Tara frowned. "Let's wait a bit…until we can sort out the details first. Okay?" She'd put a bug in Fee's ear about keeping things quiet until she and Price were ready to announce it to the parents and siblings.
"Whatever you want is fine with me." Price massaged her shoulder.
Tara turned her head and found six smiling faces watching her and Price. "So, Ren? Do I have a new job?"
"As far as I'm concerned you do," Ren said. "Since DJ's going to be on pregnancy leave for a while, and Dawn Wilson, soon-to-be Crocker, works out of South America, I need another female operative."
Ren's immediate offer of a job went a long way to take the sting out of how Christensen had treated her—as if she were the offender and not the victim. Ren's offer meant he saw her as a valuable asset to his team. A team she'd gained a lot of respect for since she first moved to Elk City.
"Price?" Tara looked at him. "We've barely become us, so I was going to wait and discuss my idea of working with you guys. My quitting just moved my timetable up. Is this going to be a problem for you? Me working on missions, maybe partnering with one of the other operatives?"
"Since you'll be partnered for the most part with me on missions, I'm thrilled. If you do personal protection, you'd be on your own. But I'm confident you can handle the job. Besides you working for SSI will make it easier for me to keep track of you and cover your sweet little ass." He pulled her fully into his side and gave her a kiss that was more than PG-rated for a family diner.
"Ahem," Fee said. "Price, little eyes. Save it for later, brother."
Price pulled away from the kiss. "Welcome to SSI, firefly."
"Hey, he never kissed me like that when I joined," DJ teased.
Tweeter snorted. "He knew I'd have neutered him if he had."
Price picked up his beer and tipped the bottle toward Tweeter. "You and what army?"
Sipping her sangria, she smiled as the others teased Tweeter and Price. She sighed. She was part of the SSI team…part of this family of men and women who made a difference in the world. It was a good feeling.
Of course, it wouldn't be as easy as Price made it sound. There'd be times they couldn't partner. But she trusted her píítaa and he trusted her. They'd deal with issues as they came up. She'd talk to DJ and see how she and Tweeter handled the separations. So far since she'd moved in with Price, he'd remained close to Sanctuary and had run the new operatives through their physical training and put them through the SSI equivalent of the SERE training she'd had in the Air Force. But eventually he'd have to leave for another personal security detail or an op.
"Okay, now that you all know we're engaged, we've cleared the air about what happened at the ranger station, and Tara has agreed to work for SSI, tell me who in the fuck…sorry, Keely"—Price slid a quarter over to the little blonde for her f-word jar—"put up the reward and how do I find the douchebag?"
Tweeter held up sheaf of papers. "Jeb Gaither was easy enough to find once I knew where to look. He's related to someone Fee and Tara know—"
"He is? I do?" Tara said.
Fee said, "Who?"
"The man offering the reward is the older brother of Bo and Zeke Gaither. The two meth cookers who held Fee hostage in her clinic," Tweeter said.
"The meth cookers?" Tara was shocked and saw that Fee was also.
"Jeb's more dangerous than his brothers. He served in the Army where he trained as an explosives expert. After a dishonorable discharge for stealing then selling military explosives and weapons to domestic terrorist organizations, he spent time in federal prison. During his time inside, he became even more radicalized. When he got out of prison, he hooked up with his younger brothers and some other like-minded felons and added drug cooking and running to his previous trafficking activities. The DEA and the FBI consider him—and his cohorts—extremely dangerous."
"But why did Gaither single out Fee and Tara?" Keely said. "Price and the guys played a role in taking his brothers down, too."
Tweeter shrugged. "Why does a sociopath do anything?"
"I bet he hates it that two women managed to make his brothers look like idiots and got the better of them," Fee said. "Tara and I kept our cool. We made it possible for Trey and the guys to finish the job."
"Plus, we were the direct causes of his brothers' downfall," Tara said. "The prosecutor made that very clear at the Gaither brothers' and their friend's arraignment."
Silence settled over the table as they addressed the food that Manny and another server dropped off.
Trey shoved away his clean plate and signaled for another beer. "Back to our earlier topic—I think Gaither knew his brothers were mostly losers. Family always knows family best. So, why offer a 100k reward to kill the gals? He could've gotten a professional hitter for a quarter that."
While Trey had not been as outspoken as Price over the reward, Tara could tell he was just as angry; his eyes promised hell to anyone hurting Fee.
"A matter of saving face?" Ren suggested.
"Maybe. That's as good of a reason as any. We see it in the news every day, people kill people over all sorts of things that make no sense." Tweeter shrugged. "One thing that came out of my research was that Gaither and his brothers' drug business was extremely lucrative. And it was his brothers who did the cooking and cutting of the drugs. So maybe he was angry his revenue sources were cut off. He had to punish who he thought was responsible and make sure the Dark Net channels he frequents knew that anyone crossing him would pay."
"So saving face, as Ren said. Typical macho bullshit." Tara frowned. "Do he and his criminal buddies have any incel connections?"
"Not that I could find," Tweeter replied. "Anyway, the arrest of his brothers must not have hurt his bottom line too much, because he seems to have a new revenue source I'm still trying to trace. A forensic audit of the records I've found is underway."
"I also would like to point out that if Gaither had been the one shooting at Tara and the rest of us on the mountain, we'd be dead," Tweeter said. "He had high marks on long and short weapons in the service. It looks as if he made an executive decision to hire out the hit and got faulty weapons." He held out his report. "Here's what I found. There's also some pictures of him."
Price took the report. Fee and Tara leaned in and read along with him as he flicked through the pages.
Fee put her finger on a page and stopped his skimming.
The mug shot of Jeb Gaither showed a clean-cut man, very unlike his brothers. He looked familiar, or maybe there was an underlying resemblance but Bo and Zeke's meth addiction had altered them in some way. No, that wasn't it. Tara had seen Jeb before; his eyes were what looked familiar. Empty eyes. She shivered. He was dead inside, and trained to kill, so that made him even more dangerous, in her mind, than Bo and Zeke on meth.
Tara looked at the others. "He looks familiar, but maybe that's because I've met his brothers."
"You think you've seen him?" Price asked.
"If I have, I don't know where or when. Maybe at his brothers' arraignment? But something about his eyes bugs me."
"He looks familiar to me, too," Fee said. "But then I was up close and personal with his brothers." She shuddered and her husband pulled her closer to him. "I'm fine, Trey."
"Damn right you are," he said, "and you'll stay that way."
Keely flipped through another copy of the report. "Yeah, you're right, Tara. Those eyes would be memorable. You know, now that you mention it, he looks familiar to me, too."
"Well, when any of you figure out where you saw him, let me know," Ren ordered.
Tara nodded as did Keely and Fee.
"At least we have a solid lead on the who and why behind the recent attacks. Now, how are we going to draw Gaither out?" Tara asked. "I'd rather have only one lunatic after me at a time."
Miller was playing a waiting game. The manhunt for him was still on, and the local television stations in Montana and Idaho were making sure his picture was plastered
all over the place. A documentary on Native American women abducted for sexual slavery was playing on cable and it included Tara's role in bringing down Miller. It had to gall him that a woman, a woman he considered little better than a piece of property, had taken him down.
Miller was a smoldering ember, waiting to surge back to life. Jeb Gaither was a man with a much shorter fuse, and the most present danger.
"You want to play dead for a short bit?" Keely asked. "Fee can make you look like a corpse. We'll take pictures, and one of our newer recruits can make the claim for the reward."
"Do you really think that would work?" asked Trey, his hand idly playing with his wife's hair.
"Why wouldn't it?" Fee turned toward her husband. "It's simple and straightforward. And God knows, this Jeb person has probably heard about all the stupid, failed attacks his reward has instigated. He'd have to assume the odds would eventually shift in his favor. And he'd be correct. We can't wait for that to happen."
"It wouldn't hurt to try," Ren said. "But let's give it a few days. So far, for whatever reason, the reward seekers haven't targeted Fee individually, as they have Tara. The attack on Carmela's was the first time Fee was present."
"I also live on Sanctuary and am not usually out patrolling forest and wilderness areas like Tara did," Fee suggested. "And after the last attack on my clinic, the security has been upgraded. Trey has also made sure Pia and I have an armed escort to and from work on clinic days."
"Good points," Ren said. "With rumors, such as they are, the news about Tara quitting today will spread and her move to Sanctuary will be noted. She'll also become a harder target. So, anyone hunting her will be in reorganization stages since she won't have a predictable routine any longer."
"But she'd still be training the smokejumpers and the other firefighters in Grangeville," Price pointed out.
"No, I won't. When I quit the Forest Service, that job ended also." Tara sighed, regretting that loss the most. "But since SSI is backing up the local hotshots on area fires, I can coordinate SSI's fire response. If that's okay with you, Ren?"
"God, yes. Please." Ren smiled. "You can be our response team's, what is it called? The person who makes sure the crews know how to get to safety in the field, checks to make sure they have the proper gear, and the like?"
"Safety Officer," Tara supplied.
"Yeah." Ren raised his bottle of beer. "Welcome to SSI, Tara. I'm officially putting you in charge of our volunteer wildland firefighting team's activities and training. You won't have any issues coordinating with the Grangeville team, will you?"
"No, they aren't political hacks and most of them are good guys who know my skills and appreciate my experience," Tara said. "I've already received three texts from some of the guys wanting to know what the hell had happened and who did they have to kill?" She smiled and just managed not to sniffle at how much those texts of support had meant.
Price gave her a gentle hug.
"Now that all the current SSI operatives have had the basic hotshot training, I can work up a schedule to complement SSI's normal physical training program."
Price groaned. "You know what that means, Ren?"
"Nah. Tell me." Ren grinned.
Tara suspected Ren knew exactly what it meant and didn't care.
"It means early morning five-mile runs up and down mountains, climbing and hiking rough terrain, and even more clearing preliminary fire lines on Sanctuary land," Price replied.
"Damn straight." Tara raised her wine and saluted Ren. "I'll whip the SSI team into the fittest and best damn wildland firefighting unit in Idaho, boss."
"I was counting on it." Ren took a drink of his beer. "But I think you'll find they're all in damn good shape to begin with."
"They'll be even in better shape when I'm done with them," Tara promised.
Price leaned into her and muttered against her ear. "And that means I'll have even more stamina to make you scream with pleasure."
Tara shivered against him. Her nipples tightened to sharp points. She bet if she looked, they'd be poking at her khaki work shirt. And she was definitely wet and aching at just the thought of how Price would make her scream. She was looking forward to it, and maybe she'd just make him groan.
Chapter 16
Thursday, June 18th
"That's it, sweetheart. Reach for it." Price stayed his hip action and ground his pelvic bone against Tara's clit.
"Uh," she gasped, then moaned.
He groaned as her inner muscles clamped down on his cock. She was close, but after the two orgasms he'd already delivered, the first one having awakened her, this third one would take some time.
Fighting the almost painful need to come, he'd pulled her to a sitting position, with her legs straddling his thighs, and continued steady, deep thrusts. She was going to come around his cock this time, or they'd both die trying.
Truth was, he'd been raring to go ever since he'd awakened just before dawn with a naked Tara in his arms and her thigh nudging his erection. So holding off his climax was a hard-won battle.
"Just come. I'm all orgasmed out," she said between pants and moans, her fingers clutching at his neck and shoulder.
Before he took her mouth, he muttered, "One more, baby, then I'll let you go back to sleep."
"No, Price, I'm—"
He cut off her words with his mouth and received a glare and a vicious tug on his hair.
Nice job, asshole. Reminding her she wasn't allowed on the Gaither takedown op.
As he made love to her mouth, she tried to bite him. He laughed. She didn't like being thwarted. Tough. No way was she going to be anywhere near Jeb Gaither later that morning. Price would tie her to the bed if he had to.
She tugged on his hair. He gave her sweet ass a smack, then deepened the kiss. Sliding his hand between their bodies, he stroked her distended clit.
Her vaginal muscles spasmed, then strangled his cock, signaling her orgasm.
Sinking her fingernails into his shoulders, Tara threw her head back and screamed, "Fuck, ahh…so fucking good."
Price loved the feeling of her meeting each of his thrusts and of the clasp of her legs around his hips as if she never wanted to let him go. For as long as he could, he milked her orgasm as he peppered kisses over her breasts and shoulders. Finally, he could hold back no longer and he let loose of the reins on his own pleasure.
Kissing her shoulder, he held her against him, anchoring her with his hand on her upper back and the other on her bottom as every muscle in him strained for completion. When he shot his cum into her, he bit her lightly where her neck joined her shoulder, making her clench him even tighter.
Moaning, Tara nipped his shoulder as she moved her hands to stroke his back and neck. "It just gets better and better."
The alpha male in him preened at her words.
"Yeah." He nuzzled the area he bit, then peppered kisses up her throat, pausing to suckle her ear lobe. "You okay, sweetheart?"
"Yes." She leaned her head back. "Can't you tell?"
He took in her expression and found a woman glowing from being well loved. Her golden eyes shone as if the dawn sun filtered through them. "You liked that," he murmured.
"Yes."
"Then we should make it a morning routine," he teased as he gave her butt a pat.
"I thought we had." Tara raised a delicate brow, a look of confusion on her face. "You've made love to me every morning, either in our bed or the shower, since Fee cleared me for sex."
Price cupped her cheek and looked into her eyes. "Sweetheart, I want sex every time I'm near you, but you do know you can always say no, and I won't pressure you."
"I know that, píítaa."
A sense of relief swept away the ugly feeling that he might've pressured her into having sex. He never wanted her to associate him with the abusive men in her past.
"If I didn't want sex with you, I'd say so." She leaned in, suckled his lower lip, then nipped it.
/> "What was that for?" He narrowed his eyes. "If it was more attitude because Ren and I said you can't be at the takedown, do your worst. You aren't going. The boss said so, and your man has said so."
"This is what I get for becoming involved with a crew of alpha males." She sighed and rubbed her cheek over his shoulder before resting her head there.
"I'm the only alpha male you need worry about." Price rocked her, his arms tightening around her. He liked holding her, still connected, with the scent of their lovemaking all around them…knowing she was safe.
"I do understand why you guys don't want me there," she muttered against his throat. "I just hate not being there to cover my team. To protect my man's so-fine ass." She pinched him.
"Vicious little firefly." Price loved that she wouldn't let anyone roll over her, not even him. She was a strong woman, a survivor, and he wouldn't have her any other way.
"But…this is about me, after all," she whined. Her body stiffened with what he interpreted as a mixture of sheer stubbornness and some hurt feelings. "Hell, just shoot me now. I hate being a crybaby."
He rubbed her back in soothing circles. Well, at least they were soothing to him, but he was happy to feel the stiffness, the hurt, easing from her body.
"You are not a crybaby. So far from it as not even to be in the same universe. We do value you. And you'll get to use all your skills and experience on all kinds of badasses on all sorts of ops. But you said it," Price kissed her hair, "it's you the bastard wants. And after what we've discovered over the last week, we can't take any chances one of the assholes with Gaither will take a shot at you. The area isn't easily contained even with Tweeter and Keely keeping an eye on things using the drones."
Once they'd known who put the price on Tara and Fee's heads, things had quickly fallen into place. And then the situation had escalated to potential clusterfuck levels—Gaither had put additional feelers out onto the Dark Net, asking for help in breaking his brothers out of the Idaho County Jail in Grangeville. His appeal for assistance targeted anti-government sites and claimed the Feds had unjustly imprisoned his brothers who'd only been exercising their God-given rights to make a living.
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