Dominant Force [Clandestine Affairs 4] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Zara Chase

  “Go, go, go!”

  Blinding lights illuminated the aircraft from all four corners of the field, effectively blocking it on the makeshift runway. Quad bikes closed in at speed.

  “Raise your hands,” Dixon called through a bullhorn. “You are surrounded.”

  Hunter knew it wouldn’t end well, even when Harrison’s hands went up in the air. He knew what fate awaited him, and wouldn’t give up without a fight. It was too easy.

  “That’s Bains with him,” Dixon said, peering through his goggles and sighing. “Shit, I was hoping it wouldn’t be him. He’s been the CO’s adjutant for years. Christ knows what other operations he’s compromised. He’ll have a lot of questions to answer.”

  Hunter kept his eyes glued to the scene going down. The quad bikes had reached Harrison, Bains, and the pilot. The soldiers left the vehicles and a dozen rifles were trained upon the criminals. Perhaps it would be all right after all, but Hunter still had a bad feeling. One of the MPs went to cuff Harrison, which is when it all went tits up. It happened so fast that Hunter had no clear idea of what actually did happen. One minute Harrison was being cuffed. The next the MP cuffing him was laying on the ground with a bullet hole through his forehead. Before anyone could react, Harrison took one of the quad bikes and was speeding away.

  “Shit, kill those fucking lights!” Dixon bellowed.

  It would make no difference to Harrison, Hunter thought. In fact, it would be an advantage. He knew the area well, and would get clean away. The MPs were fussing over their dead colleague and making sure Bains and the pilot were secure. No one had taken off after Harrison, and Hunter wasn’t prepared to allow him to escape. He grabbed one of the quad bikes, fired up the engine, pulled his night vision goggles into place and roared off after him.

  “Hunter, no!” Anais’s anguished cry barely registered. “Let him go. It’s not our problem.”

  Hunter was back in combat mode, focused and determined. Harrison would kill him without a second thought. He was clever, resourceful and desperate—a lethal combination. But Hunter was equally determined. He hadn’t forgotten the look on Anais’s face when she came out of that crawl hole, he hadn’t forgotten the damage to her wrists, or any aspect of the ordeal she had suffered at the hands of the man he was now pursuing—a man who had once loved her.

  Hunter opened up the throttle and closed the distance between himself and his quarry. He had an advantage because of the night vision goggles that cast the world green, and clearly showed him the direction Harrison was taking. Harrison was an expert shot but even he couldn’t fire accurately over his shoulder while trying to negotiate rugged terrain in the pitch dark. A shot whistled past his ear, so close that he felt a draft as it missed his ear by a whisker, forcing him to reevaluate. Fuck, that was close.

  Hunter tucked himself lower over the handlebars, presenting a smaller target but not letting up with the chase. The terrain was uneven. Soft in places, littered with rocks in others, and the bike was constantly thrown off course. It took all Hunter’s concentration to keep it upright, but then the same must be true for Harrison.

  He heard another bike following behind him, and knew Lewis had his back, just like always. He gave a hand signal and the two of them, at full throttle, separated. Each had one of Harrison’s flanks, making it harder for him to get a shot off. He was losing ground and needed to concentrate on staying ahead of them. Hunter saw him glance over his shoulder and raise his gun. He had Hunter in his direct line of sight, and Hunter was moving too fast to get out of the way. He lifted his own weapon, and aimed for Harrison’s tires. He knew without having to look that Lewis would be doing the same thing.

  Harrison’s gun fired and Hunter felt a searing pain in his shoulder. He had no choice but to slow his bike. At the exact same time, Harrison’s bike flew in the air, sending its rider tumbling to the ground in a crashing fall. Either they had hit its tires, or the bike had hit a rut at speed and Harrison had lost control. Hunter stopped his own machine, grabbed his shoulder to stem the flow of blood and walked with Lewis over to where Harrison lay on the ground, not moving. Lewis kicked him and he groaned.

  “You okay, bud?” Lewis asked, glancing at the blood seeping between Hunter’s fingers.

  “Just a flesh wound, I think.”

  Dixon pulled up in a Jeep, by which time a bleeding and defeated Harrison was sitting up, clutching his head and swearing up a storm. He was cuffed, none too gently, and thrown in the back of the Jeep. A medic stepped forward to attend to Hunter but Hunter waved him away.

  “It’s okay.”

  The airstrip was again flooded with light when they returned to it. Anais ran forward and threw her arms around Hunter.

  “You’re hurt!”

  “It’s nothing, babe.”

  Gary watched them, his expression dumbfounded, as Anais kissed them. “Both of them?” His lips twitched. “Seems I really did underestimate you. I thought you were strictly a missionary position type of gal.”

  “Whose fault would that be?” Anais replied sweetly. “Who taught me everything I knew about sex.” She turned to Hunter and Lewis, placing a hand in each of theirs. “Until recently.”

  Gary shook his head. “I’ll be damned.”

  “Very likely.” She sent Gary a scathing look, before turning to Hunter with a concerned smile. “Let’s get that shoulder seen to, then you can take me home. We’re all done here.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Anais felt safe and secure, sandwiched between her guys, as they drove her home.

  “Dixon needs to debrief you, darlin’, but I told him to go fuck himself,” Hunter said.

  “I’ll talk to him tomorrow.” She smiled at them, feeling as though a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Without being aware of it before now, she had lived for years thinking she had somehow let Gary down, not supported him when he needed it the most, and so anything he did wrong had to have been partly her fault. Now she knew better, and the only thing she regretted was putting Hunter and Lewis at risk with her impulsive action. “I’m so sorry I endangered you both,” she said. “I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

  “You did what you had to do.”

  Hunter’s voice was terse, distant. Anais assumed he must be in a lot of pain now that the adrenaline had worn off, but knew he would never admit it. Lewis was equally quiet as he concentrated on the road, ignoring the speed limit. Anais had so many questions, so much she wanted to say to them both, but it was late and all three of them were beat.

  When they got home she headed straight for her room, and a hot shower. She half hoped they would follow her, but wasn’t surprised when they didn’t. It was obvious she wouldn’t be invited to share Hunter’s bed for a second night. That was okay. Well, actually it wasn’t. Her heart was breaking at the prospect of leaving them, but she knew it was what she had to do. They were making it crystal clear by keeping their distance that she was in danger of overstaying her welcome. It would be a miracle if she wasn’t, given that she’d endangered their lives twice today.

  She still felt her insides quail every time she recalled watching the quad bike chase through the night vision goggles she had grabbed from one of Dixon’s men. She saw the bright flash of bullets and died a little inside, knowing Gary would almost certainly kill one of her men, if not both of them. He was too good a shot not to, even though he was disadvantaged. That they both came through, virtually unscathed, seemed like nothing short of a miracle.

  Anais slept late, but there was no welcoming smell of bacon frying to lure her downstairs. She went down anyway and found the kitchen and den devoid of human presence. She heard voices coming from the study, which was where they had to be. She didn’t go in search of them but flipped the kettle on instead, in urgent need of coffee. They both appeared just as it was ready.

  “How’s your shoulder?” she asked Hunter anxiously.

  “It’s fine. How about your wrists?”

  “They’re good. Now stop being brave, a
nd tell me the truth.”

  “Really, it’s just a bit stiff. It’ll mend.”

  Lewis eyed her speculatively but didn’t say a word. Hunter lapsed into silence, too, and the situation was in danger of becoming embarrassing. They definitely wanted her gone. Probably wondered what she was still doing there.

  “I’ll be gone soon as I’ve had coffee,” she said defensively. “Dixon wants to see me.”

  “Gone?” Lewis’s head snapped in her direction. “Where?”

  “Why?” Hunter added.

  “Back to my apartment, my life.” She shrugged, unable to understand their confusion. “I’m cramping your style here.”

  “Come and sit down. We need to talk.”

  Hunter held out a hand, and Anais instinctively slipped hers into it. He sat her in the center of one of the sofas, and the guys took up positions on either side of her, just like always.

  “Lewis and I have just been talking about you.” Hunter paused and ran a hand through his hair. “The thing is, we don’t want you to go.”

  “Well, I don’t want to either, but—”

  “We want you to stay with us,” Lewis explained. “Permanently.”

  “You what!” Anais gaped at each of them, her mouth hanging open rather inelegantly. “Did I just hear you right?”

  “We love you.” Hunter made it sound like it ought to have been obvious to her. “We kinda hoped you might feel the same way about us.”

  “Well, I do, but I don’t see how—”

  “Nor did I, at first,” Hunter replied. “Commitment scares me shitless, as it does Lewis, and we’ve always stuck together because that makes it easier to avoid.”

  “But when the right person comes along to commit to, it’s not necessary to fear it.” Hunter rested a large hand on her thigh. “You’ve taught me that.”

  “Shit, Anais, when we saw Gary push you into that crawl space and realized it was wired up, I thought…well, you don’t wanna know what I thought.” Lewis placed his hand on her other thigh. “Don’t ever frighten us like that again.”

  “Kids were the stumbling block for me,” Hunter added. “I know how much you want them, but I’ve never wanted the responsibility. After the shit I had to put up with when I was young, I wasn’t prepared to take the chance.”

  “Me neither.” Lewis grinned at her. “But for you we’re willing to have a change of heart.”

  Anais wanted to pinch herself. She was convinced she must have misheard them. “You are?” Jeez, instead of being the happiest woman on earth, she sounded like a moron, unable to string an intelligible sentence together.

  “Yep,” Hunter replied, grinning. “We are. And as it happens, we’re pretty sure we know how to make them.”

  Anais laughed aloud. “I’m absolutely sure you do.”

  “Marry one of us, babe,” Hunter begged. “Just as soon as you’ve divorced that jerk, of course. It doesn’t matter which one. You’ll be ours to love and to share for the rest of our lives, if you’ll say yes.”

  “Yes!” she cried, tears streaming down her face as she threw her arms around Lewis, and then more cautiously around Hunter, careful to avoid his injury. “Yes. Yes, please. Yes, I love you both. Yes, yes, yes!”

  “Was that a yes?” Hunter asked with a devastating smile as he leaned in for a kiss.

  * * * *

  “The good guys strike again,” Raoul said, punching the air as he hung up the speakerphone, having just received a full debrief on the Harrison situation from Hunter and Lewis.

  “Harrison isn’t the first killing machine made by the army to turn against it, and almost certainly won’t be the last.”

  “Interesting that he insists the Sanchez woman knew nothing about his activities, and wasn’t involved. He’s taking the wrap, telling them everything in return for her being left alone and allowed to remain in the US. He doesn’t want her father to get control of her and his kids.”

  Zeke shrugged. “Ain’t love grand.”

  “Talking of which, we’re not taking any more cases if the client’s an attractive woman.”

  Zeke chuckled. “You’re just pissed because Hunter and Lewis have hooked up permanently with Anais.”

  “Fucking right I am.” Raoul scowled at the opposite wall. “That’s the fourth time recently that we’ve lost a couple of decent operatives to a client. That’s no way to repay us.”

  “You need to get back up onto the horse, buddy, before cynicism turns you bitter.”

  “Me, a cynic?” Raoul flashed a wry grin. “I think you’ve got the wrong guy.”

  “Come on, let’s go into town, get a beer, and find some action.”

  “Nah, I’ve got stuff to do.”

  “Raoul, it’s time you became a serious player again,” Zeke said. “Cantara wouldn’t want you to stop living, just because—”

  “Just because she’s dead?”

  “Yeah. She knew the risks when she agreed to work with the Americans, and if she could see the way you’ve been acting ever since she passed she’d have your balls.”

  “They’re hers anyway,” Raoul said bleakly. “Besides, she wouldn’t be dead if we’d gone in quicker to save her.”

  “You have got to stop beating yourself up, man. The operation was blown, and she was dead before we got anywhere near, and we fucking near died ourselves. End of.” Zeke picked up Raoul’s jacket and threw it at him. “Come on, don’t make me hurt you.”

  Raoul snapped out of his self-pitying mood and grabbed the keys to their truck. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. If that’s what it will take to keep you quiet.”

  Zeke slapped Raoul’s shoulder and grinned. “Fuck’s sake about covers it.”

  THE END

  WWW.ZARACHASE.COM

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Zara Chase is a British author who spends a lot of her time travelling the world. Being a gypsy provides her with ample opportunities to scope out exotic locations for her stories. She likes to involve the heroines in her erotic novels in all sorts of dangerous situations—and not only with the hunky heroes whom they encounter along the way. Murder, blackmail, kidnapping, and fraud—to name just a few of life’s more common crimes—make frequent appearances in her books, adding pace and excitement to her racy stories.

  Zara is an animal lover who enjoys keeping fit and is on a one-woman mission to keep the wine industry ahead of the recession.

  For all titles by Zara Chase, please visit

  www.bookstrand.com/zara-chase

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

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