Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
“Buddy, there’s four of us and one of you,” the man holding Diana said.
Diana fucking Corbin. Here, in the midst of this gathering. Her eyes were wider than usual, and her pulse thrummed in her throat, but she wasn’t terrified. If anything, she’d been about to do something that would have probably gotten her killed.
“I see that,” Ghost said mildly. He was livid and not in the mood. “But I tell you what. I’ll take on all four of you at once. Whoever wins gets to keep her.”
The assholes exchanged a look between them. Ghost slid a pair of zip ties from his back pocket. “You can use mine or yours, but tie her up if you’re worried she’ll escape.” He nodded at the weapons. “Only thing is, no guns. You can use knives though.”
The man who’d assaulted Diana at the Dawg snorted. “Are you serious? You really think you can take on four of us armed with knives at the same time?”
“Yeah, I really do. You in or out?”
They exchanged a look again before one of them spoke. “Man, it’s your funeral. Why not?”
“Great. Secure her arms and let’s go.”
He holstered his weapon and tossed the zip ties to the man holding onto her. Diana’s gaze was an inferno as the man wrenched her arms behind her back and secured her. Then he shoved her down in the grass. “You try to run away, bitch, and I’ll find you and make you pay.”
Diana looked as if she could chew nails, but she didn’t respond.
The four men put their pistols away, took off their AR-15s and laid them in the back of a truck before they drew knives.
Ghost sighed. Then he reached into his boot and pulled his own knife, a KA-BAR combat utility knife that’d seen him through countless missions before he’d gone to the command level and had to move teams across a map from DC instead of being in the field with them.
“Come on, old man,” the first asshole said, grinning and waving his knife like a douchebag in a Hollywood action flick.
“Old man? Really? You think because I’m older than you, you can beat me with youth and stupidity?”
“You talk a lot for somebody about to get hurt,” the second asshole growled.
The first asshole—the one who’d held Diana—gave his friends a hand signal.
Then he lunged. Ghost stepped out of the way, wrapped his arms around the guy’s extended one, and twisted.
The knife dropped, the arm broke, and the man screamed.
For good measure, Ghost smashed one of his knees and let him fall.
The second man hurtled toward Ghost, knife held low. Ghost slid into the grass, kicked his opponent’s legs from under him, and had the dude’s own knife at his throat before the other two could blink.
The remaining two stared wide eyed at the carnage. One of their friends cradled his arm and blubbered like a baby and the other’s throat was a breath away from being sliced open. The one beneath him was breathing hard, sweat rolling down his face. Ghost grinned at him.
“Having fun yet, sport?”
“Fuck you.”
“Not my type, but thanks for the offer.” Ghost let the knife slip into the man’s skin. Blood trickled from the wound as he started to beg for his life.
Ghost let him, then pressed the knife a little deeper before pulling it out and tossing it into the grass.
Next, he took the fucker’s pistol and dropped the magazine into his hand, cleared the chamber, and dropped the gun onto the guy’s chest before he pushed to his feet and glared at the other two.
“Who’s next?” he growled.
Asshole number three went for his gun.
Ghost drew first, because he was that much better, and leveled the pistol at his target. His temper frayed at the edges, and he was itching to drop these motherfuckers. Not a good idea, but he wanted it. Been a long, frustrating few months on this mission and he was tired of the bullshit.
“You really want to play this game? Spent twenty years in the Army, most of it with special forces. Been in combat situations you can’t begin to imagine.
You want to throw down with guns, you better know that I’m gonna blow your fucking heads off, one right after another.
I don’t hesitate, and I won’t miss. Not a nervous shooter, not someone who only target practices a few times a week, not a man who’s never had to shoot and kill an enemy combatant.
So, I’m gonna need you to think about this, scooter.
You want to start blasting away with those odds?
Or you prefer to walk away and live another day? ”
Asshole number three, the one who’d assaulted Diana at the Dawg, finally shook his head. “You know what, ain’t no uppity bitch worth this kind of hassle. You can keep her, man. I ain’t got no beef with you and I don’t want one.”
“Smart choice. While we’re talking, you try to come after me—or her—after this, and I won’t be so polite about it.
I will put you down like a rabid dog, and I’ll use my connections in law enforcement to walk free.
Not only that, but anything happens to me or her, you’re the first assholes they’ll come looking for. You hear me, Tyler Long?”
The man started. “How the fuck do you know my name?”
“Good question.” Ghost pointed at each of them in turn, reciting their names as he went. After that incident at the Dawg, he’d put Seth onto finding out who they were and where they lived in case they ever went after Diana again. Didn’t know it’d come in handy today, but he was glad he’d done it.
“Holy shit, you a cop?” Jeff Stout asked.
“Not quite, but I know people. We understand each other?”
“Absolutely,” Jeff said. “Clear as crystal.”
The others agreed with nods and, at least in the case of one of them, whimpers of pain.
“You’ll need to get Brad some painkillers, maybe set that arm.
His knee isn’t permanently damaged, but it’s gonna hurt.
Cason here could use a Band-Aid for his cut.
Not sure where his knife has been, but maybe check his shot records for tetanus while you’re at it.
And one more thing, boys. The right way to approach a woman is with respect, not entitlement. You’ll get a lot farther that way.”
He stalked over to where Diana sat in the grass and held out a hand.
She took it because she’d broken the zip ties, which he’d expected, and he pulled her to her feet.
Then he hustled her into the trees. He didn’t expect those four assholes would change their minds—they had good jobs working at the Toyota plant in Greenbriar, and incarceration didn’t come with the same benefits package—but he hadn’t lived through some of the shit he had by taking chances.
He got Diana into the woods, a good distance away from the crowd gathered to shoot targets, and let her go. She spun around to glare at him.
“Are we alone?”
“Yes.”
She huffed a breath. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
He stepped into her space, unaccountably angry and ready to throw her over his shoulder and spank her damn ass. “What the fuck are you doing here? And keep your goddamn voice down when you answer me. We’re alone, but voices carry.”
She bared her teeth as she closed the remaining distance between them, until they were practically chest to chest. She had to tip her head back to meet his eyes, but she wasn’t short and her mouth wasn’t all that far away.
Fuck me. Why was he thinking about her mouth at a time like this?
“Don’t you tell me what to do. You absolute asshole,” she hissed. “Why are you here with these people?”
He snorted. “Am I to take it by the way you just sneered at these people that you aren’t a convert?”
“Are you?”
His dick was getting hard. He wanted to kiss her, and he wanted to fuck her until she screamed his name. There was too much adrenaline in his system, too much fury and need. He stepped back before he did something stupid and raked a hand through his hair.
“Have you been spying on me? Is that why you’re here?”
She lived in Sutton’s Creek now. She’d been removed from her investigation. What better thing to do than watch his range? His men? Him?
“What? No! I had no idea you’d be here. How could I? And not only that, but are you fucking insane? You could have gotten us both killed when you put down your gun and offered to fight. You had the advantage, and you gave it up.”
He laughed. “Did it look like I gave up the advantage to you? Those boys don’t know what they’re doing.
They’re gravy SEALs, nothing more. No combat experience, no real training.
They’d prefer a fight to a shootout because they think they’re badasses.
Besides, they believed the odds were in their favor, and that’s all I wanted. ”
“They had guns, you jerk. They know how to shoot.”
“Yeah, and they weren’t going to do it. They get off on the idea of it, the power behind it, but they aren’t pulling a trigger.
Don’t get me wrong, if they thought they’d get away with it, they absolutely would.
But with three hundred people milling around nearby?
Not happening. If they were inner sanctum, knew the others had their backs, yeah, sure.
But that’s not what today is, and that’s not who they are—even if they want to be. ”
She stood stiffly, hands curling into fists at her sides. “You are absolutely infuriating.”
“True, but so are you. And you still haven’t told me what the fuck you’re doing.”
“I don’t have to. We aren’t working together, remember?”
He sucked in a breath, blew it out. “So how about you tell me because I just fucking saved your ass, okay?”
Her nostrils flared. “Thank you for that,” she said after a long, silent moment. “I wasn’t sure how I was getting out of the situation.”
Anger flared bright again. “You weren’t getting out without backup.
They had overwhelming strength and they had you captured.
Those boys might not pull a trigger, but they would have raped you.
Wouldn’t have had a qualm about taking you somewhere remote and taking turns. Probably would have beat you up, too.”
She trembled and he felt like shit for making her, but she needed to know she had no business out here alone, trying to insert herself into a fucking militia group.
It was insane. She was a beautiful woman, not a seasoned operator like he was.
Those men would have hurt her, and he’d have had to kill them.
If she stayed, he’d always be thinking about how to keep her safe.
“I’m aware of how it works, thanks. Don’t you think I know that some men think they’re entitled to take what they want by force?
That every day I dare to do anything alone, if I’m in the wrong place at the wrong time, I’m a target?
Trust me, Alex, I am well aware of how the world works when you don’t have a penis. ”
“Good thing, because you need to get in your damn bougie-ass car and drive out of here. Right damned now, before somebody else decides you need to be taught a lesson.”
She put her fists on her hips and glared. “I’m not leaving. I got invited, same as you, and I want to know more.”
This damn woman. She was going to drive him crazy.
“Does your boss know you’re here?”
The flare of apprehension in her eyes told him all he needed to know before it was extinguished and replaced by determination. “None of your business.”
“I take that as a no.”
She didn’t respond so he took her by the arm and started to march her back toward the field where the cars were parked. She dug in her heels and wrenched free.
“Stop,” she hissed at him. “You don’t get to decide what I do. I’m staying. You either need to get used to it and leave me the fuck alone, or you can work with me.”
“This isn’t a game, Diana,” he growled, stalking her until she backed into a tree. “And you don’t know if I’m working or not.”
Her eyed widened a second, then narrowed into slits. “You’re not one of them. I’ve seen your record.”
“People change.”
He didn’t know why he was pushing, but damn her for thinking he was incorruptible.
The irony of it was that this group, their mission to avoid government oppression, aka anyone telling them what to do even if it was good for them, was something his dad would have bought into hook, line, and sinker.
He had bought into it, in fact, until he got too paranoid and decided going off grid entirely, in as remote and frozen a place as possible, was the best plan.
Diana’s glare didn’t change. “Bullshit. You’re trying to get me to go away, but I’m not doing it.
I’m going back to that gathering, and I’m taking my shots at those targets when it’s my turn.
I’m talking to people, and I’m going to the next fucking level.
You think you’re the only one who gets to go off book and do what they want?
Not even close. Just stay out of my way, and I’ll stay out of yours. ”
She pushed past him to stalk away but he caught her arm and dragged her back.
She collided with his chest, her hands coming up to curl into his flannel shirt.
She wore flannel too, and jeans, but it was her hair that fascinated him.
Long and loose, messy now that he’d dragged her through the woods and they’d been fighting.
“What now, asshole?” she grated.
But she didn’t push away. He almost laughed, except he was too busy telling his dick to stay down like a good boy. “You shouldn’t be here, Diana. But you are, and you fucking won’t listen. These people are dangerous, and you’re in over your head.”
She sputtered but he kept going.
“Not because you aren’t good at what you do, but because you don’t have the kind of training I do.
Or the background. I know how these people tick because my dad was one of them.
It’s like dropping into his head again to be around this shit.
I know what’s expected, what’s required, and I know how to say what they want to hear. Guaran-fucking-tee you don’t.”
Her mouth dropped open, but nothing came out. She closed it again, her blue eyes troubled.
“You need to go home. It’s safer.” He was gentler this time, hopeful she would see the sense in what he said.
Her eyes closed before snapping open again. “I can’t give up. It’s important.”
“I know it’s important,” he growled.
Leaves shuffled and twigs snapped as someone approached. Ghost listened hard. It was one person, not three or four, and they weren’t making an effort to hide their approach.
“Hey, Alex, you in here, man? Got somebody wants to meet you.”
“Fuck,” he muttered, tugging Diana closer. “Just remember you wanted to be here. Now go along with me or it’ll be both our asses in a sling, you got me?”
She nodded.
Then he dropped his mouth to hers and kissed her.