why was every protective instinct in him coming to life? The woman obviously didn’t want his help, though she needed it, considering she was out cold. Wasn’t she?
Dave pressed two fingers to the base of her throat and held his breath, waiting for the thump of blood passing through her veins. He let out a long-held breath when he felt the steady thrum of life. So she wasn’t dead. The fact she was unconscious couldn’t be good.
Hopefully, Emma could get her to go to the emergency room. An ambulance could pick her up and she’d be off his hands and out of his truck. He didn’t particularly want to be saddled with her, but having hit her with his truck, he figured he at least owed her the courtesy of getting her medical attention, even if the accident had been her fault. She’d run the stop sign.
Dave knew Steele and her teammates were some kind of government special agents, he just wasn’t sure which branch—FBI, CIA or something else. She’d arrived a few months ago to help stop a terrorist plot going down in Cape Churn. She’d worked with two other men: Creed Thomas and Casanova Valdez.
Whoever they were, they were on their game, something Dave could appreciate. When he’d been a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, he’d been equally dedicated to his country and his commanding officers. Until his unit had been fed faulty intel and bad orders.
It was while he’d served in Afghanistan he’d learned that getting too close to someone, male or female, left you vulnerable to the devastating pain of loss. He was better off keeping his distance.
When he pulled into the parking lot of the marina, three other vehicles were already there. A Jeep and two other SUVs.
Emma was the first to greet him, stepping up to his door as he climbed down from his truck. “Where’s the fire? Why the secretive call?”
He moved aside.
The overhead light shone down on Tazer’s light blond hair.
“Nicole.” Emma’s eyes rounded. “Is she...?”
“She’s alive, just passed out.”
Emma rounded to the other side of the truck and opened the door, climbing up on the running board. “What happened?”
He told her about almost running her over and that she’d taken a spill from her motorcycle.
Casanova Valdez stood behind Emma, holding Molly McGregor’s hand. “What the hell was she doing here anyway? I thought she was on assignment.”
“Nicole.” Emma tapped her arm gently. When she didn’t respond, she lightly slapped her face. “Nicole,” she said sharply.
“Let me.” Valdez switched places with Emma and said in a stern voice, “Tazer, quit foolin’ around. It’s time to go to work.”
Dave’s fists clenched and he stepped forward, ready to punch Valdez’s lights out for being so forceful when the woman wasn’t capable of holding her head up, much less going to work.
“Nova?” Nicole blinked her eyes open and stared up into her fellow agent’s face.
“Yeah, it’s me. You look like hell.” Valdez held out his hand and she grabbed it, letting him pull her into a sitting position.
“Way to make a girl self-conscious,” she grumbled.
He snorted, giving her a derisive grin. “Like you’ve ever been that.” His lips turned downward. “What the hell happened? I didn’t know you were scheduled to be here.”
She pressed a hand to the back of her neck. “I wasn’t.”
Creed Thomas stepped up behind Valdez. “Tazer, what’s going on?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.” Her voice was stronger, clipped and, if Dave wasn’t mistaken, strained. “I need your help,” she admitted. “Is there somewhere we can meet that’s not so out in the open?”
Valdez and Thomas converged and helped her down from the truck.
Emma glanced at Dave. “Can we meet on your dive boat?”
He shook his head. “Better take her to the Freedom’s Price,” he said, immediately regretting getting involved, but leading the way to the far end of the marina where the yacht was tied to the end of the dock. Everything about Nicole Steele spelled trouble, from her slim figure to the swell of her breasts and hips beneath the black leather.
When she set her feet on the ground, her knees buckled. Her teammates caught her before she hit the ground.
She laughed shakily. “I’ve been on that bike for two days just to get here.”
“Two days?” Thomas asked. “I thought you were back in D.C.?”
“No. I was on assignment in L.A.” She straightened, her brows forming a tight V over her nose. “Tell me, what’s going on at headquarters? Why aren’t Royce or Geek answering their phones? I couldn’t get them to answer calls or texts.”
“Nothing that I know of. I heard from Royce three days ago.” Thomas frowned. “Come to think of it, he was going to contact me today with my next assignment.” He glanced at his watch and cell phone. “I’ve gotten nothing.”
Valdez scrolled down through the contact list on his phone. “I just returned from a short assignment two days ago and had requested a week off. I didn’t expect to hear from anyone back at HQ.” He hit the send button on his phone and pressed it to his ear. After a moment his gaze met Tazer’s in the light from the post hanging over the dock. “Nothing.”
“Let me get in touch with Sam. I think he and his wife, Kat, were supposed to be in D.C. this week.” Thomas scrolled through his phone contacts, selected the one he wanted and pressed Send, then put the phone on speaker.
After a moment a gravelly voice answered. “Yeah.”
“Sam, it’s Creed.”
“Thank God. Kat and I contacted as many people on the team as I dared to let them know what went down, but couldn’t get them all. One minute it was business as usual, the next, FBI was raiding headquarters. Then all hell broke loose. They nabbed Royce and Geek and all of the SOS computers, and took them to an undisclosed location.”
“Damn,” Thomas said. “What’s going on?”
“We’re not sure. Look, I don’t want to stay on this phone long, in case someone’s somehow monitoring this call. I suggest you ditch all your SOS phones, now. Contact me on Kat’s personal phone, if you need us. Out here.”
Dave’s fists clenched. He wasn’t sure what Thomas and Valdez did, but his gut told him they were the good guys. He had yet another reason not to trust the government or those who considered themselves “in charge.”
Valdez swore softly. “We need to get back to D.C. to find out what happened.” He started for the parking lot.
“Wait.” Nicole stuck out an arm. “I have a bad feeling it has something to do with my last assignment.” She glanced toward Dave.
Dave
