Page 57 of Ace (The Deuces Wild #4)
‘What do you think we’re doing? Right now, that smug son of a bitch is about to run into a brick wall. Tate and Eden are already boots on the ground inside Sanctuary. You kids are good to listen in, watch if you can.’
Keller blinked at what was happening without him.
He hadn’t told Tucker the ugly part about his mother, and he wasn’t there with Tate and Eden.
If RJ refused to stand down, Keller wouldn’t get the chance to end him.
Shit. That didn’t sit well with him. This was his kill, his chance to end the bastard who’d nearly ended him, who’d lusted after and threatened Savannah.
Who’d hurt all those birds. But what the hell did Tucker mean about listening in or watching?
Keller didn’t have those skills. Hell, he could barely communicate with his team.
‘Your boss wants you to project your mind to Tate or Eden, Keller, and watch RJ through their eyes. But is that what you want to do? Wouldn’t it be better if we both let RJ go and concentrated on your mother?
’ Savannah whispered psychically, her fingers warm on the back of his IV needle-perforated hand.
‘You’re part of the best team on the planet.
You know that, and my place is here with you.
You’re not strong enough to travel, but ending RJ’s reign of terror can’t wait for you to get better.
He has to be stopped before he hurts anyone else.
Let’s trust Tate and Eden, Keller. Let them handle Doctor John while we handle your mother. ’
He stared up at her. Savannah trusted Tate and Eden, but could he? Yet he already had back at the gunfight, hadn’t he? And it was Tucker who waited on him now. Damn. Deuces Wild, huh?
‘Yup, Deuces Wild,’ Tucker purred like the smug Navy SEAL son of a bitch he was and would always be. ‘Trust me, Kell. John’ll never see our guys coming. He already ran into some old duffer with a shotgun. You know a Lyle Goldenrod, Savannah?’
She clapped a hand over her mouth. ‘Oh, no! I forgot Coach. Yes, Lyle Goldenrod! He’s my hired hand. Is he hurt?’
‘Relax,’ Tucker murmured. ‘Your buddy Lyle’s in charge at the moment, not that pipsqueak moron with a medical license he got out of a box of Cracker Jacks .
You should see old man Goldenrod; you’d be proud.
Why don’t you two watch or listen in, whatever you can handle?
Looks like RJ’s decided to blow Sanctuary off the map.
Lyle’s got his shotgun on him, but RJ’s holding a detonator.
Says he planted charges all over the place.
That it’s too late. You think it’s too late, Kell? ’
For some reason, a funny feeling caught in Keller’s throat. He coughed, damn it, then he coughed again. Tucker needed to stop calling him—that. ‘It’s never too late, Boss,’ he finally ground out. ‘Light him up. With extreme prejudice.’
‘My pleasure.’
Keller drew in a deep cleansing breath, and he simply, finally, let go.
He’d heard it said once that there was no ‘I’ in team.
Well, he no longer had to be an army of one, either.
Those days and those ghosts were behind him.
He didn’t need to watch the drama unfold at Sanctuary.
RJ would die. That was what small-minded men like him did.
They grabbed their fifteen minutes of fame at the expense of others, then went out in a fiery ball of what they called glory.
But Keller called it chicken shit, the typical coward’s way out. Goodbye and good riddance.
‘Tell Tate and Eden I’m buying drinks next time we get together.’
‘You bet your ass you are.’
Keller could honestly feel Tucker’s shit-eating grin all the way from wherever he was watching his infamous but incredibly skilled Deuces Wild team.
‘Get some sleep, Kell. See you kids soon.’
‘Sounds like a plan. Night, Boss.’ Keller felt Tucker disconnect from his mind. It was very much like a door closing. Even came with the click of a doorknob. Interesting. ‘You’re right. I don’t need to watch Tate and Eden do their job,’ he told Savannah. ‘Do you?’
‘ No. I’m good. ’
‘But about my mother… We’ll deal with her together.’
‘Yes, we will. She’s quite frightening, isn’t she?’
‘She thinks she is.’ The bitch. ‘I’m sorry you had to deal with her alone, but yeah. Elaine is evil.’ Even as weak as he was, Keller still wanted Savannah closer. ‘Now forget about her. Climb under the blankets with me?’
No sooner asked than answered. Toes first, sweet, beautiful Savannah eased the length of her delicious warm body onto the bed, between the tubes and wires, and next to him.
From her smooth bare legs to her silky black hair, she poured herself over him like the maple syrup she’d poured on those fluffy pecan waffles only days before.
‘You’ve got me, Keller, ’ she whispered psychically . ‘You’ve always had me.’
‘I know that now.’ And he did. With the scent of lilacs in his nose, Keller let his need to control all things slip through his fingers in exchange for the softness of her ebony locks. Today, he was just Keller, not a hero. Not even much of a federal agent. Just a man in love with his woman.
He closed his eyes and inhaled another breath of his future.
He wasn’t going to confront What’s-Her-Name today, maybe not tomorrow, either.
He didn’t need to. Queen Elaine wasn’t a witch, and she wasn’t worth the wasted drive to Turkey Creek.
She was every bit as toxic as Doctor John’s avian flu, only now Keller held the antidote for Elaine’s brand of poison in his arms. Even Carol Marie’s grave could wait.
She wasn’t really there anyway. But Savannah was here and she was now.
She was Keller’s tomorrow and his happily-ever-after.
‘Marry me,’ he told the woman he loved. ‘Marry me as soon as I can stand on my feet again. I don’t want to wait. I want to make you an honest woman.’
‘I’m already honest,’ she said as her entire body wiggled against him. Oh yeah, Savannah was honest and she was happy. The world wasn’t such a bad place after all.
‘Is that a yes?’
She leaned into his face and kissed him then, her lips warm and juicy sweet. ‘Yes, my love,’ she whispered against his open mouth. ‘That’s most definitely, yes.’
Keller closed his eyes as she kissed him again. He didn’t need to fight every battle or win each war. He was pretty sure he had what he wanted. He had everything.