Unknown Identities Special Ops: 3-in-1 Collection, page 27
Suddenly the driver pulled the wheel hard, braking to avoid a blockade in the road. Exhausted, Danny stopped jamming the comm signals, fumbling with the door handle as the SUV rocked on its axles.
Gunfire erupted at the ambush point and Messenger’s team responded in kind. As Danny fell from the car a man rushed forward. John, he realized, striding about heedless of the crossfire, escorted him to safety.
Bulletproof. It was his last thought before he passed out.
***
Chloe was furious that Danny would drop that ‘I love you’ bombshell and hang up. She recognized the voice of a man who saw death bearing down on him. No way in hell would she let him go out before she could give him back the same words. Give them both a chance at a real future.
“Wanna talk about it?” Ben asked for the third or fourth time since they’d landed.
They were sitting on a rooftop, using the Yagi to boost the range of her receiver. It was rudimentary equipment, but she was getting the hang of it. Who knew listening for the right kind of chatter across frequencies could be so mindless?
“Messenger must have been closing in on them.”
“Ah. You can trust Scott, John, and Matt. We have to focus here, or the bastard wins another round.”
He’d win two if they couldn’t protect Danny and she couldn’t find the lab. They’d studied an overview of Detroit on the plane and narrowed their search areas to three likely locations. She’d chosen one on instinct alone and set up the gear while Ben had cleared her second choice using his skills.
From the sound of things, Danny didn’t have time for them to be wrong.
Suddenly there was a flurry of chatter across a frequency Danny said was commonly used for the day to day stuff at the lab. People were panicked about an imminent attack.
“There. Listen.” She hit record and then turned up the volume a bit for Ben, who started laughing like a loon.
“Awesome. Take notes. I’ll be right back.”
She did take notes of the street address as well as various names and code words, hoping to fit them with Danny’s earlier interviews. She’d get more when she played back the recording. This was fantastic news. When they started talking about notification protocol and named the deputy director of the FBI, she wanted to cry. It couldn’t be true.
For a moment, she feared that there would be an evacuation and they’d have to start the recon all over again, then Messenger’s voice came through loud and clear. The lab was on lockdown and all personnel were to hold their positions until the local guards finished a sweep of the area.
She snapped off the receiver and disassembled her antenna, scrambling to the fire escape to make her way off the roof. On the ground she heard Ben.
“I have a surprise for you,” he said, taking her hand. “Don’t move.”
To her utter shock, he rendered her as invisible as himself, just before a patrol dashed by.
***
Danny woke to the smell of Chloe’s hair and he hated his mind for playing tricks on him. It took several minutes more before he realized it wasn’t an illusion. Chloe was in bed with him, spooned up next to him, her back to his chest.
How she’d gotten here should have been his first question, but he was so damned relieved he didn’t care.
When John, Bulletproof, had hauled him back to the ranch house, Amelia had applied first aid to a few scrapes, and they’d dropped him into the guest room to sleep until he had his energy back. He’d been too weak to ask for food and too afraid to ask for an update on Chloe.
He breathed her in, a new appetite stirring, but not knowing anything about her arrival, he didn’t want to wake her.
Her hips wriggled slightly against his erection and she sighed. “Is all of you this awake?” she asked.
“Pretty much.” He nuzzled her ear. “When did you arrive?”
“Yesterday.” She turned over, facing him, her brown eyes full of affection, concern and the hot spark of temper. “First, I love you.”
His heart stuttered in his chest.
“Second, you’re a jerk for that dying-man call.”
She pressed a finger to his lips when he tried to defend himself.
“Third, we found the lab. John told me what you did.”
“Did they get Messenger?” he wondered.
“No,” she murmured. “They dealt him a hard blow, but he escaped with three of his men. The others are in FBI custody.”
“Thanks to you.”
“My connections at least,” she said.
He bumped her nose, stole a quick kiss. She smelled like sunshine on a summer day and it felt almost too wonderful to believe she was here, safe with him. “Is there a four?” he asked.
She shook her head.
“Good.” He smoothed her hair behind her ear. “The only point that really matters is love. I called because I didn’t want you to ever doubt what you mean to me.”
“You understand that works both ways?”
“I do now.” He kissed her, long and deep, until they were both breathless. “Be my forever, Chloe. I can’t offer you anything like a normal life. I can only offer me, as is, until UI is out of commission. Is that enough?”
Tears glistened in her eyes as she traced his lips with her fingertip. “Turns out you, Danny Connolly, are exactly what I want. Forever.”
He’d never heard sweeter words.
Epilogue
Amelia turned a slow circle in the room that would soon be the nursery. The light was perfect, pouring in through the new windows. With the soft sage on the walls and the furniture assembled this room would be everything she’d never known she wanted for her baby.
“What’s that look for?” John asked as he draped a folding table with a protective cloth.
She smiled at him. Her hero and husband, soon to be father. “It’s for you,” she said as emotions swamped her. “Without you, I’d never have any of the things I didn’t know I couldn’t live without.”
He crossed to her, the sunlight through the window casting him in a glow that matched her warm mood. He tipped up her face for his kiss and she leaned in as far as her growing belly allowed, laughing a little when the baby shifted between them.
“Considering why and how we met,” John said, “I still call it a miracle you stuck around.”
“You’re stuck with me for life,” she said, sliding an arm around his lean waist. “Deal with it.”
“I will.” He said it like a promise and sealed the vow with a kiss on her head. “Are you sure you want to help with the painting?”
“Yes.” She bounced a little on her toes. “Give me a roller and stand back.” He could do it twice as fast without her and the belly in the way, but he understood her need to dig in and create a happy place for their baby.
She got tired sooner than she wanted to admit and scooted back to watch John work. “It’s home,” she said quietly as he finished the wall she’d started. “Tell me you feel it too.”
“Do I need to open the window wider?”
She wrinkled her nose at him. “I’m fine.”
He carefully set aside the roller and sat down next to her. “You’re perfect,” he said, brushing his nose to hers. “Wherever we are together, the three of us, that’s home.” He stroked a warm palm over the curve of her belly.
“It wasn’t easy letting Scott and Ben do the heavy lifting, was it?”
“No,” he admitted. He stretched out on the floor, lacing his fingers behind his head. “But Ben reminded me my job is protecting this place, keeping it safe for you, the baby, him, and any others we can get out.”
“Years ago you were only a story to me,” she said, her mind going back to those first mysterious days in Boston. She trailed her hand over his chest. Under his T-shirt were countless scars, seen and unseen. “I’m sorry.”
He trapped her hand under his, the steady heartbeat pulsing under her hand, the heat flowing from him into her. She didn’t realize she’d started to cry until he propped himself up and brushed the tear from her cheek.
“You made me more than I knew I could be,” he said softly, his lips feathering across her ear. “Amelia, you hauled me back to the land of the living. I never would’ve found my way on my own.”
She didn’t believe it. John could do whatever he set his mind to. Enhanced or not, caught up in Messenger’s missions and ultimatums, he’d never lost his inherent humanity. He’d done plenty of things that might be considered awful when taken out of context. She knew he’d only done what was necessary to survive and she was thankful.
“I can’t imagine loving anyone as much as I love you,” she mused.
“Same goes, sweetheart.”
“We’re on the right track and we have even more excellent help now that Chloe is on board full time.” She couldn’t wait to see what else the former FBI agent found once she started turning over rocks on the government side of the equation. “Someday we’ll know who Messenger is and then we can put UI in our past forever.”
“From your lips…” John stole another kiss, then popped to his feet and helped her up as well. “Let’s go find a snack and watch the sunset.”
He knew her too well, she thought, lacing her fingers through his. “You’re my hero.”
“Same goes, my love. Same goes.”
***
Click HERE to read PROVING GROUND, a quick peek into John and Ben's earliest days inside the dark and dangerous world of Unknown Identities.
***
Curious about John and Amelia and how they teamed up against UI and Messenger? You can read their thrilling adventure in BULLETPROOF.
About the Author
Regan Black, a USA Today and internationally bestselling author, writes award-winning, action-packed romances featuring kick-butt heroines and the sexy heroes who fall in love with them. Raised in the Midwest and California, she and her husband enjoy an empty-nest life in the South Carolina Lowcountry where the rich blend of legend, romance, and history fuels her imagination.
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Regan Black, Unknown Identities Special Ops: 3-in-1 Collection
