Silver Fire (Guardians) (35 page)

“How could you treat women that way, Derek?”
 

“I did not promise them anything!” Derek said furiously. “It’s not my fault if they expected more than sex. I never dated them, never watched a movie with them, and never sat stupidly in a damned park, sweating in this infernal heat WITH THEM!”

“So sitting in this park is stupid?” Sophie asked, and there was hurt in her eyes, but Derek was too pissed off to filter what came out of his mouth next.

“Yes, it’s damned stupid to be sitting in this park. I’m drenched and uncomfortable, and I don’t know why the fuck you find this relaxing.”

“You didn’t have to come with me, I would have been perfectly fine on my own.”

“Don’t be silly, you knew I wanted to spend the afternoon with you,” Derek said in exasperation.

Sophie lips twitched, wiping away the uncertainty that clouded her face when Cat showed up. “So you’re willing to brave this sweltering heat just to spend time with me?”

“Don’t push it, Angel,” Derek warned. Then he sighed. “These are things we men do for love.”

Sophie snorted and then belly-laughed at her snort. “Oh my god that was so unladylike.”

Derek quickly knocked her on her back and loomed on top of her. “That was cute.”

“Pretty slick, throwing the ‘L’ word in there, mister.”

“Well, I figured I haven’t told you I love you since this morning. I plan to wear you down.”

“Tell me something. Is running into your exes going to be a standard occurrence whenever we’re in public?”

Derek groaned and buried his face into her hair, mumbling indistinctly “Probably.”

“What?”

He raised his head. “Probably.”

Sophie pushed up on her elbows, dislodging him from her. “Ballpark, Derek, how many women are we exactly talking about?”

Derek preferred to plead the fifth on that one, but apparently Sophie quickly did the math in her head. “Three women a week, that’s 52 weeks a year—”

“Hey, sometimes they last longer than a week and I might take a break a week or two,” Derek said defensively.

“—multiplied by how many years—”

“That’s not even an accurate accounting —” Derek stated darkly.

“It’s the population of a small town!” Sophie shrieked incredulously. She eyed him curiously, like he was a lab rat. “How has your penis not fallen off? Seriously.”

 
Her eyes were sparkling mischievously.
 

“I take it you’re not mad?” he asked warily.

“No. A bit bewildered maybe—Beth and I never did the math. Oh my god, let me text her—”

“Sophie!”

“Just kidding.”

Derek turned serious as a thought occurred to him. “Angel, is my reputation what’s causing you to hold back?”

“I won’t lie. Subconsciously? Maybe,” Sophie answered honestly. “I’m afraid if I fall in love with you and you walk away, I won’t survive it.”

“
My life has been a series of meaningless fucks,” he admitted. “I won’t deny that some were better than others, but none, absolutely NONE compares or even comes close to how I feel when I’m inside you. Or just being with you. It’s not just about the sex, which is how I know...guess I’ve always known.”

Sophie’s brows arched quizzically, so Derek continued,
“When I saw you during our first business meeting, I knew you affected me in some way, but I was too chickenshit to do anything about my attraction to you.”

“You’ve been interested in me for months?”

“Yes. Since we’ve reached out to your research lab last year.” Derek grinned crookedly. She did not need to know about the numerous background checks he had done on her that went beyond what was professionally required. There had been enough stalkers in her life. “You’ve got this prim librarian look going for you, and I felt like a fucking perv fantasizing about you the few times you bothered to show up at our meetings.”

Sophie blushed. “I wasn’t aware—”

“You never were,” Derek said ruefully. “You were always in your own world except that last time when we signed the contract. What changed?”

“Beth was giving me grief about my non-existent sex life and suggested I take you on.”

Derek chuckled. “Guess I have Ms. Turner to thank for that.”

He grasped both her hands and kissed the back of her fingers. “Now that we’ve unleashed the sex kitten in you, maybe your heart would follow?”

Sophie responded with a weak smile.

“I guess this is my penance for a life of debauchery,” Derek said wearily. It was getting oppressively hot.

“That’s a first step to redemption.”

“I’ll show you redemption later, minx,” Derek promised as he tackled her down on the picnic blanket again and kissed her thoroughly, ignoring the disapproving stares thrown their way.

***

“I’m surprised Lockwood let you out of his sight,” Beth said as she bit into her hotdog and just about rolled her eyes with the pleasure of the first bite. “Damn. I missed Captain Slappy’s dogs,” she mumbled with a full mouth.

Captain Slappy’s was a hotdog kiosk in front of the DC Tattler building. Sophie met her friend for lunch, and they sat at a park bench enjoying this fast food indulgence.
 

“It’s been two weeks. I think he’s decided that I’m not going to break my nail if he’s not by my side for an hour or two,” Sophie deadpanned.

Beth chuckled. “Getting on your nerves, huh?’

“Not really. I like spending time with him,” Sophie replied.
 

“All’s going well then?”

“He told me he loves me.”

Silence for a beat and then: “What? When?”

“A week ago.”

“And you’re only telling me this now?”

“It was kind of private—”

“And I’m your best friend,” Beth shot back. “So did you say it back?”

“No.”

“Uh, why?”

“Because I’m not sure I love him.”

“Hmm, let me see,” Beth tapped her chin in mock contemplation. “You get goo-goo eyes whenever he’s in the room—”

“I do not!”

“—your eyes sparkle whenever you talk about him. You have this stupid grin on your face whenever your phone rings and Caller-ID says ‘Derek’, and you refuse to talk about sex with him but instead you just turn this ugly shade of magenta.” Beth paused before saying sagely, “Baby girl, you are gone for him.”

“So yes, maybe I’m a little bit in love with him,” Sophie said.

“A little?”

Though the incident with Layla wasn’t Derek’s fault, it had made her wary of examining her burgeoning feelings for him and had somehow rebuilt some of her walls. Or she could simply be in denial.
 

“It could be infatuation,” Sophie defended. “With Adam—”

“Adam does not factor in here, Sophie!” Beth said angrily. “What you felt for that man was not real, you were manipulated, brainwashed even. Do not even mention what you feel for Derek and that man in the same breath. It’s an insult.”

“Beth—”

“I’m serious, Sophie, do not fuck this up,” Beth said. “Derek’s been doing everything right by you. The man is stupid in love with you, and I’ve known Derek’s reputation for years.”

“You know almost every time we go out we run into one of his exes.”

“Unavoidable.”

“You’re supposed to be feeling sympathetic toward me!”

“Girl, you get with a man like Lockwood, that’s unavoidable. Told you if I were straight, I’d do him.”

“Oh god, I can’t believe I’m having this conversation with you.”

“You sorted out?”

“No!”

Beth sighed. “Take your time, Sophie. You’re right. I’m just so excited for you and that you’re finally moving on from that man.”

“Well, if you would have let me finished, I could have told you I’m finally accepting that what I felt for Adam was an infatuation gone bad.”

“Thank Christ!” Beth exclaimed. “And you didn’t need a shrink to get you to see that. Just Derek fucking Lockwood or should I say fucking Derek Lockwood.”

Sophie shook her head in amusement. Things had certainly gotten better between Beth and her. It was nice being on leave for a few weeks. There was construction in the lab to outfit the area to process the zefinium for MDI, using a chunk of the money from the partnership. The design of her house had been finalized and construction would start in a week. Through this all, Stephen was managing everything flawlessly.
 

A dark-colored sedan with tinted windows parked right in front of them. Sophie felt herself tensing and Beth froze beside her, gripping her arm. Things were certainly better, but both of them were still jumpy.
 

“You can’t park there!” Beth called out to the driver.

The back passenger window slid down to reveal the gorgeous face of Marissa Cole.

“Who the fuck is that?” Beth whispered breathlessly.

“CIA,” Sophie mumbled through the side of her mouth.
 

“Hi, Sophie.”

“Ms. Cole.”

“Call me Marissa, please. Sophie, I need to speak with you privately.”

Sophie felt ridiculous speaking across the sidewalk and got up and walked toward the car, ignoring Beth’s attempt to stop her.

“What do you want?”

“Same thing you want, Sophie, but we need your help.”

Marissa scooted over, indicating that she was not having a conversation in front of Beth or in public.

Sophie looked back at Beth. “Do not tell Derek who I left with. I will tell him myself.”

“What do I tell him if he comes looking for you?”

“Make something up.”

With that, Sophie opened the car door and got in beside Marissa. The black sedan pulled back into traffic.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Eight Guardians plus Viktor, Derek and Tim were assembled in the “war room.” After weeks of reconnaissance by the CIA, and chatter being intercepted by the NSA and AGS, there was significant intel that Project “Clean Sweep” was in the process of being unleashed by SASTac.

Though not unusual, there was a spike of activity at the SASTac compound housing the company’s main armory. Another section served as transient housing for contract security personnel.
 

“They’ve increased patrols around the area indicating that they are in possession of something of high-value,” Viktor told the group. He nodded to Tim to change the screen. “The walls are only twenty feet high and easily scalable for the initial assault. There’s a secluded area near the northwestern part of the compound where we can make our initial breach.”

“Do we have the location of our target?” Manning asked.

“The warehouse has a secure room. It’s our belief that the zee bombs are being kept in that location.”

“How are we going to get into the room?” Derek asked. “We can hardly use explosives; we might set it off.”

“You will be accompanied by a couple of civilian specialists who have expertise in handling this type of situation.”

“Rustled up a cat burglar, Viktor?” Edmunds spoke up.
 

“We also need to get Dr. Leroux involved to transfer what she knows about the trigger,” Derek added. “Just in case Stoltz is desperate enough to set it off to take everyone down with him.”

“That would be a disaster. Isn’t the compound just outside Johannesburg?”

“Yes. If any of the zee bombs go off, we’re estimating outer radius casualties of about twenty thousand,” Tim said.
 

A round of muttered expletives filled the room.

“Aren’t we risking too much by going in there?” Edmunds asked.

“That’s been debated ad nauseum,” Viktor replied. “It’s riskier to leave the zee bombs at the hands of a sociopath not knowing where he plans to detonate them.”

“Why were they even created in the first place?” a Guardian scoffed.
 

Derek bristled and was ready to bite the guy’s head off when Viktor spoke up.

“Why were nuclear bombs created?” Viktor shrugged. “It’s not the science or the bomb that kills people, it’s the people who give the orders to use them. It may be to protect a nation or it may be for greed. In this case it’s greed.”

“Where’s Pierce?” Edmunds asked, noticing the absence of the red-haired Guardian.

A ghost of a smile broke through the planes of Viktor’s harsh face. “Agent Pierce is sitting this one out. I think marital harmony is more important to her right now.”

Derek chuckled while the other Guardians snickered. Most of them had worked with Maia and were well aware of her tumultuous relationship with Jack. Contrary to what Viktor led them to believe, Derek had talked to Maia earlier; his friend had come to the decision on her own without interference from
 
Jack. Personally, Derek was relieved that Maia was not on this mission. He had never seen such contentment and happiness on his friends’ faces, and he was not surprised that Maia would give up the thrill of a job. Jack, for his part, seemed to be filling that void in her life with satisfaction. Although, based on recent events, Maia had probably met her quota of near-death experiences for the year.

He, on the other hand, had everything to lose if this assignment failed: Sophie.
 

“CIA will be bringing in their explosive ordnance disposal expert,” Viktor said, checking the time on the phone. “Their team should be here any minute. From what Cole told me, majority of them are Black Ops, so you guys may have worked with them before.”

As if on cue, a rap on the door and its subsequent opening heralded the arrival of the CIA contingent from their Clandestine Department’s Special Activities Division (SAD). Derek recognized Daniel Quint who had been a grunt in Special Ops when he was still in the Army. Now, Quint was squadron leader for a top covert operations unit. Seven men filed through, Marissa Cole brought up the rear and she was in deep conversation with—

What.
 

The.
 

Fuck?
 

Sophie. What the hell was Sophie doing here?

Derek rose from his chair slowly, his eyes boring through Sophie who couldn’t hold his glare. Unable to look at him, she smiled feebly and quickly dropped her gaze.
 

Viktor and Derek spoke at the same time.

“What’s the meaning of this, Marissa?”