Don’t interrupt, Walker babe, please don’t interrupt. For the first time since this all started, her heart was beating a little faster, knowing that any sudden interruption could be fatal for him. Her briefcase was equipped to shoot too, if necessary, but it was a bulky weapon and Walker’s body was in the way. On a table, facing the enemy, yes, it would be an ideal weapon, but at this moment, it would just have to be her voice and her mental quickness. It had to be one of her classic crazy offers.
“I’m going to back myself slowly into the room and wait for you. You come in and we go down the chute. Without Walker. Because he’s just going to slow us down. It’s the only way. Whoever is down there is coming up and they don’t seem to be in a negotiating mood. So, is that okay with you?”
Before Sergei could reply, Walker surprised them both by saying, “I’m not okay with that at all.”
That one sentence brought both her and Sergei’s focus on him. Apparently, that was exactly what he wanted.
* * *
Walker waited for his chance through the whole negotiation bit. Now he saw exactly what these GEM operatives do. It was a good technique but not one he wanted to happen this one time. Nope. That fucker wasn’t taking his Nadia away with him. The chances of losing her off in a ship under the Russian flag were too high.
His training came back. He had been an arms dealer, a weapons expert, a militant camp trainer. He, of all people, knew his way around weapons. Everything was about timing and know-how.
Sergei’s was pressing the gun against the back of his head. He leaned further back, applying pressure, so he knew exactly where it was. He slid his gaze to see which of the thug’s hand was the free one; whether it was left or right made a difference on how he would move.
That one crucial second when he broke the Russian’s concentration, he rolled to the inside of the gunman’s shooting arm. At the same time, he jerked his inside arm facing his opponent’s body up, forcing the gun hand down. He locked Sergei’s hand under his armpit, forcing his elbow joint past its range of motion. Now his free hand went to work.
Vicious chop to the throat. Sergei growled but didn’t release the gun. His other hand reflexively came up to grab Walker’s hold. Walker tilted the elbow out further, using his body strength against the bulky man, and with his free hand, flipped the caught elbow up and over, damaging the shoulder joint in the process. Sergei let out a howl of pain. The gun clattered onto the floor.
The moves only took a few seconds, but that was all he needed. Disarming a man was his specialty. He picked up the gun sitting by the fallen thug, cocked and aimed it at the Russian’s head.
Eye-to-eye.Yeah, see my monster lurking out. He wanted him to know he was playing with someone who knew how to work a weapon like no one else. Sergei’s pained gaze acknowledged this with a vicious glare.
“Honey Bun Bun!”
Walker gave the man one final look, then turned and walked to his woman. The look in her eyes, like he was some sort of superhero. He wasn’t. He knew he was just someone who learned how to survive in a war torn land full of different factions. But that look in her eyes made his insides coiled tight with need. And that vicious thing inside him calmed. He reached her.
“I won’t let you leave with him without a fight, you know that, Kissy Kibble Love Puddle,” he snarked back.
“I was going to shoot him, you know, when he got away from you,” she told him. “It’s just that your big body was in the way of my briefcase.”
That damn briefcase. She held that thing to her more than she held him.
“Well, this big body is going to be in your way from now on,” he said, and dropped his head down for a satisfying kiss.
A cough from behind him broke them apart. He looked back. His boss, Jared Westin, stood over the injured Sergei, surveying the damage he did to his six attackers.
“Bossman,” Walker greeted.
Jared’s brows lifted. “Honey Bun Bun?”
* * *
“Kibble what Love Puddle?” Sugar asked, chortling and choking on her tea. “I can’t believe I missed Rookie saying that. Damn it, you had all the fun.”
“Well, he’s here in the guest room,” Jared said, “so you can debrief him yourself and get him to say those words. He’d die rather than admit he went through a whole day being called Honey Bun Bun.”
They both laughed. The operation was a success, with Jared’s and the COS Command team working together once Jed McNeil and he got to talk. As usual, Jed’s work was the insidious kind—work from the inside and then destroy from the outside. Totally merciless. Jared was glad he had caught up with the SOB. Been too long.
“So we have our scientists back,” Sugar said.
“Two of them,” corrected Jared. “According to the Russian Walker worked over, there’s a missing Vadim who had gone off to handle another botched kidnap attempt, this time at the MacKenzies.”
Sugar cocked a brow. “What is this exoskeleton skin they’re after? Is it like a mighty fine leather outfit?”
Jared laughed and circled his wife in his arms. “Something like that, but Nadine Walker is part of a program called Super Soldier Spy, so these Russians wanted that too,” he said. “But I’d rather talk about this later. Can we go kiss my baby girl goodnight and settle back into our very quiet and mundane vacay? We only have a few days left.”
“You put Honey Bun Bun and his Love Puddle in one of our rooms,” Sugar pointed out.
