Authors: Samantha Cole
Boomer stepped outside the emergency room with Kat and scanned the area for any danger. Keeping her hidden in an alcove, he pulled out his phone and called Ian. When his boss picked up, he gave him the rundown of what had happened.
“So Reverend is going to be okay?”
A car drove by and Boomer eyed it before answering. “Yeah. A bullet hit the wall as he was coming around the corner and it kicked out a nice-sized chunk of brick. Struck him near the eye and scratched the cornea, but the doc says it’s not as bad as it looks. He’s got some stitches for a laceration right above the eye. The fucker bled like a bitch and scared the crap out of us. He needs an eye patch and some eye-drops for a week or so. Then he’s got to follow-up with an ophthalmologist. They had to give him something for pain. The fact that he took it, tells you he’s hurting.”
Ian snorted, clearly relieved the injury wasn’t worse. “Yup. The fucker even hates taking Tylenol. So, what’s the plan from here?”
“I’m going to call CC, have him come pick up Jake when he’s released and fly him home. We told the cops it was an attempted car-jacking. Whether they believed us or not is another story. One of the detectives is an old friend of my dad’s, so I think he gave us some leeway. It also helps the only witness was the motel clerk who hid behind his desk while calling 911. I’m just glad we still have carry permits in Virginia, otherwise we’d still be in interrogation.” His eyes met Kat’s. “We’re heading to Murfreesboro in North Carolina. It’s about an hour or so from here, and Kat’s aunt lives there. We’re hoping she can tell us about the photo from the safety deposit box.”
“All right. But watch your six. When CC lands with Jake, I’ll send Dev and Marco up to meet you. Depending on how much sleep CC’s had, they may not be there before tomorrow morning. I want you to check in every two hours until your backup gets there. And I’ve activated your tracker so don’t lose your phone.”
“Anything else, Mom?”
“Cut the sarcasm, frog. I don’t like knowing these guys are gunning for Kat and you’re in their way. From what you told me, they want her alive, which means you and anyone else can end up as collateral damage. Watch your ass and call me the second you see trouble. Worse comes to worse, I’ll call Little Creek and send some of Team Four to help you. They’re training stateside at the moment.”
“Yeah, I doubt Uncle Sam would like that, Boss-man, but I hear you. I’ll be careful and keep you posted.”
“Every two hours or I start calling people.”
Before Boomer could respond, his boss disconnected the call. Beside him, Kat was still pale, but at least she’d stopped shaking. She’d been great at the scene, administering first aid to Jake while Boomer had made sure their assailants had indeed taken off moments before the cops arrived. It wasn’t until after the EMTs took over that the shock of being shot at had finally hit her. Now, he pulled her in for a hug. “You okay?”
In his arms, she began to shake again. “I’m so sorry, this is all my fault. Jake or you could’ve been killed. What if he loses his sight in that eye?”
He hugged her tighter and ran his hands over her back. “Shhh. Calm down. None of this is your fault. And you heard the doc, Jake is going to be fine. Please, for a Navy SEAL, this is the equivalent of a hang-nail.”
Kat huffed. “How can you joke about this?”
Pulling back so she could see him, he cupped her chin. “It’s one thing you learn in the military, Kitten. Joking is a way of dealing with things. The alternative is going nuts. And I’m serious. Jake and I have been in far worse situations than today. I was only freaking about you being in the middle of it all. If something happened to you, I don’t know what I would’ve done. I just got you back, and I’ll be damned if I lose you again.”
He dipped his head and her breath hitched a split second before he claimed her mouth. This wasn’t the time or place for a make-out session, but he needed to give her something else to think about. And since he was constantly thinking about the two of them having sex, why should he be the only one? He kissed her hard and fast, plunging his tongue into her mouth and taking a quick taste of her. When he ended the brief kiss, he was pleased to see she was flushed, glassy-eyed, and out of breath. Soon. He had to make her his soon. But first he had to keep her safe and find out what the fuck was going on.
“Come on, let me fill Jake in and then we’re getting on the road. I want to put as much distance as I can between us and the bad guys.” It was now after four p.m. Between the police interviews and waiting for an eye specialist, the rest of the morning and afternoon flew by. With rush-hour traffic, it would be closer to six by the time they hit Murfreesboro, if not later.
* * *
As it turned out, with an unplanned stop and the traffic worse than they expected, it was twenty-five after seven when they pulled into Irina Maier’s empty driveway. They both climbed out of the car and Boomer looked around. He’d been confident they hadn’t been followed.
Before they left Jake, he’d told them to go back to the car rental place and switch cars, just in case one of the goons had tagged it. Boomer could’ve kicked himself for not thinking of it first. They’d even gone one better and returned the car to one rental place before walking across the street to get a new car from another one. And this time, he used an alias credit card and ID, which he was pissed he hadn’t done with the first rental. They hadn’t thought the Russians would find they were in Virginia less than twenty-four hours after they’d arrived. It was too late to change things now, so he had to pray the goons hadn’t memorized their license plate and traced it.
After driving a mile down the road, he’d pulled over and disabled the GPS tracker most agencies used nowadays to track their vehicles. Once he was sure they didn’t have a tail, he’d gotten on the freeway heading south-west. While sitting in traffic, they’d taken advantage of a truck stop and grabbed dinner to go. It wasn’t great, but had been some much needed nourishment since they’d missed lunch.
Ivan Maier’s childhood home was a one-story ranch on approximately two acres of land. Trees dotted the property and it was obvious Irina Maier liked to garden, or at least hired someone to do it. Fall flowers were in bloom, and their beds were strategically placed around the property so wherever one looked, there was an array of color-pinks, reds, yellows, and blues. The brick home was well taken care of and it looked as if the white shutters had recently received a fresh coat of paint.
Taking Kat’s hand, Boomer approached the front door and rang the bell. He could hear the chime go off, but there was no other sound from within. Knocking was met with the same result. Peering in the front window, he saw nothing amiss, but just to make sure, they circumvented the house.
“Maybe she’s out to dinner with friends.”
Boomer hoped Kat was right and there wasn’t a more nefarious reason for her aunt not being home. They had no idea if Volkov’s people would come here looking for answers to whatever questions they had for Kat. “Come on. Let’s go find a room for the night. We can come back in a little while and see if she’s home.”
She sighed. “Okay. I guess we don’t have a choice.”
He opened the passenger door for her and closed it after she swung her legs inside. Skirting the hood, he glanced toward the end of the driveway and noticed a man in his late sixties getting mail at a row of boxes. Holding up a finger to Kat for her to wait a minute, he jogged down the drive. “Excuse me? Sir?”
The man was eyeing him suspiciously, so he stopped several feet away and lifted his palms to indicate he was no threat. “I’m sorry, sir. My girlfriend is a…a distant relative of Ms. Maier. We were passing through and thought we’d stop in and say hi. You don’t happen to know where she might be, do you?” He didn’t know what Irina’s neighbors knew about her brother’s family, so he didn’t want to mention Kat was her niece.
The man’s eyes shifted to beyond Boomer, so he glanced back and saw Kat was out of the car and walking toward them.
“Damn!”
Boomer’s head whipped around again to face the old man. “What’s wrong?”
The neighbor seemed to realize he’d alarmed him. “Oh, nothing to worry about, boy. Any thoughts I had about you snowballing me with your bullshit story, went out the window when I saw your girlfriend there. She looks exactly like Irina…well, younger of course. What did you say your name was?”
“I didn’t, sir, but it’s Ben Michaelson. And this is Kate Zimmerman.” Again, he didn’t want to tip the man off about Kat’s lineage. He held out his hand and the man shook it.
“Name’s Harry Bernhard. I live across the street. What branch of the military are you, son?”
Boomer’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Navy, Sir. Retired SEAL to be exact. How’d you know?”
“Retired from the Marines about twenty years ago. Major. Can always spot someone who has seen combat. It’s the way they carry themselves. Iraq? No, don’t answer. Sometimes I forget you black-ops boys can’t answer that question.”
Boomer’s mouth ticked upwards. “No, sir, I can’t. Let’s just say I’ve been around the block a few times.”
“I hear you. Now, about Irina. She expecting you?”
From his side, Kat answered before Boomer had a chance. “No, she’s not. As a matter of fact, she’s going to be very surprised to see me. I-I haven’t seen her in a very long time.” Boomer gave her a subtle look. Realizing she’d said too much, she tried to cover her ass. “I’ve been living on the West coast for over ten years and just moved back East. I was hoping on surprising her.”
“Well, I hope you’re not in a hurry, because she and a few members of her women’s group took an overnight road trip to Roanoke Rapids. They go every other month to see a show and play some slot machines at the Royal Palace out there.” At Kat’s look of dismay, Harry added, “Don’t fret, missy. She’ll be back tomorrow by noon.”
Smiling, Boomer put his arm around Kat’s shoulders and squeezed. She got the picture and put on a happy face while he spoke. “That’d be fine, sir. We just got into town and came straight here, so can you recommend a motel nearby?”
Harry scratched his head. “Well, you’re a little out of luck there because Murfreesboro doesn’t have any motels. Nearest one is about twenty miles away in Franklin. But we do have a nice bed and breakfast in town. Always clean and not too expensive. And it’s right across the street from a good place to eat.”
“That’d be great. What’s the name of the B&B?”
“Carmichael’s. Drive straight back into town and it’s on your left after the first traffic light. Can’t miss it.”
Extending his hand again, Boomer thanked the man. “And I’d appreciate it, sir, if you see Irina before we do, please don’t spoil the surprise.”
“No problem, son. And call me Harry. I might see you both tomorrow anyway. Irina always brings me back a blueberry pie from this great bakery they have out there. Good night, now.”
“Good night.”
As they made their way back to the car, Boomer peeked over his shoulder and caught the old man doing the same. He might be friendly toward them, but he was protective of Irina and it showed. “I think your aunt has a boyfriend.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
He jerked his thumb toward the end of the drive. “Harry. I wouldn’t be surprise if he’s got a thing for her.”
Kat glance over her shoulder at the older man before climbing into the car. “Really? Well, good for them. She’s a sweet woman and I always wondered why she never married.”
After shutting her door again, Boomer rounded the car and got into the driver’s seat. “Maybe she never met the right guy until now.”
“Maybe.”
* * *
Kat was quiet as Benny drove back into town. Now that the stress from this morning was leaving her body, her mind was filled with everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours. Unfortunately, one irrelevant thing kept popping up. It was what she’d found on the bathroom floor this morning. The pink piece of paper from a memo pad must’ve fallen out of Benny’s pocket by accident. She knew it was his because it said ‘Ben’ in his secretary’s neat handwriting. Apparently Kat wasn’t the only one who didn’t use his nickname. The message scrawled on the paper was what was bothering her as she replayed the words in her mind.
Tanya would like to play with you at club tonight. Please call. 813-555-9438
.
Kat had never asked him if he had a girlfriend, and she hadn’t heard anyone mention one, but it didn’t mean he wasn’t dating. And what did Tanya mean by ‘play with you’? Play what? Darts? Pool? And what club? Night club? Country club? There were too many variables, but her mind kept flashing to the book she was currently reading—
Leather & Lace
. It was a romance novel, but the sex was not ‘vanilla’, which was a term used by book websites when the sex in the story was tame. By comparison,
Leather & Lace
was what they called erotica, and the sex involved BDSM—Bondage, Discipline, Sadism, and Masochism. Kat loved to read, and while she didn’t fully understand ‘the lifestyle’ as it was called, the fictional books about the subject were fun. And hot. Holy shit, were they hot. Her vibrator tended to go through quite a few batteries when she was reading one of those novels.
It was the word ‘play’ which was bugging her. It was used a lot in BDSM books and those stories were usually set in clubs. Sex clubs. Didn’t the woman they’d met at the pharmacy yesterday mention a club? Could Benny be into something like that? And how did she feel about it? Kat didn’t know what to feel or think at this point. And she was too embarrassed to ask him about it. What if she was wrong? Oh God, what if she was right?