Fight By The Team (Team Fear Book 2) (14 page)

“You’re mighty cheerful, Rosebud.”

“Reality.” He shifted the shirt off her shoulder and tried to ignore the pleasure at seeing her in another of his t-shirts. The worn fabric sported the U.S. Army emblem front and center, right between her full breasts. Not that he noticed. And he also shouldn’t notice the way her long neck stretched out like a dancer’s, not nearly as tempting as the long legs which parted slightly on the exam table. Damnit.

Right now he was her medic. He peeled back the bandages to look at the damages. The skin was cool to the touch with no sign of infection. He’d seen worse. The skin around the wound was soft. Female. The muscles in his hands twitched involuntarily. Not for the first time, he wished he’d been the one to end the shooter.

He stepped closer to get a good look. With an absent gesture, he moved the light closer to make sure none of the sutures had pulled. The doctor had done better than Rose expected from a country doctor. There was a pattern to the stitches that reminded Rose of the work done by surgeons during the Iraq war. He’d have to look it up.

Debi cleared her throat. “Hey, Rose?”

“Hmm?”

“If you’re done staring at my chest, can I get dressed?”

“I’m not.” He yanked his hands back like she was a hot skillet. His head smacked the light with a loud
ping
that had him biting back a curse. “I wasn’t.”

A sexy chuckle escaped her lips. “You’re easy to tease. I like it. Teasing you.”

He focused on the white gauze and the tape, because everything out of her mouth was starting to sound like an innuendo. And it worked him up. He had to step back so his growing erection didn’t touch her as he finished applying clean bandages. Maybe it was the brush of her hair over his arm or the smell of strawberries. His hands nearly shook as he finished. “The doctor did a good job.”

“So I’m cleared for duty?” She wrinkled her nose as she shrugged her shoulder and righted the shirt. The reaction showed she still had pain, but that was inevitable.

“No duty. You’re cleared for physical therapy. I’ll run you through exercises later today.” He pulled together all the soiled cotton and tossed it in the red bin attached to the wall. They really had thought of everything. “All done.”

“Good.” With the speed of an explosion, she lashed out and wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him close. Eye to eye, their breath mingled. “I have a confession.”

“Hmm.” Hell, he’d lost his voice. Maybe his capacity for thought. They were headed where his body had wanted her since the day they met. Blood surged to his groin, leaving his brain defenseless. “What’s that?”

She rubbed a finger across his lower lip. “Do I make you nervous?”

She threw off his equilibrium, but he could work with that since he was trained to adapt to new and dangerous situations. He licked his lips, letting his tongue brush the finger she still pressed against him. “I can handle you.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I doubt it.”

“That’s my line.” A part of him doubted he knew the first thing about handling Debi. She had him spun up tight and she wasn’t even operating at top capacity. God help them both when she was back at full speed.

The erotic brush of her fingers skimmed his jawline. “Remember that first morning when you made me coffee with Irish crème?”

“Hard to forget.” Team Echo had just handed him his ass. One of their members attacked from behind, so quietly, so unexpectedly, that he’d be dead if Echo were armed. Afterward, they’d regrouped in Debi’s kitchen. She’d dropped her coffee, shattering the glass and her nerves. The start of a panic attack he hadn’t recognized. “You were afraid.”

“I’m not afraid now. Since that morning, I’ve been wanting to do this.” Her lips trailed her fingers, moving like a whisper across his. The soft tease skimmed the surface of his desire.

“Not enough,” he muttered around the edge of the kiss. Not nearly enough. Fingers wrapped around the base of her skull, he maneuvered her where he wanted her. Head tilted to the side, he dove deep. The moan at the back of her throat encouraged him to lose himself in the taste of her. Temptation whispered at the edge of the kiss, pulling him deeper, into more than a first kiss. Deeper. Tongues tangled, teeth nipped, and the pull traveled straight to his groin.

The loss of fear meant the normal filters that kept him from going too far and too fast were obliterated by the soft curves of the woman he wanted to own. He stepped forward into the vee of her legs. His hands wandered her body, memorizing the swell of her chest, the indention at her waist, the delicious flare of her hips. The woman was built for his hands.

Those long legs he admired wrapped around his hips and yanked him closer to home. His lips controlled hers. His hands roamed her, lifting to brush her... bandage.

Guilt like ice washed over him, drowning the need. He stepped back before he took her right there on the exam table.

Quick breaths lifted her chest. Keeping her eyes locked on his, moving slow to draw attention to the moves, she unlatched her feet, scooted to the edge of the table, and dropped to the tiled floor. The move brought her so close he nearly wore her as a second skin. “That was the interest payment. I still expect my Hello Kitty stickers.”

“
A
re
you sure it was Captain Johnson?” Ryder stood at the far end of the room, his legs braced apart. He had one hand around a mug of coffee and the other tucked into his pocket in true military briefing style. The discussion was overdue, but with all the chaos raining down plus Debi’s injury, they hadn’t had a chance.

“Hell if I know.” Rose prowled the command post. “Looked like him. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second and then he was gone.”

“I can’t imagine a student losing you. Even in a crowd.” Fowler hopped up to sit on the counter near the surveillance monitors.

Stills dropped into a swivel chair. “Unless you’ve lost your touch.”

“Could be a student. Prior military.” Craft was parked at the computers like his ass was cemented to the chair. “I can tap into the campus security cameras. See what I see.”

“That’s a good place to start, but that kind of surveillance is slow. If Johnson thinks you identified him, he won’t be easy to find.” Ryder sipped his coffee. “Hard to believe it’s a coincidence.”

“Unfuckingbelievable, actually,” Rose said. He’d had time to think while monitoring Debi’s recovery. “If Johnson is on campus, there’s a damn good reason. There has to be a link to the company or the military. Johnson went underground the second the Army released us, and he shows up on campus. Why?” Rose’s brain worked faster than his mouth, so he jumped from one subject to the next, trying to get his teammates to help connect the dots. “We assumed that Echo traced Ryder to campus through Lauren, but what if that’s where they originated. What if that’s where
we
originated?”

“That’s a huge leap,” Fowler said.

“Think about it. Why El Paso? There are no Special Forces teams. We didn’t fit into the mission or command structure—”

“That could have been reason enough, to keep us off the military grid,” Fowler said.

“You’d believe anything with a conspiracy in it,” Stills said to Fowler. “What Rose is talking about is a giant fucking conspiracy.”

“Doesn’t make me wrong. Why recruit us and move us away from all our military connections? Why go where they had to build a special training facility when the Army had that elsewhere?”

“Because El Paso is where the quacks are?” Crafts offered.

“Exactly.” Rose stabbed a finger in his direction. “The campus has a world-class research lab with plenty of funding. Anyone want to bet that some of their research is funded by grants from the U.S. government?”

Stills leaned back in the office chair. “Grants mean a paper trail. Even if they don’t detail the experiments or the drug protocol, there has to be a way to track the budget expenditures.”

“Budgets and grants have contact names. It’s a place to start.” Craft tapped out several lines on his computer keyboard, the sound angry in the now silent room. “I want to destroy the people who set this shit into motion. The company—whoever the fuck that is—started an experimental government program and bailed on us when things went south.”

“We were expendable. Still are,” Ryder said. “We signed on the dotted line and drank the Kool-Aid.”

Anger welled up, filling Rose’s soul like a blood blister that burned and grew with each new revelation. He’d signed, true enough, because he had needed money for his sisters’ education. Fearlessness was the bonus that finally lifted the mantle of responsibility that had settled on his shoulders at thirteen. No more worries over the girls. He’d been able to handle them with logic and not fear over an unknown future, but there was a cost. To save his family, he had to leave them. The reality burned. “I want the quacks to fry for what they did. They played God because they could, without comprehending the cost in human terms.”

“Hooah,” Craft agreed.

Debi stepped through the doorway, her face pale. “Sorry to interrupt. Rose, you said to get you for physical therapy, but you all sound busy. It can wait.”

“No, we’re done,” Ryder said. “Craft, find Captain Johnson. Stills, you track the money.”

“I want in,” Rose said. “I want to destroy the doctors.” They were the true monsters.

Ryder nodded his understanding. “Work with Debi on the science. We’ll meet again in the morning.”

Rose reached for Debi and led her from the room. “Come on, sweetheart.”

Rose braced his legs apart and faced Debi. After the kiss, he’d given them both space, avoiding the basement until it was time for her physical therapy. The room was outfitted like a small gym. Treadmills lined one wall and weights on the other. The mats in the center could be used for hand-to-hand, but right now, he used them for her daily torture. She pulled back on a resistance band until her lips twisted in pain. Mobility on the right was limited. “This is too soon,” she mumbled. “Way too soon.”

“The injury damaged the rotator cuff. Movement is key to maintaining mobility. It’ll hurt, but Doc said you should start physical therapy.”

“That’s not the way I remember it. I believe he said I
could
start therapy, not that I had to.”

“If you want to regain one hundred percent mobility, you start now.”

“Who says I want that?” She puffed a breath through tight lips. “I’ll get one of those nifty grabber thingies to reach the top shelf.”

“Those grabby thingies are made for retirees. You’ll thank me one day.”

“Don’t hold your breath.”

The anguish on her face churned in his gut. He got no pleasure from the workout, but if she were one of his troops, he’d tell her to suck it up. “One more set and we’ll switch to weights.”

“Why does that not sound easier?” She counted to eight between gritted teeth. “Ahhh, that burns.”

Rose twisted to get the weights so he didn’t have to watch. He grabbed two cans of soup he was using as improvised dumbbells. “Swap these for the resistance band.”

She shrugged her shoulders before grabbing the cans. “I knew at some point you’d revert to type and ask me to cook for you.”

There was the sarcasm. The smile lifting his lips caught him off guard. Demonstrating the movement he wanted her to make, he answered her unspoken question. “The other weights are too much for starter exercises.”

“Doesn’t feel like starter exercises.” Her left arm went up like a spring while she tilted her body to try to use momentum to swing the right up. She finished the first set, her face red with the effort. “This is cruel and unusual punishment.”

He glanced at the clock on the far side of the room and gave her two minutes between sets. “Did you make progress in the lab?” He should feel guilty for avoiding her. His job right now was to work on the drug angle.

“Some. Tested the cup given to Lauren and me. Started work on the water bottles. It’s tedious work.”

“Figure out what they gave you?”

White teeth bit into her bottom lip. “GHB.”

“The date rape drug?”

“Yes.” A hiss whispered between her gritted teeth. “It’s a good thing we shared the tea, or they could have easily overdosed Lauren.”

“Didn’t you notice anything?” Shit, he didn’t want to sound like he was blaming. They’d all been taken surprise by Team Echo.

“The first tea tasted off, but it was an herbal tea blend, so we didn’t think anything of it. The second tea tasted fine. GHB is colorless and odorless for the most part, and can come in a liquid.” Tension drained from her shoulders as she talked about the science. “I don’t know if we were knocked out or we lost the memory of them moving us. I remember throwing up in the parking lot, and the next thing I remember is waking up in Lauren’s guest bedroom with two dead bodies.”

“Fuck.” Rose didn’t want to ask. None of them had considered what had been done to the women when they’d been in Echo’s hands. “Did they...”

“I don’t think so...” Her eyes squeezed closed. “I’ll have to ask Lauren first. Alone. I can’t spring it on her in front of everyone in case...but I don’t think so.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I’m sorry.” He brushed a wisp of black hair from her face. “How are you holding up?”

She leaned into his hand. “This happened days ago, feels like weeks considering all we’ve been through. I’m fine.”

Probably not fine. The female heart was a tricky beast, one he’d navigated with six sisters, but Debi had never had anyone to help her. “Do you want to go talk to, uh, Lauren or Janet or someone?”

“There weren’t any signs. I have to assume they used the drug to overpower us, not...” She rubbed a knuckle against the corner of her eye. “I’m fine.”

“That word doesn’t cut it with me. You know that.”

She shrugged away from his touch. “Let’s finish this.” The right arm shook as she lifted straight up and down with the can of soup in her hand. Muscles worked in her jaw and cheek as she ground out the movement, determined to finish therapy, maybe get the crap out of her head for a minute.

“Seven more. Lift as high as you can.”

She did three and paused with her hands hanging. “You’re an ass at training.”

“Thank you. Four more.”

Without a word, she pushed through the final set. When she finished, she let the cans hang down and stretch the muscles.

“Nice work, sweetheart.” He took the Campbell’s soup cans from her and set them on the mat. It had to hurt, no way around it, but she’d done every exercise he led her through without complaint. Her arm trembled, though, and he’d worked it hard. He patted the nearest weight bench. “Take a seat.”

She frowned like she wanted to argue, but sat instead.

“Too tired to fight, sweetheart?” When she lifted her nose instead of answering, Rose walked around the edge of her seat and rested his hands lightly on her shoulders. “Relax.” Using light strokes at first, he massaged the muscles at the top of her shoulders to ease the stress the training had caused. She needed to work the muscles, but she needed to recover as well. “Ice them when you get upstairs.” He worked his way to her bony shoulder without interruption, but when he hit the wounded side, she flinched.

“Watch it,” she warned.

“I’m not going near the stitches, but I want to work the muscles to avoid undue pain.” The last thing he wanted was hurt her. The skin closest to the wound was warm, probably from the exertion. “Feel better?”

A muscle twitched under his fingers, and after a moment, she closed her eyes and leaned back into his touch. “Too soon to tell. You should keep at it.”

He chuckled. She needed the comfort of touch. Maybe they both did. The thought of what Echo could have done, the power they’d had, twisted something deep in his psyche. He had six sisters. Statistically, that put at least one of his sisters at risk, which meant he’d had to work hard to keep them protected. Trained. Educated.

They’d suffered from their father’s abandonment, but damned if Rose was going to give some lowlife the chance to use daddy issues against his sisters. He made sure they knew their worth. Debi hadn’t had anyone to look out for her, so she’d ended up with some asshole who burned down her barn and stole her research. The father had failed to give her a solid sense of her value, which set her up for a bad cycle. Rose itched for five minutes alone with her old man to beat the ever loving shit out of him.

“Ouch.” She jerked away from him. “Too hard.”

“Sorry.” Thoughts of her old man had made his moves too rough. He closed off those thoughts—for now—and concentrated on working the tension from her tender flesh. When the muscles relaxed under his touch, he eased down the front of her arms away from the wound. At the elbow, he switched to the backside of the forearm to follow the single thick tendon that ran from elbow to wrist.

She gave a soft moan, more pleasure than pain. Both arms hung limp from her shoulders like they were weightless. No matter what she said or didn’t say, the massage helped ease the pain. And it was the least damn thing he could do, considering.

The bones in her wrist were fragile, dainty in a way he’d never noticed before, and her skin was intoxicating enough to tempt a reformed alcoholic. He switched to the other arm, circling his thumb up the long muscle. At her bicep, her arm twitched like he hit a nerve, but he kept on until she jerked away. Her eyes popped open.

The underside of her bicep was ticklish. The temptation was too great. “Problem?”

“Nope.” She twisted her lips into a frown.

Rose rubbed the knot on the front of her arm before softening his touch at the underside of her arm, smoothing feather light touches to her tickle spot.

She jumped this time, and his fingers brushed her chest before she slid out from under his arms and stood. When he persisted, tickling along the underside of her arm, a laugh bubbled up.

“Ticklish?”

She twisted to frown at him. “Did you do that on purpose?”

Of course he had. She needed the laughter and he’d needed to hear it. “Feel better now?”

She reached as if to cross her arms over her chest, and then winced when it pulled her injury.

“Here, let’s get you strapped back in.” He snagged the sling and eased it around the outer edge of her elbow. And it was too damned close to her chest. Her breath hitched as he moved, drawing his eye right where he shouldn’t want it, on either side of the Army emblem.