Authors: Linda Eberharter

pdf - Eye of the Storm.PDF (29 page)

Quinn's amused snort came over the headset clearly. "I'll take that sucker as long as it is scotch-flavored and 120 proof. Now get your ass back downstairs, missy."

Ren crouched and duck-walked into the great room, the vast expanse of glass and one broken pane leaving anyone in the room open to being shot. "Where are you two?"

"Behind the bar," Keely said.

Reaching a control panel, Ren activated the metal blinds that would seal out anything but armor-piercing bullets or bombs. As the shield descended, several shots could be heard pinging off it. When the room was sealed off, he stood and moved swiftly to the bar. Keely held Quinn's head on her lap. Blood was everywhere. It had been more than a scratch.

"Shit. How bad?" He gestured for Keely to lift up the bloody towel she'd put on the wound in Quinn's shoulder. "Bullet still in there?"

"No," Quinn gritted through his teeth, "it's not. Where's Lacey?"

"I put out the alert. She should be underground with the other women, the techs and clerical staff." He looked at the two of them. "Which is where both of you are going now."

Vanko had come up and stood behind him. He'd gone to get weapons for them both and to clear out the upper floors and seal off the windows.

"Vanko, help me get them downstairs. Then we'll go to war."

"I'll watch the holo-table and give you bogey positions." Keely helped him shift Quinn off her lap. "I came up to ask you if the hot spots I saw were the recruits or not, since we haven't given them I.D. with their own codes yet. Tweetie is feeding intel to Price and Trey on the unkowns."

Keely had improved the table so they could tell which signatures were the home team and which weren't. Every full-time operative, tech and woman on Sanctuary had a unique signature embedded in a card they carried at all times. The system should give them an advantage in the coming fight.

Vanko and Ren lifted Quinn off the floor and helped the wounded man to the elevator to the basement where the Sanctuary non-combatants would congregate.

"Keely, we got this. You go and help Tweeter in the Bat Cave," Ren said.

"We'll give you good intel, big guy." She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. "Watch your ass. I'm fond of it, you know."

He nodded. "But not as fond as I am of yours. Stay safe, baby."

Keely backtracked to the hall leading to the elevator for the Bat Cave. As she moved toward her goal, she got the sense she was being followed. Yeah, her neck itched. Shit.

She touched her headset. "Ren, there's…" Her com device was ripped off her head before she could get the full warning out.

Two large arms wrapped around her middle and lifted her off the floor. "Got you, bitch."

"Bannon."

"Yeah. Meet my buddy." The man swung her around. Vences stood there, grinning like a loon. He had a coded card so Tweeter would not have seen him as a bogey. Bannon would have been a blip with a properly identified inhabitant.

"You had the naive act down pretty good, Vences. And your cover held up a lot better than Jordan's and Bannon's."

"Because it was all true." Vences leered at her. "Bannon recruited me after I came here, little
mamacita
."

"You preggers, bitch?" Bannon's hot breath blew past her ear. He roughly felt her stomach. "Ah, yeah, knocked up for sure. Never had me a pregnant woman before." Her skin wanted to shrivel up at his touch. The stink of his sweat brought back the nausea with a vengeance.

"And you aren't having one now." Ren would be here in a second and Bannon and company would be dead. They had no idea Ren was in the Lodge. Bannon dragged her uncooperative body toward the back entrance to the Lodge. She wondered how they'd gotten past Scotty—and where Ren and Vanko would make their moves.

"We're going for a ride. The big boss wants to ask you some questions. Seems your little cyber-programs have boxed out his jobs, cutting into his bottom-line. His bosses at DoD are looking at everyone, especially him, more closely now because of all your reports. He wants it stopped—and you dead. Sorry, baby. But I promise to make your last days memorable."

"Big boss? He's here? In Idaho?" She needed info and fast. She sensed Ren was close.

"Yeah. Makes you feel special, doesn't it?" Bannon bit her neck.

Because Ren was close and because the damn bite hurt, she screamed. Then she turned into Bannon, grabbing for his detestable hard-on and twisted it as she hooked a leg back and tripped the son of a bitch. She fell to the floor with him as he lost his balance.

She managed to roll out from under his heavy weight, protecting her tummy with her arms. His hands were too busy cupping his tortured equipment to grab her. Vences headed for her, his arms reaching. She rolled away and managed to scramble to her knees to crawl toward the doorway.

Ren and Vanko slid around the edge, guns in hand. Bannon had his gun drawn but instead of aiming it at the two men, he had her in his sights. She hugged the floor, giving her man a shot. Three shots rang out simultaneously. She felt the whisper of Bannon's shot over her head as it hit the doorframe. She turned. The other shots took down Bannon and Vences.

"Make sure they're down," Ren ordered Vanko. He went to his knees and pulled her into his arms. "Baby, you okay? God, the fucker's shot just missed. Sweetheart, where are you hurt? You screamed." He patted her all over, brushing wood fragments from her hair, his thumb whisking across a bloody scrape from one piece of wood that had struck her forehead. "Jesus-fucking-Christ, that was too close. Status, Vanko?"

"Bannon's dead. Good shot, boss. Vences is wounded and will live, but not happily. I sort of aimed for his crotch."

Ren kept touching and scanning her for wounds. If she had the energy, she would have told him she was fine, but all she could do was let him care for her. She needed him to care for her. He rubbed her tummy as she shuddered and gasped for breath as the aftermath continued to hit her with a vengeance. He was right—it had been too damn close. If she hadn't hugged the floor … well, no use thinking about what might have happened.

"Fuck!" His piercing gaze had found the spot where Bannon had bitten her. He gently soothed the mark on her neck with a shaky thumb. "Goddammit, baby, the fucking bastard bit you. You're white as the snow and shaky. You could be going into shock. We need to get you to a doctor."

"Shh, big guy. I'm fine. The baby's fine. Vences let him in, you know," she said in an attempt to distract him. "Vences' cover was good since it was real. His only lies were about his depth of military experience. He joined the other side here." And she was babbling. She took a breath and let it out, then took another. She had to calm down or Ren would lose it. He was really upset, probably more so than she was.

Ren gathered her into his arms and stood up. She could feel her big strong man tremble against her. "Lacey can look at the bite and clean it. You're fucking bleeding, Keely. We'll need to see your doctor as soon as possible to make sure you and the baby are really okay—and we need to ask about antibiotics for whatever germs the fucker left.

No arguing, baby."

"Ren, sweetie," she stroked his beard-roughened face, "I'm okay … really."

"I need to hear that from a doctor. Just humor me." He kissed the top of her head.

She sighed. He would do what he needed to do and she would let him. She loved him too much to let him worry. "Bannon told me the big boss is here in Idaho. The traitor wanted to interrogate me about what I'd done to shut down his business. I expect he wanted to figure out how to work around my programs now that NSA has them in place."

She rubbed her cheek on his shoulder, inhaling his clean, unique scent to chase out the stink Bannon had left in her nostrils. "He was going to hurt me. Hurt our baby. I'd never have let him. You know that, right?"

"I know. But I'm glad it didn't get that far. God, baby, when you got cut off like that, I couldn't get back upstairs fast enough."

Vanko handed Vences off to Trey then paced them as Ren carried her through the great room. "Keelulya, I have never seen Ren in a berserker rage before. Made the ancient Vikings look like candy-assed pansies. I just stayed out of his way and covered his ass."

Keely smiled. "You're a good friend, Vanko. I knew you both would come. I only had to keep him talking and slow him down until you did."

Ren carried her along the plowed path to their cabin. She was pretty sure his goal was their bedroom and her taking a nap once her neck was treated. She wasn’t going to argue with him over any of it. The baby made her sleepy at the oddest moments. She had a feeling naps were in her daily plans for the foreseeable future. "What about the big boss? He's somewhere close by." Keely yawned.

"He could be anywhere. Elk City. Grangeville," Ren said. "If we get one of the other attackers alive, we'll ask. But I suspect that only Bannon knew who he was."

At the sound of self-disgust in his voice, she looked at him. "Listen here, Renfrew Maddox. That man would've killed me—killed our baby—you had to kill him. We'll get the asshole who hired Bannon and the others. I promise. Besides, Bannon gave me two clues."

"I can guess the one—the traitor was not in D.C. but here. We can check out our prime suspects' whereabouts," Ren said. "But what's the other one?"

"That he's already under investigation by the DoD." Keely snuggled her head onto his shoulder and sighed. "That means he's already under investigation
by me
because what the DoD knows, I know. NSA just hired me earlier today to look into five men.

These are the only five men who could've sent you and other independent contractors into death traps. The only five men who could've had under-the-table business with Trujo at all. The only five men who could influence where U.S. Special Forces teams could go for black ops." She grabbed a fistful of his shirt. "I have them all in my sight, and I will uncover what they ate at their first birthday if I have to in order to find them. They’ll rue the day they invaded my home and endangered my man and my baby."

"God, I love you, Keely Ann Walsh-Maddox." His kissed her forehead. "Not every man is lucky enough to have his own warrior sprite."

"Glad you finally realized that, big guy, 'cause I'm fighting at your side, not behind you from here on out. We'll protect what's ours." She yawned, ruining her position of strength statement and causing Ren and Vanko to chuckle. Well, let them laugh. She'd straighten them out—after her nap.

The End

About the Author:

Monette Michaels is the pen name for a multi-published author of suspense/thrillers.

She's been married to the love of her life for far longer than she cares to remember. Her home is in Central Indiana.

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