Men of Mercy: The Complete Story

by Cross, Lindsay

  Aaron leaned back on the torn leather seat, one hand on the wheel, the other on the stick shift. “Somewhere safe.”

  Bam! The truck dropped down and then continued its climb up the mountain. She'd seen nothing but dirt road, pine trees, and dense forest for the past hour. No people, no houses, nothing. “And where exactly is this supposedly safe place located?”

  Aaron swerved in a sharp right, barely missing a pothole that would've taken out their front axle, and grinned as he sped up. The old truck rattled and groaned with such ferocity Celine had to close her eyes, sure that the entire thing was about to fall apart.

  “Don't worry, honey, they fixed the road since the last time I was here.”

  “Are you kidding me? You call this a road?”

  “We're driving on it aren't we?” Aaron reached for a can of Red Bull on the seat between them, popped the top and downed it in one long gulp, before tossing it to the floorboard at her feet. Good Lord, the man was practically glowing from an adrenaline high and now he wanted extra fuel for the rush? “That stuff will eat the lining of your stomach.”

  “Nah, just keeping the edge.”

  They'd ditched the car provided by Mr. K right after they crossed the border into Kentucky. Aaron paid five hundred dollars cash for this piece of shit from a scrap-yard off the scenic route and they’d been driving in it ever since.

  “I think calling this a road is a stretch.” More like a wagon trail through the rocky forest. Another bone jarring hole and she nearly hit her head on the roof. “Just tell me how much longer I have to worry about dying in this thing.”

  “What? You don't trust me?” Aaron batted his eyelashes at her.

  “I trust you, not this bucket of bolts,” Celine muttered.

  “Hey now, you'll hurt old Mary Catherine's feelings. She might have seen better days, but at least she's still running.”

  “You named her after the nun? Are you trying to go to hell?”

  “Come on, I bet the Sister would be honored.”

  “Or she'd pray you right to purgatory.”

  Aaron turned to her, his eyes wide. “You think?”

  “Watch the road!” Celine slapped her free hand on his arm, digging in her nails without the least bit of remorse.

  “Sweetheart, I can drive this road blindfolded. Besides, I'd much rather look at you.”

  Celine faced the window, trying to hide the furious blush stealing over her face. He'd been like this since they'd hit the mountain, as if once they'd turned down this overgrown beaten path he'd finally allowed himself to relax. He was acting how he did when they first met, like the past couple of months never happened.

  He was acting like the man she’d fallen so hard for in the beginning.

  After leaving the Pentagon, he'd had her ducking and hiding every time they hit a stoplight. Even after they ditched the car and he'd stopped to buy them food and clothing, he'd insisted she hide her face under the most god-awful ball cap and pair of plastic sunglasses she'd ever laid eyes on.

  “I know it's not much, but that sedan wouldn't have made the climb.”

  Celine turned and caught him glancing at her from the corner of his eye, both hands on the wheel now as he slowed their breakneck speed.

  “At least the car had air conditioning.” Her clothing clung to her skin in the sticky heat of the cab thanks to its non-functioning a/c unit. She should be used to it after her little trip through the desert.

  But what she wouldn't give for a long hot bath and a big glass of sweet ice tea.

  “That ac wouldn't do you any good when we got stuck halfway up the mountain and you had to hike to the cabin.” He turned a sharp right unexpectedly and Celine slid across the slick padded leather bench seat and slammed into his side. His arm immediately went around her waist and anchored her in place. “If you wanted to be close to me, all you had to do was ask.”

  She allowed herself to savor him pressed to her for a second, feeling every inch of his body that touched her and then planted her hands on his side and shoved, sliding back to her seat and latched back on to the handle for support. “You did that on purpose.”

  Why couldn't she just turn this attraction off? She still didn't believe he was here of his own free will, not really. He'd been ordered, otherwise he never would have given up on his chance for revenge. She wouldn't have.

  Knowing he'd at least started out with her because he had to, not because he wanted to, enforced her need to keep her distance.

  Then he gave her that big goofy grin, making it really hard to hold on to her anger. “Absolutely.”

  Celine ducked to hide her smile. She’d done nothing but given him the cold shoulder and he had failed to reciprocate. Instead her snarky comments seemed to bounce off him like pebbles on steel, not even leaving a scratch.

  In fact, he’d been nothing but a gentleman, trying to tease her dark mood away. Forcing her to repeat the words O'Keefe had said at the Pentagon to remind herself that this was all just a front for him. Another mission.

  “Look, just up there.” Aaron pointed directly in front of them where the road seemed to come to an abrupt end and slowed the truck as he eased around a dense copse of trees and brush, revealing an A-frame style log cabin nestled in the pines.

  The deep reddish wood held a large front deck about a foot off the ground with a solid wood door in the center. There was a window on each side and then one larger pane of glass in the top point. The yard stretched out wide from the sides and a small shed stood sentry on the left.

  “Welcome to paradise. We're over fifty miles from the nearest human being. Best of all, no one, not even Noni, knows about this place.” Aaron put the truck in park and killed the engine.

  “Do we have electricity?” Celine sized up the cabin once more, wondering how long she'd make it with no TV or music or a blow dryer. “Running water?”

  Aaron popped his door and hopped out, reaching into the back for their bags. “Why don't you come on inside, let me show you around.”

  Avoiding the question. Nope. No shower meant no Celine. She'd suffered enough in that hell hole overseas, the filth becoming a living thing covering her body. Even now, the drying sweat on her skin itched and screamed at her to scrub it off.

  She got out, the sun barely above the tree line and followed Aaron up to the front deck. She half expected the door to creak open on rusty hinges, a little off kilter with spider webs drooping down from a rotted out old ceiling. Instead what she saw was surprisingly...nice. Polished pine floors and dark brown leather furniture arranged in a half rectangle around a large stone fireplace.

  The walls were pretty bare and painted a deep hunter green. Through an open doorway to the right lay a matching kitchen with new stainless steel appliances and dark wood cabinets.

  Directly in front and above the living room stretched a wide loft with a narrow set of stairs along the kitchen wall leading up to it.

  Aaron stepped inside and sat the bags on the ground, the department store plastic crinkling loudly in the silence. “What do you think?” He put that careful expression on again, the one where his forehead smoothed out and his mouth relaxed, but his eyes reflected his concern.

  He was worried what she thought about his cabin?

  “It's clean.” She hedged unwilling to throw a complement his way just yet.

  Aaron took the comment and ran with it, breaking into a big smile. “Built it all myself. It's perfect don't you think?

  Surprise filtered through her. “You did this? When? Aren't you gone all the time?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah, but usually not for long. This is where I like to come and decompress after a tough mission. Helps me get back to being a human being again.”

  His response was so open and honest it completely caught her off guard and tapped into her curiosity. “Do you have trouble getting back to normal?”

  Aaron bent down and grabbed the grocery bags, walked into the kitchen and left Celine to follow. Had she offended him?

  He
set the bags on the counter and Celine eased onto a bar stool, watching his every move as he began to unpack the newly bought groceries. She should say something, apologize for overstepping her bounds. “Aaron, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked such a personal question.”

  Aaron pulled a bag of sweet potatoes out of the sack and dumped them on the counter with a loud thump. She flinched, the sharp movement like an explosion in the small kitchen.

  He prowled over to the bar, leaning across until his face was only a couple of inches from hers. “Listen Celine, I know this might disgust you, and I know it's not politically correct, but what I do on my missions, it doesn't bother me. I mean it bothers me, but I move past it because I know if I don't do it, someone else will have to. What I do - it's my way to protect my country and give back. I knew what I was doing when I joined up with the Teams.”

  Celine touched his arm. “Aaron, I admire you, you don't disgust me. After what I went through, if it wasn't for you and your team, I know I'd be a Russian sex slave right about now.” Celine swallowed past the tight knot in her throat. “Or dead.”

  “There are lots of soldiers that can't re-acclimate to civilian life after duty, but I'm not one of them. My teammate Hoyt had a hard time for a while and we were all worried about him. There aren't many men who go through what he did and come out sane. But with Hayden's help he was able to come back to us.”

  Hayden James had practically saved Hoyt from suicide. Celine had met him, briefly, before his capture. He'd had the face of an angel. Now terrible scars covered his face and body.

  Aaron wasn't beautiful by any stretch, but he was handsome. Strong masculine features and intense brown eyes. He shaved his beard down to a five o'clock shadow, revealing a square jaw and lips just as full as she remembered. At any point in time he could be captured and tortured just like Hoyt and come back all torn and broken...

  Not going there. She did not care what happened to Aaron Speirs.

  Besides, she was just a mission, right? Aaron and O’Keefe had made that abundantly clear.

  “Yeah, must be nice having someone care about you like that.” Bitterness crept into her voice, but she didn't care. “You got a shower? I really could use one and a change of clothes.”

  Aaron started to speak and she cut to the door before he got it out. She didn't want to take this conversation any further down the road. “Never mind, I can find it on my own.”

  She went back into the living room and the pile of bags by the front door, resolutely ignoring the knot in her stomach. Sure, it'd been nice having him care for her every need but that was over now. She could take care of herself. Just like always.

  “Wait up, I'll show you.” Aaron's arm brushed hers as he reached for the bags, leaving her already sensitive skin prickling with awareness.

  How pathetic, wanting a man who didn't want her back. Oh sure, he was still a man and they were locked alone in a cabin together for an indeterminate amount of time. He'd probably take it if she offered, but when he completed his mission, he'd walk away and forget. Again.

  “You coming up?” Aaron crossed to the stairs.

  Celine took a deep breath. Just have to keep it together for a few more minutes. He'd leave her alone in the bathroom and she could shut the door and fall apart.

  They landed in a large open bedroom, the wall of windows along the back opened to a breathtaking view of lush green leaves and a bright glowing sunset.

  A king size bed sat on the left wall, with a low handcrafted headboard and a gorgeous quilt covering. But that wasn't what captivated her attention. Center in the wall of windows was a beautiful claw foot bathtub practically gleaming in the sunset. Candles stood sentry along the window sill, and a short bar stool in the shape of a rectangle was placed next to a polished dark-wood shelf holding perfectly stacked towels.

  “How about a hot bath instead of a shower?” Aaron’s gaze cut to hers, his lips tugged up in a smile.

  “Yes, please.”

  He deposited the bags with the clothes he’d bought for her on the end of the bed and then turned on the water, holding his hand beneath to check the temperature. “If you’d really rather have a shower you can do that, too.”

  Celine followed his nod to a large tiled in shower with crystal clear glass walls in the corner opposite the tub. If he took a shower she'd be able to see everything, all of those sinewy muscles covering his back and chest. Water running down his smooth skin. Desire licked up her belly. Why couldn't she put him from her mind? She must like torture.

  Suddenly Aaron was standing in front of her, his big strong hands cupping her shoulders and her mouth went completely dry. She licked her lips and his gaze followed her movement, his light brown eyes darkened to deep chocolate. Would his kiss taste as good as before? Or better?

  Aaron's voice was deep and hoarse when he spoke, “Just yell if you need anything.” He squeezed her shoulders and then disappeared downstairs, leaving her to stare in shock at his departure.

  No, his denial.

  Chapter 18

  Fucking hands, shaking like a damn baby. He'd almost lost control and devoured Celine whole, even with her looking so helpless and tired. He knew she needed some time to rest, and he'd practically mauled her. His sisters would flay him alive. Celine needed to be pampered and cared for, not subjected to his basic desires because he couldn't keep his dick under control.

  And he thought he knew everything there was to know about women. He’d always been so in control of his emotions, knew exactly what he wanted and when, but Celine took those notions and flipped them upside down. She put him on edge. He'd have to be more careful in the future. Try to put a little bit more distance between them.

  A derisive smile spread across his face at the thought. They were locked in a cabin over fifty miles from civilization, for at least the next week. Keeping his distance would be difficult, if not impossible.

  He'd been so proud of himself, too, for refusing to install TVs or Internet. He wanted this to be secluded with no connection to the outside world. A place of solitude.

  He'd effectively removed any possible distractions, leaving him no real excuse to stay away from Celine.

  His cabin had been the perfect escape, the ultimate man cave. He'd never intended to bring anyone else here, let alone a female. In his experience with his sisters, girls left junk everywhere. They liked flowers and pink and sweet-smelling perfume.

  His need for order and control had been ingrained from basic training onward. The thought of anyone junking up his place left him feeling slightly ill.

  Unless it was Celine...so far, he hadn't found anything about her he didn't like. Even when she flipped her switch and went all sassy mouth. He liked that she hadn't let her kidnapping snuff out her spirit. And he liked how when she was vulnerable she automatically leaned on him. He liked holding her and inhaling her scent.

  Shit, he was in deep; really deep. There was absolutely no way he’d be able to control himself unless he worked off some of this energy.

  He prowled the kitchen like a caged tiger, checking cabinet doors for squeaky hinges and small appliances for faulty wiring. Nothing.

  The fireplace. There'd been something he wanted to do there. Oh yeah – there had to have been something he wanted to do with the fireplace. He stepped into the living room and knelt at the hearth.

  Celine splashed water upstairs and his attention went to the balcony, unable to look away, as he strained to hear every minute sound. Thinking about her running a soapy cloth over those perfect breasts. The material would be rough, abrade her nipples, they'd go all tight and pucker...

  Fuck. Aaron shot to his feet and crossed to the door, maybe he needed to chop some firewood. But an obscenely large stack mocked him from beneath the shed. Fuck it, there were always more trees to cut down.

  Aaron strode to the shed and grabbed his ax, going to work.

  An indeterminate time later the hard labor had done wonders to clear his mind. After splitting enough firewood to start a
third stack, he was back in control. Yes, Celine Latimer was different, he realized that the first time he saw her, but he could handle her. He could handle himself when he was around her. He could compartmentalize just like he did on a regular mission; tie her up nice and neat and put her in her own little box in the back of his mind. He'd deal with her at a distance, give her time to move on and give himself permission to rejoin TF-S and hunt down Mr. J.

  He swung the ax, feeling the satisfaction when he cleaved the log in two with one swing. Agent O'Keefe had managed to infiltrate one of the deepest layers of the Pentagon. And probably Eli and Daniel, if that was really their names, had managed to do the same. But how?

  Each access card was assigned its own code, and the code changed weekly, which meant that O'Keefe had gotten his hands on someone's ID and security code within the week and infiltrated the Pentagon and managed to get to Celine. An impossible task for someone on the outside.

  He had to have gotten help from someone on the inside, and no low-level techie either. The security codes he’d gotten his hands on required clearance from the upper echelon. It was possible there was a double agent, embedded from before Mr. J defected to Afghanistan. But more likely it was someone higher up, above the operative level, someone who could move about freely, who had clearance for the lower level. Someone other agents wouldn't question.

  Someone like Senator Cotter?

  Aaron swung again, the log no match for the downward force of his ax. In his job he'd worked with all kinds of government agencies, but most closely with the CIA. They had their own black ops unit, labeled OGA, Other Government Agency. These units ran behind the scenes and generally answered to one commander who had the authority to run ops without asking permission from the President or the Department of Defense.

  But Mr. J had never reached that level, he'd turned traitor before then, and Aaron had been out long enough now that he had no idea who ran those teams anymore. He needed to contact Agent K. The faster they solved this mystery, the sooner he could put some physical distance between him and Celine, and maybe even be there to capture Mr. J.