by Ravenna Tate
“Is he neutralized?”
Rahab had never heard Vassago use that term before. He was more of a badass than anyone knew.
“Yes. And Donny is on his way home.”
“He only sent one man?” Vassago asked the question with humor.
“Looks that way. You two can leave now if you want.”
And that’s our cue.
As soon as they were off the property, Vassago called Liz. “I’m coming to pick you up early. I have a story to tell you.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me now.” Her teasing, sexy voice was music to his ears.
“No. Not on the phone. See you soon.”
“Tease.”
Vassago grinned after the call was disconnected. “This better not be all you tell her.”
“It won’t be.”
“About fucking time.”
“Fuck you.” Rahab found it amusing that after all that careful planning, the man sent here to kill Donny had never stood a chance.
“So it sounds like this guy knew about the sensors.”
“Probably tripped one. Animals do it all the time. The guards find them a pain in the ass because then they gotta go and check it out, but Donny insists on them.”
“I’m sure his neighbors love that.”
“He’s lived here a long time and knows all his neighbors. And besides, they don’t hear anything when the alarms are tripped. They go off inside the house only.”
“So if this guy tripped one, he didn’t know that until he saw bodyguards combing the woods.”
“Exactly. Then he found a spot to hide outside the property line.”
“You said earlier that the guy who killed Vito outside the Last Stop Saloon was a screw-up.”
“It was. Digger told me a story about that guy.”
“What did he say about him?”
“Let’s just say he’ll never work for anyone again. He wasn’t supposed to do that. He was supposed to get to Vito where no one would see it happen.”
“So what went wrong? I didn’t think assassins made such bonehead mistakes.”
“This guy was new and wanted to prove himself.”
“He fucked that up. You were pretty badass back there yourself. Ever think about a career as a hired hitman?”
Shivers ran down Rahab’s spine at the quick glance Vassago gave him. “What makes you think I never was one?”
Rahab raised his brows but said nothing. Vassago’s family had lived in both Creek Ridge and Brooklyn, New York, and for a short time after he finished high school, Vassago had gone back to Brooklyn and stayed with his relatives there. But could that be true? Is that what he’d done when he was living there?
There was a fucking lot more to their Treasurer than met the eye.
****
As soon as Rahab walked into the office, Liz’s heart raced. Something had happened. Something important. “Is there a place where we can talk in private?”
“Sure.” She led him to an empty conference room. “What’s going on?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t even know where to start.”
Liz leaned back in her chair. Was he here to tell her it was over? He looked nervous and sad at the same time. “Just tell me, Rahab.”
“You’ll hear about this later at the club, but I wanted to tell you in person, alone. Roberto di Stefano sent a man to Donny’s house to kill him.”
“Oh God! He’s dead?”
“No! No, he’s okay. He was in Columbus, Christmas shopping with his wife.”
“Jesus. Don’t do that to me. I almost had a heart attack.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. There’s no easy way to say something like that. Vassago and I were at the house when—”
“What? You were there?”
“Vassago had to drop off Donny’s cut, plus the Christmas gift the MC got him. I went with him ‘cause I was nosy and wanted to see Donny’s mansion.”
“What happened?”
“A guy was in the woods on the property next door, hiding in a tree, with weapons and night vision goggles. He had a straight shot into the master bedroom.”
“Oh my God, Rahab! How in the hell could that happen? I thought Donny’s property was like a fortress?”
“It is. He has these sensors everywhere that trip if you get near them. Vassago said even animals trip them. There are two dozen armed bodyguards that live in the house, and when a sensor trips, they go out to investigate. They think this guy tripped one, saw the guards run out, so he hid in the woods across the property line.”
“Well if it’s that easy, won’t it happen again?”
“Maybe. But Donny knows the risks he takes every day.”
“I assume they got this guy, then?”
“Yes. And they had me and Vassago hiding in a bunker in the basement, so we were never in danger.”
“Never in danger? What if di Stefano sends a whole team next time? What if he sends people to the club?”
He took her hands. “Liz, being able to kill someone without getting caught is all about secrecy. You have to blend in. It’s not like a SWAT team on a TV show, where the whole neighborhood knows what’s going on and someone alerted the media.”
“Vito was shot outside a crowded bar with people around.”
“That was a screw-up. Vassago told me that Digger said that guy will never do a job again.”
“Remind me again who Digger is?”
“Donny’s nephew. He lives in Brooklyn and is in the business. He was the one who called Vassago while we were at Donny’s house today, and warned him someone had been sent.”
“I wish I’d known all this.”
“Why? If I’d called and let you know, you’d have been here for hours, worrying, when there was nothing you could do.”
“Rahab, what if something had happened to you?”
“It didn’t.”
“When you care about someone, you want to know what’s going on in their lives.” Her pulse raced. This was the perfect segue to tell him how she felt, but now that the moment was here, she was terrified of his reaction.
“I know.” His voice was quiet, uncertain. He moved closer and brushed a hand along her face. “That’s why I’m here. Liz, I never felt this way about anyone before.”
“What? What way?” Was this real? He’d come here to tell her the same thing she’d been ready to say to him?
He laughed softly. “This way. Like I want to be with you for the rest of my life.” The eyes she loved so much went all soft, and Liz wanted to scream her happiness. “Like I want to share everything with you, and only you. Ever since I met you, I haven’t wanted anyone else.”
“Neither have I.” She had to blink back tears. Everything she’d fought against was gone. She only wanted Rahab, and hearing him say those words made her happier than she’d ever been.
“And listen. I support you going to law school one day. Hell, if you want to open up a practice I will support that. I’m not going to stand in the way of you having everything you want. I swear it on my life.”
“Oh…” No more excuses, Liz. He just said exactly what you needed to hear.
“What more do I need to say to convince you?”
“Nothing. Your word is good enough.”
“I’ve never said this to any woman. Liz, I love you. I am fucking head over heels crazy in love with you.”
Liz put a hand to her heart as the tears spilled over her lashes. “Really?”
“Yeah. Really.” His grin was her undoing. It always had been.
“I love you, too. I’ve never said it either. I’ve never felt this way.” She laughed. “I feel like I’m drunk!”
“Aren’t we a pair of idiots?”
“So what happens now?”
“What do you mean, what happens now? You agree to be my old lady, and we live happily ever after.”
Oh my God. This was real. She was about to become a biker c
hick! “Like in a fairy tale?”
“Yeah. Like in one of those fucking fairy tales.”
“Are you sure this is what you want, Rahab?” Because she was ready to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t dreaming.
“I’m more sure of this than I’ve ever been of anything.”
“Okay. Then I am, too. This is real. Yes, I will be your old lady. I will live in that fairy tale with you.”
“Yes!” He laughed again, stood and picked her up, then twirled her around in a circle until she laughed and cried, and begged him to put her down because she was dizzy. He kissed her, and everything else melted away. The fear at imagining him in Donny’s house with a killer hiding outside in the woods, and all the doubts she’d been carrying around for weeks.
Liz had no clue what would happen now with Donny and Roberto di Stefano, but she knew one thing with absolute certainty. She and Rahab would weather it together. She knew that she loved him, and he loved her. There was nothing else she wanted or needed for the rest of her life.
The End
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Other Books by Ravenna Tate:
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BONUS SAMPLE CHAPTER
TAKING PASSION BY STORM
The Weathermen, 6
Ravenna Tate
Copyright © 2015
Chapter One
Nadine Jarvis pushed away from her desk, shaking her head at the email she’d just read from Merrill Tabor, one of the Storm Troopers who lived on the Earth’s surface collecting data from the unpredictable and violent storms. She’d known him all her life because he and her father, Dixon Jarvis, had been best friends since second grade.
“It can’t be true,” she whispered, her heart racing. She moved toward the desk again, her fingers now damp, and refreshed the screen as if doing so would erase or alter the email she’d just read, but nothing changed. It still said her father had gone missing two days ago during a tornado in what used to be Seattle, Washington.
The email said the other Storm Troopers who had been with him were searching, but Nadine’s father had been doing this for almost seven years now. She knew what it meant when one of them was missing. It meant they had likely been swept away and there was little chance they’d be found alive.
Anyone over ten years old would remember living above the surface, and they knew what was going on now, including what usually happened to anyone who ventured up there. The Storm Troopers did what no one else wanted to do, and in the years since everyone had been forced underground, they had collected some useful data. But the work was slow because they were constantly seeking shelter from storms, and often couldn’t place their equipment where it needed to be in time.
Nadine knew it had always been a possibility her father would go missing or be killed, but that didn’t stop the panic or the heartbreak from creeping over her now, dark and sinister. She should call her mother, but Nadine didn’t think she could handle the inevitable questions, or the annoyance in Wendy’s voice.
Her mother had left the family when Nadine was fourteen, and had kept in touch sparingly over the years. She lived in SouthCentral and had gone back to her maiden name of Harris years ago. Nadine had no idea of the last time her mother had spoken to her father. They’d been divorced since Nadine was fifteen. Would Wendy even care that her ex-husband, and the father of her only child, was missing?
She rose from the desk and paced the room in her apartment that served as a home office, workout room, and her “I have no idea what to do with this so I’ll put it here for now” room. Moving in front of the window, she looked out over the fake sunrise on a Saturday morning, listening to the sound of fake birds.
Her view was mostly fir trees, but in the distance she had a glimpse of one of the many manmade lakes they’d incorporated into this underground city. Nadine had been out on a rowboat on that lake only once with her father, two years earlier, when he’d taken a break from storm chasing on the surface. That was the last time she’d seen him in person, though he kept in touch via email as often as possible.
Until three days ago. That was the last time she’d received an email from him.
When she’d heard through the grapevine that Damien Rivera of Rivera Construction, based two cities south in SouthWest, had fought for and obtained the rights from BrentCait Enterprises to build new and improved shelters for the Storm Troopers, she’d been thrilled because she knew it meant her father would be safer on the surface. He’d mentioned the new shelters in their last email, when he’d told her the construction would take a long time since working conditions on the surface weren’t exactly ideal or predictable.
Nadine returned to her desk and read the email from Merrill one more time, now noting that he had CC’d Ace Easton and Addison Carlyle. Nadine had never met Ace, but she knew who he was. She’d known Addison all her life because he and her father were good friends.
Ace, whose real name was Arturo Charles Easton, owned ACE Communications, lived in NorthCentral, and his parents were Brent and Cait Easton of BrentCait Enterprises. They had designed the underground cities beneath the USA during the nuclear war scare of 2072. Ace was the principal backer for the Storm Troopers, although Nadine knew that all twelve men who collectively called themselves the “Weathermen” contributed toward the teams.
Addison Carlyle lived here in NorthWest, and owned Carlyle Imports. His company acted as a distributor for the items that procurement teams, most of which Addison owned, retrieved from the surface. Unlike the Storm Troopers, who were up there to chase storms and collect data, the procurement teams went topside to find things for people with enough money or a great deal of desire.
They used the same shelters as the Storm Troopers, which was one of the reasons Damien had fought for new ones. He and some of the other Weathermen felt the Storm Troopers and procurement teams shouldn’t have to compete for them, and that any shelter either team was able to get to before being overtaken by a storm should be better equipped, and a lot larger.
In addition to her father telling her that building them was slow work because the workers themselves needed shelter during construction, he also said several dozen Storm Troopers had been assigned to stay with the construction teams to make sure they were safe, and knew what to do when a storm approached.
That was part of what had Nadine so rattled by this email from Merrill. Her father had been protecting one of those teams, and now he was missing. The email said the rest of the team had made it to a shelter but Dixon had not. It didn’t say why he had not made it inside.
Nadine wiped her tears away and emailed Merrill back, copying Ace and Addison on the email as well since she assumed Merrill wanted them in the loop. She thanked him for letting her know, and included her Internet phone number so she could be reached for updates at any time. He and Addison already had it, but this way she ensured that Ace would, too, just in case.
The most frustrating thing of all was that there was absolutely nothing she could do about this. Not one damn thing. The best people to look for him were already up there doing so. If anyone could find him, it was the Storm Troopers. This was out of her hands, and she hated that. She didn’t like feeling so damn helpless.
Nadine sat down to try to watch a movie, putting off the phone call she knew she had to make to her mother, but she couldn’t concentrate. Finally, she turned off the monitor and video system and called her mom, but it went to voice mail. Thank God!
“Hi, it’s me. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Dad has been missing for two days. I received an email from Merrill this morning. I’m going to forward it to you.” Why hadn’t she simply done that instead of making this awkward call? “I’ll let you know if I hear
anything else.”
Such news wasn’t the kind one normally left in a voice mail message, but she doubted her mother would think twice about this information. Nadine expected neither a phone call nor an email from her mother in reply.
She had just finished forwarding the email to her mother when the downstairs buzzer sounded. It made her jump because she hardly ever had visitors, and it was too early for mail delivery.
This building had a security camera in the lobby, so she turned it on and was dismayed to see Addison Carlyle standing there. A horrible thought occurred to her, and she had to blink back fresh tears as she pushed the buzzer to open the door. Was her father dead? Why else would he come to see her at home instead of calling or emailing?
She took several deep breaths and had managed to hold back her tears by the time he knocked on the door. Nadine opened it, totally unprepared for the sight of Addison Carlyle again, up close and personal. She never was prepared for it. At a time when the only man on her mind should be her father, Addison still took her breath away.
She always had the impression the man hadn’t aged in all the time she’d known him. Well, except for that hint of gray at his temples, which only served to make him even more gorgeous. Dark, slightly wavy hair, big brown eyes that held her gaze with a combination of interest and sympathy, plus a face that still haunted her dreams. He also could use a shave, which only fed her imagination as she pictured rubbing her own face against that stubble. “Addison … hi there.”
Wow. Could you sound anymore like a damn lovesick teen if you tried?
“Did you find my father?”
Addison shook his head. “No. May I come in?”
“Of course.” Nadine stepped aside, relief flooding through her that there was still hope her dad was alive. “I’m sorry. I’m a bit flustered right now. I just found the email from Merrill.”