by Michael Todd
Then again, maybe the woman was trying to tell them something. She recalled making a snide comment that the hacker had tried to send them a message by making sure that they were in a romantic room with only one bed. Knowing Savage, of course, he would have elected to sleep in the chair. Or on the floor. Army guys always tried to show that they were tough and gentlemanly like that, even if they had just been through the human equivalent of a meat grinder.
Except…he hadn’t.
It took her a few seconds to realize that—or remember, rather. The heat, the connection, the way she’d pulled him in to kiss her after he’d tried to stop…it all flooded back. She’d wanted more. No, she’d needed more.
Her eyes opened and she looked around at the room. The red lighting had faded, thankfully, and light seeped in through the shades, which told her that it was already morning. It was odd how this was the second morning in a row that she woke in a room she had never been in before, but this time, she felt relaxed. Not quite safe, perhaps, but something like that.
She pushed up on her hands. The covers dropped and she realized that she was still naked. Quickly, she hauled them up with a flare of panic. She wasn’t sure why she was so modest when she had felt more than a little aggressive the night before. That simple truth was confirmed by the way she’d dragged her own dress off and fought her frustration as he’d struggled with her bra.
Why did she feel like this, now? More importantly, why hadn’t she felt that way the night before?
The shower stopped running and she wiggled to the side of the bed. Things were still blurry, but she remembered where he’d put her glasses and she put them on before she focused on the room. She recalled it being messier before, littered with dirty bandages they hadn’t bothered to throw away, the burlap bag hurled off the bed as they took its place so that it strewed its contents, both medical and…well, decidedly not medical.
Yet everything was already clean. The bandages were gone, and the bags were neatly arranged in the corner. She doubted that anyone from housekeeping had been allowed inside, which meant that Savage had cleaned up himself.
It was odd. While military guys were supposed to be fanatical about cleaning, she hadn’t really pictured him as the obsessively clean kind. More importantly, she didn’t think of him as the kind who would keep it quiet so that she could sleep through it.
The bathroom door opened to spill a small cloud of steam and Jeremiah. He wore only a motel towel tastefully colored a rich wine-red. The bandages that covered his shoulder and side were obviously new, which confirmed to her that he’d at least had the sense to remove the old ones before the shower. He’d also applied the new ones more neatly than she would have given him credit for.
“Morning.” He sounded way cooler and more collected than she felt at that moment. “I’m sorry if I woke you, but you said last night that I should probably shower, and…well, after we were distracted, I was too tired to follow your advice.”
She didn’t say anything but watched him closely as he moved deeper into the room. He’d hung her dress over the chair he’d sat on the night before and she wondered if he wanted her to get out of bed and give him one more show before she put it back on. She was tempted to oblige. A rush of conflicting feelings derailed her attempt to think clearly. Her body surged, too, but those sensations were less conflicting.
It soon became apparent, though, that a free show was the last thing on his mind. He scooped the dress up and tossed it to her with barely a glance at either her or the garment.
“I’m waiting for Anja to contact us. She’ll want to know what’s in the files we stole from Carlson’s room, and I think that the sooner we get them to her, the better. But it would also be stupid to parade ourselves around town. Carlson will have to be more careful now that the police are looking for whoever destroyed his room—which, aside from his mercenaries who are all good and dead, means the two of us. I don’t doubt that he still has connections who will be willing to gun us down in the street if they see us. That tells me that we should probably stay inside.”
Jessica continued to watch him as she fumbled numbly for the dress he’d delivered to her in such a nonchalant manner.
“Oh,” he said, still rambling as he crossed to the burlap bag, rummaged for another gray Polo shirt, and hung it on the counter beside the door. “If you want a shower, you might want to go in now. It took me five minutes to get hot water since the motel runs on one of those ancient boiler systems.”
She could still think of absolutely nothing to say and instead, tried to make out what was going on in his mind. He seemed calm and much the same as he’d been the day before when she first met him. Which was odd. So much had happened in so little time that she struggled to grasp why he would act like nothing had happened.
“What?” He tilted his head and frowned, which made her realize that she was still staring.
“I’m just… I don’t… What happened last night?” Jessica asked, dragged the dress over her head, and managed to put it on despite her awkward position on the bed. Once she was dressed, she pushed the covers aside and swung her legs off the edge.
“I take it you don’t mean us breaking and entering Carlson’s hotel room, trashing the place, and stealing a bunch of his documents, right?”
“You would be correct.” She stood in front of him with her arms folded. He looked uncomfortable and seemed to try to avoid her looking at him by shifting back a few steps.
Finally, once he realized that he wouldn’t escape without a conversation, he sighed. “Look, I’ve seen it a hundred times. People come out of a life-threatening experience in need of comfort. I’m not sure if there’s an actual scientific name for it, but it’s real.”
“That’s really not the point here, Savage,” she grumbled. “Last night wasn’t something that happens to me often, and I think we need to talk about it.”
“Look, I can’t do that, Coleman.” Jeremiah stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. “As of right now, we’re—well, I’m in the middle of a very dangerous fight. I need to be able to put myself in dangerous situations and make the right call fifteen times in a matter of seconds. No offense to you, but…doing something like talking about this is…distracting.”
“What, so I’m only a distraction?” she asked, decidedly miffed.
“Well, you’re distracting,” he corrected and sounded a little less confident than he had a few seconds before. “Last night was fun—for both of us, right?”
“Well, that’s a smidgeon of insecurity I didn’t expect from you.” Jessica laughed. “But yes. Very much so.”
“Come on, give me a break.” He smirked. “It’s been a while. Anyway, in this kind of situation, I don’t think that I can take the pressure of making all those decisions in the middle of a combat situation if my priorities are wrong. If we talk about it, that officially shifts my priorities one way or another, and that affects how the mission goes. Once we’re done with all this, we can talk, but… I can’t do that now. Not yet.”
Jessica looked down. It wasn’t what she wanted to hear, of course, but she could understand where he was coming from. She hadn’t really met anyone like him before, but she assumed he was the type who would put his mission above all else—much like she had put her career before everything else in her own life—but it wasn’t the response she had hoped for. His reaction didn’t surprise her, quite honestly, but she couldn’t help a tiny twinge of annoyance that wanted to smack him on the side of the head to force a straight answer from him.
Either way, he’d made his choice. He had put the mission first and would let the chips fall as they might. It was time for her to get with the program.
“Okay, fine.” She breathed deeply and looked at him, careful to force the pained expression from her face. It very obviously made him uncomfortable, which wouldn’t help either of them. “We can put this conversation off until we don’t have anyone trying to kill us out there or until that’s no longer such an emergency. But yo
u should be warned that means it won’t be a conversation that’s touched with the post-coital bliss that I feel right now.”
“I think that might actually be for that best,” he responded with another irritating smirk. “Decisions should be made with a cool head and unimpeded by emotions and…uh, bliss, as you call it.”
She smiled and stroked her hand over his, which was still on her shoulder. “Not all decisions,” she murmured before she moved away. He nodded. She could tell that he tried to convince himself that he had made the right decision. Let him mull over that for a while, she thought with a secretive smile.
“I think I’ll take that shower now.” She turned toward the bathroom and hesitated when the room’s phone rang shrilly.
“I’ll get it, don’t worry,” Savage said, and she waved airily and closed the door behind her.
Jeremiah snatched the phone up. Tingles still climbed his arm from where her fingers had traced lightly over his hand.
“Hello, Mr. Smith, room five-oh-seven?” The man’s voice sounded way too peppy than would be considered normal so early in the morning.
“Speaking.” He tucked the phone between his shoulder and his ear as he shambled toward the bed.
“This is Michael from the front desk. You have a package waiting for you here, delivered by a Miss Artemis.”
“Artemis? Really?”
“I’m only passing the message along, sir,” the man replied and sounded like he was smiling politely. That was the only time that he’d ever heard someone using that voice—thick and cloying like molasses, and usually as messy.
Jeremiah shook his head. “I’ll be right down to take it off your hands. I need to get some clothes on.”
“I await in anticipation, sir.”
He didn’t bother to reply to that as the line was still open but did have a few choice words for the man when the call disconnected. His irritation was perhaps excessive, but he didn’t feel quite in his right mind. She called it bliss and he called it confusing, but the fact remained that he needed to get his head back in the game. He donned a fresh set of clothes and stuck with the Polo shirt, jeans, boots and breezy attitude that would allow him to look normal to anyone who might notice him.
Hopefully, his ordinary appearance would safely obscure the fact that he had a combat knife in his pocket and a gun tucked in his belt. He really should have purchased an underarm holster from Max, he acknowledged as he stepped out of the room, locked the door, and made sure that the gun couldn’t be seen before he made his way to the elevators.
“Mr. Smith—so kind of you to come down at this early hour,” the clerk said. He was young with the slick look of a manager-in-the-making, and he withdrew a small manila package which he handed over without a word.
“Do I need to sign for it or anything?” Jeremiah asked as he took it from the man’s hand. He had an idea what it contained, but after what had happened the day before, he didn’t want to take any chances.
“No need for that, sir.” The polite smile was enough to make the operative grind his teeth. “The fact that it has been delivered into your hand is enough knowledge for me.”
“Well, thanks for your help, Michael from the front desk.” He pulled a twenty from his pocket and set it on the counter. The man stretched out a hand and the bill disappeared. Maybe he was a magician in the making but the possibility wasn’t of sufficient interest to ask. He turned away and headed to the elevators.
By the time Jessica had completed her shower, he stood outside the bathroom door with a small earbud in his hand and proffered it to her.
“What’s this?” she asked and squinted at the tiny piece of technology.
“Anja wants to hear from you.” He grinned and sauntered toward the bed.
“Don’t you think she would rather talk to you, considering that you’re the one running this mission?” she asked but inserted the device, nevertheless.
“Well, she would like to hear from all members of the team.” He nodded as if he’d said something impressive. “She’s tired of hearing me bitch about the state of the mission and talking about killing people and wanted a fresh perspective from your side. I think she wants to know if I’m stable enough to keep on this team or something, but that’s between us gals. And she managed to send us two earpieces this time.”
Jessica tossed her loofah at him, which he dodged deftly. “Asshole.”
Jeremiah didn’t respond and spoke to Anja instead. “Anja, Jessica is online now. Can we talk about what happened last night?”
“Nice to have you on this line, Jessica,” the hacker said. “How are you doing? Is everything okay?”
“Everything’s fine on this end,” Jessica said cheerfully. “How’s it going with you?”
“Well, night is starting to fall here, so I’m currently running on coffee and prayers at this point—not that I believe in the latter.” A low chuckle punctuated a slight pause disturbed only by an odd squeaking sound. “I’ve kept an eye on the local authorities. I managed to clear any digital evidence that you two were in the hotel, which leaves the police a little confused. Thankfully, they’re chasing their own tails as they make their way through most of your work. There weren’t any survivors from the gunfight, though—thanks for that, Savage—and no one noticed anyone coming in or out of the location. So, as far as the police are concerned, you two appear to be in the clear.”
“That is good news.” Jeremiah didn’t hide the surprise he felt. He wasn’t used to hearing good news in this endeavor, and small miracles had a way of making him feel better about the situation they were in.
“There is some more news, although I’m not sure what to make of it,” Anja continued. “As it turns out, Carlson was able to hire someone to piggy-back into our comms last night, which was how he knew there was a robbery in progress in his room and so knew to send his goons up armed and ready for a fight. I cleared it out, though.”
“Are you sure these comms are secure?” He had to ask the question, even though it might offend her. “I don’t mean to question your abilities or anything, but the guy in the lobby who handed them over to me was a little hinky.”
“Who, Mike?” she asked. “No, he’s a friend from college. He’s a little weird, but I’d trust him with my life. He’s solid, trust me on that.”
“Fair enough.” He dropped heavily onto the bed.
“Anyway, back on topic,” the hacker said pointedly. “I managed to track the system they used to hack my comms, and from there, I was able to track a couple of communications to and from Carlson’s men while he tried to figure out what was happening. If it makes you feel any better, it seems that we caught him by surprise, and he panicked somewhat when he realized that someone had broken into his room.”
Jessica nodded and from the grin on her face, Savage felt confident in his ability to speak for both of them on the topic. “Thanks, it does make us feel much better.”
“I thought it might.” Anja laughed. “Anyway, after the dust settled and they discovered what had happened, I saw that Carlson actually sent word to the teams in the field. It doesn’t seem that he’s told them to keep an eye out for the two of you—which makes sense since he doesn’t actually know what Savage looks like except for a quick sketch.”
“Wait.” Jeremiah pushed up from the bed and a troubled expression settled on his features. “We stole paperwork that could damage his efforts to keep his hands on his company, and he doesn’t have people rushing to get it back? That doesn’t strike you as the least bit suspicious?”
“Yes, actually,” she said, and he could hear the now familiar creak of her rocking back in her chair. “He can’t search the whole city for you, obviously, and he has to assume that you have gone to ground in an effort to avoid being located. That said, I didn’t think he would abandon the chase so quickly. But it’s there. They aren’t looking for you.”
“Call me crazy, but Carlson doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would let something like this go, right?” Jessica
interjected. “I never actually met him, but he didn’t come across as the kind of person who would let the reality that he was robbed of incriminating documents go. He would want to find them, right?”
“Unless he’s made the assumption that we aren’t the ones in possession of the documents that were stolen.” Savage rubbed absently at his jaw in the way he usually did when his mind worked hard. “Think about it. He has to assume that we would have sent these documents to Monroe and Anderson by now. That means he would play damage control.”
“So…what if he’s not simply pulled the people off the search for you two but has he’s set his dogs on Anderson and Courtney instead?” Anja asked.
“Isn’t the term ‘sicced his dogs?’” he asked.
“Both terms work,” Jessica replied irritably. “Anja, is there any way you could check? We shouldn’t act on hunches at this point.”
“I’m already on it.” A few minutes of tense silence passed while she worked her magic. Jeremiah was well aware that it went way beyond magic or simple skill. There were technical aspects to everything the woman did that came with a lot of work and knowledge gathered the hard way. It was human nature to take the work of someone who sat behind a desk for granted, especially when they weren’t actually visible to him.
It wasn’t easy, but he tried to make sure that he never fell prey to that particular cliché.
“I don’t know if this counts as evidence,” the Russian said finally. “I wasn’t able to break into their comms again, so I used something of a roundabout route—corporate records of the companies Carlson has used, to be precise. They checked out a group of SUVs and enough fuel to last them a while. There’s also a record of them drawing a small arsenal out of their weapons inventories.”