She blinked. “W-what? I . . . already knew that.”
He repeated himself as if she hadn’t spoken. “I was in the Marines, Cate, and I was discharged, other than honorably.” With a stricken look, Ash got to his feet and slung the duffel over his shoulder. “Your father took a chance on me when no one else would. I owe him my life.”
It was the answer to the question that she hadn’t asked. Hadn’t been brave enough to ask.
“Go to college, sweetheart. And when you do, trust me when I say that you’re going to find something—or someone—that deserves you.”
She lay there for a long time, listening to the echo of his boots as they walked away from her.
Those retreating footsteps rang louder in her ears than his words.
Chapter 8
Present day
The tiny hospital wing in Guatana’s army base wasn’t equipped for Jim Morgan’s crew. The mercenaries filled up all the space, sucking the oxygen out of the rooms until Cate found it painful to draw a breath. She wondered if she was going to unravel, one atom at a time. And in front of Noelle, to boot, which would be the worst thing that could ever happen.
Over by the small window, Jim’s wife stood with her arms crossed. Her beautiful face looked as if it were carved out of stone. Cate, on the other hand, felt like jelly—weak and soft and crushable. Essentially the opposite of everyone surrounding her.
She’d told Jim that she could handle herself in the field, but she was a hiccup away from breaking down. Riya was dead because of her. Morgan was injured because of her. All of this was because of her.
She hugged her arms tighter around herself and tried to concentrate on what Kane was saying to Derek Pratt, who’d shown up at some point during Jim’s surgery.
“What’s the ETA on the rest of the team?”
“Trevor and Isabel are already headed for the compound. Luke’s still in Aspen but he’s tracking down a charter. Bailey and the twins should be here in six hours. Juliet is landing shortly. I left word with Boston and Sully”—D shrugged, his broad shoulders shifting under a thin camp shirt—“but who knows? I’m going to check in with Castle and the contractors again, make sure they’re still on standby.”
“Supplies?” Kane asked.
“I’m on that duty,” Ethan volunteered. “What do we want?”
“Everything. Ammo, electronics, vehicles. It’s not hard to get our hands on anything we need. There’s a black market here and starving people.”
“I’ll come with you,” D grunted.
Ethan offered a quick nod and the two men took off, leaving Kane standing halfway between Noelle and Cate. It was obvious to Cate that he wanted to leave too, but she wasn’t sure if it was because he was worried the women would get into a fight or if he hated hospitals as much as she did.
Kane dragged a hand through his hair. “Fuck, okay. We should—”
“Sorry to interrupt,” a brusque male voice cut in.
Cate’s gaze shot to the door as Timo Varela, the base commander, strode into the exam room they were using as a waiting area. Varela had been the one to greet her and Noelle after they’d driven past the heavily guarded gates onto the military base.
According to Noelle, he was a trusted contact of Jim’s. Apparently the two men had known each other for years, and the stern-faced military leader had been aghast at the condition in which they’d brought Morgan to him. That had been four hours ago and there was still no word on Jim. The medical personnel had whisked him away on a gurney, leaving Cate staring after him with bloodstained clothes and tears in her eyes.
“I thought you’d like an update on Jim’s condition,” Varela said grimly. “I just spoke to the surgeon.”
Noelle swung around, her ice-blue eyes finally revealing a hint of emotion: indignation. “Why the fuck can’t we go in there and speak to the surgeon ourselves?”
Varela’s tone was clipped. “As I’ve already told you, the operating wing is a restricted area. I’m sorry, but I can’t bend the rules for you.”
Her mouth flattened into a deadly line. “You’ve already bent the shit out of your rules by allowing us to use your base as our point of operation. Will it really make a difference if you let me see my goddamn husband? If you let his daughter see him?”
“It’s a restricted area.” His answering scowl was equally menacing. “And I’d like to remind you that I’m doing you a courtesy right now by allowing you to be here. One word from me and my men will kindly escort you out.”
Noelle arched a brow. “You realize who you’re talking to, right?”
The older man chuckled. “I’m well aware of it. But I’m confident that you won’t harm a hair on my head—not as long as I’m of use to you.”
“What’s the update on my father?” Cate burst out, tired of their preamble. She appreciated Varela’s assistance, but she wasn’t in the mood to witness some bullshit power showdown between him and Noelle.
“Not good, I’m afraid.” He softened his voice as he addressed Cate. “The surgeon removed two of the bullets. One narrowly missed his spine. Neither of them, fortunately, caused any internal damage. But the third bullet . . .” He paused.
Cate’s heart jumped in fear.
“It left quite a lot of damage,” Varela admitted. “The third bullet lodged between the C5 and C6 vertebrae, fracturing the left side of the bone. There’s a lot of swelling and fluid buildup in the region, not to mention blood loss. He’s struggling to breathe on his own so they’ve hooked him up to a ventilator. Because of the position of the bullet, the surgeon is leery of removing it at this point.”
“What does that mean?” Kane snapped. “Because of the position of the bullet?”
“Because of the swelling and fractured bones, they’re concerned about doing more damage and possibly causing paralysis. He’s hoping that in a day or two, the swelling will go down enough to allow them to operate again. I’m afraid that’s all I know. The surgeon said it’ll be several more hours. We’ll know more then.”
Varela stepped forward and gave Cate’s arm a gentle squeeze while casting a sympathetic glance in Noelle’s direction. “I’m needed at a briefing soon, but I’ll check in with you later. My men have been briefed about you and they’ll give you wide berth.”
“Thanks,” Noelle bit out.
With a nod, Varela exited the room.
There was a split second of silence. Then, to Cate’s disbelief, the others picked up their conversation right where they’d left it.
“We’ll need to secure another safe house in case Varela decides to boot us,” Kane said.
Noelle nodded. “Already on it.”
“Seriously?” Cate blurted out, her accusatory gaze shifting between them. “Nobody’s even going to address what the surgeon said?”
“The surgeon said shit,” Noelle snapped. “All we know is that Jim’s still being operated on.”
“But paralysis—”
“He’ll be fine.”
“But—”
“He’ll be fine,” the woman growled.
But what if he isn’t?
Her bleak thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Cate knew whose feet were encased in those heavy black leather boots without looking up. She felt his intense green eyes fix on the top of her head and wished, with all of her might, that he would disappear. Or that she would. She’d take either option at this point.
But both were a coward’s way out, and she wasn’t a coward.
She forced her gaze to move from Ash’s boots to his moss-green eyes. They were filled with sympathy and it made Cate want to fly over and slap him hard across the face.
Life was such a bitch. The first boy she’d ever had a crush on had been murdered by her grandfather for getting too close to Cate. Her second crush? Couldn’t get away from her fast enough.
The last time she’d la
id eyes on Ash, he’d taken the offer of her virginity and thrown it back in her face. It had been the single most humiliating event in her life, which said a lot, because she’d had several. Thanks to the bodyguards who followed her around most of her life, Cate had had a witness to all of her failures, from getting her first period in a public place—which required one of the guards to run to the pharmacy for sanitary pads—to the time she’d been caught gawking too long at a movie star in Monte Carlo and ended up falling face-first into a table of tourists.
Not one of her adolescent misadventures had left a mark like the one Ash’s rejection had burned into her psyche.
Now, she stared at him coldly, wishing she could tell him to get the hell away from here, that he didn’t belong. But Jim’s men had more right to him than she did—they’d known him longer. Besides, she couldn’t deny that things hadn’t been good between her and Jim these last couple of years. He wanted to keep her locked up in a tower room. She wanted to live. Ergo, they fought—a lot—and because Cate hated fighting almost as much as she hated the man in front of her, she stayed away from the compound more than she visited.
Ash’s gaze was wary as he took in the room. “How is he?”
“He’s . . .” For a moment, Kane sounded lost. His longtime friend and leader was being cut open in some operating room right now, and even though Morgan’s second-in-command knew what to do, he clearly didn’t want to be in this position. Not under these circumstances anyway.
Cate didn’t want him making decisions either. That was her dad’s role.
“Kane?” Ash prompted.
“He’s still in surgery.”
“I left a message for Holden, like you asked. Is it that bad?”
Kane’s eyes shot toward Cate. He lowered his voice but she could still hear him. “Yeah, it’s bad.”
“Of course it is,” she snapped, tired of everyone pretending like she was too fragile to know the truth. “Kane wouldn’t have called the entire squad and summoned them to this hellhole unless it was to say good-bye. That’s what it is, right?” She jutted her chin out and dared Kane to contradict her.
He gave her a thin smile. “A few bullets aren’t going to keep Jim down, but the boss would have my balls if I didn’t launch a counterattack. No one touches you and lives to tell about it.”
“Whatever, Kane. You can tell whatever lies you’d like, but I visited my dead mother for seventeen years. I know brain-dead when I see it.”
Ash looked startled. “He’s brain-dead?”
“No,” she answered through gritted teeth. “But he’s a lot more critical than everyone wants to admit.” Her face hardened as she turned back to Kane. “Maybe you need to come to terms with it.”
Kane flinched under her harsh words, but she wasn’t at all remorseful.
“He’s just thinking of all contingencies,” Ash said tentatively.
Cate whipped around so she didn’t have to face those eyes that seemed to see all the way inside of her. “Don’t talk to me.”
She shifted, putting her back to the two mercenaries, and stared at the empty hospital bed in the center of the room. They’d probably put Jim in here when he got out of surgery. God, she didn’t even want to think about how he might look. She knew what death was. It looked like waxen skin, felt cold, and smelled of antiseptic. Her grandfather had kept her mom alive for seventeen years—but it wasn’t alive. It was a form of grotesque necromancy. Cate had pulled the plug on her mother and she’d do it for her father if it came down to it.
Guilt and self-loathing swamped her. Yeah, she would make sure her dad didn’t spend years on a ventilator, hooked up to bags of nutrition while a nurse changed his diapers every few hours or emptied out the cath bag. If Cate had to pull out every tube, IV, and wire to make him stop breathing, she’d do it. Then she’d be Cate Morgan, the girl who’d killed both her parents. Lizzie Borden had nothing on her.
The urge to fall apart was climbing up her throat again. Damn it, she would not cry. She would not break apart in front of these operatives. She would—
“You just had to come here, didn’t you?” Noelle asked from the window.
Cate’s jaw fell open. “Maybe you should’ve kept better track of your leaks. I was fine—Riya was alive—until I sent that picture to you.”
“You came to us for information and we contacted our sources for you. It got out. All information does.” Noelle tapped the end of her unlit cigarette against the windowsill. “Besides, what did you expect when you arrived? Guatana is a dangerous place. Bad things happen in dangerous places. Isn’t that why you came here? Because it was oh so dangerous and you could show your father how capable you were.”
Cate’s cheeks burned with anger at the woman’s mocking tone. “I came here because taking pictures is how I get paid. Because it’s my job.”
“If you say so, honey. But you never told Jim you were coming here because you knew what he’d do.”
“Yeah, he’d be on the first plane to drag me back to Costa Rica where I would fossilize into old age in the jungle. If I wanted that life, I would’ve stayed with my grandfather.”
Noelle opened her mouth to retort, but before she could unleash her cutting words, Kane stepped forward. “All right. Time out. You two go to your corners. Noelle—go outside and have a smoke before nicotine withdrawal makes you say things you regret. Attacking each other isn’t going to make Jim come out of surgery any faster.”
“We need to start making phone calls,” Noelle muttered. “I’ll contact Bailey again. Ash, call Luke and see if he’s found a plane yet.”
“I’ll call Liam again,” Kane said. “Maybe he’ll pick up this time.”
“I want in,” Cate spoke up. “Jim’s my dad. I have every right to be part of whatever action you take against Rivera.”
She anticipated a fight. She got one.
“No way,” Kane said immediately.
Ash wasn’t far behind. “Agreed. Morgan would string us up by our nuts if you got hurt.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to be careful, won’t I?” Cate knew arguing with these men was futile. She needed to prove she wasn’t going to be a liability. How she was going to do that, though, she wasn’t sure. Her gaze flicked to Noelle, the only person in the room who hadn’t issued a decree that Cate sit on her hands.
Noelle stared steadily back. “Go through every photograph and see if there’s any additional information.”
She nodded. She’d already done that once, before she’d sent the photo, but she’d go over them again. Maybe there would be a car or a license plate or someone else they could use. “On it.”
“One more thing,” Noelle called as Cate headed for the door.
She stopped in the doorway. “Yeah?”
“Take Ash with you.”
Cate pressed her lips together to prevent a scream of frustration. This was a stupid, fucking test by Noelle. A test to see if Cate would follow orders. And if she didn’t, then Noelle wouldn’t allow her to set foot inside the briefing room again, because a soldier who didn’t follow the chain of command endangered everyone on the mission. Jim had taught her that during one of the first nights they’d gone hunting together.
“Is that a problem?” Noelle arched an eyebrow.
“No. I’ve worked with worse assholes before.” Cate left without looking to see if Ash followed.
He was, of course.
“So, that’s how it’s going to be,” he said softly.
She didn’t spare him a glance. “How else would it be?” she replied. Polite. Cool.
“I was hoping it would be . . . different.” A note of resignation weighed on his tone. Then he cleared his throat. “I need to make those calls. I’ll meet you in the war room.”
Gee. She couldn’t wait.
Chapter 9
Boston, Massachusetts
“
I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
The breathy voice vibrated in Liam Macgregor’s body, because Penny’s mouth was still on his dick as she whispered the excited words. He threaded a hand through her dark red hair and tipped her head back, peering down at her with a filthy grin.
“What? You’ve never given a blow job in a man’s childhood bedroom before?”
Penny giggled. “No. And I also haven’t done it when that man’s entire family is one story below having Sunday brunch.” She gave his shaft a slow tug, a worried look washing over her pretty face. “What if someone walks in on us?”
“They won’t. I locked the door, remember?” He guided those pouty lips back to his groin, then moaned softly when her hot, wet mouth immediately enveloped him.
Fuck, he loved blow jobs. And it was almost fitting that his girlfriend was on her knees here, in his childhood room, because this was the one place where his dick had never seen any action. Growing up with strict Irish Catholic parents and seven siblings who were always underfoot made it impossible to have any privacy in this house. Sneaking girls in would’ve required Houdini-level stealth, considering he’d shared this room with his two older brothers.
So yeah, he couldn’t deny he was getting a sick sense of satisfaction right now, standing there with Penny working his cock like a pro—while on the wall across from him hung a huge oil painting of Jesus. Would it be sacrilegious to give the old guy a thumbs-up? Probably, but religion had never been Liam’s thing.
His whole life, he’d played the part of the good Catholic boy, the altar boy, the mama’s boy, but deep down, he’d always known he didn’t fit in.
So why the hell are you back in Boston?
Shoving the question out of his mind, he focused on the tight suction on the tip of his cock, the delicate hand kneading his sac, and the sweet noises Penny was making as her head bobbed up and down.
He watched her—her swollen lips, flushed cheeks, copper hair streaming down her back. Each deep suck brought him closer to the edge and it wasn’t long before his fingers tightened in her hair and he grunted out a quick, “Coming, baby.”