Critical Intelligence

by Mandy M. Roth

  “Thinking about me with my clothes off is rather distracting,” he said lightheartedly.

  “Har-har, try nauseating.”

  “Ouch, you know how to cut a guy to the quick. If you’re a good girl, I’ll let you make it up to me.” He made another turn and Missy was positive they were lost now. She’d never been in this area before. “I need to stop off and pick something up. I hope you don’t mind.”

  Missy shook her head. “No, it’s fine, and thanks for offering to ride me home…er…give me a ride home.”

  He chuckled. “Baby, I’ll ride you any time you want. Just say the word.”

  “Umm, thanks, I think.” Being civil to Roi wasn’t as hard as she thought it would be.

  Great, hell just officially froze over.

  Chapter Eleven

  Roi’s guilty conscience continued to pester him as he turned into headquarters’ parking lot. So far tonight there hadn’t been what he’d consider an opportune moment to inform Missy that she was on a crazed hitman’s list. Somehow, he didn’t think that would go over well, and telling her that she wouldn’t be going home tonight would be an even bigger flop. The girl already seemed annoyed by his very presence. Kidnapping her two times in less than two weeks couldn’t possibly help matters.

  Reaching up to press the automatic fence opener, Roi spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. No one wandered the grounds of the I-Op facility, especially at night. Immediately, he reached out mentally to Lukian.

  Captain, I’m near the parking garage with Missy and we’ve got company.

  How many? Lukian asked.

  Unsure, I’m sensing at least three of our own kind, but there’s something else here too. I’m not sure, but I think we may have some vampires among us.

  Something struck the hood of his vehicle and Missy gasped. He slammed on the brakes, making a hard left turn just prior to entering the compound. “It’s okay, baby doll. Just hang on.”

  He expected Melissa to scream again or go into shock. She did none of the above. Missy opened his glove box and snatched hold of one of his extra weapons.

  “Melissa, put that away before you hurt yourself. That’s not a toy.”

  Shaking her head, she sighed. “No. It’s a Ruger P85, 9-mm, double-action pistol.” She popped the clip and checked the magazine. “Are you all like Lance was?”

  Her question made him lose focus for a minute. “Huh?”

  “Melanie said Lance changed during sex, that he shifted into something else. Are you and your men all like Lance?”

  “Umm, you told her you thought that was crazy, that paramilitary psycho freaks tend to do that. You don’t…”

  Narrowing her gaze on him, she gave him a hard look. “Now that we’ve established you were listening in on our private conversation, answer the question, Roi. Silver bullets aren’t something one normally carries. I know for a fact they aren’t issued to the military, and none of the special ops teams that spawned from the armed services carry them. Tell me if you’re like Lance now because I’m picking up bad vibes.”

  “Really?” he asked wryly.

  She touched his arm lightly and something else jumped out in front of them, causing Roi to have to turn hard again. Missy ran her fingers up his arms, sending heat radiating through him. “Please be honest with me. These men have the ability to make certain types of animals drop to their knees in agonizing pain with a new weapon they’ve been developing. It emits ultrasonic sound waves that typical humans can’t hear, Roi. Certain animals can hear them and find them painful. Would that bother you or the men you work with?”

  Was she asking him if he was a shifter? And how in the hell did she know so much about the men after her?

  “Missy, why would something that affects animals bother—” Roi stopped in mid-sentence as he saw the concern in her face. “Why are you so worried about me?”

  Dropping her head down, a sob tore free from her throat. “That’s yes then, isn’t it?”

  “Melissa, I would never hurt you. When we’re done here, I’ll do my best to explain everything. Don’t cry, baby.”

  Something passed over her face that he couldn’t read. If he had to label it, he’d say relief. She lifted her pant leg. The second Roi spotted a black leg sheath tied to her, his eyes widened. She pulled a Gerber LMF knife free from it. The six-inch stainless steel blade had a Bowie-style clip point and a sawback. It was made to kill things. Why Missy had one strapped to her was a question he wanted answered the minute she was safe.

  In a flash, Missy raked the blade over her palm. Roi almost lost control of the vehicle when he realized what she’d done. The cut was deep. Very deep.

  She lifted it before him as she moved in close to him. Her breast touched his arm and his body jerked with need as she put her face close to his. “If you’re what I think you are, take what I’m offering.”

  “Missy?”

  “Goddamn it, Roi. Are you a fucking shifter or not? You and the other men have never had a scent around me. I tried hard to pick one up but couldn’t. If you were human, I’d have known. You are all something. I just don’t know what it is you all are. Mel tipped me off that Lance was a shifter so I’m going with that assumption. Please don’t dick around with me. What they’ve been working on weapon-wise has been created to take down some powerful enemies of theirs. Specifically a team of men that our government assembled many, many, many years ago to protect humans from things they’ve only seen in their nightmares. They are also aiming for the operatives that work parallel to this group of men. And trust me, there are others like these men out there.”

  “Do you know any of these operatives that work parallel to them, Melissa?”

  Please say no, baby. I don’t want to worry about you even more.

  She exhaled deeply. “Roi, time is precious here. They’re after me. They want to take me with them or kill me.”

  “How do you know that? Intel just—” He shut up the instant he realized he was about to tell her more than he should. It hit Roi then. Peren thought Missy was a systems analyst for the State Department. That translated into an agent whose primary function was intelligence work. She wasn’t a secretary. “You know because…”

  “Tell me what you are and what your team is called and I’ll tell you what I am.”

  “Missy, I’m just part of—” He couldn’t lie to her.

  “Are you part of an I-Op team?”

  An I-Op team? He was part of the only I-Op team.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Missy.” Her blood dripped down onto his lap. The beast within him not only wanted to taste her, it wanted to fuck her while it did it, cementing a permanent bond between them. He couldn’t think, couldn’t register what she was telling him. “Missy, we need to wrap that wound up.”

  “Geoffroi Majors, I have assumed many, many, many things about you. None of which are good, but I never once took you for a man too worried about what a woman will think or how she’ll react to the news he’s more than human that he’d not only put his life in jeopardy, but that of the woman he’s with and his ‘brothers’ as well. Now, take what I’m offering you. It will protect you from the weapon’s effects. Then answer my goddamn question. If you don’t, then a clean-up team will be called in, Roi. If you’re who I think you are, then you know what they do to humans.”

  Tears came to her eyes as she pressed her lips to his cheek gently. “Please, don’t hold the truth back from me. They want me dead and I can’t confide in you until I know you’ve got clearance to hear what I have to say. I don’t want anything to happen to you, Roi.”

  Roi twisted the wheel and kept going, heading straight for the I-Ops headquarters, as he slid his tongue out and over Missy’s cut. The taste of her sweet, powerful blood made his cock twitch and his body tighten. His saliva had a healing agent in it and it began to close Missy’s wound as he continued to taste her. Groaning, he closed his eyes a bit.

  “Mmm, Roi,” she whispered in his ear. “Watch where you�
��re going, honey, or we’ll be trying to heal wounds we don’t need right now.”

  Roi opened his eyes fast and nodded, doing his best to regain control of himself. “What are you?”

  A soft laugh escaped her. “I’m some sort of a mix of something. It’s not important right now. You need to contact your brother and tell him to do what I just did for the other men on your team. I thought Peren was telling us that Lukian proposed to get our permission. Now I’m sure about you guys, I know she did it to ease us into the fact they’re already married in the eyes of the supernatural community. If that’s true, then they exchanged blood. Peren carries some of the same traits as me. I wasn’t aware she knew about them or I’d have told her my secrets long ago. Her blood will protect the others from sustaining lasting damage if the bad guys brought the weapon with them.”

  He nodded as he stared at her. “To answer your question, yes, I am an I-Op. But you can’t say anything to anyone, Missy.”

  Missy stroked his cheek gently and leaned into him. “Roi, I’m a Shadow Agent with PSI. Trust me, baby, I stand to lose a hell of a lot more than you in this. If you contact PSI to verify this, they will deny having any knowledge of who I am. You’ll need to go directly to the Director if you want an answer to any questions you have. To the rest of the organization, I don’t exist.”

  His stomach dropped. Hearing Melissa say she was a Shadow Agent with PSI scared the hell out of him. She put her life on the line daily with things that wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. And while the Ops all knew of the director, they didn’t know him personally. He was something of an enigma.

  “Is Eadan your handler?”

  “Yes and no. He dubs as my partner as well. I’m one of only a few dozen that are totally disconnected from PSI. When I need help, Eadan is the only who can come.”

  Roi’s mouth dropped. “Tell me that you just crunch numbers in a back room without anyone knowing, Missy doll.”

  “The information that was delivered to your colonel was collected by me and me alone.”

  He gasped. “Missy.”

  “Shhh, I chose to do this with my life. It was the only way I could think of to meet the I-Ops.”

  “To meet us? How did you even know we existed?”

  “Roi, if something happens to me tonight, you have to call Eadan. He’s a contact in my cell. He’ll need to see to the rest of the information I retrieved and he’ll need to contact my father. Tell him that Missy-bean said she found Susie’s friend and he’ll know to give you the information.”

  “Susie’s friend?” What in the hell was she talking about? Nothing was going to happen to her. He would die before anyone harmed a hair on her head. “Melissa, this is nothing. This kind of stuff happens all the time.”

  “Outside what I’m presuming is I-Op Headquarters?”

  Roi wasn’t sure how to respond to her. She’d taken him by complete surprise. The very fact she wasn’t screaming and demanding to get out of the car because he’d not only taken the blood she offered him but allowed it to be one of the most erotic moments he’d ever had said a lot about her. “I think I might have misjudged you, doll.”

  She moved in closer to him and pressed her soft lips against his cheek and sighed. “I think I might have misjudged you too. I’m sorry for—”

  Something dropped down onto the roof of his SUV. Roi turned the wheel again. Missy tucked the Ruger pistol from the glove box into the front of her jeans and put the knife back in her boot with a speed humans didn’t possess. She touched his thigh and squeezed it tight just as something smashed through the side of her window. In an instant, Missy was pulled from the seat next to him.

  Slamming on the brakes, Roi put the SUV into park and jumped out. Frantically, he scanned the area for Missy. He couldn’t latch on to her scent and that scared the hell out of him. Someone had figured out how to mask her scent, and that meant if they could mask her scent then they could mask their own.

  Chapter Twelve

  The second Missy realized her attacker was headed up instead of down, she slammed her head backward, catching him in the face. Instantly, he released her. The feeling of free-falling ripped at her stomach. She spotted Roi and twisted in midair, doing a tight tuck as she fell. Dropping down next to him, she crouched fast to absorb the impact. “It’s me! Don’t attack.”

  Roi pulled her up fast and held her to him tight. “Are you okay? I couldn’t smell you anymore, Missy. I didn’t know which direction they took you.”

  Savoring the feel of his hard chest beneath her cheek, she wrapped her arms around his waist and squeezed him tight. He froze. “They took me up. We’ve got both vamps and shifters here. None are friendlies from what I can tell.”

  “How in the hell did you get away from him?” Roi asked, shock evident in his deep voice.

  “I asked him sweetly to put me down. He listened.”

  “Why don’t I believe that?”

  “Because you’re a very smart man.” Laughing softly, Missy tapped her forehead against his body and hugged him again, thankful he wasn’t hurt. When she’d been grabbed, her first reaction wasn’t worry for herself but concern for Roi and his safety. Running her hand down his ripped torso, she came to a stop on his groin. Instantly, his cock hardened beneath the weight of her touch.

  Roi grabbed hold of her and lifted her into the air. His eyes narrowed on her as he brought her up to meet him face-to-face.

  Leaning forward, Missy stopped just shy of pressing her lips to his. “Geoffroi, I can’t stop…” She almost said “wanting to touch you” but thankfully held back. “I can’t stop thinking you’re a womanizing jerk, but I’m glad you’re not dead.”

  His face fell and Missy couldn’t stop herself. Seeing him hurt because of her words, which weren’t entirely the truth, was too much. Pressing her mouth to his, she thrust her tongue in and found his. When he didn’t respond she pulled back slowly.

  She didn’t make it very far before Roi had her pulled back to him, seizing hold of her mouth with his and leading the kiss. His approach was a great deal more aggressive than hers had been. Roi’s tongue moved around her mouth, exploring every inch of her. Giving in to the need to be closer to him, Missy wrapped her legs around his waist.

  Groaning, Roi clutched her tight, making her feel safe, cared for. He ignited things in her body she never dreamed would come to life. Every bit of her skin ached to be touched, caressed, licked by him.

  Roi jerked her off him and set her down fast. A bit dazed, Missy took a second to get her wits about her. She sensed it then, the pending danger. “Roi,” she whispered, needing to hear his voice.

  “Mmm, see, you can’t get enough of me, can you?”

  Taking the Ruger out of the front of her pants, Missy pointed it directly at Roi. His brow furrowed as he shook his head slightly.

  “Missy?”

  “Get. Down,” she said, each word clipped, concise.

  Recognition dawned on his face as he dropped down. Missy fired a shot off the second Roi was clear, hitting a shifter in the chest, sending it lurching backward.

  Roi rose fast and jerked her behind him. Trusting his judgment, Missy went willingly, feeling something narrowly missing her back. The minute Roi sprouted claws on one hand and punched out hard, Missy knew something had been close to gutting her. Turning slowly, she found a pile of dust on the ground where she’d just been standing and the attacking vampire remains lay. “Thanks.”

  A low chuckle came from Roi. “Yeah, you too. I never thought I’d thank a woman for saving my ass. Spankin’ it, yeah. Saving it, no.”

  Rolling her eyes, Missy just laughed. “And you wonder why I think you’re full of yourself.”

  “I’d rather fill you, baby.”

  There was no point in hiding how much she wanted him. “Promise?”

  Roi’s stubble-covered jaw dropped. “I’m going to have to beg you not to tease me anymore. That comment almost got you tossed on the ground and fucked while we’re in the middle of all of this.”


  Dark shadows dropped out of the sky and formed a circle around them. Roi immediately pulled her to him. Missy spotted a large cylinder-like object in one of the men’s hands and her heart went to her throat. “Roi, cover your eyes!”

  “Huh?”

  The vampire lifted the weapon and aimed it at Roi. “No!” Missy shouted as she dropped and swept Roi’s legs out from under him. He crashed hard and fast to the ground. Falling on top of him, Missy cradled Roi’s head protectively in her bosom. The telltale click of the ultraviolet pulse generator went off and Missy ducked her head down too. While it wouldn’t blind her, it would temporarily cause her to see only blurry shadows.

  “Missy?”

  She pressed her mouth to Roi’s ear and whispered so soft that only he could hear. “If they point that at you, look away. It’s made to blind almost all supernaturals with enhanced vision. It’s permanent for the majority of them. On the count of three, I’ll straddle your waist and you kick the son-of-a-bitch. Deal?”

  “No, let’s just lie here. I like where my face is right now.” He nipped playfully at her breast.

  Missy’s eyes widened as pleasure moved throughout her body. “Forget it.”

  Roi seized hold of her waist and jerked her legs up, kicking out at the same time. “Up!”

  Missy rolled off him and sprang to her feet fast. Reaching out, she went to catch the ultraviolet pulse generator, but Roi beat her to it. She knew a fraction of a second prior to him touching it that he was going to trigger it without knowing. Seizing hold of it, she pulled it away from his face. It discharged and a white-hot flash of light went off in her face.

  “Melissa!”

  Stumbling backward, she tried to catch her bearings. All she caught was a handful of vampire as he launched her high into the air. The wind hit her face and Missy knew he was traveling at a high speed, putting distance between her and Roi, cutting her only lifeline out from under her.