by Margaret Kay
“Shepherd is highly trained, is a legend. He served in the special warfare command his entire career. I didn’t know him when I was active duty, but I knew of the work they did. And Cooper told me a lot of things I never knew.”
Diana viewed this woman, impressed with her beyond words. “I would never have guessed that you and Cooper are together. Sam told me you adopted a four-year-old girl from overseas before Christmas last year. How do you do it, this job and be a mom?”
Madison smiled fondly. “Hahna, a precious little miracle. Did Shepherd tell you the circumstances around us finding her?”
Diana shook her head.
“We were on a mission at the Port of Algiers. There were two shipping containers packed with women and girls that would be human trafficked all over Europe. We were there to stop it. There were hundreds of them chained to the floor. The conditions they were being held in were disgusting. Hahna was the youngest. She didn’t know who her parents were or the name of the village she lived in. All she could tell us was that her parents turned her and her older sister over to some men and they were told to do what the men said. When I lifted her into my arms and held her, I knew I couldn’t leave her. I couldn’t risk that would ever happen to her again. I brought her home and Shepherd called in some favors with the State Department. John and I were given legal custody of her.”
“Don’t you worry about getting hurt or killed doing this job? And then what happens to her?”
“We have to do this job, to help more people like her. Don’t you understand that? Those of us who can, must. And Doc’s wife Elizabeth takes care of her when we are working. She is as equally a part of that family as she is ours. She even has her own bedroom at Elizabeth and Doc’s house. She’s loved and cared for when John and I can’t be with her. And if anything should ever happen to us, Elizabeth will always take care of her with the help of the rest of the team and their wives. You haven’t met Elizabeth yet, have you?”
“No, I haven’t.”
“We need to change that. You need to meet the rest of the wives too. They’re a special group of women, strong and supportive, close friends. And they’ve all been through something terrifying and have gotten through it with each other’s help. That’s if you plan to stick around after this.”
Diana gazed at her while she processed that statement. She had no idea what that meant. And she had not even thought about if she would stay with Sam or not because of this.
Madison watched her for several long, silent seconds. “You do plan to stay with Shepherd, don’t you? This wasn’t his fault, and no one can protect you like he can.”
“I haven’t even thought that far ahead,” Diana admitted.
In his office, Shepherd disconnected the second of the six calls he would make. Cooper sat at the conference table with him. Doc was dropping Diana’s car off at a garage they used. It would be inspected for a tracking device. Jackson and Garcia followed him there to give him a ride back to HQ. They would join them in Shepherd’s office when they returned.
Shepherd dialed Dale Avers, Homeland Security. Just as he had the two previous calls with Mason and Manning, he put the Deputy Secretary on speaker. “What can I do for you, Shepherd,” Avers’ Massachusetts accented voice blasted into the room.
“I have you on speaker. Cooper is in the room.”
“It’s late, gentlemen. I take it this isn’t a social call.”
“Affirmative,” Shepherd replied. “I need you to put some feelers out. I was personally attacked tonight. There has to be some intelligence out there regarding it.”
“What do you mean you were attacked? At your building?”
“No, I was at a cabin in the woods on a secluded lake in Wisconsin. Three fuckers, that I saw. Got one of them, hope to get intel on him off his prints or DNA. A CUT Team has his remains and is just finishing up at the scene. I know I clipped a second one. He must have gotten away. And we’ve got a third in custody, hope to get intel out of him, but he is wounded pretty bad.”
“Fuck,” Avers cursed. “You know I’ll find out what I can. Since when, do you go to a fucking cabin in Wisconsin?”
Shepherd chuckled. “My movements are none of your goddamned business.”
Avers laughed heartily. “You seriously don’t have a clue who they were?”
“No, they had no ID, not that I expected they would. We haven’t had the chance to run the prints yet. We may know something in a few hours.”
“Or you might not if they were pros,” Avers said.
“That’s what I like most about you, Avers, you’re always rainbows and sunshine,” Shepherd said.
He chuckled. “It’s called being realistic. Who do you think it was?”
“Take your pick of bad actors,” Shepherd said. His voice was cynical but laced with truth. He knew he had enemies, and some of them knew right where to find him.
“I’ll call when I know something. Kindly do the same,” Avers said before disconnecting.
He dialed SecNav next. “Sonofabitch, Shepherd,” he answered. “Have you found out who came after you yet?”
Shepherd watched the smirk form on Cooper’s face. “Who told you?”
“Mason, the CIA is taking this attack on you very seriously. He called me shortly after getting off the phone with you. What do you need?”
“Any intel that Military Intelligence comes across.”
“Done,” Chamberlin guaranteed. “We’ve already reached out to every contact. I’ll let you know if we get anything.”
“Thank you, Mister Secretary,” Shepherd said as the door to his office opened and Doc, Jackson, and Garcia came through, re-closing the door behind themselves. He disconnected the call.
“Anyone have any intel on this?” Garcia asked.
“No,” Cooper confirmed. “Garcia, get your fingers on a keyboard and see what you can find.”
Garcia glanced at both Cooper and Shepherd. “So, we were talking on the way back. I need to do a deeper dive into Diana and her recent movements, contacts, phone records, you name it.”
Fire seared Shepherd’s brain and he couldn’t see straight. “Do you seriously think Diana could have had something to do with this?” His voice was a low growl.
“No, but she needs to be ruled out,” Garcia said. “Besides this team and a couple of Ops analysts, no one else knew that you would be out of the office this weekend.”
“He’s right,” Cooper said. “I know you don’t want to think she could have had anything to do with the attack, and she probably didn’t. But if it were anyone else, you’d order the investigation.”
Shepherd looked into Garcia’s dark eyes. “Do it.”
Garcia nodded and left the room.
“Where is she?” Jackson asked.
“In the penthouse. Madison is with her.”
“She needs you,” Jackson said. “We’ll handle everything from here and we’ll let you know when there is any word.”
“Jackson’s right,” Doc said. “And call Lassiter if she needs him. This had to scare the shit out of her.”
Shepherd glanced at each of their faces. Cooper nodded. “How much did she know about us before this?”
“Not nearly enough to understand,” Shepherd confirmed.
“Then I guess you got some splanin’ to do,” Cooper said in his best Ricky Ricardo voice, referencing the old I Love Lucy show that Madison still liked to watch the old reruns of.
Shepherd chuckled. “Yeah, that I do.”
“I’ll get a hold of Whiting and get the FBI on this as well. Go be with Diana,” Cooper urged.
“Thanks,” Shepherd said. He came to his feet. “Keep me informed, no matter what time you hear anything.”
On the short elevator ride up, Shepherd thought about what he’d tell Diana about Shepherd Security. These were not the circumstances he wanted to have this conversation under, but that was irrelevant at this point. He wanted Diana in his life. He hoped this wouldn’t make her bolt. Though, he wouldn’t blame h
er if she did. She had to feel that he had been dishonest with her about who he really was and what the agency actually did. He could only hope that she would understand that it was classified and couldn’t be disclosed before now.
He pushed through the door to find Diana and Madison seated on his couch, drinking what looked like his best bourbon. Diana looked exhausted. “That looks like a good idea. I hope you left me some.”
He returned with his own glass a minute later. Madison stood near the door. “Are you here to stay for the night?”
“Yes, thank you for keeping her company. Cooper is staying the night in his office to follow up on the investigation.”
“I assume Garcia is holed up someplace with a computer?”
Shepherd chuckled. “That he is.”
“I’ll pop in and see if he needs a hand.” Her gaze shifted to Diana. “Take it easy tonight. I’ll talk to you later.”
Diana watched Madison leave and close the door behind her. Sam came over to the couch and sat beside her. He took hold of her hand. She stared into his eyes, not knowing exactly how she felt or what to say. After a few quiet seconds, she placed her glass on the table and then wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Diana, I am so sorry this happened.” He held her tightly. “Are you okay?” He heard her loud exhale of breath.
“I will be,” she whispered.
“What can I do?”
“Just this.” She laid her head against his chest.
Shepherd sat and just held her for a good five minutes. Then he shifted their position so that he could gaze into her eyes. “I’m sure you feel I have been less than honest with you about my team and the agency. Ask me anything and I will tell you the truth.”
“Madison said that what you do is classified top secret by the government.”
“Yes. Most of the missions my team is contracted for involve matters of national security.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
Shepherd nodded. “Of course, I was. And very soon. It is why I wanted us to spend so much time together, to know for sure if this would last.”
“Better to know before you divulged anything to me, huh?”
“Something like that,” he admitted.
“How did you know we were in danger?”
“Just instinct,” he replied. “The sounds in the trees changed. The animal sounds hushed, as they only do when a human or a predator is in the area. Branches cracked from human footsteps, a much different sound than when animals move around. That drew my attention. I saw the movement of a person where no one should have been. And I was pretty sure I saw a weapon.”
“No one has ever tried to kill me before,” she said. “I have never been that afraid. Hearing the gunshots and not knowing what was going on, if you were alive or dead, was the worst. I’ve never prayed that hard in my life.”
Shepherd’s lips curved into a small smile. “The prayers must have worked.”
She sighed loudly as a smile rounded her lips and tears filled her eyes. She embraced him fiercely. “I don’t know what I would have done if you’d been killed. You hid me but put yourself in danger.”
He pulled her away and then cupped her face with both his hands. He kissed her deeply, a raw conveyance of his emotions. They were both breathless when their lips parted. “If I failed to protect you and anything happened to you, there would be no reason left for me to live. I love you, Diana, so yes, I’d do anything to protect you.”
“You love me?” She repeated, overwhelmed by his declaration.
“With all my heart,” he admitted. “I cannot even imagine my life without you in it.” He gazed into her eyes, searching for her feelings.
“I love you too. I’ve known I do for a while.”
Warmth spread through him, just hearing those words. He crashed his lips against hers and didn’t stop kissing her until he made love to her right there on the couch. It was fast, primal, feral. It was a release and a declaration of ownership. It was a joining, an announcement. And it was intense.
After, they laid together naked, wrapped in that soft gray blanket. His hand lightly stroked over her hip and ass where he held her. Diana’s head lay on his chest and she heard his heartbeat. Her fingers combed through the hair on his chest and she felt content, a stark contradiction to the panic and fear she’d experienced earlier.
“Madison told me about Hahna and rescuing her from the Port of Algiers. The work you do is important.”
“It is. A lot of people are alive because of my team, Hahna included.”
“Tonight, they rescued us too. Doc told me he got to your side within minutes after you’d been shot. He saved your life five years ago and would have done the same tonight. The people who work for you are heroes. You are a hero, too. Your actions tonight were brave and heroic.”
Shepherd chuckled. She heard it through his chest.
“I don’t know about that. I acted, what anyone would do, self-preservation.”
“With the training and skills that most people don’t have. I want to know it all. I want to know just how dangerous your job really is.”
Shepherd spent a half hour giving her an overview of the types of missions his team engaged in. He kept it high level and as general as possible. But he gave her enough information to have a clear picture.
“Do you remember that night you asked me to step out of the room so you could take a phone call?” She asked.
Shepherd sighed. “You got pissed at me and we nearly didn’t stand a chance after it. Of course, I remember.”
“Tell me about that call.”
He told her all about it, including the outcome of the mission. He omitted Augie’s name, but concluded by telling her that he had been transferred back into the U.S. Marshals’ hands and was relocated with a new identity pending testifying at the trial at some point in the future.
“And when the call came in that night when I was in the room, you knew they were contacting you with a job,” she said.
“Yes. When I’m contacted, it’s never to shoot the shit. Someone is in trouble and my team is needed.”
“I asked Madison if she was afraid that she’d be hurt or killed doing this job and if she worried about who would take care of Hahna if something happened to her. She said something surprising. She said that she has to do this job to save more people like Hahna. She said that those who can, must. I didn’t understand it when she said it, but I do now.”
“Every member of this team understands what’s at stake every time they go out on a mission, both for themselves and for whoever it is they are being sent to rescue or apprehend. And as far as Hahna goes, or any of the wives or kids of the team members, they will always be taken care of, by me and everyone else associated with this team. Do you remember when I told you that we were a family, this team?”
“Yes, I remember everything you have ever said. Let’s just say you have always had my complete attention.” She pressed a wet kiss to his chest.
Shepherd liked the sound of that. “Well, that was what I meant. These people are close, have each other’s backs, always.”
“Madison wants to introduce me to Elizabeth and the other wives.”
“I think that’s a great idea. They are a special group of women to be with the Operators. Fierce doesn’t even come close to describing each of them.”
She saw the smile on his face and knew that he believed what he was saying. “I’d say knowing what the man they love does for a living, a woman would have to be fierce to keep her sanity.”
“They all know the team is highly trained. They have faith that they take care of each other. And they are all very close, spend a lot of time together when they are not working. Two of the men, Sloan and Sherman got married in a double wedding ceremony this past winter and then their entire team went on the honeymoon trip together, all eight of them.”
Diana laughed. “All eight of them? Now that is weirdly close.”
“There were some special circumstan
ces at play, but yes, I’d say Brielle and Kaylee, their wives, were very understanding to share their honeymoon trips with everyone else.”
Diana yawned deeply.
“Come on, let’s go to bed. We may be awakened with a notification that the team has some info on whoever it was that came after us.”
Diana pulled herself to her feet. “You will let me know when you know something, won’t you?”
Shepherd swept the hair from her forehead as he gazed into her beautiful, soft blue eyes. “You better believe I will. You’ve been fully read in now. No more secrets.”