Shockwave (Calendar Men: Mr. May) (10 page)
“Now is not the time to fix your hair.”
He sprayed a mist into the room, creating a cloud, and little red beams of light appeared like a web. “Clever.” His gaze swept the room, right to left. “Be right back.”
“I have a bomb strapped....”
But he’d already gone. Seconds later, the power went out, and left Lannie in the dark. Tanner stepped inside, sprayed the foul-smelling hairspray again with a different result. No lines. “She’s testing me.” He walked around the room and snipped the wires to the little boxes projecting the beams. The power came back up as he snipped the last one. “Backup generator.”
“What?”
“If I’d broken one of those laser lines, the bomb would have detonated. She’s brilliant, loves to show off her technical skills. I doubt the first trap was a solo trick.” He eyed her. “Time to pluck your feathers and see what she’s left for me.” Tanner walked over to the bed and lifted the fans. “Very nice.”
“The bomb?”
“No, the costume.”
Lannie groaned. “Can you stop leering and get the bomb off me?”
“Not sure which will blow first. I think the pasties can come off safely. They don’t look attached to any timers—as they’re so small....”
“The pasties are not explosive.”
“How do you know?”
“Look, trust me when I say the pasties and panties will not blow.”
“They can cause something to blow.” He lifted a brow. “Why are you one hundred percent certain?”
Her cheeks heated and she broke his gaze, unable to look him in the eyes. “Because they were in the black bag I threw in the closet.” Did she have to explain?
“The arts and crafts bag?”
“Yes!”
He chuckled and pulled out his wire clippers. “Where to start?”
“You could uncuff me first.”
“No, not a good idea. Don’t know if the bed is trapped and I don’t want you panicking and moving.” Tanner poked around the corset, pulled his pocketknife out, and slit the fabric over the stiff panels serving as the boning. “Hmm.”
“Hmm?”
“Why do you always repeat what I say?”
“You didn’t say anything.”
“I said hmm.”
“Well, why did you say hmm?”
He picked the fabric open and stared down. “The panels are C-4. Your corset, the way it’s laced up, creates a closed circuit. If I cut the wrong wire, or try to remove the garment without defusing the bomb first, you’re going to be in pieces, so hmm. Be quiet and let me think.” He pried at more of the fabric. “Now, this is interesting.”
“What?”
“Timer.”
Timer?
Lannie opened her mouth, her heart pounded so hard her chest hurt. Timers meant a clock counted down. “How...how long?”
“I got this. I’m not leaving you here. Not walking away—not again. So don’t worry about how long. Nobody is dying here. I think Catherine is relying on me to fall back on protocol and evacuate the others first—leaving me without time to get you free. I’m staying to finish the job.”
She swallowed as tears formed in her eyes. “What if you’re wrong? She said no matter what you did, the bomb would blow.”
He nodded. “Figured as much, but you’re going to have to trust me. I got this.”
Lannie exhaled, trying to calm down. Hysteria wouldn’t help the situation. “You still going to do the calendar?”
He grinned and snipped a wire. “You know I am. I’ll even let you tell the story.”
“I think I’m going to stick with human interest stories from now on. If we live. I’ve kind of lost my taste for war zones.”
“Well make it out.” He cut another of the wires. “So any ideas for your next Pulitzer winner?”
She thought about the ninety-year-old burlesque dancer. “I have a few ideas.”
“Tell me about them.”
Three months later
...
“They’re doing a series, and I get to travel the country, searching for human interest pieces.” Lannie pushed the
Times
across the table to Tanner. “They’re calling them the
Dollhouse
series.” He looked down, read the article, and lifted his chin, smiling. “This is good.”
“Right. I didn’t think to look right under my nose. Unknown history of our elderly when they were rebels. Who’d have known how famous a burlesque dancer Dot used to be? World renowned, in fact. With a little digging and some personal photographs she provided, I think I brought her story to life. There’s also a woman who smuggled liquor to the speakeasies in New Orleans, and—”
“Easy.” Tanner laughed and glanced back down at the paper. “Let me read them when they come out. I didn’t know you could write like this.”
“You didn’t read the story I did on you, over in Kosovo?”
“Never read the article—couldn’t. Saw the picture a lot and it pissed me off.” He shrugged. “I’m over what happened.” Since he’d saved everyone in the nursing home and Catherine had been taken into custody, his life had gotten back to normal, or as close as normal could be. He no longer had the nightmares, and Lannie had moved in a month before, without incident. Something about her—she kept him sane, even when before she’d driven him nuts.
Yeah, he hadn’t made bachelor of the year; since he’d gotten engaged, they’d taken him out of the running—not that he’d been thrilled with the possibility of winning the title anyway.
The calendar did give him exposure, and he did take some shit for the sexy spread, until they found out what charity benefited. Then they were all over it. His squad decided to run a Memorial Day promotion for the calendar in the city to boost the sales, and working on the project further encouraged them to get involved in other causes. Now, all over the city, firefighters and police officers were wanting to do a similar project to raise money for widows and orphans of the fallen New York City heroes.
Yeah, May brought spring and promise. His month on the calendar—the perfect month to represent his life. As the world began to bloom around him with new life and possibilities, so did a new, and very unlikely romance—one he’d never have seen coming in a million years. Now that he had it, he planned to hold on to the love forever.
Turned out he’d been wrong there were a lot of things about redheads that were just his taste.
And...when Lannie moved in, she brought her cat.
Who’d have thought he’d like cats?
D. L. Jackson is an award-winning author of urban fantasy, science fiction, military romance and erotic romance. She loves to incorporate crazy plot twists, comedy and the unexpected into her worlds. As a U.S. Army veteran, she naturally adores men in uniform and feels the world could always use more. She does her part by incorporating as many sexy soldiers in her novels as she can. When she isn't writing or running the roads, you can often find her online chatting with her peers and readers. Grab a cup of iced coffee, pull up your virtual chair and say hi. She loves emails and blog visits from her readers.
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