Heroes In Uniform (8 page)

Naya jumped off the bike when it came to a stop. “You’re crazy!” she announced. “They’re after you, so why do I care who they are?”

“Oh good, then we’ll just go straight to the third option. Your place or mine?”

She wanted to scream and kick at him. “If we weren’t about to get shot, I’d shoot you myself,” she declared. “Do you have an escape route with this brilliant idea of holing up in a dark alley or do I have to fucking save your ass?”

* * *

Luke laughed softly. He hadn’t felt as alive as he was now in months. Imminent danger around the corner. Death threatening at his doorstep. The familiar exhilaration of facing near-impossible odds. Hell, yeah. He missed his Ranger days out in the field—running, chasing, hiding, moving, and attacking everything going at breakneck speed, with every decision being made at rapid fire. He missed his days ranching and chasing wild horses too. Life that was on the move, not like this past year, where everything was a constant test on his patience.

The woman with him made him feel alive too. She was fearless, funny and sexy as hell. Kidnapping, gunfire, car chases, going Evel Knievel on a motorcycle and more hadn’t even phased her one bit. She was spitting mad and taking him on.

God, he wanted to just do her against the wall right now.

He was well aware that he was acting out of character. Hell, this whole night had been crazy. He’d finally gotten one big lead to his brother and what did he do? Let his dick do the talking, that was what.

No more talking. Every time he tried, his dick interrupted and he lost concentration.

Grabbing Nina by the hand, he pulled her down further into a side alley. She followed without further questions, moving with that nimble grace he’d found so damn sexy, whether clad in tight pants or clingy gowns. Okay, maybe one more zinger to get her worked up.

“We’ll have to practice in bed once we get rid of these fuckers. Come on!”

Her expletive was very inventive. He grinned. He liked inventiveness in a woman.

“I hear police sirens,” she said.

He’d hoped that would happen. He’d chosen this part of town because it was just outside a popular tourist district, with some big name hotels. The authorities would want to check out any reports of a speeding vehicles and flying bullets.

“Good. They might not shoot so indiscriminately.”

“Do you even know where you’re going?”

“Trust me.” He was familiar with a few back streets here, having worked a contract that required looking for a missing weapon in a dumpster. He heard her snort behind him. “Just ahead is a building with a fire escape. If we climb up to the fifth floor the apartment there is registered to someone I know. We can take the stairs to the front side where the parking lot is, and take off from there. I’ll drop you off at your place.”

“Right, and have them chasing us all over again. No thanks. We part ways once we make it out of this stupid chase.”

“If you haven’t noticed, I’m pretty good at evasion,” Luke pointed out. His experience as a Ranger had returned handily. Old habits, it seemed, didn’t go away. His instinct was busy knocking, insisting he was missing a clue. Everything about this chase felt wrong, especially the part where they just showed up after all these months of him going to Drei’s place alone, but there wasn’t time to talk about this. He’d just have to do things his way. Arguing with the lady would just take away more time. Aloud, he added, “But if you insist, we’ll split up once we shed those goons. Come on.”

His words must have placated her. She followed him with no further argument. They made their way in the dark behind some lowered awnings. He could hear the running footsteps behind them, scrambling about, looking for them. It was just a matter of time before they came by the awnings and started checking behind them.

“We’re getting on that balcony,” he said, pointing up. “You come up after me and I’ll pull you the rest of the way.”

“Okay,” she said.

After testing the strength of a chain holding back some aluminum panels, he climbed up, then hauled himself over the railing. He looked over. Nina was already climbing up the chain, using the pillar nearby for foot holds. He muscled the chain up, hand over hand, to speed her ascent, then he leaned over the balcony and helped her the rest of the way. She stepped off the chain, balanced on the railing, and when he gave one last tug, she fell against his body. His arm held on to her tightly, while he walked backward, pulling the rest of the chain up so that it wouldn’t tumble down with a telltale swing. She had a way of being in sync with him. Wrapping her legs tightly around his waist, she twisted so she could use both her hands to get the chain up quickly.

Not a moment too soon too, since flashlights started marching through the shadows, their paths crisscrossing as their anonymous pursuers continued searching for them. Luke stood very still, one hand around Nina, the two of them hanging on to the chain so it wouldn’t clatter. He could feel her warm breath against his cheek, and smell the soft sweet scent she had on.

Damn if he didn’t want to kiss her right then. And, much to his surprise, her mouth found his. In the dark, danger lurking beneath them, with his feet planted apart in precarious balance and knowing exactly where her crotch was nesting right against, he found himself responding with quiet ease. Nina ran her tongue lightly against his, sensuously retreating, daring him to come after her. Damn if she wasn’t a wicked tease.

The beam from one of the flashlights hit an aluminum panel, momentarily giving the darkness a reflective glow. If the arc of the light changed slightly and if their pursuer looked up, Luke knew he would see their tangled bodies. He held his breath, the corner of his eye, following the small spot of light as it traveled further away. The only thing moving was the soft caress of her tongue and the blood surging between his legs

When the light disappeared around the corner, his tormenter took her lips off his. He licked his, still savoring her taste.

“Good thing we’re both clad in black,” she whispered.

“Not your panties. It was a deep blue,” he reminded her softly as they both quietly dropped the weight of the chain. He slowly lowered her to her feet, her lower body rubbing his intimately. “Piece of lace barely covering some tasty…”

“Shhh,” she shushed. “You’re going to make me laugh and get us caught. Is this the right building?”

Luke reluctantly let her go. “Next door, actually. It has a fire escape, unlike this one.” He took her hand and placed it on the railing. “Follow this to the end. There’s a ledge there we can easily jump over.”

“Okay.”

It was interesting having her beside him. Usually, when they’d met during their jobs, like the first time crawling in tight spaces, they were on opposite sides, doing their thing, so he hadn’t had the opportunity to study her. Now, he enjoyed her professional ease at treading in the dark and the fearless, unhurried way she walked on the ledge, even though it was the first time she’d encountered it. Having the perfect partner in any operation was hard to find. In the army, it took years of training with that person or a group of people to be totally familiar with working together as one unit, but he found it was strangely so with Nina. All in one night. He was damned intrigued by this discovery.

They made it over the balcony and up the fire escape without any incidence. He carefully retrieved the apartment key hidden near the windowsill and unlocked the door.

“Where’s the owner?” Nina asked, after she came inside.

“Don’t know. Don’t care. It’s empty for now and that’s all I care about.” He turned on a hallway light.

She glanced around, then gave him a curious look. “What if there’s someone here?”

The place was owned by a client on the run for a while who had given him access because of a favor, but Luke wasn’t explaining that. “Then, I might have a whole other set of problems on my hands,” he replied, lightly. He walked to the front side of the apartment. “This place was chosen because of its easy front and back exits, so make your own brilliant deductions while I check out the window.”

The outside looked clear. He knew the cars after them were probably parked on either side of the alley way they’d entered to block any escape. The police lights were a good deterrent to them making any more gunshots. Hell, they might even be gone, if they were trying to avoid catching attention. Traffic was light, so a quick getaway with no one gunning for them was eminently possible.

He glanced back and found Nina lounging on the sofa, reading a magazine.

“Catching up on your TV shows?” he mocked.

She looked up with a bored expression. “Oh, are you done? Are we safe from your enemies? Can we leave now?”

He cocked his head. “What about all that kissing we were doing just now?”

He was beginning to enjoy teasing her too much, just to watch that warm flush of color blooming across her cheeks. She mostly kept her cool, though, which made it all the more fun.

“Oh, that.” She yawned. “I figured I needed to shut you up so the bad guys can’t hear your incessant yammering. Kissing cured that.”

“What about the crotch-nudging? My cock wasn’t yammering until you started teasing it.” Actually, his cock had been complaining a lot where the lady was concerned. “Now you’ve got him all hot and bothered and eager for you to kiss him.”

“I wasn’t crotch…nudging!” She jumped off the couch. “And I’m not kissing him until you get us out of this. I need to report back to my people. I checked my phone and there have been no messages since the last one at Drei’s place. You know, the one I ignored because I was tied up?”

“Huh. Let’s focus back on the earlier part.” Luke made a rewinding gesture with his finger. “You said you aren’t kissing my dick until I get us out of this. So, you
are
kissing him later?”

He cocked a brow at the mutinous set of her mouth. Hey, La Niina was supposed to be the ice princess of all ice princesses. He was just too delighted to find out what a lie that was. She was molten lava, hot like an enraged volcano, and he couldn’t help but kept wanting her to explode all over him. Preferably with both of them naked this time.

“Luke, I’m just about ready to go outside and scream for help so the police will come arrest you for false imprisonment.”

“Oh, all right,” he said. “Come on, let’s get to the parking lot and I’ll give you the keys to the car.”

She frowned. “What about you?”

“I’ll get back to my place, don’t worry. This way, you’ll have an excuse to come give me the car back and then we can…ah…talk more about any helpful stuff you find out for me.”

She narrowed her eyes for a moment, especially at the part where he paused teasingly. “Fine. I’m really late. Let’s go.”

They made it to the parking lot with no other problem and Luke reluctantly watched her drive away. Then, after she turned a corner, he jumped into a second vehicle and followed her. This way, he would make sure she was safe. He really didn’t believe all that happened tonight was 100 percent about him.

* * *

Nina couldn’t begin to put into words her jumbled emotions. What the hell happened tonight? Didn’t she say to herself it was going to be a quick and easy night because the job was simple? Boy, was that the understatement of the year.

She pursed her lips, trying to decide what to tell her handlers when they debriefed her. She had broken an important protocol by either not sending a message or replying to their communications. They had to assume she’d been compromised. Texting or calling back right now would just generate more questions and she needed time to get her head back in the game.

Cowboy fucked her tonight.

Oh, boy, that wasn’t a good place to start to get herself back in control. That man she had been so attracted to all these months had kidnapped her, threatened her and then made her come with his mouth. His beautiful, sexy, 0h-so-talented mouth. And she had actually encouraged him because she couldn’t help herself. She couldn’t stay angry at him. In fact, she wanted to be naked with him and spend the rest of the night exploring him as much as he’d enjoyed exploring her.

Dammit. Stop thinking about that. Dwell on the important stuff.

Like the fact she’d dropped her façade and basically all but admitted to him her real name was Naya. Plus, she still needed to find out his relationship with Drei and why he was looking for him. Most important of all, her handlers couldn’t be told the truth. They would look closely at Drei and she would truly be compromised then.

Damn that stupid, sexy, crazy, sexy, reckless, sexy American! She sighed. As she’d known, he’d complicate her life. She didn’t have time for complications. Not now, when she was so close to accomplishing what she’d set out to do. Sexy. She let out an exasperated breath. She couldn’t get that dratted man out of her thoughts.

Of course she had to see him again. She needed to find out more about him and Drei because Drei had gone missing for too long. Why had there been a whole gang of people after Luke at Drei’s place? They weren’t waiting for him to show up because then they would have attacked them the moment Luke arrived with her in tow. She frowned. So, did they just show up when they somehow found out about Drei’s house? She remembered Drei’s place was quite hidden, with a long driveway, and that was how they had made a mistake by not slowing down quick enough. The sudden backfiring of one of those bikes had alerted Luke and her.

Her mind raced at the implication. Those attackers weren’t sure of where they were going. So were they after Luke or Drei? Maybe they’d thought Luke was Drei.

It was a short drive to where she usually received her instructions and debriefed. The location was typical of a black ops facility, in a business district, inside a bland-looking building, surrounded by offices. This one was particularly low-key, acting as some kind of delivery service, which, of course, was partly true, since she was a courier of sorts.

Usually, this late at night, she would go through the secured gates into the underground garage, but the car wasn’t hers and she didn’t want them to screen it. So she parked a street away instead. The walk gave her a bit of time to come up with a plausible explanation for her handlers. She would stay close to the truth, tell them about being chased by unknown assailants and had to play hide-and-seek until she was no longer followed. She would just leave the parts with Luke out of the story. They wouldn’t be happy to know she’d had sex with The Cowboy because the past year, he’d shown up at so many places she’d gone to, looking for almost the same things. Coincidence? She couldn’t tell.