Retribution (27 page)

They’d taken what God had given them and worked it into a way of silent communication only they could interpret or understand. Dray hid nothing from his twin—in most cases he wasn’t able to—but he also hadn’t exactly been forthright about his evolving relationship with Sasha. His physical needs had grown to such a great extent that his frustrations had apparently bubbled over, and his brother, feeling that discontent, had called to see if he was okay.

Dray wasn’t okay. He was pissed as all hell about the present situation and the danger Dempsey had placed Sasha in. He would’ve loved to have his brother fighting this fight with him, but dragging Dare out of the hell he was presently visiting when he could take care of things on his own wasn’t advisable.

Dare led an even more covert team of operatives than Dray did, and he was still under Uncle’s thumb to some degree. He wasn’t re-upping his commission, which ended in about a month. But nobody really controlled Dare—you either let him handle things, or you moved out of the way. The only person that didn’t fly with was Dray. Then again, he was just as controlling as Dare. Two peas in a pod.

Still, his brother had known something was off, and he’d called to check things out. Dray had filled his younger-by-four-minutes brother in and assured him that he had everything under control. Dare immediately assured his brother that he was wrapping up things in Kuwait City and would be home in about twenty-four hours.

Dray automatically argued. His brother told him not to, he was coming come hell or high water. He’d also said he couldn’t wait to meet the woman who had Dray tied up in knots. Dray told him to fuck-off, and then he’d disconnected the call, but not before hearing his brother chuckle on the other end.

Dray smiled. There would come a time when Dare would succumb to a woman’s charms. Neither man had thought love would come their way. Growing up with a loving mom and dad had shown them both at an early age what real love should be like, but after their parents had died, leaving the twin boys with only a gruff grandfather to raise them, love had been the last thing on their minds.

Survival had been the name of the game in their teenage years. Keeping Grandda alive had been their primary goal. They’d succeeded until cancer had taken him ten years ago. They’d both been a little lost but had made it through.

Now both men were well-respected in their fields of expertise and established for the future. They owned Presidio Security, which was growing by leaps and bounds, though Dray’s primary objective over the past year had been to keep Sasha safe.

Yes indeed, she’d entered Dray’s picture on a bitterly cold night in Afghanistan and turned his world topsy-turvy.

He couldn’t wait for his brother to meet this woman. Maybe he’d understand what Dray faced. Dare may laugh now, but when it was his ass tied up in knots, they’d see who laughed last.

He leaned over and picked Sasha up from her nest of covers and cradled her close to his body. She weighed next to nothing. Her fragility was so apparent in that moment that rage boiled up. What Dempsey had done to her!

He headed toward the bedrooms and debated for a moment what to do. His bed or her own?

He decided discretion was the better part of valor and went to her room. He stood there with her against his chest and felt the air she breathed flow over the skin of his neck. It was all he could do not to squeeze her until she became a part of him. Slowly, gently, he laid her under the silk duvet cover. She hadn’t stirred. The last few days had taken its toll on her physical reserves. She needed her sleep, and he needed to get Con settled and briefed before she awoke.

He watched her for a while and then turned away. She had no idea the depth of what he felt. He couldn’t put it into words. He gazed at her sleeping form once more before he shut off the light and closed the door behind him.

* * * *

He’d cleaned up their mess and was just about to give up on Connor when a short beep signaled someone wanting to enter the building.

“Permission to allow Mr. Connor Parks entrance, Mr. Bonner Number One?” came the voice from the speaker located at the door.

“Permission granted.” Dray said as he got up to unlock the manual bolts on his side of the door.

“Thank you, sir,” the voice responded.

Pulling his Walther from his waistband, he cocked it and stood at the ready by the door. Dare’s security was the best, but nothing was foolproof when it came to Sasha’s safety.

The door opened and Con entered. When Dray had visual on him, he lowered his weapon and greeted the other man. “You made good time.”

“Had to or you would’ve had my ass. I have new information that we need to get on right now; you aren’t going to be happy with this. Let’s hit the office. This isn’t something Sasha needs to hear or see,” Con said, never remarking on how he’d been greeted by a Walther handgun that could take down a bull elephant.

“She’s asleep, so let me lock back up, and I’ll meet you there,” Dray told him.

Dray locked the doors back, reset the system, and checked to make sure Sasha was still asleep. Assuring himself she still rested, he made his way to the office. Retinal and palm scans were needed to enter the hallway off the kitchen and then the door to the office. Once you entered the office, you were met with a utilitarian space that housed every type of device Presidio used for their line of work. Off to the left of the space, a wide, thick steel door with multiple locks opened to their weapons room. They had weapons of every make and model, from guns to grenades, launchers to cutter mines. They dealt in serious shit that required serious munitions to get the job done, and they were always stocked, locked, and loaded. You just never knew the shit you’d face.

“So what’s up?” Dray asked without preamble.

“He’s got high-level help, Dray,” Con reported. “There’s no other way he could have the information on our movements he does without some type of aid. He has multiple transmissions coming through his SAT phone at any given time, but they’re untraceable. One of those transmissions was placed about fourteen thirty hours yesterday afternoon, shortly after we all left to scatter. It directed him to a place outside of Gainesville, Georgia, that was a drop off for information. Dempsey didn’t go himself but sent someone else. He placed a call to a number in Gainesville that turned out to be a phone booth. He directed the unknown person to gather that information and return to Dempsey’s location ASAP.”

“We knew he was connected.” Dray ran a hand through his hair. “He works for General Shearer, who answers directly to the Secretary of Defense. Hell, I heard he’s even got Senator Cobb in his pocket. Post should have known about any inquiries of that type, though. Have you spoken with him?”

Nodding affirmatively, Con replied, “Yeah. He said nothing has triggered his network of informants. Now, Dray, I know that he’s your old CO and our old boss, but does Post have anything in his past Dempsey could have used on him to get him to look the other way, or hell, even participate in this?” Con’s tone expressed his reluctance to voice the concern.

Disbelief shot through Dray. He shook his head. “I just don’t know, Con. I need to contact Dare and get him to look into it. He’ll be here tomorrow. Shit, he may be out of reach right now. Dempsey may not wait that long to move. In fact, I’m hoping the bastard doesn’t wait, but if we’ve got a mole, Dare will find him for us. Until then, it’s our team only that gets information. Trust no one else,” Dray said sternly. “So we have no idea who picked up the information, what the information was, or when it was delivered?”

“No, we don’t. We just know Dempsey wanted whatever it was, and whoever was delivering it moved quickly. Now the second thing is a bit more concerning.” Con breathed deeply as he moved to a bank of monitors. “Itchy and I have been watching the web for any hits to el-Din’s terrorist sites. Two hours ago, Itchy called me and directed me to a website that showed this…” He turned the computer screen he’d been working on toward Dray.

Inhaling sharply, Dray moved closer. “Son of a bitch.”

“That’s not everything, man, prepare yourself,” Con quietly stated as he pulled up more of the site.

“I’m going to kill those motherfuckers. Get that site down now. I don’t care what you or Itchy have to do, take it down, destroy it.” Dray pushed away from the monitor and growled deep in his throat.

The discs he and Con had found in the mountains a few weeks ago had apparently not been all of the recordings of Sasha’s torture. The website had a link which led to another site that had clearer and much more gruesome footage of her time with el-Din and Dempsey. As if that weren’t bad enough, both of them now had bounties on their heads.

“We’re on it now, Dray. But even with us attacking this one site, there’s no telling how many more are out there that we don’t know about. You need to tell her it’s out there. We need to get Dempsey out of the picture and then take on el-Din’s sons to get her safe. Even then, man, you’ll both be looking over your shoulder for the rest of your lives. Those crazy sons-of-bitches are always looking for revenge, even into the fourth and fifth generation.”

“Let’s get it done then, Con. I can’t continue to put my life with her on hold. It’s not fair to her. Motherfucker,” he bit out.

How could his presence have caused her so much pain? He held himself directly responsible for the fact that Peter Dempsey and the el-Dins continued to place her in very real mortal danger. He was going to kill Dempsey, and then he was going to have to take on the el-Dins. It seemed like his never-ending fight was just going to continue.

“I’m going to grab some sleep while I can. The perimeter is secure, and you’ve got full clearance throughout the property. Dare hooked this bitch of a warehouse up, and the perimeter is full of sensors. You might want to grab some shut-eye while you can, too,” Dray instructed him.

“I got it. I’m gonna get this down first, check in with Itchy, and then I’ll sleep. We’ll get this bastard, Dray. Then we’ll get the el-Dins,” Con assured him.

Rage pumped through Dray. He felt himself ready for the battle to come and relished the thought of tearing Dempsey limb from limb. He pushed his desires for Sasha to the background and let himself think only of the fight that was brewing. He didn’t know how he was going to handle being around her in this enclosed environment without taking her, but the soldier was taking over now. The soldier would allow nothing but thoughts of war and mayhem to prevail. His softness and desires for her warmth would do nothing to keep her safe. It had to be all business from now on.

He stalked to her door, taking several deep breaths to try to control the bloodlust that ran through his veins. His hands shook as he turned the knob to her room. He could smell her through the door, damn it. And maybe it was just sensory memory combined with the animal instinct to protect his mate, but it was driving him almost out of control.

He prayed she was asleep because in this state, if she looked at him in that inviting way of hers, he would pounce on her like an animal, her virginal state be damned. Nobody had ever made him feel so strongly.

She was still under the duvet cover on the bed, and he noticed by the even rise and fall of her chest that she remained asleep. He closed the door quickly before he lost all his senses and went to her, woke her up, and drove himself deep within her body. He went to his room, grabbed a pillow and a blanket, and walked back to her door. Placing himself in front of it, he lay down on the hard floor and tried to get some sleep. It was a long time before he was able to find it.

Dray had been awake for hours, having slept only in spurts. He’d decided to go over with Con their plan to trap Dempsey. They’d intentionally lured him to this particular wharf, not only because of the safe house and its security for Sasha, but because this was Dray’s turf and nobody would let an outsider go unnoticed. The advanced warning system that consisted of his hometown buddies would let him know the moment Dempsey arrived.

So far all was quiet, but Dray had the uncanny feeling the day wouldn’t stay that way. Dempsey would make his move quickly, and Dray would be ready for him. He and Con had gone over every avenue of the plan. They’d discussed strategy and ways to safeguard Sasha. It was just now ten thirty.

“I’m going to go check on Sasha,” Dray told Con.

“Sure you don’t want me to?”

Dray turned to him, menace in his every thought, until he saw Con’s expression. Bland. Knowing. “Do you like your head attached?”

Con chuckled. “I have to say yes, that is something I enjoy. Okay, then, it’s a wrap here. Surrey’s checked in, and it’s all clear out there. Dempsey wants you, so he’s diverted all his concentration here. Her sisters are safe. We just have to keep her that way.”

“We’ll put her in the bunker at the first sign of Dempsey. Nothing short of an atomic blast will hurt her there. You gonna make breakfast?” Dray asked hopefully.

“Yeah. What the hell. Pretty woman like Sasha deserves breakfast in bed, right? I’ll just make her an omelet and take it right to her,” Con shrugged.

“Yeah. You go ahead and try that,” Dray warned him in a dry tone before he turned to head out of the war room.

Con laughed but took off toward the kitchen.

Dray followed him, shaking his head as Con whistled “Dead Man Walking” by David Bowie. His friend was damn good and aware that if he pushed too hard, teased too much on the subject of Sasha, that’s what he would be, a dead man walking. Dray wouldn’t kill him, most likely. He’d just probably beat the shit out of him and make him wish he were dead.

He came to her door and knocked softly. No movement sounded, so he walked in, but what met his ears stopped him in his tracks. He’d heard stories of how the Bennoit sisters sang so sweetly it could bring tears to your eyes. Surrey and Con had both made recordings without the women knowing when they sang together at impromptu times. The men listened to them without fail when Dray was around.

So while he’d heard the recordings in passing, hearing it live and in person gave it an entirely new dimension. Sasha’s voice, raised in her clear soprano tone in real time, sent chills racing up his spine. He followed the beautiful sound to the bathroom, knowing he was in so much trouble. He leaned against the jamb and closed his eyes, taking in the song she sang from the bottom of her heart.