Till Death: Deep Six Security Series Book 1 (25 page)

“We need good news, pookie,” she replied.

“I don’t know how, but I think the cavalry is here.”  Another explosion sounded, this one louder.  Dave flinched, because he couldn’t cover his ears, and they rang.  “That chopper we heard could’ve been Hawk.”

Sympathy and despair filled her voice, as she reminded, “He’s not supposed to be back until after dark.”

Dave heard more gunfire a pause then return fire.  “They’re here,” he said more confidently.  “We need to let them know where we are. Let’s go.”

Susan pushed the lever on the door with her good hip, and left the girl holding it.  The sight of the line of five black SUVs at the back of the building surprised her.  The doors were open wide and she could see the clinic guards were using the doors as cover to fire toward the woods at the back of the compound.  Two guards lay in a pool of blood beside the back end of one of the vehicles.  Rifle fire came from the woods.  A round pinged off of one of the trucks, then embedded into the side of the building very near her shoulder.  Susan grabbed the door and ducked back inside the building.  “Someone is out there in the woods, you’re right.”

“It’s the team,” Dave said proudly, then grinned.  “They’ve come to pull our fat out of the fryer, sweet cheeks.”

“We need to leave the women here and help them.  The guards are using the SUVs as cover, so we need to take them out.  Once we shoot one though, they’ll either scatter, run back into the building, or shoot us because we’re closer than the guys in the woods.”

“Why shoot one of them?” Dave asked with a laugh.  “If we shoot the gas tank on one of those gas hogs, I think our problem will be solved.”

“I have no idea where that is located,” Susan said with a laugh.

“No worries, Ms. Mensa—I know exactly where it’s located.  You just cover me, if I need it,” Dave said walking to the door.

“Logan?” she said with a tremor in her voice.  Dave looked back at her, after he slid the keycard into the door and opened it. “I’ve got your six, but you watch your twelve.”

“Don’t worry, baby.  I’ve got this,” he said, with a helluva lot more conviction than he felt after he opened the door and saw his men were on the wrong side of the fence. 

Easing around the door, Dave scanned the area for cover that was within range of the pistol he had.  He found nothing, not a tree or bush for at least twenty yards.  He huffed a frustrated breath.  The only hope he had was his guys would see him and lay cover fire to keep the goombahs occupied.  They had to see him though, and letting them know he was there would also broadcast that fact to the mobsters. 

Caleb was behind that sniper rifle in the woods, and that rifle had a bad ass scope on it.  Maybe, he thought, removing his suit jacket, and tossing it on the ground.  The white shirt would automatically draw his sniper’s eye.  Dave sprinted across the courtyard diagonally, holding his hand up in the hold fire sign they had for the team, until he was beyond the line of SUVs.  Immediately, he felt the bead of that rifle on him, felt Caleb’s icy stare, and grinned as he changed his sign to flip his sniper the bird.  Logan zig zagged back behind the line of SUVs, and laid on his stomach to take aim at the gas tank under the last SUV in the line.

He squeezed the trigger on the semi-automatic pistol and pumped nine bullets into the gas tank, then covered his head.  He felt the heat and shrapnel from the explosion this time.  It was so hot, he thought the back of his shirt was on fire.  Waiting until the echo faded and the flames crackled, Dave rolled in the dirt just in case.

Scrambling to his feet, he dodged a couple of bullets, as he zigzagged back toward the door.  Heavy cover fire came from the woods, and a chill raced through Dave.  He loved his bad ass team—so fucking much.  Almost as much as he loved the woman who held the door open for him to run back inside the compound.  Before Dave went inside the door, he glanced back and saw his guys scaling the fence like monkeys. 

The invasion of Ardmore had just occurred, he thought, as he ran inside and the door shut behind him.  Deep Six Security was in the house and those Mafiosa were about to meet their match, if not their maker.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Dave spun the ink pen in front of him on the table again.  Mesmerized by the rotation that reminded him of the blades on his helicopter.  The guys lined the table, laughing as they talked about their successful mission at the clinic.  Only six of the guards survived to be arrested, and all of the women at the clinic were in federal custody.  The feds and the prosecutor said they had all they needed now to put every single one of the people involved away for a very long time.  Even the mad professor and the bursar at the college were going to prison.

Although Dave had called this mission briefing, he hadn’t participated at all.  He didn’t really care.  One fucking iota.  As low as he was feeling right now, he almost wished he’d have taken one of those bullets at the clinic.  That would probably have created a smaller hole in his chest, and hurt less.

“You look like you lost your best friend, Logan.  I’m sitting right here, so I know that’s not the case,” Slade said with a laugh, and Dave suddenly noticed all the guys had stopped talking to stare at him.  “As stubborn and aggravating as you are sometimes, I’ll always have your six.”  He looked around the table, then rephrased.  “
We’ll
always have it.”  He pushed his chair back to stand.  “With that said, we are hereby calling an intervention, my friend.  Dave Logan you need to get your head out of your ass and fix it.”

“Fix what?” he asked confused.  No, he hadn’t been sleeping.  At all.  But he didn’t think he’d lost his mind.  What the fuck was Slade talking about?  An intervention for what purpose?

“We all miss her, and you’re the only man who can bring her back.  You should never have dropped her ass off at that house after she was released from the hospital.  She’s just as much a part of Deep Six now as we are.  We’re pretty damned pissed you did that.”

Dave sighed, and looked down at the pen again.  “It’s what she wanted,” he said, setting it spinning in another spiral.  The same spiral he felt like his life was in.  An unrecoverable death spiral right down the toilet.

“We’re so pissed that every one of us is looking for another job.  For real this time.  No joke—you either bring her back, or this team is disbanding.  You have proven these last two weeks that you are a useless bastard without her.”

“I’m not useless, and she has another job too, so all of you leave.  I don’t fucking care,” Dave replied, that spiral tightening.  His throat closed and he felt like he was drowning.  It was an effort to drag in breaths, as his eyes felt like they were going to explode out of his head.

“See, that’s the thing.  You don’t care, but we do.  She cares too.  It was as obvious as the nose on your face to all of us that Susan Whitmore loves you.  Otherwise, the Barracuda definitely would not have put up with your crap like we do.”

Dave’s hand slammed down on top of the pen, and he shot to his feet.  “Get the fuck out of here, you’re all fired!” he grated, then pushed away from the table to head for the door.

Slade stepped in front of him, blocking his exit.  “I will kick your ass if I have to, Logan.  You know I can do it.  We’re not letting you leave.  No more running.  Fucking admit you love her dude, and slow down enough to do that.  She’s not Sarah.”

“She left for the same reason,” Logan grated, his nose in Slade’s shoulder.  “I’m just not cut out for that shit.”

“She
didn’t
leave, asshole, you let her go.  Susan would’ve stayed if you told her you wanted her here.  You dropped her off at that house without telling her that, or telling her you cared one shit for her.”

“Why don’t you just go visit Carmen and let me worry about my love life, Slade.”

“Carmen was arrested yesterday.  Carlos Ramos determined she was the mole at the agency, and I imagine she’ll be tied up for the next thirty years or so.  C’mon, Logan, don’t be a hardass.  At least go talk to her, and offer her a job.  The rest can come later.”

“I’ll think about it,” Dave said, grabbing the doorknob.  That’s all he had been doing anyway.  Thinking, reliving and going fucking crazy from it.

Slade shoved him.  “Well, think about this too.  I heard from a friend at the DOJ that there’s a guy over there sniffing her rear end.”

“If you don’t pull the trigger, you won’t hit that blind squirrel, Logan,” Caleb said with a laugh.  “Go get the girl, before someone else does.”

“Her sister is out of the hospital and living with her, until she can go back to school.”  Dave knew that, because he called the hospital every day until Jenna Whitmore was released.  “They have enough on their plates right now, without me adding to it.” Logan twisted the knob, and pulled the door open.  “She’s happy at the Department of Justice.  It’s a good job for her.”  A desk job, and a lot safer than being on his team for sure.  There was no chance of her getting shot again over there.  Another reason to leave things as they were, he thought, as he walked out.

Useless bastard…let her go…pull the trigger…get the girl
.  His men’s words replayed in his mind like a broken record so loud, Dave covered his ears with his hands as he stormed into his office and slammed the door. 

He didn’t sit, he paced back and forth, as the words got louder and louder.  His heart felt like it would explode from the pressure inside his chest..  The room spun, and he stopped in his tracks.  “
Fuck!!!
” he roared, and the word echoed through his skull, as he bent to clutch his gut, taking short breaths, feeling like he might pitch over at any minute.  When Logan’s world righted again, a blindingly bright light shone behind his eyes.  He thought he might be dying, but then Susan’s face was there.  Happiness like he’d never felt before consumed him, warmth spread through his entire body like that sunlight. 

His brain cleared and he eased back upright.  With a sense of purpose, Dave jerked his leather jacket from the peg on the coat rack beside his door, grabbed his keys from the desk and headed out his office.

As of today, his two weeks were up.  That’s how long she’d given Dave Logan to call her.  Susan was done, she thought, as she slammed the drawer shut on her desk.  No more fucking crying, and no more sleeping with both the portable phone and her cell by her pillow at night.  Why in the hell she thought he might call her, Susan didn’t know.  

Because she was an idiot who thought the connection she’d felt with him several times while they were at that clinic were real.  For a smart woman, she had been incredibly dumb.  He had been there on the job, his actions and reactions were directly related.  They had nothing to do with how he felt about her personally.  Neither had the incredible sex they had. 

She had been a convenient and willing woman who scratched an itch he’d had for two years before she came along.  Logan had been horny, and she’d been available.  Mutual consenting adult recreation is all that had been about.  She knew that now without a doubt.  

Last night Susan had removed her intimate jewelry, and fucking bawled again, which was ridiculous.  She wasn’t going to be that woman anymore, someone controlled by her body.  Today she was going to start moving on to find out exactly who she was now.  Without her stature at the bureau and without Dave Logan.  What she figured she’d end up with was someone a lot happier and eons wiser than she had been before.  One thing was for sure, she wasn’t falling in love ever again.  Ever.  But she was going to date, because other than her sister who was only with her temporarily until she fully recovered, Susan was alone. 

Casual dating would help her deal with that.  On her terms.

With a sigh, she picked up the phone and called Rick Murphy.  A pleasant lunch date with a man was just what she needed today to give her spirits a lift.  He’d asked her often enough.  At least once a day since she started her new job.   So what if he was just a little older, and a lot grayer than Logan.  A man with more maturity would be a welcome change, she thought, as she got his voice mail.  “Hi, Rick.  This is Susan Whitmore.  I wondered if you were available for lunch today?  I’ll be leaving in about fifteen minutes, so if you’re there, just come on down.” If he didn’t show, she’d go by herself.  She was going to get used to being alone, even if it killed her.

Gathering the papers scattered around her desk, Susan shuffled them into a pile, then put them into her desk drawer and shut it.  When she raised up, a pair of large male hands were pressed in the middle of her desk.  Her eyes slid up the leather covered arms to meet Dave Logan’s sunglass shaded eyes.  “Have lunch with me,” he said shortly in the form of a statement, not a question.  “We need to talk.”

“Oh, you suddenly found your voice.  How nice for you,” Susan said calmly, even though her heart felt like it was on a runaway horse.  She dragged her gaze to her computer screen, and blinked because that damned burn was back.  “I’m busy, Logan.  Just leave me alone.” 

The burn got worse as she breathed, waiting for him to leave.  She would cancel her date with Rick.  She wasn’t in the mood now.  Susan needed a long walk to get herself together, instead of food. 

Logan didn’t move or say a word.  He just hovered there, his eyes scorching her from behind those damned dark shades.  “I have another mission for you,” he said, and her heart kicked into overdrive, but Susan didn’t bite.  She opened her email and sorted through the ones she’d already read that morning.

“Not interested, Logan,” she replied drolly.  She’d eventually get a field job here to get her out from behind this desk, her boss told her so.  After the operation at the clinic, and the sense of accomplishment she felt when it was successful, Susan decided she wanted to be in the field again.

“You haven’t even heard what it is yet, sweet cheeks,” he said and Susan fought the pull of the nickname on her heart.

She looked directly at him.  “Do not call me that again, Logan.  My name is Susan, use it,” she growled.

“Okay,
Susan
—I have a mission for you.  It’s a long term project.”

“Get someone else, Logan.  Not interested,” she growled, slapping her mouse against the mouse pad when it lagged.

“Nobody else will do. It has to be you, Bunny,” he said in that sexy coaxing tone that always got to her.  Not this time, asshole.

Susan saw movement over his left shoulder, and shot to her feet as Rick Murphy walked into her office.  “Hi, Susan—I’m glad you called.  I was just headed out to lunch by myself,” he said with a wide smile.

She’d never been so glad to see someone in her life.  “Oh, I’m glad you could make it, Rick,” Susan said pleasantly.  “Let me just get my purse.” 

Susan bent to open the bottom drawer, and when she stood again, Logan wasn’t leaning on her desk anymore.  The damned alpha bastard was blocking Rick from coming into her office.  His legs were spread, his back up and his arms crossed. 

He pushed his sunglasses up to the top of his head.  “She has a lunch date,” he growled in a low lethal tone.  Rick looked surprised as he backed out of the doorway with his hands up, as if he thought Logan might shoot him.  The crazy bastard might just do that, she thought, biting back a laugh.

Susan walked around her desk.  “I don’t have a lunch date, Rick, but I’m sorry, I’ll have to cancel today.” 
She had to kill what she was going to eat for lunch first
.

“Fine, just call me when you’re available,” he said as he turned and walked away.

Logan spun to face her, and his eyes were as red-rimmed as hers were without the help of concealer, eyeliner and mascara which she’d finally mastered the application of.  “You will
never
have a lunch or any other kind of date with that man,
capisce
?” he grated.

Susan laughed, because she couldn’t help herself.  “You’ve been hanging around Italian mobsters too long, Logan.  You’re becoming one, and you’re not Italian if you haven’t noticed,” she said with a roll of her eyes.  “Goodbye, Logan,” she said with a finality that made her heart jerk in her chest.  She grabbed her purse off the desk and breezed past him, because she had to get out of this building before she lost what little control she had left.

To her dismay, Logan followed closely behind her.  So close she felt his heat on her back.  She stopped at the elevator, and he almost rear-ended her.  She pushed the button and spun around.  “I don’t know what you’re game is, Logan, but I’m not playing.”  Her eyes made a trip down his hard body to his toes, then glided back up.  “It was fun, but it was a mistake and it’s done.  Just call Cee Cee when you get hard up.”

The elevator opened, and Susan strode inside, so did Logan.  The doors closed, and he slapped a palm against the stop button, then jammed her body into the wall with his.  “It’s not done, until
I
say it’s done, sweet cheeks,” Logan growled, as he slammed his mouth down over hers, swallowing her words. 

Susan’s body tensed, then melted as he devoured her mouth transmitting feelings through their connection that short-circuited her brain.  With a whimper she took his face in her hands, and kissed him even harder, opened her mouth, so his tongue could find hers. 

His hands slid down her body to her thighs, and he hiked up her skirt to palm her ass.  His touch branded her, and the melting sensation inside her body settled between her thighs, as his hips ground against hers.  Susan moaned, and her hips joined the action.  With every rotation of her hips, his hard cock rubbed her clit, and she inched closer to the orgasm she wanted, needed badly.  His fingers dug into her ass to pull her tighter against him, as his hips jammed into her body.  A light, bodyless feeling started near her toes, crept up her legs, then rushed to her head making her dizzy.  Susan moaned into his mouth, as a tremor rocked her and she floated off into the stratosphere.  He stilled, but held her tight, until she came back down to earth, then backed away.  Cool air brushed her front, and a sense of loss almost brought her to her knees.