Our strike team stood around the wall of computers. Attention and focus were at one hundred and ten percent as Striker and Roger walked us all through the plans they had made with Mas. Appears everyone had been busy and just waiting for the green light. "Plan A is to evac to a helo." Striker pointed to a spot on the screen with a green laser. "It will be from here. It's a forty-one-minute trip, assuming no errors or issues. Plan B is a boat extraction. Plan C is a private plane at a local airfield. Plan D is a car and driving up and over. Let's make sure we don't need Plan D."Roger took over the briefing. "We will have three two-man teams for infiltration. We need a zero-notice action, so if you have experience for silent infil, you're on the team. We will have a small team of four for fire coverage on each of the extraction points. All extraction points will be manned from go-time, so no time is lost for changing plans. If your location is abandoned, fall back to your bravo poin
Every inch of the tunnel felt wide and open. None of the low buzzing I associated with active electronic surveillance. It was nothing short of a blessing. Once Drago and I stopped at the mouth of the tunnel, I opened my radio. "Ready.""Ninety-one meters straight ahead," Arkady's voice sounded in my ear. I double clicked my mic. Turned off the radio again as I looked at Drago. He nodded, only his eyes discernable in the dark. He motioned for me to go before him. I took that first step out into the open. Prayed once again that Nik had redirected the Interpol drones off center by a few degrees as we started making our way through the underbrush of the forest. One chance. For my daughter. For Jessa's sister. For our family. I tightened my grip on my gun. Wished I could have left it behind. But without any more practice and no more time, we were out of options. With my free hand, I reached down, patted my knives. Knives were the only way to kill silently from a dista
While I waited for Mas to get his scrawny ass back to the boat, all the phones in the ops center started ringing at the same time. I looked at Penn. Fuck. He grabbed his up and put it to his ear. "This is Penn."I pulled my own from my pocket. "This is Domenico.""Counselor, Amatucci, we have reports that there's been a raid on the compound. Can you confirm or deny this?" Agent Camilla Rosetti spat down the line as soon as the last syllable of my name died away. "Agent Rosetti, we can confirm that there has been action at the compound. One of our techs sounded the alarm. We are watching it as it happens through the satellite feed that was set up.""Do you know who it is? None of our agents can get a good look.""You're more than welcome to view our footage, Agent. I can't say that we are familiar with who they are either. You're saying that these are not your agents or men?""Of course not! We're still trying to get a lock on the captive's signals. We would never put ou
Arkady was finishing up on his headset when the video call from Croatia came in. He took it off, threw it out of the line of sight. Scrambling back to his customary chair, he nodded at Nik. "We're a go."Nik connected the call. "Agent Horvat, hello.""Hello, Ms. Pelaez. Mr. Penn. Counselor Amatucci."We all nodded. Agent Rosetti's alert came through. Nik got her connected as well. After the second round of salutations were completed, Horvat got straight to business. "If we've all seen the same footage, there's no point in trying to determine what variances there might be. We need to determine the signals as quickly as possible. It might be worth our while to attack while the compound is in disarray."Agent Rosetti nodded. "We concur. We'll be behind your teams, Horvat. There's simply no changing that. But we could be there within the hour. Provide aerial back up as needed. We've reached out to the Italian Army. They're willing to supply us with two Blackhawk helicopters with
"Nest to Exfil Two. Nest to Exfil Two," Arkady's voice sounded in my head. "Exfil Two, copy. Go ahead Nest," Striker said. "Targets are at secondary location. Counselor, Fancy Pants, and Rogue are en route."I looked at Striker, gave him a nod. "Exfil Two en route to secondary, Nest.""Copy that, Exfil Two. Nest, out."I couldn't get anyone to hear me over the sound of the waves, so I just held my tongue. If something was happening to the girls, I was definitely going to be there. The fact that Nico and Foster were heading there didn't bode well. Using sign language, I asked Striker, How long?He shot me what looked like a thumbs up. In American Sign Language, it was the number ten. I nodded. I could hold out for ten more minutes. Hopefully. If someone thought to hurt my baby or Jaz, they were going to be in for a very rude awakening.
We rocked up to the secondary house. With the interior lights off in the SUV, we all exited the vehicle. I made sure to make as little noise as humanly possible. Although, given the four of us, it was definitely me who could be heard over the still sounds of the night. Foster handed me a gun as we all met at the front door. "I'll go in first. Two second delay."Everyone nodded and lined up. All around us, the night was still and calm. It made the hair on the back of my neck rise up as chill bumps raced down my spine. And it wasn't because of the temperature. Something was very wrong.We made our way down the cobble path, our faint shadows the only witnesses to our journey. Right at this moment in time, I was wishing I had thought to grab up a set of the comms. Flying by the seat of my pants was never something I aspired to. Clear, concise, thought out plans were my bywords. Foster eased against the side of the house. I took up point on the other side. Kara and Tore stoo
Faint shouts came from the back of the house. Amara had fainted in my arms, exhaustion weighed down her delicate features in the purplish splotches of color under her sunflower blue eyes. Everything inside me fought against handing her off to someone else, but my daughter wasn't the only person we needed to save. Handing her to Marco, I pulled my gun from my holster and made my way to the back of the house. Inhuman shrieks sliced through the air just as what felt and sounded like thunder crashed down the steps. With a prayer to the heavens, I started making my way down the stairs. At the base of them, I saw a confusing pile of limbs, dark clothes, what looked like a white blanket, and a spreading pile of blood. "Get them up. Get them up," Foster barked. "Doc, get her prepped. We're out of time. I'll make sure she stays down this time."I rushed down the rest of the steps, hoped Foster wouldn't shoot me. I couldn't exactly announce my presence in a way he would understand. Ju
The ringing of my phone pulled me out of a sound sleep. Slapping at the infernal buzzing, I managed to catch it before it fell off. Foster's name showed up on my screen. My heart started racing as my chest clenched. "Foster," I said."Nico's been stabbed. Four times. The doctors are working on your sister. We can't get the bleeding to stop in one of the wounds."I shot up in bed as everything washed from my mind but the problem that was in front of me. "I need a picture. I can't help without looking at it.""Video calling."I flicked the button and bit back a scream. Thrusting the blankets back, I got out of bed. Ran from the room. "MAGS!"The house erupted into chaos. Mags met me in the hallway, looking wide awake even in her rubber ducky jammies. I gave her a rundown, told her what I needed. She shoved me towards the conference room. "We'll get you set up, keep talking." She pulled her phone from her pocket. What she said was lost as I focused back on Foster.
I crept along the rooftop. The target was staying in the long term suites across the road. It was our first night, and it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders the farther we got from New Trenadie. The next moment, I crashed to the roof's floor. "Damn it." She snickered. "Still a sucky spy, Raphael." She slid her body over mine.I sucked in a breath. Nodded. Hell, I practically begged her for it. But without words. When she got that tone, my words were not necessary. She smiled. "I'm not going to beat you to death. Nor am I going to stuff you into a padded room." She bent down, flicked her tongue over my lips. "But I will tie you up, spank you, flog you, fuck you, and then make you do it all over again. My dick went to iron between her legs. Her laugh was husky. "I'm keeping you, Raphael. Do you understand me?"My heart settled. Skipped a beat. "Yes, Mistress."The end.
My phone dinged with a new incoming text message. Considering my phone had been going off since the wee hours of the morning with Willow and Ryker announcing the baby was finally coming, I was tempted to just shut it off. But it could be something important. And since Angelo and I were at home with the other babies, it fell to us to make sure we kept everything running as it should. I grabbed the phone. Unlocked the screen. A video message popped up. Raphael and his girl, Nia. Their heads mushed together to get into frame. "Momma, I have to leave. But I wanted to tell you I love you. And thank you for everything. I will let you know when I get back." Nia smiled. "I'll keep him safe, Momma. I swear it.""Bye, Momma," they said together before they ended the call.I smiled even as tears filled my eyes. Angelo looked up at me from his spot on the bed. He was restrained, a ball gag in his mouth. I held the crop up high. "Our last baby is finally happy, Angelo." I s
Two weeks later I glared at the woman on the table. "I still don't know why I have to be here. I barely know you."Willow snorted. "Because you're scarier than anyone else in my family. And I don't want those doctors trying to get all bitchyyyyyyyy." Another contraction hit her. She clamped down on my hand hard enough that I thought I was going to need surgery to remove the bones from each other. And this little firecracker had more strength inside her than her grip would show. Raphael had told me some of her story. She'd told me the rest of it. A ritual the Amatucci women apparently indulged in was something called Girls' Night. Really it was a bunch of drinking, talking about sex, and watching movies while we ate enough of Willow's confectionaries to give ourselves diabetes. Willow blew out a breath. "Ryker can't handle seeing me in this kind of pain, so he has to stay out in the lobby with the rest of them. You're second chair." She panted. Demanded some ice chips.
Three days laterWalking into my parents house when they didn't know I was alive was a risky thing. A multitude of crappy things could happen. Not the least of which was Momma killing me for real this time. Or Papa crying. Or either of them fainting."Go on," Nia said as she shoved me forward gently. "You're already here. Just go into the kitchen. Nik said she told them to wait for her in the kitchen."I nodded, felt my palms go clammy as my breath backed up in my lungs. This could go terribly wrong. So fucking horribly wrong. Man up, Si, that no longer too small voice said inside me. Since I'd been actively listening to it more, he wasn't so easy to shut up. Even when I wanted to. Thankfully, the nasty bitch who lived inside me was getting fainter. Although he could still throw a temper tantrum to beat a two year old. "I'm right here. And I'll be right here the whole time. They've waited long enough, Raphael." She nudged me again. Even as bile rushed up the back o
We all stood in the kitchen, guzzling water by the gallon. I hadn't been this dehydrated since the last time I got in trouble at Petter Manor. But at least this time it was due to happy tears and reunification. Raphael sat and watched it all. Just absorbed it. But he never got so far away I couldn't touch him. That I even needed to touch him still blew my mind. But I wasn't going to question it. He helped steady me when it felt like everything inside me and around me was bending and flexing too fast for me to catch up. "What are your plans for tomorrow?" Liam asked as he finished his third glass of water. "Tomorrow is the gala. I'm going to string Anders up-the guy who had you kidnapped again. I'm going to tell everyone the Petters have been blackmailing and abusing and paying off that the Petters are dead and gone. That they're all on watch." I studied Liam and Lilly. It blew my mind that they had gone into the government side of this dirty world. That they willingly put t
Nia came over to me while I was helping drag some bodies away. "Hey Raphael, can you come with me, please?"Foster grunted at me as we got the body up on the catering cart. "Go. I've got this." I nodded, turned back to Nia. "Sure, Nia." She took my hand and we walked from the room. Her hand was trembling in mine. It was only the slightest degree, but it might as well have registered on the seismic scale. "You good?" I asked her softly as we walked down a set of stairs. She said nothing, made no movements except to keep walking. I pulled her to a stop. Made her look at me. "Are you good?" I asked again. Her eyes were wide, as if she were trying to stave off the tears. "Amelie and Anton..." she blew out a breath. "They're t-""The only two people you love in this world." I smiled sadly. "I know, Nia."Her eyelids fluttered shut as a tear escaped down her cheek. Her breath was shaky as she exhaled. "I got them away from here. Put them in with a good woman with a hu
Day before the gala "Charlie team in position," the man's voice came through the little earbud I wore in my right ear. I kept a tight hold on my fear. My relief. My heart. All of the planning, all of the tears, all of the arguments. It all came down to this. "Delta team in position," Raphael said through my ear. "Foxtrot team in position," another voice said. I still wasn't quite sure who was who by their voice, but I'd done an okayish job of remembering names and faces. The fact that I had a team full of women with me made me like the Amatuccis even more. They didn't discriminate. If someone had the skill and the drive to join the security teams, they were given a position. "Estrogen team in position," I said. A series of clicks came through the earbud. I'd made a single joke about Echo team being full of vaginas. They called us the Estro team now. Since we were collectively badass, I didn't really care what they called us as long as it wasn't disrespectful. "A
Her babies? She had kids? I shook my head. Knew there had to be a different story, but I needed to get her back with me to learn it. I set her down on the chair. Pushed her head down between her knees. "Breathe, Nia." I made my voice hard. As hard as I dared when all I wanted to do was cuddle her up and carry her away. Nowhere was my fierce and strong Dominant. Right now, she was a broken, hurting woman. I would hold her together until she could find herself again. Ivan came rushing into the room, his gun drawn. He lifted it to the ceiling when he saw what was going on. One of his brows rose in question.I gave him a brief rundown of what I knew. Which was damn little. I shrugged when I was out of information to share. Mas came hopping in behind Ivan. He didn't have a weapon, but he did have concern etched on his face. "Who the hell are you?" a voice said from behind me. I whirled around, putting Nia behind my body as I faced the threat that shouldn't be there. A
After rushing through the shower and the delicious meal that Raphael put together for breakfast, I walked into the space Ivan and Klara had set up for me. Everything was as I left it, but that didn't mean a whole lot. Especially in a place I didn't control one hundred percent. Brushing the weird vibe away, I walked to the computer. Booted everything up. Once it was up and running, I went through my process of accessing my cloud accounts. Jasper had set some up for me that weren't the typical commercial kind. Luckily, I'd memorized the process, or I'd be up a creek with zero paddle at the moment. A ReadMe file was highlighted when I got all the way into my account. I right clicked, read through the metadata how Jasper showed me. Recognizing his signature, I opened the file. Ms. Flower~I've attached all of the information I could find re Cucumber Butt and Pretty Mean. You'll find them in the associated files.I snickered at Jasper's sense of humor. That kid was a genius and