Page 21 of License to Kill

“You need therapy.”

Yes, I did, but I wasn’t getting any anytime soon. In the meantime, I’d settle with the therapeutic execution of asshole terrorists. That they were currently terrorizing three FBI agents I was legally related to only added to the problems.

Fortunately for the Thomas family, the black market ops wanted all three of them to leave the warehouse alive, and we were being paid a hefty sum to bust in, take names, kill asshole mercenary terrorist scum, and get them out. I was getting a bonus for putting myself at high risk of being arrested, and Amelia had secured a promise from the Inquisition that she would be integrated with a pack and allowed to continue her other activities as long as she followed a few rules.

Just like me, she wanted a pack, and I resented how easy it was for her to get what I needed.

She just had to show up.

I’d lost that battle and that war.

Once we dealt with my soon-to-be ex-husband’s family, I would finish moving on, something I hadn’t told Amelia of yet.

She looked forward to what would come after we raided the warehouse.

I didn’t.

“Explain to me why I’m doing this again?” I whispered, checking over the assault rifle she’d shoved into my hands.

At least if I had to open fire, the bullet-proof vests the mercenaries wore wouldn’t help them much; they’d need full body armor to handle the rounds I’d be unleashing on them. My shoulder wouldn’t like the abuse at all, but I’d worry about how much damage I did to myself after we got the Thomas family out of the trashed warehouse alive.

With the ammunition the mercenary company was packing, I doubted even Fenerec could withstand the damage.

It pissed me off I needed to bail Jake’s ass out after he’d done so much to fuck up my life, making me a miserable mess.

“You’re madly in love with one of the FBI agents trapped inside the building, you’ve realized walking out was a bad decision brought on by severe depression, and you need him in your life despite your justifiable crankiness.”

“And I even almost like my in-laws when they aren’t being assholes,” I grumbled. No, if they had been a little more willing to welcome me, I would have liked them a lot.

Well, maybe a quarter of the problem was with me. Jake could accept some extra blame for being a jackass and coming home smelling like other women while listening to the bullshit his parents had filled his ears with. Or so said Amelia.

A few weeks with Amelia had given me reason to believe she knew what she was talking about, but it changed nothing for me.

I couldn’t see myself surviving in the world of the FBI and Fenerec, a lonely fox living apart from a pack of wolves.

I accepted three quarters of the blame for them being in the warehouse, however. If it hadn’t been for me, they wouldn’t have been in Georgia in the first place, hunting for me or my killers, as the word on the wire involved my idiot ex-husband refusing to believe I was dead. I still wasn’t sure how they’d tracked the remnants of the mercenary group, but I’d give them a nice gift of bodies while bailing their asses out.

“And all three of them are surrounded by at least fifteen tangoes, and the FBI outside of the building have no idea how to get them out alive. We are on the roof. They are not.”

Getting on the roof had been a stunt of the highest level of stupidity, and I still couldn’t believe it had worked. Hitching a lift in a dumpster being left in the alley for the neighboring building had gotten us close, and we used it for shelter until nightfall.

Climbing up the side of the building without anyone noticing our presence had rattled every last one of my nerves, as had hiding out on the rooftop, watching one of the tangoes patrol while we waited right under his nose.

A pile of junk they had left on the roof provided cover while we bided our time for a chance to get inside. I still wasn’t sure how Amelia had taken the guy down so quietly, but she’d snapped his neck and left him in the pile with no one aware of our presence.

I sighed and checked my weapons again. The Beretta holstered against my right leg would be my all-else-failed weapon while the Ruger holstered against my left would be my backup when I ran the assault rifle out of ammo. The number of magazines I had strapped to me weighed me down so much I wondered how the woman expected me to keep up with her, especially when my leg still had a lot of healing to do.

Jake wasn’t going to be happy when he saw the evidence of my ma’s attempt to rid the Earth of me. Then again, I wouldn’t care. Maybe we had fallen apart, but I’d been his partner for too long to want to see him die, so I’d bail his ass out before making it clear there wouldn’t be any kissing or making up.

I needed what he wouldn’t give me.

The reality of my situation crashed onto my shoulders with its relentless weight.

I gave a shake of my head, redid my weapons check, and forced my attention where it belonged: infiltrating the building. “We’re going to get killed, you know that, right?”

“If we clear the building, there’s a good chance we’ll make it out alive. We just need to be prepared for a firefight.”

“Without body armor.”