Page 58 of Ace (The Deuces Wild #4)

Tucker stretched both hands over his head to work the cramp out of his back.

He’d been sitting outside his newest agent’s hospital room for a while now.

Kell didn’t need to know he was there. Neither did Savannah.

Those kids needed privacy, and Tucker didn’t mind standing guard, making sure they got it.

He had no doubt Kell was finally out of danger, but after losing him to Doctor John, then finding him very nearly at death’s door, well, Tucker wasn’t taking any chances. He was here to stay.

But he had inadvertently listened in on Kell’s marriage proposal. That sly dog. Kell was a smart man who knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to go after it. That he’d relinquished control of this operation spoke volumes. Kell had finally let himself belong.

Tucker smiled at something Isaiah’d let slip a few months back, that Tucker’s powers were growing.

Not the case at all. Tucker was simply listening harder and better.

Understanding more. Seeking to understand first instead of jumping into arguments and situations before he knew all the facts.

He was learning how to let his agents take the lead.

They were all capable psychics. They didn’t need him treating them like kindergarteners. Hell no.

His wife Melissa had even said she was proud of him.

But Tucker knew he owed this enhanced power of his to her.

She was after all his better half, and if not for her gentle influence in his life, he’d still be the closed-minded bombastic Navy SEAL he’d once been.

Those were the days, but those days were also behind him.

He had a team now, the best damned team in America.

Tucker was proud of them. Even now, two of his best were handling the homegrown terrorist who’d intended to kill millions through a new strain of avian bird flu.

Dumb ass. The last time Tucker checked, Eden had RJ on his back and her boot on his windpipe.

Even now, Tucker had to control his urge to order her to break the guy’s thorax. Bust him up. End him!

But once again, he restrained himself and let Eden handle things her way. She and Tate were a dynamic duo unto themselves. Two good agents. Two solid friends who’d helped each other through some harrowing times. Also Tucker’s friends. He’d die for them. They’d do the same for him.

Tucker hadn’t wanted the directorship when he’d been volunteered to manage Deuces Wild.

Hell, he barely wanted to be an FBI agent back then.

He’d just gotten his son out of Vietnam.

He was a newlywed and a new man. For the first time in his life, he’d wanted to settle down, let someone else fight the good fight.

Heroes shouldn’t have to step up time and time again to defend their country.

That should be every American’s job, elitists and commoners alike.

There ought to be a better way to balance the dirty job of civil defense across the spectrum of America’s entire population.

But there wasn’t. Even if there were, the wealthy and powerful would find a way to dodge their most basic duty, that of defending the United States against aggression, internal or external.

Which was why good men like Kell would always be there.

They didn’t know how to shirk or turn aside when their country called.

If he weren’t injured, Tucker knew damned well Kell would be the one with his boot on RJ’s scrawny neck.

‘Hey, Boss,’ Tate drawled extra slow and casual. ‘Sorry to report, but this little bastard just offed himself.’

That perked up Tucker’s ears, not Tate being sorry, but the news that RJ was dead. ‘How’d he do that?’

‘Had a derringer in his pants pocket. The minute Eden let him up, he screamed, ‘Now you’ll get yours.’ Then he ate a bullet.’

‘Hmmpf,’ Tucker muttered. ‘Thought doctors were supposed to be smart?’

‘Maybe in his own mind,’ Eden cut in. ‘Nothing scary about a worm like Rudy John. Tate’s got the detonator, and Mr. Goldenrod intercepted RJ before he planted any bombs.

It was all talk, but we’ll double check before we wrap up here.

I’m not sensing any explosives or incendiary devices anywhere on the premises, though. ’

‘Good work,’ Tucker said. ‘Swing by Jacksonville on your way home. Kell’s awake. He’d love to see you guys.’

‘Will do,’ Tate replied. ‘Tell Savannah that Mr. Goldenrod volunteered to stay here until she gets back. He’ll watch her animals for her.’

‘Will do.’

‘Count us in, too,’ Isaiah interjected from his penthouse in Crystal City, Virginia. ‘Roxy’s dying to show off the squid.’

‘The squid! Haven’t you named that little boy yet?” Eden scolded.

‘We’re down to one name we both like. Thought we’d run it by you guys first.’

‘Oh, yeah? What?’ Tucker asked.

Isaiah hesitated, but finally admitted, ‘We’re naming him after you, Boss. All the way. We’re calling him Tucker Chase Zaroyin.’

‘Well, err, ahh…” That unexpected gesture stole the bluster from Tucker’s sails.

What Isaiah and Roxy did cut straight to his heart.

He never knew his mom and he’d left home early to escape his old man’s fists.

Then along came Isaiah, a bright young man who’d survived a crap load of tragedy, but who still had stars in his eyes.

He’d always been more like a little brother.

Sometimes annoying, but always inside Tucker’s head, and, damn. Inside his heart, too.

‘I love it!’ Eden squealed. ‘ It’s perfect!’

‘Sounds good,’ Tate offered stoically .

‘It’s… it’s a mistake is what it is,’ Tucker sputtered.

‘You can’t saddle your son with a handle like that.

I mean, think about it. There’s a couple things that rhyme with Tucker he’s not gonna want to hear, and kids can be mean little bastards.

He’s gonna have to stand up for himself. He’s gonna get in fist fights.’

‘He’s going to be fine, Boss,’ Isaiah replied easily. ‘Roxy wants me to ask if you’ll be his godfather. She’s planning Little Tuck’s baptism for a month from today. Will you be there with us?’

‘Me? A godfather? Well, err, sure. Yeah, I’ll be there.

That’d be an honor.’ Tucker ran a hand over his head, ruffling his hair and wondering what the hell happened.

Damned if Alex Stewart wasn’t right. A long-time frenemy of the Bureau, he’d always said the company he’d built had somehow turned into family.

Exactly what Deuces Wild had become. A family.

Tucker’s family. Almost brought a tear to his eye.

A wiry-thin doctor in scrubs, his face appropriately masked, ducked into Kell’s room.

‘You’re all invited,’ Isaiah said. ‘Be sure to bring Kyler, Eden. Little Tuck wants to meet his cousin.’

‘Do not keep calling him Little Tuck,’ Tucker growled. ‘How about just Chase? That’s a good name, and it’ll go down easier on the playground.’

‘Hmmm. Let me run that by the boss.’ Isaiah was quiet for the space of a heartbeat. ‘Roxy!’

Tucker listened to Isaiah and Roxy, but something felt out of place. Off balance. He could feel it. The hairs on the back of his neck were on end. The air in the hall didn’t smell right. An unseen cloud hovered over his shoulder, like a ghoul...

Urgency whispered, ‘Check on Kell. Hurry. Do it now.’

Tucker didn’t need to be told twice. Both weapons sprang automatically from his holster to his hands. He shoved Kell’s door aside, half listening to his agents in Louisiana when Eden cried out, ‘We were wrong! This guy isn’t Rudy John!’

‘Because he’s here,’ Tucker replied evenly, staring at the skinny weasel in scrubs who’d passed him in the hall.

The real RJ had Savannah’s back pulled tight against him, one arm around her waist, a scalpel at her neck.

The mask he’d hid behind dangled under his chin. Should’ve pulled it over his ugly face.

“Drop the knife, asshole,” Tucker ordered, not even aiming. Muscle memory had never failed him. It wouldn’t today.

But RJ didn’t answer. Just stared at Kell. Which gave Tucker pause the way Kell was staring back at Savannah. The way she wasn’t crying. Didn’t look worried. Just kept her gaze fixed on Kell.

Tucker asked her psychically, ‘What’s going on? Did he hurt you?’

She offered the barest shake of her head. ‘Not yet, but that guy at Sanctuary was his brother. Bernie’s the one who blew up Keller’s car and my house. He was a simple man, probably the only one in the world who idolized his brother enough to do what RJ wanted.’

Kell was still in bed, but up on his elbows, breathing heavy and pale as shit. The back of his hand bled where he’d torn out the IVs. But the look in his eyes, the strange light emanating from his pupils… It was black, if that were even possible.

Tucker sent a call to his team. ‘Eden. Tate. Isaiah. Are you seeing this?’

‘Be very careful how you end RJ, Boss. That scalpel’s coated with poison,’ Isaiah murmured. ‘Let me see if I can get RJ to change his mind.’

‘Wait, Isaiah. Keller’s already in his head,’ Eden said. ‘He’s got this. Give him a second.’

‘I see that, Eden,’ Isaiah replied, ‘but Keller isn’t physically strong enough to fight right now.’

Tucker took it all in. Kell’s intense concentration. Savannah’s calm acceptance. The sweat beading on RJ’s forehead. ‘Stand down. There’s something else going on we’re not seeing. Stand down. For now.’

‘She’s here,’ Savannah breathed across the group consciousness.

Isaiah’s breath caught. ‘She who?’

‘The witch behind the warlock.’

It hit Tucker like a wrecking ball. ‘Kell’s mother? That bitch is here? Now?’

‘Yesssssss…’ Savannah hissed as her eyes rolled back in her head.