Chapter 18
#
#
#
If you focus on the money and arms, you might find a way out of this.
If you focus on the money and arms.
Might find a way? No.
Might relied on luck instead of disciplined commitment. After today, Michael knew there was no backing down or backing away.
Months ago when he'd confronted Anson to tell him he knew of his plans, and that he would stop him, he'd seen the fear he'd put on his face. When Fi's shot wanged the back window of his car, he saw Anson's fear escalate. And then, he made the nearly fatal error that turned his life upside down.
He'd walked away and left Anson there. It was Fiona who ultimately paid the price for his mistake, and Fiona who had redeemed him with her gift.
It was that mistake that gave Anson the belief that he could control him. After today, he knew the man would think he'd gained the upper hand again. That he'd renewed his fear. That could not be more wrong.
Fi was out of prison, never to return.
She was the key.
He held her now in his arms in the middle of an oversized king-size bed. Soft, sweetly scented woman. His wife. They belonged to each other now, and Anson could not come between them, no matter how clever he thought he'd been to learn or guess they had married.
The only thing Anson gained today was Michael's complete and utter commitment to put him behind bars forever, or end his life. Either was acceptable.
If you focus on the money and arms.
That would be the way they'd do it. The MI5 link solidified the international aspect of Anson's business, and it was a business, the first order of which was, before he hurt anyone else or destroyed another person, to capture him.
They would figure out how to do it. No problem was without a solution. No question was without an answer. It wouldn't matter how many mercenaries Anson hired. Michael was committed to putting him behind bars, and sending him, Larry and Vaughn to Guantanamo. If Vaughn could provide additional assistance, that might be worth an upgrade in his sip of Scotch.
"Stop it."
Fiona pushed herself out of Michael's loose embrace and rose above him, brushing her hair to one side. She smoothed her fingers along his cheek and put her hands over his head, as if by taking his head and holding it, she could redirect his war planning or exile it for the night.
"Stop it now. This time does not belong to Anson, it's mine. Mine and yours. Our time. Only our time."
She lowered her mouth to his, and used her hands, and moved her body over his to banish the man who had taken up residence in her husband's psyche.
"If you're going to obsess over something," she breathed hot against his throat before finding his mouth again, "it will be me, Michael. No one else."
With that, he wrapped his arms around her so tightly she thought she might lose the ability to breathe, but she returned his passionate embrace with equal strength. He moved against her as if to enfold her into himself, and released her only to turn and possess her so completely that neither could think of anything but the other. And when he tired momentarily, she imprinted herself on his soul again so that he would know there was no room for anything or anyone to come between them, tonight or ever.
And then they slept.
#
#
#
"You're still here," Dani said. "Why are you still here?"
It was not quite 5 a.m. as she struggled to sit upright. She needed the bathroom and she needed help, but not with the back of her hospital gown hanging wide open because she'd need that footed cane they'd left for her to use, and as she learned yesterday, it took all of her strength to focus on using it one-handed.
Fiona would be bringing some of her clothing by today, but that wouldn't be for a few hours which left her nearly naked in a small room with an overpoweringly large male who had appointed himself her caretaker and body guard.
A very attractive, overpoweringly large male.
"I'm not leaving. Need some help?" Jesse asked around a yawn as he stretched upright from the chair he'd been sleeping in for almost a week.
"I think I can handle this on my own."
"Doesn't look like it from here."
"Would you leave? Please?"
"Nope. Come on, let me help."
She rolled her eyes and reached for the call button for the nurses' station.
"Now what'd you do that for?" Jesse wondered. "I told you I'll help." He reached and clicked off the call button.
"Thanks, but I need a little personal space here."
He hid a smile. He knew exactly what she wanted, and Miss Tough As Nails Unless She'd Been Shot wasn't going to get it. Grabbing his jacket, he held it up. "Your robe, milady."
She stared and the garment in his hand for a moment before reaching for it with her good arm and sliding it around her as best she could. Then he gently reached and took hold of it, and helped her put one arm through one sleeve before draping the rest of it over her bandaged shoulder.
He put one arm around her waist and helped her slide down from the bed until her feet touched the floor and then steadied her as she walked to the bathroom.
"Jesse, I can do this," she said.
"I need to be able to help you." He recognized her embarrassment with the situation.
She reached the door and steadied herself by holding the door frame. She took hold of the sturdy metal safety bar inside the bathroom before she turned and shut the door, avoiding his gaze. She flipped on the fan switch, thankful for the masking noise.
Scented with something reminiscent of sandalwood, his jacket reached below her knees. The one sleeve her arm was through fell a good twelve inches below her fingertips. When she had finished and washed her hands, she opened the door to find him exactly where he was when she'd closed the door.
She looked up into the warmth of his gaze. "You don't have to wait on me."
He smiled. "But I do."
With that he reached, lifted her up and carried her back to the hospital bed. "You're stuck with me until you can show me a one-inch grouping at the range."
"Not necessary," she grumbled. "And don't do that again."
"What? Carry you? Or this?"
This turned out to be the softest, sweetest, lightest, most perfect kiss she had ever received. Then she opened her eyes to look into his and felt her heart roar.
"Thank you for saving my life, Dani."
She had to look away then because she was as confused as she had ever been in her life, and confusion was not something Kimberly Danielle Pearce was familiar with, in any form. She always knew what to do next, what would come next, and that kiss didn't fit into any part of her life.
It startled her to discover she wanted another one.
She said, "you're welcome," and immediately felt foolish for speaking, so she closed her eyes, lay back into the pillow on the bed and turned her face away from him.
"I'm getting some coffee. I'll be back."
Outside the room, Jesse took a deep breath. Then another. He'd planned to kiss her cheek, and had no explanation, even to himself, as to why he had touched his lips to hers. He realized he had just complicated a whole lot of things for himself, and he could not come up with a single, solitary reason why he'd done that. Except that . . . he wanted to.
Dani didn't know it yet, but he had no plans to let her out of his sight.
She had protected him; now turnabout was fair play. She wouldn't like it, but he was taking her home with him. This business with Anson had escalated, and Mike and Fiona were so wrapped up in each other now that they were married, there was no way he'd ask them to help, except for short periods of time.
He had just come to a sudden realization. He found he had an unforeseen ability to be a lot more empathetic to Mike's state of mind about Fi. A lot more. And how did that happen?
#
#
#
It was nearly eight in the morning when Michael and Fi appeared at Pearce's hospital doorway. Fi entered the room with a smile and a tote bag full of things Dani would need to feel like herself again, starting with wearing her own clothing.
Jesse left as soon as they arrived. Fi was aware of Jesse's plans to take Dani to his townhouse so he could keep an eye on her while she continued to recover. As she suspected, Dani wasn't very happy with that situation, but it would be a good solution to keep her safe while she recovered.
She and Michael had gone to the room she kept when she was working in Miami to gather her personal items to bring to the hospital. The rest of her things were packed in a bag waiting in the trunk of Fi's car.
As he helped her, she was filling her in with as many details as she could, on work they hoped she could be involved with. They'd taken Jesse's offer to use his highly secure work environment to discuss the most sensitive information. Other critical meetings would be held at the CIA offices. The matter of locating and bringing Anson Fullerton to justice was underway.
Fi told her Raines had been at work since much earlier in the day, while his wife was spending her morning resting on the couch in his office. Sam had joined them.
They were staying in pairs, teaming up for sensible security. Over breakfast in Raines' room, he and Michael had made basic plans on how they would track Anson's movements, while Raines discussed how he planned to get his FBI counterpart and former partner to the CIA for a meeting.
While they were waiting for Pearce's doctor to appear and release her, Fiona realized tht between her bandages and the way her clavicle was taped, she might need more help than she'd want Jesse to provide.
"Michael had this same kind of wound about a year and a half ago. Let me get you a few things to be comfortable in," she said as she helped Dani put her arms through shirt sleeves. "It'll be a small way I can return your kindness for the clothing you gave me in D.C. Let me know what kind of things you'd like and some sizes and I'll do my best. Besides, this has a fun aspect. Michael won't let me go by myself to shop, so he'll have to stand guard while I do, and he hates that."
Dani laughed then. "Of course he does."
Sharing the burdensome knowledge of Raines' former partner's role in each of their lives would be the starting point for the meeting at Jesse's place of business. Everyone needed to understand the enormity of the task.
Jesse had left the hospital when they arrived; he'd gone home to shower, change and went to his job. They would meet him there.
When the doctor arrived, he had a short list of orders for Dani about bathing, medications, keeping the wound bandages dry and when to see him in his office. Fiona wasn't too sure who was more relieved to be leaving the hospital, Dani or Michael.
Michael had called Jesse with the news they were leaving, while Jesse would contact everyone else. They were the last three to arrive at Jesse's office. There was a wheelchair waiting at the front door when Michael pulled up at the security company's main entrance. Fiona and the footed cane provided assistance so Dani could sit in the annoying thing.
"I should be really irritated about this chair," she said. "But not today."
#
#
#
Like a field commander addressing his troops, Michael began the meeting by pacing.
"We're missing Peterbaugh and Carnahan, but they should be here by Friday," he said. "When they get here, I'll be working with them. We're going to capture Anson. We need help to do that. He's here, somewhere in Miami. We need to figure out where. Last night he sent a message to my phone; I left it with the techs to see if they can come up with something to lead us back to him.
"Also, last night, after he or someone he hired bypassed Jesse's screaming alarm and set a bomb in the house Fi and I leased we realized Anson actually left us a warning in the mailbox, but we didn't know it was a warning until the house was destroyed. What we need there are all the police and fire investigator's reports.
"We each need to do whatever we can to stay safe. You all know how to do that. Stay alert. What I also need to make everyone aware of is the result of a meeting I had yesterday morning with Raines' counterpart at the FBI, the guy everyone knows didn't want to release Fi into CIA custody. Doesn't like to cooperate. Yells at us. Sends Harris and Lane to annoy us . . . turns out, he was protecting Fi, protecting all of us, not in the usual ways, though. Sam was kidnapped by a couple of clumsy guys he hired because they were clumsy. Sam lost his car, but didn't lose his life. Anson's been blackmailing him for a decade."
Michael stopped pacing and looked away then. "He put himself at risk by verifying what we thought about this situation yesterday. If we change our behaviors in any way, it can hurt him. We can't do anything to warn Anson we know about this. At the same time, we need to do what he's been doing. If you find a way to throw a roadblock, throw it."
He glanced at Raines who stood. "We're following the arms and following the money. Anson's link to MI5 is the crack in his operation we need to widen and spread apart so it can swallow him. Pearce and my wife will be going over the OMB reports Pearce pulled right before she and Jesse were injured. We need to look at everything there."
"And Sam and I are going to be going over the DEA stuff once you've wrangled that away from the FBI. Today, you think?" Jesse asked.
"Or tomorrow," Raines said. "We have to play that very, very carefully. We don't know if Anson has someone in the DEA or not. We're going to operate on the premise that he does."
"And that's how we should be looking at everything," Michael said. "Like Anson has someone inside working for him."
"Are we done here?" Sam asked. "I've still got a car problem."
"I'll go with," Jesse offered.
"We're headed back to the office," Raines said. "What are you doing, Westen?"
Michael looked down at Fi with a grim expression. "Shopping. We're going shopping. And then we'll see you at HQ."
Pearce grinned.