The Omega Team: Ethan's Promise (Kindle Worlds Novella) (Men of Mercy Book 7) (4 page)

              “I can't imagine, ma'am.”

              “While I appreciate your good manners, please stop calling me ma'am. Just Noni will do.” Noni turned back to the sink and slipped another plate into the water.

              Ethan recoiled. “Noni” was for the people in her family and he sure as hell wasn't part of this family, let alone any family. But he didn't want to offend her or her hospitality, so he kept his mouth shut.

              Aaron shoveled down another bite and then said, “Col. Grey is in the shower and the rest of the team should be arriving throughout the day. You're the first one here. Rowdy's coming, and I asked Celine if she was interested.”

              “Celine Latimer? The salon girl from Mercy?”

              Aaron shrugged. “Yeah, Holden needed a stylist for Kate and the senator's daughter so I kind of volunteered her.”

              “And this would have nothing to do with the fact you can't stay away from her?”

              “Didn't say that.” Aaron took another bite. “It's all part of the master plan. Got it stored up here.” He tapped his head and nodded.

              “My grandson is finally deciding to settle down? I don't believe it,” Noni said.

“I am nowhere near settling. This is just a girl I kind of like.”

              Ethan crossed his arms over his chest and smiled. “Tell the truth, you really like her or you wouldn't hang around her so much on your off time.”

              Noni clapped and came over to squeeze her grandson's shoulders. “It's about time. When will she be here? What does she like to eat? I'll make her something special.”

              Aaron glared across the table and Ethan's grin grew. “Celine's gonna be so excited to meet your grandma.”

              “Well? What's her favorite food?”

              “I don't know, Noni.”

              “How can you not know your girlfriend's favorite food? I'm disappointed.” Noni wiped her hands on her apron. “I taught you better than that.”

              “She's coming for the mission more than for me, Noni.”

              Ethan snorted. “I doubt that. The girl stares at you every time you're in the same room. It’s kind of sickening, to be honest.”

              “I knew it! I'm making my fudge.” Noni yanked the half-eaten bowl of soup from Aaron. “Out of the kitchen, now, I need space.”

              Noni executed an about face and started gathering supplies from various cabinets. The whole kitchen was a picture perfect image of what Ethan imagined a real family home looked like. Painted cabinets, various ceramic roosters and chickens along the countertops and decorating the windowsill over the sink and a refrigerator covered top to bottom in pictures.

              “We better get out of her way. Go grab your bag and I'll show you your room.”

              “Woah, I didn’t say I was staying. I’ll find somewhere, give you more room for everyone else.” Ethan rose from the table. He’d find a hotel somewhere.

              “Nope. I wasn’t joking earlier, there is nowhere else. The closest hotel is over an hour away, plus Kate’s coming here. I’ve already got your training area set up out back.”

              Ethan glanced through the window into the back yard and the large blue mat spread out on the ground. Shit. He didn’t want to be here. Bad enough he was on this babysitting mission in the first place while TF-S was gearing up to go after Mr. J. Now he’d be forced to stay around all this…family stuff.

              “Fine. Show me my room.” He turned back to Noni, “Thank you, ma'am, for the soup.”

              Noni pursed her lips, adding even more wrinkles to her weathered face. “You’re welcome.”

              Ethan went to the living room and stopped in the middle to turn a slow circle. Every spare inch of wall space and table top was blanketed in family photos. “When you told me you have a big family, I had no idea.”

              Aaron walked over to a cluster on the wall above a small antique side table and scratched his beard. “Yeah, four sisters, three brothers, about forty cousins. I think, unless Uncle Vince has found another younger newer wife, that could be off by a few.”

              The number sent Ethan's mind whirling, surrounded by a foreign vortex of love and happiness. He'd grown up on the streets, never knowing his own parents. He'd fought for himself since youth, picking up odd jobs where he could, learning how to survive by relying on his own skill.

              Aaron stepped forward and tapped an old black and white photo. “That's Pop, Noni's husband, in front of his F4U Corsair in WWII. He flew over one hundred missions and still made it home to her.” Aaron pointed to the next photo, a soldier in solid green, framed by jungle. “That's Dad when he was in Vietnam. And then that handsome strapping man in the next picture is me. I tell you, they should have put me on the cover of Military Magazine.”

              Ethan snorted. “Yeah, I think you may be waiting a long time on that call.”

              Aaron continued, completely unfazed. “That is from about twenty years ago, when we were all young. The last picture we have of Noni and Pop together with all the grandkids.”

              A younger Noni and Aaron’s grandfather sat on chairs in the yard, children in their laps, standing beside them, on the ground sitting in front. Ethan rubbed the dull ache in his chest. He'd never have that, wasn't meant to. He'd resigned himself to the life of a nomad years ago and knew he'd walk this earth alone.

              So why did his damn heart feel like Aaron had just hollowed it out with a dull spoon?

              “Got to hit the head. I'll be back in a few minutes and show you to your room. You can just chill here.” Aaron nodded and strode past Ethan down a long hallway off to the right of the living room.

              Ethan stared at that last picture, the one of the couple obviously in love surrounded by their offspring, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't place himself there. That life wasn't for him. He knew exactly how his own life would play out. He'd stay in the Special Forces until he was either too injured to stay active or he'd die on a mission. He told himself that was his only choice. Besides, he didn’t know
how
to live any differently.

              The picture of Pop in front of the fighter plane, that he could put himself in easily. Ethan sensed a presence and glanced down at Noni, her weathered gaze fixed with longing on that photo.

              “They called him the Eagle. He flew on more missions in that one tour of duty than most men do in an entire lifetime. He said he couldn't stand staying on the ground and leaving his men unprotected.” She sniffed and traced a bony finger over her husband’s face.

              The dull ache in Ethan's chest grew. No one would ever stare at his photo with longing.

              “When they recruited him for the Kamikaze Brigade, I cried for a month straight. Out of the fifty volunteers who flew into the heart of Germany, only my husband and two others survived.”

              “I learned about the Kamikazes in Air Born School. They were hands down the most famous and badass pilots in history.” He didn't tell her the part about the survivors being rumored as mad men. They'd had a mortality rate of over ninety percent, making them not only the most famous, but the deadliest.

              But the proud grin and glint in Pop's eye was the same wild look Ethan saw every time he looked into a mirror. “No offense, ma'am, but why did he settle down? I mean, that kind of adrenaline rush...” was for legends.

              Not fathers and husbands.

              “You know Johnny always told me he planned to die in the war. Didn't think he’d live to see his twenty-fifth birthday, but he had something to live for. Me. I never understood and never tried to really figure him out. I never asked him to give up the service either if that's what you're thinking. After Aaron's father was born I asked Johnny why he'd chosen me and he said, ‘When I saw you, I knew. I knew the rush of being a fighter pilot could never measure up to holding the love of the greatest woman I know.’” She sniffed and wiped away a tear. “I still miss him every single day, and I know when my time’s over, I'll be joining him again. He was the greatest man I've ever known.”

              Noni eyes were red and watery, and Ethan had to fight not to cringe away from her emotions.

              “You've got that same rangy lone wolf look Johnny used to have, the way you're staring at all my pictures. Feeling trapped, are you?”

              Ethan's throat closed off completely and he couldn't answer her question or argue with her intuitiveness. 

              “Well there's hope. I promise you that. And you'll know it when you meet her.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“Mom, I'm not moving back home.” Kate rolled her eyes and took the next turn at what had to qualify for reckless driving. Her jeep skidded sideways on the gravel road, tossed back a fresh spray of gravel and dust, and then righted itself. Not that she would mind slamming into a tree right now if that would effectively end this broken record conversation with her mother.

“But darling, Matt asks about you every day. All he can talk about is how much fun you two had together. But then you had to go and join that dreadful clan.”

Kate rolled her eyes. Only her mother would refer to the United States CIA as the 'clan.’”

“Why you insisted on breaking my heart, I'll never know. For the life of me I can't think of anything I've ever done to make you want to hurt me so much.” Her mother's southern accent slipped through the phone, sweet as honey but tinged with arsenic. At twenty-seven, Kate felt that same burning sense of guilt when she knew she disappointed her mom just like she had when she was eight years old. Just like she disappointed the CIA.

“How many times do I have to tell you? It's nothing you did. I don't make my decisions based on what other people want. I'm a grown-up. And guess what, I was just offered a new job, this one paying twice my former salary. I'm really excited about it. Can't you just be happy for me this one time?” Kate could practically picture the way her mom's lips turned down into a perfect frown, the kind that clearly communicated with just the slightest movement her devastating disappointment in her.

Just like she could picture her dad in the background shaking out his newspaper and rolling his eyes. Kate smiled. He, of all people, had been on her side the whole journey, and for the one time Kate could recall, he'd stood up to her mother when Kate enlisted.

A deer ran into the road, froze and stared at the oncoming vehicle and then leapt into the woods. Her heart rocketed up into her throat and she slammed on the brakes. “Jesus Christ!”

Kate dropped the phone, came to a complete stop, dropped her head to the steering wheel and tried to suck in enough oxygen to stay conscious.

“Katherine Elizabeth!” Kate jerked her gaze to her lap, having momentarily forgotten all about her mom. She snatched the phone back to her ear in time to hear her rant continue, “You do not use the Lord's name in vain. I'm going to have to add you back to the prayer list at church, and all the ladies at Bible Study will be asking me what you did this time.”

“I almost had a wreck, Mom.”

“Not an excuse. There are plenty other nice young ladies out there who don't use curse words when they're upset.” If Mrs. Georgia Elise were ever held up, she'd probably lecture the person holding her at gunpoint on manners.

Maybe her mother was right. No, Kate pushed that disturbing thought back as soon as it reared its ugly head.

Aside from an imminent deadly terrorist attack or news that the world was ending, those were words that would never pass Kate Richard's lips. She wasn’t dying, although the upcoming training with
him
was enough to make her wish she had.

But facing Ethan and his snarling wasn't as bad as following her mother's Betty Crocker recipe for life. Start with a solid wealthy man from her hometown, mix in a wedding and a couple of kids, sprinkle on becoming president of the PTA, then bake in the oven at 300° for a cookie cutout way of life according to Georgia Elise Richards. Unfortunately for her mother, her youngest daughter had been sour milk to begin with, so Kate mixing with the perfect man had been doomed from the start.

Maybe Kate should've played with more Barbie’s growing up, instead of helicopters and plastic army tanks. That would've statistically increased her chance for liking the color pink and oversized hair bows by 15%. Which could have led to her focusing more time on makeup and teenage crushes than studying for the SAT and having an intense Tom Clancy novel obsession. Which could have prevented her mother's undying look of shame and horror when Kate had announced to the family a month after graduation that she'd joined the military.

Time to nip this conversation in the bud. “Mom, listen—”

“Are you okay? You didn't really have a wreck, did you? Do I need to send your father?”

A little bit of her anger melted. “It's okay, it was just a deer.” Kate accelerated, this time with caution.

“There should be a law against those animals. Your sister had one actually run into the side of her car last week. Little Robbie was in there too, scared my poor grandbaby to death. Nearly gave us both a heart attack.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“No, thank heavens. They'd just pulled to a stop.”

Kate fought to keep her mouth shut. Her mother freaked out about a deer hitting her sister’s parked car when Kate could've died. She sighed...and so the world turns, her mother would never change and Kate would never be the perfect daughter.

“Anyway, the reason I called was to tell you that your sister is pregnant! Isn't that wonderful? I'm going to be a grandmother.”

“Mom, that's her fourth kid. You're already a grandmother.” Her little sister had done the dutiful thing, marrying a nice local farmer and settling down a mile from her parents’ house, proceeding to pop out kids left and right and stay home and raise a family.

Georgia huffed. “Oh Kate, if you had children you'd know that every single one of them is special and precious and the most wonderful gift God could ever give us. Why you must deny me that joy, I haven't figured out.”

Kate shut her eyes for a moment, trying to block out her mother and her desires. If only she'd been born complacent and happy with her lot...

Her eyes jerked open and she yanked the wheel to the right. If a damn deer didn't cause her to have a wreck, her mother would. Kate opened her mouth, ready to cut the conversation short, but she had no hope of stopping this roller coaster. Her mom had already started the downhill swoop and she wouldn't stop until she hit the end.

“Your sister's husband won Farmer of the Year for Cleburne County, and you know what? They come over to eat every Sunday after church. I get to see them all the time.” Her mother's voice wobbled and Kate sighed. “And I don't stay awake at night worrying about her safety.”

Kate bit her lip so hard she tasted blood. She'd have to ride it out or hang up on her mother altogether, something that would earn Georgia's unending animosity.

Kate glanced at her surroundings. She was lost, in the middle of nowhere, lucky to even have cell phone service.

Lucky?

“Mom. There. Can't. No. Service.”

Why hadn't she thought of this before? Being lost in the woods in southern Mississippi offered one and only one perk.

“Katherine, please be careful. Please, call to let me know you’re safe.”

“Love you, Mom.” Kate disconnected the call. Her mom should get national recognition as the Grand Master of Guilt.

Kate had never married. She'd broken off an engagement to a good boy back home, breaking her mom's expectation to marry and stay home to pop out a herd of children like her sister. And then she'd gone and committed the ultimate of all betrayals: she tried to join the military.

A man's profession.

Then came the revelation of her ineligibility and her successive move into the CIA, a place of inherit evil according to the good folks of her hometown in Greenville, South Carolina.

For a moment, a brief nanosecond, Kate considered moving home, but just as quickly the thought evaporated. She wasn't cut out for that kind of life, no matter how much it disappointed her mom.

How long was this road? If she didn’t find her way out of the woods in the next ten minutes, she’d have to break down and call Holden for directions, even if it made her appear totally incompetent for her new job. If she couldn't follow the simple map he’d laid out for her to Team Omega’s training grounds, how would he ever have confidence in her abilities to run or participate in an operation?

Short answer: he wouldn't and Kate would find herself back in her apartment hugging a gallon of Ben & Jerry's snuggled up in a faded pink robe watching Bridget Jones.

Finally, the road widened, and she drove out of the boxed-in path of dense forest and into a clearing filled with large pine trees. Further up the road, she spied a two-story white house with a huge wraparound porch. The kind of setup where people married and raised families.

The kind Kate would never have.

And didn't want.
At least that's what she told herself.

The last thing she wanted was to be tied down to some man and a brood of children. Her career would be over and so would her whole purpose. She'd be single the rest of her life, and she was okay with that, as long as she got to work a job that didn't put her to sleep. She'd be willing to bet Team Omega was her answer.

As she neared the house, she saw two sedans, a jacked up truck, and a motorcycle parked in front. A wide staircase led up to the front porch, flanked by rows and rows of hydrangeas. The porch itself hosted potted ferns and hanging baskets overflowing with bright yellow and purple flowers. Kate rolled down her window, inhaling the sweet scent only gardens in the south could create.

Somehow this wasn't quite how she'd pictured Omega headquarters.

Senses on high alert, Kate stuffed her Baretta into her compact purse and got out, slamming the door with enough force to warn any unsuspecting citizen of incoming traffic. The last thing she wanted was to stumble into some backwoods supremacist following armed to the teeth with illegal AR's. As a CIA analyst, she researched enough of them to know they didn't hide in shacks surrounded by metal-paneled fences lined with barbed wire. Dissidents usually did their best to blend in.

The front door opened and Ethan stepped out, shoving a hand through his hair. Her mouth went dry and white-hot bolts of awareness shot through her followed immediately by rolling waves of chill bumps.

He wasn't perfect; he didn't have a classically handsome face; his features were too harsh for that. His rough life was obvious in his sharp gaze and drawn lips, but that life had produced an intensity barely suppressed beneath a rough surface.

Why her long dormant libido had decided to go all loosey-goosey in his presence was beyond her comprehension. Ethan Slade was the exact opposite of what she wanted in a man. That too long jet black hair and beard made her fingers itch for a pair of scissors and a comb. And his glaring lack of respect that he’d so obviously shown at their initial introduction made her want to throw him into a choke hold.

ETHAN found it hard to breathe, to think, to do anything but stare at the creature glaring up at him. If it weren’t for the severe bun and boxy pants suit, she’d be drop dead gorgeous. As it was, she looked like a school marm trying to hide her exotic features beneath a femi-dom shield of armor.

And the expression in her slightly tilted green eyes practically screamed control freak. He’d bet money she’d never done anything slightly out of order in her entire life.

What would it be like to unpin that bun and watch her hair fall around her shoulders?

Shit, it had to be the house and Noni making him straight up crazy. She wasn’t for him and he wasn’t here for a hook up – especially one with thorns. “Figured you’d get lost out here.”

Kate stiffened even more, if that were possible, and he was tempted to tell her to relax before she cracked her spine.

“Of course I found it. My job is to find things.” Her voice went shrill, the last word almost piercing.

“No offense, but you seem like a city girl. You know, Starbucks and Whole Foods.” She’d probably never even seen a gravel road.

“My life is none of your concern, just like my ability to read a map.”

“Your life is my concern, princess.”

Her cheeks flushed at his words and Ethan felt a perverse need to push her further, see if he could break that calm façade. “I’m your trainer. For the next two weeks, you will do what I say, when I say it. Otherwise, I’ll tell Holden you’re not up for the job and you can say bye-bye to your little paycheck.”

“I’ll do what you say when Hell freezes over,” Kate spit the words out through gritted teeth.

Did she like to bite during sex?
Fuck, where had that thought come from? Kate Richards was everything he didn’t want or need. Uptight. Closed off. Pushy.

No, he liked his women soft and willing and quiet…

She licked her plump lips and he flushed hot, his whole body tense with a stomach tight desire to taste her.

Maybe – No, not going there. He could just imagine the set of scissors she carried around to cut a man’s balls straight off his body. Ethan pasted on a cold smile and shoved the lust back under the rock it slithered out of. “Then I guess you won’t be learning what you need for the mission. We should call Holden now, let him know he needs to find someone else.”

“What’s your problem with me? From the moment we met, you’ve been baiting me.” Most girls he knew would have tossed in a whine, but Kate’s tone turned serious. Analytical. Shit.

“Princess, I don’t have a problem. I’m here to do a job and I don’t do missions half-assed. So if you’re gonna complain about my tone of voice this isn’t going to work. I’ll save us both the waste of time right now.”