Hard Days Knight: Under-Cover Knights, Book 1

by Livia Quinn

  When Luc put his phone down he said, “Ridge heard from Taylor. He had his receptionist follow up yesterday on what happened and she told Ridge he should talk to her. Taylor said Mercy threatened to kill her Saturday unless she left immediately and kept her mouth shut. Ridge told her to stay away from KPI and Mercy until he called her back. He figured it was best to just close the studio a day early for the Memorial Day weekend.”

  CHAPTER 39

  V ictoria sat with her arms around Samantha who was obviously shaken, but not emotional as many victims Del dealt with would have been.

  “I’ll probably have nightmares about that she-devil standing there staring at me through the window.” She closed her eyes and trembled. Her mother rubbed her upper arms and looked at Del. “What can be done about her?”

  “Nothing yet, I’m afraid. We have no proof that it was her. Or even a female.”

  “Oh, we know,” Luc said with barely contained violence. His jaw was going to break if he didn’t stop grinding his teeth.

  “How are you, Samantha?” Del asked.

  “It’s just superficial. My lab coat protected me from most of it and they’ve treated it. I’ll be okay.” This was said to Luc who looked at her fiercely. He seemed incapable of speaking he was so angry.

  “For the next couple days could you all just take yourselves off the radar. Hunker down at the Larue bunker or something?” Del asked.

  “I’ll take care of it,” said Commander Larue. “This isn’t even like a straight forward military op where you can identify the enemy and take them down with a strike. She reminds me of a terrorist.”

  “Apropos, since that’s what Mercy is going for.” Del smiled. “But, don’t give up on that thought. Jed sent a man to her home to make sure she stays there until morning. And I’ll take Luc into protective custody.” She smiled at Victoria, but the two women exchanged looks when Luc didn’t seem to find any humor in her comment.

  “Come on, baby girl. Let your old mother take care of you like old times.” Samantha allowed Luc to place his jacket around her shoulders and kiss her cheek. “I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”

  “Luc,” the two women exclaimed together and Del just laughed. They were such a tight family unit and in that moment the two women the furthest from each other in age looked so much alike.

  “And you, baby boy,” his mother said running her hand through his hair. “Remember, you’re still not a hundred percent. Be careful and do as Del says. She knows her stuff.”

  He nodded and kissed her goodbye, turning to Del with grim resolve.

  “Ready?”

  Luc seethed while Delilah drove toward her apartment. He felt impotent. He wanted to fight. If Mercy were his enemy on the battlefield, or on the martial arts mat, he could take her on and win but this was like fighting the Taliban. Sneaky underhanded methods—never out in the open.

  “Luc, try to relax. It’s not going to do any good to work yourself up while we’re waiting on a break.” He felt her hand on his forearm. Glancing over at her, he was hit with such a powerful feeling of…hope, because it was as his mother had said. She was the best at her job.

  He let out a long measured breath, centering himself before he spoke. “I know you’re right. I trust you, Del. We’re going to get her.”

  Del’s eyes softened. “Thank you, Luc. That means a lot. And yes, we are going to get her and not in a matter of days. I can feel it. She’s close to imploding. We’re on high alert and tuned into her crazy frequency so it’s just a matter of time.”

  Luc took her hand across the console. Still fearful that Mercy might be able to get to Del, he resolved not to let her offer herself up as bait.

  They barely made it through the door, turning the lock, when the desperate protectiveness he felt spiraled into a need to have her, to show her how he felt. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she was tangled around him, but her hand strayed, following the bulge in his jeans, unzipping them.

  His mouth left hers long enough for her to unfasten her gun belt. He relieved her of it as her hands slid inside his shirt passing over his ribs. She sighed and trailed her tongue across one nipple and then across his chest. “Your skin tastes so good.” Her hands roamed across his ribs, then up over his chest and shoulders. “Sometimes I look at you and I think I could just eat you up. You’re like Luc ice cream on a stick. Yummy.” To prove she liked the taste of him, she went lower, and lower still.

  But Luc didn’t want a leisurely one sided loving, he wanted to be inside her…now. Wanted to claim her like some knight of long ago. Make sure she and everyone knew he would be there for her, protect her, love her.

  He stopped. She turned glazed eyes up to him. “What?”

  “God, I love you, Delilah. I love you. I want a life with you, lots of little Lucs and Dels, reunions; I want it all.”

  Her face softened and she blinked. “I want that, too, Luc. I can’t tell you how much I want it—or how much it surprises me. Let me show you how much.”

  She released him from his jeans and encircled him with her hand. Every muscle in his body clenched as she stroked him, but he stayed her hand. Placing both hands under her butt and lifting her he covered her mouth with his. She kissed him back, her hands grasping his hair and making sure his mouth didn’t leave hers as she pressed her hands to his face. Her lips came free and she gasped, “I love your hair.”

  He walked down the narrow hallway, stopping to prop her against the wall, while he readjusted his hold. She ran her palms along the heavy biceps. “I love your arms, too.” She trailed her fingertip down the valley between his shoulder and biceps, then across to his chest. “I need you inside me, Luc.”

  All he had to hear! He boosted her so he could take her nipple into his mouth, sucking on it until she was writhing against the wall. He barely noticed the twinge in his shoulder but he didn’t want to drop her in the middle of one of the most important moments of his life.

  He strode to the bedroom, eased her down on the edge of the bed. He palmed her hot center and easing her panties aside, slid into her tight heat. “Ahh, Delilah. This is where I belong, with you, inside you.” He withdrew and stroked her again until she urged him deeper. Her body was moving, her legs clamping around his hips.

  “Faster, Luc.” She pulled his head down and their tongues matched the rhythm of their mating as he picked up the pace. She met each thrust with a clenching of her core, and parrying with her tongue.

  His thighs strained as he stroked deeper. She gasped into his kiss but he kissed her harder, drawing out her response until she stiffened with release. Calling her name, he followed her over and down onto the silver blue bed cover.

  Minutes later, eyes closed, he mumbled into her shoulder, “I think I lost consciousness. Have I crushed you?”

  He felt her laugh beneath him. “You’re pretty heavy but if you get up I won’t get to keep stroking your very fine ass.”

  He grunted. “Ah, that’s what woke me.” He looked down into those gorgeous blue eyes and he felt one side of his mouth rise in a smile. He took her mouth once in a gentle claiming kiss then used his quivering thighs to move them further onto the bed, rolling off to the side.

  “So you love me huh?” he asked gliding his palm over her breast, to rest on her stomach.

  “Nah, I just told you that so you’d give me some.”

  At his fierce look, she threw up her hands. “Kidding.”

  It hit them both at the same time—that they could joke under the present circumstances indicated their confidence in each other and in the future.

  “At the risk of repeating myself and it getting old…I do love you. I suspected it might happen that first day.”

  “It’s typical for a victim to fall in love with his police officer.” He rolled his eyes. Her face softened, and she lifted a hand to his chest. “I never thought I’d find someone like you. I always used my brother as a pattern for the man I wanted and from the first, okay, second day you reminded me of him
. Honorable, genuine, brave.”

  “Brave!” he snorted. “Hardly. I was scared shitless of a domestic terrorist.”

  “I’ve told you that’s different. Don’t ever question yourself about that. This is domestic war. As surely as a soldier can get PTSD, victims of this type of activity suffer from prolonged bouts of fear and uncertainty resulting in the same kind of symptoms.

  “And to think when I met you I thought you were a total fake. What a surprise.” Her features sharpened briefly with that cop look. “Please don’t let anything happen to you, Luc. I’d be lost without you.”

  “Come here. I’m going to make sure you don’t dream of anyone or anything but me tonight.”

  His mouth took hers just as she vowed the same for him. He would dream only of her.

  CHAPTER 40

  L uc walked toward the kitchen after taking his shower. He could smell bacon sizzling and he assumed a white egg omelet. “Hey, sweetheart, do you need—” A sound from the front door had him turning and Del going for her gun. She put a hand on his chest though it did little to stop his forward momentum.

  He pushed her aside at the door and looked through the peephole.

  “You big—I’m the cop. Move away,” she whispered harshly. The view out of the tiny hole didn’t reveal anything. Del motioned for Luc to stand against the wall beyond her as she held her gun ready and flipped the lock on the door. “Ready…now.” She swung the door wide and groaned. A mutilated cat lay on the floor in front of her door.

  “Del—on the door,” said Luc from behind her. She turned. Across her door obviously written in the blood of the poor feline were the words, “Stay away from him or this will be you,” and an arrow of red blood that trailed down to the floor.

  “That damn bitch.”

  Del closed the door and locked it then walked straight out to the sliding glass doors. Luc frowned but followed. The destruction that met their eyes when they walked outside on the porch brought a cry from Delilah, but she stood still, her eyes like twin blue flames. Not a single bloom was left on the plants and her prize rose sat under the special grow light covered and dripping in black paint.

  “She’ll pay for this,” she said, her voice low and controlled.

  “I’m so sorry, Del.” Luc set his big hands on her shoulders and pulled her into his embrace. Her body was rigid with anger but eventually she relaxed against him. “If you apologize for that psycho’s actions one more time, I won’t be responsible for what I do, or throw. As a matter of fact, she picked up the crystal vase that had escaped the decimation and reared back to throw it but Luc plucked it from her hand.

  “Don’t, sweetheart. You’ll regret it. It escaped for a reason. Look, I have to go. I’m just pulling her to you. She was here because I was here. You said yourself she doesn’t want to hurt me. So until we catch her, if I stay away you’ll be safe.”

  “It’s not that simple, Luc. She’s out there somewhere and there’s obviously no predicting what she’ll do.”

  Her phone rang. She picked it up as she returned to the kitchen, determined to distract Luc from his line of thinking. “Let’s finish breakfast.”

  Jed called and she put him on speaker while she filled their plates.

  “We’re at Mercy’s. My man said she got here around 8:00 am. Don’t know—”

  “She was here, Jed. She left a note on my front door, and destroyed my rose garden.”

  “God damn it, Del. What if we pick her up?”

  “No. Just keep an eye on that house. Don’t let her go anywhere. I’m going to get the techs over here and get them to take prints. I think we might have gotten lucky.” She looked at Luc. “I think she used her finger to dip in the cat blood to leave her little love note on my door.”

  “That would be just what we need. I’ll let you know if she goes anywhere. And if you or the techs come up with something quickly I can push through for a warrant. Stay on them.”

  She pushed the phone off. “So, for now, we’ve got her. And I think after the techs get done here, we’ll have what we need to pick her up.” She put her arms around Luc’s back, his chin resting on her head.

  He sighed, “It’s about time. How soon will the techs be here?”

  “Probably won’t be long now,” Del said.

  “Okay, I’m going to call Ridge and update him, run by the center and make sure everything’s locked up tight. Thomas is keeping the teens busy at the food bank.” He smiled. “I’ll run home and change, and be back here…” he looked at this watch “… by noon?

  “Call when you get home. I’ll let you know if we have anything. I could have a man follow you…”

  “No, but lock the door until the techs get here and the sliding glass doors, too.” He gave her a hard kiss on the mouth and a hug.

  “Be watchful, Luc.”

  “You, too,” he said and left.

  She watched as he turned the corner then closed the door. Thirty seconds later a light knock sounded. Thinking Luc had forgotten something, she turned the knob. “What di—”

  She recognized the hooded figure at the same time she felt a sharp stab of pain in her side. She was shoved flat against the door in a classic police move. Her limbs wouldn’t respond; the commands her brain was issuing were simply being ignored. A dangerous lethargy stole over her as the figure pushed the hood back. Mercy.

  She should do something but she couldn’t… think. As she flopped forward her eyes spotted the large syringe sticking out of her side, and the long red nails on the other end.

  *

  Luc knew something was wrong as soon as he saw his front door ajar. He ran back to his truck and got his gun from the glove box, chambering a round. Oh, if it were only that simple, he thought, knowing the likelihood that Mercy was still inside was slim.

  He pushed open the front door, moving immediately to the wall looking around the corner into the kitchen. Clear. Taking in the living room from his position he could see no one hiding so he made his way quietly to the office, swinging the door open against the wall with the pressure of one finger. The gym was next. Nothing. He listened for any sound that would tell him someone was in the house. Walking back to the front door, he locked it behind him. He could see where she’d come in, through the broken patio doors off the gym. He locked the sliding doors from the living room to the gym and started up the stairs.

  After going from the first guest room to the bath and then his bedroom he was certain he was alone. Then he let his mind take in Mercy’s mayhem. Red paint, not blood he verified, poured onto his bed, in the shower and, he remembered, on the recliner in the living room, the love seat in his office. Each piece of furniture had been sliced open, the towels in the bathroom shredded.

  His phone was in his hand at once. Del’s phone rang several times then went to voicemail.

  No. She was just in the shower. He called back. Twice. No answer. He didn’t care how mad she got—he dialed Jed’s number.

  “Stern,” Jed answered on the first ring.

  “Jed, I’m at my house. Mercy’s been here. She’s gone now but I can’t get Del on the phone. I’m on my way back over there.”

  “Keep trying her. I’ll meet you there.” He ended the call.

  Luc flew to Delilah’s taking the corners on two wheels, praying he was wrong. But when he got to Del’s, Jed’s vehicle was sitting in front of the door, lights flashing, and Jed strode out of Del’s apartment, phone raised to his ear. “She’s not here. Looks like there was a struggle.”

  As he pushed past Jed into the apartment, he heard him say, “Officer Lyle, I need you to knock on the door and see if the subject is at home. If she doesn’t answer, kick the damn thing in. I’ll take the heat.”

  Luc’s knees gave out as he picked up Del’s cellphone on the table. He fell into a chair and grabbed his head with his hands. Jed walked back through the door. “She’s got Del, Jed. Goddamn, she’s got Del. And it’s my fault.”

  Jed’s hand came to rest on Luc’s shoulder. “Get h
er phone and let’s go. The warrant came through for her house. Lyle says it’s a forensics dream. Maybe we can get a clue as to where she’s taken her.” He half lifted Luc out of the chair. “Come on. We’re not doing her any good here.”

  Luc was stumbling through a haze of fear. He had to think. Follow protocol, he thought. He knew what to do in the face of an attack or an impending calamity. He closed his eyes, concentrated, thought of what Del would do; what he’d been trained to do.

  When he opened his eyes and looked at Jed, the man had been studying him, waiting to see if he was going to lose it. “I’m telling you right now, Jed, if she hurt Del, I’m going to kill her.”

  “You’ll have to beat me to it,” Jed said. They rode in silence, the cruiser eating up the miles to Mercy’s house.

  “I hope she won’t hold all this shit against me when I ask her to marry me.”

  Jed just looked at him, but Luc could read the worry in his eyes.

  CHAPTER 41

  J ed and Luc tried everywhere they could think of. They called Mercy’s false references, searched her house. But even though her bedroom was a forensics nightmare with all kinds of incriminating evidence, pictures, photos, clippings from the Internet, cutouts of Luc’s head on other naked bodies, they didn’t find any leads as to where she might have taken Del.

  They did find a clear indication of her intent—a picture of Del, torn from one of them together in Luc’s bed, with pins in her eyeballs and her heart.

  Luc’s phone beeped and he jumped. Not Del, Ridge. “Yeah, Ridge.”

  “I was just checking to see what’s happening with the investigation.”

  “Mercy’s got Del, Ridge. We’re trying to find her.”

  Ridge swore, “Luc, I didn’t know. But earlier the security system blipped and was reset.” Ridge hadn’t reset it.