by Billi Jean
Drops of sweat dripped down his dark hair line, through his sideburns, and along his jaw as he turned her arm this way then the other with the torture he inflicted. He stopped pouring the liquid from hell, but then she felt more trickle over the wound, then he pressed a cloth right against her raw flesh. His jaw bunched, and the sweat rolling down his cheek followed a new path along the tight muscle. He clenched his teeth and blew out his beautiful nose, firming his lips to thin lines of pain as he worked.
Her own pain made her stomach sick, but she counted the seconds and concentrated on being somewhere other than where she was. She pictured Robert in a bed, under a tropical moon, making love to her with the sound of the waves crashing nearby.
She opened her eyes, breathing steadily again, and met his worried look. She braced herself for more pain as he nodded.
“Go on,” she whispered, already torn from her fantasy beach session. Another douse of peroxide scorched her skin and she was surprised she didn’t smell anything burning as the pain reached a new level, then tapered off with a cool splash of water, she assumed. Seconds later, she breathed out deeply, tears springing to her eyes.
“Done, all done. It’s good. It’s going to be good. It’s all over now, Kris, all over.” He sounded more like he spoke to himself than her.
She reached out and caressed his shoulder. “I know, it wasn’t that bad,” she assured him, her voice only wobbling a bit to put that lie to the test.
He snorted. “It was that bad, it was worse than bad. No more getting hurt. I never want to go through that again,” he breathed with such feeling she smiled through the pain.
“Okay, I’ll put that down as a requirement, okay?”
He finished with her new bandage, much less tight around her arm, before he met her eyes. His were red, so intense with emotion she held her breath. He carefully pulled her into his arms, making sure her arm was untouched and held her. His breathing was so deep, she knew he was battling something she couldn’t understand—fear maybe? She caressed her unhurt hand up and down his strong back and soaked in his warmth.
Slowly her arm felt better. Well, she thought, not better, but at least the throbbing eased and it didn’t hurt nearly as bad. After a bit longer, he breathed her name and turned his head to press a kiss to her temple.
“Don’t do this to me again,” he said with feeling.
“I won’t.” The words came out automatically and she smiled into his cheek laughing lightly at the promise.
“Don’t, just don’t. I can’t do this again. I know you want to come with me, but hell if I can chance you again like this. You could have been killed, Kris.”
He tightened his arms around her until it almost hurt, but she didn’t stop him.
“I don’t want you getting hurt either.”
He sighed at her words as if he’d wanted her to argue. “I know,” was all he said.
With one more kiss to her hair, he pulled up and looked at her. He examined her face like he saw something he wanted to memorise. Her heart clenched tight in her chest. He’ll leave now, won’t he?
“We stay together. I can protect you better if you’re right here, by my side. But I need a damn weapon.”
“I’m sorry, I thought—”
“Shh, I know and if I had been a mobster, throwing my weapons in the snow would have been one hell of a good move.” He snorted again and sat back. “I need a phone. You think Sam has one?”
“A cell phone?” she asked and shook her head. “Not a chance, but the college will have one or I can buy one at a store.”
“Going near a store is out for now. They have me pegged for flaming some house. You’ll be on the six o’clock news as my accomplice by tonight.”
Stunned, she could only stare at him. Then, slowly, she said, “Bonnie and Clyde, huh?”
He shook his head but the smile he gave her erased some of his tension. He took a deep breath and rubbed his hair as he exhaled as if he didn’t know what to do with her. “Darling, you have been too sheltered if you think this fun.”
“Oh, it’s not fun. I know it’s dangerous,” she said quickly. “I don’t want you to think I want this kind of excitement in my life. I was hoping,” she paused and called up all her courage. He had said he wanted a new life. A life with her, she reminded herself. “I kinda hoped this would be it, no more of this kind of thing for you.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, leaning back into her bubble of space so their noses nearly touched. His eyes had gone lighter, the slightly darker grey one nearly matching the blue.
“Missions. War. All this—” She waved with her good hand, careful of her wounded one. “I kinda thought we could live at the cabin or—”
He cut her off by leaning closer, close enough to graze her lips with his. “I kinda agree with that,” he teased, keeping her trapped with the intensity in his eyes. “I want a whole lot more than that. We get this done. If not, I’m still hanging up the towel, darling. Someone else can take over destroying this damn science and keeping it out of the right or wrong hands.”
“Oh,” she said, when he seemed to be waiting for her to say something.
His gaze zeroed on her lips with that intensity she knew meant he was going to kiss her. She held her breath, seeing that vision of him, on the beach with the moon over his shoulder as he bent over her. “What do you think of beach vacations?”
He blinked. Then slowly, a smile so sexy she shivered crossed his face. Her wound forgotten, she leaned in and sucked his lower lip, then kissed him. The familiar heat blossomed in her body as he cupped her head with one hand and led her through a kiss that burned her into a simmering pool of need.
“I like beach vacations just fine,” he murmured against her lips. “Anywhere you want to go, darling, I’ll take you, but right now, we need to stop before we get out of control. That arm of yours is not getting hurt by jarring it with sex, no matter how hot you kiss me.”
She laughed at that and kissed him once more just because she could.
A second later they both jumped, her more, she noticed, as the sound of a truck registered through the passion.
“Damn man has some kind of timing, doesn’t he?” Robert grumbled.
“Well, the sooner we get this done…”
He zeroed in on her face. “The sooner we can begin.”
“I was thinking the same thing, although my mind was on the millions of ways you can make love to me without your big guy jarring my arm.”
He jerked his head back a tiny bit in surprise then bent right in and kissed her again.
“I can do that.”
“I just bet you can, Ironman.”
* * * *
Eric got in the SUV, taking a seat next to Duke. The man nodded cool as hell at him and signalled for the driver to head out.
“I see that you’ve found the location of the disk and the man,” Duke said as a way of greeting. “I’m pleased.”
“McNeil won’t be a problem much longer,” Eric assured him, already planning on what he’d do to the little Latin hottie as payback for making him freeze his ass out here. She’d do nicely, especially after she had watched McNeil die.
“Good, that’s good. This mission has been educational, hasn’t it?”
He glanced at Duke for the question and frowned. “How so?”
“My men. Did they prove to be useful?” Duke asked, studying Eric for his answer as he spoke.
Eric grimaced. “They will be, but first they need more combat experience. Time in the gym is good, but we should work on their skills outside of that,” Eric said, judging Duke’s reaction.
The man seemed pleased, so he went on. “It’s not enough to be strong and agile. They need to be capable. Take the man I set up at the cabin. He had a simple mission. Locate McNeil, report on his whereabouts and let me decide what to do. Simple,” Eric griped. “But he’d blown it, checking the barn first and let them get away out a back window while he piddled around getting in the front.”
“Ah, and you can train my men to be better at this?”
“Absolutely. You give me the lead on this and I’ll get you a reputation we can both cash in on.”
Duke smiled slowly at that, no doubt seeing the money making scheme for what it was. Bonus bucks.
“I’m glad you came on this mission. I’ve learned a great deal from your work so far. Sonya has also made it clear that you’re a man who can take risks. Take the lead at the campus. I want you front and centre to show my men what a real soldier can do.”
Eric settled back in his seat, hearing the compliment for what it was. Pay day. And Sonya, huh? She’d noticed he was a risk taker. It sounded like she might be ready for him, maybe more than ready, finally wanting what only he could deliver.
“I’ll show them things they wished they could do,” he said, thinking more on what he’d do to the haughty Russian than the men he needed to train. “Patience always pays off.”
“Ah, yes, patience is a skill all hunters should possess.”
Hunters. Yeah, he was that. He always bagged his game too. “Trust me, Duke, McNeil is as good as dead or I’m not worth my weight in gold, man.”
Duke laughed softly at the joke and handed him a fancy bottle of water.
All was right in the world, Eric knew, especially since he had the boss by the balls. He’d be running this show soon enough. Then he just might be worth his weight in gold.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Robert accessed the dark parking lot area for the tenth time before he allowed Kris out from under the blankets they’d both hidden under in Sam’s back seat. The four-door Ford truck was a mess of old leather, shoeing tools, and smelt like horses and one big, clean smelling comforter Sam had spread over him and Kris.
He’d kept Kris from moving the rest of the day, making her rest instead. She’d been very unhappy to have to suffocate as she called it but it was a good thing they had because there had been road blocks that Sam had been nodded through. Most likely they’d been let go without a search because it was so late at night, but Robert wasn’t betting on just that. If he’d tried to get off that mountain earlier, he was certain they’d have been caught, or worse, he would have had to kill to get them off the mountain.
Still, he mused, they’d made it. Now, he scanned the campus parking lot glad to see it was deserted except for a car parked nearer to a side entrance than the back entrance Kris had directed Sam to. She’d grumbled the entire time about being under the blanket when he’d moved out to help guide Sam, but he’d not let her up. The mean woman had even pinched him once to get his attention.
She pushed up from the blankets, her warm dark hair a mess of loose curly tangles half over her flushed face. She blew it off with a frustrated breath and he didn’t have to be a damn rocket scientist to know she was pissed off. Most of her long hair fell right back over her face. He reached down and carefully shifted the silky mass over and out of her eyes. If he had to guess she wasn’t going to forgive him that easily.
“So, I’m finally allowed to breathe again?”
He kept his mouth shut on that one, thinking of other ways he might make her breathless but too smart to endanger any future daily doses of her lips on his big guy.
When he didn’t answer, she narrowed her eyes. He tried to keep a straight face while he eased her up from the floor of the truck.
“It wasn’t safe until I could see where you wanted us to go. I know it was uncomfortable, but it keep my mind focused on the area and not protecting you.”
She snorted, sounding so much like him, he couldn’t help the grin. “I told you I would be hard to work with on this,” he said.
“You did not! You’ve never said—”
“I guess I thought it, then. Now, it’s clear here, should we go in?”
She snapped her pink lips closed and pressed them into a firm line that simply made her more adorable and the always present urge to kiss her grow. He shot that down and watched her slowly look around and finally nod.
“This is a building I never worked in. There’s a computer lab buried in there that no one uses and especially not this early in the morning. We will be alone. And I’ve not been here in a long time. Those were the points you wanted, right?”
He kept the grin from his face by sheer stubbornness and instead took her hand and smoothed his thumb over her knuckles and thought about how lucky he was she was alive to give him the sarcasm. “Yep, that’s perfect, darling.”
Sam had remained suspiciously silent in the front seat, but he must have been watching them because he whistled.
“Damn, you are one hell of a brave man,” he muttered. “Here’s where I’ll stay, so hurry this up, this old truck will overheat if I sit here too long.”
“We’ll be as quick as we can. No more than a few hours at the most. If we’re longer, you might as well head out because that means we’re not coming back this way,” Robert told him, already planning out what they needed to get done. “We get this kid’s location right after we make sure he didn’t send anything through the net. Then we head there. Wait for us here, until it’s daylight out, then take off. We’ll be safe, but we’ll have taken another route.”
Sam frowned at him for that but nodded once. Kris threaded their fingers and he focused on her worried look.
“Only if things go wrong and we need another way out. Sam will be fine,” he assured her.
“Oh, hell, I’ll be more than fine. I brought a book.” Sam held up an old paperback. “Just head on out, Kris, and remember to do what he says. A man like Robert knows how to keep you safe. I’m sure he won’t let you get shot on his watch again. Here,” he said, handing Robert a pistol older than him, maybe even older than Sam. “This might help. Don’t look so sceptical, it’s from the war and those krauts knew how to make ‘em.”
Robert grumbled under his breath, but took the pistol. “Shit this is a Walther for Christ’s sake.”
“Glad to see you can appreciate a good piece of workmanship.”
“Does it shoot?” Robert demanded.
“Damn right it shoots, you think I’d give you something that doesn’t?” he handed over a box of ammo and winked. “Just keep her safer this time.”
Robert held in the immediate grumble and pulled the truck door open and got down, helping Kris as soon as he had put the ammo in his pocket and the gun firmly in his belt, along his spine. The tension thundering through his body eased as the familiar weight settled.
“Thank you, Sam. For everything. We’ll see you soon,” Kris said, leaning up to press a kiss to the old man’s cheek.
“You do that, girl,” Sam said giving her a wink as he rolled his window up.
“He’s a good man,” Robert said, moving to Kris’ unhurt side to guide her to the back door of the four-storey brick building. “You know how to open this door?”
She moved awkwardly forward holding her hurt side away from the wall and punched in a code. The door opened with a soft sound. “Yep, we’re in.”
“Good. This is where you get into his email and tell me if he was stupid enough to send anything out.”
“Right,” she nodded.
“Okay, any cameras on the building or inside?”
“No, none that I’ve ever seen, at least. This is a low budget school, Robbie. They have a few for show, nothing more.”
“Hell, that’s good news. Now, what floor?”
“Third. Take those stairs,” she told him, pointing to the right and waiting for him to move first. He did, after scanning the deserted hallway then back at her. She watched him closely, and he couldn’t help the stab of fear that hit his chest. If she was to get hurt…
“Robbie?”
He shook himself mentally and found his calm. They could do this.
“Okay, let’s go. I need you to locate where the kid had a dorm room, and if he even lived on campus. If not, we need to find out where. But first find out if he sent this file through the net.”
“I can do that, all of it. Just
get me to a computer, that’s all I need, and maybe your hands, too,” she said, partially lifting her hand in the sling he’d made her.
“Right. Let’s go, stay by my side and duck down if anything at all happens.”
“Duck down, okay,” she whispered.
Hell, he was scaring her. He took the hall at a fast pace, forcing himself to move like he would on any other mission. Cool, remote, when inside he was a mess. They turned a corner and didn’t see anyone until they reached an area with a few couches, snack machines, and a television. The set was off, but in a couch he spotted a young kid sleeping.
He took Kris’ hand and nodded towards the guy and pressed a finger over his lips. She nodded and pointed to the far side of the large room where he spotted a few computers set up in a corner. A pillar with blue and green waves made of tiny tiles separated the space from the lounge, but nothing more.
“We keep the talking to a minimum, all right?”
She nodded.
Seconds later he was sitting down with his back to the wall right next to her, watching her, the room and the sleeping kid on the couch.
“Robbie?”
“Yeah?” he asked, leaning towards her.
“I need his name.”
“Benjamin Sawyers. I think with the ‘s’ at the end.”
She nodded and quickly typed something one-handed into a form. A grey screen came up and she scrolled down page after page, clicked in a box with the kid’s name and pulled up a picture ID.
“Bingo, God damn you’re hot, darling.”
Kris grinned and pressed a kiss to his jaw. “You are too,” she whispered then turned back to the screen. She did something to the screen, clicked rapidly through another system and suddenly she had the kid’s email account on the screen, then she clicked again with a small laugh and muttered, dumb kid, and pulled up what looked like a desktop. “I’m using a system to remote into his desktop. He’d had computer trouble before so the connection was still here.”
He watched her go onto the hacker’s Internet, then mutter about stupid kid again and open his Gmail and Yahoo accounts. She scrolled through his ‘sent’ box, and he watched her look for attachments. He glanced around the room again. The guy was still sleeping but the minutes were ticking by at a rate he didn’t like. Walters would have followed the tracker to the cabin, found the trail left by Sam, and be on them soon. He watched Kris work for a few more minutes.