Relentless (2 page)

As Ben settled behind the wheel and started the engine Rhys glanced over at him, the long overdue thank-you crowding his head. He wasn't one for sentiment. He'd rather face enemy fire than talk about his feelings.

Words weren't easy for Rhys, but sometimes they needed to be said regardless of whether he was comfortable with them or not. This was one of those times. His twin's face had been the first thing he'd seen when he'd come out of the coma. Six units of Ben's blood ran through his veins. His brother had served as his cheerleader and drill sergeant every single day since he'd been in the hospital. At first when he'd been too weak to do more than turn his head, Ben had even bathed and dressed him. Now
that
hurt a big brother's ego.

Rhys took a deep breath and cleared his throat, searching for the right words. “So, I uh... Thank you. For everything,” he said, drawing a startled glance from his brother. He tamped down the discomfort of feeling stupid and kept going. If a severe head wound hadn't killed him, words wouldn't. “I don't think I'd have made it without you. I want you to know I appreciate everything you did for me.” He even laid a hand on Ben's sturdy shoulder and squeezed once, as touchy-feely as he ever got.

Ben hurriedly glanced away, but not before Rhys caught the sudden sheen of moisture in his twin's eyes. Little punk had always been the more emotional of the pair of them.

Ben shrugged. “Whatever, man. You know there's nothing I wouldn't do for you, so ‘s all good,” he said, his voice a bit rough. He cleared his throat. “Besides, I think the medical staff deserves most of the credit. I was just happy to ride your ugly ass for a change during your rehab.”

Man, had he ever, Rhys remembered fondly. As always, Ben hadn't understood the concept of quitting while he was ahead, so those rehab sessions had been... interesting. If looks could kill, Ben should have keeled over hundreds of times over the past six weeks. “Hope you enjoyed it, because it won't happen again in this lifetime.”

“Oh, I did. I've committed all my favorite parts to memory. Like when I beat your sorry ass two out of three times with the Rubik's cube— ”

Rhys rolled his eyes, remembering the exquisite frustration of not being able to make his hands obey his mental commands. When he'd first woken up, he'd struggled to even hold a damn pen.

“— or when I won two out of three arm wrestles last week. Trust me, I won't forget.”

And he wasn't going to let him forget, either. That was Ben for you. A smart-mouthed punk ready with a snide remark in any given situation, a demon in a fight, and the best damn friend anyone could ever ask for. His brother could be a severe pain in the ass, but Rhys considered himself lucky to have him at his back.

With the mercifully brief sappy moment behind them and the weight of it lifted from his shoulders, Rhys stared out the windshield as they exited the parking lot. Ben turned onto the busy street and stopped at a red light.

A light rain pattered on the windshield amidst the swish of the wipers. The sky overhead was bleak, kind of like the curiously empty feeling inside him. He was alive and healthy again, but with an uncertain future looming ahead, he felt almost... lost. Besides Ben and their folks, he had no one.

“So, where to on your first day of freedom?” Ben asked. “To get you some shirts that fit? And don't you dare say the gym. I'd say you've had enough of that for a while, and since you're the guest of honor, Sam'll kill me if I don't get you to our place for dinner on time.”

Sam was Rhys's future sister-in-law and a total sweetheart, as well as a top CIA communications contractor. “What's she making?”

“Like you have to ask. Turkey dinner with all the trimmings, because it's your favorite.”

Rhys was glad things had worked out between her and Ben despite the rocky start they'd had to their relationship while working together in Afghanistan. Well, maybe rocky wasn't quite the right word.

After Rhys had his head blown open, Ben had actually accused Sam of sabotaging the mission and setting the team up to die in order to secure her cousin Neveah's release. To this day Rhys couldn't understand how his twin had come to that harebrained conclusion, but then, Ben was known for flapping his face first and thinking later.

Right after Rhys had come out of the coma, Ben had gone off with his tail between his legs to beg Sam for mercy, and she'd actually given it to him. Rhys had to smile. His brother might drive her crazy, and at some point Sam was guaranteed to want to kill him, but Ben would love her with everything he had for as long as he breathed.

The thought brought Rhys's solitary existence into sharp focus, and the sudden flicker of regret caught him off guard. What was up with that? He'd always known he'd spend his life alone. He wasn't cut out for relationships, let alone one that ended with happily-ever-after. “You guys set a date?”

“Not yet. Though I'm sure her and mom will hammer out the details within an hour of us flying into Boston tomorrow.”

“Good, because if you did anything to screw you and her up, I'd beat your ass into the ground.”

“Only if Dad didn't find me first. Or Neveah, for that matter. Now that is one female you do
not
want to piss off,” Ben said with a shudder.

Rhys hid a smile. Neveah wasn't just Sam's cousin, she was like her sister and best friend rolled into one.

Neveah was as strong as she was beautiful, and that was saying something. Her absolute confidence in her abilities and in herself shone out of her vivid blue eyes and showed in her body language. It was also sexy as hell, and the first thing he'd noticed when he'd met her in Paris six months ago after the job he'd worked with Sam.

He'd thought about Neveah a lot since then. Even more since he'd come out of the coma, because he owed his life to her skill and determination. He wondered how she was doing in light of everything that had happened. Couldn't be easy on her.

While they drove Rhys considered what he'd seen in his hospital file, and became aware of a dull ache in the center of his chest. Almost like a piercing loneliness sat there. He pushed the odd thought from his mind. “Sam heard anything from Neveah lately?”

Ben shot him a quick glance and went back to staring through the windshield while he navigated through traffic to get to the freeway. “They talk every few days. Why?”

Rhys tried to think of how he could broach the subject without showing how pathetic he was over her. “I owe Nev big time.” He laid his palms on his thighs, careful not to fidget but irritated he had the urge to. He was usually more contained. “Did you see her?”

“See her where?”

“When I was in the coma.”

Ben frowned and shoulder checked before pulling onto the on ramp. “I told you I did in Kabul. She left the day after Sam.”

But not since then. Interesting. Nev was close to Sam, and he couldn't figure out why she'd been in D.C. without contacting her cousin. Why all the secretiveness? She would've been welcome in the ICU, both as one of the doctors who had performed his craniectomy, and as someone who'd just come through the gates of hell with the rest of them. Ben would have let her stay. So why didn't he know about her visits?

“Spill it,” Ben demanded.

Rhys folded his arms across his chest and hoped the gesture didn't seem defensive. “She was at Walter Reed.”

“What? When?”

That's the interesting part.

“She was in town back when they debriefed her at Langley,” Ben continued, “but I never saw her. You sure she was at the hospital?”

“Yeah.” The dates matched, but for the life of him Rhys couldn't figure out why she'd tried to hide it.

Because he didn't want Ben to know how much it mattered to him, he changed the subject. “So you said you had some news.”

“Sure you want to hear it now?”

“Hit me.” After everything he'd been through in the past two months, he figured he could handle anything.

“Luke called.”

Jesus, except that. Rhys turned his head and stared at Ben. Whatever their special ops legend ex-boss wanted, it had to be serious and business related. “And?”

“He wants us to provide extra security at his son's wedding next weekend in Vancouver.”

Which could only mean one thing, and it wasn't good. “Tehrazzi?” Rhys guessed with a frown. “Last I heard he was dying from the knife wound his bodyguard gave him.”

“Yeah, well, he's damn hard to kill. Some recent chatter surfaced that he might've intercepted an e-mail back in Afghanistan about the wedding. Luke's concerned enough to call in backup.”

Major understatement. If Luke was worried enough to warrant calling them in, the threat to him and his family must be pretty damn big. If not imminent.

Thing was, Rhys wasn't up to that kind of operational standard anymore. Not yet. Maybe never again. He squeezed his hands into fists. “What'd you tell him?”

“I said I'd get back to him once I talked to you.”

“You in?”

“If you are.”

“What about Sam? I thought you didn't want her involved with this anymore.”

“She'll stay with Mom.”

Oh, so Ben would up and leave his fiancee behind just to keep him company? Like hell. Rhys shot him a hard look. “I don't need a babysitter.” It irked him that Ben thought he needed to keep watching over him.

“Luke wants all of us. Dec, too. He'll already be there with Bryn, since she's a bridesmaid.”

Rhys let out a slow breath, the wheels turning in his head. Dec was the SEAL who'd rescued and was now engaged to their good friend Bryn. They'd known her for years. Ben had been head of her father's security team, until Jamul died from injuries sustained in a bomb blast Tehrazzi set up at the US Embassy in Beirut. Bryn had nearly died, too.

Then Tehrazzi had gone after Sam and Neveah.

After what he and his friends had suffered, Rhys would love to nail the son of a bitch, but...

“Does Luke know I'm only at ninety percent?” He wanted to cringe, saying that out loud, but it was the truth. Ninety percent at most.

“Hey. Your ninety percent is a hell of a lot better than most people's hundred and ten.”

See? When the punk came out with shit like that, you couldn't help but love him. Still, Rhys wasn't sure he was ready. “I'll think about it.”

“You do that.” He changed lanes and the truck picked up speed with a powerful surge. “Oh yeah, almost forgot.”

Like hell. Ben never forgot anything. Studying him, Rhys raised an expectant brow.

“There's a medical conference in Vancouver that same weekend. Nev's the keynote speaker.”

Rhys's heart leapt against his ribs. Fighting to keep any emotion from bleeding through his bland expression, he looked back out the windshield at the tanker truck ahead of them.

If Luke thought Tehrazzi might be making plans for an operation in Vancouver, Rhys didn't want Neveah anywhere near there. Hell, he didn't want her in the same hemisphere until the threat was over. “That right. She up for that already?”

“No idea, but she's doing it anyhow. You could bring her to the wedding as a date,” he added smugly. “Luke mentioned wanting to tighten security for her, too.”

His head cranked around to stare at his twin so fast the muscles in his neck twinged. “He thinks she needs security?” Christ, maybe Tehrazzi was targeting her again, just to make a point.

“Whoa, chill, dude. He said it's just a precaution.”

The hell it was. If that bastard Tehrazzi knew about Luke's son getting married, then for damn sure he knew Neveah would be in the same city to give a keynote speech. And Luke had to know it, too.

“Has anyone told her?” Rhys asked.

Ben shook his head. “No, and that's the way Luke wants it for now.”

Rhys fought back the dread in his gut. He couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to her, especially because she'd already survived Tehrazzi once and had to still be suffering the aftereffects. Rhys owed her something in return for what she'd done for him, and providing protection was the least of it. But Christ, could he even hit what he was aiming at if he fired a gun now? Or move fast enough to avoid a blade in a fight? He didn't know.

As the minutes dragged out along the freeway, his guts clamped up tight. “Forget the shirts. Let's find a gun range or a Dojo and see what damage I can still do.” If he was going to seriously entertain the idea of taking this job, he wanted to be damn sure he still had what it took. He would never place lives in jeopardy if he wasn't sharp enough, and that went double for his brother's and Neveah's.

Ben shook his head and sighed. “God, you're a relentless bastard.”

Yep. And that's exactly why he wasn't still flat on his back in his hospital bed.

“Fine. I'll give you an hour, but we're not showing up late for a meal it's taken my fiancee two days to make. Unless you want to see my head on the platter instead of the turkey,” he added dryly. “You know how Sam is about punctuality.”

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. “Pussy whipped already, huh?”

Ben shot him a glare. “Bite me. Your time will come, and then we'll see who has the last laugh over that one.”

Not freaking likely.

“I've already reserved you a seat on a flight first thing tomorrow, just in case.”

Rhys withheld a sigh. Like there was any doubt he'd be going now?

He was still mulling over the situation with Neveah when his cell phone rang. Grabbing it from his belt, he recognized Luke's number in the call display and sighed. He must want them bad.

Rhys met Ben's questioning glance. “Speak of the devil.”

New York City

Later that night

Neveah opened her laptop to check her itinerary one last time. Her open suitcase lay next to it on the foot of her four-poster bed. She had a million things to do before leaving for the airport at five the next morning, and a mountain of laundry waiting to be folded in the basement of her building.

She hated being so disorganized, but she'd worked an extra shift in Emerg, and a gunshot victim had come in ten minutes before she was due to go home. She and a thoracic surgeon had spent more than four hours putting him back together and stabilizing him, so she'd only gotten home twenty minutes ago. She was in desperate need of sleep, but she had too many things to take care of first.