Sacrifice Love: Saints Protection & Investigations (16 page)

Capturing her moan, he slid his tongue into her warmth as he held her face gently in his hands. The kiss lasted several minutes and the pleasure had his cock raring to go. Forcing his dick to behave, he slid his mouth from hers with a little kiss at each corner. Then kissing the freckles across her nose elicited a sought after giggle.

She mewled at the loss of contact when he leaned back, but he said, “Gonna feed you, sweetheart. You’ve had a rough evening and you need to eat.”

She nodded her agreement and it did not take long for them to settle at the table, decimating the pizza. After only two pieces, Dani was full but watched in amazement as Chad finished off the other six pieces of the large, meat lovers, extra onions, and cheese pizza.

“Damn, no wonder you’re so big,” she joked.

“Yeah, in the past hauling around the bomb disposal equipment gave me my workouts. Now I hit the gym about four times a week.”

Eyeing him, she smiled. “Well, whatever you’re doing, it works.” Leaning forward to kiss a dab of pizza sauce off his cheek, she added, “Cause you’ve got a gorgeous body.”

“Hmmm,” he said, turning his face so that her lips hit his. “Anything you’d like to do with this body?”

“I can think of one or two things,” she grinned. Squeaking, she gasped as he picked her up in one swoop, carefully carrying her down the hall, giving her the chance to show him what she thought of doing with his body. Then he showed her.

*

In the middle
of the night, Dani got out of bed and padded sleepily to the bathroom. As she finished, she flipped off the light and started back but halted at the second bedroom door. Pushing it open softly, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her before turning on the light so as not to wake Chad.

Walking over to the boxes still stored, she flipped open the closest one. She hated the idea that someone had been in this room…in these boxes. Pulling out a few of Adam’s books, she flipped through a few pages. Nothing jumped out at her. Nothing appeared misplaced, no secret message, no signs of anything untoward.
Adam, what were you doing? Did you leave something behind? Is there something here that someone would want? Is that why someone is after your things?
Angrily closing the box, she shoved it to the side.
Whatever you were doing, you brought this crap to my door!

A click behind her sounded and she whirled around in fright. Her hand flew to her chest as she saw Chad standing in the room, dressed in boxers and nothing else.

“Oh, Lordy, you scared me,” she said, slumping against the nearest box.

Moving to her in two steps, he held her close, kissing the top of her head. “What are you doing, babe?”

She gave a little shrug, saying, “I just found myself in here, wondering what secrets might be hidden in what little is left of Adam’s belongings. I have no idea what Jack was hoping I’d find, cause there’s nothing here.”

“Come back to bed, Dani,” he gently ordered, propelling her into the master bedroom. “Let the Saints do their job searching for answers. You need to take care of you,” he said, placing his hand on her stomach. “By the way, when is your next doctor’s appointment?”

“Next week. Why?”

“I’m coming,” he pronounced, snuggling to her back, curled around her body.

Lying there, in the dark, surrounded by all that Chad was, she smiled. “Okay,” she whispered into the night. “I’d like that.”

*

Bart and Cam
attempted to stretch their long legs. Even flying first class, as large as they were it was a tight fit. The trip to St. Louis had been fruitful and if the early intel from Jack was correct, the info they retrieved was useful.

The two men had flown in the previous day, taking a cab to a non-descript hotel. Traveling under one of their many assumed names, they had another cab let them out several blocks from their intended location. The suspect they were assigned to, Robbie Carter, rarely left his apartment. The early reconnaissance told them that he had an affinity for take-out food. Luke monitored his phone, just as he was monitoring the other suspects’. As soon as the call to the local pizza place came in, Luke rerouted it to Bart’s.

Convincing the suspect that their pizza delivery guy was out sick and he would have to pick it up, they observed as the young man left his apartment.

“Jesus, easiest maneuvering of a suspect I’ve ever encountered,” Cam laughed.

“That’s one thing about these loner types,” Bart commented. “They order out a lot.”

The two men slipped undetected into the apartment. At first glance, it appeared uncluttered. Kitchen unused, living space orderly. Turning the corner, they saw what would be the dining area. Instead of a table and chairs, several desks took up the space, all of them covered in computer equipment. Laptops, PCs, various monitors, external hard drives…all resulting in a multitude of wires coming from the backs and plugging into numerous surge protectors.

“Fuck, man. He’s not working a real job and yet has all this computer shit?”

“Remember, Luke said they can work from home for a variety of companies and make serious bucks if they’re really talented. Especially talented in the art of covering their tracks and writing programs to help others cover their tracks as well.”

The two efficiently inserted the special drives Luke had supplied them with into every computer in the room. Notifying Luke to begin, he was able to start extrapolating the data from the various machines.

“This doesn’t usually take long, but with so many we’d better hope it takes him a while to grab his pizza,” Bart commented while walking around Robbie’s apartment. A quick search found nothing out of the ordinary.

“Done,” Cam called out, getting the signal from Luke. Disconnecting his phone, the two carefully removed every thumb drive, pocketing them before slipping unnoticed from the apartment. Back on the street, they noticed the young man going into his building, the pizza box in his hand.

Once they were back in Virginia, driving home, Bart threw his head back against the headrest.

Cam, driving, glanced over, saying, “You’ve been wound tight ever since we completed the mission.”

Sighing, Bart shook his head as though to clear his thoughts for a moment, finally saying, “He looked kind of normal.”

“Who?”

“Robbie Carter.”

“What’d you expect?” Cam asked. “A sign hanging around his neck saying
I’m a traitor
?”

“Do you think these guys understand what they’re doing?”

“You mean who they’re actually taking money from?”

“Yeah. I’d like to think that they really don’t have a fuckin’ clue that they’re helping terrorists with bomb detonations.”

Cam sighed, “I don’t know, man. I don’t know.”

“As a SEAL, I knew my mission. I fought an enemy overseas so we could try to keep the war from coming into our backyards, and here we’ve got people undermining everything we did.”

The two men drove silently for a while before Cam spoke. “Do you ever wish you were in a completely different business? Like a banker or grocer or…or…hell, I don’t know, but someone who goes about their life oblivious to what’s in their own city? I used to never have these thoughts, but now with Miriam pregnant, I wonder about the world our child will be born into.”

Running his fingers through his hair, Bart knew if Faith was with him she would smile at the way his hair was now standing on end. Thinking about Faith calmed him…gave him purpose…and a place to land when life was coming fast and furious. “Nah,” he answered. “As much as I fuckin’ hate what we find out sometimes, I’d rather be in the know and keep doing something about it.”

Cam nodded, understanding what Bart was saying. Pressing on the accelerator a little more, they churned up the miles heading back to their women…and their own private peace.

*

Muhammad, Abdul, and
Fazan walked into the room occupied by Habib, as he looked up from his computer screen, a smile on his face.

“I’ve got a good one,” he said, handing his written notes to Muhammad. “Took a while, but this one’s in.”

Looking at the notes, Muhammad said, “Oliver Sands. Atlanta, Georgia. Single. Former student at MIT. Dropped out?” Muhammad lifted his gaze to Habib in question.

“Yeah. He’d been an “A” student but says the money ran out.”

“Did you check?”

Habib’s irritation showed on his face. “Of course.”

Muhammad nodded. “Good. Get him in.”

His irritation passing as quickly as it came, Habib nodded. Looking over at Fazan, he said, “I have you scheduled next. The spring is making the selection good. This time of year, more and more are getting online to find the loves of their lives.”

The men chuckled as Fazan started to slide into a seat. He was halted as Muhammad placed a hand on his shoulder, saying, “No, not now.”

Fazan looked up in surprise but said nothing, waiting for their leader to speak. Muhammad continued, “I’ve got a new assignment for you. We’ve got a new site for you to supervise. We have a man nearby that will offer assistance. This will be different—our explosives will still be easily made but our detonators will be more sophisticated…and with our computer recruits, we will be able to program them to detonate from greater distances. The man works for a company where he can obtain what we need to make a bigger…statement.”

The others laughed and Fazan nodded his agreement as he stood, following Muhammad out of the door as Abdul took his place at the laptop.

*

Luke eagerly began
collating and analyzing the data from Robbie Carter’s computers that Bart and Cam had delivered. He could have worked from home, knowing his security was absolute, but there was something about being in the compound. It was quiet—when the other Saints were gone. Perhaps it was the professional surroundings that were stimulating—as opposed to his house which was lonely.
Funny, I’ve never thought of my house as boring. I like boring. I like predictable. I like—

The sound of an incoming email rang through the silent night. Jerking his gaze to his computer, he smiled as he recognized the sender. His mystery assistant.

I see you have a new project.

Chuckling to himself, he typed,
Yes. I’m not sure how you can see what I’m working on. But yes, new mission. National security.