Bare Nerve (17 page)

He lifted himself away from her, kneeling between her legs. She touched his thigh—the only part of his body she could reach. Her fingers moved up his thigh and around to his hip, finding the scars that life had left on his body. Anna caressed them all. With her it didn’t seem to matter that he was a battered warrior. With her he felt like he’d found the home, the sanctuary, he’d always been searching for.

She sat up, still caressing the scar that had been left by shrapnel. She glanced up at him, a question in her eyes. “Did you get this when you were the USA’s bogeyman?”

He nodded. Before he could say anything else, she had lowered her head, her tongue tracing the rough skin, each of the peaks and valleys where the metal had dug into his body and branded him. Her hair was silky and cool against his lower body.

She nibbled on his hipbone and then tongued her way across his stomach, finding his belly button. She grazed her teeth lightly over his skin. Her fingers spread wide, caressing his entire body.

“Lie back on the bed. I want to make love to you,” she said, her words spoken directly against his flesh. “So that you never forget me.”

“Another time,” he said, his voice low and guttural with need.

Jack cupped the back of Anna’s head and drew her up his body. She licked and caressed him, lingering over his nipples, kissing and sucking them into her mouth one at a time, using her fingernail to abrade the one her mouth wasn’t on.

His entire being ached to be buried in her. He didn’t want to wait another second. Couldn’t wait another second to get inside her. He tumbled her back on the bed. She held his shoulders as he slid up over her.

He tested her body to make sure she was still ready for him. He held his cock poised at her entrance. Felt her silky legs draw up his and then fall open. He held himself over her, less than an inch of space between their bodies, and waited. Anticipation made the base of his spine tingle.

Anna shifted under him, her shoulders rotating until the tips of her berry-hard breasts brushed against him. Her white-hot center brushed over his now condom-covered cock, and he wished they were flesh to flesh. He wanted to feel every inch of her.

He lowered himself over her, settling into place between her legs. She skimmed her gaze over his body down to the place where they met.

He lifted her hips and waited until her eyes met his, and then he slid into her body. She was always a tight fit, and he took her slowly, inch by inch, until he was fully seated inside her.

Anna closed her eyes for a minute, her arms closing so tightly around Jack he couldn’t breathe—he couldn’t breathe anyway as he started to move over her. Found her mouth with his. She turned her head away from him. Kissed his shoulders and his neck. Scraped her nails down his back as he thrust slowly, building them both toward the pinnacle.

He caught her face in his hand, tipped her head back until she was forced to look at him as he rode her. Her eyes widened, and he felt something change deep within him. She lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist, and he slid a little deeper in her body, but not as deep as he wanted to be. He wanted to go so deep the two of them would never be separated again.

She gasped his name as he increased his pace, feeling his own climax rushing toward him. He changed the angle of his penetration so the tip of his cock would hit her G-spot.

Anna shifted around on him, grabbed a pillow, and wedged it under her hips; then she wedged a second one so he could kneel between her legs still thrusting. He could go deeper this way. Her eyes widened, her nails digging into his sides and then holding as her mouth opened on a scream that was his name as her orgasm rolled through her body. He continued thrusting, driving himself deeper and deeper until his balls tightened, drawing up against his body, and he came in a rush.

Jack fell to the side next to her, pulling her into his arms as the sweat dried on his body. Her head rested against his chest, and he swept his hands up and down, unable to stop caressing.

When their heartbeats slowed to something close to normal, he tipped Anna’s head back and kissed her. He wondered if she’d admit that things had changed between them.

He went into the bathroom to take care of his mess and brought a damp washcloth back to clean her up as well. She said nothing as he tended to her, and then he tossed the washcloth on the floor and pulled her back into his arms.

Anna leaned up over him. There was a sadness in her eyes he didn’t trust, and he had no idea what to do with her. “Why so sad?”

“I just realized tomorrow will change everything. We aren’t going to be alone again.”

“No, we aren’t. At least not while we’re here in Algeria. But we can…” He didn’t finish that thought. They weren’t going to get together once they got back to the States. He had his life in Florida, and she was a high-society girl in DC.

“I…I’m sorry for everything you’ve been through,” Anna said.

“Me, too, angel. For tonight, will you stay with me and let me pretend we both aren’t the scarred people we are?”

“No.”

Jack sighed and sat up to hand her clothing to her, but she stopped him with her hand in the small of his back. “I’m not leaving. I just don’t want to pretend we’re someone else. I think I like you because of how my life shaped me. And I think it’s the same for you.”

The wisdom of that comment shouldn’t have moved him, but it did. And it reminded him of just how much he cared for Anna Sterling.

M
orning was cool in Tamanrasset, but it was a bit warmer than it had been in Algiers. Bay had informed them they could expect the same temperatures year-round in this region. And because they wouldn’t be journeying into the Sahara, weather wasn’t much of a concern. The Ahaggar Mountains didn’t get a lot of rain.

Transportation was hard to find when they entered the city. They could take the Humvee and Land Rover into the mountains, but the roads weren’t the best, and traveling would be difficult.

Bay thought they’d be fine with the four-wheel-drive vehicles. Kirk still hadn’t checked in, but they had an idea of where to start looking for Andreev.

It was a basic route off the Assekrem circuit. They could join the few hearty souls who had journeyed up into Algeria from Mali.

Jack caught his breath as he stared at the bleak desert that lined one side of Tamanrasset—the Navel of the Sahara was a beautiful place. It was a shame that the unrest in Algeria kept this place from more people. But he knew the unspoiled beauty of the land would quickly disappear if tourism were easier.

In the stillness of the early morning they were the only ones moving around. The smell of the thick black coffee they had been served at their hotel was on the air. The women talked in a small group to the left of the vehicles, and the Savage Seven were standing off to the other side.

“Ready to head out?” Jack asked. He was too much a natural leader not to try to take charge, and he did it with ease.

“I think we are,” Anna said. She had the program with the GPS location for Andreev’s approximate location in her BlackBerry, though they didn’t know how long the satellite would be available to them. Right now they could use it to guide them. “Charity is going to ride with Hamm, Tommy, J.P., and Harry. You’re with me, Bay, and Justine,” she said to Jack.

“Am I?” he asked.

“Yes. We wanted to make sure we had enough firepower spread between the two vehicles. And Tommy and I both have the same coordinates in our mobiles. That way, if anything happens, we’re all covered.”

This was the part of a mission Anna liked the best. There was something about putting on black leather pants and her holster she always enjoyed. She had her wireless radio in her ear and more weapons and gadgets strapped to her body than most people ever held.

Charity looked like a goth Barbie doll in her dark clothes. Anna knew all the women from Liberty were armed to the teeth. Justine had even loaded a bunch of extra weapons into the back of the Land Rover. She had seen Hamm do the same to the Humvee.

Jack looked breathtakingly handsome in the early morning light. She’d enjoyed spending the previous night with him so much. She only hoped it had meant something to him as well.

Knowing they both weren’t used to that level of intimacy on a mission reassured her. She was afraid for him but knew he’d survived a long time. She doubted he’d let Andreev get the better of him.

“We’ll take the lead. Follow us. As soon as I hear from Kirk, I’ll pass the information on to you.”

“Sounds good,” Charity said.

“Don’t forget we want Andreev alive. We need to get access to his contacts and his client base,” Anna said. She didn’t trust the men not to enact a little vigilante justice when they saw Andreev.

“Everyone is aware of that,” Jack said. “I know Armand is on my team’s minds, but let’s make sure we honor the good man he was by putting the job first. Armand would want that from us.”

“We’ll get the bastard,” J.P. said. “He just has to be breathing to testify.”

“No one lays a hand on him unless I say so,” Jack told his men sternly.

“Yes, sir,” they all answered at once.

They all manned up into their vehicles, and as they pulled out in front of the Humvee, Anna realized she was again going into an unknown situation with someone other than just Justine and Charity at her back. She wasn’t sure what she expected, but it was going to be different.

“This is the strangest op,” Justine said.

“I’ve never been in a group like this before,” Bay said.

“Do you have a problem with women?” Justine asked.

“No. My people are matriarchal. We know the strength of women.”

“Good. I already liked you, but now I really like you,” Justine said.

Anna had to laugh at that, and soon she heard Jack join in. It was probably just that they were heading into a dangerous situation with an adversary that had manpower they weren’t sure of. It was the release they needed before they got too far up the brown and yellow mountains. Because then the tension would start to grow, and they’d all be on a knife’s edge, as they should have been.

“I wouldn’t have put this team together on my own,” Jack said. “But it makes a certain sense when we’re all together. Andreev isn’t going to know what hit him.”

“Good. Then we can capture him like we should have done back in Seattle,” Anna said. It seemed like a lifetime ago when she’d made the connection between the embezzler at AlberTron and the weapons dealer every nation wanted out of business.

Jack drove through the rugged terrain listening with one ear to the directions Anna gave. He couldn’t get the previous night out of his head. He wanted to take Anna and hide away from the world. Which was a marked difference from the man he’d always been.

He hadn’t really let the government shape him into a killing machine—he’d insisted they do it. He’d liked the fact that he was the best they had. The go-to guy when there was a problem diplomacy wouldn’t fix.

It wasn’t lost on him that Anna came from a background on the opposite side of the coin.

She looked hot as hell in those black leather pants and the molded zip-front leather jacket. The women of Liberty Investigations would give most men an instant hard-on if they saw them together.

But Anna was more than a sexy woman to Jack. He knew she wore the leather for the protection it offered. He had seen her in action yesterday at the hangar, and he knew she was capable of handling the weapons she wore.

She winked at him, and he knew she’d caught him staring. He just shrugged. He liked seeing her like this. Being with her. How the hell was he going to handle his next op? After working so closely with Anna, it was going to seem…wrong, he imagined.

Bay sighed as soon as they left the city.

“What are you thinking, Bay?” Anna asked.

“That it is good to be home. I like my job working for Interpol, but I do miss these mountains and my people.”

“I always feel the same way about DC and London,” Anna said.

“You have two homes?”

“London is where my mother and brother are, so it’s the home I remember from my childhood. And DC is my home now, so it’s welcoming in an entirely different way.”

“I can understand that. You aren’t tied to the land the way I am.”

“Tied in what way?” Jack asked.

“By my soul. I don’t sleep as well when I’m away for too long.”

Jack had heard a lot about the mysticism of the Tuareg and had experienced a little of it when he and Bay had gone into that lodge in El Golea, but this was the first time he’d ever really talked to the other man. And a part of him envied Bay.

Because Bay wasn’t talking about home as a dwelling you returned to. Bay was talking about home as a
belonging
, and Jack knew he’d never had a place like that.

Well, he’d felt something close to it when he’d held Anna in his arms, but he doubted a person could be home. Could they?

“Where is your home, Justine?” Bay asked.

“I always thought it was DC, but Nigel and Piper are my home. Is that silly? To think that a person is?”

“No,” Bay said.

Jack didn’t say anything. He thought sometimes it was a little eerie how similar he and Justine were. He knew little of her past, but he wouldn’t be surprised if she’d come from a broken home like he had.

“Who’s Nigel?”

“My fiancé. I…I’m recently engaged. He’s a nice guy, not a creep or anything.”

Jack almost laughed at the way Justine spoke. But he didn’t. He could tell from her words that she must sometimes still feel like some kind of weird miracle had happened to bring her Nigel.

“My wife and children live in Djanet,” Bay said. “They are as much my home as this place is. Jack, where is your home? DC?”

“No. I’m from Florida. I have a place in Arlington, but I really don’t feel like I’m home until I’m back at the little beach house that was my grandfather’s.”

“Do you have anyone special waiting for you?” Bay asked.

Jack wanted to glance at Anna but knew this wasn’t the time to find out how she felt about him thinking she was the most important person in his life.

“I have a dog my neighbor watches while I’m gone,” Jack said at last.

“It’s good to have animals around us. Some cultures believe they’re spirit guides.”

“Well, this dog is lazy and doesn’t do anything but sit on my front porch and eat me out of house and home.”

Justine laughed, but Anna didn’t, and he wondered what she was thinking. Maybe she was wondering why he had only a dog waiting for him at home. Or maybe she had already surmised that he was the kind of man who didn’t really connect too well with other people.

“I’m pretty much a loner,” Jack said and then did glance over at Anna. “Sometimes I meet someone who makes a difference in my life.”

Anna tilted her head to one side. “Me, too.”

“Anna isn’t a loner. That girl knows someone everywhere we go,” Justine said.

“I might know people, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel alone.”

Jack nodded at her. They had a connection, and he only hoped he could complete this mission without doing anything that would really frighten her off, because his behavior with Harry had been tame. He knew inside was a real savage waiting to get out, and he knew Andreev was the man who could bring that savage to the surface.

“I can see why you love this place, Bay. It’s very beautiful in a stark way,” Anna said.

“It’s also a very dangerous place, so I’ve always respected the land.”

“Do you mean men?” Jack asked.

“Men sometimes. But I meant the sirocco.”

“How often do they blow?” Anna asked. “I don’t think we’re prepared to deal with a hell wind on this trip.”

Bay shrugged, and Jack felt a chill on his spine. “They blow when they need to.”

“That doesn’t sound very reassuring,” Justine said. “Can we make a sacrifice to the gods and appease them?”

“I don’t worship false gods, Justine. Only Allah.” And that seemed to put a damper on everyone’s spirits. Jack drove through the mountains wanting to find Andreev’s camp so he could confront an enemy he knew how to fight.

Demetri got the news that three of his men had been reported missing minutes before the two men he’d hired to help with the weapons deal arrived. Kirk Mann looked like a cocky American, and because Demetri knew the Americans had killed his assassins, he was more than a little pissed off.

But Mann was a good man and always did what he was hired to do. And his buyers liked seeing a muscular man handling their weapons. It made them think the thirteen-year-old boys they gave the assault rifles might someday look like men trained to be war machines.

“Were you followed?” Andreev asked Mann.

“Not likely. This place is damned hard to find. If it hadn’t been for Yan, I would have turned back.”

“Good. That’s as it should be. The weapons you’ll be demonstrating are being held up that trail about fifteen kilometers. You can bunk up there.”

“Whatever. It’s colder here than I expected it to be,” Kirk said.

“Its February, in case you forgot.”

“Yeah, I know, but we’re close to the desert.”

Americans could be so stupid when it came to geography, Andreev thought. If he’d been this stupid, he wouldn’t be the man he was today.

“The demonstration will be tomorrow. I want to have a run-through this afternoon so we’re sure you can use all the weapons and there are no malfunctions when the clients are here.”

“No problem. What am I handling?”

“Assault rifles and RPG launchers. Nothing too intense. I have some new ammo that will blow you away.”

“Literally, right?” Kirk said.

“Yes. You may go now,” Andreev said.

Demetri didn’t like dealing with mercenaries. He had to because that was the nature of his business. And he didn’t like to have regular men in his camp. But he had to find a different class of person to help him out.

He knew Mann was simply doing the job he was hired to do, but Andreev worried about how much loyalty one could buy for twenty-five thousand dollars. He didn’t think it bought as much as it used to.

Andreev glanced over at Mann. He had to be very sure of every man in his camp. One screwup and the entire business he’d built would be ruined. Andreev looked the man in the eyes. Mann had been working as a gun-for-hire for more than ten years. And he had no doubt Mann would never back down if confronted by an enemy. But he needed to know Mann would stand by his side.