Chapter Twelve

Two days

Rafael

My Commanders are in the Ops situation room around the table. The schedule is up and men are moving to the apartments now. They even took the two bedrooms doubling up like Ford and Wheeler. I showed Miguel the old service station a couple of doors down from me and he showed interest. I hope he buys it. Perez hands lists of beds taken here and the apartments. The military men are here, for the most part, which comes as no surprise to anyone. It’s hard to leave the routine you’ve lived by for years. We have four rooms open when all the men show.

“We’ll have the rooms for on-cycle like we talked about?”I ask.

He nods, “Yes, Commander. The four rooms are beside the on-cycle. We have a few from military that took apartments. If it doesn’t work, we’ll have rooms here to move them into. There are a couple of men from the Navy that may have trouble with that transition. They’re on Wheeler and Miguel’s teams.” He’s good at the personnel shit. I’m glad he’s keeping the workload.

I look at them all. “Watch for signs of stress and mention the rooms here if it’s an issue.”

Getting a nod, I hand the team lists out.

Miguel whistles. “This is some serious firepower. Thanks for the fucking arsenal, but how the hell did you get these men?” It’s a good question but already answered. He’s not the only one that’s unhappy about the way the military is being treated. In the FBI there are more benefits and a guaranteed pension and insurance. He’s doing the same job but here on US soil and he’s in charge of his team’s gear. I approve supply orders and Springer won’t ever go along with the contractors like they have overseas.

I’m not telling him all that because he already knows. “They’re not re-signing and this job came up. Ford and Wheeler signed for the year, but they won’t be re-upping, so I’ll sign them here.” I look to make sure they agree. They’re nodding so I go on. “FBI...” I wave my hand. “All the spook agencies are on three-year contracts. Their agencies are cutting out offices or jobs, so it was easy to get the best moved fast. The Director is looking to put an office like ours in every territory like Perez said.” I think he just wants to make sure this is real. He’s not one to ask answered questions.

He sits back and I know why, so I wait. “With this much work here why the hell are we fighting for oil rights?”

Ford laughs.

I shrug. “My orders are to do this job. I don’t get to ask those questions. So, you approve your team?” Since oil is losing value, I agree, but that isn’t all we did. This isn’t the time to talk about our government’s decisions and I have other shit to do today.

“Yeah. I know most and have heard of the others. I need files.” Miguel looks at me, but I look at Perez.

Perez pushes a laptop and tablet over to him then hands him a phone. “Uniforms are in your closet. Gear in your locker. You’re in Wheeler’s old room.”

Miguel looks up uncomfortably. “I need to figure out living without all the rules.”

I nod. “When you’re ready.”

Perez puts his hand on Miguel’s shoulder. “The room isn’t needed so there’s no rush.” Again, I’m glad he’s here.

“I had some trouble with the gray areas. The rest is easy. Have a beer with us at dinner and we can help,” Ford tells him making me smile.

“Waite can get you set on the tablet and computer. Your phone has hologram capability. Everything is tracked. Video goes with every report so make sure you’re always on. Commanders aren’t required to be on-site, but we have a fifteen-minute radius. Any questions?” I ask moving this along.

“I’ll ask when they come up.” He powers up his phone and syncs the watch to it.

“Perez, tell us about the jobs this week.” I sit and pull up the board so we can follow as he goes down his list.

* * *

Meeting with Waters, I’m still impressed at her ability to come up with challenging exercises. She’s pushing me so I know she’s not going easy on the men.

“I have a new Sniper coming in. He’s a sub so he can be made available if you need help keeping up with the new team members.”

She looks interested. “Devereux is good. I made some new scenes in Hogan’s Alley today when Miguel told me.” Her smile falls and I get a nervous look. “He told me to call him Miguel. Two Commander Sabers is confusing.”

I nod. “Whatever works for everyone. I’m not big on all the titles.” He would be On-Site Commander Saber, but that’s a bit much even for military. I pull up her new roster for the teams. “Here are the Ops teams. I’ll have Perez make Devereux available to you, so you have later coverage and time off. If we need the sub, we’ll cover with off-cycle. Make sure you have at least one you can use from each team.” I scan the list thinking she has a lot to choose from.

“What about the Investigators?” she asks.

Looking through the hologram, I see confusion. Why? “You want a training sub from there?” I pull up their stats. There are some good numbers up here but not Ops Specialists.

“I have the program and a schedule for every man. It’s just a matter of following the plan I already have. I want Devereux, he can offer a different view from mine, but as a sub, we’d be pulling from time off or maintenance. If we don’t need to, I’d rather not. The team has been running nonstop, Commander. They need training and maintenance time to run the next on-cycle. They’d do that better knowing their gear is in good working order.”

She’s smart and I file the information away. Miguel is looking for that peace of mind. “You’re right. Pick three subs and get a procedure for them to follow. Make sure Perez and me have it.”

She smiles bobbing her ponytail everywhere. “Yes, sir. On a different note. I put the order in and I know Springer is going to shit a brick. Miguel wants time to run training for his team. Some of that will be virtual just to integrate, but he wants range time too.”

“Order what you need. I’ll handle Springer.” I stand. “Anything else?”

“Commander, you’re needed in Ops,” my watch tells me .

I hold the button. “Roger, on my way.”I have to prompt her for my answer. “Waters?”

“I’m good. I’ll have the procedure on your desk tomorrow.”

I start walking. “Good man.”

She laughs as I jog through the door. Shit. I’m not likely to stop calling everyone men, so I let it go wondering what’s up now. Ops is slow on the weekends. Ford had one assist early this morning with the DEA out of the Boston Field Office but nothing else scheduled.

Walking through the door, I see the room is empty and turn right around. Ford is running down the hall. I get to the ISR, my new name for the Investigators Situation Room, and see people moving around Perez in the middle. The center screen is the fire station. Fuck.

I watch while he’s barking orders. I don’t see Cassidy anywhere, but Agents are walking the perimeter. They have nothing to report, but I don’t hear why they’re there.

“Hank, put the drone cams up for the Commander,” Perez says and looks at me. “Three drones flew in together. Decker shot them down with the laser. They’re all video.”

Drone cams here? These aren’t bug drones, but decent sized, based on the video we’re watching. They show the first floor from the windows in front on the garage door and the whole back through the glassed panel doors.

“Where’s the remote?” My mind is throwing out possibilities. Kids would have stopped at different areas of the yard. Nosy neighbors would look at everything. This shows a straight line moving fast to the house without looking anywhere else.

“The road side of the park. That’s close to two thousand feet away. No cameras on the street. Once the remote went off, we lost it.” He’s pissed.

“Where’s Cassidy? ”

“Inside with Donna, Nelson and her mom. They just got back from shopping and nails. I had Decker and Petit on her. Nelson is off, so she was a bonus.” He turns and starts talking to the team.

I lean against the table thinking Haddad has to be behind this. Drones would get him views without being close. Ops will have to watch for that on Monday. If he’s playing it safe today, he’s not ready to move on her. He’s smart. This could be his way of gauging her coverage. “Hank are the cams jammed now?”

He turns my way. “Yes, sir. Perez had me jam as soon as he saw they were running feeds. I reprogrammed, so we have control. They won’t get anything else from them.” He did good and he knows it. I give him a nod of approval.

“This is some shit. That’s got to be the serial killer. The drones didn’t slow down until they got to the house,” Ford says.

Perez nods calling the Agents at the park back to the office. “Sorry, Commanders. I thought we’d have something but with no cameras close we had no way to follow.”

I nod. “Does Cassidy know?”

“If she does it’s because she saw Agents outside.” He looks at the time. “This was twelve minutes from start to now. The drones were shot down with a laser.” So no shots to be heard.

I nod ready to be done for the day. “Let me know if you find anything on the drones. Prints would be nice, but this guy is fucking smart.”

Ford moves to a seat. “I’ll look up the model and see if we can find a manufacturer. I didn’t know they sold this shit to the public. That was good video and long range.”

“Thanks, Ford.” Perez turns toward me. “I doubt he’ll do more tonight, but I have two cases closing. I’ll pick Donna up in a couple of hours.”

“I’m out. Call if you need me.”

“Roger, Commander. ”

I leave feeling annoyed. We have nothing but three drones. No one was hurt. Nothing was gained, but I feel like he’s playing with me. I don’t even know if it’s Haddad for sure. It’s just a gut feeling, but it’s strong.

Miguel is at the house when I pull in. Waite, Bande, Rhodes and Keys are in the lounge. I’m glad to see two others from his team here. “Hermano, we came back here since we’re all off. Keys said you wouldn’t mind.”

“No, I think they like hanging out here. Cassidy doesn’t care.” I drop my bag on the hood of the car.

He’s pissed? “We need to put up cameras. They only cover downtown and major roads here.”

I nod. “We have some new solar and wireless coming. It will be one of the training exercises for Cyber.”

He smiles. “Nice. You want to play some ball?”

“Yeah. I need to change,” I tell him pushing off the car. Taking my bag, I jog the stairs. Her eyes are shining on me as soon as I reach the top. I smile seeing her dressed in a skirt and blouse. She’s got her heels on reminding me women are a little crazy. She’s worn them every day even with stitches in her thigh. I can’t complain, she wore them when her legs were wrapped around my waist. Just the thought has my dick stirring. “Mi vida, I love to see that smile.”

“Hi, Rafael!” Myrna yells.

I look away from my Bella. “Myrna, Donna, Nelson.” I nod at them.

With my eyes back on Cassidy she giggles. Bending, I kiss the side of her lips. “Beautiful sound from my beautiful girl. Did you have fun shopping?”

“I won’t bore you with details, but yes. We power-shopped until I had everything I needed to replace what I lost. I even got a pair of sweatpants.” She’s cute. She won’t wear them unless she plans on sweating, I bet.

“We’re planning the wedding. You’re just in time.”

Looking at Myrna, I’m wondering if she finally jumped off the deep end.

Cassidy and Donna laugh. “I think we can handle flowers and dresses without him. Do you care what shoes we wear?” Cassidy asks batting her lashes at me. She’s definitely cute.

I kiss her cheek. “I’m glad you’re still smiling. I don’t care about anything but changing your name and we can do that in ten minutes in an office. Since it’s your day too, I’ll go along with anything as long as I’m comfortable and you smile at me just like that, mi sol.”

Her eyes flash that happiness. “Go, your mom is calling in a few minutes to go over the menu.”

I stand up and move. “I’ll be playing ball in the back.”

* * *

Cassidy

Hanging the last blouse in my newly filled closet, I do a little dance. Everything is in and I can work without having to wash every couple of days. Life feels good right now. I look at my shoes and smile, all lined up neatly on the new shelf Rafael made for me. My purses are above the clothes in a line. Not that I was a slob, but my shoes were in shoe boxes and the purses hung before. Now I match my GI Joe’s side of the closet and that will make him happy.

Just thinking about him makes me smile. We have everything decided and his mom will be here this week for dinner. She’s very sweet and I didn’t see crazy once. At least not from her. I laugh and get the sweatpants I bought. He was playing ball. I thought that meant basketball, but they were playing soccer. I can do soccer.

When I make it downstairs I hear a constant humming noise, but it’s loud. The agent at the little desk doesn’t say a word but nods as I go by. I follow the sound to the back corner and see the door to the workshop is up and Rafael bent over his big boat wheel with a sander. I forgot all about it, then remember the horrendous lamp and laugh. I won’t be replacing that. He’s got safety glasses and a mask on, so I lean against a beam and watch. If he’s wearing a mask, I’m staying over here. I don’t mind the view and want to see what he’s making with the big wheel.

I watch noticing that he’s sure in his movements and works methodically around it. He’s like that with everything. His world is organized and he navigates through it in a comfortable confidence. He must do the same at work because everyone shows a respect for him like they did for my dad.

He stops the sander and looks at the wheel running his hand across the wood. It’s almost like he’s caressing it. He loves making old new. The thought makes me smile. He is a minimalist, but I can see him stopping and picking up furniture on the side of the road when he’s sixty . “I could do something with this,” would be his words when I smile at him from the passenger seat. The mat would go down, the net would hold it in place. I giggle then stop. I can see him at sixty and I’m right there. This beautiful man that walked into my life and swept me off my feet is my future. I want to do another little dance, but he turns something else on that’s louder than the sander. I watch him shake like a dog then vacuum the wheel, then the area around it and finally the floor. He’s too cute. When he’s finished, the hose goes back to the holder hanging off the wall and he wipes down the wheel. I clap surprising him.

He moves the mask down showing me that smile. “Mi sol, I’m just cleaning up. Is everyone gone?” He pulls his shirt off and wipes his hair and neck with it. Drool-worthy, Donna would say. Damn but that fits.

“Yes, they left a while ago to bring the menu to Stella and have dinner. You’re very methodical and love working with your hands.” I’m watching him wipe down his arms with those hands.

“My dad taught us to appreciate the beauty in everything. He was big on repurposing. I guess it stuck.” He smiles so big. I just shake my head as I take a step toward him. “ No, Bella, let me clean this up, the dust will have you coughing.” He moves fast wetting a rag.

I stand still watching him wash the wheel the same way he sanded it. This time I get to see him work with no shirt. Every movement shows the muscles that control it. I watch them all, thinking I learned to see the beauty in everything too.

“Did you get the plans settled, mi vida?” He washes then hangs his rag on the edge of the sink. The little shop is clean and organized in his comfortable world.

I smile, but it’s not for the wedding. “Yes. I don’t want a big crazy wedding, so once they got that, everything went easy. Donna and Harper will keep them from making it a three-ring circus.”

He laughs shutting the lights off and pulls down the door. “Babies starting at thirty-four and you didn’t plan a big wedding?”

“Nope. I have my flowers and colors, but simple was all it was ever going to be. Family, friends, comfortable and happy.”

He kisses the edge of my lips. “Not what I imagined, but I like your reality way better than my imagination. Thank you, Bella. I need a shower then I’ll feed you.” He would.

“Dinner is in the oven. I didn’t get to sweat in my sweatpants. I thought I’d be playing soccer.” We have an hour before dinner is done.

He has that smile on. “No, mi vida. The only heavy breathing for you today is when my dick is home and we can sweat together without the clothes.” His voice is dripping sexy and my body reacts.

The chill runs right down my back. “Mmm, I like your game better.”

I’m in his arms moving toward the stairs a second later with the biggest smile on my face. Once he gets any kind of approval, he starts planning and I let him do that by keeping my mouth shut. I love his plans. His long stride has us in the bathroom in no time. Setting me down, he starts the tub running. “I’ll shower quick and meet you in here, Bella. Let’s get you readied.”

My shirt is off before he’s back to me. “I got this. Shower, fast,” I tell, beg and whine in a breathy whisper. He watches my bra fall to my elbows and moans pulling me into a hug, then lifting me up. My nipples hitting his bare chest have me moaning. That’s got to be one of my all-time favorite feelings. His mouth completely devours mine making me forget my boobs squishing against his skin. That sexy air about him is overwhelming. When I’m set down, he holds my hips. I watch his chest heaving and take a step closer wanting it against me again.

“Let me shower, beautiful. The dust will have you all itchy.” He bends kissing the edge of my lips. When he walks around me, I want to pull him back. What did he say? Itchy dust? Damn.

I finish undressing and climb in the tub a little scatterbrained. Men are weird. He has to take a shower before getting in the tub. I could just get in the shower. I love the shower. It has heads everywhere like a car wash but better when the water is hot. An erotic car wash when Rafael is in it with me. Hmmm. I stand just as the water goes off. Sitting, I think the tub works too, especially when he walks toward me dripping wet. A panty-dropping smile and drool-worthy body. I am so damn lucky.

He steps in and my hands slide right up his legs. Since I surprise him with the move, I keep going. His body freezes long enough for my mouth to catch up to my hands and take him in.

“Jesus, I love when you’re craving chocolate, mi vida.” His hand is on my head holding me right here. I love that. Looking up I see he’s watching. “Fucking perfect, mi vida. I love seeing my dick slide through those lips.” He moans when I take him deeper and I know he’s going to pull away any second. Harper had us all eating bananas showing us how to go deep. I try her technique surprising us both. “Fuck.” He holds my head tighter pulling away, but I did it and want to try again, so I growl at him. He moans holding my head and steps back. “Jesus, Bella.” He’s breathing hard and I smile.

“I want to keep going.” My hand grips him tight as I stroke down.

He moans holding my hand still and sits. Damn the man. “Swallowing me again will have me coming down your throat. That’s not the plan I had in mind.”

Pulling me onto his lap, my nipple is in his mouth and I’m grinding against him as soon as I’m down. Knowing he thinks about how he wants me, turns me on almost as much as the smile.

“I’d like your plan if your dick was home where it belongs. Ahhh, that feels so good.” Heat is running through my veins causing a throbbing sensation that needs just a little more friction. I grind down trying to find it.

His hand kneading my nipple moves and his mouth takes its place biting the hard edge sending sparks shooting through me. Just as my world explodes, I’m flipped and he’s sliding in from behind. “Mi amor, hold on.” He moves my arm to the back counter and pushes in filling my world with new sensations. My body is still tightening and he stills every time it does. “Love you stroking me just like this, Bella,” he moans, then pushes in deeper.

Between the voice, him hitting so deep and his arms wrapped around me I’m ready again and I haven’t caught my breath from the last orgasm. “Please.” I need air or to come or something, but I can’t get past being so full. He lifts my chest higher making breathing easier and touches that spot inside every time he’s against my ass, sparking a new fire that spreads through me. “Harder, Rafael,” I beg and he delivers. Oh, my God, he delivers.