Men of Mercy: The Complete Story

by Cross, Lindsay

  The number sent Ethan's mind whirling, surrounded by a foreign vortex of love and happiness. He'd grown up on the streets, never knowing his own parents. He'd fought for himself since youth, picking up odd jobs where he could, learning how to survive by relying on his own skill.

  Aaron stepped forward and tapped an old black and white photo. “That's Pop, Noni's husband, in front of his F4U Corsair in WWII. He flew over one hundred missions and still made it home to her.” Aaron pointed to the next photo, a soldier in solid green, framed by jungle. “That's Dad when he was in Vietnam. And then that handsome strapping man in the next picture is me. I tell you, they should have put me on the cover of Military Magazine.”

  Ethan snorted. “Yeah, I think you may be waiting a long time on that call.”

  Aaron continued, completely unfazed. “That is from about twenty years ago, when we were all young. The last picture we have of Noni and Pop together with all the grandkids.”

  A younger Noni and Aaron’s grandfather sat on chairs in the yard, children in their laps, standing beside them, on the ground sitting in front. Ethan rubbed the dull ache in his chest. He'd never have that, wasn't meant to. He'd resigned himself to the life of a nomad years ago and knew he'd walk this earth alone.

  So why did his damn heart feel like Aaron had just hollowed it out with a dull spoon?

  “Got to hit the head. I'll be back in a few minutes and show you to your room. You can just chill here.” Aaron nodded and strode past Ethan down a long hallway off to the right of the living room.

  Ethan stared at that last picture, the one of the couple obviously in love surrounded by their offspring, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't place himself there. That life wasn't for him. He knew exactly how his own life would play out. He'd stay in the Special Forces until he was either too injured to stay active or he'd die on a mission. He told himself that was his only choice. Besides, he didn’t know how to live any differently.

  The picture of Pop in front of the fighter plane, that he could put himself in easily. Ethan sensed a presence and glanced down at Noni, her weathered gaze fixed with longing on that photo.

  “They called him the Eagle. He flew on more missions in that one tour of duty than most men do in an entire lifetime. He said he couldn't stand staying on the ground and leaving his men unprotected.” She sniffed and traced a bony finger over her husband’s face.

  The dull ache in Ethan's chest grew. No one would ever stare at his photo with longing.

  “When they recruited him for the Kamikaze Brigade, I cried for a month straight. Out of the fifty volunteers who flew into the heart of Germany, only my husband and two others survived.”

  “I learned about the Kamikazes in Air Born School. They were hands down the most famous and badass pilots in history.” He didn't tell her the part about the survivors being rumored as mad men. They'd had a mortality rate of over ninety percent, making them not only the most famous, but the deadliest.

  But the proud grin and glint in Pop's eye was the same wild look Ethan saw every time he looked into a mirror. “No offense, ma'am, but why did he settle down? I mean, that kind of adrenaline rush...” was for legends.

  Not fathers and husbands.

  “You know Johnny always told me he planned to die in the war. Didn't think he’d live to see his twenty-fifth birthday, but he had something to live for. Me. I never understood and never tried to really figure him out. I never asked him to give up the service either if that's what you're thinking. After Aaron's father was born I asked Johnny why he'd chosen me and he said, ‘When I saw you, I knew. I knew the rush of being a fighter pilot could never measure up to holding the love of the greatest woman I know.’” She sniffed and wiped away a tear. “I still miss him every single day, and I know when my time’s over, I'll be joining him again. He was the greatest man I've ever known.”

  Noni’s eyes were red and watery, and Ethan had to fight not to cringe away from her emotions.

  “You've got that same rangy lone wolf look Johnny used to have, the way you're staring at all my pictures. Feeling trapped, are you?”

  Ethan's throat closed off completely and he couldn't answer her question or argue with her intuitiveness.

  “Well there's hope. I promise you that. And you'll know it when you meet her.”

  Chapter 6

  “Mom, I'm not moving back home.” Kate unzipped her bag in the passenger seat and dug around for her headphones, taking the next turn at what had to qualify for reckless driving. Her jeep skidded sideways on the gravel road, tossed back a fresh spray of gravel and dust, and then righted itself. Not that she would mind slamming into a tree right now if that would effectively end this broken record conversation with her mother.

  “But darling, Matt asks about you every day. All he can talk about is how much fun you two had together before you had to go and join that dreadful clan.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. Only her mother would refer to the United States CIA as the 'clan.’

  “Why you insisted on breaking my heart, I'll never know. For the life of me I can't think of anything I've ever done to make you want to hurt me so much.” Her mother's southern accent slipped through the phone, sweet as honey but tinged with arsenic. At twenty-seven, Kate felt that same burning sense of guilt when she knew she disappointed her mom just like she had when she was eight years old. Just like she disappointed the CIA.

  “How many times do I have to tell you? It's nothing you did. I don't make my decisions based on what other people want. I'm a grown-up. And guess what, I was just offered a new job, this one paying twice my former salary. I'm really excited about it. Can't you just be happy for me this one time?” Kate could practically picture the way her mom's lips turned down into a perfect frown, the kind that clearly communicated with just the slightest movement her devastating disappointment in her.

  Just like she could picture her dad in the background shaking out his newspaper and rolling his eyes. Kate smiled. He, of all people, had been on her side the whole journey, and for the one time Kate could recall, he'd stood up to her mother when Kate enlisted.

  Giving up her search for her headphones, she put the cell on speaker and tried to focus on her mother instead of worrying about Ethan. She hadn’t been able to get him off her mind since that first meeting. Something about him tugged at her – despite the fact he looked like he’d stepped out of a grunge magazine.

  Kate sighed to herself. If her mother could read her mind – she’d never hear the end of that one. She had no doubt that if her mother sensed even the slightest hint of her attraction to anyone she’d drive here tomorrow to help things along. Anything to get her baby girl on track.

  But Ethan was anything but on the right side of the tracks. She may have only met him briefly, but everything about him screamed bad boy.

  Dangerous.

  Everything in a man she despised.

  So why can’t I stop thinking about him?

  A deer ran into the road and froze right in front of her. Her heart rocketed up into her throat and she slammed on the brakes. “Jesus Christ!”

  Her phone went flying. Her bag flew off the front set, spilling all of her clothes into the floor board. Her venti latte shot out of the cup holder and exploded over everything. Her clothes, the dashboard, her.

  Fingers numb from the death grip she had on the steering wheel, Kate stared through the dripping coffee in shock at the large doe as she bounced off into the woods on the other side of the road like a near death experience hadn’t just happened.

  “Katherine Elizabeth!”

  Her attention jerked to her feet, where her cell lay next to the gas pedal, having momentarily forgotten all about her mom. She snatched the phone back to her ear in time to hear her rant continue, “You do not use the Lord's name in vain. I'm going to have to add you back to the prayer list at church, and all the ladies at Bible Study will be asking me what you did this time.”

  “I almost had a wreck, Mom.”

  “Not
an excuse. There are plenty other nice young ladies out there who don't use curse words when they're upset.” If Mrs. Georgia Elise were ever held up, she'd probably lecture the person holding her at gunpoint on manners.

  “Sorry, mom.” She stuck her phone between her ear and shoulder and reached for her bag, praying her clothes weren’t ruined. She pinched a shirt and lifted, her hope dying as the dark coffee dripped from the button up and into all of the equally wet clothes beneath it.

  Ruined. Everything she’d bought for the training was completely ruined.

  “Are you okay? You didn't really have a wreck, did you? Do I need to send your father?”

  Fighting off a mild panic attack, Kate said, “It's okay, it was just a deer.”

  “There should be a law against those animals. Your sister had one actually run into the side of her car last week. Little Robbie was in there too, scared my poor grandbaby to death. Nearly gave us both a heart attack.”

  “Was anyone hurt?”

  “No, thank heavens. They'd just pulled to a stop.”

  Kate slapped her lips together. Her mother freaked out about a deer hitting her sister’s parked car when Kate could've died. She sighed...and so the world turns, her mother would never change and Kate would never be the perfect daughter.

  Kate used the small dry portion of her jacket sleeve to wipe her face dry, leaning up to glance into the rearview mirror, only to groan. Great. She had to go train with him and not only was her power suit soaked, her hair was plastered to her temples.

  “Anyway, the reason I called was to tell you that your sister is pregnant! Isn't that wonderful? I'm going to be a grandmother.”

  “Mom, that's her fourth kid. You're already a grandmother.” Her little sister had done the dutiful thing, marrying a nice local farmer and settling down a mile from her parents’ house, proceeding to pop out kids left and right and stay home and raise a family.

  Georgia huffed. “Oh Kate, if you had children you'd know that every single one of them is special and precious and the most wonderful gift God could ever give us. Why you must deny me that joy, I haven't figured out.”

  Kate shut her eyes for a moment, trying to block out her mother and her desires. If only she'd been born complacent and happy with her lot.

  Kate opened her mouth, ready to cut the conversation short, but she had no hope of stopping this roller coaster. Her mom had already started the downhill swoop and she wouldn't stop until she hit the end.

  “Your sister's husband won Farmer of the Year for Cleburne County, and you know what? They come over to eat every Sunday after church. I get to see them all the time.” Her mother's voice wobbled and Kate sighed. “And I don't stay awake at night worrying about her safety.”

  Kate bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. She'd have to ride it out or hang up on her mother altogether, something that would earn Georgia's unending animosity.

  “Honey, it’s just that I want you to get out those books and start trying to live a little. You’re a beautiful woman, even if it’s not with Matt, I wish you’d at least try dating. Your child bearing years are narrowing by the minute.”

  Definitely time to nip this conversation in the bud. “Mom, listen—”

  “You can’t put me off forever.”

  Leaning her head back against the head rest, Kate stared blankly at the overgrown trees and dirt road stretching out in front of her. She was literally sitting in the middle of a gravel road in the middle of nowhere listening to her mother lecture her on approaching spinsterhood.

  How did she even have cell service out here?

  Why hadn't she thought of this before? Being lost in the woods in southern Mississippi offered one and only one perk. “Mom. There. Can't. No. Service.”

  “Katherine, please be careful. Please, call to let me know you’re safe.”

  “Love you, Mom.” Kate disconnected the call. Her mom should get national recognition as the Grand Master of Guilt.

  She'd broken off an engagement to a good boy back home, breaking her mom's expectation to marry and stay home to pop out a herd of children like her sister. And then she'd gone and committed the ultimate of all betrayals: she tried to join the military.

  A man's profession.

  Then came the revelation of her ineligibility and her successive move into the CIA, a place of inherit evil according to the good folks of her hometown in Greenville, South Carolina.

  Well, she didn’t have time to worry about that now. She had to find her training camp and pray they had a washing machine- otherwise she’d be stuck wearing coffee the rest of the week. Keeping a watchful eye for deer, Kate eased off the brakes. After another twenty-minutes of driving she started to worry.

  How long was this road? If she didn’t find her way out of the woods in the next ten minutes, she’d have to break down and call Grey for directions, even if it made her appear totally incompetent for her new job. If she couldn't follow the simple map he’d laid out for her to the training grounds, how would he ever have confidence in her abilities to run or participate in an operation?

  Short answer: he wouldn't and Kate would find herself back in her apartment hugging a gallon of Ben & Jerry's snuggled up in a faded robe re-reading her favorite Tom Clancy novel.

  Alone.

  About the time her shirt started to dry, the road widened, and she drove out of the boxed-in path of dense forest and into a clearing filled with large pine trees. Further up the road, she spied a two-story white house with a huge wraparound porch. The kind of setup where people married and raised families.

  The kind Kate would never have.

  And didn't want. At least that's what she told herself.

  The last thing she wanted was to be tied down to some man and a brood of children. Her career would be over and so would her whole purpose. Being single had never bothered her before, not with her career to live for.

  As she neared the house, she saw two sedans, a jacked up truck, and a motorcycle parked in front. A wide staircase led up to the front porch, flanked by rows and rows of hydrangeas. The porch itself hosted potted ferns and hanging baskets overflowing with bright yellow and purple flowers. Kate rolled down her window, inhaling the sweet scent only gardens in the south could create.

  Somehow this wasn't quite how she'd pictured the headquarters.

  Senses on high alert, Kate stuffed her Baretta into her compact purse and got out, slamming the door with enough force to warn any unsuspecting citizen of incoming traffic. The last thing she wanted was to stumble into some backwoods supremacist following armed to the teeth with illegal AR's. As a CIA analyst, she researched enough of them to know they didn't hide in shacks surrounded by metal-paneled fences lined with barbed wire. Dissidents usually did their best to blend in.

  The front door opened and Ethan stepped out. Her mouth went dry and white-hot bolts of awareness shot through her followed immediately by rolling waves of chill bumps.

  Kate was honest enough to admit to herself it wasn’t really the near wreck that had set her teeth on edge- it was the upcoming training with him.

  He looked like a biker and a sex god rolled into one. He shoved a hand through his long black hair, pushing it back off his forehead.

  She took a slow perusal down the black leather vest, the flat stomach and lean hips, before her gaze bounced back up to his face to soak up his slightly parted lips. Images of hot sweaty bodies rolling in the sheets overtook her mind. Kate shook herself and forced her mind from the sensual haze he'd invoked.

  Instantly Kate was drawn to him. Something was just a little bit off about him. He wasn't perfect; he didn't have a classically handsome face, his features were too harsh for that. He'd had a rough life, that much was obvious, but the barely suppressed intensity in his eyes called out to her.

  Although his too-long black hair and thick beard made her fingers itch for a pair of scissors and a comb.

  She approached him cautiously, like she would a wild wolf caught in a bear trap. All too aware of how horr
ible she must look and smell, she tugged her jacket tight around her stained white shirt as she neared him.

  She tried to find something about him that she didn’t like. But even the black leather chaps and matching vest wasn’t enough to blind her to his devastating good looks.

  They just made him appear more dangerous…and sexy.

  Dear lord, this was going to be a very long two weeks.

  Chapter 7

  Ethan found it hard to breathe, to think, to do anything but stare at the woman glaring up at him. If it weren’t for the severe bun and boxy pants suit, she’d be drop dead gorgeous. As it was, she looked like a school marm trying to hide her exotic features beneath a fem-dom shield of armor.

  And the expression in her slightly tilted green eyes practically screamed control freak. He’d bet money she’d never done anything slightly out of order in her entire life.

  What would it be like to unpin that bun and watch her hair fall around her shoulders?

  Shit, it had to be the house and Noni making him straight up crazy. She wasn’t for him and he wasn’t here for a hook up – especially one with thorns. “Figured you’d get lost out here.”

  Kate stiffened even more, if that were possible, and he was tempted to tell her to relax before she cracked her spine.

  “Of course I found it. My job is to find things.” Her voice went shrill, the last word almost piercing.

  “No offense, but you seem like a city girl. You know, Starbucks and Whole Foods.” She’d probably never even seen a gravel road. As she got within a foot of him, he caught the whiff of coffee. “Starbucks for sure.”

  Her eyes widened and she unwrapped her tight hold around her waist, slamming her hands onto her hips. “My life is none of your concern, just like my ability to read a map.”

  Her jacket parted and he immediately saw the large brown stains and put two and two together. “Have a little accident?”