You Only Love Twice (Masters and Mercenaries #8)(26)

“I’m afraid they aren’t going to walk in. I think they’re going to try to take Phoebe without giving themselves away, and I won’t let it happen.” He pulled his SIG from his holster.

Erin shook her head. “Dude, we can’t attack an American military unit.”

“I’m not attacking. I’m defending.” They didn’t get to walk into his home and take his shit. And yes, Phoebe would likely protest that she wasn’t his shit, but she didn’t get a say-so. Until he was satisfied and done with her, she belonged to him. Then the f*cking Agency could do what they wanted to him.

“Get the doors locked,” he yelled. It might buy them some time.

Li started to move for the office doors just as someone kicked them open.

Damn it. They hadn’t even had time to lock the doors.

He caught a glimpse of a group of black clad men and then watched as a familiar looking cylinder rolled into the office.

“Bloody f*cking hell!” Li yelled as the flashbang rolled in. He pivoted on his heels and leapt toward Erin.

Jesse turned as fast as he could as the world blasted with smoke. He protected his eyes before the flare flashed, but his ears rang.

In the distance, he could sense men moving in. He managed to stay on his feet, managed to keep moving. It wasn’t the first time he’d been hit with one of those f*ckers.

He turned briefly and there was already fighting. Li was on the ground, having taken the full brunt of the flashbang by covering Erin’s body with his own. She was already on her feet, kicking out against a man who moved into the room.

He caught sight of eight men moving in, their guns at the ready. They moved in an easy formation that spoke of years and years of training. They were utterly silent, their faces covered by dark masks, but Jesse had learned to see through such trivial things. He remembered men by the way they walked, the way their shoulders set, and how their eyes moved.

He’d seen these men before. He’d watched them in battle. They might want to stay anonymous, but he wasn’t about to let that happen.

“Tennessee Smith!” He couldn’t really hear himself, but he was trying to shout.

One of the men stopped, but Jesse watched as his jaw squared. “Find her. We don’t leave without her. Get it done.”

Li tried to get up, but he had a gun pointed at his head.

Erin kicked out at her opponent and for a few seconds it didn’t look like the man knew what to do. She caught him squarely in the midsection and Jesse knew his ears were clearing because he heard an audible huff as the operative briefly lost the ability to breathe. He had to give the kid credit as he came right back up. He caught Erin and hauled her back against his body. She immediately brought her elbow up and back, easily getting away.

She didn’t get more than a few steps before the man tackled her. He tossed his full weight on top and wrestled her down to the floor.

Just like that Jesse knew Ten had given orders not to kill. There was no other explanation. No one was going to fire a shot. The guns were there to intimidate, but no one had told Big Tag that. Ten likely thought he could do a quick, get in, get out mission since it was the middle of the day. He possibly believed shock and awe would work, but what the stupid f*cker hadn’t counted on was Charlotte Taggart throwing a baby shower and the office being full of women and kids.

Tag was going to kill someone. Maybe a whole lot of someones.

A big guy with an M4A1 carbine pointed it his way. “Get on your knees.”

No f*cking way. He felt the pressure build. It always seemed to start low in his gut, though he knew it was all in his brain. Somehow the fear manifested itself in a physical way and it didn’t matter that it was a lovely day in Dallas and the air conditioning was set low because Charlotte always seemed warm these days. None of that mattered because his vision blurred and he could feel the heat of the Iraqi sun on his face, feel his skin. It was too tight. He’d woken up after the IED had blasted his Humvee and he’d been shoved out of the vehicle, reaching back for the new guy.

“I said get on your knees. In a minute or two this is all going to be over and you can go about your day,” the man said.

Jesse was caught between worlds. He was almost certain the man in front of him was Case Taggart, but about half the words that came from his mouth were said in Farsi.

He took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to go there. He needed to stay in the here and now. Dallas. He was in Dallas and Ten had come to reclaim his lover.

Yeah, that wasn’t going to happen.

He punched Case right in the face, secure in the fact that the soldier had likely been told not to fire a shot.

“Shit!” Case yelled before returning with a punch of his own.

Jesse took it right on the jaw. The pain flared, but it also kept him in the here and now. He looked to his left and the operatives had scattered, though their numbers had diminished since it was taking two of the eight to hold down Li and Erin.

“They won’t shoot!” Jesse yelled.

“Like f*ck we won’t,” the one pointing a gun at Li said.

Case pointed that gun at Jesse again. “Stand down. On your knees.”

Jesse wasn’t fooled again. Though the words the man used were a trigger for him, the actual trigger told the tale. “Your f*cking safety’s on, *.”

He punched him again, hard across the bridge of his nose, and Case went down. Jesse looked up and Big Tag was moving into the room, his body protected by a large man in the same black uniform everyone else was wearing. He had his hands up and a tense look on his face as Tag forced him into the room, a SIG at the back of his head. There was no way Tag had the safety on that one.