Rescue Me (43 page)

He placed his hand on the back handle, then
stopped and turned to her. “Hey, why didn't you come visit me in
the hospital? I was in there for three days, you know.”

Kat nodded and brought his good hand up to
kiss his fingers. “I wanted to, but I couldn't stop throwing up.
And with you having surgery, and then in ICU, I didn't think it was
a good idea. Even after they moved you out of ICU and into your own
room, I couldn't take the chance at getting you sick. Rand kept me
in the loop.”

“I wondered why he called so many times. It
started to annoy the nurses.” He lost his smile as his expression
grew somber. “Why didn't you visit me? Are you really sick?”

She smiled. She was better than ever. “I'm
great. I just didn't want to upset you.”

“What upset me was not seeing you for three
days.”

“It won't happen again.” She squeezed the
test behind her.

“Good. Now I'll show you what I have for
you.” He opened the back and pulled out a yellow fluff ball. It
whined as it tried to jump out of the little cardboard box. When it
looked up at Kat with its big puppy dog eyes, her heart melted.

“A puppy?” she whispered as her emotions
flooded her.

“You said you didn't have a dog.”

She lifted the little darling and hugged it
until the poor thing whined. “My apartment doesn't allow pets.”

“Well then, I guess I'll have to take you
both home with me.”

Her heart skipped a beat. As much as she'd
love to go home with him, she wouldn't let him win so easily. “Now
just a minute.”

He raised his hand. ““For once, please don't
argue with me. We can't raise our family in an apartment.”

Her heart skipped wildly. “F-Family?”

“My house is plenty big, and it's where I
want to grow old with my wife.”

Wife?
Kat opened her mouth to speak,
but only a squeak escaped.

“That's right, Kathryn Louise.” He riveted
his gaze to hers. “I want you to be my wife. I love you. Marry me?”
Short, simple, sweet.

She threw her arms around him until the puppy
whimpered between them. “It's about time.”

Spencer petted the puppy, then reached over
and took the test from her.

“What's this?” He squinted at it. “What's a
plus mean? Is this what I think it is?”

Oh my God, how embarrassing.
With all
the excitement she'd forgotten she still had it in her hand. She
looked into her his eyes and smiled. “Looks like we'll be bringing
two babies home with us.”

* * * *

Six Months Later…

“I'm going to get something to drink. You
want something?” Spencer walked into the kitchen and opened the
fridge.

“Yeah. Get me a beer.”

He returned and handed her a glass of orange
juice. “One calcium-filled glass of nutrition coming up.” He kissed
her, then moved lower and kissed her swollen belly. “Only the best
for my son.”

“I already told you we're having a girl.” Kat
sipped her orange juice and set it on her giant belly. It
stayed.

Spencer chuckled and removed the glass so he
could rub her belly. Since she'd started to show, he couldn't keep
his hands off her. But Kat didn't mind. Not at all.

Turbo ran in and jumped between them. For a
tiny golden retriever who once fit in a shoe box, he'd exploded
into a monster of a dog and just kept growing.

“Off,” Spencer ordered and pushed him down.
Turbo licked his hand and went to find something else to tear up.
“How do you suppose he'll do when he realizes he'll have to share
being the baby with an actual human?”

Kat laughed. “Turbo thinks he
is
human. But if he's anything like his master, he'll protect his
little sister to the death.”

“Or little brother.” He kissed her soundly
and nuzzled her neck. “You are so beautiful, Mrs. Allen.” He softly
caressed her abdomen.

The glory of his touch tickled her flesh,
causing it to hum. “You know, when the baby comes I won't be able
to race out of here whenever there's a search. What are we going to
do?”

“You could always retire. Hell, we both
could.”

Kat dismissed the idea with a shake of her
head. “I love K-SAR. I don't think I'd ever be able to leave it.
Besides, I'd go insane if I let someone else try to run it. It's my
baby.”

“You've got another baby to think about,” he
said as he rubbed her belly. “Besides, you can't fit through the
door of the Com Van now.”

She slapped him and he winced. She winced as
well when she realized she'd hit him right where the bullet had
gone into his shoulder. “Oh! I'm sorry, honey.” She kissed it and
batted her eyes at him. “Does it hurt?”

“Yeah, it hurts. In case you forgot, I was
shot.”

She giggled and kissed it again, this time a
bit more slowly and softly. Her lips lingered as she slid them
along his skin. The tank top he wore made his delicious shoulders
easily accessible. “Does it hurt now?”

“It's getting better.” He cupped her cheeks
and brought her lips to his. “But now I've got a pain somewhere
else.”

“Cheesy line.” Her cell phone rang and she
grabbed it from Spencer before he took it from her. “Hello?”

“Good afternoon, Ms. Davis.”

“It's Mrs. Allen now. How are you, Dan?” She
switched the call to speaker, knowing Spencer would like to talk to
his former SAC.

“Weber?” Spencer leaned toward the phone.
“The answer is still no.”

“Hear me out,” Weber defended. “This time the
offer comes straight from Martin Miller. He's ready to put you into
an SAC role.”

“Who's?”

“Mine.”

Spencer sat up straight. “Are you leaving
TREX?”

“Taking a new assignment,” Weber explained.
“I'm stepping down as SAC and leading a team on a spec op.”

“A find?”

“No can do, Allen. Only HQ and the team know
about it. It's higher than top secret. So how about it? Interested
in my old post?”

Spencer and Kat exchanged glances. Most SACs
stayed chained to a desk. Well, most SACs except Dan Weber. It made
sense that he'd step down.

As much as Kat would love for him to not do
anything to put him in danger, she couldn't do that to him. He
loved being in the middle of it all, saving the world one find at a
time.

“I like working searches.”

“You really aren't making this easy on me,
are you?” Weber let out a long sigh that came out as a groan.
“Fine. Here it is. No SAC. Stay with K-SAR like Rand, but still
work for TREX.”

“So you're not asking me to leave K-SAR?”

“More like,” he paused. “Repurposing your
skills. You won't have to change a thing. You will, however, be
required to take the occasional leave of absence to go on
assignment. Nothing that would put you in harm's way since you're
going to be a father.”

“How did you know that?” Kat sat up
straight.

“Because I'm TREX. It's my job to know
everything about my agents.” The smug son of a bitch.

Spencer set his jaw. “I'm not one of your
agents anymore, Weber.”

“If you accept,” he went on, ignoring
Spencer. “You'll get a bonus.”

Spencer put his arm around Kat. “You're
offering me more money now? Let's see. You've offered me my old
team back and when that didn't work, you gave me the green light to
put together a new team. Then you offer me your old SAC position,
and now more money. Why does TREX want me back so bad? There's got
to be a catch.”

“Why does there have to be a catch?”

“Because you didn't want me getting back
together with Kathryn. When I did, you went ballistic.”

“I may have overreacted,” he finally
admitted.

“You fired me,” Spencer pointed out. He
rested a hand on Kat's knee. “Sorry, Weber. I'm exactly where I
need to be.”

“We're branching out,” Weber explained. “TREX
is looking at getting into search and rescue and needs a solid
pilot to start with.”

Kat's mouth fell open as her temper
immediately skyrocketed. “You think you can take K-SAR from
me?”

“More like a partnership,” Weber corrected.
“Think about it, Kat. Unlimited access to TREX resources. Agents.
Vehicles. Connections. You'd be the most sought after SAR firm in
the world.”

Her heart skipped. It sounded too good to be
true. “What's the catch?”

“What's with you two and there having to be a
catch?”

Kat and Spencer exchanged looks before she
spoke. “Because there always is, especially when TREX is
involved.”

“Turn on the TV,” Weber interrupted. “Channel
five.”

She did. It flashed to a scene that had both
their jaws dropping. Turbo came charging in and collapsed at their
feet. Apparently, he wanted to watch the news as well.

“And now we join Jane Foreman live in
Washington D.C.” It flipped to Jane Foreman, TV reporter, standing
in front of the marble staircases of the courthouse.

“It's official. They read the indictment only
moments ago. Senator Patrick Murphy, along with the majority of his
senior staff, has been indicted by a grand jury for murder,
conspiracy to commit murder, and racketeering. Since the start of
the investigation six months ago, prosecutors have gathered enough
substantial evidence that they will be seeking the death
penalty.”

Kat and Spencer glanced at each other, both
stunned into silence.

“You see,” Weber went on. “TREX has a long
reach to make sure we find what's been missing. In this case it was
justice.”

“You did this?” Kat and Spencer said in
unison.

“Still ready to turn down my offer?”

The TV flashed back to the woman in the
newsroom. “The senator's downfall can largely be attributed to one
individual. Kathryn Allen, the owner and CEO of K-SAR, a private
search and rescue firm based out of Washington State, will meet
with the president later this summer to discuss plans for
nationwide implementation of a National Incident Management System
known as NIMS in the SAR community. She will receive a commendation
for her actions in bringing Senator Murphy to justice. Because of
her bravery, more people are breaking their silence about the
corruption they've seen firsthand.”

Her mouth ran dry as her heart shot to her
throat. “I'm doing what?”

“Meeting with the president,” Weber repeated.
“It's been arranged. Your NIMS system will be implemented
nationwide. Rand has had TREX using it since the system's
inception.”

Kat couldn't believe it. TREX used her
system? How cool was that?

“I'll be in Washington with you to make the
TREX and K-SAR merger official. Even though we aren't sanctioned by
the government, we still need the commander-in-chief's okay for
something this big. We'll talk at that time. Until then, rest up. I
hear parenthood is harder than being a covert agent.”

“I haven't given you an answer,” Spencer
pointed out.

“Yes, you did. You didn't say no this time.
I'll see you in Washington.”

The call ended, leaving Kat and Spencer
staring at each other. And then she smiled as it sank in. “I can't
believe my NIMS system is going to be implemented nationwide.”

“I can't believe you brought down a senator,”
Spencer countered with a wide grin.

“Not without help,” she pointed out. “Do you
think we should merge?”

Spencer shrugged, but she saw the excitement
shining in his eyes. He wanted this as much as she did. He'd
finally get to come home to TREX. “Unlimited resources. We could
really use that. What's the harm in hearing him out?”

“Here's to new beginnings.” She lifted her
orange juice.

“And happy endings.”

Two months later…

Project LEON Lab - Seattle, WA

Dan Weber gathered with his team as they
waited for the demonstration to begin. No matter how much he warned
the scientists about the dangers, they wanted to move forward with
it. They were so determined to prove that Project LEON worked that
they refused to think about what would happen if it actually
did.

He turned to Bruce Aims, the computer hacker
of the team, as he ran his hand through his hair, a trait he picked
up from his former team lead. Dan then switched his attention to
Alan Cummings, their radio expert. He'd let his hair grow out even
more since the board handpicked him for this team. Good thing he
kept it tied back out of his eyes. Steve Gessler sat next to
Cummings, nodding off as they all waited for the scientists to get
on with it.

“What's on your mind?” Charlie Cole, the
oldest member of the team and the one who kept the rest of them
grounded, approached and rested his arms on the banister in front
of them. When Dan didn't answer, he stared through the two-inch
thick glass separating them from the lab. “Do you really think
these sons of bitches really did it?”

“I hope not.”

“How deep is the shit if they did?”

“Deeper than we can dig out of.” Dan scanned
the seats behind him, his gaze landing on the empty one. “Where the
fuck is Peck?”

“He's just late.”

“He's always late,” Dan countered in a growl.
“It's starting to piss me off.”

“He'll be here.”

As if on cue, Jason Peck waltzed into the
observation room, that smug smile on his face. He glanced at Dan,
gave him a nod, and took his seat.

“See?” Cole said.

Dan looked at him.

“Don't give me that Weber glare. I taught you
that glare. My little niece Jessica hates it when I look at her
like that.”

Not yet another story about his wonderful,
talented, can do no wrong niece Jessica. The team could never go on
any find or apparently even attend a demonstration without Cole
bringing her up.

“I don't know what you have against Peck,”
Cole went on. “He's just a kid.”

“He's too green for something like LEON.”