by J M LOWE
“About time” Super Girl getting all excited?
He watched as she pulled earbuds from her pocket, and put them in before opening her computer, fingers working over the keys at lightning speed. It amused him how she did her best work when listening to the tasteless crap that was programmed onto her music list.
“What you got Baby girl?” Harry nuzzled his way in, it made Connor smirk how those two still couldn’t admit they were crazy about each other, but it was something they needed to figure out on their own.
“I’ve been running a facial recognition program, I linked the computer back at the warehouse with my own and it’s been looking for anyone that fits the descriptions of the people in the hotel lobby that Con gave me, and I think we might have just got a hit.”
The chatter in the room dropped, Connor leaned over as Em hit the last few keys and several boxes covered the screen, each one containing a different cctv location.
He recognized a couple from the trip to the shit hole hotel that Sarah had been staying it.
Just thinking about that place made his damn skin crawl.
“There, go back…” Connor pointed to the screen, then looked at Harry “You see him, that’s the guy stood waiting to check in, I’m sure of it, do you have another angle?” Connor felt his heart rate increase, that was the guy, had to be, no one else had been wearing the Crombie coat, he would have noticed.
It has struck him as just a little too smart for that type of hotel, more something you would expect to see in one of the high-end hotels that Ray owned, or something with a concierge service at the very least.
“Hang on” Em pulled out one of her ear buds, the faint sound of songs from the 1980’s whispering into the room as she tried to find an image that might show his face.
Whoever he was, he sure seemed to be aware of the camera positions in the lobby and was doing a good job of hiding his face from them, not a coincidence.
“Stop!” Sarah had pushed forwards, Connor had almost forgotten she was in the room, almost, but not quite “Sorry, I didn’t mean… Em, that song, what is it?” she was interested in cheesy fucking pop tunes? Now was not the time.
“What?” Connor wasn’t the only one looking at Sarah whose skin had taken on the color of concrete grey.
“The song. Don’t think I’m crazy, but, that’s what he said, ‘The American’. What I couldn’t remember before, that’s it!” Sarah’s voice told him that she was serious.
“You mean C’est la vie?” Em turned up the music and Connor watched as Sarah strained, then nodded. She was sure.
Finally, something they could work with.
Man, he could just dip and kiss her right about now, but didn’t think it would go down to well.
They all stood and listened as the lyrics to the 80s hit C’est la vie filled the silence.
Em turned back to her keyboard and within a few strokes, the face of Mr. Crombie was looking back at them.
“Ladies and Gentlefolk, I give you Mr. Gavin Smith. Assistant to the US Ambassador to Finland.”
Connor smiled.
Fucking Jackpot.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Sarah sat on one of the high stools and leaned against the counter and watched as the kitchen suddenly became a hive of organized activity, one that she was the center of, but not quite a part of.
Connor had pulled out his phone and called Jenson.
Jacks had called someone he addressed as Chris with instructions to give a heads up to a couple of others, Briggs and Jones.
She was having trouble breathing, the realization that ‘the American’ had finally been identified meant that Connor would go all out to kick his ass, she already knew this and it scared her.
The second they had identified Gavin Smith, Em had pulled up a sound bite from an old news interview, had Sarah listen to it, and low and behold, she had recognized the faceless voice from through the wall.
Her blood running cold when he had signed off the interview with the same chilling words he had used when he had been in the next room at the hotel.
C’est la vie.
Certainly, not a phrase you heard every day, and the translation ‘that’s life’ held a whole new meaning for her.
Talk about a twisted irony.
“I’m outta here, I have work to do, Sarah, sorry it’s short and sweet, perhaps next time we will actually get to sit and put the world to right, Han, ring me in the morning, and Con… don’t burn the pizza” Sarah watched as Em packed up her laptop and slipped it back into the safe confines of it carry case.
“Need a ride?” Harry was already adorning his jacket as he spoke. Something definitely going on there.
“Sure, but I’m pulling an all-nighter, you sure you’re up for that?” Sarah saw as Jacks, Hannah and Connor all rolled their eyes, clearly this was something that had been going on for some time.
Harry made his way across the kitchen, pulled out the cooked pizza and put it back in the box.
“What?” all eyes on him “I’m starving, and I’m sure as hell not gonna let a damn good pizza go to waste”
“You starving? Yeah, you really look malnourished, if you're gonna give me a ride, I don’t want you eating that thing in the car. I don’t want to spend the next few hours with the smell of greasy cheese in my hair” Em made her way to the door, Harry chasing her, mumbling something inaudible as they went through the door, disappearing from view.
“We’re gonna bail too, I have a few calls to make. You ready Han?” Jacks picked up the car keys that had been sitting on the counter, as Sarah was pulled in for the now mandatory hugs from both the girls.
“If you need anything, and I mean ANYTHING, Con has my number.” Sarah nodded as Hannah rubbed her arm before the kitchen emptied and she was left holding her half-drunk bottle of now tepid beer.
So, it was just them, no one else around, and as much as she had loved the welcome, if somewhat short lived distraction, Sarah was glad it was just the two of them that was left.
It was easy to see why the team at Hunters: worked so well together if this small group was anything to go by.
Connor had told her how six of the group were part of his old army unit, and Jacks brother Chris brought their number up to seven, throw in tech super girl Em and the number rounded nicely to eight, but as she had listened to him talk, she could have added at least two or three more members to the team, even if they wouldn’t have been official.
All these people were working to save her ass, and after the breakthrough that was Mr. Crombie as Connor had referred to him, they now had something solid to go on.
A starting point, it was better than the nothing they had twenty-four hours ago.
“How long have you lived here?” it was a simple enough question, and one that she hoped would catch him off guard.
“Couple of mon…” Score!
“Aha… I knew this wasn’t a safe house, this is your house. Why did you bring me here Connor?” she wanted to know, needed to know.
“Because, it’s as safe as any ‘safe house’ we have” he had raised his damn eyebrow, fuck, that one move worked every damn time.
They were barely alone; the gates probably hadn’t even closed and she was wanting to rip his clothes off. Not exactly the behavior of someone who was looking at spending the next six hundred years in Gitmo, or some other CIA black site, that was for sure.
“So why didn’t you just tell me this was your home?” it hadn’t taken her long to work that one out for herself, not once he had stopped poring at her naked body anyway. The thoughts of his hands on her sending shivers to places that made her blush, if anyone knew what was going through her head right now.
“Because. Look, does it matter? I want you safe, I need you safe ok!” Connor ran his hand down his face as he breathed out.
But it did matter, she needed to know. He could have just as easily taken her to another house, so why this one, why his?
“I understand that, it’s the job you’re bei
ng paid to do, but don’t you think this is going a little above and beyond?” her heart was pounding out of her chest, the words clung in the air between them.
“A job, Yeah, think we are way past that sweetheart.” She watched as he took the few strides across the room to meet her. “You are here, god help me, against all my better judgement, because, because… I need you here, with me, it’s fucking killing me knowing that some fucktard is trying to take you away from me, so understand this Sarah…I won’t let that happen.”
Connor cupped her face, his deep eyes fixed on her, magnetizing her to look at him, she couldn’t look anywhere else if she wanted to.
He had her, held her heart in his hands even if he didn’t know it.
“I don’t want to lose you Connor, not when I have only just found you” stopping short of the ‘I love you’ that was fighting to break through. No, that would be too much.
“Not going anywhere baby, not now, not ever”
She leaned into him, her arms wrapping around his massive frame, her eyes closed as her head leaned against the expanse of his chest.
Sarah let the rhythmic beat of his heart calm her as they stood motionless.
“It’s late, and you need some sleep. Come on, this can wait till morning” the kitchen was a mess, half eaten pizza and abandoned beer bottles scattered across the counter tops.
She let him link their finger.
This time it wasn’t because he needed to move her, there was no more running, no one chasing them.
This was different, it was just the two of them.
Sarah followed as he walked towards what she now knew too be his room. And right now, there was no other place she wanted to be.
***
The ‘American’ Gavin Smith sat in his worn leather office chair, it creaked beneath his weight, he’d had this chair for as long as he could remember, he had kissed too many fucking asses while sat in this chair.
It represented everything he hated about his life, a symbol of how long he had been held back, always playing second fiddle to someone who had jumped the promotion que, leaving him behind, stagnating.
He’d even taken a wife to please the powers that be, but Melissa had turned out to be a money spending whore who wasn’t interested in playing the doting wife, not interested in helping him up the political ladder.
She had proved to be pretty damn useless in all departments, the bedroom being no exception.
Oh, she loved the life she was privileged to live, but wasn’t willing to play the game he needed her to.
He had even turned to call girls to relieve his tensions, high class ones of course, but quick blowjobs in the back of his car weren’t his idea of a good time, just fulfilling a basic need.
Marrying Melissa had been a mistake, and one that could prove expensive if he didn’t tread carefully.
He had yet to decide what he was going to do about her.
He propped his expensive Italian shoes onto his desk, scuffing the polished wood.
Top shirt button undone, tie loose around his neck, thick crystal tumbler twisting in his fingers.
Macallen fifty-five-year-old Lalique Crystal swirled around in the glass as he allowed himself the satisfaction of thinking he had just about managed to pull the job that would set him up for life.
It had been all too easy, case of right place at the right time when the little blonde had all but fallen into his lap, figuratively speaking, or was that wrong place at the wrong time? Depended on which side of the line you were standing.
Better her sitting in some tiny jail cell praying that today wasn’t the day that the prison ‘bitches’ decided she was theirs to play with.
He was nobody’s ‘bitch’ and he certainly had no intention of spending even an hour in prison, never mind the rest of his life.
Finding people, he could use had be harder than he thought, everyone had a fucking price these days.
He had eventually had to settle for a second-rate unit who would carry out what needed to be done, he didn’t want people who thought too much or who had ideas above their station.
He had carried out what had been asked of him, he’d done well, a bomb had been found, all be it a small one, but it would have caused enough chaos and panic.
Once the initial searches had been carried out, his unit would then go back in and plant the second device.
The little blonde was already a suspect, a nice amount had been deposited into her account from an anonymous source, good luck trying to explain that to whichever agency managed to get their hands on her first.
There was no chance of any of this leading back to him, if anything, he had made sure it would lead back to the men he had hired. That price had just been cut thanks to the sloppy prick who hadn’t checked the room next door now being buried in a nice shallow grave somewhere on the outskirts of Helsinki. A bonus in his team mate’s paycheck had made sure those lose ends had been taken care off, nobody had a sense of loyalty these days.
He didn’t give a fuck about patriotism and all that bullshit, it was a dog eat dog world and he wasn’t about to be any bodies meal.
When the men he had used received payment and a nice bottle of something to celebrate, they wouldn’t hesitate to down the expensive liquid.
Shame they wouldn’t really appreciate it, but the laced liquor would leave no more lose ends for him to worry about and he would be long gone before anyone would be able to tie him to any of this.
Gavin smiled to himself, he was good.
Too damn good to be assistant to anybody.
And there was nothing more motivating to him than money, good old fashioned greed.
No psychiatrist needed to analyze him, no childhood trauma to blame, he just liked money and all the luxury it afforded him, and he didn’t care who he destroyed to get it.
***
Connor sat on his couch, the TV on, but the volume low. He didn’t want to wake her, god knows she could do with a good night’s sleep with everything she was going through.
He knew they didn’t have much time, days if not hours, depending on how long it took to for the Counter Terrorism unit to work their hacker magic and find were she was.
He just hoped to god they could pool their grey cells fast enough to come up with a way to prove she had been framed.
Jenson had clued him in on the doctored footage that was being banded around the news agencies, it showed Sarah walking into the Ice Rink carrying a large bag, and exiting fifteen minutes later, no bag.
It didn’t take Albert Einstein to work out she had planted the bomb in that fifteen-minute window, well, that’s what they wanted to public to think anyway and so far, whoever had messed with the footage had done a damn good job of making Sarah look more than guilty.
Em was working around the clock trying to find the original footage, but so far, it had been buried…deep, and it didn’t look like she was going to find anything of value anytime soon.
Tech wasn’t his thing, give him a gun and a stash of ammo any day and he would be more than happy.
He would be more than happy to be the one to put a nice 9mm hole in between the eyes of one Gavin Smith.
Connor didn’t give a fuck what his orders were gonna be, if the opportunity presented itself he was gonna take it and blow the prick off the face of the earth.
“Boss, give me something, I’m going fucking stir crazy here” Connor kept his voice low “I need something, anything”
“Calm ya shit, we’re working on it.” ever the voice of confidence, Connor knew Jenson would be doing his best to come up with something.
“Yeah, I know you are, it’s just… fuck, I’m seriously losing patience here man” Connor was pacing, he never paced, cool calm and collected, yeah right.
“Go to bed, sleep, no point telling you not with her, that ship has clearly fucking sailed. As soon as we have something, you will be the first to know, and Doc, if you need to move her again then she goes where I say this time, you get me?”
/> Connor ended the call reluctantly agreeing to Jenson’s terms, before making his way back to the bedroom where he stood leaning against the door frame watching her as she slept.
He was trying to convince himself that the twist in his chest was indigestion from the half-eaten pizza that was sitting cold on a plate in his kitchen, or if it was…
He knew the only person he was fooling was himself.
Connor had his balls well and truly in a ‘girl bag’ for the first time in his life.
He could stand and watch her sleep all night. Watch the way she twitched and rubbed her nose as she slept. He knew she was probably naked beneath the comforter, just the way he hoped she would be. She was too damn beautiful to be covered in her oversized pajamas.
That didn’t sound creepy in the slightest he thought to himself, as he stripped off his sweat pants and climbed in beside her.
She snuggled beneath the comforter, but didn’t wake when he pulled her in close, his dick stirring to life as she leaned back against him, fuck, this was one battle he wasn’t sure he was gonna win.
Connor took in a long deep breath and closed his eyes, drinking in the scent of her, fighting the urge to roll her towards him and take her, make love to her until she screamed his name.
It would be a sound he would never get tired of hearing coming from her sweet lips.
He loved the tiny blonde who was in his bed, loved her with everything he had, heart, soul, bones… god help him, for the first time in his life, he was in, all the way.
Connor closed his eyes and laid with her wrapped in his arms, he would find a way to save her, he had too, wouldn’t rest until Mr. Crombie was either in a jail cell or a shallow grave, both worked for him, but the latter was more appealing at this moment in time, and he would be the one to throw the mother fucker in the hole, hell, he would be the one to dig the fucking hole, it would be his pleasure.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The sound of his phone ringing pulled Connor from a deep sleep, shit, he hadn’t slept that solid in forever.