Fire and Ice (Guardians Book 1)

The days that followed were bliss. Jack was the most attentive lover, both in and out of bed. Jack telling her that he loved her had stripped away the last of their inhibitions; now there was no guessing where their relationship was going. They were actually trying to make this work. But when Jack returned her AGS cell phone, the nagging thought that she had to keep some work secrets from him bothered her. At the same time, though, she knew he didn’t have the right to know.

Hopefully he would understand. The topic had not come up.

During the first week of December, more than two weeks after the Reznikov incident, Maia received an anonymous text on her phone to meet around the corner of the apartment building. She had no doubt it was the contact for Alexsey Volynsky.

Pulling on a trench coat over her sweats, she hurried to the elevator and punched the key for the ground floor. She nodded to Tim, the bellman, and walked out into the chilly December air.

There was a bus stop at that corner, so Maia figured that was where the drop was going to be. She sat down and opened the paperback she had brought and started reading. Almost immediately someone sat down beside her. It was the same woman who had been at the convention.

“The number has changed. Good luck.” She pushed a piece of paper towards Maia, who took it and inserted it in the pages of her book. As if on cue, a bus pulled up to the stop and the woman got on and disappeared.

“Welcome back, Maia,” Viktor said when she called.

She hadn’t communicated with him since the hospital, and he had not left her any messages on her phone either. He was giving her space and waiting for her to decide when to come back to work.

“Volynsky made contact again,” Maia informed him. She filled him in on the first conversation that had taken place way back in Baltimore. Viktor listened without interrupting, but Maia knew he was irritated that she had not informed him of this development sooner.

“Early January, you say?” Viktor said finally. “Do you want to do this?”

“I don’t know,” Maia said, thinking of Jack. Shit, her relationship with him was starting to affect her willingness to do a job. “What do you think?”

“I won’t lie, baby. This sounds very risky,” Viktor admitted. “You’ll be depending on people you’ve never worked with, and you won’t have any of your own around. But the Volynsky name is the only one strong enough to overthrow the regime of Gavlik and that would strike a major blow to the Russian drug and prostitution ring.”

“I’ll do it. But this is the last time I’ll take a job of this nature,” Maia said.

“Understood,” Viktor said softly. “What time do you want me to send the comm van?”

It was 11:45 pm. Unfortunately, this wasn’t one of the nights Jack was working late. Maia was pretending to be interested in the evening news, but she knew there was no way she could sneak out of the apartment without Jack finding out.

“Babe, it’s getting late,” Jack came over to where she was sitting on the couch and kissed her on the head. He was wearing drawstring pajamas, was shirtless and she wanted nothing more than to cuddle in bed with him. “What’s so interesting on the news, anyway?”

“Um, nothing,” Maia said as she turned off the TV and stood up. Facing Jack with the couch between them seemed like a good idea at the moment.

“I need to get to the AGS comm van at midnight,” Maia said as she walked towards the hall closet to grab her coat. She immediately felt the air in the room change. Jack’s face had turned stony and his whole body grew taut with rising anger. She pretended that everything was normal and started to put on her sneakers.

“I thought we were through with this shit,” Jack said roughly.

“Jack, I just…”

“Were you even going to mention this to me? Were you, Maia?” He was really pissed off now.

Maia looked at her watch and walked to the elevator.

“I have no time to discuss this. We’ll talk later,” Maia replied calmly.

In a flash, Jack was in front of her and gripping her shoulders.

Before he could say anything, she looked him directly in the eye. “You said you weren’t going to interfere with my work. You know the risks. Don’t make me regret us.”

He let her go. The last thing Maia saw when the elevator doors slid close was his stricken face.

“I’m glad you’re agreeing to do this,” Volynsky said.

“So what do I do next?” Maia asked abruptly. She was still upset that her two worlds were colliding. It was so much simpler when she didn’t have Jack in her life.

“I’ll forward your travel papers to the AGS headquarters. Someone will pick you up at the Moscow airport. Your contact now will be Erik Costa. He will fill you in on the plans before and after you get here.”

“When will I actually get to see you?”

“Erik will be in charge of logistics and everything else. You will be brought directly to me and we will start our journey across Russia. By the time you arrive you should already know our route.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Maia said, starting to actually get excited. At least it wouldn’t involve communicating through a comm van the whole time. That could be tedious. There was an AGS satellite office in New Park which she could use to videoconference with this Erik Costa guy.

“Thanks again, Agent Pierce. I will see you in January.”

Jack sat on the couch with a glass of whiskey in hand. He was waiting for Maia to return. They had been so happy the past week. They had done things normal couples did: they went on dates, went to movies, made love, walked in the park. And with the holidays a few weeks away, the energy of the festivities added glow to their time together.

He knew when he returned her phone that her other life was going to catch up with them. It just had.

The elevators swooshed open and closed. Maia’s quiet footfalls padded to the closet where she divested herself of her coat and sneakers.

Without a word, she walked up to where he was seated on the couch and got on his lap, like she always did lately, and snuggled close to him.

Jack’s heart twitched whenever she did that.

“All done?” he asked.

She nodded.

“Want some whiskey?”

“I’ll just take a sip of yours.”

They sat like that for a moment just savoring each other’s scents and warmth.

“Is it something you can talk about?” Jack asked finally.

“No.”

“What’s the risk factor?” Jack asked. “Could you at least tell me that?”

“What good will that do. It’ll just make you worry,” Maia replied.

“If it wasn’t risky, you would have told me already,” Jack sighed. “Judging from the set of your jaw, it’s bad. Just be careful, Maia.”

“You know, I really didn’t want to take the job,” Maia admitted. “Because of you. You’ve changed the way I work, Jack. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

Jack was overjoyed that Maia was beginning to factor him into her work decisions. He was slowly getting through to her. What he didn’t want was to be a distraction; that could have fatal consequences.

“I hope it’s for the best,” Jack said quietly. Maia tipped her face up and gave him a kiss. He would have turned it into a full blown make-out session if her blasted phone hadn’t started ringing.

Maia tore her lips away to answer the call.

“Pierce… Who?… Wow, you’re quick.”

To Jack’s annoyance, Maia got off his lap and padded to the window.

“We can set up a weekly meeting to touch base. Yes. Give me your email, Erik, I’ll send you the videoconference invitation… Should I take care of the passport or you?… I don’t think I’ll look good as blonde, I’ll use a wig, I’ve done that before… Uh-huh… Listen, let’s just talk about this tomorrow… Yes, that time works. Right.”

Maia ended the call and then punched a speed dial number.

“We’re on. My new contact is Erik Costa… I need to use the satellite office tomorrow … Sounds good.”

Maia breathed out forcefully and sat beside Jack as she took a sip of the whiskey.

“I wish I could talk to you about it,” Maia told him. “I think you’ll enjoy it from a strategic view point.”

“What kind of mission is it?” Jack asked casually.

Maia looked like she was deciding what to tell him. “Extraction.”

Jack resisted the urge to curse. Extractions meant there were bad guys all around trying to take shots at you. “Why do you need to go as a blonde?”

“They’re not sure if the hostiles know how I look like. I need at least to get through the airport undetected.”

“So does that mean you have crossed paths with these hostiles before?”

“Jack, I’ve already told you too much.”

He resisted the urge to press her for more, but his mind was working overtime putting pieces of information together. Maia had admitted that the mess in Baltimore did not end with Reznikov. There was one other person in play that he knew of: Mikhail Gavlik, who had sent those four badass-looking commandos that got to Colt.

“You’re going up against Mikhail Gavlik, aren’t you?” Jack stated hoarsely as his chest tightened with unbearable anxiety.

Maia’s stunned reaction confirmed his deduction. Fuck.

“Babe, don’t do this,” he pleaded, but he knew from her set face that it was useless to try to dissuade her.

“Jack, baby,” Maia said as she laid her head on his bare chest. “You have to trust me.”

Jack rested his head on top of hers, feeling his own jaw clench. “OK.”

He wasn’t okay with it, but he relented. He didn’t want to mess with her head by making her worry about him when she had to deal with a Russian mob boss who was worse than Reznikov. But he had to find a way to protect her. It was imperative.

The next morning, Jack regarded Derek Lockwood steadily after he had filled him in on his suspicions of Maia’s activities.

“But she had not confirmed this?” Derek pressed.

“She didn’t have to, it was written all over her face,” Jack replied.

His friend sighed. “What do you want me to do?”

“I want you to offer several vials of the tracking serum to Viktor for trial as well as a couple of the handheld tracking devices,” Jack said.

“You know that the serum wasn’t meant to be used as a stalking device,” Derek said dryly.

“Just do it, Derek!”

“So Erik, what’s an Italian doing mixed up with the Russian mob?” Maia asked the black-haired, olive-skinned man in the videoconference monitor.

“I’m only half Italian, my mother was Russian,” Erik grinned, flashing even white teeth. “And I’m not mixed up with the Russian bratva, I’m fighting against them.”

“A noble cause. So, what do you have for me?” Maia asked, getting down to business.

“I’ll be emailing you the planned route of our journey. It will only lead to the outskirts of the province that Volynsky is hiding out in. Even we do not know his exact location just yet. He communicates via a network of trusted couriers. Timing is everything. I’ll be meeting you at the Moscow airport. His courier will meet us to personally hand us his current location.”

Maia considered this. “What if Gavlik’s men intercept? Do you know if you’re being followed right now?”

“We’ve clashed with them a couple of times,” Erik admitted. “But we match them in men and firepower.”

“You know, I’m just curious about your stake in this?” Maia asked shrewdly. “It’s almost like carrying out a regime change.”

Erik’s face clouded as if remembering a painful memory. “When the Soviet Union collapsed, it brought about the rise of the Russian bratvas. They controlled the economy and many of our countrymen were exploited. My mother worked at GAV-VOL Pharmaceuticals and was killed in the crossfire between the warring bratvas. Gavlik is turning the company into a front for producing illegal drugs, Volynsky is committed to stopping that. They both own equal shares of the company, but Gavlik is usurping the power of the board. We just need to install Volynsky back in control because legally, he is the only one who can do it.”

“Can’t the Russian government do something about it?”

Erik emitted a brief laugh. “Who knows who to trust in the Russian government nowadays? They let the gang wars resolve themselves. Most of the leaders of the bratvas are ex-KGB.”

That’s true, Maia thought.

“So do we have a date yet? When do you need me?” Maia said.

“It’s going to happen fast. You get the call, be ready to leave in three hours.”

Shit.

The cries were muffled at first, then became progressively louder as sheer terror took over. Jack awoke to Maia thrashing and crying in her sleep. Her nightmares again. She hadn’t had them in weeks.

“Babe, wake up,” he urged, shaking her firmly. Jack reached over to her night table and switched on the lamp.

Maia’s eyes blinked open. “Wha? Why are the lights on?”

“You were having a nightmare,” Jack said shortly.

“I was?” Maia squinted her eyes as if trying to remember. “Well, I don’t remember. Can we go back to sleep now?”

“No, Maia, we can’t. We’re going to talk,” Jack said as he sat up in bed.

When she gave him a baffled look, he continued. “You’ve been having them for a while. Every time I wake you up you don’t remember. You seem to re-enact your parent’s death over and over.”

Maia looked at him in horror. “I do? But why?” Her eyes started to fill with tears which surprised Jack because he had never seen her crying before. He reached out to her and pulled her into his arms.

“I know you are Katerina Luski,” Jack admitted and waited for her to blow up at him for digging into her past.

“Viktor suspected you knew,” Maia mumbled into his chest hoarsely. “Said you pulled some CIA file on me.”

“How the fuck did he know that?” Jack asked, dumbfounded. That man knew everything and appeared to have a finger in every Federal and International agency.

She shrugged. “It’s Viktor.”

“Babe, I have a suspicion that your work brings on these nightmares. You haven’t had them since you got out of the hospital. I think you need to talk to someone about them.”

“Like a shrink? I went to one when I was thirteen, fourteen.”

“There may be unresolved issues if they manifest themselves in your nightmares.”

“I don’t have issues.”

Jack took a deep breath and exhaled. “The risks you take, you think you’re having survivor’s guilt?”

“Jack, I don’t have survivor’s guilt,” Maia replied instantly. “I want vengeance, but the trail has gone cold so I’m doing the best I can to make things better.”

“Babe, will you promise at least to think about seeing someone about your nightmares?” Jack said softly. “It breaks my heart to see you crying out in your sleep.”

“OK, Jack.”

The weeks passed in a blur of work, getting back into shape, spending time with Jack and an endless parade of holiday parties. Apparently her man was an A-list guest in the New Park and DC social scenes. She was able to accompany him to most of the functions but sometimes she was simply too tired to go after a bout of sparring. She must have been seen with Jack enough times to have landed a photo of them together in The Post.

Viktor was giving her a hard time of it one day when he read what was written in the paper.

“Is DC’s most eligible bachelor off the market? It would seem so. Marketing executive Maia Pierce had been seen on more than one occasion on the arms of billionaire-playboy Jack McCord. Rumor has it that the two are serious about each other.”

Viktor snickered as Maia rolled her eyes and said, “Billionaire-playboy sounds so cheesy. Hmmm, I didn’t know Jack had billions.”

The article also went on to speculate about her relationship with Ezra Crows frontman Lee Isaac and showed a picture of them together at Addison Music Hall.

“Edmunds said you’ve been acing your firearms tests,” Viktor said. “You’re not yet in top physical form for hand-to-hand, though.”

“That’s never been my strong point,” Maia reminded him. She had been driving to AGS HQ in DC to bring her skills back up to speed. Jack wasn’t pleased at first, because he wanted her to take it easy until the New Year, but Maia knew that would not be possible. She had to be in top fighting form ASAP.

She had to revert to her female wiles to convince him. “Jack, baby, with the sexual demands you put on me I think that point is moot.”

Jack had an insatiable sexual appetite for her, which in turn fed hers. She had never considered herself an overly sexual individual until she met him. It was like he had unlocked a previously untapped reservoir of sensuality within her. Now there was an ache in her that craved his touch constantly. Maia wondered if that would diminish in time, but so far there were no signs that it would.

“Just keep up with the training,” Viktor told her. “I have a feeling you’ll need it. And don’t forget your inoculations at our medical bay.”

“For what? I’m going to Russia,” Maia said. “I’ve been vaccinated enough times for that region.”

“I heard the flu over there is vicious this winter,” Viktor replied. “Best to be prepared. You don’t want to end up a liability.”

Jack looked at the time. It was 8:30 p.m. on December 23^rd and there was no sign of Maia anywhere. He checked his cell phone for missed calls or text messages. Nothing. He exhaled deeply. He couldn’t complain. He had dragged her to more holiday parties than he had ever been to in his life. He wanted to show her off. His beautiful Maia.

Jack opened the drawer to his bedside table and took out a black onyx box and raised the cover. Nestled in velvet was a five-carat diamond solitaire ring. He didn’t know what had possessed him to walk into an exclusive jewelry boutique the other day when he was in New York City for a brief business trip. He told himself he was only going to buy Maia a necklace for Christmas. He ended up buying a necklace, matching earrings and an engagement ring.

Not that he was going to ask her to marry him any time soon, he told himself. He just wanted to be ready when the time was right. He heard the elevator ding and quickly hid the ring back in the depths of the drawer.

“Hey, babe, how was your day?” Jack met her at the foyer and gave her a big kiss on the lips.

“It was great. I kicked some ass,” Maia said, her eyes sparkling. Her hair was plastered to her forehead like she had just finished an exhausting workout.

“Have you eaten? Wanna go out?”

“So exhausted Jack. Can we just stay in?”

“Sure, babe. Let’s see… I can probably pick up some Indian food while you hit the shower.”

“Perfect.” Maia pulled off her sweatshirt and Jack felt his head explode when he saw the black and blue marks on her back and upper arms.

“What the fuck?” Jack roared.

“What? What?” Maia exclaimed, startled by his vehement outburst.

“Your back and arms, Maia, they’re black and blue!” He stormed over to her, sat her on the table and yanked down her sweat pants.

“You know if you’re feeling frisky, all you had to do was ask,” Maia teased saucily.

“I’m not finding this amusing, babe,” Jack snapped and hissed when there was an even bigger bruise on her upper thigh. He glared at her, daring her to offer an explanation.

She stared down at herself and blanched. “Jeez, I didn’t realize it was going to look this bad. Edmunds and I had some serious sparring this morning and this afternoon. Viktor said I was failing in hand-to-hand so we had to work overtime to improve.”

Jack looked down at his feet trying to control the combined feeling of impotence and rage he seemed to experience every time something like this happened to Maia. He couldn’t forbid her from doing these things because he would lose her, but he couldn’t simply stand by either and say nothing when she got hurt. What a fucking messed-up situation.

“Babe, you know what Doctor Anderson said about getting another concussion,” he said, slowing down his breathing and then looking at her straight in the eye. “Is this going to happen again?”

Maia shook her head. “We’re done with the advance-sparring. It looks worse than it feels. I just bruise easily.”

“I really wonder what you’re training so hard for,” Jack asked quietly. His jaw clenched when Maia averted her eyes. He felt fucking helpless.

“It’s standard operating procedure when an agent is coming off an injury,” Maia said. “Can we not fight about this? I’m off until the end of the year and I’d really love a rub down from you tonight.”

Jack’s eyes softened. She had him wrapped around her little finger. A sweet request like that and he melted. This didn’t bode well for his future.

“Go and shower babe, I’ll order our food.”

The loop necklace was dangling forward from her neck. Maia was on her hands and knees, Jack was pumping hard from behind her.

They were supposed to be out for a Christmas Eve dinner. He told her to wear a strapless dress, she thought was a strange request. And then he gave her her Christmas gift.

Her breath caught when he presented her with an exquisite diamond loop necklace from an exclusive jeweler’s collection. She could only imagine how much it cost. As he finished clasping the pricey jewelry around her neck, she felt his breath fan her nape as he started raining open-mouth kisses down her bare shoulders. Then he turned her around and gave her the earrings.

“Jack, this is too much!” Maia wailed.

“Nothing is too much for you, babe. Go on. Put it on,” Jack urged.

Maia excitedly walked to the full length mirror near the foyer and fastened the earrings. They looked amazing.

“I don’t know if I can wear these,” Maia protested. “I’m afraid to lose them.”

Jack chuckled deeply as he looked at her reflection in the mirror.

“How does it look?” Maia asked.

His eyes grew heated. Uh-oh, she knew that look. Something told her they wouldn’t be having dinner any time soon.

“I think,” Jack murmured deliciously behind her ear as his fingers started pulling down the back zip of her dress, “I like this look better.” He let the dress fall to the floor, leaving her naked except for the jewelry, her lace undies and stilettos.

“Jack, baby, we’re gonna be late,” Maia said in weak protest as he bent her over and pushed her to the floor on her hands and knees.

“Look at yourself in the mirror while I fuck you, babe,” Jack said huskily and she gasped as he tore off her undies. There went another pair.

He bent over her and drove his long fingers into her while massaging her clit with his thumb. His other arm was wrapped around her front holding her hips against his. His breathing grew hot and labored against her neck.

“You’re already wet, so wet. Do you want my cock, Maia?” he asked as his eyes glittered in the mirror, watching her as she began to pant with an aching need.

“Yes. Yes, Jack,” Maia whimpered as his fingers left her moist core to work on the fastenings of his slacks. And then he was there, the tip nudging into her, thrusting into her fiercely as he took possession of her once more.

The New Year came too quickly for Jack. That meant back to a regular work schedule and less time with Maia. The week between Christmas and New Year had been one of the happiest he’d ever had with her. It was just the two of them. His parents were in Europe for their regular winter vacation and Derek was off somewhere with some girl. It was a quiet time in the office so he managed to slip away most days. Maia was just puttering around his apartment all day cooking or baking. Domestic bliss. He never thought he’d look forward to coming home to his woman every day after work. He hated everything that kept him away from her. Several times in the previous week, he had wanted to ask her to marry him.

But he hesitated. Maia was restless. Though she was totally into him when he was with her, sometimes he’d catch her looking at her phone with anxiety. He wished everything was less complicated with her.

Jack reached his apartment building after 7:00 p.m. He normally got home by 6:30 p.m. on regular days, but the workload after the holidays were usually the worse. Everyone was sluggish, not wanting to be back at work, including him. Maia said she was making her famous roast chicken for dinner. That, at least, was something he looked forward to.

But when he stepped into the apartment, he immediately felt something amiss. First, there was no aroma of roast chicken and second there was a passport, two semi-automatic pistols and a stash of Russian roubles on the dining table. Not a romantic table setting for two.

He heard drawers slamming in the bedroom.

“Maia!” he called, panic bubbling up his throat.

“In here,” she answered.

“What the hell is going on?” Jack asked in a bewildered voice.

She wouldn’t look at him. Instead, she brushed past him and picked up the two firearms, making sure the magazines and chambers were empty before stashing them in her duffel bag. She was dressed in khaki-cargos, black shirt and black motorcycle boots. She was going on a mission.

“I got the call.”

“What call?”

“Jack, I have no time to explain. My plane leaves in two hours and I need to get to Dulles.”

“You are not going anywhere!” Jack roared. This was not happening. This was not fucking happening.

She ignored him. She picked up the passport and Russian currency and stuffed them into her purse.

He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. He had never done this before, but he was in a very, very bad place right now. Confused, angry and scared.

“Can you stop for a minute and tell me what the fuck is going on?” Jack growled.

Maia’s face turned to granite. “Okay. I’m leaving for a mission. I can’t tell you what, who, where, why. I may not be able to call you. And I’ll be back in approximately three weeks. If I miss that plane, I’ll put lives at stake and if you can stop being selfish for a minute, you can get out of my fucking way!”

Jack felt like she had slapped him. His hands dropped to his sides in defeat. Maia stalked to the bedroom, grabbed her duffel bag and her purse.

“Do you need a ride?” Jack asked quietly.

“I called a cab,” Maia said shortly as she pushed the button for the elevator.

Jack walked up to her, afraid to touch her because he might not be able to let her go.

“I love you, babe. Please be careful.”

The elevator arrived sooner than Jack would have liked it to. Maia stepped in, looked back at him and smiled weakly.

“I love you too, Jack.”