by April Zyon
She felt the press of his lips against her hair. “I rather like having you in my arms. I don’t even care if I need to make up some lame ass excuse to achieve it either. Having you close makes everything better, which in the world we live in is a damn amazing thing to find.”
“I agree. Having you holding me is the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.” She admitted to him. “It makes life feel so much better, being able to have you hold me. Makes me forget who I am and makes me feel as if I’m only a woman in bed with a man. I like that. A lot. I like just being able to be Gabbie Moreno with you.”
“When we’re together the rest doesn’t matter. At least not in these little peaceful moments. Yes, they don’t last long which is why we should cherish them while we have them. I wouldn’t give up a single one for anything in the world, Gabriella.”
“Thank you for that. I feel the same way.” Having him knowing her for her was perfect. “I don’t even know what your life is like when you aren’t in the field, so to speak. Tell me a little about the life we will lead, please?”
“Compared to this it’s pretty boring. When we’re not in the field we’re looking into potential clients or researching jobs we’ve agreed to take on. In between that we work at remaining on the top of the field, training and staying up to date on the newest tech. At home I occasionally will cook if the team’s coming over, otherwise I’ll grab takeout on the way. My home space is pretty understated, I think is the preferred decorating term. Another might be spartan. The only rooms really done up are the bedroom and the living room. But you’d definitely never mistake it for anything other than what it is.”
“Sounds as if you have your life completely lined up and ready. Are you sure that there is room for me in your life? I don’t want to turn your life upside down, Tobias.” She wanted to be part of his life but she didn’t want to uproot anything in his life.
“Of course, I have room for you in my life. And while we might not have it all figured out yet we will get there in time. The first few days will be a challenge while we begin to find a way to mesh our two lives together. Not for a single second do I doubt that we can. We’re going to make this work, Gabriella. Believe it.”
“I believe it and I believe in you.” She stated simply. “We just have to work together, as you said. I’m willing to do just that but even you have to admit that we are moving fast. I can only hope that your friends won’t give us shit about it because if they do I think that I will have to possibly take your gun and shoot them.” She really wasn’t teasing him too much either. The truth was that she simply knew she needed him in her life, she knew that he was the one that was for her, only him.
Chapter Eleven
Accepting the cup from Gabriella, Tobias took a sip before setting the coffee aside. He was on overwatch for the operation going down. Thirty minutes earlier some of Moreno’s cohorts had begun to arrive, with six more driving up in the last ten minutes nearly on top of one another. All had been moving fast. Whether from fear they were being targeted or fear of their boss he didn’t know. All that mattered now was they were down to two more possibles arriving to complete the group. His hope was they didn’t arrive together, or close to one another allowing his team to snag the trailing party.
Movement caught his eye. “Vehicle approaching from south, truck or SUV with trailing smaller vehicle.” Another bright white blob dragged his attention to the screen’s left. “And our last party goer is coming in late to this shindig. Let the guy from the south slip in, catch the guy coming from the west. Repeat, your target is coming from the west. Three vehicle convoy, lethal force is approved if necessary but keep it quiet. We need to ensure all loose ends are tied up, we can’t have one of this guy’s men getting to Moreno letting him know he was snatched.”
“Correction, one vehicle is peeling off heading toward town. You now only have two vehicles to contend with. Unknown number of occupants.” Why the one car had taken off for town was troubling. A problem that had Tobias making a quick decision. “Previous orders nullified, we are not going westbound. Adjust for southern target.” They couldn’t risk the guys that had headed to town circling around to the compound and tripping them up.
“Confirm last, over watch.”
“We are taking the southern approaching vehicles. Repeat, your targets are coming from the south.” Not the best choice given how close the vehicles were to the compound already, but he knew the team would pull it off.
“Copy that, we are picking off the birds coming back from winter break.”
Cherry’s words had him rolling his eyes and working to refocus the satellite he shouldn’t be utilizing. Thank god for favors owed to him. They’d needed all the help they could get on this fucking op. Gabriella had been their biggest help with all the information she’d supplied and suggestions. Leaning back in his seat he tugged her in to hug her against his side while the satellite recalibrated for his adjustment to the coordinates he needed to be watching.
“Your birds are one hundred klicks from the roost,” he said keeping the bird analogy going. “Rough calculations have them moving at forty miles an hour. Hustle up.”
“Copy that.” Herc’s words came through clear followed by a bunch of muttering about hustling through an overgrown forest.
Tobias tuned the bitching and moaning out knowing the team was using it to motivate themselves to push through the general fatigue and aches that came from such hasty travel. Instead he looked up at Gabriella to judge how she was doing. The skin around her mouth was pinched and she appeared paler than normal. She was stressed, tired, and anxious to see how everything turned out. He also knew she was feeling some hefty guilt about the part she’d played in helping them get this far, and the knowledge that her assistance would be further utilized before the night gave way to daylight. “You don’t have to stay down here with me,” he told her gently. “If you’d rather do something else you can, I won’t mind.”
“No. I need to be here. I need to be at your side.” He was proud of her. She was strong, strong willed and bodied and he liked that about her, a lot. “Can I tell you something?” She asked and then when he shook his head she nestled in as close to him as she could possibly get. He loved that as well, just how she was drawn to pull in closer to him. “You made a good call on making them take the ones from the south instead of the ones that separated. I don’t remember what it is but there is something different about the ones that split off like that. I wish I could remember it but I was going to ask you to have them take the other car.” He could tell that it was driving her crazy that she couldn’t remember what it was too.
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. They aren’t our concern any more. Our only concern and focus is stopping these guys right here.” Reaching out he tapped the screen where the vehicles were making steady progress. He then pointed out his teammates on an intercept course. “They’ll get ahead, drop the spike strips, shuffle back and out a dozen feet for room to maneuver. They need to be in the perfect positions to make this a surgical strike. One shot off from the guards could ruin the entire op, sound travels way too well at night even in the jungle.”
“This is very true. Screams travel as well so I hope that they are able to subdue them all before they are able to get shouts out as well. Just make sure that they are safe? Tell them to take extreme caution when they take the convoy, please? I don’t want your friends harmed.”
“They are professionals who take every precaution,” he said. He couldn’t say that they wouldn’t be hurt, no one could say that about any operation because there was always the unknown factor in every situation that could truly fuck up a damn fine op. Pressing a kiss to her cheek he breathed in her scent. She smelled like woman with a layer of his own soap, faint though it was, adding to her perfection. “We’ll need to remain completely quiet during the op. I’ll only speak if absolutely necessary, and then it will be to pass on information that they might need.”
He felt her nodding and then heard her ta
lking. “You simply tell me when to keep my lips closed and I will. If you need for me to I can leave the room for you as well. I can go to the bedroom that we are sharing so that you don’t have to worry about me accidentally sneezing or coughing or something silly like that. I want your people safe and I have got to have you safe. It’s a must.”
“You won’t need to leave since you’re not on comms. Just keep your voice down if you need to tell me anything,” he told her. “It’ll fine, and so will they. The team knows what they are doing and have done this, multiple times, over the years in all different settings. No two are the same naturally and yet they all have similar occurrences.”
He stopped to stare at the screen and then spoke to the team. “They’ll be on top of you in two minutes.”
“We’re set here,” Ripper told him.
“Ditto over here,” Whip said. “Give us the countdown, over watch.”
After checking their position and the vehicles he started the countdown. “First vehicle passing your position in three, two, one, now!”
“Spike one deployed,” Herc reported.
“Spike two deployed,” Cherry added a second later.
On the screen, the two vehicles started to swerve drunkenly in near unison. The lead car skidded from the road and into what Tobias assumed was a tree given its sudden stop. Smaller white lights began to disembark and he knew the guards were jumping out knowing well and good their tires blowing were no accident. His team moved in like the well-oiled machine they were and targets began to drop. Two from his team went for the second car and yanked out a white blob.
“Target acquired. All non-friendlies are down for the count. Anything from the roost?” Whip asked.
“Negative, all quiet in the roost. Don’t dally, coffee is on and food will be going in the oven in fifteen.”
“Copy that, over watch. Clean up moving into high gear.”
Tobias kept watch on the team while they bound their fall guy, moved the bodies of his guards back into the vehicles and then worked the cars off the road into the jungle a fair distance. The jungle, and predators that lived there would take care of the bodies. Even if they didn’t and were eventually found it would be too late for Moreno.
Only when the team began the hike out through the jungle back to where they’d left their own vehicles did he let out a breath. He’d continue to keep an eye on them but they were heading back which meant things were moving in their favor. “Go throw the lasagna in the oven, sweetheart. When they get back to the trucks Whip will take a pic of our guy to send to us so we can figure out who he is, and you can shift the money around.”
Ripper was designated to come back to the house with the target while the other four stayed behind to blow the explosives. Only when everything had detonated would they go into the compound to do a sweep. But they couldn’t detonate until Gabriella began to move the money into their patsies account. Then it would be necessary to let them have some time to vent, and potentially make a couple calls. From there it was all going to crumble down around everyone, literally.
She moved to put the lasagna in the oven, he noticed that she kept looking back at him and giving him a smile. Damn but he loved that smile she gave him. When she had it in the oven she moved back to him and touched her fingers to his cheek and then his neck. “So, how long do we have before your friends are back? Do you need to plug the laptop in to recharge it or are you still good?”
Tugging her onto his lap he hugged her in close. “It’s fine for now. It’s not exactly factory specs and has roughly a week worth of juice to it. I’ll plug it in once Ripper is on his way back our way since there will be some time I won’t need to watch the screen while the others maneuver into place. Not that we have much time left with the satellite. It’ll be going out of range in close to fifteen minutes, if not sooner. I’m going to owe my buddy big for this one that’s for sure.”
“Yes, you are. If there is anything that I can do to pay him back I will do whatever it is to help you. I just hope that whoever hired you is paying you well for this job.” If she only knew just how much that they were getting paid. “I have money hidden away and accounts as well. Enough to start a new life. We need to use it to have your friends create me a new identity so that I can be free.”
“Don’t you worry about anything, we’ve got you covered.” Whip had already been working on cleaning up her past and doing some things that made his head hurt to hear in that tech speak he used. The bottom line was, by the time they were on the plane. Gabriella Moreno would no longer exist. To the world she would have had an untimely, and unfortunate death due to a pre-existing condition. One they were logging into her medical records from the time she was a pre-teen. All Whip needed was her new name to finish off the paperwork. The passport would be waiting for them upon arrival and she would be able to use it to go right through US customs thanks to yet another favor he’d called in. This was one he’d been owed so he didn’t feel nearly so guilty in calling on that particular marker. “But you need to decide on a name. Think on it and let me know by the time we board for our trip stateside.”
“A new name. Wow, that’s something I’ve never really thought about. How about Amanda? What do you think? Do I look like an Amanda, or a Natalie perhaps?” She asked with a smile. “I want something that you are going to like as well, so whatever it is that we choose it has to be a name that we can both live with forever.”
“Well think of several and then I’ll test them out. You saying them is one thing, but you hearing them from me may make you change your mind about it. For instance, how are you feeling when I say how sexy I think you are today, Amanda?” It wasn’t bad but it didn’t feel right to him. “Or what about, I do love to cuddle with you, Natalie?” Again, not quite right. In his opinion, she should really use a version of her existing name, shortening it perhaps to something familiar yet different. But he’d let her play with the names for a while before making the suggestion.
She wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “I don’t like either of those. Can I just be Gabbie? I know that it’s so close to my real name but those two I don’t like at all. I’m not sure how to choose a name for myself. I know how odd that sounds but there it is. What is a name you would like to have for a woman that loves you, or rather could love you if you let her?”
“Gabbie is likely too close, but what about something like Brie? I know technically it’s a type of cheese, but we could put Brianna on your new passport and you answer to Brie instead. Still part of your name and relatively familiar. Or maybe Ella, that’s another option to think on.”
“Mom called me Ella when dad wasn’t around. He hated that moniker so she never used it anywhere near him. It was one of the very few memories I have of mom. I like Ella. I also like Brianna. Can call me Brie if you want but only if you promise to eat me up.” He saw her teasing look and had to grin at that.
“I am totally okay with that.” He had plans for her that did not include being anywhere in public for a damn long time after they hit the States. A bed, food, water and her naked were the only requirements to see it mostly fulfilled. The rest of his master plan involved him having her and taking her in every way he could think up and then hitting the Net for more ways to sex her silly when he ran dry on ideas. Wrapping his hand around her nape he tipped her head into position for a kiss. Not the little pecks he’d been keeping to so he didn’t throw her over his shoulder and haul her off to fuck her deep, hard and for days, but a kiss that had tongue and teeth banging together from the intensity. He couldn’t wait for them to get back home where he could finally have her, repeatedly. Tobias let her up for air. “I plan to dine on you the moment we get to my house. We may, or may not make it inside before I start.”
“I would be perfectly fine if it started before we made it inside. I want you every bit as much as you want me.” She was panting, her fingers were holding his shirt tightly and he could tell that she wanted him just as much, if not more. “I need to have you inside of m
e more than I need my next breath and that’s not even an understatement of what I’m feeling right now.”
Since he felt the same way, practically crawling out of his own skin, he sympathized with her. “It won’t be much longer, Gabriella. A few hours and we’ll be homeward bound to start our new life, together. Once we’re out of that airport all bets are off although I would prefer getting you at least to my house where we’re guaranteed some privacy.” But it would be damn hard to keep his hands off her until then. They were close enough he could taste it.
“Too bad we can’t have a limo waiting for us so that we don’t have to wait for us to get to your house. It would be awesome to send your crew on their way and to be able to be with you as soon as the door of the limo closes. I would love it. So much. But I will be good and I will try to keep my hands to myself so that we can get to your house and behind closed doors so that your friends don’t think that I’ve cast a spell on you or something.”
“Pretty sure that cat’s already out of the bag,” he said. Smiling Tobias gave her another kiss. With a nip to her lip he tucked her in close to him while returning his full attention to the screen. Things were looking good and on schedule. Although with the buffer they’d built in they did have some play on that. At a guess, he figured the team would have their soon to be guest at the truck in five minutes given their current pace. And with the satellite feed starting to fuzz and flicker he knew he wasn’t going to be providing them any more assistance. “Over watch to ground stompers, we are losing the feed at this end. You guys are on your own,” he warned them. Leaning forward Tobias disconnected from the link with one last look at everything and using Whip’s instructions made sure the hack couldn’t be traced to any one spot on earth. At least that’s what the guy claimed.
He could feel her looking at him, almost hear her thoughts. When she spoke, he wasn’t surprised. “You’re worried about them, aren’t you? If you didn’t have to watch over me you would be out there with them, wouldn’t you?” Her hands moved over his shoulders, he loved her touch. Fucking loved it. “Tell me how I can help you to make it better?”