“Don’t you see, Lou? We are on the same side. I’m up to my eyeballs in gambling debt at Lucky Seven Casino. I’ve been playing their high roller tables for a while, but it’s way over my head, Louisa. Vasilii wanted to cut me off, stop fixing my screwups. Said I needed to stand on my own two feet and accept some responsibility for my actions.”
Louisa’s stomach flipped, and she wasn’t sure she wasn’t going to be sick. Whether it was the drugs or the pitiful look on Ivan’s face that caused her to feel so ill, she wasn’t sure. “So, what did you do?” she asked.
“Vasilii refused to bail me out this time. So what was I supposed to do?”
“I don’t know,” Louisa muttered. “Sell your house, your cars. Cash in some stock. Sell shares in the lab. Sell one of the patents the lab owns.”
Ivan stood and paced, tugging his hands through his hair. “I knew the formula could be weaponized … so I … Well, I knew we weren’t in need of it … and you are usually so focused on getting the next test ready that I dispose of the old samples.”
“So you attempted to sell it?” she asked.
Ivan nodded, and created a small gap in the curtains to peer out of the window into the darkness. Terrified that Ivan would spot Six and his team and alert whoever else was in the house to their presence, Louisa made a pretense of standing and knocking the bronze paperweight to the floor as she stumbled. It was feeble, and she was no actress, but it worked. Ivan dropped the curtain and looked back at her as she picked it up again and returned it to the table.
“I did and I took the money and cleared off my debts. And when you reported the sample missing, Vasilii questioned me about it. Hated me for doing it. Even offered to pay the money back to the buyers to make everything right, but by then it was too late. The Russians I had offered to sell it to through my godfather threatened us. They told me to re-create the sample.”
For a moment she contemplated telling Ivan that help was on its way. Though she was pissed that he’d gotten them into this mess, the guy looked more terrified than she felt. But desperation could cause a man to do strange things, so she kept the information to herself.
“So, what happened?” Louisa asked.
“You are meticulous in recording the details, but we must have missed something because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t re-create it.”
The scientist in her balked at his comments. She was meticulous. There was no way they had written it down incorrectly.
“So I tested the sample I gave them and recognized straightaway that it wasn’t the sample they were after. But I didn’t tell them at first. Where is the real sample, Louisa? Because I know it must be you who switched the labels.”
“The sample is long gone down the lab drain in a five-part sample, one-part bleach solution, safe from their eager hands.”
Ivan’s shoulder slumped. “You shouldn’t have done that, Louisa. It could have saved our lives. I don’t think we’ll get through this.”
Louisa looked toward the curtained window. She would get through this, because somebody was waiting for her outside. Scratch that. Someone was going to come and get her. “Where is my mother, Ivan? I want to see her and check that she is okay.”
“She’s in another room in the house with Vasilii. A different wing. But she’s safe, for now. I’ll try to arrange for you to see her before they move you.”
“Move me? Where am I going?” she asked.
“To a different lab. If you don’t cooperate with them, I can’t say what will happen. And this has all become too much for Vasilii … He seems … unhinged.” He stood and moved to the door. Knocked on it, then stepped as if to walk outside.
“I hate you for this,” she whispered, meaning every word.
“I know. I hate me too,” Ivan said as the door closed behind him.
* * *
A breeze rustled through the trees that bordered the rear of the old ranch house. Six fixed his night goggles and focused on the rear door, the one that Gaz was going to pick in about six minutes. He looked down at his watch again. As the SEAL who’d always been a fan of direct action, and as the man in love with the woman trapped inside that ugly fucking ranch house, Six was struggling to find the calm he usually found ahead of a mission. He’d promised he’d find her, and it hadn’t occurred to him to tell her that it might not be immediate. He glared over at Mac who’d made the call to wait until the hours of the night, when their assault on the house would create shock and awe, and shook his head to clear it. If he didn’t get his head in the fucking game, he’d probably lose it. Plus, being the experienced tactician that he was, he knew it was the right call, even if it hurt more than the gunshot wound to his side to know Lou was in there, scared for her life.
“We’re going to get her back, Viking,” Cabe whispered.
“I know,” he said. He believed it. There was no way this was going to end any other way.
“I’m sorry I’ve been a prick.” Cabe rubbed his hand along his jaw. “Losing Jess … well … fuck. And it’s nearly a year.”
Had it been that long? Six remembered the call from Cabe that his fiancée Jess’s vehicle had hit an IED. He remembered the way his stomach had dropped at the choked sound of his best friend’s voice. And fuck, he remembered the funeral and the speed with which Cabe had had to return to his own tour.
Cabe’s concerns hadn’t been about the money, or the job, or even Lou. It had all reminded him of Jess.
“Cabe, I’m…”
“Yeah. Don’t, man. You found yours. So let’s go get her,” he said. He forced a grin onto his face. “Just like old times.”
Lite was in the barn, up high looking down from his observation post through the sight of his M24 sniper rifle. His favorite kind of concealed spot and weapon. Between Lite, and Sherlock and Cabe in their ghillie suits, they had a full 360 of the property, and a pattern of life on the ranch had revealed that six armed men were keeping Louisa and her mother company. Plus, that fucker, Vasilii, and his grandson were both in there too. He thought about the conversation they’d had earlier trying to figure out the tactics. For the first time in his life, he wanted to annihilate, not capture.
“Okay,” Cabe said. “This is from a realtor website so we need to take the layout with a grain of salt. Everyone knows what Lou looks like, but this is Ivan Popov.”
“No.” Six slammed his fist on the table. “Lou and her mom are our only targets.”
Mac slung his pack over his shoulder. “We’ll get her out, but despite evidence to the contrary, we have to assume Ivan and Vasilii are innocent until proven guilty.”
“No, we don’t. Assholes got her into this shit. Our job is to get in and get Lou and her mom out. Everyone else is under arrest unless they resist, then we do what we have to do.”
Cabe sent Mac one of those looks. The one where he clearly didn’t agree with Six but was waiting for Mac to interject.
“I’m not fucking kidding, Cabe. I see you lift a fucking finger to help those shits beyond getting cuffs on them, I’ll kill you myself.”
“Fine,” Cabe said. “Now can you rein yourself in? We need the Viking. Not the lovesick fucking puppy.”
Six checked his M4A1 5.56 mm with short barrel again. It was perfect for close-quarters battle inside the ranch. The screwed-on suppressor was tightly secured … just like it had been the last time he checked three and a half minutes ago. And as he aimed it at the tree to his left, the infrared laser was just as clear as it had been back then too. He checked his vest. Six magazines of thirty rounds ready to go do his bidding at the double tap of the trigger and a handful of flash-crash grenades.
Mac gestured to them it was time to go. Night vision goggles on and their M4s at the ready, they made their way silently under cover of darkness to the rear. Gaz pulled out his lockpick key set. Covert for as long as possible was the plan. Silently, he picked the lock until, with a muffled click, he stepped back and pulled the door open. Out of the corner of Six’s eye, he saw Sherlock, ghillie sui
t gone, moving into a better position to cover the rear exit and the trucks parked around the side of the building. He felt better knowing that if the hostage takers did get Louisa out of the house, they weren’t going to get too far.
In the formation they’d agreed on, Mac led and Six followed. Ryder and Gaz brought up the rear. As they entered, Cabe looked left, Six, right, as they took in the open great room. A hallway led off in one direction, a staircase in the other. Suddenly footsteps sounded in both directions. A target appeared in the stairwell, gun aimed at them as he ran.
“Down on the floor,” Six yelled, firing a warning shot. “Slide your weapon toward me.”
Realizing he was completely outmanned, the guy dropped to the floor and did as Six said. Cabe ran over, kicked the weapon away, and cuffed the man while Six provided cover.
All thoughts of covert action now gone, Ryder pulled the pin of the flash-crash and threw it in the direction of the two men who were hurrying down the hall. Bullets were sprayed in the confusion, piercing the drywall to their right. Six and Mac peeled off left as Ryder and Gaz took the battle forward into the living room.
They took the stairs two at a time, ready to shoot to kill if need be. But despite his earlier feelings of wanting to hurt each and every person who had done Louisa harm, Six knew the more suspects they took out alive, the better chance of someone turning state’s evidence. Rapid gunfire sounded from the direction of the kitchen, and both Ryder and Gaz’s voices carried over the noise.
The upstairs hallway was deserted, but several doors were closed. Mac threw the first door open.
Six did his ninety-degree sweep to the right of the room. “Clear right,” he called out.
“Clear left,” Mac said, and they went back to the hallway.
They headed to the next door. Intermittent gunfire and the sound of another flash-crash grenade began in another part of the house. Six’s senses told him that Louisa was up here. Mac threw the door open and they repeated the process. Two more doors to go.
As they reached for the third door, bullets flew alongside him and hit the drywall to the side of his head, and he dropped to the ground and crawled a little way along the hall. The bullets had come from the room opposite. Whoever was in there was scared and had started shooting through the walls before they even reached the door.
Both Six and Mac crawled to the other side of the hall and stood. When the firing stopped, Six kicked the door down. He scanned the room. Three people. Antonia, Louisa’s mom, had her cast rested on the bed, and a man stood in the dark room backed up into the corner, his arm tight around Louisa’s neck, pistol to her temple. His finger squeezed the trigger in preparation for firing. “Do anything to me and I’ll—”
Despite the way the sight of her trapped there ripped his heart to fucking pieces, Six didn’t wait for him to finish his sentence. Years of training had prepared him for this very moment. He double tapped the trigger and watched dispassionately as both bullets exploded into the man’s forehead, covering Louisa in blood.
Louisa screamed as the man fell down behind her, and Six hurried over to her.
“Targets safe,” Mac said. “Repeat, targets are safe.”
“Getting slow in your old age,” Lite said through their earpiece.
“Says the man two hundred feet away in a barn making out with a fucking chicken,” Mac replied.
Louisa threw her arms around him. “I knew you’d come,” she said.
“You got to keep it together for a little while longer,” he said as the gunshots continued elsewhere in the house. Beneath the sour, pungent scent of gunfire that hung in the back of his throat, he could smell burning. Something was on fire, and he prayed it wasn’t their exit. He pulled the shutters open and looked outside. It was a straight two-story drop to the ground, which on a good day he’d do, but not with two women, especially when one already had a cast on her leg.
Fuck.
“All clear,” Ryder shouted. “But we need to get our asses in gear. We got a fire.”
Mac lifted Louisa’s mom off the bed, and Six took Louisa’s hand, pulling her out into the hall. Smoke had started to fill the stairwell, and Six, still in his goggles, lifted Lou. “Close your eyes and take a deep breath.”
He hurried down the stairs, heard Mac’s footsteps that told him he was right behind them. Six could just about make out the back door and he ran toward it. The thick, acrid smoke was beginning to burn his lungs as he ran through the open door into the rear yard and didn’t stop until they were well clear.
Tears trickled down Lou’s face as she blinked furiously. He placed her on the ground and raised his goggles.
He reached around in his pack and pulled out some water. “Here, drink some of this,” he said gently. She took it from him and sipped on the cool liquid.
Ryder and Gaz hurried out the door. Pulling two men behind them. They laid them out on the dirt, then shouted to Mac to cover them before they jogged back inside.
“Thank you,” she said as he pulled the long sleeve of his tee over his hand and used it to wipe her face.
“Did they hurt you, Lou?” he asked, his voice strained.
She shook her head, desperate to reassure him. “I was out of it for a long time, I think.”
Six nodded and then grabbed her. He pulled her into his lap and hugged her tightly, pressing kisses to her hair and face.
Cabe hurried out with Vasilii over his shoulder. The man’s hands were tied behind his back, and once Cabe dropped him to the ground, Six could see Vasilii was crying. The flames were beginning to rage harder in one side of the old building.
Two men stumbled out of the door, coughing and spluttering. They fell to their knees, their arms bound behind their backs.
It was a matter of a few moments before two dead bodies were lined up out of sight.
“Anybody see what happened to Ivan?” Cabe asked.
Ryder shook his head as he gulped down some water after running out of the house. “No sign of Ivan.”
Six looked back over to the house. It wouldn’t be long before it would be razed to the ground, but it would take forever to erase the image of a gun against her temple. He pressed his lips to Lou’s neck, squeezed her tightly. “Thank fuck you’re safe,” he whispered over and over again. “I don’t think I would have survived if anything happened to you.”
She pressed her hands to either side of his face. “I knew you’d come for me,” she said, looking him squarely in the eye.
Six swallowed deeply and picked her up to take her to the truck. “Always. I’d come get you a thousand times over because I love you.”
Lou ran her fingers along his jaw. “And I love you too.”
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER
“We have to get ready.” Louisa giggled as Six turned her around and placed her palms firmly on the new side table she’d bought for the hallway that had been delivered less than twenty minutes earlier. She’d put a giant mirror behind it, something to do with it making the hallway appear wider. If he was honest with himself, even when she’d been explaining it to him before he’d gone away, all he’d been thinking about was taking her in front of it.
“It’s an hour before we have to leave, and I promise you this won’t take long,” he said as he slid the hem of the cute red dress she was wearing up her thighs. Plus, he was prepared. He dropped the condom onto the table.
“You should go away more often,” she said breathlessly, and he laughed. Twenty-one long days away from her was just about his limit these days. He’d been down in Colombia on a CIA-related case, offering clandestine cover for an operative who had infiltrated a major cartel. It had been long and exhausting, and since he’d arrived at his home … now their home … he couldn’t get enough of Lou.
“No,” he said, flipping her skirt over her ass and sliding her underwear down her thighs. Her ass looked so fucking delicious that he bent down and bit it playfully. “Three weeks is my limit without access to this,” he said, running hi
s fingers between her legs, delighted to find her already wet for him.
Louisa widened her stance, and he stood to his full height behind her. She looked at him in the mirror, all of her hair up and off her face, offering him the double benefit of seeing those beautiful eyes of hers and giving him something to hold on to once he began to fuck her in earnest.
“Six,” she breathed as he slid his fingers into her gently and scissored as he pulled them out. Her hips rolled against his hand, searching for what he was going to give her. She took a step away from the table and arched her back, which gave him the most fantastic view down the front of her dress. He could see the white lace he’d bought her that he knew she wore just for him. While he was away, she’d reverted back to her simple cotton underwear, which he was coming to love just as much as the silk and satin he enjoyed stripping her out of.
In fact, there were lots of things they tried together. Some worked, some didn’t. But the simple truth that they were in it together, to grow together, was all he needed.
He shucked his shorts and T-shirt so he was naked. It was hot, with her still clothed and him not, and Lou grinned in response.
“Keep your hands right where they are,” he said as she went to hand him the condom, and she stuck her tongue out at him playfully.
Louisa wiggled her hips and straightened her legs, giving him a view guaranteed to make any man hard in zero point five seconds. Quickly, he ripped open the condom and slid it on.
“Hold still, sweetie, just for a minute,” he said as he lined himself up against her.
He groaned as he felt her tightening against him. It was crass, but she really did have the sweetest pussy on the earth. She was wet, and warm, and most importantly, she was waiting for him with eyes so hungry they would have devoured him if they could. He looked down at her hands, her knuckles white as she gripped the edge of the table.
Pressing his nose to the side of her neck, he inhaled deeply. She smelled faintly of lavender, and it made him smile. Before he left for an away mission, Lou took the time to spritz the T-shirt he took with him to sleep in. It was an odd thing, but to slip into it on that first night away and smell her was just the boost he needed to get on with the work he was there to do.
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