Despite It All by Reese Knightley

 

Greene

The rain had let up a bit but before it did, it turned the dismal salmon-colored motel into more of a coral color. The run-down structure sat sunken behind a parking lot filled with water. The location wasn’t that far from the Federal building where Summer Peterson worked, and even if she was no longer in Ventura County, her apartment was half an hour ride from here. That gave them a place to start.

Most of the guys were inside except for Eagle and Link. They stood in the rain until Eagle grew a brain and got into the SUV. Link followed, but left the passenger door open and water trickled inside. He figured Link won the no brain category by that move right there.

Which reminded him, he had to get a move on and take these two with him.

He had his orders. When it came right down to it, he wasn’t going anywhere, and he’d known that the minute he’d stepped into the Infinity coach, backing out wasn’t an option for him. He didn’t quit. It wasn’t in his nature.

Mostly, because he was the best at what he did.

So yeah, he had orders to follow.

First things first, go bring the hottie FBI agent Forest Taylor back here to the Secretary of Defense.

“He’s probably not as hot as you remember,” he muttered. The guy was a hot head, though, according to Dave. Forest seemed to think he was a one man show and could find Summer on his own.

Which was all kinds of stupid.

Hopefully, Dave could put an end to that thinking.

He calculated the ammunition he had in his weapon and spare clip. He probably wouldn’t need it. This mission had all the earmarking of a slam dunk and, when it was over, he could get back to his life of hot meals, missions, and poker cards. An endless loop, but it was better than the alternative.

Eagle was in charge of putting the location in the GPS on his phone and by the look of things, the guy wasn’t having much success.

They’d better hurry up. It wasn’t like they had all day.

“If you’d just let me fucking help.” That was Link hovering over Eagle’s shoulder. The guy had to be involved in everything Eagle did.

Hitching a shoulder against the wall, he lit up a cigarette knowing that one day, if he didn’t catch a bullet, these things would probably kill him.

When the door snapped open, he looked around and the colonel’s tall figure emerged.

He took a few inhales, knowing by the look on Liam’s face that he wasn’t going to like what he had to say, so he squinted at him through the haze of smoke, refusing to throw the cigarette away.

Liam snapped the door closed firmly and he figured that was his way of getting up the nerve to tell him what he needed to.

“Remember, Forest was in an accident.”

“What?”

He knew he looked all kinds of stupid with his mouth hanging open, but fuck, the words threw him for a loop.

“You didn’t know?”

No, he didn’t fucking know. “What the hell kind of accident was it?”

“He was hit by a drunk driver six months ago.” The words were coming at him through a fog and Liam looked at him all strange-like. “His friend was killed. Forest was severely banged up.”

Six months ago would have been right around the time he’d shut Forest down. Not that he hadn’t deserved it. The guy had shoved his nose where it didn’t belong, but still, if he’d known Forest was in an accident, he could have…he would have…

What?

What the fuck could he have done if he’d known?

Send fucking flowers?

He’d made damned sure that the hottie wanted nothing to do with him. Was the accident why Forest hadn’t been back on base? Here, all this time, he’d thought he’d been the reason. He’d thought that maybe Forest had stayed away because he was fighting his attraction to him.

Wrong call.

He hadn’t been the reason Forest had stayed away. That meant Forest hadn’t given him one more thought since the day he’d walked away at that party. And for some reason, that stuck in his chest like heartburn. He rubbed at the spot, trying to ease the damned ache, wondering if any of the men had some Tums.

He pulled in another lungful of smoke and fuck, did that burn. But the nicotine helped. Helped him calm when shit got all mixed up in his head.

“Was that around the time of that party?”

“It was the same night. I’m sorry. I thought you knew.” Liam looked at him like he should have known.

How was he supposed to have known? Nobody had said a fucking word to him. But then, why would they? Just because he couldn’t get Forest off of his mind didn’t mean shit. He wasn’t privy to the man’s personal life.

“How bad was he banged up?” He fought down the urge to know everything.

“A fractured wrist and an injury that thankfully didn’t hit any major organs.” Liam leaned a shoulder against the salmon-colored stucco. “So, the accident hasn’t taken him out of the field per se.”

“Because he works for Dave.” He nodded, that made sense.

“That’s right. And if anything happens to Forest, let’s just say that Dave will not be happy.”

Nothing like a lot of pressure. He’d seen Dave when he wasn’t happy. He’d seen a whole platoon of soldiers quaking in their boots by the time the SOD had gotten through with them.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

“You give anymore thought to Dave’s request?”

“No.” He studied the end of his smoke. The other thing Dave had asked of him? Well, he was on the fence about it and needed a lot more thought if he was going to…

“Well, don’t take too long,” Liam interrupted. “I have to make a decision.”

“I gotta go get him first.” Done with hearing any more, he stalked away from Liam and headed to the SUV and just before sliding inside, he took another two seconds for one more hit of his smoke before crushing the butt on the wet asphalt.

He closed the door to the SUV. Inside the enclosed space felt stuffy and smelled of rain.

“Ready?” Eagle turned in the driver’s seat.

He grunted, his mind on Forest, and he wondered about the man who was killed in the car accident and who he’d been to Forest. And who the fuck was Forest to Dave?

“That’s probably a yes,” Link said, turning to gaze at Eagle.

Eagle’s teeth flashed and the SUV lurched when he peeled out of the parking lot.

The dismal January weather was not yet done with its endless string of rainstorms and a light drizzle misted the street and the window.

Several minutes later, Eagle reached the busy street in front of a hectic coffee shop. Umbrellas bobbed like a sea of black and it reminded him of when he was younger, taking shelter in dirty doorways and wishing he’d had an umbrella of his own.

When Eagle slowed as they approached the front of the coffee shop, he searched every face, every head of hair, but came up empty.

It was a good damned thing they’d all changed into civilian clothes earlier. That wouldn’t help him, though. He’d stood out his entire life, never blended in, and blue jeans and a black, long sleeve t-shirt wasn’t going to change that fact. The only place he fit in was with soldiers like Infinity and Fury. And men like his old unit, but they were gone, some he’d lost touch with and the others, Jimmy Hash, Scott Mobile, and Dean Ferguson, dead.

At least he got the fucking chance to breathe air, wear clothes, and continue to fight.He scraped his nails, scratching at the denim covering his knees, itching for another smoke.

“I’ll go in the front door and piss off any suits with him,” Link said, snapping him out of his funk and bringing him back to the smell of rain.

“There’s an alley behind the shop. We’ll park there and wait for you.”

Link gave him a thumbs up. Whatever Link had planned for the suits made Eagle cackle.

“Remember, Dave said to keep it low key.” It’d be just like these two to go off the deep end and he wasn’t giving Dave a reason to come at him, no fucking way.

“I remember.”

Eagle rolled to a stop in front of the coffee shop, double parked, and Link slipped out.

“Get me a latte,” Eagle called out the window.

Link flipped Eagle the middle finger and disappeared inside.

“I really wanted one,” Eagle grumbled, pulling the SUV around and parking just outside the coffee shop’s back door. It wasn’t ideal, they were blocking half the alley, and an industrial sized trashcan took up the other side.

He had about two feet to open his door, so he stepped out and lit up a cigarette.

“Those things will kill you.”

“Maybe.”

He sucked in several hits before crushing the glowing end between his fingers. He stripped the leftover paper and cotton end and tossed them in the trashcan. Reluctant to get back in the confined space, he eyed the back door, willing Forest to appear. His heart rate picked up; missions always had that effect on him.

Eventually, he slid back inside and reached over to shove open the passenger door. He figured if it was taking this long, Forest and Link might need to get in quickly.

Two long minutes went by and his skin was crawling at the wait. On the verge of going in there and dragging them out, the back door slammed open and a bright head appeared.

Fuck, how could he have forgotten that exact shade of color?

Forest came running toward the SUV and behind him was Link. He suspected right then that shit wasn’t good. What the hell had happened? Commotion from the coffee shop came from behind them and then several bodies appeared all at once.

God damn it, Link had screwed up a simple retrieval!

When Forest reached the open passenger door, he held out a hand to him—just reached out to him, those bright eyes locked with his, lips parted.

Pulling the slighter man into the back seat, he yanked Forest over and into his lap to give room for Link. He got a face full of curls, a bump to the chin, and a nose full of vanilla for his trouble. Arms and legs flailed when Forest’s lean body crashed into his. A grunt popped up from his gut when a muscled thigh nudged hard between his legs and up against his nuts.

“Fuck!” someone shouted.

“Hit it!” Link dove in after Forest, slamming the door.

Eagle punched the gas and the SUV lurched forward, tires squealing on the wet asphalt.

“Good damned thing I covered the plates,” Link laughed like a madman.

Gunfire rang out, and he heard the distinct ping of a bullet hitting metal.

“Are they shooting at us?” Forest shoved against him, scrambling away from his hands, popping up and twisting around on the seat before he could stop him.

What the ever-living hell?

Was the guy crazy?

He’d take a bullet between the eyes and then Dave would gut him. Pushing down on the top of Forest’s mess of curls, he shoved the guy almost to the floorboards.

“So much for keeping this under wraps!” Yeah, that was growled out loud for Link, who only tossed him a crazy ass smile. Motherfucker, someday he was going to have it out with the guy for putting Forest in danger, but right then they needed to get the fuck out of dodge.

Another shot rang out and Eagle peeled out of the alley and into the street. Car horns blared and his shoulder hit the door when the vehicle fishtailed. Eagle floored it, and the SUV shot forward, raced down the street, and blew through the nearest traffic light.

Forest tried to shake off his hands, but he didn’t budge. “Stay the fuck down.” He was bigger, had more muscle. He wasn’t letting up until the coast was clear.

A fist punched him, landing squarely in the solar plexus, and he lost air.

The pain was immediate.

He dropped his hand away, hunched over, and curled his arm around his stomach, gasping. Forest pulled himself from the floor and onto the seat beside him.

There was a panic that happened when the body couldn’t get air, and it was happening.

“Keep your head down.” That slow, sexy voice might have gotten his attention more, but the need to breathe was paramount. When Forest planted a hand on the back of his head and shoved, he had no choice but to double over and down went his head almost between his knees.

He fought the hand on the back of his head and broke free with just enough energy to slump in his side of the seat.

He sent a scalding glare at Forest, but the smug bastard only smirked. It took about a half a minute, but it felt like fucking forever to suck in a good, deep breath of air and when he did, he wheezed. Eagle tossed a quick glance over his shoulder at him before returning to the road.

“You good, Greene?” Link leaned forward to look around Forest. “You take a bullet?”

“No,” he croaked. “I must have caught an elbow.”

Forest studied him.

Just watched him like he was a fucking bug or something. Those cool blue eyes moved over him like the guy was mapping his next move. He gazed at Forest warily, sizing the guy up. That move hadn’t been random.

There was one thing he had to know.

“Why’re you wearing red shoes?” he mumbled.