Taken by Fire (26 page)

The way Dev looked between them had Mel thinking he was
going to refuse, but he finally nodded and strode through the door. The second it was closed, Stryker grabbed her, hauled her against him, and held her like he would never let her go.

M
el, as always, fit in his arms like she was born to be there.

According to Oz, she was. Maybe one day Stryker would let her know that they were pretty much fated. Although it kind of freaked him out, at least he knew he was with the person he was supposed to be with.

Even if he hadn’t known, it still felt fucking completely right.

“I’m proud of you,” he murmured against her cheek.

“And you want me too.”

“Well, yes.” He licked the side of her neck. “Could only help your powers.”

“We can’t do anything right now. Everyone’s watching us,” she mumbled.

“They’re jealous. And I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

Mel went up on her toes and pressed her lips to his. It was a soft, hot kiss and it turned molten quickly, and yeah, they would either have to do it right here or he’d have to back off.

He did so reluctantly. “It looks like you and Devlin are getting along.”

“He seems to understand … he hates Alek as much as I do.”

Stryker’s gut twisted, and he wondered when—if—Devlin would ever reveal his connection with Mel. “Yeah, he does.”

She brought a hand up to stroke his face, her palm cool against his cheek. “I’ve been worried about you. We didn’t get much of a chance to talk on the flight over here. But I heard what happened—between you and the agent who had a baby.”

Shit
. “Who told you that?”

“Everyone’s talking about it. The conversation stops when I get close, but I have ears.”

“Annika has … trust issues.”

“With good reason, I guess.” She inhaled deeply. “I don’t remember seeing her, but she must have been in the jungle, right?”

“Let’s not do this right now, Mel. We’ve come pretty damned far in a short period of time. We’ll need to let everyone else catch up.”

“We’ve definitely come far.”

His hand stroked her hair. “You’re going to have to promise me you’ll stay safe during this.”

There was so much riding on her. Almost too much, for any agent—but for Mel, who was just learning to control her powers and was often at the mercy of her alter ego, the burden was crushing.

“You really do trust me,” she said softly.

“I do.” He tugged away from her. “Come on—I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“What?” she asked as she followed around the side of the house, to the far end of the balcony that wrapped around the building. She stopped short when she saw the table—he’d managed to bribe the handful of ACRO support staff they’d brought with them into creating a breakfast that went beyond the instant powdered eggs and dehydrated hash browns they’d made for the assault teams—and while it wasn’t much, he hoped it would do the trick.

“It’s not what you deserve—it’s a little late to pull together what I wanted—but I figured you might need some fuel to calm your nerves,” he told her.

She was so entranced by the sight of pancakes on the table she didn’t even thank him, just walked over and began to eat, a peacefulness in her eyes, illuminated by the soft candlelight. That was all he needed to see. And even though they’d be in a dangerous situation sooner than later, Stryker pulled up a chair and joined her at the table.

Mel was serving him now—sharing her eggs and toast with such concern for his appetite that he ate every bite.

The smile she gave him afterward was worth it.

“You know, you’re awfully calm,” she told him when she finally put down her fork. He doubted she was sated, but she was no doubt thinking ahead to the work she needed to do.

For that, it was better to have a little of that hunger burning inside.

“Yeah, well, I’ve got as much fear as the next person. It’s healthy. It’s just that I’m pretty good at this helping-to-save-the-world stuff. This frees the world—and you—of Itor. A damned good thing, which makes me more than ready to kick some ass.”

“Stryker? I’m, ah … scared.” Her admission was shaky, but there wasn’t a doubt in his body that she would never think of backing down.

“Fear keeps you smart, Mel. You’ve been practicing. You’re getting good at controlling your powers. And you’re not on your own anymore. If something happens, and your power’s depleted, an ACRO agent will cover you, okay?”

“But—”

“No buts. You’re with me, dammit. And that’s going to be good enough for all of them.”

I
t was a go. His agents were armed and at the ready. But this time, Devlin felt more of a tug of worry than he usually did. Tried to clear his mind so he wasn’t sending out negative messages to his psychic agents—or subliminally to the others.

A team was only as good as its weakest link and he refused to be that link again.

He watched Gabriel, suited up and ready to head out on a semi-solo mission of his own—a mission inside the mission, an important task that could get him killed.

Devlin argued with himself that the boy wasn’t ready. But he knew that was a half-truth—no agent was truly ever prepared and Gabriel had faced a battle already and come back wiser, if not stronger.

“Let’s roll,” Ender said, leading the excedos out of the house.

Gabriel was about to head out last when Devlin called him back into the room.

Words spilled from the younger man before Dev had a chance to speak. “You’re not going to pull me out of this, are you? Because I can finally fucking do something for you, and you can’t stop me.”

“What makes you think you don’t do anything for me?” Devlin demanded.

“Yeah, I know—I get you off.”

“Dammit, Gabriel.” He hauled the man into his arms and kissed him, hard. When he pulled away, Gabe was staring at him. Because he knew something had changed. “I love you, you asshole. I didn’t want to say it until …”

“Until you knew I survived. Because it would hurt less that way.” There was no rancor or judgment in Gabriel’s voice. Only understanding.

“How the hell you got so smart is beyond me.” Devlin hung his head. “I know it was foolish. It would hurt just as much whether I said it or not.”

“I’m just glad you finally copped to it.”

“You be safe out there, Gabriel. You hear me?”

“Yeah, I hear you. I think I finally fucking hear you,” Gabe whispered in his ear. “When I finish, I’m going to fuck you into the mattress.”

Devlin jerked his head up at Gabe’s warning—his cock twitched in response, and Gabe smiled as if he knew.

Thanks to all the activity and preparations for the attack, Melanie had been forced to stay in control of the body she shared with her sister, and though Melanie kept up on the injections, she got less time now between them. Phoebe had mentioned that issue before, saying that using more than three injections in a row would begin a rapid breakdown of their effectiveness. Worse, by about the sixth shot, chest pains began. Mel had come awake a couple of times after Phoebe’s run of several injections, only to spend the day in pain—once in an Itor medical unit. Mel kept all of this to herself, not wanting to worry Stryker or make Dev see her as a liability.

But hopefully, today would be the last time she ever had to inject herself more than once in a row anyway. More important, today would be the last time she saw the Itor compound. And her father.

Half the agents closed in on the ranch in vehicles under the cover of darkness and the severe storm Remy fired up. Others went in on foot, while still others dropped in from aircraft.

Mel, Dev, Gabe, Stryker, and Ender hung back while the first wave of the assault went down, which happened immediately after Itor’s initial shock from the storm wore off. Zach handled the dogs, but soon gunfire, explosions, and screams coming from all over the property turned the compound into a nightmare.

Mel wasn’t sure what Dev was waiting for, but he finally nodded, and then they were all off like a shot from the ridge where they’d been waiting. Stryker kept Itor men at bay by opening up rifts in the earth beneath them, and if the situation hadn’t been so dire, she’d have gotten seriously turned on. His confidence, the gleam in his eyes, the dangerous expression on his face as he wielded a power so mighty … she couldn’t contain a shiver of appreciation.

The ground shook all around them, and enemies tumbled into fissures that closed up as quickly as they’d opened. Any who managed to escape were taken out by Ender so fast Melanie missed it if she blinked.

It was all so horrible, and she had to keep repeating to herself that these people had hurt her. Had hurt a lot of innocents.

As Mel and Stryker mounted the steps to the main ranch house, a whistling sound brought Mel around. Her adrenaline was already a hot flame in her veins, but she screamed, dove for Stryker, and took him down on the deck as a pitchfork impaled itself in the wood slats right where his head would have been. That made her feel a little less sorry for all the dead Itor agents.

“Nice call, babe,” he breathed, as he helped her up.

“You said not to use my power.” Not that freezing the thing would have helped. But yeah, she was saving it all up for an emergency.

Or for Alek.

Ender zipped away, and for a few agonizing moments fought with the telekinetic who had launched the pitchfork. The sound of a spine snapping cut through the other sounds of battle, and then Ender was back, looking pleased as could be.

Melanie would never understand warrior types. And where
was Gabe? She looked around, but the man was gone. No one seemed concerned, so apparently that was part of a plan she didn’t know about, but
 … damn
.

Pistols drawn, the men entered the house, took down two Itor agents immediately, and then Melanie darted for the door to the right, the one that looked like a closet. The men guarded her while she stood for a retina scan, and then the hidden rear panel slid open, leading to a well-lit staircase that would take them into the underground facility.

As planned, Ender and Stryker remained behind to signal a false retreat. Dev handed Melanie his weapon, put up his hands, and moved ahead of her. Before she kicked into fake-Phoebe mode, she turned to Stryker.

“Be careful.”

Though they scarcely had the time for it, he framed her face in his hands, bent his head, and kissed her. “You too.”

Ender pushed a button on his watch. “We’ll bring a team in ten minutes, unless the doors don’t open or Sam tells us different. You in contact?”

Dev gave a sharp nod. “She’s with me for now.”

The facility was shielded against psychic interference, so there was a good chance that once Dev was belowground, his connection with Samantha would fail—which was why they’d had to set a time for the underground assault to begin. If all went well, Mel would deliver Dev to Alek and then sneak away to shut down the psychic shield and open all the doors around the ranch that led to the various underground buildings.

“Mel,” Dev said, “Alek’s been in my mind before, and he can probably do it again. Which means that once we meet up with him, you’ll need to get away quickly and carry out your part of the plan before he gets inside my mind and finds out you aren’t Phoebe.”

She nodded. “Got it.” She paused. “If he gets in your head and then somehow gets away, could he use the information to—”

“It would take weeks to get everything from me,” Dev assured
her. “And there are some things I trust other agents with, so no one person, including me, has
all
of ACRO’s secrets.”

Made sense, and Mel wondered if Alek did the same.

They moved down the staircase, with Mel pretending to be holding Dev captive. They made it past the first three people they encountered—all it took was for Melanie to bark out, “I have ACRO’s boss. The assholes are falling back—go help! Now!”

The three tore up the stairs, where Ender and Stryker would take them down.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth people were where the trouble started.

Ian, a wall of muscle who was one of the few people who knew about Phoebe’s relationship to Alek, rounded a corner. A man Mel didn’t know came up behind Ian, and both drew down on Dev with their pistols.

“I’m taking him to Alek,” she snapped. “Move aside.”

“Alek gave orders that no one passes this point,” Ian said.

Mel snorted. God, she hoped Phoebe snorted. “That order never includes me, and you know it.”

“We’ve never been under attack by an enemy agency.”

“ACRO is in retreat, and I hope you enjoy sunburns.” She kept her gun hand steady between Dev’s shoulder blades and threw out her other hand, praying these idiots would back down in the face of Phoebe’s power.

“Phoebe.” The voice from her flank filled her with dread. “Stand down.”

She turned slowly to see Alek in the doorway to his personal chambers. This was what they’d come here for, but suddenly, she was wishing they’d gone with another plan.

“Dev.” Alek smiled, the wolfish one that sent shivers down her spine. “So good to finally meet you. Nice work, Phoebe. Where the hell have you been?”