Chapter 17
Washington, DC
Theodore James sat at his desk outside his boss’s office and listened as the feeble-minded bastard talked to Colt Matthews for the second time in three days. What the fuck was Matthews’s problem? Hell, he never called unless it was mission related, and James had managed to steer work away from him and the Lamonts more and more often as Franklin had fallen further and further under the effects of memory loss of his own creation. Well, that wasn’t exactly right, after General Franklin had started taking heart and cholesterol medication, he’d asked his new aide to research possible side effects. What newly promoted Staff Sergeant Theodore James found proved to be very valuable information indeed. The good doctors at Bethesda had prescribed drugs that tended to have a profound effect on memory in certain patients, his boss included, it seemed. So when the old man started forgetting whether or not he’d taken his medication, his new aide had been diligent in making sure he took it…sometimes three to four times more often than necessary. It was like feeding candy to a baby. He’d laughed and been dismayed by his good fortune.
Hell, James had originally joined the old bastard’s staff with the single-minded goal of destroying the team of men that had treated him like an outcast and had left him in that hell-hole cave in fucking Afghanistan. Sure they’d thought the damned thing was caved in, and he’d heard them trying to get to him before another explosion had sent everyone scrambling. But it didn’t matter, he’d found another way out and spent months recovering in a little hellhole hospital on the dark side of the planet. With his command of the local language and its specific dialect, along with his dark coloring thanks to a Middle Eastern mother, he’d been able to fool the locals into believing he was a fallen brother. Once he’d been well enough to work, he’d managed to get computer access and in a few short weeks. Theodore James had been born, injured, and recovered along a road. He’d been “discovered” as a confused, but recovering victim of a mine explosion that had occurred several months earlier. Hell, his amazing story had earned him accolades and a Purple Heart for his efforts.It should have earned me a fucking Nobel Prize for Fiction!
But the convenient memory lapses of his boss had been too good of an opportunity to pass up, hell, he’d been practically running the special teams that contracted with ‘Uncle’ for the past year. The old man sat in his office staring out the window from the time he shuffled into work until his loyal aide led him out the door at quitting time. Sure, James knew this gravy train wasn’t going to last forever, but he’d almost gotten enough money stashed that he’d be able to disappear during the night and live the good life courtesy of all those hefty deposits that had been made into his Grand Cayman bank account. Information was a valuable commodity, and it seemed knowledge was indeed power and pretty damned profitable to boot.
But now Colt Matthews was beginning to be a problem. James eased closer to the door so he could hear his boss’s end of the conversation. “I’ve told you everything I know about Ted Scott, Matthews. What’s bringing this up again now? Well, I can make some inquiries, but I’m not going to promise I’ll come up with anything new…Okay, I’ll get back to you ASAP…You tell those other yahoos you work with that the Old Man sent them all a kick in the ass.” Franklin laughed at something before saying good-bye.
Well fuck, this is going to go to shit in a heartbeat if it’s not nipped in the bud right away. Time for another trip to ShadowDance. Wonder if the Lamont brothers’ hot little sister, Jenna, wants another round? Shit, what was it I called her? Oh, right, Genevieve. Yeah, she was just a whole lot of fun the last time I was there. Might be time for a repeat performance. I love it when they fight it, fuck what a turn on. I’ll bet she’s still got a hot pussy…and popping her cherry was icing on the cake last time. Yeah, think I should do the general a favor and go out and be his eyes and ears…God the old fart loves that expression. I’ll fuck that hot little cunt, take care of the other problems, and be back before the end of the week.
* * * *
ShadowDance Mountain
Colt stayed in his office most of the morning because he wanted to give Grayson plenty of time to get a bead on what kind of blocks he was going to be up against with Jenna. Likely she had put all those defenses in place to protect her heart from the trauma she’d experienced at the hands of Ted Scott. Fuck, it made Colt almost physically ill to think of what she’d had to endure, and at the hands of one of their own teammates, no less. And then to not be able to seek medical care or have the emotional support that she’d needed because she’d been trying to protect her two older brothers. Christ, what a mess. For just a minute he wondered if he was up to the task of helping her heal. But he quickly brushed the doubt aside because it wasn’t like he had a choice, he loved her, and he would do anything he could to make sure she was happy and healthy for the rest of his life. He just needed Grayson’s help to make it happen, and he didn’t have the luxury of weeks and months to muddle through this kind of emotional minefield. He only had this week. And he had to not only help her heal in that short time, but he had to bind her to him body and soul.Yeah, my man, you’re not asking for much are ya? Remember our team’s motto…Whatever it takes!
Shortly before lunch General Franklin had called back to say he was sending his aide out to personally assist with their investigation of Ted Scott. The old guy thought with his guy’s clearance and their technology, he might be able to help. When Colt had pointed out each member of the team actually had higher level clearance, Franklin said that James had insisted on acting as his liaison and would be arriving the next afternoon. Sometimes it just didn’t pay to argue with a bureaucrat. The team had teased Franklin for years about losing sight of how things really worked when he’d become a “pencil pusher” at the Pentagon. They’d just have to endure a couple of days of the little weasel, and besides, it was going to give Grayson a chance to read the little piece of shit. Yeah, this might work out all right after all.
Pushing out of his chair, he headed to the door leading to the front deck where he could see Grayson and Jenna sitting in loungers talking quietly. God, she was so fucking amazing. He’d count himself the luckiest man on the planet if she agreed to be his permanently, hell, he wanted it all, marriage, collaring ceremony at The Club, kids, soccer games, Little League, damn, even birthday parties with those stupid piñata things.Christ, what kind of idiot gives a kid a bat and then stands to the side while a blindfolded six-year-old craving a sugar rush tries to knock down a candy-filled paper-mache horse?
Suddenly he realized that he wanted that and more with Jenna, but without her in the picture, the entire image faded to a dull gray. He’d tried to put her out of his mind a thousand times and had never even gotten close. Slowly he turned and headed into the kitchen. He’d get lunch started and then join them. He had big plans for his little submissive in training for this afternoon. Christ, he was giving himself the hard-on from hell just thinking about all the things he wanted to show her, all the experiences he wanted to share with her.Brilliant work there, horndog, it’s going to be a laugh riot fixing lunch around that bad boy.Laughing to himself, he set off. The sooner he got everybody fed, they sooner he’d have her naked and his afternoon agenda set into motion.