Agent I1: Tristan [01] The D.I.R.E. Agency (16 page)

“Aidan.” Tristan opened the front door. “What are you-“

Shoving past him, Aidan stormed into the living room. Tristan felt an energy about him, an actual, physical energy that seemed like a palpable anger. He wore a
D.I.R.E
. armband on each forearm, and gloves on his hands. Each finger was wrapped in thin, metal rings, the tips covered with some type of diodes.

“Too much caffeine, Monroe?”

“No.” Mitchell walked through the door. “Just the early stages of his power. It’ll taper off.”

Mitchell was here?
Hell, that can’t be good. As a matter of fact, the entire situation proved to be a total cluster.

“What the hell are
you
doing here?”

Tristan saw two
D.I.R.E
. SUVs parked in the street. He shut the front door.

Mitchell said, “I came to – what the hell happened to your back?”

Aidan stopped pacing to stare at Tristan.

He stood in front of the bar, his arms crossed over his chest. “Last night, Cody and a couple of his friends wanted to have a little discussion outside of Vinnie’s. Naylor and his lackey were there as clean-up crew, but they got away.”

Aidan stood shoulders hunched, his fists tight at his sides. “What happened?”

“They went to the hospital. I haven’t heard anything since.” He lowered his voice. “I had to protect Rachel, Monroe.”

Aidan stared at him with beady, suspicious eyes.

Tristan’s gaze went to Mitchell. “I’m fine. It’s just a bruise. Your investment is safe.”

He gave an affirmative nod. “Good. I came to get you back on track. You’ve lost focus.”

“I’m on vacation. I’m supposed to lose focus.”

Aidan pounded on the bedroom door. Rachel opened it a second later. Despite the dark rings under her eyes, she looked beautiful in her pale yellow sundress.

“What is your problem, Aidan?”

He gazed over her head into the bedroom. She glanced back.

Tristan groaned mentally. The bed... Their clothes...

Shit
.

Aidan’s growl started low and escalated as he stormed across the room. He launched himself at Tristan, backhanding him across the face. The contact jolted Tristan, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

“You slept with my sister?”

He grabbed Tristan by the bare shoulders. Electricity crackled in the air and shot through Tristan’s body. He flew backward across the room and smashed into the fireplace.

“Tristan!” Rachel cried.

Falling to the floor, Tristan’s system activated and revved, waiting for a command. Groaning, he stumbled to his feet. “
Sonovabitch
.”

Aidan lunged at him again.

“
Aidan, no
.” Rachel grabbed his arm from behind. Electricity sparked in the room like fireworks, knocking her back against the wall.

Anger exploded inside Tristan. He roared. “What the hell did you do to him, Mitchell?” He rushed to Rachel’s side.

Aidan bent to help her up.

“Get the hell away from her.” Tristan helped her to her feet. “Are you okay?”

Rachel leaned against him, weak, limp, her glazed eyes on her brother. “What’s happened to you?” Her aqua gaze shot to Mitchell. “What have you done to my brother?”

“Get your freaking hands off her,” Aidan growled.

Tristan pulled her behind him. “Back off or I’ll teleport her somewhere.”

“I’ll find you, invisible or not, and I’ll kill you.”

Rachel moved to stand beside Tristan. “Why? What has he done?”

Aidan stood poised to pounce, his breathing heavy. “I trusted him, Rachel. I trusted him with
you
. He betrayed me.”

“How? He’s protected me from Cody all week.”

“
The sonovabitch slept with you
.”

Tristan winced. He had one relationship in the world. One.

His friendship with Aidan.

He’d managed to ruin it with royal flourish. He’d betrayed his friend and didn’t deserve forgiveness.

Just as Rachel deserved a better life than he could ever give her.

She clutched his bicep. “My private life is none of your business, Aidan.”

“The hell it isn’t. I know what kind of person he is.”

Yes, Tristan knew, too. It was funny how Rachel made him forget all of the unscrupulous things he’d done in the past.

“Well, obviously, you thought he was good enough to protect me.”

“He’s done some bad things, Rachel.”

“So have you. We all have.”

“Did he tell you what he did at Cody’s bachelor party?”

Oh shit
. Tristan would kill him for putting this on his shoulders. “What
I
did?”

“He drugged Cody. Put
Rohypnol
in his drink so he’d stay passed out until after the wedding.”

Rachel grew deathly still, her round eyes shooting to his face. “Is this true, Tris?”

He’d never lie to her so he told the truth, knowing it meant certain doom. “Yes.”

Anger rolled off of her like’s Aidan’s energy. “So, you two took it upon yourselves to play God with my life?”

“Rachel-“ Tristan reached for her.

“
No
.” She backed away further and slapped her hand to her forehead. “Granted, marrying Cody would’ve been a mistake but… Were you going to keep that from me forever? What else haven’t you told me?”

“
Nothing
.”

Irritation kept a rolling boil inside of Tristan. After all they had been through, she chose to hold
that
against him? And Aidan, the two-faced bastard, had turned on him, too.

Not to mention his own father.

Mitchell had been right. It was better not to care at all.

Tristan crossed his arms over his chest. “Feel better now, Monroe?”  Without waiting for a reply, he turned to Mitchell. “And you, you just had to rat me out, didn’t you? We can’t have any of our agents getting close to someone, can we? Did you threaten to fire Max?”

Mitchell ignored the question. “You’re better off. I’ve told you that since you were a boy.”

“Boy?” Aidan said.

“Mitchell is your father?” Rachel glanced back and forth between them, her eyes wide.

Tristan knew he didn’t have to answer. He looked just like Mitchell.

“He kept that a secret from you, too?” Mitchell uttered the question with obvious spiteful intent.

Tristan slumped his shoulders. Hell, he shouldn’t be surprised his own father would betray him. It had always been about the agency, never the family, or lack thereof.

Aidan, on the other hand, had shocked him. He never would’ve expected it. Then again, Aidan hadn’t expected Tristan to sleep with Rachel, either.

“I’ve never told anyone who you are,
Dad
.”

Rachel stomped to the front door. “That’s it. All three of you get out of my house.” She opened the door. “
Go
. I don’t want to see any of you.”

“Rachel,” Tristan said, “I won’t leave you vulnerable.”

Shaking her head, she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “You already have, Tristan.”

His stomach clenched with the force of her blow. Mitchell and Aidan watched in silence as Tristan absorbed the impact of her words and bled out their truth.

Rachel was right. All he had done was bring danger and chaos to her life. He’d brought down Cody and Dar on her head with no more than a few drops of
Rohypnol
and some pizza.

Aidan said, “Get out of here, Jacobs. She doesn’t need you anymore.”

She had always been better off without him.

Grabbing a
Staind
t-shirt from his backpack on the bar stool, Tristan pulled it on over his athletic shorts. Throwing the pack over his shoulder, he stood poised to teleport.

“Aidan, Dar Naylor tried to take her from Vinnie’s parking lot last night.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rachel’s head pop up.

“What the hell did you just say?” Aidan’s voice held a menacing tinge.

Tristan ignored him. “You’d better protect her or I’ll freaking kill you. Do
you
understand
me
?”

“Look, you son-“

Mitchell stopped Aidan with a hand on his chest.

“He knows she’s important,” Tristan said. “Mitchell, you need to get her to
D.I.R.E
. HQ. That’s the only place she’ll be safe until we stop him.”

Nodding, Mitchell punched a message into his phone. “I’m on it.”

“
No
.” Rachel rubbed at the worry lines in her forehead. “All of you think you can just tell me where to go and what to do like some… puppet. You can all go to
hell
.” She pointed outside. “Get out.”

“One freaking scrape,” Tristan pointed at Aidan, “and I’ll find you –
D.I.R.E
. agent or not.”

He hit his armband to teleport. Dizziness bombarded him, causing him to sway. His system remained silent.

Shit. Not now…

Mitchell walked over and grabbed his arm. “Are you okay? What’s the problem?”

Shaking his head to clear it, Tristan tried his system again. Vertigo struck him instantly. He rocked where he stood before Mitchell righted him.

“I guess Monroe overloaded my generator when he grabbed me.”

Mitchell frowned as he picked up Tristan’s arm and studied the band.

Snatching away his arm, he headed for the door. “Either way, I’m screwed.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rachel’s gaze follow him out the door.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Mitchell said.

“Anywhere but here.”

Chapter 13

Rachel watched Aidan and Mitchell talk in her front yard. Two dark SUVs were parked at her mailbox, two agents standing outside each of them. Would this be her life from here on out?

And her brother. Why had he allowed them to do whatever they did to him? Would she never hug him again? What would this do to his body?

Damn Mitchell
Jacobs
and
The D.I.R.E. Agency
.

She turned away from the front window and faced her house. The silence rang loud in her head, the emptiness methodically grinding a black hole in her heart.

He was gone.

Dropping down on the sofa, Rachel stared at Tristan’s discarded baseball shirt on the floor. Tears filled her eyes. What had she done? Drugging Cody had been disgraceful, yes, but Tristan had saved her from a horrible, loveless marriage… and brought her a happiness she never thought she’d find.

Tristan had managed to bring her passionate side to the surface whether they argued, laughed, or made love. He gave her a self-confidence she’d never felt before, a sense of safety like no other.

You, Rachel, are worth dying for
.

How could she have allowed Aidan and Mitchell to come here and destroy what she and Tristan had built in so short a time? How could she betray Tristan like that when he’d stood by her through the church debacle, Cody’s tirades, and babysitting?

Leaning forward, she buried her face in her hands. He lived such a lonely life. Even his own father treated him like an employee, rather than a son. If anyone deserved love, it was Tristan.

What have I done
?

Standing, Rachel went into the bedroom to get her purse. Eying her gun on the dresser, she saw Tristan’s phone lying beside it.

Darn, he’d given it to her when Aidan first pounded on the door. Now, she couldn’t call him.

She had to find him. One way or another, she had to get back Tristan.

Knowing Dar Naylor was still a possibility, she placed the gun and Tristan’s phone inside her purse. Slipping on her sandals, she tossed the purse over her shoulder. Mitchell and Aidan turned when she came through the front door and down the steps.

“Tristan left his phone here. I’m going to find him.”

Aidan gave her a ferocious frown. “Like hell you are…”

She planted her hands on hips. “I’m done with you and your caveman attitude, Aidan.”

Mitchell crossed his arms over his chest. “Rachel, you and Tristan are better off apart.”

Rachel gritted her teeth. This man really irritated her. She’d had it up to her eyeballs with his
don’t-care-about-anyone
outlook.

Rising up on her tiptoes, she got in his face and pointed a finger in his chest. “You’re wrong, Mitchell. Tris and I are inifinitely better together than we could ever be apart.”

His stoic expression never changed. “You’re making him vulnerable.”

A stab of guilt clenched her stomach. She’d used those same words on Tristan before he left. “No, you made him vulnerable when you started training him for this kind of work as a kid.” She dropped back on her feet. “I’m going to look for him.”

Aidan gave an exasperated sigh. “I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Rachel, I won’t take any chances with Dar Naylor in town.”

“Why?” She gave him a haughty brow. “Afraid Tristan will kick your ass if something happens to me?”

She turned and walked to her old rattletrap truck.

“Rachel, I’m warning you. Don’t get in that truck.”

Try and stop me
.

Jumping into her truck, she started the engine. Growling, Aidan ran toward her.

Come on Bessie, don’t fail me now.

Shoving the truck in reverse, she punched down on the accelerator. Hitting the street, she slammed on the brakes then threw it into drive. She peeled away right before Aidan reached the back fender.

Taking off down the street, she heard a
D.I.R.E
. vehicle start up. Her truck may not have the speed of their shiny new vehicle, but Bessie did have attitude. She didn’t mind roughing them up a bit, if need be.

She drove to the baseball field. Knowing Tristan, he’d walk until he found a batting cage.

No sign of him.

Maybe he skipped town. You gave him plenty of reasons to leave
.

Turning around, she headed down Highway 298. If she were him, she’d leave Creekmore in a heartbeat. No sense in sticking around where you weren’t wanted, right? She’d learned that lesson the hard way after she caught Zach with the twins.