The two spent their senior year together talking, dreaming, planning their lives or just enjoying the peaceful silence of being together. Both knew that the relationship would end after graduation. With a maturity beyond their years, they accepted it. He wanted to join the Marine Corps and travel the world. She wanted to go to college and dreamed of being a doctor. They were best friends.
Ember compared every man she had ever dated in college and after to him. None ever came close to meeting the thrill Joseph’s commanding presence gave her. If only he used that power in other ways. If she had only known then what she knew now? Would she have begged Joey to stay? Would she have become a military wife? More times than not it seemed her life-long drive to become a doctor had cost her more than she wanted to pay. She’d learned too many hard, unrelenting lessons, felt bitter disappointment, survived a mentally abusive boyfriend, a cheating fiancé and suffered through too many disappointing dates to count. If she had known? I would have followed him to the ends of the earth.
When the phone rang two hours later, the shrill noise jarred her frayed nerves. She struggled to answer the unfamiliar phone, the shaking of her hands making the effort even more arduous. How the hell do I answer this thing? Ember hit a button hoping it was the right one to connect her to the caller. “Joey?”
“Yeah, Em it’s me. Explain why you think you’re in trouble?” The sound of his voice crumbled all her stoic defenses. She swiped at a tear and spoke softly into the phone. The closest person was five rows up, but she whispered anyway. “Oh, thank God, Joey! A friend gave me a computer thumb drive for safekeeping last night. He said if something happened to him to get it to a person I could trust--someone at a national level. I didn’t know who else to call. Oh, my God.” Ember drew a shaking breath willing herself not to dissolve into tears. “Joey, he was found dead this morning. The paper said it was a suicide, but…he would never kill himself.”
“Where are you and do you still have the drive?” His deep rich voice melted her to the core, similar to the voice of the young man she once knew but now deeper with a terse, clipped edge. His voice held a distinct chill, a distance. Ember’s mind raced. Perhaps he wouldn’t help? How much had he changed over the years? Was she wrong to reach out to him? Well, hell, it had been fourteen—no fifteen years.
“Joey, maybe I freaked a little bit. I don’t know. I didn’t really know what to do so…I think I may have over reacted? Hell, I threw my cell phone out on the interstate and left my truck in a mall parking lot. Maybe I watch too much TV, but I didn’t want to be tracked so I bought prepaid cell phones and I’m on a bus heading to Kansas City. All with cash—of course.”
“Being careful keeps people alive. I need information. Now. The man’s name? Where did this happen and do you still have the drive?”
“Dale Landis, he is…was a lawyer in New Orleans. I have the damned thing in my pocket.” He didn’t respond. Nothing. No words, no indication he heard her. Ember looked at the face of the phone to ensure they were still connected. Finally, he responded.
“Turn off the phone and take out the SIM card if it has one and the battery. Put the phone back together in two hours. I’ll contact you.”
“Alright, I will Joey.” She couldn’t hide the tremor of fear in her voice.
“I will call you back Em.”
“Okay.” She sighed and said softly, “Joey, I…”
“Yeah. Do as I told you. Hang up now.” Was it her imagination or had the steel edge of his voice softened?
Chapter Three
Joseph hung up the phone and dropped his head into his hands. Ember Harris. His first and only long-term relationship. He would do anything for that woman. Hell, he had planned on asking her to marry him when he got back from Paris Island. But boot camp transitioned into his specialty training and then he shipped on to the Middle East and the war that changed him forever. He shook his head and punched familiar digits into his satellite phone. He called the only support system he ever needed, his family. Three of his four brothers and all of his sisters worked at Guardian Security. A subsidiary of Guardian International, Guardian Security was the best at what they did. No single nation or governmental agency sanctioned Guardian’s actions, but every last one of the bastards used Guardian to resolve what diplomacy couldn’t. Joseph and his brothers and sisters had worked their way to the top of their respective specialties. Two of his brothers ran Guardian Security’s overseas and stateside black-ops, his sisters worked personal and computer security issues and Joseph, well, he eliminated threats.
As soon as Joseph heard his brother’s voice he demanded, “Jacob, I need immediate access to a company jet and tell Jared I need all the information you can get me on the suicide of an attorney named Dale Landis in New Orleans.”
“Well, hello to you, too, brother-mine. I received the sit-rep on the Afghani fiasco. We can verify the target you were assigned was neutralized.”
“Well, no shit, little man. I fucking slit his throat. I’m in D.C. and I need to get to Kansas City, stat.”
“Yeah? Thank God this is a secure line. What the fuck are you doing in the States? You’ve been off the grid forever and you suddenly appear in D.C? You don’t operate stateside. What’s the hell is the rush to get to Kansas?” Jacob paused and then added with a growl, “Were you compromised during your last assignment?”
“No asshole, I haven’t been compromised. Have I ever been compromised? Do you honestly think I’d contact you if I were and lead whoever targeted me straight to you? No fucking way. Shit, boy, get a grip on reality. Now, get me a damn plane and get Jared’s ass working on my information.”
“Calm down. If your cover hasn’t been blown or you aren’t being targeted, why the urgent need for a jet? Two, who is Dale Landis? Three, why Kansas City?”
Joseph took a breath in order to reply with a semblance of control. “Do you remember Ember Harris?”
“What from back in the day? Hell yeah. Tall, sexy, red hair, tight ass, great—”
Joseph snarled. “Say one more word and swear I’ll beat your face in.”
Jacob snorted. “I was going to say personality. Yeah, I remember Ember. Why?”
“Last night this Dale Landis gave Ember a thumb drive and told her if anything should happen to him to get it to someone out of the state that she trusts. He was found in an apparent suicide this morning. She freaked and bolted out of New Orleans. She’s on a bus heading to Kansas City.”
“So, what’s on the drive?”
“Fuck if I know.”
“And yet you’re going to race to Kansas City to rescue her? Huh.”
“Really? You’re busting my balls now? Just get me the information and find me a way to Kansas.”
“Yeah, how often do I get a chance to mess with you, dude? Never. Believe me I’ll take any opportunity I get.” Joseph heard the clicking of a computer keyboard. “Alright I sent over a request for information. It was coded as an Alpha priority.”
“Thanks.”
“No issues, dude. But ah…Ember huh? Did you guys ever hook up after you left for the Corps?”
Joseph closed his eyes and shook his head even though his brother couldn’t see him. “Nah, I went back after I got out…before I joined Guardian. Wanted to see if she was still interested. Saw her with a guy. She wasn’t missing me.”
“Damn. Didn’t know. You had it bad for that one.”
“Still do man.”
“Fuck.” The whispered word conveyed one hell of a punch.
“Yeah, you said it.” Joseph cleared his throat. “What about that info?”
“Jared should be pulling it up soon…yeah, just got confirmation that he received it and is processing the request.”
“Jacob…get me on a damn plane.”
“All right, yeah, I’m working it. It’s good to have you back in the States. Stop by and see us before you disappear again. Your nephew is getting big.”
“Not back here for long. Depends on how this mess with Ember pan
s out. I will say goodbye before I leave.”
Jacob’s pause lingered before he cleared his voice and spoke. “You never say goodbye. Why are you back in the States? What’s going on?”
“Same shit, different day, little man.” Joseph hung up the phone and lay back on the hotel bed closing his eyes. Ember Harris. He remembered her curly dark red hair, huge green eyes, beautiful smile and hot, tight body. That girl did it for him then. Hell, she did it for him, period.
He recalled the makeout sessions they had stumbled their way through, learning how to be with her. What to touch, kiss, lick or nip to light her fire. Damn, it got him hot now. He’d taken thousands of cold showers thanks to his raging teenage hormones. Joseph palmed his cock and adjusted himself. Getting up slowly, he groaned and stooped over. Pain hit him in hard rolling waves only slightly dulled by the effects of his last oxycodone. He unbuttoned his shirt and winced. Seeping wounds stuck to the fabric of his shirt. The pull of the adhered material killed the reaction certain parts of his body had from his trot down memory lane with Ember Harris.
He picked up his empty bag and repacked it with changes of clothes and ammunition. He’d returned Ember’s call as soon as he’d checked in. Joseph glanced at his watch. In the country for less than two hours before he was on the move again. That had to be a record—even for him. He’d just placed his backpack in the closet, only to draw it out once again. His knife, usually idle while in the States, lay sharpened and stowed in its leg sheath next to the backpack. He checked his Desert Eagle 45 automatic and secured it in his shoulder holster dropping it onto the bed. Joseph drew another deep breath and walked to the bathroom. A hot shower might help to loosen his muscles and ease the pain.
The wounds on his ribs pulled open and the pain slashed through his shattered nerve endings. The agony forced him to grab the sink for support. His immediate punch of the bathroom vanity proved utterly fucking stupid. Torrents of misery from his side and now his abused hand cut through him again. Damn. This wasn’t a good time to renew his acquaintance with anyone, especially someone in trouble.
His life had taken so many radical turns since he’d last seen her. The isolation and secrecy that surrounded him now prevented all but the most impersonal of contact. The women in his life weren’t relationships. He used them for physical relief of his fucked up needs. He’d changed. The person she once knew no longer existed. For too many years the job was his only focus. He shrugged his shoulders under the hot water of the shower and winced as thousands of lightning bolts blazed through his torso.
Once again, his job had nearly killed him. The recent flaying of the skin across his chest, back and ribs stood in stark testimony to the life he lived. Oh yes, the delightful rami-fucking-cations of misjudging just one glance. One look meant the difference between escaping his enemy and being caught. And he had missed it. How had he fucking missed it?
He’d been over it a million times and still couldn’t find the exact second his cover had become compromised. Joseph sighed in resignation. Now he needed to disregard the injuries and pain in order to help Ember. He drew a deep breath and closed his eyes. He had gone through hell many times before. This wouldn’t be a new experience. The water ran cool before he left the shower. Exhausted, he carefully stretched out on top of the bed on his stomach. He’d bandage his wounds after he let them air dry. Maybe catch a couple minutes of rest. Just as he hung in the void between sleep and consciousness, the phone chirped beside him. He picked it up and barked, “What.”
“I have a company G6 at Dulles. It’s being fueled as we speak and can take off as soon as you get there. Jared has made initial inquiries through the stateside agencies and intelligence communities. The word is that Ember is a person of interest in the investigation surrounding the death of Dale Landis.”
Joseph lifted up on the bed and sucked in a great draw of air in response to the shooting pain. He grabbed a pillow crushing it in his fist before he growled, “How in the hell is she a person of interest?”
“The local cops wanted to place her as a suspect. Seems she and this Landis had a fight at a local restaurant last night. Evidently they have too many people who can verify her whereabouts, video cameras showing her leaving work, entering her complex, her apartment building and also her exit the next morning. New Orleans PD is calling her departure and abandoned vehicle in a mall parking lot suspicious.”
“Alright. I’m heading to the airport.”
“Wait, Joseph…there’s more.” His brother’s growl froze him.
“Our office in New Orleans has received intelligence that Lang was attempting to publish information which would connect local cops, attorneys, judges and even a senator to the Morales Drug Cartel. Word on the street is he was going to release documents that showed payoffs, account numbers, dates, names, and amounts. If Ember has the information, she’s not safe. Taking down the network in one state could start a domino effect. This is huge. If Landis talked before they killed him, it wouldn’t take long for someone to track her to the bus station.”
“Fuck man, she has the thumb drive on her person. For all we know they could be following the bus. I need to get her off it at the next stop. Have a vehicle waiting for me at the airport in Kansas City. Use my shadow account to feed me any information you receive. As soon as I can secure the information, I’ll upload it to the Guardian server.”
“Good. Jared contacted the Attorney General and the heads of the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and the Director of the FBI. They’re aware we intend on taking Ember into protective custody. Any requests for interviews or depositions will be routed through Guardian. The dirty politicos in Louisiana and anyone else they’re tied to can’t legally touch her once you have her, but the Morales’ underground cartel system is deadly. The rumor on the street is that not only has Morales activated his network to search for her, he has also put out feelers for a professional.”
“Jesus fucking Christ! A contract hit?”
“Yeah.”
“Fine. I got this. I’m taking her to my place in Wyoming. It’s isolated, off the grid and if anyone comes after us, I’ll know it.”
“You have a place in Wyoming? Since when? Fuck man, never mind, just send me the damn coordinates. Christ, Joseph, be careful and let me know if you need assistance. I can launch a team at any time. Or hell, I’ll put Jared on it. Stateside operations are his, not ours. We aren’t supposed to operate on American soil remember?”
“I have eight safe houses around the world and five more in the states. I can’t let anyone know where they are because if I’m being hunted, you’re all in danger. I don’t give a flying fuck if the lines are crossed. This one’s personal. If they go after Ember, they’ll have to come through me.”
Jacob’s voice became professional, transforming from a concerned younger brother to the chief operations officer of a billion dollar security firm. “You’re not overseas. These people have not been identified or coded as threats or cleared for termination.”
Joseph’s evil laugh hung in the air. “If they try to take her out, they’ll die.”
“You’re an asset who works overseas.”
Joseph scrubbed his hand over his face and exhaled loudly. “Thanks for the 411, like I didn’t fucking know that. I’m going after Ember. I’ll protect her, no matter what it takes.”
“I understand but any link between Joseph King and your actual function in this organization would constitute a death sentence for both her and for you. A hit would be put out on her simply as retribution for your previous work.”
“I’m well aware of that fact. I don’t need you or anyone else to remind me. I live this fucking solitary life every God-forsaken day. Make no mistake—I’ll do what I need to do in order to take care of her.” If push comes to shove, I’ll gut the sorry son of a bitch like a fish.
“Understood. Check in when you can.”
“Yeah, right.” Joseph pulled the phone away from his ear.
“Hey, Joseph?”
“You don’t have to work this alone. All our resources are at your disposal.”
“Got it. Thanks, little man.”
Joseph hung up the secure phone and looked at his watch. He dressed methodically. He swallowed back the last pain pill, and the empty bottle of oxycodone rang as it hit the trash can. Pulling his pack off the bed, he tucked the phone in the outside pocket and carefully shouldered it, wincing. This is going to be an interesting week. Exiting the hotel, he took a taxi to Dulles Airport and boarded one of Guardian’s many jets. As the plane waited on the tarmac for clearance to take off, he called Ember.
She answered the phone quietly and he could hear the stress in her voice. “Ember, I’m on my way to you.”
“Thank you, Joey.” Oh, wonderful, she sounded like she was crying. Just what he needed.
“Where’s the next stop for the bus?”
He heard Ember pull a ragged breath in before she spoke. “Joey I’m so sorry for being such a wuss. I’m a lot stronger than this. The entire situation is just so bizarre. I feel like I’m an unwilling participant in an episode of the Twilight Zone.”
He understood the feeling all too well. She probably needed to be reassured. Like he had any experience with that. What the hell, he’d try. “Yeah, Emmy I can see why you would feel that way. Don’t worry. We’ll work through this. Now, do you know where the next stop is?”
She laughed. Not the sweet sexy sound he remembered, rather a stress filled attempt at laughter. “In other words, answer my question, you sniveling woman. Yes, I do know the next stop. According to the schedule, it’s Springfield, Missouri, in about five hours.”
Joseph Page 3