Secret Maneuvers (5 page)
“Not a problem, Annabelle, I’ll have it to you by the end of the night. Tell me, darlin’, how’s Seth doing? Is he taking good care of you?”
Hastily snatching the phone up to turn the speaker function off, I walked out to the patio and shut the door behind me before finishing my conversation with Sheriff Charlie Jenkins. He was a hell of a guy that I had an on-again/off-again, friends with benefits, relationship with, but right about now, I felt like sticking my pointy-toe cowboy boot up his Wrangler-encased butt for broadcasting my business to a room full of guys I didn’t know as well as one guy I knew all too well.
One guy I had absolutely no intentions of letting learn my business because boy-howdy, that would be a mess and a half to face. What I almost missed in my rapid retreat outside was the flicker of jealousy on Bobby Baker’s face at my apparent evasion to the mention of ano
ther man’s name. A reaction that was definitely not missed by the other nine men in the room.
Bobby
Grabbing my duffle bag out of the back of the truck, I turned to follow behind my teammates, boarding the p
lane only to be stopped short by Jaxon’s hand on my shoulder.
“Bobby, I need to know… are you going to be alright on this mission? You’re not going to let personal issues get in the way, right?”
Staring back at Jaxon’s composed face I did my best not to lose control of my temper and give in to the urge to punch him in the face. Jaxon had every right to question me about this. I thought I’d done a good job hiding my emotions, but after some curious glances from the guys, my guess was that it had been a piss poor cover-up after all.
“I will not let my personal issues get in the way of completing this mission, Sir. However, I cannot promise you that I will not pursue my own agenda on my free time. Sound fair to you?”
Jaxon watched me like I was a ticking time bomb for a few minutes before responding, “Fair enough, Baker. Just don’t let any of this become a problem, understand me?”
“Yes, Sir, understood.”
“Good. Let’s load up.”
Upon entering the cabin of the private plane the CIA used to shuttle the EX Ops unit around the world, I found my team members in various stages of getting settled. The seats were grouped in fours so that two people faced the other two. Looking up and around the cabin of the plane, I snorted when I caught Belle’s position. She and her partner Boyd were seated in the back of the plane facing Declan and Riley. The only seat available was at the front of the plane, but at least
it was facing her direction.
Her avoidance tactics towards me were ridiculous. First, her little show back at headquarters, where she’d verbally flogged me for calling her ‘Belle’ rather than her given name of ‘Annabelle’. Now she was taking every opportunity to put as much distance between us as possible.
That was okay. I had every intention of making it difficult for her to pretend I wasn’t there. Eventually, she would break down and talk to me. All I needed was half an hour to explain that I was sorry. That I’d looked everywhere for her. Gone as far as hiring five different private investigators in an effort to locate her over the years. She’d done one hell of a disappearing act. She hadn’t just left her dad’s tiny trailer. Nor had she just left our small town. No, apparently, she’d left the state of Georgia completely. Not to mention that she changed her fucking name. No wonder her trail had gone up like a puff of smoke for the P.I.’s. Why would she have gone through the hassle of changing her name, though? I just didn’t understand. Was she that desperate to shake me after what I’d done to her?
Belle had always been as wild as the wind, but I would have never thought she would have run as far and as fast as she had. That struck me as kind of funny. Why the hell had she left like that anyways? Sure, I’d been stupid enough to send that damn letter telling her that I needed time.
Perhaps Belle hadn’t had much there in Sylvania. Her dad was a worthless drunk. Her mom dead in the ground. Most of the town thought she was trouble with her bad attitude and quick temper. Her best friend, Teagan, had taken her GED on her eighteenth birthday so that she could get out of that town and join the Marine Corps to escape her own abusive father, but did that mean Belle had to leave? My parents had worried about her like crazy. Not to mention, Mom never failed to tell me what a complete idiot I was for letting her get away. This was something I didn’t need to be told. I was perfectly aware of it all on my own.
Belle’s loud laughter cut through my thoughts, so I lifted my head to see her smiling brightly at Declan. Go fucking figure. That smooth bastard was a chick magnet. Women in every shape and size would flock to him, practically begging for just a second of his attention. It was disgusting. A hard knot of jealousy curled in my stomach, watching the love of my life laugh it up with another man when she wouldn’t even look at me burned like acid in my gut.
It didn’t matter. Belle could be as stubborn as a mule all she wanted. It was not going to keep me from getting her back. I didn’t give a shit who the hell this ‘Seth’ was and, if my girl thought she could push me away when I’d finally found her after all these years, she had another thing coming. Somehow, some way, I was going to seduce my girl back into my arms. Right where she belonged. All I had to do was get her to soften a little. Talk her into listening to me. Remind her how it felt when we held each other, kissed each other, that sparks flew like the fourth of July. It would still be like that between us even after all this time. Nothing would ever be so sweet, so explosive, to me as Belle was.
No matter what my wild girl said, I refused to call her Annabelle. She would always be my Belle. My wild, beautiful and perfect Belle.
Annabelle
Two and a half hours on a plane from Washington D.C. back to a small airfield just outside of San Antonio, Texas was spent laughing at Declan Sullivan’s crazy ass stories. The man had charming down to a science while his brother Riley sat next to him quietly. The brothers might look alike, but personality wise, they were yin and yang. Riley seemed thoughtful and gave me occasional small smiles that gave me the overwhelming urge to get him a little drunk and see if it would make him open up and have some fun. Declan seemed like he could have fun sober in a room all by himself. He was the definition of the word fun. He was also more than the party boy, though. It was a good thing I’d paid attention to all of those psychology classes in college.
Declan might be a laugh a minute, but it was because he was trying to get me to relax and open up. One minute he would be telling Boyd and me a funny story about growing up with his brother and Irish grandparents, the next he would be slipping in a question about my own childhood. What a sneaky, little, interrogation specialist. I may not have official confirmation from Commander Wall what each of the men’s specialties were, but I’d bet my last chocolate chip cookie that Declan Sullivan was the go to guy on this team for getting information out of somebody; and I never risked my cookies because they were the most important food group in my diet.
Shifting my eyes to his brother, Riley, I scrutinized the man from head to toe. Had he always been this quiet? Letting his younger brother be the life of the party? Or had something happened in his life that caused him to be subdued? I’d never been the quiet type, hence why my small hometown had labeled me trouble of the worst variety. I had a temper a mile wide, a hard fist to back it up, and a mouth that was never afraid to speak my mind. Why not speak my mind? What or who in that small town could hurt me more than my father did? The only thing I’d ever truly feared was giving my heart away and ending up with a jackass like my mother had. It was why pushing everybody, except Teagan, away had always been easier than letting down those emotional walls and allowing people in. Besides my best friend, there had been one exception. Bobby. He had convinced me that my heart would be safe with him. What a joke that had been and look how that had turned out. Badly. No, the word badly didn’t do that heap of mess enough justice. A more accurate description would be emotional homicide. I’d handed him my heart on a silver platter and, instead of keeping it safe like he’d promised to, he’d chopped that vulnerable heart into a million, tiny pieces before throwing it in the trash. See what happened when you gave your faith to something as here-today-gone-tomorrow as love? Lesson learned.
That kind of pain was a hard thing to bounce back from. Unfortunately, given what my position was at the time, which was homeless, I didn’t have much choice except to get over it. You couldn’t find a warm place to sleep or put food in your belly if you allowed yourself to curl up into a ball and cry your eyes out. There had been plenty of tears, but they were shed with my chin up, my shoulders back, and me facing the world head-on. Some might say I still had trust issues to this day, but I’d learned to open up a little. I had friends now. Occasional lovers even. Although, no man had taken Bobby’s place and no man ever would.
I loved three people in this world. Teagan, and she’d earned that love with loyalty, understanding, and bruises meant for me; Seth, because he was my first example of true, unconditional love and, therefore, meant everything to me. He was also a giant walking, talking secret that I was sure was about to come back and bite me in the ass. Then there was Bobby, whom I loved and would always love, but would never trust again.
So, since there was no more Bobby in my life, I’d spent the last few years with infrequent dates to scratch my itch, making sure that messy things like emotions were never involved. Life was busy. I’d gone to school, gotten my degree in Criminal Justice, and worked hard in my spare time to pay the bills all so that I could build a career that would ensure that I’d never be without money again. Never again would someone describe me as trailer trash. Not to mention that I had Seth to keep me busy. So there was no room for another man in my life. Seth was all I truly needed.
Pushing thoughts away as the plane touched down, I put myself back into agent mode. There was an investigation to crack, firearms to find then confiscate, and dirt wads to arrest and put behind bars. When the plane came to a stop, I looked out the window to see Charlie in his beige uniform, leaning against his SUV, arms crossed over his chest, and a shit-eating grin plastered on his face. A plain black van with ‘Sheriff’ emblazed down the side of it was parked behind it with a mischievous looking Deputy Walters standing in front of it.
Charlie and Walters were both tall, incredibly good looking, imposing men that many women fell into lust at first sight with. Thankfully, I had the pleasure of calling them friends.
After obtaining my job with the ATF and moving just outside of San Antonio, I’d run into Charlie at the local stop-n-shop next to a gas station I often filled up at. It was close to ten at night, I was in the shop grabbing a gallon of overpriced milk on my way home and, while I stood in the back by the freezer doors, a man in a ski mask burst in. His pistol was pointed at the woman behind the counter who was visibly pregnant and obviously scared shitless. Whoever the moron in the mask was couldn’t have been all that bright, though. He didn’t turn his head and look around to see if they were alone. He didn’t keep his back towards a wall so that he could monitor the store and its entrance for activity, either. All he did was wave that shiny, black pistol around in that poor woman’s face, demanding the money in the cash register and that just downright pissed me off.
Here this woman was, working a late night, more than likely just trying to pay her bills and save up some desperately needed money before her baby came, and this idiot was in here scaring the bejesus out of her. I was tired myself after a long day of work, short on patience, and in a hurry to get home to Seth. So instead of doing the relatively smart thing, which would have been to whip out my cell phone and call the local authorities since I was alone, I chose to sneak down the aisle until I stood right behind the masked robber. He still had not detected my presence and the clerk behind the counter was smart enough not to make any sudden movements or noises to announce my arrival, which allowed me to put my law enforcement training to use. I slammed my knee into the outside of the robber’s thigh, right above the knee, where there was a nerve point to cause him pain. Simultaneously, I grabbed his gun hand, which was in his right hand, with my own right hand while placing my left arm on the upper portion of his back, forcing his body to bend and turn to where I wanted it. Using the momentum to twist his right arm behind him to an unmovable angle, I also twisted his wrist up to a debilitating point that caused him to cry out in pain and drop the gun. As I pushed the robber to the floor, first to his knees, then to his belly, and handcuffed him, the clerk was already on the phone with 911 dispatch. Charlie and Deputy Walters arrived moments later while I stood there with my foot in the middle of the whining robber’s back, my gun aimed at him.
At first, Charlie and Walters felt entitled to give me a rash of shit for taking on an armed suspect all by my little ol’ self. I was a woman, he was a man twice my size. What in the world had I been thinking? About a minute into their lecture, I got bored, lost my patience, flashed them my ATF badge, told them that they could shove their lecture where the sun didn’t shine, grabbed my gallon of milk, and walked out of the shop. I made it as far as my truck before Charlie chased me down to apologize. That night led to a friendship between me and Charlie. Eventually, it led to a drunken night between the sheets, which also led to a particularly awkward moment when Charlie caught me sneaking out of those sheets in the middle of the night. Our friendship had been strained for a while, but eventually, Charlie accepted that I didn’t have it in me to give more than just physical release. He wasn’t exactly happy about it, but he was still here.