by Avery Gale
“And since they changed the location two hours before the appointment, they knew we wouldn’t have time to clear the entire building.” Juan could see the stress on Cooper’s face as he’d spoken. Hicks was becoming more and more frustrated with his inability to keep his sister safe—a sentiment Juan understood all too well. Cooper shook his head as he appeared to be casually taking in everything around him.
“There’s a piece missing and as soon as I know my sister is safe, I’m going hunting.”
Everyone on the team knew who Cooper would be looking for—Reggie Parks. Lakyn’s manager seemed to have dropped off the map after his phone call with Kyle West. His sudden disappearance made everyone question his level of involvement, and personally, Juan suspected the son of a bitch was playing both sides against the middle—a game that would eventually turn deadly because he doubted there was a hole on Earth deep enough to elude Cooper Hicks.
A nearby door banged open, and a nurse pushed a wheelchair holding Lakyn into the room. The young R.N. looked frazzled and frustrated while her charge looked like she was seconds from going thermonuclear. Rushing forward, Juan and Cooper surrounded the women. As her brother, Cooper was able to deal with the dismissal paperwork—though Juan suspected the young nurse would have handed the sheaf of papers over to anyone willing to take the mutinous model off her hands.
Kneeling beside Lakyn’s chair, he brushed his fingers down Lakyn’s pale cheek and smiled. “Cariña, I’m so relieved to see you. I’ve been worried what was taking so long.”
“I’d have been out here a lot sooner if Hitler’s protégé back there,” she pointed over her shoulder at the nurse who rolled her eyes, “would have let me walk out. But no, she has to give me a twenty-minute lecture on why the hospital can’t assume the responsibility for me walking on one side of the door, but they don’t care if I pretend to be an Olympic gymnast on this side. Have you ever heard of anything so ridiculous? Cripes, no wonder medical care is so flipping expensive, I’m sure it takes time to brainwash people to this level of absurd.”
He had to fight his smile when he realized she was heavily sedated. Her pupils were dilated to the point there was only a very thin ring of violet still showing, and her words were beginning to slur.
“I want out of this chair.” Her petulant expression almost made him lose the battle to hold back his grin. Damn, she was so cute when she was annoyed. Pointing at her ankle, she rolled her eyes in a delightfully exaggerated way, “The boot is overkill. Serious overkill. Doctors are always overly cautious with celebrities because they think we’ll sue them. I’m going to sue his paranoid ass for putting this fugly thing on me when an ace bandage from the local pharmacy would have been fine.”
“You refused the elastic wrap for your hand.” The nurse’s annoyance was easy to hear in her clipped tone.
“You were going to charge me fifty-seven dollars for a three-dollar item. Mercy, it’s no wonder affordable health care is out of reach for so many people. That markup is even greater than interior painters. Did you know their markup is estimated at over six thousand percent? Six. Thousand. Percent. That’s criminal.” She was beginning to slur her words so badly, Juan was having trouble understanding her, and he frowned at the nurse.
“What did you give her?” The young woman had the good sense to look sheepish as she rattled off the name of several medications, one of them he recognized as a powerful sedative he suspected they’d given her more for their peace than her comfort. Kent West stepped forward crossing his bulging arms over his chest and glared down at the nurse as Juan picked Lakyn up from the wheelchair. Moving to a nearby chair, he settled her on his lap and smiled when she sighed and cuddled against him like a purring kitten.
Kent’s body language was so out of the ordinary for the man known for charming women rather than using his considerable size to intimidate, Juan had wanted to pump his fist in the air knowing West had stepped up his game in Lakyn’s defense.
“How much and when?” Kent West had been a medic in the SEALs, and his expression darkened when the nurse gave him the dosage information and time. The woman grabbed the paper Cooper had just finished signing and gave the wheelchair an expert spin before rushing out of the room. “They probably expected some pansy-ass agency employee to show up, so they drugged her to make her compliant.”
Juan was furious but schooled his expression as he picked her up in his arms. Upsetting her further wasn’t going to help, and she was fading fast, so he didn’t want his anger to be the last thing she remembered. Kent’s expression softened as he looked into her sleepy eyes.
“They loaded you up, didn’t they sweetness? Did they give you an injection?” At her nod, Kent cursed under his breath. “As soon as we get the word on Trac, we’re taking you to a secure site, and” he didn’t get to finish because Lakyn started struggling to get off Juan’s lap. Before Juan could get her under control, Kent’s stern voice crackled like lightning.
“Stop! You are safe and so is Trac. We’ve got someone with him, and as much as it chapped the head nurse’s ass, our guy is armed to the teeth.” He shook his head and sighed. “We don’t get this grief in Texas; our people know you don’t protect bombing victims with words and a slap on the hands. I swear this city is desensitized to the point of being a fucking free-for-all.”
Juan laughed at the Texans obvious dislike for New York. “The world would be a very boring place if everyone liked and believed the same things, Kent. Haven’t you heard the old saying about variety being the spice of life?”
“You’d do well to keep that expression to yourself around my wife, or you’ll find yourself on the same sinking boat with Cooper.” The man in question chuckled beside them and nodded.
“I’m already scheduling the delivery of gifts to Tobi while I’m in Washington for de-briefing. Hopefully, she’ll have forgiven me before I return to Texas to officially join the team.”
Juan laughed because they all knew Tobi didn’t hold grudges, but she wasn’t going to turn down gifts either. Juan watched as Kent refocused his attention on Lakyn and smiled at her loopy grin.
“We’ll make sure you see Trac before we leave, sweetness. I can assure you, we’re facing a similar battle trying to keep his ass here until the doctor clears him. His family is supposed to be in town soon, and we’d like to have you out of here before they arrive.” Lakyn looked confused, but Juan knew exactly what Kent was talking about. The Hughes family was as cold as Juan’s was warm, and the first time Lakyn met them, she needed to have Trac by her side to help her navigate frigid waters.
Chapter Twenty-One
Cooper slipped past the security officer manning the front desk of Lakyn’s apartment building, grumbling to himself about the elderly man’s distraction. Taking the elevator to Reggie Parks floor, he was once again amazed by all the security blind spots. There were far too many places the ill-placed cameras missed, and anyone with any training at all would be able to use those to their full advantage.
Timing himself, it took less than ten seconds for him to open the door and step inside. If the man didn’t give a rat’s ass about his own safety, Cooper wondered how vigilant he’d been with Lakyn’s. Stepping into the cool, dim space, the first thing Cooper noticed was the sense of emptiness. The furnishings were still where they’d been the last time he’d paid the prick a visit, but the space felt empty.
Any good Special Operator could tell you when they entered a space whether there had been anyone there recently. There was an energy shift when a space hadn’t been occupied for a while. You could write it off as new age juju if you wanted, but it was a simple fact—people leave behind residual energy, it fades over time, but never completely leaves. Grateful he’d slipped on gloves before calling the elevator, Cooper began poking around, looking for anything that might tell him where Parks had gone—it didn’t take long.
*
Cooper leaned back in the oversized, black leather office chair and stared, lost in thought as he looked out over the
twinkling lights of the city. He’d never been overly fond of large metropolitan areas, but if you had to spend time in one, a penthouse suite so far above the hustle and bustle of the street was definitely the way to do it. After spending more than a decade in some of the most dangerous and impoverished cities in the world, he truly appreciated a view where people look like ants during the day and completely vanish at night was pure magic. Hell, they were so far above the city lights, he could see a star twinkle every now and then. It would be several hours before the sun rose behind the Statue of Liberty, but the steady stream of headlights on the streets below proved this city rivaled Las Vegas as a city that never slept.
Cooper had been surprised when he found a packet with Lakyn’s name on it set out in plain sight in her manager’s apartment. The man had clearly wanted to be certain it was found. Cooper had pushed it inside the black tactical jacket he wore and continued searching Reggie Parks apartment for any additional clues. The man was nothing if not neat, so it had been easy to see he hadn’t taken anything but the absolute essentials. Hell, if the building superintendent sent a crew to clean out Parks’ place, they were going to take most of it home. The man’s closet was filled to overflowing with designer label clothing that would yield a small fortune on the street. Shaking his head, he looked at a shoe collection that likely cost enough to feed a third world country for a year. If you had that much money to spare, why didn’t you let it do some good, asshole?
One of the first things Cooper noticed when he entered the gaudily decorated space was Parks had emptied every trash bin in the apartment, a detail most people would never think of unless they’d been trained in covert operations. The one thing Parks missed was a small box he’d probably dropped in his rush to leave and accidentally pushed under the edge of the bed. The cardboard was from a disposable phone and included inserts with enough identifying information, Micah would be able to find and track the phone. There was an empty folder labeled Passport & Documents in the top desk drawer, saving Cooper the time looking for items he’d already been certain the man had taken. He didn’t find any luggage in the apartment and the backpack Cooper knew the man used was also missing.
He hadn’t taken time to look through the contents of the manila envelope Parks had left for Lakyn until he’d returned to the safe house, and what he found had both shocked and saddened him. The scuff of boots on the other side of the room pulled him out of his musings. Cooper turned his chair in time to see Kent West settling in a nearby chair.
“Awfully late—or early, depending on your perspective—to be up.” Cooper gave the other man a questioning look. Why was West up and dressed at two o’clock in the morning?
“I don’t require as much sleep as some people.” Kent’s casual shrug didn’t fool Cooper. Most former Special Forces operatives had trouble sleeping—they’d seen and done too much for their subconscious mind ever to be completely free of the memories. “It was damned handy when the twins were newborns and will be handy again when the new baby arrives.”
“Congratulations, I’m sure you and your family are excited.” Cooper hadn’t held a baby since Lakyn and thinking about it now made his eye twitch. Kent’s soft laughter earned him a sheepish grin.
“I’d have expected better lying skills from a spook. Damn, you need to get out before you get your ass shot. At least most of our missions are rescues—quick ins and outs that don’t require much time undercover. I’ll make a note to keep sending Sage if a mission requires duplicity, that fucker could lie to God. Here’s a tip, don’t play poker with him or his lovely wife.”
This time it was Cooper’s turn to laugh. He liked both West brothers, but there was something about Kent that made the enormous man surprisingly approachable and easy to talk to. It was easy to see how Kent and Kyle had earned their reputations as skilled negotiators—they had the good cop, bad cop routine down pat.
“Duly noted.” Cooper paused, searching the other man’s face for a clue as to what prompted this awkward conversation. After several, long seconds of silence, Cooper arched a brow in question. “What’s on your mind, Kent?”
Kent’s heavy cowboy boot hit the floor with a resounding thud, and the big man leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His considering gaze met Cooper’s and he shook his head.
“I don’t usually have this much trouble understanding crazy because frankly, it’s easy to just chalk things up to the simple truth that most of the people we deal with professionally are just too fucking stupid to breathe and move on… but something about this mess doesn’t add up.”
“I agree. The man being hunted by the governments of several nations just happens to be on a small airliner that suddenly vanishes over the South Pacific without a trace? Call me paranoid, but the whole thing seems awfully fucking convenient.”
“Micah tagged all Parks’ overseas accounts as soon as we knew his prints were on the listening devices in Lakyn’s apartment, but so far, there hasn’t been any activity since he went dark. There were some major cash transactions before he left the U.S., and Micah is still tracking those down, but there hasn’t been anything since. Unless the man is a whole lot smarter than we originally thought, someone is helping him. Someone with a lot of connections and a deep desire to stay in the shadows.”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the understatement of the year.
*
Lakyn stared out the window into the night sky and wondered if she’d ever be able to sort out all the emotions surrounding the revelation Reggie had been working for everyone but her. In all honesty, that wasn’t entirely true, he had worked for her at least on a superficial level. She’d lost his loyalty early in her career, and she kept racking her memory for a reason. What could she have done to merit such deception and betrayal?
“Cariña, you are thinking so hard, you are going to give me a headache.” Juan smoothed his hand down her side, tantalizing her bare skin as his fingertips stroked from beneath her breast all the way to the middle of her thigh. Retracing the path, he wrapped his warm fingers around her hip and rolled her over until she lay flat on the bed beside him. Leaning close, he loomed over her, his stare focused and knowing.
“You’re trying to figure out what you did wrong, aren’t you?”
She felt tears fill her eyes and much to her relief, he didn’t scold her for the sudden display of emotion. Blinking away her tears, she smiled when Trac’s face also came into view. She’d been opposed to him refusing to stay overnight in the hospital, but now she was grateful he was here.
“Princess, please don’t cry, Juan’s words weren’t a criticism. We just understand how you think.” Trac’s eyes still showed the lingering shadows of pain, but he’d insisted the ringing in his ears was gone, and it would be easier to cope with the slight headache if he was away from the constant noise of the large medical center.
“Trac is right. As a submissive, it’s your nature to please others, and being liked is directly linked to caring for other people. When others don’t return their devotion, true submissives take it personally—very personally. It’s hurtful and sends them searching for the answers to a plethora of why questions. What we’re trying to tell you is you are not responsible for his behavior. Reggie Parks made the decision to sell you out. He sold out Cooper and his country, and the irony is he is running from those who could have protected him.”
Lakyn knew Reggie would soon be facing several charges because he’d accepted money from a foreign nation in exchange for planting the bugs in her apartment. When they hadn’t yielded the promised results, the coward had tucked tail and run. Micah Drake and Phoenix Morgan’s facial recognition software and the cell phone information had allowed the Prairie Winds team to track her former agent as he made his way to the other side of the world. The men didn’t know she’d overheard the conversation they’d had while they believed she was in the shower, but she was holding those cards close to her chest for now.
“I don’t need this kind of publicity and ne
ither do you. Your families have successful businesses… I don’t want them to be damaged by your association with me.” Both men recoiled as if she’d slapped them. Trac looked at Juan and shook his head in obvious frustration.
“I don’t think we’ve made our intentions toward this woman clear enough, brother. Perhaps she needs a few pleasant reminders of how much she means to us?” The moonlight brought out the dancing mischief in Trac’s eyes, and she fought the urge to roll her own eyes… something that had earned her more swats than she thought she deserved over the past few days.
“I agree, although I must confess being mystified by her confusion. I thought we’d emphasized the point several times during our flight to New York.” The timbre of Juan’s voice dropped, and Lakyn felt her body heat at the mere mention of their time in the bedroom of the Hughes Oil jet. They’d introduced her to the mind-blowing pleasure of ménage and given her what they called a stepped-up membership into the mile-high club. She felt her cheeks flush and wondered if they’d be able to see in in the moonlight.
“Jesus, Joseph, and sweet Mother Mary, I want to feel you between us again so badly, I’m about to lose my mind.” She smiled at the way the two of them so cleverly diverted her attention to more pleasant topics. He tapped the tip of her nose with the end of his warm finger and smiled. “But you, my lovely sub, are very noisy when you come. Even with Juan’s mouth sealed over your luscious lips and the jet engines roaring outside the window, it still wasn’t enough to fully cover your tantalizing screams of pleasure, Princess. I’m absolutely certain the walls of this penthouse will not offer us the privacy we need.” She moaned in frustration, and he chuckled. “Master Juan, I think our sub has gotten awfully greedy, what do you think?”
*