Page 39 of The Flame of Carson (Blackout Security Inc. #3)
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G age closed the door behind him as he followed Stacey into the house. He set the alarm and followed her into the living room. “Can I get you anything babe?”
“Maybe two Aleve, a glass of water and then you come and sit here with me.” Stacey sighed.
“Coming right up.” Gage nodded and turned for the kitchen.
Entering the room, Gage let his mind begin processing the information of the last two hours.
The fact that Stacey’s stalker was none other than one of Gage’s former Marine brothers, a man he had not thought of since he joined MARSOC.
Then there was the fact that Anderson had caused Stacey to crash this morning, attacked him twice and had attacked Walt in New York.
Fixing a glass of water for Stacey and himself, he reached for the bottle of Aleve that Stacey kept in the kitchen.
He shook four pills into his hand. He downed two and drank the water before walking back into the living room.
He handed Stacey her glass of water and the pills before sitting beside her.
After taking the pills and drinking her own water, Stacey sighed and snuggled into his arms. Gage let out a deep breath and held her close, careful of her braced wrist.
“I’m sorry Stacey.”
“Sorry for what Gage?”
“That this is happening because of me. I never realized that...I mean, I...”
Stacey shifted and moved so she now straddled him and tilted his chin up so their eyes met.
“Gage Carson, you listen to me right now. You had no way of knowing that this Anderson guy held such a grudge. You said yourself that a few weeks after he started that fight, you were out and training for MARSOC. How would you know that he was a whack job.”
“I know rationally you’re right, but the guilt is still there. I said I would protect you and yet look at what happened this morning. I mean, it is ridiculous to blame myself when, until this morning he never gave any hint of coming after you physically.” Gage replied.
“Exactly. Tony and Elias will find something, I’m sure of it.
We have our watchers outside and my alarm is set.
You heard my call with Chase, so I’m covered there, and we now have a new plan.
Anderson will believe he’s thrown us off, when, in fact, his stunt this morning has merely helped to build his own cage. ” Stacey smiled.
Gage smiled, cupped her face, leaned in, and softly kissed her.
She pulled away first, as she sighed and laid her head against his shoulder.
Gage sat there, his arms holding her securely against him.
He held her a little tighter and eased them down on the sofa and reached up to grab the throw Stacey kept on the back of the sofa.
Draping it over them he kissed the top of her head.
“Let’s take a little nap babe. Then we’ll go from there. How does that sound?”
“Sounds perfect Gage.”
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T ony typed away beside Eli, his brow furrowing. “Damn, this Oscar Anderson is a ticking time-bomb.”
“What did you dig up?” Eli asked without looking up from his own screen.
“In middle school, he beat up a fellow seventh grader because the kid made the track team and Anderson didn’t.
He was suspended for the rest of the year.
His parents sent him to a military school after that.
I found all kinds of citations from his teachers there too.
They saw he had temper issues, but nothing was really done to correct it. ” Tony explained.
“How the hell did he pass the psych eval to even get in the Marines?” Eli questioned, finally pushing away from the desk.
Tony swiveled his chair, so he was facing Eli. “That’s what I can’t figure out. All I can think of is Anderson knows how to blend well enough to tell the testers what they wanted to know without them realizing it. That makes him a smart son-of-a-bitch.”
“And a dangerous one too, Tony. Let’s take a break and let the program do its work. With the information you brought me from Ethan, it should really help us narrow down some kind of profile. At least, a starting point.”
Tony nodded and the two stood and stretched.
They had been working non-stop since Tony brought the files over.
The two walked out of Eli’s office and headed for the elevators.
The two friends said nothing, but they didn’t have to.
Both were thinking the same thing. If they didn’t find some clue soon, Gage and Stacey were going to pay the price.
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L ance slammed the door and threw his bag at the floor. Tugging his hair, he headed for the kitchen and found Alora standing at the stove working on dinner and giving him an inquisitive look. “Lance, please try not to break the door.”
Lance grunted, walked to the fridge, and pulled out a beer. Twisting off the top, he leaned against the counter. “Sorry Alora. Today was just a cluster fuck.”
Alora stood at the stove stirring the sauce for the spaghetti and listened as Lance filled her in on what happened.
She gasped at hearing about Stacey’s wreck but said nothing more.
She knew Lance needed to vent and she would let him.
After all, had he not done the same for her over the last year or so?
When he finally fell silent, she moved the pot to the warming unit and gave the pasta a quick stir.
Alora turned then, moved to her fiancée, and slipped her arms around his waist. He sighed, sat his beer down and held her.
“It’s going to be all right Lance.”
“I want to believe that baby. Gage is my brother; I can’t let him down.”
Alora looked up and placed a hand on his cheek, “You won’t. You and the others will do your jobs and keep Stacey and Gage safe. You all will also put this asshole behind bars where he belongs.”
Lance looked down in awe at her. “How can you have such faith in me?”
“Because I love you, Lance Archer. And you and your brothers have proved that you come through. You did for Krista and for me. You all will come through for Stacey and Gage as well. That’s how I can have that kind of faith in you.”
Lance just pulled her tighter to him and held her.
This case with Stacey and Gage had been dredging up memories of Alora’s case.
How she stood her ground and never backed down, not even from him.
“I love you, Alora. I know I don’t tell you enough but, I love you more than anything Tigress. You’re my very soul.”
“And I love you too Lance.” Alora sighed, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him.
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G age looked down and smiled. Stacey was curled in his arms on the sofa sound asleep.
After their nap, she had gone to her office and did a little work.
Gage had handed over his responsibilities on the political front over to Morton’s second in command on the Bravo team, Helix.
On Krista’s case, Helix had been on the Charlie team but had since moved to Bravo.
Gage had also emailed Nick and filled him in on the change in his situation.
Nick simply replied saying to take care of himself and Stacey.
After they both handled work, they ordered take-out, while Gage checked in with the watchers outside.
Danny and Grant had now been replaced by the first set of Charlie team.
As Lance promised, he had hand-picked the men who would be watching Stacey’s house and texted that list to both him and Stacey.
They then curled up on the couch to watch a movie. She fell asleep ten minutes in.
Gage was pulled out of his thoughts by his phone vibrating on the coffee table. He carefully moved from under Stacey, so he didn’t wake her, picked up the phone and headed for the kitchen. “Carson.”
“Just checking in buddy. How’s everything?” Tony said.
“All is quiet here. Danny and Grant were relieved about noon and the second rotation is here now. Lance picked men from Bravo, Charlie, and Delta. I will say, he picked good. I would have picked them myself.” Gage chuckled.
“Good. I think Eli and I made some progress. Of course, we won’t know for sure until tomorrow at the earliest. I know I don’t have to tell you and Stacey to watch your six, brother. Make sure you have an escape plan in case Anderson tries something there.”
“Already did. When I first moved in here after my house blew, that was the first thing she and I worked out. Actually, Stacey gave me new ideas.” Gage chuckled.
Tony laughed, “That doesn’t surprise me one bit. If we get a hit, you’re my second call after Ethan. I know you’re now back in the loop to a point but...”
“I hear you. Unless it’s immediate, relay to Ethan first and then me, but only if Stacey or I need to know.
” Gage instructed. “Stacey and I have to play the parts convincingly or Anderson will pick up on it and will adapt. If we want to smoke his ass out, we have to at least appear to be off our game. Same with the rest of you.”
“That’s what Ethan told us. Grant asked about our guys watching the house, but Ethan says Anderson would expect that.” Tony said.
“Yes, he would. He would see it as he’s gaining the upper hand. Me and Stacey sequestered in her home, under watch by my own. Yeah, he would see it as a victory. Well, I’ll talk to you later Tony. Good night.”
“Night Gage. Tell Stacey I said hi.”
Gage ended the call and headed back for the living room.
He moved to the couch, clicked off the TV, gently gathered Stacey into his arms and headed upstairs.
She had changed into her pajamas after dinner, so he tucked her in before heading back downstairs to turn off the lights and signal to the team outside they were turning in.
About ten minutes later, he turned off the bedroom light and slipped into bed, spooning behind Stacey.
“I love you, Stacey.” He whispered, kissing her cheek.
“Mm, Gage.” She sighed blissfully and snuggled closer.