Walker (Bowen Boys) (21 page)

“You know this how?”

Walker nearly laughed at the fear in his
brother’s voice.

“You have some sort of insider track on
what’s going to happen to us?”

“No. It’s just me hoping. And when you
do meet her? I’m going to hound you daily every time you screw up and piss her
off. Because we both know…hell, Khan, everyone knows you’re not going to be
able to help yourself.” She waved him at him to leave. “Go on, Khan, close up
your heart and hide away, but it won’t do you a damned bit of good.”

Khan left by backing toward the door and
never taking his eyes off Caitlynne. It might have been funny if Walker didn’t
believed that she was correct in assuming that Khan would fall for a human. Walker
just hoped she was strong enough to tame his brother and win his heart.

“You all right?”

He looked at her when she asked again.

“The reason I ask is when you picked me
up at the scene, you were a bit pale. I didn’t know if you’d been hurt or not.”

“I’m fine. I wasn’t hurt, but…” He
crawled into the bed to be with her and hold her. “You terrified me when I saw
you there bleeding so badly. And when Khan pulled your cat, I’d never seen
anything more beautiful in my life. You’re a very handsome panther.”

She smacked his arm and laid her head on
his chest. “It hurt. Will it always hurt like that?”

He thought for a moment she meant being
shot, but realized she’d mean shifting. He loved it so much that he’d forgotten
what it was like for someone to make you shift. His father had done the same to
him when he’d been younger and had refused to shift because he didn’t want to
be different from the other boys.

“No. Just when you’re pulled like Khan
did to save you. When one of us shifts, it’s sort of like the other self takes
over and heals us quicker. If you are hurt as a cat, the same thing happens
when you shift to human. No other species that I know of can do that. When you
want to shift, it’ll be a soft slow process that gives you time to adjust. When
pulled, it’s like an instant change and it hurts.”

She laughed and started to play with the
button on his shirt. “I suppose I should be grateful to him that he didn’t let
me die. He hates me that much, you know.”

He thought about telling her that she
didn’t see the look on his brother’s face when he came toward him. After her
cat had lain in his arms Khan started to cry and beg her to forgive him. Walker
wasn’t sure if he’d ever seen Khan so terrified, not even when Roseann had
threatened them all.

“I think Khan might have a different
outlook on you. I think you might scare him a little. You are one mean bitch
when you want to be.” He hugged her when she laughed, and they both sat up when
someone knocked on the door.

“Hello.” His mom walked in after he’d
answered the knock. He got up to take the tray from her and set if over
Caitlynne’s lap when she’d told him to.

“I can’t possibly eat all of this.” Caitlynne
picked up a slice of ham and stuffed it in her mouth. “Okay, maybe I can. I’m
suddenly starved. Thank you, Mrs. Bowen.”

“It’s Corrine or, if you’d like, Mom.
Either is better than Mrs. Khan told me he thought you were hungry when he took
off from here like he was in a room full of rockers and his tail was out. He
mentioned that you were sort of scary.”

“She told him that his mate was going to
be a human and would give him a run for his life.” Walker sat on the bed and
took the last piece of ham. She’d made a huge dent in the amount of food in a
short amount of time.

She asked him to go away. Well, she’d
actually told him to go, but he smiled, kissed her, and left. His mom had given
her some towels and some extra clothes of hers to wear. He would have loved to
have joined her in the shower, but she said she needed some down time and she’d
be with him very shortly. He left after another quick kiss.

Walker loved being in love.

~~~

Caitlynne made two phone calls before
she got in the shower. She had an answer to one before she got out. Things were
moving and now she just needed to talk to the president. Then to Walker and the
rest of the family.

She knew she had to be in DC for a while.
Things in the office were going to be a mess for some time. There was no
director and there was no one to see that things got going. She hoped that the president
made a good choice. He’d inherited this group and could now start fresh. She
was looking forward to the new guy.

Then there was the land. She’d overheard
one of the brothers talking about the city trying to get them to sell and if
they didn’t, they were simply going to take it from them. She didn’t want that
to happen and the call she was waiting on was hopefully going to fix that. She
walked into the large living room to see that only the president and Marshall
were there.

“Walker went to the hospital. Khan…he
left. And I asked that the others leave so that I can have a long, nice chat
with you.” He gestured toward a chair. “Why don’t you have a…you’re not armed
are you?”

“Yes. Always. And I want to have a talk
with you too. I’ll go first.” She wasn’t sure how to take his laughter and
decided to ignore it. For now, at least. “Did you know that the city council is
taking the Bowen land because of some stupid park they want to put in?” He
nodded, and she did sit. “Well, what the hell are you going to do about it? This
land belongs to them and it will really piss me off if I have to come back here
and kick some ass to make them understand that. I’m reasonably sure that I
might even kick yours too.”

“You were going somewhere?”

His question caught her off guard and
she asked him what he said.

“You heard me. I asked if you were
planning on leaving here. I mean, with Walker here, I just assumed that you’d
sell your house in DC and come back here to bake cookies and have a few hundred
kids. You’re not?”

“I don’t know what we’re doing. I
suppose the answer to that will have to do with Khan.” She flushed and took the
bottle of water that Marshall handed her. “Walker said he could be a doctor
anywhere. He said he’s got a very good reputation. And don’t think I don’t know
what you’re doing. I’ve used the same tactics on bad guys for a lot longer than
you have. What’s this have to do with this property, Mr. President?”

The president smiled. “Let’s start this
off right, shall we? Call me Warren. And I’ll call you…what am I to call you?”

She flushed again. “Walker prefers
Caitlynne, so I suppose that’ll do. And I’m not comfortable calling you by your
first name. You’re my boss.”

“So I am, but I would prefer that you
called me Warren. Now. About this moving thing. I think that you will need to
stay here. Khan and I have had a nice, long talk and—”

“
You
and Khan had a talk? What
the hell do you mean you—”

“Caitlynne, I may want you to call me by
my first name, but as president, I would like to finish a sentence. Now, where
was I?” He looked at Marshall who gave him a hint as to where he’d left off. “Yes.
Now Khan and I have had a nice conversation and he’s thinking that having you
around won’t be so bad. I agreed with him. As for Walker being a good doctor? There
isn’t one better than him in all the state. All the country, I would say. But
that has nothing to do with what I want.”

He waited. She knew what he was doing.
He wanted her to ask. Well, he could suck her big toe if that’s what he wanted.
She looked him in the eye and waited as well. She knew she was much better at
this game; she’d had a bit more practice. When Marshall sighed she knew he was
going to break the silence.

“There’s a position open now in the CIA.
We wanted your help in filling it.”

She looked at him then at the president.

“I’d be honored to help you interview
potential directors. I can even do the background checks, as well as any other
finding that you need.” She was indeed honored. And surprised. She thought they
would have a person or two lined up by now.

“No, none of that will be necessary. We
know all we need to know about the person we have in mind. Brilliant, and
damned good at their job. Mouthy, and a lot pushy, but a by-the-books type of
person. No gray area for this person.”

She was already looking forward to
working with him. Caitlynne sat up higher in her chair and nodded. This was
going to be better than she thought.

“So, will you do it?”

She looked at Warren, thinking she’d
already answered that. “I said I’d help, but you just said you had someone
picked out?” When they looked at one another then back at her she was more
confused than ever. “Don’t you? I mean, you do have someone picked out, right?”

Warren nodded. “You.”

She was missing something. Looking
behind her to see who they were talking about and seeing no one, she looked
from man to man. It was the smiles that made her feel uncomfortable. Then it
hit her.

“Oh no, no, no, no, no and fucking hell
no.” She stood so quickly that Marshall put his hand on his weapon and slid in
front of Warren. “You can’t be fucking serious. Me as director of the Central
Intelligence Agency? Are you fucking nuts? I can barely organize a fucking
grocery list much less… This isn’t funny. Tell me who you really have in mind.”

Warren, voice full of humor, told her he
was not joking. “You’ll need to clean up your vocabulary if you ever need to
speak in front of the public. They might not get the idea of what you’re trying
to speak about if they have to bleep every other word. And I’ve had you in mind
for this position since I took office.”

“Why?” She sat down now, overwhelmed
with what he was saying. “I don’t understand why you’d pick me. I mean, I’m a
pretty good agent, but this? What if I fuck up?”

“You probably will. Most of us do. But
that’s the wonderful thing about you; you have no problem with saying you’ve
done so and give solutions on how you’ve fixed it. And another thing that I
like about you is that if you need help you’ve no problem asking for it. Good
traits in a leadership role.” Warren took the file that Marshall held out to
him. “There are other benefits to you coming to work for me. And they’re all
outlined here.”

She took the folder and stared at it. Caitlynne
decided that she’d rather be staring down a large group of people trying their
best to kill her than this. She felt a small touch to her mind and nearly shied
away from it. But when Khan spoke, she closed her eyes.

“You said you were okay with me staying
with you guys because you knew that he was offering me this job and I wouldn’t
be here anyway, didn’t you? How could you do this to—”

“What job? I don’t know what you’re
talking about. I felt your distress and wanted to…”

He was quiet, but she knew he was still
there, a small touch of his mind to her let her know that.

“I deserve that. Your distrust of me and
so much more. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for you thinking that of me. And
I will never forgive myself for the way that I treated you. But I will try,
Lynne. I will with all my heart to have you forgive me.”

“There’s nothing to forgive if you
really won’t hold my being with your brother against him. He missed you
terribly and he would never forgive himself if he couldn’t speak to you again.”

Caitlynne leaned back in the chair and
looked at the two men in front of her. They seemed to know that she was “talking”
to someone else and spoke amongst themselves. She wondered if Walker could feel
her terror when Khan spoke again.

“He can. He asked me to come to the
house to see what the, and these are his words, not mine, what the fucktards
are doing to you now. I’m right in the kitchen if you need me.”

“They offered me a job. It will take me
away a lot. I might have to stay in DC through the week.”
She wanted to
talk to Walker in the worst way.

“Walker is delivering a baby right now
and said to tell you he loves you. He said that you two can speak, but you have
to stop blocking him. We think that the only reason you can hear me is because
you’re not able to block me out.”

“I have to talk to Walker. I can do
that…I’m sorry, Khan, that I thought the worst of you. I really am.”
She felt him
hug her as if he were in the room with her.
“That was fucking weird.”

Chapter Seventeen

Walker held the new baby in his hands
and took a quick inventory of her. Ten fingers and ten toes. Pink skin and a
loud, healthy scream. Yes, she was fine. Handing her off to the nurse beside
him he smiled at the new parents. Of course they didn’t notice because they
were so wrapped up in each other to see him, the man who had brought their
little bundle into the world.

He didn’t mind really. He loved this
part of his job more than anything. Bringing new life into the world to make it
a better place. Walker sat back down and took care of the business of the
mother and was just about to check on the baby again when he felt the fusion of
fear from Caitlynne.