A Darker Shade of Dead (21 page)

Damn, that felt good. She stretched like a cat, enjoying the feeling of him inside her before passion took over.

“This is exactly what I dreamed about. You look good up there, and feel even better.” Matt's hands roamed up her torso, landing under her breasts, cupping them as the tips of his fingers played with her nipples.

She couldn't help herself. She had to move. She began a gentle jog, lifting herself a little and relishing the slide of him inside her on the way back down. As her pace increased, his hands moved downward to help. His strong grip on her hips assisted as her thighs began to feel the strain.

But strain didn't matter. Nothing mattered but the incredible pleasure of him inside her, stimulating her sensitive channel, making her feel things she'd only ever felt with Matt. He was special. As special as a man could be to a woman. There was no other like him.

She was doomed. This man was so deep inside her mind and heart, she doubted she'd ever be able to be with another man like this. He'd ruined her for anyone else.

Then one of Matt's hands moved downward, teasing the apex of her thighs. His talented fingers rubbed over her clit in a circular motion, shooting electric currents through her body and sending her into orbit.

She cried out his name as she came. He didn't give her a moment to think before he rolled her under him, still joined. He began a thrusting, grinding rhythm that stole her breath and pushed her beyond what she'd thought was her limit.

“Come with me, Sandy. Do it again for me, babe.” Sweat beaded his brow, and the fierce desire on his face spoke to her own spiraling desire.

Shocked by her own response, a muffled scream tore from her throat as a second orgasm rocked her. She realized only dimly that Matt joined her this time, slamming hard into her and his muscles going taut as he came hard. Her eyes opened and she saw the strain on his face, the utter bliss he found in her was a gift she hadn't expected. It made her feel like a queen. She'd done this to him. This strong man let down his guard for her and let her in—if only for this.

She'd take whatever she could get from him. She cared for him too much. So much, it nearly broke her heart. And filled it again.

Later, when the afterglow began to fade, Matt left the bed and headed for the attached bathroom. Sandra lounged, boneless after an amazing climax that had gone on and on. Had that really just happened?

And how soon before they could do it again? She smiled as he came out of the bathroom, a towel around his hips and water sticking to the spiky ends of his short hair. He smelled of soap and glistened with water droplets she wanted to lick off his skin.

“Stop looking at me like that or there's going to be trouble.” His slow, sexy grin said it was the most delicious kind of trouble imaginable.

“Is that a threat or a promise?” She rolled on the bed, stretching.

He flicked his towel at her playfully, pausing as he dried himself off. Man, was he gorgeous. But he was also…dressing?

“We don't have time now. Consider it a promise for later.” He pulled on his shorts and threw the damp towel at her. “Get up, sweetheart. We have work to do.”

 

The work that night turned out to be blessedly routine. Matt escorted Sandra to the new lab space where she spent her time deep in study and research. He went to the office he was using inside their new headquarters and did a little paperwork before the combat teams went out after dark. Then he went to the tactical support area and supervised as the reports came in. All was quiet in the woods around the base that night.

By morning there had been no zombie sightings and no suspicious activity of any kind. They'd had a quiet night, thank goodness, but Matt knew it couldn't last for long. Rodriguez was out there, still plotting and planning…and making more creatures as he tested and perfected his technology.

Matt and Sandra rendezvoused just after dawn at the room they shared. They didn't speak, but their shared goal was clear. Sandra stepped into his arms with a soft smile, a look of yearning on her beautiful face that mirrored his own.

Without words, he took her to bed. They undressed each other, and their lovemaking this time was slow and deliberate. It had all the passion of their previous encounters with none of the urgency. Matt lay her beneath him and claimed his space between her soft thighs, stroking slowly within. He sat back, lifting her hips to rest over his thighs so he could watch each joining and parting, each thrust and retreat. He loved it when she moaned his name and he loved watching her come around his cock as he stroked her into orgasm after orgasm.

He tested his stamina, glad to find he could bring her pleasure three times before he took his own. They collapsed together, tangled in a mess of arms and legs. Sleep claimed them both and he roused only to make love to her again, this time from behind. He slid into her, spooning her luscious body with his, loving the feel of her delicate skin next to his rougher body.

Soon that wasn't enough. He lifted her by the hips, positioning her to his satisfaction on all fours. He slid within her again, thrusting in increasingly hard strokes from behind while she whimpered little sounds of need. Reaching around with one hand, he stroked the tiny nub that brought her such pleasure, knowing he needed her with him this time. He couldn't hold out. He wanted to come fast and hard, and he wanted her with him.

She cried out his name when she climaxed, taking him with her. The strong sheath of her inner muscles contracted on his cock, coaxing him into a pulsing release that made his head spin and his breath come in ragged gasps. She was amazing.

He collapsed with her after cleaning up the protective sheath he'd worn, and they slept again in a sated stupor. Only the persistent ringing of Matt's cell phone roused him later in the day. He rolled over in the rumpled bed to find his phone tucked in the pocket of his scattered clothes. He checked the number and got out of bed, moving to the bathroom to take the call so he wouldn't disturb Sandra, who was still fast asleep.

“Sykes,” he answered.

“Sir, we have a few police reports filtering through our search matrix. Seems like more than a few civilians are being reported as missing today.” Sam Archer was on the other end of the line. Matt recognized both his voice and the number that had come up on his screen.

The news was not good. Not good at all.

“How many?”

“My latest count is fifteen civilians.”

Damn. “Male or female?”

“That's the odd thing, sir. They're mostly female. And young. Most in their twenties and single. They're being reported by friends and family that expected them to be somewhere they aren't. The common factor is that they went out for drinks with friends last night. Now they're missing and the friends are missing, too.”

“They're snatching girls out of bars now?”

“Sounds like it. You have to admit, they'd be easy pickings for the right people.”

The thought made Matt wince. It was bad enough when zombies attacked hardened soldiers—or even young soldiers who at least had some training in how to defend themselves. The thought of the creatures attacking young women out for a night on the town was difficult to comprehend.

“What else?” Matt knew there had to be more for Sam to have woken him.

“There's activity on the base perimeter in three locations.”

“What kind of activity?”

“Tripped sensors in two remote areas. From the speed, size, and heat signature, we're assuming animals—probably deer—walked into our coverage area.”

“But we're not taking any chances,” Matt reminded him. “Have you sent anyone out yet?”

“Just about to do so, sir.”

“Good. Send 'em,” he confirmed the standing order. “And the third location? What was the activity there?”

“Cut fence in an area we'd already wired.”

The team was slowly stringing wire that carried a low-voltage current around the perimeter of the base but the work was proceeding slowly. The base perimeter was enormous and densely wooded in areas.

“When?” Matt asked.

“About seven minutes ago.”

“Make that location the priority.”

“Already done, sir, but we're stretched pretty thin.” Sam had done the right thing in waking Matt. This was a delicate situation, and Matt had to be the one to make the tough decisions about troop placement.

“We have time before sunset. Is the cut fence accessible by road?” Matt knew the areas they'd been able to wire quickly were the most accessible. It was the rougher areas deep in the woods the soldiers were having a hard time covering.

“Yes, sir. It's about ten meters from the east side access road near gate fourteen.”

“All right then,” Matt thought about the layout of that area. The cut wire should be out in the open if he remembered correctly. “Send out two members of the cleanup team in a jeep. Give them a long lens and feed their video signal to tac ops.” He used the abbreviated name for the tactical operations area they'd set up inside their new headquarters. “Instruct the men not to leave the vehicle. I want them to see if they can identify the break in the line and feed us video. We'll determine how to proceed depending on what they can show us.”

“Aye, aye, sir.”

Matt ended the call and went back out into the bedroom. Sandra was stretching, starting to come awake.

“What time is it?” she asked in a voice raspy with sleep.

“Time to get up.” He swatted Sandra's luscious bare ass, wishing he had time for more. She was sweet. The most delicious lover he'd ever had, and he was quickly becoming addicted to her.

He thought maybe she felt the same. Every once in a while he'd catch her looking at him with such a strange expression on her face…

There was no time to puzzle over it now. They had work to do.

“Where's the fire?” She sat up in bed looking adorably rumpled. He watched her head for the attached bathroom, determined not to let her distract him. At least not too much.

The door closed and he heard the shower turn on. Only a few minutes later, it shut off again and she came out. He'd dressed and checked his messages and e-mail in the time it took her to shower.

“John called from Tennessee. Things should be wrapping up down there soon. That's the good news. The bad news is, we have activity in the woods and missing persons reports to sort out. I expect there's going to be some action tonight. Our quiet time is over. We're due in the conference room for a planning meeting before the night shift starts. As I said before, we need to bring the fight to the enemy, not wait for them to come to us.”

“Sounds dangerous.” She looked worried.

“Dangerous for our enemies, Sandra.”

“I'm glad you're so confident.” She reached for her clothes.

“It's the only way to succeed.” That was a truism he'd learned in his years in the Special Forces.

She only shook her head as she began to get dressed and he watched with great pleasure. She was beautifully built beneath her conservative attire.

“Stop staring.” She laughed. “You're making me nervous.”

“You're beautiful, Sandra. Surely you know that.” Her pretty blush made him realize she wasn't aware of her own allure. He'd fix that. He'd make her believe. Too bad they didn't have time now or he'd show her again how attractive he found her.

“I thought you said we were in a hurry.” He realized he'd been staring and shook himself.

“You're right.” He gave her a smacking kiss before opening the door and ushering her out. They walked down the hall and made their way through the old building toward the conference room.

Once there, Sandra sat beside him again. He didn't particularly care what the others thought about their relationship. Simon and Mari were engaged, as were Sarah and Xavier. It didn't impede their ability to do their jobs and everyone knew it. No sense trying to hide the fact that he had something going on with Sandra. These guys were too observant—it would be almost impossible to keep them in the dark on something like this.

He called the meeting to order and began handing out assignments for the evening. The cleanup crew was on the day shift, so they'd be going off shift shortly. He'd built in some overlap to the schedule deliberately. He went over the reports from the day shift and reviewed new developments. They reviewed the video the two-man team in the jeep had sent. It turned out to be nothing. The wire had been cut by a construction crew that was doing routine maintenance on the gate. The animal readings were just that. A herd of deer had been spotted near one of the tripped sensor locations, and it was likely the same story on the other one, though nothing had been seen by the men sent to check the area.

Mariana was back from her short trip to Knoxville. For the moment, Matt was keeping the news that John had successfully been made immune to himself. Only Mariana, Simon, Sandra, and Donna knew besides himself. Not exactly a secret, but not common knowledge, either.

The most important thing on the agenda for this get-together was the action plan for that night. Matt wanted detailed input from the combat team, since they'd be heavily involved. They spent the majority of the meeting working out ideas with the fighting personnel. The final plan they arrived at was relatively simple. They would use the tracking device they'd taken out of Sandra to lure the bad guys and their zombie friends into an ambush.

“Won't Rodriguez realize we've discovered the tracker?” one of the men asked.

“Not necessarily. Not if we take them all out.”

“Okay, so we neutralize the zombies. That's a given. But what if they have a spotter? I mean, there's got to be someone herding them to us. They don't think for themselves, that I've seen,” Simon pointed out.

“Exactly,” Matt agreed. “And before now, we've never had the opportunity to pick the battleground. If we do this right, we control the circumstances. We can set up the ambush to handle not only the creatures, but we can put a team in place to spot the spotter. A spotter of our own, if you will.”