Warrior: The Elect, Book 3 (6 page)

Once they were alone, Carter turned to Livie. “What happened?”

“Nothing.” She shrugged. “You know him. You know how he is. Do I strike you as his type?”

Not exactly, which meant his showing up in Tampa and trying to contact her made zero sense.

“As far as she knows, though, it’s the truth,”
Jamie said.

“Don’t do that, okay?” Livie asked, rubbing her temple. “I haven’t learned to block everything, and it hurts like a bitch.”

“I thought your talent was telekinesis,” Carter said.

“Yeah, with some telepathy thrown in. I guess they’re connected.”

“It’s all connected in the end,” Brax said. He looked at Carter. “How do you want to do this? You try your system or go through her?”

“I haven’t seen any kind of indication he knows I’m still here, Carter. The last message was weeks ago.” She blanched like she’d given away something she hadn’t wanted to.

“How many messages?” he demanded.

He could see she wanted to smudge the truth a bit. “A couple a week until three weeks ago,” she replied.

The same time that Carter, Kaden and Esme joined the Elect. No fucking way was that a coincidence.

“You never answered any?”

She shook her head, and he believed her. He didn’t need to consult Jamie.

“Carter, you contact him,” Brax said.

“No!” Livie stepped forward. She took a deep breath. “No. In his last message he sounded like maybe he thought I was in trouble. He’s checked with the PD. He knows I’m not there, but he seems to think I’m still in the area. Or did. Someone is feeding him information, and there’s no telling who or what that is.”

Brax gave her his forbidding alpha glare. “You should have come to us before.”

“Why?” she asked coldly. “He’s my problem, and trust me when I say he doesn’t
want
to be my problem.”

She took a deep breath and turned to Carter. “Despite his personal failings, you know he’s a stand-up guy. He’s a good soldier. If he’s involved in something illegal and underhanded, he doesn’t know it.”

Carter tended to agree with her assessment, though he ached at the pain in her eyes. Suddenly, he realized what was going on with her. Martin had turned away from something incredible. A bond that was beyond beauty.

“We could set up a meeting. Blow it off. Take him somewhere else, where we control the sitch,” Gabe suggested.

Carter could see Brax was unhappy with the idea but was considering it.

“I think that’s a bad idea,” Carter said. “As far as we know he doesn’t have a clue that Livie is one of us. We shouldn’t expose her unnecessarily.”

She looked ready to protest when Jamie backed him up. “I agree. It’s a bad idea. Carter should try to make contact.” Her support surprised him until she went on, “If he does, I’ll go with him to the meeting.”

“Fuck no,” he said.

“It’s me they want,” she countered reasonably.

“I don’t care.”

He’d just got her back. He wasn’t about to risk losing her again. She fell silent, but the look she gave him made it clear she hadn’t given up. He had a bad feeling he wasn’t going to win this fight.

Chapter Four

It took a day of arguing and cajoling, but Jamie won. When Carter left the compound in the evening, she was in the passenger seat. Martin and Toler had insisted on a private meeting with Carter. He hadn’t bothered to tell them she was tagging along. With luck, they wouldn’t realize it.

The meeting had been set up at a popular bar. Jamie hopped out a couple blocks early and walked casually through the evening crowd. She had a new haircut and darker hair color, contacts that turned her green eyes brown, casual attire that hid two Glocks on her person and a discreet earpiece. Her new image worked. She received several looks of male interest, but no undue attention. She couldn’t give her talent or her profession credit for that knowledge. It was nothing more than the instinct a woman honed after years of looking over her shoulder, walking cautiously through dim parking lots, and fending off unwanted advances.

She entered the building first and took a seat at that bar, sipping at a beer when Carter walked in. She felt the mental connection between them throbbing like a beacon, felt his pulse of awareness through it as if he were holding her. She watched in the mirror over the bar as he went straight to the two men, their targets, sitting in a darkened back corner. They leaned back indifferently, nursing beers like a couple of businessmen taking a break after a long day.

To the casual observer, at least.

Jamie saw something very different. They were both big, powerful men. Their eyes took in everything. She was pretty sure they’d recognized her when she came in—they’d watched her just a fraction too long before moving on dismissively. She’d decided it was best to let the situation play out. Wait and see. She heard everything as Carter reached their table.

“Major. Been a long time,” Martin said. Jamie recognized him from the photo Livie had provided before they left the compound.

“It’s just Carter now. I retired, remember?”

“So what are you doing in Tampa?” the other guy, Toler, asked.

“My son is here.”

“And his mother is wanted,” Martin said softly, leaning close. “I bet she can hear every word we’re saying.”

That was her cue. She heard Carter’s sigh through her earpiece as she stood and carried her drink with her. She was forced to sit on his right with her back to the room. It made her twitchy.

Martin glared at her, still leaning forward, and snarled. “Where is Livie? God help you, she better be alive.”

She caught Carter’s arm before he could lunge over the table.

“I haven’t done anything with her, but you apparently think I did,” Jamie replied.

“There’s no point in lying,” he sneered. “And so nice of Carter to deliver you to us.”

So they had laid a trap just in case. She’d expected that and prepared for it.

“You should hold that thought,” she said, almost kindly.

One click on her a phone and a prearranged text went to Livie’s phone. Seconds later, she was taking the seat next to Jamie. Livie pinned the surprised men with an angry stare and went straight to the point.

“What the hell are y’all up to? What did they tell you?” Livie demanded.

Martin looked shell-shocked and exchanged a glance with his partner before letting his gaze sweep over Livie. “That Ms. Wade here is part a homegrown terrorist group, you found about it, and she abducted you.”

Carter snorted. “You bought that?”

“He had photos. Taped phone calls,” Martin said.

“Which can be faked. Do you have any idea who you’re working for? Or why?” Carter asked.

Again the partners exchanged that look. “It’s a private firm. A research group.”

“Government funded,” Carter said. Neither replied since it wasn’t a question. He shook his head. “We need to get out of here.”

“We have to secure them,” Jamie said softly.

“They’re going home with us.” He glared at them. “You endanger my mate, my son or my people even once and I’ll take you out myself.”

“We’re not going anywhere without some answers,” the quiet one, Toler, finally said.

Carter’s smile was flinty. “Too bad, because you aren’t getting them here.”

“Hey,” Livie said, shaking Martin’s arm. “You know you can trust me and Carter. You’ve been lied to. If you weren’t suspicious of your employers, you would have had people in place to take everyone as soon as we arrived.”

He stared at her a long time, but eventually nodded and rose. Jamie and Carter followed. She knew they weren’t going to like this next part and half expected a fight. In the parking lot, they were surrounded. To her surprise, the partners didn’t protest as they were hustled to waiting SUVs, slapped in cuffs, and hooded. She shared her concerns with Carter as they began the return to the compound. He called Mason and put the phone on speaker.

“They’re cooperating too much,” Carter said.

“Yeah, I thought the same,” Mason said. He was in the lead car with Gabe. The middle SUV held the prisoners, while Jamie and Carter brought up the rear in the third vehicle. “We’ll find someplace secluded to stop and check them over. If there are any trackers on them, we’ll find them.”

“Roger that,” Carter said, then clicked the end button. He stared straight ahead as he went on privately to her. “We’ll pull them out and Mason and I will do the search. I want you and the rest of the team to keep your weapons on them at all times.”

“Okay.” The order didn’t surprise her given the kind of training and experience they had.

They stopped about twenty minutes later, well away from the compound. The first trackers were easy to find—in their phones. Mason disabled them. Carter was positive they weren’t the only ones, though, and he was right. The next was in a belt buckle, another in a ring. The last had been implanted under their skins. Mason cursed bitterly and ordered one of his soldiers to bring him a blade. Both men stiffened as the trackers were cut out, but didn’t protest. Mason slapped field bandages on the wounds and ushered everyone back on the road.

Jamie arched her eyebrows when they were met by two armored SUVs inside the gates of the compound. Brax was waiting with another team kitted out in full combat gear when they arrived at the house. Zach stood at his side with a medical pack and a small device Jamie couldn’t identify.

“What is that?” she asked Carter softly.

“It’s like a mini X-ray machine.”

Zach swept it over both men, slow and careful, before nodding at Brax. The prisoners were then ushered inside, where a table was set up in the foyer. Zach sewed up the wound sites, and then Brax’s men led the prisoners to what—at first glance—was a blank wall. When he pushed on it, though, it slid back, revealing an elevator Jamie hadn’t been aware of. It closed behind them, and she turned to Brax.

“They can’t walk upstairs?”

He shook his head. “They’re going down.”

“You have a basement? In Florida?”

He grinned. “It’s more of a concrete bunker. With jail cells.”

Livie snarled behind her. “Great. That’ll get their trust.”

Brax pinned her with his
I’m in charge
look. “It’s late. We’re all going to get a good night’s sleep and deal with that,” he said, pointing to the wall, “in the morning. Everyone turn in for the night.”

Jamie was all for that. She felt a lot better thanks to her Elect genetics, but she was far from 100 percent. After the long day and confrontation with Martin and Toler, her aches were making themselves known—not to mention the fatigue.
 

The suite was quiet when she and Carter walked in. She registered two things at once. Kaden was asleep in his room, and she wasn’t the only one who’d been shopping online. Carter gave her a secret little smile when he started sorting through the packages. He tossed one to her.

“Go take a bath, sweetheart. I can feel how much you want to.” He paused, and the look he swept over her could only be called scorching. “I’m going to get us dinner.”

She nodded. Neither of them had eaten before meeting Martin and Toler. He left, and she took the padded envelope into the bathroom with her. It wasn’t heavy, but maybe it held the scented bath salts she liked so much. In the bathroom, she turned on the faucets, then opened the package. The contents were the last thing she’d expected. A white satin, almost innocent-looking camisole and thong. It was the kind of outfit she’d have bought for her wedding night.

Damn. What did he have planned? She set the lingerie on the counter, stripped and sank into the tub. She might have drifted on the edge of sleep, but when she heard him return, she pulled the stopper. She dried off quickly and dressed in the skimpy outfit. The satin was cool and smooth against her skin. She smiled. She’d told him once that lace was too itchy. He must have remembered that long-ago conversation. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, she opened the door and stepped into the bedroom.

He whistled. “Hello, sweetheart.” He approached and lifted one hand to stroke her cheek. “God, you’re beautiful,” he said softly.

She was more accustomed to being described as cute, and she was okay with that, but that was not how she felt when he looked at her. When he touched her. She did feel beautiful then, and so much more. Desired. Protected. Loved? She wasn’t sure what the intense emotion was, but she doubted that was it. Which was a shame, really, because she had no doubts about loving him. She had for years. She’d denied it. Convinced herself that it wasn’t real, that if he’d felt the same he would have come back. Her feelings had only grown since he’d rescued her.

“Why so sad, Jamie?” He kept his voice soft, but there was an undercurrent of frustration there.

She shook her head, determined to enjoy this time and worry about the rest later. “Nothing. Did you bring dinner?” she asked to change the subject.

His eyes flashed a warning, but he dropped his earlier question. She knew he’d ask again and had no idea how she’d reply. For now, he took her hand and led her to a small table set up near the balcony doors. Someone had made lasagna, and two plates waited along with a bottle of red wine and glasses. She sighed when she took the first bite—it was so damned good.