by Lora Leigh
He rose from the bed, naked and powerful.
Tehya watched as he moved around the bed until he reached her. Gripping her shoulders, he pulled her to her feet and unbelted the robe slowly.
“It’s time to sleep, baby,” he told her gently as he removed the silk and pressed her back down to the bed. “Come on, Tehya, lie with me just a little bit longer. We’ll argue the pros and cons of the game on the way to D.C.”
He pulled the sheet over them after he climbed in beside her and wrapped his arms around her once again.
“We need to discuss this,” she argued helplessly as he held her to him. She had never been very good at arguing with Jordan when he refused to argue back. “Jordan, you’re being too damned stubborn.”
“I’m being logical. I’m really good at that Tehya, I promise.”
She lay there, staring into the darkness, listening to the heavy, sluggish beat of her heart, the panic threatening to choke her, and knew that the final battle she had been putting off all her life was nearing.
But as he said. Jordan always really good when it came to the logic thing and to his plans. He checked every angle, and then every nook and cranny that those angles could present. He was her best chance at survival and she knew it, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.
*
Jordan was aware of the fears that haunted Tehya. As he held her close, simply sharing his warmth, he tried to give her the time she needed to come to grips with the operation they were preparing for as well as the past she had been trying so hard to avoid.
He could feel her heart beating hard and heavy as he stroked her back, and he knew the urge to run, to hide, was nearly more than she could fight. That was all Tehya had ever known for safety, to find a hole and dig in.
The time for hiding was over, though. Whoever had found her, whoever had taken the time and the effort, not to mention the danger, of looking into the explosion in Afghanistan, wouldn’t stop.
They had tracked her to Hagerstown, and then had decided to watch her rather than striking. They wanted something from her. Otherwise they would have struck by now. Jordan had run enough ops both as a SEAL and as commander of Elite Ops team, that he recognized the signs.
Tehya wasn’t seeing it for what it was because the memories of the past, the blood and death, were all she could see.
Jordan was considering everything, though, and the fact that there were no answers, that there were no clear avenues to follow, sent a chill racing up his spine. Hiding wasn’t as easy as many thought it should be. Especially when one hired henchmen like Arthur and Tenneyson. Someone somewhere, a rumor, a drunken employee. There should have been some kind of information, at least one name to indicate who was behind it.
“Why are you here now?” she whispered into the darkness, confusion thick in the soft question.
“Why now what?” He allowed a finger to wrap around a silken curl that trailed down her back.
“Why are you in my bed now, Jordan? And why are you so determined to save me?”
The confusion in her voice was genuine, as though she couldn’t understand why he would care. Damn her, he was going to end up with gray hair where she was concerned.
“Why do you think I allowed you into the Elite Ops?” he asked quietly. “You were a civilian, Tehya. The daughter of a known terrorist and white slaver. You could have been a hell of a risk. Why would I allow that?”
He felt her tense in his arms, and hated knowing that the question reminded her of things he realized she wanted to forget.
“Because it was what Kira and Ian wanted.” The decisiveness in her tone indicated that she fully believed that.
He chuckled lightly. “Yes, they definitely pushed for it. But Tehya, I could have said no. They wouldn’t have liked it. They would have been pissed, but they would have still done their jobs.”
He felt her tense marginally, as though she were considering his explanation.
“Then why did you?” Once again her voice echoed with her bemusement.
She truly didn’t know.
“Because I wanted to ensure no other man touched you,” he said, his hand tightening on her hip to drag her back against the hardening shaft between his thighs. “Because Tehya, as much as I fucking hated it, I couldn’t get you out of my head.”
And it was no more than the truth.
He could have easily told Tehya no. He wasn’t above it. Nothing should have come above the team itself. But Tehya had, and for six years that had been the only defense he had against her. The knowledge that she was his weakness.
As she moved to turn to him, a screaming, high-pitched alarm began tearing through the house.
“Someone’s coming in.” Tehya was moving instantly, adrenaline kicking in, fear driven out by carefully programmed instinctive responses. The instinct to survive, combined with six years of rigorous training exercises.
Following Tehya, Jordan rolled from the bed.
Within seconds they were both dressed and rushing for the bedroom door.
Weapons were held ready in their hands as they each slung a smaller pack that held extra weapons and ammo over their shoulders. Tehya had grabbed her go bag from the closet, while Jordan slung the large pack, with the more powerful weapons, over his shoulder with the smaller pack.
Jordan jerked a set of communications links from the side pocket of the bag. He activated them quickly before handing Tehya one, a second before attaching the small earbud into his own ear and activating the line, even as they raced from the bedroom.
As they raced through the doorway, the sound of the alarm abruptly stilled, and at the same moment glass exploded into the room as the sound of an explosive charge filled the room.
Jordan felt the bite of icy fury surging through him as he pushed Tehya quickly ahead of him, covering her with the automatic Uzi he carried over his shoulder.
Micah was barking satellite heat signatures into the communication link as automatic fire was returned, blasting through the shattered patio doors and tearing into the drywall and wood that covered the walls.
“Move!” Tehya yelled, surprising him from her position at the door to the garage as she began laying cover fire from an obviously converted P-90 Personal Defense Weapon.
He didn’t make her wait.
Throwing himself across the kitchen, away from the flimsy protection of the refrigerator, Jordan rushed through the doorway before pulling her after him.
Just in time. The return fire tore chunks from the doorframe, pelting them through the exit as Jordan threw them both to the floor.
Tehya felt a sharp bite in her right shoulder, but she didn’t cry out.
In the next second he gripped her arm, pulling her along the floor as quickly as possible to the exit.
“Micah, are you in place?” he barked into the link.
“We’re pulling in now,” Micah responded sharply.
“We’re at the door. Do you need assist?”
“Get ready to roll, they’ll be right behind us.”
Gripping the doorknob, the door was pushed open as the metal door on the other side of the room exploded inward.
Helping hands jerked Tehya into the armored black Hummer before Jordan followed, throwing himself as Micah hit the gas and tore out of the driveway.
“They were watching for assistance,” Noah reported as automatic gunfire hit the outside of the Hummer before Micah took a sharp curve, putting trees, homes, and vehicles between them and the gunfire.
“We had to take out three of the bastards to get into the driveway,” Noah continued, turning in the passenger seat to stare back at Jordan. “We were delayed getting to you because of that.”
“Satellite imagery borrowed from a nearby base showed four coming in from the patio, three through the bedroom window, three moving along the driveway entrance, two heading to the garage, and two covering the enclosed van parked on a back street just down from the house. We were able to take out the van, those at the driveway and moving on th
e garage. There was no way to halt the attack on the house.” Noah looked at Tehya where she sat between Jordan and Nik as he apologized.
Jordan watched as she gave a sharp shake of her head.
Her hand lifted to cover her shaking lips. “It’s okay, Noah,” she whispered hoarsely.
But it wasn’t okay, and Jordan knew it.
“Noah, monitor the police channels. Did you leave bodies?”
Noah stared back at him with knowing mockery. “I left trackers on the vehicles.”
Of course he hadn’t left bodies, just as they hadn’t allowed any of the assailants to see who had shot back, wounding their men. A few possibly fatally, but they would still have enough life left in them to get out of the area before witnesses arrived.
“They were moving into the driveway when Noah and I slipped in,” Nik said. “I couldn’t get in position fast enough so I elected to take those coming in behind the garage instead.”
“They moved in stages, Jordan,” Micah reported. “They were looking to see what defenses she had. They hit the patio first, then moved into the driveway exit, then the back garage door. It was well coordinated, armed, and manned, with about two-minute intervals set between each.”
“Did they suspect we were there?” Noah questioned. “Ten men is a lot for one little girl.”
The pain was like an inferno tearing through her sensitive flesh, but it wasn’t the first time that had happened. She had taken her first flesh wound at age twelve and her first bullet at fifteen. She hadn’t forgotten what it felt like. But this time, it didn’t incapacitate her.
“You can thank the little girl for that,” Micah grunted, glancing in the mirror once again. “Until her disappearance into the Elite Ops, Tehya Talamosi was well known for her ability to do serious harm to the men sent after her.”
Jordan glanced over at her once again to catch the quick blinking of her eyes and the sheen of moisture on her cheeks.
“They suspected I had help. Then next time, they will come prepared.”
“They suspected,” Jordan affirmed. “There’s no doubt in my mind they knew. I’m just very, very curious how they knew, because it’s not possible we were seen.”
He knew his men.
“We never saw them either,” Noah pointed out. “Yet, they knew when she left the house.”
“They know too much,” Jordan agreed. “It’s time we figure out how they know, what they know, and who they’re telling.”
As they discussed security, logistics, and plans, Tehya found herself deliberately blocking them out. It was that or begin screaming, howling from the pain, both emotional as well as physical.
The flesh wound on her right shoulder was nothing compared to the agony tearing through her heart, though.
Her house. Her home.
It was destroyed.
Her little patio, her beautiful little kitchen.
Her wide open living room.
It was all ruined.
She stared straight ahead and tried not to think about her house. The thick, soft rugs she had spent so much time searching for, the comfortable furniture she had bought with relaxing laziness in mind, the gleaming wood floors that she polished once a week.
It had been her haven, and now that haven had been taken from her.
Her throat was tight with unshed tears, her insides vibrating with rage at the thought of strangers tromping through her home.
Her home.
She had had so little in the past that she could call her own. For the first time, she had believed she could finally live rather than simply exist.
How wrong she had been.
“Are you okay?” Jordan was looking down at her. Obviously becoming concerned as she sat silently beside him.
Could he see the paleness of her skin, possibly the glitter of tears in her eyes? At least he couldn’t see the blood slowly easing down her arm.
“I’m fine.” It took effort to make herself sound normal. To hold back the tears that wanted so desperately to fall. She sounded hoarse instead, and a few tears had escaped.
She’d learned long ago, a lifetime ago, that tears didn’t help, the pain didn’t abate because they were shed. Not the pain in her heart or the pain from a gunshot.
“Sure?” His fingers tucked beneath her chin in a gesture that she should look up.
“I’m fine.” She pulled from him easily before staring ahead once again.
From her side, she heard the subtle little growl from Nik, an indication of disappointment, or disapproval. But thankfully, if he had glimpsed the wound, he was keeping his mouth shut.
“Boss, long-range link.” Noah handed Jordan the larger satellite-connected link. “We have backup online.”
“Who’s backup?” she asked Nik quietly, wondering if the team attached to the Elite Ops for ten years was the same team providing backup now.
“We have a small team of marines currently on leave. Emergency backup. We’ve had them waiting in case they were needed.”
For a group that wasn’t government backed or government funded, the Elite Ops had always had several military groups as well as advanced weapons at their disposal.
“They got away.” The satellite-communications link was jerked from his head minutes later and thrown carelessly to Noah who caught it easily. “Son of a bitch. That would have never happened if Clint and Reno were here.”
They got away. Everyone of them.
Tehya stared through the windshield ahead and drew in a deep, shaky breath.
Whoever had invaded her home, whoever had torn aside the shield of safety and security that she had built for herself over the past months, had escaped.
“The team has the house secured and are checking the doors for prints but my guess is they’re going to come up empty,” Noah spoke then, obviously listening on his own link. “The team commander is dealing with the authorities as Tehya’s cousin. Everything’s covered.”
Tehya gripped her arm tighter. The hard thudding of her heart was pushing blood through her veins and straight to the wound. She could feel the liquid dripping to her jeans, dampening her thigh. She could feel her heart breaking, raging. They had dared to attack her home.
“Head to D.C.,” Jordan ordered Micah. “Let’s get her secured, then we can figure out the rest of it.”
Tehya shook her head.
She felt her breathing hitch, felt the tears want to fall. She could feel the blood at her temple as it eased down her cheek from where the splinters from the bullet striking the door frame had slashed her skin.
The wound in her chest hurt worse, though. Her heart.
Someone had stolen her home from her, not just invaded it.
“Why wait this long to strike?” Micah asked as he hit the interstate heading to D.C. “She said herself she felt she was being followed for weeks. Why not attempt to take her sooner, before she had help? Or hell, when she least expected it?”
“They know she has help.” Tehya felt Jordan lift his arm to rub at the back of his neck in irritation. “I was careful coming in and I haven’t left her house since arriving. Either they saw one or more of us going in or the house is wired.”
“The house isn’t wired. I checked while she was at the bar,” Noah said.
“We’re not going to figure this out now.” Jordan’s tone was savage. “We will figure this out though, and we’ll figure out who’s behind it.”
“Then we really get to have fun,” Micah mused as they sped toward D.C. and the plan Jordan had obviously decided to put in place.
Tehya stared down at her lap, her eyes closing momentarily.
Someone was playing with her, she decided. A cat-and-mouse game in which they had decided to raise the stakes with this attack because they feared she would soon have protection. They had to have suspected or known Jordan was there, that was the only answer.
“Whatever they have in mind, let’s see if we can’t up the ante for them,” Jordan decided.
“We weren’t seen,” Noah a
ssured him. “We were still pulling together the backup team when her alarm went off, triggering the alert I placed on my cell phone. We barely arrived in time to catch that second team. We wouldn’t have if we had actually moved farther than just down the street.”
“They knew when to attack,” Tehya stated faintly. “Are you certain we’re not being followed?”
“We’re not being followed.” Micah gave a quick shake of his head. “We were out of there before anyone could catch us. Trust me, Tehya, no one’s following us and there’s no tracker on us, you should know better than that.”
Yes, she knew better than to doubt the fact that the team knew exactly how to protect her.
“I knew better, Micah.” Her smile, directed at the rearview mirror, betrayed her by shaking perilously. “I’m sorry.”
“We’re an hour and a half from D.C.,” Noah said then, quietly. “You can make it up to me when we get there by making Jordan chill out for the night. You know how he tries to work us into the ground just because he’s pissed.”
“I’ll be sure to do that,” she promised, her voice still too raspy.
“An hour and a half is too long.”
Tehya felt her breath stop in her chest as Nik spoke up then, his voice a harsh, dangerous growl.
Jordan shifted to stare over her head at the other man.
“She’s been shot, Jordan,” he said.
CHAPTER 8
She was fine.
She was fine.
Jordan had to keep repeating the words to himself as he they made the drive to D.C.
A quick stop to ascertain the damage, then Nik had taken the front passenger seat for Noah who moved to the far back as Jordan quickly bandaged the arm while Micah drove.
Had the assailants meant to strike her?
Jordan couldn’t help but think that they hadn’t. For some reason, the bullets had seemed carefully placed. As though the wound was meant to confuse and frighten her, nothing more. Make her vulnerable and easy to capture.
The low-level explosion in her living room had been more for effect and noise than anything else. Each move had been designed for one purpose, to corral her. To weaken and disorient her.