Fire and Ice (Guardians Book 1)

Jack was furious. He and Derek sped through New Park City heading towards the warehouse district. Maia had called Viktor for backup because the Russian nut job she had burned in her last assignment had found her. AGS had known of this danger since the attack on the safe house which was five days ago. Jack wanted to know why her people had not tried harder to contain the situation. None of the ERTs were on alert right then and it would take an hour to mobilize them by which time it would be too late. Viktor called Derek: the MDI offices were twenty minutes away from the warehouse where Maia was holed-up in.

Jack shouldn’t have waited to make his move on her. He’d been trying to get her contact information from Derek but his friend had been evading his subtle inquiries. He had also tried the Private Investigator route but that had turned out to be all false information. She was a ghost. This intrigued Jack. He had other resources of course, but he did not want to tap into those markers unless he had to, as it might have raised unnecessary questions. Besides, he would have bet most information on her would be covered under black marker anyway. Heck, he should have just sat on Derek’s head until he gave him Maia’s number.

Now Maia was in trouble.

“I don’t know Viktor Baran personally, but I’m really, really pissed at him right now,” Jack said through his teeth.

“I thought she’d already gone to ground. I know she took on Brett’s protective detail because Viktor was keeping her off of international radar. Instead it exposed her to the very people she was trying to avoid. I don’t know the whole story. I try not to get into AGS business and Maia doesn’t share, but from what I’ve gathered these people are bad news and now they’re Stateside.”

Derek had worked for Viktor before, and that was how he had met Maia, so he generally knew how the company operated. His former boss also called him occasionally for favors.

Their black Escalade pulled up a block from the target location. Heading straight for the trunk, they armed themselves with semi-automatic weapons, ammunition and other essential assault gear. They then snuck up the remaining block, keeping close to the shadows.

There was a black panel van parked up ahead blocking Maia’s convertible.

Jack pointed an MDI heat-signature device at the vehicle and noted that there were no warm bodies in the car.

“Van is clear, let’s move in.”

Derek hoofed it quietly towards the entrance of the warehouse, Jack kept his eyes open for snipers and followed when his friend gave the all clear.

Taking a peek up the open stairwell, they identified three flights of stairs. Blood was trickling from the second landing.

Jack and Derek exchanged grim glances. The warehouse was eerily quiet. Whatever had happened here was over. They stuck to one side of the stairs and sidled up, guns and elbows cocked and ready to go. There was a dead man on the stairs, head partially blown off. Another was on the last flight of steps, a recipient of the same fatal shot. Jack smiled humorlessly as he thought, Kill shots.

Derek held a finger over his lips to warn Jack to keep quiet and then waved his hand palm down, signaling for him to stop. There were distinctive sounds of slow typing coming from the top loft when to their relief, Maia’s voice was heard speaking quietly on the phone, apparently talking to Viktor.

“I’m transferring the files now. Yes, I’ll rig the devices with TX-3 so there’ll be no traces left …. Ha! Thanks a lot …. I don’t know, I need to pick up some of my gear at the locker at the train station …. I hate to stand down, Viktor, I do not like running … I’ll contact you when I’m secure …. OK …. Later.”

The typing resumed.

“Maia, it’s Derek!” Derek shouted before showing himself, probably to prevent her from shooting first and asking questions later.

“I see the cavalry is late,” Maia drawled, then her eyes registered shock when she saw Jack. “What’s he doing here?”

“Glad to see you too, sweetheart,” Jack shot back. His relief was so great he wanted to grab her and squeeze her. A simmering fury persisted though, as he surveyed the other two men lying dead on the floor. One appeared to have had his neck broken, the other bore no external indication of what had happened to him.

“They’re dead,” Maia stated flatly as she stood up from behind her computer. Jack and Derek reacted almost identically.

“What the fuck?”

“Hell, what happened to you?”

Maia stood before them, blood streaking down her right arm, the left hanging limply at an odd angle beside her.

“Can one of you pop my shoulder back in?” Maia asked as though she was asking for a glass of water.

“You ready?” Jack asked Maia. He had her left arm bent at the elbow at 90 degrees. He was standing so close, she could smell his after-shave. She hung onto his clean scent to prepare for the unpleasant business of popping her dislocated joint back into place.

Maia nodded. Then Jack without further warning rotated the shoulder and arm outward coaxing the joint back into place.

“Ah! Damn!” Maia hissed through her teeth, her eyes watered as her badly-abused shoulder slid back into its socket. “I hate when that happens.” Her whisper was strangled.

“I know, babe.” Maia felt Jack’s lips on her hair. Did he just kiss her hair? His arms came around her in a gentle hug. God, she hated to move away from the circle of his warmth, feeling so secure in a strange way. But she remembered who and what she was and squirmed out of his arms.

“Er … thanks, Jack.”

“No problem. You may want to put that in a sling for a while.”

Derek was working on the files on Maia’s laptop. “Almost done! Shoulder back to normal?”

“Yup”

“I see you’ve been working surveillance on the Russians. Is that why you hung around town?”

“Yup.”

“Um, hate to say this Maia, but was that a good idea?”

“That’s an idiotic idea. That’s a dumb fuck idea,” Jack interjected, a bit too forcefully.

“I was careful,” she replied defensively.

Jack raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, maybe I wasn’t too discreet,” Maia admitted grudgingly.

Derek frowned. “It’s unlike you to be sloppy, sweetie. You need a break and regroup.”

Maia chewed her bottom lip as if pondering what her friend had just said. “I’m going to pack up and come back to set the charges,” Maia replied, not wanting the men to know she was doubting herself. They were so perceptive, damn them. Jack had been stirring something unfamiliar within her too because he rattled her defenses like no man ever had. She was fully aware of his potent masculinity—sucking the oxygen out of the room such that she had trouble breathing smoothly in his presence. She didn’t need this complication right now with Reznikov at large.

She moved to her dressing area and pulled out two oversized duffel bags. To her consternation, Jack followed her, observing her like a hawk. She ignored him and started shoving clothes into her bag.

“Where are you heading?” Jack asked casually.

“It’s really none of your business,” Maia replied, a little more harsher than she had intended to. She wanted to keep her tone neutral, not act like he had gotten under her skin.

“I can offer you protection. I have some properties in a couple of small towns that are well-equipped to keep you hidden.”

“And what’s in it for you?”

“Damn it, Maia, I’m trying to keep you safe.”

“I don’t need you to keep me safe. You barely know me. I can take care of myself.”

“I can see that. But you think this Russian whatever-he-is won’t finally figure out how to get to you with the attempts he’s made? Yeah, I know those mercs who stormed Castle were connected to him. I’ve got the resources, probably more than even the AGS.”

Maia zipped up her bag that held her clothes and started working on the second duffel to hold her weapons.

“I don’t need to fuck someone for protection,” Maia retorted and almost regretted the words when she saw Jack’s eyes grow icy and a muscle begin to twitch his jaw.

Without saying another word, Jack took the first duffel bag, turned around and stalked out, informing Derek over his shoulder, “I’ll wait in the car.”

Maia finished packing her second duffel bag and rejoined Derek who had started wiring the charges around the computer and other devices that needed eradication.

“Jack’s right you know: he’s better able than anyone else to keep you safe. The Russian won’t think to mess with him.”

“I know he’s your friend”

“So are you,” Derek returned.

“He wants me to sleep with him.”

“Jack is honest, blunt even with what he wants, but he will never force an unwilling woman.”

“I can’t drag him into my mess. A mess, I might say, I’ve created.”

“You’ll have to give me some details about that sometime.”

“It’s still an ongoing case, I can’t talk about it.”

“Gotcha.”

They continued to work silently, rigging everything to be set off by one transmitter. Once wired, they moved behind the wall near the stairwell and hit the detonator. There was a loud bang and a flash, and then everything was incinerated into charcoal-like remains. TX-3 explosives are very efficient: they burn fast and controlled and are frequently utilized by the military. It was also one of the very first products designed and patented by MDI.

Derek picked up Maia’s bag of arsenals and started down the stairs with her.

Upon reaching the ground floor, Maia looked at her car wistfully and said to Derek, “Viktor is sending Guardians out to take care of the Russians’ ride and my Audi. I’m gonna miss driving it.”

“Where do you want us to drop you off?”

“The Fulton Station. I’ve got a locker there with a new laptop, access card and some cash.”

“Where’re you heading?” Derek echoed Jack’s earlier question.

“Not too far. Viktor wants to keep me close, they’ve got some leads on the Russian,” Maia said.

“And you want to be the one to take him down,” Derek said.

“That’s the plan,” Maia admitted.

“Why can’t you go to Viktor? They’ve got bunkers down at headquarters.”

“That’s not how we operate, you know that.”

“Yes, I know. Damn policies,” Derek sighed. You don’t bring your mess home.

They rounded the corner where the Escalade was waiting. Jack was leaning against it, arms crossed in front of him, expression inscrutable.

Maia ignored him and strode past him to open the back passenger door while Derek loaded her duffel into the trunk. She felt the back of her neck prickle, a spidey-sense she had developed in her line of work that warned of impending threats.

Before she could react, a strong arm wrapped around her body, slamming her against a hard chest and holding her arms immobile. Before she could kick out, a needle pricked the right side of her neck and her consciousness started to fade.

A disembodied “What the hell, Jack?” echoed in the distance.

A familiar voice whispered in her ear, “Easy babe, I got you.”

Blackness.

She felt like burying her face in the soft pillows as consciousness struggled with darkness. A bed. Maia was in a comfortable bed lined with luxurious and expensive sheets and her muscles refused to wake up preferring to lull blissfully in dreamless oblivion.

She was also half-naked, dressed only in lace panties and a camisole. Uh, what?

A moan escaped her lips as she lifted her lids. Jack McCord sat across from her in a wingback chair regarding her broodingly, a glass of amber liquid swirling in his hand. She closed her eyes again, trying to remember what had happened. The mattress sunk as Jack was suddenly beside her, his fingers stroking her cheeks.

“Hey, babe,” he murmured. And somehow it sounded sexy.

Um, had she just done the nasty with Jack McCord? She searched the haziness of her muddled brain for confirmation. Her eyes popped open in dismay as she remembered what exactly had happened.

“You bastard.” All she could manage was a raspy whisper. Her throat felt like sandpaper.

Jack didn’t say anything, but pulled his hand away as she tried to sit up.

“You tranqued me!” she said more forcefully.

“You were being stubborn.”

“And, you…you…undressed me!”

Jack smirked this time. “That was fun.”

“You perv!”

“Hey, all I did was get you more comfortable. I prefer my women willing and actively participating.”

Maia’s eyes turned a full glare on him.

“I also cleaned the wound on your right arm. A thank you would be nice.”

“Can’t believe you kidnapped me and I can’t believe Derek let you get away with it.”

“He didn’t … exactly.”

It was then that Maia noticed the bruise on Jack’s jaw. She smiled in satisfaction.

“I must say, sweetheart you have quite the collection of sexy underwear.”

“Part of the job description,” Maia replied bitchily, her implication clear.

Jack’s smirk disappeared and his mouth tightened as he pushed up from the bed. “Look, go get cleaned up. Your bags are in the closet. But before you shoot me, I hope you’d consider what I can offer you. I’ll be in my study on the first floor.” He nodded to the nightstand. “Take two Advils with that glass of water. I’ll have Grace, my housekeeper, bring up a tray of food in thirty minutes and I’d really, really prefer if you not scare the shit out of her.”

He grabbed his glass and strode out without looking back.

Maia huffed back against the pillows and then, after a beat, pulled the comforter out the way and padded off towards the bathroom.

Maia showed up an hour later in Jack’s study dressed in running gear: short-sleeved capped shirt, black draw-cord fitted pants and silver sneakers. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, face scrubbed free of makeup. She looked so innocent, nothing like the deadly Guardian that had taken out eight bad guys (that he knew of) in less than a week.

“Going for a run? How’s the leg?” Jack asked, remembering her leg wound from the Castle siege.

“Just a scratch,” she replied flippantly. “Your house has a great view of the beach. Your housekeeper told me we’re in the Outer Banks near Nag’s Head.”

Jack’s mouth twitched, controlling a grin. It appeared she had gotten over her resentment about her abduction. “I take it I’ve discovered a weakness.”

Maia simply smiled at him, her clear blue eyes sparkling. Jack caught his breath. It was the first smile she had bestowed on him—unguarded, soft, beguiling.

Clearing his throat, Jack looked away. “Yes, the beach along the foot of the cliff is a popular running track around these parts. But I was thinking I should show you what facilities we have first.”

“Facilities?”

He walked to some columns of bookshelves and drew on a lever of the last one. The shelves slid away to reveal an elevator. Keying in a code to call the car, the door slid open. Maia cocked an eyebrow showing guarded approval of what she was witnessing so far.

“Shall we?” Jack held out his arm, motioning for Maia to proceed.

She stepped into the elevator, Jack followed and the doors slid shut.

“I’m impressed.” Maia looked around the high tech facility located in the basement beneath a supposedly normal-looking stonehouse.

One wall held a series of widescreen monitors and keyboards, the other held a bay of computer servers and a host of other devices.

“This is one of our control rooms. I have several of them scattered among my properties. These servers are part of my disaster-recovery protocol and hold an image of the data from MDI corporate headquarters,” Jack explained, not without some pride. “I can create a user account for you so you can continue your intel-gathering on whoever is after you. Our communication network is very secure as we deal with the DoD frequently. I can open up a separate socket and network for you to AGS.”

“What’s over there?” Maia pointed to the darkened hallway just outside the control room. Jack smiled and walked ahead to illuminate the area.

“Several rooms, one is a gym, which you are free to use. There’s a sparring mat in case you want to work out your frustrations against me.”

“Very funny. Don’t give me any ideas,” Maia said.

Jack threw back his head and laughed. “You think you can take me on?”

“Don’t be insulting. I can break your neck with my legs,” Maia retorted.

Before Maia could move forward Jack had her pinned against the wall, pressing his hard body against hers, trapping her arms beside her.

“Try,” Jack whispered, his mouth nearly touching hers.

Jack loomed over Maia, a surge of desire suddenly sweeping over him, the need to possess her consuming him. She did not pull away, but just stared straight up at him and wet her lips.

With a groan, his lips crushed hers in a searing kiss, and then his hands released her arms, one hand splaying across her back, the other hand skimming down her side to cup her ass to grip her closer to him, his growing arousal pushing, grinding into her softness. Maia gave a soft mewl and dug her fingers into his hair pulling his head closer. He lightened his kisses, teasing her lips with his tongue, before pushing in to resume plundering its sweetness. And she was sweet …so sweet… like…

He felt her hands descend to his chest to push against him lightly. Jack withdrew reluctantly, leaning his forehead against hers and said, “Sorry, been wanting to do that since the first time we’ve met.”

Maia scooted pass him and, to Jack’s annoyance, acted like nothing had happened. “I believe you were giving me the tour?”

Jack nodded curtly and said, “This over here is a weapons testing room.”

Maia looked at him dubiously. “Good God, who the heck are you? Bruce Wayne?”

Maia pounded the sand as she ran along the rolling beach, trying to erase Jack’s intoxicating kiss from her mind. In a moment of temporary insanity, she had let him kiss her—quite thoroughly. She had a feeling there would be more moments like that. It was difficult to resist him. The instant her body touched his, she melted. She was so screwed.

Jack’s offer echoed in her head. “Like I said, you have free run of the place for as long as you need to lie low. Contrary to what you think, you do not have to sleep with me, which isn’t to say I won’t try to get you into my bed. I want to fuck you, but what I don’t want is for you to sleep with me out of gratitude.” He delivered the statement tersely and without the warmth she had seen in his eyes right before he kissed her.

Maia picked up her pace just as she felt some rumblings behind her. She saw a couple of beach walkers and other runners scrambling away. Just then an open-top Jeep Wrangler, with three very raucous occupants, sped by her, narrowly missing some folks a few feet in front of her.

One of them saw her and signaled for the driver to turn around.

From what Grace, Jack’s housekeeper, had said, this was a very quiet town. Grace’s sister ran a fine goods store. The town was probably just a one mile stretch of mom and pop shops.

Which made Maia think that these rough heads were outsiders like her.

The jeep skidded diagonally to a stop a few feet from her, the engine left running as all three riders jumped down and intercepted her.

Maia started calculating how she was going to play this: tough chick or damsel-in-distress?

“Hey darlin’ ! Want some company?” The tallest of the three boomed by way of greeting.

“Oh look, she’s nice and sweaty. I like sweaty,” the bald one said with a leer.

“Aw Syd, stop scaring the girl,” the third one, of average height with brown hair, said.

“Plea…Please….I don’t want an…any trouble,” Maia squeaked in a scared, shaky voice obviously going with option number two. “Leave me…me… alone.”

Syd, the bald one, grabbed both her arms and pulled her back against his front. He leaned in and swiped his tongue along her neck to lick the sweat.

Ugh … gross!

“Please…don’t …” Damn! She was this close to kicking his ass.

“Man, she’s as sweet as honey. Bet her cunt is just as sweet.”

Maia noticed a crowd forming behind the jeep. Spectators seemed to be fighting amongst themselves to take action against these bozos. Unfortunately, these three jerks looked scary as hell. One woman in the crowd yelled bravely, “Let her go, you assholes!”

The taller one moved forward, and let the back of his hand skim over her breast.

“No…no…no…” Shit, how much longer could she stand this, Maia wondered furiously. If she took these three down, her cover would be blown.

“What the fuck is going on here?” A loud voice thundered as the tires of a bike skidded to a halt, whipping up some sand.

The newcomer was tall, well over six feet. His thick corded muscles rippled beneath a tight white tee, his powerful-looking legs in khaki cargo shorts. He was wearing aviator shades and his thick brown hair was cut really short.

“Nothing, detective, just getting to know the locals,” the tall guy said while backing away from her. Syd, released her too. In fact, all three men backed away.

The hot guy is a cop?

“Looks like harassment to me,” Maia’s rescuer snapped. “And you guys are stupid enough to do it in front of so many witnesses?” Then looking at her, he asked gently, ”Are you all right, honey?”

Maia nodded, pretending to be too frightened to speak.

“You want to press charges?”

“No, no charges. It was nothing,” she said quickly. Seriously this damsel-in-distress mode sucks. Maia did not want to press any charges because she was supposed to be off the grid. Just her luck: first day in town and she’s a goon magnet.

“See Tanner, no harm. We were just having fun.”

“You best be on your way, gentlemen,” the detective said, his tone decisive and menacing.

The three jackasses didn’t waste anytime jumping into their jeep to drive away. “Later, Detective Tanner,” they called out.

Tanner turned his attention fully on Maia.

“You new in town? I’m Detective Rick Tanner.”

“Yes, I just got in yesterday.”

“Got a name?”

“Uh, Maia.”

“Well, Maia, I’m sorry about your intro into the town of Westcove. Syd, Tommy and Benny drove in three weeks ago and have been nothing but trouble. Funny thing is no one wants to press charges. I’m keeping an eye on them. Now I know they are all scary and shit, but the offer still stands. You can come down to the station and press charges.”

When Maia didn’t answer, Rick continued. “I’m from another town myself. Got assigned here because of some trouble trickling down from the bigger cities.”

Maia stiffened. “What kind of trouble?”

“Sorry, can’t talk about an ongoing investigation. You might reconsider running anywhere by yourself if you’re staying for a while. Given the way you look, there’s bound to be trouble.”

Now what the hell did that mean? That I brought this on myself? Maia thought angrily.

Rick read her mind and sighed. “Look, that didn’t come out right. All I’m saying is you’re a beautiful woman. Haven’t seen someone as pretty as you. Ever.”

Oh, now he was flirting. She could do flirty.

Maia smiled her sultry smile. It obviously had the desired effect on detective as his jaw slackened in response.

“I better head back. See you around… detective.”

And with that, Maia turned around and headed back to the stonehouse on the cliff.

“I can bake pies,” Maia declared to Grace Banning. “I make my dough from scratch too, all butter.”

She was hanging out in the kitchen having lunch. Grace whipped up a mustardy-mayo dressing from scratch. That meant starting from an egg-yolk and whisking in the oil slowly. Maia liked nothing better than homemade mayonnaise. A sandwich of prosciutto, provolone cheese, roasted Piquillo peppers and that special dressing between freshly baked focaccia bread was simply divine. Maia could get used to living here. She loved to eat.

She remembered her foster parents. Viktor had been in her life since she was twelve and placed her with a couple he knew personally. He began to train her as soon as she turned fifteen. The training could get brutal but she was lucky. Her foster parents were loving and warm, which was probably why Viktor chose them: so they could balance out the harshness and coldness that she had to endure under him. Her foster mom loved to cook and she baked everything from scratch.

“Jack loves pies,” Grace informed her and smiled. Maia rolled her eyes. She liked Jack’s housekeeper except for the way she believed Jack walked on water. Grace was fifty-years old, and was slender with long blond hair held up tightly in a French twist. She moved so gracefully in the kitchen she gave new meaning to domestic elegance. Her older sister Betty ran an upscale grocery store in town and all Grace had to do was email her the order and Betty’s son, Kyle, would drop off the goods every few days. Such was life in a small town.

Grace shared that Betty was recently widowed and that her seventeen-year old son was helping his mom out as much as he could.

“That’s hard. What about college?” Maia asked.

“Kyle may have to skip the first year of college until his mom can handle the grocery store by herself or afford to hire more help. He’s such a bright kid. Be a shame if he didn’t get the opportunity,” Grace said sadly.

“So what do you want for dinner tonight?” Grace asked her.

“No dinner for tonight, Grace,” Jack said as he strode into the kitchen. “You can go home at 3 p.m. since you had to come in early. I’m taking Maia out tonight to sample Westcove Tavern’s famous burgers.” A thought occurred to Jack and he asked Maia, “You do eat meat, right?”

“Heck, yeah. I love my meat,” Maia replied without thinking and could have kicked herself when Jack raised an eyebrow and grinned wickedly at the double-meaning.

“There’s hope yet,” Jack drawled.

“Maia makes pies from scratch,” Grace piped in as she turned around to prepare a sandwich for Jack.

“I love pies,” Jack said. “Are you taking requests? My favorite is apple pie.”

It looked like Jack had gotten over his snit this morning, she thought.

“This weekend.”

Jack groaned. “I’m at New Park this Saturday but will be back that evening. Can I have it for Sunday breakfast?”

“Apple pie for breakfast?” Maia thought that weird.

“Did you miss the part where I said I love pie,” Jack retorted.

“Pie for breakfast it is.”

Grace’s back was to the couple talking about pie, but she was smiling broadly at their exchange.

“Man, you are right. This is one of the best burgers I’ve ever had,” Maia declared, licking her fingers clean.

They were late getting into Westcove Tavern because Jack’s meeting ran too long. The place was packed on a Thursday night, so they opted to sit at the bar because customers occupied every available booth and table.

“Sorry for getting you here so late. You looked like you were ready to eat me for dinner when I got out of that meeting,” Jack teased, but Maia didn’t fall for his double-meaning again. He’d been making sexual innuendos the whole afternoon but she had successfully ignored them.

He was right though, by 8:30 p.m. she was starving, and probably looked murderous. She did not do hungry well.

“Girl, you did a good job with that burger. How do you stay so skinny?” Their bartender, Tina, came back to clear their plates.

“You don’t wanna know,” Maia replied.

Jack chuckled.

“Another beer?”

“No, I’m switching to tequila later. Give me a few minutes,” Maia told Tina.

“So you’re a tequila kind of girl, huh?” Jack said, his eyes twinkling. He was obviously in a good mood.

Maia didn’t respond; she had been distracted by a group of rowdy guys having an argument a few seats over. They needed to call it a night, since they had clearly had too much to drink. One of the results of her job was heightened vigilance of possible threats. It would take a few days for her to decompress and stop seeming paranoid. Which was why she loved the ocean: listening to waves rolling in brought her to her zen place.

“Maia?”

She stiffened and felt Jack freeze beside her too.

She turned around and faced Detective Rick Tanner.

Oh, fuck.

“I thought that was you. Never forget a pretty face. Now, what did I say about going around by yourself,” Rick admonished. For a detective, he was certainly clueless not to have picked up that she was there with Jack, unless he thought that Jack had picked her up because they were sitting at the bar.

“Actually, she’s here with me,” Jack said bitingly, possessiveness and territoriality emanating from him forcefully. “What I wanna know is how you met Maia, Rick?”

Okay, no introductions necessary, they know each other.

Rick frowned. “Maia was accosted on the beach this morning by three fuckwads who rolled into town three weeks ago.” He looked at Maia questioningly and a little bit smug, as if he knew something Jack didn’t. “You didn’t tell him? Honey, there’s no shame …”

“Detective…” Maia quickly tried to shush him. Jeez, for a detective he sure had a big mouth.

“It wasn’t your fault …”

“Detective ….”

“…they touched you…”

“They did what?” Jack roared, his eyes slicing through Maia, waves of fury rolling off him; she was pretty sure they were not directed at her. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell me?”

“Don’t you dare yell at me, Jack McCord!”

“Now, Jack, she was pretty shaken when I got there. They really freaked her out and maybe she wasn’t ready to talk about the incident” Rick explained in a conciliatory tone.

Jack’s expression shifted from anger to incredulity as if he could not decide how to process the detective’s conclusion that she had been freaked out—she who had just taken out eight Russian mercs that past week. Jack’s face turned red, and then he laid his elbow on the bar and lowered his head on it, his shoulders shaking.

The detective looked worried. “You okay, man?”

Jack’s shoulder shook a little harder.

Maia thought that this would be an excellent time to use the ladies’ room and started to hightail it out of there.

Rick started. “Maia…”

As Maia took a few steps forward, she felt her neck prickle as she observed the rowdy boys getting more agitated, just as she heard Rick shout, “Maia, look out!”

A massive drunk body started hurtling towards her. She instinctively bent at the torso and flipped the guy over her back, using his momentum to throw him over. She sank to a lunge to steady herself before straightening up to see everyone who had witnessed what had happened gaping at her.

“Motherfucker!”

“Holy shit!”

“Did you see that?”

“You go, girl!”

Maia wished the floor would swallow her up. She just couldn’t do normal.

Rick Tanner was too stunned to say anything. Jack stood quickly and threw a couple of bills on the bar. “Tina, we’re outta here,” he barked.

“What? I was going to give that girl free tequila for that show!” Tina protested.

Jack gripped Maia’s arm and muttered, “Let’s go.” And proceeded to weave them both out of the crowded tavern.

When they got to Jack’s vintage ’65 Ford pick-up, he stopped and turned her around leaning her on the hood. “There’s never a dull moment when you’re around, is there?”

Just when Maia thought Jack was going to kiss her, they both heard footsteps approaching.

It was Rick.

“Maia, I never got your last name.”

“Pierce,” she replied instantly. Hesitating would only arouse suspicion.

“Well, Maia Pierce, I think there’s more to you than meets the eye.”

Oh hell.

“Have a good evening.” Rick lifted his chin at Jack. “Jack.” And then the good detective left.

She was so screwed.