“No need. What’s your ETA to the barn?” he asked.
“Five, seven minutes if I hit traffic.”
“Good. I’ll see you in ten. This is need to know.”
“Copy that.”
Zane hung up, his meaning clear. He didn’t want Violet to know we found her brother. For some unknown reason my gut twisted. I didn’t like keeping the information from Violet, but it was more than that. As I made my way the short distance to the barn, the stronger the feeling got. I learned a long time ago to trust my instincts. And my instincts were screaming that shit was getting ready to go sideways. There’s a saying, situation normal all fucked up. I had a twisting feeling we were walking into a SNAFU.
I waited outside for Zane to show up and I didn’t have to wait long. If he didn’t want Violet to know we’d found Declan, I didn’t understand why he’d want to meet at the one place she couldn’t leave. Zane parked beside me, and I noted Eric was in the passenger seat. Both front doors of the vehicle opened before the back-passenger door opened. A man I’d never seen stepped out. Khaki colored 5-11 tac pants, a pair of Salomon XA mid boots on his feet, he wore a flannel shirt, and his hair was too long to be in military regulations even though he was very obviously a military contractor. This must be Declan.
“Jesus fuck, Z, I didn’t know you meant he was present and accounted for,” I said.
“Seems the Cranston twins weren’t taught personal boundaries. Unlike his sister, he didn’t give the courtesy of a call first.”
It was then I noticed the swelling on the side of Declan’s face and the cut to his lip.
“Bet that was the most fun you’d had in at least a week, huh, LT?” I couldn’t stop the chuckle. Declan didn’t seem to find the humor in my statement.
“Don’t worry, Garrett said he’d pull the building security and make sure we all get a copy,” Eric added, and Declan’s scowl deepened.
“You mind if we cut the bullshit?” Declan asked. “I believe we have more important things to discuss. And for the record, I had you dead to center for twenty minutes from across the way. I could’ve taken you out a hundred different times. You should close your curtains.”
“Right. Because I’m wet behind the ears and didn’t have the glass replaced with polycarbonate ballistic acrylic,” Zane returned.
Eric rolled his eyes and said, “Great. Are the two of you done measuring dicks? I’d like to get inside.” He didn’t wait for answer as he unlocked the exterior door and moved through the security protocol. The last lock clicked open and he pushed open the door.
The three of us walked in and I hoped to God Violet had not been watching the security feeds since we pulled up.
“Did you call in to Jasmin and tell her to turn off the CCTV?” I asked. Zane shot me a are you fucking dumb look, and didn’t bother answering in the affirmative. “I gotta say I don’t think this is a good idea, just walking him down there; she’s gonna be blindsided.”
“You saying that as an operator or the man that’s fucking her?” Zane asked with an ugly smirk pulling up the corner of his mouth. There was one thing Zane loved, and that was the element of surprise, in all forms. He gave zero fucks if what he said was rude, obnoxious, or downright offensive. He’d blurt it out simply to see your reaction. There are a few tried and true combat scenarios that work in the private sector beautifully; an agent will always go back to his native tongue while in extreme pain, and the most honest reaction is given the second after a man is offended. Even the best agent needed a millisecond to school his reaction.
In this case, I didn’t bother masking my dislike for Zane’s comment. “One human to another, what you’re getting ready to do is fucked. As an operator, I understand needing her reaction.” I took a deep breath hoping it would calm my nerves, but it did nothing to help. I went on. “Man to man, you talk about my woman like that again and you’re gonna find my size twelve boot up your ass.”
“I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again. Another one bites the dust.” Zane shook his head and turned to Declan. “Meet your new brother-in-law. That is if he can pull his head out of his ass and your sister can keep her mouth shut and out of prison.”
“Christ,” I murmured, wishing yet again that I had duct tape to shut him the fuck up.
“Believe it or not, I’m doing what I think will be easiest for Violet. She’s expressed twice her not wanting us to tell Declan she knows he’s her brother, and that she’s involved. If you tell her Declan’s here, she’s going to have a mental come apart. She’ll work herself up for no reason. Declan’s been briefed. I think once the shock wears off, she’ll be fine. And if she’s not? That’s why you’re here.”
Dick.
“Did you know you had eyes on you?” I asked Declan.
“I clocked Ortega’s latest attempt the minute he arrived six months ago. He really needs to pay better, because the men he employs are amateurs. But if what you’re asking me is if I was followed from Peru, I wasn’t,” he told me.
I couldn’t think of anything else I could ask either Zane or Declan that would delay going down the stairs and blowing Violet’s world apart.
Fuck.
I didn’t like this one bit. Zane was right, it was easier to rip the band-aid off, but the twist in my gut I’d felt earlier had now moved north and my heart was pounding in my chest. I couldn’t place the emotion; it was somewhere between sympathy and regret. Something that felt a lot like caring and compassion.
Chapter Nineteen
Violet
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked Jasmin.
“I’m fine. I think the Thai food Linc and I had last night didn’t sit well.”
That was an understatement. She’d thrown up three times since she came over to babysit me, so Jaxon could run some errands. I never thought I’d say I was happy to have Jasmin’s company, but I was. I needed a minute away from Jaxon. There were too many emotions muddled up in my head. Too many emotions I wasn’t supposed to be feeling. I was nothing more than a government babysitting contract for him – then why did it feel like more?
He hadn’t tried to touch me in two days. Maybe the stupid comments I’d made before the President came over made him realize it was a bad idea to have sex again. Me and my stupid heart. Physically it was a great idea to continue to have sex. We were locked together in the basement all alone, with boxes full of condoms. I couldn’t think of a more satisfying way to pass the time. Instead, we’d done something far more dangerous and talked. I told him about growing up and he told me stories about all the trouble him and Cooper got into. He told me about being in the Air Force and the training he’d gone through to be a PJ. He even admitted he was scared on his first real mission when he’d almost lost a Combat Controller his team had gone in to rescue.
It was easier to lie to myself and pretend he meant nothing to me when I didn’t know how brave and generous he was. Now that I knew Jaxon Cain the person, not the Air Force PJ that worked as a security contractor, it was even harder not to allow my heart to engage. I knew better than to sleep with him, yet I couldn’t bring myself to regret it. Even if I wasn’t heading to prison, I was still going back to my sad, lonely existence.
“I have another bottle of water for you,” I continued to yell through the door.
I heard something at the door and instinctively looked over at the security screens on the wall. All three of them were black, and I hadn’t heard the alarm beep. I was beginning to think I was losing my mind being locked in the basement. Not only was I conjuring up dream worlds where Jaxon and I could fall in love and live happily ever after, I was hearing things as well. The second time I heard the noise, I knew I wasn’t crazy. I didn’t want to yell to a puking Jasmin and alert whoever was on the other side of the door that I knew they were there. I scanned the room, trying to find anything I could use as a weapon. The desks came up empty and the table we’d been using to eat had nothing but take-out wrappers on it, but then I remembered Jaxon told me there was a gun in
the emergency closet and never to touch it because it was loaded.
I ran to the bedroom, into the closet, and quickly found the gun. The heavy metal frame felt cold in my hand. I remembered to click the safety off and ran back into the main room. I lifted the gun up in front of me and prayed I could hold it steady enough to pull the trigger. Jasmin was still in the bathroom, sick and completely vulnerable. The door swung open and I held by breath.
“What the fuck?”
I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things and I swayed on my feet.
“Lower the gun.”
I blinked again, this time through the tears that were clouding my vision.
“Vi, baby, put the gun down.” I tried to slow my breathing and focus on the men in front of me, but it wasn’t working. “Everything is okay.” Jaxon pulled the gun from my trembling hands, then I was in his arms and sobbing into his chest. A smell that was uniquely Jaxon enveloped me, a smell I would always associate with safety. “Breathe, Vi.” I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath in an effort to stop the crying.
How was Declan here? Why would they bring him here?
“You promised,” I cried. “You promised you wouldn’t tell him.”
“Baby, he came to us,” Jaxon said, kissing the top of my head.
I heard Zane saying something and Jasmin answering. His tone was angry and for the first time since I’d met Jasmin, she sounded unsure.
“Don’t grouch at her. She didn’t do anything wrong. Can’t a woman use the bathroom? It’s not her fault I got the gun.” Jasmin looked at me in surprise and started to say something, but I beat her to it. “Haven’t you ever had to pee? I didn’t want to yell at her through the door and warn the person breaking in that I knew they were there.”
“I can’t break in to my own goddamned building,” Zane barked.
“I didn’t know it was you.” I could feel Jaxon’s body shaking under my cheek. I lifted my head and looked up to confirm he was laughing. “What’s so funny.”
Instead of answering, Jaxon shook his head, smiled, then kissed my forehead. “You okay?”
“No,” I answered honestly. I wasn’t fine. The one person I didn’t want to know what I’d done was standing ten feet away from me. The brother I’d forgotten. I wasn’t ready to face him.
“Do you want to go in the bedroom for a while?” he asked.
I thought about his question. Did I want to? Yes. I wanted to run into the bedroom and hide away from my life, from the entire world. But I couldn’t. I had to own up to what I’d done. It was time I faced my brother and apologized.
“No. I need to do this now.”
“How was that for a reaction?” I heard Eric laugh. I had no idea what he was talking about and right now I didn’t care.
“If little Miss Annie Oakley is ready, can we all please sit down?” Zane bit out.
There wasn’t much to smile about but I couldn’t help to grin.
“He gets grouchy when people point guns at him,” Jaxon said with a conspiratorial whisper.
“I’m going to do more than point my gun at someone if we don’t all sit the fuck down,” Zane growled.
I pinched my lips to try and hold back the giggle that was threatening to explode. I was doing a good job until I heard Jasmin laugh and Eric joined in and chuckled. I gave up and let loose. It felt good to laugh. All the built-up tension had finally broken free and it spewed out. I held my stomach and bent double in amusement. The harder I tried to stop, the more I laughed.
My life had been turned upside down and was complete shit and I could do nothing but laugh about it. Jaxon’s grip tightened on my hand and I wondered when he’d grabbed it. Once he had my full attention, I realized he wasn’t laughing, he was staring at me. His blue eyes were darker than normal, the color they’d morphed into when he’d undressed me, and I squirmed under his gaze. A smile pulled at his sexy mouth; the bastard knew what he was doing to me. He gave my arm a swift tug and my hand shot to his chest to catch myself as I collided with him. He slowly lowered his mouth to my ear and whispered, “Do you know how fucking sexy you are when you laugh?” I shook my head in the negative and he continued. “Tonight, you’re mine.”
His elicit promise sent chills racing through my body. Someone cleared their throat, reminding me we were not alone, and I couldn’t beg him to take me into the bedroom now and make good on his words.
When Jaxon and I turned around, everyone was already seated around the table, but my eyes landed on Declan. He looked tired. His hair was longer than it was when I conducted his interview, and he looked like he aged five years in past year. I studied him now the way I’d really wanted to the last time he’d sat across from me. We had the same eyes and the color of our hair was the same, too. There was definitely a family resemblance.
“Did you know I was your sister when I interviewed you?” I asked, even though Abe had told me about the tattoo on his chest.
“I did.” His voice made me smile. I wished I’d grown up hearing his voice every day.
“When did you find out?”
“I think I always knew I had a sister. When I was young, still in foster care, I had a doll I used to sleep with, a Raggedy Ann. Let me tell you, it was hell on a boy when he carried around a doll. But I remembered one of my foster mom’s saying it was my sister’s. In one of my moves I lost it and by the time Bryan and Elizabeth adopted me it was long gone. I wasn’t sure if I’d made up I had a sister to help me cope or what. When I was eighteen and was enlisting in the Marines, my recruiter needed my original birth certificate and adoption records. Since it wasn’t a closed adoption, they were easy to acquire. I was planning on looking up records on my, or our, birth parents to find out if I really had a sister, but I didn’t need to. Our original birth record states that the birth was a multiple. You were pretty easy to find after that.”
“What do you mean found me? My name?” I questioned.
“I found your parent’s name and address. Before I left for basic training, I flew to Denver where you lived and saw you.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
Blood whooshed in my ears and my head was pounding. All these years I could’ve known him. He’d found me. I didn’t understand why he didn’t want to know me.
“Because you looked happy. I watched you for a few days. There was a big party at the house. I sat outside in my car and watched guests come and go. I thought I’d gained the courage to knock on the door when you came out front with your parents. You were standing on the lawn taking pictures. Your mom and dad were on either side of you, they had their arms around you and the three of you were smiling so big it fucking killed me to watch. I couldn’t do it. I was too afraid I would break up the perfect life you seemed to have. All because selfishly I wanted to know you. I left and never thought I’d see you again unless you came looking for me. But you never did.”
His last words weren’t spoken as an accusation, more in resignation. It hurt my heart that he thought I wouldn’t want to know him or he’d ruin any part of my life.
“My graduation party. I wish you would’ve come over. I didn’t know about you, not until you were ready to go in for deep cover,” I told him.
“I figured you did the way you kept staring at me. But you didn’t say anything.”
“You were leaving. I didn’t think it was time for a family reunion. I wanted your head in the right place going into the field.”
“Now what?” Eric asked. “What made you come back to the states and find Zane?”
“I was contacted by a man named Tex. He said Violet was in danger and I needed to find Zane.”
“So, you thought you’d blow your cover and come here instead of say, a phone call?” Zane asked.
“I dug around the best I could while I was in Peru, but with all due respect, she’s my sister.” Declan punctuated his words by pointing at himself. “Fuck my cover. I needed to see for myself she was taken care of. Where are you on tracking Ortega?”
/>
My brother was here; he came to make sure I was okay. I reached under the table and grabbed Jaxon’s hand. I needed something to ground me. Hearing my brother say he’d chosen me over his assignment had me floating on a cloud of joy.
Chapter Twenty
Jaxon
“What the fuck did you say? That motherfucker farmed my sister out?” Declan seethed.
Zane had just told him that Ortega had put Violet out for bid and apparently there had been a buyer eager to take possession.
“I’m gonna gut that cocksucker,” he went on.
“You have any idea why he has a hard-on for you?” Jasmin asked. She looked a little pale and I wondered if she was coming down with the flu.
Declan leaned back in his chair and rolled his neck. He glanced at Violet before he looked away and started. “Five years ago my team got a lock on Ortega. We tracked him into Brazil. When we breached, there was a woman and young boy strapped with explosives. We told them to stop, but they didn’t and continued to approach. In the end we had no choice but to take them out.”
“Who was the woman and child?” Violet asked.
“His wife and son,” Declan confirmed what the rest of us already knew. Men like Ortega are cowards; they hide behind others.
“You made the shot,” I guessed.
“Yes.” Now we understood Ortega’s motives, revenge. He wanted Declan to suffer the way he had over the years and he wanted to use Violet to do it.
“Fuck,” Zane said at the same time Eric whistled.
“Where are Tex and Garett with tracking him?” I asked.
“He’s gone to ground. Last known whereabouts is Duque de Caxias, Brazil,” Zane answered.
“Then that’s where I start hunting,” Declan said.
“Wait. Is that a good idea? You going alone? I mean, I’ve heard the saying - one is none. You need backup,” Violet said.
A man that had Declan’s training would have no problem tracking Ortega on his own, but Violet was right, it was better to have backup.
Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Redeeming Violet (Kindle Worlds) Page 12