Jacob(32)

She nodded her head and cleared her throat. “This intelligence is twelve hours old. By the time you reach the area of operation, I’ll have updated satellite data. There’s no one with access to this information except me and now you.”

“You said four were confirmed alive.” Jared’s quiet voice relayed the fear and anguish the men tried to disguise.

“Yes. I know Jason’s team had five that survived the jump. That means one is either gone, shielded from the satellite by dense metal, or has been separated from the group. I can confirm only four.”

Jared lifted his chin directing his gaze to Jacob. “We need to move, now.” Jared looked at his watch and pointed to the map of the Ronald Reagan Airport he carried. “Our bird is here on the southeast ramp of the airport. We’ll convene at seventeen hundred. The aircraft is logged as a private charter and can leave at seventeen twenty. The adjacent warehouse is ours and the team can board with their equipment after customs departs the ramp.”

“I have small arms, primarily M4’s, but I’ve tasked Fury to ensure specialty pieces like M240s and a couple of M249’s are at or near the landing zone,” Jason said.

Jared nodded, “A couple of M249’s may come in handy in a firefight.”

Tori listened quietly as Jacob continued. “The primary, secondary, and tertiary extraction points and modes of transportation are set. Jewel will give Fury the landing coordinates the next time he makes contact.”

Jared cleared his throat. “Tori, Guardian has had you thoroughly vetted. Your clearance and need to know has been validated, but I need to...”

She held up a hand. “This information won’t leave this office. I’ll die before I’ll say a word.”

Jared had the decency to look embarrassed. “Yeah, I heard you were pretty freakin’ tough. I had to say it anyway.”

Jared left the office and Jacob closed the door after him. “Tori, baby, I know what it took for you to do this.”

She shook her head and walked away from him arranging the paperwork on her new desk. “Jacob, I know the risks you’re taking. I verified each thread of information. I made it safer for you to leave, but I also made it easier for you to come home to me.” He walked behind her and pulled her back to him. She turned and buried her face in his neck. “Just … promise me you won’t get yourself killed.”





*



He lifted her face, her un-shed tears glistened. Damned if her gaze didn’t wrap around his soul. Fucking beautiful. The image of her at that moment seared itself into his mind. Deep in his gut he felt it, the idea that things weren’t going to end well. He wouldn’t lie to her, couldn’t tell her he wouldn’t be killed. “I’ll do my best baby. Never doubt that. The good news is I’m not gone yet.”

His hands reached for her waist and pulled her shirt from her skirt. Tori’s hands went to his shirt and made quick work of his buttons. The clothes they were married in dropped in a disregarded heap on the floor as hands grasped flesh. An urgent and profound need seized him. The knowledge he would be gone within two hours fueled the desperation of his lovemaking.

His hands molded against her smooth hot skin. Her body was perfect. Lowering them both to the floor, he straddled her aligning their bodies from ankle to head. He wanted to ingrain the feeling of her into his skin. Pushing her long blond hair away from her face, he smiled sadly. “I’m so sorry, my love. Your wedding night should be someplace better. Not this…not a roll on the floor of an office.”

Tori’s lips lifted to his. She tasted so damn good. He couldn’t help himself as he ravaged her mouth. When he pulled away, they were both breathless.

“I could care less where I’m at as long as I’m with you. The place is unimportant. Being with you here, now, is all that matters. Love me, Jacob.”

Her voice caught as she said his name, the small sound told him how much his leaving affected her. His lips traveled from her mouth to her neck. The unbelievable softness of her skin drove him wild. He wanted to taste every inch of her. His hands held her to him as he rolled her off the floor and lifted her on top of him. He physically ached. His cock was ready to explode. The thought of never being with her again, well that provided enough incentive. This time he would make it all about her.

Lifting her up, he centered his cock and said a silent prayer of thanksgiving when she arched back and lowered on his shaft. He waited as she slowly took him into her hot, wet channel. She was ready and so damn tight. The desire to hold off his climax momentarily faded as physical pleasure grasped him as tightly as her sex. Tori’s hands rested on his chest and she started the slow, sensuous, up and down rhythm they both loved. He watched her head fall back and her mouth open slightly. Her hair flowed down her shoulders and chest brushing her breasts. He lifted his hands from her waist and thumbed her taunt nipples, earning a delicious sound from deep within her. The need he felt grew sharper. Hell, pain became a distant memory as he edged headlong into tortured bliss. The vision she made above him—God knew he would never forget it; her bottom lip caught between her teeth, her eyes half open staring down at him; that fantastic body of hers writhing on his cock in unbridled desire. If he died tomorrow, he would know he had loved completely and had been loved completely—nothing held back, no reservations, no regrets. This woman held his heart and was his life. Her body bucked hard against him as she came. He pulled her down on top of him and slammed into her hot core, once, twice, and then shattered inside her. The orgasm tore him apart physically and emotionally. His first as a married man and the best he had ever had with her. Victoria was his. She owned his soul, anchored his life, and someday was going to be the mother of his children. He was complete. Now he just needed to stay alive.





Chapter Nineteen


“Down!” Jacob’s shouted his warning to Dixon as he shouldered his M4 and fired. Dixon’s body jerked backward, unnaturally twisting, off balance and falling. The rifle Dixon used jerked from the recoil when his convulsing finger pulled the trigger. The bullets riddled the buildings across the compound. A spray of blood painted a vivid scar across Dixon’s desert camouflage.

Fuck! Jacob lifted from his position and fired at the same time as Jared let loose a volley of bullets. They pinned down the bastards long enough for Drake to bolt forward and grab his brother by the arm. Shots from Chief’s position joined the cover fire while Drake pulled Dixon toward the sheltered area where the injured men from Bravo team had taken cover.

Jacob ducked back. A cascade of cement shards rained down around him. This god-damned, mother-fucking mission will kill every last one of us. First it claimed Jason’s Bravo team, and now the slimy fuckers had Alpha team surrounded. Jacob pulled his last two magazines out of his cargo pocket and put them in his belt.

Alpha team had surrounded the compound at dawn. They had the element of surprise. Jared, Chief, and he provided cover while Dixon and Drake silently removed the guards on watch. Doc protected their escape route.

His men moved like ghosts. The twins were on his team for a reason. They were the best at what they did. Bravo team’s surviving members exited the building directed by Dixon and Drake to a rally point. The twins remained in the building used as a prison.

Then all hell busted loose. An armed convoy thundered into the camp rousting the entire contingent of terrorist fuckheads. Dixon and Drake were spotted as they carried Jason out of the building. Drake shouldered the entire weight of the massive man as Dixon positioned his M4 and fired like a madman giving his brother time to make it to safety.

Now Dixon wasn’t moving and Jason looked like a corpse. God, please, let them be alive.

Jacob flinched at the snap of a bullet that hit the corrugated tin siding of the building he was using as shelter. The whine of a ricochet momentarily froze him into position. He pushed into his protected space and waited for the anticipated firestorm. But the sudden onset of absolute quiet spoke volumes. Both he and Jared lifted and fired at the convoy of vehicles that sheltered the insurgents. If the bastards weren’t firing, they were repositioning or moving in assets for a concentrated push.

Jacob lunged to a position nearer to the small out-building where Jared was hunkered down. He risked a glance towards Chief. The man was out of ammo and was taking on two of the son of a bitch’s in hand-to-hand combat.

A mother-fucking supply convoy! The terrorists in the compound doubled when those trucks pulled in. Jacob hit the release, dropped his empty magazine, and reloaded with his second to last full clip in one smooth motion. Where the hell were Joseph and Doc? His oldest brother was supposed to rendezvous at the camp at daybreak. Doc was either dead or captive. Nothing else could keep the man from helping his team. Damn it to hell!

Drake and what remained of Bravo team huddled behind a meager rock outcropping. From his new position Jacob could see the medic working frantically on the downed men. Jared stepped out from his cover, exposing himself, and shot. What the fuck? Jacob sprang to his feet and fired in the same direction. The stupid son of a bitch was going to get himself killed. What the hell was he trying to do? Jacob repositioned and saw why Jared was risking his life. Doc was being carried to a deuce and a half. His limp body dumped into the back of the two and a half ton transport vehicle by a group of men. Jacob took aim and dropped one of the terrorist guards surrounding the truck before the volley of a bullets pushed him back into a more sheltered position. A spray of brick and wood shards needled the small area Jacob had tucked into. A myriad of cuts on his face and neck covered his forehead with blood. Shit! He wiped the rolling droplets from his forehead, not allowing any to obscure his vision.