Solid Muscle (Unseen Enemy Book 5) (2 page)

**

Fifty feet away, back up on the raised road going the other direction and behind the brush, Sully was on his stomach and peering through the rifle scope. He’d hoped hard that Ferguson would just give up when he saw Mark pointing a gun at him, but he hadn’t really expected it to happen. Sully had gone in to this whole crap storm almost certain of its conclusion and he now saw that the end was in sight. Literally.

He watched Ferguson carefully, saw how he was officially losing his shit. Yeah, the man was a trained ex-Marine – just like Sully was – but he was also a man way,
way
over the edge. Everyone has their breaking point and Michael Ferguson had now reached his and soared far beyond it. That made him more volatile and dangerous, of course, but it also made him desperate and impulsive. Men in this kind of trapped state made bad mistakes and all it took was a man like Sully to exploit them.

One mistake is all I need. Give it to me, you dickhead.

Sully waited, breathing slowly, his control absolutely perfect. No rushing, no forcing the situation; the best thing was to wait for Ferguson to fuck up. He was about to, Sully knew, and once he did, Sully was going to make him pay. Hard.

Then it happened: Ferguson gestured wildly and the movement swung his gun away from Clyde Halloway. It was just for a tenth of a second but it was all Sully needed. He didn’t hesitate, didn’t pause, didn’t even think. He pulled the trigger and watched through his scope as roughly half of Ferguson’s head disappeared in an explosion of red. He fell backwards heavily and Mark shot over to check the body. No doubt the asshole was dead, but protocol was protocol.

Mark picked up Ferguson’s gun, looked back at Sully, gave him a thumbs-up. Sully exhaled now, got to his knees. By the time he stood up, Mark was with Clyde, his massive arm around the old man’s shoulders holding him up, talking to him softly.

Sully looked up at the gorgeous blue sky, closed his eyes briefly.

Yeah. Quick and clean and no complications. Just like I like it.

Chapter Two

Jim Alden stood in the kitchen, pouring a cup of coffee for Beth. Ten minutes earlier, after talking to Dallas, Jim had woken her up and told her about what was going down in Utah. She’d stared at him, unblinking and pale, then climbed out of bed and settled on the living room sofa without a word. She was now waiting for the phone to ring: Dallas had promised to call as soon as anything happened.

Jim turned a bit too quickly to grab the sugar from the counter and his head spun. He grinned ruefully to himself, thinking that he was probably still feeling the effects of the drug that Beth had slipped him the day before. She’d roofied him, basically, and she’d done so since she’d planned a quick escape out of Denver. She’d intended to run again… but at the last minute she’d changed her mind. Jim was happy to take the dizzy spells and nausea if it meant that Beth was still here with him. He’d take
anything
if it meant that he still had her.

Jim brought her the coffee, handed it to her carefully. “Here you go.”

She smiled up at him and he was relieved to see it. “Thanks.”

He sat down next to her and took her hand. “You want to talk?”

No.” Her moss-green eyes were warm as she met his golden ones. “Not yet, Jim. Right now, I just want to… to breathe.”

“Can I sit here and breathe with you?”

She cocked her head at him, almost relaxed now. “You’d better. I can’t do this without you.”

He nodded and leaned back a bit. Right away, she moved closer to him, curled her legs under her small body, nestled against his broad chest and pressed her ear to his steady heartbeat. His arms went around her and they sat and gazed out the window at the Rocky Mountains in the distance. For the next forty minutes, they didn’t say anything much: they just drank their coffee and let the connection between their bodies speak for them.

When Jim’s cell rang, he glanced at the number before handing Beth the phone. “Dallas.”

Suddenly terrified, her breath caught. Jim saw the flash of panic cross her face and he held her closer.

“You want me to take it?” he asked, rubbing her back. “You want me to talk to him?”

“No, it’s OK.” Her voice came out as a squeak and she cleared her throat. “No, babe. I’ll take it.”

Beth swiped the cell and answered calmly enough, though she had Jim’s hand in a death grip. “Hi, Dallas.”

Jim watched her face as she listened to Dallas. The panic was replaced by shock, then, relief, then worry.

“And the hostages?” she said. “Are they OK?”

She listened some more, nodding now.

“Thanks, Dallas.” A pause. “Yeah, I’m alright. Please thank Sully and Mark for me.”

She disconnected and set the phone on the coffee table. She looked at Jim and he saw that her eyes were full of tears.

“It’s over,” Beth said softly. “He’s dead.”

“Oh, baby. Thank Christ.” He tugged her in to his arms again. “You doing OK?”

She nodded against his chest. “I can’t believe it. I can… I can stop. For real.”

Jim wasn’t at all surprised when she started to shake, holding on to the front of his t-shirt tightly. It had to be a shock to be safe and sound after more than five years of hell: one year of abuse and violence at the hands of a monster, then more than four years of living like a hunted woman. Beth had been on the run for a long, long time, always looking over her shoulder, always planning her next escape, never letting anyone too close.

To stand still, to stay put and choose to defend a life that she’d come to love fiercely – these things had taken phenomenal courage and Jim damn well knew it. But it didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to struggle with living a whole new way… she’d have to learn to live without fear, without waking up gasping for breath in the middle of the night. He’d be there for it all, though. They all would.

He stroked her hair, kissed her temple. “You’re safe, Beth.”

“Yeah.” She sounded hesitant and uncertain, still, and it broke his heart.

Damn you straight to hell, Ferguson, for coming so close to totally demolishing this woman. You were close, asshole, but you didn’t succeed. She’s here and she’s fighting and fuck you.

Jim held her away from him, staring at her hard. “You’re going to be here for all of it now, all those things you care so much about. You’re going to be at Dallas and Liv’s wedding, you’re going to meet Dean and Emma’s baby, you’re going to see Chris and Jenny get closer and stronger. Baby, you aren’t going to miss
any
of it – you’re going to be
part
of it.”

Beth nodded.

“And best of all?” Jim kissed her mouth now, slow and sensual, taking his time, really making her
feel
his love for her. “You’re going to be here for
us
, Beth. For everything that we decide to do and be together.”

She looked up at him, looking a bit better. “Us?”

“Yeah. You and me. Living together and loving each other.” He traced the curve of her full lips. “And more.”

“More?” She grinned now. “What more? You got something planned, handsome?”

“Well, now, you’re just going to have to wait to find out about that.”

She raised her eyebrows. “I never knew you were a tease.”

“You totally did.” He ran his hands down the front of her t-shirt, circled her nipples. “And you love it.”

She giggled and swatted his hands away. “Yeah. I did and I do.”

He kissed her again, then leaned back a bit. “The hostages?”

“Safe. The man has a head injury but Dallas said it’s not too bad… he won’t even need stitches. The woman was tied up in the farmhouse basement but she didn’t have so much as a scratch on her, thank God. But they’re both completely terrified and in shock.” Beth was quiet for a few seconds. “He scared them bad, Jim. He – he played all his usual games with them.”

“Threatened everyone and everything that they love to make them cooperate?”

“Yeah.” Anger glittered in her eyes now. “I’m not sorry he’s dead. Does that make me a bad person?”

“No.” He shook his dark head. “It makes you a person. He hurt you, he terrorized you, he killed your baby, he fucked up your whole life. You’d have to be a saint to
not
be happy the world is rid of his sick ass.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” She bit her lip. “And now that he’s dead, I’m – free. I’m really free.”

“Yeah, you are.”

She sighed. “I think I’ll call the girls now. They’ve been so worried about all of this.”

“OK, you do that.” Jim stood up and stretched a bit. “I’ll jump in the shower.”

“Jim?”

“Yeah, baby?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” He knelt down in front of her, took her face in his rough hands, pulled her in for a slow, hot kiss. “So damn much and now I get to spend the rest of my life showing you that. In as many ways as I can think of… both naked
and
fully-clothed.”

“Oooh.” She smiled at him, that pure, shining smile that always fucking took the knees out from under him. “Maybe you can take an extra-long shower today?”

“Why?” he said innocently.

“So you can show me some of those naked ways that you love me.”

“Deal.” His kiss was demanding now and she moaned. “I’ll meet you in the shower… I’ll be the one not wearing any clothes.”

“I’ll find you.”

“Yeah. You better.”

**

Cordelia Patton glanced up and across the conference room table at Melanie Sorenson. The model was clutching a bunch of tissues in one hand and holding on to her boyfriend Zane Evans’ hand with the other. Melanie was babbling –
again, some more
– about her stalker and Cordelia nodded sympathetically as she typed away on her laptop.

John Griffin and Selena Perez had asked her to take this meeting with them, ostensibly to take minutes but in actuality to observe the potential clients’ body language. Griff had a weird feeling about Melanie and Zane, but he’d told Cordelia that he couldn’t quite put his finger on what was bugging him. It was crystal clear to Cordelia what the matter was, though: Melanie was lying about having a stalker. And Zane was in on it.

Griff smiled at the ‘distraught’ woman warmly. “So, Ms. Sorenson, is that everything?”

“Yes.” Despite her holding tissues to her face unceasingly, the eye liner around her baby blues was still perfect. So was her lipstick. “What do we do now?”

“Well, we’ll talk to Mr. Foreman about our next steps and then he’ll make a final decision.”

Griff was being deliberately vague, Cordelia thought as she dutifully typed this nonsense like the good little receptionist that she was. No promises to assign Melanie a team; no hint what that ‘final decision’ might be – though she strongly suspected it would end in telling Melanie Sorenson to march her pert ass right on out the doors of Solid Security post-haste.

“Cordelia? Did you get all of that?” Selena asked.

“Yes.” Cordelia nodded crisply. “All on the record.”

“Thank you,” Griff said to her and she knew that he was thanking her for more than typing up notes. She fought back the urge to smile at him.

Everyone stood up and shook hands and Zane put his arm around Melanie, supporting her as she ‘stumbled’. Cordelia almost rolled her eyes, simply unable to believe that anyone would be taken in by this charade… but many people had been. Melanie was a skilled liar and Zane was a strong, silent, handsome wing man. Cordelia supposed that most people would be blown away by their combined awesome good looks and star power and simply lose the plot about what they were actually saying. Which was all bullshit.

Griff ushered them out, shut the door. He turned and crossed his arms as he gazed at Cordelia and got straight to the point. “So?”

“She’s lying. There’s no stalker.”

“You’re sure?”

“Totally. She was doing all the right things with her face and body but none of it was natural. Also? Her micro-expressions were way off... it’s like taking a picture of an apple and then trying to pass it off as the real thing. On the surface it
looks
like an apple but it has no substance and no way you can eat it. That’s what she was doing. Wearing a paper mask.”

“Is Actor Boy in on it?”

“Oh, yeah. He’s delighted by the whole thing, actually. He kept biting his cheek to stop himself from smiling.”

“Really?” Selena said.

“Yep. He thinks this is great.”

“Well, they
are
getting lots of attention in the media and online,” Griff said. “Sympathy and outrage and head pats.”

Cordelia shrugged. “And his upcoming movie is getting plenty of free publicity.”

There was a knock at the door now and Griff called out, “Come in, Jack.”

It opened and Jackson Taylor stood there. He’d been observing the whole meeting through a two-way mirror and he grinned at Cordelia.

“Good job,” he said to her. “You got it bang on.”

She blushed and looked down. “Thanks, Jack.”

“So you agree with Cordelia?” Selena said. “They’re faking the whole thing in some kind of twisted publicity stunt?”

“Yep.”

“Well, screw them,” Griff said. “I know that Dallas is going to have zero patience for this… not after what happened to Liv.”

“They’re riding on the coat tails of what happened to Liv,” Cordelia said.

Griff and Selena stared at her.

“
What
?” Selena said, aghast.

“Yeah. They mentioned Olivia’s stalker twice and both times they showed jealousy.”

“They showed –
what
?” Griff demanded. “They think that being sliced up by a sick fuck is great?”

Cordelia shrugged, glad to be able to finally express her anger about this part of the whole thing. “They think the
attention
that Liv got is great. I also think that they’re here at this security and bodyguard firm even though they’re both based in L.A.
because
of it. They think Dallas will be super-motivated to protect Melanie from her stalker.”

“Because of what happened to his fiancée,” Selena finished. “Urgh. Assholes.”

Jack was silent, thinking hard.

“Am I wrong, Jack?” Cordelia asked quietly. “I misread that?”

“No.” Jack shook his dark head. “I was thinking that you’re right. I’m just really surprised that you picked up on that so damn accurately. The flashes of jealousy that I saw were so fast, so fleeting, and anger and jealousy are so similar in terms of expression. I thought for sure you’d read the jealousy as anger.”

“No. I mean, the eyebrow cues when people show jealousy are the same as the anger cues, obviously, and the mouths are similar. I can see how it’d be easy to mix them up.”

“So how’d you read jealousy, then?” Jack asked.

“Melanie’s eyes were wrong,” Cordelia said. “They weren’t wide and glaring when she talked about Olivia’s stalker – they were narrowed, like she was focusing on a goal, or something she really, deeply desired.”

“You saw her hands?”

“Yeah.” Cordelia brushed her hair back over her shoulders. “Zane’s too. The hands were animated and moving around a lot when they mentioned Olivia’s stalker.”

“Showing frustration at not being able to get a stalker of her own,” Jack said. “Or at least not a real one.”

“Yes. Exactly.”

Griff and Selena had sat silent this whole time and now exchanged perplexed glances, as everyone at the Solid Security offices always did lately when Jack and Cordelia started talking like this. Dallas had hired Jack to train Cordelia in non-verbal cues and communication and the woman had taken the learning and she’d run with it… and it was in turns almost spooky and hilarious.

Nobody would forget anytime soon the totally unnerving day when Jack and Cordelia had wandered around the office identifying everyone’s emotions at a glance. It had been a kind of lightning strike and she’d been deadly accurate and had given everyone lots of laughs
and
uncomfortable moments.

But what had made that morning the stuff of legend was when she’d spotted Dallas coming out of his office, just wrapping up a phone call on his cell. Cordelia had taken one look at her boss’ face and without any hesitation at all, she had chirped, “Horny!”