Gage took a deep breath. Until now, he hadn’t realized how hard hiding their secret from Mackenzie Stone was going to be. But his pack was depending on him to keep them safe, and that’s what he’d do.
As everyone stood up to get back to work, Gage added one more thing. “Ms. Stone will be here in less than an hour. I want that weight room cleaned up before she shows up. Get on it.”
That earned him some groans, but not nearly as many as he expected. Maybe this was going to work.
Chapter 3
Mac took her car to the SWAT compound, leaving Zak and the news van behind on purpose. She wanted to send a clear signal to Dixon that she was agreeing to his terms—no video cameras, no recording devices, no divulging secret tactical procedures. Of course, she had no interest in secret tactical procedures, and wouldn’t have printed them regardless. She was after something else entirely. She rolled to a stop outside the gate and turned off the engine. She didn’t know what it was yet, but her instincts told her there was the mother of all stories behind that fence.
She grabbed her purse, but didn’t bother with the monster camera Zak had tossed in the backseat. She still had her trusty little camera tucked in her back pocket. And if Dixon wanted to take it from her, she had her iPhone.
She took a deep breath, relaxed her shoulders, and put on her game face. Sergeant Gage Dixon was no idiot. He knew she was snooping for a story. She had to remember not to underestimate the man simply because he was attractive as all get-out.
Mac headed for the gate to ring the bell, only to stop when she realized Dixon was already waiting for her. He was standing there in his navy blue uniform, which consisted of military-style pants bloused above combat boots and a skintight T-shirt that showed off every muscle he had—and there were a lot of them.
She dragged her mind out of the fantasy it was headed for and gave him a smile. “Sergeant Dixon, you didn’t have to meet me at the gate. You could have just buzzed me in.”
He opened the door, returning her smile with a devastating grin of his own. “What kind of host would I be if I did that? And if we’re going to be spending so much time together, maybe you can stop with the formalities and just call me Gage.”
Maybe this was going to be easier than she’d thought. “Okay, but only if you call me Mac—it’s what all my friends call me.”
“I like the idea of being friends, but if it’s all the same to you, I think I’ll call you Mackenzie.” He grimaced. “Mac makes me think of a big, overweight trucker, and you definitely don’t fit that image.”
Mac couldn’t help but laugh. He was the first guy who ever told her he wouldn’t call her by her nickname. Most guys would call a woman Hannibal Lecter if they thought it’d get them in her panties. Perhaps it was an indication that working Dixon—Gage—was going to take a different approach.Not to mention a more subtletouch, she thought as he led her across the parking lot and into what he called the training-slash-maintenance building. It had a break room, a classroom, a small gym with basketball hoops, and a few rooms for storing tactical gear and other equipment.
“What’s in there?” she asked as they walked past a room that had the door closed.
If the door was closed, it was a place she wanted to see. And if he resisted, it meant shereallywanted to see it.
Gage frowned. “Just another gym.” He opened the door to reveal a weight room. “We had a little accident and some of the mirrors got broken, but we should have it back in shape in a day or so.”
So much for a room full of those deep, dark secrets she’d been hoping for. “I guess you guys have to work out a lot, huh? To get all those big muscles, I mean.”
She figured a guy his size would appreciate a little love thrown his way when it came to maintaining his physique, but he only chuckled.
“We work out, but not as much as you think. We stay in shape mostly from the training we do. You know—a lot of running, climbing obstacles, carrying heavy gear and each other.” When she lifted a brow, he added, “To simulate evacuating a wounded man. The weight room is here more to give the guys something to keep their minds occupied between incidents, as well as help deal with stress afterward.”
She wasn’t sure how much she bought that. Somebody his size needed to work out—a lot. But she certainly enjoyed the spoils of his efforts. Gage had a nice body. She could only imagine how much better he’d look with his clothes off.
She immediately berated herself for forgetting why she was there.Focusonthedangstory.
They ran into four members of his team as he took her on a tour of the last storage room in the building. The men were repacking some kind of gear she didn’t recognize, but stopped when she and Gage walked in.
“Mackenzie, this is Officer Hale Delaney, one of our specialists in less lethal tactics and martial arts. Officer Eric Becker, computers and surveillance. Officer Landry Cooper, explosives and demolitions expert. And Officer Remy Boudreaux, shotgun breech specialist and assistant armorer.” Gage glanced at her. “Meet Mackenzie Stone from theDallasDailyStar.”
Mac already knew their names and their specialties from the personnel file she’d made. She smiled and shook each of their hands. And like the other SWAT cops who’d rescued the hostages that morning, they were all big, tall, and muscular. Not to mention easy on the eyes.
As Gage led her over to the next building, he gave her a tutorial on how the SWAT team was organized.
“We have a lot of flexibility when it comes to how we operate, based on the mission,” he said. “We have two separate squads within the unit—Mike runs one and Xander leads the other. They can operate independently or together as part of the full team. If there’s more than one incident at a time, or if a particular mission calls for it, we break the team up into thirds, with me leading the third squad.”
“Do you always run the operation from the vehicle you were in today?” she asked as they entered the administrative building.
“Normally, no.” He gave her a wry smile. “I try to stay as close to the action as I can, but today was a little different because I needed to be there to communicate directly with the on-scene commander and the power company. Plus, we had the department’s crisis negotiator there because we were hoping to make a deal with the gunmen and avoid a confrontation, but that didn’t work.”
When they got to the main office, he introduced her to Officers Alex Trevino and Max Lowry, two of the team’s snipers. It seemed odd to see big, strapping men like them sitting at desks filling out forms.
“SWAT officers doing paperwork?” She shook her head. “Tell me it isn’t so.”
