Authors: Kathi S. Barton
Leave.
His dad started to argue, as he always did, but Colin simply showed him the gun and he nodded. Thankfully when the door closed, Colin knew they were going to be safe. He just hoped he was as well.
“Hello, boys.” None of them acknowledged Phillips as he spoke. Colin moved closer, but not close enough to actually touch them. Them not talking to Phillips…to Colin’s way of thinking, that was just wrong. “You have orders to be here? If so, I’d very much like to see them.”
“We don’t report to you.” That sounded like something someone would say to him, not to this man. But Colin stayed where he was, and so did Phillips. “If you don’t want to get hurt, you should move on. We’re here to work, not shoot the shit with the likes of you.”
“She’s armed.” The first man in the group looked at Phillips when he spoke. Colin had no idea who he was talking about, but the men, all of them, looked at Phillips now. “Yeah, made sure she was as soon as she was awake. You’d not believe the red tape that was involved in getting her handgun in to her. Not to mention the seven extra clips that are within her reach. Just thought you’d like to know that in the event you’re headed into that room.”
“No, she isn’t. We would have been told that.” Phillips stepped back and waved at the door. It almost looked to Colin like he was saying, “see for yourself.” “She is in no position to be armed. You’re bluffing.”
“Am I?” Phillips took another step back. Then in a loud voice he spoke again. “Six men, armed and covered. When they come in, fire first and we’ll clean up later.”
Colin started to take a step toward Phillips, sure he’d lost his mind. Then he saw the door move, swing slowly back so that it gave the appearance of welcoming them. Colin moved back, his body hard with the unknown. When the first man dropped, his head suddenly just not there, Colin stood there and watched as another man fell.
Even before the next man fell, his gun was gone. Colin looked at his brother Hawkins as he lifted the gun he’d taken from him and fired almost in the same motion. He was down then. Colin was pressed to the floor as two more were dead. The last man standing dropped to his knees just as someone came out of the room that the CO had been in. Blood spilled onto the floor in front of the last man, even as he tried to stem the flow with his hands over the hole where his knee used to be.
“Phillips?” He said he was all right to the woman standing there. Blood dripped down her arm, her head was bleeding as well, and he was sure she was only standing up because of the secure hold she had on the wall. “Mac, see to this piece of shit.”
She was falling. Even before he could think that touching this woman who was armed better than his brother had been was a bad idea, he rushed forward and snatched her up in his arms. Phillips told him to get her into the room, and Colin moved there, returning her to the room that she’d just come out of.
As he laid her on the bed, all he could think about was how beat to shit she was. Blood poured from the wound on her head, there was blood on her gown, and her leg looked like she’d opened up a long gash there. He was just covering her up when she lifted her gun and put it on his forehead. This close, there was no fucking way he was going to walk away from this. But all he could think about was the look in her eye. She just simply would not care if he was dead.
He stared into the most incredible blue eyes he’d ever seen. Crystal clear with just enough blue in them to make you think of ice formations, cold winter days snuggled in bed with her, and sex. A great deal of sex. Before he could analyze what the fuck his mind was thinking, he heard that soft laughter, and then his brother’s voice.
“Lauren, it’s my brother.” Colin watched the face of the woman when his brother spoke behind him again. “Don’t shoot him. If you do, my mom is going to be really pissed, and you so don’t want that coming down on your head. Lower your weapon, sir. He’s a friendly.”
“Hurt? You hurt?” Colin wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or Hawkins, but his brother told her he was fine. “Get me something. A bullet would be fine. Hurt badly.”
“Lower the gun, Lauren, and I’ll call the medics in to help you. I can’t until you let my brother go.” She continued to stare at him, her eyes glazed with the pain she’d said she had. “Lauren, lower your weapon and I’ll help you.”
The gun didn’t so much as lower as it dropped on her lap. She was out, her body just simply limp with unconsciousness. Colin didn’t move, his hands still positioned to pull the sheet, bloodied he could see now, up and over her body. When Hawkins said his name again, he finally could pull his eyes away from her. By then, he knew what he’d been feeling.
“This is your CO?” Hawkins laughed and said it was. “Mother fuck balls. She’s also my mate. Your boss is my mate. How do you fucking like that?”
Hawkins was still laughing as the nurses, now back on duty, were brought in. When Hawkins continued to laugh, not even able to talk, Colin was ready to bash his head in. Might have too, if he hadn’t noticed that Hawkins was bleeding too. Hawkins was ordered to his room just as his mate was wheeled back to surgery. Colin wondered if this was just a simple nightmare. There was no way she was his mate. She was…well, more scary than his mom was.
Chapter 3
Lauren woke to find herself not only in a different room, but she was pretty sure that she was no longer in the hospital. The place looked like one of the spreads they had in girly mags at the beginning of the grocery line. Not that she’d ever read one of them or done any grocery shopping, but she’d seen them when she’d gotten herself a frozen pizza and beer, her usual dinner.
“You get hurt more than I have ever been. And you know that’s a great many years.” Lauren looked at Victoria. “I came when I felt your pain. I wasn’t sure I was going be able to help you this time.”
“I’ve told you before, if it’s that bad, then let me go. I don’t think I was ever meant to live this long anyway.” Victoria only smiled and sat on the chair across from her. “You have some nice digs here. How did you manage to get them to let me go?”
“It was safer for you not to be in such a public forum. And this isn’t my place. You should also know that I didn’t bring you here, nor was it your pain that made me saving you so difficult. You have a mate.” Lauren closed her eyes and leaned back on the most incredible pillow that she’d ever had. “Did you hear me, Lauren? You have a mate.”
“Yeah, I think you’ve told me that cock and bull story before. How long have I been here, and when the fuck can I leave? I don’t think it’s any safer for me to be here than...whose house is this? Some rich fuck?” Victoria laughed as the door opened behind her.
Lauren watched the woman come in with a man whose face tugged at her memory. They were arguing, and Lauren had a sudden urge to sit up straighter and fix her hair. It wasn’t the woman that had her feeling less than herself, but the man. He looked at her and her body heated.
“You’re awake.” Nodding at the man, she suddenly felt her temper get the better of her. It was all she could to not to snap at him for some reason. “They said you’d be out for a few more days, but then I guess you rarely do things by the book. Tony has been telling us that you’re only the best at what you do because you don’t follow rules. Well, I like them…rules, I mean.”
“The book will get you fucking killed. And even if it doesn’t, you can’t always depend on a book when common sense is a better way to go. Where the hell am I?” The woman cleared her throat and Lauren, for probably the first time in her life, felt her face heat up in embarrassment. “Where the heck am I?”
“My parents’ home. Mine wasn’t equipped to handle the extra men that your boss insisted be with you. Hawkins is here too.” Nodding, she looked at the man as he continued. “We have to talk, you and I. I think we need some ground rules before you start thinking you’re in charge.”
“Behave, Colin, or I’ll tell your father to come up here and show her the pictures he has in his wallet. Hello dear, my name is Beatrice, but you can call me Bea. My husband is Richard, but he goes by Rich.” Lauren nodded and glanced at Victoria. “Oh, I didn’t see that you had company already. I’ll leave you to your—”
“I must leave. I only came to tell my friend that the scales have tipped in my favor again.” Victoria leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. Then she whispered in her ear. “This is your family, my friend. And that is your mate. Good luck.”
Then she was gone.
Lauren looked at the woman who was staring at her and the man who was…she wasn’t sure what his face looked like. Perhaps he was in pain. Or worse yet, he knew that she was his mate. Lauren shook her head as her mind started working around the implications of what she’d been told.
“Not going to happen.” He nodded. “I don’t think so. I have a career and a life, and you are so not fucking it up.” Lauren glanced at the woman. “Can you give us a minute? I have to let this guy know that whatever crap is going on in his thick head right now is not going to happen. Not over my dead body.”
“You have come pretty close to that several times now, haven’t you? What the hell were you thinking, getting out of bed like you did?” She started to stand and realized that she was still armed, so she pulled out her weapon and pointed it at him. “Where the hell did you get that thing?”
“Colin, perhaps cooler heads will prevail around here.” Neither of them took notice of Bea. As Colin advanced toward her, Lauren slid the bar back and ejected the round before pointing it back at him. “Colin? I think you’re going about this all wrong.”
“She is not going to be armed in your house. There are enough armed men running around as it is without her taking pot shots at whoever she wants.” Lauren knew this was stupid on some level, but she held steady. When she stretched her neck, the pop of it was loud in the room and he stopped advancing toward her. “Put that away before I have to come over there and take it from you.”
“Fuck you. You come any closer and we’ll see how this ends. And as for you trying to take my gun? That’s not going to happen either. You cannot outrun a bullet no matter how bossy you are to it. And I know what you think you are, and that is not on my agenda. Get out of here.”
The door opened again and closed. Lauren didn’t bother looking to see who had entered the play area, but held her gun steady on the man’s chest. It would be a real shame to mess up this pretty room, but she would if he came any closer.
“Major Burcher, you shoot my brother and I will kill you.” McCullough’s voice was steady, low and full of promise. “Put the weapon down and I’ll get him out of the room so that we can talk.”
“I don’t want to talk about this.” He stepped in front of Colin and had his own weapon pointed at her. “You’ll go to prison for this, Mac. You can’t draw on your commanding officer. Even for what you’re doing now, you will be put before a firing squad.”
“You’ll be dead too if you make me shoot you. I know you have a death wish, but I’d just as soon not carry it out for you. Put the weapon down and I’ll get him out of here.” She watched the man she’d worked with for the last sixteen years, side by side, and knew that he’d do just as he said. “You know I can do it. I’ve told you before what my family means to me. I
will
kill you.”
She didn’t move. The man behind him wanted something that Lauren didn’t have to give. Not love, not romance. She didn’t even own her life. The army did. Yet here she was, her weapon pointed at one of the few men that she’d ever trusted, and he was going to kill her.
“Lauren, if you don’t lower your weapon, I’m gonna get killed. I’m certainly gonna get hurt, but if you hurt my family, I will die.” Tearing her eyes from Colin, she asked him why. “Because if you hurt them, I’m going to attack you. And if you don’t do that, the moment you lower your weapon, Colin is going to attack me for threatening you because you’re his mate. Either way, I’m gonna lose some blood.”
Lauren looked at Colin again. He nodded once, to no doubt confirm that what Hawkins said was true. She pointed her weapon at him then. She smiled at Colin as she spoke to Hawkins.
“All right then. I’ll just shoot him and that’ll solve both our problems. You’ll be safe and I won’t have to deal with his bullshit and aggravation.” She stretched her neck, popping the tense muscles again. “I can do it, no problem.”
“Don’t.” Colin took a step around Hawkins as he continued. “I think I might have pissed you off. I think—”
“You only
think
you pissed me off? I’m thinking, and this is only my opinion, but I’m betting pissing people off is as natural to you as it is to me.” Colin told her she didn’t need to be so nasty. “I give as good as I get, buster. Deal with it.”
“Perhaps if we start over, with cooler heads, the guns could be put away.” Bea put out her hand to Hawkins. “Hand it over, son, and I will promise Lauren will do the same.”
“No, I won’t. This is fucked up.”
Bea turned to her with fire in her eyes. Lauren became the twelve year old again, living in the shack with her parents, and flinched back, fear making the gun in her hand tremble slightly.
“You’d rather they both die? Because as surely as we’re all here, that is what will happen.” She turned toward her son again. “Hawkins?”
Lauren watched Mac as he released the clip in the handle, then handed it to his mom. As he ejected the one in the chamber, never taking his eyes from her, he handed his weapon to her as well. Then Bea turned to her with her now empty hand out.
“This isn’t right. I’m not one to just give up, and certainly not one to just turn over my weapon without a fight.” Nothing, no acknowledgement of what they were doing to her. “He leaves. Or no deal.”
“I’m not—”
“Of course. Colin, please go into the hall.”
He looked murderous. Lauren wanted to stick her tongue out at him, or at the very least smirk. But she didn’t think this was over, nor did she think a gun pointed at his head was gonna stop him the next time. He left, closing the door with extreme quietness.
Disarming her gun, she turned over her weapon, but kept the clip and extra casing. She looked at Bea then; her face was pained. Lauren asked her what was wrong, she’d won this round.