I.N.E.T 5

by Brenda Cothern

  “Nope,” Lita replied and put emphasis on the ‘P’ just to see what type of reaction Conner would display.

  “You always carry multiple clips to be prepared for shootouts?” Randy made sure his new partner could see his raised questioning brow in the rearview mirror.

  “I’m always prepared for anything,” Lita replied with a grin.

  Randy didn’t know his partner at all, but that didn’t mean he didn’t recognize a flirty tone when he heard one. The thought that the Thor look-a-like who was his new partner was gay threw him for a loop. Granted, no one ever assumed he was gay and for all he knew, the guy was just fucking with him without realizing he was gay. He didn’t ping on anyone’s gaydar and the huge blonde hadn’t pinged on his. In fact, for all he knew the guy wasn’t gay and his tone was just his normal one in the aftermath of a shoot-out.

  Regardless, his adrenaline rush was crashing and his exhaustion was slamming back into him, so he didn’t have the brain cells to really give Lita’s sexuality any further thought. Instead, he picked up his weapon from where he placed it on the passenger seat. Randy held it up over the seat in a silent request for Lita to reload it with one of his spare clips.

  Lita easily read the flash of confusion in Conner’s eyes, but it disappeared quickly before the man offered his weapon over the seat. He had no idea if Conner was gay. It was more than likely the man wasn’t. Still, Lita always became flirty as his adrenaline subsided. It drove his teammates crazy since they all thought he was straight.

  He wasn’t really straight or gay. He wasn’t bi either, but since he was saposexual, bi was probably what most people would label him. He guessed he couldn’t fault people for thinking that since most people didn’t understand what it meant to be attracted to intelligence and personality regardless of sex. Then again, these days most people thought that was what being pansexual was all about when in reality ‘pans’ attraction tended to have more to do with a physical attraction more times than not. Then again, he was feeling more ‘pan’ at the moment considering he found Conner not only smart, but attractive as hell. Lita snorted and pushed those thoughts away as he accepted Conner’s weapon.

  Randy ignored Lita’s snort when the man accepted his 0.9 mil. The silence in the car was enough that he clearly heard Lita change out the clips again. He accepted his gun back and replaced it on the passenger seat.

  “Thanks,” Randy glanced in the rearview mirror again and was greeted with another smirk. “I’ve got a case of bullets in the trunk. We can reload the clips when we get to the safe house.”

  “Sounds good.”

  “Burke,” Randy began. “You good?”

  He felt he needed to ask as he couldn’t see her in the rearview mirror. She was still semi-laying in the back seat and even though he was sure Lita would’ve said something if she wasn’t okay, Randy asked anyway.

  “I’m fine aside from these fucking bracelets,” Burke rattled her handcuffs to make her point. “And this asshole bleeding on me,” she growled out.

  Randy’s heart skipped a beat. His partner had been shot. Images of Greene’s dress shirt blossoming with blood momentarily flooded his vision before he found his voice.

  “You’re shot?” He asked for verification and looked in the mirror to search out his partner’s gaze.

  Randy didn’t think Burke would lie about something like that, but he wouldn’t put it past the woman at this point. Lita didn’t meet his gaze in the mirror this time. His partner’s face was illuminated by what was clearly the light from his cell phone, but he didn’t look to be in any pain. Still, Lita’s painless expression didn’t stop the jolt of concern that flooded through him, though.

  “How bad?”

  “It’s a scratch,” Lita replied without looking up from the message he was sending Fish.

  As far as Lita was concerned, he wasn’t lying. The graze on his bicep was nothing, even though he could feel blood flowing freely down his arm and soaking into his jeans around where his arm rested in his lap. He’d had worse. A lot worse and this wound wouldn’t need more than a few stitches. It was nothing he couldn’t fix once they arrived at the next safe house.

  Lita felt Conner look at him through the mirror, but continued typing his update to Fish. After the truck stop fiasco, Lita couldn’t help but give some credence to Fish’s acquaintance’s paranoia over having a mole. Only one thing nagged him, though.

  He hadn’t checked in after he arrived at the last safe house and hadn’t seen Conner do so, either. Of course, the Marshal had been out of his sight long enough while he was topping off the tank that the man could have made a call to his superior. Lita had no way of knowing, so he added his inquiry to his message to Fish.

  “We are about thirty minutes out,” Randy informed. He received an ‘um huh’ in reply and tried to squash his concern over his partner’s injury.

  There wasn’t anything else to say, so Randy let the silence settle around them as the first flakes of snow started to land on the windshield. He loved snow. Hated driving in it, but loved it just the same. Snow generally made his job protecting someone easier, as well. It definitely would in this case since he was taking them so far off the beaten path outside of Redding. A smile at that thought of being off the grid enough for him to finally get some sleep without the chance of Burke attempting to escape almost spread his lips. It actually would’ve if the car hadn’t started acting strange.

  Initially, the car started to sputter as if they were running out of gas. Randy looked at the gauge. If the fuel line had been nicked and they were losing gas, the gauge would tell him that was the case. It wasn’t. The gauge hadn’t even moved past the full mark since they hadn’t gone that far. Randy knew just enough about cars to know if a brake line had been shot, it wouldn’t cause the cars current behavior. The engine then started knocking as if he were driving without oil and thrown a rod.

  Lita had already hit send before he noticed something was wrong with their car. He didn’t maintain his truck, but worked on his bike enough to know they were having a problem with their carburetor. Something was wrong with the gas they topped the tank off with at the truck stop. The suddenly loud knocking coming from under the hood didn’t alter his opinion they were having a gas issue.

  He replayed the shootout at the truck stop and didn’t recall any bullets hitting the car that would warrant them having any issues. All of the shots had hit near the trunk and the rear quarter panel and passenger doors. Lita couldn’t stop his frown from forming when he tried to recall Burke doing anything other than crouching down to take cover. Of course, he wasn’t really paying the woman any attention. He was too busy trying to save their fucking lives to pay any attention to the CIA agent. Still, he looked at the woman.

  Burke sat passively with her cuffed hands in her lap as she leaned her forehead against the window glass. She appeared to be looking out at the snow which had started falling heavier while he was sending Fish his update.

  Conner took the next exit. They almost didn’t make it to the exit, but Conner was able to coast down toward the blinking traffic light before he had to pull over to the shoulder. He met the man’s gaze in the mirror and wasn’t surprised to see a frown that matched his.

  “How far away are we?” Lita asked without breaking Conner’s gaze.

  Randy sighed and looked away. “Ten or fifteen minutes by car,” he replied.

  Lita watched the man clench his hands around the steering wheel as he stared out at the heavily falling snow. He looked out his window, as well. Aside from the traffic light at the end of the ramp there were no lights to be seen. At all. No gas stations, no houses, no anything. The snowflakes were thick and Lita had no doubt they were the wet kind that would stick to everything. It was just their luck they were in the middle of nowhere and totally fucked.

  “Son of a bitch,” Randy muttered and Lita was sure the man came to the same conclusion.

  “We can hoof it,” Lita said and opened his door. He grabbed his leather jacket and
by the time he stood upright could feel blood flowing freely down his arm again from where he was shot. He ignored the warm wetness trailing down his arm and the twinge of pain his movement caused as he put on his jacket and tucked his INET badge back under his T-shirt after closing the car door.

  It took a moment for Lita’s words to penetrate his brain. Randy was out of the car once they had, though. Thick wet flakes of snow landed on him and soaked into his dress shirt and suit jacket. He shivered at the sudden temperature difference between the car and outside. Thankfully, he was wearing jeans and boots. If he were in slacks and dress shoes, he would’ve been even colder. He needed his winter jacket from the trunk.

  “Hoof it?” Randy asked incredulously. “Are you kidding me?”

  Lita was starting to feel the chill even after he put on his jacket. His first thought at seeing snowflakes spread wetness on Conner’s dress shirt and suit jacket was they wouldn’t be going anywhere with the man dressed the way he was. He glanced into the backseat of the car to assess Burke’s clothes and saw Burke looking at him. She had a pleased look on her face before she schooled her expression.

  Somehow, this bitch of a CIA agent had something to do with their current situation. Lita was more than sure when he yanked the back door of the car open again. Burke’s expression turned to one of fear when Lita reached in for her. It wasn’t fake fear, either. She scrambled away from him as far as she could toward the other door. Lita just bent over into the backseat because his reach was great enough, he could still grab her. Burke tried to kick him to prevent him from dragging her out of the car. He expected her to do just that, anticipated her move, and easily wrapped his large fist around her ankle.

  “Let me go, you fucker,” she yelled and tried to kick him with her other foot.

  Lita just grabbed that one as well and pulled her across the back seat until he could grasp the waist of her jeans. She flailed. Kicked and tried to bring her cuffed hands down on him wherever she could reach. Her efforts didn’t do shit to hurt him or stop him from dragging her ass out of the backseat of the car. Once she was clear of the door, Lita lifted her as if she were a feather and tossed her to the ground. Gently. He wanted to throw her ass, but resisted the urge.

  “Hey!” Randy yelled and stepped into his partner’s personal space after the man threw their charge to the ground at the side of the road. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Randy grabbed his much larger partner’s arm. He didn’t think Lita would attack Burke, but manhandling someone they were charged with protecting was unacceptable.

  “You have a coat?”

  Randy couldn’t help but look at his partner incredulously. Lita’s question was so casual, as if he hadn’t just pulled Burke from the car and thrown her to the ground, that Randy was stunned.

  “Conner.” Lita snapped his fingers in front of Connor’s face.

  “Randy,” he said stupidly and Lita smirked at him again.

  “Do you have a coat?”

  Randy looked away from his partner to Burke who now sat in the snow on the side of the road. She glared at him, but didn’t say a word.

  “In the trunk,” Randy replied when he looked back at his partner.

  “You’re gonna need it,” Lita stated the obvious. “Something for her, too.”

  Randy grabbed the keys out of the ignition and popped the trunk. He only spared Burke a glance before he walked around Lita to make his way to the trunk.

  “You’re supposed to be protecting me!” Burke practically shrieked. “Why are you letting him hurt me?” Burke sobbed as if she had actually been physically abused. “You don’t care about my safety.”

  Randy’s gut tightened. Rationally, he knew Lita hadn’t hurt Burke, but his manhandling of her still made her words a gut punch. He forced himself to remember how manipulative she was, but it didn’t make him feel any better about not protecting her from even his new partner.

  From the corner of his eye, Lita saw Randy tense at Burke’s accusation. He had no doubt Burke was skilled enough to know just what buttons to push to get someone to do or feel as she wished. The minimal information Hunt provided him on her didn’t do her justice when it came to her skill as a CIA agent. He was beginning to see how someone as young as she could end up so deep in the Sanchez cartel. The woman was skilled, he’d give her that, but at twenty-four she was still a baby compared to Lita’s experience. He now understood why Fish sent him on this assignment.

  Randy shrugged into his winter coat. He also grabbed a sweatshirt and jacket for Burke out of her bag. His partner was unpredictable, but Randy forced himself to think Lita didn’t do anything spontaneously. The man had to have some reason for his actions, even if he didn’t feel the need to share them. At least Randy hoped so, because he didn’t even want to consider any other options.

  He didn’t look at Lita when he rounded the back of the car and walked to where Burke still sat on the wet ground. He held out her sweatshirt and jacket to her. She glared at him. It was a look he was more than familiar with, so he paid the anger-laced accusation in her gaze no mind.

  Burke shoved herself to her feet before she practically ripped the clothes from his hands. “And just how do you expect me to put these on with these?” Burke waived the handcuffs on her wrists at both of them.

  Lita snorted. If it were up to him, he just drape the clothes over her head and leave her cuffed hands against her body. Realistically, he knew that wasn’t an option since they were about to trudge through snow that was sure to only get deeper before they reach their destination.

  “Give me the address to the safe house,” Lita demanded as Randy un-cuffed one of Burke’s hands so she could put on the clothes.

  Randy didn’t turn toward Lita when he rattled off the safe house address. He could see Lita in his peripheral vision, while his partner tapped the address into his phone. Randy kept his focus on Burke. He didn’t expect her to try and escape, but he wouldn’t put it past her. There really wasn’t anywhere for her to run to, but apparently Burke didn’t give a shit. She had her cuffed hand in the sweatshirt arm, held the jacket in her free hand, and attacked him the second her head cleared the sweatshirt.

  Even though he was paying close attention, her attack still caught him off guard. One second she was getting dressed in the next her cuffed palm landed a blow in his solar plexus. The loose open cuff, flew up and hit him under the chin, but he didn’t feel any pain caused by the sharp metal. No, he was too busy bent forward and trying to catch his breath. He’d been hit in his solar plexus before, but it never got better regardless of how many times he’d been hit in the same location. All he could do was struggle to breathe and wait for his nerves to reset.

  Lita had just hit the directions button in his Google maps app when he heard Randy grunt in pain. By the time he looked at his partner, Burke was hauling ass down the ramp. He could see blood on Randy’s dress shirt even though the man was bent over. It wasn’t spouting as if his neck was sliced, so Lita spared no time other than to mentally note the man was bleeding.

  “Son of a bitch!” Lita cursed and took off after Burke.

  ##~~##

  Chapter Five

  Burke was fast. Lita would give her that, but his stride was longer. He had no doubt he’d catch her even if she did disappear into the trees. Not once had she looked over her shoulder to check on pursuit. Lita knew that would have slowed her down. She was smart.

  However, what she did when she hit the stop light and icy road made Lita blink incredulously. He was almost on her. Within two arm’s lengths and would’ve had her if she hadn’t suddenly stopped running. Instead, she turned her body slightly to the side and used the snow and ice-covered ground to surf straight across the road in the middle of the intersection.

  He was impressed at her ingenuity, but knew he’d never pull off the same stunt. In fact, he slowed down when he hit the icy road. He didn’t want to break his neck and was sure his weight would definitely break through the thin layer of ice. As it was
, he was running too fast and still slid on the slick surface. His arms pin wheeled to try and regain his balance. He did, but before he could be grateful he didn’t land on his ass, his shit kicker broke through the thin ice and hit the gravel road. The sudden stop sent him flying forward. He barely had time to turn in an effort to roll in order to minimize any injury.

  Neither happened. Lita landed hard on his shoulder and felt a pop before pain screamed from the joint. He wouldn’t call what he did a roll, though. Not that it did anything other than to cause him to push his injured shoulder into the ground once more before he finally came to a stop.

  Fuck, that hurt, Lita mentally cursed. Dislocated shoulders were never fun.

  Randy had turned and watched Lita chase Burke as his ability to breathe returned. Lita almost had her when she flew into the intersection. He watched her leap right before he saw Lita fighting gravity. His partner lost his battle and hit the ground.

  At least he rolled through the fall, Randy thought before he was finally able to stand.

  He jogged toward his partner, but didn’t reach him before Lita was up and running into the tree line after Burke. By the time he slowed at the intersection, Burke and Lita were nowhere to be seen. Randy carefully hurried through the icy intersection and followed Lita’s large ass footprints in the snow.

  The exit ramp had been dark, the only illumination provided from the blinking light at the intersection. That light didn’t reach into the trees more than a couple feet. About three inches of snow covered the ground. It wasn’t enough to follow Lita’s footprints in the dark. So, Randy stopped and listened. He heard noise off to his right, but before he could pull out his phone to use the flashlight option, he caught sight of a light bobbing through the trees. He could see where Lita was running, but he still turned his flashlight on so he could follow the man’s footprints in the snow. Randy followed Lita’s tracks and Burke’s smaller ones, along with the bobbing light.