“And you said you wanted me to be me.” She moistened her lips. “When he died—or when I thought he was dead—God, I hate that. I don’t even know what to call it.”
“He was dead for you, babe. Yousawthe explosion, survived it…came back here…went through the debriefing.” Which had to have been hell. “Then they told you he was dead. The reports said he was dead. They buried them. For all intents and purposes, he was dead.” Sliding his hand to her chest, he paused over her heart. “You grieved.”
“I left a piece of myself there,” she whispered. “In Russia, a huge section of who I was…I thought it died with him, so I buried me, too. I don’t know how to be her, because she’s not in me anymore. So how do I reconcile who I was with who I am?”
Before he could answer, his phone rang. Brad never returned hers, and she’d skipped getting another. Chrome hadn’t insisted she’d need a phone, since he refused to send her on missions, and Gabriel was grateful for it. Digging his phone out, he flipped it over.
Speak of the devil…He showed her Chrome’s name on the screen, and she sighed, the raw emotion draining in favor of her game face. Resisting the urge to curse, he hit answer and handed her the phone. Her work was much a part of who she was as her sense of humor and her loyalty.
“Copper, I need you to come in, and you should bring Gabriel with you.” Chrome’s voice was clear at Gabriel’s distance.
“Yes, sir.”
“Before you do,” Chrome’s voice dropped a note. “Understand, you can say no.”
“Sir?” She frowned, and Gabriel’s gut sank. Whatever it was, it had to do with Brad.
“Like I said, to be clear, you can say no. Understood?”
“Yes, sir. We’ll be there in fifteen minutes.” The call disconnected, and she met Gabriel’s gaze, her eyes troubled beneath her otherwise professional veneer. “You sure you still want to stay in this with me?”
“Not even a question.” He sealed his promise with a kiss. “You ready to do this?”
Nuzzling him once more, she nodded. “Remember, no grab-ass in front of the guys.”
He laughed. “We may revisit that condition later.”
“Deal.”
Falling into step together, they retraced their path at a run. Whatever the hell was up, Gabriel wasn’t letting her go on any mission without him. He didn’t give a flying damn what they had for her to do—until she was more settled and more comfortable with the wild shift in her life, he was in. All the way in.
Chapter 3
“The fuck you say.” Tungsten stared at Titanium. No way in hell did he want to leave immediately. He’d been back at base for all of fifteen minutes when Poppy informed him Titanium wanted him in his office. Five minutes after he returned from seeing Copper at the lake, he’d been deployed on a critical information retrieval. He’d done his fucking job and earned ten stitches for his trouble.
“Someday, you will understand that I rarely say what I don’t mean.” Patient tone aside, Titanium’s aggrieved expression gave Tungsten some satisfaction. “Someone knows you’re alive, and they are combing the net for information on you right now. They’ve instigated a dozen searches and advertised a rather hefty bounty for you on the dark net. Ant has done an admirable job of shutting them down, but they keep listing it. We haven’t quite pinpointed the source…”
“I’ve been dead for three years. Let them look. Nothing ties me here.” He wanted a shower and a chance to see Copper. Telling her he was alive, then falling off the map was not what he had in mind. Then again, Titanium never seemed to give a damn about what Brad wanted. “So, if that’s all…”
The commander’s hand slammed against the desktop. “That is not all. You may think you’re off the map, and we’ve kept you legally dead for all intents and purposes, butsomeoneis looking. And that someone knows a great deal about you.”
Apprehension fisted his spine. “Such as?” Gunnery Sergeant Bradley Peck was dead and buried, mourned with perfunctory regularity by a mother who used to visit him at boarding school and college with the same sense of obligation. His father certainly couldn’t be bothered to pull away from his latest mistress to bother, and he had no siblings. The only people who gave a damn if he was alive or dead were all on the teams, so what the hell could they look for? Targeting his mother would do them no good, and they had to know that. Hell, he hadn’t seen his mother in five years when he ‘died.’ So whomever theylookedfor couldn’t threaten them, unless…
“Such as a former lover you took great pains to make sure wasn’t noticed by brass or written up for consorting on the team. A former lover whom you designated yourheir.”
Violence threaded through his veins. “Sachi is safe. She’s here.” With John on one side, Gabriel on the other, and Brad to watch her back, no one was touching her.
“Sachi isn’t dead though.” Titanium was relentless. “They have a picture, a name, and they’re looking. We’re tracking them, so we’ll deal with it. Until then, you’re going to ground and so is she. We don’t need them sending up the wrong flags to the wrong people.”
“So, we stay in the compound…”
“You have your orders.” Titanium rose and Annie came immediately to his side. The faint thud of his legs reverberated through the wooden floor of his office. The legs matched his name, and they didn’t tread lightly.
“Fine. You want me to go under, I’ll go under, but not withouttellingher this time. No more lies.”
“Oh, we’re telling her right now.” Titanium led the way, leaving him with no choice but to follow. The bastard irritated the shit out of him, but he always traded on solid intelligence and proved right more often than wrong. If the commander hadn’t been blown half to hell, Brad would be tempted to throat punch him. As it was, he still considered it.
The conference room held Chrome, Copper, and Gabriel. His arrival with Titanium made five. Zeroing in on her, he took inventory. A faint sheen of sweat coated her face, and her white t-shirt clung to her breasts, clearly highlighting the sports bra beneath. The frightening pallor and hollow eyes had been replaced by a healthier glow and a warier expression. Satisfied she was in one piece, he quirked a grin and drank in her presence.