The Darkness Beyond (20 page)

A few seconds later, he finished his dinner and set it aside. Then he stood up, peeled off his tunic, and tossed it on the grass behind them.

When he reached for the clasp of his pants, she scooted away. “D.J., what's going on in that mind of yours?”

“I decided you were right about not getting my clothes wet.”

She should be doing something besides staring, she really should. However, she couldn't seem to get her eyes to look anywhere else but at all that luscious man-flesh kissed by the faint moonlight.

When he'd shed everything except his boxers, he started toward her. She scrambled to her feet and backed away.

“D.J., don't you dare! You stop right there.”

“I didn't start this, Reggie. You did.” He took another baby step toward her. “I am, however, going to finish it.”

He folded his arms over his chest. “But to show you just what a nice guy I am, I'll give you one minute to take off whatever clothes you don't want to get soaked before I drag you into the water with me.”

“You wouldn't!”

But she hoped he would. After all the horrible stuff they'd been through, maybe a little playtime was in order. Anything to hold the ugliness at bay.

The grass felt cool against her bare toes as she faced her would-be tormentor. All right, the game was on. She reversed the order that D.J. had used, disposing of her trousers first by turning her back and taking her time to slide them off, bending over as she did so.

Her panties were simple white cotton, but the sharp intake of D.J.'s breath hinted that he didn't mind at all. Next, her tunic went sailing over her shoulder straight at him. She felt perfectly decadent standing outside under alien stars and pale moons wearing nothing but her bra and panties.

The shiver of goose bumps tickling her skin had nothing to do with the warm night air, and everything to do with the weight of her lover's gaze as she slowly eased her panties off. Her fingers fumbled with the catch on the back of her bra, making her feel awkward and clumsy.

“Let me.” D.J.'s voice sounded deeper, huskier.

Cocooned in the darkness, hidden from the rest of creation, she nodded and turned around. She wanted, needed, his hands on her. With a quick flick, her bra came undone and fell away, only to be replaced by the warmth of D.J.'s palms. He pressed her back against his chest as he nibbled his way along the curve of her neck, the whole time kneading her breasts with his powerful hands. She closed her eyes, shutting out everything except his touch.

When she was about to melt into a little puddle of need, he swept her up in his arms and waded into the stream. Instead of dunking her as she expected, he slowly sank into the water and took her with him.

“Thought we'd play some before things get too far out of hand.”

With that comment, he abruptly dropped her. She slipped completely under the surface and came up sputtering and furious. Talk about ruining a beautiful moment! Okay, two could play that game.

She twirled in the water. Where had that jerk gone? Then he surfaced right in front of her and lay a hot kiss on her lips before once again disappearing beneath the dark surface.

He swam past her legs a few seconds later, his hand touching and teasing on the way by. Reggie dove after him, managing to land on his back. She held him down briefly before making her own escape. His wicked grin promised retribution when he came up for air. She turned her back to him and tried to escape, but stood no chance against his long reach. When he flipped her around to face him, she wrapped an arm around his neck and held on. Her other hand slid down between them to capture his, um, attention.

She didn't know what he'd planned to do next, but as her fingers worked their magic, he froze and let her have her way with him for several strokes. His mouth sought hers, the warm brush of his tongue a sweet contrast to the cool water against her skin.

When his hands cupped her ass, she wrapped her legs around his waist. Being pressed against his powerful chest did little to assuage the ache in her breasts. She needed more.

As if reading her mind, he waded toward the shallows and then sank down into the water as she straddled him. He bent her back enough that his mouth found her nipple, sucking to just the right side of painful. He turned his attention to her other breast, at the same time slipping his hand down between her legs. One finger tested her passage, working her gently, then with a stronger rhythm. The splash of the water, the heat of his mouth, the thrust of his fingers—it all suddenly became too much to bear.

She wasn't sure whether to beg him to stop or to beg for more. He took the decision away from her. Once again he lifted her in his arms, but this time he laid her down in the grass along the bank of the stream. Before she could catch her breath, he parted her thighs and used his tongue to quickly drive her over the edge.

She might have screamed his name. She didn't know for sure. It was all she could do to remember how to breathe. She was dimly aware of him leaving her briefly, though she protested. Without his heat to keep her warm, she shivered. Where had he gone? She rolled over to see.

He was already on his way back. Unless she was mistaken, that was an empty foil packet he dropped in the grass as he knelt beside her. When she would've turned onto her back, he stopped her.

His hand rested briefly on her lower back before wandering to her backside and then back up. The long, slow strokes relaxed her, and at the same time slowly built up the fire again. Gradually, his caresses drifted to her legs, finally spreading them apart and staking his claim there. He grasped her waist and pulled her back toward him and up onto her knees.

He leaned out over the length of her back. “Is this okay?”

She dropped her head down to her arms and tried to frame an answer to his question. Never before in her life had she made love outside with nothing but the heat of a man for a blanket. It was intoxicating. Primitive. Perfect.

Then she looked back over her shoulder at the man poised there, ready to take her soaring again.

“D.J., this is so much more than just okay.”

B
reakfast consisted of drive-up cuisine, heavy on the caffeine and cholesterol. Cody downed three sandwiches in rapid order and was in the process of finishing off a fourth. He'd have apologized for pigging out, but Trahern had ordered three dozen. With Devlin, Trahern, Lonzo, and Cullen in the room, the food disappeared quickly. Even Barak had consumed his fair share.

They'd all gathered in Devlin's office, which evidently often served as a hangout. As soon as everyone finished stuffing their faces, Devlin cleared his throat. The room got quiet, the mood suddenly grim.

“Okay, here's where we are. First of all, the crossing D.J. used is officially dead and gone. We won't be monitoring it any longer because the barrier vanished with the explosion. Second, Hunter finally heard from Berk. The Sworn Guardian has sent word to other Guardians he trusts, and their Blademates will be on the lookout for D.J. and Reggie. He'll notify Hunter with any news on that front.”

Cody leaned forward with his elbows on his knees and stared at the floor. If that was their entire rescue plan, it sure wasn't much. No matter how you looked at it, Reggie and D.J. were still trapped in the alien world. At least everyone was assuming they were both still alive. Okay, he got that. No one wanted to be the one to even hint that they weren't.

Did these guys really trust a bunch of aliens to scour the countryside to find Reggie and D.J.? Why weren't they mounting an invasion to go on the offensive?

When Cody looked up, Devlin caught his eye. “I understand you and Cullen made some progress yesterday. Where do we stand on that end of things?”

Cody let his cyberpartner fill Devlin and the rest in on the trail they were following. Cullen's summary was dead-on. Cody swallowed hard. He had something to add to the report but wasn't sure how they'd react to what he was about to say. What was the worst Devlin could do to him? Well, maybe shove him across the barrier the next time it went down.

Cullen was winding up. “So that's where we'll start today.”

Cody raised his hand and then realized his mistake when Devlin's eyebrows shot up. Then the Paladin leader grinned.

“See, you bunch of bozos, that's how you indicate you have something to add to the conversation. A nice, polite raised hand.”

While Lonzo rolled his eyes, Trahern muttered something about teacher's pet.

Devlin cut them off cold. “Okay, you two, let him talk.”

At the moment, there was nothing Cody wanted more than to crawl into a hole. He kept his eyes on Devlin and tried to get his mouth to work.

“Okay, well, you see, I had trouble sleeping last night.”

He shot a quick look in Trahern's direction. The man nodded, encouraging him to continue. “That's okay. Just spit it out.”

“Since I was up anyway, I decided to hack into the Regents' server, hoping I could pick up where Cullen and I left off. But I found a new trail to follow. A guy named Ray Pine from St. Louis flew into Portland and then back to St. Louis. Since he got back, he had to have surgery on his nose. Seems it was fractured while he was traveling.”

Okay, now the room was quiet again, but it felt different this time. More like the calm before the storm and he was sitting right where the lightning was about to strike. Shit, he should've kept his mouth shut.

No, that wasn't true. He'd face down a whole lot worse than a room full of Paladins and their allies if that was what it took to make this world safe for Reggie again. That didn't mean he wasn't fighting the urge to bolt and run.

It was Cullen who spoke first. He looked totally incredulous as he demanded, “Seriously? You managed to break through the new firewalls I installed?”

No use in lying. “Yeah, I did. Sorry if I bent the rules, but—”

Cullen's mouth broke into a wide grin. “No apologies needed. Damn, I'm proud of you! That's great work.”

Then the Paladin gathered up the trash from his breakfast and headed toward the door. “Come on. Let's go fire up the system so you can show me what you found and how you got in. D.J. and I will have to fix that after he gets back.”

Cody looked to Devlin and then Trahern, unsure if he should follow Cullen. Both men looked more thoughtful than angry.

Devlin made a shooing motion. “Go ahead. See if you can figure out who else was involved in this guy's travels.”

An hour later, he and Cullen were high-fiving and hooting up a storm. When Devlin poked his head out of his office to see what the ruckus was about, Cullen waved him over.

“Okay, you already know the guy with the broken nose is Ray Pine from the Technology Department. We found where he most likely picked up on Reggie's incursion into the Regents' files. We're sure he knew about her downloading Brenna's history of the Paladins.”

Devlin leaned against the door frame. “Okay, so besides his name and what he knew, what else can we learn about him? Was he working alone?”

Cody let Cullen field the questions. “I can't imagine him being a lone wolf. He's middle management. His employee reviews indicate a certain lack of drive, adequate, but not top drawer. I'm reading between the lines here, but it looks as if he was passed over for a promotion about six months ago. The guy who got the job was younger and had less time with the organization. That's bound to have pissed him off.”

Devlin wandered closer. “Does he have any special connections within the organization that stick out?”

Cullen elbowed Cody. “You found it. You tell him.”

Cody would rather Cullen did it, but gave it his best shot. “I reviewed all of his phone records. Most are pretty routine—his home number, others within his department, et cetera. However, there's this one number he called only twice. The first time was right before Reggie was abducted. The second was the day after he got back from Portland.”

Cody didn't know what Devlin was thinking, but he sure hoped that scary look was aimed at Ray Pine and not at him. He rubbed his hands on his jeans, hoping he didn't look as nervous as he felt.

Devlin gave Cullen a thoughtful look. “What do we know about this other guy?”

“Not much so far.” Cullen pointed toward the information displayed on the computer screen. “We were just getting started on him. His name is Todd Bedford. He's higher up in the organization, and from the outside looking in, it's doubtful their jobs are connected. I'm going to do some checking into Todd's finances and see where that gets us.”

“Good job, guys. Keep me posted. If it seems likely these two are involved, I'll be scheduling a road trip. In the meantime, I'll check in with Jarvis back in Missouri and see what the scoop is on these guys.”

Cullen looked up from his screen. “How about asking Sasha what she knows? She has better connections within the Regents than we do.”

“I'd like a little more solid intel first. But as soon as you get me some hard data on these two, I'll give her a head's-up. Maybe her father will want to join the hunt. Nice job, both of you. D.J. will appreciate all your hard work when he returns. I'm guessing he'll want to be in on it when we go after these guys.”

Devlin started toward his office, but then stopped and turned back. “Cullen, keep an eye on this Todd guy. If he feels threatened, he might try to bolt. We don't want to lose him.”

“Will do, boss,” Cullen said as he started to reach for the keyboard. “Okay, it looks like we still have work to do.”

Cody cleared his throat. “Um, before we get started, is it all right if I check on Reggie's e-mail from work and make sure the boss isn't looking for her? It would be nice if she still has a job to come back to.”

Then he forced himself to ask, “Do you really think D.J. and Reggie will make it back?”

Cullen didn't answer right away, clearly giving the matter some thought. “Yeah, I really do. I know you didn't spend much time with D.J., but he's the smartest man I've ever met, and he's relentless when he wants to get something done. He'll bring her home.”

Or die trying.

Cullen never actually said the words, but Cody heard them anyway.

D.J. couldn't sleep, not with Others out there wandering around. Chances were that they'd found the cave-in by now. The only question was what they'd do about it. By the time they reached the top of the trail, the suns would've disappeared over the horizon. Like the Paladins, they had better night vision than most humans, but that wouldn't help them much when it came to tracking an enemy.

Come sunrise, though, they'd be hauling ass back down the trail, on the hunt. Granted, they wouldn't have found their buddy Kolar, but there was a damn good chance they'd found the dead body back at their camp.

All of which meant that he and Reggie needed to be up and moving as soon as it was light enough for her to travel safely.

He wandered closer to where Reggie lay curled up in the bed he'd made out of their cloaks. He'd held her close until she drifted off. For a long while, he'd simply enjoyed watching her sleep. It would be all too easy to get used to doing that. Finally, he'd eased away from her, mainly to avoid the building temptation to make love to her again. They were out of condoms, and getting her pregnant would be a mistake of epic proportions.

Although the thought of her carrying a child, especially his child, made him wish he was a different man living a different life. The kind of life that could offer a woman like Reggie everything she deserved—a comfortable home, a loving husband she could depend on, safety.

With everything that had happened, she'd never settle for someone like him and shouldn't have to. Right now, circumstances forced her to depend on his strong sword arm to get her back across the barrier. Even his alien DNA was an asset if they were going to make it home, but she still didn't know the full extent of what that DNA meant. How could she be anything but horrified that she'd slept with him once she did find out?

Maybe he was underestimating her ability to look past all of that. Certainly there were women who'd proven to be able to accept the truth of what it meant to be a Paladin: Laurel, Brenna, and Jarvis's Gwen, for starters. But unlike them, Reggie made her living hunting down cybercriminals like D.J. Oh, yeah, there were all kinds of reasons for her coming to regret their brief fling.

Deep down, he didn't want what they'd shared to be just a fling. But with Reggie, he'd take what he could get.

An hour later, the distant horizon was tinged with pink. Time to get Reggie up and moving. The Others would be on the prowl soon.

He walked over to where she still slept soundly. As tiny as she was, only the top of her head showed above the covers. He smiled when he spotted the toes of her right foot peeking out at the bottom. If they weren't pressed for time, he'd give some serious thought to starting with those toes and kissing his way up her compact body to wake her.

Oh, yeah, that would certainly work for him. But then they might never get started on their trek in time to avoid their pursuers. He settled for bending down to shake Reggie's shoulder.

She came awake slowly, but smiled when she opened her eyes to see him hovering over her.

“Come on, lazybones, time to get moving.”

He'd gathered her clothes up for her just as he'd done the day before. “With luck, we'll make the hills today, but we need to hustle.”

Her smile dimmed. “You think those guys we saw last night are headed this way.”

It wasn't a question, but he nodded anyway as he stood up. “Yeah, I do.”

She reached for her underclothes. “I'll be ready in five minutes.”

A couple of granola bars might be good for her, but without a cup of strong coffee, it didn't feel like breakfast. Most of the time, a cup of coffee
was
her breakfast. As they hiked along the trail toward the hills, she entertained herself by making a mental list of everything she was going to do when she got home.

Drinking a gallon of hot coffee was at the top of the list. Taking a long, hot bubble bath was running a close second. Chocolate, clean clothes, and a manicure were absolute necessities. Add in some fast food and a marathon of her favorite movies—sans the ones involving aliens or sword fights—for the perfect end to her first day back in her apartment.

Which made her think of Cody. How was he doing? Knowing him, he'd be feeling guilty for not being right here in this dusty hell with her. Was he back at work? She hoped so. It would be nice if one of them was still employed after all of this was over. When her life went back to normal, living alone with her laptop and some African violets.

She looked up from the trail to study the man in front of her. Maybe there were a few other things she'd like to do at the end of the hedonistic day. She even knew the perfect person to do them with, if he was still interested that is.

D.J. had been most considerate since waking her up, but there'd been a certain distance in his behavior. She wasn't exactly sensing any regret, just a more business-like attitude that didn't encourage any of the secret smiles and shared laughter they'd enjoyed the night before.

She'd like to chalk it up to his concern that they make good time across the valley. That was certainly part of it, she was sure. Yet she was just as certain that there was more to his change in attitude.

It was starting to irritate her a bit. Of course, all of her feelings for D.J. were a jumbled-up mess, partly because she'd seen too many different facets to his personality to get a solid feel for who he really was, starting with the whole hacker extraordinaire thing he had going on. She'd have to find some way to deal with that particular problem; her job could very well depend on it.

Then there was the playful lover. She could honestly say that she'd never even come close to enjoying sex as much as she had with D.J. Heck, she even liked the dark shadow of beard that only added to his roguish good looks even if it had left her skin feeling pretty tender in certain places.