Emma: Part Three (11 page)

“Will Jack ever take an assignment like this?”

Max had to catch himself before he said something that would upset her. Jack wasn’t the type of soldier suited for an office. He was a sniper, and he belonged outside the wire. It was in his DNA. They’d had many talks in their years together, and Jack had always made it clear that he wanted to die doing his job, not pushing paper in an office.

“No,” he said finally. “Jack is happy doing what he does best. He might move into training full-time in a few decades, but for now, he’s where he needs to be.”

“Decades?”

Max nodded. “We age differently than your kind. We used to have serums that helped slow aging and aided cell regeneration. We lost the capability to produce them at a high rate so they’re on limited rationing now.”

“What does that mean for you?”

Catching the worry in her voice, he assured her, “Not what you’re probably thinking. I’m not going to wake up wrinkled and gray tomorrow. The three of us will likely age at a similar rate.”

Emma hopped up onto his desk as he dropped into his chair. “So how old are you?”

“Older than you,” he said, deliberately obfuscating.

She narrowed her eyes and playfully poked his shoulder. “Cradle robber!”

He snatched her hand and kissed each fingertip. “Guilty as charged.”

“I’d lean in to kiss you properly,” she said, “but you stink like diesel and worse.”

He smiled at her dainty, wrinkled nose. “I won’t tell you about the worse.”

Her expression turned sad. “Was it bad, Max?”

“Yes.” He wouldn’t lie to her. “Your friend Leila lost a brother last night.”

Her face fell. “Which one?”

“Lance.”

“Oh no.” Emma looked as if she might cry.

Something sparked off inside him. Jealousy? He bitterly hated that he felt something so incredibly inappropriate, but his possessiveness toward Emma was a feeling he had never encountered. He was still trying to figure out how to navigate these new and complicated relationship waters. “Were you close to him?”

“Not really,” she said, seemingly unaware of his conflicted emotions. “Leila and Lane were closer to my age so we spent more time together when they camped out on our farm during their salvage runs.” She hesitated before admitting, “I think Dad and Laird Keaton wanted Luke or Leland to marry me.”

Not sure if he wanted to hear her answer, he asked, “Did you want to marry them?”

“Eventually, if I hadn’t met you or Jack, I probably would have married one of them,” she admitted. “Out of necessity,” she explained. “I couldn’t have kept the farm going by myself, and I wasn’t safe.” She reached out to toy with the cuff of his uniform shirt. “For what it’s worth, I think…maybe…you and Jack were always meant for me.”

Max hadn’t ever been one to believe in things like fate, but sitting here with Emma, he couldn’t help but wonder. It was a pretty thought, at least.

“Max?”

“Mmmhmm?”

“Was Lane—was he bitten?”

“No,” he answered quietly. “He was hit by the second explosion.”

“Did he suffer?”

He didn’t want to tell her that Lance had taken a chunk of shrapnel to the back of his head. It was an image she didn’t need to recreate in her mind. “It was quick. He didn’t suffer.”

“Were there a lot of casualties?”

“Yes.” He motioned toward his desk. “I need to finish my report on them.”

“Oh.” Emma started to move off his desk, but he put a hand on her knee to stop her.

“Stay,” he ordered. “These won’t take long.”

“All right.”

He had written most of his report on the helo ride back to the post so it didn’t take him long to reconcile his notes and prepare a proper account of last night and this morning. He had just submitted his report when someone knocked on the door. Suspicious, he engaged his scanning capabilities but felt on the pulse of his logistics clerk in the room next door. Immediately, he was on his feet. The only cyborgs allowed to kill their ID tags belonged to SICO.

“Get behind my desk,” he ordered softly. “If they try to take me, you go out that window and run to the shop.” He was already transmitting a message to Gray. “Straight down Avenue A to Ninth Street. Take a left. Two blocks and you’ll see the shop.”

“Max,” she said anxiously but moved into position.

He crossed to the door, unlocked it and yanked it open. In a fighting stance, he anticipated the very worst. His gaze settled on Colonel Monroe’s familiar face.

Monroe put a hand on the door and growled, “We need to have a word.”

Well.

Shit.

6
Chapter Six

Ready to bolt
,
Emma warily eyed the soldier shouldering his way into Max’s office. Tall and dark-skinned, he had a commanding air about him. His gaze lingered on her for a moment, appraising her in one look.

Max wasted no time returning to her side. She noticed the way he strategically placed himself between her and this new officer. Without saying a word, Max had made it clear he viewed this man as a threat.

“Emma, this Colonel Damien Monroe.” As Max spoke, he clasped her wrist. “He’s the second-in-command here at Outpost 9.”

“Hello,” she said with a weak smile. Upon closer inspection, she noticed he wore the same patch on his uniform that General Gage and that doctor had.
Oh, no…

“Ma’am,” he replied with a nod. Turning his attention to Max, he stated, “Don’t even think about trying to flee with this woman. It’s unnecessary.”

“Is it?” Max didn’t deny that he had been considering exactly that.

Colonel Monroe reverted his full attention to Emma. “She’s precious to us, Max. Neither Gage nor Roman will do anything to harm her.”

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t buy that bullshit line,” Max sneered. “You forget that I’ve seen SICO in action.”

“I haven’t forgotten that you wanted to join our ranks once,” the colonel shot back.

“We all make stupid decisions when we’re young and dumb,” Max retorted.

“You’re neither young nor dumb now, Max. Don’t make a stupid decision today,” Colonel Monroe warned. “Gage isn’t your enemy. Roman isn’t your enemy. The biters are our enemies. Faction is our enemy. If we’re going to win, we need Emma’s help.”

Emma gulped when the colonel pinned her in place with a stare. “If she really is the key that Roman believes she is, we might finally have the chance to beat back these undead bastards. If we’re protected by immunizations, we can go into the forbidden sectors and salvage the resources we desperately need.” Something sparked in those dark eyes of his. It looked suspiciously like hope. “We
need
her.”

“Jack and I need her.” Max’s fingers tightened around her wrist.

“No one is going to take her away from you. I don’t care what Gage has threatened,” he added, cutting off Max’s protest. “He’ll have to go through me.”

“And what happens when she gets to Camp Victory? She’ll be outside your protection then. Roman is just going to take her blood?” Max scoffed. “I wasn’t born yesterday.”

“I don’t pretend to know the full extent of what Roman will need from her,” the colonel admitted. “But I do know that everyone has been ordered to keep her happy and comfortable and alive. She’s the number one priority right now.”

Max’s eyes had been narrowed with suspicion but they widened as if he finally understood something that hadn’t been spoken. A look passed between Max and Colonel Monroe. Emma suspected they were communicating via their linked chips, but she couldn’t be sure. She didn’t like being kept in the dark, but she wasn’t going to stamp her foot and throw a fit like a toddler. Later, she would ask Max if there was something she should know.

“Ma’am.” Colonel Monroe regarded her for a moment. “You’ll go to Camp Victory for a few weeks, donate some blood and tissue samples, and come right back here. Max and Jack will be with you the entire time.”

“And what’s the cover story?” Max asked. “What is she supposed to tell people about her trip to Victory? If it gets out that her blood carries the antibodies, there’s a serious threat to her safety. She’ll become a target.”

“She’s already a target—or have you forgotten the attack on her farm?” The colonel shook his head. “Somebody wanted her dead.”

“You don’t need to remind me,” Max growled. “I won’t ever forget that night.”

“Neither will I,” Emma murmured.

Colonel Monroe’s expression softened. “The world is a dangerous place, Miss Emma. You’re safer here with Max and Jack than you’ve ever been in your life. Do this one thing for us—for all the cyborgs—and you’ll be the most beloved and protected woman on the face of this godforsaken planet.”

Emma watched him leave. That unsettling feeling had returned, souring her stomach and making her fingers shake. The colonel and the SICO team made it sound so easy. Give some blood. Let them run some tests. Emma knew it wouldn’t be that simple. Once she was on this new base, there were no guarantees.

But it was clear that these men believed she might hold the key to their survival. Were they right? Was there something so special about her blood? Did her very DNA hold the answer to solving the problem plaguing not only her fellow humans but cyborgs as well?

“Let’s go home.” Max’s rumbling voice drew her attention. He had stepped away just long enough to gather his gear from the locker and stuff it into a duffel. His side arm and backup were holstered in place. He wasn’t taking any chances.

They didn’t speak a single word on the way home. Walking into the house, Emma caught the lingering scent of bacon. She expected to find a mess but discovered a squeaky clean kitchen. A note from Rio and a longer piece of paper covered in hard-to-read scrawl sat on the counter. “How the heck did Rio get in here? I know I locked the door.”

“She works for the housing department. She has master keys to all the family units and barracks.” When she glanced up at him, he frowned. “I don’t approve of her coming into our home without our prior authorization, but I’ll let it slide just this once.”

She easily filled in the unspoken words.
For you
. Max was an intensely private man, and more than that, his home was his refuge. This was the place he had earned and the place he shared with Jack.
And now me
. She hadn’t missed the obvious pride in his voice when he had brought her here that first afternoon. He was proud of all that he had attained and the fact that he could share it now with her.

“I’ll make sure Rio knows to schedule her visits to see me and to knock and wait on the porch.” Emma set aside the note and glanced at the list of names on the second sheet.

Reading over her shoulder, Max asked, “What is this?”

“Rio said she knows a medic who could get me the names of the civilians brought onto Outpost 9.”

“Mario,” he said, taking a longer look at the list. “I’d recognize that awful handwriting anywhere.”

Emma scanned the list, lingering on a handful of familiar names, and then grinned with something very near excitement. “Zoe and Chloe are here!”

“Yes.” Max leaned down and kissed the side of her neck. A wild shiver raced through her body and the list was temporarily forgotten. “Chloe and Leila saved my life last night.”

“Really?”

“Later,” he said and kissed her neck again.

Taking the hint that he needed a break from anything to do with combat or zombies, she turned to face him. “Are you hungry?”

“Not for food,” he said and lowered his face. His lips were mere centimeters from hers when he drew back slowly. “I need a good scrub—and then you’re mine.”

The gleam in his eyes was unmistakable. She didn’t question his desire for her. In the last twenty-four hours, they had been through traumatic experiences. He had fought for his life, and she had been blindsided by secrets she didn’t want to believe. Reconnecting in such an intimate way seemed the most natural thing in the world.

Taking her hand, Max tugged her toward the stairs. She happily trailed after him. When they reached the bathroom, she pushed his hands out of the way and undressed him. His holsters and weapons went first. She handled them with care and respect and left them on the counter where he could reach them easily. Her life on the farm had drilled certain safety points into her. Having firepower at hand at all times was necessary.

With his weapons secured, she dropped down and unzipped his dirty boots and removed them along with his socks. She placed the boots in the corner of the bathroom because they would need a good rinse and scrub later. She made a mental note to look for a boot tray to put near the entrance of the house. She didn’t want Max or Jack tracking all that grime and filth into the house every time they came home.

After dragging his belt through the loops on his tactical pants, she set it aside and began working on the buttons of his uniform shirt. With each layer of clothing she peeled from his body, she uncovered more bruises and scrapes. She lightly grazed her fingertips over a nasty purpling bruise on his side. “Oh, Max…”

He covered her hand with his larger one. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

“It looks really bad.”

“Other men looked worse.”

Panic gripped her. “Jack?”

“He took a hit to the face but was in pretty good shape other than that.”

Wincing as she motioned to the awful bruise on his side, she asked, “How did that happen?”

“I’m not sure,” he admitted. “I think I must have hit something when I slammed into the ground after the explosion. I got tossed around and came down hard. I probably hit a piece of debris.” He prodded the injury with a light touch and flinched. “Could have been worse. I didn’t break any ribs.”

She grimaced at the thought of causing him more pain. “Maybe we should take bedroom activities off the table for a few days while you heal.”

His gaze snapped to her face. “Like hell!”

“But your ribs!”

He gestured to his growing erection. “I’m more worried about my cock right now.”

“Max!” She expelled a scandalized laugh.

“It’s true.” He gestured to his bruises. “You let me set the pace, and I’ll make sure we both feel good when we’re done.”

“Well…”

“Come here,” he said in that gruff, seductive voice that made her tingle all over. Powerless to say no, she walked toward him and allowed him to pull her into his brawny arms. He brushed the hair back from her face and touched his forehead to hers. “I need this, Emma.” He kissed the top of her head. “I need you.”