Kill List (Special Ops #8) (12 page)

“I just mean that with everything…with what happened…I don’t want to go back to work in that hotel. I didn’t finish school because of my family. Maybe I should move to a small town where nobody knows who I am and just wait tables or something. What else is there for me at this point?”

“I’m not going to have my wife living in some backwoods town waiting tables.”

“What?” Wife? Did he say wife?

“I have a home in the city that you’ll live in with me—your husband, your mate. The job…well that’s up to you but no need to rush finding one. I have enough to take care of you while you find a safe,” he stressed the word safe, “job.”

“I never thought cleaning rooms wouldn’t be safe,” she reminded him of that fact because safe jobs could turn into horrifically unsafe jobs in a blink of an eye. “America,” she sighed. “Land of the free, home of the crazy.”

He chuckled and so did Skip and D-camp. At least she could bring a little laughter into their world. Right now everything was so tense and stoic that they needed a breath of laughter.

“Maybe I’ll figure something out for a nice job to keep me busy and help me make money to help out around the house. I don’t mind being a stay at home wife I guess—well, if you ever ask me to marry you.” He hadn’t asked and she hadn’t said yes.

“Marry me,” he said more than he asked and so she looked at him with the most stern look she could muster right now. He gave her one of his award winning sexy smiles. It was that look that told her he was a man who was not going to take no for answer and that he would pull out all the stops to make her his bride. “Please, marry me?”

“Yes.” She smiled brightly. “I will marry you—once we get everything taken care of where we don’t have to wonder if this guy is going to pop out of a box and start shooting or something like that. We can do the Justice of the Peace. I never really wanted a big wedding anyway. Your parents, if they want you to marry me that is, could be our witnesses.”

“Nope,” he nodded with assurance. “My parents love you and would gladly be a witness, but we are not doing a JP wedding. We’re doing this wedding native meets military style.”

“Oh we are, are we?”

“Yep. You in Native garb…hmm…oh yeah, I can see that.”

She laughed. “Me, in a nice subtle dress is what I see. Subtle modern with a hint of Cree jewelry and things.”

He shrugged. “As long as it’s quick to get off you,” he uttered those words so seriously that she knew what he meant. He didn’t want her in something that would take a long time to get off, or that he would have to apologize for ripping off her. Not that she imagined he would apologize. He had ripped her clothes off before and hadn’t apologized at all for that. She was starting to think he rather liked ripping her clothes off. Maybe she should wear something she didn’t mind having ripped apart so he could do it more often.

He leaned back and pulled her into his arms. His back resting against the headboard and her body safely tucked in his embrace. She heard the guys leaving them alone. She knew Chogan needed to work, to lead, to do something other than hold her but she didn’t suggest that he leave her there alone. She liked being in his arms. It had been so long that she had dreamed of this moment that she just didn’t want it to end—the connection was so right, so perfect, so addicting in a good way. She could never get tired of this man.

Chogan paced the room as Olivia slept. She had cooked for him and Skip again, but he noticed she had barely eaten. He caught up with her in the one place she couldn’t get away from him—the shower. Naked, wet…yeah, that was a genius idea for a conversation—not. He had taken her hard and fast in the shower reaffirming once again that she was alive and safe. He was going to make sure she stayed that way.

He never thought he would be fighting his most important battle on the home front, but this was his most important mission. Finding the man who ended his sister’s life and destroying any chance of him taking out Olivia too was his mission and he wouldn’t fail, he couldn’t fail. He was angry, in love and a Marine on a mission not to mention a man who had raised the war flag and was on the protect and neutralize the threat path.

He stopped his steady guarding pace when he felt his phone vibrating. He made sure he went out of earshot in case she awakened. One thing about Olivia was she had stupendously good hearing. The woman could hear the ancestors whispering from the clouds given the right circumstances.

“Chogan,” his tone was all business and man on mission. He knew one of his men was calling because they were the only ones with the number.

“Got it,” D-camp’s voice came through clear. “It’s not good, Chogan. I have enough on the law side of the bad guys, but this Dark Angel assassin found one thing we couldn’t.”

“What’s that?”

“Her sister.”

He swiped his hand through his hair. “She doesn’t know where we are so why would he go after her?”

“Leverage. He’s already passed her off to the officer who happens to be MIA right now. And,” he stressed the word “and”. “The special conditions unit may have been compromised.”

Chogan growled. “We make our stand here. Bring it in,” he signed off, alerted the rest of the team and contemplated just how much to tell Olivia. Running the situation through his mind he decided to go “need to know” and this she didn’t need to know.

He left the upstairs entertainment room behind and found Skip working with the guns again.

“I’m prepping,” he said as he rechecked another weapon.

“You hold her down. If it comes to that you do not let her out of this house.” She and her sister might not be standing on solid ground but he knew Olivia and he knew she would very much want to save her sister. Right now he didn’t trust she wouldn’t risk sacrificing herself to save her last living family member. Plus she still felt guilty for not being able to save Amber. He doubted she was going to think with the sane part of her brain if it came down to having to watch another death—one she couldn’t save here either, but would more than likely try.

“Are you going to tell her?”

“And risk having her try to sneak out of this house with an attempt to bargain with the enemy?—Her life for her sister’s life? No. Need to know only and right now she doesn’t need to know any of it.”

“Copy that.” He nodded his approval.

Chogan didn’t doubt that the men would have made the same decision. He knew they would have. Convincing Olivia that he had done what was best might not be so easy.

It occurred to him later that maybe he should have asked where they had found her, but he honestly didn’t care. The woman wasn’t his concern and he wasn’t going to make her it either. After what she had put Olivia through he couldn’t say he cared about the woman at all. But family was family. Olivia wouldn’t let Keisha’s past actions cause her not to care about her life. No, his woman would try to fight hell to keep her sister alive, and he couldn’t allow her to put herself in the path of a bullet.

He had his own preparation to do right now. He would check in on Olivia again once he got a few things checked around the parameter. “I’m going to check our gear,” he pointed to the window.

“Copy that. Everything looks good on the monitor but I know we need to stay alert like we would in the battlefield. No slacking just because we’re back on home ground.”

“Exactly. This is a war, and I plan to make sure we win it.”

Olivia’s sleeping hours had been restless, even when he was holding her, so it didn’t surprise him that she was taking what he would call more nap than sustainable rest time during the day. Ten minutes here, fifteen minutes there, that’s all her mind would allow her. The nightmares were strong and that wasn’t something he was qualified to fix. The altitude was getting to her a little, but since she had told him about her problem he made sure he handled it, keeping her hydrated was essential.

When the night hours rolled in he had showered and then came to lie beside her. She turned toward him and cushioned herself closer to his body holding on to him as if he were the only thing that could keep her safe from the images that stalked her mind. He had seen death. He had lived it, been tortured and still survived. He knew what hell that could bring upon the mind, but the difference was in his upbringing, his military training, and his ability to have time to come to some sort of balance between the images he saw and the ability to shut off the horror with a flip of a switch. Olivia didn’t have any of that. She wasn’t prepared for what she saw, had never seen it before, had never felt the horror that would come to her every night after watching Amber being murdered right in front of her. No matter how much he wanted to help her he knew he couldn’t take away this part of her pain.

“Hmm,” she moaned as she clutched his arm.

“Shh,” he mumbled close to her ear.

“Chogan,” she let out a breathless whispering plea. Was she searching for somebody to rescue her, or was there something else within those dreams—something professing a different kind of need.

“Please,” she sounded as if tears were saturating her voice. This wasn’t sexual. This was a need for a rescue.

As much as he hated to wake her he placed his hand on her shoulder and gave a subtle shake. “I’m here,” he whispered as he shook her once more. Her eyes sprung open with fear and then softened with a sense of tranquility in his embrace. A soft smile curved her lips. “Hi,” she looked up into his eyes, the night moon shining through the cracks in the blinds.

“Hi,” he kissed her forehead. “Bad dream I take it.” He didn’t need to ask because he knew from her voice when she called for him.

“Uh huh,” she nodded before resting her head against his body. “He was there again. This time you were there. I wanted you to save me.”

“I will save you,” he assured her.

“I know you will. I trust you with everything I have left in me, but I’m still scared. I’m scared I’ll never be able to close my eyes again without seeing him there…without seeing her die.”

“I know.” He wished he could tell her life would go back to where it was but he knew it wouldn’t. She would carry this with her for a lifetime. It would get easier, but it would never go away. This was something he couldn’t dissolve for her. This was something he could only be there by her side for. He could only hold her when she needed to be held, and protect her when she needed to be protected.

“I love you,” she placed a soft kiss on his lips.

“I love you too, but you better not be saying that as a goodbye to me.”

She chuckled. “Nope. I just wanted to say it. I wanted you to know that I love you. I love being in your arms too.”

“I love having you in them. We should do this a lot more once we get this guy put away.”

“Yes we should.”

He was thankful she sounded at least a little like she expected to live.

“I thought I heard you say D-camp and Trace should be back tomorrow.”

He should have known she had heard some of his conversation with the men. He had gone into the entertainment room and spoke softly enough while on the phone with D-camp, and then the call to Trace was short. He had told him to bring it in, and he had mentioned that D-camp was coming back too. Clearly, conversations couldn’t go unheard with this woman unless her mind was occupied fully on something else. She must have been waking a little, like that lighter sleep between the awakened and the dream world.

“What else did you hear?”

“Nothing. Did they get their tasks taken care of then?”

“You could say that.”

“Please tell me. Don’t keep secrets from me.”

“Need to know,” he told her, reminding himself more than her. “But I’ll tell you that from this point on I need you to stay away from the windows as much as possible.”

“Chogan?” Her soft voice held inquisition within her words.

“Let’s just say that a war is coming to us, and that I need to know you’re staying safe so I can fight it without distraction of worry.”

She nodded and looked up into his eyes with a hint of fear, but he saw more gratitude than anything else. He would protect her. He would always protect her.

“Make love to me tonight,” her lips brushed against his. God if he couldn’t help but crave her more than he already craved her. He was hard, hurting with need and she was here looking up at him and asking him to give her more, to give her all of him, completely take her with passion. One look in her eyes had him soften his ride hard actions. He wanted this to be special for her, for him, for both of them. While it had been that kind of special before, right now he wanted to experience a softer side of love making with her. This woman could calm his rage, calm his unbridled passions, and still make him want her in every single way imaginable. Yes, this woman was his mate. She was the woman he had been waiting for, and now he had her. She was his.

He lowered his lips to hers and kissed her softly, letting his lips brush against the smooth pad of her lips. She tasted sweet like a peach ripened on the tree until perfection. He let his tongue slowly taste her mouth from crevice to crevice not letting one centimeter go unloved. Yes, this, this was what he wanted—the softness of her body pressed against his and the drumming of their hearts beating as one.

Chapter Six

“A
re we ready?” Chogan’s question was directed at Skip because he knew exactly what he meant. Skip gave him the silent nod. The only person in the dark inside this house was Liv and he didn’t care. The situation was about to go hot. He was doing what he needed to do and he hoped she could forgive him for that. “Hold her down.” He gave the orders and watched as Skip carried them out, grabbing hold of her and anchoring her in his arms.

“What are you doing?” She yelped.

“Livvy you have to help me!”

“Oh my God! That’s Keisha.” She squirmed and tried to get free. To his surprise the woman was stronger than even he thought. She had expertly shifted enough out Skips arms to get free but thankfully Trace was on point, taking her down to the ground and anchoring her. “Let me go!”

He saw her claw at the wooden floor as if she could claw her way free if she just got a good grip on the floor beneath her, but Trace had a lock on her. Belly on the ground, hard pressed man on top of her back, she wasn’t going anywhere.

Chogan returned his attention to the window, watching as the dirty blond in the tethered blue jeans and torn leather jacket held a tight grip on Keisha’s arm. Gun pointed at her body, hard look on his face. The enemy they didn’t know had been expertly profiled because he knew this was the one cop who would pull out all the stops to gain favor with the men who owned him.

“Come on out Miss Olivia. You come out and she’s free to walk.” He yelled in a staunch New Yorker accent.

“Please, let me go!” Chogan heard Olivia’s voice. She was begging for release just as he knew she would. She was begging him to let her go out there and save the sister who never even cared about her. He would not let her sacrifice her life. This man would kill her. There was no deal making in his mind and Chogan knew that. This was end game to this man and there was no way in hell they were going to lose it.

He only saw one man, but that wasn’t to say their assassin might not be out there somewhere—either on the grounds, or watching from the woods.

“Livvy, please?!”

Between her wretched sister and the crying from the woman on the floor inside with them Chogan was still able to focus. Strong warrior, years in the military, he could handle this; and handle it he did.

“Take the shot,” he spoke into his com.

“No!” He heard Liv yell. He couldn’t explain yet. One loud pop had his woman sobbing loudly but he watched the space in front of them. D-camp was already dragging Keisha toward the front door.

“Coming in,” Chogan said to Skip. Trace was supposed to be on the door, but since he had to hold Liv down there was no way he could do a quick open for D-camp.

It wasn’t until the door slammed shut that Trace released his hold on her, and it was then that he saw her getting up swiftly and running to her sister, realizing finally that it wasn’t her sister that he had been ordering killed.

“You’re alive,” she threw her arms around her and held her. He watched her worry over the woman as if she were a child and he understood why. She hadn’t seen her sister in so long and to see her again like this had her heart near breaking. He had done this. He had kept it from her and he knew his reasons were right, but he wasn’t sure she could forgive him.

“You’re alive. You’re okay,” she surveyed her sister and Chogan was doing the same from a far. There wasn’t a scratch on the woman. He was surprised that the cop hadn’t beaten her into submission.

He saw her Olivia’s eyes connect with his. He felt the tightness in his chest as if a boulder had fallen on his heart. ‘Thank you,’ she mouthed silently to him and the weight eased a little. He could only nod, silently thanking the gods she hadn’t hated him for his actions. He was sure she knew how much he hadn’t told her because they were ready for this, because he had given the order for her to be held down. There was no way to pretend he didn’t know this man had her sister.

“You!” Keisha pushed her away and Olivia stumbled backwards and would have fallen on her behind had Trace not snaked an arm around her waist to stable her. He and his men felt confusion. They had just saved her life. What the heck could she be this pissed off about?

“Why can’t you just die already?”

“Wh—what?” He watched Olivia’s spine and shoulders stiffen as if she were prepping for battle. This was the kind of relationship they had, and apparently years apart couldn’t even fix that. “These guys just saved your life, Keisha.”

She laughed sarcastically. “These guys just messed up my life. I had a deal with that Brit that I get you to come out the house and he would pay off what I owe to Cordova.”

“You…you were going to set me up?”

“He just wanted that cop to bring you back to wherever he is. I don’t care what he does to you. He promised to pay off what I owe if I did this. I owe a lot of money to the wrong people.”

“Again, Keisha?”

“They increased my limit like they always did so I could keep playing. That casino truck is awesome. We go all over the U.S. playing the games and avoiding the cops. Never been caught yet. Sadly,” she said as if she couldn’t even fathom the wrongness in her words. “They increased my limit until I hit three million down and cut me off. They wanted payment I didn’t have and they wouldn’t let me play to try to get it. I’m in deep and if I hand you over to that cop who would take you to that Brit he said he would pay it all off for me. Cordova is not a man who won’t hurt you for his money you know.”

“You never learn do you? You never learn, Keisha!”

“I learned. I mucked it up last time with Mom and Dad, but the props it gained his mistress’ little brother with the gang for knocking off our parents was enough to get him to erase my debt.”

“You had Mom and Dad killed?”

She laughed. “I’m the one who told them what trains were best to take, what times of day…you know, Chicago was my hot spot during my college days. They trusted me. Had I known Dad’s life insurance and will left everything to you, and that he had taken a severe cut in the policy while dropping Mom from it I would have tried to get it so you would be on that train with them.”

He watched anger take over his men’s faces as if they wanted to kill the woman. What he hadn’t seen was the rage inside Olivia that erupted like Mt. St. Helen as she gave a hard right to her sister’s face, knocking her out cold.

He heard the sob that tore from her throat and he resisted pulling her into his arms. He didn’t have to wait. She turned directly toward him and nearly ran into his arms. He wrapped both of his arms around her and held her tight. His gun still in hand with the safety on he looked at his men and gave them one silent order—clean up and prepare for the final war, and in that order they knew what he meant. D-camp dragged—dragged, not carried—Keisha down to the basement where Chogan knew he would tie her to something she wouldn’t be able to get away from until they could figure out what to do with her. Turn her in to the cops or give her back to this Cordova guy and let him handle her were definite options right now.

Skip and Trace secured the house and checked everything to make sure they were alone, while D-camp, once finished with Keisha, took care of the body outside. Chogan estimated hours, not days, before the final battle commenced. They had to be ready, and he couldn’t help with the prep if he kept holding her in his arms.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he loosened his grip. She stepped back and looked up into his eyes.

Her lips trembled as she shook her head no. “You saved her even if she didn’t deserve it. I thank you for that. And you saved me from doing something stupid,” she nodded. “You saved me from sacrificing my life to save hers. I more than thank you for that, Chogan. I’ll sit here while you work okay? I’ll be right here.” She sat down at the table and he nodded. He believed her and since he didn’t have a shadow of a doubt within him he left her at the head of the dining table so he could finish helping with the prep work finalizations.

“Um…” Chogan looked around the table, Liv still sitting there silently as her sister yelled out insults from the basement. “We’re almost good to go then.”

“Yeah.” Trace’s voice held a hard edge. All the men were getting tired of Keisha but they were all trying to hold on to their anger for two reasons; the first being that distraction could get them all killed, the second being that they were all more worried about Liv now. She had gone quiet, drawn within and the thanks she had given to him seemed lost to her now. Chogan wondered if she was rethinking her stand she took before he went out to secure the grounds.

“Liv,” Chogan tried to get her to speak and she ignored him. He didn’t know what that was about, but she was definitely ignoring him.

“So what is it that you’re all doing again?” She looked at Trace and he looked hesitantly at him expecting the all clear. Chogan nodded. She could have asked him, but she wasn’t talking to him right now.

“Just testing things, making sure they’re working.”

“Oh,” she nodded. “So what’s this here?”

“Standard revolver. It’s not my favorite, but I won’t put a weapon on the sideline,” he said as he cleaned the gun.

“And this?” She traced her fingers over another weapon and Trace stopped what he was doing to look and answer.

“This one?” her fingers graced yet another weapon. This was like schooling Liv on weapons of choice that he was going to be sure she didn’t feel the need to use anyway—not to mention the fact she wasn’t trained to handle them.

“Taser,” he said. “It was a gift, one I never use, but you never know when you might need it.”

“Taser,” she nodded. “I see.” She said as she grabbed the weapon, stood up so quickly her chair almost hit the ground and walked away just as suddenly. He and the rest of the guys were behind her fast, but not fast enough. By the time they got to the bottom of the basement steps, Liv had already discharged the weapon finally silencing her sister.

He watched as she turned the Taser to the side and looked at it, shrugged and handed it back to Trace. “It works,” she said as she swiftly ascended the stairs.

“Oh hell,” Chogan said as D-camp checked her sister’s pulse line.

“She’s alive,” he said with a hint of regret in his tone. Chogan understood the anger in all of them, but he also knew killing her sister would change Liv in more ways than one. Death by Taser might be rare, but it did happen. Add untrained handler to the mix and anything could have gone wrong.

He went up the stairs looking for her and when he didn’t see her in the dining room he kept going to the second floor. She wasn’t in the bedroom either. The front door hadn’t opened and closed; he would have heard it if it had.

“Liv?”

“In here,” her soft voice called to him from the entertainment room and he went swiftly to her. She was on the couch with her head resting on the arm and her legs resting outstretched on the couch.

“Liv?”

“I hate that woman. I mean I hate her. Before, when I thought my parents’ death was just senseless violence I could deal with it, but now…this. How does something that evil come from such goodness, Chogan? How? How does that happen?”

“Liv,” he placed his hand over her hand that was resting on her stomach. Thankfully she hadn’t pulled it away from him.

“Live or die that woman is nothing to me now.”

“You’re not going to die.” He bit his jaw trying to curtail the anger he felt building. She wasn’t going to die on him. He would not lose her.

“I wasn’t talking about me, Chogan. I know you won’t let me die.” Her softened eyes looked up into his and he could see her complete surrender to him. She had given him everything, every part of her heart, her mind, her body, she was his completely now; he had no doubt of that.

“Maybe the doctors gave my parents the wrong baby. Yeah…that’s it. Because there is no way that spawn of Satan came from my mother and father’s DNA.”

“Liv,” he used his hand to brush the fallen spiral of a curl out of her face. “I know this hurts. I know it’s a lot right now. I’m here for you. We all are.”

“I know.”

“When you wouldn’t look at me, you wouldn’t talk to me…I was worried about us.”

“Don’t worry. I’m yours and you’re mine. I wouldn’t look at you because I knew you would see my rage in my eyes. Maybe I knew you would try to calm me and then I would have taken it all out on you. It wasn’t your fault and I didn’t want to make it your fault. You should thank me.”

“I should thank you?” The shock resonated in his voice loud enough not to need explanation.

“Yep. I shut her up for you.”

“What?”

“Oh please, like I didn’t notice the way your hand was tightening on your weapon. I saw that even if you didn’t know I saw it. You and the guys looked like you were restraining going down there and shooting her.”

He heard the laughter outside the door.

“I knew they were there too. Guess you rubbed off on me.”

“In more ways than one,” he grinned and winked at her. “Come on in guys. We know you’re out there.”

They stepped inside and all shoulders shrugged as he shook his head. “Sorry about that, Olivia. We wanted to check on you and make sure you’re okay.” Skip’s voice was honest enough. His team really did care about her.

“Thanks guys…for everything, and especially for watching his back. I really couldn’t bear to lose anybody else I love.”