Rescue Me

by Allie Adams

  Kathryn casually pulled her hand back. “Excuse me?”

  Oh, shit.

  Spencer spied Weber out of the corner of his eye and knew he'd caught on as well. He was so fucked.

  “I gave Spencer a little incentive to find my grandson.”

  “And what sort of incentive would that be?” Weber asked, his voice even, dangerous.

  He had to do something and fast. “Kathryn, why don't you take Martha inside the Com Van for some coffee as we wait for the team to bring Tommy in?”

  “That sounds wonderful,” Martha offered.

  Kathryn didn't look pleased at the request. She thrust out her chin and for a split second, Spencer thought she'd unleash on them all. But then she nodded and softened her face with a smile. “Right this way, Martha.”

  As she walked out, she threw a glare over her shoulder at Spencer that hit him clear to his soul. There'd be hell to pay after this.

  “That incentive?” Weber prodded.

  “I told Allen that if he found Tommy I'd be sure the board turned the other way while he got the K-SAR wildcat out of his system.”

  “Oh you did, did you?” Weber turned his glare on Spencer.

  Yep. Definitely fucked.

  It pissed him off that he referred to Kathryn like some woman that didn't mean shit to Spencer. She wasn't a fling he needed to fuck out of his system. She fueled his system.

  Good luck convincing her of that after this.

  “Tommy is on his way,” Weber told Miller. “As soon as he arrives, we'll get him checked out by our medical team. You can see him then. Now if you'll excuse us, I need to have a word with my agent.”

  “Don't be too hard on him, Weber. My offer obviously worked.”

  Bullshit. Kathryn found that boy using her gut instincts and personal experience. It had nothing to do with Miller's offer. Weber nodded for Spencer to leave the tent. He debated whether to follow orders. His personal life was just that—personal. Weber had no right to dictate who Spencer spent his time with outside of the job.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you?” Weber demanded the instant they stepped away from the tent. “Not only can you not keep your love life out of a find, but you bring in a member of the goddamn board? Are you mental?”

  “I never said a word to him.”

  Weber walked away and then spun around again. “And yet he knew exactly where to hit you. We are right back to you not being able to keep your personal life out of the job.”

  “There's nothing to keep out.”

  “Bullshit. You don't think I saw the way you stuck to her side like you two were joined at the hip? I'm not blind, Allen. Neither is Miller. She compromised you on this find.”

  Spencer thrust his hand through his hair. “Why are you so pissed about this? We found the boy thanks to her.”

  “And only thanks to her! If you weren't sniffing around like a buck in rut, you would have picked up on Salazar. Instead, you let a fucking citizen show us up.”

  The team appeared over the hill, a bundle of foil emergency blankets in Lyon's arms. They made a beeline for the ambulance.

  Weber watched them until they had the boy safely in the back of the vehicle before turning to Spencer. “You'll meet me back at HQ in an hour. That should give you enough time to get your shit together. We're going to have a little talk, you and me. If I don't like any of your answers, I'm benching you.”

  “For a successful find?”

  “For coming that close to it being a failed find.” Weber held up his finger and thumb a millimeter apart. “You lose focus when she's around and that's not something I can afford in my agents. One hour, Allen.”

  Spencer stilled as his blood cooled. Goddamn Weber for having the authority to do exactly that. And goddamn himself for not having the balls to tell him to take this job and shove it up his ass. They found Tommy Miller.

  What more did he want?

  ELEVEN

  Just the thought of eating a greasy dinner from a paper sack had Kat's stomach churning in protest, but if she planned to last through the debriefing with the rest of the units and then the interview with Tommy once the TREX medical team cleared him, she needed to eat.

  She managed half a burger and some cold fries, then washed the food down with a watery soda. It landed like a lump of wet clay at the pit of her stomach and she knew she'd need a whole lot of Tums to help it digest.

  The Com Van door opened and Spencer poked his head in. “They're ready for us.”

  Kat gave him a nod and stood to brush the salt and crumbs off her front. Spencer eyed the gesture and at first she thought he directed the hunger in his eyes at her. Then she followed his gaze to the bag of food. She'd bet he hadn't eaten since bringing her in on the search.

  She handed him the bag. He didn't say a word and instead had everything devoured in a matter of seconds. He had a voracious appetite, in every sense of the word. Once he consumed the food, he looked at her. That hunger was still there, swirling, darkening his gaze. A jolt of anticipation shocked her body, tightening her nipples. They needed to close out this search so they could finish what they started in the back of the Com Van.

  “Thanks,” he said and handed the empty sack back. “Ready?”

  “Let's do this.” She fell into step beside him and wanted desperately to know what exactly this incentive was that Martin Miller mentioned. But right now, she needed to keep her focus on Tommy. She'd have time to grill Spencer later. She'd have time to do a whole lot to Spencer later. She smiled at the thought and debated which part of him she'd attack first.

  She spotted Tommy's tiny body on the gurney. Twigs and pine needles muddled his dark hair. Dirt caked against dried blood from all the scratches on his skin. He had a bandage on his arm. No doubt the wound that left the blood for TREX to find.

  Kat furrowed her brow. The poor kid was a mess.

  But he was alive.

  The two-man medical team had Tommy in the back of the ambulance, the doors open, as they tended to him. One checked his vitals as the other added something to his IV. Martha stayed right by his side. The team had him covered in thick, wool blankets. From a distance Kat watched them work fluidly around Martha as she hovered. Not once did they ask her to move.

  She knew these two, having had them on several of her searches in the past. They did more than TREX finds and she chalked it up to yet more third-party agencies.

  “Hey, Geno,” she called out as one of the members of the medical team jumped out of the back of the ambulance. “How's he doing?”

  “He's in amazing shape, all things considered.” He nodded at Phil still in the back with little Tommy as the other man wrote something on a clipboard. “I was just telling Phil what a miracle this is. You find a wounded little boy, in the middle of the forest, in the middle of a winter storm. Nicely done.”

  “Thanks. But I can't take all the credit.” She nodded toward Spencer.

  Phil set the chart aside. “TREX didn't find him. K-SAR did. You did it, Kat. I don't know how you pulled this miracle out of that sweet ass.”

  He lost his grin when Spencer nailed him with a lethal glare. He whipped around and focused on securing Tommy on the gurney.

  “Can I talk to him?” Kat hated to push after everything Tommy had already been through. It was always best to interview the subject as soon as possible to capture everything while it remained fresh in his or her memory. Trauma did interesting things to the memory, altering it or sometimes deleting it altogether.

  She would know.

  Phil, now on Spencer's shit list after his comment, spoke up, no doubt in hope of redeeming himself. He darted his gaze from Spencer to Kat as he jumped out of the ambulance. “Ask now, because once we get to the hospital you won't get another chance until he's released. Hospital policy with minors.”

  Kat stepped up into the ambulance and sat down next to Tommy. He looked so small strapped to that giant gurney. “Is it okay if I ask you some questions, Tommy?”

  He nodded. As soon
as Martha took his hand, Tommy burst into tears. Martha held him as he curled to her.

  She already saw that coming. When they'd finally found her the only thing she'd wanted was human contact. She'd been so scared she'd never see another person again. It didn't matter whom she hugged, only that she held them and never let them go. When she'd spotted her dad, she'd burst into a fresh tantrum of tears and ran into his arms. She'd never wanted to leave his side again.

  Tommy shook as he held fiercely onto his mom. He buried his face and sobbed hard, apologizing over and over.

  “It's over.” Martha stroked Tommy's hair from his eyes.

  “Bad men are out there.”

  “I know, baby. But there are good men out there, too. The good men brought you back to me.”

  With fresh tears in his eyes, he peeked at Kat from under his mom's hold. “Who are you?”

  “This is the person who showed the good men where you were hiding,” Martha explained.

  He pushed away from his mom and even sat up. “Y-You showed them where I was?”

  Kat nodded, not knowing how else to explain it to a six-year-old. “That was me.”

  He then threw his arms around Kat and spoke in a tiny voice that pulled at her resolve.

  What he said next had her heart in her throat and tears in her eyes. “Mommy says angels are real. Are you an angel?”

  Tears streamed down Kat's cheeks as she hugged him tight. “Today I am.”

  * * * *

  Spencer stood with his back against Weber's office wall at TREX headquarters, his booted foot kicking a dust ball around on the floor as he contemplated why Weber felt the need to lecture him again, and after a straight twenty-hour shift. At least he smelled better after hitting the showers at HQ. It took him an extra twenty minutes between the Seattle traffic and finding soap that didn't make him smell like he'd just gone through a decontamination drill. Now here he stood in the Western Region of TREX's HQ, wondering if he'd be welcome here this time tomorrow.

  Weber hated HQ and made it a point to avoid it at any cost, which made this one of his special occasion meetings. Oh how Spencer loved those. They usually involved Special Agent in Charge Dan Weber yelling his ever-loving head off and Spencer getting busted down to shit duty until he did something to get off Weber's shit list.

  Why the hell was he here? Really? If Weber so much as coughed Kathryn's name, Spencer would walk right out the goddamn door. They found Tommy Miller alive. He and Kathryn hadn't done anything wrong. Hell, Spencer had the board's permission to pick up where they'd left off, which brought him back to his original question.

  And Weber just sat there behind his large oak desk, glowering at him with those hooded blue eyes sheltered by a brow furrowed in fury. Spencer knew better than to speak first and give up too much information, so he remained silent and continued to kick at the dust ball.

  He pushed his fingers through his hair and slowed when he picked up on Weber watching the nervous gesture. Spencer growled and jammed his fingers into the pockets of his BDUs. He didn't want to give Weber any indication that his nerves had him strung tight. “Got a mirror?”

  “No.”

  This had better not have anything to do with Kathryn or that he'd kissed her while on duty. The only way Weber could possibly know was if Becker ratted them out. If he had, the son of a bitch was dead. Spencer would see to that. After the way that man kept looking at Kathryn, Spencer may just kill him anyway.

  He caught himself laboring his breathing the more he thought about why Weber called him here and decided to mentally walk through the find to keep his brain occupied.

  Thank God for Kathryn Davis. Tommy Miller had a guardian angel in her. If she hadn't picked up on Salazar's guilt, they may have lost that kid forever. Spencer's gut cramped at the thought.

  But she'd found him and now Tommy Miller rested safely in the warmth of a hospital bed and not curled up in a little ball in the frigid, dark cold, crying himself to sleep. Or worse. When Weber stood and paced—never a good sign—Spencer's nerves sank into his gut, tightening it until he could bounce a quarter off his abs. Weber continued to pace back and forth, every once in a while stopping as he heard a door open and close.

  The maddening silence was the worst part. Weber always took his time to form his words, which meant Spencer had to wait and concentrate on keeping his temper under control. The mix of irritation at being clear up to Seattle, the exhaustion from the find, the emotional cruelty fate had dealt by keeping him and Kathryn apart. Everything snaked inside him, winding him like a recoil spring on an M16. It was only a matter of time before he exploded. And he knew he would need to in order to release all this pent up energy.

  He scanned the room to keep his mind occupied. Pictures lined the office walls, photos of the SAC shaking hands with various people of importance. The desk sat in the middle of the room, the uncomfortable metal chairs with stained cushions stationed in front. As Weber paced behind the desk, Spencer waited.

  After several minutes, he turned to Spencer. “It seems we have a little problem, Allen.”

  “Give it a rest.” He caught himself. He didn't need to piss off his boss. Again. He'd end up worse off than being busted down to working with the computer geeks over in the intelligence division. Again. “If you have a problem with me, just come out with it.”

  Weber narrowed his gaze. He had his eyes pinched tight as he glared that Spencer had to concentrate to see them at all. “Is this some fucking joke to you?”

  “No, sir.”

  “You can't be running a team by making judgment calls with your dick. You were told to get your team into the field and help find the kid.”

  “And I did exactly that.”

  “By staying behind so you could visit with your girlfriend while your team busted their asses,” Weber pointed out. “You chose a woman over your own team.”

  Spencer ground his teeth together. He knew if he tried to deny it Weber would catch him in his lie. The man had a keen eye and an even sharper mind. Not much got past him, if anything.

  “This habit of putting Kat ahead of your own brotherhood ends now. If she's too much of a distraction, if you can't turn off your horny dumbass switch, then we have a problem. You put your team in jeopardy today.”

  No way. No fucking way. He'd never do anything to jeopardize his team. He only stayed with Kathryn after he gave Lyons specific instructions on what to do when they found the kid. And Lyons carried them out without prejudice.

  Spencer shook his head and dropped a curse as he glanced out one of the side windows. He'd finally made the decision to give into the arousal Kathryn fired in his blood, to no longer deny either one of them the pleasure he knew rested just below the surface. Now this.

  He refused to fuel Weber's paranoia and chose to remain silent.

  “Tell me she doesn't already have your dick in knots.” Weber set his jaw as he studied Spencer.

  Like hell. He wasn't about to discuss his feelings, personal or otherwise, with his SAC. He liked the guy, but not well enough to open up to him. He didn't like anyone enough to open up to them.

  Strike that. He smiled inwardly, his thoughts drifting to when he'd have Kathryn back in his bed. He'd lay her down, kiss every delicious inch of her before spreading her legs and attacking. He almost tasted her sweet syrup now. Shifting to hide the growing bulge in his pants, he continued his mental encounter.

  Weber rambled on about some bullshit, but Spencer no longer heard him. He was tired, hungry, and couldn't keep his mind off of wondering what Kathryn was doing at that exact moment. Was she having mental sex with him right now? Were her nipples hard at the thought of him covering them with his mouth?

  “Because if you two can't be adults about this...”

  Did she go straight home after the search? Did she go straight to bed? The thought of her curled into a ball as she slept made him smile. He used to prop himself up on one elbow and just watch her sleep. She'd always looked so peaceful. He loved watching her sleep.r />
  “I can't afford for you to screw this up...”

  He licked his lips and let out a shaky breath. Her taste still lingered there. He licked them again.

  “And if you so much as...”

  He chuckled in the back of his throat, remembering her body's reaction to him when he kissed her in the Com Van. She gave him a little whimper that, even now, had him so engorged he had a hard time seeing straight.

  “Am I boring you, Allen?”

  Spencer blinked and looked at Weber when he realized the room had fallen silent. “Hell no, sir. I always find your lectures absolutely captivating.”

  “Un-fucking-believable. You're already gone.” Weber sighed and sank into his chair. Spencer remained propped against the opposite wall with one foot crossed over the other.

  “Can you repeat back a single goddamn word I said?”

  Spencer swallowed and said nothing.

  “That's what I thought. To paraphrase, keep it in your pants this time.”

  He gritted his teeth until his jaw ached. His temper flared to life, but he knew if he wanted to keep his job he needed to control it. Still, he thinned his lips. A tightness slammed into his chest and made it hard to breathe. “Kathryn Davis is a complete professional. So am I. Our previous personal relationship will not get in the way of our current professional relationship.”

  Weber eyed Spencer carefully. “Why am I less than convinced?”

  “I've got it under control.”

  “Doesn't look like it from my end.”

  “And how's that?”

  “That partner of hers pulled me aside as we were shutting down.”

  “Becker?”

  Weber nodded. “He told me you and Kat were practically fucking in the back of the Com Van. You want to explain that?”

  That did it. The son of a bitch was dead. “We were one hundred percent dedicated to finding Tommy.”

  “And once the team had him? Care to explain what happened next?”

  “Not really.”

  Weber drummed his fingers on the desk as he watched Spencer for several seconds. “Since neither one of you have enough sense to keep your hands—or lips—to yourself, I'm stepping in.”