“No, but I would’ve,” Grey challenged. “They snatched her up too fast.”
“Who?” McCabe let his fingers sift through the dog’s sable mane.
“You have access to the male areas and security. She can access the female bunks and—”
“Who hired her, Grey?” McCabe begged.
“Base Branch hired her the day she retired from her position as major over the CID,” Athena said, cutting him some slack.
“As in the super-secret, super Special Forces for the UN?” McCabe asked. Moving about the globe, they were phantoms who snuffed out genocide, cartels, and traffickers with a wave of their hands. No one saw what they did, only the epic aftermath. The thought of Natalie being mixed up in the melee twisted his guts.
“The very,” Grey assured.
“How do you know?” Zeppelin alerted again, pulling half his attention from the phone. The dog was abused, not stupid. He wouldn’t alert without cause. Especially not twice.
“Because we’re super-secret and super special too,” Athena offered.
“Get over it and get to work,” Grey ordered.
“I have been.” McCabe strained for a sound and looked for movement.
“And,” Athena urged.
“And nothing. It’s like these girls disappeared like E.T. phone home and all that.” The ground shook, and the incendiary blasts of RPGs peppered his eardrums.
His stomach mimicked his reaction to Natalie as a member of the Base Branch’s elite Special Forces unit.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“Is that a—”
“Yes, it’s an attack,” he cut Athena off. “What’s her job at the camp. Natalie’s?”
“Same as you. Investigate. Find the missing girls and the bastards who took them,” Athena answered.
“No, her cover in camp.” McCabe called Zep to heel and jogged for the door.
“Shit,” Athena muttered. He heard pages being flipped. “Laundry.”
“South end of the compound,” Grey supplied.
“Closest to the booms,” McCabe snarled. Farthest away from him. He ended the call, stuffed the phone into his pocket, put Zeppelin on a lead, and ran.
Everywhere, soldiers hustled. Some moved to artillery posts, other to HMMWVs, and others still to the Blackhawks on hand. They’d smoke out the rats in minutes and make them wish they’d chosen a different god.
Auxiliary personnel herded into bunkers. They weren’t in immediate danger, but the blasts were closer than any before at this site. He’d done the research. Two miles closer and they’d need body bags by the thousands.
McCabe redoubled his efforts at the thought of Natalie in the line of fire. His gaze dropped to the black and slightly tan coat blowing in the wind they created. The dog held the charge with him. He heard it then; the sultry bark of take-no-prisoners orders like only Natalie Winston could give. In any other situation, his cock would have jumped to attention, but luckily, it came equipped with battle sense.
He turned down a row of tents to find her standing tall, screaming a long line of hunched and horrified women into a bunker.
When their eyes collided, Natalie’s orders ceased. Her words, at least. Her hands continued to shove the stark white—some green—shocked figures into cover. Flushed red lips spread from a harsh line to an O.
McCabe’s feet turned to lead, and he stopped. He couldn’t tell if her mouth read an Oh fuck, Oh yeah, or Oh hell no. Shit, he needed some signals to work with because instinct demanded he cover her body with his and that pretty red O with his mouth.
The last woman in line scurried into the opening.
A blast vibrated under his feet. Natalie’s mouth snapped closed and killed any hope he may have had for an Oh, hell yeah. Next to him, Zeppelin shuffled. Another boom fell. Natalie ducked into the opening, and McCabe moved forward with the dog at his side. The moment they cleared the entrance, Natalie was on him. Her hand wrapped around his collar and pulled his lips within inches of hers.
The dark brown eyes that haunted his dreams narrowed into accusing slits. Next to him, a low growl gave warning.
“Nein.” McCabe gave Zeppelin a calm negative. This was not a target. Though she was a threat of the greatest magnitude, the rumble stalled.
“You don’t know me, okay?” Her mouth moved so closely to his that he could flex his chin, snag her bottom lip between his teeth, and never let go.
Natalie released her hold on his collar, but she didn’t step away. Her eyes danced from his to the dog and back. He nodded because his mouth always got him into trouble where she was concerned.
Sobs filtered into the bunker’s foyer. Around them, RPGs continued to drop.
She planted a hand on his chest and pushed back. McCabe couldn’t tell if she was holding herself back or him. For a moment, a look of sheer pain and vulnerability etched her stunning features. Then it vanished, replaced by the hard, strong features he knew and understood. They were two orphaned kids at heart, trying to make their way in the world the best they knew how.
Natalie, it always seemed, had more to prove.
“You should go.” Her palm and fingers open on his chest shoved him away.
McCabe planted his hand atop hers, broke her control at the elbow, and reeled her back in. “Whoever is taking these girls has nothing to lose. Be careful, Natalie.”
Her eyes widened. Her mouth fell open and then screwed up tight.
He released her and stepped back. After one last look, he turned. Her arm shot out, halting him, and the feel of her skin on his bicep shot through him. It was the purest form of adrenaline; the greatest aphrodisiac he’d ever known.
“Why do you even care? You should want me served up hogtied to whoever is doing this.”
Joy, anger, and sadness toyed with him as though he were a schoolboy, even after all this time, and that twisted his nut sack. His gaze lowered to her hold, and she released him.
“I should,” he agreed.
“You should, damn you.” Her mouth screwed into an angry pink bow, and her chin shot up. “We’re fine here; go do what you’re here to do.”
He should have gone to help secure the perimeter, but he had to check on her. Shit lot of good that did him. Shit lot of good it had ever done him. And still, here he was. McCabe turned to leave. This may be the last time he ever saw her. He could solve this case tomorrow and be on the next plane out of hell. If that happened, he’d only have one regret.
He wasn’t a man who regretted much.
“Why are you always pushing me away?”
Natalie’s gaze searched his. Her throat worked as she shoved her hands into her pockets. “Because you’re my greatest weakness.”
Tears clouded her eyes. She tightened her jaw and willed them away as she’d always been able to. The woman had an amazing command over herself. It was the moment when he’d convinced her to let go that stole his heart. This might be the purest one.
He’d never expected such an honest answer. Fuck if it didn’t hurt all the more. Because after all these years and all the pushing away, she still felt for him. He saw it in the pain in her eyes and in the longing. Or maybe that was his own reflecting back.
“Goodbye, Natalie.” He lifted his hand to touch her cheek, just one last time, but then stopped. It would only hurt worse to walk away. And he had to.
“Bye, McCabe.”
McCabe turned and walked out. He walked past tents and abandoned equipment on numb legs. He heard the time between booms spread with deaf ears. Finally, he reached his CO’s station.
“McCabe and Zeppelin reporting for duty, sir.”
Rickshaw’s wide eyes and the gasps of the assholes behind him should have been a victory. After a lengthy and dull rundown of protocols, he trudged toward his post, sat on the edge of an empty bunker, and stared at the desolate earth that stretched out forever in front of him.
“Literal meets physical. Fucking great.”
A wet, cold nose and furry muzzle worked its way under his hand. He’d been awaiting t
he break for days, and it came when he needed it most. Dogs knew shit. His fingers spread across the thick coat for the first time.
“Maybe not so bleak after all.”
Chapter 5
“Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Idiot.”
It wasn’t Natalie’s shitty cover-story boss calling her names this time. She whispered the ugly truth to herself while she slunk through the men’s bunk, searching for Dixon McCabe’s footlocker.
Natalie had convinced herself that she needed to discover what he knew about the investigation. She had shit for leads and was running out of time. After the attack yesterday, all the women were too preoccupied with rocket-propelled grenades to gossip about the missing girls. If she pressed too hard, they’d get suspicious. It was perfectly logical reasoning and not at all the real reason she hefted a stack of towels into the men’s bunk.
“Fuck!” She screamed the curse into the stack of terrycloth.
All her running and all her goals were for shit. After it was all said and done, Natalie was just like her gullible mother, who everyone assumed was her sister. No, she wouldn’t have a kid who could pass as her sibling, but only because she’d been able to stave off the inevitable for a while longer.
McCabe. The six letters that tore an unhealing hole in the center of her aspirations and heart had ripped through the metal placard attached to the wooden box. Natalie set the towels down on the foot of a bed two away from his and stalked forward. She jimmied the back slat where she kept her documents. Nothing. Her long arms swept and knocked across every surface of the locker, inside and out, and came up empty.
“Figures.” After gnawing her lip, she turned to search the bed. His scent wafted off the sheets, knocking her back nearly onto her ass.
“Oh, shit.” The potent pheromone assaulted her with memories of illicit touches, growled sentiments of devotion, forceful thrusts, and multiple orgasms. Her fingers gripped the covers in desperation for sanity or release.
“Find what you’re looking for?” McCabe’s deep baritone rumbled from behind her.
She tried not to swallow her tongue and jumped to her feet. The crown of her head met with a sharp, unforgiving point.
“Holy hell, Natalie.”
Her hand flew to her already sensitive head. “Holy hell yourself. It’s what you get for sneaking up on me. How the hell did you do that anyway?”
“Zeppelin,” he groaned.
“What?” She turned to find McCabe, holding his chin in one hand, and a leash to the same big ass dog he’d had the day before.
Big blue eyes that starred in her dreams and nightmares motioned to the dog. “He alerted. Let me know something was up. So I used the other door.”
Maybe she was losing her touch, if two grizzly bear-sized creatures could sneak up on her. Then again, she’d been distracted.
“What are you doing here? I thought we’d settled this yesterday. Or do you just like ripping my heart out of my chest every time you leave?” His hand left his chin and planted on his hip. Gone was the concern of yesterday as anger reigned in its place.
“I didn’t want to leave, Dixon.” Why had she said that? They needed to stay on point. The past was way back there. Shit, she was tired of feeling guilty and heartbroken at the same time. If he knew her reasoning, maybe they could finally let go.
“Don’t.” He raised the huge hand that used to cradle hers between her breasts while they slept.
“We were the same rank. We had the same scores on classroom, physical, and field. I had you beat on the CIDA test. You got the promotion because you were a man, and I was a woman.”
“Really? This? After what, seven, eight years?” He pinched the back of his neck, ground his molars together, and then leveled her with a “go to hell” gaze. “I knew it was shit, which is why I didn’t take the offer.”
“Which is why I left.” Natalie flung her arms wide. “I wouldn’t have you sell yourself short for me, and I didn’t want your discarded opportunities. It would have only led to resentment on both our parts.” She pressed her hand to her chest. “I needed to earn my position without question. You did too.”
McCabe opened his mouth to speak but closed it without a word. His head shook, and he chewed on his tongue. “Seemed to have worked out for you, Major. Impressive.”
Whatever it was he’d been about to say, she wished he’d say it. They had years of old baggage, so why not air all of it? Couldn’t hurt the situation. She took her own advice and pointed a finger at him.
“When you retired from the Army, you weren’t military police.”
He shrugged and chewed his tongue again.
“Why not?”
His vibrant gaze narrowed.
“Why?” she begged and couldn’t stop it.
“This isn’t a good idea.” McCabe dragged a hand through his tightly cropped blond hair.
“I don’t care. It needs to be done—for freedom, closure, or whatever the hell they call it. We need to be done with this.”
“Aren’t you?”
It was her turn to chew her tongue for a while. “Just answer the question, McCabe.”
“When I moved to Lackland, they assigned me a K-9. Richter. I found my partner and my place in the military. What’d you call it? The place where I…earned my position without question.”
Her tears distorted the hulking and beautiful man in front of her and the poised, proud dog. One question welled inside her with so much force it threatened to rip her apart at the seams. There was no way to get out of it now, to get away from it, to save herself. Why? Why? Why? If they no longer competed for positions, then why hadn’t he come to get her?
Natalie opened her arms and leaped as much as she trusted her legs to break her fall. “When?”
He winced and shook his head like he could see the blow coming, but she couldn’t see the angle. And then she knew. One by one, tears cascaded down her cheek. Please, no.
McCabe nodded solemnly. “I came to get you. I thought, how great it was I’d solved our problems—the unrelenting need, the unquenchable love, the career shit.” He rubbed a hand over his chest. “You’d beat me to it.”
Emotion usually kept in a neat, dark corner of her mind poured out her eyes. “I tried to. I’ve been trying for seven years.”
“I swear to God, Natalie, don’t you dare.” His mouth formed a steadfast line.
“I married Deke to help my career,” she dared to explain. “No one questions your sexuality when you have a husband. He was a civilian.” The back of her hand swatted at the never ceasing but thankfully quiet stream of emotion. “I married him to force us to move on.”
The man she still loved and didn’t know how to love stepped backward. His head tilted, and he looked at her like she was the epitome of evil. “How could you do that to him?”
“It was convenience on both our parts. He liked cock as much as I did but wasn’t ready to lose the family business.”
“Damn you, Natalie.” Moisture and rage gathered in his eyes. “Damn you.”
She took a step toward him.
The dog’s ears perked but not at her. His entire focus aimed at the door from which she’d entered.
McCabe ordered some words in German, maybe, and knocked over her stack of towels. “Pick them up and don’t let them see your tears,” he whispered and then moved to the far end of the room.
Natalie hit her knees, dropped her head, wiped away the tears and began refolding a towel—too close to the dog’s long sharp teeth for comfort. Three long seconds later, the door burst open and four soldiers stalked into the room.
Another German word and the dog rushed to McCabe’s side. He praised the hairy thing as though it’d been a training exercise.
“Out,” a man barked.
Natalie looked up to see a soldier with an MP band around his arm, leaning over her. “Me?”
“Yeah, you. Out.” He hooked a hand under her arm and pulled.
Natalie stood, all right, inches from his face, and then stretched
to her full height, placing her eyes several inches above his. She was about to bitch him up one side and down the other for putting his hands on her until she remembered that she was no longer Major Winston. Pride stuffed into her mouth, she sneered and bent to retrieve her towels.
The other three soldiers were trying to convince McCabe to hand over the dog. One of the officers had a twitchy hand on his gun, ready to draw down on the animal. The other two looked ready to tackle the only truly good man she’d ever known.
“Leave them,” shorty demanded. He pointed at the door.
With little recourse inside the law, Natalie raised her hands and walked outside. She turned left, away from the main offices where the officers would return after they said their piece to McCabe. What that piece was, she hadn’t a clue. He’d always been a by-the-book guy, but perhaps, working with animals had changed him. She hunkered down behind the stacks of water bins.
Several minutes later, the door swung wide. Natalie’s heart hit the dirt.
Three of the officers fought to carry a muzzled, flailing dog. The third officer, shorty, held the center links of handcuffs spread behind McCabe’s wrists at his back and ushered him forward. The sight of him towering over the little man would have been funny were the man she loved not fucked six ways to Sunday.
Chapter 6
If his anger could blast through bars or the concrete ceiling above, he wouldn’t be in this position…on his back with a stainless steel cot cradling his head. This stunk of setup from a thousand clicks, and there wasn’t shit he could do about it. He’d failed. The girls’ chances of being recovered alive dwindled by the minute, and he’d been arguing nearly a decade’s worth of crap with Natalie. Not that not arguing with her would have prevented this shit show. He thumped the bars.
And it wasn’t decade’s old crap if it made his inside ache like his body was trying to turn itself inside out.
“Goddammit.” He punched the bars with more force this time.
“That isn’t going to help.” As though he’d conjured her, Natalie’s husky voice carried through the enclosure.
McCabe bolted upright. The stunning brunette stood proudly in dress blues with her long hair pulled back into a tight bun at her nape. The look and lighting revealed her exquisite cheekbones and strong jaw. It made her full lips pop too. She unlocked the cell door with a key and pulled it wide.
The Omega Team: Furiously Mine (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Base Branch Series Book 12) Page 3