His Angel (21 page)

Ian didn't know who was surprised more, him or Athos, when Angie tore her hand free from her best friend's grip and stood while glaring at him. "Really, Jimmy? If that was true then I wouldn't have had two crooked DEA agents knocking on my door wanting to kidnap me and probably kill me. I wouldn't be running for my life and the lives of these men," she gestured around the table, "wouldn't be in danger because they were protecting me."

Athos got up from his seat and so did Ian, but neither man could get a word in because the woman was on a roll now, yelling and pointing her finger at her friend's nose. "I wouldn't be hiding out up here and worrying you might be dead somewhere. And don't think I forgot about you telling them to bug my house and put cameras in." She huffed and crossed her arms. "I don't even know how this whole mess is going to end. Am I going to be running for the rest of my life until one of those bastards catch up to me? Will I ever be able go home again? Will I..."

"Ang, stop yelling. Calm down and sit down."

As soon as the growled orders were out of Athos' mouth, Ian knew things were going to get worse from the look on Angie's face. He was just glad her ire had another target this time. She snarled at her friend, her hands clenched in rage. "Don't tell me what to do, and you don't get to pull that dominant crap on me because I get more than enough from Ian."

She turned on her heel and stormed out the front door while Athos glared at Ian who gave it right back to him in spades. "Is she fucking kidding me? I told you to watch over her and keep her safe, not fuck her and get her involved in your god-damned kink. And yeah, I know all about your fucking sex club, asshole, and you're not fucking taking her there."

While Ian tried to keep himself from punching the guy, the other two men stood from the table and started walking out the door after the very pissed off-woman. Jake glanced over his shoulder. "We'll go and keep an eye on Angie. Just don't kill each other until after we take care of the main objective, all right?"

Neither man answered him because it'd been a rhetorical question. Instead they stared each other down and Ian was astounded when Athos broke eye contact first, sighing in frustration and running his fingers through his hair. "Fuck. Sorry. You can kick my ass later. I have no say about who she dates or what you two do. I just want her to be happy and safe. If you're the man to do that then..."

Athos left the rest of the sentence go unsaid and Ian could see the defeat in his expression. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the dining table where the remnants of everyone's lunch still sat. He studied the other man for a minute. "Does she know?"

Athos looked at him in confusion. "Does she know...what?"

"That you're in love with her?"

The question was obviously the last thing Athos expected him to ask. Mirroring Ian's stance, he leaned against the back of the couch and stared at something over Ian's shoulder. "To love someone the way she deserves, you have to have not only a heart but a soul as well. I lost both of those a long time ago. I've been trying to get even for my mother and sister's deaths for so long..." He shook his head sadly. "I have nothing left to give her, which is why I stay away from her as much as I can, yet still hold on because she's all I've got."

He paused and regarded Ian a moment. "So, right back at you, Sawyer. Does she know you're in love with her? Because I'm not blind either, man."

Before Ian could respond, although he wasn't sure what his answer would've been, Brody came barreling down the stairs from the den with his laptop in hand. He placed it on the dining table so both men could see the screen. "We've got big trouble."

Ian and Athos closed in on the table to read the news brief from Atlanta's CBS website and both started cursing. Athos' handler, Arthur Giles, Special Agent in Charge of the Atlanta DEA office, had been killed in a drive-by shooting. He had been gunned down as he got out of his car at his home on the outskirts of the city a quarter after seven last night. There were no reported suspects, but the police and feds were looking at a local gang of drug runners.

"Fuck! God-damn it!" Athos plunged both hands through his hair again and spun around looking for something to vent his anger on. Not finding anything other than a wall, he punched it and the pain didn't even register as his knuckles began to swell. "His daughter had his first grandchild a month ago. And now he's dead because of my fucking need to get even with those bastards."

"You don't know that for sure." Ian's didn't believe his own words but he needed to calm the man down. Athos rounded on him, getting in his face but he didn't back down.

"Don't I? Come on, Sawyer, don't fucking patronize me. You know how this fucking goes. They're cleaning house after the cartel found two DEA agents from the same office had infiltrated them. Someone found out who our fucking handler was and put a stop to any more interference from him. No one from Atlanta was supposed to know where Artie sent us. Fuck, no one in Atlanta was even supposed to know who the hell Aaron was."

Ian didn't say anything more because they both knew the likelihood of Athos being wrong was very slim. There were very few coincidences in their line of work, and he doubted this was one of them. Carter had heard the commotion and came back inside to see what was wrong. Ian pointed to the still open laptop and the operative walked over to read it, adding his own curses to the ones they'd spouted out earlier. He pinned the DEA agent with a understanding stare, having overheard his last rant. "Don't beat yourself up, A-man. If you didn't volunteer, Artie would've sent in someone else and the result would've been the same. Put the blame where it belongs–on the dirty agents and cartel." He paused and let his words sink in to the man's brain. "Artie was the only one who knew you went under, wasn't he?"

The agitated man nodded. It meant he had no one left he could trust in his own department. They knew two of his fellow agents were dirty and had no idea who else at the Atlanta office was on the take. He couldn't risk contacting anyone until he knew for sure it was safe. For now, Carter and the Trident team were his only backup.

Ian arched an eyebrow at Carter. "Where's Angie?"

"She took a walk with Jake. She's still pissed off and I wasn't stupid enough to stay in the line of fire. That woman is a firecracker when she’s pissed."

Brody had been quiet since he first came down and now took a deep breath. "Okay, so where do we go from here? Athos has no backup from his agency. His handler is dead. We can't take out the whole New Orleans cartel without starting an all-out war or getting ourselves life in prison or worse. Angie's still in danger. Did I miss anything?"

"Nope and thanks for stating the obvious, Egghead."

"No problem, Carter. Glad I could help keep you in the loop." Turning his sarcasm off, he asked, "Now does someone have a plan?"

While they all stayed silent, trying to think of a way out of this horror story they'd found themselves in, Ian's phone rang. Glancing at the screen, he saw it was the back-up phone his brother kept in his car. "Hey, Dev, what's up?"

"Jenn's been kidnapped!"

Ian stiffened in shock, not believing what Devon had just blurted out. Panic assaulted him. "What do you mean, Jenn's been kidnapped?"

The other three men froze in place as well, wide eyes searching Ian's pale face as if it held all the answers to their questions. He punched the speaker button and set the phone down on the table so they could all gather around. His brother's frantic voice came through loud and clear. "Henderson called. I put him and his partner on Jenn just in case. They were pulled over by an unmarked car while driving her to the college. From the description he gave me before I lost him, it sounds like it was the two agents who tried to get Angie. Henderson took a bullet to the chest and his partner was shot in the head. I think Henderson passed out but the line is still open–it's why I'm on the backup. I'm on the way to the scene now and just heard the cops and paramedics arrive."

"Was Jenn hurt?"

"I don't know, Ian. All I know is she’s gone. I'm about five minutes away. I'll call you back as soon as I know anything. Marco called about fifteen minutes ago and said they landed and are on the road."

"I'll call them and have them turn around then make sure CC's ready to take off again. Keep me posted." Ian disconnected the phone.

"Don't turn them around." They all turned toward Brody who was rushing up the stairs to get his gear from the den. He raised his voice so he could be heard without stopping. "If they've been on the road for thirty minutes, we can have CC do a quick hop to the airport in Ashville. It's about halfway between us. We can meet them there and it'll save us some time."

"Good. Call him and get him in the air." Ian jerked his chin at Carter. "Can you go get Jake and Angie? We're out of here in five."

Without an answer, the man jogged out the door. Once he was out of sight, Ian grabbed Athos by the shirt and shoved him up against the wall. The agent grabbed his wrists but wisely didn’t resist. Ian let out a low growl. "If anything happens to my goddaughter because of you, you won't have to fucking worry about the cartel. You hear me?"

Regret filled the Athos’ eyes. "I hear you and I wouldn't expect anything less from you. For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"I don't give a shit about your fucking apology. Just help us get Jenn back, then we finish this and guarantee Angie's safety."

Without waiting for a response, Ian released him and moved toward his bedroom. "Let's grab what we need and get the hell out of here. I'll call Marco from the road."

* * *

A few minutes after they were all in the air, Brody held out his hand to Boomer. "Did you bring my new toy?"

The man reached into his pocket of his jeans and handed the geek the piece of jewelry he’d asked him to grab from the war-room. Walking from the couch area to where Angie was sitting alone in the same seat she'd occupied on their first flight, Brody sat down beside her and asked her to hold out her left arm for him. She was still pissed about everything and now terrified Jenn had been kidnapped and possibly hurt or worse. When he finished attaching the gold bracelet to her wrist, she looked at it in confusion. "Um, Brody, I don't have any allergies and I'm not a diabetic or anything, so what's with the medical alert bracelet.

"It just says your allergic to bees, sweetheart. Nothing serious. In the meantime, if something happens, which we're going to avoid at all costs, I can track you with the GPS in there. If I'm close enough, there's also a one-way hidden microphone so I can listen in on what's going on around you through a receiver in my laptop. It's short range but the GPS is long range and if I need to, I can always," he coughed the word 'hack', "into a satellite to track you. No one wears ID bracelets anymore and I needed the room inside so I figured a fake medical alert was the best thing to use. It's a prototype and you're my guinea pig...sorry, figure of speech."

Still holding her hand, he hesitated a moment, as if struggling with what he wanted to say next. "Are you and I okay? I know you're still pissed over us bugging your house but, sweetheart, my friendship with you was...is the real thing."

She nodded and saw his tense body relax. Her voice was forgiving but tired. "I know, Brody. It's just everything hit me at once, you know? I've been independent for so long and I hate being left out of things which concern me. I'll get over it, but you better get your ass over to my house as soon as this is all over and take out every single one of those cameras and bugs." She gave him a glare to let him know she meant business. "Understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!" He grinned at her with his famous flirtatious expression. "You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were a Domme at times. That's called a switch, by the way. But don't tell Ian I told you. He'll shoot me for putting ideas in your head."

"Hmmm. Maybe I can have Jake train me to be a Whip Master."

He looked at her in feigned horror and they both laughed, glad they had a chance to clear the last bit of friction still between them. When he stood to go back to the rest of the group, she got up and followed, then took the seat at the end of the couch between Boomer and Ian's recliner which was in its upright position. Ian smiled at her but it didn't reach his eyes which were filled with worry. Angie leaned over and linked her right fingers with his left and set their joined hands on the armrest of the couch. His other hand was holding the jet's phone to his ear as he got the update from Devon. "Okay. Do what you can, call in whoever you need and call me with any updates." Disconnecting the call, he looked up and told them what he knew, which wasn't much. "There's been no word from the kidnappers yet, or agents, or whatever you want to call those assholes. No leads either. An APB was put out on the agency vehicle. Dev called in a few favors with the locals and so far they've agreed to keep the DEA out of loop despite the connection. He also put a call into Keon just in case we need to override the local law enforcement." Their contact in the FBI, Larry Keon, was the Deputy Director, otherwise known as the number two man in the agency, and would help them with whatever they needed. "Henderson is alive but still unconscious. He lost a lot of blood and they took him into surgery. His partner didn't make it. Dev's pulling in everyone he can and using our local contacts and snitches. Nothing so far."

"Why did they take her? I mean Jimmy has never even met Jenn."

Angie wasn't seeing the big picture but the men were. Ian squeezed her hand. "Angel, they obviously don't know you well enough yet, otherwise they would've gone after one of your friends. It would've taken them a while to figure out who you would run to save. You have no other family except for Athos and vice versa. The only connection they could figure out fast is Brody since he helped you. Brody's trail led them to Trident. Their best chance to get you, and ultimately Athos, was to take either Kristen or Jenn. Kristen hasn't left the compound, so Jenn was taken. We'll get her back, but for now, we wait until they contact us."

Her bottom lip trembled but she didn't break down. "They want you to trade me for Jenn, don't they?"

Ian tugged on her hand until she stood and he pulled her down on his lap. Wrapping one arm around her hips and holding her to him, he cupped her chin with his other hand and made sure she was looking into his eyes. "That's not going to happen, Angel. I'm scared to death for Jenn's safety but I'll throw myself on the gates of Hell before I trade your life for hers. Once we find out where they're holding her, we're going to get her back...alive. It's what we do, sweetheart. Dev's called in some former team members who can get to Tampa fast. Boomer's dad is already on his way to help along with a few others. These bastards are going to rue the day they ever messed with Jennifer Mullins, I can guarantee you that."

Tiny chimed in. "Don't worry, Miss Angie. We got this covered."

Angie’s gaze moved to each of the brave men's faces and she saw their determination. She nodded but knew it was evident she was still terrified for Jenn's safety. Climbing off Ian's lap, she headed to the jet's bathroom, which was twice the size of regular airplane facilities and shut the door. It wasn't until she was alone, did she allow her tears fall. She didn't want them to know how upset she was because they had enough to deal with without her breaking down in front of them. It was a few minutes before she got herself back under control and began to splash some water on her face. There was a knock at the door, and she did a pat-dry of her hands and face before tossing the paper towel into the trash. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Jimmy, and instead of standing aside to let her out, he stepped into the small space with her and closed the door behind him. "What are you doing?"

He took her hands in his. "I wanted a moment alone with you and this was the only option. I'm sorry, Ang. You have no idea how sorry I am that you and Ian's niece are in jeopardy because of me. I'm sorry I put my need to avenge Mom and Ruthie's deaths before my relationship with you." He stared at their joined hands. Swallowing hard, he struggled to find the right words. "Before I got called in to my CO's and was told they'd been murdered, I was planning on finishing out my tour and then getting out. I was going to come home and ask you out on a real date." Angie gaped at her best friend while he lifted his sad eyes and shrugged his shoulder. "I know, crazy, right? But being away from you, so far away, I realized how much you meant to me. Somewhere in the middle of our letters, phone calls and my rotations home, I fell in love with my best friend. Hell, I'd been in love with you long before that, but refused to admit it to myself."

"Oh, Jimmy. Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"In the beginning, before...I was just plain scared. Here I was in Special Ops and a cute, sassy little blonde, who means the world to me, had me scared shitless, thinking she wouldn't say yes to a date. Besides, I wanted to tell you face to face. I didn't want to give you time to over-think things. Then my world fell apart and I was so bent on revenge. When Artie approached me with a way to get even with the dirt bags who sold drugs to my sister and millions of other kids like her, I took it. And I didn't like who I'd become afterward. I couldn't expect you to fall for a man who'd become so blood-thirsty he was willing to throw away the best thing that ever happened to him. You. You have been my world since the day I met you in ninth grade English and I picked up the book you'd knocked off your desk and gave it back to you."