Now here she sat, that same outfit soaking wet, her dreams slipping away like the droplets of water down the drain.
Her cell rang…good to know it still worked. It played Bette Midler’s Wind Beneath My Wings, the tune she’d programmed for her oldest brother. The lyrics: “Did you ever know that you’re my hero,” were the perfect representation of what he meant to her. She didn’t want to worry him, so she tried for a cheery tone. “Hey, Luke. What’s up?”
“Are you having a little trouble there, sis?”
“How did you know?” She eyed the people milling about, wondering who was spying for her brother.
“ESP,” he said, the same BS he’d been feeding her since she was eight.
“Seriously? How did you know?”
“I may not be a detective anymore but the traits are still there. I never reveal my sources.”
She sighed, a lock of hair falling over her face to cover her eye. “The purpose for the call?”
“Your audition video is due Friday morning, right?”
Hopelessness washed over her. “Yes.”
“Use the house.”
Kait shot upright. Use Luke’s house? With the sparkling gourmet kitchen, panoramic views of the lake and every appliance any chef would need? He had everything she required…and she should know. She’d designed and stocked the kitchen herself.
“You don’t mind?”
“Kait, dammit.” His voice was scolding. “It’s your house, too. You know that.”
It was nice of him to say, but it wasn’t her house. It was Luke’s. He worked hard his entire life to raise her and her other two brothers. He’d built a successful business and then designed his dream home. Kaitlyn wanted him to be happy, to find someone to share his life with and fill the house with kids. She owned her own tiny bungalow in town, closer to the restaurant, but she did stay at Luke’s often.
“You’ve come to my rescue once again. Thank you.”
“Break a leg, sis.”
#
As soon as Kaitlyn informed Lauren about the switch of venue, she rounded up the boys and their equipment and herded them into Kait’s cherry red BMW. The boys “oohed” and “ahhed”, begging to take turns driving. She just laughed. No one drove her baby. She made a quick stop to pick up fresh ingredients and then motored to Luke’s house. He and his business partner Logan Bradley had built their company from the ground up. It started with just the two men and Dan. Now they employed so many people, she’d lost count. They had more jobs than they could handle. They’d even signed a contract with the government. She was so proud of her brother.
She pulled up to the massive security gates that led to the sprawling compound that served as COBRA Securities headquarters. In order to get inside, you had to pass through two checkpoints, the second one manned. Her car had a chip that automatically opened the first gate, so she motored through as soon as it opened. Guests had to press a button and talk to whomever was working the second gate. The boys were wide-eyed as she navigated the drive through the trees.
“Geez, paranoid much?” Benji asked. “I feel like we’re going to Fort Knox or something.”
The security might seem a bit excessive, but almost everyone who worked here had either a military or law enforcement background. They’d all collected enemies over the years. Luke and Logan believed in being prepared for anything and they wouldn’t take chances with the lives of their employees or their own families. The facility included an underground bunker with backup computer operations in case the compound ever came under fire. They’d also constructed two exit tunnels, one that led to the road and another to the boathouse on the lake. They’d even bought up all the surrounding land and many of the agents had purchased plots and built houses inside the walls.
It’d been a major fight when she wanted to move to her own house. Luke wanted her tucked safely behind the secured walls. Her bungalow was tiny and didn’t have the lake view, but it was much closer to work. At the end of a busy day, the short commute meant she could be home faster to soak in the tub with a glass of Merlot and relax. Luke finally relented…after wiring her place with top-of-the-line security.
She pulled up to the guard station and rolled down her window. The manned gate might be a bit extreme, but it gave Tucker Nash an important job where he felt like he still contributed. Tucker stuck his head outside and waved. He was a retired marine sniper and looked the part. Not many criminals would choose to go up against him. What they didn’t know was that inside that barrel chest beat the heart of a teddy bear, and that when he stepped out of the booth, he was missing both of his legs, courtesy of a roadside bomb in Iraq. He walked with two prostheses and hand crutches. Yes, they needed protection, but she knew Luke and Logan created the position especially for him. They could’ve gotten by with just the gates. Being in charge of security gave Tucker a purpose he’d lost when he left his legs in Fallujah. He was proficient with computers but Post Traumatic Stress Disorder made being around too many people tough, so he had everything he needed to work from the booth.
She chatted with him briefly and asked about his twin daughters. They were just about to hit their teens and were giving their parents fits. She waved goodbye and drove around to her brother’s house. She surreptitiously checked to make sure she didn’t run into Dan. She both hoped she did and dreaded it. She was sick. Truthfully, after all that had gone wrong this week, she didn’t feel like dealing with him today. Or else she wanted to throw herself in his arms and beg him to never let go. Yep, definitely sick.
No chance encounters as she parked in Luke’s cobblestone driveway. She guided the teens inside and left them to entertain themselves with the gigantic television and game console in the great room as she ran to her room to shower after the morning’s water adventure. Since they’d changed the venue, Benji and Bryce wouldn’t be able to use any of the footage they’d already shot, so they had to get it all done today. The bright side was that there was no time limit except for what the boys would need to finish the project.
Once she dried her hair, changed her jacket and applied make up, she headed back down stairs. Benji and Bryce were engrossed in a game of Mortal Kombat, while Lauren chatted on her cell. When Lauren saw her, she ended the conversation and called for the boys. They were so absorbed in the game, they didn’t hear her summons. She rolled her eyes and stalked over to the TV. Picking up the remote, she punched the power button to vehement protests by both boys.
“Hey, no fair! I was winning!”
“I was just about to firebomb the golden circles!”
“You’re not getting paid to play games,” Lauren chided.
“We’re not getting paid at all,” Bryce grumbled as he tossed down the game controller.
Lauren glanced at Kait and they burst out laughing.
Kait padded to the kitchen and was happy to discover the boys already had everything all set up. She pulled out her favorite knife, the one Luke, Ben and Grant gifted her with when she’d graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. It was hand crafted and weighted perfectly for her hand. How her brothers managed that, she’d never know. It was a work of art. She loved it so much, she’d marry it if legally possible.
After arranging her supplies, she smiled at the cameras and got busy.
Chapter Two
Sweat poured down Dan Bradley’s face as he sparred with Alex Mylonas in the ring. They were both exhausted but neither one wanted to call it quits. They’d just finished running the parkour course Dante Costa, the COBRA Securities agent in charge of conditioning, had installed in the workout facility. They were training hard for the upcoming US Ninja Warrior competition.
Dan wanted to be the top ninja so bad, he could taste it. He even dreamed of it. It’d become his main focus, practically an obsession. He wasn’t a former Navy SEAL like his brother Logan, or Dante, Dorian Demarchis, Noah or Ethan Addison; his background wasn’t as a police detective like Alex or Luke Colton or Nick Turner; he couldn’t claim FBI creds like Ben
Colton or Jake Kincaid, and he wasn’t from any of the other badass military units like so many of the other agents. He’d earned a degree in criminal justice and he worked hard on training. He was an excellent marksman and excelled in hand-to-hand combat. Still, whenever he thought about his lack of experience, he heard that red-headed woman from the old game show. She was pointing a mocking finger at him and crooning, “You are the weakest link. Goodbye.” Of all of the active field agents, he had the least background, therefore the biggest chip on his shoulder. The sucker was the size of Jupiter. Being crowned the top US Ninja Warrior would go a long way towards knocking it off its axis.
Before he could even think about the competition, he had to actually get through the next few minutes in his battle with Alex. They were both so damn competitive. They’d ran the course until neither one could hold their body weight a second longer. His muscles felt like Jell-O. The course consisted of obstacles designed to get from one point to another in the most efficient way possible. And fastest. There were rings and ropes and vaults, you jumped, swung, ran, rolled, you name it.
The US Ninja Warrior competition had been around for a few years but he’d never paid attention until one night while bored on assignment, he was flipping through the channels and stopped on the program. He’d been hooked from the first run. This was something he could do! He started taping every episode and studying the top competitors. Then he began training. He’d been the first to commit, then several of the other agents jumped on board, including Alex and Dante. Dan gulped. He might have a chance against Alex since he wasn’t one hundred percent after getting shot a few months ago, but he didn’t think he had a snowball’s chance in Hades to beat Dante. The man was a freaking machine. There was nothing he couldn’t do. Logan was the same way and he trained just as hard, but he wasn’t planning on competing, thank goodness.
The qualification round was in a few weeks and he wanted to be in top form. He’d dedicated himself to training. He’d modified his diet so he was eating clean and healthy. He’d dropped fifteen pounds and his body was shredded, if he did say so himself. He was born to be a ninja warrior. When he was younger, he loved to jump over walls and climb trees and swing on branches. Aunt Trudy used to call him a monkey.
The COBRA Securities gym was so huge, they’d constructed several obstacles like the ones on the show so they could prepare for everything, especially the hardest apparatuses that presented the biggest challenges. They’d built a salmon ladder four times as high as any they used on the show. It was brutal and required tremendous upper-body strength. You had to leap up and grab a bar resting on two parallel supports. Since you hung on the bar, you had to use momentum or upper body strength to navigate the rungs set a foot apart, raising the bar from notch to notch. Brutal. They’d also constructed a spider wall where you launched from a mini trampoline to suspend yourself with your hands and feet between two walls four-feet apart. They even built a warped wall: a concave pipe approximately fifteen feet in the air where you climb and pull yourself over the top. He’d practiced that one so much, he could scale it without a running head start.
The show tested all aspects of physical fitness including agility and balance, but the bulk required upper body strength. That’s where he’d devoted most of his training. He was six-two and had been two-fifteen but he’d trimmed down to two hundred pounds of solid muscle. He was in the best shape of his life.
It was hard to train while he was on assignment, but he found creative ways to work out, from finger-tip pull-ups on doorframes, to never-ending push-ups. He and Alex had both finished assignments and had the next few days off before the competition to train. Not only was Dante training himself, but he was training all of them, too. The man was a former SEAL, aka inhuman. Dan always thought he was in pretty good shape until Dante came along. His brother Logan was also a former SEAL and Dan had watched him work out thinking, no way he could ever keep up. He could now, thanks to Dante. But after a full day of punishing workouts, stick a fork in him. He was done.
Dan decided it was time to end this so he went for a roundhouse punch, hoping to catch Alex off-guard and pin him to the mat. Unfortunately, Alex seemed to have the same idea. Just as his glove slammed into Alex’s headgear, Alex’s slammed into his. Stars exploded in his eyes. The room spun. They both went down hard.
Damn. That was going to leave a mark.
They laid side-by-side on the mat, their harsh breaths stirring the air. Dan tried to figure out where the ringing bells were coming from. Finally, he panted out, “What’s wrong, old man, can’t get those toothpicks you call legs to move?” It was stupid to taunt him when he couldn’t move, either.
“Shut-up, punk,” Alex grumbled breathlessly. “Besides, I’m not that much older than you.”
“I won, by the way.”
“Like hell,” Alex half coughed, half-wheezed. “Your ass hit the canvas first.”
“Nun-uh,” Dan retorted childishly. He wondered if he rested here for say, ever, if anyone would miss him? His niece Isabella would realize her Unca Dan wasn’t around, wouldn’t she? He’d like to think his brother would miss him but come-on, the man was married to a stunning, Oscar-winning movie star who also happened to be carrying their child. Goofball younger brothers didn’t land high-up on the worry chart. His aunt Trudy might miss him, but then he’d been bad about visiting her lately, so she’d probably just chalk up his absence on his flightiness. So to sum up his internal musings, no one would miss him at all. He briefly flashed on Kaitlyn’s gorgeous face but as soon as it popped into his brain, he ruthlessly pushed it out. More than likely, she’d eventually be the cause of his disappearance. She’d get so fed up with him, she’d end his life. He wouldn’t blame her. He could be an ass sometimes. Speaking of asses, she had a world-class…
“Get up, loser.” Alex swatted at his leg as he pushed to his feet. “Ready to go another round?”
Dan kept his eyes closed, willing Alex to just go away.
“I’m not going away,” Alex smirked, reading his mind.
Dan cracked one lid to glare. Alex reached out his ungloved hand. With much reluctance, he removed his glove and accepted help up. Faking energy he didn’t have, he stuck his glove back on and smacked them together. “Let’s do it.” Shoving his mouthpiece in, he resigned himself to another few minutes of misery.
“Wrap it up, men,” Dante called out. “I’ve got a couple more waiting in the wings to use the ring.”
“Thank God.” Dan’s shoulders sagged in gratitude. If he hadn’t glanced at Alex, he might’ve missed the other man’s sigh of relief. Ha. Now he just had to figure out how to make his legs work and jump down to the floor.
“Good work today,” Dante praised. “I’ll see you back here at o-six-hundred to start again.”
“He’s kidding. Tell me he’s kidding,” Alex whispered.
“He gives new meaning to the word sadist.”
He managed to step down from the platform without embarrassing himself. He passed Maggie McQueen and Kayla Hepburn all geared up. He thought about sticking around to watch them fight. Two chicks going at it was always a turn-on, but his heart wasn’t in to it. He felt uncharacteristically melancholy. Maybe it was the thought that no one would miss him that darkened his mood. Maybe it was the fact that he was gaining on thirty and he was no closer to settling down than he was ten years ago. Many of his friends and co-workers were marrying the women they loved and starting families. The bar scene wasn’t as fun as it used to be. He’d much rather trade a good night’s sleep for a night of drinking and debauchery. Now wasn’t that a kick in the pants to discover.
He bumped gloves with Maggie as he passed. Kayla smacked him on the butt. He glared but she just flashed her dimples and gave Alex the same slap.
Even his buddy Alex was a corps perdu over a woman, though he wouldn’t admit it. Dan had seen him watch the evening news when Olivia Larrson was on with single-minded focus. A bomb could explode and the man wouldn’t even realize it. Definitely a
ss over tea kettle.
“Hi-ya!”
Dan didn’t have time to prepare as a small body plowed into him from behind like a run-away freight train. He crashed to the ground. He wasn’t sure, but he might’ve whimpered. Alex doubled over in laughter and Dan made a mental note to punch him later.
“Zanshin,” his attacker tsked. “Remember that term?” An annoying little finger stabbed at his temple and he swatted at it. “Not very mentally aware, are we, Dan? You’re supposed to stay alert at all times.”
“Get off me, kid,” he grumbled. “Don’t you have an autograph to sign or a kitten to rescue?”
“Har, har,” Kai Costa said, leaping to his feet with the energy and verve of a nine-year old. A few weeks ago, Kai had saved his soon-to-be step-sister’s life when she was abducted by an escaped felon. Kai put his own life in danger to follow them and when he had the chance, he saved Grace’s life. The kid was little but he was fierce. A true hero. Dan admired the heck out of him. Just not right now.
He pushed to his feet and faced him. “Paybacks, Little C,” he warned.
Kai danced around and punched out his arms like he was sparring in the ring. “Bring ‘em on, bring ‘em on.”
“Later, kid.” He turned to walk away and listened until he heard Kai retreating. He silently dropped his bag to the ground, spun around and flew at the boy. He roared and scooped him off his feet. Kai squealed like a little girl.
“Zanshin,” he mocked.
“Bradley, what are you doing to my kid?”
“Just teaching him about mental awareness and preparedness,” he assured Dante. He suddenly noticed he was wet. Water dripped down his shirt. “What the…Little C, did I scare the pee out of you?”
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