I.N.E.T 5

by Brenda Cothern

  “Shit,” Randy cursed. “I’m sorry.”

  Randy’s hands fell from his arms and he tried to move further away from him, but Lita had already dropped his hands to the man’s shoulders. It was more than clear Randy was horrified at forgetting himself and causing him pain as a result. As far as Lita was concerned, the kiss was more than worth the momentary and fleeting pain Randy’s grip on his wound had caused.

  “It’s fine,” Lita tried to reassure his partner. Tried being the keyword because it was clear Randy wasn’t reassured at all.

  Randy took another step back away from Lita. He cursed himself for losing his head. Never had his work ethic or professionalism ever fled him as it just had. He needed to get his shit together. Burke was locked in the back seat and she would undoubtedly attempt to escape them again. They also would more than likely be attacked by a cartel, Juanita’s or one of her rivals, before they could get Burke to D.C. He needed to keep his head in the game and couldn’t afford to let his partner distract him. Regardless of how sexy the man was, or how much his attraction was reciprocated. They had a job to do and would do it.

  “Get that jacket off and let me take care of your arm,” Randy was well aware his orders sounded angry.

  He was angry and clutched that anger as if it were a lifeline that defined what it meant to him to be a US Marshal. His anger was at himself and not Lita. Still, he couldn’t help but vent it through his words.

  Lita had spent the last eleven years working undercover at INET, so he was more than proficient at reading body language. He was just as skilled at deciphering facial expressions and tones of voice to determine an underlying emotion.

  Randy was beating himself up over their kiss. Well, not the kiss specifically, but for his lapse in duty where his job was concerned. Lita should feel bad, wanted to feel bad that kissing Randy resulted in the man’s emotional turmoil. He couldn’t though. He never thought he was the selfish type, but he just couldn’t regret tasting the Marshal.

  All of this ran through Lita’s mind as he removed his jacket and turned his bloodied bicep toward Randy. His partner was quick and efficient placing the Steri-Strips to close the gaping wound as much as possible. However, Lita wasn’t feeling much pain since he was focused on his partner touching him. He was still feeling Randy’s hands on him even after he shrugged back into his leather jacket.

  ##~~##

  Chapter Six

  Lita turned to glare at Burke once they were settled back in the car. The car was dead, so there was no way to turn on the heater. The inside was still warmer than standing out in the cold. Plus, Lita wasn’t in a hurry to let Burke outside again. He felt Randy watching him, but forced himself to ignore the man.

  “What the hell did you do to the car?”

  Lita watched Burke’s face closely. She shifted from pissed off to innocent looking in the blink of an eye. Her acting ability was almost scary. It didn’t change his opinion she’d fucked with the car somehow during the shoot-out, but instead only reinforced it.

  “What makes you think I did anything?” Burke batted her lashes.

  “What are you talking about?” Randy asked his partner and looked at Burke suspiciously. They hadn’t left her alone outside of the car. Hell, she hadn’t been out of their sight except when she used the bathroom at the truck stop. His gaze narrowed, but even if she had done something in the bathroom, she had been nowhere near the car.

  “I don’t think. I know you did,” Lita’s tone grew hard. “Now, what the hell did you do?”

  “Why would little ol’ me do anything to the car?” She said sweetly.

  Her tone and words were more than enough to make Randy believe Lita. She had done something and her only opportunity to do anything had been during the shoot-out while they were both distracted. Bullets flying by were definitely distracting. Movement in his peripheral vision was his only indication his partner was going over the front seat to get at their charge. He was barely able to grab Lita by the back of his jacket in an effort to stop him.

  Lita felt Randy grab him, but his reach was still long enough to grab Burke’s sweatshirt. She still had only one arm and her head in it. Fisting the loose material was only a matter of closing his hand. Lita yanked. They were almost nose to nose, but her innocent expression didn’t falter. However, a tinge of fear did flash in her blue eyes.

  Lita stared at her while he replayed every step they took once they stopped at the truck stop. She was the deciding reason they stopped even though Randy had been falling asleep at the wheel.

  I’ve got to pee and I’ve started my period.

  I’m nauseous… Alka-Seltzer usually helps.

  Lita put two and two together. The bitch had played them like the pro she was and they provided her with everything she needed to fuck with the car. A tampon in the gas tank would have been enough, but Burke must have soaked it in the Alka-Seltzer to ensure she fucked up the car good.

  He allowed a smile to spread his lips. Her sweet expression disappeared and the trace of fear he read in her eyes was no longer just a trace. Her expression was just as fearful. Lita’s smile only grew wider.

  Randy watched Lita’s interaction with their charge closely. There really wasn’t shit he could do to protect Burke in their current situation. He fisted the back of Lita’s jacket, but the guy was huge and trying to tug him back hadn’t done a damn thing to move him. Hell, Lita could snap her neck and Randy knew he was helpless to stop him. He didn’t think Lita would, but the anger he saw from what little he could see of Lita’s face more than concerned him for Burke’s safety. His partner’s anger was downright scary, but nowhere near as fucking frightening as the smile that slowly morphed Lita’s expression.

  “Lita,” Randy began, but had no idea what else to say.

  Lita held Burke for a few more seconds before he shoved her way and looked at Randy. “She put an Alka-Seltzer soaked tampon in the tank,” he said with surety. Lita watched Randy blink stupidly a few times before his partner looked between him and Burke.

  “What the fuck?” Randy couldn’t believe what he just heard, but didn’t doubt Lita. He was too shocked Burke had the presence of mind to still be able to tamper with the car while they were trying to keep her alive.

  “Why the fuck would you do that?” Randy looked at Burke as if she were certifiably crazy. Burke didn’t answer, but Lita did after he righted himself in the passenger seat.

  “She either thought we’d break down closer to civilization or have her chance to escape if we had to call a tow truck.” That made sense to Randy. “But, I’m sure her original intent was to fuck with the car once we got to the safe house so we couldn’t chase her. The cartel attacking us at the truck stop just gave her the opportunity to do so earlier than planned. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

  Randy followed Lita’s over the shoulder gaze to look at Burke. He fully expected her to curse them again. Instead, she remained sullen and silent. Her lack of comment was more than enough for Randy to believe every word of Lita’s explanation for how the car died.

  “She didn’t plan for the snow, though,” Randy added as he turned to look out of his side window.

  Snow was already starting to collect at the base of the window. He only spared the build up a glance before looking further out into the distance. Big, fluffy flakes were still lazily falling. It was a small consolation they were falling straight down and not being blown all the hell around by cold wind.

  “Nope,” Lita replied in a tone that sounded as if it held a smile. “Basically, she screwed herself while trying to screw us.”

  Randy nodded his agreement and Lita waited for him to speak while he shuffled several plans through his mind. They had a few options. Lita didn’t like any of them. They could call in their location and wait for backup to arrive. That, of course would alert the suspected mole and Lita would rather freeze to death then fight the cartel out here. He could call Fish and ask for the same, but Lita didn’t think their situation was dire enough to war
rant getting the team involved. He sure as hell would never live that down.

  They could stay in the car and try to wait out the snow. It wouldn’t change the amount of snowfall, though. The few inches already on the ground weren’t that bad, but more snow would only make trudging through it eventually more difficult. Which, brought him to their last option. Start trekking toward the safe house. Randy must’ve been reading his mind.

  “We need to get going,” Randy informed him without looking away from the falling snow.

  He was exhausted. Fucking tired down to his bones and that was before the last two adrenaline rushes. Still, he knew how to dig deep when it came to completing a mission and right now, getting Burke to the next safe house was the mission. Lita opening the passenger door and stepping out of the car drew Randy’s attention away from the falling snow.

  “Pop the trunk.” Lita bent down to look at Randy before he stood back up and closed the door.

  Randy hit the trunk button on his key fob and watched Lita through the rearview mirror before the trunk lid blocked his view. A moment later, Randy saw Lita walking around his side of the car. His partner carried two duffel bags. One was his and the other was Burke’s. Randy opened his door and stepped out of the car.

  “Get out of your bloodied shirt and put something warmer on.”

  Lita handed Randy his duffel bag. He was sure he didn’t have to explain his reasoning. There was no way Randy wouldn’t realize once his body heat warmed his shirt, the frozen blood would turn straight to wet blood. Wet blood would be just as bad as wearing anything wet in the cold.

  Randy accepted his bag. He quickly shrugged out of his coat. His suit jacket followed and he wasted no time stripping out of his dress shirt. He was aware of Lita’s eyes following his every move, but too damn cold and tired to be flattered by the other man’s attention. Randy pulled a T-shirt and sweatshirt from his bag. Both were on quickly and followed by his coat. Lita gave him a nod.

  “You next before we deal with Burke,” Randy said and nodded toward the trunk where he was sure his partner had a bag.

  Lita didn’t say anything. Instead, he removed the two empty clips from his jacket and held his gun out to Randy. Randy accepted everything and placed the clips and weapon on the space he cleared of snow on the roof of the car. Lita didn’t need to watch the man to ensure he reloaded their clips and weapons, so he went to the trunk to retrieve his bag.

  He didn’t return to Randy to get changed. He just opened his bag and grabbed another T-shirt. Getting out of his jacket only caused him a minimal amount of pain. Getting out of the shoulder holster caused him more. Lita shrugged the pain off and put the clean T-shirt over the one he already wore. He glanced at the hoodie in his bag and only gave a passing thought to whether he should wear that as well. Lita hadn’t packed a hip holster for his gun and had no desire to deal with the hassle of wearing his holster under or over the hoodie. He was taking his bag regardless, so could put it on later if need be.

  Randy had both weapons and backup clips reloaded by the time Lita rounded the back of the car. His partner wore a different T-shirt, but Randy could see the collar of his other one layered beneath. Lita held his jacket in one hand and his shoulder holster in the other. Randy wasn’t too surprised. Getting the holster off with his previously dislocated shoulder couldn’t have been hard. Putting it back on was another story.

  Randy didn’t say anything before he reached out and took the shoulder holster from Lita’s hand. He didn’t say anything while he helped his partner into it, either. A back strap got twisted and if Randy’s hands lingered a bit longer than necessary to fix it, neither he nor Lita said anything about that, either.

  Lita felt Randy smooth his back straps. Twice. It made him smile, but by the time his partner walked around to stand in front of him again his expression was neutral. He didn’t hide the amusement and interest in his gaze, though.

  “Now, Burke,” Lita said and opened the back door of the car. “Get her shit out of her bag.”

  Randy handed him his weapon and both of his reloaded spare clips. Lita gave him a nod of thanks before he holstered his weapon and slipped the clips into the inside pocket of his jacket. Randy’s gun was already holstered on his hip and Lita could only assume his partner had already stowed away his spare clips as well.

  “Get out,” Lita ordered after he leaned down to look at Burke. She seemed to recover from her earlier fear because she glared at him. “Get out or I will drag your ass out again. I won’t be gentle about it this time, either.”

  She continued to glare defiantly at him for a few more seconds. Lita was sure she was weighing her options. Her scales must have tipped toward complying because she started scooting across the back seat. Lita grasped the front of her loose sweatshirt to ‘help’ her out of the vehicle.

  They would need to un-cuff her in order for her to put on a few more layers to keep warm. Lita wasn’t concerned because when he removed his weapon from his holster, he watched her eyes follow his movement. Lita leaned down slightly and her gaze shot to his face. He gave her a small smile that he knew to be charming.

  “Whether you arrive in D.C. bleeding or not is your choice because I couldn’t give less of a shit either way.” Lita held her gaze. “Understand, sweetheart?”

  Burke gave a nod and Lita prompted her to turn. He un-cuffed the hand she needed to change out of her wet sweatshirt and allowed her to put on another. His hold around her wrist which was still cuffed was not gentle. In fact, the bitch of a CIA agent would likely have bruises when he let go. As far as he was concerned, she was getting off lucky with just those few bruises, too.

  Lita wasn’t joking with his threat. He knew plenty of places he could place a bullet that wouldn’t be fatal. Of course, his partner would be pissed all to hell if he put a bullet anywhere in Burke. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t, though.

  Randy watched Lita closely as he retrieved Burke from the backseat. It dawned on him, surprisingly, that his scrutiny of the pair had nothing to do with concern Lita would hurt Burke. No, his concern was that she would try to hurt his partner. The woman already knew where Lita had been shot and there was no way she hadn’t been aware of his dislocated shoulder when they set it against the car. So, Randy watched her closely, but it seemed Lita’s threat was more than enough to keep her in line. In fact, she even offered her hands in front of her to be cuffed after she put on her sweatshirt and the dry jacket Randy handed her.

  “My jeans are wet,” Burke said as she continued to offer her hands to be cuffed again.

  “Like I give a shit.” Lita grinned at Burke. “Unless you want to be cuffed to one of us while the other strips you out of those wet jeans, too fucking bad.” He raised a questioning brow at the woman. She looked away and that was enough of an answer for him.

  “Though,” Lita began thoughtfully. “Cuffing you to one of us doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea.”

  “What?” Burke asked incredulously. “You don’t need to do that. I’m not going anywhere.”

  Randy watched a grin spread Lita’s lips. Those lips that felt so good pressed against his. He shook his head to banish the memory which wasn’t that old. Lita had tested her with his comment. She failed miserably. Lita had easily proved Burke was going to try and escape them again. Still, that didn’t mean his partner should be the one cuffed to Burke.

  Lita couldn’t cuff Burke to his right wrist because that would prevent his partner from drawing his weapon. His left arm was injured and that was the side he holstered his gun. So, Randy knew that wasn’t an option either. Plus, Lita was the better shot by far. All of these thoughts flashed through Randy’s mind in the time it took him to un-holster his weapon and step toward the pair.

  Lita easily caught Randy’s movement over Burke’s head. He turned Burke toward the car and pressed a palm between her shoulder blades to keep her there. Randy held out his gun to the side for Lita to take. There was only one reason his partner would be disarming. He was only partially seri
ous about cuffing Burke to one of them, but apparently Randy liked the idea.

  He took Randy’s 0.9 mil with a nod and slipped it into an outside pocket of his leather jacket where it would be easily accessible. Lita kept his hand between Burke’s shoulder blades while Randy crowded in close. He watched his partner grasp Burke’s un-cuffed wrist from where she leaned against the roof of the car. Smoothly, Randy lowered her arm and slapped the other cuff on her. It took Lita a moment to realize why Randy re-cuffed her instead of closing the cuff around his wrist.

  Randy was right-handed and Burke was initially cuffed on her left wrist. Randy needed to have her right wrist cuffed so he could cuff her on his left. The only way to do that without risk of Burke doing something stupid again was the cuff both her hands before he transferred one to his wrist.

  Getting Burke’s right wrist cuffed to Randy’s left was surprisingly uneventful. Maybe it had something to do with how tired they all were or how the thick flakes of snow kept falling down on them. But, Lita didn’t believe either of those reasons for second. He was sure Burke was just resigned to wait for a better opportunity to escape them. He didn’t give a shit either way at the moment because he was already thinking about any obstacles they were sure to run across while they marched Burke twenty or thirty miles to the next safe house.

  “You have the directions,” Randy said more than asked his partner as he shouldered both his and Burke’s duffel bags.

  Lita nodded and pulled his phone from his pocket. “Interstate, back roads, or cross-country?”

  Randy was caught off guard by Lita’s question, but his surprise didn’t hinder his quick reply. “Distance difference?”