Lina :Nemesis Inc. Alpha Team

Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

The Corner Pyrate Bar

“Want another, bro?”

Dalton Knight jerked his eyes from the woman he had been eying and turned to look at his Navy SEAL teammate, Noble Bauer. “Sure.” What the heck, he was here for the beer. He was not going looking for someone to ease the empty spot inside him. That place never filled, no matter how many times he’d tried. His own hand was better than the gut-slamming sucker punch of finding another man in your bed when you came home from a mission. Yup, he’d traveled that shitty road before, and he knew better than to go there again. His dick would have to just deal with a five-knuckle shuffle. He lifted his glass to his lips and drained the last of the Jack Daniels. “Fill her up, dude.”

“Can we get another round please, Ma’am?” Noble called to the barmaid. He nudged Dalton’s boot under the table. “You gonna try for her?” He eyed Dalton and nodded his dark head in a woman’s direction at the bar. Damn that asshole and his eagle eyes. The fucker didn’t miss a trick, did he? Oh, Dalton knew it was why Noble made one hell of a sniper, and he fucking loved that Noble was so vigilant on the field, but couldn’t he just put that shit on hold tonight?

“Nah.” He leaned back, resting his head against the back of the booth they had claimed as soon as they had entered the bar, and stretched one leg out under the table. His boot hit off Noble’s. “You hunting tonight?” He hoped Noble’s answer was no. Maybe it was shitty, but he didn’t want to drink alone tonight. Zenko Marks was at home, nursing an injury from their last mission. He’d booted them all out of his house tonight, growling about how they were making him batshit. This was Rexar’s family bar, so he was helping his momma tonight, because they were short staffed, and the rest of their team had gone home to their wives and kids.

“Nope, she’s not really my type.”

Huh? There was a weird infliction in his friend’s voice. He felt his eyebrows draw together in a frown. The asshole was hiding something. His guts told him Noble was hiding something. Did he have a woman hidden somewhere he hadn’t told them about yet? He decided to dig a little further. “What is your type? Blondes, Redheads?”

“It…” Noble cut off what he was about to say, when a voice rose in anger from across the bar and he leaned forward to see around the edge of the booth. “Fuck, that’s Rex.”

“Shit.” Dalton was out of his seat before he’d finished saying the word, his eyes scanning the room. “To the left, around the bar.”

“Got him.”

Together, they crossed the bar. The crowd separated like the red sea at their combined bulk. Dalton automatically fell into the position Zenko normally took when they were in the field, slightly behind Noble’s left shoulder. Even over the ponding music, he could hear his teammate. Rexar Mitchell was pissed as fuck.

Very little pissed Rex off. The man was so laid back he was falling over. They had left him and his twin, Drax serving booze. How the hell had he found trouble?

Someone bumped off Dalton’s side as he moved, and his hand shot out to steady the tray he spotted out of the corner of his eye, saving the people sitting under it from a beer bath.

“Thank you.”

He glimpsed the relieved smile from the barmaid as he kept moving. Noble took a position behind where Rexar had a man pressed against the wall. Rexar’s arm pressed against the man’s throat as the drunk shouted insults and swore at him. His twin stood to one side, watching the crowd. No doubt the Delta Operator was making sure none of the drunk’s friends interfered. Noble spun to face the crowd. He too would cover Rexar’s six.

“You need help, bro?”

“Check the woman,” Drax growled. “This fucker thought it was a good idea to slip something in her drink.”

“The fuck?” Dalton knew he sounded confused. “What woman, where?”

“Hit the lights and stop the music.” Rex jerked his chin toward the door next to the bar. “She drank it before I could reach her. She ran toward the restrooms when I grabbed this bastard, and D told her what happened.”

“I didn’t bring body bags,” Dalton muttered. He hoped the humor would break the tension. He fucking hated assholes who took advantage of women. It pissed him off. But if he hated it, he knew Rexar was worse. The man had a protective streak a mile wide. They needed the rage he could feel pouring off him to dial down a couple of notches.

“We got this, Dalton, check the woman,” Noble ordered.

“Yes, Sir,” he responded to the authority in his commander’s voice and turned to do as he was asked.

* * *

Lina Maxwell kneeled on the floor of the restroom. She had to make herself puke. Drugged? “Dang it, just do it already.” She pushed two fingers into her mouth to the back of her throat, making herself gag, but kept going. She had to get the drugs out. Finally, her stomach did what she wanted, and the contents of her stomach burned like fire as it made a reappearance.

“Y’all.” The word was so clear she realized the music had stopped and a voice was talking over a microphone. “Some dick thought it was a good idea to spike a lady’s drink. Y’all bring your drinks to the bar and we’ll replace them for free. The music will start again when we have made sure everyone is okay and has fresh drinks.”

Lina scrambled to her feet and made her way to the sink, refusing to think of the germs which may be on the floor. She stared at her hands as they trembled. Crap, maybe coming out tonight hadn’t such a good idea after all. She’d thought she was over this stuff. That she was ready to go out into the world again. Apparently, she was wrong.

She wasn’t ready. She should have just stayed at home, shouldn’t have listened to her friends when they told her the assholes were winning every second she was a hermit. She reached for the dispenser next to the sink and pulled out some sheets of paper. Flipping on the faucet, she held the papers under the water, soaking them until they were almost to the point they would break. Leaning over the sink to prevent water splashing over her black t-shirt, she pressed them to her face.

“Hey miss?” a voice called, followed by a sharp knock on the restroom door, making her jump. She dropped into a defensive crouch. She didn’t recognize that voice, did she? That wasn’t her one of her friends’ boyfriends, right? Fuck. Her eyes zeroed in on the door handle. The split second it took to depress lasted what felt like a lifetime. She stepped back until the feel of cold tile at her back gave her reassurance that nobody could approach from behind. Which, if she had been in a decent state of mind, would have told her was irrational as she was in a freaking restroom. There was nobody here to hold her in place, to force… she shook off the direction her panicking mind tried to send her. “Don’t—don’t come in here.”

“Miss?” The door pushed open an inch and stopped. “Rexar, the owner’s son, asked me to check you’re okay.”

And I am supposed to believe you? Why?

“I’m fine.” Oh, God, she hoped he didn’t hear the wobble in her voice.

“You don’t sound fine.”

Well, there went that hope. She supposed, in his shoes, she wouldn’t believe herself either.

Freaking awesome.

The man’s voice, even muffled through the door and half covered by the sound of shouting from the bar, was deep enough to send a skitter of something down her spine. “Miss, I need to come in there and make sure that you are okay.”

No, please don’t come in here.

“I’m fine.” Her lungs hurt, why did her lungs hurt? Oh yeah, she needed air, breathing. That would be helpful. She sucked in some air, which eased the pain in her chest. “I’ll be right out.”

“Okay, I’ll be here waiting,” the man said after a slight pause as he considered if he should believe her or not.

Dude, do you even know how creepy that makes you sound?

She glanced at the small window high over the sink. Blast it. There was no way she would fit through it. There was no other way to slip away unnoticed. She had to go out the door. “Move away from the door.” No matter what he said, she wasn’t going out there if he was blocking her way. Panic made her brain want to spin, but somehow, she forced herself into a semblance of calm she really didn’t feel. Lina didn’t want to be trapped, but going out there… Where the frick frack were all the people when you needed them? What happened to women should go to the restrooms in groups? Did someone call a strike, and she wasn’t told? In her head, she snorted at the irony of her looking for people.

“Okay,” the man replied.

Lina stared at the door. She chewed on the corner of her bottom lip, her fingernails digging into her palms. The hallway, which had seemed huge when she’d raced down it to puke. When the man on the other side of the bar had told her he’d seen the man standing next to her spike her drink, she’d bolted for the restrooms. She knew the same hallway would feel a lot smaller with someone standing in it. Because of the liquid courage she had been consuming earlier, she’d been able to sit at the corner of the bar and watch her friends as they danced and laughed. But she didn’t know if her courage tank was full enough to walk out the door. She should have just stayed home.

Just walk out there, ninny.

“Miss?”

Seriously, are you crazy? Move!

Oh, no. she’d waited too long. She flexed her fingers to ease the ache her nails were causing her hands. She’d have marks for days. But the bite of pain kept the screams inside. Argh, maybe her parents were right. She was insane.

Just walk out the door, tell him you’re fine, and leave.

But telling herself to do it was a whole different thing to actually doing it.

“I’m coming.” That sounded normal, right?

“Okay.”

Whoever this man was, he apparently had more patience than most she had met. Even she could hear the doubt in his voice. Someone had put lead in her cowboy boots. That had to be why her feet felt as heavy as concrete. Still, she forced herself to go. She wanted to go back home. To hide away in her safe place. She was never leaving the house again. EVER.

She paused at the door for a second before pulling it open. Directly across from her, a man moved from where he rested against the wall. When he straightened to his full height, she took a step back. “You’re big.”

Oh no, what did you say that for?

“I… Uh.”

“Yeah, I’m kinda big.” The man’s lips curved into a slight smile. He took a step forward and stopped directly in front of her. “How do you feel?”

Lina resisted the urge to race back into the restroom and slam the door. Barely, but she did it. “I’m fine.” She pointed to the door behind him. “I’m going home.”

“Just let me check you’re okay.”

He reached a hand toward her face, and Lina shrank away from him. “Don’t touch me.” Immediately, she gave herself a mental kick.

Show no fear, stupid.

Had she not learned the lessons of the last few years? She knew better than to show a weakness. “I’m sorry.”

“You have no reason to be sorry,” he said. “It’s smart to be wary of strange men.”

Huh? What? Did he just call me smart?

The man shifted his feet, giving her some much needed space. He tucked his thumbs into the hoops on his jeans and lowered his shoulders. Didn’t he know there was no way he could make himself smaller? When your muscles had muscles, it just wasn’t possible.

“Do you feel dizzy? Weird? Nauseous?”

“I…” Mortification flowed through her. The darn man’s lips quirked up at the corners and she could see by the way his eyes crinkled that he’d seen her scanning him from head to toe. She could feel the heat start under her chest and climb her neck. The curse of fair skin was blushing. Thankfully, the lights were lowish in here. Hopefully, he wouldn’t notice that it mortified her to be caught noticing a male for the first time since… who was she kidding, he’d already noticed. But if she didn’t admit it to herself, it didn’t happen, right? “I made myself throw up.”

OMG, what did you say that for?

“Smart.” The man nodded in approval. “I’m Dalton, what’s your name?”

His approval sent a weird feeling through her. People never approved of her or her actions. What on earth was going on? She’d entered the twilight zone or something. “L—Lina.”

“Nice to meet you, Lina.” Dalton held his hand out, but when she just stared at it, he dropped it again.

“I—um—don’t like people touching me.” Well, wasn’t she spilling all her secrets tonight? Why was she telling him this? “It’s not just you.” She didn’t know why it mattered so much that he knew this. It just did.

“Happens.” Dalton shrugged as if he didn’t care, but Lina was sure he did. The way his body tensed when she’d said it told her so. She didn’t get why he cared, but it made her insides do weird, funny things, just thinking he did.

“Can I check your eyes?”

Oh, God, he’d have to come way closer to do that. She did not want that, no matter what her stupid gut reaction told her. Her guts had lied to her before. There was no sane reason on this planet for her to listen to them now. “Why?”

“I need to see if your pupils are dilated to check if they show any hints the drugs are still in your system,” Dalton replied. “I’d like to check your pulse, too. We don’t know what it was the asshol—sorry, Lina. What the dick—crap.” He shrugged. “I’m not much good at polite talk.”

“It’s okay.” Lina smiled despite herself. Dalton trying to be a choirboy… hilarious… if she knew him better, maybe she would have even laughed out loud, rather than snickering to herself internally.

He cocked his head to one side, studying her. “I’d be happier if you would go to the ER and get checked out.”

“No doctors.” No freaking way was she going to the hospital. It was not happening. No matter what the blond giant called Dalton said.

“Okay, then will you let me check, Lina?” His voice was low and coaxing.

“I—”

The door to the bar slammed off the wall as it opened, making them both jump. Dalton spun, putting himself between the door and Lina.