by Lee Wardlow
Now Jamie could just take a moment and breathe. The kids were safe with Mark and Mary and he was with Nova. “She’s been hitting the kids.”
Nova squeezed the shoulder she was leaning on. Strong and powerful. He had always overwhelmed her. Made her feel things she didn’t want to feel. “I’m sorry. I feel like to some degree I understand what you’ve gone through. I had an indifferent mother but my father loved us dearly.”
He kissed her forehead. Jamie had to agree. They understood each other more than most. A similar childhood? Similar values? Something connected them from the start.
Nova Daughtry had almost floored him the first moment he saw her walking back in the procession with Kale and Lola from Halona’s funeral. He hadn’t seen a ring on her finger but there was a baby in her arms.
Then Kale stepped forward and introduced them all. He felt relief that she appeared to be single. He wanted to get to know her better so he had sat beside her at the picnic table.
He almost laughed out loud at the memory of the looks Tyler Danner was giving him all day and then there was the woman he was with; she was giving some looks to Tyler as well.
Jamie hadn’t cared. At that moment of clarity, Jamie had known Nova was going to be his. There just wasn’t any other way for it to work out. He wanted her.
Jamie ran his hand across her belly. His head was dipped low looking at her. Then he cupped her belly in his broad hand.
“Are you going to be doing that a lot?” She asked.
He laughed. Then Jamie cleared his throat because actually seeing it in person was an emotional experience for him. He was going to be a father.
He looked up into Nova’s eyes. He had three days to bring down the firewall. Tomorrow he would see where Sly was on their plans. Hopefully, by tomorrow night the wall would be down. Then they would wait to see what would happen next. When it was safe, he was taking her home with him and he was never letting her go again.
“You ready for bed?” He asked.
She nodded. Nova stood and started to walk to the head of the bed where she was going to turn down the blankets. Jamie caught her hand and pulled her back to him. He nestled her body between his legs and laid his head against her chest. Her arms rested over his shoulders loosely; caressing his back, comforting him. She sensed that he needed her.
They stood like this for a while. “I’m sorry Nova. I really am.” Jamie finally said.
“Jamie, it’s all right. I know you didn’t do anything intentionally.”
“I didn’t. I really didn’t. I tried really hard to protect you. I majorly underestimated Dallas Danner’s ruthlessness.”
“How could you know what lengths he would go to Jamie? Beau is still wondering what has happened to Dallas. He was his closest friend since college. He was there for him when Rena died. Not a lot of people know this but Anna Danner has been struggling with pill addiction over the last year. Dallas has been trying to hide it. Beau has been there for him, just as Dallas was beside Beau when Rena died.
“Dallas backed off me after that day at the FBI office when Beau confronted him but apparently they got desperate again.”
“I won’t be able to go see Zachariah again. I don’t want to risk it,” Jamie told her.
“Did you want to?”
“I wanted to talk to him about selling the firewall legally to businesses.”
“Can you do that?”
“I can if he’ll let me. He won’t be able to until he’s off probation.”
“An attorney or myself can carry messages between you.”
Jamie released her then; Nova climbed into the bed. She snuggled under the covers and sighed, a totally happy sound of contentment. Soft, warm sheets. A cushy mattress not the hard ground she had been sleeping on. He turned as he was kicking off his shoes to gaze at her.
“Tired of roughing it?”
She rolled her beautiful eyes at him. “I most certainly am but I never complained once.”
He yanked his sweatshirt and tee shirt beneath it over his head. He didn’t dress like a millionaire. He didn’t always act like one either. She observed him dropping his pants to the floor which only made her smile. He slipped into bed beside her; taking her into his body; he held her close.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I forgot how cute you looked in your boxers.”
“I look even better out of them,” he teased.
She gave him a squeeze. “Not happening Stone. This is like being at your parents’ house and trying to make love. You’re always concerned someone will hear the bed squeak or the headboard will bang against the bed. We aren’t known for being quiet.”
“Just wait until I get you home,” he informed her in a huskiness that sent shivers down her spine.
“Where is home going to be? Currently I’m homeless.”
“You aren’t. Never. Not as long as I’m around,” Jamie promised.
“So Atlanta?”
“Where do you want to be Nova?” Jamie leaned back against the headboard. Nova rolled over to her side and laid her head on his chest. He was warm and rough just as she remembered. His heart beat steady beneath her ear. Always a comforting sound to her.
“What about the kids?”
He didn’t know about his siblings just yet. That depended on his mother. He couldn’t leave them alone with her anymore though unless she was willing to get help. She just wasn’t stable and she was going to end up hurting one of them.
“How do you really feel about that many kids?”
Jaime rolled to his side and gazed down at her pushing her onto her back. His hand skimmed under the comforter to her stomach.
It just flat out amazed him that they had made this baby. It just wasn’t real yet so the more he touched her the more he thought it would become real to him.
She stroked his whiskered jaw. Nova ran her hand down his strong shoulder. While he seemed obsessed with her belly, she was obsessed with all of him.
“I’ll be fine with the kids if we need to take them. I can handle twenty-five third graders pretty well.”
He chuckled. The rumble of the sound in his chest filled her ear. She focused her direction towards him. “Why are you laughing?”
“You might feel like you’ve been with twenty-five third graders when you’re done with my crew.”
Chapter 17
The next afternoon Jamie and Sly disappeared together leaving Nova with Onnie and her daughters-in-law, Maya, Sasha and soon to be daughter-in-law Bella. Selene, her nephew Deacon’s wife was arriving shortly too. Sasha and Selene had gathered their maternity clothes for Nova and were bringing them over so she had some comfortable clothing besides men’s thermal underwear.
Sly was driving while Jamie took in the scenery. “How’s the leg?”
“Still missing,” Sly retorted. “But feels like it’s there sometimes. I have phantom pain a lot.”
“Still hiding behind your injuries?” Jamie asked.
“What did Nova do to break through your stone-walled heart, Jamie?”
“Touché,” Jamie replied.
“Jamie, I hacked a router at the Capital Building.”
Jamie turned his head towards Sly. He was definitely surprised by this admission. “So we’re routing our traffic through the Capital?”
“Yep.” Sly looked pleased with himself.
“You’re scary.”
“I am,” Sly agreed. “I’ve also been doing some nosing around this organization called Omega.”
Jamie’s head shot around. “And?”
“You know I have contacts…I’ve been checking into this group through my contacts. Omega is causing the government some headaches these days that aren’t being broadcasted or public knowledge.”
“Like what? Besides bringing down the security system at Fort Knox and hacking FBI files.”
“Spilling private information about State Senators,” Sly included in their list of crimes. “Jamie, they are slick bastards. They recently hacked the CI
A. Threatened to broadcast a list of current agent names that were top secret security clearance only.”
“Meaning only the President and his Generals know who they are?”
“The CIA Director.”
So what did this mean? “What else did you find out?”
“Jamie, don’t be surprised if it’s not a bunch of hacker punks who’ve played too much Call of Duty.”
“Zach is afraid of them.”
“Because they want you to be afraid of them but the chatter on the dark side is that they are hackers getting their rocks off because the video games aren’t cutting it anymore. What better way than to fuck the government?”
“Jesus. What is the dark side?”
Sly laughed. “Another part of the internet where people who have watched too many Star Wars movies go. They call it the dark side. If you want to learn anything about well anything you go to the dark side.”
Jamie scratched the side of his neck. “I think you’ve been playing too much Call of Duty. Didn’t you get enough of that shit in real life?”
“I guess not.” His eyes twinkled when Sly responded. “Is this what you get into?”
“It’s not always espionage exciting but some of the government and retail stuff has been fun. I make good money. We could do good things together Sly. Then when Zach gets out, I’ve offered him a job.”
“If you can’t break his code. He’ll be worth it.”
“Are you thinking of joining me?”
There was a catch to Sly’s voice when he talked about what he found. A hint of needing something more. He was head of security at the casino that his father and uncle owned but maybe it wasn’t enough for him anymore.
Sly’s head turned quickly towards Jamie then back to the road. “I am. I haven’t talked to Dad yet but I miss it Jamie. The Marines don’t want me anymore and you do.”
“Hey man,” Jamie said to him. “You were the best fucking Marine there was.”
“I learned a lot. That’s for sure. You need to meet Baker Wildfire. He’s a big fucking, ex-Marine, a medic in the corp.”
“Maybe I will while I’m here.”
They pulled up in front of a house. Jamie glanced across the console at his friend. “Whose house is this?”
“My Aunt Janae and my grandmother, although she’s not really my grandmother but she’s the only one I’ve ever had. May Justice. My cousin Deacon’s actual grandmother.”
“We’re here why?” Jamie was puzzled.
“We are doing our work in Aunt Janae’s basement. She has blazing speed. I’m not really sure why. She and May are as unsuspecting as they come and she has a basement where anything we say will be private.”
The climbed out the truck. Jamie glanced over the hood at Sly walking around the front. His limp now was barely noticeable. Jamie was three quarters Creek Indian. Sly was one hundred percent Cherokee. They didn’t look any different to him.
Although each tribe had their own customs and traditions they weren’t all that different. He slapped his friend on the back and followed him to the front door.
“Do they know you’re about to do something illegal in their basement? Using their internet?” He added.
“Nope and I’d like to keep it that way.”
He knocked on his aunt’s front door then he opened it. “Aunt Janae, May?”
“In here,” came the response.
The two men walked through the front door and made their way to the kitchen to see his aunt before they disappeared into the basement for who knows how long to work on bringing down Zach’s firewall.
Sly kissed his aunt on the cheek. Then he approached May Justice.
“How are you handsome?” May asked teasing him. Sly bent and kissed her weathered cheek and Jamie was reminded of Halona.
“Doing well. How are you, May?”
“Just fine sweetheart. Who is your good lookin’ friend?”
“This is Jamie Stone. He and I are working on a project together. I wanted to use your basement,” he said to Janae.
“No problem,” Janae replied absently. “Hungry?”
“Mom fed us.”
They started to turn to head downstairs when May stopped him. “Do what is right for you?” May told Sly. “Things will turn out well for you Sly.”
Jamie looked at Sly who appeared uncomfortable. She patted his hand then they left the kitchen; heading downstairs to Janae’s basement.
He watched Sly uncover a massive amount of equipment that Sly had stored in the dark, unfinished space that appeared to have been here for some time. Jamie’s brows rose as the tarp was fully removed. He watched Sly fold the canvas tarp then Jamie rubbed his jaw.
“So you work here often?”
“I do,” Sly replied. “The apartment is too small for this stuff and like I said,” he stopped what he was doing. “Aunt Janae has blazing fast speed.”
Sly pulled out a chair to the desk where four screens were connected to a bank of computers sitting on the floor beneath the desk. “Sit,” he told Jamie.
He followed his friend’s suggestion and sat in the offered chair. Sly lit up the computers. An eerie glow filled the basement.
“What did she mean Sly?”
“Who?” He said absently. He was pulling curtains closed in the windows. He wasn’t taking any chances. No one could see in but they couldn’t see out either.
“May,” Jamie replied waiting for direction from Sly. “She told you to do what was right for you.”
“May has insights that most people don’t. She sees things.”
Jamie chuckled. “We had Halona O’Leary who had those same insights Sly,” Jamie told him. “I get it man. She saw something that is making you uncomfortable.”
“She did.” He pulled up a chair beside Jamie and settled in. “She’s been telling me for a while now that someone is coming into my life.”
Jamie chuckled. “Now that isn’t such a bad idea man. I can speak from experience.”
Sly snorted. “You know when Bindy found out that I was going into the Marines she wasn’t happy.”
“I remember.”
“She was my high school sweetheart. I thought we would get married someday.”
“Then she sent you a Dear John letter.”
Sly tapped away at some keys on the keyboard not looking at Jamie. “She did. I was fourteen years old when I fell in love with that girl. I was nineteen when she broke my heart.” His tone was quiet and resolved. He never wanted to fall in love again.
“You know my hang-up was my parents’ relationship. I didn’t have such a good example.”
“I know man. I had a great example. I have great examples now.” Sly wasn’t looking at him. His fingers flew across the keys. “My cousin was the first to marry. Selene was the girl we rescued from the mountains. She is sweet and loving. A good woman.” He finally glanced at Jamie who turned his head to him quickly then looked back at the screen not wanting to miss a thing that Sly was doing.
“Then Julius fell hard for Sasha even though he tried like hell to pawn her off on me or Theo.”
“Why?”
“Because he was dealing with his ex-girlfriend. Probably also he was so much older than Sasha. Couldn’t find a happier man now.”
Sly looked up at the screen every now and then. Then typed on the keyboard. “What are you doing?” Jamie asked.
“Setting up protection around Janae’s internet account so we can’t be traced using some of the techniques that Zach used. I wish I knew it all. He’s damn good.”
“Yeah, he’s something. Self-taught. Brilliant kid.”
“In prison now,” Sly said. He stopped typing. “How’s he doing?”
“Seems to be handling things okay. He’s not small which is a good thing. He’s good at looking tough even if on the inside he’s a scared nineteen-year-old kid.”
“Can’t even imagine.” Sly shook his head.
“Me neither and don’t want to.”
“So what’s up w
ith your other brothers?” Jamie asked changing the subject. Zach was a sore subject with him. The whole case had cost him months with Nova. It had cost him her trust. He was still pissed as hell at himself and at Dallas Danner.
“Slater had a relationship with the third sister that we rescued Sierra Darcy. All three sisters are beautiful, sweet girls but Sierra was young. She needed some time to grow up. Slater didn’t handle it well when she asked him for time.”
“I don’t miss it.”
Sly stopped typing and glanced at his friend. “Don’t miss what?”
“Being young and stupid,” Jamie replied.
Sly chuckled. “Me neither man. Me neither.”
Sly went back to typing. “So I assume they did not get back together?” Jamie asked.
Sly snorted. “Rough year around here. Sierra begged him to take her back when she realized that the grass wasn’t so green on the other side. He refused. She moved to Asheville and discovered Nikolai Guryev.
“Things got even stickier around here. Slater figured out he wasn’t over Sierra but it was too late then. Nikolai and Sierra got married and had Konstantin, their first child. Now Slater is married to Maya and they are expecting a kid.” Sly looked at Jamie. “Lots of kids around here now and I’m not so sure that Slater doesn’t still have regrets for not taking Sierra back.” Sly sighed. “So much drama. Too much for me.”
Jamie shook his head. That wasn’t going to happen to him and Nova. He wouldn’t let it. He would get this over with and take her home with him. Marry her and wait for the birth of their child. Drama free. Right?
“In Goose Creek, there is a new technology company I was thinking of buying. It’s small.”
“Goose Creek?” Sly was trying to figure out where the hell Goose Creek was. Jamie could see the question on his face.
“About thirty miles south of Macon. Nova’s family lives there. I think she’d be happy there. They make a chip that is wildly popular for the speed in some new computers that some big name computer companies are selling.”
Sly nodded. “So you would do what with it?”
“Expand the business. Continue with my security consulting and start selling Zach’s firewall too.”