Walker (Bowen Boys) (13 page)

She knew he was trying for a joke, but
she wasn’t in the mood for it. She tossed the covers off to find that her ankle
was shackled to the bed. She didn’t mind. She knew that if she wanted to it
would be as simple as a walk in the park for her to open it. Every agent and
cop worth their salt had a hidey key on them somewhere. So she simply lay back
on the hospital type bed and covered back up. “You can’t keep me here. You know
that, right?” Again, he nodded. “Well, how about if we get this thing done so I
can get out of here.”

“All right. First, you are my mate. When
I followed your blood when you were first hurt I knew who you were to me. According
to legend, there is only one mate to each of us and sometimes, as now, they
aren’t always the same as us.” She didn’t say anything as he continued. “Also,
and I know this part is somewhat screwed up, I’m supposed to protect you at all
costs. Though lately, I’m thinking it might be the other way around.”

“What happens if I say no? What if I
said I don’t want you?” He shook his head, but before he could answer her she
continued. “There has to be some sort of clause that says one or both of us can
get out of this. I mean, what if we really hate each other?”

“Not possible. We may start out not
liking each other overly much, but we get there in the end.” He grinned at her.
“And the sex is phenomenal.”

When he moved to the bed to touch her
Lynne didn’t comment. Cats liked to be touched, she knew, and apparently so did
werepanthers. She thought it best if she didn’t let him touch her, but his skin
against hers felt like heaven. Then he laced his fingers into hers and held
her.

She wanted him. Right now and anyway he
wanted her. When his nostrils flared, she knew that he could smell her arousal
and pressed her legs together to try and ignore what was happening. It only
made matters worse.

“I’m not a person people like you
usually hang with. I’m sarcastic, mean at times, and I don’t know dick about
dating. I did it once or twice and it was boring. When I wanted some sexual
relief I either did it myself or found someone to fuck me. No biggie.” She
shifted on the bed again and pulled at her hand. “You’re squeezing me too
tight.”

He let go immediately. “I’m sorry. But
you should know that as my mate, if another man comes near you, I will be
ripping his throat out.”

She started to make a comment, but only
stared at him. Then, when she looked away, he sat down on the edge of the bed. He
didn’t hurt her again, but he did hold her hand. She spoke softly, but she was
sure he could hear her just fine.

“I’m not your usual run-of-the-mill
girl, Walker. I go into places others would balk at; I do things that aren’t
always legal, but part of my job. I’ve been shot, beat up, and usually left for
dead most of the time. And now there’s this prick after me that has the backing
of some very important people.” She turned to look at him. “You’d be better off
finding some nice little kitten to be your mate. It will be safer for you all.”

He kissed her then, gently and without
touching her anywhere else. When she opened her mouth under his Walker took
what she offered him and moaned when his tongue moved along hers. She moaned
again when he cupped her breast; her nipple hardened when his thumb brushed
over it. The knock at the door made her want to snarl, but it was for the best.
For now.

Walker went to the door as he adjusted
his cock. Before he opened it, he turned back to her and smiled. He looked like
he was telling her this wasn’t finished and she wanted to tell him hell no it
wasn’t, but he opened the door before she could beg him not to.

“I’m sorry, Doctor Bowen, but this just came
for Miss Bowen. The man said he has to wait for her signature.”

Everything in her froze when she
realized what the nurse said. “Who is it? What does he look like?” She tossed
off the covers and looked for her clothes. “Where the fuck are my clothes? I
have to see who that is.”

Walker didn’t argue with her, though she
expected him to. He reached into a drawer and handed her a pair of sweat pants
and an oversized t-shirt. She knew as soon as she slipped the shirt over her
head it was his. When she asked for her other bag, he nodded to the small
closet and closed the door on the nurse, asking her to wait. He took the cuff
off her ankle as she pulled her hair back into a sloppy ponytail.

“What’s going on? Why are you running
around here like—”

“Someone knows where I am. That can’t be
good. Because unless you took out an ad in the paper, no one should know that
the two of us have had any contact.” She checked her weapon and put it in the
back of the pants. Its weight pulled at them, but there was no help for it.

Walker reached in the bag and took out
another handgun. “I can use this. I hope to Christ I don’t have to, but I can. Also,
I’ve contacted the others. My brothers are on their way here in the event there
might be trouble.” She nodded at him. “Caitlynne, I don’t suppose if I asked
you to not go up there you’d do it, would you?”

She didn’t answer, but went to the door.
The package was in her hand and she felt its weight. Cell phone, she’d guess,
but didn’t know for sure. Bombs could be fairly small and cause a great deal of
damage.

She jerked open the front door after
having some help finding her way to the front of the house by Walker. It was a
big fucking house. The man standing there was someone she knew. It didn’t give
her a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing who might have sent him, but she did feel
somewhat better.

“Miss, I need a signature for the rest.”

She nodded, but didn’t reach for the
large envelope or the clipboard.

“He said you were to take it or he’d
come here and give it to you himself.”

She snorted and he smiled. “How did you
find me? I’ve been off the grid for some time now and he wasn’t made aware of
my moving around.”

He shoved the clipboard at her and the
envelope. She signed and handed them back. He smiled again and tipped his hat
before slipping her a small folded up piece of paper. After nodding again, he
left.

“Is everything all right?”

She turned to look at Walker and three
panthers.

“Do you need for one of them to follow
him?”

“No. Christ, you guys are huge, aren’t
you?” She held the package and envelope to her chest while she looked down at
the paper. “I have to make a few calls. I don’t want to…this could be bad. Worse
if he’s involved.”

“Who?” She looked over at George and
decided that if they wanted in, they were going to get it all. “Who knows
you’re here?”

“It’s from Warren, the president. And
from this note, I’d say he’s not a happy camper.”

~~~

Reed and Sebastian looked ready to get
to work. Walker watched them while he fixed lunch for them all. He wasn’t happy
about the turn of events, but figured if they got this thing over with then he
and Caitlynne could get on with their lives. He set the platter of food in
front of them and glared when they didn’t offer it to Caitlynne first.

“Okay, this is what we have so far. And
just so you know, this leaks from this room and I’ll be hired to kill you
both.” The men looked at her then at him. He was pretty sure she wasn’t
kidding.

“I’d do what she says. The president
didn’t seem all that thrilled about her not bringing in real agents to help
her. He seemed to think you two didn’t know squat about computers.”

Reed snorted and Sebastian sat back and
looked at Caitlynne. He was thinking about something profound, no doubt. When
Caitlynne looked up at him, they stared across the table for several seconds
before Sebastian finally spoke.

“What is it you do? I mean, I know that
you work for some initial-based office in the government. And while I don’t
care, there is something about you that makes me think you’re a whole hell of a
lot more important to the president than just an analyst. Why would he make
sure that you had all this equipment within an hour after asking him for it? What
is it exactly that makes you worth all this?”

Walker wanted to know too. Every time
they started to talk about it, something or someone interrupted. He didn’t
think she was going to answer them when she stood up and moved around the
kitchen. There was a file sitting there that no one had touched, but she picked
it up now.

“This man is the vice president, as you
know.” She started pinning pictures to the large board that took up nearly half
his wall. “He works for this man and this one.” She hung eight more pictures,
no longer speaking. When she stepped back, she picked up a magic marker and
some index cards. As she wrote, she continued talking and hanging the cards
with the pictures.

“Eleven years ago, there was an
explosion that killed nine people. Not a lot when you think about how big the
explosion was, but the people it killed had information that could help us now.
They were Jerry Small’s family. All of them. When the rubble was cleared, we
discovered there was nothing left. Not a single sheet of paper and no pictures.
But what we did find was the incendiary device. It was American made.”

“Where was this?” Reed flushed when she
grinned at him. “I’m assuming that it was important to someone that it was made
here so it only stands to reason that it wasn’t in this country.”

“It was. But it was put out that it was
a terrorist hit. A way to help Small run for a seat he wasn’t in the position for
now or then. At that time he was running for government office in some sort of
leadership position. What did was get him the sympathy vote, which put him in
line for the office of president. But someone was better and he didn’t like
that, so we think he had him killed too.” She walked around the table and
picked up another file. “Small was asked to be on the ticket when I told them
that he shouldn’t be issued any sort of clearance. Now they need my help to
figure out what they hadn’t before.”

“You have that much pull with the president?”
Walker shook his head when she nodded at his question. “How? How is that even
possible? You said yourself that you’re nothing more than a hired gun.”

“A hired gun that uncovered the plot
that saved everyone in the White House.” She moved to the wall again. “This
man, Clement James, came to me about two years ago with plans, layout of the
entire building. Including all escape hatches and tunnels. He said he’d been
given it to come up with a plan to block all of them so that in the event of
something going down, no one could come inside and take over.”

“He didn’t believe them. And I’m
guessing neither did you.”

She shook her head at Sebastian’s
statement.

“You told the president and he took care
of it then.”

“No. I took care of it because no one
would believe an analyst and he knew it. Which was what I was at the time. And
before you ask, I’m not telling you how I did it. Suffice it to say a lot of
people were arrested.” She pointed to another man. “This is…was Conrad Garrett.
He was my boss and in charge of a specialized group of men and women that
worked to keep people in line. Mostly it was computer work, much like you two
are doing now, but some of it was going in and taking out a target. He killed
himself early this morning in a bathroom stall at the airport here in Ohio. He
had had words with the president and had pissed him off.”

“You killed people.”

She nodded at Reed’s statement.

“So you really are a hired killer.”

“Assassin.” She put a line through
Garrett’s picture. “And this man, even though he’s dead, is still having
someone work to get me out of the picture. And now, because you people don’t
listen when I tell you it’s dangerous, your family is now on that list. And as
I have said several hundred times, he won’t stop no matter what.”

“And now that we’re family, we won’t
either. You have to know that by now too.” Sebastian stood up and started to
reach for Caitlynne. At the last minute he looked at Walker. Walker nodded and
his brother hugged her to him.

“You people really like to touch and
hug, don’t you?”

Walker noticed that she didn’t struggle
and he smiled at her.

“Don’t get used to this, big boy. I’m
not much of a touchy-feely type of person.”

“We’ll bring you around.” Sebastian stepped
back and looked at Reed. “We have to go. We have to go into town and get the
rest of the things for family dinner, and I think you two want to be alone.”

They left within minutes. Walker didn’t
move from where he was leaning against the counter. He watched her gather up
some of the papers his brothers left in a mess. When she started straightening
the same pile again, he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her
waist.

“You’ll keep them safe. All of us.” He
kissed her shoulder and then her throat. “You’ll see, we’re a tough bunch.”

“I couldn’t keep my partner safe.” She’d
told him about her partner last night. “He was a very good friend and we worked
really well together.”

“I know, love.” He turned her in his
arms and kissed her before continuing. “But we’re not human like him. We can
keep you safe while you take down this asshole.”