Fire and Ice (Guardians) (40 page)

Maia felt the man behind her go down even as she noticed Jack surging towards her.
He came for her!
She couldn't believe her eyes, couldn't fathom that he was there.

"Maia, God, Maia!" Jack said hoarsely as his warm body hit hers and she was crushed into those familiar arms that had curled into her so many times.

"Jack ...you came for me," her words came out as a sob as emotions threatened to overwhelm her. Get a grip, Pierce, she berated herself. They were not out of the woods yet.

"I'll always come for you, babe," Jack whispered tenderly. His eyes dropped to her shackles and suddenly became alert as he looked around the rest of the room.

He pulled the chain taut and ordered her to look away as he snapped a round into the metal links to separate them.

Maia quickly ran to the dresser to change into her own clothes as she divested herself of the harem attire.
 

"Hurry up, Maia," Jack urged her as he peered down the hallway, giving the all-clear to his partner.
 

"I've secured Pierce," he said through comms.

"Copy that," Viktor replied. "Alpha team rendezvous to position A for pick-up."

Jack walked over to Maia and handed her a nine-millimeter. "You ready, babe?"

She nodded, still not believing that he was here.

"Stay close."

It looked like all the hostiles from the second and third floor had been eliminated. There was a heavy din of a firefight that was coming from the first floor. This was punctuated with bouts of shouting.

"Shouldn't we help them?" Maia asked as she made a move to go downstairs. She ran into Jack's out-thrust arm catching her around the waist and holding her tightly against him.

"No! Damn it, Maia will you follow orders for a change?" Jack growled as he lugged her up the stairs where they ran into Viktor.

"Third floor is all clear," Viktor said.
 

"What about Edmunds and the others?" Maia asked with concern.

"They're fighting their way out right now," Viktor said.

"We have to help them!" Maia said fiercely as she shook free of Jack's hold and made a move to go down the stairs.

"No!" Viktor and Jack yelled simultaneously as each man took hold of her arms on either side and hauled her towards the waiting Black Hawk.

"What the fuck?" Maia shouted back. "Those are my men, I'm responsible!"

She was surrounded by damn Neanderthals, Maia thought furiously.
 

"Not anymore," Viktor informed her as he observed the mulish set of her jaw. "Some men from team Bravo are on their way now to provide backup. Edmunds and the rest will be fine. Gavlik's men are giving up. Don't worry, Maia."

Jack bundled her into the chopper and got in behind her holding her so tight she couldn't breath.

"Jack, you're suffocating me," Maia complained. He loosened his arms only to have his lips come down on hers in a deep, searching, hungry kiss ignoring all the other occupants in the chopper.

Maia was red-faced, not used to this PDA in front of people she worked with. And then she remembered something.

"Wait a minute: we're broken up, remember?" Maia whispered.

"I think that was more like a lover's spat, babe," Jack murmured huskily. His voice was so warm and gentle, Maia had trouble remembering why she had been mad at him in first place. Besides, he had crossed the Atlantic to rescue her.

***

Erik Costa took the kill shot that finished Mikhail Gavlik. In some way, he was able to avenge his mother. Edmunds, Manning and Chavez were able to get out with the help of team Charlie. With the death of their pakhan and with the imminent return of Volynsky, the rest of the Gavlik crime family abandoned their posts and disappeared into the woods of Orenburg.

"So what now?" Maia asked Alexsey Volynksy. They were back at the Samara compound, refueling the choppers and saying their farewells.

"Gavlik's bratva is being dismantled. Your FBI had been working for years to weaken it. With Gavlik and Reznikov gone, no one is keen to take over," Volynsky said. "As for GAV-VOL Pharmaceuticals, I had legal proceedings started to have it renamed Volynsky Pharmaceuticals and plan to restore the business to respectability. Any board member who had supported Gavlik in the development of the Rave-IX will be prosecuted."

"It's over then," Maia said as peace came over her.

"Thanks to you," Volynsky replied as he clasped both of her hands and brought them to his lips in gratitude. "If you need my help for anything, anything at all, Agent Pierce, you know how to contact me."

Jack came up to them and looked at Maia. "You ready?"

Maia nodded and hugged Volynsky goodbye.

They landed in Kumuroch Airport at noon.

They were lingering in a private hangar waiting for their plane to pass flight check; Maia eyed the Gulfstream 550. "So who did you bribe to get this?" she asked Viktor.

"Compliments of the State Department," he answered with a grin.

"I'm feeling honored," Maia laughed.

Viktor threw his arm around her and walked her away from the other Guardians. Jack was watching them surreptiously.

"Katerina, you gave me a fright with this one," Viktor told her. "I wasn't sure how to get you back."

"How were you able to find us anyway? Not even Erik's men knew the location of Gavlik's fortress," Maia said.

"You have your boyfriend to thank for that one. He is still your boyfriend, right?" Viktor asked with a sly grin.

"Hmph, not so sure yet. We have a lot to talk about."

"Remember the vaccination you received in December?"

"Yes?"

"Well, it wasn't for the flu. That was a tracking serum that MDI had developed. It's a biological tracking device. The signal is in your bloodstream."

"What? Who makes shit like that?" Maia asked in amazement. "Wait, I'm not going to be trackable forever, am I?"

"It's like a self-kill virus. It disappears in six months. That stuff saved your life. Jack was so worried about protecting you, he offered it to AGS for free. We're definitely going to place an order for our agents. It's untraceable by other devices."

Maia was impressed. She stole a glance at Jack, who was still watching them anxiously.

"Maia, I've always thought you can take care of yourself," Viktor said gently. "But Jack McCord is a good man. We may have had our differences and I know you had that recent blow-up, but give him a chance, I think he gets you. He may be an overprotective ass sometimes, but you do need that. Actually, I saw his point earlier."

Maia scowled as she remembered the two of them hauling her to the chopper.

"Can't believe you're defending a man in my life," Maia grumbled.

Viktor snorted. "Come on, we're leaving soon."

They approached the rowdy group that was now filing onto the plane. Maia guessed the huge success of the mission had put everyone in a celebratory mood.

Jack came up to her and pulled her aside.

"We're not going with them," he informed her.

"What do you mean? I don't want to stay here."

"Babe, what do you think of Paris?"

"What?"

"We'll fly straight from here, I have a charter on standby."

"Are you nuts?"

Jack curled an arm around her and kissed her nose.

"I couldn't be any more serious and we have lots of things to discuss."

"Oh, yeah, that," Maia retorted sarcastically.

"Are you going to hold that over my head forever?" Jack sighed.

"Maybe. But I must say you have one heck of a way of making up for it."

"Well, about Paris?"

"Jack, I don't have my clothes and my real passport."

"I have that covered."

"What? You broke into my house?"

"No, I had Laurie buy you a new set of clothes before we came for you."

Maia was having a hard time processing this. "You bought me a whole new wardrobe?"

"Yeah."

"Before you even knew the outcome of the mission."

"Babe, any outcome other than you coming home with me was unacceptable."

Maia shook her head in disbelief. "And my passport?"

Jack shrugged, "Viktor gave it to me."

"Viktor gave it... ?" Maia was baffled. "Since when did you and Viktor become such buddies?"

Jack chuckled. "Well, babe? Paris?"

"Oh, all right, since you went through so much trouble."

Jack looked like he had hit the lottery and went off to finalize the arrangements with the charter company.

Maia shook her head and turned her phone on to listen to her messages. Her phone gave a rapid beep as the voice message notification filled up her phone. Holy crap, twenty voice messages from Jack?

She started to listen. And some from Derek, Jack's assistant Laurie and Jack's mom, all of whom, Maia was sure, had been put up to by Jack.

She got a bit teary-eyed listening to some of Jack's messages. He was truly scared for her and had reacted in anger and she had also not handled leaving for Russia that first time properly either. After spending such a wonderful month together, she had treated him like crap, which she had realized in the weeks that followed. She had nearly destroyed him; good thing they found their way back to each other. And she was surprised how she was now willing to trust Jack with all of her.
 

They certainly did have a lot of things to talk about.

He loped back to her with a big smile on his face. It looked like everything was set with their trip to Paris.

Seeing her face, Jack frowned, "What?"

"Just listened to my messages," Maia said waving her phone at him. "You are such a stalker."

Jack's laughter filled the hangar as he pulled her into his arms.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

It was the dead of winter, not the most ideal time to be walking along the River Seine. But there's nothing more romantic than watching couples all-bundled up and clutching at each other tightly as they strolled along Paris' iconic waterway.

"Want some ice cream?" Jack asked.
 

"Are you kidding me?" Maia groaned. She was stuffed from dinner. They had arrived at Charles de Gaulle at around 3pm and taken the RER to their hotel in the 8
th
arrondissement where Jack was able to secure a premiere suite. There was nothing Maia wanted more than to soak in the marble bath tub, but Jack insisted on getting ready for an early dinner.

By 5pm, they were seated at a restaurant known for the best duck confit in Paris. They followed the meal of crispy duck with the restaurant's famous but simple apple tart. So despite Maia's penchant for overeating, she couldn't understand Jack's suggestion of more food.

"Well, there's a popular ice cream shop right on Ile Saint-Louis," Jack informed her.

"Why do I get the feeling that you're fattening me up for the kill?" Maia said as she angled her clear blue eyes on him.

Jack looked sheepish and glanced down at his feet. He guided Maia to the railings that lined the river embankment.

"We haven't really talked about what happened," Jack began tentatively.

"Oh, the night you kicked me out of your apartment?" Maia said sarcastically. Her eyes flared with the beginnings of her temper as the events of that night came back to mind.

"Let's go back a bit further than that," Jack fired back, obviously getting himself riled up as well. "About the night you just packed up and left me to go on some dangerous assignment. I know I said I'm okay and I understood it's your job. What I'm not okay with is you just up and leaving me like I'm some damn roommate or some damn meaningless fuck. I thought we were in a committed relationship, I deserved more than just a '
Hey I need to be somewhere, see you in three weeks'
kind of deal."

"Well if ..."

"I'm not done talking," Jack snapped. "I was okay with that then. Not now. After this shitstorm you got yourself into this last time, you are done accepting these kinds of assignments. I don't care if you quit AGS to do this. You will tell me exactly where you are going, when you are leaving, what you are doing and who you'll be dealing with. I want names. I told Viktor, once I get you back from this I make the decisions to keep you safe, not him. Got me?"

Maia gaped at him in disbelief. Her mouth must have hung open.

"You can say something now," Jack said impatiently.

Maia snapped her mouth shut. She stalked a few steps away, spun around and walked back to Jack and got into his face.

"Unbelievable! You are delusional! What gives you the right to control me like that?" Maia sputtered. "Quit the AGS? In your dreams, buddy! You've got the wrong girl if you think you can enforce those rules on me." She poked her fingers in his chest three times for emphasis.

"No, you're the girl I'm in love with. I love you more than my own life," Jack declared fervently. "If anything happens to you Maia, it will be over for me. I'm never gonna come back from losing you—not in ten, not in fifty years. So I'm asking you not to throw away what we have on some fucking job someone else can do. I'm begging you to give what we have a chance. You've done your time; it's OK to slow down, babe. I promise you, I'll make it my life's priority to make you happy."

They were standing apart, close but not quite touching. Maia's eyes were defiant, the set of her mouth mutinous. But her heart was melting with what Jack had just said. It was probably time to put him out of his misery. After all, she had had a plan for after this last assignment.

"Jack, even before I left for Russia in early January, I had already told Viktor I was planning to slow down," Maia said. Jack's eyes flared with hope. "I was going to suggest taking a more active role in our training program. AGS is growing and Viktor is complaining that there are no experienced instructors as most of the good ones are in the field."

"Maia, that would be perfect!" Jack said gruffly. He tried to yank her into his arms, but she evaded his reach. She needed to get this all out before he kissed her and got her distracted as she always did when he touched her.

"Wait!" Maia said quickly. Jack froze and then crossed his arms in front of him, impatience crossing his face. "I might have to do the odd mission. But I won't keep you in the dark about the nature of them or when I plan to ship out. Though names and locations may still be a problem."