Page 42 of Too Guarded to Love (Project VIPER #3)

“Quick thinking, baby.” He sucked in a breath. “Listen, you’re locked in there and we can’t open the doors without a code. Natalie gave it up when we got her into custody, but Scarlett can’t get it to work because the Diablos are jamming her access.”

Olivia stilled the needle hovering over Harlee’s skin. “The Diablos are here?”

“Yes. Someone in the operating room is on their payroll.”

She stopped herself from looking at the faces of the people around her. “Who?”

“Natalie doesn’t know, and nobody in there has shown up in any databases, but someone has a device that will send a charge to your tracker and stop your heart. When you collapse, the person has been instructed to make sure you aren’t revived.”

Forget the charge. Her heart stopped beating at the news.

“Breathe. You’re okay.”

She sucked in air. “I am breathing and I am not okay. Why do they want to kill me?”

He sighed, as if he didn’t want her to know the answer.

“Tell me, Nic.”

“Jonathan was contracted by the Diablos to infiltrate VIPER through you.”

Olivia’s blood boiled as Nic explained how Jonathan had wormed his way into her life to obtain intel for cash. “ That’s disgusting.”

“I’m sorry, baby. The Diablos want what’s stored on your tracker. Once you’re dead, they plan to take you to the morgue and cut it out.”

“That’s— ” Olivia shuddered.

Dr. Morgan touched the sleeve of her surgical gown. “Dr. Darren, stand down and let me finish.”

“I’m fine.” Olivia dipped her head and rubbed her clavicle with her chin.

The ortho representative appeared a few feet from her side. “Are you sure? You look pale.”

Olivia ignored whatever he said. Processing what Nic just told her and paying attention to Harlee took all her attention. “Jesus, I feel like the tracker is buzzing like the saw I used to cut Harlee’s bone. What does that mean? Am I going to explode or something?”

“No. I have a chip implanted in the back of my neck that controls my superpowers. It buzzes when I’m agitated for some reason. You might be experiencing the same thing.”

“Okay.” Knowing they shared something elemental somehow calmed her a smidge . “I can’t keep stalling much longer, Nic.”

“We have a plan, baby. See that window on the north wall? We’re coming in that way.”

She looked up. The moonlight streamed in through the pane set a few feet from the ceiling. “D id you forget to tell me that you can scale buildings?”

“Working on that capability,” Scarlett said.

“That would be fucking cool.”

Olivia cocked her head . “Did Linc just say that? Is the whole VIPER-verse online with us?”

“Yes, Linc and I are on the roof about to rappel down. Your brother and Chris are outside the operating room. Once Ryan pinpoints who the Diablo is, we’ll shoot a V-Strike through the glass. Can you stretch the surgery out a few minutes longer?”

Like she had a choice . “Can you talk to me while I work?” She needed his voice to calm her mind so her body could follow suit.

“I shot Natalie with a V-Strike.”

“I hope it hurt.”

“I made sure it did. And I learned from her that Harlee wasn’t blowing you off this week. Jonathan was blocking her from meeting you.”

“Jerk.”

“Jerk is putting it mildly, but enough about that asshole. There’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. I’ve been thinking of coaching a Little League team. You made me realize how much I missed the game. If I coach, will you come and cheer my team on?”

“I’m sure everyone in the VIPER-verse will be there, but I’ll be your biggest cheerleader.

” And not so suddenly, because she’d been imagining it for days, she knew life with Captain Nicolas Romero inside the intrusive shark tank of a fishbowl was exactly where she belonged.

“You know, I’ve been thinking of finding a place near DC to ride. Will you come with me?”

“I’ll go anywhere with you, sirena.”

They wouldn’t be going anywhere together if he didn’t get his sexy ass to the window before time ran out. “ Why don’t they just kill me now and get the tracker? Why wait until after the surgery?”

“The person behind all this, named Ray, who we’re working to pinpoint, has a new wife who’s a Harlee Slater fan and wants her to compete again.”

“That’s…” It took Olivia a minute to figure out what it was.

“That’s kind of beautiful in a weird way.

I’m saving Harlee’s career, which will save her sanity, and maybe even her life, but she’s the reason I’m still alive.

And all because she’s a rodeo queen.” She froze as an idea blossomed in her brain. “ I have an idea. Hold on.”

“No ideas, Olivia. Your only job is to delay the surgery while we figure out who the threat is.”

“But what if you don’t figure it out in time?” She looked around at the faces in the room as she worked. “Are you going to shoot everyone in here?”

“Yes, if that’s what it takes to keep you safe.”

She nearly got whiplash at how fast he’d said that. And hot damn did it sound sexy. “There’s bound to be consequences for that, Nic.”

“I’ll face them happily so I can kiss you again and then give you shit for even thinking about being reckless.”

“My plan is simple. It isn’t reckless.” Neither was falling for this man prepared to risk it all for her. “Trust me.”

Praying her idea would work, she breathed in the antiseptic smell. The familiar scent calmed her racing pulse as she looked around the room. “Has anyone seen our patient compete? She’s a world champion barrel racer, you know.”

Several “no’s” sounded and only one yes.

Olivia swung her gaze to the ortho representative. “Do you follow professional rodeo?”

He grinned. “Sure do. Harlee Slater is my favorite.”

Olivia trembled with anticipation. “We’re big fans in my family too, especially my uncle Ray, and his new wife, Maria.”

The ortho representative’s breath hitched as recognition flashed in his gaze. He covered the reaction quickly as he slipped his hand in his pocket, but Olivia nearly did a dance when she caught it.

“The ortho rep in dark-blue scrubs reacted when I mentioned Ray and Maria. Rey is Spanish for king, and Scarlett says Henry Richardson thinks he’s a king. And now he’s married to Maria Chavez, who is cartel royalty. Could the Ray with the rodeo fan wife be Richardson?”

“You’re fucking brilliant.”

“I know, but is recognizing Ray and Maria as Richardson and Chavez enough to pin the ortho rep as the Diablo in the room?”

“It’s enough for me.” Edgar barked an order to proceed with the mission. “Hold on, Olivia. Nic and Linc are rappelling down now. Be ready to duck when you’re told.”

“Hurry. I can’t stall any longer.”

She administered the last stitch as slowly as she could. From the corner of her eye, she caught the ortho representative step back from the table and pull something from his pocket. “Nice work, Dr. Darren. You deserve a good, long rest now.”

“Duck,” Nic yelled.

Olivia jerked her gaze to the window as she dropped to her knees. Nic appeared on the other side of the glass, his suspended body lit by the moonlight, like he was the dark vigilante she imagined him to be at the beach. She smiled at her own personal hero as a jolt seized her body.

“No.” Clutching her chest, she didn’t take her eyes off Nic as she heard the ortho representative hit the floor.

As the pain suffocated her into darkness, she prayed she’d see Nic again so she could tell him she was staying with him forever.