So far, he’d adhered to the man’s wishes, but at some point, he was going to need to go out there. He knew it, and Luke knew it.
“I’m going out in a few minutes,” he said and crossed the distance to Luke.
“Yeah?” Luke rasped.
“Yeah.” He dropped to one knee and brushed the hair back from Luke’s forehead. “Infinity is twenty minutes out.”
The man tiredly held his gaze and then slowly nodded.
“Don’t worry, I got this,” he said, and cupped the side of Luke’s neck.
“I have no doubt,” Luke whispered and then winced.
The man’s breathing was raspy and shallow, and even in the dim light of Dillon’s phone, Luke’s face shone pale. He didn’t worry about the light being seen from the outside, the whole bunker was made of concrete and the lookout hole had been designed to keep any light from escaping.
“Do what you do best,” Luke whispered.
“What’s that?”
“Kick their fucking asses.”
“You mean lose my temper?” He gave a teasing smirk.
“And then some.” Luke gave him a weak smile in return.
“If you insist.” It took everything in him to keep his tone light, to not let on how fucking worried he was.
Luke closed his eyes and Dillon drew back, checking his weapon. He still had a full clip. After another moment when Luke seemed to have dozed off, he moved back to his post.
He sat on the small wooden seat next to his lookout and shined his cellphone light on his fingers. He kept his body angled away from Luke. The hand was so swollen that the knuckles had all but disappeared. The skin was scraped and broken. The piercing throb that had started when he lowered Luke down the rope hadn’t eased.
“You sure you have to go out there?” Luke rasped, coming out of his doze.
He flashed his phone on his own face and gave the man a crooked grin.
“What? Don’t trust me?”
He swiveled the light to Luke. The man’s eyes glittered.
“With my life.”
“Good, because I need to go out there.”
Luke’s mouth drooped.
“I have to lay down some ground cover for the helicopter.”
“This is the Maricopa County Sheriff’s department. I won’t ask again. Throw down your weapons and come out!” the bull horn sounded again.
“Idiots,” Dillon groused.
“They’re just doing their job.”
“Liam called their office and told them to stand down. They’re going to get themselves killed,” he growled and turned away.
“Wait.” Luke’s voice drew him to a stop again. “One kiss, please. And then I’ll never ask for anything again.”
Dillon jerked as if slapped and then could have kicked his fucking self.
“Luke.” He hurried forward and dropped to his knees on the wood floor before he cupped the man’s face. “I love you.”
Luke blinked as if he didn’t understand the words, so Dillon leaned in and kissed the man on the lips. A slow, aching kiss full of every bit of love he could give.
“I love you,” he said again as he drew back. He couldn’t see the expression in Luke’s eyes because his light was off, but he could just make out those big eyes locked on his face. He waited, a lump growing in his throat. Did Luke believe him? Or was it too late?
“Dillon?”
“Yeah?”
“Our life together will never be boring.”
He choked on a soft laugh and agreed, “Never.”
“Hurry back,” Luke whispered.
Dillon took a deep breath.
“Listen…If I don’t come back. Stay right here. Infinity will come find you.” It took everything inside of him to get the words out evenly. Standing, he walked toward the hidden entrance.
“Dillon?” Luke hissed.
“Yeah?” He glanced over his shoulder. Luke had turned on the cell phone light and was shining it into his face.
“Please come back.” The light swung back to Luke’s face.
“That’s the plan.” He tipped his head and held the man’s beautiful gaze for a long moment before he turned away one last time.
It was a ten-foot small space he had to move sideways through to get to the entrance of the hiding spot. Reaching the slat that was actually a door, he eased it open and then closed it. With his eyes accustomed to the dark, he could easily see the deserted inside of the outbuilding.
Cocking his head, he closed his eyes and concentrated on the sounds of the ranch. Listening for any perp who might be close, he tried to keep his mind off Luke bleeding out behind him.
He figured it was going to take him five or so minutes to get to the landing pad, maybe longer if any suspects got in his way.
Slipping out the door of the outbuilding, he shut it firmly. This was the most important mission of his life.
Lifting his weapon, he stalked through the darkness, ready to kill.
Silently daring anyone to stop him.
Dillon
Fuck. They’d disabled the one truck he thought he could use as a distraction. He’d thought to lead them after him while the unit landed behind the house.
Easing back out of the driver’s door, he crouched low and made his way to the side of the truck bed.
Two men were standing near the barn about fifteen feet from him. The bright glow of a cigarette lit up one man’s face.
Dillon didn’t overthink, he lunged through the darkness. When he reached both men, they had no chance to react. He leaped and kicked one guy in the chest, but his kick was high and his foot landed in the guy’s throat. The perp’s gun flew out of his hand. The guy was probably dead before he hit the ground.
When Dillon landed, he swung his other leg out and caught the next guy, aiming for the guy’s semi-automatic rifle, but the guy jerked it up and Dillon’s blow glanced off the guy’s shoulder.
His aim was far off, damn it. Dillon dodged forward, cradling his hand against his chest, and sent a snap kick into the man’s chest. This time hitting the guy’s hand around the gun.
The perp slammed to the ground and his rifle smacked the dirt. The man rolled and came up, tossing a pile of dirt and leaves into his face. Bits of dust burned his eyes as he lunged forward.
Keeping the noise down was key, and the guy seemed to sense it.
“Hey!” the perp yelled, slapping a hand around for his fallen weapon.
Dillon was on him. It was the last word the man ever uttered. Coming in low, Dillon grabbed the guy in a chokehold and took him to the ground. Laying on his back with the guy’s back to his chest, he squeezed with his arm and then pulled with his opposite hand. It took him just under four seconds to snap the guy’s neck.
With a shove, he released the perp and rolled up into a crouch. Spitting into the dirt, he wiped the sweat from his brow, and pulled his weapon from where it was tucked into his pants.
A helicopter drawing closer could be heard in the distance and he raced through the darkness toward the landing pad.
Liam: We good?
Dillon: No! I can’t tell.
Liam: We’ll land to the north of the front gate.
Dillon: Roger.
The chopper stopped well clear of the landing pad and toward the front gate. He imagined the remaining perps were rethinking their strategy. While the one man in the house had probably been an assassin for hire, none of the other men he’d encountered had anything near the first guy’s fighting experience.
He hoped to god they just went quietly so he could get Luke to a doctor. He ran, reaching a broken-down tractor to the north of the front gate that Luke swore he was going to get fixed. Now, though, Dillon was glad for the cover the eyesore provided.
Taking shelter near the massive rusted metal, he waited for the team.
Infinity leaped from the chopper in full tactical gear. Dillon flashed a signal from his phone and through the darkness, the unit raced toward him.
Maddox and Riv
er reached him first, and River handed him a bandana for his face.
He tugged it over his mouth and tied it at the back. Blade held out a bulletproof vest and he yanked it on just as Colonel Liam Cobalt reached him. Behind the colonel came Ethan and Zane. He was surprised to see Zane. He thought the man was still on leave. The only one missing was Isaac.
He figured Liam made up for the empty spot. It wasn’t normal to have Liam on a mission, but with Luke being the colonel’s best friend, this was different.
“I thought Fury came with you?” He took the semi-automatic weapon from Oliver when he and Pia reached him.
“Fury wanted to be dropped a few yards out.” Liam didn’t look happy about it.
Dillon almost laughed. He could picture Spencer, Link, and Eagle repelling from the chopper and stalking through the night like animals hunting prey. He didn’t feel one ounce of pity for the bad guys in or around the ranch house.
“Where’s Luke?” Liam asked.
“He’s hidden in one of the outbuildings.”
Maddox barked out orders and nobody argued.
“Blade, Ethan, and Zane. You three canvas the two barns on the property. River and Pia, connect your coms to Fury’s and assist them with the house. Liam, Oliver, and Dillon are with me,” the captain said. “We’ll go retrieve the general.”
“This is your last chance! Drop your weapons and come out peacefully,” the bull horn sounded.
“What the fuck?” Maddox turned a narrowed gaze toward the gate.
“Yeah, they’ve been doing that roughly every fifteen minutes.” Dillon grimaced.
“Somebody’s head is going to be on a pike,” Liam growled.
Maddox handed him a communication device and Dillon tucked it inside his ear. The familiar chatter of his team and Fury came over the waves and went a long way to settle his nerves.
“We need to hurry, I’ve been away from Luke too long,” he barked into the mic.
Maddox tossed him a strange look when he used the general’s first name, but Dillon didn’t give a fuck.
A bullet hit the side of the tractor and they ducked. Racing back the way he’d come, he didn’t even look behind him to see if Liam, Oliver, and Maddox were on his ass.
He knew they were, just as he knew whatever perps remained would either be apprehended or dead before too much longer.
When they reached the outbuilding, he ducked inside.
Maddox and Oliver stood guard, semi-automatics gripped in their gloved hands, and he knew nobody would get through.
Pushing open the hidden door, Dillon scooted sideways through the opening with Liam on his ass until he reached the small room.
He stepped into the opening where he’d left Luke.
Luke
The only thing he regretted was that he didn’t have a gun, because then he’d be able to shoot anyone who came through the door.
Well, unless it was Dillon. Then he’d want a kiss.
Sudden nausea made his mouth water and his stomach rolled. Turning his head, he heaved, spitting up, and he felt someone holding the back of his head.
Gasping, he blinked open his swollen eyes and found himself staring at a metal puke pan. The sheets beneath the pan were so white they were blinding, or maybe that was the overhead lighting.
“Someone turn off the fucking lights,” he moaned and slumped back onto the hospital bed.
The light immediately dimmed and that was when it all came back to him.
Dillon and Liam had come barreling into the small hidden room.
He’d been on the floor where Dillon had left him.
“Did you kill them?” he demanded.
Dillon laughed, the sound so attractive that Luke could only stare.
“Not yet,” Dillon husked.
Luke wanted to smile, but he was sure it came out as a grimace. “What’s going on?”
“The cavalry has arrived.” Dillon reached his side and bent down.
Dillon didn’t give him any time to protest before those strong arms were closing around him and he was gently lifted upright.
He was panting by the time he got his feet beneath him.
He spotted Liam over Dillon’s shoulder.
“Bout time you got here.”
“Whatever, old man.” Liam’s voice had been filled with teasing relief.
Liam held out his arms for him, but Luke shook his head.
“I’ve got all the help I need right here.”
Dillon huffed when he gripped him tightly.
“How do you feel?” Liam’s voice drew him back to the room.
“Like dog shit.”
He drifted out again and didn’t wake until another day had passed. Each day, Liam came to see him and on the fifth day, he felt strong enough to sit up. Raising the bed via the controls, he finally asked his questions.
“Did they get them?”
“Yeah, every single perp except for the guy who hired them.”
“It’s Eric and some loan shark,” he said groggily.
“Dillon told me,” Liam said
He gazed over Liam’s shoulder and then around the room. It stood glaringly empty of Dillon, and Luke rubbed at the ache in his chest.
“He’s busy.”
“Who?” he groused.
“Don’t give me that ‘who’ bullshit.” His friend cut right through his deflecting.
He toyed with the IV in his arm.
“Stop that,” Liam said and sat in the chair next to the bed. “You’re going to make a full recovery, but I’ll be honest. It was touch and go on the table. Your pressure dropped and the doctors had to postpone removing the bullet for a few days.
“How many days have I been here?”
“This is day seven.”
“Where’s Dillon?”
“It’s classified.”
He snapped his teeth and glared, but Liam didn’t look away.
He wanted to ask if Dillon had been here, but he didn’t want to come off as needy. Besides, what if Dillon hadn’t meant his declaration of love?
Now that was just stupid thinking. He groaned inwardly and chalked up his sudden loss of nerves to his injury. Grow a fucking backbone, he ordered silently and glanced toward the window.
On the windowsill with the majestic scenery of the Arizona sky as a backdrop sat a vase made of spun glass. The glass held the stem of a sparkling, gold-dipped rose. It was stunningly beautiful and his breath caught.
No way in hell had Liam brought him that. He turned and smiled at his friend.
“Feeling better?” Liam’s eyebrow lifted.
“Much. Where’s my cell phone?”
“Lost. Probably back at the outbuilding.”
Damn it. “Call Dillon for me.”
“I will, but there’s someone who wants to see you first,” Liam said with a short nod toward the door.
He glanced toward the door to find a very scared Eric. The young man was wearing a hoodie and blue jeans with high top sneakers and looked so very young.
“Hey, Dad.” Eric’s throat bobbed.
He held out his hand and his stepson rushed across the room to the edge of his bed and hung onto his hand like it was a lifeline.
“I’m so sorry,” Eric half sobbed. His stepson sank into a chair at the side of his bed and placed his head down on the top of his hand.
“It’s okay,” Luke murmured, hushing the boy. He smoothed a trembling hand over Eric’s head. If this straightened the boy out, then to Luke, it had all been worth it.
Eric lifted his head, his face blotchy, and leaned up to hug him.
A pinch of pain in his side was worth having his son back.
“I’m entering a program.”
“You are?”
Liam stood and slipped out the door.
“Yeah, Dillon suggested it.” Eric launched into details about the place Dillon had suggested.
His chest felt warm and tingly that Dillon had stepped up for Eric when he didn’t have to.
“He
says we’re alike. We both got tempers, but he’s going to show me how to work through mine. Isn’t that cool?”
“He’s the best man for the job,” Luke agreed.
He couldn’t think of anyone better than Dillon to help a young man work through his anger.
“I need a favor,” he told his son.
“Anything.”
“Go buy me a cell phone.”
Dillon
“I want him dead,” the Secretary of Defense growled over the conference call in a secure, top secret location.
“What if we can get him to change his ways?” Captain Maddox Stone responded. Maddox was always the good guy. If it were up to Dillon, he’d shoot the guy dead and not lose a wink of sleep.
The cops were satisfied with the arrests they’d made at Luke’s ranch, and one of the men took the fall as the ring leader. So, it wasn’t like they could prove the loan shark had ordered the hit on Rhine
Dave gave a heavy sigh. “Then he lives, but you make it very clear what will happen if he steps out of line even once.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Dillon?”
“Sir?”
“Take the shot if he gives you any shit.”
“I will.”
Dave hung up and Dillon was faced with several surprised expressions.
“Luke is with me,” he stated.
“Enough said,” Maddox responded and looked around the room.
Infinity and Fury nodded as if a collective whole.
It took them a day to plan and get the job done.
Dillon didn’t take another deep breath until the mission was completed and he and the rest of the team were sitting in a black SUV barreling through the night.
“That went better than expected,” he said, pulling off his bandana.
Holden snorted and gazed out the window of the vehicle. The man had been even quieter since returning from Beckett’s place for this mission.
Link, on the other hand, had no problem responding. “I thought the guy was going to shit himself when we showed up in full tactical gear.” Link grinned across from him.
“No, no! Wait,” Oliver laughingly chimed in from beside him. “The best part was when Dillon pulled his weapon and shoved it against the guy’s temple.”
Whatever It Takes (Code Of Honor Book 5) Page 16