The Brazen Amazon

by Sandy James

  “Magical?” His annoyed tone grated like fingernails down slate. “Are you kidding me? God, I’m getting damn sick and tired of you lying to me.”

  “I’m not lying.” Since she’d jumped in with both feet, she might as well spill enough to keep him on his guard against attackers. “Do you want to hear the story or not?”

  Zach’s brows had gathered, and his lips thinned to a grim line. “Fine, but you better start making sense.”

  “Yeah, well... My world doesn’t always make much sense.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Do you believe in the things you hear in stories? You know, about stuff like witches and vampires—about things you only hear in myths?” She tried to relax but was terrified he’d bolt when he heard what she had to say. How much was safe for him to know? And why was it so important for her to share her life with him?

  “Not usually.”

  Gina closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. Nothing ever came easy. When she was actually being honest with him, he didn’t believe her.

  Go figure.

  “I—I believe in ghosts,” he said, his voice whisper soft.

  Her eyes flew open. “You do?”

  Although he nodded, he didn’t seem inclined to expand on his confession.

  “I’ve never seen a ghost,” she encouraged. “I’ve seen lots of other stuff, but never ghosts. Tell me about yours.”

  “When I used to stay at my great-grandpa’s old farm house, I swear there was a ghost. She used to whisper to me when I tried to sleep. Scared the shit out of me for a while.”

  “Did you ever see her?” It would be too much to hope that he’d buy into what was happening without a fight.

  “Yeah, I think I did. But only a—a—shadow. Not like she was floating around the bedroom or anything. When I told my great-grandpa, he didn’t act surprised. Told me his sister had died when she was young, and that he saw her too. How weird is that?”

  Gina suppressed a smile, fearing he’d think she was laughing at him. “Trust me. That’s not even close to the weird things I’ve seen.”

  “So these SOGs have creepy special powers?”

  “Magicks, actually. Let’s just say the SOGs have some major clout behind them.”

  “Your sister Rebecca—his sister—does she have these magicks too?”

  “Yeah, she does.”

  “And what about you, Gina?” His voice was warm and soft, having the same effect as a good shot of Artair’s whiskey. “What powers do you have?”

  If she told him the whole truth, he’d run away from her like she’d lit him on fire.

  I can jump almost three stories and make lightning strike. How about that, Zach?

  He’d think she was some kind of mutant.

  Tired of lying to him, she nodded and tried to focus on the most important part of the story instead of her Amazon powers. SOGs now. Amazons later. Hopefully much later.

  “That’s why we’re involved. No one else knows about the threat because they wouldn’t believe us.” She snorted. “I can just see me calling someone and telling them about Sekh—” God, she really needed to watch her mouth. “Look, this is a problem for my sisters and me. No one can know.”

  “You’re not giving me much to go on here, and—”

  “You only believe in stuff you see with your own eyes.”

  “Quit it,” Zach said.

  She cocked her head. “Quit what?”

  “Quit reading my mind. Is that your super power?”

  If he was teasing her, he wasn’t afraid of her. Thank God. “No, I’m not telepathic.” At least not with you. With Sarita...somewhat, and their powers kept escalating. “What I do isn’t all that special.”

  “You jump. Like at my apartment.”

  He really did have a photographic memory. She nodded. “I jump.”

  Zach sat back in the chair, tapping the index finger of his burned hand against his lips for a moment. “These SOGs. Who are they working for?”

  An Ancient. A scary, powerful, wants-to-destroy-the-whole-damn-world Ancient named Sekhmet. “Not sure.”

  “Bullshit.” He sighed, the sound telling her more about his loss of patience than the expletive. He stood up and started pacing the room. “Since I met you last night, I’ve been handcuffed, manhandled, knocked out, forced to endure your company and—”

  “Excuse me? Forced to endure my company?”

  “You’ve been glued to my side.”

  Gina wanted to slap him, probably would have slapped him if he’d been within arm’s length. “It hasn’t been that bad.”

  “No? I go to meet an associate at Starbucks, and somehow I end up passed out on the floor like some damn drunk. Now the guy probably thinks I’m a lush.”

  “The guy you saw wasn’t really—” She bit her lip, hating how she was so worried about defending herself and wanting him to not blame her that she’d dropped her guard. Again.

  “He wasn’t what? Wasn’t there?” Zach shook his head. “I don’t remember all of what happened, but some stuff’s coming back. I remember seeing Joel Woods at the coffee shop. I remember him shaking my hand.”

  She feigned an indifferent shrug. “He didn’t think you were drunk.”

  “So I’m right. Joel Woods was there.” He sat back down and stared at her. Hard. “Is he a terrorist? Is he one of those SOGs? Should I be concerned whether Joel Woods is trying to get to me so he can see what I’m doing for the Department of Defense and tell his cohorts?”

  He understood far more than what she would have expected. As if she didn’t already know the guy was fucking brilliant. Afraid to confirm that he had a good grasp of what the Amazons considered to be the goddess Sekhmet’s goals, she tried to keep her facial expression mild.

  “You’re going to have to stay away from Joel Woods now,” she insisted.

  “He’s a terrorist?”

  “I—I don’t think that was really him. Might’ve been a SOG who looked a lot like him.”

  “Do these SOGs have powers too?” he asked.

  “Yeah...but nothing I can’t handle so long as I keep you away from them.”

  “Gee, isn’t that comforting.”

  “This doesn’t have to be a big thing, Zach. Just stick close to me and let me keep you out of the line of fire until the danger’s over. There’s nothing to worry about if you let me do my job.”

  “Terrorists with super powers trying to infiltrate the military? An evil lookalike is trying to get to me and my Toy?” A mocking laugh slipped out. “No. I’m sure there’s absolutely no reason to worry about any of that.”

  “I won’t let them get you or your Toy.”

  “Sure you won’t,” he scoffed. “All it takes is one girl and one former SOG to stop all the terrorists.”

  “The sarcasm’s unnecessary,” Gina scolded. “And downright rude, if you ask me. Look, you need to let me handle this. I’ll keep you safe. When it’s over, you can go back to your life. Go invent new computers or whatever. Right now, though, you’ve got to let me watch out for you, because I know about this stuff. I know about magicks.”

  “Then what does that make you? Wonder Woman? Some kind of superhero?” Zach waved a glib hand. His injured one—most likely to try to nag at her conscience. “Nah. You’re not the comic book type. Valkyrie, maybe? Out to fight the wrongs of the world and make sure the right side wins every battle? I just don’t get how you expect me to swallow all this whole.”

  He didn’t know how right he was.

  Valkyrie. Amazon. Same thing, really.

  Gina bit back all the sarcastic retorts she wanted to throw. Zach was resorting to the same tactic she used when she was angry. “You’re entitled to be pissed off, but this doesn’t have to get weird. Can’t you trust me?”

  He stared at her for enough long moments she began to squirm.

  Was he was going to make this easy or difficult?

  “Fine,” he said. “For now. But if things get any weirder—�
��

  “Are you calling me weird?”

  “Not you. The situation. Think about it from my point of view for a minute.”

  Ah, well there he had her. If she was in Zach’s shoes, she’d be flipping out. “Okay, so it’s weird. For once, can’t you go with the flow and trust someone else? I mean, I know you’re a control freak—”

  “Trading insults isn’t getting us anywhere. Let’s focus on what’s most important. Let’s go get the Toy and make sure it’s secure. The rest we’ll figure out as we go along.”

  Thank the Ancients, he’d chosen easy.

  She pointed toward the door. “Right behind you.”

  Chapter Seven

  Richard was waiting across the street from Zach’s building, standing half in the alley, half out. Wearing the stereotypical bad ass uniform—black leather jacket, black boots, hair slicked back and tied low on his neck—he leaned a shoulder against the brick façade of a Korean grocery. His arms were crossed over his broad chest.

  Gina wanted to smack him. He might be a hell of a fighter, but there was nothing bad ass about his personality. He’d obviously dressed for Zach’s sake in an attempt at intimidation.

  Glancing over at Zach, she smiled in pride at the goofy grin fixed on his face. Richard’s tactic had backfired and was now going to earn him a royal teasing.

  “Damn, Dick,” Zach said as he stopped next to Richard. “I know Frisco’s cooler than a lot of places, but isn’t it a little warm to wear a coat like that in August?”

  Richard scowled. The man could taunt unmercifully, but he sure hated being on the receiving end. That, added to Zach’s wicked sense of humor, meant the two men in her life would continue to butt heads like a couple of enraged rams.

  A sullen Richard jerked his thumb at the empty building they’d been using as a duck blind to keep an eye on Zach.

  “Damn it,” Gina said when she saw the activity.

  “I know.” Richard folded his arms back over his chest.

  Zach quirked a brow. “Know? Know what?”

  “Too many people working today.” The words slipped out before she remembered that he wouldn’t know she’d hidden there while acting like a Peeping Tom for the last few weeks.

  “Too many to do what?” he asked.

  “To watch your place again,” Richard replied.

  “You were watching my place?” Zach asked Gina.

  Richard smirked. “Yeah, Einstein. We were trying to figure out if you’d been turned—”

  Gina’s sharp elbow in his ribs shut him up. “I told you, Zach. I needed to make sure you were safe. I was watching you at night from that apartment.” She pointed to her nest.

  He seemed to think things over for a good long while before he nodded. “So now what?”

  Richard inclined his head toward Zach’s apartment. “We shouldn’t risk it just to get the genius here some clothes for the trip.”

  “Why would I need clothes? And who says I’m going on a trip? I’m not going anywhere. Especially not with you, Dick.”

  “That’s what you think.”

  The two men started talking at the same time, squabbling and getting loud enough people would’ve turned to stare. Thank heavens the alley was deserted.

  “Okay, boys, that’s enough.” Gina clenched her hands into fists and tried to rein in her temper. She turned to Richard first. “We can always get Zach more clothes. Hell, he’s your size. He can wear some of your stuff.”

  “The hell he can.”

  “The hell I will.”

  She rolled her eyes as they spoke in unison. Lord, she wished her sisters were here, because she was more than fed up with the testosterone-laden bullshit. “Fine,” she said to Zach. “Go naked for all I care.”

  He wiggled his brown eyebrows at her. “I will if you will. Let’s just get rid of Dracula here—”

  “I’m not a fucking vampire.” Richard’s words came through clenched teeth.

  “So you just borrowed his wardrobe?”

  Zach was lucky he didn’t get shocked. He couldn’t possibly know about Richard’s need to feed on magical power. The head-to-toe black was too much, so the comment wasn’t undeserved, but she was sick of their trading insults, so she intervened. Again.

  “We can let the nest go. We don’t need it anymore, and I’m more than ready to go home anyway.”

  Zach started to stutter a protest.

  Gina stopped him with a raised hand—palm out—and a stubborn frown. “Don’t bother. You’re going home with me, and you’re not changing my mind.”

  “What about the Toys?” Zach asked.

  “His toys?” Richard asked. “He wants to go get his toys?” He laughed longer than necessary to make his childish point.

  “No, asshole. The Toys.” Zach turned his back to Richard in blatant dismissal and put his hand on her shoulder. “The second Toy’s in my apartment.”

  “Second? You have another like what you showed me at your office?”

  “Yeah. We can’t let these...SOGs, whoever the hell they are, get their hands on it.”

  Before Zach finished the sentence, Richard reached out, grabbed the back of his shirt and jerked him deeper into the alley.

  Zach retaliated as fast as a cat, using a front sweep to knock Richard on his ass.

  She smiled in pride. Zach could take care of himself. But something was...wrong.

  Richard was trained in martial arts, and the Sentinels had taught him how to protect himself. Zach was damned fast, but not fast enough Richard should have been taken down without at least a token defense.

  Why didn’t he block the attack?

  Shit. That means—

  She peeked out between the buildings to the windows of Zach’s apartment and watched the men moving around inside long enough to get a reasonable count.

  “Gotta be SOGs. I count three.” She reached down to grasp Richard’s hand and help him up. The guy had taken one for the team, after all.

  “Definitely SOGs.” Richard brushed the tiny bits of gravel off the seat of his pants. “Maybe more than three.”

  “Apologize.” She threw Zach a chastising frown. “He was protecting you.”

  “Like I knew that.” At least he had the wisdom to look contrite, slipping his hands in his front pockets and staring at his shoes. “Sorry,” Zach mumbled at Richard. “Reflexes kicked in.”

  “Reflexes, huh? I guess you better be watching for my reflexes ’cause you’re going down for that one later.”

  Zach’s head popped back up as he laughed. “Oh, I’m quaking in my boots, Dick.”

  “Guys...knock it off.”

  Zach’s eyes found Gina’s. “What do we do now?”

  “Is the Toy locked up somewhere? Or is it sitting out like a remote control?”

  “It’s in a cabinet like I have in my office.”

  “Then we’ll assume they’ve already got it,” she replied. “What we do is try and take it back.”

  Richard was shaking his head before she finished the thought. “Bad idea. We’re supposed to protect Mr. Wizard, not lead him in an attack against SOGs.”

  “We need to head to my office and get the other one,” Zach insisted. “There are only two, and if we want to block the signal from the one they just stole, I have to have the other.” He turned on his heel and stalked up the alley and away from his apartment building.

  Gina hurried to catch up with him with Richard close on her tail. “What’s it matter?”

  Zach just kept marching, reaching the street and turning to follow the path she’d seen him use every day to head to HanTel.

  “Can’t you program a cell phone to block the Toy?” she asked.

  With a shake of his head, he picked up his pace.

  Grabbing his upper arm, she dragged him to a stop. Richard almost plowed right into her back. “Something’s wrong,” she said when Zach finally stopped huffing and puffing like an angry bear and looked at her. “Out with it.”

  Fear. She’d never seen fear in
his eyes before.

  But Zach was afraid now.

  “Zach? What’s wrong?”

  He shook his head.

  She growled low in her throat.

  “I can’t tell you, Gina.”

  “Why?” Richard asked.

  “Trust me on this. I just can’t,” Zach replied.

  She fisted her hands against her hips. “So you can keep secrets, but I can’t?”

  He walked away.

  Richard’s pinched frown told her he shared her concern.

  While they couldn’t be entirely honest with Zach, they both expected nothing but the truth from him. They needed his honesty to be able to control this threat. With a quick nod, she started after him as Richard followed.

  “Those were what the DOD contracts were for, right?” She caught up with Zach and matched him long stride for long stride.

  He didn’t answer.

  “We can’t just walk in there,” she protested. “They found your apartment. You know they’ll be waiting at your office.”

  He ignored her except for a brusque shake of his head.

  Richard was the one to drag him to a stop the second time. “You might have a death wish, but I sure as hell don’t. And I’m not letting you put Gina in danger ’cause you want to march in there with guns blazing to get your stupid Toy. Why don’t you make another one? You’re a genius, right?”

  Zach glared at Richard’s hand where it was wrapped around his bicep. “You don’t understand.”

  Gina reached over and gently removed Richard’s fingers from Zach’s arm. “Then make us understand.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Not can’t,” Richard said. “Won’t.”

  Gina turned Zach so he faced her. “Look, I opened up to you. Now it’s your turn. Please. I can’t help you if you don’t trust me.” She couldn’t have been more pleased when his furrowed brow relaxed.

  “Fine. I’ll tell you what I can.” His wary gaze fell on Richard.

  She understood his hesitation, but she wouldn’t allow Richard to be excluded. If he hadn’t had the courage to escape Sekhmet and his brothers and come to the Amazons, the danger to the world would have gone unchallenged until it might have been too late.