Vision of Darkness (D.I.E. Squadron Book 1)

by Tonya Burrows

  Alex slid into the soft leather passenger seat of the car. “Well, that explains one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Why Sully really sent you.”

  “Oo oo ah ah,” Kai said, deadpan, and stepped on the gas.

  ***

  “Sully’s probably gonna nail my balls to his ceiling for not dragging you outta here,” Kai said twenty minutes later, studying the outline of Pru’s slim figure standing on her front porch. “Is she worth it?”

  Alex opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Yes, had been the immediate response that jumped to mind, but he felt foolish saying so to Kai of all people. He watched Pru wrap her arms around her middle as if holding herself together, same as she had last night when Forbes dragged him away. Emotion rolled through him, so poignant his vision blurred. She’d cared enough to call Nick for help. That had to mean something.

  “I don’t know,” he finally admitted.

  “Yeah, you do.” Kai stared at Pru a second longer, then turned in his

  seat and the smart-ass clown persona dropped away, revealing a glimpse of the deadly man Alex knew Kai really was.

  “I got a couple things to say before I take off.” His blue eyes cut into Alex like shards of glass. He motioned with a jerk of his head toward the house. “See that lady up there? First, don’t fuck it up. She’s good for you; I can tell. Second, she’s the only reason I’m risking my balls, which I happen to like right where they are. I’m getting a distinct danger vibe here, and who better to protect her than the guy that’s goofy in love with her.”

  “Hey, whoa. Spook, I’m not—”

  “Shut up and listen,” Kai said. “You need to know Sully’s been getting some…ripples…lately.”

  Alex groaned. “C’mon, you know I don’t believe in that psychic shit.”

  “Yeah, believe in whatever the hell you want, man. It doesn’t change the fact that Sully has instincts like a shark and whatever’s going on …” He trailed off, thumped his hand on the steering wheel and looked at Pru again. She was nervous now, shifting back and forth on her feet.

  “You’re probably the one putting her in danger, you know,” he said. “Guys like us, we can’t settle down. Sully thinks someone’s after us.”

  The thought of putting Pru in danger sent pain stabbing through Alex’s chest. He wanted to punch Kai for the feeling and gritted his teeth. “Sully always thinks someone’s after us. The man sees conspiracies in line at the grocery store.”

  “Like he’s ever done his own grocery shopping.”

  “You know what I mean.” Alex exhaled sharply and forced his muscles to relax. His hands had balled into fists and he shook them out. Anger would not do any good. He had to get control of himself, had to think this through. It was true Sullivan was a paranoid son of a bitch, but as much as he hated to admit it, the paranoia came with good reason. Sully’s so-called “ripples” were never, never wrong.

  “All right, so someone’s after us. Who’s he thinking?”

  “Government, military, Interpol, Taliban, little green pygmies.” Kai lifted a shoulder. “Who the fuck knows? We’re not exactly popular guys in certain circles.”

  He had a point. Still, it was too much to think about right now, a vague threat, one of Sully’s ripples compared to the very real danger lurking in this town, hanging around Pru.

  Alex popped open the door. “I got other problems to deal with, but if those little green pygmies start coming out of the woodwork, keep me in the loop.”

  “Don’t laugh. They’re mean little fuckers.” Kai shifted the car into gear. Alex shut the door and backed up a step, but the car didn’t move. The window buzzed down.

  “Yo, Range,” Kai said, leaning down to look out. “It was good seeing you.”

  “You too. Thanks for springing me.”

  ***

  Kai Alameida rolled the rental car out of sight of the house and stopped with a soft curse. Being a good friend sucked the big one. First, Sully yanked him out of the bed of a hot-to-trot mamacita in the Keys to fly halfway to the arctic and pretend to be a lawyer, his least favorite breed of people. Then Alex pulls the nice-seeing-ya-pal-now-take-off routine.

  Whatever. He did his part. Time to wash his hands of this mess. Alex’s problem—and Sully’s because anything concerning one of them was Sully’s problem—not his. God knew he had plenty of his own shit to deal with.

  But he was curious. And, as much as he lamented it, a good friend.

  Aw, fuck it. He reached into his bag in the backseat for the Night Owl binocs and coughed a couple times as he propped himself between the front seats of the SUV. Focusing the lens through the back windshield, he watched Alex approach the porch. Pru Maddox still hadn’t moved from her spot, and Alex stopped short of the bottom step. They seemed to be talking.

  What Kai wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall for that convo.

  He zoomed in on Pru. She was scowling, but Kai saw why Range had gone ga-ga over the woman. A sexpot with just the right touch of innocence, like a naughty catholic schoolgirl. She was so Range’s type. She’d be Kai’s type too if he was asshole enough to subject such a nice girl to himself. He wasn’t.

  The Night Owls gave a clear image even in the murky half-light of the approaching night. Kai caught the flash of a tear, watched Pru’s face soften. Then she moved and he lost her, had to zoom out to see her launch herself into Alex’s arms.

  “Go get her, buddy,” Kai chuckled and set aside the binoculars. He dug around for his phone and ignored the quick stab of jealousy. He used to like picturing himself with a nice girl, having a brood of kids. But Fate, nasty bitch that she was, had given Kai Alameida a very limited watch. Nice girls wanted a guy for the long haul. Fast women—that mamacita he’d picked up toasted from a tourist hotspot—were all he had the time for.

  Sullivan Nathanson snapped up the line before a full ring. “Did you get him?”

  “Yes and no,” Kai said.

  A pause. “What do you mean ‘yes and no’?”

  “Just what I said. I sprang him from the cop shop, but he refused to leave with me. He wanted to go back to the lighthouse. You know how he is about woo-woo stuff.”

  “That stubborn jackass,” Sully muttered. “He never listens.”

  “Never has, Lieutenant. Did you really expect him to start now?”

  Sully grumbled. Kai smothered a smile. “Hey, I know you got one of your insights about all this, but do you really think Alex is more of a target than any of the rest of us right now? I mean, he wasn’t around for the worst of what our dear government did to us. He doesn’t even believe in this shit.”

  “That’s not going to matter to the Sierra Group,” Sully said. “They’re fanatics trained to kill and on a mission from God—”

  “Ooo, my favorite kind.”

  Sully, as usual, ignored his wisecrack. “I’ve kept an eye on these people for years. Until recently, they didn’t pose much of a threat, but now they’ve rallied. They’re organizing under a new leader and somehow he knows about us. Alex’s disbelief makes him the perfect target because he won’t take the proper precautions. They could make him disappear without a problem. I know for a fact they set him up to lose his job earlier this week and they probably already have someone in that town looking for him.”

  “Probably,” Kai agreed. He stared out the windshield at the empty stretch of snaky country road. The hairs on the back of his neck lifted, a feeling similar to the one he got when someone tracked him through a scope, but he couldn’t sense anyone out there. “I can tell you my woo-woo stuff’s tingling like hell. There’s definitely something wrong about this place.”

  “Then both you and Alex need to evacuate ASAP,” Sully said in his listen-to-me-or-else tone. The first lieutenant dishing out orders. It gave Kai a pang of nostalgia. War sucked, no doubt about it, but it was so much fucking easier than civvy life.

  “Hey, I’m all for getting outta here myself. I got things to do before I die. As for Alex, if
you wanna come out here and drag him away from his lady love, go for it. But I won’t help you. She’s good for him.”

  “You think he’s fallen for that Maddox woman?”

  “Ka-splat. Head first and with a big, dopy grin on his face. He doesn’t know it yet, but I’m telling you, he’s a goner. He’s not gonna leave her.”

  Sully grumbled. There was the sound of rhythmic tapping, as if he was drumming his fingers on the big teak desk in his home office. “I’ll talk to Nick, see if he still wants to take a trip to Maine. Since he’s never shown any psychic ability, the Sierra Group won’t bother with him. He can keep an eye on Alex without putting another one of us in danger.”

  A chill tap-danced down Kai’s spine. He straightened and scanned the area around the car again. Nothing.

  “Fuck, I gotta get outta here. I’m starting to act as paranoid as you. Feels like there’s a target on my back.” He moved his shoulders, trying to shake the feeling. “Alex has to feel it too. Dunno how he can stand it.”

  “He’s distracted.”

  Kai thought of Pru’s sweet face and succulent curves. Alex was one lucky, lucky man. “Can’t blame him there.”

  “Be careful,” Sully said.

  “Like I said, I got things to do before I die.” Kai hung up and shifted the car into gear, but waited to turn on the headlights until he was a quarter of a mile down the road. He didn’t want to divert Alex’s attention from pretty Pru Maddox. If the man had any sense in his fool head, he’d be rocking that woman between the sheets by now.

  CHAPTER 12

  Alex hesitated at the bottom of the steps. She looked so pretty, standing there backlit by the porch light, her hair a loose tumble of black silk over her shoulders. A butterfly bandage covered a cut above her eyebrow, the only injury from their encounter with the phantom fire. She bit down on her lower lip and her arms, wrapped around her middle, tightened. Whether the gesture was against the chilly air or meant to fortify herself against him, he didn’t know.

  Probably both. He hadn’t fully contemplated the idea that she might not want him here anymore in the wake of everything that had happened. Now, three steps from her, staring up into eyes puffy from crying, it hit him in the face.

  “I’ll go,” he said, his voice coming out hoarser than he would have liked. A lump of emotion lodged around his Adam’s apple and forming words around it was a chore. “Just say the word, Pru, and I’ll pack up my stuff and leave.”

  Her gaze slid away from his as a tear traced down her cheek. “Okay.”

  Alex squeezed his eyes shut and exhaled a ragged breath. Kai warned him not to fuck up, but it was already too late. Their thread of connection had been fragile to start, and the moment his fist connected with Rhett Swithin’s nose last night, it had frayed beyond repair.

  Dammit, how could he be so stupid as to mess up something that felt so good?

  “Okay.” He set his foot on the bottom step. “I’ll just grab my things and—”

  She surged into his arms like a heat seeking missile, nearly knocking him off balance. She wound her arms tight around his neck and buried her face in his sweatshirt.

  Emotion vibrated from her body as her shoulders shook with silent sobs. “Don’t leave.”

  “Oh God.” Afraid it was too good to be true, he nuzzled the top of her head. Her hair smelled of strawberry and was still slightly damp from a recent shower. He wanted to tunnel his hands in it and tilt her head back, find her soft mouth with his. But, damn, he was so afraid to let her go.

  Pru made a muffled sound against his chest and the thought struck that he might be crushing her. “Sorry, baby.” He gave her head one last nuzzle and released her.

  She jerked back, scowling, and slapped his chest. “You stupid, pig-headed, arrogant…ugh!” Her hand curled into a fist and pounded his chest again. “God save me from macho men. I could just kick your ass for what you did.”

  The breath in his lungs flash-froze. Did she think he was responsible for Wade’s death? He didn’t know if he could handle that kind of rejection so close on the heels of the last crippling surge of emotion.

  “What did I do?” His voice came out raw. “Just so I know not to do it again.”

  “You punched Rhett!”

  “Yeah. Uh, I did do that.” Heat rose up the back of his neck and he hoped to God he wasn’t blushing. He licked his lips, but the knot of dread in his stomach wouldn’t loosen. “So, uh, everything else…?”

  “Oh, no. Alex.” Her features softened, the scowl fading into a sad smile. She cupped his cheeks in her palms. “You didn’t have anything to do with Wade. If I thought you did, I wouldn’t have called your friends for help. It was an accident.” She squeezed her eyes tight in an effort to keep the tears back. “Another horrible accident. I should’ve known—should’ve insisted he stay in the house with me or—”

  “Don’t.” Alex gripped her wrists and guided her hands to his chest so he could pull her close again. “It’ll only make it hurt worse.”

  “I can’t help it. There have been so many accidents…”

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “And we need to talk about that.”

  She shook her head. “You should go back to Boston. I’m cursed. People keep getting hurt around me. It’s not safe here for you.”

  “Or for you.” He lifted her chin with the arc of his finger, made her look at him. “Have you considered people are getting hurt around you because someone wants to hurt you?”

  “What?” She yanked out of his embrace and stared at him, open-mouthed, for a long second. “Why would—don’t say that! Nobody’s trying to hurt me.”

  Dammit, why did his arms feel so cold without her? He resisted the urge to reach out and draw her back, and dropped his arms to his sides. “Pru, first the fire—”

  “No. Stop. It was Lovie True getting carried away with her pranks. Cappy always claimed—”

  “That’s another thing. Cappy? There’s no way—”

  “No!” She covered her ears with her palms. “Stop right there. He killed himself. End of story. Wade was an accident. The phantom fire was Lovie.”

  Alex could only stare at her. She couldn’t honestly believe the fire was the work of a ghost. Yeah, true, he had no explanation for the lack of damage. And, yes, he had smelled what he thought was burning pork before the blaze, but that scent could have come from anywhere, traveling on a wayward breeze through the cracks of the old house. It certainly hadn’t come from a pyromaniac ghost chef.

  “Do you realize how crazy that sounds?”

  She dropped her hands from her ears. “No more crazy than thinking someone’s out to get me.”

  God, she was stubborn. Alex itched to tell her the truth about himself and the real reason he’d punched Rhett last night. It was on the tip of his tongue: I get these feelings sometimes—my friends think I’m psychic, but that’s a load of bull. It’s intuition—or whatever—and it’s never been wrong. Something is going on here, so I decided to use my undercover identity until I figure out who to trust.

  Yeah, right. Even in his own mind, it sounded ridiculous.

  Pru mistook his silence as proof she had a point and added, “Besides, who would want to kill me?”

  “The guy from Portland.” He hated to say it, knew it would hurt her, but it was something she had to consider. “The one that robbed your restaurant.”

  She sucked in a sharp breath. Let it out in a shudder. “Don’t say that. Please, don’t go there. I can’t—”

  “I’m sorry, babe. I really am, but it’s a possibility. Guys like that—they can fixate on their victims, especially if he sees you as the one that got away.”

  “Alex, please, don’t bring that nightmare back into my life. I won’t listen to it.” As her resolve built, her shoulders straightened. Anger flushed her cheeks pink, which eased the tension in his stomach. That blush was so much better than the sallow coloring of grief.

  “Wade was an accident,” she repeated, a ribbon of steel in her tone that
raised his hackles despite his attempts to keep his own frustration in check. “The fire was Lovie. There’s nothing else going on. You’re paranoid if you think there is and you might want to seek professional help for that.”

  Maybe it was because she had hit the nail a little too close to its head, or maybe because she was so obstinate—but he snapped. He yanked her against his body, his nose inches from hers. Saw a flash of alarm, and took a second to smooth his voice to a reasonable tone.

  “I’m only pointing out obvious facts that you can’t go on ignoring if you want to keep alive. Someone’s out to get you. It’s the only logical explanation and, damn it all, I don’t want to see you hurt.”

  She opened her mouth to protest and he seized her lips with his. This woman was naïve, stubborn and frustrating as all get out…and so irresistible he could no longer stand the memory of what her kiss tasted like. He wanted the real thing again, consequences be damned.

  He kept his eyes open, watching her reaction. She stiffened and her eyes, now wide blue orbs, panicked. She pushed on his arms and when that didn’t work, she banged her palm against his chest in a wimpy, half-hearted escape attempt.

  Then she wasn’t pushing, but pulling him closer with a low moan humming from her throat. Her eyes drifted shut.

  Smiling into her mouth, Alex softened the kiss to a gentle caress, sliding his tongue between her lips. Her mouth opened and accepted his, supple and sweet. All sense of time, of reality, flew right out the window when she returned his kiss, parrying the thrusts of his tongue with her own.

  His head spun. The nerve endings from his toes to his fingertips tingled. When did kissing become so erotic? He never much liked kissing—too intimate—but he’d been seriously missing out over the years by refraining from it if the act always turned his balls to rocks and made his body shiver with desire like this.

  Or maybe it only was the act of kissing Pru.

  Clamping his hands around her hips, he held her in place in front of him, letting her feel how hard she’d made him, how much he wanted to lift her into his arms, take her inside, and have his way with her. She was just tall enough that his bulge fit intimately against her when they stood nose-to-nose—she didn’t have to stand on tiptoes. Perfect fit, like they had done this a zillion times before. He crushed her to him, tongue plunging, probing, plundering. As she melted, her fingers crept under his sweatshirt and traced his spine, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake.