Noelle nodded. The fact that he'd said anything at all about Mary was a surprise. Somewhere in there, he must trust her at least a little if he was willing to share something that close to his heart.
"What about other family?" she asked in an effort to change the subject. "Do you have sisters and brothers?"
David clutched onto the change in topic like a lifeline. "One sister and a nephew. He's five now," said David with a tender lilt to his voice.
"What's his name?"
He blushed, which was such a strange thing to see on a hard man's face. "David. She named him after me."
Noelle smiled, picturing a miniature David with bright blue eyes and deep brown hair.
Something inside Noelle twisted and went tight with longing, but she didn't dare focus on it. Instead, she shoved it away and cleared her throat.
"You must be proud," she said.
"Yeah, he's a great kid, though I wish I could see him more often. It's been a while."
"Why?"
His expression closed down, became guarded. "I have to be careful not to get near the people I love. I worry that there are still men out there who would like to see me dead. Or worse yet, tortured by watching my family die one at a time. They're only safe if I stay away."
Noelle shivered against the sudden chill of violence his words evoked. "That seems like a horrible way to live—
isolated from those you love. Isn't there anything you can do?"
He gave her a level look filled with icy calm. "I could go hunt them down and kill them first."
Noelle hated the concept of killing, but even more, she hated the idea, that someone would kill David first. They'd been thrown together under extreme circumstances, and even though she sensed the thinly concealed violence inside him, he'd been nothing but kind and gentle with her. She was beginning to care for him and it scared her.
"Do you know who these men are? Could you find them even if you wanted to?"
"When I took this job, I gave Monroe a list of names of men I wanted to find. He's going to... help me."
Noelle didn't even want to know what Monroe was going to do to help. She was better off not knowing. "And after that, will you be able to see your nephew again? Will your life go back to something resembling normal?"
"We'll have to see," he said, but Noelle knew he was hiding the truth.
"You do want it to go back to normal, don't you? Or do you just expect to die so it won't matter anymore?"
He ignored her question, his tone shutting down any chance of more personal Conversation. "I've turned on the perimeter alarms, so if you hear a siren coming from the basement, get to the back door so I can get you out of here."
He passed the car keys back to her, sliding them across the table so there was no chance their hands would touch.
Noelle didn't know if he'd done it on purpose, but she had a feeling that there was little David did that wasn't carefully planned.
CHAPTER TEN
Three hours had passed and the Swarm hadn't shown up yet.
David was beginning to worry that they were waiting for him to pull Noelle out of her safe hiding place so they could get a clean shot at her. Whether they still wanted to capture her alive or kill her to prevent her from breaking the code for the U.S., he couldn't be sure, but neither was going to happen as long as he drew breath.
David glanced across the small living room to where she lay curled up in an overstuffed recliner. Her breathing was even, but he didn't think she was asleep. She needed her rest, but after all the adrenaline pumping through her system, he doubted she'd sleep unless he drugged her. And that wasn't an option. He needed her coherent enough to run away if it came to that.
David prayed it wouldn't. He didn't like the idea of her out there on her own.
The short combat nap he'd taken had helped clear his head, but it hadn't done a thing to ease the burning grit in his eyes. Only a few hours of real sleep would help that and he wasn't going to be getting that anytime soon. Not if the Swarm held back out of his reach.
Quietly, David went into the kitchen and dialed Monroe.
"Is the girl safe?" were the first words out of the colonel's mouth.
"Yes, sir."
"Where are you?"
"Location 1734. It looks just like location 1388. You remember that place?" David forced himself to sound casual, hoping Monroe would pick up on the clue and remember what had happened at location 1388 right before David had left Delta Force. He knew the chances of this call being intercepted were high. In fact, he was counting on it. Monroe had never been to location 1388, but he'd read David's report—the one detailing how he, Grant and Caleb had stayed behind and laid a trap while the rest of their team moved on to safety. David and his two buddies hung back so that they could ambush the Swarm when the terrorists followed the trail of false information Monroe had laid. Every one of the Swarm who showed up had died that night. David planned a repeat performance, and it all hinged on the fact that every word he said to Monroe would eventually make it back to the men who were hunting Noelle. If he was lucky, every one of the bastards would come hunting them and end up walking right into his trap.
"Those places all look the same, don't they? Smell the same, too," said Monroe. "I'll make sure your location is reported to the proper authorities."
Proper authorities, meaning whomever Monroe suspected of being the mole. David's eyes closed in relief. Monroe understood. "Thank you, sir."
"One of the decoys leaving the safe house was followed, so I don't.think you have to worry about anyone finding you. You should be safe there."
Like hell, thought David. "Good," he said. "She needs to get to work. You know where to find me if you need me."
"I can send some support your way if you like."
"No, sir. I don't want to take the chance that the Swarm could follow anyone here and find us. I'm not sure how sound the perimeter is, so I don't want to take the chance they could slip through undetected." It was all lies, but David was pretty sure Monroe would know that.
"Agreed. There should be plenty of provisions at your location to hold out for days."
"Weeks, more like. We'll dig in for an extended stay while she works."
"Check in when she's made some progress."
"Yes, sir,"
David ended the call and turned around to Noelle. He'd felt her approach during the conversation but didn't look at her and take the chance of getting distracted by the fear that she tried to keep hidden from him.•*
"So, are we staying here for a while, then?" she asked.
"No."
"But you just said we were."
"I lied."
"Why?"
"Because we have to assume that every word I was saying was either being overheard or recorded to be listened to later by the Swarm."
That fear in her green eyes flared and she wrapped her arms around herself as if she was trying to get warm.
David squelched the urge to do the job for her. Touching her was too damn distracting. "We have to make them think we feel safe here—that our guard is down. That's when they'll move in."
"But we don't want them to move in! We want them to stay away."
"I can't kill them if they stay away."
"So don't kill them. Let's just go somewhere else. Someplace safe."
"And where is that?" he demanded. "There is no place we could go that the Swarm wouldn't follow. We can't outrun them with just the two of us. We have to sleep sometime and you have to work on that code or all of this effort is for nothing."
"I don't want them to find us."
"I know, but that's the way it's got to be."
"What if you get hurt?"
"I won't," he said, making sure his tone was more confident than he felt.
"You don't know that. What if you get killed?"
"I told you to run if anything happens to me."
"And go where?" she demanded.
"Monroe will tell you."
"And will the bad guys be listening then, too?"
David cursed and rubbed his gritty eyes. There was no way he could fool a woman as smart as Noelle. He needed coffee just to keep up. "Monroe will be more careful than that. He'll use a secure line."
"I can't do this without you, David." She looked so vulnerable and defeated that he had to clench his teeth against the urge to take her into his arms. Comforting her would have gone a long way toward making him feel better but an even longer way toward him doing something that would end them up in bed together. As much as she appealed to him, he knew they'd both regret it if he lost his head like that.
"You can do this," he assured her. "You don't have a choice—not if you want to stay alive."
"And what if I want you to stay alive, too? I don't trust anyone else. Maybe I shouldn't trust you, either, but I do.
You've gotten me out of harm's way twice, and I'm counting on you to do it again; With you by my side."
"Gee, you're not too demanding or anything, are you?" he asked with a hint of humor. He couldn't remember the last time he'd cracked a joke and his sense of humor felt rusty.
"I'm serious. I don't want you making any plans that involve me leaving you behind, got it?"
"You're not in a position to be making demands."
"Sure I am. I'm the one who can crack the code, remember? And I say that if things go bad, we run away together."
David surged across the floor with long strides until he had her backed up against a wall. He wanted to make sure he had her full attention and didn't hesitate to use his larger body to intimidate her into listening if that's what it took.
The fact that he loved the way her body felt pressed against his was only an added benefit. Or an added torment, depending on how he looked at it.
He took her shoulders in his hands and pinned them to the wall. She had to tilt her head back to look him in the eye, which she did without even the smallest hint of submission.
"You'll run if I tell you to. This is not a game and as much as I'd like to, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to come with you. My job is to keep you alive. Period. That's what I'm going to do and no one, not even you, is going to get in the way of that. Got it?"
Noelle swallowed and licked her lips. David's gaze zeroed in on her mouth like a laser target. He realized his mistake then. He shouldn't have gotten so close. He could smell her scent, feel her warmth. Standing this close, it was easy to forget she was a job and not just a woman who pulled at his senses.
She licked her lips again and David jerked his eyes away before he gave in to the urge to taste her.
"I don't like to be bullied," she told him, though her voice sounded breathless rather than annoyed.
"I'm not interested in what you like or don't like." It was a total lie. He was Interested in what she liked— whether or not she preferred her men to take things gentle and slow or hot and hard. Given the chance, he'd give it to her however she wanted it, but he wasn't going to be given the chance and he needed to get his brain out of his pants or he was going to get her killed.
"Well, it's good to know you care," she said, sounding hurt and irritated all at the same time.