by Mara
As Clint collapsed over her, Morganna's arms lifted to his shoulders, wrapping them around him as she held him close. Their heartbeats pounded against each other fiercely, shaking their bodies as the final tremors of release eased through them.
"If I could change myself I would, for you," he whispered at her ear. "If I could change the past, I'd do it for both of us."
He was such a man. But that was okay, for now; she was sated, replete, and warm. For now, she would let him believe whatever it was he believed. He could continue to believe he was footloose and fancy-free for the time being. He was hers. He just had yet to realize it.
"I love you anyway," she whispered. "I'll always love you, Clint."
As the words whispered from her lips, a low vibration of sound began to hum through the suite. It wasn't a piercing alarm, but her eyes widened at the knowledge that it was an alarm all the same.
Chapter 27
LET'S GO!" CLINT JERKED FROM her the second the pulse of the alarm echoed through the suite, throwing his shirt at her before quickly fixing his pants and fastening them. Morganna struggled into his shirt, her fingers fumbling as her eyes lifted to the entrance of the kitchen and she froze, aware of Clint doing the same as they faced the nightmare that had been haunting her.
Roberto Manuelo stood in the entrance between the living room and the kitchen, a benign smile on his face as he held the small, lethal submachine gun in one arm, his finger caressing the trigger with obvious enjoyment. At his side stood Jenna Lancaster.
"I would not bother dressing." He watched them with a fanatical gleam in his black eyes. "I would only have to undress her later, and this would only irritate me."
Morganna pulled the edges of Clint's shirt around her staring back at the two in shock.
"I told you she would never suspect me," Jenna drawled mockingly as she propped her hand on a wide hip and tossed her dark hair from her eyes. Her gaze gleamed with a drugged intensity that was almost terrifying. "No more than Mr. Hot Ass Masters thought his private key cards could be duplicated. All it took was being at the right place at the right time. He'll never know how it easy it was to fool him and his precious security bitch."
Morganna breathed in deeply, fighting for control as SHE felt Clint's gun by her foot. There was no way to drop and grab it. The machine gun Manuelo carried would cut through the leather couch in seconds. The only chance they had was to hide the gun.
As the thought raked through her mind, she felt Clint shift, felt his arm come around her as he pulled her against him, subtly pushing the gun against the edge of the couch with his foot as he did so.
"The alarm is wired directly to Masters' control center, Roberto," Clint told the other man quietly. "He'll know you're here."
"My little Jenna took care of this as well." His smile was cold, cruel. "She has been quite an asset in this little venture, just as Samuels was. Of course, her little tryst with one of Drage's security personnel helped immensely. It seemed he gleaned a bit of perverse pleasure from fucking in his boss's office. All it takes to succeed, my dear, is finding the weak link. And he was so very weak when it came to the lovely Jenna."
Morganna saw the calculating gleam in Manuelo's eyes as he flicked a glance to Jenna. He would kill the other girl, and Morganna knew it. Jenna's usefulness to him was at an end.
"And what do you get out of this, Jenna?" Morganna asked bitterly.
"I get rid of you." Jenna rolled her eyes mockingly. "The darling of the office and the clubs. Every Dom wants you, or wants to be like you. You've been a thorn in my side since you showed up, bitch. I'll be Roberto's woman, as soon as all this unpleasantness is over."
Morganna shook her head in confusion. "I didn't do any-thing to you, Jenna."
"'You didn't do anything for me, either." The other girl curled her lip in a sneer. "Every Dom I attempted to snag for myself wanted you instead. Everyone wanted to be Morganna's little friend. It was sickening. But being rid of you is only the icing on the cake. As Diego's right hand, Roberto was something you don't, sweetie, an unlimited bank account and all the power I crave."
Power she would never live to enjoy.
"He'll kill you," Morganna whispered. "You'll never enjoy the money or the power, Jenna."
Jenna frowned, her gaze moving slowly to Manuelo as she shook her head. "He needs me. Don't you, Robby?"
"Of course, sweetheart." There was a sneer in his words as his thin lips curled into a facsimile of a smile. "You are always safe."
A triumphant smile curved Jenna's fuller lips as she turned back to Morganna.
"We have Diego's uncle and nephew," Clint said. "They didn't get away."
Manuelo chuckled at that. "They are acceptable losses as far as I'm concerned. This wasn't by Fuentes' orders anyway. He won't care to kill them for being stupid."
Manuelo was as sick, as demented, as Fuentes.
"If not by Fuentes' orders, then why?" Clint narrowed his eyes on the couple.
"Revenge." Manuelo's lips twisted as a grimace shaped his expression. "Your bitch is responsible for my brother's death. When she turned him in, allowed those bastard DEA agents to arrest him, Diego killed him. Now you can both pay for it. Diego may be willing to play with you for the life of the family you killed in Colombia, but I don't play."
"Yeah." Clint's voice was cool, chilling in its complete lack of emotion. "That was a shame about your brother there, Robby, but from what I heard, he made a hell of a spy into your little organization."
Manuelo's eyes flickered with rage. "Never. Santos would never have betrayed me."
"Why do you think he was meeting with Markwell?" Clint said softly. "That's why Fuentes killed him. He contacted my man in an attempt to find me. You're a disease. Manuelo, just like your boss. Even your brother knew it."
"You lie! You bastard. I raised Adonis. He was there to kill your man."
Clint snorted. "Uh-huh. Yeah. He knew he could take on a SEAL. Come on, Robby, you know better than that. That's why Fuentes killed him for you. Gutted him like a fish, because he was giving Markwell information."
"He's picking at you, Robby," Jenna whispered at his side, her hand gripping his arm imperatively. "Don't let him make you angry, sweetie."
"He lies." Manuelo jerked his arm from her. "My brother would never do such a thing."
"Evidently you don't really believe that," Clint chuckled mockingly as the other man glared back at them, a gleam of insanity filling his eyes. "Why else was a member of my team killed with him? Diego was watching him; he knew Santos was a weak link."
"Shut up!" Manuelo raised the barrel of the gun, fury contorting his features as he glared at Clint.
"Robby, sweetie, don't let him push you like this." Jenna was worried now, but hell, Morganna thought, so was she. Had Clint lost his ever-lovin' mind?
She kept her eyes on Fuentes, her gaze flickering nervously to the finger caressing the trigger.
"Yeah. Kill the messenger." Clint was tense, despite the relaxed, confident sound of his voice. "It must suck knowing your baby brother was trying to get you killed. Didn't you raise him, Robby? Sacrifice for him?"
"No. Not my brother." He shook his head desperately, his lips twisting in grief. "He wouldn't do such a thing."
"He Was a mole, just as Grant was yours. Didn't you wonder why he was released from jail so quickly?" The insidious suggestion in Clint's voice had the other man's head lifting sharply. "Hell, Robby. Joe needed his source of information on the outside, not stuck in jail."
It wasn't true, Morganna knew. Clint was playing with Manuelo, working on his emotions, his rage. His instability. It was easy to see that Fuentes' general wasn't as stable as he could have been.
His brother was even less stable. He and the men arrested with him had been released on the hopes that they would lead the DEA back to the labs or to their supplier, not so they could ferret out more information.
"No!" The gun lifted, his finger tightening on the trigger. "Santos would have never done such a t
hing. You lie."
"No, Robby, this wasn't our plan," Jenna snapped furiously at his side. "Your revenge will not come this way and neither will Fuentes'. He'll punish you for not bringing them to him as he ordered."
Manuelo shuddered, his jaw clenching as she dug her fingers into the opposite arm.
"You're letting him maneuver you, push you-"
"Another controlling female, Robby?" Clint mocked. "She reminds me of Carmelita. Boy, that woman had a mean streak, didn't she? Wasn't she the one that got Santos hooked on drugs to begin with?"
Manuelo's eyes flickered to Jenna.
God, Morganna hoped Clint knew what he was doing. She could feel his hand at her back, soothing her, reassuring her, as he picked at the other man's last threads of sanity.
"Shut up before I kill you myself." Jenna lifted the pistol she carried at her side.
"Looks like guilt to me, Robby," Clint murmured. "She's awful desperate to see us shut up. I bet Carmelita even trained her."
"You want to run your mouth, McIntyre? You can scream for mercy while Diego's men rape your bitch. How will you like seeing her beg to be fucked as his soldiers get in line to try her out?" Jenna grimaced with rage.
Clint sighed heavily. "Don't bore me with threats, Jenna. You're a very small little bug trailing after Robby here. Now, Carmelita, she was an animal. She would have had a bullet in our heads first thing and made excuses later. She would have never let Diego see her trying to take over. Better watch her, Robby. You might have more woman than you can hold on to."
Manuelo shook his head, his straight black hair falling over his brow as he stared back at Clint furiously.
"Sweetie, he's just working on you." Jenna was frantic now. "Santos loved you. Don't let him do this."
"Like you love him, Jenna?" Clint mocked. "Does he beat you until you're bloody? Or does he prefer to let you lie in a lonely bed while he plays his games with his other women like Fuentes does? I bet the latter. Hell, I know because I saw him in a window room just last week. That little blonde he was fucking sure as hell wasn't you."
"Shut up!" Manuelo stalked furiously across the room, moving around the couch until he was only feet from them, the gun pointed straight at Morganna's heart. "You will shut up or I will kill this whore now."
Clint was silent. She could feel the satisfaction flowing from him, though, just as she felt the complete readiness of his body. That he thought he knew what he was doing, Morganna had no doubt. But that black weapon wasn't pointing at him; it was pointing at her. She stared down the barrel warily.
"You're going to let him defeat you," Jenna hissed at Diego's ear. "This wasn't the plan. Give me the Syringe and we'll take her out of here."
"Over my dead body," Clint drawled.
"That can be arranged." The anger building in Jenna was clear. She was livid.
"Naw, Robby wants me alive and so does Diego," Clint told her confidently. "He wants to hear me screaming while he rapes my woman. Unfortunately, he's smart enough to know he can't haul both of us out of here drugged."
"All we need is the bitch," Manuelo snapped.
"You'll have to kill me to take her, and you know it. So how do you intend to resolve it?"
Manuelo was breathing heavily now, a fine film of perspiration glistening on his dark forehead as he stared back at Clint with enraged eyes. Small tremors tore through Manuelo's body as Jenna watched him worriedly.
"What you say about my brother. It is untrue." His voice was hoarse, his finger pressed a little too snugly against the trigger of the gun.
Jenna moved to Manuelo's side, her gaze definitely nervous now as Diego began to tremble with rage.
Clint shrugged. "We spent two years investigating Fuentes' organization before we hit his compound in Colombia. We had spies everywhere. Santos was one of our best."
The fury that overwhelmed the other man would have been terrifying if Morganna had the time to be terrified. As Maneulo brought the gun up, Clint moved.
Before she could do more than gasp, he had gripped the barrel, tearing it away from her as he backhanded Jenna and jerked her gun out of her hand at the same time.
Morganna didn't think; she went after the other woman. As long as Jenna was moving, she was a danger, and Morganna had a feeling Clint was going to have his hands full with Manuelo.
As Jenna snapped back from the force of Clint's blow- no such luck that it would have knocked her out-Morganna came up with the palm of her hand, aiming for the other woman's nose.
Jenna wasn't quite as lazy as her attitude led others to believe, though. Before Morganna could deliver the blow, Jenna snapped her head back, causing the blow to glance off her chin. But it gave Morganna the chance she needed.
A roundhouse kick knocked Jenna farther back from where Clint and Fuentes were exchanging blows with a force that sounded like two mules kicking each other.
"You fucking whore!" Jenna screamed as blood flowed from her nose, her expression twisting with maniacal rage as she kicked her shoes off and raised her fists. "Come on. bitch."
Oh yeah, she was going to fistfight, Morganna thought sarcastically. She didn't think so. She kicked out again, catching Jenna in the gut and throwing her farther back.
Balancing on the balls of her feet, Morganna was thankful she had managed a few of the buttons on Clint's shirt before she caught sight of Manuelo and Jenna. Otherwise, she would have had to flash the other woman, and Morganna just hated giving the bisexual Jenna that pleasure.
"Come on, Jenna." Morganna motioned to the other woman with a flick of her fingers. "Come and get me if you can. I'm going to kick your ass for this; then I'm going to watch you hauled away in cuffs when Drage gets down here."
"Drage won't be here," Jenna sneered. "I told you, I disabled everything."
"And he'll see it, if he hasn't already. And he'll know," she assured Jenna with a cool smile as they circled each other. "He'll know, Jenna, and when he looks at you, he's going to give you that little sneer you've always hated so much. Won't that suck?"
Behind her, she could hear Clint and Manuelo grunting between blows. Dammit, she wished Clint would finish off the little prick. Morganna hated fighting.
"Bitch, I'll fuck you myself," Jenna snarled, spit dribbling from the comer of her mouth and mixing with the blood on her lip. "You and your boyfriend."
Morganna imitated Drage's sneer. The little curl at the corner of the lips, the knowing, cynical expression. The other woman screamed in fury before she rushed her. Unfortunately, she caught Morganna off guard. Just a little bit, Morganna assured herself. But the blow Jenna delivered to Morganna's face snapped her head back a second before Jenna tackled her.
"Dammit." Morganna went to the floor as she slammed her knee into Jenna's pelvis, causing the other woman to double over in pain.
A sharp blow to the side of her face, and Jenna collapsed to the floor as Morganna rolled to her knees and scrambled for the couch. She could see the gun just beneath the edge, still holstered, as Clint and Manuelo grappled with each other.
They were both bloody. And Manuelo had a knife. Blood marred Clint's chest from a shallow cut at his breastbone and again low on his abdomen. Manuelo was wielding the knife like a demon, despite the obvious broken and bleeding nose. As the other man struck out with the knife again, Clint delivered a sharp kick to Manuelo's knee, obviously intending to send him to the floor. Which might have worked if he hadn't managed to somehow bring Clint down with him.
As Morganna jerked the gun from beneath the couch and tore it from the holster, fingers clawed at her hair, jerking her back.
Damn Jenna. Morganna slammed her elbow back, hearing the other woman's pain-filled grunt with an edge of satisfaction a second before she turned to Jenna, doubled her fist, and laid into her face.
Jenna's eyes rolled back in her head as she toppled backward. Gripping the gun, Morganna flipped around, staring back in horror at the sight of Manuelo straddling Clint, the knife between them as they struggled for it.
> Morganna lifted the gun, her hands shaking as fear tore through her system. As her finger tightened on the trigger, a sharp blow to her back knocked her off balance.
"I'm going to blow your fucking head off!" Morganna screamed, jerking around as another blow knocked the gun from her hands.
Jenna was wobbling on her feet, blood smeared across her face, and her eyes were dazed. As she drew back her foot and let loose with a kick, Morganna gripped her ankle and jerked.
Jenna went down with a thud, but she wasn't out. Dammit, Morganna didn't have all day to fuck with this. As she scrambled to hold the other woman in place, Morganna felt for the vase she had seen seconds earlier. Where the hell... ? There it was. Her fingers wrapped around the neck as she lifted it and, with a surge of strength, swung it to the larger woman's head.
It shattered as it connected. Jenna's eyes widened, dimmed; then she toppled to the floor again. God, she needed to stay there. Morganna crawled across the floor to the gun, her head lifting, her eyes widening.
As Manuelo and Clint struggled for the knife, Morganna watched Clint bending the other man's wrists, turning the knife slowly toward its owner, the point driving home just beneath his chest. But it was the shadow that moved behind Maneulo that held her gaze. The dark visage of death that jerked the South American's head back and slid a deadly blade across it.
Blood gushed from the wound as an animal snarl of rage left Kell Krieger's lips. His electric green eyes were narrowed, fierce, predatory, and filled with satisfaction as he stepped back and watched his victim topple to Clint's side.
"Clint." Morganna stumbled to her feet, her gaze centering on his chest. It was rising and falling; he was breathing. That was all that mattered. He was breathing.
"Shit. Is Jenna still alive?" He caught Kell's hand and pulled himself to his feet.
"She's unconscious," Kell stated, his voice cold.
"Shit, son!" Clint was staring back at him in shock.