Blindsided, page 17
part #1 of Book Two Series
And was gratified by her sharp intake of breath.
“Hey, buddy,” he rasped. Ruby tried again to flee, but he held tight. “Can’t sleep?”
Henry stared at him, his green eyes bright in the dark room. “I had a bad dream.”
His gaze flickered over Ruby, who blushed deeply, a brilliant, warm rush of color that made Rafe want to push her back onto the table and take up where they’d left off.
Too bad it was not meant to be.
Not here, not now.
But it was going to happen.
“Can I have some chocolate?” the boy asked her.
“Of course,” she said unsteadily and moved to stand.
Rafe held on, just long enough for her gaze to touch his, for her to understand that this wasn’t finished.
They weren’t finished.
And then he let her go, noting with pleasure how weak-kneed she was. He reached out and caught her hip when she swayed.
“Marshmallows?” she asked breathlessly and turned away.
“Yes, please,” Henry said politely.
Rafe patted the hard wooden seat of the chair beside him. “Saddle up, partner.”
The boy walked into the kitchen and climbed on the chair. Pepper planted herself at his feet.
Dried tears stained his cheeks. He was red-eyed, his hair sticking up at odd angles, a crease on his cheek from the sheet he’d slept on.
“You okay?” Rafe asked him, a stupid question, but one he felt like he should ask.
Henry shrugged.
“It’s okay if you’re not,” he said. “When my mom died, I wasn’t okay, either.”
The words escaped without thought, but Henry stared at him. “Your mum died, too?”
Rafe nodded. “I was ten.”
“How’d she die?” the boy wanted to know, watching him with dark eyes.
Henry was no dummy. He’d been held prisoner by Russian gangsters, and he knew that imprisonment had everything to do with his mother. Rafe was pretty sure the kid knew exactly how his mom had died.
But the boy was just seven, and there was only so much any seven year old should have to deal with. He and Ruby had agreed on the drive back from the park that they would tell Henry Trudy had died in an accident.
For all the good it would do.
“She passed away at work,” Rafe said finally. “Her job was very dangerous.”
Henry blinked. “Like my mum’s.”
Grief filled his throat, thick and abrupt. “Yes.”
A long moment of silence fell.
“My mom died when I was sixteen,” Ruby said to no one in particular and poured a packet of powdered hot cocoa into a Snoopy mug.
Henry turned and considered her. “Do you miss her?”
She stilled. Rafe could almost see the wheels turning in her head.
“I miss having a mom,” she replied finally.
“I want her back,” Henry said softly.
“Aye,” agreed an unusually sober voice from the doorway, and they all turned to see Mickey standing there in a pair of neon orange shorts, a brown t-shirt, and panda slippers. “I’d like mine back, as well.”
Henry eyed his cousin. “Your mum’s dead, too?”
Mickey walked into the kitchen and went to stand beside Ruby, who automatically reached out and rubbed his back. “Cancer, when I was eight.”
Henry stared at him thoughtfully.
“I’ll take one of those,” Mickey told Ruby, eyeing the Snoopy cup.
She smiled at him and took another mug from the cupboard.
“Me, too,” said another voice, and they looked up to see Pete in the doorway. “Extra marshmallows.”
“And a piece of that apple cake in the icebox,” Sean added from over his shoulder.
Rafe rubbed a hand down his face, glad it had been Henry—and none of the rest of them—who’d interrupted him and Ruby. And considering the heat filling Ruby’s cheeks as she glanced at him—her eyes glinting, her skin gleaming—she was glad for that fact, too.
“Cake?” Pete repeated. “There’s cake?”
“I think we should all have cake,” Mickey said.
“How about French toast?” Henry suggested.
And Rafe couldn’t help it. He laughed.
Twenty-Three
I don’t care if you believe me. I’ll prove it. Every moment of every day, I’ll be here. Doing whatever you need, being whoever you need me to be. And someday soon, you won’t be afraid to fall, because you know I’ll catch you.
Ruby stared out the window at the silent fall of snow and tried to forget those words.
Trouble was, they were inside of her now, and there was no getting them out.
I didn’t know what I had. I took you for granted. I won’t do it again.
He would. Everyone did; that was human nature.
But that he understood her fear and spoke to it…
“Never stood a chance,” she muttered.
A theme to which she continued to return.
Because she wanted it, wanted him. Everything she knew they could be; all of him.
No matter the risk.
She’d never shied from taking chances. Leaping into the void had saved her.
And no matter the fearful child within her, to not try simply because she was afraid was a profound betrayal of the person she’d become.
Fear was not the enemy; fear made you stand up and take notice. But letting fear take the wheel…
That led to disaster. Every time.
Some things you just did…and closed your eyes and prayed.
Rafe Blackheart was one of those things.
“Ruby!”
She started and turned to look at Mickey. “What?”
“You’re not listenin’,” he said, clearly exasperated.
Color filled her cheeks when all eyes settled on her. “Sorry.”
He shook his head. He sat before an impressive array of technology: a sleek, silver laptop, three large, high-resolution monitors, another smaller, stealthier drone, tiny cameras and remote mics, and GPS trackers. There was even a digital printer.
She had no idea where it had all come from. Sean, she supposed, who seemed to have no trouble laying hands on just about anything he desired—tech, weapons, bricks of C4.
A criminal. A title he didn’t argue with, but one, she’d noticed, he didn’t claim, either.
Which made her wonder what the truth was.
“I cracked the encryption this mornin’,” he said, his fingers flying over the keys of the laptop. “The servers are internal, but Henry’s ma built a back door into them with a hidden Wi-Fi signal, so I’m in. I’m building my own door, so if they close hers, we’ll still have access.”
Sean nodded. He sat beside his son, a cup of steaming tea in hand. Pride lined his face. “That’s my boy.”
Pete snorted. His gaze met Ruby’s, and he shook his head.
They sat in the lobby, where a fire crackled in the grate, and outside, the snow fell so heavily it was hard to see more than a few feet.
Awesome weather for a clandestine mission that just might get them all dead.
Rafe stood leaning against the wall, his arms crossed. Henry stood beside him, mimicking his position.
Looking at them warmed her heart. Made her throat ache. And scared the hell out of her.
A ready-made family.
Something she’d never even considered before, and something with which she had zero experience. But it was clear that Henry had adopted Rafe, and whether Rafe realized it or not, he’d adopted Henry right back.
They were a unit now.
She didn’t need him to say that. She could see it.
So if she wanted one…she would have to take them both.
“What’s all that mean?” Pete demanded.
“It means we have access to their security systems, the internal power grid, their cameras and communications, the Bio labs and HVAC, all of the doors and windows, and their fire suppression system. But even better than that, we’ve got access to their files. Personnel records, research files, documents, letters, reports, contacts—all of it.”
Rafe’s eyes met hers, glittering eerily in the pale morning light. “Copy it.”
“Already happenin’,” Mickey said. “It’s all goin’ to the cloud. They won’t have no secrets left by the time I’m done with ‘em.”
Those unique eyes stroked over her, and the hot, twisting need that had gripped her in the kitchen returned. The steady, hungry pulse at the hollow of her thighs; the heat rising in her veins to flush her skin.
Damn him.
Just one look. That’s all it took. And she wanted him inside of her.
This thing between them…whatever it was…only continued to grow.
More ties reaching out to bind her; more tethers wrapping them tightly. A seductive and tempting invitation some part of her had already accepted.
Walking away was no longer an option.
Now…now she just had to figure out how to keep them all alive, so they could live long enough to enjoy it.
Craziest shit you’ve ever done!
“So we can just walk right in?” Pete scowled dubiously. “Stroll in, set our charges, and stroll out again?”
“’Course not.” Mickey scowled at him. “I thought you had experience doin’ this?”
Sean laughed.
“We can’t rely on you controlling the doors remotely,” Rafe said. “We need security codes.”
“No codes. Biometrics.”
“Aw, shit,” Pete muttered.
Ruby sat up on the couch. “Retinal?”
“Aye, but it’s a two-pronged system, so I can bypass that and require a thumbprint instead. We’ll just have to make some thumbs.”
“Would you speak English?” Pete demanded.
“We got copies of all the employee fingerprints in the personnel records,” Mickey explained patiently. “And we’ve got the software to take those prints and turn them into fingers and thumbs.” He nodded toward the digital printer. “We just gotta print ‘em.”
Pete blinked.
“What about the virus?” Ruby asked. “What is it?”
“They call it Blackbird.” Sean picked up a piece of paper from the table where Mickey sat. “A virus created to sterilize its carriers and designed to be spread by birds to specific targets—like, say, the indigenous peoples of the world—and by this estimation, within two generations, those populaces will disappear. Forever.”
Silence fell.
“Genocide,” Ruby said flatly.
“Aye,” Sean agreed grimly.
“Least they ain’t brought the birds in yet,” Mickey said. “It’s all still contained in glass.”
“But damn sure the samples of that virus are live,” his father muttered.
“Not to mention all their research,” Pete added.
“I’m workin’ on that, too,” Mickey told him. “I’m plantin’ a nasty virus that’s gonna destroy their data and wipe their drives clean. And I’m goin’ to make sure it makes its way into their cloud system, too, so it’s all irretrievable.”
Pete looked at Sean. “You sure he knows what he’s doing?”
Sean appeared insulted. “Mick’s a professional.”
Pete rolled his eyes.
“He’s what we have,” Rafe pointed out wryly.
“What’s the plan?” Ruby wanted to know.
Sean stood up. He moved over to Mickey’s wall of evidence and the drawing she had done of the plant and surrounding fjords.
“So,” he said, “it’s like this. Pete’s goin’ to drop me and the old man here, at the mouth of the inlet. We’ll suit up and swim to the port. Once we’ve reached the—”
“What about weapons?” Ruby turned to look at Rafe. “You’re going to need weapons.”
“Aye,” Sean said patiently “We’ll carry them with us. Along with enough explosives to turn the place into pea gravel.”
“How?” she demanded.
Because she wanted details. Because this had stopped being just some vague “plan,” and had become something real and dangerous, and something over which she had no control.
And what she’d taken in stride yesterday was now starting to scare the hell out of her.
“We know the Bio lab contains a negative pressure room,” Rafe said. “According to the specs Trudy provided on the SD card, there’s a large O2 tank on the floor beneath. If we blow that tank, the whole place will come down.”
“With you in it,” she said.
He shook his head.
“That’s what a detonator is for, love,” Sean put in. “We won’t blow it until everyone is out—includin’ us.”
“How do we get everyone out?” Pete asked.
“Fire,” Mickey replied. “We trick the system into thinkin’ there’s a fire, and we set off the alarms.”
“In the ensuing chaos, the old man and I slip in and plant our charges. Then we slip back out, swim out to where Pete’s waitin’, and blow Magnolia to hell.”
Easy peasy.
Right.
“And me?” Ruby demanded. “Do I just sit here and watch?”
Rafe looked at her. “If it all goes wrong, someone has to get them out.”
Them. Henry and Mickey.
She wanted to argue, but couldn’t. The boys couldn’t be left on their own. If something happened, and it all went south, they would be…orphans.
Except for her.
This was freaking insane.
“If it goes belly-up,” Pete added grimly, “you might be our last hope.”
“No,” Rafe said sharply. “It goes bad, she gets out. Period.”
“I’m not leaving any of you behind,” she retorted. She looked at Mickey. “We can monitor them from here, can’t we?”
“Aye. We can.”
She nodded. Her heart was beating too hard, and in her stomach, nerves tangled and twisted. Adrenaline was already spearing through her. “Good. Then we’ll watch from afar, and if you need me, I’ll come.”
“No,” Rafe said again, the word so cold and hard, it felt like a stone hitting her. When she met his glittering gaze, the predator stared back at her. “You won’t.”
“You don’t get to decide,” she told him calmly. And she wondered how many times she was going to have to say those words.
“The hell I don’t.”
“I didn’t come all this way to run,” she said. “I will get them out if it comes to it. But I won’t leave you behind if I can save you. No matter what that means.”
He stared at her, his eerie eyes glinting, his mouth hard.
Angry.
Afraid.
Which was the only reason she wasn’t snarling at him.
Because she was afraid, too.
“It’s going to be okay,” she told him quietly.
“Listen to your lass, old man,” Sean said. “She knows what she’s about.”
Rafe gave him a black look.
Sean only laughed. “Save it for the one-eared man.”
His expression cleared. “I will.”
But he was still staring at Ruby. And she knew the subject wasn’t closed.
“When?” Pete asked.
“Storm should be gone by midnight,” Sean replied. “I say we head out right after. Third shift is the lightest, mostly cleaning crew, and we need the cover of night.”
Ruby blinked. “You’re going to do it tonight, in the dark?”
“Aye.”
She looked at Pete. “Seriously?”
“It’s not our first rodeo,” he told her gently.
She turned and glared at Rafe. “Tonight?”
“No time like the present,” he said.
Henry moved closer to him. “But you’ll come back, right?”
Rafe looked down at him. For a long moment, he said nothing, and Ruby realized she was holding her breath.
“I’ll come back,” he said finally.
“You promise?”
Pete shook his head and gave Rafe a look of warning.
But Rafe just said, “I promise.”
And Ruby knew he would do everything in his power to make it true.
Twenty-Four
Two combat knives, one provided by Sean, the other the spoils from the Russian giant, the first of which was serrated and sharp as hell, the second of which appealed to Rafe’s sense of irony. A SIG and a Ruger, one big, one small, both deadly. And a dainty, handheld Taser, because why the hell not.
Sean would carry the plastic explosives, components, and phone that would be used as the detonator. They each had over forty pounds in scuba gear and dry bags, along with water, their boots, and comm units.
It wasn’t going to be an easy slog.
Navigating the fjord would be one thing; navigating the narrow inlet another. All without light, as quietly as possible. The swim was going to be ice cold and dangerous as hell.
Once they got to the port, then the fun would begin. Get in; set the charges.
Get out.
Live.
It could be done. But nothing about it was going to be easy.
Or neat and clean.
Tell it to the one-eared man.
Rafe could only hope he got the opportunity.
But if it meant Ruby not having to ride to the rescue, he would happily forgo that confrontation. The last thing he wanted was Ruby setting foot anywhere near Magnolia. He wanted her safe—as safe as he could make her, at any rate—and he wanted to know the boys were safe with her.
Henry had cried when Rafe put him to bed, silent, ceaseless tears that had quietly shredded Rafe’s soul. He hadn’t asked any more questions or extracted any more promises, and when Rafe hugged him, the boy had shied away.
Preparing himself for another loss.
Rafe had wanted to promise again that he would return, that it would all be over soon, and they could….what?
Live happily ever after?
Go…where?
Do…what?
He had not one single, solitary answer to those questions.
He knew only two things.
He was keeping Ruby. And he was keeping Henry.
