Chapter Ten
“Not a w-word?” Thallium asked Adamantium and scrubbed his hand over his face. “Not a clue leading to anywhere?”
“Sorry, man.” Ant gestured at his monitor. “Their firewall is tight. If I push any harder, it’ll expose our location.”
“What about through the underground channels?”
“They’re all looking for her too. Wherever WITSEC placed her, it’s secure and no one’s talking.”
“What about her son, Eddie?”
“The blast damaged his spine, paralyzing him from the waist down. He’ll live. Maybe even walk again, but he’s underground, too. Whatever plan he stopped has placed a bounty on his head.”
Fuck.
It had been five days since he last saw Athena and it was when she had been rolled out of the operating room and into recovery. A bullet had ripped through her thigh, and two others had hit her in the back of the vest. Fortunately, the fall from the bridge had only caused a few bruises and a mild case of whiplash. The fact she survived at all was a fucking miracle.
Then she disappeared and his nightmare had begun anew.
Three minutes. For three minutes he had left her alone in her room to get an update from Steele. The doctors and nurses claimed to know nothing and hospital records had been scrubbed of her existence.
But he’d bet his left nut that Agent Rodriguez knew where she was. She claimed to be just as surprised as he was but in her eyes he saw she had Athena and she was not going to give her up.
“The second I hear anything,” Ant said, “I’ll let you know. I promise. Believe me. I’ve been there.”
“Thallium,” Steele interrupted from the entrance of Ant’s office. “Titanium wants to see you. Now.”
Thallium slapped Ant on the shoulder twice in thanks for the effort and headed toward Titanium’s office with Steele right on his ass.
“P-personal escort? Flattered.”
“I’m insurance. He doesn’t trust you like he used to.”
If that little dig was supposed to hurt him in any way, the boss man was going to be sorely disappointed.
And if Titanium also thought he was going to be polite, he was dead wrong on that too. Thallium knew why he was being called into the principal’s office, so he walked right in without knocking.
“What?” he asked upon entering.
“Don’t ‘what’ me,” Titanium snarled. “Sit your ass down.”
Thallium folded his arms over his chest and stayed where he was. “I am sitting.”
“So now you’re acting like a child? Sit down. And I can hear you rolling your eyes.” Once Thallium was settled, the boss started in. “What the fuck were you thinking? It was one thing to kidnap a witness from custody, but you took her from us as well.”
“I told you. Information was compromised. The fewer people who knew her location, the better.”
“Is that right? Or maybe you just wanted an excuse to be alone with a woman and get your rocks off? Have you been that hard up?”
In an instant, Thallium was on his feet with his fists clenched. Only Titanium’s guide dog, Annie, stopped him as she jumped between him and the desk with teeth bared and hackles raised.
For a long while, he had a stare down with the dog until his heart rate slowed and he relaxed his fists. With one cautious step after another, he made his way to Titanium’s desk, then leaned close enough to smell the coffee on his commander’s breath.
“Do not ever,” he began in a slow, deep tone, enunciating every word to avoid his stutter, “disrespect what we had. I will tear you apart.”
Titanium cocked his head and behind his dark glasses, his unseeing eyes flicked back and forth. “Is that how it is?”
“Yes. I will hunt for her for the rest of my life.”
“I see.” He sighed and waved for him to retake his seat. “That still doesn’t explain why you lost your tracker, and how. Or the car you’ve got hidden away and God knows what else you’ve been hiding.”
“Does it matter? I’ve done my job.”
“It’s for your safety that we know your location at all times.”
“No. It’s for your peace of mind and paranoia. The fear of one of us dying or turning has you so jacked up, your trust is shot to hell. We are not going to betray you. And when have I not followed an order?”
“Once,” he rasped.
The air stilled and for a moment Thallium was back in a makeshift hospital room in Russia. Titanium had just come out of surgery. Surgery, hell, Civil War soldiers probably had had it better than what Titanium went through. Experience with his type of injuries was limited and supplies were even more so. The morphine had long run out when Titanium had called for Thallium to approach his bed.
When he was within reach, Titanium had latched onto his arm and brought Thallium’s hand up to squeeze around his throat.
“End it,” he had wheezed. “End it.”
It was a moment Thallium was certain his commander would refuse to speak of again. To have him do so now was both a surprise and spoke of how far his commander would go to manipulate him.
“If I had,” Thallium said as he blinked away the memories, “we wouldn’t be having this conversation. And you wouldn’t be here, b-bitching me out when what you really want to do, as you so nicely put it, is get your rocks off with the woman who is right now preparing your nightly b-bubble bath. But you are too much of a chicken shit, so here we are. You’re welcome.”
“You’re an asshole, Thall. And full of shit. But the bottom line is you disobeyed orders, put the mission in jeopardy, and now there’s a bunch of federal agencies wondering who the fuck we are. And now I hear you’re poking at a hornet’s nest looking for Athena Argyris. Until I kill some of this noise, you’re grounded. No going out, no asking Ant for help, no secret modes of transportation. You will keep your ass in your quarters until I say so.”
Thallium snorted so hard he hurt his nostrils, but he kept his trap shut. Titanium reminded him of an overbearing father and was asking the unreasonable, but anything Thallium said would roll off the man as if he were made of Teflon. If anything, his commander should know he was going to do whatever he wanted. But he could play the game as good as Titanium.
“Anything else, P-pops?”
“Get the hell out of my office.”
“Yes, sir.” He stood and gave a salute he knew Titanium couldn’t see before storming out of the office.
On the other side of the door Mercury and Tin waited, both staring at him with shit-eating grins.
“An escort? Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Be a good boy,” Tin replied. “And maybe I’ll sneak you some dessert later. If you’re conscious.”
Whatever.
By the time they made the long walk back to his quarters, he already had nine different escape routes planned. The only question remaining was whether he should risk getting his Camaro. The journey would be a lot more bearable ensconced in his baby with the V-12 sending vibrations through his hands.
He didn’t bother saying a word to the oddball squad and marched straight into his quarters. He grabbed a duffel from the closet and a stack of cash he had hidden under the false bottom of the drawer where he stashed the dishtowels in the kitchen. He then dashed to his bedroom, only to draw up short at the sight that greeted him.
“Where have you been?” Athena asked. “Is this what it’s like living life with a military man? A girl can get awfully lonesome.”
He was dreaming. He had to be dreaming. His queen could not be lounging in his bed in a black silk nightie with her injured leg propped up on a stack of pillows.
“I don’t understand,” he mumbled.
“Obviously, there are some people who are very determined to kill me. No one is sure yet when the next trial will be, so until then, Melinda knew I would need a special place to hide. She arranged with your—uhh—boss man for me to stay here. I hope you don’t mind sharing your place for a while.”
“How long is a while?” Did he dare hope?
She batted her lashes. “How does ‘indefinitely’ sound to you?”
Relief hit him so hard, he swayed on his feet. “Like heaven.”
He rushed to the bed, but concern for her health tempered the urge to jump by her side.
“How are you? Any p-pain?”
“I’m sore, but the medication is awesome.” Her smile faded. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.”
“Then what are you doing just standing there? I need to be worshipped by my big, bad, marshmallow of a Marine.”
“Worship?” He gingerly knelt on the mattress and cradled her in his arms as if she were made of the most delicate glass. “I want to do more than worship. I want to inhale you. Spoil you. Love you. If you’ll let me.”
“You keep looking at me that way, you can do whatever you want.” She raised her hand and ran her fingertips over his cheek as her eyes filled with tears. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
“I would have found you. Somehow, some way, I would have tracked you to the ends of the earth.” He placed a tender kiss to her lips. “You are my queen.”
“Will I still be your queen when I hit menopause, and I start to get gray hairs on places other than the top of my head?”
He barked with laughter and pulled her in closer. “Even then.”
“And what about them?”
“Them?”
“Uh-huh.” She pointed in the direction of the front door. “Them.”
“Ah. Well, they own my loyalty and my service, but my mind, body, and soul belong entirely to you.”
“Good. Because I belong to you, too. I love you, Timothy.”
“I love you, too,” he whispered. “And I’m ready to serve you as you see fit.”
Love and exhaustion curled her lips. “Hmmm, then I command you to hold me tight, kiss me lots, and bring me chocolate.”
“Done. Now sleep, my queen.”
“Say it,” she said with a smile. “I love the way you say it.”
“P-p-please.”
With a giggle, she snuggled into the crook of his body and nestled in the safety of his arms where he watched over her during the night, and every night thereafter for the rest of their lives.