Chapter Twenty-Three

Los Angeles, California

The team flew to Italy, where they met with Tucker Quentin to debrief. Tuc wanted to know every detail. He was particularly interested in Volkov the elder’s involvement. Was it all Dmitry or was Evgeni also involved?

Who the fuck knew?

But, after all was said and done, Tuc didn’t really seem to care. He ordered Rex to call in his usual team of bounty hunters. They were going after Evgeni Volkov.

It was the longest debriefing of Marcus’s career but once it was accomplished, they were dismissed. Whatever happened from here on out, HORNET’s part in the mission was done.

Marcus didn’t remember the plane ride home. By the time he sat down he was so exhausted he plummeted into sleep and didn’t resurface until the jet started its descent in the States.

He groggily lifted his head and blinked at the twinkling lights out the window. He recognized that skyline.

Not just the States.

Home.

His and Leah’s home.

He glanced over at her. She was still curled up in the seat next to him, sound asleep. Christ, she was too pale, and dark circles of exhaustion sagged under her closed eyes. He hated the red welts around her wrists and bruises on her skin.

He smoothed a hand lightly over her hair. “You’re home now. You’re safe.”

She didn’t even twitch an eyelid. She was out.

As carefully as he could, he edged past her seat. The Nest was comfortable, with big leather seats that reclined, but his muscles ached from sitting in one position for too long. There was a crick in his neck that twinged every time he turned his head to the left. Dammit. He should’ve claimed one of the bunks first thing, but he hadn’t expected to fall asleep when he sat down. Now, because Leah had stayed with him, she would be sore from sleeping in the chair instead of a bed.

He rolled his neck and shoulders a few times, trying to work out the kinks as he followed the sound of voices to the war room. He found Lanie, Jesse, Jean-Luc, and Seth sitting around the long, glossy table. Harvard and Sami were huddled together around one of the computers at the other end of the room. Only two missing were Ian and Tank, but that wasn’t a shock. Ian wasn’t a social creature.

Everyone must have gathered here to relax instead of in the main room to keep from waking him and Leah. He appreciated it.

“Hey, it’s Rip Van Winkle!” Jean-Luc toasted him with a mug of coffee when he appeared in the doorway. “Welcome back to the land of the living.”

“How long was I asleep?”

“Going on…” Jean-Luc mimed checking a nonexistent watch. “Fourteen hours.”

“Shit.” No wonder it felt like he had cobwebs in his head instead of a brain. He rubbed a hand over his hair and found it in a mess of knots. He should just shave it all off, because that was going to be a bitch to untangle. The curse of curls.

Yawning, he stepped into the room and nodded toward the coffeepot warming on the sideboard along one wall. “Give me some of that, would ya?”

Jean-Luc obligingly got up and poured him a mug.

When the first sip hit his stomach, he realized how empty it was and grabbed one of the donuts from the box on the table. It was prepackaged and no longer fresh, but damn, it tasted good. He finished in a couple bites and snagged another. He motioned vaguely toward the front of the plane with the donut before taking a bite.

“Why are we in L.A.?” He’d expected to land in Wyoming at HORNET HQ.

Lanie exchanged a glance with the others. They all had a you tell him look on their faces.

Jesus. They had bad news. The bite of donut he’d just swallowed hit his stomach like lead. He set it and the mug of coffee down. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Lanie assured quickly. “Tuc just doesn’t think this is over yet, so we’ve been ordered to stick close to Leah.”

“He thinks Volkov will send someone after her again,” he translated, reading the meaning between her carefully chosen words.

“We don’t know but we’re taking precautions.”

“This is bullshit. I told her she was safe.”

“And we’re hanging out to make sure she is. That’s all.”

“She needs to get back to her normal life. Her kids need it. Having a bunch of armed guards around isn’t normal. Not to mention, it’s conspicuous as hell.”

“What do you suggest then?” Lanie asked, all patience. “Are you comfortable leaving her unprotected?”

With Volkov and Dr. Denisova still free? Fuck, no. “I’ll stay with her.” The words popped out of his mouth before he had a chance to second-guess the idea.

“I figured as much.” She offered a placating smile. “But we’re still keeping watch—at a distance. Better safe than sorry.”

She was right. He knew it, and yet the thought that Leah and the kids still needed twenty-four-hour protection still pissed him off. Leah thought this was over. She’d said as much when they boarded the plane back in Italy. She’d been happy and relaxed and more like the carefree Leah he’d known before last year. He’d liked seeing her that way. Thought he’d see more of her quick, sun-bright smiles when they got home, and now this.

“I’ll tell her in the morning,” he said after he realized they were all staring at him, waiting for a response. “Let’s give her tonight, okay?”

Thankfully, they agreed. They also agreed to hang back once the plane landed so he could take her home without the reminder that she may still be in danger. He owed them one for that.

Since neither he nor Leah had bags, getting through the airport to the rental lot was a fairly quick process. Quentin Enterprises had a standing order with one of the big rental companies, and they didn’t give him any hassle about not having ID or looking like he’d just been dragged through a war zone. He just gave them his employee number, the clerk confirmed it with the company, and they were off in a shiny black Toyota Corolla.

Leah stared out the passenger window for a long time. “Can I borrow your phone?” Leah asked suddenly. “I don’t know where I lost mine. I’ll need to get another one…” She trailed off, shook her head. “Being back here reminds me of everything I need to do. I hope no clients tried to call while I was away.”

Marcus handed her his phone. “Keep it. I have more at home. Harvard can transfer your number over.”

“Thank you,” she said with a soft sigh of relief and dialed her voicemail.

Marcus struggled not to listen in, but the volume was loud enough that he heard a man’s voice in the first message. And the second. And the third. Fourth. Fifth. On and on.

His hands tightened on the wheel as something he didn’t want to name curled around his heart. Something that felt an awful lot like jealousy. He couldn’t be jealous. He had no right when it came to her.

After deleting the last voicemail, she groaned and pressed the phone to her forehead.

He slid her a glance and tried to sound casual. “Client?”

“No. Thankfully.” She frowned down at the phone. “That was Rick O’Keane. Remember him?”

That snake of jealousy loosened, but only by a fraction. “Danny’s partner. The guy who replaced me when I left the FBI.”

She nodded. “He’s been checking in on us since Danny died.”

All these months, Rick had been doing what should’ve been his job. He should be glad for it. He didn’t know the guy—Rick had transferred to the L.A. field office after he left—but he didn’t like that insistent string of voicemails. They had sounded nagging. Demanding, even. “Is it usual for him to call so often?”

“No. He usually checks in only a couple times a month.”

“So why all the messages?”

Leah lifted a shoulder in a halfhearted shrug. “I did call him right after Alexander Cabot saved me in Malibu. I was scared and didn’t know who to turn to, but then remembered Cabot told me not to trust anybody except you and HORNET, so I hung up before Rick answered. When I didn’t reply to his first voicemail, I think he got worried. I’ll have to call him back.”

“Tomorrow’s soon enough,” Marcus said. He rubbed at his chest to ease the band of tightness there, but the discomfort remained.

Leah looked out the window again, watched the city pass. “It feels weird to be back.”

“Culture shock.”

“You can get that coming home?”

“It happens. Especially after…” He hesitated. Should he bring it up or pretend none of it happened? Which would make her more comfortable? He had no idea. “After seeing a radically different way of life.”

She snorted a laugh. “That was a delicate way to put it.”

He lifted his hands off the wheel in a shrug. “I don’t know what to say. If I should talk about what we saw in CAR or not.”

She shifted in the seat to face him. “Do you need to talk about it?”

“I…” Didn’t want to. But he was starting to learn that holding it in, letting it fester like an open wound, was not a good idea either. “It was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Harvard found some computers in the building they used for the surgeries, and Jean-Luc is working on translating all of the data, but it was—” He broke off and tightened his hands on the wheel. “He said one of the documents was a menu. A list of all the organs and blood types and…of who would be willing to pay.”

She hugged herself. “Oh my God. All those missing people…”

“That doctor”—he spat the word—“carved them up so Volkov could sell their organs to the highest bidder. We think that’s what Alexander Cabot wanted Danny to stop.”

“Do you think Cabot’s dead? Sami seemed to think so.”

Marcus hated the kick in the gut that accompanied that question. “There was no sign of him. It’s likely they killed him, carved him up like all the others.”

He’d so wanted to rescue Cabot. He’d wanted to ask what Cabot had told Danny and if Danny had been investigating. If that investigation could have anything to do with what happened to Danny.

But now he would never know.

“Hey.” Leah gripped his forearm hard enough to make him glance her way. When he did, she offered a sad smile and eased her grip to a light caress. “Marcus, I’m horrified by what happened to Cabot, too. He saved my life. I hate that we couldn’t save his, but Sami said something that stuck with me. Sometimes it’s just not humanly possible to save someone. Like Danny.”

He drew a sharp breath. “Leah, we tried—”

“I know. I know. It’s okay.” She said nothing for a handful of heartbeats, obviously trying to rein in her emotions. She still hadn’t removed her hand from his arm, and the heat of her skin against his was sending all kinds of electricity zinging through his bloodstream.

Finally, she released a long sigh. “Instead of dwelling on the ones who couldn’t be saved, we should think of all of the people you brought home to their families. Abel has his dad back. Josue has his brother. You and HORNET did that, and I don’t think anyone else would have bothered. I get it now. Why Danny wanted to be part of the team. He always wanted to help people.”

“He saved a lot of people, too, Leah. You should know that.”

She removed her hand from his arm and touched her wedding band, twisting it around on her finger. She smiled, but she looked like she was thousands of miles away. “I know. He died doing what he loved—helping people. We should all be so lucky.”

Marcus had no words. Every time he tried to open his mouth to respond, nothing came out.

The rest of the drive passed in silence, but it wasn’t uncomfortable or tense or expectant. It was just the two of them lost in their own thoughts together. Marcus couldn’t remember any other time in his life he’d been so comfortable sitting in silence with a woman. But this was Leah. She wasn’t any woman. She was special. Always had been.

He pulled the car into the driveway of her condo and shut it off. The engine clicked as it cooled, and suddenly the silence took on weight. It wasn’t so comfortable now. The air between had taken on a charge so intense, it prickled along his skin.

He pushed open his door. “I’ll walk you in.”

She nodded and followed. He noticed the slight tremor of her hand as she unlocked the front door, but pretended not to. She walked inside and flipped on the foyer light.

“Here you are.” Marcus hesitated. Did he just take off now? Did he stay and make sure she settled in?

No. Staying would lead to them doing things they couldn’t do again.

Except he’d told Lanie he would stay tonight.

Shit.

He should go sit in the car, keep watch from a distance.

He didn’t move.

Unsure what to do with his hands and not trusting himself to keep them off her, he shoved them into his pockets. “I’m surprised you sold the house.”

She looked around the foyer, and he followed her gaze. The floor right inside the door was wide, sleek gray tiles. The stairs sat directly in front of the door to the left and, to the right, the room opened up into an airy living room. It was nice, but a lot smaller than the house she and Danny had religiously saved for.

“I couldn’t afford it anymore,” she said with a small shrug. “But it’s okay. The kids and I like it here. We’re making it our own.”

He could see that. The kids’ framed drawings mingled with family photos on the narrow table in the hallway along the stairs. “It’s nice.”

And that’s where his brain stalled out on small talk. There was a lot he wanted to say, a lot he wanted to explain, but now wasn’t the time.

Leah wandered through the foyer like she’d never seen it before, dragging her finger through the layer of dust that had gathered on the side table. She paused at a photo snapped during a carefree day at the beach of Danny and Marcus together, their surfboards tucked under their arms.

“I remember that day,” he said. “Maya’s birthday. Redondo Beach.”

She smiled faintly and traced the frame. “I was pregnant with the twins. It was Maya’s last hurrah as an only child before they arrived. You built her a sandcastle and dubbed her Queen Maya, then she demanded we call her Your Highness for a month after the twins came. It was maddening.” Her smile crumpled. “Oh, I miss them.”

He couldn’t stand idly by with his hands in his pockets when she was hurting like this. He shut and locked the door, then walked to her and pulled her into his arms. “It’s over now. You’re safe, they’re safe, and Mom’s bringing them home tomorrow.”

She pressed her face into his shoulder and tightened her arms around his waist. “I really don’t want to be alone tonight.”

He swallowed back a surge of panic. He should call someone else, one of the married guys, to come stay with her. He absolutely shouldn’t stay himself. But when he opened his mouth to tell her that, something else came out instead. “I’ll stay. If that’s what you want.”

She didn’t answer, but she didn’t back away, either. Just stood there in his arms. And, damn, she felt good against him. He’d wanted to feel her body against his again since the moment he stepped away from her in the church.

“Yes,” she said at last. “I want you to stay.” She tilted her head back, and the ends of her ponytail tickled his forearm in a way that sent a bolt of desire through all his nerve endings.

“Marcus…” She hesitated, then met his gaze. The lens of her glasses made her blue eyes look huge. She took a deep breath and blurted, “I want you.”

There was no mistaking her meaning, and his body reacted instantly, sending all of his blood rushing below the belt. She had to feel his heart jackhammering in his chest.

“Leah.” Her name came out rough, nearly a groan. “We can’t, doll. Last time…it was a mistake. We both know it.”

She let go of him and backed away, clasping her hands as if to keep herself from reaching out again. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. Momentary insanity.” It was impossible to miss the way she worried her wedding ring around on her finger. “You should go. I’ll be okay.”

But she wouldn’t. He could see it in her face. She’d spend the whole night crying, terrified, crashing down from the adrenaline high of the last week. He couldn’t leave her alone any more than he could stop breathing.

He wanted to stay.

He wanted her.

And she needed him.

Fuck it.

Just for tonight. They could have this one night, couldn’t they? A night that wasn’t the fallout from surviving a near-death situation. A night to celebrate that they were alive.

They reached for each other at the same time. He pulled her in close, pressing her flush against his body from chest to thigh. Laced his fingers through her hair, knocking her ponytail askew, and sealed his lips to hers. She made a soft sound deep in her throat and melted in to him, her nails biting into his biceps as he crowded her into the corner formed by the side table and stairway.

Neither of them noticed when he bumped the table and sent his and Danny’s photo clattering to the floor, but the sound of the glass frame breaking did momentarily break the spell of the kiss.

He pulled back only an inch and brushed his lips across her nose, her cheeks, her eyelids. “Are you sure?” he whispered next to her ear. “If we do this, if we deliberately make this choice, things can’t go back to the way they were between us.”

She opened her eyes and stared into his. “We already can’t go back, and I’m tired of staring into the past, wishing things were different. It’s exhausting. We need to move forward now.” She skimmed a hand down the length of his arm until her fingers entwined with his. “I need to take this step, and there’s no one I trust more to help me than you.”

He heard the unspoken even if you leave me again. She fully expected him to disappear after tonight. Why wouldn’t she? It was his modus operandi.

Of course, the one time he should leave was the first time in his adult life he had no intention of running away.