Lacey's Luhpynes [Beyond the Veil 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) (31 page)

“There is no reason for you to apologize, Lacey.” Pulling her closer he hugged her, rubbing a hand up and down her back. “Why don’t you finish up your dessert and then we can go up to the office? We’ll get you settled and then get to work ourselves. How does that sound?”

“Sounds good to me.” She knew that she would likely have to see the doctors on the other side of the Veil sooner rather than later so that they could make sure their son was okay, and so that they could ensure that whatever it was that she was going through was going to be okay as well. “We will see Gennette’s doctors when they can see us as well. I just want to make sure that our son isn’t hurt because I’m human, you know?”

“The baby is fine, Lacey,” he assured her, yet again. “But yes, we have an appointment scheduled for next week. Mom will let me know the exact day and time when she has a moment. She had to confirm with the doctor before letting us know as there was an emergency that ended up messing up the scheduling a bit.”

“Good.” She knew that she worried too much, but it was her right to worry. She was going to be a mom. She was in charge of growing and creating a baby, a perfect little baby boy and she damn well was going to do everything in her power to ensure that the child was happy, healthy, and safe. All while inside of her. Somehow. Dammit.

“Deep breath and eat your sweets,” Zhubin suggested with a grin as he drew back. “Finish up your food and then let’s get out from under all these prying eyes. They all know something’s up but since they haven’t been told what’s up, they are all waiting for us to say or do something to give them a clue.”

“Damn irritating is what it is,” Ansell grumbled. Picking up his bottle of water, he finished it off and set it back on the tray.

“Well, we will get out of here as soon as I have finished my food. I just have a few more things to finish and then we will be able to get out of here. Mostly because I’m ready for a nap. Like whoa ready for a nap.”

“Finish up,” Ansell said. “I’ll get rid of the rest of this and grab us some more water for later. Z, you want anything else?”

“Nah, I’m good, thanks though,” he said as he moved the empty dishes onto the tray. Ansell collected it and moved off to dispose of everything.

Lacey finished the last of the foods that she wanted and then pulled back with a happy smile. “That was yummy. I swear food tastes better now.” That, or she was just finally letting herself enjoy it. “But I am so ready for my nap now.”

“Considering all you ate.” Zhubin grinned at her. “Can’t imagine why you might want a little nap. Come on.” He got up to his feet and held out a hand to her. Helping her up to her feet he drew her close to him and let her step around him to lead the way out of the cafeteria.

This was one of the many things that Lacey loved about her men, now that she had fully accepted them into her life she was held close, she was protected as if she were the singular most important being in the world, and she loved it. Even more now that she was pregnant. No, it wasn’t a planned pregnancy, but she was so very happy about it that nothing else mattered but the love that created the child that she carried and the love she felt for both men.

Ansell joined them for the walk to the elevators and grinned down at her. He didn’t say anything but did give her a little bump with his hip to hers. The ride up to their floor they stayed quiet, since there were another couple of office workers in there with them.

When they were finally up in the offices Lacey yawned and grabbed her blanket from Zhubin’s desk chair and followed them to Ansell’s office. “All right, boys. I’m sleeping,” she muttered and dropped onto the sofa, trusting them to close up the blinds and dim the lights enough for her to rest. Pulling one of the throw pillows close, she put it under her head and yawned. “I love you guys. Good nap for me,” she teased with a smile, and then was sound asleep.

Forty-eight hours later the trap was set as best as they could manage. Or that’s what they were all hoping. They’d talked in hushed whispers where the night crew could overhear them two nights before and had even dropped a memo in a familiar code while carrying files around the office. Now they were on location with everyone else several blocks further out and waiting.

It had been tricky finding places for the snipers and the rest of the team to sit and wait. Places that this subject wouldn’t look, the ones that were so obvious even a civilian wouldn’t pick them. There were a few slightly obvious spots filled, the ones the subject would expect backup for a raid to be sitting and waiting at the ready. They had to make it all look real and yet still have enough coverage to nail the fucker when he showed. Not “if,” there could not be an “if.” It was a “when” because she wanted this over with once and for all.

“You’re getting agitated again,” Ansell mumbled from his reclined and very lazy position in the driver’s seat of the truck. He had the seat all the way back and even a booted foot up and braced on the open window.

“Well of course I am.” Lacey shifted in her seat again. She was getting agitated because nothing was happening yet. She was ready for action. Ready to get the ones that wanted to kill her. She wanted to get the rat-fink bastard that had poisoned her and almost cost her the life of the still-forming child inside of her. To say that she was antsy was an understatement, and they all knew that. “I just pray that this works.” She would feel much better if it did, less stressed for sure.

“It’ll work,” he said, shifting in the seat slightly and let out a relaxed-sounding sigh. How he was so calm and relaxed, she’d never know. Hell, the man was practically asleep in his seat! “You just have to have a little faith and believe that we’ve done all we can to cover all the bases. Which we have. We can’t do any more than that, Lace.”

“I know.” She sighed and shook her head. “It’s just killing me. I would like to be able to blame pregnancy but we all know that I’ve always been like this. High-strung and antsy. I just know that I will feel far better when we have him in custody. Maybe then I can think about taking maternity leave. Or just leaving the force.” She still hadn’t decided and they hadn’t said anything one way or another on which they would prefer.

That apparently caught enough of his attention to have him looking her way from under his lashes. “You are not high-strung, Lacey. You are a finely tuned machine that works best under extreme situations and conditions. This is not your idea of fun and, honestly, it’s not mine either but I also don’t mind the downtime when you consider all the possible outcomes of tonight from nothing to the extreme. So. I plan on lazing here, listening to the chatter and waiting on the subject to show up so I can beat his face into pulp.”

“Good. And don’t forget that you are going to hold him down so that I can beat the heck out of him too,” she said with a grin. “I really and truly do want to be able to hit him or kick him at least once. This bastard deserves it and so very much more.” Which was the honest-to-god truth.

“Yup, I did promise that and I always keep my promises. But make it count, you may only get one shot at him,” he said. “And darling, if you plan on kicking him in the nuts, warn me ahead of time will you? I’d rather not watch that even with this guy, some things a man just doesn’t want to witness no matter how bad the bad guy is.”

“Don’t worry. I will make it count. Even if it means that I get to kick his gonads up and into his rectum I will warn you if I am going to, I promise. No worries at all about that, darling. I will let you know.”

Shuddering, he made a face and settled back into his seat. “You’d better. Just thinking about it makes my nuts want to hide from you. I know the kind of power you’ve got in those luscious legs, makes me twitchy just thinking about it.”

“Don’t worry, I would never do anything to hurt you. Promise.” She would never hurt her guys, not willingly of course. Not now that she had them in her life. Now she had, once or twice, hurt them by accident, but that was different. That was then, this was now. For now she was simply happy to be in their lives and would do anything to make them happy just as they would her.

“I can see your lips twitching over there. I know you remember the time you decked me,” he said with a low growl. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten it either, woman. There will be retribution in the future for that, just as soon as I figure out how to make you pay.”

“I hadn’t meant to,” she said quickly. “I really didn’t mean to deck you but you came in just as I was lifting my purse with a hefty swing because I was pissed, and boom.” She no longer carried a purse because of that but she didn’t think he realized that part.

“Zhubin still laughs his ass off now and again over that. He’s got a copy of the recording that he occasionally plays to get to me when I’ve been annoying him. Or so he claims. Personally, I just don’t see it, it’s not like I go outta my way to annoy him.” His lips curled up slightly. “Much.”

“Oh, whatever.” She rolled her eyes and snorted. “We both know that there are days that you do go out of your way to annoy him. It’s mostly on the days where he’s being far too serious but you know as well as I do that you do it, mister man. But that’s okay, because I do as well.” She ended with a laugh.

“He does get too serious, doesn’t he?” He let out a big sigh. “I worry about him sometimes. I don’t know if it’s because of who his father is that he’s naturally this way or if I just didn’t notice and he’s always had this inclination before but…” He shrugged. “Hell, I dunno what the hell I’m trying to get at here.”

“Well whatever we do we will make sure that he doesn’t get too serious on us. It’s going to be okay. Promise. I think between the two of us we will be able to keep his uptight ass from being too overbearing and boring. No worries.”

A low growl sounded in her ear and she and Ansell shared a shocked look. Oops! “You know, if you two are going to talk about me you really should ensure the comms are off,” Zhubin said in an annoyed-sounding voice. “And if you’re done picking apart my apparent character flaws, we have a target moving into the zone, so pay attention.”

Lacey just grinned. “Who said that I wanted to ensure that they were off?” Lacey did, however, sit up and she added, “Besides, you know I love you. Goofus,” she teased and moved slightly. “Got it. Eyes on,” she whispered this time.

“Got it,” Ansell said as well. “Looks like one occupant trolling for a good spot to park. Which, given where we are, there are more than a few options.”

“Could just be a delivery driver,” one of their snipers commented. “But I can’t see a face through that windshield, it’s got an odd tint to it.”

She shared a look with Ansell before his eyes went to the rearview mirror. “Could be, but for some reason that doesn’t really fit with the time of day.”

“Unless it’s to test us, see where we are when we move in to take it down,” Zhubin commented.

“Be a good plan if we hadn’t already thought about that being a possibility,” another of their team commented in a dry tone. Artaxias, if she remembered the voice correctly. The Vhampire sounded beyond bored and very uninterested in what was happening. “Picking up speed again,” he added into the comms.

“Something’s not right.” Lacey felt it in the pit of her stomach. “Okay, this will sound silly, but is that one of those old-fashioned manhole covers that the guy stopped over?” It looked like one, they hadn’t been used in many, many years but she still knew what they were.

“Confirmed,” the sniper said. Shawn, that was his name, she realized. “No movement though, but I can only see the outline in the vehicle. Anyone with eyes on the side or undercarriage?”

A few of their team checked in with reports they had visual and there was no movement from anywhere in or under the car.

“What are you thinking, Lace?” Ansell asked quietly. She could feel his eyes on her, waiting.

“It feels wrong. They stopped and then scuttled away quickly. Okay, don’t think that I’m nuts but I watched one of the old movies a while back and there was something that this team did where they lowered a guy into the sewers so that he could move without anyone seeing him. It was from like the twentieth century so the sewers and stuff were still working, but even though they are no longer used, the tunnels are still there…right?”

“For the most part,” he said, leaning in closer to her, his cheek to hers. He was obviously trying to get the view she had and to see what she was seeing. “Some were sealed, others were blocked off at key points with bars or steel doors and some more, specifically in the downtown, were filled with the expanding foam stuff,” he murmured. “Did you see something we missed, love?”

“For just a moment I could have sworn I saw a flash of light. I know how stupid that sounds. I know how strange that sounds, but there it is. I felt as if I had seen something but just as fast it was gone. That was what drew my attention to the circle impression in the ground.”

Nodding against her cheek, he drew back and kissed her skin lightly. “Ax, can you get underground and see if anything at this spot’s been moved or disturbed?”

“Uh, yeah, I’ve got another cover not that far from my spot. But I need someone to move over here and take over my location,” the Vhampire replied.

“Jonas,” Zhubin said over the comms. “Work your way around to Artaxias’s position. Slowly though, we don’t want to tip anyone off, especially since we all know our target is out there watching this location.”

“Copy that.”

“I’m going to feel really, really bad if I’m wrong on this,” Lacey whispered. “Like crazy bad if I am wrong. But let’s hope and pray that I’m wrong.” She would rather it be that than have Ax get hurt underground in such close quarters.

“Better to be wrong and know it than to sit here and wonder and find out later you were right,” Artaxias said. “At least the damn things are out of service now. I would seriously hate to go mucking around down there like they were before the Veil fell.”

Ansell gave a shudder next to her and made a face. “Amen to that.”

“Sorry,” she whispered again. “I promise if you get dirty I will wash your clothes myself.” She laughed when she heard several “no’s” all spoken at once. “One red sock in your gym clothes. I’m sorry but I didn’t know that colors could bleed like that.” And they had. All over Zhubin and Ansell’s white shirts, and the white shirts of several of the other guys on the force that had tossed their clothes together in the washer at the department.