Page 19

CHAPTER 19

R onan woke, opening his eyes, immediately aware of Fleur’s body beside him. The intimacy of them naked inside the doubled sleeping bag was a luxury he couldn’t afford himself again. Wraith would have his back tonight, and he was allowing his focus to waiver just this once. He let his hands slide over her soft skin, and when she murmured something and pressed back against him, he smiled at the reaction. Her response to his touch was amazing to watch. The dream of any man was to be able to drive his woman insane with his touch, and he knew he could send Fleur over the edge or hold her there until she shattered in his arms.

He kissed her neck, moving her long, thick braid as she sighed and smiled. He continued his slow exploration of her body. Her nipples tightened as his fingers lightly traveled over them. There was no hurry, no rush in his touches. He had this time and was making sure he knew her body by mapping every nuance of her in his mind. He didn’t know what the future held. He hoped it held them as a couple, but he wasn’t a fool. They would have to work to have a relationship. He wanted a life-long commitment. He wasn’t interested in just the now or perhaps a month or two.

He moved his kisses to her ear, and she shivered and then moaned softly. Fuck, the smallest things this woman did made him as hard as a diamond. He slowly moved his kisses to her shoulder so he could watch her better. When his fingers found her sex, she inhaled quickly and opened her legs for him. Fuck, she was hot and so ready for him. He shifted and moved over her. Her arms draped around his neck, and she sighed sweetly.

He dropped for a kiss as he entered her. Her tight heat was heaven around his cock. She wrapped her legs around him, and he slid deep inside her. Fuck, she had no idea how perfect she was. As he moved his hips, she arched, meeting his thrusts. He kept the movements slow, the build like a slow flow of lava. The heat of their union moved them both closer to that fucking mind-blowing ledge, but the swell flowed and moved them without urgency. They shared breaths, kissed without end, and reached a quiet climax that swept them over the crest.

He held her as they came down from the high before he said, “I’m not letting you get away from me.”

She chuckled. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“No, I mean?—”

She rolled over and put her finger on his lips. “I know what you mean. I thought about it while driving back here yesterday. Hours and hours of nothing else to do except a solid self-examination. If you still open that job door for me, I’ll walk through it. I know there are no promises, and what’s between us is young, but I agree with you. I’m not going to let you get away from me either.”

“Damn, you’re fucking perfect.” He leaned in and kissed her soft lips. “Fucking perfect.”

“Ah, Skipper?”

Fleur squeaked and dove under the sleeping bag. Ronan laughed at her. “Yeah?”

“We had another breach. Wraith said to come get you.”

He was laughing almost too hard to hear Wolf’s response, but those words put shit into perspective again, and he shut that shit down, immediately all business. “I’ll be right there.”

He was up and out of the sleeping bag in an instant. “Over there. Wipes.” Fleur pointed to a small plastic box. Ronan used a couple quickly and was dressed in under three minutes.

He bent down and kissed her quickly. “Be safe.”

“I will.” She nodded, holding the sleeping bag over her breasts; he grabbed his weapon and M-4 and hustled out.

“Where?”

“Behind the structures tent. It wasn’t there when I initially walked around the perimeter. When I circled this time, there it was.”

“From inside or outside?”

“Inside, and there’s a fuckton of tracks,” Wolf swore bitterly. “Small tracks, Skipper. Stryker is trying to follow them. I swear if I catch the bastard responsible for doing this, I’ll kill them myself.”

“Let’s put a hold on murder until we know all the facts.” Ronan agreed with his man, though.

“Fine, but killing is still on the table, right?”

“For damn sure,” Ronan said as they walked. Before he got to the hole in the fence line, he popped into the structure’s tent. All the tools were missing from the shelves. He walked over to a large metal bin. There was a lock on it, and it was secure. Ronan exited the tent a second later and reached the entry point for the breach. Sure as shit, the wires were bent back toward the outside. But this one was different. The person inside would have had to go through the hole and make another one on the other side of the fence that held the tractor and attachments they used to dig and fill holes.

Ronan ducked through the hole and made his way over to where Wraith was squatting down. Wraith held up a hand, and Ronan stopped. In Arabic, Wraith said. “It’s okay. He’s not going to hurt you, and neither am I.”

Ronan dropped down to see who Wraith was talking to. A little girl was tucked underneath the tractor, obviously terrified. He stood again. “I’ll get Fleur.”

“Yeah, that would be good,” Wraith said in a soft, calm voice. “I’m just going sit here and talk to her.”

Ronan went back through the hole in the fence. “Dude, wake Jug up and have him bring Fleur to the structures tent ASAP.”

“Copy.” Dude’s reply was immediate.

Ronan turned as his name was called, “Good morning. I wanted to thank you again for the tents. We were able to move in the majority of the IDPs that didn’t have shelter. We'll be in fine shape once we get the convoys going.” Miller smiled at him and then saw Wolf. His brow creased. “What’s going on?”

“A breach in the fence,” Ronan said. “We have a small girl hiding under the tractor. We’ve sent for Fleur. She’s terrified.”

“Son of a bitch.” Miller scrubbed his face.

Ronan didn’t say a word. There wasn’t anything to say. The camp, with fences meant to keep the occupants safe … didn’t. And the person he believed to be helping from the inside could be innocent. That was hard to remember; he had a fine line to balance this walk on. As soon as Dude and Tink gathered enough information, he’d be able to act, but at this point, he couldn’t.

Fleur jogged down the pathway. Her combat boots were unlaced and flopping as she ran. “What do you need?”

After Ronan explained the situation, Fleur crawled through the hole in the fence and went over to where Wraith was still talking quietly to the girl. Wraith stood up and left, and Fleur smiled at the little one. It took about two minutes for the girl to be coaxed out from under the tractor. During that time, Jug and Shelly arrived .

“Where is she?” Shelly asked.

“There.” Ronan nodded in Fleur’s direction.

“I’ll go with you,” Miller said.

Shelly shook her head. “No offense, but I doubt she wants to see a man right now, Miller. You can stop by the medical tent in a little bit.” Shelly waited for the girl and Fleur to come.

Mathias walked up to the tent. “Is this a line for coffee?” The man laughed at his own joke.

Miller shook his head. “No.”

Mathias’ smile dropped as he looked at Ronan. “What’s up?”

“Another poaching incident,” Ronan said. “Can you get your guys on that for us?” He pointed to the hole in the fence.

“No,” Mathias swore bitterly. “I’ll do it myself. How in the hell are they cutting the fence? I’ve locked up every tool that could do it.”

“What?” Miller asked. “Why are you locking up tools?”

“Because some bastard is cutting holes in the fence, and I don’t want to be a part of it even in the slightest. All our cutting tools are secured from the time I leave to the time I get back.” Mathias stormed into the tent, still cussing.

Jug looked over at him. “Skipper, all we have to do is toss the tents. We find the cutting tool, and we’ll find who is doing this, right?”

“You can’t do that.” Miller sighed. “These people have been searched, and anything dangerous is locked up. We return it to them when they’re on the convoy trucks after processing.”

“Well, someone has cutters, and they weren’t taken away.” Jug shook his head. “I’m going to see if Shelly or Fleur need help.”

“I’ll go with you,” Miller said. “Maybe the girl saw something. That will help us.”

Ronan closed his eyes and took a deep breath before tapping his ear. “Dude, please tell me you have something.”

“I’m working it, Skipper. We’re concentrating on the one you mentioned, but right now, there’s nothing. I’m not giving up, though. I know a few tricks. It’s just going to take time. People are getting better and better at covering their digital tracks. If what I know fails to produce any actionable evidence, I’ll call in a favor from Jewell or Con. If they can’t find anything, it isn’t there. I promise we’re working it.”

“I have faith in you, Dude. Keep me up to date.”

“Oh, I will, and the background on Fleur is pristine. Figured you’d want that question taken care of first. ”

He smiled. “I knew it would be, but thanks for expediting that issue.”

“No worries, and one last thing, Cobra team will be wheels down in country in eighteen hours.”

“Roger. Copy.” Ronan glanced at his watch. It was a quarter after five. That meant Deacon and his team would land at eleven fifteen. Give them rack time, and they’d be pulling into camp by early afternoon tomorrow. Thank God. Now, all he needed was proof or exclusion of the person Al suspected. Then, he needed to get the convoys up and running.

He had plenty of shit to look after until that point. The first was finding out what Habib knew. Jug could handle anything that came up with the women, and Wolf wouldn’t hang it up until Stryker came back inside the camp. Speaking of which, Ronan tapped his ear. “Stryker?”

“Yo,” the man responded immediately.

“Anything?”

“Followed the tracks to the rocky area north of camp. I followed a hunch and headed to that road we came in on. I found a shoe and a scarf beside the road by the rocks they’d have to go through. I think they hustled them out to the road and loaded them up. They could be out of the country by now.”

“Copy. Are you heading back now? ”

“Yeah.”

“Skipper, I can go get him in the Jeep.” Wolf entered the conversation.

“Do it. Wraith, we’ll see if Habib can be enticed to give us any information.”

“Copy,” Wraith acknowledged, and Ronan cast another glance at the hole in the fence. Wolf was right. Murder was on the table. If he could prove the fucker was aiding these sick motherfuckers, he’d be tempted, sorely tempted.

He jumped into the passenger seat of the Jeep Wraith was driving. He was in a fucking horrid mood for having such a fucking good night. He exited the Jeep and walked into Habib’s hut without knocking.

Habib cocked his head and nodded to a space at the table with him. “Coffee?”

Ronan wasn’t there for pleasantries. “Who the fuck is inside?”

“I honestly do not know.”

Ronan reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out a stack of American bills. “Who is it?”

Habib stared at the money and licked his lips. “If I knew, I would tell you. ”

Ronan snarled, shoved the money in his pocket, and turned to leave.

“I can tell you how they know when and where to cut the holes.”

Ronan turned to look at him. “Talk.”

“The ISIL leave a message under the ruined capstone rocks by the gates. The message is retrieved, and communication is complete.”

Ronan pulled out the notes and dropped them on the table. “If you can find out who is inside the camp, that will triple.” He strode out of the hut and got into the Jeep. “Let’s go.” They drove toward the camp. “You heard?”

“Everything,” Wraith said. “Time to set up your new toy.”

“Damn straight.” Ronan wanted that fucker in the worst way.