Warrior Mine: A Base Branch novel Page 20

  The stickiness from their long, amorous night clung between her legs. Unwilling to think about the possible ramifications of their hedonistic actions, she shucked the covers and headed for the shower. With her bag still in the living room, all she could do was clean herself and wrap in a towel.

  “Honey, are you trying to kill me?” Vail’s gaze swept from her legs and hovered at the valley of her cleavage. “Because what a way to go.” He wore the clothes she’d stripped from him last night and looked more delectable than the golden biscuits cooling on the rack. Using two fingers, he tugged her by the towel and kissed her full on the lips before pointing with his spatula. “You were supposed to stay in bed and be served.”

  “You served me plenty last night.” She laid a kiss at the jumping pulse in his neck.

  “Already had your fill?” He wrapped her in his arms while breakfast sizzled on the stove behind him.

  “No, maybe never.”

  “That’s good, because you may be stuck with me that long. I didn’t wear a condom. I had some, but…”

  Great, if they stayed together it’d be out of obsession and obligation. He loved Sophia, but it seemed she was another matter. He showed her love, but hadn’t whispered the word outside of the bedroom. Even inside it he never used it in reference to loving her other than in the physical sense.

  “I can take care of a baby on my own.” She pulled away and turned to go. He caught her around the waist before she crossed more than a foot.

  “Not mine you can’t.” He pressed her against his chest much like he had the night before.

  Yet, this felt different. The emotions boiling at the surface of her mind had nothing to do with her treacherous family and everything to do with her uninhibited love for Vail Tucker. A love that had more potential to slice her in half than the sharpest blade.

  His massive hands splayed over her belly. “Carmen, I never wanted another family. Something else to lose. Nothing was worth that liability until you crashed into my life. The thought of your belly full with our baby—”

  “What smells so good?” Sophie hollered from down the hallway.

  Carmen wrestled free of his grip, afraid of what he’d say. Or wouldn’t say. Afraid of Sophia seeing her mother scantily dressed in Vail’s arms. She snatched her bag from the sofa and ran for cover.

  What in the world was she doing toying with a man dangerous enough to rip her heart from her chest and make her live the rest of her days without it? An eternally damned but never dead zombie woman. She stared at her flushed face in the mirror and pulled back her impossible tangle of hair. Yep, the woman staring back loved Vail. But, maybe, if she quit now she could keep some bit of herself to carry her through the rest of her miserable days.

  She’d lived so long without love. She still had Sophia, if she left before her daughter’s affection for Vail outweighed Sophia’s affection for her. It was time to get dressed and get down to business. Riffling through her bag, she found a soft purple cable-knit sweater and jeans, and prepared for the chill that would inevitably freeze her heart.

  Sophia sat at the high bar talking quietly while Vail arranged the food onto plates. She poured orange juice into the three glasses lining the counter. “Are you planning on going into the office today?”

  The butter knife stilled over the jar of fruit preserves. He slanted a glance at her. “Yes, after I eat and take a shower. I don’t plan to be there long, but I need to take care of a few things.”

  “Carlos?” she asked.

  Sophia perked and crinkled an eyebrow.

  “Yes. I know they found and disarmed the other bombs, thanks to you. But I want to be in the room when the team moves on…the estate.” He turned to her and forced her gaze up. “And I need to process him out to another facility.”

  “I want to go with you,” she said.

  “That’s not a good idea.” He waggled his jaw.

  “I’ve been there before.”

  “Precisely my point. It wasn’t exactly on good terms.”

  “I can talk to Carlos. Get whatever you need out of him.”

  “Because that worked so well the last time?” He said it with a palm up as though trying not to incite her.

  “He no longer has anything over me. I can convince him to talk.”

  Vail exhaled for longer than she thought humanly possible.

  “You’re not leaving me here,” Sophia interjected plainly.

  Vail kicked his chin toward her. “It’s not exactly the kind of place that hosts take your family to work day.”

  Everyone paused as though life had hit its own freeze frame.

  “Not that…” He scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. “Never mind. Let’s eat and get ready to go.”

  34

  Khani’s wary gaze met Vail and his entourage at the double doors. Her mouth opened to speak.

  “Woah, I love your make-up,” Sophie gushed. “I can’t wear any yet, but when I can I want it to look like yours.”

  “You must be Sophia. It’s an honor to meet you, darling. I heard you’re quite the warrior,” Khani said.

  “No, that’s Vail,” Sophie corrected.

  Khani’s gaze flickered over him, Carmen, and then danced back to Sophie. “Indeed, he is as well. There are many warriors in this little foyer.”

  “Where are you from?” Sophie asked.

  “London,” Khani answered. “And for the record, you won’t need a spot of make-up ever with your gorgeous skin. I see you get it from your mother.” Khani eyed Carmen for a pile of seconds.

  Tension drew his lover’s shoulders and he stepped almost imperceptibly forward and over, placing the very edge of his shoulder between the two women.

  “Oh Lord above, not you too,” Khani exclaimed. “It’s a damn epidemic.” She braced two hands in front of her, warding off the germs. “Not to worry, I’ve been vaccinated.”

  Nobody asked what she meant. Carmen hadn’t taken a breath in at least a minute, which told him she got the gist of it too. Or maybe not. Their staff had experienced a wave of honeymooning. Khani seemed content to steer as far away from it as possible, but he certainly wouldn’t consider himself in the getting-hitched category.

  Who was he kidding…yeah, he was, if Carmen and Sophie would accept his old battle-scarred body.

  Khani leaned around him. “I’m Khani Slaughter.”

  Carmen accepted the hand Khani offered. “Thank you for saving him.”

  His counterpart nodded. “Just don’t hurt him again and we’re square.”

  The love of his future gave a curt nod that made his eyes narrow. He didn’t know if he believed her or not. And that hurt. She’d been distant since their talk in the kitchen earlier in the morning. He cleared his throat. “Let’s go to my office and talk.”

  They headed for his office, but got waylaid by Rhonda. She rushed around her desk toward him. At the sight of Carmen she stalled. Then her gaze hit Sophie and brightened. “I’m so glad to see you up and around, and with two lovely ladies. Hi, I’m Rhonda Merk.”

  “Rhonda is my assistant,” he explained. “She runs this place.”

  “Oh, no.” Her hand flapped at the air. “Can I get any of you something to drink?”

  “I’m fine, thank you.” Carmen insisted. He, Sophie, and Khani waved her off also.

  “Well, I won’t keep you,” she said, bowing back into her office. “If you need anything, holler.”

  He opened the heavy glass door for the ladies and ushered them inside. Khani propped against the wall to the right of his desk. Sophie took one of the two chairs in front, while Carmen froze just inside the door. He laced his fingers with hers, pulled her to the chair next to Sophie, sat, and tugged her onto his lap.

  “Khani, please, sit.” He nodded at his chair, and she did, with both brows up around her hairline and the hint of a smile on her bright red lips.

  “Why is Carlos targeting the Sinaloa after nearly ten years of relative silence?” Khani asked, pinning Carmen with a direct
gaze.

  Her scoff rumbled in her chest. “He’s always been indignant about the AFO’s apparent weakness. As you know, the Tijuana boarder, as well as the entire Baja District, was under AFO control for the greater part of two decades. Almost a decade ago, the Sinaloa overthrew my father and took the resources, the people—the ones they didn’t kill—as well as the land, and then exiled my family.”

  Carmen’s grip on his hand tightened. “If you think Carlos was ever quiet about it, you’re mistaken. He raged for hours on end, throwing things about the house, bullying his men. Finally he’d had enough talk and decided to take precise steps to retaliate against the Sinaloa Federation.”

  Khani inhaled, her mouth open with the next question. Vail knew what was about to come out of Khani’s mouth. The closest thing Khani had to children was her brother. From where she sat it was cut and dry. Carmen should have stopped Carlos. But she didn’t take all the facets of the situation into account. Namely, Sophie. Guaranteed though, were it Zeke’s ass on the line, she’d do everything in her power to save him from harm. Even let the bad guys distract themselves with hurting others. For a while at least.

  “Well, why wouldn’t you—” Khani stopped.

  An eerie silence settled over the room a second before the unmistakable pop, pop, pop of gunfire exploded from the hallway, snapping Vail’s heart like a twig.

  He stood, Carmen in one arm. His other hand encircled Sophie’s upper arm. He hauled them around the desk and kicked the alarm with the toe of his boot. The mechanism sealed every external entryway with two inches of steel and sounded a siren shrill enough to deafen.

  “Mother fucker,” Khani said, racking the slide on her pistol.

  He was so caught up in fear for his girls he hardly registered the curse. He sat Carmen on her feet and brushed a kiss across her forehead, and then Sophie’s hand, before releasing them.

  Carmen immediately encircled Sophie in her arm. “I need a gun.”

  Vail was already at his wall safe punching numbers. He opened the small door, recovered two wood-gripped Ruger 1911’s and two extra magazines. “The door is bullet-proof, but it doesn’t mean they can’t get in through the security system.” Her gaze flew to the vent. “It’s been sealed.”

  He handed her the gun and extra mag, and stuffed his extra into his back pocket. The cold metal of the slide wrenched under his grip. Not daring to take the time for goodbyes, he ran for the door.

  Khani stood to the side of the opaque glass. Vail gave the signal. She pulled it wide. He went low, centering the forehead of a sweat-soaked gorilla donning a full tactical vest and double-drawn pistols. He hugged the trigger, spraying red on the wall. His barrel slid right, taking out the guy rounding the corner before he made the turn. The body fell like a log.

  His partner advanced, clearing Rhonda’s office and holding down the hallway while he made certain the door was locked behind him.

  Khani jerked an almost invisible nod. “Not there,” she mouthed.

  They moved as one deadly unit to the end of the corridor, stepping over the bodies as they went. A body sprawled in the main hallway. Her skirt hiked around her thighs. Her sand-colored hair soaking in a pool of crimson. They bolted up the hall, Khani going low this time. His blood steamed to a vicious mist of rage.

  “She’s still alive,” Khani breathed.

  “Can you keep her that way?”

  “Do my best. Shot to the neck and she’s in shock. End this fast.”

  “Count on it.”

  He advanced in a crouch, clearing every office he came to. The clear glass of the conference room allowed him to see it was vacant. But the long T of the corridor holding the cells would leave him wide open to attack. He centered, coiled. At the thunderous echo of footsteps, he swung the opposite direction. Vail was ready to rain hell on the men barreling toward the thick metal door of the stairwell.

  The metal latched clacked. He came face to face with a sea of M-4’s, pistols, pissed, and quite surprised operatives.

  Thank fuck.

  “Well, I didn’t believe in ghosts.” Tyler nodded.

  “Tyler, help Khani with Rhonda. Boudreaux, get the ambulance and call the doc, let him know what’s on the way. Abernathy and Hebert, guard my office door, but do not go inside. Oliver and Hunter with me. Everybody else, search the building and surrounding area. No one gets away.”

  “Good to have you back, Commander,” one of the men said. The others gave barks of agreement.

  Except for two, the herd scattered. Vail signaled them eyes out, down the hallway. One across the hallway. Oliver high. Him low. Go.

  In the wide open of the long expanse of bare walls, three men worked diligently on the door to Carlos’s Ruez’s cell. Another kept watch. He fired first, his bullet zinging close enough that Vail’s old wounds tingled with remembered agony.

  Shots filled the narrow space. Men screamed. Blood poured. Splattered. Dotted the concrete. Vail flashed back to the night when his own stained the floor. But this was not that night.

  A pile of men lay slain at Carlos’s door. His men stood tall, eyes still on, ready for anything. Vail only wanted one thing more than to drag Carlos from his cell, toss him down on the pile, and put a bullet in the man’s head.

  “Take care of them and then check the cells. I’ll be back.” And he ran for the one, no, two things he could never lose.

  35

  Fear had levels. Carmen thought she’d experienced them all. But this. This petrifying rack of her nerve endings outdid them all. The two people she loved were in jeopardy. And all she could do was sit and wait. Cling to her daughter and the gun in her hand, and wait.

  They’d jumped at the quick shots Vail had taken before he’d been fully outside the door, but she’d seen him move swiftly after that and hadn’t heard any more shots. So, he was okay. He had to be okay.

  Neither of them cried, too on the brink of fight with no room for flight in this scenario. Sophia’s heart pattered against Carmen’s chest, but her little jaw jutted in defiance. Her daughter’s strength filled her with maternal pride. It pissed her off that fear shared in the beauty of that joy.

  “I love you, Sophie.”

  Those thin, mighty arms cinched around her waist. “I love you so much, Momma. And Vail too.”

  The wistfulness in her tone snapped her like a twig. “I know you do, baby. He’s a warrior, remember. Strong and mighty. Keen and resolute. If anyone can handle the situation, it’s him.”

  “I know you love him. Why won’t you just say so?”

  She levered back to get a better look at Sophia’s intelligent eyes. Carmen dragged in a breath, flicked her gaze to the door, and then looked back to her daughter. “I’m afraid.”

  “You’re not scared of anything.”

  “Sure I am. I’m terrified of losing you and never really having him.”

  “Then tell him. He loves you, I know it.”

  “You don’t know it. Him loving you means something different than him loving me. It’s bigger and more complicated.”

  “You’ve always told me that everything worth having is complicated. Like an education, remember?”

  Carmen kissed Sophia’s cheek, brushed her hair from her face, and then brushed another across her forehead. “When did you get so wise?”

  Sophia gave a tight smile, her gaze shifting to the door and back again. “Yesterday.”

  The instinct to laugh at her daughter’s cuteness was only overridden by the ridiculous fear choking her. What if Vail didn’t come?

  A shadow cast over the doorway. Carmen’s gun came up, but she held the trigger loosely. Her heart beat in her throat. “Over in the corner,” she whispered. With a hand she guided Sophia to where the sidewall and the front wall met, out of the line of sight, and in a perfect position to pick off an intruder.

  Carmen placed herself between the door and Sophia. She leveled the gun at chest height and waited. Four shots rang in quick succession. The barrel of her gun wavered.

&nb
sp; Dread filled her. There were too many shots too close together. Too much room for error. She wouldn’t leave Sophia unguarded for anything. But for the first time, she wanted to leave her daughter and go protect Vail.

  “It’s okay, Sophie. It’s okay.” She repeated the mantra to comfort Sophie, and herself.

  “Mom?”

  “Yes?”

  “You just called me Sophie.”

  She laughed, despite everything. It was short and harsh, but it was a laugh. Vail had somehow snuck into her heart and mind. In a matter of days he’d undone the habits she’d honed over twelve years and then some.

  “Yes, I did. Do you like it…or not?”

  “I love it.”

  “Okay then.”

  A single set of shoes boomed against the concrete, screaming for the office door. Carmen braced the 1911 with her left hand and exhaled long and steadily.

  “All clear, Carmen. Don’t shoot,” Vail hollered through the glass. The door opened, but only his arm breached the room. “Carmen?”

  “Vail!” She flipped the safety, lowered the gun, and ran.

  He stepped into the room a beat before she reached him and launched herself into his arms. The crushing weight of his hug filled her with such relief tears—happy, ecstatic, crazy, tears—streamed from her eyes. Her mouth landed hot on his. He opened for her. Their tongues mated in a desperate dance of love.

  She panted with a wild need that was nowhere near appropriate with her daughter present, but she couldn’t bring herself to stop. Vail apparently had more sense and broke the kiss.

  “What about being a good role model?” he asked, the impetuous hint of a smile on his lips.

  “Just kiss me,” she begged.

  His lips grazed and nipped, and then he pressed his cheek to hers and hugged her impossibly tighter. He leaned back and a fine mist fogged his eyes. “I don’t know what I would have done if…”

  “I love you.”

  She grabbed his face to make certain he heard the word. If he never said them, if all she had in life was his time and his baby in his world then that would be enough. He would be enough.