12
Merc leanedagainst the gleaming mahogany wood paneled wall in the Senator’s study to catch his breath.
Fucking hell, this weakness was a damn nuisance.
He'd managed to ignore the continuous burning and itching as his wounds healed, not the worst he'd experienced in his life, but the hangover after the infection was as bad as when he’d recovered after the explosion and traumatic brain injury that had obliterated his memory. It had taken him nearly six months to get back to normal and another six to increase his strength and stamina to where it was a week ago.
J had seemed like his savior, walking Merc through the endless months of physical therapy. He had come to depend on the man like a father. J told him he’d been the one to find him on that street in Afghanistan all those years ago. From what little J piecemealed out, Merc knew he’d been part of an army patrol that had been hit by an IED… And that Merc had been the lone survivor.
The government had done a complete cover up on the mission, too. Merc had spent nearly a year trying to find out any info on his dead teammates, but it was as if they’d been erased from history. Existing only in the brief flashbacks that left him shaken and frustrated.
He was nobody, a nameless soldier given the chance to avenge his nameless team by joining J’s elite task force. He’d given his life to Mr. J, acting as his personal mercenary until he’d been allowed to join up with Task Force Scorpion.
It wasn’t until a few years later that Merc and TF-S discovered the truth about Mr. J when he’d faked his death and tried to wipe the team off the face of the Earth to cover his tracks completely.
“You okay?” Aaron Speirs did a quick peek into the room through the open doors of the study.
“Just taking a second. I'm fine.”
Aaron shook his head. As the team’s medic, he knew exactly how much Merc suffered. And since he'd been with him up until Merc had found Mr. J’s palace, he'd also been emotionally invested in the mission because of his relationship with Celine.
“I'm telling you, man, if you'll just take another couple of days and fully recover...”
“I can't. Something's about to happen. Cotter’s right, J didn't go to all that trouble, all that setup, just to let it go. He's going to do something and he's going to do it soon. The most logical place would be here.”
Aaron shook his head ruefully. “We are all here to make sure J doesn’t lay a finger on Caroline again. It’s not all on you, brother. Besides, you can’t protect her if you’re not healthy.”
Merc straightened from the wall and glared down at his teammate. “Yes, father.”
Speirs threw up his hands and backed out of the room. “Just looking out for you.”
“I'm good. You don't need to babysit me.”
Merc waited on Speirs to disappear from the doorway before he placed a steadying hand on the wall. He knew he was pushing it, knew Speirs was probably right, he just didn't know how to not do his job at one hundred percent.
Just like he didn't know what J had planned, or when he would attack, but he knew he would be damned if he was ever caught off guard again.
The study stretched up a full two stories, the back wall lined from top to bottom with volumes and volumes of expensive looking books. Wood paneling covered the bottom half of the rest of the room, and large windows at least fourteen feet tall flanked the exterior wall. Plush dark brown leather club chairs and sofas sat arranged neatly around a large fireplace directly opposite the windows. It was a man's room, perfect for what he imagined a senator would require.
It wasn’t the easiest place to break into with only two windows already covered with the latest security sensors and alarms, but it was still a target. And a hard target at that since this was the Senator’s home office.
Merc hadn't had a chance to talk to Cotter yet about any hidden safe rooms behind the bookshelves or in the walls, but that was on his to do list. He'd already secured the ground floor, and the rest of his team was finishing up clearing the second and third floors.
They split TF-S up with half of them doing roving patrols on the exterior of the house, staying close, and the other half constantly moving throughout the interior. Cotter had already hired a new private security firm, approved by TF-S, to guard the rest of his property. Breaking into this place would be as easy as walking into Ft. Knox with a semi-automatic strapped to your shoulder. There was almost zero chance anyone could infiltrate the property undetected, and even if they managed to get past the wall and the exterior guards, Merc had planted various tripwires throughout the house that would alert him to any breaking and entering so that the interior unit could swarm the intruder.
Yet, he still couldn’t relax. He had this niggling sensation that wouldn’t go away.
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to soothe the sensation physically, when he caught a hint of movement by the doorway. A small shadow in the dark. He’d turned off all the lights except for one lamp in the room. The stature was too small to be Cotter, too small to be anyone but a female, and instant recognition hit him. “Caroline?”
She froze on the spot, half in, half out of the doorway. He must've startled her, leaning back in the shadows of the room completely hidden from view.
He took a few steps into the lamplight, so that she could see it was him. “Are you okay?”
“I… yeah, I'm fine.” Something in her voice sounded a little bit off.
“I thought you’d turned in for the night. Are you looking for your father? I think he's gone to bed.”
“Actually, I was having trouble going to sleep. Thought I'd get up and walk around, see if I could find a good book to read.” She wavered in the doorway. “I didn't realize you were in here. I'll just go back up to my room.”
