J Saint - Collateral Damage

"Not yet."

"Is she going to be all right? The baby?"

Weston's tension-filled exhale grabbed Jack by the throat.

"Damn it, Roger. What are you not saying?"

"Physically, once she starts eating and gets into a prenatal care program, she should be fine. They're going to keep her for a day or two in the hospital then she can go home. What happened today has traumatized her, but I think more than that has her jumping out of her skin every time the breeze moves. I know something traumatic happened to her in Afghanistan. Did Neil ever mention what to you?"

"I was there when he brought her in" Jack said. "It was the night our team had gone into find Ackbajeen?"

"Yeah."

"Neil found her imprisoned in a windowless cell in the bowels of a fairly well-to-do compound-like house. Someone had left her to starve to death and she was literally at death's door. I don't know much more than that. Why?"

"I think she's been-"

"What?"

"Never mind. What we do need to talk about is you getting your ass back here before I can't cover it any more. What the hell do you think you are doing, DT?"

"The right thing. Do you know Bill Collins left Atlanta suddenly the very same day that the daughters of Ambassador James and Israel's Prime Minister Shalev were kidnapped? Do you know that his body has gone missing from the Brazilian authorities today? Do you know that Lauren Collins and her six-year-old twin sons have a trained assassin after them? AWOL me if you have to, but I'm not abandoning her and her kids until this is over."

Weston exhaled hard. "There's no doubt then? Bill Collins is the man who hid in the armoire?"

"Facts are stacking up in my favor."

"What does his wife know?"

"Make that his almost ex. Not much, but she can help me get into his life and piece together what in the hell Bill was up to and who's was behind it. Bill worked for a tree-hugging company called BioLogics. Started two years ago and immediately went shady on his whereabouts and doings. So that company is a great starting point. I have to tell you that I just don't buy it that that tiny radical group we took out in Lebanon pulled off the high profile kidnappings. Not without major connections and funding."

"I'll check on things from this end. Keep me posted then and would you keep in mind that Posse Comitatus is not dead. The lines have been a bit blurred lately but it's still considered law, which means no military action on American soil is sanctioned. In other words this isn't your egg to fry."

"Too late," Jack said. "But I'll be careful. That reminds me. Whoever we are up against has resources out the whazoo and they've either stolen a cop car or have a cop moonlighting on the wrong side of the law." He gave Weston the license plate numbers to check out as well as the names of Bill's friends. "There has to be a connection to Lebanon somewhere."

"Let's hope. I've got an inside at the Agency I'll try and tap before I bother my cousin Paul with this. Though if there is a connection everyone will be PO'd that I sat on it. Watch your back, DT."

"Will do. Keep an eye on Mari and let me know when they nail the bastard who hurt her. I want to be there when he goes down for his crimes."

"If he makes it that far. I'm hoping the cops shoot to kill," Weston said. "I'm not letting Mari out of my sight."

Jack disconnected. Over the years he'd heard Weston under pressure, in battle and going balls to the wall under gunfire, and never had he heard such deadly intent in his voice before. Jack set up the computer and hit the internet, putting BioLogics and Bill Collins under a microscope. From all articles and links, BioLogics was exactly what Lauren had said, a company dedicated to promoting green technology. Its ownership was obscured in a conglomeration of companies that he could find no head honcho on. Also, it was completely funded by charitable donations and listed as a non-profit. That sent his blood pressure steaming. How in the hell did crap like that go on and on?

After a frustrating hour, he went to bed, but took forever to fall asleep, visions of Lauren danced through his head. With her as a wife, a man had to be a total imbecile to have gone after anything else. The look of her, the feel of her, the total package from her vulnerable bottom lip to the fierce fire in her eyes when it came to protecting Matt and Mitch was more than amazing. He closed his eyes and saw her back in the shower with the water sluicing down her creamy neck and the way her shirt clung to the contours of her almost visible breasts. He hated to admit it, but more than his hand had itched to take a wet ride then, and the feeling had only grown. He so would have backed her to the wall in her almost-ex's condo and wiped the SOB from her mind. There was something not quite sane about his need for her and it scared the hell out of him. She was in the other room and had never been in his room, yet he could smell her scent, a combination of lavender and warm honey. This time the gripping knot in his gut sent pulsing sensations southward, tightening his already aching groin. It was going to be a long, hard night.

He tried to knock himself back into line. Tried to put what she stirred in him on ice. His purpose here was to keep them safe and that package didn't include his dick. Besides, any avenue he could take with Lauren once this was over was a dead end street that had Bill Collins's gravestone carved all over it.

0130 hours, August 6th

Unable to sleep, Lauren lay in the dark as the day ran through her mind over and over again. Weaving through it all was the puzzle of Jack. One minute he was the most relaxed man she'd ever met, then the next she'd catch a hint of ghosts and pain in his eyes and knew he had to be the most tortured man. The two didn't mesh, but that was the truth of it and it made him more than just a sexy man, made him more than just a soldier. The puzzle somehow made him more real and more a part of her.

She heard a groan and sat up, her heart pounding as she listened carefully. Angie and the boys were still asleep. Hearing the groan again, she placed it as coming from Jack's room. It sounded as if he were dreaming, and not pleasantly either. She got up and went to the adjoining door to listen. Hearing nothing more, she cracked the door open. Light from his computer screen showed him twisting and turning in bed as if he were wrestling an invisible enemy. His body was covered in sweat and his muscles were strained so taut that they silently screamed pain. Her heart twisted with the need to help him. Letting the door close behind her, she flipped on the light switch which triggered a lamp in the far corner, barely lighting the room. She crossed to the bed and tapped Jack on the shoulder.

"Jack-"

He exploded from the bed. She stumbled back and fell on her butt to stare up at him and the vibrant power electrifying his every move. She could likely just watch him…forever it seemed. He was so different from Bill, so roughly honed, a battle-experienced soldier, hardened by life, but yet so much more approachable. Or was it an element of tenderness she sensed in Jack that her husband never possessed.

"What is it?" He scanned the room and then held out a hand to help her up.

"You were having a nightmare." She grabbed his hand. He pulled her up and something happened. There was a shift in the inches of air separating them. Every nerve she had stood up and said, "Hello, baby," to the obvious flare of desire in his eyes when he looked at her. His need seemed to equal the desperation of her own. She opened her mouth, imagining his kiss, imagining his firm lips claiming hers. The fire in his green gaze blazed white hot. She blinked and then saw the scars on his chest, on his hip, on his leg. The badges of honor marred the perfection of his maleness and made her want to touch him even more.