Raze found Jax pounding on a punching bag in the basement. His movements were fluid and fast . . . and his strikes were aimed to kill instead of subdue. “Jax.”

Jax stopped and turned, sweat rolling down his face. “Where’s Vinnie?”

“Tied up.” Raze hadn’t regained his full strength after having the fever, and he knew it. But he was fast, and his training for the military matched Jax’s. If they fought to the death, it’d be close. Hell, they might both die. “I told her I wanted to speak with you alone. Where’s Lynne?”

“Sleeping. She’s working too hard.” Jax rolled his neck. He’d left his hands and knuckles bare for his boxing session, and they were already turning purple.

“You’re one tough bastard,” Raze murmured.

Jax lifted an eyebrow. “What’s it going to be? You telling me all, trying to kill me, or leaving?”

“Are those my only three options?” Raze drawled, his body settling.

“Yes.”

Raze leaned against the doorframe. “How about option four?”

“Go on.”

“I leave tonight, do the mission I’d intended, and then return tomorrow?” Raze lifted his chin. “Then we go on, and I serve Vanguard and its people.” It shocked him how much he wanted to do just that. Wanted to belong and find a place in this new world for himself.

Jax shook out his scarred right arm. “I want to read the letter. Lynne said Vinnie found it.”

Raze nodded and reached into his back pocket to draw it out. He handed it to Jax.

Jax slowly unfolded the worn paper and read, his expression revealing nothing. Finally, he refolded the note and handed it back to Raze.

“Well?” Raze asked, shoving it in his front pocket.

Jax struck with a right cross, followed up by a left to the gut.

Pain exploded in Raze’s face and torso. He bent over and grunted, instinctively lifting with an uppercut that jerked Jax’s head back with an audible snap.

Jax kicked Raze’s knee in a sweep, ducking as Raze aimed a punch for his temple.

Raze roared as agony split his knee and jumped Jax in a tackle, tumbling them both to the mat. They rolled, both punching, both trying to find leverage with their feet.

The fight lasted nearly thirty minutes. Neither tried for a kill shot, but pain remained on the table, and both men were more than willing to cause it.

At some point, Tace and Sami entered the room. Tace blocked the door, his gaze intent, watching them. Sami slid to the floor, her legs extended, and munched on what smelled like popcorn. A few times Raze could see her wince, but she didn’t make a move to stop the fight.

Raze leaped backward to his feet, his vision fading, his muscles protesting. Jax jumped up and rushed him.

At that point, Tace stepped between the two men. “Enough.”

“Get the fuck out of the way,” Jax snapped, punching around Tace to hit Raze in his aching jaw.

“Yeah.” Raze pivoted and bent his leg, kicking around Tace.

“Stop it right this second!” Lynne Harmony yelled from the doorway. She ran inside and wedged herself between Tace and Jax.

Raze stilled. He couldn’t hurt the little scientist. Small hands grabbed his shirt and yanked him back. He turned and looked down at Vinnie. “How the hell did you get free?”

The promise to kill him all but glowed in her eyes. “Lynne dropped by to see how our talk went.”

“I need to get a lock for the damn door.” Raze wiped sweat and blood off his chin. Now that he’d stopped moving, his entire body throbbed in agony. There wasn’t a square inch of him that wasn’t bruised or battered. “How about the scientists get the hell out of here, and we finish our talk, Jax?”

“Damn good idea.” Jax walked right into Lynne, forcing her to back toward the doorway.

She planted both hands on his chest, seeming not to care about the blood and sweat. “I am not leaving.”

Vinnie nodded vigorously. “You tell him, sister.”

Jax looked over his shoulder at the profiler. “I’m glad you two have bonded. Now go mind your own damn business.”

Lynne poked him in the chest. “You are my business.”

Vinnie cleared her throat but didn’t move an inch. “This entire situation is my business, considering the Mercenaries are willing to kidnap women and blackmail soldiers in order to get me. The question is, why do they want me?”

Raze paused. He’d spent more than one sleepless night trying to figure that out. “You were with the president for weeks. Maybe the Mercs think you have information.”

“What info—” Tace asked, turning around. “The Bunker. Everyone is looking for the Bunker, and it’s not unthinkable to believe the president knows where it is. He did travel from DC to Nevada. Maybe visiting LA was just a pit stop to acquire Lynne, and then he planned to move to his prime objective. Perhaps he’s heading to the Bunker.”

Raze’s shoulders settled. His lower back hammered with pain. “Are we done fighting?” He looked over Vinnie’s head.

Jax glanced over his shoulder. “I could go a few more rounds.”

“Me too,” Raze drawled.

Sami shoved off the mat. “Enough testosterone. You both have big dicks—let’s stop comparing them.”

“They both are big dicks,” Tace said.

Sami grinned. “Yeah. That.”

Raze looked down at Vinnie. “I told you to stay in the apartment.”

Pain rippled up his shin. He blinked and looked down. She’d kicked him. His mouth dropped open.

She put both hands on her hips.

“Vinnie,” he murmured.

Pain. Sharp and right in the same spot. She’d kicked him again. He moved into her, his hands wrapping around her elbows and lifting.

“Wait a minute.” Jax sighed. He shook out his hand, and blood sprayed. “Everyone needs to cool off before we deal with the personal shit. Put the shrink down, Shadow.”

Raze’s shoulders tightened, and he met the Vanguard leader’s gaze evenly, keeping his hands where he damn well wanted them. “I’ll deal with my woman as I see fit, Mercury.”

“Your woman? I don’t think so.” Vinnie’s gasp should’ve warned him, but he was too busy playing chicken with Jax. She moved, just enough to jerk her knee up, and his balls exploded. He dropped her and bent over, gasping for air and trying not to puke. Bile rose in his throat, and his intestines spasmed right up through his gut.

Fury swept through him so quickly he forgot, very briefly, about the pain.

Vinnie sprang into action, turning and running full bore for the stairs.

He moved to follow her, and Jax stopped him with one hand planted on his chest.

“She kneed me in the nuts,” Raze growled, his voice a little wheezy.

Jax snorted. “I saw. The doc has a mean streak.” He glanced at Lynne. “Go make sure she’s okay, and meet us in the conference room with the ridiculous table in fifteen minutes.”

Lynne’s brow furrowed, and she looked from Jax to Raze and then back again. “I can’t let you guys kill each other.”

Raze’s body pulsated with the need to go after Vinnie and let the beast living deep down inside him loose. The rational part of him, the civilized man he’d tried to become, whispered to calm down before he found her. Fuck reason. He shoved against Jax.

Jax returned the shove, and Raze braced his back. “We’re going to shower, and then we’re going to have a calm meeting about how to deal with the Mercs,” Jax said through gritted teeth.

Raze shifted his shoulders, fully intending to punch the Vanguard leader in the head again.

Tace clapped both hands, edges in, on Raze’s biceps. Pain ricocheted deep. “No more fighting. I’m fresh, and neither one of you wants to take me on,” the medic murmured. “Shower time, and let’s figure out the Mercs.”

“I don’t need your help with the Mercs,” Raze snapped.

“Too fuckin’ bad.” Jax nodded to Lynne, and she turned to go after Vinnie. “We need to come up with a plan, just in case you survive the next couple of hours.”

Raze stiffened. “You’re going to take a shot at killing me?”

“Oh, hell no,” the Vanguard leader said almost cheerfully through a busted lip. “I bet fifty to one odds the good doc rips off your dick and beats you to death with it. Anybody want to bet?”

Both Sami and Tace shook their heads.

Raze bit back a sharp retort and moved with the group toward the stairs. The overwhelming sense of camaraderie settled around him again. These soldiers and this time . . . they were his. Oh, he and Vinnie were going to have one hell of a discussion that night. It was time the good doc met the real him.

She’d kicked him. Three times. Never in her life, not once, had Vinnie Wellington resorted to violence. When she’d seen the look of retribution in Raze’s eyes, she’d finally found caution and had run for her life. The problem was, she had nowhere to go.

Footsteps tapped behind her, and she stopped, whirling around.

Lynne grinned. “Oh, you’re so gonna pay for that one.”

“I know,” Vinnie whispered.

Lynne shrugged. “He deserved it, and man, was it funny.”

“He’s going to kill me,” Vinnie said, her hands shaking.

“Nah. He might make you pay, but he’ll let you live.” Lynne slid her arm through Vinnie’s and tugged her around the landing to the next flight of stairs. “The guys are showering off the blood and sweat, and then we’re meeting in the conference room to discuss the Mercs. You don’t have to be there, but considering you’re the prize . . .”

“I definitely need to be there.” Vinnie’s head swam.

Lynne tripped, and Vinnie helped her to remain upright. “Sorry. I’m a little clumsy,” Lynne said as they reached the second level.

“I hadn’t noticed,” Vinnie lied, her legs moving of their own accord.

“That’s kind of you.” Lynne shoved open her door and pulled Vinnie inside. Her apartment had the same configuration as Raze’s place, but touches of whimsy and decoration warmed the area. Lynne opened a cupboard and pulled out a bottle of silver tequila.

Vinnie shook her head. “I don’t think—”

“Girl? You just kicked one of the most highly trained soldiers in the current world right in the nards.” Lynne grabbed two shot glasses and poured. “One shot will give you courage for the meeting we’re about to have.” She handed over a glass.

Vinnie eyed the clear liquid. What the hell. She tipped it back, and the alcohol burned down her throat. She coughed. “That is not the good stuff.”

Lynne took her shot. “Not even close,” she agreed, her eyes watering. “Whoa. Man. That stuff might destroy our livers, but at least then you won’t have to face Raze.”

Warmth spread throughout Vinnie’s belly. She wanted another shot, but it had been so long since she’d had alcohol, she didn’t reach for the bottle. “I’m not afraid of Raze.”

Lynne wheezed twice. “Really?”

“Sure. Why would I be? He’s been mostly kind to me during my time here.” Sure, that was before she’d kicked his balls. Hmm.

Lynne shook her head. “Um, yeah, but he’s been secretly planning to kidnap you and turn you over to the enemy. The kindness and the charm? I’m thinking initially it was used to disarm you and gain your trust, and then he felt guilty.”

Vinnie cleared her throat. Her tongue felt like she’d swallowed boiling mints. “So?”

“So? He’s no longer trying to gain your trust, and now that he’s come clean, he’s not feeling guilty.” Lynne shook her head. “I know you. Hell, I kind of am you.”

The room swayed just a little. “Huh?”

Lynne sighed. “You’re with him, right?”

“Well, kind of. I mean, we have had sex, but we’re on equal footing.” She was educated and trained, damn it.

Lynne snorted and then quickly covered her nose. “Oh man. Then he belted you to a radiator so you’d stay where he put you.”

Vinnie opened her mouth and then closed it again. Good point. “That doesn’t mean anything. He was ticked, and he needed to face Jax without interference.” Man, that sounded lame.

A knowingness lightened Lynne’s eyes. “The old world and the old rules are gone. I mean, if guys like ours even followed those rules in the first place, which I kind of doubt.”

Vinnie pressed both hands to her hips. “You’re okay with being tied to radiators? I mean, the famous Dr. Harmony, educated and brilliant, is just fine and dandy with dating a Neanderthal?” She shook her head. “I don’t believe it. Not for a second do I believe you’re all right with being manhandled.”

Lynne breathed out. “Of course not. Well, unless there’s something kinky involved.”

“It’s odd, though. I mean, they’re over-the-top bossy when it comes to safety. We should be burning our bras and shooting these guys.” Vinnie worked through the issue in her mind. “Yet they have no trouble working side by side with female soldiers.”

Lynne nodded. “I’ve analyzed that as well. When there’s time for thought and debate, fairness and reason win out. But in crisis situations, their atavistic sides trump everything else.”

“So the more backward they act, the more they care?” Vinnie grinned.

Lynne snorted. “As wrong as that sounds . . . yeah. In a crisis situation, anyway.” She waved the issue away. “Society will rebuild, and we’ll be stronger than before.”

“Good.” At least they were on the same page.

“But right now, we’re in limbo, and I’m just saying that kicking a guy like Raze in the nuts, in front of his friends, might be an unwise move with repercussions.” Lynne reached for a leather-bound journal on the counter.

“He won’t hurt me,” Vinnie said. “I won’t let him.”

Lynne smacked her arm, her hand glancing off. “Good on you, sister. That’s the spirit.”

Vinnie faltered. “What would Jax do?”

Lynne sniffed. “We’d talk it out like rational adults, but we’ve made a commitment to each other.” Her eyes didn’t quite meet Vinnie’s. “Though he has a long way to go with the whole sharing of feelings and not being a throwback.”

Vinnie chuckled. “I do hope we don’t have to go through the entire suffrage movement postapocalyptic.”

“Ha! Well, considering three out of Jax’s five elite lieutenants are women, you, me, and Sami, I’d say we’re going to be fine.”

Vinnie straightened. “I’m not one of Jax’s lieutenants yet.”

“Sure you are, or you wouldn’t be invited to the big meetings.” Lynne smiled.

Vinnie grinned, and warmth bloomed in her chest. “I’m a lieutenant.” She belonged. “You’re right. Those big bad men do treat women as equals. Well, ones they don’t date.”

Lynne shuddered. “As opposed to the creepy way the Pure seems to be treating women.”

“That’s true.” Vinnie tapped her lip. “Very true.”

Lynne handed over the journal. “This was my father’s journal, and he has some terrific insights into science, love, and the combination of the two. Why don’t you read it for some fun and relaxation?”

Vinnie felt the worn leather. Her friend had just entrusted her with a prized possession, and surprising tears pricked the back of her eyes. “Thank you. I’ll take good care of it before bringing it back.”

“I know.” Lynne tossed an arm over Vinnie’s shoulders, wobbling slightly. “Let’s go meet our men.”