by Karen Rose
Like Michael.
Stella Brewer had said that Dani Novak was the only emergency foster provider who knew ASL. That made sense now, knowing that Greg Novak was deaf. The lack of spoken conversation between Greg and the two men as they’d walked the dogs also made sense.
He wasn’t sure how he’d use the information, but it was certainly worth considering. Especially if Greg and Michael were friends.
If the ‘platoon’ never went home, he’d need a way to draw Michael out of the house, and invitations from friends were a good way to do that.
Definitely something to consider.
Bridgetown, Ohio
Monday, 18 March, 2.30 A.M.
Diesel’s arms tight around her, Dani rested her head on his chest, luxuriating in the feeling of being held by this man who . . . loves me. Diesel loved her. She could see it in his eyes as he’d worshipped her with his body.
She’d always thought that ‘worshipping’ with bodies was a silly, trite phrase in old-fashioned wedding vows. But not anymore. She’d seen it with her own eyes. Diesel loved her. She’d wanted it to be true for her, too. It would be true, someday. She was already a little of the way there.
But one step at a time. She was here. In his bed. Her body was deliciously sore in all the right places, and she could hear the steady thumping of his heart against her good ear. She brushed her fingertips over the tattoo that started at his heart, covered his right pectoral, then wandered over his shoulder and down his arm.
At first glance it looked like a beautiful, swirling design that existed simply for its artistic merit alone. But now that she studied it up close, she could see that it was a combination of a number of designs, each one flowing into the next.
She lifted her head to kiss the Star of David over his heart. ‘Tell me about this.’
His chest rose, then fell as he took a deep breath. ‘It’s for my mother.’
Oh. ‘Is she . . .’ Dani hesitated. ‘Is she still alive?’
‘No. She died when I was fourteen. Car accident.’
She kissed the tattoo again. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘Thank you. She was . . . nice.’ He said nice with more than his usual gruffness.
Nice. There was so much left unsaid in that one little word. She’d come back to it later. They had time. She traced her finger from the memorial to his mother to the interconnecting designs on his pectoral. They were blocks from the periodic table, she realized with delight. Five of them – Dy, S, O, and N – surrounded by test tubes, beakers, an atom, and a molecule. ‘Who is Dyson?’
His lips curved and she relaxed. Clearly this was a better memory. ‘My high school chemistry teacher.’
‘Is he still alive?’
‘Yes. He’s one of the best men I know. I didn’t know men could be kind until I met Walt.’
Think of it as a mugging. Oh God, Diesel. Who hurt you? Her heart ached, but he was smiling now, so she smiled, too.
‘Do you still see him?’
‘Yep. At least once a year. Every New Year’s Day, I head back to Pennsylvania to visit him. The next day, I drop my backup drive into my safe deposit box. I’ve been doing that for a while now.’
‘Your backup drives. Do they have evidence of your . . . investigations?’
He lifted one brow, raising his head to look her in the eye. ‘I keep forgetting how smart you are.’
She gave him a wry look. ‘Flattery will get you everywhere, but I’m smart enough to know when you’re changing the subject. I’ll consider your answer a yes.’ She slid across his chest so that she could see the tats on his right shoulder.
He groaned softly as she pressed her breasts against him, grinding a little for maximum impact. ‘You’re mean, you know that?’
‘I thought I was smart,’ she replied tartly, and he laughed.
‘Touché, Dr Novak.’
The design on his shoulder was another blending of symbols. ‘A Celtic knot. For the Kennedys?’
‘For the O’Bannions. They’re more my family than my father ever was.’ His jaw tightened. ‘He walked out on my mom before I was born. Never knew him.’
She kissed his shoulder. ‘Then I’m glad you have the O’Bannions.’ She traced her finger along the lines of script that ran around his biceps like a barber pole. She peered closer. ‘Are these tiny little numbers?’
‘My first hacker code,’ he said, amused.
She smiled at him, watched his expression soften. Just like Stone’s did when he talked about Delores. ‘What did you hack?’ she asked.
He mimed zipping his lips shut, but she poked him in the side.
‘Seriously,’ she insisted. ‘I want to know.’
He drew a deep breath, as if bracing himself. ‘A government agency located in a special building with five sides.’
Her eyes widened. ‘You hacked into the Pentagon?’
He pressed a finger to her lips. ‘Shh. You can’t ever tell.’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you bullshitting me?’
He threw back his head and laughed. ‘God, I’m so glad you’re finally mine. No, I’m not bullshitting you. But I could get into so much trouble, so you can’t ever tell.’
Finally mine. He’d said the words in the throes of passion and it had been hot. But hearing him say them now, when they were simply enjoying each other’s company? Priceless. ‘How old were you?’
‘Seventeen going on fifty,’ he replied, growing serious. ‘I shouldn’t have done it. I was a punk with more book smarts than brains. I was headed for a life behind bars until Walt Dyson turned me around.’
Her throat tightened. ‘I’d like to meet him and thank him.’
Diesel looked a little nervous at that. ‘He wants to meet you, too.’
‘You told him about me?’
He nodded, still so serious. ‘I did. He could see that I was different. Sad. He wouldn’t let me leave until I’d told him why.’
She swallowed hard. ‘I’m sorry.’
Once again he pressed his finger to her lips. ‘Don’t be. This here – us – happened when it was right for you. You’re here now.’
She nodded, still feeling sorrow for the sadness she’d caused him, but he was right. She wouldn’t have been ready before. ‘I am most definitely here now.’ She continued her perusal of the tat covering his arm. ‘This looks like an army patch.’
‘Rangers.’
She blinked at him. ‘You were a Ranger?’
‘For a few years. Then I got shot up and sent home.’
When he’d taken the bullet meant for Marcus. The bullet that was still hanging around in his thoracic cavity. She slid back to lie against his side. He was covered in scars, some long and jagged and some short and neat. She’d seen similar scars on military vets she’d treated in the ER and in the clinic. ‘You were hit by shrapnel.’
‘Yeah. IED on the side of the road. Same story as so many others. We were thrown out of the Humvee and one of the guys in my platoon broke his neck.’ He swallowed hard. ‘He was conscious when they gutted him. I tried to get to him, but they were shooting at us. I had to lay down cover for the others.’
She traced the perimeter of the scar a few millimeters from the Star of David over his heart. It was round and puckered. A gunshot wound. ‘They got you.’
‘Yeah,’ he said gruffly. ‘I took another couple in my hip and thigh.’
Those bullets didn’t still reside in his body, though. ‘This was the one meant for Marcus.’
‘Yes. He was working on one of the other injured guys. I saw the gun pointed at him and . . .’ He blew out a breath. ‘We’d met in basic training. I was prepared to be alone for my tour. I trusted Walt Dyson, but nobody else. And then I met Marcus and he just . . . bullied me into liking him. I didn’t meet Stone till later, but he did the same. Just steamrolled right over me.’
/>
‘You couldn’t let Marcus get hurt. I understand that.’
He met her eyes once again. ‘I know you do.’ He let his head fall back to the pillow. ‘I woke up in the hospital and freaked.’
‘All the white coats,’ she murmured. ‘They became associated with your trauma.’ That explained so many things.
Except for the flicker of hesitation in his dark eyes. She opened her mouth to ask about it, but a phone alarm sounded from somewhere on the floor, and he stiffened.
‘That’s mine,’ he said as he extricated himself from her arms. He bent to retrieve his cell phone from his pants pocket and Dani hung over the side of the bed, enjoying the view.
‘Yes,’ he hissed gleefully when he’d checked his phone screen. He stepped into his boxer briefs and wiggled his butt as he pulled them up his body.
‘Oh, yes,’ she murmured, smiling when he turned to grin at her.
‘You were checking me out.’
‘I was, and no woman alive would ever blame me.’ She pointed to the phone. ‘Yes what?’
‘Ritz is finished. Sorry, but I need to check on the program I was running.’
Dani swung her legs off the bed, reluctant to leave their haven but knowing their respite was never going to last all night. They needed to get back to the boys, because all their friends needed to get home.
Shit. She’d forgotten to tell Diesel about Quincy’s visit. They really needed to get home. Scott King was out there, hunting Michael.
She pulled on her clothes, shaking her head over the ruined bra. But she couldn’t be sorry. That had been the hottest thing ever.
Well, except for the whole orgasm part. That was . . . exceptional. She tucked the tattered white lace into her purse as she walked through the kitchen.
She found him in his home office, bare-chested and typing madly on a keyboard. She started to admire his muscled chest, but found herself distracted by the hardware that filled the room.
‘I thought computers had gotten smaller,’ she said as she took in the stacks of . . . she wasn’t quite sure what. It wasn’t actually one big computer, just a lot of smaller computers stacked upon each other. There was a shelf of what looked like DVD players, next to four computer tower units, stacked in a two-by-two group. There were windows in the room, but they were covered with blackout shades. A whiteboard on the far wall was filled with what looked like gibberish. She wondered if it was code.
She hoped he wasn’t still hacking into the Pentagon, although it looked like he might have more computing power than the ‘special building with five sides’.
Diesel’s desk held three large monitors and three keyboards. He moved from one to another like a concert pianist, his fingers flying over the keys. One look at those big hands had her shivering.
He could do amazing things with those big hands. And she had the feeling she hadn’t experienced a fraction of what he was capable of doing.
He looked up and saw her studying his set-up. ‘Those are my servers. The four towers are mostly old units I don’t want to part with. I’m kind of a hoarder,’ he said with a shrug, then turned back to his monitor.
She squeezed behind his desk, leaning over his shoulder to see what he was doing. His screen was filled with columns of more gibberish. Combinations of letters and numbers that made absolutely no sense at all.
‘What is that?’
‘Hash,’ he said succinctly. ‘Encrypted passwords.’
‘Whose?’ she asked cautiously.
‘Lady of the River’s. That’s where Scott King works. These are the passwords of every casino employee. Including Scott King.’
‘How did you get their passwords?’
He looked over his shoulder at her. ‘I hacked in. That’s what I do.’
Her lips twitched, because he was so damn cute. ‘Okay. Did you find the password you were looking for?’
‘Yep,’ he said with satisfaction. ‘Ritz cracked the password hashes.’
It took her a second, then she snorted. ‘Your program is called Ritz and it’s a password cracker?’
He grinned. ‘Yeah. I thought it was hilarious when I programmed it, but I think there was beer involved.’
She laughed and kissed his shoulder. ‘I see. So what is Scott King’s password?’
He looked back at her, rolling his eyes. ‘GoodToBeKing666.’
She sighed. ‘Of course it is. What will you do now?’
‘I’m going to get his address, phone number, and every other piece of information the casino’s admin stores.’ His hand shot out to clasp her neck, pulling her face close. ‘But first I want to kiss you again.’
‘Please do,’ she murmured, then startled when his phone played a few bars of a song she couldn’t place.
He stiffened. ‘It’s Scarlett.’
Dani sucked in a breath. ‘The boys.’
‘Don’t worry yet,’ he said, then hit ACCEPT and pushed the speaker icon. ‘Scar? What’s up?’
‘You need to go outside right now,’ Scarlett said, her voice tense. ‘Stone’s out there somewhere in your yard. Scott King shot him.’
Diesel shot to his feet. ‘What the fuck?’ He shoved the phone at Dani. ‘Get the details. I’ll get dressed.’ He set off for his bedroom at a run.
Dani headed for the front door. ‘What happened, Scarlett?’
‘You’d just gone into Diesel’s house. Stone pretended to drive away, but he doubled back. He’d seen a vehicle tailing you all the way to Diesel’s and figured he’d investigate on his own.’
‘Stupid man,’ Dani muttered. ‘I’m on my way outside.’
‘You are not,’ Diesel declared. He’d put on jeans and a faded Bengals jersey and was shoving his feet into his boots. ‘King might be out there still.’
‘No, he’s not,’ Scarlett said. ‘He’s here.’
Both Dani and Diesel froze. ‘He’s where?’ Dani demanded.
‘King’s here, but don’t worry. He’s waiting outside. He thinks we don’t know, but we have it covered.’ She drew a breath. ‘Deacon’s here and he’s explaining everything to Michael. Just take care of Stone. He told Marcus that he already called 911, so help is on the way. Tell us how bad it is as soon as you know. Poor Delores is about to lose her mind.’ Scarlett hesitated. ‘He told Marcus to tell her that he loves her.’
Shit. Everyone knew that Stone loved Delores, but saying it that way made it sound dire. Diesel met her eyes and she could see that he’d assumed the same.
‘Okay. We’ll call you back.’ Diesel ended the call. ‘If I tell you to run, you run.’
‘I will. I promise.’ Diesel had already saved her life once. She wouldn’t ask him to do it again.
Nineteen
Cincinnati, Ohio
Monday, 18 March, 2.45 A.M.
Michael jerked awake. There were hands on him. His heart went into overdrive and he rolled away, his fingers finding the kitchen knife he’d hidden under the bed. He popped up into a crouch, ready to fight, his pulse thrumming hard in his head.
Nobody touches Joshua. Nobody. Breathing hard, the hilt of the knife firmly in his clenched fist, he stared at his attacker.
Who stared back out of the weirdest eyes Michael had ever seen. Each one was half brown and half blue. Mesmerized, Michael froze.
Then jumped when a hand shot out to grip his wrist, and that fast the knife was gone, taken from his hand. But it had been done gently, he realized.
And the man was signing to him. Fluently. ‘Easy. Just breathe. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m Deacon Novak.’ His fingers spelled the name with quick dexterity. ‘We met yesterday.’
Deacon Novak. Michael fell onto his ass, trembling, his brain waking up in a rush. Deacon was Dr Dani’s brother. But yesterday he’d worn sunglasses and now his eyes were uncovered. Whoa. She’d told him that her brothe
r’s eyes were stranger than hers. Damn, was she right.
Deacon was still signing. ‘Are you all right?’
Michael realized that he’d pressed his palm to his still-racing heart. He nodded. ‘What’s wrong? Where’s Dani? And Coach?’ He whipped around, his heart nearly stopping when he saw the bed was empty. ‘Joshua!’ he shouted, not caring how stupid he sounded when he voiced.
Deacon’s hand was on his shoulder. Still gentle. ‘He’s okay,’ the man said calmly. ‘He’s with my wife. Faith. She’s the redhead.’
‘Zeus and Goliath,’ Michael signed, his hands shaking. ‘Her dogs.’
‘Yes.’ Deacon’s mouth quirked up. ‘Goliath chews shoes, so be careful.’
Michael smiled slightly, his body coming down from the adrenaline rush. But only a little, because something was still wrong. He could see the worry in the man’s weird eyes. ‘Where are Dani and Coach?’
‘They’re helping one of our friends. Delores’s boyfriend, Stone.’
‘Wolfhound. Angel,’ Michael signed, his tension rising again. ‘What happened to her boyfriend?’
‘He was shot by the man who killed your stepfather.’
Michael sagged against the side of the bed. ‘He’s here? Looking for me? You have to get Joshua away from here. Keep him safe.’
‘We’re going to keep both of you safe,’ Deacon signed firmly. ‘Now I need you to pay attention. I need you to be calm. Can you do that for me?’
Michael closed his eyes for a brief moment and nodded. When he opened them, he saw that Deacon had extended his hand to help him up. ‘Come with me. I’ll explain as much as I can. But we need to hurry.’
Michael followed the man into the hallway, and Deacon shut the door. ‘I wanted you away from windows. You’re safe here.’
‘Where is Joshua?’ Michael demanded.
‘In the basement, eating cookies with my wife. He thinks they’re camping. He has no idea that anything’s wrong and we don’t want to scare him, okay? Can you fake not being scared?’
‘I don’t know,’ Michael said honestly, and Deacon smiled.
‘Fair enough. This is the situation. I’m telling you so that you’ll be prepared, and so you trust us. Okay? We just got a call from Stone. He’s at Coach’s. In his side yard, to be exact. He was shot about an hour and a half ago and hit on the head. When he came to, his phone was gone and he was too weak to move, but Stone’s a tough guy and I’m sure he’ll be fine. Dani’s taking care of him right now.’