Payback (Otter Creek Book 5) Read online

  Mills frowned. “I don’t take the word of a killer about anything.”

  Alex had the feeling the fed wasn’t only talking about the attempted assassination. Mills was one of many people he’d run into who believed Alex was a government-sanctioned murderer, including his own family. The only people who understood were his Delta unit and Ivy Monroe. He knew why Durango unit trusted him. He’d saved their skins too many times to count. Despite some ugly experiences in her recent past, Ivy trusted him, believed he was a good man. Her belief in him made Alex want to be the man she thought he was.

  He gave a nod at the agent. “Fair enough. I got up at 4:00 this morning, ran five miles. On my route, I stopped a couple minutes and talked to Detective Rod Kelter of the Otter Creek Police Department who was coming back from answering a call. I returned home, showered, grabbed breakfast and a mug of coffee and arrived at PSI at 6:00 where I worked out with about twenty other men. I’ve been at PSI until you arrived on the grounds.” He stood. “You have two hours to confirm my alibi, then I’m headed to D.C. to see my father.”

  If his family would give Alex access to him. They hadn’t exactly parted on the best of terms, and it hadn’t escaped his notice that neither his mother nor his brother had bothered to get in touch after the shooting. Over the years, he’d made sure his parents had his cell phone number. Neither had used it. The invisible band that had been around his chest for fifteen years tightened at the thought of seeing his family again.

  “Doubt you’ll be allowed inside the room,” Blades muttered.

  “We’ll see.” He was very good at getting into places without permission. He just wanted a couple minutes with his father, enough time to check on his progress and tell him he loved him.

  “And if we have more questions?” Mills asked.

  “You’ve got my cell number. Don’t waste your time on me, agents. I’m not your shooter.”

  “Your social media accounts say otherwise,” Blades said. “Think you’re so clever, don’t you?”

  Alex stared at the man. “I don’t do social media, Blades. Anyone in Special Forces would have to be a fool to put themselves out there like that. I may be a lot of things, but I’m no fool. So you get your warrants and track the IP addresses. But you’d better hurry. I’ll be asking my own contacts to run down the same information.”

  With that, he nodded at Ethan and left the interview room. As soon as the door shut behind him, the angry rumble of voices started. Ethan could handle the two agents. Alex had more important things to do.

  He strode down the hall, through the bullpen and out to the lobby. There he pulled up short. Ivy Monroe sat on a bench against the wall, nervously watching the two men seated across the room. As he stepped closer, she glanced his direction. Her face lit up.

  “Alex.” Ivy got to her feet and ran toward him.

  He wrapped her in his arms, buried his face in her wildly curling black hair. Breathing deep, he felt the bands around his chest began to loosen for the first time since he’d heard about the shooting.

  “I’m so sorry about your dad,” she murmured. “How is he?”

  “I don’t know, angel.”

  She drew back enough to see his face. She looked stunned. “Your family hasn’t called?”

  He shook his head. “The first I heard about the assassination attempt was from the feds.” Alex noted the speculative gazes resting on them. The last thing he wanted to do was draw attention to the beautiful lady in his arms. She wouldn’t welcome the interest. “Let’s get out of here. Can you give me a lift to PSI? I need to retrieve my SUV before I leave.”

  Ivy led the way to her car, then handed him the keys. “Figured you might need to exert control over something right now.”

  A little more tension melted away. How did she know to do that? He leaned over, kissed her cheek though he longed to kiss those lips that smiled so sweetly at him. Would she welcome his kiss, his touch as more than a friend? “Thank you, Ivy.”

  The short ride to PSI was completed in silence with a few soft touches on his shoulder and arm from his companion. His parched soul soaked up the caring and comfort. Alex parked beside his SUV and turned off the engine. He captured Ivy’s small hand in his own and threaded his fingers with hers. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, angel.”

  “Do you think you’ll be gone longer than a week?”

  He blinked. “Probably not.” Doubt his family would be interested in spending any time with him. As soon as his father was out of danger, Alex would come back and start digging if the feds hadn’t turned up any leads. “Why?”

  “When will you leave?”

  A glance at his wristwatch. “Ninety minutes. That’s as long as I promised to give the feds to confirm my whereabouts this morning. Why all the questions, angel?”

  “Stop and pick me up.” Beautiful brown eyes turned his direction. “I’m going with you.”

  Alex stared at her as if he couldn’t have heard her correctly. How hard was it to understand? She was going with him wherever he was headed. If Josh were here, he might be able to wrangle time off to go with his best friend. The rest of Durango unit was tied up training their first bodyguard recruits. Whether he acknowledged it or not, Alex needed someone in his corner when he confronted his past. Ivy wanted to be there for him like he’d been there for her two months earlier. Besides, she had a week off from school. She couldn’t think of a better way to use her time than supporting a friend. And it would get her out of town for a few days. Maybe whoever was sending those pictures and texts would lose interest.

  She sighed. Probably not, but she could hope. If things didn’t improve soon, she would ask for help. Maybe she should just change her number. Something she would investigate after she returned from D.C.

  “Are you serious?” Alex asked.

  “I want to go with you. I’m on fall break for a week. I won’t miss any classes.”

  “Sweetheart, I’m probably not going to get a warm welcome from my parents or my brother. I don’t want you exposed to that kind of unpleasantness, not to mention the circling media sharks.”

  Sweetheart? The endearment stole her breath. If only he meant it. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll handle it.” No matter how many strange men pressed too close. As long as she wasn’t confined anywhere, she could deal if Alex was close by. No one was ever caging her again.

  “If people see us together, they’ll assume we’re a couple. The media will splash us all over the headlines.”

  Oh, man. Media coverage meant her parents would notice. Great. Another run in, this time with recriminations for replacing Lee with someone they hadn’t hand picked with their stamp of approval. The saving grace was she didn’t live in her parents’ house anymore. “I understand.” Did he really think she’d object to that? He was an amazing man. No matter how much pressure she faced from her parents, she’d be proud to claim him as her own if given the chance. That wasn’t likely to happen, though. What would a man like him see in a mousy art history teacher?

  He twisted in the driver’s seat to face her. Alex reached over and tucked loose strands of her hair behind her ear, then cupped the back of her neck with his hand. “Are you sure, angel?”

  She nodded. “I want to go with you. Please, let me do this.”

  His gaze softened. “All right. I have two conditions, though.”

  Well, this ought to be good. “Let’s hear them.”

  “You’ll tell me the second you start feeling uncomfortable with the media hype or my family’s animosity.” He paused, brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Second, I’m a straight shooter.” A wry grin curved his mouth. “In more ways than my shooting skills. I don’t date much because I hate relationship games. So in the interest of fair disclosure, you probably should know before fully agreeing to go with me that I’m crazy about you, Ivy. Tell me if you don’t feel the same, angel, and I’ll let the media and my family assume what they want without confirming anything. I can blow smoke as well as the next guy, but I thin
k we might have something special going and I want a chance to see where this relationship goes. If you can’t give me an answer right now, I’ll understand, but I want you to give me a chance something fierce.”

  Ivy smiled, her vision misty. “Looks like we’re a matched set because I’m crazy about you, too.”

  His hand tightened across her nape. “So that’s a yes? You’ll give me, give us a real chance?”

  “That’s a definite yes.”

  He closed his eyes for a second, sighed. “You won’t regret it, angel. You have my word, for what it’s worth.”

  She laid her palm on his cheek, thrilled with her right to touch him at last. “Because I know you, that’s worth gold to me.”

  “You are one in a million,” he said. He leaned over, placed a soft kiss on her lips. Alex pulled back. “We’ll take this relationship as slow as you need, Ivy. I’m not in a hurry.”

  “I hope you mean that. I’m still learning to trust my own judgment.” She’d played a relationship game with Lee, thought she knew the rules, and lost, big time. She reminded herself that this man was not Lee Hall. He’d never hurt her.

  He smiled. “Personally, I think your taste is impeccable.”

  She laughed softly. “Biased much?”

  “I’m incredibly blessed to have you in my life.”

  Something inside Ivy budded. It took her several seconds to identify the feeling. Hope. For the first time in a long while, a seed of hope started to grow.

  CHAPTER THREE

  After seeing Ivy to her door, Alex made the short drive to his house. Once Durango unit had made the decision to open the bodyguard school, they’d all chosen to live in close proximity to each other and the school. Made early starts and late finishes to the training a little more palatable. Also made it a lot more convenient to train for their own missions with Fortress Security as well. Nothing like having a dual purpose in mind for their facilities.

  He parked in the drive of his English Tudor house. His teammates had razzed him for buying such a large place when it was just him and he didn’t spent much time in residence. All except Josh. His best friend had noted the four bedrooms and large backyard suitable for a family and simply clapped him on the shoulder without saying a word. After crawling through the muck together and watching each other’s backs on too many missions to count, he didn’t have to explain to Josh that he longed for a family of his own, one that was his to protect and love. Never would he turn his back on his children should he be blessed enough to have any.

  Unlocking the door and disarming his state-of-the-art alarm system, Alex strode into the master bedroom and hauled his duffel bag from a large walk-in closet. He considered what to take with him, snorted over the fact that the first things brought to mind were weapons. Hazards of the trade. He never went anywhere without weapons at hand. A Beretta went into his bag along with the magazines for this weapon and his favorite Sig which he routinely carried. Next in the bag were a couple boxes of ammo. He didn’t know what he might face, but he didn’t intend for anyone to catch him off guard and without adequate means to protect himself and Ivy.

  The thought of Ivy’s safety made him pause for a minute. Muttering under his breath, he grabbed his laptop and his Ka-Bar. After selecting jeans, black t-shirts, and a light-weight jacket to cover his shoulder holster as needed and stuffing in the requisite toiletries, he considered his packing finished.

  Alex glanced at his watch. Thirty minutes before he needed to pick up Ivy. No need to show up early. He suspected she would take every minute he gave her to pack for herself. His heart turned over at the thought of his angel with the steel spine. He found it almost unbelievable that she would set herself up for situations that were sure to stress her over the coming days. The staggeringly beautiful teacher was truly amazing and he found it a miracle that she was his.

  He blew out a breath, praying he wouldn’t mess this up and lose her. She was the best thing to happen in his life in…well, fifteen years. The only exception was his bond with Josh and the Cahill family.

  Enough mooning about the hot art teacher. Time to get back on track. He pulled out his cell phone and punched in the number for Fortress Security’s CEO Brent Maddox. His new boss needed to know about the media storm sure to come in the next 24 hours. Might make a difference in the type of op his team was sent on in the near future. None of them needed the media’s attention. Their best defense was anonymity.

  “What do you need, Alex?”

  “To give you a heads up.”

  “About?”

  “I’m leaving for D.C. in a few minutes.”

  “Thought you might be headed that direction. Anything we can do to help?”

  “Ask the tech geeks to scour the Internet for sources of the threat to Dad. The FBI is on the case, but I trust Fortress before I trust any of the feds.”

  Keys tapping in the background. “Got it. What else?”

  “During a three-hour interrogation with the Bureau boys, they told me I’ve been threatening my father on my social media pages. Be nice to trace the originator of those pages.”

  A pause. “Don’t have a high opinion of you, do they?”

  He gave a dry laugh. “They share the same view as my family, that I’m a killer who sells out to the highest bidder and have no morals or conscience.”

  “Is that what you think of yourself?”

  “I am a killer for hire.”

  “Alex, you take care of your teammates. You are a protector. Sure, you might have to take the shot to do that, but anyone you take out is not on the right side of the line.”

  He sighed. “I get it. You’re right. I don’t regret taking those shots if it brings my team home in one piece. But, man, it gets old when I fight to protect innocent lives and other innocents accuse me of being exactly like those I protect them from.”

  “Yeah, I hear you. Same goes. I don’t think there’s a good black ops agent out there who doesn’t feel that same thing.”

  Pity party time was over. Time to man up and get on with the mission. “Thanks for the tech help, Brent. Wait until I give the okay, but I’ll want the techs to scrub those media pages from the Net. For now, I have to give the feds time to run their checks on the IP addresses. The way my luck is running, they’ll probably trace back to me.”

  “Any word from your family?”

  “No.” Abrupt to the point of being rude, but what else could he say? His mother and brother had written him out of their lives just as his father had done. Alex’s hand tightened around his cell. Too bad if they didn’t want to see his ugly mug. He was going to see his father no matter who or what he had to go around or run over.

  “You going to let that stop you?”

  “Not a chance.”

  “Good. You can’t control the responses of your mother and brother, Alex. The only thing you control is your behavior. You do what’s right. The rest ultimately isn’t up to you anyway. Keep me in the loop. We’ll do whatever we can to help. If you need someone to watch your back, we have assets in the area.”

  When he ended the call, Alex rubbed his face with his hands, grimaced at the scratch of beard growth. He pushed off the wall he’d been leaning against and headed for the bathroom. He had just enough time to scrape the day’s beard growth from his face before heading to Ivy. Maybe, if he was lucky, he’d get to steal a couple of kisses.

  Ivy closed and locked her small suitcase. Wouldn’t do to drop the thing and have her stuff strewn all over the place. Just thinking of that very real possibility with her well-loved luggage had her cheeks heating. Locking the thing was the only way to prevent an embarrassing disaster. She shoved her keys deep in her purse and glanced around her bedroom to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything important.

  Mentally, she went through her packing list. Jeans, shirts, tennis shoes, low-heeled zip boots, sweater in case the October evenings were cool in Washington, D.C., and toiletries. Check. She doubted she’d need anything dressier. Ivy grabbed her overnight
bag from the bed. She could always buy something in basic black if an occasion arose for her to dress up. Setting her luggage by the door, she made the rounds through her apartment to check the windows were locked, no lights burning except the one in the living room, all the while skirting the packed boxes which were likely to remain packed a little longer if she was gone for the whole break. Oh, well. Maybe Del would help her when she returned from her honeymoon. She smiled. She’d missed her cousin over the past two weeks.

  A knock on the door interrupted her musings. She checked the peephole and her heart clenched. Ivy threw open the locks on her door.

  “Ready, angel?” Alex’s eyes widened. “You look beautiful.”

  Ivy blinked, glanced down at herself. Blue cotton sweater, jeans, and sneakers? Maybe he needed his eyes checked. Lee would have sent her back to change into something more appropriate for a night out with him. He hated her to dress in anything not glamour-shot ready. Her hands clenched into fists. This was not Lee, she reminded herself. Alex would never do that to her. Would he?

  Her doubt must have shown because he edged closer, cupped her cheek with one hand. “You are so gorgeous, Ivy Monroe. One day soon, I hope you’ll see yourself as I see you.”

  Ivy’s heart raced. “What do you see?”

  His head dipped toward hers. “Perfection,” he whispered.

  Another light kiss brushed her mouth and sent butterflies into flight in her stomach. Good grief. How had any woman let Alex Morgan slip through her fingers?

  Alex dropped his hand to hers, squeezed gently. “Is this everything?” he asked with a nod at her luggage.

  “That’s all.”

  He grinned. “You pack light.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “For a woman?”

  A chuckle as he grabbed her bags. “Hey, I didn’t say that.”

  “But you were thinking it pretty loud.”

  “Maybe, but I’m smart enough not to admit it. I’ll meet you at the SUV.”

  After locking her door, she followed him to his vehicle. He was leaning against the passenger door, waiting for her. At her appearance, he opened the door and helped her into the vehicle. He paused long enough that she glanced up at him. “Alex?”