Rough Edges (8 page)

“You're careless,” Stynger said. “Perhaps you should come in and we'll work on that flaw.”

Panic flowed through Randolph's system. He knew what she meant—that she would fuck with his head until he did whatever she asked of him. Even if it meant drilling a hole in his skull and shoving one of her precious devices inside.

“I've got this,” he hurried to reassure her. “I'll make sure she gets the next dose soon.”

“You'd better. If she goes without it for too long, we'll have to start the process all over again. My test results will be skewed, and I'll be very displeased.”

“You just worry about the relocation. I'll handle Bella.”

“See that you do,” Stynger said. “Or I
will
make you.”

B
ella was still shaking by the time she pulled into her driveway at home.

What the hell was she thinking letting Victor pull her in like that? And hugging her? That was so far out of line, she didn't even know what to call it. Insubordination seemed a tad extreme, especially considering how good it felt. Disrespectful was closer to the mark, but even that left a bad taste in her mouth. His intent seemed pure, if a bit misguided.

The real problem was that she'd liked the hug far too much. Between the shitty day she'd had, which had caused a basic human need for comfort, and the way he lit her body up with physical need, being in his arms had been pretty fucking awesome.

If only he hadn't talked and screwed things up like that, they would have gone a lot further than just hugging. If she was smart, she'd thank him for opening his mouth and stopping her from making what would undoubtedly have been a huge mistake.

Exhaustion bore down on her. She hadn't slept well last night, and had spent the entire day knotted with nerves. Attackers with lethal intent had a way of taking the energy out of a woman like nothing else could. Sure, the adrenaline rush kept her high for a while, but the crash was brutal, and Bella was definitely crashing.

She took several deep breaths and forced herself to get out of her truck and go inside. Her legs were heavy. Her feet felt like they weighed ten tons each. The stairs leading to her door seemed more like scaling a mountain than a quick climb.

The lights were on, reminding her that Franklin was in there, waiting for her return. All she had left to do before falling into bed was to smile and thank him for his efforts.

Even that seemed like almost too much work.

She unlocked her front door and stepped inside. The smell of lemon cleaner filled her nose, telling her the team had taken a bit of extra time in their efforts to make sure her house was free of danger.

Franklin came out of the kitchen wearing yellow rubber gloves. His gray T-shirt was stained with bleach spots, and there were smudges of dirt on his face and forearms. The knees of his jeans looked like they'd been used to clean an engine.

As soon as he saw it was her, all the color drained from his face. He looked genuinely afraid, and he wasn't a man who scared easily. “I know you're going to be pissed, but please understand I had no choice.”

She wasn't going to be pissed that he cleaned. Saved her the trouble of caring enough to do the job herself. “Let your neat freak flag fly at my house all you like, sweetheart. I don't mind.”

He looked at the gloves as if just realizing he wore them. “It's not that. It's . . . the other thing.”

Bella stifled a growl. “I'm tired. It's been a long day. Whatever the other thing is, we'll talk about it in the morning.”

She headed for the kitchen to grab a glass of water, but Franklin stepped in her path. His voice was a mix of fear and apology. “Payton's in there.”

“Oh,
hell
, no.” She shoved past the young man, and sure enough, Payton was sitting at her kitchen table, sipping hot tea. “Get the fuck out,” she ordered.

“I tried to call. Apparently you've blocked my number.”

“You think? Perhaps because I didn't want to talk to you.”

“That's enough, Bella. Your childish tantrums aren't going to help Gage.”

She opened her mouth to show him what a real childish tantrum looked like when his words finally registered through the fog of her exhaustion. “What about Gage?”

“We have reason to believe he'll be moved soon.”

“Moved? From where? How do you know this? And who the hell is
we
?”

“Norwood contacted me an hour ago. He's been working his own angles.”

“And you hid this from me?”

“No. I swear I didn't. He didn't tell me anything until tonight. He knew I might share with you, and he wasn't ready for that.”

Bella turned to Franklin just long enough to say, “Thank you for watching the house. Now go home.”

“Are you sure you don't want me to stay?” he asked. “Play referee?”

She lifted her eyebrows and stared at him. That was enough to send him scurrying away.

“Were you worried about what he might hear?” asked Payton. “Or about having a witness to your impending violence?”

“Don't flatter yourself. As much as I want to punch you in the face, you're not worth even a single night in jail for assault. Now spill. Where is Gage?”

“We don't know. All Norwood got was a bit of chatter between two people we know work for Stynger.”

“What
do
you know?”

“Only that there's some kind of important cargo being moved tonight.”

“And you think it's Gage?”

“One of them slipped and said
he
instead of
it
. We're assuming the cargo is human rather than a lab animal.”

She shoved away her exhaustion and forced herself to start putting together a plan. “Where?”

“As soon as I tell you that, you'll fly out of here to go after him.”

“He's my friend—a concept with which you're doubtlessly unfamiliar.”

“Bella,” he said, in that paternal tone that set her teeth on edge.

“Don't. Just don't. There's no time for one of your lectures. Where is Gage?”

“I'll tell you under one condition.”

She didn't want to bargain with the devil, but this was not the time to be stubborn. Gage needed her. “What?”

“When this is all said and done, when Gage is home safely, you and I are going to sit down and hash things out. We've spent too many years together to let our relationship fall apart the way it has.”

The need to scream at him surged up her throat. She had to grit her teeth and swallow hard to hold it in. “Fine. You want to talk, we'll talk. Just know that it's not going to be some polite chat. You were part of the project that ruined my life. You hid that from me for years. Lied to me. That's the kind of thing that deserves some raised voices. Possibly broken bones. You're going to sign a waiver stating you're okay with that.”

“I understand. You can yell at me all you like so long as we work through our differences. I love you, Bella. You're the only family I have left.”

“I'm not your family. Never have been. Family doesn't do the things you did to me. But if you want to pretend like a few nice words are going to clear the air, then fine. Whatever you have to tell yourself. I don't care anymore. All I want is to find Gage and kill Stynger.”

His face fell with disappointment, but he hid it fast. “I want that, too. I've already called in a team to meet us at the Edge. A helicopter is waiting for us.”

*   *   *

As soon as Victor arrived at the Edge to board the chopper heading out on some secret assignment and saw Bella, he knew why Payton had insisted he come along. She was out of control, and not a single one of her employees had the guts to stand up to her when she got like this. Except him.

She was pacing like a caged beast on the building's rooftop, her black hair flying around in the wash of the helicopter's blades. It was dark, but the roof was bathed in more than enough light to see her clearly. She was dressed in clinging black. A small arsenal of weapons and armor was strapped to her lean body, disguising the sleek curves he knew lay beneath. Each step she took vibrated with the need for violence, but it was her eyes that pulled him in.

She looked up as he approached, and the fear he saw on her face—the worry and pain—broke his heart. She covered her emotions as he neared, pulling on that mask of badass indifference she frequently wore, but he knew the truth.

Bella was hurting. Afraid. Gage was still missing, and it was tearing her up inside.

Victor was drawn to her, wishing he could pull her into his arms and offer her some kind of comfort. But with the pilot looking on and Payton lurking nearby, Victor knew his efforts would be both unwanted and futile. He'd already pissed her off once tonight. He really had no desire to do so again.

“Took you long enough,” she yelled over the sound of the chopper.

He didn't bother wasting his breath with excuses. He'd grabbed his gear the instant Payton had called. The only way he could have arrived faster was if someone had invented teleporters.

“Is this about Gage?” He couldn't imagine anything else that would have caused such an emotional reaction in her. Unless someone else she loved had been hurt.

She nodded, but said nothing. She got on board and strapped in. He followed her lead. Once their headsets were in place, the chopper took off.

“Fill me in,” he said.

Payton was the one who spoke first. “We're intercepting a transport.”

“Is Gage on it?”

“We don't know,” Bella said. “I sure as hell hope so.”

“Do we have more men en route?” asked Victor.

“No,” Bella said, eyeing Payton with suspicion. “We still don't know who is behind our recent breach in security. The fewer people who know about this, the better. This may be our only shot at rescuing him.”

Payton rolled his eyes. “I was the one who told you about the chatter, remember? I'm the one who set up the flight so we could reach the transport before it's too late.”

Her lip curled with mistrust. “For all I know, you're sending us right into a trap.”

“If that had been the case, I wouldn't have insisted on coming along. Or that we wait for Victor to arrive before takeoff. You're the one who wanted to rush in alone without any details.”

“Maybe if you'd shared them with me, rather than keeping secrets like you always do, I could have made a more informed decision.”

Victor needed to stop this argument before it escalated and someone got thrown out of the chopper door. “Can we focus on what we know? What are we walking into?”

“Norwood has electronic eyes on the truck—a twenty-six-foot trailer,” Payton said. “My hope is that Gage is inside, but the truck could be on the receiving end, picking him up. We'll wait until it stops, then make our move. Chatter says the rendezvous is at oh four hundred.”

Victor glanced at his watch. “Location?”

“We're not entirely clear on that. That's why Norwood is playing eyes in the sky with a satellite feed.”

“How long until we intercept the truck?” asked Bella as she began checking her weapons.

The pilot chimed in. “Forty minutes. Sit back and relax.”

No way was that happening. Each second stretched out, the tension so high it vibrated the air between Payton and Bella. Victor waited until the man was distracted with the pilot, then reached over and put his hand on her knee.

He knew it was inappropriate. He knew he was risking pulling back a stump where his hand used to be. He just didn't care. All he could think about was how stiff she was beside him, how worried and afraid she looked.

As tough as Bella wanted the world to think she was—as tough as she had made herself—she was still breakable. Everyone had a breaking point, and he didn't want to see her reach hers. A little bit of comfort could go a long way. Assuming she took it as such.

She looked at his hand for a few seconds, then up at him. He had expected to see anger on her face, but instead, he saw something else. Lines of strain and fatigue fanned out from her eyes. Their usual bright gray color was a bit dull. There was a weariness about her that lasted for the space of three heartbeats before dissipating.

She covered his hand with hers, gave him one tight squeeze, then lifted his hand away. As soon as she did, the cracks in her usual facade closed up and that invulnerable badass he knew so well returned.

The dark landscape flew by. Victor had been on many a flight like this one before, headed into an unknown situation. He wasn't nervous, but there was a faint hum of excitement just below his skin.

His senses were running hot, taking in every detail. He could smell Bella's skin, along with leather, a metallic hint of rust and the damp nighttime air.

She stared out the window, giving him the opportunity to look at the side of her face. He loved the curve of her cheek and the little swirl of her dainty ears—not that he'd ever call them dainty to her face. Her glossy hair was tied back in a ponytail, the ends dangling down her back in a complete windblown mess. He wanted to run his fingers through it and undo the damage the chopper's blades had done, feeling the cool strands slide along his skin. They'd be warm near her scalp, and he wondered how she'd react if he grabbed a fistful of her hair and held her head in place while he kissed her.

No doubt his balls would be relocated into his throat by her knee, but it was almost worth the risk on the off chance that she wouldn't try to unman him when he touched her.

He didn't know how long he stared at her, but the sight was intriguing enough that time slid by faster than it usually did on the way to a mission.

“The truck is up ahead,” said the pilot.

“Veer north so we're not noticed,” Payton said.

“No,” Bella said. “If Gage is on that truck, then I want to stop it in its tracks before it reaches reinforcements.”

“What are you going to do?” asked Payton. “Jump on top of it?”

“Why the hell not? We brought rappelling gear for a reason. Seems a shame not to use it.”

“You're injured and not in any shape for that kind of maneuver,” Payton said.

“I am,” Victor said. “What do we have to breach the trailer's shell?”

Payton shook his head. “Doesn't matter. It's not going to happen. We head north.”

The chopper turned north.

Bella leaned forward in her seat to address the pilot. “If you don't turn this chopper back around, you're fired.”

“Sorry, ma'am,” said the pilot. “I work for Norwood, not you. He specifically said to follow Mr. Bainbridge's orders.”