by Cara Carnes
The woman had kept plates full, flitting in and out like a fairy godmother. A brisket and rib-laden fairy godmother with all the fixings. Beans and potato salad. All homemade. And damn near orgasmic.
Dylan had sat beside her, grinning and eating just as fast as she did. When she paused the shoveling, he smirked and held her face still as he scrubbed it clean with a wipe. She would’ve been mortified he did it in front of his entire family, including Mama Mason, but he chuckled and kissed her lips. Then gave her a generous helping of the most awesome cobbler she’d ever tasted.
That had been four hours ago.
Shortly afterward, she’d been kidnapped by the female contingent. They’d spent the first couple hours reading Riley into the whole Hive debacle. Then Riley spent the next couple reading them in on all six of her brothers.
Apparently it was Q&A time, and she was first up. Great.
“He’s a great guy. What else is there to say?”
“Uhm. He kissed you in front of Mom. That never happens.” Riley hugged a pillow. “Like, if we so much as glance at someone for more than a second, she’s on the phone with Reverend Hargrove, trying to reserve the church and community building for the grand event.”
“Grand event?” Addy asked.
“The wedding!” Riley’s voice rose. “The woman is mad for grandbabies! The sooner, the better. She figured with six boys she’d be neck-deep in babysitting and diaper duty, but so far, no one’s forked over an inkling of hope. Then you strolled in, and she got that look in her eye, the little gleam that said you’d be perfect for one of her boys.”
Uh oh.
“Then he leaned over and did the whole scrubbing your face thing and she fucking melted against the doorframe. I swear Marshall had to grab her cause she was going down.” Riley laughed. “She’s gonna be all over Dylan like a bad rash until he spills the beans. She’s gonna be all over all of us. You’ve gotta give me something.”
“I think you’re reading too much into this. I’m not good with people, relationships. I only have these guys cause they’re in their heads as much as I’m in mine and, well, our geeky freakdoms sort of level each other out.”
“Hey, watch who you call a geek,” Addy complained.
“Dylan’s a great guy, but I know better than to be interested. He’s probably got a woman around every block.”
“Not Dylan,” Riley said. “Trust me. I can’t go talking about his business, but I’m just saying. That boy is strung tighter than a guitar and about to snap.”
“I’m not a good girlfriend. Everyone says so. I have to go off and handle work stuff and can’t share what, where, why, or who, or anything. I’m already socially troubled, in that I don’t socialize unless forced. You add the secrecy to the mix, and I’m a hot mess. And that’s before we get into the whole sex is boring and awkward thing.”
“Sex is boring?” Addy asked, her voice more skeptical than curious.
“And awkward?” Riley questioned. “Wow. Okay. Tell you what, girlfriend, you saddle Dylan up, take him around the pasture a few times, then come back and tell me if he’s boring or awkward. I’m thinking he’s got five brothers more than willing to knock any boring or awkward right out of him.”
Mary couldn’t imagine anything about Dylan Mason being boring or awkward. Maybe it had just been the lack of chemistry with Dean. She’d never been serious about anyone before him. She hadn’t realized what attraction felt like. Heat rose in her cheeks at the realization she was experiencing it for the first time with Dylan.
Serious chemistry. The kind that made her want to try things she’d deemed boring.
And awkward.
With Dylan.
Bree coughed up her drink. “Wow, I think I may have just entered a weird moment.”
“What?” Riley asked.
“You just told her to have sex with your brother,” Rhea said.
“So?”
“So that’s kinda weird and awkward,” Bree responded in a whisper.
“Okay, enough.” Vi slapped her hands together and waited for everyone to quiet down. “Mary will saddle Dylan up when she’s good and ready, and not a moment sooner. My girl’s got enough troubles without adding that into the mix. Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room.”
“Elephant? Where? I love elephants.” Rhea looked around.
Geez. They were all way too loaded. Mary rubbed her temples.
“The demo,” Vi emphasized. “Mary and I have got to knock everyone’s pants off.”
“I’m down with that, as long as that guy from this afternoon is there,” Riley commented.
“Fallon Graves,” Mary supplied helpfully.
“Fallon,” Riley whispered into the room. “Wow. Now that is a name I can see myself screaming. So what do you have to do?”
“OMG! Do we get to do super spy stuff again?” Bree asked hopefully.
“No. Marshall is still a bit upset about the whole knocking him and the brothers out thing. And you were a little too happy and eager to fire off the stun gun. I made a promise I’d never arm you.” Addy looked around the room. “Any of you.”
Bree set her drink down, looking like someone just stepped on her hamster.
Mary grinned. “I know exactly what we can do.”
“Oh boy. This is gonna be good. I recognize that voice.” Vi rubbed her hands together.
“What voice?” Riley asked.
“When Mary summons The Edge and things get wild.”
Mary chuckled. This was a bit wild but perfect for Dylan and his brothers. For The Arsenal. “Here’s what we’re gonna do.”
DYLAN AND HIS BROTHERS wandered toward the five women sporting sunglasses and sitting in the middle of the open field about a hundred yards near the compound’s main building. He and his brothers had found the drunken women four hours ago, but were summarily sent them to bed so they could “get the geek on.” Then they’d been roused out of bed by Addy, Bree, Rhea, and Riley an hour before sunrise and walked by the latter to a designated spot.
Fortunately, there was coffee and food. Otherwise, he doubted any of the men would’ve agreed to be detained. That was an hour and a half ago. Blankets and pillows surrounded the women as they leaned their heads together. He wasn’t sure if they were alive, dead, or just seriously hung over.
A pickup truck came to a stop a few feet from them. Dylan closed the distance and put himself between them and a tall, linebacker-sized man. The man stopped, cocked his head, and smirked.
“Graves!” Mary ran over and hugged the man.
“Hey, Edge.”
His gaze swept her in a slow, assessing manner Dylan didn’t mind. No heat or lust settled in his stance as he touched her broken arm. He’d called from San Antonio last night. Parked outside a Denny’s, he’d wanted a read-in on what happened to Mary, said he’d crash in the big city overnight because he needed time to contain his anger before arriving.
Marshall had read him in while Dylan listened in. The man cared about Edge. No, he cared about Mary the woman, not Edge the handler. He’d earned Dylan’s respect with the way he’d handled the situation, accepted their handling of not only her, but the security. He was all-in, and they were okay with that.
“You came just in time,” Vi said from his other side. “You’re gonna love this.”
“We were up all night getting everything ready,” Rhea commented. “They even let us help.”
“Yeah, you held the drinks.” Addy groaned. “We should’ve stopped drinking sooner.”
“As if. This is going to be epic. All six of my brothers are about to have their asses handed to them by two small women.”
“Two? I’m counting six of you,” Cord commented.
“Please. We all know this is a Quillery Edge show. I’m okay with that,” Addy retorted. “Let’s get this going. I hear a bed calling my name.”
“Okay, listen up. I’m a bit hung over so we’re saying everything only once.” Mary’s voice sliced through the intercom system they’d
tapped into and broadcasted through the compound’s outdoor system. “I’m Edge, in case we haven’t met. Beside me is Quillery. Today we’re running a simulation, a game. It’ll demonstrate the defensive capabilities of HERA, a program Quillery and I designed. The two women beside us, Bree and Rhea, created the power source and the internal weaponry. I guarantee you have never run across anything remotely like what these two geniuses came up with, so be prepared.”
“And scared,” Riley added. “Very, very scared.”
Mary shook her head and grinned at Dylan. “The objective is simple. The four buildings of the compound are each now defended by HERA. All you badasses have to do is penetrate the defenses and raise the flag at the designated location. We’re giving you whatever time you need, and we’re even telling you where the flag is.”
“And only one of you has to make it,” Vi added with a smirk.
“Logan has certified all of you as capable of handling HERA’s defensive measures, so the game is green lighted. Take whatever time you need to prepare, plan, and organize yourselves. Let us know when you’re ready.”
Dylan clustered with his brothers and Gage, Mark, and Fallon. Though he’d like to be smug and assume the nine of them could take down anything Mary and Vi set up while drunk in the middle of the night, he knew they were both brilliant.
And way too confident.
“This isn’t going to end well,” Graves muttered.
“No, it’s not,” Cord replied. “Listen guys, this is going to be hardcore shit. I’ve been around the program enough to know it’s high-grade tech.”
“We’ll break into teams, work each building slowly, and communicate as we go. We may not get them all, but surely we can get one,” Marshall said.
Dylan grinned over at Mary as she waved happily. God, the woman was gorgeous when she smiled. She was in the zone, the place she was happiest. This was the way he wanted to see her all the time, not just when she was “Edge.”
“Let’s do this,” Fallon said.
Marshall and Dylan split the rest of the men, dividing everyone into four teams led by himself, Marshall, Nolan, and Jesse. They were the most experienced penetration specialists. He put Fallon Graves on his team, mainly because he wanted to know what the man could do.
And if he was perfectly honest with himself, he wanted to get a read on his relationship with Mary. She talked about him like he’d come damn close to walking on water.
By the time he wandered over to where Mary and Vi were sprawled out on their blankets and pillows with their girl squad, the morning sun was rising quickly. Mary rubbed her eyes and looked up at him with a half-hooded, sleepy gaze.
“You all ready?”
“Yeah, we’re good to go,” he replied.
“Excellent,” Vi replied. “Oh, we forgot to mention a couple of things.”
“Okay, shoot.”
“Oh, that’s number one. You can shoot at our stuff, and we won’t get mad. Just remember, you get what you give tenfold with HERA. She doesn’t get mad, she gets even.” Vi tapped a computer screen. “Oh, and don’t bother letting Graves blow anything up. It’ll just irritate Edge and have no effect on the overall system. Then you have a whole big mess to clean up and a perfectly good building ruined.”
Explosions had no effect. What the hell had he gotten himself into? Whatever it was, he’d gladly do it again if it assured him another of Mary’s confident, gorgeous smiles.
“This is Betty.” Mary motioned to his left.
What the living hell? He jumped two feet back and heard Marshall and Jesse laugh. A huge octagon-shaped mass hung near his head. Seven cameras formed a circle around its upper part, which was a giant sphere.
“Betty’s going to film everything. We’ll also have the coverage from HERA, but Betty’s an unconnected, neutral, third-party observer,” Mary explained. “So we can learn from what unfolds.”
“Oh, and your mom’s coming to watch. Riley called her,” Bree added.
Great. Ass kicked and Mom scoping out Mary on the sidelines. Epic.
“Let’s make this a bit more interesting,” he suggested.
“Oh? How so?” Mary asked.
“If we win, you come to dinner with me tonight,” he answered.
“And when I win?”
“Whatever you want,” he replied.
“You’re on.” Mary grinned and held out her hand.
A zing shot up his arm when he shook it. For the first time in a long time he was looking forward to losing.
“I’M PRETTY SURE THE cameras are sentient,” Cord whispered through the com.
“Come again?” Dylan asked in frustration. He had a team in the mess hall hampered by a fucking surveillance camera. Trained snipers and former spec ops guys pinned down by a six-inch device mounted to the wall with fucking pink nails with smiley faces drawn in black under them.
Jesus, they’d been beyond wasted when they mounted everything, and they still had his top guys neutralized.
“The cameras are monitoring our coms and translating everything to a program so they can adjust their tactics. They’re sentient.”
“That’s nuts,” Jesse growled through the com. “Find the power source and obliterate it. Fuck, blow up the damn building it’s in for all I care.”
“I’m not an expert, but I’m pretty sure each device has its own self-contained source. That’s what they said at one point,” Nolan offered. “We did manage to take one out. It only took about five hundred rounds with an automatic rifle. We’re gonna need to replace a wall.”
“Great,” Marshall commented. “Anyone else gotten anywhere close to a flag?”
“Sanderson is snaking his way through the room,” Dylan commented. “He’s taken some intense shocks but isn’t stopping.”
“Excuse me, mind if I slide past you?” Addy asked as she nonchalantly strolled by.
“What the fuck?” Graves asked.
“Oh, sorry, y’all are taking too long. We’re hungry. I was sent in for grub.” She waved at the camera that had been firing lasers at them the past hour and a half.
“Okay, that’s nuts,” Dylan muttered into the com. “Cord, how the hell can that thing fire lasers at us, but not even blink when Addy comes strolling past?”
“I’m telling you, the damn things are sentient. Or as close to it as I’ve ever seen. They’re using real-time facial scanning as part of their defensive protocols. Anyone in the system is ignored more than likely,” he answered.
“So hack into it and put us in there,” Marshall ordered.
“Yeah, I’ll just saddle up my unicorn, shimmy over the rainbow, and get right on that.”
“They aren’t soldiers. They’re computer people. We have to think like them,” Graves said.
“Draw the damn thing’s fire. We’re getting that flag right now.” Dylan shot out from around the corner, drew his weapon, and settled it against Addy’s temple. He held the woman close, against his front. The camera whirred, focused, but didn’t fire.
“You’re gonna regret doing that,” Addy commented dryly.
“Move,” he growled. They charged into the final room, the mess hall where the rest of his men were pinned like bugs. Gage was squirming his way toward the flag, but was too far away to have any real success.
“Stand down, Sanderson.” The man had taken too many shots from the drones as it was. He hauled Addy forward as he went, gun to her temple.
“You’ve got balls,” she muttered. “I’m almost sorry I have to do this.”
She struck before he knew which way was up. His back slammed against the floor. Fingers squeezed his throat. Then she was gone. Sanderson pressed a gun to her head and shoved her forward. Graves was on his six. The two walked her forward.
“Raise it,” Gage ordered.
“Fuck you,” she spat.
“Do it,” he repeated. “I’m not in the best of moods, lady.”
“Fine, whatever.” She pushed the button, and the bell sounded. The cameras blinked, then
silence. No whirring. No buzzing.
Son of a bitch, they’d found a hole.
Dylan suspected it was the only one. Relieved his team had succeeded, he patted them on their backs, and they all headed outside. No one cheered or talked smack. They were former spec ops. They’d gotten lucky, plain and simple. Everyone in his crew knew that.
He wandered to the women, felt a moment’s regret as he saw the utter devastation and shock on Mary and Vi’s faces. Heads together, they whispered to one another. Tears swam in Mary’s eyes, and he wanted to fucking shoot himself. She looked up, past him, and ran full speed to Addy.
“I’m sorry. I’m so so sorry. I didn’t see that as a solution. I should’ve known. I’m sorry. God, you would’ve gotten shot.” She squeezed the other woman harder, repeating the apology.
“Hey! Edge!” Addy shook Mary. “Stop. This was an exercise, the first time you’ve run the program. Ever. Give yourself a fucking break. You’ve got the very best people on this, and only one team has gotten through after hours of trying. Do you have any idea how awesome that is?”
Mary wiped her eyes.
“I’m the one who’s sorry. They were minutes from crumbling and admitting defeat. I fucked up. I got cocky and wandered in to show off how kick ass brilliant HERA was. That flag is on me, not you. Not Vi. Me. Okay?” Addy looked around at the women.
Dylan’s respect for Addy raised tenfold.
“Now, get back over there and make sure they don’t get that opening again, okay?” Addy motioned them away.
CHAPTER TEN
They’d won three of the four flags. Mary smiled at Vi, who was whooping and hollering her way through the gathered Arsenal personnel. The one loss they took today was one she had gathered extremely critical intel from. She’d already plotted countermeasures and had a list of questions drawn up to go over with Dylan and a couple of other people, whoever he recommended.
Every operative handled situations like that differently, so she wanted enough opinions to see all potential solutions, not just those her limited focus provided. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of a human shield scenario. Not once had it crossed her mind, yet it was almost a basic training level maneuver.