“Fuck you. Like I give a shit about that. Trident could fold today, and I’m still set for life, so don’t give me that goddamned crap.”
They both stood as he glared at Ian. “Dude, we’ve got it covered for now. I appreciate it, but plausible deniability is probably going to come into play at some point, and I’ll be damned if you or anyone else at Trident goes down because of me.” When it looked like his friend was going to curse him out again, he held up a hand, stopping him. “But I may need you for something else, though. I won’t know for another day or two, but . . . it’s important to me. I’ll call if I need you.”
Crossing his arms, Ian stared at him for several long seconds, clearly trying to make up his mind about returning to Tampa or not. Jordyn walked toward them from the back of the aircraft, the strap of her duffel over her shoulder, and she glanced back and forth at the two of them. “Problem?”
Finally, Ian relented. “No. No problem.” He pointed to his friend’s chest. “But if you don’t call if you’re in a jam, I’m going to be fucking pissed.”
Carter barked out a laugh. “Sawyer, name one fucking day of your adult life when you haven’t been pissed about something.”
“October 15. My wedding day.” Ian shook his head. “Nope. Scratch that. I was pissed you almost missed the wedding, jackass.” He pondered a moment, while Carter’s grin grew. “Shit. Let me get back to you on that. There’s got to be one fucking day I wasn’t pissed at something.”
They disembarked inside the hangar behind closed doors. A black SUV with completely tinted windows was waiting for them, sans driver, as Carter had requested. After saying goodbye and thanks to Ian, McCabe, and Mancini, the two Deimos operatives climbed into the vehicle, and Carter started the engine. The Trident guys would be taking the contracted jet to Tampa once it was refueled and a fresh flight crew took over.
When McCabe opened a roll-up door on the far side of the hangar for them, Carter drove out into the sunshine. Within minutes they were out of the airport, cruising toward their destination.
Jordyn glanced at him. “Where are we going?”
“If I told you that,” he said with a smirk, “I’d have to kill you.”
Rolling her eyes, she let out an unladylike snort. “Well, you could try.”
Not in this lifetime. The top spot on a list of things he never wanted do on this Earth was hurt Jordyn, but somehow he had. While she wasn’t trying to knee him in the balls anymore, there was still something heavy that hung between them. Later, when they were safely hidden from the people gunning for them, he’d ask her again why she’d hated him all these years. And she would answer him even if he had to tie her to a bed and torture her with orgasm deprivation. Damn, that thought had his dick twitching. Put your head on straight and watch for fucking tails, asshole. Deal with Jordyn and whatever’s up her ass later.
Silence filled the vehicle as he navigated the streets of Washington D.C. Several blocks away from the White House, he pulled into a private parking garage. Stopping at a small box in front of a heavy metal gate, he rolled down both the driver and passenger windows, and entered a twelve-digit code. The gate rolled to the side, granting them entry. Not only had the code verification gained them access, but whoever was monitoring the security cameras, with facial recognition software, had also flipped a switch. One would not work without the other.
Steering down several ramps, he parked on the third lower level. Jordyn looked around. “Where are we? What’s here?”
He pointed to what appeared to be a dirty-looking, fire escape door. “Tunnel to the White House.”
Her gaze shot to his face in disbelief. Most of the members of Deimos had never been to the big house, but Carter was not among them. He’d gotten to know President Robert Jacobs quite well over the past year since the man had taken office. While they’d gotten off to a bit of a rocky start, that had quickly passed as the new POTUS realized the value of the covert agency he’d known nothing about until a few hours after being sworn into office. The power players of Deimos, the FBI, CIA, NSA, and every other agency in D.C. had to gain the trust of the new president every four or eight years and vice versa. Thankfully, Jacobs was as intelligent as his predecessor and had also been a Green Beret in the Army—a background that gave him a better understanding about black ops than most people.
“The-the White House?” Jordyn asked. “What the hell are we doing there?”
“We have a meeting to attend. Leave your duffel here,” he added as he opened his door and climbed out of the vehicle. “It’s as safe here as it would be in the Oval Office, but it’ll cause a lot more problems in there.”
Still looking a little shell-shocked, Jordyn followed him to the door. He opened a small box on the wall and put his right eye level with the retina scanner. It wasn’t the last hoop they’d have to go through to gain access to the head of the country; there were a few more waiting for them.
The door clicked open and another heavy, metal door behind it slid to the side. Jordyn chuckled in incredulity and amusement. “Definitely a James Bond moment.”
“You’re really hung up on him, aren’t you?” Carter asked, leading her into the tunnel that would take them the four city blocks to their destination. “Who was your favorite actor who played him?”
The door slid closed behind them and he strode over to one of two golf carts. Unplugging the charger, he turned the key and waited for her to climb aboard.
“Sean Connery, of course, but I have to admit, Daniel Craig is a very close and yummy second.”
Rolling his eyes, Carter hit the cart’s accelerator and sped them toward the underground entrance to the White House. When they arrived at the other end, the only things different than where they’d entered were the two Marines standing guard with a third sitting at a desk with several computers, phones, and video screens. With a nod toward the three men, Carter stepped over to several small lockers built into the wall. Removing all his weapons, he placed them in a vault, locked it, and took the key, while Jordyn followed his lead.
The Marine at the desk stood with a metal detector wand in hand, and Carter spread his arms and legs. “How’re you doing, Jansen?”
Running the wand over the spy’s body, the Marine answered, “Good, man. Wife’s due any day now with our new boy.”
“Hey, congrats. I expect a cigar next time.”
“You got it, and thanks.” After the wand, he patted Carter down from ponytail to shoes. He then turned to Jordyn and repeated the procedure. Jansen never asked for her name or ID. In fact, he didn’t know Carter’s name, even after meeting him this way many times over the past few years. Like the other Marines who worked the same detail, all he knew was the covert operative had carte blanche access to the president unless he was notified otherwise.
When he was convinced neither was carrying something that could harm the big boss, he gestured to the elevator. “You’re clear. Do your thing.”
Carter went to another wall panel next to the elevator. He pressed a button and spoke into a microphone. “And so my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
Behind him, Jordyn chuckled and he stepped aside to let her enter the elevator first when the doors slid open. “Jacobs is a fan of Kennedy,” he told her with a shrug. “Garrett had us reciting the beginning of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Each president picks whatever quote he wants to use for security.”
The doors closed, and as the car rose, Jordyn faced him, suddenly seeming unsure of herself. “Um, what’s the protocol here? I don’t want to say something stupid in front of the president. It is the president we’re going to see, isn’t it? I mean, anyone else we could have met some other place.”
“Yeah, we’re heading to the Oval Office. McDaniel is meeting us, too. The only two things you have to remember are to address Jacobs as ‘Mr. President’ or ‘sir,’ and if he’s standing, you’re standing, unless he tells you otherwise.” He paused. “Oh, and one ot
her thing during the meeting—don’t stare if he rubs one out.”
“What!” He smirked and she punched him in the gut, sending an ooof from his mouth. “Jackass.”
The elevator stopped and the doors slid open, revealing two more Marines. Carter nodded hello, and turned right out of the car. “Wow. I’m moving up in the world with you. Ian will be impressed. I’ve been promoted to ‘jackass’ from ‘asshole.’”
“Sh,” she hissed in a low voice from behind him. “We’re in the White House.”
He chuckled as he knocked on a door at the end of the hall. “What, you think the president doesn’t curse?”
Jordyn opened her mouth to responded, but was interrupted by a rumbling voice coming from the other side of the door. “Enter.”
The color drained from Jordyn’s face. Well, what do you know? Meeting Commander in Chief Jacobs for the first time had her all flustered. While part of Carter wanted to tease her about it, he thought it best he calm her down before she puked in the Oval Office. Reaching out, he cupped her chin. “Hey. He puts his pants on one leg at a time, and takes a dump in the toilet, just like everyone else. He won’t bite.”
Swallowing hard, she nodded. “O-okay. Not sure why I’m nervous . . . I’m never nervous . . . I mean, I’ve never met the president before . . . but—”
Her babbling was cut off by his lips meeting hers. Her eyes widened, then flared with heat, as he kissed her softly. The air around them crackled, and he would have sold his soul at that moment to be anywhere else with her—well, anywhere with a bed.
Suddenly, Jordyn stiffened and pulled away. Her eyes narrowed in anger at him. “What the hell—”
The door next to them flew open and McDaniel raised an eyebrow at them. “You two going to stay out here all day or are you coming in?”
“Just finishing a conversation, boss.” With a sweep of his hand, Carter indicated for Jordyn to precede him. She gave him a deadly glare before letting a professional indifference fall across her face.
Shutting the door again, McDaniel gestured toward the sitting area by the room’s fireplace. President Jacobs stood from his favorite wingback chair and held out his hand in greeting. “Ms. Alvarez, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve heard great things about you from Carter and Gene here.”
“Th-thank you, sir.”
As Jordyn shook Jacobs’s hand, Carter’s jaw clenched. Hearing her call anyone else sir grated on him, even if it was the president of the United States.
“Carter. I wish I was seeing you under better circumstances.”
He accepted Jacobs’s handshake. “So do I, Mr. President.”
“Please, everyone, have a seat.” With a tilt of his head, Jacobs indicated the couches in the sitting area. Jordyn sat on one with Carter, while McDaniel took a seat across from them. POTUS sat back in his chair after handing the two US spies bottles of cold water with the presidential seal on them. “Gene has filled me in. I’m very sorry for the loss of the three operatives. Any idea who’s behind this?”
“No, sir,” Carter replied. “We have the Deimos computer wizards and a few contract agencies we trust trying to find a direction to point us in. Everyone’s got their ears to the ground trying to intercept some chatter, but so far there’s been nothing. But there are a few things I want to check here in Washington.”
“Such as?”
Resting his ankle over the opposite knee, Carter settled into the plush cushions. He was about to push a button POTUS wasn’t going to like, but it was necessary. “I’d rather not say at the moment, sir.”
Jacobs’s eyes narrowed at him. “I could order you to tell me.”
“You could,” he agreed with a nod of his head. “But you won’t.” They both knew that. Plausible deniability was coming into play again. When the time came, Jacobs would be given all the information needed to order the assassination of whomever was behind the deaths of Benito, Aikman, and Aldridge. There would be no trial—there couldn’t be since technically, like Carter and Jordyn, the three men hadn’t existed. How did you hang murder charges on someone when the victims are governmental ghosts? “If nothing pans out, Jordyn and I will follow up with the crime scenes. Maybe we’ll see something the locals missed.”
“I’d rather put you in protective custody,” McDaniel said. “But I know better than to try it.”
He was right. Between Jordyn and Carter, they had the best chance of figuring this out and neither of them would willingly sit around waiting for someone else to solve it. The other operatives on the list were cut from the same cloth. As the others had been located and extracted, McDaniel had teamed them up with those who weren’t walking around with targets on their backs. Everyone would have someone covering their six, and they were all hitting up their contacts around the globe, trying to find a fucking clue as to who wanted them dead.
Beside Carter, Jordyn shifted in her seat, still seemingly uncomfortable being in the Oval Office with POTUS. “Um, have we heard about Brennan and Dartmouth, yet? Have they been extracted by a team?”
McDaniel nodded. “Yes. But like you, it was a close call for both of them. We need to end this—and soon.”
Something in his boss’s tone bothered Carter. A lightbulb went off in his head. “Shit. Are you telling me there’s a chance Deimos is going to be disbanded?”
“What?” Jordyn looked back and forth between Jacobs and McDaniel. Her discomfort faded in an instant. “Are you kidding me?”
Neither man answered her as seconds ticked by, and Carter could feel her tension growing. He subtly dropped his hand to the couch between them, brushing his hand against her outer thigh, silently telling her to keep her cool. Finally, Jacobs spoke. “Trust me, Ms. Alvarez. The last thing I want to do is shut Deimos down. The United States needs you and your fellow operatives more than ever. But I need you to find out who is doing this and keep it under the radar as much as possible. If any of this goes public, every Deimos agent will have to go off grid until we can have you regroup under a new name and address. And we can’t do that with your NOC list flapping in the wind. This isn’t the CIA or FBI that every American knows about. Deimos is as black ops as it gets and it needs to stay that way.”
Faint, incoming thumps of a helicopter’s rotors grew louder and Jacobs stood. “That would be Marine One for me.”
The others got to their feet. The president’s staff would be knocking on the door any second and the covert operatives needed to be out of the room before anyone else came in. Carter extended his hand to Jacobs and raised an eyebrow at him. “Free rein?”
His jaw tightening, POTUS nodded and shook Carter’s hand. “Find the son of a bitch and make sure his body is never found again. Ms. Alvarez, do your best, and I’ll do mine.”
Jordyn’s nervousness had been replaced by determination. “That’s all I ask, sir.”
* * *
After retrieving her weapons, Jordyn hopped into the driver’s seat of the golf cart. Carter raised an eyebrow, but took the seat next to her. Despite the lingering tension from the meeting they’d just left, she giggled as she turned the ignition key and pressed down on the accelerator. The cart jerked forward and Carter’s hand flew to the oh-shit handle above his right shoulder. Jordyn eased up on the pedal until the cart moved smoothly. “Sorry about that. I’ve always wanted to drive one of these.”
He laughed out loud at her. “I’ve taught you how to drive every fucking car and truck on the planet and you’re all excited about a golf cart.”
When he put it that way, it did seem silly, but she was having fun, speeding down the dimly lit tunnel at a whopping 15 mph. Once they reached the other end, Carter plugged the electric charger back in and hit a button on the wall next to the door. Someone buzzed it open for them again, and they were now back in the parking lot. Climbing into the SUVs passenger seat, Jordyn clicked on her seat belt. “So . . . where are we going from here, Tyrone?”
Putting the vehicle in drive, Carter steered up the ramps toward the exit. “T
yrone is a no. And we’re going someplace where we can shower, eat, get some information, and sleep—hopefully, in that order.”
“Does this all-inclusive place have a name?”
He paused as if trying to decide whether to tell her or not. After a moment or two, he said, “Club X. Ever heard of it?”
Her body clenched as she remembered why she’d hated him all these years. Oh, yeah. She’d definitely heard of it and there was no fucking way in hell she was going there with him—or anyone else for that matter.
Chapter 11
Seven years ago . . .
Pacing back and forth in her temporary bedroom in Deimos’s secure Virginia headquarters, Jordyn bit her lip. Why she’d snuck out on Carter after they’d fucked each other senseless a few nights ago was something she hadn’t figured out yet. She’d always suspected sex with him would be off the charts, but even that had been an underestimate. After making her ask to cum in his mouth, he’d rocked her world. Then before she could recover, he’d donned a condom, slid her down his torso and impaled her with his very impressive cock. Within seconds, she had been trembling with her second orgasm of the night, and it had been far from the last one he’d given her hours later. She’d ridden him hard that first time. Then he’d taken her from behind. The missionary position. Reverse cowgirl. Against the wall. Bent over in the shower. And several other positions she had no idea how to describe or what to call them. She’d lost count on the number of times he’d made her body sing with ecstasy in between bouts of sleep.
But before the sun had risen, doubt had started to take over her mind. She knew she’d started falling for him during their training sessions, but neither of them had given the other a green light. In fact, the waiting had been fun in a way. Months of mental foreplay, her vibrator, and cold showers had reached a climax in that small farmhouse barn. But her body, mind, and heart’s reaction to it all was what had made her sneak out of there Carter still slept. It hadn’t taken her long to figure out how to turn off the alarms so she could open the doors without waking him. The expat whose farm it was hadn’t asked any questions when she went looking for a ride from him. She hadn’t wanted to leave Carter without a vehicle, and he would have definitely heard her start it up.
Absolving His Sins: Trident Security Book 7 Page 9