by Debra Webb
“You betrayed me, Piper.”
She stared at the man standing at the foot of her bed. She looked confused and wounded by something she didn’t understand. The drugs kept her from fully comprehending the seriousness of the situation.
“This can’t be,” she mumbled.
“Look, man, I don’t know what this is about—”
“Of course you don’t,” the man said, cutting Ric off. “You couldn’t possibly understand what it feels like to watch your country—the one you’ve risked your life for—sell itself out.” He laughed, a bitter sound. “So I decided to take charge of my own destiny.”
Ric glanced at Piper, who was still staring at the man before her. “She thinks you’re dead.”
Cold blue eyes stared straight through Ric as if he weren’t there or didn’t matter in the final scheme of things. “I am dead to her.” He shifted that emotionless gaze to his daughter. “You betrayed me just like all the rest. Cast doubt on what we stand for. I’ve watched you from a distance, all these years. Hoping you would be what I knew you were capable of. After all, my blood runs through your veins. But you failed me. Betrayed me.”
He shifted the barrel of his weapon toward Piper. Ric’s breath stalled in his lungs. “She didn’t betray you, man,” he urged. “She doesn’t even know you.”
“Daddy, what are you doing? I don’t understand this.”
“You should have listened,” the man snapped. “I gave you every opportunity—much more leeway than the others, but still you spoke out against me. My followers—my sons—are all that matter to me now. You are as dead to me as I have been to you all these years.” His lips curled into an evil sneer. “You could have given your life for me and killed that gutless senator who dares to believe that he can stop us. Instead you’ve ruined what should have been one of our finest moments.”
Piper shook her head, clearly struggling with her confusion. “But you’re my father.”
He laughed, a dry, ugly sound. “You think that makes a difference?”
Ric’s tension escalated. This man, Piper’s father, had come here to kill her, to finish what he’d started. He was the SSU. “Look, man, if you’re PO’d about what went down today—” Ric shrugged nonchalantly “—it isn’t Piper you should be angry at, it was me who messed up your little surprise party. I dragged her out of that interview against her will.” Ric tapped his own chest. “And, you know, I’m glad I did, because I really hate you sick bastardos.”
Fury danced in those blue eyes so very much like Piper’s, but the man quickly schooled his expression as if not wanting to give too much of himself away. Thankfully his expert aim moved back to Ric. “Well, then, perhaps you should be the first to die, Mr. Martinez.”
“No!” Piper struggled to free herself from the covers.
“Don’t move!” Ric commanded as he braced himself for the hit, his right hand already itching to reach for his own weapon in hopes of putting this guy down before he went down himself.
“Then again, maybe not.” The son of a bitch shifted his aim back to Piper. “Why not let the lady go first since she seems willing enough?”
Ric snatched his weapon from his waistband at the same time he hurled himself between Piper and her father. As if in slow motion, Ric saw the fire fly from the barrel aimed at him, felt the round when it hit him in the left shoulder, too low for his liking. He returned fire, hitting the guy somewhere in the chest. “After you,” Ric suggested, hoping the hit was deadly as he struggled to push himself up.
Piper’s father stared for a moment at the neat, round hole in his chest made by the bullet that had obviously missed anything vital. The wound was seeping blood onto his tan shirt. Ric felt the warm sticky stuff spilling from his own injury. He swore. He had to kill this guy before—
Ric struggled to his feet, forcing his right arm into a firing position. Frowning, he gasped for air. Couldn’t catch his breath. Something was wrong. He stared down at the wound in his chest. It was frothy with bloody bubbles.
Mierda.
He was screwed.
He tried to breathe. The sound was strange. The air wouldn’t fill his lungs.
The undeniable click of a weapon engaging echoed in the room. Blackness threatening, Ric tightened his grip on his weapon and aimed it at the man now aiming his own weapon at Ric yet again. Why didn’t the bastard die?
“Stop!” Piper stumbled from the bed, trying to get between the two men.
Ric shoved her away and fired. The other man fired simultaneously. Ric staggered back from the hit that nailed him high on the shoulder. Piper’s father dropped to his knees from the second round he’d taken, but he didn’t go down. Ric tried to suck in another breath. The hole in his chest whistled. Mierda. Piper was scrambling to her feet again. Ric lifted his now-heavy arm and took another bead on the man struggling back to his feet.
A gunshot exploded. Piper’s father fell facedown on the floor. Where had the shot come from? Ric shifted his gaze to his left. Lucas stood in the doorway, his weapon still aimed on Piper’s father.
About time.
Ric closed his eyes; the weapon in his hand slipped from his useless fingers as he slumped facedown across the bed. He could hear Piper screaming his name but he couldn’t respond. He needed air.
“Don’t you even think about dying on me, dammit!” Lucas ordered as he rolled Ric onto his back and ripped his shirt open, sending buttons flying. Ric gasped for breath, the sound oddly strained and futile, the whistle from his wound high-pitched. He needed more air.
Piper was crying and begging her uncle to do something.
There was a sudden pressure against Ric’s chest. He could hear Lucas talking on his cell phone. Something about an ambulance. And then there was nothing at all.
PIPER SAT in the intensive care waiting room, feeling utterly numb. She had cried—which she rarely did. She had prayed. Now she simply existed, waiting on some kind of word on Martinez. If she lived a dozen lifetimes she would never be able to put the images she had seen out of her mind. Martinez’s lifeless body had been sprawled across the bed. Blood was everywhere. Her stomach roiled at the memory. Lucas was doing something…trying to stop the bleeding or help Martinez breathe. The sound. She would never forget the sound of him gasping for breath, of the wound sucking in air.
Even through the haze of her sedative she had known it was bad. But she couldn’t help. She’d huddled nearby, useless and sobbing. Piper closed her eyes and fought back the tears. She simply didn’t have the strength to cry anymore.
The idea that her own father—who, unbelievably, had been alive all these years—had tried to kill her, and that he had built the SSU from the ground up, still boggled her mind. How was this possible? How could the man her mother had loved so dearly, the man she herself had loved like any child will love her father, have done all these horrible, horrible things?
“I can’t believe he was still alive.” Piper lifted her gaze to her uncle who sat directly across from her. “You knew it all along, didn’t you?” She wasn’t really accusing, just stating a fact.
Lucas studied her for one long, silent moment. “On some level I think I did.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Piper shook her head at the whole far-fetched idea. “How could you have allowed us to go on believing he was dead?”
Lucas sighed. Both hands were propped on his cane before him. “I knew he had turned. I just didn’t know to what extent until it was too late. When that South American village burned to the ground, I guess it was just easier to believe that he’d died there. Why ruin the memories you and your mother had by telling you that he had become one of the bad guys before biting the dust?”
“Didn’t anyone suspect that he was still alive?” she demanded. She just didn’t see how all this was possible.
“I had known your father, worked side by side with him, for almost a decade. He was my brother-in-law for chrissakes. And even I couldn’t be sure. I knew if he didn’t want to be found, we’d never
find him. He knew all the tricks, Piper. If he was alive, as long as he didn’t try to interfere with yours or your mother’s lives, what difference did it make? He was dead to all of us long ago. What I had to do today had nothing to do with the man we once knew. Would it have been easier on you if you had believed him to be a criminal rather than dead?”
Piper couldn’t answer that one.
“Maybe I made a mistake by not telling the two of you about my suspicions years ago, but think how it would have affected your mother. How could any of us suspect that he would turn out this evil? And then come after his own flesh and blood?”
She couldn’t blame Lucas. He’d done what he thought was right. Piper shivered to think that all those times she’d had that eerie feeling of being watched, or that she’d awakened and believed her father had been in her room, she was probably right on the money.
Piper rubbed her temples with her fingertips to relieve the insistent throb there. She still felt like a zombie. The drugs, she supposed, and complete exhaustion. She leveled her gaze back on Lucas. “You know Mother isn’t going to take this well.”
“I’ll take care of your mother,” he assured her. “Right now you need to concentrate on taking care of yourself. You’ve been through the wringer, young lady.”
He was definitely right about that. Pain speared through her at the memory of the hurtful things she had said to Martinez when she learned the truth about his identity. She had ignored him as if he didn’t exist, and now he was in surgery fighting for his life.
And it was all her fault. He’d been protecting her.
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
Piper’s head came up at her uncle’s question.
He scoffed. “Don’t look at me that way. I’m not blind. You’re in love with that cocky—”
“Lucas,” she warned.
“Young man,” he finished smoothly.
“Yes, I am.” The admission was liberating. She loved Martinez and she wanted the whole world to know it.
“As far as I can tell, you don’t have a thing in common,” Lucas ventured.
Piper grinned. “Except great sex.”
Lucas swore under his breath. “I don’t need to hear about that, young lady.”
Her expression grew solemn. “He’s funny and sweet.” Her heart fluttered at the thought of his kiss, of the way he looked at her. “He’s thoughtful, and so good-looking—”
“And too damned cocky,” her uncle interjected.
Piper felt her lips drawn downward. This was the part that worried her. “He’s a hero.” She gave her head a slight shake. “I didn’t want to fall in love with a hero. He takes too many chances. Just like you, and my father…before.”
Lucas lifted an eyebrow in clear skepticism. “And you don’t? Give me a break. Look at the risks you take in your job. Who are you calling a hero?” He chuckled. “I would just imagine that Martinez has the same worries where you’re concerned.”
Piper considered her uncle’s words for a moment. He was right, she knew. She met his wise, caring gaze. “So, what do I do?”
Lucas grinned, one of those mesmerizing expressions that affected every breathing female that wasn’t related by blood to him. “That’s simple. You marry the guy.”
Piper twisted her fingers together. She’d hurt Martinez deeply. Hadn’t believed anything he said. Lucas had told her sometime during the endless hours since they’d arrived at the hospital that Martinez had told her the truth about his past. He was exactly the man he said he was. And she had treated him terribly.
“But what if he doesn’t want to marry me?” The thought tore at her heart.
“Then I’ll have to kill him.”
Fighting a new wave of tears, Piper pushed carefully out of her chair. She had five abdominal stitches this time and she was definitely sore from the doctor’s probing. She moved to sit beside her uncle and then wrapped her arms around him. “I love you, Uncle Lucas.”
He held her tight for a long moment. “Ditto,” he murmured.
“Excuse me, are you Lucas Camp?”
Piper drew back and stared up at the brunette who’d ask for her uncle. She looked to be in her late twenties, and she was very pretty. Tall and slender, with an air of confidence.
Lucas stood. “The one and only,” he returned, all charm.
The woman smiled widely, the gesture only making her more attractive. She extended her hand. “I’m Alex Preston, from the Colby Agency. I’ve come to check on Martinez. We weren’t briefed on the extent of his injuries, only that he was here.”
This woman worked with Martinez, Piper realized, still a little slow on the uptake. As Lucas explained what they knew of Martinez’s current condition, Piper rose from her seat, some emotion she couldn’t quite label propelling her. Was this Alex anything to Martinez other than a co-worker? The thought turned Piper inside out. She remembered him mentioning the name, now that she thought about it. But Piper had thought Alex was a man. That couldn’t be further from the truth.
“The last report we received from Martinez,” the woman—Alex—continued, “SSU had fallen.”
“That’s right,” Lucas told her. “There may be a few stragglers we didn’t round up in the bust, but they won’t amount to much without their leader.”
“I hope you’re holding up all right, Miss Ryan,” Alex said, turning her attention to Piper.
Piper manufactured a smile. “I’m fine. It’s Martinez that I’m worried about at the moment.”
Alex inclined her head, searching Piper’s face, reading between the lines of what she’d said. “Martinez is a tough guy. He won’t go down easy.”
“Mr. Camp.”
All three turned at the sound of the doctor’s voice. “Mr. Martinez came through surgery with flying colors. He’s out of recovery, but we’ll keep him in ICU for a day or two. One bullet passed through without doing any real damage. But the other one, the one that worried us, penetrated the left upper lobe of his lung, then lodged in a rib.” The doctor released a heavy breath. “He’s one lucky young man. It could have done a lot more damage in there. The chest tube has reinflated his lung. He’s young and strong. There’s no reason not to expect a full recovery. He’ll be out of commission for a while, though.”
“When can I see him?” Piper wasn’t sure if she could live one more minute without seeing for herself that he was indeed going to be okay.
“He can have visitors one at a time, but make it brief.” He glanced at this watch. “We don’t normally allow visitors at this time, but we’ll make an exception this once.”
Lucas shook the man’s hand. “Thank you, Doctor.”
Piper appreciated that her uncle had the presence of mind to thank the man. All she could think about was getting to Martinez. Relief surged through her at the thought that she could finally see him. Piper flicked a glance at Alex Preston and dared the woman to suggest that she be allowed to see him first.
As if reading the challenge in her eyes, Alex offered, “I can see him later. The two of you go ahead.”
“Let me go in first,” Lucas said, dousing Piper’s hopes.
“Lucas,” she protested.
He held up his hands stop-sign fashion. “I’ll only be a minute. Hold your horses. You heard the doctor say he was fine.”
Piper glowered after her uncle. If he threatened Martinez in any way…
“So,” Alex said, drawing Piper’s attention back to her, “how long have you been in love with Martinez?”
RIC OPENED HIS EYES and then blinked to focus. Where was he? The hospital. Oh, yeah. Piper. Fear surged through his veins. Then he remembered. Her father was dead. Lucas had finished him off. And saved Ric’s life.
He frowned, trying to remember the details of what happened next, but nothing came. He’d passed out, only regaining consciousness for a few seconds in the emergency room.
Another, much more pleasant memory, made him smile. Piper had told him that she loved him. He wasn’t foolish
enough to believe that she really meant it. She had, after all, been under the influence of a sedative. But it warmed his heart even now to remember her words.
“I hope you know that I don’t intend to make this easy on you.”
Ric looked up to find Lucas standing in the opening of his cubicle. Ric smiled in spite of the pain he was in. He felt like hell but this man had saved his life. Ric owed him a smile at the very least.
“Don’t give me any flak, old man. I ain’t in the mood.” Ric’s smile fell. “What about Townsend and Green?” Piper’s father couldn’t have simply walked past them.
“They’re fine. Both were wearing their vests.”
Ric was immensely grateful neither of the men had been killed. He’d gotten kind of attached to them.
Lucas crossed the room, his cane clicking on the tile floor, and paused next to the bed. He studied Martinez for a moment before he spoke. “You’re not exactly the man I would have chosen for my niece, but I guess you’ll do.”
Ric stifled a laugh. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”
“I hired you to protect my niece, not make her fall in love with you.”
The impact of his words hit Ric like another bullet. “Is that what you think?” He tamped down the hope that wanted to expand in his chest. He had to be certain.
“What I think obviously has nothing to do with it,” Lucas countered. “She’s in love with you. Hell, she’s out there now shooting daggers with her eyes at Alex Preston.”
Ric frowned again. “Alex?”
“Yep. Victoria sent her to check on you. I imagine I should get back out there and let Piper come in before she blows a fuse.” He hesitated before he turned away. “You did good, Martinez.” He leveled that too-knowing gray gaze on Ric. “There are no words or tangible rewards that would be enough to repay you for saving my niece’s life.”
“There’s just one thing I want,” Ric told him, his gaze never wavering, despite the tension now filling him.
One corner of Lucas’s mouth hitched up in a grin. “You already have that.”
“And your blessing?”