“I didn’t tell them anything.” His tone was unreasonably defensive and angry. On some level, he was aware of it, but he was still on edge. It was going to take a while to come down.
“It wouldn’t have mattered if you did.” This time when she reached out, it was more slowly, like he was a skittish animal. Probably an accurate description of his current state.
“Yes, it would have. I’d endure anything to protect you.”
“Well, isn’t that just beautiful.” The scathing, acidic voice of Carrie came from just behind him, making every muscle in his body clench on a wave of apprehension and revulsion.
Measured footsteps preceded her as she moved into view, gun pointed at where he and Jenna were sitting on the ground.
Jenna shifted, as though she was going to launch upright. “Stanton—”
“Is dead.” Carrie focused her sights on Jenna, making her go still. “That jackass always underestimated me and today didn’t prove to be the exception. I would have been far more effective in the field than you ever were, but he could never see that.”
“Yeah, except for the part where you’re a traitor,” Jenna muttered.
Carrie grinned, as if the fact that she was a double agent was genuinely funny. “Yes, apart from that. But once I’ve disposed of you and your stick jockey here, no one will ever find out. It’s a pity, though. Your pretty-boy was so much fun to break. Maybe I’ll keep him as a pet.”
Carrie shot him a smile, making the fire of rage in his blood clash into an icy surge of loathing.
“You bitch.” Jenna was on her feet and throwing herself at Carrie before Seb could even think about grabbing her. She gripped Carrie’s wrist, forcing the gun outward. Still, it discharged, and he ducked as a spray of stray ammo cut through the stable. The gun stopped firing, only to almost immediately discharge again, and Seb rolled, nearly catching a blast in the leg. He planted himself behind a haphazard stack of barrels as the two women continued grappling over the weapon.
But Jenna seemed to have sheer enraged strength behind her and she managed to get the upper hand, propelling Carrie back into the hitching post he’d been tied to earlier. As Carrie lost her balance, Jenna wrenched the gun out of her hand and tossed it away. Even though she half went down, Carrie was scrambling right back to her feet, driving herself into Jenna. She lost some footing, but a surprise punch to Carrie’s midsection forced the other agent to back off for a second.
Seb got to his feet, listing a little from the continued dizziness, and lurched toward where the gun had landed near a dusty sack. When he was halfway across the open space, Carrie spotted him and came charging forward. She reached him as he got hands on the weapon and started to turn, using his left arm to fend her off and push her back. There was a cry of agonizing pain, and his heart plummeted into his guts, thinking Carrie had succeeded in hurting Jenna.
But when he swung around, gun held in shaking hands, Carrie was sprawled in a pile of moldy hay, prongs of a pitchfork protruding obscenely through her middle. Jenna backed up a few unsteady steps, half stumbling on a bucket before gaining sure footing.
“She fell on it.”
Carrie made a gurgling gasp, and then fell silent.
Seb released a harsh breath, as though he’d been holding too much air in his lungs for days, and let the gun drop, his arms going weak, quickly followed by the rest of his body. He hadn’t wanted to kill her, but he couldn’t say he was sorry it’d ended this way for her.
He lowered himself to the ground, every single wound on his body deciding to make themselves felt.
“Seb, oh my God.” Jenna rushed over, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. “Just hang on, I’ll call in a medi-evac. We’re not that far from the border, they’ll make the run.”
He shook his head, letting some of his weight sink against her. “I’m okay, I’m not seriously wounded.”
But she had her comm out. “You’re not the only one who needs immediate medical attention.”
“I know, your arm. It’s a nasty gash.” He reached up, touching her elbow and examining the slash across her forearm.
“That’ll repair easily enough. I’m talking about Lawler. He took stray fire.”
He glanced over at his former best friend to see he’d been shot at least twice in the midsection. His heart twisted. Even after everything, what that bastard had done still hurt, and a lingering echo of the friendship they’d once shared made him almost concerned for the guy’s injuries. But he pushed it away with a reminder Lawler had been a traitor.
“He’s secured. Leave him. We’ll send a team once we’re back at base. If he’s still alive, they can decide what to do with him.”
Maybe it made him a bastard—a completely mercenary one—but Lawler had brought this on himself and would have killed him if Jenna hadn’t arrived the second she did.
He got to his feet, wincing at the aches rippling through his body.
“Seb. What Carrie did…”
Something in Jenna’s tone made his heart thump. “She had her own special brand of torture that makes me feel sick thinking about it. I promise one day I’ll try to tell you everything. But she didn’t break me. I didn’t tell her anything. I’m not damaged goods.”
Her hand came up to rest in the middle of his chest, right over his pounding heart. “Even if you were broken or damaged, I wouldn’t have given up on you, and it wouldn’t change the way I feel about you.”
He didn’t have any words to respond, not any that would adequately convey how she made him feel. He cupped her face and though he still felt like hell—from the physical wounds, to Lawler’s betrayal and doubts about his own reliability as a fighter pilot—he could see the way back to himself. And it started and ended with Jenna.
“Jenna, I love you.” The words tumbled out before he’d even realized he was going to say them. “I have no idea what’s going to happen after today. I only know that I love you.”
A smile spread over her face like the sun after a week of cloudy, rainy days. “It doesn’t matter what happens, because I love you, too, Seb.”
He brushed his lips briefly over hers. But he didn’t let himself sink into it like he wanted, not when he was hurting all over and acutely aware they still needed to get back to friendly territory before they were really safe.
“Okay. Let’s get you back to the base.” She stepped to his side, then brought his arm over her shoulder. “Bren and Alpha will be glad to see you… I may have told them you were dead.”
“You did what?”
“For the record, I thought you were dead, too.” She paused to stare up at him, too many emotions in her gaze for him to read.
“Christ, Jenna. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry that you got kidnapped and tortured? Explain to me how that’s your fault.” She dropped her gaze and shot an angry glare at Carrie’s lifeless body.
“You stopped me from killing Lawler so he would face justice. I only wish the same could be said for Carrie.”
She returned her attention to him. “It’s unfortunate, but watching the stupid cow fall on a pitchfork seems like a good end to my career as a CI agent.”
He tightened his arm around her. “What will you do now?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugged as they started a slow shuffle toward the door, every muscle in his body protesting with a symphony of aches. “Being a fighter pilot seems pretty badass.”
From the smile she sent him, he got the sense she wasn’t serious…probably.
“We couldn’t work together, it’d be impossible.”
“Why not?” She looked indignant.
“Because flying a jet into a firefight takes a huge amount of concentration. I’d hear your voice on the comms and then I’d start thinking about what we were doing the last time we were together, definitely naked, and then boom! Missile exploding in my face.”
She gave a short laugh. “Well, it wouldn’t be my problem if you couldn’t keep your thoughts on the job.”
“I
could make it your problem,” he muttered, earning another laugh as they made it outside.
Jenna stiffened as they crossed the weed-choked yard toward the shuttle, where Stanton lay sprawled in the hatchway.
When they boarded the ship, she took a minute to check her former handler, but it was apparent from the vicious wounds Carrie had inflicted that the senior agent was dead. Though Seb wasn’t much help, he gave Jenna a hand shifting the body inside the atmospheric doors. She took a second to drape a tarp over Stanton, and the two of them headed for the controls.
“I’m sorry.” As the ship lifted off, he reached over to take Jenna’s hand.
She squeezed his fingers gently in return. “Stanton was my one constant for the past few years, but we never had anything more than a working relationship. He could be stubborn, and a complete ass sometimes, but he didn’t deserve an end like this. Betrayed by someone he should have been able to trust.”
He didn’t have a reply for her, instead he kept hold of her hand and settled back in his seat, taking the moments of quiet before the turbulence set in. There’d be debriefing upon debriefing and too many questions to answer. Plus, he also had that issue of leaving the Knox without permission hanging over his head.
But as long as he had Jenna at the end of it all, he’d endure the microexamination of the last few days without a complaint.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Seb took the seat at the conference table, steadier and more like himself than he’d been a few hours ago. Jenna had to be some kind of miracle worker, because she’d managed to get him back to the Knox and to his own apartment without seeing or talking to anyone. After he’d taken a dozen showers, he’d walked out into the main room to find Jenna and Ace, beer waiting and chatting like they were old friends. Ace had given him an unofficial full checkup without asking any questions or giving him sympathy he didn’t need, ending with a report of good health once he’d had a few days’ rest.
So, now that he was fronting up to Yang, Bren, and a new CI agent who’d stepped into Stanton’s shoes, with Jenna and Alpha at his side, the panic he’d assumed this moment would bring was thankfully absent.
“Lieutenant Rayne, let me be the first to congratulate you,” said the CI agent, Malouf, clasping his hands on the table over the datapad in front of him.
“It’s Sub-Lieutenant Rayne. And if you don’t mind me asking, why I am I being congratulated?” He glanced at Yang, who didn’t appear dour or pissed off, but…pleased and proud? What the hell was going on here?
“You’ve been promoted for services above and beyond those outlined in your post,” Yang answered. “Congratulations, Lieutenant.”
“Promoted?” He couldn’t get his head around it. He’d come in here expecting to get reamed. “I don’t understand.”
“Upon Stanton’s death, his files were automatically sent to me,” Malouf explained, tapping a finger on the datapad. “As is the protocol, so the agent taking over is fully aware of all ongoing missions and contacts the deceased senior agent was running. One of those files had your name on it, detailing your agreement to temporarily work for CI, unbeknownst to your colleagues and superior officers on the Knox, to protect Agent Maxwell and help flush out the CI traitor.”
He snatched a look at Jenna, who had a professionally detached expression on her face, but he knew her well enough to see the calculating glint in her gaze. Somehow she was responsible for this. Hacked Stanton’s file or done something equally crazy to make sure his ass was covered like usual.
“You sacrificed your own safety and risked your position on the squad,” Yang stated, a definite note of respect in his voice. “We know how much the squad and being a pilot means to you, and you risked it all to find the traitors. Maybe a lot of that came down to what happened with Lawler, but there’s no question you put the interest of the ship and its crew, and the safety of Agent Maxwell, above your own well-being.”
The words were definitely going into his ears and hitting his brain, but he just could not assimilate the facts. “But the charges—”
“There are no charges,” Bren answered. “All of your actions were sanctioned by CI. Stanton detailed it in his report.”
“You’re a hero, buddy.” Alpha clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I never would’ve guessed you’d have it in you, the knack for all that subterfuge stuff. But you had us all fooled. We totally thought you’d gone off the rails.”
“Um, thanks?”
Alpha, Bren, and Yang all laughed at his unsophisticated response. Even Agent Malouf smiled. Little did they know just how close to the truth they were. He’d definitely gone off the rails for a minute there. But only he and Jenna would ever know.
The question had to be asked, though. What had Stanton been playing at? And when had he put together this “report” detailing his apparent agreement to work for CI? Had Jenna asked Stanton to take care of it at some stage, or had she simply inserted the reports into his file? The how’s and why’s probably didn’t really matter in the end. Instead of getting punished, he was getting rewarded. They couldn’t have stunned him more if they’d zapped him with a thousand volts of live electricity.
“So now what?” he asked once everyone had finished congratulating him.
“Now, we put this behind us.” Malouf stood. “Agent Maxwell has asked to move on from field work. I’ve found her a position in the onboard intelligence annex. She’ll be our number one analyst and agent coordinator. It’s a huge job, overseeing all the agents, collating the intelligence they collect, and forming one picture with it all, but I believe she’s up to the task.”
Jenna murmured a thanks, and then Malouf bid them all good-bye, leaving the room.
“Well, I can’t say I’m not glad to see the end of that,” Bren said, catching him with a light scolding look. “Seb, I’m pretty sure you owe me one beer for every lie or half-truth you told over the past few weeks.”
The grin he sent her in return was genuinely relieved and happy. “Then you’ll be comatose on the floor in no time.”
“That many lies?” Bren shook her head. “It’s like I don’t even know you anymore.”
“Come on, if it’s as bad as he says it is, we better get to Harley’s and get started.” Alpha shoved him in the shoulder as he stood, but looked across the table. “You coming, sir?”
Yang gave a rare smile. “Hell, yeah. This is one story I don’t plan on missing.”
As he got to his feet, Seb automatically reached for Jenna’s hand, contentment stealing through him as her palm came to rest against his.
“You two can quit it with the sappy love saga now,” Bren muttered as they headed out of the conference room.
Amazingly, his cheeks got warm as he caught Jenna’s amused gaze.
“Uh, that part wasn’t a lie.” He tugged Jenna closer, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Actually, it was probably the only thing that wasn’t fabricated.”
“Oh geez.” Bren rolled her eyes. She’d never exactly been a romantic. “Between you and Alpha, I’ll be too grossed out by all the lovelorn glances and over the top PDA to enjoy my beer.”
“I’ll endeavor to control myself, CAFF,” he said with an almost straight face. Jenna’s hand slid downward to his ass, as she sent him a purely wicked smile. “Or maybe not.”
He came to a halt as the others continued on without them, Alpha wolf-whistling at him before they disappeared around a corner.
“Do you know what I just realized?” He pulled her in closer, settling his hands on her hips.
She shook her head. “I have no idea.”
“I haven’t kissed you properly yet today.” He leaned in closer, blood singing through his veins in a way that left him awakened and revitalized, despite everything they’d been through.
“Well, it’s time you did something about that,” she murmured in return.
“Yes, it is,” he said as he closed the distance between them.
Epilogue
Not even a day went by befor
e Seb found himself being called back into the command center of the ship. So much for that rest everyone kept ordering him to get.
Though he wasn’t really complaining. Having downtime had been fun this morning when he and Jenna had been lazing together in bed, but she’d gone up to the CI annex a few hours ago to familiarize herself with the new position she’d be starting, and of course being left to his own devices had seen him get bored too damn quickly.
As he got off the transit and headed toward the huge double doors that kept the command center locked down from the rest of the ship, he spotted Jenna waiting to have her ID checked before the security officers cleared her for entry.
He stepped in behind her, sliding an arm across her shoulders. “Should I be worried that we’ve both been ordered up to command?”
She glanced up at him, a warm, intimate smile making his blood rush. “You know how these things go. They probably just need some follow-up details after yesterday’s debriefing.”
Security cleared her, and she stepped to the side, waiting as his ID was checked as well. Once the formalities were done, he took her hand as they walked through the doors and headed toward the conference rooms. A few other soldiers greeted him—he still hadn’t wrapped his head around the promotion and kept thinking they were addressing someone else whenever they said “Lieutenant.”
Unsurprisingly, Bren and Alpha were also waiting outside in the corridor when they arrived.
“Sir, CAFF,” he greeted with a nod. “Anyone got a clue why Yang called this meeting?”
Bren shook her head. “No, but it looks like we’re about to find out.”
The conference room door opened, and he filed in with the others to find Commander Yang sitting at the large central table, with Colonel Cameron McAllister beside him. They all exchanged pleasantries as they sat down.
“Thank you all for coming on short notice,” Yang said by way of starting the meeting. “This shouldn’t take long, but it’s important.”
Cover Fire (Valiant Knox) Page 30