“Thank you,” Quinn replied when he ended the call. “Send your men to the perimeter. I expect we’ll be inundated with news crews before long. I don’t want to talk to them.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Miguel replied before turning and striding away, his phone already to his ear again.
Quinn’s eyes met Blade’s. She still looked so serious, but then a grin broke out on her pretty face and she winked. Blade winked back.
“Good job,” he said softly.
“Thank you.” She pointed at the stairs. “Hunter’s office is up there. I’ll show you where it is.” She started for the stairs, her shoes tapping out that determined beat again, and a hot, possessive feeling flooded him. Quinn was confident even when she was scared. She was determined and sexy, and he wanted her so much it physically hurt.
But it was more than that. Viking had said she was one of them now, and Blade knew what that meant. It meant his teammate saw something in his face when Quinn was around. Something that said she was his and he intended to take care of her.
Was it love? Maybe it was. He’d never been in love before, but he knew this thing with her was different. The logical side of his brain tried to tell him it was too soon. The emotional side was saying what the fuck, dude? You’ve known this chick for years, and you loved her as a friend long before now. So why not?
Yeah, why not? At least he could let this thing play out and see where it went. Was it inconvenient? Yeah, it damned sure was. Quinn was a recent widow, and her life was going to be a mess for a while until everything with her husband’s estate was sorted out. The timing couldn’t be worse.
And yet he couldn’t help how he felt. He’d be there for her through the whole thing. And if, when it was over, she still wanted to be with him, then they’d take it from there and see what happened. Maybe she could handle this life he led. Or maybe she couldn’t. The only way to find out was to try.
They reached the top of the stairs. Viking and Blade moved to put Quinn behind them as they headed in the direction she told them to go.
“It’s here,” she said. The sounds of a soccer game on television came through the walls. “There’s a sitting room and then Hunter’s office. Inside there, he has a hardened room with his documents.”
Blade and Viking exchanged a look. Blade knocked on the door. It opened a second later. A big man stood there. Another was on the couch. The game was on and the remnants of a fast-food meal lay on the coffee table.
“Hello, Hugh,” Quinn said. “I think Miguel told you I was coming up?”
Hugh stepped back and opened the door wide. “Yes, ma’am. We were just watching the game and waiting for you.”
“Excellent. Thank you so much for all you’ve done for Hunter and me these past couple of years. I am certain he was pleased with you.”
Hugh frowned a little but nodded. “Thank you, ma’am. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Blade got the feeling that none of Hunter’s employees liked him very much. But they seemed to like Quinn.
“Thank you,” Quinn said, reaching out and giving his arm a squeeze. Then she turned to Blade and his SEALs. “The office is in there. Please secure my husband’s files for safekeeping.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Viking said, jerking his head at the SEALs. They opened the office door and went inside. Blade, Money, and Camel stayed with Quinn. They weren’t needed inside, but they did need to stick with Quinn and protect her. Just in case these boys decided to do something stupid. Blade didn’t think they would, but you never knew.
Viking’s voice came over their earpieces. “It’s a fingerprint scanner on this damned vault. We’ll need to cut our way in with a torch. That’s going to take some time.”
“Copy that,” Blade said. “Mrs. Halliday, it’s going to be a while,” he said to Quinn.
Quinn seemed to consider that statement for a second. “Very well. Gentlemen,” she said to Hugh and the other man, “would you please join Miguel? The media is about to descend on us, and I’d like you to keep them out. I’m offering you all double pay for handling the situation with subtlety and class. No incidents, please.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the two said in unison before exiting the room. Nobody said anything while the footsteps echoed away from them. Then Blade turned to Quinn and grinned.
“Way to go, honey.”
“I don’t think they liked Hunter very much. He paid them extremely well and he demanded loyalty, but he wasn’t very nice about it. They stayed because of the money, not because they liked him.”
“His mistake,” Blade said.
“Indeed.”
Inside the office, a light flared as the torch went into action. Quinn’s head snapped up, her eyes widening.
“Steel door,” Blade told her. “Only way in is to torch it.”
She nodded. “How long?”
“About five minutes, give or take. Depends on the steel.”
She folded her arms over her chest and started to pace. “I just want it over.”
Blade went and put his hands on her shoulders, forced her to look at him. Her green eyes were so pretty, so filled with anxiety. He wanted to kiss her, but now wasn’t the time.
“We’re professionals, Quinn. It’ll be over quicker than you think. Then we’ll be on the plane home again.”
“Home? Do I even have a home anymore?” She looked around the room they were standing in. “This isn’t my home. Never was. I hate it.”
He tugged her into his embrace, put his chin on her hair and held her close. “Right now your home is with me. If you want it to be.”
Her fingers curled into his suit jacket. “I do want that.”
“Then you have a home, don’t you?”
Chapter Twenty
In the end, it took the SEALs precisely twelve minutes to bust into Hunter’s vault, locate his server, and download everything. Then they unhooked it and stuffed it into one of the transport bags they’d brought with them. She only knew that because Blade told her so.
While they’d broken into the vault, Blade and Money had escorted her to her bedroom so she could grab some more clothing. There was very little she wanted, but she took some jeans and button-down shirts, a couple of pairs of slacks, and two dresses with some heels. She had clothes in every house that Hunter owned, but nothing of real import. The things she’d had in her own apartment before she’d married him had ended up being sold or given away.
There was jewelry in the safe in her bedroom, but she didn’t want it. It was gaudy stuff that Hunter had given her to show off her trophy-wife status, nothing important or meaningful. Once she’d stuffed things in a suitcase, Money took it from her and they escorted her down the stairs and into the marble foyer. The rest of the SEALs came pounding down the stairs and met them.
“Ready to rock ’n’ roll?” Viking asked.
“Ready,” Blade said.
They headed for the exit and stepped out, surrounding her as they hustled her toward the Hummer. Once they were all in, the vehicle headed down the drive. Miguel and his men were on the perimeter as news vans began to line the street outside the estate.
“Oh holy shit,” Quinn breathed. She didn’t want to deal with any of this.
Blade put a hand on her knee. “It’s okay. We’ll get you out of here.”
“Let me talk to Miguel, please.”
Someone communicated to the driver and the Hummer rolled to a stop. Blade powered the window down and called out to Miguel. He turned and sauntered over to the side of the vehicle.
“Thank you, Miguel,” Quinn said. She felt it was important to win over Hunter’s people, just in case. And she intended to do right by them so long as she could. The will might prove otherwise, but for now she had access to money. “I intend to fulfill my promise to pay you and your men double for dealing with this. But I think it’s best if I leave and go somewhere they won’t find me. I’ll be in touch.”
“Yes, ma’am. If you need anything, you only have to ask. My men and I are here to s
erve you now.”
Quinn smiled though her heart skipped with the excitement of it all. “Thank you so much.”
Miguel stepped back, the window rolled up, and the Hummer eased down the drive and out the gates. Reporters surrounded the vehicle, shouting questions, but the driver navigated through them handily and without anyone getting hurt. Soon they were picking up speed and heading back to the airport.
Quinn turned to stare out the window at the traffic. This was only one small victory today. The battle wasn’t over yet. She still had to deal with the fallout from Hunter’s death—there were people depending on her, a company on the brink of disaster, and possible treasonous evidence on the files the SEALs had taken from Hunter’s vault.
But for now she was sitting next to the man she loved, his thigh was pressed against hers, and he’d told her she had a home with him. It wasn’t a declaration of love—but it was something.
He put an arm around her and she leaned her head against him, secure in the warmth of his body and the protection of his teammates. Her phone buzzed incessantly in her purse, but she didn’t take it out to look at it.
They reached the airport in record time. The engines were already running, and the instant they were on board and strapped in, the plane blazed into a takeoff roll. Within moments, they were in the air. As soon as the buzzer sounded for the ten-thousand-foot threshold, the SEALs were up and making for the control room they’d passed through earlier. Quinn went with them.
Neo took the hard drive they’d used to copy Hunter’s audio and plugged it into one of the terminals. The rest of them sat at the conference table, buckled their seat belts, and waited. Blade brought up another screen, and Ian Black’s face appeared.
“Well, that was fast, froggies. Did you get the goods?”
“We got Halliday’s server. Loading the audio now.”
“Excellent. It’ll take time to listen to it all, but good job, guys. Guess Johnny really does hire the best.”
Viking snorted. “Was there any doubt?”
Ian laughed. “Nope, none at all. But you know I have to annoy the shit out of you before I can compliment you.”
“You’re a laugh a minute, Black,” Cage said. “I don’t know why the colonel puts up with you.”
Ian shook his head. “Yeah, you damned well do. Because I’m the best there is—and I have loose morals when loose morals are required. Not something you boys do well.”
Quinn had no idea what they were talking about, but she liked Ian. He was acerbic and aloof in many ways, but she sensed there was a heart in there. Some of the prickliest people in her experience were some of the most damaged. They put up those walls to keep people out, not because they disliked people—though it was part of it, perhaps—but because they’d been hurt before and they didn’t intend to be hurt again.
“No, probably not,” Viking said. “But I guess it’s good somebody can.”
Ian gave him a mock salute. “Bring the plane straight home, children. No excursions. Daddy’s waiting.”
Viking laughed. “Over and out… daddy.”
Ian’s laugh was even louder right before the call screen closed.
“Why does he call you froggies?” Quinn asked.
Blade snorted. “Frogmen is another name for SEALs. Because we’re combat swimmers. Ian thinks he’s funny.”
Quinn smiled. “I think he’s funny too. He doesn’t seem to care what anybody thinks. And every one of you big bad men cringes when you have to talk to him. If that’s not funny, I don’t know what is.”
Blade blinked at her. Then he grinned. “Well, fuck. Got me there.”
“He’s an asshole,” Cage interjected. “But I guess he’s a good asshole, all things considered.”
Nobody disagreed.
They settled in for the trip. There was nothing else to do now that they’d sent the files to Ian. Some of the SEALs slept. Some watched videos or talked. But Blade took Quinn to a pair of seats as far from the others as he could get.
They held hands and the second they were seated, he tugged her toward him and kissed her. Quinn melted into him, her palm on his cheek, a little moan in her throat as his tongue stroked hers.
Then he broke the kiss, cupping her cheeks in his hands, and gazed into her eyes. “I’ve been wanting to do that for hours now.”
“Me too. There are a few more things I’d like to do as well.”
“I think there’s a bed on this plane.”
She wasn’t sure if he was serious or not, but her eyes widened as she searched his. “Let’s find it then.”
He laughed. “I’d love to, but the guys would probably notice. Then they’d tease me, which means they’d embarrass you because you’re an introvert.”
“Some things are worth the hassle.”
He kissed her again. “So’s waiting until we’ve got hours to spend in bed together.”
She put a hand on his arm, slid it up the fabric of his suit jacket. “I like this suit on you. It’s very sexy.”
“I’ll let you take if off me if you like.”
“I would definitely like.”
His gaze turned serious. “You doing okay, Quinn? That was a lot of stress back there.”
“I’m fine. Really. I just kept picturing Hunter and what a jerk he could be when angry, and I knew if I wasn’t a jerk, I’d get a good response. Because while Hunter was no doubt mostly charming with Miguel and his guys, there would have been times when he was a dick.”
“I didn’t want you to come with us, but it was a good thing you were there. It would have been harder to get inside, and there could have been casualties. Not a good thing for any of us when the op involves Americans.”
She leaned back on the seat and gazed at him. “So this is the kind of thing you do all the time, hmm?”
He frowned slightly. “It’s one of them. Oftentimes the reception is far more… hostile. This was a picnic compared to most of our missions.”
“What do you think will happen if Ian finds what he wants?”
Blade drew in a breath. “Honestly? I don’t know. There’s no doubt that HTS will lose the contract, and that’s going to hurt the company financially. Beyond that, it’s hard to say.”
Quinn chewed her lip. “A lot of people are going to be hurt by this.”
“I know. But there’s not much you can do about that, honey. Hunter created this situation when he contracted with the Chinese to put those chips into his systems. That’s nobody’s fault but his.”
“I don’t know how to be in charge of a company,” she said, voicing the fear she’d had since Ian Black had so casually dropped the bomb that she was inheriting the controlling interest. Not that she didn’t hope he was wrong. She definitely did. But what if he wasn’t?
“You have a board of directors. Take their advice. That’s all you have to do. Maybe they’ll be able to save the company. You never know.”
“And if there’s no evidence on those recordings?”
Blade drew in a long, slow breath. “Then I guess the military is fucked when those new mainframes arrive. But we really, really don’t want that to happen.”
“Can’t somebody test the equipment first? Find out where the vulnerabilities are?”
“I’m sure the Chinese have thought of that. The first components won’t show a vulnerability. It’ll be the later stuff that’s got the holes into the system.”
Quinn was thinking. Hard. “Can’t I cancel the contract on my end? Just put a stop to the manufacturing?”
“Maybe. But I doubt it’s an easy process. You still need the board’s approval, and that’s not likely to happen.”
Quinn laid her head back on the seat. “Then I guess I’d better hope that Ian finds what he needs.”
Blade looked at her with a slightly puzzled expression. “You have absolutely no doubt that he’s right? What if your husband was just an asshole instead of a traitor?”
Her stomach twisted. But she didn’t waver. “Oh no,” she said softly.
“I’m pretty sure he was both.”
The plane landed in DC around midnight. The SEALs descended onto the tarmac. Blade wrapped his arm in Quinn’s and led her down the stairs. She was still dressed to kill in a bandage dress and sky-high heels, her diamond wedding ring winking like a fucking beacon. When they reached the bottom, the guys milled around, waiting for their ride back to the rendezvous point.
Neo and Dirty tried not to stare at Quinn, but they couldn’t quite help themselves. Their gazes raked over her body and the formfitting dress that showed all her curves. Blade tightened his hold on her arm, tucking her against his side possessively. She didn’t seem to mind. She pressed into him, smiled up at him, and his heart thumped.
“You need us tonight?” Cage asked, pushing his way to the front of the SEALs.
“Maybe a couple of you to make sure the perimeter wasn’t breached. After that, no.”
Cage nodded. “Sending Neo and Dirty. That okay with you?”
Of course it was those two single motherfuckers. Blade had thought that Neo was interested in Kayla Jones, but maybe he was wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time.
“Yep, fine with me.”
The vehicles arrived and they split up. Fifteen minutes later, they were at the rendezvous point, piling into their own vehicles and preparing to drive to their respective homes. Debriefing would happen tomorrow.
Blade opened the truck door for Quinn and then hopped in the other side. Neo and Dirty were behind them, firing up Neo’s Mustang. He gave them the signal and they started toward his house.
All was quiet when they arrived. Blade checked the cameras and intrusion-alert system on his phone. All was fine. Still, he entered the house first, Neo behind him while Dirty watched Quinn. The house was untouched.
He went back to retrieve Quinn. Dirty was eyeing her while pretending he wasn’t. Blade shot him a hard look that said don’t touch.
HOT SEAL Target Page 17