Fire and Ice (Guardians Book 1)

It was 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning. The breeze had picked up and a light drizzle had begun to fall. Jack was sitting in the living room with Kane Taylor, a comprehensive map of the Outer Banks rolled out on the coffee table. They were studying the topography of the barrier island figuring out where the current would push the pieces from the wreckage. Maia was wearing a life jacket, and if she held on to some debris she would have drifted with it. Jack struggled to remain optimistic, the water temperature was around 60 degrees and the weather had recently been on a warming trend, but the Nor’ Easter could not have happened at a worse possible time.

All through the ordeal, Jack didn’t once stop to analyze what he was feeling. The heavy loss that was weighing in his heart was pointing to an emotion that felt alien to him. He was afraid that if these deep sentiments overwhelmed him he would become useless to anyone. Maia was alive, he needed to stay strong.

Jack looked over at Taylor whose face was taut with strain.

“You should get some rest, Taylor,” Jack said as he pinched the bridge of his nose, a sign of his own fatigue. “We can pick this up tomorrow.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t keep her safe for you, Jack,” Taylor said. “Instead, she saved us all.”

They both froze when they heard a vehicle pull up in front of the house. The other guys had boarded up the windows and put tarps over them to prevent the expected rain from getting in. He would have someone do major clean up after the storm blew through.

Jack locked and loaded his semi-automatic as he and Taylor cautiously approached the door, which was surprisingly intact after the firefight. Brody was on perimeter duty.

“Get out of the vehicle and keep your hands where I can see them,” Brody shouted from outside. “Taylor, we’ve got company!”

The two men slipped through the entryway, staying to the shadows when they heard a car door slam.

“Holy shit!” they heard Brody say.

Jack spotted the familiar figure standing beside the passenger side of a beat-up pick-up truck, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Maia.

Jack felt his pulse quicken, his heart hammering painfully against his chest. His throat was clogged with suppressed emotion that threatened to bubble up.

She stood there, looking like a drowned rat. Her hair dried up in clumps, she was filthy with sand, grime and motor oil. Her clothes were ripped in places, but to Jack she was still the most beautiful sight he had ever seen.

“Maia, you came back,” he whispered gruffly. He strode purposefully toward her and clenched her to him, burying his face in her saltwater-crusted hair. She gave a soft yelp of pain and he eased up.

“Can’t get rid of me that easily,” she replied in a scratchy voice.

He raised his head, looked deeply into her eyes and bent forward to kiss her gently, mindful that her lips may have been raw from exposure to the sea. Her body was seized with intermittent tremors, either from being in wet clothes for too long or from shock. She was holding up bravely, but he could tell she was on the verge of collapse. A feeling of fierce protectiveness overwhelmed Jack as he swept her up in his arms and carried her inside.

He took Maia to his room immediately and started the shower. He slowly undressed her, careful that some areas of clothing may be stuck to a wound. He was relieved to see she had only slight abrasions and was not bleeding anywhere. However, the extent of her injuries wouldn’t be known until he had washed out all the grit from her. He probably should’ve whisked her to the hospital immediately in case she had internal injuries, but the desire to have her to himself clouded his better judgment.

“Maia, I’m going to shower the grime off of you and take you to the hospital.”

“I’m fine, Jack,” she croaked. “Just need to sleep.”

She swayed where she stood and Jack moved to steady her.

He held her for a while, waiting for the hot water to steam up the bathroom.

He never wanted to let her go again.

Maia’s eyes opened, the smell of antiseptic making her nose twitch. An IV line was attached to the back of her hand. She was in a hospital. Jack was sleeping on a chair with his head resting on his folded arm on the bed.

She must have made a sound because his head jerked up and he looked at her. He smiled as his slate-blue eyes flooded with warmth.

“Hey, babe,” he whispered, his hand reached out, stroking her hair.

Maia tried to say something but all that came out was a croak. She cleared her throat and tried again.

“Hey, what time is it?” she managed to ask.

“Two p.m. on Sunday. You scared the shit out of us, Maia.”

There was anguish in Jack’s voice that squeezed her heart. “I’m sorry, there was no other way.”

Jack’s smile was grim, his expression hinted that this was not the end of the discussion.

“Are you hungry, thirsty?”

“Thirsty.”

Jack got his phone out and punched a button. “Grace? Tell everyone Maia’s awake. They’re gonna check her vitals and if everything’s okay we’ll be home soon.”

“Your parents are still here?”

“Babe, they could hardly leave without thanking the person who saved their lives,” Jack said softly as he held up a straw for her to take a sip of water.

“I feel like I’ve been run over by a steamroller,” Maia said after quenching her thirst.

“You were lucky, you only escaped with a bruised rib, a couple of scrapes, dehydration and exposure,” Jack said roughly.

Maia leaned back on her pillows as she recalled what had happened yesterday. She had jumped off the jet ski right before impact, but the force knocked the wind out of her. She didn’t think she lost consciousness completely while she clung to a loose board. The waves were rough and she was submerged a couple of times, but she somehow ended up in the town of Waves in the Hateras Islands. By the time she reached the shore, she was dead tired and just wanted to sleep. She didn’t know if she dozed off or not, but she forced herself to walk to a road and someone gave her a lift.

“I was lucky,” Maia admitted. “I really don’t know how I made it, the ocean was getting rough.”

Jack sucked in a breath. “I don’t know if I want to strangle you or kiss you. What you did was suicidal.”

“Split-second decision. Had to stop them,” Maia replied ignoring the clenching of Jack’s jaw. He would just have to deal with how she operated. She couldn’t deny that wanting to get back to him gave her strength, but right now with a pounding headache and her body feeling like she had wrestled with Godzilla, she didn’t want to speculate what that meant.

“We’ll talk about that, later,” Jack promised in a dire tone. “Don’t roll your eyes. I mean it, Maia. We’ll discuss this stunt of yours when you’re in better shape.”

All of sudden, Maia remembered something else. “Did you find any of the assailants from the boat? I saw one of them briefly. He was clinging to some wreckage. He was as winded as I was, but I don’t think he’s badly injured.”

Jack stiffened and sat up. “The Coast Guard recovered two bodies. We know there was a third one but they presumed he was dead.”

“Well, they’re wrong. If I made it, no reason he wouldn’t,” Maia said. She yanked out the IV line and moved to hop off the bed. Jack was on her in an instant.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Jack hissed as he physically restrained her from getting up.

“There’s an assassin out there. We need to check area hospitals and any suspicious incidents,” Maia said in annoyance.

“I’ll handle it,” Jack replied tersely. “Will you settle down?”

“We’re wasting time …”

“Don’t make me cuff you to the bed!”

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Try me.”

“You don’t have cuffs anyway,” Maia replied mulishly, then raised an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“No, I don’t,” he admitted. “Look, I’m calling Taylor and Rick Tanner or whatever his name is and giving them the heads up. Right now, the doctor needs to give you the once over and then I’m taking you home.”

Maia’s heart warmed with the way Jack said home, but she knew it was a feeling she shouldn’t be having, one of belonging. She quickly shoved it into her inner black hole, from which unwanted emotions had no hope of escaping.

Maia lazed, stretched out on the sectional where Jack had tucked her in with a pillow on her back and cozy wool blanket on her lap. The attending doctor had given her the all-clear and sent her home but not without a stern rebuke.

“Hopefully there won’t be a next time, but if there is you come straight to the hospital, you hear? You’re lucky water temperatures were not too bad yet and the storm had not hit.” The doctor turned to Jack, “Make sure she has plenty of rest and fluids. I’ll write a prescription for pain meds.”

The official story was that there was a boating accident. Rick Tanner filed the report and left out the deadly pursuit.

When they got home, Brett and his parents thanked her profusely for saving them. They were supposed to stay until the Nor’Easter blew through, but with the new development with the missing attacker, Taylor and Jack decided it would be best for them to leave immediately.

So now it was back to her and Jack alone in the house. Grace had left earlier before the storm got worse, but not before making a pot of chicken and dumplings.

Maia must have dozed off briefly because Jack was suddenly sitting beside her, holding out a bowl of comfort food. Damn medication had addled her senses.

“Want me to feed you?” Jack asked with an amused gleam in his eyes.

“Don’t be silly,” Maia retorted as she reached for the bowl. She was starving, she had only eaten a bit of jello at the hospital, so this was a big treat. Of course she burned her tongue in her haste to eat so she slowed down and patiently blew on each heaped spoonful before shoveling it into her mouth. Jack chuckled as he reached for his own bowl and they ate in silence for a while.

Halfway through her food, Maia mumbled, “I’m feeling 100% better already.”

“Easy killer, you’re not doing anything except sitting your ass on that couch. No video-conferencing with Viktor either,” Jack warned.

“I’ll give myself tonight to take it easy. Otherwise, this inactivity could drive me nuts.”

Jack set his bowl down and leaned into her. “I can think of some fun activities.”

“I’m sure you can.”

He took her bowl away.

“Hey, I’m still eating that.”

“Later, need to give you a kiss right now,” Jack whispered as he kissed her gently, lightly teasing her lips. He had his hands on opposite sides of her. Maia got impatient and wrapped her arms around his neck to draw him closer.

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“Stop treating me as if I’m made out of crystal.”

She deepened the kiss and pushed her tongue through his mouth. Jack groaned and started devouring her lips. After a few seconds, he reluctantly pulled away.

“No, you’re not strong enough.”

“You started it.”

Jack grinned ruefully before picking up her bowl and handing it back to her. Before he could say anything they heard an explosion and the lights went out.

“Must be the transformer, but the generator should have kicked in automatically,” Jack said.

He got up and walked to the window to peek outside. “Yep, it looks like the wind took out a whole section of the neighborhood. I see a swath of darkness all around us.”

Moving to the bureau by the fireplace where two semi-automatic pistols lay, he picked one up and tucked it behind him while he handed the other one to Maia.

“I’m going to check it out. You’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be fine.”

Maia woke up with a start. She must have dozed off for a bit again. The food and meds combined made her very groggy. Where was Jack? How long had she been out? She checked the clock, and it looked like he had been gone for less than 10 minutes. But hadn’t she been woken up by a sound?

It was then that she noticed something that sent ice coursing through her veins. She had put the pistol Jack had given her down on the coffee table and now it was gone. Before she could move, a hand clamped down on her mouth and she was jerked to her feet. Another arm wrapped painfully around her waist locking in both her arms as she was slammed into a hard chest.

A sinister voice rasped beside her ear, “Sergei says hello, suka. Now you pay.”

Spinning her around he backhanded her viciously, causing her to crash onto the coffee table and shatter the glass top. He pounced on her instantly, dragging her by her hair to pull her up to face him. He was huge, almost six foot six of bulky muscle; she recognized him as the third man from the boat—the sniper. Maia spat at his face in defiance. She tasted blood and quickly checked her teeth—all still there.

“Such a waste. Your man is out back fucking with a generator while his woman gets fucked inside.”

The man continued to hold her by her hair while telling her what he intended to do to her: how he was going to make her pay for killing his comrades, how he was going to shoot her after he fucked her.

Maia kicked out but he blocked it and threw her off balance as she fell on the floor and hit her head. Her head exploded in pain as she felt a heavy weight settle on her legs immobilizing her lower body.

She felt the cold barrel of a gun under her chin as his hand began roaming under her shirt to squeeze her breasts.

“Scream. He can’t hear you. Fight me. I want you to fight me.” He ground his crotch against her thighs.

God, he was a sadistic son of a bitch, Maia thought frantically. She was grateful that real lust was winning over blood lust, because he could simply have shot her. She knew of some assassins who liked to play with their mark. She bucked beneath him, but he was too strong so she grabbed his hand that held the gun and squeezed with all she had. It was an exercise in futility. She was no match for his strength especially in the condition she was in.

“Ah, such a little fighter, you make me hard, you red-haired witch. Just a taste, then I shoot your brains out, suka.”

Maia felt her shirt rip.

The generator exhibited no immediate signs of malfunction that Jack could determine. It didn’t help that the wind and rain were relentless and made troubleshooting the faulty machinery challenging. The natural gas line was open and feeding correctly, and all the fuel lines and connections were intact. Jack shone his flashlight across the casing and then frowned—one of the screws that held the panel cover for the internals of the generator was 1/8 of an inch from being fully tightened. It had been tampered with.

It felt like an anvil had settled in his gut as he pushed away from his crouched position to tear back towards the house. He heard a crash that sounded like shattered glass. Maia!

Jack drew and cocked his gun. He sidled up by the wall and peeked through the slats of the blinds of the balcony. The only lighting was from the few emergency lights and the glow cast by the fireplace, but he clearly saw a giant of a man hauling Maia up by her hair. Fury ratcheted up inside him as he dashed to the front door and carefully opened it. The scene before him made him lose all control. The intruder had ripped Maia’s shirt apart, his intent apparent and she was struggling against him like a wild cat, gripping his wrist that held the gun.

With a roar, Jack tackled the assassin off of Maia, toppling the man to one side and pounding his face with his fists. The man threw Jack over, reached for the gun that had slid under a side table and lurched up to shoot him. Jack delivered a roundhouse kick that knocked the gun away, so the two men continued to tussle with each other. The assassin had 50 lbs. (probably of solid muscle) over Jack, but Jack was the better brawler.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Maia pick up the gun.

“Stay out of this, Maia!” Jack ordered. This man was his. He was going to pour out all the frustration he had felt when Maia went missing and all the rage that was consuming him right now.

A right hook to the face followed by a sharp jab to the solar plexus sent the behemoth hunching over before Jack finished him off by cracking the guy’s forehead brutally against his knee. The assassin teetered backwards, falling unconscious on the floor.

Jack scrambled over to Maia who was pointing the gun at the fallen intruder. Lit up by the fireplace, he did a quick body scan and noted furiously that Maia was bleeding from her mouth. He cupped her face and said, “Guard him. I’ll go get some restraints. He moves, don’t even hesitate to shoot him, you hear me?”

She nodded. Jack hated to leave Maia with the assassin, but he needed a minute to clear his head before he ended up shooting the guy to get it over with. He was racked with self-loathing: he couldn’t fucking keep Maia from being harmed. He found some plastic restraints and quickly returned to the living room. The assassin was still out cold, and Maia was sitting on the arm of the couch looking drained. Jack nudged the man over and secured his feet and hands behind his back. He then hoisted the body across his shoulder in a fireman’s carry and deposited him in a chair by the kitchen.

“Let’s try this one more time,” Jack said ominously. He had worked Boris over for some answers, striking him repeatedly with his taped fists. “Where is Reznikov?” The thugs Reznikov had sent in the boat were European mercenaries. This one was Russian. He said his name was Boris which was probably a lie. So far Boris had not revealed much except that Reznikov now knew that Maia was in Westcove. They had been casing out the small Outer Banks community even before Brett’s picture had hit the tabloids. The disappearance of Benny, Syd and Tommy had tipped off Reznikov’s radar, so Westcove received priority reconnaissance.

The assassin laughed mirthlessly as he spat out some blood. “That’s all I can tell you. Cut off my fingers, my balls, I don’t care. Nothing you can do could be worse than if I go back to Reznikov now.”

“Jesus, and you work for this guy?”

“He pays well.”

“Well enough to have your balls served to you?”

The man clamped his mouth shut. He’d give him credit for a mean left-hook, though, Jack thought as he rubbed his aching jaw.

There was a knock on the door.

“Will you get that Maia, that must be Tanner.”

He called the detective/DEA agent the minute he had gotten Boris settled in the chair. Rick wasn’t too happy heading out in the eye of the storm but was more than interested when Jack told him who he had in custody.

“Hey sweetie, you okay?” Tanner asked and kissed Maia on the forehead before striding into the house.

“I’m good.”

“We really need to stop meeting like this,” Rick added teasingly as Maia laughed softly.

“Tanner, quit flirting with my woman and get over here,” Jack growled.

Maia’s brows knitted together at his words. Yeah, deal with it, you’re mine, Jack thought to himself.

“Well, you seem to be doing a bang-up job of taking care of her,” Rick shot back but stop himself short when Jack skewered him with a murderous look.

Observing Boris’s bloodied face, Tanner said, “Damn it, McCord, have you not read all the news on police brutality?”

“I’m not the police.”

“Well, I can’t take him back to the station in that condition.”

“I’m sure your other boss will take him.”

“Personally, I can’t fault your methods, interrogation by candlelight—charming.”

“Quit with the wise cracks, Tanner, it’s been a long day,” Jack said wearily.

Rick whistled as he saw his face. “I can see that. Looked like you ran into a brick wall.”

The brick wall being Boris. “No kidding,” he muttered.

Rick looked thoughtfully at Maia and said, “Will you be in top form by this weekend?”

“I believe so.”

Jack assumed the cryptic exchange was for Boris’s benefit, but he knew they were talking about Baltimore.

The generator was restored to working condition, Boris had removed a capacitor that powered the switching mechanism. Luckily they had found the device on his person, and the house was now humming with natural-gas-powered electricity. Jack wouldn’t put it pass Boris to have rigged the transformer to explode at a certain time. The power company couldn’t fix it until the Nor’Easter blew over next morning.

Jack checked Maia’s body for glass fragments, but she had surprisingly not gotten any in her. She had a lump on the back of her head and another bruise forming on her cheek. His face was not better. The giant brute had gotten in a few licks and he now sported a shiner and a cut on his cheek.

“You should just have shot him,” Maia said as she rubbed some lotion on her elbows. They were in his bathroom getting ready for bed. Jack couldn’t wait to have Maia’s body pressed close to his. Just a night without it and he missed it like hell.

“Could have hit you,” Jack said shortly as he applied some strips of white tape to hold the cut on his cheek together. In truth, he had an overwhelming urge to beat the guy to a pulp; a quick easy death with a gun would have been too good for him.

Maia stood up on tip-toe and kissed his good cheek. “Thanks, Jack, for saving me.”

“I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

“Don’t. If anything it was my fault for falling asleep.”

“Maia, you were high on pain killers, what was I thinking?”

“Jack, stop this.”

“It was fucking stupid! He almost got you!” Jack shouted angrily. He spun away from her and rested his hands on the counter, his head bent low. He was breathing hard.

Jack knew he was working himself up with remorse. But everything that had happened to Maia had, indirectly, happened because of him: he had told her to protect his parents and Brett, he had left her alone to go check the generator.

“It made me realize one thing,” Jack whispered still not looking at her.

“What?”

“I can’t let you go.”

“Jack, you’re not making sense. What do you mean you can’t let me go?”

You’re mine, Jack wanted to tell her but it was not the time. She was going to resist and the last thing she needed right now after that bump on her head was to get worked up. He turned to look at her.

“Nothing babe, I’m rambling. Let’s get you into bed before you fall over.”

“I’m really feeling better.”

“Uh-huh. You’ve got an egg-size bump on your head. Tanner is right, I’m doing a bang-up job of keeping my woman safe.”

“I wish you wouldn’t refer to me as your woman.”

“Why not?”

“Because, I’m really not, it makes me uncomfortable and it sounds … primitive.”

“I believe you called me a Neanderthal once,” Jack smirked.

“Well, you are…”

“Let’s get you to bed. No more arguing.”

“See, that’s what I mean. You…are…too…bossy!”

Jack marched her to bed as she sputtered her response in irritation. He didn’t say anything, just continued grinning as she slipped under the covers and he got in behind her and pulled her to him. He gave her a chaste kiss on her lips that surprised her.

“Don’t want you all hot and bothered and have you jump me, I’m beat.” In actual fact, Jack felt his cock stirring but he forced himself to cool it.

“You conceited ass.”

“Night, babe.” He huffed into her hair.

It didn’t take long for Maia to fall asleep. Jack watched her beautiful face in repose.

“Mine,” Jack whispered fiercely, his arm tightening around her waist.

“What?” she murmured sleepily.

“Shhh…nothing. Sleep, babe.”

Jack stayed awake for a while. As tired as he was, he was afraid that if he fell asleep he would wake up to find her no longer there, that she would still be lost at sea or that the big burly assassin would have gotten to her.

Maia had woken up to an empty bed. She was not surprised because Jack had always been an early riser while she really wasn’t fully awake until noon unless she ran in the morning. The back of her head still throbbed, but she had decided against any more pain medication. Those pills screwed with her alertness and had almost gotten her killed. Jack was so torn up with what had happened, she could see the torment in his eyes. She didn’t think that she could ever convince him that it wasn’t his fault, that shit like that happened to her all the time. Maia was not clueless, she knew Jack was beginning to care for her. But she also knew extreme situations could bring about a rush of emotions in a person that were not real and long lasting.

She took a leisurely shower, letting the spray of hot water soothe her aching limbs before switching to a blast of cold water to wake her up. She studied her reflection in the mirror: there was a slight bruise on her cheek but color had returned to her lips. Her body had a few scratches and bruising right around the ribs. Other than that, she should be in fighting shape in a few days.

It was almost 11:00 a.m. before Maia decided to dress in sweat pants and head downstairs. Grace should be puttering around and she wondered what Jack was doing. She heard low voices in the kitchen, one was Jack’s and the other sounded very familiar.

“Derek!” Maia exclaimed as she flew down the rest of the steps and flung herself into her friend’s open arms, almost knocking him over.

“There she is,” Derek replied warmly. “You don’t look any the worse for wear.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Well, I needed to see for myself how you had come back from the dead yet another time.”

“That’s not why you’re really here,” Jack interjected brusquely. “So why don’t you cut the bullshit and tell us the real reason, Derek.”

“Really, Jack, no need to be so hostile.”

“Well, I’ve been trying for the last half-hour to get something out of you.”

“What time did you arrive?”

“About an hour ago, Jack whisked me straight to his study to interrogate me.”

“That was business.”

“Bullshit. Half of the questions were about Viktor and Baltimore.”

“Jack, I told you to lay off that,” Maia said in exasperation.

“Sorry, sweetheart, that’s not me.”

Jack never called her sweetheart unless he was pissed or being sarcastic.

“So back to my question: what are you doing here?” Maia asked.

Derek sighed, reached into his pocket and handed her a smartphone. “Viktor wanted me to give you this.”

Jack turned livid with anger. “She’s not yet fully recovered,” he said furiously. “It’s barely been 48 hours.”

“See, I hate getting caught in the middle of this,” Derek said. “It’s almost like a messed-up love triangle.”

Jack’s face grew darker. Maia was controlling a grin.

“Viktor is worried that he has no way of contacting you,” Derek continued. “Oh, stop scowling, Jack! You’re with Maia, Viktor comes with the package.”

“Like fucking hell!”

Maia started laughing.

“This is not funny!” Derek and Jack said at the same time, Derek in a mocking tone, Jack in a pissed-off one.

“Oh, Jack, you’re playing straight into Viktor’s twisted sense of humor. He likes messing with my men.”

“Your men?”

The air turned frosty.

“How many did you have?”

Maia paused, an expression of concentration on her face.

“What, can’t keep track of them?” Jack sneered, his voice rising.

“Stop being a damn hypocrite. How many girlfriends did you have?”

“Twenty-one excluding the one-night-stands.”

“Jeez, how do you keep up without a deli ticketing machine?”

“You can’t fucking answer a simple question?”

“All right, I had two relationships and uh… seven hookups.”

“So what am I?”

“You’re my seventh hookup.”

Jack looked thunderous. His glare could have speared Maia to the wall. He regarded her for a few seconds and then turned around, stalked away and slammed the door to his study behind him.

“I don’t trust his retreats,” Maia murmured to Derek.

“I don’t either,” Derek replied. “I think he’s a little pissed that he’d been relegated to hookup status.”

“Well, he’s hardly a relationship. We’ve been together barely a week.”

“So, you are together?”

“I don’t know, it’s darn confusing. Jack keeps changing the rules.”

Derek looked thoughtful for a moment. “I think you’ve gotten under his skin and he doesn’t know what to do about it. Jack hates feeling vulnerable. Never seen him out of sorts like this. Interesting.”

“Well, I don’t want to get under his skin. I need to be out of here by Friday and if he tranquilizes me again or cuffs me to the bed, there will be hell to pay.”

“Cuff you to the bed?”

“He has threatened to.”

“Good God, what have you done to him. The man has lost his mind!” Derek actually guffawed.

“It’s not funny. May I remind you about the last time you let him get away with tranquing me?”

Derek had the decency to look contrite.

“How long are you staying?” Maia changed the subject.

“Not sure. As long as you are here, I think. Jack conscripted me to provide additional security,” Derek said. “Now, I’m not sure I want to. I hate to be caught in the crossfire.”

“We’re usually sweet together.”

“That might be worse,” Derek answered dryly. “So, does Lee count as one or three?”

“Oh, shut up, Derek.”