Blindsided (Sentinel Securities) (20 page)

“You think a wife at home would happily accept that we’re away, sometimes for months at a time?” He shook his head. “I’ve seen too many marriages break up when we were in the regiment. Mac’s was a prime example.”

“What happened?” She asked softly.

“He and his wife ended up hating each other, that’s what happened. In the end, they
barely spoke
. She packed up their house and took his kid back to South Africa while he was away on deployment. He’s blamed himself for years that he should have fought for his kid inste
ad of letting his wife take her back to her home land. Mac worried about it being such a dangerous place, but he couldn’t do a damn thing about it while he was deployed and Christina wouldn’t have listened anyway. And then they were attacked and both killed.”

Brie struggled to imagine how dreadful the whole thing must have been to go through.

“But if you ask me, y
ou can’t expect a woman to put up with the crap we have to go through—
it’s no wonder she left. I
t’s not fair on anyone.”

“I don’t think you can judge every marriage on the few you’ve seen. Besides—you guys aren’t in the regiment anymore—you get to pick and choose the jobs you do.” She stared at him silently for a moment, considering. “You know what your problem is?”

“I’m sure you’re about to tell me,” he muttered.

“You’ve used your career as a crutch for so long that you’ve brainwashed yourself into actually believing it.”

“Maybe I just haven’t found a woman that’s worth giving up all this for?” he said spreading his arms wide to encompass his luxurious apartment.

“Obviously,” Brie said with quiet bitterness. She knew it was stupid to feel as though he’d just insulted her—but actually, he had. Okay, so she was the one reading into the fact that just because they’d slept together, it meant something…she let out a long breath she hadn’t realised she’d been holding
.

Do not cry!
She told herself firmly, even though that’s exactly what she felt like doing and she comforted herself with the fact that it was obviously stress induced after today’s events.
This was good,
she told herself. She’d been put straight about their situation before she’d had a chance to make a fool of herself by asking—
just play it cool, it’s better this way. You don’t need the complication!
She reminded herself fiercely.
And don’t you dare cry!

****

Nash let loose a long string of expletives inside his head as he saw hurt flash across Brie’s face and wished he could pull the words back as soon as he’d said them. He’d meant to be a smartarse—what he hadn’t meant was to hurt her.
Or lie? What about that dickhead?
a voice shot back at him in disgust. Technically he hadn’t lied…he’d simply made a statement…up until now he
hadn’t
found a woman he’d consider giving everything up for… until he’d lifted his visor that day and found an angel staring down at him wearing the most beautiful look of concern he’d ever seen. If he was being truthful he had to admit he knew right then at that precise moment, something was different.
She
was different. He should have run then and there.

He reached a hand out as she turned away to head down the hallway towards the bedroom but he let it drop back down to his side. What was he going to say? How did he put into words that he was making the biggest decision of his life after the one to leave the regiment and start up Sentinel? Maybe she was right—maybe he was prejudice against the few dysfunctional marriages he’d witnessed. None of this helped him though—when it came to emotions he was pretty much only tuned into one—indifference. He did his job with an unbiased—professional indifference. Emotions were never allowed to come into it. He didn’t even have anyone he could go and talk to. None of the other guys had any experience with serious relationships and Mac…well Mac wasn’t the best one to ask. He was one of the more vocal about marriage. You just didn’t go there. It was too much of a risk.

Man, he was so screwed.

****

Mac was back at the table when the elevator doors opened and Nash walked out into the garage. “Nice of you to join us,” Mac snarled.

Nash ignored him, taking a seat without comment and waited for him to continue.

“So, I’ve called in Hutchings.”

“That undercover detective dude?” Gracie asked.

Over the years they’d been doing this work, they’d managed to amass quite a few helpful contacts in various fields.

“Yeah—he’s pretty high up in the drug squad now days. I think we can trust him.”

“I don’t know
,
Mac. Demetriou’s gotten away with a lot over the last few years—he has to have someone on the inside to be getting away this shit for so long. I’m not sure we should trust the cops.”

“We don’t have much choice—thanks to Nash’s little diversion—if we don’t move on this now, the bastard’s gonna
’
have this shit in production within a week. While you two were out rescuing our damsel, Casper, Stone and I did a little recon on Demetriou and found his lab. I told Hutchings I’m not prepared to hand over the evidence without being in on the bust—that way, I figure we can pick anyone crooked and take action so he doesn’t compromise the operation.”

Gracie who sat at the table, leaned back with his arms folded across his chest and asked doubtfully, “and Hutchings was okay with letting us in on it?”

“Let’s just say I didn’t give him much choice about it,” Mac shrugged.

The men knew Mac well enough to know he could be very persuasive…not to mention with his hacking skills, he could dig up dirt on a damn Saint. Hutchings didn’t stand a chance.
Poor bastard,
Nash thought with a silent scoff.

“As soon as Hutchings calls—we’re outta
’
here so we need to get ready. I wanna
’
be mobile within the hour.”

As Nash pulled on his body armour his thoughts drifted to Brie sleeping upstairs and felt his heart give a slight lurch as he did so. He saw her as she’d been only that morning, sleeping in his bed, peacefully. Her hair fanned out across his arm and her hands tucked up against his chest. He’d watched her sleeping and knew he could get used to waking up beside her every morning. He tucked his weapon into his holster and checked his gear automatically. How many times had he gone through this drill in his lifetime?
Too many,
a small voice whispered. Was it time to do something different? Knowing Brie was just upstairs gave him pause for a moment.
What if something happened to him tonight?

Well, you better make damn sure nothing does!
came an equally determined voice in his head.
Was he seriously having a debate between his consciences?
“I’ll be right back,” he said suddenly making a decision and turning to sprint for the elevator.

“Where the hell do you think you’re goin’?” Mac called out.

“Give me five minutes,” he called over his shoulder as the door opened and he stepped inside the lift.

“Always the optimist—I’d say it’d take less than two,” Gracie hollered just before the doors slid shut.

Nash headed down the hallway and knocked on the spare room door, without giving her time to answer—and more to the point, himself time to back out of what he came to do, he walked across to the bed where she lay beneath the blankets. As he reached the side of the bed he saw that her shoulders were shaking and when he gently rolled her from her side his heart damn near broke when saw her tear stained face.

“Go away, Jason. Just leave me alone, please,” she begged, hiding her face with her hands miserably.

“I’m sorry. You’re right I’m a jerk. Please don’t cry,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. I came back to tell you I was scared. You hit the nail on the head with everything you said. I was scared of admitting it. I still am—I’ve been in scary-shit-situation lots of times but I gotta’ be honest with you Brie—this one is the bloody scariest. I’m pretty sure I fell in love with you the minute you blindsided me in your car that day…and it scares the shit outta me.”

He saw her staring at him with what could only be a look of complete and utter bewilderment. He was pretty sure it was perfectly reflecting what was on his own face as well. It felt weird to be saying all this to her but at the same time it was a relief to finally voice it. It felt right. He saw her digest the information as she pushed herself into a sitting position on the bed, a flood of emotions crossing her face.

“Don’t say anything right now—I have to go for a bit, but when I get back—we’ll talk, okay?” He leaned forward and planted a kiss on her lips before easing away and standing up.

“Wait!” she called as he started walking towards the door. “You can’t just say something like that and leave!”

“Sorry, I gotta’ go. But I couldn’t leave without making sure you knew the truth. I didn’t want
our
last conversation to be the one you remembered.

“Where are you going?”

He sent her an off centre smile and shook his head slightly. “To take care of business. Work stuff. I’ll be back soon though, okay?”

“Wait!” she called out as he reached out to turn the door knob.
“Make sure you come back,” she said softly.

Slowly he turned and faced her, his smile spreading across his face as he saw her perched on her knees in the centre of the bed watching him steadily. “Count on it. We’ve got a lot of things to talk about.” He sent her a wink and quickly shut the door behind him. He let out a long breath and realised he was smiling. It felt good. Hell—it felt great! He felt lighter, more alive than he had in a long time. The promise of something new and exciting lingered on his horizon and it filled him with an inner peace he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

Work stuff?
She wasn’t sure if she were annoyed that he was giving her such a condescending answer, or worried that she knew exactly where he was going and how dangerous it was going to be.
No, she was annoyed
, she decided, crossing her arms across her chest and staring daggers at the closed door.

How dare he drop a bomb like that then go and throw himself into harm’s way before she had a chance to digest it.

Brie chewed at her bottom lip as thoughts of what were about to happen plagued her. How were they going to take Demetriou down? Would it be through legal channels? Surely they weren’t going to just go there and shoot him. That would end it rather effectively…but would that make it right? Part of her said yes without even thinking it over…the other more rational part of her didn’t want to give up the last of her humanity. She wanted to be above the cruelty and greed of men like Aristotle Demetriou.

She wanted to be happy with her revenge being sated by the authorities dealing with him…but it was getting harder and harder to make herself feel satisfied with that. He didn’t deserve to live when he could so casually order the deaths of anyone who got in his way. He didn’t deserve the dignity of imprisonment instead of a cold blooded killing…yet she wasn’t sure she wanted his death on her conscience for the rest of her life either—she’d prefer never to have to think of him ever again.

There was no way she was going to be able to go to sleep now. She threw back the covers and headed out to the kitchen. This situation called for pulling out all the stops. It was gonna’ take more than a dozen Anzac biscuits to get through tonight.

****

“Man, you’re jumpier than a virgin on her wedding day,” Gracie said, throwing Nash a strange look as they sat in the van waiting for the door to open to the garage. “Chill mate. The excitement’s over.”

Unfortunately for him, the hard bit was only just starting. He’d almost prefer to go through the prep for an OP and face a crap load of bad guys with guns than head upstairs now and face Brie. He was so anxious he felt like throwing up.
Get a grip man—for Godsake!
His inner ego ordered with a growl.
You’re embarrassing us!
What if she didn’t feel the same way? What if she’d left before he’d gotten back?

The sting couldn’t have gone any smoother. Two teams of drug squad police raided the lab and Demetriou’s house simultaneously. The Sentinel team watched on with quiet pride as the Greek tycoon was led from his house in handcuffs and loaded into the back of a patrol car.

It was gonna’ suck to be him over the next few weeks. The evidence gathered by Sentinel, of the exchange they’d caught on tape of Demetriou and the Three
of
Swords taking Cruz into his custody sealed his fate.

Added to the murder he’d ordered of Cruz and attempted murder and abduction of Brie, there was no solicitor on earth capable of getting him out of doing prison time. It wasn’t the fitting end the bastard deserved—but it was satisfying all the same to know they’d stopped a new drug hitting the streets…for now at least. 

As soon as the van slowed down inside the garage, Nash had his door open and was already heading across the garage floor.