THE ASSASSIN - AU/CC/Adult - Epilogue - 11/6/16

[sarammlover]

wow! What an update. Getting the whole gang back together! I am so glad Kyle and Tess are back!!! And I loved Tess's line there at the end. I love that she won't stop him from going in but wants him to know he had better get his ass back out!! Such a great update! Val and Alex....so hot without anything sexual. I love that!

[Double Trouble]

Roswelllostcause: Yep, chances are good things won’t go as smoothly as they’d like.

Eva: Keep those fingers crossed! They’re gonna need all the help they can get!

keepsmiling7: Well, unfortunately, they have no way of knowing for sure if Max and Liz are in the compound they plan to infiltrate and the main goal is to find and crack the code that could take out the network. But... Michael has already stated his intent to go after the civilians while Val and Alex work with Brody to try to access the system.

sarammlover: Thanks! Yep, we’re about to have them all under one roof. Tess doesn’t want Kyle back in the action, especially in a situation like this one, but she knows it’s his decision and she respects that. Alex and Val are definitely keeping that fire going!



Part 56

The road smoothed out somewhat as Kyle and Tess neared their destination; the snow was packed down from being driven on recently. “Somehow I never imagined this scenario when we were building the cabin.”

“No?” He chuckled deeply. “With our history it doesn’t seem so unlikely.”

“Unlikely, no, just... unexpected.”

“That happens when you’re friends with Bane I guess.”

“I suppose it’s to be expected.” She sighed quietly when the cabin came into view. At least it appeared to still be in one piece. “Y’know, there’s a downside to killing those trackers.”

“There is?”

“Yeah. These people are trained killers, Kyle. Some of them, a lot of them possibly, are so deep in this life that they’re not gonna be able to live normal lives. Killing is all they know and they may not stop once they’re off the leash.”

“That’s true. Guess there’s no way to be really safe, with or without the trackers.”

“Maybe we need to profile them, determine which ones are gonna be the biggest threat to society.”

“That’s gonna take your whole life.”

“We take a big risk turning them loose. It just seems like that also puts the responsibility for their future actions on us.”

“We don’t have an alternative though, do we?”

“Maybe completely disabling their trackers is a mistake.” She shrugged. “Maybe we should have Alex rewrite the code or whatever, maintain control over those trackers.”

“But if they found out, it would make us their new target, no?”

She sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I guess it would and right now we’re not on anyone’s hit list. I’d kinda like to keep it that way.”

“We’ll talk about the possibilities with the rest of them.”

Tess snorted as she reached up to adjust her sunglasses. “It’s just good to have an idea of what might come at us before we get there.”

“You always have a plan, babe,” he chuckled and squeezed her thigh.

“Well, it saves time and trouble later on,” she said with a smirk.

“That’s why I love you.” He leaned in and kissed the side of her neck.

“Um-hmm, that better not be the only reason, Valenti.” She reached up to press the button on the garage door opener, waiting until the door rolled all the way up before pulling inside.

“It’s one of many.” He waited until they came to a stop and then opened his door.

She smiled and shoved her own door open, climbing out and stretching. “Good answer.”

“So?”

“So what?”

“Didn’t you forget something?”

“Forget something?” She looked around, trying to figure out what he was talking about.

He groaned. “Forget it.”

She rolled her eyes at him and smiled. “I love you too.”

He grinned from ear to ear. “Finally.”

Tess couldn’t stop herself from laughing at the expression on his face. “You’re somethin’ else, Valenti.” As if there was a doubt in his mind that she loved him.

“I’m special.” He smacked her ass.

“Ooh, don’t be a tease,” she hissed at him.

“Me?”

“You two make me sick.” Bane stared down at them from the door.

She just stuck her tongue out at him and pushed past him to get inside. “We love you too, asshole,” she said sweetly.

“Cut the love talk crap!”

Kyle just chuckled and followed her inside. “One of these days, buddy...”

“What?” Bane frowned.

“Nothin’.” He shook his head. “Looks like you’ve got a full house again.”

“Not much longer. We leave at dawn.”

“So you’ve got confirmation on the time?”

“Yes, we have.”

“You’re goin’ in there without much in the way of backup. That you can trust,” he added when his friend just glared at him.

“We can’t wait any longer and you know I don’t trust many people anyway.”

“That’s kinda my point. You’re not gonna have anyone at your back that you can trust.”

“What’re you sayin’?” He narrowed his eyes at him.

“I’m sayin’ you go in there an’ send Val and Alex off with Brody and you go after Max and Liz... there’s no one to watch your back.” He held his hands up when he saw the protest building. “Under normal circumstances I know that’s not an issue, but man, this’s so fuckin’ far from normal and it’s too big a risk.”

“You sayin’ you want in?”

“That’s what I’m sayin’.”

Michael stared at him for nearly a full minute before he shook his head and turned away. “No.”

“You go in there without someone you trust at your back you might as well be signing on for a suicide mission. Like it or not, you need me there.”

“I said no.”

“And I don’t need your fuckin’ permission.” Kyle knew he was pushing him into a corner, knew it could go one of two ways, but he couldn’t just let it go.

“An’ I don’t want your fuckin’ help, Valenti!”

Kyle glared at him. “I don’t care if you want it or not. You’ve got it.”

The other man exhaled loudly through his nose while he tried to keep his trembling hands in check by fisting them. “You don’t owe me anything, Kyle,” he said, his voice dangerously quiet.

“This isn’t about owing anyone anything. This’s what brothers do for each other and accept it or don’t, Bane, but we are brothers.” They were brothers in arms and regardless of whether or not they were on active duty status that would never change.

Michael couldn’t argue against that, but it didn’t mean he would just accept his help. “Fine, then as your brother I’m telling you to shut up and stay here. If it was just you I’d consider it, Valenti, but I’m not gonna be the one to take you away from Harding! If not for your own sake then think about her for fuck’s sake. We both know chances are good no one’s gonna make it outta that compound alive.” He hadn’t realized how loud their argument had gotten until he saw Maria and Tess staring down the hallway at them.

“It’s funny how you can stand there and say that to me but you can’t see what’s right in front of your own face,” Kyle muttered under his breath. “We can argue about this ‘til the cows come home, but I’m goin’ with you, like it or not.”

His teeth were grinding together so hard it felt like they might crack but try as he might he couldn’t shake the look on Maria’s face. Tess was more adept at controlling her reactions, but the fear that she could lose her husband couldn’t be completely hidden. Maria didn’t have the training to school her features; fear and anger were visible, directed at him and for him, and the combination hit him like a sucker punch. “I said no. End of conversation.”

“End of conversation, my ass. You stand a better chance with me than without.”

“He’s right.”

Michael whirled around to face Val, doing his level best to ignore the other two women that were still standing there. ”I didn’t ask for your opinion.” He pointed at Kyle. ”He’s not goin’ and that’s final.”

“And you’re not the only one putting everything on the line with this mission, dickhead. I’ve taken you on before in hand to hand, do you really wanna do it again?”

“As I recall you didn’t win.”

“Neither did you. But you sure as fuck walked funny for a while afterwards.” She pointed at Kyle. “He goes. Our chances are better with him there.”

He was ready to beat the shit out of someone. So damn ready! He turned to Tess and stalked towards her. “Tell your fuckin’ stupid ass man to stay with you.”

Her face softened at his determination to keep his friend safe. “You know I can’t do that.” Tess’ eyes shifted to the man in question. “He needs to do this and no one’s gonna stop him. Not you and not me either.”

Michael just stared at her for what seemed like an eternity then pushed past her and Maria without another word. A moment later a door was slammed violently and what followed was dead silence.

“Let’s have a look at the plan,” Kyle said, breaking the silence after several deafening minutes. He looked at Maria and shook his head. “He’ll get over it.”

“Does he really believe none of you will survive?”

“You go into a situation like this with the knowledge that there’s no guarantee you’ll walk back out of it.” He shrugged. ”That’s just the reality of the job.” His gaze shifted to his wife. ”Doesn’t mean I plan to bite it out there. I’m counting on at least another fifty or sixty years with this bossy woman.”

Maria swallowed with difficulty. ”He doesn’t want you to go.”

“Yeah, well, that’s not his call.” He nodded at Val. “Let’s have a look at the plan.”

She nodded. “First good plan in ages.” A part of her could understand why Bane wanted to keep him out of this. But Kyle and Tess were in this because they wanted to be in it. And hell, they would need every bit of help they could get. Valenti wasn’t a trained assassin, but he had fought at Bane’s side longer than anyone else. His ass was much safer with Valenti on it.

“They know what they’re doin’.” Tess gave Maria a slight bump with her shoulder and pushed her towards the kitchen – away from any discussion of battle tactics.

“Aren’t you pissed at him?”

“Pissed? No. Worried? Yes.” She looked at the other woman. “But we can’t let them see our worries so openly. They need to focus and we’re not gonna hold them back anyway.”

“How can you not be pissed at him?” She didn’t understand.

“Because this is a big part of who he is. I didn’t just fall in love with parts of him; that’s just part of the whole package. And, we’re a lot alike to be honest. I may not want him to do this, but I understand and respect his need to do it.”

“Doesn’t it scare you?”

Tess smiled tightly. It terrified her like nothing else. ”There’s no halfway when it comes to loving men like them. You either find a way to accept the hard truths that come with them or you let them go. The only control you have over them is what they allow you to have.”

“Could you talk Kyle out of going?”

She shook her head. ”No, and I wouldn’t try.”

“But if it could save his life-”

“Maria, with men like them you have to accept their need to get involved in life and death situations, that’s who they are. You can’t control that and you can’t change it. Does it scare me? Yeah, there’s no getting around that, but he can’t be focused on me while he’s out there because even the smallest loss of focus could cost his life.”

Maria nodded, although she didn’t know if she could be that strong. And was there even a need for it? It wasn’t like Michael and she really had a future, right? Even if he survived and they brought the Circle down, it didn’t mean he would stay with her. He wasn’t made for that kinda thing.

“How’s your thigh?” Tess looked at the girl. “Has it given you anymore trouble?”

“No, it’s all good, I think.” The change of conversation was welcome and she slightly relaxed. “Icing it helped a lot.”

“Good. I wanna have a look at Michael too. Bet he’ll love that.”

“Yeah, especially in his current mood.” She grimaced as she thought about the way he had stormed out of the room.

Tess shrugged. ”He’ll get over it. He knows what needs to happen.” She turned to lean back against the counter. “So, how do you like the place?”

“It’s beautiful. You guys must’ve spent a lot of time working on it.”

She looked around and smiled. It had been a huge undertaking but it had been well worth the time, money and work that had gone into it. Kyle had thrown himself into it, needing something that would help him get out of his head and focus on anything but the hellhole he had been held in. “Yeah. Building this place was something we needed and while we had plenty of hands-on experience, this was something completely new. Challenges are good though.” She rolled her eyes. “We’re both headstrong so we got into it plenty of times.” She grinned as she thought about the making up that invariably followed their fights. ”You just have to know how to pick your battles.”

Maria smiled. “You two seem perfect for each other.”

“We are,” the other blonde chuckled. “We have our fights and complications but we can handle each other and we can understand and forgive each other for our mistakes. That’s the most important thing and all that matters.”

“Sounds easy when you say it.”

“All in all it is, just actually living with it isn’t. Relationships are hard work. Some people just expect them to work out with no effort – but that’s just bullshit dreaming.”

“Yeah, that sounds like something Liz would say.” She smiled. ”She and Max make it look so effortless but she says it’s anything but easy.”

“She’d be right. Nothing worth having comes without putting work into it. Doesn’t matter what it is, you only get back what you put into something. That’s true of any relationship, but when it comes to guys like them?” She nodded at the doorway. ”It’s quite possibly even more true.”

“How did you know it would work out?”

“You don’t know. It all depends on how much you’re willing to invest and how much you’re willing to risk. Loving them is the easy part. Living with them day to day and being able to handle them, that’s the challenge.”

Maria thought about it for a moment and then nodded. “I guess that makes sense. They’re not easy to handle. Sometimes it’s hard to be in the same room with him to be honest.”

Tess chuckled. “Well, I suppose Michael brings frustration to a whole new level. Kyle’s stubborn at times but he likes to give as well. That’s something your man has to learn yet.”

“My man?”

The curly blonde smirked. “Isn’t he?”

Was he? Maybe for the moment, but he’d warned her that it was only temporary. She sighed and shook her head. ”Whatever you wanna call this thing between us, it’ll be over the second this mess ends.” If it ends, she thought.

“Is that what you want?” It wasn’t, she was sure of it.

“What I want is irrelevant. He’s made his feelings on the subject crystal clear.”

“Sometimes they have to be led to the truth kicking and screaming.”

“Yeah, maybe, but it doesn’t matter if it’s not what he wants.”

“The old ‘you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink’ mentality, huh?” She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded. ”Don’t make the mistake of thinking he’s the only one who has a say in what happens when this ends.”

“Isn’t he though? I mean, he reminds me at every opportunity that when this’s over he’s gone.”

Tess chuckled. Bane was gonna have hell walking away from this girl. ”You can’t hold onto him unless it’s what he wants, I’ll give you that. If he feels like he has to keep putting it out there then you’re not the only one he’s reminding.”

Maria smirked, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up on the matter either. “What’re we gonna do while we’re waiting here for them?” She hoped Tess had a plan because just sitting around and going crazy about the what-if’s sounded like a bad idea.

“Well, you’re fit again. I’m sure I could teach you a few moves for self defense that a man wouldn’t think of.”

“Oh yeah, that would be cool.”

“Good, then we have a plan.” It was a distraction that would work for both of them.

“Michael’s been working with me and he says I’m getting better.”

“Well, it must be true then because he wouldn’t lie about that.” She rolled her eyes and grinned. “And since we both know he’s incapable of subtlety there’s no doubt he’d jump all over your ass if you weren’t doing your best to learn what he’s teaching you.”

“Yeah, subtlety is not in his vocabulary.” She winced when a door slammed somewhere in the house. “It’s also not in his behavior.”

She shrugged. ”This place has held up under more abuse than that.”

Kyle stalked into the room a moment later with an amused look as Val trailed behind him. “Someone’s in a mood.”

“Where’s Alex?” the female assassin asked, looking around the kitchen.

Maria pointed at the living room wordlessly and Val went that way without another word to any of them. Her eyes landed on his back where he was sitting in front of his laptop. His shoulders seemed to be tense while he hammered away on the keyboard. “What’re you doin’?”

“Brody sent a location. I’m tryin’ to get a map – or at least an idea of what kind of territory we’re facing.”

“It’s probably a remote location. They wouldn’t want to draw any attention to what they’re doing.”

“Or it could be in a heavily populated area, but heavily guarded. Something like a high security facility that people are used to seeing so they don’t question it.”

“Do you recall getting shot recently? Yeah, that one was in a remote location, wasn’t it?”

He didn’t bother engaging her in the argument she was clearly pushing for. ”Um-hmm,” he tapped the screen with his finger, “and if we were putting money on it you would’ve cleaned me out.”

She leaned in closer as she studied the screen. ”That’s remote alright.”

He chewed on his thumbnail as he scanned over the aerial shot of the compound. ”Remote and impenetrable,” he muttered under his breath. He typed in a new command and waited for the page to load. ”Okay, regardless of how remote it is, a facility like that’s gonna require water, electricity, sewage lines... they probably draw a lot of power and they’re probably self sustaining, so there have to be underground access tunnels.”

Val smirked. He was already thinking like an assassin and she couldn’t say she didn’t like it. “That and probably narrow tunnels for the heating and air conditioning too. It may even have several floors below ground.” Her eyes shifted to him. “Do you have access to earlier satellite recordings?”

His eyes narrowed for a moment as he tried to read her mind. “To see if there are any recordings of when the building was built?”

She nodded.

“It could be older than any recordings we’ll be able to find.”

“Yeah or maybe not. It’s worth a try.”

He worked in silence for a while, searching databases in an effort to locate the information she had asked for. ”Okay, satellite image data capture. No,” he muttered to himself. ”We don’t want still frames. There has to be... Wait, what’ve we got here?”

Val’s right eyebrow lifted when he started carrying on a conversation with himself. She’d noticed it was something he did when he was getting close to uncovering what he was looking for.

He snorted under his breath. ”So ridiculously simple. It’s like taking candy from a baby.”

“You’ve got it.”

“Not only do I have it, there’s an embedded link to the blueprints for the facility. They probably thought no one would look for it or even know what they were looking at.”

Val glanced at the screen. “It was built in September 2001, interesting. At that time the government had better things to do than pay much attention to what a few of their corrupt associates were doing, huh?”

“9/11,” he nodded. “The perfect time to do stuff without attracting unwanted attention is when everyone’s occupied with something else.”

“We don’t know for sure how long the Circle’s been using it though and they may have altered the interior, but it is a start.”

“Yeah, I don’t suppose they bothered with requirements like permits to make changes,” Kyle said from the doorway where he was observing them.

“No, but there will be amended plans attached to the original blueprints.” Alex shrugged. ”In the event something unforeseen happened and the original builder was unavailable they’d want to be able to access those alterations.”

He nodded, impressed with the guy’s knowledge. “And you can get your hands on that information?”

Alex swore when he ran into another firewall. “That’s gonna be a little more tricky. Someone put in additional security measures on that information.” He cracked his knuckles and went to work.

Val turned to Kyle with a smirk. “That means he’ll have fun getting the information.”

“What do we have?” Bane entered the room, ignoring Kyle completely as he walked over to Alex and the female assassin.

“Blueprints. We’ll get a good idea of what kind of building we’ll be facing.”

“Good. Try to find out what material they used as well just in case we need to go through a wall or two.”

“I can put a shopping list together,” Kyle said with a look at Val.

She glanced between him and Bane before nodding. The shopping list he was talking about had nothing to do with groceries and everything to do with ordnance.

[Roswelllostcause]

Things are starting to fall into place. Hopefully things will go more or less to plan. But I have my doubts.

[Eva]

Kyle & Tess were right: what's going to happen with all those assassins on the loose?

The suspence gets higher and higher. Alex already found some good things. But will it be an omen for luck and a good ending?

[keepsmiling7]

Michael and Maria will always have difficulties, but manage to stay together anyway.
Great part,
Carolyn

[sarammlover]

Its really nice Maria has Tess in this situation. She is a hard working female who is in love. She knows what Kyle needs and Kyle wants and in turn can relay that to Maria. Unfortunately Val isn't really a touchy feely lovey gal so she can't help Maria with her feelings for Bane. So excited to see what happens!!!

[Double Trouble]

Roswelllostcause: Lol, do things ever go according to plan?

Eva: Good question... and there may not be a good answer to that one.

They’re gonna need luck on their side because what’s coming won’t be anywhere close to being easy.

keepsmiling7: Maria would like that but Michael’s dug his heels in on that subject.

sarammlover: Yes! That’s one of the distinct differences between Tess and Val. Val’s pretty much useless in that capacity. Tess, on the other hand, well, her experiences with Kyle and her openness makes a huge difference.



Part 57

“We’ll need a personnel roster for the compound,” Michael went on as if neither of them had spoken.

“No problem.”

“I want the dossier on Janus as well. I wanna know exactly what we’re up against with him.”

“Also not a problem.” Alex rolled his shoulders in an effort to loosen them up and a moment later he felt Val’s hands settle on the tense muscles. “The guy’s pretty twisted.”

“No shit, Sherlock,” Michael snapped, still intensely annoyed with the current situation.

Val turned her head and glared at him. “Go an’ shoot some bear, Bane. It might help improve your mood.”

“Fuck off, Val.” He shot her the bird and leaned in closer to look at the computer screen in front of them. “What’s that?” he asked and pointed at it.

Alex followed his gesture and zoomed in. “Gully cover I’d say.”

“Find out how far the sewer tunnels run through that area. If we’re lucky that’ll be our way in without being detected.”

Alex sorted through the available information, scanning the notations and cataloging it as he went. He moved to another screen and zoomed in on the blueprints for the security in that section. ”Motion sensors every ten feet connected to the alarm system.”

“Then you’ll have to bypass it.”

He looked up at the man’s biting tone as he turned the laptop to give him a better view. ”Do you see this?” His knuckles impacted with the screen harder than he had intended. ”You don’t just cross a couple of wires and bypass a system of this caliber.” He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly. ”This system has a built-in failsafe to prevent outside hacking. Not to mention, one wrong move and the system will give an all-clear message allowing the intrusion in order to trap the intruders. Once they’re in the tunnel it’ll seal and release a deadly chemical.” He rubbed a hand over his face. ”If I don’t do this just right we’ll die less than a hundred yards from our objective.”

“You don’t get us into that compound, Evans and Parker are dead, and it’ll be on your head.”

“Fuck you!” Alex shot to his feet and pushed into Bane’s personal space before he had time to consider his actions. Damn it, he was doing his best. What’d this asshole want from him? ”You think I don’t know what’s riding on this? The system can’t be hacked remotely!”

Val stepped between them and shot a glare at Bane before focusing on Alex. ”Show me where you need to be to hack their system.”

He took a deep breath, glaring once more at the other man before turning his full attention back to Val and his task. “To get us in: Here,” he pointed at a spot on the screen. “That should be enough to bypass the alarm system. For our main objective, to overwrite the signal that activates the kill switches, I’ll have no choice but to hack their main server.”

“And do we know where it is?”

“We can’t be 100% certain. But if we follow the air and electricity tunnels it’ll most likely lead us there.”

“That’s just great,” Bane muttered.

“I can only hack information that was saved. I’m not a magician with the ability to look into people’s heads.”

Michael narrowed his eyes at the mouthy little prick. Yeah, they needed him but if he kept on he was gonna end up with a beating he wouldn’t soon forget. He straightened up when he caught Val’s warning look. She could be a vindictive bitch when she wanted to be and she fought dirty.

“So as long as we can get to this point you can get past their security,” she clarified.

“Yeah, bypassing the system shouldn’t be a problem. It’s a vulnerable spot though so it’s likely they’re aware of that. Any tech worth their salt would’ve warned them about that weakness.”

“What if he could hack Condor?” Kyle asked.

Val frowned. ”Condor is a myth.”

He shook his head. Covert Ops Network Defense Organization Recon was a military satellite network initiated post-9/11. The program had been kept under wraps because of its controversial nature. It was one more thing slipped past the people under the guise of security and only a handful even knew it existed. “One of its capabilities is the high intensity heat signature identifier. If that can be accessed we’d be able to see what we’re up against getting inside.”

“There were rumors that Condor has the capability to penetrate walls.” While that would be helpful in the current situation she didn’t care for any government having that kind of access.

“Not rumor,” he denied. ”Without specific materials used in the building process they can see past walls.” Needless to say, no one would be looking past their walls. “The Circle probably implemented that program, which means it won’t give us access to what’s going on inside the compound, but it could show us what’s going on outside.”

“Condor, eh?” Alex asked with an amused snort. “There’s so much normal people will never know about.”

“Like how I killed you if you don’t hurry the fuck up?” Bane asked but the smirk on his lips revealed he was only half serious.

“Or how you got killed in the event we all get busted because of rushing,” he countered, unconcerned. “I’ll have to look through the files to see if there’s any information about Condor so I’ll have a place to begin.”

“To begin?”

“It’s not like I can Google it, can I?” Amateurs, he thought in amusement and went back to work.

“You’ve got a real comedian on your hands,” Michael said dryly.

Val ignored him in favor of scanning the information scrolling up the screen.

“This is probably gonna take a while.” Alex paused to crack his knuckles before leaning over to focus on the laptop again.

Translation, get lost, she thought with a smirk. He didn’t like anyone hanging over his shoulder while he was working.

Without looking up he popped the flash drive out and held it up. “Here’s all the information so far. Maybe you guys can get something from the blueprints, determine the most likely area Max and Liz are being kept.”

Michael’s eyebrows shot up when Whitman dismissed them and Val simply took the flash drive and headed for the other laptop. What the hell had happened to them? And it wasn’t just Val. Not that he’d ever admit that out loud.

*****

Darkness had fallen hours ago but she couldn’t sleep. The living room had been turned into a war room of sorts as the others pored over maps, checked and rechecked guns and explosive devices, and debated different assault tactics. The sounds of magazines being released and then reloaded, bullets being loaded into the reloads, and other sounds that accompanied them preparing for their assault on the compound seemed to have a calming effect on them, but it was only setting her already frayed nerves on edge.

She had finally had enough and an hour ago she had excused herself but no one had seemed to even notice that she’d left the room. She rolled over onto her side, trying to shut out the sounds coming from the living room. It was a useless effort though; the door was closed but try as she might she couldn’t shut out the reminder that by this time tomorrow night the people downstairs were going to be attempting to infiltrate a highly secure compound.

They didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact that they were potentially walking willfully to their deaths. Even Alex seemed amped up about what was coming. It scared the hell out of her. Tess hid it well but at least she could tell the other woman was scared. It wasn’t evident when Kyle was in the same room; somehow she was able to conceal her worries. It was the only way she could protect him from losing focus because he was concerned about her. She was a strong woman and she wasn’t sure she could be that strong.

She didn’t have years of experience behind her, didn’t know how to conceal and bury her emotions. She wasn’t even sure it mattered in her situation. Michael probably wouldn’t give her a second thought while he was carrying out his mission. He didn’t have any experience with having someone waiting at home for him and somehow she couldn’t see him appreciating her worry for his safety. Granted, it was probably safer for him if he didn’t spare a single thought for her.

Maria sighed loudly into the darkness. It wasn’t that she wanted him to think about her and make a mistake that might cost him or one of the others their life. Maybe it was selfish, but she wanted him to want more than whatever time they had before this was over and he walked away. Because he would walk away. She believed that in spite of what Tess had said to her earlier that regardless of what she wanted, the decision for them to be together was ultimately his to make.

The door creaked as it was opened and she felt the air shift as he stepped inside. She knew without looking that it was Michael. She couldn’t explain it, but she could feel it when he was close. She listened hard before the door closed again, trying to determine if the others were still busy with their strategy session or if they had finally called it a night and gone to get some sleep. It was a wasted effort because all of her senses were focused on him, waiting to see what he would do next.

Michael stared at the woman in the bed. The moon outside provided the only bit of light, but it was enough to see her outline. She lay with her back to him, but he could tell she wasn’t sleeping. Her body was tense and her breathing rhythm wasn’t that of a sleeping person either. Only a few more hours before everyone she cared about would leave to set all hopes on one card. Yeah, that had to scare the hell out of her, he was sure.

“How long are you gonna just stand there?” Maria asked when she became frustrated by his silence. She didn’t turn over to face him though.

“How long you wanna pretend you’re asleep?”

“I wasn’t pretending anything. I’m just lying here.”

He grunted and walked around the bed to face her since she wasn’t going to turn over. “Are you still pissed because you have to stay here?”

She sighed in frustration. ”I know I don’t have the training necessary to-”

“You’d be a liability in the field, Maria.”

“Oh, well, I wouldn’t wanna be that, would I?”

He couldn’t control the smirk that appeared in response to her annoyed tone. ”No, you wouldn’t.” Getting into an argument would serve no purpose and he knew that, but damn, she could incite his temper faster than anyone he’d ever known. ”You go and someone’s gonna die, you understand that?”

“You’ve made your point clear.”

“Then let that pissy mood go before we end up spending our last hours together fighting because that’s just gonna be a waste of time.”

“Our last?” She sat up and glared at him. “So you’ve already given up before you’ve even started?”

He frowned. “Hell no.”

“Then don’t say it’s our last hours together!”

“Look,” he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration and sat down on the edge of the bed to make sure she could see the dead serious expression on his face. “This operation will come at the cost of life – that’s a fact. But do I plan to give them mine? No! It can happen though and there’s no point denying it.”

She knew that, she did. She just hated the way he said it like it was something he had accepted, like it was some random fact. “Do you really think I don’t know that?” Her voice was a quiet rasp as she tried her damnedest to control her emotions.

He stared at her in the heavy silence that followed. ”I don’t doubt that you know it, Maria. I just have my doubts that you’ve accepted it. Missions always come with casualties, sometimes ours and sometimes theirs, that’s just the nature of the job. I realize this isn’t easy for you, but you have to understand that I won’t be an easy sonofabitch to take down.”

“I know that,” she said and in spite of her fear, her lips twitched in a ghost of a smile.

He smirked and reached out to brush a strand of her wild bed hair out of her face. “Good. Then keep it in mind when I’m out there and don’t give Tess too much of a hard time, will ya?”

“No, I usually just give you a hard time.”

“Are you starting with the naughty talk?” he rasped, amused.

Maria frowned at first and went over what she had said until her lips formed a silent O. “I wasn’t...”

His hand moved to her neck and flexed there before he pulled her forward for short kiss. “I know you weren’t. Your expression was way too innocent for that, but it doesn’t mean it’s any less true.”

“How can you be thinking about sex right now?”

“What, you aren’t?”

“Well, I wasn’t.”

“But you are now.”

She rolled her eyes at his smug tone. ”You should be resting.”

That sounded an awful lot like a token protest. ”I’ll get plenty of rest after,” he corrected her as he moved closer, forcing her back on the bed. ”Wouldn’t do either of us any good to lay here too keyed up to sleep.”

“That’s something only a man would say.” She rolled her eyes but followed his lead, her whole body vibrating with anticipation when he moved over her, his lower arms resting on either side of her.

“I’m all man, Blondie.”

“And sometimes all jerk as well.” Her tone was light, teasing. “And then sometimes you’re almost likeable.”

Michael made a playfully disgusted face. “Shit, really?”

She chuckled. “On the rare occasion.”

“We’ll keep that between us,” he murmured as he lowered his head to nuzzle the soft skin of her neck.

Her fingers tangled in his hair as he teased the sensitive area. ”Who would believe it anyway?”

“Mmm... good point.” No one would buy bullshit like that, not about him.

She kinda liked the fact that this other side of him belonged to her, that no one else had been given that kind of access to the man inside. She shoved away the niggling thought that when this was over he’d be gone, trying desperately to focus on this moment and nothing else.

Michael could sense the maelstrom of emotions coursing through her and he shifted his attention lower, nudging the strap of her tank top aside. He might not understand the situation from her perspective but he knew she was emotionally invested in something that couldn’t possibly last and he wanted to get her thoughts off of what could never be.

“You should shave.” Her tone was amused beneath her quickened breath.

“Don’t like it?” he asked, rubbing the stubble of his chin and cheek against the sensitive skin of her cleavage.

Oh, she did like the feeling. “It’s scratchy.”

“So?” He repeated the move and heard the catch in her breath. “You like it, Blondie.”

“Whatever,” she muttered while her hands ran down his back to pull on his tee shirt.

“Should I stop what I’m doin’ so I can go shave?” He punctuated the question by gently biting her nipple and drawing a moan from her. “Didn’t think so.”

She shouldn’t find his smugness so attractive but at the moment it was hard not to. She shifted beneath him and smiled to herself. That wasn’t the only thing that was hard.

“Help you with somethin’?”

Now he was amused. She decided to ignore him and concentrate on getting him out of his clothes. He was generally cooperative in that area.

Michael allowed her to free him from his shirt but blocked her efforts to rid him of his jeans.

So much for him being cooperative, she thought with an impatient huff. She should’ve known better.

“In a hurry tonight?” He shook his head when she gave him a look accompanied by an arched eyebrow. “Too bad.” He didn’t waste any time stripping the rest of her clothes from her and sitting back on his knees to admire her body in the moonlight.

While there was a certain degree of uncertainty in her, the feeling of being admired outweighed it and his heated look made her squirm a little. “Why’s it okay for me to be naked but not for you?”

He chuckled deeply. “Because I’m the man?” His tone was light and teasing.

“I hope that answer’s as much of a joke as it sounds.” She shook her head at him and reached for his belt again but he stilled her hand.

“Impatient woman.” Leaning over her, his gaze wandered from her face to her chest and lower.

Heat suffused her body and she wished she had the ability to control the way she blushed. It was a wasted wish because there was no controlling it. For some reason she didn’t understand he seemed to enjoy it when she blushed under his scrutiny. His eyes were darker than normal, heavy with arousal, and it amazed her that she could do that to him.

“Do something,” she whispered.

He’d spent more time with her than he’d ever spent with any other person and yet he was plagued with the feeling that it wasn’t enough. He wasn’t sure it would ever be enough and that was something that made him very uncomfortable. She was watching him, her gaze so open and trusting, and he knew he didn’t deserve that. It only served to remind him of all the ways they were different, all the reasons this thing between them could never be more than what they had right now.

Maria wondered what was going on in his head because there was more than a hint of conflict in his eyes. Her thoughts briefly went to Tess and her warning about distraction in the field. The last thing she wanted was for him to get killed because of her. She didn’t want him to die for any reason, but especially not because thoughts of her had provided a distraction and given the enemy an opportunity to take him out.

“Michael...”

His name on her lips snapped him out of his thoughts and he cleared his mind, forcing out everything but the moment. Instead he focused all of his attention on pleasuring her, wanting their last night together to be memorable because one way or another, this mission was going to be the end of whatever this thing between them was.

Something in him changed again and he went back to worshiping her body, though she had to wonder where his thoughts had been. Her thoughts were running fast and crazy and at some point – when his tongue dipped into her belly button – they vanished and all that was left was the burning feeling on her skin.

I could do this forever. The thought crossed his mind when her reaction affected him. He pushed it to the back of his mind though and nudged her legs apart to he could find a comfortable position between them. “You’re sexy as hell, Blondie.”

His words ghosted over her flushed skin and almost felt like a physical touch. “So are you, Michael.”

She was so responsive to his every touch, just as he’d known she would be. He shifted, his lips trailing a path over her skin, nibbling along her ribcage and unconsciously mapping the area where the bombing had left its mark on her; badges of survival that did nothing to take away from her beauty.

Her fingers roamed over every inch of him that she could reach. She’d never considered herself beautiful or sexy. She hadn’t necessarily thought she was ugly, but she’d never seen herself as anything special. He left no doubt about how he saw her and she knew he wasn’t a liar so she had no choice but to believe him. He made her feel beautiful and sexy. Her fingers clenched in his hair when he started moving down again. He was going to do his best to drive her mad tonight. She knew it as sure as she knew her own name.

Michael took his time, trying to memorize every inch of her body. Why was he doing that? He couldn’t say. Maybe because it was most likely the last time he had with her, and maybe it was the last time he’d have the chance to experience something good in his life. There hadn’t been much he could count on that side.

His tongue darted out, careful and slow when he reached her waiting, wet center. Hearing the catch of her breath was just one more thing that turned him on, but he denied himself any kind of release yet.

One of her hands wandered down, looking for his and finding it where it rested against her hip. Their fingers intertwined, making the touch one of intimacy and trust.

In spite of all their joined hands represented he couldn’t, wouldn’t let go. He listened to every sound she made, took in every restless movement, filing all of them away. Later, he would no doubt torture himself with the memories of her, but he was incapable of putting them in one of the dark corners of his mind where they would eventually be forgotten.

He heard the telltale hitch in her breath that warned him she was getting close and he chuckled against her sensitized flesh when he eased off just enough to pull her back from the edge and her fingers tightened on his as curses spilled past her parted lips. He knew he could draw it out and make it last, but a glance up into her needy features had him lowering his mouth to her and giving her what she needed.

Maria threw her head back on the mattress when the waves washed over her body, making every muscle quiver. Was it possible that another man could ever make her feel like this? She doubted it and didn’t want to think about the possibility of this being their very last time together. She felt him crawling up over her slowly, the cold metal on his belt buckle brushing against her heated skin and making her shiver. “That might not have gone completely unnoticed,” he smirked down at her and it took her a moment to realize what he meant.

“You think the others could’ve heard us?”

“Us?” Michael chuckled. “No. Just you.”

She blushed furiously and smacked his shoulder when he just laughed at her. ”It’s not funny, Michael.”

He rested against her, his dark eyes tracing over her features. ”Enjoying sex is nothin’ to be ashamed of.”

“I’m not. I just wasn’t planning to advertise it.”

He shifted, intentionally rubbing the bulge in his jeans against her center and drawing a long moan from her in spite of her obvious attempt to hold it in.

She rolled her eyes at his smug grin. ”Your turn’s coming.”

“I’m trained to be silent regardless of the situation,” he bragged without remorse and repeated the move.

“You always have to have the last word, don’t you?”

He chuckled. “Thought you’d be used to that by now.” Although be had to admit a few times he had let her have it in the end and it was not something he gave up willingly or often.

“I’m learning to handle it.” She rolled her eyes and reached for his belt again, checking to see if he was going to let her have her way this time.

“You’ve got a one track mind tonight,” he growled but made no move to intercept her intentions this time.

“Thought you’d be used to that by now,” she said, tossing his own words back at him. She took her time, sliding the tongue through the buckle and brushing against him constantly.

“Blondie,” he rasped, his tone laced with a warning that she didn’t heed.

“Um-hmm?” She refused to be rushed and she watched him as she slowly pulled the belt free of his jeans. Her eyes sparkled with humor when he made a sound that was unmistakable. “Impatient?” she teased and dragged her fingernails against his straining zipper.

“I only have patience when it’s needed.”

Maria laughed lightly. “Well, you didn’t let me the first time, now you’ll just have to go at my pace.”

“Have to?” he echoed.

“Yes.” Her eyes moved up to meet his, expecting to see a playfully pissed off or mocking look, but she found his eyes serious. They bored into hers and reflected something she couldn’t grasp, but if she had to put a name to it, it would’ve been something like trust. “I’m still a rookie, but I don’t think I did too bad the last time.”

“We wouldn’t be here if you had.” The words were flippant but she continued to watch him, waiting for him to give her the sign she was waiting for. He snorted softly, curbing his impatience as he gave in to her demand. How had he gotten to this point? He didn’t know and he didn’t want to examine it too closely.

[Roswelllostcause]

Looks like things are getting really tense.

[sarammlover]

Damn! Alex just isn't letting Michael get away with anything! Good for him. He doesn't deserve to be treated like shit by michael. I hope they can get to Max and Liz in time. AHHHHH!!! Great update ladies!

[Eva]

Emotions and tension certainly can flare up everything. I had to smirk when alex stepped up against Michael and I got totaly soft with Michael & Maria. The tension is buildy up with everyone!