by Lucy Monroe
“Which is precisely why Josie shouldn’t be going on this mission,” Hotwire said, proving he’d gotten the gist of her words from the get-go.
“That’s ridiculous.” She’d been friends with the three mercenaries before when they were on missions together.
Wolf transferred his gaze to her, his brown eyes serious and compelling. “No, it’s not. Look at how Nitro is with you. A soldier with his focus on anything besides the mission ends up a dead soldier.”
Hotwire nodded, his own expression grim. “His first priority is going to be keeping you safe.”
“Of course it isn’t,” she denied.
“He cares about you. That changes things,” Wolf said.
“Are you trying to tell me that he tries to baby-sit you two on missions? Because I’ll tell you right now, I don’t buy it. I’ve seen the three of you in action. You cannot deny you care about each other, but the mission always comes first.”
Hotwire made a choking noise, and Wolf stared at her as if she’d said something rude while Daniel laughed. “We’re men.”
“And I’m a woman. Are you saying you don’t think I’m a good soldier?”
“That’s not what this is about.”
“Then what is it about?”
“Me not wanting to see you hurt.”
The sentiment was nice, but she wasn’t accepting it as an excuse to leave her behind. “Ninety-five percent of the jobs you took as mercs included protecting someone, and that never got in the way of your ability to fight or do your job.”
“It’s not the same thing.” Wolf hugged his wife to his side. “There’s protecting someone and then there’s keeping someone you love safe.”
“Which is why you did such a terrible job on your mission to capture Lise’s stalker?” she asked tongue-in-cheek.
Wolf had the grace to look uncomfortable. “But it was a lot more stressful than a normal assignment.”
Lise glared up at him. “Thanks a lot.”
“So, you’re saying Daniel’s too much of a pansy to handle the stress of worrying about me?”
Both Wolf and Hotwire looked chagrined at that, undoubtedly as aware as she was that such an idea was ludicrous.
“Not.” Daniel squeezed her. “This is not about me; it’s about you and you staying safe.”
“Lise’s not going.” Wolf said it as if that was some kind of irrefutable proof Josie shouldn’t either.
This was getting nuts. “Can we take a reality check here? Lise is an author, a really great author, but definitely not a soldier, and she’s pregnant.”
“You’re having your woman’s thing,” Daniel announced with a total lack of tact.
“It’s not even remotely the same thing, and may I remind you that even without being pregnant, she is still not a soldier and I am? A darn good one, too.”
“I thought you wanted a more normal life.”
She rolled her eyes. “That does not mean I’m going to ignore a threat to my dad’s life or that I’m going to let you all go in and risk your lives while I stay behind and paint my toenails again.”
“Damn it, the job only needs a four-person unit.”
Technically it could be done with four people, but five would be better, and he had to know it. “Then one of you stay behind.”
“Nitro…” The censorship in Hotwire’s voice would have been funny in other circumstances.
“I’m sorry,” Daniel growled. “I’m trying, dam—darn it.”
“What are you trying?” Lise asked, her expression saying everything happening right now was great fodder for her imagination.
“Not to swear in front of Josette.” Daniel rubbed her shoulders as if apologizing again. “She’s a lady, and it’s not polite.”
Wolf smirked. Hotwire nodded, and Lise smiled. “That’s really sweet.”
Daniel’s expression could have melted the polar ice caps. “I’m not sweet.”
“That’s a matter of interpretation,” Josie said.
The metal-melting glare got turned on her. “When this woman’s thing is over, I’ll show you how sweet I am.”
“I can’t wait.” She gave him one of the fluttering eyelashes looks she’d perfected and puckered her lips in an air kiss.
“I’m not convinced Nitro is sweet,” Wolf said, “but you sure as he—heck are stubborn.”
She wouldn’t bother denying something she knew to be true, and it was a good thing in her opinion. If she were less sure of herself, these guys would walk right over her. “Did you ask my dad what he thought of leaving me behind?”
“He’s worse than you are about it. He figures he’s trained you to be the best and there isn’t anyone else he’d rather have covering his back.” Daniel was still looking plenty irritated.
She smiled triumphantly at all of them. “Well, that’s settled then.”
“How do you figure that?” Daniel asked in a dangerous tone.
“It’s no use trying to argue with both me and my dad, and I think you’re all smart enough to realize it.”
Josie pulled the black face mask down and adjusted her night-vision goggles.
They’d hiked in and established position after leaving their jeeps parked far enough away that the sound of the running engines wouldn’t carry to the compound.
“Ready?” Daniel’s almost soundless voice came from right beside her ear.
She nodded once.
“Be careful.”
“You, too,” she said at a bare whisper.
Then he was gone.
Hotwire would cut the security system while Wolf and Daniel neutralized the guards. Her dad was supposed to neutralize the armory, and she was responsible for getting the files. She had six 256 MB jump drives in her vest pocket—enough to download the pertinent information on several hard drives. While she was getting it, the other four would be collecting the men who had taken her dad’s courses.
The plan was to dump them along with the incriminating evidence on the FBI’s doorstep. Hotwire had convinced her to leave the stolen laptop where it was so the authorities could come into the compound on the charge of theft. It would allow them to move faster than if they had to accumulate a case based on the documented evidence.
Hotwire gave the signal over the headsets that security was disabled. Three minutes later, Daniel indicated his man was down, and not five seconds later, Wolf signaled the same thing.
She and her dad headed in. She didn’t hear him moving, and she knew he couldn’t hear her either. Unlike when she’d been a little girl, she now knew how to move silently without leaving a trail behind her in the forest.
The office was exactly where her father had said it was. Only two sleeping quarters were attached to it, and they were at the other end of the long corridor, the mess hall between them and the office. Which meant that with the security system disabled, there was almost no chance her presence in the building would be detected.
Three computers were on different desks in the big office, and one of them was her laptop. She powered each one up. While they were coming online she started methodically taking pictures of the files in the cabinets. The memory card on her tiny digital camera could hold over one thousand images, and she had extra memory cards in her vest along with the jump drives.
She’d be able to walk out of there with the entire file system in her pocket.
The ding of Windows finishing its start-up routine indicated at least one of the computers was online. She plugged a jump drive into the USB port and started downloading the documents folder before doing a search for encrypted and hidden documents. Using techniques Hotwire had taught her, she found a second documents folder, this one both hidden and encrypted. She set it up to copy to the jump drive when the current application was finished and went back to taking pictures of the paper files.
Hotwire or the FBI could work on decoding it later.
“I’m headed to Position Three.” Hotwire’s voice came across her headset, indicating he was on his way to help her o
ut. He must have turned his prisoner over to one of the other soldiers.
He arrived a minute later and immediately started working on a second computer. She said nothing, but dropped the remaining jump drives on the desk in front of him so he could complete the downloads.
It amazed her that groups like this one kept copies of incriminating documents. She’d already copied a memo from one of the members of the compound to the leader detailing his suggestion for taking courses from Tyler McCall and then disposing of the older man. She tried not to read the documents as she went, it would go faster that way, but her dad’s name had leapt off the page at her.
“Daddy?” The sound of a child’s voice in the corridor outside the office froze Josie’s blood in her veins even as she headed for the door.
The light in the corridor came on, and Josie came to an abrupt halt at the door, tugging down her night-vision goggles so she could see. It took precious seconds for her eyes to adjust to the light.
“Abel, what are you doing up?” The woman’s sleepy words came from the left of the door.
“I wanted to ask Daddy somethin’.”
“He’s not here. Daddy is on sentry duty tonight.”
“I know. I wanted to help him.”
That would have been a complication they didn’t need, and Josie was glad the child hadn’t gone with his father on his nightly rounds. She could see the small body near the doorway to the outside at the office end of the corridor.
“You’re too little.” The mother sounded less sleepy and a little impatient. Josie could not see her at all, but her voice came from the end of the hallway near the sleeping quarters. “Now, it’s time to get back to bed, young man.”
“Daddy’s in the office, Mama. I wanna ask him.”
Josie’s heart rate accelerated.
“Don’t be silly. Can’t you see there are no lights on?” Definite impatience this time. “No one’s in there.”
“But I saw lights. Little ones. Like Daddy’s flashlight.”
The quality of the stillness outside the room told Josie all she needed to know about what the mother thought of her son’s comments. “Abel, go wake the others. Now.”
Josie moved. She whirled into the hallway and sprinted for the boy before he could get out the door to sound the alarm. Hotwire was running for the woman.
The little boy lifted his arm, and it was only then that Josie realized he was carrying a gun.
“I’m going to help my daddy!” She heard the safety disengage and dove to her right as the child fired, but the bullet found its target. Pain that she’d felt once before burst through her thigh, and her legs collapsed beneath her.
“I’m down. Get out,” she said into the mouthpiece of her headset, and then blackness overwhelmed her.
Daniel ran toward the building with the office in it faster than he’d ever run in his life. His heart was beating so hard he could hear it. Damn it to hell. Josie had said she was down. They’d all heard the shot over the headsets, and it had sounded like thunder in his ear, but the sound from the building had been muted. The merc part of his brain automatically computed a low probability it had awoken others in the compound.
Hotwire had said he’d neutralized the mother and was headed toward the sleeping quarters at the other end of the building, but a child of approximately five years of age had made it outside. The child was armed.
Daniel saw the small body outlined against the dark buildings. He was wearing light pajamas, but he had a black object in his right hand.
This child had shot Josie.
Daniel approached him at a sprint and grabbed him from behind still in forward momentum mode. He clamped one hand over the boy’s mouth, used the other to disarm him and then immobilize him.
Figuring a quick knockout would be less traumatizing for the kid than a drawn-out battle against a bigger foe, he pressed against the carotid artery, and the child went limp against him. Daniel had a minute, maybe less, to get the small shooter tied up before he became conscious again.
He burst through the door to the building and came to a skidding halt in front of Josie.
Her eyes were shut, and her head lolled to one side. Blood was all over the floor under her, and one of her pant legs was soaked with it. The mother was against the opposite wall, her eyes dilated with shock, tears running down her face. She was gagged, but when she saw her son, she squirmed against her restraints and tried to speak.
Daniel used plastic ties to secure the child’s hands behind his back and his ankles together. Then he put the little one on his mother’s lap. He hated putting the tape over the little boy’s mouth, but they couldn’t risk him waking and raising the alarm.
When he finished, the mother looked up at him, terror in her eyes.
“Your son is fine.” It was all he could take time to say.
And frankly, he didn’t see the use of saying anything else. How many women and children had he seen hurt by the fanaticism of the men responsible for their safety? Not that women couldn’t be just as fanatic—and dangerous—which was why he did not untie the woman so she could cuddle her son. She might decide to try to finish the job the little boy had started.
Her eyes widened again, the fear that had abated with his words increasing, and he turned to see Hotwire running silently down the hall toward them.
“We’re not here to hurt you,” Daniel said roughly to the woman before turning away from her and her son.
“The others?”
“Neutralized.”
Daniel fell to his knees beside Josie at the same time Hotwire did. The other man already had his knife out, and he slit her pant leg. Daniel put his arm around her, prepared to prevent her from crying out in pain if she woke disoriented from her unnatural sleep.
“Is she still bleeding?” Daniel asked.
“Yes, but it looks like the bullet missed the bone.” Hotwire probed the wound, and Josie’s body jolted in involuntary reaction. “I’m not sure about her muscle, though. She’s going to hurt a fricken long time from this one.”
He started binding the wound.
Daniel waited until he was done and then lifted her gently into his arms. Though she did not waken, her face twisted with pain at the movement. He felt helpless and so damn angry he could have killed.
“Take her back to the others. I’m going to finish in there.” Hotwire indicated the dark office doorway with an inclination of his head.
“Someone else in the compound might have seen the corridor light before you turned it off. I did.”
“I know how to keep my head down. Don’t worry about me. Just go.”
And Daniel went.
He double-timed it to the meeting place, giving details into his headset as he went.
It was decided that Tyler would take him and Josie to the nearest hospital while Wolf waited for Hotwire with the prisoners. They would bring them out in the second jeep. It would be a tight fit for the four adult male prisoners in the backseat, but Daniel didn’t give a rat’s ass about those bastards’ comfort.
Pain radiated through Josie’s body. It seemed to be centered in her thigh, but it was hard to tell. It was all-consuming. The jeep went over a bump, and she groaned.
“It’s all right, sweetheart. You’re going to be okay. We’re taking you to a hospital.”
She opened her eyes to darkness, but eventually shapes distinguished themselves before her. The interior of the jeep, her dad’s head in the driver’s seat. Daniel’s face above hers. She couldn’t see his expression, but she could feel his concern. His arms were firm around her, but gentle, and his breath was more labored than her own.
“You okay?” she croaked, her mouth dry from the pain.
He tensed, as if he’d just realized she was awake. “That should be my line.”
“I hurt.”
“I’m sorry, baby.”
“Me, too. Screwed up the mission.” She grimaced as pain throbbed in her thigh. Definitely her thigh. “Didn’t expect the little guy to h
ave a gun.”
“It’s hell what parents will do to their kids in the name of fanaticism.”
“We’ve seen it before.”
“Yeah.”
“So, I should have been prepared for it.”
“Don’t you be blaming yourself, Josie-girl.” Her dad’s voice was gravelly, as though he was having a hard time getting the words out.
“But the mission…”
“Screw the mission!”
“Hotwire stayed behind to finish gathering the evidence, and Wolf was watching over the prisoners. It’s all good.” Daniel brushed her cheek. “But you getting shot wasn’t. I’m sorry about that.”
Her heart contracted, and she wanted to cry. She could grit her teeth at the pain in her leg, but knowing that he was taking on another load of guilt because of her hurt in ways she couldn’t deal with. “It’s not your fault.”
“I let you come.”
“You’re not my commanding officer, and even if you were, I probably would have disobeyed orders. I make my own decisions. It’s one of the reasons I never went to formal military. I don’t like people telling me what to do.” It was hard to get the words out, but she had to make him understand. “You weren’t responsible for securing the office. That was my job. None of this is your fault.”
He didn’t say anything, but his hand caressed her face, and the sense of grim tension surrounding them did not abate.
“Please don’t let me become another burden, Daniel. I couldn’t stand it.”
“You are not a burden to me.” His words were low, intense. “I love you, Josette.”
She wanted to believe him so badly, but he hadn’t said anything when she’d whispered the words to him before, and now he was feeling guilty. Did he think he had to tell her he loved her to make up for her being shot?
“It’s not your fault,” she said again.
The jeep lurched to a screeching halt as her father cussed out a deer who’d run in the road. Josie’s leg got jolted despite Daniel’s attempt to prevent it from happening, and another wave of intense pain rushed over her. The darkness around her became absolute as she slipped back into unconsciousness.