Page 24 of Deadly Alliance

Chapter Ten

“No way areyou leaving me behind!” Emme stood in the living room of her temporary home hands on her hips as she hid the slight wobble in her legs. She felt much better, but she could still feel the drugs in her system. They had returned to their temporary home so that Emme could rest for a bit and allow the remaining drugs to work through her system. The plan had been set and they were waiting on two final bits of intel from Will and Dee.

“Emme,” Shane started in a placating manner, frustration hidden beneath his need to calm her.

“Don’t Emme me. I know I can’t come on the mission, but I can stay with Will and Dee and help that way.” She moved closer to him, her hands resting on his chest as she looked up at him imploringly. “Please, Shane?” she wheedled.

Shane looked down at her, worry in the frown lines near his eyes before he shook his head in frustration. “Fine, but you stay at Fortis. I can’t be worrying about you while we take this fucker down.”

Emme tried and failed to hide the grin. “Thanks, Shane.”

He grunted some unintelligible sound before moving to the door. “Let’s go. We need to plan this through and gear up.”

She followed him to the door and was happy to let him drive to Fortis. Emme watched the play of muscle on his forearms as he drove. Her eyes moved to look at the strong, handsome profile of his face. Shane was a strikingly good-looking man. He must have felt her looking at him because he turned, catching her. He smirked at the look of lust in her eyes.

“If you want to make it to this mission, I suggest you stop looking at me like that or I’ll pull this car over and show you exactly what I would have done if you hadn’t left me alone in bed this morning,” he said, his voice husky with need for her.

Emme blushed and pressed her thighs together as heat flooded her abdomen. She looked away with a smile and heard a soft chuckle from Shane. This man was dangerous alright—to her heart. She hoped like hell that when the time came, she could walk away with her heart intact.

Arriving at Fortis, they parked next to Lucy’s yellow Mazda and Zin’s beautiful Harley 48 custom bike. Zin loved that bike and it was always parked with at least two feet of space either side. Emme watched as Shane admired the motorcycle as he walked past and rolled her eyes. What was it with men and machinery? Her dad and brothers were the same; if it had a motor, then they loved it.

Her eldest brother David was serving in the Royal Engineers as a Captain in the 24 commandos; the next—Mike—was a traffic cop for the London Met and lastly, Brian worked for Red Bull as one of the F1 pit-crew team.

She loved her brothers even though they treated her like a baby and were overprotective to the point of wanting to run her life. Then there was her dad, who as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Logistics Corps, was the ultimate when it came to all things mechanical.

Emme was just a girl, expected to like all things frilly and pink, despite growing up with brothers. Much to her father’s dismay, she had wanted to go into the army, but he had fought her all the way. So Emme did what she always did when she came up against an immovable object; she went around it and joined the private sector with Fortis.

Her dad had been furious but when he had called Zack to complain, her boss had sung her praises and said how proud he must have been to have raised such a capable woman. It was partly the reason for her slight crush on the head of Fortis, although now she thought about it her crush on Zack had waned since she had met the man whose butt she couldn’t stop ogling as they walked into the conference room.

As she looked around the space at Owen and Dee, who were talking to Lucy and Jace, she saw the trust they had in each other and realised how silly she had been. Zin was talking with Zack, and Will seemed to be trying to wind up Lance if the frown on the big warrior’s face was any indication.

Zack looked up as they walked in, she felt everyone’s eyes on her and tried to look confident despite the sick feeling in her tummy, which wasn’t from the drug.

A firm hand on the base of her back was the reassuring touch she needed. She turned to Shane with a smile of thanks as he gave her a slight nod. He knew she was worried and was offering his support. How had their relationship changed so much in the last twenty-four hours?

“Partners, right?” he said in a low voice so only she could hear.

“Partners,” she replied.

“Emme! Good to see you’re okay. You had us worried for a minute there,” Zack said as he looked at her with a critical eye.

“Yeah, I feel fine now.” She also knew she needed to apologise to the team for her misconduct. She faced the men and women of Fortis and Purgatory and sucked it up.

“I apologise for my rash actions. It was foolish and put the mission, and more importantly all of you, at risk and I am sorry,” she said with sincerity.

Zack nodded. “Thank you for that, Emme, we will, of course, discuss it in private but I’m sure the others appreciate you saying so.”

Emme hated that Zack was angry with her, but she had to pull up her big girl panties and suck it up. You do the crime you pay the price her dad had always taught her, and she had known going solo would have repercussions and now she had to face them.

“For now, let’s plan this mission and get this fucker caught before anyone else gets hurt.” Shane took the seat beside her as they all sat around the conference table.

Zin sat to her left, facing Zack. He turned his head, and she felt the ice from his eyes hit her, but there was no censure in them. “The idea was good, Emme, it was the execution and support that was floored. Don’t beat yourself up over it. We have all done similar if not worse.”

Somehow the kindness and support from the person who was without doubt the scariest member of Fortis, and in her opinion the known world, touched her. Her eyes pricked but she fought them back. “Thank you, Zin, that means a lot,” she replied as Zack stood and started to talk them through the plan he and Beatrice had devised.

The red-haired woman looked at her as they spoke and Emme couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking. The woman was an enigma, she looked like a pixie but carried herself like a warrior. Not in the same way Lucy or any of the Zenobi girls did, it was different somehow as if she was looking at it all from the other side, a different point of view.

It made her wonder about her history; she would bet her life it was chequered and not what anyone would expect.