AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Hell, he was fucked up here and he knew it. This mission had the potential to blow up in all their faces. The players involved weren’t just the richest men in the world, they were the most powerful. They seated politicians and had the ears of presidents and kings. They weren’t men whom any government agency dared to trifle with, which was why Jordan had taken the operation himself. It was one they had been working for years, gathering intel from various agencies, tracking movements, shipments, and weapons.
Warbucks somehow managed to steal the information or hardware. From there, he engaged the services of a broker to auction the items and transfer the goods. John had handled several smaller transactions with exacting detail. Whoever Warbucks was, John was a trusted entity to him, or them. John was also considered one of the most reliable brokers on the black market, where a man’s word was about as good as the spit on the ground at his feet.
He was careful, he avoided assassins and betrayal and he had the connections needed to get the highest dollar for each deal. And this deal would demand a hell of a lot of dollars. It wouldn’t be a simple transaction and transfer; even Warbucks would know that. The danger, the secrecy involved, and the weapon itself would require more trust than normal from all parties.
John had been contacted. The first move had been made.
“You going to be able to handle this, Heat Seeker?” Noah’s voice was low at his side.
John turned his head and stared back at the man who had become a friend in the past five years.
“I’ll handle her.” He shifted his shoulders, preparing for the battle ahead.
Noah breathed out roughly at the answer. “I didn’t ask if you could handle her. You going to be able to handle walking away again?”
John stared back at him for long moments, letting the question sink inside him before the anger that had once been carefully banked flared to the surface.
“Who the fuck says I have to walk away again? No one makes that decision this time but me.”
“What the fuck do the lot of you think this unit is?” Jordan broke in furiously as he came in behind Noah. “A damned matchmaking opportunity? I don’t send you on these missions to lose your damned hearts and create more risks than we need at this point. We have a job to do, Heat Seeker, try to remember that.”
“Fuck you!” John snarled. “You don’t own my fucking soul, you just bought it for a while.”
“And you damned well better remember that your time isn’t up yet.” Jordan flattened his hands against the table as he glared back at John. “Seven more years, that’s what you owe this unit and the men who gave you a fucking life back. Getting married and living happily-fucking-ever-after wasn’t part of the deal.”
“Putting up with your bullishness wasn’t part of the deal, either,” John sneered, the thought of walking away from Bailey a third time ripping at his soul as he shoved his finger in Jordan’s direction. “You don’t tell me what I’ll walk away from, mate. Not you, not anyone. Remember that.”
He turned and stalked from the room, then from the cabin. He’d had enough. Orders, missions, decisions always based on the good of the unit or the good of the mission. This time, this mission, there was a hell of a lot more at stake. This time, it wasn’t his life, it was his soul.
NOAH WATCHED AS HEAT Seeker stalked from the room and slammed the door behind him. Minutes later the Hummer he was driving started up and sped out of the driveway.
The Australian was pissed, and Noah couldn’t blame him. Hell, Bailey had already been taken from him once. In every man’s life there was one woman, one chance, and very few were given another shot if they fucked it up.
Noah had been given another chance with his wife, Sabella, and he’d almost fucked that one up. Now John was being given another chance with Bailey, and when it came to that Aussie, anything was possible.
“We’re going to have problems with him,” Jordan remarked as he neared Noah. “I’ll have to have Travis keep a close eye on him.”
Problems meant that Jordan was realizing the mistake it had been to bring John into this mission to begin with. Not that Jordan could have stopped Heat Seeker from being here, not with Bailey Serborne involved. But for some reason Jordan kept thinking he could control events. When it came to a man’s soul, Noah thought that maybe his uncle was finally realizing that once a man lost his soul to a woman, it was gone forever. And life wasn’t much worth living without her.
“Give him room, Jordan.” Noah shook his head. “Crowd him and you’ll regret it.”
“My operatives keep acquiring wedding rings and I’m going to end up with a bunch of useless men as well as an ulcer,” he grunted. “You guys get damned cranky when I pull you away from home and hearth.”
Noah grinned at that. He did get damned cranky. He liked being close to home and hearth and living again. He’d been “dead” for far too long without his Sabella. Being with her again, being himself, a husband, a lover, and a father, was a miracle for him.
Pulling his wallet from his back pocket, he flipped it open to reveal the latest pictures of his wife and son. “This is what you’re pulling me away from, man. It’s worth getting cranky over.”
For a moment Jordan’s face softened as he stared down at the infant. Thick black hair and vibrant blue eyes combined with the dark Irish skin tone that his father and uncle both possessed.
Jordan was damned proud of his little nephew. He’d been there when the baby had been born, and Noah could have sworn Jordan might have been hiding a tear or two when the nurse laid the baby in Noah’s arms.
“Gonna be damned hard to say that’s not Nathan Malone’s kid.” Jordan sighed as he shook his head in concern. “You’re taking a hell of a risk. We can’t afford to have others realize that Nathan Malone might not be fully dead.”
“He is Nathan Malone’s kid.” Noah grinned. “Sometimes we forget who I used to be, don’t we?”
Noah never forgot. His name might have changed, to some extent he might have changed, but Nathan Malone lived on within him.
Jordan shook his head at that, his expression becoming almost haggard. “I never forgot, I never forget. And by God, I never stop regretting.”
