Kay’s thoughts were buzzing around in her head, together with her emotions. Fear, pleasure, terror, warmth, she felt them all, all at once. It was enough to give anyone whiplash.
Nick had just reminded her that her old life was gone. Her friends, the job she loved—gone. The place she worked for, which to her had been the very epitome of virtue, everyone working hard to save lives…well, that place was compromised. Stained with blood and greed.
She mourned losing the CDC while anger burned hot in her heart. Corrupt men had tainted its mission—and they were going to pay. One man in particular if what she suspected was true.
But in the meantime, she’d been…orphaned. It was an odd word for what she felt, but it fit. She remembered the moment she heard that her parents had died. It had felt like that. Like the bottom of her world had suddenly disappeared, leaving a cold and empty abyss. Things she’d loved and counted on were gone.
But Nick’s mention of a possible job at ASI, even a consultancy job, filled her with hope. She could do a good job for them, save lives. She knew most of the operators at ASI and she liked each and every one of them. She knew Suzanne and Allegra. Lauren, Isabel, Summer—they were all great women. And Felicity was one of her best friends.
Up until now the future hadn’t been in her thoughts. The future was a great gray wall and she couldn’t see over it or around it. The present was bad enough. But Nick had made her think of the future.
A future with ASI. Maybe. A future with Nick. Maybe.
If she survived the next 24 hours, which wasn’t a given.
Bad men were after her, using the same high tech and ferocity armies used to hunt terrorists. Relentless and unyielding. Who knew how long she had to live?
Kay pushed open the door, expecting to find another huge server farm—and instead encountered a huge human wall with a ferocious scowl.
Adrenalin shot through her body.
Oh my God! This was the end! They’d found her!
The air whooshed out of her lungs as her heart set up a frantic tattoo. She screamed and tried to scramble back and met Nick. He held her arm.
Kay tried frantically to free herself. Didn’t Nick understand that they’d been found? Why was he holding her back? Why weren’t they running for their lives?
She scrabbled with her feet to get away from the huge, menacing man looming in the doorway. He was looking at her narrow-eyed, his enormous hands curled at his side. He wasn’t reaching for a gun but with those hands, he didn’t need one. It looked like his entire body was a weapon.
Fear tightened her throat. “Nick!” she croaked, her voice raw.
Nick’s hands fell on her shoulders and he squeezed gently. His head bent and his lips brushed her ear. “It’s okay, honey. He’s one of the good guys.”
Kay’s eyes widened. Her heart was still hammering its way out of her chest.
One of the good guys?
He looked terrifying.
A few things broke through her terror. The man in the doorway wasn’t moving; he was completely immobile. Surely if he was going to attack her, he’d move. Wouldn’t he? And Nick wasn’t attacking him. Nick was almost overly protective. If he felt the man was dangerous, wouldn’t he do something? But Nick simply stood still, holding her shoulders. Against her back, she could feel his heartbeat, strong and steady and slow.
She stopped pressing against him, stilled her feet and simply stood, trembling.
“Kay, meet Matt Walker, the new guy at ASI. I’ve known him for ten years. He’s a friend. I told you about him.”
The terror in her calmed. Oh God. She’d lost it, totally. Nick had told her about Matt Walker, but she’d completely forgotten.
She tried a smile. “The guy who knocked out the warlord.”
The man’s face didn’t change, but he nodded gravely. “Broke his jaw and three teeth.”
“Excellent.” She relaxed. “Yes, Nick told me about you.” She hesitated then offered her hand, hoping he wouldn’t crush it. She needed her hand for work. “How do you do?”
He shook her hand, taking it gently in his, giving a little up-down shake then giving it back to her.
Time to make amends. “I’m sorry I…reacted the way I did. Please accept my apologies.”
He dipped his head in acknowledgement but said nothing.
Now that her mind wasn’t rattled by panic, she saw he wasn’t as huge as he first appeared to be. He was taller than Nick, but Nick was of average height. He was broadly built like Nick. But unlike Nick, he gave off an aura of menace. Or, if not menace…something. Something that made her want to take a step back.
The man, Matt, looked over her head to Nick. “Got a shuttle right here to get through this farm. Then a vehicle at the other end. It’s shielded.” He had a deep voice, like Nick, but gravelly, as if he didn’t speak much.
“There another drone up top?”
“Negative. So far at least. Felicity’s keeping watch.”
“We’ll get out of here and come after them,” Nick said
Matt nodded. “Fuck ’em.” His eyes moved to Kay. “Sorry.”
Nick took her hand and walked her into the server farm. This place was as impressive as the previous one. She could see down one row and it was like those exercises in perspective, where two lines narrowed to a point in infinity.
Beside the door was another shuttle. She knew the drill by now and got into the front seat. Nick sat beside her, and the whole vehicle dipped heavily when Matt got in the back. Not only did he look menacing, but he seemed denser than normal humans.
Nick draped a blanket over her completely but not over himself. The farther along they made their way to wherever it is they were going, the tenser he became. He leaned an arm along the back of the seat and leaned over to talk to Matt behind them.
Kay tried to listen, but the shuttle’s motor made a buzz and she was too tired to focus. After a moment, their voices turned to bass murmurings and she found herself nodding off, only to jerk awake when the shuttle stopped.
They’d made the entire trip in only a few seconds? She looked back, astonished to see that she must have dozed the entire journey, because they were at the other end of the huge building.
Then they entered a ramp that carried them up several stories stopping at a big steel door. Matt got out and held the door open.
She could see a stretch of sky beyond an overhang, and about a billion miles of pine trees scented the air after the smell of the server farm, ozone and electronics.
The air was also warm compared to the chill in the server farm. Oh God. Sunlight and warmth! Kay made a beeline for the outdoors when Nick’s hand grasped her elbow.
“Sorry.” He didn’t look sorry. He just looked grim and as dangerous as Matt. “HQ says there aren’t drones, but let’s be careful.”
“What?” Kay looked again yearningly out the door at the enticing scene of sunlight and greenery.
“From the farm straight to the vehicle, ma’am,” Matt said. “Safer.”
“Kay.” She looked him in the eyes. They were dark like Nick’s but not warm like Nick’s.
“Excuse me?”
“Kay. My name is Kay, not ma’am.”
“Kay.” He inclined his head, handing a tablet to Nick. “I was going to call you Dr. Hudson, but Kay it is.”
Nick studied the tablet, swiping his way through what looked like maps, then lifted his head. “Got it. Let’s go.” Nick lifted her up into the high SUV and got into the driver’s seat.
Kay looked back but Matt had already disappeared. She glanced over at Nick. “Sorry I screamed, but he looked really scary.”
“Yeah, he doesn’t give off warm-and-fuzzy vibes. But he’s a good man.”
“If he broke a pedophile’s jaw, the best.”
Nick slanted her a glance, his mouth lifted in a half smile. “I’m glad you can see that. Matt’s world is divided in two right now—those who can see beyond the OTH discharge and those who can’t.”
“The world has a lot of stupid people in it,” Kay answered.
“Amen.”
Instead of pulling away, the SUV plunged down into a tunnel that curved away then righted itself. She watched the odometer. The tunnel ran for five miles.
“So—this tunnel is another safety measure?”
“Hm.” Nick was driving fast, in complete control of the vehicle. “The entrance to the server farm is meant to be difficult to find and, as luck would have it, difficult to follow from the sky.”
“You guys take paranoia to an art form.”
“That’s a compliment.”
“Yes, I guess it is. Helpful, too. So far that paranoia has kept me alive.” She could imagine all too well what would have happened if she hadn’t been able to call Nick. Where would she have gone after watching Mike die, knowing that drone was overhead?
They came to the end of the tunnel and ascended fast, up into a well-maintained two-lane blacktop in the middle of the forest.
Nick tapped a spot on the steering wheel. “Felicity, Metal, talk to me. Do we have eyes in the sky on us?”
“Negative,” Metal answered. “We’re working now on backtracking to where the operator is. Morrison’s involved, since there’s been a homicide and attempted homicide. We’re going to have an address soon.”
“Okay. We’ll be at the staging area in about an hour and at HQ half an hour after that.”
“We’ll have news by then. Morrison doesn’t like murderers in his town.”
“Roger that. Out.”
The blacktop merged into a county road that was much less well maintained. If the big SUV’s suspension hadn’t been so good, it would have been a bumpy ride.
“So the Captain will be there, too?”
“Yeah. He’ll be with his team when they get to that address. He’s really good friends with Midnight and the Senior. He’s going to nail this guy.”
“Or guys,” Kay said softly.
Nick let that swirl in his head. “You think it’s a big conspiracy.”
“Not big,” she answered. “But powerful, yes. Any chance there’d be a laptop in this vehicle?”
Nick turned to smile at her briefly, then brought his attention right back to the road. “Honey, if we didn’t have a laptop in this vehicle, we wouldn’t be ASI and the terrorists will have won. Reach around to the back-door pocket.”
Kay unlatched the seat belt, found the laptop, pulled the seat belt around her again and opened it. She tooled around a little. It was a good laptop, top of the line. Enough power to work on.
“We have wifi?”
“Honey, please.”
“Okay.” She waved her hand bye-bye. “I’m going to disappear, Nick.”
She did. Sitting right beside him, she just disappeared. It was the weirdest thing. Kay stuck her pretty nose closer to the screen and just—poof!—went away. She could have been on the moon, even though she was sitting close enough to him to touch.
Well, she was doing her smart-girl thing, so he’d do his tough-guy thing. Felicity and Metal assured him there were no more drones and he believed them. But the guys after Kay hadn’t given up. A weaponized Spanish flu would be worth millions, maybe billions, and they weren’t going to be deterred by one slender virologist. They didn’t know yet that she had ASI behind her.
Kay would get their names and he and the team would go after them, and then…and then…
He and Kay could continue whatever it is they had going.
Oh hell, who the fuck was he kidding?
He wanted her, forever if she’d have him. He wanted it all. He wanted them to live together, he wanted marriage and maybe even kids.
Definitely kids.
He slanted her a glance. Super-smart, incredibly pretty red-haired girls. Or Mancino-tough little guys. Either way. Or both.
The ASI guys were all getting broody. Jacko, now Metal. Soon Joe and Isabel. Definitely Jack and Summer, once Summer got over her skittishness. Though Nick had a huge family back home—over fifty people between first and second cousins and their kids—he wanted to establish a family here, too. His and Kay’s kids would grow up surrounded by family. Family of choice here and blood family on the other side of the country.
Nick had grown up inside a big, loving family and it was the only way to go.
He hoped Kay was on the same page. If not, he’d convince her. If he had to, he’d do the dirty and say Al wanted great-grandkids before he died.
She loved her grandfather fiercely, that might do the trick. Because no way was he letting her go. No way was he losing her, either to the fuckheads after her or after the danger was over.
Nick could almost feel things slotting into place. Now he knew why he’d always kept things very light with his lovers. Not exactly slam-bam, thank you, ma’am, but more—don’t leave your toothbrush at my place. It’s not that he didn’t like the women he slept with, it was just that they hadn’t touched his heart. And he’d gotten bored really fast.
Not with Kay.
Kay touched his heart, his head, and definitely his gonads. He couldn’t ever imagine getting bored with her. If anything, he was worried that he might not keep up with her. A scientist with a PhD in virology? Christ. She wouldn’t want him to study biology or chemistry or virology, would she? He hoped not, because his thing was the law and guns and he’d basically sucked at science, except for math, all the way through school.
But if he wanted to marry Kay and have kids with her, he needed to keep her alive. So, first things first.
He gave a little beep to HQ and got an immediate response: negative. They were still clear. But if the bad guys had access to satellites like HQ did, then they were in big trouble.
But fifteen minutes later his comms beeped.
“Nick.” Metal’s quiet voice came on.
“Yo.”
“We’ve got the address.”
Nick was electrified. He shot a glance to Kay, who was still engrossed in her laptop. “Copy that. Will someone be at the staging area to hand her off? I want to be at the takedown.”
Fuck yeah. No way was Nick going to be somewhere else when they caught the guy after Kay. If necessary, he’d leverage the fact that he was ex-FBI. He could even fudge the “ex” part, act like he was there from Washington.
He didn’t care if there’d be fallout. All that mattered was that he could watch them smoke the guy. The guy had to be gone. No longer even a remote threat. Once he was indicted for treason, for terrorist activity with bio-weapons, for homicide and attempted homicide, he’d be put away until the sun went dark.
Though Nick would prefer him dead.
So, step one, make sure Kay made it safe and sound to ASI undetected, then step two, get the motherfucker who’d targeted her.
It felt good to have a plan.
Kay was still pounding the keyboard, frowning, when he pulled up in front of a ten-story city-run garage, then turned into it. Joe and Jacko were on the second story, as arranged. Jacko was wearing his usual scowl. He saved all his smiles for his wife. Joe—who’d nearly died on his last mission and had lost so much weight his kidney had slipped—was back to fighting weight. Of course, living with a world-class chef didn’t hurt.
“Honey,” Nick said as he pulled up beside the white Transit van. She hadn’t even heard him, peering into the screen as if it held the secrets to the universe. Well, maybe it did. “Honey,” he said again, touching her shoulder.
Kay blinked and surfaced. “Oh!” She looked around at the garage, puzzled. “Where are we?”
“We’re switching vehicles. You’re going on to ASI and I…have a few things to see to. I’ll join you at ASI later.”
She stared at him, her eyes so very blue, the only spot of color in the gray garage. “You guys have found out where this guy is, haven’t you? And you’re going after him.”
Goddamn. Nick sighed. It was going to be hard living with Kay if she was going to be able to read his mind so easily. “Yeah, I’m tagging along with the police. And you’re going to ASI to do your thing with Felicity.”
She nodded. “Fine. There’s some data I’d like her to help me with.”
Oh God, he could have kissed her. She wasn’t clamoring to go with him. She was letting him do his thing while she did hers. He was really good at what he did and she was really good at what she did.
Teamwork.
He could have kissed her on the mouth. Then thought—what the hell. Leaning over, he gave her a noisy smack on the lips. It was so fast, she didn’t have time to react, just stared at him with that luscious mouth slightly open.
“What was that for?”
“Oh, nothing,” he said casually. “Just that I love you.”
Nick got out and walked around to the passenger side of the SUV. Kay was looking slightly shell-shocked as he helped her down.
She was off balance. Good. He’d been off balance since he’d met her. Evened things up a bit. Why should he be the only one stumbling?
“What did you say?” she demanded.
Nick gave what he hoped was a mysterious smile. “You heard me.” He held her arm while walking her to Joe. It wasn’t just a gentlemanly gesture. He liked touching her, he liked the idea of delivering her over to Joe’s care, like precious cargo. She was precious cargo, the most precious in the world.
Nick speared Joe with a cold glare. They’d fought in Afghanistan together and they understood each other just fine without words.
Take care of her. If anything happens to her, I’ll hold you responsible.
It’s okay. I got her.
Kay was watching their faces, eyes flicking from his face to Joe’s.
“You got the place?” Joe asked.
“Yeah.” He did. On his cell, he had an address and GPS coordinates. He also had where the SWAT team was staging, with a detailed map of the area.
Kay got into the van with Joe, watching solemnly as Nick crossed to get into another SUV driven by Jacko. This one rode lower than the one he’d driven. It was heavily armored.
Kay mouthed, I love you too.
Nick nodded and Jacko pulled out. It took all of Nick’s willpower not to turn around for one last glimpse of her.
“She’ll be okay,” Jacko rumbled in his basso profundo voice.
“Yup.”
“Doesn’t make it any easier.”
“Nope.”
They rode in silence, Nick reading over what intel they had as Jacko navigated the streets. They were all good drivers and in SEAL training, they’d all taken combat driving lessons. But Jacko had lived in Portland longer than Nick, who was a newcomer. He was driving.
“Bud’s planning on going in hot,” Jacko said after fifteen minutes of silence. They were driving through a light industrial area, mostly warehouses, most of them rundown. Every once in a while, Nick caught sight of the river, steel gray, white-capped.
The weather had turned unexpectedly cold and windy.
Nick didn’t give a fuck, barely noticed. The only effect it had on him was ballistically—recalculating windage if it came to snipering.
Because the cops might have rules, but Nick didn’t.
That sick fuck was going down.