Kill Shot (13 page)

“He’ll kill me.”

“I’m going to kill you a lot slower if you
don’t answer, so you might as well tell me.”

“His name’s Kimball. He’s American.”

“Description.”

“I don’t know.”

Jack squeezed again, and the man blacked out
for a few minutes. He slapped him across the face until the man
came to, and Jack waited until his eyes gained focus before asking
again.

“Please, man. I need a doctor.”

“You’re about to need an undertaker. Give me
a description of Kimball.”

“Big guy. About your size. Military. Or at
least he looks that way. Scary son of a bitch.”

“How does he pay you?”

“Electronic transfer.”

“Good boy. You’re finally starting to
learn.” Jack tapped his cheek a couple more times as the guy
started to drift off. “You can pass out in a minute. Tell me what
information you were supposed to get from me.”

“We were supposed to find out about the
package some bloke sent to the place you’re living.”

Chills ran down Jack’s spine. Whoever was
behind The Passover Project had a longer reach than he’d thought.
“And what if I didn’t tell you?”

“Then we were supposed to knock you out and
take you with us. If we couldn’t get the information out of you,
then Kimball thought he could.”

“I bet he did.” Jack stood up. A grey, hazy
light was starting to peak over the city, and he knew it wouldn’t
be long before traffic started to pick up.

“Did he want to know only about me, or did
he mention other names?”

“He said something about an Edgar Harris,
but you were our priority.”

“What’s your name?”

“Brian Kirby.”

“Today’s your lucky day, Kirby. Go back to
Mr. Kimball and tell him that if he wants to tangle with me, then
he needs to have the guts to do it himself. Tell him I’ll be
waiting for him.”

Jack stepped over the dead guy and headed
out of the alley. One of his damned ribs was cracked, and he’d need
stitches in his arm, but the important thing was he had information
to give to Ethan to put in that amazing computer of his. Brian
Kirby had just given him part of the pieces to the puzzle.

The good news was they were making someone
out there really nervous. People who were nervous made big
mistakes. And people who made big mistakes ended up dead.

Gabe waited until the water went off and
Grace was out of the sight before going to take his own shower. Her
words pounded through him over and over again until all he could
hear was the accusing tone of her voice in his mind.

Had he been too involved in agency work to
pay attention to what was happening with his family? He knew he’d
started to shut down that last year of their marriage. Living a
double life had taken its toll on him. Life among terrorists and
human beings of the lowest life form was a cruel and terrible
existence, and the only bright spot in his life had been Grace and
Maddie. And he hadn’t wanted them to be touched by the other life
he was having to live.

Despite it all, he and Grace had somehow
made their marriage work. Or at least he thought they had. When one
of them was away on assignment, the other was always at home with
Maddie. But his time with Tussad, and what the CIA wanted Gabe to
do within Sayad’s organization, had made him pull away from the
goodness that waited for him at home. He had a duty to his country.
That had been drilled into him from an early age, and he was glad
to do it. Proud to do it. But he’d had a duty to Grace as well—the
most basic being to love, honor, and cherish. Somewhere along the
way he’d failed miserably.

And when Maddie had died and Grace had left,
he’d closed in on himself. Grace spoke the truth when she blamed
him. He blamed himself. If he hadn’t been working with Tussad, then
Maddie would still be alive. He couldn’t even blame the CIA for
giving him the job—he’d been eager to take it, eager to see the
terrorist finally brought to justice.

But things had gone terribly wrong, and he
and Grace had each wallowed in their own fear and anguish and guilt
until something else formed—something unhealthy and consuming. It
had obviously affected Grace differently than it had affected him,
and he needed to do whatever it took to fix it. She was hurting.
And she wasn’t healthy. If she wanted him out of her life after she
was better, then so be it. But he owed it to her to help with the
healing. He owed it to both of them because he needed to heal
too.

He ducked his head under the hot spray and
let the water soothe his sore muscles. He thought of Grace and how
she’d felt around him, and his body automatically hardened. She’d
felt better than he’d remembered. And he couldn’t help but wonder
if she’d found comfort and solace with another man over the last
two years. Jealousy consumed him, and he closed his eyes and
blanked his mind against the faceless man he saw in his
imagination. He needed to get a grip.

Gabe turned off the water with an agitated
flick of the wrist and wrapped a towel around his waist. He brushed
his teeth but was too tired to bother with shaving. The beard would
have to stay a little longer. When he opened the door into the
bedroom area, he saw Grace lying on her side, facing away from him.
She was burrowed under the covers, so only the flame of her hair
showed against the white of the sheets.

He dropped the towel and slid in next to
her, pulling her against him so their naked bodies spooned
together. He buried his face in the scent of her hair and drifted
off to sleep.

***

Grace woke up slowly—and somewhere familiar.
The heat of flesh was wrapped around her in a comfortable cocoon,
and she sighed with contentment before realization struck her and
her muscles tensed.

“Relax,” Gabe whispered in her ear. His
breath was hot across her neck, and his hand splayed possessively
over her stomach.

She let out a slow breath and didn’t fight
against his hold. It felt too good. “I’m not strong enough for this
anymore, Gabe.”

“For what?”

“For anything. The job. You.”

“You’re the strongest person I’ve ever
known, Grace. But everyone needs a little help now and then.”

“Not you. You’ve never seemed to need help
with anything.” Or from anyone, she added silently.

“Not true.” He pulled her closer and
burrowed into her softness. Grace wondered if anyone else knew that
the most dangerous man in the world liked to snuggle. Her heart
pounded in her chest, and something inside her felt so full she
thought she’d burst from it. She wanted to tell him the rest of it.
What else had happened after Maddie’s death and their estrangement,
but she didn’t have the courage. She didn’t want his pity. And she
didn’t want to see how the news affected him.

“Touch me, Gabe” she begged. “Make me feel.
It’s been so long since I felt anything but cold.”

Gabe dropped his head against her and
groaned. His fingers tightened against her stomach, and his
erection stirred against her ass.

“Not fair, Grace. I’m trying to be good
here.”

“Just once more. Please, Gabe. Make me
warm.”

He ran light kisses over her shoulders and
in the hollow of her neck. She turned over onto her back so he
loomed over her, and she wrapped her arms around him, bringing him
closer. She smoothed his unruly hair back from his forehead and
looked deep into the blue of his eyes.

“I want this,” she said, lowering her hand
until she grasped his hard cock. “And you want this too.”

Grace lifted up and took his mouth in a hot
kiss that promised a fast and furious coupling. She gripped his
shoulders hard and scissored her legs to get him into the position
she craved, but he softened the kisses, making each one slow and
steady, nibbling his way across her body, and driving her
absolutely crazy.

“What are you doing? I want it faster. I
need you inside me now.”

“And I want it slower. Believe me, we’ll
both get to the same place eventually.” He whispered the words
against her skin, causing her to shiver.

Grace shook her head in denial. He was going
too slowly. Giving her too much time to think. She needed him hot
and hard and fast, and she moved under him frantically, trying to
bend him to her will. She squeezed his hardness in her hand and
began pumping him up and down.

“I don’t think so,” Gabe said, grabbing her
hand and anchoring it with his own. “If you do that, this will be
over much too fast.”

“That’s the idea.” She didn’t recognize the
throaty purr when she spoke. He was doing this all wrong. He kissed
his way to her lips, his mouth soft and moist against her. The kiss
was sweet—loving—as he stroked the inside of her mouth with his
tongue. He didn’t give her room to evade, to shield herself from
everything it meant. She lost herself in the kiss, the room
spinning around her in delirium as she didn’t know which way was
up, only that Gabe was her anchor in the storm.

He moved from her mouth and trailed wet
kisses lower, stopping to savor the taste of each nipple. Circling
the stiffened peaks with his tongue and sucking gently, making her
cry out as each suckle pulled at something low in her womb. He
kissed his way even lower, leaving a wet trail.

“Stop it, Gabe. This isn’t what I want.” She
pushed against his head, but he wouldn’t be deterred.

“Just stop thinking and enjoy.” He swirled
his tongue in the dip of her belly button and then lower into the
moist curls between her thighs.

“I’ve always loved the way you tasted,” he
said, inhaling the scent of her arousal. “Sweet, like honey. God,
you’re so wet and ready for me.”

His mouth clamped over her clit and she
couldn’t help the moan that tore from her throat. He was
relentless, and his tongue flicked across the nub unmercifully
until she was screaming with pleasure. She buried her fingers in
his hair and rode the wave that pushed her over the edge.

She fell back limply on the bed, her body
slicked with a light sheen of sweat. Her heart thudded in her
chest, and colors danced behind her closed eyes. She shivered again
as she felt the flat of his tongue licking her slowly like a cat
with a bowl of cream. The heat started to build again.

“I can’t take any more,” she pleaded.

“Liar.” He grabbed her ass with both hands
and lifted her to his mouth like a starving man at a banquet table,
and he devoured her until she was begging for mercy. Her climax
slammed through her, and it was still going strong as he moved over
her and pushed inside the pulsing walls of her pussy.

“Fuck, you’re tight.”

Grace was incapable of speech. She’d been
making love to this man for almost a decade, and she’d never felt
anything like what was happening to her now. Her body was no longer
her own, just as she knew Gabe’s body no longer belonged to him.
They were truly melded—mind, body and spirit.

He grabbed her hips and changed the angle,
thrusting deep so the tip of his cock hit against her womb. An
orgasm rolled through her again, and her legs tightened around him,
holding him closer. He thrust against her one last time before she
felt him swell and release his seed inside of her.

She didn’t remember falling asleep.

***

Grace didn’t know how long she slept or what
time it was. She just knew that when she woke, she was still in
Gabe’s arms. It felt good to be there, but she didn’t deserve
anything good in her life, so she moved out of his grasp as
punishment to herself.

He ignored her movement and pulled her back
against him, rubbing her head gently and tangling their legs
together.

“It was my fault.” She could barely get the
words past her dry throat as she broke the silence between
them.

“What?” Gabe asked, leaning over her so he
could see her face.

Her eyes were dry. She didn’t think there
were any more tears left in her.

“Maddie’s death was my fault. I should have
known we were being watched. It was my job to know. But we went to
the park that day anyway. I wanted to spend some more time with her
because I’d been given a job in South America, and I was supposed
to leave the next day. Whoever took the shot was good. I didn’t
hear the report until she was already down, and by then it was too
late.”

Gabe stroked her back, and she slowed her
breathing, trying to get the images from that day out of her mind.
“I kept waiting for my turn. I kept hoping for it as I held her.
But the second shot never came, and I knew that living was going to
be its own kind of death. Everything I’d been trained for failed me
that day. I never even noticed them.”

“Believe me, Grace. Tussad can afford to
hire the best. You can’t blame yourself for this. Sometimes bad
things just happen, and you can’t question why. I liked it a lot
better when you were putting the blame on my shoulders.”

She tried to smile, but her face seemed
frozen. “I wanted to blame you. You were the most convenient
target. But it wasn’t your fault. I understand the burden you carry
with your job, Gabe. I didn’t want to understand at that time, but
someone has to do it. And no one’s better at it than you are.”

“If Tussad hadn’t found out I was
undercover, none of this would have happened.”

“I’ve stopped trying to play the ‘What if’
game. Nothing will bring her back. I don’t know if I can finish
this job with you. I’m no good anymore. My instincts are off, and
Ethan was right. I’m no better than a mercenary, though I do have
my standards as to who I’ll work for.”

“I know that. I’ve been keeping track of you
the last couple of years.”

“I needed the money the side jobs brought. I
couldn’t afford to pay my contacts to keep track of Tussad. He
moves so frequently, and I had to make sure I’d be told whenever he
surfaced. But every lead I’ve gotten has been a dead end.”