Diggs gripped Audra’s hand and lead her into the war room. The rest of his team stopped unpacking from the earlier mission and straightened, watching them enter. Audra paused but Diggs tugged her on. The last time she’d entered this room she’d basically told them all to go to hell. But now everything had changed.

She needed his team’s help.

“Come on, don’t be scared now.” Hicks made a sound, half-laugh and half-choke. Diggs shot him a glare, silently warning his team to keep quiet. Hicks slid into a chair at the main table. King, Juarez and Reaper did the same.

“Maybe you should show them, I can wait outside.” Audra tugged on his hand again.

Diggs pulled her into his side, wrapping his arm around her waist in a show of comfort and solidarity. “Don’t be scared. They will have questions for you. You know your brother better than any of us.”

Audra looked up at him, and saw he was focused on her as if she were the only one in the room. She said, “I’m not sure they want to talk to me.”

Juarez cleared his throat and leaned up to prop his elbows on the table, offering her an easy smile. “We always want to talk to a beautiful woman.”

“Don’t forget she’s my beautiful woman.” Diggs held her tighter, and Audra glanced at him, half feared she’d see anger on his face, but a small grin played about his lips.

“Jealous already?” Juarez’s smile broadened and he winked at Audra.

“Like I’d have to worry about you?” Diggs asked.

Hicks chuckled and gave Juarez a playful elbow in the side. “Looks like the woman has made her choice.”

“I’m good at changing minds,” Juarez said.

“I think in this instance your flirting has hit a brick wall.” King nodded at Diggs, his impassive expression tinged with amusement.

“And if he doesn’t stop looking at her like that, he’s going to run into my fist,” Diggs said.

The team roared with laughter and Audra felt herself relaxing around their easy camaraderie.

“See bonita, you’ve even made this guy smile, and he never smiles.” Juarez hooked a thumb toward King, and for the first time she noticed the hint of a Spanish accent to his words.

Diggs maneuvered her to the table and pulled out a chair. “You don’t get to call her beautiful either.”

“Yep, told ya, he’ll be proposing by the end of the week.” Hicks crossed his massive arms and leaned back.

Audra felt heat rise to her cheeks. She didn’t know what she’d expected but not this. Maybe a few glares or cold looks, but flirting and laughing? Suddenly, the men didn’t look so much like cold-blooded killers, but more like normal, albeit large, men, whose brotherhood was as obvious as the sun. “He’s going to have to work a lot harder before we start talking about marriage.”

Everyone fell silent, as if they couldn’t believe she’d spoken and then burst out laughing. Hicks the loudest. “Oh man, Diggs, I’m so glad you met her. This is going to be fun.”

Diggs scowled, slid into the chair and pulled her onto his lap. She immediately tried to shift to sit in the chair beside him, but he locked a steel arm around her waist, anchoring her in place. Instead of making a bigger fuss and embarrassing herself, Audra let him have his way. Besides, he’d slid his hand beneath the edge of her shirt and his thumb was now rubbing back and forth over the bare skin just above her blue jeans, stoking the heat inside her.

She shifted, the restless energy she always felt around him rising. Diggs flexed his arm, settling her more snugly against the growing hardness between his legs.

"How about we talk about the reason we're here," Diggs said firmly.

Audra tried to fight the flush sweeping up her face but the knowing looks the rest of the team shot them both told her she'd failed. Instead, she latched on to the distraction Diggs had offered. “Both reasons.”

Diggs went completely still beneath her. The rest of the team tensed, sensing the sudden change in current.

“Diggs, you need to go first,” Audra said quietly.

He blew out a breath, fanning it across the back of her neck. “Quantum is awake.”

The laughter and amusement in the room died.

Reaper regained his composure first. “When?”

“Just now. Melissa is with him,” Diggs said.

Silence.

Tension spread heavy and thick across the room. Diggs solid thighs tightened beneath her, his worry obvious. Why did they all look so solemn? If her friend had awoken from a coma, she’d be ecstatic.

“Is he-” Hicks hesitated, the large man leaning forward on his elbows, all hint of teasing gone from his expression, “normal?”

Diggs shook his head. “He didn’t recognize me.”

The entire team looked like he’d just said Quantum had died. Audra shifted, trying to get comfortable, but that was as likely as her suddenly gaining the ability to fly.

“At all?” Reaper threaded his hands together in front of his chin, dipping his dark head. His tone had an air of certainty, like he’d expected bad news.

“No,” Diggs said.

“I need to see him.” Juarez pushed back his chair, but Diggs held up a hand.

“You can’t. Melissa asked me to leave, she doesn’t want him to have any visitors right now.”

“Diggs,” Audra breathed in response to the pain in his voice.

He covered her knee with his hand and gave her a squeeze. She closed her mouth, heeding his silent urge to keep quiet.

Juarez sank back into his chair, tilted his head back and scrubbed a hand over his jaw. So far King hadn’t said a word, he’d just sat there in stony silence.

“Does Melissa think his memory loss is permanent?” Reaper asked in a hushed voice.

“She didn’t say, but I think she needs more time. He may need more time to come around,” Diggs echoed Audra’s words from before. “But he’s awake – and that’s what’s important.”

She relaxed into him, showing him her support. She knew how hard this was for him, and now the rest of the team would have to deal with the same shock he had just minutes ago.

“True, he’s been out for so long, it would be normal for him to be a little confused, right?” Juarez sat up straighter in his chair.

“We’ve all been knocked out at one point or another in our careers. It takes a little while to get your bearings,” Hicks joined in.

So why was Reaper looking at Diggs like none of that was true? What was going on that they weren’t saying? The whole team seemed to be saying one thing and thinking something totally different. Diggs had been so ready to give up on Quantum. What had happened to him?

The question was on the very tip of her tongue, but before she could get the nerve to ask Reaper held up a hand, immediately commanding the attention of everyone in the room. “I’ll talk to Melissa. When she gives the okay, we will visit him, but not until she gives the all clear.”

Reaper looked at each man, who nodded in agreement and then continued, “I believe that wasn’t the only reason you’ve brought her down here.”

“I’ll let her tell you.”

Audra pushed past the uncomfortable feeling in the pit of her stomach and pulled out her phone. Diggs had promised her these men would help and she believed him. "Diggs said you could help with my problem. I think someone's trying to kill me.”

"You’re talking about the men who attacked you?" Reaper said.

"Yes, my brother got put in a bad situation. He sent me a message before…" Her throat closed off. Talking about Jeremy's death was still so hard.

Diggs gave her a comforting squeeze. "Before he died on deployment. She's got a video I think we all need to see."

Audra handed Diggs her phone, grateful he'd stepped in and taken charge of the conversation. "And you think it has something to do with the military?" Reaper said.

She nodded, wrapping her hands over Diggs’ arm for support. "I think his commander had him killed. I don't know why, but maybe you can help me find out."

"Juarez,” Diggs said, "slide me that laptop. I want to put this up on the main screen."

Juarez pushed a small black laptop to Diggs who quickly plugged her phone in and pulled up the video. “Here we go." Diggs pushed a button and suddenly the large wall of monitors turned into one big screen with Jeremy's face smack dab in the center. Audra's chest squeezed and she dug her nails into Diggs arm.

As if he could feel the pain inside her, he leaned up and pressed a gentle kiss behind her ear, whispering, "I'm right here. Just hold onto me if you need to."

* * *

Diggs’ happiness that Audra had trusted him and his team was tempered by the uncertainty surrounding Quantum. Would he survive?

Would the team recover if he didn’t?

They’d all held onto the small thread of hope he’d recover fully. Maybe he’d be different, like they all were, but Quantum could make their team whole again. But he hadn’t even uttered a word in the room, just unintelligible grunts and animal-like reflexes. The overdose of serum had killed Dawson – what if it had simply turned Quantum into a vegetable?

Audra squeezed his knee and Diggs forced himself to focus on the woman in his lap. She needed him right now. Diggs couldn’t help Quantum, but he could save Audra.

Diggs held on tight to her, wishing he could save her this pain, but knowing that if they were going to solve this mystery she needed to give her input. When he felt her nod against his head, giving him permission to proceed, he pushed play and Jeremy's voice filled the room. Don’t trust anybody, especially anyone in the military, got that? There’s something bad going on here. I got involved. I’m trying to fix it.”

Jeremy sat on a crate in the center of a tent, one hand balanced on each knee, his crystal green eyes steady. Trigger lay on the ground next to him, uninjured and with all four legs. “They’re sending me on one more mission before we leave. I need you to do something for me. If I don’t make it back, you need to hide. Don’t tell anyone, especially my commander where you are. Take this to Smudge. He’ll know what to do.”

A sound came from somewhere off to his right, and Jeremy’s head cut in that direction, every muscle in his body incredibly tense. He started tapping his fingers on his knees, in a move of what appeared to be agitation.

“Please forgive me, sis. I never meant to hurt anyone.” With one hand Jeremy continued to tap on his knee and with the other he reached down to scratch behind his dog’s ears. The service dog Trigger, in the video appeared completely at ease.

“Hey bro, I should have listened to you and joined the frog men. Ya’ll learned all kinds of mad skills I didn’t. Watch out for my sister, for me, okay? And tell Morris I said I shoulda listened to him, too.”

Jeremy continued to glance every few seconds toward what Diggs assumed was the entrance to his tent, all the while tapping on his knee. A tapping that was starting to look a lot more controlled than random.

“You guys seeing what I’m seeing?” Diggs said.

“Morse code. He’s sending a signal in Morse code,” Juarez breathed out.

“Hicks, grab a pen and paper. Diggs, start that video over from the beginning.” Reaper issued orders out in rapid-fire command.

Diggs paused the video, giving Hicks enough time to retrieve the pen and paper and then replayed the video in slow motion. Not many soldiers knew Morse code anymore, unless they were in the Navy or took special classes. Jeremy was taking a huge risk, but a smart one. Audra had assumed he’d been worried, but there was a steely calm in Jeremy’s gaze of a man who knew exactly what type of situation he was about to walk into. This was his last effort to tell the truth.

“Got it,” Hicks tapped his pen on the paper as he read. “He gave two sets of coordinates. Also, two names, Col. Bradshaw and Rashid el Bikbar. Rashid plans to hide the gold in a warehouse in the U.S. and ransom it to Bradshaw.” Hicks looked up from his paper and glanced at Diggs. “He also said he’d tried to stop them but Bradshaw was starting to get suspicious.”

Audra had gone completely stiff in his arms. He can only imagine what must be going on inside her head. What he wouldn't give to sweep her from the room and drive all these dark thoughts from her mind. But the best way he could help her now would be to avenge her brother's death and kill the men responsible for her assassination attempt.

"I wondered why he said to go to Smudge. I haven't seen Jeremy's friends since he joined the Navy,” Audra said.

"Everyone in the Navy has to learn Morse code. He was trying to send him a message. “Have you contacted Smudge yet?” Reaper asked.

"No, I had to get Trigger first, then I was going to contact him." Audra said.

Diggs turned her in his lap, hooking his finger under her chin so that he could look into her eyes. "Were you really not going to ask him for help?"

The blush that stole up her pale cheeks gave him his answer.

Diggs bit out a soft curse. "You were just going to try and handle this by yourself?"

"Why not? You don't think I'm capable?"

"Of taking down a Colonel running a terrorist shadow organization?" Diggs asked incredulously.

"I didn't realize it was that big." Audra crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "I thought I could handle it, before the other night.”

Audra let out a huff and Diggs relented, gently tracing the outline of her lips with his thumb. "Because the thought of you in danger scares me to death."

Her shoulders deflated instantly her bright green eyes went dark with understanding.

Diggs cleared his throat and glanced at the men, who were all watching them with quiet amusement. It was Diggs who set Audra in the chair beside him this time, knowing there is no way he could think straight with her in his lap. He pulled the computer to him and hacked into the NSA database. "I'm going to cross reference Rashid and the coordinates.”

Audra scooted close to him, and her scent filled his nostrils. Diggs forced himself to concentrate on his research, his fingers flying over the keyboard. It took him a little while, but he was able to find what they needed. “Rashid is a wanted international terrorist, with arrest warrants in multiple countries including the United States. Crimes against humanity, drug trafficking, money laundering, human trafficking, and he’s also tied to multiple IED attacks in the Middle East and northern Africa.”

“And the coordinates?” Reaper asked.

Diggs plugged them in and put the images on the back wall. “One is for an abandoned warehouse close to D.C. and the other is the village destroyed by the IED. It had been small, typical, led by a sheik who was the cousin of a Sudani prince. He was somebody and nobody at the same time. But the Sudan prince was one of the wealthiest men in that region of the world.”

“And Bradshaw knew it and went after him,” King said quietly.

"Exactly,” Diggs confirmed, "and guess where our dear old Colonel Bradshaw is right now?"

"D.C.” Reaper said.

"Checked in two days ago for debriefing. He'll be looking for Rashid if he really does have the gold,” Diggs said.

Juarez leaned forward. “Then why go after Audra?"

Diggs frowned, "True. If he wanted her dead, he had enough time to kill her."

“The man who tied me up in the house kept asking me where it was. I didn't know what he was talking about.” Audra's hand went to her face, the dark bruise there reminding Diggs how close he’d come to losing her.

"The gold, he thinks you have the gold.” Reaper got to his feet and began pacing at the end of the table. “Or he doesn't know who has the gold and he's covering all his bases."

“If he doesn’t have the gold, then your brother was successful. He stopped Bradshaw from stealing it.”

Audra trembled. “He was a hero.”

Diggs grabbed her hand, knowing what that revelation meant to her. “Yes, he was. And this mean’s Bradshaw is probably getting desperate if the gold has been missing this long. And it also means Rashid hasn't contacted the colonel yet for ransom." Diggs threaded his fingers to Audra's, fighting the rage boiling up when he remembered that night.

"Reaper, do you still trust that contact from the CIA?" Diggs asked.

“Agent K? Yeah, he’s good.”

“Think he'd be interested in bagging an international terrorist and a colonel turned traitor to the US?”

Reaper slammed a fist onto the table, his normally impassive face dark with anticipation. "Absolutely."

"If Bradshaw doesn't know who has the gold, we can bait him to Rashid’s warehouse,” Hicks said.

“How do we get Rashid there?” Diggs said.

“We advertise what he needs: large scale intercontinental missiles for sale. This is the first time he would have enough money to purchase that kind of fire power and put him into a whole other level of power in the terrorist community. He won’t be able to pass it up.” Reaper stopped pacing and faced his men.

“What if Bradshaw senses a trap?” Hicks asked.

“Then we make the bait too sweet to pass up.” King stared straight at Audra.

Diggs’ blood froze. “No.”

He’d die before he put Audra in any kind of danger ever again.

"She doesn't have to actually go with us to the warehouse, we can just make him think she will be there. He’ll have the last person alive that can tie him to Jeremy's murder and his missing gold in the same place."

Audra perked up and Diggs dropped his head into his hand. He knew exactly what she was going to say before she even opened her mouth.

"No, I want to help. Jeremy is my brother."

Diggs looked to the rest of his team for help but they all remained silent. Which meant he was fixing to have to be the bad guy, and he hated being the bad guy with her. But he had no intention of arguing in front of everyone, because there was no way Audra was going to back down from this easily. Diggs stood, pulling her to her feet behind him. "I'll be back in an hour."

Without giving her the time to argue he pulled her from the room, up the staircase, passing by Quantum's room to check and make sure Trigger was still laying on his teammates bed. And then into his bedroom, Diggs firmly shut and locked the door trapping Audra between him and the wood, placing a palm on either side of her head. "You're not going."

"Yes, I am. I'm going to see that Bradshaw pays for what he did." She didn't back down in the least, instead she stared up at him, her eyes flashing with fire, her lips parted. Damn, she was so fucking sexy when she was riled.

"If I have to tie you to the bed to make sure you stay here, I will. Don't test me on this. When I saw you tied to that chair in the house, I nearly lost it. I will never put you in that situation again. Never." Diggs punctuated each word, leaning his head down until his face was only an inch from hers.

Her crystal hard gaze softened, invulnerability flashed across her beautiful face. She brought her hands up from her sides to curl around his shoulders. "Diggs, please don't make me beg. I have to be there. Don't you understand? He took everything from me. Jeremy was all I had left. I swore to him I would avenge him. I couldn't live with myself if I stayed behind."

Diggs tried to concentrate on her words, then Audra’s hands slid down his chest, skimmed across his abdomen and clutched his hips as if he were her anchor. Blood flooded to his cock and every muscle in his body bunched. He needed to get inside her, pin her beneath him and make her see how much she meant to him.

"Could you stay behind if it was your brother?" She asked quietly.

Her fingers skimmed across his waistband and Diggs’ palms curled into fists to keep from lifting her and wrapping her legs around his waist right there. "Audra, I understand how you feel, but I can't risk your life. You're too precious to me."

Her fingers hooked into his jeans and she lifted up on her toes, peppering kisses across his jaw and chin, desperation stamped with each touch. "You can protect me. I'll stay behind your team, I just need to see. I trust you to protect me."

And then her fingers were ripping his shirt up and over his head, her fingers were in his hair pulling his mouth down to hers for a hungry kiss. When her tongue thrust between his lips, Diggs knew he was losing the battle. His hands fell from the door and circled her hips, then he was lifting her, her legs wrapped around him, her hot core pressed against his length. He couldn't think about anything but being inside of her and holding her forever. She belonged with him. She belonged to him. "I love you."

The words slipped out before he could take them back, but he didn't regret them one bit. He meant every word. He did love her. He'd never felt this way about anyone else, as if he would die if he couldn't have her.

Audra moaned and slanted her mouth over his. She kissed him back with all the passion and fervor he felt inside. “Diggs, I need you inside me. Now."

He longed to hear her say the words, to know that she loved him just as much as he did her, but he also knew she needed time. He would give her that much, and all the while he would show her how much he cherished her. He would make it impossible for her to ever leave him. A possessive instinct unlike anything he'd ever experienced seemed to take control of his body and mind. Diggs tore her clothes from her, dropped to his knees and shoved her legs apart, sucking her sweet essence into his mouth. He licked and lapped at her until she was screaming out his name, her knees buckling from the intensity of her orgasm. And then Diggs was on his feet, spreading her legs once more as he drove into her, taking her against the door with an animal lust that neither of them had control over. Slamming into her hard and fast until his own orgasm exploded.

Completely spent, Diggs went to his knees on the floor, keeping her legs wrapped around his waist he fell onto his back and cradled Audra's head against his chest. Her fingers curled against his skin, her breaths coming out in short, fast puffs as they both floated back down from the wild ride.

Diggs pressed a hard kiss against her hair, wrapped both his arms around her and allowed his head to drop to the floor, his length still inside her. He could stay here forever, just like this. Her full breasts pressed against his chest, her tight sheath milking him with the after spasms from her orgasm.

Audra let out a contented sigh and snuggled into the crook of his shoulder. Diggs closed his eyes and just held her, wanting to pretend for just a second that they could stay in this perfect moment forever.

After a few moments passed Audra rose up, propping her chin on her elbow and gave him a saucy and sexy smile that had his cock jumping to attention even now.

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For letting me go on the mission.”

“Audra,” Diggs said uneasily. “I – “

She rushed in, placing her hand over his mouth. “I know I didn’t say it back, but I can’t. Not yet.”

Her words once more robbed him of his ability to think of anything except about how he felt for her. He pulled her hand from his mouth and kissed each of her fingertips. "I don't expect you to say it back, not yet. I just need you to know how I feel about you and why the thought of taking you with us on the mission scares me to death."

Her fingers curled around his and she shifted, wriggling her hips on top of his. “I'll stay behind you at all times. I’ll take Trigger with me, he can watch out for me, too."