Smoke and Shadows (3 page)

“When could you bring her out of the coma?” Jack asked.

“We could do it as soon as tomorrow. Her test results are very promising, but with the extent of her injury, infection remains to be a possible complication.”

“How long before she gets to move around?”

“She’ll be ambulatory in another two weeks,” Dr. Henderson replied. “Jack, there’s something else you need to know.”

Viktor watched all the McCords stiffen and realized he did the same.
 

“Maia was pregnant.”

“Was?” Jack’s voice was strangled. Frances McCord started sniffling.
 

 
“She miscarried,” Dr. Henderson said. “It’s hard to tell the age of the fetus without knowing when her last cycle was. I doubt if she was even aware that she was pregnant.”

“She was pregnant?” Jack repeated the words in a gruff whisper.

“Jack—” Frances McCord was openly crying now as she laid a hand on her son’s back.

Jack’s shoulders slumped, his head dropping. “I’d like to be alone with Maia, please.”

Frances held back a sob and quietly walked out. Viktor was the last one to leave the room. Jack McCord was one of the strongest men Viktor had ever known. But even the strongest of men had a breaking point. McCord just hit his.

Before Viktor closed the door, he saw Jack bend over his wife, and gingerly wrap his arms around her. His body shook as he allowed his grief to take over.

*****

“How is he?” Derek asked. They were hanging out at the ICU waiting room.

Viktor shrugged. “He’s taking it hard. But that’s expected after what he’s been through. We need to debrief him.”

“Can’t you leave him alone for a few days?” Derek asked incredulously. “The man thought he’d lost his wife. He was tortured and starved for three weeks. Cut him some slack.”

Viktor nearly lost his cool. Men like Derek just didn’t get it. Friendships made you weak and clouded your judgment. Derek and Jack were partners in McCord Defense Industries and the two were the best of friends. Derek used to work for AGS and that was how he and Maia had become buddies as well. It was Derek who had recommended Maia to head up protective custody for Jack’s brother. And now here they were.
 

 
Viktor had strong reservations about Maia getting involved with Jack, and he’d done his own share of meddling. But Jack had more than proven his worth to Viktor and married Maia despite knowing how crazy her job could get. McCord had even invested in AGS to become privy to mission details, and because he was part owner, Jack had access to the codes to the AGS database.

“This is bigger than Maia and Jack,” Viktor said in a low voice. “A week after Maia was hit, an ex-Guardian who had worked as a Lacrosse coach in Georgetown University died of a heart attack. He had been as healthy as an ox.”

“Are you saying someone is targeting Guardians?”

Viktor nodded. “I had my suspicions. After McCord told us what his abductors were after, I’m more convinced someone is acting on a vendetta. Maia was the target, not Nasir.”

Derek’s eyes widened. “And you’re only telling me this now? Should I be worried about Sophie?”

Viktor didn’t answer.

“Damn you, Viktor,” Derek said. “If anything happens—”

“Calm down.”

“How dare you withhold information from us—”

“We’ll have an all-hands briefing tomorrow and figure this out.”

Derek walked to the elevator. “I’m going home. Tell Jack I’ll see him tomorrow.”

“Lockwood—”

Just then, the elevator doors opened and Braden Connelly stepped out. The Guardian was in love with Maia and had no problems making his interest known. He had pissed off Jack McCord a couple of times.

Derek’s face darkened, and his lips curled into a snarl.
 

Viktor rolled his eyes.
Great, now we’re having a freaking hospital soap opera
.

Before Derek could confront Braden, Viktor stepped between them and said, “I thought I told you not to show your face around here, Connelly.”

The tall, blond Guardian wasn’t aware of Jack’s rescue yet. The fool thought the field was wide-open now. Maia was in a fucking coma for Christ’s sake.

“What I do during my personal time is none of your business, Viktor,” Braden replied. “And if you fire me over this, I will sue your ass.”

“Say that to me again, Connelly.” Viktor stepped into his space. “Tell me that you’re going to sue my ass, and I’ll make sure I rip you a new one.”

Braden didn’t answer and shouldered past Viktor to walk to Maia’s room.
 

“I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” Viktor called out.

Braden stopped and turned around. “Or what? You’re physically going to stop me?”

The door to Maia’s room opened, and Jack walked out.

“No, I won’t.” Viktor jerked his chin up. “But he will.”

Viktor crossed his arms as he watched Braden pivot on his feet and turn rock-solid. He couldn’t see the idiot’s face, but he was pretty sure his jaw was hanging open. Jack’s expression was the scariest Viktor had ever seen it. The two men stood before each other like gunslingers at the O.K. Corral—without the guns.

 
Derek scowled at Viktor. “What the hell are you doing? Jack’s far from one-hundred percent.”

“Never underestimate the power of raw anger.”
 

“I don’t fucking believe this,” Jack said as he stalked the couple of steps toward Braden, ignoring the gasp coming from his mother.

“You’re alive,” Braden said quietly.

“Yes, I’m fucking alive,” Jack growled. “And you’re so fucking dead.”

Jack faked a right hook, and instead, slugged Braden across his cheek with his left fist. But Braden was a six-foot-five solidly-built wall of muscle and only staggered back a few steps.

“I don’t want to fight you, McCord,” Braden said. “Not like this, man. You look like hell.”

“I was in hell you asshole, and you tried to steal my wife? Fuck you!”

Jack launched himself and planted his shoulder into Braden’s torso, crashing into a cart of medical instruments and taking him down. He let loose a series of punches, some connecting while some were deflected by Braden. The blond man managed to throw Jack off.

“This is an ICU, not a bar,” the head nurse yelled. “Stop now! Security’s on its way and I’m having all of you thrown out.”

Derek and Robert restrained a furious Jack from going after Braden again.

Viktor sighed, walked up to Braden and shoved him toward the elevator. “Go home, you big idiot. You’ve caused enough trouble.”

Just then, his Sec-phone buzzed.

“Baran.”

“How’s Jack?”

“Considering the circumstances, he’s good. He’s already gotten into a brawl.”

“What?”

“It’s like freaking General Hospital over here.”

“Did you just crack a joke?”

“Yes, I did, sweetheart.”

She laughed. He loved hearing her laugh.

“Listen, I think I have some intel for you.” Marissa changed the subject.

“What?”

“It’s a who. Remember Jiro Matsuda?”

“What’s the Japanese got to do with this?”

“You know he’s not really Japanese.”

“We can’t talk about this over the phone, Marissa.”

“Okay. Where do you want to meet?”

“Site three in twenty minutes?”

“Sounds good.”

“You know you don’t have to make up shit to see me, Marissa.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

The line went dead, but Viktor found himself grinning.

CHAPTER TWO

Site three was an old abandoned junkyard on the outskirts of the shady Cloverleaf District. It was also a CIA property used for clandestine meet-ups, dead drops, and object disposal. Dark puddles covered the asphalt from the melted snow. Marissa smiled as she watched a Dodge Charger pull up beside her BMW. Viktor always loved his muscle cars. Ever since the South Africa incident involving the zee bombs, they had developed a cautious business relationship punctuated with some flirting, mostly from Viktor’s side. This was only their third rendezvous. The first one was when she put together some disturbing intel on a potential threat against the Guardians. The second meet-up was two weeks ago, soon after the attack on Nasir’s convoy and the abduction of Jack McCord. McCord’s kidnapping was baffling, but because what happened to Maia was kept under the radar, as far as New Park and DC society knew, the couple had taken a sabbatical together. Now, the pieces were falling into place, and the game board was looking more alarming. Viktor needed to be brought into the loop.

Viktor rapped on her car window. They’d done this routine the past two times; she would hand him the keys to the junkyard gates, he would open them to let her car through, and then he would follow, locking the gates behind him afterward. Then he would park beside her car and get into her vehicle.
 

Marissa felt warmth flood her body as Viktor Baran folded his imposing frame into the passenger side. His light blond hair hinted of his European ancestry, and he usually wore it in a buzz cut, but he had allowed it to grow recently. Now, with some locks falling over his chiseled countenance, he had become even more irresistible. Viktor was quite a specimen of a man, and she flushed every time she remembered the muscled hardness that lay beneath the civility of his leather jacket, cargo pants, and military boots.

He leaned in to give her a kiss on the cheek.
Now this is new
.

“What was that for?” Marissa quirked a brow.

“Sheathe your claws, sweetheart.” Viktor turned on his seat to face her squarely.
 

“You know, Viktor, you’re becoming more and more unprofessional at our meetings.” She tried to keep her tone neutral. But her blood was pounding through her veins. She wanted nothing more than to straddle him.
Get a grip, Cole!

“And you’re getting more and more defensive.”

Marissa shook her head. She knew better than to argue with him, so she launched straight into their agenda to take her mind off her lusty thoughts.

“I’ve gone over the background of the men who abducted Jack McCord.”

“That was fast.”

“I didn’t have to dig very deep.” She paused. “All of them looked Caucasian, but one of them is actually half-Korean.”

Viktor stiffened.

“He’s not very high up in the chain-of-command, but he belongs to the National Korean Unification Front.”

“What the hell does the NKUF want with the AGS database?”

“That’s a good question. I have no answers yet. But someone may.”

“Jiro Matsuda,” Viktor said in resignation. “He’s left that life, Marissa. We got him out and gave him a new identity.”

“I thought I’d throw that out there.” Marissa shrugged. “I know how much you hate going back on your promises and messing up the life of a retired asset.”

“He gave up so much to give us that intel.” Viktor pinched the bridge of his nose.

“And he saved lives.”

“We failed to protect his wife and daughter. I’d hate for him to put his new wife in jeopardy.”

Marissa weighed her next words carefully. Viktor’s eyes narrowed at her. There was no hiding anything from him. At all.

“What aren’t you telling me, Marissa?”
 

“Viktor—”

“Let me guess,” Viktor bit out. “If I refuse to help you, the CIA will pick up Jiro Matsuda anyway.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“One of our agents was assassinated last week.” Marissa told him the agent’s name, watching Viktor’s face grow passive. She hated it when he did that, putting on a mask to hide his real emotions. “It was made to look like an accident. Gas explosion at his home.”

“He was on that Syrian mission eight years ago,” Viktor said reflectively.

Marissa nodded, unable to speak, because it was that Syrian assignment that broke them up.
 

“I’m not getting a good feeling about this,” Viktor muttered. “If the Syrians and the North Koreans are in bed together on this, we have a big fucking problem.”

“If they are, they’re very careful because the NSA couldn’t pick up a damn thing,” Marissa said, letting her frustration show. “We’re dependent on our human intel for information.”

“Well, the NSA needs to keep their contractors on a damned leash.” Viktor referred to the recent scandal of the NSA whistle-blower. “Our agencies have embraced the world of advanced technology, but our enemies have decided to throw back to the old cloak and dagger ways.”

“CIA is still pretty cloak and dagger.” Marissa noted with amusement the scowl breaking across Viktor’s cold facade. “We value our HUMINT. They’re still considered one of our most valued assets and the CIA has a good network in place.”

“So, you’re saying I need to play nice with you guys?” Viktor said. The air in the car changed drastically, supercharging with a raw sexual awareness that pinged crazily between them. Marissa stared straight into his eyes; the light blue had turned to ink in the darkness, but she could sense desire in them.
 

Viktor leaned in, his hand snaking out to grab the back of her neck, drawing her face close to his. “I don’t mind playing nice with you.”

“Viktor, don’t—”

“Don’t what, Marissa?” Viktor said softly against her lips. “I’m tired of playing this cat and mouse game with you. We want each other. We always did. You’re too stubborn to act on it because you’re scared.”

“I don’t want to do this again, Viktor—”

“Too bad. Because I do.”
 

A click and her seatbelt was released. She found herself being dragged against Viktor’s chest, his lips crushing hers. The hand on her nape moved to the back of her head and gripped her hair as his tongue forced its way into her mouth in a way she felt straight to her core. Viktor’s hand that was gripping her ass shifted to cup the heated neediness between her legs. He groaned and kissed her harder as his fingers rubbed her through the soft fabric of her clothes.

Marissa’s hands found their way to his crotch. Knowing she was the reason for the hard ridge bulging through his pants, excited her, yet when Viktor began to lower the zipper of her pant suit, sanity returned and she tore her lips away.