Secret Maneuvers

by Jessie Lane

  Jaxon nodded. “We’re all equipped with comm. links that can be activated by pushing a button on the actual device in their ear or by a button on their watch. Either way, everyone in the unit will be able to hear what’s being said when one of the comm. links are activated. Also, it might be a good idea to use two of those four teams and position them outside the bar. With groups in the front and back, we can be on the lookout around the perimeter.”

  Belle angled her body to face Jaxon. “Perhaps then, Commander Wall, it might be best if we split Boyd, Charlie, Deputy Miles and myself up with your men so that we have a link to the rest of the team tonight through you all.”

  “That works.” Jaxon faces us to start rattling off teams. “Logan and Wyatt team up with Agent Boyd. You’ll go by ‘Group Four’ and position yourselves outside the front. Chase and Arturo team up with Deputy Miles to make ‘Group Three’. Situate yourselves outside the back. Declan and Riley can team up with Agent Roberts for ‘Group Two’. Bobby, Lucas and myself will team up with Sheriff Jenkins to form ‘Group One’.”

  Jaxon started handing out a printout of information to Belle, Boyd and Jenkins. “We were able to obtain a little information on the bar. The picture shows the man who owns it. His name is Travis Henderson. Mr. Henderson seems to have a clean rap sheet and little else is known about the bar or its employees. Anyone got any questions?” Silence enveloped the room. “Then if everyone is ready, let’s roll out.”

  Belle headed out of the room first to disappear in the parking lot while the guys proceeded to file out a few minutes later. Being at the back of the group I missed what made the guys catcall and laugh until I came into full view of Belle leaned up against a black jacked up Ford F350 decked out with a ram air hood, brush guard, monster-sized tires and a banner on the top of the windshield that read ‘G.R.I.T.S.’.

  Lucas’s slightly New York accented voice sounded confused as he asked, “G.R.I.T.S.? Isn’t that like a food or something?”

  Logan clapped him on the shoulder as barks of laughter echoed in the parking lot. “Naw, buddy. That stands for ‘Girls Raised In The South’. You could say that Agent Roberts is showing off her southern pride a bit, that’s all. It’s a damn good thing to be proud of, too.”

  Belle climbed up into the cab of the truck. Still hanging out of the door a bit she yelled, “Come on Sullivan brothers. We’re gonna have some fun before we head to the bar!”

  Declan and Riley Sullivan looked wary. “What kind of fun exactly?”

  “Muddin’ and Jason Aldean. Let’s go, baby!” The heavy rumble of her engine came to life as ‘She’s Country’ blasted out of its open windows.

  The Sullivan brothers looked at each other nervously. Riley spoke in a low voice to Declan, “You think she’s alright upstairs or should I be worried?” Declan clapped his brother on the back before hopping up into the passenger side of the truck.

  I was insanely jealous as the truck tore out of the parking lot to head down the highway while the rest of us piled into our respective vehicles to leave. It almost felt as if she was trying to rub my nose in one of our best memories. When you lived in a small southern town, out in the middle of nowhere, muddin’ with your buddies, your girl, and pilfered beer where you could cut loose and be free was one of the few options for entertainment. There went my buddies. There went my girl. Here I still stood, looking like a jackass.

  Jaxon watched the retreating vehicle with a mix of amusement and trepidation. Turning to Sheriff Jenkins he asked, “Should I be worried about any of that?” His finger pointing in the direction of where Belle’s truck had already disappeared.

  The Sheriff’s easy smile didn’t seem to convince Jaxon. “Not at all, Commander Wall. Annabelle is harmless. Swear.”

  I snorted. “Tell that to the guy she knocked unconscious her senior year. He was twice her size.”

  Sheriff Jenkins’s eyebrows shot to his hairline as he turned to face me in the back seat. “You knew Annabelle in high school?”

  My mouth kicked up in a half smile. “Yeah, you could say that. We grew up in the same small town. Belle and I were as close as you could get until I left for the Army just after graduation.”

  The Sheriff’s eyebrows pulled down into an intense expression as something flashed over his face before he could cover it up. He quickly turned around to start the car. “I’m just going to turn on the radio. Hope you don’t mind.”

  The radio kicked on and a local country station came on. All conversation in the car stopped. The last look the Sheriff had made bothered me. There was something there that made my instincts flare up. The Sheriff knew something. What in the hell could that possibly be?

  Chapter Three

  Bobby

  Just before ten o’clock I stepped into the Big Bull Bar. We were the second team to arrive, ten minutes behind Group Four who was stationed on the outside in the back. Country music blasted through the building, flirtatious women writhing around on the dance floor luring drunken men off their stools to try and dance with them. The place was rowdy, yet entertaining, making it pretty clear that it was a hot spot in the area to be frequented for good-time seeking residents. The walls were painted a sinful dark red on the top half with distressed black wood wainscoting on the bottom. Scuffed but sturdy dark, hardwood floors ran throughout the wide open space. The walls were decorated with bull horns and giant framed pieces of art depicting half-naked cowboys and saloon girls.

  Sheriff Jenkins motioned to a table in the back that would give us a perfect view of the bar while we waited the night out. Walking past the dance floor I saw a mechanical bull on the other side, to the left. On the right side was a long bar against the wall that held a good sized group of individuals. Where we seated ourselves in the back consisted of some tables half-filled with the locals; socializing, drinks in hand. The manager, Travis Henderson, was behind the bar helping the bartender fill orders and I failed to see anyone matching Deputy Miles’s descriptions of the men he’d observed in the parking lot the other night.

  Fifteen minutes later, Arturo reported through the hidden comm. links attached to our ears that he was in position with Deputy Miles and Chase. Another twenty minutes slid by with no interesting activity. Well, nothing interesting unless you counted the young, twenty-something, long-legged blonde that sidled up to Commander Jaxon with the kind of smile that was pure invitation to a good time.

  Just last week that was the kind of thing I would have envied. A night of meaningless sex to fill the void that felt unfillable. I might have even tried to steal her away from Jaxon just for the fun of it. Now, all I could see was that she was nowhere near as blessed on top as Belle. Neither did she exude that kind of confidence that came with the innate kind of sexiness that Belle gave off without trying at all. I should have been amazed that I was relatively pussy-whipped so fast, but I couldn’t seem to bring myself to care that I was. In place of fear or dread over impending shackles of commitment were flashbacks of Belle before I left for the Army.

  Half-naked on the back seat of my car with the windows fogged up. Lying on a blanket on the bank of the creek with love and devotion shining in her green eyes. In the hayloft of my father’s barn where we explored with our hands and mouths each other’s bodies. God what a fool I’d been to try and walk away from her. Right behind those memories were the ideas of how to get her back. If she gave me too much grief about talking about what had happened between us, I could just get some rope, tie her up and make her listen. Actually that idea held a lot of appeal for me.

  With a half-empty beer in my hand, I watched as Belle strutted through the front door with her arm wrapped around Declan’s waist. He held her tucked into his side with an arm slung over her shoulders. Every muscle in my body tensed while I fought the desire to go down there and kick Declan’s ass. Watching my buddy make my girl laugh on the plane ride was one thing. Watching my buddy hold my girl so close to his body that they could have been super glued together was another. The logical half of my brain told me
that I was being completely irrational. Declan would never go there because he knew exactly what Belle meant to me, which was everything. The other half of my brain that dealt with emotions and thought logic was a little bitch called me a moron for sitting back and watching the smooth talking Sullivan touch what was definitely mine. Stupid fucking emotions. They stunk worse than flying monkey shit.

  The Sullivan brothers stepped up to the bar with Belle stuck in the middle of them, taking stools as they played the role of rambunctious partiers. The redhead on the other side of Declan tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. In less than no time, both brothers were flirting with women while Belle was having an animated conversation with the bartender. Now, with all four teams in position, the building would be adequately covered if shit hit the fan and they had to move on something.

  The comm. link buzzed in my ear as Arturo spoke in hushed tones. “Deputy Miles says one of the suspects has just walked past us into the back of the building. Be on the lookout for a white male, approximately five-foot-nine, a hundred and eighty pounds. Black hair, blue shirt and blue jeans.”

  Doing a visual sweep, I watched as the suspect came through the door that more than likely led to a back office. The bar’s owner, Travis Henderson, caught sight of the man, excused himself from his conversation with Belle and walked over to where the suspect waited at the end of the bar. It took less than five minutes until it appeared they were having what looked like a heated conversation before the target waved his hands around in frustration, and then stomped off through the door leading into the back.

  Henderson returned to his position behind the bar with a huge smile while handing beers, or whatever was ordered, out to the customers. As interesting as the scene was, it didn’t distract me from noticing that once again Sheriff Jenkins stole a thoughtful glance in my direction with a frown. He’d been doing that periodically since we’d arrived. Abruptly he stood, shoving his chair back roughly in the process, and stalked to where Belle was.

  Tapping her on the shoulder, the Sheriff made a big production of asking her for a dance on the floor. The grip on the beer in my hand tightened as I did my best to tamp down the urge to throw it. Jaxon leaned over the table towards me.

  “What do you think that’s all about?”

  I shrugged my shoulders, doing my best to act nonchalant about it all. “I don’t know. Let’s just watch to see what happens.”

  Belle and the Sheriff walked out to the middle of the dance floor before they started to sway to the music. Sheriff Jenkins held her closely with his hands placed intimately on her waist. It was a familiar kind of touch that told me he’d held her like that before. Perhaps with fewer clothes on and while in a bed instead of on a dance floor. I clenched my jaw, teeth grinding down in agitation. Belle put her hands on his chest as they danced. It became obvious pretty quickly that they were discussing something that Belle didn’t want to talk about. Her brow furrowed while her eyes lit in anger. The conversation seemed to escalate rapidly as Belle started poking her finger into the Sheriff’s chest to emphasize whatever point she was trying to get across.

  Just about the time that I was sorely tempted to step in and break them up, something unexpected happened. A body landed in my lap. Throwing a hand out to steady the thrashing arms I heard Jaxon bark a laugh. Looking down I saw the top of brunette hair so full of hair spray that it could almost double as a helmet in a war zone. Two small hands were thrown over my thighs, clasping desperately to them for some semblance of balance. Bare, tan legs exposed by a denim mini skirt were tangled in front of her with one glittering red high heel still on her left foot whereas the right foot was shoeless. I glanced around the floor until I saw the missing shoe lying on its side just a few feet over.

  Glancing back down, the woman’s head was tipped backwards until a pair of young, glassy brown eyes were looking at me. Her chest rose and fell with her stilted giggling, almost causing the straining buttons on her extremely tight shirt to pop open. She was adorable in an inebriated sort of way, but she also needed to get her head out of my lap before the off chance of Belle looking up here and seeing this shit happened. The side of my mouth hitched into a smile. “You okay?”

  Shaking her head, “No. Wait. I mean, yes. Yes. I’m fine. I think. Apparently, long island ice tea and four inch heels don’t go too well together. Did you know that?” I shook my head and she continued talking, “Sorry I landed on you. Anything I can do to make it up to you while I’m down here?” Full red lips smiled back at me seductively.

  Tipping my head back to look at the ceiling in disbelief, I chuckled, then slipped my hands underneath her shoulders to help her stand. “I appreciate the offer, but you could say I’m spoken for. Promise me that you’ll be more careful walking around in those wicked high heels from now on. I’d hate for them get the best of you and hurt those pretty legs.”

  The brunette shrugged before grabbing the offending shoe to slip it back on her foot. “Can’t blame a girl for trying, can you?”

  Walking away she seemed a fuck of a lot steadier than she had a few minutes ago when lying on top of me. Cocking an eyebrow at the development I looked over to see Jaxon’s shoulders shaking in laughter. “Damn, Baker, you’ve got the ladies performing to get your attention. What’s next? Someone going to walk up to you juggling beers to impress you?”

  A slow grin spread across my face. “Now, if she’s juggling beers at least that would come in handy. We might get a few free drinks out of it. Not to mention, if she’s desperate enough she might be willing to settle for you instead.”

  Jaxon flipped me the bird.

  Sliding my eyes back to Belle, who was still on the floor with the Sheriff, it seemed that their conversation had turned for the better. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that her eyes were shooting daggers in my direction. Apparently, she’d caught my interaction with the brunette. A smart man would have been scared about the possibility of her anger over it. I was not a smart man. That killing look aimed in my direction gave me hope. If that could piss her off that bad, then that meant she still cared for me, and if she still cared, then I could talk her around to my way of thinking. This brought a smile to my face. A smile that was not appreciated by Belle. The Sheriff dropped his mouth down to her ear to whisper in it and they held their heads together, closely talking for a few minutes before separating. Belle kissed the man on the cheek, and then went back to her stool next to Declan. The Sheriff ambled back to our table.

  Before I could think better of it, I blurted, “What the hell was that about, Jenkins?”

  Sheriff Jenkins gave me a blank look. He seemed to be considering what he should say. “Just needed to have a quick chat with Annabelle. Glad I did, though. We need to keep eyes on her. She’s got that look in her eye, the kind she gets right before she does something crazy. Or stupid. Don’t know what she’s up to yet, so don’t bother asking.”

  Jaxon cocked an eyebrow at the Sheriff’s diversion tactic before looking back to me. Frustrated, I ran my hand over the back of my neck. Keeping my mind on the mission was not as easy as I thought it was going to be. First, it was because of Belle’s obvious rage and avoidance towards me. Now, it felt like I was having my face rubbed in Sheriff Jenkins’ obvious romantic feelings for Belle, which was salt on the fucking, bleeding wound, in a manner of speaking. Between the two issues, the short fuse on my patience was quickly burning down and it felt like it would be just a matter of time before I exploded and did something drastic. Something stupid.

  Belle’s vibrant laughter cut through my musings on the Sheriff. Looking back over to where she sat sandwiched in between the Sullivan brothers, I watched as she worked Henderson and the people surrounding them with her charm. Belle suddenly waved her hands around in the air while enthusiastically debating something with Henderson. Her shirt rode up her back enough to catch a glimpse of what looked to be a tattoo there, making me groan as I had the sudden fierce desire to strip her naked and expose the ink on
her body to my eyes.

  A man could only take so much before he lost all rational thought, dammit. It especially didn’t help that, at this moment, she was surrounded by men who were trying to ply her with alcohol. Or knowing my luck, proposing marriage to her. I locked down on the growl vibrating in my throat before anyone heard it.

  Looking up to Jaxon’s amused face, he laughed at my obvious torture. “That’s one hell of a girl there, Bobby. Want to tell me why you let her get away?”

  Shaking my head, I rubbed my eyes with the palms of my hands. Looking back up, I found that not only did I have Jaxon’s full attention, but I also had the Sheriff’s attention. A calculating look on his face. “You’re telling me that you had Annabelle’s affections? You actually had that woman and you let her go?” His attitude seemed more serious than curious.

  Scrubbing a hand over my face, I answered, “Yeah. Belle and I were together for two years. Letting her go was the biggest mistake of my life. I knew it less than a month after I did it. The problem was, by the time I figured it out, she was long gone. Now she seems to be so mad at me that fifteen years later she won’t even talk to me. I know I hurt her. Yeah, I’m an ass for doing it, but for the life of me, I can’t understand why she is as mad as she is after all these years.”

  Sheriff Jenkins watched me thoughtfully. After what felt like an eternity of analyzing me like I was some bug under a microscope he nodded his head. “Don’t give up then, Baker. I’ll tell you that I’ve known Annabelle for the last ten years. She’s had a hell of a tough life in that time. That’s probably got a lot to do with her response to you now. Don’t bother asking me for details because I won’t give it to you. Annabelle’s a good friend of mine. I care a lot for her. Hell, I would have taken her off of the market years ago if she would have let me. So trust me when I say, I’m not tellin’ you a damn thing except this, if you still care for her at all like I think you do, it’d be worth your while to make a spot for yourself in her life. I think she needs it as much as you seem to want it. I also think ya’ll got an awful lot to talk about.” Turning in his chair so that he faced away from me, displaying his tense shoulders and stiff you-can-fuck-off body posture, the man was silently indicating to me that the conversation was over. I got his message loud and clear. That didn’t mean I understood it, or whatever it was that he was trying to convey to me. What a strange conversation that had been.