Chapter Twenty
MARS
The time spent with Cam in that elevator had been harrowing and I’d never felt more relieved in my life than when I heard the sound of automatic gunfire as Candy and the team arrived. Everyone but Napoleon and Mickey were waiting for us, as we stepped out, slapping our backs, and cheering.
“That was great work, Clifford,” Candy said as soon as I told him about the disabled phone and my attempt at getting a signal out to him.
“We got your distress call from the company who operates the elevator phone. We knew where we were going, but the industrial park is big, so the Morse Code shortened our response time to this location.”
“We would’ve lost a lot of time searching the buildings if you hadn’t been able to pinpoint where you were,” Miguel Huerta said as he slapped me on the back. “Good job, brother.”
I grinned at the newest member of our team.
Huerta was a native Angelino of Mexican American heritage, married to Raven Mathis who worked alongside Judy Mendez in our team’s IT department.
The two men were the only married couple on the team other than Rex who’d married his boyfriend, Cachi, a few months back.
“Thanks, Huerta.” I glanced at Cam who stood talking to Nash and Patsy a few feet off. “I was inspired.” When I turned back to Miguel, he was giving me a knowing kind of smile. I wondered what he was seeing in my expression before Rex came over to shake my hand.
“You gave us all a fuckin’ scare, Mars,” the tall Texan drawled, slapping me on the back. “We was worried about your fool ass.” He hooked a thumb at Nash. “And Hampstead almost had kittens gettin’ us here in the BearCat with Candy barkin’ orders in his ear from the passenger seat.”
My eyes narrowed. “Nash drove my baby?”
Miguel and Rex both laughed. “Shoulda seen him,” Rex drawled. “He woulda made you proud, weavin’ in and outta traffic like a pro.”
I straightened, knowing I wouldn’t be convinced the BearCat was okay, until I saw her. That vehicle was my pride and joy. I showed it by keeping her in tiptop condition, sparkling clean, and always stocked with guns, ammo, and all the gear we needed with us on all our missions.
Alain came over and smiled, then grimaced as the Steri-strips across his left cheekbone must have pulled. The bullet had come way too close to taking out an eye or something worse. “Ya doing alright?” I asked, shaking his hand.
“Just a small scratch.” He smiled. “Well done, old boy. Jolly good idea to stop the lift between floors. It delayed them just long enough for us to arrive. When Candy couldn’t raise you on the mobile, he was a trifle upset.”
“You and me both, mate. They were using a signal jammer,” I replied. “I blame myself for this mess. I should’ve taken Cam right back to the ‘otel instead of thinking I’d be a big lad about town and we’d ‘ead to this place I know for lunch.”
“It’s a damned good thing you didn’t head back to the hotel,” Rex said. “They must’ve followed you from the office, so leadin’ them there wouldn’t have been good.”
“They knew my name, Rex,” I said.
“What?”
“The bitch—” I stopped, looking around at the four bodies on the ground, blood pooling all around them from multiple wounds. There wasn’t a female among them. “Shite! There was a woman ‘ere. Ya see anyone leave?” I started to move away when Alain grabbed my bicep.
“No one else is here, Mars, and there was no time to set up a perimeter. If there was a woman here, she got away clean.”
“Bloody ‘ell.” I reached up and ran a hand through my hair as footsteps suddenly sounded from across the room.
We all turned to see Lincoln Snow and his team.
Almost everyone was there…Kindness, Beth, Dr. Leo Reeves, Carter Perez, and the tall Scottish American Green Beret, Mac McCallahan, who towered over everyone including Rex, the tallest man on our team at six-six.
Lincoln stopped in front of me, holding out his hand, just as Candy walked over. “Thank God you and Mr. Demarco are okay, Clifford. As soon as we got word, we deployed ASAP. What the hell happened?”
“We were followed from the office. Even though I tried to shake the wankers, I couldn’t.
I opted for the next best thing, and ‘eaded ‘ere. I only knew about this place because I’d gotten lost a couple of months back when I took a wrong turn, trying to find a restaurant for the first time. We legged it for the elevator, and I stopped it between floors so we had a chance. We were outgunned.”
“You made the right call, Clifford,” Candy said. “And the elevator trick was smart.” He slapped me on the back.
“Thanks, boss.”
“Wait. What elevator trick?” Prince asked, joining the group. He nodded at Dr. Reeves, his husband.
Again, I explained what I’d done with the control panel and the Morse Code.
“Your Morse Code message was relayed to us by the company which operates the elevator telephones,” Snow said. “It’s a good thing their employee was former Army, or they might not have been able to pinpoint your location. It may have saved your life, Clifford.”
Prince grinned at me, reaching out to give me a high five. “That was quick thinking.”
I felt my face heat. “Thanks, Prince.” I glanced over at Cam, and Max must’ve noticed where my eyes strayed, because I heard him snort.
“What?” I frowned.
“You two seem cozy.”
“If ya say so.”
“I understand you’ve been sharin’ a hotel room with him.”
Normally, his slight southern drawl was charming but knowing he’d seen something in my expression toward Cam, made me want to take an axe to his head…
just a little. My carefully constructed mask of indifference was slipping.
I’d woken up in Cam’s arms this morning, knowing I was quickly falling for the man, but if my friends could see it, I was in trouble.
No matter how hard I’d tried to emotionally distance myself from Cam, I was fighting a losing battle.
He’d already gotten under my skin, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I had genuine feelings for him.
“Just because we’re sharing a ‘otel room, it doesn’t mean we’re anything more than friends.”
“Bullshit!” Nash said, coughing into his hand.
“Liar,” Rex chimed in, slapping me on the back with a wide grin.
“Is there something you need to tell me, Clifford?” Candy asked. His raised eyebrow joined the smile playing around the corners of his mouth as he tugged on his beard.
I gaped at Candy, hating the fact that all these people—my friends—could see what I was determined not to. How had it happened that I’d fallen for Cam, because clearly, I had, if everyone could see the emotions swirling inside my head…inside my heart.
Without even realizing it, Cam had wormed his way into my heart.
Well, fuck me. And I’d teased Nash, Patsy, and Rex about how easily they’d fallen for their guys.
Now here I was, ready…no…willing to not only lay down my life to protect Cam but turn a temporary assignment into something approaching…
permanence. God, I could barely think the word without feeling like I was about to crawl out of my skin.
I stared at the boss for a second, unsure how to answer, but I opened my mouth, ready to deny it when blessedly, Carter Perez chose that exact moment to speak up. “We’ve checked the rest of the buildings in the complex,” he said. “No one seems to be around.”
“There was a woman outside the elevator,” I told him.
“Well, if there was earlier, she’s nowhere to be found now, Mars,” Kindness said. “I’m sorry, but we checked the entire perimeter of the industrial park, and all the buildings.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, there’s no one,” Perez said, frowning just a little. “We swept the buildings thoroughly.”
“Sorry, Carter,” I rushed to say. “Where the bloody ‘ell did she go, then?” I shook my head. “I didn’t mean it as a dig at your professionalism. Course, I know you guys would’ve done your jobs thoroughly.
” I liked the big, musclebound, tattooed Marine.
He was quiet, but very efficient. Carter Perez had been a logistics guy when he was an active-duty Marine.
I’d talked with him a lot once our team had transferred to L.A.
He’d arranged for my cars to make it from Vegas to L.A.
several times since I couldn’t drive more than one car when I’d bought one after an auction.
The deliveries had made getting a new vehicle to here seamless and for that, I was grateful.
Perez smiled as he took my hand. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
Candy looked around. “I want to get Clifford and Mr. Demarco safely back to the hotel in the BearCat now that their ride has been disabled.”
“’Ang on…the Camaro’s been disabled?”
Candy nodded. “They flattened your tires, probably figuring if you did find a way out of this building, they’d stop you escaping if you had no usable wheels.”
I nodded, glancing at Cam who was looking in my direction. I motioned to him, and he walked over. “We ‘ave to go. Candy’s taking us back in the BearCat. You ready?”
He sighed before darting his gaze around the room. “I’ve never been more ready to get out of a place in my life.”
I didn’t doubt him. Cam really wasn’t used to seeing this kind of carnage.
We headed out of the building but not before someone gave Cam a helmet and had strapped him into a Kevlar vest. If a sniper were in the vicinity, the Kevlar might not be able to stop a high-powered round, but at least, it would be some protection.
Candy and the rest of my team accompanied us to the BearCat, parked beside the Camaro, which, to add insult to injury, had been riddled with bullets spaced evenly apart as though it had been strafed with automatic gunfire.
Sod it! Someone obviously hadn’t been thrilled that we’d managed to make our escape and had thrown a wobbly.
The windscreen was also punched full of holes.
Nash slid into the BearCat’s driver’s seat leaving me in the back with Cam and the rest of my brothers.