Mighty Men with Weapons (7 page)

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Mighty Men With Weapons

53

“What the hell is she doing here?” Donovan snapped when he saw them return with Karen.

Nate and Colby glanced at one another and then studied him.

Donovan reached behind his back and tapped the butt of his semi-automatic secured in his belt.

The reassurance wasn’t enough. Yes, the gun protruded there, but the weapon was the only one he had on his person. A confrontation with the three individuals in front of him guaranteed one thing. He’d lose, and making the first move could cost him his life.

“Any word from Shoemaker?” Nate’s expression changed. He was summing him up, and Donovan didn’t like it.

“No.”

“You sure?” Colby asked, staring into the bedroom.

“Positive.”

Colby glared behind him. “How come you’re packing?”

“I’m not,” Donovan said, dropping his arms to his sides with the sudden realization. A large oblong mirror located in the bedroom gave the operatives in front of him a great advantage. They could see his weapon.

“Really?” Nate asked. “Let’s start over. Want to?” His dark voice changed.

Donovan felt the short hairs standing straight up on his neck. If he didn’t know fear then, without a doubt, he’d never been afraid of anyone or anything.

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54

Addison Avery

A trained operative, Donovan rarely felt the sudden sun at his back while a last line of sweat formed across his brow. He was always as cool as a cold winter wind.

Right now, he felt vulnerable. He damn sure didn’t like the experience, the new sensation.

“Don’t go for that piece again,” Colby advised, still looking over Donovan’s shoulder.

“I’m not.”

“Sit down,” Nate ordered, pointing at a nearby chair. His gaze didn’t leave him, but from the corner of his mouth he said to the woman, “You, too. Take a seat.”

The woman Donovan met at the airport backed against the wall right inside the door and squatted down. Maybe she had something against furniture, or perhaps she was a little like all the other ISOs Donovan knew. The woman trusted no one, and she wanted to move close enough to the door so she could bolt when the sudden rain of bullets peppered across the room.

“What’s this about?” Donovan asked, steadily moving to the kitchen area of the cabana. At least he could keep his back against the mini-fridge.

“You tell us,” Colby encouraged.

Karen shifted her weight. Her knees parted, and he noticed a wet spot right in her crotch. Immediately, Donovan looked at Colby and then Nate. He resisted an outright laugh, an outburst. Had one or both of them fucked her? For some reason, he found the possibilities outrageous, and after another second or two, he laughed.

“Something funny?” Nate asked.

Donovan stared at Karen’s tan shorts again. “Ya’ll go swimming while you were in Mangaia today?”

Colby’s lips twitched, and then he smiled, staring directly at the evidence between Karen’s open legs. Winking at Karen and then Donovan, he said, “You missed one hell of a day trip.”

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“I guess so,” Donovan said, satisfied his observation broke the ice, sliced the tension.

“So we all fucked,” Nate said. “Does that bother you?”

Yeah, it did. For some damned ass reason, Nate’s revelation annoyed the hell out of him. He placed his hands on the bar behind him.

“Don’t go for that gun, Collier,” Colby warned for the umpteenth time.

Donovan searched the eyes of the three seasoned operatives. He bet they all packed two to three weapons each. Oh no, he wasn’t going for his.

Colby walked over and took a seat on the coffee table. “I’m going to ask you one more time, and your life depends on the honest answer you give us.”

Nate didn’t wait. “Did you, or did you not, hear from Shoemaker either directly or indirectly?”

Colby stuck his hand up in the air. “Take your time, soldier. Don’t give a sudden reply. Your life ends with an incorrect answer.”

Donovan took a deep breath and tilted his chin in the woman’s direction. “What does she have to do with any of this?”

“My name is Karen Whitaker, and I’m—”

“Shut up,” Nate snapped. “Collier, give us what ‘cha got.”

Donovan studied Colby. Something seemed different about him.

He wasn’t as guarded as he had been when Donovan first met him.

Nate was still all business, hard and cold, calculated and deadly.

“I spoke to Shoemaker,” he finally said.

“Thank God,” Karen said, sighing. She wasted little time in reminding him of all the reasons he preferred men over women. They were often a little too melodramatic for his tastes.

“Go on,” Colby urged, crossing his left leg over his outstretched right.

“There’s nothing to tell,” he said.

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56

Addison Avery

“Bullshit,” Nate said, darting forward. Before Donovan had a chance to respond, Nate’s hand slid down his back, and he tossed the gun to the sofa. Nate then pinned Donovan to the floor.

“You like it on top, don’t you?” Donovan growled, aggravated he let his guard down.

“You know it. And I always come out there, too. Ask Colby.”

“He does,” Colby agreed.

Struggling against Nate’s weight, Donovan felt something he didn’t feel before. Nate had an erection. The bulge between his thighs was long and stiff. Donovan felt the unexplainable and sudden lust.

“Get off of me,” Donovan said.

“I may get off on ya,” Nate warned. “How would you like that, Collier? Huh? How did you like it when you were with Darby Winslow? Did he turn you on like this?” Nate reached between their bodies, and his hand squeezed Donovan’s cock.

“Sweet hell!” Donovan gritted his teeth, and his neck snapped upward.

“I think he did,” Colby teased.

Karen moved. Damn bitch probably wanted to watch one ISO

arouse another.

“I don’t know what Winslow has to do with any of this,” Donovan admitted.

“He’s telling the truth,” Colby said. “Winslow seldom talked about his father. Who could blame him?”

Nate licked his lips. Donovan stared. God help him, he had the kind of tongue that could set a man right.

Swallowing, he said, “Get off me, Nate.”

With a wicked grin, Nate moved. In a flash, Donovan jumped to his feet, drawing his fist back. Nate ducked and caught Donovan’s arm as he took his swing all the way through.

“Damn it to fucking hell!” Nate yelled, twisting around and pulling Donovan’s fingers back with him. “I’ll break your arm in half and still demand answers. If you think I’ve made it ten years in this Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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57

profession by being turned on by a random dick slapper, you’re wrong, soldier.”

Donovan didn’t recognize his own agonizing groan. “All right!”

he finally screamed while Nate bent his fingers almost to the back of his hand.

Nate’s expression remained tense. Colby never moved. The bitch just watched.

“Sit down, Donovan,” Colby bit out. “We need to have a little chat.”

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58

Addison Avery

Colby took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The turquoise sea was mesmerizing, but the calm waters did nothing to console him.

His stomach churned a mile a minute, and his mind, heaven help him, was clouded with every second he once spent with Nate. The past wouldn’t leave him alone.

Nate and memories of their time together provided clearer images than what he remembered before. For months, he relived each moment they shared. Then, in the blink of an eye, they found one another again.

Only to discover it was all pre-arranged.

He heard Nate approach and turned around. Shifting in the sand, he twisted from the waist and stared into the depths of lust filled knowledge.

“Don’t get up,” Nate said, kneeling down before sitting behind him.

“Oh, God, Nate,” Colby said softly once Nate latched his arms around his waist and pulled him against his chest.

“Yeah,” he whispered, nipping at his ear.

Colby relaxed once he felt Nate’s thick arms lock around him. “I never feel anything, nothing at all. Except when—”

“Shh,” Nate mumbled, pulling him closer.

Colby relaxed. The time they had was a gift, a moment he wouldn’t take for granted.

Nate felt rock hard. Colby enjoyed the full bulge under his shorts, but he didn’t move into him. He only held him tighter, close enough to assure him of Nate’s full arousal. Then again, Colby remembered Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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that about Nate. He always had a hard-on in the early days. The first seventy-two hours they spent together as lovers, Nate kept an erection.

“I don’t trust Donovan,” Nate said suddenly.

“I didn’t think you did,” Colby replied.

“Or Whitaker.”

“Shoemaker will take care of her.”

“Yeah, but she’s going to keep him closer than I’d like. If we can get her out of the islands, Shoemaker will assume we’re all going to kill one another.”

“And you think Donovan is still on the mission assigned?”

“Absolutely,” Nate replied without skipping a beat. “Why wouldn’t he complete the job?”

“I think he’s—”

“He’s what?” Nate snapped. “Falling for one of us? No, I don’t think so. I checked him out, little soldier boy. He’s a solid ISO with more kills than anyone in their first year. He’s an assassin who enjoys the job, gets off on the rush.”

“He didn’t have to tell us about Shoemaker’s orders.”

“Sure, he did,” Nate said. “He wasn’t sure what Karen told us, and he’s sharp. He probably assumed we had each already received the same orders.”

“We will, you know.”

“I’m not so sure now,” Nate said. “I think Shoemaker may have miscalculated all the way around.”

“How?” Colby asked, turning around. He draped his legs over Nate’s thicker ones and braced himself with his arms behind his back, his fingers burrowing in the sand.

Nate smiled. Colby could probably count on two hands how many times he’d seen a sincere grin wash across Nate’s face.

Licking his lips, he said, “I have all this figured out. Trust me on
this
.”

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60

Addison Avery

“I do trust you,” Colby said without thinking about the consequences.

“I know you do, but Colby, trusting me right now could also make you weak and place you in a vulnerable position with Donovan. He’s sharing the same roof with us, so he’ll have to form an alliance with Karen. He won’t trust us anymore than we do him. Karen may be as deadly as the rest of us.”

“You think Shoemaker sent her and she didn’t turncoat on him?”

“Oh, no, Shoemaker pissed off the wrong woman, but I also think she has her own agenda, maybe even another ISO trainer or commander pulling her strings.”

“Then you think too much,” Karen said, approaching fast. She tossed a hearing device on their laps.

Both men looked up, and Nate said, “I’d typically kill someone who eavesdropped on a private conversation.”

“I think we need to get a few things straight,” Karen said. “And it’s going to start with the most obvious. I’m not leaving this island. If I do, I’ll go in a body bag. I have nowhere to go, no place to hide, and no protection if I run for cover.”

Nate pushed away from Colby and stood fast. He rubbed his sandy hands together and then swiped at his bottom, too. “You’ll go because you place us in more danger if you stay.”

“I’m not leaving, Nate. And if you’d put aside the perverse need you have to spend time alone with Colby, then you might see what’s already in front of you. I’m an asset. I know how Shoemaker thinks.”

Nate released a dry chuckle, and Colby joined in by saying, “You think you’re the only one who has a good read on Shoemaker?”

“I know him better than most ISOs in the field,” she claimed.

“That’s doubtful,” Donovan said, approaching from the cabana and practically upon them before anyone saw him.

Karen shot him a quick glance and continued. “I know where he lives, where he goes for lunch on Fridays, and the regular habits he’s Ebook piracy is stealing. It is a federal offense.

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created over the years that could very well cost someone in our business his or her life.”

“And you honestly think I don’t?” Nate countered. “You’re leaving here, Miss Whitaker. To stay puts all of us in danger.

Shoemaker will send in more ISOs, perhaps even those with a few personal vendettas.”

“Ah, now, come on, Nate,” she drawled. “After all of us were in a compromising position earlier, don’t you think we can remain on a first-name basis?”

Nate laughed. “I wasn’t the one tapping that sweet little pussy, hon. You put yourself out there, and Colby here didn’t deny you. That doesn’t mean he won’t stand with me and encourage you to leave.”

Karen studied Colby and probably realized she wouldn’t find his support. She turned her focus to Donovan. “You’re the outsider here.

You need me more than you realize.”

“I can manage. These two are right. You’re going to draw a crowd if you don’t leave.”