How to Seduce a Fireman: HarperImpulse Contemporary Romance (20 page)

The body-heat sensors Ryder had put in place, when he and Barclay did their earlier recon run, showed four humans in a room on the second floor and another in a prone position in a room down the hall. Jace transmitted the information to the men. Milt evidently counted the windows to the room that held the prone body they suspected to be Cassie and relayed that count to Quinn’s earpiece. Quinn raised his hand in acknowledgment.

The plans they’d gone over and over, back at the fire station and again under the palm trees at Barclay’s deserted cabins, until every step was embedded into their brains like how to change a flat tire on a car, were for Quinn to get Cassie free and clear of the building before the inside threesome opened fire. Plan B was for him to protect her with his life—as if he wouldn’t anyhow—if the rest of the team were discovered before he got her out. And if a flashback started, he’d think about Cassie playing the hell out of Uncle Mat’s saxophone—if he had the time before it overtook his mind.

Quinn tossed a grappling hook to the sill of the window Milt had indicated and climbed the side of the building, looping the rope around the arch of his foot for support. He pulled the crowbar Velcroed to the side of his leg and began the process of prying the rusted nails from the boards covering the window. Breezes blew palm fronds against his face, jogging his memories of the rain tropics of South America.
Focus on the mission. Only the mission. Only Cassie.

He swayed back and forth until he braced himself against the building with his other foot. In the end, doing so was a good thing. It gave him extra leverage to pull out what few nails there were. And, thanks be to God, the glass that should have been behind the boards was gone. Two large palm trees and their fronds that brushed the side of the building, reminded him of the coves and inlets on the coastline of Chile.

He placed the two boards and crowbar on the floor of the darkened room as quietly as he could and crawled inside. By the sound of Cassie’s gentle snoring, she was asleep. To keep her from waking up and making any fuss once she realized he was there, Quinn tapped his mouthpiece two quick times and then once to signal to the rest of the team he was inside.

He waited for their copy signal.

And waited.

Sweat poured from his body. His hands shook. What if none of his team was alive to respond? What if this mission failed too? He breathed deep, the memory of Cassie honking on the sax reverberating through his mind until he heard two quick taps followed by one from each of his squad members.

It was then he recognized he’d slumped onto the floor, leaned against the wall, his knees drawn to his chest and his gaze fixated on the woman he loved, lying on the bed. As awareness took hold, he realized he’d been chanting her name in a gravelly murmur.

The hand that clasped over Cassie’s mouth jarred her awake, sending her into panic. Her heart pounded in her ears. It was a hand, right? Or was she dreaming? At least the hand wasn’t touching her privates or her boobs.

Lips moved against her ear. “Angel?”

She
was
dreaming. The whispered word was soft and strangely urgent. Only one person called her by that nickname. Oh yeah, she had to be dreaming. Safety warmed and flooded her soul at the sound of his voice. How could Quinn know where she was or how could he have gotten inside the building unnoticed? Whatever. This was one great dream.

“Angel. Nod once if you can hear me, baby.”

She complied.
If this is a dream, please let it continue through the night. Let me find shelter in the sound of Quinn’s voice.

“We’ve got a team here to get you out. Wolf, Jace, Ryder, Barclay, Noah. Hell, even Milt is here. But you must be quiet. No noise. Understood?”

Her drug-hazed mind slowly comprehended what he was saying. Was this…could this really be happening? She shook her head.

He repeated his words, and they permeated her sleepy, drug-induced mental state. A team? They’d come to rescue her? Those men wouldn’t touch her again? She started sobbing, and Quinn pressed kisses to her face, whispering words of reassurance. “I love you. Did you think I wouldn’t come for you? I’m going to remove my hand now. Remember. No noise.” As soon as his hand left her mouth, his lips covered it, pouring out all the worry and relief she could sense pulsating from his body.

When the kiss finally ended, she whispered, “Put your ear to my mouth.” He did and she told him about the buzzer under her pillow. Once the weight of her head left the pillow, the buzzer would alert Chris.

He shifted his head to whisper in her ear. “I’m going to cut your ropes. Then alert the guys. Be prepared for some gunfire. No screaming. Just do whatever I tell you. Okay, angel?”

She nodded. Gunfire? The guys must have brought along some pistols.

Quinn slipped a knife from his boot and cut the ropes at her ankles, briskly massaging them to get the circulation going. “I brought along slippers for your feet. Stretchy like we use for fire victims.” His voice remained at whisper level. He covered her feet with the slippers and then ran the knife under the ropes at her arms and wrists. His strong hands rubbed her arms and he kissed the pulse points of her wrists while he rubbed the areas around them. Once more he put his lips to her ear. This time the ornery cuss ran his tongue around the edge of it. “Hold on while I notify the team.”

He ran one hand through her hair as if he couldn’t bear to stop touching her and depressed a button on whatever he spoke into. “Have a situation. Bastard put a weight-controlled button under her pillow. As soon as she lifts her head, a buzzer will go off to alert them.”

“Copy. In ten seconds, move her and get the hell out.” Was that Noah’s commanding voice? “Synchronize now. Point. Zero.”

Quinn depressed the Indiglo light on his watch, counting under his breath.

A blast shook the building, followed by three more. Plaster shifted down from the ceiling like baby powder.
Good God, what kind of pistols are they shooting?

In one smooth movement, Quinn lifted her from the bed, slung her over his shoulder and carried her to the window. She peered around his body to see how far up they were. Thank goodness they were only one floor off the ground. If they fell, they’d only suffer a broken leg, or something. She raised her head to look around. Milt jumped from the back of a dark van and scurried for his Cutlass. Quinn wrapped his hands around a rope and slid down, using his boots as anchors on the section of the rope below them.

Once they hit the ground and were on the run, he pressed his mouthpiece again. “Clear of the building and hauling ass for the Cutlass.”

In a matter of seconds, the whole side of the building blew out, bricks flew everywhere. Dust and debris floated through the air like falling leaves. Wait, these guys had more firepower than little old pistols.

“Give me the total collateral damage.” Noah’s voice sounded again. Was he in charge?

“Two, sir. Our main objective and his brother, or so he claimed. Two wounded and in a world of hurt.” Wolf laughed, of all things. “One might have to sit down to piss from now on, thanks to Ryder and the other smart-ass is going to need a knee replacement.”

Out of the smoke of building destruction and fire, three soot-covered, smiling warriors approached, dragging two men.

“Put me down. I want Wolf.” Quinn set Cassie on the ground and she took off running. Wolf dropped his hold on the hurt fellow and opened both arms for her to leap into. “Baby girl,” the big tough guy choked out.

“Thank you for saving me. I’ve got the best oldest brother in the whole wide world.” Her tears started again.

He swung her back and forth in a grasp so tight she could barely breathe. “Damn straight.”

She hugged and thanked Ryder and Barclay. Then her gaze swept to the two men on the ground, bleeding and crying. “You!” She pointed to the one holding his knee. “You put your hand under my nightgown and remarked about my bald hootchie.” She kicked him twice in the stomach. Took a step away before deciding that wasn’t enough. She marched back, grabbed him by the hair and punched him in the eye. “No one has the right to touch me there.”

Obviously sensing trouble, Quinn jogged over and placed the barrel of his rifle to the man’s temple. “Trouble, angel?”

“His…his name’s Kyle and he touched me someplace private and…and then…he called me a cunt.”

“Oh, he’s gonna have to die. No one calls my baby sister a cunt,” sneered Wolf.

“We’ve been authorized to use any force necessary. Do what you think is right.” Noah’s footfalls sounded closer. Several of the streetlights were out; this area was really downtrodden. Through the haze, his shape finally took form as he approached from across the potholed street, his rifle slung over his shoulder.

Ryder stepped on Kyle’s wounded knee and he cried out in pain. “A man who would treat a lady like that would probably rape her and not give it a second thought.”

“He threatened to. He and Chris were going to set up a camera and tape them doing things to me.” Now that the danger was over, she started to tremble. Her teeth chattered. The violation of having her genitals touched by a strange man would replay through her mind for a long time. Quinn enveloped her in his arms and kissed her face several times before turning her over to her brother.

“Wolf, you want to take her to the van so Jace can treat her for shock? Tell Jace I put some of her favorite chocolate bars in his first aid kit. I want to talk to this asshole for a minute.”

Quinn pivoted toward the brother Chris called Kyle. ”You touched my woman? You dirty, filthy bastard touched my woman?” By this time, Noah had joined them.

Cassie grabbed Quinn’s arm. “Don’t you dare do anything you’ll regret for the rest of your life.”

His expression, when he turned it on her, was feral. “Don’t you get it? You
are
my life. And I’ll hurt any bastard who tries to take you from me.”

Wolf scooped her up, cradling her in his arms, and ran for the van.

“What will Quinn do to that man? I won’t have him going to jail for murder. I have a wedding gown on layaway.”

“And a veil.” Wolf winked. “Let’s not forget the veil edged in alternating rows of seed pearls and Austrian crystals.”

“You’ve been listening.”

He opened the back door and handed her in to Jace. “It’s not like I’ve had any choice in the matter. Keep her in here. Quinn has a man he needs to teach some manners to.” Jace wrapped a blanket around her and hugged her close. “Quinn told me to tell you he put chocolate bars in your kit for Cassie. The way she’s shaking, she could probably use some sugar.”

****

“What do you think?” Quinn poked Kyle’s neck with the barrel of his rifle. “We’ve got authorization to kill him.” The bastard had touched his angel and scared her.

Ryder slipped a long knife out of his cargo pants and sliced the zipper out of Kyle’s jeans. “I say we cut his pecker off so he can’t ever hurt another woman like he planned to do to our baby doll.”

Not a bad effing idea in Quinn’s opinion.

“Good idea.” Noah leaned on his rifle. “For the charges he’s got against him, he’ll be in jail the rest of his life. His cell husband won’t care if he’s got a pecker or not. All he’ll be worried about is his ass.”

By this time, Kyle was a blithering crying fool. “I didn’t mean nothin’ by what I said to her.”

Quinn knelt next to him and grabbed him by the shirt. “Did you or did you not call my future wife a cunt?”

The stupid fool had the nerve to laugh. “Hell, what’s wrong with that?”

Noah pulled a quarter from his pocket. “Heads, he dies. Tails, his pecker goes.”

****

By the time Noah called the pickup number on the card included in his government manila envelope, Wolf, Jace, Cassie and Quinn were in the Cutlass with Milt. Ryder, Barclay and Noah would take the van back to the fire station.

First stop for the family in the Cutlass would be the emergency room to have Cassie’s blood checked for traces of whatever drugs she’d been injected with and to apply clean bandages to her cutting wounds. While she was being examined, Milt and Jace would go to her apartment and pack her several changes of clean clothes and her toiletries. Because once Quinn got her home to his place, he wasn’t planning on letting her out of his sight until he began to calm down, which he feared might be in twenty-two or twenty-three years. He held her on his lap as close as a person could be embraced and still breathe. He’d almost lost her. The most important person in his life and he’d almost lost her to crazy Chris.

Cassie ran her hand over his hair. “You can loosen your hold. I won’t disappear.”

“Don’t talk to me. I’m so damn mad and so grateful at once; I know I won’t make a bit of sense. I want to kiss you all over and paddle your ass at the same time.” He buried his face in her neck. “I have never loved anyone the way I love you. I’ve never needed anyone the way I need you.”

She held him to her for a few moments, stroking his head and shoulders, no doubt trying to ease some of his tension. “What did you do to Kyle?” She cupped his face in her hands and peered into his eyes. “I want the truth. What did you do to him?”

“One of us fixed him so he can never harm another woman. He’s alive. He’s just not the man he once was. Anything beyond that is a government secret. Besides, you’re the one who gave him a black eye.”

His angel leaned in and placed her lips to his ears. “He touched me where only you’re allowed to touch me. And he called me a dirty name. I can’t wait to take a long, hot bath to wash away his touch.”

“Whatever you want, baby. There’s just one thing. My parents flew down tonight and they want to meet you.”

“After all I’ve been through these last twenty-four hours, now I’m going to have to meet your mother and Buck?” She held out her bandaged arms as if to signal her embarrassment. “I didn’t think you and your dad spoke.”

“I was so scared when I found out you were in danger, I called the only person who I knew could help—and he did. Somehow, thanks to all that’s happened today, dad and I have reached a tentative truce. Believe me, no one’s more surprised than I am.” Quinn slipped the cell from his pocket and dialed his mother.

“Son? Son, do you have her? Is she safe? Are you okay?”

“Yes, we’re both fine, but exhausted. We’re taking Cassie to the hospital for lab work and a thorough physical. Where are you now?”

“The plane just landed and we’re on our way to the car rental place.”

“How long will you and dad be here? We don’t know how extensive Cassie’s examination will be at the hospital. We’ll likely be too tired for conversation tonight. Could we meet for breakfast in the morning?”

“Why, yes of course.” There was a note of disappointment in her voice. It had been over three years since they’d seen each other. “That might be best. We’re rather tired ourselves from hurrying to meet the flight. Where shall we meet?”

“How about Sandy Seashells at eight? She makes the best eggs Benedict, and I know how you like those.” He gave her the address and she wrote it down.

“But you’re both all right?”

“We’ll know for sure after the blood work. They gave her some injections and we have no clue what they were.”

“Oh dear. What terrible, terrible men.”

“Is Dad nearby. May I speak to him please?”

Her voice warmed. “Yes, he’s right here.”

“Son?”

“I can’t thank you enough. The equipment and the support was all top-notch. Without your help, I wouldn’t have her.”

“Well…” He coughed and cleared his throat. “Did I understand your mother’s end of the conversation correctly? We’re waiting until tomorrow morning to meet?”

“Yes, we don’t know how many hours we’ll be at the hospital having her checked out.”

“I ah…” he laughed or wheezed again. “I understand she gave one of the men a black eye for calling her an obscene name.”

Damn, how does he find this stuff out so fast?
“Yes, sir, she did. The girl’s got a mean right hook. She’s a cross between a kitten and a tiger.”

Cassie straightened on his lap. “Hand me the phone.” She made a beckoning motion with her fingers. “I mean it, hand me the phone.” He gave her the cell. “Mr. Gallagher? My name is Cassie Wolford and I want to thank you for all the help you provided in my being rescued. They were nasty men with mouths as foul as the sewer. Not that I’m averse to cussing someone out, you understand, I just think you ought to know them first, and, sir, I didn’t know those ass-wipes.”

His father’s laughter boomed over the phone.