Page 14 of Declan (Gold Team #5)

Something was off.

The vibe on the street was all wrong.

Last night we’d run the plan until Autumn had finally relented.

I still had strong doubts she’d follow orders.

My gut was screaming she’d go off-reservation.

She wanted an up close and personal takedown.

I wanted Max to use his exceptional sniper skills and put Madeleine Strotherby to ground from five-hundred yards away.

Autumn had agreed. Said she saw the wisdom in a fast takedown, leaving our identities concealed with no chance of blowback.

None of us were under the illusion that with Strotherby dead Omni would crumble on its own, but it would send them scrambling and that’s what we needed.

Then we could finish dismantling it before they replaced the bitch.

Before they could get their house in order.

My eyes went back to the alley across the street from the clinic, then back to the small camera crew filming Strotherby as she spoke to the clinic director.

I felt my lip curl in disgust as the women shook hands.

If the director only knew the woman she’d just taken half a million dollars from money earned by peddling flesh, she sure wouldn’t be smiling.

Wouldn’t be looking at the old twat like she was a guardian angel.

Madeleine Strotherby was the devil. A sick and twisted bitch who oversaw a criminal empire.

Drugs and girls were where she made most of her money.

Not the cosmetic brand she slapped her name on.

Not the clothing or the perfume. Humans and drugs.

So, yeah, I wished the kill could be up close and personal. But leaving Afghanistan with no one following us home was more important. Keeping Autumn safe was more important.

My gaze skidded back to the goddamn alley.

I was missing something. I knew it. Yesterday when I was waiting for Autumn to leave the clinic, two men stood in the shadows.

One Afghani, one American. And by the look of the American’s close-cropped hair and clean-shaven face, he was a service member but he was out of uniform, which was strictly forbidden.

I was definitely missing something. And whatever that was, I wanted my team off the fucking street and out of the village.

There was one main road that traveled in and out of the area.

Thad and Kyle were on the west end, Brooks and Max were on the east end.

Whichever way Madeleine’s convoy headed, one of my teams would pick up and follow.

“How many damn pictures do they need?” Autumn grouched from beside me.

The woman was already pissed off that she was covered head to toe. The only skin showing was a small sliver around her eyes, even her brows were covered. She had to be hot as hell under all that material. She hadn’t been pleased when I barred the front door until she donned her niqab.

I ignored Autumn’s grousing and clicked on my mic. “Bravo. Charlie. Check in.”

“All clear,” Thad came back.

“Five by five,” Max answered.

A few minutes later, the camera crew was packing it in, and Madeleine was escorted to a black Mercedes SUV .

Thank fuck .

“Standby targets on the move,” I radioed.

“Good thing. Looks like there’s a military convoy coming straight to you. The street’s gonna be packed. ETA three minutes,” Thad informed me.

I jerked my head toward our piece-of-shit sedan. The thing was on its last legs, and I prayed it got us to where we needed to go.

Once we were back inside the car, I cranked the engine three times before it turned over. Autumn pulled her long black skirt up, exposing her bare legs.

“Fucking hell, it’s hot as balls,” she exclaimed and I bit back my smile.

“Change of plans,” I told her, taking my eyes off her toned, tanned flesh. “Convoy’s coming our way, we need to get out of here before we’re stuck waiting for them to pull through.”

The Merc pulled into traffic and headed east, forcing me to make a U-turn to follow.

“Call that into Thad.” I gestured to the SUV and checked my mirrors. “He needs to get in front of that convoy.”

I heard Autumn over the radio as I maneuvered around a parked pickup. For a small village, the traffic was horrendous. A motorbike with three grown-ass men on it weaved in front of us, causing me to slam on my brakes.

“Goddamn!”

“You drive like a maniac,” Autumn complained.

“You ain’t seen nothing yet.” I heard Brooks tell her.

“You need to get out of there.” Max’s voice had taken on a hard edge that had me hyperaware.

Before I could turn back on my mic, which would mean taking one hand off the steering wheel, when I needed both where they were so we didn’t crash Autumn took over.

“What’ s going on, Max?”

“You got four pickups coming in at a high rate of speed,” he returned.

Fuck .

“You think they’re gonna intercept that convoy?”

“I think you better hold the fuck on and Dec better drive crazier than his normal crazy before you’re stuck in the middle of something you don’t wanna be.”

Fucking shit .

I knew something was off.

Indecision pricked the back of my neck.

“Ask Thad if that’s an American convoy.”

“Heard him.” Thad came back. “No markings. And it fucking pains me to say this, but get the fuck out of there.”

I could see the Merc half a mile ahead. And beyond the SUV, no less than seven trucks full of insurgents were coming straight for us.

“There’s six of us,” Autumn unnecessarily pointed out. “Even if those trucks only hold ten men each, we’ll be fucked.”

She was right, but it didn’t stop the gut rot from churning.

Something was off. I’d known it the moment I’d parked the car down the street from the women’s clinic.

Helplessness washed over me. I was a fuckin’ Marine, it didn’t matter that I’d been out of the Corps for years.

Once a Marine, always a Marine. That convoy held American service members, it was my job to protect them.

It had been ingrained—service before self.

I’d lived and breathed that motto. Now I was rushing away from the fight, leaving my brothers’ asses swinging in the wind.

“Fuck!”

“Dec?”

“I know,” I hissed. “I know, but I don’t gotta like it.”

Autumn wisely didn’t say anything.

The farther we traveled from the village epicenter, the more dilapidated the buildings got. Less traffic, too, which meant I had to slow down so I didn’t get too close to the SUV.

I glanced in my rearview mirror and saw Thad and Kyle in their POS car. Theirs wasn’t any better than the one I was driving. Up ahead Brooks and Max were a few car lengths behind Strotherby.

“They need to slow down,” Autumn said.

“I’d keep that comment to yourself, babe. Unless you want an earful from Max. He knows what he’s doing.”

The words had just left my mouth when I saw Max’s brake lights flash.

The silence stretched for a good long while until the sound of rustling material drew my attention to Autumn. She’d pulled off the niqab and was working the long black skirt down her legs.

“Sweet Jesus, that’s better,” she sighed.

“Put some clothes on.”

“Give me a minute. I’m sweating to death over here, this piece of shit doesn’t have AC, and I’m getting ready to pass out from heatstroke.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her taking off the long-sleeved, shapeless top that went with the skirt and niqab. The tank top she wore under the garment did nothing to hide her ample tits. As a matter of fact, the tight cotton molded to her curves and I clenched my jaw.

“You okay over there?”

“Peachy,” I returned through gritted teeth.

“You don’t sound peachy. You sound like you’re huffin’ and puffin’.”

“Put your clothes on.”

“Nothing you haven’t seen, big guy. And I’m so hot even the warm air feels cool.”

She was hot all right.

Even with her long, shiny blonde hair pulled up into a ponytail, sweat dotting her forehead and more rolling down her neck.

Hands down, Autumn was the hottest woman I’d ever laid eyes on.

Juliana was seriously beautiful. Brown hair, brown eyes, dark complexion.

Autumn was the opposite in every way. But even more than their looks, Juliana had an innocence about her that Autumn lacked.

Both women were gorgeous, but there was something about Autumn that put her miles ahead. Not her beauty, not even her strength and determination, more than two broken souls connecting.

Even if I’d been whole, my body would’ve recognized her, my heart would’ve bound to hers.

Fucking, fucking, hell, that hurt .

My hand went over my tattoo to cover the physical ache my guilt caused.

I was a motherfucker. A no-good son of a bitch. I loved my wife, loved my daughter. I wanted to die loving them—only them—my girls.

I had no room in my life for Autumn Pierce. I couldn’t.

“Put on your damn clothes,” I barked.

I didn’t need to look to know Autumn was glaring at me. I could feel her icy eyes shooting icicles my way. I sounded like the asshole I was.

Clothed or unclothed, it didn’t matter—somehow, some way, Autumn had gotten under my skin.

And she was right, I’d seen all of her, tasted every part of her, had fucked her in all manner of ways.

Actually, no I hadn’t. I’d never taken her missionary, never sweetly, never tender or soft, never looked into her eyes when my cock was inside of her.

I’d fucked her rough and dirty—the exact opposite way I’d made love to my wife.

The only way I could have sex now. The only way I stomached touching another woman.

Christ, I was fucked up.

I was a broken motherfucker who needed to walk away from Autumn before I killed what was left of her.