Mastering the Devil (Rush Series Book 4) (22 page)

“I do,” Alex said.

“Son-of-a-bitch!” Cash exploded. “She just wouldn’t give it up! No matter what I said… no matter what Jacob said. I don’t understand it,” he said, his voice tapering off.

Alex leaned forward
, rested his elbows lightly on his knees, and placed his chin on his hands. “What exactly did Jacob say?” he asked with seemingly nonchalance.

Cash scrunched his eyebrows
and eyed Alex particularly. “He told her the same as me… and the same as you; that he was dangerous and she should just drop her need for vengeance against him.”

Alex templed his two forefingers and asked lightly, “How well do you know Jacob Roundtree?”

Cash turned his head abruptly to stare incredulously at Alex. “What’s going on here, Masters? Devon asked me the same question. What does Jay have to do with this?”

Alex sat back in his chair and exhaled deeply. “I’m not sure exactly. But I do know that he
’s always known where Miguel Munoz has been. I think Miguel is protected by the C.I.A. or D.E.A.; or maybe even the FBI. Jacob is taking orders from someone… but I don’t know who.”

Cash stared at him blankly for a long moment, obviously trying to understand the words that suddenly
held no meaning. “What the hell are you talking about, Alex!”

“I tried to tell Devon that he was…”

The door to the room being pushed open caused Alex to pause in what he was saying, and both men to turn their heads towards the door.

Jacob Roundtree entered the room briskly, dressed in a charcoal tailored suit
, the jacket flapping open to reveal a startling white shirt underneath. He had an equally starling white handkerchief in his hand that he was using to mop the sweat from his bald head. As he neared Cash’s bed, he lifted his head to say something to Cash when he spotted Alex sitting in the chair next to him.

“Alex, this is a surprise,” Jacob said a little uneasily.

“Tell me you haven’t always known where that shit-hole Munoz has been all this time when he was trying to blow up one of your agents! When he was holding that same agent’s mother hostage!” Cash said harshly.

Jacob held up a hand to try to get Cash to calm
down. “I don’t actually answer to you, Mr. Devlin, in case you’ve forgotten!” he responded coolly. “I do, however, find it a damn shame when I have to find out through a third party that two of my agents were in the hospital! Your first call should have been to me,” he continued sternly.

“Who told you? Your good friend, Miguel Munoz?” Alex asked snidely.

Jacob cut his eyes to Alex, but didn’t answer.

“Well?” Cash prompted.

Jacob once again wiped his brow with the handkerchief. Taking his time, he slowly folded it and replaced it in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. “There are some things above your pay grade, Cash,” he replied.

Grimacing
in pain as he rearranged himself on his pillows, Cash stared at Jacob for a long moment before responding, obviously trying to size up the other man. “Are you in his pocket, Jay?” he finally asked quietly.

Jacob blanched at the comment. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he replied with indignation.

“Well, who is then,” Alex asked quietly.

From the doorway, a small shaky voice said, “Yes,
oh, esteemed leader, please tell us who is ultimately responsible for the death of my mother!”

All eye
s turned towards the door. Devon stood within the doorway, leaning weakly against the frame, her body shaking from the effort of remaining upright, as well as from the intensity of her emotions. Her black hair was wild about her face, giving her a nearly deranged appearance. Before Alex could rise from his seat to go to her, she launched her frail body the few steps that separated her from Jacob. She raised her fists and struck out at the man, but her attempts were nearly laughable as her strength had been greatly dimensioned by what she’d put her body through.

Jacob stood stock still and allowed her
to pound him with her puny hits until finally she slipped to floor, her strength gone. Even from the floor, she continued to try and hit out at Jacob until Alex came up behind her and slipped his hands beneath her arms and lifted her up against his body.

“Nooo,” she cried weakly. “He has to pay…
he has to pay.”

Alex turned her around and surrounded her with his arms and his body. Swallowing hard at her distress, he pressed his lips against her temple and said, “I know, baby, I know.”

She sobbed quietly into his chest. “He took everything… he made me give up everything. He owes me.”

Alex moved a hand up and cupped the back of her neck, burying her even further into his body. “Oh, Little Devil!” he murmured, for her ears only.

Without breaking contact, Alex moved them back to the chair he’d just vacated. Upon reaching it, he sat and gathered a limp Devon onto his lap. She was his concern, not the issues dealing with Jacob Roundtree. She continued to sob weakly as she clung to him, like he was her lifeline – and truth-be-told, maybe he was. She continued to mumble against his neck about things he didn’t quite understand, didn’t even try to understand. He simply just held her, continuously brushed his lips against her head in comfort, and murmured words of quiet comfort to her. He was sure she didn’t hear his words, but he continued anyway.

While Alex had completely blocked everything out but his need to protect and soothe Devon,
Cash on the other hand, had no problem addressing the other man.

“So who is it?”
he fired again at Jacob.

It seemed a struggle for Jacob to tear his eyes away from
the sobbing puddle in Alex’s lap. Finally, he did shift his eyes back to Cash and was met with such contempt, he was forced to take a step back as if in defense. “I… I…”

Cash’s eyes narrowed as he watched Jacob’s
eyes dart back and forth between him and Alex. “What Jacob? Is it above your pay grade as well?” he asked derisively.

Jacob clenched his jaw
and slowly the wildness that had seemed to be in his eyes for the past several minutes faded away to be replaced with determination. Grabbing the lapels of his suit jacket, he straightened it unnecessarily. Clearing his throat he said, “I expect a full report from you by the end of the week… from the both of you. The two of you have spent way too much time on personal things. What happened is unfortunate and we will deal with it in the proper way… not by going off on your own.”

Cash jerked upright and groan
ed at the pain that movement caused him. Alex tightened his grip on the quivering woman in his arms. “What’s it going to take, Jay, for the agency to realize that protecting a slime-ball like Miguel Munoz is wrong? Will it take the actual death of one of your agents? Or will that be covered up. What can he possibly possess that would be that beneficial?” Alex asked in a voice low and mincing. “Maybe if we exposed what the agency has allowed to happen here… have condoned even, maybe then, they’ll be forced to deal with Miguel Munoz,” Alex said derisively.

“
Be careful with your threats, Masters!” Jacob bellowed. “If it hadn’t been for me, you’d be rotting in a jail-cell right now.”

“We both know I didn’t take any part of those missiles,” Alex said.

“So you’ve said,” Jacob scoffed.

Alex grasp on
Devon tightened even further and she whimpered against his neck. He immediately loosened his grip and forced himself to regain the control he’d allowed Jacob to take from him. Lifting his now emotionless eyes back towards Jacob, he said, “That’s old news. I want to know where to find Munoz,” he said icily.

The complete change in Alex’s demeanor seemed to rattle Jacob and he sighed heavily as he rubbed a hand against the back of his neck. He gave a small shake of his head before turning back towards Cash. “I’ll expect those reports on my desk before week’
s end,” he said duly.

By this time, Cash’s skin
had felt on fire and he’d closed his eyes. Without opening them, he muttered, “Kiss my ass, you little worm!”

Jacob sighed but didn’t respond, instead, he turned slowly and made his way out of the room.

Alex glanced down at Devon to see how she was holding up. His face softened when he realized she was asleep. He gathered her into a more comfortable position and said to Cash, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yeah… shoot me!”

Alex chuckled softly over the top of Devon’s head as he allowed the tension of the last few minutes to wash away completely. “Sorry… that’s above my pay-grade.

“I can kill you with this plastic hospital spoon, dude,” Cash muttered, his lips white around the edges.

“I know, man, but first you’d have to catch me.”

They sat in silence briefly. “Who do you think Jay is protecting?” Cash asked, still with his eyes shut.

Alex slowly shook his head, aware that Cash couldn’t see him. “I don’t know. We might never know. I know I threatened him with divulging what’s been going on here, but we both know, that kind of story would be squashed before it even began.”

“Yep, the long arm of the law,” Cash said.

Alex looked down at the woman in his arms. The woman, that while he had never admitted it to her, had always loved. The woman, he’d lay his life down to protect. The woman, he intended to save… even from herself. Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes and began to formulate a plan of action. Not that Devon wasn’t his first priority, but he had Cash to consider as well. He didn’t doubt for one minute that Miguel wouldn’t hesitate to kill either him or Cash if he thought it’d hurt Devon, draw her out, or whatever his actual agenda was.

His problem was that he was still tied up with Rush’s business. He didn’t see how he could possible put that off any longer. He couldn’t expect his team to carry it forever and it was now drawing to its
sought after conclusions. He just needed to ensure both Cash and Devon were safe.

A thought floated across his mind and a smile flashed to his lips. Opening his eyes, he said with a grin Cash couldn’t see with his eyes still closed, “Cash, I think you need a little vacation. What do you think?”

Opening only one eye a mere slit, he muttered, “What? And leave all this?”

~M~

Devon’s dreams were misty and hazy and no matter how hard she tried to concentrate on them, she just couldn’t quite grasp them within the lobes of her brain. She felt as if she was floating and boneless. She knew she should try to swim back towards the surface of consciousness, but found she liked the place she was in. She felt surrounded and loved and if she inhaled, she swore she could smell Alex’s special scent – that cross between musk and skin. She snuggled into the warmth surrounding her.

Above her, she felt something soft brush briefly against her temple. She wondered what it could
be. She thought maybe it might be the wing of a butterfly as it flitted past her. Before she was ready, reality started, piece by piece, to break through the fog in her head. She remembered wailing against Jacob Roundtree. Her pathetic efforts caused her face to burn in humiliation.

Slowly, she opened her eyes at the same time she became aware of the arms wrapped around her. She stared at the column of Alex’s neck. She used to love to run her tongue over the rough texture of that spot. She allowed her eyes to trail up his handsome face until they were finally captured within his sea-glass green eyes. He smiled down at her, gently.

“Hi,” he murmured in his deep voice.

She swallowed, and licked her lips. “Hi,” she whispered.

“How do you feel?”

“A little stiff,” she murmured.

“Can I get you anything” he asked, as he brushed her long, dark tresses from her face.

She became uncomfortably aware of her position on his lap. She struggled against the band of his arms.

“Where are you going?” he asked with a laugh.

“I… I need to get up for a bit,” she murmured, glancing away from his gaze.

“I think you’ve ran from me enough, don’t you?” he asked.

Her chest burned with the hurt of the memory of him and the blonde doctor. Struggling against him once more, she said defensively, “I haven’t been running.” She squirmed harder against him until he flinched in pain. She stilled instantly. “What is it?”

He sucked in a breath and shifted her off his injured thigh. She glanced back up into his face looking for answers; it was then she noticed the darkened bloom at his temple and the wound on his head. She lifted a hand and touched his injured face gently. “What happened to you? This looks like you were grazed by a bullet.”

A quick grin moved across his face. “Hard to keep things from an I.D.E.A agent,
huh?”

Refusing to be swayed from her line of thought, she asked again, “What happened?”

He sighed, and raised a hand to trail the back of his fingers across her cheek. “An operation that went awry. But I’m fine, don’t worry.” His expression shifted and his eyes dropped to her full lips. Softly, he traced the line of her lower lip with his finger. “I have missed you, Little Devil,” he murmured softly.