by Milly Taiden
Was she okay with this change in herself? Yes. Yes, she was. Sheldon was right. Women were not on the same level as men. Women were continuously evolving creatures, growing and broadening with every new experience. Women see the world and internalize it, taking the good in it and throwing away the rest. That was how she’d coped all these years in hell’s home with her father and then on the battlefield.
When her face was suddenly close to the president’s proportionally large backside, she pushed herself backward. Oh, god, how horrible would it have been if her head plowed into the ass of the man she was sworn to protect? At least then no one could accuse her of having her head up her own ass. A giggle forced itself from her throat. God! Now she was really losing it. Sergeants in the United States Army didn’t giggle.
Then she heard Monica’s voice up front. “You’re not passing laughing gas back there, are you, dear?”
The president grumbled, “Teachers and their kiddie jokes.”
That was too much for her. She covered her mouth with her hand and laughed out loud. She’d get in trouble, but it was worth it.
A gruff “Sergeant” echoed back to her and she took a deep breath.
“Here, sir. Sorry, sir.”
The man grumbled more and she had to bite her lip. This couple was amazing. She needed to learn all she could from Monica. Maybe then she would be good enough for Josh. His voice was just ahead of her. He was helping the first lady from the tunnel. The president crawled out next and Josh was there for her.
She emerged in a small round room lined with more cement bricks identical to those under the house. Steel and wood beams supported a flat roof with a machine of some kind in the center with a pipe sticking up from it, through the ceiling. The others were looking around, gaping as well.
This was not what she was expecting. “Is this really the fountain in the north lawn?” she asked.
“Huh,” the president said, “this must be what the POEC meant when they said the door led to a passage.”
His statement made her feel better at least. Her crazy idea about the fountain being a way out wasn’t so crazy. Now they just needed to find the “out” part of it.
“Everybody watch your eyes,” Josh said. A red light in a green mesh cage filled the room. If that didn’t scream military design, she didn’t know what did.
“What’s that?” Candy asked, pointing to the boxed machine sitting on a platform in the center of the space.
“I’m guessing that’s the water pump for the spray heads in the fountain,” the president said. With all the pipes snaking everywhere, that made sense.
Candy set her backpack on the ground and pulled out two bottles of water, giving one to the president and first lady. Monica passed hers to Josh and took her husband’s when he finished. Josh smiled and came to her side, handing her his bottle.
“Amazing couple, aren’t they?” he whispered, leaning against her. She made sure she didn’t move while he leaned, unlike him. “They remind me a lot of my parents.” A little sadness crossed her heart at the memory of her parents and how fucked-up her family was. Josh kissed her head and snuggled a little closer. “You’re with me now, sweetheart. We’ll make a future that will erase the pain of the past. Okay?” He took a step back and smiled.
Once again, he left her speechless. There was little doubt in her mind that he would make an incredible husband. He was perfect. And she was far—too far—from perfect. She was damaged goods in just about every sense. Josh deserved someone better than her. She couldn’t make him happy; she’d never made anyone happy. She slipped the half-full water bottle into an empty side pants pocket.
“Okay, folks,” Josh said on the other side of the room, looking at a panel on the wall. “We’ve got the choices of off, on, and drain. Unless someone sees another way of getting out of here?” Candy pressed on the cement blocks to see if a hidden wall opened. The ground was dirt, so it didn’t look conducive to a door for secret stairs going down. Seemed Josh was right. The way out was through the fountain.
“If up is the only option,” the president said, “we’ll have to drain the pool or get flooded in here.”
“Drain, it is,” Josh commented. He pushed a button, and the motor in the pump changed its sound, and they heard water rushing down one of the pipes.
“Should you have turned it off before draining?” Candy asked.
Her mate looked at her. “I don’t know. Is the pump sucking the water out?”
“I’m thinking it’s gravity fed, so the pump is still trying to push water out when there’s no water coming in,” Candy thought.
“Turn it off, Director,” the president said, “just to be sure. We can always turn it back on. Last thing we need is a motor blowing up in this small space.”
The first lady laughed. “You would know,” she said, poking her husband’s arm. “You and Dad are lucky the barn didn’t fall on both of you.”
He wiped a hand down his face. “Monica, you know that was an accident.”
“Yes,” she said, “but I still love to tell it to everyone.” She looked to Candy. “When we were dating, your president and my dad were elbows deep in grease in some old truck engine.”
“It wasn’t a truck.” He said it like he couldn’t believe she’d said “truck.” “We were fixing up a Willys CJ-2A, sixty horsepower, 134-cid, with ‘Go Devil’ engine.”
Josh looked up from the drain pipe. “No way. Where’d you find one of those?”
Monica dismissed the guys and turned back to Candy. “Anyway, the two men managed to blow it up and take down half the barn with it.”
Normal. They had the normal kind of life Candy had always dreamed of. She looked at Josh standing next to the president, figuring out what to do next. Could she make a normal life with him? Would she give up everything she knew, including the military, to be with him?
Josh placed a hand on each side of the pump box and the president put his on the other two sides. Together they lifted it, shoving the pipe going through the ceiling even farther up. A spine-tingling metal-on-metal grinding tore around the room as the center of the ceiling raised as the pipe wrenched through. The farther the men pushed the pipe up, the farther the ceiling went.
Candy covered her ears and clenched her teeth. “Stop! What are you doing?” she yelled. It took the men a few more stubborn seconds to quit. She stared up at the now vaulted roof of their room.
“Hmm,” the president mumbled to his partner in crime, “don’t think that worked like we thought.”
Monica lowered her hands from her ears. “What did you think would happen?” she asked. As the men discussed the miscalculation of whatever the hell went through their brains, Candy shined her light along the newly arched ceiling, examining the damage.
Supposing the roof was the base of the fountain, the water feature probably looked more like a mini volcano with a pipe sticking out the middle. Closer to the outer rim, four black lines in the form of a square caught her eye. No other place on the ceiling had that. She scooted around the guys to examine her discovery.
Upon closer inspection, the lines resembled strips of rubber used to help stop leaks. Why would that be on the underside of a fountain? An old ladder made of metal piping leaned against the wall close by. She dragged it over, drawing the attention of her mate, always protecting her.
“Whatcha doing, babe?”
“Looking for sensible alternatives,” she said.
“Like what?” he asked. “A hole in the ceiling?”
Climbing the ladder and pushing up the center of the square, she was startled when it easily rose. Then stopped after a few inches. “It’s stuck,” she grunted. “Probably an obstruction from the newly sloping bottom.”
“Let me,” Josh said and lifted her around the waist and set her on the ground like she was nothing. She was not used to being picked up and thought she was falli
ng when he moved her. The man was lucky she didn’t pee her pants when he yanked her down.
Josh climbed the stairs as she stood at the base and looked up. With strength and effort, he was able to bend the metal piece back enough to squeeze through. Then suddenly, his body flew up and out of sight.
CHAPTER 35
Josh smelled the soldiers and their gun oil gathered around the fountain. Thank god, they were finally out of this mess. He and Candy could go home and spend the rest of their lives together. A couple of the guys approached just as he bent the lid back far enough to stay put.
Before he could turn to greet them, he felt hands under his armpits and his body was hoisted away from trap door. He didn’t think much of it until he was slammed down on his back. The butt of a rifle smashed against the side of his head. His wolf burst forward ready to tear into the bastards stupid enough to attack him.
His hands morphed into claws and he swung haphazardly, gouging chunks of flesh out of the unfortunate legs that got too close. A few kicks got through, but nothing his wolf couldn’t fix. His main fight was keeping his animal at bay. It wanted to maim and rip apart.
“Stand down!” he heard his mate scream. Several of the men bristled, undoubtedly surprised by the command coming from a female under a water fountain. “I am Sergeant Major Candace Obermier. I order you to stand down.” Those with guns backed off, but the men kept beating up on Josh. And he wasn’t stopping his defense of himself, claws included, until they did.
A booming voice shouted, “She gave you a command, men. Disregard it further and I will have you arrested for insubordination.” That worked. They all snapped to attention and he lay back on the ground.
Whispers of “the president” erupted in the group. Suddenly his little mate was there helping him to his feet. She pushed the men in her way and muscled him back to the president’s side. In the distance, a man in uniform ran toward them across the lawn.
“Mr. President, sir,” the man hollered as he neared. He stopped and saluted, waiting for the president to reciprocate. All formalities done, the soldier continued. “I’m Captain Hayden Bridges, sir. Second to Colonel Dresden. We have a car ready for you, sir.” He turned to the house and waved. A black SUV jumped the curb and roared toward them.
“Oh,” the first lady groaned, “not through the flower garden.”
“It’s all right, dear,” the president said. “We’ll invite a class of children to come help you replant. You can teach them how birds mate and flowers pollinate.”
She popped him on the arm. “They are way too young to learn about birds and bees.” Discreetly, she hit him even harder. “And I can’t believe you made such a lame joke and I fell for it.”
Josh smiled at his mate. That’s what he wanted with her. Happiness and love strong enough to survive bad jokes. After the president and first lady were swept away to safety, the captain dismissed the soldiers gathered.
Candy was on her game. “Captain, status of Colonel Dresden.”
“Injured, but alive, ma’am. He was thrown down the stairwell next to the elevator, the biggest part of the blast nicked him.”
“Do you have a suspect for the bombs?”
“No, ma’am.”
“His name is Mikhail Steganovich. Russian terrorist. We killed his brother at the NIB earlier tonight. Has the bomb dog gone through the house yet?”
“Uh, we’ve . . . There’s a situation with the bomb dog and trainer,” the captain said.
“What?”
“When we weren’t able to contact him via phone, we sent someone to his residence.” He paused.
“And?” she pushed.
“They found his body inside the home. Shot once in the head. The dog was outside the fence, waiting to be let in.”
“Let in? I don’t understand, Captain,” she replied. Josh didn’t get it either. How did the dog get out if the man was dead?
“We’ve speculated, ma’am, that someone killed the trainer and impersonated him, including uniform and credentials, and brought the dog the first time according to protocol. That was how the bomber gained access to plant his bombs. Afterward, he dumped the dog and it found its way home.”
“Are you serious?” Candy shook her head. Josh smelled her anger building quickly. She’d done so well with her temper the past several hours. He knew she was trying. This fuckup, though, was irreprehensible.
She took a deep breath. “Captain, please help me understand how this unknown man could get through.”
“Ma’am, he had on standard paint and looked like the rest of us. And how would someone else know when we’d get a call to the White House? He had the credentials.”
“Stolen creds,” she mumbled.
Josh looked around at the hundred scattered men. The captain was right. Every man looked identical with matching uniforms and black face paint. He understood the problem humans could have with identification. That wasn’t a problem shifters had. They identified others by smell, which would be nearly impossible to copy.
“Captain,” his mate said, “if someone wants something bad enough, it’s hard to stop them. Our man, Mikhail Steganovich, had his brother set up a diversion at the NIB building.”
“Of course,” Josh chimed in. “Mikhail knew protocol would be for a group of men to go to the White House to secure the president, including the bomb dogs. He just had to blend in.”
“Well, son of a bitch,” she muttered. He heard the exhaustion in her voice. “Lock down the house, Captain. Keep everyone out of it in case there are more bombs. Tomorrow morning, we can debrief and have the ALFA group search for bombs. They are specially set up for that.”
She looked at Josh. “Think your guys can handle that?”
He nodded. “Yup, that’s what we’re trained to do.” They reached the driveway to the north entrance and stepped onto the concrete. Several men stood ready, assault rifles shouldered.
“Yes, ma’am. We’ll meet you in the PEOC at 0700,” the captain said.
“Make it 0800,” she replied. “I’ve had a hell of a day.”
“Yes, ma’am. Do you need a ride anywhere?”
“If you could have someone takes us back to the NIB, that would be great,” she said, sagging against him. He loved her delicious weight on him.
The soldier standing nearby turned to them. “Captain, sir, I’ll volunteer to drive them over.”
“Thank you, soldier. Take one of the Humvees. Report back to me when you return.”
The soldier started to one of the trucks then stopped to salute.
Candy turned back. “Captain Bridges.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“If you see anything remotely suspicious, I don’t care if it’s a groundhog waving a Russian flag out its ass, follow up on it until the end. Mikhail Steganovich is extremely smart.”
“Understand, ma’am.”
“Oh, and have an explosives team to diffuse a C-4 in the secret escape in the president’s bedroom.”
“Ma’am, I don’t know where that is—”
“I know,” she said. “In the morning. Just don’t let anyone in tonight.” His mate turned to him. “Take me home before anything else happens.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said. Gladly.
CHAPTER 36
In the back of the Humvee, Candy closed her eyes. She was exhausted. It’d been an eighteen-hour day now that it was midnight. Nothing would be better than passing out in her mate’s arms. With that thought came all the worries about him not wanting her once her got to see how she really was.
Maybe she’d take all she could in their time together, then when he left, it wouldn’t be a big deal. Well, she doubted that, but she’d deal by throwing herself into her work. Perhaps even ask for a transfer for another tour overseas. She could easily move into a commander sergeant major role with any battalion.
Josh gra
bbed her hand from the other backseat. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
Oh, shit, she thought. The man could smell everything she felt. Damn, how would she ever get away with anything around him? She couldn’t even have a surprise birthday party without him smelling it.
“What’s wrong? I’m tired, for starters,” she said. “The list is a lot longer, if you care to take notes.”
He smiled. “Don’t need to. Eidetic memory.”
She dropped her head back and laughed. Oh my fucking god! The man was a god. There wasn’t one thing wrong with him. Nothing. Pure perfection. It felt so good to laugh.
The truck turned the corner and the street was partially blocked by federal agency vehicles in front of the NIB.
“Damn, they are still here?” she said.
Their driver tensed. “Ma’am?”
“It’s all right, soldier. There was an incident at the building earlier. These guys are still working it apparently.”
“Do you think they’ve cleaned up the roof yet?” Josh asked.
“I would’ve thought they would have, but maybe not,” she said. “Soldier, would you mind driving us to the roof of the parking garage?” She sat back. “It’ll be much quicker than going inside to the elevator. Besides, my car is parked there.”
“Good idea,” her mate said.
“Yes, ma’am,” the driver replied. She noted Josh’s grip on her hand tightened for a second.
She stared at Josh, trying to figure out what he was responding to. Maybe he needed a morale boost? “This here director’s men and I took down several uglies. Their bodies needed to be removed. That’s it.” He shook his head then glanced at the rearview mirror up front. She mouthed, What? to Josh. “We make a good team,” she finished.
The director’s helicopter came into sight. The driver stopped at the bridge connecting the garage to the NIB roof. She and Josh climbed out and the soldier drove away. Josh remained standing where he got out, staring back at the Humvee.