Page 46 of Kane (Ghost Ops #4)

Chapter Thirty-Three

“I don’t have secret accounts, encrypted or otherwise,” Daphne said. She looked furious and worried, but Kane sensed the hint of steel in her spine. She’d been scared when she’d confessed all to Diana Corbin and handed over the files, but she was done with fear now. She was pissed and determined.

After her brother had hung up on her, Kane had messaged his guys and they’d agreed to meet at the range.

They’d arrived accompanied by women, a teenager, and a dog, bearing food and patriotic paper goods for piling it onto once it was served.

There was a cooler with drinks and somebody’d thought to bring a hose and sprinkler in case anyone wanted to run through it since they weren’t going to be in Chance’s pool.

They had to be ready to act, and the range was the best place to be.

Daphne had apologized for the change in plans, but nobody cared.

It was the first time she’d been face to face with her book club besties since her identity had been revealed.

He’d thought his heart would break for her as she hung back, apologetic, but they swarmed her and threw their arms around her.

He hadn’t heard what they’d said because he’d walked away, a knot in his throat.

Now they sat in one of the meeting rooms, just Daphne and the guys, and discussed the call with her brother.

“Why would he think that?” Ghost asked.

She threw her arms wide. “I don’t know! Because it’s what he thinks I’d do since I’m an accountant?

” She frowned. “It could be speculation on his part, just to see if it’s true.

It could also be a rumor that’s been going around since I left town.

To demonstrate the utter depravity of my family, it’s also possible our father told him I did so he wouldn’t ‘accidentally’ shoot me on the trip home.

Guess Daddy Dearest didn’t reckon on Jackson trying to steal the money for himself though.

When he figures out I’ve got nothing, he may kill me anyway. ”

“We’ll make sure you have something,” Seth said. “Callie can help. We’ll set up fake accounts and layers of security. How much do you think he’d believe you took?”

“Hold on,” Kane said. “No way is she meeting with this asshole.”

Daphne whirled on him. “We’ve talked about this, Kane. No telling me what to do. Warren’s in danger and it’s my fault. I can’t let my brother kill him.”

Kane’s heart thumped. “We’re going to find your brother and get Warren back. But you don’t need to meet with him. It’s dangerous. He has no intention of letting you live, even if you give him access to fake accounts.”

He thought she would fight but instead she reached out and caressed his cheek. He loved when she touched him that way. Sweet, simple, not sexual. Though he sure as hell loved it when she touched him in a sexual way, too.

“I know why you’re scared. I understand. And I fully believe you will keep me safe. But we have to plan for a meeting. Jackson’s a hothead, but he’s not stupid. It’s best to be prepared. Because he will be.”

Kane could only stare at her, at the fierceness of her expression and the tenderness that was for him alone.

Despair twisted inside him, clawing at his skin.

He shot to his feet because it was that or explode.

Then he paced. He didn’t care what his teammates thought, didn’t care what they saw.

All he cared about was making sure Daphne didn’t die.

“I fucking hate this,” he growled. “Where the fuck is Diana Corbin, huh? Why hasn’t she swept this asshole up yet and taken him off the streets for good?”

Diana wanted to catch him trying to sell the missiles, but waiting was too dangerous. He’d taken Warren Trigg hostage and he was gunning for Daphne. They didn’t need to fucking wait. She had the files Daphne had given her. Those should be good enough to put him away.

Nobody said anything. Kane knew why. They weren’t going to talk about the Athena Project in front of Daphne.

She knew about the missiles and Viktor Dashevsky, separately, but she didn’t know the bigger ramifications.

Catching Jackson O’Malley making a deal for missiles, especially if he was selling them to Dashevsky’s followers in northern Alabama, was pretty fucking important.

Athena wasn’t launched yet, and though Ghost Ops had caught the last asshole trying to compromise the project when Callie was the target, they didn’t know what Dashevsky’s followers planned next.

An assault on the laboratory where the command and control system was being tested?

That’d be pretty fucking outrageous, but terrorists were terrorists.

Even when they were his fellow countrymen and women.

“Let’s make the plan,” Ghost said. “We can’t predict what Diana will do or when, so let’s be fucking prepared to take this asshole down. Seth, make those accounts. Daph, how much money would he believe?”

She shot a glance at Kane. He knew despair was written on his face, but he also knew she believed she had to fix the situation. That she was responsible for her brother and his actions.

“Make it ten-million. He’ll believe that.”

“Ten mil. Got it,” Seth said.

Kane closed his eyes. Everything was spiraling out of control.

He’d believed he could protect her, that Jackson wouldn’t get anywhere near her, and that the FBI would arrest him before he was ever a threat.

But this was a mission plan. A plan with an untrained civilian at its heart. A woman he cared about.

A woman he didn’t want to lose.

He sat next to Daphne and put a hand on her bare leg beneath the table to ground himself in the moment.

She was alive, and here, and he wasn’t going to compromise her safety by having a fucking hissy fit.

He couldn’t afford to focus so much on his own feelings that he missed something important in the planning.

She placed her hand on top of his, her warmth comforting. A wave of emotion crashed against the walls surrounding his heart.

“What about Trigg’s phone?” he asked, knowing Seth was thorough but needing to ask anyway. “Any location data?”

“Switched off after the call to Daphne. Last tower pinged was near his house.”

“We need to check his place just in case,” Blaze said.

“You and Chance head over there,” Ghost said. “If you see any movement, call first.”

“Copy.”

“Ethan, you still got that drone?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Take it out to the field north of town near the crossroads. There are old farms, the defunct cotton mill, and the granary out that way. See if there’s anything strange. If I were going to stash somebody close to town for a few hours, that’s where I’d do it.”

“On it, sir.”

Ghost stood. “Okay, we’ve got people waiting for food, so I’m gonna start the grill. Call me with any updates, and get back here ASAP if you don’t spot anything. We need to be prepared to go when Jackson calls. Any thoughts on when that might be, Daph?”

“My brother is a night owl. He hates, and I do mean hates , being hot. So he sleeps during the day and works at night when it’s cooler. Unless somebody else is calling the shots, which I doubt, he’ll keep to the usual nocturnal schedule.”

“Huh,” Ghost said, looking puzzled for a second. “Who knew you could delay a mission because it’s too fucking hot outside? Nobody ever let any of us off the hook because of the potential for swamp ass. Woulda been nice if they did, though.”

Amen to that.

The team split to go their own ways and Kane took the opportunity to tug Daphne into the tiny office they’d created for her while they were hiding her from Nathan Fader.

She giggled when he shut the door, then wrapped her arms around his neck. “Oooh, you planning to fuck me in here while all our friends are just a couple of doors away?”

His dick jumped at the idea. “No,” he said, gripping her hips and holding her far enough away she couldn’t rub against him.

“Party pooper.” She stepped back and sat on the makeshift desk, her eyes missing nothing as they studied him. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“It’s not your fault your brother targeted Trigg. He went after him because he was a soft target. The rest of us are harder.”

She broke eye contact, her expression crumbling.

“I shouldn’t have gone out with him. It is my fault.

Worse, I let him loan me a car for the past few months.

I maintained a friendship with him even after we broke up.

I knew what kind of monsters were hunting me, and I let someone as harmless and kind as Warren get close enough to me to be an easy mark. ”

“Baby, you can’t think like that. Your brother threatened Rory and Theo. Emma and her parents. He knows who you care about because he’s had you watched. If one of them had been alone this morning, he’d have grabbed them. But Warren lives alone, on property outside of town. He was an easy mark.”

“What are you suggesting I do, Kane? Let him die because you don’t want me to meet with Jackson?”

He closed his eyes, fisted his hands at his sides. “No.”

She sighed and came over to wrap her arms around him, press her cheek to his chest. He hugged her back, dropped his nose to her hair.

“I love that you’re worried for me,” she said.

“Not going to lie, I’m worried too. But I have you—all of you—and I have faith that’ll be enough.

” She tipped her head back to look up at him.

Something crossed her face. He didn’t have time to wonder what it was before she spoke again.

“I’m going to say something else, and you aren’t going to like it, but I have to.

I would have waited longer, but… well, life’s too short and all that. ”

“Okay.”

She stood on tiptoe and kissed him. “I love you, Kane Fox. I have from almost the first moment you stormed into that cold apartment in the Sutton Building and took charge of getting me warm and feeding me. I’ve wanted you from that day forward but I reconciled myself to the fact you didn’t feel the same.

And I know you still don’t feel what I feel, but I have to say it.

Don’t worry that I’ll be a pain in the ass when you’re ready to call it quits. I’ve always known this was temporary.”

His heart swelled with every word she said until he thought it might burst. It hurt so much, and it felt glorious at the same time.

Walls crumbled even though he didn’t want them to.

He felt like he was standing before her naked and vulnerable, his heart on a platter.

What if she crushed it the way Hannah had?

He would never recover if it happened again. Never.

“It’s not temporary,” he said roughly.

She arched a brow. “Oh yeah? But it’s not permanent either, is it?”

He tugged her tighter to him. “It might be. That a problem?”

“You trying to make up your mind or you don’t know?”

“I—” He swore. “I did this once before, and it was brutal.”

“Oh, honey,” she sighed. “I understand. But I’m not her.

You aren’t even the same you that you were when you were with her.

We’re different people than those two kids were, okay?

I can’t promise you anything except I know how I feel, and what I feel is something beautiful and life-changing.

I’ve never met a man I believed in more than you.

Never met one as honorable and protective of me as you are.

You know me and you think the best of me even when I don’t.

I won’t ever leave you, except if it’s out of my control. ”

He knew what she meant and that was almost worse. Losing someone you loved was brutal, even when you weren’t sure you’d ever love them the same way you had before.

“It’s okay if you don’t love me back. You don’t have to say it,” she told him. “But I wanted to because, well…” She shrugged. “Life is short and unpredictable sometimes. If something happens, at least I’ll know I told you.”

“Nothing’s happening,” he croaked. “Not letting it. We’re going to get through this, Daphne. Not letting a fucking prick like your brother take you away from me. Promise you that.”

She smiled up at him, and his heart ached. “Aw, does this mean you like me, Candy Kane?”

“Yeah, I like you.”

His heart hammered with the truth until he couldn’t deny it. But if he said it, there was no turning back. It’d be out there, hanging in the air, ready to gut him for the rest of his life. And yet what would happen if he didn’t take the chance?

“I fucking love you, Sunshine. Scares the hell out of me because I didn’t want it to happen.”

“I’m like that tornado that blew through a few days ago—unexpected and capable of devastating all your plans.”

“You’ve definitely done that. Thought I’d be single the rest of my life and now you’ve got me thinking about spending all my days with you.”

Her smile made his heart sing. “Think we can get Ethan to move next door with Alex?”

“You don’t want to go back to your apartment, take me with you?”

“I like my apartment. I love the farmhouse. But I’ll go where you want to go.”

He kissed the tip of her nose. This was getting easier the more he talked about it. The more he stopped fighting and just let it sit inside his soul.

“We don’t have to decide that yet. We’ve got time.”

“True. So, you want to have a quickie on my desk? Or should we go help with the food?”

He let his gaze slide down her body, back up again. “I want to be inside you. But I think the right thing is to go help. Before they start looking for us.”

“Good thinking, babycakes. Let’s go be with our friends. Plenty of time for getting busy later.”

He sure hoped so. He’d lost one woman he loved and never thought he’d find another.

But he had.

Surely God wasn’t so cruel as to take this one from him, too.