Agent N6: Dylan (16 page)

Teague started when a knock sounded on the outside of the machine.
Dylan
.

Finally.

She couldn’t wait to see him, couldn’t wait until they were back at D.I.R.E., safe.

Dar lowered the machine stairs, the dead clone at his feet. A few minutes ago, Cyrus’s employee had fallen over dead, with no provocation on their part. Dar refused to leave him in the past so they were forced to keep his company until they got back to twenty fifteen.

She held her breath, waiting for Dylan to appear. Luke carried Annie up the stairs and set her in the chair beside Teague. Her left calf was in a plaster cast, her bruised face twisted in pain.

Teague looked behind them at the doorway. Where was Dylan?

Dar said, “This isn’t a shuttle service, Powers. She can’t go.”

Luke’s tired shoulders tensed. “She goes or I stay. Either way, we mess with the future.” He looked around. “Where’s McCall?”

Teague looked at Dar, fear knocking at her chest. “He should’ve been back by now.”

Worry clouded Dar’s eyes before he glanced at his armband. “He still has five minutes before I head out.”

Five minutes her tattooed rear. A lot could happen in five minutes. They couldn’t wait around anymore. They were dealing with Cyrus, for cripes sake.

Looking around the small cabin, Teague realized she had the least to lose. Luke finally had his Annie, and Dar had Jocelyn waiting for him. Without Dylan, she had nothing.

Jumping up from her chair, she ran down the steps. She heard Dar yell her name as she took off across the park.

***

Cyrus held up the device in front of Dylan’s face. Dylan growled in his head, his inadequacy no more evident than in this moment. Matheson
was
always a step ahead.

Maybe his father was right.

When he got out of this freaking shitmess, he had to put a stop to all of this, once and for all. They had to destroy the second time machine
and
its technology. It was just too dangerous.

Cyrus turned over the device in his hand, studying it. “Yes, it’s humbling, really. The world should be thankful it’s me, and not some lunatic, running around with technology like this.” He kissed it, his voice filled with menacing reverence. “So much power in such a little package. It comes in handy.”

“So, does a really big rock.”

With both hands, Teague swung a large rock against the back of Cyrus’s head. Crying out, he dropped face first to the dirt, before rolling onto his side. Ripping the device from his fist, she jumped back from Cyrus’s weak attempt to grab her leg. She held the device between two fingers and examined it in the faint, dawn light.

Dylan’s muscles relaxed, life filtering back into his body. Coughs beset his chest as he rolled onto his knees. The nanobots awoke and skittered back into the channels of his armbands.

Teague tugged on his arm, urging him up. “Get up, McCall. We need a gun.”

Climbing to his feet, Dylan grabbed the rock and slammed it against Cyrus’s head, knocking him unconscious. He held it poised above him, the urge to keep pounding, to kill the bastard, burned in every fiber of his shaking hands.

He had him. He finally had Cyrus, and couldn’t kill him. Mitchell’s order pissed him off almost as much as nearly losing Teague. Her soft touch on his arm brought him out of his stupor.

“You did it, Dylan.”

Her beautiful smile took him aback. In that moment, he realized that the revenge really didn’t matter. He had Teague back. With her by his side, they’d captured Cyrus and put a stop to his plans.

He kissed her hard on the mouth. “No, Teague,
we
did it.”

Dar ran up to them, his eyes on Cyrus. “Tell me he’s not dead.”

Shaking his head, Dylan said, “No, but not by choice.”

With somber eyes, Dar clapped him on the shoulder. “There’ll be time for payback when we get home. Right now, we need to get out of here.”

Teague held Dylan’s hand where they stood at the bottom of the time machine steps. Raindrops fell from the top of the machine door and into the sand, humidity thick in the desert air. He hadn’t uttered a word to her since the D.I.R.E. agents strapped Cyrus to a gurney and took him up to the compound.

So much had to be said. He may not want to hold her hand, or even touch her, once she told him everything.

But, she
would
tell him. He deserved to know.

A few yards away, Riordan waited with a wheelchair, Mitchell and Jocelyn beside him. Carrying the wheelchair forward, Riordan stopped in front of his father, his narrow eyes moving to Annie. After they’d landed, Dar told him to bring a wheelchair to the machine, but didn’t explain why.

Luke lowered Annie into the chair, before taking her hand. “Riordan, I think you remember your mother?”

Riordan’s mouth fell open, his eyes growing round. He stared at his mother for what seemed like an eternity, before his eyes filled with tears. Teague knew the hard ass would never forgive them if they mentioned his tears in the future. Then again, none of them could witness the scene and not be moved. What she wouldn’t give to have that gift, to see her parents again.

Dropping to one knee beside the chair, Riordan hugged her. Annie placed her hand against his jaw and studied his face.

“You look just like your father.” Turning over his hand, she ran her finger over a scar in his palm.

He said, “Do you remember that? I got it when I grabbed the tuna can lid in the trash.”

Whipping around, her eyes went wide, along with her smile. “Yes, that happened just last week.”

“It was last week for you.” He gave her a small grin. “I’ve gotten worse over the years.”

Envy glided over Teague, despite her absolute joy for Luke and Riordan. She felt like a kid at a pet store window, yearning for someone to care for and love. Despite her age and intelligence, she realized that, deep down she was just a child at heart.

Mitchell walked forward. “Powers, you have no idea what you’ve done.”

Luke frowned at Mitchell, his voice clipped. “How could bringing her forward disturb history when she was meant to die the night we found her?”

Standing, Riordan held onto Annie’s hand. “You’re worried about her when Cyrus has wreaked havoc for decades?”

Mitchell glared at him. “None of us know how we affect history, Saint.”

“Speaking of Cyrus,” Teague said, as she walked to Mitchell, “he had this.” She set the device in his palm. “He shut down Dylan’s system with it, and based on timing, we believe he also killed his clone. If that’s the case, we have our answer to destroying them all.”

Dar chimed in, his arm around Jocelyn. “Yeah, Teague saved McCall’s ass. I think you need to consider her for the field.”

Teague grinned at his good-natured ribbing. She’d keep her quiet, safe laboratory, thank you very much.

Dylan held up his hand and walked away, Teague in tow. “Walking away before I do something
you’ll
regret, like kick your ass.”

Amid laughter, he led her to one of the jeeps and ushered her inside. He drove her back to the compound in silence, her stomach a jumble of raw nerves. She had to tell him everything, had to just get it over with and see what happened.

Taking a deep breath, she let it out. “Dylan, I need to explain some things and it can’t wait.”

Looking over at her, he did a double take before frowning. “All right.”

Minutes later, they sat facing each other in the deserted fitness room, on the same weight benches they’d used the night he found her exercising. She was dirty and tired. He was dirty and hurting. But she’d insisted they do it now, and meet on neutral ground.

Staring at the floor, her hands trembled where they rested on her thighs. He reached over and took her hand. “Baby, it’s okay. Whatever it is, we’ll get through it.”

Looking up, she took a deep breath and said, “A few months ago, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.”

His serious gaze bored into her as he squeezed her hand. “I’m sorry, baby.” He raised her knuckles to his lips. “How does it affect you?”

Blinking, she filled him in on her symptoms. “That doesn’t bother you?”

Sitting up, he stared at her with round eyes filled with surprise. “Of course, it bothers me. I hate that you have to deal with it. But, I’ll help you.”

Hope expanded her chest. “Really?”

He gave her a bone-melting grin filled with assurance. “Really.” He kissed her hand again.

Taking another deep breath, she pulled her hand from his grasp.
Please God, let him be okay with this
.

“I came to D.I.R.E. so I could perfect my DNA with Cyrus’s technology.”

Dropping his chin, he raised his eyebrows.

She rushed on. “I’ve always wanted a family and with my parents’
supposed
poor health, I didn’t want to bring a child into the world until I could give it a fighting chance.” Looking down again, she said, “I perfected my DNA, Dylan. That day in the lab, you caught me stealing my DNA and your sperm to create a child.”

Her heart pounded so hard, she knew he could hear it. She couldn’t look up, wouldn’t look up. The disappointment and disgust would be too much to bear.

“Teague…”

God, help me
…

Swallowing over the lump in her throat, she looked up. He stared at her, his brow wrinkled in pain.

“Is there any reason we can’t have a child naturally?”

Disbelief rooted her to the bench. Her voice shook in rhythm with her hands. “You… you want to have a family… with me?”

Kneeling on the floor, he took her hands in both of his. “In case my trip through time didn’t clue you in, I love you. I’m so damned obsessed with you I can’t think straight.”

His face blurred, the blood rushing in her ears. She laid her forehead against their joined hands. “You don’t hate me for what I did?”

With a hand under her chin, he tipped up her face. “I understand why you did it and why you didn’t confide in me.” He kissed her cheek. “Next time you want to make a baby, just tell me. I can drop my pants at a moment’s notice.”

Laughing, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

He said, “You have MS, I have ADD. We’ll have beautiful, flawed children, but they’ll be
our
children. We’ll love them just as much as any perfect child you could’ve created.”

How did she get so lucky to find a man like this? “I love you, Dylan.”

His lips brushed against her ear. “Enough to marry me once we get past all of this?”

She backed away in his embrace. “What?”

He brushed back the hair from her brow. “I don’t want to do this without you, Teague. If you don’t want to get married, that’s fine. I’ll take you any way I can get you.”

Grinning, she gave him a quick kiss. “You’ve got yourself a fiancée, Agent McCall.”

He dipped her back over the bench and gave her a long, slow kiss. “Damn, I can’t wait to get you back in bed.”

She gave him a sultry smile. “So, what are you waiting for?”

Helping her up, he grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the fitness room. “Baby, what happened to those specimens?”

“I left them at the lab in nineteen eighty-nine. They’re still there.”

He stopped in his tracks. “You’re kidding me…”

Smiling, she kissed him on the cheek. “Yes, we used to wonder who left them, and if they would ever come in to claim them. All along it was me.”

Shaking his head, he led her down the hall. “This time travel shit can really mess with your head. We’ll pick them up when we arrest Capri.”

The female agent from the security wing passed them at the compound crossroads. Glancing at their joined hands, she smiled at Teague with a wink.

“No handcuffs and blindfold, McCall?”

Walking backward, he kissed Teague’s hand. “Where do you think we’re headed?”

Dear Reader,

I hope you enjoyed
Agent N6: Dylan
, Book 6 in the D.I.R.E. Agency Series! Look for the epic series finale,
Agent U7: Keegan
, coming soon!

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Thanks for your support!

Joni Hahn