Black Dawn (34 page)

Lexi turned to the man and nodded. “Done. I want to see my friend.”

The man nodded as if he understood and stepped forward, but instead of releasing her, the black bag came out. Lexi gulped in surprise as he tugged it on and tied her hands to the chair. Fear erupted even though this was on her list of possible things that could happen. The DIA had told her so many things, so many possible situations and reactions that her mind couldn’t process them until they happened.

Titan had to have heard her proclamation that the job was done. They should arrive in minutes. Right? That was the plan. But seconds felt like decades.

Her captor’s phone rang again, and after another conversation she didn’t understand, he also ran away.

The warehouse echoed with noises, voices, and sounds of heavy movement. What had been a dozen ARO sounded like twice that. Doors slammed far away, and muffled shouts boomed. Where was her rescue team—but more importantly, where was Parker? There was just no way he’d been shot. It had to have been a diversionary tactic. Her heart wouldn’t make it if she’d lost him.

A door slammed against a wall. “Lexi!”

Her heart exploded at the sound of Parker’s voice. His boots flew across the room to her. Seconds later, the bag was ripped off.

He sawed at the ties on her feet and wrists. “They hurt you?”

“No.”

He unbuckled the belt, untied her limbs, and grabbed her with one hand. “Did it work?”

“Yes.”

“Atta girl.” An explosion ripped through part of the building, and he smiled as he palmed the knife. “Sounds like backup arrived.”

Backup was a bomb? Okay…

Another sound boomed. He took off, dragging her with him. They made it to the wall and ducked behind pallet boxes. He pulled a gun from the back of his pants. “Here. Same thing—point and shoot. Aim, trigger, that’s it. Got it?”

“Yeah.”

He tucked the open knife into his boot and removed another gun that was tucked at the front of his waist. Jesus, when had Rambo found time to gear up?

“Come on, sweetheart. We need to make it to rendezvous.” Parker placed her behind him.

Well, alright then. It wasn’t the first time she’d held a gun with him in a sketchy situation, and hopefully it wouldn’t be too often of an occurrence.

“These fuckers swarmed like ants. Must be a compound somewhere on site. Good thing is, not all of them are armed.”

“Oh, great.” Only some of them were armed and trying to shoot them.

Parker guided her into a hallway, and she wondered how massive the warehouse was, how long it would take Titan to find them, and how many terrorists constituted a swarm? Taking another turn down a maze of industrial hallways, they ran where the lights were low and noise ricocheted all around. She couldn’t get a read on where it came from.

“Shit, turn around. Let’s go.” Parker spun them in another direction.

A loud foreign yell stunned her in place.

“Goddamn it.” Parker spun, pulling her behind him.

A whole team of not-Titan was moving in on them. Parker pushed her down, firing at them as they moved toward him en masse. Four bodies dropped before he threw down the gun, and two men were left charging the hall—as Parker charged right back.

She was frozen, watching the man she loved about to die for her. Parker grabbed the knife from his boot and threw it, hitting the upper chest of an attacker with bull’s-eye precision. Her mouth gaped as she watched the man gurgle and go down. But the other man dove for Parker as her man jumped up. In one fluid motion, Parker swung on a pipe to reach a chain then dropped down on his attacker, chain still in hand, and wrapped his neck in metal. A quick pull left the ARO man dead.

Too much was happening around them, and she couldn’t keep up. Parker spun toward her as she heard the noise that had caught his attention. His arm reached out, pointing past her, as he sprinted. “Lex, shoot!”

She rotated. An ARO man was gunning for her. Her heart stilled, her breaths stopped, but she raised the gun and pulled the trigger. Point. Shoot.

When she realized her eyes were shut, she opened them.
Holy crap.
The man was bleeding on the ground. Parker swooped in, grabbing the weapon from her hand and lifting her in one strong motion. He ran them down the hall, jumping over the dead man like a bloody body wasn’t a big deal. Her ears rang from the blasting shot, and her hands trembled from the violent kickback. But her mind was most affected. She’d just killed a man. Just
killed
a man…

They rounded a corner, and he tucked her close, pressing her head to his chest, as his hands ran over her body as though he was searching for an injury. “You okay?”

She shook her head, tears she couldn’t classify brimming and stinging her eyes. “No.”

“You will be. Swear to God.”

He took her hand, and they moved faster than she thought she could run through a bevy of hallways. She had no idea how he knew where he was going. As they went around yet another corner, men in tactical gear moved low and fast their way.

Titan.
The good guys. Whoever was there to lend a helping hand.

“About damn time,” Parker growled.

There was some kind of hand gesture. Someone came over, and from him, Parker took two weapons. The tactical guys motioned what she could only assume, with a thumbs-up and directionals, was an all-clear.

Parker nodded. “Time to take you home.” With a possessiveness she almost couldn’t comprehend, he walked her quickly out into the cold black night, where the edge of the sky showed a sliver of light, a smoky yellow ray of hope.

“Dawn,” he mumbled as if all was well and they hadn’t just run for their lives.

A vehicle rushed toward them. Parker picked up the pace, covering her from behind as if he was living, breathing Kevlar, and the vehicle’s door flew open. She didn’t have an option to jump in because Parker lofted her in, tumbling inside as well. When she got her bearings and sat up, they were speeding away. A quick look at the driver made her mind spin.

“Hey ya, hacker girl.” Sugar laughed. “Like I was going to be sidelined on this one. Even if it is just middle-of-the-night carpool duty.”

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Lexi woke at the sound of the garage opening. Parker casually walked into his house and tossed his keys on the end table, shrugging out of his jacket. She was exhausted. The time on the cable box said it was close to five in the morning, almost twenty-four hours since he’d hauled her to safety.

“Scoot over.” He plopped down on the other end of the couch then hauled her onto his chest so that she faced him.

“All in a day’s work, huh?” she asked sleepily.

“Something like that.” He rubbed her back lazily, letting her melt back to sleep.

“You’re my hero.”

His body moved as he shook his head. “Pretty sure you’re the one who infiltrated a terror cell.”

After they returned to Virginia, she went to Parker’s, where Colby Winters’s wife, Mia, had been waiting for her. Sugar and Parker went to Titan. Mia was beyond nice, even though she always had been when Lexi had met her in passing, but this was different. This was Mia working, helping, because Parker had quietly made arrangements for someone for Lexi to talk to.

Mia was non-judgmental, and they talked for hours, telling stories about the guys, about Mia finding a place in their crazy bunch before most of them had settled down. She made Lexi feel welcome, unlike a guest in their world but a person who was… not to be abandoned. Not a loner. Not to be made fun of. Nothing like that. Mia seemed to speak as though she spoke on behalf of every person Lexi had met or had known through the Matt-Parker connection. The whole gab session had felt less like therapy and more like a relief. She was unbelievably at peace considering the last day.

Lexi
had
a family, even if they weren’t blood. It started with Parker, and apparently by default, she had inherited a large network of over-the-top people who seemed to really like her.

“Where’s your head after today?” he asked, laying his forehead on hers and breathing in.

“Nowhere but here.”

“Good.”

“Right?” She snuggled against him. “I’ve always been alone, and it turns out now that I’m not.”

He nodded. “Turns out.” Then he pressed his lips to the top of her head. “This is my favorite time of day. Glad I’m spending it with you.”

“It’s, like, ass crack o’clock.”

“It’s the hour that feels the longest. When the night’s always the darkest. You just have to make it to the next day.”

“Yeah.” She yawned. “Just have to make it through to dawn.”

“Kinda my motto in life…”

His words played in her head, something itching for a connection despite the sleepy-fuzzies in her mind. Oh… “BlackDawn?”

“Yeah, nothing too complicated, I guess.”

“SilverChaos was simple. Life was chaotic growing up in a dozen shitty foster homes. It was meant to be a play on a silver lining. Like ‘Oh, I have a talent that can help with the hell of life.’”

“I get it.”

She sighed. “That’s sweet, and for some reason, I feel like you really do. But it’s nothing a person can get unless you live with no place to call home and no parents.”

He squeezed her tightly. “I was a foster baby too, Lex. No roots. No family. Nothing except for a drive to forget it all.”

Her wide eyes soaked him in. “Really?” Not that it really mattered, but it kind of did.

“Yup. I don’t think I bounced around as much as you, but each time a foster home caught me phreaking a phone line or trying whatever was in
Phrak
that month, they’d pull the plug on me, ship me off again.”

“I’m kinda geeking out on you, Parker. Thought maybe you were too cool. Though you make up for it with all those muscles and militarism.” She laughed and listened to him rumbling the same.

He spun a lock of her hair on his finger. “The hacker who dresses like a rock star and rides a Gixxer is using me for my body.”

“I love you, Parker,” she whispered.

“Love you too, sweetheart.”

Then she closed her eyes and drifted away, at home with Parker’s protective arms around her.

***

The familiar ring of Lexi’s phone stole Parker from sleep. They were on the couch, and the late-morning light hung over the room. His wrists were sore from yesterday’s scratches and cuts and where the tape had ripped the hair off his skin. He reached for the phone on the table, saw it was her sister, and nudged Lexi awake. “Meredith’s calling.”

“Oh.” She sat up and answered it, all sleepy-sweet. “Hey, Mere.”

“Lexi! Help me!”

The words blared loudly enough that Parker could hear, and they sent a cold rush down his spine. He took the phone before Lexi could offer a word. “Meredith?”

“The key from under the mat. He’s here. He won’t go. Help me.”

“Who?” Parker’s cloudy mind pushed to wake up, thinking about the little he knew about Lexi’s foster sister.

“Matt.”

“That motherfucker.” He sat up, placing Lexi by his side. “Where are you?”

“In my closet.”

Parker seethed.
In her closet?
“Why?”

“He’s raging in the kitchen.”

“He’s drunk?”

“Yeah.”

Fuck that dude. Whatever had happened in that guy’s life to make him pull this shit… “Hang on.” He switched lines, dialed 9-1-1, and merged the calls. When the operator answered, he urged Meredith, “Go on, Meredith.” While he listened, he pulled his boots back on and grabbed his keys and sidearm.

Lexi’s eyes were wide. “What’s going on?”

“Your ex better hope the cops get there before I do.”

She popped off the couch. “I’m going with.”

“No.”

But she ignored him, rushing off to grab whatever. Parker relented with a sigh, knowing he didn’t have time to fight a battle he wouldn’t win.

Lexi reappeared moments later, dressed and ready to go. “Ready.”

He nodded, and she took off for his Rover as though he might change his mind. Which he might. The 911 operator gave updates on when the patrol unit would be there, and it made Parker’s gut hurt that he would get there first. They screeched down the road, crossing the familiar path to her sister’s apartment building. He threw the SUV into park on the curb, and Lexi was out the door before he could tell her stop. Jogging to catch up, he chided her to keep behind him, and thankfully she agreed. They waved at Malcolm, who shook his head.

“I knew that boy was gonna be trouble when he stumbled by.”

“Sorry,” Lexi said as they ran for an opening elevator. “Cops are coming. Send them up.”

The ascent took forever, but finally they were on the right floor.

Parker continued to listen on the phone as they approached her apartment. “I’m coming in, Meredith.”

“Sir,” the 911 operator snapped, “please do
not
enter—”