Her tongue made a quick pass over her bottom lip. “Well, Boss, it was parked in the barn, so first, I helped Mr. Vlad to his feet, and I drove him to a safe location, then—”
“After she punched holes in all Delaney’s guys’ tires,” Jameson interjected.
“Well, yes, I thought that was smart, and then I ran back to burn the barn down. W-w-wow. That fire went so, so fast. It got big in a hurry.”
“Old barns burn the hottest,” Alex told her. “Dust and dry timber make an explosive combination.”
“You’re telling me,” she breathed. “My pants were smoking. I almost didn’t make it out of there alive.”
Alex couldn’t help it. He grinned. “You’ve had a busy night, Ms. Bannister.”
“You have no idea. Once I got Mr. Vlad—”
“His name’s Vladimir Morozov. He’s an—”
“He’s an undercover FBI agent?” Jameson asked, his head now canted to the opposite shoulder.
“Yes. He works in their psychic unit. How’d you know?”
“Jameson has mad ninja skills,” Maddie declared, her pretty, light-blue eyes so wide with innocence and honest affection for the guy at her side, that it was hard to look at her and not see Kelsey. Had she ever looked so frightened, yet strong at the same time as Maddie did now? Absolutely.
“I can see that,” Alex admitted quietly.
“Wait. The FBI really has a psychic unit?” Jameson asked, dumbfounded. “Since when?”
“Since a year ago,” Alex admitted. “A couple of my agents now work in that unit. Listen, the EMTs are running late. How about we get Vladimir back to civilization? Looks like you two could use a hot meal and a couple days off.”
Jameson shook his head. “Not me. I’m good, and I’ll be at work tomorrow.”
“You’re a former SEAL,” Alex told him sternly, “which means you’re dumb as a box of rocks and you don’t know when to quit. But you work for me now. Two days R&R. That’s an order.”
Junior Agent Tenney had the good sense to stand down. He looked pretty damned content there with Maddie on his lap and in his arms. She was smiling, and it was happening again. Two people in the right place at the wrong time. Fighting together to survive. Beating the odds. Falling head over heels into who knew what.
“How many bodies did you leave back at that farmhouse?” Alex asked Jameson.
The thing about this young man was he was hard to read. He didn’t blink and his feelings didn’t show, well, except for the tenderness that softened his lips whenever Maddie spoke.
“I’m not sure—”
“Twenty-three,” Adam announced proudly.
Alex cocked his head. “You mean to tell me that Jameson took them out all by himself?”
Again, Jameson gave nothing away as he replied evenly, “I didn’t realize there were so many. I knew I ended the first three who came for me, then the six after Maddie showed up. I had to. It was totally self-defense and I used deadly force to protect Maddie. Luckily, I acquired a high-capacity, twelve-gauge shotgun after the first go-round, so I was prepared. But I lost track of the body count after reinforcements arrived. There were too many, and, oh yeah, Maddie ended Delaney.”
“Way to go, Mad Dog!” Hunter crowed.
“Damn fine shooting, lady,” Eric added.
Adam’s long arm reached in as he ruffled her hair. “That’s my girl!”
But the news stopped Alex’s heart. He turned to his meek, demure Protocol Officer. “You shot Pops Delaney? The godfather of all Irish gangs on the East Coast?”
Her blonde locks bobbed as she nodded, and he’d made her nervous again. “Y-y-yes, I…” Her fingers twisted in her lap. “He… His guys were big and ugly, and he was going to kill Jameson, and I… He made me mad, Boss.” She ended that rambling, timid rant with a definite note of anger. “I couldn’t miss. There were so many of them, and he acted like he was God, but he isn’t! Err, wasn’t.”
Alex had to smile. The untouchable goon from Ireland had been brought down by a five-foot-nothing woman he’d pissed off. “Good job, Maddie. Sounds like Jameson finished what you started.”
“Yeah. I guess.” And she’d fallen back into whatever trap in her past that made her afraid to be the woman she was. Yup. Maddie was Kelsey all over again.
Something cold and sinister crept up the back of Alex’s neck. “Where’s Shade?”
“She wasn’t onsite when we arrived at the farmhouse,” Adam answered.
“Didn’t see any sign she was ever there,” Hunter added.
“Except for Vlad and her limo,” Maddie breathed.
“How about you two?” Alex asked Maddie and Jameson. “Did either of you actually see her?” The instant the question rolled off his tongue, he knew better.
“Umm, Boss,” Maddie piped up. “I never heard or saw her, but Jameson can’t see and—”
“You know what I meant.”
“I heard her though,” Jameson answered. “Like I said, Miss Shade argued with Delaney about how it was his fault her plans went wrong. She slapped him. He slapped her back. They said a lot of hateful things to each other.”
“Find her,” Alex growled.
“Will do,” Adam and Hunter answered at the same time.
“And you two…”
“Yes, Boss?” It was uncanny how Jameson Tenney could aim those unseeing eyes at Alex and look right through him.
“Forget the R&R. You’re going into protective custody until we locate Shade. Eric, once you release Agent Morozov to the EMTs, get Maddie and Jameson to a safe house.”
“Will do.”
“But Boss…” Jameson protested.
Alex ended the discussion with a steely glare that, oddly, worked on Jameson as much as it did his sighted agents. “Shade’s behind this, and I don’t take chances. If all she wanted was publicity, she’s damned sure going to get it. But if something else is going on here, I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
Jameson’s whole damned face lit up, like
