing, too?” Chad asked as he buttered a biscuit.
“Yep. You could say that.”
Christian snorted into his iced tea. Chad looked at him and cocked his head. “I’m Christian.” He nodded toward Jared and continued, “He’s my husband.” Every person at the table except Elizabeth and Reece watched Chad’s reaction.
“Damn. That’s… I can’t see how… I’m so sorry.”
Jasmine blinked at Chad’s sighed response. If Chad couldn’t accept her brother and his husband…
“You deserve some sort of award for long suffering. Living with the Man In Black there has to be a barrel of laughs. He is about the grouchiest man I’ve ever met… aside from that one.” Chad nodded toward Joseph. “Does he ever smile?”
Christian’s face blushed a vivid red, and he nodded but didn’t answer.
Chad laughed and held up his hand. “Don’t say a word. TMI already.”
Jason laughed and nodded toward Joseph and Ember. “I’ve heard you’ve met Joseph. This is his wife, Dr. Ember King.”
Adam cleared his throat and motioned to his right. “This is my wife, Keelee, and our daughter, Elizabeth. Keelee is Frank’s daughter.
Chad acknowledged each of the introductions, and thankfully, the conversation moved toward the training complex’s day-to-day operations.
“Are you a c’lebrity?” Reece’s voice carried over the low hum of dinner conversation.
Chad winked at the boy. “Yep.”
“What’s a c’lebrity?”
Chad looked up at the ceiling. “Well, nowadays, it means someone that is famous for something.”
“What are you famous for?” His question came out garbled.
“Reece, do not talk with your mouth full.”
The little boy swallowed. “Sorry, Momma.” He looked back at Chad in expectation.
“I can sing. Some people like it.”
Ember laughed and Reece glanced at her. “Honey, Mr. Nelson is probably one of the best singers in the world.”
Reece’s eyes rounded as he looked back a Chad. “Can you sing for us?”
Every head, including Frank’s, swung toward Chad. He smiled and nodded. “Yes sir, I can.”
Jasmine put her hand on Chad’s thigh. “But not tonight, Reece. We’ve had a really big day.”
“But when?”
“Tomorrow after dinner, maybe? We can go out on that big porch, and I’ll sing lots of songs for you. Okay?”
“Deal.”
When dessert was done, Jason looked at Jasmine. “We need to talk. Privately. Frank, may we use your study?”
The man nodded once. Jasmine stood at the same time as Joseph, Jared, and Chad.
Jared lifted an eyebrow and gave Chad a pointed stare. Chad shrugged. “This involves the situation that happened today. The one I was up to my eyeballs in. It also involves her. Since she’s my personal security officer, anything that affects her affects me. So let’s not whip them out and measure ‘em right here, shall we?”
“Whip what out, daddy?”
Drake grabbed Reece and lifted the kid to his shoulders. “Never mind, little dude. We have horses and puppies to pet!”
“Yay!”
Dixon laughed and finished his coffee in one gulp. “I’m going to hate to miss this, but I think I better rescue Reece from Drake.”
Jason rubbed the back of his neck and motioned toward the den. “Come on, let’s get this over with. It has been a long day for everyone.”
Jasmine followed her brothers as they trekked to the den, and Chad shut the door behind them.
Jason sat down on a loveseat. He waited until everyone else was seated. “From the information that you obtained, we believe the people who went after you today were…” Jason looked at Chad and paused for a moment before he continued, “…with the group that had previously targeted key Guardian personnel.”
Jasmine nodded. The same group that had gone after Jason, Gabriel, and Jared. The Russians. She’d known that as soon as she’d heard the Slavic accent.
“We’ve upped protective measures. Jacob and Tori refuse to leave D.C. They are both buried in overseas operations. We’ve put Charlie team on them in addition to their regular security team. Jewell has a specialist with her twenty-four-seven. Lima team is here with Faith and I and will continue to shadow us. Jared and Christian have Omega team with them. Jade is undercover, so the likelihood of the Russians finding her is next to nil. Once she surfaces, we’ll assign her a team. You are going to stay on this ranch with him,” Jason pointed his finger at Chad, “until we find out who is taking out the people who are suing him. This is the safest place on the planet.”
“Don’t forget the stalker,” Jared added.
“Right.” Jason conceded.
“Where are we with that?” Chad leaned forward.
Jared shrugged and released a long sigh. “We have a lead. It’s thin, but I’ve got investigators on it.” He looked at Jason and explained, “The contracted ‘fixer’ that Ms. Wicker employed. Jewell’s people found a credit card we can presumably link to the man based on numerous hits of time and locality close to where Chad was. We’re tracking him. Don’t know if it will pan out, but…”
Jason nodded. “Alright. In the meantime, we keep him here and alive. Jazz, he’s your primary. You’re glued to his side.”
Joseph chuckled, that evil laugh of his drawing every eye toward him. “I don’t think that will be a hardship for either of them.”
“Dude, five or six words all day and then you drop that?” Jason shook his head and laughed. “Next thing you know we’ll be braiding hair together.”
Joseph growled, “Fuck off.”
“Ah… see, there’s the brother
we all know and love. Chad, to protect you, I’m going to ask you to stay here at the ranch. Nobody can know where you are. Do you have any obligations that I need to take care of other than the interviews Jasmine told us about yesterday?”
“I have no problem staying here as long as you can guarantee my mom is safe.”
Jason closed his eyes and shook his head before he spoke. “I should have said something earlier. We have two men on her. She’ll never know they are there unless there is a problem.”
“Thank you. I’ll need to contact my legal team, have access to email and telephone. I’ve decided to step down from recording and touring.” He glanced over at Jasmine and winked. “I’m firing my PR firm. I need to get ahold of my life before I move forward.”
“We can arrange that. We have untraceable phones here that we can provide you. I understand that your life has been turned upside down, but I would caution you against making any dramatic changes until things have settled down. May I suggest you just indicate you are taking a hiatus? If, when we have this situation dealt with, you still feel the need to follow through with your desire to walk away, then do it. Making an extreme gesture at this point may push our perpetrators into the woodwork and make it impossible to smoke them out.”
Chad nodded. “I can live with that.”
“Good, now you will have to excuse us. We do need to discuss other business not related to this situation.” Jason leaned back in the chair.
“Well, you don’t need to tell me twice.” Jasmine smiled at Chad as he stood and headed to the door.
As soon as the door shut behind Chad, Jasmine launched out of the chair. “You assholes! How dare you? Joseph, when you brought Ember to the ranch, what would you have done if someone had treated her the way you guys treated Chad tonight?”
“That’s different…” Jason started to speak.
“Bullshit! You can’t push a double standard on me. You!” She glared at Jason. “If anyone had questioned the way you felt for Faith when you were dating her, you’d have ripped out their throat. As a matter of fact, I seem to recall you and Jared having a huge conflict over that exact issue. And you!” She turned on Jared and pointed a finger at him. “You have absolutely zero right to come here and question my involvement with Chad. You are the last person to give advice on relationships!” She was so pissed her hands shook.
“Jazz… sorry.” Joseph’s quiet comment from the far end of the room calmed her rampage.
Jason cleared his throat and leaned forward. “You’re right. We’re assholes.”
“Damn straight you are.” Jasmine threw herself down in the chair and winced as the muted aches of the day protested when she hit the cushion.
“When are we going to stop playing defense and start going after these bastards?” Joseph poured three tumblers of Frank’s scotch. He reached into the refrigerator and grabbed a can of soda for Jason. Jared stood and walked over to the bar. He grabbed two tumblers before he came over to her and leaned in, kissing her forehead. “I’m sorry, too. I love you, and I let that color my reactions.”
Jasmine accepted the scotch. “Thank you.”
Jason popped the top on his soda. He took a sip and waited for everyone to sit down again. “Our asset has just taken up residency in his chalet in Switzerland. His background is rock solid. The operation and inquiries have started. It won’t happen overnight, but I expect the mouse to start smelling the cheese that our asset has set out.”
“That’s all well and good, but the Russians have us firmly in their sights. We need to put them on their heels. Thinking from a strategic standpoint, if we go after them in the States, it will draw their attention to us and will allow the asset to work himself into their circle with less chance of discovery.”
Jasmine cocked her head. Joseph rarely spoke, but when he did, he didn’t mince words.
Jason set the soda can down and stared at Joseph. “Gabriel is due back in the States in two weeks. Until then, we wait. Once we have him back inside the borders, we can start making strategic strikes. We have identified suspected players, but we need to work out a strategy so the Russian’s don’t figure out how we’ve identified their players.”
Jasmine took a sip of her scotch before she spoke. “Start with the two that attacked me today. Use them. If we could get more information out of the one who spoke with Chad, we can start an offensive move.”
“I agree. They are under armed guard now. As soon as they are medically stable, they will be in our custody. We get information from them and use them as the ignition point.” Jared took a long sip of his drink and motioned to Joseph. “What would you do?”
A wicked sneer spread across Joseph’s face. “Add smoke to the ignition point. Kill them.”
“The two from today?” Jared said.
Joseph nodded his head. “Make the Russian’s believe they died today from injuries they sustained during the accident. If the Russians think their people are gone when we start striking at targets, they’ll be confused. Confusion is our advantage.”
“They’ll need confirmation,” Jason added.
“They’ll need dead bodies. The accident could cause such grave injuries that a person couldn’t be recognized. Official reports, dental x-rays… we’ve been down this road before.”
“Plus it will give us time to work information out of the tough one.” Jared nodded. “Yeah, I like it. We can hold them in a secure location while we run the operation with our asset overseas. Our evidence will provide the DOJ all the ammunition they need to give us permission. We can tie in domestic terrorism and present the DOJ with a neat package. Just sitting here waiting for the next shoe to drop is driving all of us insane.”
Jason stood and walked over to the window, looking out into the darkness. “I agree with most of that plan. We’ll use the two we took into custody today. I’m not going to play with the Russians. I’m going to let them know we are using those two ass wipes. As a matter of fact, we will advertise the fact we have them. Anyone else we catch will be pressed for information in the same way. We have all our players in place.” He glanced over his shoulder. “It’s time to fight back.”
Chapter Eighteen
Jasmine let herself into her room. The moonlight from the windows filled the room with a blue hue. Chad’s deep breaths indicated he slept soundly. She tiptoed through the room and quickly got ready for bed. Her brothers had spent over two hours discussing options and possible tactics for the upcoming operation against the Russians. About twenty minutes into the discussion all of the siblings on the ranch had walked to the communications building and pulled Jacob into a conference call. Gabriel was added about fifteen minutes later. A key player in the situation, Jewell was conferenced in once a plan was developed. Her ideas for a separate and mirrored IT system that loaded erroneous information to Guardian clone servers and redirected the Russian’s uber-hacker to follow false leads was incomprehensibly complicated. Jasmine gave up trying to understand the concept after about five seconds. Of the people on the conference call, Jason, Gabriel and Jewell seemed to be the only ones that had a clue what was being discussed and decided. Thank God she didn’t have to deal with that side of the business much. She’d settle for the humdrum life of a PSO. Humdrum… as if.
Jasmine’s head ached. She pulled the covers back and slipped into the body- warmed bedding. Chad rolled over and pulled her close.
“Took forever.” He breathed the words into her hair.
“Sorry. Business.” She luxuriated in his embrace. Her body melted against his warmth, and she sighed audibly.
“Long day.” His words rumbled against her ear.
“It was.”
“Hard to believe it was just last night that I made love to you for the first time.”
Jasmine caught her breath at his choice of words. She released it, because, hey, he wasn’t serious. They’d gotten physical. The sex was spectacular. The events today had driven her emotions all over the page and they’d probably messed with his too.
She could fall for the man if she gave herself half a chance, but he would only be at the ranch until his case was solved. After that, he’d go back to his life, and she’d go on with hers. She had a job to do, and he… well, he could do whatever he wanted now that he was retiring.
“You’re thinking too hard.” Chad rolled her onto her back and peered down at her. His hand softly brushed her hair away from her face.
“Yeah, I am.” She couldn’t deny it.
“Talk to me.” His fingers danced through her hair.
“No pretense?” She peeked up at him through her lashes.
“Never. Tell me what has you worried.”
“Us.”
“Mmmm… us. Broad topic.” He leaned down and kissed her lips softly. Jasmine trembled at his touch. He smiled against her lips and kissed her again.
“What is going on with us?” She reached up and traced his jaw with her fingertips. The scruff of his beard pushed against her sensitive skin and left a cascade of sensations that floated down her arm and skittered across her body.
“I believe it’s called dating.”
Jasmine’s initial chuckle turned into a fit of therapeutic laughter. Dating? Of all the words to describe what had been happening to them. Chad’s smile above her fed her amusement. “Ummm… hate to tell you this, but our dates, for the most part, suck.”
He dropped to his back and clutched his chest. “I’m wounded! You’ve lanced my heart! How could you not fall at my feet in adoration?”
Jasmine lifted off the bed and straddled him. She mimicked taking the knife from his heart. “Never fear, I’ll never let anyone hurt you.” She held up her imaginary dagger in triumph.
“I know.” Chad’s hands settled on her hips. He ran his hands down her thighs and back up again. “And I’ll never let anyone hurt you. I’m not one of your Guardians…”
Jasmine (Kings of Guardian Book 6) Page 17