Fight By The Team (Team Fear Book 2) (3 page)

“I won’t think you’re a witch, I’ll think you’re a female, simple as that, but, sweetheart?” His gaze skimmed her from chest to stocking feet. “I’m fully aware you’re a woman, so go ahead and vent.”

The lower timber of his voice sent shivers along her arms. She flicked the beige curtain aside and saw a dim promise of sunrise lightening the overcast sky. “It’s cold out.”

“Quit changing the subject. Man up, Debi, and tell me what’s in your head.”

Her heart skipped a beat. That was the first time he’d used her name. “Did you tell me to man up?”

The mattress squeaked, causing her to turn. Rose leaned against the headboard and rested an arm against a raised leg, a predator at rest, languid grace that could turn lethal. His expression was inscrutable. “We can sit here all day, but that’ll keep you off the mission.”

“Fine.” First he offered to buy her tampons and now he was telling her to vent. Who was this guy? She dropped into the hard chair that had tripped her. She let her head fall back to stare at the yellowed ceiling tiles. “Letting men call the shots doesn’t work for me.” The brief stint she had spent near her father had been a disaster, and her experience with other men wasn’t much better. Her skin prickled at the idea of letting men take control.

“You want to be a part of the mission? I don’t have a problem with that. It’s all hands on deck as far as I’m concerned, and since it’s not safe for you to go home, you should keep busy.”

Wow. Her mind blanked at what to her was a unique response. He was willing to let her play with the big boys. “What are you working on?” Other than the vague whispering, she didn’t know enough to help.

“We’re working to figure out who was behind the experiments. I want to know what the hell they pumped through my veins to make me fearless. To permanently alter me.” Anger broke through his normal calm and the look in his eyes went hard at the mention of the experiments. “You want a piece of that?”

“I’m a chemist, or I was.” Saying it in past tense hurt. It was the job she had worked her whole life to get. “I know my way around a science lab, and something tells me you can use that. I sure as heck can’t sit around waiting for the big heroes of Team Fear to figure out this disaster.”

“Is that it?” He settled deeper into the pillow behind his back. A muscular man against the soft, white bed. Damn but her hands flexed to get in on the action. “Get it all out now. It’s a one-shot deal.”

Well, if he wanted honesty... “I can’t sit around and let a he-man rescue me.”

“He-man?” A light twinkled in his dark eyes, and she couldn’t tell if he was teasing her for her impulsive choice of words.

“All of you are—” She lifted a hand to gesture up and down his body. “Built like tractors, ready to plow down anyone or anything in the way.”

“That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

The rise of heat was instant. “Don’t let it go to your head, Rosie. What’s the mission?”

“We need to know what they dosed Ryder with the other night.”

Debi nodded. In an attempt to make Ryder go crazy, Echo had given him a medical cocktail that sent him into a murderous rage, something that nearly got them all killed. When they were still in the Army, the men had volunteered for an experimental program to make them fearless. Sounded great on paper, but the reality failed to meet expectations. If the guys from Team Echo were any indication, removing the physiological reaction to fear had untethered some link to their humanity. “Baby Faced Joe said it was the same drug that turned you guys fearless.”

“And we trust Team Echo to tell the truth?”

“Good point.” Her mind flipped through the scenario and the answers weren’t good. Echo could have given Ryder any drug or a catalyst to what already flowed through his veins. “I should have taken a blood sample.”

Rose laughed. “Dial back the guilt. You were surrounded by more dead bodies than a morgue, and we bombed the house to cover the evidence. None of us were thinking straight. So now we are. We fix the problem.”

“How?”

“Echo laced his bottle of water with an unknown substance. He drank the whole damn thing, but there were two bottles, so there’s potentially a full bottle in the fridge in Lauren’s office on campus.”

“Potentially?”

“Depends if Echo cleaned up the scene before luring Ryder to the townhouse. We killed four of their men, so details may have gotten overlooked. The evidence could be in Lauren’s office.”

Her heart raced with the thrill of being a part of the investigation and the dread at going back to campus. “You want me to get the evidence from Lauren’s office.”

“Not you. We.”

“But—”

“Take the offer. I can find her office on my own, but you want some fresh air. I can make that work since I want in without attracting unwanted attention.”

She snorted in disbelief. “I hate to break it to you, Rosie, but you attract attention.” Hell, given the opportunity, he’d probably attract groupies.

“I have a gift for getting in and out of any location undetected, which is why I snuck into Madigan’s house while Ryder brazened through the front, so I’m not worried about getting inside Lauren’s office.”

“Right.” No way did a badass like Rose sneak anywhere. “You look nothing like the boys on campus and you are
not
an academic.” He was warrior strong, which was part of her problem. The attraction hit on a primal level, but she was salivating to get out of the motel room, even if it meant more time in Rose’s presence. “I’ll drive.”

He stretched and stood to his full height. “Sweetheart, my ass won’t fit inside your girly economy car.”

Her VW was perfect. For her. But he was right. Not one of his long legs would fit inside her VW, even with the seat pushed all the way back. Debi leaned over to grab her boots and pulled them on her stocking feet. “Alright, Rosebud, but hurry up. We need to get in and out before the first classes start.” Before she ran into complications.

A
bird swooped
across the quad, black against the canopy of a rare snow. A flash of red menace glistened on its ebony coat as it made a low dive, squawking like a bad omen. Debi tripped over a nonexistent crack in the sidewalk. The bird’s laughter trilled across the open space in the middle of campus.

“Steady.” Rose grabbed her elbow to keep her from slipping on the wet cement. If he could do the same to stabilize her nerves, she’d be set. Nothing good had ever happened to her on campus. The kidnapping a few days ago capped a very nasty history with the illustrious institution.

A large group of students spewed from the administration building as the first classes of the day let out, because Rose took too long getting ready and informing the team. The whole teamwork thing was outside her norm. Researchers hoarded their findings like ill-gotten booty, but she’d sucked it up and listened to the briefing, complete with contingency plans. She endured another long hour on the road with Rose. The confines of his pickup truck weren’t much better than the motel room. In the cab of the truck, she smelled his aftershave, felt his heat, and tolerated his silence. The bite of cold from the rare winter weather was a welcome respite from the ride, even if it meant they had arrived on campus.

The snow didn’t stick on the cement, so the sidewalks were like pie wedges cutting through the quad. One path led to admin, another to the science building on the far end, surrounded by a modern art piece the university had overpaid for. If anyone on campus had a budget, it was the science guys. Science was the good old boy program, and her ex was the golden boy who could do no wrong. Oh, he did wrong, but he brought so much money into the coffers through research grants that he wrote his own rules. Even the pristine snow couldn’t hide the darkness underneath the polished campus veneer. Maybe she was the only one who sensed it.

The students leaving the administration building crossed through the middle toward them, sticking to the sidewalk as if walking on the snow was out-of-bounds. Debi held her breath as they neared, then released it on a puff of white when no familiar face took shape in the crowd.

Next to her, Rose walked like he was marching into battle, his suspicious eyes scanning the group for danger. Finished with the students, he altered his focus like he expected a sniper in the bell tower. Not that they had a bell tower, but it didn’t keep him from scanning the rooflines for a threat. The awareness in his eyes sent a shiver through her that had nothing to do with the cold. She rubbed a hand over her arms. Maybe she should be bundled like the students, but she’d left home with only the clothes on her back, and her silent bodyguard hadn’t declared the situation secure enough to return home.

As the students neared, Rose pulled her away from the sidewalk and into the thin layer of white. He placed his body between her and the students who passed by talking about homework, professors, and weekend parties, reminding Debi of her first hopeful year on campus. Her heels sank into the damp earth as she waited for them to pass. When they did, Rose grabbed her arm and led her to the administration building, blocking like he expected trouble. Her breath started coming in quick gasps as her nerves threatened a panic attack. She instinctively moved closer to Rose, who exuded safety in the same way a tank promised protection. A tank might be dangerous, but only if you got in its way.

When her best friend offered to introduce her to tall, blond, and quiet, she should have said no. The man in question was a Nordic type—she didn’t have any trouble picturing him as a pillaging Viking—yet for all of his intimidating presence, he was a medic, a man of healing. His face was wide, with a square jaw that looked like it could take a solid hit. In fact, he’d taken a few in the past week. He had a black eye, fading to yellow, and a scratch on his face that was scabbed, and somehow those markings made him more ruggedly handsome.

If the Vikings had a religion, she’d convert, because his body was toned and tight and worthy of praise, but he’d also only said one word to her in the last fifty-seven minutes, which stretched her already taut nerves, but since she was breaking into an office and stealing evidence, Rose was definitely the man she wanted at her side. He didn’t speak much, but when he did, his low voice crashed over her like a tidal wave, covering her in his strong masculine energy. In the past few days, she’d pretty much used that energy as a blanket to ward off an attack.

The farther they moved from the science building, the easier she breathed. She trusted the tough soldier beside her to protect her from bullets, but there were worse things that could come at her here. She could have said no when he suggested the mission, but they needed to know what Ryder had been given. Plus, it occurred to her a little too late; she and Lauren needed to know what drug had incapacitated them a few days ago. Rose wouldn’t let her go alone, not after what happened at the bank, he had said, as if his rule was law. She’d made a half-hearted attempt at arguing, especially when the morning wore on and they still hadn’t left the no-tell motel, but she’d had too many bad things happen in the last week. When she wasn’t dealing with a panic attack, she was a relatively sane individual. If Rose wanted to be her bodyguard, he had her blessing.

A few steps up and through a door that Rose held open, Debi entered the administration building. The halls echoed with painful silence, so she couldn’t avoid the coffee kiosk in the corner under the stairs. The brunette barista with her hair in a messy bun raced around to intercept Debi before they disappeared into the bowels of the building.

Rose stepped between them.

“Wait, you’re Professor Ryder’s friend, right? From the other night? I’m Beth, one of her students. Is she okay?”

Debi didn’t want to have this conversation. The girl had unknowingly helped the bad guys incapacitate Debi and Lauren. Beth thought she was saving her favorite professor from an abusive husband, but she’d really stepped in the middle of a war. Debi pushed around Rose. “She’s fine, no thanks to you.”

“Why didn’t she come back to class?”

Debi stretched her neck, but the tension knotting her muscles wouldn’t ease. “She’s finishing her dissertation long distance, and you’re lucky we aren’t pressing charges. You knocked us out. Let strange men cart us off campus. That’s accessory to a felony, sweetheart.” It bugged her to use Rose’s word, but in Texas, sweetheart could be an insult as well as an endearment. “And you stepped into the middle of something you don’t understand.” She bit her tongue to keep from spewing more anger at the girl whose face turned whiter with each word. Debi had to remember that a psycho had manipulated the girl.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to—” Beth cut herself off. She twisted her hands together in agitation. “What happened to Joe?”

Baby Face Joe was dead by Ryder’s hand, the only way to save Lauren, but it was better for Beth to think Joe had used her than that he was dead. “Find a new boyfriend, one who doesn’t use you to get to someone else.”

Rose grabbed her arm.
Shut up
, he mouthed. “We need to go.”

“Yeah, yeah.” It was probably best Debi didn’t destroy the poor girl. For all Beth knew, the cute soldier she’d started dating was a real sweet guy with all the best intentions. Debi made it several steps at Rose’s side before she stopped. Blaming Beth wasn’t fair. She had been a pawn, used by a man much the way Debi had been not that long ago. Manipulated. Duped. She’d been a fool, just like the coffee girl. “Beth, I know Lauren doesn’t blame you. She’d want you to forget it and move on.”

A tear dripped from her expressive eyes. “Tell her I’m sorry.”

Debi released a hard breath. “She knows.”

Debi grabbed Rose’s hand to pull him down the hall and away from the barista. The heat of his big hand burned, so she dropped it as she led the way down the wide hall toward Lauren’s office. “The place seems harmless enough,” she said to hide her nerves.

“Not safe. This is where you got kidnapped.”

Leave it to him to crash the illusion of safety. “You’re a cheery man to have around, Rosie.”

“The name is Rose or Sergeant.”

“I am aware.” But the big, bad soldier was fun to rattle. He was often blunt to a fault, but she was glad he was there, walking with her through the treacherous halls of academia.

“Hold up.” Rose broke the silence that so often defined him. He placed an arm between them and scooted her behind. “Let me go first.”

“Have at it, Rosie.” She was all for letting the soldier take the first hit. He was probably bulletproof. He unlocked the door with the key Lauren had given them. The cramped space was filled with a desk, two office chairs, and a sofa other professors had handed down like old clothes. There were no intruders. No guns. She released a breath. “It’s almost a letdown.”

“Could be a trap.” His deep voice rumbled low, causing a corresponding tremor in her abdomen. “Get what we need and get out.”

“What does it take to get you to loosen up?”

“World peace.” The unexpected humor brought a laugh from her that broke some of the tension in the room. It was short lived as he turned and closed them inside. He dominated the room, filling the space with his innate intensity. “But how about we start with no one trying to kill me or mine.”

And there went the levity. The office looked much the way she’d left it the night she and Lauren were kidnapped. That night, Lauren was the bait and her husband the bear who nearly stepped into the big-assed trap. He’d been dosed with an unknown substance from a bottle of water he had gulped in this very room. He’d woken disoriented and confused.

Rose pulled Ziploc bags from his backpack. The paper teacup that had been laced with some sort of sedative was sitting where she left it a few nights before. She put it in the plastic bag, hoping she could identify the drug she’d been given. Nerves sizzled along her skin. She didn’t like knowing someone had drugged her. Experimental drugs were risky, something she knew firsthand.

Rose went to the fridge. “Ryder said he put the unused bottle of water in here.” The fridge was filled with close to a case of water Lauren typically kept in her office on campus.

“Bring it all.” They could test every bottle if they had too. Debi bent to pick up the empty from the floor where Ryder had dropped it. “It’s bone dry. Hard to get a good reading from, but I’ll swab it and see what I can find.” A part of her thrilled at the possibility of pulling out her lab supplies and getting back to the work she loved. The other part dreaded playing with things she didn’t understand. She straightened her shoulders and turned to watch Rose work.

It wasn’t exactly a hardship. The man was built, and his backside was a gift from Nordic gods. Firm, round cheeks were encased in denim. Mm-hmm. She turned to Lauren’s desk before he busted her checking out his ass.

Rose marked the water bottles from the front row of the fridge and the ones in the door with different symbols. “We’ll test this first and work our way to the bottles in the back.”

“You volunteering to be my lab assistant, Rosie?”

“Rose,” he corrected, pushing for her to call him by his name. “I want to know what they pumped into my veins.”

Rose and the rest of the men were angry for what had been done to them. They’d signed on to an elite team in the military, part of a larger experiment to eliminate the physiological response to fear. From a scientific viewpoint, the idea was inspired, but the men hadn’t been told of potential side effects, some they were still dealing with months after being kicked out of the Army. Months after stopping the medication. They were dealing with paranoia and anger and a host of side effects they had yet to document.

Rose packed the bottles while Debi flipped through the files, pulling everything related to Lauren’s dissertation so Lauren could work from the privacy of their hideout. They couldn’t come back to the campus until the bad guys were eliminated, if such a thing were possible. Lauren was a target because of Ryder. She was the weak link he’d die to protect. Debi couldn’t come back for reasons she didn’t want to ponder. Two of those reasons were walking free on this lousy campus. She wanted off campus without confronting either man, and she’d really like to avoid any more alone time with Rose. He upset her equilibrium. She slammed the file drawer closed. She really hated being in this place. “Ready?” She tried to keep the agitation from her voice. She’d obviously failed by the look Rose gave her.

“Got a hot date, sweetheart?”

“Sure, I’ve got a hot date with the pool boy at the lovely one-star motel we’re staying at.”

“Pool’s closed, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“Oh, I noticed.”

“Romeo will have to wait. And that one-star motel beats the hell out of getting kidnapped or killed.”

“Not by much,” she muttered. She woke every morning feeling like bed bugs were crawling on her skin. “Ready to go, Rosie?”

“Quit calling me that ridiculous nickname.”

The order twisted her up inside. There was something seriously wrong with her when his hard-ass orders got her all hot and bothered. When in doubt, brazen it out. “Am I getting to you, Rosie?” She hoped so, because so many days in the same tiny motel room with the big guy, and he was definitely under her skin.

She knew more about him than she did her last boyfriend. Some cruel god had bathed his golden skin with pheromones. She could pick out his scent from the half dozen others in their room. He spoke rarely, noticed everything, and kept a notebook with lists of things he knew, didn’t know, and needed to find out. Whether he knew it or not, he was a researcher trying to get to the bottom of the poison the Army had injected in their veins.

All that made him interesting, but what made him irresistible was the way he called all women sweetheart. He had a soft spot for women she never would have thought possible in a man so physically powerful. He opened the door for her, anticipated her needs, and even went the store to get her toiletries when it became obvious she couldn’t go home. At night, he stationed himself on guard duty, and while she hated the need for protection, she couldn’t ask for a bigger or scarier protector.