Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(86)

When he felt his release was imminent, he slipped a hand between their bodies to gently rub her clit. He wanted her to come with him. He waited, waited, waited…then crashed through with her, pounding into her, egged on by the way her inner muscles clamped and tugged at him. She was pushing up against him, thrusting into his thrusts, making little whimpers until he slammed deep in and spilled himself.

When it was over, and the last tremors were easing from her body, he lifted himself up to his elbows to look down at her. Her eyes were dark. He imagined them turning purple. He touched her soft cheek. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” A tear slipped from her eye. “It was never like that. Not once.”

“Of course not. What you had before was torture. This is love. Big difference.” He eased himself from her, then rolled to his side and straightened the covers over them. “You’re staying with me tonight, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

He drew her close. “I want you in my bed every night, in my arms the rest of our lives, Laidy.”

Addy sighed and sat up. Owen pushed himself up on his pillows, hoping like hell she wasn’t about to kill his dreams. He shouldn’t have said anything.

“Owen, what if this is all true, everything the Ratcliffs said. What becomes of us?”

“Nothing changes.”

“But I am. I’ve been modified in ways we don’t fully understand yet. What if…I live forever…”

“…And I don’t.”

Addy nodded.

“We don’t yet know what we’re dealing with. Let’s figure that out first. Maybe it can be reversed.”

“What if it can’t? What if I’m one of those people whose body takes over the work the nanos were doing?”

Owen turned on the light. This was too serious a discussion to be having without his being able to see her face.

“Would you take the modifications, too?” she asked.

“I would.”

“I don’t know if I want you to. It’s dangerous. Your body might not survive the changes the nanos trigger.”

He lift her hand and kissed her knuckles. “It’s an easy decision for me to make, Addy, though I know it’s not a simple one. We lived without each other. It wasn’t a good time. Whatever happens, we’ll go through it together.”





27





Jafaar watched Deputy Sheriff Jerry Whitcomb pull into the lot. He moved a little deeper into the small park, away from the few people who were there so that their conversation wouldn’t be overhead. This time, he hadn’t brought any food for the ducks in the pond. Didn’t matter. He wouldn’t be there long. He knew the perfect way to grab the Ratcliffs—or at least get them to the place he wanted them.

The deputy caught up to him. Jafaar kept walking. “Good afternoon, deputy. I’m glad you were able to make our meeting.”

“Did I have a choice?”

“It is only a simple task I need from you, at the moment.”

“No. I have to lay low. I think the sheriff’s onto me.”

“Perhaps. But this task won’t cause you any bother. I need you to run an app for me.”

“I left my phone in the cruiser.”

“I have the app on this phone. All you need to do is go to the house where the Feds are. Get within twenty feet of a certain woman there, and run the app.”

“That’s all? That place is lousy with Feds. It’s locked down seven ways to Sunday.”

“You were friends once with Mrs. Silas, no? She gives lessons to Ms. Jacobs every afternoon. Visit them during one of their lessons. Be near Ms. Jacobs when you click the app.”

“What does it do?”

“It changes the lineup of power in my favor. More power for me, means more power for you. Do it this afternoon.”



Jerry drove back to Wolf Creek Bend. Jafaar’s request seemed innocuous enough. He didn’t know who Ms. Jacobs was, but he should be able to figure it out by getting close to Mandy. He had a bone to pick with Mandy anyway. She could have chosen him. He would have kept her safe. He and Amir’s other guy were the ones harassing her—he could have reassured her that she wouldn’t actually be harmed. As long as she cooperated.

All he had to do for today’s exercise was drive out onto BLM land, then come back into the group’s compound from the rear. An evergreen forest backed to the corrals where they’d be. He couldn’t drive in at that point, but it wasn’t a long hike. He could get in, run the app, and get out before anyone even saw him. Or so he thought before the sheriff started pestering him on the radio. He shut it off. He was almost to BLM land. He’d be out of cell phone range too very shortly.

His phone rang. Jerry ignored it. When it rang a third time, he picked up.

“Sheriff.”

“Jerry. What are you doing?”

“Got a call from a rancher about a dead cow. Out on BLM land.”

“That ain’t our jurisdiction.”

“True, but didn’t think it hurt to check it out. Rancher’s a friend of mine.”

“The call didn’t come over dispatch.”

“Nah. Like I said, it was a friend of mine, so he called me direct. I won’t be long. I’m just about out of cell phone range, sheriff. I’ll be back to the station shortly.” Right on cue, the line cut out. Jerry smiled and dumped his phone on the passenger seat.