Vance pulled her body to him. He was gentle with her, knowing that while she was strong in so many ways, he didn’t want to abuse the simple fact that he was bigger than her. He wanted to kiss her, let her see how much he wanted her, but he didn’t. But he did taste her skin.

There was a long scar on her neck that he knew was from a rope burn. He had the same scar on the other side. There was another one under her ear. This one looked like a knife wound. It was smooth except for the stitching that had put it back together.

“Your skin is soft, and you smell of the ocean.” Cupping her ass, he felt old wounds there as well, like she’d been beaten with a whip. “I never thought of the ocean as having a smell before. I would have associated it with the smell of fish or gas and oil. You smell like freshness. A little salty, and very warm.”

Moving down her body, he took the small morsel of her nipple into his mouth and suckled it. The way it tightened in his mouth made him want more. Lifting her up, he was glad when she wrapped her legs around him, her pussy right at his cock. Moving her enough so that he could fill her, Vance moaned and moved toward the beach.

The sand was hot, almost too hot, so he rolled to his back and sat her atop him. She touched him, brushing her fingers over his own nipples as well as scars that he had on his own body. She asked him how he’d gotten the one near his heart.

“Sniper. And stupidity. I knew he was there, but I thought myself above getting shot and he took me down. If not for the medic that was standing right next to me, I would never have made it beyond my second day.” She laughed and leaned down to kiss it. “Who beat you?”

“A lot of different men, and women. Once when I was caught between a mountain and a frozen lake, I thought that I could simply fly over both and be gone before they were the wiser. What I didn’t count on was that the queen of a particularly small group of men would be able to send her eagle after me, and he took me down with a whip. Once there, she beat me until the earth helped me heal and I was able to get away.” Vance asked if she’d killed her. “Yes, their entire army, with my porcupine skill, as you call it.”

They talked and laughed while making love slowly. He was enjoying the stories and the way that Micky rode him by her own set of rules. When he could no longer stand the wait, he rolled her to her back and settled between her thighs. As soon as she wrapped around him, he held her hands above her head and took her breasts in his mouth, one at a time.

“You’re very good at this. Like you’ve had a lot of practice. Have you?” He laughed, thinking what an odd time to find something funny. “And your cock, it’s very talented too, isn’t it? You make me feel like I’m the only one.”

“As you are. As you will always be.” Vance touched her every place that he could reach. Touching scars and wounds as much as he did flawless flesh. To him, all of her was perfect. “You are beautiful. To me, you’re absolutely beautiful. Your skin is like a soft blanket; your nipples and breasts make me think of pillows laying in the sunshine, and only for me.”

“Vance, please. I need to come with you.”

He moved deeper into her, letting her hands go so that she could touch him too. Never had he made love with a woman like this. Normally, pressed for time and a need that wouldn’t be ignored, he would take a woman where she stood, giving her as much as he got out of it before moving on.

This was the kind of making love that one cherished. And he would. Also the woman. When she cried out that she was coming, he took her mouth and let her scream her release into his body, his soul. And when she came a second time, he emptied himself deep within her until she came again. It was then that she sank her teeth into his throat.

Vance felt the connection immediately. He knew her every hope, her every dream. Even her memories became his. When he came with her the final time, Vance knew a love so profound, so deep that he wondered why he’d never wanted it before. And then he envied his brothers for having had it so much longer than he had.

Holding her in his arms while she slept, Vance rolled to his back, his body spent to the point that he’d not be able to move if someone came for them. Smiling at the thought of loving this woman, he closed his eyes for a moment to let the love that he felt settle over him like the warm sunshine that he had said she was.

Vance woke when she moved off his body. The chill in the air made him realize that he should have thought of taking her in. When she helped him to stand, her body too luscious to ignore, he kissed her deeply and picked her up in his arms to carry into the house. And to bed.

“What if we just stayed here for the rest of our days? I mean, I don’t know about you, but I could just leave the world behind.” He dropped her on the bed with a bounce, then asked her what they’d do for money. “I own this house. And a few others. I’ve been around awhile and bought this thing for a song when people didn’t have houses on the beach.”

“I have a few too. One where my family lives. I’ve made sure that it’s safe for us both.” He joined her in the bed, then got up when he realized he was covered in sand. Going out to the deck again, he showered off while still talking to her. “I have one in about every country. Two in Paris. I love it there. My brother Jorden, he has shows there, paintings of his, and we all stay in my house. But now that I think about it, I don’t think it’s ever come up that I own them.”

Drying off, he joined her again on the bed. She was beautiful, and he just couldn’t get enough of looking at her. Touching his rough finger to her nipple, he smiled when it puckered. Leaning down, he took it into his mouth and made love to it. She held him there as he enjoyed himself.

Vance. He sat up, knowing that if Kenton was contacting him, something was wrong. There is something you should know. Nothing bad, I promise, but Emma has been in a car accident. Nothing bad, but it hit the papers.

What happened? He got up to get dressed, telling Micky what had happened. When Kenton started to laugh, he told her that too. She did something totally off the wall, didn’t she?

Yes, you could say that. And she’s fine, but the other man isn’t. And I doubt he’ll ever try and take her from her car again. Vance sat down, his knees jelly. She was coming home from the bakery when this guy knocks at her window of her car. When she only rolled it down about an inch, he told her to do it all the way. Well, you know my Emma, she wasn’t having it. So when he smashed in the glass to get to her, she went all macho on him. He has three broken ribs, his face is black and blue, and he has seventy-three stitches on his arms where she clawed him. My wife is a hellion.

Kenton sounded proud of that. And as Vance relayed the message to Micky, she thought it was funny. Then she asked who had sent them, or did they know yet. Asking Kenton, he thought about telling him about Micky but didn’t. Things for them were quiet, and he needed that right now.

Butler, we think. The guy had a picture of the jewelry on him, and that’s why we’re blaming him. But there isn’t anything that he could have done to her, that’s my way of thinking about this, so we’ve banded together and are watching everything. How are things on your end? He told him what had happened today. I have to tell you, little brother. I can’t wait for this to be done so you’ll be home all the time. And someday you’ll meet your mate. I need you here. We all miss you.

And I miss you too. I think this will be over soon on my end, then I can come home, provided that I don’t end up in prison. They’ve already killed Samuel. I’m not going to get caught by them if I can help it. Kenton told him he was fine with that. So am I. I’ll be talking to you soon. I have to get going. I have things in the fire here, and I need to make sure that they’re still stoked.

If we can help you in any way, let me know. I want you safe too. And while talking about safe, your house is done. I went over today to have a look at it with Lewis. Damn, you have it set up. I might have you do that for me when you get time. He told him he’d do that. All right then, be careful.

When the connection was closed, he looked at Micky. She smiled at him and he wanted to take her back to bed. But they really did need to get this thing done, the sooner the better. When he stood up she did as well, and without saying a word they got dressed and were headed out the door. Time to go visit Honest Abe.

Getting in and out of the place had been easy since the first time he’d gotten in. The sublevels were well guarded, but not enough to keep him out. Two members of the security force had been trained by him, but that didn’t mean he stopped for a social time. Instead, he took one out and Micky the other before they had any idea they were around.

The room where the computers were, that was a little trickier. He started to kick the door in, but Micky moved him back and touched the knob, and it came off in her hand. Just pushing it open, she stood back as he entered. He knew, without her saying anything, that she’d watch for others coming and make sure that no one got out until he was finished. The two men in the room just stood up, handed him their weapons, then got down on their knees. He started to ask why when Micky spoke behind him.

“They know who you are.” He frowned and wasn’t sure that was good. “They’re terrified of you. And with good reason. They’ve had it in their head that you’re going to come here soon and kill them, so they wanted to be prepared. The little one in the back, he has your picture over his bunk, so he never forgets what pure evil looks like.”

Micky sat down at the computer that was still running. While she did her thing, he watched the two men. He wasn’t sure he wanted to be thought of as evil, but he also didn’t want them to think he was a pushover.

“You want to live?” Both men nodded. “Then you don’t say a word to anyone that we were in here. Got that?”

“Yes, sir. We can do that.” The little one looked at the cabinet, then back at Vance before he spoke again. “If you want more information on these pricks, there’s a couple of files in there that we’ve been keeping in the hopes of you coming to get them.”

“What sort of information?”

Bing, his name badge said, asked if he could get up. And when Vance told him to go ahead, he opened the cabinet and handed him several manila envelopes. They were not just dated, but also had names on the outside of them.

“When they’re not in the room with us, we watch other parts of the house. Most of the things they say, it’s got to do with deals they’re cooking up. Someone, I really don’t know who, put something in the offices and we were able to get to them. When it started printing up what they were saying, we kept it. There are also pictures of other men that have been brought here to be talked to.” Vance asked how they’d not gotten caught. “We have all the cameras in the place right here. We just follow then through the building, and when they’re headed this way, we clean up.”

“You been here long?” Bing told him just over three months. “Then you’ve been very busy. Why should I believe that this isn’t a trap?”

“Because if you really thought we were fucking with you, you’d have killed us by now. At least, I think so.” Vance sat down and stared at the two men. “We don’t want to be here anymore than you want to be dead. I have a wife and a new baby. Benson here, he has himself a girlfriend. We can’t contact them. Not even to say we’re all right. I want out of here, and I think the only way that’s going to happen is if we’re dead or the man upstairs and in charge of this shit is dead. I’m hoping for him dying and not us.”

“Me too.” Vance asked them about a phone. “I can leave you one here, but I’d not call your wife or girlfriends with any other phone. You do, and they’ll be all over your asses. They more than likely have their phones tapped as well.”

After leaving them his burner, he and Micky moved toward the stairs. They had to plant a few other devices in the place, then they’d go to the upper floors. Micky assured him that she could get them there, no problem, but Vance was still a little worried. He didn’t want to get caught just yet.

~~~

Micky planted the two listening devices under the desk in Elliot’s office and two in General Adkins’s office. While Vance worked around the oval office, she roamed the halls, watching the people work while they were unaware of her. When someone mentioned a shipment, she went to see what it was about. The invoice said that it was gifts to go overseas, but she had a feeling that it was more than that.

It only took her a second to get the person using the computer to leave her area. After that, since she was signed in, Micky cloned this computer too. That was five now that she had access to, and she was thinking that if this kept up, she was going to need more computers. Just as she was ready to stand up and leave, the computer dinged that a message had come in. Reading it, she sat down again.

“What is it?” She looked up at Vance and was glad now that he’d believed her when she said that no one would see him if he didn’t want them to. “You’ve found something. What is it?”

“There is a shipment of guns being loaded right now on the pier. They’re going to be recrafted, then sent out again day after tomorrow. They’re going out to sea, where they’re going to be picked up on Thursday.” He asked her the name of the ship. “The Adkins. Isn’t that the name of the general that we just tagged?”

“It is. His family owns a ship yard. All right. We’ll see to that now.” She told him how she’d cloned the computers. “There’s a laptop in the office beyond. But it’s password protected. Can you get around that?”

She snorted at him and went to the office. It took her less time than she thought it would to get in; the moron had written his daily password on the bottom of his calendar. She told Vance that most people did that. Cloning it without looking at anything on it, she closed it and started to put the password back when Vance told her not to.

“He’ll know that someone has been— Ah, so you want him to know that someone has been in here. All right. But let’s really make this fun and have him shitting bricks. You should leave him a little note saying where his passwords are. Thanking him for making it so easy.”

Vance was laughing as he wrote that on the calendar. Then he signed it with his single initial and put a happy face by it. The man was going to be livid when he saw that, and she wished that she could be there to see it.

Two hours later they were at the dock. The ship was there being loaded, and by Army personnel too. That, she thought, was against the law. But then all of this was. Watching them for several minutes, she took out her phone and started taking pictures.

“I’m going to stop this.” She asked him what he was going to do. “I’m still in the army last I checked, so I’m going to see what the fuck is going on. Just wait here, in case I need you to come and rescue my ass.”

Since she’d seen him in nothing but fatigues, she knew that he’d be able to blend right in with the rest of the men. But that wasn’t his style or plan apparently, and as soon as he was close enough for them to make out who he was, Vance raised his rifle up over his head and fired a volley of rounds.

“What the fuck are you doing?” She laughed when several of the men dropped to their knees with their hands up over their heads. “You all should join them. I’m sure that as soon as the military police get here, they’re going to shoot those of you who are not down.”

As if they’d gotten their knees cut out from under them, the rest of them dropped. Even the ship captain came out and joined the men. Weapons were tossed away, and after that, he had complete control over them. When she joined him on the dock, he asked her to pull out his phone so he could make a call.

First, he called a friend of his by the sound of it. She could hear him the man’s excitement through the connection. He said he’d be right there with his crew, and when Vance ended the call, he winked at her.

“The newspaper.” Nodding, she watched him make a second call. “Hello, President Melton. This is Special Forces Sargent Vance McCade. I’m down here at the dock of General Adkins, and I’ve just made a discovery that you might not be aware of.” Vance put it on speaker so that she could hear too.

The president cursed a long streak of words before he seemed to gather himself up. “I’ll be down there in a bit. Don’t make any more calls, McCade. I don’t want this getting out until we have all the facts about those guns.”

“I never said they were guns, sir.” There was silence at the other end this time. “All I said was I’d made a discovery here. You knew about it, I’m thinking.”

“Mother fuck. Why won’t you just fucking die?” The line went dead and Vance turned to her.

“He wants you to die? Well, that’s just too bad for him,” she laughed. “I like you just where you are.”

Before the president arrived, if he was going to, the local news crew showed up and set up their cameras. She noticed that they were very careful not to get her or Vance in the view, but they did make sure that they got not only the name of the ship, but also the captain, as well as all the men that were on the ground. This wasn’t going to play well on the news.

They interviewed several of the men, who had plenty to say about how they’d come to be there. The captain, very helpful in that he was more than likely going to prison, said that he’d been ordered by General Adkins to load the guns onto the ship. And that he’d done this several times before. He even showed them his log book. By the time the president did show up, his name had been bandied around as well, as the man in charge of all that was happening right under their noses.

By dinner time, not only was the president being questioned, but also the vice president and some of their staff. Adkins couldn’t be found, but she was sure that he’d turn up sometime soon. She’d make sure of it. And through it all, Vance stood there with his gun on Melton and Elliot. Micky wasn’t sure if the man understood that he’d be dead if he moved or if he thought that Vance was protecting him. But then, the man wasn’t that stupid. At least she hoped not. She’d never been prouder to be a part of something.

“Mr. President, you say that you were unaware of this going on. Can you tell us how that is possible? The records of the captain of this ship say that you’ve been here when the paperwork was being signed.” Melton looked at her and Vance but said nothing. You’d have to be a fool to not notice that the man was sweating bullets and pissed off. “There is also information given to us by an unnamed source that says that you were aware of other shipments that have left this dock. What do you have to say to that?”

“I have nothing to say. And if I just happened to be here, it’s because General Adkins is a good friend of mine. Or so I thought. I had no idea of his treason to this country. You can bet that if he’s found, then I’ll have a few questions for him myself.” Vance said he would be found, but no one commented. “If there is nothing else, I need to get back to my office. I am trying to run this country, you know, and it won’t do that on its own.”

“Are you sure about that, sir?” He didn’t answer the question but waved the reporter off and headed to his car. “Mr. President, I have more questions for you. There are a lot of drugs coming into the country. Can you tell the people that you’re supposed to be protecting what that’s all about?”

No answer. When the car drove off, Peter Dillinger turned to them. He looked like he’d just been awarded the Pulitzer Prize as well as a million bucks. He shook their hands twice before he spoke to them.

“He’s going down.” Vance nodded and said that he hoped so. “Me too. I’m glad you called. And if you need me again, all you have to do is yell. I’m your man.”

Vance handed him the envelopes that he’d been given earlier. “Those are conversations, pictures, as well as a couple of people that have been murdered by those two men. Adkins is on his way to a little hangar about four miles from DC. There are a couple of people there that are going to...detain him.” Dillinger asked if he could go too. “You’d be better served if you went to his second home. He’ll have them take him by there first. Not that they should, but they’re going to in the hopes that you’ll just happen to be there. This one is just his vacation place, and he’ll try his best to pass this off as him not knowing about the activities that are going on here.”

“But we have the paperwork.” Vance nodded at the man. “You’re slick, Vance. I think you should run this country. You’d do a hell of a job, better than we’ve had of late.”

“Nah, I have a dragon to take care of.” Peter laughed and walked away. Vance looked at her. “They never believe me when I say that to them. I wonder why not?”

“Perhaps it’s your delivery. You might want to work on that.” She laughed when he said that he would. Taking her hand in his, he kissed the back of it and they started toward his car. “Where to now? I’m assuming that we have more work to be done.”

“Yes. Two more things. One is seeing what Melton has to say once he gets back to his offices. And the second thing, I want to find you a ring. I want you branded with my mark.” She felt her body heat up. “You keep that up and I’ll be branding you in a different way right here on the dock.”

“You can brand me any way you want. Just do it soon, will you?” They were nearly to their car when she paused. There was something here, someone was watching them. “Butler is around here. He might be watching to see what you’re doing.”

“Let him watch.” Vance pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It was meant to show possession, she knew that, but it warmed her all the way to her toes and back again. When he let her go, she could see the desire on his face. “Okay, we have three things to do today. Back to the house.”