Avenged (Hostage Rescue Team Series) (Volume 5) (6 page)

At the mention of his fellow PJ’s name, Nate’s stomach balled up into a hard, searing knot below his ribcage. His mind immediately flashed back to a memory of his buddy. O’Neil laughing in their barracks at Bagram just minutes before leaving for the mission with the quick reaction force. They’d been doing a weapons check when someone had made a wisecrack. O’Neil had thrown his head back, mouth open as that contagious belly laugh rolled through the room and rang off the plywood walls, making everyone chuckle in turn.

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the image morphed into a snapshot of O’Neil’s pale blue eyes gazing sightlessly up at the clear sky above him, his entire face covered in blood.

Instantly Nate was transported back to that rugged mountain terrain. He could taste the dust in his mouth, smell the burning cordite as he stared into Taya’s ashen face across O’Neil’s lifeless body. Her eyes were blank with shock and pain. One delicate hand was pressed hard to the side of her neck in an attempt to slow the blood pouring out from beneath her white-knuckled grip…

Nate sucked in a breath and broke eye contact, giving himself a mental shake. Shit. Shit, it was so fucking vivid.

He was up and out of his seat without even realizing it, needing to move, escape the memory, his heart halfway up his throat, his lungs burning.

“Nathan.”

At her soft voice he stopped and looked back at her. She was reaching for him, her forehead creased in concern, one hand stretched toward him.

Nate dragged his gaze away from her and cleared his throat, forced himself to exhale and pull in a breath. Dammit, he’d known coming here was a risk, that seeing her might trigger everything. “I’ll just check in with the guys, find out what their ETA is,” he mumbled.

She opened her mouth to say something else, then closed it and nodded, easing back into her chair. “Okay.”

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he was startled when it buzzed in his hand. But it wasn’t Cruz or Vance texting him, it was the woman who’d crawled out of his bed in the middle of the night a week ago. Her fourth attempt to contact him. He withheld a groan of frustration.

You free tonight? Would love to hook up if you don’t have plans.

Jesus, she was persistent, he’d give her that.

Not interested
, he texted back, then deleted her message, just as he’d done with all the others, and this time blocked her number. He was annoyed at her continued attempts to contact him, but that wasn’t really fair of him. Eight days ago he would probably have taken her up on the offer, but the morning she’d left had been a wakeup call and he’d made up his mind to stop using meaningless sex as a crutch.

The truth was, he wouldn’t have been interested in any woman who’d contacted him this past week. Not since he’d heard about Taya coming to town. And now that he’d seen her and talked to her again, the idea of hooking up with some random woman just so he could use sex as a Band-Aid turned his stomach.

Refusing to read too much into that, he faced her, hands on hips. “You need anything else while we wait?” Because he’d love an excuse to leave the room right now.

Taya shook her head, her frown melting away. But her eyes told him she knew exactly what had just happened to him a minute ago. “I’m okay, thanks.”

He was saved from saying anything else by three sharp raps on the door. “It’s Cruz,” a familiar voice called from out in the hallway.

“That’s them,” he said to Taya. Grateful for some space and a minute to collect himself, he strode to the door and opened it. Vance’s wide shoulders all but blocked the light coming in from the hallway as he followed Cruz inside, nodded at Nate.

“DeLuca told us you were already here,” Cruz said. Nate could see the questions in his teammate’s light brown eyes, but thankfully all Cruz did was lift his dark eyebrows and say, “Care to introduce us to our principal?”

After making the introductions, Nate moved off to the side of the room and stayed there, one shoulder propped against the wall and his arms folded across his chest as his teammates took over. He felt like a loser, having nearly lost his shit in front of Taya like that, but he wasn’t going to leave her yet.

Cruz laid out the nitty-gritty of what he and Vance would do to keep Taya safe in the coming days. For his part, true to his easy-going nature, Vance merely nodded on occasion and spoke up only when necessary.

Through it all, Nate observed Taya’s reaction. She was quiet as she absorbed the new security protocol, waiting until Cruz had finished before saying anything.

“So basically I only leave the building when necessary, and when I do you guys will be with me.”

“Right,” Cruz answered. “Either with you directly, or tailing you and another security team you might be with, usually by vehicle.”

“And when I’m here?” She indicated the hotel room with a quick glance around.

“The FBI will post guards outside your room, just like they are now.”

A slight frown appeared between her eyebrows. “And after what happened today, how do we know that no one followed me here from the airport?”

Cruz didn’t try to downplay the threat; instead the former MARSOC Marine inclined his head in acknowledgement of that possibility. “Investigators are double checking everything now, using CCTV footage and satellite feeds, eye witness accounts, things like that. If anyone followed your team here, we’ll know real soon and take care of it.”

She didn’t appear too comforted by the rundown, and Nate didn’t blame her. “All right.” Then she turned her attention on him, her eyes full of questions. “Will you be assigned to a detail for one of the other witnesses?”

Did she sound disappointed that he wouldn’t be with her, or was that just wishful thinking? “Maybe. My commander hasn’t given me an official assignment yet.” But damn, he wanted to be on Taya’s detail. She brought out all his protective urges, true, but it was more than that.

He
needed
to protect her, personally, and to do everything in his power to ensure she was safe. Hell, after what it had condoned and allowed to be done to her, the government fucking owed her at least that much. And so did he.

He shifted against the wall, fighting the urge to cross the room and sit next to her, put himself between her and anyone else, even his teammates. Which was crazy. They were here to help her.

Shit, maybe he
should
ask DeLuca for permission to join the detail. His commander might allow it if Nate could back up his request with solid reasons.

Cruz and Vance were both watching him now. Nate caught the white flash of Vance’s teeth against his deep brown skin as he fought a grin. Nate shot him a quelling glare. “What?”

Vance covered his mouth with one big fist, masking his chuckle with a cough. “Nothin’.”

Nate shifted his gaze to Cruz next, whose eyes danced with amusement, and raised his eyebrows in silent demand.
Problem?

Cruz merely grinned before turning his attention back to Taya. “Any other questions or concerns on your mind right now?”

She snorted softly. “Well, yeah, but the rest can wait until we know more, I guess.”

“Sounds good. Can I have your phone for a minute?”

Taya entered her passcode and handed it to him. “I’m putting in mine and Vance’s numbers,” he told her, then slid a teasing, sidelong glance in Nate’s direction. “And Schroder’s too, I guess,” he added. “If something comes up, call or text one of us. We’ll contact you the same way.”

“Perfect, thanks,” she said as he handed it back to her.

When a knock sounded on the door, Cruz and Vance both stood. “That’ll be the lawyers,” Cruz said and strode toward the foyer.

Taya shifted in her chair and smoothed her hands over the front of her dress. To Nate she looked suddenly weary. He wished she didn’t have to sit through another meeting with strangers right now, alone.

Voices came from the foyer and Cruz reappeared with three men and one woman dressed in business suits, all carrying briefcases. “Security’s cleared them all,” he told Taya, then nodded at Vance and Nate. “Shall we?”

Taya stood to shake hands with the lawyers, but then her gaze strayed to Nate. “Will you excuse me for a minute?” she said to the group before turning to follow him to the foyer. Nate paused to wait for her as his teammates headed for the door.

Cruz and Vance glanced back at them questioningly, and Vance smoothed over what could have been an awkward moment by saying, “See you both later.” Without another word he opened the door and both men walked out into the hall.

Nate faced Taya and slid his hands into his pockets so he wouldn’t be tempted to touch her again. She put on a smile for him. “Sorry we didn’t get to talk longer.”

“It’s okay, this is more important right now,” he said, nodding toward the other room where the prosecution waited.

“Well maybe we’ll get another chance to catch up while I’m here.” Her gaze moved over his face, almost as if she was cataloguing his features. Awareness and longing tingled up his spine. “It was great to see you again, Nathan.”

“You too. And look, what Cruz said is true. If you need anything or want us to check on something or your gut says something doesn’t feel right, contact one of us.” Though he wanted to be the one she reached out to if anything was bothering her.

She nodded. “I will.”

For a moment he stood there, fighting the urge to reach for her, but she ignored his hesitation, stepped forward to close the distance between them and slid her arms around his back. “Thanks for coming to check on me,” she murmured against his shoulder. “I appreciate it.”

He gathered her close, trying and failing to ignore the way his body reacted to the feel of her soft curves pressed against him. He’d thought about holding her this way so many times. Just the two of them, away from prying eyes. He didn’t care that others were waiting for her in the next room. Nothing mattered but her standing so trusting and warm in his arms. “You don’t have to thank me for that,” he said. “And I meant what I said. Anything comes up that you’re not sure about, call me.”

“Okay.” She pulled back and put on a brave smile. “See you later?”

“Yeah.” Even if he didn’t end up on her detail, he still planned to see her again. Whatever it was he was searching for to slay his personal demons, closure maybe, he knew Taya was the key. But now he was beginning to think he wanted a whole lot more than just closure, and that was dangerous. For both of them.

He was still thinking about her an hour and a half later when he entered his kitchen from the garage. His phone rang while he was fishing a beer out of the fridge. With the bottle in one hand he pulled out his phone and checked the screen. DeLuca.

“Hey,” he answered, phone wedged between his ear and shoulder as he twisted the cap off. “Perfect timing, I just got home. Taya was meeting with the prosecution when I left.”

“You need to come in to HQ,” his commander said. “Rest of the team is on the way down, including Vance and Cruz.”

Oh, shit, this had to be bad, for him to pull everyone in. Nate straightened and set the beer down on the counter, a sense of foreboding sweeping through him. “Why, what’s happened?”

“Three of the prosecution’s star witnesses have just been kidnapped at gunpoint in broad daylight. Their security details are either all dead or wounded.”

His heart rate shot up. For the attackers to locate witnesses in WITSEC and then take out the U.S. marshals assigned to them, they had to be incredibly well trained.

He gripped the edge of the counter, his fingers curling around the cool granite. “What about Taya?” he blurted. If the attackers had gotten to the other three—two of whom were supposed to have been in special holding facilities that were heavily guarded—then it stood to reason that they either knew where she was staying, or had a pretty good idea. And if Cruz and Vance were being called in to HQ, that left only regular FBI agents to guard her. That wasn’t good enough, not for Nate.

“She’s fine, no incidents reported at her hotel. Celida’s already placed an extra detail there and everyone’s on alert.”

No.
Nate shook his head, concern for her overriding everything else. “She can’t stay there—”

“I know. Her temporary detail is moving her out of the hotel shortly. I’m gonna have Vance and Cruz swing by to meet them and bring her down here with them until we can decide what the plan is.”

Nate breathed out a sigh of relief. “All right. Have you let her know yet?”

“No. I thought it’d be best if she heard it from you. She’s got a temporary burner phone.” He gave Nate the number.

“Okay, thanks.” He was glad DeLuca was letting him be the one to break the news. “See you in ten.” As he rushed for the garage he dialed Taya. She answered in a groggy voice that told him he’d woken her. “Hey, it’s me.”

A short pause, then, “Nathan?”

God, hearing his name in that sleep-husky voice had him imagining her sitting up in bed, her curls all tousled. Did she sleep in anything, or naked? “Yeah, sorry to wake you.”

Sheets rustled on the other end. He pictured her pushing her curls out of her face with one hand. “It’s okay. Is something wrong?”

“There’s been some recent developments that I can’t go into over the phone,” he explained calmly. “Cruz and Vance are going to head over and pick you up soon, then bring you down to our headquarters in Quantico.”

“What happened?” There was no mistaking the sudden tension in her voice, even if she sounded calm.

“Intel’s still coming in, but the guys will fill you in with what they know on the way down. For now, get dressed and repack your suitcase, okay? They’ll be there within the next few minutes or so.”

She blew out a breath. “Nathan, you’re scaring me.”

Ah, God, he hated to give her anything more to worry about. “Don’t be scared. We’re moving you as a precaution, that’s all.” He was thankful two of his teammates were going to be there to watch over her and make sure she was safe, but he didn’t like knowing she was at risk, and not being there to guard her in person. “Stay in your room until they get there, and don’t leave with anyone but them.” If attackers had managed to locate and kidnap protected federal witnesses, then he couldn’t rule out the possibility that WITSEC had a security leak somewhere.